"Pass," Adrian called, coming up on Martin.
Martin passed the Quaffle and everyone darted away as Imogen sent a Bludger to prevent Heidi from intercepting.
Rachel looped higher, keeping her eye out for the Snitch as she watched the game. It was the second game of the day, the first had been Gryffindors versus Ravenclaws, and there would be two more after this. A few people would wind up playing two games, but they had enough people that most of them only played once.
There were maybe a hundred people in the stadium, which for a stadium this size was practically deserted. Their audience was other Quidditch players from their time at Hogwarts, close friends, DA members, and everyone's families. They set this up twice a year, once in spring and once in autumn, and it served as a social reunion for their entire group, their group slowly expanding as people married and had children. A few years ago it had mostly been babies in arms and toddlers wobbling around. Now some of those kids were getting close to being ready to go to Hogwarts themselves.
Draco swooped by with the Quaffle, all of the Chasers following, and Rachel watched as Herbert braced himself in the goals. Draco scored and the Chasers took off in the opposite direction, with Heidi and Robin in the lead. Cedric passed by, his attention more on the Chasers than looking for the Snitch.
She smiled to herself. It was nice to play with her old team. As much as she loved the Harpies, her team at Hogwarts had been special to her. In a way, she was glad that Hogwarts sheltered its Quidditch players as much as they did. She'd gotten used to having her Quidditch exploits written about in the newspaper, but she was relieved she hadn't had to deal with the sometimes fanaticism that Britain had about its Quidditch League until she was an adult.
Also, there was much less pressure in these games than there had been in the League. There was something freeing about playing just for fun and without the relentless post-game analysis
"Got it!" Scarlett called, sending a Bludger in the direction of the Chasers.
Rachel looped around the Quidditch pitch again. It was a week until Halloween, which she was nervous about. They'd voted for temporary measures for the MLE for the duration of what they were terming as 'the emergency', as no one was quite sure where any of this was heading. But the newspaper had been reminding everyone that Halloween was a traditional night of Death Eater revelry and the ads section of the Daily Prophet was entirely taken up by people promoting ward upgrades.
Her sleep had been worse lately, though she'd been trying not to let herself ruminate when she couldn't actually do anything about the situation. She'd already offered her help to Amelia, and had received strict instructions to keep herself out of the line of fire until they needed her. Rachel could work with that - the last thing she wanted to do was lure the Death Eaters somewhere, unless she was doing that on purpose in conjunction with the MLE.
For now, she would play Quidditch, spend time with her friends, and try to put aside thoughts of Death Eaters. She listened to the sounds of the game in progress as she flew, searching the pitch and enjoying what would probably be one of the last clear days before the weather moved into winter. It didn't snow in London as much as it did in Scotland, and Rachel didn't spend a lot of time outside anyway, but she did appreciate the sunshine and found the seemingly endless dark afternoons and evenings of the winter to be a little depressing.
Finally she spotted the Snitch. She checked to see where Cedric was - about a quarter of the way across the pitch - and then flew, feeling her hair streaming out behind her.
"There go our Seekers," Lee Jordan announced.
The Snitch dove, and Rachel followed, feeling Cedric coming up alongside her. Another good thing about this not being a League game was that she didn't have to worry about Cedric slamming into her to get to the Snitch. He was still a gentleman, despite being a skilled and rather powerful auror.
Rachel felt a painful tug in her shoulder as she used the weight of her body to swoop around and she snatched the Snitch out of the air with her right hand and held it up.
"That's Snow with the Snitch, putting Slytherin at 230 to Hufflepuff's 90," Lee Jordan announced. When they had mixed House teams, they went by the captain's House.
"Nice one," Cedric called.
"You too, it's good to play against you again," Rachel said, hovering on her broom and gently rolling her shoulder to see how much damage she had done.
"Next up, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, with our Seekers Weasley and Chang," Lee said.
"Gotta go wish Cho luck, I'll see you back down there," Cedric said.
"I'll see you," Rachel said, though she needed to go sit down and metaphorically lick her wounds.
"Good save," Draco said, flying up to her.
"Thanks. I saw your goals, nice job," she said, aiming her broom in the direction of the stands. It was a little more chaotic with none of them in team uniforms, but by agreement they all wore their House colors.
Draco's cheeks were slightly red from the wind and his hair was tousled. "I'll round up the rest of the team."
"Okay. I'll meet you back with everyone." Rachel flew as carefully as she could, trying to keep her weight off her left arm, and piloted herself back into the area of the stands that was usually used for vendors. From there she walked back to where most of her friends had gathered.
"Rachel! You caught the Snitch! You won!" Scorpius called, waving from next to Astoria.
"We did," Rachel said, managing not to grimace as she sat next to Theo.
"Your shoulder?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said.
"Let me look," Hermione said, rounding the row of seats. "Hold still for a moment."
It was a testament to how much it actually hurt that Rachel sat there and let Hermione minister to her.
"Oh, Rachel. You need to get this seen to. It's going to do this every time you aggravate it. Here, I'm going to put a numbing charm on it for right now, and then we'll put ice over that to try and stop some of the swelling. Have you seen someone?" Hermione asked, busy with her wand.
"Not for a little while," she said. She'd been putting it off.
"You cannot play Quidditch again until you've had this dealt with. They never should have let you go back for another year," Hermione said. "You've got scar tissue built up in here."
Rachel sighed, mostly in relief because the numbing charm had taken effect. "I know."
"If you know, then do something about it. Here, ice pack. I'm going to tuck it behind your shoulder, just lean against it."
She did so. "Thank you."
"You're hurt again?" Scorpius asked, now half hanging on Theo.
"Just a little sore, it will be alright," Rachel told him.
Theo looked at her, his eyes saying that this was a conversation they were going to have again.
Rachel nodded slightly to him. She needed to deal with this. But she couldn't go around in a sling for two months while there were Death Eaters out there. They'd solve the problems with the Death Eaters first, then she could worry about her shoulder.
"Is your shoulder bothering you too much to floo?" Millie asked when she answered the door.
"Yes," she admitted. She had been dismayed to find her shoulder still swollen and in pain this morning. It was beginning to seem like she was going to need to do something about her shoulder if she ever wanted to go on a broom again.
"How bad?" Millie asked as they moved into the sitting room.
"Not bad. I just didn't want to make it worse." She took a seat on Millie's sofa. She rather expected that the next Healer she saw was going to tell her she'd been making it worse by flying for this past year. That was a conversation she was going to keep from Severus and Monty if at all possible. She really did not like admitting when they were right about something she had insisted on doing, especially if they might have been right.
Millie looked at her, seeming to consider what she was about to say. "You know I'm always on your side, but it might be time to talk to a Healer about what can be done, even if it puts you out for a few months."
"I know. I really don't want to do that. I'm worried right now, especially with the developing situation, that I'm going to need my hands free."
Now Millie's eyebrows went up. "The MLE is asking for you? You're going back to the aurors?"
"Not back to the aurors," she said quickly. "I'm just on call in case they get into a situation that they can't handle. If the Death Eaters have a new leader, we need to take them out as quickly and cleanly as possible, and depending on who they are, I might need to be the one to do that."
"Well, I don't like that at all. They can't just call on you every time they get into a tight spot. You're not a leashed dragon." Millie looked offended at the very idea.
"It's not like that."
"From where I'm sitting it is. This is just what they did with Professor Dumbledore. He takes care of one dark lord for Europe, the next thing he knows, he's half running the nation and operating a vigilante group. They shouldn't be able to order you to go kill people just because of what you can do. It's not right."
"They're not ordering me," Rachel said soothingly. "I volunteered."
"That's even worse," she said, looking at Rachel. "Haven't they manipulated you enough? You spent half your adolescence preparing to die because they told you that you had to. Just because there's some group branding themselves as Death Eaters does not make this your responsibility."
"I will do anything to stop our nation from descending into war again. If that means I stop these Death Eaters with whatever means necessary, then that's what I'm going to do. Who knows, maybe if Professor Dumbledore had acted when Tom Riddle first emerged as the Dark Lord, we could have prevented both of those wars." She would never go so far as to say that it had been Professor Dumbledore's responsibility to stop Tom Riddle. He couldn't have known the future and what Tom Riddle would bring to Britain. Looking back on both wars though, Rachel could see there were a lot of opportunities where they could have done things differently, and she was determined that they would not let this threat spiral out of control.
Millie sighed. "Just promise me you'll be careful. I worry about our friends in the MLE enough as it is."
"I'll be very careful. And I'm very difficult to kill," she reminded her.
"Well, technically you have died more than anyone else I know," she said with a sly smile.
"Once. For a few minutes. It doesn't count," Rachel said, smiling back at her.
"Sure," Millie said. "Well, I suppose the Ministry isn't going to be the only one asking things of you."
"Oh?"
She ducked her head a bit. "I was hoping you'd be my maid of honor."
"Of course I would," Rachel said, scooting closer to give Millie a one-armed hug. "I'm honored."
Millie hugged her back, being careful not to jostle Rachel's shoulder. "I was hoping you'd say yes, even though I hate adding things to your schedule."
"No, I wouldn't want anything else," she promised. "My research can wait, this is a once in a lifetime event."
She smiled at Rachel as they pulled back. "It will be something. We're still sort of just throwing ideas out there. Do you have any idea how much wedding stuff there is on the internet?"
"I get the feeling I'm about to find out," Rachel said. "That's a great idea though. I should do an article about muggle weddings for Witch Weekly. They'd love that."
"You do that and there's going to be rumors that you and Theo are getting married," Millie pointed out.
"That is a good point." Rachel stopped and considered that for a moment. "I'll think about it. I definitely do not want those rumors going around. Patrick actually flat out asked me if I'm having children the other day."
"That was rude of him."
"It was a little. He had reason to be asking, but still."
Millie's eyes went wide after a moment. "Oh, it's probably not safe for people who are pregnant to be running around the Department of Mysteries."
Now that Millie had said it, Rachel recognized that it probably wasn't safe for people who were pregnant to be in the Department. Who knew what the Department's presence would do to an unborn child's mind. People who were pregnant weren't even supposed to be brewing potions because of some of the fumes. The Spell Crafting Guild even went so far as to recommend that people who were pregnant not experiment or invent while they were pregnant.
"Well, I'm not planning on becoming pregnant, so nothing to worry about there. I have a godson and nieces and nephews and that is more than enough for me," Rachel said.
"Natalie and I have talked about kids and we're pretty firmly on maybe for right now. It's a time thing. Neither of us want to leave the Guild and neither of us are so flush with money that we can afford a nanny or a tutor," Millie said, resettling on the sofa.
"I can help with that, if you want children," Rachel offered. She still had a tidy inheritance from her parents that she didn't touch, because between the Wizengamot, the Harpies, and her potions inventions, she made more than enough to live on.
"Oh that is definitely a question for much later. Let's deal with marriage first." Millie shook her head. "Much later."
"Okay, just let me know. What do you know about the wedding so far?"
"Spring. Undetermined beyond that, but in the spring. I'm leaning toward April or May if we can pull everything off by then. No best man. Natalie has Tiffany as her maid of honor, and her sisters as her bridesmaids. You're my maid of honor. Isobelle and Ginny are my bridesmaids. I asked Hermione and Luna, but it sounds like they're both going to wind up portkeying in just for the wedding. Our parents and extended families will be there, more on Natalie's side than mine, it will just be my parents, my aunt, and my grandfather on mine. Our entire group, of course, and a few more of our friends. Natalie's friends. Our departments at the Guild. And I think that's everyone."
Rachel did some quick math. "Close to a hundred people, that's pretty doable." Draco and Astoria's wedding had topped three hundred people, while Neville and Hannah's had been closer to two hundred. "Venue? In a church? Somewhere else?"
"In a church. Natalie's grandmother on her mom's side is very religious. We'll move somewhere else for the dinner and the party, which will really be the main event. I can't believe I'm doing this," Millie said, pushing her hair away from her face.
"Do magical people have their own churches?" Rachel asked, since she'd never been in one or heard of anyone going to one.
"Not many here in England, but they're more common in some other places, or so I hear. But yes, there are magical churches that somewhat belong to the Church of England. Obviously the muggles don't know about them, but it's the same idea," Millie explained.
Rachel wondered how their scriptures accounted for everyday people more or less being able to perform miracles. They weren't exactly like the miracles that she'd heard of in the few Bible stories she knew, but it was the same general idea. "Do you want to be married in a church?"
"I really don't care. It's important to Natalie, so I can live with it. My mom wasn't big on it, but I told her I was the one who was getting married, so I get to decide what that's going to look like. I have the feeling that I'm going to be saying that a lot."
She nodded, figuring that Millie was going to have to be the one to manage her mother, because no one else could do it. Rachel knew better than to try and intervene there. "So we'll need a place for the dinner and party afterwards. Caterers. Dresses?"
"Yes, dresses. We're doing dresses. Natalie and I agreed that we don't want to look like a layered cake, but that we should do dresses. Dress shopping is going to be its own ordeal." Millie nodded to herself. "And I'm sure there are a million other things we need that we haven't thought of yet."
"Time for the internet? Someone has to have made a list already," she suggested.
"Let's go to the kitchen. Natalie and I have the start of a list and we can use my laptop. Tea?"
"Sure," Rachel asked, pausing to conjure another ice pack for her shoulder, and then readying herself for wedding research for the next hour or two. Hopefully if they could get a list of all the things that needed to be done, they could then figure out how to do them.
Rachel glanced around the Minister's Mansion as they entered. Rufus had invited a crowd tonight and she recognized people both from the Wizengamot and from departments in the Ministry. It was Friday, the 30th of October, and Rachel knew the reason this event wasn't tomorrow was because she refused to attend events on Halloween. She figured as long as other people didn't know that, it was alright. Rufus had the ability to host events whenever he wanted; she wasn't forcing him to accommodate her.
Besides, with the current state of things, Rachel felt hosting events on Halloween night was a bad idea anyway. As it was, they were practically inviting the Death Eaters to show up tonight. If they wanted to take down the government, they could do so by killing the people in this room. With Rufus, Janice, Alwen, Amelia, and Rachel all here, they made a very tempting target. On the other hand, Rachel was sure the Death Eaters knew what she could do and would be reluctant to attack her with anything less than an entirely overwhelming force. So far, everything suggested they didn't have that force. Yet.
"Alright?" Theo whispered, and Rachel realized she had tightened her grip on Theo's arm.
"Yeah. Just thinking too much," she said, taking another glance around the room and finally spotting Rufus and Andre. "We should go say hello before someone nabs us."
"We should," he agreed.
They made their way across the room, stopping periodically to converse. Rachel said hello to Alexandra Campbell, who told them that her work with the Curse Breaking and Warding Guild was extraordinarily busy at the moment. She stopped by Auroris Clark and made polite small talk with her and her husband. Dolph Jenkins and Stephen Bryant both nodded to her, and she waved back and made a mental note to check in with them tonight.
"Rachel," Andre called as they finally approached.
"Rufus. Andre. It's good to see both of you," she said, fully meaning it. She had found that she liked the Minister and his husband, though honestly, she preferred Andre. That was probably because she wasn't going head to head with Andre about policy issues and Wizengamot votes. Rachel treasured the people in her life who weren't overly involved in politics.
"It's good to see you too. Are you both safe?" Rufus asked.
"We're fine. Our wards are very good," Rachel promised. Much of her conversations this past week had been people assuring each other that their wards were good, while everyone quietly wondered if their wards would be enough.
"As long as you're staying aware of your surroundings. We have some of the MLE patrol stationed in Diagon Alley. It's just like-" Andre cut himself off with a shake of his head.
Just like during the war. "It's better that they're there, just in case," Rachel said. She had seen the attack on Diagon Alley through one of her visions, though by that time Diagon Alley had mostly been deserted. People had been too afraid to go out, and for good reason. If things kept going the way they were, it would start to hurt businesses.
"I know. It's still disheartening to have the MLE right outside my restaurant door," Andre said.
"Hopefully it won't be for long," Rufus said, setting his hand on Andre's forearm.
"Has the MLE made progress with the investigation?" she checked.
"Nothing that you haven't heard," Rufus said. "We're bracing for tomorrow night. All of the aurors will be on call, and we have the MLE patrol for back up. We're running a front page article tomorrow with precautions people can take. The scope of the attacks tomorrow night will give us a better idea of how many people they have, and hopefully what their objectives are. It may be wise for you to take shelter tomorrow somewhere other than your home."
"We'll keep that in mind," Theo said, glancing at Rachel.
Rachel didn't plan to leave their home. She could defend them if necessary. "You'll be taking shelter as well?" she checked.
"Yes, Andre and I will be secure. I've asked Janice and Alwen to take shelter as well. Amelia intends to be at the MLE coordinating the response," Rufus said. "Ah, speaking of Alwen. He wants to talk to you about Francis' tax proposal. I told him it could wait until Monday, but he did not want to wait."
"I'll speak with him tonight. Did you have an option on Francis' proposal?" she asked, wanting to know where the Ministry faction stood.
"It's trying to do too much. I told Francis he needs to break it into distinct proposals, he's not going to get the votes he needs the way it currently is." Rufus shook his head. "Amelia is trying to convince him to withdraw it. If you want to say something similar to Francis, it may help. If he knows it won't pass, if he knows your faction won't vote for it, then maybe he'll pull the proposal."
Rachel nodded, though she wanted to speak with Sirius and Alwen before she said anything of the sort to Francis. "I'll see what I can do."
"I know the atmosphere isn't exactly festive tonight, but try not to work all night," Andre said, his glance taking in both Rufus and Rachel.
Rufus smiled at Andre, looking every bit his sixty four years. "It is what it is."
Rachel nodded, smiling knowingly at them. "We'll see you both around."
"Send one of my clerks a Patronus message on Sunday morning, just to set my mind at ease that you weathered the night," Rufus said.
"I will," Rachel said. She and Theo stepped away so that Madam Edgecome and her husband could approach Rufus and Andre.
"What do you think?" Theo asked quietly as they began walking around the perimeter of the room.
"About as I expected," Rachel said, noting the presence of aurors around the room, rather than just the MLE patrol. "Let's find Sirius if we can, and then we can talk to Alwen about this tax thing. I'd like this off the agenda if we can convince Francis to pull it, but I'm not pressing for that without knowing what the stance of the faction and National Finance is."
"Sounds good," he said, covering her hand with his briefly. "Anyone else we need tonight?"
"I'd like to speak with Amelia, just to make sure she's alright, and we should say hello to Draco, Neville, and Malcolm if we spot them. Otherwise, just checking in with the faction and avoiding Francis and Turner," she said.
"We can do that," Theo said, craning his head to look over the crowd. "Let's try this way."
Rachel walked with him, settling in for a long night of politicking.
She was wide awake, which perhaps was only to be expected. She'd stopped taking her modified Dreamless Sleep potion after the attack on the Finch-Fetchley's home. Even without the potion pushing her to sleep, it was a difficult potion to wake up from after she'd taken it. She wanted to be ready to repel an attack on their home, and that meant being able to wake up at a moment's notice.
After checking the wards, which she'd done multiple times that night, Rachel sat up. The house was dark and quiet. Maybe too quiet. Maybe she'd take a walk through the house, even though she logically knew nothing could be in her house with the wards up. She was being silly. It was three o'clock on Halloween morning, and if the Death Eaters were smart, they were resting up for the night's revelries. Though, if Rachel was a Death Eater, she'd attack tonight, when people weren't expecting it.
If Rachel had been the Dark Lord, she would have done a lot of things differently. The fact that he had nearly taken over magical Britain - twice - didn't mean that he was exceptionally good at strategy, it meant that their government and law enforcement system had a lot of worrisome fail points.
Given the amount of people Tom Riddle had supporting him, it would have been easy for him to be elected to the Wizengamot. From there, it was a short hop to the Chief Warlock role. He could have fashioned himself as Professor Dumbledore's protege. Arguably, the Chief Warlock was more powerful than the Minister or Britain's ICW seat, though at that point, Tom could have wound up with either of those positions. And then Tom could have legitimately controlled the direction of the country. He could have forced the Department of Education to decree that only purebloods could attend Hogwarts. He could restrict Ministry positions and Guild positions to purebloods. And at that point, most of the muggleborns would have willingly left the country, because there would be nowhere to go to school or work. It was scary what it was easy to do if you were popular and taking powerful positions.
The answer to why Tom Riddle hadn't done those things was deceptively simple: he didn't want to. Tom Riddle hadn't wanted the Chief Warlock position or the Minister's position. He hadn't wanted to rule Britain. Tom Riddle, both as she was seeing him as a teenager and as the adult Dark Lord, had wanted to hurt and kill people. And he had been frighteningly effective at doing that.
Muggles and muggleborns had just been an easy group of people for him to hurt, and even as she was watching him, he was learning that purebloods were more valued. He'd learned that with their long family connections, purebloods would rally to each other's causes. They would make places in the world for their children. It mattered if someone hurt a pureblood. So the very simple answer was to not hurt purebloods. And if he could gather people together, point them at a common enemy, all the better.
She knew what the Dark Lord had wanted. So what did these Death Eaters want? Theo was right that using the Dark Mark was a political statement. If their goal was to simply hurt and kill people, then they were going to have significant difficulties stopping them. Just like during the war, they couldn't protect every muggleborn and muggleborn related muggle in Britain. If their goal was more political, then once they started making demands they would have a little more room to work.
Casting a light orb to see by, Rachel checked her pocket watch. All of the hands were pointing safely to 'home'. She hoped they were having a better time sleeping than she was. It was hard not to think of magical Britain and imagine people nestled quietly in their homes, not knowing if the Death Eaters were going to show up on their doorstep. The last census had put magical Britain at 27,319 people. That wasn't a lot of people, not until you were faced with trying to find some way to protect them.
Rachel climbed out of bed, went to her wardrobe, and pulled on a robe over her nightgown. From there, she padded out into the hallway on bare feet, listening to the house around her. She took a brief tour around the house, finding the cats sleeping on top of each other in the sitting room and the owls on their perch in the kitchen. From there she went into her office and turned on her desk lamp.
"Miss?"
She managed not to yelp or cast a spell, though she pressed one hand over her hammering heart. "Kreacher, do not sneak up on me."
"Kreacher wasn't sneaking, Miss just wasn't seeing. Kreacher has been here for more than a minute."
Well, so much for her situational awareness. She was used to looking for people at her level, not at her knees. "Alright. Maybe a little more noise when you enter the room then," she said, sitting down and willing her pulse toward a more regular beat.
"Yes, Miss. Would Miss like tea? Or a potion?"
"No, thank you. Why aren't you asleep?" she asked, giving Kreacher a good look.
"Kreacher is too old to sleep, Miss." He bobbed his head a little, the way he did when she asked something that he thought was obvious.
"Are you in pain? Are your joints bothering you?" she checked.
"No, Miss. Kreacher is simply old."
"Would you like a sleeping potion? I can brew you one. It wouldn't take long."
"No, Miss. Most of your potions will not work on House Elves."
Rachel frowned as she thought. Potions for House Elves could be an interesting field, but perhaps one of limited use. She'd never met a House Elf with a headache or any other sort of medical problem. House Elves insisted their magic kept them well, which had interesting implications in other ways. She was a little afraid of what she'd find in the Department Archives if she looked for experiments on House Elves, because she was absolutely certain those hadn't been done in any sort of ethical way. "Is there anything that I can do to help?" she settled for asking.
"No, Miss. Kreacher does not need help. Miss needs help." He said this with an air of finality as he watched her.
"I'm pretty good at the moment."
"Miss is worried. Miss doesn't sleep. When Miss stops sleeping, Miss becomes ill. Does Miss remember?"
Rachel sighed. "Yes, I remember. I'm keeping a close eye on things. And I will sleep, once we have a better idea what is happening with the Death Eaters."
"Miss thinks the Death Eaters will come here."
"Yeah. I do. If we can't stop them, they're going to turn up here eventually." That was part of being a symbol; people either loved her or hated her, just depending on what they believed. It really had nothing to do with her.
"Miss is more powerful than the Death Eaters." Kreacher sounded absolutely certain about this.
"Probably. That doesn't mean one of them can't get lucky. It's hard to cast at a person through elemental magic, but not impossible. The more of them there are, the more dangerous it will be. And they'd be foolish to show up here with anything less than their full force."
"The Death Eaters were often foolish," Kreacher said.
"They made some mistakes," Rachel agreed. Both sides had made mistakes, but that was life. She'd yet to see the legend of the perfectly executed plan, especially not in the chaos of war. "Are you worried about the Death Eaters coming here?"
"No, Miss. Kreacher trusts Miss, and he trusts in his own abilities."
"Good." At least one of them wasn't worried. "I'm going to do some writing, and then I'm going to go back to bed."
"Yes, Miss. Kreacher will keep watch so Miss can sleep." He disappeared.
Strangely, she did feel better knowing that she wasn't the only person in the house awake. She retrieved her personal journal from her desk drawer and a quill. She didn't do much personal writing these days, almost all of the documents she wrote were research, proposals, or speeches, but she still went back to her journal when she had things on her mind.
'Dear mom and dad,
I hope you are both well and are having a good time.
Things are busy as ever here. You will be relieved to know that I retired from the Harpies. Or, at least, Severus was relieved, to which I say that Quidditch is never as dangerous as it looks from the stands. I miss flying, and I miss the team, but I think I was ready to move onto new things.
Speaking of new things, I am now an Unspeakable, though I'm sure you've witnessed some of my adventures in the Department by now. I'm not sure the Department is actually safer than Quidditch, but Severus does not need to know that.
The Wizengamot is as it ever is. Dad, I suspect you would have enjoyed the Wizengamot about as much as I do. I'm working on a new proposal, which is frustrating, because people can be very stubborn over their House Elves. Right now that's a little bit on the backburner while we deal with some other things that have come up.
Death Eaters - or at least, people using the Dark Mark - are attacking muggleborns again. We're keeping a close eye on things and are ready to act to prevent another war.
In better news, Millie and Natalie are getting married in the spring. I'm very excited to be Millie's maid of honor. My godson Scorpius is doing well, he's four years old now and seems to love flying more than anything else. In general, everyone seems to be in good health and doing the things that they want to do.
Severus, Sirius, and Remus are well. You would be proud of all of them.
Monty continues to provide me with guidance. Please say hello to him for me and let him know that his portrait is very useful.
I love you both.
Your daughter, Rachel'
She looked over her words and decided that covered most of what had happened recently. She wrote to them on their birthdays, as well as on Halloween, and then occasionally when she found herself missing them.
Unfortunately, she didn't feel any more inclined to go to sleep, so she retrieved the novel she'd been reading, which was the latest Terry Pratchett Discworld book, and settled into the armchair to see if she could lull her mind to a quieter state of being.
"You're cradling your left arm again," Severus said as soon as she entered his kitchen on Halloween morning.
Rachel looked down and discovered that she had been holding her left arm against her stomach. "I know," she said, sitting down across from him.
"When was the last time a Healer looked at your shoulder?"
"It's been a little while."
Severus watched her, one eyebrow raised.
"I know," she said again.
"If you know, then it's time to do something about it," he said, not without sympathy.
"I think they're out of things to do other than replacing the whole shoulder. I was hoping it would heal more now that I'm not flying." And it had, until she'd put more pressure on it.
"What was it that you did that aggravated it?"
"Flying," she admitted.
Both of his eyebrows went up this time.
"I know. I'm not getting on a broom again until I've seen a Healer."
"Seeing a Healer in itself does not do anything unless you put together a plan of treatment and follow through," he reminded her. "Why are you delaying?"
"I would sort of like the use of both of my hands under the current circumstances. I can't go around in a sling for two months right now."
"You still have your wand, you are not confined to wandless magic, and it is not your dominant hand," Severus pointed out.
"I need both my hands for elemental magic," she said, though she knew he had a point.
"Do you truly believe you will need to call on elemental magic in the next two months?" He now sounded mildly concerned.
"I'd like the option open to me if I needed it."
"Who exactly are you planning to fight with elemental magic? These Death Eaters?" he pressed.
Rachel sighed. "I'm not planning on fighting anyone, not unless this is a situation that the MLE can't deal with, and there's nothing pointing to that right now."
"I would be surprised if the Death Eaters had an elemental magic user, and the MLE can handle anything else on their own. I think it would be wise for you to stay as far away from this as possible." There was an edge to his tone, like he knew exactly what Amelia had asked of Rachel.
"I'm sure they can. They've handled Death Eaters before. Right now, we're not even sure how many they have. Hopefully whatever they do tonight will at least give us an idea of how many of them there are and what they want."
Severus nodded. "Would you and Theo like to stay here tonight?"
'I think we're alright at home. Our wards are good and we're both prepared. We'll floo the MLE at the first sign that there's something wrong," she assured him.
"Good. You're always welcome here. Since you are not planning to fight the Death Eaters, perhaps it would make sense to deal with your shoulder in the near future, that way you have the option of being on call as things develop in the new year," he suggested.
Rachel knew manipulation when she heard it, as Severus certainly didn't want her to be on call for the MLE at all. "It's going to make brewing a pain in the ass."
"You'll survive. And I can brew whatever you need for two months and I know Theo is a perfectly capable brewer as well."
"What do you think these Death Eaters want?" she asked, hoping Severus might have some insight that she didn't have.
"They're fashioning themselves on the early attacks of both wars, which is certainly intentional. They're definitely someone who has witnessed at least one of the wars, if not actively participated themselves. They'll have a leader - the Death Eaters don't function without direction. If I had to guess, I'd say someone around your generation has gotten in their heads to bring back the so-called glory days of the war, though it's impossible to say if they yet have ambitions beyond that."
"Why someone my age?"
"Because anyone who survived both of the wars should be loath to provoke another, though there is no accounting for some people. Besides, war is a young person's game. You reach my age and you start facing your own mortality," he said, shaking his head.
"You're not that old," she objected.
Severus laughed. "Old enough. I will be fifty next year."
"With a magical lifespan, that is not that old," she said, unwilling to even approach the idea that her father might be getting older.
"I will likely live for a long time yet, but there are no guarantees in this world, as you well know," he said, reaching across the table and patting her hand.
"I do know." She had seen a lot of people die, many of them young. It was a minor miracle that both her and Severus had survived the war, and it was one she was grateful for every day. "I keep thinking about the war."
"Understandable, given the circumstances. It has been on my mind as well. I suspect many people are experiencing these reminders."
How many Halloweens had people spent gathering with their families like this, waiting to hear who the Death Eaters had killed, not knowing if they would be targeted? It wasn't hard to imagine nearly thirty years ago her parents had sheltered with her in their cottage on Halloween night, not knowing that they'd been betrayed.
"I don't know how to fix this problem for magical Britain," she said, reminded of how Monty had told her that this had been a problem off and on for a millennia, and likely even longer.
"There has already been progress made. No one is shrugging these attacks off as only affecting muggleborns. From what I've read in the newspaper, the Ministry and the Wizengamot are taking this very seriously, is that not the case?" he asked.
"They are taking it seriously. Which is better than the beginning of either of the wars," she agreed. "It doesn't change the fact that some people think it's okay to kill muggleborns."
"Those are not people you can convince. We make changes by convincing the larger populace, and that is happening or your employment equality proposal never would have passed."
It didn't seem like enough, though, following these attacks, she wasn't sure that anything would feel like enough.