Rachel sighed to herself as she opened the door and found herself in the room with the Veil instead of the room with the Morsius Pensieve. This was the fourth time the Department had brought her here and she wasn't sure why.
"What do you want from me?" she asked, looking around. "If there's something here you want me to see, you're going to have to be more specific."
There were no discernible changes to the way the Department was present in her mind, though Rachel could feel that she was present. Deciding that the only way to know why she was here was to actually go inside, Rachel went down the roughly hewn stone stairs and up to the platform with the Veil. She still stood by the fact that it looked nothing like a veil.
She could hear the voices growing louder as she grew closer. "Hello?" she called, though there was no change in the voices in response. Using her right hand, she boosted herself up onto the platform and walked up to the archway. She made a slow circle and saw that it was the same from both sides. If there were no voices, and if the hanging fabric wasn't moving slightly as though being blown by a light breeze, she'd say there was nothing extraordinary about it other than how old it clearly was.
After another circuit, she sat down in front of it and listened, wondering if it might make some sort of sense or rhythm if she stopped trying to make out specific words. There were very clearly multiple voices, she could make out that they were pitched differently. They seemed to be speaking over each other with no regard for the other voices, it clearly wasn't a conversation. She thought there was something almost pleading about the voices, but that could have been her projecting her own thoughts at them.
The trouble was, there was a part of her that wanted to touch it. There was a part of her that wanted to go through the Veil, and she didn't think that was part of the compulsion of the Veil. That was troubling because she thought that she'd finished being tempted by death years ago, and she didn't like what it said about her to feel this temptation again.
It had been five years since the last time she'd been seriously struggling. Between her anxiety disorder, PTSD, and depression, she'd spent a good three years struggling. If she was being absolutely honest with herself, she could admit that she'd been struggling before that as well and that she hadn't been doing the things she needed to do to take care of herself or her mental health.
Severus had been the one who had talked her into seeing a Mind Healer again, though all of her friends had let her know they were worried about her as well. The real reason she'd seen another Mind Healer had been because she was starting to scare herself with how often she thought of death and how nearby it had constantly felt.
She'd seen Monica for four years, and had spent the time really talking about her trauma, all of it, and working her way through trying not to feel like she was going to die at any moment - either by her own hand or someone else's. She'd broken up with Theo during that time as well. She'd felt too much pressure, which she could admit now was mostly her and nothing Theo was doing.
Theo had dated other people for two years. That had been painful to watch, but she had known she wasn't good for Theo in the state she had been in. She couldn't manage a relationship with someone else while she'd been fighting those demons in her own head and spending hours crying while she was plagued by anxiety attacks.
In the end, Theo had come to her and told her that he loved her and that dating other people was not working for him. He told her that sex was not a big deal to him, that he didn't have to have sex in order to be happy, and that he just wanted to be with Rachel if she would have him. Rachel had considered that for a long while and had told him that she needed to finish what she was doing with her Mind Healer and actually recover before she could make any sort of decisions about being in a relationship, and he had respected that. Nearly a year later, when she'd been feeling more stable, she'd asked Theo if he still wanted to be with her and he said that he did. About a year after that they had bought a house together, as all of their friends were at the point where they were starting to move out of the communal house they'd shared for six years.
Rachel felt very settled with Theo. They respected each other's boundaries. They supported each other through a variety of circumstances - though Rachel could admit that the crises were usually involving her in some way. They loved each other, and if Rachel thought their love wasn't quite the same as other people's love, that was alright too. Each of her friends had very different relationships with their spouses. She still had no real understanding of romance, but she knew she loved Theo and that they worked well together, and felt that was the only real thing she needed to know in that regard.
Her mental health, on the other hand, was a little more nebulous. She'd come to an understanding with her manifestation, though that had been painful and had taken a lot of work. She still experienced anxiety, though it had been years since she'd had a full blown anxiety attack. She found herself a little more somber in the winter months than the summer, which her Mind Healer had told her was common. And, of course, her sleep and nightmares had not substantively improved.
But she had thought she was entirely past the attraction of dying, and yet here she was staring at the Veil, trying to make some sort of accord that would allow her to go through. There was no such thing. Monica had told her that Rachel had made the decision to come back from the afterlife and that she'd done that for a number of reasons and none of those reasons had changed. There were still important things for Rachel to do. And, more importantly, it would hurt the people in her life a great deal if she died.
Thoughts of dying were an escape, but as it was an escape she couldn't give herself, she was only making things worse for herself by contemplating it. It was much better for her to identify what she was trying to escape from and do something about that instead. When she'd been younger, she'd been trying to escape from her ever present anxiety and the many traumas that she'd been pushing away since she'd been a young child. But she had dealt with that as best that she could.
Rachel knew that dealing with trauma did not erase it. She would always be the person who had experienced those things, and she would always carry those memories. Her PTSD was mostly handled, to the point where she didn't meet the diagnostic criteria any longer, but she still occasionally had moments where things would come up, or she'd remember something, and she'd need to sit down and let herself experience those thoughts and emotions. Monica had been very firm that Rachel had to stop pushing those feelings away and that a fair portion of her anxiety was because she was preventing herself from feeling those things.
So what was she trying to escape from now that made the Veil so tempting?
The Death Eaters were probably at the top of that list, though it was less the Death Eaters that she was escaping from and more the memories of the war that having the Death Eaters around were dragging up. Returning to dreading checking the morning paper for fear of who might be dead was not a good feeling at all. Plus the constant worry about everyone she knew who might possibly be targets. And fears of the Death Eaters escalating further. Yes, she'd very much like to escape from those feelings.
Tom Riddle's memories were another thing she'd like to escape from, but at least she was in control of when she saw those, unlike her visions, and there was a time limit. She thought that was the thing that bothered her most about watching the memories, that it reminded her of her visions. She'd already spent too much time in Tom Riddle's head and having him in hers.
There were solutions to both those problems. Stop the Death Eaters. Finish watching Tom Riddle's memories.
They hadn't seen anything from the Death Eaters since Halloween. No one could decide what that meant. Rufus was of the opinion that the fewer deaths the better, which Rachel could agree with in theory. Amelia felt they were taking the time to gather strength and recruit in secret, though none of the undercover operatives they'd sent out had been recruited yet. Rachel thought it was likely that the Death Eaters were doing something to prepare for another attack, but maybe that they were limited in some way that was keeping them from more attacks.
Finishing Tom Riddle's memories would take care of itself with time, as long as she kept pushing forward on the project. Of course, that was contingent on the Department actually letting her go to the Morsius Pensieve.
"Do you want me to go through?" she asked, tilting her head up.
She felt a shift in response to that, a near complete withdrawal of the Department from her mind. She was almost sure that the Department could understand English.
"I think it would be better for me if you don't keep bringing me here. It's not a good place for me," she told the Department, giving the Veil one last look before scooting over to the edge of the platform and easing down to the floor.
Her watch told her she'd only been in there for thirty minutes. "Can we try to go to the Morsius Pensieve please? I would like to get some work done."
There was another shift and Rachel climbed back out of the chamber, ready to see if she could face Tom Riddle's memories today.
"Thank you for coming today," Rachel said, once everyone had gathered, settled down, finished talking and getting tea and biscuits. "Does anyone have any business they'd like to share?"
"I'm working on a proposal and I'd like your notes on it," Stephen said.
"I'd be happy to do that. Just send what you've got to my clerk when you're ready and I'll take a look," Rachel said, nodding to him. Stephen was a reasonable man, she wasn't worried about anything he'd come up with.
"I heard more from Auroris," Linette said when no one spoke.
"What did she have to say for herself?" Sirius asked.
"She says Rachel has been having secret meetings with the Minister," Linette said, arching her eyebrows at Rachel.
Rachel couldn't prevent herself from sighing. "Did Auroris say what we're supposedly doing at these meetings?"
"She says that both of you want Francis voted out come next election. She wasn't clear on whether or not Amelia supported that," Linette said.
"I've heard that you're against Francis as well," Dolph said.
"Who did you hear that from?" Sirius asked, taking notes.
"My clerk, actually. Rumors are running all around about a conflict between Rachel and Francis," Dolph said, several other people nodding.
Rachel ran her hand over her face and then adjusted her glasses. "This is absolutely ridiculous. For the record, I have no problems with Francis. Amelia, Rufus, and I talked to Francis about breaking up his larger proposal into smaller ones so we could see the individual pieces of the tax code that we were voting on. That's all."
"So why are people saying that it came to you throwing Francis out of your office? What does someone gain by spreading that rumor?" Anyssa asked.
"I definitely did not throw Francis out of my office. I have no idea what anyone hopes to gain by this," she said.
"Nothing I've found says that it's Francis spreading the rumors," Sirius said.
"He seemed perfectly friendly to me when I spoke with him the other day," Neville said.
Rachel nodded. Booker hadn't been able to discover the source of the rumors either, but he had said that Francis' clerk was being cordial to him when they spoke. "I don't know. For the time being, if someone says something to you about this, please let me or Sirius know so we can see if we can figure out where these rumors are coming from. If we can figure out who is telling people this, maybe we can get them to stop. Anything else?"
"I spoke with Adam Harkness. He read your proposal and he'd like to speak with you about it at some point in the new year," Draco said.
"Thank you. I'll make sure it gets on my calendar," she said, seeing Sirius make another note.
"How is the House Elf proposal progressing?" Stephen asked.
"We're at a standstill at the moment. I have Ethan and Amelia's support. I'm intending to talk with Rufus and Janice in the new year once things have settled down a little bit. Hopefully by then the Guilds will have their faction back in order."
"Has Amelia said anything further about the Death Eater situation?" Malcolm asked.
"Not at this time. We're anticipating attacks around Christmas, assuming the Death Eaters are following their traditions from the wars. Remember to have a good stock of floo powder and call the MLE at the first sign that anything seems odd or strange. Don't stay and fight," she reminded all of them.
Several people around the room nodded, their moods abruptly somber.
"If there's nothing else pressing, I'd like to bring a problem to the attention of the faction, and maybe we can discuss how to solve it. We all sat on the recent trial for Teresa Faye. It was very clear to me, and I hope it was clear to most of you as well, that she was not competent to stand trial. I've done some research and we don't seem to have any provisions for mental incompetency. The only option the MLE has is to send someone to trial when they have broken the law, regardless of their state. We have provisions for when children are underage, so that they have more opportunities to be rehabilitated, but we do not have any options besides voting someone guilty or not guilty when they are an adult."
"But, Rachel. She clearly did do the murders. She admitted it herself," Thomas said.
"I don't dispute that she killed her children and her husband, but her answer as to why she did it is very telling. They checked her for compulsion charms and other spells, I asked Amelia, but she was behaving as though she was compelled. She wasn't well enough to tell right from wrong, and until she is, she can't answer for her crimes. There is no sense in punishing her for being ill, regardless of the outcome of that illness," Rachel explained, trying to keep her voice as calm and steady as possible.
"But surely she should not be free either?" Linette asked, sounding uncertain.
"Not free in that state, where she might hurt herself or someone else, no. But prison isn't the appropriate environment for her. She needs to be in a hospital where they can treat whatever is wrong with her, if it can be treated, or kept there if she cannot be treated," Rachel said.
"So you would have us vote to send her to a hospital instead?" Malcolm asked.
"I don't know," she admitted. "This is why I wanted to speak with all of you about it, to see if we might come up with what might be a reasonable solution for someone who has committed crimes but is not well enough to answer for their crimes."
The room was somewhat quiet for a moment, people shuffling a little and the clink of teacups against saucers.
"I think it comes down to responsibility," Stephen said after a long moment. "If someone is under the Imperius curse or is otherwise compelled to violent action, we do not hold them responsible. They had no choice in the matter. If someone is too ill to know what they are doing, and I would posit that any person who insists that they must murder their own children is ill by the very nature of the act, then how can we hold them responsible if the illness compelled them in the same way that a curse would?"
"I don't know that it's always illness that causes people to do such a thing," Malcolm said, looking uncomfortable.
"No, I don't think it is always illness," Rachel agreed, knowing that Malcolm was thinking of his own father. "And we need to find a way of determining if what a person does is because of illness or for some sort of motive. I'm hoping that a Mind Healer would be able to definitively tell if someone was ill in such a way."
"So an assessment by a Mind Healer is probably the first step, but how do we keep people from bribing them?" Draco asked.
There was a problem Rachel hadn't even considered, but she could immediately see that people might try to say they were ill to get a lesser sentence or a stay in a hospital instead of being confined to the prison. She knew Amelia took a firm line with bribery in the MLE, but she also knew that they weren't always successful at finding the MLE employees who were taking bribes either. "That will be a problem we will need a way to solve," she agreed.
"Say they get assessed by a Mind Healer, and they say that they committed the crime because they're ill. What do we do with them then?" Arkady Robson asked. She was a recent member of Rachel's faction and tended not to speak overly much at larger meetings.
"I think the Mind Healer would have to recommend what treatment the person needs to receive to recover," Linette said, nodding to herself. "If their crime are dangerous, they would need to be confined during treatment, until the Mind Healer felt they were no longer a danger to anyone."
"Would the Wizengamot even need to vote?" Neville asked. "If the Mind Healer decides what should be done with them, what would the Wizengamot be voting on?"
"The Wizengamot still needs to vote," Sirius said quickly. "I think the Wizengamot votes as to whether or not the person has done what they're accused of, regardless of their culpability, and instead of a prison sentence, the sentence is that they are compelled to the course of treatment. Sometimes the MLE makes mistakes."
Rachel nodded. She thought the trial was still necessary as well, just in case. "I agree. This can't be a unilateral decision on the part of the MLE."
"Where would we even put these people? I'm not sure there are even going to be people for this to be applicable to," Dolph said.
"Once was enough. And, I suspect, if we looked over records, there are probably other people who went to trial who were not mentally competent," Rachel said, though that was a problem to tackle once they had the legal part figured out. "As for where to put them, I suppose we need some sort of secure hospital ward. Does anyone else have questions or thoughts that we want to discuss right now?"
There were murmurs and shaken heads up and down the table.
"Alright. Think on it for now and let me know your ideas. I'm going to continue to do research and hopefully we can draft a proposal over the next few months. Thank you for coming today and I will see you all at the Wizengamot Christmas Ball," Rachel said, wondering how it had come to be that time of year already. Christmas had simply snuck up on her.
"Ready?" Theo asked from her doorway.
"If I have to be," Rachel said, still fussing at the way the sleeve of her gown was gathered inside the sling. It wasn't exactly comfortable. She was thoroughly ready to be done with the sling, but her Healer had told her she could only take it off to do the exercises he'd prescribed and then to ice her shoulder afterward. While she was doing that dutifully, and her shoulder was slowly starting to function like it was actually part of her body, it was still a massive pain in the ass.
"You know, we really don't have to go if you don't want to," he said.
"We really do," she said, her focus still on the mirror. She needed to sleep more. No wonder Severus had been fussing over her last Sunday, she looked exhausted. It was easy to say that she'd sleep more when her shoulder was bothering her less, but she wasn't sure it would work out that way in practice. Her sleep had been growing steadily worse for a few months now and she wasn't sure what to do to fix it.
"Rachel, we really don't. Ethan and Miranda will understand."
That time she turned to look at him. "You do not have to go if you do not want to go. I need to be there." He looked as nice as always in his dress robes, though she knew neither of them particularly enjoyed dressing up to go to these things.
"It's not about me not wanting to go, it's about you not wanting to go," he said, leaning against her door frame.
Rachel shook her head. "It's political. People need to see me there. I can feel about the Guild however I feel about it, but I need to maintain good public relations with them. And I need Ethan's vote and voice in the Wizengamot. It would be stupid of me to rebuff him like this."
"Send him a message saying you're not well tonight and apologize for your absence. He'll understand."
He would understand, but Rachel couldn't do that. "I'm well enough to go to a dinner party. I'm just tired. After Christmas day we will have a break. We're not expected at anything after that until the new year."
"Your choice," Theo said. "But I think you look like you need a night in."
"Do I really look that bad?" she asked, turning back to the mirror.
"I'm not saying you look bad, I'm saying you look stressed and uncomfortable. You look as lovely as ever," he said quickly.
Rachel ran her hand through her hair again and wondered if she could get Theo to help her put it up. It was difficult to do that sort of thing one handed and she could not rotate her left shoulder enough to put her left hand behind her head yet, even if she did take off the sling.
"I was not trying to make you self conscious," Theo said, coming over to her side and putting his hand on her arm. "You're beautiful, Rachel. The only reason I can tell you're stressed and tired is because I see you every day."
"You're biased on both of those counts." Rachel knew she was no great beauty. She was a little plain looking, she had kept her glasses simply because she was used to them, and her hair tended to overwhelm her other features.
"Perhaps," he admitted. "Is there anything I can say that will help?"
"No. Let's just do this. We really shouldn't have to do too much politicking tonight. Ethan is the only other person in the Potions Guild who is on the Wizengamot, and my relationships with Master Gilland and Master Anderson are at least cordial. Everyone else we can deal with."
"Worst comes to worst, we can stand near Severus and he will fend them off," Theo pointed out.
Rachel knew this was true. Severus was not unwilling to be acerbic to people who were bothering her in his presence.
"Are we at the Guild for this?" Theo asked.
"Yes, it's the only place big enough to hold us all. I'll take us," she said, taking one last look in the mirror and then reaching for Theo's hand.
They arrived in the atrium of the Potions Guild a moment later and Rachel took a moment to school her expression into something that hopefully looked like she was pleased to be there instead of simply tolerating it.
"Anyone in particular we need to put appearances in with?" Theo asked as they moved toward the meeting hall.
"Ethan and Miranda, of course. I'd like to say hello to Emlyn and her new apprentice. Severus wanted to introduce us to Andrea. And if we see Master Gilland or Master Anderson I should at least say hello and be polite to them." Everyone else she was avoiding as much as possible.
"We can do that. Really ready this time?" he asked as they approached the open doors.
"As ready as I'm going to be." Rachel tucked her hand around Theo's forearm and they entered the room together.
The room was ordinarily set up as a large auditorium for Guild meetings and presentations, but today had a large table in the shape of a U that ran around the edges of the room. At least no one expected them to dance. That would be at the Wizengamot Christmas Ball in three days.
It was early enough that no food had yet been served and people were gathered in small groups as they conversed. Rachel was mildly amused, as she usually was at Guild events, to see that everyone had managed to change out of their brewing robes and into something at least approximating formal wear. She was far more used to seeing potioneers in stained robes and with their hair pulled up so that it was safely away from their cauldrons.
"I see Ethan and Miranda," Theo said after a moment.
"Where?" she asked.
"To our right," he said, turning her slightly.
She followed his gaze and saw that Ethan and Miranda were talking to Master Davis Oakley. "We'll drop by later. I don't want to talk to Oakley."
The corner of Theo's mouth twitched up. "Duly noted. Anyone else we're avoiding?"
Since she couldn't say that she really wished to avoid everyone, she took another glance around the room. "There. Mistress Haley Lassel. She is the source of almost all of the Guild gossip and drama."
"The one in the burgundy gown? Long black hair?" Theo checked.
"That's her. We can't look like we're avoiding her, but we are," Rachel said, reminding herself that she really only needed to deal with the Guild twice a year. She half thought Cyril and Mirabel had the right idea hiding out in the Unspeakables.
"Good to know. What do you want to do?" he asked.
"Not stand out here waiting for someone to approach us. Let's go get drinks," she said, pointing them in the direction of the bar.
A few minutes later, each of them with a glass of white wine, they began to walk the edge of the room.
"Mistress Snow, it's good to see you. It's been a while," Master Tulane said, bowing to her.
Rachel curtsied while Theo bowed. "It's good to see you as well, Master Tulane. I'm afraid the Ministry keeps me very busy."
"Well, it would, now that you've gone and joined the Unspeakables on us. I suppose we won't see you publishing in the future," he said, arching his eyebrows.
"I still intend to publish, nothing to fear there," she said. "I hope you have a good evening."
"You as well," he said, bowing again as Rachel stepped away.
She rolled her eyes once her back was fully to him. "I'm going to be getting that all night."
"Most likely. It will stop once you publish again," Theo said.
"It hasn't even been a year since my last article," she said, though she was now thinking that she should do an updated review on ingredients that were related to sleeping potions. On the other hand, she wanted to see if any of her experiments worked first, and then she'd just publish those recipes. The review paper would have to wait until after her experiments. She didn't want anyone using that to formulate a potion before she had the chance to. And for that, she needed her left arm back.
"I see Severus," Theo said.
"About time," she said, fully willing to go hide by him so that people would leave her alone.
They made their way over to Severus, stopping several times for similar conversions as people flagged her down.
"Rachel," Severus said, smiling as he saw her. "May I introduce my current apprentice, Andrea Devar. Andrea, this is my daughter, Mistress Rachel Snow and her partner Master Theo Nott."
Andrea, a young woman who still looked as though she belonged at Hogwarts, smiled at them. "It's an honor to meet you, both of you. Master Snape has told me all about your work. What made you decide to focus on sleeping potions?"
"I've found that the need for specific sleeping potions wasn't being met by the potions community and decided to do what I could to develop potions that were both safer and more useful for people who need them," Rachel said, which was her fallback answer when anyone questioned her about why she wanted to brew sleeping potions. They didn't need to know about her own struggles.
"But you've been working in sleeping potions for a decade. Surely if there was more to do there you would have found it by now," Andrea said.
Well, Severus had said that Andrea was blunt. "I think there's still more to be done. Dreamless Sleep in particular is still only a twice a week potion and I'd like to safely extend that if at all possible."
"As you know, before Rachel made improvements, the general use sleeping potion could only be used twice a week at safe dosages," Severus said, looking slightly weary. "This sort of thing takes time, sometimes even decades of work."
Andrea shrugged. "It just seems to me that there's only so many possible combinations a person can try."
"You might be surprised," Rachel said. "When you start considering ingredients that aren't commonly used in the type of potion you're working on, you can do a lot of unexpected things. Do you have plans for what you want to do after your Mastery?"
"Oh, well, invent mostly. Doesn't everyone?" Andrea asked, looking at Severus.
"Most people will invent on the side, but there are many things you can do with your Mastery, which we will discuss at another time," Severus said.
Rachel smiled. She could remember going into her Mastery with lofty goals of inventing grand things. Reality would catch up with Andrea sooner or later.
"How do you wind up with the Unspeakables?" Andrea asked eagerly, to Severus' obvious dismay.
"They invite you, usually after you've shown yourself to be notable in some way," Rachel explained.
Andrea nodded. "I can do that."
Rachel, Theo, and Severus all shared knowing gazes. Sometimes it was nice to have left youthful optimism behind.
The annual Wizengamot Christmas Ball was hosted at Malfoy Manor this year. Rachel did not envy Draco and Astoria the amount of work that came with setting up such a thing and was very glad she and Theo had decided upon having a modest home that made any sort of large gathering impractical. Their home was their private space and for the most part Rachel only wanted her closest friends and family there.
"Rachel, lovely to see you," Andre said, turning from where he'd been in conversation with Rufus and Amelia.
"It's wonderful to see you as well. How are you?" Rachel asked, giving a curtsy while Theo bowed.
"Oh, busy as usual. It will be nice for the Wizengamot to have a short break. I might actually see my husband for a few days," Andre said, nodding slightly to Rufus.
"I'm certain the entire Wizengamot will be glad for a break," Rufus said. "Do you have any plans? Traveling?"
"Not for us, I'm afraid. We're quite boring," Rachel said.
"We tend to prefer a quiet life," Theo added with a rueful smile.
Amelia laughed. "If I didn't know the two of you better, I could believe that."
Rachel smiled. Her life was rarely quiet, but she and Theo tried to make their time together as low stress as possible. It was good to have someone to rely on and to just spend time with where it wasn't always solving a problem.
"I wanted to speak with you about something," Rufus said.
"What's that?" Rachel asked.
"These rumors about you and Francis. Any ideas?"
"They're not coming from Francis. I've already spoken with him and he's as flummoxed as we are," Amelia said.
"The most recent one I've heard is that we're having secret meetings and plan to oust Francis from the Wizengamot at the next election," Rachel told Rufus.
Rufus shook his head and snorted. "What in Merlin's name are they trying to accomplish? I can't even tell if this is supposed to be directed at you or at Francis. Any idea who is spreading them?"
"I know Auroris is involved somewhere, and the clerks of course," Rachel said.
"I don't see Auroris as the source though. Whatever would she have to gain by it? She's not in competition with you," Amelia said.
"This is why I'm a chef," Andre said with a wink at Theo.
"The politics at the Spell Crafting Guild are more than enough for me," Theo admitted.
"Well, keep your ears out for anything further. I'm not even sure whether or not I should direct you to speak with Francis publicly tonight," Rufus said. "Might just be fanning the flames."
"I can't look like I'm avoiding him either," Rachel said. "Amelia, has he actually talked with Alwen about his proposals?"
"I forced him to, yes, and they're sorting it out. Expect new drafts with Alwen's comments in the next month or two," Amelia said, rolling her eyes. "I also told him the next time he tries to put forth a tax proposal without going through National Finance it will be the last time he proposes anything."
"Good," Rachel said, glad that the problem was at least being solved. "I'll give him my notes after that and hopefully that should be the end of it."
"Hopefully," Rufus agreed. "Anything else I should be aware of?"
"Not at the moment. Things should be quiet until at least after the new year," she told him.
Rufus nodded. "I'll let you enjoy your night then."
"Thank you, you as well," Rachel said, latching onto Theo as they moved away.
"Do we actually want to track down Francis?" Theo asked, looking over the ballroom.
"I probably should at some point." If people saw her being friendly to him, maybe it would stop the rumors that they were arguing.
"Anyone else we need?"
"No, we can let people come to us." She was certain she'd see Janice and Ethan and she'd check in with her faction as she saw them tonight.
"Would you like to dance?" he asked.
"Are you serious? I'm in a sling," she said, looking up at him.
"We can make it work. You can hold my hand and I can put my other hand at your waist."
"Do you want to dance?" she asked, because it seemed like he did.
"I wouldn't say no to dancing and it would get you away from everyone for a few minutes," he pointed out.
There was that. "Alright. We can try, but if we look ridiculous it's your fault."
"I will gladly accept the blame," he said, leading her to where a number of other couples were dancing.
Rachel took his hand and watched him hesitate for a moment before he reached around her left elbow and put his hand at her hip.
"Am I jostling your shoulder like this?" he asked, looking slightly worried.
"No, it's fine," she said.
They began to move in time to the music, Rachel letting Theo guide her. They had danced together at enough events throughout their lives that dancing with him was easy. She listened to the music for a moment - there was a small orchestra at the corner of the ballroom - and it was nice to take a few minutes away from the people and the politicking.
"Rachel! Theo!"
They turned in unison just in time for Scorpius to run up to them.
"It is way past your bedtime," Theo said, leaning down to pick him up. "And I know your parents told you that you couldn't come into the ballroom tonight."
"I couldn't sleep. It's too loud," he said, burying his face in the shoulder of Theo's dress robes. "I don't want to be by myself."
"Come on, we'll take you back upstairs and sit with you while you fall asleep," Rachel said.
"And a story," Scorpius said.
"And a story," Theo agreed.
They left the ballroom together, nodding to the aurors guarding the door. It was a good thing that people knew Rachel was Scorpius' godmother or they might have thought they were kidnapping a child. Rachel had been very firm that the newspapers and magazines stay out of her godson's life. There were no published pictures of them together, no articles, nothing, and Rachel intended for it to stay that way. She had no intention of putting her godson in danger just by association with her and she and Theo had a long talk about that with Draco and Astoria before they'd ever accepted the roles of being godparents to begin with.
"You can hear the ball from in here?" Rachel asked once they were in Scorpius' bedroom with the doors closed. She couldn't even hear the orchestra from this side of the manor.
"Yes," Scorpius said as Theo set him down in his bed.
"What do you hear?" she asked. "Right now."
"I hear people talking and I hear music," he said, almost petulantly.
"From right here in your bed?" Theo asked.
"Yes. I do."
Rachel glanced at Theo and decided that she was going to bring that up to Astoria and Draco because that hadn't been the first time recently that Scorpius insisted that he could hear things from his bedroom that she couldn't see how he could possibly hear.
"What story do you want tonight?" Theo asked.
"I want Rachel to read me a story," Scorpius said.
"Which story?" Rachel asked, moving to his bookshelf.
"Tell me about Hogwarts."
She exchanged glances with Theo again but moved to sit on Scorpius' bed, spreading out the skirt of her gown so she wouldn't overly wrinkle it. "Hogwarts is a very big castle set on quite a lot of land. There's the lake, and deep down in the lake there are merpeople and a giant squid. There's the Forbidden Forest, where there are a lot of creatures, such as unicorns and thestrals and centaurs, but you must never go into the forest."
"And there's the Quidditch pitch," Scorpius added, rolling onto his side to look at them.
"And there's the Quidditch pitch," she agreed. "The Quidditch pitch has four sections of stands, one for each House, and then the teachers and staff have their own place where they sit. And each House has a Quidditch team."
"And you and daddy were on the Slytherin team."
"We were. And Aunt Ginny was on the Gryffindor team."
"I'm going to be on the Slytherin team," Scorpius said.
"Maybe. You don't know what House you'll be in until you get to Hogwarts. And when you go to Hogwarts you'll have a dorm room that you share with the other boys in your House and year. And you'll go to all sorts of classes," she continued. She had liked being a Slytherin - most of the time - but she wanted Scorpius to have all of his options open to him.
"And friends. There will be lots of people to be friends with. And Sarah and I will be in the same year. And Cygnus and Lisander will come two years after I go."
"That's right. You're going to have lots of friends at Hogwarts," Theo agreed with an almost wistful smile. "It will be a lot of fun. And you're going to start tutoring next year, so you'll be ready to go to school."
Scorpius yawned. "I'll be in the Youth Leagues in the summer. I'll be five."
"You will. You're growing up so fast." She fully meant that. It seemed like the past few years had passed in no time at all.
"And we're having dinner tomorrow at Auntie Hannah and Uncle Neville's. For Christmas Eve. And then it will be Christmas, and we're going to Nana and Grandad's house after presents for lunch."
"It's a busy couple of days," Rachel agreed. "If you go to sleep, when you wake up it will be Christmas Eve."
Scorpius' eyes were mostly shut at this point.
Rachel took Theo's hand and waited to see if Scoripus was going to pop awake again, but slowly his breathing evened out and his eyes remained closed. They stood and Theo settled Scoripus' blankets before they snuck out of his bedroom.
"Do you think he could really hear the party?" Theo asked once they were on the stairs.
"I don't know. I don't see how, but I'm going to tell Draco and Astoria anyway so they know that it's happening," she said. "Can accidental magic work like that? There's a spell that allows you to hear better over a distance."
"I don't know. I've never heard of that before, but it might be possible," Theo said. "He could want to hear what's happening so badly that he makes it happen."
"Maybe." Rachel supposed she'd heard of stranger things happening.
They re-entered the ballroom and she spotted Francis nearby. "Might as well get this over with. Ready?"
"Ready," Theo said, offering her his arm.
Rachel latched on and they moved together over to where Francis was standing with a glass of wine.
Francis' eyes widened slightly when he saw her. "I swear, I did not say anything. I do not know how these rumors got started."
"I know," Rachel said. "Rufus, Amelia, Sirius, and I are trying to get to the bottom of it, but I know it has nothing to do with you. Do you have enemies within the Wizengamot who might be trying to stir things up?"
"Enemies? No. I mean, Turner and all them, but nothing to cause this. I don't even speak with them," Francis said, shaking his head. "I'm not even sure what they want."
"I'm not sure either," Rachel said. "Would you mind having your clerk let my clerk know if you hear anything new? Hopefully we can track it down to someone if we can figure out where the rumors are originating."
"Yes, of course. Whatever I can do to help. I was wondering if I could send you a new draft proposal in the next month or so, for your thoughts?" he asked, sounding uncertain.
"I'd be happy to. Will Alwen be commenting as well?" she checked.
Francis flushed. "Yes, I'll have Alwen's comments as well."
"Then I'm happy to look and I'll let you know what I think about it. I hope you have a good evening," she said, curtsying to him as Theo gave him a short bow.
He bowed. "Yes, thank you. You as well."
Rachel fixed a smile on her face as they walked away, fully aware that people had watched that exchange and that anyone nearby would spread the conversation to their friends and allies in short order.
"Who's next?" Theo asked.
"Anyone who I don't want to strangle," she said, nodding in the direction of a few of her faction members and reminding herself that politics wasn't everything in her life.
"Well, that was a night," Theo said, returning to the sitting room. He was just in trousers and a t-shirt and his feet were bare.
"It was," Rachel agreed. She was just in her nightgown and she was hoping that in the next hour or so she would be relaxed enough that she could consider going to bed. "I want this off," she said, her right hand grappling with the straps of her sling.
"Here, let me." Theo sat down on her left side and undid the clasp holding the upper part of the sling and carefully threaded it off her arm.
Rachel sighed as she extended her arm. "I can't wait for that thing to come off permanently."
"How is your shoulder feeling?" he asked, watching her closely.
"Manageable," she said, gently moving her arm up a little bit and back down again. "I definitely don't have a full range of motion just yet, but it's starting to feel a little more normal."
"Have the Healers said if this is about where you should be?"
"At each of my check-ups they've said I'm on track, so I would assume so." She took the moment to clench and release her hand and then rolled her wrist a few times before tentatively moving her arm out to the side. She could lift her elbow a little ways up before her shoulder gave her a warning to stop.
"Then you should be on track for removing the sling entirely in the middle of January?" he checked.
"That's right. Twenty three days. I have a countdown." Rachel leaned against the back of the sofa and reached to take Theo's hand. She'd put the sling back on before going to bed.
"Anything we want to do after all of the Christmas stuff is over?" Theo asked after a moment.
"I don't have anything in mind. Did you?"
"Nothing in particular. We might invite some people over for lunch or dinner while most of us have a few days off," he suggested.
"We can do that. Maybe gather a group of us up and we can go book shopping," she said. She'd been meaning to get something new to read for a while now.
"That would be nice. I was thinking about what Andre and Rufus said. It's been a while since we've been anywhere. We could take a trip once things have settled down."
"Where would we go?" The only times she'd traveled outside of Britain had been for things that were necessary for the Wizengamot or when she'd gone to train in elemental magic.
"We could go on holiday. There are a lot of places we haven't seen. We could go see one of the matches leading up to the World Cup, or we could go to a beach resort or an island."
Rachel settled in closer to Theo. "I suppose we could. It would have to be in between Wizengamot meetings. And after my proposals. And we need to deal with the Death Eaters first."
She felt Theo nod. "It might be a little while. But it's an option we haven't really looked at. When are you back at the Ministry?"
"Not until the fourth. You were planning on going back to the Guild on that same day?" she checked.
"Yes. That gives us nearly ten days. We have plenty of time to relax."
Rachel yawned. "That will be nice. I think we need it."
"I think we do," he agreed.