"Rachel?"
Rachel turned and found Neville standing with an ingredient kit. "Is that your new plant?"
"It is. Want to take a look?" he asked.
"I do." She followed him over to a table, moving around their friends and the kids. The entire group was at Longbottom Manor tonight for Christmas Eve.
They'd already done presents. As they'd grown older, the group had collectively decided they had too many things and had decided to do a book exchange instead of group presents. They each drew names at the start of December and selected a book for the person whose name they'd drawn. This year Rachel had drawn Hannah's name and had given her The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic for an introduction to muggle fantasy stories. She had received a present from Draco, who had given her a book about totem magic that he had gotten from overseas. Rachel was curious to discover if she could make magic by totem even work for her, and if it would have any advantages over wandless magic or wanded magic.
Neville set down the kit on the side table and opened it up so Rachel could see. "They had really shallow and stringy roots. I'm not sure we're going to get much from them," he said, starting on the left side of the kit.
Rachel picked up roots and rolled them between her fingers. They were stiff and thin and they felt oddly dry. "When did you pick these? Have they been drying?"
"Just two days ago and I've had a stasis ward on the kit. They're just like that."
"Interesting." She put the roots back and moved onto the leaves. "No stems?"
"Barely had any stems at all. Most of the growth went into the leaves and the blossoms," he said, passing her one of the leaves. "I'm not sure why. When I was cross breeding, one of the donor plants had some fairly hardy stems. This seems to have taken most of its attributes from the ground spreading plant. It grows very low to the dirt."
Rachel turned one of the leaves over. It was a deep green, with thick veins, and it was a little smaller than the palm of her hand. "I wonder what sort of fluid we can get from these veins."
"I don't know. It's worth looking into," he agreed. "I think the blossoms are what we probably will get the most results from. They're what I was aiming for with this plant."
"True, but you never know when another part of the plant will prove useful," she said, putting the leaf back into the kit. She picked up one of the blossoms and examined the petals, wishing she had both of her hands in order to manipulate it a little better. The petals were about the length of her knuckle and there were quite a few of them on the blossom. "I can't do any brewing until I'm out of this sling, but I can dry some of these while we're waiting. I think we're going to want to dry and powder the blossoms if we're aiming to use this in a salve. I'll do a few tests and see what I come up with."
"Thanks and no rush. It can wait until you have a moment," Neville said, bending down as Lisander toddled over to him.
"No, not at all. I'm looking forward to it," Rachel said, pausing to take a look around the room. People were mostly gathered in small groups. Scorpius and Sarah were on the floor, setting up a game with their new Quidditch figurines. Once their friends started having children, they'd agreed that they could do large group gifts for each child so that the kids weren't inundated with presents, though as Scorpius' godmother she always made Scorpius had an extra gift from her and Theo to open on Christmas morning.
She spotted Draco and Astoria in the corner talking to Theo and made her way over.
"Ah, so I wanted to tell you," Draco said, spotting Rachel. "The new rumor is that you and Francis have reconciled - it was all over the ball last night."
Rachel rolled her eyes while Theo chuckled. "Dare I ask if they said anything else?" she asked.
"Nothing that's made it to us so far," Astoria said, looking amused.
"Whatever," Rachel said. She wanted a full two weeks without Wizengamot drama. "There was something Theo and I have been meaning to talk to you about."
"What's that?" Draco asked.
"Scorpius has been telling us that he can hear things from his bedroom. He came and found us at the ball yesterday, and when we took him back to his bedroom, he told us he could hear music and people talking, even when we couldn't," she explained.
Draco and Astoria exchanged concerned glances.
"He has been getting up a lot in the evenings," Astoria said. "I'm not sure why he said he could hear the ball if you couldn't."
"There are spells that can let you hear things from other rooms. Could he be doing accidental magic?" Theo suggested.
"That's a complicated spell for accidental magic," Draco said.
"But not unheard of. I essentially apparated myself a short distance when I was a kid," Rachel pointed out.
"Please don't take this the wrong way, but I hope that Scorpius does not have the type of power that you have," Astoria said, shaking her head.
"I wouldn't wish that on anyone," Rachel said quickly. She wanted her godson to be as normal as possible and to have a normal life where no one was putting pressure on him to do things just because of what he was able to do. "Has he shown any accidental magic yet?"
"Not that we've seen, but it's still early. Plenty of kids don't until they're five or six," Draco said. "We're not worried about that. We'll talk with Scorpius about what he's hearing and see if we can figure out what's going on. Thanks for telling us."
"Of course," Theo said. "We just thought it was a little odd and wanted to make sure you knew."
"What are your plans for tomorrow?" Astoria asked.
"We're going to go see Severus for lunch and then Sirius for dinner. You're with your parents?" Rachel checked.
"We'll go over to Astoria's parents' house in the afternoon and then we'll be back home in the evening. Most of the aurors are on call tomorrow night, just in case," Draco said.
Rachel nodded and took Theo's hand. She hadn't forgotten that the Death Eaters liked to attack on holidays. "I hope it's a quiet night."
"We do too," Astoria said, moving so that she could wrap her arm around Draco.
"Let's not worry about it for right now," Draco said, though he put his arm around Astoria's shoulders. "Were you two planning to do anything over the break?"
"We were talking about getting a group together to go book shopping at the second hand shops," Rachel said. "Are either of you interested?"
"I'd go," Astoria said.
"Not for me, thanks," Draco said.
"Okay, we'll see who else we can get to go and figure out a date," she said.
"Daddy, I can't get this one to fly," Scorpius said, ducking by Theo to get to Draco and holding up a figure.
"Let's take a look," Draco said, allowing himself to be led away.
Rachel leaned into Theo and looked around at her friends. Their group had grown over the years, but it still felt like family.
"Do we want to see how Hermione feels about book shopping?" Theo asked.
"Sure," Rachel said. They might as well make plans while they had everyone.
Rachel woke to the feeling of a cat kneading at her chest. "Really, Dingbat?" she asked without opening her eyes. She used her right hand to try and wave her away. "I'm not your mother in that sense and you are not a kitten in need of milk."
Dingbat meowed and scooted closer.
She pet her head and back, batting her paws away a few more times before she opened her eyes and took in the early morning light that was seeping around the edges of her curtains. "If it's before seven, you are in trouble," she said, though based on the light this time of year she thought it was at least approaching seven, if not eight o'clock.
Overall she didn't mind Christmas. It was nice to spend time with the people she cared about, and after today she could take a short break and just exist for a little while. She was going to try not to think of Death Eaters today, because if she did, she would think about the Christmases they'd spent during the war. It had been far too easy to think of the war these days.
Rachel felt a little silly about her own reaction to thinking of the war, and she had this argument with herself every time it happened. In the grand scheme of things, she had not been that involved with the war. She hadn't been out with the Order or the aurors fighting battles, and for the most part her time with the aurors had not been traumatic. It was that part of her that felt like she shouldn't feel that tense stomach tightening and twisting feeling when she thought of the war.
On the other hand, she had been carrying a piece of the Dark Lord's soul with her. She had been captured and tortured. She'd had visions of people that she'd known being tortured and killed. She'd watched her aunt and uncle be tortured and murdered. She'd spent a good deal of time working on the horcrux problem, without ever being aware that she was carrying a horcrux inside of her. She'd negotiated with the Dark Lord inside her own mind. And she had literally died.
Monica had told her that she needed to honor her experiences instead of trying to downplay them. That pretending that just because something wasn't the absolute worst it could have been didn't make it bad was actually hurting her. She had also said that it was completely normal that Rachel was struggling and that pretty much anyone would be struggling after those experiences. So when Rachel felt silly for feeling her whole body tense up at the thought of Death Eaters, she tried to remind herself both that she'd been through a lot and that pretty much everyone had that reaction to Death Eaters. The nation as a whole had experienced a trauma and ten years was not enough time to heal those wounds.
"Well, I'm awake now." Thinking of Death Eaters and war had a way of waking a person up rather completely.
Rachel sat up, petting Dingbat as she scooted into Rachel's lap. "Happy Christmas to you too," she answered her purrs.
Very carefully she managed to take off her sling and then slowly took her left shoulder through the series of exercises that the Healer had prescribed. She couldn't tell if it was the exercises or just the process of healing from the procedure, but her shoulder was slowly starting to feel a little more normal. It still ached and she couldn't lean on it at all, but it was beginning to feel like it had the right parts in the right places. She supposed that was the swelling going down and all of the bone and tissues properly integrating.
When she finished, she nudged Dingbat off her lap and went to her wardrobe. She picked out a simple shirt and trousers and a set of casual robes. She didn't need anything fancy today. She used a clothes changing charm on the shirt and trousers because that was easier than trying to thread her arm through a sleeve without moving her shoulder much. Once she was dressed she managed to hook the sling back up. She was desperately tired of keeping her arm in this position and was eagerly anticipating being freed from the sling in two and a half weeks.
A charm took care of tying her hair back as well, though Rachel preferred to do that by hand when she had two hands to use. A quick peek in the mirror told her she looked presentable.
She paused by her bedside table and checked on her pocket watch. All of the hands were pointing to home, which was just where they should be this time of day.
"Have you had breakfast?" she asked Dingbat.
Dingbat meowed, which Rachel took to mean yes, but that she'd eat again if she was offered another breakfast.
"Come on then." Rachel led the way downstairs.
She went into the kitchen and found the owls on their perch. "Happy Christmas to both of you."
Neither Artemis nor Archimedes seemed particularly concerned that it was a holiday. Rachel would give them some owl treats later, though she drew the line at giving them mice. She knew perfectly well that owls were carnivores, but if they wanted to eat mice in addition to the food she gave them, they could catch them on their own.
Rachel took a moment to extend her hand and then closed her eyes as she reached for the wards. She did a quick check through the layers, testing them where they were interdependent, but found everything just as she'd left it last night. Maybe she should ask Patrick if she could have those ward constructing lessons after all. It seemed like a handy thing to learn and power would never be a factor for her when putting up wards as it was for some people. She'd have to see if she could fit it in somewhere.
She turned as she heard footsteps and found Theo in the entryway to the kitchen.
"Everything good?" he asked.
"Yes, everything is fine. Just checking. Happy Christmas."
"Happy Christmas." He moved closer and Rachel stepped into his arms.
"Is this bothering your shoulder?" he asked.
"No," she said, though since her face was on Theo's chest level while they were standing she had to turn her head when she hugged him so that she could still breathe.
They stood together for a moment and Rachel felt the steady rise and fall of Theo's chest as he breathed. With head against him, she could just barely feel his heartbeat through the thin layer of his shirt.
"Anything you want to do this morning beyond opening gifts?" Theo asked.
"Not really. Just having a quiet morning will be fine." She had gifts for the cats and the House Elves, as well as a gift for Theo.
"Breakfast first?"
"Sure." She thought she could eat. They broke apart and went to the dining table. A tea tray appeared a moment later and then their breakfasts and the newspaper.
She took a brief glance at the front page headlines as she prepared her tea, but since there weren't any attacks reported, she decided that she could take a day off from the news. If it was really important, Booker would fill her in when they were back at the Ministry.
It was nice to have an easy morning and know that nothing particularly difficult would happen that day.
"Happy Christmas," Rachel said, wrapping her arm around Severus.
"Happy Christmas to you as well," he said, embracing her in return.
She took a moment and was grateful for her father. She'd spent part of the morning writing a letter to her parents, knowing the words would reach them, and she suspected they were having their own holiday celebration and watching them as well.
"Happy Christmas," Severus said, bowing his head to Theo when they parted.
"And to you," Theo said, taking a seat on the sofa.
"Gifts now or later?" Rachel asked, setting her bag down on the sofa.
"How about after the meal," Severus suggested.
"Do you need any help with it?" she checked.
"I have certainly cooked enough Christmas roasts by now that I am capable," he said sardonically as he sat.
"I'm not questioning your capability, just if you want an extra hand," she said, sitting down next to Theo.
"I do not, but thank you. How are you both?"
"Well enough, I think," Theo said with a glance at Rachel.
"Better now that all of the holiday madness is out of the way," Rachel agreed.
"It's fortunate that the Guild wishes to cater to you in such a way," Severus said, raising his eyebrows.
Rachel winced. "I'd rather the Guild left me alone. I have no qualms with most of them, but honestly. I spent half the night telling people that I'm still planning to publish."
"Any ideas yet what that process looks like with the Unspeakables?" he asked.
"There's a board who reviews it for possible complications. Same with testing. Besides, I don't have anything to review just yet. I need to get out of this sling so I can actually brew. I might see if Neville wants to do a joint paper about his new plant, depending on what our results are," she said, figuring that they should be able to get that published both in the potions journals and the herbology journals if they found an appropriate use for it.
"New plant?"
"No name for it yet, but we're thinking about using it as a substitute in healing salves of various kinds. I'll do some testing and see what I can come up with. Again, when I'm out of this sling." She tugged on it, feeling an ache she was familiar with in her shoulder. She wanted to stretch, but that would have to wait until tonight.
"Roughly two weeks, if I'm not mistaken?" Severus asked.
"That's right. The Healers have said that I'm on track, so no worries there. It just feels like it's been forever."
"It really hasn't been that long," Theo said, patting her knee. "And you've told me you can feel it getting better."
"I can." She knew that two months was not really a long time in the big picture of things, but it felt like a long time when it was for something as simple as not being able to move her arm and shoulder.
"I'm glad it's feeling better," Severus said. "How are things in Spell Crafting?"
"Not bad. I'd like to have the paper I'm working on finished in the next month and then start revisions. My department is quieter for the time being. I don't think we're filling our open slot until the next group of students finishes with their masteries, and that won't be until July," Theo said.
Severus nodded. "And the rest of your group?"
"Everyone is fine, as far as I know. Luna and Rolf are heading off after Christmas; they've got an expedition planned. Millie and Natalie are in the middle of wedding planning. Hermione says she'll be here at least through spring, but I don't think she has firm plans just yet. Everyone else is just sort of taking things as they come, I think," Rachel said, having gotten all the relevant news from her friends yesterday.
"Good," he said with a nod. "Draco is alright with the aurors?"
"He didn't seem particularly concerned, but he's on call tonight. They're preparing for more attacks," Theo said, his hand tightening briefly.
Rachel reached down and took his hand. "Better that they're prepared. The quicker they can respond to a call for help, the more likely they are to actually catch someone who can tell them what is happening."
"That would be ideal," Severus agreed. "Regardless, I'd rather that the aurors were prepared tonight even if nothing happens. And if nothing happens, that tells us something as well."
She didn't think that was likely. She was fully anticipating that there would be attacks tonight, and she thought everyone else was too.
"How is your project coming?" Theo asked, deftly changing the subject.
"Still in early stages. Master Gilland and I are looking to divide the work into what we anticipate will function concurrently, but there is plenty to be done there. I'll have some time to work on it over the holiday, I'm not expecting to see Andrea again until the fourth and I do not wish to know what she is getting up to over the holiday," Severus said, the corner of his mouth quirking up.
"Probably best not to ask," Rachel agreed. "Is she with her family?"
"Yes, she lives at home with her fathers. Hopefully they have more reign over her than I do," he said, getting Theo to laugh and Rachel to smile.
"I'm glad she's with her family then," she said. Family was important. Despite her busy schedule, Rachel wanted to make sure she was always making enough time for her family, as unconventional as it was.
"Do you have anything you're looking forward to over the holiday?" Severus asked.
"Book shopping. We're taking a group around the second hand bookshops in a few days," Rachel said. They'd made plans yesterday and she was looking forward to it.
"It's good to know that some things never change," Severus said, smiling at them.
Rachel was certain that she would never change enough that she didn't enjoy picking up a good book. That was simply part of who she was. She relaxed into the sofa, her leg warm where it was pressed against Theo, and found herself content to spend a few hours catching up with Severus.
"Happy Christmas," Sirius called as Rachel and Theo entered the kitchen at Grimmauld Place.
"Happy Christmas to you too," Rachel said, accepting his hug.
"Moony is doing ham," he said once he released her.
"Thought we might like a break from the usual goose," Remus said. "How are you both?"
"Well enough, how are you?" Theo asked.
"Not bad. Busy as usual. Did a large Christmas dinner with the werewolf sanctuary. Full moon is coming up, so it was pretty high energy," Remus said.
"How is the sanctuary? Are the potions still being supplied as promised?" she checked. She mostly left the werewolf sanctuary to its own devices, even though it had been her proposal. The idea was that they were self governing within the sanctuary. Rachel would like to reach the point where werewolves were more integrated into the magical community, but for now the sanctuary was an intermediary step to ensure that werewolves weren't shunned or living in poverty.
"Every month, just as we set up. I'm sure the last thing anyone wants is an entire werewolf community without their wolfsbane. The sanctuary is doing well, but if we continue to expand, we're going to need more land in less than five years," he said.
"I assume someone is keeping records of the population?" she asked.
"We have records. We can prove that we're fending for ourselves. We just need space to house everyone," Remus said with a nod.
"Good. Keep them up to date and…" Rachel trailed off as she thought of the Wizegnamot. "I want to do this before the elections. Let's say in two years we'll do a proposal for an additional land grant for the sanctuary. We should have enough votes for that. When it comes time, Sirius and I will ask for the records so we can show how the land is being used and that we expect the community to continue to grow along the same lines."
"And that the community growth is mostly from foreign werewolves, not from British werewolves biting anyone," Sirius added.
Rachel nodded. A big selling point of their proposal had been to stop the transmission of the werewolf infection. If the werewolves were all contained on the full moon and under the influence of wolfsbane, the average citizen didn't need to worry about being bitten. There were still a handful of rogue werewolves out there who didn't want to join the sanctuary, but purposefully placing yourself in a position to bite someone while transformed was a crime and was dealt with by the MLE. The members of the werewolf sanctuary were just average people who happened to turn into wolves once a month. They just wanted to be ordinary people, and while the sanctuary wasn't perfect, it was better than things had been for werewolves in Britain since the anti-werewolf legislation had passed nearly forty years ago.
"Hello, Happy Christmas," Malcolm called as he entered the kitchen.
"Happy Christmas," Rachel told him with a smile, echoed by the others.
"I assume you want to hear the latest?" Malcolm asked as he set down his bag on the table.
"Do I?" she asked, because when it came to the Wizengamot, she wasn't sure that she did. She was on holiday.
"Auroris says that you have leashed Francis and that he is singing your tune now. She fully expects him to leave the Ministry faction and join yours in short order," he said, looking amused.
Rachel sighed as Sirius laughed and Remus smiled fondly at all of them.
"I give up," she said, moving to the table and sitting down.
Theo sat down next to her and patted her hand. "At least it's better than them thinking you're ousting him from the Wizengamot."
Was it? Rachel wasn't so sure.
"They'll find something new to talk about the next time something interesting happens," Sirius said. "I assume we're waiting on a new tax proposal from Francis?"
"Amelia says Alwen is working on it with him, so hopefully it will be readable this time. I'll take a look when he gives me a draft and let you know," she said, fully willing to put that off as long as possible. She had more important fish to fry than Francis' tax proposals.
"Alwen should be the one with Francis' seat," Malcolm said, taking a chair on the other side of Rachel.
"Maybe, but it's not really a good idea for all of the department heads to have seats. The idea is supposed to be that the Wizengamot is a separate body from the Ministry," Theo said.
"Supposed to be, but it hasn't functioned that way in more than sixty years," Sirius said.
"The war with Grindelwald saw to that. We lost a significant number of inherited seats in each of the wars," Remus said, turning away to check something on the stove. "The idea used to be that the Wizengamot represented the people, while the Ministry carried out the laws that the Wizengamot sat forth. They've been slowly merging for the past century. The Minister didn't used to sit on the Wizengamot at all, that changed in the war with Grindelwald and then the next Minister decided it should be a permanent arrangement."
"I still say we're better off with Alwen than Francis, regardless of his titles," Malcolm said.
Rachel couldn't argue with that, she preferred Alwen herself, but she could see the problem if the Ministry effectively controlled the Wizengamot. "Well, we'll see what happens come elections, though I don't think Alwen has any intention of running for a seat." If he was smart, and Alwen was, he wouldn't want a Wizengamot seat.
"How is your mastery coming?" Sirius asked as he passed around drinks.
"Good. I'm working on a paper. I assume you don't want details?" Malcolm asked with a small smile.
"Given that I stopped understanding anything you said about Arithmancy by the middle of your first mastery, probably not," Sirius said, smiling back.
Rachel was in the same boat, but she was glad Malcolm had something to work on. "Is this going to be the piece for the end of your mastery?" she asked, since most people finished their masteries by publishing a new work.
"It's starting to look that way. I think it's actually going to work," he said, fully smiling now.
"Good. That's excellent," Theo said, nodding to him. "What comes next?"
Malcolm shook his head. "Whatever theoretical arithmancers do with themselves after two masteries. We're not exactly covered by any of the guilds, there's not enough of us."
"How many theoretical arithmancers are there?" Rachel asked. She'd only ever met Malcolm and the three arithmancers in the Unspeakables.
"In Britain, I've met five, including Master Gibson. That seems to be all of us," Malcolm said.
"There are a few in the Unspeakables, I wonder if you've met them?" she checked.
"No, none of the ones I've met are Unspeakables. I kind of get the feeling they're not really approved of," he said.
Sirius laughed again. "I'm not sure many people exactly approve of the Unspeakables."
"I don't see why not. We're perfectly ordinary," Rachel said, to the laughter of everyone in the room. She flushed slightly. "We are. We're just people who like to research things."
"I'm sure," Remus said with a gentle smile. "But people are a little bit afraid of what the Unspeakables represent. They could be doing pretty much anything and we'd never know."
"And the rumors about what they do only fuel that suspicion," Theo said, patting Rachel's hand again.
"I think it's silly. Most of the people I've met in the Unspeakables have been very nice to me. Mostly we just talk about research and what we're studying. It's much better than the guild."
"That I can understand, no offense to you, Theo. I'm not exactly looking to join the Artifacting Guild," Sirius said. "Not that they'd have me without a fancy mastery, nor would they have Remus, for slightly different reasons."
Because he was a werewolf. Rachel thought both of those were ridiculous reasons to deny someone membership in a guild. Sirius and Remus were both talented artifactors. She knew Fred and George were both members of the Merchants Guild rather than the Artifacting Guild or the Potions Guild, because they hadn't done masteries either. "You're probably better off," she told them.
"Even I get sick of the politics in the guild sometimes," Theo said.
"We all have things to keep us busy, guilds or no," Remus said. "And Malcolm is settled enough with his Wizengamot work that he doesn't have to worry about searching for somewhere that will take theoretical arithmancers."
More to the point, Malcolm had inherited his father's estate along with his Wizengamot seat, though he refused to live in the home where he'd grown up. At least his inherited funds meant that he could work in what interested him, even if there wasn't much money in it.
"At least there's that. When I finish my mastery, I can probably take more on in the faction," Malcolm offered.
"We're happy to have you in whatever capacity you want to work with us," Rachel said. She knew Malcolm had shied away from the more heavy politics, but if he wanted to have a bigger hand in things, she could certainly use his help.
"Dinner's up," Remus said. "Come grab plates."
Rachel stood with Theo, knowing that she would need his help to serve herself food. Levitating a plate while attempting to put food on it with the same hand was sometimes a messy prospect.
She smiled to herself as they all gathered around the food. It was nice to take a break and just be with people.
Without really meaning to, Rachel wound up staying up late on Christmas night. She'd done this during the war as well, staying up late to try and delay a vision while they waited to hear if there had been an attack. Theo stayed up as well, sitting next to her on the sofa while they read. Rachel had Dingbat on her lap and Feverfew tucked up against her thigh. She'd already checked that the House Elves were taken care of for the night and the owls were out.
She was reading the book on totem magic that Draco had given her. In theory, it worked similar to a wand, with a magically resonate substance being used to channel and amplify a person's naturally directed magic. In practice it was more complicated because the societies that used totems didn't think of spells in the same way that societies that used wands did. In fact, Rachel was pretty sure all of this completely disproved the magic theory that they'd been taught at Hogwarts. Or maybe the answer was that their magic theory worked for their spell crafting and with wands, and the people who used totem magic had different types of spell crafting and magic theory. The short and long of it was that she wouldn't be able to use a totem to cast magic unless she learned an entirely different way of casting magic.
While she was interested in what totem magic could do, particularly since they discussed things that could be done with totem magic that couldn't be done with a wand, she didn't know that she wanted to devote herself to several years of learning to cast magic in a new way, or if she even could change how she cast magic at this point. If she didn't have other things that she wanted to do, she would be more tempted, but as it was, she thought she had enough projects to last her at least another decade before she considered taking on something so big.
What she wanted was to go brew, but that had to wait until she had her arm back. She'd taken off the sling so that she could rest her left hand on her lap and she was growing more and more tempted to take it off in order to sleep properly. The only thing that was keeping her from doing so was the spectre that she might do something to her shoulder in her sleep and that could mean she had to stay in the sling even longer. She could be patient. It was better to be patient and not mess anything up.
It was nearly two in the morning when Draco's ball python slithered into the sitting room. "May I join you?"
Rachel held out her right hand and concentrated for a moment to cast her Patronus. "Yes, please do. Theo and I are both here."
Theo looked at her and Rachel nodded. This sort of message in the night could only mean that someone was dead.
She picked up her pocket watch from where she'd been keeping it with her tonight and opened it. Everyone's hand but Draco's was pointed at ''home'. Draco's was pointed to 'Ministry' and then moved to 'traveling'.
The flames in the fireplace grew bigger and Draco stepped out a moment later. "I hope I didn't wake you," he said as he brushed off his blue MLE robes.
"You didn't. We were up. Come sit down," Rachel said. She reached over and took Theo's hand.
"Amelia thought I was the best one to come by and check on you. Tonks and Shacklebolt are still out, as are a few others," Draco said as he sat in one of the armchairs. "Check your wards."
Rachel held her hand out again and closed her eyes. Carefully she tested each ward, poking for any weaknesses or changes. "No, everything is as it was this morning," she said as she opened her eyes again.
"Good. Keep a close watch on them. We are certain that the Death Eaters are taking down wards before they're attacking."
"How many attacks tonight?" Theo asked, taking Rachel's hand again.
"Three that we know of. One incident of Fiendfyre, the rest were attacks on individual family homes. No sign of the Death Eaters so far - we keep getting there too late." Draco paused, looking uncertain. "One of the attacks was on an Order and MLE member."
"Who?" Rachel asked, her mind combing for people who met both those criteria.
"Emmaline and her husband were killed," Draco said, looking slightly pained. "We have people checking on her children's families, just in case."
Rachel brought her left hand to her chest. She was going to have to tell Severus, and Sirius and Remus, but it was too late tonight. She hadn't known Emmaline particularly well, but she knew they had.
"Wasn't Emmaline a pureblood?" Theo asked.
"Yes, and so was her husband. She was targeted. We'll warn all of the Order members again, as well as anyone in the MLE who fought in the wars," Draco said.
"I'll go to Severus and Sirius and Remus in the morning, unless you're planning on doing it tonight," Rachel said, not wanting to wake them if they were sleeping.
Draco shook his head. "My orders were to come check on you, make sure your wards were still up, and that you were alert."
"I think we're fine here," Theo said.
"Do Rufus and Amelia want the Wizengamot?" she checked.
"Not yet. We'll see how the rest of the night plays out."
"Any ideas about who we're looking for or how many?" Theo asked.
"They've got someone who can pull down wards without disturbing the people in the house, and that is a damn small list. Rookwood. Crouch Junior maybe. Or someone they've trained to do it. As for how many, we were hoping to figure that out with how many attacks tonight, but it's hard to tell. This could be a single group moving from place to place. Honestly, this could be a single person, but if it is, they are very skilled and powerful," Draco said, shaking his head.
"What about their information?" Rachel asked. "They have to be getting names of muggleborns from somewhere, and if they knew Emmaline was in the Order…"
"If they were a Death Eater in either of the last wars they could have easily encountered Emmaline in combat. As for names of muggleborns, that sort of census record is open to the public," Draco said with a shrug.
"Should it be?" she asked, feeling that it obviously shouldn't if people were going to be targeting muggleborns.
"Do they at least keep track of who requests to see census data?" Theo asked.
"They do, but there hasn't been anyone who hasn't had reason to do so and wasn't a Ministry employee, at least in the log of people who have accessed the information," Draco said as he stood. "Keep thinking. Maybe one of us will come up with an idea we haven't thought of yet."
Rachel nodded. "Stay safe out there, please."
"You don't have to worry about that. Amelia is worried for my safety - she doesn't want to give them the opportunity to murder a Wizengamot member - so she has decided that I'm off the roster for following up on Death Eater attacks. I can look over the scenes that are already contained by the MLE, but I'm not responding to scenes where there's a possibility that the Death Eaters are still there." Draco looked put out by this, but Rachel was privately relieved.
"Even so, watch your back," Theo said.
"I will. You too. Keep your guard up. I'll send you another message if Amelia is calling in the Wizengamot," Draco said, moving to the fireplace.
"Thank you," Rachel said, watching as he flooed away.
"Killing Emmaline is a break in their pattern," Theo said after a long moment.
"It is," she agreed. Now if only she knew what it meant.