Diet

Eileen and Sev finished lunch.

"Are you going to take a nap, Mum?" he asked her.

"Not at all, I still feel rested, and if I sleep now I will sleep worse at night, and I want to do it early to go to work tomorrow."

"Mum, come on, take another day off. You never miss work, your clients will understand. What excuse did you give them?"

"That you were coming back from boarding school."

"Of course. Then don't go to work tomorrow either, sleep a lot tonight too, even if you go to sleep late."

"But without having to go shopping and without you being home I'm going to get bored," she objected.

"Go out to the center for a while to buy bread and then continue reading the book 'The Way of the Stars'. Also, think about one thing. Jack is coming tonight to start teaching you Occlumency. Maybe he wants to continue tomorrow morning, he'll be busy with me on Saturday maybe all day, and from next week he has to accompany me to St. Mungo's. You better resolve that matter as soon as possible."

"True, you're right. In that case yes, I'll take tomorrow off too to be available for him. Tell Deborah when you talk to her in the afternoon so she can let him know as soon as possible."

"Okay, I'll tell her, but it's not essential, you're going to see him soon after," agreed Sev.

"In principle they're coming to dinner, we already appointed last night."

"Really? And that?"

"They proposed it to me yesterday, so I'm not alone while you're away," explained Eileen.

"So many plans you make behind my back."

"We have our own life."

"True."

"Anyway, tell Deborah about tomorrow, so they know as soon as possible," she said.

"Okay… I'll tell her to tell Jack… So, if you're not going to take a nap, I'll make tea for both of us. Do you fancy it?"

"Yes, I do, and I'm going to have it with milk, like you. Deborah explained to me last night that at my age, and especially being a woman, it's also very important to drink a lot of milk, since bones tend to decalcify with menopause."

"Oh… Deborah knows a lot about health and medicine," he commented.

"Of course."

"What is menopause?"

"The interruption of the period, it occurs between forty-five and fifty years, sometimes earlier, sometimes later," explained his mother.

"Has it happened to you yet?"

"No, not yet, but I'm starting to have it irregular."

"Ugh…"

"The first warnings," she explained. "The Muggle doctor also told me that my sleeping problems could also be due to that."

"Oh…"

"And not only that, many women get hot flashes, heat attacks. Most of my clients who have already had it have had them."

"What a cross you women have," lamented Sev.

"Of course, Severus. All our life putting up with our period and when it disappears it's even worse."

"I'm going to clear the table, prepare the tea, wash up what we've soiled and we'll talk about it for a while, okay? I intended to do it with my friends but in the end I didn't have the chance, I barely know anything and I'm very interested in knowing."

"Sure, I'll tell you everything you want, I know a lot because I deal with a lot of women. I'll help you clear the table."

"No, Mum, you've already made lunch, rest on the couch or go organize what you've bought."

"True, besides, I also have to make my bed, this morning I was so hungry that I left it unmade."

"Another time I'll teach you how to make it with magic."

"I know how to do it with magic, Severus, what were you thinking? It's my job, that's how I do it at my clients' houses."

"Oh... you've never taught me... Hippolyta had to do it."

"Because you can't do it like that at home. I was planning to do it as soon as you came of age, also cooking, washing clothes and everything else."

"Of course, of course…"

"Speaking of which, I noticed yesterday that you had washed your clothes. Don't beat yourself up, Severus, washing clothes by hand is very hard, and you have a lot to do. If you have enough clothes to change into, leave them in the laundry basket and I'll do it, with magic it takes a moment."

"Okay, Mum."

"Well, let's each go about our business and we'll meet here when we're done for tea. For me, with milk and no sugar."

"Great." Sev cleared the table, stoked the stove and put the water on to heat for the tea and milk. While the tea was warming up and steeping, he washed the plates and cooking utensils. Then he poured the cups and took them into the living room, where his mother was already waiting for him on the couch. He sat down next to her and handed her a cup, and they held it in their hands while chatting.

"Where do you want me to start?" she asked him. "What do you already know?"

"Just nothing, that girls become women in their first few years at Hogwarts."

"Very well, that's normal, between eleven and thirteen, but there are some who start even earlier, huh? And others who start later, until fourteen, it's normal. If you're not a woman at fifteen, there may be some health problem."

"Last night, Deborah also mentioned to Hippolyta's parents that the age at which you become a woman is also hereditary," he explained. "She asked Andrea and she had become one at eleven, so it's not normal for her daughter not to be one at fourteen."

"It's possible, but it's not always like that, huh? I've known sisters who were perfectly healthy and one had it at eleven and another at fourteen."

"Oh…"

"Of course, Hippolyta's thing must be because of her health problem, but it's not so strange or unusual to be a woman at fourteen, she has time to recover," Eileen said.

"Great."

"In fact, it's better if she takes a while to get it, because as soon as she does, she'll stop growing so quickly, she'll stay short."

"Ugh... In my premonition in Erised I see her almost as tall as me," commented Sev.

"Strange, very strange, girls barely grow any more as soon as we have our period."

"Ugh... Indeed you have a cross."

"And I've barely told you anything," she said.

"Tell me, tell me."

"Some people don't realize they have it, they just lose blood and that's it, but there are those who have a really bad time, debilitating pains, cramps, indigestion, dizziness due to low blood pressure, everything. Especially the first periods, until they become regular, but there are women who suffer from it all their lives, some of my clients even take sick leave on those days of the month."

"Ugh..." he lamented.

"I had a lot of pain when I was young. Back in Hogwarts, we didn't have the amazing contraceptive potion they have now, which takes away everything, the bleeding, the pain, everything. Now girls don't know when they have their period."

"Well... But that's not natural either."

"But it's a great advantage, Severus, I told you that it incapacitates many Muggles."

"Yeah."

"I stopped hurting when I had you. It's also common for the burden to become lighter when you have a child."

"Well... I imagine you kept taking contraceptive potion during the first years of your marriage so you wouldn't have me," Sev supposed.

"Of course, Severus. Your father was dying to have children, I didn't want to take the risk, and at that time, the only Muggle contraceptive that existed was one that only men can use, condoms."

"What is that?"

"A plastic cover that you put on your thing so that when you come it doesn't come into contact with the woman's body," explained his mother.

"Ugh... how unpleasant…"

"Of course, it must be, for both of them, too. You don't know how lucky we are to be witches. We have known about contraceptives and abortifacients since time immemorial."

"True."

"There's a reason Christians burned witches," she explained. "Contraceptives are prohibited by the Church, they say it's a sin to do so if it's not for procreation."

"Ugh…"

"One more reason why your father didn't use them."

"Of course…"

"And I won't say anything about abortion, it's allowed in very few countries," continued Eileen. "Again we're lucky to be British, many foreigners come here to have abortions, because in their countries they would have to do it illegally and unprofessionally, even risking death."

"Ugh…"

"And that's for those who can, of course, the rich. The poor ones, they have to deal with the child."

"How awful…" he lamented.

"I've had more than one client who has had to get her daughter out of trouble like that."

"Of course."

"They tell me everything because I give them a lot of confidence and they know that I am very discreet and I don't go around telling the others the story, they vent to me, but still, at this point, it's embarrassing that your daughter gets pregnant when she's still very young and without having her life figured out," she explained.

"Yes, I can already imagine that."

"Women are still very repressed."

"Of course," agreed Sev.

"I'll keep telling you. In summer, with the heat, it's worse, more prone to low blood pressure and dizziness."

"Ugh…"

"It happened to me when I was young, the first four or five years," added his mother.

"At what age did you have your first one?"

"I was lucky, it came quite late, at thirteen, that's why I also grew so much."

"Of course…"

"And luckily enough, I got it in winter and at Hogwarts," she said. "Even though the contraceptive potion didn't eliminate the pain, in the Infirmary they gave me another one for the pain, sometimes my friend went to get it for me, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get out of bed."

"And don't Muggles have medicines for pain?"

"Of course they do, but they don't work for all of them, Muggle medicines aren't that wonderful either."

"Well... One question. The contraceptive potion, how often do you take it?" he asked.

"The one we had, every week. The one they have now, once a month."

"And how do you know about the one they have now?"

"Because I was talking about it with Lily and her mother that Easter night when we had a girl talk," answered Eileen.

"Of course... And how do they do it in the summer?"

"They bring the dose for two months to home. You know very little, huh? To be surrounded by so many women."

"Yes, I have been very lazy about it," admitted Sev.

"Very typical of men, that we have to take charge of that issue completely. I take this opportunity to tell you that now, luckily, there are Muggle contraceptives that women can use, even secretly from men. The best, a true revolution that has allowed the sexual freedom that has occurred in recent years, is the contraceptive pill. It is not only a contraceptive, but it also regulates the period and relieves the symptoms. In fact, many doctors prescribe it simply for that to very young girls."

"Wow…"

"But it is not all advantages, huh?" she warned. "You have to take it every day, twenty-one days out of twenty-eight, the week you don't take it you have your period, and if you forget to take the dose on a day that you should, you can still get pregnant."

"What a hassle."

"Being medicated half your life, and not only that, it also has side effects. It is not yet very perfected, it affects the circulatory system and can cause problems, especially if you smoke, it is contraindicated for smokers."

"Ugh... And you continued using contraceptives after having me?" he asked.

"Of course, son, so as not to have more children."

"A delicate question. Do you use them now?"

"For many years I haven't. Since your father started drinking he hasn't touched me again," confessed his mother.

"Ugh, Mum... and yet you have resisted with him."

"Well, you see that I have."

"Ugh, Mum... We have to look for another house, even if it is rented. Divorce him and look for another partner, I will help you, I am a very good matchmaker."

"We will talk about the subject later if you want, I will finish telling you."

"Okay, okay…"

"Another disadvantage of the period, the loss of blood, if it is too abundant, and in many women it is, it weakens you," she continued. "In fact, a health problem such as anemia can interrupt it, the body itself protects itself and avoids the loss of blood that would make it worse. It happened to me several times in the worst years, when we were starving."

"What is anemia?"

"The lack of iron in the blood due to not eating properly, especially red meat, liver and so on."

"Ugh…"

"Iron is essential for the oxygen you breathe to reach the entire body properly," explained Eileen. "Another food that has a lot of iron without being red meat and that the doctor recommended me to eat at that time is lentils, a legume not widely consumed in England, but in Mediterranean countries, which have a much healthier and more interesting diet than ours."

"Oh… You also know a lot about medicine."

"But because I learned the hard way, Severus, by being beaten, and because I would get the doctor to explain everything to me. Mother's concern, you also had anemia."

"Of course…"

"Don't you remember having taken you to have blood tests done on more than one occasion?"

"Of course I do, now I remember everything," answered Sev.

"And eating lentils?"

"What are lentils like?"

"Round, flat and small, dirty green in color, tending to brown," she explained.

"Yes, I remember them."

"We didn't eat them many times either, we couldn't save that much, huh? We don't produce them in the United Kingdom, we had to buy them imported, Spanish or Italian."

"Oh…"

"In the end I opted for the liver, which being offal has much more iron and is much cheaper than the best quality meat," remembered his mother. "I bought it just for you and you recovered from anemia quickly."

"Thank you, Mum."

"Don't thank me for anything, Severus, I don't deserve it. I brought you into this world, I was supposed to take care of you."

"Give me a hug, come on."

They left their empty cups on the table and hugged each other.

When they separated, Eileen continued, "One last note in line with what I was telling you. Maybe I'll become a vegetarian."

"What is that?"

"Eating only vegetables and animal products like milk and eggs, but not meat or fish."

"Oh…"

"I have a client who is one, she is older than me and you don't know how pretty she has become and how good it is for her health," she explained. "And all because of the influence of her twenty-something daughter, huh? It is a new trend among young people who advocate a healthier and more natural life, against the vast majority who turn to drugs."

"Wow… that would be fantastic."

"It is the same client who recommended yoga to me."

"What is yoga?" he asked.

"An ancient physical exercise, from India. It is passive, it involves adopting unlikely postures with the body according to each person's abilities. Breathing is very important and it is appropriate and very beneficial at any stage of life. Besides, I would only need a few classes, once I learned, I could do it right here at home, just have enough space to spread a mat on the floor."

"Wow, how interesting… Then sign up as soon as possible, Mum, and you can teach me during the summer so I can continue doing it at Hogwarts. I'll pay for your classes."

"Okay, I'll do it."

"And becoming a vegetarian is also interesting to me."

"Ugh… The Hogwarts diet would have to change a lot," objected his mother. "Besides, it doesn't suit you, you're still growing."

"We're going to change the diet, it was one of the initiatives I proposed to the old man. I'm thinking of asking Damocles Belby for help to put us in contact with dieticians and cooks at St. Mungo's."

"Wow… a very good idea, but I still see it complicated to become a vegetarian at Hogwarts, because the whole school eats the same thing at the same time, you can't choose your own menu."

"Maybe there's a way to do it, it's all a matter of consulting with the old man and Minerva, and it suits them, a vegetarian diet might be cheaper," Sev supposed.

"Of course, of course... Anyway, when you have money go see a Muggle dietician and get informed if it's appropriate for you to become a vegetarian at your age. You have another option that's not entirely vegetarian, something in between, much healthier than the diet we have in the United Kingdom, what I was telling you before, the diet of the Mediterranean countries."

"Do you know a little about what it's about?"

"I know something, yes, from the daughter of my client, who has immigrant friends who tell her about it," she answered. "The poor suffer a lot, not only because of the exploitation they are subjected to, but also because of the change of climate, which is much worse, and of the diet, since they are used to eating much healthier and more varied. The main component of the dishes is almost never meat or fish, but legumes, cereals and vegetables, meat and fish only complement them."

"Oh…"

"Like the spaghetti that you like so much, an Italian dish."

"Of course…"

"The opposite of what we do," added Eileen.

"True."

"Also, they eat as much or more fish than meat, much healthier, something we could also do here, we are totally surrounded by sea."

"Of course," he agreed.

"They have a glass of wine with meals, in that very small proportion it is not harmful, it is beneficial, suitable for the circulatory system."

"Oh…"

"And the most important thing, the base of everything, they do not cook with lard to fry and add to stews to give flavor, but with olive oil, much, much healthier, a liquid fat and of vegetable origin," she explained. "They also use it raw in salads."

"Olive, from olive trees?"

"Of course. The thing is that olive oil is very expensive in the UK, since we don't produce it either. Everything you save on the rest of the food you spend on oil, because they put it in everything."

"Oh… what a shame," Sev lamented.

"Complicated for Hogwarts."

"Or not, if it can be multiplied with magic."

"Of course, of course, I hadn't thought about that…" his mother realized.

"Where is olive oil imported from?"

"From all the Mediterranean countries. Italy, France, Greece… But the most important producer worldwide, by far, is, again, Spain."