Family Check-In

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It was dark times in the Wizarding World once more. Whenever Hermione closed her eyes, she could still see flashes from the Battle of Hogwarts almost thirty years ago; kissing Ron for the first time after he wanted to check on the house-elves, seeing Harry's "dead" body carried gently from the forest by Hagrid, battling Death Eaters for her life. Though it definitely wouldn't be the same this time, she was worried all the same. Ron had returned to the Aurors; if that wasn't a sign of how things were, she didn't know what was.

But today, she was at Hogwarts instead of the Ministry. Being named Head of Magical Law Enforcement did grant her the ability to pop over to the school under the pretense of lawful duties. She'd be stopping by Neville's office for a visit afterwards - she wanted to check in on how he was doing as well as Jayden. Rose had been in an accident in the tower - from what Harry had told her Albus had been involved too but she didn't have all the details yet. Hearing this, plus the Muggleborn murders this year made her more worried for her children than ever, even though it was more her life in danger than theirs as halfbloods.

Stepping into the Entrance Hall, Hermione looked up towards the vast array of staircases and inhaled deeply. It still smelled the same, and somehow filled her with the excitement she felt every time she returned for a new year at Hogwarts. Exhaling, she took a couple steps towards the Great Hall; it was breakfast time and knowing her children, Rose was probably finishing up and Hugo was just sitting down. Smiling to herself, she peered into the hall, looking for her children.

Rozalina Antonina Nightshade , @hugo
(this takes place before the kidnappings)

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Hugo always got up before the sun rose and generally spent that time wandering the grounds. He loved seeing the world in the morning before the color had come into it. It seemed as though everything was in a sweet black and white, and he cherished those moments. He loved being on his own, enjoying the time where he didn't have to see all the darkness...

Granted, every since Phoenix Rising decided that no one was allowed to go anywhere alone, it was really hard to get away with these walks. Someone always stopped him at the Common Room door whether it be Jayden, Lily or even James- he was barely ever alone anymore. But this morning... this morning he left before anyone else was awake.

He got lost on the grounds, as usual. Not geographically, but mentally-emotionally. Is little walks always made him late for breakfast, however, and his stomach was starting to rumble. As he entered the school he saw a familiar woman peering into the Great Hall and his heart skipped about four or five beats.

It was his mum!

He ran forward, "mum! What're you doing here?" he asked as he tackled the woman.

@hermionejean
Rozalina Antonina Nightshade

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It turned out Hermione didn't have to wait too long to find at least one of her children, as Hugo barreled into her for a bear hug. She laughed and squeezed him back tightly. "Hello to you too sweetheart," she said happily. It had been an interesting few years with Hugo's premonitions becoming more pronounced and clear - Hermione's lack of affinity with Divination had made things a little difficult but they had gotten through it together. She was glad that her fifteen year old son was still happy to see her; she knew some of her friends children were going through rebellious periods at that age and was thankful he didn't seem to be going in that direction.

"Mostly I have a meeting with Neville in a bit, but I wanted you see you and your sister!" she told him. She held him at arms length, studying him for a moment. He looked healthy and happy, which satisfied her. However, the nagging mother in her had noticed the directly he had flown towards her was from the big oak doors that led to outside, and not the Great Hall. "Hugo, did you go outside this morning by yourself?" she asked, trying to sound casual. She didn't want to worry; she knew he could take care of himself. But with the Muggleborn killings and the impending feeling of doom that seemed to settle over everyone had her slightly on edge.

@hugo
Rozalina Antonina Nightshade

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She had those mom eyes on him now, and he felt his smile turn into an awkward teethy admittance of guilt. "Erh- being by yourself is such a relative term, mother," he simply answered, pulling away from their hug and gesturing toward the hall. "Why don't we go find Rose before your meeting! She's probably dying to see you. The poor kids been going through a lot," not that he could tell his mother what Rose was going through. No, all of that was Rose's business and it wasn't Hugos place to go telling his mother that she had fallen for a Weasley.

He placed a hand on his mothers back and began leading her into the hall, "oh, ROSSSSE," he called.

Rozalina Antonina Nightshade
@hermionejean

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Rose was not really eating this morning. She was sat at the Ravenclaw table alone, moreso fidgeting with her food. She had been rolling around the same piece of sausage for about ten minutes now trying desperately to keep her eyes off of the Slytherin table. After the incident, Rose had been left wandless and it just so happened that Scorpius Malfoy had too. Of course Rose had not known this until he had shown up in the wand shop when she was there. Then the two of them ended up talking and even picked out one another's wands. As if things weren't already extremely awkward enough between them... now they shared the same wand core. That had to mean something. Right?

It had taken a lot of inner arguing but Rose had finally come to terms with her feelings. She was in love with Scorpius Malfoy. She was in love with Scorpius Malfoy and she had no idea what she was going to do about it. She had only told Hugo, so far. He seemed to take it well but she had expected him to. Her parents, though? She had no idea.

And as if on queue, Rose heard her brother's voice calling her name. Thankful for the distraction she immediately stood up and turned to face him but was more than surprised to see her mother. "Mum?!" She asked, incredulously. She quickly moved to meet with her mother and wrapped her arms around her in a much needed hug. "What are you doing here?" It was a pleasant surprise. She had not been expecting her mother of all people. But of course she would show up during this argument Rose was having with herself. Oh, well. Her mother never seemed to mind the Malfoys too much... maybe telling her wouldn't be so bad.

@hermionejean
@hugo
ooc: I am assuming Rose has already told Hugo? haha

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Hugo's words worried Hermione though she didn't want to admit it. Most of her worry was usually spent on her fifteen year old son and his visions; Rose had grown up to be a lot like her so far, which she couldn't be more proud of. Hugo was right though; Rose had been going through a bit of a rough time with the explosion in the Astronomy Tower and subsequent purchase of a new wand. Hermione hadn't been able to go with Rose to get the wand - work had been busy she had guiltily admitted, but Rose said one of her friends would come with her. In Hugo's last letter home though, he had accidentally let it slip told his mother that it had been Scorpius Malfoy who was wand shopping with her, a letter she accidentally-on-purpose hid from her husband.   No need to get him riled up over pure speculation, something he was prone to do.

Now she accepted her daughter into a warm hug and stepped back after an extra moment. "I'm here to meet with Neville, officially, but I wanted to see how you were doing. How is your new wand performing?" she asked, studying her daughter carefully. She looked healthy enough she supposed, but a bit troubled. She wondered if this troubled look had anything to do with the younger Malfoy. It was true that her and Draco had not gotten along during school, but afterwards he had matured and married a witch and had decided to raise their son without the Muggleborn prejudice - she could certainly appreciate that.

Rozalina Antonina Nightshade
@hugo

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Hugo was glad to let Rose take the spotlight for a moment while she and his mum caught up. He took a seat next to Rose and put an arm around her casually. He couldn't imagine what must be going through her head. This was the first time they had seen their mother since that Hogsmeade day when Rose told him how she felt about Scorpius Malfoy. He would never give away her secret but he felt bad for the undoubted torture that was going through her mind.
At the mention of the new wand, Hugo squeezed his sisters shoulder, knowing how much that wand meant to her now. "Well, she's good enough with it that she can still credibly threaten me, so that's nice," he joked.

Rozalina Antonina Nightshade @hermionejean

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Rose smiled at her mother when she said she was there to see Neville. It was so like her mother, as head of wizard law enforcement, to check in at the school when thinks were going wrong. It was her duty, after all. And Rose felt lucky to have a mother who continued to be so involved in their lives and concerned with their safety while away at school; especially during these times.

The smile Rose wore, however, turned more into a forced sort of grin when her brother stood next to her and placed his arm around her. Rose knew her brorther would never tell their mother something she had told him in confidence, but Rose also felt the pressure to be honest to her parents without Hugo's trying to casually be there for her. It made her feel slightly guilty. She gave a nervous laugh after Hugo spoke. "Yes, it works like a dream," she said, looking back at her mother and nodding. "But what about you? What are you to discuss with Professor Longbottom?" There, that was a reasonable enough subject change.

@hermionejean
@hugo

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Hermione could tell that Rose was trying to change the subject, and she decided to let it slide for now. Rose knew she could always come to her with anything, even about her love life. It had always been like that; Rose would come to her over her father because Ron had the tendency to overreact. Hermione knew better to react calmly and knew how to decide what and how to tell her husband – she had had enough practice with her old dalliance with Viktor Krum to know how to handle him. If Rose wasn’t telling her something now, she knew she simply wasn’t ready to talk yet.

“Victoire’s been hinting that she feels we need to do more as a whole to catch Andrew’s murderer, so I wanted to see what he was thinking before bringing a report to her,” she explained. Her stomach grumbled as she finished speaking; she had been in a rush this morning out of excitement to see her children that she had forgotten to eat breakfast. She eyed a doughnut on the Ravenclaw table and picked it up quickly. She took a bite, delighted to find out that it was maple flavored and savored it for a few moments. She eyed both of her children – she knew they had been through a lot this year with the murder and the constant presence of Aurors; perhaps they had ideas. “What about you guys – any ideas on what we should do?” she asked them.

Rozalina Antonina Nightshade
@hugo

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It was weird to hear about cousin Victoire and her position of power. She was quite a bit older than Hugo, but she was still his cousin. Either way, he knew that she'd be awesome at whatever she did because she always was the adult of the group when they were kids. Well, her and teddy.

Then his mother was asking his and Rose's opinions and he scrunched his face. Of course he wasn't going to tell his mother that a group of them was trying to solve things within their own ranks but... for now, "I'm not sure. I mean, I feel like sending even more Aurors would make Hogwarts seem more like a prison than a school," not that he minded aurors, but he was sure it made people uneasy. "Maybe some sort of... tracking device on the muggle borns and see who is closest to them? No, that's just creepy. Eh, I'm not good at this stuff," he shrugged.

@hermionejean
Rozalina Antonina Nightshade

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Rose smiled slightly in spite of herself when her mother went along with the change of subject. Rose didn't know if she could go into a life changing bear-it-all talk with her mother in the middle of the Great Hall. Rose smiled appreciatively at Hugo as their mother explained what she was doing there, just to let him know how thankful she was to have him as a brother. Any other little brother would jump at the chance to throw his sister under the bus. But not Hugo. Just another reason why the Granger-Weasley siblings were the closest pair of siblings around.

When their mother addressed them, Rose let Hugo speak first. She bit her lip for a moment. This was a hard subject to think about. Obviously it would affect them directly, whatever choice the Ministry made but here their mother was, asking what they thought. Rose looked down at the table for a moment. She definitely wasn't going to mention Phoenix Rising, and she knew Hugo wouldn't either. They were basically bound not to. Something she knew their parents would be angry about, but knew in the long run they would understand because... they had done the same thing.

"I would hate to bring in more aurors off the force," Rose said, looking up at her mother now. "I don't want them to distract from catching anyone on the outside, either. Because if you ask me, we can't rule out everyone out there just yet." Perhaps it was a crazy idea, having both of the murders so far take place at the school but something told Rose there was a bigger part of the picture they were missing. "I think the aurors here have been doing an impeccable job, it was just... no one was guarding the Forbidden Forest because nobody thought we had to. So, I guess my only advice would be to expect the unexpected with this person." She shrugged, not exactly knowing what else to say. But so far, the murderer had surprised them each time. She thought it was sound enough.

@hermionejean
@hugo

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Hermione nodded, listening intently to her children’s ideas. She could understand the idea of more Aurors would make the school feel like a prison rather than a school, and Rose was right – they needed everyone possible on the outside to try and catch this person. She had a feeling that this person had help on the outside, so even if they couldn’t find the main culprit at first, their co-conspirator would eventually be caught and give up the main attacker. She looked intrigued as Hugo mentioned a type of Muggle tracking device. “You’re quite right of course, that would be an immense invasion of privacy. We’d have to get everyones permission to even think about it, and I double that the parents of the Muggleborn students would be alright with it. But you both bring up a good point. There needs to be someone else here, but not necessarily an Auror,” she said, thinking more aloud than to them.

She checked her watch and stood up with a smile. “I’ll hopefully be able to tell you more after my meeting with Neville, which I will be late for if I don’t leave now,” she told them. She reached over and kissed each of her children on the cheek and left the Great Hall with a sense of purpose.

END HERMIONE

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Rose smiled lightly as their mother bid them adieu and left the Great Hall. She had always admired how her mother exited a room when she had something to do; something Rose had been told repeatedly that she had inherited from her mother. As Hermione left, though, Rose let out a small breath of relief and turned to look at her brother. "Thank you for not saying anything, Hugh," she smiled gratefully at him. She really had been blessed with a great younger brother.

@hugo

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Hugo said goodbye to his mother and turned to Rose at her words.  He threw an arm over her shoulders. She was one of the few people he would touch, and he had seen her different possible deaths so many times because of it but he knew when she needed him, and that mattered most. He squeezed her shoulders, "hey, of course," he said before releasing her and facing the food, ready for breakfast.

The End of Le Thread