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[alt_hydra]

I'm going to bring the baby to the Great Hall for a bit, if anyone wants to see her.

Her name is Charlotte Amelia Finch-Fletchley, by the way. And I'll be changing Rigel's last name to Finch-Fletchley, too. So we can all be the same, and not have to be called Lestrange.

I'll be taking Rigel to see Nanella here shortly, but will anyone watch Charlotte while I run some errands with Hermione?

Comments

[alt_selwyn]

Me! me me me me me me me!

[alt_selwyn]

I am VERY good with babies.

You can ask Jacinda, she'll tell you. I'm probably better at babies than at chopping parsley actually.

[alt_hydra]

How old are you again?

[alt_ron]

I can vouch for Arista. Absolutely the best babyminder I know. Loads of experience at Moddey!

We'll make a great team. Charlotte will be in expert hands!

[alt_hydra]

Well I was thinking she looks just the right age for babyminding.

You, on the other hand...

[alt_ron]

Oh, I'm loads younger than I look.

[alt_selwyn]

I'm eleven.

I start at Hogwarts on Tuesday!!!!!!!!!

[alt_hydra]

Yes, you're in for quite a year, I think.

I would have been a 7th year, but I've decided not to come back. I've got to be an Auror, instead. Among other things.

[alt_selwyn]

Well of course you're not coming back, I can't imagine sitting classes and exams after everything you've done.

I can't wait! I thought I wasn't going to get to go to Hogwarts but now I can!!!

[alt_hydra]

I would just cheat on my exams anyway.

I'm happy you're so happy. And if you ever need a good hiding place, away from everyone else, I know of more than a few.

[alt_ron]

I'm in!

[alt_molly]

I'd be happy to watch her anytime, dear.

I've always found caring for babies to be immensely helpful in times of grief. I hope you find that to be true for you.

[alt_hydra]

Oh yes, I was thinking you might volunteer. Thank you.

[alt_luna]

I'd like very much to meet her.

What a lovely name you've chosen for her.

[alt_hydra]

Please do.

Private Message to Draco

[alt_hermione]

We're going to St G's for more supplies and to see to Lana's much-deserved incarceration.

Sirius wanted to leave Grimmauld to Tonks. But he did have a few things for you, and me, and there are some other little items he's left for Alice and Frank, Terry and so on. There's a letter for Terrie Taylor, too.

I think Hydra's going to accept and stay with us, but she does want to let Rigel stay with your grandmother. Have you talked to her? We should probably go and check on her sometime soon--well, you should do, I don't know if it would be unpleasant if I came along.

Oh, and I saw Headmistress Vector. I told her thank you, but no.

Re: Private Message to Draco

[alt_draco]

She's in for a rude awakening, isn't she? Lana, I mean. And people say I was spoiled.

Do you want to go over what Sirius left behind tonight? And should we have one last supper here, or try it out at the Manor?

That's good news, about Hydra. As for Nanella, I'll test the waters with her, I guess, and take it from there.

While you're out I'm going to see if I can rearrange things a bit. There's a guest apartment that I was envisioning for you and I, and one down on the other end of the wing that I might be able to move next to ours.

I'm more than a bit glad that you won't be teaching here. I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a change of scenery. Even if that does mean going back to my childhood home.

Re: Private Message to Draco

[alt_hermione]

Yes, I thought I'd go through everything tonight. He left a will, Remus witnessed it for him. We'll have to go to Grimmauld for some of the items.

About supper. Let's see what Hydra wants to do. I don't necessarily want to say goodbye to everyone so soon, but I'm not sure I'm in the mood for a huge party, and when we got to the Hall with little Charlotte it looked like that's what's on here. I'm sure they'll drink a toast to Colin and all the others, but other than that it does look like a merry gathering. I'm looking forward to merry but - not tonight. Not quite yet.

I don't know if I would have accepted before everything that happened last night, but now? I just can't imagine it. Arista Selwyn's so excited about starting at Hogwarts and it's wonderful to see, but that got me to thinking. I have no idea what it was like to be a student here. I just can't envision how I would teach when any sort of formal education wasn't my experience in the slightest.

Besides, there's too many other things to do, now, and I thought about what you said, how it should be for me, and no one else. And one thing I do know about teaching is that it's never about the teacher, it should be about the student.

Mostly I think I just want to take a break and rest for about a month! Though probably a week is more realistic.

I've also been thinking about the Manor. Sirius said that Grimmauld was horrid for him at first, because round every corner there was some sort of unhappy memory. But that gradually, over time, he and Tonks and Remus, Ellie, Bea, and then you and I, filled it with other memories. We transformed the house by living in it--those were his words, exactly--that we transformed it--and I think, maybe, we could do the same with the Manor. Maybe we're thinking about it all wrong, and keeping it sterile like a museum or mausoleum isn't really the way to change how we perceive it.

Or maybe there are some places that we do need to preserve as a reminder of the past, the mistakes and the pitfalls and the ways people can be horrible to one another.

I don't know. But I know it doesn't seem nearly as awful as I thought it would be, at first. And besides, I know that it doesn't really matter where we stay, as long as we're together.

Re: Private Message to Draco

[alt_draco]

A whole week off for Hermione Granger? How positively decadent. Do you want to go somewhere or do anything special? Or would you rather experience what it's like to be genuinely lazy for once in your life?

And I have good memories of the Manor. A lot of them with Harry, actually. Like that giant ginger-bread house we decorated at Christmastime. And flying off the roof at top speed.

I don't think anyone should ever live in Buckingham again, though.

Re: Private Message to Draco

[alt_hermione]

Well, I don't think there will be any need for Buckingham to even exist, will there be?

Perhaps we can propose tearing it apart and erecting something else there, more useful. A new Ministry building that Muggles and wizards can both access, or an enormous home for displaced widows and orphans or a repository of, I don't know, pipe cleaner animals. Anything but what it was or what it became.

Private message to Hydra

[alt_sally_anne]

Is it okay if I come see her, or would you prefer I stay away?

Re: Private message to Hydra

[alt_hydra]

You can look at her.

But that's all.

Re: Private message to Hydra

[alt_sally_anne]

Okay.

[alt_nymphadora]

You know I'd be up for a session with Charlotte whenever, cuz.