Princes in Exile

Hey everyone!

Yeah, can you believe it, another chapter?... I'm on a roll!

Please read and review and forgive any mistakes. I'm just happy I'm writing again

Marti!!

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Jennifer held her father’s hand tightly, her eyes wide with wonder as she was inundated with one magical thing after another during their tour of the school. Her father had whispered to her that the dungeon was haunted by The Bloody Baron, the House ghost for Slytherin, and although he was scary, the Baron was really quite a nice ghost.

Now, they were entering her father’s old classroom, the Potions laboratory in which he’d taught for years before he and Mom had gone to America.

“It looks like the science lab at school!”

“Well, except for the cauldrons bubbling over magical fire,” Toby added drolly. He watched his eldest daughter’s eyes widen as she saw the flames hovering above the tabletop under the cauldrons, also hovering magically over the flames.

“I love magic. What’re Mom and the other’s doing, you think?”

“You mother expressed a desire to visit an old friend of hers, Professor Hagrid. He is the Care of Magical Creatures instructor, although my Slytherins always thought the class was not only a joke but dangerous. Hagrid has a… fetish for dangerous creatures.”

“Like Seri and the snakes?”

“Similar. Lord, she’s going to love the bloody giant.”

Minerva had taken Mina and the four younger girls on a different tour while Jenna had asked her father about his former position. Toby had thought taking Jenna on his own would give them some time to talk alone before they had to go visit the Weasleys.

“Do you think magic will be able to get Seri to talk, Daddy?”

“Muggle science hasn’t helped. If she cannot speak, then she’d have to be taught non-verbal spells to use her wand,” he sighed. “But most wizard folk aren’t taught those kinds of spells until they’re fifteen, and a great many don’t learn them effectively enough to use them. Luckily, we still have years before we have to worry about that, assuming St. Mungo’s isn’t able to discover her ailment in the meantime.”

“If I come here, will you come to teach, Daddy?”

“Would you want that? Most children don’t want their parents teaching in the same school. And if I taught here, I would be an actual professor of yours. We’d all live in the castle, likely behind my former office back there,” he pointed to the closed door behind the teacher’s desk. “Your sisters would live here and attend day school in the village, and I have to be quite honest. I’m not the nicest of teachers.”

“Like in the morning before you’ve had coffee?”

“Ten times worse.”

“That’s bad.”

“I’m sure my students would have agreed with you—including your mother.”

“Mom already said you were a mean teacher. I think she was trying to discourage me from coming here in September.”

“And since you’re as stubborn as your mother, you’ll go against her wishes.”

“What about my wishes, Dad? I’m a witch. I want to know what that’s like. Mom’s parents were Muggles and let her go off to Hogwarts without knowing what the magical world was like. At least you and Mom know what I’ll be getting myself into, and understand it all. You can help me. I know Mom’s scared and I know we’re going to see the Weasleys, but nothing’s going to change.” Jenna hugged her father’s waist tightly and felt comfort in feeling his arms wrap around her to pull her closer to him.

“Your mother is a brave woman. What she went through would have shattered a lesser woman, but she still feels those fears. It would help her a great deal if she heard those words from you. You know, we really don’t have to go to the Burrow to visit the Weasleys.”

“Yes, we do. You promised them. And you never break your promise, Daddy.”

Toby sighed. The girl had him cornered, much like when she thoroughly trounced him in their nightly chess games.

“Where can we go now? Mom said there are centaurs in the forest. Can we go see them?”

“The centaurs from your stories aren’t quite the same. The ones that live in the Forbidden Forest are… cranky. They don’t like Wizards infringing upon their territory. Do you want to go see the library?”

Jennifer’s eyes lit up and she got a renewed bit of energy, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement, squeezing his hand. Just like her mother. Toby grinned and obligingly led his daughter out of the dungeon and up to the main floor where the library and Great Hall were.


@ @ @ @ @ @ @

“Her… Mina, how are you? Those dark circles under your eyes tell tales other than you’re fine, young lady.” Minerva watched her favorite student watching her daughters. The two older girls were with Hagrid meeting the Hippogriff flock he had penned outside his hut while the twins wrestled with the obliging Fang. The dog gave her a put upon look and returned to entertaining the toddlers.

“I’m alright, Headmistress, except for the nightmares I thought had ended nine years ago. I know it wasn’t realistic to believe we’d be able to continue our lives unencumbered by the Wizarding world, but I had hoped not to deal with the truth about Jennifer. Toby’s a wonderful father; he’s never differentiated between the girls, nor treated Jenna for the sins of her natural father.”

“I can tell he’s good with the girls. I’m asking about you, child.” The old witch put a gentle hand on the younger woman’s shoulder. Mina smiled sadly at her mentor and reached up to squeeze the parchment-like fingers of her old teacher. It had been almost twelve years since she’d last seen the Scottish woman, and the years and responsibilities as the headmistress had weighed on her heavily. She looked far older than she had when Mina had been in school.

“I’ll be alright. I have to see Molly and Arthur some time, don’t I? I know I should have told them before, but I was so ashamed,” Mina whispered brokenly.

Minerva sighed heavily and vowed her help the young woman next to her. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Mina. I can only imagine the horrors Percy put you through. Please, child, let me help you.”

“I want my life back, Minerva. Can you do that? Get a Time-Turner for me and go back two weeks? Forget you ever saw Jennifer’s name on the enrollment scrolls?” Mina shook her head vigorously. “No, you can’t. If Jenna wants to come here this fall, I won’t stop her, of course. It’s her birthright, after all.”

“You could return as Potions Mistress, you know. The man who’s teaching it now doesn’t want to continue, but I’ve not been able to find a suitable replacement for him. And Sev… Toby is the Defense instructor in absencia.”

Mina laughed through her unshed tears, blowing her nose discretely in one of her husband’s handkerchiefs.

“Are you suggesting I come and spy on my daughter?”

“No, I’m suggesting you come back to your birthright and do what you were destined to do: be the brightest, powerful witch we all know you are.”

Shocked, Mina stood silent for a few moments, watching the twins.

“I’ll discuss it with Toby.”

The older woman harrumphed, but smiled, knowing she’d won. “Oh, dear. That little one has her father’s scowl down pat!” Minerva blinked at Milana who was scolding the old dog for not playing with them, her little face pinched up like her father’s when he used to teach.

“Yes, and each of them is almost as stubborn as their father, also. Of course, he’s far more patient and can wait them out when they’re giving him a hard time. Sweetheart,” she called to her youngest daughters. “Fang is quite old. Let him be.”

“Okie, Mommy.” The little curly black-haired girl grinned, revealing her overly large front teeth. Hermione sighed and resolved to fix the girls’ dental problems magically since they were evidently returning to the wizarding world.

“They’re nothing like Fred and George.”

“They get into enough trouble, believe me. I’m scared, Minerva. We’re to go to the Burrow for dinner, but what do I say to them?”

“Don’t say anything, Mina. They know what Percy was and did. Let them get to know your wonderful children; let Arthur and Molly be the grandparents to all of them.”

“I know. It’ll be nice seeing Harry and Ron again though.”

“Those boys haven’t stopped looking for you. Even with their little ones and work, they would ask about any information regularly.”

Mina smiled. It had been hard thinking about them after they’d initially left England. Thinking of Harry brought on memories of Ron which reminded her of Percy and the assault. “I missed them.”

“Who’d you miss, Mommy?” Emily had come up behind the two chatting witches, leaving her younger sister with Hagrid, enthralled with the Hippogriffs.

“My friends from school. I haven’t seen them in a very long time, love. Why aren’t you with Hagrid?”

“I don’t think the Hippos like me. And I’m tired.”

“That’s because we left so early this morning at home, but we’re a few hours ahead here. Go play, sweetheart.” Hermione bent down and kissed her daughter’s head, pushing her off into the direction of her sisters and Fang.

“The girls can have a bit of lie down before heading off to the Weasleys, Her—Mina. It’s going to be difficult calling you by the other name, lass. You’ve always been Hermione Granger Snape in my mind.”

“It’s alright, Minerva. And after the girls have lunch, I’ll have them lie down for a little bit. We don’t want Toby’s daughters cranky during their first visit to the Burrow.”

“Not if they’re anything like their father,” Minerva said dryly, remembering her former colleague’s dour attitude during their tenure together.

“You’ve no idea.” Mina grinned, though, when she said it, revealing her intense love for her children and husband.