Always

I checked my hair in the floor length mirror in our bedroom. I pressed down my floor length dress to get out any wrinkles and headed into the living room to say goodbye to Ron before going to meet Narcissa and Angelle for tea with Hermione and Kayce. Ron pulled me onto his lap and moved my hair off my shoulder to kiss the small sliver of skin showing there. I laughed and quickly got off of him.

“You’re going to make me late”, I said, smiling.

“Mmm, worth it”, he said, coming to kiss my lips.

“No. No when it is Narcissa”, I said, looking for my winter coat in our coat closet.

“Blame it on me. She loves me”, he joked, helping me into my coat, and handing me my purse.

“Ahh. That’s what you think”, I replied with a wink. He gasped like he was offended. I gave him a quick kiss and walked into the floo.

“Miss. Green! The Missus is waiting for you”, Narcissa’s house elf, Mippy greeted me at the fireplace.

“Mippy, please, call me Katie”, I said to the sweet elf.

“Oh, Miss, you is too kind. Missus is waiting in the drawing room for you”, Mippy said, leading the way. I obviously already knew my way, but she was doing her job. I smiled at her.

“Thank you, Mippy”, I said with a smile as she led us into the room.

“Thank you, Mippy. We are all set for now”, Narcissa said, dismissing Mippy. I never really liked that Narcissa had house elves. Narcissa came from old money, and her elves went back generations. I knew that she treated them well, which is why I never pushed her on it, though I did wish she didn’t have them at all. Narcissa stood up and gave us both a kiss on our cheeks and quick hug, before motioning for us to sit down. I greeted Angelle, Hermione and Kayce with a hug as well before sitting.

“Well, my dear, I know you did not just want to have tea. How can I help you?”, Narcissa said. There was no beating around the bush with her.

“Well, I did want to enjoy your company before I asked for favors”, I smiled at her. “However, yes there is something I wish to work on, and I think we could all be of use”. I pulled some documents out of my purse and handed one to each of them.

“This is a brief outline of what I would like to accomplish and a list of things I think will need to be done in order to complete that”. I paused, giving each of them a moment to catch up. “After realizing my own parents not only abandoned me, but also decided they did not want me to be their daughter, I started thinking about others who may have similar experiences. While I was lucky to have people in my life like you Narcissa and of course Mrs. Weasley, there are plenty who are not that lucky”. I paused again, taking a sip of my tea. Narcissa reached out and squeezed my hand.

“So, what are you thinking?” she asked.

“I would like to create a safe place, a school of sorts, for young magical children, who either have no parents, or who have… uninvolved parents. When we are young, our magic can sometimes be… uncontrolled and I think it would be nice to have a safe place, where accidental magic is okay in times of high emotions'”, I looked at the others.

“And what would you need from us?”, Hermione asked.

“Well, for each of you it is different. Narcissa, I was hoping you could help with the fundraising part of it”, I said, looking at her.

“Oh! Yes! I cannot wait, I am already thinking of some great ideas for this. I’m assuming we would meet regularly?” she asked.

“Yes. Maybe once or twice a week for now, until things really get going and we can reassess from there”, I replied. She nodded at me. “Angelle, I remember you telling me about something similar they had in your town in France. I thought maybe you work on some contacts for us and some details they use that we could maybe mimic as well”, I looked at her.

“Yes, of course. I can call my mum later. She was a professor there, she would know more details”, she replied with a smile.

“Hermione, since you are with the Ministry, I thought maybe you could help us with the legal aspects of things?”, I asked.

“Well, it is outside my department, but I did let the Minister know, I would like to branch out. I think this would be a great start”, she said. I could already see the gears working.

“Kayce, I know you work closely with Nev… Professor Longbottom”, I smiled. Neville was a good friend. “I thought maybe you could work with him and see if there is something Hogwarts can do to help, like a branch of the school. Of course, I am willing to help all of you”. I finished.

“Of course,” she said. “Would you mind if I brought in Theo? I think…”, she looked at Narcissa who nodded at her in understanding. “I think with Theo’s upbring, this would be a project he would like to be a part of”, Kayce finished. I nodded at her.

“Awesome! I’m really excited. Take the time and read over my full thoughts and we can meet again maybe Friday evening to discuss further?” I asked. Everyone nodded. “Great! I cannot wait to work with you all”, I said with a smile.

*****
The following morning, I found myself at Blaise’s apothecary shop. He was showing me around the shop and showing the various magical remedies and ingredients he sells. He had already shown me the back room where he had various potions going and where his office was. We turned as we heard the bell chime above the door.

“So, Blaise talked you into working for him, did he?”, Draco asked with a grin. I walked over to him and greeted him with a hug.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, pulling away. Looking over his shoulder we heard the bell chime again.

“Just what I wanted to know?”, Ron asked, coming over to me with a cup of coffee. I left before he woke up this morning. I kissed him goodbye, but we did not get to talk much before I left. I took the cup for him and kissed him briefly.

“Well, Ronald”, Draco said with a sneer. “I help Blaise here as well. I come early in the morning and again around closing to work on the potions he sells here. Blaise here is not a very good potions master”, He said confidently, with a grin. Blaise punched his shoulder.

“So, you will all be working together again?”, Ron asked. His tone was pleasant, but I knew he wasn’t happy.

“Yes. Is that a problem?”, Draco asked again, frowning.

“Excuse us a moment”, I said quickly, pulling Ron away to the back wall. “Is this still, okay? I didn’t know he was working here as well until he walked in. I swear”, I said with concern. Ron reached out and caressed my cheek.

“Of course, it is. I’m sorry. It was just a surprise. I trust you. You don’t have to worry”, he said. I leaned into his touch.

“I know you do. But I know you don’t like him… and if this makes you uncomfortable…”, I started to say I would return to work with Hermione, but he cut me off.

“Shh. Really. It is okay, I promise”, he said and kissed me quickly. We walked back over to Blaise and Draco. “I will see you at home later. I love you”, he said to me, bending to kiss my cheek. I murmured that I loved him more. “Blaise, have a good day”, he stuck his hand out to shake Blaise’s.

“Weasley”, Draco said with dismissal. Ron didn’t reply as he walked out of the shop. My nerves were on edge the rest of the day. Not because I thought Ron was mad at me, but just because I knew the situation made him uneasy.