Marvelous Return

Nathan observed the group of wizards. Neither Tony nor Darcy told him who they were or why they were moving across the ocean after the end of the war. Evidently the easiest assumption was to think they were Death Eaters trying to escape Britain before the Wizengamot brought them to justice, but something different was going on. First, the Weasleys were well known even in this part of the world. Red hair, large family, absolutely no ties to the DE. 

Nathan wondered if they knew one of their cousins was a counselor apprentice. They would meet her eventually. Though unless they were introduced to her, they might never know. While she was a redhead, Alyssa was a perfect mix of her parents, her hair was darker, auburn, as Ian’s hair was light red but her mother’s hair had been black as a new moon night. 

He’d wonder why he was fixating on Alyssa’s hair, but really he didn’t need to. The redhead at the table sitting next to Mr. Weasley had his entire attention. Not undivided as he was absently listening to the others as they talked about the school. But he couldn’t turn his eyes away from her. 

Darcy was grounded and from the smirk, she was sending him, she knew but wouldn’t follow through, as usual. 

Nathan couldn’t believe his own daughter let him walk into this situation without telling him. As his daughter, she had to know the redhead was his mate. She would have recognized her. 

Nathan tried to focus his thoughts when they asked about the dome. He was proud of his creation. He was responsible for most of the school’s advancement in the last 10 years and he couldn’t wait to lead them to those little nooks of genius forethought as they explored the school. 

He followed their gaze as they all looked at the little blond when she took her first step. He remembered when Darcy did that. Not surprisingly it was because she was angry at him and wanted to walk away to pout in peace. She didn’t change that much in the last 20 years. 

Hmmm, interesting, the little blond, Luna, was Remus’ daughter. His pack was growing. Though she didn’t smell like a werecub, so the pack wasn’t safe yet, Remus needed more children.

Nathan shook his head. It’s been a long time since his wolf took over his instincts and reason. It was ridiculous. Remus didn’t need more children, this wasn’t the Middle Ages. If he wanted to will the pack to another wolf then his decision would be followed; those who disagreed with his choice could leave. 

Here again, he was thinking like a wolf, he needed to get a handle on it.  

The man with long dark hair lifted the youngest boy, the one who clearly wasn’t a Weasley. The little boy, -who they only called cub and pup- was pointing happily to Luna, applauding her. 

“Yes, we should have known,” the man said. “To get Luna to walk, we needed animals.” 

“What was Harry’s incentive,” Tony asked. 

“This little pup,” the man said tickling the boy -Harry- ‘s side, “needed a broom.” 

“How did that happen,” Weasley inquired.

“Ah,” the man said with a sheepish smile and a shrug. “Andromeda asked me to babysit Dora one afternoon as she had an emergency at work and I was on my day off. Unfortunately, James and I were playing pick up Quidditch in the garden when she flooed. I had flooed immediately to their house and I still had my broom in hand. That afternoon Dora ended up breaking her arm as she tried to ride it.” 

“How did that lead to Harry walking,” an older man asked. 

“Well, Dora was grounded as she knew she shouldn’t play with brooms unsupervised, and as I was responsible Andy made me take her broom and I wasn’t to give it back for two weeks, no matter how many letters Dora would send,” the man explained. “It was finally time to give it back to her, but as she was with her tutor all afternoon, I went to visit the cottage instead. I may have left the broom where it was accessible to his little hands.”

“You let him fly!!” His mate cried out. 

“No, no, Dora’s broom was a learning broom,” the man assured. “It has securities, you need to have adult supervision, meaning we need to touch the broom before it even lifts off the ground. But, it also flies away from the child if they are under the recommended age,” the man grinned. “The broom was hovering just out of Harry’s reach, so he stood up and chased it. When we came back into the room with our tea, Harry was running around in circles trying to grab the broom. He fell on his bum a lot.”

“I think that was the only time Lily didn’t try to kill you for bringing something dangerous into the house,” Remus commented. 

“I can see our professors will have their hands full with your lot,” Lydia commented. “I’ll leave you in Darcy’s and Nathan’s hands. I was happy to meet you all, and please don’t hesitate to owl me if you have any questions. Mr. Weasley,” she turned to him, “I’ll send you our registration forms in a week, this way you have time to decide what you want to do. Here are the pamphlets and curriculum information you’ll need.” 

She bowed to the group and left for her office. 

Darcy looked at her watch, “we have about an hour before lunch,” she told them, “what do you want to see?” 

Mr. Weasley hugged one of his sons, “can we meet your care professor?” 

“Yeah,” Darcy nodded. “Arthemis should be with the 8 year olds at the moment, studying Crups.” 

Nathan was too proud to ask them to introduce themselves first, so he followed his daughter into the ‘Door Hall’ and led everyone to the Beginners’ Care Clearing. 

The Beginners’ Care Clearing, as the name states, was a large pasture of freely growing grass and flowers the beasts liked. On the left side, there was a small forest, which harbored Bowtruckles, Fairies, Unicorns, and others. On the right side, a river was keeping beginners from the more dangerous creatures. 

In the pasture they could see, a pair of Abraxan horses teaching their foal how to stretch its wings while a Porklock was running circles around them. Puffskeins rolling around in the grass. Garden Gnomes fighting. Demi-guises were playing an intricate game of hide and seek with the Bowtruckles and Clabberts close to the forest entrance. Horklump lived sprinkled across the clearing. Diricawls were jumping around cackling loudly. 

And of course, the students’ pets and familiars which could be found either laying on their wizards or playing near the class. 

“The Thestrals are unexpected,” Remus commented his eyes taking it all in. 

“They are misunderstood,” the dark-haired wizard countered. 

“Which one are Thestrals,” Nathan’s mate asked, looking around at all the creatures. 

“The reptilian horses on the north side,” Mr. Weasley answered. “They have a bad reputation because you can only see them if you saw someone die, but they are no more dangerous than unicorns.” 

“They eat flesh,” the eldest redhead boy pointed out with a shiver. 

“Dead flesh,” Remus corrected. “It is no more dangerous or cruel than when you eat beef or chicken. Should we put you in a class XXXX?” 

The boy flushed but shook his head. 

Nathan was surprised that so many of them, including at least one of the children, could see the Thestrals but Tony gestured for him not to ask. 

As he paid attention to their surroundings he noticed that every beast stopped what they were doing to look at them. One of the Weasley boys was blushing dark red under the attention. 

“He is a Cernunard,” Darcy informed him. 

The Abraxan foal approached them, clearly intent on playing with the newcomer, until its mother reined him in. One of the young Diricawl trotted right to the redhead twins and immediately tried to sit on them, stating its claim by screeching loudly. 

“Well, it looks like you boys found your familiar,” Remus said with a chuckle as the twins tried to calm the little creature. 

“It looks like a Dodo,” the elder man commented. 

“They are,” a wizard who stayed silent and observing until now stated. “Dodos have always been Diricawls, they are notoriously skittish around the unknown and will apparate themselves away from the perceived danger. The wizards have been hiding them for centuries.” 

“Well, it seems they are not as stupid as we were told,” Tony said with a chuckle. 

Padfoot, though Nathan doubted it was his actual name, put Harry down when asked, so he could pet the Diricawls who stayed around them as they waited for Arthemis’ lesson to be done. 

Charlie was having difficulties keeping the other beasts away from him and the adults were shielding him. 

“Hello there,” Arthemis came to greet them. “Go back to your day,” he told the beasts who groaned but left the little boy alone, all but the baby Diricawl and its parents. “Ah a new familiar bond,” he said sitting cross-legged next to the twins. “I’m sure you’ll take great care of her, won’t you boys?” 

The twins nodded and promised, cuddling the little Diricawl closer to them. The parents looked them in the eyes, then approached and cackled at their little one, soon after they moved away, not far, but enough not to be in the way anymore. The twins promised to bring her back every day to see them and after a nod, the parents ignored them.  

“And what are you going to call her,” Arthemis asked. 

The twins looked at each other for a minute before a grin, which could only be described as evil when wielded by 3 year olds, formed as they informed them; “Her name is Prank.” 

“Prank,” their father asked. 

“Can you imagine, if we say we are looking for Prank, no one will know,” they said innocently, but Nathan saw the mischievous glint in their eyes. 

Everyone laughed and congratulated them on their ingenuity. 

Soon everyone introduced themself to Arthemis. 

“I rarely meet prospective parents,” he noted. “I suppose you wanted to talk about Charlie.” 

“Yes,” Arthur agreed. 

“Well, as you just saw animals of all kinds will be naturally attracted to him,” Arthemis explained. “It’s easy enough to control, but to do so it would be better for him to spend a couple of hours a week with me, more if you are planning to introduce him to a place with lots of animals, such as a zoo, or a pet shop.” 

Everyone nodded. It seemed logical. 

“First, Charlie, you need to know that just because they understand you and like you, it doesn’t mean you have to work with them, you can do whatever you want,” Arthemis said and Charlie smiled at him shyly but nodded. 

“Second, your powers will always be influenced by your emotions, no amount of control over it can prevent that,” then he turned to Arthur. “Meditation helps.” 

“I can teach him that,” Remus offered, Arthur nodded in thanks. 

“Third, the more familiars you have at home, the more settled he will feel,” Arthemis told them and the group assured him that wouldn’t be a problem, they intended to find one for everyone. 

“Charlie, you should know, none of them will try and hurt you,” Arthemis informed him. “It’s against their nature. But you must be prudent,” he cautioned. “Playing for an Abraxan foal means pushing and tugging but they are as big as you and can hurt you. Same as Dragons, while they won’t want to hurt you, they communicate with their flames as you would with your hands and eyes and that, of course, is very dangerous.” 

“I’ll be careful, Professor Scamander, thank you,” Charlie promised. 

“You're welcome, young one,” Arthemis told him with an easy smile as he messed up his hair. “Now who wants to play with the Crups?” 

Soon, it was time for lunch, which they ate at their cottage as Darcy didn’t want anyone to question their presence. Nathan learned more about everyone. Alternately awed and saddened by what he heard. 

Natasha seemed disturbed by what she was feeling. At times she would look at him trying to appraise him. At others, she would keep her gaze away even when the conversation was on him. From what he understood, while she had a magical core, she only learned about it recently and knew little about their words. She probably had no idea of the bond forming between them or how it worked. 

Nathan would wait. He’d write to her in the evening to explain. He didn’t think he’d make great work of it now, sitting between his daughter and his Alpha. 

The rest of the visit was spent exploring everyone’s prominent interests. The potions lab for Severus, where they left him for about an hour before Tony went back to drag him away. The library, where they went over the same process with Remus and Severus, but also Percy and Bill. The gardens and greenhouse, where he explained how they were spelled in the same way the Littles sections were. 

They finished with the No-Maj warehouses. Arthur and the others were apparently fascinated with everything they could learn here. Mechanicals and engineering were their favorites - with top of the line equipment a donation from the Stark family with arts and crafts not far behind. 

Just before tea, they all went back to NY. The children were tired but excited about going to school soon. The adults were exchanging ideas and desires to take some of the classes offered in their free time. 

Just as Nathan left the floo room  with Darcy to go write that letter to Natasha he thought about earlier, Alyssa came in the room to floo home for the night. 

“How were they,” she asked them. 

“You want to know as prospective students,” he asked her, “or as members of their family?” 

Darcy rolled her eyes and hugged her friend. “I told you already they are nothing like how your dad said the Weasleys were. Arthur is sweet and the kids are absolute angels, devious and a little devilish but what little boy isn’t, right?” 

“I’ll talk to dad,” she promised. “He always liked his cousin Arthur, it was the children’s mother he had a problem with after she told mom she wasn’t respectable enough to marry into the family because she is a squib and an American. She wasn’t even a Weasley at the time but a member of the Prewett family. From what I was told, she was only 8 at the time but she was trailing after her brothers telling everyone who would listen that as she was a good witch when she married cousin Arthur her bonding would be better.” 

“Well, Molly isn’t part of that family anymore,” Darcy told her. “I don’t know what happened, just that the boys don’t speak about her, don’t seem to miss her, and when I asked Arthur he said she wasn’t leaving Britain and to contact him immediately if she ever approached the boys or the others.” 

“Good to know,” Alyssa said. She hugged Darcy, kissed Nathan’s cheek and flooed home, she needed to talk to Ian.