“Leaving already?” Armand asked as he met Kamen by the fireplace.
“I was planning on it,” Kamen returned, eyeing his head a bit warily. He trusted Armand, and yet he was still so unsure.
“You have many questions and I can tell you’re uncertain,” Armand said seriously, “not many in the Brotherhood join while having this many reservations. The fact that you question so much gives me hope, you’re not a blind follower.”
Kamen shrugged.
“I have someone I think you should talk to, follow me,” Armand led Kamen down a flight of stairs and into a small dim room.
“What is this place?” Kamen asked, instantly suspicious. He was worried that it might be a trap.
“A place of answers,” Armand answered vaguely as he headed back for the door, “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
“And how am I supposed to find it?” But Armand had already left, closing the door firmly behind him. “Well what the hell am I supposed to do now?” Kamen asked as he looked around him. It was followed by a string of expletives as he realized that the door he had entered through had now disappeared.
“Mr. Snape, I’m so pleased that you’ve inherited your father’s cheery disposition.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
“Why aren’t they going with us?” Olivia asked, as Morgan finished brushing her hair.
“They are,” Morgan assured her, “your father and sisters are going to apparate to Diagon Alley, the two of us are going by floo.”
“Can’t you apparate with me?” Olivia asked, not liking to be left out of anything. She had decided that she would never be big enough to do anything fun.
Morgan smiled she tied the ends of Olivia’s braids, “I don’t think so love, it’s not safe. Now, are we ready to go?”
Olivia didn’t respond, but hopped up to spin around, liking the way her skirt flared out and the way it made her two braids swing around.
“Come on then,” Morgan put a stop to Olivia’s spinning and took her hand, “I’m afraid to leave your father and sisters alone for too much longer. Who knows what could happen…”
The floo trip to the Leaky Cauldron went as well as Morgan could have hoped. Flooing with small children was not her favorite pastime. She was thankful to make the trip without incident. “They’re probably still at Gringotts, shall we find a bench and wait for them there?”
“Buy me ice cream?” Olivia asked hopefully.
Morgan rolled her eyes, “maybe later, you eat far too much sugar as it is.”
“There’s never too much sugar,” Olivia informed Morgan seriously.
“Hmmm… well that is debatable.”
“Do I get new school stuff today too?” Olivia asked as she skipped along at Morgan’s side.
Morgan mentally berated herself, with everything that had been going on lately she hadn’t even thought about what to do about Olivia’s schooling for the year, “we’ll see…” she answered vaguely when she felt Olivia tug on her hand. What are we going to do with her? She sighed, the Order had found other duties for Arabella, so she was out of the question. She supposed they’d have to find a tutor, but finding a trustworthy one, and one that could deal with such a little ball of energy, was not going to be easy. She instantly decided to make it Severus’ job to figure something out. “What was that?” She realized that Olivia had been chattering away at her while she had been lost in thought.”
“Can I get robes for school like Serena and Dierna have?” Olivia repeated her question.
“I don’t think Madam Malkin makes anything in your size,” Morgan said, trying not to smile as she saw Olivia’s disappointed look. [I]In fact,[/I] she added to herself, we’ll be lucky if you’re big enough to wear Hogwarts’ robes when it is time for you to start there.
“Can I get a broom?” Olivia asked as they passed Quality Quidditch Supplies.
“I don’t think so.”
“Please…”
“No.”
“But Serena and Dierna have brooms,” Olivia pointed out.
“The answer is still no.”
“But Mum…” Olivia’s voice took on a high-pitched whine.
“Didn’t I hear your father warning you about whining just last night?” Morgan asked pointedly. She noticed that Olivia immediately snapped her moth shut and settled down to walk by her side silently. Apparently Severus had made it very clear what he thought of whining.
“Look! I see Serena and Dierna!” Olivia pointed over towards Gringotts, “can I run ahead to meet them?”
“No, you can stay with me,” Morgan replied as she tightened her grip on the girl’s hand.
Olivia sighed, as though the world were ending, but continued to hold on to Morgan’s hand as she dragged her feet.
“Mum, can we please split up to get our school supplies? It will go much faster,” Dierna pleaded.
“Please Mum, we promise we’ll be on our best behavior,” Serena added.
“What did your father say?” Morgan asked, already knowing the answer. She couldn’t help smiling as both girls’ faces fell and they both put on pitiful expressions. She swore they would never learn that this act just didn’t work. “Where is your father?” Morgan asked as she looked around, she was somewhat shocked that Severus would have left them alone.
“He’s across the street placing an order in the cauldron shop,” Serena supplied.
“And he didn’t take you with him?” Morgan pressed, hoping that nothing had happened.
“Apparently we are not capable of acting like adults,” Dierna said, a smile in place, “and since we can’t seem to behave ourselves we get to sit out here. And if we move off of this bench before he comes back…” she trailed off and looked at Serena, “what did he threaten us with again?”
“I wasn’t really listening,” Serena admitted.
“I remember!” Dierna snapped her fingers, “He said if we couldn’t sit out here and behave ourselves for ten minutes then when we got home he was going to hex us to chairs in his office for at least an hour to prove to us that we are capable of sitting still. Because apparently we’re still five years old.”
“Oiy… what did you two do?” Morgan asked, even though she had a feeling she didn’t want to.
“Nothing,” Dierna and Serena immediately replied together.
“Try again,” Morgan said, trying her best to look stern.
“Well… we didn’t think it would make him mad,” Serena started.
“How were we supposed to know that he didn’t want us to buy any fireworks? And honestly, we weren’t expecting him to find out about it. It wasn’t like we were going to use them at home, so I don’t think it’s that big of a deal…”
“Next time we’ll have them delivered,” Serena muttered under her breath, “that way he won’t know about it until it’s too late.”
“There are some days when I swear you two try your best to aggravate him on purpose,” Morgan said as she shook her head, “and I can’t understand why you would want to.”
“Because it’s really easy?” Dierna suggested.
“I’m sure you could find a better use for your time,” Morgan assured her.
~~~~~~~~~~~
