Tapping her toe, Dorcus stood in the long line that was leading to the witches loo. She could hear by the roar of the crowd that plaly had once again began and that made her toe tap even more from annoyance...okay, more from a full bladder, but still.

Arms over her chest, the witch sighed long and lound and then tried to distract herself by looking about and counting the poor souls waiting in line behind her. It was as she turned, that she caught sight of a blast from the past--Andromeda Black walking down the cooridor in her direction.

"Oh bloody hell on an ogre's fart," Dorcus groaned aloud, knowing what a blight this would be to her Sirius and Regulus and with that, those two would make their lives a living hell. But they would have to know--be warned.

Maybe the witch wouldn't see her. Who was she kidding...Dorcus Meadows could not be ignored nor ignore.

"Andromeda? What the blazes are you doing here and why?" the dark haired witch questioned a bit loudly trying to get the other's attention. "Are you slumming?" this last Dorcus giggled.

Rolling his eyes while being dragged along by Byron and his little gang of friends, Regulus had to admit that being at the World Cup was most exciting as the group began to make its way to the stadium for the first match, but still, the young wizard grimaced at the thought of what hell he had went through to gather extra tickets for his nephew's little group and one annoying wizard--James Potter. There would be hell to pay and his arse was the one it would be coming out of with what he went through to get these four extra tickets...and that wasn't even counting the ticket that ended up in Andromeda's hands. Atleast with that, he knew the witch would never be caught dead at one of these events. How stupid--he must be a blathering idiot and losing his mind to make a mistake like that let alone have his family here with him in Romania--dreadful little country that it was. If not for the quidditch, it was only little more than a patch of rock and mud for damned dragons.

"Merlin, Byron...you boys slow it down. Once you yank my arm out of its socket, I dare say we will not get to the match any faster..."with this he then turned to his wife who just shrugged and assured him if he was injured, she could fix him.


"Come on, Uncle Reg...aren't you excited?" By chirped. "You seen the tent yet? It's..." he looked to his mother for the right word. "What did you call it, Mum?"

Dorcus who was holding onto the crook of Sirius' arm as they walked, grinned. "Crazy cool...all we really need is a...what do they call those tubs with hot water the Muggles love so much?" she questioned aloud.

Right about then, Regulus was rather glad his little family had their own tent as Magnolia spoke up. "Hot tub."

It was then Dorcus sighed and nudged a hip against her wizard. "This brings back memories...sorta...kinda of the last time we went to a match as a group...I was knocked up with By...and they had the best food imaginable at that match..." she sighed wistfully over the rememberance of food.

"So, who is playing?" Byron questioned as Harry and Neville uttered the same. "Yeah...who? And what food?"

The stiletto heel shoe portkey brought Andromeda right to the Bulgarian grounds for the Quidditch cup.

"Ugh." She crinkled her nose as she looked around. Tents everywhere. Not her cup of tea. But she had decided to endure the process just to catch up with Regulus. She smiled to herself. Oh did she want to see his face when he saw her!

She pulled out her wand and brought forth a magical tent. Not much to look at on the outside. She pulled back a flap and walked in. But the inside! Red damask and gold trim everywhere. A kitchen annex and a lovely bedroom complete with featherbed. Something was missing. She remembered.

"Smidge!"

The little elf appeared and then looked about.

"Oooh missus." She squeaked with admiration. "So pretty!"

"Make me some tea." Andromeda ordered, falling back into a particularly comfy high backed chair. She needed a bit of time before heading out to annoy Regulus. Hopefully she would be able to find the man in the mess of tents and throngs of people outside.

She ruminated on a game plan.

"I guess I will just have to look for the loudest bunch of rugrats in the area." She spoke of her cousin's children. Both Sirius and Regulus had at least two apiece. "The noise alone will give them away."

Finally the construction men left for the evening. How bloody long can it take to finish one room? It seems like they had been working in the parlor for ages.

Andromeda moved about her flat turning off light switches and lamps. She was tired. Her bed was calling.

Oh bollocks. She groaned inwardly as she looked around the mess in front of her. Her room was covered in dust and apparently the crew men had taken it upon themselves to use her room as a storage area for their unused equipment and supplies. There were boxes of nails and widgets as well as drills and some sort of large pieces of equipment she couldn't even identify.

Her bed was rangy with old dust covering pillows and duvet. This just wouldn't do.

She pulled out her wand and tiredly waved it. "Evanesco."

The room cleared of junk, her bed stripped of linens and the dust disappeared.

She yawned, and then mumbled another charm which filled the room with decadent draperies, pillows and other lovely boudoir items. She smiled contentedly and headed to her new bed.

Ahhhhh.

TAP TAP TAP

The sound was loud and caused her to flinch as she turned to where the sound emanated from. It was an owl. And a beautiful owl at that. One she did not recognize. It certainly wasn't Regulus's monster Zeus. She let the animal in immediately. It flew to the back of a chair and perched, holding out it's leg.

The letterhead looked vaguely familiar. Hogwarts! This got her attention.

The owl hooted sternly, looking for it's compensation. She produced a cookie and then the creature took off as quickly as it had come.

She unrolled the scroll and sat upon her bed. She could not believe her eyes.

To Mrs. Andromeda Tonks,
(she rolled her eyes at the greeting)

Greetings from Hogwarts. I hope this note finds you healthy and well.

To get to the point, I am writing to ask a favor. I will be taking a sabbatical for the next year or two to immerse in the studies of Flobberworms. This will leave my position as Professor of Care of Magical Creatures open. It has come to my attention that you may be a candidate for this job. I remember you as a student and you passed my class with flying colors.

(Andromeda read this section twice. How could this be?)

Our prestigious Headmaster has emphatically offered your name for this position.

If you are interested in this position could you kindly reply as soon as possible as it is available immediately starting this school year.

Yours Kindly,
Silvanus Kettleburn
Care of Magical Creatures

She read the letter twice. Three times. This was impossible. Care of Magical Creatures?!

She lay back on a pile of pillows against the monstrous oak headboard of her bed, pondering the missive.

"Well I'll be damned."

Sitting at his desk, Charlie Weasley finished rubbing the cooling burn cream onto the newest red singed mark on his arm. He was just finishing up his second week of training at the dragon sanctuary in Romania, and Charlie was never more certain he had chosen the correct life for himself.

Animals had always drawn him but none more fascinated the young wizard then the mighty dragon. Great beasts soaring though the air, their hard scales making them nearly invincible, and yet there was a grace and elegance to the massive creatures, at least in his eyes. Charlie had always it seemed been attracted to such dichotomy. Probably why he couldn't find a steady witch, he mused with a snort.

Not that he was going to find any witch worth the effort in the wilds of Romania. Unless... Charlie's eyes were then drawn to the bright ticket sticking out of the edge of the mirror. He grinned wide as his thoughts turned to the unexpected fringe benefit all the trainers had been given just days before. It definitely paid to work for one of the sponsors of this years Qidditch World Cup. His older brother Bill was going to choke on his broom when he found out where Charlie was going and he wasn't.

In fact why wait he thought, picking up a quill and a piece of parchment.

Dearest Brother in whatever dusty tomb you're buried in,

Guess what.....

Hello my cousin. It seems that you ruined my horse and now he needs total retraining. So now I am home and I want to find out what's going on with Tonks and the rest of your... your... whomever you are with these days. Magnolia is it?

Please respond quickly as I am bored and want to catch up on the family's happenings. Send me an owl.

Andromeda

Oh, and looking forward to hearing from you.

Andi apparated right into the front room of her flat. She dismissed the help that had carried her luggage and trunks and called for her elf.

"Smidge!"

Andi had been moving in and out of her flat for ages, traveling the eventing circuit with her horse Ferrox and her lovely, lovely instructor Noah. The whole tour did not go exactly as planned and she had to retire from the whole thing early as Ferrox was not behaving as a well trained horse should. Instead of eventing and being in the ribbons, the horse had a reputation for bolting towards the mares in the middle of an event. Thanks to Regulus her horse was ruined. He wasn't a show horse, he was a damn stud. Regulus had bred the stallion so many times the horse had become perpetually horny. There wasn't a mare he wouldn't mount. It became quite embarrassing in the ring. Try being in a saddle when your horse is trying to mate another horse. She shook her head in disgust. Damn Regulus. Now the horse had to go back into training with her instructor. The animal was back at Noah's barn where she heard he was kicking down fences to get to the very, very expensive mares at Noah's facility. Oh well. Ferrox was Noah's problem now.

Her place was not exactly in order. With her traveling, the construction came to a halt and boards and wallboards and construction tools were everywhere. It had been like this for ages. She sighed. It wasn't fit to live in yet.

"Smidge!" She bellowed this time.

The little creature apparated with a POP.

"Oh missus! Glad to see-"

"Get me some tea." She interrupted. Then looked about. "And clean this kitchen up."

The little elf took to her jobs immediately.

"And bring me some parchment and quill."

It was time to let her family know she was home. And the first on her list: Regulus. She wondered how he would react to a post from her after all this time.

She had been gone for quite a bit, not keeping in touch with anyone. Now she found herself with time on her hands. She was not quite sure what she was going to do. Maybe a job? She had not had a job in ages. The Ministry she believed to be her last place of employment. What a flop that was. She was not sure she wanted a job. But it definitely was in the back of her mind.

Smidge produced a cup of tea, parchment and quill.

"And the ink?" Andi cuffed the elf for good measure. The imp squeaked and fetched her mistress some ink.

She tapped the quill tip to the parchment. Tap. Tap. Tap.

What to say? What to say?

The front door exploded open in a flurry of activity and noise as three prepubescent boys bowled over an over burdened wizard. Racing through the house and up the stairs, Bryon Black, Harry Potter and Neville Lupin shattered the quiet afternoon as they screamed and laughed amid noxious smoke and exploding firecrackers.

Sirius finally managed to elbow the door closed. Just returning from taking the boys to Diagon Alley for their school supplies and other important necessities, namely an over indulged trip to Zonko's Joke Shoppe, Sirius had been left with the less interesting packages to carry. Namely all the school supplies, minus wands of course. The boys counted them as the only interesting educational buy of the day.

Chuckling and coughing through the haze, Sirius finally reached the lounge where he was able to dump his tittering load. He waved a hand over his face to dispel the smoke and smell before seeing and smiling at a pair of withering green eyes.

"Hello Pumpkin, how's Daddy's girl today?" he asked ten year old Anabel. But she said nothing and kept staring with the stinky eye she inherited from her mother making the wizard grow uncomfortable with a slight pang of guilt. "Don't look at me like that Pumpkin, I told you, you get your turn next year."

Leaning down and lowering his voice as if afraid of being overheard Sirius continued, "Besides didn't I promise a certain pretty princess a special trip to Hogsmeade Village, just you and me." He reminded Ana of the earlier bribe made to get them out of the house without the fall of tears.

Emma sat at the miniature white desk in her bedroom laboring over a special letter she was drafting to her best friend and most favorite cousin. With the tip of her tounge poking out of the corner of her mouth, a move that would have sent her father into aplexy had he witnessed it, the four going on five year old scribbled with an oversized purple glitter quill and matching ink well.


Dear Ana,

Guess what! Mummy said Pappa said I gets to go to skool too just like you!
And guess what else? I gets to go to skools with YOU!
Ant that wizzy? Mummy said I can goes on Monday. Will that girl be there, you knows Gimmie or GiGi, whats her name you told me abouts. Do she really have red hair like my crayon? Cause tats really red.
I told Mummy I wanted to wear my feather dress and hat so I would look nice for the teather Mrs. Weasle but she said it might be too fancy. What do you think?
I like my feather dress don't you?

Loves u,
Emma

Running down the hall, Emma burst into her father's office with no worry as Regulus was working away from the house that day. Clamering up into the large leather chair, she rummaged in the desk drawer, pulling out a silver tipped seal, Emma dripped a few drops of magical wax on her personalized yellow stationary evelope and pressed Regulus' seal to the wax.

Hopping down from the chair she hurried to the bird stand where Regulus giant black and grey horned owl, Zeus perched. Reaching into a pocket she pulled out the lemon tartlet she had saved from lunch and held it up for the bird. "I need to send this to Ana okay, it's real real important." She said holding up the letter as Zeus swallowed his bribe in one gulp. With a ruffle of his rare colored feathers the great owl snatched the letter and swooped out of the window the little girl rushed to open.

Emma sat crossed-legged on the bed as she watched her Mum preparing for bed. "Mummy are you goin to kewl wits Ana and By-By?" She asked as she started to brush the hair of her favorite doll. Just as soon Magnolia would be brushing her own as part of their usual nighttime ritual.

Earlier in the day Magnolia had explained to Emma how she would be starting healer training in a few weeks. A decision the witch had wrestled with after reading the letter that told this would be the last training rotation that she would be eligible for at St. Mungos, the wizarding hospital. In fact if not for her husbands vehement urging and his strong stance in not allowing her to selflessly for-go the one dream she had held for so many years, she would have never even considered it. But with Regulus' support the witch had finally given into the long held wish and accepted the highly coveted slot in the hospitals next class.

And it was the talk she had had with Emma that now had the little girl thinking of her cousins. Often Ana and Byron told her stories of their days at Mrs. Molly's school, an experience Emma was completely ignorant of but mighty curious about.

"Ifs Anas can go to kewl with you why nots Emma can go too? Me is shart too." Emma informed Mags as she laid her hand over her chest and tilted her head up to her mother.