Goodbye
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Goodbye
"Ordis, would you be able to open a channel to Tyl Regor please?"
"Mistress, what are you doing?"
"Harry's gone to school now, so Wisp and I don't have to sneak out anymore. But if I don't find balance soon I'll lose myself to the void. Tyle Regor is holding balance so I'm going to ask him nicely if I can have a copy of the blueprints."
"Mistress, this is not a sanctioned mission."
"Ordis, will you open the channel, or do I have to send Hed?"
"Ordis is opening a channel operator."
"Tenno, no longer hiding behind a warframe I see."
"Tyl Regor I presume, we've never met, I'm Luna Lovegood. You have the balance and I need her. Can I have a copy?"
"Why don't you come down here so I can take you to the Queen."
"I'd rather not meet her, she seems a little to preoccupied with bodysnatching for my comfort levels. All I want is a copy of the balance, and I'm going to get it one way or another."
"If you show your face I will squash it like a bug, and then deliver your broken body to my Queen."
"Ok, hard way it is then. I'll see you soon."
"Operator, I hope you know what you're doing."
"Don't worry Ordis, I'm 14 not 9, and you've helped me get this far already."
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Pandora and Xeno both approached the Ministry of magic in their subframes. Pandora holds Xenorchomenus in his synthetic Moses Basket. Their child is carefully wrapped so that his frame isn't apparent, only his subframe. In hindsight, the last 5 years have been glorious, though there were moments when she really wished that Xeno wasn't so Xeno sometimes. Such as when he blithely walked up to a Demios Jugulus to look at the patterning on it's gumline.
The wizard manning the desk looks up, "Pandora, good to see you. What brings you to my neck of the woods today?"
"We'd like to register a birth, this is Xenorchomenus."
"Wow, you kept that quiet, when did this happen?"
"Well, Xeno did the most adorable thing last year and we watched a beautiful sunrise at the top of a mountain. One thing led to another and, I'm sure you know."
"I meant, how wasn't it gossip all over the ministry?"
"I kept it quiet, you remember what the rumours were like when I had Luna. I didn't want to subject myself to that again."
"I understand. I'd just like to say for the record that I don't agree with any of those rumours, despite the Lovegood curse."
Pandora forces herself to keep a cheery disposition as the idiot just demonstrated why those rumours hurt so much, "That's ok, anyway, I can we get this done as I need to go and quit my job. I think taking care of this little one is going to be a full-time job."
"Don't I know it, I remember when Tina was a wee babe. We had to use sticking charms on everything. Then we had to put everything out of reach once she learnt to crawl."
Pandora mutters, "Doesn't matter when they can fly."
"Flight, what a precocious little thing you are. I bet you learn to apparate before you're 6."
"I hope not."
"Don't worry, I've heard of cases of flying babies before. They grow out of it, as they never see us flying. If they don't buy them a training broom and they'll soon forget how to do it on their own."
"Thank you for the advice." Pandora grinds out of a rather fixed grin.
"Don't mention it. Right, I need you to fill out these forms and both of you. Mr Lovegood, please don't play with the spitting tulips. Both of you sign. Mr Lovegood, that doesn't mean play with the Darting Daffodils either. Pandora can you corral your husband please?"
"Xeno, I know you haven't seen these flowers for a while, but I need you to pay attention."
Xeno wanders over, "Yes dear. We need to go to the farmers market before we leave."
"And we will, but we need to finish registering Xeno junior so that he can go to Hogwarts when he's older."
"Oh yes, I have his tuition here." Xeno pulls out a chunk of Gold the size of his fist.
Pandora puts her hand over his, "No Xeno, this is the Births, Deaths and Marriages department. We're going to the Department for Education next. Sorry about that, do you have those forms?"
The clerk snaps their eyes up from the massive chunk of wealth. He has a good idea of what the adorable thing was now, "Yes, yes, right here."
As soon as they finish signing the forms and leave, the clerk is already off gossiping about how the Lovegood's found a gold mine last year and Pandora hid her pregnancy to avoid any awkward questions.
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The visit to the Department of Education with the freshly signed birth certificate was simple enough, even if the googly eyes they made at the lump of gold made Pandora have to hold her laughter. If only they realised just how common the metal actually was. Now though came the hard part. Resolutely she made her way down the stairs to the Department of Mysteries after sending Xeno off to pack up his printing press.
She has to pause at the randomiser room to marvel at the simplicity, and stupidity, of the first line of defence for the Department of Mysteries. Anyone with any sort of decent sensors is not going to be more than momentarily inconvenienced. It's clear as day where each door leads, and it seems that it would be clear in UV light too, as she can see some writing in invisible ink on each door. Heading through the door to the death room she makes her way to the Veil of Death, and again pauses as her sensors tell her it's actually a stable portal to the void. Most everyone should be able to survive a short while on the other side, though only Tenno and apparently post owls have been shown to be able to navigate it without aid. She's almost tempted to go through herself, but she chooses not to as she doesn't have the equipment needed to transit back if she can't find the portal on the other side. As she makes her way to Croaker's office she considers the fact that this was reportedly stolen from a Fairy mound by Merlin, and what it would mean for legends of the fae. When she reaches the office she knocks politely and waits.
"Enter."
Walking in Pandora conjures a table and puts Xeno Jr on it before taking a seat at the desk. Croaker looks up from his work with no visible reaction, though Pandora notes the minute tightening of muscles in his face as he hides his surprise.
"Pandora, did you have a good vacation with your family?"
"I did, I did indeed."
"Good, you're here for your next assignment then I assume?"
"Actually, no. I've come to tender my resignation."
"I see, I hope it's not because of your new arrival, as we will pay you regardless of how long it takes you to complete your assignment."
"No, nothing of the sort. We found a new place to live with masses of research opportunities and I don't think it's fair to treat the DoM as an afterthought with my research. I'd also feel bad drawing a wage and not actually contributing anything for years at a time because I was focused on my personal research projects.
"Not to mention the fact that Xeno has found many more ways to get in trouble there, so I've had to spend more time wrangling him too. Then as you said, there's Xeno Jr to worry about. You know how fast they grow up."
"Not personally, no. I've never found time for a personal relationship myself."
"Your loss. Luna is growing up into a lovely young woman. I'm looking forward to how she copes at Hogwarts next year."
"Well, would you be willing to forward us any of your personal research?"
"No, I don't think so. I don't want Ministry interference, and you know that no matter how hard we try, some things always end up in the rumour mill."
"Such as your access to a gold mine?"
"I hadn't heard that one. Still, it's not entirely inaccurate."
"Well it's more plausible than the idea you may have discovered how to make the philosophers stone."
Pandora smiles, "I think that stone might be more trouble than it's worth. Look at just how many dark lords and ministries have tried to take it from him in the last 200 years. I'll also note that the elixir that the stone produces is said to provide eternal life, not eternal youth."
"There is that, yes. Are you sure about this? I can put you on leave for 6 months while you think about it."
"No, I've thought about it a lot. I've even discussed with Xeno, Luna, and some friends. I'm going to have to resign."
"I'd hate to lose such a talented resource, would you consider taking on a consultants role instead of outright leaving?"
"Sorry, no."
"We can provide better protection on the Rookery."
"Once I'm finished here I'm going to see a friends son off to Hogwarts, then she's going to help Xeno and I pack up the Rookery."
"You're moving then."
"We are. The new opportunity is just too far to commute on any sort of regular basis. I'm sure we'll still be visiting, if only to deal with Gringotts."
"I see, so you'll work with Gringotts but not the ministry."
"Where did I say that. The Lovegood accounts are with Gringotts, we can't exactly leave them unattended."
"My mistake. Still, I'll owl you the paperwork later."
"I'd really take it with me. After all, I wouldn't want it to get held up due to administrative difficulties." Pandora holds her expression neutral when she sees Croaker's shoulders slump imperceptibly.
Lifting his wand Croaker summons the exit paperwork from the filing cabinet. Normally they can keep people on in some way or another, but it looks like this is one of those once in a decade moments where someone actually quits. He quickly fills out all of the relevant information before pulling a blood quill from the top drawer of his desk. He hides a smile when he sees her hesitate at the sight of it. This is where most people balk and go with the consultant option. Not being able to talk to any of their ex-colleagues for 50 years is usually a sticking point as they all make friends.
"Ok, that's doable." Pandora's voice makes him rapidly re-evaluate the intelligence he has on the woman. Everything he knows says that her relationships with the staff should have prevented this. Wordlessly he hands over the quill and watches as it traces her signature out in a silvery red colour. As soon as it finishes, a copy appears on the desk and she rolls up the original before he can examine her signature.
Once the wards indicate she's left the department he conjures a Patronus to call Shade in, who arrive promptly.
"Croaker. What do you need?"
He passes the contract over to Shade who reads it.
"Standard termination contract, I'm surprised she signed it."
"So am I. Also, she took the original."
"That's odd. Most are given the copy."
"There's more. They paid for their son's education with a lump of gold of unknown provenance."
"Unknown?"
"Yes, they've got it in the department, and it contains none of the trace elements that would tell us where it was mined. Even Goblin gold has that in it still. Finally, the blood quill wrote in silvery red blood. And she's taken the bloody quill too. Morgana's tits. Find out where they went on vacation a few weeks ago that could prompt her to make this decision. Also check where they went on vacation around 9 months ago, and get me a list of all the spells that someone could use to hide a pregnancy."
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Harry and Natah both look around in interest at the non-magical world as they're walking to Kings Cross Station with Xeno and Pandora. Xeno Jr still asleep in his basket, which is now resting on a hastily conjured perambulator. The idea of just so much pavement outside is such a mind-boggling idea that they've yet to comment on the ground vehicles. Pandora suspects the issue is more a case of trying to wrap their heads around why than how, given they come from a society where non-local roads really aren't necessary. Her own sensors are telling her that the black surface of the road could be turned into a multitude of useful products that she's seen in her travels. She sighs briefly, as she can sense a shopping trip to some of the shops in London for samples looming in her future.
Eventually they arrive at the station and they guide Harry and Natah to the concealed entrance to the platform. Off to one side Mrs Weasley is skirting the statute by shouting about forgetting how to get to it. Probably because this is only the second time they've brough Ginevra with them. Ingeniously, she can see that it is actually a brick wall apart from a small section around an inch deep. As they pass through they find themselves on a platform 10 miles north of the station they just left. Pandora marvels at the spell-work that must have gone into the construction of that portal, and has to resist the urge to draw her wand to examine it.
Natah leans over to Pandora and whispers, "Have we just been teleported?"
Pandora nods, "Portal actually. Amazing spell work, I never realised that's what was happening before."
"Makes sense, misdirection so that people are looking in the wrong place for the train."
The four of them made their way down the train looking for an empty compartment for Harry to use while chatting about steam engines and what they know of them. Surprisingly it was Xeno Sr that knew the most, something about needing to go where the story is, so you need to be able to blend in properly. As they said goodbye to Harry, Natah muses that it's a good thing that Luna decided not to come this year. It would be a little difficult to explain how she was able to grow into a teenager in only a few weeks.
After a tearful goodbye, they finally let Harry get on the train, while at the entrance to the platform there seems to be some sort of commotion as the Weasley's hurry through trying to get to the train. Obviously Molly had given up trying to get Ginevra to show the way, just in time too. Xeno speaks up, "It looks like Mrs Weasley has a bad case of wrackspurts dear."
Pandora nods, "Yes, her stress levels are indeed very high. I wonder why she left it so late to come through to the platform."
Xeno looks at her, his eyes silver, "Not why, who. Who indeed? Who who. HooHoo, the shards of clay that never were have been shaped by a craftsman's hand. The guardian of the flame is watching the darkness consume the candles and hoping his lamp will hold. Who, HooWho, the owls fly and bring the light. The queen of fae will defend the stone of avarice. HooHoo"
As the silver leaves his eyes Xeno says, "I just had a Xeno moment didn't I."
Pandora hugs her husband, "You did, but it's ok you didn't do anything wrong."
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Albus paces his office nervously. He's been concerned about Harry since the wards at Privet Drive failed to activate. None of the devices that he tied into the wards activated either leaving him completely in the dark to his health and wellbeing. He knows that Harry wouldn't have had the best childhood growing up, but at least he'd have had a childhood. He saw more than a few muggles like them during his time introducing muggleborn to the magical world. Watched his father kill a few after what they did to his sister. But it's better to take the belt and a verbal beating than to die before you even know how to talk to people. He'll never tell Minerva that there were three separate attacks on the school after Hagrid got to the pub that night. It's why he had to relocate Harry so fast. Now he doesn't even know what he looks like, only that he has a golem that he's accompanied by, and that golem has been seen going around Diagon a few times this summer. There has even been talk about him being a probationary adult. A minor statute from the time of the fae. If he recalls correctly, it's called the Rip Van Winkle accord after the American that stumbled on a Fae Mound and aged 50 years overnight, though the muggle story says he disappeared for that time too. Frustratingly, Minerva had been very tight lipped about his situation too. Though that's probably to do with that strange magical artifact and her new fascination with her new paperweight. Whatever enchantments they had on them, they were far more subtle than he'd ever worked with before. None of his diagnostic spells had come up with anything, he even tried the ones that detected muggle technology. To make matters worse, Fawkes had refused to take him to see Harry. The first time he asked, Fawkes disappeared in a ball of fire and then returned missing feathers from his wings and tail, and promptly having a burning day.
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