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tardis-festivities · 6 months

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Pinch hit 2 - CLAIMED

We have a pinch hit. If you can do it then please either respond on the Dreamwidth post (all comments are screened) or use the email listed in the contact post with your AO3 name.

This is due 21st November 7pm UTC (note, this is later than the assignment deadline and no extensions will be given on this pinch hit). Minimum is 300 words or a nice sketch on lined paper.

Fandoms: The Diary of River Song (Big Finish Audio), Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio), Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who: Eighth Doctor Adventures - Various Authors, Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka, Doctor Who Unbound: Doctor of War (Big Finish Audio), Doctor Who: Virgin New Adventures - Various Authors, Gallifrey (Big Finish Audio), The Time Travellers (BBV Series) Mediums: Art, Fic

Requester: lurking_latinst

The Diary of River Song (Big Finish Audio)

Ship: Sixth Doctor/River Song (The Diary of River Song), Ship: Seventh Doctor/River Song (The Diary of River Song)

DNW: sexual content, rating over T for any reason, focus on unrequested ships.

I have the setting to receive gifts turned on and welcome treats, including treats in other media.

General fic likes: hurt/comfort, travel & visiting interesting (including imaginary) places, the Doctor being willing to go to great lengths for companions, moral dilemmas/conflicting priorities, how one character responds when they think the other is dead, 'everything is happy and nothing hurts', 'everything hurts a little bit but still we've got each other,' stories with historical settings, really alien aliens, experimental styles/structures, character studies, metafictional weirdness.

General art likes: portraits with symbolism, characters doing things (anything from an action scene to playing a board game!), awesome clothes, alien landscapes and culture, historical fashion, headcanons about the appearance of audio-only characters (I love when they’re drawn looking like their actors and I love when they’re drawn completely different), abstraction, unconventional materials (if you want).

Six/River: I love how they’re both such passionate, dramatic, emotional people, and they create this kind of beautiful harmony of intensity. A missing scene from their audio? An AU where they spend a longer time together? Another first meeting? (They’ve had so many…)

Seven/River: I like Seven to be in love and sad about it. Or at least with an undertone of melancholy. His tendency to know rather too much, especially about his own past and future, would combine very interestingly with River's whole deal, I think. It would also be nice for them to get to have some more proper adventures together - something they both

Don’t feel the need to explain and justify how it fits into their timelines, especially at this length, unless you want to. Amnesia lipstick covers a multitude of paradoxes.

Doctor Who (1963)

Ship: The Doctor/The Doctor's TARDIS (DW 1963), Ship: Seventh Doctor & Ray Defwydd (DW 1963), Ship: Fourth Doctor/Romana II & Adric (DW 1963), Ship: Fifth Doctor/Romana II (DW 1963), Ship: Seventh Doctor/Romana & Ace (DW 1963), Ship: Seventh Doctor/Romana (DW 1963), Earl Sigma (DW 1963), Ship: Seventh Doctor & Ace McShane (DW 1963), Ship: Fourth Doctor/Romana II (DW 1963), Romana II (DW 1963)

DNW: sexual content, rating over T for any reason, focus on unrequested ships.

I have the setting to receive gifts turned on and welcome treats, including treats in other media.

Doctor/TARDIS: I love Doctor/TARDIS especially when it’s strange and psychic and it takes them a lot of work to discover & understand each other. I especially like TARDIS POV or alternating POVs, although I would rather she can’t actually communicate with other characters in words.

Four/Romana II: Anything from tropey romance to Time War foreshadowing angst is wonderful. I love that air they have of irresponsible aristocrats on holiday--and then how they'll suddenly turn on a dime and start saving lives, if need be. I absolutely adore them being domestic, especially since neither of them is that good at it. I would love them being undercover as a Normal Earth Couple, including in a historical setting (yes, I did like The Auntie Matter). Canon-typical adventures with a shippy edge are also excellent.

Four/Romana II & Adric: For a few short episodes Four and Romana are pretty much co-parenting Adric and I desperately want to see more of how they handle it. The Doctor doesn’t like responsibility and I’m not sure Romana likes children very much–how do they discuss or avoid the fact that they now have a whole teenager living in their house? What does Adric observe and think of them? (Feel free to cram extra time into the E-Space trilogy, or write in an AU where Romana returned to N-Space with the Doctor and Adric, or whatever.)

Romana II: I really love Romana’s intelligence, her intensity, and her unique perspective as a Time Lady who's not strictly a renegade, but also not bound by the typical prejudices and assumptions of the Time Lords. Feel free to throw in some Gallifreyan worldbuilding if you want!

Five/Romana II: They have a lot of unfinished business and I do think they just genuinely miss each other. But Five's very different from Four, partly I think because he'd grown used to having Romana around and is trying to get on without her. So what happens if they reconnect? If you want to include Five's companions, what do they think of her and of their relationship?

Seven & Ray: I think her friendship with the Doctor in the brief time they know each other is beautiful and they seem to really get each other. A canon-typical scene with Ray as a full-time companion would make me very happy, as would a missing scene from Delta and the Bannermen. It would also be interesting to see the Doctor running into an older Ray later in life.

Seven/Romana: I love the idea of them reuniting with each other after so many changes for both of them. Maybe, even though they live such different lives now, they could still find their way back to each other…. Gallifreyan worldbuilding is very welcome, or maybe the Doctor gets her to sneak off with him for just one quick adventure/date?

Seven & Ace: Anything that digs into their relationship--whether it explores their insecurities or uncertainties about each other, or shows how beautifully they work as a team. I like the idea that Ace is in some ways as much of a mystery to the Doctor as he is to her. Does Ace gradually realize that the Doctor is training her, specifically, to do what he does--perhaps when he's gone, whatever that might mean? Does she want to do that? What does he learn from her?

Seven/Romana & Ace: What happens if they all three go on an adventure together? Or alternatively, what kind of conversations do the Doctor and Romana have about Ace, her personality, and his plans for her? Romana might have a very different perspective.

Earl Sigma: I love that in addition to being a musician he's actually a psychology student on holiday. I'd love some exploration of who he is, what he does with his life, and what he thinks of the Doctor and Ace and the one-night revolution.

Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)

Ship: Irving Braxiatel & Sixth Doctor (DW BFA), Ship: Irving Braxiatel & Eighth Doctor (DW BFA), Ship: "Eeyore"!Eighth Doctor & "Tigger"!Eighth Doctor & "Normal"!Eighth Doctor (DW BFA - Caerdroia), Margaret "Peg" Pollard (DW BFA), Ship: Sixth Doctor & Iris Wildthyme (DW BFA), Ship: Second Doctor & Charley Pollard (DW BFA), Ship: Sixth Doctor/Charley Pollard (DW BFA), Ship: Sixth Doctor & Charley Pollard (DW BFA)

DNW: sexual content, rating over T for any reason, focus on unrequested ships.

I have the setting to receive gifts turned on and welcome treats, including treats in other media.

I also, for requests where this is relevant, like stories where platonic pairings go through typical shipping tropes (mistaken for a couple, accidental marriage, only one bed, etc.) and navigate those situations in their own unique ways, ultimately reaffirming how much they value their relationship the way it is (i.e. not ending up as a romantic or sexual pairing).

Two & Charley: What would an AU with Two in Storm Warning be like? No need to explain where exactly it fits in his timeline or anything. I just feel like he and Charley would work together so well and have so much fun. Or alternatively–what if in Season 6B, when he’s working for the CIA, the Doctor is sent to find and deal with a girl who shouldn’t exist, only to find that she’s travelling (or used to travel) with one of his future selves, and turning her in is a lot harder than he expected….

Six &/ Charley: I love Six and Charley and their complicated feelings for and about each other. I love how strange their relationship is, but they're both quite strange people at this point, so it kind of works… For the Charley/Six request, I'd be really down for some complicated yearning. She is or was in love with him but not him him; he feels drawn to her but doesn't understand why. Want to unpack that? Go right ahead! (Want to unpack that in a platonic, ampersand-ish way? Go right ahead with that too!) I’d also love to see them go through some fun juicy tropes. (Fake/accidental marriage… the lying, the inability to communicate their real feelings….) I'd also be down for alternate ending/fixit fic.

Six & Brax: Six’s intense reluctance to ask for Brax’s help in “The 100 Days of the Doctor” made me very much want to see them having to work together. Six doesn’t cope well with Gallifrey, Brax is Gallifrey. Six will be playing the role of the Disreputable Renegade even more than he actually is, just to scandalize Brax. They could meet at some intergalactic summit where Brax is a delegate and Six is foiling a plot. Or what if Brax gets involved in the events of Trial of a Time Lord? After all, the family honor could be at stake…. Feel free to include any or no companion.

Six & Iris: Iris! She's so much fun, and I'm fascinated by the side of the Doctor that she brings out. Maybe they have some adventures together after The Wormery and work through some of what's happened to them lately? (Canon-typical ship-teasing--mainly one-sided on Iris' part--is fine and welcome.) Iris is just always a delight, and I love how strangely comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time she makes the Doctor--especially Six, who wears his hearts on his colorful sleeves.

Eight & Brax: There's so much happening on Gallifrey in the Eight era--what happens if the two of them have to work together? Political drama/shenanigans, Eight getting in a scrape and needing help from Brax or vice versa, family drama--all great.

Caerdroia triplets: Some ideas: a missing scene from the episode, AU where the three of them don't reintegrate at the end or have trouble doing so, POV of one of them on the other two, or they re-split later on and how are Charley and C'rizz going to deal with it this time?

Margaret Pollard: A story from the Pollard sisters' childhood, a look at Peggy's later life (how does she cope with what happens to her sisters?), a story where Charley sees her again (what does Peggy think of Charley's unconventional space lifestyle?) or reminisces about her--it's all headcanons here, and I want you to tell me all of yours! Also, I have a random cracky headcanon that, since Cissy dates [spoiler] and Charley has… whatever relationship she has… with the Doctor, Peggy must have some kind of romantic relationship with some Time Lord somewhere, just for symmetry. If you want to play with that, have at it!

Doctor Who & Related Fandoms

Ship: Eighth Doctor (DW BFA) & Missy (DW 2005), Ship: Ninth Doctor (DW 2005)/Charley Pollard (DW BFA), Ship: Ninth Doctor (DW 2005) & Charley Pollard (DW BFA), Ship: Ninth Doctor (DW 2005) & Ace McShane (DW 1963), Ship: Irving Braxiatel (Gallifrey) & Susan Foreman (DW 1963), Ship: Irving Braxiatel (Gallifrey) & First Doctor & Susan Foreman (DW 1963)

DNW: sexual content, rating over T for any reason, focus on unrequested ships.

I have the setting to receive gifts turned on and welcome treats, including treats in other media.

(One &) Brax & Susan: Please dump all of your Gallifreyan family headcanons on me! I would love to see this relationship be complicated but not all bad, whether it's a young Susan on Gallifrey or perhaps Brax (re?)connecting with her later in her life. I can't think he would understand or approve of her choices, nor the Doctor's choices regarding her, but he might learn to respect her for who she is. I think she might take after him a bit, actually, in personality (which would not necessarily help their relationship…).

Eight & Missy: I just think there's so much potential for high drama here! Whether she's in disguise/not telling him who she is, or he's amnesiac, or both, or neither, or the Time War is involved… I feel like a historical or steampunky setting could be really fun, especially since their outfits kind of match :D Shippy undertones (at the level of Missy's canonical flirting with the Doctor) are totally fine if you go that direction.

Nine &/ Charley: Reconnecting in any way, at any point in either of their timelines, would be just wonderful. Charley will probably recognize that the Doctor has a lot of fascinating new issues to repress, but I'd love it if she got the chance to talk about some of her experiences and feelings that she and Eight never really resolved. Possibly in the middle of adventure and danger!

Nine & Ace: Similarly, I'd love to see them reconnect and work through stuff that never got closure. Or an AU where Nine is the Doctor who meets Ace on Iceworld! I feel like they'd get along.

Doctor Who: Eighth Doctor Adventures - Various Authors

Ship: Eighth Doctor & Anji Kapoor (DW EDA), Anji Kapoor (DW EDA)

DNW: sexual content, rating over T for any reason, focus on unrequested ships.

I have the setting to receive gifts turned on and welcome treats, including treats in other media.

I'd like something focused on Anji and/or her friendship with the Doctor. I feel like we very often see the Doctor and Anji sort of mediated through Fitz, who's close to both of them. So I'd love something that explores their relationship directly with each other. Maybe exploring Anji's (very reasonable) doubts and mistrust of the Doctor, and how the Doctor responds to her, and how they are friends anyway. Or something about how they work together on a problem or puzzle--that's one thing they have in common, problem-solving.

Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka

Alison Cheney (DW: SotS), Ship: Ninth Doctor & Alison Cheney (Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka)

DNW: sexual content, rating over T for any reason, focus on unrequested ships.

I have the setting to receive gifts turned on and welcome treats, including treats in other media.

I'd like something focused on Alison and/or her friendship with the Doctor. I feel like we almost know more about Alison's relationship with the Master than with the Doctor, so I'd love to see what brings the two of them together. Does he see himself (or past companions) in her longing for a bigger, fuller life? What kind of places do they go, and what's their approach when they get there? I'd love to see them working as a team that knows each other well (maybe even an older Alison?). They deserve a long friendship.

Doctor Who Unbound: Doctor of War (Big Finish Audio)

Romana (Rebecca Night) (DW Unbound: Doctor of War), Ship: The Doctor | The Warrior/Romana (Rebecca Night) (DW Unbound: Doctor of War)

DNW: sexual content, rating over T for any reason, focus on unrequested ships.

I have the setting to receive gifts turned on and welcome treats, including treats in other media.

I'd like something focused on the version of Romana introduced in these audios and/or her relationship with the Doctor (or whatever he's supposed to be called). If we matched on the ship, pre-ship or shippy subtext is just fine, especially at this length; I just would love to see them together! If we matched on just the character, rest assured that gen focused on Romana is just as welcome.

I love the Doctor and Romana in main canon, and I fell in love with them all over again in this standalone alternate universe. Ingenue/civil servant/assassin Romana and her Lord President just fascinate me. I love the deep sense of loyalty to his position that has her defending him before she even knows anything good about him, combined with the way they immediately feel drawn to each other and realize they could be friends. He's such a mess, personally and morally, and so is she but in very different ways, and I'd love to see them struggling towards a better way together.

I'd love to see what happens with them after "The Difference Office," or a missing scene from when they're on the run (while Romana's android double is being interrogated).

I would also welcome some worldbuilding for this version of Gallifrey and Romana's earlier life and career, or what comes after the audio for her! Feel free to include other characters from the audio (such as Zorcha or alt!Narvin), alternate versions of characters we know from main canon (is there a Leela in this universe?), or OCs.

Doctor Who: Virgin New Adventures - Various Authors

Ship: Seventh Doctor/Time (DW VNA) Bernice Summerfield (DW VNA), Roz Forrester (DW VNA), Innocet (DW VNA)Art Fic

DNW: sexual content, rating over T for any reason, focus on unrequested ships.

I have the setting to receive gifts turned on and welcome treats, including treats in other media.

Seven/Time: canon dialogue from No Future: ‘No, time doesn’t work like that. She’s ferociously neat, she –’ ‘She?’ ‘Time.’ ‘Are you two going out, or what?’ The Doctor frowned. ‘Once. But now she’s seeing somebody else.

Look, why not take it literally? Or at least semi-literally. Be metaphorical; be surrealistic; go wild!

Benny: Benny's presence in the VNAs is so delightful. She's there for some of the worst moments of the Doctor's life and she loves him dearly and never takes him too seriously. She's a protagonist in her own right and he's the cosmic force she's experiencing along her journey, and they hang out. What's not to love?

I'd prefer you not to lean on too many things from her later life (after leaving the Doctor) because I'm not very familiar with those stories, but mentioning them is fine. Something in the form of her diary or a memoir would be very cool. Or a canon-typical adventure, or one of the nice days out that they must have sometimes surely!

Roz: Roz is just a wildly underappreciated companion. Her journey and her relationship with the Doctor are so interesting--she never treats him as any kind of moral authority and is happy to disagree with him. Something that explores that would be cool. But also, the books they're in are often very dark, and I'd enjoy a softer or quieter moment from Roz's time as a companion, or maybe one of her fellow travellers helping to support her and being her friend after some of the canonical things she goes

Innocet: Utterly fascinated by her. The only decent Time Lord! What happens to her after the events of Lungbarrow? What is readjusting to the outside world like? And does she maintain/rebuild a relationship with the Doctor (including after his regeneration)? Feel free to lean into the gothic novel vibes of Lungbarrow, or explore your own Gallifreyan headcanons. I’d actually also love to see her in an AU (or, you know, some other version of canon) where she wasn’t trapped in Lungbarrow for so much of her life. What if she got involved in one of the TV Gallifrey stories–War Games or Deadly Assassin or Invasion of Time or Arc of Infinity or Trial? (A couple of those could only be improved by her presence…) Would she stick up for her renegade Cousin? Would she try to persuade him to live a more conventional life? What if he persuaded her to come see a little bit of the universe with him?

Gallifrey (Big Finish Audio)

Ship: Annos & Leela (Gallifrey), Ship: Alternate Romana II & Alternate Doctor (Gallifrey: Disassembled), Commentator Theta Sigma (Gallifrey: Forever), Commander Maxil (Gallifrey)

DNW: sexual content, rating over T for any reason, focus on unrequested ships.

I have the setting to receive gifts turned on and welcome treats, including treats in other media.

Annos & Leela: I kind of love Annos--he seems like a genuinely nice guy, as Gallifreyan guards go! He seems to treat Leela with more respect than a lot of them, and he seems loyal and reliable too. Did he and Leela know each other before the events of the series? Had he heard stories about "Andred's alien wife," and maybe found she was quite different than he'd been led to expect? Or do they get to know each other as colleagues and allies through the events of the series?

Disassembled!Romana & Disassembled!Doctor: They're both very scary! What is their working relationship like? What kinds of complicated feelings are underneath for both of them? (A little bit of shippy energy is just fine, if your muse takes you in that direction.) Or I'd love to hear more about their world!

Commentator Theta Sigma: Alternate versions of the Doctor intrigue me, and I'd love to see an exploration of aspects of his life and what's made him who he

Commander Maxil: OK, I admit it, I just love that they got Colin Baker to do a ton of stuff in Gallifrey. What's Maxil been doing all this time? Does he know the Doctor stole his face? Does he still have the helmet?? What's his perspective on the crazy political stuff that's been going down on Gallifrey?

The Time Travellers (BBV Series)

Ace | Alice (The Time Travellers BBV), The Professor | The Dominie (The Time Travellers BBV)

DNW: sexual content, rating over T for any reason, focus on unrequested ships.

I have the setting to receive gifts turned on and welcome treats, including treats in other media.

I'm fascinated by the ways in which they aren't the Doctor and Ace--whether that means different backstory, different worldbuilding, or really meta fic involving alternate universes (crossing over is fine as long as the proper Doctor Who characters don't crowd out the Time Travellers). We got a bit of Alice's "legally distinct from Dorothy McShane" backstory; how about the Professor's? What's his planet (?) like and how'd he come to leave it? How about their timeship? I'd also love something that explores how the events of the series shape their relationship--they're often separated from each other for quite long periods of time, and we never actually see them reunite after Punchline. What keeps them coming back to each other?

#doctor who #the diary of river song #classic who #big finish audio #eighth doctor #scream of the shalka #doctor who unbound #doctor who virgin adventures #gallifrey #the time travellers (BBV)

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saiilorstars · 2 months

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Ch. 33: Out in the Country

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic @kmc1989

Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

Fanfic • Ao3 • Wattpad

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know!

Romina never thought it would be possible to feel both heavy excitement and a heavy urge to throw up. Things were actually working out for her — like actually working. Rolf's parents, her uncle Adric and aunt Gemma, had come to their house to talk about the situation and what they hoped would be the arrangement. Romina was surprised that her uncle Lyonel managed to keep calm about the whole thing. Of course she'd already warned him that if he ruined this in any way, she would never forgive him. Blackmail, perhaps, but it worked.

At the end of the visit, it was agreed that Romina would visit her grandparents accompanied by Rolf and his parents. Neither Lyonel nor Sage felt prudent to come along for obvious reasons. Romina also suspected that Lyonel did it to avoid any conflicts during her visit, an act she would thank him for later.

"You have everything you need, right?" Sage was fixing Romina's primp curls and adjusting the collar of her blouse.

"Yes, auntie," Romina nodded fervently. It wasn't like she had checked her duffel bag over and over for the last day.

"Now remember," Lyonel stepped towards her, "If you feel bombarded or if you just want to come home, tell them. They understand that this can be difficult and they just want to make sure you're comfortable. Don't be afraid to tell them, okay?"

Romina nodded again. "Yeah."

A short moment later, their fireplace spit out the familiar face of Rolf Scamander and the semi-familiar face of his father, Adric.

"Romina!" Rolf beamed at the sight of her. "Hi!"

Romina could at least relax seeing him and knowing that he was going to be around for most of the visit. Still, when she met Adric Scamander's gaze, she drew in a shaky breath. "H-hi," she said dumbly. It was very hard accepting the fact she had another uncle.

Adric Scamander was a tall man with dark brown hair that tousled on the back. His eyes were a dark brown and the more Romina looked at him, the more she paid attention to some light freckles sprinkled over his face. "Hi Romina," he greeted her kindly. "Are you ready to go?"

Romina had no idea why she looked up at her aunt and uncle. She felt like a child who had no idea what to do. Way to stand your ground!

"Whenever you're ready, sweetheart," Sage said

Romina bit on her bottom lip. Her fingers curled tightly around the strap of her duffel bag. "I'm ready," she said, trying to act like she wasn't a nervous wreck at the moment.

"C'mon Romina," Rolf was eager for the both of them, "Grandpa's going to show you the bowtruckles—those are my favorite!"

"What's a bowtruckle?" Romina asked. Suddenly the ten times she had read their grandfather's book disappeared from her head.

Rolf chuckled and reached for his cousin's hand. "They're these little green looking creatures. Kind of like walking plants."

"I think...I think I remember reading about them…" Romina said, letting Rolf walk them back towards the fireplace. Her head would need an extra minute or so to think for just about anything right now.

The adults smiled at the pair. Lyonel felt a little more relaxed seeing Romina more willing around Rolf. Then he felt the guilt for having robbed her of the relationship. He tried reminding himself that he'd done everything he could to make sure she was safe and happy.

"We'll have her back by tomorrow," Adric told him. "Unless you all decide otherwise."

Sage nodded. "Thank you. This means a lot to her."

Adric smiled. "Believe me, it means a lot for our family too. It's like Elora isn't completely gone." The mention of his older sister was bittersweet for both sides of the family. "Alright you two," he said, turning for the teenagers, "Ready or not…"

The flames erupted in the fireplace again and in a couple seconds, Lyonel and Sage saw their niece disappear with the rest of her family.

~ 0 ~

Romina was pretty much like a statue as soon as she left the fireplace. She was well aware that she was in another home, a nice home by the looks of it, and there was also a dark haired woman waiting for them.

Gemma Scamander, Rolf's mother, was eager to meet Romina and didn't hesitate to pull the girl into a tight hug. "Oh, you have no idea how much Rolf's talked about you in these last years!"

"Mum," Rolf said through gritted teeth. "She gets it, trust me."

Gemma winced and let Romina go. "Sorry, I tend to get a little overexcited."

"I'll say," Adric came around.

Gemma lightly whacked his arm. "Anyways," she said, though her gaze lingered on her husband for a moment before she continued, "Everyone's waiting at the house but I've reminded them that it may be a while before we get there. Romina, how are you feeling?"

Romina smiled lightly. "So far, so good." I haven't thrown up yet. She had yet to release the firm grip around her duffel bag's strap too but that was something else. "Um, have I met everyone here, though?" The house was rather silent but she had no idea if Rolf had any younger or older siblings.

Adric chuckled when he presumed Romina's thoughts. "It's just us, dear. Your aunt Kassia, though, you'll want to see her."

"Then let's," Romina said, drawing in a breath. It was basically now or never.

Adric and Gemma were more than happy to get them going. As they readied to re-enter the fireplace, Romina heard Rolf's comforting words that everything was going to be fine. Everyone was waiting anxiously to meet her. There was no reason to worry about anything.

Romina had no idea what to think nor feel when she entered the fireplace and came out once again in a whole new house. The living room was beyond spacious and had a touch of vintage to it? Romina took note of the warm colors and immediately thought of autumn for some reason. She spotted several portraits on the wall, a lot of them being awards of some type.

"We're here!" Adric's loud yell made Romina flinch in her spot.

Beside her, Rolf chuckled. "Yeah, Dad's got a big voice. You should hear him when I'm in trouble."

Romina cracked a smile at him. "That's my uncle Lyonel," she said and they both shared a laugh.

"I didn't expect you to be here so soon!" They heard a woman say and before Romina could decide on who it would be, a slightly younger woman than Gemma walked into the living room. Romina's eyes widened.

She had soft blonde hair and blue eyes, but what took Romina's attention was the fact that she was very pregnant.

"Oh wow," the woman breathed when she saw Romina. "Adric, she's got Mum's—"

"I know," Adric said with a small chuckle. "First thing I thought of when I saw her. Romina?" The girl stepped forwards as soon as he called. Adric placed a hand on her shoulder. "Romina, this is your aunt Kassia. And that—" he pointed at her pregnant belly, "—is the future Willow."

"Another cousin," Romina smiled slowly.

Kassia chuckled and nodded. "Oh yes, and a rowdy one judging by the kicks."

"Oh, is she kicking again?" Gemma moved over to test her luck and see if she could feel the baby's kicks.

"Oh!" Kassia huffed. "Hasn't stopped since last night! I can't wait for her to get out!"

"Romina, we can take your stuff to the guest room," Adric said, holding a hand out for the bag. "That way you can go outside." He glanced at his sister. "I imagine that's where they are?"

Kassia scoffed. "You know Mum, everything has to be perfectly decorated."

Romina's heart skipped a beat at the mention of her grandmother. "What is she decorating?" the question left her lips before she even finished thinking it.

Kassia smiled at her. "Why don't you come out and see?" She extended her hand towards Romina and waited patiently for the girl to decide whether or not she would want to take it.

Romina wanted to meet everyone in the house so badly that she didn't think twice about handing over her duffel bag to Adric then taking Kassia's hand.

"We'll be outside, Adric," Kassia said before he took off for the stairs. "C'mon then, better get a headstart. I'm a little slower than usual."

"How long till you have your baby?" Romina found herself asling. If Lyonel or Sage had been around, she was sure to have been scolded for such an imprudent question.

Kassia merely chuckled, however, easing Romina's nerves. "About a month now. Her father and I are so excited."

"You're married?"

"Yeah, your uncle Oliver is off in France, I'm afraid. Business trip."

Kassia led the group out into the biggest yard that Romina had ever seen. In fact, it was just a big ole field. It reminded her of the country houses she sometimes saw in movies where the characters went to "get away from it all". A high wooden gate was set around the house but there was truly no need for it. There wasn't anything around them. Beautiful plants adorned both sides of the gate and at the end there was a door to the outside. The plants didn't stop by the gates, though, they were pretty much everywhere! Twinkling lights were draped in the form of curtains over the gates. A wooden table, a big one at that, resided at the center with empty plates. And for some reason, there were half dressed mannequins and others that were right empty set sporadically around. It was funny but at the same time, Romina recognized them as the special mannequins that proper designers would use.

And finally, Romina spotted a tall woman with wavy blonde hair below her shoulders that seemed to be gray in some areas. She was using her wand to prop up a brand new set of twinkling lights near the gate door. She was humming something and it took Romina a moment to realize the woman was humming something in French.

Kassia cleared her throat and called out to the woman. "Mum?"

The woman dropped the twinkling lights when she looked back and found her visitors. "Oh!" Her eyes widened.

Romina felt like she might pass out when the woman looked directly at her.

"Bienvenue!" She lowered her wand and left it carelessly on the table. She took a long stride towards the group.

Romina immediately noted the elegant robes she wore all in pastel colors. Her face was wrinkled but there was a timeless beauty to her. Her lips were pink and stretched into a wide smile.

"Grandma! It's her!" Rolf exclaimed and immediately felt his mother's hard grip on his shoulder. She wanted him to be calm right now? Of all times!?

Romina swallowed hard when her grandmother chuckled. She even laughed softly and elegantly. How does one even do that?

"Oh, I know," the woman said, "You don't think I'd recognize my own eyes?"

Romina's hand ghosted around her eyes then. "Your eyes?" she repeated.

Her grandmother chuckled. "Well of course. I suppose you could have gotten them from your father but I hardly think so. They're mine. Same shade of brown. And big." She heaved a long sigh and gave Romina a look that the girl couldn't describe. "It is very nice to meet you, Romina. I'm your grandmother, Abigail."

"Yeah, I...I heard," Romina awkwardly smiled.

Abigail chuckled. "I suppose you have. I know Rolf has been talking to you. He is quite the talker. Didn't get that from this family."

"Hey," Gemma laughed. "I don't talk that much. And you should hear Adric, he gets going sometimes."

"I suppose he does," mused Abigail. She met Romina's stare and smiled. "Trying to picture me as grandma?"

"Kind of," Romina admitted. "I'm sorry—"

"Don't be," Abigail cut her off quickly. Her smile dropped to be replaced by an earnest face. "You take all the time you need, alright? We will all respect your boundaries, whatever you want them to be."

"Th-thank you…" Romina bit on her bottom lip, "Can I...could I...um, could I hug you?" She felt an insane heat blossom over her cheeks as soon as she croaked the question out.

Luckily for her, Abigail laughed. "That was definitely your grandfather. Come here!"

Romina practically jumped on the opportunity. Her hands wrapped around her grandmother tightly.

Abigail hugged her back within the second. "Welcome home, Romina."

Romina could feel stinging tears in her eyes so she decided to shut them before they decided to escape. She focused solely on the sweet hug her grandmother was giving her. She smelled so sweet—an elegant perfume no doubt. The anger she initially felt when she learned about their existence seemed to fade in that moment. Romina wouldn't wonder if it was going to come back, not right now.

"There, there," Abigail rubbed Romina's back. "From now on, if you'd like of course, you can have all the hugs you want."

"You're not going to pinch her cheeks?" Rolf asked and Romina heard the distinct sound of his hiss. His mother had just whacked him upside the head. "What?" He huffed. "I was just asking!"

Abigail shook her head. "My grandchildren," she slowly unwinded her arms and allowed Romina to take a moment. "My grandchildren."

"You really are French," Romina said, chuckling at her grandmother's light French accent.

"Oui!" Abigail bopped Romina's nose. "Born and raised."

"Is that why you design clothes?"

Abigail chuckled. "No, I've always liked creating things, not just clothes you know. I used to create things all the time when I was younger. Out of anything too."

"Mum, why don't you show her your room?" Kassia suggested. "While Dad finishes downstairs."

Abigail pointed at her daughter. "That's a good idea! But you might need to go downstairs and pull your father out. You know how lost he gets sometimes."

Kassia scoffed. "Just a little."

"What's he doing?" Romina asked, unable to stop the light feeling of disappointment that couldn't meet her grandfather right now.

"Taking care of his creatures, what else?" Abigail sighed with a chuckle. "But don't you worry, he's coming up for lunch. He's as excited to meet you as everyone else is. C'mon." She held her hand out for Romina. "I've got many things to show you. Kassia, Gemma, will you finish for me down here?"

"Of course," Gemma said. "Rolf, you can help."

"Can't I just go downstairs with grandpa instead?" Rolf said with a scrunched nose. He really didn't feel like decorating.

"Nope! Your father's going to help too! Go!"

Romina smiled when Rolf begrudgingly walked with his mother. She took Abigail's hand afterwards and walked with her back into the house.

"Are you well, my dear?" Abigail asked as they headed for the stairs. "Because you are more than welcome to tell me if you need some time or space…"

"I'm good, promise," Romina nodded. She was still nervous but the joy in getting to meet all of them was slowly winning out.

Abigail smiled and led her up the stairs. "Is there anything you want to know about me? Or anything you want to know in general?"

Romina could think of at least a thousand things she wanted to ask. It was hard deciding where to start. "If you're French, how'd you end up living in the English countryside?" That was probably the stupidest question of all but for some reason it was the easiest one to start with.

"After everything, your grandfather and I decided that we both wanted some peace. The cities are fine but I was always accustomed to living in these solitary houses and besides, I needed space and quiet to design. Your grandfather needed the space for his creatures."

Romina hummed. She eyed the portraits on hallway walls. Even the decoration upstairs was vintage-like. "Did you design this place? Style it?"

"Yeah, I have a knack for it, you could say." Abigail met Romina's gaze and shared a chuckle with her.

"Just a bit," Romina said, mimicking her aunt Gemma's tone from earlier. "My friend Daphne Greengrass is one of your biggest fans. She loves your clothes."

"The Greengrass family, yes," nodded Abigail thoughtfully. "They're avid clients of mine. What about you? Have you ever bought any of my creations?"

Romina shook her head. "No. I've lived in the muggle world all my life so I only really have muggle clothing, sorry. Bloomingdales and all."

"Don't apologize, Romina. It's nothing to be sorry about. From now on, though, you do have access to any of my designs. Your aunt Kassia has several of them too."

Romina smiled. "Thanks, although, I don't really attend any wizarding parties or balls."

"I also make casual robes, my dear," Abigail reminded her.

"Right…"

Abigail soon stopped them in front of a closed door. It was her designing room—a place where the magic literally happened. Romina faced a large room full of fabrics and sewing machines, half finished or half started creations. To her wonder, there were even half finished jewelry sets lying around.

"I am typically a neat freak but when it comes to designing...I have a different system," Abigail admitted with a sheepish chuckle.

"This is amazing!" Romina exclaimed. She zipped from one spot to the next to examine the robes that were being made. "You really work here?"

"Most of the time, yeah. Sometimes I meet Kassia at the factory but...I like my little workshop here."

"Grandma, this is incredible!"

Abigail's face softened when Romina addressed her that way. "Thank you," she whispered.

Romina stopped by a table with several different portraits. "Is this you?" she picked up one portrait of a moving blonde woman who was far younger.

Abigail moved up to see the frame. "Yes," she nodded. "That was my 17th birthday. My parents threw my a grand celebration for my coming of age. I had just graduated from the Beauxbaton Academy."

"The what?" Romina glanced at her grandmother curiously.

"The wizarding school in France, my dear. That's where I studied."

"Oh." Romian felt stupid. Abigail had said she was born and raised in France! "You look so pretty."

Abigail 'aw'd'. "You're too sweet."

Romina set the frame back in its place and moved onto another one. She recognized Abigail's young face this time and beamed when she saw who she stood beside. "That's him—that's my grandfather!"

It was her grandparents' wedding picture.

Abigail mused. "Yes, it is. Happiest day of my life."

"You guys do look so happy," Romina mumbled. She was studying every last detail of the picture. "Hey, Rolf kind of looks like him."

"Yes," Abigail chuckled. "It's funny how strong the genes can be sometimes."

Romina gazed over the picture for another minute then placed it back down on the table. Her eyes roamed over the next frames and curiously noticed her grandmother with another man, a shorter and chubbier man, and in the next frame she was in the middle of two women who were dressed to the nines in fancy robes. "Who are they?"

"Ah," Abigail scooted closer to her granddaughter, "You will of course be meeting them as well. They are my best friends in the entire world. That right there—" she pointed at the man, "—could technically be your uncle Jacob. He is like my brother, and for a while I truly believed he was."

Romina noticed the distant look that had suddenly settled over Abigail's face. "Grandma? Are you okay?"

"Yes, sorry," Abigail waved it off. "Part of a bigger story."

"I can listen to it," Romina immediately said.

"I'm not sure you're quite ready. At least not right now. All you need to know is that Jacob Kowalski is your uncle. Now those two women over in that one—that's Tina and Queenie Goldstein. Queenie's actually married to Jacob. They are my best friends and the reason I'm actually still here."

Romina sensed that this unknown story was pretty big and not every part of it was a happy one.

"They're like your aunts, Romina."

Romina nodded and looked at the last frame. It was the first frame she'd seen when she approached the table but she knew that getting to it would mean the happiness and giddiness would soon fade.

Adric, Kassia and Elora all smiled at the camera.

Romina didn't dare pick it up.

"It's alright, Romina," Abigail whispered. "Those questions—you're more than welcomed to ask. I just cannot guarantee that you'll like them."

Romina continued to stare at the picture, and Abigail noted the disdain in her granddaughter's eyes.

"She's got brown hair here..." Romina said suddenly, bringing Abigail's attention back.

"What, dear?"

"Elora, she's got brown hair there," Romina pointed.

Abigail silently noted the fact Romina did not call Elora her mother; she couldn't blame the girl.

"Every picture I have of her she has black hair."

"Yes, well, Elora was never fond of her hair. She dyed it as soon as she was old enough."

"Even when it's dyed hair, I still look just like her," Romina said, chewing on her bottom lip. "I have Caplan's eyes and hair but I still look like her." My dumb luck.

"You do," mused Abigail. "I imagine that it hasn't been easy coping with everything about her...and your father…"

Romina stared again, silently. Elora was smiling so genuinely in the picture, almost like she was happy and actually loved her siblings. "What happened?" She finally asked the question that had burned in her skull the moment she learned what her parents had done in the past. The only difference now was that she was with the woman who could possibly shed some light on Elora Oswell. Romina turned to her grandmother. "Why did my mother do everything that she did? What...made her become that?"

Romina had never found someone who was just as despondent as she was about Elora. Abigail's face contorted with deep pain. Her eyes fell on the frame of her children. "I don't know," she admitted. "Elora was always a bright child. She was my light before Adric was born. She...we gave her everything. Your grandfather and I, we had to fight a lot for this world and when everything was finally done, when we were finally able to settle down and enjoy our family, Elora was our everything."

"So...you spoiled her?" Romina asked. She could think of many kids who had been spoiled—Draco and Pansy came to mind first for some reason—but that would never explain how Elora ended up in Azkaban. Spoiling a child didn't make them horrendously dark.

Abigail shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe? I don't know. We disciplined her when we thought it was right. We taught her everything we knew, told her the stories of the fights that we had to face in the past just so she and every other child born after could live peacefully and without fear. For a while, Elora was fine. And then she went to Hogwarts. She started to change. She had already met your father but it wasn't the people around her who changed her. I think...I think it was always just her. It was something that had been locked away until she started doing dark magic. She found she was very talented at it. There was no stopping her from becoming who she did."

Romina felt like she was right back where she started. There was no clear answer about how Elora turned to the dark side. She would never get the answer — it wasn't like she would ever get to ask Elora directly.

"Romina, I feel like we owe you one huge apology," Abigail said, prompting Romina to look at her, "When Elora had you, we should have taken you. But we had hoped that you, her daughter, would be able to change her, but nothing was going to do that. We should've never placed that kind of job on you."

"Why didn't you come for me?" Romina blurted. Before coming, she had tried to plan on how she would ask the harder questions but the necessity to know why this part of the family had chosen to leave her be was much stronger than being "organized".

"Your uncle Lyonel took guardianship before we were able to find you," Abigail sighed. "By the time we caught up with what had happened, you were already legally under his care. He chose to take you away from this world and, as painful as it was to let you go, we knew that Lyonel would take care of you. A lot of people would have loved to get retribution against the Oswells and you, a toddler, would be an easy access point."

Romina stepped away from her grandmother, eyes downcast as the next question slipped from her. "Why didn't you try to see me when Rolf found out about me at Hogwarts? Things were calm by then."

"Fear," Abigail chuckled sadly and shamefully. "We had no idea who you turned out to be, but we knew that whoever you were was because of Lyonel. We didn't know if you knew about us, if you even wanted to see us. We didn't want to complicate your life."

"Could've helped me a lot, you know," Romina said. "I spent 14 years thinking none of my family wanted anything to do with me. I thought you gave up on me."

"We never gave up on you," Abigail shook her head. "We were afraid, I guess, that you would hate us."

"Hate you?" Romina said incredulously. "For what?"

"For what your mother did."

"What Elora did has nothing to do with you. I would have loved growing up having my grandparents in my life."

Abigail bit on her lip slightly, eyes shining with tears. "We could have, huh?" She exhaled a shaky breath. "I'm really sorry, Romina. If you would have us now...we would really like to be part of your life."

Romina didn't think twice before nodding. "I want to know who I am beyond that of an Oswell. I have cousins, aunts and uncles and...grandparents…" She made a weak gesture towards Abigail. "And god knows what else."

Abigail nodded. "We'll tell you everything you want to know, I promise. In the meantime, how would you like to help me finish this little necklace I'm working on."

Romina nodded. Working with her grandmother for the first time seemed like a great start to a new life. "Yes, I would like that."

Abigail motioned the girl to follow her to a table. Romina was dazzled with all the pretty stones and chains. It was an outright mess but somehow Abigail made it feel organized in her own way. She knew where everything was, even those smaller stones hiding under the bigger ones. While they worked, Romina got to learn more about Abigail.

She had lived in France for most of her life except for a short period in New York—this is where she had met that Kowalski man, the Goldstein sisters and of course her now husband. Romina noted that there were a lot of parts Abigail was purposely skipping over but for now, she thought it was best not to ask about it.

"So you're an only child like me," Romina said, ears perked up for any of the smallest details Abigail had to say. She held onto a silver wire for the unfinished necklace. Abigail was rummaging through a series of blue stones on the table.

"Mhm, I have a close cousin. She lives in France. You can meet her later on." Abigail flashed her granddaughter a smile, one that Romina immediately reciprocated.

Abigail Gejel belonged to an important pureblood family in France but as it turned out, they weren't part of any of the "nonsense muggle hatred" as she had put it.

Romina was relieved to hear that. She was also delighted to hear how Abigail had created the now exclusive fashion designing line. "You're a businesswoman!" Romina laughed. "Super cool! And back in the day too!"

Abigail hummed. "It was a challenge but I had the right support." She had finally found the right topaz stone she'd been searching for.

"You built your own business, that's really cool. And your designs are too. No wonder Daphne loves them!"

"You said Greengrass right?" Abigail used her wand to find the other topaz stones. She'd grown tired of manually searching for them. "Her mother is always upfront with the new lines. She pays in advance, you know?"

Romina chuckled lightly. "That sounds like Daphne would be. They're all about fashion."

"And you?" Abigail asked, pausing for a moment to glance at her granddaughter. "What are you about?"

Romina shrugged. "I don't know. I like fashion but not nearly as much as Daphne. I play violin—it's a muggle instrument—"

"I know," Abigail said, smiling at Romina's bashfulness. "Such a calming instrument." She prompted Romina to up the two ends of the wire then used her wand to slip the stones in. Romina was dazzled with the entire process and happily watched Abigail mend the sides to create a beautiful choker. "There we are," Abigail sighed contently. "It should match you well."

"What?" Romina blinked. "Me?"

"Well of course," Abigail said, turning to her with the choker in hand. "It'll match your headband. Beautiful shade of blue, by the way. Although, I may have added a stone that doesn't quite match—may I see it?"

"Huh?" Romina barely registered the question before she saw her grandmother's wand being waved again and the headband around her head untying. "Oh, wait!"

As soon as the headwrap was off, it reverted to its default silver color.

"Oh…" Abigail was naturally startled with the change.

"Yeah, I was going to tell you that…" Romina apologetically smiled. "It's charmed, you see? It's set to match whatever outfit I'm wearing. I chose blue today so…"

"It turned to blue," Abigail understood, "That's smart. I've heard of these but they kind of put me out of business, you know?"

Romina laughed with her. "It's cool but it'll never beat what you can make."

"These are high in the fashion world…" Abigail said, looking meaningfully at Romima. "You share you don't have an inkling for the fashion business?"

Romina shook her head. "Not really, sorry. It was a gift from a friend."

"Ah, well then, maybe she has the inkling."

Romina scrunched her face, her lips just barely holding back a laugh. "He has never mentioned that but, um, it would be fairly interesting." There, she had to snicker. She seriously doubted that Draco would ever have any type of desire to learn about fashion.

Abigail gave her granddaughter a sharp look. "Ah, is this friend a, um, special—"

"No!" Romina was quick to say. "It was Christmas, we all sent gifts to each other. Besides, if you ask me, I'm pretty sure his mother had to give him some pointers. When have you ever met a guy with good taste in accessories?"

Abigail's laugh faded into a hum. "Your grandfather has given me some peculiar things in the past."

"Yeah, I'm 90% sure that Narcissa Malfoy used her connections for all of us girl friends."

"Oh that woman," Abigail said with another hum, "She is our toughest customer but a wiz at events."

Romina snickered. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

Abigail still switched the topaz stones around to perfectly match the hair wrap. It was when she had finished that they heard a sharp 'Mum!' from downstairs. It was followed by 'He's done it again!'.

"Is something wrong?" Romina immediately asked, wondering if somebody had an accident of some sort. She relaxed slightly when she saw Abigail shaking her head with a light smile.

"Nothing I haven't dealt with before. Come on, I suspect you'll find it amusing." Abigail held a hand out for Romina and was soon leading them out of the room.

Romina had no idea what to expect but if Abigail wasn't nervous nor concerned, then she shouldn't be either. Voices started drifting towards them the closer they came downstairs.

"...I should say it's my turn!"

"Rolf, go help your aunt Kassia outside!"

"I am quite alright, just a bit of an accident…"

Romina hadn't recognized that voice. She stopped at the bottom step with Abigail and saw the commotion in the living room. Adric and Gemma, with a persistent Rolf, were standing around an older man whose back faced Romina and Abigail.

"Oh mon amour, what have you gotten yourself into now?" Abigail chuckled to herself as she walked over to the group. Rolf and his parents backed up a couple steps at the same time.

"Just—it was an accident," the older man continued to say, coughing afterwards.

"I'll say," Abigail mused over something on his face. Romina couldn't quite see. "What happened?"

"Long story short: wrong jar."

"Dad, you should really start labeling them," Adric said, causing a round of snickering from the rest.

"Stand still," Abigail said, pulling out her wand. "Tergio!"

Romina watched a light flash from the wand and felt even more curious to know what on earth had been cleaned off. She heard Lyonel and Sage often produce that same spell to clean the house faster.

"Honestly," sighed Abigail, "Did you plan on meeting your granddaughter with a soot-covered face?"

"Not precisely, no," her husband shook his head.

"Aha," Abigail mumbled. "Romina," her sudden call made Romina stiffen in her spot, "Come over here and meet your grandfather before he decides to get caught up in another mess." She flashed a smirk at her husband. "Not very unlikely, you'll come to find out."

Romina took slow steps towards the group, her wide eyes glued on the adults. She had no idea where to stop so she decided to come stand by Abigail. She soon met the gaze of her grandfather: a tall, slim man with tousled brown and gray hair, green eyes and freckles splayed over his wrinkled skin.

"Look at you—they're your eyes, Abby," he said in an out of breath manner. His eyes briefly flickered to Abigail who smiled sweetly in return. "It's always been your eyes going down the family line."

Romina couldn't help but flush. It seemed like that would be a common remark about her from now on. "Hi, um, I'm Romina…"

"Yes, I'm Newt, your grandfather." He had a lopsided kind of smile that seemed to just fit with his face. It gave Romina a sense of warmth. "It is very good to meet you at last."

Romina nodded. "Yeah. It's good to meet you too. I've, um, I read your book—again. I didn't know who you were during my first year so I didn't pay a lot of attention…"

Both Newt and Abigail laughed. "That's alright," Newt assured her in the end.

"I liked it, though," Romina went on, "Definitely learned a lot. Don't get me wrong, there are some creatures that I'm kind of afraid of, but it's still nice to learn about them."

"You don't have to be afraid of them, most creatures can be misunderstood. For example, most creatures large in size tend to be the ones most misunderstood."

"Oh! Like Buckbeak!" Romina exclaimed, glancing back at Rolf who agreed with a nod.

"Who?" Adric asked.

"The Hippogriff I told you about, remember?" Rolf said, "He scratched Draco Malfoy on his arm. He had it coming."

"Rolf!" His mother scolded him. "You know what? Didn't I tell you to go help your aunt outside? Let's go!"

"But Mum—"

Gemma wasn't letting him get away with it this time. She personally ushered Rolf out of the living room and a moment later, Adric decided to follow as well.

"He is right, though," Romina said, meeting her grandparents' gazes, "Hagrid, the, um, professor technically, he told us from the beginning that we had to be very careful when we came in contact with a Hippogriff."

"Hippogriffs are very proud creatures," Newt remarked. "It's all about showing them respect and knowing the boundaries. Most people fail to understand both concepts, I'm afraid."

Romina half smiled. "Yeah," she agreed. "I honestly thought they were kind of scary but I ultimately saw he was really loyal." Buckbeak was so loyal that he had helped Sirius Black escape death.

"I'm glad you did," Newt smiled at her with what Romina would like to think was pride. "It's all about the handling, really. You make one mistake and…" He made a gesture to his face for some reason.

Abigail chuckled beside him, understanding what he was trying to say. "You can end up with some cranky salamanders, eh?"

Newt tilted his head to the side. "It was an accident…"

"Oh, I have no doubt about that, mon amour. It wouldn't be the first time you came out of there with a soot covered face!"

"You have salamanders here?" Romina asked, eyes raking the room as if she would catch one of the lizards on the wall.

"That and more," Abigail said with a knowing smile.

"Where?" Romina couldn't see the place housing anything but a regular dog or a fish. Newt cleared his throat, gaining her attention, and pointed a finger down. Romina followed it to the floor and frowned. "What? You have a basement? Hardly the place to keep salamanders."

"Well, I don't know if you've noticed but your grandmother here is an expert decorator…" Newt made a gesture at the room, "I see myself skilled in maximizing space."

Abigail burst into laughter, starting Romina. Apparently, there was a joke she had missed or something. Newt seemed at a cross of pride over his words and embarrassed at the same time.

"A story for dinner, maybe," Newt told Romina when he saw her desperately trying to figure out why Abigail was laughing so much. "How about we have dinner and then afterwards, I can show you some of the creatures downstairs? Would you like that?"

Romina didn't hesitate to nod. "Aha!"

She followed them out of the living room to the backyard. The twinkling lights that Abigail had been working on were now completely finished, as was the table. Everything was set to eat. Romina sat down beside Rolf at the end of the table. On her other side was Abigail followed by Newt. Kassia was opposite of the teenagers followed by Gemma and then Adric. Romina eyed the mix of muggle and wizard food on the table with surprise. Even her own home didn't have that type so blatantly.

"It's good, I promise," she heard Abigail say.

Romina's cheeks flushed red with everyone's eyes on her. "Oh no, it's not that I didn't like it, it's just odd that there's all this food and…" She wasn't explaining herself very well and she knew it. "I think I'll just stop talking now."

The table shared laughs.

"Sorry," Romina said, biting on her bottom lip. "The only times I eat at a big table is when we're at Hogwarts but other than that it's just uncle Lyonel, aunt Sage and me. Guess I gotta work on my manners." She relaxed when everyone assured her she was doing just fine. They seemed to mean it so why shouldn't she believe it?

Lunch wrapped up way longer than it probably should've taken them. Romina found conversation with everyone and with such ease. For a while, she forgot about all the nerves that had been with her all day. She focused on the details she was learning about her family. Her aunt Gemma, for example, worked for the Daily Prophet. Her grandparents had long "retired" from their respective jobs but neither seemed to actually be able to stick to it. In fact, it was like they hadn't.

Romina soon felt the nerves start up again when her grandfather asked if she still wanted to go "downstairs" and see some of the creatures he had. She agreed but it was clear to everyone that she was a little reluctant. Perhaps she would've felt a little better if Abigail had accompanied them because she distinctly remembered Rolf mentioning that she was still a little frightened sometimes too. However, Abigail was a little preoccupied reprimanding her own son for something that Romina couldn't understand.

The woman was speaking incredibly fast and in French.

"She sounds really mad," Romina whispered as she and Newt headed for the living room. "And very...French…"

"Adric does go poking where he shouldn't," Newt said, sighing when they stopped and heard Abigail's distinct yell.

"REPOSEZ CE PLATEAU!"

Both Newt and Romina winced when they heard the shatter of a tray.

"Je vous ai dit que cela arriverait!" Abigail said in an exasperated cry.

Newt's lips were pulled into a knowing smile. "Adric also likes to think he's incredibly strong."

"Do you speak French?" Romina suddenly asked him curiously.

"Enough to know when she's upset," he said, making Romina giggle. "If the words are not 'mon amour', I am in trouble. Alright then, ready?"

Romina nodded and followed closely behind as he moved towards a study. She took note of all the books that filled the shelves and, of course, more family portraits. Before she inched close to any of them, she heard a creak and saw that her grandfather was pulling a part of the floor up, like a trap door!

She grinned. She should have figured that's what they had meant. They both went down the stairs and Romina then figured out another thing. Her grandfather was really good at maximizing space. "It's bigger on the inside," she remarked, earning a good laugh from him.

"Sort of, yeah," he nodded.

She shouldn't be surprised with it, really, but living in a perfectly normal muggle house in the muggle world sometimes made itself really present in her life. This basement didn't even look like a basement. There were waters as if there was an actual ocean within the house...with a sun! She couldn't tell where that sun was but it was strong! Grassy plain fields also filled some of the rooms—that's what she could tell from where they stood. She had yet to move. Along with the spacious rooms she heard the mix of several, and she meant several, growls from creatures.

"Romina?"

The girl blinked. She'd been staring at everything for too long, hadn't she? She straightened up and moved closer to her grandfather. "They're not...they're not going to bite me are they?"

Newt smiled and brought a hand to her back. "Remember what you said about the Hippogriff in Hogwarts?" She nodded. "Well, just apply that here. Rolf says you've dealt with creatures already and you always passed the assignments."

"W-well yeah but...that was at school," Romina said, unknowingly leaning closer to his side. "Hagrid's really good at supervising, you know? That whole mishap with Malfoy was a fluke. We didn't really handle anything dangerous."

"I don't have anything dangerous here, Romina, I promise," Newt said. He smiled at her encouragingly. "No creature is dangerous. It's all about the handling, remember?"

"Yeah," Romina said. She read that over and over in his book and it did make sense. Everything and everyone had to be treated with respect in order to forge a good relationship, that included big creatures.

Sensing she was still slightly frightened, Newt suggested they look at something small. "I think you'll like this one," he promised as they moved further through the basement.

"How do you know?" Romina said. She'd clasped her hand around his tightly.

"Because your grandmother went through the same thing when we first met. Once she got to know him, everything else sort of fell into place."

"What is it?" Romina grew curious the more they walked.

Newt said nothing and instead stopped by what seemed to be a regular tree. Romina knew better than to believe that. Still holding onto her grandfather's hand, she leaned closer and gasped when she saw green moving.

"The Bowtruckles!" she exclaimed, proud of herself that she remembered them now. Rolf's reminders definitely helped! "You have a whole bunch of them!"

Newt gently pulled her slightly back. With his free hand, he reached for the tree with one finger sticking out. "Romina," he said as one particular Bowtruckle started climbing over his finger, "This is Pickett." Romina's eyes widened when he drew his hand back and the Bowtruckle was left between them. "He has been with us for a very long time. Your grandmother warmed up to him first."

"Hi there Pickett," Romina felt silly wiggling her fingers at the little green creature. She gasped when Pickett threw a raspberry at her. "Well!"

"Hey now," Newt turned slightly from Romina, giving the bowtruckle a stern look. "She's not a stranger. Abby's not going to be happy if you're not kind to our granddaughter."

Romina was fairly bemused when Pickett quickly climbed over Newt's arm, over his shoulder and to his other arm that was right in front of her. She giggled. He was trying to mend his behavior.

"I had him before I met your grandmother but two minutes with her made him absolutely adore her," Newt said, watching Pickett attempt to launch himself from his hand to Romina's arm. "...to the point of choosing to hide out in her pockets instead."

Romina giggled. She finally made it easier for the poor bowtruckle by raising her hand and allowing him a much safer passage. He didn't think twice in crawling over. "Hi there, I'm Romina," she introduced herself again. "You're kinda cute."

"Oh, that's exactly what Abigail said—I'll have to check your pockets before you go," Newt said, "He will hide if he gets the chance."

Romina laughed at the idea of bringing Pickett home only for Sage or Lyonel to find him creeping around the house. "You would definitely frighten aunt Sage."

Newt watched her toggle with Pickett for a minute or so. It was uncanny how stories repeated themselves. From Abigail...to Elora...to Romina.

Romina raised her gaze to him. "Can he stay with me while we're here?"

The story definitely repeated itself. Newt nodded, saying a clear 'of course'. He doubted Pickett would actually want to go back anytime soon anyways.

On their stroll, Romina got to see several other creatures. She saw some strange looking snakes that, to her awe, would turn to ash as soon as they laid some priceless eggs. She didn't say it but she figured that her grandfather already knew muggles would be all over those eggs. She wandered a little to follow an orange creature that looked incredibly a lot like a butterfly. When Newt caught what she was following, he told her it was a Flitterby moth.

"Why couldn't they just call it a butterfly?" Romina asked. She glanced at Pickett who had come to sit on her shoulder. He shrugged his leafy arms at her.

"These are not like butterflies, Romina," Newt said as he led her into another field-like room.

Romina was awed by the dozens of butterfly-like creatures. "Why not?" she asked.

"Well, for starters, they do that," Newt pointed to a couple of the moths whose wings were glowing scarlet.

Romina gasped. "Oh, that's pretty. Definitely not like butterflies."

"They also hum a little when they're flying—listen." Newt put a finger over his lips and motioned her to stay quiet. As soon as they had and got past the flapping of wings, they heard a few hums here and there.

Romina grinned. "Wow! They do! It's like they're laughing!"

"Yeah, that's what many people like to say."

"You know, I think Hagrid might have a few of these now that I'm thinking about it. I should probably visit more and then I'll see for real."

"You like the gamekeeper, then? Sorry, professor, right?"

"Mhm," Romina nodded. "He's kind of like you. He loves creatures, even the ones that most people would be afraid of. He's friends with this big spider—a king spider from the forest."

Newt smiled. "I would tell you to stay away from the forest but my reputation would laugh at me."

Romina side-glanced him. "You're still incredibly smart," she said, knowing full well from Rolf that their grandfather had been expelled from Hogwarts. For what reason, she didn't know and she didn't think she needed to know.

Newt thanked her for the compliment. "It'll be nice to see my grandchildren graduate, both of them at the same time."

"Even if, um, we're not both in Hufflepuff?" Romina asked sheepishly, bringing her hands together in front of her.

"Your mother was in Slytherin," Newt reminded her. "And I loved Elora."

"But she...she did a lot of bad stuff," Romina said, biting on her bottom lip.

"But not because of her House," Newt said, sighing much like Abigail had when they started talking about Elora. "I had a very good friend once and she was in Slytherin. She made a few mistakes but she was a good person. Your House does not define you, Romina. It certainly didn't with your mother."

"I know that every House has its bad apples but I feel like people just automatically see Slytherins as bad people. It has certainly made things harder for me sometimes. Many of my friends are in Gryffindor. The friends I have in Slytherin—most of them are good but there's others…" She balled her fists as soon as she thought of Pansy.

"I understand, Romina, trust me. I know what Hogwarts could be like. It's why sometimes I can't say I really missed going there. Everyone I met were people outside of it, really far from it actually."

Romina found the energy to smile. "Grandma showed me pictures in her room and all of your friends are Americans. Plus, grandma's French. How'd you meet?"

Newt's eyebrows raised as he thought of the story and how long it would be to tell it all. Plus, like Abigail, he thought she was too young for it anyways. "I was making a trip to New York and it so happened that your grandmother was living there for a while."

"Odd place to meet a French woman, especially in the 20s," Romina said, scrunching her face. "And, I guess, the love of your life…"

"You'll never know when something like that can happen so don't go knocking on it," Newt warned playfully, "You never know."

"Yeah, I doubt that whatever happened to me will happen to me," Romina said, "Unless you want to tell me the full story so I know how to avoid something like that?"

"There's no story," Newt said far too quickly.

Romina then glanced at Pickett. "What do you think? You were there."

"Pickett," came Newt's warning call. "Abigail wouldn't like it."

Pickett "decided" to crawl down Romina's cardigan to slip into her pocket. Romina snorted and looked at Newt. "You're not very good at lying, are you?"

Newt bobbed his head. "It's not one of my stronger suits, no."

"Well, if I ask you something one more thing, you'll tell me the truth?"

"I suppose I would." Newt looked at her while she decided how to ask her questions and when he thought she'd gone through enough, he helped her out. "We did love you, Romina. From the moment we knew about you, we loved you. Our hope was that you would be able to help Elora come back." Romina ducked her head; it was like her grandmother had said. "You were so young when Elora was captured and...Lyonel beat us, I guess."

"You could have looked for me," Romina said quietly.

"We knew that you were safe and at the end of the day we just...we didn't want to put you in the middle of two battling families. You deserved stability, you deserved a home filled with love and nurture."

"Away from the wizarding world," Romina pointed out with a long sigh to follow. "Because that's how I was raised. Away from everything, in a small little neighborhood."

"But were you loved?"

"Well, yes, but—"

"Then it wasn't all for nothing," Newt said. He sighed and brought a hand down on Romina's shoulder. "But I understand your anger towards us. It's been in my experience that families are not always easy to be with. Please know that we never forgot you. The moment Rolf told us you were attending Hogwarts, we've been present."

"So I guess you know all about my challenging years, then," Romina said, unable to look at her grandfather out of shame.

"Once again, I am no stranger to hard years at Hogwarts. And I also know that you have come out each time better than before."

"I'm not good," Romina whispered. "Rolf's told me about your past, how you fought in wars...I'm not good like that. I've hurt those who hurt me."

"To kill?"

"Course not, just...well..." Romina groaned just thinking about the stupid things Pansy had done to her in the past. When she told her grandfather about them, he offered her a comforting smile.

"At the end of the day, you're all still children. And with such raging emotions. You are not bad, Romina. Don't ever think otherwise."

Romina swallowed hard before meeting her grandfather's gaze. "I'm glad I met you guys. I don't want to lose any of you again."

"You won't," Newt assured her. "You're finally home with us, and if you're still interested, I'd love to show you more of my creatures."

Romina nodded at the idea. "I'd love to."

"You're not afraid anymore?"

"I have my grandpa with me, I'll be fine."

Newt smiled fondly at her. He watched as Romina curled her arm around his then excitedly asked him what else they could see. He was more than happy to show her around.

At the end of the day, Romina would eagerly ask her aunt and uncle if she could please stay for the night. And when they gave her permission and it was time for bed, Romina found that she had a roommate. A small, leafy green roommate.

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