Adult Party

Susan smiled. Jenna seemed to love the Hufflepuff house as much as she did. “That I was. Actually my entire family since we became a magical family many, many years ago has been Hufflepuff. Two of my four were also in Hufflepuff. My eldest felt quite bad after breaking the family tradition but I told him it wasn’t that important,” she said. The Bones family was well-known for being Hufflepuffs. It was quite a surprise when Edgar and Claire were not Hufflepuff for not only herself but her ex-husband. They were both Hufflepuffs their selves. Since it had never happened before in either of their families it made Susan worry it was a bad indication for the future of the family. She never told this to her ex-husband but she had always had a horrid feeling something terrible would happen to one of her children, she could never figure out which one so she was guarded of each other them.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking when were you in Hogwarts?” asked Susan as polite sounding as she could make it be. “I just think you may have known someone close to me,” she stated. She had a strong sense this women may have known her father, uncle and aunt. She hadn’t really met anyone who was really close to any of them even her father. Her father was a very guarded quite man.

“What did you teach?” she asked trying to make sure not to leave off on a bad tone. She was also very curious. It was her curiosity that used to get her into trouble all the time. Sometimes it was best not to know.

Jemma smiled. She knew what it was like having family loyalties. Her mother had been a Hufflepuff too, but from what she recalled her grandparents were Ravenclaws. At least her grandmother, one of the greatest Seers ever, had been a Ravenclaw. She couldn't remember much about her grandfather, but she had a feeling he was a Ravenclaw too. Her mother had been upset when she wasn't in Ravenclaw like her parents, but she grew to love Hufflepuff and told Jemma to love whichever house she was put into. Jemma was sorted into Hufflepuff like her mother, but even without the family bond she would have been extremely proud of her house. The fact that she was Head of House for five years increased the house pride, with the rivalries at Hogwarts. It was good for the students, but she felt graduates put too much emphasis on houses. Really it didn't matter where you were put, so long as you made friends and had fun. It wasn't like the Ministry filtered job applications by house.

"As long as they're happy where they are, that's the most important thing." Jemma replied.
"And I was in Hogwarts many, many years ago. Around the same time as the famous Harry Potter's parents, Lily and James. I didn't know them well, but everyone knew of them. They were Head Girl and Boy, after all, but even before that." she answered her second question, not liking to give exact dates. She hated how old she was and didn't like admitting to it. She felt a million years younger, and looked about ten years younger than herself anyway. She'd always looked young for her age. She'd hated it when she was younger, but was rather fond of it now.

"I taught Divination at Hogwarts." Jemma replied, wondering how Susan would react. A lot of people didn't understand Divination. Jemma didn't mind them not understanding, some people never could. It was the people that didn't respect it that bothered her. The people who said it was a stupid subject, guesswork, and so on. It wasn't guessing, it was interpreting. There might be a bit of subjectivity in it, but there were in so many other subjects as well.

Susan knew this is when she had to drop her question about the older generation. She had tried to find someone who even slightly knew them for years but it just wasn’t happening. She just wanted a tiny bit of proof that someone remembered the fallen. She knew that she and her kids remembered them but how many others did. She had been debating for years asking the Ministry about making some sort of memorial. “Did you know Amelia, Edgar or Peter Bones by any chance?” she asked. She really hoped Jemma did.

“I never took Divination. My father wouldn’t let me. He forced me to take a class I hated; I think it was Ancient Runes or something. Horrid class, I dropped it for Muggle Studies,” she said. She remembered her aunt calling her and her dad ‘grumble monsters’ after that argument. They just sat there on opposite sides of the room grumbled at each other for hours.

She was trying to keep track of how many shot she was having. She decided to order a mug of Firewhisky. The shots weren’t doing it for her. Firewhisky would do it long as she sipped it.

Jemma listened to her question. Amelia, Edgar and Peter Bones. Jemma recognized the name. Well she recognized Amelia. And the surname, she did recognize it. She thought she could recall some Bones'. They would have been Hufflepuff's after all. But Jemma didn't know them very well.

"I recognize the name Bones, especially Amelia, but sorry I didn't know any of them well. We may have been in Hogwarts together, but they would probably have been a bit older than myself. Sorry." Jemma answered Susan, wishing she could help her more.

Well, a least she didn't seem against the idea of Divination. Though her father did by the sounds of things. It was never right to choose subjects based on parents opinions. Her own daughter didn't take Divination, and Jemma never forced her. Her daughter was not a Seer, and could learn bits and pieces from Jemma anyway, so felt no need to take Divination and Jemma understood and respected her decision.

"Choosing classes is tricky, a lot of parents think they know best. It's hard though. My daughter had no interest in Divination what so ever and it was hard for me to accept that, being a family tradition and all." Jemma replied, choosing to omit the fact she was a Seer. A lot of people seemed to treat her differently what she knew. Some begging for readings all the time, some just thinking she was crazy. She valued the few that didn't.

"What did you work at before the Prophet, if you don't mind me asking." Jemma asked, picking up that Susan was new to the job.

Jemma received her firewhiskey from the bartender just then. She wasn't sure whether to stay at the bar. She could go and find a table with the woman. She might be meeting other people though, Jemma had no idea. She just settled with sipping her firewhiskey at the bar.

Susan frowned slightly. She was starting to lose hope on finding someone who really knew her family. She just wanted to know why her Uncle Edgar had brought his family out of hiding. She just couldn’t understand why unless someone tricked her. She wanted to ask Khaat about finding an detective to find out for her. She just couldn’t let go of the past not until she knew.

She wondered how her kids were doing. She remembered Amelia’s rather fiery letter about how she butted heads with the Head Girl and hated being Perfect. She was definitely her daughter; no Bones witch was good being in a place where they had to lady like. Look at her Aunt Amelia, very mature women but Merlin did the Daily Prophet have fun gossiping about her ways of interrogation. Her aunt used much more unorthodox mannerism during interrogations then what was expected of her. By the sounds of it so had Susan’s daughter. It was going to be long year; it would be a miracle if she wasn’t called to Hogwarts about Amelia’s behaviour.

"I felt the same about Transfiguration. It was quite depressing have your children either not do good at something or not even trying with something your good at and love. Only one of my children wants to try to become an Animagus like myself, I don’t think I need to tell you which one,” she said with a smile. “Each of them are talented at different things. I have to say Claire got her Potions talents from her father. I do believe Amelia can do it but she doesn’t think she can,” she added.

"I was just a housewife. I often had to help my ex-husband when he had a tussle with a Demiguise. He doesn’t respect them and they don’t respect him. I also work as a Spirit Specialist for the Ministry when I can,” she stated. She kept her life very busy. After being a housewife for so long she couldn’t do it any other way.

“We can sit down at a table if you’d like. I don’t know if anyone will come or not,” she sighed. “I don’t care if they do or don’t,” she added. She would have enjoyed herself even if no one else had come.

Jemma smiled at Susan. She knew it must be hard for her. Jemma thought of her daughter Marie, wishing things had turned out differently. They had been so close, despite Marie's disinterest in Divination. It was her moving to France that did it. Marie had been no Seer, but had great promise in Potions and could have done great things. If it weren't for her husband's family's "traditional", aka anti-women values, believing they could be a house wife and nothing more. Jemma didn't know how Marie could live like that. Jemma predicted something would change once her grandchildren all left for school.

"Indeed, we all want our children to be more like ourselves, I think." Jemma said. "I think we just have to trust that they'll find their own way."

"Wow, you do a lot. I'm just a Secretary at the Ministry at the moment." She replied, slightly impressed. "I guess after being a house wife a lot of time frees up." She reasoned.

"Ok, lets go suit down then. I'm sure anyone else could find it's if they wanted to." Jemma said, now that the bartender had served them both. She indicated to an empty table in the corner.

Susan nodded in agreement. She sat down at the corner table. Jemma didn’t even know that start of it. She was watching for criminals and reporting in when she did to top everything off. She knew the risks; she hoped it was helping the world be safer for her kids. She didn’t know if it did or didn’t but it seemed like it was worth it. Her kids were safe at Hogwarts, she hoped. If anything ever happened to them there, she isn’t sure she’d stay in the country and if she did Hogwarts management would have one heck of a time. Even if just one of them got hurt she would threaten to take all of them out.

“Have you ever doubted the safety at Hogwarts?” she asked “or worried about if your child was truly safe there”. She knew how ‘safe’ Hogwarts had been when she had gone there, that worried her. Maybe she worried too much, she didn’t know.

Jemma thought carefully about her reply before answering Susan's question. She wouldn't lie to the woman, but she didn't want to make her worry about her children. Hogwarts was fairly safe, aside from the odd thing here and there, she reasoned with herself. Nowhere was perfect, and Hogwarts was better than most places.

"You have no reason to worry." Jemma assured Susan, "Hogwarts is safe. It may have a few blips, but nowhere is perfect, and Hogwarts is one of the safest places in the country, generally." She finished. She believed it true. Hogwarts was only unsafe in war, and by that point nowhere was really safe.

This reminded Jemma of her grandchildren. Her grandson, to be precise. He was starting Beauxbatons this year, her daughter had told her he received his letter and was very excited about it. Jemma secretly wished they would attend Hogwarts, but the family seemed pretty settled in France now. Her eldest granddaughter, the middle of the three, Veronique, had started writing to her, which she loved. Veronique had the makings of a true Seer, and Jemma wanted to teach her all she knew. Veronique also disliked the traditionalist views of her fathers family and didn't get on with most of them, which Jemma was secretly glad for. Luckily her son-in-law had the sense to keep that fact from his family, as they 'didn't believe in such rubbish', another reason why Jemma wasn't too fond of them. Veronique kept saying she wanted to stay with Jemma and go to Hogwarts, but her father refused. Jemma hoped something would change. In her opinion, Veronique needed to learn to control and use her skills for good before school, whichever she went to, and the few weeks of holidays here and there were not sufficient. This worried Jemma, as being unable to control Seering skills in an environment like a school could be potentially very dangerous.

Susan sighed slightly. She knew Hogwarts was safe but she always had those images of her Hogwarts years in the back of her mind. She was so scared at her children’s ages; she didn’t sleep much back then. Of course her Auntie had been killed her sixth year, the worst year of her life. She wouldn’t let that happen to her kids if she had any say in it.

“I just worry too much. I just don’t want my kids having the Hogwarts memories I had. I’m already trying to help my youngest daughter; she’s having a hard time with the kids there. My divorce has made their life very difficult but they are managing. She’s has a lot on her table for being fifteen,” she sighed. She knew that Amelia was struggling with coming in terms with her newly found ability.

Jemma nodded, understanding how Susan felt. It was natural to worry about children, especially she thought after going through a divorce and such. Jemma was worrying about her grandaughter Véronique. The other two would hopefully be alright at Beauxbatons. Though Jemma knew nothing about the school, she had to trust her son-in-law on that account, he did seem to really care for his children and Jemma doubted he'd let them attend school there if he didn't believe they were safe. It was just Véronique with her unique abilities. She needed to learn so much before that environment would be safe. She just needed to find a way to make sure Véronique was prepared for everything.

"I know you'll always worry. I worry about my daughter and grandchildren, all the way over in France. I wish I could see them and be with them more, but it's really out of the question." Jemma said, thinking of her son-in-law's family, who seemed to severely dislike Jemma, though her daughter, Marie, seemed to get on with them alright.

"I'm sure your kids will be fine. They're strong and will be able to conquer whatever challenges come their way. It may not be easy, but in the end they'll be fine." Jemma tried to comfort Susan.