Family Trip to Romania

"I saw you, "Khaat said, "Grown up, wiser--as we all become as we grow up. And I saw Rob and me standing behind you--where your parents would normally have been. And I saw how your skills had grown. The prophesy says someday Voldemort's followers will fear you and consider you a signficant threat to them. I think that's what your dad knew. He wanted to protect you--mostly because he loved you so much, but also, i saw how much your mom and dad hated everything voldemort stands for. They believed that if you could be a help to getting rid of him and his followers, that it was well worth their lives to protect you--at any cost. " Khaat smiled and took Miseria's hand, "They were so proud of you. And I'll tell you something else--something Rob does not know yet. Yesterday, when I was seeing what happened to them, I felt your mother's energies so strong in this house. She was so full of rage when they attacked that she left her love for you behind. She left it for me to find, so I could be the mother that she knew she was not going to be anymore. She passed on some of her love for you, some of her energies, to me. Your mother will always be here, because I have some of her inside of me. I know its a lot to think about, but I wanted you to know first. You will never be alone because Rob and I are here--for good. " She paused and said, "The death eaters took them by surprise here at the house. Your father tried to lead them away from the prophesy. When they realized he lied, they became angry at him and killed him. Your mother heard the attack and became full of rage. She went to protect your father, and they killed her too. Both of them were thinking only of how very much they loved you. You were everything to them. Miseria, who knows if I will ever have a child of my own. But I could not love you any more if you were my own child. I will do my best to be a good parent to you. I could never replace your own parents. They were the best. But I sure can try to take care of you as best I know how. And--you will also have Rob, and you will have the best grandparents on the face of the earth. You're going to love my mom and dad and our wizard farm." She smiled. "I know it hurts now, but we're going to make sure you have a lot to be happy about."

"Nobody's going to hurt us. Rob and I aren't afraid of Death Eaters. They're nothing more than a bunch of wizards in masks who have their thinking all twisted up. My guess is that the reason they didn't come after you before was because the Death Eaters are sometimes just plain slow. Rarely stupid, but sometimes slow. Don't you worry for one minute about them. For now, though, I want you to be with one of us at all times, until they get somebody else more important to think about. They won't be on your trail forever. But as long as they're thinking about you, I want you to be extremely careful and stay close. I don't have to tell you that any wizard can be very dangerous if he or she chooses to be.

"But onto other topics. Today we need to go to the ministry and get guardianship established and ask about your parents' to start the legal arrangements for their funerals. I'll take care of that. We'll go there right after breakfast."

"I am not sure. I think he is a really sound sleeper. By the way, I found your parents' wills. They did not make arrangements for a guardian for you. I think they were sure they would be here til you were grown, and probably didn't have time to change the wills when they realized they were in danger. We need to take the wills with us to the ministry this morning. I put them in my bag so they'll be with us when we go." Khaat was truly enjoying the breakfast Miseria had cooked. "We should check and make sure that we don't need to stop at the market today. Maybe there would be some fresh foods that might be really good for us to buy. We could do that when we're done at the ministry, if it isn't too difficult for you at the ministry."

"Well, you have some choices there. You can rent the house out for now and make a choice later about keeping it or not. Or if you know you want to live in England with us, you will have the right to sell the house and keep the money. You may have to do that with some of the things in the house, anyway. But, make sure you keep the things that are important to you. Things that are sentimental to you. " She thought about the market for a moment. "I think cookies would be a good thing," Khaat smiled, "We can bake those here. We just need to look and see what ingredients might already be here. We can make cookies the wizard way, and it will take no time at all."

"I think we should go now and get that ugliness behind us and then we can do something a little less stressful--like shopping. Looks like you have done a fine job cleaning up the kitchen, so I think we could go, if you're ready." Khaat put her coat back on, double checking to make sure she had both wands in the inner pockets of her coat--her wand and her uncles's. "Be sure you have your wand closeby," Khaat cautioned her, "We do not want to take any chances."