Happy Birthday

Chapter 4: Hermione doesn't know who

"It's a shame our sprog isn't home for this," the solicitor said as he sat down on the chesterfield next to his wife. "This new Jeeves and Wooster series looks great."

"It really does," she said. "I'm so happy that you introduced me to this show."

He gave her a peck on the cheek. "Not as happy as I am to have you here to watch it with me."

A knock on the door startled them both.

"Who could that be at this time of night?" The fear in his wife's voice was a reminder that some parts of the war would never really end.

"I'll go check," he said, trying to make his voice more confident than he truly felt. "It's probably just a neighbour who ran out of sugar or something. I'll go check on them and be back in a moment."

As he walked out of the room, he saw his wife stand up and draw her wand. To put it mildly, she did not come from a family of optimists.

He didn't know what he expected at the door, but two primary schoolchildren complete with backpacks was definitely not it. One was a boy with glasses, a buzz cut, and a disarming grin on his face, and the other was a slightly taller, serious-looking girl with her bushy hair stuffed into a ponytail. "Good evening!" he said as he opened the door. "What can I do for you two fine young people?"

"Hi!" the boy said. "Are you Solicitor Tonks?"

"That I am," Ted said. "Whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?" That boy looked familiar for some reason.

The boy shrugged off his backpack without answering and, with some effort, hauled it around so it was on the step in front of him. "We'd like to hire you starting right now." He unzipped the top of the backpack to reveal what had to be at least a hundred galleons inside. "It's time-sensitive."

Ted sighed. "Of course it is. One moment." He looked over his shoulder. "Andi? Some work followed me home. Please watch it without me."

"Oooh!" the girl said. "Is that the new Jeeves and Wooster? My parents are taping that for us. I can bring over the tape for you later if you want."

"That's very nice of you." Ted fought the urge to raise his eyebrows. No Pureblood and scant few half-blood homes would have a VCR, but these two were too young to know of magic if they were muggleborn.

Andi poked her head into the hallway just as Ted was shepherding the children into his office. "Is everything alright, dear?" she asked. "Wait, are these your clients' children?"

"We're the clients," the girl said, her voice firm almost to the point of condescending.

The older witch paused. "Oh, my apologies. Are you both alright? Do you need help finding your parents?"

"We're alright, don't worry," the boy said. "We just need some legal advice."

"Very well, but let me know if you would like us to escort you home," Andi said.

"That's very nice of you," the girl replied.

Ted nodded to his wife, led the children into his office, and cleaned off two chairs for them to sit on next to his desk. Once they were settled in, he asked, "How can I help you both?"

The boy shook his head. "I'm sorry, but we'll need the standard vow first."

Ted's eyebrows launched into his hairline. "You two can power a vow?"

The girl sighed. "He can, at least. We did a dry run earlier without completing it."

The boy patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm just weird like that. I'm sure you'll be able to do it soon."