The Great War

New Broom Day

Bellatrix Druella Black had been sleeping peacefully in her large plush bed enjoying a rather lovely dreamless sleep. She found herself having more dreamless sleeps after retiring from the Department  of Magical Law Enforcement a few years back. After her daughters, Cassiopeia and Minerva released all of the magical creatures from the school's reserves and set Hagrid's Hut on fire, she and her wife decided it was time for her to step back from working to spend more time with their daughters. Bella never really needed to work. She had more galleons than she knew what to do with from her own family's vault and the money she inherited after that useless man, Rodolphus was rightly killed during the war. Hermione made a steady and generous wage as the Minister for Magic. Bella had attempted to get her to retire as well but Hermione was only nearing 43 and nowhere near ready to give up her job.

It was a Saturday morning in late August, the family had just got back from a trip to the Canary Islands and they had agreed to sleep in before they had to head to Diagon to pick up school supplies in preparation for the new school year. Cass was 17 years old and heading into her final year and that terrified Bella beyond her wildest imagination. This child she raised was one year away from being a productive member of society. At least, that was the hope. The girl had met her fair share of trouble but she was bright, funny, athletic and as far as her mothers were concerned, she had her whole life ahead of her. She wasn't really bothered with getting top scores on her NEWTS because she wanted to go into professional Quidditch. Bella wouldn't tell her daughters that they couldn't go after their dreams like her father did. Besides, Cass was the best player at Hogwarts and she was certain she would get a lot of offers this year.

Minnie had just turned 16 and was going into her 6th year. She was still waiting for the scores of her OWL examinations to come in the post but she wasn't nervous. Nobody at Hogwarts had put in as much study time and effort into those exams, not even Pandora Potter. Minnie knew she was the smartest witch of her age and didn't need exam scores to prove it though she hadn't been able to stop thinking about them since she took the tests. She made her Aunt Andy text her everyday they were on vacation to let her know if the scores arrived in the post. Minnie was still undecided about what she wanted to do after Hogwarts. Her problem was that she was too interested in everything except Quidditch of course. She's thought about careers at St. Mungos, the Ministry and even teaching at Hogwarts but Hermione often had to remind her daughter that there was still plenty of time to decide and it was even okay for her to try out a few things before settling on any one career.

Hermione was also relishing in the post vacation mindset before she had to go back to work. She made it a point to take time off every summer and forced the family together on some sort of vacation especially after the girls started school. She thought togetherness was the key to a happy family. Though, the family camping trip she had proved less than thrilling for everyone except Bella, Jack and Cass. That was a one time experience that Hermione was happy to never repeat. At least her daughter's fractured ankle healed nicely.

It was still dark in the bedroom when Bella felt a dip in the bed and an extra weight next to her. She assumed that Hermione had just come back from the bathroom and was snuggling in closer but her wife's warm arm never found its way around her stomach. "Pet?" She didn't bother turning over, just reaching behind her for Hermione's arm. "Why aren't you holding me?" She grumbled before locating the arm and pulling it tightly around herself, immediately starting to drift off back to sleep.

"Mum's still asleep," the voice of her eldest daughter whispered from behind her. "I'll hold you if you want," she snuggled into her mother from behind.

Bella's eyes opened, "why are you in our bed?"

"You said we were going to Diagon today. The new broom is being released. I have to get it."