(1) Lux Brumalis (R. Weasley)

Chapter Two

Tatiana crosses a busy New York street, her hand holding to Pixie's tightly, Tony trailing behind them. Pixie is practically vibrating with her excitement. Tony's eyes watching her, he was so focused on what this meant for him that he didn't really consider her. He should have. She's so excited. So ready for this. This isn't about him. This is about her. He smiles a little. Pixie is probably the only person he'll give the spotlight to. Tatiana leads them towards the Woolworth Building where a doorman nods to her in greeting.

"Welcome back, Miss Snape" The doorman greets and opens the door. Tatiana smiles back at him.

"Thank you, Henry," She tells him warmly and turns to Tony. "Come on" Tony jogs to keep up with them as they head into the building. But he's been in this building before and this is not what it looks like. It used to be a tech building. It has since moved on but he is sure it hasn't changed this much. He turns on the spot and glances around. This whole place is insane. Pixie chuckles a little and he looks at her. Tatiana grabs his arm. "Stay close to me" She warns Tony. "And please, please....do not wander off" He nods in agreement. "Or touch anything...." He nods again and draws his fingers over his chest in a cross. Promising. She lets out a breath, only slightly relaxing before she walks on. "We'll take the portkey to the Ministry and then head to Diagon Alley from there, it'll be late when we arrive so we'll stay at the Leaky Cauldron and hit the shops in the morning," Tatiana tells Tony who follows behind her and Pixie who are a lot more at home here than he is.

"You just said a bunch of words I don't understand" Tony mumbles. Tatiana looks at him, understands how much he must be freaking out right now. Magic is happening all around him. "Is this how dumb people feel around me?" Tatiana and Pixie both look at him and nod. "Oh..." He whispers and pulls a face at Pixie who smirks back at him. "Wow" he mouths at his daughter who nods back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"This way" Tatiana leads Tony and Pixie towards an elaborate door which opens for them before they even reach it. Tony frowns slightly. "It recognises me as an auror" She explains as Tony follows Pixie into the room beyond, Tatiana steps in after them. She nods to the gold owl statue that sits on a marble stand to the side, though the room has a lot of other statues, all with individual plaques on them, each leading to other magical ministries and government buildings across the world. "On three, touch the owl...."

"Urm what?" Tony asks.

"Just....touch it, I will explain later" Tatiana argues, Tony nods a little and the three of them approach the statue. "One. Two" She glances at Tony and then Pixie. "Three." With that, three hands touch the statue and they are spinning. Tony manages to catch himself, only just, when he is sort of thrown from the 'portkey'. Pixie and Tatiana seem to have a better handle on it than he does. Tony lifts his head and looks around.

"It's....teleportation?" Tony asks as he spins where he stands, eyes taking in the atrium of the British Ministry of Magic. "But...pukey" He groans and bends over to clutch his stomach.

"It'll pass," Pixie tells him, he looks at her and then groans again.

"You have magic, why isn't there a way to stop being sick?" He complains.

"There's an anti-sickness potion" She offers, Tony looks at her.

"Do you have one?"

"Not on me" Tatiana counters with a smirk, Tony groans again and then manages to straighten himself up.

.................

Tony sits on a bed, in the rented room over the Leaky Cauldron, with Pixie, the two of them going through all the papers that came with her Hogwarts letter. He holds a list of supplies that they are to get for Pixie, and there are a lot of things on this list that he would never have thought of. The uniform is pretty basic. It's robes.

"Robes" He reads out aloud. "Pointy hat..." He snorts because the images of witches aren't that far off what it appears they have to wear, though Tatiana doesn't look like a witch. She dresses like a woman her age would. She likes her jeans and her trousers, her button shirts and leather jackets. Pixie unwraps the candy in her hand and then puts it into her mouth, her eyes watching Tony watch her mother. He's processing magic. It's clear on his face. She was sure he was going to freak out over all of this stuff. Tony shakes his head and looks back at the supply list. "Dragon hide gloves..." He raises an eyebrow. "Winter cloak...Can we get all this in London?" Tony asks as Pixie takes the list from him, Tatiana hums as she scribbles away with a quill on some parchment.

"If you know where to go" She voices and then looks up. "There's a hidden place...Diagon Alley, that's where we're going" She then folds the parchment into an envelope as an owl just flies through an open window and lands on the table. Tony's eyes widen as he watches Tatiana hand over her letter to the bird. "Make sure Moony gets this, Waverley..." She tells the bird softly before it flies back out the window.

"An owl?" Tony asks Tatiana.

"He's mine" She answers as she packs away her stationary. "Been with me for years" She turns to Tony and Pixie. "Not like I have to hide this stuff from you now....." She stands from the little table and lets out a breath. "We need to talk money" She starts and folds her arms over her chest.

"Well...do we need to?" Tony counters. "It's not like we have to worry about it"

"Muggle money and wizard money is different...your money is practically worthless before we exchange it" Tony pulls a face because that is the first time his money has been classed as worthless. Pixie drops some coins into Tony's hand, he frowns down at them. "So...you have knuts" Pixie touches the little bronze or copper coin. "Sickles" Pixie touches the silver one next. "And galleons" Pixie picks up the larger gold coin from Tony's palm. "There are 17 sickles in a galleon, 29 knuts in a sickle and 493 knuts in a galleon...." Tony frowns but nods along.

"What about tuition costs?" He asks.

"Free" She answers. "It's funded by the Ministry....." Tony gasps and clutches his chest, he looks mildly disgusted with that thought.

"It's a public boarding school?" He asks her, she gives him a look.

"Hey, I went there" She reminds him. "It's a great school...and you can't say anything, you hated private boarding school...." Tony then nods and pulls a face in agreement.

"Why did you hate it?" Pixie asks Tony who glances at her.

"I just missed my mother, that's all" He answers. "You going to miss us?"

"No" She answers with a straight face. "Not even a little" Tony gives her a look and she chuckles. Tony smirks and nudges her. "I'm not even joking" Pixie then whispers.

"Pix" Tatiana warns her slightly.

"Well, I'm not" Pixie admits. "I get to go to a magic school....where there is magic....and I get to learn magic....and do magic homework and read magic books....do you see where I am going, mother?" Tony chuckles and smirks because to be fair, he would likely be the exact same way.

"You can't fault her on that, Tats," Tony tells her. "Come on....she's right, it's magic....it's going to be a lot better than any school she would have gone to back in the States..." He glances back down at the supplies list. "I see nothing on this list about a broomstick?" He teases, Pixie then points at a note on the page. "Oh," Tony whispers and then snorts. "Parents are reminded that first-years are not allowed their own broomsticks" He reads and glances at Tatiana. "Wonder which kid screwed it up for the rest of them" Tatiana smirks and shakes her head.