(1) Lux Brumalis (R. Weasley)

Chapter Five

Pixie sits, her nose buried in one of her new books, in the Leaky Cauldron, they'd taken pew at a table at the back, away from any lingering eyes and ears, Tatiana knows how they might feel about Tony being here. She might be more conscious about it now she knows he's a squib. She knew Pixie would get some stick for him being a muggle, but she will get more now. Tony watches Tatiana's face as a whole bunch of emotions flicker across it.

"Tell me about them" Tony offers as he sets his drink down and then pulls a face. "What the hell is this?" He looks at the mug.

"Firewhiskey" Tatiana answers as she takes a book from Pixie's pile, the young girl's eyes flickering to watch her a moment before going back to her book.

"Alright, well...that's weird...what is wrong with you people?" Tony teases. "So..." He pushes. "Tell me about your friends...I mean, I already know a bit about Sirius..." She sighs and sets the book down again.

"There were five of us" She starts. "See...When you get to Hogwarts, you are sorted into houses. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and...Slytherin" She explains as she brushes a tear from her cheek. "I was placed into Gryffindor, as was James, and Sirius, Remus, and Peter, that's how we all met..."

"But not Severus?" Tony asks, Tatiana shakes her head.

"No...Severus was placed in Slytherin...."

"Why does that sound bad?" Tony asks her. "You have a tone...."

"It's not, not really..." She defends. "Slytherin is where the cunning and the ambitious and the...." She stops and looks across at Pixie who sits in front of the fire reading from one of her new books. "Purists go" She adds. "But it's not always bad...." She looks at him. "Severus is loyal to his family, to those that he loves," She tells him. "That's something the Slytherin share. Family loyalty. No matter what I know I can always depend on him, and I love him for it. That's not a bad thing, Tony. Every house has its good and bad traits. Slytherin just so happens to have produced the most dark wizards....because they will do whatever it takes to survive, because they are cunning and sly, because they are ambitious, it just means that they can also be...traditionalist, purists..."

"Bullies" Tony stops her, she shrugs and nods.

"But I saw my fair share of bullies in my own house, so that's not purely a Slytherin trait...James was a di..." She stops and glances at Pixie who is now smirking down at her book. "James had issues with my brother" She turns back to Tony. "Plus they were both in love with Lily..." She sighs. "After we graduated, everything was falling into place...James and Lily got married, I got my job offer in the states...Harry and Pixie were born. Sirius and I..." She clears her throat. "We'd talked about....maybe starting again" Tony gives her a small smile. "Then he happened" She complains. Tony raises an eyebrow.

"Who?" She looks around the pub to make sure that no one is looking or listening to them. She turns back to Tony and sighs.

"He who must not be named" She admits. Tony gives her a look and smirks at her. "It's not a name that we're supposed to say, Tones"

"Voldemort" Pixie offers, Tatiana gives her a look.

"Pix" Tatiana scolds.

"What?" Pixie asks giving her mother a look back. "I don't care, he's dead...what's he going to do to me?" She peers back down at her book. Tatiana shakes her head. "And it's just a name, not saying it is rather stupid" She mumbles. "It would be like calling Loki....you-know-who" She mocks. "And I know everyone is like scared of him and stuff....but he couldn't even kill one baby" Tony raises an eyebrow surprised at his daughter. "Should have just dropped it out the window"

"Pixie" Tatiana scolds her.

"She's not wrong though..." Tony offers.

"Tony, no" Tatiana stops him with a look. Tony looks away but smirks a little. "Do not make light of him or what he did, Pixie" Tatiana tells her. "I lost people I loved because of him....a lot of people did...." Pixie looks down, because maybe she had gone a little too far. "Peter, James, Lily....they all died, Alice and Frank were...." She looks down. "They will never be the same....and...Sirius" She looks down, touches the gold chain bracelet around her wrist, a wolf and a black dog charm hanging side by side together. She hasn't been able to take it off, despite everything. "He betrayed us all....killed thirteen people, told...he who must not be named where Harry was...." She shakes her head and wipes away her tears, she doesn't want to talk about this anymore. She doesn't want to think about it anymore. It's been ten years, and it still hits her like this, she knows it's more than just mourning her friends, she mourns for what could have been. And seeing Harry, knowing that they are not there to walk him through this like she and Tony are with Pixie. She touches Pixie's cheek and gives her a small smile. "Ollivander said your mother had a brother" Tatiana states, changing the subject because she can't talk about them any more. Her voice breaks slightly as she fights her emotions, Tony nods, sees this, understands what she needs. They've been friends for over eleven years now, he gets her.

"Yeah, Uncle Tom" He offers. "My mom...She hated him, she hated him so much" He admits and looks at Tatiana. "And my mom never hated anyone. She used to say that he was...pure evil, the worst person she had the misfortune of knowing" He frowns and shrugs. "I just thought that was sibling stuff...." He scoffs. "I know nothing about my family" He looks at Tatiana. "Absolutely nothing any more"

"If you want, I can look into your family" Tatiana offers. "They'll be records at the Ministry" Tony shrugs a little but then nods. "Do you have any of your mother's stuff?" She asks, he hums and looks at her. "Maybe she had photos, family documents"

"I have a photo of her and Uncle Tom from when they were kids, it's the only one of them together.....and a trunk, it's locked and there was no key..." He offers. "Just sits in the bottom of my wardrobe...guessing it might be magically sealed, I'll have it sent to you when I get back tomorrow" Tatiana nods and reaches across the table, Tony takes her hand and smiles at her.