The morning light was just starting to stream into her kitchen windows when Aurelia padded downstairs for the first time that day. She could sleep no more, and after the spell in the bathroom she’d just have, thoughts of a peaceful slumber were stricken from her list of things to do today. Upstairs though, Hugh was lost amongst her blankets and his own slumber, undisturbed by her inability to sleep.

Thus it was determined in those morning hours, that breakfast would be made for him and that they’d get to cleaning out the attic. There were plenty of boxes to sort though, and the red head knew that without a good meal that the task could seem a bit drawn out.

With a flick of her wand, Aurelia’s kitchen made a very quiet hustle and bustle of getting things out and ready for her use. The frying pan for the bacon and the bowls needed for mixing eggs and pancake batter floated themselves to the countertop with ease. Thank Merlin for the cooking lessons though; or else this morning would have been not as successful.

It wasn’t long before their plates were set and she was charming the dishes to do themselves. Though she had always been poor at Charms, cleaning dishes was a nasty task that preferred less than charms, so she managed to successfully master that particular charm. The cooking though; that had been her own doing, no charms there, just her own hard work. She hoped that he liked it, and that it was all edible..

The tray of food in hand, Aurelia started up the stairs again. One by one. Her stomach made an inward lurch as she reached the top stair and she paused a moment. “Really?” She murmured to herself, drawing in and holding a breath. She brushed it off as just being hungry, pushing open the bedroom door again.

“Rise and shine lovely. Breakfast is served.”

Hugh approached the curtains of the regal-looking bed, the occupant of it was barely visible kneeling on it behind the sheer curtains. They were drawn seductively across a body that he knew well, and her red hair glinted with golden threads that were wound into it, and the green eyes gleamed with shyness in contrast to the bold advertisement of the curtained loveliness. It was death to visit the Queen in her palace at Thebes, but Hugh would take any chance, and he'd managed to get this far. He stepped forward, and the lips met his, and then he slowly unwound the curtains from her body, and they fell down into the scented cushions. He could hear water, and smelled her hair, which smelled like...

Rise and shine lovely. Breakfast is served.

Hugh didn't mind waking from these kinds of dreams, as long as the real deal was the one that did it. He was instantly alert. The girl in the doorway looked the same, although the Egyptian headdress was missing, and she was clothed rather more. He smiled, and gazed at the tray in her hand. He sat up.

"I was just dreaming about you. But the Queen of Egypt doesn't cook breakfast, that's my job."

How lovely he had looked sleeping; but their breakfast wasn’t going to eat itself, nor did she want to eat it all – though she was quite certain that she probably could, and in one sitting. Still, she had gone through the effort for him to enjoy. Someone had to test her food.

“This may be true; but as I’m not really such royalty, I’ll give cooking a whirl.”

She settled the tray down on the bed before curling up next to Hugh. Her lips found his for that ritual morning kiss that she so enjoyed and really did seem to brighten the day. “I’ve been trying my hand at cooking.. And I hope that it’s good, I’m rather hungry.” With that, Aurelia pulled the tray a little closer so that she and Hugh could enjoy their breakfast.

There was nothing like breakfast in bed with his cutie pie; surpassed only by the Friday night bath ritual. It happened fairly frequently; however, it was usually Hugh that did the cooking. This was a treat for him, and he was sure she'd been getting some cooking lessons from their friend Damian. In fact, he'd always considered having their chef friend cater the reception, although he hadn't been sure if Damian would have time to do it.

As it turned out, breakfast was delicious, and the company also made him have an appetite. It was nice to sit there, propped up with the sun coming in the windows, and the sound of the outside world was soft in the distance. Pancakes, eggs, and bacon, all his favorites.

"Well, you've either snuck a house elf into the place, or you've been taking lessons from Mr. Mitchell," he said, leaning in for a sticky smooch. "It's great, thank you. This will give us good ballast for the attic today. That was on your list wasn't it? You were looking for the old albums?"

She was tickled that he had been able to eat the food she’d made, let alone that he actually enjoyed it. The red head could hardly stifle a laugh when he inquired as to how she’d managed. House elves! Ha! Not a chance. Though now that he mentioned it, perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea.. No no. She rather liked cooking for Hugh for a change, not that she minded at all that he did the cooking most the time.

Aurelia gave him a smug smile. “Oh, so I need help to learn to cook?” She wasn’t going to admit she’d been secretly taking lessons, but she was going to lean in for that syrup covered kiss.

Relieved that breakfast was a hit, Aurelia lay back against a small mound of pillows. While she was glad his food had settled well, her own had too, for the most part anyway. She thought maybe there could be a chance it would come up, so she tried her best to not shift around too much on the bed.

“Yes..” She paused, drawing in a breath. “I wanted to just clean it out really, there’s so much junk up there; and if you’re going to marry me, I’d suppose you’d like to have some of your things here too; besides just a drawer of clothes and your personals.” With a smile, her eyes fluttered shut for a few moments as if she were thinking about taking a nap after their delicious meal. Really though, she just couldn’t wait for the churning feeling to pass.. Just a few moments more and she’d make it the rest of the day..

When she opened her eyes again though, the world seemed a little uneasy. Biting her lip, Aurelia drew close to Hugh. “So, there’s something else we should really have a chat about…”

It had been quite different from what she normally cooked, that was certain. Hugh was happy that she'd found some new cooking charms, or was taking lessons, it really didn't matter to him except that it made her happy, and a change was always good. So at her mild jibe, he accepted the syrupy kiss and stated:

"I didn't want to marry you solely for cooking, but whatever the big secret is, tell the cooking fairy I like cheesecake, and maybe my lovely bride-to-be will manage that sometime."

The attic was a big project, as well as likely to be an emotional one, but something had started her on the path to cleaning it out, and he knew that was healthy. Whatever support she needed as she opened up old trunks, and gave them air and started on her new life, he'd be there. Hugh had gone through a lot of that on his own during his life, so he knew what memories it would be likely to bring forth. He'd had a lot of help from her, at his own house, fixing things up for his parents, and working with the houseelves on renovations. They'd found whole rooms full of stored things suitable only for museums. She'd been there, and he cherished that. It was a partnership, and it was his turn to give back.

"Well, you'll decide what to keep and what to auction or give away. You just tell me what to do."

She seemed a little unsettled by the idea, or by something, when she spoke next, and he put his arm around her.

"What would you like to chat about?" he said, and he let her lean her head on his shoulders as he nonverbally charmed the plates and trays off to the kitchen. One hand idly played with her hair.

Aurelia couldn’t help but giggle a little at Hugh’s request for cheesecake. She had looked at a few recipes lately for such a dish, and it didn’t look too incredibly complex. Quite the contrary actually. Still, she wasn’t sure if it would be any good. So next time she had lessons (two evening’s from today) she would bring up the subject to Damian. Surely she could manage a cheesecake for Hugh. “I’ll see what I can do.” She murmured in delight after their sugary exchange of affections.

His mention of the attic project brought Aurelia back to the fact that it was what they’d intended on doing for the afternoon. Perhaps after their day of tossing out old things and organizing, they could pop over to The Red Hawk for a bite to eat; surely neither of them would want to cook after all their working, and Hugh’s mention of cheesecake had put the hunger in her belly for it.

With a small sigh, the red head dipped her head against Hugh, drawing her legs up closer to her stomach. She sat there for a moment, debating it which way was best to tell him. Perhaps mentioning a chat wasn’t the best way to bring it up; regardless, it had to be talked about.

“There’s a delicate situation at hand my love; it seems that the nile river wasn’t the only thing fertile in Egypt..”

It had been something of a joke in school that Hugh and Aurelia were 'married', so Hugh was pretty well attuned by now to Aurelia, and her thoughts. When she wanted to have a chat meant something serious was in the offing, and Hugh rarely joked around when she asked him for a sit-down.

Well, they were sitting down, and he began to listen, and what he heard made his face change about three times, from confused to surprised to certainty, and his mouth open once and then shut again. Hugh's mind worked quickly, or he'd have never been a top student or survived all he had.

It had been a very romantic trip, despite the work: 20 days and 20 nights, including camping in their tent under the stars in Medinet el Faiyum and swimming in the lake there...

He looked straight at the green-eyed wonder next to him, and a sense of wonderment came into his face as it changed again.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" was all that came out, but a smile was creeping in at the edges of his mouth.

His reaction to it all had been – in a word- odd. Though to be perfectly honest, she wasn’t sure what to expect from him on the matter. Of course he’d support her, she would be foolish to think otherwise. Still, it was a scary situation for the red head, given the circumstances of her own birth.

“I am.” Her cheeks twinge red a tad and she drew in a deep breath. She shifted away from him in order to reach the nightstand beside her bed. Opening the drawer, Aurelia dug under her journal and a few other loose papers to pull out a manila envelope. With a shut of the drawer, she was curled up next to Hugh again.

She handed over the medical charts with a sheepish smile. “I didn’t really have paperwork to attend to the other day when we got back. I sort of had a feeling for two weeks or so now; but it really wasn’t until we were in Paris that I had any real suspicion.” And thus the story came out; how when they returned she took a visit to the hospital for some testing and that it had come back positive.

“I’m happy. Most certainly so. But it terrifies me just a bit.. Not the having children with you part, because I want that more than ever.. But I don’t want you to end up with the life my father did before he was done in himself; I want to raise these children with you Hugh, and I don’t know what’s to happen to me with this whole mess..” By now her eyes had glossed over a little and Aurelia thought she might cry. She buried her face against Hugh’s shoulder, taking in a deep breath. It was so hard to be joyful about it all when there was a real possibility that she’d end up just like her own mother.

“I haven’t told a soul about any of it; save Mildred because she already knows everything, and Damian because I can’t help but blabber it all over a plate of his food.. But it’s been killing me, not saying anything.. I’m going out of my head trying to figure this all out..” With another deep breath, she sat up just a little, adjusting herself so that she could see him better.

Aurelia managed a smile, through it all. “There’s two of the little buggers in here..” She reached for his hand, pulling it close to her until it was touching her lower stomach. “And they’re certainly of the magical descent; otherwise I’d be completely oblivious to all this.. That much is certain.. Besides, Mildred told me there were two; as you can’t really pull any of that up on any sort of sonogram yet; it’s far too early.”

She felt horrible for the sudden switch-a-roo of emotions; but thus was to be expected after all.

Hugh's eyes were moist in no time as she poured it all out to him. Of course she was scared. Who could blame her? Having a child was a wonderful thing, and he was going to be a father. He wasn't frightened or tense at that prospect, it was instead a sort of gigantic relief to know that there was no lasting problem with his family genes. For her, though, it would be a different story. But he sought to reassure her at once.

Somewhere after her story, and showing him the papers and laying her head on his shoulder, he stopped her, and kissed her very softly.

"Aurelia, nothing is going to happen to you. Everything is going to be just fine...you are, and the babies. I know you're scared, but we'll treat it like any other adventure, right? We'll figure it out. You're not alone in this, you have me and your friends, and the whole magical medical community to help."

His smile came pouring through as he continued, and tried to inject some gentle humor into the conversation as he felt her stomach.

"You're a young, beautiful, healthy young woman, and I thank God for you and this great, wonderful gift. What can I say? If we are busy bunnies, we get lil' rabbits right?"

Hugh had surpassed every expectation for Aurelia; not only did he accept the fact that they were to have these precious little bundles of joy, but he had her believing that she was going to make it out of things just fine. She adored the calming effect that he had on her; as it took so little from him to accomplish what others took weeks or months to do.

“Of course, of course.” She took little delight in the kiss given, letting his arms envelop her softly. The light played on the blankets as she stretched her legs out a little.

“I don’t exactly know how it happened.. I mean, I know the birds and the bees and all that jazz, but, I’m still a little confused about it all.” Not that it really mattered; because at the end of the day, it had happened. And he was right, it was just another life adventure they’d embarked upon.

She didn’t see any reason dwelling on the sadness she harbored over her fate; besides, if she was going to survive this situation, she would have to be positive about it all. Aurelia smiled at his antics and attempt at joking, even if it was quite silly.

“I’m just glad you know now.. I can stop emotional eating now.. Not that I think that’s why I’m eating the amounts I do.. But still.” Aurelia gave Hugh a grin, her arms drifting behind her tangled hair as she settled back in bed. She looked up at the man beside her with a sleepy grin and drew in a small breath.

In the sunshine of the morning, nothing seemed impossible, and Hugh held the girl, and rearranged her hair for a long while as her breathing eased. The surprise and shock that Hugh had felt was also giving way to something like a rapid reorganization of thoughts for the future. He started counting on his fingers, and tried to work out the possible dates in his head.

If she was about a month along, which would coincide with the Egypt trip, and that would be about right. Any time together on the trip before that was possible, but less likely. Their arrival in Paris was only a few days before the engagement party, and that would be too soon according to what the hospital report said.

"Must've been in Egypt. It's a great accident." he said at last, and kissed the side of her head."Don't worry about a thing, I'll take perfect care of you and Imhotep and Cleopatra. My parents will help; they just went through this last year."

"It does move the schedule up a bit for the wedding," he said, looking down at her. "So, we'd best get moving, gorgeous. As much as I could dally in bed with you all day..."

It really did feel as if a great weight had been lifted from the red head’s shoulders. She had known that it would feel better to tell Hugh everything, but that nagging feeling of fear had been in her head. Looking back on her previous week, Aurelia didn’t know how exactly she hadn’t given herself away sooner. Perhaps he had known, but simply waited for her to say something. Regardless, he hadn’t run away from it; not that she ever believed he would, but part of her was still hung up on his ability to just disappear.

“I’m not naming them that!” She giggled in protest, turning her own head to catch a quick kiss from Hugh before she joined him in sitting up. With a playful push of his shoulder, Aurelia shook out her hair a bit, still laughing over the silliness of the names he’d picked. “Honestly though.. I hope you don’t think that’ll be their names..”

With a small pause, Aurelia managed herself out of bed. She stood there a moment before lazily pulling her hair back. “I guess we do have things to do; well moreso myself, but I do appreciate the help in all this cleaning. Besides, once we’ve gotten it out, there’ll be more room for your things.” The prospects of him actually managing to live with her were exciting. Mildred had moved all her own things out the day before she’d graduated from Hogwarts; so it was only really leftover items from her parents, things she had been too young to remember or things that had been packed away ages ago.

Aurelia padded out of the room and managed to the hallway. She pulled open the door that led to the attic, almost racing up the stairs in a hurry to be buried among the boxes and trunks.

Hugh allayed her fears about naming the children with the assurance that she could name them whatever she wanted: "within reason, of course". He halted her exit of the room momentarily when she played with her hair, by kissing her neck, and shoulders to further assure her that he loved her in more than words. He tried (and failed) to tempt her into laying down again, as he wrapped his arms around her in a hug from behind. But eventually, after some playful sighing, he let her go, and turned to washing up and getting ready to help in the attic.

He quickly dressed in some jeans and a Hogwarts sweatshirt that he had used for painting around Aurelia's house when they'd done some upgrades. he also made sure the dishes were scrubbing themselves down in the kitchen, and things were in apple-pie order once again. He filled up a couple of bottles of water, and brought them up into the attic with him, and set one near her.

He found the redhead already looking and sorting things from a variety of trunks.

"Where shall I start? Don't lift anything heavy," he said, as he scooted an old bureau to one side.

Among the piles and trunks, Aurelia was in a heated daze of reading over old letters; apparently her mother and father had had quite the courtship. Seemed that her grandparents weren’t entirely fond of her father, but that her mother hadn’t cared and seen him secretly – all while her parents (mother mostly) had apparently had her bethrothed to someone else. How scandalous!

“Oh. The box with the towel over it can be pitched; it’s just old bills and papers I haven’t any need for..” She looked up from her spot in the middle with a smile and thanked him for the bottled water. The red head had opened the window and even the door to the roof, letting a nice breeze into the attic. It was surprising how tidy the space was really; though she’d all but forgotten some charms, cleaning ones were always in the red head’s thoughts.

“You can then rifle through my father’s effects; Mildred and I did once before seventh year for a scrapbook, so anything that isn’t of any interest can be tossed. I think there’s a leather bound music book in there though; save that for me..”

For the next half-hour, Hugh did as instructed, and sometimes Aurelia would read aloud some old letter of her parents courtship. it was fascinating to Hugh, and very much like visiting a museum of memories. Occasionally he would stop what he was doing, and come and sit by her, or give her a random hug or kiss. When they'd been cleaning for a couple of hours, he summoned lunch from the kitchen, in the form of sandwiches, and pickles at Aurelia's request.

Meanwhile, the cleaning continued. Some things were obviously junk; or old bills and papers long since past their usefulness. Although occasionally, he would have to show something, a bauble, or a weird tourist knicknack to Aurelia before it was sent to be disposed. A small box of old awards, tiny collectibles, and a few more photographs were found and examined. The attic was pretty airy, and as Hugh worked, he watched the shadows change on the walls as the sun came in through the roof hatch and windows.

At her direction, he sorted and piled some of her father's old things. He showed her a photograph of Fredrik Murdir that looked like it was from school, and not one he'd seen in the scrapbooks. he was standing with some other people, including Aurelia's mother.

"Do you know who all these people are?" he asked. "It looks fairly recent, but you're not in it. Family friends?"

he leaned over to look again as he handed it to her. He had also found the big leather portfolio she'd mentioned. It was filled with sheet music and blank notation papers, old receipts from music stores, etc. He held it in his lap. There was a larger, heavier yellow manila envelope with an elaborate seal on it.

Their morning amongst the boxes and trunks was rather successful; Aurelia had managed in the short time they’d been sitting around up there to trash at least half the boxes of useless things that just lay stored away. There had been a knick knack or two that she decided to keep; a small globe that her father had apparently written music over and a few other things that would look cute sitting amongst the books she had in the shelves downstairs in the living room.

Every now and again she would take a break and walk around the attic, reading to Hugh or trying on a few of her mother’s dresses for no particular reason. It kept her rear from falling asleep, and it gave her chance to further sort through the things tucked away.

When Hugh inquired about a picture, Aurelia put down the letters she’d been sorting through and crawled a few short feet closer so she could give the image a look over. Biting at her lip, Aurelia shook her head a little; some of the strands too short for her ponytail spilled over her shoulder.

“It would have to be prior to my existence.. for my mother to be in it.” She wrinkled her nose a little and chewed on the inside of her lip. It was a bad habit, but then and again it did sneak in there. “I don’t recognize any of these people.. I don’t know anyone who would be friend of my family, other than the occasional associate of Mildred’s. But they don’t look like the sort Mildred would know.”

Her eye caught the unopened envelope and she gave it an odd look. “I’ve never seen that before.. And it’s not even open.. Go ahead, I highly doubt he’d mind.. And my hands are full of pictures..”

Besides the people, the picture showed some kind of yard, with a house in the background. It looked like somewhere in the countryside, since the house wasn't butted up against another like the row houses in the Mill District were. It was a Victorian home, and had a second story, and a small sort of tower on the right hand side. The people in the foreground waved at whoever was taking the picture, and Aurelia's parents looked young and carefree. The other people seemed oddly familiar to Hugh, like he'd just seen them somewhere up here in the attic.

The redhead looked at the heavy envelope with the seal.

"I don't know, it's not even open. It's a priority owl post dated 18 years ago. Is that your father's handwriting?"

Hugh had seen a lot of Fredrik Murdir's neat copperplate hand all over papers and written in the margins of the music that he'd sorted, but he wasn't one hundred percent certain. The writing on the envelope had the house's address: 18 Stanhope.

At Aurelia's urging he opened it carefully along the place it was sealed to avoid damaging anything. There was a bound musical book inside, and a letter. Hugh read it, and a frown appeared on his face.

Dear Vincent:

Sorry for the hurried nature of this note, but I don't have a lot of time, and I'm not sure if I'm being followed by Puthit's agents.

I am mailing a second copy of all the materials I gave to you to my own house for safekeeping. It also contains our correspondence with Anup Ragujar of the Darjeeling Presidency. I'm not sure he can help further at this point, but his information on some of the magic emplyed in the kidnapping was crucial. The musical notation for the spellwork is complete, and I've enclosed the entire symphony in both packets. I believe that the children are being held in the Diamond Palace. I'll explain when I see you, and then you and I can finish the work to get your dear ones back.

Yours in Haste,

Fredrik

Aurelia had been reading over the music in the notebook as Hugh dictated the letter to her. When he finished, she immediately dropped the notebook and picked up the picture again. Her eyes scanned over the picture - momentarily pausing at the sight of her parent's stealing a quick kiss - before they landed on a man not too far from her father. His eyes looked up at the redhead as if he were growing impatient.

"Hugh.. The note.." She turned to meet his glance, and for a split moment, thought she might want to either kiss him or hex him for actually listening to her and opening the envelope. All they needed now was more trouble!

"Vincent. That's Mr. Hearthen.. From St. Mungo's.. He just wanders around asking about his children.. They all think he's crazy.." Her expression was sad one moment, and then she was lost in thought for a moment. It would make sense that her father death wouldn't have been a real accident, that would make life too simple.

Part of her wanted to seal up the envelope and just go about her cleaning. But an even bigger part was prodding around at the idea of solving another mystery. Besides, it in some way involved her father; and Aurelia very much liked knowing all about the only parent she'd managed to spend some time with in her early years.

"Maybe.. When we're finished and such.. Maybe we should stop at the hospital.. I've got to file some papers anyways; it wouldn't take too much out of our day and I feel like we should perhaps pass along the proper papers to the gentleman.."

She batted her pretty eyelashes and gave him a sweet smile - it was easy enough to persuade him, especially if he pieced together that they might have the chance to solve another mystery. Apparently he had the affinity for attracting such things.

The finding of the letter and reading it to Aurelia certainly had a galvanizing effect on his bride-to-be; and she pointed out the man in the picture and named him. Aurelia then alternated between bursts of memory about the man, and his current whereabouts, and deep thoughtfulness, undoubtedly about her father, and his connection to the strange letter, which he admitted sounded very strange.

"I vaguely remember hearing about that a long time ago. Well, it must have been my parents talking about it, I think. Two kids from Hogwarts disappeared over the summer holidays. But that's all I remember about it."

Now he knew where he'd seen the second couple in the picture before: In one of the piles of old Daily Prophets, was a bundle that had been tied together. Hugh hadn't attached any significance to the bundle at first; he'd thought they'd already been tied together for storage.

"Wait a second," he said, and walked over to where a bunch of the piles marked For disposal had been placed. He came back with a the bundle in question. On top was a newspaper with the headline:

No New Leads on Missing Students

A couple of other newspapers showed pictures of two kids in Hogwarts uniforms, and with their parents, a fair-haired couple that would have been roughly the same age as Aurelia's father at the time. The date was before Aurelia was born.

There was no need to convince Hugh to go and see the man at St. Mungo's. This was classic IMMF work. But this time it was personal.

"We'll go, absolutely we will."

Now Hugh's mind was racing to catch up. Long ago, when they had traveled to Sunken London, he'd been given a copy of an old Auror's report that had cast some doubt on whether the Knight Bus could have actually struck her father, and killed him. There was certainly a time distortion from the Society's intercept accident, but, if the paperwork had been mailed after he had died, what could that mean? Had he really been alive when he wrote the note? Where did he go?

"Fascinating, so he must have been a friend of your father's. This note does sound mysterious, and why would your father mail a second copy to himself of that music? What's the date on that letter?"

He put his arm around her for support, as he was sure the attic of memories had been re-opened.

Aurelia wasn’t sure about the whole ordeal; but if it meant that she knew more about her father, she was certainly in on whatever they were going to investigate. The red head found it odd that the slightly neurotic and seemingly lost man who sat in what would be related to a muggle insane ward would know anything about anything. She had never personally dealt with Mr. Hearthen, but she’d certainly seen him wandering; they let him do that, as he never got in anyone’s way nor did he tamper with any of their things.

“It won’t be a problem to see him.. He’s been legally commited to the hospital for a few years now.. They file him away in the terminal ward of wizardly diseases.. Says that he huffed one too many potions mixtures, at least that’s what the intern rumor always is.. Though I’ve never really had a sit down with him..”

Aurelia had never paid much attention to the man, but if he knew something of her father; she was interested to know. “I’ll play his music for him; as he’s not any good.. I used to hear him now and again in the wee hours playing.”

She could find no date or postmark in the envelope, so she suggested that maybe the top of the letter had a date. “I’m curious though; what it’s all about.. Leave it to me to have the most ridiculous sort of life though..” Aurelia got to her feet, handing Hugh all the papers. She’d had about enough of the mystery for now; her head felt a little dizzy and she thought it best to maybe walk around a little.

Under her breath the redhead mumbled something about wishing she could have had a typical childhood. No dead parents or outrageously dangerous escapades, perhaps even a muggle life. Certainly the muggles had less of a dramatic upbringing.

She rummaged through a few boxes on the opposite side of the room, finally finding her parent’s scrapbook about their wedding. Scrapbooking was probably the most normal thing Aurelia’s family partook in; and it was also crafty and she loved taking the time to put them together.

“I found it!” Aurelia declared in triumph. She smiled big and pulled out the box; it seemed to have loads of old wedding items, including a leftover center piece and a few of those clusters of mints that people used as favors.

It was a sad story about Mr. Hearthen that Aurelia related as they continued to search. Of course, now that they'd have children of their own, it was going to be a parents concern: Losing a child wasn't something that Hugh could even imagine in terms of pain. He'd lost a younger sister, and that had been painful enough. He read snatches of the newspapers relating to Hearthen's case, just to fill in the blanks.

The big book of music puzzled him, too. He'd mentioned being pursued, so why was the music so important? It might be magical music of some kind, along the same lines as the Society had used to form the planar travel effect they'd experienced. But this didn't look anything like that at all. This looked more like a normal symphonic composition, although very long. He nodded at her idea to play it downstairs on the piano. It was an original Murdir. Like her mother's art objects, something left behind for her to discover? It hadn't been addressed to her.

Hugh ran his wand over the seal on the envelope, and that revealed the date it was posted; from Diagon Alley, no less. the letter was dated the same... February 20th, 2039. In Fredrik's Murdir's handwriting, no less. Wait a moment...that was not the right date.

He half-smiled at her mutterings of displeasure about wizard life being complicated.

"Some of the things we choose, and some things are chosen for us," he said, hugging her from behind. "I'd choose any kind of life with you, and I remember a starry-eyed 15-year old that begged me not to leave school to choose a muggle life. How much did she know? But here we are."

He saw the album she had extracted. it was beautifully crafted. Something she was also good at: Making albums. Wow, they'd be doing a lot of that when the kids came, but he needed to confirm a few things.

"Sorry, dear, one but look at this for a moment: The date this was posted was February 20th. There's a time stamp on the seal. Your father died on the 13th, the day before your birthday. This is his handwriting on the letter, too. Dated the same day."

He summoned his wand, and ran it over the package wrapper.

Hugh's mention of a starry eyed 15 year old girl brought a small smile to Aurelia's lips. Of course she wasn't going to just let him run off and live a muggle life all those years ago; they'd had too much to do in the wizarding world to just give it all up. Besides, him leaving would have meant a much earlier end to their relationship, and she didn't know where she'd be if he had really left. She much preferred having him with her.

"She didn't know much else other than she loved some adventure-driven boy." Aurelia grinned, but her cheery mood had all but depleted when she was asked to look at the date on the letters.

Well, it seemed impossible. How could a man pronounced dead actually write someone after his death. Aurelia was a little disturbed. She tried to chalk it up to maybe accidentally post marking it, or him thinking it really was that date. After all, the man had been through a lot since the loss of his wife and trying to take care of a little girl on his own.

"It's rather disturbing.. How is it even possible?"

"Someone sent this to your house, that's all we know for sure. But I was thinking it over. If the time distortion had a different effect? Or something else happened?"

Hugh didn't know what had happened, but as he explained a little to Aurelia, the Timeslip Effect actually created a parallel version of one's self in time, which ended when the Intercept was over. Fredrik Murdir was dead, but there was the accident with the Knight Bus, brought on by the magical head not being able to track properly while the Timeslip was in effect at that very moment. The two events were separate but might have affected each other.

"Anything can happen when that kind of magic is involved," he concluded. "Ministry investigators have made mistakes before, and they really weren't sure what they were dealing with."

He held her gently as she held the album in her lap.

"The real question is: Is it right to hope? It all may end the same way."

Aurelia listened to Hugh as he explained a little of the Timeslip to her; she had never really understood it all, but it seemed a little clearer once he’d mentioned how things were paralleled. She hadn’t a clue as to what had really happened concerning her father; the red head had only been told of his passing. That evening she’d been asleep when it had been Damian’s mother who came to scoop her up. As him and his family lived only across the street and were friends with his family, she only assumed maybe her father had been delayed with work or it were part of some crazy birthday surprise. Of course, this hadn’t been the case, and the next day – on her actual birthday – she knew something had been wrong when her father hadn’t shown up and Mildred had come to visit.

“I was too young to know much of anything other than he was there and then he wasn’t. I mean, I had no real concept of death at eight other than on those muggle movies that bad guys died at the end of the movie. I knew my father wasn’t a bad guy though, so it was a little confusing for me.”

Aurelia had no thoughts on actual hope when it came to thinking anything about her father. He was dead and what could she possibly have hope for? She sat with the album in her hand, leaning into Hugh’s arms as they were wrapped around her.

“It would be nice to know what happened though..” With that, she browsed through the album, pointing out this or that thing that caught the girl’s attention. She wondered if her mother’s dress were somewhere in the attic, she hadn’t seen it yet, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t stored in the back wardrobe or anything.

As she leafed through the album, it brought a lump to Hugh's throat as he looked at the happy couple and their friends celebrating. The little scraps of things left from the beginning of a happy, optimistic future. Such was the way it had been with his own family, and he remembered his sister's face in St. Mungo's again. Angelic, almost happy to be shedding the shackles of pain and escaping. The ghost in Sunken London had said she was all right. For Hugh, it had been the first bandage to his own psyche. A redheaded, playful girl had come into his life, and they faced the same happy, optimistic future.

He held her a little tighter. He didn't want her to have any doubt that he was with her in the re-discoveries they were making.

"I know he was a teacher. Did your father travel much before you were born?"

Aurelia snuggled up in Hugh’s arms, pointing out this or that thing that might be cute. He questioned her about her father’s traveling, and she shook her head. “I don’t think so. I don’t know a lot about either of them really; only the story of how they met. He was a teacher though; so I suspect he didn’t travel too far or for too long. Perhaps in the summer, when he wasn’t teaching other children.”

The redhead told Hugh of the many kinds of people who visited their house in the summer; it was something like a party sometimes, as they would sit around and play music for hours on end. It really was the happiest time for her; all school year she would wait for summer, for the people and the music. “He rarely left my side though. I think in all the few years there were only a few nights that he didn’t tuck me in.” On a rare occasion one of his students would stay after lessons to babysit little Aurelia as Mr. Fredrik ran an errand or two.

“Teaching was his life really, besides music of course. But they really went hand in hand for him.” She smiled and pulled out a small stack of music from the pages. “He wrote this one for her. I only remember it because I recall one night we sat and looked at this book and I pointed out the music and he played it for me. It was beautiful, but sad.” She sometimes wished she had been older, or that he was still around for her to gather more younger year stories from him. There was a lot she didn’t remember; being so young and such.

He listened in rapt attention as Aurelia talked about her father, and his music. It was as much as he'd heard in one sitting, and the album helped. The sound of piano music would at times sound in his head, as he thought about the little girl sitting by her father's side, as they played together, or tried out some kind of new song. He reasoned that Fredrik probably had many students, and many of them were probably still around.

She pulled out a composition that his father had written for her mother, and although he wasn' anywhere as accomplished at music as Aurelia was, he could read the notes, and sound some of it out in his head. He continued to look at the happy faces in the book, and saw some musicians in the background in one of the pictures. He looked at the various pages pasted into the album that had well-wishing from guests. He could plainly see the Hearthen's name on one of the pages. But there was something missing.

"Is the program in here somewhere? I'm wondering what they played at the wedding? Did he have friends play, or did he do something special himself as part of the ceremony?"

“I very much doubt he played on the actual wedding day; perhaps alone before the wedding maybe, but I don’t know for certain, I hadn’t even been dreamed about at this point..” Aurelia mentioned how she never really had asked Mildred. And it actually seemed a little odd that the red head’s aunt was actually nowhere to be found in the album. There had been a point in time where Mildred and her mother had been on ends. Perhaps she was missing during all this? It seemed rather impossible, but Aurelia would never ask her aunt, so it seemed less likely that she’d ever be certain as to why exactly she wasn’t there.

Aurelia stretched her legs out, pointing her toes a little to get the blood flowing back through her lower legs. She had been sitting on them for awhile now, turning the pages and pointing out things to Hugh. This was as much a surprise for her as it was for him really; the red head had only looked through this particular scrap book once.

“I’m sure there’d be a program..” Aurelia mentioned, flipping to the beginning. Behind a few blank sheets of music paper was an actual wedding invitation. She held it up to him before giving her attention back to the pictures. How pretty her mother’s hair had been.

The pages were well tended, and Hugh listened to her explanations of what she saw as well. However, he sensed that it was very unfamiliar territory. Undoubtedly, she hadn't been able to steel herself to look at it until today. He tried to imagine what it had been like all those years ago: The music and the dancing. It was the post-Voldemort years, and a lot of people had gotten married in those days. The current population of witches and wizards had seen a boom in the fifty years of so since the end of the terror. Aurelia stretched and he massaged her feet and legs a little.

His mind snapped to when he noticed something in one of the photographs. Her father was standing with a group of men, obviously friends and groomsmen. One well-dressed individual was clearly from India -- possibly one of the northern provinces by the look of the turban -- although he was dressed in a Western-style suit. He had a turban on is head, and was about the same age as Fredrik had been. There had been an Indian connection mentioned in the letter.

"I don't suppose you know who that is?" asked Hugh, pointing to the man in the turban. He pulled up the letter they had just found, and re-read it.