It was three weeks after the term had started, and it was the day before Severus and Hermione left to do whatever they had to do. Eliza was sitting on their bed watching them pack. And rather unhappily, at that. She was surrounded by all sorts of piles—there were piles of parchment, piles of robes, piles of toiletries, and piles of things she just labeled unanimous. Her parents were hurriedly packing things into trunks that they would shrink. Hermione had charmed the robes to fold and pack themselves into the trunks nicely. Severus was working on categorizing the array of parchments and stuffing them into the trunk where everything that wasn’t made of cloth was going.

“Hermione, dear,” Severus started tersely. “Will you please come and decipher your scrawl for me?” Obviously, the quick packing job was wearing thin on his patience. It was also wearing thin on Hermione who told him, quite tartly, where to shove that piece of parchment. Severus rolled his eyes and shoved the parchment under Eliza’s nose. “Be a sweetie and tell me what that says.”

“It says that your daughter is ticked that you’re missing her thirteenth birthday,” Eliza told him hotly, not even glancing at the parchment. She had tried, in vain, not to let her parents’ absence get to her. She knew that it was for a good reason. She knew that they wouldn’t ever intentionally miss her birthday. She knew that she couldn’t control their leaving. Now, if someone had told her brain, everything would be peachy, right?

“Eliza,” Severus warned, dragging out the last a sound for effect. “It could be important. Now, please, tell me what that thing says.”

“Fine,” Eliza said flippantly. “Chamber of forgiveness, I think,” she told her father. Severus looked just as confused as his daughter. “I’m serious. Chamber of forgiveness. And that’s paper, not parchment.”

“Chamber of forgiveness?” Hermione asked, wading through the piles of stacked parchment. She took the slip of paper from her husband and giggled to herself when she realized what it was. Severus and Eliza were both giving her strange, strange looks. “What? It’s just something Harry sent me…he found it among some essays in a muggle library.”

Eliza rolled her eyes and settled back into her spot amidst the organized chaos. Severus shrugged at her and then pulled a face, trying to make his normally happy daughter laugh. Eliza just stared at him, not amused. Once again, Severus shrugged, but this time imperceptibly. He went back to hurriedly packing things into his trunk.

Three trunks and four hours later, Severus and Hermione were packed and ready to go. The only thing they were waiting for was Dumbledore’s head to appear in their fireplace, finally telling them where they were going to and what they were going to do besides the dubious ‘observation’ he’d been telling them about.

“You’ll owl me when you get there?” Eliza asked expectantly, not unlike an overprotective parent on Platform 9 ľ.

“If we can, we will. If we can’t, then you’ll have to ask Dumbledore, but I’m sure we’ll be able to,” Hermione told her daughter. “Now, don’t let your homework slip in the two weeks were gone. If your grades have dropped any…” she trailed off and gave Eliza a legendary glare that she gave Ron and Harry while lecturing them about their homework during school.

“I promise. Besides, Ginny said she was going to come up for a few days. She can help me if I have problems, I suppose. And Harry said he’d come watch me.” Eliza shrugged and stretched out for OtherJack. The snowy owl had just flown in through one of the few windows and had a parcel tied to her legs. “Mum, why is there an owl for me from the Wizarding National Archives?” Hermione, of course, was the natural cause of this, Eliza assumed. After all, there were only a handful of people with access to the Wizarding National Archives.

“I thought that since your father and I won’t be here to answer your questions, that maybe you’d like a professional book on the motives behind Voldemort from the Death Eater side.”

“Huh?” Eliza asked, turning over the book her in hands. In comparison with the books in the library, this one was relatively thin and the pages weren’t yellowed and the ink wasn’t brown. The parchment was crisp and the ink was sparkling blue, reminding Eliza of Dumbledore’s eyes. “Who’d have enough inside information on Voldemort to write a book about his motives? From what I’ve read about him from your collection, it seems as though he was simply using the wizarding world’s ignorance of the muggle world and twisting Adolf Hitler’s sick, twisted, plan of genocide. Well, in this case, bloodcide, if you will.”

Severus raised an eyebrow and snickered. “You sound as though you swallowed a book, Eliza dear. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that your name was Hermione Granger.”

“She does have half of my genetic make up, you know,” Hermione said, proudly. She was incredibly proud of her daughter’s connection of World War II with Voldemort’s first reign. She was also swelling with pride because of the diction Eliza manipulated to make it sound as though she were a child prodigy. Of wizarding anthropology, at least.

After a few more rounds of Eliza pouting or glaring at her parents and them raising eyebrows or scolding in return, Dumbledore’s head finally appeared in the fireplace. “Ah, Severus, Hermione. Oh, hello Eliza. Severus, Hermione, step through the fireplace. I’ve got it hooked up with your destination. And, no, Eliza, they will not be able to send you owls. Sorry child,” the headmaster said gently to the now saddened twelve year old.

“Oh…well, it’s okay, I guess,” Eliza told the disembodied head. “Can I stay down here for the weekend, though?” she asked. “I kind of want to spend my birthday at home.”

“It’s fine by us, if you’ll allow her to, Albus,” Severus told the head. Then he looked at Eliza. “You, young lady, aren’t allowed to hold a party down here. Weasley and Jack and Ginny and Harry are allowed down here. That’s it. Actually I’d prefer if Ginny and Harry stayed down here with you, but no parties.”

“Daddy, I’m twelve. Besides, if I want a party, all I have to do is ask Uncle Fred and Uncle George to sneak in and BAM! Party in Gryffindor Tower,” Eliza replied sensibly. She smirked and picked up Sox, who had just trotted into the room. Sox at the moment was scarlet with gold spots on her paws. “Soxie, say bye-bye to Mummy and Daddy. They’re gonna be gone for a while.” The dog licked Eliza’s nose and barked at the floating head.

“Well, if that’s all, said your quick good byes and Severus, Hermione, step into the fire. You’ll be where you need to be. Eliza, I believe you need to get back to Gryffindor Tower?”

“I’m going, I’m going,” Eliza muttered before giving both her parents huge hugs and escaping before Hermione could get overemotional.