Breakfast the next morning was less awkward for Florence, now mentally praising herself for deciding to head to bed that night. Although the twins did stop by her room just before daybreak, to tell her about the things that they were told. But considering how early they had reported back, Florence could barely remember it anymore, as she was half asleep as they rambled on. Fred and George, this time, had carried the platter of sunny side ups to the table with their own hands, along with drinking glass for the pumpkin juice and milk.

She looked around the table, noticing the seat beside Sloan was vacant, "Where's Julien?" she asked, considering it was still very early in the morning. He couldn't have gone to training without breakfast.

"He went off at about four a.m. His superior called him in early since apparently, he clocked out an hour early last night." Sloan explained, "Now he knows what happens when he doesn't follow with the timeframe."

"Poor dear," said Molly, who had finally settled down to eat, "Did he atleast have anything before he left?"

"Couldn't eat breakfast on the table. But I packed him some sandwiches. Hopefully he eats some before doing anything strenuous, or he might pass out."

"Alanna mentioned that he took his final year exams last summer," Florence brought up, "And this year's his second year in Auror training. When did he have time to do his first year of training?"

"Started the first half of it on the first summer he was of age, then the other half last summer along with his studies." said Sloan, "Which wasn't easy, by the way. Beauxbatons exams can be a bloody bitc—" Molly shot him a look from across the table,
"I mean, it can be a bit hard."

"By the way," Jane piped up, downing a glass of pumpkin juice before she had spoken again, "Florence and I will be returning home to Cambridge in three days time."

"What?" Sloan, Sirius, Remus and Molly said together, looking at Jane dubiously, "But why?" Sirius asked.

"Well, its only a few weeks until school. She needs to see her friends or they'll be quite suspicious."

"And I promised Nicolai and Xander that we would have a sleepover before school." Florence added in, making Fred pout, "But what about our nightly sleepovers here—?"

Sirius gave him a look.

"—not that you visit out room every night. No."

"Will Julien and I be welcomed to visit if ever we feel like it?" asked Sloan, the question directed mainly to Jane, who smiled slightly in response. "Ofcourse, Sloan. After all, it was your home once upon a time."

"But Jane, dear, what about the—" she paused, "Problems, yes, the problems that we've talked about in the meetings?" Molly said, "If you take Florence home she will no longer be in the close range of proximity which will make it harder to protect her if ever something happens."

"Don't worry, Molly, I've asked Alastor to set up anti apparation wards within the grounds of the manors. The house elves, too, I'm sure, will be of great help in protecting Florence while I'm at work."

The mention of house elves couldn't help but catch Hermione's attention, who politely inserted herself into the conversation almost promptly after the elves were brought in to light, "Yes, Emmy's told me that the Price Manor houses about fifteen other elves apart from herself," he eyes were criticizing and questioning, Ron groaning beside her, "How come you have that many?"

Jane chuckled, apparently she, too, had caught wind of her infamous Elfish Welfare movement, and looked very keen on the subject, "You see dear, they aren't all under the name of the Prices. Matter of fact, only Emmy and another one named Lillie are the Family's house elves. The others are, well, they come and go as they please."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning," said Sloan, "The Manor that they lived in once belonged to a dear Aunt of mine, who, like you, Miss Granger, was very keen on helping and protecting house elves. She made it, say, a sanctuary, for those house elves who have been sacked by their families...or perhaps strays, who have had no affiliations or whatsoever."

"So, like, a home for those who don't have a home?" Hermione looked delighted at this, "That sounds marvelous."

"Indeed it is. When their Aunt passed away and the property was gifted to Gabriel and I, the elves sort of stayed. And they, in many ways, have become somewhat like a family." Jane said, "Especially since it is a pretty big house for two people."

"Would you happen to want a S.P.E.W badge?" she asked.

"A spew badge?" Jane asked skeptically.

"It stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. It's an organization I'm starting. I usually sell the badges for three sickles, for future funds, but I can give you a free one since you've helped the cause so much already."

"Well, if you insist—"

"I do," Hermione replied rather enthusiastically, "Hold on, let me get my box." she said, excusing herself from the table before bolting up the stairs.

"I like her," Jane concluded to the others, "The kid has heart."

                                          -----------
After breakfast, Mrs. Weasley insisted that they got to work on tackling the doxies that were hiding in the folds of the curtains in the drawing room. She had caught Harry wanting to eavesdrop in Sirius' conversation with Kingsley, but could not do so with Mrs. Weasley staring down at him. He closed the door to the drawing room regretfully, and picked up a bottle of Doxycide that Mrs. Weasley had laid out on one of the tables.

Florence went over and offered him a small smile, "Didn't get the chance to say this yesterday, but I hope you're feeling alright now."

"I am," he replied, "It sure is hard to get information off of them, huh?"

"It took us a whole month. And all we got were some bits and pieces. Well, we got a lot during the first half of the month, until Molly purged Fred and George's eavesdropping stuff. They managed to salvage one, though."

"I see. How are you and Fred doing?"

"We're great. He and George are a handful. It seems like I'm dating both of them from how things are going. You know, one is never without the other."

Molly had cut off their conversation as she started to speak, "Right, you lot, you need to be careful, because doxies bite and their teeth are poisonous. I've got a bottle of antidote here, but I'd rather nobody needed it."

She straightened up, positioned herself squarely in front of the curtains, and beckoned them all forward, Florence finding herself wedged in the middle of Fred and George.

"When I say the word, start spraying immediately," she said. "They'll come flying out at us, I expect, but it says on the sprays one good squirt will paralyze them. When they're immobilized, just throw them in this bucket."

She stepped carefully out of their line of fire and raised her own spray. "All right — squirt!"

A rather small doxy came hurtling towards Florence, jaws set as if determined to have a bite at her flesh. She was quick on spraying the creature catching in mid air as it froze. She tossed it in to the bucket, before proceeding to help with plenty more of them. Florence turned to check how the twins were holding up, only to find that Fred had managed to catch a live on between his fingers, the doxy struggling from the trap while simultaneously trying to bite him. Florence and Harry simply stared, looking rather mortified.

"Fred, what are you doing?" said Mrs. Weasley sharply once she caught sight of what he was doing. "Spray that at once and throw it away!"

"Right-o," Fred said brightly, spraying the doxy quickly in the face so that it fainted, but the moment Mrs. Weasley's back was turned he pocketed it with a wink.

"What do you think you're going to do with that?" Florence whispered, "Are you delirious? The doxycide isn't going to last forever and if it wears off then you'll risk having another stray doxy in this bloody hellhole."

"Relax, love," he combed a hand through her hair, "George and I will only be using it to study its poison, so whether or not we can determine if we could use it for our Skiving Snackbox."

The twins have been secretly working on the said snackbox for awhile. These were treats that were supposedly going to make you ill upon consumption, handy for when you needed a quick getaway from class. She knew how much these meant to them, and tried her best to support it even with all the little dangers that came with it. Which now apparently they were kidnapping paralyzed doxies.

"You had better get rid of that before I leave," she warned him, "If you get bitten by that thing, I don't think your mum will give you the antidote without another round of her sermons."

"I promise, okay? Don't worry about it."

The de-doxying of the curtains took most of the morning. It was past midday when Mrs. Weasley finally removed her protective scarf, sank into a sagging armchair, and sprang up again with a cry of disgust, having sat on the bag of dead rats.

Florence had gone down to help Mrs. Weasley prepare sandwiches for the rest of the lot, telling her to remain in the kitchen for a bit while she answered door. She peeked out the hallway anyway, only to see Mundungus Fletcher with a hazardous looking stack of cauldrons in his arms. At the sight of the man, who was talking to Sirius and Kingsley, Mrs. Weasley started to reprimand Mundungus in a very loud voice.

"WE ARE NOT RUNNING A HIDEOUT FOR STOLEN GOODS! THIS IS COMPLETELY IRRESPONSIBLE, AS IF WE HAVEN'T GOT ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT WITHOUT YOU DRAG- GING STOLEN CAULDRONS INTO THE HOUSE —"

Mrs. Weasley's yelling was loud enough to trigger Mrs. Black's portrait, and now their yells were probably enough to shatter Florence's eardrums, had she not covered her ears. Maybe it was a good idea to head home before school started. She heard a familiar meow from underneath one of the chairs. Miss Mimsy. She circled around Florence's foot, before laying her rather fat stomach ontop of her home slippers.

"I'm sorry about that dear," Molly came in to view, her face still beet red from the screaming she had done, "These people sometimes make me wonder whether they're doing all these despicable things for me to loose my mind." she chuckled nervously, "I hope you don't see me as nothing but a screaming banshee of this house. I've been on edge for a couple of weeks now."

"No, Mrs. Weasley, it's fine. Your reasons are understandable. I, too, have lost my temper a couple times. I usually try to keep it to myself but sometimes you just can't, you know?"

"Right you are," she half laughed, "Sometimes you feel like, like you've got to scream at someone, or punch something." Mrs. Weasley said, "But please, dear, call me Molly. No need for formalities I suppose."

Florence smiled, a little bashful that she was now on a first name basis with her boyfriend's mother, "So, what are we making for them?"

"A couple sandwiches," Molly took out the bread from the fridge, along with a carton of eggs, butter, carrots, and some flour from the cupboard, "And maybe you could cook us a batch of your famous carrot cake? Jane says it's simply divine, and, I'd very much love to try it myself too."

"Alrighty. Let's get to work."