Sunday, July 6th, 2014. 3:05 AM.

  Grimmauld Place, Borough of Islington, London, UK

  Letting herself in the front door of Number 12, Ginny was surprised to see that both of the Black family portraits were occupied, and said occupants were alert. Furthermore, there was a large lectern in front of each portrait, holding books and loose sheets of paper and parchment. Mother Black was speaking, and Ginny stopped to listen.

  “...never did agree with Elladora, but you know how the family was. Once a thing was a tradition, it took a very brave person to stand up to them. Quite frankly, I am glad that Kreacher outlived me. No matter what I said in public, I couldn’t have borne taking that dear, loyal elf’s head.”

  “I was much the same,” said Phineas Nigellus Black. “Once Scrope came into my possession, I felt I had almost a friend, no, I go further, a co-conspirator. While we would play our roles as Master and Slave, we understood, each the other. I was absolutely livid with Elladora when she beheaded him. Had I known she would take such a liberty with her own brother’s elf, I would never, never have sent him to stay here while I was out of the country!” He sighed heavily. “But, just as you say, one had to maintain face in front of the family. I never forgave her, though.” He leaned slightly out of his portrait, perusing a sheet of parchment.

  “Oh, I say, Kreacher mentions dear old Wigby here. Between him and Winky, it’s a miracle that any Hogwarts’ student weighs less than twenty stone. Hmm. Kreacher has spelled his name with an ‘ey’ at the end. I’m fairly certain that isn’t correct. Would you check, my dear Walburga?”

  “Certainly, Phineas.” Mrs. Black leaned forward as well, scanning the bench before her portrait. “Yes, the one with the blue cover, by your left bottom wing tip.”

  To Ginny’s amazement and delight, a massive blue-covered book rose into sight, carried between two Pixies, wearing leather aprons and tiny flat caps. They were between six and eight inches tall, and a beautiful lilac color in their fur, hair and wings, the last looking like miniature stained glass windows.

  After they had placed the book, the smaller of the two caught sight of Ginny, gave a high-pitched burble of sound, and was just... gone. The other, with its back to her, froze, and slowly looked over its shoulder. Professor Black caught the byplay and glanced over to see Ginny as well.

  “Ah, Mrs. Potter, welcome home!” He looked over at the Pixie. ‘It’s all fine, Tom. This is your hostess. Mrs. Ginevra Weasly Potter, may I present Tom Typewright, Clan Chief of the Eastendalondon Pixies, Local 305. At least, that’s what young Albus tells me.”

  Well, thought Ginny, I wasn’t far off at all. She nodded to the Pixie. “I’m quite pleased to meet you, Tom.” Tom said something in his burbling squeak of a voice, and swept her a bow, hat in hand.

  “Can’t understand a ruddy word,” said Professor Black. “But Albus gets it well enough.”

  Ginny nodded, and turned to the other portrait. “And, Mother Black, are you well? I do hope the children aren’t troubling you unnecessarily?”

  “Trouble? Oh, my goodness no, Mrs. Potter. It’s all quite exciting. I always knew Kreacher to be highly intelligent, but this is more than I could have ever guessed.” Mrs. Black put her hand to her cheek. “I mean, a book!”

  Ginny looked back down at the Pixie. “Tom, you’re the clan chief, then?”

  The Pixie stood up to his full 8” of height, and nodded proudly. The smaller Pixie buzzed up over the edge of the lectern and went to ground behind the chief. This one looked to be a girl, and her gamin face peeked out occasionally under the Chief’s arm.

  Ginny continued, “But I’ll bet you got taken by surprise when Kreacher, ah, absconded with the Protean Printer? Is that so?”

  The Chief Pixie nodded, looking a little grim. He spread his little arms and shrugged, as if to say, “Life. Whaddayas gonna do?” Behind him, the little Pixie sniffled a bit.

  “Well, as it happens, I was up your ends today. I let your people know where you were, and I extended an Invitation to them, and through them to you, to take up residence here with us.”

  The Chief went wide-eyed. The littler Pixie squealed and took off flying, doing loops around Ginny’s head so fast, she appeared to have a lilac coloured halo. She flashed to a halt, hugging Ginny’s ear, that being the only thing she could get her arms around.

  “I’m guessing it was pretty dull up in your old ends?”

  The Chief gave her a look that shouted, You have no idea!

  Ginny shook a finger at him. “Usual Terms and Conditions Apply, you understand that?”

  The Chief Pixie went down on one knee, put his hand over his heart, and bowed his head.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “Good enough for me,” said Ginny. “Oh, and by the way. How about we don’t tell Kreacher and the kids?” She gave an evil grin. “Now that you're a Member of the family, you can station some of your own people on the perimeter to meet the rest. Let it be a nice surprise for them.”

  The Clan Chief returned the grin, rolling two of his digits up against his palm, and using the third to give her a Thumbs Up. Ginny gently wormed a finger between her ear and the Pixie who was still hugging it. The Pixie transferred her hug to the finger.

  “That’s enough of that. It’s back to work time, Missy.” The little creature looked up at her and gaped. She let go and zipped back to the Chief, dancing in front of him in a perfect panic. He smiled at her, and she stilled, quivering, and snatched off her flat cap. Chief Tom put one hand on her head between her antennae, and said, tiny, but clear as a bell, ”Missy.” The little one twirled into the air, and took off through the atrium at a speed that had her high-pitched burbling doppler almost into audibility.

  Ginny felt like gaping herself. Did I just bestow a name on a Pixie? She met Tom’s eyes... and he winked. He then flutter-wing hopped over to the blue book, and looked up to Mother Black for instructions. The book was titled, ‘Hogwarts Staff Directory, 1,001 C.E. to 2,000 C.E. - Millennial Edition.’

  “Phineas, what era should I check for the correct spelling of Wigby’s name?”

  Professor Black was perusing the parchments on his own lectern. Ginny noticed he had two Pixie assistants as well. He replied absently.

  “Oh, he’s been working there since the mid-Fourteen Hundreds, but I wouldn’t go any further back than the Eighteen-Thirties. The Great Vowel Shift made fools of us all. Our ancestor, Arcturus the First, apparently never stopped complaining about it. No one knows for sure though, since he kept his journals in Middle English and had absolutely terrible handwriting.” He shook his head, looking at the page the Pixies were holding up. “No, that’s not it, Herbert. Bertram, look in that left-hand stack under Walburga’s bench.” He looked up and caught Ginny’s eye. “Capital fellows, these. Just capital. If I had staff like this at Hogwarts...” He let it trail off. “By Jupiter, Bertram, that’s it! Good man! Get it up here.”

  ***

  Ginny strode into the kitchen and made herself at home. Literally. Laying her shoulder bag on the table. she looked around. She had already divested herself of her work robes up in the hall, (and the look the coat rack had given her at the state of them, all dusty and cobwebbed). “Kreacher, did you save me some supper? What time is it, anyway”

  “Of course, Miss Ginny. And it is a little after 3am.” Kreacher scurried over from the large whiteboard he and Lily had been working on. And where had that come from? Somehow, the colored marker sketch of the outlines of 12 Grimmauld Place came out from the board in three dimensions. Tubes and rectangular tunnels wormed in and out of the lines that represented walls, ceilings and floors.

  “3am? Aren’t you guys worn out?” She wasn’t worried. Bedtimes for wizard children were more of an aspiration than a regimen. Lily waved a dismissive hand.

  “Kreacher had us take a good long nap. We’re having too much fun right now to get tired.”

  “Yeah, he even made me take a nap!” Albus’ aggrieved voice echoed from inside the thing she now knew to be a Protean Printer. All she could see were his trainers and about six inches of leg. It was roughly twice the size it had been the previous morning, showing Albus had made some progress with it. “I was going to argue with him about it, but I fell asleep.”

  Kreacher slid a large silver tray in front of her, and lifted the cover. It was covered with dozens of kinds of finger sandwiches, small sausages, pickles and sliced fruits. Ginny’s mouth started watering immediately. “Oh, my, what a spread! Why did you go to all this trouble, Kreacher?”

  Kreacher shook his head vigorously. “Not Kreacher. Winky sent it over. Two of Winky’s staff just dropped it off.”

  Ginny paused, her second chicken salad finger sandwich already heading for her mouth.

  “Why in the world is Winky up and cooking at this time of night? At Hogwarts? In the summer term?”

  Kreacher puffed up until she was afraid he would Explode like a Snap card. “It is Pop Secret!” he said proudly, and pulled a manila folder out of thin air. Bright red letters formed on the face of it.

  THIS FOLDER CONTAINS OFFICIAL MINISTRY OF MAGIC INFORMATION, AND MAY NOT BE RELEASED TO UNAUTHORISED PERSONNEL.

  “M.O.M. File!” Ginny said in delight.

  HEY, GINNY. WE’RE HAVING A HEL OF A WEEKEND, HUH? AND, KREACHER, BUDDY, IT’S TOP SECRET!

  “TOP Secret,” the elf said seriously. “Kreacher will remember.”

  AND WHAT WAS THE OTHER THING WE TALKED ABOUT...?

  Kreacher frowned. “Yuh-daw, Yuh-daw, Yuh-daw?”

  CLOSE ENOUGH FOR MINISTRY WORK. GOOD JOB, BUDDY!

  Kreacher blushed. (In case anyone is interested, it’s sort of a greyish pink on house elves).

  “So, what is going on?” Ginny asked. The M.O.M. File flapped its cover impatiently.

  I’LL JUST GIVE YOU THE HIGH POINTS. HARRY FOUND A CONNECTION IN THE WEIRD STUFF HE WAS INVESTIGATING. HE WENT UP TO CHECK WITH HAGRID ON A REPORT THE BIG GOOF FILED... (Hey!)...CALL’ EM LIKE I SEE ‘EM. THEY FOUND SOMETHING THEY COULDN’T HANDLE BY THEMSELVES. HARRY DID AN ALL HANDS ON DECK CALLOUT. HE GOT WINKY TO FEED THE AURORS AND AUXILIARIES WHILE HE IS BRIEFING THEM. THEY SHOULD BE HITTING THE TARGET IN THE NEXT HOUR OR SO.

  “Hey! I’m in the Auxiliaries, curse it! Why didn’t I get a call?”

  The M.O.M. File flapped its cover again, this time like a sigh.

  GINNY, THINK. YOU ALREADY HAVE AN ASSIGNMENT. AND, IF I’M NOT MISTAKEN, YOU JUST CAME HOME TO GRAB YOUR SCHTUFF AND BOOGIE.

  “How do you know that...?” Ginny gasped. “You eavesdropper!”

  Cover flap, (Sigh). DO YOU REMEMBER OUR HARRY CLOSING DOWN THE FILE, AS PER PROCEDURE?

  Ginny deflated, “No. Of course not. Can’t blame you for his mistake. Okay, I'm gonna spend some time with the sprouts, and then I’m on my way. Oh, and M.O.M. File?”

  YES, GINNY?

  “Close Down File, As Per Procedure.”

  YOU SNEAKY LITTLE... The red lettering faded from the cover as the file sealed itself.