OH MOTHER DEAR

we're not the fortunate ones

And girls they wanna have fun

The last few days had left a grin ever present on Adaline Potter’s face. The reason that smile was there was totally cliché, but she couldn’t help. She liked a boy and it seemed that he liked her back. They had even gone a date today. It had been her first ever date—and she thought it went well. He was funny and fun…and that smirk. How could she both want to wipe that off his face so badly and enjoy so much all at the same time?! One thing was for sure Fitzgerald Yaxley was infuriating…and that made him very interesting.

But it wasn’t a boy that had her searching for her mother this evening. She did want to talk to her mum about her first date, if lunch counted as a ‘date’ date… But she didn’t really think the choice of boy would go over that well with Hermione. Adaline wondered if Harry knew already. She and Fitz had walked out of the Ministry together and right back in side-by-side, as well…Fitz wearing that damn smirk the whole time. So, it wasn’t a big leap to make. There would be whispers—and those whispers would reach her father’s ears. She had left the Ministry before him today, wanting to have the chance to talk to her mother alone first.

Adaline normally took things to Harry first. She had told him of her dropping out of Bangor. She hadn’t had a chance to talk to Hermione about that yet. He was easier to talk to most of the time. She felt like they spoke the same language. It wasn’t always the case with her mum. She loved Hermione, of course. She loved her dearly, but she was a Daddy’s girl. There was the complication of Andromeda, too, that Ad felt like put some distance between herself and her mother. It had been there long before now. When she had been little and spending time with her godmother learning to cook and so much more, she and Andromeda had forged a bond.

It was still part of her—and she still had love for the woman, even if she had changed her name to Lestrange. They had shared honest conversations of late that had been deeply meaningful for Adaline. Adaline had acknowledged that while she did not define herself by the opinions of others, that it did hurt that she could be perceived as inferior due to her blood status. She’d confessed that she believed her mother would be ashamed of her if she knew how blood status made Adaline feel, because Hermione was always so proud of her abilities and that she was muggleborn. The way her mother wore blood status like a flag was inspiring, certainly, but there was a huge part of Adaline just wanted it not to matter. She wanted it not to matter who was pure or halfblood or muggleborn. It didn’t have to define anyone any more than gender or race did. Adaline believed deeply that tradition and knowledge did not have to be eroded away by the inclusion of new people or cultures. There was a place in the wixen world for all of them, for everything.

She had to get others to believe that, though…if the world was going to change into a more accepting an open place. Adaline had a great deal of faith that she would do just that—and if she was prepared to undertake changing the world, clearly, she could face a conversation with her mother.

Grimmauld Place was quiet when she stepped through the floo into the home she shared with her family. She went to the kitchen and set about preparing a pot of Earl Grey. Tea made anything easier. Adaline expected to find her mother working, and wasn’t surprised to see Hermione at the desk in her study. She approached with the tray with the tea pot, two cups and a pair of scones. Adaline probably wouldn’t eat hers, but she thought it might appeal to her pregnant parent.

“Hey Mum, do you have a second? I wanted to talk…” She said as she sat down the tray and began to pour out the tea. She was trying now to find the words to say. Adaline did not mind that her parents were having another child. She really didn’t. She thought the timing was questionable. She worried about the effects of the curse Hermione had been hit with—and what that could mean for the baby. She worried about shifts in the political climate that might put Hermione in danger again. Sure, things seemed to be moving in the right direction. Harry, Kings, Lee, and she were all at the Ministry—others with Order affiliation were returning, too. But nothing was ever certain. It seemed unnecessarily risky, in her opinion, to have a child right now—but clearly, she was alone in that line of thinking as both her mother and Oralee Shacklebolt had buns in their ovens.

How could she tell Hermione that she wanted to move out before the baby was born and make it not seem like she was against the child? She levitated a cup of tea over to her mother and sat down facing the woman. Adaline wasn’t really sure how to begin, except to jump right into the thick of what she had to say. She took a small sip from her cup to stall though.

An inclusive approach seemed best, so she offered Hermione an invitation. “I was wondering if you were busy tomorrow. I had hoped I might get you to come look at some flats with me.” She gave the witch a smile, hoping that pregnancy hormones were not going to result in her mother having an overly emotional reaction to the proposition.

Hermione Jean Potter • 967 • outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

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[attr="class","ctopline"]Some boys take a beautiful girl

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[attr="class","clyrics"]from the rest of the world[break]
I want to be the one to walk in the sun

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[attr="class","cbody"]Hermione knew that it was only a matter of time until changes were made once more. There had definitely been progress. She had not been the one helping to make that progress happen, but that wasn’t what was important. What mattered was the fact that it was happening at all. With Kingsley in the Ministry, with Lee, and Harry, and Adaline there, she knew that progress was being made. There were people in the Ministry that she could trust—that the people could trust. It would take time, but she had to think that everything would start to go back to the way that it should be. It wasn’t something that was going to happen overnight, though.
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And unfortunately, because of the way things were, there was very little that she could do to help. She couldn’t get a job in the Ministry, she couldn’t try to join the fight to help the government change its ways. There was no way for her to be a part of that. Hermione was trying to do what she could, but for the most part, her focus was spent on the foundation. With Harry and Kingsley back at the Ministry full time, somebody had to run it. She wasn’t exactly pleased that that someone had to be her, but it didn’t change the fact that it needed to be done, and she needed to be doing something. For the time being, this just happened to be one of the few things she was actually able to do.
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There was no way of knowing for sure if and when that was going to happen, but keeping everything going at the foundation was enough to keep her mind occupied for now. She didn’t think that Harry would have loved the idea of her going back into the Ministry pregnant anyway, especially now that she was showing. It was a risk with the sort of people that still worked there, even if she could actually get a job.
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Part of her was still tempted, of course. Tempted to sit outside of the Minister’s office and refuse to leave until she gave her some kind of job. Annoying Andromeda into giving her a position somewhere in the Ministry hadn’t seemed like a half bad idea. She was quite sure the woman would give in just to get her out of her office. It wasn’t like either of them wanted to be around each other. Andromeda Lestrange was not the woman that she had once known. Hermione had no plans to forget that anytime soon. Even if her motives were more gray than black and white, she still had questionable loyalties to seemingly no one but herself and her family—and Hermione was not naïve enough to consider herself among that score anymore. If she ever even had been.
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Still, she hadn’t gone into the Ministry. She hadn’t pushed for a job. She’d stayed at the foundation and she hadn’t brought up the Ministry to Harry since their fight. She’d held her tongue, but what she was actually doing when she was at the foundation every day was a lot more than just the normal busywork and paperwork of the place. No, there was a lot more for her to do there than just that. The foundation was quiet a good majority of the time, which left her plenty of time for research, for planning, for strategizing. She had to be doing something, after all. Hermione wasn’t just going to be sitting idly by just because she couldn’t actually have a job in the Ministry.
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Today had been a long one, and she’d had to force herself out of the office and back home. Even when she actually made it there, she’d gone straight up to the study to keep working. She knew that she should probably actually stop to get something to eat, but she didn’t want to lose momentum. Hermione had no concept of exactly what time it was when she heard Adaline’s voice. She could have been working for twenty minutes or two hours. But she glanced up from her work immediately, her daughter’s words surprising her more than they probably should. Adaline didn’t ever really want to talk. When she had something to talk about, she went to Harry. They talked—and she ended up finding out most of what was going on in her daughter’s life through what her husband told her.
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She didn’t like that their relationship had gotten to that point, but it had. She was quite certain that Andromeda knew more about her daughter’s life than she did. But Adaline was an adult. Hermione couldn’t force her to talk to her. She couldn’t make her want to tell her anything about her life. She could only take up as much room in her daughter’s life as she wanted her to have. If she wanted to talk, then of course Hermione wanted to know what she had to say. It didn’t stop a flicker of surprise passing over her features before she masked it with a smile. “Of course.” She had been working all day. She could certainly put that aside for as long as her daughter needed.
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Hermione watched as Adaline poured the tea and she was glad to see that there were scones too. It reminded her that she hadn’t even since lunch. Definitely something that needed to be remedied. As it had happened when she had been pregnant with Adaline, though, Hermione had been craving spicy and salty foods over anything else. It was how both she and Harry had known that they were having a girl before they’d been able to find out officially. Still, after hours of work without pausing to eat, she was certainly not going to say no to a scone. Taking the levitated tea out of the air, Hermione’s gaze focused back to her daughter. An eyebrow quirked up in surprise when she finally spoke. She didn’t think she could be fully surprised that her daughter wanted to move out. As much as her being on her own was enough to make her worry, after being trapped on an island with her family for years, wanting her own space was not too much of a surprise.
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Really, the surprise just came from the fact that she was talking to her about it and not her dad. This was something that she thought Adaline would certainly rather have Harry around for. “For you, I think I can clear my extremely busy schedule,” she teased, with a small smile. The next day was Saturday, so of course her schedule was not busy at all. “Do you have any places in mind?” Hermione knew that her daughter had a good head on her shoulders, that she would be smart and careful and was certainly capable of living on her own. She didn’t have to fully love the idea to support her in it. But she could help make sure that she was at least living somewhere nice and in a good area.
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[attr="class","cnotes"]1176 ● @ ad ● outfit - not this large yet, but she liked the dress ok

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

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OH MOTHER DEAR

we're not the fortunate ones

And girls they wanna have fun

Adaline was having a difficult time knowing how to interface with her mother lately. Was it being back in London? Was it the fact the boys had gone back to Hogwarts and she hadn't? Were the problems between them rooted in the fact Adeline was reconciled with Andromeda? Or could blame be lain on the pregnancy? Adaline was not happy that her parents had decided to have another child. She found the choice reckless and ill-advised... particularly considering the unknown curse her mother had been subjected to.  It did not thrill her, either, that the child was to be a girl. She had been the only girl for many years---and she rather liked it that way. But no one asked her opinion and it really was not her place to give it. So, she kept her mouth shut. She actually was capable of holding her tongue. She just usually chose not to. She figured her opinion in this case would only cause problems, though. Better to just not.

Maybe there was some jealousy there. Not because there was going to be a baby--Adaline decidedly did not want a child at this point. But maybe she was a little jealous that it was going to be a girl. That made her feel like something was going to be lost. She didn't like thinking of that. But she didn't think she was the only jealous one. It felt with some of the things that Hermione had done since they came back to London that she was jealous, too. Adaline thought her mother resented her and her father to some degree for working at the Ministry. Ad could understand those sorts of feelings. She did not feel left out, because Liam and Deacon went back to Hogwarts--but she could see how those feelings would happen in a situation like that. She felt the distance between her and her brother. It was really weird not to have Liam around. But he had made his choice and she had made hers. They were both doing what they could to live the lives they wanted after so long away. It was all choices and making the best of things. Opportunities came around at the right times if you were looking for them. Hermione could make her own successes at Rising Phoenix, if she really wanted to. Or that was what Adaline thought anyway... The girl just had all the opinions, all the time. Andromeda got an ear full of them on a daily basis. 

But this wasn't about any of that. This was about Adaline wanting to still share parts of her life with her mum. By seeking Hermione out for this, the girl was making a conscious and intentional effort to include the woman. Ad never wanted the blame to be on her for the distance between them. She had always been a daddy's girl, having more in common with her father, but she had never felt estranged from her mum--and it wasn't to that level. But if they neglected their relationship, it would get that way. Adaline just really did not want that. She thought a great deal of her mother--even if she worried sometimes that if Hermione knew things she thought and felt that she would be ashamed.

She had confessed that fear to Andromeda on Easter. They'd been champagne tispy--the very first time that Adaline had actually gotten close to drunk... and talk about Fitz had drifted to talk of blood politics. Adaline saw the way that her mother wore her blood status so proudly. Hermione waved around the fact that she was muggleborn. It was something everyone knew and was a mark of pride for the woman. Adaline respected that choice. But that wasn't the choice she wanted for herself. She wanted it not to matter. She wanted blood status not to matter. Truly, the witch wanted all demographics to be irrelevant. It should not matter what gender or sex or sexuality that someone was. That did not define who they were. Or that was her opinion anyway--

She wanted to be seen for herself. Not for her last name. Not for her blood status. Not for her gender or sexuality or age or any other arbitrary label someone could put on her. Ad wanted her generation to be better than the older ones. But she thought that her mother would be disappointed in her aversion to proclaim blood status, but to Adaline parading being descended from muggles was not that different than being so proud of having a multitude of magical ancestors. Where and who someone came from doesn't have to define who they are... Durant was a bad person just like Voldemort was. Evil wears all sorts of faces. 

She wasn't going to go on a political rant today or tomorrow, though. The worst she might do is mention her lunch date... Which probably would not be particularly well-met. But Harry would have heard that she left and returned to the Ministry with Fitz Yaxley. He would know--and tell her mum. So, it was probably wise to broach the topic on her own terms. It should have just been an easy, exciting thing to share with Mia. She had squealed and gushed when she told Emmaline and Andromeda. But she had not worried they would judge or chastise her. Adaline expected both from Hermione. They could just talk of the flats for awhile. That was safer. She could share that excitement with her mum and maybe the good feelings would bubble over to talk of the handsome boy with his gorgeous jawline.

When Mia asked if Adaline had any flats in mind, the witch nodded. She pulled her iPad out of her bag and touched the screen. “I do. I have been looking at postings online. I'm thinking something in a mixed wix-muggle district. I'd kill for a view of the Thames--maybe with a park near by.” She gave the witch a smile, looking up from the screen for a moment. She really was very optimistic about one flat. It was considerably more appealing and more affordable than some of the other units open near downtown. The distance did not bother her--and the views were gorgeous. A few taps of her finger on the screen later, she flipped the iPad around and extended it towards Hermione. “I really love this one. I don't actually need the second bedroom, but how gorgeous is that patio.” She figured Liam could crash there sometimes, if he wanted. She didn't want to cohabitate with her brother, but he could escape the baby there if he didn't stay on campus at Gráinneog in the fall.   

@ mum • 1111 • outfit • flat

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

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[attr="class","ctopline"]SOME BOYS TAKE A BEAUTIFUL GIRL

[attr="class","cscriptorder"]and hide her away

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[attr="class","clyrics"]FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD[break]
I WANT TO BE THE ONE TO WALK IN THE SUN

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[attr="class","cbody"]There was a lot going on recently that she couldn’t honestly say that she liked all that much, but she also knew better than to think that she could control every aspect of life around her. It didn’t work that way. There were some matters that were out of her hands. There were some things that she couldn’t control, and that was just something that she was going to have to come to terms with. She thought that it had been particularly difficult just because there was so little that she could do. There was so much that she wanted to do, and little that she was actually able to move forward on while the registration was still in place.
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She knew that she should be grateful—or at least relieved, that their return to London had not resulted in her arrest. There had always been a chance of that happening. Instead, she got to be comfortably at home while other Muggleborns were still subjugated or were still on the run, for those that had managed to keep that up for this long. It was not fair at all. Andromeda and her flighty opinions and beliefs had kept her safe, but she could not sit around and do nothing while other Muggleborns still suffered. She wanted to do something, and yet her options were entirely limited.
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Her family had not helped with that lately. Both Harry and Adaline back at the Ministry had been a hard enough pill to swallow. She was proud of them for wanting to do something, to try to contribute to change, but she did not like how little she could do in comparison. She didn’t like how Harry tried to write her off as hysterical or hormonal when she got upset about it, especially because he and their daughter had always had a better relationship than she’d had with Adaline herself. She knew that his opinions grew to be her opinions, and then all of a sudden both her husband and daughter thought that she was being hormonal and ridiculous for being upset.
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And it was not hormones. It was not her being hysterical, it was not her being ridiculous. Harry had been the one to found the Project. It had been his baby. His idea. Had she supported him? Of course, she had. After everything that he had lost because of war, him wanting to give back to others that had experienced that loss made sense. It had been his passion project, and she had done everything she could to help, but it had not been hers. Now that he was back at the Ministry, every time she was upset about how little she could do, it got thrown back in her face that she could work at the Project. It had gotten pawned off on her, and she was the hysterical one for wanting to do more than be handed the reigns to something that had never been hers.
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But she knew what Harry thought about it, she knew how much Adaline valued her father’s words, and it had made her relationship with her daughter even more strained. As had her relationship with Andromeda, something else that Hermione was not going to understand. It was frustrating, it was upsetting, it was a dozen of other emotions all swirled together into one very exhausting whirlwind, but Hermione knew that her daughter was an adult. She could not force her to be close to her. She could favor her father, she could favor Andromeda, and Emmaline, that boy from the Ministry, or whoever else had her ear these days. She couldn’t make it be her.
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In some ways, she thought that she and Adaline didn’t get along as well because they were too much alike. She didn’t know for sure. She did know, of course, that she would not come to her for flat shopping if she did not have places in mind. She was the type to think ahead when it came to something like this, so no part of her was surprised when an iPad was pulled out. “It’s a bit far out,” she noted, though distance was not too much of a downside with apparition or the ability to Floo as an option. “The patio is gorgeous, though.” The view was spectacular, both from the patio and the large windows in the living room. “Having a second bedroom would be nice, too. It’ll give you more space.” If she decided to get a one bedroom, she’d likely regret that decision and end up moving again to a place with more space, so in her mind, it was certainly a better idea to get a place that she could keep and grow into.
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[attr="class","cnotes"]790 ● @ adaline ● outfit

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

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