"This little piggy went to the market, and this little piggy stayed at home." I touched Thomas' toes with a little tickle, watching his gummy smile as he laughed at the feeling. "This little piggy had roast beef and this little piggy had none. And this little piggy went wee-wee-wee all the way home." I ran my fingers up his legs and into his sides, smiling brightly as he giggled, his hands reaching out to grab onto my hair.

"I worry about you, Thomas-J." I sighed, bringing him into my arms and pressing a kiss to his head. "In the future, you're not a very nice man. You killed a lot of people and a lot of those people were my family." I brushed my fingers through his hair. "They said you couldn't love and that's what turned your heart dark, but I see you now, you have my love, you have Polly's love and I'm pretty sure you have Tommy's love." I lifted him above my head and looked at his light blue eyes. They were so much like the Shelby blue it almost startled me. I had to explain it to Polly when she said he looked like Tommy. Explained to her that I may have passed on my metamorphmagus abilities to him in some form and that him spending so much time around the Shelby's must have rubbed off on him.

"I will always love you, Thomas, no matter what happens," I told him, pressing a kiss to his nose.

"Romy, there's a man downstairs at the door," Matthew said, looking at me uneasily as he hovered in the door.

"Oh, I'll be down now," I replied, picking Thomas-J up and settling him on my hip as I followed Matthew down. At the door stood Phineas, which was strange considering he normally apparated or used the floo. "Phineas, what are you doing here?"

"Umm, I have some news," he said stepping into the house and giving me a soft smile. That was unusual, he was normally so jolly and now he looked so morbid.

"What's the matter, Phin?" I asked, taking him into the living room and placing Thomas-J down on the blanket where his toys were.

"We've had word of some Dementors on the front lines." That wasn't good. I also couldn't understand why they'd go to the front lines, didn't they go after happy thoughts? I couldn't imagine they'd be able to find much happiness in France. "Newt and I will be gone for a couple of months to deal with it."

"You can't be serious, Phineas. It's dangerous out there!"

"Yes, I know, but if I can do anything to stop more of their suffering then I will," he said tapping his hands on his knees as he waited for my reaction.

"I can't believe you're doing this, Phineas. Did you volunteer? I feel like you volunteered," I muttered giving him a disapproving look. I knew it was selfish of me to wish he didn't have to go out and fight, as a wizard, we tended not to get involved in Muggle wars, he had the perfect reason not to get involved, yet here he was volunteering.

"You can't tell me you wouldn't do the same thing," he argued, giving me a pointed look.

"I work as a nurse, Phineas, it's bound to happen at some point and I can't refuse, I signed a contract. If it comes down to it and I'm ordered over there I can't refuse because if I do they'd take Thomas-J from me."

"They can't do that." He seemed outraged at the thought of Thomas being taken from me.

"They can if they arrest me. Look, don't you worry about me and the possibility of going to France. Let's worry about how you're going to look after Newt."

May 15th 1917

Dear Tommy,

I was afraid this was going to happen. I've confessed my feelings to you and you've not replied to my letter. Either you are disgusted by my revelation or you've not been able to reply. I'm hoping for the latter.

I'm trying not to be selfish in my hopes that you're not ignoring me, but I am failing. I intended to write to you to give you an update on Thomas-J.

Can you believe that to the day I am writing to you, he is now twenty-eight-weeks-old. That's a total of seven months. SEVEN. Can you believe how fast it's going?

Polly says he looks a lot like you as a baby. I personally think he looks a lot like his father and he had Merry's dark hair. Well, he has the Gaunt family hair, the darkness of it. Everything else he seems to have gotten from me. The light eyes from our mother's side of the family.

He sits by himself now, did I tell you that before? He's learnt how to crawl now/ Well, it's more of a bum shuffle than a crawl. Polly says she doesn't think he'll be a crawler. She said because he bum-shuffles he'll just get up and walk when he feels like it. Ada's taken to following him around with the camera, ready to take a photograph of his first steps.

He's such a happy baby that it worries me.

Do you think he knows that his father didn't want him? Do you think he knows his birth mother is dead? I love him dearly and so does the family, but I fear he will feel isolated when he grows up because he has no father.

Ellanora, Phineas' fiance, said I should look for a suitor that is able to take Thomas-J on as his son so he can have that bond. In a way, I can see where she's coming from. I would love for Thomas-J to have a father, but I don't want to find some just because it's expected.

Plus, my heart already belongs to you.

Why would I go chasing after a man if I could have you?

Please ignore my ranting,

My love, always and forever,

Romy x

No offense to Muggles, but I was always sure that wizards were faster to develop ideas before them. It wasn't completely our fault that our magic didn't work with electricity - that was not a problem in the future.

It did make me giggle when I realised that the magical world had created the possibility to record video years before the Muggles invented it.

I hadn't realized this until I stumbled upon a video camera in Diagon Alley and knew I had to buy it.

Ada had been fascinated by it and declared she was going to come with me to Diagon Alley the next time I went.

As we came into June, if you were looking for Ada all you had to do was follow Thomas-J's babbling and you'd find her recording him. He was a very photogenic baby and not only looked good while on camera but also seemed to enjoy it too.

"What are those?" Polly asked, looking at the two creatures curled up in my lap.

"Finn, Finn, run!" one of the creatures called looking up at Polly as she frowned down at it.

"Fuck!" the other one exclaimed trying to bury itself into my cardigan.

"Umm, these are Jarvey's. Newt's been studying them and Ellanora was looking after them for him, but they're a bit too much for her to handle," I explained, rubbing them on the head and settling them on the floor. They scurried away, finding themselves a bed in Voodoo's basket. "They swear a lot. She's not too keen on them."

"So she gave them to you?"

"Well, yes. Finn likes them."

"I gathered he'd like something like that." She didn't look too impressed but she rolled her eyes and turned away as she tried to hide her smile. "You've made an impression on the fifteen-year-old Baker's son."

"Really?" I asked, smiling at the thought of the spotty boy falling head over heels over me.

"I can say the same for the butcher's boy and the poor stablehand Charlie's got helping at the docks." Polly turned her gaze back to me, raising her eyebrows.

"I do have my way with the male species, often the adolescent boy." I shrugged, biting my lip as I tried to keep my laughter in.

"Are you going to tell me what's so funny?"

"My mother is one-eighth Veela, I guess I have inherited some of her Veela traits," I said, laughing and shaking my head. Polly looked at me with a blank look and I rolled my eyes. Waving my wand, I waved her over as I opened my photo album and showed her a photograph of my mother. "This is my mother." I flipped it to a photograph of Mamie. "This is my Mamie, my grandmother." Flipping it to a photograph or Mamie's father, I noticed that Polly was entranced by his appearance. "That's my Mamie's Pa. Veela's have a certain ability to be breathtakingly beautiful and can often entrance men, or women magically. Most Veela's in my family are female, though my Uncle Louis seems to have his way with women because of his dashing good looks and Veela charm."

"Is there anything else irregular about you, Romy? You part siren too?"

"Actually, now that I think about it, I guess you could say Veela's are like sirens. Their beauty does draw in men, though I've never heard one capturing and killing before."

"Tommy's gonna have his hands full with you," she muttered under her breath, glancing over to the photograph of her nephew. "Has he written?"

"No, but I'm not too worried. Perhaps they can't send letters out, Ada said she hasn't received anything from him or Arthur. John did write though, Finn's been reading it to Katie all morning."

"Don't lose hope, love."

"I won't, there's always darkness before dawn," I told her, shrugging as I sipped at my tea. "I've actually got some good news."

"Hmm."

"Albus thinks I'm ready to take my NEWTS. He's tested me on everything multiple times and says he's certain I'll receive Exceeds Expectations in most. He's going to take me to the Ministry on Saturday to start the exams."

"Well, I have no idea what Expeeds, Expeedtation means, but I hope you do well."

June 12th 1917

Tommy,

Thomas-J can walk!

We were sitting in the living room the other night, Polly was scolding the Jarvey's and they scurried into Voodoo's basket and then Thomas-J just got up and stumbled his way over to them.

We were all simply astonished. He ended up in tears though because we let our excitement get a little too overwhelming. I am admitting that I might have started screaming.

On another note, I've completed my NEWTS and received nothing but Outstandings and Exceeds Expectations. Albus admitted that it was the best score he's seen in over a century and is insisting I teach at Hogwarts in the future. He said it would be a shame to keep a mind like mine from students.

It will also please you to know that John is okay. I'm not sure if you've gotten word from him but he says he's as safe as he can be.

I dream that every morning we'll hear word that the war has ended but I fear that it is only a dream. I don't know when you'll return to us, but I wish it was tomorrow. I cannot stand that you are missing out of watching Edward and Thomas-J grow.

I've included a photograph of Ada's remarkable capture of Thomas-J's first steps - she's been stalking the poor boy.

Sending my love, always and forever,

Romy.

Tommy looked down at Romy's letter in confusion.

While he was excited that Thomas-J had started walking, he wasn't focused on that. What the bloody hell was a NEWT? What did Exceeds Expectations mean? Who was Albus and what was Hogwarts? Why would Romy teach there?

"What the fuck's a Jarvey?" he asked out loud, causing Arthur to snort in his sleep.

He was almost certain that something was wrong with Romy. Why was she talking about all these strange things?

Tommy scratched at his chin as he contemplated what he was going to write back.

Dear Romy,

It pleases me to hear that Thomas-J has begun to walk. He looks so happy in the photograph.

Can you tell me what a NEWT is and what you mean by Exceeds Expectations? What is this Hogwarts you talk about and why does this Albus want you to teach there? Is it a school?

Also, what the fuck is a Jarvey?

Love,

Tommy x

"Holy fucking shit!" I cried, looking down at his letter with wide eyes. "Fucking hell."

"What? What is it?" Polly asked, the dread growing on her face as I grew more distressed.

"I think I accidentally wrote about the magical world in a letter to Tommy," I said, running my hand over my face in frustration. "Look, listen to this. 'Can you tell me what a NEWT is? What is Hogwarts? What the fuck is a Jarvey?' Fucking hell, Polly, what am I going to do?"

"You couldn't keep it hidden forever, love," Polly said glancing around at the kitchen. The dishes were washing themselves in the sink. The clothing was being wrung out in the corner and fling to hang itself up by the back door. The floor was being swept and mopped and the teapot was busy filling our cups.

"You're not funny, Polly. I could get into trouble for this. There are rules about hiding our magic and I've just written about it in a letter which has been sent to France. Merlin's beard! Could you imagine if it got intercepted? Fucking hell!"