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Poppy, I need you -- or anyone else at Hogwarts -- to meet me within about ten minutes or so. Far side of the lake, just past the wards, on the path to Hogsmeade Station?

I've just got your dragon blood -- two whole phials -- but I need to hand it over quickly before anyone notices I'm gone.

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I know what you mean about having everyone you live with seem completely irritating. Between the baby, the business, the moons, and the shape-shifting, we drive each other mad several times a ~~wee~~ day. I'm sure I'm as awful to live with as the rest, mind you. Not saying I'm perfect at all.

Sounds as if you had a bit of an adventure between the dying dragon and the quick pop to Hogwarts and back and not getting caught out over what you'd done. Good show!

They keep a tight lock on all the saleable bits of your dragons, then? Makes sense, I suppose, but I can't imagine dragon handlers are much for inventories and Ministry parchmentwork, though. Or do you have someone who lives up there who just does that sort of record keeping and line-toeing?

We raised a glass for Istvan here last night. And thought of him again this morning when Bea had a complete caterwauling tantrum at the end of breakfast. I think she's had a growing spurt, and it's all been in her lungs! I swear to you, she wasn't this loud a month ago!

Oh, I remember that age. If it's any consolation, of the two I was old enough to really be aware of, Ron lasted about three months and Ginny about five before they quieted down a bit -- I think it's something to do with the mind being ready to communicate more complex bits but the rest of them not quite caught up yet. Mind you, three to six months more of this might sound like a million years away, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, at least?

And oi, yeah, I get tired just thinking about all you have to deal with. I think it's natural to have days when you just want to scream, especially when you have too many people in too small a space. (Once it starts blizzarding in earnest up here, we all have to be very, very careful. It's not odd to see somebody wearing their earplugs indoors at supper 'round February or so, nose in a book, quite firmly pretending the other five dozen people don't exist. You learn right quick that if someone's got their earplugs in, they're about half a step away from "transfigure you lot into firewood and have a cheery little bonfire" territory.)

You've got a bit of an outlet at least now, right? Training with Alice and Frank on things? Bet that if you're having a bad day, you could bring Miss Bea to Moddey and find half a dozen child-minders, and Frank would be happy to let you play smash-and-Reparo for as long as it took to feel better. He's always seemed the sort who'd understand needing to get away for a while.

And yeah, we're not much for following along with what the Ministry wants from us, but Director Higgs rides our arses about it all the time. When a dragon dies, they call in a team from the Ministry to take care of the harvesting. Right secretive about it, too. Things like scales and shed claw casings and the like, things you can just pick up wherever you find them, those they don't bother to keep track of so closely, but anything more rare than that, it's your head if they figure out you didn't turn it in.

(With a few exceptions! You've seen Opaleye jewellery, right? Where the eyes harden into gemstones after the dragon dies? Long standing dragonman tradition: if you're the one who finds an Opaleye after death, you're the one who gets to keep or sell the gems. For once, this is a good "don't tell Mum": the dragon whose heartstring I was able to give to Melisandra last year was an Opaleye, and I traded one gem to a jeweller in New London to have the other set in a pendant for her for Christmas. Can't wait to see her face when she sees it!)

Anyway, I hope tonight's less stressful than this morning was. And, you know, if you ever need an extra pair of hands or an extra baby-wrangler one night a week or whatever, we're technically allowed off the reserve whenever we're not scheduled for duty or on call -- we just don't bother most of the time because it's a bit of a pain and usually we don't know until right before whether we'll be on call or not. But I'd be happy to stop in, at least every other week or so. Miss Bea couldn't be worse than dragon kits, after all.

Don't feel badly for me. I don't know what I'd do if I had time enough to be bored. I've always been the fidgety sort.

Which may explain a lot of things about Bea, as well. I think you're right about her being frustrated that she can't say all she wants to and even when she can say it, that doesn't mean we'll agree. It makes her very cross when we don't see things her way. Generally that's because she wants something or wants to do something that we won't allow. Or won't allow endless repetitions of. I've heard toddlers learn by repeating (and repeating and repeating) things--like banging rhythms or making odd, loud sounds or poking the doggie. And sometimes what they learn is that grownups don't like those things very much! And nor do doggies.

By the way, it would be lovely if you'd come for a visit--we've all sorts of work here, including baby minding. And we've also been known to welcome friends just to come enjoy an evening at the garden as guests. No work required! By which I mean, we'd love to see you whenever you could get away.

And Opaleye jewellery is lovely, isn't it? I expect your mum will be over the moon about it. But I expect she's the sort, too, who's really genuinely happy with gifts whatever they are, just because they come from family.

What do you Weasleys do at Christmas? Special things that you do every year?

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