She lightens my sadness,

She livens my days,

She bursts with a kind of madness

My well-ordered ways.

My happiest mistake, the ache of my life:

You must meet my wife.

She bubbles with pleasure,

She glows with surprise,

Disrupts my accustomed leisure

And ruffles my ties.

I don't know even now quite how it began.

You must meet my wife, my Anne.

One thousand whims to which I give in,

Since her smallest tear turns me ashen.

I never dreamed that I could live in

So completely demented, contented a fashion.

So sunlike, so winning,

So unlike a wife.

I do think that I'm beginning

To show signs of life.

Don't ask me how at my age one still can grow--

If you met my wife, you'd know.

" Congratulations on your success. The child is the perfect end product. Just the right combination of skills and talent we were hoping to achieve."

Those were a few of the hastily chosen words that the Ministry official had in regards to Charlotte.

And whereas they should have fallen sweetly on their ears, they fell with the subtlety of mortar shells, and were just as well received.

" End product? I wouldn't use that term on...on..." he waved his left hand in the air as if trying to grasp a term that sounded justifiably absurd." a shampoo experiment." he exclaimed.

It was the only time Amanda had seen him truly angry and frankly, it frightened her a little. Once before, when he was describing Adelfried Umbridge, he had been upset, but that was as near to this as a raindrop is to the sea. Red faced, he paced the parlor after Walter's had left, while Amanda and Charlotte kept a safe distance from his flailing arms.

After a few minutes of this, however, it began to be amusing. Especially when, for the hundredth time, he forcefully smoothed back his hair with both hands.

Walters had, from what she could gather, simply raved about Charlotte's abilities. Declared her to quite possibly be a prodigy. He had let her use his wand. The fact that she could use one had made Edward both smug, and indignant. Of course his daughter would have an instinct for such a thing. However the fact that Walters had allowed it without his permission, infuriated him.

" A fool. An utter fool!" he declared. " Do you know how dangerous that is? "

Amanda assumed an appropriate attitude of assent. She was not much happier about the whole affair, and assumed this must have been the point of the conversation between the two men where the voices had been raised, since Edward confessed that it was the exact time in which he informed the official that since Charlotte had passed the basic 'inspection', the Ministry no longer had any say in their affairs. Walters had, in turn, informed Edward that it was in his job description to return at a later date and test Charlotte in other areas, to see how rapidly their experiment was progressing.

" Like a farmer inspecting his crops." Edward seethed. He did not admit to how he had phrased his own response to Walter's comment, but Amanda knew that Walters had been in an awful hurry to depart the scene. '' EXPERIMENT!"

After Edward had finished what she suspected to be an abridged version of his conversation with Walters, Edward rounded on Amanda- though not in anger. He was still ranting, waving his hands and expostulating on the absolute audacity of the Ministry itself. Amanda listened quietly with her teeth between her lips. Charlotte listened as well. She had been building a tower or castle from wooden blocks, one of her many presents, but she paused to watch her father. She was just as surprised as her mother at seeing htis new personality.

At last Edward came abruptly to the end of speech and gave a noise of disgust. He leaned against the mantel to catch his breath, having had his say on every issue from the Ministry objectifying his daughter, to the price of quills. It seemed to Amanda however, that he was intentionally excluding something.

When she was no longer in danger of being struck by him during his impassioned raving, she went to him and placed her arms around his neck.

" What is it? What else did he say to have you so angry?" she asked in a low voice.

His face tinged an angry red once more, but instead of answering, he glanced over at Lottie, who was still watching with curiosity. Instead of revealing his thoughts, he pressed a kiss to Amanda's temple. Then another on her cheek. She rose up and kissed his mouth.

They stayed that way for awhile, his hand resting lightly on the small of her back, the warmth of the small fire pleasantly enveloping them. Lottie, convinced that all must be well now, went back to her building which collapsed with the soft, comforting clackle of wood on wood. Her laugh at her own mess was crystalline and infectious, and both her parents smiled.

" Perhaps after dinner? " Amanda said, and he nodded. Charlotte had heard enough for one day.

----

Patsy had done an excellent job with a potato soup recipe before vanishing back into her room to absorb a book called " Prudence Structure's Guide to Courting Eligible Wizards", a work of non-fiction measuring about fifteen inches thick that she had been poring over since her devastation with Phillip Wood.

Charlotte entertained her parents with her new vocal skills, and even succeeded in bringing a smile to Edward's lips with her version of the word 'potato'. Before she could finish her dessert though, the excitement and the length of the day had overtaken her, and she dozed against her own arms. Noticing this, Edward folded his napkin, and lifted her gently from her chair.

She opened her eyes only long enough to see what was happening, then lolled sleepily against his shoulder. Amanda followed them upstairs and changed Lottie into her favorite pink nightgown. The moon was gibbous in the fake sky, illuminating the painted owl as he slept on his painted branch. The parents stood a moment, watching her with pride, before creeping out and down to the library, to enjoy wine and conversation.

" Now, what upset you so...beside the obvious?" she asked, settling herself on the brown leather loveseat.

He remained standing a moment, one hand on the back of an arm chair, and stared into his glass, turning it this way and that, frowning.

" He wanted us to give permission to use Charlotte for a...promotional campaign. He wanted to have several experts study her. Yes, study her--and then use her in the Ministry's argument for why the marriage law should be reinstated. " He walked around the chair and sat beside her. " I won't have that...them taking her and using her to promote their filthy law."

Amanda lowered her eyes at that remark, and he looked suddenly horrified with how it must have sounded.

" Don't think I regret the law." he said, " It has given me two of the greatest gifts in the world. But the very idea of them forcing unions is filthy--that they want to use the children as a means to promote the law is a disgrace. "

" Especially the children of persons such as Charles Bumpp. " she said softly.

Recently, Mrs. Bumpp, who used to be a Muggleborn witch named Rosetta Carmichael, had departed both worlds due to a tragic Apparation accident. She left behind one son, who had just been deemed a successful result of the marriage law. Of course no foul play had been discovered, it only seemed suspicious that she had died so soon after losing her eyesight in an unexplained explosion.

" Precisely." he agreed.

" What else?"

He sighed and shook his head.

" Well, to begin with, he said a few unsavory things about you."

" That much was to be expected." she said into her glass. " I'm surprised he didn't give you permission to finish me off."

" Don't joke about things like that." he said, sharply. " It was unacceptable. I for one, do not appreciate him complimenting my daughter in one breath, only to insult her mother in the next. He seemed to think it remarkably unprecedented that a woman of your background could produce anything but a cretin. "

" Did he actually say that?" she almost laughed. " Did he actually say cretin?"

" Yes. Well, in not so many words, but the effect was the same. He did use the word."

" Well. At least I know where I stand in the Ministry's opinion." she said bravely.

" Yes."

This last was said in a rather uncomfortable manner, and the way he glowered into the fire suggested there might possibly still be a small matter left unspoken. She edged closer to him, but he held up a hand to stay her.

" There's more. " she said simply.

He sighed yet again, and wiped his hand over his face.

" He gave me a...a receipt. Yes, that is what it is. A receipt."

When she said nothing, he continued.

" We, actually I-- they don't count you, have fulfilled our contract. Therefore, since there was no quota on the children, we were given a receipt releasing us from the obligation to...to...produce any more." he pulled the yellow paper from his pocket and handed it to her.

" Well, that was generous of him." she said, smiling slightly at his discomfiture. The 'receipt' seemed to her to be no more than a poorly written note ; a hasty combination of clinical exactness and poetic reserve. The wording managed to convey the message that the Ministry did not want them to have any more children, not doubt the theory was that one successful child was worth more to the Wizarding World than the possibility of subsequent squibs. " How curt."

" Is that all you have to say?" he asked in exasperation. She could see now the reason for his strong reaction to her joke about her superfluity now. This sheet of paper was as good as a cloaked message to Purebloods excusing them for any mishaps that might occurr to their now un-necessary spouses. She shivered slightly.

" What should I say? It's rubbish. "

" Perhaps it is for the best to comply..."

" With this?" she asked, startled.

He blinked for what seemed to be the first time all evening, then raised his brows in surprise.

" No...not that. I was referring to his request for Charlotte. "

" Of course it isn't for the best! Why, it would be exploitation. Exploitation for something you didn't agree with in the first place." her voice rose slightly.

" Yes. Yes that's true. I'm only trying to find the path of least resistance." He sighed. " Perhaps I am simply becoming a coward in my old age. I wonder too much about things that ought not bother me--and worry too much about outcomes."

" You're no coward." she said, her voice softening. " I heard you stand your ground.."

" To little avail. He will, unfortunately, return."

" But they can't make us do anything can they? I mean, they can't force us to let them use Charlotte...can they?"

" No. They wouldn't dare go so far. My own name might not carry enough weight with the Ministry--but Charlotte is Eloise's niece, and when you begin to tread across the Rookwood line, you are tweaking the blood strings of nearly fifty Pureblood families. That, If I am not mistaken, is something the Ministry is not yet ready to do. Too many inside ties there, as well."

" Why don't you simply burn this?" she asked, handing the note back to him.

" It won't burn. Official documents always have fire charms applied." he regarded it mournfully for a moment.

After a few moments of gritty silence, in which he continued to fold and unfold the paper while gazing into the fire, Amanda spoke.

" Is that what you want?"

" Beg your pardon."

She was wearing a faint blush, but held her head defiantly, and gestured toward the paper.

He assumed the humble and somewhat sheepish appearances of a man who has just had their thoughts supposed, if not read.

" I was just considering what you might want." he said, evasively.

" Well...I don't wish to be 'accidentally' eliminated by an exlpoding cauldron or falling ceiling..." she stated, with a smile. " I was wondering about children."

They carefully regarded each other.

" I would understand if you...since you have already a daughter and a son..." she waved her hand to finish the sentence.

" What about yourself?" he asked softly.

" I'd have a dozen." she blurted out in all honesty.

Edward discovered that he was not much surprised, but inexpressibly relieved. Once again, Amanda had proven to be the exact opposite of Dinah, and as she gazed up at him expectantly, he was reminded vividly of their first meeting, when they had collided in the rain. That time seemed not so much far in the past but distant and vague like a dream. Before, he couldn't imagine being married to her and now, he couldn't imagine not.

Realizing that he was supposed to offer his opinion on the matter, he cleared his throat. Truth was, he would be satisfied either way.

" Well, Amanda, you see--as far as you and I are concerned, I do not yet have a true son."

A delightful smile slowly unfurled across her face, as she understood the implication of his cautious statement. A smile that caused dimples to appear on either side of her rosy mouth.

" But still, I do have some concerns." he went on, in a rather stern voice. " about your health. Do you realize it has been narly four years since we married? Yes, this little slip of paper reminded me--I hadn't thought it so long. Three years, and they have been quite difficult for you. Quite burdensome. I wouldn't blame you for wanting...wanting to not risk your...health anymore. I want you to consider this very carefully...and don't think of me. Think of yourself."

By the time he had managed his little speech, sounding very much the way he did when lecturing first years on the properties of wands, she had assumed a look of pleased self-satisfaction. A look not unlike one that Eloise or Stella might wear, when only half listening to an argument after their minds had been solidly made up.

She said she did not, as he might have thought, want to discuss it, as they had discussed their plans the night of their marriage. She had stood, and when he was done, took his face between her hands and said,

" One of these days, you are going to believe me when I say I love you. Aren't you?" then she had kissed him lightly before turning. " It's very late...I am going to bed."

He watched her until she was almost out the door, before calling out to her;

" I believe you. I just don't understand you."

She offered a coy smile over her left shoulder.

Then she was gone.