Weekend Visit (Teagan)

[Rye Kelly]

Rye felt it was important to make sure that his eldest child was behaving herself while she was away at school. She was, after all, the first of his children to attend Hogwarts, and it was up to her to make sure that the family reputation was maintained accordingly.

Therefore, every other weekend, he sent an owl to the Headmaster, making it known that his daughter was to come home for the weekend to visit with the family. This way he could get a full report on her grades, her classes, her teachers, and of course, her friends. He needed to make sure she was associating with the right people, after all.

This was just such a weekend, so he made sure the house was ready for her. The house elf made shepherd's pie for dinner, his favorite, and Shannon and Bryna were reading quietly while Rye smoked a cigar and waited for his eldest to arrive home by portkey.

[Teagan Kelly]

Teagan was feeling nervous but also extremely excited. She missed her family, after all. The news that she would be allowed home during the weekends did not surprise her at all. Her father would obviously want a report of everything, from her grades to her friends. It was expected that she lived up to her families reputation. This she knew and also respected. She was in awe of things that were bigger than herself and tradition she took very seriously.

She would be arriving by portkey. The sensation of travel by such means always left her feeling slightly queasy but she found it more efficient and less nauseating than travel by Floo Powder. That bugged her quite a bit, actually.

Teagan breathed in a sigh a few moments before her portkey would be taking her home. She was so excited now it was unbearable. She couldn't wait to see her family home, the one place she felt was just as beautiful as Hogwarts. It made her feel relaxed to be at home, even with the occasional and rather sad events that could be expected there. Her siblings would be waiting in their rooms quietly and her father would be there when she arrived. She had much to tell them.

The portkey was due and she set her hand lightly on it. Within moments, she had arrived. There was her father, smoking his usual cigar, and looking exactly as she remembered. She realized with a start that she had missed that familiar face and looked down, brushing soot off her clothing.

[Rye Kelly]

He looked up when he heard the sound of the portkey arriving. He didn't say a word as he watched his oldest daughter brushing herself off and regaining her bearing from the trip.

She had grown; he could see that immediately. Maybe about half an inch. It was strange that he would notice something like that, but he had a great attention to details, and he could usually spot slight differences.

"Straighten up, girl," he said at last in his gruff voice. "Can't have a Kelly with bad posture."

[Teagan Kelly]

Teagan automatically straightened up, correcting her posture. Her shoulders pushed back slightly and her head popped up, aligning her body perfectly. She smoothed back a loose strand of her hair and smoothed out a pleat in her skirt.

When she had finished, she looked up into her father's eyes, the same color as her own. She was secretly glad that she had inherited this feature from him because that was what she liked most about her father: his very blue eyes.

It was better not to speak until she had been spoken to and she knew that being told to straighten up did not technically mean that she had been spoken to. She stood there quietly, letting her father look her over and looking around the familiar house from the corner of her eye.

[Rye Kelly]

Rye studied his daughter carefully, now that she was standing straight. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but he didn’t see much difference in her appearance. Maybe he hoped she would be more poised, more graceful, more grown-up. Going away to school, so far, had not changed her much. She was still small, still quiet, still vaguely rebellious in her way. Her eyes were looking around the house, almost as if she expected to see something different as well.

“Well, don’t just stand there,” he said at last. “Come sit down and greet your brother and sister.”

[Teagan Kelly]

Teagan blinked, slightly surprised. She knew the drill. It was always the same, getting the once over and such. She wondered if that meant she had passed inspection but she wasn't so sure. It was hard to tell the meaning of things when one was younger.

She moved cautiously across the room, not wanting to fall or to get tripped up. That would probably be disastrous. All the while, she looked at her father. It was difficult to imagine this man as a younger person, going to Hogwarts like she had. She tried to recall what House he had been in but couldn't remember. Her thoughts turned suddenly to her siblings.

She sat down eagerly, forgetting to be graceful, and then hurriedly straightened to correct her slouch.

[Rye Kelly]

He watched her for a moment as she went to sit down. There were moments, however rare, when he did feel some fatherly affection for her. She was his daughter, after all. Any time he doubted that, he had only to look at those eyes, which were so similar to his own. Of all of his children, she was the only one who had them. Both Shannon and Bryna had green eyes, like their mother.

But he wasn't good with the girls. He didn't understand them, and he didn't have the slightest idea how to raise them. Makenna was supposed to deal with the girls, and since her death, he felt lost, although he would never admit it. Teagan, in particular, frustrated him. She had a quietly rebellious spirit that he had no idea how to quell. Girls were supposed to be graceful and poised, and rebellion was not encouraged.

"Well," he said at last, taking another puff from his cigar. "Tell us about your classes."

[Teagan Kelly]

Teagan smothered her urge to squeal with excitement. She absolutely loved her school and it was her favorite subject to talk about. It wouldn't do to squeal, though, this she knew. One of her resolutions this year had been to become the young lady her father thought she should be. It wasn't really working that well because she was inquisitive by nature and longed to escape the confines of polite society. That was unlikely to happen and she was trying to resign herself to that fact.

"My classes are going rather well, father. My favorites by far are Charms, Potions, and Transfigurations. My worst class is History of Magic but I'm trying really hard," she said earnestly, looking at him anxiously, "What in particular would you like to know?"

She said this as softly as she could, as tentatively as was possible for her. She yearned for his approval on this as well as all other aspects of her life. It might have been a young girls dream but she rather fancied that he was taking an interest in her life and that excited her.

[Rye Kelly]

He frowned deeply as she spoke of her classes. He did not want to let her know that he might be pleased to hear that she was good in Potions and Transfiguration. Those were both difficult classes that required precision and concentration. Perhaps she was not quite as useless as he thought.

But history was important, too. He chose to concentrate on that instead.

"There is a saying," he said in his gruff voice, "that those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it. I suggest you work harder on your history. I expect you to pass all of your classes."

[Teagan Kelly]

Biting the inside of her cheek, she looked aside briefly to collect herself. The fact that she wasn't too good at History always bugged her. She liked being right, simply enough. It was unbearable to her that she was doing rather poorly in that class and she was glad that Remus had decided to help her. She wondered if she should tell him and then chose to mention it only in passing. She had no idea that he held the least interest in the fact that she did well in Potions and Transfiguration so she just assumed he didn't care when he commented on it.

"I've been working diligently on it, father. I've recently gotten someone to agree to help me in exchange for helping him in Potions and it'll help loads. I'm not saying that I'm going to put all the weight on that," she said quickly, "but at least it'll help set some of the facts straight. I promise you that I won't fail."

[Rye Kelly]

Rye straightened up at this, eying her through narrowed eyes. She was having another student help her? Although a part of him was slightly impressed that she had arranged something like that on her own, he also had the natural instinct to be suspicious. Boys were dangerous for young girls, especially if they were older. And of course, he couldn’t have her associating with the wrong types of people.

“You have a boy helping you?” he said, frowning. “Who is this boy? Is he a pureblood? How old is he? What house is he in?”

[Teagan Kelly]

Teagan shifted nervously on her feet. She had known it would result in this type of reaction. There was a moment when she considered telling him only a fraction of the truth but she knew that wasn't a good idea. He would definitely find out somehow, he always did.

"Yes... His name is Remus Lupin. He's a second year Gryffindor and I think he's a half-blood," she admitted silently and then said just as softly, "He is a very nice boy, father."

[Rye Kelly]

Rye frowned even more deeply. A half-blood? That wasn't really good enough. But if he was a good student, then perhaps it would be OK if she just studied with him, as long as it was clear that they were study partners and not friends.

But Teagan was getting to be at a difficult age, and Rye didn’t like the idea of her hanging around some half-blood boy who was a year older than she was. He would have to ask some of his connections about this Lupin boy’s family.

"Is he a good student, at least?"

[Teagan Kelly]

It suddenly occured to her that she didn't actually know a lot about Remus's family or anything but what she'd heard through the grapevine. His mother was a sickly woman apparently because she was gone every month. Which Teagan found strange that it was near the same date but she wasn't a Healer, was she?

"Yes, he's one of the best students of his house and year, next to Lily Evans," she answered obediently.

[Rye Kelly]

Rye's expression didn't soften. Yes, it was a good thing that the boy was one of the best. But if the boy wasn't even good in potions, how smart could he really be? It didn't take a genius to be good at history, and it was really rather embarrassing that his daughter was apparently having trouble with it.

"All right," he said at last. "If it brings your grade up, I suppose it's acceptable. Who is this Lily Evans? I don't think I know of any wizarding families with that name."

[Teagan Kelly]

Now they were on very dangerous ground. Teagan knew that her father could be a bit unreasonable when it came to this and she had to figure out a way to tell him. She was glad he had taken the first part well but this wouldn't be so good.

"Well, actually,father... Lily Evan's is a Muggleborn," she said carefully.

Immediately, she flinched, trying to anticipate his reaction to that.

[Rye Kelly]

Rye’s expression darkened further, if that were possible. That was the problem with Hogwarts; there were just too many muggleborns. If only Teagan had been sorted into Slytherin, as she should have been, then there wouldn’t be anything to worry about. Slytherins did not mix with muggleborns. But the other houses were full of them.

“You’re not friends with this mudblood, are you?” he growled. “Remember what I told you about associating with undesirables. A half-blood is bad enough… but mudbloods are unacceptable.”

[Teagan Kelly]

Teagan felt as if she had been slapped. Lily Evans, an undesirable? It made her heart hurt but she knew that she could not admit that she felt so much admiration for the Gryffindor. It was the truth; she had, in fact, been told not to consort with Muggleborns. She had no idea why everyone thought they were so much worse than Purebloods. She knew a lot of Purebloods that were horrible people and almost all of the Muggleborns she kenw were intelligent, respectable people.

"No, father. I hardly talk to her," she said softly.

[Rye Kelly]

Rye had finished his cigar, but he had the craving for another one all of a sudden. Maybe Teagan wasn't aware of it, but the look of discomfort was apparent on her face, and he had the distinct impression that she was lying. He couldn't tolerate lying.

"But you have spoken to this girl?" he persisted. "More than just a casual exchange of words?"

The odd thing was, he had once believed as Teagan did, that his father was too strict about the rules against muggleborns. But after years of having his father drill them into his head, and then his own experience with a muggleborn in school, he had reached the conlusion that all mudbloods were not to be trusted.