Preparations

After spending the night and subsequent morning with the families, Lorraine decided to return back to the manor and start the preparations for her two grandchildren. Yes, in a time span of less than twenty-four hours Evelyne had captured the heart of yet another victim.

Everything had to be absolutely perfect and she only had half a month to prepare! She immediately called for Knibbly, the house elf, and instructed him on the tasks she trusted him with. Her tone was neither harsh nor kind, more like a normal boss to worker level. She began to cleanse four rooms, then remembered Corrin and Evelyne did everything together, lightening the work done by a minute degree.

She inspected every single part of each wall, looking for the most minute discrepancies. If something noticeable came up, she would scratch the paint off with magic and repaint the entire wall by hand. She might be a little old, but with actually physical exercising her magical physique allowed her to perform like a muggle man.

When she was satisfied with the walls, she collected all the dust and cobwebs and critters, stuffing it into a jar for later use. She rolled up her sleeves and began to polish the wooden floors. You may be wondering why she wasn't using magic to do all these menial tasks. She had multiple reasons, one of which being it "builds character", a phrase Arthur hated in his younger days. Another reason was she was saving her magic for something bigger. Although the most important reason to Lorraine was just the fact she that liked to do chores.

After seemingly perfecting the rooms' walls, she then proceeded to furnish them. A nice, long rug for Evelyne and Corrin to play on, fine carpet in both couples' rooms, a king sized bed and the like. The rooms were quite lavish and every aspect seemed to be professionally done. The best part of them being that they were all hand made by Granny Lorraine.

All these years, she had never been idle with her learning. Picking up odd hobbies and crafts as soon as another finished, she became experienced in many different subjects, but found a few she really enjoyed, dropping the others and focusing on them exclusively.

After feeling satisfied with the amount of work done, she went out to her flower garden. Walking over to the patch of blue lilies, she knelt down, her head down in prayer a single tear rolling down her face. There was a stone slab and plaque in front of the spot where she was kneeling. The words changed every day, just the way he would have wanted them.

Today it read the following: -In loving memory of Marvin Laplaus, an idiot.-

Sometimes the words were harsh and negative, other times overly positive, yet each unique in its own way. After watering the rest of the flowers she went to tend to her herbs.

Now it was time for the fun part. She took out her wand and began blasting away at the ground, eventually creating a decently sized hole. She then filled it with water. It was around seven meters in diameter, and varying depths with a maximum of two meters. For finishing touches, she added four water features to circulate the water so it didn't stagnate.

Meanwhile Knibbly was inspecting and cleaning ever single centimeter of the manor. This was no exaggeration. It was obvious that he was having fun as he smiled to himself as he cleaned.

As the sun began to set, Lorraine began to evaluate how she had done today. Her conclusion was that she did everything she set out for herself, but could have done better. After having some bread and a glass of wine, she began to ponder the state of her family.

Her husband died years ago helping muggles in France, during the time of the second muggle world war. At the time, she hated him for it, even considering divorcing him. Yet she was still in love, and an ignorable trait would not, could not, break their bonds. He was a compassionate man, never abandoning those in need. That was eventually the reason for his death, but it showed how committed he was to help.

Her two sons, well, went in two opposite directions, yet both led away from her. Her firstborn had eloped with a talented witch, but somehow it had worked out and Lorraine was happy for them, finally reconnecting with them and her new grandson. Her second son, well, married into the Lestrange family. After that, he cut off all communication with his mother and brother.

Lorraine blamed herself for the way things turned out. She had to admit that she was quite harsh in their upbringings, bent on training them to be ideal members of society. Now sure was sure that's where she messed up. and probably what pushed her husband away too... There were many people in England who needed help too, but Marvin decided to do his work further away.

And then there was her brother, Albion Laplaus. He had a bright future ahead of him graduating from Hogwarts with good marks, but his passion lied in flying. During his time at Hogwarts he played on the Ravenclaw team, showing great leadership and strategy skills, winning the Quidditch Cup both years he was captain. But then he threw it all away. He thought the muggle planes were works of wonder, even going as far as to say they were better than broomsticks. He joined the muggle Royal Air Force and was eventually shot down, crashing and burning in a fiery wreck.

Lorraine didn't see it at the time, but had realized that Albion went on his last mission knowing it would probably result in his death. Every other time, he took his wand with him, but on his last. She read the muggle news to find out a large dogfight had taken place and many pilots had died. Although she hated him for throwing everything away, he was still her only sibling.

After thinking for a bit more, Lorraine resolved that she would not let Corrin and Evelyne follow the path she did.

'It's been less than a day and I already miss their cute smiles and laughter... I'd incline them to come earlier, but there's still so much to do before they come!'