Chapter 1

Monday, June 3rd

Hermione Granger's Office

Josie shifted in her seat, crossing her legs as she watched the brown-haired woman seated at the desk look over the documents she had brought. This was the last place she wanted to be, begging for help from a friend because she didn't understand the intricacies of the wizarding world, but the owl on Friday, after Neville's funeral, had caught her off guard.

"Hermione, can they get away with this?" Her voice sounded rusty and disused to her own ears.

"Neville's family is citing a few antiquated magical hereditary and matrimonial laws," Hermione sighed, sitting back in her chair. "Unfortunately, the law regarding the legitimacy of your marriage is one that hasn't been overwritten or repealed, though it is rarely used these days."

"So they can just claim that Neville and I weren't married, and take everything, including Alice, away from me?" Josie asked, twisting her purse strap around her fingers in a nervous gesture.

"Technically, no, at least I don't think so." With an irritated flick of the hand, Hermione pushed a wayward strand of hair behind her right ear. "You and Neville were married in America." She paused for a moment, flipping through the packet of papers Josie had brought. "The marriage is valid in America, witnessed and sealed by the American Magical Consulate, and as such should be just as valid here in the United Kingdom."

"Why do I think I hear a 'but' coming, Hermione?"

"Because they've basically tied our hands," she stated tiredly. "You will be entitled to those assets which you and Neville held jointly, such as his Gringotts account, and his pension from Machinguenza Research Corporation, since he has you down as his primary beneficiary. Anything else, however, will be held in probate until a hearing can be held to determine the legitimacy of the Longbottoms' claim."

"What about Alice? They want to take her away from me; they've cited some bullshit about my not being a fit parent to a wizarding child because I'm a Muggle." There was a bit of a panicky edge to Josie's voice as she asked, "Can they do that?"

"Honestly, I don't think they can. Again, though, I am not one hundred percent sure. As I said before, they are citing quite a few archaic hereditary laws. I think the majority of them were repealed sometime in the last two centuries when an egalitarian Ministry tried to retain the rights of Muggle parents who, by some quirk of genetics, produced a wizarding child." She paused, pulling out a pen to write down some notes. "Give me a day or two for research and I'll have most of the answers to what they can and cannot do regarding Alice. If the issue of Alice's guardianship does go before the Wizengamot court, Alice will still reside with you, at least until they deliver a judgment."

"Just so we are on clear terms," she said, jumping to her feet. "I am not giving up my child!" Josie paced across the office floor, moving to the window. It was bright outside, entirely too sunny for her peace of mind. She turned from the window to face Hermione's desk, resting her hip against the wall. "I will do whatever is necessary to keep her with me."

"I doubt it will get that far, Josie," Hermione declared, looking up from the papers to catch Josie's eye. "Honestly, the magical community might be a bit antediluvian in some cases, but they're not completely unreasonable or unsympathetic. I seriously doubt they would take away your child; you are an exemplary mother who does everything to promote the wizarding culture for her child, despite a Muggle heritage. Besides, these days, there are more and more Muggle-born wizards and witches that still reside with their Muggle parents, parents who have no idea about the wizarding world and how a child should get on in it." She stopped and reshuffled through the papers on her desk again. "Getting back to assets, I need a list of everything you and Neville held jointly. While, technically, you are entitled to anything that also has your name on it, a full listing of those properties would be a good faith effort before the court."

"Oh god," Josie moaned. "That means we'll lose Rose Cottage. It – it was Neville's parents' house. His and his grandmother's are the only names on the mortgage deed. Does this mean we'll have to leave?"

"Regrettably, yes," Hermione replied, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"What am I going to do?"

"Well," Hermione started, placing both hands on the desk in front of her, "I need to know if you applied for a United Kingdom Visa. Did you follow the basic immigration procedures, or did you just fill out the Ministry paperwork allowing you to reside here?"

"I thought all magical communities had open borders," Josie muttered.

"Yes, while the magical communities have open borders, the countries which host our communities often don't."

"I filled out the Ministry's required paperwork; they assured me I didn't have to fill out any other paperwork since I was married to a British citizen. Should I have filled something else out? What will this mean?"

Hermione sighed. "You should have filled out a Wife Visa, followed twelve months later by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND). Since you didn't fill out those forms, it means that you can only live and work in a magical community such as Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade. Where we'll run into trouble is if you try to live or work in a non-magical community."

"So the only way Alice or I can stay here in England is if we continue to live in one of the magical pockets?"

"And work, I'm afraid. You can only work within the magical borders; you will not be able to gain employment out in the Muggle world."

"So basically, I'm screwed."

"I wouldn't go that far, Josie," Hermione chastised. "You might not be able to stay in Rose Cottage, but ... I think another alternative might be found."

"I'll not take charity, Hermione," Josie shot out, sagging against the wall. "And I doubt what little Neville and I have in our Gringotts account will cover renting another space."

"It's not charity to take help from friends, Josie; and besides, if what I have in mind is available... well, let's just say I don't think you'd need to worry about the cost of rent."

"How long have we got?" Josie asked, wearily. The weight of the situation seemed to press her into the ground.

"You've been given until the end of the week to get your personal belongings from the cottage and other accommodations sorted."

"This is all so frustrating!" Josie bit out, her fingers gripping the edge of the windowsill, as she glared off into space. "I can't believe they would do this to us." She sighed once more; her eyes caught Hermione's as she leaned into the wall for support. "Will it take you long to sort out other arrangements for us?"

"I should have an answer by Wednesday, at the latest." She walked around the desk to the window where Josie stood. "If, by some chance, this plan doesn't work out, I have one or two other suggestions."

"I don't know what I'd do without all your help right now, Hermione," Josie said through the clog in her throat, wondering how she was going to survive this, on top of everything else.

"Josie, that's what friends are for." Hermione grabbed her hand. "Besides, you are in no shape to be dealing with these things on your own. Just have a little faith, things will work out."

"I – still, it seems so much, Hermione," she said, giving Hermione's hand a squeeze. "Thank you."

~~~oOo~~~oOo~~~oOo~~~

Tuesday, June 4th

Rose Cottage

"Mummy, are we really gonna hafta move?" Alice whispered, curling into Josie's side.

"Ah, Baby," Josie sighed out, "I'm afraid we do."

"But why?"

Josie twisted her body and pulled Alice into her embrace, resting her chin on the top of Alice's head as she tried to come up with an appropriate response.

"Because it makes me sad to stay here right now. I loved your daddy very much, and living here just makes me miss him more; it makes me so very sad to be here when he isn't."

"It makes me sad that daddy isn't here too," Alice mumbled into Josie's shirt.

"I know, Baby," Josie murmured, placing a kiss on the crown of her head.

~~~oOo~~~oOo~~~oOo~~~

Wednesday, June 5th

Rose Cottage

Josie was in the kitchen packing up the cupboards for the impending move when Hermione's head popped up in the fireplace.

"Is it all right if I come over?" Hermione asked.

"The more the merrier," Josie called over her shoulder.

"I've spoken with my contact," Hermione said as she burst through the fireplace in a swirl of green.

"Your contact?" Josie asked, raising an eyebrow. "What, you're not allowed to say his name?

Hermione laughed, "Yes, I – err well, technically, no; this person doesn't want to be revealed to the public at all. As I was saying, I've spoken with my contact, and he has agreed to let you the space. It will require some work, no one's lived in the cottage for nearly ten years, but he is willing to let you stay in the place for a nominal fee. "

"Nominal fee, huh? Just how nominal?"

"Basically, you stay, supervise the workers he'll be sending to make the place habitable, pay a small maintenance fee of five hundred Galleons per annum, and he's willing to call it good. He's even agreed to set up Muggle conveniences such as electricity and phone lines, under his own name, so that you needn't completely rely on magical means."

"Five hundred Galleons a year?" Josie asked, narrowing her eyes at Hermione. "What is this place? A hovel?"

"No, it's decidedly not a hovel," Hermione replied, with a slight blush. "It's just been hard for the landlord to rent the house out.

"Why?"

"Thehouseishaunted," she sputtered out, so quickly Josie was sure she hadn't heard her right.

"What was that? I didn't quite hear you."

"I said," started Hermione, enunciating every world clearly this time, "that the house is haunted."

"Haunted? Piffle," Josie laughed. "Like there's really such a thing as haunted houses."

"Actually, Josie," Hermione said, unsmiling, "there are haunted houses. Ghosts are a part of the wizarding world. I was even taught by one at Hogwarts."

"Just where are you planning on putting her, Hermione Granger?" asked Molly Weasley, striding into the kitchen.

"Molly, I didn't know you were here," Hermione squeaked out in a surprised tone, turning toward the older woman.

"I'm just here helping Josie get sorted. I offered to let her move into the Burrow, but she's a stubborn one." Molly looked over at Josie. "Calls it charity, she does," she said with a small sniff. "Helping family is not charity."

"Molly..." Josie warned, not wanting to get into another argument with the stubborn woman over her choice.

"Yes, yes, I know." Molly waved a hand, signifying that it didn't matter. "You want to be self-sufficient." She turned to Hermione, "So, just where are you planning on sending my girls?"

"Craig Mhor cottage."

"You're sending them to Craig Mhor? How did –" Molly broke off.

"You know of the place?" Josie asked, intrigued. "Do you know the owner?"

"Yes, I know the place." Molly pierced Hermione with a hard look. "It's a dear little cottage, just a few miles outside of Hogsmeade."

"And is it truly haunted?"

"Well now, I've heard stories, but whether or not they are true remains to be seen. I know some who've claimed to have been thrown out by the ghost of the last owner, and some who've claimed they enjoyed a lovely weekend there, a time or two."

"Hogsmeade, you say? Hermione, won't that mean there's too much magical interference for most of my electronic things?"

"No, not really. It's far enough away that the magical energy shouldn't cause too much havoc, yet still within the magical pocket surrounding the village, so you'll have access to the best of both worlds. Plus, about 30 miles to the east, there is a smaller Muggle city, Bonar Bridge, so it's not like you'll be totally cut off."

"Why do I feel as if I'm not hearing everything?"

"Because you're a suspicious soul?" Hermione quipped.

"It's a place to stay," Molly piped in, "and if things don't work out there, you always have a place with us."

"Molly," Josie heaved, "as much as I love you, I dearly hope I never have to move in with you. We'd only end up fighting."

"If you say so, dear," chuckled the older woman.

~~~oOo~~~oOo~~~oOo~~~

A/N:

Disclaimer: The characters from the HP universe are not mine, I've only borrowed them for a bit to play with. I promise, I shan't hurt them too much, and will faithfully clean them up when I am done. However, Josie and Alice are mine -- so I take full blame for all their human frailties.

I have to thank Rachel W who has graciously offered to beta for this story, the poor girl has no clue what she's getting into (as I massacre the English language), I also have to thank Alan and Mark, the lovely Yorkshire lads who are my Brit betas, ensuring that there isn't too many glaring Americanisms throughout. All fubar portions are solely my own... I'm an addled brain idiot sometimes, so feel free to point them out if you see them and I will fixed

Long winded explanations – so unless you really want to know how I have come up with some of the things laid out in this chapter, you might want to skip.

Bonar Bridge is an actual place; I had lunch with my son there when we drove down from Wick to Inverness in August of 2003.

For those of you who wonder why I don't send Josie running back to the States with Alice, I must put forth The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (ICARA). It is an agreement between various countries, most notably the United States and the United Kingdom, which deals specifically with the issue of custodial issues. If the Wizengamot court were to decide to give custody over to the Longbottoms and Josie were to flee with Alice, and if the American government were to find them, they would be under this law's dictates. I think that this would one Muggle law that the Wizarding Community would adopt as well, considering that child custody is such an important matter.

I admit I am playing with the immigration laws.

As far as I am aware, I could be wrong, but if a British Citizen marries a foreign national outside of the UK, upon entering the UK that spouse must fill out a wife visa with an immigration stamp, which entitles her to reside within the UK's borders for 12 months. After that initial 12 months, the spouse must then apply for an Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) to remain indefinitely.

What I don't know is what happens to said spouse if the British Citizen dies. I am not sure if they can remain in the UK, or if they are required to return to their country if they have not applied for British Citizenship themselves. So, I am taking artistic license.

Small history lesson and how I am warping it to suite my needs:

Women and their children under Roman and English common law were the sole property of their husband. Wives could not own property, could not enter into contracts, and could not have access to their children unless their husband allowed them to. http://www.law.georgetown.edu/glh/spiro.htm

Two different sites on how property was dispersed to inheritors, according to lines of succession for the peerage.

http://www.genfiles.com/legal/primogeniture.htm

http://www.heraldica.org/faqs/britfaq.html#p3-5

Where I am coming from:

1) I would hazard a guess that secret loving purebloods of the past would have done anything to keep their lines untainted, hence I bet, there would be some antiquated governing laws that would make it nearly impossible for wizard or a witch to marry a Muggle. It would almost be a concubine sort of situation, where a Muggle could be a concubine, and produce valid heirs, but could not legally be a wife, or have any of the inalienable (often limited) rights of a wife/widow.

~~It would be something that, as time went by, was more often than not, just not paid attention to, and Muggle/Wizard intermarriages would act like normal marriages. Unless, of course, a pureblood family member, following a loved ones death, tried to reassert the ancient law to ensure that they inherited.

2) Because of the tenets of point one, the child would be in the sole custody of the pureblood family, and not the Muggle parent's custody, because the said child would be the wizarding heir.

Gee, aren't you glad you read all this?