February 1, 1889 - The Great Hall; After this Reached Hogwarts

He was slightly offended that no one felt the need to inform him that his own aunt might be alive. No one except the Daily Prophet... along with everyone else who read the newspaper. Thanks guys, good to know that everyone's top priority is to keep him in the loop. What wouldn't be surprising would be if the rest of the family members who were at school were uninformed as well. So he decided to go see if they had seen the latest issue of the paper.

King had confirmed that he had seen it... and had not been informed. Bellerose and Jolie also seemed to be out of the loop. At least he wasn't simply being left out. He wondered if the adults in his life were informed before the Daily Prophet was. Is Ace hiding things from everyone? Still, he still had Fleur and Sybille to speak with. At least those two were almost always together. Made it easier to go over to them at the Hufflepuff table. "Fleur, Sybille, have you two seen this?" He placed the paper in front of his sister, partially hoping that they weren't secretly in the loop or something.

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Fleur Rey Billie Farrow Sybille Lukeson Sisse Thompsett

  

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Magic by MJ!

It seemed that the gossip regarding Miss Farley’s journal had finally died down to a distant memory. Sybille had taken Ace’s advice and ignored it as best she could. But for the weeks that had followed she had hidden much more than she should have in the kitchens, preferring to watch the house elves work or find a small corner of the kitchen to bake herself, than to brave the common room of other parts of the castle. It had only been in the past week that she had begun to spend more time out of the kitchens then in them. After all she did need to focus on her school work and conversation had turned more toward the dueling competition than the mean things Miss Farley had written.

Sitting at the Hufflepuff table Fleur and Sybille had been discussing how the house elves might have made such a delightful shoe pastry for the meat pies when Fleur’s brother came up to them.

“No?” Sybille wasn’t entirely sure what Edgar was talking about. That was until she took in the headline. “What?” Her voice came out in a whisper not even sure what to think. She grabbed the paper and pulled it toward her, eyes scanning the article as her hands shook. It couldn’t be. Her mother couldn’t be alive. Someone was playing a cruel cruel joke on them. If mother were alive Ace or Avril would have written to tell her.

  

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Fleur didn't make it a habit to read the Daily Prophet. She was much more content to receive her news secondhand, which was quite easy to do while at Hogwarts. She was forever impressed by how inclined some students were to gossip that she was sure she would never miss an event, no matter how trivial, as long as she kept her ears open.

She much preferred talking about food, which was what her and Syb had been doing before Edgar wandered over. She eyed the paper in her brother's hands, "Seen what exactly?"

The girl seemed more content to be verbally filled in, but Sybille's reaction had her suddenly craning her neck to read over her cousin's shoulder. With a gasp, she quickly looked to Edgar and demanded, "Is this true? Are you sure nobody has tampered with it?" Which could be a possibility. After all, someone had duplicated another student's diary and cruelly distributed it throughout the whole school.

Her attention quickly turned to Sybille, whom she kept a close eye on for her reactions. If it was true, why hadn't her cousin been informed before the papers?

  

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Thanks, MJ!

It seemed that even the Hufflepuff twins were out of the loop. What could he possibly make of such things? Did Ace and Avril really think so little of them as to not contact them before the Daily Prophet shed some light on the matter? All of the other drama at Hogwarts seemed like ants compared to this mountain of news.

Edgar almost sighed out loud at the fact that his little sister was too lazy to try to read it before asking what was the paper telling her. At least she found some sense in reading the article before he opened his mouth to speak. "I would assume that it hasn't been tampered with. Unless Poe somehow found the mind set to change my mail." Though he very much doubted that an owl could do such a thing.

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Magic by MJ!

Why wouldn’t someone have told Sybille? Why hadn’t Ace or Avril written to her? She frowned. It couldn’t be true. The idea that the paper had been tampered with seemed more plausible than that it might be true. “I didn’t know.” Sybille’s voice was little more than a squeak. “Have you heard from your mother?” The unspoken, or anyone, carried along with her words.

  

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Edgar started to try and think this through. No word from anyone, and none of their siblings had heard of anything. "No. Maybe Ace was trying to keep it to himself, just in case it wasn't true? He seemed a bit stressed during winter break. I think all of the responsibility has been overwhelming. And then he gets a letter like that? I don't know if I'd be in my right mind either." The Gryffindor did not know what he would do if he was suddenly the guardian of all of his siblings.

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Magic by MJ!

Sybille practically worshiped her older brother. She trusted him entirely and as such was quick to defend him. "I don't think he'd keep this from us." Why would he keep something so big to himself. Granted he and Avril did tend to act adult when she and Jolie were too interested in a conversation that they felt was better off for the older siblings. So perhaps he might have. But then why wouldn't Avril write, or someone even let King know. "Maybe he doesn't believe its true?" Sybille asked, her eyes meeting Edgar's. "Maybe that's why they didn't tell us?"

  

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Tried to process it all, attempting to figure out a plausible reason why Ace wouldn't have told any of their family members, especially his own siblings. "Maybe...maybe he doesn't even know. Maybe he's just finding out, too."

But why wouldn't anyone have told even Ace before publishing it in the prophet?

"Oh, Syb, I hope it's true," she blurted out, earnestly. It would be wonderful for her cousin to have her mother back. She gave her a soft smile before turning to Edgar to see what he thought since he tended to be the more rational and logical of the three of them.

  

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Thanks, MJ!

Sybille practically repeated what he said, though it wasn't as though he could blame her. It was pretty overwhelming information.

Edgar gave his sister a skeptical look. "The paper stated that Ace had been the one to receive the letter." Perhaps it wasn't fair to judge her either, but it was easier to judge his own siblings than his cousins. He had to live with his sisters, and they hadn't been through as much recently.

Aunt Guinevere had always been nice. He hoped that she was alive and well also. "If she is, I'm sure that the aurors will find her." He assured.

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Magic by MJ!

Sybille hoped it was true too. She really really did. But what if she wasn’t? Sybille wasn’t willing to focus on that. She remembered when last summer she had refused to believe her mother was dead. When she had been convinced that father and mother would come through that door at any minute. “Do you think this means father’s alive too?” Hope, however unrealistic, blossomed over her features as she stared at her cousins.

  

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If this had been any other day, Edgar would have simply said no, that the thought was too farfetched. But with this current development.... The Gryffindor could only bring himself to shrug.

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Magic by MJ!

Ever the optimist, Fleur scrunched up her nose at her brother before turning to her cousin, also hopeful. "Perhaps. I mean, maybe they'll find out more about him, too." She did have some doubts, but she didn't want to bring anymore gloom into the conversation.

  

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Thanks, MJ!

Find out more? How? By disturbing his grave? That sounded morbid. His expression did not hide how he felt.

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Magic by MJ!

Fleur was quick to reassure her, but one look at Edgar’s face and Sybille knew she was being too wishful. “I guess we will see.” Sybille looked back at her food, pushing it around dejectedly.

  

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