Despite the difficulties with Zenobia that summer, Domitian was looking forward to having the children home for the holidays. The house was too quiet when they were gone, and although he might not show it often, he was devoted to his son and daughter. They didn't write him often enough when they were away, and he was eager to see what they'd been up to over the past few months. Maybe being around other children would have given Zenobia a chance to mellow out a bit — or, at least, it would take her mind farther away from the dramatics of the summer.

Still, he had instructed the servants to put her wand away in his study. She wasn't meant to be using it over the holiday, anyway, so it ought not to be too much of an inconvenience for her. After the ordeal in Ollivander's, he didn't really trust her to not using magic on her own. That was fine at school, to experiment around and try new things and learn, but if she was meddling around with spellwork that was too advanced for her under the covers in her room at night, or something, she might destroy something — or worse, accidentally hurt herself.

When she appeared in the study he offered her an actual smile, which was a rarity for him. "Welcome home, Zenobia. Would you like to tell me all about Hogwarts?" he asked, leaning back in his desk chair and knitting his fingers together over his lap.