FicWad

Remus


Miranda sits at the kitchen table, studying, when she notices the first signs of the beginning of the birth. She calls me over and we check with a clock to find out if it's serious or another warning. It's the real thing. We know that we can wait for two or three hours before we have to Portkey to Hogwarts. I call Poppy on the Commumirror and tell her that we'll be there this evening.

"I'll have everything prepared, Remus! Be careful!"

"Yes, we will. We'll be with Miranda. See you later, Poppy!"

Sirius finishes his lesson and comes over. When he sees Miranda breathing regularly he asks:

"Is something wrong?"

"No, love, but our children want out now!"

I love the sight of his eyes getting big. We tell the kids and activate the Portkey to Hogwarts soon after that. Poppy has set up one of the rooms for us. After a few more hours Miranda is finally too tired to move around and settles down on the bed. I think by that time Sirius and I are complete bundles of nerves. Poppy keeps us busy though and we're both helping Miranda as well as we can and as Poppy instructs.

After midnight, close to one o'clock on the 25th April the first of the babies finally gets born. We're both completely smashed watching it working its way out of Miranda's body. She presses hard and follows Poppy's commands and finally a head that looks entirely too big to pass through that passage gets pressed out. Miranda gets only seconds to actually breathe in and out, until the little body is out completely. We hold our breaths and I bite my lower lip. It's a little boy and the way he looks he's Siri's. A bath has already been prepared for the little one and I take over as soon as I'm allowed to. Miranda's wish to not even have to look at the babies is granted and the bath and dresser have been set up in the next room. I take the baby over and gently take it out of its blanket to hold it into the water. My son wails, but once he feels the water he calms down immediately. I gently wash him from his head to his toes, massage the little body lightly and he finally opens his tiny hands and closes his eyes. That's when I take him out again and place him on the towel that's been laid on the dresser and charmed so it would stay warm. I flap the ends around him, so he'll stay warm and start to dry him. Then I quickly summon the blanket and clean it, before I place my baby back on it and hold it tightly to my body as Poppy has instructed me to do. I'm not quite finished with my task when Sirius comes in and brings the second baby.

"It's a girl, Moony! We have a son and a daughter and just look at how beautiful she is!" he says softly.

I quickly pick our boy up and turn around, pointing my wand at the bath to replace the water. I then look at our daughter and yes, Sirius is right, she's really a lovely little girl. Sirius repeats my ritual from before and washes the baby. I clean her blanket and prepare another towel for him with one hand. All the while I'm holding our son close to my chest. I'm still hardly able to say a word I'm so touched. Sirius has just picked our daughter up from the dresser when Poppy comes into the room.

"I have fixed Miranda up and have given her a sleeping draught and a draught to stop her from lactating. Now let me have a closer look at your lovely pair of children! What names have you chosen now?"

I hand her our son and look at Sirius. We've discussed either Kevin or Dennis. It's clearly Sirius' son, so I look over at him and ask:

"What do you think now? Dennis or Kevin?"

"I think Dennis," he says.

"Dennis Black. Sounds nice," says Poppy.

"He's beautiful, Siri!"

Poppy checks the baby and is very happy. She looks up to us and says:

"Well, he's in perfect condition. I'll prepare their bottles in a moment and you can give it to them soon. Yes, little Dennis, you're just fine! And that cute little belly will be full in no time, too. Do you know how to get him dressed, Remus?"

"I do. Did that with Harry often enough. It can't have changed much since then."

We have prepared the first clothes for our babies and the nappies are ready as well. I pick one out of the bag and put it on, then I am able without too much struggling to get him dressed. Meanwhile Poppy turns to our daughter. Looking through the many choices for lovely names we have finally decided on a Romanic one, Seraina (A/N: Pronunciation for that: e like in 'bet', both a's as in 'cut' and the i as in 'hit' and the r should be rolled. The emphasis is on the first a). Poppy thinks it's a nice name.

I'm holding Dennis up to my chest again. He feels my heartbeat and seems to be perfectly content. Though I expect the little belly to be empty and he'll surely want some food soon. He starts to wail again and Poppy tells me to walk around with him. I do that and he calms down a bit. I kiss his little head and slowly rock him while walking.



Sirius


It's done! Miranda is sleeping now and we hold our two children on our arms. Remus is ravishingly beautiful with our son on his arm. The baby calms down soon and once Poppy finishes checking Seraina we follow her to get the bottles for them. We still have to get used to prepare the formula, but she says we'll have it down quickly. While we sit down on two chairs to feed our children we get visitors. Albus and Minerva tiptoe into the hospital wing and when they see the little ones they both start to smile.

"Ooh, they are cute!" Minerva whispers.

Seraina suckles hungrily on her bottle and I'm already afraid she'll hurt herself, but once she has enough she spits the sucker out.

"Is that it, sweetie? No more hungry? Are you sure?"

I'm offering her the bottle again, but she seems to be sure. Poppy checks her and says:

"That's okay, Sirius, she doesn't need to take all. She'll call for more when she gets hungry again."

"Good."

I lift Seraina and hold her against my chest. Poppy gives me some thin cloth, to clean her when she hiccups. Which happens shortly afterwards.

"She's swallowing some air with the bottle, she needs to get that out again."

"I remember that from Harry."

And a moment later she sleeps. I hold her on my arm and I can't stop looking at her. Then I finally get a moment to look up and see Albus' and Minerva's smiling faces.

"Meet Seraina, my dears," I whisper.

"She's beautiful, Sirius!" Minerva says.

"And, as it seems, Remus' daughter. Only he hasn't even had the chance to hold her yet."

"Well, same goes for you and your son, Siri. We'll switch once we pick them up the next time..." Remus says with a smile.

Then he turns to the professors and says:

"This is Dennis."

Dennis has his eyes still open, but only just about. Remus passes him to Minerva to hold. She looks down at the baby and smiles, but then she says:

"Hogwarts beware - another generation of Marauders is growing up!"

"We do hope they will wreak some havoc! We want them to have fun growing up, Minerva," I tell her.

"You'll have to suffer as well, so be warned!" she says, unfazed.

"Just as long they're happy little fellows. It's an amazing feeling," I say.

"Yes, so I'm told. I'm happy for you two. Congratulations!"

Albus hasn't said a word so far. He conjures a chair, sits down and I give him Seraina. Should she wake up so be it, but I think he needs to have the little one for a moment. He looks down at the infant and then over to Remus and I:

"You are blessed, you two, you know that, don't you? You will take home a lot of happiness with them. I am quite sure you will be rewarded with so much joy. This is the most precious gift anyone can get."

"I can feel that already, Albus. It was amazing watching them grow in their birth mother's belly, but that was nothing compared to seeing them being born and holding them now..." I remark.

"It's time to put them down to sleep, my dears. They still need a lot of sleep and you want them to do that at night more than during the day, believe me," Poppy reminds us, ever the practical one.

We have to return home, so we both pick up a baby and prepare to apparate. I ask about Miranda.

"She'll stay here over the weekend, I'll let her go by Sunday evening," Poppy tells me.

"How can we thank you for this, Poppy? You're so kind!" Remus says.

"Remus, it's been a pleasure. It brushed up my knowledge in this field and it was very nice to be the one to see your children arriving with you. I'll come by tomorrow to have a look at them."

"Thanks!" I say again and give her a kiss on the cheek.

We'll have the flower shop at Hogsmeade send her a very nice bouquet and another one for Miranda. We quietly say goodbye to Albus and Minerva and apparate our babies back to the Sunnegg. They are both crying when we get there and we quickly calm them down as good as we can. Remus puts his little finger in Seraina's mouth. She starts to suckle and calms down immediately. I think that's a good idea and mirror the action with Dennis who accepts my finger as a pacifier. The suction he puts on it is quite amazing! I know it's a reflex, but it certainly is a strong one.

However, their wails have been enough to wake Ron and Justin, who both turn up at the door shortly after. They both start to grin widely when they see the babies.

"Hey!" Ron says a bit hoarsely, "There you are!"

"Hi there. Come and look!"

I sit down on the rocking chair and hold Dennis to my chest. He still suckles on my little finger.

"Awww! How cute, Sirius! Congratulations!"

"This is Dennis. And that's Seraina. They're now - let's see... Dennis is just two, Seraina not quite two hours old."

"Gosh, they're cute. So you have a son and Remus has a daughter? His black hair is quite the give-away," Ron asks.

"Yes, that's right, but we regard them both as ours, Ron."

When Ron and Justin leave us to return to bed, Remus and I finally put the babies down in their cradles. We pick them randomly at first, but we will keep them in their same cradle from then on. They both do us the favour to fall asleep quickly and then we just stand there and look at them. I sling my arm around Remus' shoulder and lean my head on him. He turns his head to lay it on mine, then he whispers:

"I can't yet grasp it. They're a miracle, Siri!"

"They are. They're both wonderful."

"I go and prepare the bottles, so we just need to charm them warm when they get hungry," Remus whispers and disentangles himself from me.

I keep staring into Seraina's cradle and then into Dennis'. I quickly notice that it doesn't matter for me which one of the children I sired. I already love them both and both are beautiful. Because of the charm cast on them overruling their mother's primary traits Seraina looks like the carbon copy of Remus. She has a very slight tuft of light brown hair and the little nose, though still a button, already has a bit of the shape of her Daddy's. I long to pick her up and hold her again, but I don't dare to disturb her slumber. Our daughter! What a wonderful feeling! There's a whole wave of feelings washing over me looking at her sleeping. The tiny hands are now covered with tiny mittens to prevent her sharp little nails from scratching herself. We've dressed her in light yellow knitted rompers, a gift from Molly, who has of course properly chided us for our rashness and then almost cried because she was so happy for us and flooded us with knitted baby clothes. And they look so cute! Over the rompers Seraina wears a baby cardigan in the same light yellow. It fits her wonderfully. Her feet are covered with the socks that came with the rompers and the cardigan. Molly has made about a dozen such outfits for them.

Then I turn to Dennis. My son. I draw a deep breath and sigh. You're as beautiful as your sister, Denny. Black hair. Really no surprise there. I can't wait to better see their eyes, but I guess there's not much to see yet, the eye colour doesn't show from the beginning. Straight little nose. Remus clothed him in another pair of rompers, light green with a fitting cardigan. He's got some white cotton mittens on, too. The hands are lying next to the little head, which is turned to the side. Poppy has told us that they're both completely healthy and all we need to do is feed them well. There's going to be some work with you little guys, but I'm looking forward to it. We can each give the other free during some nights and watch you down in our study during the days.

Today is your birthday, my little ones. So here's a hearty Happy Birthday to you both and I wish you a very happy life, much laughter, much love and a wonderful childhood. Whatever is in my power I will do to make it come true for you!



Remus


I have to think straight to get the bottles done right. A small 'crack' informs me that one of the house-elves has just turned up. Probably saw the light in the kitchen and was curious. It's Dobby and he looks at me so questioningly, that I have to grin.

"Hello, Dobby. Everything went well and we're the proud fathers of a son and a daughter. They're called Dennis and Seraina. Both are healthy and are probably going to be hungry again soon, so I really need to prepare their bottles..."

"I is wondering! This is wonderful, Master Lupin, I is happy for you. Let Dobby prepare the bottles, I is doing it quickly."

I relent and he has the deed done within minutes. All the bottles get chilled and stuffed in a crate under the bench, I take two of the bottles along and thank Dobby:

"Go back to sleep, then come and see them in the morning, Dobby!"

"Dobby will be there, and Winky, too!"

I'm taking the bottles up and put them on one of the dressers. They're charmed to stay chilled until we need them, when we will charm them to be warmed for the babies. Sirius is still standing in the room, lost in thought as he watches our sleeping children. I haven't yet had time to really think about it all, I feel like I've just done what was needed, running on adrenalin. Now I finally get to really look at the little beings we created. They're both beautiful. I don't think I can even express all the feelings I experience now that I'm looking at them. We've waited so long and somehow it has all happened so quickly now. I step up to Sirius. He looks up and realises I'm back. I nod to the bedroom and he nods, too, so we pull the curtain which we have installed instead of a door and undress. We slip under the duvets and scoot close, just able to kiss and say goodnight.

"I'm so happy right now," he sighs.

"I know the feeling - it's how I feel, love."

"I hope Miranda is okay and will do okay. I mean, she's carried them all the way and never even wanted to see them, but it must still be quite hard to just let them go."

"Maybe that's why she didn't want to see them. Not to make it even harder. We'll have to write to her to thank her again and see if she communicates back," I murmur, already half taken over by sleep.

"Mhm..." he slurs and then we're both gone.

We are woken quite brutally by the wail of two little hungry babes though and when I throw a sleepy glance at the clock I notice it's barely three hours after we have gone to sleep as it only shows six o'clock in the morning. Sirius and I jump more than get out of our bed. It's Saturday and the teens will not be happy to be woken at that time. So we both don't linger but go over to the nursery and pick the children out of the cradles. Sirius takes Seraina, I take Dennis and we pack them lovingly into their baby blankets. I summon the bottle and heat it with a spell. Then I see if Dennis likes the temperature. He's stopped his wailing from the moment I've picked him up and I'm glad for that. Now I nudge the little mouth with the bottle's sucker and he lets it in. Almost immediately he begins to suckle and I sigh with relief. On the other rocking chair I can see Sirius holding Seraina and having a similar success, though she seems to struggle a bit at first.

"Now there's my good little girl. You must eat, so you'll grow and become strong, little one. Your Daddy has this image of a little daredevil on a broom, you know! And your other Daddy will probably snort at all of this, but you'll be well on his lap and in his arms, because he will fill your little head with stories and all of the things he knows..."

Listening to Sirius talking with our little girl this way brings tears to my eyes. It's just like him to see her flying on a broom already. I smile and look down into little Dennis' face. It's also typical for Siri not to show the slightest inhibition. He can express his feelings so well most times.

"Can you hear your Daddy flirt with your sister, Denny? Isn't he shameless? - It's good to see you suckling so nicely, you do that well, you know?"

Just have to start and talk. It's easier than I thought to leave my own inhibitions behind. I will have to and it will have to become natural so my children will know that I love them. But I'm feeling so constricted, so overwhelmed by all these emotions welling up in me that it is a hard thing to do. I hold this slight weight tightly on my arms and watch the formula vanish down the little throat and fill his belly. I smile down on him. It's such an amazing feeling. He stirs a bit. Once his hunger seems to have been stilled he starts to refuse the bottle. I pull it away and banish it back to the dresser. I have some time to just enjoy my son. I hold him up and rock gently while I'm waiting for his little burp. Right afterwards he falls asleep again and I'm wondering, whether I should put him back into the cradle or wake him to change him. Finally I decide to let him sleep. That's better than to keep him awake at night. I turn to see how Sirius fares. He smiles. Seraina is still suckling for a moment, but she's tiring fast. Her bottle finds the way back next to the other one and Sirius lifts Seraina up. A bit of the milk comes back up and I clean it from the little mouth with a gauze cloth. Sirius presses a kiss on the small head. This looks too cute.

"I see that you put Dennis down again. Don't you think we should change them?" Sirius asks.

"Sleep is more important. I don't think there can be much in those nappies yet, Siri," I say, "Besides, they will wake us up again if they feel unwell..."

"True. So, do you want to go back to sleep, young lady?"

He keeps rocking for a while and really, after a few minutes she's fast asleep again. Sirius puts her into her crib again. We get a bit more sleep. Wake up two hours later by the next concert from our twins. This time we first change them. I take Seraina's cardigan and rompers off and open the undergarment between the tiny legs. I carefully push everything aside and open the nappy. Yuck! Not very nice and my fine nose wrinkles from smelling the contents.

"Oh dear, little one, that's going to be hard. I have to find something to eliminate that stench around you, you know! Now let's accio some warm washcloth..."

I gently wash her and dry her again. She yawns. Then she wails a bit, because she's hungry again. When I have her dressed again I lift her up and turn around to see how Sirius fares with Dennis.



Sirius


Oops! I open the nappy, try to pull it away and in that moment he pees! Denny! Yuck! Smelly, the whole affair. I hear Remus summon a washcloth and do the same. Good idea. Wash my son clean and dry him with a spell. Banish the cloth to the bath and clean it. Hey, my little man! You're so cute! There's no real response from him yet, but I've been warned that it takes weeks until they start to smile. When I finally have him dressed again I lift him up. He must be hungry again.

"Can you hold them both so I can get something on?" Remus asks.

"Yes, sure."

Remus gets boxers and his dressing gown on, then he takes the children, while I get something on. I take over Dennis again and we go down to the kitchen. Dobby and Winky are ready to make breakfast. We feed the babies first and drink our coffee and tea. Then we just hold them on our arms as long as they want to stay awake.

"We must be quite a sight," Remus says and grins.

"You are!" someone says from the stairs.

Harry and Hermione are coming down, both totally happy seeing us with the babies. We introduce them to the teens. The others come to breakfast one after the other and all ooh and aah over the twins. Of course the two make the rounds on all the arms.

"Hey, you're lucky, you two little buttons, you've got a whole bunch of aunts and uncles!" Hermione tells Dennis, who's on her arm.

An hour later, Poppy turns up. She smiles when she sees the 'family' around the breakfast table cuddling with the babies.

"How is it going?" she asks us.

"So far, so good. We got a little sleep," Remus tells her.

"Good. You can feed them a bit thicker formula at night. Get them on a four hour rhythm that will be the easiest to keep up. When did you get up?"

"They wanted to be fed at about six. Then we put them right back to bed. Do you think we should have changed them? Dennis fell asleep right after hiccupping a bit of milk, and I didn't want to wake him anymore," Remus recounts the events of the past night.

"Not necessarily. They will probably wake you earlier if you don't change them. Or the nappies allow them to still be okay at night."

"Good. They then woke us at about eight again and we changed them first and then fed them."

She gives us some tips and tells us what we have to watch out for, then checks the babies and says:

"Everything okay. Their navels are in order. Contrary to the Muggles we can treat them immediately. So you can bathe them anytime."

"Would there be a spell to eliminate the smell? I was close to fainting this morning..." I say.

She laughs.

"If there is, I don't know it, Sirius, sorry."

"I can check the compendium, Siri. Planned on doing that right afterwards. I suffered from the same kind of nausea."

"I still have your birth certificates for the children. Since you've had a contract with the young woman and she has given up any rights on them I have already filled in first and last names. Seraina is your daughter, Remus, so legally she gets your last name and Dennis gets Sirius' last name. Even though they are twins..."

"That's okay. We knew it would work this way," Remus says. He takes the documents from Poppy and gets up to take them to the study.

On his way back he brings his compendium and opens it.

"Now, let's see what we find - eliminate smell, eliminate smell... here it is..."

We have a few options and Remus checks each for possible harmful properties, but we find something we can use if it gets too bad. Poppy reminds us that this has been the babies' first bowel movement and that this usually is worse than most of what comes later on. We're quite relieved to hear that.

The weekend gives us a little time to get into a rhythm. On Sunday night I let Remus sleep and try to get along with the twins alone. I've put a silencing charm on the room as long as I'm busy with them. One of them protests for the longer wait, but maybe they get used to it after a while. Then one of us can sleep while the other does the night watch on the days he has no lessons. Winky offers to help during the night. We accept her help and on Monday night she stays in the house and comes up to help. She gets along with Denny just fine, puts him back to bed and I can go back to sleep once Seraina is also back to sleep.

The way things start I think our life is going to be overruled by the babies in the near future. That makes me smile because now I can get what James had with Harry back then. In spite of my thinking they had done this long before they needed to I had been so pleased to be little Harry's godfather and to get so many opportunities to baby-sit him. Now I look at the little ones lying on their backs on a thick woollen blanket covered with a cotton sheet in the study and I can't stop smiling. I'm grading some of the tests the kids have done in Transfiguration. Most of them we grade together just after they've filled them. It seems to do them a load of good, because they can revise the questions they've had wrong right away again and they get the results immediately. The first few we haven't entered in the class reports. Now about every second gets noted down, the others are just for practice.



Remus


Right after classes almost everyone wants to have a look at the twins. The gang's almost as cute as the twins. It's shortly before four o'clock and I take two bottles out of the crate which Dobby and Winky keep filling up. We have to get some order into them so they push up the ones we're to take out to one end and fill the other end. If they go on like this, Seraina and Denny aren't ever going to go hungry! Ginny comes in and asks:

"May I give Seraina her bottle?"

I grin. Then I hand her one and tell her the spell to warm it. She picks it up, but has the good sense to wait with warming the bottle to see whether Seraina is awake at all. I find Sirius in the living room and the children on the big blanket on the floor. They're still asleep, so we put the bottles on the coffee table, sit and talk about the day's events. Ginny sits down on the carpet and crosses her legs, watching the babies. She's turned seventeen two months ago and has already passed her apparition test. Ernie comes and sits down behind her, pulling her close. I can hear him whisper in her ear if she wants one of those cuties herself. She swats him and says:

"Don't be daft, Ernie, not for at least four or five years. I want to have a job before I have a family!"

"I just offered, love!"

"Well, no, love, that would be rather stupid. In the meantime we can enjoy those two little soon to be rogues, can't we?"

"Definitely."

I'm glad to hear Ginny is that reasonable. Though she'll be good at whatever she does she'll need time to get settled, maybe learn still. She should go on to Avalon Academy and if I have any influence on her she will. That will actually make her the first one to really study at the university in her family.

The babies start to stir and once awake I look at Sirius who gives me a go ahead. I've missed them terribly for most of the day! I nod to Ginny to warm the bottle and she does it, picks Seraina up and then the bottle. Sirius grins and says:

"We hope your enthusiasm lasts, Ginny! That will give us a hand!"

"She's my godchild! Didn't you do the same for Harry?"

"Only after Lily stopped nursing. And she took her time, he was about eight or nine months old and shortly after that she started him on bananas and apples. So we mostly got to spoon feed him. Still had his bottles in the mornings and evenings though."

It's so cute to watch Ginny feed my daughter. She's looking at the baby like only young girls do. Then she speaks up:

"She's so amazing. So tiny and so complete. And a whole person all by herself. As dependent as she still is, she's already a complete personality..."

"Definitely. And I'm quite sure she's going to turn out a lot like her Daddy," Sirius says next to me.

He tips the tiny hands of his son with a finger and I watch how the tiny fingers close around the big one. A smile spreads on Sirius' face. And he just confirms Ginny's thoughts:

"These tiny fingers and toes. It's the cutest things about them. I find they're so wonderful, fragile and sweet and at the same time solid. He holds on so nicely..."

Ernie tries the same with Seraina. He grins. Then he says:

"They're so cute! And it's so touching to watch them."

But once Seraina has had what she wants Ginny passes her on to Sirius.

"Gotta go! Revising... our slave driver up there is probably already wondering where we are!"

Sirius takes the baby with a smile and sends the kids off:

"You'd better listen to her! She's taking good care of you even if you are still moaning right now. You'll be thankful once you have your NEWTS results back!"

Ginny grins.

"Yeah, I know. And I want to do well! It's not everyday that someone gets moved up a year and I want to prove that in my case it was well deserved..."

"Not that you really need to, because you were already second over all in your OWLS," I remind her.

The two teens vanish out of the room and leave us with two satisfied little ones who are now enjoying cuddling time with Daddy.

"What could we do so they won't get confused by calling us both Daddy, Sirius?"

"You could answer to Papa..."

"We should make a difference. Yes, I could do that."

Sirius turns to Seraina and explains:

"See that fellow over there who looks like you? That's your Papa, Seraina. Yep, now you've got a Papa and a Daddy. That's practical. And sounds nice, too, don't you think?"

She doesn't seem to be very impressed. But I suppose it doesn't matter, she'll hear Papa from now on and get used to it. Seraina yawns and drops her little head on her Daddy's chest. She's fast asleep. Dennis follows her shortly afterwards.

In the next few weeks we know nothing besides the classes and the babies. It's tiring, and we start to feel it after a while. But at least we don't have any tests or essays to grade, so we have the classes and that's all. One morning Sirius asks the gang, if any of them want to learn to drive. Harry, Hermione and Ginny aren't eighteen yet, but the others all are, so Sirius gets them to go and learn the theory and go to an evening class several times, before they can start on the driving. The kids like it as something to distract them a little from the revision stress. They get learning permits the day before we have to leave for Hogwarts.

We can apparate now. Sirius and I have the babies, and some of the teens kindly take the peripheral necessities along for a stay of ten days. There's the nappies, the baby clothes, the bottles and the blankets and all the bathing stuff. Dobby is coming with us because he cannot possibly leave the babies without anyone. Sirius and I have to grin about him, but the little fellow is really dedicated. We reach Hogsmeade well and walk up to the castle, where we can't pass the Entrance Hall without being stopped by about twenty people at least. We head up to the Headmaster's office. He calls us in and everyone files inside.

Albus looks up and smiles.

"Ah, there is our Swiss contingent! Welcome back, dears. You will be pleased to hear that we have two dormitories for the ten of you near Gryffindor tower. You can spend your free time with the others in the tower. Of course you are free to head over to Ravenclaw tower or down to the Hufflepuff common room, too. Your housemates should tell you the respective passwords. I would expect that you are not too keen on going down to the dungeons, Messrs Zabini and Malfoy? It's all up to you, naturally. - Remus and Sirius, you two have a guest room for the moment. It has an extra room for the little ones. And you are to tell me what classroom you would like, Sirius and what office. There are a handful of places available in this castle!"

We grin. Oh yes, Hogwarts is great!

"We'll do that, headmaster."

"Let me show to you your room," Dumbledore says, then he looks at the twins and adds: "Your children are growing so quickly!"

"They are amazing. I think we can watch them growing!" Sirius says.

First we are taking the students to their rooms, where they drop their stuff and then they help us take ours to our guest room which is down in the teacher's quarters on the second floor. It's a nice bedroom with an adjacent extra room and a bathroom. The extra room has been fitted with two cribs and lovingly prepared as a nursery.

"Minerva has come by and done a little of her magic," Albus says with a smile.

"This is SO sweet, Albus! She really cares so much," I whisper.

"She does. This is the regular teacher's wing. We are preparing your future flat in the old family area. At most times there are at least one or two teachers with a family here at Hogwarts, it just happened that we did not have any for a while, so that particular wing downstairs is not in the best of conditions. We are working on it. It will be close to the teacher's lounge. That will give you several areas to spend free time. The stairwell over there leads down to the corridor to the lounge."

I remember. The room at which we're staying is actually close to the one I had when I taught here for the first time. Sirius looks happy to get to know the area now. It's going to be nice coming home. I shift Seraina on my arm - slowly but surely I'm getting tired carrying a sleeping baby on my arm. We go back to the bedroom where I return the pram to its real size and put Seraina down. Sirius follows immediately with Denny.

"We love them to bits already. They're actually quite easy to have, but sometimes they do like to cry without apparent reasons. That means wandering around with them. We don't do it so consequently through the day, but we want them to sleep at night, so if it happens during the night we have to get them back to sleep. The rocking chairs work, but not always," Sirius tells Albus.

Albus looks at the children. Of course he is aware of what the heir to the blood line of the Blacks means. He remarks:

"You have a son, Sirius. Your family would have died out if not for this little one. I expect you're being extra careful with him."

"I am. But not for that reason, Albus. If it were for me I wouldn't have cared that there are no more Blacks. And if it were for the family to continue then only in a sense of how I want it to go on. Kind, generous, understanding and open-minded. Fun loving, too. None of that purity of blood blah blah... the twin's birth mother has several generations of wizard blood, but we would have accepted her offer just as thankfully had she been a Muggle-born witch."

"But you used the spell to pass by her dominant traits, did you not?"

"We did. More for the sake of the kids and us. And her. Imagine one of her acquaintances meets one of the kids and they look exactly like their mother. It would be awkward for everyone. And we liked the idea to have them more like ourselves," I say.

Albus nods. Then he pulls out his watch and says:

"Well, I have to move on. The examiners are coming in tonight and I have to welcome them. Would you prefer to sit with your students or sit at the teacher's table?"

"I think we'll sit with the students."

"Good, that is fine. Just to know if we should reserve places on the table for you."

Albus leaves us and we take the children for a walk around the lake and a visit to Hagrid's. He's in his garden and when he sees us coming he starts to beam. He's always been fond of babies.

"Hey, Hagrid!" Sirius calls.

"Hello there, Professors! I hear yer goin' ter return ter Hogwarts, both of you as professors?"

"Yeah, we will."

"That will be very nice! And now ye've got yerself babies! They are cute!"

"That's Dennis and Sirius is carrying Seraina, Hagrid," I explain.

"This 'un's yours, eh?" he says and points to Seraina.

"Yes, not very difficult to spot, is it? She's getting my brown eyes. Or the brown eyes I'd have if it weren't for the wolf. Here, do you want to hold Denny for a while?"

"Got dirty 'ands," he says with regret.

I quickly clean them and he starts to grin when I gently place the tiny baby in his huge hands. He looks down at Denny who looks a bit shocked and starts to cry, but I'm there and soothe him.

"That's just Hagrid, love, nothing to be afraid of! He loves you already, you know! No need to cry so badly! - Here, hold him up a little and he'll calm down soon."

I'm glad that Dennis chooses to do so, because I'd hate for them to be scared of Hagrid. Then Sirius says:

"Hagrid, do you want to see the wolf Remus becomes when he transforms?"

"Er... I'd rather not, because I suppose that would not be a good idea, now would it?"

I grin.

"Well, not if it's not the full moon... look!"

I transform for Hagrid who seems to be close to dropping the baby, but holds on to it just fine.

"Remus! That's... wow, I don't knew what ter say... that's amazin'!"

I return and smile. He passes the baby back to me and I explain:

"It still is for me! It's going so easy now. I don't have to go through the painful transformation anymore. Sometimes I miss out on keeping the wolf form past the moonset and the coming back is still hard, but mostly I manage just fine. My bones are very thankful, believe me. I started to feel my joints hurting longer and longer every month."

"I'm glad for ye!"

We chat for a while and then Sirius and I walk on and return an hour later to the castle when it gets time for dinner. I pack two bottles for the babies into the pram and we roll it into the Great Hall. The gang's already getting ready to sit at the table and we join them, barring the way a bit because the pram is fairly wide. So we all move to the end of the table closest to the door, where we can put the pram at the side without it being in the way. Some of the students stop to greet our students and chat with them. Of course the babies stir quite a bit of interest, too. Other seventh years still remember me and greet me as well. Hannah Abbott, a Hufflepuff passes and starts when she sees me, then she smiles and comes over.

"Hello, Professor Lupin! It's nice to see you again!"

"Hello, Hannah! Likewise. I'm pleased to see you all again."

"Are you going to teach again?"

"I will be but only after the summer vacation. At the moment Professor Black and I are just accompanying our students and look for a suitable office and a classroom for Professor Black. I think you've met him, haven't you? Though it's two years since we've been here the last time."

"I think, I remember. Nice to meet you, Professor!"

"Nice to meet you, Miss Abbott. Will you still be here next year?"

"No, unfortunately I'm to meet those examiners from on tomorrow! Then I'm through with school."

She keeps glancing at the babies and I wait for her question. She's usually a rather shy girl, but then she does say something:

"Those are cute babies! Are you baby-sitting?"

"Yes, we are, but not only temporarily, Hannah, permanently as they're ours. The girl is my daughter Seraina and the boy is Sirius' son Dennis."

"Oh! Sorry! They are lovely! Congratulations!"

"Thanks."

She heads off to her table and sits down with the other Hufflepuffs.



Sirius


I look around. Except for the seventh years I'll face all these children in a few months. There are so many students. I turn to Remus:

"Were you really able to keep ALL these names, love?"

"Yes. You'll manage, Siri... I did mix up a few of them for a while, but with time you'll learn. I had it easiest when I knew who was in which class, that made it simpler. Take the roster on your first day. Or once every week or so..."

"Binns did that and I hated it... but the first time should be okay."

The fifth and seventh years all look a bit green in their faces. I'm feeling thoroughly sorry for them. I'm really glad it's them and not myself!

I've just finished eating when Denny starts to wail. I pick him up and charm one of the bottles to feed him. It's his dinner time, too, and he suckles happily. I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching that. His tiny hand curls around one of my fingers splayed over the bottle and he looks up to me. He really looks into my eyes now. It's the first true response from my baby and it almost makes me cry. Hermione sits next to me and throws a glance and a smile spreads on her face.

"That sounds like tasty food, Denny," she says, "Enjoy your dinner?"

"Looks like he does, doesn't it?"

Remus finishes his meal as well and takes care of Seraina. We must be quite a sight, as there are stares from all the tables now. Not that this will disturb us in any way. When Denny has finished I banish his bottle back into the pram and lift him up. A few strokes over his back brings the little burp forth and I take him a little lower to kiss him on the head.

"That's my good boy, Denny..."

Not long after that Remus and I take the children to bed and retire to our room. Like before the OWLS we haven't let our teens work hard anymore for a full week before the NEWTS. They are all as relaxed as they can be.

The next day the exams start. We don't have to guard the kids anymore, there shouldn't be any danger for them. Instead, we hand the twins over to Dobby for an hour or two and walk through the fourth floor on the south side of the castle and look for a classroom that could suit me for the Potions classes. We find two smaller rooms and wonder if we could take the wall out between them. We keep this as an option in case we don't find one in size large enough. All of a sudden we hear Minerva.

"Oh, here you are! I was looking for you..."

"We were looking for a suitable replacement for the dungeons to teach Potions," I explain.

"I was going to give you a few suggestions. There's the two rooms right behind you, Albus says we can remove the wall or replace it a bit to the back, so you'd have a storeroom which is separated from the classroom. Then there is a very nice room just above, which is currently unused as well. This here would mean you're just next to the new Defence classroom, though. And you could use the one on the fifth floor as your office. Albus told me you'd like to have one together."

"We've just looked at these two rooms. It's a brilliant idea to just move the wall back and cut off maybe one third of the room..."

"A new Defence room? What's wrong with the old one?" Remus asks.

"We had to move out of there - you know Hogwarts, sometimes it decides things need to be changed around. So now your classroom will be over there. We can look at it afterwards. Well... what do you think, do we move the wall back or do we make the storeroom here?"

I check the position of the nearest towers and think about where there will be more sun.

"Well, I'd say we move it over there... more sun in here."

"Okay, let's do that then. We need to remove one door and move the wall between two windows. Then we have to add a door from the classroom."

Half an hour later my classroom is prepared. Ceramic tiles, unfortunately without floor heating and I'll also miss the halogen lights greatly. I'll have to find something that would make them work in here... then I remember Ginny's spell! Goodie, I'll get them up, those wires with the little ingenious lamps clamped on. Let me see if I can magic the things there... I concentrate for a while and then point my wand at several points on the walls just below the ceiling to fix the wires. Minerva stares at me rather strangely.

"What are these?" she asks.

"They're the wires for my lamps. Remember, Ginny, Ernie, Draco and Parvati have invented a neat little spell that allows us to use Muggle electrical appliances in this magical surrounding. I can thoroughly test that now..."

I manage to conjure the little lamps. I banish them up to the wires and spread them over the room. Then I charm them with the spell and finally point at them and switch them on and off again.

"There we are!"

I'm thoroughly happy. The brewing stations are again granite topped, so they would be easy to keep clean and catastrophes would be easier to clean up. There is enough space for the larger classes. I have my classroom at the Sunnegg almost copied.

"Done. This will be a nice classroom..." I say.

"It is! Albus is very right about your qualities as a decorator," Minerva comments.

"Still. I might get homesick and then I'll Portkey my class to the classroom at the Sunnegg," I threaten.

She laughs.

"You know, I wouldn't put it past you to actually manage that."

We leave the room only to enter the neighbouring room, which is a regular classroom as most of the ones in Hogwarts.

"Anything in particular you'd like, Remy?" I ask my lover.

"How about a nice carpet?"

"Consider it done..."

Next we know we're standing on a lovely light brown carpet. I give his desk a bit of a more modern look and add the same lights as I have set up in my room. Minerva turns to me and asks:

"Could you do those for my classroom as well, Sirius?"

"Sure. I'll come by one of these days."

We walk up one floor and find the room Minerva offers us as our office. It's perfect! It's a smaller classroom, but still more than large enough to make it comfortable. There's a fireplace on the far wall. We place desks on the front near the door. Some of the walls get filled with bookcases, others with filing cabinets and drawers. I add a nice sideboard for all of our personal caboodle. A comfy settee, some armchairs and a coffee table get set up in front of the fireplace. Some single chairs we add in some corners. Of course we're standing on several oriental carpets which now cover the hardwood floor. Curtains fly to the windows. Yes, I'm quite content. So is Remus, as he has nothing to criticise.

On the contrary. He stands in the room and smiles at me. He'll add his part when he places copies of his books on the shelves and his knickknack as well as some photos on the mantelpiece of the fireplace. I wonder which ones he'll pick, but I suppose a few of them will be of our gang of teenagers. He's had three or four of them framed.

Minerva leaves us and we return to our rooms to pick up our children again. It's almost time for lunch. We have allowed ourselves to stay in bed until after the breakfast, so we're hungry now. The babies go into the pram and we walk it over to the Great Hall where we sit down in the same spot as the night before. Our teens are already there and they look a bit better than last night. One morning is over. We hear about their exam in the morning. Transfiguration theory, in the afternoon they will be tested practically. Well, none of them really has to fear anything. Even Harry has got the hang of it by now. He'll make an 'E' at best, but that would be great for him.

But right now they sound like they are just happy one part of the whole ordeal is over. Ginny looks quite content, Hermione is worried that she hasn't replied to all questions thoroughly enough, Parvati is sure to have a few questions totally wrong, Ernie thinks he must have failed. I really feel sorry for them when we leave the Great Hall after lunch. We return to our rooms and put the children down to sleep for the afternoon.

And this is how we continue to spend the next few days. Every evening they get a bit more relaxed and take it a tiny bit easier. In the end I'm quite sure they've all done much better than they fear. I'm sure all of them will pass the finals and if they don't make all the NEWTS the world won't fall apart.

Sometimes Mandy joins us at the table. She's content that she's back at school and has already started to look for a job.

"Do you think I could live at the Sunnegg until I can start out in my own place? I can easily apparate," she asks us shyly.

"You know that we kept your room untouched, Mandy. You just need to put your stuff back in. You always will have a home there, whenever you need it," Remus tells her.

"Thanks so much. I was very unhappy last summer back with my parents. My mother was constantly trying to hit on me with her 'it was never good to leave you in those people's care!' and her rants about you just because you're a werewolf. I never knew they were so bad until three years ago, Remus and I feel like I have to apologise for them constantly. Why won't they see that their prejudices are mostly unfounded. Why won't they see that there's just as many good and bad people among werewolves like among any other humans? Is it so hard to make a difference between a responsible person and an irresponsible one?"

"If I knew how to answer these questions my kind wouldn't have to suffer so much, Mandy. If we tell people what we are they turn their backs immediately, most of them anyway, and if we don't tell them they attack us as soon as they find out, claiming we're keeping the secret to attack them at the first chance given. Whatever policy we choose we're mostly doomed. I've been lucky to have an education and a good bunch of friends and some very close friends. They've helped me along."

"You would have been perfectly capable to do perfectly well on your own. Just because some idiots wet their pants in fear decide you're not allowed to work for your own keep..."

"There's not much to be done about that. At least this time Voldemort was gone fast enough that he hadn't been able to gather forces among the dark creatures. So there probably won't be pogroms among werewolves this time around. There are few enough left anyway. I may be one of the last ones in Britain."

It's nice to see that other children start to comment on several things. I'm also happy to see that our teenagers don't isolate themselves from the others as during their OWLS, they get introduced to the younger Gryffindors who don't know them yet and they seem to have taken their place in the common room back like they haven't been gone at all. And the nicest thing I think, is that they are also sitting and communicating with members of the other houses.



Remus


Of course we're still very much occupied with the twins. They're so tiny and they are a lot of work. We share it well, also see to it that we change the twins, we're not just each taking care of our own. We really want to give them a sense of togetherness. And be parents for them both.

We're also checking into the laws to find if there's any chance of getting a married status under wizarding jurisdiction as we know full well there are only two or three European countries where homosexual couples are allowed to get married. Which is why Sirius owls Amelia Bones to be able to get an appointment with her. A day later we get an invite for a day a week later.

"That's Friday after the NEWTS and the leaving feast, so we will be back at Sunnegg. Perfectly alright for me, we find someone to baby-sit, if we don't want to take them along. And after the meeting we come directly up to Hogwarts," I say.

"Yes, I also think that's fine."

I'll certainly never get tired to see Sirius lounging on the couch or an armchair with a baby sleeping on his chest. I've taken a couple of pictures of him like that and all of them are extremely cute. He's a natural with the babies. I don't remember him to be so easy with Harry. Okay, there's an important difference, Denny and Seraina are our own, and there's no anxious Lily around. She was always so scared that anyone could accidentally hurt her baby. For some reason we're less scared about that. We have shown the kids how to hold and treat them and they don't seem to have a problem with that. Of course no one has asked to take them on their broom just yet. Sirius had. Much to James' amusement and Lily's horror.

Harry picks Seraina up a lot. He looks down at her wistfully and I have the slight suspicion that he's longing for his own. I know Hermione has him on the short leash concerning having a baby. They don't argue, they both know, but they also both know that they will be working parents. Of course now that Sirius and I will move to Hogwarts for a good part of the year they will have to find suitable day-care if they actually want a child soon. I suppose I just wait and see. In the meantime I'm happy if they come and see Seraina and Denny a lot.

My heart's still overflowing at the mere thought of my children. I groan every time they wake us up at night, but then I just look into their little faces as they're suckling on the bottle or afterwards, when they go back to sleep and it's more than reward for every bit of lost sleep. Who needs to sleep anyway, when there are two wonderful new people to look at? Well, we will of course, especially once we come to Hogwarts, but I hope we'll have them sleeping for six hours in a row at night by that time. We're carefully starting to feed them the last bottle with a bit thicker formula, so they're really full. But we raise the amount very gradually. We don't want them to have a troubled stomach after all, that would be most counterproductive!



Hermione


Last day of the NEWTS!!! I can't believe that by tonight my school years will be over! I think I'll give Mum a call as soon as I'm out of the Great Hall after the Charms practical tests. I really don't have a problem with that sector. In fact, I'm looking forward to this bit, it should be the easiest for me.

Though I have to say that either we have been extremely lucky or we have prepared extremely well, but the tests have not been too difficult over all. I expected worse. Or maybe we just had the lucky mixture from all those practice tests we did. Well, here we are, out of the Hall after the breakfast and now back inside. They call the groups of students going in together. We're the last. We take our places at the single tables and wait for the examiner's command to turn around the test parchment.

I quickly scan the questions and answer the ones that come to mind first. Now on to the ones I haven't filled in anything yet. And finally going through everything and adding a bit more detail. That's it. What's the time? Almost noon. Time will be up in half an hour. I think I'm turning mine in. I get up, walk to the front and pass my test to the examiner who smiles at me and tells me that I'm free. Outside I go through the open main door and stroll outside a bit. I see Remus and Sirius at the shore of the lake with the babies. I join them and only ten minutes later Harry follows me out of the castle. He's with Ron and they seem to go over the test quickly.

"Hermione! I don't need to ask how it went, do I?" Remus says and smiles.

"No, I don't think so. It was easy. Well, probably the questions were intricate enough, but I found it the easiest of all we've had."

"Well, for your standard... I'm glad you're happy. Having a good feeling about such a test is mostly a good sign."

Harry and Ron join us. Ron takes hold of little Denny and tells him:

"Just you wait until you get there, Denny! You'll hate it as much as we do!"

The baby doesn't look impressed. Sirius laughs and tells him off mildly:

"Ron! How can you intimidate him at that early age already? He'll be scarred for his whole school career!"

"Don't really mean it. He'll have you two as teachers, so what can go wrong there?"

"Thanks for the flowers," Sirius says with a laugh.

"You do expect to grow old and grey in here, don't you? Just like Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall?" Ron asks.

"Sometimes I wonder. It's going to be like coming home. I mean it was the first place I came to that wasn't tainted with my parent's sick attitudes. So it does hold a lot of significance for me."

Sirius looks up at the castle while he tells us this. His face is sombre, but it gets that look every time he's reminded of his childhood.

We're sitting down on the grass. It's nice and warm and the sun is out beautifully today. Harry asks Sirius if he remembers his sorting. Sirius laughs. It sounds like a bark.

"Do I remember my sorting? Word for word actually. I had met up with James on the train of course, after all we were already friends from the primary school. Which was a wizarding school as well, because under no circumstances was I allowed Muggle contacts as a kid. He knew everyone in my family had been in Slytherin. I was afraid of going there, too. I really didn't want it, but I thought at that time that one just had to sit down and wait for what the hat decided. So I sat down and thought at the hat that he probably wouldn't take long to throw me into the snake house."

We grin a bit. That sounds so very much like Sirius. He returns the grin and continues:

"The hat said in my head: 'Now why would you think I'd do that? Just because you're a Black?' and I thought: 'Exactly. Though I'm not your typical Black.' That seemed to amuse the hat, because it sniggered and said: 'I thought not. If you could choose, what house should it be? Because there's a bit of everything in your head, you know. You're brilliantly intelligent, you seem to have a knack for mischief paired with an unusual amount of bravery and above all that there is your loyalty. And I find that you must be quite ambitious and cunning as well... so where should I put you if you wish to avoid Slytherin? I think you should go to Gryffindor.' Those were the hat's words and I was in awe, believe me, because it had basically told me I was fit for any of the houses. I ended up in the house I wanted. But you wouldn't believe the howler I got from my mother the next morning, because she had already heard from the head of Slytherin house that I had not been sorted there but in Gryffindor."

"I can imagine how it sounded," I say.

"It was really a horrible thing," Remus says, remembering, "she put her son down in a way no real mother would. It just gave us the first impression on how his home life was. He went back for four summer vacations after that, but he wouldn't leave Hogwarts for Christmas ever during school. I remember fourth year when his parents were adamant he'd be home and Sirius didn't want to go home, so McGonagall wrote to his parents that they would not do anything against the child's wish to stay there. I was there as well and he never even got a present from anyone in his family. The Potters, my parents and Peter's parents saw to it that he didn't miss theirs though."

"But it must have been twice as horrid for you to go home for the next summer break, Sirius, wasn't it?" Ginny asks. She has joined us minutes after Harry and Ron.

"It was eight weeks of torture! I wasn't allowed to go anywhere and I was lucky that I was able to get away to catch the Hogwarts Express. Shortly before the Christmas vacation that year I heard from my cousin Andromeda that our Uncle Alphard was very sick and Dumbledore allowed me to go and visit him before he died. The date on his will was two days after that visit. Not only my other uncle but also my own father contested the validity of the will after that. Only they couldn't find any loophole to have it revoked. He had left everything to me and Andromeda. That was three months before that school year ended, so by the time we had passed the OWLS I had already made it clear I would not return home. My parents of course insisted, but only a few days after I got to Grimmauld Place I needed to find a way to escape and I did. Spent the rest of that break first with James and then a bit with Remus."

"That sounds awful! No wonder you like Hogwarts so much," Parvati remarks.

"Yes, it was a safe haven for me. And I have to say that in spite of all the scrapes I managed to get myself into, Albus Dumbledore always stood by me when I had a struggle with my parents. He must have had endless visits and discussions with them, but he always managed to keep them away from me. I had a lot of support from him."

"He saw your potential, Padfoot," Remus says simply.

Sirius throws him one of those adoring glances. Then it's getting time to go back inside for lunch and he picks Denny up again. We all get up and return to the castle. Lunch is yummy today, and I manage to eat my fill. Others aren't doing as well as I and I can see Susan Bones on the Hufflepuff table looking definitely green. Seems that practical Charms isn't her cup of tea.

My test is over in half an hour. I'm asked to perform a couple of spells then I can show off some more complex ones and finally I perform the charm I have developed to enchant the Commumirror. I have asked the examiner to keep this confidential though. He is allowed to test the mirror to see that the charm works, but refuses with a smile as he pulls his own out of his pocket.

"I'd say this is proof enough for me, Miss Granger. Congratulations! That was a classy proof of your abilities. I'm sure you will be happy with your marks."

With that I'm dismissed. I find the other ones outside again. We decide to fall over Hagrid and celebrate the end of the tests.

"YAY, Hagrid, we've done it, we're through with school!" we shout and dance around.

He grins and offers tea, which we accept. We conjure a table and chairs outside and then sit down together to discuss the tests shortly, but then soon turn to nicer matters.



Justin


Well, this was quite - amazingly easy. No, not really easy, but less hard than I expected it to be. Did the examination committee fail to really make it nastily exhausting? Or were we that good? Anyway, we did fine.

We return to the Sunnegg, but we'll be back up at Hogwarts to attend the last end of year feast. Our freedom now means a lot to us and I know we'll have a lot of fun from now on. I can't wait to go out to dancing clubs and restaurants with Ron soon. We have two months for ourselves, two months in which we plan to fully enjoy that freedom we have now. We'll of course make a stop at my parents' house and at the Burrow. Mrs Weasley seems to be over the worst of her grudge and slowly starts to really accept Ron's choice of life partners. Ron is still on a very tight budget, but my parents are fairly generous, so we don't need to sit around at home all the time.

We have presented ourselves at the Aurors Headquarters and were shown the premises, the training rooms and the accommodation. We will have to be there from Monday through Friday afternoon, but we're free to spend the weekends elsewhere. Start of the training will be September 1st. The training will take two years. But we earn an almost full beginner's salary as trainees. Ron is especially happy about that because it will make him independent from his parents. He's also glad that they will have it easier to finance Ginny through her four years of academic training. She's going to study Charms and Potions.



Ginny


So, that's it. We're through with school. Now it's on to the Academy and I'm happy because I can do that from either the Burrow or the Sunnegg. Mum has freshened up my room at the Burrow, so that I can apparate there should I be very late and too tired to apparate the long stretch. Ernie has also chosen Charms as his major subject, so we will be together for a good part. Blaise will also be there, because he's doing Charms as well. That's two people I already know among my future classmates. There will be about seven or eight more students in our year and they'll come from several other houses and countries. I'm looking forward for the vacation now and I'll see how this starts in September. For now I'm happy that school is over. I'm a fully trained witch and I can start my real life as one.



Harry


Now that it's all over with school I can really concentrate on the next important thing: that wedding! It's going to be a fun day, I know.

I'm not worried about the results of the NEWTS. I've got my place at the Academy and in September Hermione and I will start a whole new life. I wonder how I will cope with the university. I mean it's quite a big thing and according to Sirius hardly anyone in my family ever studied there. So I'm feeling really great that I'm going. Wizarding law will mean an intensive study of endlessly long, complicated and probably often boring texts. We have to do it though if we really want a chance at changing some of the stuff later on. And I'm as determined as Hermione in succeeding in some of our crusades. We will both study History as a second important subject. That will come in handy for the long term ideas we both carry.



Sirius


Winky and Dobby take over the twins after lunch and we arrange to meet the kids at Hogwarts later on. They'll bring the babies along with them. At two we meet Mrs Bones at the Ministry. She introduces us to one of the lawyers, Mr. Sumner, in her department and we are left to discuss our options to ensure we can pass our possessions on to both of our children. There's no legal way to get married, but we can set up a marriage contract.

"And there is no reason why you shouldn't allow yourselves a private ceremony or ritual to celebrate your union!" Mr. Sumner says.

Remus smiles and I think he's got it down right, because we might do just that. Then we turn our attention back to Mr. Sumner who explains all the points that should be included in the contract and all the clauses needed to ensure no one could dispute our last wills. He also recommends a notary in the Diagon Alley who would be good to actually draw up the contract. As it happens, it's the same lawyer who had put together my Uncle Alphard's last will and I know him personally.

"We'll contact him, because I remember him. He's had the legal business of an uncle of mine," I say.

"Ah yes, I think I remember - Alphard Black, isn't it?" Mr. Sumner smiles.

"Yes, precisely."

"I hadn't thought of that anymore, but I still remember your uncle, Mr. Black, a very interesting gentleman he was! We used to meet up at the Leaky Cauldron for an occasional Butterbeer at the bar. He was not exactly well liked in your family, was he?"

"Not exactly. He was the oddball in the family, like my cousin Andromeda and myself. So it was natural for him to cut out the rest of what he called a pack of hyenas."

"Yes, yes, he would do that! He was very knowledgeable with the animal kingdom, both magical and non-magical. - Well, I think we've got your questions covered then, haven't we?"

"We have indeed. Many thanks for your time, Mr. Sumner, it was very nice to meet you."

"Oh, likewise. Very pleased to meet you, too. May I show you the way out?"

We leave the small conference room and head to the lifts, then out of the Ministry and apparate up to Hogsmeade. It's still very early, so we decide on a Butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks and find Draco and Parvati already there. George and Fred Weasley are with them, so I suppose they have spoken about some of their future business. When Fred sees us he beckons us over. We sit down at their table and the conversation turns to the twins first. We have about two hours before the leaving feast starts. When it's time, Draco and Parvati show us their brooms. We leave first, since we have to walk and take our time to reach the castle. We're still well in time and meet the other teenagers. Ginny and Ron wait for us with the twins. We have already missed them horribly and take over, bringing them to their new room, where Dobby and Winky will look after them.



Remus


We have brought our class through the NEWTS. Now that we're all attending the end of year feast at Hogwarts I look back on three very interesting years. Sirius and I have taken our place at the teacher's table this time. We have the babies with us, but Winky and Dobby are looking after them in our newly renovated rooms. We enjoy the view of our relaxed gang discussing things at the Gryffindor table. Parvati sits next to Lavender and the two of them happily chat.

I'm sitting next to Poppy. We are soon immersed in a conversation about her extended family. She has three children, all older than I, married with a bunch of grandchildren. She sounds very happy and has no intention of leaving her post as the matron of Hogwarts any time soon.

There are so many wonderful memories I share with her. She has never made me feel bad about being a werewolf. Before I even started at Hogwarts she had contacted my mother to find out what Mum did for me after my transformations and took every advice my Mum gave her to mind. I used to have my own room and there were always a few things I had cherished especially when I had been small. A teddy, a special quilt that I had loved so much, my favourite pyjamas and the likes. She pampered me about the same way my mother did and when my friends started to visit me from the time they knew about the werewolf she used to let them in for short whiles, so they wouldn't pester her forever. So when I get to speak to her today in a casual way there are usually a lot of 'do you remember when...?' stories. And of course I want to hear about her family.

We bask in the familiarity of a feast in the Great Hall. Sirius looks great now, relaxed and his face has the happiest expression I've seen since we've been reunited. Our home is now the Sunnegg, but this castle makes a very close second. When we will return to Hogwarts to stay in September it will be a real start of a new life.