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13.10.1998 / Hermione


We don't have to hurry this morning, our first lecture is at 10 am. We've both studied late last night and sleep our fill, but we leave time for a little lovemaking before we get up. Shower, getting dressed, grabbing our briefcases and rushing down to breakfast, where we arrive at a quarter past nine. We love Tuesdays, as we only have one lecture in the morning. Dobby has our breakfast ready. We don't even need to hurry for it. A good half hour later we're picking up our briefcases and apparate directly to the Academy. After six weeks the building is fairly well known terrain. Harry is a bit lazy and enchants a self filling quill to record the lecture. Couldn't get more complete notes, though, and though I think it's a lazy way of taking notes I have to say that both of us profit from checking those parchments. And I have to say one thing for Harry, he's started off filing the note parchments very orderly in folders, so we can find everything easily. Of course, Harry isn't by far the only one clever enough to use this method either.

After the two hour lecture we decide to have a quick bite around the corner in a Thai restaurant. Sometimes I'm quite glad that money is not an issue for either of us. He's never used much of his money, so his vault is still amazingly well endowed and we now know that there is another Potter vault, which lets the one he uses regularly look poor. So we happily spoil ourselves to first class food and sometimes invite colleagues who are less well off.

We spend a part of the afternoon in the library of the Academy to go through some historical texts. Here we both take extensive notes, but again we use an enchanted quill. Since most of the students work this way there's a rule to cast silencing charms. This 'rule' allows us to talk in the library as we please. I found that dictating our notes to the enchanted quill helps memorising much of what we have to learn. Harry keeps glancing at his watch, because at four we'll apparate to the Appleby Quidditch stadium to watch a match between the Appleby Arrows and the Holyhead Harpies. We meet Sirius who has only two lessons on Tuesday afternoon. It's the first time he and Harry get to watch an official Quidditch match together and they're both very excited. And to my surprise James is there, too. He grins happily and regrets not being able to drink some hot butterbeer like the rest of us.

"One of your former team mates plays for the Harpies, isn't it?" Sirius asks Harry.

"Yes, Angelina Johnson. She's a chaser. And a bloody good chaser, too! And Alicia Spinnet, she's a reserve Chaser. The Arrows aren't bad either, though."

While Harry and Sirius start to discuss the Quidditch league's standings I shiver from the cold. I'm pulling my cloak close and then decide to start casting warming charms. I give Harry one, too, because he'll probably forget to do it himself. He notices, turns to me and kisses me.

"Thanks, love! If we ignore you too badly, holler, please!"

I smile.

"I will! You two enjoy being together at a match! I know how you were both looking forward to this for a while."

"We were. But that's no reason to leave you completely forgotten. Thanks for coming along!" he says.

"Well, I do like to watch the games. It will be great seeing Angelina play!"

"You'll have to point her out for me. I've been rooting for the Harpies ever since I knew about Quidditch. It's like a habit," Sirius says and grins.

It's great to be here in a stadium with at least several thousand people who watch the match with us. I've got my Omnioculars with me and look around. We have rather good seats, high up in the stadium and in the middle. There is a large board for announcements. The stadium looks a lot like the one that had been built for the world cup four years ago, but it is a lot smaller of course. And naturally this one is a permanent stadium. There's a series of news headlines on the board, some about Quidditch, players in the league, team news, results and there are other news about a wide array of subjects. The news are interrupted by commercials. There's a commentator who announces the beginning of the match in fifteen minutes.

Five minutes before the start the referee comes flying to the centre of the stadium. The commentator then announces the players of the two teams, the guests first:

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Holyhead Harpies! They are well under way to a very good season, the first team being fit and playing tonight. Captain and Keeper is Madeline Coltrane. The Chasers are Angelina Johnson, Christine McAllister and Dana O'Leary. The Beaters are Hannah O'Leary and Maureen Appleton and the Seeker is Aggie Morgan!"

In the order of the speaker's introduction, the Harpies players come flying into the stadium. We all cheer loudest for Angelina of course. Then the home team is introduced. The fans in the crowd shout the names along with the stadium speaker:

"And now for our own Appleby Arrows, here come Captain and Chaser Jeff Maloney, Keeper Ryan O'Hara, Chasers Megan Carrington and Kevin Lester, Beaters Sean King and Sean Quinn, aaaaand last but definitely not least, Seeker Kelly Cooper. Let's hear it for our ARROWS!"

There's a lot of noise around the stadium, but that certainly doesn't intimidate the Harpies. All the players are ready, Coltrane and Maloney shake hands and once the Keepers are in position in front of their goal rings the referee checks that the Chasers are waiting and ready. A whistle and the balls are released from an assistant referee. The Snitch vanishes immediately. Lester has got hold of the Quaffle first and he takes off for the Harpies goal, but their beaters are already sending the first Bludgers in the way and Dana O'Leary intercepts the Quaffle and passes on to Angelina.

It's magnificent to watch them fly. I think they don't look any less competent than the Irish and Bulgarian players we saw at the world cup. In fact, at least three of the players here are Irish. It's interesting to listen to James, Sirius and Harry. A Chaser, a Beater and a Seeker, they all look at the game a bit differently. Harry squints for the Snitch most of the time, James follows the Chasers, as does Sirius, but Sirius also observes the Beaters.

"The speed is amazing! They've made immense progress in broom construction it seems..." James remarks.

"They have. Five years ago I got a state of the art racing broom for Harry, and that's already almost slow, isn't it, Harry?"

"Won't give it away for a fortune though. After all it was the first gift I got from you," Harry says with a grin. "And it's still as good as new!"

The first goal is scored by Angelina! We cheer of course and I watch it again on the Omniocular.



Sirius


That's how it should have always been: James and Harry and I together at a Quidditch match. That's what James and I had wanted in life: Having a good time at any match with Harry and talk of Quidditch for days on end. Instead we've had years and years of misery. I'd like to kill Voldemort a few dozen times over for that alone.

It's the first time in almost twenty years I'm watching my favourite team play. The girls have opened the score with two goals, one by Harry's former team mate. She looks like one fine Chaser and James commends her on her goal.

"That girl is great! She's going to go far in the league, I'm quite sure..."

"Angelina is one hell of a fine friend, too, Dad! She's living with Fred Weasley. I think they're going to get married," Harry says.

"Oh, is she the one you played with?"

"Yes. For three years. There wasn't any Quidditch cup when they held the Triwizard Tournament. And after that I was in Switzerland."

"What about you, Hermione? Do you fly?" James asks.

"Yes, now I do. I was dead scared in the beginning, because I never liked to go up high..."

I follow the three Chasers of the Harpies, who swiftly score a few goals, only getting about three in return. Normally they are the stronger team than the Arrows and it's visible. Coltrane is a first class Keeper. Even the two Beaters of the Harpies are better than their male opponents. They have wonderful moves, which they execute precisely and fast. The Bludgers are difficult to spot. Then there's the Seekers. Both ladies. Aggie Morgan is 32, very experienced and very fast. She's awesome to watch and Harry says she's really doing great. The game goes on for two hours, then there's a bit of action between the Seekers, as Aggie has spotted the Snitch, but she's being obstructed by the opposite Beaters, so that she can't get to it and it vanishes again. At half past six and at 110:60 for the Harpies Remus turns up. He hasn't been able to leave before his classes have been out, so he's coming in a bit late. Glad that it's not over yet.

"Hey everyone!" he says.

"Hi Remus!" Hermione, Harry and James reply.

I pull him close and kiss him. He looks over the pitch and sees the board.

"Anyone seen the Snitch yet?" he asks.

"Once, just a few minutes ago, but the Arrows' Beaters have been able to keep Aggie away from it."

At that moment, Cooper goes into a dive and when we look around we notice she's trying to lure Aggie away from the Snitch. But Aggie's looking at the right spot and goes for the Snitch, which Harry points out for us at the far end of the stadium and fairly high up, so that Cooper now has to get there faster than Aggie Morgan with a longer way to get there, which seems almost impossible. It's a tight race though and both of the ladies really have to get out of their brooms what they can. Aggie's routine wins out and she catches the Snitch. A wave of disappointment goes through the Arrows' fans, but there's a lot of cheering for the Harpies, too.

"That puts them ahead of Puddlemere!" Harry cries.

"Oliver won't like that! He's got a bet with the Weasley twins that Puddlemere will win the championship this year," Hermione says.

"Really? He must be crazy! Puddlemere is doing very well after the first eight games, but they have already lost against the other candidate for the top position, the Ballycastle Bats. If they lose against the Harpies at least once out of three games they will have a hard time," I remark.

"Well, once you get to know Oliver you'll find out that he IS crazy! He lives, eats, drinks and breathes Quidditch. He's the most obsessed Quidditch player you find anywhere, believe me. It was to a large part thanks to him that we won the Cup in my third year," Harry tells us.

"Any other of your school mates who's gone pro?" James asks.

"Yes, about seven of them. Cho Chang, she was one year ahead of me in Ravenclaw, plays Seeker. She's first reserve for the Montrose Magpies. Then there's Roger Davies, another Ravenclaw, he's a reserve Chaser for the Ballycastle Bats. Quite a good Chaser, too, but won't ever beat Angelina. Alicia Spinnet, another of our Chasers and classmate of Angelina, George and Fred Weasley's is first reserve Chaser for the Harpies. She's probably going to replace Christine McAllister in some of the games in the League, as McAllister is not the youngest anymore and starts thinking of her retirement from active Quidditch," Harry tells James.

We get up from our seats and start leaving the stadium for one of the Apparition points. When we get there I hug Hermione and Harry and wish them a nice evening. Remus, James and I apparate back to Hogsmeade. We hurry back to the castle, where we arrive just in time to put the twins to bed. I've already missed them terribly. I have hardly seen them the whole day! I sigh as I watch Denny fall asleep. Almost half a year old now!



Remus


Once the children are sleeping, Sirius and I sit in the living room. I snuggle closer and he tells me how much he's enjoyed this afternoon and the match. I'm so glad he starts to live a normal life again. Duties here at Hogwarts won't leave us much time, but what little time we get off we take and enjoy fully. Of course we want to be there for the twins in our free time, so for the next few years that means parenting for the most part. But it seems to me so far that this is so rewarding it will be worth the little sacrifice.

"You didn't get to see very much, love, I'm so sorry!" Sirius says at that moment.

"Oh, never mind. The next game we can go and see will be on a weekend, so we can both go... I have to admit that I missed it. I couldn't ever go and see any matches after you were gone. It simply didn't feel right. Besides not having the spare money..."

"Never will you have to deprive yourself of anything you need and rarely of something you want now, love!" he whispers. And then, louder: "Hey, I can't wait for the day when I can take the twins to come and watch matches..."

I smile. We kiss for a long time. I still have a test to grade, but I happily postpone that for later and surrender to his ministrations. We're in for another romp tonight. A quick run over the grounds and we both feel refreshed and nicely exhausted, just perfect for a quick shower and bed. I'll get up a bit earlier for the test, I decide. How I love to be able to change to four paws whenever I want now! The wolf runs and runs easily, no care, no fears. It lopes easily up to fifteen miles in an hour and that gives us a large circle around the school's grounds. Padfoot can hold up with about eleven to twelve miles, so for me this is like a walk. The cool, crisp night air is doing wonders. We take that shower and are off to bed.



Friday, 18.10.1998 / Remus


After lunch I have the sixth years Gryffindors and Slytherins. It's the start of the Patronus lessons I'm giving the sixth years. This is a difficult spell and I'm sure, that not all will be mastering it. But this first lesson is just theory. I lecture them about the purpose and the background of that spell. At the end of the lesson I ask a few simple questions.

"So who can tell me what you can fend off with a Patronus?"

Several hands are up, I pick a Slytherin girl, who gives me the right answer.

"Take two points for Slytherin, Nora. And what form does the Patronus take?"

This time I give a Gryffindor the right to speak.

"It depends on the caster."

"How?" I ask.

"I think it's a representation of some inner strength or maybe someone close?"

"Most often that's the case, correct. Two points to Gryffindor. Now you research the spell, the history, how it's cast and then you start to think about possible memories that would help you create a Patronus until we meet again next Wednesday, okay? One roll of parchment."

I dismiss the class. The last class today are the fourth years and with them comes a Ministry supervisor, this time it's Bill Weasley, as we have yet another round of casting Imperius and teaching them to overthrow it. So far out of the 17 students six have been able to cast the curse off, five of them Gryffindors. I wonder why the Slytherins have such huge problems. It's well possible that Sixtus was not the only one who had been the victim of this curse before. But others must have been able to hide it better.

At first, I pick those who have not yet been cursed at all. Only five are left and those get in line. I note them all down. Four of them are Gryffindors. Two girls show signs of trying to throw it off. Then I try again with those who were unable to overthrow it. Then the ones who showed signs to fight it. There isn't enough time for all of them in this lesson, but I ask all of them to write down their experiences.

"I know it's Friday, but I would strongly suggest, that you all go back to your common rooms or dormitories, pick up quill and parchment and note down how you felt this afternoon. Or the first time I put you under the curse. But concentrate on this afternoon while it's fresh in your memories. It doesn't have to be much. Hand it in to me next week and I'll read it. That's not something I'll grade obviously, but I intend to give you the notes back after the Easter holidays next year. That's when I would like to repeat the lessons one more time, after you read your short essays again. Okay?"

"Yes, Professor Lupin," they all reply and I dismiss them, wishing them a nice weekend.

I myself hurry up to our office, where I'm joined by Sirius moments later, then we go down to our rooms to pick up the twins. We both pack a baby in a sling, attach our cloaks and wrap scarves around our necks, take our briefcases and our brooms, then we head out of the castle. We mount, kick off and slowly ride our brooms down to the gates, where we land, dismount and apparate to the Sunnegg. The bell rings as usual and we see Lily coming around the corner from the kitchen to see who's come home.

"Hey there!" she greets us happily.

Lily feels more comfortable at the Sunnegg than at Hogwarts, so she's mostly here, while James likes to 'commute' between our two homes. I have the feeling that both just adore having part in the family life and like to share it wherever and whenever.

"How's your week been?" Lily asks.

"Very nice! I'm knackered again though," Sirius replies, while he puts his broom in the broom cupboard.

I hand him mine and start to take off my scarf while I put my briefcase on one of the sofas. Then I start to unfasten the clasps on my thick cloak. Seraina sticks her tiny nose out of the sling. She pulls her mouth into a little grin. I drape my cloak over the back of a chair at the long table. Then I loosen the sling and free the little one. She seems genuinely happy about that as she starts to gurgle and baby chat. I lift her up and hold her there, so she can look down at me. She responds with a mighty squeal. I smile up at her.

"You love that, don't you, sweetheart?"

Another gurgle, then I quickly take her down again before she starts to drool. I hold her on my arm. She sits on it and leans against my shoulder. Lily beams at her and asks:

"Hello, Seraina! Do you want to come to Auntie Lily?"

Seraina smiles, stretches out her arms and Lily picks the baby up. She's lost her fear of dropping the children. She can actually hold any normal weight on her arms just fine.

"I just wish I wasn't a ghost, sometimes, so you wouldn't have to freeze on my arms, love," she tells Seraina, who doesn't seem to care yet.

But that of course is a problem, because after five minutes or so the babies get cold and start to cry.

"Not a very cuddly auntie am I, right?" she asks the baby.

It actually makes me very sad to see this. Okay, she's here and we can have all the fun together we want, but she's lost so much. It hurts to know that she's never seen her son grow up. And that she's never had the chance to give him a few siblings.

But I have to say that she has found a friend in Seraina. The baby looks at her with a friendly grin and listens to her baby talk, forming sounds and soft words that probably only mothers have.

"Can I leave her with you? I'd like to go and change..." I ask.

"Sure! Leave Denny here as well, Siri."

"Thanks!"



Lily


What fun it is to baby-sit those two little ones! I'm still in awe that they're Remus' and Sirius' children. It seems so right that these two, who have been Harry's top favourite babysitters, now have children of their own. I'm looking at them and while I'm just musing about how nice it will be to see them grow up I hear the apparition bell tinkle. In the next moment, Harry apparates in. He smiles broadly as he comes over and greets first me and then the babies. They are getting a bit cranky now, I suppose they're hungry. Harry drops everything and lifts the crankier one, Denny, up to sooth him.

"You know you do that very well, Harry!" I commend him.

"Thanks, Mum. I really love those two little blighters, and I hate to see them cranky. Is it time for food, Denny?" he asks the tiny boy and pecks him on the round little cheek, blowing a soft raspberry.

He gets a giggling reply, because he also tickles the little one who starts to squirm on his arm. But he holds on tightly.

"Hey, Denny! You are really starting to look like your Daddy, you know! Same black hair and it looks like your eyes are going to stay that lovely grey-blue!"

I think, he could have told Denny what he studied today and still got a smile from the baby. The bell tinkles again and Hermione comes in. Only a few minutes later Ron and Justin come home.

"Hey everybody!" Ron calls happily.

"Hi, you two! Hello, Lily! Shall I take Seraina? Should be time for their bottle, shouldn't it?" Hermione asks.

"Yes, but I don't like to give it to them, I'm just too cold for them."

"We'll take over then."

Hermione puts her things on a chair and picks up Seraina, then she summons the bottles from the kitchen. Harry and Hermione warm the bottles and sit down to offer them to the twins. While they're still feeding them, Remus and Sirius come back down.

"Hi all! Thanks for taking over!" Sirius says brightly.

They both wear sweatpants, t-shirts and jumpers and sit down on one of the sofas, watching Harry and Hermione holding the bottles for their twins. Both look a bit tired, but I have the impression, that Sirius is a bit more worn down than Remus.

"You look tired..." I remark.

"Well spotted, Lily," Sirius says and sounds a bit weary.

"It's a bit harder when there's two of them," Remus explains and looks fondly at his twins, "There's always something. We've had to resolve the sleeping problems with charms. They get something to sooth their aching gums from Poppy and we give them a very mild sleep charm. Teaching can be rather tiring, too."

"Let's just say that teaching here was like paradise! Now it's more like really everyday life. Mind you, I really like it, but it's wearing me down much more than anything I did before," Sirius agrees with a smile that looks a bit wistful.

"But you like it, don't you?" I ask.

"Yes, I do like it! Actually I think I have a knack for it, wouldn't have believed it myself. The students are mostly okay. They're really working hard in my classes, and I have a hard time understanding, why Severus just put them down right from the beginning. Before he even tried to see their potential."

"Dumbledore claimed he did it to get them timid enough to take care with the ingredients and the brewing," says Hermione.

"Oh yes, and that resulted in what? You saw what it did to Neville, Hermione! I can't say anything yet, but the first and second years work as carefully as the older ones and neither Arabella nor I have intimidated them into taking care. I'm giving them the rules in the class and they have them set up in front of their eyes again and again. And I get the impression they mind them and see the necessity. At least they do their best."

"Did you have any exploding cauldrons yet? Or melted ones?" Harry asks.

Sirius laughs.

"Of course! You remember what I said, don't you? Accidents can happen to anyone. And it's not a reason to blow up like a rocket. But that was what Snivellus was like anyway..."

"Sirius! He wasn't that bad! If you and James wouldn't have..." I start.

"Oh, you always missed something, Lily, he was the kind of friend I was supposed to have, according to my oh so pure-blooded mother. I knew him ever since we were still in the cradle. He's been to that wretched house countless times before we even went to grade school together. Thank you, but no thanks!"

Now there's a surprise. He's never told me that! I thought the enmity had started the first day of school at Hogwarts. James is right there to agree with Padfoot.

"Padfoot is right, love, he's always been like that. Mind you, he's been brought up this way. Remember Regulus? Same snotty, evil kind. They thought it was how you're supposed to be if you want to display purest blood. No one ever told them about what REAL noblesse is!"

"What's worse is the way they were taught to think that way. All of us didn't have a specifically happy home life, not even beloved Regulus. I just got it worse than the others, because I had the audacity to be sorted into Gryffindor and associate myself with all the riff-raff... It's all still there sitting in my mind often, because Azkaban has burned these memories into my brain forever. I'm just glad if I can shove them out of my mind most of the time," Sirius says.

"Siri! You never said anything about that..."

"No. Too embarrassing," Siri mumbles.

"But I've seen how he looked under his clothes when he returned from the vacations at 'home', Lily. He asked us not to say anything to anyone though."

"And you only saw what mother couldn't heal. She got most of it covered up..."

Oh my! Goddess, it must have been torture! I know that he left his home because of his differences with his family, but I never knew that abuse was also an issue. He smiles.

"Never will I raise my hand or worse, my wand against my children, Lily! The thought alone gives me the creeps! I wonder what my parents did feel when I was born. Probably just that the heir they wanted was there, then they left me to the servants."

"That is a very brave choice, Siri. They will surely try your patience and what will you do then?"

"I don't know yet. Maybe use a sleep charm. But one thing is sure: I'll never cause them physical pain. I'll never put them down verbally. That's my vow anyway."

"We'll do it, Siri," Remus quietly says.

The children have finished their bottles and are awake and curious now. Ron and Justin get their moments to cuddle with them, too.



Remus


I send Sirius off to bed early. At half past eight I take the children to bed and he's already fast asleep. Ron and Justin are busy clearing Ron's room and Ron tells me:

"We've moved over into Justin's room, Remus, now you have two rooms for the twins! They need to be close to you, we don't!"

"Ron, that's very kind of you two! Thank you so much!"

I follow Siri to bed at half past nine. It's only taking me a minute to cuddle up to Sirius and fall asleep.



Saturday, 19.10.1998 / Remus


I feel Siri kissing me and that's what has woken me up. Looking up I notice that it's light outside and I bounce up. Siri pulls me down with a chuckle and says:

"Good morning, love. Our little helpers have picked up the children..."

"I can't believe I didn't hear them, Siri!"

"You needed your sleep, sweetheart. You've been quite exhausted, too, you know!"

I sigh and relax into his arms. Then I close my eyes, until I can feel him kissing me again, this time on the mouth. He pulls me on my back and crawls on top of me. He tries in vain to keep his long hair on his back, but finally surrenders and just lets it hang over his shoulders. I'm lifting my hand and rake through that black mass that I love so much. I think there's no one else who has hair with a texture like Siri's. It's silky, but looks like it's very thick. Then it feels very fine to the touch. Actually he has both, thick and thin hairs. They frame a face with grey-blue eyes that gaze into my eyes now. I'll never get enough seeing his face. There's his eyes! Those amazing eyes, that are the same when he's Padfoot, too. Just beautiful! They're expressive and he can conceal his feelings, but only if he wants to. As long as he's unawares he shows every emotion in them.

Right now he gazes down on me, pinning my hands on the pillow above my head. He slowly closes the space between us and catches my lips with his. It's one of those slow, lingering, endless and wonderfully satisfying kisses, one of the ones that make me get hard in seconds flat!

He lets go and grins.

"I can't say I'm disappointed to feel how you react to such an assault, love."

"Not much of a reason to, now, do you? It's what you want just as well, I'd say."

"You know me too well, Moony! I'm still in awe that I can bring forth such a reaction with only one kiss..."

"Don't get cocky!" I tease.

"Love you, too..." he mumbles.

I've learned you again these past three years. While you continue your 'assault' I'm losing myself in thoughts and the feelings you stir. Gosh, three years? Really already three years we've been together again? I think it's almost impossible. But it's indeed three years since our flight from the UK and they've been three almost perfect years. Oooh, that's nice. Your teeth bring my nipples to life. Gods, this is good. You push your nose into my armpits and sniff, then you move southward, now releasing my hands, because you can't reach up anymore. Yes, Siri, that's where I want your tongue, latch on already!

He does. And I moan. He gets my arousal so hard he can hold up my cock with just the slightest push of a finger. And then all rational thought surrenders to that most wonderful of all feelings, a wet hot mouth sucking my cock. All I can do is mumble, but then I give him a few pointers to turn around and let me have his cock, too, and we finally land on our sides, each busy with the other's hard-on. Siri licks and sucks on mine with abandon and it doesn't take him too long to make me come. I suck him off, mirroring most of his moves, because I can't do much thinking for myself. And there it is, building up deep inside of me, but rushing all to the tip of my cock, that tension I crave, which comes much too soon, but I can't hold it up any longer. I cry out as I feel the release, my orgasm forcing me to let go of Siri's cock because if I hold on then I'll bite him. Badly.

Paddy pulls back and turns around, kissing me again. I can taste and smell myself on his tongue, while he kisses me he caresses my whole body, moving down to my thighs. He lifts my legs and goes for my opening, slowly entering me with a finger and then two. The lust I'm feeling has already made me quite wet. He relaxes my muscles a bit and finally moves from my side to my front, pushing my legs up further, so that I can fold them over his shoulders.

"I can't wait now, love, come on inside!" I call.
"I'm there, my love, just right there..." he manages, while he pushes his length inside.

It's what I love so much. Now fuck me, hard and fast, please! He does, just starting slowly until he feels the rhythm building up. Oh, he pleases me! His breathing is laboured, he pants, and with great difficulty he keeps his eyes open to gaze into mine. My own are on half mast. It's too good to keep them open.

He's drawing it out as long as he can. I don't want it to stop! He thrusts with a steady, not too slow, not too fast rhythm and I meet him every time.

"Yes, love, just go on, don't stop!" I hiss.

He shakes his head quickly and then comes down to kiss me. I hold onto him and we both breathe heavily, while we kiss. It gives him a bit of time to recover, to hold out longer. When he finally sends me over the edge by pumping my newly hardened cock, I clench my muscles hard. He thrusts once more, twice, then I can feel him arching his back and in the next moment he finds his release and cries out my name. I close my eyes. Pure bliss! I don't think I ever want to see the day when he doesn't have my name on his lips as he reaches his orgasm. He collapses down on me, but I manage to untangle my legs and then I wrap my arms around him. He moves a bit lower on me and places his face in the crook of my neck. I caress the top of his head with my chin, while I hold him tightly.

"Mmm..." he sighs.

"Mmm indeed," I reply with a chuckle.

"Liked that?"

"Mhm."

"Good. I did, too..."

This is so wonderfully childlike it makes me smile. He can be so direct and sometimes he expresses his feelings so clearly and simply. I realise that there are no complicated words needed to say as much.

"I loved it, Paddy. You know I did. Because this is what I love most from you..." I mumble.

We're on the verge of sleep again and allow ourselves another hour of that before we get up.



James



Our two friends seem to need a lot of sleep. We watch the twins for them and let them sleep. Hermione and Ginny have taken over to look after the children for the most part. They don't seem to be overly stressed yet. Hermione looks happy. She has a lot to study already, but Harry tells me she's doing what she loves doing most: digging herself into the books. He and Ron have told me that the usual reply Hermione has for a problem is, let's go to the library! She's a very smart young witch and her demeanour actually reminds me a lot of Lily. And Remus. How lucky Harry was to have had her as best friend for the whole of his school years. I wished that I could have said the same about Lily, but unfortunately we wasted about three years. And a further few we could have been friends.

It's funny that Lily and I now spend a lot of time apart, I'm travelling between Hogwarts and the Sunnegg a lot, but she stays mostly here in this cosy farmhouse.

While we're sitting at the breakfast table, there's a knock on the door and then an elderly woman enters. The kids all jump up to greet her delightedly. We're introduced.

"Barb!" Harry cries and gets up to offer her a chair.

The others greet her just as enthusiastically. She greets them all with a smile and says:

"I thought I'm coming to see how you lot are doing!"

"Just great! We miss it a bit that we're not a class together anymore, but otherwise just fine."

In that moment Barb sees Lily and me. We haven't met her yet, but the kids seem to know her very well. She stares at us in shock.

"Oh, Barb, you haven't been here for a few months, we've had a nice addition to the family in the meantime. Do you remember when we told you the story of my parents?"

"Yes..." she says.

"And do you remember seeing the ghosts at Hogwarts? Well, it turned out that my parents decided to become ghosts when they died. This is my Dad, James and my Mum, Lily Potter. Mum, Dad, this is Barb Leuenberger, she and her husband owned this house before we came here and were still our neighbours for a while. They've been our surrogate grandparents, if you so want and we learned a lot of Muggle stuff from them."

"Oh, of course, I've forgotten about the ghosts! Though now I remember having talked to one of them, he called himself a very funny name and had his head only almost cut off..."

"Nearly Headless Nick!" everyone around the table cries and they laugh.

"That wasn't it..."

"Oh no, he certainly presented himself as Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington. That's his real name of course, but Nearly Headless Nick is what everyone else calls him. Just Nick, really, because he hates to be reminded of his botched beheading. We're very pleased to meet you. Remus and Sirius have spoken about you with a lot of sympathy," Lily says.

"They're a very nice couple. It did take me a while to accept that fact though. Not that I told them, but it was a bit strange for me to have homosexual tenants. But they're both so very nice and we hit off quite easily. Are they at Hogwarts this weekend?

"No, we've just given them the night free. Seraina and Dennis are still quite exhausting, because they have teething trouble."

Barb looks around at the little ones who are sitting on the laps of Hermione and Ginny.

"Wow, they've grown a lot since I've seen them last at your wedding, Hermione!"

"Yes, they have, haven't they? They can actually sit in a high chair already. We just love to cuddle with them. We don't see them all week, so we love to hold them a lot on the weekends."

Barb seems to be very popular with the young ones. She happily accepts a cup of coffee from Dobby. When I start talking to her I find out that she has a good basic knowledge of magic.

"You seem to know quite a lot about our ways..." I remark.

She laughs.

"I didn't have much to do left when Remus and Sirius came here. We had already stopped having cows and farming. So I had my household which I could hardly do myself anymore, once Dobby and Winky came to the Sunnegg, because one of them would always pop in and take things out of my hands. I did have the garden, which gave me a bit of work and for the rest of my time I often spent it with the class and listened to all of the lectures. I even did some of their written assignments with them, which I really loved. Remus is a wonderful teacher. Sirius is more hands on, less lecturing. Hence I learned quite a lot. I can even brew some potions now, go figure!"

"Wow! It's great to hear that you're so interested. Shame you can't do it..."

"Absolutely. I'd give a lot for that gift. But I don't have it, so I'm happy to just see what is possible at all. Dobby still pops up sometimes to come and help me with the cleaning in our new apartment. He's just flicking his hand and my windows are clean. I gladly take that. I miss the kids here. Which is why I like to come up now and then and see how they are doing."

Then Remus and Sirius turn up. Still a bit sleepy it seems, but obviously well rested. They both brighten up immediately.

"Hi Barb! It's nice to see you..." says Remus.

"Hello, you two. You look well..."

"We are well. Just a bit exhausted. Teaching fourteen classes is a bit more work than teaching just one, albeit with several subjects," Sirius says with a grin, placing a little peck on Barb's cheek.

"I can imagine. Housi and I were mighty impressed to see that school of yours! It's huge!"

"It is. And right now it's just received a fairly big bunch of new students. Albus thinks of extending the faculty to have less overworked teachers. He's advertising the posts now. At the moment it's really a lot, even though we have two houses together in all subjects, but for the core subjects it still means too much work."



Parvati


Saturday morning and I'm not working! To top everything off Draco is here as well, so we have spent one wonderful night of love-making and continue in the morning where we've stopped before sleeping.

Then the most wonderful thing happens. Not only has he my name on his lips when he comes, I'm quite used to that, but afterwards he holds me and he pops the words I've longed to hear for almost three years!

"I love you, Parvati..." he whispers.

All I can do is pull him even closer. I'm quite sure that he's loved me all this time but just couldn't express it in words.

"Draco, I'm so glad! I love you, too, you know!"

He gives me an amused glance.

"I've been a prat, wasn't I? Never saying it. I know that I've loved you almost from the beginning, but it seemed so un-Malfoy like to say it."

"Yes, you are a bit of a prat, but even though you never said it, you treated me like I was your wife or something... I never thought we'd still be together after so long."

It's true. I thought it would be fun to have a boyfriend while we were locked up together, but along the way I've fallen in love with the guy. I was always cautious, especially in the beginning, because I knew his reputation. And of course as a Gryffindor I had been at the end of his sneering like every other Gryffindor. But if there is one thing I can say that speaks for Draco, it's that he treated me like a lady from the beginning. Considerate, kind, loving. That was one of the reasons why it felt so natural to sleep with him almost right away. To my surprise I found that he was as much of a virgin as I and I have to say, it pleased me in a way.

Right now he transforms and all of a sudden I have the cat on my belly, purring and softly pawing me. I laugh and pet him, he's so lovely with his creamy soft fur. I can feel the purring underneath the pelt. He stretches and all I hear anymore is a faint meouw...

After getting up and taking a shower we go over to the former classroom, which is now the combined living and dining room and meet the rest of the gang. It's already half past eleven, but they're all still sitting there, some of them in pyjamas or sweatpants and t-shirts, happily chatting and cuddling with the twins.

"Good morning, everyone!" Draco greets them cheerfully.

"Good morning! You look like that cat just crawling out of the cream jar, Draco!" Remus teases.

Draco only grins.

"What do you want? I am that cat after all! And I have just crawled out of the cream jar..."

"Yes, you are that, and you know what? You'll have to pay attention, because you drool when you purr!" I say with a snicker.

"I most certainly do not drool!" he protests.

"Oh, you don't? I've had to wipe it all off and if I'd had anything on I could prove it!"

Everyone laughs. Ron looks over at Justin and says:

"You'd better watch yourself, too, love!"

We kid around for a while. Draco and I eat some breakfast, then he says:

"We're going to Nice today, I want to show Parvati the land we bought for the fun park. Anyone want to come along? It's still all raw forest and alps though, we're still busy to put the Muggle repelling charms on. To make them permanent is a lot of work! There are lots of forests, but they're not really thick, so we can build some of the slides through the forests."

I'm really looking forward to see the area. He says there's not much to see yet, but I know he and the twins must have seen something. He says it's very wild, as it's one of the few areas in France which are scarcely populated.

We're joined by the whole gang. They all get dressed and are told where to apparate on a map. The lot is in between a national park and the Italian border in an area called Alpes Maritimes. It's not too far away from Nice, and when we get there we're all amazed that it's still quite warm. Draco explains it with the proximity of the Mediterranean.

"For wizards this is an ideal area, because it's scarcely populated, it's easy to access either through the Portkey station at Nice, which has a small wizarding community and from there through Floo or Portkey for families and apparition for adults. It's in the mountains, so we have the incline we need for the slides. Fred, George, Lee and I have started to build a small blockhouse as our headquarters for the duration of the construction of the park. It's just behind that bit of forest over there..."

We follow him to a small cabin, which consists of a large open room, serving as office, living room, dining room and kitchen. Four rooms are added around the open one, and a comfortable bathroom.

"Wizarding construction is great, I've noticed. The guys we ordered to do this have it done in three days! There are the plans! Come and have a look!"



Hermione


It's great to see Draco so focused on his project! Nothing is left of the sneering, blasé teenager he played so well only a few years ago. Now he has something to do and this looks like a lot of work.

"The lot is 13.5 square kilometres. We have some bits of forest and more alpine meadows. As you can imagine most of the work consists of charming it Muggle secure right now. That's the first bit, then we'll have to cast illusion charms in masses, the likes we have at Hogwarts, that makes Muggles who see it think it's a wasted ruin. Here everything will look just like normal unpopulated alpine meadows and forests. There's a smallish road that leads to the nearest town and some even smaller roads that lead up in the Alps."

"Do you do all the charming yourselves?" Remus asks.

"Most of it. We don't want to have too many hired people before we actually start constructing the site. We have two experimental charmers from the French Ministry, who are working with us during the week. They use some new Muggle repelling charms, that can be cast on a whole square metre. Which reduces the work on one thousand charms per square kilometre now, where you had to put one every other centimetre before. It's still very tiring. We're almost done though."

"And then what are you actually going to construct?"

"Two parts. There's the water-park, which will have pools with similar designs as the Alpamare, only it will be even more sophisticated. There will be pools simply with waves, but there will also be pools where visitors can go through an adventurous ride through a whole jungle of events. Obstacles and creatures and stuff. That will all be set up indoors. We'll have a larger outdoor pool, where all the slides will end. And another outdoor pool, which we'll heat up very warm, so that it can be used summer and winter. Some of the slides will be covered for security reasons and others will be just like the slides at the Alpamare, you run down on mats. That's the water part. Then there will be another part which will be more like the Muggle fun parks with rides of all sorts, anything from a simple carousel kind to brooms and some more experimental ones. And of course there will be a couple of pubs and restaurants. We're still considering whether we should add a small hotel."

Wow. They do plan big! On the other hand they have a lot of money together, so why not use some of it. It sounds like a very good idea and if they advertise it cleverly it would mean that they should have guests from all over Europe's wizarding communities. The French Ministry probably won't have anything against that tourism at all.

"Best of all is that there's lots to do in the area. In spring, summer and fall the people can take a quick hop down to the Côte d'Azur, where there are really wonderful beaches and there's loads of lovely places to see. They can plan vacations around the visit here. That's what the French Ministry hopes for and we would be pleased to see it come true. In any case we'll strive to work together with some of the wizarding communities along the Mediterranean to get people to book vacations for more than just two or three days, which would do the wizarding tourism a load of good. Plus we plan to offer combined arrangements for vacations and visit of Dragon's Tales included."

"You've got very sound plans there, Draco! I'm sure this will work out. You'll certainly have a lot of work with it still, but it sounds like this could be a success," Sirius remarks.

"That's what we hope. The next step will be the founding of the Dragon's Tales Company. If any of you want to take part - you would be welcome... we do plan to give the extended family shares of the company as gifts. George and Fred have made very good business with the Commumirrors, Hermione, they have quite a lot they can invest now. I'll probably hold 60% and the twins will take 40% minus whatever amount of shares we either sell to other investors or give away as gifts. We expect the company to be profitable within at the maximum two years. As you can see I'm learning my business lessons right now. I found that the twins really have a nose for business and while they still do a lot for their joke shop they have cut the inventing part by about half, because as long as their products are still hits they don't really need to get new stuff out. And in the meantime those two are gaining a lot of competence in the business realm."

I'm impressed by Draco's speech. It just flows out of him, he doesn't stop and think for a moment, it's clear that in the past weeks he's learned a lot and it's come to him easily. I'm quite sure it's not only the twins with the necessary business instinct, but that Draco has a good portion of that as well.

Apart from the block house there's nothing to see yet. They still expect about two weeks of charms work to do.



Draco


They're all totally excited about this! What's really nice, is that they don't feel that only on behalf of the twins, but for myself, too. It's amazing, but that motley mixture of people has really become my family. They have taken me in like a lost puppy or a stray cat and now I'm really needing their warmth, support and joy on my behalf. I think that's why I was finally able to tell Parvati that I love her. She's been so much like a rock in the ocean, a solid one on which I could rely. Of course I know that there's a lot of fancy girlishness around Parvati, but she's chosen to become a healer, something I'd never expected. She's great and I don't regret a single minute with her.

But besides Parvati there are all the others. Giving up the snobbish behaviour has been worth it, considered that I've gained twelve siblings and better foster parents than anyone could hope for. Remus and Sirius have never once been condescending. I think it's because I've really had a good start with Remus and then Sirius, who both gave me solid ground to walk on after having tread water for all of my life.

Father has brought me up to become an unfeeling machine that was ordered to do his bidding and I've done that until one day I realised that he was using me. The revelation came when I saw Voldemort for the first time at the Manor. I wasn't even presented, I had to stay out of the way still, but of course I watched through some crack in a wall or a door because I had to know what was going on. At first I was still excited at the thought that Voldemort would deem my family worthy of his visit, but then I saw my parents on the floor kissing the seam of Voldemort's robes. That did it for me! I knew they were nothing more than his slaves after I've heard those oily comments of that snake. Father and Mother were ready to torture and kill just to please this abomination. I suppose they did that before and they probably even liked it. And of course the last straw was Father's attempt to kill me outright. And his intention to kill Neville as well, just because he happened to be at the wrong place in the wrong moment. Now I can at least sympathise with Harry as to his guilty feelings after Diggory was killed. I needed to almost experience the same thing to understand.

I had liked to taunt and tease and be a little mean with my classmates of the other houses. It was quite satisfying back then to have two bodyguards, even if they were as dumb as stones. But in that moment, watching the pathetic worship of Voldemort from my father I understood, that I didn't want to have any part in that whole Death Eater business. I kept to myself, made myself mostly invisible and returned to Hogwarts for my fifth year. I had actually planned to go to Dumbledore and ask him for advice on how to get away from these circles. Then Father decided to be a prat. Very untypical, but from the protocol of the trial, which I've read! I could see that he was practically forced to bring on his contribution to the next generation. Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle had already joined the ranks by then, as well as some others who had just left school shortly before or were in the upper forms. I was never so glad to see McGonagall as I was then. She can be dead dangerous if need be, that woman.

And that brought me to my second chance. I've heard so many people talk about second chances and what it had given them. When it was my turn and I was given a chance to start again I was deeply thankful. It was a very slow process, but now, almost three years after that I think I'm fully accepted and belong. I don't even want to imagine what my father would say to the fact that I'm not only socialising with several Weasleys, but that two of them are going to be my business partners. The most cheerful ones on top of it. I think I should send him an owl to Azkaban and tell him.

This is going to be a business, but I expect to have a lot of fun with it as well. I've never worked as much before and it's backbreaking work to charm such a large area with Muggle repelling enchantments. But I will be able to look back and say that I've built all this with my own work, not the hired work of some almost slaves. I'd never have thought that such a thing could make me so proud. Every evening when I get back to the cabin I feel accomplished. Surprising, how satisfying this can be!

Another thing I have to thank the gang and Remus and Sirius for is that I've actually started to like school work at the Sunnegg. Before I was barely average and if I did well in Potions it was mostly because Snape let me do anything I liked just to spite the Gryffindors. Sirius and Remus made me see that teaching and learning can take place on a whole other level than only competition or just doing what was needed to pass. I had to really pull myself together to not sneer at Hermione's eagerness to learn new things. And to keep them. But once I saw her for what she really is, not the Muggle born witch, but the really, truly gifted and powerful witch, I was able to see past my prejudices. Now I admire her immense curiosity for everything there is to learn. She likes knowing things for the sake of knowing, not proving that she is the best. Not that she minds being the best. My hatred of the likes of her mostly came from having heard about the lesser value of Muggle-borns or half-bloods from the day I was born. It was practically hammered into me during all of my early childhood and frankly, what reason did I have not to believe my parents?

I've wondered for a long time how Sirius was able to shake all that off. I mean, he was born into THE Black family. The heirs of the Black family line. He was the heir himself. My mother often complained about him and his traitorous behaviour and that he never deserved to be born into this family. From what I heard from Tonks and Sirius I can only say that I wouldn't want to know how my great-aunt really was. I've only seen her a few times when I was very small. All I remember is that she looked like a hag. When I mentioned that to Sirius, he grinned and said he'd been very thankful to have inherited his father's looks. He also told me that there was another uncle, so a great-uncle to me, who was more like Sirius and Tonks, a very nice fellow, Sirius said. Then he told me that said Uncle Alphard left him a whole lot of money and that this enabled him to leave the family for good without being destitute. Bet the old codger must have really liked Sirius. Now Sirius has the whole family inheritance and actually he'd never have to work a day in his life anymore, he could easily live for the rest of his life just using up what's in the Black family vaults. There must easily be as much in them as there is in the Malfoy vaults. But he's paid for all of that with more than anyone should have to. I really thought that it was all true, I only learned about the truth when I came to the Sunnegg. Slowly I then learned about his childhood and what he went through not only back before he even came to Hogwarts, but afterwards, when his parents heard that he had not been sorted into Slytherin. It must have been hell! I know that had I ended up anywhere else than in Slytherin then Father would probably have treated me like dirt, even if my house would have been Ravenclaw. And finally I can't even imagine what Sirius must have gone through in Azkaban.

In my sixth year I really started to talk to Sirius. He is a great guy. Apart from all the love of fun he's a very solid character. Had to be to survive something like Azkaban and stay lucid. He said that as soon as he was out of the Dementor's claws it got a lot better immediately, but being on the run must have been almost as hard, even with that perfect disguise of turning into a dog. What impressed me most though was what he told me about Azkaban. I'm probably one of the very few people he's ever told how it really felt to be in there. It is one of the reasons why I respect him so much, he's not only survived, but he's had the hell multiplied because he could be tortured during the whole time he was in there. Others were mad long before that and the Dementors could hardly feed on them anymore. But if they caught Sirius in his human form he suffered the same in his tenth year there as he did in his first few days.

Then he's really deeply in love with his mate. To think that they've been together for more than twenty years and out of those twenty years they actually spent five or six really together... to me it seems to be a miracle that their relationship actually held up. And that's certainly not only because werewolves mate for life. Remus isn't even sure whether that's true at all, but he says that being away from his mate really does him no good. It's certainly true that Remus has looked healthy and strong since he's with Sirius again, much less tired than when he was a teacher at Hogwarts in my third year.

We got to know a completely different Professor Remus Lupin at the Sunnegg anyway. He was the same in the classroom, competent, mild and yet firm, calm and knowledgeable, but as soon as classes were out he turned into a sparkling person with a love for bantering, playing and having fun.

And lastly my 'siblings'! We kind of made for a house of our very own, despite the flags of the four houses which still hang on the wall in the kitchen at the Sunnegg. It felt like that at least when we were back at Hogwarts for the OWLS and NEWTS. It was a really good feeling. Maybe because I've finally had a sense of belonging, while I only felt that I was a noble member of Slytherin house. I didn't really belong, because no one actually belongs together in that house. Now that I know what a real family is like I can understand their dislike. No, not dislike, but certainly mistrust. It's all a great misunderstanding anyway. The Slytherins behave nasty, because they sense that everyone else detests them. Everyone else detests them because they behave nasty. The cycle starts again. Both sides are at the same time right and wrong. Not much one can do except either giving up Slytherin house - at least for a period of let's say fifty years - or at least take it out of those dungeons. I shudder to think that possibly Denny or Seraina could end up down there. Oy! Do I still sound like a Slytherin? Though the twins will be well in the know that the hat likes children who know where they want to go and those two have Gryffindor written all over them!

We've returned to the Sunnegg. I'll be back in the cabin on Monday.