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Tuesday, 23.2.1999 / Neville


I haven't told anyone of the gang yet. I'm pretty sure, that I won't get the job, but I've aimed so high! On the other hand Professor Sprout has told me, that she thought I was the best who tried and I did get to the final three and was allowed to test with actual lessons. I've gone back to my work like everything would be normal, but I'm waiting for that owl...

When I get to the breakfast table there actually is an owl waiting for me. The letter looks quite official, too. Padma, Blaise, Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Ernie are sitting around the table as well and when they see the letter they get curious. That's the only downside of living with a large group of people like we do. There's not much to be kept secret. I breathe hard.

"What's that, Neville?" Hermione asks softly, "It looks important."

"It is pretty important. To me anyway," I admit.

"Come on, open it, you won't know what's inside before you open it!" Ginny suggests.

"Easy for you to say," I mumble.

But then I'm taking another deep breath and open the letter. It's from the Hogwarts Board of Governors of course and I'm preparing myself for the rejection already, when I read:

"Dear Mr. Longbottom

We are pleased to inform you, that you have been chosen to be the new Assistant Teacher for Herbology at Hogwarts. You will be required to start your work on 1st April 1999. Please report to Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Sprout. You will be working with Professor Sprout for some training in teaching.

For all terms and conditions please refer to the working contract, which we will send to you in the next days.

With our congratulations and our best wishes for your teaching career, we remain

Yours faithfully

Griselda Quirke
Head Governor
Hogwarts Board of Governors"

The grin that spreads on my face tells my friends that the news are good. I can't believe it! I'm going to be a teacher at Hogwarts! I'm going to be working with what I love most and what I'm really good at. And I get the extra time of almost three months to work with Professor Sprout to teach under her guidance and learn more about the teaching. It's going to be great.

"Now really, Neville, what is it?" Blaise asks impatiently.

They're all watching me. I look up at them and exclaim:

"I'm going to be a Herbology teacher at Hogwarts!!!"

Now they're staring, open-mouthed, and then Harry starts to cheer:

"Woohoo, way to go, Neville! You're going to teach Herbology? I didn't even know you applied!!!"

"I was so convinced they wouldn't choose me, I didn't want to tell you all and then be disappointed. So I didn't hold my hopes up too high. But they chose me!"

I pass the letter to Hermione, who reads it and shakes her head.

"That's so great, Neville! If anyone deserves that, it's you! Just a year out of school and you get to teach! This is incredible. Your gran is going to be so proud of you!"

"I think so, too. I'm going to see her tonight to tell her. I'll teach the first through fourth years. I still can't really grasp it! I'm so happy. I'll have to give notice to my company now. I'll hand in my resignation to the end of March. It's just in time, too, luckily I have only a delay of one month to leave."

My friends are all happy for me, too, which really pleases me. I'll move most of my stuff to Hogwarts now, but like Sirius and Remus I'll surely spend some weekends here.

At lunch I compose my resignation letter and hand it in to my boss. She's sad that I want to go, but when I tell her why, she even beams and says:

"You still have six vacation days, Mr. Longbottom, I suggest you take them just before you leave, so your last day will be the 23rd March. Congratulations to your new position!"

"Thanks, Madam. I can hardly wait to start!"

After I'm off I'm apparating to my gran's. She expects me to dinner as always on Tuesdays. I'm taking my cloak off and hang it on the peg in the hall, then I go and greet gran, who's in the drawing room.

"Hello gran!"

"Hello Neville! You're right on time!"

I give her a peck on the cheek and say:

"I have good news for you. I'm going to Hogwarts as a teacher."

"What? You're having me on, aren't you?" she asks.

"No, I'm not. I'll be the assistant teacher for Herbology. I'll teach all first to fourth years."

While we sit down at the dinner table, I give her the letter.

"Here!"

She quickly reads over it, looks at me and smiles.

"Well done, Neville! That should suit you well, shouldn't it? But why do you start in April?"

"I'll be working together with Professor Sprout for the rest of the school year to gain more teaching experience. That's a great chance. I'll probably actually be teaching under her guidance. It will help me build up a routine, too, without being thrown into the cold water."

"Ah yes. That sounds very nice, Neville. I'm proud of you, you know! You have matured so much in the past three years. Those two rascals actually did a lot of good for you, didn't they?"

"Absolutely, gran. And now I'll work alongside them at Hogwarts. Isn't it just great? Of course there will also be four other additional teachers and a new Potions master or mistress. All core subjects will be split in a teacher for the lower and a teacher for the higher forms."

"I see. I've read that Dumbledore is retiring?"

"Yes, at the end of the school year. Professor McGonagall is taking over then and Remus will probably become Deputy Headmaster."

"Remus? Dear me..."

"You'd think that's a dangerous decision, wouldn't you? Sirius has already been given the position of the head of Gryffindor house. He's told us last weekend."

"Now that's an even more questionable choice! These students will be on a rampage!" gran says.

"I'm not so sure. He can be pretty strict, you know..."

During our meal we start to discuss the family gossip and she tells me all about the neighbours. Then we get to talk about Mum and Dad. We both visit them regularly, not on the same days now, so that they get visits more often. It's still very hard for me to see them, even though almost seventeen years have gone by since it happened. The healers told us that they probably wouldn't live as long as normal wizards do, the way their brains have been frozen makes them very vulnerable. Neither my gran nor I will want their lives be held up artificially if they can't be made better. It's hard for me, but it must be even harder for gran, since my Dad was her only child.



Remus


There's an owl for me at breakfast. Sirius grins when he sees it's coming from the Board of Governors.

"Come on, love, open it!" he urges.

Minerva sees it, too and looks at me with interest. Then she looks around to find another owl that drops a letter to her, too. I slit the parchment envelope open and pull the letter out. It's very short:

"Dear Professor Lupin

We herewith confirm your promotion to Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts from on the next school year. Your duty will start on 21st June 1999, at the end of the summer term.

With our congratulations and our best wishes for your teaching career, we remain

Yours faithfully

Griselda Quirke
Head Governor
Hogwarts Board of Governors"

I start to smile and hand the letter over to Sirius, while Minerva looks up from her own, almost identical letter and beams at me.

"There you are, Remus! No problem! They've confirmed you as Deputy Headmaster!" she says.

"I've just read the same, Minerva. That really makes me happy!"

"Well, it certainly makes me happy. I know you'll do great."

In the course of the day I receive congratulations from all of our colleagues. I'm feeling elated and I know that I'm going to have a great responsibility, first of all for the school and its students, but also for others of my kind, who will probably be able to draw hope from my career and start working for their educations and careers as well.

In the evening we have just settled down to play with the twins, when a knock on the door announces a visitor. Sirius opens the door and lets Albus in. They both sit down on the sofa, while I remain on the carpet, where Seraina and Denny are crawling and climbing all over me.

"Baba, baba woo!" Seraina babbles.

I frown. What the heck does she mean?

"Good evening, Remus," Albus says.

I look up and greet him with a smile.

"Hello, Albus. Sorry, that I'm not getting up, but they are keeping me in place right now..."

"Do not worry! They are delightful, they have already grown so much."

"It's so quick, isn't it?" Sirius asks.

"Baba, woo!!!" Seraina insists.

"Woo?"

"Woo! Moo-y!"

"Could she mean the wolf, Remus?" Sirius suggests.

"Oh, you mean I should turn into the wolf?" I ask.

Seraina beams and nods.

"How does she already know that the wolf and I are one and the same?" I ask and change.

I push her lightly and Seraina falls on her little bum. Then I tickle her belly with my snout until she squeals. She giggles and then Denny joins the fray, too. Ouch! That's my whisker, Denny! I'm giving a very soft growl, which tells Sirius that he should warn the children.

"You can't pull Papa's whiskers, Denny, that hurts him!" he says promptly.

Denny sits back down, looks at me with his head tilted and that irresistible Sirius-smile which he's already perfected. I look around and see a smiling Albus and a smirking Sirius. Then I transform back.

"No protesting, children, we have a visitor!"

Albus conjures three glasses and a bottle of champagne, pours the glasses and hands one to Sirius and I, then picks the remaining one up.

"I thought that this nomination of yours really deserved to be celebrated, Remus! I want to congratulate you and wish you all the best in that new position. I'm convinced that Hogwarts will greatly benefit from such a talented and wonderful person such as yourself! All this far apart from the fact that you have just been appointed to this position as the first werewolf ever. You have a wonderful opportunity to prove that you are not only the exception from the rule. You are undoubtedly a very special werewolf, but I am sure there would be others out there who were forced out of their jobs and lives just because they became werewolves, but who would nevertheless be as useful to society as they were before the bite. I am most happy for you to take this outstanding route! And I will probably see you one day in that office up there when I have been snoozing in my frame for a long time already."

I grin.

"I can't imagine you'll be one of the snoozers, Albus. You'll probably cause as much mischief as anyone can from out of a portrait. But I do hope that Minerva will hold out for a while. She'll do a great job."

"I am sure she will. And I am also quite sure that the two of you will be a very good team."

We are talking about all sorts of subjects for a while as we're drinking the champagne. Seraina pulls herself up on my robes and leans on my knee. Then she stretches her little hand out for my glass.

"Baba!"

I look down on her amusedly.

"Oh no, my little one, you can't have any of that. There's pumpkin juice on the table, that's what you can have."

I'm floating glass and bottle out of the reach of my babies and pick up the pitcher with the juice to pour some into a cup for Seraina. She is thirsty it seems, because she drinks some of it.

"That's my good girl."

I pull her up on my lap and take my glass again.

"This is something you'll taste for the first time, let's say around your fifteenth birthday."

Sirius and I have noticed that our little girl is a very talkative child. She's already got a repertoire of about eight words which she uses in the right places. And she's got a whole number of random sounds. Most of those are an exact mirror of her moods. And mostly she's a very sunny child. Having seen those childhood memories of mine which I had stored away in my subconscious I have a hard time thinking that I was exactly the same before the bite. I hug my baby and kiss her on her head.

"How I love you, my little one," I whisper.



Albus


It is the first time since they came to Hogwarts last September that I actually sit with them and see their interaction with their children. Remus looks like an extremely devoted father and both children cling to him quite strongly. When he takes Seraina on his lap Dennis crawls over to Sirius who promptly lifts his son up and hugs him. And when Sirius turns to me he has a very determined expression on his face.

"I've been giving it so many thoughts since we've started to go through our memories to write that book, Albus. Remembering, consciously and unconsciously, what my parents have done to me, but not only to me, I was just worse off than Regulus, I've sworn to myself I'd never do the same. Not once in those memories did my parents hold me on their arms when I was a small child. Not once did I see any of them sooth my tears, not even when they were around when I cried. And I've also sworn to myself that I'll never mistreat any of my children with my wand. It would feel like a crime to do such a thing, and I think it probably is a crime. I've been subjected to so much domestic violence that I doubt my parents had anything like love left for me. They didn't even love Regulus or each other, they only loved themselves."

"Those memories must have been hard to bear."

"That's true, but the worst was seeing Remus' memory of when he got the bite. And the immediate aftermath. He was like Seraina is now, such a bright child, much loved by both of his parents. I was so happy to see that! And it was so good to remember Papa and Maman, how much they still loved Remus even after the bite. If anything they loved him even more. But to see the laughter vanish from Remus' face hurt so much. It hurt even more to see how his affection for others was so often rejected, because once they know many people don't see Remus the person anymore, but only Remus the wolf. In the end all comes down to giving and accepting love."

Dennis starts pulling on Sirius' long hair to gain his attention. Like his father he does not like to sit still it seems. Sirius looks at him and beams.

"What's it, my little Marauder? - Would you like something to drink, too?"

Dennis points at the pitcher, which promptly gets lifted and pours some into a cup for him. He squeals, seeing the magic. Sirius floats the cup to his son and takes it to help Dennis drink. When Sirius puts the empty cup back on the table it starts to float again. Sirius looks from the cup to his son, then back to the cup, then grins and asks:

"Are you doing that, little imp?"

Methinks I have seen this innocent face before. It strongly reminds me of the man who now marvels at his son's first sign of magic. He kisses the baby's cheeks and says:

"Well done, Denny! Have you seen that, Remus? Denny's floated the cup!"

"Yes, and I'm still at a loss for words. He's so early!"

"He is. I don't think I've heard of many children performing magic that early," I confirm.

I do think that it has been a privilege to watch that little boy do magic. If he has got any of Sirius' talents he will be very gifted. He sits on his Daddy's lap and beams. I think that little one knows quite well what he has done. I look at him and he offers me a very lovely smile.

"You're a little imp, Denny! So nice to see you grow so fast. You're going to make us suffer with your unfocused magic."

Sirius turns back to me and explains:

"We have to float anything out of their reach now, they pull themselves up anywhere and crawl around so swiftly that we have to protect them from themselves. And always look on the floor when they're awake, lest we hit them. Their agility grows with them. And they are usually crawling precisely in the spot where we have to pass."

"Your children really look delightful, Sirius. They are so alert and friendly. Certainly very happy children."

"And we hope they'll stay that way. Remember when they were just born and you told us we're taking a very special kind of happiness home? That's exactly what we did, Albus. We took happiness home. They turned our lives upside down, but it was so worth it. To hold them and let them go, to see them lean on us and gain more and more independence is so wonderful. Even their crankiness is bearable. It was definitely our best 'rash decision' ever," Remus says with a smile.

One thing is for sure, I have never seen Remus Lupin smile and laugh freely so often as I have seen it from him in the past half year. I suppose that he found it again the day I sent him to Switzerland with the two people he loved most. He has got two more in that category and probably a whole house full more back in that cosy farmhouse in Switzerland. I still owe Sirius for buying and renovating that house on mostly his own costs. Thank you, Alphard Black, too, because you left Sirius so much money to make him completely independent, even if he never got the Black family inheritance. They have a very nice home there.

It is time to go back to the Great Hall for the dinner. Sirius and Remus get up, pick up the children and we walk over to the Great Hall. While we cross it between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables we look around. The general mood seems to be fine. The students greet us respectfully.



Friday, 26.2.1999 / Sirius


My last period before lunch is free, so I spend the time in our office to read the mail. One of the owls I get today comes from Penelope Clearwater. She asks me for a few dates to go through some of the curriculum for the next school year. Wouldn't she be a Ravenclaw? I grin. Then I put the letter on my desk to reply. She's going to be thorough, that's for sure. Good for her students and good for me, because when I'll take over the students from her for their OWLS year they'll be well prepared.

So far the students know nothing of the change within the staff. They have been informed that Albus is retiring, but otherwise they know nothing yet. Albus has been Headmaster for nearly thirty years now. He actually started the year we came to Hogwarts, which was 1971. Don't think of this, Sirius, that'll just remind you that you and your lover will turn forty this year! Ouch! Six years ago I was still despairing in Azkaban just before my escape. And barely six years later I'm sitting at the teacher's table in Hogwarts, already looking forward to my second year of teaching here and becoming head of my old house. Sometimes it's all overwhelming, especially when I add the twins to the mix. In two months they will be a year old! It will be on a Sunday and I suppose we'll have a birthday party for them with the gang. We could invite the Weasleys as well...

Pull yourself together, Black! I pick up quill and parchment to send a reply to Miss Clearwater. I tell her to either come to Hogwarts or come to the Sunnegg and give her my Commumirror identity to call me. Then I go through the rest of the mail, before it's time to go down to pick up the twins and go to the Great Hall for lunch.

When Remus joins us at the table I remark:

"I think we should keep the children out of the student's part of Hogwarts until they come here, Remus. I think it's time to eat at the flat with them. Dinner in any case."

"Why do you think that?" he asks.

"I've got the feeling that they grow up privileged enough. All the teachers here are already kind of their aunts and uncles and they should still remain to be people who deserve a bit of distance and respect. I wouldn't want to have spoiled brats. So I think it would be better to keep them from going to the student's area completely."

He thinks about my arguments.

"Yes, you might be right. But then I'm afraid we'd have to separate, because I should be here for the meals. And at least one of us should eat with them."

Didn't think of that! Bugger! That will be hard.

"I'll do it. If Minerva allows it you could still be with us for dinner. They really need us still. I don't just want to leave them to Winky, even though she does a marvellous job with them during the day."

I watch Seraina neatly picking a bit of potato from her plate. She's getting the hang of this fast! I put down my fork to help her with the cup. She drinks and looks up to me, promptly swallows wrong and starts to cough. I put the cup back on the table, pull the plate away from her and take her from her chair to hold her over my arm and lightly pat her on the back. Then I have to clean her up of course. I lift her up and look at her.

"Everything okay again, love?" I ask.

She looks okay in any case. I sit her in the high chair again, give her a bit of a carrot and she munches it, swallows correctly and stretches her arm out for the cup again.

"But you have to look at the cup, not at me, sweetie," I remind her.

This time she drinks neatly.

After the meal we take them both back to the flat and they go for their afternoon nap. Remus and I get ready for the two last lessons of this week. I have the Gryffindor and Slytherin seventh years. They are all busy with advanced and more complex potions, for which they need more than the two periods today. Luckily there are always cooling periods, so their potions will be stored until next Wednesday, when they can go one step further and finally next Friday, when they should be able to finish them.

At the end of the lesson I'm returning to the office to pick up the letter for Miss Clearwater and call a house-elf to take it to the owlery. This done I gather an essay I have to grade in my briefcase. Remus comes in from his last class and prepares what he needs over the weekend then we go down to see whether the twins are already awake from their nap. Usually they take quite a long nap in the afternoon, but we don't let them sleep longer than four in the afternoon or they won't sleep for ages at night.

They're both still asleep. We open the curtains in both rooms and do it a bit noisily, then we let in some fresh air. That wakes them up, but usually not too abruptly. When I turn back from the window, Seraina is rubbing her eyes with her little fists. She looks up at me, beams and pulls herself up.

"Hey, my sweet! Let's get you ready for the Sunnegg! We'll see most of the gang tonight! And Auntie Lily and Uncle James..."

I take off her sleeping bag and get her dressed in warm clothes. It's freezing cold outside. Fifteen minutes later we're all ready to leave the castle. Remus puts Seraina in the carrier I have on my back, I reciprocate with Denny who gets to ride with Papa. Then we pick up our briefcases and the brooms and off we are. Outside the gates we disapparate straight to the Sunnegg.

It seems that we're the first ones to arrive. Morag sits at the dining table working on some school assignment. She smiles when we turn up.

"Hey there!" she calls.

"Hello, Morag! Had a good week?"

"Full of work, but quite good. I'll be out tomorrow, we have some classroom lessons. That's why I'm still working on this thing here. Maths is not my favourite subject!" she pouts a little.

"Never liked it too much myself, Morag. I know how you feel," Remus says with a soft laugh.

We free the children from their carriers and let them crawl on the carpet. Morag packs up her things and says:

"Well, I need to have a bit of quiet for this, so I'll relocate to my room. Sorry to flee you guys, but I have to get this done. Seraina and Denny get cuter every time I see them! What are you doing with them, are you using magic to make them so beautiful?"

We grin. It's true, we do have handsome children.

"I think the proper term for what we use would be 'love', Morag," I say.

"Sounds like magic," she replies.

"Sounds? It definitely is magic, believe me," Remus confirms.

She laughs and leaves for her room on the other side of the house. Remus and I unpack the small bag with the indispensable baby paraphernalia and spread what the children like most on the floor, the rest is for their beds. They start to play now, really play, even though they usually won't last long with one thing. And there are first little sibling fights. Sometimes it's not done with giving them both the same item, if one has something the other one wants it's of absolutely no importance that there is a second - and exactly same - item around, it has to be that particular item. Which is when we have to interfere and distract them to something else.

When James turns up we ask him to watch them for a while, so we can go and get into some more comfortable clothes.



Saturday, 27.2.1999 / Morag


Apparating is just wonderful! If my classmates from all over Switzerland knew that I'm still lounging in bed with my girlfriend half an hour before classes started I'm sure they would be bloody envious. But I'm keeping that knowledge to myself of course. I'm usually apparating directly from either the Sunnegg or Nicole's flat to a little used restroom in the school building and have yet to meet someone.

It's not really classes in the regular sense. Sometimes it's tests, sometimes it's question hour, so we can bring up things we haven't clearly understood from the documents we received and sometimes we exchange book recommendations. If it's for questions it comes closest to classes. I take extensive notes and secretly set my wand on recording mode, a charm I've got from Blaise, so that I can pass it on to a dictaquill at home. He says they all use these methods at the Academy, so why shouldn't I? I just have to be up front in the classroom, so that I can set up my wand in a way no one else can see it. I started to use baskets, where I can leave a little scarf and hide my wand with that. It's open, it's practical and the wand can pick up the voice of the teacher easily.

I've got myself a good routine by now, but it takes an awful lot of self discipline to keep up the work. On some days I go home to Mum, but I always take some of my work with me. Shows her that I'm not just biding my time, but that I'm really working. She's pretty nice about it though. In the meantime I've told her about my relationship with Nicole, too. She's been shocked, of course, but if she doesn't want to lose me she's not showing disgust.



Wednesday, 3.3.1999 / Harry


The breakfast table is pretty flooded with owl posts this morning. They're all from Bill and Fleur who invite us to their wedding on the 22nd May in Paris. In Paris! Wow! That'll be great! It's a Saturday, and if I can get Hermione to skive Friday and Monday then we could make ourselves a mini-vacation there! I can always copy Marc's notes from the Academy.

When Hermione sits down at the breakfast table I watch until she's read the invitation.

"Wow! In Paris! That sounds great! What do you think? Do we stay for a long weekend?"

I grin. She's thinking the same!

"Definitely. If we skive off Friday and Monday we can ask Marc for the full set of notes and copy them. Then we can read up. Tuesday is barely any lectures anyway so we should be done by Friday."

"You've already planned it all out!" she pouts.

Then we both laugh, because sometimes we're really thinking the same. I lean over and catch her lips for a kiss.

"Mmmm, better 'n breakfast," she mumbles.

Definitely better than breakfast. I kiss her some more. Only now I have that little problem to carry around all day. Sigh!

We end up asking Marc in advance for the notes. He thinks we're crazy and says:

"Tell me the day before you leave, guys! You know I'll forget until then..."

"Just wanted to warn you, mate!" I reply.

And then we choose a nice hotel and book a suite for four nights. We'll apparate on Thursday evening and return on Monday evening.

I also call Remus on the Commumirror to check if he's okay after the full moon last night. A pretty busy day and I don't mind at all that I'm pounced on coming into my room in the late afternoon. The one who jumps on me is a fairly hairy grey wolf who first of all gives my face a thorough lick with her rough tongue. I grin, but shove her off me.

"Now I need a bath!" I protest, but all I get is a very toothy grin.

I hug her. She's so beautiful and I usually love it when she's transforming into the wolf. But now I feel a bit tired and so I go down to the bathroom, which we have magically enlarged to have enough space for a biiig bathtub. Hermione follows me, transforms and grins.

"I'm coming right with you!"

More magic helps to fill the tub fast. Both of us shed our clothes and hop in the water. Mm, this is nice. Let's get washed and then I'll have my nice little wicked way with my little she-wolf. Though she looks like her good predatory self today, maybe she rather has her wicked way with me! I lean in one of the corners of the tub and she turns around to straddle me and sit on my lap. Her wet hair clings to her skin and reaches almost the small of her back. She has pretty, full breasts and two lovely dark rosy nipples on them. I lift my hands to press my thumbs on them and watch how they harden within seconds. She straightens up her back and presses against my thumbs, then she leans forward and kisses me. Her arms come around me and arousal trickles through my body like a drop of wax along a candle. It slowly spreads and speeds up the closer it gets to my cock. Our tongues can't stop to duel, our mouths aren't really enough. Gods, I love this woman!

When she finally lets go she throws a quick glance down and the next moment I feel myself inside of her. She pulls me a bit away from the edge and wraps her legs around me. I press my hand between our bodies to reach her clit. At that moment she says:

"Harry, my potion needs to be taken again in the next days. Do you want me to take it?"

"Takes care of it for another half year, doesn't it?" I ask.

She nods.

"Do you want to?" I ask.

"Not really. I'd love to make you a father and if I don't take the potion it's pretty certain that I'll be pregnant within a fairly short time. Only it'd make our work to study a bit harder."

"It's March now, so if you leave it and get pregnant, say within a month or two that would be around the end of the year... not a bad time..."

"In the middle of the Academy year, but I thought that we'd have the hardest part behind us by the time we go into final exams..."

I push a little against her. She clamps her muscles and gives me some extra friction. I pull her close and kiss her again. It would be special. After four years of carefully preventing a pregnancy we'd deliberately try to get there... and I know we both really want it. Financially there's no question, we're both very independent and can afford to have a baby. But I suppose we'd have to get our own place then. This here is good, but with a baby?

"There are other things we'd have to consider, love. Where to live..."

"We could move over to the Stöckli. It's by far big enough to hold us, Winky and Dobby..."

I grin. Didn't think of that!

"Hey, you're right. You've been thinking of this, haven't you?"

"'Course. You should know me by now."

"I really should. I love you, 'Mione. If you really feel ready, then I'd say, don't take the potion this time."

She kisses me again.

"So Minerva will have reasons to sigh about having a Potter, a Lupin and a Black around again after all..." she says.

I laugh. Oh, that should be so much fun. We keep slowly rocking each other until we get close and with a few harder thrusts we're both tumbling over the edge. Merlin, it feels so good. Who can live without it?

She leans her head on my forehead and holds me tightly. I suggest a daytrip to Paris to find the perfect hotel for our little get-away in May.

"Jolly good idea."

"Next Saturday?"

"We don't have anything else, yes, next Saturday, if you like."

"We'll look at all the stuffy old-fashioned ones..." I suggest.

She nods. Then she lets go of me, we get up and climb out of the tub, then drain it and dry ourselves with a quick spell. Did I ever mention how I love magic? How handy can you get? A wave of your wand and your hair is dry and even brushed, a wave of your wand and the bathroom is perfectly clean for the next user... we slip our dressing gowns on and go back up to our room to get dressed. Dinner is calling.



Friday, 5.3.1999 / Sirius


I'm on my way down to our flat to leave for the Sunnegg when my Commumirror rings. I fish it out of my pocket.

"Hello, Mr. Black, I got your owl, thanks for that quick reply. When could I come by?"

"Hello, Miss Clearwater! Do you have any free time over the weekend?"

"Yes, all of Sunday."

"If you don't mind to come then, you're welcome to come and see us at the Sunnegg, that's our home in Switzerland. Coordinates are 47°1' north and 7°32' east. Would eleven in the morning suit you? I'll wait for you on that apparition point then, as it's not precisely where we are."

"I've noted that down, Mr. Black, I'll be there at that time."

"Fine!"

It'll be nice to work with her, she sounds like a very nice person. Any girl who could get Percy 'Stiff as a board' Weasley to kiss in the halls of Hogwarts must have something good about her.

"Who's that you've just invited to the Sunnegg?" Remus asks, closing up to me.

I grin.

"Penelope Clearwater. She wants to go over the curriculum we will teach. I think, it's an excellent idea to coordinate what we will cover."

"Yes, I should do that, too. Did you ask her or did she ask you?"

"She asked me. Sounds very organised."

Remus grins.

"Yeah, she could be a twin sister of Hermione's in that regard. Superb student she was and quite a fun one, too. Ravenclaws sometimes have more mischief in them than we'd give them credit for..."

"That's true. I just thought that she must be special, after all she managed to get Percy to kiss her in the halls of Hogwarts! Would never have thought he'd do that!"

"Well, he's been in Gryffindor after all AND he's got some of his mother's traits, too!"

Both laughing, we finish the trip down to our flat, where we pick up the twins and head on to the Sunnegg, where we are welcomed by a larger part of the family.



Sunday, 7.3.1999 / Sirius


The apparition point I've given Miss Clearwater is about three kilometres away from the house, but on the road, so I take one of the cars there and wait for her next to it. It's not a populated bit of forest path, so no one is around, when she apparates in, on the spot at eleven. She looks around and discovers me quickly. She smiles, waves and comes over.

"Hi! Thanks for coming with the car, this looks like an area for which I haven't dressed up correctly..." she says.

We shake hands and I grin.

"Hi! Call me Sirius, please! I couldn't give you an apparition point in the middle of the town, sorry. We're country folks these days!"

I open the door of the passenger seat for her and she climbs in, then I close the door, walk around the car and get to the driver's seat. We drive the short bit back up the hill and once we're out of the forest she's delighted.

"This looks like one hell of a beautiful area! Oh, and by the way, call me Penelope, or Penny, please. Would be rather stupid if I called you by your first name and you called me formally Miss Clearwater."

"Wouldn't want that, you're right. It would sound rather stupid. Well, up there's the farmhouse."

A moment later I park the car next to the house. She gets out of the car, looks around and says:

"Wow! No wonder you come here for the weekends. I would, too, it's so beautiful! Are those your famous Swiss mountains?"

"They certainly are."

"It's beautiful! And that's the house you kept as a safe house, isn't it?"

"Yes, that's it. Easy to see why we love it? So much, that all of the students from back then still have their rooms here and come home as often as they can. Well, come on inside!"

I open the glass door to the living room for Penny and wait until she's entered.

"It gets better and better. You must give me the grand tour, Sirius!"

"Right after I introduce or re-introduce you to everyone who's at home. This was the classroom until last summer. Now it's been modified to serve as living and dining room. Well, you already know most of the people here, I suppose..."

Half of the family still lounges around the dining table and enjoys breakfast which is more like lunch as it's so late.

"Everyone, you remember Penelope Clearwater? She was in Percy's year in Ravenclaw and she'll be the new Transfiguration teacher for the first to fourth years from the next term."

They look around and smile a welcome at Penny. I introduce them quickly and they shake hands. The little ones come crawling around the corner of one of the sofas. Penny smiles when she sees them.

"Oh, aren't they just the cutest little ones! Hello, there! Who might you be?" she coos.

Denny is the quicker one and reaches me first, but Seraina follows right behind. They're quick on their hands and knees now. Both pull themselves up on my jeans now and stare at Penny.

"Well, the little lady here is Seraina Lupin and this one is Dennis Black. They share their birth mother, so they're half twins. They'll be a year old in barely two months."

"Gods, they're cute. It's great that you have children!"

Remus comes in from the kitchen.

"Oh, there you are! I thought I heard you. Hello, Penelope," he greets her.

"Hello, Professor Lupin. How are you?"

"Fine, thank you! Call me Remus, please, we'll be colleagues soon, I hear!"

"Yes, and I'm really looking forward, Hogwarts really has a great faculty right now," she replies excitedly.

"You'll fit in very well! As you can see we're having a late breakfast, but it's called brunch here, so can I offer you something for it or do you just come from breakfast? We love to hang around late on Sundays."

"I've just had breakfast, thank you so much."

"Well, would you like to start right away and then socialise or the other way round?" I ask.

"I think I'd like to start right away. I'm sure some of you will still be here afterwards..."

"You bet. I set everything up in the study. - Oh, but you asked for a grand tour. Well, as you can see this large room has been used as the classroom and if you walk up these lovely stairs you come to the library..."

I go ahead and she follows me, curious that we have a whole library here.

"This is great! A good place to study..."

"You bet. And the drawers contain the complete Hogwarts library in miniature format. The kids had to use retrieval spells and enlarge everything, the books they used were just put in the shelves as long as there's space. They haven't quite filled all the available space, but as you can see they were pretty busy."

"The complete Hogwarts library? Including the restricted section?"

"Well, the books from the restricted section are stored in our study. The same rule went for the use of them that was applied at Hogwarts, but we have been much less strict, they had to ask what they were looking for and we helped search. I don't remember them looking for something very often. But of course we locked the study with locking spells that were personalised, so only Moony or Padfoot could open them. Moony also can't be fooled by Harry's Invisibility Cloak, he's got a too fine sense of smell."

"I see. And what's on the upper level?"

"A common room. When we still used the large room as a class room, we didn't have enough space to be together in the living room and the front room, so we had a common room set up here..."

I lead the way. The common room is still one room where a telly is set up and through silencing spells someone can watch telly without disturbing others down in the living room or be disturbed by them. Draco, Ron and Justin watch a downhill race when we get there.

"Hi!" Draco says.

"Hi - don't I remember you guys? You're Ron, that much I remember..."

"Hi Penny! What are you doing here?" Ron asks.

He gets up and shakes hands with Penny.

"Discuss some stuff with my soon to be colleague..."

"Oh, I forgot, you're going to be the other Transfigurations teacher, aren't you?"

"That's right."

"Well, this is Draco Malfoy and this is Justin Finch-Fletchley. You might have seen Justin at the Burrow, he's my lover..." Ron explains.

"I thought I should know you! Sorry, Justin..."

"That's alright."

"So, who's winning?" I ask Draco.

"The same as always... Eberharther. The guy is hard to beat this season..."

He also gets up to shake Penny's hand.

"Hi Penelope. Pleased to meet you. Though I think I remember you, you were a prefect, weren't you? Ravenclaw..."

"Good memory. I was, yes. Pleased to meet you, too, Draco. Don't I remember you as a fairly spoilt brat? But then you were in your second or third year when I was in my last, so you might have grown out of that..."

"I do hope so! Yes, I was. But it's in the past."

"Fine..."

"Well, that's the middle part of the house... let's go down, then I can show you the rest." I say.

We go back down and I point to the back of the house:

"This used to be the stables, now it contains a load of bedrooms and a couple of bathrooms. Apart from Hermione and Harry they all have their bedrooms over there. We go this way, please..."

I guide Penny through the door to the kitchen.

"This is the old part of the farmhouse, so to speak. We haven't done anything to it apart from furnishing it. Here is the main bathroom, which had been built in a couple of years before we moved in. At the same time the former owners had the kitchen redone. When we were teaching our class we all ate here. Enough space, luckily, but now we've made the table slightly shorter."

The four Hogwarts houses are still represented through the flags. Penny points at it and smiles.

"That's nice - you've hung all the house flags..."

"Yes, that was done right when we started. We had them from their fifth year, most of them spent a part of the summer break here already, so for a welcoming feast we hung up all the flags, since all four houses were represented in our group. It's a good feeling to see them together, Penny! Just now you've had Draco, Ron and Justin peacefully together. Draco and Ron would almost kill each other back at Hogwarts, they became friends quite soon here."

"Draco is a Slytherin, isn't he?"

"Yes. There were three of them, two Hufflepuffs, two Ravenclaws and six Gryffindors."

"And that went well?"

"That went well. Mainly because Remus and I didn't play favourites. We're both Gryffindors. But we really tried to be fair, encouraged them and managed to uphold peace quite well. Have to say that Blaise Zabini and Morag MacDougal are both very nice people, they're the other Slytherins. - Anyway, up the stairs are more bedrooms, Moony and I have our room there and the twins have each a room, there's another bathroom and on the top floor are Harry and Hermione and Ginny still has her room there. Though she and Ernie mostly use his room at the back of the house."

We go into the front room.

"That's what we call the front room. Small living room and we've got the computer set up here. Then this is our small living room. You probably see what I mean. Not enough space to have fifteen people in here and still feel well. That's why we had the idea with the common room. On one side it gave Moony and I privacy and it was cosy when just a small group was in here at times. We didn't keep them out. They also spent a lot of time at the table in the kitchen which was ideal to play games. And here's our destination, the study."

"This is one hell of a lovely place, Sirius! I envy you! It has a lot of style. Beautiful. No wonder you feel so happy here."

"It shows, doesn't it? I love it here. After two years on the run, which I spent mostly in my dog form, this was like heaven! That I shared it with Moony and at first Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Ron made it even better. I was still on the run, technically, but out of immediate danger. It gave me the peace I needed to gain distance to the horrors of that place... I survived Azkaban, but barely. I'm still having issues, but they don't hurt as much anymore. Especially with the twins I'm totally happy now. Nothing that one of the little blighters can't make better... talking of the wolf... there's a little one. I think, that's the cutest thing about them, when they come and look around a corner now. There's so much mischief in their looks."

"They are really cute!"

"Well, let's get started. You can take my desk here, I'll take Remus'; we've cleared the space so we can go through. These are the requirements for the different years. I've only taught fifth, sixth and seventh years so far, so I have to go through this like you have to."

"There's a general list of techniques that should be taught. And in every technique there are a number of suggested transfigurations to try..."

"And that precisely gives you room to play. Minerva is a great teacher, but she's made the mistake of replaying her thing every year and it showed, if you ask me. She also had the tendency to drone and if you weren't naturally gifted for the subject you had a hard time with her. I think you did that a lot better, by the way. The kids were really interested and didn't only learn, they had fun learning."

"I'll have to drone with some of the theory though..."

"Do it as little as possible. You have half a year of time to prepare your basic lessons. I'll go through the syllabus and see if I find different things to transfigure every year, if the seventh years can tell the first years the very thing they're going to work with it's not exactly fun..."

She laughs.

"That's right of course. There's always new ideas in Transfiguration Today. And it shouldn't be a problem to vary the actual things we transfigure, you're right about that."

"I found that I move best if I make them read for homework rather than write essays all over the place. And then I can go through the theory by bombarding them with questions rather than lecturing. But that's just me, I'm not really that good at lecturing. Also I like the interaction with the students. It makes the lessons more alive and keeps them on the subject. Demonstrating and hands on work also well for me. Essays I usually only gave them once a certain subject was done. Sometimes I give the essay right in the beginning, but tell them I only want it when the respective subject has been treated. Since I've learned every trick in the book when I was a student and still remember them I often give them the subject for the essay, but make it different for all of them by choosing different objects, say if I make them write an essay about a certain technique I want them to write their essay specifically on a certain object and let them pull their 'object' out of a hat. You should have seen the hurt look in Ron's eyes when I did that the first time! I laughed straight out."

"That's good! This way copying is impossible... so you copied homework?"

"All the time. Moony, our friends James Potter and Peter Pettigrew and I practically only did one quarter of the homework. We always shared. Just a word different here or there and hardly any teacher ever noticed. Isn't that amazing?"

She laughs.

"They must have been half sleeping every time they corrected such work."

"Must have. I think, I'd notice when I'd read the same thing the third or even fourth time. I always wondered, that Minerva didn't notice! She's usually alert as a hawk, but you'll see that if you have to read hundreds of students' essays every year you get a little inattentive too," I explain with a grin.

"I'm warned then. So you're not exactly the best example for your students..." she remarks.

"Definitely not a model student when it came to behaviour and work ethics, no! But that enables me to spot it among my students, and quick, believe me! They don't prank Moony or me. And to my defence I have to say that I did study quite a lot. Just not publicly, that could have damaged my reputation."

Again she laughs, but then we get more concrete and go through the spell-work for all seven years.

"I'm going to offer an extra curricular Animagus course for the sixth years. Of course that's not for everyone, but when you're treating Animagi in third year, I'd like you to use the notes we took during our Animagus-training with our sixth years here. In third year you're not really going in depth. I'll handpick the best of the students who will be offered the course. After I've trained other Animagi I'm very confident this will be a good thing."

"You already trained Animagi? I know that you are one yourself, but you trained others? Wow! That's never heard of, Sirius!"

I grin.

"James, Peter and I became Animagi in our fifth year to be able to help Remus during his transformations. He went through hell every month, Penny! It was one of the worst things to see him suffer and to know that being alone in all of this was about the worst thing for him. Once we had mastered the transformation we joined him on full moon nights and had a couple of very happy romps in the Forbidden Forest!"

"You did everything in the book of forbidden things at Hogwarts it seems, eh?" she asks.

"You bet! Believe me, Filch was everything but happy when he learned that Remus and I, two of the terrible Marauders, were coming back to Hogwarts to teach! He still keeps all the files from our 'sins' and believe me, we must have filled at least two or three drawers in his office!"

Penny laughs straight out and her mirth doesn't die down for quite a while, but then she says:

"Who would have thought that our quiet, studious, kind and mild mannered Professor Lupin was such a school terror!"

"Oh, he was and he wasn't. He was the well behaved one and exactly as quiet, studious, kind and mild mannered as you know him. That's his mask! It's the result of a self control that couldn't be stricter. He's learned to keep himself in control this way after he was bitten by the werewolf, you know. But underneath there was one mischievous little fellow, a very sneaky one. Many teachers never believed he could really be a part of the Marauders. For every detention he got, Peter had two and James and I had about three or more. Remus' pranks were the best we ever pulled and they were mostly the ones that couldn't be traced back to us!"

"Wow, you must really have wreaked havoc in that castle."

"Ask Minerva one of these days. I can tell you exactly how she will react: first she'll sigh deeply. Then she'll tell you to beware, because we're still as dangerous as back then. Finally she'll tell you how we lost points by the dozen only to get them back and more with perfect homework or excellent practical work or correct answers. Or through Quidditch..."

Penny shakes her head and still giggles a little.

"Oh, I remember when Harry turned up with that Firebolt! I went over to the Gryffindor table to look at it, before he played Ravenclaw! And he really knew how to fly it! Cho wouldn't have had a chance!"

"I saw that match. In my dog form..."

"You did? I remember it was the year you escaped from Azkaban and they all thought you'd come to Hogwarts to kill Harry..."

"Only I was after a rat, not Harry. I was actually only trying to make sure nothing happened to Harry. But since I'd just escaped that dreadful place I wasn't quite mentally stable and my main thoughts were about catching Peter Pettigrew in his rat form to finally commit at least one of those murders I'd been imprisoned for."

She shudders. It is a frightening story and it's a very frightening part of my life, so I'm usually not painting it in softer colours, because I think I need people to know how horrible I felt back then.

"Hard to believe that this was only six years ago," I say in a low voice.

"You're certainly looking about a hundred times better than on this awful picture..." Penny remarks.

"Thanks. They didn't quite get my chocolate side, did they? I must have looked like a real scare-crow. And I also felt that way. You don't want to know how I survived those two years on the run. They were almost as bad as Azkaban. Almost only because I was at least outside and going my own way. But I wasn't free by any means."

"I don't want to imagine how that felt, Sirius. I've heard such dreadful things about Azkaban. And the Dementors! Merlin, we were scared of them, even we seventh years tried to stay far away from them!"

"Can I say I understand that so well? Anyway, yes, to come back to your question of about fifteen minutes ago, I trained the whole gang here to become Animagi and I was successful. Even Remus is one now."

Remus knocks on the door and looks inside:

"Anyone for a cup of tea?"

"Oh, that would be nice, Remus, thanks so much!" Penelope says, looking pleased.

"I'll be right back!"

After that we go back to set up the plan of what to teach when. We get through pretty soon and Penny puts all of her notes away.

"I'll be free to come up to Hogwarts mid-August. Want a bit of vacation before starting."

"You're certainly doing the right thing there. We'll probably not be at the castle before mid-August either. Remus has some Deputy Headmaster duties, like the Hogwarts letters which have to be prepared, seventh years files have to be archived and the new ones for the first years established, Muggle-born first years must be visited, booklists for the returning students put together etc. That's for the first two weeks, then we'll be gone for three weeks to lounge on some beach and play with our children and then we'll be back one or two weeks before the term starts. Going back and fourth between here and Hogwarts that is."

"Sounds quite busy..."

"Add to that a job I'll still have to do. I haven't set one foot into my parents' house since I left it at sixteen. Both my parents have died and I suppose no one has been in that wretched house for years. So I'll have to go and look it through and see if anything like a will from my father or mother can be found. There are a number of Gringotts vaults in the mix as well, and that needs to be cleared as well..."

"Oh, that sounds like a bit of work, too."

"A bit? It's going to be a nightmare of a task, that house is old and huge. But it needs to be done. Oh well..."

Penny bids goodbye to all of us after that conversation and we're assembling for dinner soon after that.



Saturday, 20.3.1999 / Hermione


I've not taken the potion. Two days after our little bath together my period started. That would mean these days now can be the dangerous days... well, would be, normally, now I'm feeling strangely careless and as I'm pulling Harry in my arms after going to bed I try to work out if this is going to feel different, now that we actually want something to happen. I'm not telling him, I know he's fairly oblivious about the whole concept of the female cycle. Of course he knows the theory, but since he's sort of surprised every time I'm telling him that my period has started I don't expect him to know when I'm ovulating.

But maybe I'm giving it away by my behaviour, because I'm pulling him on top of me. That's not usually my favourite position. He gazes down at me, puzzled.

"Since when do you like it this way?" he asks and leans in for a kiss.

"Occasionally I do... I do like to feel your weight on me," I remark.

"Mind you, I'm not complaining. Gives me some more control for once..." he grins.

I'll tell him. Afterwards. Now I can't really think of anything but feeling him. Three and a half years after our first sexual experiments we're a pretty experienced couple and we know exactly what buttons to press and when. Before we press those buttons we can just enjoy ourselves and feel.

When we finally collapse in a heap of limbs and hold each other for a last kiss before falling asleep I'm telling him:

"It's the days I could conceive right now, Harry... your last chance to back out if you prefer to wait with a baby."

His face splits into a wide grin. He pulls me even closer and places a couple of kisses on my neck and my mouth, then he whispers:

"No way! I'm daring, Hermione, and I can't wait until we hit!"

"Oh, Harry! I feel the same... I want to give that to you so much. And to myself of course. It will be so much fun to see our child grow up with Sirius' and Remus'! And hopefully with a few of our friends' as well... though we might have to try a few times, before we hit, mind you!"

"Who cares! It is somehow not the same when I know that you have no protection right now. And I really like that 'devil-may-care' attitude you have right now."



Harry


She's hit me with that one! I could sing, though... what an amazing feeling to be inside her with the knowledge that we want to let happen what we normally prevent. I'm holding Hermione in my arms after the sex and we're kissing and caressing each other for a long time. I've always thought I was leaning to be very tender, but I think I'm even more tender with her right now. One of these days she's going to conceive our baby... in my mind it's already taking form! Not only an amazing, but still such a strange and already familiar feeling. I wonder why? We thought that being around Seraina and Denny would help us wait until after the academy, but we have both decided we don't want to wait. So that must mean we're both ready to start the family. It's certainly too early to decide on the size we want to have for our family, but I know for sure I don't want an only child. And I have the suspicion that the same goes for Hermione. We know that we have a fair amount of time, so we can space out our children a bit. According to Madam Pomfrey witches can have children until at least the age of eighty. It's an incredible concept, but only now it becomes clear to us that we have the chance to live twice as long as normal people! Once we understood that we understood why it would be no problem to have children at such an advanced age. If you get to live until you're 170 or so then you've just spent one third of your life at sixty! I've never even thought about that, even though I knew that Professor McGonagall was over eighty, Professor Flitwick something over 110 and Professor Dumbledore has a good 150 years in his bones and still seems to be quite well.

Anyway... our sex has yet again another quality. It's nothing different actually, but I do think there's something like more 'depth'? More sentiment in any case! Hey, it's her who should be attacked by the hormones, not me, or is it? Or why am I so maudlin? Argh!

The word cherish has a new value in our relationship.



Wednesday, 24.3.1999 / Remus


I really dislike to leave my family behind to attend meals in the Great Hall. We've decided to start and keep the twins away from the main school. They're not supposed to grow up privileged, they'll have it a bit easier than other children anyway once they will come here. But it's hard to leave them behind. It's also hard not to share my meals with my lover. Sirius is certainly doing the right thing. One of us should stay with them and I'll skive dinner as often as I can.

"Remus, where are Sirius and the little ones?" Minerva asks.

"We're not taking them out here for the meals anymore, Minerva. They start to really take in their surrounding now and we'd prefer them to stay out of the main parts of the school. We want them to discover Hogwarts when they get here as students, that will be early enough."

"Ah! Very reasonable! You're right about that. It would only spoil it for them and they wouldn't even know."

"That's it."

"But why aren't you with them?" she asks on.

"I thought at least one of us should be out here..."

"You should be with your family, Remus! At least for the dinner."

"I will be. I'm missing them awfully!"

Minerva laughs.

"You're one great and devoted father, Remus! I'm sure you're doing great with your little ones."

"Thank you, I think, we're getting on quite well with them. But so far they're making it quite easy. I really don't know what we did to have such lovely children!"

She smiles.

"They are quite extraordinary, Remus. Maybe because they have extraordinary parents?"

"Oh, I'm quite convinced they will be a handful sooner or later. But for the moment they are really still little darlings."

Neville and Edith Sprout come to the teacher's table. Neville is all smiles.

"Hello Neville! How did your first morning as a teacher go?" I ask while he sits down a few places away from me.

"Just great! All sixth and seventh years. Though it was a bit strange to teach them when less than a year ago they were still my classmates."

He starts chatting about his morning's experiences and I ask him a few questions. I'm glad he's found a new home here. I do think he will do very well as a teacher and he's really in his element.



Wednesday, 31.3.1999 / Remus


A 'blue moon' today. The second this year. That really doesn't happen very often, but if there's a blue moon in January there's always one in March as well. For some reason unknown to me these are always a bit more difficult than regular full moons. I wonder why, really, but every time I have transformed on a blue moon my transformations have been extremely violent. Now with the wolfsbane potion and the Animagus transformation it shouldn't be as bad. I still cancel tomorrow's morning classes and give all those students extra homework to do in the periods they'd normally have lessons. That's no problem with the fifth years, I can call on the prefects to hold the class together and either order them to work in the Great Hall or in the classroom. Then the Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff classes shouldn't be too bad either, these first and second years are eager to learn and curious. The third year Gryffindors and Slytherins will be a bit more difficult, so I check where the older students of these houses are in that period and find out that Sirius has the sixth years. I ask him to send two of the prefects to check on the class which I have ordered to stay in the classroom.

"No problem, love, I'll have them check on the kids."

The weather is ghastly, so we don't even plan to go out. It's been windy and rainy almost all month long, everything around the castle seems to be moist and even colder than usual. I'm shuddering at the mere thought of having to transform without my Animagus. I've asked Sirius to set an alarm for me before the moonset, so I can concentrate on keeping the wolf form beyond. Even though coming back to my human form is less bad than transforming into the wolf it leaves me weak and hurt and exhausted for hours.



Thursday, 1.4.1999 / Remus


It's been better than expected. Moony has been well behaved, I've slept most of the night and most of it next to my lover. I've transformed early enough for the children to still be around, but they're usually unfazed. They just seem to take that as a part of our family. I'm always a bit anxious when they come close, but as much as I feel of Moony during the full moon nights he knows very well that these are our 'cubs' and that he has to protect, not endanger them.

The alarm has given me enough time to concentrate on holding the wolf form past the moonset. That means I was able to transform back through the Animagus spell and that again meant no pain. There are no words to express my gratitude to Sirius for pushing me to try this. I now know that there are two ways of making life more normal for me and both work together smoothly. I still get the wolfsbane potion from Sirius, Hermione and Ginny, they have continued to brew it in turns. Ginny has told me that she's making larger batches and that she's brewing it every month for the Werewolf Support Unit. Mandy gives it to those werewolves who can't afford it or brew it themselves. I think, Hermione has joined Ginny in doing that. The good thing is that they will keep the routine of making it.

Right after turning myself back I'm cuddling deep under my duvet again and fall asleep.



Sunday, 25.4.1999 / Sirius


One year! Our children are one year old and today is their first birthday! Last night we've decorated the living room in the brightest colours and today we expect some of our friends for their first birthday party. Remus and I dress the twins in robes. Seraina's are a lovely forest green and Denny's are a fiery red. Of course there's quite a few pictures that have to be taken. I have no idea whether the children understand what's going on, but it does look like they do enjoy the attention they get. We have to watch over them very well, because Denny, once he's noticed how he can levitate something, has tried it all over the place with smaller and sometimes larger objects. We have to prevent accidents! It's impossible to explain to a one year old that he can't do any magic yet, though of course he can. I can only hope it's a phase like Albus has assured us it mostly is.

Arthur and Molly Weasley come in with their family. Fred, George and Angelina are with them and it's actually Angelina's first visit here. Everyone greets her with glee and comments on how good she looks. Her baby is due end of July or beginning of August and she already shows quite nicely. She's more than halfway through the pregnancy and seems to feel perfectly fine.

"I'm still training - much to Molly's dismay, but I do think that a fit mother will have it easier when it's about giving birth! Of course our beaters keep out when I'm in the air, so there won't be an accident with a Bludger. But the flying and some of the physical workout is doing me a lot of good. My mediwitch tells me I'm perfectly fine every time I show up for the checks," Angelina says.

"And when will you get married?" Parvati asks.

"Already done. Just a short bit among Fred, myself, George, Lee, Katie and Alicia. We had a fun evening together."

"Wow! How did your families like that?"

"Not very much," Angelina laughs, "but it was what WE wanted and we had the feeling that what WE wanted was a bit more important than what the family and conventions wanted. Molly has Bill and Fleur's wedding next month, that's got to be enough."

A very strong young woman is Angelina. That's not the first time I'm thinking that, but I think, even if she's a full blooded witch, I'm quite sure that some idiots have put her down for having a black skin and being a Gryffindor. The Johnsons are very old wizarding blood indeed. Their recorded ancestry goes back three hundred years in Britain, but they have been magical for much longer. Angelina's youngest brother is a fifth year Gryffindor and her youngest sister Rebecca is a third year Ravenclaw. They both have the same dignity and strength as Angelina shows. Very likeable students.

After lunch it's time for the presents. The twins don't really know what to do with them yet, but they check pretty fast that they can tear the wrappings off and that something they would like comes out of it. They're being flooded with gifts. Of course both get one from Remus and I. We give them their gifts as their parents, so it's one for both of them from both of us together. Then there's their godparents. Harry and Ginny are treating Seraina with a plush dog that's half the size of Padfoot. Seraina squeals and hugs the dog immediately. Hermione and Ron give Denny something similar, but when Denny opens his gift he finds a plush wolf! Where did they find that, I wonder. Hermione notices my wondering look and explains:

"We had it custom made. Gave them a picture of Remus and told them that this was what we would like. Ginny and Harry did the same with Seraina's doggie."

"Wow!"

Then follow all the other housemates. Even Fred, George and Angelina have brought them something. Fleur can't stop praising them for their cuteness. She's all taken with both of the children and keeps saying that she hopes to get such lovely and fine children. Bill looks a bit green thinking of becoming a father. Hermione also looks a bit green, but she's really sick it seems, as she has to leave the table and when she comes back she's still very pale. I'll have to watch over that young woman!

"Bill, you'll get married before you get to be a father!" Hermione teases.

"Yes, looks like I'll be there before you, Bill," Harry adds.

Remus and I look up, slightly astonished.

"What? Is there something we should know about?"

"Err... maybe... problem is, we don't know ourselves yet..." Harry says.

"How come? If I'm not all too wrong I've just seen Hermione go out and she did look rather sick," I remark with a smirk.

"Once we know you'll be the first ones to hear about it, Siri..." Harry promises.

Hermione can't promise anything, for she's looking bad again.

"I thought it's called morning sickness?" she manages and runs to the nearest toilet.

This time Harry follows her to help her. They are back about twenty minutes later and both beam.

"Well, that was the final straw, we just did the test spell and it says I'm pregnant!!!" Hermione informs us.

Wow! All around us we're going to see babies born in the next years! This is going to be fun, first to see them grow up and second to probably teach them in a couple of years. We have to wait for a while longer to have them in our classes of course, but once they're at Hogwarts they're still going to be around us. I can see that Remus is equally pleased to hear this.

"Congratulations!"

Everyone congratulates them of course. This is very good news.

The day is over all too soon. When Remus and I take the children up to bed and kiss them goodnight I'm thinking of the importance this day holds for us. Our own children are one year old. They've both changed our lives by 180 degrees, everything we once knew has been turned upside down and our lives now circle around them. We don't regret that one bit! I couldn't imagine a life without Seraina or Denny anymore. They've developed a lot of their character by now. It's fun to be with them, even though it still takes a lot of our time and will keep doing so for a long while still. But Merlin, I know I'm going to miss it once I'm freed from this for a good part of the day or almost completely when they will change to their dormitories at Hogwarts. Actually I'm glad that now I won't get to teach them myself until they start their fifth year.



Wednesday, 19.5.1999 / Morag


I've been a good girl all morning, but after lunch I'm getting a bit tired of working. Since I have all day and all week for my work I'm getting on much faster than most of the other students and I've been able to receive new material a bit faster than others. By the speed with which I'm sending the material back and by knowing I have the whole week to do it the school has agreed to send new batches in intervals of three weeks instead of the four weeks for the others. It suits me, because I know that I'll be through it a lot faster. I'll be able to take the final exams a full year earlier.

When Nicole calls me I ask her:

"Are you studying this afternoon?"

"No, not much. Why?"

"Could you come over? I'm longing for you!"

"Well, if you come and magic me over that's no problem. By train it takes a bit long..."

"I'll be right there!"

Putting down the phone I apparate right next to her and then apparate her back to the Sunnegg. She laughs, because it's been less than a minute since I've put the receiver down. We take the time for a quick, but intensive snog.

"Hello, love!" she says.

"Hi. Want to go for a walk?"

She looks outside and shakes her head.

"Still too nasty out there."

"Yeah, I'm so longing for some sun. Look at the garden, we've had to neglect it almost completely. And everything is so wet in there. Only some tulips and daffodils out. They're the only ones tough enough to withstand this weather."

We sit down in the small living room, where it's cosy warm and cuddle. She's not spent much time in this part of the house yet.

"What's that room over there?" she asks.

"The study. Remus' and Sirius'."

"Oh. Forbidden territory for you then, eh?"

"No, not at all, they know we're not nosing into their desks, but the books are all available. We're even allowed to make free use of the restricted section of the Hogwarts library now."

"The restricted section? What does that contain?"

"Everything not deemed suitable for the younger students. You get to use books from there on a fairly regular basis in sixth and seventh year... - Accio restricted section," I call, pointing my wand to the room.

The three boxes containing that part of the library come flying out of the study. Nicole stares at them.

"How can you make use of those boxes? These books are so tiny... you'd have to use a microscope to read them."

"We have to use retrieval and enlargement spells. The books are all reduced to minimal size. Give me a subject and I'll get something out..." I say and laugh.

"What kind would I find in there?"

"Oh, basically everything we call Dark Magic, Muggles would probably unknowingly talk of Black Magic, though the two are not identical, but meaning similar things. Wizards don't tolerate every sort of magical practices, you see and many are considered dark, most of those are illegal. So we read about that stuff but don't do it. For the most part."

"That about Voldemort and the Death Eaters?" she inquires.

"Among others. Of course there's lots of Dark Magic practitioners who are nowhere near as bad as the Death Eaters. Those are really just the worst ones, because they aimed their Dark Magic at other to gain dominance. There's some who practice 'Old Magic' as they call it on a fairly regular basis without harming anyone else. Some of those practices contain Necromancy or forms of Dream or Blood Magic. Legilimency is another one which is considered Dark Magic, though this one is in the grey zone between legal and illegal magic."

"I could listen to you for hours, you know that? Now, what's Necromancy? Must have something to do with dead people..."

"Spot on! Basically bringing dead people back to life."

"Gulp! - You mean, you can actually do that?"

I sigh.

"I think, it's really rather impossible. But there have been Necromancers throughout history."

I decide to call for some books about the subject and retrieve them with a spell. About fifty books are hovering in front on me on that keyword. Nicole grins.

"I'd like to search the library like that! It would be considerably easier to find lots of sources!"

I grin and nod.

"It's been a very good day when Remus taught us this charm. Well, let's start with anyone of them. Engorgio!"

I tap the top book on the pile with my wand and it enlarges itself to an enormous volume. It's one of those old, old books, that have had dust inlaid of them for centuries.

"Doesn't look like this one has been used in a long time. It's fun actually, because Professor Dumbledore made a COPY of the library, but seemingly he also copied everything inside the books. Let's hope this one doesn't screech or anything when I open it... though I know how to stop that if it does."

"Eww... that sounds scary."

"It's meant to be scary, so that students will be held off perusing the restricted section in the night. Not that it always does the trick, but then there's some books that have to be treated in a special way or they try to bite your hand off..."

"Aw. Better be careful then!"

I laugh.

"Nah, if this one was a biting book then I'd have been bitten already. Worst now is a screech or some nasty fluid it could spit..."

None of either happens, so I open the book and scan the contents. Only a part of the book treats Necromancy, other parts are about certain Blood Magic practices. But there are seven different techniques for Necromancy described, and none of them sounds nice! Nicole shivers when I read some of the more gory passages.

"Yowl! That was a nasty one..."

"Absolutely. Want to have more fun? Then we put this gory stuff away and go up to the regular library and look through spell books. They're usually a lot of fun! See who finds the silliest spells..."

"Sounds right by me!"

I reduce the book again and return everything into the boxes, which I banish back to their spaces in the bookcase in the study. Then I take my wand and Nicole's hand and we walk through the house and up to the library. Retrieving some of the spell books we take them up to the common room and flop down on the sofas.

"Okay, silly spells..." she says and starts looking through the first book on her pile.

"Here's one," she says after a few minutes and reads: "Sitaro - spell to change anything to a self tuning and playing Indian Sitar."

We giggle and she asks:

"Can you demonstrate that?"

"I can try. Is there anything in terms of wand movements or images you need behind the incantation?"

"Nope, just this one sentence."

"Good..."

I point my wand at one of the sofa pillows and say.

"Sitaro!"

Within a second the room is filled with the sound of Indian Raga music. A while later two ghosts turn up and immediately join the game. Lily and James grin and we tell them:

"We're looking for the silliest spells around..."

"Oh, now there's my hobby," says James and grins.

"He's probably capable of more silliness than twenty other wizards taken together," Lily confirms.

"His only concurrence would probably be Sirius then..." I remark.

"Just HOW did you figure that out, Morag?" he asks.

By dinnertime we're all exhausted from laughing so much. I think Lily had the prize when she found a spell to make your knickers sing. This was probably one of the funniest days I've ever spent in my life and James rounded it up by saying:

"Padfoot will be SO miffed to have missed this!"