The not-so-perfect holiday…
26 year old Sirius Black sat in his seat, hugging his newborn daughter, Martha Black, with his wife, Natalie Black standing watching him writing to his best friends, Remus and Minerva Lupin, and Marcus and Eve Marlo. Sirius was still grieving about the death of two of his other best friends, named James and Lily Potter and the fact that he and all his other friends had been betrayed by their former friends, Peter and Haley Pettigrew. Peter and Haley had been their friends in school, but they had been betrayed when Peter had killed James and Lily and blown up a street to try and frame Sirius. Thankfully, Sirius had caught him while he had tried to flee and handed him over to the Ministry of Magic.
Suddenly, Natalie placed her hand on her husband's shoulder and squatted down next to him. Sirius couldn't help but become tearful, because he could remember quite clearly the deaths of his friends. The memory of the incident would not fade and Sirius was left to grieve for his two friends, one of whom he had known since his first year at the wizarding school they had gone to, called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. By killing James and Lily one year ago, the Pettigrews had left their one year old son (at the time of their death), Harry Potter, orphaned and to live with Lily's muggle (non-magical) sister and brother-in-law and their son, Dudley.
"It's okay Sirius, I know how you feel. Remember, they were my friends too." Natalie whispered into Sirius' ear and he nodded, placing his free arm around her shoulders.
"Thank you darling." Sirius whispered and Martha suddenly started to cry.
"I'll check what's wrong with her dear. You keep writing that letter, Sirius." Natalie said and Sirius nodded, handing their daughter to his wife. Natalie walked away with the wailing Martha in her arms. He sighed and got back to what he was writing.
Two weeks later, the letter Sirius had been writing had been sent out and a reply was soon sent back. He opened the letter and read it with Natalie looking over his shoulder.
Dear Sirius and Natalie,
We have agreed that Lily and James' deaths were definitely untimely and the grief we are going through is also for the fact that we were deceived by the Pettigrews, so we have all agreed that maybe it is time for a short holiday. We have decided that we can all go to the British Wizarding Ranges. We've thought that maybe you would like to come with us. We'll be staying for about a year and after that returning home. If you would like to come, please send your reply by April 15th, so we can finish organising this trip.
We really hope you can join us, and hope you aren't feeling too upset.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Your best friends,
Remus, Minerva, Eve and Marcus.
Sirius reread the letter in quick succession and Natalie looked at him.
"Sirius? Are you okay darling? So you want to go on the holiday?" she asked him and Sirius nodded. She placed her hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. "I know you're going through pain, and I understand that. Quick question – when are we going? Would you mind writing back to them asking them when we're going?"
Sirius nodded sadly and grabbed a piece of parchment out of a large pile and began writing.
Soon enough, Sirius and Natalie took Martha for the boat ride to the British Wizarding Ranges and it seemed that as soon as Sirius stepped onto the boat and saw his friends, his mood began to brighten.
"How are you, guys?" he asked them and they all laughed.
"We're okay. By the way, am I seeing things, or are you the first in the group to become a father?" Marcus asked Sirius and he looked back at his baby daughter and laughed.
"I'm surprised you're still not a father, yet. How's the missus going?" Sirius replied and Marcus' wife, Eve, walked up to her husband and smiled. Eve was a beautiful tall, black-haired woman, and usually she would be quite thin, but her pregnancy had made her stomach swell to a larger size.
"She's fine. And so is the baby, well…from what I know of, anyway."
"That's good to hear. By the way, when's the baby due, Marcus?"
"The baby was due, in fact, two days ago, on the 4th of May. It's overdue by two days, but hopefully it's born soon."
"And Remus, I heard you were going to become a father soon, too. Is that true?" Sirius turned to Remus and he and his wife, Minerva, walked over.
"Yes Sirius. It's due in October." Minerva said, before her husband could answer.
"Congrats guys." Sirius said. "And thank you for your congratulations."
"What's your daughter's name, Sirius?" Marcus asked and Sirius looked at him.
"Martha. Her name's Martha." Natalie replied and Minerva walked over to them, wanting to see Martha more closely.
"Hey she's cute. Absolutely adorable. Congratulations Sirius and Natalie on her birth." She said and Natalie smiled. "By the way Natalie, could I please hold her?" she added.
"Of course you may Minerva." Natalie replied, handing her sleeping baby daughter to Minerva. Minerva cradled Martha in her arms gently, and Sirius remembered something.
"Oh yeah. Ummm…Remus, Minerva, this was a difficult decision to choose between you two and the Marlos, but we have decided to appoint you two as her godparents." Sirius announced and Minerva smiled at her goddaughter.
The next day, Eve went into labour and Marcus immediately called Natalie over to help. Natalie ran over and Marcus took his place by his wife's side.
The baby was soon delivered and Natalie handed the newborn baby girl to the proud parents.
"Congratulations, it's a girl." She said and Eve and Marcus smiled at the birth of their eldest.
"Thank you Natalie." A very exhausted Eve said and Natalie smiled.
Suddenly, a very sleepy Sirius walked into the room holding a wailing Martha in his arms. Handing his daughter to Natalie, he asked, "What are you doing in here, Natalie?"
"Delivering Eve and Marcus' new baby daughter." Natalie answered and he nodded.
"By the way, congrats on the baby, guys. What's her name?"
"We've decided to call her Adelyne." Marcus explained, and Natalie began to laugh softly.
"Why are you laughing Natalie?" Sirius asked his wife and she stopped laughing momentarily.
"It's only that, I was contemplating calling Martha that when she was born." She giggled and everyone began to laugh. "Okaaay then…this is very weird now." Natalie admitted as she cradled her daughter in her arms.
"I agree." Sirius agreed, placing his arm round his wife's waist.
"Oy! Sirius, that was unnecessary!" she exclaimed, turning around incredibly rapidly when Sirius placed his hand on her rear end. Eve and Marcus laughed when they saw this, and it was almost very difficult to tell that Eve had just given birth – she was laughing that hard.
In October that year, Minerva went into labour with her first child. Natalie helped her and she gave birth to twins.
"Congratulations, this one's a girl and this one is a boy." She said and Minerva smiled.
"Thank you Natalie." Remus said softly to Natalie.
"No probs. I've done this so many times that it almost seems as though it's a daily routine or even a sixth sense, being able to tell when someone has gone into labour, that is, not delivering the baby." Natalie replied.
"Anyway, what are we going to name them, Remus?" a very exhausted Minerva asked her husband softly.
"Ummm…How about we call the girl Paige?" Remus suggested, cradling his newborn daughter gently.
"Okay; and I was thinking Edward for the boy. What do you think, darling?" Minerva asked.
"Hmmm…ummm…okay. I like it." Remus replied and Natalie decided to leave the happy couple in peace.
They reached the British Wizarding Ranges in about another two weeks, and when they got there, a very curious Martha looked around her in awe.
"Wow…" was all the baby girl said, but it was enough for her parents to look at her in surprise and excitement.
"Oh my god…her first word…" Natalie whispered excitedly to her husband. Sirius looked down at his daughter and smiled.
"She's growing up…it's not going to be long until she's the one walking down the aisle on her wedding day." He sighed and Natalie hugged her daughter tightly. "And by the way Natalie, it would greatly help if you didn't hug her so tight that her head popped off before she got to that age." He laughed and Natalie glared at him humorously.
"Okay Sirius; that was not necessarily what I had in mind." She said and he laughed.
"But hopefully you know that I was only joking…don't you?" he asked her uncertainly.
"Of course I did. I was only joking too."
The three families reached their little holiday huts after approximately an hour of walking. They all separated in front of the three huts and went their own ways. Sirius and Natalie walked into theirs and looked around.
"Very cosy." Was all Sirius said and Martha looked around again.
"Wow! Wow!" she said loudly, holding her small arms out in front of her, clenching and unclenching her tiny fists in quick succession, making it look like she was reaching for something.
"What does she want?" Sirius asked his wife, who shrugged.
"No idea, but it seems she's given everything the same name…Wow." Natalie replied.
"Wow! Wow!" Martha continued to say, except this time she was rapidly clenching and unclenching her fists and literally screaming it out.
"Maybe she wants her bottle." Natalie said and Sirius bent down and took Martha's bottle out of her bag. Magically filling it up with warm milk, he handed it to his wife, who tried to feed it to her.
"She obviously does want her bottle, then." Sirius laughed, when there was suddenly a knock on the door and he walked to open it. In the doorway, stood Marcus, with Eve behind him, holding Adelyne close to her chest. Both adults were wearing expressions of extreme terror.
"What's wrong, Marcus, Eve? Has something happened?" he asked them, inviting them in.
"Sirius, Lord Voldemort appeared at our front door and asked us to give him Adelyne!" Eve said, as Marcus hugged her. This caught Natalie's attention and her head snapped up, an expression of mingled shock, fear and worry.
"He – he did?" Sirius asked, clearly shocked to hear that the lives of his friends and his family were in danger. "You have to be kidding us!"
"No, it really was him. He asked us to give him Adelyne or else die, so Eve ran to grab Adelyne, and we apparated here to warn you." Marcus said urgently.
"Oh s!" Sirius said loudly, only to receive a stern glare from his wife.
"Do not swear in front of your daughter, even if we're all in danger." She said warningly to him.
"Sorry Natalie." Sirius said, sounding defeated. And despite their earlier fear, Eve and Marcus laughed as they saw this happen. However, it wasn't long before a scream filled the air and there was a knock on the front door.
"What was that!?" Natalie exclaimed, clutching Martha to her chest.
"Dunno. But it had better not have been Voldemort killing someone." Sirius replied, looking out the window. "All of you, I want you to stay out of sight, okay?" he added, turning towards the others. He opened the door, only to see Remus and Minerva standing there, fear and grief on their faces. And Sirius could see why. Minerva was holding a wailing Paige, and Remus was holding Edward. However, Edward wasn't moving at all. He was also limp, which proved either death or unconsciousness.
"What's wrong, Remus, Minerva?" he asked them, but he already feared the worst.
"Edward was killed by Voldemort." Remus replied, tears running down his face as he comforted his wife.
"Oh Sh – oh my god, I didn't realise. I'm so sorry to hear that, guys." Sirius said softly, inviting them inside. Closing the door after them, he walked over to Natalie and hugged her, keeping Martha between them.
They'd been staying there in complete silence for ten minutes, out of fear of Voldemort, except for the occasional sobbing by Remus and Minerva. Even the babies were quiet, seemingly sensing the fear from their parents.
"Wow…?" Martha said uncertainly, but even she said it quietly.
"Shhh…its okay Martha. Just stay quiet for now, okay?" Natalie whispered to her daughter and Martha stayed completely silent.
Then, without warning, the door was completely blown to smithereens and a tall, cloaked figure stood in the doorway. Natalie, Eve and Minerva screamed and Remus, Sirius and Marcus jumped up and pointed their wands at him.
"Ahhh…I just knew you would be in here." Voldemort laughed. "And don't think you can win against me."
"I don't care if you kill me, just don't touch my wife and daughter!" Sirius shouted at the Dark Lord and Natalie looked fearfully at her husband, mouthing for him to stay silent.
"Hmmm…I thought you wanted to live to watch your daughter grow up?" Voldemort said, pointing his wand at him. "Let's start out small, shall we? Reducto!" he yelled and Sirius yelled out in pain as his chest and stomach were badly blown apart. Blood spattered the walls, people and furniture in the room as Sirius fell the ground.
"Sirius! Please not be dead!" Natalie screamed, not being able to bear losing her husband. She ran up to him and began to heal his wounds. Voldemort pointed his wand at her, but Marcus stepped in front.
"You're not going to kill any more people while I'm still alive!" he said defiantly.
"What about when you're dead?" Voldemort asked. "Because we can certainly arrange that."
"Not even when I'm dead!" said Marcus.
"Fine. But I'm just going to do some damage, just for the fun of it."
"You're sick! First you kill a baby boy, and now you want to kill everyone else." Marcus said, pointing his wand directly at Voldemort's heart – or where a heart would usually be, as Voldemort hardly had a heart at all.
"In my opinion Voldemort, you're just a common coward. Too scared to fight with you're bare hands. You always have to have you're wand on you, and running away if it seems like you're going to lose." Remus said, also pointing his wand at Voldemort's chest.
"You two must be very brave – yet suicidal – to call me a coward." Voldemort said, but Marcus and Remus stood their ground.
"We're not going to give up until we have beaten you!" Marcus yelled and Voldemort looked taken aback that they had the guts to taunt him.
"Don't you dare Voldemort!" yelled a male voice as Sirius got to his feet and also pointed his wand at Voldemort.
"Don't I dare what?" the Dark Lord asked coolly.
"Don't you dare hurt anyone! You even lay a finger on any person in this room, Voldemort, and you'll meet my wand and a curse where the sun don't shine!" Sirius yelled and Voldemort laughed – a horrible mirthless laugh that made everyone flinch.
"You really think that you'll be able to hurt me in any way, do you?" he laughed.
"You are absolutely sick Voldemort. And yes, we … can!" Sirius yelled as he threw a punch at Voldemort's face. Voldemort grunted in pain as the fist made contact with his cheek. He staggered back and they could see a livid bruise rising where Sirius' fist had hit it.
"Good shot Sirius!" Marcus exclaimed. "You definitely must have hit him hard, for a bruise to be rising there already!"
"You dare hit me!?" Voldemort growled angrily. "Now it's time for you to pay for your daring – now … DIE!!! Avada Kedavra!" he yelled and Sirius ducked – only just in time, for the curse had flown about an inch above his head, before hitting the wall, blowing a large hole into it.
"Too slow Voldemort!" Sirius taunted, running to shield his wife and daughter. "Disappointing. I'd have thought that, if you're the Dark Lord and everything; that you'd be able to kill everyone, but you can't even hit me with the killing curse!"
"How dare you taunt me!?" Voldemort growled again and Remus ran forward and kneed Voldemort hard in the groin. Voldemort was bent over clutching his genitals for several seconds before letting out a short, high-pitched scream.
"Hmmm … I didn't think it was possible for Voldemort to scream at that pitch." Said Remus, beginning to laugh.
"Too true, Remus." Sirius agreed, also starting to laugh.
"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort yelled suddenly, and the spell hit Marcus squarely on the chest, and he keeled over backwards, clearly dead.
"MARCUS!!! NO!!!" Eve, Remus and Sirius all chorused, Eve running up to her husband's body and kneeling next to him, tears running down her face.
"Let's ease her pain, shall we? Avada Kedavra!" he said calmly and the killing curse hit Eve directly on the chest and she fell forwards over her husband's body, obviously also dead.
"YOU ASS HOLE!!!" Sirius and Remus yelled in unison, their wands pointed directly at his chest and walking, shoulder to shoulder, forwards. "You killed both the parents of a baby girl! You left their daughter orphaned! How could you!?"
"Quite easily." Said Voldemort calmly and pointed his wand at Minerva. "Avada Kedavra!" he said, just as calmly and Minerva dropped Paige and fell forward on top of her, very clearly dead.
"MINERVA!!! NO!!! YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!" Remus bellowed as Paige wailed in pain from underneath her mother's body. He went to go pick her up and comfort her, when he was also hit in the back by the killing curse. He fell forward and hit the ground with a soft thud.
"Remus, not Remus, please." Sirius whispered, tears slowly leaking out of his eyes and down his cheeks as he looked at his friend's lifeless form. "My only other best friend. My only other best friend…" he pointed his wand at Voldemort angrily, tears still spilling down his cheeks. "Avada Kedavra!" he bellowed and Voldemort yelled out in pain before hitting the ground with a thud. Walking over to Paige, who was still bawling her little eyes out in pain, he gently lifted Minerva off her and picked her up, holding her close in a very paternal manner.
"Shhh…it's alright Paige. It's alright." He whispered, hugging her gently.
"Sirius?" Natalie asked, walking over to her husband and placing her hand on his shoulder.
"What's wrong Natalie?" he asked her softly.
"Pass me Paige. We'll have to raise both her and Adelyne as our own daughters, as they've both been orphaned." She said, kissing him briefly before taking Paige from him and he picked up Adelyne and also hugged her.
They immediately left the British Wizarding Ranges after that and raised Paige and Adelyne as their own.
"Daddy?" Paige asked her adopted father, Sirius, uncertainly two years after her parents' deaths.
"What's wrong, Paige?" Sirius asked her, picking her up and hugging her tenderly.
"Daddy, where's Mummy?" the little girl asked, referring to her adopted mother, Natalie.
"Mummy's at work. She'll be back soon." He replied, tickling her and she laughed.
Another five years later, seven year old Adelyne and Paige were playing with their new Black Labrador puppy, Snuffles.
"Snuffles really seems to be settling in with the family very quickly, doesn't he Sirius?" Natalie asked her husband softly. "And so do the girls."
"Hmm. I agree. They really seem to be settling in quite well." Sirius agreed and he and Natalie both suddenly laughed when Snuffles had run around the room with his nose pressed to the ground and stopped in front of Sirius and barked twice, jumping into his lap.
"I'm really quite glad that Paige and Adelyne are settling in and are happy now after that event seven years ago." Natalie said and she and Sirius smiled at each other while the children and dog ran around playing happily in the background.
The end!!!