So, I'd like to thank the following for their support:
Angelique Collins
Beatlesluver91
Literary Fantasy
Magicalflame
familyguyfreak
raikota
Thanks again, you guys! You totally don't know what that means to me. (Considering how my bff doesn't say her honest opinion on my writing sometimes while I am completely honest with her. Oh well.)
Disclaimer: Same as before, don't own HP, JKR does. I only own Sebastian, Lucian, Anthea, and Darius.
Chapter One"Lucian, get your six year old butt down here right now, young man!" Hermione Granger yelled up the stairs of her Cousin Darius' two-story house. "Your brother and sister are waiting down here with me to leave for our new home! You don't want to make us late for our ride there, do you?"
"Here I am, mummy!" a little voice said from behind her. Turning around, Hermione looked down into her son's dark eyes that looked so much like his father's. "You thought we were going to be late again, weren't you, mummy?" Watching as her son snickered, Hermione sighed as she saw how much like his father Lucian acted.
"Okay, Lucian," she said as she held out her hand to the young boy. "Time to go to Kings Cross Station with your brother and sister." Walking out the door, Hermione sighed as she saw her daughter and her other son talking with Darius. Going over to the car, Hermione smiled as she realized how blessed she was to have three great children. "Sebastian, Anthea! Time to go to Hogwarts!" she called to her children.
"Have a good time teaching Arithmancy to the school dunderheads," Darius said as Hermione hugged him goodbye. "And before you say it, I know that he says that a lot. You have told me tons of times that I only break your heart doing that, but you know me. I give credit where it's due." Giving Hermione a kiss on the cheek, Darius bent down and hugged his niece and nephews before herding them into the car. Closing the car door after helping his cousin buckle the kids in, Darius said, "Are you sure that you are going to be alright with this? I mean, it's been six years since you were at that school. You know that he's there."
Looking up into her cousin's ice blue eyes, Hermione let a sigh escape her lips. "To tell you the truth," she said, "I'm not sure if I should do this or not." Seeing the concerned look on Darius' face, Hermione glared at him. "I might not like it, but I am going to bear this, if not for myself, but for my children. We've been intruding in your home for to long. I need to do this so that I know that I can take care of my children when on our own." At the downcast expression on Darius' face, she hugged him again before getting in the driver's seat. "Don't worry," she said as she started the car. "We'll be fine. If anything happens, or even if I just need some help, I'll owl or floo you."
L8R…
Holding each of her sons' hands, Hermione tried to stay balanced as she felt Anthea holding on to her neck tighter. "Anthea, sweetie," Hermione said as she got closer to the gates of the school, "would you mind getting off Mummy's back for awhile?" Stopping so Anthea could get off her back, Hermione heard some bickering begin between her two sons. Looking down into the brown and black eyes of her sons, she said, "Sebastian, quit fighting with your brother over who gets the top bunk." Gazing into Sebastian's deep brown eyes, Hermione thought to herself, 'Knowing Dumbledore, he would probably give them their own beds.'
"Mummy, what's that?" Anthea said as she pointed to a tree in the distance that had its branches moving, even though there was no wind.
"That, sweetie, is the Whomping Willow," Hermione said as they finally stopped before the Hogwarts gates. "Open up, please," she told the gates as she kept Lucian from falling over onto the ground. As the gates opened to admit them onto the grounds, Hermione sucked in a breath as she saw a man in all black walk out of the Forbidden Forest. 'Oh no,' she thought as she stopped in her tracks. As memories from her last year at the school before her dashed through her mind, she didn't hear her children calling up to her. Only after the man disappeared into the castle through a side entrance did she look back down at her children.
"Mummy, who was that man?" Lucian asked as he looked up her with his big black eyes. As Hermione looked down at Lucian, she couldn't help but realize that he was the spitting image of his father, thankfully with a straight nose, though.
"That was one of the teachers here, honey," Hermione said as she started walking towards the castle again. Guiding her children down the path to the Entrance Hall, Hermione couldn't help but look at her children's hair. 'He'll definitely take notice of them with their black hair,' she thought as she sighed. Watching as Anthea's frizzy black curls bounced up and down with each of her little steps, she let her gaze drift over to Lucian and Sebastian's hair. Seeing the straight, lanky black hair that was part of their father's trademark, Hermione held back a curse as she ushered the three into the Entrance Hall.
"Miss Granger, welcome back, my dear," Dumbledore said as Hermione looked up at him, feeling like she was back in her first year at the school again.
"It feels a little weird to be back, professor," Hermione said as she looked up into the old wizard's twinkling eyes. "Allow me to introduce my children…"
"All in good time, my dear," Dumbledore said as he held up his hand to stop her words. "Right now, I think you and your children should join us for lunch. You can introduce these adorable kids to us while we're eating." When Dumbledore motioned with his hand for Hermione and her children to precede him into the Great Hall, Hermione quickly yet quietly ushered her children into the room in front of her.
All noise stopped as she stepped into the Great Hall once again. Looking up at the only table in the room, she tried not to notice all eyes on her as she walked slowly over to a side table that had appeared about three meters away from the staff. Placing her children in their chairs, Hermione sat in between Sebastian and Lucian and across from Anthea. As food appeared on the table before them, she served the food out to her children before they could bring up any embarrassing topics.
"Mummy?" Sebastian said as Hermione poked at her food. "Are you okay?" Looking up from her plate, Hermione just nodded her head to indicate that she was fine.
"Miss Granger," she heard Dumbledore say from behind her, "why are you not sitting with the rest of the staff? We prepared for you to join us and, now that you have, we will try to welcome you properly back into the Hogwarts family."
"I'm sorry, Professor Dumbledore," Hermione said as she stood up, "but my children need some rest from the long morning they have had and I think that, if you could give me the map that you said you would have in the letter, I will take myself and my children to our quarters do that we could unpack, rest, and get settled in. If that interferes with yours or any other of the staff's plans for the afternoon, I am sorry, but I need to take care of my children." Waiting for her children to stand next to her, Hermione accepted the map of Hogwarts that would lead her to her quarters and her classroom. Grabbing hold of her sons' hand once again, Hermione lowered herself and let her daughter climb onto her back. Standing back up slowly, she quickly made her way swiftly out of the Great Hall. Walking up the staircase, she did not notice the black eyes that were following her movements from the dungeon corridor.
