"Daddy!"

The cry broke Albus out of his slumber, and he blinked wearily as he heard the familiar chant.

"Shut off…the alarm." The tired mumble next to him said, the sound of rustling sheets as someone turned in them. He turned to see his wife, Annemarie's back to him, her brown curly hair flowing down the curve of the bed. He let out a soft chuckle.

"Can't shut off this alarm Love." He commented tiredly, before turning to look at the edge of the bed, and saw a pair of green eyes staring at him. He smiled sleepily.

"Hey Mary." He said, sitting up, and shoving his strands of hair that were in his face out of it, rubbing his eyes wearily. "What are you doing up?"

"Daddy, it's breakfast time."

"It's five in the morning sweetheart." He said. The little girl smiled brightly, apparently oblivious that it wasn't really time for breakfast. "Come on sweetie, why don't you lie down with Mummy and me for a little bit?"

"Okay." She said, and after Albus helped her up onto the bed, she crawled to the crevice between Annemarie and him as he lied back down. Annemarie turned wrapping her slim arms around Mary. Albus stared at his two girls and smiled.

If he had ever imagined that he would have dated Annemarie, let alone dating her when he was young, he would have been kidding himself. He had just thought that they would have been friends for the rest of their life. They had first met during their first year, when they had been placed into Ravenclaw. She had been shy as hell, but when he had finally gotten to know her, her personality had changed to where she was joking and confident, refusing to be even sort of girly. But as they had grown together, something had changed between them. And in their seventh year, in a rather normal argument, she had grabbed his shirt and dragged him over to her, locking her lips over his.

And they had started dating that day. And he hadn't regretted it for a moment.


James would never admit that he sometimes wondered how his life had changed so drastically. He slowly awoke, staring at the small flat bedroom he had, running his hand over the empty space that had once belonged to his wife. It had been accident, the constable had told him. But it didn't really matter how accident worthy the car crash had been, his wife had died.

"Dad! The toaster's smoking again!"

Granted he had been lucky. His son had survived.

He dashed out of his bed, almost killing himself as he tangled his legs in the sheets. Kicking the blanket off, he rushed out of the room, getting to the kitchen just in time to hear the smoke alarm go off. He pulled his son back, before pulling the plug of the toaster, and waving the smoke away, his son opening the window.

"…Okay…note to self, buy a new toaster. This has been the third time this month." He grumbled as he shook the machine upside down, and the charred remnants of what he assumed had once been an English muffin plopped out. "What Grandpa saw in some of these muggle contraptions I'll never know."

"…sorry for waking you up Dad." Aaron said, kicking the ground slightly. James turned to look at the eight year old boy and sighed, giving him a tired smile.

"No one was hurt, that's what is important. What were you trying to do anyways?"

"…Make you breakfast."

James blinked in surprise before smiling softly. This kid… "Aaron, that is really nice for you to do."

"Yeah. But I ruined it." Aaron complained. James shrugged and then looked around.

"It's no big deal. Tell you what, how about we go out and get some Brighton's Bill's?" he asked and watched his son's eyes grow large. "Sound good to you?"

"Yeah!" The younger boy cried out, rushing to his room to go and put his shoes on. James smiled and then stretched before going to his own room to change.


"Mummy?" Mary called, standing on a stool at the kitchen counter where Annemarie was making them a breakfast of French toast, Albus next to her frying some bacon.

"What?" Annemarie asked, her hair now in a loose ponytail and wearing Al's shirt and a pair of loose sweatpants. She turned from whisking the eggs and milk in the bowl to where her daughter stood.

"I want two." She held up her fingers. "Please?"

"Two?" Al called, looking over his shoulder at his daughter. "You've never eaten two before." He noted, teasing Mary.

"Well," She said, "I'm really hungry this morning."

Chuckling Annemarie leaned over and placed a kiss on Mary's forehead, earning a giggle. "Eat one and then if you're not full, I make you another. Okay?" She asked. Mary giggled and nodded, plopping back down into her seat, content in just watching her parents.

"Okay," Albus called, lifting the black iron skillet off of the stove and walked over to the counter. "Bacon is ready. How's the French toast gang doing?" He grinned as he put the bacon into a paper-lined basket.

"We're ready to go." Annemarie promised. Al walked over to her, kissing her gently. Annemarie responded instantly, and they only parted when Mary squealed.

"Ew! Cooties!" the little girl complained. Al's grin grew larger.

"Cooties huh?" he said, walking over to her and suddenly grabbing her, tickling her stomach, causing the little girl to laugh loudly. As Annemarie watched the two in amusement she heard the phone beginning to ring. Leaving her husband with their daughter, she went to the phone, picking it up.

"Hello."

"Hey Ann. It's Harry."

"Mr. Potter." She said politely. "How are you?"

"I'm…fine…Can I talk to Albus please?"

The tone startled her for a second and she paused, before looking back towards the kitchen.

"Al." She called.

"Yeah?"

"Your dad is on the phone. He wants to talk to you." She said. A minute later Al walked out of the kitchen, still holding Mary. With a short kiss he handed the little girl to her mother, before taking hold of the phone. Annemarie chuckled before walking into the kitchen, serving Mary some French toast and a piece of bacon, cutting the piece of bread into small bites. Mary automatically began to stuff her face. Watching her daughter, she tuned into Al's conversation.

"Hi Dad. Something up? Did James nearly blow up another st-! What's wrong with Lily?"

Annemarie's head shot up and she looked towards the hallway. The sharpness in Albus's voice spoke volumes. She knew, Merlin, everybody knew that James, Albus, and Lily were close, a lot closer than most siblings. And when it came to being overprotective, Albus and James would get first prize. That was obvious in Hogwarts when one of their dates was to follow Lily around on a date and ensure that the bastard didn't try to force Lily into a compromising position. But judging by Al's voice, something was wrong. Very wrong.

"What do you mean he beat her?"

Annemarie's heart dropped.

That was not good. Not good at all.

IT'S SHORT I KNOW, BUT I SORT OF HIT A BRICK WALL. SO IF ANY OF YOU REVIEW, TELL ME WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE? XD