Amelia and Zach had quickly seen their guests out with promises of speaking tomorrow night over dinner.
"now then Sam" Zach told the now grey eyed child sitting on the couch swinging her legs happily "time for bed"
"maybe..." Amelia started to ask but quickly stopped looking at the floor embarrassed
"maybe what?" Zach asked amused
"well maybe Sam should sleep in her own room tonight" Amelia asked carefully
"I have my own room?" Sam asked jumping off of the couch
"does she" Zach asked bewildered,he had 3 guest room's but he hadn't started setting one up for Sam just yet.
"she does" Amelia told him smiling "I had a spare few minutes" she whispered over her shoulder leading them up the stair's
all three of them headed upstairs quietly as to not disturb the house elf's sleep,but by the time Zach had turned the landing light on he found a very sour looking house elf wrapped in a pink fluffy dressing gown looking thoroughly annoyed.
"Master Zach" Dilly hissed giving him her best glower "you is waking Dobby!"
even Zach was taken aback by Dilly's tone until he realized they must have been quite loud downstairs,and he'd woken the elf up two nights in a row now
"im so sorry Dilly" he told her honestly "a lot has happened tonight and well...well you can see for yourself" he sighed pointing at Sam who looked rather alarmed by the bristling elf.
"but master Zach" she elf said in awe "who is this girl? and where is Miss Sam?"
"the potion remember Dilly?" he reminded her "can you let Dax know so he doesn't have a heart attack tomorrow?"
"yes master I is telling Dax right away" the elf nodded rushing back into her bedroom.
Amelia chuckled slightly "who knew house elf's wore bunny slippers" she whispered to Sam
"come on then I'll show you your room" Amelia told them moving down the hallway
Amelia lead them into the bedroom just across the hallway from Zach's ,Zach thought she would have picked the bigger room at the end of the hall but guessed the smaller room being closer to Zach and Amelia would make Sam feel more at ease.
the room was painted a soft yellow and white aswell as the furniture,Amelia had added a white iron bed frame,an extravagant chandelier,a bed side table containing a night-light and lost of nick nack's and books along the shelves and wall's.
"its perfect" Sam told them looking around the room with wide eye's
"I'm glad you like it" Amelia told Sam smiling "I've got you lots of toys coming,im sure we can make it feel more like yours soon enough"
Sam nodded quickly and climbed up onto the bed with a yawn
"good night sweetheart" Amelia whispered kissing Sam on the cheek and pulling the butterfly bed sheets over Sam's tiny form.
"sweet dreams little one" Zach said kissing her on the same spot and tucking the blankets in tightly around the already half asleep child.
They had both stood in the doorway for a few minutes before walking towards Zach's room
"wheres the guest room?" Amelia asked slightly embarrassed,they'd only slept in the same bed the first night because they'd both dropped in exhaustion,and she didn't want Zach to think she was forcing herself on him.
"oh...well I just assumed you'd sleep in here with me" he admitted,his shoulders sagging slightly
"I will" Amelia said at once smiling "I just didn't know if you'd want me to"
"always" he told her seriously before rolling his eye's and heading for the door.
by the time Amelia had collected herself enough to enter Zach's room she almost had to walk right back out again,she'd walked in while Zach was getting undressed her whole body freezing as soon as her eye's made contact with him,he was wearing nothing but his white briefs that left little to the imagination,trying quickly to act casual she made her eyes travel upwards trying to look at his face but her eyes seemed to glue themselves on his torso,Zach was in excellent shape,really,really, whole body looked like it could have been carved from marble and displayed in a museum,she must have made some sort of noise to alert him because she quickly found herself pinned under his steel gaze
"copping an eyeful are we?" he asked giving her a mock glare
"well you're not leaving much to the imagination" she scoffed
she earned a hearty laugh for that one"well are you just going to stand there all night?" he asked grinning at her.
" maybe" she muttered winking at him as she walked around the other side of the bed and began to remove her jewelry,placing it on the bedside table.
'please Merlin let me be wearing decent underwear' she mentally pleaded,feeling extremely self-conscious as she unbuttoned her blouse discarding it quickly,closely followed by her jean' opening one eye slightly she looked down at herself cursing Merlin over her mismatched underwear.
"are those cupcake's on your kickers?" Zach asked trying and failing not to laugh
"oh you think its funny do you?" Amelia hissed with an evil smile that went unnoticed to Zach,who clutched his side still laughing.
Amelia turned on her heel, so she was facing him across the bed,quickly reached behind her back and unclasped her bra and letting it shimmy down her arm's, throwing it on Zach's lap.
Zach stopped laughing immediately and began gaping at her,his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water making Amelia erupt into hysterical giggles,finally calming down enough she chanced a glance at Zach and found him looking at the ceiling determinedly muttering 'Merlin help me' over and over again while holding out a black t-shirt in Amelia's direction,it took a few more minutes for Amelia to stop giggling and pull the t-shirt on quickly climbing into bed.
"are you going to stand there all night Zach?" she asked him wriggling under the sheet's
Zach gave her another one of those heart stopping smile's and quickly sprawled out on the bed pulling the covers over himself.
they both laid in the dark for a few minutes not looking at each other until Amelia as always broke the silence
"I don't want to freak you out or anything" she told him smiling softly "but we kind of in a weird way have a daughter together"
Zach chuckled softly and reached for Amelia's hand under the blanket holding on to it tightly
"its kind of ineradicable" he told her softly "there's a mini us just in the other room,it feels like she's completely ours though if you know what I mean?" he asked still smiling
"yes I know exactly what you mean" Amelia agreed smiling back "i never really thought about having any children,but yesterday I gained a daughter,and I couldn't be happier" she admitted
Zach smiled wider in response finally letting exhaustion take over his eyelids snapped shut
"goodnight Zach" Amelia whispered softly snuggling close to him with a content sigh as sleep finally overtook her.
"Meal" a squeaky voice demanded making Amelia groan
"Meal...Meal...Meal" it carried on noted something small crawling around the bed on Zach's vacated side.
"Mummy" a new voice whispered right in her ear waking Amelia with a screech
"im sorry!" Sam cried watching Amelia's arm's flailing around helplessly.
"oh Sam sweetheart its you" Amelia realized, trying to slow her breathing
"Meal!" Came a high pitch excited voice
"and Dobby" Amelia laughed so that's what shed felt crawling around the bed
"good morning trouble makers" she laughed stretching "where's daddy?" she asked looking around
"he had to work today" Sam reminded her pouting" he said he'd be back for lunch though,wich is soon" she grinned.
Amelia looked at her watch noticing the time and began cursing under her breathe
"i need to get dressed Sam,why don't the two of you go find Dilly?" she asked rushing over to the shopping bag's throwing cloth's in every direction.
"oh no we don't need Dilly" Sam said hurriedly glancing at Dobby looking guilty
"why do you have Dobby Sam?" Amelia asked confused.
"well he was having a nap" Sam told her honestly "and then he woke up..so I thought we could play" she finished smiling at Dobby who nodded back happily
"well that's fine Sam" Amelia told her kindly "but maybe we better tell Dilly that Dobby's awake in future just so she knows"
"but Dilly asked me not to disturb Dobby's nap time" Sam told her lip trembling.
"it ll be fine" Amelia reassured her "Dilly?" Amelia called,she wasn't sure the elf would respond to her,seeing as she wasn't her master,but to Amelia s surprise there was a faint pop and Dilly was stood before her wearing a pretty yellow sundress and gardening gloves
"yes mistress Amelia?" she elf asked bowing
"good morning Dilly,im sorry to trouble you but I really need to get dressed" she told her gesturing to the children sitting on the bed.
"mama" Dobby shrieked excitedly on seeing his mother
Amelia's almost jumped out of her skin as Dilly suddenly howled placing her head in her hands.
"whats wrong Dilly?" Amelia asked alarmed looking around for the source of upset.
"I am sorry mistress" she elf sobbed "I is supposed to be taking care of Sam and Dobby but I is busy in the garden and didn't hear Dobby wake,now mistress has cared for Dobby" she elf howled now twisting her ears,her howls were soon joined by Dobby's who'd grown alarmed to his mothers upset,
"Dilly please stop hurting yourself" Amelia begged,sinking to her knees grabbing Dilly's hands trying to get the elf to stop punishing herself
"mistress...mistress is not angry with Dilly?" she elf asked shocked
"why would i be angry?" Amelia asked confused "Sam took Dobby because she thought he'd like to play with her" Amelia told her gently.
"miss Sam is wanting to play with my Dobby?" the elf asked looking at Sam in shock.
"yes Dobby is lots of fun!" Sam told her eagerly "we've been playing with his trucks" she beamed proudly
"my masters daughter is wanting to play with...with an elf?" Dilly asked in disbelief
"Dobby's my friend" Sam told her smiling and reaching over to hug Dobby
"she is a very very good girl" Dilly told Amelia suddenly touching her arm gently
"not many children wants to be friend's with a house elf" she told her sadly
"well it seem's as though their friendship has made them both happy" Amelia commented while watching Sam tickle Dobby mercilessly.
"I hope we can be friends too" she told the elf with a smile
"we already is mistress!" Dilly told her eagerly
"come along then children,i is getting you juice and cookies" Dilly announced happily as Dobby reached out for his mother and Sam shouted "YAYYY" leaving Amelia to get dressed
in peace.
"so" Alastor growled gaining the group's attention "lets sum up the meeting with the minister shall we?" he asked pouring everyone a glass of whiskey.
"he's asked us to find a child that according to the department of magical orphans,does not exist" Rufus Scrimgeour concluded accepting his whiskey gratefully
"Chambers?" Moody barked making Adam almost fall out of his chair "how are you going to track the child?"
"what?" Adam snapped "I cant bloody well track someone when I don't know where they disappeared from in the first place" he told them before muttering to himself darkly and downing his whiskey
"White,Shackbolt how's the paper trail going?" Moody asked grinning
"as Rufus pointed out Alastor,there is no paper trail to follow" Kingsley told him smoothly with a slight small smirk.
"so what can we conclude from the meeting?" Moody asked still grinning
"sod all" Zach chuckled sipping his liquor.
"your close White" Moody told him refilling Adam's glass
"Fudge is hiding something" Rufus concluded raising his eyebrows
"or someone" Adam grumbled
"you think he has the girl Alastor?" Kingsley asked casually inspecting his nails
"nah he's not intelligent enough" Moody snickerd prompting the men in the room to laugh
"we know for a fact he knows more than he's telling us" Zach stated the obvious,holding out glass for a refill
"exactly" Moody huffed snatching Zach's glass "so lets sum up the things we need to do,that we can't do because Fudge is a dim whit"
"ordinarily I would speak with friends and family" Rufus told them slowly "but seeing as Fudge refuses to give me any name's I cant"
"me and Adam would search the place the child went missing from,look around the family home and so on.." Zach explained in a bored voice "but seeing as Fudge is being tight-lipped we can't"
"then id be following a paper trail" Kingsley added taking a swig of whiskey "looking into backgrounds of said relatives,but obviously I cant,as Rufus pointed out there is no paper trail whatsoever on the girl"
"and that concludes the meeting" Moody nodded banging his glass on to the desk "we can't follow procedure or use any of our training we have nothing" he concluded with a nod of dismissal
"so that's it" Adam asked leaning forward in his chair "we do nothing?"
"what would you suggest Chambers?" Moody snapped
"I don't suggest anything im just pleased im not going to drown in paperwork" Adam told them shrugging
"we can't even be sure the girl is even missing" Zach pointed out "if she is then I feel sorry for the poor kid I really do...but no sightings no location no name's no case"
"that's good enough for me" Rufus smiled rising from his chair nodding goodbye.
"I've got Mundungus Fletcher SR in the dungeons waiting" Kingsley told them raising gracefully and heading out the door
"go home Chambers you smell like you drank half the mead in the three broomsticks" Moody said sternly
"I don't need telling twice" Adam chuckled as he dashed out the door.
"is this going to be perused?" Zach asked closing the door behind Adam and resuming his seat
"for a while possibly" Moody sighed "Fudge knows we can't do anything but he's fighting hard to keep Sam's disappearance out of the prophet" he told him pouring them another glass of whiskey
"I can see why" Zach admitted nodding his thanks and accepting the tumbler "if it hits the press that a child's missing that's bad enough,but even worse if it gets out Fudge is withholding information"
"exactly" Moody agreed "even if that Rita Skeeter does find out Sam's tracks are covered with the glamour potion"
"and the fact she changed her own name" Zach chuckled
"she's a clever little tyke ill give her that" Moody smirked
"you don't even know the half of it" Zach grinned.
"when's Daddy coming" Sam asked for possibly a thousand time's in the past hour
"I don't know sweetheart,he's probably running late" Amelia replied sighing rubbing her temples.
"can we eat yet?" Sam asked for the 500th time
Sighing in defeat Amelia nodded and watched Sam imminently dive into the mountain of sandwiches Dilly had ready for them.
"I want one without the green leafs on" Sam told her after a few minutes
"do you mean lettuce?" Amelia asked grinning reaching over for the sandwiches
"I don't know what it's called" Sam admitted with a shrug "but its yucky and I don't like it"
"well that's not good" Zach declared in a shocked voice as he walked into the kitchen shrugging off his coat "how ever will you grow big and strong without eating yucky green leaf's" he winked ruffling Sam's hair.
"daddy stoppp" Sam whined trying to bat his hands away
"Zach let her eat in peace" Amelia told him laughing
"well you two are no fun" he laughed gently patting Sam's hair back into some kind of order, before taking his seat at the head of the table
"I've got the rest of the day off" he told them reaching for a sandwich
"yayyyy" Sam cheered clapping her hands and grinning widely at him
"thank Merlin" Amelia sighed in relief
"waddup wiv ou?" Zach asked with a mouth full of sandwich looking at Amelia with alarm
"that's really attractive Zach" Amelia scolded but couldn't help smiling fondly at him "im just tired" she told him shrugging
"im tired too mummy" Sam told her yawing widely as if to prove her point.
"we'll all have a nap after lunch" Zach chuckled reaching for his third sandwich
"well I was hoping to return to my apartment for some cloth's" Amelia smiled
"OK then a nap for Sam while we go pack you up" Zach nodded slouching in his chair and patting his stomach
"you don't have to come" Amelia told him hurriedly not meeting his eyes
"of corse I do" Zach yawned widely
"it's just,well my apartment looked like a bomb had hit it last time I was there" Amelia blushed
"yes sure" Zach scoffed "i lived here by myself for almost a year before I found Dilly,you should have seen the state of the place" he told her shaking his head in disgust
"surely it wasn't that bad?" Amelia grinned disbelieving.
"ask her yourself" Zach shrugged "there's still a rather sinister looking patch on the floor of the in shoe closet" he told her with a grim expression
"is it nap time yet daddy?" Sam asked with hooded eye's.
"sure is" Zach chuckled scooping her up and heading out of the kitchen.
"tell me was the metaphorical bomb actually a cleaning bomb?" Zach asked gazing around the small room
"what do you mean?" Amelia asked pausing from packing her book's
"well I got the impression that id be greeted with a scene of complete carnage" Zach chuckled "not a few dirty pots in the sink and an unmade bed"
"im usually much tidier than this" Amelia told him blushing deeply
"your joking woman?" Zach asked sarcastically "this is the most organised apartment I've ever stepped foot in"
"oh well thank you Zach" Amelia beamed up at him
"point me in the direction of the kettle love?" he asked a few minutes later
Amelia grinned widely still packing book's into her trunk and pointed in the direction of her tiny kitchen,finally looking up to watch Zach strut into the kitchen.
"how many book's do you think ill need?" she called a few minutes later eyeing the now full trunk and the pile of book's still waiting to be packed
"Zach?" she called again a minute later
"why miss Bones look what I found while snooping" Zach smiled mischievously holding out a pair of Amelia s black lace kickers "you do own sexy knickers after all!"
Amelia blushed crimson as she tried to snatch the knickers out of his hand,having to jump when he held them high in the air
"where did you even find those" Amelia sighed giving in,and throwing herself on the couch
"they were on the radiator in the bathroom" he grinned finally handing them over and strutting back into the kitchen returning a couple of minutes later with two mugs of coffee
"thank you" she sighed sitting up properly to accept the mug
"did you ask me something before?" Zach asked thumping down on the couch
"yes I asked how many book's you think ill need?" she told him sipping her coffee and turning on the tv.
"well surely all of them?" Zach asked leaning towards the screen frowning
"what do you mean all of them?" Amelia asked chuckling slightly at Zach's baffled expression
"what's this thing?" Zach asked pointing to the TV
"it's a muggle television" she told him simply "now why would i need all my book's?"
"I've never seen anything like this in my life" Zach told her excitedly "what does it do?"
"well it basically shows video recordings" she told him switching it off.
"I don't understand" he admitted sheepishly
"i'll explain another time" she smiled "now why would I need all my book's? wich by the way I own a lot of"
"well surely your moving in?" he asked turning to face her with an amused expression
"you..you want me to move in?" she stuttered
"well yes,we are a family aren't we?" he asked grasping her hand and squeezing it slightly.
"but why me?" she choked trying to fight off the tears that threatened to spill
every emotion flitted across Zach's face in the short time it took him to reply,the one that stung Amelia the most was the look of utter betrayal until eventually he settled into one of understanding
"because Sam needs you" he told her softly "and because I need you"
Zach had said something else after his small but significant revelation, but Amelia hadn't heard him,the only thing she could hear was her own heart beat beating rapidly in her ears,feeling his thumb brush gently over the back of her hand in such a sweet gesture was too much 'its now or never' she thought as she closed the distance crushing her lips to his.
she felt Zach's body completely tense as their lips met,she hastily tried pulling away absolutely mortified at what she'd done, feeling hot tears prickling in her eye's again, but as she cringed away from him Zach's hands pinned her to the spot,she turned her head quickly a nasty comment on the tip of her tongue aimed at Zach fizzled and died as she looked into his lust filled eye's,quicker than a flash Zach dragged Amelia towards him and she soon had her legs wrapped around his waist and her arm's clinging to his neck,her eye's never leaving his as she watched him transfixed
"Zach,you don't have to.." she began huskily but was quickly silenced by Zach's lips claiming her's,the kiss started off lightly but quickly changed to Long, Deep, Sensual kisses,their tongues intertwining together passionately until Amelia felt like she couldn't breathe and broke from the kiss gasping for air.
"bedroom?" Zach demanded
"seconddoorontheleft" she told him in one breath.
Several hours later Amelia stood in the now empty apartment taking a last look around,thinking back on all the memory's she had with this tiny place that used to be home.
she threw the floo powder into the fireplace and stepped into the green flame's grinning widely about the place she now called home,and the family that was waiting for her there.
"MUMMY!" Sam screeched as soon as Amelia stepped out of the fireplace
"what is it sweetheart" Amelia smiled crouching down to hug her daughter tightly.
"is it my birthday? Daddy says it's not but it must be" Sam told her quickly throwing her tiny arm's around Amelia's neck and smiling brightly.
"no sweet thing it's not your birthday just yet,what makes you ask?" Amelia chuckled just as Zach came flying into the room looking put out
"what..." she began to ask but was cut off from the rest of the sentence by Zach
"went a little overboard didn't we?" he grinned folding his arms over his chest
what.." she began to ask again what he ment but was cut off by Sam this time
"toys!" she squealed "are they really all for me?"
"most of them" Amelia chuckled "please don't peek until mummy's looked through them OK?"
Sam protested loudly to Amelia's request and even Dobby joined in after a few minute's until Dax whisked them both out into the garden to play football reluctantly.
"some are for her birthday" Amelia explained to Zach as she made her way out to the hallway,coming to a complete halt at the door frame,there were a lot more toy's than she thought,a small mountain of teddy bears and shopping bag's were piled high into one corner "and Christmas" she added weakly.
Zach doubled over with laughter at her forlorn expression
"we have an hour before dinner,well have to move this lot upstairs and get ready" Amelia muttered to herself.
"Amelia can I ask you something?" Zach giggled unable to stop laughing
"yes?" Amelia sighed adjusting the bag's in one hand to grab an arm load of teddy's
"do you own a wand?"he tittered
"of corse I own a wand,what kind of question...oh" she grinned at him shaking her head slightly,setting the things back on the floor and withdrawing her wand.
in one flick the mountain in the corner vanished into one of the guest room's upstairs.
"im going to get ready for dinner" she told Zach over her shoulder who was still giggling like a school girl "im glad i didn't have to carry all that up the stairs" she continued starting up the stairs slowly "you see,im still rather sore" she grinned wickedly as the giggling ended abruptly and Zach charged up the stairs after her.
"good evening Albus" Amelia greeted as the headmaster stepped through the front door
"I hope your well"
"im very well thank you Amelia" Albus beamed "I hope you don't mind me saying but you seem rather different this evening" he added eyeing her curiously.
Amelia grinned in response before ushering him into the living room
"hi Al" Sam grinned on seeing the man.
"ah Sam,how lovely to see you" Albus greeted his blue eyes twinkling
dinner went rather smoothly,Dilly had outdone herself with a full roast dinner with all the trimmings and lemon meringue pie for 'd all thanked the elf profoundly complementing every item she had cooked which left the elf sobbing happily in the kitchen.
Dax had taken Sam and Dobby upstairs to play shortly after knowing Sam would grow bored with the adults.
"so" Albus said while accepting a cup of tea Amelia handed him "what has Cornelius done?"
with that Moody went into a full-scale rant about the lack of competence with the minister,Zach chipped in occasionally but most of the time sat snickering and nodding with Moody.
"Cornelius was never the first choice for minister" Dumbledore admitted glumly once Moody had finished "however his lack of competence in this case is extremely useful" he chuckled
"so Sam's going to be safe?" Amelia asked eagerly
"she already is" Moody told her with a nod
"I suggest Alastor,the story of Zach's estranged lover comes out tomorrow" Albus said casually
"the sooner the better" Zach told Moody with a nod "I think the poor kids getting cabin fever being cooped up all the time"
"tomorrow it is" Moody nodded.
after seeing their guests out Amelia and Zach headed back into the living room to set up the TV,which resulted in Amelia setting it up and Zach asking lots of questions.
"im just going to check on Sam" Amelia told him a while later,he nodded in response completely transfixed on the silly soap Oprah on tv.
as Amelia reached the top of the stairs a loud crash echoed up from the living room,but before she was even halfway down Zach came sprinting down the hallway flying straight past her on the stairs heading straight for Sam's room.
"LEAVE ME ALONE" Sams tiny voice screamed in anger echoing around the house before Zach had reached the door
by the time Amelia had caught up Zach was attempting to kick the door down, billows of black smoke were filling the fall way through the cracks in Sam's door making Amelia choke
"what are you doing?" Amelia asked desperately
"the doors locked" Zach told her calmly,too calm
"but...there's no lock on the door Zach"
AN: Left it on a cliff hanger! Chapter 8 is a working progress!