AN: I be you're all wondering where I've been this last week, and I'm going to be honest and say that I realized that this story is almost over, and I panicked. There's approximately three chapters left after this one, and I have to apologize for the shortness of this chapter, because I didn't want to write it. This fic means a lot to me, and it's going to be hard to say goodbye, so I procrastinated working on it, so i could keep it a But longer. However, I will do my best to finish strong, and get this story to the ending it deserves.


Chapter 54 – The Cookie Jar

"'Thorne, Sophie, look!" Thalia screeched, pointing at the window. The two of them climbed onto the couch to see, and Fred stood behind them, wondering what Thalia was wanting them to see.

It was snowing.

"Snow! Snow!" The three of them shouted. They got so excited every time it snowed. "Outside Daddy, outside!"

"Hermione, will you help me with snow gear?" He called down the hall.

Half an hour later, the five of them were all bundled up and heading outside.

Thalia took three steps before falling into a drift. "Brr." She giggled as Hermione helped her back up.

Fred carried the sleds to the backyard, where they had made a small hill, perfect for toddler sledding adventures.

"Weee!" Hawthorne screeched, his sled spinning slowly. Hermione caught him at the bottom.

"My turn!" Thalia said, excitedly climbing into her sled.

"Ready?" Fred asked her.

"Yes!"

"I don't know… are you sure?"

"Daddy." Thalia giggled. He gave her a small push, and she slid down, screaming the whole five feet.

Sophia stepped up next, throwing a snowball at him. He retaliated, gently, and soon the five of them had begun at all-out war.

Hermione and Sophie, of course, cheated, using Hermione's wand to catch Fred, Hawthorne and Thalia in a flurry.

"No fair mommy!" Thalia called.

Fred crouched down, casting a protective charm around them. "What should we do back?"

"Snowman!" Hawthorne said, and Thalia nodded in agreement as Hermione's enchanted flurry died down. So Fred conjured up a snowman to chase Hermione and Sophie through the yard.

"Help!" Sophie called, and Hermione scooped her up in one arm, before melting Fred's snowman with a heat blast from her wand.

"You've got to do better than that." She teased.

Hawthorne tugged on his sleeve, pointing up at the tree branch above Hermione, laden with snow. "If you insist." Fred called, shooting a spell at the branch. Snow fell on Hermione and Sophie with a splat. Hawthorne and Thalia fell on the ground laughing.

"You win, daddy." Sophie said.

Soon, the kids were cold and tired, and it was time to head back into the house for hot cocoa. Upon seeing the slushy kids trudging inside, Houdini scampered down the hall to avoid being picked up by small, wet hands.

"Cookie, daddy?" Sophie asked, tugging at Fred's sleeve as he turned the kettle on.

"In a moment dear."

Sophie sighed loudly, and trudged over to a chair. Her sister soon joined her, having been released of her snow gear by her mother.

He heard giggling, and before he could turn around to see what had happened, a giant crash followed by his daughter's cries alerted him. He spun around to see the cookie jar, broken on the floor, and Thalia up on the counter crying.

"I broke it." She wailed.

Sophie was crying as well, because now all the cookies were destroyed.

"What happened in here?" Hermione asked, holding Hawthorne on her hip.

"They broke the cookie jar." Fred explained, helping Thalia off the counter.

"Fred, you were supposed to be watching them."

"I was. They're too clever for me."

Hermione sighed. "They're just toddlers." She cleaned up the mess with a quick spell.

"Sorry, mommy." Sophie and Thalia apologized.

"It's okay girls. Just stay off the counter, okay?"

Fred kissed his wife's cheek. "Sorry, honey."

"It's okay. At least no one was hurt."

"Except the cookies." Sophia said sadly.


"Hey Hermione, I've been meaning to ask you something." Harry said, setting a cup of tea in front of her. Fred had the kids for the day, and Hermione was enjoying the adult conversation with Harry, even if all they were doing was talking about Serendipity and the triplets.

"What is it?" She asked, dropping a couple spoons of sugar into her tea.

"Well-" he started a bit uncomfortably. What could he be asking? "I was wondering what Luna meant by asking you if you had your chance to celebrate?"

"Oh." Hermione said softly. "I just used to talk about celebrating a lot, and Luna must have picked up on it." Hermione had forgotten all about it.

"Okay. I was just wondering if it meant anything important." It seemed to Hermione that this had been bothering him for some time.

"It was a complaint that I had before the marriage law was put into effect. Everyone was moping rather than celebrating the fact that we had won." It seemed so long ago.

"It's an understandable complaint." He said. "I didn't think I would ever break out of the slump I was in."

"I didn't either. But we seem to have made it, haven't we?"

He nodded, looking at Serendipity, who was playing with toy car set that Bill had given her. They were both silent for some time.

"So did you ever get your chance to celebrate?" Harry asked, breaking the silence.

Hermione was silent for a moment. Every time she was asked that question, she said no. What was she waiting for?

"Maybe every day is a celebration." She said finally.

"Then maybe it's time we start living that way." Harry said with a smile.

Hermione couldn't help but agree.


Hermione awoke to the sound of noises from the kitchen. She was about to get up, before she realized it was Mother's Day, and that they were probably preparing something for her, so instead, she decided to lie in bed for a bit longer.

When she heard a crash and her daughter's high pitched wail, she almost leapt out of bed, but decided that Fred could handle it. A few moments later, she heard a tiny knock at the door.

"Are you up, mommy?" Thalia's voice called. Of her siblings, she was the most articulate.

"Yes I am honey." She replied.

The door opened and her daughter toddled in, climbing onto the bed.

"Daddy says to give you snuggles, and to stay in here." Thalia explained.

Hermione pulled her daughter close. "We can stay here and snuggle then." She kissed her little forehead.

"I hurted my foot." Thalia complained, holding it up to show her.

"Oh no." Hermione cooed. "Kisses make it better?"

Thalia nodded, and Hermione kisses her daughter's tiny foot, before tickling her tummy.

"Stop it mommy, that tickles!" Thalia cried, trying to get away.

"Thalia, daddy needs your help." Fred called from the kitchen. Almost two years after becoming parents, Hermione still thought it was precious how Fred interacted with the kids.

"I need to go." She said urgently, wriggling off the bed.

"Go then silly." Hermione giggled as he daughter ran out of the room as fast as her tiny legs would take her.

Not long after, she heard a medley of tiny knocks on the bedroom door.

"Who is it?" She called.

"The man of your dreams, and three little cherubs." Fred called.

"Better come back later, my husband and kids are home." Hermione replied.

"We have to come back later dad, don't go in." Hawthorne said as the door started to

open.

"Mommy was kidding." Fred replied.

"Were you kidding mommy?" Hawthorne asked.

"I was honey, come on in."

The door opened all the way, with a chorus of "Happy Mother's Day!" from the triplets.

Fred, grinning, was carrying a tray full of food.

"Aww, thank you guys." Hermione said with a smile, sitting up and helping Fred put the tray on her lap.

The triplets presented her a bouquet of flowers in three parts, while Fred poured orange juice for her.

"I made the toast!" Sophie exclaimed excitedly. "See?"

The toast was more warm bread than actual toast, but Hermione was unoffended. "It's perfect sweetie, thank you." She took a bite.

"Read your card first!" Thalia insisted, grabbing it out from under her plate, barely avoiding upsetting it.

"Okay, okay." Hermione smiled, taking the care from her sister.

"Read it out loud." Sophie asked, making herself at home on the pillow beside Hermione.

"Happy mother's day, to the best mommy in the world. Love, Thalia, Sophie, and Hawthorne." It was decorated with glitter and paint, as well as some scribbles at the bottom that she knew to be a family portrait by Hawthorne. "It's perfect. Thank you."

Fred leaned over and kissed her cheek. "You have one more gift, but you have to eat first."

She looked at the plate, which was loaded pancakes, bacon, hash browns, toast, and fruit. She hadn't been served so much food since she was pregnant with the triplets. "It looks so good, but I don't know if I can finish it all." She said, feeding a grape to Thalia.

"You have to eat it all, or no dessert!" Sophie giggled.

"Dessert too?" Hermione laughed. "I'm going to be stuffed!"

After she had eaten, and promised to eat her cookies later, the triplets toddled back in carrying her gift. She wondered how they were doing so without dropping it before she realized that it was being levitated by Fred.

"I wonder what could be in this." Hermione said, looking at the pink wrapped box on her lap.

"Can we help you unwrap it?" Hawthorne asked.

"Let mommy do it." Fred said gently.

"Okay." Hawthorne replied.

Hermione removed the bow and stuck it on his head. "There, now you're a gift too."

"Me too?" The girls chorused in unison.

Hermione chuckled, and tapped both of their heads with her wand, conjuring bows to match Hawthorne's. "You're all special gifts."

"What about Daddy?" Thalia asked.

"Does he need a bow too?" She asked. The triplet's yeses outnumbered Fred's no, so within seconds, he was sporting a bow as well. She conjured an extra-large one for him, and the excess ribbon trailed down the side of his head to his shoulders.

"You're pretty, Daddy." Thalia giggled.

"He's very pretty." Hermione added, blowing him a kiss.

"Open you gift mommy." Sophie said impatiently.

Hermione obliged, removing the paper and opening the box to find a new cookie jar. "Awwww." She said, turning it over in her hands. Imprinted into it were her children's handprints.

"We promise not to break this one." Sophie said adamantly, and her siblings nodded their heads in agreement.


I hope you enjoyed! Please be sure to review and tell me what you think :)

- Zen and Sirius