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Chapter 45. Bonnets, family dinners and good
"James, I'm going to kill you!"
"Oh, come on Callie, you can't put this thing on her."
"My nana made it for her, James. I can't just say no. Give me it back!"
"No. You're not putting my daughter through that kind of torture."
"She's my daughter, too, numb nuts, give me it!"
He stood behind the couch and shook his head. "No. I'll burn it before I give it to you."
"Listen, I know it's ugly—"
"Understatement of the century."
"—But I can't disappoint my nana!"
"We'll say we lost it."
I crossed my arms and smirked at him. "You're such a prat, James."
He winked and put the ugly fluffy bonnet into the draw behind him. He had been living with us for four weeks now, but had been at school all day for most of it (I had forced him to go back when Adrienne was two days old). The school had broken up on Friday and he had not left, it was now Wednesday. We had never spent so much time together before and although he was grating on me, I also enjoyed his company. He kept me sane and stopped me from my many near mental breakdowns over Adrienne's crying.
"Will you two stop shouting?" Coco came down the stairs with Adrienne in her arms. She was getting her dressed, using the baby grower James had given me near the Black Lake when I was still pregnant. "Adrienne isn't impressed."
"You mean you're not impressed," I corrected.
"Whatever, Callie, just stop making loud noise."
I chuckled and watched as James took Adrienne from Coco, cooing and nudging her with his nose. He was smitten with her, it was funny to see him melt by just her smiling at him. Then again, she had that effect on everyone.
Adrienne was four weeks old now and though still the most beautiful baby in the world, she had a good set of lungs on her. Her crying was so loud I sometimes wondered if it would break through the silence charm. She woke up around four times a night and I was the one getting up, I was the one with the food after all, but James would still sit on his bed yawning until she went back to sleep. I knew what my dad meant now, parenting was the hardest thing in the world, but also the most rewarding.
With lack of sleep and looking after a baby, I thought James and I would be arguing a lot more than we usually did. However, it seemed that we were too tired to bicker over things. Sure, we sometimes had fights, e.g. over ugly bonnets, but we hadn't attempted to kill each other yet and that was always a good thing.
Today, exactly a month since Adrienne entered the world, the Weasley-Potter's and my family were getting together to celebrate for the first time. Everyone had come to see and congratulate us, though not stayed long because we were usually falling asleep during the conversation. With three cups of coffee packed in my system and being able to take a short nap while Coco and Bruce looked after Adrienne, I was ready to take on the members of our family, including Edith who Coco had invited. She had yet to meet her granddaughter, she had come a couple of times but I had always been asleep or feeding Adrienne and my dad had sent her away. Today, I was ready.
James strapped her into her the baby seat and carried her. I cooed into the holder like those weird mum's I used to make fun of and watched Adrienne make spit bubbles at me.
I looked up to see Coco smirking at me. "What?" I asked.
"You're such a mum."
I snorted and took the seat from James while he grabbed the baby bag. "Having a baby does that to you," I replied.
"Fair enough. You ready for the party?" she grinned excitedly.
"Yep, can hardly wait."
"Don't be sarcastic," she giggled. "I know you're bursting inside really."
"Of course I am."
She skipped into the floo network. "See you there, guys." She disappeared in green flames.
"Remember to hold on tight," James commanded as he stepped into the fireplace.
"Yes James, I know."
He rolled his eyes at my smirk and went to his house, where the party was being held. I waited two minutes and then followed my sister and James. When I stepped out the fireplace the Potter's living room was full of people.
"Callie!" Albus called out before he hugged me. "How's my favourite goddaughter?"
"She's good, she loves to cry."
He snorted. "You're mum's being picky," he gushed to Adrienne, bending to unlock her from the baby seat. I set it out of the way, turning to Albus as he bobbed Adrienne up and down. Rose ran over pulling Scorpius with her, they both gave me a quick hug and went to look over Al's shoulder. I left to say hello to Harry and Ginny and tell them Adrienne was with Albus then went into the kitchen to get a drink.
"Oh, hello Callie," Hermione Weasley greeted me. She was sat at the table with some of James' other Aunts. "How are you?"
"I'm good, thanks," I took a cup from the tray provided and took a sip. "Tired though."
"Get used to it, honey," Angelina grinned. "You'll be tired for the next decade."
"I got to sleep again when Hugo went off to school," Hermione smiled. "I'm still catching up now."
Fleur and Audrey laughingly agreed and I walked out the kitchen rather defeated. Looked like I was going to live on coffee for the next ten years.
I went back to see Adrienne only to find Edith holding her near the couch. I gulped and held onto my drink a little tighter. I don't know why, but Edith holding her angered me a little. Old habits die hard, I suppose.
"Oh, Calliope," we still weren't close enough for her to call me Callie. "She's gorgeous."
"I know," I replied softly.
She handed her over to me and I set my drink on the table. "You're doing well I see. Holding her like a pro."
"I'm adjusting," I answered, shrugging. "It's getting a little easier by the day."
"That's good. That never happened with me," she mumbled.
I clenched my teeth and stayed quiet. No arguing, I was a mum now, I was mature. Biting my tongue, I made a lame excuse about finding James and strolled around the room. I could see Lily and Zabini talking to her dad, Harry looked rather tense as he met his daughter's boyfriend. I laughed, suddenly seeing James and Adrienne in years to come.
"Hey," a large hand was placed on my shoulder. James leaned over and looked down at Adrienne. "How's Addie?"
Addie, the nickname he came up with the day after she was born. I'd told him hundreds of times to stop, he hadn't listened.
"Adrienne is fine," I replied and he snorted.
"Good. My Uncle George wants to talk to you."
"What, why?"
"Don't know. He told me to come and get you."
Confused, I let him lead me over to his redhead Uncle who stood with Freddie and Carly at his side. Carly gently hugged me and Freddie beamed widely.
"Hello Callie," George greeted me as Carly picked Adrienne out my arms. "James was telling me that your worried about money and not being able to get a job with no N.E.W.T.S. and I want to ask if you if you'd like to work at my shop."
"Sorry?"
"Well, Freddie's coming to work for me and I don't think he'll have any N.E.W.T.S either."
"Hey!"
George smirked and ignored his son. "So it's not like I'm giving you special treatment because you're the mum to my great-niece… even though I am. You can work for me while you study and stuff. Because you're part of the family, hours will be flexible, you can have a few holidays… it's there is you want it."
"Wow, that would be brilliant, thanks," I replied rather shocked he had called me apart of the family. "I need to start paying my dad back as soon as I can. My debt is ridiculous."
"Alright, you can start whenever you want, just let me know."
"Thanks Uncle George," James grinned. "That's a massive help."
He nodded and turned to his son, who was now holding Adrienne, her tiny frame dwarfed by his giant one. "Bloody hell Freddie, you could hold her in your hand," he laughed. "Let me hold her."
"Isn't that amazing?" I whispered to James as Hugo and Lily joined their Uncle to see Adrienne. "We can start paying more money back quicker than we thought. You could try out for that place on Puddlemere United now."
His grin widened considerably. "Oh yeah, forgot about that. Money will be okay if you're working, too."
"Maybe things will work out in the end then."
"Who'd have thought?"
We were standing close so I reached up and pecked his lips just because I wanted to. When I pulled back, he smiled. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders as we stood, watching our families fuss over our daughter.
When I found out I was pregnant I never imagined things would end like this. Hell, halfway through I didn't think everything would end like this. James and I had been through a lot, had our ups and downs, hated each other, liked each other, maybe loved each other. Now we were here, stood with a daughter and our families around us.
Life was good.
Thoughts?
Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Hope you like this chapter!
So...this is the last ever real chapter of Mistakes. The next chapter is the Epilogue and is from Adrienne's point of view, so this is also the last of Callie. I just wanted to say thank you everyone for the reviews, favourites and alerts. They meant a lot to me, and gave me the confidence to write and publish my stories. You guys are the best! Thank you for sticking with this story, even in the beginning when my writing...wasn't the best. I can guarantee that this isn't the last of my Harry Potter stories, I've got too many idea's to stop now! Plus, I think I owe you guys another story...or two... :)
Though this won't effect this story (I already have the last chapter written), I've started school again this week and my writing time is severely limited. I only have a few spare hours on the weekends, and even they're usually spent revising and researching. I'm training to be a vet, and the hours are long.
Thank you to all of you!
See you for the next and final chapter!
-Layla
P.S. There's pictures on my photobucket, go to my profile if you want to see them!
