Title: Baby Boom! 17/18
Author: Mariann
Rating: R
Pairing: Sirius/Remus
Category: Between Fluff, Fun and Fighting
Summary: Sirius and Remus grow up, find love, start a family and fight the Dark Lord
Disclaimer: Belongs to JKR - no money's made from my poor attempts at writing
A/N: AU - The Willow Incident does not happen in this story. Peter is loyal and a spy for Dumbledore. Remus and Sirius are destined to fight Voldemort - will they succeed? A fair amount of children are born in this story - to spite the Death Eaters of course!
17. The next Generation
"Daddy, when do the letters come?" squealed Antares.
"They come when they're sent, love," Sirius replied calmly.
It was a normal early summer morning at the Mischief Palace. All the adults in the castle were looking around and checked that all of their children were coming to the breakfast table. Vega and Polaris had just returned from their first year at Hogwarts, both proud little Gryffindors. They were full of stories of their adventures since they had been home last over the Easter weekend. The smaller children all stared at them with big eyes. There were three more who expected their letters this year, Harry, Alya and Antares.
Remus looked around the table. Now that the whole family was assembled, it did look frightening for anyone outside of the Marauders. Sirius and his four children had received another two siblings, Ryan, who was now seven and Quentin, who was four. Remus had given birth to both of them, because the pregnancies had given him a respite from his transformations.
For the past seven years Remus did have the Wolfsbane potion, which at least kept him so sedated that he could actually stay around his family during the full moons. He lived his life peacefully, doing a lot of research and working from home. Sirius had considered a career after Voldemort's downfall, but then decided he liked the family life more and wanted to be there for his children. They had spaced them out to get some rest between the children, but now that the older ones went to Hogwarts he thought he had little to do anymore.
James was still working as an Auror but these days he had a lot less work. Lily remained to be a Ministry employee, but she had changed to the Department of Mysteries in the meantime. Harry had received a couple of younger siblings. In June 1982 a sister named Hannah joined him. Two years later a boy named Brian followed, in January 1988 there was another boy who James and Lily named Matthew. Now, in July 1991 Lily was pregnant with another child, expected in early September. This group of children broke a long tradition of only children in James' family. Sirius and Remus, who were home full time, looked after the children during the day. Since James was on calling duty most of the time, he was often available, too.
Peter had worked his way up and now co-owned the apothecary of his in-laws. Sabina and he took turns in working there. Their oldest daughter now had two younger siblings, Howard and Belinda, six and three years old.
Finally Hope and Dari were still in their jobs, but both had wanted another child and this time, Dari had become a mother, so their son Kevin Foster was joined by a little sister in July 1985 who was called Julia Sanchez.
All grandparents were often seen at the Mischief Palace. The house had undergone little changes, the Marauders had worked a lot on all the rooms to restore them and in the towers a lot had been done to make most of them habitable. The older children knew every nook and corner of their castle home and playing hide and seek had a never ending appeal to them. They had to limit the game to one floor when they played it.
Fifteen children at the table was an adventure! The house-elves of course brought on excellent food. The adults and children alike enjoyed the meals at the Mischief Palace. All adults saw to it that the children were at the table for every meal and that they ate properly.
On this particular morning the sun was already so high up it shone in through the windows to the inner courtyard and the family was assembled for a hearty breakfast before they would all go out and play around the house. Peter was getting ready to go to work and wished his three children a nice day.
Dari was already off to the office as she had to start early in the morning. James looked out one of the open windows and saw that there were a few owls coming in. Some of them turned out to be Hogwarts owls and he sighed in relief. For days he had been pestered by Harry asking when the school owl would finally come.
"That looks like some of you will go to Hogwarts in September!" he called.
"Yay!"
All three of them jumped up from their chairs and took their letters from James. The other school owls brought the letters for Vega and Polaris.
"We'll send the answers back and next month we'll shop for the school supplies. That's well early enough," Sirius decided.
When Minerva had the list of the new Hogwarts first years ready she smiled. Three letters would go to the Mischief Palace this year and there would be three little Marauders coming to Hogwarts in addition to the two she already had up in Gryffindor tower.
"Where will those three land, I wonder?" she said to Albus at dinner.
"I should expect one or two at least up in Gryffindor tower," Albus replied.
"I think so, I do expect the little Potter there. I hear little Antares looks like Sirius, but has Remus' temperament and character traits. Could go to any of the houses."
"And his sister looks like Remus and has Sirius' character."
Minerva made a face and said:
"Over all, they're all dangerous! I know they've done quite a good job in bringing them up fairly disciplined, but once here... there's six of those Black children by now, and they're all still coming here. They are bound to do some damage!"
"Take the other Lupin bunch into the fold, Minerva. We have Roxanne's twins and Samantha's daughter. And then there will be a few of Remus' older and younger brothers' children as well."
"But I have to say it IS good to see that so many people have decided on having children! We've had a steady increase of new first years since about three years. Before that it was all downhill. Now we get a number of over forty per year and the way it looks it will be even more in the coming years."
"I have kept an eye on that. Seeing the Book of Names the school governors have already agreed on granting us additional teachers for the core subjects. We're still trying to decide whether the teachers should be split on two houses and teach all years or whether they should split into one teacher for the first four and the other for the older three forms."
"It would mean a lot less work, Albus. I know that I could do my duties as Headmistress a lot better. I'm happy to hear that. But it will mean finding a few good teachers!"
"We have one or two years of time before we have to recruit them. One year at least. I do have a few ideas though..."
"You're thinking of some of the Marauders, don't you?"
Albus smiled.
"Actually, I do! They were some of the best students Hogwarts has ever seen! Why should they not come and teach?"
"Who in particular would you want? Lily would be great to teach Charms."
"She is one I'm thinking of. Remus for Defence, maybe James as the other Defence teacher. With these two we might actually break the jinx on this position. I start to doubt my own abilities to find good teachers. And there's still Sirius for Transfiguration."
"You ARE aware that Severus is still on the staff? They did work together halfway decently in the Order, but I do worry what happens if they come and teach..."
"They might make up for some of Severus' blatant favouritism, Minerva."
She frowned.
"That would mean you would allow them to display their own favouritism. I do not support that at all, Albus."
"I do think that neither Lily nor Remus would show favouritism, Minerva. And I am quite convinced that we can reduce James' and Sirius' to a minimum. Besides, in a way I do allow Severus to display his. I could stop him if I wanted to."
Minerva sighed.
"We should try to get Severus to stop deducting points for no reason. Shortly before the end of term he deducted thirty points from a Ravenclaw student for being late to class. The girl told Filius that there were three Slytherins coming into the classroom after her and they were spared. And she said she was on time. But the thirty points of course put Ravenclaw behind Slytherin for the house cup."
Now it was Albus' turn to sigh.
"I know about that incident. I have warned him that he has to watch himself. And I do have a clear maximum point deduction decided for offences like lateness to class as you have seen."
"I am glad for that, Albus. None of the other teachers ever takes more than five points for students being just a few minutes late. He takes large amounts even from first years in their first few days when they still have to find their way around the castle. He's been very unkind to Vega and Polaris Black in particular. That lets me fear how he will treat Harry and his younger siblings, knowing they're James' children."
"I am aware of that. But it is very difficult to find any old Slytherins who would want to become teachers. Besides the fact that many of them would make for much worse teachers than Severus. And we do need at least one of them. I would hate a situation when I'd have to give the head of Slytherin house to a non-Slytherin teacher."
"He applied for the defence position again."
"I have recommended that he should not. But of course if he wants to apply it is his problem when he gets another rejection. I do think that Defence against the Dark Arts is too important to have a someone like Severus Snape teach it. I really need a good teacher for the subject. Someone who can motivate all students. Remus would do the best job, I think."
"He'd be a good teacher, no matter for what subject you'd hire him, Albus. He's a good mediator, too..."
"But that is not for another year. We shall see how Severus develops. If all else fails we will ask the school governors to supervise his classes for a while."
Diagon Alley was not new territory for the three children who would start Hogwarts, they had been taken there lots of times before, but of course the place had a new meaning now that they would be equipped for the boarding school.
Remus had home-schooled them. He had done a pretty good job with it, too. The upper floor of the library was a room with a lot of sun. A nice big table had been set up where the children spent a part of their day in school.
They came from Gringotts and Sirius asked:
"Where first?"
"We only need our books and some supplies like parchment and potion ingredients," said Vega.
"We'll do the books last, you don't want to carry them around all day. So why not start with the robes?" Remus suggested.
They all trooped to Madam Malkin's and from there to Ollivander's, then on to buy the trunks for the three first years.
They day of course included a stop at Florean Fortescue's, where the whole crew ate some ice cream. They were also allowed a trip to Gambol & Japes to look at the newest magical jokes. And finally there was the spree at Flourish & Blotts, where they had to buy three sets of the first years' books and two for the second years.
"I'm just thinking that next year we'll have six of them with us and the year after already eight! That'll be fun," Sirius remarked.
"By then we can let Vega and Polaris loose and shop on their own," Remus replied.
"Are you crazy? They seem to have become close friends with Fred and George Weasley, who are just a year above them. And these two are worse than we were, Remus!"
Remus laughed. They had received a number of owls from Hogwarts, telling them about their oldest children's antics. Their children seemed to have a lot of fun at school. The only sore spot was that they had to attend classes with Snape, who let them feel his dislike of Gryffindors in general and their fathers in particular. They had tried to talk to him and had almost begged him not to get at their children in revenge for their behaviour. Their pleas had fallen on deaf ears so far.
But if Sirius and Remus had to be afraid of how Snape would treat their children, James was scared. Snape had hated him most out of the Marauders. Harry would be attacked right from his first lesson and James still had no idea how he could prepare his son for that. He knew he would have to talk with Harry about it. Sirius and Remus had done this with Vega and Polaris. It had helped them little, but at least they understood Snape's motivation and didn't take it personal.
A few days before the children would leave for school James took the three of them to a corner in the family room and talked to them.
"Now, there is something I have to explain to you about one of the teachers you will be meeting at Hogwarts. He was one of our classmates, a Slytherin. He will be your Potions teacher and I'm sure Vega and Polaris have told you a few things about him."
"Oh yes, and they've warned us about him. Snape is his name, isn't it?" said Harry.
"Yes. Now we really weren't friends back at school. On the contrary, we were rather everything else than friends. We played him some nasty pranks, but he gave as good as he got. The problem is that he will probably take it out on you children. The best advice I can give you is to just try to be as inconspicuous as you can be. Don't goof in his classes, stay calm. He will not be very nice to you. Remember that he will do that to pay us back, you will just be the unlucky recipients. But if he goes too far, write to us and we will talk with the headmaster. Vega and Polaris have kept a pretty low profile, but he's docked them points and he's given them undeserved detentions. You will have to expect the same. You are not obliged to accept such detentions. I would suggest to ask Dumbledore for a talk if he gets overboard. Don't talk back though, he'll just punish your house in an unreasonable way."
"Eurgh!" said Alya.
"I know, sweetie, but you will have to live with the teachers you get. You have no choice but to accept them. No doubt he IS sensational in his subject, but he is not the best of teachers. Try to take as much out of the classes as you can, knowing how to brew potions is a very refined branch of magic. And a useful one. How often have you watched one of us brewing something?"
"I know, dad, and that makes it so hard. Whatever we will do he'll probably try to provoke us."
"Yes, he will. But then please write to us and tell us about it. You're not alone, kids. We can do something. All it takes is collecting such incidents. Write to us when things happen and we'll confront him with it. I don't want to ruin his teaching career, but I want you to have a fair chance at learning the subject he teaches properly and fairly."
The morning of the first of September dawned and five very excited children got up early enough to make their elders groan. The school trunks had all been packed and they would floo to Diagon Alley to make the trip to King's Cross station a lot shorter. Sirius had already organised taxis from Charing Cross Road to the station. They reached their destination with a bit more than half an hour to spare. Just as they got to the barrier they met up with Molly Weasley who brought her brood to the station. Vega and Polaris immediately hooked up with Fred and George. They all went through the barrier after Percy. Harry, Alya and Antares weren't afraid, as they had been allowed to go with the family the year before.
Behind the barrier Molly looked at the Black and Potter children. Then she looked at James, Lily, Remus and Sirius, who accompanied them.
"Hello. I'm Molly Weasley... it seems that some of your children have befriended two of mine..."
"That would be our oldest, Vega and Polaris Black. I'm Sirius Black, that's my husband Remus. Lily and James Potter. Their son Harry, our son Antares and our daughter Alya are first years."
"Oh, three of them at once? Ron here is also starting..."
"Hi Ron! You're bound to have a lot of fun at Hogwarts! Your oldest brothers came to school when we were in our fifth and then seventh years..." said Sirius.
"Oh, so you know them?"
"They were great little lads. I hear, Bill went on to be headboy?"
"Yeah. I've got a lot to live up to," Ron said a bit sullenly.
"You'll do fine on your own, Ron! Go along, get seated, before the whole train is full!" Molly sent her son into the next best compartment after the Black and Potter children.
They had found a compartment and sat down, all five of them. Polaris opened the window to wave at his fathers and the Potters. Sirius, Remus, Lily and James waved back and James reminded them:
"Say hello to Sir Nick and don't forget to have fun!"
"We will and we won't, dad!" Harry cried and then the train started to move and left the station.
Only about five minutes later the door to their compartment was pulled open and Ron stood there.
"Can I sit here? Everywhere else is pretty full..."
"No problem, come in!" said Antares.
"Thanks," said Ron and pulled his trunk inside.
The others helped him to push it out of the way and then he sat down next to Polaris, who sat next to Vega.
"I'm Ron Weasley. Who are you all?"
"I'm Polaris Black. This is my sister Vega. We'll start second year. These are Alya and Antares, our siblings and Harry Potter. They start first year. Are you a first year, too?"
"Yeah, I am."
"You're George and Fred's younger brother, aren't you?" asked Vega.
"That's me. There's one more older brother of mine at school. Percy, he's a fifth year Gryffindor and he's a prefect..."
"We know him!" chorused Polaris and Vega with a groan.
Ron grinned.
"He's a pest, isn't he?"
"Absolutely!" confirmed Vega.
"So what house do you think you'll be?" asked Polaris.
"All my family's been in Gryffindor. I think, it would look a bit strange if I weren't. But I won't mind any of the houses, just as long as it isn't Slytherin."
"Same here!" said Harry with conviction.
"So how do we get sorted? Fred and George tried to tell me that we have to wrestle a troll!" Ron asked the two second years.
All five in the compartment roared with laughter.
"Oh dear! Your parents didn't tell you? There's a hat, it can read your mind and will find out your strengths and weaknesses and put you in the house you'll fit best. And it only tells the rest of the Great Hall the result, not what it says to you, so no worries, Ron!" Vega said.
She was a prankster, but she had Remus' soft heart and didn't like to see her friends embarrassed.
"Oh! That's a relief!" said Ron.
The door opened and the witch with the food cart passed them:
"Any of you dears want something from the cart?"
"Oh yes!"
They all jumped up, all except Ron, and got some stuff. Alya looked back at Ron and asked:
"Nothing for you?"
Ron shook his head and pointed at a package he had just fished out of his bag.
"Got this here. Mum's always making sandwiches for us."
Alya still picked up a few chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans to share them with Ron. He didn't want anything at first, but she said:
"Oh, come on, Ron, we love to share. We're so many children at home we know how to share with others, you know."
"That at least is something we have in common."
Only moments later the door swung open again, this time to reveal a boy with a pale face, steely grey eyes and white blond hair. Two large boys were standing close behind him. He looked around the compartment and then said:
"I'm supposed to find cousins in here... you three definitely look like Blacks. Is that you?"
"Depends. Who are you?" asked Vega.
"Draco Malfoy. My mother is Sirius Black's cousin."
Ron snickered when he heard the name. Draco swivelled around immediately and said:
"You find my name funny? Well, I don't need to ask yours, you're a Weasley. My grandmother said the Weasleys all have red hair and more children than they can afford!"
"Now that's quite enough, Draco, either you leave us alone or you stop fighting. We know quite a lot about your side of the family, and we're not too keen on knowing even more. You might consider leaving," said Polaris with all the grandeur he could muster.
Ron looked at his new friend with quite a bit of admiration.
"Polaris is quite right, Malfoy, we don't need your kind here," said Harry.
"What do you know about my kind? There are better pure-blooded families and less good ones. You might not know, your mother is a mudblood after all!"
He said that and in seconds flat all six children seated in the compartment were on their feet pointing their wands at him.
"You go right now or we'll hex you out of this door!" Vega cried.
"You'd best get out of here, Malfoy. We don't take kindly to people who talk like Death Eaters!" Harry commented.
"Just to remind you of the little detail that our parents eliminated Voldemort and quite a few of his followers, including your father and mother, Malfoy. Now get out!" said Polaris.
"We'll meet again!" With that Malfoy shoved the door closed and left, his two 'bodyguards' behind him.
"You said You-Know-Who's name!" gasped Ron.
"Yes, we do. And you should, too. Dad and papa say that it's stupid to say You-Know-Who. They said that fearing the name only increases the fear of the thing itself," Alya explained.
"Well, I AM afraid! He's killed so many people. - Wait a moment, did you say dad and papa? Why do you give your father two names?" Ron asked, confused.
"They're two people. We have two fathers, you know, somehow we have to give them different names," Vega explained.
"Oh. I wasn't aware that that's possible," said Ron, blushing.
"Only in rare cases. Our papa is a werewolf and he and my dad are bond-mates. That changed their bodies and they are now both genders in one. Normally they look like ordinary men, but they can make and conceive babies," Polaris explained calmly.
Ron blanched.
"A werewolf? Your father's a... a... werewolf?"
"Yes, he is."
"But they're murderous beasts, werewolves!" Ron cried out.
"That's rubbish. Don't know who told you that, but we know our papa and believe me, he's everything but a monster. Besides he's taking a potion every month before he has to transform and that makes him a harmless wolf. We love to cuddle with him and play with him then. Just have to stay away from those nasty teeth. But he takes great care then. He's the sweetest man you can imagine," Vega said.
Ron was almost shaking now. He swallowed and it took him a good moment to recover from that shock.
"You will know if you lived that long..." he said a bit stupidly.
"Look, just forget about it, okay? Papa has been one of the best students at Hogwarts and apart from his best friends no one found out that he was a werewolf when he went there. It would have been pretty hard to hide if he really were a monster, don't you think?" asked Vega a bit impatiently.
"And if you want to argue that he's a Dark Creature then all we can say is that he and dad have killed Voldemort. If that still makes him a monster then you might look elsewhere for friends but not among us. Just try to be a bit open minded, okay?" said Alya.
"Okay, don't worry... I mean, he's not exactly near us now anyway..."
The five children didn't say that their father could very well get much closer to them in a year or so than Ron thought. The rest of the ride went by quite peacefully and there was only one interruption when a boy came in and asked whether they had seen his pet toad. And half an hour later a girl came in and asked:
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville has lost his..."
"No, we haven't. That Neville has already been here and we told him, too," said Antares, who sat closest to the door.
"Oh, alright. We'll be there soon, you've not yet got your robes on! You should hurry, you know!"
"Don't worry, we're second years, we know when to get dressed into the school robes," Vega said, slightly irritated.
"Oh, I'm sorry then..." the girl left and Ron said:
"Well, she sounds bossy enough. I hope, that whatever house she'll be sorted to I won't be in..."
They all pulled their school robes over their usual clothes, then they started to wait for the arrival at Hogsmeade station. Once there Hagrid called them over and assembled them to take them across the lake. Everything went quite fast from then on and they didn't have much time to think about anything. Vega and Polaris waved at them and followed the other students to the horseless carriages.
When they finally marched into the Great Hall behind Minerva they were all a bit scared, even Antares, who was usually the most level-headed one of them. They were ordered to stand in a line in front of the teacher's table and then the hat started to sing its song.
"You were right! And I was so scared! Bloody Fred and George! They're always using their pranks on me," Ron whispered into Harry's ear.
"Poor you."
The first few students were sorted and then it was Alya's turn:
"Black-Lupin Alya!" Minerva called and looked up to see a cute girl with brown hair and blue eyes walk calmly to the stool with the hat.
She had barely put it on her head, when it said in her mind:
"Oooh, look here! How nice to meet you, little one, you're another one of those new Blacks! I know I can sort you anywhere but Slytherin, so you best go into GRYFFINDOR!"
Alya grinned, pulled the had away and joined her older siblings at the Gryffindor table. Then she turned to see where her brother would land himself.
"Black-Lupin Antares!" Minerva called.
Antares followed his sister's path. He looked like a carbon copy of Sirius, but when the hat came down around his ears the little voice said:
"Another one? Oh dear! Well, there's nothing for it, you're probably going to... oh, wait! Brilliant mind, want to study more than anything else? You love books and more books? Would you mind when I put you into RAVENCLAW!"
No, Antares didn't mind. He'd miss all his siblings, but he would be happy to be in the house of the intellectuals. Minerva threw a look at Filius, who looked happy about the newest addition to his house. She turned back to her list.
After a while she called:
"Granger, Hermione!"
The bushy haired girl from the train almost ran to the stool and eagerly put the hat on her head. It took only seconds before it sent her to Gryffindor. Ron and Harry groaned a bit, but then they concentrated on other things. Hermione went to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Alya.
"Hello! I saw you on the train, didn't I?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, you were looking for Neville's toad, weren't you?"
"He found it eventually. I thought, you were a second year?"
"My older brother and sister. They're over there, Vega and Polaris. My name's Alya."
"You've all got named after stars?"
"Just the four of us. We have two younger brothers and their names are Ryan and Quentin. Our dad's name is Sirius. He said, everyone in the family of the Blacks has always been named after stars. Just very few exceptions."
"Wow, you're six children?"
"Yes."
"Are you and your brother who went to Ravenclaw twins?" Hermione asked, "Only you look very different..."
"No. I'm two months older than Antares."
"That's impossible, isn't it? I mean, could your mother give birth twice in two months?"
Alya laughed.
"No one could do that. There are other reasons. We don't have a mother per se, you see, we have two fathers."
Now Hermione looked most perplexed.
"How does that work? I've never heard anything like that."
Alya started to explain, but then Minerva called Harry to the hat.
"Just a moment, Hermione, let's see where Harry goes to!"
Harry joined them at the Gryffindor table soon enough and beamed, but he said:
"Bugger, that Antares went to Ravenclaw! It would have been great to be together with him!"
"Yeah, well... he'll be happy to dig himself into books all the time, Harry. We'll see him often enough."
"True enough. Still. I wanted him to be in my dorm!"
"Hermione, this prat here is Harry Potter! We've grown up together because his parents and mine are best friends and we are all living in a castle. With two other families. And there we're about fifteen children all in all..."
"With more to come, as my mum's waiting to give birth again. That'll be five of us and with that they'll soon have caught up with your dads, Alya!"
Alya laughed.
"And then papa will want another one to escape his transformations for a while... could do with another sister though, all those boys in the family!" she grinned.
Hermione looked from one to the other. Next to her, another girl had sat down and looked equally perplexed. She asked Alya:
"Your dads - plural? How does that work?"
"And what transformations?" asked Lavender Brown, the fourth new Gryffindor girl from Alya's other side.
Alya and Harry sighed a little and plunged into explanations. Hermione and the other girl, a pretty Indian girl with endlessly long black braids named Parvati Patil were stunned.
"Wow. Never heard of anything like that."
"But then it explains why you two can be two months apart," Hermione said, laughing.
"Yes. It's a bit of a funny feeling to explain that. I hate to give my papa's condition away, because so many people put him down for it, but of course it's also very well known that he's a werewolf since he and daddy killed that Voldemort person."
"Do you know which of your fathers has actually given birth to you?" Parvati asked, curious.
"Yes. Sirius Black."
"So your fathers are actually married?" Hermione wanted to know.
"Yes, they are."
After that the conversation turned to their family backgrounds. In the meantime, another boy had joined the first year Gryffindors, Dean Thomas. Dean was a black boy who told the others that his family was non-magical and Hermione followed suit in saying:
"None of my family has ever been magical, I'm the very first one. It was ever so exciting when I got my letter!"
"My parents thought it was a joke! There were seven letters before they actually started to believe in it," Dean said.
"My parents are half-half. Me mum's a witch, but me dad's a Muggle. She only told him after they got married. Bit of a shock for him, but he doesn't mind her doing things a bit quicker than other women. They're pretty cool, both of 'em," said Seamus Finnegan, another boy in their year.
"Weasley, Ron!" Minerva called.
Ron ran to the stool, put the hat on and hoped it would be over soon. He had to wait until almost to the end, which he hated, but then the hat was barely on his head when it sent him to Gryffindor. He came over and found that Harry had kept a spot free for him.
The three children soon felt at home at Hogwarts and were very happy there. In no time they had forged friendships with most of their classmates in Gryffindor. There were four girls in Alya's dorm, of which Parvati and Lavender got close and Hermione and Alya soon became close friends, too. Together with Harry and Ron they became a very close-knit group of friends.
Author: Mariann
Rating: R
Pairing: Sirius/Remus
Category: Between Fluff, Fun and Fighting
Summary: Sirius and Remus grow up, find love, start a family and fight the Dark Lord
Disclaimer: Belongs to JKR - no money's made from my poor attempts at writing
A/N: AU - The Willow Incident does not happen in this story. Peter is loyal and a spy for Dumbledore. Remus and Sirius are destined to fight Voldemort - will they succeed? A fair amount of children are born in this story - to spite the Death Eaters of course!
17. The next Generation
"Daddy, when do the letters come?" squealed Antares.
"They come when they're sent, love," Sirius replied calmly.
It was a normal early summer morning at the Mischief Palace. All the adults in the castle were looking around and checked that all of their children were coming to the breakfast table. Vega and Polaris had just returned from their first year at Hogwarts, both proud little Gryffindors. They were full of stories of their adventures since they had been home last over the Easter weekend. The smaller children all stared at them with big eyes. There were three more who expected their letters this year, Harry, Alya and Antares.
Remus looked around the table. Now that the whole family was assembled, it did look frightening for anyone outside of the Marauders. Sirius and his four children had received another two siblings, Ryan, who was now seven and Quentin, who was four. Remus had given birth to both of them, because the pregnancies had given him a respite from his transformations.
For the past seven years Remus did have the Wolfsbane potion, which at least kept him so sedated that he could actually stay around his family during the full moons. He lived his life peacefully, doing a lot of research and working from home. Sirius had considered a career after Voldemort's downfall, but then decided he liked the family life more and wanted to be there for his children. They had spaced them out to get some rest between the children, but now that the older ones went to Hogwarts he thought he had little to do anymore.
James was still working as an Auror but these days he had a lot less work. Lily remained to be a Ministry employee, but she had changed to the Department of Mysteries in the meantime. Harry had received a couple of younger siblings. In June 1982 a sister named Hannah joined him. Two years later a boy named Brian followed, in January 1988 there was another boy who James and Lily named Matthew. Now, in July 1991 Lily was pregnant with another child, expected in early September. This group of children broke a long tradition of only children in James' family. Sirius and Remus, who were home full time, looked after the children during the day. Since James was on calling duty most of the time, he was often available, too.
Peter had worked his way up and now co-owned the apothecary of his in-laws. Sabina and he took turns in working there. Their oldest daughter now had two younger siblings, Howard and Belinda, six and three years old.
Finally Hope and Dari were still in their jobs, but both had wanted another child and this time, Dari had become a mother, so their son Kevin Foster was joined by a little sister in July 1985 who was called Julia Sanchez.
All grandparents were often seen at the Mischief Palace. The house had undergone little changes, the Marauders had worked a lot on all the rooms to restore them and in the towers a lot had been done to make most of them habitable. The older children knew every nook and corner of their castle home and playing hide and seek had a never ending appeal to them. They had to limit the game to one floor when they played it.
Fifteen children at the table was an adventure! The house-elves of course brought on excellent food. The adults and children alike enjoyed the meals at the Mischief Palace. All adults saw to it that the children were at the table for every meal and that they ate properly.
On this particular morning the sun was already so high up it shone in through the windows to the inner courtyard and the family was assembled for a hearty breakfast before they would all go out and play around the house. Peter was getting ready to go to work and wished his three children a nice day.
Dari was already off to the office as she had to start early in the morning. James looked out one of the open windows and saw that there were a few owls coming in. Some of them turned out to be Hogwarts owls and he sighed in relief. For days he had been pestered by Harry asking when the school owl would finally come.
"That looks like some of you will go to Hogwarts in September!" he called.
"Yay!"
All three of them jumped up from their chairs and took their letters from James. The other school owls brought the letters for Vega and Polaris.
"We'll send the answers back and next month we'll shop for the school supplies. That's well early enough," Sirius decided.
When Minerva had the list of the new Hogwarts first years ready she smiled. Three letters would go to the Mischief Palace this year and there would be three little Marauders coming to Hogwarts in addition to the two she already had up in Gryffindor tower.
"Where will those three land, I wonder?" she said to Albus at dinner.
"I should expect one or two at least up in Gryffindor tower," Albus replied.
"I think so, I do expect the little Potter there. I hear little Antares looks like Sirius, but has Remus' temperament and character traits. Could go to any of the houses."
"And his sister looks like Remus and has Sirius' character."
Minerva made a face and said:
"Over all, they're all dangerous! I know they've done quite a good job in bringing them up fairly disciplined, but once here... there's six of those Black children by now, and they're all still coming here. They are bound to do some damage!"
"Take the other Lupin bunch into the fold, Minerva. We have Roxanne's twins and Samantha's daughter. And then there will be a few of Remus' older and younger brothers' children as well."
"But I have to say it IS good to see that so many people have decided on having children! We've had a steady increase of new first years since about three years. Before that it was all downhill. Now we get a number of over forty per year and the way it looks it will be even more in the coming years."
"I have kept an eye on that. Seeing the Book of Names the school governors have already agreed on granting us additional teachers for the core subjects. We're still trying to decide whether the teachers should be split on two houses and teach all years or whether they should split into one teacher for the first four and the other for the older three forms."
"It would mean a lot less work, Albus. I know that I could do my duties as Headmistress a lot better. I'm happy to hear that. But it will mean finding a few good teachers!"
"We have one or two years of time before we have to recruit them. One year at least. I do have a few ideas though..."
"You're thinking of some of the Marauders, don't you?"
Albus smiled.
"Actually, I do! They were some of the best students Hogwarts has ever seen! Why should they not come and teach?"
"Who in particular would you want? Lily would be great to teach Charms."
"She is one I'm thinking of. Remus for Defence, maybe James as the other Defence teacher. With these two we might actually break the jinx on this position. I start to doubt my own abilities to find good teachers. And there's still Sirius for Transfiguration."
"You ARE aware that Severus is still on the staff? They did work together halfway decently in the Order, but I do worry what happens if they come and teach..."
"They might make up for some of Severus' blatant favouritism, Minerva."
She frowned.
"That would mean you would allow them to display their own favouritism. I do not support that at all, Albus."
"I do think that neither Lily nor Remus would show favouritism, Minerva. And I am quite convinced that we can reduce James' and Sirius' to a minimum. Besides, in a way I do allow Severus to display his. I could stop him if I wanted to."
Minerva sighed.
"We should try to get Severus to stop deducting points for no reason. Shortly before the end of term he deducted thirty points from a Ravenclaw student for being late to class. The girl told Filius that there were three Slytherins coming into the classroom after her and they were spared. And she said she was on time. But the thirty points of course put Ravenclaw behind Slytherin for the house cup."
Now it was Albus' turn to sigh.
"I know about that incident. I have warned him that he has to watch himself. And I do have a clear maximum point deduction decided for offences like lateness to class as you have seen."
"I am glad for that, Albus. None of the other teachers ever takes more than five points for students being just a few minutes late. He takes large amounts even from first years in their first few days when they still have to find their way around the castle. He's been very unkind to Vega and Polaris Black in particular. That lets me fear how he will treat Harry and his younger siblings, knowing they're James' children."
"I am aware of that. But it is very difficult to find any old Slytherins who would want to become teachers. Besides the fact that many of them would make for much worse teachers than Severus. And we do need at least one of them. I would hate a situation when I'd have to give the head of Slytherin house to a non-Slytherin teacher."
"He applied for the defence position again."
"I have recommended that he should not. But of course if he wants to apply it is his problem when he gets another rejection. I do think that Defence against the Dark Arts is too important to have a someone like Severus Snape teach it. I really need a good teacher for the subject. Someone who can motivate all students. Remus would do the best job, I think."
"He'd be a good teacher, no matter for what subject you'd hire him, Albus. He's a good mediator, too..."
"But that is not for another year. We shall see how Severus develops. If all else fails we will ask the school governors to supervise his classes for a while."
Diagon Alley was not new territory for the three children who would start Hogwarts, they had been taken there lots of times before, but of course the place had a new meaning now that they would be equipped for the boarding school.
Remus had home-schooled them. He had done a pretty good job with it, too. The upper floor of the library was a room with a lot of sun. A nice big table had been set up where the children spent a part of their day in school.
They came from Gringotts and Sirius asked:
"Where first?"
"We only need our books and some supplies like parchment and potion ingredients," said Vega.
"We'll do the books last, you don't want to carry them around all day. So why not start with the robes?" Remus suggested.
They all trooped to Madam Malkin's and from there to Ollivander's, then on to buy the trunks for the three first years.
They day of course included a stop at Florean Fortescue's, where the whole crew ate some ice cream. They were also allowed a trip to Gambol & Japes to look at the newest magical jokes. And finally there was the spree at Flourish & Blotts, where they had to buy three sets of the first years' books and two for the second years.
"I'm just thinking that next year we'll have six of them with us and the year after already eight! That'll be fun," Sirius remarked.
"By then we can let Vega and Polaris loose and shop on their own," Remus replied.
"Are you crazy? They seem to have become close friends with Fred and George Weasley, who are just a year above them. And these two are worse than we were, Remus!"
Remus laughed. They had received a number of owls from Hogwarts, telling them about their oldest children's antics. Their children seemed to have a lot of fun at school. The only sore spot was that they had to attend classes with Snape, who let them feel his dislike of Gryffindors in general and their fathers in particular. They had tried to talk to him and had almost begged him not to get at their children in revenge for their behaviour. Their pleas had fallen on deaf ears so far.
But if Sirius and Remus had to be afraid of how Snape would treat their children, James was scared. Snape had hated him most out of the Marauders. Harry would be attacked right from his first lesson and James still had no idea how he could prepare his son for that. He knew he would have to talk with Harry about it. Sirius and Remus had done this with Vega and Polaris. It had helped them little, but at least they understood Snape's motivation and didn't take it personal.
A few days before the children would leave for school James took the three of them to a corner in the family room and talked to them.
"Now, there is something I have to explain to you about one of the teachers you will be meeting at Hogwarts. He was one of our classmates, a Slytherin. He will be your Potions teacher and I'm sure Vega and Polaris have told you a few things about him."
"Oh yes, and they've warned us about him. Snape is his name, isn't it?" said Harry.
"Yes. Now we really weren't friends back at school. On the contrary, we were rather everything else than friends. We played him some nasty pranks, but he gave as good as he got. The problem is that he will probably take it out on you children. The best advice I can give you is to just try to be as inconspicuous as you can be. Don't goof in his classes, stay calm. He will not be very nice to you. Remember that he will do that to pay us back, you will just be the unlucky recipients. But if he goes too far, write to us and we will talk with the headmaster. Vega and Polaris have kept a pretty low profile, but he's docked them points and he's given them undeserved detentions. You will have to expect the same. You are not obliged to accept such detentions. I would suggest to ask Dumbledore for a talk if he gets overboard. Don't talk back though, he'll just punish your house in an unreasonable way."
"Eurgh!" said Alya.
"I know, sweetie, but you will have to live with the teachers you get. You have no choice but to accept them. No doubt he IS sensational in his subject, but he is not the best of teachers. Try to take as much out of the classes as you can, knowing how to brew potions is a very refined branch of magic. And a useful one. How often have you watched one of us brewing something?"
"I know, dad, and that makes it so hard. Whatever we will do he'll probably try to provoke us."
"Yes, he will. But then please write to us and tell us about it. You're not alone, kids. We can do something. All it takes is collecting such incidents. Write to us when things happen and we'll confront him with it. I don't want to ruin his teaching career, but I want you to have a fair chance at learning the subject he teaches properly and fairly."
The morning of the first of September dawned and five very excited children got up early enough to make their elders groan. The school trunks had all been packed and they would floo to Diagon Alley to make the trip to King's Cross station a lot shorter. Sirius had already organised taxis from Charing Cross Road to the station. They reached their destination with a bit more than half an hour to spare. Just as they got to the barrier they met up with Molly Weasley who brought her brood to the station. Vega and Polaris immediately hooked up with Fred and George. They all went through the barrier after Percy. Harry, Alya and Antares weren't afraid, as they had been allowed to go with the family the year before.
Behind the barrier Molly looked at the Black and Potter children. Then she looked at James, Lily, Remus and Sirius, who accompanied them.
"Hello. I'm Molly Weasley... it seems that some of your children have befriended two of mine..."
"That would be our oldest, Vega and Polaris Black. I'm Sirius Black, that's my husband Remus. Lily and James Potter. Their son Harry, our son Antares and our daughter Alya are first years."
"Oh, three of them at once? Ron here is also starting..."
"Hi Ron! You're bound to have a lot of fun at Hogwarts! Your oldest brothers came to school when we were in our fifth and then seventh years..." said Sirius.
"Oh, so you know them?"
"They were great little lads. I hear, Bill went on to be headboy?"
"Yeah. I've got a lot to live up to," Ron said a bit sullenly.
"You'll do fine on your own, Ron! Go along, get seated, before the whole train is full!" Molly sent her son into the next best compartment after the Black and Potter children.
They had found a compartment and sat down, all five of them. Polaris opened the window to wave at his fathers and the Potters. Sirius, Remus, Lily and James waved back and James reminded them:
"Say hello to Sir Nick and don't forget to have fun!"
"We will and we won't, dad!" Harry cried and then the train started to move and left the station.
Only about five minutes later the door to their compartment was pulled open and Ron stood there.
"Can I sit here? Everywhere else is pretty full..."
"No problem, come in!" said Antares.
"Thanks," said Ron and pulled his trunk inside.
The others helped him to push it out of the way and then he sat down next to Polaris, who sat next to Vega.
"I'm Ron Weasley. Who are you all?"
"I'm Polaris Black. This is my sister Vega. We'll start second year. These are Alya and Antares, our siblings and Harry Potter. They start first year. Are you a first year, too?"
"Yeah, I am."
"You're George and Fred's younger brother, aren't you?" asked Vega.
"That's me. There's one more older brother of mine at school. Percy, he's a fifth year Gryffindor and he's a prefect..."
"We know him!" chorused Polaris and Vega with a groan.
Ron grinned.
"He's a pest, isn't he?"
"Absolutely!" confirmed Vega.
"So what house do you think you'll be?" asked Polaris.
"All my family's been in Gryffindor. I think, it would look a bit strange if I weren't. But I won't mind any of the houses, just as long as it isn't Slytherin."
"Same here!" said Harry with conviction.
"So how do we get sorted? Fred and George tried to tell me that we have to wrestle a troll!" Ron asked the two second years.
All five in the compartment roared with laughter.
"Oh dear! Your parents didn't tell you? There's a hat, it can read your mind and will find out your strengths and weaknesses and put you in the house you'll fit best. And it only tells the rest of the Great Hall the result, not what it says to you, so no worries, Ron!" Vega said.
She was a prankster, but she had Remus' soft heart and didn't like to see her friends embarrassed.
"Oh! That's a relief!" said Ron.
The door opened and the witch with the food cart passed them:
"Any of you dears want something from the cart?"
"Oh yes!"
They all jumped up, all except Ron, and got some stuff. Alya looked back at Ron and asked:
"Nothing for you?"
Ron shook his head and pointed at a package he had just fished out of his bag.
"Got this here. Mum's always making sandwiches for us."
Alya still picked up a few chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans to share them with Ron. He didn't want anything at first, but she said:
"Oh, come on, Ron, we love to share. We're so many children at home we know how to share with others, you know."
"That at least is something we have in common."
Only moments later the door swung open again, this time to reveal a boy with a pale face, steely grey eyes and white blond hair. Two large boys were standing close behind him. He looked around the compartment and then said:
"I'm supposed to find cousins in here... you three definitely look like Blacks. Is that you?"
"Depends. Who are you?" asked Vega.
"Draco Malfoy. My mother is Sirius Black's cousin."
Ron snickered when he heard the name. Draco swivelled around immediately and said:
"You find my name funny? Well, I don't need to ask yours, you're a Weasley. My grandmother said the Weasleys all have red hair and more children than they can afford!"
"Now that's quite enough, Draco, either you leave us alone or you stop fighting. We know quite a lot about your side of the family, and we're not too keen on knowing even more. You might consider leaving," said Polaris with all the grandeur he could muster.
Ron looked at his new friend with quite a bit of admiration.
"Polaris is quite right, Malfoy, we don't need your kind here," said Harry.
"What do you know about my kind? There are better pure-blooded families and less good ones. You might not know, your mother is a mudblood after all!"
He said that and in seconds flat all six children seated in the compartment were on their feet pointing their wands at him.
"You go right now or we'll hex you out of this door!" Vega cried.
"You'd best get out of here, Malfoy. We don't take kindly to people who talk like Death Eaters!" Harry commented.
"Just to remind you of the little detail that our parents eliminated Voldemort and quite a few of his followers, including your father and mother, Malfoy. Now get out!" said Polaris.
"We'll meet again!" With that Malfoy shoved the door closed and left, his two 'bodyguards' behind him.
"You said You-Know-Who's name!" gasped Ron.
"Yes, we do. And you should, too. Dad and papa say that it's stupid to say You-Know-Who. They said that fearing the name only increases the fear of the thing itself," Alya explained.
"Well, I AM afraid! He's killed so many people. - Wait a moment, did you say dad and papa? Why do you give your father two names?" Ron asked, confused.
"They're two people. We have two fathers, you know, somehow we have to give them different names," Vega explained.
"Oh. I wasn't aware that that's possible," said Ron, blushing.
"Only in rare cases. Our papa is a werewolf and he and my dad are bond-mates. That changed their bodies and they are now both genders in one. Normally they look like ordinary men, but they can make and conceive babies," Polaris explained calmly.
Ron blanched.
"A werewolf? Your father's a... a... werewolf?"
"Yes, he is."
"But they're murderous beasts, werewolves!" Ron cried out.
"That's rubbish. Don't know who told you that, but we know our papa and believe me, he's everything but a monster. Besides he's taking a potion every month before he has to transform and that makes him a harmless wolf. We love to cuddle with him and play with him then. Just have to stay away from those nasty teeth. But he takes great care then. He's the sweetest man you can imagine," Vega said.
Ron was almost shaking now. He swallowed and it took him a good moment to recover from that shock.
"You will know if you lived that long..." he said a bit stupidly.
"Look, just forget about it, okay? Papa has been one of the best students at Hogwarts and apart from his best friends no one found out that he was a werewolf when he went there. It would have been pretty hard to hide if he really were a monster, don't you think?" asked Vega a bit impatiently.
"And if you want to argue that he's a Dark Creature then all we can say is that he and dad have killed Voldemort. If that still makes him a monster then you might look elsewhere for friends but not among us. Just try to be a bit open minded, okay?" said Alya.
"Okay, don't worry... I mean, he's not exactly near us now anyway..."
The five children didn't say that their father could very well get much closer to them in a year or so than Ron thought. The rest of the ride went by quite peacefully and there was only one interruption when a boy came in and asked whether they had seen his pet toad. And half an hour later a girl came in and asked:
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville has lost his..."
"No, we haven't. That Neville has already been here and we told him, too," said Antares, who sat closest to the door.
"Oh, alright. We'll be there soon, you've not yet got your robes on! You should hurry, you know!"
"Don't worry, we're second years, we know when to get dressed into the school robes," Vega said, slightly irritated.
"Oh, I'm sorry then..." the girl left and Ron said:
"Well, she sounds bossy enough. I hope, that whatever house she'll be sorted to I won't be in..."
They all pulled their school robes over their usual clothes, then they started to wait for the arrival at Hogsmeade station. Once there Hagrid called them over and assembled them to take them across the lake. Everything went quite fast from then on and they didn't have much time to think about anything. Vega and Polaris waved at them and followed the other students to the horseless carriages.
When they finally marched into the Great Hall behind Minerva they were all a bit scared, even Antares, who was usually the most level-headed one of them. They were ordered to stand in a line in front of the teacher's table and then the hat started to sing its song.
"You were right! And I was so scared! Bloody Fred and George! They're always using their pranks on me," Ron whispered into Harry's ear.
"Poor you."
The first few students were sorted and then it was Alya's turn:
"Black-Lupin Alya!" Minerva called and looked up to see a cute girl with brown hair and blue eyes walk calmly to the stool with the hat.
She had barely put it on her head, when it said in her mind:
"Oooh, look here! How nice to meet you, little one, you're another one of those new Blacks! I know I can sort you anywhere but Slytherin, so you best go into GRYFFINDOR!"
Alya grinned, pulled the had away and joined her older siblings at the Gryffindor table. Then she turned to see where her brother would land himself.
"Black-Lupin Antares!" Minerva called.
Antares followed his sister's path. He looked like a carbon copy of Sirius, but when the hat came down around his ears the little voice said:
"Another one? Oh dear! Well, there's nothing for it, you're probably going to... oh, wait! Brilliant mind, want to study more than anything else? You love books and more books? Would you mind when I put you into RAVENCLAW!"
No, Antares didn't mind. He'd miss all his siblings, but he would be happy to be in the house of the intellectuals. Minerva threw a look at Filius, who looked happy about the newest addition to his house. She turned back to her list.
After a while she called:
"Granger, Hermione!"
The bushy haired girl from the train almost ran to the stool and eagerly put the hat on her head. It took only seconds before it sent her to Gryffindor. Ron and Harry groaned a bit, but then they concentrated on other things. Hermione went to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Alya.
"Hello! I saw you on the train, didn't I?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, you were looking for Neville's toad, weren't you?"
"He found it eventually. I thought, you were a second year?"
"My older brother and sister. They're over there, Vega and Polaris. My name's Alya."
"You've all got named after stars?"
"Just the four of us. We have two younger brothers and their names are Ryan and Quentin. Our dad's name is Sirius. He said, everyone in the family of the Blacks has always been named after stars. Just very few exceptions."
"Wow, you're six children?"
"Yes."
"Are you and your brother who went to Ravenclaw twins?" Hermione asked, "Only you look very different..."
"No. I'm two months older than Antares."
"That's impossible, isn't it? I mean, could your mother give birth twice in two months?"
Alya laughed.
"No one could do that. There are other reasons. We don't have a mother per se, you see, we have two fathers."
Now Hermione looked most perplexed.
"How does that work? I've never heard anything like that."
Alya started to explain, but then Minerva called Harry to the hat.
"Just a moment, Hermione, let's see where Harry goes to!"
Harry joined them at the Gryffindor table soon enough and beamed, but he said:
"Bugger, that Antares went to Ravenclaw! It would have been great to be together with him!"
"Yeah, well... he'll be happy to dig himself into books all the time, Harry. We'll see him often enough."
"True enough. Still. I wanted him to be in my dorm!"
"Hermione, this prat here is Harry Potter! We've grown up together because his parents and mine are best friends and we are all living in a castle. With two other families. And there we're about fifteen children all in all..."
"With more to come, as my mum's waiting to give birth again. That'll be five of us and with that they'll soon have caught up with your dads, Alya!"
Alya laughed.
"And then papa will want another one to escape his transformations for a while... could do with another sister though, all those boys in the family!" she grinned.
Hermione looked from one to the other. Next to her, another girl had sat down and looked equally perplexed. She asked Alya:
"Your dads - plural? How does that work?"
"And what transformations?" asked Lavender Brown, the fourth new Gryffindor girl from Alya's other side.
Alya and Harry sighed a little and plunged into explanations. Hermione and the other girl, a pretty Indian girl with endlessly long black braids named Parvati Patil were stunned.
"Wow. Never heard of anything like that."
"But then it explains why you two can be two months apart," Hermione said, laughing.
"Yes. It's a bit of a funny feeling to explain that. I hate to give my papa's condition away, because so many people put him down for it, but of course it's also very well known that he's a werewolf since he and daddy killed that Voldemort person."
"Do you know which of your fathers has actually given birth to you?" Parvati asked, curious.
"Yes. Sirius Black."
"So your fathers are actually married?" Hermione wanted to know.
"Yes, they are."
After that the conversation turned to their family backgrounds. In the meantime, another boy had joined the first year Gryffindors, Dean Thomas. Dean was a black boy who told the others that his family was non-magical and Hermione followed suit in saying:
"None of my family has ever been magical, I'm the very first one. It was ever so exciting when I got my letter!"
"My parents thought it was a joke! There were seven letters before they actually started to believe in it," Dean said.
"My parents are half-half. Me mum's a witch, but me dad's a Muggle. She only told him after they got married. Bit of a shock for him, but he doesn't mind her doing things a bit quicker than other women. They're pretty cool, both of 'em," said Seamus Finnegan, another boy in their year.
"Weasley, Ron!" Minerva called.
Ron ran to the stool, put the hat on and hoped it would be over soon. He had to wait until almost to the end, which he hated, but then the hat was barely on his head when it sent him to Gryffindor. He came over and found that Harry had kept a spot free for him.
The three children soon felt at home at Hogwarts and were very happy there. In no time they had forged friendships with most of their classmates in Gryffindor. There were four girls in Alya's dorm, of which Parvati and Lavender got close and Hermione and Alya soon became close friends, too. Together with Harry and Ron they became a very close-knit group of friends.