Sirius rolled over in his bed, arching his arm over and expecting it to land on April but there was nothing there in the bed next to him. Sirius lifted himself up slightly, his hair completely messed up from sleeping. He rolled over in his bed and looked towards the dressing table. April was tying her hair up quickly. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a dark top.
"April, come back to bed, it's only-" Sirius looked at the clock. "SIX A M. Merlin's beard, April get back to bed!" Sirius said. April turned to him and put a finger against her lips.
"You'll wake up Kaylee and Jess. I just managed to get Kaylee back to sleep" April said. Sirius got out of bed, he was only wearing his boxers. He put his arms around April and began to lift her shirt off. April shrugged him away and pulled her shirt back down.
"I can't Sirius, I have to get to work." April said sadly.
"Work?" Sirius asked.
"Yes, you know that place I go to get money?" April asked with a smile. She pulled her auror robes off the back of the door. "You have to look after the twins today. Lily's going to come round to take Orion and Rhia to their play groups." April said. She pulled on her robes and pressed a kiss against Sirius' lips. Sirius still looked a bit stunned that April was going to work.
"But-" Sirius started to say. "You haven't worked in over a year!"
"I know, and they need me back." April said. "Don't worry, I'll be home in time to make you dinner" April said with a smirk. She kissed Sirius again. "I love you." She said. Sirius stood up properly as April apparated out of the house. He turned to the two sleeping girls in their cot. He glanced into the cot and looked at the two identical girls. Which one was Kaylee again? He frowned slightly and turned back to bed. He dropped into April's side and pulled the duvet over him and was about to close his eyes when-
"Daddy daddy daddy!" shouted Orion as he ran into the room and jumped up on Sirius' bed. Sirius groaned and pulled a pillow over his head. Orion laughed and pulled the pillow away.
"What is it Orion?" Sirius asked.
"Daddy." Orion said, drawing out the word.
"What?" Sirius snapped slightly.
"TV." Orion said.
"Ok, whatever. You know how to work the damned thing." Sirius said. Orion grinned and jumped off the bed and landed on the floor. He was about to run out of the room when he swerved to go to the cot and looked at his sisters. He seemed to know which twin was Kaylee because he stuck his arm through the bars in the cot and poked one. She woke up and immediately began crying loudly.
"Arg!" Sirius said pulling the duvet off and throwing it to the side. "Orion!" He shouted. Orion laughed and left the room as quickly as he could. Sirius went to the cot and picked up the crying girl. "It's ok Kaylee. It's just your brother being stupid" Sirius rocked Kaylee quietly in his arms. She put her head against Sirius' chest and her crying seemed to cease slightly. Sirius went over to the bed and put Kaylee gently on it. He went back over to the cot where Jessie had just woken up as well. He picked her up and took her to the bed.
Kaylee was just trying to sit herself up and had just managed to sit up when she fell backwards again. Sirius laughed slightly and helped Kaylee up. Jessie seemed to sit up perfectly fine on her own. She watched as Sirius slowly let go of Kaylee. Kaylee stayed sitting for a moment of two before slowly losing her balance and falling backwards. Sirius smiled and put a pillow behind Kaylee. This was enough to help her keep her balance.
"Ok, so you are Kaylee." Sirius said. He felt like getting a pen and writing K on her forehead and J on Jessie's forehead. How could Rhia, Orion and April tell which one was which? Sirius looked at the two carefully. Was there any distinguishing features between the two? Sirius looked at Kaylee closely then at Jessie. Jessie grinned a toothless grin and poked Sirius, she just missed Sirius' eye and poked him between the eyes.
"Ow." Sirius said. Jessie laughed and waved her hands at Sirius. Sirius grinned. "You're cute." He said. The door opened and Rhia walked in tiredly.
"RHIA!!" Sirius said loudly. Rhia jumped slightly then grinned. She went to the bed and sat on Sirius back.
"Daddy!" Rhia said. "Can I play with Jess and Kay?" She asked.
"If you want." Sirius said. Rhia rolled off Sirius' back. Sirius got up as Rhia played with Jessie and Kaylee on the bed. Sirius pulled on a pair of trousers that were slung over one end of the cot and pulled them on before heading to the windows to open them. It was too stuffy in the room. It was summer, well the end of it. It was September now. About two weeks from Orion's birthday. Sirius picked up a shirt and pulled it on.
"Um, Rhia, what time does Lily come to pick you up?"
"Eight." Rhia answered. She was playing peek-a-boo with the two twins and both were laughing as Rhia seemed to disappear and reappear. Sirius smiled and picked up the twins in mid laughter.
"Come on, lets all go downstairs and join Orion in front of the TV." Sirius said.
"But TV is boring." Rhia complained.
"No it's not. TV is brilliant." Sirius said, "Best thing since quidditch."
"Oh, can we go fly?" Rhia asked with a wide smile.
"No." Sirius said. Rhia pouted angrily and followed Sirius downstairs. They walked into the living room as an all too familiar theme tune came on.
"No!" Rhia complained as she heard it. Orion turned around and grinned.
"Star wars!" He said.
"We watch Cinderella!" Rhia said.
"No! Star wars!" Orion said. Rhia went to their collection of Videos, most of them belonged to the Potters. Rhia pulled out a video that had a picture of a girl in a torn dress with Cinderella on it.
"Cinderella!" Rhia said.
"No!" Orion shouted. Rhia went to take out Orion's video when Orion got up and clocked Rhia. "STAR WARS"
"NO CINDERELLA!" Rhia shouted back. Sirius frowned and put the twins on the sofa to attend to Rhia and Orion.
"Rhia, Orion!" He said. He pulled them apart and held one under each arm.
"I want to watch Cinderella!" Rhia said. "But Orion watch Star wars."
"Star wars good!" Orion said angrily. "Cinderella is icky!"
"No!" Rhia said.
"Rhia, Orion!" Sirius said. "Orion, will you let your sister watch her video" Sirius said painfully. He had to agree with Orion that Cinderella was icky, as he put it. "You watched Star wars all yesterday." Orion seemed to growl at Rhia and Rhia sneered back at him. Sirius gently and cautiously put his two children on the ground. Rhia ran straight for the VHS player and pressed the eject button. Orion ran after her to prevent her from taking out the video. Sirius dived after Orion and wrestled his son to the ground.
"Orion! It's Rhia's turn to watch her video" Sirius said. Orion struggled slightly until Sirius picked him up. Rhia gave Orion a smug smile and sat down in front of the TV as the Disney tune came on. Orion made a disgruntled noise and sat on the sofa. Sirius let out a long breath of relief. He turned to the twins to see them both laughing slightly. He smiled. Now, to get their breakfasts ready. Sirius went pale...that meant cooking!
"Sirius, are you sure you'll be alright looking after these two?" Lily asked. She was standing in the doorway. It was quite windy outside so her hair was flying around her face like it was nobody's business. Impatiently she ran her hands through it and held it, bunched together in her right hand.
"I'll be fine Lily" Sirius said. He had Jessie in his arms and gave Lily a smile. Lily looked at Sirius with a raised eyebrow and rolled her eyes.
"Well I've got the day off, you know where I'll be if you need me." Lily said. Sirius smiled.
"Cool. Orion, Rhia!" Sirius called. Rhia came running up with a small back pack on her back.
"School?" She asked.
"Yes, school." Lily said. She gave Rhia a smile. Rhia grinned back and looked outside to where Emma was busy poking Harry then running away to hide behind the gate. Rhia ran over to Emma and they grinned at each other. They'd been going to school for a total of one week and they loved it. Orion looked at Lily.
"Thanks for taking them to school." Sirius said.
"No problem. Have fun, and remember which one is which." Lily said pointing to Jessie.
"Don't worry, Kaylee and I know who each other are." Sirius said. Lily let out an amused cough.
"That one is Jessie, Sirius." Lily said before giving him a smile and leaving the house, holding Orion's hand. Sirius frowned and looked at Jessie. Jessie beamed at him. How did people tell the difference between them? Sirius wondered. He closed the door and went back to the living room. Kaylee was sitting on the sofa talking and gurgling to herself. Sirius sometimes wondered if there was something wrong with Jessie sometimes, or even Kaylee. Jessie never spoke, Kaylee spoke non-stop...
"AHA!" Sirius shouted, making both baby girls jump in surprise. "You don't talk." Sirius said to Jessie. Jessie seemed to look at him confused. Sirius looked at Kaylee. "And you..." He said. He put Jessie down on the sofa and looked at Kaylee. "You talk all the time." Kaylee beamed and held her arms out for a cuddle as Jessie held out her arms as well.
"Err..." Sirius said slightly confused, how was he going to hold two kids at the same time? "Oh, you two are going to annoy me." Both twins gave him cheeky, toothless baby grins.
Kaylee bounced on Sirius' back as he lay on the floor, hitting his head against it. The twins were driving him mad. True, they weren't even six months old, yes they didn't really have much of a mind to cause trouble but they were driving him around the bend! They answered to each other's names, so Kaylee would look at Sirius when he called Jessie and vice versa, then they'd look at him when they called them their proper names. It was just so annoying!
"Milk?" Sirius asked them at Lunchtime. Jessie looked at Sirius confused while Kaylee gave a little
"Eh?" Sirius threw up his hands.
"You don't drink milk anymore do you?" Sirius asked. He went to the fridge, "Now where's that baby food?" Behind him Jessie and Kaylee looked at each other in baby confusion. "There it is!" Sirius said. He emerged from the fridge with two small jars of baby food. He read the labels.
"Peach and apricot...sounds good" He shrugged. He looked at the other one, "sweet corn and peas...hm..." Sirius opened the jar and sniffed it. "It smells ok." He got some teaspoons and sat down next to Kaylee and Jessie's high chairs.
"Ok, here we go." Sirius said. He'd tried to feed Kaylee before, but that was when he and April were trying to wean the twins off her breasts and onto Bottle milk. Kaylee had been so...difficult, that the milk had ended up all over the TV. As a result they'd had to call Lily to try and figure out how to tell the repairman what to say as Orion and Rhia got stressed with them. Kaylee gave Sirius a mischievous smile.
"Oh, no, I'm feeding Jessie first." Sirius said turning around and facing Jessie. He got a small teaspoon of the baby food and held it to Jessie's mouth. Jessie ate it and grinned. She opened and closed her mouth as if she wanted more. Sirius smiled, this was going ok. He got another teaspoon and held it to Jessie's mouth. As she was about to eat it, something hit Sirius' head.
"Ow!" Sirius put the spoon and food down and looked at the floor. There was a teaspoon on the floor. Sirius looked at Kaylee. Kaylee was staring in a trance like state out of the window. Sirius narrowed his eyes and turned back to Jessie.
"Ok, here you go, open your mouth Jessie, here's comes the broom." He said, moving the spoon to her mouth again. And again something hit Sirius' back followed by a smash. Sirius turned to see baby food smeared all on the floor. Sirius looked in alarm then turned to Kaylee. Kaylee's mouth was curved up in a smile.
"Ok, no food for you-ow!" Sirius turned to Jessie, who was looking at him impatiently. "What?"
"oo" Jessie said. Sirius' mouth dropped open. Did Jessie actually make some kind of a noise? Jessie gave Sirius an annoyed look.
"Ok, yeah sorry." Sirius said handing her the spoon again. Jessie are the food off that as the kitchen was filled with a loud high pitched scream. "WHAT IS IT KAYLEE?" Kaylee wriggled in her high chair. Sirius rolled his eyes and picked up Kaylee and set her on the floor. Kaylee grinned and lay down. Sirius turned to feed Jessie the rest of the jar of baby food.
Kaylee rolled over to the nearest draws and attempted to open them. She rolled because she couldn't crawl yet. She put her hands against the doors and attempted to stand up very very shakily. She held onto the small door handle and pulled it open as she fell backwards onto her bum. The door opened and revealed a set of shiny kitchen pots and pans. Kaylee rolled closer and reached into the cupdboards. She held onto a black handle type thing and pulled it. She fell backwards as the pans fell out of the cupboard with a series of clangs. Kaylee liked the loud noises, she grinned and sat herself up again. She attempted to turn over so she was on hands and knees. Her arms shook slightly as she moved one forwards, she moved a leg forwards and moved forwards a bit. She grinned even more as the young girl began to crawl.
She picked up the spoon that she had thrown at her dad earlier then returned to the fallen pots and pans. She sat down and pulled a pot near her. She raised the spoon and brought it down, very hard against the bottom of the pan. It made a loud clashing noise. Kaylee laughed and started hitting it faster. Sirius turned around and looked at her.
"Kaylee!" Sirius said. Kaylee looked at Sirius but continued to hit the bottom of the pan. Jessie started laughing and began wriggling in her seat. Sirius looked at her and tried to catch her before she seemed to slip out under the front of her seat...how did she manage that? Sirius wondered. Jessie was crawling over to where Kaylee was and sat down. She picked up a handle of a small pan and began hitting it against the floor.
"Jessie, Kaylee, bad babies!" Sirius said as he got up and went to the twins. He picked up Jessie and then put an arm around Kaylee and picked her up. Kaylee let out a shriek and clutched onto the pan and spoon. The pan came up with Kaylee and she began hitting it while being held by Sirius. Sirius twisted around slightly, preventing Kaylee from hitting the pan.
"Weeee!" Kaylee squealed as she spun around slightly. She dropped the pan and Sirius let out a triumphant cry. This didn't stop Kaylee though. As Sirius shifted the twins so he could hold them properly Kaylee began hitting Sirius around the head with the spoon. Jessie started laughing and started hitting Sirius with her hands.
"Ow, ow, OW!!" Sirius said as Jessie accidentally poked his eye. Jessie laughed and Sirius took them back to the living room. Sirius put them both on the sofa, both looking at him innocently, with their big brown eyes, tufts of dark blond hair and chubby baby faces. Sirius found it difficult to stay annoyed at them.
"Oh, I'll just let you watch a TV show." Sirius said. He turned on the TV as he heard a loud fart like noise. He sniffed the air and wrinkled up his nose. "Urgh!" He turned and looked at the twins. Kaylee looked slightly ill while Jessie had a look of slight shock on her face. Sirius carefully approached the twins and sniffed.
"Which one of you was it?" He asked. He picked up Jessie and smelled her, no, she smelt fine. He picked up Jessie but held her out at arms distance, he didn't need to smell her to tell that she'd just pooped in her nappy. He carefully placed her on her back on the floor and from arms length, began to undo her nappy. He took one look at what was in it before covering up his mouth. Normally he had a strong stomach. He could take a lot of things, blood, gore, fights but a soiled nappy...
Sirius got up and picked up the phone and punched in a number. The phone rang.
"Lily Potter who-"
"Lily, I need your help." Sirius said.
April apparated home. It was about six in the evening and it was too quiet. April went into the living room to see Sirius stretched out over the sofa asleep. April's expression went serious, where were the children. She really hoped that Sirius would be able to look after them, just this once. She wanted to trust him, honestly she did. She was more then willing now to give him the chance because she knew that she couldn't handle the four children without his help. She went up to Sirius and hit his face gently. Sirius groaned.
"Five more minutes." He muttered before rolling towards the back of the sofa.
"No Sirius, now." April said. Sirius' eyes opened wide and he sat up.
"April." Sirius said with a nervous smile.
"Where are the children?" April asked.
"Um, well..." Sirius said.
"Don't tell me you lost them?" April said with her arms crossed.
"No, no. I'm not that stupid."
"Ok, where are they?" April asked.
"Lily has the twins." Sirius said.
"And the other two?" April asked. Sirius' eyes widened even more.
"Damn it!" He shouted as he got to his feet and started for the door.
"Where are they Sirius!" April demanded.
"Um, I forgot to pick them up." Sirius said, wincing slightly.
"WHAT!" April shouted, "School and playgroup finished three hours ago!"
"Yeah I know. I got a bit...um...distracted." Sirius said.
"You fell asleep?" April asked. "You stay here. I'll get the children." She said storming from the room.
"April." Sirius said desperately but she'd left the house.
April arrived at her daughter's school a few minutes later. She had used magic to change into slightly formal looking muggle clothes. She pushed the door open to the reception and the main office. She went to the reception and rang the bell. The receptionist for the small primary school came to the desk.
"Hi, I'm April Black-"
"Ah, Mrs. Black, your children are in the after school club." The receptionist said kindly. "We've been trying to phone your house all afternoon but no one answered"
"That's because my stupid husband fell asleep, I just got back from work, where's the after school club held?" April asked.
"In the main hall, I'll show you to it." The receptionist said kindly with a fake smile.
"Thank you." April said. She followed the receptionist to a fairly large hall.
"I'm also afraid that your daughter has been getting into a little bit of trouble as well." The Receptionist said.
"With her work?" April asked.
"I'm afraid not. She has a letter to give you. Basically you have a meeting with the headmistress tomorrow about it." The Receptionist. April felt like that couldn't be good at all.
"Oh, ok" April said. She went into the hall.
"Mummy!" Orion said running over. She picked him up as he ran to her. Rhia followed him, looking a bit more annoyed.
"Why are you late?" Rhia asked with an angry expression.
"Later Rhia." April said. "Come on, lets go to Lily's to pick up Kaylee and Jessie." The receptionist gave her look of surprise but didn't say anything. "Thank you for letting them stay here."
"It's what the after school club is for." The receptionist said. Orion wriggled out of April's arms and ran to the door.
"Let go. Star wars!" He said eagerly. Rhia rolled her eyes and followed him out the door. April went as well. As they left the school and made their way to Lily's April looked at Rhia.
"Rhia, do you have a letter for me from your teacher?" She asked. Rhia grinned.
"Oh yeah!" Rhia said. She fished through her bag and got out a small white envelope. She handed it to April who opened it.
Dear Mr and Mrs Black
I am afraid to inform you of an incident that occurred earlier today in the music department of our school. As you may know, your daughter Rhiannon is a very talented and bright young girl with a lot of potential though I must question her self control and discipline as during her music lesson today, Rhiannon and a fellow student got a little carried away. As a result a new piano, five glockenspiels, a white board, six maracas and a guitar must be purchased after the damage caused.
You will be required to meet with myself in order to discuss Rhiannon's behaviour. We do not blame you, as parents for her behaviour but we do wish you to try and instil a little more discipline. The school will not ask you to buy these instruments but the consequences of Rhiannon's actions must be discussed.
Yours faithfully
Geraldine Hardy
April took a sharp intake of breath. They were approaching Lily's door. Rhia ran up to it and started banging on it. April folded up the letter, trying to stop herself from screaming. Work had been stressful, it was a bit of a shock, going back after a year of not working. Most Aurors had been out as well and the place was filled with aurors that April didn't really recognise, a large shock to the system. Lily's front door opened and James appeared in the doorway.
"Hey Rhia." James said with a grin. Rhia grinned and gave James' leg a hug.
"Rhia!" April snapped, "Stay outside." Rhia looked at April slightly surprised. "James, can I have my other children so that I can go." April said impatiently.
"Um, ok. Let me get them for-" before James could finish his sentence Kaylee crawled under his legs and outside. Rhia grinned and picked her up. Lily came to the door with Jessie in her arms. When she saw April she looked at her seriously.
"You got a letter about Rhia?" Lily asked.
"How did you-" April started to ask.
"Emma is the person she destroyed the room with. Apparently, according to Emma, they were just playing with a tambourine when everything just sort of exploded" Lily said.
"Well, thanks for looking after my children. I have to go home and have a word with my husband now." April said. Lily and James both frowned.
"That doesn't sound good." James said. "What's Sirius done?"
"None of your business, could I just have Jessie so I can go?" April asked.
"Um, yeah." Lily handed Jessie to April. April took her daughter then turned. Around.
"Rhia, Orion!" April said. Rhia followed, carefully holding Kaylee, who was playing with Rhia's hair. Orion was singing the Star Wars theme tune and running down the road like he was one of those fighter planes from it. As soon as April arrived back Sirius appeared in the hallway. He opened his mouth to say something when April shot him a harsh look.
"Don't even talk to me Sirius." She said.
"But-"
"What did I say?" April said. She looked into his eyes and searched his mind. She could see the events of the day and she wasn't particularly happy with it. She bent over and took Kaylee from Rhia and went up the stairs.
"Star Wars!" Orion said loudly.
"No! Cinderella!" Rhia said racing Orion to the TV. Sirius scowled and went up the stairs. He went to the bedroom door and gently opened it.
"April." He said quietly.
"Go away Sirius." April muttered. She was changing Jessie's clothes while Kaylee was rolling around amongst the duvet and getting tangled up in it.
"No, I'm really sorry I forgot about the kids." Sirius said. "And I want to do something to make up for it." April stopped what she was doing and turned to Sirius.
"What can you do? I ask you to look after them for one day. One day Sirius! You can't even do that. I was willing to let you try and be the father you've been trying to get me to let you be and you messed it up." April said, she sounded and looked very hurt and annoyed.
"I'm really sorry April but I-"
"Do you know what Rhia did at school today?" April said, interrupting Sirius.
"Um, no, should I?" Sirius asked uncertainly
"She and Emma destroyed what was it?" April got out the letter and read from it. "A piano, five glockenspiels, a white board, six maracas and a guitar. And do you want to know the reason why?" Sirius shrugged. "Lack of discipline. I'm trying to be a mother Sirius, I really don't want to be one but I'm trying but everything I do you just seem to destroy. I try and discipline the children, obviously not by harsh methods but it's difficult when you go and buy them sweets every time they misbehave." April said. Sirius looked at April worriedly.
"Ok, I'll stop that-"
"And it isn't just that. I get you want to be like, a house wizard but it's just not very practical. I know that you do have enough money to support us but it's going quickly Sirius. That damned motorbike. All the things you're buying the kids, the amount of money we have to change from wizarding to muggle just so that we can pay the taxes, electricity, water, gas. Merlin, Sirius, at the rate we're going, my Auror salary won't be enough!"
"But didn't you get a promotion?" Sirius asked. "And it's not my fault I'm not working. Someone has to look after the children and you're working all the time. I hate you doing that job!"
"Hello, all those days when the children were at my parent's house you could have had a job!" April's voice was getting louder
A/N:-And thus their marriage breaks down. This was a wickedly fun chapter to write. It was sooooooo great and fun and joyous and the next chapter was just as fun....basically April digs a bit of a hole for herself. I've realised this is the best way of getting names and I'm trying to work in some of your names. None of you will be actual Potters, Blacks or Lupins, simply because there are beginning to be too many for me to keep track of, though i might make Lily pregnant again in HArry's 6th year...I still have to decide upon that. You'll probs be friends of the Potters, Blacks and Lupins. And i might give April's sister Becky another adopted child. But every possible storyline i've just mentioned are all still on the sidelines. Anyway, i hope you liked this chapter...more arguments to come :)
Also....LILY POTTER!!! WOO!! gives a hug another fellow person. I seem to be getting a lot of followers from here. I haven't posted this story there cause i feel that i have less freedom with my stories there.