"It's not my fault! What is there that I can do? There's nothing interesting to do!" Sirius said.
"Interesting, you want something interesting? Why don't you try starting at the bottom and work your way to the top, like I had to do!" April shouted at him.
"I'm sorry that I don't have the patience you have!" Sirius shouted back, "But I can't work like you. I can't stay cooped up in an office all day. I need to be out there."
"Sirius, can't you just try! You see everything that's right in front of you and take it at face value. Try to open your eyes and see everything else that's around. You only get things by working hard." April said, she sounded exasperated. "How long have you been a father and a husband Sirius? Just over five years isn't it? Surely you have learnt to be patient in that time!" Sirius stood there looking at April. "God! You're hopeless, you don't look beyond what's in front of you. It's pointless. I knew I shouldn't have married you!"
"What? Now that's taking it a bit too far. You didn't have to marry me it was your choice." Sirius said taking a step closer to April
"I felt pressurised into it though. And you know it. You knew I wasn't ready to get married or be a mother."
"Oh and you think I was ready to be a father?" Sirius asked. "You think I wanted this? I wanted to keep our relationship casual, I didn't want to marry either."
"Then why did you propose?" April asked him dangerously.
"Because it seemed like the right thing to do at the time!" Sirius said. "I panicked ok. I've been grown up to believe that a child can't grow up with one parent, you know the extreme pure blood believers think that and it's what I believed. I didn't want Rhia to grow up with out a father."
"You stick to those beliefs?" April asked in disbelief. "If you're believing that then what else are you believing in? Muggle borns should die? Muggle lovers shouldn't be allowed to live-"
"April, That's not what I mean and you know that! You're getting angry for no reason." Sirius said heatedly.
"Oh, I have plenty of reasons." April said.
"Oh, tell me then? Or shall I guess." Sirius asked sarcastically. April glared at him. Kaylee and Jessie were sitting on the bed staring wide eyed and the door had opened slightly and Rhia and Orion were peeking into the room.
"Oh shut up Sirius. You couldn't guess them. You're too thick headed. You're just like how you were at school. You don't care about anything, the only thing that you seemed to have stopped is your womanising antics!" April snapped.
"Oh then would this be a bad time to tell you I cheated on you at James' bachelor Party?" Sirius said without thinking. April's mouth dropped open in shock.
"What!" She screamed.
"You were going to dump me anyway, I knew it. I'd spoken to James. You wanted to get rid of me. It was obvious so I thought fuck it!" Sirius said. Before Sirius knew what had happened April brought her hand back and slapped Sirius with such force that his head snapped backwards painfully. There was a loud smack and Sirius stumbled backwards.
"Get out of my house!" April said.
"It's my house too" Sirius said.
"I paid for it. Like I pay for everything. Get out of my house Sirius! I never want to see you again!" April screamed at him. Sirius was about to snap back when April whipped out her wand.
"Fine." Sirius said. He went about the room and got a few things and apparated out of the house. April breathed heavily then turned to the door where she saw Rhia and Orion looking wide eyed.
"Go to bed now!" April shouted at them. The two young children disappeared. She turned to Kaylee and Jessie and carried on what she'd been doing before the argument but in a worse mood.
Sirius looked around. He knew where he was, he didn't want to be here but he didn't want to go to one of his friend's houses where all they'd give him is sympathy. A few seconds after he'd turned his face to look at a portrait the room was filled with screams.
"YOU BLOOD TRAITOR! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! YOU DON'T DESERVE TO-"
"Silencio!" Sirius said, pointing his wand at the portrait. The Portrait went silent. "Good day to you as well mother." Sirius said bitterly. How Sirius hated being here. It raised too many bad memories. He closed his eyes and shivered. He heard a door open and held out his wand as he turned to the kitchen door. A house elf stood in the doorway looking at him with an angry and bitter expression.
"Oh, it's just you kreacher." Sirius said.
"What is blood traitor doing in mother's sacred home?" The house elf said bitterly.
"Just get me some fire whiskey. I'll be in my old bedroom. And quickly Kreacher or I'll free you." Sirius said. The house elf looked at him in alarm and ran off. Sirius went slowly up the stairs. His head pounding and his heart…
Well he didn't know what was going on with his heart. His emotions were a mixture of different things. As his anger subsided a huge, crushing feeling of dread seemed to weigh him down. Sirius closed his eyes for a moment. He had been a complete idiot. He went to the doorway and pushed open his old bedroom door. If anything it hadn't changed though the old Gryffindor flags that Sirius used to have up had been torn down. Sirius went to the large bed and flopped into it. It felt slightly hard and very very slightly lumpy. Not like his bed back at Godric's Hollow. Sirius closed his eyes tightly. He could hear April screaming at him in his head, his cheek still stung from that slap she gave him.
The door opened and Kreacher came in with a small glass and a bottle of Fire whiskey. He looked like he was ready to say something to Sirius when he seemed to think better and put the drink down next to the bed and stalked off. Sirius turned to the bottle and poured out a glass of fire whiskey. Once that was done he downed the glass and poured out another.
Lily knocked at April and Sirius' door the next day. Her and April had made an agreement under Sirius' orders that Lily would take their children to school or playgroups while Sirius looked after the twins and picked up his own children in the afternoon. She looked at the door as she waited. Harry was standing on his toes and trying to peer into the house. Emma was holding Lily's hand and talking to Lily thought Lily wasn't actually listening. Why wasn't anyone opening the door. Lily knocked again.
"Hello?" Lily said loudly. Emma opened the post box to look into the house and let out a small scream. The door opened and Orion was rolling on the floor laughing.
"Hi Lily." April said rather dishearteningly. Lily frowned.
"Where's Sirius?" Lily asked worriedly.
"Don't talk to me about him." April said. "Tell James I'm not going to work today. I'm going to stay at home." Lily scowled. She wanted to stay with April to see what happened but they were already late with the children. "Plus I have that meeting with Rhia's headmistress." April said.
"Ah yeah, well stay here April, we'll talk ok." Lily said. April just closed the door as soon as Orion and Rhia had stepped out into the garden. Lily jumped slightly. This was not good. Nope, not good at all.
"Um, come on." Lily said uncertainly. It took about half an hour to forty minutes to get back to April's house. This time Lily didn't knock on the door. She apparated into the house and went to look for April.
"April." Lily said. She found April standing by the window in her bedroom. She was standing staring out while Kaylee cried loudly. Lily scowled and picked up Kaylee.
"Ok, what's wrong?" Lily asked Kaylee gently, Kaylee calmed down slightly. Lily could feel that Kaylee's nappy was slightly damp, even through the nappy. She scowled and looked around for another, new nappy.
"God, April. Why didn't you change Kaylee's nappy?" Lily said.
"Who cares?" April muttered. Lily looked up at this.
"Who cares? You should care." Lily said, "What happened?" She asked as she changed Kaylee.
"Nothing." April said with a sigh.
"Obviously something happened. You're usually quite good with children." Lily said.
"Yeah well. I just don't want to be a mother anymore ok." April said. She moved away from the window and looked at Lily. Lily looked at her slightly alarmed.
"What?" Lily asked. "April what happened? Where's Sirius?" April grew angry at the mention of him. The mirror by the dressing table seemed to shatter and April took a few deep breaths.
"Nothing happened." April said.
"April, you can tell me. I am your best friend, what happened between you and Sirius?" Lily asked.
"It's none of your business Lily. It's not like you could help me anyway." April said.
"Why not?" Lily asked.
"Why not?" April repeated, "Because you have the perfect life! You and James get along too well to be true, you two love each other, your children aren't as much of a hand full as mine are and you two both have really good jobs, that's why." April said.
"I don't understand, how does that mean I can't help?" Lily asked. She held Kaylee in her arms. April wiped away an angry tear.
"Because…" April looked away as a tear fell down her face. "Because you wouldn't understand. If anything Jenny would understand but because you have the perfect life Lily, you just…" April closed her eyes. "Sorry. I'm getting worked up. I don't mean to be horrible."
"Don't worry, I'm not taking it offensively." Lily said calmly. April looked at Lily. Looking right into her eyes. Lily knew what she was doing but what was April looking for? April suddenly broke down crying and fell to her knees. Lily jumped in surprise. Ok, April was crying, since when did April cry? Lily put Kaylee into the cot with Jessie before going to April. She held April tightly and let April cry.
"I was so horrible to him." April said.
"To Sirius?" Lily asked. April nodded. "What happened?"
"We had a fight." April sobbed. "I can't even remember what it was about. No I do, it's because he's not doing anything and I'm sick and tired of having to be responsible." Lily frowned and looked at April. She had always known that April never wanted to be a mum until she was at least twenty eight, unlike Lily, April was meant to be as immature as Sirius at this current age.
"April." Lily said, she sat back on her legs and held April's hands. "Where's Sirius now? You can't keep fighting with him." April shrugged, she wouldn't meet Lily's eyes.
"I told him to get out and that I never wanted to see him again." April said. "I don't think I meant to say that but I did" April said. "He wasn't helping at all around the house, he couldn't even look after the kids. Lily, it was weird, he didn't fight back. He should have said something but he didn't say that much." Lily sighed.
"April, if he'd had any sense he wouldn't have fought back." Lily said. "Do you know where he could have gone. You can't have an argument now, not after your marriage was going so well and you've just had some children." April shook slightly in anger.
"Oh god, children." April said. She turned to Kaylee and Jessie in the cot. Yes they were cute, they were god damned adorable but April was getting the feeling she had when she'd given birth to Rhia, and Orion. The feeling that she didn't want children. She'd wished that she was still single, carefree and a successful Auror, all her plans until Sirius had screwed them up so badly, but part of it was April's fault she admitted it.
"April, you don't mean that." Lily said sternly.
"Mean what?" April asked, "I hate children but I love them, it's a vicious cycle." April said.
"April, you can't mean that you hate children, true they can get a bit of a handful." Lily said, "Don't you have any idea where Sirius could be. I know you love Sirius, even if you did tell him you never wanted to see him again." Lily said.
"I never said I didn't love him." April said. "It's been my weakness since I fell for him. I can't stop loving him and I know he'll come back and I'll forgive him. I feel so terrible." April said. Lily sighed.
"We'll sort this out I promise but first, we have to go and see Emma and Rhia's headmistress, so I'll ask Jenny if she doesn't mind babysitting for a while and while I'm gone I want you to make yourself look pretty ok." Lily said, holding April's face in her hands. "Forget about Sirius for an hour, then talk about him all you want." April nodded. Lily got up and picked up the twins.
"Lily." April said as she got up. Lily turned to look at April. "I think this will be something that Sirius and I have to do on our own. I said some stuff I've never said to him before. I don't even know where some of it came from but…this time it's different." Lily nodded. And picked up a small bag with some of the twins' stuff in.
"I'll be back soon ok. Don't do anything stupid." Lily warned.
"Why do you always say that when I'm upset?"
"Because I know you." Lily replied. Lily wondered if she should risk a group apparition so that she didn't have to fumble around with Floo powder and Portkeys. Lily risked it and closed her eyes. She held her wand in one hand and soon she was at Jenny and Remus' house. She heard someone coming out of a room and turned to see Remus dragging his feet behind him as he came out of his bedroom.
"Hi Remus." Lily said brightly.
"Hmrph" was all she got as a reply.
"I'm doing good thanks, where's Jenny?" Remus stopped for a moment to think.
"Dropping Bo off." Remus said. Lily nodded.
"O, well do you mind looking after Kaylee and Jessie for an hour while April and I go and talk to Emma and Rhia's head." Lily said. Remus frowned.
"Their heads? Couldn't you have spoken to them earlier? They do have mouths." It took Lily a moment to realised what Remus was talking about.
"Oh no I meant their head mistress" Lily said. Remus nodded and smirked.
"What happened?" He asked.
"They destroyed some instruments" Lily said with a sigh.
"And why are you bringing the twins here and not April? Is she ok?" Remus asked. He took Jessie, who cuddled against Remus. Lily had noticed that Jessie had a fondness for Remus already.
"April's not in very good condition." Lily said with a frown. Kaylee started bouncing in Lily's arms and start, what sounded like, trying to sing in baby language. Remus scowled.
"What happened to April?" He asked, sounding worried. Lily bit her lip gently.
"Could you do me a favour and try and find Sirius later?" Lily asked
"Oh no, they didn't have a argument again?" Remus asked. Lily nodded.
"Only thing is April doesn't want to see Sirius and told him that." Lily said.
"Oh Merlin. Ok, well as soon as Jenny gets back I'll go and look for him. Here give me Kay and you go and sort out April."
"Oh, and you may want to tell Jenny to go and talk to April later. April won't talk to me." Lily said with a frown. Remus looked at her confused as she put the baby bag down. "I wouldn't understand apparently." Lily muttered. "Well I have to go. Thanks for doing this Remus."
"No problem. I love looking after my favourite niece-s" He added the S as he looked at Kaylee. There was no doubt about it, Remus and Jessie just seemed to click as uncle and niece. In fact, Remus was the only person Jessie would make a noise to. Jessie grinned and did actually started babbling away to Remus. Lily apparated back to April's house and found her sitting on the bed, dressed in some smartish muggle clothes.
"Ready?" Lily asked. April shrugged.
Ms. Meredith Hardy was a fairly short woman with short but very thick brown hair that seemed to stick out. She had thick glasses that covered her fairly small dark green eyes. Her face was slightly chubby and she had slightly stubby fingers. Lily could tell that once, she would have been very beautiful, probably in the days of the flappers when everyone had bob cuts…maybe this headmistress had never left that age. Lily herself felt like she was in Muggle school again and that she was ten years old. Only Lily's family really knew this but she had been a little bit of a trouble maker in muggle school simply because it wasn't challenging enough, so when she went to Hogwarts, she loved it!
"Now we aren't blaming you or your children. We only have the testimonies of other four and five years olds concerning what happened." Meredith Hardy told them.
"What exactly did happen?" Lily asked. April had been strangely quiet the entire time, saying a grand total of five words.
"Well, the music teacher stepped out of the classroom to go and get some paper for the children to work on then there was a crash. He ran back and saw several instruments had been destroyed. When he asked whose fault it was everyone pointed at your children and they sat there grinning. Now-"
"How do you know it was our children though?" Lily challenged, "They can't have done anything to cause such a…a scene."
"Well, we still aren't entirely sure of it ourselves. One of the young children, a friend of Emma and Rhiannon, a young girl named Kara Banks said it was like Magic." April sat up and looked at Lily. Lily didn't move. "The music teacher, Mr. Townsend, has informed me though that the most probable cause for this was that your children do not have enough…creative release, as he put it. Now, there is a simple solution for this." April looked completely lost while Lily forced a slight smile on her face.
"Creative Release? How would he know if they haven't got enough creative release?" Lily asked.
"Simple. Apparently they get carried away on the instruments every time they go into music." Meredith Hardy told them. Lily nodded slowly. "But he has suggest that maybe, you could give your daughters some music lessons. The school will provide them, as long as you pay and fee every term of fifty pounds."
"Fifty pounds?" April asked slightly shocked. "Is that good?"
"Yes it is very good in fact." Meredith Hardy said. "Currently we only have Piano and guitar lessons and we are willing to give each child a place in these lessons."
"Um. Ok." Lily said. She looked to April. "What do you think?"
"I don't care really. I probably won't be able to afford it."
"Of course you will." Lily said. She turned back to the teacher. "We'd be very grateful if you could put our children into the lessons."
"Could Rhia have the Piano lessons?" April asked.
"Of course she may." Meredith Hardy said, writing it down on a pad of paper. "Now there is also the simple matter of discipline-"
"That's been sorted out." April said quickly. "The cause of Rhia's misbehaviour has been gotten rid of, she should behave better from now on." Lily looked at April with a warning look. Meredith Hardy gave her a curious look then leaned forwards onto her desk.
"I know is a very personal question to ask, but is there any trouble going on at home. You are both very young mothers, and I have heard that your husbands are just as young. Young couples, in my experience, tend to be more argumentative then other couples and are more likely to split up." Meredith Hardy said. She was reminding Lily of a Psychiatrist.
"Um, no my marriage is perfectly fine." Lily said. Meredith Hardy turned to April. April was looking at the floor.
"There is some trouble but I'm not going to disclose that kind of information to someone I have barely ever met." April said. Meredith Hardy nodded like her suspicions had been confirmed.
"Very well. We will monitor their behaviour for another few weeks. If nothing has changed I'm afraid we will have to put them into separate classes." Meredith Hardy said.
"No you can't do that." Lily said.
"And why not Mrs. Potter" Lily felt the warm rush she always got when someone called her Mrs. Potter but she fought down the urge to smile.
"It's for Rhia's best interests. About a year and a half ago, Rhia was kidnapped. She doesn't really trust anyone but Emma. You can't split them up." Lily said. Meredith Hardy straightened as she processed this new piece of information.
"Very well. I'll take that into consideration. Oh, Mrs. Potter. I would like to congratulate you on your son Harry. He is top of his class at the moment in Maths, literacy and basic science." Lily smiled slightly. "Have a nice day." Meredith Hardy said with a smile. April and Lily rose. As soon as they were outside the school gates April started in a rant about the headmistress.
"What right has she got telling me how to raise my children? She doesn't know half the stuff that we've been through, it's a miracle Rhia's even alive, that stupid bitch-" Lily began to zone out. April was right, Meredith Hardy didn't know half of what any of them had been through, but why should she know? She was a muggle, they were witches. Emma and Rhia would be going to Hogwarts, Dumbledore had even told them so. That reminded Lily, she had to organise that dinner with Dumbledore. Lily took April's hand as her ranting went towards Sirius.
"April, calm down ok. Sirius isn't worth the effort over." Lily said.
"It's his fault that Rhia's like this. If he'd just tried to be a decent father and not fussed over her so much and rewarded her. It's like he wants her to be a troublemaker."
"What do you expect, Sirius was a Marauder, it's in their nature to be troublemakers." Lily said.
"But you've pretty much squashed it out of James" April said, "Why can't Sirius do the same. James is mature and he doesn't mess around, he just focuses on getting money to help keep your family well off and he tries to be a good father where as Sirius, he won't even get a job-"
"You can't change a man unless they want to change" Lily said, "James changed for me, I didn't change him."
"Still." April said, "It's unfair. You get such a perfect life while me and Jenny were stuck with the not so perfect ones."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lily asked as she stopped to face April.
"Oh come on. You have the perfect life Lily, like I said earlier. You have a good well paid job as a healer. You too beautiful to be true. Your husband is perfect, he works hard, is responsible and still knows how to have fun and be a good dad. Your son is top of his class in like everything and Emma is bright for a four year old!" April said.
"And what's that got to do with anything? It's far from perfect." Lily said.
"Oh, lets compare it to me and Jenny shall we? Lets start with Jenny. Jenny is married to a werewolf. She suffered almost complete rejection at school after they found out, she was only still popular because she hung around with us. She got pregnant and ran away to China, where her family rejected her, she has a son who's also a werewolf and refuses to drink Wolfsbane potion. You think that's perfect, every month for her she goes through two days and one night of non-stop worry, wondering if Moony and Bo are behaving themselves, or hoping that they don't bite anyone?" April asked.
"Have you and Jenny been talking about this?" Lily asked, with her arms crossed.
"A little." April answered truthfully. "And you know my life. Four unwanted children, a good for nothing husband and fights like every month. I can still even hear Voldemort in my head from time to time."
"You think my life is easy April? You know as much as anyone it's far from easy. Mother of the boy-who-lived, until recently attacks every month. I was nearly killed by Voldemort four times!" Lily said, "But if that's the way you want it April then fine. You go and believe I have the perfect life. God, April, I'm just trying to help you. You and Sirius have to stop arguing for the children's sake!"
"Well I don't need your help Lily because you can't help. You're just too selfless and just so…kind that sometimes it's slightly annoying. You're always so happy and pleased with yourself. Lily, please, do me a favour and just try not to interfere this time. Don't try and find Sirius because I don't want to see him." April said before turning down the road to her house.
A/N:- (singing) April's diggin a hole, a hole, a hole. ANyway, this is soo fun to write. I don't care if you people don't like Sirius and April arguing. It's fun for me to write and I've discussed it with a few of my readers and they like it. It...what was it....(finds emails)...suits their characters. Well, that's what they said not me. You see, April and Sirius are still children, effectively, but they've got their own children, and as for Sirius, it was Azkaban that really made him all responsible and all that, so, I'm afraid compared to the horrors of Azkaban, children have no chance. Anyway, hope you like this chapter. Some of you probably didn't but hey, i get to introduce you to Emma and Rhia's latest hobbies...their...'creative energies' will be released...and so will Orion's eventually. Boy April and Sirius are gona love them :D