AN: I apologize for taking so long to put this up! But, I'm back, and the next chapter is at the beta at the moment, so I'm expecting to put it up by the end of the week. I will try to have a more regular schedule, but it may change with the holidays fast approaching.

Chapter 9

James eyed his friend's head in the fireplace. He had sent an owl to Sirius a week ago on behalf of Ted Tonks. The other man had wanted to let Sirius know what had happened to his cousin, Andromeda, seeing that they were closer to each other than normal due to their family circumstances. James was amazed that Sirius had gotten the chance to use an international floo, as they were typically used for government use only.

Sirius had startled him from his work on his next book, which was in its last stages. James had jumped at the sudden intrusion to his secluded quiet. The gray-eyed man had laughed until James had threatened to send him a hex by owl. Sirius had quieted, having been on the receiving end of those sent by James once or twice too many times.

Sirius had greeted him and then proceeded to ask how the kids were doing, before asking the question he'd floo'd about.

"So, how's Andy doing?"

James shrugged. "Ted was trying to get her to leave the house, but she won't go out, or even by the windows. He said that she thinks she'll be attacked by that boggart."

Sirius frowned. "She's more likely to see a boggart inside than out."

"I know," James agreed. "But she is still in shock, so her thought processes are off."

The other man nodded. "I'll give her that. And at least she isn't living in the mausoleum my family called home. She'd be meeting a boggart every time she entered a new room."

"What are you going to do with it?" he asked, remembering that Sirius had inherited it three years ago, after his mother's death, and that was around the time Sirius had been nominated for the Canadian exchange program.

"I don't know," Sirius answered. "I was hoping I'd be able to clean it out this winter, but it looks like I probably won't be able to get enough time off. They're being pretty closed mouth about why we suddenly can't take time off, but if all goes well, I'll be able to visit from Easter until around Harry's birthday. I've got that much vacation time shored up."

James raised his eyebrows. "You already know your holiday schedule for the next year? It's only June!"

"Stinks that I won't be free for a year, doesn't it?" Sirius sighed. "I'd better go, because I don't have much powder left. I'll write soon and let you know when, exactly, I will be coming home to visit. I'm glad that I've only got two more years left of this, otherwise it'd seem like forever."

"Very well, then." James smirked. "Don't make too much trouble out there, Padfoot."

"You know I am," Sirius said, pulling his head back and ending the conversation.

James shook his head in exasperation. He wouldn't be surprised if Sirius ended up causing an international incident. Their conversation had gotten him thinking, though, about homes. It had cut him deeply to give up his real father's ancestral main home, so soon after finding it, to move into the house at Godric's Hollow. Then it had gone even farther when Death Eaters had destroyed Heron Manor. He really hadn't minded the house in Godric's Hollow, but it didn't remind him all that much of his family. Godric's Hollow had been in his real father's family for generations, but the property had been given to his mother upon her marriage to James' father. She had gone on to decorate it the way she saw fit and had moved anything that was Potter-family oriented back to Heron Manor.

James and his parents had stayed there, on and off, over the years. It wasn't like the house in Surrey. When their parents had been killed, both James and Lily had agreed to sell the houses. Her sister had already been living with her husband, so it hadn't been much of a problem. Then James had moved into Heron Manor himself, nearly married to Severus, but already covering the fact by having Lily live with them.

Then had come the news that Voldemort was sending all of his followers to known 'beacons of light' - as the Prophet had put it – with the Death Eaters destroying the houses and killing any who lived within. James, Severus, and Lily had hurriedly packed what they could, sending the important pieces of family history to the vault in Gringotts, and moved into Godric's Hollow.

Severus, on the other hand, had cared less about the loss of his ancestral manor. James' husband had not had the best of childhoods, and so had turned his back when it was practically demolished by a mob when he'd been on 'trial' for being a Death Eater.

In all, James didn't mind living in this house. One, it had put Fudge out of his summer house, making him stay in London for most of the year - since the ministry had decided not to purchase another property. Two, they were secluded enough that the general public would not disturb them because of Harry's unwanted fame. But James liked the third reason best of all - here his family could grow up in a healthy, loving environment. His children were already well on their way to becoming responsible adults. Even Hugh, who would be off to Hogwarts himself in another year.

Speaking of school, James was more than slightly worried about what was planned for next year. Severus was already grousing about the extra work, as one of the visiting schools would be staying near the Slytherin dorms. In his letters home to James, he had complained that there had been a reason why they stopped holding the Tri-Wizard Tournament a hundred years or so ago. And to top it all off, he had also written, Dumbledore had said he would like Moody to come teach DADA, since it was highly unlikely that Andromeda would be able to teach next year.

James had already resigned himself to an entire summer of 'Moody this' and 'Moody that' and 'I hate Moody.' At least Severus would keep himself occupied.

The children, on the other hand, would need something to do. James had been thinking about it, and he had decided it was time to immerse them in some Muggle culture. James planned to take them to London for a week, where they would stay in a Muggle hotel.

Oh, he knew that Severus wouldn't be keen on the idea, but he would go along with it. Still, it would be fun watching his children discover some of the things he had enjoyed during his own childhood. He'd made the mistake of mentioning this in front of Hugh. His youngest son had gone on and on about how the Muggle children in his school liked go to the cinema or arcades.

All in all, it was going to be fun.

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Severus had found that the only thing Muggles had one up on wizards was entertainment. He had actually been impressed by the movie the entire family had gone to, even if it had cost and arm and most of a leg. Some of them had quite an imagination.

He would also grant them credit on the fact that they had such a posh setting for their 'hotels.' Although the gold fixtures were disappointingly plated and not solid. Who knew that the shower fixtures was so delicate that a nine year old could break it?

Severus hadn't been all that fond of the amusement park they had stopped at on the way to London. He really had not been fond of being the one to handle his daughter's upset stomach after the Tilt-a-Whirl. Or Hugh's sticky fingers full of candy floss. Or James pulling him onto the roller coaster, arms tight across Severus' waist the entire ride. Okay, that part had been worth it, because when they got off the ride, they drew all manner of stares at which Severus could glare in response to. It wasn't much fun in the summer with a family immune to your glares when you regularly used them for entertainment.

Now they were poolside, and Severus was firmly ensconced in a lounge chair with a thick paperback. James had joined the kids in the pool, uncaring of the virulent smell of chlorine. He may not know a lot about Muggles, but any potions master worthy of the title knew what Muggle scientists had deemed elements. Before Severus had become professor at Hogwarts, he had attended a conference in Boston. The 'elements' were fairly useless in potions, but they did have their uses.

He was disturbed from his book - an engrossing tale amid the court of Louis XIII - when a woman sat down next to him. He paid no attention to her until she bumped into his arms.

"Sorry about that," she said in a high-pitched, girlish sounding voice that wasn't from anywhere in the UK and most likely the Americas. She turned back to her companion, not even waiting to register Severus' response to her rudeness. "But, as I was saying, I wouldn't mind finding a man who will play with his kids like that. And all of them so handsome! I've never seen such beautiful green eyes before."

Severus looked at the woman, who was chattering with another woman on the other side. Each of them had hair coifed just so that Severus was curious to see if it would withstand submersion in the swimming pool. He would be tempted to experiment if she continued with eyeing James' arse like she was.

A bedraggled Helena came over and grabbed a towel. She took a seat to pull on her tennis shoes they'd bought only yesterday - and Severus had made it a point never to take his children to any Muggle sporting even again, because they would want James or him to buy them equipment or jerseys or something that was hideously expensive and they couldn't wear most of the year. He eyed his daughter, knowing that she must want something to have left the pool like she did.

"Patri?"

He'd been right. Of course, he was correct quite a bit more often than not.

"Yes, Helena?"

"After we're done swimming, we wanna go to the weight room and look around. Dad said we had to ask you."

Severus raised his eyebrow. How like James to do this. His husband couldn't say no, so he sent them to Severus. James wasn't trying to make him the bad guy in all of this. It was just that, as a Gryffindor, he couldn't help but indulge his children even if he didn't want to.

"By 'we,'" Severus said, "I assume you meant yourself and your brothers?"

Helena nodded.

"And they elected you to ask?"

Another nod followed.

Severus paused. He often did this to make the other person sweat, but it didn't work on his daughter OR his younger son. It worked best on Gryffindors - especially well - and it often caused Ministry officials to wet their trousers. He had the sneaking suspicion that James also wanted to see the weight room and knew that Severus himself had a hard time saying no to his only daughter.

"Very well, then," he finally answered. Helena gave a thumbs up to the black-haired boys in the pool. "However," he added on. "All three of you will be required to be dressed in regular clothing with socks in your shoes."

A big grin crossed Helena's mouth, and she leaned over and gave a hug. "Thanks, Patri!"

Severus watched as she shucked her shoes and towel and jumped into the pool, knees tucked under her chin. The water splashed high enough that it almost touched Severus' feet where they hung over the edge of the exceptionally short lounge chair.

The woman next to him made a disgusted sound. Severus sneered at her in response as she started at the children as they tried to dunk James.

"Your niece still has some manners to learn," the woman simpered. "She is a darling, though. Your brother certainly produced some handsome children."

Severus glared. "That is my daughter." He didn't even want to bother about the 'brother' comment, although it stung quite a bit.

Both women gave a weak titter of laughter.

"Sorry," the second woman said weakly. "The black hair makes them seem so alike."

"If that assumption is correct, I can safely say you two are sisters," Severus snapped.

The women abruptly shut up, seeing as they were of obvious different ethnicities.

Satisfied, Severus turned back to his book to read until pruning fingers and toes were ready to come out of the pool.

"They were checking out my arse, huh?" James asked later as the children settled into bed in their other bedroom of their suite.

Severus nodded sullenly. At least the wenches hadn't tried to say anything more before the family left.

"It is a fine arse, isn't it?" James asked, turning around to look at said part of anatomy in the mirror. Severus glared in response. James' smile fell as he met Severus' eyes in the mirror. Moving towards his husband, James knelt in front of Severus, where he was sitting on the foot of the bed. "But you already know that you're the only one who can touch said arse, right?"

Severus held his earnest gaze for a silent moment. He knew this, of course, but he also spent quite a bit of the year separated from his husband.

James must have known what he was thinking, because he cupped Severus' cheeks with his hands. "You know I love you, right?"

Severus nodded. "Yes."

"Then you should realize that, even though it's somewhat... well, very flattering that my arse is being admired, I would rather it be you than anyone else. Even if that sounds sappy, I'm saying it anyway."

He was torn between groaning at the entire Gryffindor-ish feeling of this scene and almost leaping for joy. Instead, Severus settled for pulling James into a kiss. It started soft and gentle, but the kiss soon grew heated. Severus fell backwards onto the bed, pulling James up on top of him. He grabbed the arse in question and squeezed. James moaned in response as Severus thought it was very fine indeed.

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James stared in horror at the front page of the Daily Prophet. It felt like only last summer he'd done the same thing, really, but seeing your son's picture on the front page under a headline read 'Dark Mark in Sky at Quidditch Cup Game' would make any parent tempted to panic.

"Dad!"

He sprinted to the fireplace where Harry's head was. James wanted to touch him, but knew that his son wasn't really there.

"Harry!"

"I'm okay, dad! Mrs. Weasley woke me up to tell you before the Daily Prophet comes that there was trouble last night."

James sighed loudly.

"I was too late then, huh?" Harry asked.

He nodded. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Dad. We're all fine." Harry turned his head and nodded. "Mrs. Weasley said she'll bring me home after lunch, cause Mr. Weasley had to go into work."

"Very well," James said. "Your father, sister, and brother will be home before then, so you will only have to tell the story once."

Harry groaned. "Ack! No fair, Dad!"

James looked at him sternly, and his oldest son sighed.

"Okay. See you after lunch, Dad." He pulled his head back, leaving James alone once more.

He ran a hand over his face and sighed. It really wouldn't be worth it to worry at the moment, so James decided that he would go back to editing his book once more.

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"Dad?"

James looked down at his younger son. Hugh wasn't that much shorter than his older siblings, bringing home the fact that next year all three of his children would be getting on the train. "What is it, Hugh?"

"This year's going to be big, Dad. We'll need to start preparing."

James looked down at his youngest, startled. "What was that?" he managed to croak out.

Hugh's amber eyes were steady on James' hazel eyes. "This is the year it's going to start. Harry needs to be prepared for what's on the way." He paused for a couple of seconds. "Well, he'll need it the most 'cause of Voldemort."

James knelt on one knee. "What do you mean by that? And how did you find out about Harry?" The thought that anyone could overhear them on the platform occurred to him. "Tell me when we get home, Hugh."

"He's going to need training, then," Dumbledore confirmed.

James and Severus exchanged a look. James then looked over at Hugh, who had quickly made friends with Fawkes. The phoenix was softly cooing in the boy's ear as he scritched his feathers just before the wings.

"Where would we be able to do that?" James asked.

The headmaster's eyes sparkled as his moustache twitched. "You could send him here to train under Sybil. He would, of course, be expected to join the First Years in their studies."

"If it were Helena, I would say that that would work," Severus said. "However, Hugh is barely ten, and I doubt he would apply himself as would any eleven year old, considering they apply the bare minimums themselves."

James nodded in agreement. Well, the part that Hugh wouldn't exactly apply himself. "He will need another year to mature. If he enters Hogwarts now, I fear he'd be compared to Helena. It's why we didn't want her to come early, because she would have been compared to Harry."

Dumbledore leaned back. "I had wondered at your decision about that." He shuffled a couple of pieces of parchment on his desk before holding one out to Severus and James. "Here are the names of a couple of Divination experts who can pinpoint Hugh's talents."

He let them look over the parchment briefly before continuing.

"I would recommend either Madam Delphine or Mr. Black."

"Black?" James and Severus asked at the same time.

Dumbledore chuckled. "He is no relation to the Mr. Black you know. He was a muggleborn student at Salem Academy some seventy years ago. He moved here about five years ago to be with his widowed daughter after his wife died. He had taken in two students since then. They were both studying Divination at Cambridge, and spent a year each as what the university now considers an internship.

James raised an eyebrow. When they had been in Hogwarts, it had still been called an apprenticeship.

"And what of Madam Delphine?" Severus asked.

"She studied under Cassandra Trelawny and was, in fact, her last student. Mr. Black was a student of Mrs. Portsmith, who was the American head of Divination under the Secretary of Magic."

"Not a Minister?" James asked. Sure, Padfoot had talked about how both the Canadian and US governments had worked, but it was a long the lines of 'bureaucrats are the same no matter what continent you're on.'

Dumbledore sighed. "I do wish Professor Binns would spend some time on governments outside of Great Britain."

James laughed. "You know that there were no goblin rebellions in the Americas, so why would he?"

"Or Africa," Severus interjected.

"Or Indonesia," Dumbledore finished. "Yes, I'm afraid our dear professor firmly refused to believe the government is truly a part of history."

"So, how are Harry and Helena doing so far?" James asked Severus as they and Hugh made their way down to the potions classroom.

"Both are well," was the answer. "Excited about what is to come in another month. I do believe Helena is already studying French, along with half of the other Ravenclaws. Filius was quite excited himself to learn that the Beauxbatons students would be rooming near their tower. Harry, on the other hand, is hoping that Krum is one of the Durmstrang students."

"I'm sure he's hoping that's true," James said.

"It's true," Hugh piped up. "Krum'll be here." His fathers looked at him. "Maybe Helena could take some language lessons from him, too."

Severus glowered. "He's not going anywhere near my little girl."

James held in his laughter. Severus' refusal to believe that Helena would leave one day was hilarious, because he had determined she would never date. The boys could date until the day they died - long after their parents, of course - but his only daughter was off limits to any male. James thought it would be funny if she decided she like girls. It didn't look like that would happen, though it would be funny to see Severus' reaction. Especially since there was a Yule Ball to be held this year. James would have to talk to Harry about any possible dates, since Albus had indicated that students fourth year and up would be able to go. It wasn't like Severus had dated any one before James, so he couldn't give any tips. At least Sirius wasn't here – the man had had a string of girlfriends and boyfriends all through the last three years at Hogwarts... and beyond.

The three settled into Severus' office after the potions master sent one of his first year Slytherins to get Helena, who would then get Harry. James took the opportunity to hold Severus' hand as they sat next to each other. It hadn't been all that long ago that he'd had to reassure his husband that he was here to stay.

"Patri?" Harry inquired from the doorway.

"Come in, Harry. Helena."

Severus indicated the chairs next to where Hugh was sitting. "Sit down. Your father and brother are here because Hugh has shown indications that he may excel in Divination."

"Your dreams?" Harry asked.

"You actually told them, then?" Helena wanted to know.

James and Severus shared a look.

"Did you two know of this before?" Severus asked their two oldest children, a stern expression on his face.

Harry shrugged. "He told us two days ago," He said, and both Helena and Hugh nodded.

James relaxed minutely and tightened his hand briefly around Severus'. "What did you tell them, Hugh?" he asked.

His youngest child shrugged. "That this year was the start of something big." He wore a serious look on his face. "We need to start getting ready for what's to come now."