Lucifer waited until the little ones were calm before he told them he wanted to take them home.
"I use a method called, 'popping'," he said, "It doesn't hurt and you won't feel like you are being turned inside out or anything. Do you feel ready to come home?"
They gave those tremulous smiles again and nodded. They were so tiny. Lucifer wanted to kill people for hurting them. But punishment was coming for the man, while healing for these little treasures would take years and needed to be started now.
"Chloe," he said, "you hold two darlings, and I will hold the other two." He whispered to the children, "Mum's get first choice, but Daddy's get second choice." This was greeted with tiny giggles so apparently second choice wasn't a bad thing.
He sent mental commands to Maze, Amenadiel, and KynKyn and they all mentally touched Headmaster Flitwick and Minister Longbottom to say goodbye.
Neville was ready to come and Harry popped next to him to take his hand. The Longbottom house elves had already moved his trunk to the Lux. Hermione was coming next week, as her parents wanted more time with her.
Lucifer popped everyone to the Lux Penthouse.
Harry immediately began to dance around Neville. "Would you like your own room, or would you like to room with me?" he asked ecstatically. Harry loved his room, but wanted Neville to be his brother, and loved the idea of sleeping in the same room. He'd love to have Draco too, but didn't want to leave his mother alone.
Neville looked terribly pleased. "That would be wonderful."
Lucifer gave an evil smile. "You realize what this means?" he asked.
"Ummmmm, no," Said Neville, a little unsure now.
"You will both be in tickle range," he said and wiggled his fingers, and proceeded to chase both boys all over the room.
Chloe gathered her foursome up and snuggled them on the couch as they watched Neville and Harry squealing and Lucifer laughing and chasing them.
Maze snorted and tried to look disgusted and then yelled, "Me too, tickle monster coming," and proceeded to help Lucifer in his chase.
Daffodil was watching all this carefully, "Are you sure they are grownups?" she whispered in Chloe's ear, "They don't act like grownups."
Chloe smiled, "They really and for true are grownups. They are very, very old, as old as the planet in Maze's case and Lucifer is older than the stars."
"They act silly," said Daffodil thoughtfully, "I like it."
"Yes, I like it too," said Chloe who was looking fondly at her husband.
"Can I be silly?" asked Daffodil.
"Of course, Darling," said Chloe.
Daffodil bravely jumped off Chloe's lap and shouted in a voice that could break brick at a hundred paces, "TICKLE WAR," and started to chase Lucifer.
Lucifer allowed her to capture him and fell on the floor dramatically, which meant he was soon covered by four tiny children, then Harry, Neville and Trixie, who had come in to meet the newest family members.
Draco and Narcissa appeared and Draco looked torn, as he had grown up being expected to act the part of the heir of Malfoy and to plot and make allies.
His mother looked at him. "Go for it," she said, showing she was picking up idioms from Maze.
"Really?" he whispered, astounded.
"Do it now before the Tickle War is done," she responded.
Draco whooped and ran for Lucifer, who was now laughing hysterically, because he was actually ticklish, and because the children were so cute.
He let Draco torment him for a good while, and then called out "I surrender!"
All the children collapsed and lay there gasping for air. "I like you," whispered Daffodil in that tiny voice again. "I like you too, little Darling," said Lucifer and proceeded to pretend to be asleep and gave bear-like snores.
Trixie smiled and said, "We wore out Daddy Lucifer!" Lucifer lay with his eyes closed and gave a big snore.
Daffodil smiled at Trixie, "Is it okay if you share him with us?" she asked.
Trixie looked at her thoughtfully, and everyone in the room grew still. Trixie was their youngest, and used to being the princess of the family.
"If you let me be sisters with all of you," she responded seriously
Daffodil's eyes filled with tears and she hugged Trixie ferociously, "Yes, Yes, I like you,"
Rose clapped her hands with glee. "Do you mind we don't have magic?"
"I don't use magic, only math," said Trixie, "Although Daddy says I have picked up some kind of magic, I don't know how to work it."
"And they don't care?" Asked Octy.
"Nope, they only want us to be happy and loved and to not be mean to anyone," said Trixie.
"Can I be a big brother?" asked Draco.
"Of course you can," said his mother and Chloe simultaneously. The two women grinned at each other.
"Of course you can," said Harry sternly, "And Neville too, and Hermione will be a big sister along with Trixie."
Neville's face shown with pleasure. He reached over and shook hands with Draco, "Dear brother Draco," he said, "We have some business propositions to discuss too."
Draco's eyes gleamed with pleasure. He was learning a lot but also having a lot of fun doing business with Harry. He was proud of the restaurant.
"Is it an idea for the restaurant?" he asked eagerly
Harry smiled, "Well, no but we do have an idea for the restaurant. How would you like it if we grew vegetables and spices here for the restaurant? They would be fresher, organic and would reduce our costs, and Neville knows how to do gardening. We can ask Dad for the empty floor with the windows."
The snoring bear on the floor sputtered, and said, with his eyes still closed, "Start out small so you don't cut back on the meals we make on the weekend."
"Good idea, Dad," said Harry.
"Then," said Lucifer, and was surprised when Harry and Draco shouted simultaneously, "Ask your Mum."
The boys grinned. Then Harry said, "We want to figure out how to magic a bunch of cell phones so that the aurors and Madame Longbottom can use them for instant communication. Think of how quickly they could ask for help or summon healers, or warn the Ministry."
"Wow, could we do that?" asked Draco, interested at once. He had already played with a cell phone and used it to call his mother from several blocks away and both had enjoyed being able to communicate that way.
"Madame Longbottom will tell us how many she would like at first and then we can give her a quote for both the devices and the service."
He looked at the boys, "Then we can buy the devices, spell them properly for what we want, and then sell them to the ministry, and charge them for monthly service, if they can afford them. And Dad already taught me the runes and spells to do this, so I can teach both of you and we can spell each phone and test it to make sure it meets their requirements."
Neville looked excited, "You'll let me help?" he asked, not wanting to butt into their business, but desperately wanting to be included.
Draco smiled, "We would love to have you. We're going to ask Hermione to help too. She is very smart and will have good ideas."
Lucifer suddenly sat up and said, "We should make dinner. Harry, is it my turn?"
"No", said Harry, "It's mine and I have the chickens ready to go. I am making refrigerator rolls, and herb roasted chicken with potatoes."
Everyone followed Harry to the elevator, even the little ones. They all leaned on Lucifer now and smiled at Harry. Food was very important, and he knew they had been starved for quite some time.
They arrived at the floor where the Magic Meals Restaurant was situated. The restaurant was only open on Saturdays and Sundays, so Harry frequently used the larger oven configuration to cook the chickens to his rapidly increasing family. He had stuffed each chicken with onions, lemons and garlic, and rubbed the skins with a mixture of fresh chopped herbs. Then he had set the chickens in roasting pans on layers of lightly oiled thinly sliced potatoes and had them in stasis till he was ready to cook.
Everyone watched in interest as Harry took out12 chickens and popped them in the ovens with magic. Then he got out salad mixings and made a huge bowl of fresh salads with other bowls filled with different toppings so everyone could have a special salad.
They watched Harry fix rolls and set them to rise on top of the warm ovens.
Rose sniffed the air appreciatively, "Yum," she said.
Harry grinned at her.
"Very well done, Son. Did you make more chickens than we need?" asked Lucifer.
"Patrick, Mrs. Edwards, Dr. Linda, Uncle Dan, Cousin Narcissa, Cousin Draco, Neville, Maze, Amenadiel, KynKyn, you, me, mom and Daffodil, Rose, Octy and Lee. Left over's make lovely chicken salads."
Lucifer smiled at him. "Come let us go back to our place and I will show you your new bedroom." he said to the little ones. They all raced to the elevator and laughed all the way back into the penthouse. There Lucifer showed the children a bedroom that magically appeared next to his and Mum's.
"Dad, this is great!" Harry exclaimed. The bedroom was for all four of the little ones who were too young to separate by sex. It had four beds, two that looked perfect for boys, and two that looked perfect for girls. The boy's beds had Roman generals and swimming octopi on one bed's headboard, Hercules and star constellations on the other. The girl's beds had one the colors of roses and the other the colors of daffodils, with pictures of the flowers carved into the headboards. There was a bathroom sized to people their sizes, and everything in the room was bright and happy looking.
Trixie came up and threw her arms around Harry. "Oh Harry," she whispered, "Is this what you wanted for them?"
Harry looked at her and kissed her forehead, "It's even better," he said.
Dinner that night was yummy but while Harry always enjoyed the precious gift of good food, he found himself caught up in watching the little ones as they ate and smiled and looked around at everyone. They had been shy at first, but were seated between Mum and Dad and apparently felt protected. Dan introduced himself as a non-magical auror, and Patrick and his group tonight explained they were guards who protected everyone. Mrs. Edwards told them she was looking to adopt grandchildren and that she loved baking cookies. Dr. Linda smiled at the children warmly and explained her job was helping people heal inside their brains when they were hurt bad. Unfortunately for any plans for leftovers, the chickens were demolished, as well as the potatoes which had cooked in Chicken drippings and herbs and were tender as could be.
Chloe helped the children to pick out what they wanted in their salads, and was happy to see they were able to finish everything on their plates. Apparently KynKyn's feathers had healed their tummies enough to eat what they needed instead of only being able to eat little bits.
Aradia had eaten one whole chicken (deboned by magic) on her own, and Goldie had sat on Lucifer's head watching the newest members of her flock with delighted interest.
Finally, Harry brought in a huge platter of cookies and whisked away the rather clean looking dinner plates to be washed. Everyone ate cookies, while the grownups had coffee. Harry gave his little ones milk with the cookies.
He looked over at Neville who was smiling and eating cookies, and asking Uncle Dan about protecting people without magic. He seemed to really like Uncle Dan and Harry was glad.
Harry felt very proud of his Dad and hoped he wouldn't get too exhausted from all the extra work. Dad didn't look exhausted. He still looked like James Bond, as Trixie had explained to him from when he rescued Harry from the Evil Gandalf man. Even though he had played with the children, he still looked wonderful and not a hair was out of place.
Mum and Narcissa put away the magically washed dishes while Amenadiel and Dan cleaned the table.
Everyone was trying to take turns on cleanup, but no one wanted Harry or Lucifer to stop cooking because the food was just too good.
Lucifer talked to the little darlings after Dinner while Harry was introducing Neville to Trixie and then asking if she wanted to be part of their business team too. Trixie immediately began planning using numbers to determine the best ways to make the magical phones worked. She then called Hermione on her phone and asked her about being a business partner and selling magical phones.
Hermione said they should look at all the types of phones available and then decide their good qualities and bad qualities and pick several phones that would work best for the magical world.
So while they were setting up plans for this, Lucifer was asking the darlings if they wanted to sleep in their new bedroom or with him and Chloe, where the bed was huge and they would be just as safe and no one would hurt them.
They stared at him a long time and then Daffodil said, "I really like my bed but I want to sleep with you Daddy, and with Mommy."
"Excellent," said Lucifer.
Then next thing he knew he had 4 little bodies hugging him and demanding snuggles. "Remember, I have to tuck in Harry and Neville and Trixie too." he said as he magically changed himself into pj bottoms and then changed his new littles into adorable magical pajama sets with dancing unicorns and griffins.
He tucked them all into bed, then went out and checked. Chloe was taking a shower, and he could hear Neville and Harry giggling in Harry's room.
He went in and kissed his son and looked at him and tucked him in and then did the same with Neville, who waited for him to leave before bursting into tears. "Your Dad is so nice," he whispered choppily to Harry and both of them fell asleep side by side.
He went to tuck in Trixie, and looked at her bedroom. "Would you like magical unicorns on your bed?" he asked. She sat up and kissed him. "Sure," she agreed, "Magic is cool."
She stared up at him. "Can I sleep with you and the littles?"
"Of course," he said, "I'm absolutely addicted to Beatrice snuggles, and I didn't get my daily dosage at all today."
Trixie held up her arms and was carried to the master bedroom where Chloe had already tucked in the littles and was just going to get to Trixie, Harry and Neville.
She said nothing, but smiled as though she was the happiest woman in the universe, and kissed her daughter on the nose.
"I will be right back," she said.
She went in to Harry's room and found them both asleep with tears shining on Neville's cheeks. She touched her hand to his cheek and his eyes opened.
"Are you Okay?" she asked.
"Lucifer tucked me in. No one ever tucked me in before. Not even the elves."
"Well get ready," said Chloe, "because I'm here to tuck you in too," and she gave the trembling boy multiple kisses, and tucked him under the covers, then checked Harry, who appeared to be out, and kissed and tucked him too.
"If you have bad dreams or can't sleep or need attention, come in and wake me up." she commanded, blowing him a kiss and Neville fell asleep and wondered if his Mom would have said that too.
Chloe went to the bedroom and found Trixie and her four newest munchkins all cuddling Lucifer fiercely. She leaned over and kissed all of them and then got into bed.
Soon the mass distribution of small bodies made it to her side of the bed and she found herself snuggling children.
Then Lucifer gave a tiny sad overdramatic whimper and they all went back to his side.
Chloe giggled. She couldn't help herself. Lucifer was such a drama queen. Just one of the many reasons why she loved him so much. He was such a wonderful Daddy and husband. She rolled over, snuggled little ones and rejoiced because she already knew them by touch, and then kissed Lucifer.
xxxxx
In the middle of the night, Daffodil had a bad dream. She didn't make a noise, because they had been tortured if they made noises. She felt nice smelling soft arms wrap around her and was kissed with butterfly kisses, a gentle voice said softly, "You are safe little one," and Daffodil remembered she was loved now. She slept again and dreamed of Lucifer holding her, angel feathers that glowed, KynKyn's smile and her new Mommy.
Xxx
The next day, after the usual family breakfast, Chloe and Lucifer took the newest members of the family to buy clothing and toys. They purchased a lot in the Magical District near the Farmer's Market that Harry and Lucifer enjoyed, and also got purchased several things there. Then Chloe made an appointment with her HR Department after Lucifer talked to lawyers. She went to HR and her lieutenant and explained that she wanted to reduce her hours, or if the Department decided that they didn't want her to work, she would offer her services as a consultant with Lucifer. To her surprise, her Lieutenant and the HR Manager wanted to know why and were upset, until she told them about the little ones. "I love what I do," she said, "But these children were abused like Harry was and Lucifer and I have the resources to give them the care they need. We already have a specialist who deals with abused children on retainer."
This apparently changed everything. She was given everything she wanted, included the ability to turn down assignments. It was a plum job. And her lesser hours were offset by a raise of all things, apparently they wanted to keep her. She and Lucifer had an incredible success rate and had become respected with Management.
She felt glad, but also frustrated at all the times she had gone without as a cop, and now that she had money and resources, they were giving her a raise.
She went home to find Lucifer playing Hide and Seek. He had found everyone but Octy and couldn't figure out why. Chloe felt fear rip through her. She started calling for Octy rather desperately, until she felt tiny hands touch her leg. She stopped. No one was there. She wasn't a detective for nothing, she gently reached out and ended up holding an invisible child in her arms. "Lucifer," she called mentally.
He must have popped to her, because he was right there. She wiggled her eyebrows at him and hefted her arms so he could see she was holding something. He looked at her with wonder and then touched the air above her arms and found their Octy.
"Can you turn back?" he said with a huge smile of relief.
Octy's voice was frightened, "I don't know how." He squeaked.
Lucifer kissed an invisible child on the head and said, "This is magic. You are magical. Why didn't your family notice?"
Octy sobbed, "They never noticed, so I'm invisible."
"Not to me," said Lucifer. He looked into Chloe's eyes. Not only had their little one been rejected for not having magic, but his family had not cared about him. He wondered how many magical children were treated this way.
"If you decide to stay invisible," said Lucifer, "You can, but know this. I love you and I want to see you. I miss seeing your look at me. I miss seeing you eat good food and play. And I can't play tickle monster if I can't see you."
Octy suddenly appeared in Chloe's arms, "I like tickle monster." He said. "I love you too." This was said in a whisper.
Chloe hugged him close and whispered loving words into his little ears and soon Octy fell asleep.
Meanwhile, Harry, Draco, Trixie and Neville were doing an analysis of cell phones and the different things you could do with them and whether those things could be used by aurors well or not. They had a huge white board set up, and Neville was standing on a ladder writing up comparisons between different types of cell phones. Draco was writing up things that Chloe had told him were useful for policework and realized that police in the non-magical world had a lot of neat things that should be used by aurors.
Harry was watching Trixie do calculations on her cell phone and explaining better ways to make the phones invisible to regular GPS and how to make their own magical GPS that could track both magical and non-magical signals.