Chapter Thirty-Six: Gabriel Dominic Lupin-Potter
Victoire and Teddy's house was near the ocean. It was made of grey stones of all different sizes, with the front door facing the water below. A winding stone path ran down the side of a hill and down onto the stone that lined the water. Though there was very little sand, the rock was pocked with holes that had filled with a fascinating array of aquatic life. When the tide went out, the holes became tide pools that teemed with movement and color. I ordered twenty books on the ocean life around their home, waiting for the day that I would have the chance to walk my godchild along the water and teach them about everything that we saw there.
The water was, of course, perpetually a cause of fear, but I found that I was able to deal with it so long as I did not get too close to the drop offs into deeper waters. Tide pools posed about as much a threat as a bath (which was a bit, but nothing unbearable). Walking along the shallows was also not overly scary, for I knew that it would be little more than a matter of very brief unpleasant experience if I did happen to slip.
Lily, Albus, James, and I scoured the water's edge for shells, which we turned into mobiles for the baby's room. The house was perpetually a bit on the cold side, which meant that Victoire was knitting constantly. Teddy and Levi got Grandpa's help in building the crib, wanting to make it out of driftwood. Dad showed up the day that Grandpa was set to start, wand and a hammer in hand and an eager look on his face. All of the curtains in the house were white lace, so that the sunshine still poured into the room on the rare day when the sky wasn't grey, and they left the windows cracked most of the time to allow the sound of the waves to fill the home.
Despite it being the middle of summer, we had the fireplaces lit constantly. In the evenings, the boys would pile massive pieces of driftwood up and light a bonfire, the salt making the flames flicker in an impressive array of colors that I attempted to replicate in my palms when I was alone or with just Lily.
Though I had been desperately eager to spend some time at my home over the summer, we wound up spending most of the first month at the Lupin-Potter home instead, helping them get ready for the baby. I found that I didn't mind.
Victoire, Lily, Coleen, and I made our trip into muggle London on a sunny day in early June. She wanted white linens and a stuffed wolf. We convinced her to purchase the bubblegum pink wolf toy that Lily and I found buried under a pile of stuffed elephants. The significance of the color had to be explained to Coleen, who was bewildered when Vic promptly burst into tears when presented with the toy.
We all disguised our appearances a bit, with Vic using a spell that hid her bump (we elected not to tell her how odd this made her changed gait look), though one of Vic's coworkers was pregnant as well and was willing to be our cover story if anyone spotted us out buying baby supplies. Victoire's baby shower was in a few days, so we tried to steer her away from buying clothes that she wasn't completely in love with, but she still wound up sending home bags stuffed full of baby clothes multiple times throughout the day after making a large purchase.
I distracted Victoire several times while the other two girls bought gifts for her from both themselves and our younger two brothers, as they hadn't gone anywhere but the Lupin-Potter home, the Burrow, and our home since we came back for the summer. While we were out, Grandma was getting things ready for Vic's cake. It was, to James and my horror, flavored like fake strawberry. Victoire had craved everything of the dreaded flavor since her second month of pregnancy, so we dutifully determined that we would simply avoid the cake, leaving more for the mother-to-be.
During the baby shower, Levi and I would be revealing the name of the baby. I was a bit nervous, though I knew that I could perform the spell that would make the fireworks go off correctly while he lit the bonfire. Fire was, after all, my forte. Still, I worried that something would go wrong and I would ruin the day.
I had knitted the baby a blanket, which was patterned to look like a tide pool. It had been incredibly difficult to create, but I had managed alright. I had grown in my talents at knitting since I first picked up the hobby, and I thought that Grandma might even be impressed by the blanket that I had created. In addition to that, I had ordered a bunch of children's books-both muggle and magical-and a set of magical building blocks that were color and size changing, as well as self-sticking. Most of my gifts would not be useful for a bit, but I knew that, with the sheer size of my family, most anything that an infant could need would be covered by someone at the shower.
When it finally came time to get some lunch, Coleen and Lily offered to grab food while Vic and I found a table.
"How are you feeling?" I asked as we sat down, deciding to give Italian a go, though I had only ever spoke it in my bed in the evenings, while reading her letters aloud, and therefore had no idea how accurate my pronunciation was.
Vic's feet had clearly been bothering her for a few hours at this point, but she was determined to make it a full day. When Lily had expressed concerns for the well-being of our cousin's feet at one point, Victoire had merely laughed and said she had endured far worse.
"I'm fine. This has been a lot of fun," She said with a bright smile, grabbing my hands across the table. I was relieved when she spoke slowly, and gave me a moment to translate the words in my head before continuing. "I've been looking forward to this for ages. Teddy was sure that I was going to go into labor early before we got to do this."
I laughed alongside her at the words, giving her fingers a squeeze, and decided to switch to French so that we could talk more easily. "Did he think you were going to get so excited that your water broke?"
"No, he just figured that it would be just my luck that we wouldn't get to go because of that," She chuckled, sticking with Italian with a slightly challenging glint in her gaze. "I told him to hush. Levi said we'd be fine, and, you know you-"
"Never bet against Levi," We finished in sync, though we spoke in two different languages, which made my head hurt a bit.
"Are you nervous about giving birth?"
She shrugged. "I mean, I work in a hospital. I'd be silly to think that I know exactly what could and will happen going into this, but I've seen a lot. I like working in the delivery ward. I'm expecting it to be really awful right up until it's the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me. Honestly, I'm just excited to meet our baby."
I didn't ask if she wanted me to tell her the gender in secret, though Levi had been teasing the couple by asking them if they wanted him to do just that all week. She and Teddy were excited to learn the gender alongside everyone else when we announced the name, so I would respect their wishes.
"You'll be such a great godmother," She gushed, finally switching to French, to my great relief. "I really can't get over how lucky Ted and I got. Between you and Levi, our kid is just going to turn out great. Plus, it'll be great practice for when you have your own kids!"
"If," I corrected, wondering if I'd make it far enough in life to even have to make that decision. "Can I ask you about your sister?"
She pulled a face. "I don't know. I've invited her repeatedly to come by before, during, or after, but she's kind of flighty about it. I understand, of course. After she left, I realized that I was really unfair towards her. I regret it, but I can't take it back. All I can do is hope that she gives me a second chance and not hold it against her if she can't do that. You know?"
I nodded, relieved when Lily and Coleen saved me from having to respond when they appeared with our drinks. We chatted about little things, mainly relationships, while we ate. Lily announced that she had asked Alice to go with her to the first Hogsmeade trip of the year after we returned, which made us all squeal excitedly as Victoire pelted her for details about their relationship. They were not officially dating, but they had established that they would like to be and were going to see how things played out over the summer before making a decision about it.
Coleen gushed about how happy she was with James for nearly half an hour. We were all amused to learn that she beat James in chess about half the time that they played, as James was almost always the victor in our family, unless he played Uncle Ron. She also surprised all of us when she admitted that they spent a lot of their time together writing short stories, sometimes creating scenarios for pictures that she had taken. It was incredibly endearing. I had never realized that James enjoyed writing, but it didn't shock me when I gave it a bit more thought. Once Teddy and Levi had gone to school, he was always the one who would tell Lily and Al stories when they got bored during the day.
After Lily and Coleen talked at length about their romantic interests, they asked me about Jay. I told them about going to his grandparents' house over Christmas break, correctly guessing that the story would be enough to get me off of the hook. Though I loved all three girls, I had never been overly comfortable talking at great length about my relationship with Jay. It was ours, plain and simple.
The rest of the day was nice, with Lily and Vic bonding over their interest in healing while Coleen and I chatted about her upcoming OWLs. My results would be in any day, so she seemed stunned to learn that I wasn't really nervous at all. She nearly burst into tears when I handed her a copy of all of my notes, doing so only because I knew that she would use them only as a starting place for her own, rather than a way to get out of the work herself. After she finished fanning her face with the notebook, she promised to pass the notes, along with everything that she added over the year, along to Lily next summer. We both grinned when Lily's head popped up, alarm shining in her gaze when she realized that her own OWL year was rapidly approaching.
When we returned home, the boys teased Vic lightly about how much she had purchased, joking about needing to add another room after the baby shower just so that there would be places to put everything.
We had another bonfire that night, lounging around the roaring flames while Teddy and Vic danced in tiny circles, their eyes only for each other. Coleen came home with us and spent the night, tugging me into Lily's room with her so that we could stay up late talking about nothing at all.
She attended the baby shower the next day, getting ready with us and tucking little fluttering clips into our hair, mixing them up so that we had a few butterflies, dragonflies, and bumblebees each. Once we got to the party, she took picture after skillful picture without having to be asked, grinning when James tugged the camera from her hand a few times to snap pictures of her. He took one of Lily, Coleen, and me that was impressively nice, beaming when I made enough copies of the photo that he could have one as well. I was then handed the camera, which caused Lily to begin giggling hysterically and refusing to tell anyone why as I lifted the expensive device carefully, making sure to hold my hand steady as I took a picture of Col and James.
James accepted the shot and camera with a cheery thanks, and then promptly froze, his face doing something odd as Lily doubled over and laughed so hard that it sounded like it had to have hurt her throat.
"What?" I asked, bewildered. "Did I get my finger in it or something?"
Coleen leaned over to look, then let out a very soft, "Oh."
Lily fell to the ground, tears streaming down her face as she continued to cackle.
"P," James said, expression incredulous as he met my gaze, "How the fuck did you manage to take a picture this bad with that camera?"
Lily sat up, taking in the look on our faces before screaming, her laughter growing impossibly harder as Coleen finally got over her shock and promptly tackled her back to the ground, hands poking at my sister's sides as she teasingly said something about not warning her.
"What?" I asked, stunned, as I stepped forward, leaning closer to James so that I could look. "No, there's nothing wrong with it! It's artsy!"
"Artsy? Phoenix, it's blurry. Magical photos shouldn't even be able to be blurry-they move! Not to mention, you cut my head off. Most of this picture is of the grass. Look, you even got your own feet in it at the end."
"No," I whined, drawing out the 'o' and resisting the urge to stomp my foot like a child. "Why does everyone knock my pictures? It's cute!"
James turned to look at me for a moment, then snorted, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as I tried to stomp away and tugging me into his side. "You're right," He said, chuckling, "It's gorgeous. You're a very skilled photographer, and I will cherish this forever."
I folded my arms, pouting as Coleen took the camera back and snapped a quick picture of my twin and I. Lily then snagged the device, shooing me out of the shot with a giggle before taking a few pictures of the couple.
She was very smug about the fact that no one made fun of her pictures, but I, unlike my sister, was not banned from helping to pick the music for the day, so I found it quite easy to turn up the radio a bit and tune her out.
As I had predicted, Teddy and Vic were given absolutely everything that a newborn could possibly need. My blanket was declared incredible by my grandmother, which made me blush a brilliant shade of red even as I beamed with pride over the praise. Jay was in Scotland and therefore unable to make it, but he sent a really beautiful tapestry of the night sky, which would change in tandem with the sky outside, including the lunar phases. Though they were going to write to him, both Vic and Ted asked me to pass along their thanks verbally several times as well.
When it came time for the name reveal, Levi and I made everyone stand back while we lit the flames. The fireworks that we had planned had to be specially adapted by us, as Uncle George wasn't allowed to know any more than anyone else. Still, we were both good at charms and we were sending them out over the water, so I wasn't as worried as I could have been.
The flames roared to life in full color even as I set off the fireworks. There were delighted screams as the name Gabriel Dominic flashed across the sky in vivid lights. Aunt Fleur positively dissolved into sobs at the name, though she made up for it by kissing the couple on the cheek before declaring that she was going inside to write it across the cake before it was brought out, Grandma on her heels with an approving nod.
There was only one small flash of sadness in Vic's eyes as she met mine, which I knew was echoed on my own face.
The party would have been more fun if Dom had made it.
In a shocking turn of events, the morning that our OWL results came in found James a mess of nerves while I sat calmly on the counter and waited until he was ready to open our letters together. Despite the gesture, we both stopped to look at his scores before touching mine.
He got one 'A', five 'E's, and four 'O's. I joined him in delightedly dancing around the kitchen while our family cheered for his scores. My brother had worked extremely hard over the last few months for those grades, taking to arranging mini lessons, practice sessions, and study groups with such a fervor that it surprised even my twin.
"Yours now, P," He said with a genuine smile of excitement for me.
"Jamie," I said, grinning when he tipped his head to the side questioningly in a passable impression of Snuffles (not that I would tell him that). "I'm really proud of you."
I picked up the letter before he could do more than flush, his pleased grin telling me how much my words meant to him, and then froze when I registered what I was reading.
James, clearly unable to wait to see how I did, ducked around behind me to stare over my shoulder. There was a moment of shocked silence before he was spinning me around the kitchen, hollering so joyously that the words were unintelligible for a long minute.
"What?" Lily finally screamed.
"One 'E' and nine fucking 'O's when you add in Charms!" James yelled, crashing into a chair with dizziness and sending us both plummeting to the floor below. He broke my fall, grinning proudly when I gave him a look of exasperated fondness.
"I've always loved you, Jamie, but I really love the person that you've grown into," I said simply, the words meant only for my twin.
He beamed like I had just given him a very precious gift as I was hauled to my feet and passed around for hugs. Once my family had congratulated me, I flooed Freddy and Roxy. Rox had achieved two 'A's, six 'E's, and two 'O's. I heaped praise on her until she was visibly blushing before turning my gaze on Freddy expectantly.
"Nine 'O's and an 'E'," He said, his smile widening when his dad let out a whoop of pride. "How are your ten 'O's feeling?"
I laughed, appreciating his comment for what it was: an opening for me to admit that I had gotten ten 'O's, if I had done so, without feeling like I was bragging.
"Nine, plus an 'E'. We're still toe-to-toe for grades, cousin mine," I said with a fond smile, chuckling as Roxy let out an ear-piercing scream before launching herself at me for a hug.
After I left the twins, I flooed to the Wood house. Alicia gave me a hug so tight that it popped my spine before leading me into the kitchen and calling Jay down from his room. While we waited, I hopped up into my usual spot on the counter, swinging my feet as she went back to measuring ingredients and humming cheerfully.
"Hey, mum, what's up-" Jay broke off abruptly as he spotted me, grinning broadly as he crossed the room to give me a kiss on the cheek. "Hello, you. What a nice surprise," He said happily when he pulled back.
I gave Oliver a cheery wave as he entered the kitchen. After he waved back, I turned my attention onto my boyfriend, returning his smile easily. It had been a few weeks since I had seen him, as they had only gotten back from Scotland the night before. Resting my hands lightly on Jay's shoulders, I tried to keep the pride from turning the corners of my smile up further, but I could tell that he caught it by the way that his eyes gleamed eagerly.
"I got nine 'O's," I whispered, grinning as Jay let out a shout of pure joy and picked me up off of the counter, spinning me around repeatedly before kissing me chastely and stepping back to let his parents congratulate me.
"I'm so proud of you, Marigold," Jay told me after his parents left the kitchen to floo his grandparents with the news. He lifted me back onto the counter before cupping my face in between his hands, both dimples on display as he gave me a proud grin. "You're so brilliant. Published, nine 'O's, and the best chaser I've ever seen."
I laughed, aware that my cheeks were probably the same color as my hair. "Now, that last bit is not only shameless flattery, but also very untrue, considering you own a mirror."
He blushed as I turned the compliment back on him, but I covered his mouth lightly before he could respond.
"During your first year at Hogwarts, you said something about me being your favorite chaser, and I made a quip about my mum being my favorite chaser. After that, I said that we would see how I felt about the matter after you played in your match. I won't ask if you remember, because I know that you do. Hands down, you're my favorite chaser. I just wanted you to know. It's probably a good thing that we're dating, since you're undoubtedly saving me from spending the rest of my life as a rabid fangirl," I said, lowering my hand as I spoke so that I could see the brilliant grin on his face.
He chuckled at my joke, his entire head red. "Today is meant to be about you, silly little Marigold. Now you're just trying to make me flustered."
I laughed as he ran a hand through the air between us. "Were that my goal, it would appear that I was successful. I mean it though, Jay-bird."
"I know you do," He said, pressing another kiss against my lips. "Thank you, Marigold. I can't tell you how much that means to me. For the record, though, you really are my favorite chaser. You play like Quidditch is the thing that keeps you going. I won't say that it's my favorite thing about you, since there's a lot of them, but it's one of them, for sure."
I grinned my thanks at him as his parents re-entered the room.
Though I was pleased with my results, there was a small part of me that was deeply displeased with myself. One 'E' wasn't a big deal, but I had received the score in History of Magic, a class that I had never struggled with. I knew, though it was too late for the issue to matter past my own disappointment, that it came down to everything that I had had on my plate, but it didn't mean that I wasn't upset at not having spent just a bit more time studying for it.
We had dinner at the Burrow that night, with even our extended family showing up to celebrate. Lucy only looked a tiny bit envious as her eight 'A's, one 'E', and one 'O' were announced amidst the rest of our grades. Our praise was genuine as the rest of us congratulated her, and I could tell that she meant it when she turned the praise back on us.
"You're doing it again," Freddy mumbled as he came to stand beside me, watching my face as I watched Jay get pulled into a hug by Grandma as he tried to make his way over to the table for juice.
"Doing what?" I asked, the words a touch absent as Teddy came up to stand beside Jay, saying something with widely waving hands as my boyfriend beamed back at him.
"Looking like you think that this is all you get," He said, the words bitter. "You're going to get years of these gatherings, Phoenix. Stop standing in the corner of them and looking like you're trying to soak up every last second of it; as though you think it's practically already over. You can't attend your own funeral, so stop making your life into some drawn out, fucked up version of the event."
I knew without looking at him that his eyes were burning golden as I leaned my head against his chest, the stiff tension not bleeding out of him at the gesture.
"If I live for another ninety years, Freddy, I'll still stand like this at every gathering. I'm coming to grips with my own mortality, regardless of how long I think I have left. It's not me mourning my life before it's over, it's me enjoying it while I'm still living it. I just love all of you so much. I'm happy to be here."
He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, relaxing into a slightly defeated slouch as he did so. "I just…I can't fathom a world without you. I can't come to grips with your mortality. You have to live forever, in my mind. I don't like seeing on your face that you've accepted that you won't, because it's really, really obvious, Nix."
I tipped my head back, meeting his still slightly yellow gaze. "We'll all die at some point, Freddy, but I'll admit that the world is unthinkable without you in it as well. That being said, we're celebrating, so I'll stop hovering if you cheer up. Deal?"
He nodded, lightly steering me towards Jay, who was still talking to my brother. We rejoined the celebration easily, with no one but Jay seeming to notice the lingering tension between us as we did so.
Almost as soon as his one-of-a-kind, ethically-sourced dragonhide boots touched the hearth, Ben was passing fresh biscuits and a bouquet to mum, thanking her and dad for letting him stay with such feeling that I caught them exchanging surprised glances when his back was turned. He easily accepted Lily's hug, tucking a sunflower behind her ear as she pulled away, and did an awkward back-slapping hug routine with James before glancing about for my younger brother.
"Scorp's," Five voices coursed in rather eerie sync, making everyone laugh.
Question answered, Ben turned to me, the wide smile upon his face making me wish that I had thought to invite him over sooner.
I grinned when Ben scooped me up, spinning me around the room before setting me back on my feet with a kiss to the top of my head.
"No flower for me?" I joked, grinning when he flushed. "Teasing, Ben. Come on, I'll show you your room."
Once we had set his things down, Ben presented me with a book about obscure uses of runes throughout history, laughing when I told him that he didn't have to get me anything.
"My father said that it's always polite to bring your hostess gifts," The Slytherin said, flinging himself happily onto his bed and bouncing lightly for a moment.
"Well, your father has excellent manners," I praised, turning the book over once more before looking at my friend. "I like your haircut."
"Why thank you, bug! So, what would you like to do today?"
Though he was content to spend the first few days of his stay lounging around the house and helping mum in the kitchen, Ben surprised me on the third day of his visit by begging me to go to Paris with him. He already had the portkey sorted, so mum simply waved us off, as he was an adult and I was very nearly one.
As soon as we landed in the French Ministry, thankfully making it out of our own quickly and uneventfully, I grabbed him by the hand and tugged him to my favorite cafe up the street. It was almost uncomfortably warm, but there was enough of a breeze that we opted to sit outside, though he cast a quick cooling charm over both of us when no one seemed to be looking.
"Spill," I demanded after I ordered tea and his favored espresso in rapid-fire French that had him giving me an impressed look. Though I loved Paris and I knew that Ben did too, there was a glint in his eyes that told me that we were here to do something specific, and perhaps a bit secretive, today.
"You're helping me find a ring so that I can propose to Don a few days after graduation," Ben said very simply.
We drew stares as I screamed in delight, laughing myself around the table to give him an ecstatic hug. Fortunately, he must have anticipated such a reaction, for I had the thought a split second after I flung myself at the boy that we might flip his chair over, but it merely wobbled a bit ominously underneath us as I squeezed him tightly.
"Oh my gods," I gushed, kissing him on both cheeks before leaning back slightly to grin at him. It would be a miracle if my own cheeks were not obscenely flushed with delight and the heat. "I'm so happy for you. Like, so happy for you. He's going to cry. I'm betting you forty galleons that he cries."
Ben laughed, his face light with the sound as his eyes sparkled with delight. "That's an easy forty galleons for you, but sure. Assuming he says yes, of course, will you be my best woman?"
He laughed harder when I burst into tears, the bastard.
We ate a decent breakfast, as we were in no hurry at all. Ben tried to object when I paid for the meal, but I insisted that it was the first of my many upcoming duties as his potential (definite) future best woman, if (when) Don said yes.
We spent hours looking, as Ben knew exactly what he wanted, but couldn't articulate it properly. Several shopkeepers and patrons alike assumed that he was shopping for me, with a few women trying to berate him for letting me see "my ring" before I put them firmly in their places. They were well-meaning, undoubtedly, but the day was incredibly important to Ben, so I told them off regardless.
Ben finally found what he was looking for in the form of a beautiful jade band, which had a small diamond set into it, a ring of gold surrounding the gemstone. The man behind the counter confirmed that he would be able to carve the words that Ben requested into the inside of the band and dust them with gold so that they stood out. The transaction was a bit awkward, as Ben wasn't completely fluent in French, so I had to act as a partial translator, which became twice as complicated when I realized that Ben was wanting me to relay Korean to the man for the inscription. Still, we made it work. Ben looked immensely relieved when I suggested that we wait around in the nearby market until the ring was done, so that he could make sure that it was perfect before we left the country.
I found a few additional outfits for my godchild, not bothering to hide the purchase from Ben, who undoubtedly had already known about Vic's pregnancy even before Vic and Teddy told him over breakfast a few days prior. We chatted about how excited I was to meet Gabriel for a while before turning our conversation to his plans to propose to Don. He got a dreamy sort of smile on his face as he talked about how he wanted to do it, stopping mid-sentence to laugh as I had to fan my face to stop from crying at the expression.
"Sorry, I'm just so happy for you," I laughed, the words a hair awkward as I tried to get ahold of myself. It was a tad embarrassing, as I was not normally a crier, but I was overwhelmingly happy that my friends were so happy and in love, and could only think about how desperately I wanted to still be around for all of the events that we were planning.
"That's all it is?" He asked, very lightly skimming rather than full-blown fishing. It was clearly done more out of habit than anything else, which kept me from panicking that he had somehow realized that I was afraid I wouldn't live long enough to see the proposal or stand in his wedding.
"No, actually, I'm pregnant," I said, my deadpan flat enough that he actually blinked at me for a minute before snorting and wrapping an arm around my shoulder.
"Come on, let's go see if the ring is ready," Ben said cheerfully once a (mostly) reasonable amount of time had gone by.
The ring was finished, much to his immense joy, and I could feel him nearly vibrating at my side as the shopkeeper set a simple ring box before us. I held my breath as he opened it, grinning when I saw the gorgeous band, the letters inscribed on the inside just visible to me as Ben scooped up the box for a closer look.
He declared it perfect at once, pumping the man's hand happily while I counted galleons out of the wallet that he had tossed onto the counter. The Slytherin was practically skipping as we left the shop, his good mood not at all dampened when he gave me another peek at the ring, which promptly had me dissolving back into tears that made the people around us coo fondly.
"Sorry," I laughed, not bothering to correct the people who clearly thought that I was being proposed to. "I just love you both so much. I'm so happy for you two."
His grin had to be hurting his face as he planted a kiss on my forehead. "We love you too, bug. Thank you. I've been wanting to do this for the better part of six months, but I wanted to do it with you."
I wrapped my arms around his waist, squeezing him tightly. "I'm so glad you did. Thank you for letting me be a part of this. It means more than I have the words to explain."
Ben wound up staying for five days, sleeping in the guest bedroom and waking up early each morning to help mum with breakfast. He was the most perfect houseguest, which made me a bit sad, knowing that a part of him was probably afraid of being thrown out at any given moment no matter who he was staying with. In the mornings he helped Lily with her beating; in the afternoons he played chess with James. At any point in between, I tugged him out the door to go hiking or pulled him up into my room to paint with me. We didn't say a single word to anyone else about what we had done in Paris, as he wanted to keep his upcoming proposal a secret from everyone else. Only his dad and uncle would know. I was touched, though I managed to avoid crying again when he causally mentioned his limited support team with a sparkle in his eye that suggested he was anticipating the news making me shed a tear.
I found that I was immensely sad to see him leave, making him promise to come back at some point soon, which made him grin happily at me as he disappeared into a swirl of green flames.
"He is so sweet," Mum commented fondly. "You tell him that he's welcome back any time that he wants."
I laughed as I moved to leave the kitchen. "Tell him yourself-it'll absolutely make his day."
The responding crinkle of parchment told me that she was gathering the supplies to do exactly that.
Victoire went into labor, naturally, on the rare day when I was the only person in the house with her. Not even Levi had seen it coming, as she wasn't due for another week and hadn't even moved from her bed all morning.
Still, I thought that we handled it very well. Two wandless summoning charms had her go-bag sailing into one hand and the emergency portkey into the other. She sent off a patronus before we left, the gorgeous swan drifting off to inform my brother about his child's rapidly approaching arrival as we said the activation code for the portkey.
She had been granted a portkey that took her directly into the room that had, fortunately, been set aside for her earlier that morning. We had had a separate one that we would have had to use had she gone into labor too early, but it was rendered unnecessary.
I remained at her side while healers bustled around the room, asking my very calm cousin question after question while I wondered where my brother was.
He showed up in the nick of time, as Gabriel apparently decided that he was coming into the world as quickly as possible.
I slipped into the hallway to give the couple a bit of privacy, grinning as I leaned against Levi's side. It had been agreed upon several weeks ago that too many members of our family showing up to the hospital would arouse suspicion, so the only other people that were coming were mum, dad, Aunt Fleur, and Uncle Bill. They would use a back entrance to avoid being seen by too many people once they arrived.
With as short as Vic's labor wound up being, no one else made it to the hospital before Gabriel entered the world, so Levi and I were soon ushered into the room to meet our godson.
I insisted that Levi hold him first while I tried to calm my shaking hands, carefully working to tuck the golden magic that was trying to swirl around my fingers just below my skin. Though I was so full of emotion that it was overwhelming, I was immensely pleased when I was able to hide the magic from view while still leaving my hands warm. Jay would be proud when he heard that I had managed such a feat.
Magic squared away, I crossed the room to crawl into the bed with my cousin, who tugged me into a hug with an exhausted, overjoyed smile. Teddy and Levi stood beside the bed, Ted's hand on Levi's shoulder as my eldest brother shamelessly sobbed over the newborn that he was carefully cradling in his arms.
"How are you?" I whispered in French to Victoire, brushing some of her hair from her sweaty forehead and feeling my own smile widen as she beamed at me in response.
"I have never been better; my happiness today has only been matched by that on my wedding day," She responded, the words so earnest that I could do nothing but hug her once again.
When it was my turn to hold Gabriel, I accepted the curiously warm bundle of blankets from my brother with no small amount of anxious anticipation and immediately felt my world condense.
Gabriel Dominic Lupin-Potter was the most perfect human being that I had ever seen. His eyes were a clear blue that shifted easily to match my own shade of green before continuing to transition into gold. I lifted my finger to trace one of his perfect, chubby cheeks, stifling a gasp when he lifted his hand and curled tiny his fingers around mine. Absently, I thought that I could probably find a way to part the sea or stop time if the precious, petite human being that I held in my arms asked me to. I didn't even realize that I was crying until a tear splashed down onto the blanket that was wrapped around him, making me laugh as I hastily wiped my face dry.
"I love you," I whispered to my godson before raising my voice slightly to address the room at large, voice trembling slightly with the weight of my emotions. "He's so perfect. Thank you so much for letting me be such a big part of his life."
Teddy took a seat on the edge of Victoire's bed as I handed her back their son with slight reluctance, pressing a kiss to the side of my cousin's head and giving her as tight a hug as I could manage without crushing Gabriel before stepping back slightly to give the little family some space. One lock of Vic's silvery-blond hair brushed Gabriel's cheek as she bent her head to kiss him, pulling away with the most beautiful smile on her face as she leaned back against my brother, turning her head slightly to whisper something in Ted's ear that made his own brilliant grin grow impossibly wider. I took the chair on the side of the bed that Vic sat on, with Levi settling his forearms on the back of my seat so that we could look at our godson. Only one other healer remained in the room, alternating between taking pictures and keeping an eye on Vic and Gabriel.
We all whispered together for a while, words adoring and joyful as we promised a life of love and happiness for the most beloved person in the room. Our parents found us seated like that, with both mum and Aunt Fleur instantly dissolving into full-blown sobs as they took turns meeting their grandson. Dad and Uncle Bill were also crying softly as they held the boy, giving him almost identical expressions of adoration.
The healer was kind enough to distribute the pictures that she had taken so that we could introduce Gabriel to the rest of his family before he was able to come home from the hospital. My favorite was the one of me meeting him for the very first time, my eyes going wide as I saw his sweet little face peeking out of the blanket before a slow, adoring smile spread across my cheeks. The tears that I knew followed the smile were only just beginning to slip down my cheeks as the picture looped. I would treasure the picture for the rest of my life, I knew, as it made me recall the emotions that meeting Gabriel had brought about.
"Looking forward to that being you?" Levi asked as we leaned against the door and watched the other six fuss over Gabriel and Victoire.
"I'm not sure I want kids, actually," I admitted casually, knowing that the confession would remain between my eldest brother and I.
He gave me a look of surprise. "Really? I mean, hats off to you for knowing yourself well enough to not just assume that you do, but that reaction was not one that I'd expect from someone who isn't sure they want kids of their own."
I shrugged. "I love him with my entire heart. I'm just not sure about being a parent myself."
He grinned, tossing an arm around my shoulders. "That's cool. Fuck knows I'm not going to pressure you on what to do with your body."
Laughing lightly, I leaned against my eldest brother until it came time for us to travel back to the Burrow to show everyone pictures. One of Vic's friends helped us navigate the busy hospital so that we stayed out of sight, which led to what almost felt like a game as we ducked into storage closets and were ushered into previously locked staircases to escape without attracting attention. The rest of the family were waiting anxiously for our arrival, and we spent the rest of the day surrounded by tears and happy smiles as pictures were passed around and even the most minute details were shared.
Teddy (who refused to leave the hospital without his wife and child), Gabriel, and Victoire were released a few days later. We threw them a surprise party at the Burrow, though everyone was instructed by mum to wrap things up within the hour so that they could take the baby home and get settled before Vic grew too exhausted.
They were more happy to see our family and introduce their son than they were for the party, though the real surprise was the short-haired blonde sitting at the table when they walked into the kitchen, beaming at her sister through a sheen of tears. Victoire let out a sob, rushing across the room to fling her arms around her little sister before dragging Dom over to where Teddy stood holding Gabriel. Dominique agreed that Gabriel was the most perfect person ever to exist, looking like she had been gifted something incredibly precious when Vic offered to let her hold him.
Dominique, Lou, and I spent as much time together as we could, most frequently at Teddy and Victoire's house, but occasionally heading to the Burrow so that Dom could see Roxy as well. She regaled us with tales of her adventures, sharing sweet stories about Mick and so many pictures that I felt as though we had almost been along with her after looking through them.
Vic wanted me to help her with Gabriel regularly, which meant that Dom got to spend time alone with her brother and/or her parents. I knew that she appreciated these moments as well, though it was impossible to miss the slight look of hurt that flashed across Dom's face every time that her sister called for me and not her.
She wound up staying for a week before insisting that she needed to leave before she became too tempted to stay forever. Though she had originally planned on only travelling for a year, she and Mick were still having a good time exploring the world. Dominique, who apparently still preferred to err on the side of Irish goodbyes, waited until her portkey was glowing to admit that she was on her way out. Louis burst into tears at once, crossing the room in a whirlwind to give his sister a tight hug before storming straight outside with an audible sob. Dom looked visibly upset at the realization that she had not left herself enough time to go after her little brother, and I felt that she knew without me having to tell her that she had hurt him once again with how she chose to leave.
Though I was happy that she was enjoying her life so greatly, I felt a bit hollow as her portkey left, something acrid and a bit too close to dread-to a bad feeling-lingering in my mouth long after she was gone. Vic went after Louis as soon as Dom faded from view, with Ted and Levi moving into the kitchen to put on the kettle and start dinner.
I glanced down at the beautiful baby that I held in my lap, lovingly wrapped in the blanket that I had made him. Music played faintly from somewhere further in the house, Teddy and Levi's voices too soft to hear as they murmured together in the kitchen.
"I'll do anything that I have to do to keep you safe," I whispered to Gabriel, the words strong and sure. "Anything."
The first few weeks of Gabriel's life were lovely. Though I tried to be cautious of overcrowding the new parents, Victoire was calling me through the floo as often as she did her own mother. When she and Teddy both needed sleep, I would take Gabriel for long walks up and down the beach, telling him about everything that we saw in the water while Levi made sure that we stayed warm enough and didn't fall in. At night, we told him about constellations and let him watch the flickering bonfire with wide eyes that tried to replicate the array of colors that the flames turned.
Circe was similarly enamored with the baby, following me around when I held him and peering intently at his face when I set him down. Whenever she was near to him, she would purr so loudly that it was audible even to Levi's great height while he was standing.
My siblings, Lou, Aunt Fleur, Uncle Bill, and my parents were constantly in and out of the couple's house as well, bringing food and extra hands whenever they thought appropriate. Most of the rest of the family popped by only occasionally, not wanting to totally overcrowd the little family.
Mum drug us on a brief outing a few weeks after Gabriel was born, since apparently the Wizarding World was in a frenzy that we hadn't been seen out at all besides mum and dad going to and from work. Despite her attempts to calm the press down, it had the opposite effect, as every media outlet for weeks talked about having seen us in public for the first time all summer, speculating as to what could possibly be keeping us in hiding. After that, we were forced to venture out sparingly, though we did not go out in more than trios and pairs, not wanting to create a scene. Even Teddy and Vic had to go out a few times in order to make sure that no one suspected that they were new parents. It was ridiculous, infuriating-and the reality of our lives.
Jay came over to meet Gabriel for the first time three weeks after his birth. He held him happily for about twenty minutes, talking softly to him and grinning as he praised my brother and his wife on a beautiful baby.
When Teddy and Vic suggested that we take Gabriel on our daily outing to the beach, they smirked when Jay turned an incredulous look on me, mouthing the words, "Daily outing to the beach?"
I accepted my godson back from him, scowling at the laughing couple without any real heat as I blushingly admitted to my boyfriend that I had come to appreciate some proximity to the water over the summer. As I always did, I narrated our daily findings to the attentive baby, showing him the new shell that I would place along his windowsill once we returned to the house. I was aware that Jay stared at me the entire walk, as he nearly tripped and fell into a tide pool while doing so at one point, but I didn't address it until we were settled on a rock overlooking the waves.
"That had better not be your 'you're going to make such a good mum' face," I warned him, taking in the slightly starry-eyed expression that he was giving me.
Jay laughed, tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear. "It's not. This is my 'I love you more than anything else in the world' face," Jay responded, the words completely genuine. "It's my 'you're the most beautiful person that I've ever seen' face."
I snorted, trying to play off the furious blush spreading over my cheeks. Though I was well aware that I was not conventionally pretty, somehow I found that I believed Jay when he complimented my appearance. "I'm wearing Levi's old flannel, I haven't brushed my hair in like a week, and I've got under eye bags that could probably hold as much as my expanded satchel. Not to mention, the baby's mother looks like she just got off of a runway, which makes it embarrassingly evident that I only look like this because I'm lazy."
We both laughed at the joke before Jay leaned forward to cup my hair out of my face, eyes soft. He had grown a bit more tanned over the summer, his hair now so long that the strand that always fell over his forehead had to be continuously swept aside for fear of putting out his eye. I was relieved to note that he did not seem to have grown over the summer, as my boyfriend already towered over me. "You are physically beautiful, Marigold, but that's not really what I meant. If people's souls were tangible things, yours would be breathtaking. It is breathtaking. Gods, you're beautiful. I love you so much."
I smiled gently, tipping my forehead against his as best as I could without crushing Gabriel. "I love you so much, too. You're my favorite person in the whole world, though you might be sharing that spot."
Eyes sparkling mischievously, Jay glanced at the bundle in that was carefully balanced in my lap before shrugging. "Eh. I could take him."
I threw my head back as I laughed, Jay grinning delightedly at the reaction that his joke had pulled. We continued to tease each other as we made our way back inside, where Victoire called Jay over to see some of the pictures that had been taken in the last week. He went home with copies of several, including the one of me meeting Gabriel, one of the two of us curled up fast asleep in the spare bed, and one of me showing him something in a tide pool, laughing as he waved a tiny hand through the air as I spoke.
Victoire stopped calling me over quite as frequently after Gabriel turned a month old, so my visits transitioned from daily to every few days. This was, in part, due to some of hers and Teddy's friends coming into town, but was mostly because the little family was beginning to figure out being on their own. I was sad about it on some days, but I knew that I would be going a long time without seeing him once we went back to Hogwarts, so perhaps the small separation was good for us both. Still, I couldn't stop the brilliant grin that overtook my face each time I saw the beautiful baby.
One night, James came to sit beside me in our living room as I flicked through a book. He was wearing the chess socks that Coleen had given him for Christmas. She had been over earlier in the day and had gone with us to meet Gabriel. The baby had been enamored with the soft, sing-song way that Col spoke to him, and James had clearly felt the same way. When I glanced at my brother as he collapsed onto the seat beside me, I realized that he had one of Col's bumblebee clips pinning a few curls back from his face. I was struck then with how much my brother, who I had once pranked temporarily bald because I knew it was what would affect him the most, had changed in the past few years.
"Gabriel's really, really great, isn't he?" My twin asked, his voice dreamy.
I laughed, letting my head rest against my brother's shoulder. "Don't tell me that you've got baby fever, Jamie."
James chuckled as well. "No. I mean, I want like, eight kids, but I'm not gunning for it or anything."
I grinned as he so casually shared something that never would have crossed my mind to think about him a few years ago. He returned the smile easily, not bothering to shove me off of him playfully the way that he normally would. Pleased, I settled more comfortably against his side, opening my book back up only so that he didn't feel awkward by the conversation that I planned on continuing for as long as he would cooperate.
"What did you say you wanted to do in your career meeting?" I asked, though I would be astonished if he said anything but his standard response of "an Auror".
I was astonished.
"I think I want to write a book. I'm not really sure what about, but I want to do it. In the meantime, I'm not really sure. Maybe I'll just get a job or something," He said with a casual shrug.
Trying to keep my surprise from seeping into my voice, I let my pride leak through instead. "That's really wonderful, Jamie. Your books will be amazing. I can't wait to read them."
I could hear the grin in his voice as he responded. "I hope you get the chance. Then we can go out to restaurants and loudly discuss all of the silly things that our publishers said while people stare."
Laughing lightly, I nodded. "Yes, then we can do just that. Will you be including photographs in your books, I wonder?"
He snorted at the transparent question. "I plan on keeping Coleen around for as long as she'll have me, if that's what you're asking. Merlin, I'm going to tell Ben about that sorry attempt at fishing, that was just pathetic."
I whined about his words for a moment, though it was all in jest. After a minute of silence, I expected him to get up, for, while our walks together last year had allowed us to get a bit better at sharing with each other, my twin and I still were not prone to emotional conversations. Instead, James said. "Coleen makes me really happy. I know that I've mentioned it before, but she really does. It's just…I didn't even realize that relationships could be like that, you know? When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing me, not a name or the fame. It's really, really nice, P. I know that we haven't been together for that long, but I've known how I feel about her for a while. I just can't believe that she actually wants me. I love that she gets along with our family. I love spending time with her, hearing her laugh…I think I just love her."
The smile on my face was nearly painful, but I kept from turning around, knowing that it would embarrass my brother, who was rarely so vulnerable. "I'm really happy for you. That's incredible. Are you going to tell her?"
I felt him shrug. "Yeah, but not too soon. I'm not looking to rush into it. It took us so long even to get to where we are; I'm just going to enjoy this stage a bit longer."
Grinning to myself, I turned the page in my book just to keep from tackling him in a hug. "That's a great plan. She really likes you and being with you, too, you know. When we went out with Vic and then again later that night, she talked about you. I think that she just adores you."
James wrapped his arms around my shoulders. His next words surprised me. "Coleen helped me realize that I'm not always the kindest to you, P. Sometimes it's easy to let how jealous I can get of you color our relationship, which is unfair. I hope that you know how grateful I am to be your brother. You're a really great person."
I reached up to hold his forearm with the tips of my fingers as I blinked, slowly, trying to keep the tears welling in my eyes from spilling down my face. It was probably the nicest thing that my twin had ever said to me, and he had done so completely unprompted. I honestly wasn't really sure how to respond, because James and I didn't do this, but I was loath to mess it up.
"I'm grateful to be your twin," I said, wincing when my voice cracked and praying that it wouldn't ruin the moment. James didn't comment, for which I was grateful. "Like I said earlier this summer, I'm really proud of the person that you are. You're a really great person, too."
"I love you, P."
"I love you, too."
Albus looked stunned when he walked into the living room a few minutes later and found us still sitting like that. As he awkwardly hovered in the doorway, I found myself giving him a raised eyebrow, hoping that he would either comment on it quickly or go away before he ruined the moment.
"Don't do that," He said at once, taking a small step backwards. "It's creepy. You both just gave me the exact same face, at the exact same time. You two don't do twin stuff. That's weird. I'm leaving now."
I laughed as he bolted out of the room, hearing James do the same thing as we listened to our youngest brother sprint all the way back up the stairs and slam the door to his room. We laughed even harder when James sucked in a breath at the same time as me before letting out an identical chuckle.
"We do too do twin stuff," We protested in sync to the empty room. I grinned, the smile crooked as James laughed again.
I agreed to play a game of chess with James after that, intentionally irritating him by copying all of his moves for a round (he still beat me) before playing a proper match.
He followed me through the floo each time I went to Teddy and Vic's for the rest of the week, accompanying Levi and I on our strolls down the beach. If a few of my ocean books disappeared from my nightstand after the first trip, I didn't comment on it. The first time that he pointed out a small, spotted eel, easily identifying it, Gabriel let out a squeal and waved at James.
"I think he likes your voice," I told my twin, grinning at the clearly delighted baby that I held. "Try saying something else."
When he ran out of things to identify, James told Gabriel fantastic stories, his hands waving through the air as though to paint pictures of the things that he spoke of. Though he couldn't understand James in the slightest, Gabriel had a habit of giving my twin his undivided attention during their story times, squirming around until I held him with his back to my chest and his front facing James, though he was still too young to properly focus on the other boy. His waving hands and expressive tone seemed to be enough to hold the baby's attention, so I spent many hours sitting on the sofa, dutifully holding my godson while James thoroughly entertained him and Levi, who had never heard any of James's stories.
Albus was surprisingly indifferent about Gabriel, soft and attentive when he needed to be, but not overly eager to go out of his way to hold him, which I found deeply surprising. It wasn't that I expected everyone to want to be around kids, it was that I would have expected Al to. Still, the number of times that I was asked if I was "playing mummy" made me keep my thoughts on the situation to myself, as everyone was entitled to their own feelings.
Lily adored Gabriel, but was a bit timid to hold him. She seemed to think about him in an endless series of calculations on what could possibly go wrong with his health at any given moment, muttering about fevers and shifting cranial bones each time she was given the baby until someone inevitably took him from her. It was endlessly amusing to me, which earned me many a harmless hex from Lily-when I was far, far away from the baby, of course.
When we weren't around Gabriel, I let myself be roped into hiking with my siblings. Levi frequently led the pack as we dove into the woods behind the house, exploring more than we ever had before. Going out in public was still a nightmare, so we satisfied ourselves with creating paths through the twisting trees and trying to discover whether we could find any interesting creatures living near our home. Sometimes Freddy, Roxy, Alice, Scorpius, Coleen, and/or Jay tagged along.
We invited a delighted Ben and an even more delighted Don to come one day. Don shocked everyone but his boyfriend when he proved himself to be a very capable arborist. His parents were apparently wandmakers, which meant that he could identify pretty much every one of the trees that we encountered. Mum doted on Don just as much as she had Ben when the two stayed for dinner. I grinned when Ben took advantage of Don's conversation with her to lean over and admit that the ring was already burning a hole in his pocket. He was so clearly excited, so blatantly in love that I had a hard time not beaming at both boys any time that they looked at me. Still, I did manage to control myself, unwilling to ruin the special occasion for them.
I also spent a decent portion of July at Jay's house. He had a ton of Quidditch plays that he wanted to discuss, had purchased a football so that we could practice, and had endless books that he wanted us to read, but we mainly laid out in the sun and talked.
"This," Jay said abruptly, his pinky finger pausing the pattern that it had been tracing across my cheekbone for the last hour, "This is what I want every day to look like. Can we do that? I like routine. Routine is really, really good. This would be a good routine."
I laughed openly as he gave me what was clearly meant to be a persuasive grin. The sky was a clear, brilliant blue over his shoulder, hills of bright green extending further than I could see. The air smelled sweet, and it was warm, but not so hot that we were sweating as we laid in the grass behind his house. "I think that school and, you know, life, would make this a difficult routine. Not to mention, it always snows here in the winter, and I would not want to lay out in the snow."
"Not even for me?" Jay asked, faux puppy-dog eyes on display as he gazed at me.
"Nope," I said without missing a beat, grinning as he gave me a look of deep, completely fake offense.
"Wow. You didn't even stop to think about it," He tutted, dropping down to lay on his back beside me. "Some girlfriend."
I laughed, lifting his hand to my mouth and pressing a kiss to his fingers. "I think that this is the best summer that I've ever had. I'm just so, so happy."
His responding grin was obvious even without me needing to lift my head to look at him. "I'm really glad, Marigold. You deserve it. You really do."
I watched a small cloud drift overhead, his hand still clutched in my own. Perhaps the war wouldn't ever come about properly. Maybe the rest of my days would be just like this, right up until the end.
Hope is a dangerous thing to stand on. If it's sturdy, you never think twice about what a risk you took in doing so. It can be deceptively reliable at times, so much so that you stop considering that it could be anything but. It's only when that hope collapses out from under your feet, dropping you into a deep pit of icy disappointment and leaving you there without any way to pull yourself out, that you realize how foolish a mistake you made by trusting it in the first place.
Wasn't this a nice, happy chapter? What a great summer, right? Definitely better than last year, with no ominous foreshadowing at the end there…
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