The following Monday, I slept in. Now I'm a morning person, so I never sleep in, but yesterday Rob's sister came down from Buckinghamshire to say hi, and I didn't get to bed until very late.
Anyway, I woke up and was appalled to see that it was 7:59, and Robert was not in bed beside me. I jumped up and dashed into Liam's room. My 4-year-old son was sitting, fully clothed, on the bed, inspecting a book about bugs.
"Li! Did you get changed by yourself?" I asked, slightly shocked. He smiled proudly, and nodded his head. I smiled back at him, before backing out the room and walking into Mabel's. She was the opposite of her brother. Her mouth was open, and she was sleeping heavily on her pillow.
I grinned, and gently woke her up.
"Mabel, sweetie, time to get up" I whispered. She moaned in protest, but opened her eyes.
"School?" she murmured. I nodded, and she yawned hugely.
A quarter of an hour later, I got Liam and Mabel into the car, and drove towards his school.
I pulled to a stop, and got out the car. Liam followed suit and pushed open the door.
A small boy was there, and it was definitely not James. I looked at him closer, and realised it must have been Joshua; Zara's eldest son. Sure enough, I saw Zara talking to Teagan Jones, Liam's classmates' mother, a little off.
"Oh, hi Joshua" Liam said, shyly, and quietly.
"Hi Liam!" Joshua said, happily. I turned around, and got Mabel out the car, before I locked it.
I clasped Mabel's hand, and told Liam I was heading through the gates. He widened his eyes in surprise, and followed me quickly. Joshua looked rather offended, but thought better of it, for he returned to his Mum, and brother.
"Is Joshua not your friend, Liam?" I asked my son.
"James is my only friend" Liam said stubbornly, but looking slightly tearful, "But everyone likes James. He's pocuner"
I sighed. I've heard it before. James seemed to very popular among the Downlow Primary Receptions. I carried on walking through the gates, and looked around for James.
I located the boy in the middle of the playground, surrounded by lots of little people, all laughing and giggling.
"Do you want to join them, Liam?" I asked, feeling sorry for my excluded boy. He shook his head miserably. I sighed again, and walked over to Ginny (I had seen her talking to a couple of the parents by the trees).
"Hi Katie" Ginny smiled, as she saw me approach. I smiled in return and grinned down at Al, who was spinning something on his tiny hand.
"Hello, everything ok?"
"It's brilliant" she replied, giving me a bright smile. I noticed Lily was in her car seat by her feet, and her eyes were open, as she looked up a me, tilting her head.
"You look good" I said, honestly, as I noticed what Ginny was wearing. It was a happy flowy top, and cropped white jeans. Her hair flowed down the back of her head and she simply looked, well, stunning.
"Thank you, so do you" She grinned, reaching down to cover Lily better. I grimaced at this. I was wearing an old blouse and old blue jeans; nothing special.
"I look awful, be honest"
She laughed, and directed her attention towards Liam, who was looking at the group of children around James.
"Katie, is he ok?" she asked quietly.
"He doesn't understand how James gets on with everyone. He said James is his only friend, but I think he's just confused" I said to reply.
"I can get James if you like-" she started, before one of the mum's she was talking too interrupted.
"My daughter, Daisy, is very fond of James, Ginny" she smiled smugly at me.
"What can I say? James is very confident" Ginny smiled back.
"She speaks quite a lot about him" the mum (I racked my brains, and remembered she was called Winnie Wallace, mother of Daisy Wallace) said.
"Luis speaks about him too, you know" the other mum said (again, I remembered her name was Penelope Lopez)
"I'm really glad James is settling in" Ginny replied, nodding, "But I'm sorry to say that the only person James goes on about is Liam. It's always Liam this, Me and Liam did that, Liam and I and so on and so on" she laughed, her eyes twinkling at my sad child. He looked up hopefully at her, and smiled a little. Winnie and Penelope's smiles faltered a bit, but they were clever enough to not show jealousy.
I could tell why they were sucking up to Ginny; They just wanted to nose around, and become friends with this family.
James' voice was suddenly heard, among a couple of others.
"Liam! You're here!" he cried, running up to embrace a shaking Liam.
"I'm here" Liam replied, smiling at James. The other children stopped and watched, before all running in to form a great big hug.
Ginny, Winnie, Penelope, and all the parents laughed as the children just hugged each other.
A bell interrupted the moment, and all the children dispersed like dandelion seeds into the classrooms.
"Bye Mummy!" Liam called, getting dragged by James. James stopped suddenly,
"oh, I need to say bye to my Mummy too" is what I heard before he came running back.
"Bye Mummy, bye Al, bye Lils" he said briefly, before running off to join Liam again. Ginny laughed in despair before saying,
"Right old charmer, wonder where he gets that from, because it's definitely not me!"
"He's a very handsome child" Winnie said, and Penelope nodded in agreement.
"Thank you, he gets it from his Father" she grinned, before realising what she said, "well, he, you know what I mean" she stuttered.
"James and Al both look incredibly like Harry" I said, grinning at the memory of Al in Harry's arms, looking like his doppelgänger.
"I know" Ginny grinned back, "Lily's the only one who inherited my hair, and my eyes"
"They're all gorgeous" Penelope smiled. Maybe Luis' and Daisy's mums weren't that bad after all. I was basing them off Helen, and that wasn't really my job to do. They seemed ok, or even nice, if I were to stretch it.
"Thank you very much" Ginny grinned, once again. A voice interrupted our friendly chattering, and I inwardly cursed as I saw who it was.
"Hello Winnie, Penelope, Ginny" she said, totally ignoring me.
"Hullo Helen" Ginny said stiffly, her mood falling.
"How's everything at home?" Helen asked slyly. Ginny's attention went on full, and she turned briskly towards Helen.
"Of course, why wouldn't it be?"
"I've heard on the news, about the murders up North, and I've also heard your husband has something to do with it" Helen smirked.
"My husband has nothing, I mean, nothing to do with the killings, he's only involved with solving the case" Ginny said quickly.
"You've moved down here, at the exact same time the murders commenced" Helen hissed.
"Daddy helps!" cried a voice from beside Ginny, and everyone looked down, to see Al, tears pouring down his face, and clutching firmly at a stick in his hand. Ginny's mouth opened, and she quickly bent down to comfort her youngest son. I was shocked that Al understood what Helen had said, and obviously so did Helen. She looked guiltily as the small boy continued to cry. I glanced at Lily, who I was surprised to see smiling. It was adorable, and I momentarily forgot about the commotion around me.
A small tug at my jeans brought me back to reality, and I looked down to see a very confused Mabel looking back at me.
"Why is Al crying, Mummy?" She asked sweetly.
"He's a bit upset, but it doesn't matter to you darling" I answered.
Ginny whispered soothing words to Al, but he continued to cry. Us 4 mums were standing awkwardly, before Helen spoke up.
"Ginny dear, it looks like you have your hands full, should I take your daughter to your car?" she asked. Ginny's head snapped up, and she quickly grabbed Lily's car seat.
"No" she said firmly, before turning back to Al. Her next sentence surprised me greatly, and also made me feel slightly special.
"Actually, Katie, do you mind taking her? Al's extremely upset" she shot Helen a dirty look, before looking back at me.
"I…well, sure" I spluttered. Ginny smiled gratefully, before taking Lily out from her car seat and handing her to me. Ginny had trusted me to carry the baby she seemed extremely protective about, and now the tiny thing was gazing up at me, melting my heart.
"Thank you, Katie"
Helen looked appalled, and Ginny straightened up, carrying Al, and flinging the empty car seat in one hand.
I hadn't held a baby since Mabel was born, and this was wonderful. She was giving me major baby fever. She was weightless, and so tiny! Liam weighed a hefty 8lbs 7oz when he was born, and Mabel weighed 8lbs 2oz, but here, Lily must have weighed 7lbs or something.
I followed Ginny back to her car, and called to Mabel to follow me. She trotted behind me, eyeing Al carefully.
Lily's hand grasped mid-air, and she found my finger, wrapping her tiny ones around it. She reminded me of Mabel, for she always did this as well.
When we got to the car, I decided to ask how much Lily weighed, because her lightness felt weird.
"Lily's tiny Ginny! How much did she weigh when she was born?" Ginny grinned, before quickly putting Albus into the front seat.
"She weighed 5lbs 8oz when she was born, but now she's about 8lbs"
"Wow, really tiny!" I felt myself murmur. Ginny caught my words and smiled,
"James was almost at 7lbs, but Al was born extremely early, so he only weighed about 3lbs 3oz. Terrified the living daylights out of me and Harry"
"How early?" I wondered.
"7 weeks" Ginny grimaced.
"Was James early?" I grinned.
"2 days" Ginny replied, gently taking Lily back into her own arms, and securely putting her in the car.
"So you had early babies. I had 2 late ones" I laughed.
"Well, Potter's are extremely impatient" Ginny laughed with me. She checked her watch.
"I've got to go, anyway, try and annoy Helen for me if you get the chance!" she waved, as she pulled out the school gates.
I laughed, and waved in reply, before heading back to my own car.
