"So," Harry said, keeping his voice low at the sleepy looks on Ginny and Katie's faces, "Amazing news about the house."

Robert grinned, "I know. They only put it up for sale this morning, which is why Sarah and Dillon didn't get it, I suppose."

"Where are they living?" Harry asked curiously.

"Down Layters Lane," Robert replied, "Don't know if you know it. It's one of the houses Knox Nightingale sold."

"Ah."

"I know," Robert grimaced, "But apparently they were desperate."

"Where did they move from?"

"Gillingham," Robert said, "Kate said she went out for lunch with Sarah, and she said she was getting paranoid about being followed home or something."

"Oh," Harry said, "I would assume the fact Dillon is an officer would ease her mind, but maybe not."

"You think the fact you're an officer eases Ginny's mind?" Robert asked sceptically, "Because I remember her being completely made up when you went missing on that mission."

Harry frowned.

"I didn't know Dillon did any of that stuff," he said, "And even I don't do it much anymore. Mostly paperwork, which is why it came as a surprise to all of us when I was called into the field."

"He doesn't," Robert said, shaking his head, "He tracks and traces criminals. Nothing like what you do."

"Did," Harry corrected, "I don't want to be on the field anymore. It's getting to a point where the kids can understand. Or not understanding completely, in Al's case."

"What was his nightmare about?"

Harry shrugged.

"He didn't really want to tell us," He said, "But that's not unheard of. He's always bottling up his emotions."

"Who does he take after in that sense?"

Harry grimaced, "Me, I guess. Ginny's an open book. She'll always say what's on her mind, which can be a good thing and a bad thing."

"And I still can't get over he looks like you, Harry," Robert said, looking down at Al, who was sleeping with his cheek pressed against Harry's chest, "It's actually unnerving."

"I know," Harry smiled, kissing the top of Al's head, "It was the first thing everyone commented on in the hospital. He had a load of hair already, and he was 2 months early."

"How did he end up being 2 months early, anyway? Did he just decide it was time or something?"

Harry sighed, glancing over at Ginny, who was still wrapped around his arm, her head on his shoulder, her eyes closed.

"I was in the middle of a case as dark as this one, if not, worse," he said quietly, "I was away for days at a time, leaving Gin on her own, pregnant, and with a toddler who screamed every night for me. It all happened very fast. I was taken from our safe house and whisked away to the hospital. By that time, Al had almost been born. Luckily, he hadn't. I don't think I would have forgiven myself if he had. We didn't get to spend any time with him before he was taken to the neonatal unit. I remember just sitting there with Ginny, heartbroken I had let her down this much."

Robert just stared; mouth slightly open before he shut it quickly.

"I suppose James and Lily's births weren't that intense, then."

Harry smiled a little, "No. They were all totally different experiences. For James', I wasn't even in work. I had a week off before his due date, and everything went as planned, if you want to put it like that. Lily came earlier than expected, but when she did come, it was in the night, so I wasn't working anyway. The case was just starting, so I wasn't off unexpectantly. What about your two?"

"They were both late, so Katie was absolutely fed up by that point. Actually, Mabel was induced, as we don't think she would have come out at all without being forced to." Robert grinned, "Katie's parents were down to look after Liam, but he put up such a fight at us leaving without him. He didn't understand we were going to come home with his sister."

"I'm afraid I can't tell you what James was like when Al was born. He wasn't allowed to see him until after Christmas. The number of times I tried to use my 'I'm Harry Potter' card, but the hospital didn't give me a second glance." Harry grinned.

"Do you use your 'I'm Harry Potter' card often?" Robert laughed, but Harry shook his head.

"Not at all, although James has started to pick it up. I've heard him say to Molly 'but my dad is Harry Potter' on multiple occasions." he made a face, "And that just about sums up James for you."

"He's very strong willed."

"Tell me about it," Harry said, "He's always been like this, ever since he was born. He was usually smiling and laughing, but he had the deadliest scream."

"I can imagine," Robert grinned, "Liam always had such a stoic face."

His smile suddenly dropped, "We're actually going to get him tested for anxiety. He had an episode the other day."

Harry furrowed his brows in concern.

"Is he alright? If there's anything we can do to help..."

"Thank you," Robert said gratefully, "But he'll get so worked up about the smallest thing, and spiral into a panic attack. And we think he's got a phobia of butterflies, too, as silly as it sounds."

"Not silly at all," Harry said, "I'm sure it's nothing serious. He's such a sweet boy. James loves him to bits."

"Same goes," Robert said, lifting his glass, "We were thinking of switching schools in September, but then James came along."

"Reckon you'll stay now?" Harry smiled, and Robert nodded, taking a gulp of wine.

Ginny suddenly shifted and snuggled closer into Harry.

"I reckon that's our cue to move upstairs," Harry grinned, making to get up, carefully trying to pry Ginny's hand off his upper arm, but Robert shook his head.

"Don't worry. I think we can all get away with camping on the sofas. There's enough space. I don't want to have to move, either. I'm rather comfortable."

"As long as you don't mind," Harry shrugged, leaning back into place, dragging Ginny down with him, and yawning hugely, "Night."

"Night, Harry."


At first, I was a bit disoriented as I saw the sun creep onto my face from an angle I didn't remember, but soon my brain remembered where I had fallen asleep yesterday. I was a bit frazzled and wondered why Robert hadn't woken me so we could relocate upstairs. In fact, I was bemused to see Robert next to me, mouth open, head lifted up towards the ceiling – he was going to have one hell of a neckache today.

As I looked over, I was even more surprised to Harry, Ginny, and Al, fast asleep. Why hadn't they moved upstairs, too?

I very slowly got up, mindful not to make too much noise as I slipped up the stairs to check on Liam and Mabel. They were both fast asleep too, so I checked my watch to make sure I wasn't awake ridiculously early. And I wasn't, for it was 8am. Liam was usually awake by now.

I internally shrugged, and left to go back to our room, which was cold from having no inhabitants that night. I fell back onto the bed and dug out my laptop from the chest of drawers beside the pillow. I logged in and searched up the name of our potential new house.

I looked at the satellite view on google maps to get more of a feel for the layout, and saw again, the size of the garden. I sighed in contentment, flicking through pictures of the house, feeling more and more hopeful that we would indeed get this house today, if not, soon.

I lost track of time when doing this, and was slightly started by the small sound of the door opening. I looked over to see James looking slightly worried, nibbling on the sleeve of his dressing gown.

"Hiya, James," I greeted, "Are you alright?"

"No one's awake 'cept you. And I can't find Mummy 'n Daddy. Al's not there too." he said, crawling onto the bed, staring wide eyed at my laptop screen, "'was that?"

"It's called a laptop," I explained, "I can find information on it. Tell me something you'd like to know, James."

"Where is my Mummy and Daddy?" he asked, blinking at me in confusion.

"Maybe something, else," I grinned, "I can answer your question, anyway. They're downstairs."

"What can I ask?" he said, looking a bit more relieved now he knew where his parents were.

"Lots of things. Like how many days until your birthday next year, for example."

"How do I ask it?"

"By using the letters on the keyboard," I said, pointing at said keyboard.

"Oh."

I opened a new browser and typed in how many days until the 5th of May.

"There," I said, "Can you read that?"

"That's a big number," James replied, squinting at the screen, "Why's it glowin'?"

"That's the screen."

"Oh. Where's Liam?"

"He should be in his room, sleeping, but I'm sure he won't mind if you wake him." I said, closing the laptop. At once, James scooted off the bed, and dashed out the door, rushing into Liam and Mabel's room.

"He's quite the character, isn't he?" A voice chuckled from the door, and I grinned when I saw Robert leaning against the wall, "How'd you sleep?"

"Very well," I said, standing up, and wrapping my arms around his neck, "How's your head not falling off your shoulders?"

"It is," he grimaced, pulling me closer, "I should have taken a leaf out of Harry's book, and actually laid down."

"How did we end up there, anyway? I didn't think you'd leave us sleeping until morning."

Robert shrugged, our lips brushing against each other, "Too comfortable, I guess."

"Thank you for sacrificing your sleep so I could get some," I murmured, closing the gap.

It was a Sunday, so I didn't feel the need to cut anything short.

Half an hour later, once Robert and I had comfortably moved on from kissing, I heard voices from downstairs.

"Harry and Ginny must be awake," I commented, pulling my jumper over my head, but Robert gave me a look.

"They've been awake since I came up here," he said, "Said good morning to me."

"Oh," I shrugged.

"Maybe they needed to wake up properly," Robert grinned, and I put my head in my hands.

"Ugh, Robert, please don't," I said, "I don't want to think about that."

"You heard what George said, 'have you caught them at it, yet?'. Apparently, this is a frequent occurrence."

"But Al was down there!" I protested, "They can't have done it in front of their son!"

"Al wanted to play with his toys, so he's in his room," Robert said, "I helped him up the stairs."

"Just don't let me sit in that sofa ever again," I deadpanned.

"I don't think it's just the sofa, Kate," Robert snickered, "I'm hungry, can we go have breakfast?"

"After what you've just said?" I said incredulously, "Maybe we should wait a bit?!"

Robert shrugged and whipped off his shirt.

"It's so hot this morning," he commented, completely ignoring my sentence, "Must be at least 25."

"What, so now you're just going to walk around shirtless?"

"Yeah, why not." Robert said, walking over to the window, and pushing it open to face the driveway.

"If you must," I sighed, "I'd rather like it if you kept all your clothes on, considering this isn't even your house."

"Jealous Ginny might see me?" Robert grinned, turning around, and I scowled.

"No," I said, folding my arms, "I reckon she'd quite happy with Harry, you know."

Robert put a hand over his heart, falling onto the bed dramatically.

"How dare you insinuate Ginny Potter doesn't have her eye on me, Katie," he said, and I stared at him in bemusement.

"Have you seen the guy?" I snorted, and Robert grinned.

"Yes, Kate, I have, and if I had to choose one to marry, I'd definitely pick Harry."

"Oh, would you now?" I grinned, falling on top of him, and placing my hands around his face, "What happens if I get there first?"

"Sorry, Katie, I think he'd pick me too," Robert said breathlessly, "We had a proper chat last night, man to man."

"Oh really? What did you two chat about?" I muttered.

Robert suddenly sighed, and rolled me off him, standing over by the window again, his chin in his hands.

"He apparently doesn't want to work in the field again," he said, and I came to stand next to him, putting my head on his shoulder, "Makes me want to know more about why he even started in the first place. He has a family, and I don't want to even imagine what would happen if he didn't come home one day."

"Don't think about it, then," I replied, "I won't lie and say I've had the same thoughts. Makes me so thankful you decided to go the safer job route."

"Speaking of which, I'm back at work tomorrow," he said, and I lowered my eyes, "I've already had too much work off, and I think you and the kids are safe, now. Especially if we get that house."

"Nothing more we can do but hope," I said, "We'll take the car to the estate agents at 12:30."

"Can't wait," Robert smiled, "Alls well that ends well, yeah?"

"Yeah," I agreed, before I heard my stomach rumble loudly.

"Still want to wait for food?" he grinned, and I shook my head, heading out the room and down the stairs.


Harry and Ginny lay snuggled close together on the sofa, Lily laying on Harry's bare chest.

"How long did you stay up for last night?" Ginny asked curiously, turning her head up to look Harry in the eye, "And why didn't you move us upstairs?"

"You looked so comfortable," Harry smiled, "And so did Al. I was getting up to move you, but Robert said don't bother. Katie fell asleep the same time as you."

Ginny dropped her head again, playing with the ring around Harry's left hand absent minded-ly, "What'd you chat about?"

"Sarah, Dillon, work stuff," Harry said.

"What did he say about Dillon?" Ginny asked, "Hope he said what a prick he was."

"Ginny," Harry warned, "As much as we've mutually agreed we don't like him, he's still Katie's friend. Don't talk shit about him."

"It's not shit if it's true," Ginny huffed, "And you know what, I don't care. He can't trash talk our family and expect us not to react just because we share a friend."

"He's an officer too."

"Oh yeah, like that's going to do anything. You're the head of the Auror department, Harry." she said dryly.

"Doesn't matter," Harry said, "No point in rising to the bait."

"Why are you being so philosophical?" Ginny asked in bemusement, "I'll rise to the bait, sure. Give him a good hex to let him know what he's dealing with."

"Well then you'd get arrested, Gin, and I'm afraid the muggles won't just let you out because 'I'm Harry Potter'." Harry sighed, "Just try and be nice. They might be friendly, who knows. We can invite them for dinner or-"

Ginny sat up sharply and glared at him.

"Don't you dare, Harry Potter. I don't want him in our house."

"And what happens if Maisy ends up being friends with James?" Harry protested, "What then? You're just going to be awful to her dad simply because he made a wrong assumption about us?"

Ginny fell back against him, muttering a reply.

"I would say that you've woken up on the wrong side of the bed, but we didn't even sleep in one." Harry said in amusement, and Ginny slapped him.

"I'm just a bit upset that The William's are leaving, that's all." she said quietly, "And the fact Lily's taken my favourite spot."

Harry laughed, moving Lily into the crook of his arm so Ginny could lean against his chest. She sighed in contentment as she stared up at Harry, who was watching Lily.

"Oh, the times when my husband only had eyes for one girl," she said sarcastically, "If I didn't know any better, Potter, I'd say you were cheating on me."

"Don't say that in public," Harry grinned, shifting his gaze onto Ginny, "And how could I not be completely besotted by her? She looks so much like you."

"At least one of them does," she said, reaching her hand up to pull Harry's face close to hers, "Although I think if James turned out to be a red head, people would say he favoured me."

"Maybe," Harry grinned, dodging her kiss, "But the Potter genes were too strong, apparently."

Ginny scowled when Harry moved away from her kiss the second time, and grabbed his face more firmly, dragging their lips together.

"Katie's already caught us once," Harry murmured against her lips, "They'll think we're obsessed."

"Who says I'm not?" Ginny grinned, "And right now I just want you to kiss me, Potter."

He finally complied, and Ginny ran her fingers through his hair, deepening the kiss by pushing their heads together.

Harry often commented on how easy it was to lose track of time like this, and rightfully so. Only a few minutes later, he froze, hearing footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Harry," growled Ginny, "They're just going to the kitchen. They won't want to see us like this anymore than we do. Ha, maybe it'll give them ideas. I hardly ever see them hold hands or anything."

Harry sighed, but pulled away, much to Ginny's dismay.

"I've changed my mind," she pouted, "They can leave. If they're going to stop you from snogging me like usual, then they can't go quick enough."

"Ginny," Harry said reproachfully, "Don't say that."

"Then don't be silly. It's our house." she said, but she pulled away entirely, taking Lily from Harry, and curling up on an armchair, covering herself so she could feed the baby.

"I'm sorry, Gin," Harry muttered, "We'll ditch the kids with your Mum today and go find a cupboard or something."

"Now you're talking," Ginny grinned mischievously.


Robert and I tried to avoid walking past the back living room, but we had to walk past in order to get to the kitchen.

The door was wide open, so I assumed they weren't doing anything scandalous.

We got to the kitchen, and I switched on the kettle. Robert dug out a loaf of bread and popped two slices into the toaster.

"Are we not making for anyone else?" I asked, and Robert shrugged, opening the fridge and taking out the butter.

"I suppose everyone else can make what and when they want," he said, "And Mabel's probably not even awake."

"But Liam is," I said.

"This is just a quick snack, Kate," Robert grinned, "You can guarantee this isn't my full breakfast."

"I figured," I said, "A slice of toast is definitely not going to fill you up. Nor me."

"Or me," Ginny added, and a turned to see her walk into the kitchen, a blanket covering her, as she was presumably feeding Lily, "We usually have a fry up for breakfast on a Sunday."

"I don't think I could wait for a fry up, Ginny," Robert said, "You were taking too long in the living room."

"And I would have been longer if Harry didn't refuse to continue," Ginny replied stonily, and Robert nodded.

"Where is Harry?" Robert asked, and Ginny pointed upstairs.

"He's doing his morning letter reply, as we call it," she said, "He gets a tonne on Saturdays from work, but doesn't reply straight away. He'll do that whilst I feed Lily."

She sat down on a chair and looked over to me.

"How'd you sleep?"

"Good," I smiled, "Better than him, anyway. When I woke, his head was almost disconnected from his body."

"Anything for you, my love," Robert hummed, buttering a piece of toast for me.

"Thank you, my sweet angel," I replied, and he grinned, handing the food to me, "Hope you don't mind, Ginny. We were hungry."

"Not at all," she said, "I'm glad someone's eating, because Lily is definitely not." She pulled the baby from underneath the blanket, and placed her over her shoulder to burp her, "At this point she's losing more weight than she's gaining."

"She'll be ok," I comforted, eating my toast, "I don't think I've heard a baby scream as loud as Lily Potter."

Ginny grimaced, "Tell me about it. Once she gets to James' age, she'll be screeching all day, too."

"I can't imagine her being 5," Robert commented, "Seems like she'll be tiny forever."

"I think it's even crazier that when Lily is 5, James will be 10." Ginny said, the baby resting contentedly in her arms, "And Al will be 7."

"It's a strange thought," I said, "I can't imagine Liam as a teenager at all. I have no idea what to expect, or anything."

"I would say we have some sort of practice with Ted, but he's so easy going. It'll be a miracle if James suddenly decides he wants to be calm and collected." Ginny grinned, just as James and Liam tore into the kitchen, giggling frantically.

"What's for breakfast?" James asked happily, placing his hands on the counter and attempting to pull himself up.

"We'll have eggs and bacon when Dad comes down," Ginny said, "Do you need some help?"

"No," James said firmly, still trying to climb onto the counter, his hands turning white with the force, "I can do it."

"Ok," Ginny sighed, "Don't hurt yourself."

"I. Won't." James said, struggling to speak. Liam was watching James with furrowed brows. He turned to me in confusion, and I couldn't help but grin.

Ginny caught my eye, and grinned too, rolling her eyes.

"Do you need some help, James?" Harry asked from the doorway, in a similar attire to Robert.

"Mummy just asked me that," James huffed, "And I changed my mind. I need help, please."

Ginny laughed, and James scowled.

"'s not funny, Mummy!" He cried, and pouted over at Harry, who was also chuckling, "Why you laughin' too?!"

"Sorry, James," Harry said, ambling over, and lifting James up onto the counter, "We were just being silly, don't worry."

"Hmm. Can we please have breakfast now?"

"Of course," Harry said, "Anyone got any requests?"

"Eggs, bacon, pamcakes, sausages, eggs, beans…" James said, ticking off each breakfast item on his left hand, "And eggs. Did I say eggs?"

"Yes," Ginny grinned, "Yes, you said eggs."

"Do you like eggs, Liam?" James asked, and Liam nodded fervently, "Tha's good, because I love eggs."

I moved over to sit down next to Ginny and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with the Potter's. It took some persuading to encourage the two littlest ones to eat, as they insisted that their woodland monsters would escape if they left them alone in Al's room.

By the time we had finished, it was 10 past 10, and we should have been starting to think about packing up some of our things. Of course, the kids were proving to be a distraction, yet again.

James had announced that he wanted to put on a talent show this morning, and ushered all the adults into the living room, dragging my kids and Al out into the hallway to 'rehearse'.

"I wonder what this morning's show will be." Harry said in bemusement, taking a standing seat by the window, every so often glancing out into the driveway. I noticed that Ginny didn't seem too keen on his positioning, as she kept huffing in his direction, Lily in her lap, asleep. Eventually she voiced her thoughts.

"I wish you wouldn't keep doing that, Harry," she said softly, and he looked over.

"It's habit," he said, but he didn't make any indication that he was moving anytime soon.

"I know," Ginny sighed, "But it's making me paranoid."

"There's no one there," Harry assured, and Ginny gave him a look.

"Then don't keep looking."

Harry gave one last glance out the window, before coming round the back of the sofa, heading towards the door.

"I have a couple of letters I need to finish," he said, and Ginny frowned, "Let me know when the talent show starts."

There wasn't a chance for Ginny to question this before he was striding back up the stairs. She turned to look at me and Robert in exasperation.

"Welcome to the world of Harry Potter." She said, lifting her arms in annoyance, "He's still twitchy from the case."

"I think you're forgetting that we haven't actually seen him not twitching from the case," Robert pointed out, "Hermione says he's a lot more laid back without all this dark shit going on."

"He is," Ginny said, "Right now he's in bed late from writing, and up early in order to finish said writing. He's using it as an excuse, too. He knows how I hate his oh so subtle glances out the window, and yet he continues to do it. Merlin, I love the man, but right now he's testing my patience."

"When do you think things will go completely back to normal, Ginny?" I asked curiously, "To be honest, I thought they already had."

Ginny sighed again, and shrugged.

"The case could have ended a month ago and he'd still be double checking every single piece of evidence. I mean, you saw him, looking out the window. He's still convinced someone will turn up."

"Have the last of the convoys been found?"

"No," Ginny said, turning away, "There's still one left. Harry's determined to catch him. If he had it his way, he'd be in the office right now, pulling a team together to work on locating him."

"Who?" Robert asked.

Ginny glanced into the hallway, before turning back to us, a slightly pained look on her face.

"He's called Lukias Colebat, and he's been on the ministry radar for years." She said in hushed tones, "I shouldn't really be telling you this, but hey ho. Colebat's been involved with many muggle murders over the past decade, but always seems to escape before the police or the Aurors manage to get there. Harry's come home so many times, complaining that Colebat has escaped yet again. He seems to be that one guy that no one can ever catch a glimpse of, let alone lock behind bars. He's a horrible wizard, with horrible ideals, and I just know that when they do manage to lock him up, Harry will relax completely."

"I doubt that," I harsh voice whispered from the corner, and I felt my heart drop to the floor.

A tall dark haired man slowly appeared out of thin air, his body seemingly made of water, as he waved his wand, the hallway door slamming.