A/N: A lot of the text from the beginning is taken straight from OoTP! I hope you're still enjoying this :)
April 22nd, 1996
Remus and I were sitting at the kitchen table, pouring over the notes from the most recent Order meeting. Sirius and I had been taking turns attending meetings – one of us attending and the other minding Eliana. The last meeting had been the night of a full moon, so Remus and Sirius had been busy, running around the gardens at Oak place, which Sirius had magically protected forever ago; with neither Sirius or I able to attend, I'd managed to convince Bill to take notes for me by promising to take over his next night guard shift. Remus and I were quickly reading through his notes – mainly boring updates and future shift schedules, accompanied by Bill's bored doodles.
Sirius was upstairs looking for Kreacher, who had been hiding around the house more frequently than ever before. Sirius thought that Kreacher was disgusted with the addition of another Black spawn from his least favorite master, but I wasn't sure that was true. Nevertheless, Kreacher always showed up, and he couldn't leave the house, so we weren't too concerned.
I was just moving to turn the piece of parchment over, when someone spoke from behind me, scaring me senseless.
"Sirius?" a voice called. Remus and I turned in shock. Harry's head was sitting in the middle of the fire, a sheepish expression on his face.
"Harry?" Remus said, composing himself more quickly than me. ""What are you — what's happened, is everything all right?"
"Yeah," said Harry. "I just wondered — I mean, I just fancied a — a chat with Sirius."
"He's upstairs, looking for Kreacher," I supplied.
"I'll call him," Remus said, getting up quickly and leaving the kitchen.
I got up and sat on the ground in front of the fireplace, so that I was looking Harry right in his eyes. "Are you all right, Harry? Ron, Hermione? Hollyn?"
"We're all fine…" Harry trailed off, averting his eyes. "I just really needed to talk to Sirius."
As I was about to respond, the kitchen door banged open and Sirius came rushing in. He pushed his long hair behind his ears and dropped to the ground. "What is it?" He said urgently. "Are you all right? Do you need help?"
Remus lingered in the background, and I turned to offer him my spot next to the fire but he waved me off. He had Eliana in his arms, holding her protectively against his chest.
"No," said Harry, "it's nothing like that. . . . I just wanted to talk . . . about my dad. . . ."
Sirius glanced at me, shocked, but I shushed him and turned back to Harry. "Of course, Harry," I said, gesturing that Harry should begin.
"I was in my occlumency lesson with Snape tonight," Harry began. Sirius snorted angrily next to me, and I shushed him again. "And he was called away by Draco Malfoy…and I sort of got curious and went in to the pensive where he's been hiding memories every lesson." Harry glanced at me at this point, as though worried I was going to scold him, but I kept my expression neutral.
"It was a memory of my Dad…hexing Snape down by the lake for no reason! And then my Mum showed up and yelled at him, and then…Snape called my Mum a mudblood," Harry finished, looking up at us earnestly.
"I wouldn't like you to judge your father on what you saw there, Harry. He was only fifteen —" Remus said quietly after a moment of silence.
"I'm fifteen!" said Harry heatedly.
Sirius sighed next to me, and rubbed his forehead. "Look Harry, James and Snape hated each other from the moment they set eyes on each other, it was just one of those things, you can understand that, can't you? I think James was everything Snape wanted to be — he was popular, he was good at Quidditch, good at pretty much everything. And Snape was just this little oddball who was up to his eyes in the Dark Arts and James — whatever else he may have appeared to you, Harry — always hated the Dark Arts."
"Yeah," said Harry, "but he just attacked Snape for no good reason, just because — well, just because you said you were bored," he finished with a slightly apologetic note in his voice.
"Harry," I said quickly, "James and Sirius were complete aresholes – I'm sorry, love, but you were," I said placatingly as Sirius cast me an offended look. "But they grew up. It's not something Sirius is proud of.
"Certainly not!" Sirius agreed vehemently.
"Look, Harry, what you've got to understand is that your father and Sirius were the best in the school at whatever they did — everyone thought they were the height of cool — if they sometimes got a bit carried away —" Remus said, casting us a sideway glance. I shrugged in agreement.
"He kept messing up his hair," said Harry in a pained voice. The three of us laughed, which caused Harry to look at us in complete confusion.
"Did he have a snitch too?" I asked, affectionately.
"Yeah," Harry said, still utterly confused as we exchanged reminiscent glances. "Honestly…I thought he was a bit of an idiot."
"They all were idiots!" I agreed, still chuckling. Sirius nodded besides me.
"Maybe not Remus, so much, eh, kitten?" he asked. I shrugged.
"And," said Harry as though he had to get everything off of his chest while he could, "he kept looking over at the girls by the lake, hoping they were watching him!"
"Ah, right. Lily. Well, Harry, James always made a fool of himself when Lily was around. Your father asked Lily out 400 times before she said yes," I said, scratching my cheek absentmindedly. I hated that Harry had gotten such a bad impression of his father – yes, James had been a bit of an idiot, but Snape gave as good as he got. He wasn't innocent.
"How come she married him?" Harry asked miserably. "She hated him!"
"Nah, she didn't," Sirius disagreed. "She gave in in the seventh year once he finally deflated his head a bit. Over something as ridiculous as a prefect schedule too…" he trailed off fondly, shaking his head.
"She'd fallen for him ages before that," I reminded him. "Just took her a while to admit it to herself."
Harry watched the two of us, still looking wholly unconvinced.
"Look," Sirius said, noting Harry's expression. "your father was the best friend I ever had, and he was a good person. A lot of people are idiots at the age of fifteen. He grew out of it."
"Do you think I would have married Sirius if they hadn't?" I asked Harry pointedly. "Or let my best friend marry your father if he had still been an arrogant prick? All boys are stupid at one point or another – as I'm sure your friend Cho would agree…" I said it gently, but pointedly, reminding Harry of his own fiasco of a date. Hollyn had not been eager to send me details; Ginny, on the other hand, had sent me a letter so full of glee that it actually made me laugh out loud at my own godson's misfortune. Ginny may be dating other boys, but she definitely had not moved on. She was bidding her time, waiting for Harry to realize how wonderful she was; it was the right strategy, given how completed bull-headed Harry was currently being.
"Yeah, okay," said Harry heavily. "I just never thought I'd feel sorry for Snape."
"Speaking of Snape," Remus said, coming to a stop in front of the fireplace. "How did he take it when he found out what you'd seen?"
"He told me he'd never teach me Occlumency again," said Harry indifferently, "like that's a big disappoint —"
"He WHAT!" Sirius shouted, causing Harry to choke on a mouthful of ashes and Eliana to stir grumpily.
"Are you serious, Harry?" Remus said quickly, passing Eliana to me so that he could crouch down in the spot I had just vacated. "He's stopped giving you lessons?"
"I'm coming up there right now, and giving him a piece of my mind!" Sirius exclaimed heatedly, making to stand up. Remus, thankfully, wrenched him back down.
Eliana started screaming now, so I walked away to allow Sirius to finish the conversation with Harry without a screaming baby interrupting him. I cooed at Eliana, bouncing her in my arms as Sirius and Remus attempted to reason with Harry. As if Harry would ever march down to Snape and demand he do anything. There was not a chance in hell that Harry ever even looked at Snape again, let alone spoke to him or asked him for a favor.
It was just a few short minutes later that I heard the pop of Harry disappearing from the fireplace in a hurry. "What happened?" I asked, looking over the top of Eliana's head.
"Someone was coming up on his side," Remus explained, given that Sirius was still angrily muttering to himself.
"That absolute, fucking areshole!" Sirius exclaimed suddenly.
"Uhm…" I said hesitantly. "Harry?"
Sirius looked at me like I was daft. "No! Snape."
"How dare he just decide to disobey a direct order from Dumbledore," Remus said heatedly, shaking his head. "I'm in half a mind to storm up there tonight."
"I'll go with you!" Sirius exclaimed, looking as though he were seconds from grabbing his overcoat and disapparating.
"You will do no such thing," I said calmly, bouncing Eliana who had also calmed down, snoozing softly in my arms.
"Addie!" Sirius protested loudly.
"First of all," I began, cutting him off before he could speak again. "Lower your voice. Eliana is sleeping again, and if either of you prats wake her up, I swear to Merlin I am off nappy duty for a week."
Both Remus and Sirius looked properly chastised by my threat. Sirius stumbled backwards in to a chair and summoned a bottle of firewhiskey and three glasses. He offered to each of us, but I shook my head no. Remus, however, wasted no time in accepting his glass and pouring it down his throat.
"There is nothing more important than Harry learning Occlumency," Remus repeated what he had said to Harry. "Nothing!"
"Snivellus knows this," Sirius said nastily, taking a deep sip of the amber liquid. "Now that Dumbledore is gone, he thinks he can do whatever he wants."
"Well, he can't!" Remus said, still angry. "That's it, I'm going up there!"
"And what are you going to do?" I said impatiently. "How are you going to get in? Dumbledore is gone now…you're going to storm up there, where Umbridge is, and demand to speak with one of her professors? And then what, when she refuses, you're going to do what? Attack her? That bitch already hates werewolves, don't give her any fodder to base any more legislation on. She's already the reason you can't get a job – don't let her take anything else away from you."
Remus sighed in defeat and slumped backwards in his chair. "Fine!" Sirius said, downing the rest of his drink. "So, I'll go!"
"Right – you, Sirius Black – one of the most wanted wizards in the world currently, are going to just waltz in to Hogwarts – right under the nose of one of the Minister's most trusted advisors?" I rolled my eyes.
"So, what do you suggest we do?" Sirius shot back snottily. "It's not like you can go, either."
"We do nothing, and wait until we can tell Dumbledore. Hopefully he can talk some sense in to Snape," I said, relaying the only plan I could think of.
Remus and Sirius looked at each other, communicating silently in a way that only the Marauders had been able to do. "Fine," Sirius agreed haughtily. "We'll let Dumbledore handle it. Pass me my daughter," he demanded, holding his arms out expectantly.
I rolled my eyes but passed Eliana over. He cradled her gently to his chest, letting her rest her tiny head against his tattooed chest. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, and looked content. I was just happy that something seemed to be able to calm him down.
I got up, confident that Sirius and Remus were not going to go galivanting off into the night, and started to prepare dinner. I took out a bag full of vegetables and began chopping them for a stew. As I worked, I thought back to the afternoon Harry had witnessed in the pensieve. I had been with Lily at the lake that day, but probably hadn't come close enough for Harry to realize I had even been there. It was…touching, how much Harry needed Sirius. He had come to love and trust Sirius, seeking him out for advice, guidance and support. I couldn't deny that it hurt, a little, that Harry had demanded to speak to Sirius – as though I were not enough. He hadn't wanted to speak to Remus or I – he had only wanted Sirius. I shook my head angrily, trying to push the jealous thoughts away. I was thrilled that Harry felt comfortable enough with one of us to come to us for help – and I knew that Harry cared for me. I guess every teenaged boy needs his father, and I was proud that Sirius was able to take that role in James's place. And I couldn't blame the boy – hadn't Sirius always been the one who had made me feel safe?
I ladled helpings of stew in to three bowls and levitated them over to the table. I was just about to sit down, when the tell-tale sound of someone apparating in to the front hallway rang through the house, waking up the portrait of Mrs. Black.
"Were we expecting anyone?" I asked Sirius and Remus. Remus shook his head, getting up and pulling his wand out of his pocket.
"I'll go check," he said, walking briskly out of the kitchen. Sirius placed Eliana, still sound asleep, in to a little bassinette that we had placed in the corner of the kitchen. He pulled out his wand too, stepping in front of the door and shielding the two of us protectively.
"You know the plan," he said, over his shoulder, addressing me sharply.
"Yes. Take Eliana and go to The Burrow," I said, repeating the plan we had agreed upon in case of a break in to Grimmauld Place. Not that it could really happen, not with Dumbledore as secret keeper, but with Dumbledore Merlin knows where, we couldn't know for sure that someone hadn't captured and tortured the address out of him.
We didn't wait long. Mrs. Black had stopped screaming, and the door slammed open to reveal Fred and George.
"Fred?" I asked, confused. "George?"
"Hello, Aunt Addie!" George said brightly, waltzing in to the room and examining the pot on the stove. "Got enough supper for two more?"
"Why aren't you lot at school?" Sirius asked, his brow furrowed.
Fred didn't answer, but had walked over to the bassinette and was leaning down to look at Eliana. He cooed at her, stroking her cheek gently. "Wow," he said breathlessly, looking down at her sleeping face. "So that's my baby cousin, eh?"
"Yes," I said distractedly, "but you didn't answer my question!"
George had also walked over to the bassinette and was looking down at Eliana with a fond look on his face. "Blimey, look how tiny she is. Hollyn and Ginny were never that small, were they?"
"Must have been," Fred said offhandedly. "We were just smaller then."
"Wow, she really is something, eh?" George said in amazement, his identical blue eyes focused on Eliana in the same way Fred's were.
"Not that this isn't sweet," Sirius said, chuckling slightly. "But, what the ruddy hell are you doing here?"
"Oh right. We dropped out," Fred said casually, walking away from the bassinette and helping himself to a bowl of soup. Remus walked back into the kitchen, shaking his head furiously.
"You WHAT?" I said, catching myself before actually raising my voice, whispering furiously.
"Jumped on our brooms this evening and just flew away," George said, just as offhandedly as Fred had.
"Oh Merlin," Sirius said, dropping his head into his hands and falling in to a seat. "Molly is going to kill me."
"Why would Mum kill you?" George asked, furrowing his brows.
"I'm sure this will somehow be my fault," Sirius sighed. "You encourage them far too much, Sirius! If you hadn't told them all about the pranks you pulled while you were at Hogwarts, they might have spent a little less time inventing pranks and a little more time with their heads in books. I never had this kind of trouble with Bill, Charlie or Percy!" He said in a highly convincing imitation of Molly's high pitched motherly musings.
Fred and George laughed at this, staring at him in open shock for his hidden talent. I stared too, shocked that after all this time, he still managed to surprise me. "But seriously, what is the plan here?" I asked, once the twins had stopped laughing.
"We're going to open our joke shop!" Fred said happily, sitting down at the table and tucking in to his bowl of stew.
"You'll need premises, won't you?" said Remus curiously. He had taken his seat again, and had begun eating his own supper; I was glad to see Remus eating. He was looking far to peckish for my taste.
"We have them!" George said, sitting down now with his own bowl of food.
"How?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at them suspiciously.
"Ask us no questions, dear Aunt, and we shall tell you no lies," George supplied evasively.
"Harry gave you his Triwizard earnings, didn't he?" Sirius asked immediately with a chuckle. George froze, his spoon halfway to his mouth, his eyes comically large. He and Fred exchanged incredulous looks.
"How in Merlin's soggy left nut did you know?" Fred said wildly, staring at Sirius as though he had just told him that Voldemort had waltzed in to the Ministry wearing a floral dress and turned himself in.
"It's exactly what James would have done," Sirius chuckled fondly.
"He would have," Remus agreed. "James was always trying to funnel money in to my pockets, any way he could. One time, I woke up after a night out with galleons shoved up my –"
"– Mhm" I cleared my throat with a significant look at Eliana. Not that she could understand anything we were saying, but it was the principal of it.
"Right, well anyway, the point was he would have taken any chance he could to fund my dreams if I'd had any," Remus continued sheepishly.
"Good men, the Potters, eh?" George said significantly, to which Remus and Sirius both smiled affectionately.
"So, when do you open?" I asked. Molly wasn't going to be happy, but once she saw how good the twins were going to be, I know she would change her tune. She, at the end of the day, just wanted her kids to be happy and successful. I truly believed Fred and George would be both running a joke shop – they were bloody brilliant. Plus, the world desperately needed some cheerfulness at the moment. It took a special sort of person to be focused on making people happy, in a time where everything was starting to look bleak – to find two of those persons was pure magic.
"As soon as possible. We'd wanted to open on our birthday – thought it'd be ironic to open on April Fool's Day, but it didn't work out," Fred sighed. He'd finished his bowl, and was looking down in to it as though debating whether he wanted another or not. He must have decided he did, for her waved his wand and ladled another helping in to his bowl. I took a bite myself, letting the warmth fill me up from the inside out.
"Why not?" asked Sirius.
"Wanted to make sure everyone was good before we left," George said, shockingly thoughtfully. "Plus, we wanted to go out with a bang and I think Hermione would have Avada'd us if we'd messed up her study time."
We all chuckled at that, and allowed Fred and George to tell us the full story of the swamp, and of the fireworks, which had happened a couple of weeks ago. It seemed that they had been giving Umbridge a run for her money, which I appreciated. Especially given the state of Harry's hand.
"–wish I could have seen the look on her face," Sirius was laughing, wiping tears of joy from under his eyes. Once he had gotten over his fear of Molly, he had wasted no time in telling the twins how brilliant he thought they were.
"Remus, you don't have to do that," I protested as Remus got up and started clearing the table.
"I know, I know," Remus waved me off. "But you cooked."
I was about to stand and help him, when Eliana started fussing from the bassinette, so instead I walked over and picked her up. As I was bouncing her, I realized that I hadn't heard how Hollyn was doing from Fred and George's story of helping Harry sneak in to Umbridge's office to firecall Sirius. Ginny had helped, but the twins hadn't mentioned Hollyn.
"How is Hollyn?" I asked, as I waved my wand and conjured a bottle so I could feed Eliana.
Fred and George exchanged a look, then looked slyly at Sirius. "She's…good."
"What's that look for?" Sirius barked apprehensively.
"Well, okay now don't shoot the messenger," Fred began.
"We think she's got herself a bit of a boyfriend," George finished solemnly.
I laughed, knowing that Sirius was about to start panicking. "What the ruddy hell do you mean, a boyfriend?" He barked, more aggressively.
"She's been running off all year, according to Ginny. We kept running in to her, suspiciously alone coming from remote corners of the castle. We like to roam the castle more than the average student, y'know," Fred shrugged. "Just seemed to us, and Ginny agrees, that she might be sneaking around with someone."
"Well, that's got to fucking stop," Sirius roared. "She can't be around, snogging…oh Merlin snogging? She is far too young to be doing any of that!"
"Pot…meet kettle," I said under my breath to Remus. He chuckled nervously, eyeing Sirius.
"Addie, can you believe this?" Sirius said furiously, looking at me as though he expected me to march right in to Hogwarts and put a stop to anything that was going on.
"Uhm, yes? She's almost fourteen – she's bound to start dating boys sooner or later," I said, rolling my eyes.
"And you're okay with this?" He demanded. I bounced Eliana to a more comfortable position so that I could continue feeding her.
I shrugged. "Well, yeah. I'm sure she's not doing anything crazy. At least, I hope she's not up to what you were up to when you were fourteen," I said pointedly. Sirius's face whitened in horror.
"Oh Merlin, she's doomed," he said, throwing his head back in anguish. "If boys at Hogwarts are anything like I was at their age…she's fucking doomed."
"She'll be fine, mate," Fred said consolingly. "Harry Potter is her older brother – half of the blokes are terrified of him – think he's raving. They won't touch her – they're worried they'll end up his next victim or something."
"Right," George nodded his head emphatically. "Plus, Ginny can be right scary. I wouldn't cross her best friend and risk her wrath."
"Gin got me with a bat bogey last week," Fred shuddered. "I may never be the same again."
"I did wonder," George said conversationally. "We're not identical anymore."
"What?" Fred snapped, looking at himself in the back of his spoon, which Remus had been seconds away from picking up.
"Kidding!" George laughed. Fred shot him a nasty look, and Remus joined in the laughter. Fred said something back, which caused George to laugh even harder, seeing who could top the other with the worst insult.
"They're probably right, eh, kitten?" Sirius said quietly, stroking Eliana's back as I burped her.
"About what?" I asked, distracted as Eliana burped up her spittle.
"Blokes being too afraid of Harry to go anywhere near Hollyn!" he said, as though it should have been obvious.
"Well…I don't know. Were you too afraid of James to go near me?" I asked slyly. Sirius just looked at me with a horrified look on his face; he had not, in fact, been more intimidated by James than enamored with me. And if Hollyn was anything like her mother, this bloke wouldn't be intimidated by Harry either.
