Monday, November 30th 1998

Minerva rubbed her face with her hands. She looked down at the photo of the Order of the Phoenix that they had taken a few months ago. She stared at the smiling face of Marlene McKinnon for a second before looking at all the other faces. Benjy Fenwick, dead, Caradoc Dearborn, still missing, Mary MacDonald, dead, Edgar Bones, dead along with the rest of his family, and now Marlene McKinnon and the rest of the Mckinnon family. Another safe house found and its inhabitants destroyed.

Minerva was sat in Dumbledore's office, thinking about how horrible everything was. He was sitting at his desk looking through folders from the Ministry. It felt like every time they made even a little bit of progress, something like this happened.

"Minerva -"

Before he could finish, the door swung open and in walked Sirius Black. He looked absolutely terrible. His hair was a frizzy mess and there were deep circles under his eyes. His usually well-groomed beard was overgrown and messy.

"Sirius, how -"

Again, Dumbledore was unable to finish his thought as Sirius stormed to the desk and slammed his palms down on it. "I'm ready for my next assignment, Dumbledore," he said. "You've given everyone else a new one except for me."

"Sirius," Minerva said softly, reaching out a hand and setting it on his arm. "We just wanted -"

Sirius smacked her hand away. He didn't look away from Dumbledore. "I need a new assignment, Dumbledore."

"Sirius," Dumbledore said. "You need time. Don't -"

"No. I don't need time," he said angrily. "I don't need to sit and wallow and feel sorry for myself. I need to work. I need to keep busy. I need... I need..."

Tears filled his eyes and his voice trailed off. Minerva stood up quickly and walked over to him. She pulled him away from the desk and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her and sobbed.

"Shh..." she said. "It's okay, Sirius. It'll be okay... Hush, now. Don't cry. We'll be okay."

"I n-need h-her!" he sobbed. "I've never... No one's ever... Minerva!"

She put her hand on the back of his head. "I know it hurts and I know you miss her, so do I. She was a wonderful person who loved you very much and we will win this thing, okay? We will win it for her and for everyone else who didn't make it."

Sirius cried for a while, head buried in her chest. Minerva looked over at Dumbledore who just gave her a sad look. She closed her eyes and rubbed circles on his back.

Just then the door opened again and in ran Remus and Dorcas. They saw Sirius in Minerva's arms and stopped in their tracks. Dorcas sighed and looked at Dumbledore. "Sorry for barging in, Professor. We were just..."

"That's alright," he said.

Remus walked over to Sirius and Minerva and put his hand on Sirius's shoulder. "Hey, James and Lily wanted us all to come over for tea. Said Harry really missed his Uncle Sirius. Maybe we should head over now."

Sirius suddenly realised what he was doing. He let go of Minerva quickly and pulled away. "I - I'm sorry."

She smiled at him and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Sirius. Go be with your friends. It will help. I know it will."

He wiped the tears off his face quickly before nodding. He looked up at Remus who gave him a small smile and squeezed his shoulder a little. He pulled Sirius into a hug before leading him out of the office. Dorcas put an arm around him when they got close enough and started walking with them out the office.

When they were gone, Minerva sat back down with a sigh and looked up at Dumbledore. He sighed and shook his head. "We will find an end, Minerva. We will."

"It feels much too far away, Albus," Minerva mumbled, rubbing her face.

...

"Sirius," Lucy whispered, shaking the sleeping man.

Sirius jerked awake quickly and looked around frantically. He found himself at Hogwarts, sleeping on a classroom desk. He hadn't done that in a while. He looked down at the little girl that woke him and gave her a small smile. "Hey, kid. Just get home from school?"

Lucy nodded. "I was going down to meet with Tonks, Bill and Charlie but I heard you snoring from the hall."

"Oh, was I really snoring that loud?" he asked. "You know, Marls..." He stopped dead in his tracks. He had forgotten and then just now remembered. He felt the loneliness set in yet again and sighed.

"What's wrong?" Lucy asked, frowning.

He looked down at her and realized something. She didn't know. Minerva hadn't told her. This made him angry. How could she not tell her? How could she not respect Marlene's memory enough to tell Lucy that she wasn't gone because she was staying with her family or because she was traveling or something stupid like that? She was gone because she was dead and Lucy should know that.

"Lucy," he started, looking away from her and glaring down at his hands. "Marlene is dead."

"What?" Lucy said, furrowing her brow. "No, no." She shook her head and took his hand. "No, Sirius. She's not dead. She's coming over this weekend remember? She told me. She promised."

"No. She's not coming over this weekend," Sirius said, pulling his hand away from her. "She's never coming over again."

"No. I don't believe you. You're lying!" Lucy said angrily. "You're trying to pull a prank on me but it's not a very nice one Sirius. Please stop."

"No, Lucy," he growled, slamming his palms on the desk making her jump slightly. He turned to glare at her as he stood up. "This is not a joke. It's not a prank. This is real. She's gone and she's never coming back."

Tears filled Lucy's eyes and she shook her head violently. "No! I don't want to - she can't be - we were going to..."

Suddenly all of Sirius's anger disappeared as quickly as it had come. His face relaxed and he stared at the crying girl. He was such an idiot. Why did he do that? He shouldn't have yelled at her. He knew why Minerva hadn't told her about Marlene's dead and he should have just left it as is.

Sirius sighed and walked over to Lucy. He kneeled down in front of her and put his arms on her shoulders. "I'm sorry for yelling," he whispered. "I shouldn't have been so harsh."

"Is she... is she really...?"

Sirius closed his eyes and nodded. "She is."

Lucy quickly moved to hug Sirius tightly, burying her face in his chest. He was caught off guard but recovered quickly and hugged her back. They sat there for a long time hugging each other and crying in silence. Eventually Sirius was cried out. He pulled away a little and wiped the tears off his own face. He looked down at Lucy and sighed again. He wiped the tears off Lucy's face too and said, "Come on. Let's go find Tonks, Bill, and Charlie."

Lucy nodded and Sirius stood up. He took her hand and led them out of the classroom to find Lucy's friends.

...

"Dorcas," Remus said quietly. They were sitting in a classroom that had been outfitted with a bed and wardrobe for Dorcas to stay in while she was at Hogwarts. They both had a drink in hand. "I've been thinking..."

"Oh, that usually ends badly," she said with a small smile, leaning back in her chair.

He gave her a look but then smiled and shook his head. He sighed and his smile faded. "I've always known that there was always a huge possibility that we would all die in this stupid war... I have but after Mary and then Marlene it just... it just really hit me, I think."

Dorcas sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"And if I'm going to die," Remus continued, "I think that I would want to do the things that I would regret not doing."

"Like what?" Dorcas asked.

Remus took a deep breath and moved his chair a little closer. "You remember last month when you asked me if I liked someone and I said that I did. Well, I think that I'm going to tell the girl I like before it's too late."

Dorcas smiled. "I think that's a good idea," she said, setting her glass down on a desk. "So are you going go to tell me who this girl is?"

Remus nodded. He smiled a little and set his glass down too. He stood up and walked to her chair, taking her hands in his. Dorcas's eyes widened but before she could say anything, Remus spoke. "I really like you, Dorcas. I love you. I love how strong and smart you are. I love how kind and brave you are. I love the way you pull your hair over your shoulder. I love the way you don't care what other people think of you. I love spending time with you and I love talking to you. I know that I'm way too dangerous to be around and I know that I can't give you everything that a normal man could and I know that you might like someone else but I just had to say it out loud. I just had to tell you."

A smile spread across her lips. Dorcas stood up and wrapped her arms around his chest. He smiled and hugged her back. He felt the warmth of her body and for the first time in a long time he felt at home. He felt warm and safe in her arms. She looked up into Remus's bright eyes and whispered, "I love you too, Remus. I've loved you for a very long time and I love you for who you are. I know you think you're dangerous to be around but you are the kindest, bravest, and most wonderful man I've ever met."

He smiled wider and she put her arms up on his shoulders, coming up on her tippy toes. He leans down and they kiss. It was the most amazing kiss Remus had ever had. He felt like fireworks were going off inside his head. He felt her soft lips and tasted her strawberry lipstick. He let go of her waist and cupped her cheeks in his hands. She smiled into the kiss and he wanted it to never end. He wanted to stay here like this forever and forget about the darkness outside them. It felt like a fire was lit inside his chest that had driven the darkness away.

And then it stopped. She pulled away. Remus saw the smile fade from her face and he knew. He knew that they couldn't do this now. He knew that, though it felt like the darkness had been driven away, it was still there, waiting to encompass them. They needed to fight it first before they could do this for real. In a soft voice he whispered, "but we can't do this right now."

Dorcas sighed and took his hand again. She gave them a little squeeze. "I love you, Remus," she whispered. "But... right now, we can't. I mean, I see how Sirius is right now and if I die I don't want you to be like that too. I think that it will hurt less if we are just friends."

"Just until the war ends."

"Just until the war ends."

Remus smiled a little. "It gives us something more to fight for, I guess."

Dorcas smiled as well. "It does," she said. She shook her head but smiled. "When this war is over, I am going to love you so hard Remus Lupin. You don't even know."

Remus laughed. He was okay with this. He was okay with waiting just as long as she knew that he loved her and he knew that she loved him. They could focus on the war and then, when they both made it to the other side, they would be happy and have the life he had always imagined.

Saturday, December 19th 1998

"Ready to go, Lucy?" Minerva asked, walking into Lucy's bedroom.

"Do I have to wear this?" Lucy whined, pulling at the neck of her black dress that her mother had forced her into. "Why couldn't I just wear trousers? I bet Daniel is going to wear trousers!"

Minerva sighed and shook her head. "Yes, you have to wear the dress. It's a fancy Christmas dinner. Everyone will be dressing up nicely. I'll bet Nina will be wearing a dress."

Lucy grumbled and walked towards her mother. Minerva smiled and took her hand. They walked out of her bedroom, out of the private quarters, and through Minerva's office. They walked through the castle and across the grounds. Soft snow fell as they walked. Lucy looked up at the sky and smiled.

"I like snow," she said.

"It's nice," Minerva said with a smile. She watched the snowfall and settle in Lucy's hair and eyelashes. She reached over and fixed her knitted hat. "It's a little cold though." Lucy pushed the hat up away from her eyes, reached down and grabbed a handful of snow. Minerva gave her a look. "Don't you dare!"

Lucy smiled innocently. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said, stopping and letting her mother walk ahead of her.

"Lucy, if you -"

Minerva felt the snowball hit her back, turned back, and glared at her. She shook her head, pulled out her wand, and with a flick of it, a horde of snowballs flew up from the ground around her and aimed themselves at Lucy. Lucy's eyes widened.

"It was only -"

Minerva flicked her wand again and the snowballs fly towards her. Lucy screamed and put up her hands to cover her face. To her surprise, the snowballs didn't hit her. She looked up and saw that they were frozen inches away from her face. Minerva looked at her with a frown. She flicked her wand again but nothing happened. Lucy smiled, hands still raised up. She made a swift waving motion and suddenly the snowballs started to move past her. They then came back around from her other side and pelted towards Minerva.

Minerva smiled and flicked her wand again. Snow from in front of her rose into the air, creating a wall to block the snowballs. She listened to the loud thuds of upwards of fifty snowballs hitting the wall at full speed, breaking into bits and falling to the ground. "Nice try."

Minerva let the snow wall fall but Lucy was just waiting for her to do so. Three snowballs that had stopped moments before hitting her wall flew forward and hit her in the chest. "Ah!"

Lucy smiled at her. "I think you let your guard down too -"

Snow came up and fell around her making her fall to the ground and burying her body. All that could be seen was Lucy's head. Minerva walked over and smiled. Lucy gave her a look.

"I was winning," she said.

"But then I won," Minerva replied.

"Not really fair."

"Why did you expect the fight to be fair?" Minerva asked with a smile. She flicked her wand and the snow rolled off of her. She stuck out her hand to Lucy.

Lucy took it and Minerva helped her up. Lucy smiled. "I did surprise you though," she said. "The look on your face was pretty funny."

"You did get a pretty good shot in, I will admit. You did the Arresto Momentum spell non-verbally, that was excellent," Minerva replied as they continued their walk towards the gates, hand in hand. "Though, I still won."

Lucy rolled her eyes. She made a fist with her free hand and, with a look of pure determination on her face, said, "I will beat you... one day. Just wait."

Minerva laughed. "Alright," she said. "We'll see."

They finally got out of the Hogwarts gates and Apparated to Canterbury where they picked up Nina and Daniel. From there they took a Portkey to London and walked up to a small flat. Minerva knocked on the door and they waited.

The door opened and Lily Potter smiled at the four of them. "Hey!" she said, opening the door further and motioning them in front he cold. "Come in, come in. Peter and Remus are already here and the others are probably on their way."

They all came inside, took off their boots and coats, and then followed Lily into the living room. James, Peter, and Remus were sitting on the couches while a baby Harry babbled and played with toys on the floor. They sat down, Lucy sitting in an armchair beside Minerva. Lily sat down on the floor beside the baby.

"So Daniel, Nina, how is school going?" James asked.

"Busy as always," Daniel replied with a sigh.

"But the semester is over so we can finally relax," Nina said with a smile.

"What school do you go to?" Peter asked.

"King's College here in London," Nina said. That's the school that she, Daniel, and Minerva had decided to tell people, just in case the information got leaked again.

Peter nodded. "And you study?"

"Nina studies nursing and I'm in business," Daniel replied.

"Lucy, why don't you go play with Harry," Minerva suggested, looking down at the little girl. She saw that she was already getting a little bored just sitting around listening to the adults talk. "That way Lily can get a little break."

Lucy looked over at the baby uncertainly. Harry was lying on the ground, babbling with one foot bent up in his mouth. She slid off her mother's chair, walked over to the baby and looked him over. He laughed and let go of his leg when he saw her. Lily smiled and thanked her before walking over to sit next to James. Lucy gave Harry a look and sat down on the floor a few feet away from him. She picking up a rattle and shook it a little. Harry laughed and clapped his hands, making Lucy smile. She handed him the rattle and he grasped her finger instead.

"That's not the toy," Lucy whispered. She used her other hand to pry Harry's hand off her finger and wrap it around the rattle instead. Harry laughed. He didn't do much with the rattle so Lucy gently shook his arm causing the rattle to make noise. This made Harry very happy. When Lucy let go of his hand, Harry stuck the rattle in his mouth. Lucy made a disgusted face and shook her head. Lucy turned back to look at the adults, who were now too busy talking amongst themselves to notice her or the baby. She frowned. She didn't want to babysit. While her back was turned Harry moved and grabbed a handful of her hair. He pulled hard making Lucy gasp. She turned quickly. "Ouch, ouch! That's not very nice, Harry. Please stop."

She tried to get his fingers out of her hair but he was tangled up and moving too much for her to pull away. He kept getting farther away, making his pull on her hair more forceful. She held her hair with one hand, trying to pull it back from him, and used the other to try to untangle his fingers but she couldn't see what she was doing. Harry was having a lot of fun pulling Lucy's hair. He laughed and babbled as Lucy struggled. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Stop!"

Nina came over quickly and kneeled down beside her. She laughed and helped her get out of Harry's deadly baby grip. "There we go."

Lucy backed away and rubbed her head. She glared at the baby who was still laughing. "Pulling hair isn't very nice, Harry."

Nina laughed. "He's just a baby. He grabs everything. It's not his fault."

Lucy kept glaring at the baby. She smoothed out her hair and stood up. She walked away from Harry and Nina back to her mother. Lily looked at her and smiled. "Sorry about that," she said. "I should have warned you he's a hair puller."

"He pulls everyone's hair," James said with a laugh.

"It means that he likes you," Remus added.

"I don't think that's a nice way of telling someone you like them," Lucy said grumpily, walking over to her mother.

Minerva smiled at her and ran her fingers through Lucy's hair to untangle it. "It's alright, darling. It's just what babies do."

"Oh, Lucy, don't be such a baby. We don't need two right now," Daniel said with a laugh. Lucy glared at him and stuck out her tongue.

James laughed. "You two are definitely siblings," he said. He turned to Remus. "Did I tell you about the one day when Sirius and I were guarding their house and Daniel and Lucy decided to try sledding down the stairs?"

"They tried what?" Nina said with a frown, looking up from where she was sitting playing with baby Harry.

Daniel and Lucy both gave James a look and he said quickly, "Nothing, nothing. I think I was misremembering something."

Everyone but Nina, Lucy and Daniel laughed. Nina looked over at Minerva expectantly. "What happened?"

"It was nothing," Minerva said with a small smile. "Don't worry."

Nina was about to say something when the doorbell rang. Lily got up to get it and Lucy followed her excitedly. They got to the front door and Lily let Lucy answer it. Dorcas and Sirius were standing in the doorway smiling at them.

"Hey, Dorcas! Hey, Sirius!" Lucy said.

"Hey, Lucy," Dorcas said with a smile. "Hi, Lily. How are you?"

"I'm good, thanks," Lily said. "Come on in."

"Hey, kid," Sirius said, tousling Lucy's hair.

Lucy smiled. She waited for them to take off their shoes and coat before grabbing Dorcas's hand and pulling her towards the living room while telling her all about her Christmas plans with Daniel, Nina, and Minerva. "... and then on Christmas day we're going to my Nani's house. She's really nice and all my cousins and uncles and aunts are going to be there. It's been a really long time since we've seen her. She lives in Scotland. I like Scotland. It's nice. It has loads of empty farm fields and forests where we can play. Last time we had a huge snowball fight! Nani's house is right by the ocean! You can see it from the window in my bedroom!"

"That sounds really cool, Lucy," Dorcas said with a smile as they walked into the living room. "Hello, everyone."

They greeted Sirius and Dorcas and then went back to talking. Other people began to arrive too. Lucy excitedly said hello to her Aunty Amelia and told her all about her and Minerva's snow fight. Amelia seemed very impressed by the way Lucy was able to hold her own against her mother which made Lucy beam even more.

"Three snowballs, huh?" she asked with a smile. Lucy nodded happily. "Nice job, Lucy! That was smart, letting her think that you had wasted all your snowballs and waiting for her to let her guard down before attacking."

"Thank you," Lucy said with a proud smile.

"I still won," Minerva said, furrowing her brow.

"Congratulations," Amelia said with a laugh, coming over and sitting down next to her on the couch. "You won a duel against your seven year old daughter."

"I don't have time for your sarcasm right now," Minerva said, giving Amelia a little shove. Amelia just laughed and shoved her back.

Next to arrive was Hagrid. He came bearing the gift of alcohol, "Madam Rosmerta's finest mead, of course." He cheerfully greeted everyone and patted Lucy on the head with a large hand, causing her to stagger slightly. Lucy didn't mind though. She asked him about his crazy magical creature pets that Minerva said she could not get since they were too dangerous. Hagrid was raising baby Hippogriffs! He told her that he would introduce her to them when they were back at Hogwarts. She was very excited, she'd never seen baby Hippogriffs before!

Alastor Moody shuffled into the house next, grumbling about the snowy weather outside. His eye and missing leg still scared Lucy a bit but, despite his rough exterior, Lucy liked him a lot. He told her stories that were very not age appropriate which usually resulted in either Minerva, Nina, Amelia, or Dorcas yelling at him and him yelling back that Lucy ought to know. Lucy agreed. She wanted to know everything about the war and Moody seemed to be the only one who would tell her the unadulterated version.

Mundungus Fletcher and Dedalus Diggle were the next to arrive. Mundungus was quite short with bandy legs and long, unkempt red hair. He smelt of cigar smoke and liquor and told Lucy to call him 'Dung'. Lucy thought that was funny and figured that Mundungus himself was quite the funny man. Dorcas told her that he had a knack for getting into bad situations or doing some not so legal things. Apparently he like to buy and sell a lot on the black market. Diggle was also fun but in a more well dressed and legal sort of way. Though Minerva described him, in a loud whisper, as "never having much sense", Lucy liked him. He was tiny and excitable and wore a lavish purple top hat.

Dumbledore arrived next with Elphias Doge and Sturgis Podmore. Doge was a jolly man with a large gut. He had greying hair and a short, bushy beard. He came bearing gifts and wearing a red hat, completely embracing his likeness to Father Christmas. He brought a rattle for Harry that lit up different colours when shook and a bracelet for Lucy with a small circular charm that when opened would alert her to the presence of an untrustworthy person. Lucy opened it and right away the grey smoke inside the locket changed to red which indicated that an untrustworthy person was around. Lucy figured that it was just alerting her to Mundungus's presence, thanked Doge for the gift and went to show Dorcas and Nina the bracelet. Podmore had just gotten off his shift guarding the Hogwarts gate and was very tired. He flopped down on the couch and accepted a glass of mead immediately upon entering the house. He had a very square jaw and thick straw coloured hair that reminded Lucy of a thatched roof. After a few minutes of drinking to regain his strength, his loud voice joined three different conversations at once. He asked Lucy about herself and her school while talking Order business with Moody, Doge, and Dumbledore, and Department of Magical Law Enforcement with Amelia and Minerva. He was quite the juggler of conversation.

Last to arrive were Frank and Alice Longbottom with their son Neville who was the same age as Harry. Now the house had two babies, or three according to Daniel. Frank and Alice were very nice and greeted Lucy warmly. They asked her about herself as well and answered her questions on Auror work. They had been working in the Auror Office for ten years each. Alice was very cool. She was soft spoken and small but Lucy could tell that she was not someone you would want to mess with. Frank was very tall and thin with irregular teeth and hair that spiked up messily. He was very kind and smart. By the time this night came to an end, he would have been the only person to ever beat Lucy at a game of chess. Of course if she had known that beforehand she probably wouldn't have played him.

Now that everyone was here conversations were in full swing and refills very regular. Lucy was sent off to play with Harry and Neville. She agreed but stayed farther away from the babies this time. Harry laid on his stomach, reaching for the different toys on the ground. Neville lay opposite him, gurgling and sticking things in his mouth. Lucy laid down on her stomach too and watched them babble back and forth. She cocked her head to the side and looked at them with an expression of trying to understand. She didn't get babies. They were cute, sure, but they were also loud and messy and smelly. She wasn't exactly sure why people would want one. She definitely did not want one. She watched them closely and mirroring their movements.

Lucy then remembered reading about Jane Goodall, who researched chimpanzee behaviour by living among them. She could do that with these babies and maybe learn a more about them. Maybe that would help her figure out what all the fus was about anyway. She got up and walked around to where James and Sirius were sitting.

"James?" she asked, tugging on his shirt.

He looked down and smiled at her. "Yes?"

"Do you have an empty notebook I can write in?" Lucy asked. If she was going to be Jane Goodall she obviously needed something to write down all her findings in.

"Sure, I could probably find you one," he said, standing up. "Wait right here."

Lucy nodded and watched him walk out of the room. Sirius gave her a look. "What do you need a notebook for?"

"Research," Lucy replied.

"What kind of research would you be doing?" Sirius asked with a laugh.

Lucy shrugged, not really wanting to tell Sirius about what she was going to do. He would probably make fun of her. He opened his mouth to respond but she was saved by James coming back with a small black spiral notebook and a pen. He handed them to her and she thanked him before running back to the babies and laying back down on her stomach. She opened up her notebook, looked at her watch and then back at the babies.

"Seven thirty six, babies put toys in months," Lucy said quietly as she wrote, pretending to log her findings. "Not quite sure the significance of this but they seem to enjoy it." Harry giggled. She looked up at him for a moment before returning to her writing. "Apparently it's funny to eat your toys."

Neville babbled unintelligibly and rolled over. Lucy smiled a little and sat up properly, pushing toys closer to the two babies. Harry put a stuffed dragon toy in his mouth and then made angry noises at Neville. Lucy frowned and looked at her watch.

"Seven thirty eight, babies turn on each other," Lucy mumbled, pen moving swiftly across the page. Harry kept making whining sounds and motioning at Neville. "What is it, Harry? What do you want?"

Harry kept whining. Lucy picked up a toy by Neville and handed it to him but Harry threw it away. Lucy sighed. "Seven thirty nine, baby one wants baby two's toy. Conclusion, babies don't like to share... maybe?" She picked up a different rattle. "Here Neville, play with this one instead. It's... better."

She tried to take the rattle in Neville's hand but immediately he started to tear up. Lucy let go quickly not wanting the baby to cry. "Okay, okay. That's fine. This is fine." She looked at Harry who was still whining. She held out the other rattle for him. "Look, oooh, noise and... shakiness... isn't that... something?"

Harry grabbed at the rattle in her hand and shook it angrily. "Seven forty one, researcher would like to be moved to a different subject," Lucy muttered with a shake of her head, scribbling furiously. "Conclusion, chimpanzees might be better than human babies."

Just then Lily and Alice walked over and sat down on the floor beside the three children to check up on their babies. Lily smiled and asked, "How's it going over here?"

"Not sure," Lucy said. "I don't think Harry likes Neville very much."

Lily laughed and picked up her still grumpy baby, rocking him back and forth soothingly. "Oh, I think he may just be a little tired, that's all."

"What were you doing?" Alice asked, looking at the notebook in Lucy's hands.

"Nothing really," Lucy replied. She looked over at Neville, who was happily shaking his rattle and staring at Harry. Lucy thought he might be taunting Harry with the toy that he had wanted. She looked at her watch again before recording this as well. Then she looked up at Alice and asked, "How old are they?"

"They're both five months," Alice said and watched her write that down in her notebook too. "Why are you writing that down?"

"I'm doing research," she said. She thought about the age of the babies. "So they don't know how to do anything."

"Research on babies?" Lily asked with a raised eyebrow. Lucy nodded and Lily laughed. "Alright, well they know how to roll over and grab things," Lucy wrote that down too, "but other than that, no, not really. They're learning though." Lucy nodded. Lily stood and picked up Harry. "Alright, we're all moving into the kitchen if you want to come, Lucy."

Lucy nodded and stood up too as Alice picked up Neville. She closed her notebook and followed Lily and Alice further into the flat towards the kitchen. Inside there was a long table where Nina, Daniel, Dorcas and Remus were already sitting down. Others stood around the room in groups, talking amongst each other. Lucy ran over to Daniel and sat down in the chair beside him.

"So," Daniel said, giving her a smile. "Dorcas and Remus have been dropping you off and picking you up from school right?" Lucy nodded and Daniel turned to look at the two, sitting together across from him. "Is she completely horrible?"

Dorcas laughed at the face Lucy made at Daniel. "She's not horrible," she said. "Lucy is very nice."

"Yes, very polite," Remus said.

"I guess she's just horrible when I'm the one dropping her off," Daniel said, tousling her hair a bit. Lucy glared at him and smacked his arm away, making him laugh.

"So, these two weirdos aside," Nina said with a smile. "How are you two doing?"

"Oh, I'm okay," Dorcas said. "It gets hard sometimes, especially last month but we can always find a little bit of light in the darkness. Right, Remus?"

Remus looked at her and smiled. "Right, of course."

Nina raised an eyebrow at them. "Oh?"

Dorcas smiled at her and was about to say something when Lily said dinner was ready. Plates, cutlery, and dishes of food whizzed over and set themselves on the table. Everyone else walked over and sat down to eat as well. All through dinner, Nina watched Remus and Dorcas carefully. She watched the way they talked and laughed with each other, the way they looked at each other, the way they unconsciously touched each other on the arms. Something was going on between them. They could maybe hide it from everyone else but not Nina. She prided herself on being able to read people.

Nina looked over at Minerva who was sitting beside her and moved a little closer. "What's up with Dorcas and Remus?" she whispered. "Are they like... together now?"

Minerva looked over at them and frowned. "Not that I know of," she whispered in reply. She smiled a little. "I hope so. I've been trying to tell them that they both like each other and should just go for it."

Nina smiled. "Well, I'm not sure if they've gone for it," she said, taking another quick look at Remus and Dorcas. "But they've definitely done something. Maybe they've finally told each other how they feel."

"Then why aren't they together?" Minerva said, frowning again. "Why aren't they acting like they're together and why haven't they told anyone?"

"I don't know," she replied. "Maybe they aren't together yet. Maybe they're waiting."

"Waiting for - oh, the end of the war."

"Yeah," Nina said with a sigh. "I can't imagine the pressure that all of you guys are under right now. Maybe they think it's best to just wait a little while."

"That's ridiculous. You can't put your lives on hold for this," Minerva mumbled. "The war will drown us if we don't have at least some sense of normality. That's why I'm taking the three of you up to Scotland. I mean it's not far but it's a little more removed from the war."

Nina smiled. "And Isobel is happy that we're coming up. It's been a while. All her letter end with 'when are you coming up here'."

"Her letters to me are worse," Minerva said with a smile. "They basically read 'why the hell aren't you bringing me my grandchildren'."

Nina laughed. They stopped whispering amongst themselves and re-joined the larger conversations around them. After dinner they stayed in the kitchen for tea while Lucy, Neville and Harry were moved back into the living room. The adults wanted to talk about the war so Lucy wasn't allowed to stay.

Lucy sat on the floor with Harry and Neville, notebook out and opened again. She watched them play for a while, taking some notes but it was mostly just a repeat of before. She kept her log up to date for a little while longer before getting bored and just starting to draw a picture of both boys playing. She thought her drawing was actually quite good. It captured the babies' irritable nature excellently.

After a while Neville got bored and started making a lot of noise. Lucy looked up from her book. Neville was pointing a stubby little finger at her.

"What? You want this?" she asked, picking up a baby toy from beside her and handing it to him. Neville grabbed it and threw it away. Lucy frowned as he pointed at her again. She picked up another toy and tried to hand that too him but he threw it away again. She did this with a couple more toys, both Lucy and Neville getting more frustrated and irritable by the exchange. Harry, however was playing quite obliviously beside them. Lucy picked up another toy and said, "Don't throw this one away or I'm not giving you another one."

Again Neville threw it, this time hitting Lucy with a large plastic key ring on the nose. Lucy made a face and rubbed her nose angrily. "You know, you're kind of mean, Neville."

Tears filled Neville's eyes and he began to wailing.

"Oh no! Please don't - please don't do that!" Lucy said quickly, not sure what to do. "I'm sorry I called you mean! I didn't mean it. Don't cry! Please... stop..."

Neville kept crying which caught Harry's attention. He looked up at the crying boy curiously, cocking his head to the side. Lucy looked at him and muttered, "You wouldn't happen to know what to do, would you?"

Harry just stared at her for a second before returning to his toy. Lucy put down her notebook and looked at the crying baby uncomfortably. She doubted Jane Goodall had to deal with this. Alice, Nina, and Minerva were all the way in the dining room and were so enthralled in their conversation that they didn't notice the crying. Lucy patted Neville lightly on the head, hoping that would do something. It didn't.

"Shh... Don't cry. It's okay..." Lucy whispered, trying her best to make Neville stop crying. "Please stop... Neville... okay, you probably want your mum right? I know but I've never really carried a baby before. I don't want to drop you... and I can't leave Harry all alone..."

Neville was crying a lot now. "Okay! Okay!" Lucy said. She stood up and awkwardly picked Neville up. Holding the baby by the armpits an arm's length away, she rocked him gently. She turned towards the kitchen and yelled, "MUM! MUM!"

Minerva, Lily and Alice came running into the room to see what was going on. Lucy held Neville out in front of her for one of them to take away quickly. "Ah, Neville's crying! I - I don't know what I did! I'm sorry!"

Alice smiled and took Neville from her. "It's alright," she said as she rocked him in her arms. He stopped crying almost immediately and yawned. "I think he's just tired and wants someone to hold him."

Lucy stared at him in disbelief. "I thought I broke him!" she exclaimed. "I thought I did something wrong."

"No, you didn't," Alice said kindly. "He's fine. Babies are pretty resilient, Lucy. You don't have to be scared of them."

"I'm not scared!"

"Of course not," Lily said with a laugh, picking Harry up as well.

"I'm not," Lucy said forcefully, walking over to Minerva who gave her a smile and put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright, love," she said. "Come on. You can come into the kitchen with us too now."

Lucy nodded, scooped up her notebook and followed Minerva, Lily and Alice back to the kitchen. Lily sat down in her seat beside James and Alice next to her own husband. Frank smiled and took Neville from Alice. Minerva sat down beside Nina and pulled Lucy up into her lap.

"So, Lucy," Mundungus said. "Are you excited for Christmas?"

"Yes!" Lucy said with a smile, leaning back into her mother's chest. "We're going to see my nani! We haven't seen her in a really long time."

"Your Nani?" Lily asked.

"It means grandmother in Hindi," Daniel said with a smile.

"Oh I see," she said with a smile.

"Where does your grandmother live?" Peter asked.

"She lives in Castletown!"

Minerva's eyes widened slightly and she looked down at Lucy.

"Uh oh..." Lucy whispered. She looked up at her mother with a frown. "I'm sorry."

Minerva sighed and shook her head. "It's okay."

James furrowed his brow. "What's up?"

Minerva just shook her head again. Sirius frowned. He had been leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed. He pushed himself up off the chair and looked over at Lucy. "Hey, Lucy. Why don't we go play?" he said, trying his best to sound light-hearted and happy. "We can leave these losers to talk about all that boring stuff and go do something fun."

"Okay!" Lucy said excitedly, sliding down from her mother's lap. She looked back at Minerva. "Mum, is it okay if -"

"Yes, yes, go," Minerva said with a smile.

Lucy smiled and took Sirius's hand as they walked out of the kitchen. Remus watched after him and sighed. "He still can't talk about Marlene without getting angry."

"Why were you guys acting weird?" James asked.

"Oh," Minerva said with a sigh. "Lucy was told that she wasn't supposed to be telling people our plans but that girl can't keep a secret to save her life."

"We're just worried about the Death Eaters finding out wherever we go," Daniel muttered, leaning back in his chair. "So, we've told her not to go around telling everyone our plans."

"Smart," Moody grumbled. "Though maybe next time keep the plans from her as well if she can't keep her mouth shut."

"It definitely didn't last long," Nina said with a small smile.

"I think it's still smart that you're taking precautions like that," Lily said, "but it's sad that you have to around us."

"No, it's not like that," Minerva said. "We trust you all, of course. We just don't want her walking around telling everybody. We don't know who might overhear."

"No, no, we understand," Dorcas said. "Besides, we all recognize that there must be a leak in the Order. I mean how else could the Death Eaters have found the McKinnon's safe house or the Bones's safe house or your guys' house in Rochester."

"Yeah," Peter said. "Who do you guys think it is?"

Everyone turned to look at Dumbledore who just shook his head. "I do not know," he said sadly. "It is hard to think that anyone on the Order would betray us like this."

"Bet you it's old Edward Jorgin," Mundungus muttered. "Man's not done nothing for ages. What's he doing except showing up to meetings and stealing all our information."

"His wife just died, Dung!" Amelia said, glaring at him. "He's not the spy. He didn't know the location of Edgar's safe house or the McKinnon's safe house."

"Whoever it is, is responsible for the death of a lot of Order members," Minerva muttered darkly, leaning back in her chair. Nina sighed, reached over and put a hand on her arm. "A lot of good people. A lot of our friends and they best hope that I don't find them."

"What are we going to do to find the spy?" Podmore asked. Again everyone turned to look at Dumbledore expectantly.

"I'll think of something," Dumbledore replied. "For now we shouldn't worry about it. We should enjoy our Christmas."

The party continued with a mutual understanding, even from Moody, that the war would no longer be discussed. Instead they moved into the living room, drank and talked about the happier things in their lives. Harry and Neville were put to bed upstairs but Lucy was allowed to stay up long, mostly because Minerva didn't want to commandeer James and Lily's bed.

Lucy, deciding baby research just wasn't for her, sat down against the wall of the living room and decided to research alcohol consumption instead. She opened her notebook and watched the people around her carefully. Drinking did different things to different people. They didn't all see the same effects, even if they drank the same amount. It was odd. Lucy wondered how their behaviour was determined if it wasn't just the amount they drank. She counted the glasses, adding the amount she had seen them drink before and during dinner too.

Hagrid drank the most, almost as much as everyone else put together. He was also the loudest, singing Christmas carols with Doge and going on and on about how amazing it would be to have a pet dragon. Lucy laughed when she watched him stumble on a chair and fall into the couch. Thankfully no one had been sitting there when he came by. Doge and Diggle didn't drink nearly as much as Hagrid but they still acted very similar. They were loud, happy and fumble-y.

Dorcas drank quite a bit but was perfectly fine. Sirius and James drank the same amount and were not. James became very childish, giggling at nothing and chasing Sirius around. Sirius was very all over the place. Sometimes he was jumping up and down with James, excitedly talking about Christmas and New Year's. Other times he was slumped over and snoring. Remus didn't drink much at all. He sat with the same drink in his hand talking with Dorcas and watching the others run around like idiots. Daniel and Nina never drank very much and were fine. Lucy had only seen her brother get very drunk one time and it was one night he had gone out with Michael and some of his other friends for his eighteenth birthday. He had come home in the morning, still drunk, and collapsed on the couch. Nina watched the others with worry, nurse brain kicking in. She was especially concerned about Hagrid. They sat with Dorcas and Remus as well.

Minerva drank nowhere near as much as she would have liked too since Lucy was there. She indulged herself in a glass or two but kept herself under control for her daughter's sake. Amelia on the other hand had no one to look after and was therefore free to drink as much as she wanted. Her brand of drunk consisted of slurred words and asking people if they remembered something but dissolving into giggles before she could get to what exactly it was that they were supposed to be remembering. Dumbledore drank as much as Minerva and was also completely in control of himself. He and Minerva sat together talking about Hogwarts. Minerva sometimes excusing herself to save someone from Amelia. Moody's stories got a lot louder, more violent, and much more explicit the more he drank and Mundungus's accent got a lot thicker and harder to understand the more he drank. Doge got a lot jollier and his laugh became more frequent and more booming as he drank.

Lily and Alice did not drink at all. They stuck with water. Lucy wondered if it was something to do with having a baby to look after. Why was that different from her own mother? Minerva drank a little bit even though she had Lucy to take care of. Maybe Minerva thought Lucy was able to take care of herself so she would be able to drink. This idea made Lucy very happy. Frank only had one glass the whole night, claiming that he preferred to keep his wits about him. Minerva had told her that Frank and Alice had both been Gryffindors but Lucy wondered if Frank might have been more suited for Ravenclaw.

Lucy's conclusion; alcohol is weird. It seems that these people really like it, why else would they drink so much of it, but it also seemed to change them somehow. They didn't act like different people, just more intense versions of themselves mostly. Still have no idea what determines how they'll act. It might be age but Dorcas drank the same amount as Aunty Amelia and was fine even though she was younger. Yes, alcohol is definitely very weird and more research needs to be done.

"What are you doing?" Nina asked walking over with her glass in hand and sitting down next to Lucy on the floor.

"Watching everybody else," Lucy said with a smile. "They're acting weird."

"Are you making notes?" she asked with a smile, motioning down at her notebook. Lucy nodded and handed it to her. Nina flipped through the pages, reading her notes and looking at her drawings, and laughed. "You're doing research on alcohol?"

"Yep," she replied. "I'm not finding much."

Nina laughed and handed Lucy her notebook back. She looked around at the people in front of her and smiled. "The amount you can drink is based on your weight mostly."

"That's why Hagrid can drink so much more than everyone else?" Lucy asked.

Nina nodded. "How you act when you're drunk depends on your personality, I think."

"Hmm," Lucy said. "Nina, does drinking make you forget?"

"No, it just lowers your inhibitions so you do things you might have stopped yourself from doing normally," she said. She looked around and saw Moody and Amelia sitting nearby. "Like in Moody's case, he's telling stories that even he wouldn't tell normally, and in Amelia's case, she's giggling and fawning over him in a way she would never do normally."

Lucy laughed. "Do you think Aunty Amelia likes Mr. Moody?"

"Maybe," Nina said with a laugh. "She's definitely not doing that to anyone else."

"Will they remember everything?" Lucy asked.

"Probably," Nina replied. "Though they will probably regret how much they drank and how they acted in the morning."

Lucy smiled. She watched the partygoers and talked to Nina a little while longer before Frank started trying to find someone to play chess with him. Apparently he was a very good chess player and nobody seemed to want to play with him. Lucy agreed to play and he accepted kindly, thinking this would be the easiest game he had ever played. That turned out to be wrong. In fact Lucy turned out to be his most difficult adversary yet and he hers. Their game was long and complicated. Lucy had never had such a difficult match before.

Finally Frank looked up at her with a smile. "Checkmate."

Lucy stared at the board in disbelief. "What..." She had lost? But she never loses. She was undefeated.

Daniel looked over at the board and laughed. "It's okay, Lucy," he said. "You can't win them all."

"You were a very worthy adversary, Lucy. No one's ever posed as much of a challenge as you did," Frank said with a smile, sticking his hand out for her to shake. Lucy shook it, still a little dazed from her loss.

"She takes loss just about as well as her mother," Amelia said quietly to Minerva with a laugh. Minerva gave her a look.

"It was a good game, Mr. Longbottom," Lucy said with a diplomatic air, finally snapping out of her daze. "Congratulations on your win."

"Oh, nevermind. She takes it much better than her mother," Amelia said with a smile. Again Minerva gave her a look.

"Would you like a rematch?" Lucy asked, positive she could beat him this time.

"No!" Nina said quickly, standing up and dragging Daniel up with her. She, Daniel, and Minerva had been waiting for Lucy and Frank to finish their game so that they could head back to Hogwarts. "We do not have time to sit around waiting for you to finish another game. The first one was long enough as it is."

"Nina's right," Minerva said, standing up too and picking up hers and Lucy's coats. "We should really get going. It's getting quite late."

"Next time then," Frank said with a smile. "I would love to play you again."

"Okay," Lucy said, standing up too. "Next time."

They said goodbye to everyone at the party and got on their coats and boots, ready to leave. Other's started getting up too. Dumbledore decided to accompany them back to Hogwarts and Apparated the four of them directly outside Minerva's office. They very much appreciated not having to walk through the cold, snowy grounds to get to the castle as it was quite late and they were all very tired.

Lucy was glad to change out of her dress and put on something a lot more comfortable, her Wonder Woman pajamas. She got into bed next to her mother as Nina and Daniel were staying in her room and pulled the blankets up around her.

"Did you have a good time, darling?" Minerva asked.

"Yes," Lucy replied with a smile. "I learned a lot."

"Oh? About what?"

"Babies and people," she said.

"What did you learn about babies?" Minerva asked with a smile.

"I learned that chimpanzees are better."

"How did you learn that?" she asked giving her daughter a look.

"By living among them!"

"You lived among chimps?"

"No, babies!" Lucy said with a laugh. "I just think that chimpanzees would be a lot easier to handle."

Minerva laughed. "Alright," she said. "So what did you learn about people?"

"That they like to drink and alcohol is weird," Lucy replied.

"Well, that's one lesson, I guess," she said. She laid down and pulled the blankets around herself too. She looked over at Lucy and smiled. "Alcohol is pretty weird, I suppose, which is why we should only indulge in it every once in a while."

"Mum, do you think that Aunty Amelia likes Mr. Moody?" Lucy asked with a smile.

Minerva laughed. "I think she does but I don't think she would ever admit it."

"Why not?"

"Well, Mr. Moody isn't really a very easy man to get along with, don't you think? They have a little bit of a love/hate relationship."

"What does that mean?"

"They love to hate each other."

"Why?"

Minerva shrugged. "It's just how they've always been. Ever since she and I started at the Law Department under him till now."

"Hmm," Lucy said thoughtfully. "I think she likes him and I think that they should date like Daniel and Nina!"

"I don't think that's going to happen, love," Minerva said with a sigh. "Alastor can't let his guard down for anyone, not even Amelia, and she knows that."

"That's kind of sad," Lucy said with a frown.

"It is, but sometimes you fall in love with someone who's just not ready to love you the same way," she said quietly, reaching over and pushing some of Lucy's hair back. "And that's okay. You just have to keep looking until you find the person who will appreciate your love the way you deserve. Alastor Moody respects and admires Amelia Bones very much but he can't love her."

"Could she fall in love with someone else?" Lucy asked.

"I think she has," Minerva said with a smile. "She just won't admit that either."

"Really?" Lucy asked. "Who?"

"I don't think I should tell you."

"No! No! Tell me!" Lucy said excitedly.

Minerva laughed. "I think your Aunty Amelia is in love with Uncle Raj."

"Really!" Lucy said. "I think Uncle Raj is awesome! He could appreciate Aunty Amelia's love the way she deserves!"

"Yes, I think so."

"So, how come they don't date?"

"They haven't talked to each other about their feelings yet," Minerva said. "We have to give them time and let them do that and then they will."

"Hmm..." Lucy said. There was a moment where she thought about it and then she pointed at Minerva. "You fell in love twice too."

Minerva nodded. "I was married twice, yes," she said, "but I've been in love three time, I think. Maybe more but I can't remember for sure."

"Really?"

"Yes, the first man I was in love with turned out not be the right person for me," she said. "His name was Dougal McGregor. He lived in Castletown and I loved him very much. He actually proposed to me too."

"Wow, so you almost got married three times?" Lucy asked, holding up three little fingers.

"Yes, almost," Minerva said with a smile. "But then I realized that we couldn't love each other like we both deserved. We wanted different things. I wanted to go to London and work in the Wizarding World and he wanted to take over his father's farm in Castletown. We just didn't fit like I thought we would so I told him no and headed to London. It was heartbreaking and I was very sad for a long time but it turned out okay didn't it? If I had said yes to him, I would still be in Castletown now and I wouldn't have you and Daniel and Nina."

"Wow," Lucy said again. She thought about this for a minute as well. "So, after that you went to London and met your first husband."

"Yes, he was actually my boss to begin with. I looked up to him a lot and then when I left for Hogwarts he kept asking me to marry him," Minerva said. "But I kept saying no."

"Why?"

"I was still getting over Dougal," she replied with a little shrug. "I did, finally, and when he asked again I said yes."

"What was his name?" she asked.

"Elphinstone Urquart," Minerva said.

"Elphi-stomb Ur- Urquawt - Urqu- Urqua -"

"Elphinstone Urquart," Minerva said with a laugh. "It's a little bit of a silly name but he was a little bit of a silly man. I just called him Elph."

"Elph is a nice name," Lucy said with a smile. "I wish I could have met him."

Minerva smiled. "I'm sure he would have loved you."

"How long were you married?"

"We were married for only four years,"

"And then he died," Lucy said quietly. Minerva nodded. There was silence for a moment before Lucy spoke again. "Daddy was married twice too. He was married to Daniel's mum but then she died too." Again Minerva nodded. "And then... and then Daddy died."

Minerva sighed and nodded.

"Everyone dies," Lucy whispered. "So, why do people get married?"

Minerva pulled her daughter closer and gave her a hug. "People know that it happens. That people die sometimes but when someone loves someone else very much sometimes they decide to vow to be together forever in front of their friends and family."

"Not really forever," Lucy mumbled with a frown. "Because people die or they get divorced, like a lot of the time."

"Yes, sometimes forever doesn't actually last forever."

"Then why do people say that they'll love each other forever if they don't mean it?" Lucy asked, looking up at her mother with a confused look on her face.

"They mean it when they say it, darling. They love each other and even in a divorce they still love each other," Minerva said, giving her a reassuring look. "Sometimes they just realize that they can't live together anymore. They don't get along like they thought they did and that it would just be easier to not live together anymore."

"Hmm," Lucy said, sounding deep in thought. "My friend Sarah's mum and dad are divorced."

"Yes, they are but they both still love her the same way as they did when they were living together," Minerva said.

"Marriage is weird," Lucy said decidedly.

"Maybe," Minerva said with a laugh. "But it's a happy occasion. Love is beautiful and should be celebrated. That's what marriage is, you know. A celebration of two people's love."

"How come you and Mr. Elph never had a baby?" Lucy asked.

"Well, he was quite old and I was still on the fence about having kids at that time. I hadn't decided if I wanted one yet," Minerva said.

"You didn't want a baby?" Lucy asked with a frown.

"I wasn't sure," she replied honestly. "But by the time you came along I was much more ready for you so you were a nice surprise."

"A surprise?" Lucy asked, smiling again.

"Yes, I didn't know you were coming," Minerva said with a smile. "Daddy and I were very surprised and very excited when we found out."

"Hmm," Lucy said. She thought this over for a little bit. "Sorry for being a surprise. I know you don't really like surprises."

Minerva laughed. "That's quite alright," she said, leaning down and kissing her cheek. "We were very happy you came either way."

"So, when you love someone you have a baby."

"You can if you want to. Some people don't and that's okay too."

"So, you can fall in love a lot of times and you can get married but you don't have to and you can have a baby but you don't have to and you can get a divorce if you don't get along well," Lucy said in conclusion, wrapping up everything she had learned. She paused and thought this over for a second before adding, "and you can have brothers that aren't really your full brothers but are still your brothers?"

"Yes," Minerva said with a smile. "Families can be very different. There's no right family and there's no wrong family. Our family is a little mixed and matched but that's okay."

Lucy nodded. "I like our family."

"Me too. It's very nice," Minerva replied. Lucy nodded again happily. "Okay, love, it's very late. We should really get to sleep now."

Lucy nodded. "Goodnight, Mum."

"Goodnight, my darling," Minerva said with a smile, leaning down and kissing her cheek again.

Author's Note: (sorry for the absolute lack of correspondence through the last seventeen chapters)

The last chapter was pretty heavy and sad and so was the beginning of this chapter so I give you babies! And Lucy not understanding them. Her awkwardness around these squishy mini-humans may or may not be based on my own. Either way, I am glad you are all enjoying my story! Please leave a review, they make my day! :)