Chapter 2

James came running into the kitchen after half an hour of playing carrying a screaming Arthur in his arms. Ellie had accidentally tripped him up on the lawn and he had landed on a sharp twig which had given him a shallow but painful scratch on his calf. The other children came running in after him and he sat his youngest son on a chair in the front of the fireplace; Holly immediately rushed over to comfort her son and with her wand sealed up the wound which throbbed on his leg. He stopped crying after a few moments and she picked him up for a cuddle which James watched with a dopey grin, she was so good with the children and he liked to watch her with them; it was another thing he realised he had missed and something he wanted to see a lot of in the next few months. "Shhh," she crooned rocking him gently from side to side and then she turned to the other two youngest children and said, "I think it's nap time for you three," and she held out her hand for one of them. Ellie took it and Millie followed along behind as they walked in the direction of the crooked winding staircase which led up to the first floor of the house.

After watching them go James suggested a quiet game of wizards chess to his other two offspring who asked if they could play together against him. "Sure," he replied heading to a pine welsh dresser by the kitchen door which was piled high with rose patterned china.

He leaned down to open the cupboard but Isabella stopped him as she said, "Mum made us put them all upstairs in our rooms; the chess is in Daniel's toy chest."

"Oh, right," James said quietly feeling like that intruder again who didn't know his way around his own home.

"I'll go and get it," Isabella announced jumping up from the rug by the fire but James interrupted her.

"No Darling, you wait here, I can find it. Why don't you pour us all a glass of pumpkin juice?" he asked as he grabbed the kitbag he had brought in with him and headed through the kitchen door onto a long, brightly lit landing which led to the winding stairs. He jumped up them two at a time and reached the first landing of the house from which three of their bedrooms led off. Daniel and Isabella had a room of their own on this floor and there was a bathroom too; the third room served as a spare bedroom but sometimes James would use it when the triplets wanted to climb into bed with Holly. He continued up to the second floor on another winding and creaking staircase which came out in the eaves of the house; they had built two large bedrooms into the roof space, one of which was their master bedroom and the other served the triplets so they were close to their mother at night. A second smaller bathroom serviced the floor too and James dropped the bag he had brought home by the door to it as he continued onto the triplets' bedroom at the end of the landing. He peeped through the door and saw the three of them all laid on top of their separate carved wooden beds; Holly was singing a lullaby to them in a soft voice and James could see all three sets of eyelids drooping slowly as she sang. She had a sweet singing voice and he leaned against the doorframe as he listened to her and watched as she gently tucked them all in before backing out of the room slowly making sure their eyes stayed closed.

Holly jumped as she backed into him but remained silent as she turned to see who was there, "James," she whispered breathlessly, "where did you come from?"

"I came up to get the chess game for Daniel and Isabella," he explained steadying her with his hands and holding onto her for a few moments. "I wanted to watch you with them," he continued nodding into the room, "so I carried on up here. You are so good with them," he smiled dropping a kiss on her forehead.

"It's in Daniel's toybox," she said pulling her arms from his hands and walking past him.

"Sorry?" he asked feeling a little confused at her briskness.

"The chess set," she smiled walking over to the bag he had discarded by the bathroom door, "is this everything?" she asked picking it up.

"Yes," he replied looking down at the clothes he was still wearing, "and these," he added gesturing to them.

"Well get them off then," she ordered tipping out the bag and beginning to sort them into separate colours.

"Holly," James shrieked in jest, "only three of the children are asleep; I don' t think you can make such suggestions yet!" he went on sidling up behind her and wiggling his hips.

"James," she replied harshly, "Isabella and Daniel are still downstairs," and then with a short tut she picked up an armful of his dirty clothes and pushed past him heading back down the winding staircase without a backward glance. James watched her go with a frown, she seemed distant again and he hoped it was only because he had been away so long. He would ask her later, when the children were asleep, as they had once promised to be completely honest with each other no matter what the other person might think or feel and he was going to remind her of it when they were alone. Heading into their cosy pale blue bedroom James sat down on his side of the bed and stretched; watching the children sleeping had made him feel tired and he decided to put his head down for half an hour before spending a little time with his elder children. He undressed first and dropped his work robes by the bed; then he donned a pair of loose fitting linen trousers and a quidditch shirt before laying out on the bed and staring around the room. The walls were painted in a sky blue colour and Holly had made the bedding and curtains out of matching white material covered in small blue cornflowers.

The midday sun filtered through the window onto the bed as James glanced at the photographs which adorned the room; most of them were of the children but there was one picture of just the two of them which Holly always kept on her side of the bed. The photo had been taken a few weeks before Isabella was born and showed James with his arms wound around Holly from behind and his hands placed protectively on her swollen stomach. They had not had any pictures taken at their wedding because things had not gone quite according to plan and this one had been the first photo they had really had taken together as a married couple. James rolled over on the bed to gaze at it but when he saw the gilt silver picture frame which contained it he saw that another picture had been put in its place; this one showed the five children at his grandparent's house, the triplets clambering all over Isabella and Daniel as they chuckled at the person taking the photo. James eyed it curiously; it was a beautiful photograph of them but he could not understand why Holly had replaced, or where the original picture had gone. He searched her bedside drawer and eventually found it at the bottom under a pile of books and parchments; it was creased in one corner and he unfolded it carefully as he gazed down at the smiling couple within it. Why would Holly have hidden it away? Was it hard for her to look at pictures of them when he was away like it was often hard for him to see those of his family? Or was there something deeper going on?

He dozed off for a while and stirred only slightly when he heard soft footsteps pad across to his room and then disappear again with a few whispers; he had not realised how tired he actually was until he had decided to nap and when he eventually woke up it was to the sound of thudding feet on the floor below. He stretched and yawned before looking out of the window to see that the sun had fallen in the sky. His stomach growled and as he sat up he reached out for the gold watch he always left on his bedside when he went on assignment and saw that it was almost five o clock.

As he headed out of the bedroom and down the first set of steps he heard thudding going back along the lower corridor and as he reached the bottom of them saw Daniel and Isabella leaving the bathroom and then thumping down the second set of stairs. He continued along the landing to the second set and as he descended he heard his wife's angry voice yelling, "Mille and Arthur, get your hands washed this instant or there will be no pudding for you; do you hear me?"

"Yes, Mum," came two sly voices but James did not hear them heading for the staircase instead he saw them hiding behind a plant pot at the bottom of them instead.

"You should do as your mother tells you," he whispered as he reached the last step making them almost jump out of their skin.

"Daddy," they squealed looking around wildly and then they bounded up the stairs on their hands and feet, hopefully to wash their hands for dinner.

"Can I do anything?" James asked as he entered the kitchen and saw Holly putting out dishes of food.

"Just make sure those two wash their hands," she replied exasperatedly and he turned back to follow Millie and Arthur. He found them hiding in Daniel's room and could see by the stains on their hands that they had not washed them.

"Oi, you two," he chided sternly giving them a slightly angry glare, "wash your hands before dinner." As if standing to attention they both stopped giggling and walked over to the bathroom where James watched them scrub their hands thoroughly then he marched them back to the kitchen and made them sit quietly at the table with their other sibling.

"Thanks," Holly said absentmindedly when he walked over to pick up the last couple of dishes.

"They were hiding in Daniel's room," he explained.

"They always do that," she replied with a tired sigh, "I can hardly ever get them to the table in time for dinner; they think they are allergic to soap and water."

"Don't you think you ought to punish them for it?" he asked.

"Don't you think you should be here a bit more to discipline them yourself before you start criticising my techniques?" she shot back and without waiting for a response headed to her seat at the table next to Isabella who had heard the short interaction between her parents. He let the matter drop and joined his family for a proper home cooked meal which he thoroughly enjoyed as he listened to tales from his children and told them jokes and stories about some of his older missions which were now public knowledge.

Holly watched as the children were entertained by their father and saw the sparkle that he had with them; she was still amazed at how easily he had taken to fatherhood and knew their children would always be happy while he was around. The news that he was home for an extended period had shocked her and she knew her reaction had been less than enthusiastic but it had been so sudden; she had not been expecting him home for more than a few days and didn't know if she was prepared for him to be home just yet. It already seemed strange having him in the house and she still couldn't work out how she felt about it, even though she knew it was going to be good for her children.

When they had finished eating James volunteered to bath the triplets before they went to bed and then he read them a story from Tales of Beedle the Bard. He used different voices for the characters and the children laughed at him before settling down to sleep tucked up tightly in their warm covers. On his way back to the living room he called into Daniel's room for the chess set and asked his other two children if they were ready to play now that he was awake. "You should have woken me earlier," he told Holly who settled down in a squashy armchair when she had finished clearing away all the dishes.

"I thought you needed to sleep," she replied as she picked up the book she was reading, "I sent these two up to see what you were doing but when they came back and said you were sleeping I told them to leave you there. You're always pretty tired when you get back off assignment, best to take advantage of it while you can."

"Thanks," he said softly, "want to be on my team?" he asked gesturing to the chessboard which Isabella was setting up.

"No," she answered, "I'll just watch."

"Okay," he said turning to look at the board which Daniel and Isabella were already studying and whispering about. "But I have a feeling I'm going to lose if I play alone," he added but Holly shook her head back at him. His apponents were a sneaky team and won all three games which they played before bedtime chuckling at their father when their pieces stopped his king from moving. "When did you two get so good?" he asked ruffling Daniel's hair and giving Isabella a nudge.

"Uncle Ron's been teaching us!" they giggled furiously and he gave them a sly look.

"Teaching you all the sneaky ways?" he asked. "No one can beat Uncle Ron at chess," he went on, "even Rose!"

"We can!" they laughed simultaneously, "We beat him twice in a row at Grandma Molly's last Thursday! He said he won't play with us anymore because we play like he does!" James laughed along with them then and Holly felt herself chuckling too as she watched her husband get up and lift his son into the air and over his shoulder. Daniel squirmed and squealed making Isabella laugh and Holly watched on with a smile on her face.

"Come on you two, bedtime," Holly said standing up.

"I'll take them," James said stopping in the middle of the room and holding Daniel upside down, "you stay down here for a change; let me do some of the work!"

"Make sure they brush their teeth," she said to him.

"Yes Mum," he replied with a laugh before launching Daniel into an aeroplane shape and running in the direction of the stairs with Isabella in their wake. Holly watched them go and smiled again; she had enjoyed watching him with the children again but still couldn't work out how she felt about him being back in the house.

"…And ever after a golden statue of the washerwoman stood upon the tree stump, and no witch or wizard was ever persecuted in the kingdom again." James finished the story of Babbity Rabbit and closed the leather bound book which had once been his as a child. Daniel was almost asleep and Isabella was curled up at the bottom of his bed looking equally dozy. "Goodnight son," he whispered kissing Daniel's forehead then he turned to pick his eldest daughter up in his arms and carried her out of the room pausing to extinguish the gas lamp lighting the compact bedroom. They crossed the landing and he pushed the door to her bedroom open, inside it was pale pink and the walls were decorated in paintings of dancing fairies who sprung around the room. "This is new," James whispered to her as he dropped her on top of the bed.

"Aunty Luna did it for my birthday," she explained and James felt a pang of guilt at having missed it, "she said that the fairies will watch over me while I sleep."

"And I'm sure they will Sweetheart," he said smiling down and kneeling to kiss her forehead.

He was about to get up and leave when she asked, "Daddy, are you home forever now?" and instead of going he turned back to stroke her hair back from her face.

"Not forever Darling," he began feeling guilty again as her face fell. "But I'm here for a while this time, I asked for some time off work so I could see my beautiful family," he chuckled and she smiled again.

"I miss you when you're away," she told him honestly, "we all do." He felt the pang inside him again as she went on, "And Mum is sad."

"What?" James asked softly.

"Mum, when you're away, she's sad. But now you're back she'll be happy again, won't she?"

"I hope so," he answered honestly feeling that he didn't quite know at the moment.

"She will, I know it. She's always saddest when you first go away but when you come home she's happy; I want her to stay happy."

"So do I Sweetheart, so do I," he added as she closed her eyes gently and he watched for a few minutes as she fell into slumber and her breathing deepened.

He wasn't altogether sure if he wanted to go back down to his wife; he wanted nothing more than to curl up with her now that the children were in bed but he knew they needed to talk about him being home and he was feeling a bit scared of what she was going to say. Once he knew Isabella was deeply asleep he turned out her bedside light and turned to walk out of the room but stopped when he saw Holly standing in the doorway with a gentle smile on her face.

"You're so good with them," she whispered as he strode towards her but she backed out of the room before he reached her.

"I'll go and check on the triplets," he said ushering her back to the stairs but as she reached them he caught her hand and turned her to face him. "I'll be down in a minute," he added and then leaned out to kiss her lips. He had missed her so much and needed some reassurance that they were just going to need an adjustment phase after he had been away so long and he felt it slightly as she returned the kiss, but only briefly. Then she headed down the stairs as he went up to check on their peacefully sleeping youngest offspring. He stared at them for a few moments still marvelling at how much they had changed and how much he had missed them; he closed the door quietly and headed back down to the ground floor where he heard Holly in the kitchen pottering around.

"Do you want a cup of cocoa?" she called to him and he popped his head around the door to say yes but she didn't turn to look at him. "Coming up," she said instead.

James walked into the living room and took a seat on the wide leather sofa waiting for her to come in with their drinks. When she did he took the steaming mug from her hands gratefully and followed her with his gaze as she sat in the chair opposite him and not on the sofa by his side. He felt that creeping feeling he had had many years before when she was pregnant with Isabella and afraid to tell him and he knew he had to ask her to tell him the truth now. The problem was that part of him wanted to ignore it and was hoping it would go away of its own accord so he found himself saying in his head that waiting one more day couldn't hurt. Let them sleep on it and see how they were in the morning; perhaps sharing a bed together for the night would bring them closer and if it didn't then he would have to ask for her honesty in the morning.