Harry woke up then next morning at 8:00. The baby woke up.
"Lavendeeeerrr" he whined. "Get the babyyyyy."
"His name's Caleb, Harry." Lavender said after stretching and yawning. She pulled open the crimson curtains and flooded the room with light. "Good morning to you too."
"G'Mornin" he mumbled from under his pillow. "Caleb is still crying…"
"I'm going, Harry," she said after a solid glare toward him.
"Hello, Caleb! You are so cute!" Lavender said, picking up the sobbing baby. She would have sworn he was real. "Are you hungry? Let's get you a bottle!" she said in a high voice, rocking Caleb in her arms.
"Lavender, can I come?" Amari came out of her room.
"Of course, why wouldn't you be able to?"
"Magic thing on the stairs…"
Lavender looked at the top of the stairs. There was indeed a magical gate there. She pressed a button that both Amari and Caleb wouldn't be able to reach and it disappeared. She pressed the button several times to try it out then headed down the stairs when Caleb started to cry again.
"Amari, can you do me a favor and pull the high chair out to the table?" Lavender asked sweetly.
"Need some help?" Harry asked, seeing her trying to balance the baby on her hip and prepare a bottle at the same time. Amari was scratching the floor with the highchair.
"It's heavy!" Amari said, giving up on her task. Harry lifted it up with ease and placed it at the table. He then took their baby and put him in the chair.
"Thanks, Harry," Lavender said, while fussing over the bottle.
"Should I go wake Ron and Hermione up?" he asked, looking at Amari, whom was absentmindedly playing with her locket, staring into space. Lavender nodded.
"Do you want to wake them up with me?" Harry asked Amari. She smiled her evil little smile – which Harry didn't see – and ran upstairs to Ron and Hermione's room. She tiptoed in and climbed on to Ron's bed.
"Hermione? Wake up, you'll want to see this!" Harry woke Hermione up first. She woke up right away and looked over at Ron. Amari started jumping.
"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey! Wake up, Ron! You missed Quidditch practice!"
"WHAT?!" he woke up so violently, he fell off the bed. He was fuming, but the others were laughing.
"You really shouldn't sleep on the edge like that, you might fall off." Amari said, looking down on Ron from the bed.
Ding-dong, a magical doorbell filled the room, cutting Ron off – who was, again, going to retort. Amari ran downstairs with Harry to answer the door.
"Hi, Parvati," Amari greeted. "What's your baby's name?"
"This is Jamie, Amari. Isn't she cute?" Parvati asked, hugging the baby in her arms. Seamus was standing behind her.
"Is Lavender here?" she knew the answer, but she had to be polite.
"Why don't you let them in, Amari?" Harry said.
"Come in!" she jumped at the question. She was staring into space again and hadn't realized she was blocking the doorway.
After the babies' breakfast, Lavender set up some baby toys and let them play together in the living room while she and Parvati made bacon and eggs. Amari continued reading the spell book she had fallen asleep to the night before in her room. She locked her door and practiced some spells.
"Amari?" Ron was knocking on her door.
"Yes?" she stuffed the book under her bed and spread out her Barbies. She came and unlocked the door.
"Can I come in?"
"Okay…"
He closed the door. "I heard what you were doing, and I want my wand back."
"But…" Amari sighed. "I can do magic!"
"Well so can I! I need my wand! For class!"
"It's no fun without a wand, though! Can I borrow it sometimes? Please?" she begged.
He didn't want to say yes, but she did have his wand and he was defenseless. "I guess, but only sometimes. I need it most of the time, but you can use it if I'm watching you. I want it back right now, though."
She reluctantly handed it back. "Promise?"
"Promise."
They went back downstairs together, somewhat at peace. Amari was upset, though. She went to Hermione.
"Can we go play on the swing set?"
"After breakfast, hun" she said. "Lav's almost finished the eggs."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Are you fond of promises?" Ron asked.
"My daddy only promises if he can, so I know if it might not happen."
"Breakfast!" Parvati called from the kitchen. They all took a plate and sat down on the couch or on the floor. Hermione and Ron ended up fighting over the last seat on the couch and Hermione sat on Ron.
"This spot's good for me!" Hermione said, laughing.
"Hermioneeee Get offfff" he whined. She still laughed and she sat on the armrest.
"Lavender? Can I sit with you?" Amari asked the cook.
"Sure," Lavender picked her up and settled her on her knee. "Now. What are we going to do about classes? We can't bring the babies, but we can't all stay home!"
"Well one person from each house can stay home. The babies like each other and are calm together, so it might be a good idea for them to go to one house. By the way, how's your house, Parvati?" Hermione said. They could always depend on Hermione for these things.
"Our house is exactly like yours, except Naomi's room is pink and we have one less room. Our Niffler is driving me mad! It attacked my earring yesterday and I needed to block off the kitchen this morning so it wouldn't take the cutlery. You are so lucky!"
"Back to the point, I like Hermione's idea. Who's going to stay first on Monday?" Ron asked.
"I will" Parvati and Lavender volunteered. They then giggled at their simultaneous behavior.
"Do I have to come or stay behind?" Amari asked. "Because I don't want to go to class!"
"I guess you can stay… If it's okay for the person who stays home…" Hermione said. "Lavender, Parvati, can you two take care of her and the babies on Monday? If you're not, she can come. Amari, you might need to come sometimes, okay?"
"Of course! The more the merrier!" Lavender said cheerily, tickling Amari.
"Yaaaay!" she said, laughing.
"Harry, take the dishes, would you?" Lavender requested.
"Why me?"
"Because me and Parvati cooked and I said so."
"Fine," Harry took everyone's plates and cutlery to the kitchen and put them in the sink. "Do I have to wash them too?"
"Leave them there, I'll clear them later. I learned some cleaning spells and different spells that could help us with the house. I can take care of cleaning." Hermione said.
"Are we going to play on the swings now?" Amari asked. She was bored of talking.
"Of course, Amari. I did promise!" Hermione said. She flopped onto Ron's lap again, knocking the breath out of him, before getting up. Amari giggled and they all headed outside.
They hadn't looked closely at the swing set the day before. It had two baby swings, five normal swings and a small slide. It wasn't very fancy, but it was big. Before long, Naomi and Caleb were swinging and laughing in their swings with Seamus pushing them with a sour look on his face.
Amari was climbing on the bars and Harry, Ron, Hermione, Parvati and Lavender were sitting on the swings. They weren't swinging; they were just talking.
"I love this project! We get to be so independent and I feel like a mom! Naomi's so precious… Oh no! What will happen when the project finishes?" Parvati said, close to tears. "We'll just… lose the babies? It will be like having a true child and she'll die?"
"Oh, Parvati don't think that! Just enjoy the time you have with her! It'll be okay!" Lavender comforted her crying friend.
"W-Wouldn't that b-be t-terrible?" Parvati sobbed.
"Dying is sad, whoever it is that dies. We shouldn't be thinking of something so depressing, Parvati!" Hermione tried to cheer her friend up. It was working, but that conversation was depressing Harry. Death definitely wasn't his favorite topic. His eyes watered, but he held in his tears. His parents and Sirius, who had been the closest thing he could have to a father, were now clouding his thoughts.
"I need to go to the bathroom." Harry got up and went into the house. Only Ron and Amari heard him – Ron nodded and Amari just watched him go.
They had all been instructed to attend lunch in the Great Hall for their first day of the project. Harry was having a very difficult time changing Caleb.
"What's taking you so long Harry?" Lavender popped in the doorway to check on Caleb. She just finished her shower and got dressed.
"He won't stop kicking!" Harry was frustrated. Caleb hadn't stopped moving or crying.
"Did you try soothing him? Give him a toy or something and he'll be okay. I'll get his diaper bag ready." She grabbed said diaper bag and went downstairs to put a bottle in it.
"Here you go little buddy…" Harry gave Caleb a stuffed animal. The infant smiled and started sucking on it right away, neither kicking nor screaming.
In Ron and Hermione's room, Hermione didn't approve of the walls of her little changing cubicle. They worked like a sheet – you could see shadows through it. She only realized because she saw Ron go behind his before she started changing.
"I can see your shadow, you know," Ron told her when he finished. "Did you know they're not light-proof?"
"Yes, I saw your shadow earlier. I don't like it. But I suppose it's better than nothing… Go watch Amari, Ron!" she remembered, "Harry and Parvati are busy! Nobody's watching her!"
"I'm going!" Ron said. With one last glance at Hermione's shadow, he headed downstairs.
Amari was waiting in a little purple dress on the couch, reading a book with an hourglass on the front.
"What are you reading?" he asked her, sitting down beside her.
"Mysteries of Time: Volume One" she said automatically.
Ron wasn't interested in the book. "We're going soon, go put your shoes on and use the bathroom if you have to." He said. Mrs. Weasley always told him that before they went somewhere when he was little. She marked her page and went into the bathroom. He went and put his shoes on with her.
Harry came downstairs holding Caleb, fully dressed and fresh. "I hope Malfoy's stuck on diaper duty," he said darkly. Everybody came downstairs and they were finally ready to go.
"Well, let's go."