A/N: I'm SO sorry it took so long to update. AP History is more time consuming than I could have planned for. It takes a lot of time to learn about 18th century Puritans and the Great Awakening; at least, I think that's what we're learning. Anyway, I hope the chapter was worth the wait! You could always let me know, hint!

Chapter 13: Moving On With Life

Song: Move Along

By: All-American Rejects

-Sirius' POV-

When he woke up on Christmas morning Sirius smiled for a moment before the grin dropped off of his face. He had remembered Regulus' absence a lot sooner that day than any other previous day. He had gotten used to Regulus being gone, by now, but it had taken a while. For the first week he kept waking up expecting Regulus to be downstairs; it would take him a walk around the first and second floors to remember that Regulus had died and he wouldn't be downstairs waiting for breakfast or feeding Mira and Carina. It was a hard blow to his mind and heart, those first days, but he had gone numb from that particular sensation of pain. He was starting to get used to the idea of his brother being gone, painful though it was.

He climbed out of bed gently so as not to wake Rose then went to the bathroom and turned the shower on. He stepped in and let the cold water douse him, drowning the initial hurt that he still got sometimes when he thought about Regulus. Sirius stood motionless under the water, letting it wash away his emotions so that he could get through the day somewhat decently.

When he was done with his shower, Sirius dried himself off and got dressed in some black slacks and a red sweater; he didn't want to change later on for the party. He kissed Rose, who was still asleep, on the cheek then went down the hall to check on Calla and A.P.

They had gotten into a new routine of sorts. Since Sirius woke up early nearly every morning now, he took over the morning responsibilities having to do with the kids and Rose would sleep in; it didn't make sense for them both to get up, so he took care of them. Besides, it helped him with the hurt.

The twins were sitting up in their cribs, staring at the wall. When they heard the door open, they turned towards their morning caregiver. Sirius went over and pulled A.P. out of his crib first and changed his diaper. He went and picked out their clothes next, choosing their clothes for the party as well; the nice thing about being magical is, when you have kids you can just spell their clothes clean instead of changing them after every meal and snack. It saved quite a large amount of time, in the long run.

He put A.P. down on the ground to play with his toys while he went and brought Calla out for her turn at dressing. After she'd been changed and dressed, Sirius picked up A.P. in his other arm and brought the kids downstairs for breakfast.

He walked into the kitchen and nodded to Alice. Her and Frank had had to start earlier now that they were caring for three kids instead of one, so they would alternate coming down early to take care of everything they needed to; although, to Sirius, six wasn't that early anymore.

"How are you this morning, Sirius?" Alice asked.

"Well enough, I suppose. You?"

"Oh, I'm fine; slightly tired, but fine." Sirius chuckled at the comment; he could imagine her being tired, with three babies to care for; two was hard enough for him and Rose. "What shall it be this morning; applesauce, mashed bananas, mashed carrots, mashed peas or any of our other variety of mashed foods?" Alice smiled as she listed off all the different foods out on the counter, lifting each jar up as she stated its contents.

"I'll take some applesauce for Calla, she loves the stuff, and some mashed bananas for A.P., that's all I can get him to eat in the mornings, if you don't mind."

"Not at all, chap, not at all." They did this every time Alice was down in the morning; they'd trade some witty banter, mock something or other and then move on to polite small talk.

"How are those three behaving? Are they getting used to the new schedule?" he asked. That was as close as he'd come to talking about Regulus and Holly's death to anyone other than his children, and that was because they couldn't respond.

"They're adjusting fine. Mira and Cari are getting used to their new room; we decorated it exactly like their old room so the transition would be easier. But what I want to know, as does everyone else, is how are you doing Sirius, how are you handling things?" Sirius knew what she meant, but he wasn't sure he wanted to answer. He sat in silent contemplation for a moment before speaking. He wasn't ready yet; he would just say something to soothe her worry that she could convey to the others. They might suspect that he wasn't actually fine, but if he put on a good enough show they might let him be for a while more.

-Alice's POV-

Alice waited for Sirius to answer her. She'd been meaning to ask him for some time now how he was coping, but hadn't breached the subject as of yet for fear of upsetting him. No one else had asked him either, for the same reason. She wanted to help him, everyone did, but nobody was sure what to do. She had volunteered to ask him last night after dinner, as they determined he was less likely to explode at her especially when the kids were around. She was still waiting anxiously for him to answer. His head was bowed and his eyes were shut.

"Sirius?" she asked, trying to get his attention. He looked up at her and gave a grim smile.

"I'll be fine, Alice. It's just hard, you know? I only had a few years where we were close, and now he's gone; it's just not fair, is all. I miss him so much. Holly as well, though it's different with her."

"That's understandable, but we're all worried about you Sirius. We're worried, and we want you to know that we're here for you if you need us and that you can talk to us any time you want or need to, alright?" he nodded his head. "Good, now let's get back to doling out the mush." Sirius smiled faintly at that and began to feed the twins.

Alice and Frank had adjusted quickly to having three kids, not that they had any choice. They were taking it all in stride, though. Frank had been considering going back to work so they could afford to properly care for all three children, but after a trip to Gringotts they found that he wouldn't have to.

Mira and Carina each had sizable trust funds and Regulus had left his half of the Black fortunes, the monetary portion, to Frank and Alice to use as they saw fit. The rest of the Black fortunes, objects and heirlooms, or what was left of them, had gone to Sirius. To say the least, Frank and Alice would never have to work again if they didn't want to.

Alice finished up feeding the kids and cleaning up the mess that resulted from their eating; she didn't like to disturb Tinker or Dabble unless she had to, and using a spell to clean up was just as easy as calling for one of the house elves. When that was done, she left the kitchen and went over to the living room, leaving Sirius to finish up with feeding Calla and A.P. She put the kids down on the floor by their toys and let them have at it.

The guests would be arriving around noon. The children were being given a later bedtime tonight, but not by much. A few people would be staying the night, for convenience.

Arthur and Molly would be staying, as would their sons; she said that she had an announcement to make, a lot of people thought they knew what it was though. She had, after all, made several announcements over the years. Andy and Ted would be staying for a few days, until New Years, along with Dora; Dora had started to rebel against even that variation of her name, only the adults were allowed to call her anything but Tonks and that was with a great deal of complaining on the young ones part. Various other Order members would be staying over as well; it was just easier to do when you had kids.

All in all, it would be a full house. All seven extra bedrooms would be used, plus all five bedrooms on the second floor. The others had reorganized things and gone through Regulus and Holly's belongings to clear out the rooms. It had all been put into storage for Sirius to look through later on and the rooms had all been converted to guest rooms for occasions such as this. Nobody had wanted to disturb their friends' belongings, but it had to be done sometime.

They had invited a large group of people over; the entire Order, the entire Hogwarts staff, the Auror department, the Obliviator department, their various family members, old friends from school and anyone else they could think of. Most everyone who had been invited had accepted the offer of a place to spend the evening. The wards had been changed again to allow single usage in by people saying 'Jolly Old St. Nick'. It was a ridiculous phrase for a floo connection, but it had holiday spirit and it could be concealed in a letter with a sentence about Christmas.

Alice began to doze on the couch, but pulled herself awake so she could monitor the babies. Alice would have to talk to Molly for some advice; how on earth could she handle six boys, it seemed impossible! Alice would have to get some tips about time management or something, she was crashing hard. She began dozing again, but this time she couldn't wake herself and she slipped into a deep sleep.

Before she was gone completely, she wondered if Molly would start mothering Sirius. She had a tendency to pester a person until they told her what was wrong; maybe she could make him feel better where everyone else failed. After all, Molly had a strange ability in sensing those types of situations and Sirius was obviously exhibiting some signs of depression. Alice fell asleep with that last thought and became useless to the world for the next two hours.

-Molly's POV-

That boy looked depressed. He couldn't fool Molly; she had a sixth sense about these things, like how she could tell if someone wasn't telling the truth, eating enough or getting enough sleep, which he wasn't either. She shook her head and decided to put it off until later on that evening; she would have plenty of time to talk to him, and it would be better to do it with a bit of privacy. She would use tact, if nothing else. She walked over to Arthur and smiled broadly, temporarily putting aside her worry.

"When should we make the announcement, dear?" she asked. They had been there for a few hours now. Small snacks had been served earlier on, and were still sitting out and being replenished for anyone who got hungry. Arthur beamed at her; if it was possible, he was more excited about the announcement than Molly was, and that was saying something.

"Why not now," he responded, still beaming.

Molly nodded and turned to find Lily in the crowd. She had confronted the younger woman earlier on and asked her if she would help them gather attention to make the announcement. She gave Lily the signal that she was ready when she caught the other woman's eyes.

Lily stood up on the coffee table and cleared her throat loudly, causing everyone to stop their conversations and turn to her. That girl has a gift for attention grabbing, Molly thought; she'll do well later on when her children get older and need punishing.

"Molly and Arthur have an announcement to make, as I'm sure you all know, and they would like to share with us at this time." Lily smiled and stepped down as everyone turned their gaze on the red-headed couple, who were still beaming.

"Well, the first part of our announcement probably isn't a surprise," stated Arthur, a happy, joking note in his voice. "Molly's pregnant."

Everyone smiled at the couple and started shouting out congratulations. Those in the near vicinity were patting Arthur on the back and hugging Molly. The couple continued to smile and Arthur held his hand up to silence them once more. Once the crowd had settled again, Molly picked up where her husband had left off.

"The surprising news, though, is that we're going to have a little girl!" she was smiling, if possible, even more broadly now. Her face was split in the biggest grin anyone had ever seen on her. People started cheering and congratulating the couple again.

"I'm not sure we could handle another boy; they're just too rambunctious," Arthur said, smiling as he joked with the crowd. Everyone laughed at the comment about having to deal with too many young boys, all energetic troublemakers.

The group went back to their individual conversations after that, someone occasionally coming up to congratulate the couple.

The evening went on in a similar fashion; polite conversations, lots of eating and drinking, games and presents. It was a wonderful party, very enjoyable. The party picked up a little after the kids went to bed at around 9:30 and lasted until about 1:00, when people started to make their way home.

All those staying at the home began to make their way to their assigned room for the evening. Molly sent Arthur up with the kids, but stayed behind to confront the man who'd been pretending to be happy all evening.

She walked up to Sirius when she saw him standing alone. She stood beside him and waited for him to acknowledge her presence. After a few moments, he spoke.

"Hello Molly. Congratulations on the daughter; you must be excited." He was wearing that fake cheery smile again and he wouldn't look her in the eye. She knew how to deal with that; she was the mother of six boys, after all.

"Sirius Black, you look at me when you talk to me and don't you dare pretend to be alright. I know you better than that; anyone could spot from a mile away that you're faking cheerfulness."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Molly, I'm just fine."

"Don't give me that, young man. You are not fine and you know it. Now, tell me what's bothering you; and don't say that you're fine because all it will earn you is a scolding and some chores at my house." She knew that being harsh was the only way to get to this boy; codling and tip-toeing around the subject didn't work, you had to be blunt. Besides, her garden could use a good de-gnoming.

"Molly, I'm a grown man. You can't make me do anything I don't want to." He was trying to make excuses now; she was breaking down his defenses. He had passed trying to feign ignorance and was now trying to take control of the situation; good, only a short ways to go.

"Just try me." She was waiting for him to realize that she could, in fact, get him to do whatever chores she had for him. She was a stern woman, not one to be ignored or played with. If she wanted something done, it got done. That's just how it was, and everyone who knew her or of her knew that to be an un-alienable fact. She could see the wheels turning in his mind, trying to come up with a new defense to having to answer.

She figured nobody had been able to break all his defenses; and that if they'd broken any they were very small ones. She intended to break them all down and make him see reason so he could finish grieving and go on with life. She may seem harsh, but it had been a month and he had a wife and two children to look after.

Molly noticed when he'd made his decision, because his face crumpled a bit. His shoulders sagged and he let out a huge sigh of defeat. He looked at her for a moment, trying to come up with words to speak. She waited patiently, trying to get him to do it on his own without further prompting.

"Fine, but can we go somewhere where nobody will overhear us? The office should be empty." She nodded and he began walking towards the back of the house and the offices. As it turned out, the office wasn't empty. It was occupied by James, Lily, Henry and Harriet. Lily must have guessed what was going on, because she smiled and said the girls' office was free. So, that's where they went. Molly waited for Sirius to begin. He was laying down on the chaise lounge and Molly was sitting in one of the chairs. He turned to her, and gave a faint smile before beginning what was to be an even longer night for the both of them.

-Sirius' POV-

He had been pushed, he knew, to his breaking point. He had been asked countless times in the past weeks how he was, what was wrong, if he needed anything and so on. He was sick of it. He couldn't take anymore questions about his well-being. When she asked him, and kept pushing, he decided he'd answer her. He couldn't keep up the endless reassuring of his mental health anymore, it would make him crazy.

He started telling her all he had felt. He took her through every stage of his emotions from the evening it happened until that day. He figured that it may have been more than she bargained for, but she did ask him.

He told her of how he felt his world collapsing a little that first night. How he had felt part of his heart being torn. The sick feeling he got in his gut. The horror he felt at what had happened.

He went on to tell her of how he'd woken up expecting to see his brother. How he had felt disappointment and pain, a burning, searing pain in his chest, every time he thought of his brother those first days. How he'd turn a corner and think it would be his brother, but it would end up being somebody else; come to ask him how he was again. He told of how he was slowly going numb from the experience.

He told her of how he tried to find an anchor to the real world in his children. How they kept him grounded, connected to life. He told her how he was enraged at those who'd done it. How he was furious with himself for not preventing it from happening. He told of how he should have been taken instead, how it wasn't his brothers' time and he was too young.

She was crying now, silent tears of pity and sadness, grief and pain. He began crying as well, though he didn't notice until he went to rub his eyes and felt the warm wetness surrounding his eyes. He had gotten up and begun pacing the room; her eyes followed him around the desk, to the door, to the windows, to the wall and back to the desk. He kept walking, trying to rid himself of the emotions he was feeling.

He couldn't stop himself from feeling. He couldn't stop the pain, the sorrow, the anger, the torturous agony, the unwarranted sense of loneliness. He cried, and told her of how he felt guilty for being a horrible brother those first years of his life, and that of his brothers. He stopped pacing and collapsed onto the ground when he spoke of how it was his fault, and how he had 'murdered' his brother; "maybe not directly," he said when she objected, "but it was my fault he died."

She got up and walked over to him and embraced him. One of those motherly hugs she gave that made you feel as if your ribs would break and your lungs collapse. She began muttering nonsense words of comfort into his ear and rocking him back and forth. What am I, four? He thought to himself. Well, I suppose that she's used to dealing with young children and it is kind of making me feel better, I suppose.

He let her comfort him, in her own over-protective mother-ish sense. When she pulled back, she had him sit down on a chair and sat herself in front of him. She looked in his eye and began to coerce him into ridding himself of his self doubt, self blame and grief.

She told him how he couldn't have prevented it, how he did all he could. He retorted by saying that he wasn't much use then, was he? She told him to shush up and listen. She explained how he couldn't have stopped those curses from flying.

She told him what a wonderful brother he'd been, how Regulus had told her how happy he was with their relationship. How his brother had confided in her that he held no hard feelings for years past.

She explained that he couldn't possibly be at fault, and that he was being ridiculous. She reminded him of his responsibilities to the others; his wife, children, friends, the Order.

Every time he tried to argue, she had a counter. He was forced to face the fact that he wasn't at fault. It took them all night, but Molly got Sirius to stop blaming himself and move on a bit more from Regulus and Holly's deaths. Sirius left the room that night felling like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

-James' POV-

James noticed that Sirius was acting differently the next day, they all did. He even seemed to be walking differently; as if the weight of the world had been on his shoulders but he'd recently dropped it on someone else's back for a time.

Lily had explained to him about how Sirius and Molly had gone into the office to talk last night. How she'd heard shouting, crying, shattering objects, screaming and any other number of noises after he'd gone to bed, wanting to be on hand in case something happened.

James was glad that his friend had gotten help. He was very grateful to Molly, for doing what the rest of them had wanted to avoid. He would commend her, later on, in her success and thank her for helping.

He thought that things might start to get back to normal again. Their routines had been observed, and they had talked, but that didn't mean anything next to peoples' moods.

It was to be expected the feeling of loss of normalcy, when two people leave the daily routine, for whatever reason. The fact that those people would never come back, made it that much harder to cope with.

They had all tried their hardest. They had worked to keep the same routines and the same schedules as before, with some slight tweaking here and there to make up for the lost people, but it wasn't the same and never would be.

Having Sirius in a bit of a better mood would make all the difference, because he was most affected, except for Cari and Mira of course.

Remus and Rina would have to appoint new guardians for Lucinda, but had decided to wait another week or so before making that decision.

They would be having a small New Year celebration, but not another large party as they had done for Christmas. Just a few select members of the Order and the house occupants would attend. Simple, yet hopefully it would be a good distraction.

James was getting more and more frustrated by the day, what with all the Death Eater attacks. Many people were being murdered, brutally, every day.

More, now than ever, did James want to take a more active role in the war. He wasn't comfortable sitting around, throwing parties while countless people were being killed. He knew it was a part of war, which was a part of life, but it depressed him and angered him to no end.

Aside from the deaths, were the people going over to Voldemort's side. There was Peter, which still galled James to think about especially after what happened as a result of that news. There were also some other Order members changing sides, though not taking the time to tell Dumbledore. They'd stop coming to the meetings, stop making contact with the others and ignore any attempts at contact made by the Order. The Dorsey's and the Wimbush's had both turned traitor to the Order, much to Dumbledore's dismay. It seemed they were losing members left and right.

There was nothing to be done about it, it would seem. The war seemed endless, without any visible means of a win for either side. The Dark made strategic attacks, but the Light countered and defended from them and captured members of the Dark. It was a fairly balanced war, despite the terror instilled in everyone that their family would be next in the line of vicious attacks.

Much was yet to come, in the struggle between Dark and Light, good and evil, Dumbledore and Voldemort. Because that's what it really boiled down to in the end, James though, Dumbledore vs. Voldemort. They were the leaders of each side and they controlled the goings on of their respective sides.

It made no sense, sometimes. What was the war really about, if you thought about it? A crazed man wanting to exterminate all muggles, muggleborns and half-bloods. If you were to ask James, he would say it sounded a hell of a lot like that muggle war forty years ago, the one with the maniac who wanted to rid the world of some muggle religion or other; James never really paid attention to the specifics of muggle history, but Lily had mentioned the basics to him a while ago when they studied Grindewald in History of Magic and it had sort of stuck. It was a very twisted web of wars, but if you were to examine it enough it made for a pattern of madness.

-Rose's POV-

It had been a week since New Years and everyone had returned to their homes by now. Dora would come by a couple times a week to study with Lily about various things. They had keyed her to the floo wards so she could come through whenever she wanted. She was becoming very independent and she wanted to do everything for herself or by herself; cook, learn about Metamorphmagi, clean her room, pick her own clothes, choose her own hair color and eye color, and floo to Camp Lily for the day without 'mummy's help'. They all found it quite amusing. It was normal, though, for a child to assert their independence, at least for a short while.

Rose had noticed the change in Sirius right away, and she had grinned like a madwoman all day long. She'd made a point of thanking Molly for her excellent confrontational abilities.

Routine was pretty normal, sometimes getting rather boring. But then, there were the times when…

Rose thought back on the past month and thought about that phrase 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger'. That seemed to apply here, but they had come out of their 'stagnancy' relatively unscathed.

They were moving on with life, and Rose planned to enjoy hers to the fullest. After all, she didn't know how long she had left. She could die tomorrow, or in two years for all she knew. She planned to live each day as if it were her last, enjoying the small things and taking pleasure in what she could while taking the pains in stride. She was taking on a new attitude towards life, after Regulus and Holly's deaths. Life would be good for them, from now on; at least it would if Rose had anything to do with it.

-Lily's POV-

The next couple months passed by quickly for the group of friends. Sirius completed the grief cycle and finally stopped blaming himself. Rose had started smiling a lot more often, though nobody really knew why. Frank and Alice had gotten used to the extra children in their care. Remus and Rina had named Sirius and Rose as Lucinda's guardians with the reasoning that Frank and Alice had enough children to be getting on with and that Lily and James would have their hands full with their Lord and Lady.

Lily and James had gone to many a wizarding library and searched for every book they could find on Lady Claire and Lord Charles. Whenever they found something new, which wasn't often, they alerted Dumbledore immediately. The two also searched for any other such occurrences.

Harry and Hallie had said their first words the week before, extremely early for children.

------FLASHBACK-----

Lily walked into the living room and saw James sitting on the floor with the twins. He'd been trying to get one of them to say 'daddy' for a month now, but both just looked at him like he was a cloud floating above them in the sky.

"Come on, one of you must be able to say it. 'Daddy'. That's not so hard, is it? You two give it a go. Come on." They continued to look at him and smile. They turned to each other for a moment then Harry turned to James and pronounced with great confidence;

"Pa-foo!" Harry smiled at his father, who was looking rather disgruntled.

"No, Harry, daddy. Not Padfoot, daddy. Try again." James waited expectantly for either of their children to pronounce daddy.

"Pa-foo! Pa-foo! Pa-foo!" Harry kept on saying the name over and over again through his giggles. He turned to Hallie, who turned to James and smiled at him. James looked to his daughter, hoping to hear something along the lines of daddy.

"Pong!" James' face brightened and he turned to me.

"Lily, did you hear that? She knows her old man! She called me Prongs!" He was beaming with sheer joy now.

-----END FLASHBACK-----

Hallie had unconsciously won a piece of James that day. She could probably get anything she wanted from him, even though she could barely talk. All she'd have to do was point at it and he'd get it for her; that was why Lily wouldn't let James take them shopping anymore.

Sirius had laughed when he heard of Harry's first word, much to the annoyance of James. None of the other children had started to speak yet, but it was only a matter of time.

-James' POV-

It still annoyed him that Harry's first word had been Padfoot. It shouldn't, he knew, especially since it'd been three months. It was mid June now, a couple weeks before Calla and A.P. turned 1 year old.

All the kids had had their first words by now, and a few their first steps. Harry and Hallie had walked in April, a month after their first words. Calla's first word had been 'qui-it', her version of quidditch, according to Sirius it signified a superior talent in the sport; she had managed a few steps by herself. A.P. had said 'doggy', which made everyone laugh, after he saw Sirius transform back and forth between his dog form and his human form one day to entertain the kids; he had also managed to walk a bit.

Neville had said 'mama' which made Alice smile for a while; he hadn't yet walked on his own, he kept stumbling, but he was close. Lucinda had said 'choc-it', causing Remus to grin from ear to ear; Lucinda had walked a few feet, though she did stumble a bit. Cari had said 'daddy' to Frank, making everyone sad for a bit; she hadn't walked yet. Mira had said 'moo-ey', attempting to say 'moony', but it had come out as more of a cow impression; she hadn't walked yet either.

Everyone was progressing nicely with whatever they were doing. They were planning on having one big birthday party for all the kids instead of five separate ones. It would be in mid July, so they had some time left.

-Sirius' POV-

It was mid July, and the day of the childrens birthday party. Sirius had taken enormous steps in getting over Regulus' death; at least as much as one could expect him to after what happened. Molly had continued to help him, berating him whenever he got into another funk.

The first floor and the game room were decorated with quidditch themed paraphernalia and some Disney souvenirs; Mickey and Minnie things, mostly. The party would start soon, so Sirius had to finish getting dressed; nothing much, just some jeans and a t-shirt. They weren't dressing up of course; it was a kid's party after all.

When he was ready, he walked downstairs to help finish up with what he could. Tinker and Dabble had done an amazing job with the place, he noted after walking down the last flight of stairs. He wished he could apparate like Lily and James in the house; it would save so much time.

Sirius walked into the living room and found Lily, Alice and Rina with the kids; Rose was in the kitchen making the cake, something she had insisted upon doing herself, and the guys were upstairs getting ready, they'd done so in shifts. He sat down on the couch next to Alice and picked up Calla and A.P.

"So Sirius, you feel old now that your kids are a year old?" Lily was trying to make a joke; she was off her game today.

"I've had time to acclimate to the feeling, but what about you? You've still got a few days before you hit that mark of condemnation. You'll be what in September, 30, 40?" Sirius ducked as a pillow came his way, thrown by a red-faced Lily. She hated when people talked about her age, even if it was only a joke. "What," he said sarcastically, "you can't take as good as you get? I'm disappointed, Lily-Pad. You're losing your touch, I'm afraid. We'll have to work on that."

Another pillow came his way, but he wasn't quick enough to dodge this one and it hit him smack in the face.

"I told you to stop calling me that in fourth year, Sirius Black, and you had better listen. I don't know what possessed you to bring that horrid name back now, but it had better possess you to put it right back where it came from…the past." Sirius began laughing, which only made Lily even more flustered.

She got up and, forgetting her wand in the heat of the moment, started tickling him in his weak spots; his neck and arms. It was common knowledge that Sirius was overtly ticklish in those places, and being like a sister, Lily knew exactly how to make him regret his words. She was a good judge of just how much he deserved, too. She never went overboard, but she always made her point clear and got back at him all at once.

He started laughing even more, an uncontrolled noise that sounded maniacal. When she heard this, Lily started laughing too and collapsed onto the floor. Rina and Alice were looking on in amusement, watching their friends 'fight' about a silly nickname.

"Are you two quite finished yet?" asked Rose from the door, a smile on her face and laughter in her voice. "People will be arriving shortly and they certainly don't need to see Lily about to wet herself from excitement; maybe one of the children, but certainly not an adult."

"I take offense to that statement. I have never once, nor will I ever, wet myself. I demand a public apology. An article in the Daily Prophet and a public announcement should do." Lily had composed herself and was now doing her best to keep a straight face.

"Yes," Rose said rather dryly and sarcastically, "I'll get right on that. How about right after I spit-shine Voldemort's shoes." Everyone chuckled at that.

"Don't do that, the shine might interfere with a duel and then where would we be?" again, everyone found the humor in the statement and laughed heartily at Lily's wry response.

"Right-o, chief. Listen, I could use some help with the names on the cake; I never could get those charms down. Would you help me for a minute Lily?" Lily nodded and, getting up, followed Rose back into the kitchen, murmuring something about shining Mad-Eye's head, while she was at it.

The rest of them heard that and got another good laugh, which is what James, Remus and Frank saw upon entering the room. They didn't have to know what was going on to smile, Sirius knew, just seeing their friends laughing was enough to make them happy these days; at least happy enough to smile and join in on the fun.

They sat there, enjoying each others' company, until the first of the guests arrived. Molly and Arthur had brought the kids; those who could, began a game of tag. Molly immediately went up to Sirius and asked him how he was, demanding an honest answer, forgetting to have her children greet everyone. She didn't leave off until she was satisfied Sirius had told the truth about being much better. Shortly thereafter came Andy, Ted and Tonks; she pitched an absolute fit when anybody called her anything but Tonks, so they just called her that now. She felt her middle name was rubbish as well; Walburga, after her great-aunt. What Andy was thinking, Sirius didn't know, just that she kind of liked the name he guessed.

Tonks joined in the game of tag after greeting everyone, having been reminded of her manners by her mother just as she was about to run off.

Several of the Hogwarts staff arrived together; Minnie, Dumbledore, Flitwick, Sprout, and Pomfrey. After them came some Order members and their kids, then some ministry people and kids if they had them. They had a full house, Sirius noted with joy. It was good to have friends, especially in a time of war.

Sirius saw Molly talking to everyone who lived in the house with Sirius, those that could talk at least, and receiving full reports on his sanity from everyone. He chuckled, as that was all he could do. Molly was going to follow up as long as she had to too be sure; that's the way she was, motherly, and mothers don't give up that easily. It was a good thing, too, that she didn't, otherwise Sirius would still be depressed.

Once everyone was present, they ate buffet style with a table of food situated in the middle of the games room. The bar had pre-made drinks set out, some butterbeer, and some muggle soda for those wanting it. After lunch, they had cake. They sat all the birthday kids around the table and shut off all the lights. When Rose walked in, her lighted masterpiece balanced precariously in her arms, the children seated around the table were enthralled by the firelight.

She walked up and set the cake on the table, cutting a rather large piece for each of them. It was a huge cake, by any standards. Six layers with chocolate frosting and Minnie and Mickey shaped heads around it and the children's names written around the different layers.

Each child had a piece with a candle on it. Once they had sat there for a moment, they blew out as if extinguished, having been on a timed lighting charm. Rose pulled the candles out of the cake and waited, a camera now poised in her hands.

Sirius wasn't quite sure what to make of his wife's strange behavior, but went with it for the time being. He watched as, Calla and A.P. first, the children dunked their heads into their slab of cake, one by one. They all pulled their heads up with cake and frosting plastered to their faces, grinning like fools.

Sirius laughed with everyone else, while Rose snapped pictures of each new one-year-old. He couldn't wait to see those pictures. He continued to watch his children try and eat the cake, while others mingled with their own slices of devil's food cake.

After cake, were the presents. There wasn't much a person could buy for children with wealthy parents who didn't really need anything and couldn't express what they wanted yet.

Molly had knitted a pair of socks for each of them, along with some jumpers. Andy had gotten each of them a practice wand; "A little early, I know," she said, "but you can never learn to early, can you?" Dumbledore had gotten each of them a few sugar quills, stating that "One can never have too much candy!" Minnie had, surprisingly, gotten each of them a pair of Minnie or Mickey ears from Disney World saying, "I don't know your strange obsession, I probably never will, but since you enjoy them so much I thought the children might as well." Moody had, not so surprisingly, gotten each of them a foe glass, "You can never be prepared to early, CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

Those who didn't know them as well got them various things. Ranging from clothes, to 'gift galleons', to toys and books. The kids were delighted at first, but got bored half-way through and started to see who could throw their ears the farthest, making Minnie smile.

After presents, they let the kids go at it for a while, playing games and doing whatever they wanted so long as it didn't hurt anyone. A few hours later, and everyone was leaving for home again. The kids had gone down for naps and the adults were watching a movie in the Living Room. When it got late enough, they all went to bed. Sirius thought about the great time they'd had, and how he was looking forward to their next party. They didn't really throw parties for the 'adults' because there were just so many of them. Although, Sirius thought, Halloween was just around the corner.

A/N: I'll try to update soon, I promise! I'm kinda getting writers block, but no need to worry because I shan't quit!

IMPORTANT! Alright, I'd like everyone's opinion. After the 'Halloween Incident', should I:

keep it the same story

start a sequel

write an in-between chapter then a sequel (the in-between would be a summary of years 1 ½ - 10 ½, until they got their Hogwarts letters)

Please review with your opinion, personal preference, or any compliments  hint, hint  or criticisms.