Chapter 20: Morning
December 20, 2019; Present
At number 13, Reese yawned and sat up, stretching out. She gently untangled herself from Steve's arm and slipped out of the room. He probably would never even know she was there, she thought.
When Reese got to the kitchen, she groaned. "Amy, are you making pancakes?"
"Maybe," Amy replied smartly as Goldy dropped a plastic bowl on the floor. Bel was at the table on Danny's lap, colouring on a napkin. Remus and Kingsley were talking in low, serious voices in the corner while Mad-Eye drank out of a hip flask and Tonks watched, amused.
"What's wrong with Amy's pancakes?" Tonks wondered.
"Absolutely nothing," Amy said cheerfully. Reese shot her a look.
"They're awful," Reese stated. That was another thing about Reese; she was usually blatantly truthful.
"They are not," Steve said, shuffling into the kitchen. Unbeknownst to Reese, he always knew when she slipped into his bedroom when he was asleep and left before he woke up. She always smelled like a mix of cherries and wood and, during her brief smoking period, smoke. Though his bed always smelled faintly like that, it was always stronger after she left.
"Yes, they actually are but thank you for being nice, Steve," Amy shot a pointed look at Reese before sighing. "I'm trying to improve."
Bel hopped off Danny and walked over to Mad-Eye. "You look lonely," she informed him. He looked slightly taken aback and opened his mouth to protest but she had already started to hop up on his lap.
"No. No, don't do that," he said gruffly.
Bel studied his face for a second before looking at her grandmother for help. "I don't know, Mad-Eye, you look pretty lonely to me," Tonks said.
Mad-Eye glared at her, a look that was overly diminished by the five-year-old sitting on his lap, sucking her thumb. Tonks stifled a giggle. It was cute.
At number 46, people were bustling around, getting breakfast. Harry was making bacon, waffles and eggs and laying out grapefruits, a smile on his face. Molly I was quizzing her grown up daughter on work, Hogwarts and the Daily Prophet (ex-Holyhead Harpies player now a writer for the Quidditch section, run by McGonagall, finished; there was a new, more truthful newspaper, the Everyday Babble run by Luna). The kids only started two food fights (James called Lily fat, Al said that James was stupid). The Past Kids were talking quietly amongst themselves. All in all, it was a good morning all around. Well, except at number 25, where Teddy was being yelled at for accidentally dropping Rachel's new vase. But it was ugly anyway, Reese would say had she been there.