Chapter 4: The Children

"I apologized for months and she finally forgave me. She surprised me in September with a letter from Nicolas Flammel requesting I come to be his apprentice," Albus chuckled, "She knew him from parties she'd gone too. She'd charmed him the same she charmed everyone she ever met. Oh you should have seen her back then."

He sighed and his eyes took on a misty dreamy like quality.

"What was she like?" Hermione asked leaning forward.

"She was so beautiful and so wonderful. Sharp as a whip and she could cut you down to size easily," Albus chuckled he took a picture out and stared at it a few seconds before handing it to the two.

Harry took the picture and saw a woman in a white dress and blue cape with a black corset walking barefoot on the beach holding the hands of two adorable four year olds. Both had dark hair but it appeared that the rest of them looked just like the headmaster. The wind was blowing her hair from her face just as the toddlers grabbed her legs and hugged her.

"The boys look like they really love her," Harry stated. He still wished sometimes he'd had a mother.

"All ten adore her," Albus sighed, "she never failed to be there when they really needed her."

"You have ten children!?" Hermione exclaimed.

Albus chuckled taking the picture back.

"Yes I have ten. We both wanted a big family," he nodded.

"What did you name the twins sir? Minerva wouldn't tell us…she would tell us your wife's real name either," Harry stated.

"Well if we told you Harry you'd realize you know one of her grandchildren very well…of course you'd also know two of our daughters," Albus stated.

"Tell us," Harry requested.

"I'll wait for her name. But we named our son's Alistair Henry and Walter Maxwell. They own Wild and Fast Brooms Inc. They make all the firebolt and comet models," Albus said proudly.

"Whoa you mean they made the Fire Comet?" Harry asked.

"Yes that's their newest," Albus laughed.

"So you went to stay with the Flammels then?" Hermione asked.

"Yes we did. We spent seven years in Egypt with them. Perenelle took a shining to Katy and taught her everything she knew about potions and healing. We came back to England after my publication of the twelve uses of Dragon's Blood. That gave me a bit of publicity and people started to respect and like me. Katy would have been the perfect diva but she's always stayed in the shadows of my lime light," Albus sighed.

"Is that why no one knows her?" Harry questioned.

"Oh they know her they just don't remember. One of my daughters looks so much like her they think she's the one I've taken for so long," Albus shrugged.

"What happened when you came back?" Harry asked.

"We had our third baby! Brianna Elizabeth," Albus stated handing them a picture.

This photo showed the girl from all the others steadily growing older. She was sitting in a bed with her dark hair pulled over one shoulder in a braid as she held and cooed to a tiny baby.

"The five of us lived in a tiny house in Godric's Hollow. We shared a bedroom with Brianna till she was four," Albus stated.

"Then what happened?" Harry asked.

"I got the job as the transfiguration professor here and Katy got a job working as an unspeakable researching death. It's always been her favorite subject," Albus stated.

"Death? She likes it?" Harry asked.

"She likes to know what causes it and what can fight it," Albus explained, "Her last experiment was how to survive a very old curse that destroys one's organs leaving them a shell."

"Did it work?" Hermione asked.

Albus face fell and tears pulled in his eyes as he shook his head.

Hermione bit her lip nervous about what she'd done but quickly Albus partly recovered and continued on.

"Two years after we had gotten out jobs we had another baby. It was a boy we named Vulcan Harris," he said showing them another picture.

Each time a new picture was shown he made sure to put the other back right.

This picture showed Katy as she quietly instructed Brianna how to hold the baby.

"Your wife looks familiar," Hermione frowned.

"I'm sure," Albus smiled mysteriously.

"After Vulcan was born we bought a bigger house that was in London. It was closer to work for Katy so she could be home faster if the kids needed her. Life was good and full of fun and laughter," Albus stated turning more pages, "Of course we had disagreements."

"Oh please they were full on screaming matches," Poppy scoffed entering the room, "how else do you explain your twice broken nose."

Albus chuckled shaking his head.

"Minerva told me to come back. I hear the secrets slowly being leaked," Poppy stated sitting on the arm of the headmaster's chair, "How far have you gotten?"

"Vulcan being born," Albus stated patting Poppy's leg.

"Hang on Minerva and Poppy are your daughters!?" Harry exclaimed.

"Of course that explains why you two never called him Albus and Minerva's pauses when she was telling us the story," Hermione stated.

"Okay so go on then," Harry said eagerly.

"Well in 1920 when I was made head of Gryffindor, Katy had our fifth child. A girl we named Eileen Julia. Four years later we had Minerva Katherine," Albus stated. He gave Harry another photo.

This picture had Kathy sitting in a chair by a roaring fire as she bottle fed a baby. Sitting on the arm of the chair looking at the baby was a little girl with black hair that hung in her face, dark eyes, and a long nose.

"That kind of looks like…you're kidding me," Harry said looking up, "Are you serious?"

"Serious about what Harry?" Albus asked.

"I…I think I need to hear the rest of this story first," Harry stated.

"Let's see…Minerva was our sixth and by then our twins were grown and out of the house. Brianna was at Hogwarts in her fourth year so Katy had three children under the age of eight to look after," Albus replied.

"Mother separated us all with at least four years. Had father had his way there could have been twenty of us. Mother was very fertile," Poppy chuckled.

"Anyway I was made the Deputy in '28. Then by 1932 we got a surprise when our one new baby turned into twin daughters. Poppy Guinevere and Flora Honoria," Albus replied pulling a picture from the book.

"Not that one father please," Poppy stated reaching for the picture.

"I'm sure Harry and Hermione can appreciate it," Albus chuckled handing the boy the photo.

Harry had to laugh. The photo was of had a little Minerva, little Poppy, and little Flora were covered in flour and chocolate laughing at each other. Standing tall was Katy with the flour on her apron and she was shrugging at the camera smiling cutely. Then Albus stepped into the frame to kiss his wife and they all laughed.

"That's cute," Hermione laughed.

"That happened a lot when we tried to help her cook. We always ended messy," Poppy laughed.

"Everyone seemed so happy in all these pictures," Harry stated.

"It was…but then in 1940 mother gave birth to Wulfiric Eric and not long after the Grindelwald war broke out. Father was always gone trying to teach and trying to help the resistance," Poppy stated.

"Katy stayed at home with the children until word got out that one of her family members had died. She left Wulfiric with Septimus Weasley and his wife Cedrella and came into the war. She discovered it was Brianna and Vulcan…they'd both died trying to protect some muggles from Grindelwald's followers. For the next few months Katy helped us with tracking down Grindelwald…unfortunately she got herself in trouble," Albus stated.

"What happened?" Hermione asked.

"She was kidnapped by Gellert and unbeknownst to me she was six and half months pregnant. She hadn't told any of us and had kept it a secret," Albus sighed, "The final battle of the war was to rescue her. Before I could immobilize Gellert he shot a spell at her and she fell to the ground."

"Headmaster Dippit came and woke us up in the middle of the night to tell us we had to go to St. Mungo's. The war was over and our parents were at the hospital. They performed and emergency c-section and hysterectomy on mother," Poppy explained, "the baby was a little girl and she came through as did mother."

"She always has been a fighter. We named out tenth and last child Aurora Grace," Albus stated.