An:Frick! I am a dork. Sry for not updating and...stuff...

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Chapter 47-Happy Birthday

No one noticed that I was hiding something over the weeks. Dumbledore sure knew what he was doing with that spell. I did talk to Snape from time to time, but not much changed. It still felt awkward even discussing something with him at all, so that didn't go anywhere, at least not yet. Different raids happened every now and then but I didn't attend many of them. I was not a great dueller from the start and in my condition as everyone liked to put it, it wasn't a good idea to fight anyone. We were now at the end of February and Valentines Day had come and gone. Sirius birthday was tomorrow and I was eighteen weeks along and definitely showing now. My clothes seemed to not fit and I was moping about that. Or well I could get into them but they all fit very snugly. That all changed when Damien couldn't stand my moping and made me a new wardrobe. But now I was trying to think about Sirius 20th birthday party that was tomorrow and I was planning with the help from Lily. We were now heading towards my office and were not exactly discussing presents for Sirius or possible party guests…

"I can't believe Damien actually designed a complete up-to-date maternity wardrobe for Alice, Petunia, you and me! These are great!" Lily said smiling looking down at her green, empire waist style dress. I just grinned and casually flung my bag filled with portfolios over my shoulder, I was wearing a shirt that almost reached my knees and a top under that. The 80's was here and I was strangely embracing it. My hair was poufy and so was Lily's but we didn't look any different from the women walking around us.

"He was happy to do it…" I smiled and then took a deep breath we were near the office now and I knew I would be bombarded as soon as we entered.

"Lily, when we enter the office just walk quietly next to me, okay?" she looked at me like I was some kind of idiot but nodded. We entered the building and as I predicted my co-workers bombarded me as soon as I opened the door.

"Mrs. Black, Mr. Johnston needs a confirmation on the IMT contract and Miss Lafontaine has left three messages"

"Thank you Maureen, I'll owl them both as soon as I can. Hit me Henry"

"Jasper wants to know when he'll get the sketches for the next seasons line, he also wants to know if you'll attend this months exhibit for aspiring artist Pablo without an X and if you could possibly owl him the conclusions from your last meeting, an intern lost his copies" I reached into my bag and gave the head secretary a couple of portfolios and said;

"Here's next seasons sketches, ask him to owl me a pm about that exhibit and that I'll think about it and I'll have Maurice send them to him today. Peggy could you possibly get me a double coffee and Lily a…tea?" I looked at Lily for confirmation but she just looked at me open mouthed and managed to nod.

"Mr. Stanford has forbidden me from serving you caffeine but I'll get you both some tea"

"Thanks Peggy, damn Damien…yes Heston?" I turned to the companies Head of Marketing.

"Witch Weekly wants an interview with both you and Stanford, Witch Elle named your last line fabulous but Gregorio Müller only gave it three wands in his last review in the Publisher…we'll have to contact him and make some amends. We can't have him trashing us"

"Okay, talk to Maurice and schedule a date. Fantastic I'll have to tell Maurice to send them a fruit basket or something, have you talked to Damien?"

"No I told me to bugger off because he was creating" I stifled a giggle and sighed instead rubbing my eyes.

"Okay, I'll talk it over with him and Jasper and then I'll send you an owl" he nodded and made his way in the other direction. Lily and I now entered the enchanted elevator, much alike the one in the Ministry of Magic.

"Where can I take you?" a magical floating voice asked as soon as the doors closed.

"Stanford&Black head office, please" I said clearly and we took off. I turned to Lily who was staring at me.

"What?"

"Char…how did you do that? You just came in here to leave some papers and you still managed to do so much? What do you do when you're actually at work?" she exclaimed. I just laughed and shook my head.

"You don't want to know, trust me" we arrived at our office and I headed towards the doors and said hello to Doris who handed me a stack of mail before we entered the actual office. That was a mess and in the middle of it Damien was looking at different fabrics.

"I'm thinking fuchsia…what do you think?" he said without looking back at us. I just rolled my eyes at Lily and made my way towards him to help.

Lily's POV

And I though St Mungos was stressful! Well…it was but in a whole different way then Virgo Fashions. I had never actually seen Char work but now I knew why Damien wanted her to take some time off right now. With the war and pregnancy and everything else that was going on. I thanked the woman that brought me tea…I couldn't remember her name anymore; I had met too many people today. I sat down and watched as they argued about something.

"Char…aren't you supposed to plan Sirius birthday party?" Damien said waving his hands around, apparently they had come to some kind of conclusion about whatever they were arguing about. She grinned and started to tell him about what she had planned up until now. She had sent invitation to all our friends and Sirius co-workers, had ordered a caterer. She pretty much had everything under control.

"I've got almost everything covered, but…I still don't know what to get him!" Damien snorted and started listing things that she could get him. We spent a couple of hours at the office. Char and Damien went over some work stuff and I flipped through some magazines. Then Char and I headed for Diagon Alley to buy some decorations.

"Charlotte, Lily!" I heard a voice call our names and we watched as a redheaded woman with five children following her and a very pregnant belly. It was none other than Molly Weasley.

"Molly!" I exclaimed and both of us hugged her and then started to greet her children that we have met on some occasions. Bill was the oldest and was 9 years old and would attend Hogwarts next year, because he would turn 10 later this year, something he made sure of that we knew. Charlie was 7 years old and absolutely obsessed by dragons. Percy was only 3 but had a head for books already…well picture books anyways. Fred and George were only 1 but that didn't stop them from causing trouble, they were curious and loved to run everywhere ever since they learned how to walk. Molly actually had to keep them in a leash. When everyone had been greeted and the twins had been stopped from running away towards a toy shop we somehow managed to make our way to a small coffee shop where we sat down and treated the Weasley kids with some cookies, much to Molly's protests.

"I have a favour to ask you girls" she smiled nervously at us and we urged her to continue.

"You see, I promised to take Bill and Charlie to a show with that popular wizard that does shows for kids…but I don't think I can handle all five of them in a place like that. So could you possibly look after Percy and the twins this afternoon…I know I should have found a babysitter already but the one I had got sick and…" here Char held up her hand and Molly quieted.

"Molly, we'll look after them. It would be our pleasure…and besides, Lily and I need practice, right?" she grinned and molly let out a relieved breath. Char picked up Fred and I picked up George and then we took Percys' hand and started walking towards the Leaky Cauldron, we could floo from there. This couldn't be so hard…could it?

Chars POV

So we arrived back home to an empty apartment, Sirius was still at work. I put down Fred and Lily let go of Precys' hand and sat George down.

"So boys…what do you want to do?" I said smiling. Percy asked if he could have some juice and Lily took his hand and led him towards the kitchen. This was easy, we were going to be great mothers…I turned towards the twins asking;

"And what about…" I trailed off when my eyes met the empty space…no one was there. Bugger. I mentally scolded myself for letting them out of my sight but at the same time I thought; they could have gotten far, right? I started to look for them and found them in the office trying to reach a model of a motorbike that Sirius had there.

"No, don't touch that!" I said and they both turned to me looking guilty but smiled charmingly. Good god…they were already playing me.

"Do you want lunch?" I got smiles and nods and I took them to the kitchen where Lily was already making sandwiches. When they were all fed and happy we had to chase them down to get them cleaned and again to stop them from ruining a porcelain figurine. I realized that our place needed to be made baby friendly…soon. And when we finally managed to get them to stay still I directed them to the TV, they were awestruck and sat down looking at some kids show. Lily and I sunk down on the couch, exhausted. We were tired otherwise and running around chasing toddlers didn't help at all.

"Who knew that a toddler could run that fast" Lily muttered looking worn out.

"Yeah…I'm starting to think that I'm not ready for this at all. I'm used to looking after Dora and she's 7 already." Lily nodded in agreement.

"I used to look after my 6 year old cousin all the time that was easy."

"I know. You don't think the baby would like to stay inside me for…I don't know a couple of extra years so I can prepare myself do you?" Lily laughed and said;

"If mine will do the same for me…but I doubt it. With our luck, they'll both come early" I scrunched up my nose and made a very unladylike noise.

"I sure hope not" Lily snorted and we looked at the redheaded kids in front of us.

"Have you and Sirius come up with any baby names yet? James has already started planning baby Marie's nursery…he thinks it's a girl" I had to bite my tongue at that comment.

"Nope…haven't discussed it yet, but Sirius is convinced it's a girl too" Lily nodded and suddenly someone tapped my leg. I looked down at the three Weasley kids staring at me; I hadn't even noticed them come up.

"Yes Percy?"

"Can we sit with you?" I smiled and we picked them up. Soon we were all taking a nap in the couch, all of us exhausted.

Sirius POV

When I got to the apartment with James, I had ridden my bike to work he had decided to come with me because Lily was at our place, I met Molly Weasley at the door.

"Hey Molly, what can I do for you?" I asked smiling while looking for my key, she greeted James before answering.

"Char and Lily looked after the twins and Percy today. I'm here to pick them up" I grinned, I liked those kids, they were always up to something. We entered a quiet apartment; the TV was on but on a very low volume. I looked around confused but James amused snort and pointed finger drew my eyes to the couch. I let out a small chuckle at the scene before me. Lily and Char lay sleeping with the three Weasley kids in between them.

"Oh, isn't that precious" Molly said smiling. James and I approached our respective wives and woke them up; they stirred and looked confused before realisation dawned on them.

"Oh…looks like we fell asleep" Char muttered and stood up rubbing her back. Molly thanked them and then took the boys and left.

"Had a fun day girls?" James asked while sitting down.

"Sort of…didn't know looking after toddlers were that hard though" Lily said smiling. We discussed the day's events and they had us in fits when they told us about some of those kids' antics.

Chars POV

Today it's Sirius birthday. I woke up and made him breakfast in bed, something he was very pleased with. Then he left for work and is started fixing the apartment for the party. Lily and Izzy showed up and helped me decorate and then we took a break and went out for lunch. Sometime after that Damien arrived complaining about that Ethan would be late to the party because of some dumb magical surgery.

"Damien that dumb thing will save the mans life!" Lily exclaimed but Damien waved it off. I laughed and Izzy looked like she was trying very hard no to. Soon the caterers arrived and set everything related to food up with Damien critically watching their every move. The guests started arriving as the evening approached and soon only the guest of honour was missing. We all waited for James signal and when it came we hid. Even if I knew that Sirius knew that something was going on.

"Really Padfoot!" was heard when the door opened and the lights went on. Everyone jumped up and screamed;

"Surprise!" Sirius let out a bark like laugh and started greeting everyone.

"Thank you love" he said and kissed me lightly when he reached me.

"Happy birthday" I grinned back and let him get swept away with his friends who all teased and congratulated him. We had a good time and everyone was eating and laughing when suddenly a voice I recognised as Mad Eye Moody's rang out in the room.

"Attention Aurors. Huge Attack. Code 15. Leave immediately." Everyone looked at the aurors present who all when they first heard the voice started to put down their plates and glasses and readied themselves with wands. Sirius made his way towards me with a small sad smile on his face, but his eyes sparkled with excitement. He loved these raids and I knew it.

"Sorry for having to leave my own party" he announced to the whole room and when he reached me he said more quietly;

"Sorry love"

"Don't fret about it…it's your birthday that gets cut short. Be careful okay" I said smiling sadly, I hated the fact that I was constantly worrying about him when these calls came.

"I'll be alright, take care of yourself and don't worry yourself to bits. And don't even try to wait up for me, okay?" he gave me a cheeky grin and looked over at Lily and James that were having a similar conversation. James looked up and said;

"Lily's staying the night, we'll use one of the guestrooms…that okay?" he grinned when we nodded and then turned back to Lily.

"See Lily will be here and keep you company, amongst other guests. I'll see you when I get back…love you" Sirius said and kissed me.

"Love you too…be careful" I muttered and then he apparated. We had agreed that if we were together when he had to go on these raids we would never ever say goodbye and we wouldn't be angry even if we had the biggest fight ever before any call. Just in case. The guest left pretty quickly after that and the caterers cleaned up their stuff with a wave of their wands and then left. Lily and I were left alone with lots of sugary sweets and worried minds. We tried to watch a movie but ended up worrying together. It didn't matter how many of these stupid raids the guys went to…we would always worry. When we gradually fell asleep they hadn't returned yet.

James POV

As it turned out the raid was pretty much over when we got there. A bunch of muggles had been killed and only the dark mark and one injured deatheater remained. But we were still stuck there most of the night because Moody thought that we had been slacking when it came to paper work. Which was sort of true but he didn't even let us go when Sirius told him that it was his birthday.

"Congratulations Black. But seeing it's after midnight your birthday was yesterday. Start on that paperwork" and with that he walked away to his office.

"Bloody hell…Char is going to worry herself sick"

"Lily too…thank Merlin they're together at least" we managed to get through the piles of paperwork that we had neglected…who knew that it would come back and bite us in the ass? Well we got through it with some help from a couple of spells and a few jokes. We were tired when we arrived back at Sirius place. We entered the living area and just like yesterday we found our wives lying on the couch sleeping. We shared a look and shook our heads chuckling. No matter how many times we tried to tell them to not wait up for us…they still always tried. Sirius scooped Char up in his arms and I did the same to Lily.

"In a couple of months…or weeks we won't be able to do this as easily" I said looking down at my redheaded Lily flower. Sirius grinned and then looked worried…

"Let's not mention that to the girls" I copied his worried look and said;

"Agreed" with that we headed to bed.