Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine.

Chapter 33 A Golden Trio?

"Look at them!" Narcissa cooed for the thousandth time while they were babysitting, but Lucius was barely listening. Aurora was an absolute angle. Alaric, well, he just knew what he wanted. That was all.

They were gurgling on their play mat in the nursery at the Manor, watching the clouds Cissa had painted on the ceiling. With a flick of her wand, it turned into the night sky. That earned a, "Hmmm…" from Aurora.

Narcissa tickled Alaric's tummy, earning a scowl from him. "I think you're going to like to play outside when the snow melts!"

Lucius doubted that. Katherine claimed he was simply "a grouch." The only things the boy seemed to enjoy were milk and the feeling of a wretched Weasley jumper on his skin. At times, Lucius didn't know what to make of him. Alaric kicked his feet at his grandmother's words.

"I've started looking at preschools," Narcissa said as she let Alaric squeeze her finger. "We have to hurry before Katherine tries to put them in a Muggle school. What if they catch one of their filthy Muggle diseases?"

Right… Lucius picked up Aurora, who was starting to fuss. She rested her head on his shoulder, but he found himself not caring when she started to drool. "I doubt Draco would allow that."

Cissa wrinkled her nose. "He's afraid of losing control. Of course he'll allow it. Katherine's famous. She could use that to get them into the top wizarding primary schools. Instead, she'll have them sitting around watching that picture box all day with some stupid Muggle teacher. Look at Edward! The poor boy will know no one when he starts at Hogwarts. He'll have no connections."

The Weasleys were popping them out by the dozen. The twins should have some proper friends though. Pansy and Theodore were still paranoid about their son getting sick. It'll be a while before a play date can be arranged.

"We'll look into it in the morning," Lucius said. They could never be prepared too early. Draco and Katherine clearly didn't know what they were doing.

"Look at that smile!" Kat exclaimed softly. Baths were to be added to the short list of things Ric liked. Draco wrapped an arm around her waist as they watched him grin and kick his feet in the warm water. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw the flash that caused Ric to start wailing.

Narcissa lightly tapped Ric's nose as if that would make everything better. "This will go in your baby book, my little prince!"

Trying not to say anything, Kat quickly wrapped Ric in a towel and tried to comfort him. "I know! We'll just have to show her one without a flash!"

"It's February," Draco growled in her ear. "I want them out."

"They're your parents!" Kat hissed as she bounced Ric around the kitchen.

"You invited them!" he yell whispered. "Uninvite them!"

"I'm too tired!" Kat complained. "They'll manipulate me into making this permanent! They'll start talking about you going back to work and shit!"

Draco rolled his eyes. "That isn't until April. Did you see what Father did the other day? He was reading Aurora an alchemy textbook! I don't want her knowing about people's attempts to bring the dead back to life."

"She doesn't understand." Kat sighed when he glared at her for defending him. A red faced Alaric was practically screaming in her ear. She didn't have the energy to be annoyed. "I've been so tiredly lately. You talk to them."

By dinner, when Mother put the twins in matching dress robes, Draco was ready to explode. This afternoon they put preschool brochures in his briefcase. Katherine thought it was funny, but it was far from it. The house was too small to avoid them in.

"I think you should meet little Herby, Rory," Mother cooed at dinner. The girl was in Father's arms and watching her eat in awe. "A boy with such good breeding will be snatched up quickly."

"Won't they have Veela mates?" There was laughter in Katherine's eyes. This was not funny!

"No," Mother said sadly. "But Fleur said she had a feeling when she met Bill."

"Well I think she should be with Reid." Katherine grinned until she caught Draco glaring at her. "Or not… You know. She might want someone more mature. Like Fred."

"Katherine," Draco growled.

"What? She's a baby." Exactly! "Poor Ric only has Dominique. And a lot of competition. He might have an easier time with the boys. Unfortunately, he's clearly a boob man."

Draco put his face in hands. At least she took the joke too far, making his parents uncomfortable. Maybe then they would leave sooner.

A week later and his parents weren't budging. In fact, Katherine didn't seem to mind them at all. She snored away at noon while Father read to the twins about gruesome goblin wars, and Mother put a blonde wig on Aurora and took pictures by the dozen. Draco couldn't take it anymore.

"How long are you staying?" Draco asked loudly. Aurora smiled from her seat on the couch next to Father when his voice cracked with nerves. She still had that stupid wig on.

Mother stared like she didn't know what the problem was. "We really should stay until they're sleeping through the night, Draco. Poor Katherine is so worn out. Are you getting up with them when they don't need to be fed?"

"Yes," he said through clenched teeth. Until they're sleeping through the night?! That could be months from now! "They're just on different sleep and eating schedules."

"You really should try to fix that Draco," Father lectured. "She's having a hard enough time now. Imagine when you go back to work."

How the bloody hell was he going to "fix that?" So his parents figured out that Katherine didn't mind them here, and it was he who couldn't stand them. So now the roles were reversed, and they were picking on him instead of her. Great. The weekends were the worst because the both of them were here during the day instead of just Mother.

"Kitty Kat!" Black sang as he hopped out of the floo. Oh wonderful. Another one. "Teddy made you cookies!"

"Peanut Butter!" Edward yelled loudly, making Aurora whine in horror. "Sorry," he whispered. "Drake? How comed babies like quiet?"

"They sure aren't quiet," Black said proudly as he stole Alaric out of Father's arms. "Still hate me, kiddo?" The boy immediately started to cry. "Thought so."

He handed Alaric to Draco, making the meltdown his problem now. Finally, Katherine emerged from the bedroom, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Instead of acknowledging that there were too many annoying people in the house, she simply smiled softly and thanked Edward for the cookies.

"How'd you know I wanted them, Teddy Bear?" she praised as she ruffled his hair and took the blue tin from him. With a frown, she asked Draco, "What'd you do to Ric?"

"You told me, Kat!" Edward clearly thought she had actually forgotten and started laughing at her.

"He's a git," Black declared as he started cuddling Aurora, who had already forgotten about Edward yelling and was fascinated with his hair.

Katherine shoved an entire cookie in her mouth before taking Alaric. "What's the matter?" she said with her mouth full. "You just ate. Fatty."

He absolutely couldn't stand any of them. "I'm going outside," Draco announced. Hopefully he could get a moment or two alone.

Edward grinned. "I'm coming! We can make a snowman!"

Yay…

"I like them here." Katherine actually sounded sad as she nursed Aurora on the couch. "Are you really going to kick them out?"

"Yes." His parents went out for a date Saturday night, and Draco couldn't be happier. The house was actually quiet. "And you didn't like them here when Mother said it was inappropriate for you to hold Alaric in the shower with you."

Katherine's eyes flashed. "It wasn't sexual! He likes the water!"

"See." It was the first time his parents annoyed Katherine since the day everyone crammed themselves in their shoebox of a house, and he was going to hold on to it until they finally left. "They're overbearing."

"Yeah but…" Katherine chewed on her lip nervously. "What if the babies miss them? Aurora's face lights up whenever she sees your mum. And when Ric pooped on your dad, that was the best day of my life!"

"They'll get over it," Draco insisted. They'd forget in a day our two! They were babies. If he had to listen to his mother say that two and a half month old Alaric needed to make friends to be more sociable one more time…

"Well…" Katherine grimaced as she switched sides. "What if I need your mum's help, and she's not here?"

"It's called the floo," Draco growled. "And asking your husband. And trying to figure it out yourself. She still tells you how to feed them, Katherine. And look, they aren't here and you seem to be doing perfectly fine!"

"Seem to be?" Because she knew his parents were leaving sooner rather than later, Katherine was starting to become a little sensitive about her parenting skills. "Do you think I might be hurting her neck?"

"No," Draco said firmly. "I'm telling them to leave in the morning."

For a second, Katherine looked like she wanted to cry. When she saw her crocodile tears weren't working, she scowled. "Fine."

Breakfast. Katherine was nowhere to be seen after claiming she wasn't feeling well. She and Alaric were hanging out in the bedroom, so Draco decided to use little Aurora as a shield since his wife was proving to be a cowardly lion.

"Thank you for all your help." Thinking it was a general thank you, Mother smiled in blissful ignorance at his words. "But I think it's time Katherine and I had some alone time with our children before I return to the office."

And the smile immediately fell. "Draco… Don't be silly. We're more than happy to help."

"You still haven't fixed their schedules," Father said before sipping his coffee. Again, how the hell was he supposed to do that?

"Remember when Katherine hated you so much we had to go to therapy?" His parents stared like they had no idea what he was talking about. "Well, you're driving me just as crazy. Both of you."

"Katherine needs us." Mother shook her head, acting like he was the selfish one. "Maybe you need to get out of the house, Draco. It is awfully small. How about everyone spend the weekend at the Manor?"

That was so smooth that if Draco wasn't just as Slytherin as his mother, he would've fallen for it. He was wondering when she would try to get them to move back to the Manor. "I mean it."

Aurora spit up all over herself and grinned. As if to prove that she was needed, Mother sprung up from her seat at the kitchen table to grab a rag instead of summoning one like she normally would. Then, she moped up Aurora's face instead of handing the rag to him. Aurora kept smiling and clumsily reached for the rag.

"Draco, you don't know how hard it is to raise a baby," Mother tried. He's had two for nearly three months! "It's a lot of work."

"Perhaps he should learn, Cissa," Father said coldly, angry that he upset Mother. Again, it's been nearly three months! "Come on. We'll start packing."

Mother's face fell, and she did her best to seem completely devastated. "Alright…"

"I feel like someone died," Katherine whispered early the next morning. His parents were gone and both the babies were still sound asleep. It was great.

Draco didn't open his eyes. He was shirtless and didn't even have to worry about his parents seeing him snake an arm around his wife's waist. Mother would've made a show of covering her eyes before loudly shutting the door, as if he could have forgotten they were there.

"Yeah. But a good death. Like the Dark Lord or that Hitler character whose mustaches you always draw on pictures."

"I feel awful," Katherine whispered. "Awful for being married to a jerk like you!"

"What?" Draco slurred, still half asleep. She hated his parents!

"They love it here!" Was she crying? "You're such a prat! We're like their best friends!"

"That's pretty sad." Draco laughed at his own joke, but Katherine found it far from funny. He didn't open his eyes until she starting getting out of bed. "Where are you going?"

"To invite them back!" Katherine squeaked when he grabbed her shirt and dragged her back into bed. She turned bright red when he started peeling off her pajama pants. "They're sleeping in here! Their bassinets are right there!"

"You're right." As quietly as he could, Draco scooped her up. "And oh look, the living room is miraculously empty. How convenient."

"Prat." But she laughed as he stripped her pajamas off. He didn't miss his parents one bit.

"I think I want to go to college," Astoria announced in the middle of March. Reid was over for a play date, although Kat wasn't sure why. The three babies mostly flopped about on their tummies and ignored each other.

"For?" Kat tried not to check her watch. Draco was trying out a half day at work. He'd be home in less than an hour.

With a smile in Reid's direction, Astoria shrugged. "Something he'd be proud of. What do you think Mummy should study, Reid-y?"

"Astrophysics," Kat muttered out of the side of her mouth. Astoria frowned, thinking she had made the word up. "What do you like, Storia? Study that."

"Food…" That seemed about it. Well, she wasn't Ron's true love for nothing. "Ginny says I should be a mediwitch. Or a teacher."

Ginny? Kat couldn't picture Ginny actually caring. Wait a minute… "You mean Daphne says but is trying to make you think it was Ginny's idea."

With a pout, Astoria nodded and ran a hand through Reid's bright red hair. "Well, she lasted three months. That's something, right?"

"Tell her to fuck off," Kat said firmly, making Astoria jump and cover her son's ears. "And study… food."

"You shouldn't swear around them," Astoria whispered. "What if their first word is the f-word?"

Kat eyed Ric, who was steadily working on trying to figure out how to roll over. If anyone was going to tell someone to fuck off, it was going to be him. "Anyway, I think you'd be a great chef. Or food studier, or whatever. You're engaged to someone who loves to stuff his face! It's passion for the art! …Of food."

"I'd like to make pastries," Astoria said so quietly that Kat barely heard her. "I just don't want him to think I sit around and do nothing all day."

For some reason, Kat was more excited than Astoria was. Just a few minutes ago, she was pouting about her husband being gone. She supposed it was a nice distraction. "You mean you'd like to own the most successful bakery in London!" Astoria looked horrified at the thought of running her own business. "Enroll in culinary school, Storia! I'm paying for it!"

"Ron wouldn't like that," she said meekly.

"Tell him you got a scholarship!"

"Okay…"

Before she knew it, April arrived. Sirius came over most days, but Kat found herself more than a little lonely. On the days he was busy, Kat snuck Narcissa over after lunch. Draco flooed over during his lunch break, so after he left, she knew it was safe to firecall her to come over.

"What's the matter, Katherine?" Narcissa asked one Tuesday afternoon. Sirius was off planning a surprise party for Teddy.

Kat shrugged as she combed Rory's wispy hair. Honestly, she didn't know. Somedays, she felt on top of the world, like when she was enrolling Astoria in culinary school for the fall. Others, she felt incredibly sad, like when Ric wouldn't stop crying no matter what she did, and Rory started crying because she wanted the attention she was giving him. "Maybe I just need to get out of the house… But it's too cold for them."

"Lucius and I could baby sit." Narcissa jumped on the opportunity without hesitation. Maybe she was asking the wrong person if she was being a bad mum for wanting to leave them. "You and Draco could go away for the weekend. A nice hotel would give you two a floo for you to send their milk to the Manor with!"

"Yeah. Maybe." Kat tried to smile. Barely four months in and she already needed a break. She was a terrible mother.

"How could I agree to that?" Kat sobbed as soon as dinner was over. Aurora figured out everyone else was eating food but her and was very upset about it. She was crying in her father's arms, and Kat felt horrible. "They need us!"

"What?" Draco glanced at Alaric, who was in a milk coma in the other room. "They is a strong word."

"Your mum suggested going away for the weekend while they watched them, and I agreed," Kat cried so fast that Draco frowned as he tried to understand her. What was she crying for? All she had to do was firecall Narcissa and cancel. "I'm a terrible mum!"

Rory stopped crying and stared as if to say, Stop this at once! Crying is my job! Draco kissed her chubby cheek before trying to make sense of what Kat said. "So Mother offered to watch the twins for the weekend? What a surprise…"

"I'm their mum," Kat sniffled. "I shouldn't want to be away from them for two whole days! They're only four months old! They can barely roll over and—"

"And you're exhausted." Draco sat next to her at the kitchen table and smiled as Aurora started reaching for her hair. "I'm actually surprised they haven't pounced sooner. We'll just go somewhere and sleep. It's not that big a deal, Katherine. And you're a great mum," he said before she could say otherwise. "Not many would be willing to put with that son of yours."

Kat sniffled but said nothing. Maybe she did just need some sleep. She didn't know what was wrong with her lately.

Later that night, Kat woke up absolutely starving. The house was quiet, and she, like her husband, was as exhausted as he said she was. But for some reason, she was up at two in the morning, padding her way to the kitchen with a yawn.

She was half way through the jar of peanut butter when she froze. She hadn't done this since… since she was pregnant with the twins. Oh no…

Severus was just getting ready to leave for work when Potter took down his wards and kicked open the front door. So today was going to start off on a high note.

She was pushing a double stroller and looked like she hadn't slept at all the previous night. Without the slightest explanation, she shoved a diaper bag at him. "I need—"

"No."

Lily's eyes were as wide as saucers. "Please. You're the only one who doesn't care why."

"While it has been quite some time since I've been given such a compliment," Severus drawled. "I'm going to have to decline, Potter."

"It's an emergency," Potter pleaded.

So? She could literally ask anyone else. Severus sneered at her. He'd rather have Petunia Dursley as a neighbor. At least she wouldn't ask for anything. "No."

"Please Snape!" Clearly, she thought whining and tears would allow her to get her way. She was spending too much time with infants. "I haven't asked you for anything in like four months!"

"And what a wonderful four months it has been."

"I fed them," Potter went on as if he hadn't spoken. "They'll just sleep—"

"Then take them with you!" Severus snapped.

"I don't want to drive with them when I'm upset!" Potter cried. "I won't be long. I promise."

Why was it that Potter always seemed to run to him when she was particularly desperate? As if saving her ass throughout her school years wasn't enough. It was tempting to agree and alert Draco almost immediately. There was only one reason that Severus hesitated. No matter how desperate Potter got, she never threatened to expose to everyone the memories he showed her, the memories he liked to pretend didn't exist. The thought never even occurred to her.

"You have one hour." Severus's lip curled in disgust when Potter lit up. She'd better not hug him.

"I'll be back way before that!" Potter promised. Then, at the thought of why she left, she paled. "I-I just need to make sure I didn't mess something up…"

"You do that."

Before he could change his mind, Potter sprinted out the door… slamming it behind her. The slam was immediately followed by crying. Why did he torture himself like this?

Kat knocked on Ginny's door nonstop until she answered. Unfortunately, Daphne was the one to rip open the door. She narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"I need Ginny," Kat said as politely as she could.

"She needed you when she was moving in with me," Daphne growled.

"I was over seven month pregnant!" Kat hissed. "What use was I going to be?"

Daphne shook her head but opened the door wider so she could come in. Ginny was flipping through a magazine and looked torn between laughing and rolling her eyes. "Sorry. Daphne plays overprotective dad with me when Story tells her to stuff it."

Right… Kat's head was pounding, and she was doing her best not to pee her pants. "Can we talk? Alone. In the bathroom?"

"Hmm… I have work." Ginny must be spending too much time with Daphne, who was circling Kat like a shark. She was going to make her beg. "Some people do need to do that, you know."

"Ginny, I need someone who's going to tell me I'm right no matter what right now!" Kat squeaked as she crossed her legs together. Stupid Muggles and their first morning pee rule. "And that's you. My best friend and not my mum like Hermione would be right now."

Daphne snorted. "That's fucked up."

But it got Ginny interested. It was rare nowadays when Kat didn't want Hermione to know something. "Fine. Daph, tell Gwenog I have food poisoning."

"Whatever. But you're telling me everything," Daphne yelled as she grabbed her coat and walked out.

Like hell she will, Kat thought. Ginny raised an eyebrow and took a sip of her coffee, waiting. Suddenly, holding her pee didn't seem so bad. After a slight hesitation, Kat took the pregnancy test out of her pocket. Ginny immediately started choking on her coffee.

"What the—?"

"I'm about to piss myself!" Kat whined. Ginny frowned. "Muggles use pee to test it!"

"Then hurry up!" Ginny slammed her mug down and ignored the fact that it sloshed all over her glass coffee table. "What is wrong with you?!" she yelled as they rushed to the bathroom. "Why the hell were you having unprotected sex when you have two screaming, pooping, birth control reminders?"

"I…" Kat fumbled with the box before Ginny opened it with her wand. At this point, she didn't care about peeing in front of her. "I wasn't getting my period because of breastfeeding! You can't get pregnant if you aren't ovulating."

"You also can't get your period when you're pregnant!" Ginny snapped. "This is like a bloody after school special! They aren't even half a year old yet!"

Kat fumbled with the stick and put the cap on the pregnancy test before putting on the bathroom sink counter. "Like kids still in school would be dumb enough to have sex right after having a baby!"

"Exactly!" Ginny shouted. "You're dumber than a teenager!" She grabbed the pregnancy test and started shaking it. "It's not saying anything."

"It takes ten minutes!" Kat flushed and shoved her pants up. "What am I going to do? Three babies under one!"

Ginny stared as Kat started scrubbing her hands. "Wait… What's the farthest along you could be?"

Kat didn't say anything until she dried her hands. "Three months."

Ginny's eyes bulged out of her head. "And you'll keep it?"

"I…" Kat fiddled with the cream colored towel and looked at her shoes. "I don't think I could get rid of it."

At first, Ginny looked like she wanted to argue. Then, she sighed. "You have the worst luck, Kat."

"It's probably negative…" The pregnancy test still had the hourglass symbol on it. This had to be the longest and shortest ten minutes of her life. "I've probably just been stressed out."

"Yeah…" Ginny nodded, even though her eyes were still wide with fear. "Those brats have a set of lungs on them, Kat. I'd have grey hair by now if I were you."

"When it turns negative, we'll charm it to say positive and trick Sirius," Kat said hoarsely. And they'll laugh about it for the rest of the day.

Ginny forced herself to smile. "It'll be the best day off I've had in a while…"

"Yeah…"

They sat in silence on the bathroom floor for a while. The ten minutes came and went, but they were both too afraid to look at the counter. After the clock in the living room chimed to signal half an hour went by, Kat finally stood up and picked up the test.

Pregnant

Thank you Guest, Ern Estine 13624, and HypocriticalCommunistFromSpace for reviewing!

Guest: I think you'll see how in the next few chapters!

HypocriticalCommunistFromSpace: Having babies is always chaotic! ;)

Poor Kat! Next up, we see how Snape handled the twins! :)