Well, Katie had finally managed to do it. George and Angelina had arrived at the Woods' beach house yesterday to spend the week on vacation with their friends. Katie had welcomed them inside with a bandana tied in her hair and her fringe freshly cut. Lee and Alicia had arrived a few fours before them. Honestly, George didn't know what surprised him more; that Angelina had agreed to this or that Katie could manage to actually take off work for a week.

George had just closed the door to his and Angelina's room and was about to head into the kitchen when heard a soft 'Daddy' echoing down the hall. Turning, he saw to Roxanne standing at the end of the hallway, her little purple blanket in hand. Angelina had tied a maroon and while polka dotted scarf around the base of her hair last night that was now slightly askew. Her curls were growing longer by the minute it seemed. They were already down past her shoulder blades.

Bending down, George opened his arms for her, and Roxanne sleepily waddled over to him before wrapping her arms around his neck.

"You hungry?" he asked as he stood up.

Roxanne nodded.

Angelina was right where he left her, leaning her back against the kitchen sink as she talked with Katie. Besides the kids, who were sitting at the kitchen table, he, Katie, and Ange were the only ones up. According to Katie, Oliver had gone for his daily morning run. Lee and Alicia, he assumed, were still asleep. When she noticed them, Angelina smiled and straightened Roxanne's scarf.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," she said.

Katie smiled. "She is so cute."

"That's what you say about every baby," Hunter muttered without looking up from his crayons and coloring book.

"Well, she is," Cassidy cut in. Lee and Alicia's daughter was the oldest of the group, and the most outspoken. She reminded George of Angelina in that way. "Hi, Roxanne."

Roxanne just lifted her hand and waved. George suspected that she was still too tired to do much more than that.

Freddy was sitting at the table with the rest of the kids, his head bent close to Brandon's as they whispered to each other. The table they were sitting at was small and perched next to a full ceiling to floor window that overlooked the beach. Cassidy sat at the end of the table with Jack and Hunter on one side; Hunter's blonde head bent over his coloring book, while Jack leaned forward to hear what Freddy and Brandon were talking about. There was an empty seat parallel to Cassidy. A sense of pride filled his chest as he watched them. He and and his friends had overcome so much to be here, with their kids, having a vacation together. They had come a long way.

"Do you want French toast, sweetie?" Katie asked.

Roxanne nodded. George walked over to the kitchen table and sat her in the empty chair between Freddy and Hunter.

"I don't want to sit next to her," Freddy protested.

Angelina rolled her eyes. "Freddy, you sit next to her at home. You can sit next to her here."

Freddy didn't offer anymore complaints, just hmmped and turned back to Brandon. George ran a hand over Roxanne's hair before stepping away and heading back over to Katie and Angelina.

"I was thinking, we'd walk the pier today," Katie was saying. "They have a lot of cool shops, and I have this one vendor I visit every year when Oliver and I come down here. There are also little fish that the kids can feed. I'm sure they'd love that."

"Was this before or after you make the kids French toast, take them out to hunt for seashells, or build a sandcastle?" Angelina said.

Katie huffed. "I don't know. I was just thinking out loud really." She flicked her wand and the toast she had in the pan flipped over, sizzling loudly. "What would you prefer?"

"To sleep in," Angelina said. "But my son made sure that wasn't possible."

George grinned. "She's an old woman, Katie. She needs extra beauty sleep."

This earned him a smack to the stomach.

Katie rolled her eyes. "We could always let the kids decide."

The kids seemed content where they were. Freddy, Brandon, Jack, and Cassidy were all talking and giggling now, though George wasn't sure what about. Roxanne had tucked her knees under herself and looked much more awake. Both of her forearms were resting on the table as she leaned over to look at what Hunter was drawing. The four-year-old kept leaning away from her, his blue eyes never leaving his paper. Finally, he huffed and dropped the crayon he'd been coloring with. He flipped to the middle of his book and ripped out a page, grabbed a blue crayon, and pushed them toward Roxanne.

"Here," he said before picking his own crayon back up and continuing to color.

Roxanne grinned in response and began her own doodle.

George shook his head, unable to stop the grin from overtaking his face.

Angelina elbowed him.

"What?" he said.

"Are you even paying attention to us?"

"Only a little."

Angelina rolled her eyes.

"Breakfast is ready!" Katie said. She grabbed a stack of paper plates in one hand and the plate of French toast in the other. When she reached the kids, she sat the stack of plates in the center of the table and waited for each of the kids to grab one. Then she loaded each of them down with their own piece of toast. "I'll grab you all forks and syrup."

Reaching into the drawer next to Angelina's hip, George found utensils. He grabbed six forks and handed them to Katie after she'd located the syrup.

"I really don't think sugar is a smart idea this early in the morning," Angelina muttered, turning toward the sink.

"Ah, kids gotta have their sugar, just like adults gotta have their coffee," George reasoned.

A shocked gasp rung through the air, and George and Angelina spun back around to find Katie's shirt covered in syrup and their son holding the squeeze bottle.

"Oops," he said.

"Frederick Weasley!" Angelina exclaimed.

"She started it!" Freddy said, pointing at his sister.

George stroked his beard in an effort to contain his laughter.

"Apologize to Katie," Angelina said.

"Sorry, Katie," Freddy mumbled, setting the bottle down on the table.

"It's fine," Katie said. She still looked terribly shocked. "I was just-"

The back door opened and in stepped a sweaty Oliver Wood. He stopped dead when he saw Katie and raised and eyebrow.

"Why are you covered in syrup?"

"Because Fred shot her with the syrup bottle when he was trying to hit Roxanne's hair," Hunter said helpfully.

"Alright," Angelina said, finally crossing the room. "Clearly, you don't need anymore of this." She snatched the syrup bottle off the table. "And if you do, you can ask me for it."

A/N: Let's be honest, no one really thought it was a good idea to let these kids have free rein over a syrup bottle.