Thankfully, Bill's nightmare was just that, but the frightened boy wouldn't go back to sleep without his mum and dad. Dorea invited the Weasley parents to stay with them, as Charlie and Percy were still sleeping soundly. James and Lily also didn't want to go back to sleep, feeling a need to care for the child that still clung to Lily, even after his parents arrived. Molly and Arthur had a brief, whispered conversation with the rest of the adults in attendance. The adults all nodded, and Molly and Arthur turned to the teens, smiling.
"Lily, James," Arthur began. "We never chose godparents for our children, not seeing a need to, we also didn't bring the kids around many people."
"So, we want to ask you to be Bill's godparents," Molly finished for her husband.
"Are you sure?" Lily asked, amazed.
"We're sure," Arthur said, smiling broadly. "Bill has always been glued to Molly, yet he didn't want to leave your arms when we came here."
"We'd be honored," James finally said, smiling at Lily and Bill.
"Remus, Julia, we'd also like you to be Percy's godparents, and Hermione and Sirius, Charlie's."
"I, yes!" Hermione said, hugging Molly. "What about the twins?"
"Well, Regulus and Petunia will be one twin's godparents, naturally," Molly said, smiling. "Perhaps James and Lily for the other twin. As for the rest of my children, I haven't gotten that far yet."
Hermione smiled, happy with the knowledge that no matter what decade she was in, she was always welcome in the Weasley family.
"Dorea, Andi, we also have a favor to ask," Molly said, rubbing her still small stomach. "When the twins decide to arrive, we'd like to have them here."
"Absolutely!" Dorea said, smiling broadly. "A baby hasn't been born here since Charlus, and Andi and I have the training to deliver the twins. This house needs some positivity, and a birth to look forward to is definitely something positive!"
"Dorea," McGonagall finally said, having slipped into the room when Bill's crying woke her. "Hermione and Lily had expressed interest in healer training when we did career counseling, and Petunia and Julia have expressed interest as well. Perhaps, with Molly's permission, we could use Molly's prenatal checkups and the birth of the twins as a learning experience?"
"I wouldn't make the girls my sons' godmothers if I didn't trust them," Molly said, smiling at the girls. "I agree with them using my pregnancy as a learning experience, provided they're comfortable with it as well."
"All the training I received was for battle wounds," Hermione began. "It would be an honor to take a part in bringing life into the world for a change."
Dorea nodded and ushered everyone back to bed. While Bill was happy his parents were safe, and at Potter Manor with him, he didn't want to leave Lily and James just yet, so he joined his godparents once again. Dorea showed Molly and Arthur where they could stay, before promising Molly she and Andi would get with the girls and set up a medical facility in the muggle wing over the next week.
Minerva McGonagall was deep in thought. While she was happy the teens and Dorea invited her to stay at Potter Manor to continue their education, she was thinking of something else.
Fifteen years ago, Minerva was a married mother. Her muggle husband and son were killed in a boating accident while fishing in a large loch in Scotland. Her life had never been the same, and she yearned for the opportunity to be a mother again, however, her live-in job at Hogwarts had kept those dreams from becoming a reality. Now, she lived in an expansive manor with plenty of room and family for a young child to grow with, and she was seriously considering writing a letter to Albus about retiring early and continuing to tutor after the group of teens took their exams.
Nodding to herself, she pulled out her parchment and a quill and began writing a long letter to Albus, hoping he'd understand her stance. If he didn't, well, Minerva would still stay at Potter Manor and offer tutoring services for a few years. She could always go back to Hogwarts in a few years, she reasoned, but in her heart, she knew that a visit to the orphanages that the Potter family sponsored was in her future, not in the capacity of a teacher, but that of a woman looking to adopt a child. Yes, she'd definitely return to Hogwarts if she was able to adopt a magical child, but if it were a muggle child she fell in love with, she'd have to have another long talk with Albus.
The next morning, Minerva and Dorea were discussing something over tea when the teens and Weasley children came downstairs for breakfast. Molly and Arthur walked into the dining room as well, happy to hear their boys had behaved excellently for the teens.
"Mum, what are you two discussing so seriously?" Regulus asked, plating breakfasts for the small boys with Petunia.
"We were going to discuss it over breakfast, but now's a good time as any," Dorea said, glancing at Minerva. "Minerva wants to visit one of the Potter funded orphanages today, she's thinking about adopting one of the children at one of them."
"There's one that has two orphanages on the same property," James said, having looked into each of the organizations when he found out about them. "One is muggle and one is magical, that would be perfect for you, professor."
Minverva nodded at James, grateful. "I'd like that, James."
He looked at his professor, wide-eyed. She had never called him James or looked at anyone with that soft smile she had now. "A lot of people don't know, but I was married once, with a son. My husband was a muggle, as was my son. When my son, Elliot was four, he and his father died in a boating accident, they went fishing and a sudden storm came up and capsized their boat. Since then, I buried myself in my work, and I now find myself yearning to be a mother again. I'd like to adopt one of the children from one of the orphanages your family sponsors."
Hermione looked at the professor with wide, glistening eyes. "Any child would be lucky to have you as their mother, professor."
Minerva hugged Hermione tightly. "Thank you, Hermione. That means a great deal to me, coming from you."
"Why don't you all go after breakfast?" Molly suggested. "Arthur, the boys and I will watch other the manor for you. I know my quidditch obsessed sons have been dying to see your pitch."
Robby popped in. "Missy Weezie, theres be youth brooms in the garden shed for misters Billy, Charlie and Percy. Mister Charlus made sure to keeps brooms of all levels, just in case."
"Thank you, Robby," James said. "Of course, anything here is free for you to use. Since Evelyn and Michael moved upstairs, you're also free to explore the muggle wing, Arthur. I'm sure Tilly and Mipsy would be more than happy to help Molly watch the boys."
"Theys be very happy to help Missy Weezie with her sons," Robby affirmed. "Tilly and Mipsy bes very good with kids and will make sure they don't fly too far aways."
"That settles it, after we eat, I'll show you the muggle wing, Arthur," James said, smiling. "Mipsy and Tilly will be ready when you call them to go outside with you."
A short while later, James left Arthur happily tinkering in the muggle wing, while Tilly and Mipsy escorted Molly and three excited boys to the Quidditch pitch to fly. The teens plus Dorea and Minerva were getting ready to leave for the largest of the Potter funded orphanages.
"I'm suddenly nervous," Minerva whispered to Dorea. "What if I can't find a child?"
"Stop worrying, Minnie," Dorea whispered back. "Show the kids Minerva, not Professor McGonagall. They will fall in love with you, I promise."
Nodding, the professor stepped into the Floo and called out "Godric's Hollow", taking them to the orphanage.
Minerva was blown away as she stepped into the magical orphanage, it's appearance was similar to Hogwarts, but somehow seemed warmer, and more inviting. They were greeted by the directors of both orphanages, one obviously a witch, and the other appeared muggle to Hermione. "Hi! I'm Ashley, I'm the director for the muggle side of Godric's Home for Children, this is Ophelia, she's the director of the magical side. Since I see a lot of new faces, I'll go ahead and tell you all that I'm a squib, and while I know of the existence of the other orphanage, the kids don't."
"How do you determine if the kids are magical or muggle when they arrive?" Minerva asked, astonished.
"Usually, when a child arrives, they are upset, hungry, hurt or exhausted," Ashley began. "Every child comes in through the magical side, and given a hot chocolate if they're two or over, and a warm bottle of milk if they're under two. The drinks are laced with a very mild sleeping potion. When the child falls asleep, our healer tests for a magical core. If they have any magical core, they are transported, still asleep to a bedroom upstairs. If they don't have any core, they are transported, still asleep, to the infirmary on the muggle side. The kids only ever see the nurse, and our transport team, who are a mix of magical and muggle until we test their cores. In order for the kids to not be confused when they wake by totally different surroundings, we have designed both orphanages to be identical."
"That actually makes a lot of sense," Hermione said, thoughtfully. "Since every child comes through here, do you know how many muggle and magical children you have currently?"
"We do," Ophelia said, smiling at the bright witch. "We currently have seventy-four magical children, of those, sixty have a strong enough core to perform magic, and will therefore go to Hogwarts, thanks to donations from the Potter family. The other fourteen are considered squibs but have been around magic their entire lives up until the event that made them orphans, so they are housed with other magical children. We have eighty-one muggle children currently."
"How does your adoption process work?" Minerva asked. "I am interested in adopting a child, and their background doesn't matter to me."
"We allow you to spend time at each orphanage, at the muggle orphanage, we ask you to transfigure your clothes into muggle clothing and check your wand at the door, but you will tour each orphanage, meeting with all the volunteers and children. If you and a child happen to click, we arrange what we call a seventy-two hour trial period, where the child or children spend three days with you, at the end of the three days, we speak to the children about their experiences, and if they'd like to live with you, if you agree."
"If I decide to do a trail period with a muggle child, and we decide not to proceed with the adoption, what happens?" Minerva asked, slightly worried.
"If you're going to be in a household where there is obviously magic, especially house elves, we will alter the child's memories so they remember you, but not magic," Ashley replied.
Minerva didn't like the idea of altering a child's memory, and Hermione instantly knew what she was thinking. "Professor, if you decide to try to adopt a muggle child, there is a muggle wing in Potter Manor, with its own entrance in the gardens, it's totally separate from the rest of the house. If you decide to adopt that muggle child, we can slowly introduce magic to them after the adoption."
"Thank you, Hermione," she said, smiling at the girl. "That relieves all my worries."
"Shall we begin the tour of the magical side first?" Ophelia said, smiling. "Ashley will be preparing to check your wands in while we tour."
The group followed Ophelia through the foyer of the orphanage, and into a large area designed as a play area. "Just mingle with the kids, even though it's only Minerva adopting, all the kids here could use a visitor."
The group split up, floating around the room and speaking to all the kids they saw. Dorea noticed a little girl sitting off by herself in the corner, holding a stuffed dragon tightly. "Hi little one," she said, sitting on the floor beside the girl. "I'm Dorea, what's your name?"
"Charlotte," the little girl said shyly. "Aren't you Missus Potter? Miss Ophelia told us about Mister and Missus Potter, and how they help us."
"I am, Charlotte," Dorea said, smiling. "Who's your friend?"
"This is Godric," she said, showing Dorea her dragon. "I named him after Godric Gryffindor, because he was brave and Godric keeps my nightmares away."
"Why would a pretty girl like you have nightmares?" Dorea asked, smoothing the black curls from the girl's face.
"Bad guys in black cloaks came and hurt my mum and dad last year," the little girl said, hugging her dragon closer. "They killed them and left me alone."
"Oh, poor girl," Dorea said, hugging the girl close. "Can you wait for me for a second dear? I want to ask Miss Ophelia a question, and I'll be right back."
"Okay, Missus Potter," the little girl said, unsure if the nice lady was coming back.
"Charlotte, how would you like to hold something for me until I come back?" Dorea suddenly asked. The little girl nodded, her eyes never leaving Dorea's. "This broach was a gift from my husband when we got married, I'd like you to hold onto it for me, okay?"
The little girl nodded eagerly, watching as Dorea pinned the dragon's head broach to her dress and walked to Ophelia.
"I know Minerva was the only one here planning to adopt," Dorea said to Ophelia softly. "But little Charlotte has stolen my heart, and I don't know if I can leave here without her."
Ophelia smiled, "You're the first visitor that Charlotte has talked to. She usually hides in a corner holding her dragon. I think someone else from your group has fallen for Charlotte, look." Dorea turned and smiled as she saw Sirius and Hermione sitting with the girl, talking with her about the broach she was wearing. "I'll go draw up the contract for Charlotte to go with you for your trial visit. Ashley's returned and will do the same if Minerva has the same luck as you."
"Hi, I'm Sirius," he said, smiling at the little girl wearing Dorea's broach. "Where did you get the pretty broach from?"
"I'm Charlotte," the girl said confidently now. "Missus Potter gave it to me to hold while she talked to Miss Ophelia."
"Hi, Charlotte," Hermione said, smiling. "I'm Hermione. do you want to know a secret?"
Charlotte nodded at the teens. "We live with Missus Potter, in fact, Sirius is her son!"
"You do?" Charlotte said, her eyes wide. "Is she nice? I don't like talking to people that visit, but I thought she was nice."
"She's the best," Sirius said, smiling. "She has two other sons too, do you want to meet my brothers?"
Charlotte nodded quickly. "Are they nice like you and Missus Potter?"
Hermione laughed, standing. "They are, come on," she said, holding out her hand to Charlotte. "The one with the glasses is James, and the shorter one is Regulus."
"Hi!" Charlotte said, smiling brightly at the boys. "I'm Charlotte, and this is Godric!"
James and Regulus smiled at the girl, James noticing the broach as well, but not saying anything just yet as he saw his mother walking over. "I see you've met my sons, Charlotte."
"Yes, Missus Potter!" the girl said excitedly. "James and Regulus and Sirius are nice! So is Hermione, she smiles a lot at Sirius though."
"Charlotte," Dorea began. "How would you like to come visit with us for a few days?"
"You were asking Miss Ophelia about a trial visit?" the girl asked. "Are you sure?"
"I am," Dorea said, crouching to the girl's level. "As you see, I have three sons, and I've always dreamed of having a daughter. If our visit goes well, I'd like to talk to you about adopting you."
Charlotte jumped in Dorea's arms, dropping her dragon, which Sirius picked up. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Charlotte yelled.
Minerva had wandered over to the muggle side of the orphanage and was speaking to Ashley about a little boy sitting off by himself.
"His name is Lachlan," Ashley said sadly, looking at the two year old boy. "He was found wandering the streets of a village in Aberdeenshire. As far as our nurses can tell, he's muggle, but the area he was found in is just yards from a magical community, so he could possibly be a squib, but we can't tell for sure, the core test isn't always accurate. He doesn't speak, but we don't know if he's non verbal, or if his family spoke Gaelic, none of us here do."
"May I try? My family is from Aberdeenshire," Minerva said, softly. Ashley nodded.
"Halo a dhuine bhig," Minvera said to the small boy. "Dè an t-ainm a th' ort?"
"Lachlan," the boy said softly. "A bheil draoidheachd agad?"
"Tha," the witch replied. "A bheil draoidheachd agad?"
"Tha," the boy said, hugging the first person he met that was both magical, and spoke his language.
"Ashley?" Minerva called. "He speaks Gaelic, and his family was magical. Is there somewhere we can go that's private so I can cast a spell or two on him? A lot of Scots know how to speak both English and Scot Gaelic, I think someone cast a spell on him preventing him from speaking English."
Ashley nodded, leading them to a small room where Minerva wandlessly cast three spells on Lachlan, one allowing him to speak English again, one reversing the spell that caused him to be almost mute, and the other a mild cheering charm.
"I know you heard the entire conversation, Ashley, but I'll translate for you," Minerva began. "First, I asked his name, and he replied with his name, then he asked if I had magic, to which I said yes, and asked him if he was magical. He said he was."
"Thank you," Lachlan said quietly.
"You're very welcome," Minerva said, hugging the boy again.
"Mama?" he asked suddenly.
"In special cases, we bypass the three day trial," Ashley said, smiling. "I think we can do so in this case."
Minerva smiled, holding the boy close.
A short while later, Minerva and Lachlan took the Floo back to Potter Manor, where Charlotte was getting acquainted with the house elves.
"Lachlan?" Charlotte suddenly asked, noticing the boy and the older lady walking in.
"Charlotte, do you know him?" Dorea asked the girl.
"Lachlan was my neighbor before the bad guys came," Charlotte said sadly. "Did the bad guys hurt Lachy's mum and dad too? They were nice."
"It's possible, Charlotte," Minerva replied. "When Lachlan came to the orphanage, he couldn't talk much, and didn't understand English anymore. They think someone cast spells on him."
"I'm happy Lachy found a new mummy," Charlotte said, hugging Minerva. "And I'm happy Lachy's mummy is friends with Missus Potter, because that means I get to see Lachy."
"Lottie!" Lachlan said happily, squirming to be put down. "Play, Lottie?"
Everyone watched as Lachlan and Charlotte happily played. "Ashley bypassed the three-day period for Lachlan and I," Minerva told the group. "He called me mama five minutes after meeting him."
"I'm considering owling Ashley and Ophelia about Charlotte," Dorea said quietly as to not scare the girl. "She's almost called me mum a few times, but immediately started calling the boys her brothers. I also don't think it's a coincidence that she looks just like James did when he was her age, and her name is the feminine of Charlus."
A few hours later, after a huge dinner at the ever-expanding table, everyone was ready for bed. "Charlotte?" Dorea said as they made their way upstairs. "Hermione and the rest of the teens share a bed, and they've told me you can either sleep with them, or with me, or in your own room that Tilly and Mipsy have prepared for you."
"Where's my room?" Charlotte asked, nervous about being alone.
"Right between your brothers' room and Minerva and Lachlan's room," Dorea replied.
"Can I stay with you tonight, Mummy?" she asked, rubbing her eyes, then freezing, her eyes wide and staring at the Potter boys.
"Lottie," Regulus said, having recovered first. "You've been calling us your brothers since you met us, we all think it's okay if you call her Mummy, as long as its ok to call you our little sister."
She smiled and tried to hug the three boys at once. "I always wanted big brothers!"
Dorea had, indeed written a letter to the orphanage, and all she got in reply was a form to fill out certifying the adoption and a note from Ashley the next morning.
We are thrilled for Charlotte and Lachlan!
Please fill out the form and sent to the ministry - we've arranged for you and Minerva to have your hearings the same day!
Visit again soon! The kids can't stop talking about you all!
-Ashley and Ophelia
At breakfast, Dorea decided to break the news to her family. "Everyone, I owled the orphanage last night, and they agreed with me. Charlotte, I'm going to adopt you."
The teens all clapped and hugged Dorea and Charlotte. "Does that mean I have a mummy now? Forever?"
"You do, sweetheart," Dorea said, smiling. "And since the ministry didn't have a record of your middle name, we get to choose a middle name for you."
"Jamie told me daddy died before I met you," Charlotte began. "And that his mommy and daddy died before Jamie was born. Can I have gran's name for my middle name?"
"Charlotte Euphemia Potter," James said tearfully smiling at his new sister. "I like it."
"As do I," Dorea said, smiling. "I told Minerva that it was like Charlus had sent you to us, since you look so much like James did when he was six, just like you are now, and how your name is the girl version of Charlus'. You were meant to be my daughter, Charlotte."
AN: Nice, fluffy chapter. Next chapter will be back to my usual Hermione completely changing the timeline. :)