Ch 54 A Happy Summer and Christmas
The sandbox next to the pond had to be expanded, there were so many toddlers the summer of twenty-twenty-four. More boys making motor noises. Harry was in the sandbox playing with Gregory Godric, and playing with them were Neville with his son Brandon Ian and Neville's son Frank with Frank's son (and Neville's grandson) Benjamin.
Ginny smiled at her mother, and told Molly, "I love seeing Harry in the sandbox, playing. I know he was never able to play like that when he was growing up with those HORRIBLE Dursleys."
"Saturdays, or other times, when the men and boys are playing in the sandbox, the girls usually leave them alone," Molly reflected, shaking her head. "They do enjoy it when it is not crowded, though."
Boys playing with sand toys was a rather noisy endeavor.
"Two sons and two daughters," Neville told Harry as he played with his young son Brandon. "We are done!"
"Roxanne wants to finish training to become at least a DMLE officer," Frank told Harry as he backed a lorry up to Benjamin, so his son could shovel sand into the lorry. Well, to be precise, Benjamin shoveled sand into and on top of and around the lorry. "She may go on to become an Auror after the three children are at Hogwarts. We really didn't intend to have three children in six years, but at least our child rearing days will be over when we are still young."
"We didn't really expect to have another after we were grandparents," Neville replied, watching his son push sand with a toy bulldozer, and trying to keep him from running the toy into others. "This one is easier, in some ways, though. Hanna is living with me at Hogwarts. Our daughter Alice is living in the owners' quarters of the Leaky Cauldron, and is learning how to take over. We have a couple of good managers, and she is learning from them.
"Child of the owner is its own position. You have to either work harder than anyone else, or else people resent you. I do have to say Alice seems to be working hard to impress the staff."
"Does she have a boy she is interested in?" Harry wondered.
"Lots of boys are interested in her, but she is too busy to get serious about any of them, I think," Neville responded, grabbing onto his son and turning him around to push sand in a different direction. "You have to talk to Hanna about that, though. Alice doesn't always share that sort of thing with me."
The little boys needed some attention, and the three men redirected their attention to the toys and moving sand, and refraining the boys from throwing sand, and babbling away with them. Eventually the boys became tired and cranky, and three little boys were put down for naps or at least quiet time.
"How is the training going for the honor guard?" Neville asked Frank.
Frank rolled his eyes, sighed, and looked at Harry. "The three times we had practice alerts were a disaster. Raphael Vaud was very charitable when he described them as learning experiences. Everyone has to learn how to keep the proper clothes and equipment almost immediately available at all times. We are still learning how to appear at almost the same time, but not exactly at the same time, and not land on top of each other.
"Albus and Cleo are working on the maps we all are going to carry, but they still need a lot of work.
"We went to a mountain close to The Lord of the Dementors, and half of us fainted due to lack of oxygen. We are going to have to carry oxygen concentrators as well as everything else. We are learning, and getting better, but it is a bloody nightmare trying to figure out what to do and to become trained."
"You still want to do it?" Neville wondered, looking at his son in mild concern.
"I keep telling you, yes I do," Frank responded, sounding very resolved. "With grandparents and parents who are heroes, I just feel it is a family obligation. I'm not going to do this when I'm a grandparent, but I know I need to do this now when I can."
Harry worried. The honor guard was potentially the most dangerous job a Magi could have, and having Roxanne's husband, Neville and Hanna's son, involved worried him.
Molly Weasley found Lily and Billy sitting together, with little Will just finishing his meal. They were both in their bathing costumes, and were looking longingly at the pond.
"I will hold Will if you want to go into the water," Molly told the couple. Molly was holding James Jr., but holding two babies was not a problem for grandmother Weasley.
"That would be nice," Lily replied. "Thank you, grandmum."
"When you are done are you going to go and start another one?" Molly kidded, gently bouncing the little ones.
"Grandma, not YET!" Lily gasped. "I'm on the lactation and birth control potions."
"Good! Go," Molly waved as the two ran into the pond. Molly smiled at the two young people as they swam and splashed each other and played like the two young people they were.
Victoire came and sat down next to her grandmother. "Only two infants this summer," she observed, holding Saturn, their second daughter, who had been born June twenty-third.
"Infants are easy," Molly scoffed. "Toddlers are busy, and can find all sorts of ways to get into trouble."
"Are boys more trouble than girls?" Victoire wondered. "The boys seem noisier than the girls," she added, looking at some noisy boy playing.
"Not always," Molly replied. "We do have a number of quiet girls and noisy boys, but Ginny was as wild as any boy, as was Lily."
"Gregory does not seem to be as wild as some of his cousins," Victoire observed, watching Harry walk back and forth with his son on his shoulder. "I don't think this is going to be the end of the babies. We know Cleo is going to have more, but I heard Uncle George and Aunt Angelina joke about having a second pair."
"It is Audrey who has surprised me," Molly responded. "I had to work so hard to teach her to be a mother with her first two, but she has told me how much she has enjoyed every aspect of being pregnant and having a child this time. It would not surprise me if she and Percy had another one."
"What does Uncle Percy think about that?" Victoire wondered, looking at Percy and Audrey, who were playing in the pond like they were a young couple instead of grandparents.
"I think staid Percy is surprised at how passionate his wife has become," Molly observed. Percy and Audrey were holding hands as they came out of the water, looking a little like love-sick teenagers. "He is a little embarrassed, but I can tell he is enjoying it."
"I love everything about being a wife and mother!" Victoire exclaimed. "With all the help around the house I can keep up with a very part time job as a healer, and I like it, but I'm not near done having children."
Ginny and Minerva came out of the water. Ginny did a drying and warming charm on the two, and (with Mitzi's help) they went over to where Molly and Victoire were sitting.
"The boys wore themselves out?" Ginny wondered as she watched Harry walk back and forth with Gregory, who was trying unsuccessfully not to go to sleep.
"I guess," Victoire replied. "You and Harry need to keep having boys so Uncle Harry can keep playing in the sand."
"You and Cleo will give Harry plenty of boys to allow Harry to play with his sand toys," Ginny replied. "I'm done!"
"I will do my best," Victoire laughed. "Although Teddy and I have just had two girls. How come boys make motor noises and girls don't?"
"I don't know," Molly responded. "Ginny was as wild as any of the boys, but I don't remember her making motor noises. I'm not sure Percy did either, come to think about it. I don't know."
"How come little boys make motor noises?" Ginny asked Harry as he came over carrying a sleeping Gregory.
"Probably because their fathers do when they play with them," Harry replied. "Teddy's Juana made motor noises with me when I was playing with her in the sandbox, although she mostly plays with the little girls now."
"So it's all the father's fault!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Sooner or later they will probably find motor noises, or at least some sort of noise, on the Y chromosome," Harry admitted. He shrugged, not ready to apologize.
Minerva looked at her at where some of the little girls were playing, and then at her mother. Ginny told Minerva, "You may go play with the girls." Which Minerva did, wandering over to join the older girls.
"It is almost Happily Ever After, these Sunday afternoons in the Summer," Harry observed. "Especially when the weather is warm and sunny."
"I see you've caught the Snitch," Harry joked, seeing Molly holding James son. Molly looked lovingly at James Sirius Potter Jr., or 'Snitch.'
"It is good to see Lily Luna and Billy playing," Molly responded. "I cannot say too much about marrying too young, but once you have a baby your adolescence comes to a rather abrupt end."
"Would you like to be an adolescent again?" Harry wondered.
"NEVER!" Molly exclaimed. "I'm rather happy with my life right now. Even though sometimes I think my husband is having a second childhood."
Molly looked over at her husband, shaking her head. Arthur was trying to control a remote control bulldozer pushing some sand around the sandbox, concentrating very hard.
"It is better than buying Arthur a real bulldozer," Harry joked.
Molly looked at Harry in horror. "It is bad enough he has to have an Automobile. Someone gave him a little séance sea machine and a top lap to run it. It runs all by itself, and carves things, and he says it is not magic it is Muggle soft clothing or something on the top lap that makes it work. Men and their toys!"
"May we come over to see you and play in your play area?" Ginny asked Cleo a few days later, getting in touch with her on the mobile. "The weather is just terrible here, and I understand it is sunny where you are."
"Please!" Cleo enthusiastically replied. "Text me who is coming so I can alert security. They know who everybody is, and getting into the castle takes preclearance."
"I will," Ginny replied.
The message from Ginny read:
Guinevere Molly (Ginny) Potter with Gregory Godric Potter and Minerva Marie Potter
Grandmother Molly Prewett Weasley
Josefina (Teddy Lupin's household) and Victoire Weasley Lupin with Juana, Javier, Rosario, Maria, Venus, and Saturn
Erica Lionheart Potter with James Sirius Potter Jr. and William Lionheart III. Lily Luna Lionheart will be over later to nurse him, but she is busy right now.
Miriam Weasley with Barack, Issa, and Joshua
Roxanne Weasley Longbottom with Wilkie, Irma, and Benjamin
Audrey Weasley with Arthur. Lucy Hudson is coming with her. They are also taking care of George and Angelina's daughter Sally, although Angelina Weasley will be over later as well.
Cleo relayed instructions, and also added, "Molly Weasley Hudson will be with us, along with Kyle and Scarlet. I think Rich will be there taking pictures, as he and Albus tell us, 'giving the public some human interest stories but controlling the narrative' is important."
Ginny was not all that fond of the publicity, but she had learned the wisdom of controlling it. She still had to fight the persistent rumors of having too much to drink every time she went out when her balance was not very good, and the continuing stories about her Quidditch injury, although frustrating, were better she guessed than being considered a drunk.
They had installed a Closet between the Ministry in Britain and the transit station in Switzerland, and the whole group that was going to Switzerland took the Closet. When they arrived their identities were checked, wands were examined, and the group was led out of the international section of the transit station and into a guarded room. There they took a Closet to the castle.
Once at the castle, identities were checked again. "This Closet is on floor minus one, right under the level of the plaza," one of the guards announced, something that most of the adults already knew. "We are going to take an elevator up to the second floor, and then walk up to the roof."
There was an elevator bank, with a small elevator and a very large one, and the group was led into the large one. On the one wall was a row of buttons, 2, 1, M, -1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -6, -7, -8, -9, -10. The guard that was going with them announced, "This elevator goes all the way down to the floor at the level of the valley, where we have horses and other animals housed."
"There is a barn under this castle, with animals living there?" Rosario asked, crinkling her nose like she could smell barn animals.
The elevator operator laughed. "We even take horses up to the plaza level for ceremonies," she admitted. "We put special horse nappies on the horses so they do not mess the elevator too much, but we do have to clean the elevator after the horses are on it."
Rosario shook her head, like having animals, horses, in an elevator was hard for her to imagine.
The elevator was on an outside wall, at a corner of the building next to the plaza. When the group exited there were windows looking over the valley and the edge of the mountain. The whole group went over to the large windows and peered out, before walking to a wide staircase, three meters wide, just as wide as the large elevator was. The staircase had a roof over it, but the doors that could close off the upstairs from the roof had been opened, and as was so often the case with magical doors had disappeared into the edges of the opening.
"Welcome to our rooftop gardens," Cleo exclaimed as the group of mothers and children entered the roof of the palace. "The battlements are high enough to prevent the children from falling over the wall, even where the wall is pierced by crenels. I'm not sure why the battlement looks like that, although it does look more castle like. Even if they try to climb into the crenels, the wards on the battlement will prevent anyone from falling or jumping off. Magi can fly right above the wall on brooms or on flying beasts. So I do not think the crenels do much good, although I guess there was a roof over this part of the castle at one time.
"I do know that by magic all the windows can be filled in with stone, to really make the castle a structure to withstand an attack.
"There is a large play area over here. I have groups of school children here every week."
A small portion of the roof held a greenhouse, maybe twenty percent, but the rest was basically a park, with grass, a sandy play area, and in one corner a large selection of play equipment for all ages. There was also a gathering area with a modest stage at one end. "We can bring out chairs for a concert or play if we want to," Cleo explained.
Adam and Morgana had been sitting at a child sized table when the crowd of children and adults arrived, but as soon as they saw the crowd they clambered down from their seats to greet their cousins. Alice Milne held the two just toddler's hands as they babbled to the other children, going over to the play equipment. Adam was just walking, although not well. Morgana walked well enough when you held her hand, but was not very adventurous.
Ginny noticed that both Adam and Morgana were drinking out of sippy cups, and not nursing. "Are your babies weaned?" Ginny asked Cleo.
"Mostly," Cleo confirmed. "Albus and I are thinking about starting another one. I want this one born well before the ICWW, or well after."
"I can see why," Ginny replied.
Cleo and Ginny went over to where the others were, and joined in with the play. Cleo was normally fully involved with the other mothers and children, but occasionally someone would interrupt her for something. Cleo was, it seemed, extraordinarily busy, although she did not seem to have any problem handling it.
"Gregory is content to nurse twice or three times a day, and otherwise eat and drink like a toddler," Ginny told Cleo. "I'm a little reluctant to wean him totally. It is such a special feeling, such a unique closeness. He is all boy when he is playing with the other boys, but not as rambunctious as some of them. In some ways he is more like Minerva than James or Lily."
"Albus was different too?" Cleo wondered.
"I'm not sure Albus was ever a baby, not really," Ginny reflected. "He was always serious, way ahead of where he should have been mentally although not physically."
"He has a hard time relaxing," Cleo agreed. "I love it when he holds me, and just holds me, and we can both relax. After, when your bodies relax, and you can just enjoy being male and female holding, touching each other."
"When you are done doing," Ginny agreed. "Just holding, just being a couple."
"I've talked to my midwife," Cleo told Albus that evening, as they were getting ready for bed. "I'm not pregnant, and she would like me to wait until August to try and become pregnant again. Something about nursing two babies, and just being careful. I could have one every year, but we have talked about it, and I am far too busy with other things too."
"We are still young," Albus replied. "We can wait. I know Victoire wants a dozen, but spaced every other year."
"I thought I wanted one every year," Cleo sniffed, "but life is so busy, and we are pulled in so many different directions. So we wait, not too long, but we wait."
Albus gave Cleo a great big hug. They both loved children, but they had two toddlers to take care of, and they could wait. Mafalda had been spotted at Diagon Alley a couple of times, but no one knew where she was most of the time. She had not tried to contact Cleo about her daughter, and Cleo assumed that Morgana was hers now.
Harry Potter looked at K2, the mountain of The Lord of the Dementors. "I've mapped this area before, and helped other people map it, but we don't have good enough maps of the entire area," he commented. "I really don't like this area. The whole area feels wrong, wicked and unsafe."
"I lose Aurors here way too often," 'Sammy' Sun, the Auror in charge of the fight against the allies of The Lord of the Dementors around the mountain, grumbled.
"All the prophesies say that this is where a big battle will be, though," Dan Van Lente shook his head. "It is an evil place, and getting the Honor Guard here and having them ready and able to fight is a real problem."
"All of us will be here, at this guarded outpost, if the Honor Guard is called to rescue Albus and Cleo from somewhere around this area," Harry reflected. "I'm going to see how many of our family can also come, if an All Auror is called. I have a feeling that we cannot have too many beings here."
Thorin, the Elf Goblin, agreed. "From what I understand there may be two battles, one between Magi and one between Elf factions. If Albus and/or Cleo are captured, all the Elf warriors we have been training will also come."
"Ready for a practice alert?" Harry asked.
"Not really," Sammy replied, "but if we don't do these we will never be ready."
"How was the practice alert?" Ginny asked Harry September of twenty-twenty-four, after he was back from the practice alert. Harry, accompanied by Dobedo, had come in through the Closet, and Harry had immediately plopped down on a kitchen chair, obviously exhausted.
Harry waved to Dobedo, and his guard Elf disappeared upstairs to be with his family.
"Less of a disaster than the previous ones, but we still have plenty of work to do," Harry replied, shaking his head. "The Honor Guard is going to appear close to Albus and Cleo, but we are going to need way more beings if an All Auror alert is called. I'm going to see who of the family can come, and who needs to stay here. I also need to talk to Hogwarts and the Ministry. I have a feeling that this battle is going to be way bigger than The Battle of Hogwarts, if it comes, with beings Magi and Elf from all over the world involved."
"I will come!" Ginny insisted, glaring at her husband.
"With your bad sense of balance?" Harry asked. "If we lose you might have to fight here, but I would rather not have you there."
"I will not come right away," Ginny agreed, "but if the battle goes on don't try to forbid me from coming."
"Yes, dear," Harry replied. And added the prospect of Ginny coming to K2 as one more thing he worried about.
Ginny led an exhausted Harry up to their bedroom, and they proceeded to hold each other and hug, before Harry fell asleep.
Ginny took a deep breath, looking lovingly as Harry. She was ready for something more than just holding, she usually was, but tonight the most loving thing was to just let Harry sleep.
"Thank you for coming to this family meeting," Harry told the assembled crowd as they gathered in the living room of the New Burrow after the normal Sunday meal. "Many of you my age and older were at The Battle of Hogwarts. Very few were at the Battle of Malfoy Manor. I need to talk about the next major battle that the community of the Magi may be involved in.
"The Battle of Hogwarts was mostly a British battle. The Battle of Malfoy Manor was more of a worldwide battle, but it only involved Magi, mostly Aurors, and was nowhere near as big as what we can foresee might happen if there is a major battle with The Lord of the Dementors. We are worried about what may happen if the battle becomes bigger than the Honor Guard and an All Auror Alert can handle. There are several groups, heads of schools and teachers, members of the ministry not in law enforcement, certain families, who would volunteer to help. I know the Weasley family is one of them, and we, the people in charge of planning for this battle, if it comes, need to know who would fight and who we would want to do other things."
The group of people looked at each other.
To everyone's surprise, Andromeda Tonks stood up and announced. "Since the last time my late husband talked to me, I have been practicing dueling. I am more than willing to go into battle, and if I die that will just let me be reunited with my husband." She sat down, a determined look on her face.
"We have raised our family, and if you need us we will fight," Molly volunteered, holding on to Arthur's hand. Arthur nodded his acceptance.
"I want the family guarding the area where I will be stationed trying to direct the battle, if as we expect it is around the mountain of The Lord of the Dementors," Harry told them.
"Bill, Fleur, would you come, and are you trained?"
Bill consulted with Fleur, and then replied, "We need to refresh our Defense Against the Dark Arts skills, but we will. We have a good team in place in case anything happens to us. I don't want Louis to come, though. His worst marks were in Defense Against the Dark Arts."
Louis looked a little ashamed. "I am afraid I never took the courses all that seriously. I never thought I would have to be in a battle."
Harry continued, "Teddy, I need you with me for the mapping, and if you come we need Victoire and Josefina not to come."
Teddy nodded his acceptance, as did Victoire and Josefina when he looked at them.
"George, Angelina, I need you to make sure Angelina's Angel Armor is stocked with defensive and offensive garments, spells and devices. You may have to transport some to the battle, but I would rather you delegated the transportation and concentrated on making any urgently needed items. Your son-in-law Frank Longbottom will be in the middle of the battle. Fred?"
Fred Weasley responded, "I will wait to bring needed things to a battle, but stay and fight if I am needed. I have kept up with my Defense training."
"Percy?" Harry wondered.
"I will come, but Audrey is not very good at Defense spells. I expect both Rich and Bob will be at any battle, if just to report what is going on."
"I don't want Molly or Lucy at the battle," Harry insisted. "It could be too distracting to the Hudson brothers."
"I'm going to see if Minister Shacklebolt could come, and if he does Hermione, you need to stay here to take over if anything happens to him."
"Hermione should stay here, but I will be there with you," Ron replied. "I'm still qualified as an Auror. Keeping up my training helps keep me in shape."
Ron was in reasonably good physical shape, despite the middle age paunch that he had to fight to keep from getting bigger.
Rose volunteered, "Scorpius has been told he may not get into any battles. It doesn't show on the outside, but his insides are still a little fragile after the curse wounds from the Battle of Malfoy Manor."
Scorpius looked unhappy, but did not contradict his wife. Every month he was either at St. Mungo's or Mayo Magical Medical having his insides examined, and although he was continuing to heal his insides were still not strong.
"You stay with Scorpius, Rose. I will come, and Arthur Baker will too," Narcissa volunteered. "I think I proved myself at The Battle of Malfoy Manor."
"I agree, Narcissa," Harry replied. "I sincerely hope I do not have to ask all of you for help, but if we need the help I want to be prepared."
Harry went to the Ministry of Magic next, and as he expected Kingsley Shacklebolt agreed to come if he was needed. Together with Arthur and Hermione they went through the staff, making sure that even if many of the staff came there were more than enough left to take care of necessary matters.
Harry took the Floo to the Hogsmeade store of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, still sharing a building with the local Auror office. During most of the time the store did not have many customers, and the person tending the store also took messages for the two Aurors who patrolled Hogsmeade and the outskirts of Hogwarts.
Harry walked to the gates of Hogwarts, feeling almost like he was coming home. The magnificent castle was shining in the summer sun, and the day was warm and inviting. As he slowly walked to the castle he passed the greatly expanded greenhouses and gardens, and greeted Morgan Davies, and Violet Sprout Davies, working in the outside gardens.
"How is married life treating you?" Harry wondered, as he smelled the odor of all the growing plants, just enjoying being outside.
Morgan and Violet looked lovingly at each other, and Morgan patted Violet's expanding womb. "We are going to go to Switzerland for some more education," Morgan responded, "but we will be back here to help raise magical plants and teach eventually. Mum would like to at least partly retire, and Thorn Hufflepuff wants to teach, but Rose wants to raise their family without quite so many teaching or gardening duties."
Harry always had a funny feeling when he opened the front doors to Hogwarts and went inside. It was almost like coming home. He had only lived here for six years, his seventh year having been spent on the run, but Hogwarts was the first place he felt at home. The castle had expanded and changed, but it still felt more familiar than different, He slowly walked to the door that would lead him to the headmistress's office, greeting several paintings along the way, the building being eerily quiet this Summer day.
The gargoyle guarding the door to Minerva/s office greeted Harry, and let him in, and Harry allowed the stairs to rotate and carry him up to the office of the headmistress.
"Hello, Minerva," Harry greeted the longtime headmistress of Hogwarts. "We are practicing confronting the Lord of the Dementors, and I've come to ask you for help, and to manage who helps if we need it."
"You are worried about Albus and Cleopatra," Minerva surmised.
"I'm worried about the battle that may take place if they are captured," Harry responded. "It may be bigger than an All Auror alert can handle. I know there are Magi who will come to our aid if we need them, but I want to know who will come, and I want to make sure the proper ones come, and enough are left behind that we do not leave a school without enough staff."
"That means that I will come, but Neville needs to stay behind," Minerva replied. "He won't like it, but he needs to be here to guard the school and take over if anything happens to me."
"As long as I have been here, the head of the school has not had a family," Harry observed. "Would there be room for Hanna and their son Brandon, not to mention the rest of the family, if he lived here?"
"There are plenty of unused rooms below the rooms Dumbledore and I have lived in, and even another door to a lower corridor," Minerva replied. "It is a rather vertical apartment, but quite roomy.
"Back to your initial concerns, I'm sure Hagrid will want to come. I'm going to have conversations with each staff member, and then make some decisions. We may have a first wave that will come right away and a second wave if needed."
"I really hope we will not need you, but we are all worried," Harry indicated. "Everyone in the International Aurors' Association would rather be massively over prepared than potentially under prepared."
"I think that is a good idea," Minerva replied. "Do you want to walk down the stairs through the head's apartment? It is quite interesting."
"I would like that," Harry replied. He and Minerva took a set of stairs that Harry had no idea existed, through several floors each with a single large room or a couple of small rooms, most of them clean but obviously unoccupied, before exiting from a modest door in one of the mid-level corridors.
"Both babies are weaned, and my midwitch says that it is fine to try for another one," Cleo told Albus the beginning of November, as they were eating dinner, for a change alone, at the palace. "I'm going to let the fertility goddess out tonight! I can feel an egg moving to my womb, and it is time!"
"Yes, dear," Albus replied. He looked lovingly at his wife. "You know, it is the same act, really, but there is something extra when you are trying to create a child."
"I'm glad we don't have to do it only to create a child," Cleo giggled. "You are right, though. There is something special about intending to create a new person."
That evening when Albus went to their bedroom Cleo was wearing the garment she wore at their wedding.
"I feel especially fertile, especially like being a mother of many children, and making a mother of many children," Cleo proposed. "If we have a daughter I want to name her Eve, and if she wants to be a mother bless her with many children."
"Too many?" Albus worried.
"Well, if she wants to," Cleo responded. She didn't want to force anything on her children.
Cleo took off the wedding garment, but didn't really try to change what she was thinking. If they conceived an Eve, maybe Eve wouldn't have to worry about anything but being a mother, if that is what she wanted. Unlike Cleo, who had an extremely busy and confusing life.
Then again, she was torn. Their first was Adam, and if their next was a girl she wanted to name it Eve, but she didn't want to … well that was the problem. She didn't know what her children would be like. If she had a large family, which she wanted, they would all be different. And she was all right with that, but it would be nice to have a girl or girls that didn't have to worry about how many children to have.
As long as the baby, the child, was healthy and happy, really. Anything else would be a bonus.
Lily came bouncing into the office on the top floor of Grimmauld Place, carrying baby Will on her front, the second week of December. She handed the almost seven-month old baby to her mother, peeled off the carrier, took off the backpack she was wearing, and peered into the mess, before pulling out a tablet. She pulled out her mobile, saying, "I have an interview on the mobile."
Will responded with baby noises and the mouth motions that indicated that he was hungry.
"I know, Will," Lily replied with a big sigh, as she opened her shirt and bra, took the baby from her mother, and put him on her breast. After a self-satisfied look, once Will was apparently well latched on, Lilly looked at her mother and beamed. "We are all getting a bonus for winning most of our games this fall season," Lily told her mother. "What a magical season!"
"I remember a magical season like that when I was playing for the Harpies," Ginny told her daughter. "They don't always last, so enjoy it while you can."
"It is a lot of work," Lily frowned. "Billy is always exercising or practicing or working on plays with Jake and James. He doesn't even always have dinner with us, although he is home every night. I get up to make him breakfast and we talk almost every morning, and he does have Sunday off, and now that the season is over Saturday as well, or at least part of Saturday, but it is not like school where we had lunch together almost every day and did homework together."
"Don't you exercise with him at times?" Ginny wondered.
"Some, but I'm not really getting my old shape back," Lily grumbled. "My midwitch says I am in excellent physical shape, and I feel good, but I look like and feel like a mum."
Lily took Will off the one breast, and patted him, getting a big 'burp' out, before changing sides.
"Will is just over six months old, Lily," Ginny told her daughter. "That is what you are, a nursing mum."
Lily frowned and made a face. "A grown up lady. I guess." She looked lovingly at little Will, eagerly feeding. "He is worth it," she signed.
Seven o'clock Christmas morning, twenty-twenty-four, Harry and Ginny gathered in the drawing room with their family. James Sr. and Jr. and Erica had come over Christmas Eve, sharing one bedroom, as had Lily with Billy and Will sharing another. Ivana and Hudson Jordan had arrived the previous afternoon, when Harry was working, and were sharing her bedroom. Then you had Minerva and Gregory.
"So you're still working on Christmas Eve's to benefit the younger Aurors?" Ivana wondered, as she and Hudson came down the stairs into the drawing room. "You were not here yesterday when Hudson and I arrived, nor when we went to bed."
"Yes," Harry replied. "I usually try to quit before the last church service, but we had an issue with a fight, and I didn't get back until late.
"How do you like going to school in San Francisco?"
"It is very different, but good," Ivana replied. "I understand that you went to school there briefly."
"There are good courses about law enforcement and modern technology," Harry replied. "Ginny and I spent several months there shortly before I became Head Auror. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun."
"James was conceived in San Francisco," Ginny commented offhandedly.
Ivana giggled. "I guess it was a lot of fun."
"Is it fun conceiving a baby?" Minerva wanted to know, a serious look on her face. "I'm going to be a mother someday. I'm going to marry a pretty boy and be a mother and have babies."
"It is fun," Ginny confirmed. "Although I was busy taking classes and taking care of Teddy and just getting over my head injury. That period in my life is a bit of a blur, to be honest."
Stockings were taken down and modest presents were exchanged. The family then tromped down to the kitchen, where they found seats around the large kitchen table. A couple of Elves were making breakfast, and the family ate and visited. They talked until about eleven, when they took the Closet to the New Burrow.
It was right after breakfast at the New Burrow, and Molly and Victoire had gone to the living room to make sure everything was ready.
The Christmas tree in the living room almost touched the ceiling. Arthur had talked Molly into putting colored LED lights on the tree, thrilled that they used Muggle plugs.
Victoire stepped on the switch, turning on the lights.
"It is pretty," Molly admitted, "Even if it has," Molly made a face, "Muggle lights."
"Sixty-Eight jumpers!" Victoire exclaimed as she looked at the large pile she and Molly had knitted that year.
"Thank you for making one for me," Molly told her granddaughter. "I appreciate all your help."
"A number of other beings have helped with the dinner, and the Elves have gatherings planned as well," Victoire reflected. "The guards that follow Albus and Cleo will be eating there as well. It is good we do not have to do all of this ourselves."
Molly looked at a seating chart. "Bill and Fleur have a table for their extended family, with their youngest Jean-Paul, Louis, you and Teddy with Andromeda, Josefina, Juana, Maria, Javier, Rosario, Venus and your little Saturn. Fernando is there with the Elf Keystone. How is Fernando doing?"
"I'm not sure how much longer he is going to be living with us," Victoire replied. "He is just a very wounded and vicious individual, and it is not fair to the other people in the house to have him stay. There are no good options, just a variety of sad ones, I fear."
"Well," Molly exclaimed, trying to move the discussion on, "then you have Dominique and Francois with their Pierre. That is nineteen at that table, the smallest table."
Molly and Victoire moved from the smaller table to the next, examining the nameplates they had put at the table.
"The next table has George and Angelina with their Sally, Fred and Miriam with Barack, Issa and Joshua, Frank and Roxanne with Wilkie, Irma and Benjamin, that's George's family. Then you have Percy and Audrey with Arthur the second, Molly and Rich with Kyle and Scarlet, and Lucy. I think Bob Hudson is still in Asia. I've also put Audrey's father Arthur plus Narcissa at that table. That's twenty-three at that table."
"These tables are getting too big," Victoire grumbled, standing and looking over the table. She and Molly went over to the final table.
"Finally you have the largest table. Arthur and I are there, along with Ron and Hermione, her mother Jean Granger, and Hugo. You have Rose and Scorpius with Elanor and Bella, Ginny and Harry with Gregory and Minerva, James and Erica with James Jr., Albus and Cleo with Adam and Morgana, Lily and Bill with Will, Ivana with Hudson Jordan. That's twenty-six people! We have had to acquire more tables to fit everyone, and open the kitchen and dining rooms into the hallways. I don't know how we would do this without magic. Harry says Muggles cannot move walls as easily as we can."
Molly Weasley was pacing in the kitchen/dining area, waiting for the last of her family to arrive Christmas day just before noon. All of the food preparation was finished, and most of the families were sitting or standing next to the tables where they would be eating, visiting and waiting.
"I know families can be large, especially with as many generations some of us have," she admitted, mildly complaining to Victoire. "I know various family members have to make an appearance at several gatherings. It is just that Christmas is getting a little more rushed than I would like."
"We are all doing the best we can," Victoire argued. "At least our extended family left France late Christmas Eve so we could all be here in the morning."
"The winery is closed Christmas Eve, and open limited hours between Christmas and New Year," Dominique added, joining the conversation. "That helps with family gatherings. Seeing everyone gets complicated, though."
Rose, Scorpius and little Elanor and Bella arrived at the New Burrow just as the noon meal was starting. "Sorry," Rose told Molly. "We left the Merryweather home as soon as we could."
"Was Astoria there?" Ginny wondered.
"What's left of her," Rose frowned. "I think she is starving herself to death. The Greengrass family was all there, Daphne Greengrass Harper and her husband and children, plus a large number of other relatives on the Merryweather side. Of course with the Merryweather family in the retail toy business they work until late Christmas Eve."
"Has John Greengrass ever recovered from Merlin taking his wife's last name?" Hermione wondered.
"No one mentions it," Scorpius replied. "The Merryweather family has been in the toy business for several generations, and it made sense from a business perspective. Plus, Merlin Merryweather has a nice ring to it."
"Why does a witch take her husband's surname?" Ginny wondered.
Everyone looked to Hermione, who they expected would know the answer.
"For the same reason the father gives his daughter to her new husband, to be the property of the husband and not the property of the father," Hermione snapped. "Until recently a married woman was considered the property, property, of her husband, with no rights of her own. Witches have often had more rights, and in England and most of Europe witches could and did own property and were not considered property, but some of the more traditional old fashion families still try to treat witches as the property of their fathers first, and then of their husbands."
"PROPERTY!" gasped Ginny.
Hermione nodded 'yes.' "That is what is so unusual about the Holyhead Harpies. They Harpies have always been independent witches earning their own money and having their own careers. It was considered very low class at one time to lower yourself to be a Harpy."
"What did witches do once their children were grown?" Ginny gasped. "Sit around doing nothing?"
"You were rather limited in what you were expected to do in some of the richer, high class families," Narcissa remarked. "Poorer witches always did housework, farmed or worked in their husband's businesses or did something, but wealthier witches were more limited in what was considered proper. And under British coverture laws everything was owned by the husband, including the wife, although the Magi community often did not follow the coverture laws.
"Witches were often midwives, or were known to have special powers when it came to reproduction, so they often had independent careers in that field even if they were married."
"Everyone please be seated," Molly told the assembled crowd, and the few who were not at their places found their seats. She and Victoire proceeded to levitate various dishes, and magically take covers off others. Food was passed around, and everyone ate their fill.
When the meal was over several of the men stationed themselves at the sink where by magic dishes were washed, dried, and put away in a special cart that held the holiday dinner dishes, or put on a table to be used later. Meanwhile Molly supervised setting up a table filled with leftovers so people could graze on them if they were hungry.
It took a while after everyone was finished with their meal for the buffet to be set up, the dishes washed, and the kitchen put back into order. As soon as everything was ready, the family gathered in the living room for the passing out of the jumpers, each individually knit by Molly or Victoire to reflect the personality of the person.
All of the children received modest presents, but once you had graduated from Hogwarts you were considered an adult, and did not receive presents. As all this was going on, various groups continued to talk.
"Thank you for working the week before Christmas, so us Aurors with small children do not have to work so hard," Frank Longbottom II told Harry. "The young Aurors really appreciate it."
"Thank you for the hours you put in," Harry responded. "I know you tried to schedule enough shifts last week and next week to make up for the time you take off."
"You are most welcome," Frank replied. "You are a good example. Does Lilly Granger still go with you Christmas Eve?"
"She does," Harry replied. "She worked in computer security for Bill for ten years, but then started working for Lavender Brown Blackburn in the Domestic Affairs department. She mostly works with abused women. She is a Muggle, but because she lives at the end of Grimmauld Street with her wizard husband she can just walk over to the houses where the women and children, and occasionally an abused man although they are rare, are housed.
"She is especially good with Muggle women who have been abused by wizards."
"Is Cleo pregnant?" Molly asked Ginny Christmas day, late in the afternoon. "I know Adam is weaned, and she looks, just like maybe she is just pregnant."
"I think so," Ginny replied. "She did share that they are trying, or not doing anything to prevent it. She does exude those motherhood vibrations."
"You're not thinking of another one?" Molly asked, concerned.
"No," Ginny responded. "I'm done. But look at Audrey and Angelina! I think love is in the air."
"They have told me that they are both thinking of, maybe, and," Molly shook her head, "if anyone could turn a maybe into a let's do it Cleo can. We will see.
"At least Ivana and Hudson are firm in not wanting to start a family until their education is finished."
"Fleur is done as well," Ginny commented. "We will be staying another day here, to spend Boxing Day with you, but many of the other family members have other family they have to see."
"Is Harry actually going to take the week between Christmas and New Year off this year?" Molly wondered.
"He is going to try," Ginny replied. "He and I need a little time together. We are going to go to Resort Cleo for we hope two weeks in January, if we can. Before the Cannons go. I understand that the Cannons are going to spend a week there, putting in about eight hours a day in practice or exercise, but also in spending some time with family relaxing."
"Practicing in good weather instead of in Great Britain weather in the middle of the winter," Molly reflected. "I can see why the players would like that."
"The Cannons have become one of the best teams in England, if not the best," Ginny told Molly. "This year's team reminds me of the year the Harpies won it all. Excellent players, good coaching, and everybody working together. James wants to reward the players and their families. Bill makes sure the team is profitable, but they are managing it more for winning and for the players than to maximize the profits."
"Is Billy Lionheart making enough money?" Molly wondered. "Lily seems to be worried about money often enough."
"They are fine!" Ginny exclaimed. "Lily has just never gotten over having to pay for things with her own money. She enjoys seeing what she can bargain for, what she can obtain for free or at a reduced price."
"Lily is not very good at accepting what you tell her," Molly thought. "I can see her bargaining for everything, trying to get a better deal."
Angelina wore a silly grin the evening of Boxing day. "Still want a pair for you and a pair for Fred?" she asked as she and George went into their bedroom, still above the store in Diagon Alley.
"I'm not the one who has to be pregnant, and then nursing," George told his wife, squeezing her hand. "I'm never going to say which pair are the ones for me and which are the pair for Fred either, although if we have a boy I might name him George Jr."
"Well tonight is a night we might be able to start a baby, so you need to show me you can still start a baby," Angelina laughed.
"It is nothing we haven't done often enough," George grinned. The couple undressed in front of each other, and went into their in-suite bathroom for a joint shower.
That night, and the next, Angelina lay in bed letting George's contribution work their way into her womb.
Audrey sat on the edge of their bed, naked, the evening of Boxing Day. She pointed out a particular spell in the book. "You use this spell when you are trying to become pregnant," she told Percy.
"You are absolutely beautiful when you are pregnant or nursing," Percy told Audrey. "You seemed to just glow all through the last pregnancy. If you want another one I'm ready for another one. We are not rich, but we have more than enough money to support more children."
"It helps that mum and I and the crew at the New Burrow share child care duties, so you can always get help when you need it," Audrey responded. "We even have our own in house healer for children. Muggles call it a pediatrician. Victoire is fully qualified, and is working part time. She is able to practice as a midwitch, in an emergency, or as an adult healer, but her specialty is really children.
"It is time for the good old fashion missionary position, and for you to do your part to make a baby."
That night, as Percy fell asleep, Audrey lay in bed, not having cleaned up after sex but just letting Percy's contribution wiggle into her womb to, she hoped, start another child. She was going to rejoice in being a woman, a wife, a mother. Life was good.
She was sorry her mother could never enjoy it. She was grateful that her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law could.
2023