Author's Notes: My novel, Duplicity by Sarah Jaune is now available on amazon, barnes and noble, and other platforms. PLEASE PLEASE go check it out and buy it! I write this story for love of the genre and to finish it, but I need to make money from my writing. So please, if you enjoy this story, go buy my new book or one of my other ones and do not forget to leave a review. Reviews are critical to us small timers beating the giant amazon :)
Thanks to Arnel for beta'ing!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
"How am I supposed to feel about my child having his own house?" Harry wondered to his in-laws as he stared into his tea at the old, battered table he loved dearly for the memories they'd shared around it. The Burrow would always hold a dear place in his heart, even as the house no longer rang with the echoes and shouts of noisy boys running amok.
Arthur patted his arm comfortingly. "Wait until your child has a grandchild. That's a whole new experience."
Harry blinked and realized he didn't have to wonder, of course. He'd already done this with Teddy and Victoire and he was already a grandfather. But with James… it seemed a little more daunting.
"I think it's because it's James," Molly said as she set out a plate of biscuits. Harry knew they'd be sugar-free. Molly had been on a healthy eating crusade since they'd learned about Nat's condition. Both she and Arthur had both lost a consider amount of weight and Molly had claimed she felt a lot better for it.
Harry pretended to smile and ate a biscuit so as to not to hurt her feelings. It simply didn't taste the same to him, although he had to admit she was getting better at making them taste good.
"I think you're right, Mum," Ginny agreed as she reclined back in her chair. "We all had this image of James being a scamp and now he's turned into a responsible man." Her expression was as bewildered as Harry felt. "It boggles the mind, to be honest. I keep expecting him to throw a dung bomb at someone. Instead he has a house, which he plans to move in to as soon as school is out."
"I worry about him not being supervised," Molly admitted as she nibbled on a biscuit. "I worry about him and Caroline. She's a good girl, but she's been hurt so much. Maybe we should see if Louis wants to move in with him."
"Didn't you hear?" Ginny said with a raised brow. "Louis is going to be a Curse-Breaker. He's leaving for Egypt as soon as the term is over."
Ginny's mother blinked. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised. Like father, like son. Still, I hope he settles down here in England. I'm still not happy with Charlie's decision to stay in Romania."
"He likes it there," Arthur shrugged. "He's not exactly going to be able to work with those kinds of dragons if he moves back here."
"But still…" Molly's voice trailed off. Harry studied her hair, which was almost completely gray now, and her lined face which had thinned out considerably. She didn't really look like she was in her seventies, if Harry was honest. Of course, witches and wizards lived longer than most, but still. He glanced down at the biscuit and decided he might do well to cut back on some of the sweets himself. He was quickly approaching his mid-forties and he wanted to stay in good shape.
"I can't believe Emma is already two," Ginny mused as she sipped at her tea. Ginny, for her part, didn't look a day over thirty. Harry still wasn't sure how she managed it, except he knew she took better care of herself than he did. He'd have to change that.
"She was so sweet at her party," Molly sighed happily. "I love being a grandmother, but being a great-grandmother is extra special."
"But it's definitely something to get used to," Arthur pointed out to his wife. "We have grandchildren old enough to be parents, Molly."
"I think soon we'll see some more," Molly went on happily. "Molly and Brayden have been married more than six months now."
"I was under the impression they were going to wait awhile," Ginny told them. "She's still working on her career and they want to buy a house. Molly saw how Teddy and Victoire struggled and although we certainly wouldn't mind helping them out, we don't have a fund set aside for them like we did our children. The flat they're in is not going to hold a baby."
Ginny's mother nodded thoughtfully. "It was so much easier back in my day. We were poor, sure, but we were able to get by on just your father's salary. Now you need two working parents just to make it by. I don't know why it is so hard."
"When women joined the workforce it doubled the amount of labor making labor cheaper," Arthur said as the other three turned to gape at him. "I'm not saying women should stay home, it's just simple economics. You have an oversupply of workers and then you can pay them less."
"Well," Ginny punctuated the word. "That's depressing. Women need to work! It gives them security and independence."
Arthur reached over to pat her hand. "I simplified it. It's a complicated issue and there are many factors. I agree with you, of course. You had a fine career as a Quidditch player and then as a reporter. Now you're writing a book. Your skills were in demand and you were on a team where you were valued and thus paid accordingly. All of that is good. But not all women can be Quidditch players or even the Minister of Magic, so they have to compete."
They all fell silent for a long moment. "I think," Molly said finally, "this means we won't have as many great-grandchildren as grandchildren."
"Oh, we're Weasleys," Arthur told her cheerful. "We'll always have a lot of children even if we don't mean to."
~*~
March had rolled through England in a never-ending series of raining, foggy days which left Teddy in a funk. It was no good trying to take Emma for a walk or to play outside as it was just cold enough to be uncomfortable for her, and too warm to snow. Still, he'd looked forward to his weekend off. Typically, he and Victoire had to spend more than an hour every month coordinating their schedules so that someone would always be there to put Emma to bed. It was something they'd decided needed to be their job as her parents.
Emma had two sets of loving, wonderful grandparents but she needed her parents. Ginny and Fleur couldn't do everything. Victoire was currently working an overnight shift at the hospital and he hadn't seen her, except in passing, in almost four days. They hardly ever went that long but it was starting to pile up on them. Most of the Aurors he worked with had older children at Hogwarts. Only Susan had a small child. When it came to setting schedules, he and Susan took first pick. It was Harry's rule. Often that meant Teddy took the overnight shifts so he could have time with Emma after sleeping a few hours. He'd get home at six o'clock in the morning and sleep until one, then he'd get his daughter and have time with her until whenever he had to work again.
It wasn't the life he'd imagined. Victoire loved her job. He loved his job, but they didn't have family time together like he thought they would.
The problem was he didn't know what to do about it. They had enough money now. They'd been saving everything Victoire made since he'd taken the money from Harry and Ginny. Victoire was now a Healer and she was paid well. He was an Auror and he was paid better than most in the Ministry since his job was so dangerous. Their house was paid off. They only had a few expenses every month and they didn't have the time to spend any money on anything frivolous.
He couldn't buy time.
Teddy studied his precious daughter carefully as she played on the floor with some blocks. The sitting room was otherwise silent, save for the ticking of the old clock in the corner. It had been his grandmother's, something they'd saved for him. He glanced over to see it was past seven and he should be getting Emma in bed for the night, but as he lay on the carpet, his head propped up to watch her play, he couldn't do it. He couldn't give away this last twenty minutes with her.
Her little face rose up to meet his and she beamed as she showed him the block she was holding. Then she scrambled up onto her pudgy legs and ran for him, tackling him in a giggling hug as he pretended to let out a huge breath, like she'd clobbered him.
He lifted her over his head and love for her swelled in him so much he nearly couldn't speak as she laughed and squealed in joy.
The fire sprang to life in the corner and he glanced over to see Victoire step through. Surprised, but delighted, Teddy grinned up at his wife as he set Emma back on his chest where she scrambled off to throw herself at her mother. "You're home early."
"Yeah," Victoire said robotically, alerting Teddy to something being wrong. She swung Emma up in her arms and buried her face in their daughter's blonde hair.
Teddy was on his feet before he realized he'd even moved. "What's wrong?"
Victoire shook her head as a tear slid down her cheek and into Emma's hair. "Later."
Later ended up being forty-five of the longest minutes of his life later. They worked together to bathe Emma and read her a story. She was so excited to have both her parents there for bedtime that it was hard for her to settle down to sleep, but as soon as she was, Teddy took Victoire's hand and hauled her to their bedroom where he sat her down and knelt before her. "You're white as a sheet," he informed her as he tried not to panic. "What happened?"
She sighed and closed her eyes. "It's been a lot of long days the last two weeks or so. I've been… dragging through them, I guess. Today I made a mistake that nearly cost someone his life."
"What?" Teddy asked reflexively. She was so careful, all the time. He couldn't believe she would do something like that.
Victoire ran her fingers along the spread on their bed, tracing the pattern of green leaves on the blue background. He watched her fight for control. "It wasn't the first mistake I'd made, but it was the biggest. I could have killed him," Victoire finished with a sniff as another tear slid down her cheek. "I'm just s-so tired and worn out, Teddy."
"Okay," he swallowed hard and pulled her in for a hug, holding her close as he pressed a kiss to her temple. "Can you get fewer hours, maybe go part-time? I was thinking of talking to Harry about getting fewer hours for a bit since—"
"I'm pregnant."
Teddy's brain stopped completely as her words burrowed in to the train of thought he'd been on and completely derailed it. He felt a laugh bubble up out of nowhere and he found himself grinning as he kissed his wife. Elation didn't even begin to describe it. Panic didn't even begin to describe it. They were struggling to find time with their one child, plus time together. Things would have to change.
"Teddy…" she pushed at him.
He backed up to see her misery and fear spiked hard, wondering if something was wrong with her or the baby. "What?"
"I…" she swiped at her cheeks as tears kept rolling down. "I've just felt so off, so bad for weeks now… it's not like normal pregnancy so I didn't think it was! After… after the mistake today, Aunt Audrey pulled me into an exam room and grilled me over what happened and when I said I'd been feeling terrible, she checked everything, you know… that's how we discovered I'm pregnant."
"Are you sick?" Teddy asked, unsure of what else it could be.
Victoire looked as though the words were stuck in her mouth. Finally, she held up two fingers.
"Two?" he asked blankly. She nodded. "Two what?" was all he could think to ask.
And then it hit him. Two… two babies.
Two.
"Twins?" he squeaked out the word, shooting his voice straight back to puberty as serious and actual panic began to flood through him.
His wife was sobbing now and Harry's words, reminding him to step up and be the man when she needed him to be, flooded through him. He gathered her in close and tried, very hard, to wrap his head around having twins.
He didn't quite manage it. But he made all the appropriate noises and assured her they would be okay. People had twins all the time. If others could do it, so could he. They would figure things out. They had a lot of family to help. They weren't poor.
But they had complicated jobs. "What about the mistake you made? Are you in trouble?"
Victoire shook her head and he waited while she took a drink from a glass on her nightstand and mopped up her face. "I've been overworked and I'm exhausted. I'm run down. For a bit there, I thought Aunt Audrey was going to keep me at the hospital, but she sent me home and I'm home for a week. I'm going to go back for four hours a day, five days a week, for a bit and see how I handle it." Victoire let out a hitched breath as she stared at him with her red, swollen eyes. "What are we going to do?"
"We're going to have twins," Teddy said with a calm he didn't actually feel. "You work if you can, don't if you can't. Growing two babies is harder, right?"
"Gran did it with three toddlers on hand," Victoire told him miserably. "I should be able to do this and work."
"You aren't Gran," Teddy reminded her as he cupped her cheek and ran a thumb along her jaw. "Your job is very stressful and you don't get a lot of consistent sleep, luv." He hadn't seen her for more than a few minutes in several days and looking at her closely he could see the utter exhaustion written all over her face. "I'll go in tomorrow and switch up my schedule so I'm only working during the day. I'm still going to take Emma over to Ginny tomorrow so you can have a lie in. You can go get her when you're ready."
When she burst into tears again, he pulled her more fully onto the bed and spooned in around her, cradling her as she sobbed. "I feel l-like such a failure!"
"You are not failing anything," he whispered into her brow. "You're exhausted and you need some sleep. Are you hungry?"
She shook her head. "Audrey made me eat something before I left."
"Okay," he said as he tilted her chin up and kissed her lightly.
He'd been thinking they'd need a change and life had forced it on them. He hadn't expected twins, of course. Twins…
Two babies at the same time. Merlin help them…
A wide grin spread across his face as he thought of the possibilities. Would it be two boys, two girls, or one of each?
"I didn't forget to take my potion."
"What?" Teddy's mind blanked as he glanced down at Victoire. Then it registered. "You took it… and it failed?"
"That's what I'm saying," she said helplessly. "I take it at work, under the supervision of another Healer. After what Aunt Ginny told me about her pregnancy with Al I didn't want to risk it, you know? So I scheduled out the appointments to take them and if I forget, someone always comes to remind me."
A little stumped, Teddy ran his fingers down her arm as he tried to think of an explanation. He couldn't think of one. "It's not the end of the world, though. We were going to have more kids at some point."
"But what if the birth control potion doesn't work on me?"
That was a whole other thought… "We may end up with a lot of children."
Victoire poked him hard in the chest. "I'm serious, Teddy!"
"So am I," he admitted uncomfortably. "We'll see what happens."
The next morning, he left his sleeping wife and took their daughter to Ginny, who was delighted at the news of twins and offered to help out as much as they needed. When he told her the birth control potion had failed, Ginny didn't seem as surprised as he thought she should. "You need to go see Gran and tell her."
But of course, Teddy couldn't do that as he had to get into work and tell Harry, who was already there, about the babies.
Harry's reaction to the news of twins was even more comical than Teddy imagined his had been. He stared at him and then shook his head. "Say that again just once more?"
But after Teddy had explained Victoire's overall health, his surrogate father, and Victoire's uncle, turned into the leader Teddy always expected him to be. "Right," Harry said as he stood up and headed for his office door. "Daniel, tell the staff we need a meeting in five minutes in the conference room." He turned back to Teddy and clapped him on the shoulder. "We're going to switch up your schedule."
It wasn't until later that afternoon, after he'd told Victoire's parents, who were elated, that he was able to find the time to stop in and see Molly and Arthur. He sat down with them and told them the news and then said what Ginny had told him to talk to them. "The potion seemed to fail."
He watched his grandparents exchange a glance, and then turn back to him. Arthur's old, worn hand was still strong as it rested on his. "We didn't exactly plan on having seven children, you know."
Teddy had figured this was what Ginny had meant, but it was still a very scary thought.
"They have things you can do, now," Arthur reminded him. "Things they didn't have when we were having children, not until after Ginny was born. I had it done and we stopped having babies. When you're ready to be done, you can stop. But… uh… the potion just didn't seem to work on Molly." His honorary grandfather's face flushed a bit pink.
Gran, however, was unflappable. "I always wondered if it was just me, but it seems to run in our family," Molly explained with a small smile. "I have a few cousins who had a large number of children, you know, but it just wasn't talked about."
Teddy shrugged as he held up his hands. "At this point I feel like honesty is best."
Molly grinned then and patted his hand. "I want to tell you something… I never once regretted having them. It was hard and we struggled, but every single child has been a blessing. I'd go back and do the same all over again, but that doesn't mean my sons wanted to hear anything about any of this from me."
Teddy couldn't help his laughter. He absolutely believed that.
Later that night, as they lay together in bed, Victoire almost asleep, Teddy stroked his palm down her arm and rested it on her stomach. It wasn't the stomach of the woman he'd married. As a girl Victoire had been all angles and taut skin. As a mother, Victoire's figure had rounded and softened. He loved both versions of her. She was who she was now, and if she followed her mother's footsteps, she'd thin out again as she aged. However she looked was perfect to him. He scooted down the bed until he was resting his head next to the silky skin of her stomach. He pulled up her shirt and pressed his lips there, letting them linger.
They hadn't meant to make a baby, let alone two, but it twisted something up inside him to know they were in there, growing and changing every single moment. He felt Victoire's fingers thread through his hair and he relaxed into her touch. "Teddy?"
"Yeah?"
She hesitated for so long, he finally glanced up to meet her eyes.
She pulled in a long breath as her lashes swept closed over her big, blue eyes. "I think I want to take a break from work."
Surprised, Teddy sat up. "What?"
Tears forced their way out from beneath her lashes. "I'm so tired."
"Sweetheart," Teddy moved back to her side and pulled her in close, kissing her temple. "How long have you wanted this?"
Her answer stunned him. "Ever since Emma was born."
He was stunned speechless. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"We worked so h-hard to pay for my schooling!" she cried helplessly. "I felt like I had to earn it."
He shook his head. "You didn't need to finish it out if you didn't want to."
"I wanted to finish," she protested. "I've wanted to be a Healer most of my life, but right now… I just feel like I'm missing everything with Emma and now…" her hand settled on her stomach and he twined his fingers with hers over their new babies. "I need a break, Teddy. I spent all day thinking about it."
"Alright," he said simply. If she wanted to take time off, she could. They had that luxury.
"I'm sorry!"
"No," he shook his head and tightened his grip on hers. "There's nothing to be sorry about. I was thinking about how little time we have as a family. We both have to change something or we'll be watching Emma grow up in photographs taken by someone else."
She let out a long sigh. "Yes! That's exactly how I'm feeling. I want to be a Healer… but maybe not just now."
"Can you take a break?" he wondered, unsure of what the policy was.
Victoire shook her head. "I have to work at least one day a week to keep up my license. But one day a week is a lot easier than six."
"Alright," he said with a nod. "Whatever you want to do, I support you."
Victoire didn't go back to work that next week, though. By the time the weekend was over, she was on a feeding tube to keep her nourished and the anti-nausea potions in her as severe morning sickness set in. She was officially on indefinite medical leave as the twins were putting a serious strain on Victoire's body.
"This is not how I pictured taking time off work," she told Teddy miserably.
After hearing about how miserable Victoire was, Polly, who was the house-elf who worked for Harry and Ginny, offered to come take care of things for them a couple of times a week. Teeny was big enough to be left with Ginny at the house during the days her mother went to the Lupin's. Typically, house-elves started to work when they were very young but Harry and Ginny had both put their foot down. She wasn't like a human baby, though. She was walking, talking, and feeding herself already. In fact, she and Emma had a grand time playing together once Teeny learned what toys were for.
"Just sleep," Teddy told her as he kissed her gently. "I'm off early today."
It wasn't how he'd planned to spend his Monday, as he took Emma to Ginny, but he wasn't going to trade it for anything else. Molly was right about that.
~*~
"I swear this morning could not get any slower," Nat grumbled as she flopped into an armchair in the Potter's living room. She stared down at Emma and Teeny who were playing with a dollhouse Ginny had just come home with the day before. They'd been home for the Easter hols for almost three days and James had been at tryouts for England's Quidditch team every single day.
Today was the day he'd learn if he made it.
"I know," Al agreed with a sigh as he plopped down to lay flat on the floor next to Emma, who started stacking the doll furniture on his chest. He didn't even seem to notice. "What if he makes it, Nat?"
"If he makes it we get great Quidditch seats for the rest of our lives," Scorpius told him from his sprawl on the sofa. "If he doesn't make it, we get seats for whatever team he does play for. I just hope it's not the Cannons."
They all shuddered.
"The Cannons are a lovely team," Lily told Scorpius as she lightly kicked his foot from the chair next to him. She glanced up from her book and stuck her tongue out at him, making him grin. "Just because they always lose doesn't mean they aren't wonderful."
"I actually think that's exactly what that means, Lils," Al told her as Nat saw him glance at his watch. "Caroline and Honor should be here soon."
"Crash!" Emma shouted as she scattered the furniture off her uncle.
"Hey!" Al growled out a laugh and grabbed her up, tickling her sides as she squealed in delight. A second later, Teeny was in on the action and he had both the elf and the toddler wrestling with him.
Nat stared at them and grinned. "This is really how life should be for an e-l-f," she said spelling it out.
"Yeah," Lily agreed instantly. "We don't need barriers. We need friends."
The fireplace erupted and first Caroline, then Honor stepped through and sat with them. "Nothing yet?" Caroline asked as she fidgeted. She'd had to leave her dog, Rufus, at home and Nat knew it would be hard for her.
"Nothing yet," Lily confirmed as she hopped up and pushed at Scorpius' feet to make room for Caroline to sit in her vacated seat. Caroline had made a lot of progress but they all knew she wouldn't sit that close to a boy who wasn't James.
Scorpius scooted over and slouched down onto the sofa as Lily sat next to him and Honor sat next to her.
"We should play hide and go seek tonight," Lily suggested. "If he makes the team, then great. If he doesn't, then it'll cheer him up."
"We should call—" Al began but stopped as the fireplace lit up again and first Louis, then Rose and Hugo came through. "The others…" he laughed. "I guess we are all impatient."
"I can't just sit home and wait!" Rose huffed out as she sat on the floor near the doll house and took a toy pram from Teeny and helped her seat a baby into it. "She should have an elf toy for this house," Rose said thoughtfully.
"That is a great idea!" Nat explained in surprise.
Hugo, who had been pacing, pointed to the house. "Think Uncle George could get us something like that? Never mind, I'll ask him."
The fireplace flared to life again and Nat watched Mrs. Potter come through, dusting at her clothing. She blinked, but didn't seem too surprised to see her living room full of teenagers. "Have the kids been okay?" she asked them.
"Fine, Mum," Al confirmed. "You were only gone thirty minutes and there were two of them and," he paused to count, "nine of us."
"Yes, alright," Ginny rolled her eyes and headed for the kitchen. "I just needed to see Victoire for myself."
"Is she still throwing up?" Al wondered.
"Not today, thankfully," Ginny called back to them.
It had been a bit of a shock to learn Victoire was having twins, Nat mused, but they'd do alright. She was only a few months into her pregnancy but they hadn't gone over to see her since she was still stuck in bed most of the time. Nat really felt for her. She'd been sick like that at one point and it had been miserable.
"Does anyone want anything to eat?" Ginny called out.
"We already made lunch, Mum," Lily told her. "We ate and fed them," she said pointing to the babies, "right after you left."
"You cleaned up, too," Ginny noted with amusement. "I must have done something right as a mother."
Al and Scorpius had cleaned up since Lily and Nat had cooked. It had been a fair trade-off.
"I wish he'd get home already," Ginny muttered as she clattered around in the kitchen.
They were all wishing for it.
Scorpius and Al ended up in a game of chess on the floor aided by Emma, who kept trying to steal Al's chessmen, but they finally managed to end the game.
"He has his checkmate face on," Nat observed to Scorpius.
Scorpius sighed heavily as he scanned the board. Then he spotted it. "Two moves left."
"Two moves," Al agreed. "Want to finish it out?"
Teeny chose that moment to pluck up Al's queen as the piece let out a loud shriek and protested loudly as the little elf carried it over to the doll house and put it in one of the beds. "I am not a toy!" it screamed in annoyance.
They all fell over laughing.
The fireplace came to life and they all turned as one to see a beaming James spill out of the fireplace. "I'm in!" he hollered as everyone broke into cheers and whoops of joy.
~*~
"Our son made England's Quidditch team," Harry repeated for what had to be the hundredth time in the last hour. It had been a long night of hide and go seek with the kids who had wanted to celebrate James' victory at making the team. Now everyone was at their homes or sacked out in one of the bedrooms after hours of laughing and way too much food. "He made it at eighteen."
"I think Krum was the last one to do that," Ginny agreed as she handed him a glass of wine and crawled into bed with him, careful not to spill her own glass. "I can't recall anyone under twenty in the last two decades."
"He's not on the main team, though," Harry said more to himself than her. "That will help."
They both understood exactly what he meant. With being on the main team, there was fame and glory and a lot of girls. James was already famous for his last name. He would have some time to get used to it while he was only a reserve. They both liked Caroline a lot and they could see their son was in love with her. "I don't want anything to mess it up for him," Ginny said slowly. "I had you when I joined the Harpies. I was already married. I don't love how backwards England is in a lot of ways, but in how sacred a marriage is, I feel like we have that correct. We're soul bound and it means something."
It meant something in other countries, too, Harry knew but it was everything else before the marriage. "He's going to be traveling with the team this summer."
"I'll make sure he's on his guard," Ginny assured him. Harry knew she'd seen a lot of questionable behavior in her time as a reporter. The partying, drinking, and sleeping around was rampant at any of the major sporting events. Most of the players weren't married and they lived it up. Harry didn't necessarily see anything wrong with it, but if James didn't join in when he was still single it would make him stand out. But they all knew he wasn't getting married any time soon and that was okay. "Maybe he and Caroline will figure out they aren't meant to be."
"I don't think that's what they're going to figure out," Ginny sighed as she snuggled back into the pillows. "I can wish it because I think loving her is going to be a lot of work, but I also think it will be worth it. I think she's going to end up the kind of woman we definitely want for our son. She grounds him, doesn't puff up his ego, and she really gets him. If he ended up with some vapid fangirl I might have to scream."
He couldn't argue with that. "So we have him 'til the end of the year and then he goes off for intensive training in the run up to the cup?"
"That's the schedule," Ginny confirmed. "We have the Remembrance Ball this year, as well. I can't believe it's been twenty-five years already."
"I can't believe we're going to have three grandchildren by Christmas," Harry breathed out as joy filled him yet again. "They're going to need a lot of support from us."
"They'll have it," Ginny said as she pressed a kiss to his shoulder and then drained the rest of her wine. "Did you get Teddy's schedule worked out?"
"Yeah, he's on a regular nine to five shift for now," he confirmed as he sipped more slowly from his glass. "With no sign of Crabbe, I was able to convince the minister to drop our staffing down to more regular hours. We've set up an on-call Auror as needed to hang around until midnight and then head home. Williams actually wanted those hours, five to midnight, as that's when his wife works."
"If only all of life could work out that nicely."
If only.
~*~
Isabella Crabbe stared off into the distance, not really seeing the luxurious beach, the white sands, or the people in the distance. She was oblivious to the sounds of the waves and the salty smell wafting in from the ocean. She saw nothing and heard nothing and it was good she didn't or the Muggles around her might have died.
She hadn't thought waiting would be so difficult. She wanted him to suffer tremendously and she didn't care a wit for the girl, but she was still just a girl. She wasn't grown and for all her urgency, she wanted a chance for it to succeed. Taking a child meant a higher chance of failure. She'd seen that time and again in her study. Sixteen was really the earliest she could manage in order to have it work. Before that and they all died.
She hadn't figured out why and the last year had been spent trying to refine it so she could move earlier. She wanted this done with. She wanted Potter to suffer the loss of the child he adored the most, but not by simple death. Oh no. Death was a release in a lot of ways. Death was easy.
There was a special kind of hell in knowing her child had burned to death. Her son had suffered terribly at the end and Potter hadn't done anything to help him.
She'd thought about burning his children alive. She'd even tried it once, in a fit of temper, but their wards around the house were too good.
But no… patience. Potter needed to live with the damaged, mangled goods. If she'd succeeded in killing Ginny along with their baby when they were young, that would have been enough. But no, she'd survived and she'd been too well protected ever since. He'd gone on to have more children to replace the one he'd lost. She'd never have been able to do that.
So she had to wait. The welp was only just turned fourteen. Two more years of waiting and watching. She'd continue to try to refine her work in an attempt to move sooner.
She couldn't end the Potter line. She'd thought she might be able to, but it had proved impossible. But still… she could do a lot of damage to the child and end her life in the magical world.
It would be something. Not enough, but a start. Once she'd set that plan in motion, she'd work on phase two of taking the Potter's children away from him.
One at a time.
