(Coeus Black - PoV)

I never really thought about it before.

Never considered it.

Not death, mind. We thought about that plenty. It was impossible not to, after watching mother fade away. After watching her stolen from us. After seeing the life leave her.

No, what I had never actually taken as a serious consideration, what had never even occurred to me as a possibility? Was the idea of the same happening to Phoebe.

I twitch again at the thought, but she rubs my shoulder reassuringly. I still look again anyway.

She smiles at me. Not dead. Not dying.

...

I take a deep breath and try to progress my thoughts, but it is...difficult.

She can't die. She can't. It is unacceptable. We have always been together. Always. Never been separated, not once.

The idea of her just not being there anymore?

I shudder again.

No.

Nonono.

(Dora Tonks Black - PoV)

Thank frick my most practiced spells are shields, there is no way I would have gotten it up in time otherwise.

Lowering my wand, I quickly survey the damage.

Lupin has some cuts but he will be fine. Weres heal quick.

More importantly, Mum and the midgets are unhurt.

...

Well...

The trio holds my focus while Mum and Lupin start nattering about useless things and cleaning up. Who cares about the room, or the junk?

Coeus is quite obviously not ok, even if he wasn't physically hurt. Phoebe is sitting on his lap and whispering to him.

I ignore Mum's complaints about not helping and keep my focus on the little ones. She and Lupin bustle about for a while. He tries to apologize again, but we ignore him until he takes his leave at last.

I want to be pissed at him but I am not. Not much at least. He seemed to have only good intentions and he had no way of knowing better.

He may have technically caused it, but it was not his fault. Not really.

"Are you happy now?" I ask blandly.

"What?" Mum turns around from surveying a broken picture.

"Are you happy now?" I repeat, still not taking my eyes off Coeus. Who still isn't really moving, though he has at least started twitching a little bit.

Fucking progress, right?

"Happy? Why would I be happy?" she asks.

"Because you finally got what you wanted."

"What I wa-?"

"There you go." I gesture towards the couch the kids are sitting on, Phoebe and Iris still trying to coax Coeus back to reality. "You wanted to show them they were wrong. To make them rethink things about Sirius. Well, you won."

I finally look away, turning to glare at her.

"You got through to them. So are you fucking happy now?!" I hiss.

She draws back.

"What?! This wasn't what I wanted! I was ju-" she half hisses back.

"But it's exactly what you got!" I interrupt. "Because you just! Won't! Stop!" I lean further towards her with each word, biting them off, one by one. "Ever! You never stop! And normally I can deal with it, but now? Now you are ruining their lives instead!"

I want to just scream at her so bad, but I am trying not to draw their attention.

The last thing I want to do is get in the way of the girls helping get Coeus put back in order.

"I was trying to help them reconnect with Sirius!" Mum objects. "To get to know their father! This wasn't supposed to happen!"

"It's never supposed to happen but it always does! Fuck Sirius!" I run my hands over my face.

Ugh. I like the guy and wish him the best. I absolutely hope they can all make up and everyone can get along happily, but if it comes down to him or the twins? There is no contest. I will throw him off a damn cliff myself if I have to.

"Damnit Mum, how can you be this bloody blind!? There was no need to rush! No need to force things! All you did was make things worse!" I wave my hands, more out of frustration than making any real point. "I talked to them! All you had to do was wait! Give them time! But no, you just had to fix it now! To prove them wrong!"

I gesture towards them once more, and she draws back, eyeing them as well.

"Well it's fixed! Again, are you fucking happy? Was it worth it? Congragufuckinglations, they might talk to Sirius a time or two before going to Hogwarts. You know, before they leave for months anyway?"

Really, by the time they came home for Christmas, I fully expected they would at least hold a tolerable conversation with him, and we could work from there.

She doesn't reply, instead watching Coeus clutch at Phoebe, slowly looking her up and down.

Damnit woman...For all that we fight constantly I have never, ever wanted to curse her more than today.

I suppose because normally she just pisses me off. This is the first time she has really messed up the twins with her stupid shit.

I know a lot of other people complain about their parents playing favorites with their siblings, about them getting preferential treatment or whatever, but I dunno, I have always been glad Mum tends to lay off the twins. They are little shits, but they are my little shits. No one fucks with them but me.

She had better not try to start messing with their lives like she always does mine.

I look at the barely functional Coeus and it is pretty obvious that we are done for the day.

Funny. The day has barely even started and now it is already over. Nothing else is going to get done, not now.

I stand up. They are clearly in no condition to get to their room on their own, I will have to help them there and just hope that things are better tomorrow. They usually are, at least.

Mum speaks up before I can take a single step.

"Nymphad-"

"Dora." I interrupt, my eyes closing for a moment in resignation, even as my fists clench.

She just never fucking stops.

"It. Is. Just. Dora. Literally. Legally, even, because you didn't give me any other choice. Because you wouldn't take any answer other than your own."

My mouth opens and closes once or twice. I want to say more, but what more is there? Nothing that hasn't been said a thousand times.

Shaking my head I stomp over to the trio, only remembering to change my body language at the last second.

Once there, I find my mouth opening and closing again, as I am lost for words. Then again, is there really anything that needs to be said?

Phoebe and Iris both read my intentions well enough and hop out of the way so that I can pick Coeus up. Which I admit is getting a lot more difficult over the years, fricking hell. He doesn't resist at least, but he never lets go of Phoebe. Something which makes carrying him through the doorway and up the stairs a bit awkward, but we make it work.

I get all the way to their room before I see inside and notice the missing bed.

Right. Yesterday was Iris's turn for a breakdown, how could I forget?

Damn these midgets are going to be the death of me...

Instead, we make our way to Iris's room so I can deposit Coeus on her bed instead, with the girls quickly clustering on/around him.

Sighing, I plop myself down as well, stretching my arms out a bit to draw the whole pile in for a hug.

Coeus does relax a bit at least, once he can properly snuggle in.

Still, what a mess. What an unnecessary mess. Most everything with Iris was unavoidable, she was so hurt I doubt there was any way of getting around it. This? This was just stupid.

Does Mum really not understand the twins at all? Does she think they are just A-OK? Perfectly normal? The woman was a Black herself, raised "properly" even! She should know they are going to be fucky just from heritage alone. Then everything with their mom, and who knows what else...

My mind continues to race as I try to settle in with the pile of midgets. It takes a long time to settle down and they are all fast asleep long before me. It doesn't help how scrunched up I am, and I am a bit afraid to shift because I might accidentally wake them up.

We really need a bigger bed for this.