Ch. 58
Monday 8 February 1999
The next morning, after a quick breakfast, Dobby took Penny back to LAR for the school day. Meanwhile, the rest of the house went on with their daily schedule of teaching and learning along with having to help Penny with her homework.
When they sat down at dinner that night, the whole family seemed a lot more tired than usual. "So, you ready to go back to teaching tomorrow Harry?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah. As long as Poppy gives me the okay." he smiled. "When do your two new professors come to the castle?" he asked Sirius.
"28th of the month." Sirius confirmed.
"My Profs come on the 21st of March." Mark stated.
"So, what'd you learn in school today?" Jaime asked Penny.
She took a deep breath and began telling everyone about a Gruffalo they read about in class. She went on for several minutes about this story, one Hermione read as a child herself. She then changed tactic."We also practiced the letter H." and told them all about learning her letters and numbers. She ended with asking Hermione. "I can recognise a lot of letters but could you teach me how to read?"
Hermione seemed surprised at this. "You know who's really good at teaching reading? My dad. Let me talk to him and I'm sure he'd help."
"Goody." She clapped her hands happily.
These sorts of conversations became the normal talk at dinner that week. It was interesting that when a person needed time to work, the others in the house would step up and help with Penny.
Dobby got into the habit of taking and picking up Penny from day school. While this was going on, the Heads were making sure the Valentine's Day dance was taken care of, teaching or doing their own school work.
It became so much of a routine that while Harry was getting up with Teddy, by Thursday Hermione was getting up with Penny. She would monitor Penny's shower while she got out Penny's clothes. When Penny was done in the shower, Hermione would leave her to dress for the day as she took her own shower.
By the time Mione was dressed for school, Penny was playing in her room waiting to go down to breakfast. "You know, Pen, you can go down to breakfast without me if you want." she smiled down at the little addition to her life.
"I know but I like it this way." She smiled as they glided downstairs.
As they sat at the kitchen table, Harry came over and gave them both kisses. "How're my girls today."
"Good." Hermione smiled at her fiance,
"I can't wait to see Kate today." Penny grinned.
"So, you still like school?" He asked her, knowing the answer.
"Yes. Ever so much. Then I get to come home to my family." She grinned.
"And we get you for the whole night." Sirius hugged the girl from behind.
"Yes Uncle Pads." She smirked.
"Just remember tomorrow I'll pick you up from school and take you home, yeah?"
"Okay." Which was exactly what happened the next day.
Friday 12 February 1999
Playhouse
On Friday evening after dinner, everyone that was home went to the game room. Luna and Mione were still at school making sure everything was taken care of for the dance Sunday.
"So do you think any of our men will do anything for Valentine's Day?" Luna asked as they walked out of the Great Hall.
"I don't think they're that dumb." Mione laughed. "I mean if Harry doesn't know I love him by now, one day won't help."
"Yeah. Although I wonder if Sirius knows about Jaime's aversion to the day?"
"Yeah. He does. I heard him talking to Mark about it." She grinned. "Apparently, Sarah loves the day."
" Hmmm." she stopped gliding as she put her hand on her belly. "One of them just kicked me." She smiled as Luna squealed and put her hand on Hermione's tummy.
"Oh my." She felt the kick.
"I've felt little flutterings before but never a kick like that." She smiled down at her belly. "Wow! That was a hard kick." They nearly ran to the Playhouse, where they quickly floo'd home. "Harry!" She yelled as loud as she could. Harry came running downstairs.
"What's wrong Mione?" He asked, concerned.
"I just felt a baby kick." she grinned at him.
"Really?" he put his hand on her belly.
"Yeah and it was hard." They made their way up the stairs, her in her glider.
"What's wrong?" Sirius asked as they got to the game room.
"One of the babies kicked." Hermione couldn't stop grinning. There was a chorus of exclamations of joy from the family as Hermione switched to the couch.
13 February1998
The next morning Hermione woke up at one, half three and six that point she was just irritated and levered herself up carefully. There was no reason to wake up Harry because she was uncomfortable. She picked up her copy of What To Expect When You're Expecting and started it over. She had read through it twice now but got new information on each read.
She quickly thumbed to the expecting multiples chapter and began rereading that. She was pretty comfortable with what was down the pipeline for her as far as the pregnancy was concerned. What she was really concerned about was the labour and delivery, now.
She had also gotten a Witches Guide to Pregnancy but found it much less informative. She believed it might be because all the pureblood females were taught what they needed to know by their mothers. The idea of informing muggleborns would not have crossed their current society's minds.
Although, the one thing she did learn was that accidental magic from the baby really didn't happen until you could feel the baby kick. This was a relief to her because she hadn't had any accidental magic both Harry and her being pretty strong magically, she wasn't too concerned with having a squib. It wouldn't matter to her or Harry anyway.
She began thinking of all the things she needed to accomplish before the babies were born. She summoned her computer and began typing out a list of what needed doing and when. She added in what needed to be done for Penny as well.
Her Mum had started on the wardrobe shopping with Penny this week but was nowhere near done. She had picked up the girl from school Tuesday and Thursday and they had bought a small amount of clothes for the Playhouse. She hadn't even begun on the wardrobe at the Madhouse.
Hermione snorted as she thought of all the hours her mum had made her go clothes shopping as a kid. Personally, she hated clothes shopping but Penny, like her Mum, loved it.
She looked at her list:
Paint both nurseries
Figure out which theme to do the room in
Buy matching changing table and dresser
Convert pram to work with magic
"Hey, love." Harry wrapped his arms around his love from behind. "Looks like you're planning for after you're on leave."
She looked up at him with a soft smile, thinking how wonderful a father he would make. "Yeah. Couldn't sleep so I started reading, which led to planning, which led to lists."
He snorted as he kissed her head. "Do you need a planner of some kind? Like the homework one you gave me?"
She brightened up at that. "That's exactly what I need." She jumped up and started getting ready for the day. "What I need is a calendar that I can plan when things have to be done. I'll buy a homework planner and just adapt it."
As she was talking, Harry started out chuckling. As she came up with her plan, Harry was laughing. "Only you get this excited about a planner."
She looked up at him from picking clothes. "And you love me for it."
He smirked as he kissed her. "That I do."
There was a knock on their door from Penny's room. "Come in, lovie." Hermione called. Penny came in her sleepwear. "Hi. you up now?"
She nodded as she wiped her eyes and crawled onto Harry. "Yeah. Grandmum said we were going shopping for more clothes today. Then you have some sort of meeting tonight? Is that right?"
"Yep." He started to carry her out when he heard Teddy.
"Leave her here and we'll get ready." Mione said as she headed to Penny's room
Soon, everyone was downstairs for breakfast. "One thing that's always amazed me about this family is your level of organisation. Everyone is down here at 7.30 every morning and breakfast is on the table, usually made by Harry. Everyone leaves for their own activities by nine on the weekend, 8.15 on weekdays. Then dinner is served exactly at 6.15 and everyone seems to congregate at that time. Then there is homework or grading or planning until you put Teddy and Penny down. Then there's hot cocoa or tea. Mom would be so freaking jealous." Jaime grinned.
Sirius laughed. "No one would have accused me of that when I was here as a student."
Dora snorted. "It is weird. My family was never this organised either."
"I think it's Hermione's influence." Harry grinned. "She is the most organised person I know. When we all moved in together we all let her organise the house."
"She's always been an organiser." Nev commented. "You've complained about it enough in the past."
Harry and Hermione burst out laughing, knowing it was true.
"Fact is, most families of our size would have trouble coordinating all this. I mean, our family of six was never on time for anything." Jaime and Mark laughed at the accuracy of that statement.
"Speaking of organisation," Emma interrupted. "Does everyone have plans today?"
"I need to go to the Wizengamot office about some things I want to bring up at the Alliance dinner." Sirius let everyone know.
"Pen and I are going shopping." Emma grinned at her granddaughter. "You girls coming?"
"Yeah but I need to go to Flourish's for a homework planner. And Waterstone for a book about raising twins." Hermione agreed.
"I need to go to Flourish's too" Luna added.
Nev snorted "Shocker there."
"I need to do some lesson planning." Harry groaned.
"Me too." Mark agreed.
"Can you guys take care of the babies?" Dora asked.
"Sure." And with that everyone split up.
"We're going to Childsplay, yeah?" Hermione asked her mum as they went to the floo room.
"Yes."
"Jaime, come on. We'll apparate there so you can bring people back." Hermione said as she grabbed Jaime and disapparated.
"That always shocks me." Emma sighed as her daughter disappeared. Sarah and Dora just laughed. Soon, they were all inside the store looking at Levi's and other jeans for Penny. Hermione and Luna just sat down in the chairs available and waited for Emma and Dora to gather enough clothes for Penny to try on.
When Penny finally had a pile that came up to her waist, Hermione laughed. "Guys, let Penny try some of that on."
Emma looked at the pile with surprise. "Yeah. She probably should."
"Why don't I go in with her and we'll decide what she likes while you go get more." Luna suggested.
"Okay." Dora agreed as she headed to the racks.
Hermione and Luna just looked at each other. "I never would've guessed that she could shop this much." Mione shook her head.
"You just don't like shopping so can't see how anyone could." Luna laughed as she and Penny went into the dressing rooms.
They spent the next few hours just dealing with Penny's wardrobe or getting things for the babies or little around one, everyone could tell Penny was tired and hungry. Hermione suggested they go to Pret's for lunch and they all agreed.
"I think we've bought enough clothing for Penny to fill both wardrobes now." Hermione commented when they finally sat down.
"And Teddy and Jordan have a bunch of new clothes too." Sarah sighed. "Mark is going to skin me alive when he sees how much I've spent."
Jaime laughed. "No he's not. He knows how much you and I can spend shopping and will be shocked it was under 1000 pounds."
"After this, let's go to Waterstones, yeah?" Hermione suggested. They spent the next two hours in bookstores.
HP
When the women got home, they divided up the purchases they made and took them to Dobby to have them washed before they were put away. Penny and Hermione went to bed for a nap together almost immediately while everyone else went to the game room.
As they settled down, Mark asked with a long-suffering expression in his voice, "So, how much did you spend?"
"Only about a thousand and most of that was on Penny. I probably spent one-fifty on Jordy."
"Wow. That's not much." Mark commented with surprise in his voice.
"Not much?" Nev asked.
"Yeah. Kids cost more than you think."
HP
Soon enough, Harry went to get Hermione up from her nap. He smirked when he saw that Penny had ended up in their bed and was curled around his fiancee. Knowing that she really didn't like to be woken up quickly from her increasingly long naps, Harry laid down next to them.
"Mione? Wake up, love." He whispered.
"No." She mumbled as she turned her head away from him. "Not yet."
"Love, it's half five, everyone arrives at six." He just smiled as she popped her eyes open.
"Geez." She looked at Harry. "Help me up dear. I need a shower and I don't have long."
He got up and helped her to her feet as Penny woke up. "Harry, come to take me down with you?" She grinned up at him.
"Go get changed into actual clothes and come downstairs, kiddo." He grinned right back as he headed out.
When he got to the now enclosed patio, the family was already there. Sirius had returned around an hour before and was now laying on a sofa with his head in Jaime's lap. The rest were scattered about talking.
As people started arriving, the patio expanded to fit the size of the gathering, along with new seating arrangements as well. There were now several tables for the Heirs and several for the Heads. They also had a huge buffet table that was being restocked by the two elves.
As the heirs congregated to eat, talk turned to the changes at Hogwarts. "You know those Omni-Readers you invented?" Susan Bones asked. At the inventors' nod, she commented, "I'm seeing first and second years reading them in the halls. They've become as common as quill and parchment used to be in the library."
"I know. And because muggle history is being taught, we purebloods are going to muggleborns for help. This is all new to us," Hannah supplied.
"I feel like I'm playing catch up because there are no muggleborns in Slytherin." Daphne groaned softly. "The Reader makes it easier though."
"If you're looking for resources, I'm sure Professor Richardson will help." Hermione smiled. "And if it's not in the reader, let us know so we can add it."
"Which classes are the most different from before?" Emma asked.
"History is vastly different and harder too." Harry added his opinion. "But also not being scared of the potions teacher has done a lot of good."
"You think I should be scarier?" Sirius yelled from his table.
"No Pads. We like you just the way you are." Nev yelled back as Sirius puffed up like a proud kid.
"Besides third year, this is the most practical work we've done in Defence." Michael Corner said. "Which will be good, come NEWTs."
"I think we're getting a better education this year than any previous." Ernie MacMillan opined pompously.
"I'm worried about the coursework in class, though." Jaime jumped in. "From what it sounds like, in most subjects, the teachers have been teaching the same lessons for 20 years."
"They have." Minerva said. "I want to change that but I have no idea how other schools do it, so I've nothing to guide us."
"In America," Mark started, "we send representatives around to different schools to see what they are doing. At WMH, I was the representative one year, I took a few days off every few months and visited other schools. Then I made recommendations to the Headmistress. We each took that role at least once." He pointed to his sister and wife.
"I can see doing that." Minerva agreed as she kept writing on her computer.
"We also need new blood in the Department of Education." Silas added. "If you really want to change how Hogwarts is run, you're going to have to get the Govnours and bureaucrats on your side. No one there now is going to help."
"Maybe we should urge some of the older people in the department to retire. Get some new blood in that way." Sirius seemed skeptical.
"Sounds like a brilliant idea," Robert McGonagall grinned at his sister. "And I know just the person to look over qualified applicants."
Everyone laughed at Minerva shaking her head. "No. I have enough going on."
"You don't want a say in who's running that department?" Someone asked. "You wouldn't want someone like Delores getting in there."
"Godric no" she breathed. "Fine. I'll look them over and give my recommendations."
"How exactly did this become a referendum on education?" Katie asked good-naturedly.
"Exactly how many teachers are in this room?" Dora asked rhetorically as everyone laughed.
"I do want to let everyone know that Madam Marchbanks has brought the representation issue to the floor and we are now debating it." Augusta changed the topic. This was greeted with whoops of joy, high fives and lots of backslaps by the heirs.
"Okay. Settle down." Richard Bones boomed as they eventually calmed. The meeting continued for quite a while as the Heirs and Heads agreed on what they wanted from this development and how to go about getting it.
About nine o'clock, Penny fell asleep on Augusta. Soon after, she took Penny to bed and tucked her in. Looking at the girl before turning the light off, she realised she was really excited to see Luna give birth. She couldn't wait to be the grandparent, not the primary caregiver. She loved her Neville but it was hard raising him alone.
HP
The next day, while the men and women naturally segregated themselves before an early family dinner, Hermione and Jaime were discussing classes. "So, are your students doing their Tower report this week?" she asked Hermione.
"Yeah. They start Wednesday and we go to the Tower on Saturday."
"That's good. I have the tickets. Are you coming Emma?" Jaime asked.
She nodded. "As an escort."
Hermione sighed softly. "I can't believe this is the last week I'll be teaching."
"That was weird for me too." Sarah smiled. "I thought I would eventually go back but I didn't think it'd be in another country."
"That must be strange." Luna commented. "Did Dobby ever get your stuff out of your house in San Jose?"
"Yeah but I have to go through it all." Sarah sighed. "We have to go back at Easter to sell the place."
"When I'm done being pregnant, I am going to Disneyland." Hermione sighed.
Jaime and Sarah started laughing. "Where'd that come from?" Jaime asked.
"Just thinking of California. I went to DisneyWorld as a kid but never Disneyland."
"Well, you can stay with Mom and Dad and apparate there every day if you want." Jaime laughed.
"Maybe for Yule?" She looked a little more excited.
"Sure."
HP
The next week was a blur for Hermione. Handing over her classes while closing up this unit was tiring for her. She generally fell into bed right after putting Penny down at night. While Harry usually got Penny ready for bed, it was Hermione who read to her.
Towards the end of the week, Jaime gifted Penny her old Dick and Jane books from when she was learning to read. Penny started sounding out words from that before the evening was up.