Ch. 62

Madhouse

The next day was a sleepy Sunday for Hermione and Luna. They ended up meeting in the kitchen around 10 and started to eat what had been left under a warming charm for them.

"I was thinking we might go to County Oak and do some baby room shopping. You know, the big things so that we can have places to put the stuff we receive from the Baby Shower Sarah and Jaime are throwing us on Thursday." Hermione suggested.

"Do you know what exactly a baby shower is?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, according to Sarah, it is a party held to celebrate the birth of a new family member. It's an American thing I believe."

"What do you do?"

"The parents get gifts for the baby like prams, clothing, and decorations for the baby's room. I guess at some you play games and have cake and such. From what Sarah said, longtime family friends and coworkers come to this but they've left this guest list to our immediate friends and family."

"You've read about this, haven't you?" Harry asked as he came into the kitchen with Teddy and Penny. "Nev and I got the kids up so you girls could sleep." He grinned as his godson reached out for Hermione. "Sorry kiddo. Hermione's lap is too small for you now."

"Yeah. I know. I'm as big as a whale." Mione groaned. "And yes I've been reading about it. You've known me nearly 8 full years now, what do you expect?"

"Nothing less, my love." Harry laughed as he kissed the twins good morning. "Hello littles. Be nice to your mummy, yeah?"

"Can you and Nev put up the cots in the big bedrooms?"

"Of course. Can I count on you to take it easy?" He raised his eyebrow in question.

"Don't worry Harry. I'll take care of her." Luna grinned at Hermione's annoyed look.

"And what are you doing today, Penster?" Hermione asked the 5 year old.

"I'm going to lunch with Teddy." She replied happily as Hermione moved her plates to the washer.

"She means she's coming out with Brianna and me so she can see her godson." Dora smiled as she mussed the girl's hair.

"Well, at least she'll be supervised." Mione laughed. "I'm gonna go get my wallet. I'll see you in a few Luna."

"Me too." She smiled dreamily.

HP

When Luna and Hermione got to the baby store, both were in their chairs. Technically, Luna didn't have to be in hers yet but she didn't want to do all that shopping on foot.

"So, have you and Nev talked about names?"

"Yeah, I think we should name him after Neville's dad but he's on the fence about it."

"Franklin is a good, strong name. I like it." Hermione smiled. "Too bad we can't do the same."

"Why not?"

"Can't name him James because of Jamie, can we?"

"I'm sure she'd love it. We can call him James." Luna suggested.

This made Hermione think for a minute. "I suppose. I'll have to talk to Harry." She smiled as she made her next comment. "We're going to name our daughter Lily Luna." She looked over and saw the gobsmacked look on Luna's face. "You okay there? You look like you've seen a ghost." Hermione laughed.

"Really?" she whispered.

"Yes really." Luna got the biggest smile Hermione had ever seen on her face as she squealed in delight.

As they passed the cots, Hermione said, "We don't need these, just everything else."

"Isn't that the truth!" Luna looked around excitedly.

They spent the next hour and a half ordering furniture for the babies' rooms. Dressers, changing tables, cradles-they needed 2 of everything because they had to kit out both the Playhouse and the Madhouse.

When they got around to nappies, they began to discuss magical alternatives. "I wonder if it is possible to have charmed nappies that clean themselves?"

"I don't see why not. A vanishing spell and possibly detection spells could work." Luna replied.

"Why don't we hit the books when we get back?" Hermione began browsing the papooses the store had. "I can see putting a featherlight charm on this to make it not hurt the back. As much as I liked carrying Teddy in one of these, they were heavy." She added one to the trolley.

HP

Later, after they got home, Hermione put her purse on the cocktail table in the game room. "Where is all the stuff you bought?" Dan asked as he took a shot.

"In here Dad." Hermione grinned as she picked up her trusty purse.

He grinned. "Right. The bigger bag on the inside, yeah?"

"Yeah." She grinned as she transferred to her massager. "God this feels good." she groaned.

"Yeah." was whispered from Luna as she sat in hers.

"Luna, remind me to talk to Healer Axel about these Braxton-Hicks pains next week, k?"

"Sure but I think you'll remember all on your own." She grinned at her huge friend.

"You having contractions again, love?" Harry asked as he came up with Jordan.

Hermione just nodded as she began to relax. "We really need to look into the nappy charms, Luna." She offered as her eyes closed in enjoyment.

"Yeah, later." she replied.

"Is the stuff for the twins' room in here?" Harry asked, picking up Mione's purse.

Hermione opened one eye. "Yeah."

"I'm gonna go put stuff together. We already got the cots up." Hermione just nodded as the massager worked on her back.

Suddenly, there was pineapple juice on the end table. "Thanks Dobby." She said as she took a sip.

HP

An hour or so later, both pregnant teens woke up from their brief nap to Dora and Teddy coming home. Eventually Ted went to bed.

"You know, a year ago there was no way I'd be able to furnish a room almost entirely without magic." Luna smiled. "Furniture would be bought at Wiseacre's or handmade. We would just change the colour of the walls with a colour spell. I'm not even sure we have nappy changing stations. Yet, I am comfortable enough in the muggle world to not only find these things but use paper money or the card to buy it. Life is just so different now."

"And you've become so adept in the muggle world no one thinks you're odd." Harry added as he and Nev joined the girls. "So has Nev for that matter. When we go to the pub now, he prefers the one here in Crawley."

"They play football." Nev laughed. "And we know how much I like Arsenal. A fun game, played on the ground with one ball, like reasonable people should. My kind of game."

"Yes. We all know how much you like flying." Harry giggled.

"Next year we should see if we can put together a teacher team, so we can play the students." Luna grinned

"Oh boy would Dad love that. He was in an amateur league before living in Australia." Hermione agreed. "He'd be worse than Wood."

"No one can be worse than Wood." Harry groaned remembering his old team capitan.

"Sounds great. I'll join."Mark smiled as he sat in the game room too.

Wednesday 7 April 1999

By Wednesday, both baby rooms were all finished. The twins' room only had one cot, which is what the books Hermione had read said they needed. Apparently, the babies felt safer if they're able to snuggle together like in the womb.

Also by this point, Harry figured that Hermione had studied enough to pass her NEWTs, which weren't for another few weeks, but knew better than to say that. He and Nev had begun waiting on their fiancees quite a bit by now. Harry had even tried to help Hermione move from the couch to the loo and been unceremoniously kicked out before she went nuclear on him.

So on Wednesday afternoon the whole family was up in the game room. The girls were knitting blankets and booties for the littles. Hermione's knitting skills had gotten better over the last few years.

"You know, I've been making some preemie sized clothes for the twins and the little Longbottom, should I bring them over now that you have a room set up?" Emma asked the two new mums.

"Sure!" Luna smiled widely, thinking this is something her mum would've done. "I'd love to see them."

"I think I hear Uncle Padfoot." Penny whispered as she snuck to the stairs. Then she grinned and flew down the stairs. "Uncle Padfoot! Uncle Padfoot!" She yelled as the family heard Sirius' barklike laughter. There was a sudden thump then a peal of giggling from Jaime.

"Hey kiddo. Do I get one too?" She asked with a little squeal as she went thump too.

"It's really good to see you, little one. Where's everybody else?" Sirius responded as he thumped up the stairs.

When Jaime saw her dad, she squealed loudly as she jumped on him. "You guys stayed! How wonderful!" Jaime sighed as she gave her mom a hug.

"We wanted to stay for the baby shower." Suzann informed her daughter. "Since it's a mainly American tradition."

"Hey Pads." Harry got up to give him a warm hug.

"Hey kiddo. Missed you."

"Missed you too Paddy." Penny giggled at that name as Sirius play-scowled at him.

"So, did you enjoy New York?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah. We saw Peter Pan, hit a lot of the tourist spots, even went to Belmont Park to watch some horse racing." Jaime smiled.

"You went to see horse racing?" Neville asked.

"Yeah, Dad and I used to go to Golden Gate Fields when I was little. And I've always wanted to go to Belmont Park. That's where they have the last race of the Triple Crown."

"It was actually fun, even if it was a long day." Sirius added.

"Why don't we have a family dinner tonight, since Adam and Suzann will leave on Friday and we're back at school on Saturday?" Luna suggested, sweetly.

"Sure." Sarah answered as she started calling people.

She went downstairs to make her calls as Jaime and Sirius filled them in on what they saw in New York.

HP

Later that evening, the Weasleys, Longbottoms, Grangers, Blacks, Richardsons and Potters all got together in the open air back patio. The elves had made it so there was a closed in patio for the winter and an open one for the summer. This was the first time this year it was warm enough, without weather charms, to open it up.

"Molly, I just wanted to thank you again for doing the wedding." Jaime smiled in appreciation.

"It was no problem. You know, during the war, Sirius and I were—not on the best of terms, you could say—but since the Department of Mysteries and especially since the end of the war and then meeting you, I've seen a change in him. He's actually grown up." She gave a chuckle.

"Perish the thought." Jaime laughed outright.

"Yes. Perish the thought." She became thoughtful. "We were all terribly frightened when Voldemort came back. I can see now that I was trying so hard to protect my children, because we had lost so much family in the war. Arthur and I both lost our brothers and both sets of parents, that I coddled the children." She sighed as she took a sip of her drink. "That's why Ron is the way he is. I'm sure you and Sirius will make all new mistakes when you have your family."

"Isn't that the way?" Asked Suzann. "We never make our parents' mistakes, we make all new ones." She and Molly just chuckled.

On the other end of the patio room, the four teens were sitting down with crisps to share. Harry and Nev were sitting on a couch with both girls on massaging chairs next to them.

"I think I'm almost ready for NEWTs." Hermione announced.

"You've been ready for weeks, sis." Nev snorted.

"Yeah yeah." she waved her hand. "I said almost. I still have more to do."

The group just grinned at that.

The men were sitting around a table with beers in their grips. "So how are you doing Sirius? You're finally married." Xeno asked.

"We're doing fine, so far." He grinned. "The sex is amazing."

Dan and Xeno laughed at that. "Wait until you have kids. That's when spontaneity goes out the window. You're too worried a kid might come in."

"Merlin! Pandie was so worried she'd triple lock the door, so Luna wouldn't get in." He grinned at the memory.

"Imagine having 4 little buggers all wanting your attention. All night. Every night." Adam added.

"That's nothing." Arthur chuckled, "Have twins then talk to me. And we had two more after them."

"I swear you're crazy Arthur." Mark opined. "One is enough for now. I get so little time with Sarah, I wonder how anyone has more than one.

"You get used to it." Adam and Arthur replied laughingly.

As Harry looked over the three groups of his family, he sighed. This is what he wanted from life.

Thursday 8 April 1999

The next morning was another slow start for the pregnant ladies. By the time they got to the kitchen, it was already 10. Dobby, Emma, Molly and Suzann were baking and cooking like there was no tomorrow.

"What are all of you baking for?" Luna asked.

"For the baby shower." Suzann responded. "The men are decorating the game room. It seems that because men were invited, that was the only place to host it."

Both girls chuckled. "That was Sirius, eh?" Hermione asked.

"Got it in one." Emma grinned. "Sarah and Jaime are corralling kids and putting a stop to elaborate decorations."

"Good luck with that." Hermione said as she put her dishes away.

Mitzy popped in before Luna could move and pulled her dishes away. "You should not be cleaning your own dishes. You should be resting." Then she turned to Dobby and in a low voice said. "You must take better care of them. I cannot do everything." to which Dobby's ears came down as did his face. He looked ashamed of himself.

"Yes my Mitzy,"

Luna and Hermione had to work really hard not to burst into laughter at how "whipped" Dobby was. When they got to the game room and told Nev and Harry what happened, they had a right laugh.

HP

As the girls began to settle into the attic, they saw the men had decorated with a plethora of baby posters, banners and such. It actually was more tastefully done than Hermione had expected.

"This looks nice, boys." Luna commented as she plopped down.

"Did you really expect anything else?" Nev asked.

"Yes!" was the simultaneous answer from the girls. A simple giggle was Penny's response.

HP

That afternoon, people started to arrive. First the Weasleys, then the rest of the family, then the heirs of the Alliance, then the major players in the Alliance. It still amazed Hermione to watch the room get bigger as more people arrived. At one point, Hermione found Mitzy and asked. "Are you guys making the room bigger?"

She smiled indulgently, always happy to answer her mistress' intelligent questions. "Yes dear." She patted Hermione's belly. "You should sit, mistress."

At that last, Hermione smiled, knowing how much the elves were looking forward to having more babies around.

"Hello Hermione." Tonks said as she handed her Teddie. "How're you feeling?"

"Heavy. Fat. Bloated. I'm finally wearing slip-on shoes because I can't tie my shoes."

Tonks grinned. "I remember that. I walked around barefoot most days with Teddy. Otherwise Sirius would tease."

Hermione smirked. "I bet."

As the party got going, people came up to talk to the girls and give their good wishes. Eventually, Jaime and Sarah started the games.

"So, because both mums are disney fans, Jaime and I thought about this game."Sarah said as Jaime proceeded to hand out sheets of paper and pens. "One side of the paper has a moms name, the other side you put the kids' name."

"Aaaand Hermione for the win!" Sirius teased. As She and Luna tied for first place.

They played a few other games and laughed uproariously at some of the 'misadventures' of parenting shared by the experienced mothers. Each time Sirius would tell a story of Harry as a baby it seemed to include a clueless James.

"Okay." Jaime raised her voice. "Now onto presents."

It turned out that most people knew the parents pretty well. They got a lot of Disney or Star Wars clothes or decorations for the kids. Basically both mums were able to finish up decorating and clothing the kids' rooms.

By the end of the evening, Hermione and Luna were both dead in their chairs.

Nev and Harry looked at each other and shrugged as they picked up their mates and took them to their beds.

HP

Harry woke up the next morning with Penny pulling on his arm. "Harry, get up. Teddy needs you."

He looked down at the little redhead and smiled groggily. "Huh?" He asked as he wiped his eyes.

"I'm not big enough to get Teddy out of his cot." She said as though repeating An oft used line, which it was,coming from any adult to the big sister. "So you need to get him." She grinned impishly.

"Hmmmm." He smiled as he got up. "I bet he woke up naturally Yes?" He asked sarcastically as she just giggled and led him out. "And you just happened to walk past his door, not go into his room, and wake the tyke up, yeah." This just made Penny laugh even more as they climbed the stairs to Teddy's room, where the little boy was trying his best to bounce on the bed. "I swear, you're going to be running soon." Harry mumbled.

When they got to the kitchen, he put Teddy in the walker to help him move around as Harry cooked. Eventually, the family joined them for a lavish breakfast where Hermione reminded everyone, "We have an appointment at the Tower in an hour."

"Do I need to be there?" Harry asked.

"No, love." she grinned at his relieved expression.