Chapter Eleven

While magic definitely made moving easier, it was still an ordeal to move seven adults and two small children into a new home. All the adults had far too many opinions on what colours we should use, who should get which bedroom, and which furniture to take with us and what others to buy. But we (eventually) agreed on everything. Or, at least, agreed to disagree.

It was a Wednesday when I said goodbye to my childhood home for the last time. All our things were placed into my old school trunk, since I was the only one to still have mine with the extension charm still fully functioning. Remus and Tina took one last look through the whole house, just to make sure we didn't forget anything, then all together, we walked out the front door. I locked it behind me, staring at the key in my hand for a long moment. Dropping the key into Remus's surprised hand, I took a deep breath before instructing, "Sell it. Don't let it."

Everyone goggled at me, except Sirius. "Are you sure, Pet?" Remus asked me, eyebrows raised to get lost into his shaggy hair.

It was probably time for me to give him a haircut, I thought absently, but I answered him. "Absolutely. It's time for someone else to love it."

Nic hurried me to my car, probably before I could change my mind again, and we all piled in. I pretended not to notice the extension charm someone had put on it. I didn't know who had done it, but there was no way all of us would fit otherwise. Instead, I just thanked my lucky stars that Dudley had outgrown his earlier dislike of car rides. Probably because he now had six other adults to entertain him while I drove.

The drive took several hours, and both little boys fell asleep after the first. Conversations quieted as a result, and soon enough, every other adult was soon sleeping, as well. Except Sirius next to me. We chatted quietly, mostly about nothing, really, so he surprised me when he said, "I'm proud of you, you know."

It was all I could do to keep my eyes on the road and not stare at him in surprise. "What on earth is that supposed to mean?" I laughed, feeling very exposed under his consistent look.

"Exactly what I said," he said softly, but intently. "I'm so proud of you, Petal. You've managed to pull yourself out from everything life has thrown at you, and you're letting go. You're ready to move on. And you've done it all so magnificently. I look up to you."

Now, I refused to take my eyes off the road, wanting to avoid eye contact entirely. "You're ridiculous," I laughed, flapping my hand at him. "I'm just-"

"You're brill, now please be quiet so we can all sleep," Danae said sternly from the back seat, eyes still firmly closed when I glanced into the mirror in surprise.

"Don't argue with the pregnant lady," Sirius whispered in my ear with a little huff of laughter. A little thrill went through me, at the idea of him thinking so highly of me.

Once at our new home, everyone groggily climbed out of the car, and Remus grabbed the trunk from the boot. Sirius was the first one to the door, and he looked to all of us to make sure we were all watching with the appropriate amount of anticipation. He waited another moment, but when Danae glared and informed him that she needed the loo, he unlocked the door and threw it open with a flourish. "Welcome home, everyone!" At least the little boys clapped at his showmanship, and that made him happy enough.

Remus set the trunk down in the drawing room (and the fact that we had a drawing room was a bit of a mind boggler, to be honest), and what followed next was basically the reverse of a scene straight from one of my favourite childhood films. Lottie sent everything in the trunk shooting out to stack neatly throughout the room. Which made the little boys clap and laugh again.

Unpacking proved worse than packing ever had. Trying to sort through everything and send it to the proper room was a bit of a nightmare, and after an hour of that, I was ready to strangle someone.

"Pet, can you come in here, please?"

Tina called to me from the library, where she'd taken the little boys to begin organizing there. She'd taken their Quidditch toys with, so the boys would be plenty occupied, but I still worried that something might have gone wrong. I hurried across the wide entryway (the one that was bigger than my entire lounge had been) to anxiously ask, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, I swear," she said quickly. "But look what I found!"

She had unpacked Mum's old gramophone, and a box of records sat on the giant desk next to it. I was a little annoyed that she'd called me for a record, to be honest, but I crossed the room to see which one she was talking about. And then my breath caught when I recognised it. The familiar cover of Help! stared at me, and I was flooded with memories.

"It was my fifteenth birthday party," I said slowly, grinning despite myself.

"And we had so much fun," she continued. "Do you remember how we taught the boys to dance?"

"And Max twisted a little too hard and nearly fell on his face?"

"And Marly laughed so hard at him that she almost fell over, too?"

"And Nic stepped on Tina's dress?"

"Because Gid spun you a little too hard, and you ended up knocking Fab over!"

The happy memory burned in my chest, bringing tears to my eyes for a good reason for once. Without much thought, I took the record from her and placed it on the gramophone. And the familiar sounds of my favourite band began to fill the air.

"Help! I need somebody!" Tina and I scream-sang to each other. "Help! Not just anybody!"

The boys looked up at us, very confused. After all, I hadn't sung much to them. And Merlin knew that Vernon hadn't approved of the Beatles, calling them frivolous nonsense. But when I picked up Harry and Tina picked up Dudley and we began to dance around whilst singing at the top of our lungs, it wasn't long before both boys were laughing and babbling, trying to sing along.

"Are you listening to my boyfriend without me?" Lottie burst into the library, a slightly manic look on her face. "You know how I feel about Paul!"

"I know, he's the only man you would leave me for," Tina laughed, then grabbed her hand to pull her to dance with us all.

One by one, our music drew the rest of the members of the household into an impromptu dance party. Danae bounced around without a care, and Nic was torn between dancing and worrying about her and her ever-increasing belly. Lottie stole Harry from me, and she and Tina dipped the boys over and over until they all fell into a giggling heap on the floor. And Sirius and Remus alternated between doing the most ridiculous dance moves they could pull off and spinning me around until I was dizzy. And I didn't stop smiling the whole time.

…

We settled in more quickly than I had expected, but not without some bumps here and there. There were arguments about how we should arrange the furniture, and what pictures we were putting on the wall, and who was not about to share a bathroom with someone else. And then, Harry suddenly switched his sleep schedule, so where I'd been able to put him and Dudley down at the same time every night around seven, he decided he was now a night owl and couldn't be bothered to go to sleep until at least ten. And Dudley still woke up every morning at six (if he could stay asleep that long!) and decided it was time to be up, for the both of them. Which meant that both boys were tired bears all the time. Which made for a tired mumma, too.

"Pet, you do realise we have enough bedrooms that they don't have to share, right?" Danae told me, around a grimace as she pushed at her belly. "It would be okay for them to have their own rooms."

"I know," I said slowly, hanging on my determination to keep them in the same room (and my sanity!) by my fingertips. Though I wasn't quite sure why, at this point. Their crying and tantrums were wearing me down. And it had only been a week.

Dudley smacked Harry in the face with his stuffed beater's bat, to which Harry snatched it out of his hands. And then both boys started crying. For the sixth time that morning.

"I vote for two rooms!" Tina replied, even as she went to cuddle them both in her lap.

"Two rooms is a good idea," Remus added. His tired eyes weren't solely the product of being so close to the full moon.

"Two rooms for the boys?" Sirius walked into the room, taking in the sight of the crying boys in a second. "Yes, I think that's probably best at this point."

I tiredly nodded. "There's that room right next to-"

The doorbell, a deep chime that sounded more like a cathedral bell, cut me off. It was the first time we'd heard it, other than when Sirius and Nic had tried it out the first day we'd lived there (over and over and over, until Danae screamed at them), so we were all a bit surprised at the thought of visitors. After all, no one in the wizarding world knew where we lived, none of the villagers ever visited, and Frank only ever came to the kitchen door when he wanted to see us. "I'll see who it is," I volunteered, even if it was somewhat to enable me to ignore my crying children for a moment.

Sirius came with me, his Auror suspicions coming out to play. "Just in case," he answered my judgmental eyebrow with a sheepish grin, even as he held his wand in an easy, though ready, grip.

I didn't begrudge his suspicions after I opened the door, though. I barely had time to register the woman with pale blonde hair and immaculate robes before his wand was up, mere inches from her nose. "Give me one good reason not to curse you where you stand," he snarled, white-knuckling his wand, even as he used his other arm to try to get me behind him.

"Sirius." I tried to push his arm off me, or his wand down, but he refused to budge. "Sirius, she has a child."

I could feel the realisation settle over him. He relaxed the tiniest bit, though his arm didn't lower. "What are you doing here, Narcissa?"

"I need your help," the woman said, head held high even as she clutched the child in her arms to her, keeping his head tucked in her neck. "You're the only Auror I can trust."

AN: I know it's been forever, but work sucks the life out of me sometimes. And the creativity goes with it. Anyway, thanks for those of you still sticking with me, and I hope to have the next chapter out soon!