In family

The phone rang, which was on the little table next to the couch.

Sev took it. "Tell me."

"Man... Sev..." Violet's voice on the other end of the line. "What a joy, how have you arrived?"

"Very good, very good, wonderfully."

"I was calling to tell you that you can come home, just you or you and your Mum, whatever you want, at any time, we are now free."

"Great, we'll do it that way," he agreed.

"If you don't take too long, we'll wait for you to have tea. Did you have lunch too late?"

"Yes, after two, because I arrived almost at one and we had a lot to talk about."

"Okay, so if there's no rush for you, we'll wait for you anyway, even if we have dinner a little later today, it's okay," she said.

"Great."

"Well, you know, come whenever you want. Do you want to say hello to Peter? He is eager to hear from you."

"Sure, pass him to me," Sev asked.

"Peter, get on, say hello to Sev."

A few seconds passed.

"Hello, Severus. How are you, boy?" Peter asked.

"Great. And you, Peter?"

"Also perfectly, and even more so now that I listen to you. What good news your mother gave us on Sunday, you are a hero, boy."

"Did you read the news from The Prophet?"

"Of course we read them, hasn't your mother told you?" asked the eldest.

"We had so many things to talk about that we haven't talked about it."

"Of course, of course. Well, you know that I am very proud, very proud of you."

"After the talk I want to have with you this afternoon, perhaps you won't be so anymore."

"Not at all, Severus, don't think that at any time. I can already smell what you're referring to, don't be afraid of that at all."

"Thank you, Peter."

"I'm also going to tell you something. We have a surprise prepared for you, I don't want you to protest or break down. For us it is a great joy to offer it to you."

I can already smell what it is. Ugh Sev was overwhelmed. "Okay, Peter, I won't do it."

"Well, what Violet said, come here whenever you want, we'll wait for you to have tea."

"Okay, Peter, we'll go as soon as possible."

"Tuney also wants to talk to you, she can't wait until you come."

"Oh... then pass her to me, of course."

"Tuney, get on, Sev wants to say hello."

A few seconds passed.

"Hi, Sev!" Petunia exclaimed with great joy.

"Hi, Tuney. How are you?"

"I really want to see you. I already finished my university exams, I can go out as much as I want. Are we going to Apparate to London like Lily told me about?"

Look what matters to her, he thought. "Of course we're going to do it."

"Wow... what a great time we're going to have... I'll meet my friends from university there, you'll get to know them, you'll see how nice they all are."

"I'm looking forward to it."

"I don't hear you very happy," she said. "Has your Mum told you about the holidays?"

"Yes, she has done it."

"Well, be happy, man, you'll see how much fun the five of us had. Don't worry about my silly sister, they haven't told me anything but I've already guessed everything. You and I will have a good time, we will go out at night just the two of us, you'll see, to the pubs and taverns, without adults to control us."

"Well, we'll talk about that when we're all there," said Sev.

"Sure, we'll talk. Are you coming soon?"

"Yes, we are going to get ready and go, I have to grab some things to take you."

"Okay, okay. Then we'll hang up now, because while you're talking you can't prepare anything and I'd rather see you in person," Petunia said.

"Great, girl, see you in a bit."

"That's it, see you."

They hung up the phone.

Eileen had already left to get ready, Sev went to his room to get the gift bag for Violet, Peter and Petunia. They met in the living room again.

"I'm going to show you the gifts I'm going to give them," he told her.

"Sure, sure, show them to me."

Sev spilled the contents onto the table.

"Wow… great. The sets of what you already made for them and cufflinks and a pin for Peter," she approved. "What is that strange symbol?"

"A musical symbol, an eighth note."

"Very good, very original. Come on, put everything away and let's go as soon as possible. If they have had lunch at one o'clock it is their turn to have tea, so they don't have to wait for us."

"True." Sev put everything back in the bag and put it in the pocket of his jacket. Mum is not at all impressed by jewelry. Another time I will show her the ones with insects, plant elements and the ancient sets so that she can be amazed, she is going to hallucinate.

"You go first, come on, I already saw them yesterday," Eileen suggested. "As you can see, the only and last time I was in Diagon I bought a whole bag of Floo powder and left half of it for them."

"I would have liked to walk."

"Like you did with Lily? No way, painful memories."

"True. And couldn't we both Apparate and save Floo powder?" he proposed.

"To do that we should have agreed with them so that they would leave some place in the house free. I usually do that if we call each other right before seeing each other."

"Sure. You could have warned me."

"Come on, it's okay, they're not that expensive, for this it'll be enough for us," she played it down.

Sev grabbed a handful of Floo powder, climbed into the fireplace, spoke Lily's address, and threw it. He traveled briefly through the Network until he appeared on the fireplace of Lily's house, which was in the living room, on the wall that faced the kitchen wall, where the discotheque and library used to be.

Violet, Peter and Petunia were sitting on the couch and armchairs waiting and stood up when they saw him.

As he came out of the fireplace, the girl threw herself at him and hugged him. "Sev!"

"Tuney…"

"I really wanted to see you, I really wanted to see you." She separated again.

She's an earthquake, he thought.

"Wow... you look gorgeous... What have you done to your hair?" she asked.

"I have learned to dry it so that it stays like this, so that it falls on my face."

"Wow yes, it's spectacular, it looks great on you."

Another one who have a crush on me.

Peter approached him, Petunia moved away and they hugged.

"Severus... son... how nice to see you…"

"And I really wanted to see you, Peter."

"We too, that's why we decided not to wait until dinner tomorrow. We consulted with your Mum and she thought it would be good for us to spend some time together today as well. Is she not coming?" Peter pulled away.

"Yes, she is coming, she must be waiting for us to greet each other calmly," Sev responded.

"Of course, of course, we were with her just yesterday. Say hello to Violet, come on."

"Sev!" Violet exclaimed.

They also hugged each other.

"You're very handsome, tan and all," she told him.

"Thank you, Violet."

"You'll see how you look on the beach, you'll be irresistible."

How nice, encouraging me in the way I need to forget about her own daughter, he thought. "Thank you, Violet."

Violet also kissed him on his cheek. "Stop giving thanks for everything, come on. Thank you for continuing to count us among those who are now countless."

"True."

"There's your Mum. Tuney, go get the tea." She separated from him. "Let's sit down, come on. You, in the center of the couch."

Creating choreographies, how nice, they learned from us at Easter, Sev thought. He sat down, Violet and Peter greeted Eileen with kisses and also took a seat, Peter in one armchair, Eileen in the other and Violet next to Sev on Peter's side.

Sev commented, "How changed is the room with the fireplace."

"Well yes, and you don't know how happy we are," Violet replied. "It was a mistake we made when we bought the house, not buying it with a fireplace, you don't know how much we spent on heating. In winter we are going to do great."

"Of course," said Peter. "We should have done it much sooner, for Lily, and also for that. We have done calculations and in two years we'll amortized the investment."

"What is amortization?" Sev asked.

"Save the money invested."

"Oh…"

"Electric heating is very expensive," explained the oldest. "Firewood is much cheaper and the heat it provides is much healthier. As children and young people, in our parents' house, we also had a wood stove like you have."

"Sure."

Petunia arrived with the tea, on a tray with the teapot, a jug for the milk, and five serving sets. She served everyone's without asking them, but she did it to Sev. "How do you take it, Sev?"

"With milk and without sugar," he responded.

She served it too.

"Very good," Violet approved. "As it is healthier, we already see that you take good care of yourself."

Petunia stood up again, after serving her Dad.

Violet spoke again, "We'll wait for Tuney to come back to start talking about things, she goes for the pastes and sandwiches."

"Of course, of course. Despite the change, the room still looks great, very well organized," said Sev.

"Luckily it is very wide," said Peter. "It would be better if we got rid of the television. Just books and music."

"Well, they also show interesting things on television."

"Of course they show them, good movies, documentaries, musical programs, classical concerts, the news... But you can't choose when to watch them, you have to adapt to the schedule they impose on you."

"Sure."

Petunia returned and placed the tray with plenty of food in the center of the table.

Violet spoke, "I'm sure that if you have had lunch so late you won't be hungry. Don't worry because there will be leftovers, we will eat it for dinner or you'll take it with you, in this house no food is thrown away."

"I think it's great, in ours doesn't throw it either," said Sev.

"For me there will be nothing left over," said Eileen. "Today I only had lunch, I have not slept at night nor have I had breakfast."

"You have to take care of that, huh, Eileen?" Violet told her. "You can't live in constant anguish. You see us, we also suffer for them but we don't let it affect us, they are vicissitudes of life that must be overcome."

"You're absolutely right, Violet. Thanks to Severus giving me his prodigious potion, I slept for an hour and a half nap that is worth for four and a half hours. I haven't slept so well in two months, I feel in top shape."

"Great, but don't let your son be the one who has to solve your life and look after you, Eileen. The world does not work like that, but on the contrary, we are the ones who must look out for them, and if you do not take care of yourself, you worry him and force him to take care of you, with everything he already has on him. How has she received you, Sev?"

"Reproaching me for what I have made her suffer," he responded.

"Very poorly done, Eileen," Violet became hard. "Look what we warned you last night, you have to learn to take care of yourself."

"True, true…" Eileen responded.

"Anyway, as soon as I saw her, I realized how bad she looked," Sev clarified. "I would have been worried anyway."

"Well, you should also learn something," Violet told him. "That everyone can take care of their own thing, like you are doing."

"True."

"Very well, we're all here. Where do you want to start?"

"Ugh... I'm not aware of everything you know and what you don't, so I prefer that you be the ones who lead the conversation," Sev said.

"Okay, we'll do it that way," said Peter. "So that you can get it out of your head as soon as possible, start by telling us why you said I was going to stop being proud of you."

"Okay, here I go." Sev began at the beginning, with the temptations he had had a year ago to become a Death Eater, going through how Lily had rescued him from doing so, the vicissitudes of being able to separate himself from the malefics, and finally he told them about Clairvoyance, the visions of Remus and how his and Lily's lives would have turned out if they had come true. Everyone listened to him without interrupting him.

When he finished, Peter spoke, "We can all make mistakes sometimes and make incorrect decisions that ruin our lives and those of others. Luckily, destiny is not set in advance, and even if we do something wrong, there is always a margin of time to remedy it. You knew how to take advantage of that margin of time, you remedied it, and you have freed us all from good misfortune. So don't be at all worried about what we think of you in that regard, at fifteen years old and with the life you had led, it would have been strange if you hadn't been tempted down the wrong path. Many people with much less reason than you to do so take it. Do you reaffirm what I just said, Violet?"

"Of course," she responded.

"What do you say, Tuney?"

"Booff… I don't know what to say," Petunia responded. "I was amazed by the premonitions."

They all laughed. Tuney is great, she has already taken all the iron out of it, Sev thought.

"How much does Lily know about this, Sev?" Violet asked him.

"Everything about mine, something about Remus, I don't know how much he would tell her," he replied. "And about the conclusions I have drawn from that, I don't know if she knows either, I talked to Remus about it, I don't know if he would talk of the topic later with her."

"She hasn't said a word to us."

"Of course, in case you turned against me."

"It sure seems like she's trying to do it right after all," she said.

"True."

"Do you want to know what she has told us about you?"

"No, I prefer not to know, that's something between you and her," said Sev.

"You are really hurt."

"Yes, but not in the way you think. I don't blame her at all, these are things that happen, but I can't help the fact that it has hurt me a lot."

"Explain it to us from your point of view," Violet asked.

"What you have left to know is something that I prefer Tuney not to hear."

"Tuney, to your room."

"Okay... But when you finish, call me, okay, Mum?" Petunia asked.

"Yes…"

Petunia left. Sev told them about how Lily had unconsciously put herself in danger, about the risk she had taken of being linked to him, about lynchings, Obliviate and Azkaban, and how he had made deny in Sly the rumor that linked them.

"Booff…" Peter snorted.

"Did you read the Defense books, Peter?" Sev asked him.

"Of course, and I commented them with Violet, we already knew about the Dementors. What did you think, Violet? You speak now, come on."

"Does Lily know all this?" she asked.

"Of course she knows," Sev responded.

"So yes, you would even have every reason to feel hurt by her, after everything you have been doing to protect her, risking going to a prison like that for life, and not just you, seven other people with you. Can I ask you a question?"

"The ones you want."

"When did you deny the rumor?" Violet asked. "Before or after you found out that Lily didn't love you anymore? Because she hasn't told us anything about that either, she doesn't know that."

"Afterwards, it has been a thing of the last few days. On Saturday I found out that many people suspected it, and on Sunday I found out about the other thing and we stopped talking."

"Oh... You speak now, Peter."

"I will be eternally grateful to you for everything you have done for our daughter, Severus, and although it hurts my pride as a father to admit it, it is very clear that she has not yet become worthy of having you," he said. "So yes, you are doing well. in avoiding contact with her if you don't feel able to face it yet. It's all very recent and you need to stay away from her until you feel better."

"Thank you for understanding," said Sev.

"Is there anything else you want to tell us that Tuney can't know?" Violet asked him.

"Nothing, unless you want to ask me something about what Cecile told you in her letter."

"Nothing that you don't want to tell us yourself."

"Great, then I prefer not to talk about certain topics," he said.

"We understand, I'll call Tuney then. Does anyone want more tea? I'll heat it up again."

Nobody wanted it, Violet picked up the service but she left the food. "Sev, eat something, you haven't eaten anything," she told him.

"I had a very good lunch, I don't feel like it, thank you."

Violet went to the kitchen and called Petunia.

Meanwhile, Peter spoke, "Now that Violet is gone, I want to tell you something, Severus. I understand that our relationship has not been close until recently and there is also the issue of my daughter in the middle, but if you ever need to talk man to man you can do it with me, I am not going to be scared of anything you tell me."

"Thank you, Peter, I'll keep that in mind," said Sev.

"How are you getting on with music? You haven't told us anything in your letters. Did you take advantage of the radio?"

"Not much, really, because it could be heard in the Forest but I've barely been back there these two months."

"Lily did tell us that you are learning to play the piano in the Room of Requirement, aren't you?" asked the eldest.

"Oh, Peter…" said Eileen. "You knew it and you didn't tell me anything…"

"So that your son could surprise you. Let's go to the dining room, Severus."

They left the room, Violet and Petunia already coming down. There was an upright piano in the dining room.

No… Sev thought. Peter saw the look on his face. "Severus, you promised me, neither protest nor break down. Give me a hug, come on."

They hugged each other.

"Thank you very much, Peter."

"Besides, it's not just for you, I'm also taking classes and maybe I'll even get Tuney hooked, she hits it from time to time."

They laughed. They are great.

"Come on, Tuney, play Severus what I showed you the other day," Peter asked.

Petunia sat down very excitedly on the bench and played a very simple popular song with just one finger. Everyone applauded her.

Ugh… Lily must be hearing us from above, she must be having a terrible time. Sev spoke in Violet's ear, "Violet, go up and look for Lily in case she wants to come down."

"Sev, don't worry about Lily. She's not at home, she's out for a walk," she replied. "Remember what Peter told you, it's better that you don't see each other for the moment."

"Alright."

"Forget everything and enjoy, come on, now it's Peter's turn to show us his progress."

Peter sat on the bench and played several very short, simple classical pieces. They also applauded him.

Petunia spoke, "I have barely been able to learn anything because I had university exams, but now that I have time I'm going to learn all that right away, you'll see. It is sucked."

They laughed. Tuney is fantastic, Sev thought.

"It's your turn, Sev," Violet told him.

Sev played and sang the two Pink Floyd songs that he knew, everyone was amazed.