Author's Note: This is a longer chapter than the last, I promise. I'm making my way back to daily writing, but it's still in starts and stops. I have a rather serious injury, but thankfully I can lay the computer on my lap and type that way. If anyone is reading, please let me know. I'm also working on a new story. Thanks for reading and reviewing, MNF

Chapter 19:

July 1981

"If you want to help someone walk, go to the nursery; one of our children would be happy to have your assistance! I am doing fine on my own!" Anwen yelled and then a slamming door was heard. Lily loudly sighed.

"I'll go up and talk some sense into her," she said with frustration. Lily thought Anwen should still be resting, and she and Alice had planned the children's birthday party without her input and couldn't see why Anwen was upset at them.

"No," James said, standing up. "I'm going to talk with my sister. We're going to have a picnic in her room, like we did when we were little." He picked up his plate, with his half-eaten sandwich, crisps and a pile of pickled vegetables. He then picked up his sister's plate and headed for the stairs. "You can deal with Sirius; I can't talk with him about this anymore."

"Maybe you can get her to see reason," Sirius said as they passed on the stairs. "She's the most stubborn woman on the planet!"

"And you've known that since we were six. Go eat with everyone else, maybe you'll listen to them. Anwen and I are picnicking in her room."

Sirius stomped the rest of the way down the stairs and into the dining room. Yes, it was quite odd for them to eat such a casual meal in the formal room, but with eleven adults and four infants, the dining room was the only place large enough for them all. Sirius pulled his chair out with such force that it fell over onto its back and crashed into the floor. The noise frightened Neville, the most sensitive of the quartet, and he began to cry. Seated almost directly across from Sirius, fat tears fell down his face and his bottom lip stuck out so far, a fairy could sit on it.

"Hey, Nev, Uncle Sirius is sorry," the man said gently. "I didn't mean to frighten you. Oh, do you have pasta for lunch? I know how much you like it."

"Pata," Neville said, suddenly distracted from his tears by his uncle bringing up his favourite food. Neville lifted one bowtie and held it up triumphantly, before putting it in his mouth.

"That sure is some good pasta," Sirius agreed. He looked down at the triple decker sandwich, crisps and pickles on his plate and dug in.

"What's got her so upset?" Lily asked, feeding Harry a bit more of his turkey. He was a voracious eater but sometimes made himself sick if all his food was presented at once, so Lily only put a few bites on the tray of his highchair.

"She wants to decorate Violet's birthday cake, without assistance," Sirius answered. "She said she wants something to be a surprise about the party, since she didn't get to plan any of it. I told her that she'll need help."

"That seems reasonable," Lily replied. "I'd gladly help."

"I don't think it is," Eva chimed in. "Anwen is back to about ninety percent of the mobility she had before the attack. She can change into her Animagus form, she can get herself dressed and do all the tasks of daily living, except walking up and down the stairs without assistance. Sirius, I know it scared you when she was hurt, but you need to let her do it for herself. Violet's birthday is very important to Anwen, and with Lily and Alice planning everything else, she should at least be able to do this for her daughter."

Sirius considered their friend and thought about what she was saying. He was saved from having to answer by Alfie reaching for his father's crisps and nearly toppling the whole plate.

"Hey, mate, this is daddy's lunch," Sirius said with a laugh in his voice. "Here, have more from your plate." Sirius made the mistake of putting the small plastic plate onto the highchair, and Alfie proceeded to dump the whole thing on the floor.

"Shi—" Sirius started, Lily and Alice gave him a pointed look, "—sugar!"

Upstairs Anwen let her brother into the room and looked at the plates with a big smile. "Bed picnic? We haven't done this in so long!" It seemed to cheer her up, and James was happy. Anwen had walked to the door on her own, walked back and settled herself on the bed without a wobble. She hadn't even used the walking stick that Remus had fashioned her a few weeks ago. Sirius had been insisting that she hold onto his arm when walking, so James hadn't seen her real progress.

"You're moving better," James said before he took a big bite.

"I'm moving almost perfectly," Anwen corrected him. "I can't quite dance yet, and stairs make me nervous – so I've decided I'm going to just float up and down for a while. I don't want to walk alone with a baby in my arms, but there are enough others and the elves that I really don't think I need to. Sirius just wants to smother me and it's making me barmy!"

"I've tried talking with him about it, reminding him that you're rather fiercely independent, but he's scared," James confessed, and Anwen sighed. The ate for a few minutes in silence.

"Do you remember the day I came to live here?" Anwen asked.

"Sure, you were tiny, smaller than Reggie was, and he was only five. You were quiet too. Mum had explained that you were already doing magic, but it was too strong. I also remember Mum and Dad taking you down into the cellar and doing something that I couldn't come along with."

"They were blood adopting me and adding my blood to the ward stone. I worried when they 'adopted' Sirius that it would make us siblings, but Daddy explained that unlike when they adopted me, he wouldn't be using the potion that contained Mum, Dad and my blood in it. That way Sirius was protected by the wards, but we weren't blood siblings, like you and I are because we carry our parents' blood in our systems. It's all confusing and then when you add what we know about DNA, I'm sure that biologically, Sirius and I aren't anymore related to one another than you and I are."

"How did you learn about this DNA stuff?" James asked. He knew it wasn't anything they taught in the healing course for the DMLE.

"Muggle medicine books. I really think I'm going to study to become a physician. I'm not sure I can go back to working at St. Mungo's. I saw too much there," she confessed. "The town needs a clinic, and who better to supply such a thing than the sister of the lord of the manor house?" He considered her for a moment. Anwen wasn't one to shy away from difficult situations; if she wasn't sure she could go back to hospital, then whatever she saw must have been horrible.

"You are smart enough, Winnie, so go for it."

"Thanks," she quietly said. "Jimmy," she said, using their childhood nicknames like he had to show his endearment. "I just want to decorate Violet's cake," she explained.

"I know, and I agree you should be able to. My advice would be to sit down while you do it and have the elves there to assist, if you need it. If you don't, they won't be offended. Elba likes you in the kitchen and I think we need some spice biscuits," James said before putting a full quarter of the sandwich into his mouth.

"That's so gross," Anwen said while rolling her eyes. "And you always want more spice biscuits. You gents are obsessed with them."

"They remind me of mum." Anwen nodded. Elba allowed Anwen in the kitchen because Fee had always been baking as they grew up. James knew she used their mother's recipe.

"I wish she were here," Anwen confessed. "I don't feel like I do things as well as she does. I have two, nearly the same age. She did it so easily, and I'm –"

"Doing just as well, sis. We were six when she ended up with two the same age, yours were newborns. I'll work with Sirius, take him out for a run or something when you want to do Vi's cake, just know your limits, okay. You falling or something wouldn't make any of this easier."

"Yes, BIG brother," Anwen said. "You'd think you were older by years, not two weeks."

A

"You did a beautiful job with Violet's cake," Sirius said to his wife. The pink and purple three-dimensional doll cake was something to behold. Her skirt was made entirely of sugar paste and frosting violets and pink cherry blossoms. The secret was the Barbie doll that went through the middle of the cake, frosting covering her chest and a quick spell to make the usually blonde-hair, blue-eyed doll look more like Violet with her dark, wavy hair and violet-coloured eyes.

"Thank you, sweetheart," Anwen said, smiling sweetly at her husband as he wrapped his arm around her waist. In his other arm rested their daughter, who was more than happy to grab mummy's hair and put it in her mouth. "Should have put it in a plait."

"Here," Sirius said, removing an elastic from his wrist. "I figured between you girls and Moony someone would forget to tie your hair back," he explained. When Anwen had pulled her hair back and away from their daughter, she chose to start chewing on Sirius's shirt collar. "Should we get these kids ready for their cakes? You've done a little cake for Vi, right? Like you did with Alfie?"

"Yes, each of the children have fairy cakes to smash, crush and mush away from the adult cakes. Alfie's matches Violet's today. Before we do that, we're getting her out of that dress." Claire had made Violet a beautiful fairy dress in several shades of purple and the skirt resembling flower petals. It was darling and their daughter had walked about the garden holding her father's hands for a good long while before she sat down and demanded he carry her. Sirius was thankful she did, as bending over to help her walk was killing his back. He had over four feet on her diminutive form.

Under the pretty dress, Violet wore a one-piece undershirt that snapped between her legs which Claire had painted in the same purples of the dress. She'd told Anwen if it was destroyed, it wasn't going to upset her. Anwen's experience with Alfie's birthday cake was that the food dye didn't come out of his little romper, and she as glad it was old as it was relegated to nighttime use only.

Cake for the three birthday kids and Alfie was just as messy as predicted and thankfully it was summer, and their fathers took them out of their highchairs and sprayed them with warm, bubbly water from their wands and then rinsed them the same way. They were quickly dressed in matching tee-shirts and shorts and it made them look more like siblings. Each child opened a gift or two, but they then ran or crawled off and were under the watchful eye of the elves. the parents and the few guests that were invited sat in a circle and the mums opened the majority of the offerings for the celebration. Since nearly everyone lived on the compound, the only people who Flooed in were Minerva—all the children's honorary grandmother, Poppy, Reggie, Arcturus and Melania, Walburga. Alice and Frank had asked their friend, and Assistant Head Auror, Amelia Bones to attend as well. And finally, against her better judgement, Anwen allowed Dumbledore to attend as well.

The children had soon played themselves out and fell asleep in the cool grass of the shady part of the garden. Later, the party had broken up into smaller groups. Sirius was talking with James and Reggie while Alice, Frank, Amelia and Alice's parents were in another group. Poppy and Minerva were leaving to go to her cottage, since they still had two weeks before they needed to be in the castle for the start of the new school year. After Anwen saw them off and kissed her mother-in-law and grandparents-in-laws goodbye, she realized that she didn't know where Dumbledore was, as he wasn't among those in the entryway waiting for their turn to depart. When she found him, he was waving his wand over the sleeping quartet and pools of their magic was hovering over their heads.

"Get away from them," she yelled as she exited the rear of the house, headed to the back of the garden. To everyone's surprise, she ran at her former friend. As she approached, she noticed the elves were looking away from the children, studying the flowers. The wizard must have done something to them, as the trio took their duties to the babies as sacred assignments. "What did you do to our elves?"

"Anwen, I had to know," he confessed. "Do you understand how strong they are? You know the prophecy, one of them will defeat him. I must know which one – they will need to be trained –"

"I said get away from them!" Anwen yelled even louder, and she sent a strong stunner at him. "They aren't a project for you. They aren't weapons and you will not lay some prophecy on their shoulders. Get out!"

The stunner had knocked Albus on his bottom, and Remus was backing Anwen up in a moment. Soon Sirius, Frank, Alice, James, Lily and Eva were with them. Even Amelia was there, looking at Dumbledore with some suspicion.

"What did you do?" Sirius roared at his former headmaster, but before Dumbledore could answer, there was explosion to the east, and the ground shook mightily from it.