Harry

"Potter! Oi, Potter!" I turned around to see a work colleague - Laeson - running down the corridor, painting heavily as he waved some papers wildly. "I finished the paperwork Sir." He told me as he reached me, before taking deep breaths.

"Thanks Laeson. Where've you come running from?" I asked, taking the papers from him, scanning the pages as I shuffled through them.

"The office." He replied, confused.

"Well if you want that promotion to field work, I'm afraid you're going to need to be able to run further than that. I don't like being harsh, but frankly an Auror requires stamina, speed amongst quick reaction times."

"Yes Sir. I'll- I'll work in it." He turned and walked away, muttering under his breath.

I turned back to the papers. Laeson was someone who desperately wanted to go on field work, but - on both the physical and duelling scales - wasn't capable. He tired easily, had poor aim and his reaction times just weren't up to scratch. Because of this, he would sometimes become surly.

He was one of those people who had decent grades, but higher ambitions. Perhaps not getting mardy after being given advise would help him.

When I got to my desk, however, thoughts of trying to subtly get him to lose weight and gain stamina were lost, and instead replaced by a letter.

I scanned it quickly, and saw that it said that I was invited (along with Ginny and James) to Draco and Kat's house this coming Sunday, for lunch and a catch up.

It had a note attached from Ginny telling me that there were no plans as of yet, but if anything did come up I should tell her ASAP so that she could reply as to whether we'd be there or not.

I sent a quick reply saying that I had nothing on.

When Sunday arrived, I was woken up by a mass of body jumping onto the bed. James grinned at me.

"Morning." I murmured tiredly.

"Up." He said, putting his hand above me and concentrating hard, like in the flying lessons at Hogwarts.

Then he kicked me.
"Dada up."

"Dada tired." I replied.

"Well, you need to get up. You've had a lie in." I sat up and put my glasses on, and looked at Ginny.

"What's the time?"

"Twenty past eight. And before you say that that isn't a lie in, just remember that we're having lunch at Kat's, but before that I'm going for a coffee morning with some friends. Which means you're on parent duty."

"But Ted's getting dropped off. I can't look after both of them. It'll be a nightmare!"

"Better wake up properly then." With that, she left with James.

Looking after two small children, then going to have lunch at Malfoy's house... I could already tell that this day would go well.

***

"NEAWWWWW!" Teddy yelled, stickibt his arms put as he ran around, pretending to be an aeroplane.

"Careful!" I shouted as he almost - yet miraculously missed - some ornament on the mantelpiece. I found out - upon closer inspection - that it was the ceramic sculpture of a hippocampus, which Molly had made when Ginny and I had first moved in.

It wasn't that she was looking through Greek mythology and decided to make one; some of the Merpeople in Scotland had found one only a few weeks prior to our move-in.

I sighed in relief as to the fact that it was still in tact, and moved it up to a higher shelf so that it wouldn't fall off.

"FOOD!" Wailed James. "FOOD!"

"NEAWWWWW!"

"FOOD!" My head began to punf with the noise of an 'aeroplane' knocking various items around, a few crashes, and a young child wailing.

"Teddy, stop running around and James be patient!" I suddenly said in my warning tone. They both froze. "Okay, now listen. I know you're having fun, but you need to be careful Teddy, or things will break. James, why are you so hungry? You had breakfast not so long ago."

"Sorry Harry." Teddy muttered, looking down shamefully.

"Mama food." Was all James said.

"It's okay Ted, just... Try to be a bit now careful, yeah buddy?"

"'Kay." With that he was off running around again. I turned to James.

"Listen, I know you're hungry, but you can't have any mama did right now."

"Why?"

"Because mama isn't here."

"Why?"

"Because-" I heard the front door unlock.

"Hi! I'm home!"

"MAMA!" James yelled gleefully, before toddling away.

A few minutes later Ginny came in carrying him.

"Oh, hi. I didn't realise you'd be back so soon. Did you have a good time?" I went over and gave her a small kiss on the cheek.

"It was good. Apparently Neville and Hannah are having a bit of a bad time at the moment though. Poor Frank."

"Hmm. Other than that though?"

"Yeah, it was nice. I went from being a young mother to a girl hanging out with her friends again. The coffee was nice too."

"Hungry." James whined.

"He's been wanting food for a while." I told her.

"We'll why didn't you give him anything?"

"Because it wasn't food he wanted."

"Mama food." James said, proving my point.

"Really? Okay then, off we go little guy."

She took him upstairs, and returned soon after. "I officially hate teething."

"Biting you again?"

"How'd you guess?" She replied, before sighing. "And in just over a year it'll all be repeated."

"Maybe it'll be one of those things which you'll get used to, so it'll be fine?" I suggested. In retaliation, she gave me a 'really?' look.

"I'm not sure if that'd be better or worse."

"Why would it be worse?"

"Because I'd've gotten used to be being bitten when breast feeding."

"Fair enough. What time are we going at?"

"In just over an hour and a half."

"So what time?"

"Half eleven."

"Okay. Is that when we're leaving to go there, or are we dropping Ted off back to Dromeda's? Or is he going with us?"

"I've let Kat and Draco know and they said it's fine to bring him, seeing as Draco's his cousin."

"Right. So, I shall go and get the kids ready, and you can go and do... Something. Relax for a bit. I don't know, just do whatever you usually do."

"Thanks." She gave me a quick kiss, before going to the kitchen, returning with a notepad and - unusually - a biro. "I'll go and get some shopping. We're running low on some stuff."

"Sure, see you in a bit."

With that, she popped off, and I took the children upstairs, where I dressed each of them more appropriately, given where we were going.

An hour and a half later, Ginny had came back home, put the supplies she'd bought away, dressed more formally, and was now ushering us all out of the house. I took Teddy whilst she took James, and we apperated.

When we arrived at our destination I looked up and stood there for a moment. Slowly, I set Teddy down as my gaze fell on the well-kept Manor.

Images flashed in my mind, ones I had never wanted to have witnessed; Bellatrix LeStrange being herself and torturing Hermione; Dobby unscrewing the chandelier; the knife being thrown as we disappeared...

A poor little elf wobbling around before collapsing onto the sand. A friend dying because of a monster's deeds here.

Suddenly - and not surprisingly - I didn't want to be at this place that looked so sweet and innocent, but had housed such terrible deeds.

The memories that overwhelmed me went further as I was drowned in thoughts as to what had happened here.

This was the place where Voldemort, an evil being, had plotted my death.

Where Luna and Ollivander had been kept prisoner (as well as Griphook, but he was a traitor).

Where... Things most likely happened between Voldemort and Bellatrix.

I shuddered. The last thought was the worst.

Ginny seemed to notice that something was up, but I shook my head. Think lovely thoughts.

Luna and Ollivander were rescued. Hermione proved her strength. Snape fed false information.

Taking Teddy's hand, I shot what I hoped was a reassuring smile at Ginny. She gave me a doubtful look, but still, the four of us entered through the large, daunting gates, and up to the door. Teddy importantly jumped up and rung the old-fashioned bell that hung from the wall.

A few minutes later. Kat opened the door, and smiled cheerfully at us.

"Come on in. The table's just been laid, and food is awaiting."

I glanced at Ginny again, before heading inside.

***

"Sit down, sit down. How are you all?"

"Erm, good. Yeah, good."

"Cool. Oh, by the way, Mollie, Josh, Gracie, Thor, Wisteria, Dean, Sophia and Lucas will all be here soon."

"Dean? Dean Thomas? Wh-"

"Yeah. He's er- he's dating Wisteria. They're so cute."

"And Lucas is...?" Ginny asked.

"Sophia's partner. Oh and his mate Roger is coming along too. So yeah, everyone is in couples besides him. Ron and Hermione are already here, and Draco is annoying Ron due to the fact that he's talking to 'Mione." She rolled her eyes. "Honestly. It's like he thinks that Draco could be bothered to divorce me, then get the pair of them to divorce only to then marry Hermione. That wouldn't happen for many reasons. Including the fact that he's terrified of me when I'm angry." Kat grinned. "It's great."

Ginny's POV

Once everyone had arrived, we sat down, began to eat lunch - which wasn't made by House-Elves, but was just as delicious.

"Ginny. I've finished. Can I go?" Teddy looked up at me.

"Wait until everyone's done. Come on, I'm sure it won't be long."

"'Kay."

"So, Lucas, what do you do for a living?" Everyone turned to the cute guy sitting beside Sophia. He had light brown hair and brown eyes.

"Erm, I'm actually a plumber. Not that interesting, I know. But it's amazing as to how many people don't know the spell to fix their pipes. I also do fitting in baths and showers and stuff."

"That's actually pretty useful then." Draco commented. "I'm assuming that that means that tou can work in both the magic and muggle world? Or was your course just one or the other?"

"No, it's both. So if I'm ever stranded in the muggle world, it's fine I've got money, I've got a job, it's all good."

"Why don't more people do that? That's really clever." Dean commented.

"Well, to a Pureblood, there's no need. Being a Pureblood means that your surname is recognisable to other magic folk, so you're fine. Getting ambrosia-"

"Amnesia." Corrected Hermione.

"That's the one. Getting amnesia in the muggle world would put most people in a real pickle." I commented.

"Ginnnnny." Teddy whined. "Need to pee."

"Why doesn't Harry take you. Go on."

"Okay, come on then." Harry lifted Teddy off his seat, took his hand and they wandered off. Only to come in again a few minutes later.

"Up the corridor, up past the first turning, down the second turning, down then next one too, left, right, left, right, and the door at the end." Kat told him.

"Okay. Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, there."

"Yep."

So once again, they exited.

We continued the conversation, and just caught up and socialised for a bit. Soon, however, the atmosphere changed. All it took were two little words, spoken by some people who barges into the house, grinning evily as they pointed wands at us.

"Avadra Kedavra."

SORRY! SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY!

IT'S BEEN LIKE A MONTH.

AND THEN YOU GET A REALLY BAD FILLER CHAPTER. THAT IS REALLY AWFUL AND I'M SO SORRY.

I've been at my new school and it's been really strange 'cause it's like I moved there without anyone else because my friend decided to transfer and go there too but we're in different populations.

So I've been making friends, trying to settle in when everyone else is in their friendship groups, and I'm starting my GCSE's this year. Which means tons of homework. And therefore less time.

Anyway, I'm sorry for how long it's been and how bad it is.

I love all of you.

-Alice xoxox