Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
Neville and Harry had been ten years old for nearly a month when Luna asked them to come over to her house and spend the day. They frequently went over to their friends houses for play dates so they didn’t think anything was odd about it until they got there.
Luna pulled them into her room and in a hushed whisper she said. “I don’t know what, but something horrible is going to happen to Mummy today. I have to be there. If you two are there with me, it may make the difference in her life. I don’t want to loose my Mummy, please say you will help me!” Luna cried.
Neville smiled “Of course we will, we would never let you loose your Mummy if we can help it!”
“That’s right Luna, don’t worry! We’re here for you, anything we can do to help, we will.” Harry said. “But why didn’t you tell your dad or some other grown up?”
“Because it had to be the two of you, I don’t know why, but it just did.” Luna tried to smile but it didn’t work real well. “Thank you for being here for me. Now let’s go stay with Mummy. I don’t want to leave her alone too long. I don’t know when it will happen, just that it will be today.” Luna wiped her eyes and with a wave of her hand you couldn’t tell she was ever crying at all. Then she was heading out the door. Neville and Harry followed close behind her and headed over to where Persephone was just finishing up with the kitchen.
“Well you three, I am just going to be working on my Spell Weaving today, what are you going to do?” Persephone asked as she wiped her hands on a towel.
“We wanted to watch you work, I told my friends all about your work and they want to watch you like I do sometimes. They are so excited about it. Please!” Luna gave her mother that dreamy look of hers and broke her Mummy’s defenses.
“Alright but you three will stay out of the way and at a safe distance the whole time, understand?” Persephone looked each one of the kids in the face and waited until each one nodded. Then smiled and led the three of them out to her workshop and began to set up her project she wanted to work on for the day.
She had Luna, Harry, and Neville stand way over to the side away from the large cauldron she was using to make her potion. Her project was to make a shield that would keep the cauldron from boiling over no matter what the circumstances. Unfortunately, she couldn’t quite get the shield right, it still boiled over with certain potions…mainly the more abrasive and dangerous ones, and those are the ones that she wanted to protect against the most. Right now she was working with one that if it boiled over it could cause an explosion, so it was very delicate work and she had to use extra precautions to get this to work right.
Persephone had been working on the shield for about five minutes when it happened, the cauldron began to shake and thrash about then it exploded. Smoke started to fill the workshop immediately and the kids started coughing as they looked over to where Persephone had once stood.
She had been knocked down and landed in a heap over underneath a big piece of lumber that had fallen when the cauldron exploded. Harry landed on top of Luna so he got up and helped up Luna who was crying, looking everywhere for her mother. Neville had been knocked back into a table, he was a little bit scratched up but it wasn’t too bad. He got up and helped Harry get Luna up on her feet and dust her off. Then they all looked over to where Persephone was a moment ago.
Luna gasped when she saw the crumpled form of her mother. “Oh Harry, Neville you have to help me. That piece of wood is crushing Mummy and that potion is almost over to where she is!” Luna gasped.
“Don’t worry we’ll save her!” Harry and Neville shouted.
Harry raised his hands and yelled “UP! And the big beam began to rise off of Persephone. Slowly, ever so slowly the timber moved and then it was Neville’s turn.
Neville raised his hands and shouted “Float!” And Persephone began to float up about a foot off the ground away from the potion that was quickly making its way towards her.
Luna rushed over to her mother and began to push her mother’s body away from the cauldron.
“Hurry Luna! I can’t hold this much longer!” Harry gasped out as his hands began to get really heavy.
Luna pushed her mother over to the side of the workroom and away from the big beam, as soon as she got her mother out of the way Harry lost his grip on the timber and it crashed to the ground and burst into flames as it did so. As soon as the timber touched the potion it exploded and caught fire, the smoke was getting thick and it was getting harder to breathe in the little workshop.
“Harry we have to get out of here, this smoke is making me *cough* feel sick.” Neville coughed.
“I know, it’s making me queasy too. Come on help me with this door. This shelf is blocking it! and the cauldron with all that potion is in front of the shelf so we have to move it first!”
“Ok, first let’s get that cauldron upright, try not to splash the potion anywhere it is like acid or something.” Neville wiped the smoke out of his eyes and tried to see through the haze of smoke in the workroom. Together Harry and Neville focused on the cauldron and slowly set it upright and moved it over to the opposite side of the room. With another waive of Neville’s hand the rest of the potion was corralled into a far corner away from where there were.
“Now we are going to have to move this cabinet from in front of the door.” Harry said.
Both boys focused on the cabinet and with all their might they said “Lift!”. With that the cabinet began to lift upright but one foot had broken off, and so it toppled down the opposite direction, which was fine as long as it was in the other direction of the door.
“BOOM!” The door exploded as Xenophilius, Frank, Sirius and Remus came rushing into the workroom.
“HARRY!” Sirius and Remus called out!
“LUNA! PERSEPHONE!” Xenophilius screamed!
“NEVILLE!” Frank shouted out!
Each one rushed to their perspective individual. Sirius helped Xeno with Luna while Remus got Harry, and they all reached the door as they heard a deep rumbling within the workshop.
“EVERYONE OUT NOW!” Sirius screamed!
They all raced with their person to the door and had just made it through when the roof of the workshop caved in with a horrible rumble and a belch of black smoke.
“I think *cough* the kids are okay, *cough*, but Persephone is hurt bad. I *cough* need to get her to St. Mongos as fast as I can.” Holding his wife as gently as he could.
“I think we need to *cough* take everyone to get checked out, I didn’t like *cough* that smoke.” Sirius said as he tried not to cough up a lung.
“Mobilus Corpus” Xenophilius called out and then gently laid his wife down on the conjured stretcher. Making sure that he didn’t hurt her any more than she already was.
“Let’s go into the house and use the *cough* fireplace there, we can floo over from the parlor.” Xenophilius suggested.
Sirius, Remus, and Frank carried the kids as Xenophilius guided his wife through *cough* the house and into the Parlor. “I’ll go first and warn them that everyone is coming through.” Sirius suggested, with that he carried Luna and disappeared into the flames of the Floo to St. Mongos.
“Emergency! Emergency! We have *cough* an Emergency here!” Sirius shouted.
The welcome witch came running over to see what was going on and Sirius explained quickly what was happening. “Potion accident, three injured children, *cough* ages ten and nine, and one adult female I don’t know how old she is. but she got hit by some *cough* falling timbers or something she is hurt real bad. *cough* We’re bringing her through on a stretcher. They are all *cough* coming through right behind me. The kids all inhaled some nasty fumes. They *cough* might have some burns or something too.” Sirius coughed and wheezed his way through quickly, as Remus brought Harry who was wheezing pretty bad and coughing allot. Next came Frank with Neville who had turned an odd shade of pale off white to pale green. He didn’t look very good. Then finally came Xenophilius with Persephone. She still hadn’t woke up or moved in any way, Xeno was really worried about her.
“Healer! I need a Healer Immediately !” He screamed as he pushed the stretcher into the almost full waiting room. Attendants came from every direction for Sirius’ and Frank’s screams, rushing to see what the emergency was and see if it was life or death. They took one look at Persephone and hurried her past the crowd of waiting people and into a room; then checked the kids over, and hurried Neville into a room first, then the next attendant took Luna and finally one came back for Harry.
They did a bubble head charm on each child with pure oxygen going into their lungs and then gave them a potion to help clear their lungs from the residue of the potion. It took a while but they finally quit coughing and wheezing so bad. Neville took the longest but finally he got his color back and he looked normal.
After the kids were treated the healers began to check out Remus, Frank, Sirius and Xenophilius, who where still coughing and wheezing themselves. A single lung clearing potion and they were fine though.
The one they were worried about was Persephone. They put the three kids in one room to monitor them for the night, with the breathing treatments going on. And they were not allowed in the room while they were working on Persephone so everyone was gathered in the room with the kids. They were there about twenty minutes when Alice, Andromeda and Ted arrived. Frank had flooed Alice and told her what had happened and she had called Andromeda who brought along Ted to the hospital. Andromeda went into the room where they were working on Persephone and got them an update on her condition then came back out.
“She is doing much better than when she arrived. She still is unconscious but they have her breathing problems resolved, she had some damage done to her lungs but they have fixed that too. The problem they are having is that she had three broken ribs, and a shattered left leg (which they are having to regrow her bones), and her left kidney was damaged. The kidney has been fixed so it isn’t the problem. The major issue right now is the babies. They honestly don’t know if they can save the pregnancy.”
“Pregnant?” Xenophilius looked over to Andromeda with a glazed look on his face. He was standing over Luna but he honestly couldn’t tell you where he was much less what his own name was right this minute. Did she say Persephone was pregnant?
“Yes, with twins. She is about three months along, one male, one female. They are in crisis right now, so it is touch and go. The injury to the kidney caused some internal bruising and shook her up inside. So they are hoping it won’t cause her to lose the little ones. But they are going to keep her here for a while to make sure. They have her on potions to keep her sedated right now so that she is feeling no pain and to make sure that she is as still and calm as possible. After they stabilize the pregnancy they may end up putting her on bed rest for a while to make sure that she and the twins are alright before they let her get back to normal activities, but we have to get her through this hurdle first.” Andromeda stated.
“Pregnant?” He asked again, this time he had that same dreamy look that Luna sometimes wears on his face.
“Yes Xeno, Pregnant. Now did you hear the rest of what I said or do I have to repeat all of that?” Andy grinned.
This made the poor man shake his head and half way come to his senses, “No, no I heard everything you said. My poor darling. You said they are keeping her sedated, she is not in pain?”
“That’s right, the Healers decided to keep her sedated so that she wouldn’t move around and that she wouldn’t feel the pain of regrowing the bones in her leg right now. Although it is bound to be uncomfortable at least, Skele-grow is never a pleasant experience. Her ribs will only take a couple of minutes to fix, but the leg will probably take all night. They said they will move her into this room so that you can all be together and that you will not be running back and forth between your daughter and your wife.” Andromeda stated.
Xeno sighed and looked over to the door when it opened and the attendants brought in another bed and set it up next to Luna’s. He couldn’t tell them how much he appreciated the gesture, he didn’t want to leave his little Moon Beam but he knew his wife needed him more right now. So he was split who to spend his time with. Now he wouldn’t have to be separated from either one of them. Thankfully.
————————————————————————
Persephone woke up slowly, and she knew she was not in her big bed at home almost immediately, so she almost didn’t want to open her eyes. When she finally did, she realized she was at St. Mongo’s almost at once. It was then that the fractured moments right before the explosion leapt back into her mind…THE CHILDREN! Oh No! Her Luna!
“LUNA!” She screamed as she lay there trying to throw off the blankets that were on her legs but they were too heavy. “My Luna!” She screeched again! And before she could take another breath her arms were filled with a little blonde haired rocket who was sobbing into her chest.
“MUMMIE!” The little figure cried into her chest.
“Luna! My sweet precious Luna!” Persephone hugged her daughter with every ounce of strength she had, which right now wasn’t that much, but it was all she had.
“She is right here my beloved, we have just been waiting on you to wake up.” Another form hugged her, Xenophilius.
“The boys, Harry, and Neville… are they all right?” Persephone asked hesitantly asked.
“Their fine, they went home days ago. They should be by sometime today to visit. The children mostly just inhaled some nasty smoke and the boys put a big drain on their magic getting you out of there. But other than that they are just fine. If it hadn’t been for those boys we never would have gotten to the two of you in time. And I would have lost you all.”
“Don’t you mean you both dear?” Persephone smiled.
“Persephone, the Healers told me. You’re expecting. When were you going to tell us?” Xeno brushed the platinum blonde locks of hair from his wife’s brow.
She smiled at her beloved husband and daughter and said. “Actually I had decided to tell you this weekend, I was starting to show just a little so I knew I couldn’t keep it a secret much longer. The baby is okay isn’t it, the potion fumes didn’t hurt it did it?”
“Well first of all it isn’t baby, it’s babies. And second, no they are fine.” Xenophilius smiled lovingly down into the silver blue eyes of his wife.
“Babies, twins?”
“Twins.”
“I am going to have a baby brother and a baby sister.” Luna said from her place on her mother’s chest.
“Twins?” Persephone clarified again.
“Yes, my love. And they both are doing just fine. The Healer has been checking on both you and them multiple times and while it was touch and go when you first got here, they are both strong and healthy. No signs of distress at all. You had your left leg crushed and your left kidney badly damaged but they regrew the bones in your leg and they fixed your left kidney. The possibility of loosing the children was the biggest fear, but they are stabilized and doing good according to the healer and everything looks good. We were just waiting for you to wake up.”
“Oh my. And you are sure that the babies are all right, the potion fumes didn’t hurt them in any way?” Persephone was worried that the fumes might have damaged their developing lungs, she knew that she shouldn’t have been working on those silly spells but she thought she had put up every possible precaution, evidently not.
“They checked their lungs and they have good strong lung development, and they even let us listen to their hearts.” He said.
“Yes it sounded funny, but it was beautiful at the same time. I wish there was a way to make it the background sound to one of the songs that we play with the band. Maybe we can write our own song for the little one’s. Or take a song that is already out there and use their heartbeat as the background sound, like the twins drum beat, only different.” Luna suggested, thinking of every song she had ever heard of and how it would sound with the babies heart beat in the background.
“That sounds beautiful darling, we will have to record it so that you can see what you guys can come up with.” Persephone smiled down at her daughter who had yet to lift her head from her mother’s chest, apparently quite content to listen to her mother’s heartbeat and talk with her.
“Here why don’t you sit up moon child, so that your mother can sit up just a little, I am sure that she would want to sit up after so long laying down flat on her back.” Xenophilius pulled Luna upright then helped his wife sit up and fluffed the pillows behind her so she could lean back against them.
“How long have I been in here?” She asked.
“Four days, my love, The children were only in here over night so don’t worry about them. They just kept them overnight for observation, but they had to regrow your left leg and they wanted to make sure the babies were stable before they released you. They said as soon as you woke up that you could be released to go home after the Healer gave you one final once over. Now he said you would be on bed rest for ten days to two weeks but that isn’t that long and it will give a chance to spoil you a bit now won’t it Loveling?”
“I don’t want to be spoiled, I want to be treated as you have always treated me Xeno, I am pregnant, not dying of some horrible disease here. Now I want your word that you won’t go all clingy on me…you know that I hate that.” Persephone reached over and carded her fingers through her husbands hair. She realized it would be hard on him to not pamper her a little, especially with the scare they just had but she would have to put her foot down if it got too ridiculous. After all she was a grown woman and wished to be treated like one, not some invalid or something.
“I can’t promise not to drive you nuts with attention, but I can promise to love you every minute of my life and adore you with every breath that I take. Will that do?” Xeno gave her the most pitiful puppy dog eyes.
He was too good at this, she couldn’t help but think. But then again he was a professional writer. That is why he owned a newspaper. Those poor pitiful puppy dog eyes didn’t help any either. “Oh very well, but if you get too bad I am going over to Frank and Alice’s until I am off of bedrest…understood?”
“Of course my love. Anything for you.” Xeno smiled that smile of his, it so set her heart on fire.
Just then the Healer knocked on the door and came into the room, glad to see that Persephone was awake and alert. “Well it appears that my favorite family is now complete. How are you feeling this morning Mrs. Lovegood?”
“A little stiff and my joints are sore but other than that I’m fine. At least I hope so. I want to go home so badly.” She said.
“Well just let me scan you and we shall see.” The healer came over and waived his wand over her a few times, focusing on her stomach area and then smiled. “It looks like you are going to be going home. Now like I was explaining to your husband, you will be on bedrest for ten days to two weeks, it will just depend on how your check up looks in ten days. I want to see you in here every two weeks after that so we can keep a close eye on this pregnancy. But other than that you are free to go home when ever you wish.
Luna bounced around in a little circle and clapped her hands when the Healer said that. She had so missed having her Mummy at home. It didn’t seem like home without her. She had so much to thank Harry and Neville for. If it had been just her there to help her mother, they both would have died, or her dad would have been able to save her and not her Mummy. Either way her Mummy would have died and her little baby brother and sister along with her.
—————————————————————
“Xenophilius we have been through this already, it has been a week and you have to let her do things on her own. She can walk to the bathroom on her own. She doesn’t need you to carry her. In fact you are stopping her from getting strength back in that leg by carrying her everywhere. You don’t want her to end up having to use a cane the rest of her life now do you?” Alice questioned.
“No of course not, but it has only been a week, she is still on bed rest. And that means she should stay in bed. Not be gallivanting around the house, getting up and fixing herself a snack or going to the bathroom without someone there to make sure she doesn’t fall.” Xeno stated stubbornly.
“Xeno, if you continue like this Persephone is going to move into one of our guest rooms until you promise not to baby her. You don’t want that to happen now do you? Because we would love to have her as a house guest.”
“No, no. I will try to tone it down some. But you have to tell her to stop getting up if there is no one there to make sure she doesn’t fall, until she gets the strength back in her leg.” Xenophilius tried.
“That is a fair compromise. I will talk to her, and see what she says, but you have to tone it down and work with her on this or you will drive her away with the constant fussing. Take a step back and try to understand how you would feel if you were in her shoes.” Alice stated.
Then Alice pulled her head out of the floo and looked over to her husband who was softy chuckling over to the side of the fireplace. “Remember how bad I was that first two weeks after you told me you were pregnant? And it wasn’t even twins, or I hadn’t nearly lost you only days before. He is just scared, he will calm down with time.”
“I know, and at first it was nice. But after a while, it got to driving me crazy. It took less than a day for me to be uncomfortable and wanting it to stop. Persephone has been more than patient with him and I think that it is high time she put her foot down and he began to respect her wishes.” Alice stated.
“I know, I just know how I would feel if that would have been you.” Frank reached over and pulled his wife to him and nuzzled at her neck holding her close.
Alice patted him on the back and she stated “Well I am glad I am not having twins too.”
“What do you mean love?” Frank looked confused as he pulled back from his wife, there was something in her tone that made him a little leery.
“I said I am not having twins, thankfully.”
“Huh?”
“Honestly Frank… I. Am. Pregnant.” Alice spoke very slowly so that her husband could understand what she was saying.
“No.”
“Yes. Two months along. A little girl this time.” Alice smiled and raised her hand to cup her husbands cheek.
“Your pregnant? Really pregnant?” Frank looked shell shocked but thrilled at the same time. He had a huge grin on his face when he reached down and picked up his wife and swung her around and whooped up loud for the sheer joy of it. Then he realized what he had done and he sat her down gently and said sorry several times as if he was afraid he had broke her or something, she then popped him on the back of the head and told him to remember what happened last time.
So Frank just looked at her with all the love in his heart and pulled her close to him, gently mind you, but right now she would give him that.
————————————————————————
It was four months since the workplace incident and everyone was doing marvelous. Persephone was practically glowing, although she stated that she hadn’t seen her feet in so long that she thought they flew south for the winter. And Alice wasn’t that much further behind her, although she wasn’t pregnant with twins she seemed to be carrying the baby low and so it made her feel that much bigger.
At first when both women started to markably show their baby bulges Frank and Xeno had become almost unbearable to live with. But the women put paid on that quick enough. Alice quit talking to Frank until he changed his tune. And Persephone ended up taking a feather pillow to Xenophilius when it had just gotten to be too much but she thinks she got the message across.
Now both women were doing great and practically glowing with health and life. The band had decided to record the Longbottom’s baby heartbeat since it was just a single heartbeat and would be less confusing to listen too, than two quick heartbeats. And they were all working on what music to put it too. Neville wanted to do a lullaby but he had not found the right one yet, and since it was his little sister’s heartbeat they were using as the background sound to the music, everyone felt he should have final say in the choice of music.
Harry was just as excited as Neville was about the new baby sister, although Sirius had adopted him, he was still very much a child of Frank and Alice’s. They had practically raised him after all. He had always wanted a little sister, so he and Neville decided to share the new baby and take care of it equally.
————————————————————————
Two weeks shy of Persephone’s due date and she was baking biscuits with Luna in the kitchen when she felt that familiar tug on her tummy. She waited a while and yep, she was having labor pains. Nothing major yet, they were about five minutes apart so far. So she went in and called Andromeda and Alice and then she called Xenophilius. Both women came through and then Xeno, he had been over at the Quibbler and he had to shut down the printing press before he could come through, but he made it over as quick as he could…which in all honesty was only a few minutes. Just enough time to work himself up to a pretty good frenzy.
“Where is she?” He looked around for his wife and gasped when he saw her standing there holding on to the edge of the couch with one hand and holding onto her very large stomach with the other.
“Hurry! Let’s get you to St. Mongos, before you have those babies right here on our living room floor.” He rushed to his wife’s side and took her hand helper her walk her way to the floo, grabbing a bit of floo powder he threw it into the fire and called out St. Mongos and he gently led his wife through. As soon as they got there he led her over to the welcome witch and stated that they were having twins and she was in labor, or rather she was having twins and she was in labor. That Andromeda Tonks was her Healer and on her way.
The welcome witch got Persephone a wheel chair and had an attendant wheel her back to a room and to wait for Andromeda. The couple had been there less than five minutes when Andromeda showed up and took over Persephone’s care.
Three hours later Xenophilius walked into the crowded visitors waiting room with two arms loaded down with babies. “We have babies!” He said happily. He would have shouted it out but he didn’t want to frighten the little ones.
Luna rushed over to see her new brother and sister, both has the trademark platinum blonde hair but since they were both asleep she couldn’t tell their eye color. They looked so precious, so perfect. Her father let her hold her little sister as he said “Luna, I want you to meet your little sister Astraea Andromeda and your little brother Sebastian Adrian, we wanted to name our son after you boys but we couldn’t make up our minds on Harrison Neville or Neville Harrison, and we didn’t want to favor one boy over the other so we decided just to make you boys their godfathers instead. Neville you will be Astraea’s godfather and Harry you will be Sebastian’s godfather. Without you two boys they never would have born and I would never have had the chance to be standing here holding them in my arms. I can never thank you enough. Alice is Astraea’s godmother and Andromeda is Sebastian’s godmother. They have both already accepted their appointments and I hope you boys will as well, it is a huge responsibility so think about it before you decide.” Xenophilous
Harry smiled real big and looked over to Sirius and then back at Xeno and the new baby. “I don’t have to think about it, I accept.”
“I do to.” Said Neville, his chest puffed out with pride.
Frank put his hand on Neville’s shoulder and beamed down at his son proudly and then looked down at Astraea, thinking of his own little girl he would soon be holding in his own two arms.
—————————————————————————
A month later it was Frank’s turn to be in the birthing room. Although his turn didn’t start off quite as easy as Xenophilius’. It was three AM in the morning and Alice felt that sudden tightening in her stomach, at first she just tried to ignore it and move to a more comfortable position but it seemed the feeling in her stomach just wouldn’t go away. That is when the sleepy Alice realized the she was in labor. She tried waking her husband up but that didn’t work. She took away his pillow, that didn’t work. She took away the blankets, that didn’t work. Finally she physically kicked him off the bed and he landed hard on the floor, waking up with a start.
“Hey! What’s up?” Frank asked sleepily.
“I’m having contractions you moron! I have been trying to wake you up for an hour, now get up and get dressed you’re taking me to St. Mongos.” Alice groaned as another contraction hit.
“Contractions! Oh Merlin!” Frank was stumbling all over himself and the shoes he had left at the end of the bed, but he managed to right himself and go around to her side of the bed and help Alice sit up and get her slippers on, then he grabbed his clothes and started putting them on quickly. Ok, that is her blouse… not his shirt, not a good combination, next choice. Finally, he had gotten dressed and she had almost made it down the hall to the parlor to the floo connection. Then she called for Jeeves and Misty to have them to wake the family that it was her time. The two house elves popped away and within moments a wide awake and fully dressed Neville rushed into the room carrying his shoes.
“Mum?” Neville called out.
“Right here love.” Alice replied.
“Oh thank goodness. I thought I had missed you.” He said.
“Not yet, we are waiting on your father, could you floo Andromeda while we wait and let her know I am in labor.” Alice requested. Then her water broke, “Quickly…”
Neville rushed over to the fireplace and made the call, but was quickly back by his mother’s side, and putting on his shoes. A few seconds later here come Harry and Sirius. It wasn’t a moment later and Frank rushed into the room pulling on his jumper and carrying her over night bag with him. A bruise beginning to form on the side of his face where his head his the bedside table as Alice had knocked him off the bed.
“Okay, I’m here let’s go. I’m sorry, I couldn’t find your bag. Do you think you can walk?” He asked.
She nodded as she tried to breathe her way through another contraction, holding tight to Neville’s hand. Sighing as it stopped. “Just give me a second and we can go.” Then she nodded to Frank and he gently helped her through the Floo to St. Mongos and Neville rushed over to the Welcome Witch and explained what was up while Frank assisted his wife through the semi-crowded waiting room. Just as they got Alice situated into a wheel chair and headed to a room, Andromeda showed up with Ted in tow.
Waiting in the delivery waiting room was annoying for everyone but today there were four families waiting for a new arrival, some had been there for hours, others had just got there. One person this was their first child, two this was their second and the forth it was their forth delivery. All in total their was over twenty people in the small room waiting for new arrivals to be delivered.
The first to be delivered was the one with the three kids already and it was a little boy, they name Bartimus Nicodemus Holmes. The next was one of the ones who had one kid already and it was a little girl they named Eloise Faith Marple. Then came Alice’s turn deliver, a beautiful little girl they named Lillian Persephone Longbottom. She came with an adorable head full of chestnut brown locks all over her head and bright blue eyes that seemed determined to take everything in from the moment that she was introduced to everyone.
As soon as she looked at Neville she reached a hand out to him and his big brother heart melted, too late he was sunk. All the firm but understanding big brother thoughts that he had planned went right out the window, now it was just a matter of not spoiling his little sister rotten that would be the problem. Frank let Neville hold Lillian and it was love at first sight, she wrapped her hand around his finger and wouldn’t let go. Neville grinned a big mushy grin and did his best not to cry.
“Don’t worry son, I did too.” Whispered Frank.
Neville just nodded and sniffed at his little sister. Another precious Longbottom at the huge Longbottom Hall.
————————————————————
Neville fed his little sister a bottle, as Harry fed Sebastian and Luna fed Astraea her’s. All three kids had taken to be big brothers and sister amazingly well, even messy diapers weren’t too bad…well not after the first few times they weren’t. It took a while for you to get use to it though. When ever the kids fed the babies and gave them their baths they got to pick out their outfits for the day so it was an all around fair trade. Neville loved picking out the little dresses for his little sister and so did Luna. Harry liked dressing Sebastian in something that matched what ever Astraea was wearing, so they always looked so cute. Harry didn’t know they could make robes for people that tiny but they could. But oh the tiny snaps and buttons, geez. It was only a few months since they were born so they still mainly slept and ate but they were getting better at staying awake for short periods of time in between naps.
Xenophilius walked into the nursery with a letter in his hand smiling and waiving the letter around. The Ministry had just sent over the documentation that Luna had passed all her entrance tests and she was accepted for entry to Hogwarts a year early. So all the kids would be going to go to school this year.
Luna sort of felt bad for Ginny, but she really hadn’t been that supportive of her when she found out that she was going to try to get in a year early; and had even gotten mad at her, Ginny hadn’t spoken to Luna since she had announced her intention of going to Hogwarts a year early. Not about the accident, her mother’s health, the pregnancy, her brother and sister, nothing. So Luna just let it be, deciding if Ginny didn’t want to be friends any longer that was her loss.
Harry and Neville should be getting their letters for Hogwarts in July and here it was June already and the three kids were really looking forwards to Hogwarts. Although Harry thought Luna was probably the most excited she didn’t show it much, she always seemed so calm and cool about it, he could tell she was really looking forward to it though.
The only problem they had was that all three of them were going to miss their little brother and sisters. Luna spent more than one day holding a baby crying about how much she would miss her little ones. But then they would do something especially adorable and make her all smiles again. Giggling about how adorable they are. She made her Mummy and Daddy promise to get lots of pensive memories and send them to her especially since Harry had found a pensieve in his inheritor vaults at Gringotts, and had Sirius get it out for him. Now they could all watch the babies grow up without missing a thing.
————————————————————————
July rolled around and sure enough the kids Hogwarts letters arrived, all three of them on the same day! Hooray!
Sirius, Remus, Persephone, and Alice decided to take the kids out to get their school things. They wanted to do some clothes shopping while they were at it as well, that is why the women were coming instead of Xenophilius and Frank. They were staying with Sebastian, Astraea, and Lillian.
The first place they hit was Gringotts to get some money out. Harry wanted his own pocket money and so he had it linked to this new card thing that they could use in the shops on Diagon Alley or in the Muggle Shops too. So it would work great when they went into Muggle London to get the different everyday clothes they were wanting to get.
Next was Ollivander’s wand shop, Harry had decided to go ahead and get another wand even though he could easily use Bad Whisker’s wand and it worked really well. It was a strong wand too, so he was going to keep it as a second wand for himself. But he needed a wand that was just for himself.
Luna’s wand turned out to be Acacia wood and Unicorn Hair, good for charms. Neville’s wand was made out of Cherry wood and Unicorn Hair as well, well made for earth bound magic. Harry’s took for ever to figure out, but when they finally found the right one it was Holly and Dragon’s Heart strings, specifically Hungarian Horntail, excellent for defense. He also bought wand holsters for everyone, including his second wand.
Then they went by the cauldron shop and the shop that had the telescopes, Sirius insisted that Harry buy the best of both, not the run of the mill shelf stock that was available. So Alice and Persephone did the same, they wanted their kids to have every advantage possible that they could get. Then they went of to the Potion shop and got the top of the line potion kit, with all the accouterments, like the special stirrers, silver bladed knives, two different kinds of mortar and pestle, and personal chopping board. They also got extras on several of the common ingredients in case they wanted to practice on some of their potions they could. They had been working on potions with Persephone for years now, so they pretty well had the first two years of potions class down pat, it would all basically be review for them. But they were excited about it none the less.
They had heard that there had been another legal battle in the School Council about Severus Snape at the end of the year again; and without Dumbledore there to save him, Snape’s job was pretty much gone, but they had no proof of it yet. There hadn’t been any write up in the paper about it yet, so Harry was just waiting to see if that was just a rumor or if Snape really did get fired. He hoped he did, but Harry wasn’t going to say anything just in case he was wrong about it.
The next shop the headed to was Madame Malkin’s Robe shop. Each one of them got a complete wardrobe setup, instead of just the bare minimum. And instead of the standard cotton robes they got the better quality robes of higher quality. Brushed cotton/silk blend that made the fabric slightly shiny and very soft. At first Harry couldn’t figure out why he needed a whole new wardrobe then he realized that he had grown three inches this past year so yeah, he needed it. All his slacks were too short and showed his ankles and his shirts felt to tight across the shoulders, he never really paid any attention to it until he tried the bigger sizes on…the ones that fit properly.
Harry had just come out of the dressing rooms wearing a set of black robes with green underlining and he really liked the color combination, it brought out the green in his eyes. When a blond haired boy was put up on the platform he had just been removed from for measuring.
“Hogwarts?” The boy asked.
“Yes, first year.” Harry stated.
“Same here. My name is Malfoy, Draco Malfoy.”
“Harry James Potter Black at your service Sir.” Harry did an eloquent bow jokingly.
“Black? My Mother was a Black, I see you are planning on Slytherin, good! It’s the best house at Hogwarts. Nothing can beat Slytherin. That’s where I intend to go as well.” Malfoy puffed up his thin chest and tried to look important but quite honestly was failing at it miserably.
“Actually, I haven’t decided which house I prefer, they all have their benefits and detriments. Each one has had some amazing individuals graduate from it and had a rich history behind them. So I am just going to wait and see.” Harry said as he checked the cuffs of the outfit that he had just put on for length.
“Your kidding! Hufflepuff, that herd of puffers hasn’t had anything but a bunch of losers come out of it; so why would you want to be part of it?” Malfoy inquired.
“Newt Scamander for one, him being one of the greater Magizoologist known to exist was a Hufflepuff; as was Theseus Scamander one of the greatest Aurors of the early 1900’s; Hengist of Woodcroft is another proud puff that I could mention was the founder of Hogsmead village; let alone Helga Hufflepuff herself one of the greatest botanist in recorded history and she was a noted warrior as well; our own Professor Sprout has put out numerous papers and authored many articles on various plants that should be duly noted. Like I said each house has their noted members and each house has their achievements.” Harry turned and started to head back into the dressing room when Malfoy stopped him.
“You would actually go into Hufflepuff if you were placed there?” Malfoy looked at Harry with confusion.
“Of course. That is what a man would do. A man would look at it as a new challenge, an adventure and meet it head on with sword in hand and ready to tackle what ever came along. A child would run back to Daddy and demand a re-sort and beg to be placed in a different house or demand it and leave the ultimatum that they would be put somewhere else or they would leave the school. Coming to Hogwarts is all about challenges and new experiences, if you are afraid to meet those challenges then you should just stay home. It is a turning point in your life where you turn from a child to a man. At Hogwarts you learn how to do magics that make you an adult and give you the right to stand beside your peers in the Wizengamot or the Ministry and say I am no longer a child but I am one of you now so I am permitted to sit amongst you and be a part of your world. If you are not ready for that then you need to just stay at home.”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t ready. I just said the only house that I am going to go into is Slytherin. It’s not the same thing.” Draco stated firmly.
“And if it wanted to put you into Gryffindor instead, what would you do?” Harry asked curious.
“I would leave. My father would never allow that.”
“As I stated, a child’s reaction. Not that of a man. A man would simply look at it as a challenge and face it head on, become the best damn Gryffindor they had seen in ages. Set out to make yourself stand out and become noted as one of the greats rising out of that house. Make your father proud that you wore the Gryffindor colors not ashamed that you were chosen to be placed in that house. If you can’t face any other house other than Slytherin then you aren’t ready to go to Hogwarts. You are only twenty-five percent of the way. When you can see each house for its benefits and detriments then you are ready to enter into its great hallowed halls.
“How dare you! I am more than ready! I have been taught by some of the best paid tutors in Britain. I bet I know twice if not three times the spells that you do!” Malfoy was getting red in the face but he carried on.
“Expensive tutors and lots of knowledge doesn’t make you an adult; any more than having no proper schooling or experience makes you a child. It is a way of thinking and your actions that decide your standing as an adult or a child. The fact that you haven’t figured that out yet is just proof that you are still a child.” With that Harry headed into the dressing room to try on the black on black robes next.
Draco Malfoy was fuming, this…boy… had the nerve to call him a child! Him, Draco Malfoy! He had worked for years to get his Hogwarts letter and when it had came he had been so excited, but his father has simply said, of course. As if there was no other acceptable out come. It wasn’t that he was a child that he had to go into Slytherin either, it was that his father would accept nothing else. Anything else was unacceptable, it was that simple. That didn’t mean he was a child, he was just determined and knew what he wanted. Yeah that was it, he was determined.
With that thought in mind and a smirk on his face Draco Malfoy continued to get his clothing selection, ignoring the words of wisdoms a wizened young man had just given him. Thinking only of the convoluted excuses that his own mind could come up with, and focus even harder on becoming that determined young person that he wanted his father to be proud of.
Harry on the other hand made his selections based on what looked best on him, not on what house he would be in. Therefore he had a well rounded wardrobe that was appropriate for all occasions and affairs. He also got several different styles based on what was listed as acceptable within the regulations of Hogwarts bylaws, instead of ‘plain black robe’, as described in the list of necessities for Hogwarts. Just like what was the telescope and potions kit, it said the minimum that was required, not that that was the only thing you could buy. People just didn’t know that and therefor got exactly what was on the list and no more.
Neville looked best in browns and golds even some darker reds so that is what he picked. Those bring out the auburn tints in his hair and the golden highlights that framed his face that he got from his mother. Alice loved the way his hair did that in the summer, that soft golden hue about his face, and in the summer they would normally let his hair grow just a little so he would end up with little curls at the tips of his hair, so according to Luna he looked almost angelic when he stood in the sunlight.
Luna, sweet adorable Luna was always gorgeous in any blue she could find, but especially in the deep dark midnight blues that contrasted with her hair, or the silvery frosty blues that matched her eyes. Even teals and aquas looked good on Luna and she enjoyed wearing them, they gave her an almost nymph like quality. She didn’t especially like the idea of wearing black all the time, but she would if it meant she got to go to school with Neville and Harry.
After the clothing selections, came the books. Flourish and Blotts, what kind of a name is that? Oh well, Harry was used to the extravagant names of some of the shops by now, so he just ignored it and went in to make his selections. He noticed most specifically the notes that Persephone had made in the margins of his papers where the potions books were mentioned. There were three additional books that weren’t listed that she insisted that he and the others get. Potion Ingredients Their Uses, Blends and Creations; Potions Masters and their Legacy, and The History of Potions. The last two were by the same author Harry noticed but they looked interesting so he was excited to read them, the other one seemed more of a reference book. Then there was the fact that they had been taking Runes and Arithmancy at home and it wasn’t given as a subject until third year so all the kids just bought the third year books to get a head start on them anyway. Remus had recommended a couple of History of magic books that were not on the list too, so they got those as well. All in all Harry ended up with fourteen books that were not on the list, mostly defense. Neville ended up with twelve books that weren’t on the list mostly a mix of herbology and defense. Luna picked out sixteen books that weren’t on the list and hers were from all subject matters, even a couple of books on fairy tales.
From there they went to the trunk store where Frank insisted on buying each kid their very own seven compartment trunk with all the amenities. Each one chose a potions room, study, bedroom, wardrobe, a sitting room and kitchen, while Harry and Luna chose a library, Neville chose a green house for his final room. He said that he could combine his study into a library as well and just keep his really important books with him and not all his books. But with Harry and Luna they just had too many books so they needed the separate room just for their books, so they made that compromise. There was one basic shelf on top for easy to reach items that Harry put a single change of clothes and his backpack and money bag in. That way he would be able to get it if they needed to get anything big they could still get it. Then the man showed them how to shrink their trunks to the size of a shoe box and they carried them out of the store. Then Sirius spotted the bottomless bags, and bought each child one over Alice and Persephone’s arguments, stating that he hadn’t bought them anything yet and this was his one ‘going to Hogwarts’ present. So now each child had their very own bottomless bag.
Then they went to Magical Menagerie. Harry and Neville both wanted an Owl and Luna wasn’t sure yet so she would see. So they headed over to the menagerie and as soon as he walked in the door Harry spotted her, a beautiful snowy white owl in a cage off to the side. Their eyes locked and it seemed like something just clicked, he headed over to her and began talking to her and stroking her feathers when the store owner came rushing over warning him not to get too close.
“Be careful! She’ll bite your finger in two!” The clerk shrieked.
Harry petted the snowy owl and she just leaned into his gentle hand and allowed him to do so. Sirius looked on with wonder. “It looks like she was just waiting for the right person to come by to pick her. What do you think Harry? Is this beauty the one?”
“Oh yes, she’s perfect.” Harry stated, not breaking eye contact with the gorgeous bird.
“Well it’s your hand, but no returns on that one.” The clerk stated and he went back over behind his counter.
“Do you want to come home with me gorgeous?” Harry asked her. And the snowy owl bobbed her head as if she understood every word he was saying.
“Sirius please?” Harry looked over his shoulder at his godfather and smiled.
“Turn off the charm kid, save it for a day you will really need it.” Sirius took down the snowy owl and then took her cage over to the counter, “You need to pick out her a perch and some food and treats.” So Harry spent some time looking through the perches until he found one that looked regal enough for his owl yet not too showy to compete with her beauty. And he held up the different treats and let her pick which ones she liked. Then he got her a food and water bowl for her cage. They were almost finished when Neville brought over the Owl he had picked out and all the items he had picked to go with it. It was a beautiful Eagle Owl which he promptly informed Harry he had name Hades, because of that constant glare that the bird had on his face. Luna came up with her choice and it was a raven, black as the darkest night and beautiful, she decided to name it Rowena. Luna also picked out a rather delicate looking perch and a crystal water and food bowl, only the best for one of the Founders as it were.
Thankfully they were able to call for Jeeves and Misty and have them come get their purchases. This way they could now go into muggle London and pick up a few things from there. They mainly wanted to pick up clothing but they needed some shoes too. The wizarding world had not yet developed trainers and they were just too comfortable for Harry to not have a new pair to take to school with him. They also needed to pick up some new training clothes, ones that wouldn’t set the whole of Hogwarts to a panic, they were use to using shorts and tank tops to work out in and Hogwarts really wasn’t ready for that at this time, so they needed to get some jogging suits and maybe some regular t-shirts.
The first place they went to was a place that Andromeda recommended, Harrods of London was a eight floor adventure, it had everything…including the kitchen sink.
Each Neville, Harry and Luna picked up three pairs of sweats and six appropriate t-shirts, as well as two pairs of trainers. They grabbed two new Gi’s for their martial arts workouts while they were at it since they still intended to keep up with those while there were at Hogwarts as well.
Then they went looking for dress clothes and Luna went looking for sun dresses. Finally they hit the night clothes and lingerie/underwear section. While the Wizarding World had many things they definitely didn’t have the variety of undershorts that the muggle world had. Both boys had become used to wearing boxer briefs under their Gi’s and workout clothes so they had now preferred them, and the Wizarding world had nothing to compare them to so they had to get them from the muggle world.
They also bought themselves metal tipped quills and calligraphy sets, notebooks and plenty of paper. They had seen the quills that the Wizarding World used and were not impressed, standard feather quills, although they did have a variety of feathers, they were not even metal tipped most of the time, you had to keep sharpening them in order to get a fine line. If you wanted to do calligraphy you had to have a special cut to your feather and that was even more difficult.
Then they went out ducked down an alley and called for Jeeves and Misty and had them take all their packages back home so they could check out a bookstore that Luna had just spotted. Leave it to Luna to find a bookstore while out shopping for clothes. But over an hour in the book store and quite a few bags to go around, everyone found several books they didn’t expect to. Neville even found several books on growing and harvesting different plants that he didn’t have and some plant magazines that he really wanted to get subscriptions too. Harry found a selection of books on martial arts and self defense that he really liked, he also liked their selection on Runes, it gave a whole different point of view, other than what the Wizarding World focused on. And they had something called Numerology which was very similar to Arithmancy it looked fascinating. Then he found a couple of books on Astrology that he knew Sirius didn’t have too. Luna focused on Muggle fairy tails and superstitions. Although she got a couple of books on mythological creatures and a few on magical races. She wanted to know what Muggles thought of the different races or beings they believed were imaginary but in reality they did exists and they were very real in the magical world. It seemed Luna had made it a project of hers to compare and contrast the two realms beliefs about certain individuals and how they are viewed. It definitely would be interesting if she ever did write something up about it, maybe for the Quibbler.
They shrunk all the bags they got at the book store down and stuffed them in their pockets and then headed down the street to a New Age store. Out of curiosity they went in. Harry went over to their potions/alchemy section and found measuring spoons that actually had a spoon for a pinch and a dab as well as all the other spoons. A complete set of stirring rods of all metals, glass and crystal. Several very nice vials and storage containers, and a few really nice mortal and petals of different materials and sizes.
Luna picked up several pieces of jewelry and so did Neville, he got his mother a beautiful necklace for her birthday which was coming up in two months and Sirius picked out a wolf ring that was made out of stainless steel for Remus. Sirius also picked up several new star charts and a couple of books on astrology that he had never heard about, although they were muggle they sounded interesting. By the time they were ready to leave they had all gotten something and were thrilled with their purchases.
The only regret that Harry had is that he couldn’t take a broom with him to Hogwarts, as a first year he is restricted and unfortunately he would have to wait until next year to take his broom with him. He and Neville have been on broom since they were four years old. Waiting a whole year to have your own broom with you just seems like such a waste. Sometimes Harry felt like he lived to fly. He had decided though that the only way he was going to be on the quidditch team is if Neville got on the team also. Otherwise he wasn’t interested. It just didn’t seem fun without his best friend/brother.