The Will
‘Hope!’ called Lyall from the bathroom.
‘Where the hell is my shaving razor!’
‘I don’t know love,’ called Hope from the nursery where she was busy changing Harry.
‘Check the cupboard!’
‘I’ve checked the cupboard,’ vented Lyall coming through to the nursery with a towel around his shoulders and holding a rubber dragon.
‘There is no shaving razor, but there are several dozen rubber bath toys.’
Harry had moved in two weeks ago, so within the last four months the house had gone from having no children, to three. It had been very cramped conditions for everyone, but they were all trying to cope. But at the moment, Lyall just wanted to have a ruddy shave before work!
‘Oh that’s right,’ gasped Remus who hadn’t shaved yet but was dressing Ophelia.
‘I had to move the shaving razors, to make space for Harry and Ophelia’s bathtoys. I’ve put the enchanted razors in the kitchen cupboard.’
‘What good are shaving razors in the kitchen!’ shouted Lyall.
‘I’ll build some more bathroom cupboards,’ sighed Remus.
‘Right now, I don’t have time for that, I’ve got to go to work in half an hour.’
‘I’ve got to go to work in half an hour!’ said Lyall aghast, ‘I’m still in my flaming pyjamas!’
‘We’ll sort it Da,’ muttered Remus.
The family headed downstairs to get started on the breakfasts, Remus put Harry and Ophelia in their high chairs, and Stefan kept them both entertained whilst they waited for their breakfast.
‘We need another bathroom,’ said Hope as she started the breakfast.
‘We need a bigger house,’ corrected Lyall as he shaved at the kitchen sink using the metal draining board as a mirror.
Remus froze where he was sitting, having only half put Ophelia’s little bib on.
Hope and Lyall had bought this little house after they had gotten married, they had always lived here. It was the perfect place to raise their planned family of two children, one girl and a boy. Their plan hadn’t worked of course, when they had started thinking about having a second child, was the same time that Remus had been bitten by Greyback, so they decided against the second child.
Remus had been born in this house, he had brought Marlene home the first time, and she had been fascinated by the technology, he and Marlene had lived here when they got married, Ophelia had been born in this house. They couldn’t move. It was out of the question.
‘We are not moving,’ said Remus stubbornly.
‘I grew up in this house,’ said Remus getting up from the table, ‘Marlene lived here and she loved this house!’
‘If you think I’m not bringing up my daughter here then you’re crazy!’ he yelled.
Remus turned to go upstairs to his bedroom to calm down.
‘Remus,’ started Hope.
‘No!’ he shouted spinning around.
‘So much has changed within the last four months. I’ve become a father, lost my wife, and all my best friends. If you two want to move, then fine! But me and the kids are staying here!’
Remus headed up to his room so fast, that Stefan could have sworn that he had literally flown up on a broomstick.
‘Remi Cariad,’ called Hope.
‘Go away Mam,’ said Remus who was hiding his face in his pillows, ashamed at throwing a temper tantrum downstairs like Harry.
‘We’ve brought tea,’ said Lyall putting a cup on Remus’ desk.
‘Chamomile?’ said Remus sniffing and lifting his head off the pillows.
‘I’d ask how you do that,’ laughed Lyall, ‘but after all these years I know it’s your wolf superpowers. You can smell chocolate from a mile away.’
‘Thanks Mam, thanks Da,’ muttered Remus foolishly, taking a sip from his tea and somehow feeling calmer.
His Mum seemed to have tea for everything, calm tea when he was upset, tea with caffeine after a bad night’s sleep, even tea to make him focus easier when he was studying. But the one used more often recently was the chamomile to help him calm down.
‘We’re not making any decisions yet Remi,’ said Hope stroking Remus’ hair and sitting down on the bed next to her son.
‘We love this house as much as you do,’ said Lyall, ‘but we’ve lived here for twenty-five years, and we bought this house for a small family. We need to buy a bigger house. The wars over, we can move now.’
‘Frank and Alice already have moved,’ said Hope, ‘they moved last week, a nice house near his parents with a lovely garden for Neville to play in.’
‘A garden would be nice,’ admitted Remus, ‘we could teach the children to fly.’
‘Dumbledore’s coming over tonight to discuss the Potters will,’ said Lyall, ‘why don’t we talk it over then?’
Remus nodded slightly and headed back downstairs with his parents. Stefan had been keeping Harry and Ophelia entertained with sock puppets whilst the parents had been upstairs, so Harry would stop squirming to get out of his highchair.
It was a fairly normal day after that. Remus did lessons with Stefan in the morning, they practised maths and reading, and even did some muggle History which Remus was fascinated in. Harry played with his building blocks whilst they studied, and Ophelia mainly just slept in her travel cot.
In the afternoon, Stefan and Harry helped Hope bake chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen. Not many biscuits got made, and the kitchen got rather dirty, but they had a lot of fun.
Lyall got home in time for dinner as usual and Professor Dumbledore arrived in the sitting room not long after they finished their shepherd’s pie.
‘Good evening everyone,’ said Dumbledore kindly as he stepped out of the fireplace.
‘Not going to try hitting me with the frying pan are you young Stefan?’ asked Dumbledore jovially.
‘Not today so sir,’ said Stefan blushing, and looking up from The Lord of the Rings book he was reading.
‘I know who you are now Professor Dumbledore.’
‘How are we all this cold evening?’ asked Dumbledore sitting down in the armchair.
‘We’re good thank you Professor,’ said Remus.
‘Dumblydor!’ yelled Harry toddling over and hugging Dumbledore’s knees.
‘Hello Harry,’ chuckled Dumbledore crouching down surprisingly nimbly for someone his age.
‘We’re fine Albus,’ said Lyall, ‘it’s just getting a bit cramped.’
‘We’re thinking about moving,’ agreed Hope.
‘Ah now I’m glad you brought that up,’ said Dumbledore fishing in his cloak and pulling out an official looking document.
‘As I’m sure you know, I am the executor of the Potter’s will. As you already know, James and Lily made Remus Harry’s guardian. The Potters finances are more than stable, they were a wealthy pureblood family to begin with, and James’ father tripled the family fortunes when he invented Sleekeasys Hair Potion. Young Harry is a very rich young man.’
‘But he’s only a baby,’ said Hope.
‘A very rich baby,’ said Lyall raising his eyebrows as he looked at the Potters bank statement. There was around twenty-five million galleons in the Potter vault, which was equivalent to about a billion pounds with the current exchange rates.
‘There are several sections of this you might be interested in,’ said Dumbledore scanning the parchment for the right area.
‘They are giving Remus a salary of 100 galleons a month, for Harry’s upkeep, and also for looking after him and tutoring their son. They have also left money in an account for both Harry and Ophelia’s education at Hogwarts, to pay for equipment, and fees.’
‘They’re paying for Ophelia to go to Hogwarts?’ stammered Remus.
‘Lily and James thought the world of you Remus,’ said Dumbledore looking up at Remus, ‘they would have done anything for you, and they wanted to repay you for all the things you did for them.’
‘Um ok,’ muttered Remus still hardly believing it. Hogwarts was expensive, and it was now one less he was going to need to worry about.
‘They also left money; in case the house had been destroyed for buying a new house. The Potter House where James grew up burnt down two years ago.'
‘They have left 40,000 galleons for you to buy a new house, wherever you choose. This way you can bring up Harry, Stefan and Ophelia comfortably, everyone can have their own rooms. The house will be yours Remus when Harry is grown up.’
‘They’ve left me money for a house?’ choked Remus.
James and Lily had told him about the job, but they hadn’t told him they were going to pay for Ophelia’s education, or leave him money for a house nearly three times as big as their current house.
‘Yes,’ beamed Dumbledore smiling widely, ‘might I recommend Ottery St Catchpole?’