The WWC
The Lupins eventually found a new house after looking for a few months, in the quiet village of Ottery St. Catchpole. It was a Muggle village, so Hope would have lots of friends and people to talk to, there was even a church. But it also had a few wizarding families that lived in the area.
The area was just like the Lupin family, a cross between magical and Muggle. It was perfect!
Frank and Alice had helped Remus look for a new house brining the children with them, as Neville was going to spending a lot of time at the house too, playing with Harry and Ophelia.
But eventually they found the perfect house, it had six bedrooms, not including the attic. It also had a huge garden, and if you walked down the garden path to the end, you eventually reached a cave, which led to their very own private beach!
It also had a bomb shelter in the back garden. The Woods who had used to live in this house didn’t want to be careful with the Muggle bombs forty years ago, so as well as the usual protective wards, had hidden in the bomb shelter every time there was a bombing raid. It was fairly roomy, and there was no furniture in there, so it was perfect for Remus’ transformations.
The previous owners had been a wizarding family, that had wanted to move to London, so it was already fairly well warded. On top of that, Dumbledore added rune stones around the property boundaries, Frank and Alice were going to add the caterwauling charms which had saved all their lives only two months ago, and Lyall and Remus were going to add their own wards regularly.
Between all that, if the deatheaters or anyone else they didn’t want did come calling and managed to actually get through the first line of defence, they’d soon regret it.
As the previous owners had been wizards, there were several things usually only seen in a magical household. Not just garden gnomes, and the fairies who lit up the garden path to the beach at twilight, but also a secret passage up to the attic.
When you pressed a certain panel in the hallway on the second floor, the wall would move to reveal a winding staircase which led up to the attic, where there were two large rooms taking up the whole floor, and another bathroom. As there were no windows, and the rooms were in the attic, and had slanted ceilings, unless you actually knew the rooms were there, you wouldn’t have thought the house even had a third floor.
There was even a two-storey barn that had used to be used for keeping the horses by the old family.
The house itself was over twice the size of their old house and garden seemed to be endless, not to mention the small beach where the children could play, and swim.
The Lupin’s moved into the house in early January, and the day after they had moved to the new house, Remus and Hope were unpacking the boxes, whilst Lyall was at work.
Remus had his priorities sorted out, and was sorting out the furniture in the bedrooms. He didn’t want another night of them all trying to sleep on the sofas. Hope was trying to sort out the boxes of pots and pans in the kitchen.
Lyall had a man coming round on Saturday to connect the house to electricity, and then Lyall was going to plug in the washing machine, dish washer, television, and goodness knows what else which were still in their boxes out of the way for now.
Stefan was trying to sort out what he thought was the most important thing in the house, which was the books. He was unpacking books from the dozens of boxes of books that the Lupin’s owned, and then sorting them into different piles depending on which room they belonged in.
The cookbooks for the kitchen, children’s books were mostly his, the History or Defence books were mostly Remus, and the rest of the books were spread out around the house on various bookshelves.
Lyall, Remus and Stefan were all avid readers, and the only thing that had stopped them from buying more was lack of space, but now they had a big house they were going to fill it to bursting with books!
Stefan was meant to be watching Harry and Ophelia whilst Remus and Hope were busy. Harry was playing in the empty packing boxes and using the books that hadn’t been sorted yet like building blocks. Ophelia was sleeping in her travel cot as Remus hadn’t put her cradle back up yet, but Stefan had placed a barrier of boxes around Ophelia, so Harry knew not to disturb her.
Hope was just thinking about making some sandwiches for lunch, when there was a knock on the front door.
Who could know they’d moved in? she thought. The Longbottoms were the only people who knew where they were moving to.
Stefan’s head jerked up from the books he was sorting. Strangers, that meant danger!
‘I’m sure it’s fine Stef,’ said Hope, ‘probably just some Muggles from the village.’
Hope went to the front door and could hear several woman’s voices.
‘Where has she got to with those children,’ said one of the women with a slightly harsh tone.
‘I think she said something about a nature walk,’ said another woman trying not to laugh.
‘They’ll be fine Kates,’ said another woman.
How many people were there? However many there were, they clearly all knew each other.
Hope opened the door, and Stefan ran up behind her, and hid behind her. He wanted to know who was at the door, but he was also terrified.
There was three women at the door all wearing long winter cloaks as it was January. One of them had a warm smile and long red hair and was wearing a deep emerald cloak to match her eyes. The first woman was also carrying a baby with the same bright red hair wrapped up in blankets. The baby didn’t look any older than Ophelia.
Another had a slightly upturned nose, and jet-black hair and had raised her eyebrows at Hope, surprised to see any respectable witch wearing a pair of Muggle jeans.
The final woman had a kind face and looked slightly shy, her brown hair was pulled into a loose bun beneath her hat, and she was carrying a large basket.
‘Good morning,’ said the woman with the black hair and raised eyebrows, ‘welcome to the village of Ottery St. Catchpole, we are the Welcome Witch Committee. I am Katia Fawcett, this is Cassandra Diggory, and Molly Weasley.’
Hope stood in the doorway, her mouth agape. She was still sometimes scared of talking to witches and wizards she hadn’t met before. Maybe it was something to do with the fact, that these three witches could easily curse her if they wanted to.
‘Remus!’ she called weakly turning away from the door.
‘Remus!’ she called more loudly.
‘Coming Mam!’ Remus called running down the stairs two at a time.
He came running into the hallway with a few nails in his mouth, and his jumper sleeves pulled up to his elbows.
‘Whats the matter?’ he asked pulling the nails out of his mouth.
Hope indicated the three witches standing on the doorstep, waiting to be invited in.
‘Oh,’ said Remus chuckling slightly and rolling his sleeves back down.
‘They’re ok Mam, I don’t think deatheaters carry picnic baskets, or bring babies with them.’
‘Oh of course,’ muttered Hope inviting the three ladies in.
Mrs Fawcett looked offended, that anyone might have even thought she was a deatheater but the other two nodded in understanding.
‘Sorry about that,’ said Remus, ‘I’m Remus Lupin, and this is my Mum Hope, she’s a Muggle.’
‘You’re a Muggle born?’ asked Mrs Diggory.
‘No, my dad’s a pureblood, but he fell in love with my Mum, and she was a Muggle.’
‘Unusual,’ muttered Mrs Fawcett, ‘but we can’t help who we fall in love with.’
‘As I have already told your mother, we are the Welcome Witch Committee.’
‘Well, you’re very efficient,’ laughed Hope, ‘we only moved in yesterday.’
‘It’s ok Stefan,’ said Remus coaxing Stefan out from behind Hope.
‘You can go play.’
‘Ok Remus,’ said Stefan hugging Remus and running off to go and play.
‘You have children!’ exclaimed Mrs Weasley, having seen Stefan, and now Harry and Ophelia playing in the kitchen.
Remus and Hope showed the ladies through to the kitchen, and Remus put the kettle on. They still didn’t have electricity for a few days, so Remus was making the tea over a magical fire.
‘Sorry we still haven’t introduced ourselves, I’m Molly Weasley, my husband Arthur and I have seven children, Ginny here is our youngest and only girl.’
‘I love children of course,’ she gushed.
‘Do you have any children Mr Lupin?’ asked Mrs Fawcett.
‘Well my wife and I had one, Ophelia,’ said Remus, ‘she’s six months old. Then there’s Harry, and Stefan my late wife’s brother.’
‘I have a daughter myself,’ said Mrs Fawcett.
‘If that daft girl hasn’t lost her,’ she muttered.
‘I like her,’ said Mrs Diggory in a quiet mouse like voice, ‘she’s always nice to me.’
‘She’s ridiculous,’ said Mrs Fawcett throwing her hands in the air.
‘What kind of person goes on nature walks in mid-winter!’
At this point there were several loud voices from the corridor.
‘Do you think this is the right house?’ called a young boys voice.
‘It must be,’ said another boy, ‘they’ve left the door wide open!’
‘What do you want in my house!’ yelled another voice.
‘Hey careful with the saucepan mate!’
‘Stefan!’ said Remus and Hope getting up at the same time and running into the corridor.
Remus ran into the corridor to find Stefan attacking two red haired boys, one of whom looked about the same age as him, with a saucepan.
There were three children who had just come in the door, all of which had bright red hair like Mrs Weasleys. Stefan was attacking the two eldest red headed boys with surprising strength for such a small boy.
‘Calm down mate,’ said Remus lifting Stefan up and handing Hope the saucepan.
‘I am so sorry,’ said Remus still holding a struggling Stefan under his arm.
‘He’s not very trusting of strangers,’ said Remus flusterdly as he tried to calm Stefan down.
‘After what happened to his parents.’
‘Can you put me down now,’ huffed Stefan.
‘You won’t hit the other children with a saucepan?’ asked Remus.
‘No,’ said Stefan shaking his head.
Remus put Stefan back down and Stefan started talking to the three Weasley boys.
‘What did you say Stefan’s last name was again?’ asked Mrs Fawcett looking at the boy interestedly.
‘McKinnon,’ said Remus biting his lip.
‘McKinnon?’ asked Mrs Diggory.
‘Aren’t they the ones who were.’
‘Cassandra,’ interjected Mrs Weasley indicating her three eldest children. She didn’t want her children to hear about the horrific the deatheaters had been doing.
‘Yes they were,’ said Hope abruptly, ‘Marlene was Remus’ wife.’
‘Oh,’ said Mrs Diggory blushing.
‘Wait,’ said Mrs Fawcett catching on.
‘McKinnon, Lupin,’ she muttered under her breath.
‘You didn’t say that he was your son,’ she pointed out.
Remus closed his eyes and grimaced painfully. He was surprised one of the witches hadn’t realised earlier.
‘I knew I recognised you from somewhere!’ she exclaimed pointing at Remus
‘The Gryffindor Class of 1978. You have Harry Potter in your kitchen!’
‘Harry Potter!’ exclaimed the tallest red haired boy
‘Yeah and?’ shrugged Stefan.
‘But hes!’ stammered Mrs Diggory.
‘Just a perfectly ordinary little boy, who had nothing to do with what happened,’ interjected Hope.
‘Harry Potter lives in our village?’ asked the smallest red head, who was wearing glasses and looked about six.
‘That’s so cool!’ said his elder brothers.
‘What’s this Mrs Lovegood?’ asked a little girl with jet black hair down her back as she came skipping through the front door with a bunch of flowers.
‘It’s Holly dear,’ floated an eerily familiar voice through the doorway.
Pandora Lovegood had just come gliding through the door with five more small boys, some of them carrying flowers like the little girl. She was carrying Luna in her arms but was also holding a basket of flowers she had gathered.
Now the idea of someone taking a bunch of four year olds on a nature walk in midwinter made sense, it’s exactly what Pandora would do!
‘I picked these for you Mummy,’ said the little girl with a slight lisp.
‘Thank you darling,’ said Mrs Fawcett kissing her daughter.
‘You alright there Pandora?’ chuckled Remus
‘Remus!’ said Pandora dropping the flowers, and nearly dropping Luna as she rushed over to him.
‘I had no idea you were moving here!’ she exclaimed.
‘It’s going to be so much fun!’
‘Pandora and I went to school together,’ explained Remus, ‘she was Marls’ best friend.’
‘Seeing as you’ve got children, I presume we’ll all be meeting up a lot,’ said Mrs Fawcett trying to regain control of the conversation.
‘We should probably introduce all the children properly.’
‘I’ll just go and get our two,’ said Hope, ‘I think Harry’s trying to bury Ophelia in a mountain of packing boxes.’
‘Sounds like my Fred and George,’ laughed Mrs Weasley.
They all gathered in the sitting room. Harry and the Weasley boy of the same age were playing with each other already. They had put Luna, Ophelia and Ginny in the little playpen in the sitting room, and the three girls were crawling around and babbling away to each other.
‘Well all of the red heads are mine,’ beamed Mrs Weasley proudly.
‘Bills the eldest, he’s playing with Harry and Ron my second youngest. And then there’s Charlie and Percy who’s reading as usual. That just leaves Fred and George who are nearly four but are a right handful. And of course, my youngest Ginny.’
‘Felicity will be four in March,’ said Mrs Fawcett, in a tone that implied that Felicity was the perfect child, and not a handful like the Weasleys.
‘Don’t forget Cedric,’ said Mrs Diggory quickly. Mrs Diggory seemed to be the quietest of the group, and was usually easily bullied by Mrs Fawcett, but she was a very kind woman, and very proud of her son.
A boy with warm brown hair, who was playing with Felicity, Fred and George waved over. He was quite handsome even for a four-year-old.
‘And of course, Luna,’ finished Pandora as she tucked some Holly berries behind her ear.
‘They are all beautiful,’ said Hope overwhelmed by all the children. Hope had always loved children, but now there was twelve in the room at once and they were all as adorable as the last.
‘Mr Lupin,’ said Mrs Fawcett, ‘usually of course we would talk to your wife about this. But how are you planning on educating Steven is it?’
‘Until he goes to Hogwarts of course,’ added Mrs Diggory quickly.
‘Stefan,’ said Remus. ‘And I’m home schooling him, I’m quite enjoying it.’
‘Really?’ exclaimed Mrs Weasley, ‘I’m teaching Bill, Charlie and Percy of course.’
‘We’ve been thinking of starting a school amongst ourselves,’ said Mrs Fawcett, ‘Cassandra and I are thinking of going back to work once our children turn four.’
‘But we need to find a tutor,’ agreed Mrs Diggory.
‘We’re happy to pay you,’ added Mrs Diggory quickly.
‘That won’t be necessary!’ said Remus firmly. He was not accepting any more money for something he actually enjoyed doing, he was only accepting Lily and James’ money as he knew how much it meant to them.
‘I’ll be teaching Stefan anyway, and I've already agreed to tutor Neville Longbottom when he gets older.’
‘We were thinking of converting the old stables into a school,’ said Hope.
‘No more ponies,’ gasped Felicity.
The Woods had let Felicity come and stroke the Shetland ponies, and help brush their hair.
‘No darling,’ said Mrs Fawcett, ‘you’ll be learning to read and write.’
‘I can help with the teaching,’ said Pandora, ‘I’ve only got Luna.’
‘I could teach them about nature!’ she beamed her eyes going all dreamy.
Mrs Fawcett merely rolled her eyes at her.
'How about we try and get the school ready in time for September?' suggested Hope.
'Perfect,' said Mrs Diggory.
'Arthur and I will come round to help out on Saturday. Half your students will be ours after all,' she laughed.