Scratching his stomach, Remus emerged from his bedroom at the smell of breakfast, sniffing deeply.
“Morning,” covering a yawn, he moved to the kitchen to accept the mug of coffee poured out for him.
“Morning,” a plate with two eggs alongside a few pieces of raw bacon was placed before him as he slid into a seat and he blearily looked up to see Sirius was already dressed.
“You’re up early.”
“Just got home, actually,” cracking two eggs into the pan for himself, Sirius cast him a fleeting glance. “Sorry for the mess, I haven’t had a chance to clean up yet.”
“Hmm,” there really wasn’t any kind of mess in Remus’ eyes, just a few books laying open on the kitchen table along with several pieces of half filled parchment but he knew Sirius was a lot tidier than he was. “I don’t care. Where did you go?”
“Just an errant,” the eggs sizzled as Sirius added bacon and poked around in the pan. “How long will you be home for?”
“A bit, Dumbledore has a lead on another mission for me, but he said it could take a few days,” it relieved him that Sirius simply nodded without commenting on what exactly he thought of the missions Remus went onto.
In the beginning they had argued about Remus’ missions, but he knew that his work was important and he was best qualified for the job even if Sirius disagreed and claimed he was better than to be used as a werewolf liaison. Lately Sirius didn’t argue any more and simply refrained from commenting, something Remus was glad of as he didn’t like it when they argued.
“If you are still home by Sunday then maybe you’d like to come to dinner at Potter Manor, Mum and Dad invited everyone,” sliding the eggs onto a plate, Sirius paused and cocked his head as he listened to something.
Looking up at the motion, Remus strained his ears to pick up the distant sound of a baby crying.
“Did someone have a baby in the building while I was gone?”
“No...”
Remus automatically covered his ears as the sound became earsplitting when Sirius moved to open the door, the sound coming closer rapidly.
“Uncle Siri!” The delighted squeal was nearly inaudible over the wailing, but Sirius caught the boy launching himself at him without a problem, swirling the kid around with the momentum to keep his balance before hugging him close.
“Hey Charlie, what’s going on?”
“Make them stop,” the little boy complained into his neck.
“Please help,” Gideon’s voice agreed wholeheartedly from the door opening, coming forward to dump the screaming infant he carried into Sirius’ arms as he let down Charlie and Remus looked incredulous as Sirius automatically adjusted his hold to secure the crying baby and began to rock him like it was second nature.
Fabian made a sound of despair as his brother’s actions meant he couldn’t get rid of his own screaming charge and he entered their flat as well, ushering another, taller, boy in before closing the door so that their screaming wouldn’t disturb the whole floor. “They’ve been crying all night and I can’t….they won’t stop no matter what we do and Molly’s unreachable.”
Gently rocking the baby, Sirius hummed. “He’s got an infection.”
“What? How? Did we do something wrong, did we hurt him?” Fabian fretted as the brothers followed Sirius back to the kitchen, completely ignoring Remus.
“Let me find out,” pulling out the first aid kit, Sirius placed it on the counter and glanced down at the two children watching him curiously before placing the screaming infant on the table. “What are the rules?”
“No touching orange box,” the smaller one immediately piped up while the older boy moved forward to pull his brother back.
“I won’t let him, Uncle Siri,” the kid promised, making Remus bite back a snort at the grave expression on the young face.
“I know you won’t, Bill. Just remember the rules for yourself, too,” Sirius smiled. “Why don’t the two of you eat the eggs I made while I look over your brother?”
Nodding enthusiastically, the two boys scrambled up onto a chair together and Bill began to cut the eggs into pieces so that Charlie could stab them with the extra fork Fabian pulled out of the drawer while Sirius checked the baby over.
The familiarity and calmness with which they moved surprised Remus as he hadn’t quite realised they were visitors here often enough to know their way around.
“You’ll be all right,” turning his attention back at Sirius’ words, Remus saw his friend soothingly rubbing the small stomach one-handed while the other had pulled the tiny trousers off.
“He got bitten by something and the puncture wound got infected,” he explained as he showed the reddened skin of the upper leg. “See the hardened disk underneath the skin here?”
Both Gideon and Fabian looked closer as Sirius softly rubbed his thumb over the skin, puss immediately rising up from a thin but long cut and Remus grimaced as the faint smell hit him.
“What bit him? He’s not left my sight since they arrived last night.”
“From the puncture wound, I’d say a garden gnome. Has your brother been around gnomes?” Vanishing the puss slowly welling up and healing the cut, Sirius rummaged in the first aid kit to retrieve Murtlap essence and dab the newly healed skin with it to sooth it before redressing the still wailing baby and lifting him back into his arms.
“Yeah,” Charlie immediately nodded around his mouthful of egg. “Iaseeyway.”
“Empty your mouth before speaking, Charlie,” Gideon reprimanded him and dutifully the boy swallowed.
“I chase they away.”
“Them away,” wetting a paper towel, Sirius cleaned the spot of yolk having fallen down onto Charlie’s shirt while gently rocking the calming baby and to Remus’ surprise, the other baby immediately began to calm down as well.
“Them away,” the toddler readily accepted, leaning back too without a fuss, so Sirius could clean him up. “I yell and yell and they leave.”
“Mummy didn’t chase them off?” A frown marred Gideon’s face.
“Mum left us outside to play when Percy started crying,” Bill told them, snickering as Charlie’s entire face crunched up in distaste at the mentioning of their younger brother. “But we chased the gnomes away and I stopped Georgie crying. I didn’t know they bit him.”
“You did a good job, kiddo,” Fabian praised. “The gnomes just got lucky.”
“Lucky, yes,” the frown didn’t leave Gideon’s face and as Bill looked up to his uncle curiously, Sirius suddenly caught the boy’s attention.
“You boys had enough?”
“I’m hungry,” Charlie looked up to him.
“You want another egg or a piece of fruit?”
“Urm….” the child thought deeply for a long moment before pointing at the fruit bowl Sirius insisted on keeping on the table. “Apple?”
“Bill?” Picking up an apple and a banana, he handed both over when the older of the siblings nodded enthusiastically before turning his attention to the now calm baby in his arms while Gideon washed up the dirty plate in the sink.
“Hello Georgie, it’s nice to see you’re feeling better,” he cuddled the infant close, making the baby giggle and the other baby began making needy sounds.
“Looks like someone wants attention, too,” smiling Fabian brought the second baby upright so he could see Sirius; resulting in delighted squealing and grabby hands.
“Hmmm,” moving towards the couch, Sirius settled in and shifted George to one arm so he could accept the second baby, who immediately reached up to grab at his hand. “Hello Freddy, how are you doing this morning?”
The two older children slid down from their chairs to join them.
“Are your mouths empty?” Gideon asked sternly, receiving two open, empty mouths in answer and at his nod, they hurried over to climb onto the couch besides Sirius while Fabian took a seat as well.
“You have them well trained,” Remus commented softly.
“Not so much trained as build up experience, wouldn’t be the first time one of them nearly choked because they ran with their mouth full. They’re giving me grey hairs and they’re not even mine,” despite the grumble, Gideon’s expression was fond before souring. “I could strangle Molly. We’ve been up all night while she could’ve prevented all of this.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sirius took one look at George and immediately knew he had an infection and found the puncture wound within moments. At the very least Molly should’ve noticed blood on George and investigated where it came from, but she didn’t mention anything.”
“Maybe the bite didn’t bleed?” He’d been bitten by gnomes before and although it stung like crazy, the small wound had barely bled.
“Maybe, but gnome bites hurt like hell. George must’ve screamed bloody murder when he got bitten, which should have told her something had happened.”
“Well, if Percy’s been screaming like the other two claimed, she might not have had a chance to react. Especially if Bill managed to calm George down,” not quite sure what Gideon’s issue was, he shrugged while taking a sip of his coffee. “Either way, the problem is solved now.”
“Yeah...wonder for how long, though. Merlin knows how many more kids she’s going to pop out before she gets what she wants.”
“What does she want?”
“A daughter, told us she wasn’t going to stop having children until she had a daughter. When Fab tried to tell her that maybe she should be happy with what she has already she threw a fit and started throwing things,” a pained expression crossed Gideon’s face. “I really hope she pops out a daughter next or I don’t know if we’ll survive.”
“You’re not happy with your nephews?” Looking up at the man, Remus bit back a laugh at the glare shot his way.
“I love my nephews, even Percy. But I don’t have any children and never wanted them, yet I am still half raising my sister’s kids because she’s got too many to keep an eye on already,” he rubbed a hand over his face. “But enough about that, I’m sorry we just barged in like this. I hadn’t realised you had returned already, Sirius didn’t mention it.”
“I came back yesterday afternoon.”
Piercing brown eyes looked down at him. “And how long will you be back for?”
“A day or two, why?”
“Just curious,” running a hand through his hair, Gideon asked. “How’s the girlfriend?”
“Eh...that ended weeks ago,” mood souring, he drained the last of his coffee and rose to his feet to wash his cup.
“What happened?”
Sighing, Remus glanced at the couch, but Sirius was entirely occupied with the children demanding his attention so he softly responded. “It didn’t work out. She complained that I was away on ‘business’ trips for weeks on end without little notice and when I brought her over here for dinner for the first time, she had the nerve to try and make a pass at Sirius right in front of me; getting more and more obnoxious with her flirting as the dinner passed.”
“Merlin….”
“Yeah...worst part is that when I called her out on it later, she claimed it had been to make me jealous so I would pay attention to her, but that if I wanted to, she wouldn’t mind having a threesome with him.”
“You’re kidding?!” Choking on his breath, Gideon looked at him incredulously before glancing at Sirius and quietly continuing. “Does he know?”
Snorting, Remus shook his head. “And I’m not going to tell him either.”
“Merlin...I don’t know what to say, what a woman...maybe it’s lucky you discovered the kind of person she was so quickly.”
“Yeah, while it was fun while it lasted, it’s not like I was too upset to see her go.”
“Then she clearly wasn’t the right person for you,” running a hand through his hair, Gideon looked back at the others. “What did you tell him?”
“That we were not compatible. It’s not like he even noticed she was trying to flirt with him.”
“No, I don’t suppose he would. Still, I’m sorry to hear it didn’t work out, though. Hopefully you will have better luck next time.”
“I’m not focusing on dating right now, I’m away on missions too often to really concentrate on that,” not to mention that he didn’t really feel comfortable trying to open himself up to a stranger and the few girls he’d gone out with had never quite made him feel accepted.
“Relatable,” brown eyes fleetingly met his before they turned back to the couch and he moved towards it, Remus following to see Charlie stick out his thumb to Sirius for inspection.
“I got booboo.”
“I can see that, how did you get a booboo?” Dutifully, Sirius inspected the digit carefully.
“Percy bit me.”
“Did he now,” despite the tiny bruise clearly being days odd, Sirius still blew on it gently. “Want me to kiss it better?”
“Yeah!” Enthusiastically, Charlie pounded on him without any regards for the vulnerable babies resting against him, but his friend caught the toddler with magic; making the boy giggle as he was lifted into the air momentarily before hovering in front of him so he could press a soft kiss to the small finger.
“All better?”
Not for the first time Remus regretted his friend would never be able to have children of his own as he truly was a natural when it came to them and clearly loved them.
“Yes.”
“Good, then I can bite you now,” snapping at the still outstretched limb teasingly, the little boy squealed in outraged delight, falling backwards in the air and giggled until Sirius lightly tossed him back onto the couch with magic and the boy curled back into his side.
“Are you quite sure I can’t convince you to marry me?” Fabian’s contented sigh as he leaned against Sirius’ side startled Remus. “I promise you that I’d be an awesome husband.”
“I’m sure you would be,” laughing, Sirius bumped into his companion lightly and Remus stared speechlessly at what was clearly an ongoing thing between them. “I assume I’d be in charge of cooking?”
“If you’d like, but I’d take care of everything else. The household, working...anything to make you happy,” brown eyes sleepily gazed at Sirius with more fondness than Remus had ever realised. “I don’t even care that you have no interest in intimacy, a cuddle buddy is more than enough for me.”
“I think someone should get off to bed,” grinning, Gideon took a seat on the loveseat.
“I don’t know, he does drive a good bargain,” readily agreeing, Sirius shifting the babies in his arms into a more comfortable position.
“Does that mean you are saying yes?”
“I’m saying that I’m fairly sure your boyfriend wouldn’t be happy about you wanting to marry someone else.”
“Pff, you know you’re the only one I’d ever willingly marry,” the outrageous flirting was both amusing and horrifying to see as Remus couldn’t quite make out if Fabian was just teasing or not.
“Are you trying to steal my housemate from me?”
“In a heartbeat,” there was no shame in the red-head's posture as he nuzzled closer to Sirius. “What do you say?”
“Again, boyfriend.”
“I broke up with him two weeks ago,” waving him off while suppressing a yawn, Fabian shifted to get more comfortable.
“What? Why?” Blinking in surprise, Gideon looked at his brother.
“He kept wanting to meet my family and friends,” the lazy grin remained in place as he rested his head on Sirius’ shoulder. “I felt it was suspicious that he wanted to meet anyone after only three weeks already.”
“I think the war has made you jaded and distrustful, it’s pretty normal to want to meet the family.”
“Maybe, but it didn’t feel right.”
“Then it’s good that you ended it,” humming, Sirius rested his cheek against Fabian’s forehead momentarily in a quiet display of support before one of the two babies in his arms made a soft noise.
“You agree huh, Freddy?” Cooing at the little one, Sirius lightly brushed his thumb over the infant’s eyebrow as he sleepily nuzzled against him much like his uncle did and Remus wondered how he could keep the two apart so easily when they looked identical to him.
Bill gave a loud snore, startling Fabian and he tensed as his wrist slammed into the lamp on the side table, only Gideon’s Beater reflexes saving it from crashing.
“Sorry.”
“You all right?”
“Yeah, my watch caught most of the blow,” inspecting his wrist, the redhead held out his hand for inspection to Sirius.
“It’s fine, I can’t believe you actually managed to dent your watch, though. I didn’t think the lamp was that hard?”
“Must be,” glancing at the dent himself, he whistled impressed. “You’ve got some sturdy furniture, Siri.”
“Blame Lily, she picked it out,” shifting so that he could curl up against him again, Sirius indicated to the watch. “Want me to fix that since it was my furniture that broke it?”
“Nah, I think the dent makes it more personal. Now I’ll be reminded of my most favourite person in the world whenever I glance at the time.”
“Really?” Raising a mock outraged eyebrow at his brother, Gideon crossed his arms.
“My favourite non-immediate family person,” correcting himself smoothly, Fabian grinned up to his twin.
“Hmmm,” giving them a calculating look, Gideon sighed dramatically. “I guess I can live with that.”
“Am I your favourite person, Uncle Siri?” A tiny voice piped up suddenly and they all glanced down to see sleepy brown eyes blink up.
“You are most definitely one of my favourite Weasley boys,” Sirius said and Remus wasn’t the only one having to bit his lip to hide his laughter at the look of pure delight on the small face before the small eyes closed again.
“I’m your fifth favourite redhead, though, right?” Batting his eyes at Sirius, Fabian shifted to make himself more comfortable.
“You definitely rank right after Lily,” humming in acceptance of that place, the redhead grinned up to his brother in victory, receiving a roll of the eyes in return.
“You sure you can’t just marry him and get him off my back?”
“Marriage is not needed for you to leave him here if he’s driving you batty. Remus is leaving on a mission again soon anyway.”
“Oi,” protesting, Remus straightened. “I’m still home for a few days and I’d prefer to spend those in relative peace; not listening to you trying to convince my housemate to marry you for convenience.”
“But I wuve him,” Fabian pouted teasingly. “You’re just afraid he’ll like me better and let me steal him.”
“You’re stealing Uncle Siri?” It appeared that Charlie hadn’t fallen asleep just yet as his lower lip wobbled dangerously.
“He is not stealing me, Charlie bear,” reaching out to caress his cheek reassuringly, Sirius smiled. “He just wants huggies from me.”
“Cause you give the best huggies,” the toddler’s matter of fact tone was ruined by the massive yawn escaping and the little jaws widened surprisingly far before snapping close again and big brown eyes blinked rapidly before closing as the toddler seemingly fell asleep on the spot, toppling against his snoring brother.
“And apparently have magical sleep powers,” breathing out awed, Gideon stared at his sleeping brother resting against Sirius’ right side before looking down at the four Weasley children sleeping on and against his other side.
“I’m surprised you are still awake, it didn’t sound like you had any sleep,” silently Summoning two thin fleece blankets, he covered his sleeping companions with it.
“I’m afraid to move them now that they’re all calm.”
“I don’t think you can quite squeeze in on the couch, but the seat you’re on is pretty comfortable and if you press the button, you can even stretch out.”
“You don’t mind? I mean, I know you prefer your privacy and we’ve already barged in unannounced,” Gideon directed at Remus as if he might be the one to have a problem with it.
Though if he was fair, he would have to admit that he was usually the more reserved one when it came to letting people into their home even if he knew them well. But these were people Sirius trusted completely and it wouldn’t be fair to make them leave when they’d all finally settled down.
“It’s all right, get some sleep but be sure to take your brother with you when you leave,” the tease was taken the way he’d meant it, or at least Gideon snorted as he made himself comfortable in the loveseat; making an approving sound when Sirius Summoned another fleece blanket for him and dropped off to sleep even before he was properly tucked in.
“He truly was exhausted,” it surprised him how quickly they’d all fallen asleep once relaxing. “Want me to try and untangle you from the pile? Fabian can’t be light.”
“I’m good,” the fondness in Sirius’ voice and eyes was unmistakable as he gently caressed what Remus thought was George’s small cheek as the baby curled more against him.
“If you are sure?”
“Yeah, let them sleep for now. The kids will be up before long with even more energy than they had now,” keeping up the soft caress of the charge resting against his chest.
“Charlie has grown a lot since the last time I saw him.”
“He’s turning six this year,” gazing at the boy in question, Sirius smiled. “He’s turning into quite the little troublemaker. I wonder what these two will be like as they grow older.”
“Who knows, you seem quite taken with them, though. How old are they?”
“About six months now and I kind of am,” he huffed out a quiet laugh. “For all that I think their sister is a banshee, she has managed to get some truly wonderful children for the most part. Must be Arthur’s genes that makes them so likeable, or theirs as it can’t be hers.”
“You haven’t eaten, do you want me to make you something?”
“I’m good, thanks. Wouldn’t be able to move to eat anything anyway so I’ll eat something later,” a fleeting smile was given to him and nodding, Remus rose to his feet, unwilling to spend the day sitting around.
“I’m going to the library, I’ll be back in a few hours.”
“All right, Pandora is coming over in the afternoon and James and Lily will probably stop by, do you want to have dinner together?”
“I’ll probably lose track of time in the library so you just go ahead and eat,” collecting his coat, Remus briefly hesitated as something close to sadness flashed through Sirius’ eyes before it was gone and he nodded. “Okay, be safe.”
Nothing more was forthcoming as Sirius returned his attention to one of the babies fussing a little, quietly settling it again with little effort and Remus left him with his sleeping companions.