By the time Morgan was putting breakfast on the table she had managed to put up a fairly good front. There was a false sense of cheerfulness at the table as everyone ate. It was as though everyone was trying to pretend that nothing was going to happen. Morgan felt as though she were ready to fall apart again by the time Nimue went back upstairs to make sure she had all of her things together.
“Do you want me to take her?” Severus asked, not sure how much more his wife would be able to handle.
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Severus, I have to be the one to take her, I have to be the one to hand her over to the woman who will look out for her now. You can accompany us if you like, but I will be going.”
“It might be best, in that case, if I stay here.”
Morgan shot an accusing look at her husband, feeling as though he were abandoning her.
Severus noticed the way he was being glared at, “I’ve heard whispers about plans to sneak out just to irritate me. And with all the death eater activity going on I think it best that I make sure none of our wayward children decide to try anything stupid.”
Morgan nodded slowly, trying her hardest not to cry again, “at least this will give me a chance to check up on Remus. I worry about him.”
“He’s more than capable of taking care of himself.”
“I think you’re still jealous of him.”
Severus scowled, “why would I be jealous of him.”
“Because he always paid such close attention to me.”
Severus’ eyes narrowed, “that is another reason why I should remain here. If I accompany you and he has the audacity to lay so much as a hand on you I would end up with his blood on my hands.”
“How can we send her away Sev? She’s the last of our natural children, she’s so young…”
“But she is strong.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m ready to send her out on her own.”
“She will not be on her own,” Severus tried to reassure her, “she will be with Remus and that priestess of his. You know Remus would never let anything happen to her.” As much as he disliked bringing Remus into this, he knew it was true.
“You’re so good at being the rational one. I don’t know how I’d be able to bear this without you by my side.”
“We’ll get through this, no matter how painful it is. It is not as though we have led easy lives up to this point.”
Morgan quickly brushed away the tears that were threatening to spill over as she heard the girls coming back down, “it’s a good thing I was in Gryffindor,” she informed her husband, “I’m going to need all the courage I can get.”
She watched as the other three girls and Kamen, who had stopped by on the pretense of stealing some food from the kitchen, said their goodbyes to Nimue. She noticed that they all retreated again after a short time. She almost wept again as she watched her husband say his own goodbye.
Severus enfolded Nimue in a hug, for once not looking ill at ease with the display of affection. “Behave yourself at the temple. If I get one report that you have been giving Remus or Kalliope any trouble at all you will be coming straight to Hogwarts where I will personally oversee you in detention indefinitely.”
Nimue sniffled as she buried her face in his chest.
“And be careful, do not take any unnecessary risks.”
“I promise, I’ll be careful.”
Severus released his hold on her, as though he realized just how much emotion he had been showing, “you best be on your way.”
“I love you Dad,” Nimue threw her arms around him one last time and squeezed fiercely.
As Severus awkwardly dislodged himself from her grasp he couldn’t help but notice the look his wife was giving him. He sighed in resignation. If he didn’t do this he would be sleeping on the couch for longer than he cared to think about, “and I love you child. Now, we’ve wasted enough time. Goodbye.”
Nimue gave him a teary smile as she took Morgan’s hand and they headed for the international floo station in Hogsmeade.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Meg was just putting lunch on the table when she heard the front door open and close. When this was followed by the sound of running feet and several squeals she decided it might be best to check and see if her husband needed rescuing.
She smiled at the scene in the foyer. Cassandra was standing off to one side holding little Alan on her hip while Diana had managed to make her way up on Alberto’s back and Bran and Branwen were literally trying to climb up Charlie’s legs. She managed to make her way through the crowd so that she could give her husband a kiss.
“It’s a lucky man,” Charlie said as he tried to remove the twins so that he could walk, “that gets such a big welcoming committee every time he comes home.”
“Play your cards right and I bet the wife will give you a private welcoming reception later while I entertain this motley crew,” Alberto grinned wickedly as he made sure Diana was in no danger of toppling off his shoulders.
“If you want to eat here you better watch it mister!” Meg threw the towel she was holding at Alberto as she scolded him.
“I promise I’ll behave. Will you feed me now?” Alberto gave Meg the most innocent look he could conjure.
Meg rolled her eyes, “lunch is on the table, I suppose you can join us,” she managed to add a long suffering sigh on the end of it.
“You don’t sound too enthusiastic,” Alberto shook his head sadly, “are you going to let her treat me this way mate?” he asked Charlie.
Charlie flashed Alberto a lopsided grin as he tucked a twin under each arm, “she cooks, therefore she is in charge. I wouldn’t fight it if I were you.”
“Please find him a wife so that he stops following you home,” Meg said rather sharply as she attempted to shepherd the children into the kitchen.
“Maybe I should bring flowers next time I come, try to win her over…” Alberto mused.
“Trust me, its not you. She’s been a bit… hormonal lately,” Charlie said softly, not sure how close by his wife was.
“Mum says she’s not hormonal,” Diana piped up, “she said it’s because she’s married to a git who doesn’t have the decency to know when to keep his hands off of her.”
Alberto tried to suppress a chuckle as Charlie stared in shock at his seven year old daughter. “And where, precisely, did you here that?”
“That’s what she told Aunt Ginny when she was over for tea yesterday.”
“And were you part of the conversation?” Charlie asked, although he was pretty sure of what the answer would be.
“No… I was supposed to be playing outside.”
Charlie raised an eyebrow as he looked at his daughter, who from her perch was at eye level with him, “and haven’t we discussed your habit of listening in on other peoples’ conversations before?”
“Yes…”
“Are you three coming?” Meg asked as she reappeared at the entryway, “because if you take much longer you can just fend for yourselves.”
“We’re coming,” Charlie assured his wife, “and we,” he turned back to Diana, “are going to discuss this further after lunch. Got it?”
“Yeah,” Diana held out her arms to her father and he scooped her off of Alberto’s back and hugged her close for a moment before putting her back down so she could run ahead of them to the kitchen.
“Have you told Meg about the plans for the school year yet?”
“No.”
“You’re going to have to tell her soon amigo, she won’t be happy that you’ve held out on her for so long.”
“I’m more worried that she’s going to be mad at me for making the arrangements without consulting her first.”
“So… either way she’s going to be angry with you.”
“No, her hormonal self will be angry with me. If I pick my time carefully I will have nothing to worry about.”
Alberto laughed, “Good luck, you’re going to need it. As quickly as her moods are changing lately you’ll never know when you’ll be safe.”
“Very true.”
“Now what is that stupid grin on your face all about?”
Charlie’s gaze feel on his wife as they entered the kitchen, “I was just thinking that she’s worth all the hormones and so much more.”
Alberto shook his head as he seated himself next to his goddaughter. He spent most of the meal alternating between a conversation about dragons with Charlie and hearing about Diana and Cassandra’s latest shopping excursion with their Aunt Ginny.
Meg felt her good mood returning as she ate with her family. She felt a bit guilty about being so irrational lately. She was just thankful that Charlie was so good natured. “I think I’m going to go put Alan down for his nap,” she said rising from her chair, “he looks like he’s about ready to fall asleep in his cereal.”
“Do you want me to take him,” Charlie asked as he started to rise.
But Meg waved him back down, “no, I’ll get it, you finish eating.” It ended up taking her a bit longer than she planned on to get him down, so that by the time she returned to the kitchen it was empty save for Alberto who was trying to put the dishes away in their rightful places.
“What happened to everyone? It looks like they abandoned you,” Meg smiled warmly at the South American.
Alberto flashed her his gold-toothed smile, “I volunteered to clean up madam, you better appreciate it. Cassandra took the twins outside to play and I believe your darling husband is having a little chat with my darling goddaughter up in her room.”
“Correction, her darling husband is right here,” Charlie said from the doorway.
“Anything I need to know about?” Meg asked as she looked from her husband to Diana, whose eyes were red. Meg guessed that there had been a few tears somewhere along the line.
Charlie looked down at his daughter and ruffled her red hair, “I think we settled things. Why don’t you go play outside now?”
Diana nodded and ran outside to join her siblings.
“I’ll fill you in later,” Charlie told his wife.
“Ah… what a sweet little family…” Alberto leaned against the counter.
“Don’t get to comfortable there ‘Berto,” Charlie said.
“And why not.”
“Don’t you want to go outside and play with the kids?”
Alberto smiled widely, “hint taken amigo, outside I go.”
“Now that we’re alone…” Charlie cupped Meg’s face between his hands and kissed her soundly. “I’ve been waiting all day to do that.”
“I’ve been waiting for you to do that all day,” Meg replied as she grabbed her husband by the shirt collar and pulled him back down for another kiss. “I’m surrounded by people shorter than me almost all day, I kinda like it when you come back and I have to look up to see your face.”
“I like it too. Except my reason is that after dealing with Alberto and a group of dragons all day I get to come home to someone I can safely cuddle.”
Meg grinned evilly, “I think I’d like to see you try to cuddle Alberto.”
Charlie shook a finger at her, “you’re lucky you’re carrying my child, otherwise you’d be in trouble for saying that. And don’t you dare tell Alberto about this conversation, he doesn’t need help coming up with anymore ideas.”
“Speaking of Alberto…” Meg smiled sweetly, “what plans were you and he discussing earlier that you weren’t going to tell me about yet?”
Charlie grinned back, “I’ll tell you later. I want to make sure all the details are worked out first.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
