A Twist In Time

A Very Sirius Curse

The soft stroking of Tommy's fingers across my forehead was what woke me. I knew it was him without opening my eyes. I could feel it was him.

I didn't know how long he'd been there or how long I'd been asleep but I was content to just lie here with him next to me.

"I'm sorry," I muttered through my sleep-addled mind, not bothering to open my eyes. I didn't want to see the look of disappointment on his face.

"It's not your fault," he replied, leaning down and pressing a kiss to my head. I opened my eyes as he pulled away seeing the saddened look on his face. "Don't blame yourself."

"But if I had been more careful—"

"It's not your fault," he said, cutting me off. "Pol said early miscarriages are common. She said you were so early on in your pregnancy that if we didn't know you were pregnant you would have thought it was a heavy period." He cupped my face in his hands and gave a stern nod. "Don't blame yourself."

"Hmm." I was distracted but couldn't help but agree with what Polly had told him. I knew logically that Nora kicking me probably had nothing to do with my miscarriage. The baby would be so small that it shouldn't have been affected. If I thought about it, I was cramping that morning but thought nothing of it.

"Ada told me about Artie and Danny," Tommy added, interrupting my thoughts.

"They look like Arthur," I mumbled, pushing myself up into a sitting position and gently resting my hands on my stomach.

"I saw them." I had to wonder if he'd known they were Arthur's boys and had seen them scurrying about Small Heath. "In my dream," he added, causing me to raise my eyebrows at him. "They were older but it was them."

"Wait. Are you sure?" I asked, moving closer to him. If what he said was true then he was definitely having dreams of the future. "Have you had dreams like that before?"

"You mean dreams of the future that include two nephews I didn't even know were alive?" He shook his head and fiddled with a cigarette. "No ... well there was one dream about you..."

"I don't need to know about any sex dreams you have of me." I rolled my eyes going to move away from him when he took my hand in his preventing me from moving.

"No, it wasn't that. It was the night at the lake, the one from the cupboard. I dreamt about that when I was in France." He shrugged and let go of my hand, running it through his hair. "I didn't think anything of it until now. Every detail was exactly how it happened."

"I knew you and Polly were sensitive to the magic running through your blood. Perhaps I was right about my theories on squibs and the influence magic has on them," I muttered more of myself as I rose from the bed and started changing.

"Where are you going?"

"Downstairs to Artie and Danny. I promised Artie I'd let him make his decision about staying after dinner."

"Polly's been with them for the last three hours. I don't think she intends for them to leave whether they want that or not," he said, rising from his seat and sorting out the bed.

"They can stay here, right?" I asked him, afraid he'd not want them here. "Until we sort something out with Arthur of course. They can have the bigger bedroom and we can move TJ into it with them. He's getting too big for his cot now."

"They can stay here as long as they need."

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When we arrived downstairs, Ada and Newt were arguing about who could make a better mug of hot chocolate and were each making two mugs each to try and impress Artie and Danny.