Story 5

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When Josephine and Sebastian Sallow first discussed growing their family, they had agreed that given their individual preferences and temperaments, it made sense for Josephine to go back to work as quickly as possible and to become the primary breadwinner for the family.

'Yes, it would contrast societal conventions. Yes, it would be an unusual choice,' they had told themselves. But it's what suited them.

Jo loved her children beyond a doubt. It was an inevitable and undeniable fact. But the natural abilities of motherhood – remaining calm amidst chaos, solving puzzles on the fly, and remaining active – suited her much better when chasing down criminals and artifacts of dark magic. In fact, becoming a mother had quadrupled her desire to make the world a safer place for her babies.

And from the moment his wife's first bout of morning sickness began, Sebastian adored being a father. It could be argued that he adored being a father almost as much as his wife adored the feeling that his being a father twisted into knots, deep inside her. And the more Sebastian willfully and recklessly implanted children into his darling wifelette, the more he felt it was his duty and privilege to care for those very children that he insisted make his wife swell with life (and deliciously so, he would add).

Sebastian often thought that the simplicity of life at home would delight him to no end, given the tumult of his own upbringing. He envisioned mornings with breakfasts that could last for hours, afternoons with adventures that would make all their wee hearts race, and teaching the children to keep a tidy house for Mummy to proudly return home to.

He would fantasize about what he would do to Mummy upon her return each evening. What she might ask him to become for her to take the weight of the world from her strong but petite shoulders. How he would indulge in reminding her what a capable provider he could be in different circumstances – perhaps to the tune of a few more children, if he was lucky.

Josephine worked in the field for as long as she could during her first pregnancy with Des and Freddie, but took to desk duty halfway through until she was due, and only having the patience to take ten weeks' leave before returning to desk duty again, part time. The Ministry hardly had time to assign her out to the field before she was pregnant again with Briony, who was only seven months old, herself, when the cycle repeated once more. (Sebastian did so love to have a pregnant wife.)

Baby Theo was, no doubt, the result of a particular evening out to Hogsmeade that ended with what could have been a peaceful stroll along the forest's edge but, instead, turned into a consecutive ravishing of Josephine Sallow's body – at the hands of her husband, of course. First, he took her against a tree, standing, and then he took her over a small-ish boulder, and then he had her with her legs wrapped around him in the invigorating chill of the freshwater, lacewing-jeweled lake they almost literally stumbled into.

When little Theo took inside his mother's womb, clinging to her in a way that proved him to be his father's son (as if there was any doubt), it became clear that Josephine could no longer maintain her position with the Ministry of Magic no matter how sorely it squeezed at her heart to resign, which heartache was clear to her husband. So, together, they made a plan — one Sebastian found excruciatingly difficult to adhere to, given all the waiting required, but it was a plan.

Phase one: Jo would stay home with the children, Sebastian would reduce his hours at the Department of Magical Artifacts to part-time, and they would supplement their life with some of the money left to Sebastian by his parents.

Phase two: Jo would find a new position, something perhaps less involved and dangerous that could be more forgiving for....

Phase three: (in Sebastian's words) SO MANY MORE BABIES!

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⏰ Last updated: Apr 25 ⏰

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