MOON AND STARS, fred weasley

eleven

1980

Another Order meeting. There seemed to be a lot of them these days. Regulus' death last year was the real wake up call to Sirius. He'd lost his brother to the Death Eaters, for good this time.

Grieving was a complicated one. Was it wrong to grieve someone who was on the other side? His brother could have been responsible for so many deaths, and how could he excuse that? But he was still his brother, and Sirius would be lying if he said he didn't shed any tears for his loss.

"You alright, mate?" James asked. "You seem out of it."

"Hmm?" he said. "Yeah I'm fine."

"Remus'll be back any day now, you don't need to worry."

"I wasn't until you said that," said Sirius. A two year old Adhara was on his hip. The Order wasn't the perfect place for a child but there wasn't much of a choice when all those involved in raising her were part of the Order.

He was worried about Remus too. Dumbledore had sent him on a mission. An increasing amount of werewolves had been falling into the hands of Voldemort, promising themselves to his cause. And since Remus was the only werewolf in the Order, he was the perfect scapegoat for Dumbledore.

A couple years ago, Sirius Black had admired the headmaster, thought his wise. But he continuously sent Remus out on these types of missions, knowing it might mean his death.

Not that it was too different from the missions he sent him on, or Marlene and Dorcas. There were points that they all went on missions for the Hogwarts headmaster. He didn't know when his view had changed but as much as it was important, defeating Voldemort didn't become so much his priority, but rather making sure that Adhara was safe, and that she had people to come back to.

The two-year-old in question struggled in his arms, wanting to be let free. He placed her on the ground and she immediately went running. She was an energetic child — she was definitely going to put in a sport when she was old enough.

"Dada, look!" he looked over to where she'd ran over to Fabian and Gideon Prewett, tugging on the robe of the latter. "The same!"

"They're just twins, Adhara," he corrected.

"Just twins?" Fabian repeated. "Are you hearing this, Gid?"

"Can't believe it myself," Gideon responded with a cheeky grin, looking at Sirius. "You look exhausted mate."

"I am," Sirius replied honestly. "Everyone's on missions and frankly, her getting caught in the middle of it is a large worry."

Fabian patted him on the back. The twins and the marauders had been somewhat competitive with each other during their school years, but now fighting for the same goal, it seemed to evaporate.

Adhara looked up at Gideon, grabbing at him. He picked her up with ease, looking at Sirius. "How old is she?"

"Two, nearly three."

Fabian grinned from beside him. "You busy after this?"

"...No?"

"We're visiting our sister Molly and her husband. She has two — Fred and George — around Adhara's age, as well as three others. She won't notice one more added to the lot. Just for a couple hours?"

Sirius agreed. Adhara didn't yet have friends her age and Sirius thought meeting other parents would be nice. Lily was pregnant so soon Adhara would have someone else to play with but, he thought, it would be nice for her to have friends her own age.

*

When they arrived at Molly's, her eyebrows raised in surprise at an additional two faces.

"We thought we'd bring the twins a new play date," Gideon spoke first.

Right on cue, there was a crash somewhere in the house.

Molly sighed, "Merlin knows they need it. Come on in."

Before they did, Fabian boasted, "They take after their uncles."

"Don't I know it."

Adhara was more excited than anyone, jumping up and down from beside Sirius as they walked in. There were all the kids in the kitchen area: Bill, the oldest (he was around 9, Sirius thinks) as well as Charlie, Percy, and the twins.

As soon as she'd caught eyes on the twins, Adhara had squealed and hid behind her dad.

"Come on, Adhara," Sirius laughed. "You we're excited a minute ago."

Peeking out from behind her dad's legs, she caught of one of the twins who was frantically waving at her. Clearly it didn't take much for her to regain her confidence as she waved back at him and ran towards him and his brother.

"Cup of tea?" Molly offered.

"Please," said Sirius, trying not to laugh as Adhara was moving her head frantically between Fred and George.

"Dada?"

"Yes, Adhara?"

"They're same too."

Gideon and Fabian laughed at her.

"She's adorable," Molly said. "I've always wanted a girl."

"You've already got five," said Fabian. "May as well keep pushing."

"Oh!" she tutted. "You two—"

"You love us, Mol. Now, how about that cuppa?"

The grown ups all continued to chatter as the tea was made and served. In that time, Adhara had already taken a liking to the twins.

The twins were sat playing with some building blocks. Adhara, on the other hand, laid practically her entire body over them, though neither of them appeared to mind.

"Best friends!" she announced to the grown ups as she got up from the position. She'd heard her dad refer to her Uncle Prongs in the same way and decided that was what the twins were.

"Already?" Sirius laughed. "You don't wait long, do you?"

"Nope!" Adhara was proud, and leaned into a hug with Fred, which didn't end so well as she knocked them both over harshly, which resulted in the both of them crying. George, on the other hand, had found it hilarious and thought it appropriate to laugh at his twin brother.