Shadow - Sequel To Light

Chapter Four: Months Pass

After Harry's announcement that we would be hosting the Triwizard Tournament, things went into hyperdrive. The days became blurs of taking care of the twins and getting and sending letters for work. By Harry's birthday, I had confirmed the majority of the alumni who would be coming for the event. Harry and I decided to leave it as a surprise to the public and students that the Triwizard Tournament was coming until after the term began and I was excited to see what people were going to say. It was exciting to have people come back and it was going to be exciting to have them involved in the activities.

On Harry's birthday, I spent the day making a dinner personally, with Mum and Fleur's help, and getting it set up in the Great Hall. The rest of the Weasleys and all of Harry's mates were set to come for the party and I had spent extra time setting up the Hall with streamers and balloons. It was going to be a child friendly party until night then the kids were going to be taken upstairs to a nap room until the parents were done with the adult party. The only way the house elves had allowed me to work on the meal had been that I had promised them they could take care of all the children.

I made sure to dress the babies up and get them ready to go. Lily and James were so cute in matching birthday hats and jumpers. They were growing up so fast and everyday seemed to bring new changes. I had planned a special party for just our little family on a coming weekend, sort of a celebration of the start of our family.

Mum and Fleur finished the food preparation while I finished putting the last touches on the Hall. Ron had been assigned to take Harry out under the guise of a surprise, birthday guy's day out. I knew he was going to be back soon so I sent word that it was okay to come and all of our friends began arriving. Malfoy had wanted to be at the party but, considering that we needed people to believe that Harry and he were still sworn enemies and that he was on the dark side, we had decided against it. He and Harry had set up to have lunch some time the next week so that was going to be their mini-birthday party.

Once everybody had arrived, I lowered the lights and it was just in time. I could hear Ron talking about sneaking some food from the house elves and going on about some rubbish or another. Finally we heard the door jiggling and all hid so he wouldn't immediately see us. Just when he was inside the door, I led the crowd in jumping out of our hiding places.

"Surprise!" We roared, catching him completely off guard. He smiled once his shock had passed and found me through the crowd. I picked up Lily and James and went to greet my husband.

"Surprise, birthday boy." I smiled, leaning up to kiss him softly and being careful of the babies.

"Thank you, beautiful. I should have known you had something up your sleeve." He smirked, taking Lily and bouncing her gently up and down. He kissed her cheek and she cooed up at her father, causing a bright smile from both of us.

For the first part of the party we had games and cake, all activities that kids could be a part of. Once the sun was firmly down and the night was calling, we sent the children up to the nap room. The house elves all had something for them to do up there until they were put down for their naps. In the hall, though, it was party time.

I had drinks brought out for the people who wanted a little something and I rearranged the Hall to include a dance floor. I flicked my wand and the music started, signaling time for people to get on the dance floor. Harry picked me up from behind, surprising me, and carried me onto the floor. I giggled as he spun me around and dipped me.

"Thank you for all of this, love." Harry whispered against my temple as we swayed. "You always make everything so perfect and..., I just can't believe I'm lucky enough to have you as my wife. " he murmured then kissed my temple softly, continuing to sway us. The night went off brilliantly and Harry was delighted with everything. One of the best feelings a wife can get is knowing that her husband is happy when he lays down at night.

Two weeks after his birthday party, we took the children to a muggle zoo and I made plans with Hagrid to take the children for the night so Harry and I could have a private dinner in our bedchambers. I know it seems stupid to celebrate the fact that we hookup last year but so many great things came from it. It might be wrong but it was the beginning of our relationship in a mucked up way. That night, we had dinner and reacquainted ourselves with each other's bodies. I loved every minute I got to spend with my husband, laying in our bed and remembering that first night together and all the amazing things that that night had brought us. We drifted to sleep that night in each other's arms.

After our celebration of his last birthday celebration's activities, the months blurred together in a flurry of meetings with the faculty and getting prepared for the new term. The babies were growing so fast, I had begun taking them to all our meetings and things just so I wouldn't miss anything. The only problem was they were starting to be grabbers, grabbing whatever people had hanging on them or gave them and putting it in their mouths. Despite that, they had also grown bigger in the months and they were about double the size they were when they were born. I loved them but sometimes mummy needed a break from holding them because it could get tiring.

By the time the students were arriving for the next term, Lily and James were giving both Harry and I a run for our money. Both of them had us so wrapped around their fingers that all they had to do was whimper and we were there. Mum had taken to chastising us, letting us know that it was worse to let them run us like that than to just let them cry it out sometimes, sometimes they only cried to get you to come. Taking her advise, we had taken to letting them whimper and cry a few moments without going to them and, sure enough, they were just crying to get us to come. When they discovered it wouldn't work, they had stopped and they were only crying when they needed something.

There was always the fear that somebody was going to attack and, as the students were arriving, everybody was on high alert. The last thing we needed was another dead student and I was hoping my spells held up enough that that didn't happen.