Lilliana Snape (Book 6)

Part 8

“Oh God!” I exclaimed “Fred!” I walked into the flat and found my babies floating just inches from the ceiling dressed like clouds. I dropped my trunk and bag and grabbed the bare foot of Erinny, the closest baby to me, and pulled her down. “Fred!”

“Lilly?” I heard a voice from the kitchen call back. “When did you get back?”

“Just now! Fred, what the hell?”

Fred finally emerged, his wand tucked behind his ear “do you like them? They’re our latest invention. Basically” he continued, as though I’d been interested “I took into account what you said about the other thing I was showing, back at Hogwarts, and Fred and I came up with these. They don’t hover any higher than the tallest parent.” He beamed at me for a moment before realising that I was just about interested in his explanation than I was about hearing how Dragons mate. “What?” He frowned “don’t you like it?”

“Don’t I like it?” I spluttered “Fred, I come home and find my children hovering, unattended I might add, just inches from the ceiling; what’s there to like about that?”

“They’re perfectly safe!” I was assured “and it was easier to have them out from underfoot whilst I was cleaning.”

“All they do is lay there, Fred, how would they be ‘underfoot’?”

“They started crawling” he grimaced “well, scooting and they all seem to enjoy eating things that should be put in their mouths.” I sighed, hugging Erinny to me; they were moving around on their own already and I wasn’t there to see it.

They were growing up way too fast for my liking and, apparently, their infant years are when they develop the most and, because of school, I would be missing so much. I felt the urge to cry all of a sudden and buried my head into Erinny’s neck, taking in her sweet baby scent.

Maybe I should drop out of school; the thought of me missing their first steps or their first proper words upset me more than getting my wand snapped in half but I know that I’d regret not going back, especially with only a year and a half left to complete. Fred would be against it too and, of course, dad.

“Do you want to grab the boys?” Fred suggested, lulling me out of my thoughts “I’m done clearing and they need a nap anyway, let me show you what I’ve been doing.” He smiled at me when I looked up and grabbed my bags, starting to head toward the nursery.

I looked up at my boys who were, quite happily, bouncing around in the air as they sucked on their fists; shuffling Erinny round, I scooped Grey and Freddie out of the air and followed Fred.

The nursery had been transformed.

The light in the room was dull but, above me, was one of the most amazing things I’d ever seen. It was like I was under water, deep under the sea and I was looking up at bright tropical fish, swimming happily around the top of the ceiling. “Are they real?” I asked, passing the boys over to him.

“Nope, just a charm.”

“How?”