Lilliana Snape (Book 5)

Part 20

Fred and I had decided not to name any of our children (first names) after our parents to avoid offending anyone; plus I wouldn’t name my child Arthur, even if you paid me so, after a lot of late night discussion, baby one was named Freddie Severus. I wanted to name at least one of the boys after Fred and so to avoid confusion we named him Freddie and I wanted my father to be honoured because he’d given up so much to raise me and even though we fight and fall out, he’s stuck by me and loved me more than my real father ever would have.

Our second son was a bit harder to choose; Fred was all for calling him Cinderella, after having heard Hermione talk about her and not realising that is was a her and not a him. I squashed that idea quickly. The next fight was over Rumplestiltskin – he was tickled by the idea of nicknaming him ‘Rumpy’. That idea was squashed eventually. In the end we agreed on Greyson Remus. I’d seen the name in a book once and instantly fell in love with it and Remus was chosen for two reasons; one being that he’s our favourite Defence professor to date and two because he’s been really supportive to both of us.

Finally, our daughter who was named Erinny Rose. Erinny was chosen because it loosely held the names Ginny and Hermione and Rose because it flowed with the name better than Lilly did.

Our sons are identical down to their dimples; both have thick ginger hair, bright blue eyes and cheeky smiles whereas Erinny has black hair, like me, blue eyes like her brothers and a scowl just like my dad’s, when she’s passing wind.

“She doesn’t half look like your dad” Fred told me as we stared at her. He was right, she did, though luckily she didn’t have his nose.

“He’s not my biological father” I pointed out “but she does; maybe she’s been spending too much time with him?”

We’d decided to keep the triplets with dad until Summer; he moaned and growled and huffed but, I’ve seen him with them, he really doesn’t mind. I’d not formally introduced them to the Gryffindors yet but it was on the list of things to do along with meeting the rest of the family.

I knew that things would change but I’d underestimated how hard it was going to be. I went about four weeks on about an hour and a half rest each night and it wasn’t until my grades started dropping and dad found me asleep with Erinny in my arms did he decide to step in.

“I’m not going to do all of the work for you” he told me sternly “you got yourself into this mess and now you have to deal with it but I will help you. You need to get your grades up if you’re going to pass your OWLs and that is the only reason that I’m doing this. Do you understand?” I nodded. I wasn’t really listening to him. I was exhausted; I think I fell asleep with my eyes open for a few seconds actually. “Good, go to bed and in the morning send Weasley down to me.”

“Which one?” I asked.

“You know very well which one.”

With dads help we managed to get into a routine. Fred was allowed to stay when he was on the night shift and we all managed to get enough rest to be able to function the next day; with that settled, the months went smoothly until June finally arrived and with it my exams.

Hogwarts wasn’t doing too well without Dumbledore; Hagrid had gone into hiding, Professor McGonagall was in Saint Mungo’s, Trelawney had been sacked and replaced by a centaur and the twins were causing havoc. I’d known for months that they were planning on leaving Hogwarts but had no idea how soon until Fred came to me one evening.

“Lil, George and I are going to leave tomorrow” he told me in the privacy of the temporary nursery “and I was hoping to take the triplets with us. You don’t want them here with Umbridge causing hell for everyone; they’d be better off away from here until it’s their time to come.”

“Tomorrow?” I whispered “why so soon? What about your exams?”

“We finally got the ok on the shop down Diagon alley” he smiled “we’ve got enough stock to start now and we’ve been working on a baby range but” he pressed a finger to his lips “not a word, it’s not ready just yet. Don’t worry about it.”

I bit my lip as I stared at him. Of course I cared about him leaving and he was right about taking the triplets with him but I was worried about being away from them, the thought made me nervous. “Aren’t they too young to be leaving me?”

“Realistically, yes” he agreed “but, come on, Lil, you know I’m right.”

“I know” I sighed “fine; it would do them good to get out of the dungeon anyway but, Fred, they need constant care so if you’re going to do this then you need to promise me that you’re going to take it seriously.”

“Hey, dad’s the word” was all he said.

The next day I was staring at the portable swamp Fred and George had placed outside Umbridge’s office when she came round the corner, holding them by the ears.

“You two are about to learn what happens to wrong-doers in my school.” Umbridge snarled at them.

“You know what?” Fred said “I don’t think we are. George, I think we’ve outgrown full-time education. Time to test our talents in the real world, d’you reckon?”

“Definitely” George replied with a grin.

I looked on in surprised awe at the fact that each twin had a baby on their backs. George had Erinny and Fred had the boys. “New baby range” Fred called to me as I stared at what he’d put on their heads. “What do you think?”

“Uhm, it’s a little unusual” I called back.

Fred just grinned before yelling “accio brooms!” With George and not a moment later, their brooms came whizzing through the locked door of Umbridge’s office. They leapt on them and left through the nearest windows.

Each child was wearing a woollen hat with a holographic letter spinning over their heads. “Well” Hermione said from beside me “at least you can tell them apart now.”

There's only a chapter or two left until the end so I'm dragging it out a little.