Albus Potter and the Prophesied Year

Ch 54 A Happy Summer and Christmas

The sandbox next to the pond had to be expanded, there were so many toddlers the summer of twenty-twenty-four. More boys making motor noises. Harry was in the sandbox playing with Gregory Godric, and playing with them were Neville with his son Brandon Ian and Neville's son Frank with Frank's son (and Neville's grandson) Benjamin.

Ginny smiled at her mother, and told Molly, "I love seeing Harry in the sandbox, playing. I know he was never able to play like that when he was growing up with those HORRIBLE Dursleys."

"Saturdays, or other times, when the men and boys are playing in the sandbox, the girls usually leave them alone," Molly reflected, shaking her head. "They do enjoy it when it is not crowded, though."

Boys playing with sand toys was a rather noisy endeavor.

"Two sons and two daughters," Neville told Harry as he played with his young son Brandon. "We are done!"

"Roxanne wants to finish training to become at least a DMLE officer," Frank told Harry as he backed a lorry up to Benjamin, so his son could shovel sand into the lorry. Well, to be precise, Benjamin shoveled sand into and on top of and around the lorry. "She may go on to become an Auror after the three children are at Hogwarts. We really didn't intend to have three children in six years, but at least our child rearing days will be over when we are still young."

"We didn't really expect to have another after we were grandparents," Neville replied, watching his son push sand with a toy bulldozer, and trying to keep him from running the toy into others. "This one is easier, in some ways, though. Hanna is living with me at Hogwarts. Our daughter Alice is living in the owners' quarters of the Leaky Cauldron, and is learning how to take over. We have a couple of good managers, and she is learning from them.

"Child of the owner is its own position. You have to either work harder than anyone else, or else people resent you. I do have to say Alice seems to be working hard to impress the staff."

"Does she have a boy she is interested in?" Harry wondered.

"Lots of boys are interested in her, but she is too busy to get serious about any of them, I think," Neville responded, grabbing onto his son and turning him around to push sand in a different direction. "You have to talk to Hanna about that, though. Alice doesn't always share that sort of thing with me."

The little boys needed some attention, and the three men redirected their attention to the toys and moving sand, and refraining the boys from throwing sand, and babbling away with them. Eventually the boys became tired and cranky, and three little boys were put down for naps or at least quiet time.

"How is the training going for the honor guard?" Neville asked Frank.

Frank rolled his eyes, sighed, and looked at Harry. "The three times we had practice alerts were a disaster. Raphael Vaud was very charitable when he described them as learning experiences. Everyone has to learn how to keep the proper clothes and equipment almost immediately available at all times. We are still learning how to appear at almost the same time, but not exactly at the same time, and not land on top of each other.

"Albus and Cleo are working on the maps we all are going to carry, but they still need a lot of work.

"We went to a mountain close to The Lord of the Dementors, and half of us fainted due to lack of oxygen. We are going to have to carry oxygen concentrators as well as everything else. We are learning, and getting better, but it is a bloody nightmare trying to figure out what to do and to become trained."

"You still want to do it?" Neville wondered, looking at his son in mild concern.

"I keep telling you, yes I do," Frank responded, sounding very resolved. "With grandparents and parents who are heroes, I just feel it is a family obligation. I'm not going to do this when I'm a grandparent, but I know I need to do this now when I can."