Tell me, is this just a dream? 'Cause I'm really not fine at all.

“You were doing the best you could,” Millie voiced a fact that she had always known and always secretly recognised despite the problems that existed as a result of its being a reality. There had been pressing matters that had given her no right to do what she had done yet she had chosen to regardless, selfishness winning the day. At the time she’d felt the injustice at having been forced to take that solace in someone else, someone who looked at her without pity, impatience or not at all, someone who helped the twins in a way that did not make her resent them. Someone else. Someone to look after her. Them. To love. It wasn’t a kind of time she wanted to go back to, though realistically had she been the same way still it would not have been an end that she would not have necessarily left unrealised in this point of time. She could have done it again but she hadn’t.

“I didn’t appreciate that then,” she added softly, reaching out for his fingers which she teased gently with her own. “I couldn’t appreciate anything you did at the time because I was so annoyed,” she took a breath. “The thing is that I … I was – am – too young to look after one baby on my own let alone two and I cracked and I blamed you and it wasn’t fair. I wasn’t fair.” She took a breath, dropping her hand out of his guiltily. She took another breath and reached for her coffee, pausing for a sip before setting it down and getting to her feet with a small smile. If that was the course they were going to take, if they were going to bring their children back to Hogwarts, then she needed to make sure they were adequately provided for again.

Behind the bookshelf ironically now crammed full with their photographs in different albums, there was a door which had until that afternoon been invisible. When Millie pressed her hands against the side panel she applied just the right amount of pressure and pushed at the bookshelf which popped off of the wall and flew over to the other side of the room much to the disdain of the cats although upon hopping onto the top, Lucius decided that this was a suitable end. The door was a bright blue with clouds painted over it and a bright yellow door handle which Millie twisted to open it up again. Inside, she remembered why this was her most favourite incarnation of the children’s nursery.

Elijah had spent hours poring over it for her. On the walls which had been impersonal at first there was a forest scene which was currently in the throes of daytime. Long grass specked with dandelions and daisies swayed in a gentle breeze and in amidst the trees unicorns and centaurs could be seen whilst rabbits and other woodland animals made their way through the grass. Birds flew through the sky, passing underneath. The beds were set either side of a large bay window in through which natural light streamed endlessly. A rocking chair was in the corner by the door, a large wardrobe was beside it and the changing table elsewhere. The main pieces of furniture were toy boxes which she’d endeavoured to fill prematurely with a plethora of colourful things. It was a treasure trove of childhood. Now it was time to bring them home to it.

After opening the windows to let some air in, much to the derision of a passing rabbit whose view she blocked as she did so, Millie left the door open and returned to the front room. She stood a little jauntily and awkwardly by the arm chair and gestured aimlessly back to the room, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment. It was a silent way of saying she wanted them home. That they were ready. That, really, now that door was opened literally and metaphorically there was no going back. She wanted her family home and around her again and that meant having her bouncing babies.

“We can floo,” she offered with a smile.

So floo they did, Millie after having pulled her jumper back over her head following Keiran in. The dog was left on the sofa, strangely content to watch the television in amongst the blankets and pillows. Millie appeared on the other side, stepping out of the hearth in her socks. She called out to Bridget, lifting her gaze around the house before catching sight of two little wriggling forms on the floor, one playing with a mobile overhead, the other on their front, kicking their arms and legs like a little fish only swimming through the air. Millie felt her heart leap into her throat and she immediately sank down onto the carpet to see them, stealing up the one on their middle whom she recognised immediately as their daughter.

“Hello you,” she whispered, lifting Kelly up into the air, rousing a smile from the little one. “I’ve missed you,” Millie whispered, drawing Kelly in close to smell the clean baby scent of her skin and hair. A benign cry emitted from her brother and Millie looked down at Liam who she leaned over to kiss. “Hello little man. Miss me?” She asked, nudging her nose with his. “Do you want to go to your daddy?” Millie asked Kelly, opening her eyes wide, a smile playing at her mouth as she bounced the baby on her knees, impressed with the way Kelly’s feet firmed up against her mother’s legs. They were getting big already.

Millie turned and looked over to Keiran questioningly, continuing to bounce Kelly. The baby turned also and gurgled happily at the idea of joining her father and Millie lifted her up, switching her round so that she was facing Keiran before waggling Kelly in the air teasingly. The little girl laughed happily, rousing a giggle from her mother, also, and once they exchanged holds, Millie was allowed to pick up Liam whom she fell onto the floor with and sat on her belly, bending her legs and leaning him back against them, knowing it would be a while yet until he could sit on his own.

“You’re getting big and strong aren’t you?” She asked him, tickling under his chin. He smiled back at her. “You’re gonna have hairs on your chest before we know it, aren’t you?” He laughed at her and Millie grinned before reaching for one of the mobile animals hanging from the stand he had been laid under. She unclipped it and handed it, a giraffe, to him and Liam took it immediately, bringing it to his mouth happily. “Do you want to eat giraffes, Lee-Lee?” She asked him with a smirk. “They’re a bit big. I think you have too small a belly to eat a whole one yet, eh?” She rubbed at his stomach playfully, rousing another laugh from him and she grinned, feeling a lightness within her upon being able to see them again.

“D’you remember Kelly, Keiran?” She asked softly, curling an arm behind her head while the other focused on keeping the wiggling boy where he was. “I have Liam. Is anything sparking, at all?”

Millie started off right away, leaving Keiran to blink and take in his childhood home for a moment. Little sounds came from the living room, aside from Millie chattering at the twins, but as Keiran walked in, his attention was first drawn by his mother walking in with a cup of tea floating in front of her. Taken aback, his mouth opened slightly, eyebrows raising. Bridget was lucky she set down the cup before she caught sight of her son, considering she fully expected him to be limping about and looking downright grumpy. After essentially staring at each other for a moment, the corners of Keiran's mouth lifted, and Bridget broke froward, crossing past Millie and the twins in order to reach him.

Her arms wrapped around his torso, Keiran's curling across her shoulders as she let out a breath and then looked up at him in a sort of wonder. "You're.... fixed?" She asked hesitantly, not entirely sure what she was supposed to think.

Keiran shook his head, but offered a smile nonetheless. "Not permanently. But for a bit, yeah." Bridget looked sufficiently pleased, though Keiran knew she would be concerned nonetheless. Already, she seemed to be eyeing him, in wait for any sign of discomfort.

He turned to see Millie talking to the babies, and for a moment Keiran felt strangely out of place - not to mention remorseful. After all, he had unwittingly torn her from them, and the blonde so clearly had been desperate to have them back with her. A wave of curiosity won out, and he gave Bridget's shoulder a squeeze before walking over to squat beside the kids. Both of his girls looked to him, so Keiran reached for the smaller one, drawing her onto his hip as he stood. One arm was wrapped firmly around her, that hand supporting her so he could poke at her nose with the forefinger of his free one. Her little hand came out to take hold of his finger, giving a little tug until Keiran smiled at her properly. That seemed to do the trick, because she started wiggling, letting out a quiet gurgle of a laugh.

Glancing up at Millie's question, Kerian gave her a reassuring smile, the corners of his eyes creasing with the strength of it. "Yeah," he nodded, unable to find anything else to say that could confirm it. Kelly's hand reached out again, this time grabbing at his chin and drawing his attention back. "At least miss Kelly Mae, here, seems to remember me, too... But, I guess, it hasn't been as long as it feels. I mean," he clarified, glancing back to Millie, "a month can be like a year away. But it feels like much longer, still."

Turning over his left shoulder, Keiran looked for his mother, and found that she was leaning against the doorway, unknowingly mirroring her son during the earlier argument, but with a far more pleasant expression. "So, mum," he began, a bemused expression drawing his eyebrows together. "Magic."

"Yeah," she replied, looking a bit sheepish. "But that's a long story. I'll see if you kept the letter I wrote for you. It'd probably be upstairs. For now, just spend time with yours kids, okay?"

"Well, if you find it you can just send it over." Keiran conceded, not entirely pleased with having to wait with all of his confusion, but also knowing that Bridget was probably quite right. He needed to be with family without questioning everything. The memories would come when they wanted to, he supposed, finally accepting that truth. "If we're going to do family time, though," Keiran added belatedly, realizing that someone was missing, "we'll need everyone. Right, Kelly?"

"What?" Bridget asked, standing up straight and looking to Millie with a concerned glint in her eye.

Keiran ignored her, though, bouncing Kelly to lift her on his hip before leaving the room, turning down the hallway that would lead him to the garage. He didn't actually hear Bridget when she called after him, too busy glancing from Kelly to a hallway with no door, making him stop abruptly, turn around, and search for one at the other end. Had he really forgotten what his own home looked like? He had only lost a year, after all. But no, there wasn't one there, either. Frowning, he walked back - slower, this time. Vastly. - and looked between Bridget and Millie with a searching, befuddled gaze. "Did he move the lab?"

Bridget bit the inside of her cheek, wishing that Millie had been given an excuse to mention Aiden, but also glad that her son had been excused the pain of it for a while. From what she could tell, it would be many years before Keiran was willing to let go of the grieving. She, of course, had been given a reprieve with the twins being around so often. Perhaps she, too, would get a dog - though she couldn't say where the idea came from upon thinking she might like one. Letting it pass from her mind for the time being, she sighed. "You don't remember Christmas, then."

"Well... Not all of it, no. I remember... before it. And a couple patches after, though they're vague if I'm being honest. Some things I'm sure of, but... not then. Not that part." Keiran wanted to try and force the memories to return, but he was well aware that with the headaches came the leg aches, and he wasn't ready to give up his freedom of mobility yet. When Bridget kept quiet, trying to find the words, Keiran grew impatient. "Well? If you're going to bring it up, you have to explain. You know I need to hear it."

"It's nothing good, Keiran. I'm sure you've figured that out. But I couldn't comfort you then, and I doubt I would be any better at it now. See, there's part you'll need to ask Avery about," Bridget began, giving Millie an apologetic glance in passing, "but when you came home a couple days before Christmas, there was a big fight. Between the pair of you. I won't pretend to know the whole of it. But I had come down to find your father, and... My love, he'd been.. Well, you were quite convinced that he had been murdered. Went to talk to your friend about it since she worked with law at the Ministry. Or I think you're friends. But... well, we never found out. And the lab wasn't being used," she added, trying to explain away the missing room, "so I... Well, I couldn't picture finding him every time I saw the door."

As she spoke, Keiran unconsciously held Kelly closer, as if she would understand what her grandmother said and be as distraught as he was. The little blonde had quieted down, playing with the hem of Keiran's sleeve once his free hand curled around her back. He even went so far as to turn himself, his side where Kelly rested being pulled back and away from the words Bridget spoke. "It makes sense," he assured her slowly, "the door." After another lengthy, pregnant pause, Keiran added, "Mum," gesturing towards Kelly vaguely.

Bridget's expression changed to one of a slight pout, but she approached, taking her granddaughter from him gently. Keiran swallowed, inhaled, and then turned to make his way upstairs. Once Bridget expected him to be out of hearing range, she swiveled back around to look at Millie and Liam, only able to come up with one thing to say: "He's going to trap himself in that library again - those boxes again."

Those little people, their angelic firstborns, had gone long enough without their parents. With the eldest held in her arms, Melissa Hayes was at peace once more. Easing herself up onto the sofa, she curled her feet behind herself and began to make faces at her son, popping her lips at him and wiggling her nose against his as giggles rose from his chest and his father found his footing again with his own mother. Millie’s finger brushed over the soft, downy hair atop her son’s head and played with his fingers, stretching out each one before allowing him to curl his little fist around her own index finger. Sinking back against the pillows she happily cuddled Liam into her, pressing kisses to his temple, his forehead, and to his cheeks.

Distracted though she was with reacquainting herself with her son, Millie did lend an ear to the conversation between the other mother and son across the room – enough to know to wince when Keiran went off in search of his father. Millie shot an apologetic look in Bridget’s direction and rose from the sofa, setting Liam comfortably on her hip as she waited for her husband to return with all of the confusion and the negative feelings that were going to come with the inevitable. She nibbled on the inside of her cheek as she waited, her fingers idly twitching in Liam’s small grasp. He laid his head against her shoulder and Millie glanced down, readjusting her hold on her son before looking back up to see Keiran return.

The discussion went as Millie thought, Bridget trying to be as delicate as possible. In truth though she hadn’t expected the silence that emitted from her husband. In thinking that though, she couldn’t claim to be sure what he was going to do. What could he do, really? It was all done. There was nothing else to it now. Yet for him the pain was fresh and renewed as well as new in itself. It made Millie step forward with the intention to follow but she knew it was conversation Liam didn’t need to be privy to. Language was not something they completely had a grasp of yet but the twins could understand tone well enough and she knew that it wouldn’t be a positive one. With nothing else to do, she set Liam down in the arm chair against the pillows and handed him his toy, whispering her promise to be back soon enough, and broke away, following behind Keiran.

A detour took her past Bridget and she reached out to squeeze her mother-in-law’s shoulder before flicking the kettle on in the kitchen. After waiting for the water to boil she made up a cup of strong coffee and once the spoon was abandoned in the sink and a weary promise was made to clean it up when she came down again, Millie pushed past the family rooms and to the upper story, traipsing the familiar path that she’d taken all those months ago without shoes just as before, wriggling her toes in her mauve socks at the thought. Like that night, it was dark up on that second floor though this time it was due to the weather taking on a brooding look, as though affected by a black mood flickering about the house.

Entering onto the landing, Millie reached out and curled her fingers around the door handle. Twisting her wrist, the blonde woman opened the door wide enough to step inside before turning around and shutting it with a soft click. Untwining her hand from around it, Millie moved across the room, stepping lithely over the boards, to her husband in front of whom she set the cup of coffee. Pulling back she wound her arms around his neck and shoulders and dropped her chin gently onto his head, pressing a kiss to his sweet smelling hair before lifting her gaze to the window, peering out and wondering how it could all be so similar yet, painfully, not.

She thanked her lucky stars he’d not seen the body – or given it enough mind to remember, to relive. This was reported – an incident that was now as impersonal as telling a stranger that her own father had died prematurely. It was the same. It didn’t really mean anything yet you can’t help but register loss and grief. But then of course, she couldn’t entirely be sure of that at all. Who knew what he was feeling, really? Truly, that is. It could have been a combination of things and she half expected it to be a little bit of irritation with her for not telling him but more towards himself for not remembering.

“I love you,” she whispered to him, turning her face into his neck to press a kiss there over his pulse point. “Keiran, listen to me. There was nothing you could have done. You are completely undeserving of blame, I promise you.” She nudged her nose against his cheek imploringly. “Just breathe,” she murmured, reaching out to bring the coffee to him. “And drink this. It will make you feel better.” She brought her hand back to him once he took the cup and she sighed, kissing his cheek again as she tried to think of a way to make him feel better. But how could she? Was it even really possible?

It had all come back far too quickly, especially once he had settled at the desk, looked up, and saw those book bindings again, the titles just where they had been nearing on a year earlier. The only difference was that the sun came pouring in instead of the moonlight. Keiran could distinctly remember that part, and somehow it made it easier than the last time. Whether it was really the lighting or the fact that he had gone through it before, Keiran couldn't say. But the door opened and he didn't have to even question who it was this time. The deja vu was a bit much, but the coffee cup set before him woke the man enough to register fully that it was his job to move past it. For everyone downstairs and for the blonde at his shoulder.

He felt her words as much as he heard them, and when her lips left his cheek the last time, Keiran knew he was expected to drink from the drink she held in front of him. Instead, he set it back down and swung his feet around towards her - as he had done back at Christmas - but this time he hadn't the need to explain himself like he had before. Things were different, and she needed to understand that he wouldn't struggle as much as he had the last time. Yes, he was vaguely confused about why she had kept it, but the ache certainly made him understand that she must have been afraid. Of hurting him, or just of having to explain. His mother had mentioned something about Avery, but he didn't want to worry about that when things were only just getting back to what was meant to be normal.

Before Millie got very far away, Keiran's fingers twined through her hair, and his free hand reached for her waist, his palm pressing into the small of her back to pull her against him. Dark eyes searched her brighter ones briefly before dropping their gaze to her lips. In the space of a breath, the distance between them was gone, as though it had never been there, and his fingertips curled against her back as his lips found hers. What started off as a rather harsh and demanding kiss quickly turned into a slower, almost desperate one. Their height difference only mattered until the hand in Millie's hair drifted to meet the one at her back, so Keiran could lift her, turn them around, and set her on the desk.

"You beautiful... darling girl, Missie."

The words came with a shaky exhale as Keiran's nose brushed hers, his own pulse thundering in his ears. "I'm so sorry it's been like this. I remember, love, and none of it matters. None of the bad stuff matters. That's all who we were, and it's crazy to say nothing has changed." Shaking his head as he leaned back, Keiran's palms cradled her chin so he could be sure he got his point across. "I didn't know - I couldn't tell - that you were trying so hard to get my attention, before the accident or before the attack. I should have known. I've... I've always said that my work would come first, and I think you know that. But I'm clearly not a whole person without you, no matter what position I hold at that school. And now I've got a couple more parts I didn't know I needed filled, so I refuse to leave those babies - our babies - here. We both need them, and I cannot let you get to the point where you feel so trapped and lost. Not again. Not because of me.

"I don't care what you've told yourself or even what you've told me -- nothing bad in my life came from being matched with you. It's all outside forces or my own inability to focus. Even with the bad we've experienced... I've never had so much good. Missie, I love you. I was so confused that I couldn't see it, but I always have. No accidents or attacks can break that. Please," he begged, stealing a kiss between his words, "be sure to tell me what you want next time, okay? I need to know so I don't mess it up. I can't accept the idea that I might mess us up.

"So if you promise to keep me from being oblivious - or whatever I am, then I can promise you that work won't come first. I can promise you that I'll be there for those kids. For you." His hands found hers, raising them both so he could press kisses to the back of each. "I'll be the dad you want them to have, I swear. Honest, I will."

In the moments after the coffee cup was set down carefully with a soft click on the desk top, Melissa Hayes found herself wondering whether she was supposed to go or stay. At his side she felt like a silly shoulder angel even though at times over the past weeks and months she’d felt more like the devil incarnate. Yet, she hoped that things hadn’t changed so much that she’d be incapable of giving him some small comfort. A mutinous little voice in her head questioned whether she’d ever been able to do so but she was sound of mind enough to understand that it was a fallacy to think like that. She knew better than her own insecurities. Even if things were still frayed, she was sure that being there as someone to talk to or not at all – so long as he knew he could – she felt she could leave him feeling less isolated and alone. She wanted to tell him as much, if only to silence her own doubts welling within her, but before she could find the words, he found the actions.

Her hands fell to his shoulders as she was drawn to him and her cherry red lips quirked upwards, finding themselves curling into a smile. She looked at him curiously, stupidly, insecurely, and downright naively because until the space was closed, she couldn’t help but wonder whether it was going to happen at all. But it did. His warm, familiar lips found hers and even the fierceness of the kiss was welcome to her and was needed by her. It was one of those kisses that was so thorough and exacting that it would leave her dizzy and light-headed if it went on too long. She wanted it to last forever, though. They could have kissed in that room with his arms around her and hers around him, her fingers buried in the soft hair at the nape of his neck, forever. All eternity they could have spent locked in that kiss and it wouldn’t be enough. It was familiar ground again. He was familiar again. And her heart, from its shameful burrow in her gut where it had hidden itself, could finally go back into his care where it belonged. It was a ‘hello again old lover’ that she hadn’t realised they’d needed.

When her bum met the desk top, Millie gave a little whine as the kiss came to its natural end. She sighed softly, contentedly, and unwound her arms from around him, coursing her fingers briefly through his hair to set it back to rights before setting her hands on his shoulders. She rolled them in her hands gently and drew her palms up and down to his neck a few times before settling her grasp, content to have him there, to hold him. She couldn’t quite take her eyes off of his lips, either. She felt like she could be forgiven for that, though, because it had been too long. She wanted to kiss him again, just to make sure it hadn’t been a brief daylight dream. And then she wanted to kiss him again after that – just to … well, for kissing’s sake.

Her eyes darted up to his when he spoke and she wriggled her nose against his, a smile lifting at her mouth as the shyness that threatened to seep in was whisked away. Her fingertips tickled fondly across his neck and she closed her eyes, absorbing the feeling of having him so close to her again. She felt as though she could revel at the rhythm of his body breathing beside her forever. Every heartbeat she yearned to hear and to kiss after. And as much as she wanted to seize up at his words, splutter apologies and try her hardest to assuage whatever he remembered and tell him it wasn’t as bad and wasn’t worth worrying about, she couldn’t. They had to face it. Otherwise they’d never move past it.  But he didn’t care and that assuaged her fears. They would move past it because they wouldn’t be hung up on what went wrong. They’d make it better. They’d get better. They’d be a proper family again. They wouldn’t have all of the upset hanging over them.

Millie’s eyebrows shot to her forehead, rising sharply out of their furrowed concentration as she’d absorbed his words. But one sentence took her off-guard and sent wonder exploding across her features. She blinked, blanched and then coloured once more as it set in that he did. He really did. She seized at the opportunity to meet him, to kiss him again, and though brief she tried to put into it what her words failed to articulate as surprise stole away her countenance. She loved him too. And just like with the first kiss, she never thought she’d hear him say that to her again. In fact, she’d thoroughly finished herself off on that front. That afternoon’s argument had capitulated to everything she’d felt. All the hope had died. She’d thought that they were done and it was just a matter of time. Now she could only marvel at how they weren’t and though she couldn’t decide how they’d done it she didn’t care. She was just so glad that nearly, nearly they were them again. Together again. And to him, she was really, really Missie again.

“I…” when he had come to his close, Millie felt as though she needed to speak but all of her silence and her wide eyes that overflowed with love for him had robbed her of anything intelligent to say. She smiled despite herself, her hands slipping up to cradle his cheeks in her grasp. “I love you.” She gasped out, leaning in to rest her forehead against his. “I love you so, so much, Keiran Hayes.”

Millie smoothed her hands through his hair again, an almost nervous habit, but despite it she found herself smiling at him, quick lifts of her lips that betrayed not just hesitancy and bashfulness but also a reverence because she knew that this was a situation that was going to tie them back together properly and resolutely. They wouldn’t ruin each other again now. There was so much more to their lives than that. And he was right, she knew. They had changed. Things had changed. Everything had changed. She felt as though, at the very least, she’d grown up. She wouldn’t be making the same mistakes as before. Everything was in perspective now. And there was more to it now. There always had been but she’d never really realised or if she had she’d never fully appreciated it. She’d never really known it as she should have done.

“You’re not oblivious,” she murmured, leaning in to press a kiss to the side of his mouth, adding with a smile against his skin, “not completely, anyway.” She laughed a little and lifted her head to rest her gaze upon his. “It’s good to be a little bit oblivious sometimes. Like to the Quidditch results, for example, when United win. It’s good to be in denial.” Millie winked at him cheekily and rubbed her nose fondly against, juxtaposing the playfulness that was intrinsic within her with the tenderness that she felt for him - that she wanted to show him.

“I…” she took a breath, trying to gather her words. “Can I say it now?” She asked, hesitating a little. She felt her cheeks colour a little as she realised how absurd she sounded and she turned her lips to the side as a wry sort of smirk broke through onto her features. She glanced down again and decided, sort of, what she was going to say.

“Now I’m saying it, it sounds really silly but I want the domestic fairy tale. I really, really want for us to be a proper family. That was always the bottom line. I want – I want us to be a family, Keiran. A real one. A normal – well, not normal because we’ve never been normal but abnormal – an abnormal, proper family.” She smiled a little and her gaze flicked to his shoulder as she began to draw patterns across it with her index finger. She rolled her lips together again and lifted her gaze once more to look at him, a smile playing at her lips.

“I’ve always wanted for us to come home at a normal human being time and play music while we made dinner and concoct crazy things we’d never normally eat but we wanted to try anyway because we were feeling adventurous and had gone out especially to buy the hair-brained ingredients and maybe … maybe we’d both hate it and order pizza or Chinese in the end but it wouldn’t matter too much because we’d had fun making it. And I want for us to do bath time and give the babies bubble mohawks and play and get soaked and pluck them out and get them all warm and snuggly and then read to them before bed because apparently if we start now then their vocabulary is really … it’s … it just improves so much when they start to talk and then I dunno … maybe we’d have a bath considering as we’d already been given a pre-wash and get snuggled ourselves in jammies and flop on the sofa and watch an inordinate amount of crap TV under blankets and drink hot chocolate and talk about work and stupid things and, I dunno, politics!”

Millie grinned, an inkling within her suggesting it would probably end up being a rather heated discussion but definitely one worth having at another juncture. She smoothed her hands over his shoulders again and shrugged her own bashfully, something within her registering the fluidity of movement in the one that the werewolf had taken to task. She smiled and leaned in again, pressing her lips against Keiran’s for a brief kiss. She leaned back again and brought up her hand to rub her thumb across his cheekbone, savouring the taste of his lips on her own as she looked at him.

“I just … I don’t know,” she smiled shyly and glanced down then back up again, turning her head to the side, her hair spilling off of her shoulders. “Am I making sense? I feel like I’m not but are you kind of … is it making any sense? I think really I’ve just wanted us to be together. I know we are. We are right now. We’re married. But in a real sense. So I feel like I really, really know you and you know me and so we can tell when something’s wrong without either of us having to say. I guess I want it to be our choice to be together and do the couple-y things and the parent-y things and for us to put our stamp on this marriage and make it ours not something orchestrated and make those babies feel wanted and loved and really … I mean, I guess I want to make up for where my parents went wrong for me and Elliot and for each other. I don’t know that it’s a good reason but I also … I just want to know that there’s a right way to do things. I want to do right by us and by our children and just … make it work. I really want us to work.”

Millie moved off of the desk and changed over to sit in his lap, snuggling into Keiran’s arms. She sighed softly, winding her arms around his middle as she laid her head against his shoulder. It was easy there in his arms – just sat without anything left to say. She’d exhausted it all, exhausted herself, and she needed to go back to her home base, back into his embrace, in order to collect herself once more.

“I love you,” she mumbled into his neck, her lips whispering against his skin. “I’ll always love you. Nothing will ever change that. Ever."

Keiran's expression contorted into one of sheer confusion at her question, but soon enough understanding had dawned on his features. His head tilted to the side as a pleased little smile stretched his lips to the left. When she pulled away from the kiss, Keiran's tongue darted out, drawing across his lower lip absentmindedly as she continued. He then sank back into the chair, fingers running down her arms until they found her fingers so he could twine his with them as he looked up at her.

His arms immediately encircled Millie when she settled in his lap, his lips pressing into her hair. Even though the pose they found together wasn't technically novel, it certainly felt that way. "What if," he questioned as she finished speaking, "I don't want us to work?"

Keiran shifted so he could look down at her, he gave her a bemused expression. "What if just working isn't enough? I don't think it really ever has been, for anyone. What if I want more than that? I think," he added, bouncing her a bit in his lap, "that we should aim for happy. Thrilled," he dropped a kiss to her nose. "Ecstatic, even."

His gaze passed over her features, seriously contemplating the idea of staying in the library forever with her. But their babies were waiting. And his father wouldn't have approved of Keiran's taking so long to find a way to take care of them. "Alright," he drawled slowly, nudging her until she stood so he could follow suit. "As much as I would love to keep you in here all day," he murmured, his fingers slipping under the hem of her top for a moment before withdrawing, "we have got little tots to take home."

A grin split his cheeks as he bent his knees, tossed his arms around her waist, lifting her off the wooden floor. One hand drew her leg around his hip to hold her up as he started towards the door. His injury would hate him for it later, but Keiran couldn't help it. It just seemed like the thing to do. Opening the door was difficult, and getting downstairs was harder, but the look on Bridget's face as he carried her in was one of such shock that Keiran couldn't help but chuckle. He set Millie down on the couch next to where Kelly was settled in and among the pillows. Liam, on the other hand, was sprawled out on the floor, still, so Keiran moved to settle next to him.

"Well," Keiran turned to look at his mother while he reached over to scoop Liam up and sit the boy onto his legs. "How quickly can you help us find all of their things, Mum? I dunno how long this leg fix is going to last."

Bridget lifted an eyebrow, but shrugged a shoulder with a smile. "I'll see what I can do. You lot stay put and relax, and I'll be back with everything I can find." A wink was sent Millie's way before the older woman made her way upstairs.

Keiran reached around to play with Liam's little toes, careful to keep the boy steady as he rested against Keiran's chest. "They're so big already," he mused aloud, leaning down to line his cheek up with the side of Liam's face. "Maybe we should forbid them from growing up anymore."

It was a small relief to the blonde witch that when she sat herself in her husband’s lap his arms did encircle her. It was enough to communicate to her that, really, everything was going to be alright and they would no longer be at odds and tread eggshells around each other. They’d just love each other and, of course, be ecstatic. Though her heart did leap into her throat and fear register on her features, she did soften her expression into one of playful reproach as she dug her elbow into him pointedly. Millie nodded, happy for happy, happy for thrilled, and happy for ecstatic. Any of those would satisfy her – even just working – because as long as she was working, happy, thrilled, and ecstatic with him that was all that mattered. There was nothing else and no one else for her.

At his behest, though somewhat slowly and reluctantly, Millie got up and extracted herself from the warmth of his arms. She pouted at him, her eyes sparkling with mirth all the same, and when reminded that there was a higher purpose to their being there she had to concede that hiding in the library wasn’t the just thing to do. They were there to bring their children home, to raise them properly amidst the magic and the excitement of life that they were due and had been denied. All that Millie thanked their stars for was that their children were young enough not to remember their rather unsettled first months of life. She contented herself that though they’d probably have wanderlust as a result she had managed to keep rather stationary while cooking them. It seemed that mad ideas and flipping from one place to another would categorise her and Keiran’s parenting. The children would never be bored, at least.

“Yes!” She exclaimed excitedly. “Let’s go!” A shriek escaped her lips when her feet left the floor and her hands slammed down bracingly on Keiran’s shoulders as the shriek turned into a laugh that tipped her head back and sent her hair shining off of her shoulders. She felt human again in that moment, as though all of the ice that had encased the both of them from themselves and most especially each other had been wiped away by one single moment in time. One single action. There they were, laughing their way down the stairs, young again, with all of the lines of worry smudged out of their faces. It was easy to believe that they were as they were. Unblemished. In those moments that’s what they were. They were a far cry from the people they had become and she didn’t know when all that time had been turned back. What had made them think twice about it? What had made them change? Well, she supposed, love, surely? It had to be. There was nothing else.

Millie bounced down happily, shooting a broad grin at her husband, beside their daughter whom she immediately tugged up into her embrace to shower kisses upon her cheeks. A cooing laugh lifted the lips of the little girl in the same way it did her father’s and Millie found herself grinning back, her cheeks straining as though about to burst, unable to contain the happiness that was fuelled within her. Lifting their daughter up into the air, Millie bent her arms down a few times, squalls rising from Kelly’s chest as she too seemingly perceived what her mother was going to do. Millie wiggled her eyebrows cheekily at her daughter before drawing Kelly back down into her lap then all of a sudden threw the little girl into the air, a cloud of bright pink magic speckled with little stars lifting her up to the ceiling so when she reached out her fist she could touch at the lampshade with a satisfied squeal. Millie got up on her knees, extending her arms, and then when the magic began to fail, it being only brief and wandless, the baby tumbled expertly back into her mother’s arms.

“I love you,” Millie whispered, pressing a kiss to Kelly’s cheek. Millie turned, feeling Bridget’s gaze, and she smirked in response to the wink, adding, “Thanks, Bridge!” when the lady went off to source her grandchildren’s belongings which Millie suspected, if Baldric was keeping an eye on them as much as he said he was, had grown in amount exponentially. She’d asked him to, out of selfishness mainly, but Baldric was always keen to play doting uncle and so she had a feeling that the bail money he owed Keiran that had been refused for a rather valid reason – and would have been anyway had he remembered, Millie imagined – was being put to more interesting use. She had heard something along the lines of a near-life sized giraffe a week or so ago. She had a feeling she was going to have to have a discussion with Baldric about not spoiling her children – to get himself some of his own and spoil them to rottenness. But then, Millie didn’t really mind.

“I think daddy’s right,” Millie cooed at Kelly, bouncing the baby on her knees, encouraging her to find a little bit more strength in her legs yet that one knee kept darting down to brace herself. They were a long way off of walking yet and Millie knew it, and was in fact glad for it, too. “You need to stop growing,” she continued, lifting Kelly up over her head, smiling as the girl kicked her legs enthusiastically. “Right this second you stop growing.” Kelly laughed at her. “You heard me,” Millie reiterated. “You stop it. I want you to be little and cuddly forever. Uh-huh. Yep. That’s what I want, baby girl. You gonna do that for me?”

Millie brought Kelly back down into her arms and cuddled her close, knowing that it wasn’t going to happen in any stretch of the imagination. They had time yet to enjoy their minuteness, though. With two you could hardly miss it, either. The only thing Millie wasn’t sure she was looking forward to was when they were up on their feet and wreaking havoc. She knew that at the least she had broken her grandmother’s coffee table which had earned her an almighty whack. As it was it meant that Seamus never spoke to Lavender’s mother again and he swore merry hell at her before doing so, too. No, the coffee table was far more important than the child that had managed to cut herself on the glass – oh no, but that mattered too because she’d also gotten blood on the new rug that had cost them the best part of ten-thousand pounds for some obscene reason no one really understood. Millie shook her head, banishing her thoughts as they were irrelevant and she wasn’t sure she could really remember the ins and outs of it beyond her father’s story, anyway.

It was while Millie was lost momentarily in thought that her wriggling daughter decided to conduct her escape attempt. Kelly shifted her bum past her mother’s knees and from there began to slide down the legs that Millie lifted up in order to catch her. Once they were brought up level, however, Kelly ground to a halt and an absurd little pout appeared on her mouth, the movements of the girl’s face having indicated her genes from both sides of the parental equation in no less than five minutes.

“Where’re you going, duck?” Millie asked curiously, tickling her fingers over Kelly’s belly. “C’mon wiggle bum,” Millie muttered to her, lifting Kelly back up into her arms before sliding off of the sofa herself and bumping down beside Keiran. “There,” Millie turned Kelly around so that her back was against her mother’s middle. Kelly grinned again, her toothless smile completely changing the way her face sat, and Millie found herself grinning, squeezing Kelly to her to pop a kiss on the top of her head.

“I think your mum might be giving them growing beans,” Millie smirked, marvelling at the length of their son who was content to sit with his father for the moment. Millie’s hands came down to Kelly’s feet and she lifted up the little girl’s legs, slicing them through the air playfully to the delight of the baby who continued to smile. Millie let them drop back down into her lap and she smirked as Kelly lifted up her legs as best she could, eager to do it again. “Is that the case?” Millie asked their daughter. “Has your gran been giving you growing beans? Growing beans for my big little wriggler, eh?” Millie picked Kelly up again and stood her on her feet. She held for a few moments before dropping back down, inevitably, onto her knees and Millie smiled, popping a kiss to Kelly’s nose.

“He looks like you, y’know,” Millie pointed out, addressing her boys with a contented, affectionate eye. “If he had the puff and the scruff, you could be twins.” She leaned up to steal another kiss from Keiran and smiled into it, keen to wear off the novelty of being able to do so quickly – though she doubted she’d succeed. Then again, with the amount of kisses it would take, she’d have fun trying. Kelly gave a cry and Millie broke the kiss, looking down between them at twin two.

“What?” Millie asked, lifting Kelly up out of her lap. “What, do you want a kiss? Is that it? Well, you’re going to have to ask nicely, y’know. You’ll have to say ‘daddy can I please have a kiss’ – can you say that?” Kelly said nothing of the sort, of course, seemingly treating it with the disdain it deserved, and Millie shook her head before lifting Kelly up to face Keiran. “There, get your kisses, baby.” She shook her head, smiling despite herself, and leaned around Kelly to press a kiss to Liam’s cheeks. “I love you,” she murmured to him, grabbing another kiss from the tip of his nose.

“Right, get out of the way, you,” Millie pulled Kelly back down into her lap. “I want my kisses,” she muttered to Keiran, a contented smile lifting her lips before leaning in to take exactly what she wanted. “I love you,” she told him resolutely. “Love you the most,” she whispered, adding, “just don’t tell the babies.”

A hand extended towards Keiran, pushing along the Prophet from a day before. Keiran's eyes landed on the headline, and his mouth opened as he turned to stare at Adrienne. A little smile curved her lips as she watched the realization flit across his features. Looking about the hall, Keiran took in the fact that the whole school seemed lighter, somehow. As if a weight had been cast off of their shoulders. And perhaps it had been, considering the news. Baldric looked disgustingly happy about something Keiran was totally sure he didn't want to question, and everyone was just far more chatty than usual.

Understanding dawned on him, and Keiran tucked the Prophet into the inner pocket os his robes as Adrienne turned back to her plate. Brow furrowing, Keiran had to wonder whether or not Millie already knew. After all, she was sitting beside him but didn't seem to be nervous or giddy, as he would have guessed. She must not have known. A stupidly pleased smile found its way onto his face and he turned to look at Millie, not even bothering to cover it up.

"What would you think," he began, lifting her hand in his to press kisses into her palm, "about taking a day or two off teaching? Hmm? We could go out or just stay in and relax. I'm sure the students wouldn't mind, either." Tilting his head to the side, he smiled again, then leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Without actually waiting for an answer, he pulled back and stood, addressing the students once they had quieted down. "Students! Faculty! I think it is time for a much needed break. Thus, I am quite glad to announce that we will not have classes today or tomorrow. Enjoy your days off, and we will return to regularly scheduled lessons on Thursday."

Chatter broke out among the students as Keiran pushed his chair back, stepping down from the table to look at the other professors. "I do apologize if this sets anyone back, but I promise you I have a good reason. If you need to, seek me out directly. But first: Mr. Wood? I need to ask for a chat with you."

He gestured towards the doors, waiting for Baldric to join him. He wished he could have just come right out and said what it was he was hoping for. But Millie could not find out, so they needed to speak in private. Once they were out of her hearing range, Keiran turned his head to look at the younger man as they walked, a slow smirk pulling at his cheeks.

"So. I think you mentioned once that you were determined to make up for the money you borrowed. I do not object to your decision now, and I did not then. But I have a better way for you to, as you say, repay me. A way that does not involve money, but rather a few favors."

That morning, birds with scarves about their feathered throats hopped between the branches on the trees in the courtyard. Through the crisp air, owls flew, themselves wearing winter clothing, bearing newspapers and post in their talons. Through one of the windows cracked at the very top to prevent a draught for as long as possible, the owls tumbled in, dropping their parcels before fluttering out another across the hall. The students, some scribbling into their work books furiously in order to finish work they’d neglected the night before, were just eating breakfast, a pleasant cacophony of chatter rising around them that, though muffled at the staff table, seemed to compliment the talk between those who had made it to breakfast that morning.

Uncharacteristically, Baldric had gotten to breakfast in good time. Further uncharacteristically, he’d been there longer than the Hayes’ whose bellies after a shower and a couple of cups of coffee to bring them around finally demanded nourishment. There they found him and the astronomy teacher chatting animatedly about seemingly nothing at all, especially there the latter was concerned, and it was extraordinary to Melissa, at least, that he was putting up with the nonsense that spouted from betwixt the elder witch’s lips – usually he would have already dismissed her. Something was afoot, of course, and the blonde witch decided that she wasn’t nearly awake enough to venture after what it was and half flopped down into the chair next to her husband, curling one leg underneath her before flicking her wand at the food – laziness, caught mid-yawn, stopping her from getting it herself.

A few bits of jam-slathered toast later to quiet the rumbling creature inside of her demanding food and Millie was keen enough to look at her magazine which a non-descript owl had been kind enough to drop her off. It was a Divination one, accompanied by a few letters from her grandparents and a post card from Elliot that, upon quick reading, she supposed had been written during a drunken night out though for the life of her she couldn’t decide why they would have ended up in Brighton. Shaking her head and finishing off adding jam to her newest piece of toast she got herself comfy in the chair and laid out her magazine to read, absent-mindedly munching away as she did so.

Upon Keiran beginning to speak, Millie looked up, a smiling lighting up her features as he stole her hand away. She let the magazine drop onto her lap and watched him, tickling her fingertips across his cheek where she could reach to. Now normally, Millie would have been all for chucking the lessons – especially when she was a student – but being on an even keel with her husband again now meant that she had no reason not to function normally as a professor, also. She’d been doing a lot better, really, and her students were excelling at a lightning pace that dazzled her – making her wish it had all been straight-forward for her at their age, too. Nevertheless, Millie was keen not to lose the pace they’d gotten together and she also hadn’t set any work for them so she couldn’t help but wince a little bit – though not unhappily – when Keiran cancelled the lessons.

Ordinarily, also, the witch would have stayed where she was but once Baldric got hesitantly to his feet she dropped her magazine onto the table and got up, donning her outer robe once more before hurrying down to the tables, her robes swishing about her ankles. Picking the Slytherin table to convene at where she had quite a few students sat together she called over the others and began to rattle through instructions for the next few days – things to bear in mind and reading that, if they so wanted, they could get stuck into which would help them for when classes began again. Any worries she tried to assuage as much as possible and it seemed that, collectively, everyone was very happy about the idea of having the days to recuperate and all the rest which she most definitely was not going to begrudge them.

Baldric passed the little crowd with a half-smile on his mouth, wondering when his friend had turned on the bug that made her magnetic and interesting as a person for her students. They seemed eager to get on with what she was setting them – in sharp contrast to his own who, at times, looked as though only re-enacting was going to liven them up. Following on after Keiran though, Baldric couldn’t help but run through the list of things that he could possibly be in trouble for. Standing on the desks was one. Accidently knocking over a suit of armour the other week – though he blamed Addie for that – also, possibly. Always forgetting to make sure there were no students out of bed at night was probably a substantial one as well. So, needless to say, Baldric was more than a little bit concerned as he fell into step with the elder man.

Baldric was about to open his mouth when Keiran spoke and a tinge of shock replaced the defensive look. He’d long given up hope of actually being able to repay the debt and the money was still sat in a jar on his bookshelf, taunting him. But Keiran surprised him. He didn’t want the money. Baldric did half want to shake the man and accuse him of being so like himself. A favour, though, Baldric could certainly do and, indeed, would do. So, gradually, the blonde man nodded and tried to find his words.

“I can do that,” he said. “Anything you like. Just name it and I’d be happy to. Though really, I mean … are a few favours enough to cover it? What you did was just … I could never do that – certainly not then. I was stuck so it’s … it’s a priceless thing you did and I don’t even know really where I’d begin let alone by paying you back the money. Favours? I mean … I just … is it enough?” He bit his lip, shoving his hands awkwardly into his pockets. He didn’t think it would ever be enough.

Keiran's smile grew as Baldric replied, his gaze jumping back to Millie for a moment as the men walked. His footsteps paused, letting Baldric leave the Great Hall first as he watched her talk to her students. Shaking his head in amusement, Keiran turned and started leading the way towards his office, listening to the rest of Baldric's confusion as he elaborated.

"What you asked for, Baldric... It wasn't something I could say no to." He shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets as they walked. He turned his head to look at the younger man briefly, but returned to looking forward. "I won't claim to fully understand what you have going on with Ben. Just as you probably don't get exactly what I have with Millie. No one should try to, because nobody's relationship will be exactly the same. But that doesn't mean I don't understand why you asked.

"Mate, I don't care if you think you're supposed to pay me back. You don't have to. But if these favors accomplish what they should, you can believe that I'll be the one who owes you." Keiran grinned, pushing open the door to his office.

He waited, letting Baldric walk in first, and then closed the door behind them, walking around to sit on the top of his desk and face the blond. "I think it's a safe assumption that you heard about the law being repealed," Keiran began, shooting the man a knowing look. "Millie, however... has not. Or it appears that way, since she hasn't said anything or acted differently. So I need you to help me take care of a few things so I can.... let her know." He concluded, a little smirk pulling at his lips.

Leaning to one side, Keiran pressed his palm against the top of the desk. "See, since I've really started to remember, I have been considering... well, I'm planning to ask her if she wants to renew our vows. I would rather get it right this time, than settle for the wedding she didn't like. But to do so, I need her unaware, and I need to ask you to watch the twins until tomorrow.

"I doubt you'll mind," he joked lightly, "and they love you. So if you don't mind that, it would be brilliant. I also need to figure how to distract her while I plan things. Merlin knows she'll probably come by and complain to me about canceling her lessons now that she's really starting to find her footing. If you have any suggestions, that would be brilliant. We can just tell her you wanted to spend time with them or something. Or maybe Ben would want to help? We could say he wanted to meet them. Regardless, if this plays out well, I think it would be safe to say we're even."