Chapter Text
Euphemia Potter stood gazing out her kitchen window looking out onto the sprawling yard of Potter Manor. She watched as her son gave flying lessons to her daughter, who was only a year younger than him.
"At it again, are they?" Fleamont Potter announced himself as he came into the room to join his wife by the window. "That's every day so far since they've been home."
"Yes, well with James having made the team, Adeline is pretty keen to make it this year," Euphemia replied while keeping her gaze on the two children who were now hovering several feet above the ground on a set of matching brooms- a gift for each of them last Christmas.
"Addie sure doesn't like to let James do anything to one up her," Fleamont chuckled in amusement before he went over to make tea for him and his wife.
"Sometimes I worry James will lead her into trouble though," Euphemia confessed with pursed lips, although not without affection.
Fleamont chucked again. "Darling, Addie is much too good for that."
Euphemia smiled now in response to turn and face her husband.
"That or she's that much smarter than James and gets away with it," she countered. "We get a letter nearly every week from the school outlining James' antics, but are yet to receive a single one about Adeline. And they are much too close for me to believe she's not just as mischievous."
Fleamont walked back over with two steaming cups, handing one over to his wife who then went to sit down at the dining table in the adjacent room. It was still early enough in the morning that the sun was only just peeking over the tree line. The children had woken up hours before and eaten a quick breakfast before heading outside where they had been for the past two hours. Euphemia had heard the children wake and got herself up soon after, but by the time she arrived downstairs, the house-elf had already helped the children pour their cereal and clean up after them as they ran out the door. Her husband instead had taken a lie in since it was a rare day off for both of them from the Ministry.
The couple who were now enjoying each other's company were interrupted by a tapping at the window. Euphemia turned her attention to see their owl Artemis with the post. Fleamont was already standing to collect the three envelopes Artemis held in her mouth before Euphemia could do it herself.
"Ah, this one is from the Ministry," Fleamont announced placidly which turned his wife's mouth into a frown.
"It's a summons," he continued which confirmed Euphemia's suspicions.
"It's our day off, dear," she sighed even though she knew it didn't matter.
"Yes, but there has been another disappearance," his explanation came out more strained before he came over to kiss her forehead and then left to retrieve his cloaks.
Euphemia sighed before turning her gaze toward the remaining two letters which she had already recognized had the Hogwarts seal. This prompted her to get up and open the back door which was just off the kitchen.
"James! Adeline! Your grades are in from Hogwarts," their mother exclaimed into the yard which prompted the children to quickly dismount from their brooms and rush towards the house.
"James! Wipe off your boots! You already make enough mess for poor Garrick to clean," Euphemia chastised her son while referring to their family house-elf.
Her son James obligingly returned to the back door to remove his boots without a second thought before re-entering the dining room where Euphemia awaited with the crisp envelope. Despite his mischievous nature, James did always obey and respect his parents, much to their liking.
Both of their children were very close with their parents, despite the long hours Euphemia and her husband were used to working at the Auror Office. It had been a difficult sacrifice to make when they had decided to have children, but Euphemia and Fleamont were dedicated to their jobs and in turn spent most of the daytime hours during the work week at the office. It had become much easier when the children started attending school away at Hogwarts, but both parents tried their hardest to show their children just how important they were to them. In turn, both Adeline and James seemed to understand the responsibilities that came with being an Auror and what that meant for their parents. As it was, they were both actually quite boastful of their parents' profession.
"How did you make out, Adeline?" Euphemia asked her daughter who was the first to open her letter.
"I passed all of my classes! But I could have done better in History of Magic," she answered before passing over her letter for Euphemia to read.
"Ah, well Professor Binns actually taught when I was going to school, so I can understand the situation," her mother reasoned.
James then tore into his own letter open to reveal similar grades as his sister.
"Well, I guess this calls for celebration now that Adeline is able to carry on to third year and James onto your fourth," Euphemia said provokingly.
"There was doubt?" Adeline countered in mock offense.
"Of course not, dear," Euphemia reassured. "Why don't we head out and celebrate with a fancy dinner in the city?"
"Will dad be able to come along?" James asked probably already guessing their father had been called into work.
It was a common enough occurrence- especially recently with all the happenings in the wizarding world.
"I'm afraid not, dear," his mother answered to watch both of her children's faces fall. "But we can collect Sirius and have him stay the night."
The Potter's always took every opportunity to take James' best friend who he met in his first year, Sirius Black, out with them or have him stay over. It broke their hearts to see the treatment that boy endured in his own home under his insane, blood supremacist mother. Another, more personal factor was that the Potter's had at some point intended to have more children, but two ended up being the maximum two aurors found possible to handle.
So, from the day James had introduced Sirius Black to their family, Euphemia had grown to love the boy as her own.
That night Euphemia spent the evening at a nice Italian restaurant with all her children, one they usually frequented whenever there was cause for celebration. Sirius had excitedly joined them and brought along an overnight bag as well. It was also helpful that since the birth of Adeline, Fleamont had argued that the family should have a muggle car so as to not have to apparate with two small children. The common presence of Sirius around made having a car even more practical since it was extremely difficult to side apparate three children.
Fleamont did end up joining the family since the restaurant was close enough to the Ministry and Euphemia had sent him an owl with the good news. It ended up being quite the lovely evening where the boys were surprisingly on their best behavior and spent most of it asking Fleamont about details from the odd disappearances that had been happening. It sometimes worried Euphemia of their keen interest in auror affairs, but at the same time she prided herself on her son's aspirations for following in his parents' career paths.
Euphemia also watched her daughter who lit up every time her father spoke, especially during his gifted ability for being an excellent story-teller. She was sitting in-between Fleamont and James and talked of nothing more than her goal for making the quidditch team this year. In return, James and Sirius both beamed at her encouragingly as they had both made the team this past year and were helping her to train. Euphemia also thought that playing quidditch in their third year was reason enough for concern, but she couldn't help being proud of her children's efforts which is why she remained silent on the matter.
As they all sat around the table, Euphemia took the time to simply enjoy the moment. As cliché as it sounded, even in her own mind, she knew times were changing. These disappearances were nothing to be taken lightly and they had just opened a covert investigation into them. She also knew that her children were getting older by the minute and would grow to be more and more independent. She was fiercely proud of her children, Sirius included, but she wasn't quite prepared for things to change as all three of them seemingly threw themselves towards their futures. Euphemia knew that one day it would have all changed and that made her heart both gleam and ache.