Chapter Text
“All right, I think it’s time to end this call,” laughing, Sirius dried his hands on the towel.
“Awww, why?”
“Because you’re being ridiculous and he’s only riling you up and then leaving Gid to deal with the consequences.”
“Eh, he’s used to it,” Fabian glanced his way. “Any anyhow, the only ridiculous thing here is that you’re there and I’m not.”
“Jealous?” He couldn’t help but laugh as he watched his two friends.
“Very much so, even if it would mean having to help doing the dishes.”
“He didn’t need to help, he offered,” Sirius protested.
“I did and contrary to you, I’ve already finished my preparations so came over for a visit,” handing over the last plate so it could be put away, Frank dried his hands as well. “And anyhow, we’re meeting back at your place tomorrow at noon. I think you can survive being separated for that long.”
“That’s what you think,” grinning, Fabian’s head turned back to Sirius. “Are we still on for tonight?”
“Of course, James will bring the cards and I’ll provide provisions.”
“What’s this? You’re playing cards without me?” Grabbing for his heart in mock-hurt, Frank sniffed theatrically.
“Yes, we’re playing strip-poker and since we’ve already seen your parts, you weren’t invited,” Gideon’s voice spoke up from behind his brother and groaning, Frank dropped his face onto the table.
“I thought we agreed we’d never talk about that again!”
“Never agreed to anything,” the fading crackling laughter made it clear the elder twin had just been passing by the fireplace as Fabian rolled his eyes.
“We’ve got the boys for the night so we asked Siri if he’d be willing to help us teach them Exploding Snap.”
Looking between them confused, Frank frowned. “Exploding Snap...with small children?”
“I found a set in the Junk Shop and James and I modified them so they’re child friendly,” Sirius explained as he closed the cupboard and came over.
“How exactly do you make Exploding Snap child friendly?”
“By taking out the strength of the exploding charms and exchanging them for smaller ones,” shrugging, Sirius placed a cup of tea before him. “You still have the explosion effect, but we modified them so it’s less loud and there’s neither fire or smoke. They just fall apart and resettle themselves without harming little fingers.”
“You should think of marketing that, Merlin knows I nearly lost an eye as a kid when Uncle Algie first taught it to me,” he remembered fondly. “Mum hexed him so badly that he’s never dared to touch another set ever again.”
“Yeah well, I’m terrified of your mother even without ever having been on the receiving end of her hexes. I’m with your uncle Algie on this,” Fabian admitted.
“Ditto,” Sirius agreed. “Your mother is terrifying.”
“Not to mention horribly overprotective of you,” Fabian added.
Snorting, Frank levelled him with a look. “Pot, kettle much?”
“I am not overprotective, James is the overprotective one.”
“He’s overprotective in a sweet and endearing way while your mother is just plain nightmare fuel with her enormous vulture hat,” Sirius protested.
“Not to mention that big arse red handbag as I still clearly remember her hitting Bilius over the head with it repeatedly as she chased him all over the station,” the redhead’s laugh was infectious. “I never did quite figured out what exactly he’d done to deserve that as she actually liked him.”
“He didn’t do anything, actually. Peter had thrown an Inflatable Tongue at Remus in retaliation of something he said, but Remus ducked and it soared right into her face.”
“Noooooo,” brown eyes widened comically and Frank had to fight hard to not burst into laughter at the memory. “And it licked her?”
“Extensively and disgustingly. Bilius had the misfortune of standing closest and burst out into laughter so naturally she thought he was responsible,” grinning into his cup, Sirius held out a third cup to Fabian who immediately pulled back and a moment later the flames turned emerald as the redhead stepped through.
“Did she ever discover it was Pettigrew?” Accepting the cup, he sniffed it appreciatively. “And why didn’t you invite me earlier?”
“No and I was wondering how long it would take before you’d invite yourself over as you normally never wait for an invitation unless Remus is home,” Sirius shot back.
Spluttering, Fabian hooked a finger into Sirius’ belt loop to reel him into his side and Frank momentarily marvelled at the younger man’s ability to keep his cup levelled enough to not spill any of the liquid inside before he realised that between James, Lily and even his own wife’s tendencies to do the same thing, he had more than enough practice. “You’re mean and where’s Lupin anyway?”
“No idea but I know he’s selected for tomorrow’s mission, though he said he might be running late and would meet us at your place instead of base if that was the case,” escaping the redhead’s grip as it loosened when the man remembered he wasn’t ticklish, Sirius took a seat at the table.
“Why did we need to go to base first anyway?” Hurriedly hiding a large yawn behind his hand, Frank lost the reply. “Sorry, could you repeat that?”
“I said that Dumbledore has some questions left about yesterday’s mission but Moody refused to call everyone in after the hours we clocked so Dumbledore told us to stop by Hogwarts tomorrow before we gather for the new mission.”
“And since we weren’t a part of yesterday’s mission, we’re not invited,” hiding a yawn himself, Fabian raised an eyebrow as he let himself drop in the seat across of them. “And that was the seventh time you’ve yawned in the last fifteen minutes by the way, everything all right?”
“Yeah, Neville’s just getting another tooth and he’s being a complete terror,” taking another sip from his tea, he sighed. “I’m sore all over as I’m his favourite chew toy.”
“The bite ring Lily gave you isn’t helping?” Sirius asked.
“It’s good throwing practice, that’s for sure. He prefers to bite into our fingers and hands so the massaging she advised is out, too as the few teeth he has are sharp.”
“Don’t discount the strength of baby gums,” shuddering in remembered terror, Fabian took a sip from his drink. “We learned that the hard way.”
“At least you learned from Bill so you never made that mistake with the others,” Sirius teased. “The first time Harry chowed down onto Remus' fingers is an occasion I will never forget.”
“Yeah?”
“I never knew he could scream that loudly,” laughing, Sirius placed his cup down and rose to his feet to walk to the cabinet to rummage through it. “Maybe the ring isn’t smooth enough or just not to his liking. Have you tried chilled fruit? The coldness of it usually soothes Harry a lot and I remember it settled Charlie and Georgie down, too.”
“I’m about ready to try anything. Any particular fruit?”
“Depends on what he likes, though apples are always recommanded by the books. Just cut them small and put them in this so he can bite on it, get vitamins and sooth his arching teeth,” coming back with a few items, Sirius handed over what looked like a pacifier but was broader and three different teething rings.
“Aren’t those Harry’s?” Inspecting the giraffe and monkey one’s, Frank just knew his son would love them both.
“They’re spare ones,” sitting back down, Sirius smiled. “We bought several different ones so he can have them at home and when he’s here. I’ve got a few more in reserve left over from when Fred and George were teething that I was going to give to Pan, but you can have a few, too.”
“Isn’t that a little overkill?” Fabian picked up the large glove that had also been brought over. “I love this thing, it’s brilliant.”
“What is it for?”
“For you to put on so your kid can bite you all he wants and it won’t hurt you one bit as the fabric is surprisingly thick and sturdy. I used it near constantly when the twins were teething.”
“Really?” looking at the glove with renewed interest, he plucked it out of the redhead's hands and pocketed it. “Can I take both the giraffe and monkey?”
“You can take them all to see what he’ll like and the ones he doesn’t you can just return so I can give them to Pan. I actually have the giraffe three more times in reserve as Harry loves that one,” a bemused look crossed over his features. “Which is funny as he was really scared of the giraffe when we went to the zoo.”
“So were the twins when we first took them,” Fabian reminded him. “Which naturally meant Charlie tried to climb through the fence to ride on its back.”
“Naturally,” shaking his head fondly at the reckless boy’s antics, Frank placed the items aside to take with him when he left. “I’ve been thinking of taking Neville to the zoo some time, might be nice to go with all of us.”
“It would be, especially now that they’re all a little older and will be more interactive. Last time we were there Harry slept half the day and didn’t really see much and Luna’s old enough now to be able to tag along, too.”
“So we make it a family day,” grinning, Fabian blindly reached across the table before blinking.
Stretching a little, Sirius cocked his head as Fabian looked around. “What?”
“Where’s your cookie jar?”
“Oh, Remus destroyed it this morning.”
“Why?”
“He was arguing with his girlfriend and got mad.”
“So he hit the treat jar?” Frank couldn’t help but ask confused even as Fabian pouted. “I mean, he shouldn’t hit her either, but why the jar?”
“I’m fairly sure he wasn’t trying to hit anyone and just gestured wildly, but either way it got knocked off the table and he’d already thrown out the glass shards before I came back home.”
“Why didn’t he just repair it?”
“I asked the same thing but he just grumbled at me and left,” shrugging, Sirius leaned back in his seat.
“You weren’t present for the argument?”
“No, I could already feel the tension in the air when she arrived so high-tailed it out of there to go visit Mrs. Rossi next door.”
“You mean you ran,” brown eyes twinkled in amusement. “That’s not very Gryffindor of you.”
“Peeves would tell you I was being a wise Gryffindor as women are plain terrifying when mad, witch or muggle makes no difference in that.”
“Wait, he’s dating a muggle girl? What happened to the brunette? Erm...”
“Jeannie and it’s the same girl but I don’t think they’re dating any more if his grumpiness was anything to go by.”
“It seems like he’s always grumpy these days,” there was worry in Fabian’s eyes as he reached for Sirius’ hand. “Do you want to stay over tonight?”
“You’d probably be grumpy, too if you had to spend weeks at a time among disgruntled werewolves,” squeezing his hand, Sirius smiled. “And it’s all right, I’m not afraid of Remus’ temper and either way I’ll probably spend the night at James’ as I promised Lily I’d help sort through her photos.”
“All right, just know that you are always welcome,” wetting his lips, the seriousness faded from his eyes. “I mean...if it were up to me you’d be moving in anyway, but free will and all that.”
“You’d have to get in line, James is forever telling me to come live with them, too,” shaking his head fondly, their dark-haired companion lightly bumped into Fabian.
“You already have your own bedroom there and I doubt Lily would mind,” Frank said.
“Considering that she’s the one who insisted it was decorated to my tastes, I’m fairly sure she’d actually be thrilled,” draining the last of his tea, Sirius’ smile grew. “But it’s very nice to know that if I ever get kicked out of here, I’ll have places to go.”
“You’ll always have a place with us, too,” considering his words, Frank shrugged sheepishly. “I mean, Neville will probably be all over you and we’d likely use you as a free babysitter, but you are welcome either way.”
“What is it with you lot and dumping your children on me?” Laughing, Sirius rose to his feet to clean away their empty cups. “I already have a kid I’m very happy with, I really don’t need more.”
“Pffff you say that now but we know the truth mister,” leaning back in his seat, Fabian grinned. “The moment the boys arrive you will be lost to us and you’re not better with either Neville or Luna.”
“Now that’s just mean. How can I be anything else when Luna is so utterly adorable and the twins are like miniature Prewetts, but cuter.”
“I’m wounded, oh so wounded,” a full blown pout appeared on Fabian’s face as he gave Sirius a mock puppy dog look. “You don’t think I’m the cutest redhead any more?”
“Well, that depends.”
“On?”
“Are we talking adults or children?” Grey eyes danced in laughter and Frank fought to hide his laughter as the redhead seemed to seriously consider it.
“Well, I can’t argue that the kids are cute, so adults.”
“Then you are absolutely the cutest,” Sirius told him seriously, fighting to keep a straight face as he rested on his arms at the far end of the table. “It would be a mash up with James because his Bambi eyes are absolutely adorable and I absolutely adore Lily’s long red hair, but since I’m assuming immediate family is ruled out, you’re definitely the cutest.”
“Yay! I’m the cutest adult!” Throwing his arms up in victory, Fabian did a weird little jiggly jive; ignoring Frank’s role of the eye and Sirius’ fond shake of the head.
“You’ll be the cutest dead guy if you don’t get your arse back home immediately to save my own,” they all turned to see Gideon’s head in the fireplace, giving his brother a stern look.
“Save you? From what?”
“Arthur just Flooed to warn me they’re leaving earlier and I do not want to greet Molly on my own,” the sternness faded into a pleading look. “Please save me.”
“Do I have to?” Groaning, Fabian dropped his face into his arms. “Can’t I just hide out here until she’s left?”
“And leave me to deal with her on my own? Some brother you are.”
“I’d be the sane brother by staying the hell away from her, she’s insane.”
“Yeah well, you’re not leaving me to deal with her alone. Sirius, Frank...can you force him to come home?”
“And how do you suppose we do that when I can’t blame him in the slightest for wanting to stay far away from your sister?” But even as he spoke, Sirius had already straightened and tugged Fabian to his feet. “Come on, face the hellhound alongside your brother.”
“If I’m going to have to face my doom this early in the day, I deserve fairy cakes!” the redhead protested loudly even as he let himself be dragged to the fireplace before turning to drop his head onto Sirius’ shoulder.
“Homemade fairy cakes, I might add,” he sighed. “And I want very thick earmuffs.”
“I can’t give you earmuffs without her getting even more worked up,” petting his head in comfort, Sirius gently pulled him upright again. “But I’ll bring along some fairy cakes to make up for having to face her, all right?”
“Can I petition for some of those fairy cakes, too?” Gideon bargained. “I mean, I’ve got to face her, too.”
“I’ll bring enough fairy cakes for you both and some extra for the children,” he promised soothingly as he turned him back around to the fire. “Go save your brother.”
“Yeah, yeah,” brown eyes turned to meet Frank’s own. “Frank, I’ll see you tomorrow and Siri, I’ll give you a sign when Madam Banshee leaves so you can come comfort us with hugs.”
“I’ll take fairy cakes over hugs!” Gideon grinned even as his head disappeared from the flames so Fabian could travel through.
“I’ll take two fairy cakes less and take Gid’s hug for myself, then,” picking up a handful of Floo powder, Fabian took a deep breath before stepping into the emerald flames.
“Good luck,” waving, they watched him disappear and Frank bit back a laugh.
“What does it say about her if even her own brothers dislike being around her?”
“That they have people knowledge?” Huffing out a laugh, Sirius turned back to the kitchen. “I’d better get started on those fairy cakes if I want them to be ready by the time she leaves.”
“How many fairy cakes are you going to make?” Scratching at his nose, Frank couldn’t quite hide his hopeful tone.
“Put the puppy eyes away already, I’ll make enough for you and James, too.”
“Only us?”
“And the girls. But you better get to your feet then and help me or I might just change my mind and only make some for a bunch of redhead males.”
He knew it was pure bluff as Sirius was already pulling out enough ingredients to make a few dozen fairy cakes, but Frank still rose to his feet to follow his younger companion into the kitchen so he could hand over ingredients and hopefully sneak a few tastes along the way.
“Do you think it’ll be another long mission?” He eventually asked as Sirius was spreading some jam and chocolate chips over the half filled cake tins before adding another layer of batter.
“I hope not, it’s been nothing but long missions all month. I don’t mind doing recon, but I’m not going to sit in the cold and rain for hours for nothing again.”
“It has been rather more rainy than usual for the time of the year,” Frank noted as Sirius slid the trays with the fairy cakes into the oven while a sweep from his wand set their used items to wash and dry themselves.
“It’s going to be a cold winter.”
“How do you know?” Somehow Sirius was rarely wrong when it came to the weather and Frank looked at his dark-haired friend curiously. “Because of Padfoot?”
“I don’t know, I just do,” pulling a small bag from the fridge, Sirius frowned. “The weather is colder than normal already and temperatures are down, so it just feels like it’ll be a cold winter and there will probably be a lot of snow, too.”
“The kids are going to love that.”
“They won’t be the only ones,” he pulled a bowl from the top of the fridge and placed it on the counter top, pulling away the cover to reveal butter cream and blinking as he recognised the bag as pre-made icing, Frank gave him a look with narrowed eyes.
“You were already planning to make fairy cakes for them, weren’t you?”
“Maybe,” giving him a teasing smile, Sirius grabbed a piping bag; placing it beside the bowl and bag. “Fab’s pretty predictable when having to deal with his sister and I may have taken the necessary precautions to meet his demands in advance.”
“You’re sneaky,” huffing out a laugh, Frank accepted the leftover chocolate chips to snack on them as they waited for the fairy cakes to bake.
“Or I’m just prepared,” cleaning away his used equipment, Sirius glanced at the clock before putting on the kettle and placing three cups on the table.
“Who are we expecting?”
“James, he said he’d be here around four but I doubt the twins will have gotten rid of their sister just yet so we’ll be able to share another cup before we leave.”
“I just hope she’ll pick her kids back up on time for a change. I don’t think Moody will accept a delay caused by her tardiness once again.”
“Arthur will be the one picking them up as he took the day off to take the boys to his parents for a few days as apparently their sister is having difficulties having all the boys around with the colicky baby.”
“I can imagine as those boys can be really noisy.”
“Yeah well, they’re children and children make noise,” pulling the whistling kettle from the fire, Sirius filled the teapot with the boiling water before adding the leftover water into a pan and placing that on the stove. “You don’t get children just to sic them on someone else every time they’re bothering you, that’s not how having children works.”
“Don’t Lily and James often do the same, though? Harry’s always either with you or you with them, too.”
“Because I like having Harry around and visit every chance I get. He can be very picky on who has to feed or dress him but although they ask for my help because I’m usually the person he’s demanding, they’ve never once forced him on me or demanded I watch him like Molly does,” brushing his fringe out of his eyes as he dropped the icing bag into the boiled water, Sirius continued.
“Don’t get me wrong, they love their nephews and like spending time with them, but they never signed up for being partial parents and yet that is exactly what their sister is forcing them to be despite knowing fully well neither of them has ever wanted children in the first place.”
“Arthur’s not exactly trying to stop her, though,” Frank couldn’t help but point out. “Or the twins themselves.”
“Oh they’ve tried saying no, but do you actually think saying no to that woman works?” Shooting him a bemused look, his companion put a tea strainer inside the kettle to let the tea stew. “She’s even forced them to take time off from work to watch the children for her. I know Arthur’s tried to stop her from doing so by taking time off himself, but there’s only so much free days he can take when he’s the only one making money.”
“That man has absolutely nothing to say in his own house, what his wife wants, goes.”
“I feel more sorry for their children as Arthur married her of his own free will while the children are stuck with her for life.”
“True,” there was little he could say to argue with that truth so he just stepped forward as Sirius pulled the trays out of the oven, using an extra mitten to slide the cakes off the trays and onto the counter top so the trays could be returned to the oven. “But at least it’s likely no more children will be born now that she finally has the daughter she wanted.”
“For the twins' sanity, let’s hope so,” stretching a little, Sirius waved his wand over the fairy cakes to rapidly cool them down enough to be able to decorate them.
As he pulled the heated icing from the water, Frank left him to his decorating to check on the tea and seeing it was ready, removed the tea strainer and filling two of the three cups with tea; pausing as the front door opened.
“Honey, I’m home!” Came the teasing call and Frank filled the third cup as well as Sirius returned the greeting and moments later James stepped through, eyes twinkling at the sight of the cakes. “Ohhh, are some of those for me?”
Stepping to his brother’s side, James leaned over his shoulder to hold his finger underneath the bag and receive some icing, lightly bumping into Sirius before pulling away to eat his treat.
“Oi, where’s mine?” Holding out his own finger, Frank grinned as Sirius rolled his eyes but obliged and he was surprised by the taste of orange as he ate his own treat. “This is new.”
“Yes, do you like it?”
“Yeah, it’s not as sweet as the one you normally use for us,” he licked his lips. “But won’t it make the cake itself more bitter, too?”
“No, it actually gives it more flavour instead of just sugar on top of sugar,” James answered instead, smile widening at his own no doubt questioning look. “I was his guinea pig.”
“Sometimes you just have all the luck, why am I never around when you’re trying new recipes?”
“You should come over more often then,” James teased, wrapping an arm around his brother without disrupting his work as Sirius tossed the empty icing bag into the trash and picked up the piping bag. “He’s also made a new chicken salad recipe and it’s heavenly.”
“You’re both horrible,” he complained mildly as he made James hold the bag so he could fill it with the butter cream more easily.
“We just love your kitchen skills,” rolling the bag around when the last of the cream had gone into it, James pushed on the top to get the cream to all slide down before handing it over so Sirius could continue decorating. “Who got you to bake for them?”
“Fab demanded treats in exchange for not running away from his sister,” the words made James grimace and Frank didn’t bother hiding a smile as it was well known none of their friend group liked the woman.
“I assume most are filled with chocolate then?”
“Just the twenty on the left. I made jam ones for you, Gid and Ali,” grey eyes narrowed as a tan hand sneakily tried to reach for one of the cakes and he threateningly glanced at the spate laying beside him so James quickly withdrew.
“Patience is a virtue, you know?”
“Patience’s clearly never been hungry,” pouting, James picked up the third cup of tea, humming approvingly as he took a small sip to test the heat.
“You mean your sweet tooth is acting up,” those warm grey eyes twinkled as he teased his brother, lightly bumping into him as they shared a smile before Sirius relented and handed over a fairy cake to both of them for tasting.
Whooping in delight at the treat, Frank carefully bit into the small cake; flavour exploding into his mouth and he hummed appreciatively at the combination of sweet and slightly bitter. “S’good.”
Opening his eyes again as he swallowed, he sighed contently. “You know, next time I’m made to do something I don’t want to do, I am going to demand treats, too.”
“And what could I demand if I’m made to do something, then?” Tossing the empty piping bag into the trash as well, Sirius washed his hands.
“How about hugs?” James suggested as he reeled his brother in for one, Sirius happily leaning against him.
“Hmmm, that would be acceptable. I like hugs.”
“Then we’ll give you hugs,” feeling giddy, Frank wrapped his arms around both of them and pulled them close; ignoring the grunt James gave as he half squashed him while Sirius laughed.
Pulling back after a moment, Frank eyed the fairy cakes. “So, which ones will I be taking along?”
“The ones I will be putting in a box,” accepting the two Tupperware boxes James retrieved, Sirius slid ten into each box before closing them. “The green lit contains the jam ones and are for Ali, the other one is for you.”
Glancing at the fairy cakes left, James grabbed another six boxes and Sirius quickly distributed the cakes among them, pushing two boxes to both of them and leaving one box on the counter top while he picked up the last one.
“For Lupin?”
“And Pete, he’s apparently visiting this evening so they can share them,” Sirius answered as he took the last box with him to the fireplace and picked up some Floo powder. “Lovegood house. Pan, present!”
Frank watched surprised as Sirius tossed the box with the fairy cakes into the fire before catching the item thrown back at him with a distant ‘thank you’ before he rose to his feet to return to their side, placing the tin can he’d received in return on the table while finishing his tea.
“What...do you do that often?”
“At times.”
James reached forward to pull the tin can towards him, peeking inside before pulling a few cookies out of it and sliding them into his own box.
“And you always receive something in return?”
“Usually, you know how Pandora is,” shrugging, Sirius accepted the can as James slid it back; pulling a few cookies out of it as well to add to the other boxes and Frank was left to stare at him in disbelief because no, he didn’t really know the woman well and he had no idea how she’d known.
But as neither of his companions seemed to think there was something even remotely strange about the interaction, he bit back his questions and simply drained the last of his tea.
“I haven’t seen Pettigrew in a while. How is he doing?”
“Dumbledore has him on infiltration missions a lot so he’s been busy, but he came by for dinner last week,” finishing his own tea, James collected their empty cups to wash them off as the flames in the fireplace flamed up once more and a large bundle of flowers came through to land on the mat.
Looking at the bundle of flowers, Frank blinked incredulous as Sirius simply walked over to pick it up to inspect them and, nodding after a moment, conjured two lilac flowers before picking up a handful of Floo powder and tossing it in again. “Prewett cottage.”
The moment the flames turned emerald, he tossed the two flowers through before coming back with the received flowers in his hand.
“What just happened? Those weren’t from Lovegood?” He was well aware he was staring as James simply held out a vase for his brother to put the flowers in as the other pulled off the piece of robe they’d been bound with to reveal it were actually two separate bundles, depositing one into the vase.
“No, Fabian just gave the all clear.”
“With flowers?”
“Yup,” arranging the remaining flowers to his liking, Sirius placed the vase on the table. “He’s usually sending flowers as a message, testing me to see if I’ll know the proper response.”
“Flower messages?” He swallowed his intended words of asking if they didn’t think there was maybe something a little odd about that but Sirius seemed to read him like an open book.
“You know Fab, he likes flowers and mysteries. He studied their different meanings so when he learned I like puzzles he began sending them when he wants to leave a non-urgent message.”
“Does it with me, too,” James added.
“Right,” suddenly the flowers his wife occasionally had on the dinner table came to mind and he wondered if the redhead did the same with his wife. “I think he does the same with Alice sometimes. What does this message mean?”
“The mistletoe is to represent our meeting place is safe grounds, no violence will take place; which means their sister left,” Sirius explained as he opened the other bundle to separate some white flowers from the rest. “The almond stands for a promise, probably meaning the fairy cakes I promised him and the balsamine means impatience so he wants us to come over quickly. I’m not sure if that’s because he needs me to keep the kids busy or because he wants his fairy cakes, though.”
“Probably just wants you there,” James teased, pointing out the other flowers in the vase. “The dandelion is for overcoming hardship, so probably stands to represent that he survived his sister’s visit and the eglantine rose probably means he wants a hug as it symbolises hope for healing wounds and having to deal with his sister most definitely counts as being wounded.”
“How...”
“I learned alongside him,” because of course he did so Frank just rolled his eyes as James grabbed another vase for the flowers Sirius had separated and handed over a mortar and pestle while taking the leftovers from the bundle from him.
“And those?”
“These are flowers I requested as I need to replenish my potion supply and he grows them for me as James’ garden isn’t big enough to grow everything I use and I don’t have one at all,” Sirius explained as he pulled the stems from the white flowers he’d separated.
“What do you use them in?”
“I use the begonia in headache relieving potions, yarrow for Pepper-Up potion, lavender for Dreamless Sleep and from the chamomile I brew tea for the girls to help relieve their monthly pains.”
“Right,” it was rather interesting to see Sirius in his element as he first washed and then grind the flower pedals into mash and Frank watched in awe as his friend explained the medical applications those flowers were for as Potions had never been his strong suite and he’d only passed by the skin of his teeth. “But you separated those...that’s yarrow, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Because a little known use of yarrow is to relieve toothache and if I grind these into powder, I can make a paste out of them and you can smear a little amount onto Neville’s gums or just add a few drops to his milk.”
“He’s teething again?” James asked interested as he filled a glass with hot water and placed it beside Sirius.
“Yeah,” smiling at the compassionate grimace he received, he watched Sirius add a little of the water to his mixture. “Why did you apply for a teaching job when you’re obviously a Healer?”
“I’ve thought about it after Dumbledore said we were too young and too inexperienced to teach,” as Sirius spoke, Frank had to fight down a scoff at the reminder that their old headmaster believed Sirius of all people to be too inexperienced to teach when he’d given tutoring lessons to half the school while still a student himself.
“I became a Healer to help the people I care for and to be able to provide immediate aid in the war,” he hesitated, biting his lip as he looked down at his work. “I thought I might be able to take it up professionally at some point, but they keep calling me in to identify body fragments of people I know and then with the Bones’….”
As he clammed shut James wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him close and Frank swallowed thickly at the reminder of the murder of Edgar and his family, still seeing the horrendous slaughter scene branded on his retina and remembered Dumbledore himself had asked Sirius to oversee the gathering of body parts to ensure they could try to put the bodies back together as much as possible.
It forcefully reminded him that neither of the men before him had any sort of formal training like the others did. When their friends had joined they had received the crash course of dealing with what they were going to come across but neither Sirius or James had ever received that as they hadn’t exactly joined in the standard way.
Even when he’d still been a student, they’d brought Sirius in to try and heal the injured; something which had only increased once they realised he was aware of the Order and had also begun to use him as a scout, James naturally tagging along.
By the time the two had graduated, they had already been unintentionally involved in several missions and the switch from aid to member had happened seamlessly and without any real conversation taking place so the crash course had never even been considered.
Not that it would have protected them from the traumatising situations they often found themselves in, but it might have prepared them a little better instead of just being tossed into the deep; especially Sirius since he had his medical licence that was of great use treating any injured party.
“I don’t think I could stomach doing it professionally,” Sirius didn’t seem aware of his thoughts as he found his voice again, giving James’ hand a squeeze as he pulled away to return to his work. “I did actually think of becoming an Unspeakable, though.”
Effectively lifting the mood back up, Sirius gave a small shrug as Frank blinked up to him. “It’s always been something that interested me, the work they do.”
“It would suit you,” as surprising as the declaration was, it was actually something Frank could see his friend doing as he was always researching a variety of things and would indeed fit in well in the Department of Mysteries. “Maybe it’s something to look into after the war?”
“Yeah...maybe,” Sirius’ tone was uncertain but sensing he didn’t want to talk about it, Frank decided to return to their previous subject.
“So you explained pretty much all the flowers, but why the roses? Alice never received roses before.”
“That’s an inside joke,” almost immediately the warm grey eyes lit up as Sirius smiled fondly and lightly brushed a finger over the delicate petals.
“His newest version to propose,” James chuckled. “He’s been adding them to his messages for a while now, though they vary in colour depending on his mood and on what is blossoming in his garden at the time he sends his message.”
Huffing out a laugh, Frank shook his head bemused at the blatant flirting the redhead was more than known for. “I really should’ve known.”
“You should’ve,” James agreed, waggling his eyebrows. “So...you mentioned your wife gets flowers too and you clearly didn’t realise they were from Fabian so….who did you think was sending them?”
“Honestly? I never put any thought into it,” he admitted a little sheepishly, scratching at his ear. “I just figured she got them herself, which I realise now is a rather stupid thought as she doesn’t care about flowers at all.”
“The first time I received a bundle after graduation, Lily freaked out,” brown eyes nearly spilled over with the love he had for his wife as he spoke. “She blew the flowers up, thinking it was a trap.”
“That girl of yours has a temper, that’s for sure,” laughing, Frank pushed his hair out of his face. “What did Fab say to that?”
“He laughed when I told him about it. I’d seen the flowers just long enough to look back at them through my memory and choose our reply accordingly and added an additional purple hyacinth and a red lily.”
“Why?”
“Because a purple hyacinth represents an apology and the red lily would tell him who was sorry as it represented Lily and her red hair.”
“And did he understand the message?”
“Yeah, he contacted me through the Floo and had a good laugh about it,” handing over a small potion bottle when Sirius stopped stirring, James glanced at his pocket watch. “But if you’re done then we really should get going if we want to have enough time to teach the boys the card game. Did you want to tag along?”
“No, I think it’s about high time I headed home as Alice will probably be wondering what’s keeping me,” accepting the bag James handed over, Frank slid his own cake boxes and baby supplies inside, nodding in gratitude as Sirius handed over the potion and slid it into the bag as well.
“At least you go home bearing gifts,” Sirius said as a sweep of his wand sent the supplies he’d used to clean themselves and return to the cupboard. “Tell her hi and that we’ll see her on Friday. Oh, and don’t forget to ask her about the plans for Halloween.”
Nodding, Frank watched James lock the front door and check the stove and lights to ensure everything was out before coming to the Floo to wave him off, Sirius at his side.
“I’ll come pick you up at James’ so we can travel to the base together,” nodding to the brothers, he collected some Floo powder, frowning. “I’ll also pick up some Floo powder for you when I’m in Diagon Alley tomorrow morning, you’re running low.”
“It’s on the grocery list, but I’d appreciate that,” smiling, Sirius and James waved as he stepped into the emerald flames to return home.