It was different cooking for her family without Emma around, Allison mused as she made dinner. Her middle daughter had turned out to be an excellent cook and she loved learning all the recipes that Allison taught her.
"I'm hungry," Olivia said from the table.
"Nearly ready," Allison said looking over her shoulder. "Adam will you pour your sister some juice, please?"
"Okay," Adam said, reaching for Olivia's glass.
Jon chuckled as he finished reading Emma's latest letter home. She had written nearly two pages on the foods she had eaten since her arrival. There wasn't a single mention of her classes.
"What's so funny?" Allison asked.
"Em's letter," Jon said folding it and setting it aside. "All about food."
"I miss Em," Olivia said.
Allison set the casserole dish down in the middle of the table. "I know, sweetheart. I do, too."
"I kind of do," Adam said.
Jon smiled at his son. "You do, buddy?"
'Don't tell her," Adam said quickly.
Jon laughed. "Your secret is safe with us, Adam."
"Why wouldn't you want Emma to know you miss her?" Allison asked her son.
Adam shrugged. "Because I told her I wouldn't."
"Adam!" Allison exclaimed, but she started laughing.
"She got on my nerves!" Adam exclaimed. "Always telling me what to do!"
"She's your older sister," Jon pointed out. "You try to tell Livvie what to do sometimes, do you not?"
Adam started to shake his head, but Olivia giggled. "He does, Daddy!" Olivia said before taking a sip of her juice.
"It's just little things," Adam mumbled.
Olivia smiled when Allison put a dish in front of her. "Smells yummy, Mummy!"
"Your favourite, sweetheart," Allison smoothed back Olivia's brown hair.
"Em's favourite too," Jon recalled. "In fact, she had in her letter that she wanted to make this for us when she comes back."
"Yummy," Olivia declared.
Allison smiled at Adam when she handed him a plate. "We can write to her and Caroline after dinner if you'd like."
"Okay," Adam nodded. "That would be fun."
"I want to draw a picture for them," Olivia said.
"We'll send it along," Allison promised.
"Maddie used to send Josh and me stuff all the time when we were at Hogwarts," Jon remembered. "We had to promise to hang up all her pictures."
"Did you?" Allison asked.
Jon nodded. "Of course. You don't cross Mad Dog."
"That's true," Allison nodded.
"Did Aunt Frankie send you stuff?" Adam asked his mother.
"Your aunt Frankie wrote to me and Chiaki to send HER stuff," Allison recalled. "Boys names and the
like..."
Jon laughed. "Frankie...."
"Boys are yucky," Olivia said.
"Yes, they are," Jon said grinning at her. "You keep thinking that, sweetheart."
"Jonathan," Allison chastised.
Olivia giggled. "Daddy's in trouble."
"I'm always in trouble," Jon quipped.
"But we love you anyway," Allison said nudging him.
"We do, Daddy," Olivia nodded.
"Thank you, baby girl," Jon said. "I love you, too."
Adam was gobbling down his dinner. "I'm going to tell Em that this tastes better when you make it, Mummy."
"Adam," Allison laughed. "Thank you, but Em makes a good casserole too."
"Not as good as this one," he replied saucily.
Allison just shook her head. "Well, do you remember those peanut butter biscuits you liked so much?"
"Yeah," Adam nodded.
"Em made them," Allison said. "Because she knew they were your favourite."
Adam stopped eating. "She did?"
Allison nodded. "The ones you said were the best biscuits you'd ever eaten."
"I didn't know," Adam said.
"Well, now you do," Allison said. "She's a good cook."
"I guess," Adam agreed.
"Hard to admit when you're wrong, mate," Jon said with a grin.
"I'm done," Olivia said. "Can I go draw?"
"Sure," Allison said. "But after your dad and I finish in here, it's bath time."
Adam groaned. "Do I have to?"
"Yes," Allison said. "Unless you like being dirty and stinky..."
"Stinky Adam," Olivia sang.
"Shut it, Livvie," Adam said sliding out of his chair.
"Adam Jonathan," Jon said. "Don't talk to your sister that way!"
"Sorry," Adam muttered.
Olivia came back with a piece of parchment and her crayons.
Jon started clearing the table. "What are you going to draw, Liv?"
"Some biscuits," Olivia drew circles on the parchment.
"Em will love that," Jon said. "And what about for Caroline?"
"I don't know yet," Olivia said.
Jon patted her on the arm and carried the plates to the counter. He kissed his wife on the cheek. "Frankie really wrote to you for boys' names? "
"Three times a week," Allison replied.
"I take it your dad didn't know that," Jon said with a laugh.
"Of course not," Allison shook her head.
"At least she's settled down now," Jon said.
"Will tamed her down," Allison used magic to clean up the dishes.
"Like you did to me," Jon said.
"You were never too wild," Allison remarked.
Jon nudged her before using his wand to clean the dishes. Allison put the leftovers in the icebox. "I miss them, too," Allison said softly. "I'm really glad Em has Caroline there."
"Me too," Jon said.
"Our little free spirit," Allison said leaning against him.
"She's certainly one of a kind," Jon nodded. "This house isn't quite the same without
her."
"Do you think she sounded happy in her letter?" Allison asked, concern etched across her face.
"She's eating three full meals a day," Jon said. "And I'm sure she's snacking in between."
"Not just that," Allison said. "You really think she seemed happy?"
"Sure, she seems fine," Jon replied.
Allison smiled and rested her head on his shoulder.
Jon kissed the top of her head. "Why don't you go see what Livvie's up to? I'll finish here."
"Okay," Allison said. "Thanks."
"And you know... I haven't had a bath today," Jon said innocently.
"Oh, really?" Allison asked with a grin.
"Maybe you can come clean me up," Jon said.
"Maybe," Allison whispered in his ear. "If you play your cards right..."
"I know all the right things to say," he told her softly.
Allison gave him a kiss. "And I know all the right things to do."
"Daddy!" Adam shouted. "Livvie took my quill!"
Livvie held it up triumphantly. "Mine!"
"Give it back to him," Jon told his daughter. Olivia's lower lip trembled. "I have plenty of quills in my office that you can have," Jon told her. "That one is Adam's."
Olivia shook her head. "Mine."
Jon levelled his gaze at her. "The puppy dog eyes don't work on me, Livvie. Give that back to Adam."
Adam yanked it out of her hand. Olivia cried out. "Mummy! Mummy!"
"You two," Allison sighed. "I think an early bedtime is in order."
Tears streaked down Olivia's face and she held her arms up for her mother.
"I want it," the little girl sobbed.
Allison picked her up. "It's Adam's, Livvie. You can't just take things that don't belong to you."
"Yeah," Adam said grumpily.
"And you shouldn't snatch things out of your sister's hands," Jon told him.
"It hurted," Olivia buried her face in Allison's shoulder.
"Sorry," Adam muttered.
"Did you finish your homework?" Jon asked his son.
Adam nodded. "Even the maths."
"Good," Jon nodded.
Allison carried Olivia into her bedroom. She gingerly sat down with the little girl and Olivia kept her head buried in Allison's shoulder.
"What's the matter, baby?" Allison patted her back.
"Miss Em and Sissy," Olivia said softly.
"I miss them too," Allison told her. "But they'll be home soon for Christmas hols."
Olivia looked up at her mother and smiled. Allison wiped away her tears. "And next time you want to use one of Adam's quills, ask him first, okay? You wouldn't like it if he just took something of yours without asking."
"Why?" Olivia asked.
Allison tweaked her nose. "Because it's the nice thing to do. You should never take something that belongs to someone else without asking them first."
"Oh," Olivia nodded as if she understood.
"Time for bed," Allison said. "I'll get your pyjamas and you pick out a book."
"I want a fairy tale," Olivia said immediately.
Allison grinned. "You always want one of those."
"I love them," Olivia lifted her arms as Allison undressed her.
"Just like your big sisters," Allison said. Olivia smiled as her mother pulled Emma's old set of Ariel pyjamas over her head.
Jon came into the room and grinned at the two of them. "I hope I didn't miss the story."
"Mummy didn't start," Olivia said, hopping into her bed.
"How's Adam?" Allison asked.
"Taking his bath," Jon answered.
Jon did a dive onto Olivia's bed causing the little girl to laugh. "Daddy you're so silly!" Olivia laughed.
Allison patted his shoulder playfully. "Why don't you read since you do the best voices?"
"I want the Princess Mummy story," Olivia lay back. "About you and Daddy..."
Allison chuckled. "Okay, but then its lights out."
"Okay," Olivia agreed eagerly.
Olivia cuddled up with her father and listened intently as her mother began the story.
She was asleep before Allison was halfway through. They tucked the covers around their daughter and turned out the lights.
"She misses the girls," Allison whispered to her husband.
"I know," Jon said, closing the door halfway.
"I do too," Allison said. "I think I'll send them both a care package."
Jon smiled at his wife as they peeked in on Adam.
Adam was just getting into bed. He smiled at his parents. "Night."
"Did you wash up properly in the bath?" Allison asked him.
Adam nodded. "Yes."
Allisonkissed his forehead. "Good night, love."
Jon mussed his son's hair. "Night, buddy." Adam smiled at them both and pulled his covers over his head.
Allison followed Jon out of the room. He turned and caught her around the waist. "Now, how about my bath?" he asked in a husky voice.
Allison laughed as he picked her up in his arms. "Jonathan!"
"I'm a very dirty boy," he said wickedly.
Allison gave him a kiss and looked impishly at him. "Well let's see what I can do about that."
*** *** ***
"Today's mission," Lupin was saying as Harry slipped into a chair near the back of the room. "It's a dangerous one. Rabstan Lestrange broke out of custody three weeks ago."
"It says here that he's been after unseating the Minister and is looking for allies to help his quest to bring Vol-- You Know Who back to life," Josie read from her parchment.
"Still afraid of saying his name?" Harry could not resist asking. "He's long gone, Josephine."
Lupin cast him a glare before continuing. "I want a group of eight of you to go in and bring him back here."
"Remus and I were thinking we would split into teams of two," Josephine continued.
"Precisely," Lupin nodded. "In fact, Josephine AND Harry will lead."
Harry was already in a bad mood given his fight with Hermione. He had stayed with Neville and Cho last night and had not spoken to his wife since their row. Now, his mission had become a partnership. What the hell was Lupin thinking?
Josephine was obviously thinking along the same lines as she was staring at Lupin in horror as the older man named off the rest of the pairs.
"Use extreme caution," Lupin said to them all. "Lestrange is a ticking time bomb."
"I've dealt with Lestrange and his family before," Harry stood up.
"So you know exactly what you're up against," Lupin said clapping him on the back. "Good luck to you all."
Josephine glared at Harry. "You didn't do so well protecting your godfather from a Lestrange."
The door to the interrogation room slammed shut and the table began to shake. Neville put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "Easy, mate. Let it go."
"Do NOT EVER talk about Sirius," Harry warned Josephine. "EVER!"
"Sorry," Josephine said with a shrug.
"That was really uncalled for," Neville said to Josephine when Harry slammed out of the room.
"And his snide comments when I was giving the briefing weren't?" Josephine countered.
"I'm not saying what he said was right. You just hit below the belt is all," Neville told her.
Josephine nodded. "I'm sorry."
"I'm not the one who needs to hear an apology," Neville said. "Harry owes you one too, but you both have to learn to work together."
"We are working toward a common goal," Josephine admitted. "I guess I can try and be the bigger person and fight fairly."
Neville resisted the urge to roll his eyes and went to go talk to his partner Natalie.
Josephine gathered her notes and took a deep breath to calm down. This mission was going to be her chance to shine. She was sick and tired of playing second fiddle to Harry Potter. That arrogant jerk thought this job was already his, Josephine thought bitterly. She wouldn't let him upstage her on this mission. Not like he had on the others. She could see him just outside the interrogation room talking to his son.
They both turned and caught her looking at them. Harry's eyes were still glinting in anger.
Good, Josephine thought. She would use that to her advantage.
"I hope I don't wind up doing something I'll regret," Harry said to Ethan, pushing his hands through his hair.
"You'll be brilliant like you always are," Ethan said loyally.
"Thanks," Harry said, his son's words calming him down.
"Something else bothering you?" Ethan asked.
"Just had a fight with your mother," Harry grunted.
Ethan looked at him in surprise. His parents rarely fought. "Bad?"
"I stayed at Neville's last night," Harry admitted.
Ethan winced. "That bad..."
Harry sighed as he saw his fellow Aurors gathering. "I have to go."
"Good luck," Ethan said to him.
"I'll see you later," Harry clapped him on the shoulder before heading away.
Harry pointedly ignored Josephine as he readied himself for the mission.
"We need to figure out what we're going to do once we get to the house," Josephine told him.
Harry reluctantly turned to look at her. "What were you thinking?"
"We need to trap Lestrange," she said. "So we corner him in a room with no exits and no fireplace."
"The house will be heavily warded," Harry said. "We have to find some way to break those."
"Should be simple enough with a cleansing spell," she replied.
"Those are your specialty," Harry had to admit. Josephine gazed at him in surprise.
Harry looked back at her. "Look, let's just put aside our differences for the day and just work together to get Lestrange."
"Fine," she said coldly.
"We're Apparating just outside the village," Harry said.
"Everyone ready?" Neville asked, nodding to Harry and Josephine.
Josephine nodded. "I was born ready."
Harry bit his tongue and led the group from the headquarters. They Apparated outside London in a dingy, dirty town.
Harry pulled the hood up on his cloak and Josephine did the same.
"When inside I want you two to go around back," Harry directed. "And you two around that side."
"I'll disarm the wards," Josephine said. "It should only take a few minutes."
"Spread out," Harry said, crouching low.
The team did as he asked and Harry cleared his mind of anything else but this mission. It would be quite a coup to capture Lestrange. He had troubled them for years. He glanced over at Josephine, who was concentrating on removing the wards. Harry had meant what he said. She was very good at breaking through complicated wards. And under most circumstances, she was a good Auror.
It was a shame that she couldn't handle herself professionally in other ways, he thought, looking back at the ramshackle house.
Josephine made quick work of the wards and chanced a peek inside the window. She saw
Lestrange sitting at the table, drinking. An idea suddenly came to her. She could make the collar and send Harry off
to the other side of the house. With a wave of her hand, she warded the opposite side of the house. Harry would not be
able to get in and she would surprise Lestrange. It was perfect, she said standing up and slowly sauntering over to
him.
"When we go in," she said. "I'll go left. You go to the right. We can try and surround
him."
Harry nodded. "You took care of the wards then?"
She nodded.
Harry looked over at the house. "Okay, then. Let's do this."
Without another word, he moved silently towards the house, Josephine on his left. "Meet in the back," he told her.
Josephine nodded and hid her smile as she made her way back to the house.
"Surround him and we'll have him." Harry said before ducking right into the shadows.
Josephine rolled her eyes. Give orders now you arrogant arse, she thought with a smirk. You'll be taking them from me in just a few days.
Harry kept close to the wall, his eyes peeled for any movement in the darkness. He made a move to open the door, but the back of the house was completely protected.
He muttered a quick spell to see if it would break the ward, but nothing happened. Harry cursed Josephine. She obviously was not as good at this as he gave her credit for, Harry thought angrily. But, she had assured him that the wards were down. Harry sighed heavily as the realisation hit him. She had sent him back here so she could capture Lestrange herself.
"Bitch," he muttered under his breath. Lupin would assuredly hear of this and she would be kicked out of the running.
"Potter!" someone called out from behind him.
Harry spun around, his wand out.
There was no one behind him and Harry kept his wand at the ready.
He heard a low chuckle from his left and swung his free arm around.
"My sister-in-law took care of your godfather," the man's voice taunted him. "It will be my pleasure to take care of you."
Harry growled low in his throat. "LUMOS!"
A small beam of light shined from the endof his wand, illuminating the yard. There was no sign of Lestrange, but his cold laughter echoed in Harry's head. Where the hell was Josephine?
Harry kept his back to the wall and carefully slid towards the door. This was not going well.
"Show yourself, Lestrange," Harry called out.
Harry backed out of the room still using his wand to see. It was even darker in the corridor as he made his way to the back where he would meet up with his fellow Aurors. He heard the back door creak open and Harry turned quickly around. His hand was steady as he trained his wand at the door.
"Potter," a low voice drawled. "Figured you'd show up."
"And I'm not leaving without you," Harry countered. "Show yourself, Lestrange."
A shadow of a man stepped out in front of him. "I hope you want to see your godfather," Lestrange said wickedly. "You're about to go visit him..."
Harry laughed. "You're the one who will have the family reunion. Give Bellatrix my best..."
Lestrange snarled at him. "You bastard..."
"Unless you prefer going back to Azkaban," Harry taunted. "We've kept your cell just like you left it."
Lestrange just stared at him for a long moment. "AVADA KEDAVRA!" he shrieked at the top of his lungs.