Chapter 35

"It's nursery time, baby!" Adria announced cheerily upon arrival to Jude and Mila's room. She as singing Jude's song when she flicked her wand and opened the curtains with a giggle when the toddler groaned loudly and angrily that he had to awake from his long sleep.

He loved sleep even more than Adria did and she was surprised that she sounded so cheery in the morning, but she'd be lying if she said that didn't have anything to do with Sirius who was walking out of their shared room shirtless. He was shouting into the room that he'd make pancakes and if there was one thing Jude loved more than sleep then it was food.

Which of course made the loud groaning turn into cheering.

"Good morning, sweet pea," Adria whispered softly to a cooing Mila. She wasn't much younger than Jude, but she was developing at a slower pace than him and even though she could talk in babbled sentences, she needed a lot more care.

It didn't help that both of her parents had suddenly left her, she was far too young to understand, and Jude was too but that didn't stop the boy from taking care of her with every bone in his body. He would protect her no matter what and even when Adria and Sirius' friends came over, he really had to make sure she was alright if any of them tried to lift her or take her away from him.

"Are you excited to see Jackson today?" asked Adria. She had managed to get Mila a spot in Jude's nursery too after explaining the events of what happened to the girl's parents though it was a much-tweaked version that didn't include a trace of magic.

She had planned out everything she had to say and when the nursery heard the full version of what had happened they didn't even need to hear anything else and allowed the girl a spot. She was still growing and playing with anything a little more complicated than the baby toys she liked was too much for her.

She was only one year younger than Jude at two, and three in a few months but it was taking her a little longer to fully come into her own as a child. Grace had once commented that it took her much longer than all of the other babies that she knew from her mother group to talk and say her first words and whilst she and Alfie had gone to a doctor just in case they weren't sure they could treat her so early.

If there really was anything wrong with the girl, or something to worry about then it would usually develop in her later toddler years, like three, for example.

But Adria was sure that she was just late to the party, she was an incredibly clever young girl and loved to draw with Adria as well as read. If Adria pointed to a word, then Mila was easy to read it out to her but that was as far as her abilities went.

Adria thought that was enough.

"Mrs Sullivan is picking you up after nursery with Jackson today and you and Mila are going to go over there for an hour or so," Adria said. She hated sending Jude to Mrs Sullivan's house, not because the woman wasn't the most incredible person ever because she was but because Jude hated not seeing her for more than needed.

But she had an order mission, and even though she was lying to Mrs Sullivan about it; she really needed to go and help. She had received a letter late last night and only got it because she had gotten up to retrieve a glass of water and happened to see it on the window sill.

Another town had been terrorised.

The order had gone just last night after being unable to get Sirius and Adria's help, but they had enough skilled wizards and witches there to help them and they managed to take the brunt of it. They fought until almost all of them sported harsh wounds but not as harsh as the villagers that lived in the small wizarding town.

The town was known to be against the dark lord, and although there were a lot of hidden wizards and witches it was still home to a few oblivious muggles that had to be obliviated just after they were relieved of the pain they were in when healers arrived quickly after the fighting had stopped and the death eaters retracted.

But another town not far from that one was suspected to be a new target and the order were taking precautions to make sure that no one else died. Over twenty innocent villagers died in the previous nights battle against defenceless wizards and muggles and the lord and his death eaters and Lily had told her that it was a horrid sight to see as she wrote in her letter.

It was the worst battlefield she had ever witnessed.

Peter had been hurt worse than them all. The death eaters were targeting him more and more according to Lily and it made Adria angry that they decided to target the weakest link. Of course, Peter was a skilled wizard and knew what he was doing, he just didn't like the thought of killing the death eaters.

He said they were people, he didn't want to take their life.

Course, Adria didn't know - no one knew - that it was for a different reason.

"I see Jackson all the time!" Jude whined, grabbing onto Adria's hand when she had sat him on the floor. He didn't like having to be lifted all the time mostly because he thought he could do it himself, he was the most independent toddler she had ever seen.

"I know you do, baby but me and Pad have to fight the bad guys!" Adria smiled down at him reassuringly. She was sure Frank and Alice would take over for them if they really needed to and they were only going to be there to help considering there were a lot more people joining the order every week.

Jude only frowned but nodded. He knew that sometimes his Addy and Pad got hurt a lot more than he wanted and he was scared, even though he was only young he knew what pain was and when Adria came home with wounds on her body with Sirius holding her up or vice versa, there was something in his brain that knew she was hurt.

"Let's go get some pancakes, baby," Adria whispered with a smile, "Pad makes them better than I do."

-

"Kiss me!" Sirius exclaimed, whining when Adria teasingly pushed herself away from him when she got out of her car. She was trying to wind him up as best as she could, brushing her lips against his cheek and nothing more and soon moved to get Mila out of her car seat, "you're the biggest fucking tease."

"I take my title very seriously." She winked, only brushing her lips against his for a mere second when she had finally gotten Mila in her arms.

"I'll remember that the next time you're practically begging for m-"

"I don't beg for you!" she gasped, her voice quiet so that the other parents wouldn't hear them. They didn't like the young couple enough as it was, so Adria didn't want them to completely despise them for talking "inappropriately".

"Whatever you say." He smirked, pressing a kiss to her cheek and holding Jude. As much as the boy didn't like Adria holding him - unless he was tired - he would still cling to Sirius with every chance he got.

"You know I don't think this conversation is one we should be having in front of a nursery," Adria said, giggling when Sirius turned to her with an amused grin on his lips in clear agreement.

"Well if the talk turned into anything more at least we're in the right place to sign up new members of our family," he winked at her, lifting out the bag for Mila that contained her bottles and a blanket for when she needed to sleep.

She snorted as she walked in front of him, whispering soothingly to Mila who had once again fallen asleep. She certainly took after the Hopkins with how much she loved to sleep it was rather funny just how much the girl could doze off in any place possible.

Jude had already spotted Jackson when they entered the playground. The nursery was attached to a school and she couldn't help her laughter one day when she spotted high school kids in the school just across the road practically ogling at Sirius as he exited the car.

When they arrived at the classroom, it wasn't long before Jude without a long goodbye left to pounce on an excited Jackson waiting for him to arrive. They could hear him giggle wildly as they played with the toy cars provided in the back corner with a few other kids that were playing with them.

"Trust me, Mila will be perfectly fine!" the teacher beamed. She was incredibly kind to Adria and Sirius too, even when they were alone they still were nice unlike the parents of the students they looked after.

"Okay, thank you," Adria breathed out a sigh, leaning into Sirius when he wrapped his arm tightly around her.

"Before you go!" the teacher called just when they were turning to leave, "this is probably nothing...it's just - well, Jude has a very...vivid imagination and I just wondered if you both know about it?"

"Vivid imagination?" repeated Adria with furrowed brows, "meaning?"

"Well, this is so very silly, but he tells such incredible stories of magic and wizards and witches!" the teacher exclaimed, arms flailing, "it's so silly, I know. He thinks...well he thinks that you both are wizards and that you have wands and cast spells and he believes this so much I just thought you both should know if you already don't.

His imagination is incredible, but he believes this and he recounts memories as though they really happened, I've never heard such incredible stories from a toddler before!" she laughed, "I just wanted to make sure you knew."

Adria laughed, trying to ignore her racing heart and Sirius' tightened grip and said, "well I grew up on stories of wizards and witches. My parents used to tell me and my sibling's stories of a castle for magic and wizards and witches, and spells and all of these wonderful tales and I just passed them down to him.

He's lost both of his parents, so we use this...world of make-believe to allow him to escape," Adria smiled, "it's just a way for him to deal with the world because it's tough for him, especially because he's so young."

"Completely understandable!" she nodded, "thank you for explaining."

Adria only nodded with a small smile and soon bid a quick goodbye before pulling Sirius with her out of the room. They were silent as they walked down the hallway out of the school and processing what just happened, "It completely slipped my mind."

Sirius stopped them when they reached the car as she said it, pulling her into him and wrapping his arms tightly around her, "it slipped mine too. It's our lifestyle, Adria. We shouldn't need to hide who we are and we didn't realise that Jude would say anything about it."

"We need to talk to him, but how do we tell him that we have to keep our lives a secret?" she asked, looking up at him with wide eyes and a frown. He slipped his hand through her hair, leaning down and softly brushing his lips against her forehead whilst she held him close to her.

"We'll figure it out," he whispered softly, keeping her close as he whispered into her skin, "we always figured it out."

Adria only nodded, lifting her own hand to his cheek and finally pushing herself up onto her tiptoes to kiss him fully with no teasing evident.