Chapter 4

"You can do this Adria, just walk in," Adria mumbled, pulling her coat over her much more as the November weather nipped her skin. She was sure the rain was about to fall any minute as she stood outside the small bakery. She was debating turning around and going back home, crawling into bed with Jude and Sirius, debating whether she could look for a job later on.

But she knew that no matter when she went looking for a job, that whenever there was an interview for her to attend, she would just be as nervous as she was now. She wasn't so much as ready to go in but the soft droplets of rain had started falling from the sky, she really didn't want to stay out and get completely soaked, though she was worried about what might ensue if she entered the small building.

But before she could even make up her mind about what to do, the sound of the squeaky door swinging opened floated through her ears, quickly paired with, "what you doing out here, lass?! Come on, get in before the weather blows you down the street!"

Adria wasn't going to argue with the woman with a stronger Scottish accent than her own, and soon did she hurry inside with her, allowing the old woman to close the door behind her.

"Sorry," Adria smiled politely, taking off her heavy jacket, "I have an interview here, actually."

"Oh yes, yes!" the old woman nodded, her kind smile evident on her wrinkled features. She had the feeling of warmth to her, a feeling Adria hadn't truly felt since her mother had died, or since she had left Hogwarts, because only two other people had that feeling in Adria's life.

Her mother, of course.

And Professor McGonagall.

Her greying hair was curled in the oddest of places but it worked well with the frame of her face, a rounder face with a thin nose and small lips, she seemed very kind, very lovely, and that very thought made Adria's nerves ease.

The small bakery was almost packed with customers, some men asking for their early afternoon tea, and some sweet old ladies asking for another jam tart which a young girl who must've been around Adria's age served with a polite smile.

"Oh, it'll be nice to have someone else around here!" the old woman smiled fondly, gesturing for Adria to follow her through the back of the bakery into a small room, "the lassie, American she is, can barely understand a word I say most of the time."

"Oh, I get what you mean," Adria giggled, "most of my friends are from England and even they have a hard time understanding what I say!"

"Scottish, aye?" the woman beamed, gesturing to the seat in front of her when Adria nodded, "where you from then?"

"Just outside of Glasgow, a small village," Adria sighed, remembering her old house well. Her village was small, and very quaint but sometimes she couldn't help but reminisce about how her life was back in Scotland.

For starters, she still had her parents.

"Oh yes, the wee villages," the woman laughed, "where is my manners off to?! I'm Euna - well that's my Sunday name, please call me May!"

Adria nodded, her smile widening as she took the woman's outstretched hand, "Adria."

"Oh, Adria!" May gasped, "sorry, just a very unusual name, not very common."

"Oh, I know, I think my parents just loved to pick out the oddest names," Adria sighed as she remembered her parents.

"You remind me of someone, Adria," May commented, "her daughter- oh bloody hell, I knew it!"

"Hm-"

"You're Judy's wain, aren't you?" May asked, watching Adria's eyes widen and soon did she nod.

"Bloody knew it, can't believe that lass hasn't come to visit me!" May exclaimed, "didn't even know her and Douglas moved to London, how is she doing?!"

"Oh uh, well," Adria whispered, frowning, "she um, she died."

"You're joking?!" May gasped, reaching out for Adria's hand, "oh sweetheart, please forgive me, I didn't have a cl-"

"Oh no, please, it's alright really!" Adria laughed softly.

"How did it happen, is your dad alright?" May exclaimed, unable to shake the overwhelming feeling of sadness of the girl, of the baby she used to look after all through her child years, occasionally would she pop in for a visit, until May moved all the way to London, but Judy made sure to write as best as she could.

Until it suddenly stopped just three years ago, May just thought she had forgot.

"She was giving birth to my brother - Jude," Adria sighed softly, "he's a little angel, talks for Scotland, I swear, and for the full of Britain, too!"

May laughed, nodding her head as she listened to the girl talk, a glint in her eye she had only ever seen before a few times, the girl was overwhelmed with love for the young boy, "my dad- uh, seems as if my parents couldn't stay away from each other for long...he died in a car crash just this year."

"Oh, my goodness gracious me," May choked out, squeezing the girl's hand, "what age are you, dear?"

"Eighteen, just in July," Adria sighed, forcing a smile.

"And you're coping this well?!" she asked, wide eyed.

"Have to be, don't I? I mean, it's not all bad, my boyfriend and I just moved into a new home, we're Jude's official guardians, finally getting my life back together after this all happened. My brother Benji and his girlfriend- well they're away exploring the world, he was in the car crash, but he survived, he took it so hard. Then there's my other brother, him and his wife have a little baby - Mila, she's lovely, and my younger sister is away at a boarding school in Scotland," Adria smiled, she had no idea that the woman would ever know her mother, or any of her parents, so to think she did warmed Adria's heart, she felt it only right to tell the woman about her siblings.

"I suppose I have to ask you the common questions, don't I?" May sighed, the overwhelming news of the two kindest souls she had ever meet dying so soon a clear thought in her head, it was horrible, heart-breaking, and here in front of her was their daughter who was so quick to get on with it, to force a smile and pick herself back up.

The woman didn't even need to know her for more than half an hour to know that she was terribly strong.

"Why do you want this job?"

"Well, truthfully, it would help me - the money, I mean, would help me and my family, I suppose," Adria shrugged, offering another smile to the now concerned looking woman, "I like baking, I like bakeries, the aroma, the atmosphere, this was my first place to try, I saw the small advert in the newspaper on a stall and it just seemed right!"

"How we- you know what," May sighed defeatedly, "I don't want you thinking I'm doing this because I feel sorry for you or anything Adria, cause that's not it. I know what it's like, I'm seventy year's old, when I was thirty; my parents died. I struggled for years and years with it, could barely get out of bed and now you're here, eighteen years old just wanting to get your life back on track before you fall off the rails and you can bet I'm not going to stop you, Adria.

I knew your parents well, your mother wrote to me as best as she could, when she stopped, I thought she was too busy, I loved her very much, I used to baby sit her for her mother, and when her mother kicked her out, I was the first person she came to - I loved her, Adria, like a daughter, and now look at this, look at you!"

Adria smiled softly, nodding her head, begging for the tears not to spill from her eyes.

"The job is yours Adria, you start on Monday at eleven o'clock until six, and a break at one, Mildred will help you out and I'll train you with the recipes, how does that sound?" asked May, watching the wide smile spread across Adria's lips.

"Ama-amazing, thank you!" Adria gasped, nodding her head enthusiastically, "thank you, thank you so much!"

"Oh, don't thank me," May laughed fondly, unable to keep her happiness that she was able to meet Adria, "thank me by being a good worker."

"I will, I promise," Adria nodded excitedly, "I'll see you Monday!"

"See you Monday, Adria, Eleven on the dot!"

Adria waved as she excited the back room, pushing the door open to the busy streets of London, only to stop at what she saw. There in front of her, only a few meters down from where she stood on the street was Sirius with Jude on his shoulders whilst the boy clutched a sign that read;

CONGRATULATIONS ADDY!!!

Her smile couldn't have possibly widened as she rushed towards them, giggling as she done so, and soon did they catch sight of her. Sirius moved to bring Jude down, holding him with his right hand and wrapping his left around Adria as she rushed closer to them.

"What are you doing here?!" she exclaimed, kissing Jude's cheek and then Sirius softly.

"We wanted to congratulate you on your new job, right Jude?" asked Sirius, watching the three-year-old nod excitedly.

"Well what if I didn't get the job?" she giggled, running a hand through Jude's hair as she embraced her two boys.

"Well...this would have been a little awkward," Sirius joked, "and in what world would you not get the job, you're absolutely perfect for it!"

"Sirius, I could say I was going to become an assassin and you would say I was perfect for it!" she scoffed, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Well you could be if you wanted to!" he grinned, allowing Adria to take Jude from his grip in order to fix his stroller, "so to celebrate your wonderful new job, your two favourite boys where thinking we could go help James and Lily."

"What a wonderful way to celebrate," Adria joked, "and what happened to me being too incapable of doing anything at all?!"

"Well we could go for hot chocolate first?" Sirius suggested, "I wanted to see their new flat, bloody twat that James is he's probably making Lily do all the work."

"Oh, that isn't true, James is such a sweetheart!" Adria exclaimed, "he'd probably be telling Lily to go for a nap whilst he does everything for her!"

"I think we're talking about a different James," he joked.

"I want ice cream," Jude announced suddenly, and soon after did he yawn, his head falling onto Adria's shoulder.

"I think what you need is to sleep," Adria giggled, "you did get up earlier than usual this morning, baby."

"Yea-yeah because of you two!" Jude exclaimed, wide eyed. It didn't take a genius to know that Jude was getting restless as the three walked down the streets, he could become a very whiny baby when he didn't get what he wanted but Adria wasn't going to allow him to have ice cream when the weather was picking up, not to mention it was just after lunch time.

"Why don't we go see Lily and James?!" Adria said, stopping at a small bench just outside of the park and soon sitting with Jude on her lap, "and we could go for a nap, huh?"

"I'm not tired," Jude whispered, though his actions deceived him when his small mouth opened and a yawn escaped.

"Oh really?" Adria giggled, softly running her hands through his hair to relax him, it was a trick she had picked up when he was one year's old, he usually fell asleep almost instantly when she or Sirius did it, and now wasn't any different when his head fell onto Adria's chest, his hand clutching her shirt and his soft breaths getting slower and slower.

"You are so great with him," Sirius commented as he sat beside her, moving her hair from the side of her face to press his lips to her forehead, "absolutely brilliant."

"Yes well he's going to get older, and older, and soon enough we'll both be thirty, and he'll be a teenager and it may not seem like a long time away but it's just around t-"

"Hey," Sirius laughed softly, moving closer and wrapping his arm around her tightly, "Adria I don't care if I have to tell you this everyday but we're doing fine, we're coping and we're going to continue to cope. He's gonna be a teenager one day, so is this little munchkin growing inside of you but teenager or not, we're gonna love them both with all of our heart like we already do, that's all that matters!"

Adria pulled over the stroller from where it sat closer to Sirius, reaching for Jude's blanket she wrapped it around the boy, gently placing him in his stroller so that he could get a better sleep, "you know I love you so much, Sirius, it's very strange to think that we hated each other."

"No, no, no," Sirius scoffed, "you hated me, I just didn't know how to talk to you without either messing up...or humiliating you and making you angry."

"Sirius, you made me slip in mud and drenched me in horrible water." She turned to glare at him, "you know how the first time you spent Christmas at my house?"

"Yeah?"

She reached for his hand, intertwining their fingers, "I just wanted to hug you so tightly, you told me of your family and how they were, and on Christmas day you just seemed so...shocked to have presents, it broke my heart, I just wanted to protect you, and merlin, I still do."

He couldn't help the smile that broke out onto his lips, and soon did he connect his own with hers softly, slowly, but quickly, "you know I'm so proud of you, Adria."

"Proud? Why?" she laughed, keeping the stroller close to her as Jude's tiny hand wrapped around her index finger, showing he was safe.

"Because it's only been a few months and you're picking yourself up, merlin Ads, you're pregnant! You should be resting, I should be your maid or just at least doing everything for the both of us. You don't need any stress, but you're not letting anything stop you, you just got a job, you're learning how to cope, you're just, you're so, so strong, Adria," he shook his head in disbelief, pushing his lips onto hers just once more.

"I love you so much," she whispered, caressing his cheek softly, "Sirius you don't even realise how much you've helped me!"

"Wha-"

"You are the one that's helped me cope, Sirius, you've cared for Jude, you're my family as much as Benji, Alfie, Alina, or Lia, or my parents, you're always my family, and without you beside me, without you there to hold my hand and guide me, I'd still probably be unable to get out of bed, grieving still. Of course, Jude had something to do with that, too, because I do everything for you and him, you're my family, and merlin, I couldn't live without either of you, and our friends too, everyone! Had I not had any friends, if I was still that shy thirteen-year-old, and I didn't talk to Lily, or you boys didn't tease me for a while then my life would have been so different.

And I couldn't even picture it."

"Would you ever go back?" asked Sirius, a serious frown taking over his features, his eyes quickly glancing at Jude to see him still sleeping peacefully, one hand clutching his blanket whilst the other clutched Adria's finger, "to third year? To that day when you decided to be my friend? Would you ever change anything?!"

Adria pushed herself closer, unable to stop herself from pulling him in for a kiss for the third time, she simply couldn't help herself, and soon after did she whisper, "never in a million years, Sirius, that was the best decision I've ever made."