Little Black Cat

Harry woke to the sounds of his daughter Rachel crying. Standing he walked over to the crib she shared with Rebecca and was happy to see that only Rachel was awake. Bending down he picked up the little girl and went to his rocking chair, holding Rachel in his arms and rocking her gently as he began to sing softly…

Christopher Robin and I walked along
Under branches lit up by the moon
Posing our questions to Owl and Eeyore
As our days disappeared all too soon
But I've wandered much further today than I should
And I can't seem to find my way back to the Wood

So help me if you can
I've got to get back
To the House at Pooh Corner by one
You'd be surprised
There's so much to be done
Count all the bees in the hive
Chase all the clouds from the sky
Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh

Winnie the Pooh doesn't know what to do
Got a honey jar stuck on his nose
He came to me asking for help and advice
And from here no one knows where he goes
So I sent him to ask of the Owl if he's there
How to loosen a jar from the nose of a bear


Rachel seemed to sigh and nuzzle into her “mommy’s” arms, sucking on her thumb as she fell asleep.

Rachel and her twin sister Rebecca were now four months old and Rachel was already showing her Aloja heritage, while Rebecca seemed to take after Tom and Severus. Rachel’s hair grew faster then Rebecca’s and she loved to take baths and play with water. Rebecca had pale skin, courtesy of Severus’ vampire heritage and, while both girls could babble in parsletounge and english, Rebecca tended to babble in parsletougne more then Rachel.

“I’ve never heard that song before.” Tom whispered, looking up from where he’d been sitting on the bed, watching Harry. Rachel was more of Harry’s sweetheart then Rebecca, and often would only go back to sleep if Harry held her. Rebecca wasn’t so picky.

“It’s a muggle song, based on a book series.” Harry explained, standing with Rachel in his arms and walking towards the bed. He handed Rachel off to Tom, who put her in the center of the bed while Harry got Rebecca. Severus was at Hogwarts, applying for his old job now that Dumbledore had vanished.

Rachel and Rebecca’s crib was in their parent’s room, and most of the time they slept in their parent’s bed. When not in the bed they shared a crib, because if put in separate cribs they would cry for hours and hours until they were put back together.

Looking down at his little girls, Rebecca, cuddling into Tom and Rachel cuddling into him, Harry smiled, yawned and quickly fell back to sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day found Harry, Rachel and Rebecca playing in the garden, with Tom watching from the side. Rebecca was playing with a little stuffed snake that Tom had given her, and Rachel was watching her sister, hugging the twin stuffed snake and smiling at her parents.

There was a slight pop from displaced air as Severus appeared behind the group, causing the twins to smile at him and Rebecca to reach out for him.

Severus laughed and picked up his daughter, tickling her as he sat down between Tom and Harry and putting Rebecca down in front of him.

“We’re being offered jobs.” Severus said, looking over at Rachel, who was playing peek-a-boo with Harry. “They want you to be Headmaster.” Severus looked at Tom, who raised one eyebrow, before turning back to Harry. “They’ve offered me my job back and Remeus said you could help him teach DADA.”

After very little thought the trio agreed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Their new home in Hogwarts was between the Dungeons and the main hall. There was a small kitchen/dinning room, a library, living room and bedroom. Again the twins slept in the same room as their parents. Harry would take them with him when he went to teach and there was an abundance of babysitters if the three ever wanted some time alone.

Rachel and Rebecca quickly became the darlings of Hogwarts and the Wizarding World…unfortunately this drew out the crazies.

Harry had to be extremely careful when he took the twins out in public, since people would try and kidnap them, but Severus and Tom didn’t worry that much, since Harry was, after all, extremely powerful.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

January 20th, the anniversary of Dumbledore being driven away, Harry was showing his daughters the snow. Now a little less then one year old, Rebecca and Rachel were starting to walk a little and say basic words, like Daddy and Mommy. Harry was standing in the snow with Rachel in his arms and Rebecca playing with the snow in front of him.

Harry thought he heard someone coming up behind him and turned to see who it was---

He heard Rachel and Rebecca scream as his world went black.

TBC