10An: Here we have the sappiest, happiest most ridiculous one shot ever made. This is a Happily-ever-after version with the characters from TMAM. We see Char and her family, as well as some history on what has happened since 1980. It might turn into a series of drabbles depending on my mood...but I'll begin with this...
WARNING! If you HATE sappy,,fluffy, happy endings. DO NOT READ. This is so sappy and well...noone could live a life this great. Noone. Pure sappy fiction the lot of it. Basically all kinds of happy events that I could think of. Opposite of the rather depressing version; TITWTWE.
All you guys who wanted a happy ending. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: No profit. Do not own. Do not Sue.
Back, as in Black.
a sappy one-shot
by Snuffles-sweetie
Grimmauld Place 12. A beautiful mansion like house, with a garden filled with roses, well normally…now it was winter so it was covered in snow.
The inside is light and very modern, very tastefully decorated. House of the Black family.
The house looked nothing like it did a couple of years ago, now that Sirius Black, head over the Aurors, and his family had moved in there. Their apartment had turned out to be too small for their growing family when his wife Charlotte and he discovered that she was pregnant with twins about twelve years ago… but lets see what's going on inside, shall we?
Charlotte Black, one of our world's most famous designers, one of the founders of the huge brand Stanford&Black was sitting in the bright kitchen of her house. They had moved the kitchen from its former location in the basement since Char would not have her kitchen in a gloomy old dungeon.
She was abstinently scratching the family's Yorkshire terrier, Ziggy, behind his ears, while looking through some paper work. Everything was quiet, except for some classical music playing in the background. This was very strange, because most of the time, especially now when the kids where home for Christmas, the Black household was filled with life and sounds. She looked up when a young girl, a spitting image of the older woman, walked in, carrying a small grey Siberian cat in her arms.
"Mum…I swear the twins were going to do some kind of experiment on poor Cleo" the girl, hereby know as Emily Black, the oldest daughter of the Black family said.
"Really…please don't tell me if it has something to do with those fireworks your dad, which he still thinks I don't know about, bought for them?" She sighed but a small smile played on her lips.
"Okay…I won't say anything. Where is dad anyways?" she asked curiously sitting down opposite of her mother.
"He's at Uncle Reggie's and aunt Izzy's place…he insisted on picking Chris up," she snickered and turned the page she was reading. Emily started laughing and said;
"He does realize that Chris is 14 years old…right? You don't even follow the twins that are 12 anywhere anymore…"
"He does…he needed an excuse to get out." Emily looked confused and said;
"Mum…why would he need an excuse to go out?" her mum's eyes sparkled and she smirked.
"Do you know what day it is on Friday?" Emily seemed to understand what her mum was implying immediately and smiled smugly.
"Mum! It's your anniversary!"
"Yes…and he is now out…trying to come up with something extraordinary…but whatever he does…he can't exactly top my surprise." Her daughters' eyes gleamed just like hers…even if they were grey like her fathers as she said;
"And what exactly is that mum?"
"It's a surprise silly…I'm not going to tell." Emily pouted and her mum gave her a look back. Then she locked eyes with her daughter and said seriously;
"Now darling Em…what was it that you wanted to talk to me about. Because I know that it had nothing to do with your siblings…you can handle them very well on your own…" Emily blushed slightly and looked down in her lap.
"How did you know?" Char shook her head and said;
"Sweetie…I'm your mum, I'm supposed to know these things. Now what is it that you don't want your dad to know about…oh it's a boy isn't it!" The girl blushed even more and pouted at her mum.
"Mum! How do you do that?" Char smiled and answered simply;
"That is not important…now let's move into my office, there we can talk in peace." They both stood and walked towards the room that had been made into an office a long time ago. When they passed the stairs Char stopped and listened. Some very strange bangs could be heard from the basement, where a den had been made for the kids. She rolled her eyes and opened the door and shouted;
"Megan and Logan, don't you even try to blow this house up…or anything similar. I am keeping my ears and eyes on you even if you don't think I am!" Silence…then a weak cry of;
"Yes mum!" came from downstairs from two almost identical voices. She stood still and listened for a while but when nothing suspicious was heard she motioned for Emily to follow her. They entered her home office and sat down on the couch.
"Mum…when was the first time you dated a boy…and how did you know that you were in love with him?" Char raised an eyebrow and said;
"Is this about that boy who took you to the Yule ball?" Emily rolled her eyes and muttered;
"No…he was a complete git, you know that." Char smiled and nodded looking relieved.
"Are you going to answer my question or not?" Char laughed lightly and said;
"Okay, okay, calm down. When I first dated someone…had an actual relationship? Well I was about 14, Chris' age, when I met a boy named Dylan. He was two years older than me and we became friends. But we didn't become a couple until I was about 15 and later I thought that I loved him. He wasn't good for me…or anyone really and I soon realized that I never really loved him." Emily nodded and said;
"What about dad?" Char smiled and said;
"Well I was about 16 when I met your dad…and he literally swept me off my feet. I fainted when I saw him…" Here Emily started giggling and she managed to splutter out;
"Mum! You fainted…are you joking?"
"Actually…I'm not…I did faint when I met your dad. And well I was attracted to him from that very moment and well I fancied him quite a bit…and that small crush got bigger everyday." Emily sighed dreamily and then she asked;
"But when did you know that you loved him…?"
"I was getting there…you see it took us quite some time to admit that we liked each other, sure we flirted harmlessly every chance we got but…then our friends had enough and set up this huge plan which involved Sirius serenading me…he asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes. But it wasn't until…I think our first valentines day that I realized that I actually loved him. Or that was when I could admit it to myself…" she smiled and got lost in her memories for a while but soon shook herself out of it.
"Why don't you tell me why you're so interested of all this suddenly?" Emily fidgeted and sighed.
"Well…there's this boy, and he's really handsome, charming and nice. But he can be such a git to my friends sometimes. But I think he only does that because of his friends and he's never done anything to me…he's actually very polite and nice when we're alone. He even helped me with potions that last week in school…but…my friends hate him. What should I do?" She locked eyes with her mum. She smiled gently and said;
"Well do you like him?"
"Yes…but…"
"Then the other things shouldn't matter, well of course it would be better if your friends and he got along but…it's really how you feel that matters." Char smiled gently at her daughter who looked slightly distressed at the whole thing.
"But mum…you know how Ron and Harry can be sometimes…they are going to make me pick! I just know it!" Char looked sadly at her distressed daughter and said;
"Well…they are slightly over protective, aren't they?" Emily nodded with a face that said "you think".
"They will just have to deal with it and try to be mature about it." A silence followed her statement and then they both started giggling.
"Oh who am I kidding…your father is still as over protective and jealous over me as he was when we were 16…same goes for your uncle James for that matter…some things never change." She chuckled and shook her head, and then she looked at the young girl in front of her who seemed to be lost in thought.
"Are you going to tell me who it is?" Emily looked up at her and smiled nervously.
"He's in out year in…ah…Slytherin," here she stopped and looked at her mother carefully.
"Love, you know I'm not one for prejudice. Let's not mention that little fact to your dad just yet though…," she said smiling and winking.
"Let's not mention Blaise, period," Emily blurted out and then looked shocked when she realized what she said.
"Blaise…as in Zabini?" Char questioned with a small smile, Emily nodded her head.
"I know his mum; she's one of Stanford&Black's biggest clients. Nicola Zabini, very nice woman, I actually met Blaise once…he's very handsome and seemed very polite. But from what I understand the crowd he hangs out with would affect him yes," she trailed off and looked at her daughter who was smiling slightly.
"Well if you are asking for some kind of approval I definitely approve and if it helps so does your uncle Damien, he wouldn't stop harassing the poor boy to model for our new line…" She shook her head as she thought of her eccentric partner in crime. Emily laughed and managed to splutter out;
"Blaise told me about that! But he never mentioned that it was Uncle Damien and that it was for your company!"
"Em, why do I get the feeling that you are already involved somehow with this boy?" Emily's grey eyes widened in shock and she blurted out;
"Mum! You are starting to creep me out here, how can you possibly know that? Never mind I don't want to know. Blaise and I are dating, sort of. I mean we haven't made anything public yet because of our friends. Or well his friends don't mind me that much because I'm a Black but you know how my friends are. The only ones who know are Hermione, Ginny, Leo, Draco Malfoy and now you. Hermione, Ginny and Draco because we told them, they don't mind, and Leo because he sort of figured it out. I think Chris might have some clue as well." They sat in silence for awhile and then Char cleared her throat.
"Well you have my full support in this. I would love to meet him officially, and we'll just have to figure something out when it comes around to tell your dad. About Harry, Ron and your other friends…I can't help you with that. You will have to tell them eventually." Emily nodded and then smiled at her mum.
"Thanks mum, I knew I could tell you."
"You can always tell me anything, Em." She watched as the girl walked out with a wave and a new spring in her step. She shook her head and looked down at the papers in front of her. Ironically the first paper she looked at was a letter from Nicola Zabini. Talking to her daughter made her think about the past, and her own time at school and how she came to be here.
She had met so many people that affected her life, some more then others and when she realized that she was going to be able to stay here, she had been ecstatic. She still remembered that eventful year 1981. The year she managed to help save her family.
Chars POV
Lord Voldemort had set out to kill my best friends; The Potters. Lily, James and baby Harry. But I knew this, I told one of the greatest wizards of all; Albus Dumbledore, about the plan, the future, everything. He had managed to get rid of all those awful horrocruxes without the lord noticing it, making him mortal again.
We knew that he would, with the help of our traitorous ex-friend Peter Pettigrew, set out to kill the Potters on October 31st 1981 so that's were Dumbledore went that day. He stayed there all day with an army of aurors backing him up. Somehow Voldemort didn't get a hold of any information about the ambush, something we all feared he would, and he walked right into it. Long story short he was captured, his wand broken and he was sent to Nurmengard. It was a long debate on whether or not he should stay in Azkaban or Nurmengard but the minister decided that it was for the best to keep him and his followers separate.
The spells put on the prison by Grindewald were some of the strongest the wizarding community had ever seen but a new cell, in the very middle and several feet underground was built inside the prison just for its new inmate. So with Dumbledore's spells on the cell, Grindewalds' spells on the outer building, strengthened by Dumbledore's spells, everyone was sure that Voldemort would never be seen or heard of again. The Wizengamot at first thought of executing him, but that made them feel like they were stooping down to his level. A lot of people protested but that soon died down.
The years that followed were filled with raids on former Deatheaters homes, attacks by mentioned followers and the likes. People didn't feel safe and things didn't get back to normal until about 1984.
During that time I had given birth to our second child, Christopher Regulus was born on December 15th 1981. Amelia and Remus welcomed Timothy John Lupin into the world on August 21st that same year. Reggie and Izzy had my godson Leonardo Alphard Black in January 1982, Carson Alexander Wilkins joined his cousin Harry later that spring in April, Petunia and Alexander were finally one of the baby families. That same year in October almost a year after Voldemort's capture Marie Petunia Potter joined us.
When things started to calm down in late 1983, Emily and Christopher got a new cousin and Leo got a sister; Ophelia Isabelle was one hell of a screamer, still is until this very day. If Ophelia was in a one mile radius, you knew about it. Ophelia didn't have to go to Hogwarts alone; no she was joined by Seth Bernard Lupin only two days later.
So now you're probably thinking; what is up with us and having babies at the same time? Well to be honest it was a coincidence every single time because we all know that not all babies are planned. And to be honest, none of my children were actually planned they were all happy surprises.
When I discovered that I was pregnant again in December 1983, Sirius and I figured that we couldn't live in our apartment anymore. With two kids at the ages, 3 and 2 we couldn't stay at an apartment with three bedrooms. So 1984 was spent renovating and practically tearing down the estate Sirius had inherited. Grimmauld Place 12; the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Sirius didn't want to move there unless it was completely transformed, which was understandable. And transformed it was, you wouldn't know it was the same house if you hadn't seen the original. Reggie and Izzy moved into our old place since it was bigger than theirs and they preferred a flat instead of a house.
1984 peace was announced all over the wizarding community and things were starting to look up for everyone. Damien and Ethan Ryan, my handsome doctor, were still together and were, after two years of trials and difficulties, allowed to adopt a child; Jacqueline Mirabelle Stanford-Ryan. She was a 3 year old witch whose mother had tragically died and no one was able to look after her.
We moved into our new home in June, around the same time when Ethan discovered that I was not expecting one child, but two. The fact that we were having twins were quite a shock and Sirius, who hadn't fainted since I told him about Emily, did it again. It was quite a shock but we adapted to it pretty quickly. Megan Lily and Logan Sirius arrived with a bang on August 14th. They were apparently destined for mischief, perhaps that's why they, later on, got along with the Weasley twins so well, even if they were 5 years our twins senior. Logan and Megan were as Damien put it the opposite of Em and Chris. Where Emily resembled me, Megan looked like a miniature albeit female Sirius and if Chris was a spitting image of his dad, Logan was a spitting image of a male me. So our little family of four quickly turned into a family of six and with a new house and our careers just moving forward life couldn't seem to get any better.
So besides popping out kids like bloody clockwork, our gang managed to make pretty nice lives for ourselves.
Regulus and Isabelle opened a restaurant together called The Rose Terrace. It is one of the best and most known restaurants in Wizard-England since well…famous aurors, doctors, designers and authors seemed to eat there very often as it opened. And it had great food and a brilliant atmosphere. As Reggie put it; opening a business with friends and family like you guys is a piece of cake!
Remus found his calling, writing. My little Moony-kins wrote a fictional story about werewolves and got it published, he is now one of our world's best selling authors and he is currently writing a novel called; The Time Traveller, which is loosely, based one my experience. Amelia, you ask? Well Amelia realised that she should leave writing to her husband and instead went into politics. Yeah, quiet and shy Amelia was now spokesperson for werewolf rights. And she was brilliant at it!
James was head Auror alongside Sirius. Apparently they were too good of a team for anyone to split them up so they shared the title. Of course they both found it less exciting nowadays because they weren't needed as much as they were back when the war raged and apparently being Head Auror meant a lot more paperwork.
Lily still worked at St. Mungos, but she was now head nurse on the maternity ward and worked under Dr. Ethan Ryan who was head doctor on the same ward. She had been offered the chance to become a doctor but she liked being a nurse better, apparently she could switch her schedules easier that way.
Damien and I continued to make our brand bigger and better. Stanford&Black was now known to basically everyone in the wizarding community. We no longer worked under Jasper Virgo, but where his old headquarters used to be our new one stood. We still co-operated with our first benefactor though.
Back to present Day, December 1996.
So that's the road that lead me here, to where I am today. After reading Mrs. Zabini's letter I put it away and continued to look through my mail. That's when I spotted a bright purple envelope with my name written in Damien's handwriting on it. I curiously ripped it open and a magazine fell out. I stared at the cover of W, a pretty new magazine who covered everything from politics to fashion. I smiled at the pink post-it with the words; "It's Here!" written on it, that Damien had left on the cover. I removed it and stared down at my own face and his. We were both posing in some of our new creations but most of all we were laughing at each other. The headline read;
Behind the Brand, Who are The Dynamic Duo Damien Stanford and Charlotte Black? Pg; 2-10.
I flipped the magazine open and stared at the following article. They had wanted to do a huge portrait of us both and we had agreed, in our line of work you need the publicity. I skimmed through the first two pages that were just basic history about the company and our different lines. Next came two pages of pictures from our work through the years, then the interesting part. They had wanted exclusive interviews with us both and our entire families; we had both debated about it but figured that all our kids were old enough to handle it so we agreed. I looked at the picture of my partners smiling family. These three persons who I counted as my own family, Damien was my daughters godfather and I his daughters godmother. The kids had always referred to the respective adults as "aunt" or "uncle" but that's how it was with all our friends.
The interview began with; the Stanford-Ryan's in bold print. It told the reader about Damien and Ethan, how they met, what they did, how and when Jackie came into their family etc. I smiled at the pictures of them all; Damien fixing their outfits to perfection, Jackie doing a twirl and ruining her hair and Damien's face when she did that. It was just so them. It was a four page thing and it ended with the line; Damien Stanford; father, fashion mogul, friend and extravagant drama queen extraordinaire. I snickered when I read it, I had offered them the last part of it and I had no doubt that Damien would chew my ear off because of it. I turned the page and came face to face with my own family's smiling faces. We were all standing the way the photographer asked us to at first, but as soon as the flash goes off everyone is all over the place. My family in a nutshell. Our interview began just like the other one with; the Black's in bold print. The beginning was pretty much the same, it told the reader about Sirius and I, about what we both did and then it listed and interviewed the kids. It ended with the words; Charlotte Black; mother of four, fashion mogul, friend and forgetful airhead. I started laughing at the last line; Damien had obviously supplied that one.
"What are you laughing about, love?" I turned around and looked at Sirius where he was standing there leaning against the doorpost.
"Nothing, just the interview we did." He smiled and came over to my desk and leaned over to look at it.
"We look good," he stated as he wrapped his arms around me. I nodded in agreement and then looked at him from the corner of my eye and cheekily asked;
"So…did Chris find his way home safely?" He grinned at me and playfully pinched my sides.
"Very funny, love." I just laughed with him and gave him a chaste kiss. We both stood like that for awhile in a comfortable silence.
"We did good, didn't we?" Sirius muttered after awhile and I looked back at him and smiled gently at his expression.
"Yeah…we did," I said softly. The moment was broken by a massive bang coming from the basement and two sets of running feet could be heard coming down the staircase.
"Chris did you hear that?" I heard Ems' voice say as it came closer to the office door and Chris' voice replied;
"Yeah, I think China heard that Em. The terror twins are going to be in for it now once mum and dad find them."
"I figure they are half way to the Weasley's by now," Emily snickered. I looked at Sirius and he looked like he didn't know whether he should laugh or go scold "the terror twins".
"Yeah…we did good alright," I muttered as I started towards the door, Sirius finally gave up and let out a bark like laugh as we went towards the basement door. Em and Chris were both standing in the hallway staring at two black and smoking forms that could only be my two babies. Two sets of eyes stared at me fearfully as I took a sceptic stance in front of them. I raised an eyebrow and stared them down as Sirius tried to smother his snickers next to me. They glanced at each other and then they smiled sheepish smiles letting their bright white teeth shine thanks to their otherwise black exterior. Two sheepish and almost identical voices mumbled in union;
"Uuh…we're sorry mum?"