Author's Note: This is a sequel to my Marauder-era story Friendship, Love, Twists and Turns which is on my profile but you DON'T need to read that (but please take a look!). All you need to know is:
-Lily Evans never existed and Sirius has a twin sister, Maia (pronounced My-a). James and Maia fell in love, got married and had Harry. When Voldemort attacked Godric's Hollow, James' parents were babysitting and they died instead of James and Maia. Harry's grandmother's love protected him so he survived.
-Maia was pregnant when Voldemort attacked Harry, so he has a sister Lyra, two years younger.
-Sirius went after Peter but caught him after he blew the street apart so Peter is in Azkaban
-Regulus turned into a spy for Dumbledore when he found out his sister's child was in danger and reconciled with them. He is the Potions Master.
-Snape is in Azkaban since Lily doesn't exist and he had no reason to be the spy.
-Alice and Frank Longbottom were in the Marauders year at school and good friends, so Maia is Neville's godmother, and Remus is his godfather.

Chapter One

Maia Potter woke up early on the third Monday in July. She knew she needed to drag herself out of bed, get dressed, make breakfast for her two children – if they were out of bed yet – and feed the cat before going to work, but she needed five more minutes in bed.

Her husband of 12 and a half years was curled up behind her in just his underwear, his arm wound around her waist firmly and holding her close. He was lovely and warm and she fidgeted and nestled closer to him, closing her eyes for just a second.

"Stop wriggling," James mumbled sleepily, his breath tickling the back of her neck, "I want more sleep."

"Not sure if there's time for that," Maia replied sadly, still fidgeting to try and get into another position, her legs feeling achy from the curled up position she'd slept in all night.

"Stop. Wriggling," James repeated with frustration, loosening his hold on his wife slightly to allow her some more room to move, "you don't know what you do to me."

Maia laughed as she rolled over onto her back and found herself looking up into James' face and his warm hazel eyes, as he propped himself up on one elbow and took in every part of her face. At some point he must have reached behind him and he shoved his glasses onto his face so he could actually see.

"I think I do know," she replied, licking her lips and allowing her eyes to flicker to his lips.

James let out something akin to a growl as he leaned down and claimed her lips in a deep kiss.

Even almost 14 years into their relationship, 12 and a half years after their wedding, and two children later, the Potters were as much in love as they were when they were 18. It was often far more difficult to make time for each other than was ideal as they both worked full time, and Maia often worked shifts and unsociable hours. Even when they were both free, the children came first, so they made everything that they could out of the small moments, and tried to make time for dates whenever they could.

James pulled away after a very thorough kiss and reached up to stroke Maia's cheek with the back of the hand that wasn't propping him up.

At the age of 31, his wife was every bit as beautiful to him as she had always been. Sure, she had a few lines around her eyes, a few faint lines around her mouth when she smiled, and occasionally frown lines on her forehead when the children weren't behaving, but he didn't see any of that. She was still young, her features still carrying the aristocratic grace that ran in the Black family, and she was still in good shape, despite her two children. Running around on the hospital wards and spending her spare time playing quidditch had seen to that.

"We should get up," Maia sighed, smirking when her husband looked disappointed.

She understood. She'd like to stay in bed with him too but there wasn't time so she leaned up and pacified him with another kiss on the lips. Her husband was still a handsome man, and had in fact gotten better with age. He too had a few more lines, and he had some stray grey hairs, but he still had the same cheeky grin she'd fallen in love with and years of working in the field and training to stay fit for his job had kept him in shape.

When she pulled away from this kiss, Maia shifted away from him, rolling out of bed and getting to her feet.

She used their ensuite bathroom to get changed into her lime green robes – the uniform of St Mungo's hospital - and twist her long curly hair into an elegant knot, securing it with several pins. She then vacated the bathroom to allow James get ready for work, and went downstairs to make a start on breakfast.

In the kitchen she found Remus already by the kettle, making himself a morning drink, which was no surprise as Remus was always the first awake.

"Good Morning," she smiled at him as she dropped her work bag onto one of the chairs.

"Morning," he replied pleasantly, "tea?"

"Yes please. And one for James too, if you would."

Time had been slightly less kind to Remus. His "furry little problem", as James was been fond of calling it, aged him and he looked older and more tired than the others. There was a lot of grey in his hair, dark circles under his eyes and underneath his robes, he was covered in scars. His robes were shabby as he had struggled to find work over the years, and was too proud to take much money from James, Maia or Sirius, who all had large family fortunes and didn't even need to work.

He'd had many different jobs over the years but the prejudice against werewolves meant that as soon as his employers found out, he was fired – and they always found out. Taking every full moon off was suspicious.

His situation had improved in the last few years however, as he took charge of home-schooling Harry and Lyra, which suited everyone, and he was finally happier to accept money from James and Maia, since he was actually doing something.

"What are you working this week?" Remus asked as Maia's kitten curled itself around her legs, begging for attention, and the family owl hooted in her cage, tapping his beak on the bars.

The little black kitten had been a present from James to Maia on her 30th birthday, and she'd named her Hera. She loved cats but the last one she had died when Voldemort attacked their home. The family owl, Apollo, was a beautiful big eagle owl.

"Day shifts on creature induced injuries," Maia replied. She liked day shifts – 9am to 5pm, 4 times a week, home in time for tea and it matched up to James' work day too, unless he was called in on an emergency.

Maia had gone back to work as a Healer when the children were 2 and 4. It had taken a long time to work her way up to leaving the children and doing a job but eventually she was ready, and she loved her job. She rotated around the different departments, except for the permanent residents ward on the 4th floor, where Frank and Alice Longbottom still lived, as that ward had a team of permanent staff.

At first, the children had been put in to the child-care that the hospital had for its staff, depending on what shifts Maia was working, and it worked well. There were plenty of other children in the hospital's child-care, they seemed to enjoy it and Maia could visit them in her breaks. If she was working later shifts, James would pick the children up and take them home, and depending on what Remus' current job was, sometimes he'd look after them. The staff there also educated them so it suited everyone.

When Harry reached the age of 8, there were no more children his age in child-care and he started to hate it and constantly complain. At the same time, Remus was out of work and struggling so James suggested that they let Remus home-school the children. Remus would be a brilliant teacher, he could get appropriate materials from the ministry and he'd have loved to be a teacher if he didn't have his condition.

Now it was late July, traditionally school holidays, Remus had stopped educating the children and they were having the summer off, which explained why they were both still in bed.

Maia doubted that she'd see either of them before she went to work. Lyra was fond of a lie-in and usually had to be dragged out of bed, though Harry was a bit better.

She set out food and drink for the cat and fed the owl and then started on breakfast for she, James, Sirius and Remus.

A loud crack behind her made Maia jump and as she was flicking her wand at their bacon, she nearly made it fly out of the pan.

"Sirius! Would it kill you to walk down the stairs?!" she snapped.

Sirius chuckled, "No but it amuses me that it still makes you jump."

He leaned over her shoulder and tried to reach into the pan to steal some food but she slapped his hand and told him, "Just sit down -"

"-out of the way, I know," he finished for her, taking a seat at the table and propping his feet up on one of the other chairs.

Even after all these years, the six of them co-existed happily in the house. Potter Manor was big enough that there had never been reason for Remus and Sirius to move out. They lived on the first floor of the house on either side of the library while James and Maia occupied the master bedroom on the 2nd floor. Also on the 2nd floor was a bedroom which had been converted into an office for James, and another spare room. The children had a bedroom each on the 3rd floor and there was a spare bedroom which practically belonged to Neville.

Maia had taken her role as godmother and Alice's best friend seriously and Neville came over for tea and slept twice a week, and they often had care of him at other times too.

"Are we all set for Prongslet's birthday?" Sirius asked.

"All set," James replied, striding into the room and picking up a mug of tea from the counter, "thanks Moony."

He almost tripped over the cat as he went to sit down on the table and he cursed. The cat hissed at him and Maia looked over her shoulder and threw James a glare.

"Don't be mean to Hera," she said.

"Damned thing hates me," James replied, "I bought her for you, and she's evil and she hates me!"

"It's probably got a lot to do with the time you turned her neon pink," Maia replied, narrowing her eyes at him, "and you encouraged our daughter to help you."

"Lyra didn't really do anything," James insisted, flashing her the grin that usually got him out of trouble with her, "she was just … there."

"You're a bad influence James Potter," Maia told him as she summoned four plates out of the cupboard, "you and Sirius are teaching that girl too many ways to cause mischief."

"Oh please," Sirius scoffed, "I'm just teaching her things, being a good godfather. She has a lot of potential."

James nodded, "Besides, who helped her remove the shower head and fill it with jelly slugs so I had a horrible sticky shower?"

Maia wore her best innocent look, "I honestly don't know, darling." To distract him from the conversation, she flicked her wand and the plates, now full of food, flew to the table and landed perfectly on the placemats. "Tuck in then."

James shook his head at the sheer audacity of the woman, but when she took a seat opposite him and looked at him with her best innocent face, there was nothing he could do. It was even worse when his children gave him the same face. He'd never been able to say no to either of them.

"You're sure everything's set for Harry's birthday?" asked Sirius eagerly.

Harry's 11th birthday was on Saturday and 11 was a big birthday. 11 meant receiving a Hogwarts letter, and 11 was where it all began.

"Yes," James insisted, "all the presents have been bought, they just need to be wrapped, and we need to pick a cake up but Maia's going to do that on Friday."

"We need to get Neville a present though," Maia pointed out, "Augusta won't let us have him for tea on Friday since it's his birthday and she wants him to have a birthday tea with her and her brother and sister-in-law -"

"Poor Neville," Sirius muttered.

"Agreed," James said through a mouthful of bacon.

"I know," Maia agreed, "but we are having him on Saturday. I was thinking we could go to Diagon Alley on Saturday and get Harry his Hogwarts things after we've done breakfast and presents, then pick Neville up. Then the boys and Lyra can play and we could go out somewhere nice for dinner."

"Sounds great," James said, "I just can't believe that it's time for Harry to go to Hogwarts."

"I know," Maia sighed, "I feel like we've just graduated. How can it be time for our son to go?"

Sirius grinned, "I can't wait to hear what he'll get up to. All the adventures he'll have, all the friends he'll make, all the Slytherins that he'll prank, all the quidditch matches he'll win."

"He might be a Slytherin," pointed out Maia carefully, "and it's ok if he is."

"Don't be ridiculous," Sirius said, "he's not going to be a Slytherin."

"I'm just saying, if he is-"

"He won't-"

"Well I don't think so either but just in case-"

"The boy is a Gryffindor through and-"

"Don't tell him that, I don't want him to be upset if-"

"He's couldn't possibly be a-"

"It wouldn't be the end of the world! Regulus was-"

"Yeah but Regulus used to be a prat and-"

"Yeah but now-"

"Be quiet, both of you," Remus interrupted, sounding exasperated but grinning. The twins spoke quickly in half sentences, as they had always done, and everyone around them usually left them to it. Remus was always the first one to put an end to it and they always listened to him. He added, "Harry might be a Hufflepuff, you know."

"Don't be ridiculous," Maia and Sirius said at the same time.

Five minutes later, the plates were empty and James sent them flying into the sink. He was about to start cleaning them, when Maia shook her head at him.

"You need to get to work," she said, resting her hand on his back and trying to turn him away from the kitchen sink, "it won't do for the head of the department to be late."

James had been made Head of the Auror Office 18 months ago, just after his 30th birthday. He was young to be a head of department but he'd been a fully qualified auror for ten years and as soon as Mad-Eye Moody even thought about retiring he began preparing his most promising protegee, and told the Minister of Magic that James Potter was the only person suitable to take his job.

Maia had been so proud of him and she treated him to a fancy dinner, then took him home, cast a silencing charm around their bedroom and treated him to a night in. She occasionally visited him at work to have lunch with him, if she was working nights or afternoons and had lunch time free. Being head of the office meant he was often called in out of hours and brought a lot of paperwork home, but Maia couldn't be prouder of him.

"Mm, I should go," James agreed, taking hold of her arm and pulling her a little closer. He leaned down to kiss her soundly on the lips, ignoring the disgusted noise Sirius made from somewhere behind them.

Maia nodded when they broke apart and looked at Remus, "You'll be ok with the kids?"

"Just like every week," Remus smiled, sipping his coffee, "we'll be fine. Lyra has convinced me that we should go to the beach."

Potter Manor was situated in picturesque Devon. The nearest village was Puddlemere, which had a large wizarding population and a good strong quidditch team. The coast was a short walk away and the Lyra was very fond of spending days at the beach.

Her first sign of magic had happened on the beach when she was two years old. Maia had been splashing about in the sea with Harry, and James was building a sandcastle for Lyra. Lyra had gotten excited by the sandcastle, giggled and then all of a sudden it was finished and perfect.

"Good idea," Maia smiled, "don't let the kids sleep in all day and for Merlin's sake keep an eye on Lyra at the beach, the girl is wild. Keep an eye out for the post too, Harry's Hogwarts letter should be here any day now."

"She behaves for me," Remus pointed out, and it was true.

"And only you," James pointed out. Their daughter was mischievous, and it was both of their faults. She'd inherited her parents love of messing about and playing tricks on everyone, and she was as wild and unruly as her mother had been, with her temper to match. She adored Sirius and would do anything he said, but she also adored her godfather, Remus. Remus was never the bad influence that Sirius was, he was calming and Lyra always listened to him.

"Ok, we'll see you later," Maia told Remus as she stepped up to the fireplace and reached for the pot of floo powder. A while after the war was over, they'd got the fireplace reconnected to the floo network, which made travelling nice and easy, since the children couldn't apparate, and side-along apparation was tricky and made them both feel sick.

"Have a good day, love," James smiled, following her to the fireplace.

"You too," she replied, reaching out for him again, taking hold of a fistful of his burgandy coloured work robes and drawing him in for a final kiss. After everything they'd been through, they had a rule about always saying goodbye to each other properly before they left.

"Stay safe," Maia mumbled against his lips when they pulled away from a kiss.

"See you tonight," James replied as he straightened up and watched Maia step into the fireplace. She threw down a handful of floo powder, said the name of the hospital and disappeared into a flash of emerald green flames.

Maia's day was hectic. The hospital schedule meant that she rotated around the different departments every few months. It was possible to specialise in one particular area but Maia enjoyed moving around. She'd been a Healer for 7 years, plus the time before she got pregnant with Harry, and was often a Healer-In-Charge. For the next couple of months, she was on creature induced injuries and when she was on shift, was the healer-in-charge. This week she had day shifts, which was great. Last week had been night shifts, which was horrible.

Maia spent the first part of her morning doing rounds on the patients with the trainee healers, checking on their progess, ordering and carrying out new treatments. She saw several new patients, including a man with a horrible flobberworm bite, a 10 year old with a nasty burn from a blast-ended skrewt, and a woman who had had a particularly bad reaction to Doxy venom.

By the time she went home, she was completely exhausted and her shift had run over by an hour, which wasn't unusual. You couldn't leave the moment your shift ended if you were halfway through consulting on a patient, when you were a healer.

She travelled home at 6pm by floo powder and appeared in the kitchen to smell food already cooking.

"Hi," James grinned, turning around from the cooker when he heard the rush of movement in the fireplace signalling his wife's arrival.

"Hi," she replied, stepping out and brushing herself off.

"Good day?" he asked as she stepped over and peered at what he was doing.

"Not bad," she replied, "you know how the creature floor is. Burns, bites, stings. What are you cooking? And how was your day?"

"Lasagna," he told her, pointing at the pan, "and nothing exciting today, I'm afraid."

Nobody in the house was an amazing cook, and nobody was the designated house chef, so they all pitched in, trying to come up with a plan at the beginning of the week for who would cook which nights. They usually all ate together, apart from when Maia was working through tea time, and although the house had a huge dining room, the kitchen was big too and perfectly adequate for six people.

"Lovely. Sorry I'm late," she said, shaking her head.

James grinned, leaning down to kiss her cheek, "Don't worry about it, I have a hectic job too, remember?"

"How are the kids?"

"Good," James said, "Moony took them to the beach when they dragged themselves out of bed. They came back just after I got home from work. Lyra was soaked, seaweed tangled in her hair, pockets filled with shells and sand, and Harry broke his glasses again. And he's got something to show you. He's been waiting for you to come home. "

"Well what is it?" Maia asked.

James chuckled, "I think he's in the living room. Go on, I can manage dinner by myself."

Maia smiled at him and looked down when she felt the kitten rubbing up against her legs. The cat adored Maia, who spent hours stroking her and playing with her. Maia reached down and gently picked the black ball of fur up. Hera mewed and playfully batted Maia's face with one paw.

"C'mon little kitty," Maia cooed, "let's go find Harry."

Hera allowed herself to be carried around the house and Maia left the kitchen in search of her children. She heard voices from the living room and smiled as she heard her son's voice.

"Knight to D5," Harry said.

Maia stopped in the doorway in time to see Sirius smirking as he ordered one of his pieces to move and took Harry's knight. Harry groaned in frustration and Maia smiled at her son.

"Hey you two," she grinned, leaning in the doorway.

"Mum, you're back," Harry grinned eagerly, quickly getting up from his position on the floor and scrabbling in his pocket for something. From the excitement on his face, Maia could guess what he was about to show her.

"We've been dying for you to get back," Sirius told her, "wait 'til you see what Prongslet got today!"

Maia's son was a carbon copy of his father at his age, but with her own unusual grey eyes and the lightening bolt scar in the middle of his forehead. He was scrawny, like James had been, but she knew he'd grow. He had his father's knack for getting into trouble, and had the playful streak of the marauders, though he was less wild than his younger sister. When angry, he had Maia's temper and he had the same defiant look his mother did, not to mention the look of innocence when he'd been caught doing something. He loved quidditch – it was hard not to, in their family – and James had had quidditch posts installed in the gardens years ago.

He was missing the sheer arrogance and attitude that the young James had had, because Maia had been careful how they raised him. He wasn't a spoilt child, despite the fact that they were wealthy and he was famous. They'd been very careful to shield him from people trying to take pictures and shake his hand, and since he wasn't yet at school, it was easy enough to protect him.

Maia had been determined to raise her children in a happy environment and make sure their childhoods were nothing like hers, and she liked to think she'd succeeded. She had never loved her parents but she had an excellent relationship with her children.

Lyra was a Daddy's girl through and through, but was Sirius' girl even more, and adored her godfather, Remus. She was also got along well with her Uncle Regulus, who came around every Sunday for the family roast dinner. Harry – unlike Lyra – didn't seem to have a favourite parent, for which Maia was very grateful. He also adored Sirius, who was a cross between another parent and a cool big brother. His relationship with his Uncle Regulus was polite and friendly enough, but not as good as Lyra's. He too, was very fond of Remus.

"Look Mum!" Harry exclaimed, pulling out of his pocket a yellow-ish envelope addressed in emerald green ink. He turned it over to show her that there was a fancy red wax seal on the other side – the Hogwarts crest.

Hera meowed and batted Maia with her paws so Maia smiled and put the cat on the floor, unsurprised when she hissed at Sirius whilst walking past and curling herself around Harry's leg. The cat hated James, Sirius and Lyra for the amount of pranks they'd played on her – and probably in Sirius case because he was a dog – but she seemed to like Harry.

"Sweetheart, is that your Hogwarts letter?" Maia grinned excited for him.

She and the others had been telling him stories about their time at Hogwarts for as long as he could remember and Harry had been looking forward to getting his letter so much.

"I think so," Harry replied, looking down at the envelope, "it says "Mr H. Potter, Third Floor Bedroom, Potter Manor, Devon.""

"Well open it," Maia insisted, pointing at the letter, "come on, what are you waiting for?"

"I wanted you and Dad to be here," Harry replied.

Maia smiled, "Oh. In that case come on, come into the kitchen, I think your Dad is busy cooking dinner so we wouldn't want to drag him away, would we?"

She and Harry went back into the kitchen, and Sirius got up to follow them.

"Dad I'm going to open my letter!" Harry called excitedly as he hurried into the kitchen, waving the envelope.

In the kitchen, James was overseeing dinner and it appeared to be almost ready as he flicked his wand to get the plates to come out of the cupboards. Maia found her daughter sitting on the worktop chatting to her Dad and swinging her legs.

"It's not fair!" whined Lyra, pouting and folding her arms over her chest, "I want to go to Hogwarts."

"You will eventually, Ly," Maia pointed out, "and get down from the worktop please. If you want to sit down, come and sit at the table."

Lyra rolled her eyes – a trait she had recently picked up and Maia was pretty sure she'd learnt from Sirius, when he rolled his eyes every time Maia and James dared to share a kiss. She jumped down from the worktop.

"I want to go to Hogwarts, Mum," she sighed as she flopped into one of the kitchen chairs.

"One day, sweetheart," Maia replied, resting her hand on her daughter's shoulder as she stood behind her and leaning down to press a kiss in her dark curly hair, "let Harry open his letter, then you can tell me all about the beach."

"Can I open it now?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Open it!" Sirius encouraged him.

With slightly shaky hands, Harry ripped open the envelope and pulled out a piece of parchment. This was it. This was the moment he'd been waiting for ever since he'd heard the first stories about the magical school.

"It's Hogwarts!" he confirmed as his eyes followed the parchment and he read part of it out loud, ""We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1st September. We await you owl by no later than 31st July. Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress." I'm going to Hogwarts!"

Sirius was the first to react and happened to be standing closest to Harry. He immediately pulled the boy in for a tight hug. "You're going to Hogwarts!"

"C'mon, move out of the way," Maia sighed when Sirius wasn't letting go.

Harry grinned and let Maia throw her arms around him, also pulling him in for a tight hug. He returned his mother's hug happily as she told him, "I'm so proud of you! You're getting so grown up – Hogwarts already! I don't know what I'll do when you're gone for months on end!"

"Don't fuss, Mum," Harry laughed when she let go of him and planted a kiss on his cheek.

James laughed as Harry wiped away the kiss with the back of his hand, and he also hugged his boy, "Well done Prongslet. It's time to go and become a real wizard."

"Why can't I go?" Lyra asked, frowning.

"You're just not old enough, angel, you know that," James told her comfortingly, "but you'll be there before you know it, just you wait and see."

"When can we go get my school things?" Harry asked eagerly, already scanning the list of required belongings, "hey, can I get a pet? An owl would be really cool."

"We can go to Diagon Alley on Saturday," Maia told her son.

"This is so unfair," Lyra huffed.

Maia sighed – sometimes trying to pay equal attention to her children was difficult, and she was sure it would only get more difficult as they got older. Harry was the Boy Who Lived and all that rubbish, and she'd never want Lyra to be overshadowed but this was about Harry, not her daughter, who was being whiny and jealous.

"Pup, don't be like that," Sirius said, stepping closer to his beloved niece. He knelt in front of her and put both of his hands on her upper arms, "with Harry off at school all year, this does mean you'll have the undivided attention of your favourite uncle."

Lyra nodded, "Yeah, I guess."

Sirius grinned, reaching up and putting his thumb and forefinger under her chin and tilting her head so she was looking in his eyes instead of down at her shoes. "It'll be great," Sirius told her, "think of all the pranks. We'll have a year to practise everything on Uncle Moony and your Mum and Dad-"

"Hey!" James protested.

Sirius continued, "-and when Harry comes back in the summer, he won't know what's hit him. We'll have loads of fun and you'll get your chance to go to Hogwarts soon enough, right?"

Lyra gave him a genuine smile, "Ok."

Maia exchanged a look of disbelief with James at how easy it had just been to make their 9 year old happy. James mouthed "Ok?" at Maia and she shrugged and shook her head in response. She would never understand how Sirius managed to get through to the girl when no-one else did.

Dinner that night was spent reminiscing about Hogwarts. James told the children about when he had captained the Gryffindor quidditch team to victory two years in a row. Sirius told them about their best pranks on the Slytherins. Maia told them about Hagrid, who was bound to take the children under his wing, and who they'd actually met when they were little but not recently enough for either of them to remember very well. Remus told them that they could brew potions, meet magical creatures, turn teacups into mice and try to tell fortunes.

After dinner they went to play quidditch in the garden.

Harry and Lyra could both fly well enough, it was in their blood and they'd grown up watching James and Maia arguing over who was the best chaser and having competitions. James had been eager to teach their children how to fly and Maia had a sneaking suspicion that their boy would be able to out-fly both of them in years to come.

They played all combinations of doubles in the gardens, playing without the bludgers because there weren't enough people to keep them away and playing without the snitch for a while too. James and Maia were evenly matched, and could both out-fly Harry, and all were better than Lyra, though she put up a good fight.

When it became too dark and everyone was tired, Maia insisted that the children went to get ready for bed and go to their rooms. She went up to the third floor to make sure they were both doing as they were told – particularly Lyra. She hugged and kissed the children and said goodnight and then went downstairs.

She put some water out for the cat for the night, gave her a little cuddle and then went up to bed.

In the bedroom she found James sitting up in bed, waiting for her. She loved this part of the day. Things were often so hectic that the two of them didn't have much time to talk in the day but when they climbed into bed at night, they could lie awake for hours, talking over all the details of their day.

Maia went to brush her teeth and got undressed. She pulled on an old white shirt of James' that fell halfway down her thighs and she liked to sleep in when it wasn't cold enough for her pajamas.

James watched her change with an interested look on his face and Maia threw him a wolfish grin before clambering into bed with him.

As soon as she got into bed, she snuggled up to her husband, taking hold of his hand and tugging on it. James chuckled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, drawing her in close and resting his chin on the top of her head as she lay her head on his bare chest.

"How on earth did Harry get old enough to be going to Hogwarts?" Maia asked.

"Magic, I'm sure," James replied rubbing his hand up and down her arm.

"I'm going to miss him so much."

"Me too," James told her, "but he had to go at some time and he'll have so much fun. And he's clever so he'll be a natural. He'll shine at Hogwarts, he'll be amazing wizard, and to do that he has to leave and go to school. "

Maia sighed. She'd always had even more of an issue letting go of their children than an average parent, but that was an understandable outcome of having Voldemort attack her 1 year old son and kill her parents-in-law on the one night she'd allowed herself to have a night off.

"Suppose."

James smiled slightly, "C'mon, don't be like this. Don't be sad. He's not leaving until September so we've got months to get used to it. And once he's there we can write to him all the time, and Regulus will see him, and we'll see Regulus every week so we'll know how he is. Don't worry."

"I'll always worry," Maia replied.

"Well don't worry now," James replied, "he's not leaving until September. There's no point spending all summer worrying. Why don't you tell me more about your day?"

They stayed awake for a while longer as Maia told James some of the details about her cases, her trainees, the gossip of who was dating who. By the time she was finished, she felt much calmer and James began telling her all about his day, all the things he'd been up to and all his interactions with various staff around the ministry.

An hour and a half after they'd first got into bed there was a lull in conversation and Maia lifted her head from her husband's chest to look up into his face.

"Thanks Jamie," she smiled.

"Thanks?" he echoed, slightly confused.

"You know … for taking my mind off things, calming me down."

James raised his eyebrows and gave her a look that was really rather seductive, if she did say so herself. "You know," he said, "I could take your mind off things in other ways too."

She barely had time to giggle before James pressed his lips to hers and kissed her softly, eventually swiping his tongue across her lower lip and begging for entrance, and Maia parted her lips.

When the kiss ended, Maia grinned at him, "Well, that seems to do the job."

James grinned back at her, reaching for his wand and turning out the lights as he moved in for another kiss.

Author's Note: So this story will follow Harry's first year at Hogwarts! Would people prefer it to be all from Maia's point of view like this chapter, or should it be partly from Maia's point of view and partly from Harry's? I'm planning to do several sequels right up to the end of Deathly Hallows but the first few stories will be short as there's not much going on with Voldemort being gone, but there's lots of potential as we get further into the series.