The Aftermath.

Chapter 1

How Apollo Met Adelaide

July 3rd 1998

It was just before dawn, and Apollo was leaving his mortal lover's apartment to drive his sun chariot across the sky. He liked his latest lover, Amanda Forbes. She had a nice sense of humor, was smart, believed that he was a god even though she couldn't see through the Mist, and had pretty hazel eyes. She understood that he couldn't be with her always and that their relationship would eventually end—probably with a child—and she understood that he couldn't be there when she woke up all the time. Truth be told, he had been planning on waking up beside her this morning, putting his chariot on autopilot, but he had had a feeling that he should get up.

And so he did.

Apollo had always gone with whatever his instincts told him, because he was the god of prophecies and it helped him know the future…sort of. Just because he listened to his instincts though, didn't mean that he knew what they meant until he was—figuratively—hit in the face with it. Right now for instance, he was walking as slow as possible for seemingly no reason at all. He kept glancing at the doors he walked by, feeling like he was supposed to be looking for something, but all of them were the same boring white, bland beige, or unmentionable brown. Not what he was looking for.

…whatever he was looking for.

Then he stopped. There was a scuffling noise, like a drunk person trying to pick up the keys they had dropped, and Apollo thought he heard a faint swearing. He followed the noise, and came to what he was looking for. A red door. A bright red door. A crimson door.

Apollo knocked three times.

The scuffling froze.

"Who is it?" A faint voice asked, as if out of breath.

"Apollo, god of prophecies, knowledge, truth, music, healing, and plague." Well, he decided to just say it bluntly. And irritatingly cheerfully.

The door opened surprisingly quickly. The girl standing in the doorway had dark red hair, emerald green eyes, and pale skin. She wore a powder blue dress that looked like it had just been thrown on haphazardly, a pale yellow jacket, and plain black flats. She was holding a sleeping baby that couldn't have been more than a few months old with teal hair wrapped in a fuzzy red blanket that matched the door. The girl looked to be about seventeen and was very very pregnant.

Wait… teal hair?

She raised a black eyebrow skeptically, "You serious? Because I don't have time to deal with bloody lunatics at the moment." Her voice was strained and her back hunched over.

"Of course I'm serious," Apollo replied, as if offended, "as the god of truth, it is impossible for me to lie." He smiled cockily, and was just coming up with a good haiku when the girl groaned in pain. That was when it hit him that she was going into labour. He paled, "Oh…"

"Yeah… oh…" she panted, "now, god of healing, would you mind getting me to the nearest hospital so I can give birth?"

Apollo, suddenly all business, nodded curtly. He walked into her apartment, absently taking note that it was bigger than it should be, picked up her bag that he assumed she had been trying fruitlessly to pick up before he knocked, and took her by the elbow. He walked her outside, hailed a cab, and helped her in before getting in himself.

The cabbie took one look at her sweaty face and swollen belly and drove as fast as he could. He hadn't even needed to be told where to go. New York traffic though, even before dawn, was a bitch.

"So what's your name sweetheart?" Apollo asked while waiting in traffic. He thought that maybe if he kept her talking it would distract her from the pain.

"Adelaide Potter," she said, then gestured to the teal haired baby she carried, "This is Teddy Lupin, my godson."

"My names James," the cabbie put in.

"What a coincidence," Adelaide forced a breathy laugh, "that was my father's name."

"Well, uhh…" Apollo tried to think of something to say, "your British; what are you doing in America? And why do you have your godson?"

Adelaide winced. Apparently this wasn't the best question—although it could have been because of the pain. "My boyfriend died. His mother and sister and one of his brothers blamed me—of course, they didn't know I was pregnant with his child—and I thought it would be nice to get away from some of the things that had happened there, not to mention the newspaper reporters stalking me, which would have just been worse when they found out I was pregnant." Why would she have reporters stalking her? Apollo wondered. She took a few deep, stuttering breaths, "Teddy's with me because his parents died, and his grandmother was unable to take care of him. Are we just about there?"

"Just pulling into the drop off area, then you can go and call anybody you need and have that baby." The cabbie—James—said.

"Oh, yes!" Adelaide said as if just realizing something, "I should contact George."

They got out of the cab, paid James, and Apollo helped Adelaide into the hospital. Once they had gotten her a room, Adelaide had passed Teddy to him. When the doctor came in and tried to escort Apollo out, saying that only family was allowed, Adelaide said firmly, "I do not care if he is a Greek god, he is holding my godson, and will not leave this room." That was that—and though the doctor did look at her funny for calling Apollo a Greek god, he probably thought it was the pain making her talk nonsense. Apollo did have to wonder why she had believed him so easily. Maybe she could see through the Mist so it hadn't seemed that farfetched that a god would knock at her door?

After hours of pain and screaming, the babies were finally born. Yes, babies, as in plural, meaning more than one—apparently Adelaide had been surprised as well ("What do you mean there's another one?!" She screamed. "Actually, it appears that there are two more." The doctor said. "Triplets?!") Evidently, Adelaide had not gotten an ultrasound or even gone to a doctor about her pregnancy, because: "I've been to the infirmary enough throughout my life to know that I hate going for medical check-ups." Then she looked at the doctor and said unconvincingly, "No offence." (She didn't appear fond of the man looking between her legs and telling her she needed to "push harder.")

Now it was over. Adelaide held all three of her children along with Teddy—whom she had reclaimed swiftly—on a pillow on her lap, propped up so she could see them. "I should have known that he would still be giving me surprises." Adelaide said to herself while staring at her children in wonder.

"Who?" Apollo asked.

She started, like she had forgotten he was there. "My boyfriend. Fiancé really," she showed him her left hand, where a simple ring resided. It was a white gold band that tapered, drawing your eye to the modest diamond in the center. "Fred Weasley. He would have thought it to be a hilarious prank. Not only did he get me pregnant at fifteen, but with triplets." Her eyes got misty. "He would have been very happy."

"You're fifteen?" Apollo would have pegged her to be seventeen, maybe eighteen.

She shook her head. "I'll be eighteen on the thirty-first."

Apollo frowned. "Then how…?"

"You're a god right? I've talked to Thanatos, so I know that the Greek gods exist. So if you're a god, then you'll know about the witches and wizards, regardless that you don't have any here in America." Apollo nodded. "Well, I just froze the pregnancy until the war over there was over." He didn't have that much trouble remembering what it meant to 'freeze' a pregnancy—he was the god of knowledge after all—even if he couldn't dredge up the particulars. Basically, when you drank a specific potion—really obscure—and then almost exactly thirty minutes later—the more exact you get it, the more likely it was to be successful—you say a specific spell incantation, pointing your wand at where your uterus would be. It sounded pretty easy, and it was, but it died out and not many books still held the directions anymore because there was no need for anyone to freeze their pregnancy. Plus it was really finicky: sometimes it wouldn't stick, so you would have to go through the whole process all over again, and the potion ingredients were probably expensive.

Wait…

Apollo's eyes widened. "You're that Adelaide Potter?"

"Yes." She sighed tiredly.

"Hey, didn't you say that you wanted to call someone? George?" Apollo decided to take a step away from the topic of her fame. The gods paid enough attention to the wizarding world to know the major events and not much else, and Adelaide Potter defeating Lord Voldemort was a major event.

Adelaide yawned, "Yeah… I'll do that tomorrow. He's Fred's twin brother." She explained.

"How'd you meet Thanatos?"

"I gave him back his Hallows."

"The Deathly Hallows?" Apollo laughed. "The ones he got 'tricked' into giving to the Peverell brothers?"

"Yes." Adelaide looked at him oddly—probably because he couldn't stop laughing. (Though he was considerate enough to do so quietly, making sure he didn't disturb the babies.)

"Thanatos was drunk when that happened. He was so plastered that he could barely see straight! It was surprising that he didn't just give them immortality." He kept laughing.

Addy—as Apollo decided he would call her—smiled. "I met him before that too, when I died, then he visited me when I moved here. That's when I gave them back."

"How are you going to take care of four infants?" Apollo asked, "What are their names?"

"I don't know." She answered his first question honestly, "I guess I'll just… do my best and hope I don't mess up. I like to think I've been doing an all right job with Teddy."

"Their names?"

Adelaide looked first to the two identical fiery haired boys, and to the oldest said, "James Sirius," then to the second born, "Frederick Severus." Then to the one girl, the youngest with raven black hair, "Lily Nymphadora."

Apollo couldn't help but admire Adelaide. Not many seventeen year olds could take care—or be willing to take care—of four children, one of them not even her own. Yet here she was, not even complaining about the fact that she'll have no free time, or whining about the fact that she was all alone in taking care of them, or looking at the children like they were taking something away from her. He had a feeling that Teddy, James, Frederick, and Lily would have one of the best childhoods ever. All because of their mother.