Note: This is the third in my Maia Black/Potter series! The rest are available on my profile, but basically this is an AU. Lily Evans never existed and Sirius has a twin sister, who James falls in love with. Live Marauders, live Regulus, Peter is in Azkaban and Harry has a younger sister, the Marauders were at school with Frank and Alice Longbottom and Maia is Neville's godmother.

Chapter One

On a sunny Thursday afternoon in July, Maia Potter arrived home by floo from St Mungo's hospital - as she did every day when she finished work – and found herself standing in the empty kitchen of Potter Manor.

She stepped out of the fireplace, lifting a hand to her hair and brushing a stray curl that had fallen down out of her eyes, then pulling her wand from her pocket and using it to dust the soot from her robes. She glanced at the clock – it was just after 5pm and she wondered if her husband of 13 and a half years had beaten her home. They were both due to finish work at 5pm, but her working in a hospital and him being the head of his department meant working overtime and coming home late were extremely common.

Loud laughter caught her attention and she looked out of the kitchen window to see her two children playing in the garden playing on their broomsticks.

Harry, her 11 year old son – one day away from his 12th birthday - was soaring towards Lyra, his 10 year old sister, the snitch dancing between them. Harry was already the star of his house quidditch team so his little sister was no match for him, but she was holding her own, and Harry was going easy on her, missing the snitch and letting it fly around them.

On the ground beneath them, Remus Lupin, the children's live-in honorary uncle and Lyra's godfather was sitting on the wooden bench swing with a newspaper spread across his lap.

Maia's twin brother Sirius was nowhere to be seen, and neither was James, so Maia could only assume that they were both still at work, because if they were in the house, she couldn't imagine them missing out on the opportunity to play quidditch.

The oven was switched on and something inside was cooking. She checked on it and smiled- Remus must have made a start on dinner. The four adults tried to share out the housework and the cooking and take it in turns but Remus always seemed to end up doing extra, being the only one who didn't have a full time job. Still, he was supported by the Potters, and by Sirius, and he'd home-schooled Harry and Lyra when they were little, and watched them all the time when the others were at work, so as far as Maia was concerned, he'd was certainly deserving of every knut, and then some.

Satisfied that the food cooking was fine to be left for a bit longer, she stuffed her wand in her robes and went out to the garden. It was a beautiful sunny day and she couldn't wait until the weekend, when she could actually enjoy it properly.

"Hi!" she called brightly, waving at her children as she headed towards Remus on the swing bench, which was swinging of its own accord, a faint purple light flickering around the hinges to indicate that it was enchanted.

"Hi Mum!" Lyra shouted from a distance, lifting one hand from the broom handle to wave at her.

Harry on the other hand, grinned upon seeing her and immediately swerved towards the ground to come and speak to her properly. He landed neatly a few feet away from her, and Maia was standing near the bench by now, close enough for Remus to put aside his newspaper and say hello to her.

"Hi sweetheart," Maia grinned as her son got closer. Lyra was a daddy's girl through and through, but to Maia's eternal gratitude, Harry didn't seem to have a preference, and he always let her fuss over him and be affectionate. Right now she opened her arms and hugged him happily.

"How was your day?" she asked him.

Harry returned her hug and when they broke apart, he nodded, "Yeah good."

"Did Neville like his presents?"

Remus answered that one, "He was very happy. Even Augusta was in a good mood."

Maia raised her eyebrows at this bit of news about her godson's grandmother and guardian, who was usually quite a stern woman, "Oh really?"

"She gave us lots of cake," Harry said.

Maia grinned at the news, "Good. Did you tell him what time we'll fetch him tomorrow?"

Harry nodded, parroting the plan to her, "Uncle Remus, Lyra and I will pick him up at 12."

"Spot on," Maia agreed at the same time Lyra, still hovering in the air, shouted down at them at the top of her voice.

"Harry come on! Come and play!"

Harry rolled his eyes but went off without another word and Maia smiled, sitting down beside Remus on the bench. Today was the birthday of her godson, Neville Longbottom, who lived with his grandmother but spent two nights a week with the Potters, sometimes even more. Neville's grandmother usually put on a small birthday tea for him, with his great-aunt and -uncle in attendance, and wouldn't let him spend the day with the Potters. It didn't matter thought because the very next day was Harry's birthday, and Neville always spent it with them, and the two boys birthdays could be celebrated together.

Maia had visited Neville's parents in the permanent residence wing of St Mungo's hospital that morning, as she often did during her lunch breaks, and she'd seen Neville then and wished him a happy birthday, but she'd only spoken to him for about thirty seconds before she was paged away from her lunch and back to her ward for an urgent case.

"How was work?" Remus asked.

Maia sighed, "Busy. It's been a long day. I'll be happy when we can just celebrate Harry's birthday in peace. Anything exciting in the newspaper?"

"Not really," Remus replied, "I was just scanning the job section."

Maia was a little surprised but she couldn't blame him, it had been a while since he'd done anything much, not needing to with home schooling Harry and Lyra, and baby sitting them, but if he wanted to go back to work, she supposed she'd be able to find somewhere else to put Lyra when the others were all working. Maybe she could go into day-care at the hospital, although she'd be older than all the others. Maybe Augusta could look after her, but Lyra would hate it. Maybe she'd have to go part-time. They couldn't be selfish – if Remus wanted to go work, fine.

Before she had chance to voice any of it, Remus smiled at her, "Not for now, of course, but there's only a year before Lyra goes to Hogwarts and then maybe ..."

"Sure – I …. of course. You know if you ever want to get a job, you don't have to wait til Ly goes to school, we can find something else to do with her - "

Remus cut her off with a light chuckle, "I know. I like staying home with her, and Harry when he's around too, you know that. Just thought I'd see how busy the job boards are – give myself a bit of hope for when I do get round to it."

"Well anyone'd be lucky to have you," she told him sincerely.

There was only a second of silence before a loud crack resounding behind them, making Maia flinch violently. She heaved a sigh, knowing what would have happened before she even turned around.

"Sirius, you idiot, don't do that!" she hissed, looking over her shoulder and glaring at her twin.

Sirius grinned, shrugging out of his cloak, letting it land carelessly on the floor and then flopping to the ground, sticking his legs out in front of him, leaning back on his elbows and reclining on the grass with ease. There was a wooden picnic bench not far from them, that was often made larger or smaller to accommodate for their guests, but Sirius seemed to have decided against using it - Maia was slightly glad because it would have meant them all moving there and she loved the swing.

"Ah, lighten up sis," he shrugged, considering his cloak for a minute and then flicking his wand at it to send it inside where it belonged.

Maia rolled her eyes at him and as he said something to Remus, she didn't really catch it because with the arrival of Sirius, she was expecting James. She looked towards the doors to the house just in time to see them open and James come strolling through, knowing better than to apparate, because that would certainly make his wife mad.

"Hi Dad!" Lyra shouted from the air, though she was too concentrated on chasing Harry to come down.

"Hey kids!" James shouted back with a wave, crossing the grass and approaching the adults. He spared a smile for Remus, barely registered Sirius – which was fair enough since he'd been at work with him all day – and mainly had eyes for his wife. He leaned down to take her face in his hands and planted a kiss on her lips. She was somewhat taken by surprise, given his lack of greeting prior to this and the fact that they were surrounded by Sirius and Remus. It was quite a lingering kiss, hands on her face, lips moving as perfectly against hers as they always did.

When he broke apart, she pouted slightly and he grinned, "Afternoon love," he said, flopping down onto the grass beside Sirius.

Maia took a moment to compose herself before replying, "Well, hello handsome. How was your day?"

Sirius, as ever, rolled his eyes at the flirting between the two, though everyone knew that he didn't mind too much – he didn't really have a choice after all this time.

James shrugged, "Not bad. Nothing exciting to report, I'm afraid. Did Neville like his presents?" he asked Remus.

Remus, who was Neville's godfather, nodded, "He was very grateful. I told him the kids and I will pick him up at lunch tomorrow."

James nodded, now addressing everyone, "And are we all sorted for tomorrow?"

"Think so," Maia replied, glancing up at her son, who was racing through the air, across the vast grounds of Potter Manor, with Lyra quite a way behind him, "you're sure you can get away in good time tomorrow?"

James smiled, "Love, unless there's a huge disaster that affects the entire world, then Sirius and I'll be away early so we can celebrate our boy's birthday properly."

Maia grinned, "Great. I don't think I'll be away any earlier than 5, but I'll try not to be any later, and I'll nip into the village and pick up his cake on the way home."

There was a beautiful little bakery in the nearby village, and although the four of them had tried to make a cake for themselves in the past, when the children's birthdays fell in the week, sometimes there was just no time to make one. Besides, the village bakery was wonderful.

"We should wrap the last of his presents before bed tonight," James added.

Maia agreed, trying to make sure they'd thought of very detail for their boy's day.

"What time are we expecting people?" Sirius asked.

Maia rolled her eyes, "We talked about this this morning. Regulus will be here at 5, Andromeda and Ted too, and you, James and Tonks will leave work together between 4 and 5 o clock, unless there is a wizarding world crisis. You did tell Tonks?"

"Course we did," James told her, rolling his eyes at Sirius, "everything's fine."

Maia was looking forward to having all her family around, even if their family was a bit patchy. Still, they got together often enough. Regulus came around for dinner every Sunday, and he tried to never miss the kids birthdays.

Andromeda, Maia's favourite cousin and the only one who wasn't allied with the dark side and the Black family's ridiculous pure-blood ways, invited them over for tea every so often, but Andromeda was a good ten years older and very sensible, so although they got along, it wasn't in the same way that Maia got on with her brothers.

Maia was much closer to Andromeda's daughter, Nymphadora. Nymphadora, who preferred to be known by her surname only, had become a regular fixture at Potter Manor, and the whole house loved her company.

Tonks wasn't yet twenty, but Maia and the Marauders had never grown up fully and Maia came to see the younger woman as a sort of cross between a younger sister and a daughter. Lyra adored the woman and Sirius and James did too, especially since they worked with her every day.

James had been made head of the Auror department a little over 2 years ago, when he and Sirius' mentor Alastor Moody retired, and he absolutely loved it. He wasn't too impressed with the amount of paperwork he had to face but it was his dream job. Tonks had been in the department for a year and was the first person to join since James took over, and he liked having a protegee. It helped that Tonks was rather like a young Maia and Sirius, wild, outgoing and exactly how he could imagine his daughter turning out. Minus the bubblegum pink hair, that was. Tonks came around about once a week, usually on Fridays or Saturdays and she'd have dinner, then they'd all have a few drinks and be silly.

Even Remus liked Tonks – it was hard not to. She'd quickly become part of their family and Maia liked to watch them interact, wondering if maybe there was a little spark between them. James told her she was being silly, there was the age gap for one, then there the fact that Remus was so … Remus, and Tonks was … wild.

"D'you need a hand wrapping anything, or sorting anything else out?" Remus asked.

Maia grinned at him, "I'm sure James and I can manage between us. You're doing enough picking Neville up tomorrow – I can't imagine visiting Augusta twice in a row, you're a very brave man."

Remus smirked slightly, "Well I wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing."

Before long it was time for dinner, and Maia rose to her feet to go check on it, telling Remus to sit back down, since he'd cooked it all, she was pretty sure she could serve it up without help. James stood up too and insisted on coming to help, and Maia was never one to refuse her husband anything he wanted, especially when he had that glint in his eyes.

In the kitchen, Maia leaned down to stroke the little black kitten who curled itself around her legs and mewed up at her. She gently stroked between the kitten's ears, and little Hera purred happily. Maia smiled and reached down to pick her up, wrapping her arms around her and holding her close to her chest.

"Hello sweetie," she cooed. The cat had been a present for her birthday a couple of years back, and she adored it. It was perhaps an unusual choice of pet, given they had a werewolf and an animagus dog living there too, and Hera seemed to hate Sirius. She hated Lyra too, quite liked Harry and pretended to hate James, but Maia had caught them cuddling a few times when she got home and they weren't quite expecting her.

Behind her, James cleared his throat, "Are we checking on dinner or cuddling the furball?"

Maia tutted at him and stroked down Hera's spine with one hand, the other holding her close. Speaking to the cat in a silly voice, in James' opinion, she said, "He's mean, isn't he? Daddy's just jealous that I'm not cuddling him."

"Don't call me the cat's "Daddy"" James sighed, though he looked a little amused.

Maia snuggled Hera for a few seconds longer, before setting her down on her feet, where she mewled and continued to find herself around Maia's legs as she crossed the kitchen to wash her hands.

As she turned off the tap and dried her hands on a towel, facing the window, she felt James' presence extremely close to her and he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, hugging her back to him and leaning down to rest his chin on her shoulder.

"You're so beautiful," he mumbled, lifting his chin slightly and turning his head so his nose nudged at her cheek.

She grinned, relaxing against him and turning her face towards his, "What's gotten into you today?" she asked, thinking of the overly passionate greeting she'd gotten when he got in from work.

James grinned, his lips almost brushing hers with every word he spoke, "I just love you, is all."

Maia was somewhat taken aback by his sudden display of affection and she grinned, though she felt the blush spread across her cheeks. She couldn't find the appropriate words quickly enough, so she leaned in, closing the very small distance between them and touching his lips with her own.

His lips moved perfectly against her own, taking control of the kiss and swiping at her lower lip with his tongue. It was slow and controlled, and when they broke apart, Maia smiled, relaxing back into him completely.

"Love you too," she mumbled.

"I have a good feeling about this month," James told her, one hand moving from her hip to her stomach, spreading his fingers and covering her body with one large hand.

Maia smiled, though it was a little sad too, "I hope so."

They had been trying to conceive their third child for 4 and a half months, so far without success but James was being incredibly sweet and spent a lot of time reminding her that that really wasn't too long, and he always did it with such love in his eyes that she couldn't fail to believe him.

The high points came at the end of every month, like now, when Maia was ovulating and their attempts to conceive were at a high, and the low points were in the middle of the month when she found out she wasn't pregnant.

James smiled gently and kissed her cheek, trying to kiss away any hint of unhappiness and he was very pleased when he earned himself a small smile.

"You might have to let me go, or dinner will burn and everyone will starve," Maia told him.

James pouted but could hardly deny that she was right, even if she was being a bit dramatic, and he reluctantly let go of her. After they ate dinner, it wasn't long before the children went up to their rooms for the nights, and the adults followed behind.

Maia never really liked to go to bed late when she had work the next day and with the added element of trying to conceive, she got to bed even earlier some nights so they didn't run out of time.

Almost as soon as they'd gone up to bed that night, Maia found herself gently pushed up against the closed door and James' lips were upon hers. She smiled into the kiss, her hands moving to his back, fingers knotting in his clothes, drawing him even closer. She'd worried at first, that the longer they tried to conceive, the more their efforts would become business-like, and they'd lose all the passion out of their relationship, but James was so giving, so loving that she didn't know how she'd ever thought it.

By the time he broke apart from her, she was breathless but as he moved to kiss her neck, brushing her hair out of the way, she whined slightly, moving her hands to his chest and pushing him back ever so slightly.

"The presents," she all but whispered, "we need to wrap them before bed."

James gave her his best grin, one hand moving to rake through his already messy hair, "We could do it later?"

"No we couldn't," she replied, raising her eyebrows at him, "we'll forget after …. we should do it now."

Knowing she was right, James agreed, drawing his wand from inside his robes and summoning Harry's presents, which were hidden in their room, then summoning the wrapping paper and the bits of stupid ribbon that he had no idea how to make look nice but his mother ha always done for him, and it always looked nice.

Maia climbed onto the bed and drew her own wand from her robes, reaching for the first present.

James wasn't much help, sitting on the bed with her and doing his very best to be a distraction as Maia magically wrapped all the presents, trying and make the ribbon curl nicely with her wand but sort of giving up, trying to make all the presents look good.

James was desperately trying to distract her, kneeling behind her, wrapping an arm around her middle, brushing all of her hair to one side to expose her neck so he could trail kisses down it. Maia protested at first but she was grinning and giggling and he couldn't help himself.

When the last present was finally wrapped, Maia flicked her wand at it to send it off to the corner of the room, where it joined a small pile. Satisfied with the task at hand, she grinned and tossed her wand onto the bedside table, still a bit constricted by James' arm loose around her waist as he still kissed his way down her neck.

Smirking, Maia wriggled against him, turning around to face him and pushing at his chest, guiding him to lie back against the pillows and following his body with her own. Almost as soon as she lay down beside him, he was wrapping his arms around her again, this time pressing his lips to hers, making her card her hands through his hair.

Some time later, when they curled up together and about to go to sleep, Maia let out a sigh, her mind wandering as it often did to the baby they hadn't even conceived yet. She knew she was incredibly lucky to have Harry and Lyra but the longer they spent unsuccessfully trying for a third, the longer she desperately wanted one.

"You okay, love?" James mumbled, her head tucked under his chin and his lips brushing her hair.

"Fine," she replied, closing her eyes and taking in his warmth, fingertips skirting across his bare chest.

"What're you thinking about?" he pressed, frowning slightly since he'd caught her sigh and it didn't really sound like a sigh of contentment.

"Just hoping this is it," she replied.

"I know," James replied, one hand stroking up and down her arm, "but you're not worrying, are you? Because we talked about that - worrying and putting pressure on yourself doesn't help us."

She nodded – they'd had the conversation not too long ago, but it was easy enough to say and much easier to follow through on. Nobody could help worrying.

Sensing that she hadn't quite relaxed, James continued to stroke her arms gently, keeping her safely wrapped up in her arms. He was quite convinced that they'd succeed, no matter how long it took and he just wanted to make her happy.

Hoping to get a smile out of her, he asked, "What do you want this time? Boy or girl?"

She smiled lightly – the last time she'd asked him whether he wanted another boy or a girl, James had grinned and replied that he wanted twins, and she'd almost slapped him. After considering the question for a moment, she smiled and answered honestly, "I don't mind. Either would be lovely, but I hope they have your eyes this time."

James smiled – their two children had Maia's unusual grey eyes, which her brothers also had, and James was very glad of it, even if looking at his daughter with his wife's beautiful grey eyes meant to couldn't deny her anything she wanted.

Before he could reply, Maia mumbled, "You have nice eyes."

He chuckled and knew she'd be asleep within seconds so he kissed her hair and mumbled an "I love you."

The next morning Maia was standing in the kitchen sipping on her morning cup of tea when Harry entered the kitchen. James and Sirius were at the table, wolfing down bacon and sausages and Remus was leaning against the counter, sipping on a hot chocolate.

"Good morning birthday boy!" Maia beamed, putting down her tea and crossing the room in a few short steps, opening her arms. Harry accepted her hug and grinned when she practically shouted, "Happy birthday!" in his ear.

When she let go of him, he stumbled over to the table, still feeling pretty sleepy, he was immediately embraced by his father, who slapped him on the back and hugged him happily. Maia got to work making him a nice breakfast – pancakes, with plenty of chocolate sauce.

She liked that Harry often got up early enough so she could see him before work, even if it was just for a quick hello and a hug. Lyra rarely got out of bed before lunch unless she had to, except on her birthday. More often than not of course, Maia and James were working on their children's birthdays but they wanted to see them open their presents, so they told them they'd have to open them before they went to work, or wait until they came home. Lyra always opted to get up early and open hers, but Harry preferred to wait, so he didn't have to rush to get it all done before they went to work.

"How does it feel to be 12, Prongslet?" Sirius asked, throwing his arms around him and ruffling up his hair when he pulled away.

Harry shrugged, "Pretty similar to how being 11 felt."

Sirius raised his eyebrows, "But you're not going to be an ickle firsty this year," he teased, putting on a silly voice and sounding eerily similar to Peeves, which made Harry wince, "won't it be nice to be so grown-up?"

"Stop teasing him," Maia chided as she flipped a pancake over successfully and smiled at the outcome when she saw a perfectly formed pancake sitting in the pan.

As they all chatted away, Maia piled Harry's plate high with pancakes and put the chocolate syrup in front of him, knowing it was his favourite, then she glanced at the clock – time to go.

"Ok sweetheart," she said, tugging on her black cloak over the lime-green robes of St Mungo's hospital, "as much as I want to spend your birthday with you, we have to go to work. Have a good day until I see you again," she told him, leaning down to kiss his forehead.

Maia spent the whole day looking forward to going home so much and just spending all that time with her family. She wasn't faced with any particularly difficult new patients and her existing patients were progressing nicely. After checking up on someone at half past 4, then doing a final sweep of her area. Satisfied that she could hand over to her colleague, who had come in a bit earlier, as ever, she was leaving work at ten minutes to five.

She apparated to Puddlemere, making sure to pick a quiet point to land. The village housed lots of witches and wizards, right down to a full quidditch team and stadium which the muggles thought was an abandoned warehouse, but there were lots of muggles too.

She picked up her son's birthday cake from the bakery and was thrilled to be home, apparating onto her doorstep at 5pm exactly. She let herself into the house and announced her arrival with a loud, "Hello?!"

Unsurprisingly, nobody answered and Maia imagined they'd all be out in the garden. None of them really stayed cooped up inside if it was a nice enough day, and the Manor had such nice grounds.

She kicked the front door closed behind her with one foot and went through to the kitchen, planting the white box which contained the beautiful chocolate cake, down on one of the kitchen counters. Various bowls and plates of food were scattered around the counters covered in clingfilm and tinfoil and she checked the fridge – bits of food in there too. She smiled – they'd decided on nothing fancy for dinner, sort of a picnic, so most of the food didn't even need preparing, much less cooking and it appeared that Remus had spent his day getting it ready. Glancing through the kitchen window, she saw James, Sirius and Tonks sitting with Remus, so maybe they'd helped too, she thought, glad that they'd got home early.

James, Sirius, Tonks and Remus were sitting on the picnic bench, each with a mug in front of them, looking relaxed in conversation. Laying on the grass some way off, Harry and Neville were facing each other with Harry's new chess board between them. Lyra was sitting on Harry's side of the board, but Maia was sure she was being more annoying than she was helping.

There was no sign of Andromeda and Ted, or Regulus, but they'd told them to come by around 5 and it had only just turned 5.

Once satisfied that the cake was in a safe place, where Harry wouldn't come peeking at it, Maia turned to go join the others outside. She'd barely stepped out of the kitchen when she heard a noise behind her, the roar of the fire and emerald green light out of the corner of her eye.

She turned around in time to see her younger brother – younger only by one year – stepping out of the fireplace, as dignified and collected as ever, unlike the way she usually stepped out of the fire brushing plenty of soot from her robes.

"Regulus," she grinned, stepping forward.

Regulus smiled at her – it was small, half a smile even, but he wasn't particularly outgoing with his affections, not like she and Sirius were, and she knew any smile from him was a sign of great affection.

"Hello sister," he returned, striding forwards to meet her and leaning down to kiss her cheek. It was always like this – Regulus held great affection for his sister, and had done ever since he'd betrayed Voldemort and turned a double agent upon hearing the news that her son was the subject of Voldemort's prophecy.

He worked as the Potions Master at Hogwarts and he came by every Sunday for dinner and although he wasn't one for feelings and emotions, he loved Harry and Lyra, and he now had good relationships with Sirius, James and Remus too.

He even had a girlfriend – not that he'd talk to his family about her, despite all the pressing they did. He had been dating Hogwarts' astronomy professor for almost six months and he wasn't about to have her scared off by his family, especially Sirius, who was bound to make fun. James and Maia had met her twice, very briefly, and each time Regulus had tried to usher them away so they didn't have to interact.

"I'm so glad you could make it," Maia smiled when he straightened back up from his greeting kiss, tightening his hold on the very neatly wrapped package in his arms, "did you wrap that yourself?"

"'Course I did," Regulus replied, sounding a little offended and giving her his best eye-roll, "you under-estimate me, sister."

She smiled slightly, "I'm sure I do. Come on, everyone else is in the garden. D'you want anything to drink?"

Regulus shook his head slightly, "Maybe later. C'mon, I want to see the birthday boy."

"You know, you could have brought Aurora," Maia commented as she led the way out of the kitchen and towards the garden.

Regulus scoffed, "You must be joking."

"What? She'll have to meet us properly some day if you're planning on keeping her around."

Regulus rolled his eyes, aware that his nosy sister was watching him carefully. His feelings for Aurora Sinistra were growing stronger every day but there was no need to tell his sister that. Not if he didn't want to made fun of when Sirius got hold of the news. "If you say so." he mumbled, following her out of the kitchen and towards the garden.

"I'm home!" Maia announced, pushing open the back door and stepping into the garden.

From the picnic table, James, Sirius, Tonks and Remus all called a happy hello to Maia and her younger brother. Tonks stood up quickly to greet Maia, who she liked very much, and would have knocked over her mug if Remus hadn't seen it coming and pulled it out of the way.

Maia laughed and embraced her younger cousin, "Good to see you," she said, pulling back and admiring the electric blue locks she was sporting today. She then turned to James, who was sitting on the bench beside Tonks' vacated seat. "Hi darling," she smiled, leaning down and pressing a short kiss to his lips, grinning wider when she felt his hands on her waist, trying to pull her to sit on his lap.

She resisted his attempts, and as Regulus greeted the others, she turned her attention to the children. "Alright, you lot?" she called.

"Uncle Regulus!" Lyra shrieked, getting to her feet and hurrying over, as Harry walked over rather more calmly. Neville looked a bit unsure and settled for staying where he was – Regulus had a reputation at Hogwarts for being strict and stern, especially with those who lacked an aptitude for Potions, which Neville certainly did.

Lyra threw her arms around her uncle's waist and Regulus smiled – as much as he ever did, anyway. Over Lyra's head, he handed the present he was still carrying to Harry, and returned his niece's hug. Maia rolled her eyes – of course her daughter was more interested in Regulus than saying hello to her own mother.

Andromeda and Ted arrived soon after and the picnic table was magically lengthened until it could contain all of them. They enjoyed plenty of food and Harry was very pleased with his birthday cake, as were all the adults.

After demolishing the birthday cake, tossing around a Fanged Frisbee and playing a few little games of quidditch, things began to settle down. Harry and Neville went up to Harry's room to play, and Lyra went to her own room. Andromeda and Ted left first, thanking Maia for inviting them and telling their daughter not to be home too late. Their daughter only rolled her eyes in response.

Regulus left shortly before 8pm. Sirius tried very hard to convince him that it was Friday night and they were just getting warmed up, so he should stay and have a few real drinks with them. Regulus politely declined, insisting he had work to do over the weekend.

Even on the last day of July, the temperature in the garden began to drop as time drew on, and as Sirius summoned a bottle of mead from the kitchen with a lazy flick of his wand, Maia shuddered a little and drew her own wand to light some heating lamps.

"Maia?" Sirius asked, holding the mead aloft and raising his eyebrows at her, having already poured a glass for himself, James, Tonks and Remus.

Maia smiled but shook her head, "Not tonight, thanks." She had given up alcohol a couple of months into her attempts to conceive for a third time, but Sirius had no idea she and James were trying to have another baby, and she didn't feel like telling him either. It would be too painful to tell people about it if they ultimately failed. Remus knew, because he was highly observant and had questioned Maia about her recent drinking habits, wrongly suspecting that she was already pregnant, but no-one else knew.

"Sure?" Sirius asked.

Maia bit her lip. It wasn't going to be long before Sirius saw through her constant excuses for not drinking – she was tired, she didn't feel like it, she was trying to be more healthy, etcetera - particularly because she'd always like to have the odd drink on a Friday or Saturday night, especially if Tonks was over and they were all having fun.

James chuckled and wrapped an arm around Maia's shoulders, drawing her closer to him and shooting his brother in law, who was sitting opposite him, a playful glare, "C'mon Padfoot, we're too old for peer pressure surely?"

Sirius raised his hands in surrender, "I was just checking!"

"I'm fine, I promise," Maia told him, letting her head drop down onto James' shoulder as his hand slid from her shoulder, down the length of her arm and settled in the curve of her waist. Forcing away a yawn – no doubt the result of another long and busy week at the hospital – she looked between Tonks, James and Sirius, "I think it's time for one of your stories," she said.

All three grinned, loving to share their most outrageous stories from their Auror work, and all three being loud, outgoing and sharing a flair for story telling. Sirius and Tonks fought their way through a story about a particularly amusing call out from a few days ago, and James' attention soon wandered, instead looking down at his wife and letting his hand trail around her waist, up her side, across her back, up and down her arm, leaving heat everywhere he touched.

Maia looked up at him and found him looking back at her with such an unguarded love in his eyes that she couldn't look away. He'd had a few drinks – not enough to be drunk, but enough to be completely open and honest, unguarded, and he was always more affectionate and loving when he'd had a drink.

Sirius and Tonks soon realised the couple weren't listening, and directed the majority of their story at Remus, fighting for his attention and making him chuckle.

Maia saw her husband's eyes flick from her eyes down to her lips and back, and she smirked slightly – he was never able to contain himself once he'd had a drink, and as the only stone cold sober person of the pair, it fell to her to control the situation.

She tore her eyes away from him and pulled her cloak around her shoulders a little tighter, before picking up her mug and standing up. Tonks and Sirius were arguing over a minor detail in their story and Remus was stuck in the middle, so when Maia mumbled that she was going to make a cup of tea, they barely batted an eyelid.

Unsurprisingly, James stood up too and followed her into the kitchen. He closed the door behind them and immediately wrapped an arm around her waist from behind, using his free hand to brush her hair away from her neck.

"James," Maia laughed, squirming slightly against him as she felt his breath on her neck, "behave yourself, Mr."

She managed to turn her wand to the kettle to put it on to boil, but got no further because her husband suddenly turned her around in his arms, "I don't like behaving," he said, "Not around you. Besides, it's too difficult."

She rolled her eyes at him, "I think the alcohol has gone to your head."

He pouted, hands taking hold of her hips and pulling her close to him, "I'm not drunk. You're just really pretty and I want to kiss you."

Maia smirked, pushing herself up on her tiptoes, "I think that can be arranged," she mumbled, getting so close that her lips brushed his with every word. Just before she was about to kiss him soundly, a loud crash came from somewhere above them.

Frowning, Maia immediately drew back, her instincts kicking in, worried that something might harm one of her children. James' expression was suddenly equally alert as he stepped back from her and raised his eyebrows, "Did you hear-?"

He trailed off as a series of loud bangs sounded above them, and drew his wand from his robes. Maia briefly thought that the expression of steely determination and caution must be the face he routinely wore in his job as Head Auror.

"Everything alright, kids?" Maia called from the bottom of the staircase, as she'd followed James into the hallway and drawn her own wand.

From a few floors above, Maia faintly heard Harry's voice, "Erm … yeah … everything's fine," he shouted, though she couldn't help but think he didn't sound convinced. She glanced at James and saw him looking equally unconvinced, and they started up the staircase.

More bangs and crashes emitted from Harry's room as they hurried up the staircase, and the first thing they came across was Lyra, standing in Harry's doorway, a look of alarm on her face.

"What's going on up here?" James demanded immediately.

Lyra looked relieved to see her parents and backed away from Harry's door, replying, "Daddy there's a … a thing in there."

Maia could hear some noise from Harry's room - a high pitched squeak and then shushing noises. "Go back to your room sweetie," she ordered her daughter, who obeyed without question, though she lingered in her own doorway curiously.

"Harry?" James frowned, moving closer to Harry's room, "everything ok in there, son?"

Maia reached her son's doorway a split second after James did, and she almost walked into him, as he'd suddenly stopped still, lowering his wand slightly. Looking over his shoulder, Maia stared in shock and confusion.

Harry was standing in the middle of the room, looking confused and alarmed, staring at his parents with wide eyes and unable to explain the situation. At his side, Neville was staring at what Lyra had described as the "thing."

The "thing" was small and thin, dressed in dirty rags and clutching Harry's desk lamp, looking very miserable indeed as it stared at their wands.

Maia blinked, just to make sure she wasn't seeing things, and although it seemed that neither of her children, nor her godson, were in danger, the presence of this creature in their home brought up dozens of new questions.

"Erm … right," James said, shaking his head as if to make sure he wasn't seeing things too.

Maia cleared her throat, tearing her eyes from the newcomer and looking at her son, "Harry, why on earth is there a house-elf in your bedroom?"

Note: Thanks to all returning readers, and new ones too. I'm still trying to get back into my writing style and the characters, but hopefully this was ok! I'm happy to take any suggestions.

Also - I am running a poll on my profile to take suggestions on the gender of James and Maia's next baby, if anyone would like to vote!