"Cheating Death"

"Two Months Later"

Lily sat on the kitchen counter and kicked the back of her heels into the cabinet door below her. She clenched the black stuffed dog to her chest that Sirius had bought her while they were on holiday in Greece the previous month. Much to Sirius' mocked dismay, she had quite easily convinced Harry to buy her a very frilly and pink tutu for her stuffed animal.

Harry stirred the stew on the stove with a wooden spoon as he kept one eye trained on the little girl not far from the stove. She loved sitting on the counter and watching Harry cook. She was eerily good at not making a grab for anything on the stove which helped her keep the privilege. It was a privilege that Teddy, James, and even Albus lost very quickly when they were younger. Even at six, Harry didn't trust James anywhere near the stove.

Ginny had gone into work late that day due to having an appearance on the wireless for a guest spot on Quidditch Talk. The wireless was tuned on to a soft hum so he could hear her commentary on latest Appleby Arrows versus Wimbourne Wasps match that had lasted two and a half days and resulted in five injuries between the two teams. Therefore, he left work earlier than usual to pick the kids up from the Burrow, ensure that Teddy packed his school trunk for the Hogwarts Express in the morning, and cook dinner for the family.

"Well, honestly, I haven't seen so much bloodshed on the pitch since Gwenog Jones took a personal vendetta against Vincent Whineburger when she broke his heart and he decided to spread lies about her to the press," Ginny said viciously.

"For those of you who aren't yet that acquainted with Ginny's dry sense of humor, she's talking about Vincent Winburgh of the Montrose Magpies dated the hall of famer Chaser Gwenog Jones of the Holyhead Harpies about fifteen years ago now," the host of the wireless show clarified. "Their breakup was a rather public affair and rather nasty."

There was a loud crash that sounded above him. Harry stilled in his stirring and looked up at the ceiling to try to determine if he was needed upstairs to mend any broken bones. Maniacal laughter seeped through the ceiling. It sounded like all three boys were in hysterics. He turned back to the stew that was nearly ready. He glanced at the clock to see Ginny had five more minutes left of her guest spot. It would be perfect timing if she Apparated home straight away.

The back door to the house banged open. Harry craned his neck back to see Sirius entering the house with four poorly wrapped gifts in his hands. He kicked the door shut and dropped the pile of gifts onto the kitchen table.

"Gwandpa!" Lily chimed enthusiastically as she held her arms open wide.

"Elle!" Sirius greeted. "Harry!"

Lily held up the stuffed dog with her bottom lip sticking out. Sirius crossed the kitchen and stopped short of the tiny girl. He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead before patting the stuffed dog on the head.

"Hello to you too, Padfoota," he humored the girl with a grimace while Harry laughed.

Ginny had named the stuffed dog Padfoota much to Sirius' chagrin. Lily had been absolutely taken with the name and refused to call the female Padfoot stuffed animal anything else.

"How are you settling in?" inquired Harry.

They had just finished building the cottage next door for Sirius to live in. It was a small two-bedroom. Harry had paid a magical construction crew around the clock to get it ready for him. Although, it didn't seem to matter much. Sirius was normally over at the main house more often than he was at the cottage. In fact, Harry suspected that Sirius only slept at the cottage.

"It's fine," Sirius replied as he lifted Lily off the counter and into his arms. "Andy's been a nightmare dragging me off furniture and knick-knack shopping to make it a home and not just a house. It's been absolute torture. Did you know that your bedspread is supposed to have an accent color that matches the walls to tie the whole damn thing together?"

"No," Harry chuckled. "I left all decorating decisions in the very capable hands of Ginny. She merely pointed at a piece of furniture and I just nodded in agreement to get it over with as quickly as possible."

Harry sat the spoon down on the spoon rest by the stove before making his way to the pantry to pull out a loaf of freshly baked bread to slice to go with the stew. He pulled the bread out of the cellophane and plopped it down on the cutting board as another loud bang sounded from above him. Harry didn't even bother to look up this time. The laughter rang nearly immediately.

"Merlin, what are they doing upstairs?" questioned Sirius.

Lily started making kissy noises as she shoved the stuffed dog's face against Sirius' cheek. He attempted to lean his head away from the assault but failed miserably. Harry suspected that Sirius would allow the girl to do just about anything and not say a word against it. Sirius was as hopelessly wrapped around her little finger as Harry was.

"I don't ask questions, Sirius," Harry replied as he grabbed a knife and started to slice the bread. "Unless someone is crying, I just tend to ignore it."

"Oh, I'm sure Ginny loves your stance on that," Sirius commented with a grin.

"We're still married ten years later so I must be doing something right," Harry said with a shrug.

"Elle, please, I've had enough kisses from Padfoota," Sirius said gently as his hand clamped around the snout of the stuffed dog.

"Special thanks to Ginny Potter of the fantastically witty Potter Points column that can be found in every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday edition of The Daily Prophet. Take care and Quaffle on!"

"Oh, was that today?" questioned Sirius as Harry flipped off the wireless. "Did she give any more thought into doing her own wireless show?"

"She doesn't want to do both the paper and the wireless," Harry replied as he ran a hand through his hair. "She doesn't want to spend less time at home to juggle both jobs. I told her to cut one day off her column to make it work. I think she'd be bloody fantastic at it. Lee was telling her that wireless ratings go through the roof when she does an appearance."

"Who's Lee?" asked Sirius as he snatched a piece of bread from the island.

"Lee Jordan. He's a big wireless personality. He's best friends with George. Used to commentate the Quidditch games at Hogwarts. He ran Potterwatch during the war. I'm sure you met him at Albus' party."

"Gwandpa, bwead?"

Sirius leaned over the island so that Lily could grab a piece of bread. She stuffed Padfoota between her and Sirius' chests so she could snag a slice. She squealed happily as she began to munch. Every other bite, she brought the bread to Padfoota's lips and made slurping noises.

"Why do you have presents, by the way, Sirius?" Harry inclined his head over to the table.

"Well, Teddy's leaving for Hogwarts tomorrow so I wanted to get him a going away gift. Then, I thought, how do I get him something when there's three other very little kids in the house? I want them all to like me and not hate me because I play favorites."

"Sirius, that's not playing favorites. That's called you spoiling them."

"Well, I have some birthdays and Christmases to make up for," Sirius replied as he finished his bread and adjusted Lily on his hip. "Which, by the way, I'm going to give you and Ginny the best gift you could ever hope for next weekend."

"Yeah?" inquired Harry with an incredulous look. "What's that?"

"I'm going to take Elle, Al, and Jay for a sleepover at my cottage. By then, I think Andy will have it fully furnished. I told her I wanted bunk beds in the spare bedroom for the kids. So, you'll have a completely kid free night."

"Are you sure you're prepared for that? I mean, didn't you get enough of them living in my house for the past two months? Have you forgotten in the past week what it's like to live with the ungodly loud Potter children?"

"It's so quiet in the cottage. I kind of miss the yelling and fighting," Sirius replied with a smirk. "Come on, I can do this. I haven't had one of my black out episodes in nearly three weeks. I've been going to the Mind Healer like a good boy and have adjusted to life fifteen years in the future. Our front doors are probably a hundred steps away. I can count them if you like. Or, even better than literally living right next door, I can send a Patronus which will be even quicker than the short trek across the garden."

"It's your lack of sleep," Harry said dryly. "Molly and Arthur refuse to do sleepovers anymore unless there's a dire need for it because Teddy and James nearly blew the roof off the Burrow last summer."

"How?"

"Fireworks from George's shop that they apparently smuggled out of his house when we were over there for Fred's birthday. I think Ginny went hoarse yelling at them."

Loud thumps sounded from the other room. Harry knew immediately the boys were running down the stairs probably looking for dinner. Harry pulled his wand out and pointed it at the cabinets. The bowls, plates, and glasses soured out and floated over their heads as all three boys tumbled into the kitchen. They were out of breath and red faced. James' shirt was ripped at the shoulder seem. It looked like Teddy's shorts were singed as though burned at the hem. Albus looked like he had soot on his hands.

"What in Merlin's name were you three doing upstairs?" Harry questioned as his wand dropped slightly and nearly sent the dishes crashing to the floor.

"Are those presents?" James asked as he pointed to the four packages on the table.

"They're first day of school presents," Sirius announced. "Your great grandparents used to do it every year. We can open them in the morning before leaving for London."

"Thanks, Grandad," James said with a grin as he pushed his very blatantly smudged glasses up his nose.

Ever since Lily had started to call Sirius grandpa, James and Albus had followed suit rather eagerly. Within two weeks, Sirius had grown used to the name and instantly responded to it. Teddy reserved the name for when he wanted to take the mickey out of him but mostly just called him Sirius still.

The children settled around the kitchen table as Harry moved the presents to the island before setting the rest of the table. He had just applied a warming charm to the stew when he heard the front door open. The kids had already started demolishing the bread as they chatted loudly amongst themselves.

"Are you going to try out for Quidditch, Ted?" James inquired.

"Woof, woof, woof, Gwandpa!" Lily squawked as she tried to climb from her chair onto Sirius' lap.

"Dad, can I have a dwagon?" asked Albus as he stood on his chair to practically lay across the table to grab his third piece of bread from the bowl that James and Teddy had all but stolen to claim as their own.

"Nah, I'm more of a watcher than a player," Teddy responded as he brushed his blue locks out of his eyes.

"Elle, I can't turn into Padfoot right now," Sirius said gently as he kissed Lily on the cheek. "It's dinner time. We'll go in the garden afterward to play. Now, please sit down in your own seat so we can eat."

"No, I'm not buying you a dragon, Al," Harry replied as he saw Ginny enter the kitchen. "A grown-up dragon wouldn't fit in our house."

"You should ask them to resort you and get into Gryffindor," James said with a smirk. "It's loads better."

"Mummy!" Albus shouted in glee. "Can I have a dwagon? Daddy said no. He's a meanie."

"MAMA! MAMA! MAMAAAAAAA!" Lily squealed as she stood up and bounced on her chair which, in turn, made Sirius place his arm across the back of the chair to stop it from skidding backwards.

"I hope you get sorted into Slytherin, Jamie," Teddy teased with a grin as he shoved yet another piece of bread into his mouth.

"No dragons, Al," Ginny said gently as she kissed the boy on top of his unruly locks.

"Your guest spot was good," Harry commented as he started ladling some stew into bowls for Lily and Albus. "I especially liked when you said that jab against the Chudley Canons going minor league. Ron sent a Patronus laden with swear words telling me to keep my wife in check and claimed you were no longer any sister of his."

Ginny roared with laughter as Albus leaned into her side and mumbled something about taking good care of a dragon with large crocodile tears spilling from his eyelashes. James pounded a fist onto the table and glanced at Teddy with a horror-struck look on his face.

"Slytherin?" James said in aghast tone. "That's just rude. You're being rude to me, Teddy! I would never be in Slytherin!"

"MAMAAAAA!" Lily shouted as she grabbed a piece of bread and threw it across the table towards her mother.

"Calm down, Jamie, your true colors will show in a few years. I'll be watching with bated breath when you get sorted into Hufflepuff – the best house there ever was."

"I said that just to piss Ron off honestly," Ginny grinned as the bread hit in in the face. "Lily Luna!"

"Teddy got an owl," Albus lamented with a loud sniff. "Why can't I have a dwagon? Gwandpa, can you buy me a dwagon?"

"Lily, sit down and eat your stew, please, sweetheart?" Harry shot a desperate look towards his youngest while Ginny groaned.

Lily crossed her arms over her chest and stomped a foot onto her seat before flopping down dramatically onto her bum. Luckily, Sirius still had a hold of the chair so it didn't topple to the ground.

"Not a real dragon, Al, but I'll buy you a different pet," Sirius placated. "Do you want a pet dog? Or one of those pygmy puffs I've heard so much about?"

"If I had thrown bread at Mum, you would have screamed at me, Dad," James complained as he pointed a spoon at his father. "That's just not fair."

"Sirius Black, you will not just be randomly buying my children pets without even asking Harry and me!" Ginny hissed. "Especially not one like a dog that's a lot of work. He'd be keeping that animal at your house."

"Harry plays favorites, Jamie," Teddy said with a smirk. "Lily could murder a small animal and he'd let it slide."

"PUPPY!" Albus shouted with a grin. "I WANT A PUPPY!"

"Dada, mo, mo!" Lily exclaimed as she pushed her bowl towards her father.

"Ted," Harry groaned as he poured more stew into Lily's half full bowl as she had basically just eaten all the potatoes and apparently wanted more potatoes. "Don't say things like that. I don't play favorites. Lily's only two."

"PUPPY!" Albus shouted again.

The chatter and arguing continued throughout the dinner. Ginny, Albus, and Sirius found themselves in an argument over a dog. Teddy and James fought over which Hogwarts house was the best. Harry just sat contently as he listened to the arguing while picking potatoes out of the stew pot to add to Lily's bowl seemingly every five minutes. After dinner, Sirius took the younger kids outside to play in the back garden while Ginny did the dishes.

"Did you finish all your homework?" inquired Harry while he packed up the leftovers to put away.

Teddy turned towards him and rolled his eyes. Harry wondered how Teddy had gotten so big. If he closed his eyes, he could still picture him as the blue-haired two-year-old who was all smiles and hugs. Now, Teddy was nearly a teenager and certainly acted like one.

"Yes, Dad," Teddy replied in an exasperated tone.

"Even the Transfiguration work? I know you were struggling with that."

"Yes, Sirius helped me the other day when I hung out with him and Grandmum," Teddy replied. "He's really good at Transfiguration."

"Well, I'd certainly hope so given the fact that he learned how to be an Animagus at fifteen," Ginny piped up from where she was waving her wand at the sink to wash the dishes.

Harry chuckled as he put the leftovers in the fridge. He grabbed three butterbeers from the fridge and waited for Ginny to finish up the last of the dishes before they went out to the back deck. Teddy ran out into the garden while yelling for James. Harry sat a butterbeer on the coffee table for Sirius when he was done playing with the kids before he sank into the wicker sofa. He twisted off his cap to his butterbeer and took a big gulp. Ginny took a spot next to him, curled her feet up beside her bum, and snuggled into his arm like a cat. He could feel her cold butterbeer against his arm.

"Did you get the morning off work?" Ginny questioned.

"I took off the whole day. What about you?"

Lily squealed loudly as Padfoot nipped playfully at her feet. She ran towards Teddy with her arms held above her head as she giggled out his name. James attempted to Stun Padfoot with a stick that he crafted into a wand in his imagination while Albus climbed onto the dog's back.

"I was going to go in at one, but now I want to take the whole day off. Why didn't you tell me you were taking the whole day?" Ginny whined.

"Well, it was a last minute decision. It all depended on when the trials would finish up. Yaxley's finished up today," Harry commented. "Guilty, in case you were wondering. He'll be sentenced by the end of the week."

"What's he looking at?" Ginny asked as she sipped her beer.

"Yaxley? Life in Azkaban. I bet they'll give it to him. Greengrass was already sentenced. Got twenty years."

"That's it?" inquired Ginny with slight disgust.

"Well, he didn't actually murder anyone unlike Yaxley."

Albus shrieked loudly as Sirius shifted seamlessly from Padfoot back to his human form with the tiny boy still on his back. Sirius reached his hands behind him to stop Albus from falling off. He hiked the boy up his back into a better back ride position and ran after James who waved his stick and attempted to shout incantations through his giggling.

"It's not from lack of trying," Ginny said dryly as Harry merely shrugged.

"On a positive note, by the end of the week, Gareth Greengrass is going to conveniently announce his retirement."

"Oh, how did you manage that?" asked Ginny.

"I threatened to charge him with impeding an investigation," Harry said with a smirk. "He lied to me originally about everything. I told him I could forgo the charges if he would step down from the department."

"That was generous of you," Ginny commented.

Harry merely shrugged as he took another swing of his butterbeer. He could relate to Greengrass on some level. He knew that he would lie to protect his children in a heartbeat. It's not like Greengrass knew exactly what his grandson was doing, that he'd be willing to murder people.

Fifteen minutes later, Sirius joined them on the back porch. He grabbed the butterbeer Harry left out for him and collapsed into one of the chairs. Teddy and James began hauling out all of the brooms from the shed.

"It's going to be weird when Teddy goes back to Hogwarts tomorrow," Sirius commented as he kicked up his feet.

"It will be weird," Ginny agreed. "James cried for a week straight last year. Albus kept calling for Teddy around the house. I don't think he understood at the time that Teddy wasn't coming home for a while."

"What time are you leaving tomorrow? I'd like to come to King's Cross with you."

"I have a Ministry car arriving at eight thirty tomorrow," Harry commented.

"That's early!" Sirius objected.

"Well, a Ministry car can usually cut the travel time in half. If I was driving a normal car, it'd take twice as long," Harry pointed out.

"Why don't you just Floo somewhere closer?"

"Haven't you realized that Harry is a paranoid bugger yet? Merlin forbid, we Floo or Apparate or get a Portkey. Oh, no, let's sit in a car for nearly two hours so none of the kids risk getting lost!" Ginny teased as she poked him in the side.

"It's the easiest way to travel all that way with four kids," Harry reasoned. "Not to mention, Teddy's luggage and owl."

"Alright, I'll be at your house as a quarter past eight tomorrow," Sirius committed.

"I'll bake some muffins for the road tomorrow," Ginny added.

"Can you do your blueberry ones?" inquired Sirius. "Those are the best."

"Oh, you should do those strawberry orange ones too," Harry added.

"No, you're making us be stuck in a car with four very loud children tomorrow," Ginny teased. "I'm making you nothing. You'll be lucky if there's an extra blueberry one."

"You should be thanking me that I can get a Ministry car at the drop of a hat," Harry argued as he ruffled his hair. "Head Auror has some perks, you know."

"Not nearly enough," Ginny jested as she pecked him on the cheek.

It was nearly two hours later when the kids settled in their beds. Sirius left shortly after to head home and Harry activated the wards as he watched his godfather walk across the garden. He stripped to his boxers and slid into bed. He waited patiently for Ginny to finish up in the bathroom. She emerged in an old Holyhead Harpies shirt that had once belonged to Harry.

"Can you believe Sirius and the puppy?" Ginny groaned as she slid into bed. "What would possess him to even say that?"

"I think he's trying to make up for lost time," Harry replied.

He opened up his arm to Ginny who scooted close to him. She nestled her nose into his chest as he played absentmindedly with her hair.

"You know what he asked me the other day?" Ginny started as she looked up him. "He asked if he could take the kids a few days a week while we're at work instead of them going to the Burrow every day."

"Does he want to start a Third Wizarding War with Molly Weasley?" Harry asked with a grin. "If you thought it was bad the two of them fighting over me when I was a kid, imagine the way they'd fight over our kids. Merlin, I can already hear the screaming matches at Friday night dinner."

Ginny trailed her fingers along Harry's chest as a smile tugged on her lips.

"My mother would murder your godfather if he tried to take away her precious grandbaby time," Ginny mused.

"You know what the answer to all of this is, don't you, Gin?"

"What?"

Harry grinned broadly at her as he ran a hand along her arm. She shivered slightly under his touch. Ginny cocked her head to the side and furrowed her brows in confusion.

"We just have to have a fifth baby now," he commented lightly.

Ginny collapsed onto Harry's chest as she broke into a full belly laugh. He wrapped his arms tightly around her to hold her to his chest. He placed a kiss on the crown of her head and smiled into her hair.

"We now have two grandparents fighting over the children. We can split them up between households and rotate them around," Harry murmured. "You can keep your job and start your own wireless show. I'll keep my job as Head Auror. Molly and Sirius can fight over who gets to mind the children while we are blissfully away from the chaos five days out of the week."

"You just know we'd get twins," Ginny commented as her cheek brushed against his chest. "It wouldn't just be one. My mother had twins. My grandmother had twins. My great grandmother had twins. I'm a ticking time bomb for twins, Potter."

"I promise you, Gin, if we have twins, I will never ask you for another baby. We can stop at six."

"Oh, gee, thanks," she said with an eye roll. "We can stop at six. You're barmy, Harry. Absolutely barmy."

"You love it. Don't even deny it," Harry proclaimed with a wide grin. "Sirius wants to take the kids overnight next weekend. He's getting bunkbeds. Perfect time for some baby making. Uninterrupted baby making time. A very long night of baby making. All afternoon and all-night baby making."

Ginny sniggered and wiggled in his tight embrace. She folded her hands on his chest and rested chin on top. She looked at him oddly as he loosened his grip to trail his hands up her back, taking the thin cotton fabric up to expose her back.

"Are you serious when you say you want more kids or do you just keep harping on it for fun?" inquired Ginny.

"Honestly, if you were game, I would have another baby with you. I'd have enough babies with you to play a full Quidditch game if you'd allow it," Harry said seriously. "I love our kids more than anything. I love seeing them be a mixture of you and me. I love that Lily's a little girly carbon copy of you. I love seeing my mother's eyes every time I look at Al. I love seeing your mischievous side every time James pulls a prank. I love how Teddy views family as the most important thing in the world – a value that he undoubtedly got from both of us."

"I do enjoy that every single one of our kids has your ginormous heart and your fierce protectiveness," Ginny murmured as she reached up to toy with his hair. "The world could always use more people like you in it."

"Is that your way of telling me you are in?"

"You are absolutely, positively relentless," Ginny commented as she leaned forward to kiss the corner of his mouth.

"I didn't defeat Voldemort by just sitting on my arse," Harry jested.

Ginny's eyes twinkled as her hands ran through his hair. Harry's arm snaked down across her bum and tugged her up top of him. His hands roamed up her back until one wrapped around her neck. He tugged her down and playfully nipped at her bottom lip. He felt her smile against his lips.

"I love you, Gin," Harry hummed against her.

Ginny pulled back. She carefully peeled his glasses off his nose and tossed them gently onto the bedside table. Her fingertips traced over his lips.

"I love you, Harry."

She moved her hips in a very pleasant way as she bent down to capture his lips into a fiercer kiss. Complete contentment washed over Harry. He couldn't help but smile like a fool at how his life had turned out. He didn't think life could get better than it was with Ginny and the kids. Except, when Sirius was pulled from the Veil, his heart swelled more than he thought possible. He felt like he had gotten a second chance at having a parental figure in his life, that he had gotten back a missing link to his parents, and that he had all the chances to get to know about the Potter family that he never took advantage of when he was a teenager.

Life had never been so good.

Whelp, that's the end of the story. I hope everyone enjoyed it! Please, take the time to review and let me know your thoughts. Even if you never reviewed before, I would love to hear everyone's thoughts because this was a lot of work. It really was a labor of love! So, literally, take less than a minute to leave a review because it took me many days to write. Thanks for reading! Check out "Brontide" if you want more Auror Harry and family goodness!