From Eden - Regulus Black (Complete)

Chapter Eighty-Nine

CHILDREN

TRIGGER WARNING: MISCARRIAGE CONVERSATION AND PREGNANCY CONVERSATION, ALSO CONVERSATION ABOUT DEATH AND KIDNAPPING. IMPLIED TORTURE.... I MEAN, MIA'S BACKSTORY.

Anne hadn't cooked breakfast in a long, long while. Still, she realised as she cooked that it was the first time that she actually enjoyed doing it; she didn't seem to be scared of messing something up and burning something slightly too much, she was still trying to do her best, of course, but she knew that Sirius and James would still eat whatever she cooked with a smile on their faces, even if it taste horrible.

Pancakes with butter. Waffles with honey. Toast with beans. Everything she had managed to learn to cook growing up was being put on the table and receiving a charm to keep as warm as possible while the family was still getting ready for the day, having no idea it was Anne in the kitchen with Mia just as supervision in the doorway of the kitchen.

"They're going to love it," Mia promised. "You'll see."

"I'm not that good of a cook, Harry was always better at it than me," Anne admitted. "Maybe you can tell me where I can get better so I don't make any more mistakes."

"You didn't make a single mistake that I could have noticed, Annie, stop cutting yourself short," Mia dismissed. The older woman walked to the stairs and peeked up at it, but there was nobody coming down yet. "With Coco sick, it's sort of hard waking those boys up. They always go back to sleep."

"We'll see what type of Aurors they'll be," joked Anne.

"Wonderful ones if I have anything to do with it," she answered. "SIRIUS, JAMES, FLEAMONT. GET UP NOW! BREAKFAST!" she took a deep breath after almost tearing her voice apart and turned to Anne, smiling a bit. "Now... let's set the table, shall we?"

Anne almost ran to put all the plates, cups and food on the table in the most organized and prettiest way possible to make it pleasant to look up and to eat from as well. There was certain happiness with the result, but the nervousness from their reaction was certainly winning from that.

"I can't believe they'll start their training today already," Anne commented as she put the jug of orange juice and the jug of pumpkin juice on the table. "They got accepted so quickly. Frank Longbottom said it took him a month and half to get an answer back from them."

"Well, they are my sons," Mia said as if that was explanation enough. "Though it sounds terrible and very wrong, the people in there had their eyes out for their grades since they were in sixth year and said they wanted to be Aurors."

"How very Slytherin of your contacts," Anne teased.

"I was a Slytherin, after all, a social network is just as important as talent and skill," Mia answered. "Before I retired, I did put good word out about young James and his friends, always saying they were growing too fast and getting too good at magic for their age. I never lied for them. I never asked anyone for a favour. I just threw information on the table and allowed those hungry people to do whatever they wanted with it."

Anne sat down on the table near Mia as she waited for the boys to get down.

"Why did you retire anyways?" Anne asked. "You're just two years older than Monty."

"Well, I..." she hesitated. "It's a bit of a difficult story."

"You don't need to tell me if you don't want to," Anne said.

There was certain desperation in her voice, never wanting to hurt her grandmother in any way. Anne had trusted Mia with a lot of things because she didn't pry, she didn't even look like she wanted to. Mia was just always there, always willing to listen and understand, but never thirsty for revenge, only for protection.