Chapter 73

"What about a girl?" asked Judy, her head rested atop of her husband's shoulder as they lay on their bed early one morning close to the end of June. Benji was still currently grounded for one more week, and to say Judy was guilty was an understatement.

She knew she shouldn't be, in fact she was more than furious with the boy, but he was her son and she knew at some point would he and his siblings make bad decisions in their life, and would have to suffer the consequences for the most part. But, in saying that, it was his summer and she didn't want him deprived of a happy summer when it was the sunniest they had seen.

Of course, Douglas said that this was just her pregnant hormones getting the better of her but she was sure she had used that excuse one too many times for it to be true.

"What about Lucy?" suggested Douglas, his head turned to look down at his beautiful wife rested upon his shoulder, her arm wrapped around his stomach and her nose scrunched up rather adorably, "I take that as a no?" he laughed softly, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead.

"Can you believe we are going to do this all again?" Judy whispered, moving her head to look up at Douglas with a faint smile shining through her lips, "the crying, the tantrums, the bad dreams-"

"The memories, the laughter, the happiness," Douglas finished, tilting her chin up to press a kiss to her lips, "we will get through it with love and laughter, even the bad times, like we always do."

"Of course, we will," Judy nodded, her eyes crinkling with delight, "can you remember when Benji and Adria where younger and we thought they were telepathic?" Judy giggled, shaking her head at the memory of their younger years.

"Well it wasn't really that extreme," Douglas chuckled, his arm wrapped around Judy's waist and his hand resting atop of her stomach, "what other reaction is there to a floating teddy bear?"

"It was slightly terrifying I have to admit," Judy nodded, "but it was sweet, in a way, that Adria used her magic which we of course, didn't know about, to get a teddy bear for Benji."

"Sweet or she was just as sick of his crying as we were," Douglas laughed softly, "what about Sabrina?"

"Hmmm," Judy mumbled, nodding her head softly, "it's definitely an option."

"Angelica?" Douglas thought was rather nice, and with a small nod of her head, once again Judy agreed.

"Well what if it's a boy?" asked Judy, a sigh leaving her lips and her eyes closing as the sun peaked out from under the horizon, greeting their closed curtains with the faintest sliver of light.

"Jackson?" asked Douglas, a small smile on his lips when he watched Judy go through a range of emotions for the name, "or Beau?"

"I kind of like Beau," Judy nodded, a small hum of approval leaving her lips, "but Beau Hopkins, I'm not sure."

"What about Theodore?" suggested Judy, a small smile toying on her lips, "Theo for short."

Douglas thought for a moment, and finally did he nod at the idea, "Theodore it is."

-

"Adria," Benji whispered, pushing her softly whilst she slept. Alina was by his side as was Lia, both of them kneeling over the girl on her bed. Alina was given the task to wake Sirius, but from her sister's words, it was like trying to wake the devil, so she thought it best to leave the challenge to Adria when she woke up.

"Adria," Benji spoke a little louder this time, finally getting a small reaction when she moved to stop his pushing.

He grumbled a few words that Alina did absolutely not approve of under his breath, and with a look narrowed in his direction, Alina pushed him out the way before smacking Adria with a pillow, "Adria wake up!" she shrieked, rolling her eyes when Benji attempted to whack her back, but instead got Adria once again.

"That was uncalled for on so many levels," Adria groaned, rubbing the stinging sensation in her head at the - surprisingly - hard impact of the pillow, "it's summer and the weekend, I don't have to be up until four!"

"No, you need to get up now because we are going out!" Alina exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands enthusiastically.

"Care to elaborate?" asked Adria, her eyes trailing to Sirius where he slept peacefully and she couldn't help but be jealous.

"We're going to the beach!" Lia cheered, clapping her hands happily, "it's all rather exciting but seeing as both Sirius and I don't have any swim suits, we have to make a quick stop at the shops first!"

"Is this one of mum's spontaneous pregnant cravings for adventure which she should absolutely not be doing?" Adria raised her eyebrow, turning to look at the clock beside her which read half seven in the morning.

"Of course!" Benji grinned, "she said I'm not grounded for the day so I'm completely on board!"

"Mhmm, well I guess the task of waking up Satan is left to me?" Adria sighed, knowing full well that the only calm way to wake up Sirius Black is if he woke up himself.

"Good luck!" Alina saluted her, casting one last glance in Sirius' direction before pulling Lia and Benji out of the room.

Adria sighed, heaving her shoulders as she stood up. She pulled her slippers over her feet, feeling the coldness breeze against her bare legs and shoulders and ultimately wished she was back in bed. She moved closer to the sofa bed, climbing onto of it, she wished she could fight the urge to slip under the quilt, but failed when she pulled the blankets over herself.

"Mmm, what are you doing?" grumbled Sirius sleepily, pushing her away from him until his arm slipped around her waist tightly, pulling her closer to him and burying his face into the crook of her neck.

"I've been giving the task to wake you," Adria whispered, laughing softly, "which is going much better than expected."

"No," Sirius groaned, shaking his head whilst his breath fanned her skin, "I don't want to get up," he sighed, tightening his grip around her.

"We need to, we're going out," she turned in his grip to face him, watching him intently whilst his eyes where closed and he couldn't tease her. He was absolutely beautiful to her, and well, to most in their year but the fact that he was hers was baffling to her, she couldn't believe it sometimes. Of course, if someone told her at the start of their third year that she would find herself falling more and more for Sirius Black each day then she'd simply hex them, or of course handle it the muggle way as her mother had so perfectly demonstrated, and punched them.

But what she didn't know, well, she did really seeing as he always found a way to tell her, was that he felt absolutely baffled about the thought of her being his, it was crazy to him, crazy that the perfect angel that was Adria Belle Hopkins wanted to be with him, and merlin did he want to be with her, all the time.

"I know you're staring at me," Sirius smirked, his eyes fluttering open to reveal his vibrant grey eyes which Adria could find herself getting lost in most times she even looked at him.

"I don't care," she whispered, moving her hand to cup his face, she moved herself closer and Sirius could feel his breath hitch as though he hadn't kissed her a million times before. She smiled as she pressed her lips to his, lingering for a few moments to savour before pulling away.

"Well I can't say that didn't wake me up," Sirius sighed, moving to press a kiss to her forehead as a smile fell on his lips.

"If I knew it was that simple it would've made my life easy, Mr Black," Adria giggled, quickly stealing another kiss before pushing herself up from the bed, much to Sirius' dismay, of course.

"Miss Hopkins, may I ask where we are going today?" asked Sirius, sitting up in the sofa bed whilst his eyes trailed to the clock, wondering why it was necessary that they be up this early.

"To the beach!" Adria exclaimed, falling back onto the sofa bed with a smile placed on her lips, she couldn't help but be rather excited, although she wondered where the beach would be as she pretty sure there wasn't one in London.

Sirius smirked widely, reaching down to press a kiss to her lips he attempted to ask with a teasing tone, "Oh does that mean I get to see you-"

"Get to see her what?" a voice asked from the door cutting Sirius off, and when the two teenagers turned, Douglas leaned against the door frame, his head tilted slightly to the side and todays mail clutched in his hand.

"Swim," Sirius blurted out, "get to see her swim!"

"That's what I thought, Black," Douglas spoke casually, although the warning look he casted just as he was leaving gave off anything but casual.

It was silent between the for a few moments where Adria took it upon herself to stand up, and soon the room was filled with her giggles, "swim, really?"

"Yes, of course, Adria, do you really think I would lie to your dad?!" he tutted, shaking his head furiously.

"I knew I liked you, Sirius!" they both heard from down the hall, and with his smirk widening, Sirius turned to wink at her before exiting her room.

"Mum, here let me do it," Adria rolled her eyes, taking the pan from her mother's grip where Judy was attempting to make pancakes, but of course she had something in her way.

"I can do it, Adria," Judy huffed, giving her daughter a look and taking the pan right back off her, "but if you want to be my favourite, you could pour us all some juice?"

"I'm already your favourite, but I shall do it anyway since it's for you," Adria teased, swiftly kissing her mother's cheek before shuffling off to the fridge to retrieve the orange juice.

"Oh look, two of my beautiful girls!" Douglas exclaimed, a grin on his lips as he kissed his wife upon entering the kitchen, "I think today will be lovely."

"Are we taking the van, dad?" asked Adria from where she stood at the island in the middle of their kitchen, pouring the orange juice from the carton into the multiple glasses in front of her.

"Well seeing as it was a little bit cramped with the car, I suppose we could," Douglas beamed, nodding his head whilst Adria mimicked his smile.

"The van?" Sirius questioned, walking into the kitchen after he had gotten dressed for the day. Adria still stood in her pyjamas, as did her mother, but that wasn't really much of a surprise.

"Yes, the van!" Adria laughed, "you'll love it, it's so great, but we don't use it much."

"We'll be driving for over two hours, so I suppose it would be an ideal time," Judy laughed, smacking her husband's hand away when he tried to take the pan from her for the fourth time.

"What's it like?" asked Sirius, his head resting atop of Adria's head as she poured the juice into the last few glasses, pretending not to see the look that Douglas was sending him as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Amazing, it's bright yellow and white and has so much more room for all of us, and maybe mum will be in the back for once-"

"You're not sitting up front, Addy," Douglas scoffed, "now I'm sure everyone is just dying of thirst and here you are hogging all of the juice!"

"Oh shush, I'm going I'm going!"

-

"Are we there yet?" Alina groaned, her head falling onto Lia's shoulder who merely rolled her eyes at the girl's actions.

"Does it look like we're there yet?" Alfie rolled his eyes from where he sat in the seat behind her, his legs kicked up in front of him whilst he looked out at the scenery.

"Oh, I think I know the forecast for today," Adria piped in, "thinking of this really hard, and of course from Alfie's point of view I have to say the forecast is grumpy with a light drizzle of shut up!"

"Funny," Alfie grumbled, "did you just make that up, I'm so totally not impressed."

"Didn't think you would be," Adria scoffed, "I'm Alfie, I think I'm all cool because I'm the oldest and all my friends are losers!"

"I'm Adria, I think I'm all kind because I take in kids with bad parents and call them my friends!" Alfie snapped.

"That's enough, Alfie!" Judy screeched, turning from her seat in the front seat to give her son a look.

Adria had a firm grip on Sirius' hand, knowing full well that Alfie was just attempting to get on her nerves, she didn't want the boy to know, and from her place did she throw an apologetic look for his antics.

"That wasn't cool," Benji muttered, shaking his head from his place next to Alfie, a look on his features whilst he turned to face the other way.

"It was a joke!" Alfie exclaimed, rolling his eyes as he looked out of the window.

"Not a very good one," Adria mumbled under her breath, rolling her eyes as she followed Benji's lead to look out of the window.

"Can we please lighten up; the great depression has ended!" Douglas called from the driver's seat, suppressing the urge to turn to his children arguing and rather focus on the road.

"When will we get there?" asked Alina, an exasperated sigh leaving her lips from her - of course, minor - frustration of being stuck in the car for what must've been over two hours, and she was correct. The eight of them had been stuck in the car since nine this morning and now it was almost twelve, but like any driver, Douglas didn't want to admit that they may have been only the slightest bit lost.

"When you see a beach," Judy teased, turning to give her daughter a smile, "I know we are all getting a little miserable...some more than others-"

"Say my name, woman!" Alfie called from the back, cutting Judy off.

"Okay, I know Alfie is miserable and it's making us all worse but when we get there I promise that ice cream is unlimited and the day is warm!" Judy beamed, earning a few unenthusiastic enthusiastic cheers from the back seat.

"I'll be back," Adria grinned, bopping Sirius on the nose who looked at her oddly.

"What are you going to do, jump out the window?" he scoffed, raising his eyebrow as she rolled her eyes.

"Tempting, but no," she chuckled, moving to stand up and climbing into the back of the van with Benji and Alfie, "a nice seat has been saved for you with Sirius, my dear twin, so go."

"What, why?" he frowned, but his lips sealed shut when he saw the look on Adria's features, "I'm going," he grumbled, almost kicking Adria in the head when he moved to get out.

"My dear Alfie," Adria sighed, laying her head on his legs to which he rolled his eyes, "y'know your face is gonna stay like that if you frown so much."

"I'm fine, Ads," he mumbled, heaving a sigh whilst he leaned his arm against the car.

"No, you're not, Alfie," she whispered, making sure to keep her voice low, "and I'll get it out of you, but there is something going on with you, and there was something going on with Benji, but we solved that, didn't we? Well I did, you just threatened to tell, but that's okay because we did anyway, what I'm saying is, I love you too much to see you suffer, and I don't care if it's your teenage grumpiness, but you're still my big brother, and I always will be here."

"But you're not always here, are you?" he sighed, running a hand through his hair frustratedly, "you're barely here, and It's just, I just- you know what, we'll talk about it later," he mutters, pinching the bridge of his nose whilst his eyes close.

"Damn right we will," Adria nodded, worry seeping through her, "now sing me a song."

"Which one?" he asks after a few moments of silence.

­-

"Finally!" Alina gasped, tumbling out of the car with Lia in two, she ran a hand through her hair which had gotten much longer, gasping out a breath for air, "freedom, finally, freedom!"

"I have never in my life met anyone as dramatic as you," Lia sighed bluntly, shaking her head before pulling Alina off in the direction of the beach.

"It's terrifying how different they are," Benji chuckled, nudging Adria slightly who was looking in the direction of the water, worry on her mind which she could seem to keep at bay.

"Wha- oh yes, I know," she nodded, "but I think they complement each other well," she laughed softly, watching as Alina had already pushed Lia fully clothed into the water.

"Are you okay?" Benji frowned, his eyebrow raised whilst Adria merely nodded her head, throwing him a wide smile before shuffling to the boot of the van where Sirius and Douglas was getting everything from the car.

"The one that's not my son and he's the one to help," Douglas tutted, making sure to raise his voice for Benji and Alfie to hear.

"Hey, your daughter is helping to!" Adria exclaimed, showing the two chairs she had tucked under her arms which Douglas had brought for Judy to be much more comfortable.

"Yes, but you always help, I just expect it by now," he smirked, earning a look from the girl who simply walked away from him.

"Here, give me that," Alfie chuckled, watching the weight of the chairs pushing Adria to the ground, he picked up one of the chairs from her grip, moving to retrieve more things from the boot.

Finally, after about ten minutes of them setting up their little space on the soft sand, Judy was comfortable on one of the chairs, a smile wide on her lips as she soaked up the sun. Douglas sat beside her, his hand in hers and a sigh of contentment leaving his lips as he finally got a moment to relax.

Adria was lying on the sand, her shirt off to reveal her swimsuit but preferred to keep her shorts on as she didn't feel like swimming all that much. She couldn't help but feel as though someone was staring at her from where she lay, and when she turned, she realised her superstition was right when Sirius was staring at her intently.

"What are you staring at?" she laughed, propping herself up on her elbow to look right back at him.

"You," he grinned, lying beside her clad in the swimming shorts that her parents had bought them, and nothing else. To say that Adria was having a hard time not staring at him was an understatement, and to solve the problem she simply had to close her eyes, of course, that was until she felt his stare on her, "do you want to take a walk?"

"A walk?" she repeated, sitting up from her place in the sand, "yes, actually, I would."

"Great!" Sirius beamed, standing up suddenly before reaching out his hands, gesturing for her to take them.

"Are you enjoying your summer?" asked Adria as she kicked the sand, walking down the shore line of the beach hand in hand with Sirius.

"I am," he nodded, "my best Christmas was with you, and so is my best summer, I'm starting to think my best time is just when I'm with you."

"I'm sure James will be jealous," Adria giggled, "y'know I told them all to write as much as they could, but we've barely got any letters."

"I'm pretty sure that's just your owl, Ads, it's getting old."

"He's getting old, not it, Sirius," she huffed, "and he is not, he's just a little slow is all."

"Whatever you say," Sirius laughed softly, "they must know how hectic summer has been, with your mum being pregnant and all, they must not want to bother you with letters."

"I wouldn't mind," Adria sighed, resting her head on his bare arm.

"I know you wouldn't," Sirius nodded, although she couldn't see him, "but I wouldn't think much of it, Ads."

"I suppose," she mumbled, "so why where you staring at me?"

"Is it a crime to stare at my beautiful girlfriend?" he asked, stopping in his tracks to do just that, she hated the fact that a blush spread across her cheeks but she simply couldn't help it.

"No," she rolled her eyes, "but would my beautiful boyfriend tell