Chapter Text
"What are you saying James?"
The bespectacled Marauder looked at his best friend with heavy eyes. "Exactly what I said Padfoot. I want to leave England and this thrice damned war. I'm tired." He sighed.
Sirius Black stared at James Potter for what felt like minutes without saying a word. He took in the image his friend portrayed. They were still young, not even in their mid-twenties, but the war they involved themselves in had made them feel old and jaded. It was almost a decade since the war started, they grew up, they graduated, they entered the Aurors Force as they believed that with their help, the war would soon see an end. It was typical of Gryffindors to think themselves the solution to everything but this time, they were wrong.
They didn’t even know why they were fighting anymore. Wars never brought honor, only death.
At least James was a bit better giving himself a reason to his life away from the war, he had married Lily Evans, the love of his life, and then he became a Father. And it was the fact that James had to take care of his girls that he was able to leave the front lines. Sirius often helped babysitting too, he even moved into his friend's house to give James a couple of hours to regain his breath, so it was like that that Sirius realized how hard it was to raise kids. Since Lily died giving birth to their triplets, James wasn't the same reckless and brash guy; he had matured.
Sirius guessed parenthood did that to most.
Despite not having a wife, James did his very best to compensate for her absence learning by trial an error how to cook, to do the laundry, to take care of his daughters, to feed them, bath them, play with them and to keep the house clean- even if he failed most of the time. Having triplets was both a blessing and a curse at the same. A blessing, and therefore a miracle, because it was the first time Magical triplets were born in the whole history of Magicals and a curse because the pregnancy and birth of them takes a toll on the mother's body; in most cases and Lily's one too, death.
Normally, Magicals that were aware of having more than two children growing would either choose to abort so the mother would stay healthy to have more children in the future or try to carry them to term which resulted in premature death of the babies and the mother too. So far, only Magical creatures, like werewolves and vampire mates, are able to carry more than two children since it is known that not all the babies would be Magical. Lily Potter was the first witch able to carry her children to term even if she died after giving birth.
Sirius thought that James would be completely devastated with the death of his wife; after all, Potters are known to only marry once, something about their Magic binding them to their chosen partner. Instead, he dedicated his life to his daughters and to parenthood. Sirius supposed it was a way to cope with grief and not think too much about the person James had lost but for once the dog Marauder was glad of this change in his friend.
So, it came as a bit of a surprise that James confided on his desire to leave this country infested in a war that saw no end. As an Auror, Sirius understood where James was coming from. The Ministry was collapsing, the Death Eaters were getting more vicious and the order to kill on sight from Minister Bagnold left the Black Heir disillusioned to the idea of staying in Britain. If he felt like that, let’s not say about those non-involved people who were only waiting in tenterhooks how the war will end. But still...
"Are you sure you want to do that?" Sirius had to ask. Their lives and their friends were in England, so he didn't feel that good with leaving them behind.
They still didn’t know anything about Remus after the werewolf was sent to who knows where, Peter was safe in his house so he wasn’t worried about him, yet James looked ready to just pack up their stuff and leave by the back door without thinking of their friends. Certainly it was Marauder style, being sneaky and do things without anyone being the wiser but this time it was more than that. It was giving their backs to everybody and basically run away.
"I am a single parent with three daughters to take care of, Pads, we are not winning this war unless Merlin himself rises up from the dead and helps us. And reluctant as I am to say it, I don't want to act Gryffindor on this." The gurgle of a baby took their attention to the playpen that housed the aforementioned girls. Both men melted to the sight of the oldest of the three helping her other two sisters play with the toy cubes around them. Though it was more about choosing which cube looked better to bite and drool over.
It felt like yesterday when they were born all red, wrinkled and wailing like no tomorrow while James gushed over them saying they were so beautiful, and asking Sirius over and over ‘Aren’t they the most beautiful babies in the world, Pads?’ to which the dog Animagus would say yes over and over enjoying the happiness exuding from his best friend at being a Father.
The healer and nurse that attended Lily were sworn to secrecy before the birth of the Potter girls. As it was, only a selected few that consisted of James, Sirius, the Healer, the nurse and the now deceased Lily knew about the triplets, not even the Ministry has them registered. And they weren’t thinking of registering them in a while. Or at least not until the war was over, but seeing the situation they wonder what and when the end would be. So, basically, almost nobody knew that Lily was pregnant.
When Dumbledore asked them to go into hiding due to some shady prophecy, the old man noticed the fact by chance; even then, Dumbledore didn't know the Potters had triplets.
And it wasn't that both Sirius and James distrusted the Headmaster of Hogwarts but neither put much faith in a prophecy or any form of Divination to end a war. They staunchly believed in the force behind the people, the people that sadly was losing hope. So now, James had to take the safety of his daughters and his into his own hands since it seemed nobody was going to provide it in the war-infested Magical community. He even knew that it was reaching the Muggle world. They just covered it like some sort of terrorist attack -which was not so far from the truth to be honest.
"Ok," Sirius breathed. "Ok, I guess you are right." He heavily sat on one of the armchairs and stared at the fireplace. "How are you going to do it?"
Unspoken was the fact that the Ministry was corrupted to the core with just some of the Heads of Department doing their job as cleanly as possible, so using a mean that had to go through Ministerial processes, like a Portkey, was out. The Department of Magical Law-Enforcement had a tight control on who uses them and where it takes a person to. Also, the creation of an illegal one, no matter the urgency, was a one-way ticket to Azkaban without any trial -Martial Law and all that. All Floo Network was locked, not even the uppity and stuck-up Purebloods were exempt on having theirs opened.
The Ministry simply didn't want a more open invasion on the building through the Floo, as such, the usage of the Network was also a trip to the prison with not even a chance to explain.
Only Apparition was allowed freely; though St. Mungo, the Ministry and Hogsmeade were protected with heavy Wards that didn’t let just anybody in. Any person with the minimal desire to cause destruction, chaos and mayhem were knocked-out and directly thrown into a cell in the Ministry. Martial law had been in full-swing since the first attack of the self-proclaimed Dark Lord Voldemort and his Death Eater pets. Sirius wasn't going to complain about the extent to which the Ministry responded to the threats, they were very tight and very good; though no matter how many measures the Ministry took to calm the population, the desire to live was stronger in people, and oftentimes they fell prey to the sweet nothings of a madman. Soon enough, they were seen betraying their home country.
The cowards.
James only had the cottage after the Potter Mansion was destroyed in a raid, and Sirius didn’t want to depend on his family and the many houses they have not only in Britain, but in other countries, too.
All in all, their options were almost non-existent -Apparition being the only one. However, going around like headless chickens trying to find a place they could deem safe was not appealing at all. They would have to protect the girls, search a nice plot of land, make sure they wouldn't get attacked, create wards to better secure their new home and hope nobody finds them. Escaping before the International Portkeys were banned would have been the best solution. As it was, hopping around was not a good plan if James wanted to do this in less Gryffindor-style.
"I talked to the Goblins," James said taking Sirius out of his thoughts. "I went out late one night when they sent a letter asking for my presence for the arrangement of Lily's vault, her will and what she left to the girls," he added to Sirius' silent question of why and how he talked to the bloodthirsty creatures. Sirius decided to ignore the fact that James left the girls alone for however long he took to do all that at the bank and just gestured for him to continue. "They are willing to help me create a portal that would transport me to a house I didn't know I had but was the property of one of my ancestors who moved to some area in Japan." He finished.
"For a price?" Asked Sirius, the ghost of a smile on his lips.
"For a price," admitted James with a full-blown smile. Trust the goblins and their money-grubbing ways. At least they are willing to help even if they drain you of your gold. That's a better option than gallivanting around the country Apparating. It would be done in utmost secrecy if James was paying them for their aid so he was sure that this plan was almost well-thought.
"How and where are they going to create this portal thing?" Sirius thought that there really were many things that the goblins of Gringotts weren't telling the wizards and this portal that transported people was one. He supposed that there really was a place where they came from; and nobody really knew where the fabled Goblin Nation was located. With how mistrustful they were of wizards, they didn't dare to use any typical form of transportation like a wizard, hence the existence of this unique way of conveyance from the little creatures.
Another thing was that the cottage was under a Fidelius Charm, courtesy of Albus Dumbledore, and the less people knew where he was, the better. According to Dumbledore, Voldemort was in the know of the prophecy and was connecting the dots on the possible protagonists of the prophecy. Dumbledore believed the Potters, together with the Longbottoms -who have thrice defied the Dark Lord and lived to tell the story- were part of it. That’s why they were hiding.
The point was that it was not safe, paid goblin or not, to get into the house and work a portal to the other side of the world.
"That's how you come into this plan," said James a bit sheepish. The stag Animagus felt a bit bad to involve Sirius in this crazy plan of his but as his brother in all but blood, he guessed that it wouldn't be a problem. Of course, if he came with him and his daughters, then it would be even better. Let Sirius go chase some Japanese girls. "The goblins will provide with a one-time-use portal to the other house. I explained our situation so they accepted creating the portal in the Japanese house and we just have to create ours in the house. It will activate on Samhain for the boost in magic and make the process smoother due to the distance."
"Alright, sounds good. So we just have to make ours, not so bad," Sirius was up for the idea. It was safe, nobody would know, and it was basically a new life out there. He was liking it the more he thought about it. Only bad point was that they had to make a goblin portal... wait a minute. "We don't know how to make a goblin portal." He realized and his eyes searched his friend's. "How are we going to make it?"
"Well," James began, rubbing the back of his neck and avoiding Padfoot's eyes. "I surely can't leave the girls alone in the house while being in Gringotts learning, so you will have to go. They will tell you what to do, what to use and how to make it."
Silence descended on the place with only the random babble of a baby.
"WHAT?!" Sirius shrieked making everybody else jump and sending all three babies to tears. "Oh, no, no, sorry," both Marauders panicked and flailed to get the girls to stop crying, shaking toys, moving them up and down, presenting a snack or any other food only to be rejected until Sirius began singing one ridiculous song they used to sing at Hogwarts to annoy one Minerva McGonagall.
Back at Hogwarts a chill ran down the Transfiguration professor.
The song seemed to be working and both father and uncle danced and sang to their audience the inappropriate melody about wizards being cool and getting girls to then dumping them. They thanked the Heavens the girls were too young to pay attention to indecent lyrics and that they wouldn’t remember any of it. The youngest, Violet's laugh filled the room causing her sisters to giggled, the middle one, Primrose, was even clapping while the eldest, Dahlia, was covering her face as if embarrassed but that didn't stop the men from hearing her giggle behind her tiny hands.
At almost one-year-old, they were really smart even if they couldn't talk yet and had to spend most of their time in their playpen because since they started walking, they were a disaster and a half and James wasn't that good at cleaning. Even if his heart was all for the adrenaline, seeing his daughters getting in trouble was not worth the scare.
After their little show, Sirius sat back down in the armchair and saw how the girls finally accepted the plate with fruits James was offering before and left them snacking on it.
Sirius couldn't really believe it had been almost a year since they were born, all the nights without sleep he shared with James taking care of them, teaching them how to feed themselves even if they made a mess on their little faces, chasing them around the room while laughing. Then, they would start talking, asking hundreds of questions, learning how to ride a broom, how to be Gryffindors through and through; though if they were leaving the country, he supposed they would go to a Japanese school. Then, they would learn Japanese, go to school, meet friends, come back home with a guy… no, bad thought, bad thought.
"So?" James asked sitting on the armchair in front of him again.
"When do I start?" His friend Prongs smiled. Certainly Sirius wouldn't regret his decision.
Sirius was regretting his decision. Brothers or not, he didn't want to see another goblin in his life. Little buggers only knew how to sneer or snarl, even their smile was creepy as hell. He would surely to have a couple of nightmare starring goblins and their bloodthirsty ways. Nobody could deceive him, he noticed the swords and axes hung in the office of the goblin in charge of the Potter vaults and those were not rusty because of time; no, he knew old blood when he saw it. Not a surprise when ninety-nine percent of your family is vicious and mad as the next serial killer.
Two days spent between raids from the Aurors and half-assed classes from the goblins, and he was more than happy for the week to finish. But his job was not done there, no. After spending the week learning the runes used by the goblins and how to place said runes so the whole family -because he was following Prongs and his nieces out of the hellhole- wouldn't end up in Merlin knows where, splintered, he also needed to get a hold of the materials used for the portal circle. That half of the items were illegal for British wizards was not making Sirius happy. He was an Auror for Merlin's sake!
Though he supposed that those illegal items were more than normal in Japan and since that was their destination, half of the materials needed to come from there, according to the goblins. Without a doubt, Sirius would have to go undercover and use the Black name to get them in Knockturn Alley if he ever wanted to even see a corner of them shady ingredients at all. Oh, he sure as hell was going to be ripped off but it was an investment that he was more than happy to make.
"Pay attention Heir Black!" A goblin snarled. He snarled back not wanting to think about that Heir title.
Of course, first, he needed to survive the goblins, then he would think about how he was going to become a criminal for his brother.
Said brother was dead to the world in his living room, his youngest sleeping on him while Dahlia and Primrose were raiding the kitchen. As the oldest, Dahlia subconsciously knew she had to take care of her younger sisters so when Primrose woke her from her nap with a pout and a grumbling stomach, she had to provide for her. Her own grumbling stomach had nothing to do with it, not at all. Their short legs made quick work to reach the fridge which she knew held edible stuff. Her clumsy fingers and measly strength were enough to open the fridge and look for something to quell their hunger.
She scanned each bottle and container, her infant mind judging that none were things she could open without breaking them until her eyes lit up when she spotted some grapes in the upper part of the fridge. Of course, that’s when her smartness decided to abandon her and ended up struggling to reach the bag of grapes but her short legs and arms weren't helping her. Primrose stood by the side waiting for her sister to get her something to eat, yet seeing as she was taking too long reaching for those grapes, she decided to help.
She went back to the living room and looked for something she could use. Her eyes stopped on one of her toys, a box that popped up some animal that always made her cry and decided that it was good -her mind supplying a fuzzy memory in which she stood in the lowest step of the stairs and felt bigger. So, she dragged the box that was almost half her height across the room and into the kitchen but just when she was about to prompt her sister to use it to reach the grapes, she saw how the bag of grapes was levitating into her sister's waiting hand.
"Dahlia! Rosy!" They both jumped at their names being called and their heads snapped to the man standing by the kitchen’s door.
James had woken up to the sound of something being dragged and opened his eyes on time to see Primrose pushing a box towards the kitchen. He stood up with a groan careful not to dislodge Violet, carrying her in his arms, and followed his little flame -nickname she got due to her red hair- into the kitchen just to stop. His eyes almost bugged out of his skull when he noticed his oldest doing accidental magic and levitating a bag of grapes. He was equally scared and delighted; delighted and smug because his children were already doing Magic and scared because, what if it wasn't a bag of fruit but something more dangerous that she was trying to reach resulting in an injury?
Lily was surely cursing him wherever she was seeing as he let her daughters do something so dangerous. He sighed. "Come here, darlings, let's eat those grapes," he said with a voice that gave away his satisfaction and he was sure her daughters noticed, they were as smart as their Mother was. They followed like ducklings back to the living room where he helped them take out the seeds in the grapes to then seeing them eat their prize for their endeavor.
No matter how his brother, Sirius, saw it and said it, James knew that he was not the best father. His recklessness might be suppressed most of the times but there were occasions that it reared its ugly head. Lily was the logical person in their relationship, the voice of everything sane in his chaotic life and he missed her dearly in these moments when he didn't know if he had to be proud or not of his daughters’ achievements. Because even if Dahlia wouldn't have been able to do accidental magic, the fact that Primrose had the idea to use one of her toys for support to reach a higher place was worth of praise.
The consequences of either of them falling down from the toy and injuring themselves was not thought until when he replayed the situation in his mind while feeding his daughters.
He was utterly unprepared when the Healer announced his wife dead even when they knew something like that might happen at the end of the pregnancy, he just hoped against hope that Lily would be there with him while raising their children. Then he was thrust into the world of being a father of not one but three kids and he had been forced to resign from his Auror training, giving a half-assed excuse he was sure nobody believed, to take care of his daughters while learning how to be a parent and not die or kill his daughters in the process. He was so out of it during the first months that he had to ask Sirius to help him. He was sure begging and crying was involved but his memory of those months was a bit fuzzy.
Fortunately, he eventually got the hang of it and his frayed nerves as well as his daughters’ well-being thanked him for it. He really was sorry to Dahlia for the many times he jabbed her with the diaper pin making her cry, or to Violet when he forgot to feed her and she had to remind him with a tantrum, and let's not talk about that time Primrose slipped and almost drowned in the bathtub while he was cleaning her; that she always cried due to trauma afterwards when it was time for her bath said how scary the experience was for her.
Now, he knew more of how each of them behaved.
Dahlia subconsciously knew she was the oldest of the three so she led the other two and took care of them in the way only a baby can take care of their siblings which included giving away her own food or yield her toy so either of her sisters could use it when they asked for it. Surely most kids would fight for the right of playing with said toy but not his Dahlia, she was such a caring and giving child that he felt a bit bad for her; being the eldest wasn't easy. He just hoped that she developed some character when she grew up so nobody would take advantage of her. That's one job for him as a father for the future.
His Primrose, he feared for this daughter. She was such a cute girl that he knew sooner or later, he would serve some years in prison if some guy ever put their sticky fingers on her. He was aware that he was biased with his daughters and thought them all beautiful and cute and worth every minute of his life but Primrose was just too cute for her own good. Her red hair, same as his late wife Lily, her hazel, doe eyes and fair skin gave her a fairy-like complexion; that without counting her pouty lips, button like nose and round face, she truly was going to be the bane of all other girls and the target of those filthy boys. That's two jobs for him; protect his little Rose.
Violet was a bundle of energy that was always laughing or doing some mischief. Half his problems are just her and the other half involved her. He deduced all his Marauder gene was concentrated on this sole daughter that he could already feel the future headaches she was going to give him (he secretly thanked all the gods out there that his other two daughters were like Lily, calm as still water). As the youngest -and oh how she knew it- she was the one that threw the most tantrums and was the most dotted by her sisters. She was also the one that always made everybody laugh with her antics and coaxed her sisters to play whatever she wanted. Maybe he had to make sure she wasn't as arrogant as he was when growing up. Three jobs.
He was also grateful that each of his daughters was different not only in attitude but also in looks, if not he would have problems telling who was who. A Molly Weasley sneezed making her pause in her pursuit of two identical twins who were running around without clothes.
As such, even if all three inherited the cursed Potter hair that stuck in every direction, Dahlia's was black just like his with Lily's eyes, emerald. The face was all his just softer, getting all the aristocratic angles from a Potter; she was going to grow into an elegant lady, he was sure. Primrose, cute, sweet Rosy was all her mother including the hair except the eyes, those were his mother’s, the triplets' grandmother’s hazel eyes; though even if she was all Lily, she had even softer features. Violet was a mix of her grandmother -Lily’s mom- with the strawberry blonde hair, grey eyes with green flecks from him and Lily’s face with the Potter cheekbones.
She wouldn't grow elegant like Dahlia or cute like Rosy but she would still be beautiful on her own. Roguish beauty, his mind constantly supplied but he viciously ignored it, his daughter would be no rogue. James admitted that he was a daughter's fool and that he didn't mind that the Potter line would end with him. He just wanted his daughters to be happy and to never forget their old father and uncle Padfoot.
"James?" Said man woke up from his stupor and stopped idolizing his daughters who were already asleep in their gigantic cot. His feet took him to the living room where he knew Sirius would have already dropped on one of the armchairs. He still felt guilty to leave him the job of learning how to make that portal from the goblins but both knew the dangers of the wrong sort spotting James out in Diagon Alley.
"Something the matter, Sirius?" James asked when he saw the grim face on his brother. A bad feeling went through his body.
"The Ministry is all but taken," Sirius whispered but James heard it in the silence of the room. He gingerly seated on the couch, his hands covering his face. "People are succumbing to panic and the Order is the only one willing to fight, together with a couple of Aurors that are loyal to Mad-Eye Moody. I might not come back the next time I go to a raid." He mumbled that last sentence as an afterthought of the situation.
"Ok," replied James with a hoarse voice, he cleared his throat and took a big breath to calm himself. He never thought the situation would grow this dire. Perhaps he should have continue fighting... he stopped that line of thought and shook his head, it was not the time to think like a Gryffindor. Even if he still fought in the war it didn’t mean that he would make that much of a difference when the enemy was getting stronger. "What are we going to do?"
For a moment he thought of asking Sirius to not go outside but as much as he was reckless, Sirius was stubborn as a mule, so he wasn't going to accept his suggestion nor take it well. First of all, they would have to rehash plans and adapt; how he missed Lily to tell him what they could do, he wasn't as smart as her to think of something at the top of his head.
"I will continue those bloody lessons with the goblins," Sirius grumbled good-naturally to dispel the tension in the air, that worked a bit from the small smile on James' face. "Crouch has gone mad and is throwing people into Azkaban left, right and center so he most likely won't notice if I go missing more hours than necessary to learn those runes faster. I already have the list of the materials to use, so we can begin buying them or at least asking for them."
James accepted the parchment with a list of items used for rituals, or at least the ones he recognized, others were so obscure that he didn't know they existed and supposed those were the illegal ones. He didn't know where to begin getting those. "Any specific or special requirements while making the portal?" He asked while perusing the list. He was having the idea that maybe contacting a potions Master was the way to go.
"We make the outer layer in Lughnasadh and the details during Mabon. All the illegal materials go into the inner layer so we have time to get them. The last rune will be added on Samhain and that one will take us to the other house. The goblins promised us that the other portal would be done by the morning of Samhain so we can make the moving in the afternoon or evening, whenever you want." Sirius said. With everything else around him going to hell, he was relieved he hadn't forgotten the goblins' instructions.
James hummed, "I will ready the study and convert it into our portal room." He decided.
"Alright," Sirius groaned while standing up. "Old man Padfoot will scrape dinner's leftovers and then become dead to the world." James laughed at his brother's antics and followed him to the kitchen to ask about the situation out there with more details.