McConn Cottage July 2028

Kiara sucked in a breath and forced her waves of grief back. She moved in beside Ciaran even closer and rubbed his back.

"Alright... If you are sure dear, I could send an annonymous tip for someone to check out there house, no one will know it came from us." she whipered.

Rossa seeing her father truely crying this time, brought her small hand up to his face and wipped a tear away. Although she was still crying her self, she was starting to calm down.

"We will be alright Daddy.." she told him, hoping the same thing mommy to her when she was crying over a bad dream would help him feel a bit better to. The sun always came back you just had to wait for it, and want it to come back.

Ciaran nodded, but then shook his head. "I can do that..." he murmured. Kiara had already planned to tell Horatio...something that he would not do. Therefore, he wrote himself as at least brave enough to write the authorites...if the purgers had not already. Before, he had discovered through muggle authorities that the murderers sent more than notes, but photographs and letters saying who had done it and how.

Wizards and witches were not as hidden from the muggle world as they had been. The world were merging, into a sphere of fear and power.

He smiled as Rossa wiped away his tear. "Yes, darlin. We will be."

Kiara gave Rossa a small smile as comforted her Dad, kissing her daughter on the forehead whispered in her ear. "Take good care of your Daddy while I am with Grandpapa sweetheart okay? I think you are just what he needs"

Rossa nodded and hugged on to her daddy with all the love she had. "I will Mommy" she said.

Kiara sat there hugging Ciaran for at least 5 minutes before she gave his shoulder one last pat before getting up and over to the fire place.

Taking a handful of floo powder she took a deep breath, "The McKevin Residents" and she stuck her head inside before she changed her mind.

"Horatio... Is it alright if I come over for a bit? we need to talk" she said with great effort, there she couldn't back out now.

Ciaran sighed, feeling some small part better with both his daughter and wife comforting him. Even Edan's now cheerful playing with the little squirrel lifted his spirits slightly.

----

The McKevin residence was a mess. Horatio had never been a neat man and after Eglantine's death he had no longer tried to be in any way tidy. Clothes, baby bottles, plates, cups, and various other baby items and Horatio items were strewn tornado fashion across the entire living room.

It was quiet, something that was rare with two young infants, so they had to be napping. Horatio's pipe sat on the cluttered couch, another with his spectacles, which had been broken, no doubt as he had hurried to provide a bottle or attention to his young sons.

It was Edwin who came to the fireplace when Kiara called. He looked exhausted, no doubt having been kept awake soothing a screaming twin.
"What happened?" he asked, immediately seeing the worry in Kiara's eyes.

Kiara sighed as she looked at Edwin, "Something I would rather not explain over the floo Network Edwin, We are fine.... for the most part anyway. I will explain when I come over Edwin... I am sorry I wish I came carrying better news, I know it is the last thing you and father need right now, but I don't have no choice" she said sobernly.

Edwin nodded. "Okay, fine." he murmured, shrugging. "Come on in then." he continued stepping aside so Kiara would not have to bump into him...

Hearing talking in the living room, Horatio entered, smiling crookedly at his son and then Kiara.
"A visitor, lovely!" he murmured, softly so as not to wake the twins. "Tea, Kiara?"

Sighed and shook her head "No thats fine Horatio, thank you" she in a softer tone of voice not want to wake the sleeping infants in the house.

" Something has happened..." she said with a sigh. "We should go and sit down, I will explain"

Kiara of course always had a sad feel to her ever since Eglantine passed away, but there was something in her voice and her wet eye, she had recently been crying.

Horatio saw Kiara's face better as she turned into the light and he immediately knew something terrible had happened.
"Please go to your room, Edwin." he stated, his demeanor changing. Taking Kiara's hand, he led her into the kitchen, which was a terrible mess.
He cleared a chair for her and sat down across from her.
"What has happened, Kiara." he murmured, gently holding her hands between his large ones.

Had Kiara been in a better mood she would have made a mental note to come over one day and help clean the place up a bit. Today was not one of those times however so she ignored the mess as if it wasn't there. However she had noticed how tired Edwin looked, she made a note to come over more often let him rest from his screaming younger brothers.

"It is Rachel and Angus..." she started stated once again taking a breath, pushing her emotions down for a later date.

" The purgers found them Horatio... they didn't make it." she in a quiet voice and bowed her head. " I am sorry Horatio, I know this is the last thing you need but... I thought you should know as soon as possible." she said as a tear or two went down her cheek. Wishing she had something better to tell him.

Horatio allowed each word to wash over him and then he reacted by sighing deeply and bringing his hand to his face. Eglantine...she had warned him about the possibility of the muggle relatives, sooner or later, being harmed or killed. And although it deeply hurt him to hear they were dead... he had already lost his heart.

"How are Ciaran and the children?" he asked. His own grief would present itself later.

Kiara sighed, "As well as to be expected, Ciaran is hurting, but surviving. Rossa and Edan, well I am not sure they understand fully yet, but the loss is there. And Tav well... he wanted to be alone" she said with a sigh.

"Ciaran is with Rossa and Edan now, and it is doing some good. Rossa has so much love to give, and Edan.. well he is Edan and that is enough to lift spirits a little." she said.

"It is getting worse isn't it... they gain more and more power every day. Not even muggles are safe anymore. Right now I am just praying to anything that will listen that the rest of his family will be left alone.... I am not how much I can take Horatio." she whispered, as she remembered Ciaran's scream after they found his parents it nearly broke her heart to see him in such anguish and not being able to much to ease it.

Horatio nodded, being well acquainted with grief himself...
"Yes, children can be most comforting in times such as these." he murmured. Choosing to ignore her question about the purgers, Horatio sighed and looked away. But looked back when she confessed her weariness.
His words exactly.

"I know..." he whispered, blue eyes clear and full of wisdom. "To think...she sat where you sit know only months ago. A soft smile, rare even for Eglantine since her fall... and I asked her how I could live without her...how I had ever lived without her...
And do you know what she said..."
A smile crinkled the edges of his mouth. "She said, 'Life only lasts until it ends. And the ending is only the beginning to a new life.'"

Kiara sighed and a small tired smile formed on her lips " That sounds something she would say..." she said quietly and closed her eyes pushing the tears back.

"Ean and Ewan are helping that area arn't they? You have something to live for...." she said. Which caused her to think for a bit, if heaven for bid Ciaran passed before her..the very thought nearly made her cry again. But if it happened, she believed she would continue living if she had the choice for the children.

"How are things over here? how are you and Edwin holding up?" she asked. Remembering the exshusted look on Edwins face when he greeted her. It concered her a little.

Horatio's smile remained as he nodded. "Yes, they give me something to live for..." he closed his eyes and sighed. There was more... but he would leave it silent and unsaid.

"Things are loud and busy." he nodded. "Very busy. Babies require every moment of every minute... Edwin and I are doing as well as can be expected. He's doing better than I thought he would..."


In the corner of the kitchen, unseen, Eglantine stood, shrouded in her death's attire. The short sickle in her hand moved slightly as she sighed. Part of her longed to reach out and comfort her loved ones... and yet such a move would harm her so deeply.

Kiara sighed and nodded, " Yes, they are a handful" she said and thought for a bit. " I will try and drop by more often give you a hand...." she offered. "Edwin looks pretty tired" she pointed out. She only wanted to help, last thing they needed was Horatio or Edwin getting sick.

"I would be more then happy to help a bit more...." deep in her heart she was a workaholic, is was how she dealt with her grief with her divorces with Daniel and Serena's death. It was the reason she was promoted to captain in the Aurors so quickly. She lost herself in the work....

Now that she was a wife and mother again, her way of dealing with grief was out of the question. Now more then ever now, with the death of Ciaran's parents and Eglantine, her family needed her. But sometimes she felt she needed to do more..

Sighing she said "If you need any help at all don't hesitate to say something Horatio, I know how much energy babies can take." She said.

______

Rossa curled up on her fathers lap, still hugging him, it had never occurred to her before that her parents would ever cry like they were that day. She could almost feel there sadness rolling off them, and that made her sad as well. The thought of the idea of never seeing her Grandparents again made a lump form in her throat.

"I am going to miss Grandmum and Grandda.... Daddy" she said. quietly her head resting on her shoulder and her arm draped around the back of his neck. "A lot..." she said with a sniff.

Horatio patted Kiara's hands. "Thank you, my dear." he sighed. "I would appreciate that greatly."

"Yes, Ean and Ewan both raised quite the fuss last night... Edwin has been as much help as I could ever expect from a boy his age." He himself was exhausted... his light almost literally burnt out by constantly attending to twin infants...
He wondered often if Eglantine had lived...if would have been much different. She would not have been strong enough to do much with them... but she still would have been there, he mused... and that would have made all the difference.

"Thank you..." he was interrupted by a long wail from the nursery. Probably Ewan, he mused. As the older of the twins appeared to be more vocal than his brother.

---

Ciaran nodded, continuing to pat his daughter's back. "I will too, Rose-love." he murmured. "But we will see em again, lynnie." He closed his eyes... and tried to convince himself as he spoke to his daughter.

Kiara lifted her head at the babies cry, looked at Horatio for a moment, he looked tired as well.. and then got up from her seat. She headed to the Twins room, tend to her infant brother.

________

Rossa looked at her Daddy in confusion, See them again? Didn't her mommy just say they couldn't visit heaven? And didn't Tav say the only way to get there was to die?

"But... if they are in Heaven Daddy.... wouldn't we have to die to see em again?" she asked, a note of fear in her voice.

Ciaran nodded slowly. "Rossa, death is but a passing. A parting of the body and soul." And although he was quite certain she would not understand him, it helped to repeat what his parents had always told him...
"We will see them again someday, when we are old and our lives are finished..."

Rossa swallowed, and seemed to be trying desperatly to understand what he was saying. So she went with the only part of what he said the truely made sense to her.

Snuggling up closer "I am glad we will see them again Daddy" she said trusting his very words.

Ciaran nodded, moving himself in the chair and setting Rossa on his other leg. "So am I, darlin...so am I..."

Kiara walked in to the twins room went over to the sreaming infants.

"Now what is all the fuss about hmm?" she said softly leaning over the bastinets.

Ewan and Ean continued with what most month old infants did best...crying.
"Can you make em be quiet?" Edwin asked, entering from the other door.

The nursery was decorated for the twin boys, with blue walls and charmed lions and badgers danced along the walls. It was truly a Gryffindor/Hufflepuff room. Both Horatio and Eglantine, having been heads of those houses had thought it would be cute to have a twin in each house...

Kiara picked one of the crying infants up, conjuring a towel over her shoulder.

She looked at Edwin in sypathy, knowing he was tired for the twins constant crying. "I will try Edwin" she said, knowing how fussy young infants could be.

"Edwin I know you were up all night with them... why don't you take a break... go and sleep at my house for a few hours? I will stay here and help your father with these two, Alight?" she said turely worried for the boy.

Edwin looked like he was about to take Kiara up on her offer, but then he shook his head and stepped forward to pick up Ean.
"No..." he murmured. "I can't sleep." How could he? Every time he closed his eyes, he saw his mother's face and was reminded that he would never see it again. Not leaning over him to make sure he was alright at night... not kissing his forehead as she finished scolding him... not whispered German and Gaelic blessings over a cut or bruise...

Kiara rubbed Ewan's back, wondering when they had been fed last or if they need a changing... or if they simply wished to be held.

Looking as Edwin in symplay and understanding, she still had many sleepless nights as well.

Placing a spare hand on his shoulder she nodded, yes she could say she knew what he was going through.

"Just... be careful Edwin, you will be no good to them or your father if you exshust your self. If you want to talk or anything I am here okay?" she said.