Year/Job
Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor
I had been lost to you, sunlight. And flew like a moth to you, sunlight. |
Animagus
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Post by Iola Walker on Feb 24, 2024 19:23:46 GMT -8
March, 19th 2016 | The Walker Estate | Mid-Afternoon Leaving the house with two 22 month olds was no easy feat. It was the weekend, but unfortunately Nyle was at the Ministry working. There was this big case he and his partner were working on so Iola ventured home from Hogwarts to take care of the kids. As it was most weekends, Iola took her children to the Walker estate to be with family and give her a bit of a break. Her pregnancy this time around was really wearing her down. The morning sickness had, thankfully, subsided. She hadn't been able to keep anything down the first three months, but now she was dealing with a crippling fatigue. There were times she wondered if it was worth calling in someone to substitute while she rested in her quarters, but she trudged along for her students. On the weekend, though, she was willing to burden her family so she could get some rest. Diana wasn't that difficult, but Charlie... her son liked to get into anything and everything. It was tiring just watching him run around like a chicken with its head cut off.
Iola drove the twins and herself to Caernarfonshire. The car turned down the gravel road leading through the forest to the Walker estate. Charlie was talking up a storm in the backseat while Di just stared out the window. Iola was thankful for the muggle technology that allowed her to view her children without having to turn around. Soon, she was pulling into the drive and putting the car in park. Merry came out to meet her and help her get the twins out of their carseats. Iola thanked him and gave him a hug, watching as Charlie bounded after him inside the house. Diana held Iola's hand as they walked up to the front door and entered. She didn't seem keen to go play right now like her brother, so she stuck by her mother's side as she led them to the kitchen. Annie was already there making a pot of tea. Iola walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder as she leaned in to kiss his cheek. "Good afternoon, Annie," she said to him. Diana tugged at her hand and she glanced down at her daughter. "Would you like to say hello to your uncle?" Di smiled softly and looked to Annie. "Hi Uncle Annie," she said shyly. With a smile, Iola looked back at her brother. "Is that tea for us?"
Annie Walker
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Year/Job
Astronomer
Lamp's.
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Post by Annie Walker on Feb 24, 2024 20:34:45 GMT -8
Annie liked Iola's kids a lot. He had complicated feelings about not having had the opportunity to know Saffron's girls as they came out of infancy as well. He liked kids, liked babies, was good with them, and wanted to make Maverick the happiest man on earth, if he could. So why such hesitation about the ideas his husband had brought up earlier this week? He tucked these thoughts away in the chest in his mind when the bell chimed to indicate one of them entering the perimeter, and locked it tight by the time tyres pulling up on the cobbles outside were audible. He glanced up from the kitchen to check that Merry was on his way out to help, which he was.
The flurry of activity when family arrived was delight of delights for him. Annie had never lost his love- and likely never would, he was old enough to consider it set in stone-- for the sense of chaos that came from get-togethers of their ever larger family. Ever larger. Hm. The locked chest in Annie's mind rattled, and he swiftly shoved it under whatever mind-furniture was nearest. He knelt to meet Diana at her height. He was still head and shoulders towering over the girl. "How old have you gotten when I wasn't looking?" he accused, playful. "Must be a thousand with how big you are now." He opened his arms to offer a hug with this greeting. "It is," he told his little sister as he stood again. "Would you like a cuppa, Di?" Hers would be mostly milk, too young as she was for the brunt of a full mug, low though the caffeine was. "Maverick's at a faculty thing last minute, he was thrilled." Maverick had not been thrilled. An argument could be made for murderous-ness being a thrill. "Sends his love."
A part of him supposed that Maverick may have only refrained from telling his coworkers exactly where they could stick their impromptu work event in the hopes that Annie would take the time to talk with his sister visiting and do some processing about recent subjects. Annie never wanted to do this work, but it usually happened anyway. Iola was a good listener, and talented at finding the right spots to poke Annie. They had a few things in common.
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Year/Job
Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor
I had been lost to you, sunlight. And flew like a moth to you, sunlight. |
Animagus
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Post by Iola Walker on Feb 25, 2024 10:16:03 GMT -8
There was this sense of home, belonging, and love that came with visiting her family home that Iola just couldn't get enough of. It was such a strong feeling that she and Nyle had purchased their own home not even 40 kilometers away from them. It made visiting easy - they needn't Apparate or use the Floo system, they could very well ride their brooms or drive. Iola was not great on a broom, but she did well enough to make it the ten minutes it took to get here. The witch looked forward to her weekends off when she could come back home and see the ones she loved the most.
Iola smiled warmly as Annie got down to Di's level and spoke to her. A soft chuckle fell out of her and her heart warmed as the two of them embraced. Diana was smiling from ear to ear as they pulled back and she looked to Iola with excitement glimmering in her bright green eyes. Annie confirmed the tea was for them and she hummed softly in response. Di nodded eagerly at the offer of a cuppa. Iola never minded her children sharing a small cup of tea with her, mostly because the ratio of milk and tea was such that she knew there was little caffeine getting in their system, but also because tea was such an integral part of their lives. She enjoyed sharing that with her children.
"That's a shame," Iola said, a small smile pulling at her lips. She understood what Annie had meant. Things between Maverick and Iola had gotten better in the last couple of years, but they were nowhere close to best friends. Perhaps as time went on they would grow more fond of each other. She supposed only time would tell. "Tell him we said hello when he gets back." Iola lifted Diana, thankful the girl was smaller than most kids her age, and brought her around to the stools lining the counter. She set them in one, with Di in her lap, and kissed the top of her head. "I can't tell you how exhausted I've been lately," she lamented to her brother with a sigh. "I'll be glad to not be pregnant again." Di patted her hands on the counter and stared at Annie with wide eyes. "Cuppa!" she said happily. "How have things been with you? And everyone else?" Iola asked him.
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Year/Job
Astronomer
Lamp's.
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Post by Annie Walker on Mar 3, 2024 3:02:22 GMT -8
Iola was good at being a mom, Annie thought as she scooped his niece up into her arms. She was better at it than he had been, definitely. He couldn't lie about it-- or rather, he could certainly try, but there was no way for him to say that his start into being a father had been smooth. For the first year, it had barely been brothering, let alone parenting. Maybe... No, maybe that was too harsh on himself. He'd done his best, but he'd been bad at it, thrown into playing four different versions of a high-level game he hadn't had the chance to sort out the controls for. Maybe that was how all parents felt though. From what their mam and tad had told them over the years, they'd had a rough start too, twin boys and cut off from family to different extents on both sides. They'd done a great deal better than Annie had. They'd had each other though. Iola had Nyle. Annie did have Maverick. For keeps. It almost seemed alarming, the prospect of raising a child while being in love. Maybe that was just how it was meant to be done.
"What, stopping at three then?" he laughed. That was plenty for most families, but that hadn't stopped their mam from continuing to cook up new siblings through their entire childhoods. It was strange to reflect on, mainly because Iola had confessed a fair few times that a great deal about pregnancy wasn't all that comfortable. Maybe Mam was just a superhero, or a goddess like her namesake, and her granddaughter's namesake. She'd certainly seemed invincible once. Both of them would have loved to be grandparents. Mam lived to see it, the kids all knew her, but it was different from how involved he knew she would have been in another life. At least the visits were longer, and more familiar, since she'd been moved from Saint Mungo's.
"Good, right," He answered, nodding as he splashed just a little bit of hot tea in another mug for Diana. "Gavin's back Tuesday or Wednesday, convinced his little bird to go out camping with him in Devon." The youngest of his own children, grown up, well over seventeen now. Annie was proud of him at every move, and yet here he was, more actively than was at all typical for him berating himself for not having been better at the job placed on his shoulders. "Maverick's... he made a really nice dinner for us last week, got fussy with me." Because he'd been asking about adopting, and knew that it would make Annie nervous, which made Maverick anxious in anticipation. Annie said it fondly though.
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Year/Job
Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor
I had been lost to you, sunlight. And flew like a moth to you, sunlight. |
Animagus
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Post by Iola Walker on Apr 28, 2024 14:42:21 GMT -8
Iola didn't know how great of a mom she was or anything, but she was trying her best. Taking care of the twins when they were little babies was challenging enough, but now they were toddlers with minds of their own. It was a lot harder parenting a child than it was to take care of one. She didn't know if she was getting anything right, which was not a foreign feeling for her, but it was a lot different imagining being a parent and actually being one. She was glad she was getting a second chance with their next daughter, but part of her wished she had done better for the twins.
A bright laugh escaped her at the sound of Annie's. She shook her head. "Merlin, I don't know how Mam did it." Iola put her free hand on her swollen belly and sighed heavily. "It's a lot to go through and definitely not easy. I couldn't imagine having five kids, let alone ten." Her bright blue eyes fell to rest on Di's precious head, her hand coming up to gently stroke her blonde hair. The love she had for her children was stronger than anything in this world, so maybe she could imagine the desire to multiply that over and over again until you were surrounded by nothing but the deepest, purest love. Iola leaned over to press another kiss to the top of Diana's head, her daughter turning to look up at her with a warm smile. She easily returned it as she stared down at her daughter.
He said that everyone was good and she felt a small wave of relief. Perhaps there would always be a part of her that feared the worse, having been through some of the worse things imaginable, but with each peaceful day she was learning to let go of that fear. She nodded as he spoke of Gavin, her lips turning into a small smile at the mention of the youngest Walker. Her smile faded, however, when Annie brought up Maverick's fussiness. "What about?" she asked curiously as Di wiggled in her lap. Iola was trying not to make any assumptions, instead waiting to hear Annie's story.
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