A Tabby, a Phoenix, and a Cub

[KayleeTonksLupin]

Minerva McGonagall was pacing back and forth in the living room of Leomann Cottage. (The house name belongs to Jestana, sorry my friend for taking it)
She was waiting for her husband, Albus Dumbledore, to bring a report of the Order mission that Charlie Weasley, his wife Gillian Weasley, Remus Lupin, and Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin had been sent on. Their daughters were staying with Minerva and Albus for the time being.

Kaylee Tonks-Lupin was playing with Tara and Lynne Weasley and their Aunt "Tabs" Dumbledore upstairs. When "Tabs" heard her father come home, she excused herself and went downstairs.

"Papa! How did the mission...oh." She read the answer in his face. The light in Albus' eyes had gone out, and tears were trickling into his beard.
"All of them?" she asked urgently. Albus nodded gravely. All four were dead by Death Eaters' hands. Tabs hugged her father and walked slowly back upstairs. How do you tell three young children their parents aren't coming back?

Twin sisters Lynne and Tara, seven years old, were playing house with Kaylee, five. They all ran to Tabs when she came back upstairs, but backed away when they saw her tears falling freely. Grownups don't cry, thought Kaylee. They don't. Do they?

[Jestana]

*sniff* Pauvre Kaylee, Tara, and Lynne! *whimper* Mean Fuzzy! *calms down* Sorry. Good job!

[KayleeTonksLupin]

*rolls eyes* Yea, poor US, Lynne. And Tara too, though she doesn't read these...anyways. Ty for saying I'm doing a good job though. And Tabs, you rock! Hehe. I mean, you're really cool! So I put you in here, I know you read this even though you didn't leave a note...Anyway. On to the story...

"Aunty Tabs?" Jem Dumbledore smiled through her tears, and looked at her nieces.
"Yes?" What a stupid reply, she thought, though she couldn't think of anything else to say; it just fell out of her mouth. Kaylee spoke up.
"Why are you crying, Aunty Tabs? You look as sad as Lynne or Tara when Aunty Gillian punishes them for doing something bad. Did Granny Min punish you for doing something bad?" Jem almost laughed at the five-year-old's innocent reasoning. She tried to dry her tears.
"No, Mama didn't punish me. I'm sad because something bad happened, not because I did anything bad, Cub," she said, using Remus' nickname for Kaylee. Kaylee nodded, reassured. Tara and Lynne laughed. Jem swept all three of her nieces into a warm hug. She couldn't tell them...they were so young and carefree, she couldn't burden them with this! Slowly she turned and left the room, going back downstairs. She couldn't face tearing their world apart. Her innocent little girls.

[KayleeTonksLupin]

"Did you tell them?" asked Minerva urgently. Jem shook her head and Minerva frowned.
"They need to know!"
"I can't tell them, Mama." Minerva let out a frustrated sigh.
"Then I will." Jem looked at her mother.
"It's going to be very difficult, you know, Mama." Minerva nodded silently. With a swish of her tartan robes, she turned and slowly ascended the stairway. It was time. The truth could not be hidden forever...

Meanwhile, the three girls were huddled together. Even though they were still young, they knew when something was going on, and especially when the truth was hidden from them.

"Tara, what do you suppose Aunty Tabs was crying for?" Lynne asked her twin, pulling her long auburn braid around her neck and biting the end of it, the way she always did when she was nervous.
"Take your braid out of your mouth, Lynne," said Tara sharply. She was four minutes older than Lynne, and therefore viewed herself as the girl-in-charge when their parents were away.
"Oh, don't fight. Don't!" cried Kaylee. "Please don't. Granny won't like it." The youngest of the close-knit group, Kaylee was usually able to smooth things over between her older cousins. But this time it didn't work. Tara simply glared at Lynne, and yanked Lynne's braid out of her mouth. Lynne grabbed Tara's hair, and soon the two of them were engaged in an all-out battle. Kaylee shrank back into a corner, and just then the door opened. Minerva looked in...

[Jestana]

*giggle* Very nice. Pauvre everyone! *sniffle*

[KayleeTonksLupin]

A/N: I just realized something: Lynne and Tara Weasley are calling Kaylee their cousin for no apparent reason. Yes, I'm aware that pure-bloods are all interrelated, and also aware that per JKR, Remus is a half-blood. We don't know HOW he's a half-blood: One Muggle/one Pureblood parent or one Muggle-born/one Pureblood parent. The first case applies to Seamus Finnegan if I remember correctly, and the latter to both Tonks and Harry. Therefore, Gillian Weasley, mother of Tara and Lynne, was Gillian Lupin before; she was (and is, of course, though she's been killed) Remus' younger sister. In my little world, Remus and Gillian's mother, "Diana Kaylee Lupin" and their Muggle father were both werewolves killed by the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures after they bit their son and attempted to bite their daughter. Min and Albus adopted Remus and Gillian.

[KayleeTonksLupin]

A/N: Damn, how long has it been since I updated?? Also, since then, Tabby Bee has become Kaylee's twin, so...enter TB then.

Minerva shook her head. "No fighting!" Tara and Lynne jumped away from each other. "Sorry, Grandmum." Minerva nodded. She looked very serious.
"Girls, I have something to tell you...it's very hard..." She sank to the floor, trying not to cry herself. "Your parents..." Tara and Lynne exchanged worried glances, and Diana, Kaylee's twin sister, ran up the stairs, sobbing.
**Evidently Jem managed to tell her,** Minerva thought. She pulled Di close. Di looked straight at Kaylee.
"Kay, Mummy and Daddy...they...they're..." Diana choked. Minerva stroked her brown hair and looked sympathetic. The other three ran to her, and she tried to compose herself.
"They're...they're..." Diana tried again. Minerva shook her head.
"They're never coming home," Di finally managed to say. "They're...gone."
"Dead?" Tara asked sharply. Diana nodded miserably.
"What about our parents?" whispered Lynne. Diana nodded again.
"Gone." Kaylee, Lynne, Tara, and Di mourned together for their parents, crying silently, curled up against Minerva, and Jem, who had followed Di upstairs again.

[Nerweniel]

Awwww... how sad ... luckily they still have me- um- Min, I mean !

Love,

Lies