You'll never believe this.

[Professor James Cade]

The first evening back at Hogwarts hadn’t gone to plan for James. First of all, he’d spent a lot more time rounding up students than he was used to which had made even ending his evening more difficult, there had been the awkward moment of Veronica finding out he’d been made head of Gryffindor house by him showing up to deliver the house meeting, but the real kicker, had been the two girls during the sorting ceremony with the names Styx-Cade. James came from a big family, but he wasn’t away of any of his extended family having children. Professor Styx had kindly enlightened him to the fact they were the product of an evening between James and Lilith Styx. James hadn’t thought about that time in his life for a long time, it was right after Maddie, when he was in a bad place.

With the news that had two more children than he thought, the first thing had done was write home to Geo to let her know to expect him, whenever he was able to get away. He needed to tell his wife what was going on, he wouldn’t keep secrets from the woman he loved, he just hoped she could accept this news. It had been before they were together, but only because James had pulled back from Geo after what happened to Maddie, out of guilt more than anything, but he still worried how she would take the news.

James used floo powder to take the fireplace in his new office to the one at the Cade mansion, making sure they were linked before he arrived at the school for the new term. “Babe?” He called out, the room he landed in was currently empty, he intentionally didn’t use one of the fireplaces in the rooms they actually made use of.

@Geovanna Adler-Cade

 

[Geovanna Adler-Cade]

It was strange to be at home now that almost the entirely family was at Hogwarts. Between Lumos and Nox starting their first years, James returning with his new promotion of Head of Gryffindor, and with the family house elf making the transition to stay with the majority of the household, Geo was now on her own at home with Eden. Given that their youngest daughter was just three years old, it left somewhat of a hole in the aurors life that she was no longer accustomed to. Geo had been in the children’s lives since Bailey was as old as Eden, which now felt like a lifetime ago. Everything had changed for them since then, but a large family, that was everything Geo had ever wanted, and watching them blossom over the years was more than satisfying even if it meant there would be times when she was away from most of them.

She’d received word however from James that evening, urging them to speak about something important. Despite Geo’s initial panic that something had happened to the twins, it occurred to her that whatever was on her husbands mind had to be fresh, otherwise surely she would have been informed prior to him returning to school. There had been one single day separating them, and whatever had happened at the beginning of the new term had clearly spooked James enough to come home to tell her in person. She had expected it to be a few more weeks at least, for him to settle into his new role and despite the travel connections they shared, it would make sense if James took some time to settle in the twins.

Geo had been sat at the lit fire place that evening, mulling over a hot tea after putting Eden to bed, when she heard his voice. It broke through the house, cutting the crackle of the flames as Geo turned her head in the direction of the sound. “James?” she called, placing down her drink to slide from the chair, and padding her way into the next room to find him.

They’d always been a remarkable team. Logic before fear. It was something they’d learned over the years of being Auror partners, and something that had carried over into their personal lives. Whatever was going on, they’d figure out a way to deal with it. “Did everything go well during the ceremony?” she asked as her eyes found his at last, crossing the distance between them, refusing to jump to any conclusions despite the hammering in her chest.

 

[Professor James Cade]

James felt at ease once he heard Geo’s voice, she had always had a calming influence on him all the way back to their time working together as aurors. He knew he had to tell Geo the news and he had to do it quickly, too many people had born witness in the great hall for him to wait, he knew it would get back to her eventually and she needed to hear the news from him.

As Geo crossed the space between them to meet him in the middle of the room James took a moment to take in the beauty of his wife. For one more brief moment, nothing stood between them. He didn’t know how the news would affect her but he knew that first and foremost she would fight to make it work, she would fight to make this work. Everything they had been through in their lives as individuals and as a couple had shown them how important their marriage was to each other, and they wouldn’t let anything come between them without a fight.

“Yes everything was fine, Lumos was sorted into Slytherin and Nox into Hufflepuff, Ezra’s twins are both in Gryffindor if you can believe it,” It wasn’t a great surprise in the larger sense, they were raised by Lyra who was Gryffindor deep in her soul. The Potter genes had come through strong in her children. “But there was something else, there were two girls in the sorting class with the name Styx-Cade, I spoke with Kalif, they’re mine Geo,” He let the word sink in. There had only been one possibility to who the mother was once that bombshell had been dropped, information Kalif once again confirmed. James had two daughters he hadn’t known about for eleven years and he didn’t know what to do with the information, he just knew that he had to tell his wife.

 

[Geovanna Adler-Cade]

It was the look on James’ face that worried Geo more than anything. She knew they’d be okay, but given the fact James had come home to let her know something to important to be sent by owl, and the way he was now looking at her, she knew whatever it was, it was unlikely be a announcement she wanted to hear.

It didn’t shock her in the slightest that the boys made the houses they had, nor that Ezras children made Gryffindor (Although she’d also had her money on at least one of them following in their fathers footsteps). The blood drained from Geos face the moment James said that name. Styx-Cade. There was no way. Geo had been with James since the twins were barely six months old, and unless something had happened since then. No, that wouldn’t have been it. She trusted James and besides, they’d been inseparable for years.

“Who?” was all that came out of Geos mouth, frowning as she tried to work out who Kalifs descended was. That man was a prize to begin with, and whoever had decided to mix those genes in with the Cades clearly knew what they were doing. Any children born in that bloodline, well there would be no hope for anyone else. But James, if he had more children, what would this mean for them? For their relationship, for the relationships he had with his current children. Would they know who their half siblings were? The thoughts were running through her head, but it was only the one that she thought would help soften this bombshell that she actually spoke, “Do the children know?” Whether it was theirs or James’ additional children, she had to know where they all stood.

 

[Professor James Cade]

Who? It was a good question, he wondered if Geo was thinking about the timeline of it all. It was a fair concern, Geo might remember how close they had been to falling into something while he had still been married Maddie before her accident. If on some level she didn’t fully trust him, could he really blame her? Even if they hadn’t crossed the line, but if he had to be honest a big reason they hadn’t was that Maddie had died before they could and he then proceeded to put a lot of distance between them while he came to terms with what happened. He needed her to know that nothing had happened after they started seeing each other. He had been faithful to her, only to her.

“Lilith, Lilith Styx,” It felt strange to say her name in his house, to his wife. She was a woman James hadn’t thought about for more than eleven years. It had been a one time thing, in the immediate aftermath of what happened to Maddie James had been lost. He sought comfort everywhere but in the one person he needed it from, because he couldn’t get it from her. If there was one thing James knew after Maddie died it was that Geo could not be his rebound. She deserved more than that, she was worth more than that to him and if they ever had a chance of making something work, he needed to get his grief out of his system.

“It was just after she died, I was a mess, we didn’t see each other for a while because I didn’t want us to do something at a time we might regret it, I know that might sound like an excuse but you…” It was hard to say it out loud. “You remember how we were just before she died? How close we came, I didn’t want you to be my rebound, I didn’t want you to be the person I worked through my grief with, not the way I was doing it anyway, None of this was fair to Geo. She had stepped up to bee their for James and his children in a way he never expected anyone to. She had been a godsend and he didn’t think he’d ever love someone the way he loved her. Geo was everything to James, his best friend, his soulmate. He wouldn’t have survived without her. He just wished it hadn’t taken him so much time and so many mistakes to figure out.

James didn’t know what the girls knew, just that Kalif had known the whole time that they were his but he didn’t know how much Lilith would have told them. “I don’t know, I haven’t spoken to them yet, I wanted to see you first, but I want to see them and if they’ll have me, I want to be their father,”

 

[Geovanna Adler-Cade]

Geo had to be honest, she had no idea who Lilith Styx was. Maybe that was a good thing, it meant she couldn’t picture James with her. Just because they’d been together almost eleven years, Geo was just as protective, just as jealous, as she would have been when they first became a couple. She knew that wasn’t the important part of this conversation however, and the only thing that mattered going forward was how they were going to deal with the past that now snuck up on their family.

“It doesn’t sound like an excuse,” Geo cut in, her arms whipping up around James' shoulders, one hand on the back of his neck as she pulled him down, closer, so that she could look properly at his face. He had always been handsome to Geo, and over the years James made her feel both safe and inspired all in one package. "I remember what it was like," she began, swallowing at the memory. After Maddie had died Geo had felt guilty for a while for being attracted to James at all, even if nothing had happened between them at the time. She'd felt James take a step back from her after the accident, and while she'd given him the time and space to grieve in whatever way he needed to, she had to admit she never realised this would have been the outcome.

"I don't blame you for handling it that way," At the time maybe things would have been different if she'd known James was with others despite how close they were, but now, looking back over that period of time, Geo could see it with a fresh set of eyes that focused on the bigger picture and what it meant for them long term. "Shocked that you have more children, of course. But, if anything, the fact you distanced yourself from me so that we could have this," her fingers on the back of his neck were now stroking through the base of his hair, "I am grateful every day that this is our life and no matter what happened in the past, you are my present and my future, James."

"Besides," Geo placed her right hand on her husband's cheek, eyes still boring into his, "you are and have always been an amazing father. If those girls are open to it, then they're about to gain the first prize parent," her eyes had begun to gloss over, not just because of how she was proud of James, but also because she realised at that moment that she was hurt. Not about what James had done or that now more children would be in the picture but because a large family was something Geo had always wanted, and until that moment their children had been exactly that. Theirs. The idea that there would be children out there that were James' but not her own left a small hole in her chest. She'd been a stepmother to Maddie's children for so long that despite not being their birth mother, they'd still felt as though they'd become her own. Her own family. The thing she'd always wanted.

The blonde dropped her gaze for a moment, unsure whether to speak the next thing that threatened to spill from her lips. Maybe this would be enough of a bombshell for one day after all. ​