A father at last
Sirius Black was sitting in his cell in Azkaban Prison, thinking. He was thinking about a former friend, Peter Pettigrew, who had betrayed him on two occasions. Pettigrew had betrayed him once by killing one of their best friends, James Potter and James' wife, Lily Potter, and attempting to kill their son, Harry Potter, but failing in the attempt. Now, it wasn't Pettigrew who actually killed James and Lily, but had, instead, contributed to their murder. On the second occasion, Pettigrew and Sirius had met and had an argument and Pettigrew literally blew up the street with one curse, killing 13 muggles and several wizards, also injuring several others in the process, then Pettigrew turned into a rat and fled, leaving Sirius to be caught by the ministry aurors, which he later was. But nobody and I mean nobody knew the truth of the situation, except for Sirius, and his wife, Natalie, who was one of the ones injured when the street was blown up and therefore was a witness of the horrific crime that landed the innocent man in prison.
Natalie was pregnant with their first child, but was due in February the next year. Though, they were nearing February, and therefore, the birth of their eldest. It was October year 1992 at that time, and both were feeling anxious about their child's birth, but Natalie was feeling most anxious, and had therefore gone on maternity leave until after their child's birth.
Suddenly, the rattle of a food tray and the rattling breath of the Azkaban guards, the dementors, had distracted Sirius from his deep thoughts and he and his cellmate, Rookwood, quickly moved to the back of the cell. Both Sirius and Rookwood knew what the effects of the horrible dementors were. One of them was cold piercing your skin, down to your bones like knives and every happy thought gone from your mind. But dementors could do worse, much, much worse. If they feel really peckish, they will suck your soul right out of your body through your mouth, so you're left worse than dead. The dementors came into the cell, put down the food trays they'd been carrying and left the pair to their misery.
Food! Sirius thought to himself.
"Food!" Rookwood had said at the exact same time that Sirius had thought it.
Sirius had been sitting in complete misery for the next four months, until February 22, when he received a brainwave message from Natalie, saying that he had two daughters, that she had called Martha and Christine. Sirius was overjoyed to hear the good news and Rookwood asked him what he was so excited about.
"My wife, Natalie has just given birth to my first children. Two girls named Christine and Martha." Sirius replied.
"Oh. Congratulations Sirius." Rookwood said and Sirius calmed down suddenly, as the dementors came round doing a cell check.
Sirius was quite excited about the birth of his daughters, but was quickly growing solitary again, as he was quite emotional about the fact that he was in Azkaban and therefore couldn't see his newborn daughters unless Natalie came for a visit with them, but he knew and respected that she was way too busy with work and the baby girls to visit him, but that still made him upset (Natalie works at the wizarding hospital, St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, as a healer nurse ). He longed to see his daughters, but wasn't able to.
"Sirius, what's wrong?" Rookwood asked him three weeks after Sirius had found out about his daughters' birth. Sirius looked up at him.
"Huh? Oh. Ummm…nothing. I'm fine."
"No you're not Sirius; I can tell something is wrong. Tell me what's wrong."
"Okay, fine. I'll tell you. I'm upset because being in here means that I can't see my daughters, and therefore I don't know what they even look like."
Suddenly, something happened to lift his mood. An owl had flown through the window and landed on Sirius' shoulder. He removed the package tied to the owl's leg and the owl flew off back out the window and into the night sky as nothing more than a black speck. He opened the package and saw two small leather photo frames fall out into his lap. He picked them up and looked at them. In one frame, he saw a small baby girl with fairly dark brown hair, literally bawling her eyes out, and on the frame at the bottom, he saw the name Martha engraved into the leather. He smiled slightly, and looked at the other one. In the other one, he saw another small baby girl, this time with lighter brown hair, and was also bawling her eyes out. The name Christine was engraved into the leather at the bottom of the frame. This cheered him up quite considerably as he looked at them.
"Thank you Natalie. Thank you so much. I love you." Sirius said to Natalie by brainwaves.
"No problems Sirius. I knew you would be upset to know that you weren't able to see your daughters, and I know this isn't the same as seeing them in person, but at least it's something and you're able to see what they look like. And I love you too Sirius." Natalie sent back. The next thing Sirius knew, some ministry wizards were coming for the annual cell-check. Sirius quickly hid the frames, just as Rookwood did something to make matters worse than they already were. He stood up, ran to the front of the cell, dragging Sirius along with him and Sirius knew what would happen to them if he didn't do anything. He'd seen it happen to someone else before. The ministry wizards would kill whoever tried to escape, and that is exactly what Rookwood was trying to make Sirius do. Sirius pulled his arm out of Rookwood's grasp and ran to the back of the cell and turned to see what would happen to Rookwood. From what he could see, a ministry wizard took out his wand and pointed it at Rookwood. Sirius closed his eyes so he didn't have to see what would happen next, but it didn't block out the sounds. It all happened so quickly, too quickly for Sirius to even register in his brain what was happening or what he was hearing.
"Avada Kedavra!" Sirius heard the ministry wizard say and he heard a yell of pain and a soft thump as whoever was hit by the killing curse fell to the ground. He opened his eyes after a while and saw Rookwood's body on the ground in the doorway of the cell, and he knew what had happened. Rookwood had been hit by the Avada Kedavra curse and was therefore immediately killed.
"Oh no. Please don't let this be real. Please let this be nothing more than a bad dream." He said to himself, as the ministry wizards left, leaving the body of Rookwood there to rot.
"Natalie, can you please save from this place!? The ministry wizards just killed another prisoner! I'm scared that they might decide they like murdering prisoners and go on a prisoner-killing spree! I don't want that to happen, and I don't want to stay in here any longer, and I'm begging you to find Pettigrew and prove my innocence! Please help me!" Sirius said by brainwaves to Natalie and sat down at the back of the cell and waited for her reply.
"I'll do my best to prove your innocence, but it may not include finding Pettigrew and handing him in to the ministry. It could only involve me telling the ministry that I was one of the ones injured in the street explosion and saw exactly what had happened. I promise that I'll try to get you out of there, but it may take some time. Okay?" Natalie sent back to him.
"Thank you Natalie. I don't care how long it takes; just don't let it take enough time to let the ministry wizards go on a prisoner-killing spree, just to make sure that I'm not killed before you can prove my innocence." Sirius sent to Natalie.
It did take some time for Natalie to prove Sirius' innocence just as she had predicted, but it took longer than she even thought it would. It took her up to three weeks to prove his innocence. Natalie had gone through trying to think of a way to get the ministry wizards to believe her about her experiences. Then it had suddenly hit her; she could go to the ministry and tell them what she wanted to tell them, and if they didn't believe her, she could always consult St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries and they would tell the ministry idiots that she had been one of the injured ones, and was therefore on their list of casualties! So she did go to the ministry, approached the Minister for Magic and he asked her what she wanted to see him about.
"I wanted to tell you that my husband is innocent and had no right whatsoever to be sent to Azkaban!" Natalie told him.
"And just who is your husband, my good lady?" the minister asked her.
"Sirius Black!"
The minister looked flabbergasted as he looked at her. He was obviously shocked to hear that she was married to who he thought was a mad mass murderer.
"B-b-but that's im-impossible! You're married to a mad mass murderer!?" he stuttered, looking at her as though she had three heads.
"He is NOT a mad mass murderer! He's innocent and you had no right to send him to Azkaban!"
Natalie was really starting to get angry and the minister obviously knew it, because he tried to restore calm, but it just made her even angrier.
"B-but he killed 13 muggles in one foul swoop! I know it's hard to hear these things about the one you love, but its fact. Pure hard fact."
"You have no proof that my husband killed them! It may have been anyone! Peter Pettigrew killed them all, and I should know; I was a witness! I was seriously injured in the street explosion!"
"W-what!? You can't have been a casualty of that explosion!"
"Then let's consult St. Mungo's, if you don't believe me!"
"Fine, we'll consult St. Mungo's. We'll see what their story about you're injuries is."
The minister and Natalie apparated to St. Mungo's and asked for a list of the patients injured in the street explosion. They looked down the list, and saw the names of quite a few people. This is the names mentioned on the list in their exact order.
Casualties of the street explosion
William J. O'Neil
Jane Nicolson
Timothy Sarmter
Natalie Black
Melanie Sarmter
Remus Lupin
Minerva Lupin
Layam Sarmter
Liam Sarmter
Larry Lupin
Amanda McGonagall
Bale Cholarson
Sylvia Carrison
Hilda Harrison
Alexander Nadir
Georgina Papafotiou
Kerrie Wolf
Paul Lupin
Kerry Williams
Raymond Barry
Georgina Luppino
Elaine Dugdale-Walker
Joanne Mercieca
Tracey Deguara
Burnadette Pilli
Kristina Radovanovic
Jenny Tawa
Severus Snape
Rita Paniagua
Clare Smithers
Romerta Volzilaq
Dianne Clairre
Abraham Atkil
Malvern Sinquilt
Victor Borszchow
Victor Snape
Jessie Nobel
Kristelle Hudgell
Romeo Montague
Juliet Capulet
Kayla Hudson
Melissa Gatt
Brooke Bayley
Broke Lloyd
Ashley Johnson
Paul Fitzgerald
George Mallia
Hayley Crameri
The minister looked at the 4th name on the list in a lot of surprise. Natalie looked triumphant and looked at him.
"Well, now do you believe me?" she asked him.
"But, if you were injured in that explosion, do you have any scars?" the minister persisted.
"I do have scars. I have them in a lot of places. I'll even prove that I have scars. Look."
She showed him the scars on her arms and neck. The minister looked shocked to see scars worse than he'd ever imagined existed.
"You don't think that any man in his right mind would hurt his wife that badly, let alone his best friend!" Natalie continued, and the minister looked shocked to hear this.
"No I don't. I do not, and after seeing your scars, I believe you were a witness and therefore, what you're saying about your husband must be true, but be warned, he will still remain under suspicion and if another murder takes place, he will immediately be suspected and sent to Azkaban. You do realise this, don't you?"
"I understand, just so long as I am able to have him back home again. I hope that is no problem for you."
"That's fine with me. We'll set him free tonight."
That night, Natalie had been waiting in the matron's office at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, cradling her daughters in worry that the minister could be lying and not set Sirius free as he promised. Without warning, the office door opened and Natalie looked up in sudden fear, when Sirius walked in and she put the baby girls in their cribs.
"Sirius! You're back! Thank the heavens you're back!" she cried, running up to him. He hugged her and she kissed him. When they broke apart, Sirius looked over to his daughters and smiled. Natalie saw where he was looking and led him over to the girls, who were awake and looking curiously at their father. He picked one of his daughters up, and Natalie picked the other girl up.
"Christine. She's beautiful Natalie. She looks like you." Sirius said softly.
"You actually remembered Sirius. I'm glad. Do you remember who this one is?"
"Martha. She's also beautiful darling. They're both beautiful. Just like you." Sirius said affectionately.
"Very good darling. Martha actually looks more like you than she does me."
Suddenly, they saw the door open again and a small man with beady, watery black eyes entered and when he saw Sirius, he looked extremely shocked.
"S-S-Sirius! What are you doing out of prison!" he stuttered. "I thought you were given a life sentence for killing those people and betraying James and Lily!"
"Don't lie, you little worm, you're the one who betrayed them, and blew up that street, and you know it!"
"B-but you have no p-proof! How do you know it was me!?"
"Because I was a witness! I watched all those people die! I watched as my wife, best friends and a whole lot of other people got injured so badly that they would have died if St. Mungo's hadn't got there on time! I waited in anxiety for the news that Natalie was still alive and you should have seen the relief on my face when I found out that she was still alive! I've been waiting for 3 years to get you back for what you did to myself and not to mention to my wife and best friends!" Sirius said dangerously, taking out his wand and pointing it at Pettigrew, who flinched and backed into a wall, cowering like a dog in trouble.
"Sirius, don't! You'll be sent back to Azkaban, and I don't want that! Please!" Natalie cried, pulling her husband back. Sirius lowered his wand, but still looked daggers at Pettigrew.
"You're lucky this time Pettigrew, but next time you'll be less lucky! Now get out of my sight-and put my daughter down! Don't you dare take her!" Sirius shouted, springing forward and taking the little girl that Pettigrew had picked up and was about to walk out of the room with.
"But, Sirius you do realise they are my daughters, or has Natalie told you another story?"
"No they're-what!?" Sirius said suddenly, looking at Natalie, who bowed her head.
"I'm sorry Sirius, I had an affair. But he forced me to have an affair! Otherwise I wouldn't have done it if my life depended on it! I'm so sorry Sirius."
"But whose kids are they?" Sirius asked his wife.
"Yours. I know that for a fact, because I had them DNA tested. So Pettigrew, you can go suck a lemon!"
"Natalie, how dare you! I thought you loved me!" Pettigrew pleaded, and Natalie looked as though he was asking her to marry him.
"You can just keep dreaming, Pettigrew! I wouldn't actually love you, even if my life depended on it!" she spat.
"And I also want proof that they're Sirius' daughters!"
"Okay, here you go."
Natalie gave her daughters DNA tests and proved to Pettigrew and Sirius that they were Sirius' kids.
"But-! But Natalie! You told me it was safe, what you did with him! Wasn't it?" Pettigrew said loudly.
"Not here, in front of them you idiot!" Sirius said to Pettigrew.
"Exactly what Sirius said, Pettigrew! And on a quieter note, no, what I did with Sirius wasn't safe. We'd been planning kids for over five years now, even since before we were married, but I've been struggling to fall pregnant!"
"Then what Pettigrew forced you to do was also unsafe, am I right?" Sirius whispered to his wife, placing his free arm around her shoulders.
"Yes, I'm so sorry Sirius. I didn't mean to betray you." She whispered back, tears entering her eyes.
"Don't worry about it Natalie, I forgive you. But definitely not Pettigrew! What he did to you was rape, not betrayal from you." Sirius whispered, hugging her, and she took their daughter in her arms.
"I'm so sorry, Sirius." She whispered. "I really didn't mean to. Pettigrew, how could you!? Why did you do this to me!? I despise you! You little son of a bitch! You…you…you…" she suddenly exploded and Pettigrew flinched.
"Calm down Natalie. It's okay, I understand that you're going through a tough time." Sirius whispered to her, pulling her closer, when Pettigrew suddenly picked Christine out of her crib and walked over to the door. "And give me back my daughter! Pettigrew, don't you dare!" Sirius suddenly yelled, running over to the door and snatching his daughter out of Pettigrew's arms. Pettigrew pulled out his wand and pointed it at Christine.
"Avada Kedavra!" he yelled and Christine let out a wail and lay limp in her father's arms.
"No. NOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! How dare you Pettigrew!? Why did you kill my daughter!? WHY!!!!!!!!?????" Sirius bellowed, hugging his daughter's dead body to his chest. Natalie burst into tears, as she took her daughter's body from her husband. She checked her pulse and collapsed to the ground in tears. Sirius hugged her, tears running down his cheeks. Pettigrew ran forward and grabbed Natalie's wrists and pulled her away from her husband. "No, Natalie! Pettigrew give her back!"
"No. She's not leaving the Hospital Wing, but she will not be returned to you until she has had my child! Now get a load of this: Narete Fimunstada!" he said and Sirius jumped in front of Martha, who the spell was aimed at. He fell to the ground, pain coursing through his heart, lungs and ribs. He knew this spell to force-break his ribs could also puncture his lungs. His heartache had nothing to do with the spell, but more to do with the fact that his wife was now most likely being raped by Pettigrew. He remembered what Natalie had taught him about healing bones and other injuries. He grabbed his wand and gave himself an x-ray of his chest and noticed that his broken ribs had punctured his lung and he healed his ribs, then his lung. He got up, magically put a shield around his daughter, so that Pettigrew could not pick her up or harm her. He could hear Natalie screaming and ran out; only to see Pettigrew magically shortening what seemed to be a pregnancy. Suddenly, Natalie gripped her stomach and Sirius knew what was happening. He ran over, magically tied Pettigrew up and ran to his wife.
Once the baby was delivered, he cleaned and wrapped it up and handed it to Natalie. She took the child, gasping for breath slightly, and Sirius hugged her, his heartache not any better, because he knew the baby was Pettigrew's and not his.
"It's okay Natalie. Even though the child isn't biologically mine. It's alright, you'll be okay, and so will the baby." Sirius whispered, and Natalie hugged him, the baby still in her arms.
"I'm so sorry Sirius. I didn't mean to." She whimpered, and Sirius sat next to her.
"It's okay, it's not your fault, Pettigrew is the one who's going to pay, not you."
"Are you sure darling?"
"Positive. And we're going to get Pettigrew and take him to the ministry, so I can live life without still being under the watch of the law."
"I can understand that you want to live as a free man, rather than being on the run."
Sirius kissed her, when Pettigrew suddenly broke his bonds and ran at Sirius, grabbing Natalie and his child.
"By the way Natalie, the baby's a girl!" Sirius called as Pettigrew dragged her away. Luckily for Natalie, another teacher walked over towards them, and saw Pettigrew. This woman was Natalie's friend, but also the Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts, named Minerva Lupin. When she saw Pettigrew dragging Natalie, she looked at him in dislike. She came forward, smiled at Sirius as she did so, and pointed her wand at Pettigrew.
"Pettigrew, you're going to pay for what you did to my husband and myself!"
"Oh yeah, Minerva? Since when?" Pettigrew asked, letting go of Natalie and grabbing Minerva by the wrist. He dragged her, kicking and screaming, into the Transfiguration classroom, and closed the door. Her husband, Remus Lupin, ran out of the staff bedroom and over to Sirius, who was kneeling next to Natalie and holding her child, and knelt next to him in urgency.
"Where did he take her Sirius?" he asked Sirius, who pointed to the Trans classroom. Remus ran to the door, and entered the classroom, soon returning, limping and with Minerva leading him, holding what looked like a newborn baby bundled in her arms. Natalie got up and walked over to them.
"He did it to you then too, did he?" she asked Minerva softly. Minerva nodded, looking slightly scared as she looked down at her baby. Natalie healed Remus' broken leg and looked up suddenly when her youngest baby started crying. Sirius walked over with her in his arms and handed her to his wife, who cradled her baby daughter in her arms lovingly.
"Who's the biological father of that child, Natalie?" Minerva asked her softly.
"Pettigrew. He raped me and got me pregnant, magically shortening the pregnancy so I gave birth not long afterwards." Natalie replied, holding her baby close to her chest.
"Same here. Strangely, I don't even know the gender of my baby. What about yours?"
"Well, Sirius delivered mine after tying Pettigrew up first. He told me it's a girl."
"Oh, lucky you. Pettigrew and Remus fought while I was giving birth. Remus was trying, but failing dismally to get to me to help me, and had his leg broken after I had just finished giving birth to this child. Once Remus' leg was broken, Pettigrew walked over to me and picked up the child. He'd just finished wrapping it up and was about to walk out of the room with it when Remus grabbed his leg, tripping him over. He sat up and caught the baby just before it hit the ground. I then got up and walked over to him, helping him up. He gave the child to me while I led him out of the room."
"Speaking of Pettigrew, where is he? I haven't seen him exit the Trans classroom yet."
"He's unconscious. He hit his head on the doorframe and was instantly knocked unconscious." Remus said gingerly, clutching his left shoulder. "Sorry, I think I strained my shoulder when I went to catch the baby." He said, and Minerva hugged him sympathetically. Natalie healed his shoulder and sat down next to Sirius, tears in her eyes.
"I know how you feel, Natalie. I'm sorry I couldn't protect her, but I tried." He whispered, tears sliding slowly down his cheeks, and then he suddenly stood up and ran into the Hospital Wing, soon returning with Martha in his arms. "I almost forgot she was in there." He admitted and Natalie stood up and took her eldest daughter from him, instead giving him her youngest, who had fallen asleep.
"That's okay Sirius, you're forgiven. Now, what are we going to name my little girl?" She whispered.
"How about Georgia?" Sirius asked his wife softly.
"I think it's a good idea." Natalie replied and they sat down and allowed the children to sleep while the adults all talked about what had happened.
Two weeks later, Sirius had been convicted of another murder, this time the murder of a mother and her 3 month old baby daughter (no the mother was not Natalie, she was a different person that none of them knew). The ministry appeared in Natalie's office at St. Mungo's and took Sirius by the arms and, explaining to Natalie what was going on first, took him out of the office and back to Azkaban Prison. Sirius looked back at his wife as he was taken out of the office and it hurt him to see her so upset. It was hard enough living with the death of his daughter, but without his wife, when she was looking after children was literal torture.
"I'm innocent Natalie, but I'll serve my time in Azkaban, then I will return to you and the kids." He whispered to her, tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry."
THE END!!!