Disclaimer: JKR owns everything. Not I.

Author's Note: I attended and aided with the births of my three brothers and that's where the information about births in this chapter comes from. If I've made any grievous errors, just tell me and I'll fix them.

This story is a sequel to Children and Weddings and is a side story to Harry and his New Family. If you don't read those, you probably shouldn't be reading this one.

Chapter One - Birth

"Is everything ready?" Remus asked his wife as they made their way into the room down the hall from the master bedroom. It was right next to a large bathroom and had been set up for one specific purpose. The birth of Aquila.

Draco was following along behind and picking up everything as it got dropped. Remus' hands were very full and Narcissa was rather occupied with her contractions to carry much of anything. "I think we've got it all. Healer Smith is on the way and I floo'd Midwife Burkely too." Remus said.

Narcissa's smiled and nodded. "Good. Ah." Her eyes went wide and her hand flew to her stomach.

"Contraction?" Remus asked, walking slightly faster when his wife nodded. "Draco, run ahead and drop off the things you're carrying. Then go down and meet the Healers. They'll need someone to show them the way when they arrive. You can also grab the birth applications from my desk if you've got an extra moment."

Draco nodded and hurried off to do as he had been instructed.

The two adults finally arrived in the room and Remus led Narcissa into the connected bathroom, turning on the water in the tub. "I'll get the herbal bath ready. Do you want to change into something more comfortable?"

Narcissa nodded slowly. "I'll wait for you. I would actually appreciate the help changing. Although usually your sense of fashion hurts my eyes."

Remus smiled and gave a light laugh. "Right, right. Well, you picked out the birthing robe. I'll just help you put it on."

Both had agreed on having a home birth. Narcissa had a home birth for Draco and had found a midwife she really liked. Remus remembered the advice his mother had given him back when he'd first started to court girls. Never argue with a pregnant woman, just do what she says and don't get her pregnant again if you can't handle it.

Finally the tub was full enough and he turned off the spout, pouring in the herbal mixture for after the birth. He then helped Narcissa into the birthing room and helped her into the soft, comfortable, very loose robe she'd selected to wear during the birth.

"Do you want to sit down?" He asked, looking over all of their supplies. There were towels and clothes, various potions and kettles that warmed water nearly instantly. Chairs and a bed sat in various sections of the room. The direction the birth took was really up to Narcissa, not the healers.

"No." Narcissa shook her head. "I want to walk around. Just let me have some time."

Remus nodded and fled to one of the chairs, hoping the one of the Healers arrived soon and helped him out. He'd never attended a birth and wasn't sure exactly what should and shouldn't be helping other than the basics.

Finally, as Narcissa completed her fortieth circle of the room, there was a gentle knock on the door. It opened at her command and a greying woman dressed in deep blue robes entered, placing a burlap sack off to the side. She smelled of dried herbs and flowers and her grey hair was braided neatly in a very long braid down her back.

"Narcissa, how nice to see you again!" She cried, coming into the room and embracing the other woman carefully.

Narcissa smiled. "Maggie. I'm glad you could make it."

The midwife laughed. "Wouldn't miss it for the world!" She opened her sack and pulled out an odd looking wooden tool. It had a large, round surface on one end, got smaller in the middle and opened up to a slightly smaller round surface on the other. "Mind if I listen?" She motioned towards Narcissa's belly.

"Not at all."

Midwife and Healer Maggie Burkely listened carefully to the sounds coming from Narcissa's womb. Everything sounded as if it were occurring as it should and she smiled happily. "All sounds good, looks good too." She glanced over at Remus. "You ready?"

Remus nodded. "I'll be busy once the sun goes down. It's unavoidable."

The midwife approached him. "Now listen hear, your wife is going to be having a baby. Your baby! I'm going to need you here. Just to help out, getting things and the like. But more importantly, she's going to need you. Emotionally and physically. You had better change your plans!" By the end she was becoming rather fierce and her tone was rather harsh and her voice loud.

Narcissa put a hand on her arm. "Really it's fine."

"No!" The midwife turned back to Remus. "Change your plans. It's an amazing experience and births can take a while."

Remus looked down for a moment before looking back directly at the midwife. "I'm a werewolf. Tonight is the full moon. There's nothing that can change that." Part of him, the wolf part, wanted to roar at Narcissa for not telling the midwife and putting him in such an awkward position, and his human side wanted to gorge out whatever it was that made him a werewolf so that he could stay here on this most important night.

"Ah." Maggie didn't say anything else. There really wasn't anything she could say. Although this bit of information did bring a very important concern to the forefront of her mind, "Remus, do happen to know if your condition has been transferred to your child?"

Narcissa answered the question. "Yes. I took the potion. It makes the change not happen to the baby and Healer Smith is coming. There's a potion Aquila can take and it will make her not a werewolf."

Maggie nodded. "Healer Smith is coming? I thought you wanted a home birth with-"

"Hello Maggie." The door opened and Healer James Smith stepped in. His warm voice and the calmness he radiated helped to dispel the negative feelings and awkward atmosphere in the room. "Remus, Narcissa."

He strode across the room, placing his kit and supplies on the neatly made bed. "Narcissa, how are you doing?"

Remus stepped into the hallway and summoned his record book. It had all the times that he was scheduled to change written into it. He would need at least five minutes to get down into the basement, change, get into his cage and lock it. And there wasn't much time left at all.

James had one hand on Narcissa's stomach and the other on her chest, scanning something. Remus rubbed his eyes. Now that his change was so close he could see the stream of magic James was pouring into his wife. It was rather disturbing.

She could feel something. Narcissa took a deep breath. The magic James was pouring into her was very relaxing and something told her that this birth would be much easier than Draco's. But she wished that Remus could have stayed with her the way Lucius had. Still there was something dear to her very near. She reached out a hand and smiled with her eyes closed when Remus grasped it tightly.

Remus ran his lips gently over his wife's knuckles and whispered an apology. "I've got to leave now." He said sadly. It took nearly all of his strength to let go of his wife's hand and walk from the room knowing what he was missing.

Draco was standing outside the door holding one of his school books and Remus walked right into him. "Whoa, Draco." He grabbed the boy's elbows to stop him from falling over. "Sorry about that." He looked at the boy and the school supplies in his hands. "I'm sure they'll call if you're needed. Why don't you go work in your room?"

"Fine, fine." Draco clutched his books to his chest and headed down the hall in front of Remus. He'd gotten permission from Professor Dumbledore to come home right after classes and stay home for two days. As long as he kept up with his school work and stayed on top of the assignments. He was trying to do most of them tonight so he could play with his sister after she was born. No one had really explained to him that newborn babies don't play the same as babies that are a few months old, and Draco had never seen a newborn.

Remus hurried down to the basement. He'd taken his wolfsbane potion, but there was always a chance that it wasn't going to work and he didn't want anyone, including himself, to get hurt or have to hurt anyone. The time began to run out as he increased his speed to a run and sped down the stairs.

The cage door was open and Remus quickly pulled off the nice robes he was wearing and jumped towards the cage, not taking the time to change into the clothing he usually wore as a werewolf to stop any embarrassment when he changed back. But he was already to late.

Halfway through his jump to the cage he fell to the floor, shaking and convulsing as wolf began to burst out of his body along with his tail. His face and body morphed and within moments he was climbing to his four feet and sniffing around the room. The door was open and he knew exactly where he wanted to go.

There was a whimpering sound at the door. Maggie was busy helping Narcissa and making sure that everything was proceeding properly. As much as he hated thinking it, James Smith was rather bored. He'd only been called in to administer the first does of the potion that should hopefully stop Aquila from becoming a werewolf. Other than that, there was nothing that he could do that Maggie couldn't. He didn't really need to be here. His mind was beginning to wander and pushing the door open seemed automatic.

A wolf burst through the open door and rushed towards the two women in the middle of the room. James staggered into the wall. The wolf had hit him with one of his powerful legs in his first bound across the room. He hurried to recover and pull out his wand, hoping he could stop the wolf before it did any damage.

But there was no need for his worry. Narcissa reached a hand towards the wolf who stopped and smelled her fingers before rubbing his hand against them as if begging to be petted. Maggie shook her head, but a small smile was playing on her lips.

"Remus, is that you?" Maggie asked, and when the wolf moved his head up and down in an odd nod she motioned off to Narcissa's right side. "You can lie or sit over there if you'd like. Just try not to cause too many problems."

The wolf moved over to the position Maggie had indicated and rubbed his large, wet nose against the side of Narcissa's face before curling up against her and putting a large, delicate paw on top of her hand and sighing happily. Now he could rest in comfort.

The birthing process wasn't as difficult as Narcissa had remembered and was expecting it to be. It certainly wasn't the most pleasant thing she'd ever done in her life. But it wasn't the worst either. And once Aquila was in her arms it was all worth it.

But it was all over far too quickly. James took Aquila from her and placed the newborn on the bed, casting various spells and administering potions to the baby while Maggie helped her deliver the afterbirth and Remus paced about the room. He wanted to help, do something, anything!

Finally both Healers had finished with their respective tasks. Maggie cast a few quick cleaning charms over Narcissa and James cleaned out Aquila's eyes and nose for the final time before handing her back to her mother.

"Would you like to get in the bath?" Maggie asked, after dismissing James. The Healer wasn't needed any more. All the official part of the birth was over. She could sign the birth certification and take care of the newest member of the family.

Narcissa nodded. "I think I'll need some help." She tried to stand up and groaned loudly. "Ooh, that's painfully sore."

Maggie nodded. "There's herbs in the bath that will help with that. Come on now, you can do it." She slipped one of her arms around Narcissa and held Aquila tightly with the other. Slowly they moved across the room and into the bath, Remus on their heels. Maggie put Aquila down on a folded blanket far enough away from the bath that she couldn't get hurt and turned all of her attention to Narcissa.

The water had been charmed to stay warm and it felt wonderful as Narcissa slipped into it. The herbs released calming smells and gentle fumes that played about the small room. She sighed in relief and accepted Aquila from Maggie. The tiny girl was fussing, starting to cry a bit.

Narcissa looked at the babe in her arms and back up at Maggie. "Is she suppose to be this quiet? Draco cried an awful lot when he was born." She could feel worry stirring in her heart. Maybe the lycanthropy has changed her more than we thought?

Maggie simply smiled. "Look at her eyes."

Aquila returned her mother's look. Her eyes were dark and seemed to draw you in. Her face was still now and very serious as if she were an older child, rather than a newborn infant.

"Those aren't just any eyes." Maggie whispered. "They're a sign. An omen of greatness and power. Aquila will be a very interesting child."

Narcissa smiled. "She certainly will be."

Remus gave a quiet bark in agreement and edged closer to the water, letting one of his paws dangle over the side of the tub. The tub was indented in the floor of the room. You could just walk right into it, no climbing in required. The out part was harder.

"Just one last thing before I leave." The midwife said, glancing at a clock on the wall of the bathroom. The night was nearly over and she wanted to give Remus privacy for his change. And she was exhausted and still had a long day of work ahead of her. "What would you like her name to be? Her full name?"

Narcissa looked over at Remus. He still couldn't talk and she wanted a sign that he would be all right with whatever name she choose for their child.

Remus came a small whine and reached out his nose to rub against her arm. He pulled his lips back from his teeth, not to try and look threatening, but to smile and let Narcissa know that he trusted her and whatever happened would be fine with him.

"Aquila Andromeda Black Lupin. But don't hyphenate the last name. She'll still be a Black, but it will be Lupin that the world knows her as." Narcissa kissed her child's forehead gently. "My thanks Maggie."