Together, as the last piece of decoration for the Nursery, Helena and Sirius were figuring out where to hang up one of the two letters they had brought: I and A. I for Isabelle, and A for Aria. Still, they had not figured out a name for the baby, but they had three weeks for that until she was due. That was plenty of time they figured.

They stood admiring the bedroom. In Sirius' hand he held the letter I, in Helena's she held A. Both were staring at the wall quizzically.

"I think I prefer the letter over the window," Helena mused, holding it up. "Actually, I think it would look better over the cot. Do you think the colours of the wall are right? Do you think we should have gone with Mellow Yellow instead of beige?"

"The yellow looks lovely, and so do you like the letter going over the cot instead of by the window. You see?" He pushed I over the cot, then moved across the room to put it to the left, then the right of the window. Helena had to agree that it looked much better over the cot than by the window. "We only got the letters so we wouldn't forget her name."

"Do you like her name? Isabelle and Aria that is."

"Of course," Sirius smiled. "You wouldn't let her be called Ara like I suggested for the star, so you changed it to Aria which was a much better decision. Then you chose Isabelle."

"I chose the names Sirius, not you. That's the thing: do you like Isabelle and Aria or would you rather they be different? You offered Ara – would you rather her be called Ara or Anka or Electra?"

"Have you swallowed a star chart?"

"No I just remember them from Astronomy."

Sirius smiled. "We're not naming our daughter Electra or Anka or Ara. We're naming our daughter Isabelle or Aria because they are both names that you love."

She gave him a kiss on the lips and rested her head against his shoulder. "I think it looks better over the cot – pass me A and I'll show you."

He did so and Helena stepped on the step ladder to prove that A would look best hanging over the cot, but with one step up she doubled over in pain and grabbed her bulging belly.

Sirius immediately rushed to her aid and helped her off the step ladder. She was still clutching her stomach and screaming. "What is it – is it the baby?" Helena nodded. "Shall I get you to the Hospital?"

"How?" Helena cried. "I can't apparate or floo in this condition. Damn it Sirius!"

Three days before the baby was due, they were planning on staying at the Leaky Cauldron – a five minute walk away from the Hospital. Where they lived currently, however, was a forty-five minute car drive to the Hospital.

"We'll get the Knight Bus."

"The Knight Bus?" Helena echoed in hysteretic. "Because all the bumping and shoving and getting slammed into walls and beds crushing you is a great way for a pregnant woman in labour to travel to a Hospital. No, we're just going to have to get someone to drive us."

"Who?" Sirius cried. He guided Helena out of the Nursery and across the hall. "We don't know any neighbours who have cars! James is at work and he's got that important meeting. Hel, I'm sorry, but we're going to have to get the Knight Bus." She stared at him incredulously. "I'll cast a charm to keep anything from bashing into you, and we'll get there within minutes. Come on Hel, get onto the street."

"What about Cas?" Helena inquired as they took their first steps down the stairs.

"He'll come with us."

"It could be hours until the baby arrives. Oh Merlin... Is anyone at work?"

As his parents were having the day off, Castor thought that it was only fair that he would have the day off, too. They called in sick for him, so now he was sat downstairs playing a game or out in the garden with the pets.

"I dunno – Remus' Dad might be teaching Callie again, but I don't want to stick a seventy-year-old with two children."

"He'll have to go round there."

Slowly and steadily – and in Helena's case, painfully, the couple descended down the stairs. Castor was in the Living Room and Sirius left Helena to put on her shoes when he went to tell Castor what was happening.

"Can't I go with you?" Castor asked at once.

"We don't know how long we'll be and we don't want you stuck in a Hospital with us. Go round to Remus and Callie's and tell them what's happened."

"What if they're not there?"

"Go to your Uncle James and Aunt Lily's," Sirius muttered impatiently, casting several glances back at Helena who was not putting on a packet and groaning and swearing in pain.

"And if they're not there?"

Sirius rubbed his forehead. "Come back here and try again later. I'll put a key underneath the door mat for you to let yourself in and you can try again later. I'm sorry Castor, but we never planned for the baby to be this early. You're going to have to explain what's happened and we'll tell you when your sister's arrived."

"Can I say bye to Mum?"

"Of course."

Castor rushed down the hallway, towards Helena and he wrapped his arms around her. Sirius couldn't hear what they were saying as he was fetching his wand from the Living Room, but whatever it was Castor had said it had made Helena laugh. Sirius didn't like to interrupt them but he had to get Helena to the Hospital.

"Be good," Helena advised. "Stay safe."

Castor walked with them to the end of the road but then turned left to go to the Lupin's. It wasn't a long walk, but Castor wished he was going to the Hospital with his parents. He didn't want to be stuck with Callie while his little sister was being born; he wanted to be there with his Mum and Dad to see this.

He hoped he'd get along with this sister better than his older one. Apparently, Castor and Sybil were once thick as thieves; Sybil adored her little brother and Castor idolized his big sister. Then it seemed almost overnight that that connection disappeared and they started to be vicious to one another. Castor would pull on Sybil's dark hair and Sybil would push Castor over and make him cry, which would annoy her even more and throw her toys at him. There wasn't much more than two years in between them, so it must have started when Castor was around three and Sybil five or six.

Sometimes they would get along, but Castor couldn't remember the last time he and Sybil had been nice to each other. Even over this previous Christmas they had to bite their tongues and be civil to one another – something that was impossible to Castor for the sake of their poor mother who was carrying their little sister, a little girl who was to be born into a world of terrible sibling rivalries.

Castor hoped for Isabelle or Aria's sake that she would be more like him or their father. Sybil was almost a clone of their mother but with more spite, but Castor put that down to a terrible father. He hoped Isabelle/Aria would be kind and thoughtful, liked playing Quidditch with her big brother and having fun. Sybil was never fun anymore.

Before he knew it, he was at the Lupin's house and tapped at their door. A minute later he knocked louder and then louder until a disgruntled Remus opened the door. He looked at Castor quizzically. "Why aren't you at school? Do your Mum and Dad know you're here?"

"They sent me," Castor muttered. "Mum's having the baby."

"Well that's good. Come inside." Castor complied and kicked his shoes off at the door. "Is your Mum alright? Is she healthy?"

"She was hurting – is it bad when a baby's born early? My sister's going to be... five weeks early?"

"Callie was born very early," Remus informed and lead Castor through to the Living Room. "But her Mum died, so that's not a good example to give. But your Mum's done it twice before and she's with professionals... She'll be fine. Are you looking forward to having another sister?"

"No," Castor grumbled.

"You'll love her," promised Remus. "Have they decided on a name yet?"

"Isabelle."

Remus looked surprised. "I thought it was between Aria and Isabelle. I didn't know they'd decided already."

"Well, they haven't – but I like Isabelle but Sybil likes Aria. It's not fair if they name her Aria; Sybil always gets her own way."

"That's not true."

"Yes it is," Castor complained. "She's their favourite."

"Well she's not my favourite," said Remus with a smile.

"You have to say that," said Castor, "you're my godfather."

"James prefers you. He doesn't like how Sybil talks to your Mum and Dad and how she takes your Dad for granted. He loves Sybil very much, like we all do, but you're your Dad's proper son, and that counts for something."

"You shouldn't say this. Mum and Dad would be angry."

Remus shook his head. "Why would he when we've said it to him hundreds of times."

"What, that you like me more?"

Remus pulled a constrained face. "Not in those words exactly, but more or less along the same lines."

Castor smiled with immense gratitude. "Thanks Uncle Remus, you're my favourite Uncle, you know? You always have time for me and you say nice things. Uncle James is cool, but with you I can tell you this stuff and you won't go blabbing to Dad – or Uncle James. Please don't tell him."

"I won't," Remus assured.

"Please don't tell Uncle James what?" Called Callie's voice as she descended the stairs. "What are you two hiding? Hey, why aren't you at school, Castor?"

"Mum's having the baby."

Callie looked delighted. "That's amazing! Oh wow, I've always wanted a little brother or sister."

Remus chose to ignore her. "You can have my big sister if you like."

Like Remus, Callie chose to ignore him.

Four hours with the Lupin's passed until Sirius arrived with the news that the baby had been born. Both mother and baby were fine, and that both of them could not wait to see Castor. So thanking Remus for looking after his son, Sirius put an arm around Castor and directed him towards the fireplace to travel to the Hospital and see his baby sister.

They were alone when he arrived: Helena and the baby. She looked tired and as pale as the sheets the baby was cocooned in. Her forehead was sweaty and her eyes red. The baby was making noises and stirring in Helena's arms, and she cooed at the baby while she did that. Helena looked like a normal mother, Castor realised, and not a lying one that went missing thrice a week.

"Come and say hello to your little sister, Castor," Helena instructed. "Come on, she won't bite."

Tentatively, Castor edged towards the bed. His mother arranged the blankets around his sister so that he could see her more clearly. Castor looked back on his father who was leaning against the doorway propped up by his elbow, proudly watching the scene before him take place. Then the new big brother looked down at the baby in his mother's arms.

She was so small. Castor couldn't believe just how little she was. She was awake, and her big blue eyes were gazing up at him and a smile crept onto her plump little face. She stirred in her blankets and formed – what Castor could only describe as a smile. She didn't have much hair, but she was blonde and she was perfect.

"Do you want to hold her?" Helena asked quietly.

Castor nodded without taking his eyes off the baby. He sat down on the bed and was gentle when she was passed to him in his arms. Frightened he was going to drop her he kept a firm grip on her then passed her back to Helena.

"Have you chosen Aria or Isabelle?" Castor asked once she had been taken from him, not wanting to ask the question and be distracted.

"Aria's an unusual name," Helena soothed. "There aren't many."

Glumly: "So you went with Sybil's choice? You chose Aria?"

"No," Sirius stated, making his way to his partner, son and newborn daughter. "We've gone with Isabelle."

The look of delight on Castor's face could not be hidden or disguised. "Really? You went with Isabelle."

"Aria just wasn't suitable," Helena claimed. "So she's Isabelle. Isabelle Rose."

Helena did not confirm a surname for their daughter. She had thought at first she could sneak Karkaroff onto the birth certificate, but that would give perhaps too much away. For now, she would have to be Isabelle Rose Rosier or Isabelle Rose Rosier-Black or even Isabelle Rose Black.

It was unfortunate timing that Igor would be away. A few weeks ago he announced to Helena he would be away for three months: March, April and May, and Helena couldn't help but feel that this 'trip' – that he never actually explained what it was, was more than just a coincidence that it fell on the date that the baby could be born on. He did not hide the fact that he wanted it to be a boy: an heir, so she had tried to persuade him that the potion could have been wrong and that it still could be a boy. But now, Helena feared, Igor would not want anything to do with Helena or Isabelle, and it would be like with Sybil all over again. But that was what she deserved for deceiving her husband.

"She looks just like you when you were a baby," Sirius informed.

"She's blonde – why is she blonde?"

This was time for Helena to think fast on her feet, and she thought of a convincing lie. "It's all about DNA, the stuff that makes you unique. Your Dad or I must have DNA for blonde hair. It's nothing to worry about."

"I wasn't worried," Castor delivered.

"Good," Helena smiled and took her son's hand, resting Isabelle against her calves. "I'd hate for you to worry. Now, did you thank Uncle Remus for letting you stay? Oh Sirius, you must ask him to come and see the baby first thing tomorrow morning – and Callie, too and James and Lily."

"Anyone else?" Sirius smiled.

Igor. "Nope. That's it."

Helena had made more plans with Sirius about their baby than she had done with Igor. It occurred to Helena that Igor had avoided the topic of their daughter ever since Helena brought it up. Sometimes he would be the one to mention her, but now Helena was under suspicion he only did so to keep her sweet. What had been his main motive for visiting her at Christmas apart from informing her that he was going to be away? Well, that was most likely to kill her suspicions of him not being committed.

"Sirius, will you take her please, I need to get some sleep," Helena advised. "Tell James and Lily and the others to come while I'm asleep, won't you? I don't want to talk to any of them at the moment."

"Why not?" Castor asked.

"I'm tired," Helena lied. "Please, just take her away. Mum needs to get some sleep – you two can look after Isabelle, can't you? Good. Get the others here while I'm sleeping, won't you. There's a good boy."

As she kissed her second daughter goodbye, her mind sped back almost thirteen years ago to the first time she held Sybil in her arms, and feared for looking after her:

Helena never predicted she could feel such a way about anyone, especially someone that she hated the idea of. But the little girl in her arms looked up at her, her bright blue eyes shining up at her and thick, black hair upon her little head. It had taken almost two days to release this child into the world, and she had done it alone, and now she would go on to raise this child in the world, all alone.

She really hadn't thought this through; how was she going to raise a child? She had no job, no money and barely enough food in her house to feed her. The baby in her arms had no clothes at home and not even a bed to call her own. The newborn wouldn't last two months with a mother like her.

But she was so beautiful, and Helena couldn't believe this moment had finally come. It was miraculous that Helena didn't hate this child like she hated the man who did this to her. For nine months she had thought of it as a curse, but now Helena considered this to be a blessing.

As soon as his niece had been born, Evan Rosier – Helena's younger brother – had ordered her to be taken out of this Hospital, full of disgusting Muggles and to be taken home – to his home where they would be taken care of. Evan had little money, but he had his own ways of making some, as he told Helena when she arrived in his flat.

His flat was no better than hers. It was located above a dark shop in Knockturn Alley and stunk of cheap Muggle booze and perfume and cigarettes. The walls of his home were covered in dirt and peeling white paint. Some parts of the wall were so damaged you could see the foundations and feel a draught from the bitter air outside. The sofa was stained and the table covered in graffiti. It had only three rooms: a bedroom, the living area/kitchen and a stinky bathroom with no hot water and a toilet without function. Still, it was better than Helena's home which was merely a glorified prison cell with one bed, a microwave on a broken table, a cardboard box full of possessions and clothes and a sink and toilet. She'd take Evan's grubby flat over her rat infested room any day.

"Tomorrow morning you're going to work at Borgin and Burkes," Evan instructed, leading her around the dingy flat above the aforementioned shop, a fat cigar hanging out his mouth. "And you're gonna give the baby to me and I'm gonna get Narcissa to look after her-"

"-Are you crazy? I'm not having Narcissa fucking Malfoy anywhere near my daughter. If he finds out she's with her he's gonna go fucking nuts and he's gonna take her away from me. He's not taking my daughter away from me, Evan; he's taken too much from me: my pride, my dignity-"

"-You fucking lost all that way before you opened your legs to him," Helena looked like she could strike her little brother. "'Lena, I'm trying to help you."

"Well fuck off and let me put her to bed," the baby wrapped in a moth eaten towel started squirming around in her arms. "She's tired."

"Let Malfoy see her," Evan advised. "And he can give you money."

Her grip around her daughter tightened. "He ain't going anywhere near my baby – and get that disgusting thing out your mouth, yeah? I don't want you smoking near Josephine."

Evan laughed at her, and it was the derisive, mocking laugh she despised. Nonchalantly, Evan leant against the paint peeling doorway and began kicking the scummy wall. "Have you given birth to a sixty-year-old or summit? I spoke to him this morning when you were having the geriatric and he said he ain't having his Daughter have a shitty name and shitty life – which is why he's ordered me to take her from you. Sorry Lena, but it's either this or we both go to Azkaban and the baby gets killed." Helena held the baby in her arms tighter. "He's in the other room and he ain't gonna go quietly if you don't give her up. Lena, you either give your baby to her Dad or you give her to a coroner. Your choice, but I'd go with the first."

"He ain't taking my baby," Helena growled, but her voice was not threatening like she had hoped.

"Lena, she'll have a good life with him. What do you have to offer, eh? A run down flat where she could catch diseases. Give her to him, Lena. He can give you money; he promised you fifty galleons for her and five minutes to said goodbye, and you're running into your minutes." Helena made no notion that she was going to give the baby up. "Lena, please just do it. If we go to Azkaban with the charges he's threatening us with, I'll get life and you'll get ten years. You might see your baby in a few years time. Just give her up; it's better this way."

Helena looked down at the baby she had just, almost one hour ago, given birth to and held in her arms. Planting a kiss on her baby's temple, she allowed Evan to take her from her arms and take her away for good. When Evan returned from outside, replacing his niece he had a brown bag in his hands. He threw it at Helena.

"Don't spend it all at once, yeah?"

There were only three people Helena was sure she loved in her life and they were her children. But there were many people who loved Helena in this world, and there were many who had died and loved her. The one man who loved her unconditionally was the father to her middle child, and she hoped to Merlin, that despite all the odds that he was the father to her daughter, too.

He was just in the room next to her with her daughter, and James and Lily and Remus. A Nurse had offered to take the children to the bottom floor where many other children were waiting for parents to come out of Hospital and take them home. Sirius was proud that he could finally present his newborn daughter to his friends in a Hospital and not in his flat three months after he had been born.

"She's beautiful," Lily cooed when it was her turn to hold her in her arms. "Oh she's so beautiful! She's perfect."

"She may be perfect now, but when she gets to ten or eleven then they really start to get difficult – but you'd already know that, of course."

Sirius nodded with a half-smile. "Yeah, yeah I do. I just can't be any happier – I literally cannot think of a moment where I have been happier. I wasn't even this happy when I was blessed with Sybil and Castor – I – I can't put into words how this makes me feel! Oh man, it's the sensation of Gillyweed ten times stronger."

James laughed. "I think you need some sleep. Let me hold her, Lily," Lily reluctantly passed Baby Isabelle to her husband. "Hello Izzy, I always wanted a little girl – can I take you home? Can I take you home?"

"You don't want a girl; boy's are much easier to control, trust me," began Sirius. "I've raised both: Sybil's impossible to control but Castor is a breeze; you just let him get on with it. Now I have to go and do it all over again."

"It will be easier with Izzy," James promised.

"Don't call her Izzy," Sirius asked.

"Izzy, Izzy, Izzy. Daddy doesn't like calling you Izzy, does he? Well, that makes Uncle James want to call you Izzy even more. Yes he does. Yes he does."

"It's amazing how masculine Harry and Jacob turned out to be with a Father like you cooing over them all the time," Remus pointed out. It was Remus' turn to hold Isabelle now, and in his arms, she drifted off to sleep. "Sirius, are you sure she's your daughter? She's just so precious."

"Of course she is. Just because she's blonde haired doesn't mean anything."

"No I wasn't saying it because of the hair, I'm just wondering how someone like you can produce such a pretty little girl like Isabelle."

"Thanks Remus, it seems Callie got all her good looks, charm, charisma and wits from Lyds. Not you."

Remus smiled up at his oldest friend. "You know, having a daughter is the best thing to ever happen to someone."

"Did you ever want any more kids, Remus?" James asked.

"How could I when Lydia died when Callie was born?"

"You didn't have to stay single just because Lydia died, Remus," Sirius said sheepishly. "You could have met other people. Dated around, slept with other women – I can't believe you haven't had sex in ten years."

"Well, being a Werewolf kinda takes the strain off having sex to be honest with you; I think it releases the harmonic energy that sex gives out... Anyway, good luck raising three kids Sirius; you're gonna need it."

Sirius didn't doubt his friend's wish when it came to raising children; it was one of the most stressful – and rewarding – things Sirius had ever had to do. "I think I'm going to write to Sybil when I get home and tell her the good news. I'll send her a picture of Isabelle as well, so if I could borrow your camera, Lily, that would be really great."

"Of course," said Lily, "I have it in my bag, actually, right now; I knew you didn't have one anymore because the dog chewed it, and I thought you'd want some pictures." She opened her bag, stuck her hand in and pulled out her camera. Her bag clearly had an undetectable extension charm, because there was no way that huge camera could fit inside Lily's tiny bag. "Just give it back when you've finished."

Sirius had the camera in his lap and smiled down at it. "Yeah, thanks Lily I will."