Chapter twenty six

Severus stepped into the bedroom and saw Harry curled up in bed, 'Hey love.'

'Sev,' Harry stared up at him, 'I feel so weak.'

'Yes that can happen, I'll get Poppy to check you then give you a potion. I would make it, but it takes a few days and I'm sure she has some ready.'

'Thanks,' Harry closed his eyes and was asleep before Severus even left the room.

Severus hurried up to the hospital wing and stepped into Poppy's office, 'Harry was just sick, but now he's so pale and weak, that shouldn't happen with morning sickness. I didn't want to worry him, I just said I'd get you to check him and give him a potion.'

'Let me get a few potions ready,' Poppy grabbed her small bag and placed a few potions inside it before following Severus to his room, 'You need to wake him Severus.'

'I know,' Severus sat on the bed and gently ran his finger down Harry's cheek, 'Harry love, wake up, Poppy's here to see you.'

Harry blinked and slowly looked up, 'I feel terrible.'

'I know love, Poppy's going to check you over,' Severus stood up and moved aside then watched as Poppy moved her wand over Harry's stomach, then handed him two potions. Harry was so tired she had to help him hold them so he could drink.

'Should I be this tired?'

'You're body's reacting to the pregnancy Harry, so no, normally you wouldn't be. There's nothing to worry about and you can still carry full term, but you won't have a lot of energy, especially during the later months, these potions will help though and you will need them daily. There is also something else, I never thought to check yesterday.'

'What?' Severus asked urgently.

'Harry's carrying twins.'

'Twins,' Harry said softly then his eyes rolled back and he passed out.

'Harry,' Severus shouted and ran to the bed, 'He's unconscious Poppy.'

'He's fine Severus, he just fainted. I think the shock of the pregnancy and now twins has been too much for him.'

'What you said, about his body is reacting, will he be okay?'

'Yes, but he will need these extra potions daily and he won't be able to do too much, within a few days of taking the potions, he will get most of energy back, just not what he was like and it will last right through the pregnancy. I have a list here for the potion if you wish to make that one.'

'Yes, thanks,' Severus takes the small piece of parchment and scanned it, 'So it only takes an hour, that's good.'

'How are you two going to go with three babies?'

'We'll work it out Poppy, don't worry. I might even take more time off than I planned. I'll speak with Minerva later and explain. Having twins though, it will mean Harry will show sooner, won't it?'

'Yes, from around three months on everyone will know and since you are already four weeks along, that's not very far away. But as you know everyone is different so that is just an approximate time. Also he could go into labour a little earlier than you, not always with twins, but it does happen. Another thing Severus, Harry being such a small man, the pregnancy will be noticeable far easier than it normally would. He's going to need other clothes, just like you.'

'I was planning on going shopping on the weekend, will Harry be able to handle that?'

'If you take enough breaks and don't push it, he'll be fine. That's three days away, so he'll have that potion to build up his strength by then.'

'Alright, thank you Poppy.'

'If there's any other problems, let me know.'

'I will, thank you.' Severus watched her leave then turned back to Harry and lightly tapped his face, 'Harry, come on baby, wake up.'

Harry blinked a couple of times, 'Hey Sev, I'm tired.'

'I know, but you fainted.'

'Fainted, I've never fainted,' Harry looked around, 'Madame Pomfrey, twins, oh blimey, Sev, three, three babies, how can we handle three babies.'

'We will, I'm going to take some extra time off to help. Maybe even stop working all together.'

'Sev,' Harry tried to push himself up, but Severus had to help then put a pillow behind him, 'You love teaching.'

'Yes, but I love you more and we're about to have a large family. I'll think about it, especially since we've just found out, but I think I will. I'll speak with Minerva later, let her know it might be a permanent replacement instead of temporary one,' Severus could tell Harry looked worried, 'This is what I want Harry, a family with you and we're about to have that. So if I decide to leave, then we'll have to get a house or something, with enough room for three babies.'

'Sev, I have a house, it's four bedrooms, plenty of room. It has a large block of land around it, plenty of room for them to play and the town's nice. We can live there, together.'

'It was your parent's home Harry, I don't think that would be right. I never liked your father and he never liked me.'

'I know, but these children are his grandchildren Sev, I think he'd be fine. Why don't you look at it, if you're not sure, we'll buy another house and I'll seal up that house. I really think my father would be fine if you call that place home, but you have to be sure as well.'

'Then I'll look, see if I'm comfortable there. But if I'm not then we'll buy another house, but I'll put in what I can, I'll sell my old house, it won't get much though. It's not in a very nice part of Spinners End and it's very dark and a bit dreary.'

'If you want Sev, but we can take our time with all that. You know I can afford it and we are together. So let me cover it for now and if you want to sell the house, fine, but you can fix it up a bit, brighten it so maybe it'll sell easier. I was going to do that with Grimmauld Place, but I let Kingsley use it in case it's needed.'

'So even though the order doesn't need it anymore, the aurors or ministry might?'

'Yes, Kingsley did tell me that there were a few that needed protecting. They weren't death eaters, but they did help him, just not with anything too bad. So for information, he housed them there until the others were all arrested. We just removed all the dark arts books from the library. I stored them in the Black vault.'

'I knew there was a lot of supporters, I gave the minister their names, the ones I knew anyway. But this Harry,' Sev put his hand on Harry's stomach, 'Poppy said because it's twins and you're a small man, you'll show sooner, maybe from three months, maybe sooner. You're already four weeks. You'll also need to take it easy even with the potions, so maybe we should just let everyone know.'

Harry sighed, 'Yeah, we might, it will just mean a lot of attention for both of us. But twins Sev, where did the twins come from. I don't know much about my family, either side, but from what I know there was never any twins.'

'I don't know Harry, as far as I know, there aren't any in my family either. But I had another thought Harry, why don't you just stop your classes. You can still read up on what you need to know, I can help you practice and when the time comes, you'll probably be up to take your N.E.W.T if you want. You said yourself that you want to stay with the children, so you don't really need them and now, having twins, it's going to be hard on your body, not to mention how it's reacting to the pregnancy.'

Harry sat there thinking for a few minutes, 'You do make sense and I could read and practice what I need to for my tests. Yeah, okay, but will Professor McGonagall be alright with that, that I'm not actually going to stay a student, but I'll be here.'

'I'm going to speak with her soon, I'm sure she'll be fine. Think of this as well Harry, being here, it's protected, you'll be safer here and won't get as much attention as you will out there. There's also a full time healer that can take care of you. Now I need to make your potions, so why don't you sleep again for a while, you're still pale.'

'I'm okay right now, I'll watch you, but I could do with a cup of tea.'

'I'll make you one, stay in bed baby, no moving,' Severus kissed Harry, gently caressed his face then went to make him tea. As he was making the tea the thought of actually giving up teaching and staying home with Harry would make more sense and even though he hated the fact that he'd be living off Harry and not working for a living, he might have to consider it and if he was honest with himself, staying home with the children felt right to him. He gave Harry his tea, kissed him again, left the door open then went to the far corner of the living room where he had a small potions room set up and started on making the potion for Harry.