His Boy

Chapter Forty-Four: Arrive

Harry awoke cuddled up in his bed, his face buried against his plush dog Snuffles, to the sound of screaming.

"SIRIUS! SIRIUS!"

Confused and worried, Harry climbed out of his bed, his bare feet hitting the floor just before he ran over to his bedroom door and peeked out. The voice he heard shouting was Lexie which both worried and scared him since if she were to get up and walk around for too much, the baby might come too early. But Harry had never, ever heard his Muma-Lexie shout like she was now. Something was definitely wrong, even he could sense that.

Harry dashed down the hallway to Sirius and Lexie's bedroom, pushing open the door fast and peering in, almost worried to step a foot inside. Lexie lay on the bed, looking pained. She curled up, panting and tears were beginning to fall down her cheeks.

"Muma-Lexie?"

Lexie looked up at Harry and after a moment of seeming to catch her breath she smiled at him, forced. "Harry get your father, the baby's coming."

Harry nodded and dashed away from the room, running as fast as his little legs could carry him, down the hallway to the stairs and then down the stairs. "PADDDDY! PADDDDY! PADDDY! THE BABY'S COMING!"

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Sirius called back, coming in through the front door of the house. He liked to drink his coffee on the front stoop and gaze up at the sky in the mornings. He had spent too long in Azkaban, oh how he loved to be able to just look at the sky for a while. "Harry, get your shoes and coat on. Don't worry about anything else. REMUS!"

Harry watched as Sirius ran up the stairs to the second floor. He figured this was the day maybe he'd get to meet his baby sister, so, excited, he shoved his feet into his red rain boots and pulled on his jacket, just as Sirius had told him to. He grabbed his conductor's hat from where it hung on the short hook, not wearing it as much as he used to but still being quite attached to the thing. It was something his Padfoot had gotten him that very first day they were together and he loved it dearly.

As he waited for the grown ups, Harry's eyes fell upon the stuffed toy he had picked out for his sister just the other day. It was a bird, a sparrow to be exact, all brown, and a bit reddish, and cream. And it was round and soft and puffy with floppy wings. Harry thought it was a great bird.

Not wanting his sister to not have her present when she came, Harry grabbed up the sparrow and hugged it, holding onto it and watching as Sirius carried Lexie down the stairs and into the living room, Remus on his heels carrying the small duffle bag packed with things for Lexie and the baby. "C'mon Harry!"

Harry chased after the adults.

Sirius and Lexie Flooed first, and then Remus quickly scooped up Harry.

"Ready to be a big brother?"

"Yeah." Harry grinned brightly and Remus stepped into the fire.

"St Mungo's!"

After a lot of spinning and holding on tight to the sparrow to make sure he didn't lose it, Harry and Remus came to a stop at the hospital. Remus stepped out into the waiting room and took a seat, Harry happy to stay on his lap. He looked up at his favorite werewolf. "Where are Paddy and Muma-Lexie?"

"They'll already have gone through to a special room to have the baby. It could take a long time though, so what do you say we head up and get some breakfast?" Remus suggested, knowing it would be a bad idea to have Harry up this early and not feed him while he had the chance. He was a good kid, but he could get grumpy when he was hungry, even if he didn't mean to. He and Harry would still be at home right now if it weren't for the fact that they had discussed that a week ago, about where they would be when the baby was born. Harry had been adamant about wanting to be at the hospital so he could go see his baby sister right away and give her her birdy. He was so very firm on the matter, stating "I need to give the baby the birdy." over and over until all the grown ups had backed down.

Sirius stood, holding tightly onto Lexie's hand as she screwed up her face, shouting at him rather angrily as she went through a particularly rough contraction. "This is…oh! All your fault… augh! You bastard!"

Sirius winced as he began to lose the feeling in his hand, but stood firmly beside the bed, knowing it was his duty to be there during this most wonderful, if painful, of times. He could barely contain his excitement at finally, finally, meeting the child he had created, wondering whether he would have a daughter or a son. No one, not even Harry, had slipped up and told him what the baby was going to be. He was the only one in the house who didn't know yet, hadn't even peeked into the nursery. However, he was worried as well.

This child, this little being, had only been cooking for twenty-eight weeks. Not due until the end of August, here they were, the 27th of May. The Healers had done all they could to prolong the pregnancy, but this was it. There was no way to stop the baby from coming now and all they could do was hope for the best. However, the few weeks with the potion had prolonged the pregnancy had also added a precious 20% to the expected survival rate for babies born early. The Healers were ready, prepared with a special bassinet charmed to regulate body temperature and count heart beats, special potions, and of course, experience.

Harry sat, his back leaned up against Remus's legs, head tilted, eyes clothes. His mouth was open, snoring just the tiniest bit as his hands continued to hold onto the wooden blocks he had been building a tower with before he'd fallen asleep.

It had been seven hours since they had come to the hospital and Harry, fed lunch not that long ago, had passed out due to having been up a bit earlier than he normally would have been. Remus was contently reading a book he'd been meaning to catch up on, knowing that the day care was in safe hands with Diane and one of Sebastian's mothers who, miraculously, did not have to work today.

Sirius smiled as he entered the waiting room just for people waiting for news of babies. He strode over to Remus and lifted Harry from where he sat, snoozing on the floor, and beaming, allowed the little boy's head to fall onto his shoulder.

"Well?" Remus asked, rising to his feet, eyes full of excitement now. Last time in this room it had been him and Sirius waiting together, waiting for James to come and tell them Harry had arrived safely.

"I have a daughter. A beautiful little daughter." Sirius reached out and he and Remus hugged in their joy. "She's pretty small, only about 2 pounds and five ounces. We don't know everything yet though… They're doing tests and getting her situated. Seeing what she needs help with the most since she's under-developed. But you guys can come and see Lexie and they'll let us know more about what needs to happen with the baby soon…. She's so small, Remus. Like… this big." Sirius shifted Harry to hold his hands apart.

"Wow." Remus blinked, knowing that she probably looked smaller than she was because she would be keeping her limbs closer to her body still. "It'll be alright, Padfoot. You know what the Healers said about 28 week babies, the percentages are high."

"I know…" Sirius sighed, looking tired but still quite joyful at the same time. It was strange, to see the look of concern and happiness on one face all at once.

"Paddy?" Harry mumbled, raising his head from Sirius's shoulder and yawning as they started to walk down the hallway to the room Lexie was in. He rubbed at one eye. "Is my baby here?"

"Yeah Harry. She's here. She's very very little and needs some help from the Healers, so it'll be a little bit before you can see her. But we can see Lexie for now."

"But I wanna see my baby." Harry pouted, crossing his arms disappointedly. He had been waiting and waiting for what felt like most of his entire life to see his baby sister. He was nearly five, but he lacked patience with most things. Sirius, Remus, and Lexie had been trying to help him with this of course, but trying to convince a small child he needed to wait could be difficult sometimes, especially when Harry was really bent on something.

They arrived at the room Lexie was sharing with one other woman who had just had her own baby not that long ago. She looked tired, but pleased at the same time, reaching her arms out for Harry who Sirius set down on the bed. Harry crawled forward, snuggling up beside Lexie like he was used to doing since he hadn't really been able to sit in her lap for a few months now.

"Hello there sweetheart." Lexie smiled, brushing his hair out of his eyes.

"Hi." Harry smiled back, reaching up and touching her cheek. "Is you okay?"

"Are. And yes, I'm fine." Lexie laughed, knowing she probably looked like hell. She cuddled Harry close.

"Here we are." A Healer stated sweetly, rolling in a see-through bassinet. Harry's eyes went wide and he leaned over Lexie as the Healer brought the bassinet over to the opposite side of the bed.

Inside, wrapped in a soft yellow blanket Harry recognized as one from home, was the tiniest person he had ever seen in his whole entire life, including baby dolls. His baby sister's skin was red, but also kind of see through due to her pre-mature birth. Her eyes were closed, asleep, a tiny blue hat on her head with a golden snitch on the front. She had some sort of clear tube in her nose and another one in the arm that stuck out from the blanket, obviously left out on purpose.

Unable to resist, Harry reached a hand out to her, one little boy finger finding one newborn fist. She retracted it quickly, eyes still wide, the adults watching him with amused looks. "She's warm! And soft. And little." He stated in the best whisper he could, obviously quite awe-struck.

"Yes, she is." Sirius nodded, coming over to stand on the other side of the bassinet next to the Healer. He reached down and gently swiped one finger across his daughter's forehead.

"She has to stay in her bed for a while yet." The Healer explained with a smile. "She can't quite regulate her own body temperature yet and she's going to need help breathing and eating before she can nurse properly as well. But she's healthy and strong for a preemie. But we can try some skin to skin care later, once you've rested up a bit. It's wonderful for babies to have that type of contact, it helps with their body temperature regulation and bonding. But she probably won't be able to go home for a while yet, not until she's passed all of her tests."

"She has to take tests?!" Harry asked in shock. He knew all about tests. He got them at preschool with his letter sounds, reading, and number skills. He wasn't so sure his baby sister was going to be able to do all of that yet, could see? "I dun think she can read yet so she might not do so good."

The Healer laughed. "Oh, don't you worry. These are special baby tests, like feeding and breathing, staying healthy and getting bigger."

"Ooooh." Harry smiled, glad they weren't hard tests after all. He didn't want to have to wait until his sister could read for her to come home. Why, he could do all of those things easy without even really thinking about them!

"So, Harry. Which name do you think we should call her?" Lexie asked curiously, reaching out to ruffle Harry's hair with one hand while her other one stroke a tiny newborn cheek. They had been working really hard on that name list Harry had been writing and Lexie had been helping him create with added names from Sirius, who, of course, had also suggested boy names. In the end though, they had narrowed the names down quite a great deal until they had three good ones.

Harry frowned and looked from Lexie and then to Sirius, then to Remus, and finally, his eyes landed upon his new baby sister. And then he stared, for a few minutes, silent, as though trying to decide which name was the very best. The baby's mouth opened in a yawn and Harry smiled. "Rozilynn."

"Then that's what we'll call her." Sirius beamed, reaching out to ruffle Harry's hair gently, proud. "Rozilynn Lily Black."

Harry's little heart soared. "Hey, hey, hear that Rozilynn? That's your name. Rozilynn. Oh!"

Harry quickly turned around, reaching his arms out to Remus who had been gazing silently down upon the happens up until now. He was so happy to see everyone he loved the most so very full of the same joy he felt when looking upon that tiny little baby. Remus held the chubby soft sparrow in his hands still. It was quite large for a toy, small enough for Harry to wrap both arms around it, but still quite a bit larger than Rozilynn.

Harry held the bird up. "Rozilynn, this is for you. He's a birdy. Birdies go chirp chirp. Moony said this one is called a sparrow bird. Do you like him? He is a very nice birdy."

"I think she likes him, Harry." Lexie smiled, reaching to take the birdy from him. She took one of the birds soft floppy wings and sat up a bit. She held the bird close to herself and gently ran the super soft fleecy part of the underside of the wing against Rozilynn's cheek who let out what sounded like the very tiniest of little noises. It was not an angry or scared noise, but rather just a noise in general. Though, if anyone had asked Sirius, his little girl had just sighed in contentment. Harry beamed with such pride it was almost as if his little heart would burst.

…...

The next day Harry was quite excited to get to school. It was Tuesday and he could not wait to see all of his classmates and the daycare kids to tell everyone about his new sister. He skipped his way to the classroom door, holding onto Remus's hand. He gave Moony a hug and Remus kissed him on the forehead. "Have a great day, Harry. You too, Marny!"

Harry and Marny waved bye while Remus went to drop off the morning kindergarteners from the day care and the two preschoolers headed into school. Miss Nancy smiled as she saw them come in.

"Good morning! It's so nice to see you. Harry, we missed you yesterday! Remus called to say you would have some very exciting news to share with us today at circle time."

Yep!" Harry beamed proudly, his little chest puffed out. He was so very very happy about being a new big brother that he could barely contain himself. It was a good thing circle time wasn't too long off! He didn't know if he could keep his big announcement secret for too long. He hadn't even told Marny yet.

"Alright children, everyone gather around! Time to say good morning!" Miss Nancy called. The class came as they had been train to do, dashing over to the carpet and taking their usual seats around the edges. They didn't have very long left to their preschool days and would be big kindergarteners soon. Almost everyone in the room had turned five by now. Harry was only the second youngest out of the bunch, his table buddy Violet having been born in August.

"Alright, let's everyone say our good mornings and then, afterwards, I think Harry has something very important he would like to share with us." Miss Nancy explained with a smile. The class looked at Harry curiously. They knew it had to be something pretty special since he hadn't too at school the day before and Miss Nancy was letting him tell them during the good morning circle. It was always something exciting when you got to share at good morning circle.

The children sang their good morning song to one another, going around the circle and shaking hands with one another as they sang. "Good morning to you. And good morning to you. I'm happy to see you again my friends. Let's have a wonderful day!"

The children cheered, hugging their buddies and then looking to Miss Nancy for further instruction.

"Alright, Harry. Go ahead and tell everyone your very special news!"

Harry rose and ran to his back pack. He pulled out the photo he had brought of his sister that had been taken the day before. They had taken a lot of pictures yesterday but this one was particularly one of Harry's very favorites. He hugged it to his chest, hiding it from his classmates and moving to stand next to Miss Nancy at the circle.

"Yesterday I did not come to school." Harry began, knowing that some of the best sharing stories always started with having missed school. Usually when you missed school it was because you were sick and they didn't let you announce that because everyone got sick. But if you had missed school and got to announce why, then it was quite the big deal, especially when you were this young. "I had to go to the hospicle."

"Was you sick?" Preston asked in awe, raising his hand above his head as he spoke. Harry shook his head.

"Nope. I hadda go because… because…" Harry paused, not quite sure how to word it for a moment and the, grinning broadly, held his picture up above his head with the ultimate of prides. The picture was of Rozilynn in her bed, sleeping peacefully while Harry peered through the glass on the other side. Remus had immobilized the photo this morning so it would not move in front of all the Muggles. "I am a big brother!"

"Oh wow!" Miss Nancy clapped her hands together. "Harry that is simply wonderful news! Congratulations! Does anyone have any questions for Harry?"

Hands shot up into the air. Harry pointed to Marny first.

"Does you got a brother or a sister?"

"A sister." Harry couldn't contain the pride that filled his voice. He was so very happy to be sharing this with his friends! Oh how exciting to have a sibling!

"What's her name?"

"Rozilynn. My Paddy and Muma-Lexie let me pick her name too."

"Wow! I didn't get to pick my sister's name!" One of the girls stated, awestruck.

"Does she cry a lot? My brother always cries a lot."

"She cries sometimes but she just sleeps a lot more." Harry explained after he thought about it for a bit. The truth was he had only see Rozilynn for a little while, long enough to take pictures. She had cried once, needing changing, but that had been about it. Sirius was going to pick him up from the day care after lunch to go see her again for a bit as well.

"Wow, Harry. It sounds like you had a very very exciting day yesterday. May I see your photo?" Miss Nancy reached a hand out and Harry handed her the picture, still beaming. "Oh my, she is beautiful, Harry! What a lovely sister. May we pass the photo around so everyone can see her properly?"

"Yes." Harry nodded in agreement, knowing his friends would be careful with his picture. Miss Nancy had taught them how to handle pictures gently and how to not rumple them during their Photography Appreciation week. Everyone was pretty good at it, though, they were still preschoolers. Rozilynn's picture was passed around the circle with interest before finding it's way, safely, back to Harry. It had a bit of peanut butter on the back, but was other way pretty unscathed.

…...

Sirius showed up at the day care later that afternoon, much later than previously planned. Harry was busy helping clean up the snack table, so he didn't notice when Sirius came in the front door and took Remus aside.

"What's wrong?" Remus asked at once, noting the look of concern upon his best mate's face. Sirius had been at the hospital all night and day so far. What had started out as a good day had turned sour once it got dark out.

"The baby's… She's hooked up to all these contraptions and stuff, run on magic of course. Anyway, she's having respiratory problems and is anemic. She's gonna be there for a long while. They won't even be testing her visuals until she's about three weeks old though there is a stronger chance of eye problems. I just… I wish she'd been able to cook longer." Sirius heaved a sigh, resting his forehead on Remus's shoulder, tired and worried.

"It'll be alright. The Healers know what they're doing. They have a lot of experience with premature babies, even more so than Muggles since the rate of early birth is higher in wizards, though we're not sure why." Remus explained, hugging Sirius tightly.

"And, no one but Lexie or myself is allowed to even see her anymore because her immune system isn't… well… They don't want her overly exposed to outside sources."

"Harry is not going to like that…"

"I k- oh hey buddy!" Sirius perked up as Harry came running over, smiling excitedly. Sirius scooped him up and cuddled him.

"I'm ready to go see my baby." Harry announced brightly. He snuggled up to Sirius, nuzzling his face into his shoulder happily.

"Harry, today I need to go right back to the hospital and you need to be good for Moony again.""But we're gonna go see my baby?" Harry stated, quite confusedly. He heaved a sigh. How did one explain to a small child that a promise had to be broken?

"I know, I know, Harry. But Rozzie is very sick today, so she can't have visitors for a little while. Just Lexie and me. We'll go as soon as she's feeling better." Sirius stated calmly, knowing that if he let his worry be known it would rub off on Harry and make him worry and want to go all the more.

"But… I made her a picture at school…." Harry explained, feeling extremely disappointed. He had been looking forward to going back to see his baby sister later that day.

"I'll bring it to her, okay? I'll make sure she gets it and knows it's from her big brother who loves her very much." Sirius promised, hugging him even tighter, knowing it had to be hard being little and wanting something. He had found it difficult, being away from Harry last night, but knowing he was needed more at the hospital.

Harry sighed. "I wanna go too."

"I know, Prongslet. I wish you could but she's too sick right now. I promise you can come when she's doing better."

"Okay." Harry pouted, his little being shlumped with sadness. He had wanted to go see his sister and Lexie and spend more time with his Paddy. "Are you gonna come home tonight?"

"I'll make sure I'm there to give you your bath and say goodnight." Sirius nodded, knowing he didn't want to miss out on doing that two nights in a row. He needed to be there for Harry as well, knew it was important to be there for both of his children. Even if it was for little bits of time, like bathing and tucking in, it made all the difference. Even if it was just half an hour, even if it was just the five minutes right now… time was precious and valuable. A simple hug or display of love in-between the times you couldn't be there. When you were little, those things mattered.

"Alright, Prongslet. I've got to get back to the hospital now. But I promise I will be home for your bath and bedtime." Sirius hugged him, kissing both of his little cheeks. Harry nodded and then wriggled. He raced away and grabbed up the picture he had made for his sister from the cubby he had at the daycare. He handed it to Sirius.

"Don't forget."

"I won't. I will never, ever forget."


So, I will be the first to admit that this is totally not one of my better chapters. However, I did try my best on it. Aw, but how cute is Harry with Rozzie? I'm doing my best to keep this very Harry-centric of course, though I fear I shall slip up every now and then I hope, sincerely, you don't hate me for that. This chapter doesn't have quite as much Harry in it as I'd like either, even though he's pretty much present the entire time. But I do hope you enjoyed it anyway! Thanks for reading, and as always, I love hearing from all of you if you've got the time! I appreciate all of your reviews, favorites, and alerts, even if I don't always respond.

Love always,

S.Q.O.