Chapter 53

Monday morning Lucy got to sleep in. Classes were done for the holidays and she got to snuggle in her warm bed as long as she wanted. It'd be a lot easier to sleep if that squeaking would stop though. Lucy whined a little and rolled over onto her other side, pulling the blankets up to cover her ear. The other side of the bed was empty and a little cold, Sirius having gotten up an hour ago.

Even with her head covered the noises wouldn't stop. "Sirius?" she called.

"Hmm?" he asked, coming into the room.

"Something is squeaking in here and it's keeping me up."

"Well, it is ten, but let me see what I can do."

After searching all around the room, Sirius squatted down and looked under the bed. "Well," he said, from his position on the floor, "I found the squeakers."

"Good," Lucy said, shifting around, "Now make it stop."

"I can't," he said, getting up and sitting on the edge of the bed, "and you're going to want to get up anyway."

"Why?"

"Because we have kittens."

"What? Under the bed? I can't see down there! Oh, wait! Never mind me, you have to go get Dinah and Severus! Severus probably won't care and be grumpy but drag him along anyway."

Sirius chuckled but leaned over to kiss her before standing, "I think Dinah will do all the dragging but I'll go get them."


Sirius knocked on Severus's office door, wincing in anticipation of the squealing he knew was about to occur.

The door opened no more than a crack and he could see a dark eye peeking out, "What do you want?" Severus demanded. "It is far too early to be making house calls."

"Ten is too early?" Sirius questioned, "And I actually came by to see your wife. If she's willing."

"My wife is pregnant and likes her sleep and ten is too early any time myself and Dinah are still in our nighttime robes. Now if this is not an emergency I demand that you leave and come back at a more suitable-"

"Oh, Sev, just find out what he wants first!" Sirius heard Dinah call from somewhere further away, "What is it, Sirius? Is it important?"

"It's not an emergency or anything, but Lucy and I thought you'd like to know we have squeakers."

Severus growled, "You are invading at this hour to use made-up words such as-"

"What's a squeaker?" Dinah demanded, her tone indicating that her interest was peaked.

"Kittens," he explained, "Three of them when I left."

Everything was sort of a blur after that. Sirius heard the expected squeal, but then the next thing he knew the door was being flung open and Dinah was rushing past him in her nighttime robes while Severus's gaze followed his wife with an expression that was half-surprised and half affronted. The other man seemed as taken aback as Sirius. Sirius thought he had heard Dinah shouting something along the lines of "I have to see them right now!" but now his gaze was back on Severus as his old rival seemed to recover his senses and was holding his arms in front of his own nighttime robes like a scandalized young woman, glaring daggers at Sirius and saying:

"She is pregnant and should not be running like that. Go catch her before she tries to use the stairs. I am going to get dressed," he snarled and slammed the door in Sirius's face.

Sirius just stared at the door for a minute before taking off after Dinah. He wasn't so worried about her using the stairs, even though she was running, but he wanted to get to her before she reached their room. "Dinah, wait!" he said, catching the woman just as she reached the stairs, "You're not going to be able to see the kittens yet."

"What?" she demanded, whirling on him, "What do you mean? You can't hide them from me!"

He chuckled, "I'm not hiding them, I promise. They're just under the bed. Don't take this the wrong way but if you get down on the floor to see them I don't think you're going to be able to get back up."

Dinah pouted. Severus had not been kidding when he'd said her third trimester affliction was childishness, "Well can we pull them out or something?" she asked, as she began to navigate the stairs.

Sirius grinned, "I'm not sure. You're the animal expert, not me. I just turn into one."

"Well, we'll just have to find out. Oh!" she smacked herself on the head, "I would have expected this of me but not of you, Sirius! Really!" she almost scolded.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"You don't have to manually pull them out, you can use magic, silly! Honestly, do I have to do all the thinking around here?" she made it to the top of the stairs and bolted for their rooms.

Sirius huffed and rushed off after her. They entered the rooms and went into the bedroom where they found Lucy sitting up in bed with Dora and three little, squeaking kittens piled in front of her.

"I couldn't sleep," she said, sheepishly, "so I grabbed my wand and…" she made a gesture indicating she'd done as Dinah had suggested and used magic to bring the cats up onto the bed.

"Ahh, I'm so glad somebody is smart today!" Dinah said, pressing her palms to her cheeks and gushing over both the kittens and Lucy's apparent intelligence. She plopped down onto the bed and reached out to stroke the pink nose of one of the tiny kittens with a small squeak of joy, "Oh my, just look at them..."

Lucy had picked up a tiny kitten, the same shade of grey as Dora, only with Godric's tabby cat stripes, and one white paw. His wife was fingering that right, front paw, making sure she held the kitten low enough for Dora to get to it if she wanted.

Dinah was running her finger along a white and brown spotted tabby. The other kitten looked to be a solid brown without any stripes except that both of its rear feet were white.

"Where's Severus?" Lucy asked as she set her kitten down next to its mother where it went on a hunt for what was probably its first meal.

Dinah blinked at Lucy, "I don't know. Did he follow me?" she asked Sirius, utterly clueless.

Sirius chuckled, remembering the way Severus had reacted to the thought of coming up here in his nighttime robes. "Oh no, he had to dress. Was utterly scandalized at the thought of coming up here without being properly attired."

Dinah put her free hand over her mouth and dissolved into giggles, "That's Sev for you. He'll be up soon enough. So I guess you've now joined the elite group of people who have seen him in his sleeping attire?" she asked, gesturing to herself and Lucy.

"Oh, but I was a fox then," Lucy said, looking a little sad at the memory, "I played with his hair and ate your bacon."

Sirius smiled and rolled his eyes, "I suppose I am a part of that group, yes."

"Those were the days," Dinah smiled reminiscently, picking up the brown kitten with the white back paws and cradling it in the palm of her hand where it just fit, "Oh, look at you..." she cooed at it.

Lucy giggled, "Well, I actually kind of prefer these days, but I'm sure you understand. Dinah, you know you can't keep all three kittens. Severus won't allow it."

"Oh, we'll see about that," Dinah grinned, gently placing the kitten down where it joined its siblings at mealtime and moving to stroke the back of the one Lucy had just replaced.

"We will, will we?" a much deeper voice said from the doorway, and they all turned to see Severus standing there with his arms folded across his chest, glaring at the room.

Dinah grinned, beckoning him with her hand, "Come over here."

"Oh no, I don't think so," he smirked through his glare, "You run off like a madwoman and force me to expose myself to him," he pointed angrily at Sirius and then looked back at Dinah, "No, I'm not coming over by you, not now."

Sirius laughed, deciding it would be better not to ask Severus if he'd like Sirius to expose himself in return. Instead he said, "Well, you're standing there looking at my wife. Who, as I'm sure you now know, prefers to wear little to bed and pile on the blankets." He gestured to Lucy who was wearing a loose fitting maternity camisole and rather short shorts, thought only her top half was exposed.

Severus flushed and looked away, bringing a fist to his mouth and clearing his throat which only made Dinah giggle some more, "I apologize."

Lucy shrugged, "It's fine. I'm sure you could see more in my swimsuit over the summer. Well, there's probably more of me to see now," she gestured to her chest and stomach, "but I'm sure you get the idea."

"Isn't it funny how seeing anybody in a swimsuit is fine but if they're in any other type of clothing that reveals just as much or sometimes even less it's not?" Dinah mused, "Now, come here, Severus, please. I'm sorry I ran off and exposed you but you have to come look at these babies."

"Dinah wants them all," Lucy said, making sure not to lean over too far and scandalize Severus beyond redemption.

"Is that so?" Severus asked with a raised eyebrow, relenting and walking over to sit on the bed next to his wife.

"Mm," she murmured, picking up the brown and white tabby who had just finished eating and pressing him to her cheek, "Look how soft and sweet and tiny they are, Sev. I just love them," she murmured, looking like she was in utter bliss.

Severus's smirk turned to a half-smile and he reached over and started moving Dinah's haphazard strands of hair into smoother locations, "You couldn't even wait long enough to comb your hair before rushing to see them."

Sirius chuckled, "Lucy couldn't even get out of bed."

"Hey!" she frowned, "I was sleeping. They woke me up!"

"They do make the cutest noises, don't they?" Dinah murmured, closing her eyes and rubbing her cheek against the little kitten she still held, before smiling back at her husband, "You have to admit that they're wonderful."

He shook his head at her, but his gaze was soft as he finished smoothing her hair, "You are so beautiful..." he murmured, "Half-dressed with these ridiculous animals looking like a disheveled mess... yet I can't take my eyes off of you."

Dinah squeaked again and tried unsuccessfully to hide her flushed face in the kitten, "Severus..."

"Oh, don't start," Lucy said, "I don't have a…"

Sirius reached over and held out a handkerchief to his wife. "Don't worry, you're pretty too."

"Sorry," Dinah said sheepishly while Severus sighed. She scooted up next to her husband and took his hands, gently placing the kitten into them, "See?" she asked, resting her head on his shoulder and making one of his hands stroke the kitten with her, "Now tell me you don't love this little individual."

"It's a little piece of Cat," Lucy encouraged, referring to Godric as Severus had used to, "and it doesn't have any of his learned behaviors yet."

Severus's smirk was almost a smile, "Then I can train it not to run around me like a maniac?"

"Oh, you love Godric," Dinah teased.

But I don't need two of them," Severus said, surprisingly not denying his love for the larger beast, "Variety would be better if you insist upon adding more pets to our repertoire yet again," he shook his head, "You know, before I met you I would not have thought twice about kittens, but now I can see what you see... the cuteness... albeit just a bit."

"So we can have three?" Dinah asked, turning her eyes up to him and batting her lashes.

"One," he murmured into her hair, chuckling.

She sighed, "But how will I choose?"

Lucy shook her head, "I don't know. I was thinking, if everyone's okay with it that is, that we could see if Agrona would like to have one. I know there's Mae and Jania, or the boys, but I'd be surprised if Agrona and Derwent didn't get married anyway and it is their seventh year. And we could potentially have more kittens. On purpose or accidentally."

"Oh yes, let's offer one to the students, they'll take good care of them," Dinah agreed, leaving the kitten with Severus, who didn't really look like he knew what he was supposed to do with it without Dinah's guidance, and grabbing instead the grey one Lucy had first picked up to cuddle, "We should ask Agrona first, since as you said she's about to graduate."

Sirius had to laugh at the expression on Severus's face just then, "It's a kitten Severus and one that's barely a couple hours old. It's not going to bite. In fact it'll probably just go to sleep."

"I am not afraid of it," Severus growled, moving his hands around as though he wasn't sure where he wanted to put the kitten.

"Here, silly," Dinah laughed, taking his hands and moving them so the kitten was placed back down next to Dora, where it curled up into a tiny little ball. "Aww, see, you're smiling. I told you it was cute."

"I am not smiling," Severus protested, straightening his face.

Lucy giggled, "It's hard to resist kittens. I'd like to think even Bellatrix would have smiled at them."

"The little Bella would have," Dinah said with a soft, reminiscent smile, cradling her most recent kitten in the crook of her arm where it promptly fell asleep, and then yawning herself, "You know, little kitten, your birth interrupted my breakfast."

"They interrupted my sleep," Lucy said, stroking Dora's head, "but I haven't eaten yet either, if you'd like to stay for breakfast. We can pick out names. After all we have to call them something besides kitten."

"Sure! I'm not about to leave these babies any time soon but I'm definitely hungry. Though maybe we should wait until they start showing personalities before we try to name them. Maybe we can give them code names for now. Like One, Two, and Three, or Brown, Grey, and Tabby."

Lucy smirked, "Severus already has issues with me calling this baby One. Do you really think he'd let me call one of the kittens that too?"

Sirius meanwhile quietly summoned a variety of breakfast items as well as conjuring up a couple chairs and a table for himself and Severus. The girls would be getting trays to eat on.

"Oh, you don't need to go to that trouble!" Dinah waved him off, "We can go to the dining table."

"Are you sure?" he asked, "That requires leaving the kittens and we probably shouldn't leave them in the middle of the bed…"

"No!" Dinah exclaimed, whining a little and startling the kitten awake as she pulled it away from Sirius, "You mean you won't let me bring the kittens to the table? You can't take them away!"

"Well," Lucy compromised, "we can take them into the living room with us but I'm sure it'd be better for them if we let them be with Dora. They've had an eventful day…"

Dinah sighed, "No, you're right. Sorry about that."

Severus shook his head, "Your childish affliction again. Are you sure you don't want to go home and change before we eat?"

She grinned and shook her head, "Oh no, maybe we should just have a pajama day. Besides, these are my favorite nighttime robes," she murmured, wrapping her arms around herself and the familiar set of silky dark purple robes she wore, "A very sweet, handsome young boy gave them to me for Valentine's Day. Along with about a hundred other gifts."

"Hmph," Severus snorted, flushing a little and looking away.

Dinah laughed and put a hand on Severus's shoulder, "It's okay. He just wanted to make me smile. And he got his wish. He made me so happy."

"Mm," Severus muttered, still not meeting anybody's gaze. Lucy had never seen his face so red.

"Aww," Lucy sniffed, "I did that."

"And we're all eternally grateful," Sirius teased, leaning down to kiss her, "I have no problem with a pajama day, but you might want to put another layer on."

"I was planning on it," she said, "find something to put the kittens in and I'll pull a bathrobe on."

"Do you have a basket?" Dinah suggested, cuddling up to Severus and scooping all three kittens onto their laps.

"Oh, Sirius! Out in the kitchen, there's a basket of apples. We can put the apples someplace else for now. Line it with some old blankets or towels or something!"

Severus stared down at the kittens squirming around between himself and his wife, and then turned to Dinah, "So how many hours of the day are you going to demand to spend here now that we have these animals?"

She laughed, "Oh, all hours, what did you think?"

"Lovely."

Sirius chuckled, leaving to do as he was instructed.