Thanks to Cara-tanaka, Honoo Moeru, 8thweasleykid, Narutonarutolove, Phoenix1592, Watcher of the Hearts, Gothgirl3030, Starlightwonderer23, PurplewolfDOTcom, MarissaRosee, KraziiePyrozHavemoreFun, Phoenixfelicis07, and Ujemaima for the reviews.
*I know I forget the thanks list last time. I will fix that. Sorry-I usually put it last to make sure I get all the reviews in.
A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this up. School, computer going kaput and finding out it had several viruses-and yes, I now have malware bytes and an anti-virus on my computer. Computer is still not acting right and having issues even though all the viruses and things have been wiped clean. I wanted this up Valentine's day-but crashed computer. Then on my birthday (17th), but was not feeling well for a couple days. Felt a little better yesterday, but did not finish this in time to upload. So, today it is up.
Chapter 50: It's a...
Next Morning
Lily woke up to a loud roaring noise. She looked over and saw Severus and Harry sound asleep. She looked over at the window and saw a snowplough pushing snow off the road. It had snowed quite a bit overnight.
Lily got up and went to the bathroom. Severus woke up as she closed the door to the bathroom. Harry was still sound asleep. Severus sat up and got off the couch as Lily came back in.
"I'm going to go up and get dressed. You want your clothes too?"
Lily nodded. "That'd be great, thanks."
Severus went upstairs as she lay down on the couch. Lily turned on the television set. Harry stirred, still sleeping on his back.
"Chance of snow tomorrow-a few inches-maybe around three or four." The man on the station said as Severus came back down. Lily changed her clothing.
"I'm going to fix something to eat. Would you like something?"
"Some oatmeal sounds good."
"I'm glad your nausea is easing up and you actually want to eat breakfast now."
"Me too. Still nauseous here and there, but it is easing up. I can't wait for it to go away completely. I am getting sick of feeling sick all the time."
"You and me both."
"Be glad you weren't the one vomiting."
"I am very glad." Severus looked at the kitchen. "I think I will have some hot cereal as well."
"Sounds lovely. I'm glad it's Saturday and you don't have any classes."
"So am I, but I still need to go and keep up with the students this evening."
Lily sighed. "I know." She turned to the window. "It snowed overnight."
"I saw. I might take Harry out to play in it if he feels up to it."
"I'm sure Harry would love to play in the snow."
Severus went into the kitchen. Lily looked out the window. It was still snowing. It would be a great for Harry to play in the snow and get some energy out.
That Afternoon
"I can't zip it." Harry said, trying to get his coat on.
Severus zipped the coat up and put on Harry's hat.
"Can we go outside now?"
"Yes." He opened the door and Harry went outside.
"It's snowing."
"Yes, it is."
"Can we make a snowman?"
"Sure. Start up a small ball and we'll start rolling."
As they Severus put up the second part of the body, Harry pointed at the street.
"Sirius."
Severus turned and saw Sirius coming up. "Oh, great. The circus is back in town." Severus started to approach Sirius, who was advancing on the yard. "I told you not to set foot on our property."
"I need to speak to Lily."
"She doesn't want to speak to you."
"Have her answer for herself. You don't speak for her."
Severus glared at Sirius, who was glaring at him as well. "I know my wife and know how she feels about yesterday. She does not want to speak to you right now."
"Well, I need to speak to her."
"Well, I guarantee that she does not want to speak to you, so leave her be."
Before Sirius could talk, the front door opened.
"What's all the shouting-Sirius." Lily frowned.
"You are supposed to be resting." Severus said.
"I heard a commotion and decided to get up to see what was going on."
Sirius looked at Lily for a moment. "Rest again? You have some serious illness now?" He then looked down at her stomach through her comfortably fit shirt. "Oh-my-god." He looked daggers at Severus. "You got her pregnant!"
Severus smirked and looked at Lily, who was trying to cover her stomach.
"You knocked her up! That's why you all got married!"
"No, we got married because we wanted to." Lily spoke defensively.
"What? A honeymoon baby? I don't buy that! She's already showing!"
"Well..." Lily grinned. "That's because with each baby you usually do show early and when you have more than one, you grow faster. Now you know I am pregnant so you can tell everyone when you leave the property-which is now."
Sirius's eyes grew wide. "I can't believe this!"
"I said you can escort yourself off our property-now!"
"Lily, I'm really sorry about yesterday. I-I-really-I" Sirius choked. "If something had happened-I-don't-can't-never would forgive myself-never."
"You never, ever turn your back! You were at a lake! He can't swim! He's three years old! Three!"
Severus was uneasy about Lily's anger. "Lily, take it easy. Don't harm yourself to yell at Black. He's not worth the trouble."
Lily took a deep breath, knowing Severus was right. She needed to calm down.
Sirius looked a bit distraught. "I really am sorry. I feel awful."
"You should!" Lily pulled out her wand.
"Okay, okay, don't be stupid now."
"Stupid? Stupid? Your carelessness almost got my child killed! My only stupidity was thinking he would be safe with you!"
"He is! I wouldn't harm him!"
"He almost drowned!" Lily clenched her wand tight in her hand and pointed it at him.
"I thought he was with us!"
"While you were yelling at your fiancée! Are you crazy? He doesn't need to hear your petty fights!"
"It was a disagreement about dinner-not a fight!" Sirius glared daggers at Severus, who had his wand out. Harry was watching the adults uneasily, hiding behind Severus. "Your-significant other is the stupid one, actually thinking Harry belongs to him!"
Lily raised her eyebrow. "Harry is both our responsibility. What do you expect him to do-let his own stepson drown?"
"Oh no, no-he didn't call Harry his stepson-he called Harry his son. Said I almost got his son killed. He is not his son! He is the son of James, not him!"
Lily looked at Severus. She was a bit surprised that Severus called Harry his son, yet it didn't really surprise her though, especially not after Severus's behaviour yesterday.. She felt a grin form on her face. It actually made her feel relieved. She was worried that having the babies would bring on issues with Harry. She was afraid that Severus would feel differently or behave differently to his own children than Harry. She knew it would not be intentional, but Harry was not his biological son whereas the twins would be his children biologically. Now though, she doubted that would be much of an issue.
"Oh."
"Oh? Oh is all you have to say! It doesn't piss you off!"
Lily shrugged. "No."
Sirius huffed, clenching his fists and mumbling something inappropriate. He pulled out his wand, prompting Severus to point his at Sirius for a strike.
"You dare call me stupid-you stayed with a former Death Eater, married him and got knocked up by him and you call me stupid!"
Anger surged through Lily's body and she struck at him, surprising Severus.
Black ducked. "Hey-hey-stop!"
"Get away from here!" She struck again and hit him. "I said GO!"
"Fine-fine." Black frowned as he got to his feet. "I'm gone for now. We'll talk again when things cool down." Black walked away.
Severus turned to Lily with a smirk. "About time you did something about him."
Lily leaned against the door frame. "Calling Harry your son, huh?"
Severus jerked his head to the side with unease. "Well, he is my-step-stepson. I didn't mean it in a bad way."
Lily smiled at him. "No need to get defensive. I don't have a problem with it." Lily sighed. "I'm actually glad to hear that-that you do think of him like that."
Severus raised an eyebrow. "You are?"
"Well, with two new children coming I want to make sure Harry won't feel excluded. I want him to feel that us, all five of us are a family."
Severus didn't respond for a moment. "We are. We will be."
"I know that, but I want him to feel that he's a part of it. I don't want him to feel that because these twins are yours biologically that you love them more and that because he doesn't belong to you by blood that he doesn't belong in this family."
"He's the first child in this family. I doubt he'll feel left out."
Lily smiled. "He is. I just hope he always feels that we are his family."
"We're the only family he's got, aren't we?"
Lily nodded with a smile. "I'm going to go lay back down." Lily went back inside and sat on the couch. She watched them finish making a snowman from the window. She sighed to herself, but smiled as Severus picked Harry up to put on the snowman's hat. She did not have anything to worry about, except how Harry would react to not being an only child anymore.
29 January 1984
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5-" Harry started, counting his pieces. He looked up at Severus. "6, 7, 8, 9-10."
"So how many pieces of candy to you have?"
Harry thought for a moment "Ten?"
"You have ten pieces."
Harry took the yellow beans. "1, 2. Two yellow beans."
"How many are blue?"
"1, 2. Two."
"How many are green?"
"1, 2, 3. Three pieces."
"How many are orange?"
"1. One pieces."
"How many are white?"
Harry looked. "None."
"Zero beans are white."
"Zero?"
"Zero means none, nothing there."
"Oh." Harry took a bean. "What's this colour?"
"Tan. How many are that colour?"
"1, 2. Two pieces."
Severus took out a bag of several shapes with different colours. "Can you put all the blue circles together and tell me how many blue circles there are?"
Harry looked through the pieces. "One." He took out another piece. "Two." He took out more pieces. "Three, Four, Five."
"So how many blue circles do you have?"
"Five. Five blue circles."
"How many green squares are there?"
Harry started to sort and count them. "One, two, three, four, five, six. Six green squares."
"How many red triangles?"
"Red triangles?"
"Yes."
Severus watched as Harry counted them. "One, two, three, four. Four red tri-an-les."
"Triangles."
"Triangles." Harry repeated and then picked up a shape. "Yellow square."
"That's a rectangle."
"Rec-tan-el?"
"Rec-tang-el."
"Rectangle."
There was a knock at the door. Severus looked at Harry.
"Who's that?"
"I don't know. Let's go see."
Harry got to the door first and twisted the handle to open the front door.
"Remus!"
"Hey, Harry." Remus looked up and smiled at Severus. "Just thought I would check up everyone and see how Lily was faring. Haven't been around much lately with everything going on."
"Lily is fine."
"Still on bed rest, I suppose."
"Yep."
"How's she feeling this time? She had a lot of morning sickness with the first two-with Harry."
"We're married. I know about the miscarriage."
Remus nodded. "`Course. Just wasn't sure."
Harry looked between them. "I learned how to write my name."
Remus smiled. "You did?"
"Want to see?"
Remus rubbed Harry's hair. "Sure."
Harry tugged on Remus's arm. "I have paper in the kitchen."
"Okay then." Remus followed Harry into the kitchen.
Severus sighed and shut the front door. He did not like Remus still, even if the man was nicer than Sirius, he still rubbed Severus the wrong way. Severus knew he needed to let it go now that he was an adult. He was married, he had a family and children on the way and it was well past time to let the grudges go, but he still could not completely let them all go.
Severus followed them to the kitchen.
Harry got a piece of paper and climbed onto a chair, sitting on his legs. "H-A-R-R-Y. Harry." He held up the paper. "See."
It was hard to read, but Remus smiled. "How did you learn to spell your name?"
"Daddy taught me."
Remus looked at Severus. "Who would have thought?"
Severus raised an eyebrow. "Thought what exactly?"
"The son of James calling you his dad and you calling Harry your son."
Severus grumbled. "Sirius."
"He told me what happened a couple weeks ago and keeps asking me to tell Lily that he's sorry. She apparently won't talk to him right now."
"Can you blame her? He almost got our-her-Harry killed."
"I'm sure it was an accident."
"Perhaps, but accidents are sometimes fatal, aren't they? Lily may be pregnant, but right now Harry is the only child she has and she loves him more than anything. It would devastate her if something happened to Harry-completely devastate her."
"I know. She's Harry's mother. She has every right to be upset and angry with Sirius, but it was still accident and Sirius feels terrible."
"You may as well go speak to Lily about it. She's awake most likely. She was when we were up there earlier anyway."
"Sirius isn't very happy with you."
Severus smirked. "Is he ever? It's a mutual understanding between us to not like each other."
"Says he's worried about Harry. Don't really know why."
"Worried? He almost got Harry killed and he is worried about Harry being with us? Lily is his mother, what's to worry about?"
"I figure he meant with you, but-"
Severus scoffed. "Harry's fine, isn't he?"
"Yes. Teaching him things. He seems perfectly fine, but won't be a consolation to Sirius. Maybe being a Professor suits you?"
Severus resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I am a Professor out of necessity, not desire."
"I figured that." Remus looked at Harry. "I think I will go speak with Lily and give her a birthday gift." He left the room.
Severus looked at Harry, who was scribbling on his paper. He decided to start dinner.
"Can I help?" Harry asked.
"Sure. Wash your hands and I'll let you pour some of the ingredients in the dish."
"Okay." Harry got off the chair and climbed onto the stool to the sink to wash his hands.
Severus did not really need the help since simple magic could do it all much quicker, but it would keep the kid busy.
Lily was reading a book when Remus walked in.
"Hey, how are you feeling?"
"Sick, but that's a good thing always, means everything is going well. I am doing better though. My sickness is easing up and should go away for good soon. How are you doing?"
"Fine. Just fine."
"How's your dad?"
"Still not doing well."
"I'm sorry."
Remus shrugged. "I just wanted to check up on everyone.
"We're good."
"Brought you a gift too."
"Oh, thank you." Lily took the gift and opened it and gasped. "Wh-where-where did you find this?"
Remus cleared his throat. "A woman in Godric's Hollow. Said she was walking by it a couple weeks ago and saw something shiny so she looked closer and found this necklace in the lot. Muggle woman so she is unable to see anything."
Lily sighed heavily. "That's a good thing. I don't even want to see that house." Lily wiped the tears from her eyes. "I can't believe she found this. I didn't remember that I had it still."
Remus looked confused. "Wasn't it something James gave you?"
Lily shook her head. "No." She took a breath. "Severus did. When we were children. He found the stone by the river back home. It looked like an elephant and was split in two. He kept one and I kept the other. It was supposed to give us good luck and we made a pact that evening we found it-that when we went off to school in a couple days we would stay friends no matter what." She choked. "It was one promise I didn't keep."
Remus looked sympathetic. "You did keep it. Look at you now. You are friends, aren't you? More than friends even. So you lost touch for a couple years. You became friends again."
Lily nodded. "I'm sorry. Emotional pregnant woman." She took a deep breath. "Thank you and thank the woman who found it."
"She gave it to the police. Just so happened a wizard was by the station at the time and he contacted me and that's how I got it. Thought I would give it to you as a birthday gift."
"Well, thank you."
It was silent a moment. Remus broke it. "Know what you having yet?"
"No. I want to wait until I am half way through first. At my 20 week appointment, I will probably find out then."
"You waited awhile with Harry too."
"About 20 weeks. Learned too early the first time and then lost it so I don't want that again."
"Bet you have boys again."
"I will fine with whatever. Preference would be at least one girl to mix it up a bit since I already have a son, but we'll find out in a few weeks."
"I say boys. That's my vote."
"My neighbours all seem to think they are boys. Severus thinks I am becoming so convinced they are boys that they are both going to be girls."
"Does he want a son?"
Lily shrugged. "He doesn't seem to have a preference at all. I don't think he really ever though much about children until now that he never considered having a preference."
"Well, that's good."
"I think so. I'm glad he doesn't care. James wanted a son so I am glad our first child was a boy. Though if we had a daughter, I don't think he would have loved her any less. Severus knows that I would prefer a girl since I have a boy so I think he's hoping one is a girl for me."
"I still say boys because you want a girl."
Lily sighed and put the rattle toys to the side. "I love the gifts though. I am sure our sons or daughters, whichever they are will love them too. Need to start collecting things soon anyway. After we find out what we are having, we'll start gathering items. Severus will put everything up in the nursery when the babies arrive."
"Like James had to with Harry. I remember helping him get everything together."
Lily grinned. "He was quite frantic, wanting everything in good condition for his son." She felt a little pang in her heart at the memory. She would always miss James. She sighed. "Let's not get into a sad mode. I will be 24 tomorrow. Celebrate instead."
"No. A happy early birthday." Remus let out a breath and cleared his throat. "Sirius also told me to tell you once again how sorry he is."
Lily frowned. "I've already spoken to him once."
"He's afraid you will curse him if he speaks to you in person again."
"He ought to be."
Remus sighed. "He feels terrible."
"He should."
Remus huffed lightly. "Well, I really didn't need anything. I just wanted to check up on everyone and see how you are faring."
"We're all good."
Remus smiled. "Appears to be. When will you be off bed rest?"
"Tomorrow."
"For your birthday? That's good. I am glad everything is going well."
"It is."
There was a silence.
"Well, I best get going. I will talk to you again next week?"
"If I can go back to training. Right now I am on a break."
"Just let me know then. You know where to find me if you need anything."
"Thanks."
Remus left and Lily sighed. She was still not happy with Sirius and did not want to talk to him. It annoyed her that he had Remus come and be an owl for him. Still, she knew Sirius and Remus were each other's best friends now just like she and Severus were each other's best friends. Well, more than friends, but still best friends. She looked over the stone and wondered if Severus still had his or if it was lost in the explosion of his childhood home.
Early March 1984
Lily was lying on the couch, reading a book and covered in a soft blanket to keep warm.
Severus came into the room. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yep." She got to her feet and touched her growing stomach.
"How are you feeling?"
"Nervous. And excited. I am thinking about finding out what we are having. The anticipation is killing me."
"I hope at least one is a girl."
Lily smiled. "I would like a daughter, but I'll be happy with whatever we have. Health is what is important. As long as they are healthy, I don't care."
Severus put his hand on her back. "But you would prefer to have a daughter."
"Well, it's either two boys or two girls so whatever we have is what we will be content with and get used to having."
"We don't have much choice now except to accept it."
"Remus thinks they are boys. So do most of our neighbours. I'm becoming so convinced they are goin' be boys that I have feeling they will end up being girls like you keep saying."
"My vote is girls. I like playing devil's advocate."
Lily smiled as Severus opened the back door. "We can find out shortly."
They apparated to the hospital. Lily sat down and put her hands on her stomach. "I can't believe I am twenty weeks already. Half-way through."
"Yeah."
"They'll arrive before we know it."
"Before we are ready-that I have no doubt."
A lady came out. "Snape."
Lily got to her feet with Severus.
"How are feeling today?"
"Pretty good. Swollen, but good."
"Good. I need you to pull up your robes so we can have a look at the babies and see if everything is going okay."
Lily did as told and the healer looked over Lily's growing stomach with a wand. "Baby A looks great. Good weight and size for its age. Nothing appears to be abnormal." She moved her wand. "Baby B also looks great. Good size and weight. Everything looks normal."
Severus smiled as he looked closer. "Is it sucking its thumb?"
"Yes, they start doing that about now."
Severus could see very, very tiny hands and feet and legs and arms. They were starting to look less like aliens and more like babies now.
"You want to know the gender yet?"
"What do you think, Sev? Should we find out today or wait?"
"It's up to you. I figure you are dying to find out."
"I'd like to learn."
"You sure you want to know now?"
Severus looked at Lily who nodded.
Lily felt goosebumps on her arms. "I would like to know. I think it'll make it easier-to prepare. I can figure out if I need to reuse Harry's things or we need new clothes."
"I would prefer to know." Severus figured it would make it more real to him if he knew what to expect and knowing the babies' genders would help him hopefully get more comfortable with the idea that he was going to have three children around in a couple months.
"Okay then." The lady did a spell. "All right, baby A. Baby A's genes and body parts show me a XX chromosome. So, you are having a girl."
Lily's eyes grew wide and she looked at Severus. Severus smiled at her. He knew Lily did hope for a girl this time so he was glad she was getting a daughter. It then hit them that he would also have a daughter. He saw a vision of a little Lily enter his mind and smiled at that with her auburn hair and emerald green eyes. He could live with that.
"A girl, huh? Your preference was for a girl, so you got what you wanted."
"A little girl. We are going to have a daughter."
"She looks very active too. You may have your hands full." The lady said.
Lily nodded. "I know. She kicks a lot."
She smiled and moved her wand. "And baby B is a XX chromosome so you are having another girl. Two girls. I was told you already know they are monozygotic-identical twins."
"Yes. Identical twin girls." Lily was happy to hear that they were girls. She wouldn't have been disappointed with boys, but she did hope for at least one girl. Now she was having two and she hoped that they would get along much better than her and her sister did and would stay close and not be Christmas card relatives like Petunia was to her. They only did those to be civil and Lily figured Petunia sent them just to brag on herself and son to someone.
"Harry won't be getting a brother." Severus said with a smile.
Lily laughed. "No, guess not. That's okay. He'll have to deal with two sisters instead. You may need to get him out and away from all the girl stuff from time to time."
"What would I do with Harry?"
"Anything that gets you and him away from all the women you two have to live with." Lily laughed.
Severus kissed her forehead. "I think I will be okay." Severus let out a heavy breath. "Two daughters. Never would have thought."
Lily smiled. "Two daughters. I hope-being twins and all-identical especially, that they will get along. I hope they are both witches."
Severus felt a pang in his heart at that and took her hand, giving it a squeeze. "No child born of you and of myself could be anything except a witch or wizard. Don't worry. Squibs aren't common. Besides, they are identical. If one isn't a witch, the other won't be either."
"I never neither met nor heard of a case of identical twins that were different like that. They share DNA; they will share their magical ability. Witches or Squibs, not one of each, guarantee it."
Lily felt herself relaxing. "We need names. We don't have any names yet."
"We do. We need some girl names. And we need to start making plans."
"Okay, dear. You have another appointment in two weeks. Don't hesitate to send me a note if you need anything. Take it easy. We want to keep those babies in you as long as we can."
Lily got off the table. "I will. Thanks."
Severus left the hospital with Lily.
"Two daughters. Twin daughters. I guess you were right. They were girls."
Severus smirked. "Yeah."
Lily sighed as they walked down the road. "We should probably start transitioning Harry to his new bedroom. I thought I would give him a choice of my old one or yours. The spare room would be just that-a spare for any guests, maybe a playroom even."
"Maybe both, part play, part guest with a bed and dresser?"
"That could work." Lily smiled and put her hand on Severus's arm as they apparated home. A family of three to a family of five would be quite a change for everyone.
