A/N: And now for the next chapter of what has to be the most consequential dare I ever took. An aside, all of my health and academic problems have been resolved, so now I am free to devote the remainder of the summer to writing, and now that I have a good beta reader I will not have to go to the library and research each and every thing which happens that has not to me at some time or another. (Such things as temporary blindness due to injury, getting beaten up for being a smart-aleck and tricking drama directors I have no problem with. Such things as time-travel, disciplining one's children and the side-effects of pregnancy I needed LOTS of help with.) So here you go.
Chapter Forty-Eight: Extracurricular Activities"Alright, class, today we will be making a more concentrated form of the Incandescence Potion we did last Friday. The ingredients are on the board, and the only other thing out of the ordinary is that you have to-" here Professor Granger paused tensely before continuing, "simmer the lacewings and fireflies together. Yes, Mitchie?"
"I was wondering whether we were to work in groups of two or three?"
"Threes sound good, this is rather a tricky one. I'll be in my office for a moment if anyone needs me." And with that, the professor got up with some mild difficulty from her desk and departed, causing a murmur or whispers from the Slytherins and Gryffindors.
"Is your mum feeling alright, Starcatcher?" Jen inquired.
"I don' know…Mitchie, you don't think-?"
"How the hell am I to know about these things?" the American whispered. "The only labor I assisted with was eight hamsters!"
"Hold on! You mean to tell me Professor Granger's-?" Jen asked. Julie and Mitchie nodded as if to say 'where were you?' "Merlin's arse, how far along is she?"
"I'm not sure, the baby's due within the month or so." Jen suddenly became very different, almost frighteningly concerned and capable.
"And she's still teaching? What kind of…alright, listen. Yank, I want you to go knock on her door and make like you've got a question about lacewings or something. Starcatcher, I want you to remember; when is your little sibling due?"
"I'm not sure…" Julie tried to figure it out and wound up shrugging. "I'd say within these next two or three weeks or so, could be wrong."
"Okay, that's bad. Go talk to your mum, find out what's wrong."
"Okay…why?"
"Because! I have little cousins, I know these things. Go."
"Alright," Julie agreed, going with the Yank to her mum's office.
The instant they were more than ten feet away, Jen's hand started to tremble and she put down her quill. The stress of being in a room with Jem was positive hell, and mealtimes in Lyff's presence were positively unbearable. She had never thought of getting away from them before Tyler dispelled her illusion, and in spite of the stress and the worrying about whether or not her parents would ever speak to her again, it was definitely better not getting hit with a book every other day or so. A few moments later, the Yank returned and motioned for Jen to go with her. As the pair headed for their professor's office, Jen caught sight of her black-haired twin brother glaring at her. Her neck began to twitch.
"Now, Mum, could you tell Jen what you just told me?"
"Honestly, dear, I just don't feel well. It happens."
"Mum," Julie pleaded, a bit threateningly.
"Please, Professor Granger, you can trust me," Jen said. Finally Hermione sighed and explained her situation to the former Slytherin.
"I just woke up a little sore, that's all –ow."
"Ow? What was that ow?" Julie asked almost hysterically.
"Oh, for crying out loud, Julie, it's only –oh, cripe. There it goes again." A weird look was crossing Professor Granger's face.
"It isn't sharp and sort of like indigestion, right?" Jen asked.
"Actually, yeah it is…it isn't-?"
"Mum, we are going to Madam Pomfrey's, now."
"But- but I have class. You have class."
"Per'fessor, I suggest you do what the darkhairs say." Mitchie remarked pleadingly. "I'll go call Miss Parkington to take over if you like."
"Seriously, girls, I think I'm fine."
"Better to play it safe, Professor," Jen advised. Julie was just a wee touch more blunt:"You come with me an' Jen or I'm getting Dad."
"Alright, but I'm not going until Judy gets here."
"Fine. Mitch, would you get her please?"
"Gone, babe." The werewolf sped off, out of the office and through the classroom door.
"Four to one says she does a broom-accio," Julie observed. "Sit down, Mum, I don't want you to get lightheaded."
"Excuse me, but who is the parent here?" Professor Granger asked in disbelief. Jen brought her her chair and smiled.
"Professor, you don't want to mess with something like this. Even if it is a false alarm, you should really see the nurse."
"If you say so," the professor finally concurred, looking at the two black-haired girls and their concerned expressions. "I don't like being away from class for this long, though, what if the Slytherins and the Gryffindors get in a fight?"
"I'll take care of everything, Hermione," Judy Parkington announced, appearing at the door of her office holding the unfortunate and struggling Yank by the ear. "I caught this flying in the halls again."
"Michelle!" Hermione reprimanded. "Not again! It's the seventh time this month-ow."
"Well done, Mitch," Judy said, suddenly, releasing Mitchie's ear and shaking her free hand. "Hermione, I really think you'd better get to Poppy's now."
"You are all overreacting," the professor said, just before handing the reins of Potions class to the Muggle. Julie, Jen and Mitchie went back to their seats the minute they saw Hermione safe in Madam Pomfrey's care.
"What's up, Jules?" Tom asked from the table behind them.
"Whoever's decided on Capricorn."
"Oh, splendid! Won't Professor Sinistra be pleased?" The Griffie girls turned around and gave him a look and he realized what she'd meant by that. "You don't mean…?"
"It looks that way."
"But wouldn't that make Whoever –you know, sort of underdone?"
"D'you mean premature?" Mitchie said. "Nope. That's not much of a problem, anyway."
"But she only told everyone at Christmastime."
"Well, I knew for quite awhile before that."
"Are you nervous?"
"Is the sky up? Stupid question, Tim." Mitchie was obviously almost as nervous as her friend.
"Do you know whether it's a girl or boy?" Jen asked. Julie smiled.
"I'm betting on a boy. Dumbledore referred to him as 'he,' after all."
"What are your folks going to name him, Jules?"
"I don't know…probably something wizardish and traditional."
"You came with a first name, didn't you, though, so they've not had that much experience?" Jen had actually yet to call Julie by her first name.
"Yep, I was named totally at random…just opened the Shakespeare and picked 'Julius Caesar,' s'cept I'm a girl, so I'm Julia, and Starcatcher's cause o' this mark I've got." Jen seemed to find this anecdote amusing.
"My parents didn't know Jem and I were twins, and when I was born first it was rather a shock, as they wanted to call a boy Jeremy after my uncle. So I was called Jennifer so we could be Jem and Jen."
"It's dead convenient when twins got matching names," Tom observed.
"Yeah, if you get it wrong both of them answer," Tim added.
"How'd you two get complimental names?" Mitchie asked. "I thought you were cousins."
"Doubles. Mum and Aunt Jacquie were pregnant together and they negotiated our names out beforehand. Dad and Uncle Fred liked the idea, so I'm Tom and he's Tim."
"Which one's the older?"
"Me," Tim said. "Two and a half days."
"And you, Yank?" Jen asked in curiosity.
"Well, I come from America, so everybody calls me 'Yank.'"
"No, I mean your real name."
"Oh, yeah, right." Mitchie did look a bit distracted. "Well, my parents are both Irish-descended, so there's the Isolde, and their names were John and Cass."
"And that signifies?" Jen had absolutely no idea why this was funny. Julie laughed.
"There was a Muggle band in the late sixties with John Phillips and Mama Cass Elliot as well as Michelle Gilliam Phillips. It's a music joke."
"I thought the name 'Mitchie' was short for something," Jen observed. "But until you first got yelled at in Snape's class I wasn't sure. You're Michelle Isolde Tyler?"
"Yep."
"Jennifer Blaise Blodgett."
"Thomas Fred Weasley."
"Timothy George Weasley."
"Julia Starcatcher Snape."
"Judith Katherine Parkington. Do your work."
***************************************************************** "Draco!" Julie exclaimed, walking into Gryffindor Common Room with her friends. "I mean, Professor Malfoy, what are you doing here?"
"Julie, your dad sent me here to tell you what was going on."
"Is per'fessor Granger alright?" Mitchie asked.
"Yes, she's in St. Mungo's with Professor Snape, the baby's definitely coming, but she's okay, Julie's dad is there, and everything's going fine."
"Wasn't Madam Pomfrey going to take care of things?"
"Well, actually, she was, but a few of your father's sixth-years managed to injure each other in class today and she's really overbooked. Your dad took your mum out to St. Mungo's a few minutes ago."
"I thought that you couldn't Apparate out," Jen said.
"You can't. I believe they used Floo powder. It's not the first time someone's needed to go to a hospital."
"Mum's definitely okay?" Julie asked imploringly.
"Yes, Julie, she's fine. Trust me."
"Has Professor Snape had a conniption yet?" Mitchie inquired with an excited grin.
"Well, Severus seemed just a touch more nervous than when Julie disappeared at the ball last Halloween…I wouldn't say a conniption, though, persay, more like a quiet, civilized breakdown between contractions."
"Contractions?" Tim asked. "Isn't that something he keeps saying Mitch has a problem with?"
"I don't either have problems with contractions!"
"Not that kind, guys." In as professorly and inexplicit a manner as he could, Draco explained the rudiments of the procedure of getting born. Very calmly, Julie asked a question:
"Does all that hurt?"
"I suppose so, yeah."
"Okay."
And very calmly and evenly, Julie almost fainted from the nasty thought.
"Oh, nice, Per'fessor, scare 'er a bit," Mitchie chastised, as pale as a ghost herself. "That's what we Yanks call an over-share."
*************************************************************
"Dear, are you alright?" Severus asked.
"Yeah…no! Most definitely no…naw, I'm alright."
Pain. There was lots of pain…and it was dark. Very dark. Hermione could hear a strange sound, like a bird singing or flute playing, weirdly comforting sound it was…lots of pain…
And then the contraction ended and the professor could see the brightly-lit hospital around her again.
Severus knew that somehow something was not going right. He had seen his wife in pain often enough when she accidentally burned herself or spilled something acidic on her skin in class. She did not just stare into space that way when she was hurting, that much he knew. Nobody did, unless the pain reminded them of something else. For a moment he tried to think of what made him look that way, and the only comparison he could think of was the faraway look when he remembered getting his Dark Mark years ago.
"Darling, are you sure you're alright?"
"Yeah, just…hurts a bit."
He held her hand and that seemed to help. As nervous as he felt for her safety and the baby's, Severus was also very excited about his second child. He wondered how his first was putting up with waiting.
*************************************************************
"What do you think we should do while we wait?" Chloe asked. Julie gave her a deadpan look.
"Dress up in weird clothes and pretend we're Bohemian artists of the late nineteenth-century?"
"Er, no. I was thinking more along the lines of homework or something."
"Done it." Julie and Jen each held up their essays. Mitchie was still scratching away at her parchment, a fixed expression of defeat on her face.
"Well, then, how about we think of something to do for your new sibling?"
"Teach 'im to read," Mitchie said, almost inaudibly, not looking up for a second from her parchment.
"Yeah, why not go out and find Whoever a storybook?" Jen asked.
"I don't want to leave in case there's any news," Julie hedged.
"Well, did you guys ever play pass-the-pen?" Chloe suggested. "My friends and I used to come up with the funniest stories that way."
"Pass-the-pen?" Jen inquired.
"One of my Muggle friends from the Latin Quarter taught me how," Chloe explained. "One person starts a story writing out loud, and then they pass the pen and parchment to the next person, and they continue it, and so on. It's fun, really."
"Can I do the pictures?" Mitchie asked. "My handwriting's an insult to humanity."
"Okay." Julie found a roll of parchment and began trimming it into sheets with what looked to her friends like a small pocketknife. Next she found her pointiest long needle and sewed the sheets together in the middle, making an improvised notebook. "Will this be sufficient?" she inquired of Chloe.
"C'est magnifique," the first-year decreed. "Now who starts it, Julie, do you want to?"
"Okay." Julie got her quill and began to write. "Once upon a time, there was…" she looked up. "Any ideas there?"
"A lot of bunnies. Children like bunnies," Mitchie said.
"Personally I was terrified of them," Jen said. "Lyff told me they were shape-shifters when I was four."
"'Zhat bastard," Chloe observed tersely. "Vhere I come from he would have been locked up by now."
"Where I come from he'd have been offed by now. Didn't any of you see 'The Godfather'?"
"Mitchie, I sincerely hope you weren't involved with the Mafia." At times, Julie was bothered by the American's grasp on sordid subjects. "It's so untidy…"
"Why don't you make the story about a little kid," Jen suggested. "Little kids like to hear about other little kids."
"Okay. 'Once upon a time…there was a boy.'"
"A very strange, enchanted boy?" Mitchie inquired, just short of bursting into song.
"Zhey say 'e wandered very far, very far," Chloe added.
"Over land and sea…""What is with you lot and singing?" Jen inquired.
"It's from a Muggle film we sort of like a lot. Haven't you seen how in some of them the characters simply burst into song?"
"I've never really seen any Muggle films, except when I took Muggle Studies in third year for awhile. They're kind of neat, much better than wizard ones."
"Why'd you ever drop that class?" Mitchie asked. Jen indicated the last of the bruises around her eyes. "Oh. Say, when's your birthday? We could have him hit."
"Michelle Isolde Tyler, that's uncivilized. Let us poison him slowly as my people do." Chloe suggested.
"I think you're both mad. Why don't we take him to Dennon and leave him there without a wand?"
"Julie! You go, girl!" Mitchie said. "How's the story going so far?"
"'Once upon a time, there was a boy.'"
"Well, describe the kid!"
"Alright… 'he had dark hair and wasn't very tall.'"
"Hey!"
"'His best friend was a blonde.' Better, Chloe?"
"Much. My turn."
"This look about right?" Mitchie asked, holding up a picture of a boy who resembled a smaller Julie with somewhat lighter hair. "Shall I draw Chloe as the friend?"
"You know, what, this is not working," Chloe said. "I'm too nervous to write."
"Me, too. Should we go bother the house-elves for some munchies now?" Mitchie asked. "I think skipping lunch might've been a bad idea."
"Is it that time of the month again?" Julie asked.
"Yep. Good thing the days are getting longer, eh?"
"Did you get the Wolfsbane Potion from Mum before she left?"
"She set up a supply of it for emergencies such as this. I'm safe."
"Alright, this is something of an odd conversation, girls," Tim remarked, walking into the Gryffindor common room. "If I didn't know about your wolf thing, Mitch, I'd swear this was something I didn't want to hear."
"Do regular humans get cramps as well?" the American asked, scratching lazily. Tim looked suddenly very shocked and every female present started giggling.
"Werewolves do?" Hannah asked, following Tim into the room. "I somehow feel a lot better about being plain human."
"What does transforming into a wolf feel like?"
"Well, if you're wolf-born, it's just like a really hard sneeze all over. Bitten wolves need to get used to it and their first few hurt like a bugger and a half."
"Yank?" Jen asked quietly.
"Yeah?"
"Don't bite me."
"Don' worry, I won't. I don't care for humans, actually."
"You've tasted human?"
"Well, when one is a canid, one licks faces quite often. People taste like underdone chicken."
"When do you change?"
"When the moon rises and the sun goes down. Say, have you ever seen Muggles ride sleds drawn by dogs?"
"Are you suggesting-?"
"Yeah, I think it'd be fun. Why don't we go play in the snow?"
"What if there's some news?"
"Aw, Julie, Pureblood can find us on the lawn playing," Tim protested. "Besides, doesn't it take, like, hours for babies to get born?"
****************************************************************
"I assume you heard?" Flint asked Lyff that night.
"Heard what?"
"Another little half-Mudblood on the way."
"How the hell did Granger keep it a secret for so long? We only heard at Christmas and now she's-"
"I have my suspicions."
"You always have your suspicions, Matt, when will you have useful thoughts for me?"
"Be silent, you little twit. You've gotten positively insufferable since you lost Jennifer."
"I didn't lose her, she-"
"You lost her. You're a disgrace to your House, getting caught like that. Whoever treats a female that way deserves to lose his girl."
"And you're anyone to talk," Lyff mumbled.
"Listen, Lyfften. You've only got her brother on your side because it was the damned American who found you out. If he gets wind of what I found out this afternoon, he won' be so friendly. After all, Jennifer is his twin sister."
"And what have you found out that could sever Jem from me?"
"Snape's taken in the damn Yank as a foster kid. That's as good as making her a Slytherin."
"What the hell…why would he do that?"
"This is why." Flint tossed an old photograph to his friend. "Father's been letting me use his research pass with the Ministry."
"Who are these people?" Lyff asked, recognizing only his Potions teacher.
"Those were the American Aurory's best forensics operatives in the year 2002. Their daughter was born in two-thousand-three, just five months after Starcatcher and nine months after Jen."
"The American."
"Precisely. Who knew Snape had friends?"
"My father met them briefly when I was about three. He seems to recall them both being werewolves as well. Now, Lyfften, how would you propose getting a werewolf expelled?"
"Er…expose them for what they are?"
"No, everyone knows the Yank's a werewolf and almost noone minds. In fact, judging by what I saw last week in the library, most of the students think it convenient given Snape's essays on werewolves. What makes werewolves not dangerous?"
"Er…the Wolfsbane Potion? …Matt, you want to mess up her potion and make her go violent?"
"You aren't really as slow as Jen would have it, do you know that?"
"Damn that little chit…hope the Yank eats her."
****************************************************************
In between pain and unconsciousness there seemed to be a dark tunnel. Hermione was lost in it. There were strange sounds and a familiar feeling, as well as a tune she remembered from a long time ago.
Phoenix song.
"Okay, this isn't good. She's completely out of it." The doctor began checking Hermione's vital signs, frightening Severus.
"Is that the technical term for it?" he asked harshly.
"Mr. Snape, please. This is serious. Roberta, get me the 'scope, hurry."
"Scope? What do you want to do with a scope?"
"Sir, if you could please back away for a few moments," a nurse pleaded, busy pulling all kinds of frightening equipment out of cupboards. "Your wife will be fine, just let the doctors work."
Terrified, Severus moved to the side and relinquished control to the doctors. He did not, however, let go of his wife's hand.
Hearing the commotion within the delivery room, a visitor decided to Apparate in.
"Severus?" the man asked, placing a hand on the nervous professor's shoulder.
"I don't want to leave…could you owl Draco and tell him to tell Julie?"
"Of course."
"Thank you, Albus."
***************************************************************
"Two wolves?" Tim asked, looking at Mitchie and Donaghan. "Who's the other?"
"Probably just some Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff who hasn't come out yet."
"Aw, look, Mitchie's licking him."
"How do you know it's a him?" Jen asked.
"He looks like a 'him,'" Julie explained. "Wolves are such nice animals…I should probably walk the dogs."
"Dogs? Oh, yeah, your mum and dad have the three-headed one…"
"Do you want to come along?" Julie invited. Jen nodded with a small smile.
"You shouldn't walk around in the dungeons alone anyway."
"Oh, we don't have to go through the dungeons…I have a shortcut."
Minutes later, Jen and Julie fell out of the fireplace and into the Granger-Snapes' living room, laughing. The puppies came over and licked their faces.
"Bloody convenient stuff, Floo powder is," Jen observed. "When did your mum and dad set this up for you?"
"It was in place a little while 'fore I showed up, actually," Julie said with a smile.
"So they had it ready for their kid…oh."
"Yeah, just a convenient little leftover. Have you heard anything from your parents lately?"
"I overheard Jem talking to Lyff in the hall…my godmother's adopting a baby girl. I sort of wish I could talk to Aunt Blaise and explain what's going on before Jem and Lyff make me sound like…well, you get the idea."
"Jen, Lyff hit you. A lot. You weren't in the wrong."
"Yes, that's all very well and good for you to say, but you're in Gryffindor. You actually have common sense. In Slytherin it's all intrigues and deception and webs of lies."
"And girls getting hit with books across their faces, Jen? Haven't you realized yet you're never going back?"
Jen gave Julie a derisive look.
"How long did it take you to realize you'd never go back to that orphanage?"
Julie sank into one of the chairs by the fireplace.
"I'm not going to, am I? I'll have a sibling soon, and I've got parents and family…"
"Aren't we the pair? You've just got them; I've just lost them. Ironic, isn't it?"
"Jen…why would your brother take Lyff's side over yours?"
"That's just how things work in some families. The Grudgetts and Blodgetts are like one big clan, second cousins married each other for generations. Right now Lyff's the oldest heir, and since Jem's a second-born he's subservient to Lyff. I'm the firstborn girl, so I'm supposed to wind up with Lyff."
"Sounds like old royalty, but sordid."
"Old Slytherin clans almost always are sordid."
"Draco read me most of his family history…wasn't too bad."
"The Malfoys only went downhill in the last two generations before his. They weren't quite as pureblooded or snobbish as Lucius would have made out."
"I suspected that."
"I didn't know you called Professor Malfoy by his first name."
Julie reddened slightly.
"Oh, yeah, that. Sort of a habit we picked up in arguing. We fought a great deal before finally getting used to each other."
"I remember well. He defends you very quickly and harshly, you know."
Julie forced an airy little laugh at that.
"My father's influence, no doubt. I get the impression it was Dad who kept Draco from the Death Eaters."
"It was. If you were a Slytherin you'd also know that Professor Malfoy considers him one between friend and father."
"House isn't everything. I got that impression, too."
"So you have neatly been endowed with a protective honorary half-brother…though it seems to me Tyler suspects that he is more than that."
"You take Mitchie seriously, you take your sanity in your hands. To her life is but a series of jokes mortared together with the serious, and to be honest, much as I care for my foster-sister, it is none too strong a wall."
"You wax classical, do these dungeons frighten you?"
"Your hand shakes, friend; nay, my family's rooms comfort me."
"Perhaps it is the air, and the potions the Slytherins brew, that make us speak as our lost forebears doth."
"Or mayhap 'tis some spell left from a few evenings hence, as you knowest full well my mother's fondness for the bard of Stratford's work."
"What man is that?"
"Shakespeare; the first common favorite I had with her. Rememberest thou the play last November late?"
"Yea, where thou wert first made to kiss Professor Malfoy, well."
"Not first," Julie laughed. "I would kiss him again."
"He is well a man worth liking, or so he is writ."
"Dost thou like of him what thou hast seen of him?"
"Marry, I have seen him from bottom-ended up, the way in which I least like to view anything. But that which I have seen, I will say, friend, I like."
There was a sudden burst of smoke from the fireplace and both girls wound up coughing. The Shakespearean language shattered with an expletive.
"What the devil?"
"Ah, Julie," the visitor greeted, "there you are. Draco's already flying to St. Mungo's, you must come with me."
It was the first time Julie had ever been frightened by Dumbledore's presence. Realizing who it was, Jen all but bowed.
"Minister Dumbledore, how are you?"
"In a tearing hurry, Jennifer, how are you?"
"Good."
"Excellent. I was told of the reasons for your change of house. Are you coming along with Julie to St. Mungo's?"
"Er-"
"Please do?" Julie asked, looking terrified. "Is something wrong with the baby?"
"Well, he's not born yet. There are difficulties with your mother's labor."
"Let's go, then!"
****************************************************************
She distinctly remembered something a lot like this. There was pain, but it was slowly fading with the sound of the phoenix song…until it eased to the point where she couldn't feel a thing.
"Fawkes," she mumbled, petting the brilliant red bird.
"What is she saying?" the doctor asked Severus, who was too frightened to reply.
"A girl…" the rasping, shrill voice of Wormtail remarked. And then Hermione could hear him whispering a spell and a terrible flash of blue light-
And the sound of a baby's cry brought her back from the terrible memory. It wasn't Julie crying, but-
"Your son," the doctor observed in delight, holding up a small, purplish-red person. "Wonderful lungs the little fellow has, listen to him yell."
"He's perfect," his mother whispered. Severus nodded and accepted the little boy wrapped in a blanket.
"What do we call him? Still think 'Albus'?"
"'Albus Julian,' for his great-grandfather and sister."
"Perfect." Severus handed Hermione her son. "He has your nose."
"Yes, he does, don't you, Albie?" she asked the baby. He responded by opening his dark eyes to look at her. "Blue eyes?"
"All babies have blue ones to start," the doctor observed. "If you like I could tell you what they'll turn out to be…" he drew out his wand and tapped small Albus on the arm. "Dark black, like his daddy."
"Really?" Hermione asked. "You'll have your daddy's eyes…Sev, he's wonderful."
"And such small hands," his father marveled as the little boy grasped his finger in a tiny fist. "He's just so little…your sister's going to love you, then, won't she, Albie?"
"Aahh," the baby replied in his infant way.
Outside the delivery room, Julie, Jen and Dumbledore had only just arrived recently. Julie was already starting to pace a hole in the floor when the doctor appeared.
"Is my Mum alright?" she asked before the door even shut.
"Yes, quite. You have a brother."
"I KNEW IT!" Julie crowed, leaping up and very nearly hitting the ceiling as she punched the sky. "A brother…is he alright? Arms and legs and all?"
"He's wonderfully tall and he has good lungs for his age," the doctor announced, none too helpfully.
"Julia?" her father asked, opening the door. "Come see your brother, Albus, come and see your godson."
The overjoyed Gryffindor and Minister of Magic walked in quietly, afraid that the little boy might disappear if they woke him up.
"Albus Julian, this is your sister, Julie Starcatcher," Hermione introduced, strangely feeling for the first time that she had two children. Remembering Julie's birth had suddenly made her more aware of who the child was.
"Er…hi, baby," Julie said, looking at her brother. Albie opened his eyes for her and looked confusedly around before shutting them again. He was slightly cross-eyed and on the whole quite adorable. "Mum, he's so small."
"That's a good thing," her father observed. "Babies come that way. Albus, what do you think?"
"He's perfect, Severus." The old man gently touched the newborn's cheek. "I didn't realize you planned to name him after me. It's quite flattering." Dumbledore kissed his little godson on the head. "At school they'll call you A.J., no doubt, Albus."
Suddenly there was a sound rather like a howl. Knocking politely, Draco entered the room and saw Small Albus.
"The doctor says it's a boy."
"He is. Look at him."
"I don't want that animal in there, sir," they heard the doctor's voice protest. Just then, a red wolf got in between Draco's long legs. "Hey!"
"That 'animal' is my other daughter," Severus announced. "Michelle, come see the baby."
"Whuff," Mitchie said. The reddish werewolf put her paws up neatly on the foot of the bed so as not to scare the baby. "Arr-whuff!"
"What's his name?" Draco asked.
"Albus Julian."
"Want to hold him?" Hermione offered.
"Er…alright." Carefully, Draco accepted the small infant, holding him first as if he expected him to explode, and then the way one clutches a favorite book to one's chest, supporting small A.J.'s head. "Hello."
Jen was watching through the window, her hand shaking.
"One minute," Severus said, giving his wife's hand a squeeze and walking to the door. "Well, come in, Jennifer. My son's waiting to meet you."
And with a rare and brilliant smile, the professor ushered the student in to see his baby. Jen had to bite her lip hard to keep from crying. Her hand shook slightly as she looked at the small infant.
Julie gave her a grin that indicated she'd gotten parents and family… and could share.