Title: Baby Boom! 9/18
Author: Mariann
Rating: R
Pairing: Sirius/Remus
Category: Between Fluff, Fun and Fighting
Summary: Sirius and Remus grow up, find love, start a family and fight the Dark Lord
Disclaimer: Belongs to JKR - no money's made from my poor attempts at writing
A/N: AU - The Willow Incident does not happen in this story. Peter is loyal and a spy for Dumbledore. Remus and Sirius are destined to fight Voldemort - will they succeed? A fair amount of children are born in this story - to spite the Death Eaters of course!
9. Another Return to Hogwarts
Of course the babies' godparents, James and Lily for Polaris, Peter and Sabina for Vega, came to see them ever so often. By Christmas both babies had smiled at their fathers for the first time. After the new year started, Sirius and Remus returned to Hogwarts for a while to get a better grip at their latest power surge. It had set in a few weeks after the babies were born. They arrived at the school with the children and their considerable paraphernalia. Minerva showed them to a suite of rooms looking out on the south of the castle. They could see Hagrid's cabin and the lake. The suite was on the fourth floor near the hospital wing. In fact, Poppy Pomfrey was their neighbour.
Most of the teachers oohed and aahed over the children. Venetia had made a lot of baby clothes for them, sewn and knitted. Sirius and Remus took them with them wherever they went in the castle. They spent a good amount of time in the library, where they had taken residence in a spot near a window at the back of the library. They read a lot of things they had never treated in class.
After a week Sirius had his first encounter with his brother since he was back at Hogwarts. He had Vega on his breast and read at the same time when Regulus spotted him.
"I don't believe this!" Regulus cried, "Look at that, Stan, will you!"
Rabastan Lestrange, just a couple of steps behind Regulus, stared open-mouthed at Sirius. They went closer immediately.
"Sirius? What's that supposed to mean?" Regulus demanded.
Sirius looked up and frowned. It was just time to shift Vega to the other breast, so he gently pushed a small finger into her mouth to make her let go. She mumbled something and he switched her to the other side and encouraged her tenderly to continue suckling.
"There you go, love... - Hello, Regulus. You didn't expect me to send you a card with her birth announcement, now did you? You can tell mum that she's become the grandmother of a girl and a boy. This is Vega."
"What? You're not going to tell me that YOU gave birth to twins?" Regulus shouted.
"Could you possibly lower your voice? If not for her then for the sake of this being a library. I gave birth to her, Remus had our son, Polaris."
Regulus sputtered something about blood traitors and abominations, but he'd done it too loud, because Madam Pince turned up on the scene and asked Sirius:
"Is there a problem, Mr. Black?"
"Nothing I couldn't handle, Madam Pince. Only my brother here has been a bit out of sorts, maybe he should go and see the nurse..."
Madam Pince only needed to nod away from the spot and the two Slytherin sixth years moved away. Sirius snickered in a low voice after they had vanished. He looked down on Vega.
"That was a good one, love. Wonder what my dear old mum has to say to that! She must have been outraged when she learned that she couldn't disinherit me. Now most of her precious Black stuff will still be left to me and not her precious Regulus. Wonder, if he already knows that? I bet he's already a Death Eater."
The baby suckled on, hearing her father's soft voice but not understanding what he said. He was glad for that and he hoped fervently that she would never have to meet his mother. He took the time to reminisce about his feelings during the pregnancy. Once he had started to feel comfortable with it he had learned to listen deep inside of himself. Feel his baby. He had often talked to the unborn baby in his belly. Had just sat in a window seat and caressed her through his belly.
"You are my little wonder, Vega. You and Polaris, too, of course. You don't really know yet, but I love you more than my life..."
Sirius hadn't noticed that Remus was standing next to the nearest bookshelf listening in to him and smiling. He carried Polaris on his arm. The baby was already asleep, having finished his meal. Remus also carried a thick baby blanket, which he spread on the rug next to the armchair in which he wanted to sit. Sirius noticed him.
"Hey! Have you been eavesdropping?"
"Just a bit. I love you! What are you reading?"
"I was reading up on the Unforgivables. I'm doing some research for Lily. She's doing her bit at the Ministry and I'm going through everything that I can find here. There's quite a lot to read."
"To possibly develop counter curses?"
"Yeah, mostly. Though it's nowhere said that we'll succeed. We'd like to find something that can put a stopper on Avada Kedavra. Like putting a spell on people that would make them 'immune' against it. Most people wouldn't stand a chance to cast a counter curse. - And what are you after?"
"Dark creatures for one. And then the latest news is that there are rumours that the Death Eaters are carrying some kind of a mark branded in their forearm. All the ones that were captured had the same thing. We believe it's some means of communication."
Vega was through suckling. Sirius marked the book on the table next to him to tend to her fully. She looked at him and smiled. He pulled her up to his shoulder and waited for the little belch. Then he wiped the milk off her little mouth and put her down to sleep on the blanket next to her brother.
"Here you go, love! Have a nice nap!" he whispered and waited until the little girl fell asleep.
Then he sat up in the armchair again and picked up his book. Soon both young men were immersed in the books and took extensive notes.
That's how Dumbledore found them a short while later. He conjured another armchair and some tea for them.
"Hello, Professor!" Remus said.
"A very good afternoon to you, too, Remus! And Sirius. I see you have made yourselves quite comfortable here..."
"We'll have a couple of thousand books to work through, we thought it was appropriate," Sirius grinned.
"Absolutely. I trust that Irma has nothing against it?"
"No, in fact she's been the greatest of support. We've uncovered a few rare beauties."
Dumbledore looked down on the sleeping children.
"And your children are well, too?"
"At least they don't seem to mind the not so bright room..." Remus replied, looking down on them.
"I was actually coming down for something else, but I have an idea. It might be better if you worked a bit more in secret, so how about I show you one of the rooms close to here that you could have for yourselves? You would be completely undisturbed there."
"That would be great. I've just been hit on by Regulus and the little Lestrange. Nasty piece of work that one. If we'd have a room for ourselves we could set up a crib for the children, that would be better than having them sleep on the blanket," Sirius said.
"I would expect that your brother was a bit surprised? Or have you informed your family about the newest addition to the Black family tree?"
"Don't even want to think about it! I've certainly been blasted off like my mother burned off Andromeda's name. So I suppose the children will not show up there."
"You would know that better than I. Anyway, if one of you wants to come along I'll show you the rooms I have in mind."
Remus got up and nodded. He followed Dumbledore to one of the side rooms of the library. Dumbledore studied the shelves for a moment and then pointed to a book.
"This is Nicolas Flamel's first work on the Philosopher's Stone. He noted down a lot of things about it, never actually talks about it in the book, so from reading it no one could make one, which is why the book is still here and out in the open. Quite inconspicuous, I do not think many students lose themselves in this wing of the library. - Actually, Remus, if you do want to hide something important, you might consider of putting it out in the open among other things. I grant you that only people who are desperate to find it and really look for it, will do so. Anyway, there is a secret entrance behind this book. The password is 'Ollivander's wands'. I suggest to keep the door hidden you'd best take a few books out of the shelf. That will make it harder to deduct the one you're actually using. Then stick the book in different places. Madam Pince is aware of the fact that the book travels on the shelf."
Remus took the book, whispered the password and watched as the shelf swung forward, revealing a nice door. Behind the door was a corridor. As soon as Albus had passed it, the magical candles flickered to light and they walked through the corridor and to an adjacent corridor. They passed a door on the way and Remus saw a window at the end of the corridor. Albus stopped at the last door just before the window and opened it.
"This is a fairly old part of the castle. These chambers are hardly used these days. They might still be a bit dusty, but I will send some house-elves to clean them up. Here you are..."
Remus looked around. He had entered into a very nice large sitting room, furnished with antique sofas and armchairs, which were grouped around a coffee table of considerable size. There was a larger round table in a corner with several chairs. The ground was covered with beautiful carpets. The walls opposite the windows were covered with old bookcases behind glass doors. There was a fireplace in the middle of the wall between the bookcases. Everything looked a bit dusty, but very nice. There were two windows and a door leading to another room. Remus nodded.
"That's brilliant. It's bright with the light from the outside and spacious enough to do research comfortably."
"Splendid. You are both doing enormously important work right now. You should do it in comfort. Lily will join you here for a good part of the week soon. She is still held up being trained at the Department of Experimental Charms, but in a month or so she should be ready and bring along quite a lot of obscure things to work through. While you two are still being trained it will occupy you nicely."
When they returned to the corridor, Dumbledore pointed to the end of it:
"Instead of turning left at the next corridor you can follow this one and it will lead you to the main hallway to the library. The door is behind a painting. If you open it from this side you can look at it and remember it. The password is the same. You can cover this door with your own password."
Remus nodded, then they both returned to the library. They sat down again. Remus poured another cup of tea, which had been kept warm and warmed himself up.
"To show you an extra room was not the real reason I was coming here. I would like to invite the two of you into the Order of the Phoenix."
Sirius and Remus looked at him.
"What's that?" Sirius asked.
"It's a not very large group of people who want to intensify the fight against the Death Eaters. Alastor and his Aurors are really doing a fine job, but they are too out in the open. There are a few older Aurors who are already a member of this Order, as well as professionals from all sorts of branches. Many people are not aware about how much they can actually contribute, but they usually quickly learn in the Order."
"How do we join?" Remus asked.
"You just join upon invitation. That's what I'm giving you now. All that's asked of you is to regularly show up at the meetings."
"Where are the meetings held?" Sirius wanted to know.
The gleam in Sirius' eyes told Dumbledore that Sirius was quite keen on fighting Voldemort.
"Mostly here at Hogwarts. We are still building up a headquarter. You will be called for the meetings as we do not hold them regularly. It is easier to remain a secret society if you do not meet all too regularly. People cannot watch you so easily."
"Yes, we will both join the Order," Sirius said, throwing a glance at his husband, who nodded.
"Very well. Some members of your family have already joined, Remus, we count on all of your older siblings as well as your mother and father. It is important for us to have a good base at the Ministry. I would like to thank you both for not losing your trust in me. I admit that I have not always been too forthcoming with information. But I am still glad that I have never told you a lie either."
"Forgiven. We love the children," Remus said, looking at his children with so much love in his eyes.
Dumbledore recognised the sentiment in his former student.
"That is wonderful, Remus. I am happy that the two of you are happy with your family."
"I never knew what it meant to have a loving family, Professor. You know my parents. The atmosphere at Grimmauld Place would not allow for any form of tenderness. I do intend to give my children all the love I never got. Because it's easy to love. James and then Remus taught me that first and then Richard and Venetia gave freely what my parents denied me," Sirius said.
"Good. That is very good. I do think you deserve it, Sirius. Now I shall send the house-elves to that room for you. There would be some bedrooms as well, if you should prefer to move in fully you are welcome, too, by the way. I think, it would be a good idea, because you'd be out of the main school this way. Better for the secrecy of your research..."
"Thank you, Professor. I think, we will. It's quite a lovely place."
Dumbledore left them and they turned back to their work. They held on until their children woke from their naps and wanted to be fed. Remus took care of Vega, Sirius picked Polaris up. They made themselves comfortable and let the children suckle.
"Being both equipped like that has its advantages - we can feed them at once," Remus said and chuckled.
"Yes, that's a lucky bit. We'd have had a lot less sleep otherwise."
After the feeding Remus and Sirius conjured a large trolley to place the books and their parchments and took everything including the children to the new room. Remus pulled out a couple of books, silently showed Sirius the one he needed, then they spoke the password to the shelf. They passed through the door, closed it and Remus showed Sirius the way to the rooms Dumbledore had given them. He covered the door with another password and opened it. They pushed the trolley through.
The house-elves were still busy with the bedrooms. There was a lot of dust to be removed and everything needed to be covered with new fabric. While Sirius and Remus were off to their current chambers to pick up their things the house-elves gave their rooms a lovely squashy Gryffindor tower feel. They returned and found a series of perfect rooms. There was the large sitting room with the huge fireplace. A lovely fire crackled on the grate now, giving the room a cosy warm feeling. The stone walls were covered with thick tapestries to keep the warmth in and the hardwood floor was mostly covered with thick oriental rugs. Sirius held Polaris on his arm and walked on to see the other rooms. The door led to a smaller room, which had already been decorated as a nursery. Two cribs waited for their new inhabitants. They looked ancient, but really beautiful. They were both fitted with light blue bedclothes. Two dressers with a changing table on top and two rocking chairs with footstools completed the furniture. There was another door to a large bathroom. The tub was big enough for the whole family, white enamel with gold fittings. The same colours were used for the sinks and the toilet. The bathroom cabinets were of brass and glass, filled with the usual fluffy Hogwarts towels. Then they got to the final room, which was their bedroom. It didn't surprise them that it contained a huge four poster fitted with red velvet hangings. There was a chaise-longue pushed to one wall, a sofa and two armchairs with a small coffee table stood close to the fireplace and here, too, the walls were covered in thick tapestries. There was a high mirror just next to the door. At the end of the room another door to the right led through a boudoir to a further room around the corner. It was furnished as another bedroom. The boudoir was filled with large cupboards and shelves for clothes. There was a dressing table and a few chairs around a tiny round tea table.
"This is amazing! You guys have done a sensational job!" Sirius said to the house-elves, who took the compliments with beaming faces.
"We is very happy to have you back, sirs! You have always been the kindest sirs with us house-elves! We is happy to do everything for you!" one of them said.
Remus and Sirius knew all of these house-elves by their names and never treated them badly, which was why their visits down in the kitchens were always welcome.
"Thank you, Kliby, you have always been most helpful! Now that's all for the moment, but would you mind to bring us dinner at six thirty?" Remus asked.
"Yes sir, I is doing this!" one of the house-elves said and they all vanished with a crack.
Until then Remus and Sirius took turns in getting their things from the other rooms to this flat. When they finally sat down to eat their dinner from the finest porcelain, Sirius said:
"Well, that's something! Much better than what we had up to now. I could make a home of this here..."
Remus grinned. He liked the place. It had a very antique feeling and he guessed that the furniture must have been crafted around the mid eighteenth century. There were a few beautiful sideboards and some lovely cabinets in the sitting room. And of course they had to look through all the books in the floor to ceiling bookcases, too.
"I suppose we'll be here for a while. The really good thing is that it is safe for the children. I'm so worried about my nieces. Voldemort is out there and he's looking for us. He can guess that we're still in training, so he wants us gone sooner rather than later."
Sirius frowned. He didn't often admit it, but he was terrified, too.
"Some Gryffindors we are. Terrified of a stupid Dark Lord," he muttered.
A rap on one of the windows drew their attention to an owl who wanted in. Remus opened the window and the owl dropped a letter on the table and flew to join Sirius' Silas on his perch.
"It's James' Libby. I bet that she's quite taken with Silas, she's always staying much longer than she's supposed to..." Sirius said with a grin.
Remus opened the letter and read it. He grinned and passed it to Sirius who read it, too.
"She's waiting for a reply."
"He's popped the question!!!" Sirius exclaimed. "Now that's great, Remus! They're going to get married, how nice. Well done, mate."
James invited them to their engagement party on the next Saturday. Sirius picked up his quill and quickly jotted down a yes as an answer and called Libby over.
"Come on, sweetie, you're going to take that nice short letter back to your daddy!" he said and fixed it on her leg.
Remus gave her an owl treat, opened the window again and the owl took off.
"We'll have to take the children along or someone has to feed them bottles that evening..." Remus said.
"I'm just thinking about that. We could take them to your parents' place and apparate to check on them."
"We could do that. Mum and dad should be willing to help..."
Sirius wrote a quick note to Richard and Venetia, asking them to watch over the children on that Saturday. He sent it off with Silas.
"Done. So. We have some free time, love, what are we going to do with it?"
"How about some chess?"
"I'm in."
They spent the time between the next feedings of their children playing chess and went to bed early. They knew they would have to get up at least once during the night.
On Saturday they walked to the gates of Hogwarts, their children held close to them in slings, and apparated to the Lupins' home, where they gave the two little ones to their grandparents. Venetia and Richard loved to have them and give Remus and Sirius a free evening.
"I heard you've been working very hard," Richard remarked.
"We've already gone through quite a pile of books," Remus confirmed.
"And the training of your powerful magic?"
"Is going well, too. We have moved into a very nice antique suite of rooms, close to the library," Sirius said.
"You should come visit us there once. It's really beautiful!" Remus added.
"Yes, why not? Dinner sometime next week?"
"That's a deal! Just tell us which day. We'll see to it that Rupert and Rowland can join us for the meal."
"So you're not eating at the Great Hall?"
"No, rarely."
"I suppose you met your brother, Sirius?"
"Yes, once or twice. And I suppose that Voldemort is aware of our children now."
"We have already cast the "Sanguis familia" spell on this house, Sirius, he will not be able to harm them in here. Dumbledore has given us the spell and it's been cast successfully just after you gave birth to them. Because we knew we couldn't keep you inside forever. You need to go out, you're so young!"
"We will, mum, but first we need to get rid of Voldemort," Remus said with a grim expression.
Then they left for the engagement party for James and Lily, which was held at James' parents' house, which was larger than the Evans'. There were dozens of people mingling around, mostly friends from Hogwarts, relatives of James' and some of Lily's relatives as well.
"Hey, there's my best man and his best man!" James screamed when he spotted their arrival.
"Hey there! Methinks, it's the groom!"
They all exchanged greetings and then Sirius and Remus were introduced to the people they didn't know. There were colleagues of James' and Lily's from the Ministry, some of his relatives and her relatives.
"These are my parents, mum, dad, these are Sirius and Remus Black-Lupin. They're a married couple and they have the two cutest little babies which I suppose are waiting back at Remus' parents' home."
"Right in one. We'll have to apparate over once or twice to check on them," Sirius said, beaming.
Mr. Evans looked slightly confused. He could see that both, Sirius and Remus were built rather like women, so he asked Lily:
"Tell me, how does that work? They sound like they have male names, but they look rather like... err... females..."
Lily grinned and explained:
"That's magic, dad. They are actually both. Due to certain circumstances which I cannot explain to you they have developed all the female parts necessary for reproduction, though they didn't know at the time, that's why they were trapped into being pregnant so early. The children were born within a week from each other last December."
"Wow... so they are actually two gay men?" Mr. Evans was really interested.
"Bingo!"
"Crazy! You people are totally crazy! I love it!"
Lily grinned. She had not been aware that her sister Petunia and her fiancé Vernon Dursley had been behind them, but their snort of disgust made their presence known.
"Oh, and these are my sister Petunia and Vernon Dursley, her fiancé. They're due for the altar in May. These are Sirius and Remus Black-Lupin. You may remember that they were both James' and Peter's best friends at Hogwarts."
Petunia gave them both a glare and the coldest and shortest handshake Sirius and Remus could remember.
"Nice to meet you, Petunia," Remus said with his usual kind way.
"You lot are not exactly what I want to have around me..." Petunia hissed.
"Now why would you say something so ugly?" Sirius piped up cheerfully, "We're such nice and fun people."
"Two men becoming pregnant sounds like a violation of nature," she replied.
"Oh, that disturbs you. Well, we wouldn't have chosen it, but someone held back the fact that we COULD, in fact, fall pregnant, so we didn't do anything about it. But even after only barely two months we wouldn't want to miss our little ones. We have a boy and a girl. You'll probably see for yourself over short or long, that having a baby is the most special thing you can experience!" Sirius told her.
But neither he nor Remus lingered. They had taken an immediate dislike of Vernon Dursley, which pleased Lily very much, because she hated the man with a passion. When they were together with Peter, James and Dari later on she told them:
"I'm dead sure he's made her this bad! She never really liked that I'm a witch, but she didn't really mind either. Since she's been with him and he knew she's turned around completely. Don't know what she sees in him!"
"Forget it, Lily! You look so happy now!" Remus said.
"I am! We are! You know the feeling... of course we won't be able to life-bond like you, I wish we could though. I'll come to Hogwarts in two weeks by the way. Will spend most of my time with you guys, which is just fine, because James will be out in the field."
They enjoyed an evening of talking and laughing together like they did in their school days. Remus turned to Peter:
"I'm to send all the best and all her love from Sabina! I saw her in the library today. She's toiling for the NEWTS. Can't wait to get out of there, because she misses you!"
"That's only a fraction of how I miss her! But it's less than half a year now. She intends to join her dad in his apothecary at Diagon Alley."
"Good for you, that won't be far away."
"No, it won't. And she won't have to look for a job."
Peter looked down on the floor for a moment and then turned back to the others, announcing:
"And then I'm going to ask her to marry me..."
"Woohoo, Go Peter!" James hooted and all of their friends followed suit.
"You're doing great, man! Give us lots of nice little Peters after that, will you?" Sirius said and smiled.
"You can talk, now that you know all about it," Peter teased back.
Sirius' smile became softer.
"You don't know how great the feeling is to have a tiny human in your arms! Just you wait, Peter, once you'll know you will also know how much there is you want to defend! Sod Voldemort and his idiots! Really! I'd gladly give my life for Vega and Polaris."
"Yes, well, that's you and your super-human powers... you can easily say that," Peter replied sombrely.
"No, Peter, the motivation in this case is love," Remus said, "Have you never noticed that your love for Sabina has unleashed more power in you? Remember when you did much better in your NEWTS than in your OWLS? You were driven by the positive feelings inside of you, you are happy with Sabina, you know we're your friends, that helped you get stronger. Her love gave you self-confidence we could never build up in you."
Peter looked puzzled for a moment, but then James started to grin and exclaimed: "Yes, that's true! Once you were together with Sabina our work in boosting your self-confidence seemed like a piece of cake!"
And Peter had to admit that this was true. He looked a bit sad though.
"Still... I'm no good. It's through others that it was done."
"Again you're putting yourself down too much, Peter. We could only unleash what was already in you, we couldn't add anything to you. When you got better at school that was your own potential. You were just a late bloomer," Remus countered with a smile.
"Thanks, guys! And in that case thanks for putting up with me for so long. You really did help me stand on my own feet..." Peter mumbled.
"What do you mean? You had some of the most brilliant ideas for pranks ever, Pete!" Sirius yelled, "there's no reason to thank us for something that was no big deal when you participated in it!"
And they all laughed and wished Peter luck to pop the question to Sabina.
Sirius apparated to Wales to see how the little ones did. Both slept quite soundly, but he decided to pick them up one by one and feed them both. Since they were both asleep he woke up Polaris softly and took him down to the living room. He sat down and conjured a cushion to be comfortable nursing his son. Polaris, once awake, gladly took the offered food. Venetia, watching her son-in-law, chuckled and said:
"You're gaining routine at this, eh?"
He smiled. "Yes, we do. But it's a great feeling..."
"I know that very well, Sirius."
"Of course. Having had seven of them."
"Will you want more?"
"I don't know. Not just now, that's for sure, but one day... I hope we can get Voldemort out of the picture before that."
Sirius caressed the baby as it suckled. Polaris pedalled lightly with his legs and arms, but he gripped Sirius' index finger with his tiny hands. He smiled down at the nursing child with a look so tender it almost brought tears to Venetia's eyes. She wondered if Richard had felt the same kind of emotions back when he watched her nursing. Sirius seemed wrapped up in it just the way she used to be.
"You know it's quite amazing to share such typical female things with one's son and son-in-law. You seem to be happy."
"Right now I could burst with happiness, it's just pouring out. It's so easy to love the little buttons. And Remus!"
"How did it turn out with your sexual organs, Sirius?"
"Still the same as during the last month of pregnancy. I suppose it will right itself sooner or later. Maybe nursing has something to do with it. I'm not worried. Even if prolactin is the driving hormone right now there's enough testosterone in us to remain males... interesting enough both of us have our testicles in place, only the penis has made room for the vagina."
"Strange..."
"It's given us both even more magical power, Venetia! Sometimes that's scary. I mean, both of us would never misuse that power, but what if it becomes known again and Voldemort starts creating werewolves left and right to do what we just did?"
"He doesn't know that Remus is a werewolf, does he?" Venetia asked, fear in her eyes.
"As far as we know he doesn't. It'd be horrible..."
"Well, he'd need to have a werewolf attacking a young child and that child would have to mate with someone the way you did. Always provided that child would survive in the first place."
"He'd not worry about that. He'd just abduct any child. Hell, he'd even MAKE children just for that purpose. Or would put his Death Eaters behind it. I'm quite sure, some of his female followers would even offer to carry such a child. And if it didn't take years until the child would be old enough he'd do it tomorrow..."
"On the other hand, don't forget that love is part of the bond. Without it the bond would probably never happen, so you can't just put two individuals together and tell them to get bonded the way you and Remus are..."
"And according to Dumbledore Voldemort has no concept of love at all... neither have most of the Death Eaters."
Polaris let go of the nipple. Sirius gently helped him catch it again. The baby suckled a few sips more, then let go.
"Is that it, love? No more? Well, then let's get you back to bed and take on your sister..."
Sirius closed the bra he wore and pulled up his robe, then he took Polaris back to his crib and picked up and brought Vega, as soon as Polaris was asleep again.
"I love how you love to sleep, child," he whispered to his son.
He took Vega along and as she started suckling Venetia asked:
"Does it make any difference for you whether you nurse Vega or Polaris?"
"Not at all. Just a little mouth sucking milk actually. Yep, that's you, little lady. You and your brother... we're doing this at times, one of us feeding both of them, especially at night. Though in the morning it feels like our breasts are exploding when they haven't suckled during the night. It's happened last week that Remus had slept the night through and then let Vega suckle. She's a bit more eager than Polaris. Grabbed the nipple and the milk spurted out at her! I had to clean her face before she could give it another try!"
Venetia laughed.
"You don't stop producing milk that quickly. But it's good that there's enough for them in both of you."
"But Remus didn't like the feeling much! It can become painful. Also we've decided that we switch them. I'm usually nursing Vega two times, then Polaris two times. We do that so that they get used to both breasts, not only one side."
Once Vega had been fed everything in Sirius' breast he let her suckle what was left on the side Polaris had used a while before. She still found a few sips and let go of the nipple, yawning.
"No wonder you're tired, little one. You've been sucking like a milking machine. Now you're going back to sleep? That's my girl..."
Vega slept again by the time he reached the children's room and laid her back down in her crib. He said goodbye to Venetia and returned to the party at the Potters. There were now only his friends left, the rest of the party had vanished, including Martha and Oliver.
"Everything okay?" Remus asked.
"Yep. Both fed and sleeping again."
"You're nursing them both?" Lily asked, astonished.
"Sure. There's enough in here, believe me. Remus will suffer a bit, because he'll almost burst with milk..." Sirius replied with a smirk.
"And that hurts pretty badly. But I'll have them both next time around."
"I'm still wondering, how you could even give birth to them," Hope Foster, Dari's new girlfriend asked.
Remus blushed. Sirius blushed, too, though much less.
"Do you really want to know? - I guess, you're a former Ravenclaw after all."
Hope grinned.
"Well, in the last weeks before they were born, the required opening developed in the place of our penis. It's still there for the time being..."
Hope and Dari grinned even wider.
"Our two gay boys are LESBIANS right now! Isn't that just too funny?" they hooted.
Peter and James shook with laughter. Remus blushed even more, but Sirius said:
"Well, not quite. Our balls are still firmly in place, holding the fortress!"
The others laughed even more. But they came back down and after a while started discussing other things. Lily told them she'd be coming to Hogwarts soon and that she was looking forward to it. Remus and Sirius invited their friends for a dinner at their new flat. It became very late, but finally Remus and Sirius returned to Wales and got a few short hours of sleep.
Remus woke early. His breasts hurt him and milk oozed out of them. He grabbed a towel and put it underneath himself to catch the drops. Sirius woke up next to him, stretched a bit and touched Remus' nipples. Remus hissed.
"Pain?" Sirius asked, worried.
"No... I wouldn't call it pain... went right down to where it feels best is what I'd call it."
"Really?"
Sirius turned to Remus and started to lick the nipples, then suck them into his mouth and when he started to suck Remus almost screamed.
"Oh! Wow, that feels good..."
Sirius took a small amount of the milk. It tasted sweet, he thought.
"No wonder the kids like that stuff so much. Give it a try yourself, love!" he said and turned on his back.
"What! You want me to suckle on your tits?"
"Yeah! Get out some of the milk. Tastes great! You're the sweet tooth among us anyway! You should like it."
Remus leaned in and gave it a try. Sirius responded the same way as he had done.
"You're right, this feels great! Come on, just a bit more..."
Remus caught some of the milk and liked it. He licked Sirius' nipples and suckled on them until they were dark red. Sirius sighed and moaned softly.
Vega and Polaris fetched them from their well-being. They cried for breakfast and got it as quick as Remus and Sirius were able to get up. Both found a breast and the milk in it and looked content immediately.
Once they were up they got dressed and went downstairs to raid the kitchen for some breakfast of their own. Both of them emptied a large glass of water before they started eating. Having to produce all that milk made them thirsty. Then they ate a well sized breakfast. Venetia came down and watched them tuck in.
"You have a healthy appetite..."
"Seems that producing milk for the babies is pretty demanding... we're constantly hungry and still have lost all the weight from the pregnancy already," Sirius explained.
"Yes, I know the feeling. Are you going back to Hogwarts today?"
"Yes. We'd like to go on with our work..."
They left right after breakfast, apparated their babies to the gates of Hogwarts and rode their brooms up to the castle.
Remus and Sirius attended their first meeting of the Order of the Phoenix at Hogwarts only a few days after James and Lily's engagement party. They found a motley crew of quite special people in the room where the Order met and noticed, that James, Lily, Peter, Dari and Hope were among the newcomers, too. They were introduced to the older members and took part in the discussions of tasks already on the go or planned. People who had missions reported on them, ideas were collected to help them on if they were stuck somewhere, the material they brought was analysed and new tasks were handed out.
Dumbledore talked with Peter.
"Your ability to turn into a rat could be invaluable to us, Peter. Does anyone know that you can do this outside of your friends?"
"Not to my knowledge."
"Good. If you are willing and ready we can take you to places where we know the Death Eaters to congregate and you can listen in on them. The perfect inconspicuous spy..."
Peter's eyes gleamed. He had done that a number of times when he spied for the Marauders, he'd been around Hogwarts like no other student before him. And finally he was unique in something and that uniqueness would be of value for an important cause. He would prove himself without the assistance of his friends.
"I am, sir," he said.
James, Remus and Sirius all beamed at him. Sirius piped up:
"We're so proud of you, Peter, you'll be great at this and you'll help us a lot!"
Peter's first chance to spy came soon. One of the older Order members took him to a clearing in a forest where a small circle of Death Eaters congregated around their Lord. Instantly the little rat had found a spot to hide and scurried out of sight. No one paid him any mind. He would stay there until everyone left and then find his way back to the Order.
Voldemort looked his Death Eaters over, with a deep frown on his ugly flat face.
"What do you mean you couldn't get to the house, Lucius? Wards can be brought down! Now they're back in that blasted castle where we really cannot harm them. And what's more they have reproduced!" he hissed.
"I don't know how to get close to them, my Lord. I have tried everything. Unless we can plant a spy among them we see no way of getting close to them. They seem to have grown antennas to feel us."
"That is no excuse! I must get my hands on these two men! There is something about them that makes them powerful and I must know what it is... they must be eliminated!"
"If you'd allow me to propose something, my Lord..." Rodolphus Lestrange said.
"What, Rodolphus?"
"A spy among them wouldn't be such a bad idea. It should be fairly easy to scare Peter Pettigrew into spying on them and giving us the information we need..."
Voldemort looked pleased.
"Ah yes! The weakest link, so to speak. But who should approach him?" he asked.
"I think, Augustus Rookwood has connections to the Pettigrews."
"A very good idea. And very inconspicuous, too. I shall contact Augustus. We shall see how much we can get out of him and should he be useless we can still eliminate him. I commend you, young Rodolphus."
Peter was hidden underneath a pile of leaves from the last fall. His first time out as a spy and he had to hear that he was to be recruited as a spy for Voldemort. He shuddered at the mere thought of such a horror. After the Death Eaters vanished, he scuttled away from the scene and met up with the other order members only minutes later at the meeting point.
"Did you find anything out?" Alastor Moody asked.
"Oh yes, you could say I did! What am I going to do? They want to recruit me to spy on all of my friends. Mainly to find out why Remus and Sirius are so powerful!"
"Oh dear! Let's take you back to Albus and see what he thinks..."
Dumbledore offered them some tea and after Peter had drunk the first few sips he looked up and said:
"I'm supposed to be recruited as a spy for them! But I don't want to do that, sir! What can I do?"
Dumbledore thought for a moment, then he asked:
"Did Voldemort mention who was to approach you?"
Peter thought for a moment. Then he nodded.
"Yes! Someone called Augustus Rookwood. He seems to be some acquaintance of my parents."
"Augustus Rookwood? Are you sure?" Alastor asked.
"Yes. Yes, I'm sure that this was the name. This seems to be a surprise for you?"
Dumbledore and Moody exchanged glances and nodded. Then Dumbledore said:
"Well, I do not know about you, Alastor, but the only Augustus Rookwood I know is an Unspeakable and would have never been suspected to be a Death Eater..."
"I think, it's probable that you will be contacted in the very next days, Pettigrew. We have several options now. Capturing Rookwood immediately would mean that Voldemort gets suspicious that someone in his own ranks is a spy. He'll know that only the people around him tonight would know about the plan... what do you think, Albus, should we thwart it?" Moody growled.
"I think, Voldemort would still approach Peter - through someone else. But you are right, if something like this was leaking AND if we could have a trial where the reason to snatch Rookwood was that he was trying to recruit a spy FOR the Death Eaters it would mean trouble for those in Voldemort's inner circle. And that would at least be very entertaining to see for the rest of us."
"Crouch will not easily allow us to arrest an Unspeakable..." Alastor said.
"I think, he will consent. I am quite convinced, that Augustus must have the Mark on his wrist if Voldemort can casually make use of his services, which is quite a clear sign for one of them. Also you might get Richard Lupin's assistance, Crouch cannot work against his superior."
"Let's hope for the best. Barty will jump to the ceiling at first, that much is clear."
But two days later Augustus Rookwood was interrogated in a holding cell at the Ministry, after the Mark had been found on his arm. He played quite the blasé nobleman, but as soon as he was taken to court a few weeks later and Veritaserum came to play he spilled his beans quite nicely.
Veritaserum had been developed very recently in one of the Ministry's lesser known departments and the effect had stunned everyone. Someone who obviously tried to tell a lie was compelled to speak the truth. Every single test person had shown the same typical signs when under the influence of the truth potion. They spoke in a monotonous tone and they spoke the truth. People had been asked to tell a very slight lie. Something that was very close to the truth and as soon as they had the truth potion they told their stories slightly different.
And now for the first time they had brought this new potion to the light in court. The Ministry kept the strictest control over the potion's recipe. It was guarded day and night and only the most trusted Aurors were guarding it. Rookwood had already tried to get his fingers on the potion, very subtly of course, to pass it on to Voldemort's potions masters to find out its contents. Ironically he was now the first Death Eater to actually taste it in court.
The only thing he didn't tell was of course who ratted him out. Because he didn't know. Voldemort seethed in his hide-out. He raged, punished his Death Eaters, but he couldn't find the leak.
One morning a week after Peter's first successful foray into spying Sirius woke up and found himself and his male parts completely in order again. It was a strange feeling, especially when he heard Vega waking up and crying. He got up and went through the bathroom to the nursery. Polaris was still sound asleep, while Vega cried. Luckily she didn't scream at the top of her lungs and had been heard quickly, so her brother could still sleep. Sirius picked up his daughter and took her back to the bedroom, where he sat down next to Remus, who was only just waking up. While he watched Vega suckle he looked at Remus, who had just discovered that his mate had back what he was still waiting for. But he grinned. He calculated, that in about a week he'd feel more complete again himself, as Vega was a week older than Polaris.
"Eight weeks old... she's getting cuter every day, love," Remus said.
Sirius leaned in and kissed his mate on the cheek. Remus turned and kissed Sirius fully on the lips.
"Can't wait to have you back inside of me, love! But today I'll have three books to go through..."
"Well, that matches the three or four I'm looking forward to," Sirius countered with a grin.
"And there's our regular training, not to forget..."
Sirius grinned more, because he really enjoyed that training. They were regularly stretching their magical abilities. They were made to duel with each other and with very strong Aurors for hours on end to train not only their powers but also their physical condition.
Lily arrived at Hogwarts and took residence in a similar apartment as Sirius and Remus on the other side of the corridor. She worked alongside of the boys and even attended some of their training sessions.
Author: Mariann
Rating: R
Pairing: Sirius/Remus
Category: Between Fluff, Fun and Fighting
Summary: Sirius and Remus grow up, find love, start a family and fight the Dark Lord
Disclaimer: Belongs to JKR - no money's made from my poor attempts at writing
A/N: AU - The Willow Incident does not happen in this story. Peter is loyal and a spy for Dumbledore. Remus and Sirius are destined to fight Voldemort - will they succeed? A fair amount of children are born in this story - to spite the Death Eaters of course!
9. Another Return to Hogwarts
Of course the babies' godparents, James and Lily for Polaris, Peter and Sabina for Vega, came to see them ever so often. By Christmas both babies had smiled at their fathers for the first time. After the new year started, Sirius and Remus returned to Hogwarts for a while to get a better grip at their latest power surge. It had set in a few weeks after the babies were born. They arrived at the school with the children and their considerable paraphernalia. Minerva showed them to a suite of rooms looking out on the south of the castle. They could see Hagrid's cabin and the lake. The suite was on the fourth floor near the hospital wing. In fact, Poppy Pomfrey was their neighbour.
Most of the teachers oohed and aahed over the children. Venetia had made a lot of baby clothes for them, sewn and knitted. Sirius and Remus took them with them wherever they went in the castle. They spent a good amount of time in the library, where they had taken residence in a spot near a window at the back of the library. They read a lot of things they had never treated in class.
After a week Sirius had his first encounter with his brother since he was back at Hogwarts. He had Vega on his breast and read at the same time when Regulus spotted him.
"I don't believe this!" Regulus cried, "Look at that, Stan, will you!"
Rabastan Lestrange, just a couple of steps behind Regulus, stared open-mouthed at Sirius. They went closer immediately.
"Sirius? What's that supposed to mean?" Regulus demanded.
Sirius looked up and frowned. It was just time to shift Vega to the other breast, so he gently pushed a small finger into her mouth to make her let go. She mumbled something and he switched her to the other side and encouraged her tenderly to continue suckling.
"There you go, love... - Hello, Regulus. You didn't expect me to send you a card with her birth announcement, now did you? You can tell mum that she's become the grandmother of a girl and a boy. This is Vega."
"What? You're not going to tell me that YOU gave birth to twins?" Regulus shouted.
"Could you possibly lower your voice? If not for her then for the sake of this being a library. I gave birth to her, Remus had our son, Polaris."
Regulus sputtered something about blood traitors and abominations, but he'd done it too loud, because Madam Pince turned up on the scene and asked Sirius:
"Is there a problem, Mr. Black?"
"Nothing I couldn't handle, Madam Pince. Only my brother here has been a bit out of sorts, maybe he should go and see the nurse..."
Madam Pince only needed to nod away from the spot and the two Slytherin sixth years moved away. Sirius snickered in a low voice after they had vanished. He looked down on Vega.
"That was a good one, love. Wonder what my dear old mum has to say to that! She must have been outraged when she learned that she couldn't disinherit me. Now most of her precious Black stuff will still be left to me and not her precious Regulus. Wonder, if he already knows that? I bet he's already a Death Eater."
The baby suckled on, hearing her father's soft voice but not understanding what he said. He was glad for that and he hoped fervently that she would never have to meet his mother. He took the time to reminisce about his feelings during the pregnancy. Once he had started to feel comfortable with it he had learned to listen deep inside of himself. Feel his baby. He had often talked to the unborn baby in his belly. Had just sat in a window seat and caressed her through his belly.
"You are my little wonder, Vega. You and Polaris, too, of course. You don't really know yet, but I love you more than my life..."
Sirius hadn't noticed that Remus was standing next to the nearest bookshelf listening in to him and smiling. He carried Polaris on his arm. The baby was already asleep, having finished his meal. Remus also carried a thick baby blanket, which he spread on the rug next to the armchair in which he wanted to sit. Sirius noticed him.
"Hey! Have you been eavesdropping?"
"Just a bit. I love you! What are you reading?"
"I was reading up on the Unforgivables. I'm doing some research for Lily. She's doing her bit at the Ministry and I'm going through everything that I can find here. There's quite a lot to read."
"To possibly develop counter curses?"
"Yeah, mostly. Though it's nowhere said that we'll succeed. We'd like to find something that can put a stopper on Avada Kedavra. Like putting a spell on people that would make them 'immune' against it. Most people wouldn't stand a chance to cast a counter curse. - And what are you after?"
"Dark creatures for one. And then the latest news is that there are rumours that the Death Eaters are carrying some kind of a mark branded in their forearm. All the ones that were captured had the same thing. We believe it's some means of communication."
Vega was through suckling. Sirius marked the book on the table next to him to tend to her fully. She looked at him and smiled. He pulled her up to his shoulder and waited for the little belch. Then he wiped the milk off her little mouth and put her down to sleep on the blanket next to her brother.
"Here you go, love! Have a nice nap!" he whispered and waited until the little girl fell asleep.
Then he sat up in the armchair again and picked up his book. Soon both young men were immersed in the books and took extensive notes.
That's how Dumbledore found them a short while later. He conjured another armchair and some tea for them.
"Hello, Professor!" Remus said.
"A very good afternoon to you, too, Remus! And Sirius. I see you have made yourselves quite comfortable here..."
"We'll have a couple of thousand books to work through, we thought it was appropriate," Sirius grinned.
"Absolutely. I trust that Irma has nothing against it?"
"No, in fact she's been the greatest of support. We've uncovered a few rare beauties."
Dumbledore looked down on the sleeping children.
"And your children are well, too?"
"At least they don't seem to mind the not so bright room..." Remus replied, looking down on them.
"I was actually coming down for something else, but I have an idea. It might be better if you worked a bit more in secret, so how about I show you one of the rooms close to here that you could have for yourselves? You would be completely undisturbed there."
"That would be great. I've just been hit on by Regulus and the little Lestrange. Nasty piece of work that one. If we'd have a room for ourselves we could set up a crib for the children, that would be better than having them sleep on the blanket," Sirius said.
"I would expect that your brother was a bit surprised? Or have you informed your family about the newest addition to the Black family tree?"
"Don't even want to think about it! I've certainly been blasted off like my mother burned off Andromeda's name. So I suppose the children will not show up there."
"You would know that better than I. Anyway, if one of you wants to come along I'll show you the rooms I have in mind."
Remus got up and nodded. He followed Dumbledore to one of the side rooms of the library. Dumbledore studied the shelves for a moment and then pointed to a book.
"This is Nicolas Flamel's first work on the Philosopher's Stone. He noted down a lot of things about it, never actually talks about it in the book, so from reading it no one could make one, which is why the book is still here and out in the open. Quite inconspicuous, I do not think many students lose themselves in this wing of the library. - Actually, Remus, if you do want to hide something important, you might consider of putting it out in the open among other things. I grant you that only people who are desperate to find it and really look for it, will do so. Anyway, there is a secret entrance behind this book. The password is 'Ollivander's wands'. I suggest to keep the door hidden you'd best take a few books out of the shelf. That will make it harder to deduct the one you're actually using. Then stick the book in different places. Madam Pince is aware of the fact that the book travels on the shelf."
Remus took the book, whispered the password and watched as the shelf swung forward, revealing a nice door. Behind the door was a corridor. As soon as Albus had passed it, the magical candles flickered to light and they walked through the corridor and to an adjacent corridor. They passed a door on the way and Remus saw a window at the end of the corridor. Albus stopped at the last door just before the window and opened it.
"This is a fairly old part of the castle. These chambers are hardly used these days. They might still be a bit dusty, but I will send some house-elves to clean them up. Here you are..."
Remus looked around. He had entered into a very nice large sitting room, furnished with antique sofas and armchairs, which were grouped around a coffee table of considerable size. There was a larger round table in a corner with several chairs. The ground was covered with beautiful carpets. The walls opposite the windows were covered with old bookcases behind glass doors. There was a fireplace in the middle of the wall between the bookcases. Everything looked a bit dusty, but very nice. There were two windows and a door leading to another room. Remus nodded.
"That's brilliant. It's bright with the light from the outside and spacious enough to do research comfortably."
"Splendid. You are both doing enormously important work right now. You should do it in comfort. Lily will join you here for a good part of the week soon. She is still held up being trained at the Department of Experimental Charms, but in a month or so she should be ready and bring along quite a lot of obscure things to work through. While you two are still being trained it will occupy you nicely."
When they returned to the corridor, Dumbledore pointed to the end of it:
"Instead of turning left at the next corridor you can follow this one and it will lead you to the main hallway to the library. The door is behind a painting. If you open it from this side you can look at it and remember it. The password is the same. You can cover this door with your own password."
Remus nodded, then they both returned to the library. They sat down again. Remus poured another cup of tea, which had been kept warm and warmed himself up.
"To show you an extra room was not the real reason I was coming here. I would like to invite the two of you into the Order of the Phoenix."
Sirius and Remus looked at him.
"What's that?" Sirius asked.
"It's a not very large group of people who want to intensify the fight against the Death Eaters. Alastor and his Aurors are really doing a fine job, but they are too out in the open. There are a few older Aurors who are already a member of this Order, as well as professionals from all sorts of branches. Many people are not aware about how much they can actually contribute, but they usually quickly learn in the Order."
"How do we join?" Remus asked.
"You just join upon invitation. That's what I'm giving you now. All that's asked of you is to regularly show up at the meetings."
"Where are the meetings held?" Sirius wanted to know.
The gleam in Sirius' eyes told Dumbledore that Sirius was quite keen on fighting Voldemort.
"Mostly here at Hogwarts. We are still building up a headquarter. You will be called for the meetings as we do not hold them regularly. It is easier to remain a secret society if you do not meet all too regularly. People cannot watch you so easily."
"Yes, we will both join the Order," Sirius said, throwing a glance at his husband, who nodded.
"Very well. Some members of your family have already joined, Remus, we count on all of your older siblings as well as your mother and father. It is important for us to have a good base at the Ministry. I would like to thank you both for not losing your trust in me. I admit that I have not always been too forthcoming with information. But I am still glad that I have never told you a lie either."
"Forgiven. We love the children," Remus said, looking at his children with so much love in his eyes.
Dumbledore recognised the sentiment in his former student.
"That is wonderful, Remus. I am happy that the two of you are happy with your family."
"I never knew what it meant to have a loving family, Professor. You know my parents. The atmosphere at Grimmauld Place would not allow for any form of tenderness. I do intend to give my children all the love I never got. Because it's easy to love. James and then Remus taught me that first and then Richard and Venetia gave freely what my parents denied me," Sirius said.
"Good. That is very good. I do think you deserve it, Sirius. Now I shall send the house-elves to that room for you. There would be some bedrooms as well, if you should prefer to move in fully you are welcome, too, by the way. I think, it would be a good idea, because you'd be out of the main school this way. Better for the secrecy of your research..."
"Thank you, Professor. I think, we will. It's quite a lovely place."
Dumbledore left them and they turned back to their work. They held on until their children woke from their naps and wanted to be fed. Remus took care of Vega, Sirius picked Polaris up. They made themselves comfortable and let the children suckle.
"Being both equipped like that has its advantages - we can feed them at once," Remus said and chuckled.
"Yes, that's a lucky bit. We'd have had a lot less sleep otherwise."
After the feeding Remus and Sirius conjured a large trolley to place the books and their parchments and took everything including the children to the new room. Remus pulled out a couple of books, silently showed Sirius the one he needed, then they spoke the password to the shelf. They passed through the door, closed it and Remus showed Sirius the way to the rooms Dumbledore had given them. He covered the door with another password and opened it. They pushed the trolley through.
The house-elves were still busy with the bedrooms. There was a lot of dust to be removed and everything needed to be covered with new fabric. While Sirius and Remus were off to their current chambers to pick up their things the house-elves gave their rooms a lovely squashy Gryffindor tower feel. They returned and found a series of perfect rooms. There was the large sitting room with the huge fireplace. A lovely fire crackled on the grate now, giving the room a cosy warm feeling. The stone walls were covered with thick tapestries to keep the warmth in and the hardwood floor was mostly covered with thick oriental rugs. Sirius held Polaris on his arm and walked on to see the other rooms. The door led to a smaller room, which had already been decorated as a nursery. Two cribs waited for their new inhabitants. They looked ancient, but really beautiful. They were both fitted with light blue bedclothes. Two dressers with a changing table on top and two rocking chairs with footstools completed the furniture. There was another door to a large bathroom. The tub was big enough for the whole family, white enamel with gold fittings. The same colours were used for the sinks and the toilet. The bathroom cabinets were of brass and glass, filled with the usual fluffy Hogwarts towels. Then they got to the final room, which was their bedroom. It didn't surprise them that it contained a huge four poster fitted with red velvet hangings. There was a chaise-longue pushed to one wall, a sofa and two armchairs with a small coffee table stood close to the fireplace and here, too, the walls were covered in thick tapestries. There was a high mirror just next to the door. At the end of the room another door to the right led through a boudoir to a further room around the corner. It was furnished as another bedroom. The boudoir was filled with large cupboards and shelves for clothes. There was a dressing table and a few chairs around a tiny round tea table.
"This is amazing! You guys have done a sensational job!" Sirius said to the house-elves, who took the compliments with beaming faces.
"We is very happy to have you back, sirs! You have always been the kindest sirs with us house-elves! We is happy to do everything for you!" one of them said.
Remus and Sirius knew all of these house-elves by their names and never treated them badly, which was why their visits down in the kitchens were always welcome.
"Thank you, Kliby, you have always been most helpful! Now that's all for the moment, but would you mind to bring us dinner at six thirty?" Remus asked.
"Yes sir, I is doing this!" one of the house-elves said and they all vanished with a crack.
Until then Remus and Sirius took turns in getting their things from the other rooms to this flat. When they finally sat down to eat their dinner from the finest porcelain, Sirius said:
"Well, that's something! Much better than what we had up to now. I could make a home of this here..."
Remus grinned. He liked the place. It had a very antique feeling and he guessed that the furniture must have been crafted around the mid eighteenth century. There were a few beautiful sideboards and some lovely cabinets in the sitting room. And of course they had to look through all the books in the floor to ceiling bookcases, too.
"I suppose we'll be here for a while. The really good thing is that it is safe for the children. I'm so worried about my nieces. Voldemort is out there and he's looking for us. He can guess that we're still in training, so he wants us gone sooner rather than later."
Sirius frowned. He didn't often admit it, but he was terrified, too.
"Some Gryffindors we are. Terrified of a stupid Dark Lord," he muttered.
A rap on one of the windows drew their attention to an owl who wanted in. Remus opened the window and the owl dropped a letter on the table and flew to join Sirius' Silas on his perch.
"It's James' Libby. I bet that she's quite taken with Silas, she's always staying much longer than she's supposed to..." Sirius said with a grin.
Remus opened the letter and read it. He grinned and passed it to Sirius who read it, too.
"She's waiting for a reply."
"He's popped the question!!!" Sirius exclaimed. "Now that's great, Remus! They're going to get married, how nice. Well done, mate."
James invited them to their engagement party on the next Saturday. Sirius picked up his quill and quickly jotted down a yes as an answer and called Libby over.
"Come on, sweetie, you're going to take that nice short letter back to your daddy!" he said and fixed it on her leg.
Remus gave her an owl treat, opened the window again and the owl took off.
"We'll have to take the children along or someone has to feed them bottles that evening..." Remus said.
"I'm just thinking about that. We could take them to your parents' place and apparate to check on them."
"We could do that. Mum and dad should be willing to help..."
Sirius wrote a quick note to Richard and Venetia, asking them to watch over the children on that Saturday. He sent it off with Silas.
"Done. So. We have some free time, love, what are we going to do with it?"
"How about some chess?"
"I'm in."
They spent the time between the next feedings of their children playing chess and went to bed early. They knew they would have to get up at least once during the night.
On Saturday they walked to the gates of Hogwarts, their children held close to them in slings, and apparated to the Lupins' home, where they gave the two little ones to their grandparents. Venetia and Richard loved to have them and give Remus and Sirius a free evening.
"I heard you've been working very hard," Richard remarked.
"We've already gone through quite a pile of books," Remus confirmed.
"And the training of your powerful magic?"
"Is going well, too. We have moved into a very nice antique suite of rooms, close to the library," Sirius said.
"You should come visit us there once. It's really beautiful!" Remus added.
"Yes, why not? Dinner sometime next week?"
"That's a deal! Just tell us which day. We'll see to it that Rupert and Rowland can join us for the meal."
"So you're not eating at the Great Hall?"
"No, rarely."
"I suppose you met your brother, Sirius?"
"Yes, once or twice. And I suppose that Voldemort is aware of our children now."
"We have already cast the "Sanguis familia" spell on this house, Sirius, he will not be able to harm them in here. Dumbledore has given us the spell and it's been cast successfully just after you gave birth to them. Because we knew we couldn't keep you inside forever. You need to go out, you're so young!"
"We will, mum, but first we need to get rid of Voldemort," Remus said with a grim expression.
Then they left for the engagement party for James and Lily, which was held at James' parents' house, which was larger than the Evans'. There were dozens of people mingling around, mostly friends from Hogwarts, relatives of James' and some of Lily's relatives as well.
"Hey, there's my best man and his best man!" James screamed when he spotted their arrival.
"Hey there! Methinks, it's the groom!"
They all exchanged greetings and then Sirius and Remus were introduced to the people they didn't know. There were colleagues of James' and Lily's from the Ministry, some of his relatives and her relatives.
"These are my parents, mum, dad, these are Sirius and Remus Black-Lupin. They're a married couple and they have the two cutest little babies which I suppose are waiting back at Remus' parents' home."
"Right in one. We'll have to apparate over once or twice to check on them," Sirius said, beaming.
Mr. Evans looked slightly confused. He could see that both, Sirius and Remus were built rather like women, so he asked Lily:
"Tell me, how does that work? They sound like they have male names, but they look rather like... err... females..."
Lily grinned and explained:
"That's magic, dad. They are actually both. Due to certain circumstances which I cannot explain to you they have developed all the female parts necessary for reproduction, though they didn't know at the time, that's why they were trapped into being pregnant so early. The children were born within a week from each other last December."
"Wow... so they are actually two gay men?" Mr. Evans was really interested.
"Bingo!"
"Crazy! You people are totally crazy! I love it!"
Lily grinned. She had not been aware that her sister Petunia and her fiancé Vernon Dursley had been behind them, but their snort of disgust made their presence known.
"Oh, and these are my sister Petunia and Vernon Dursley, her fiancé. They're due for the altar in May. These are Sirius and Remus Black-Lupin. You may remember that they were both James' and Peter's best friends at Hogwarts."
Petunia gave them both a glare and the coldest and shortest handshake Sirius and Remus could remember.
"Nice to meet you, Petunia," Remus said with his usual kind way.
"You lot are not exactly what I want to have around me..." Petunia hissed.
"Now why would you say something so ugly?" Sirius piped up cheerfully, "We're such nice and fun people."
"Two men becoming pregnant sounds like a violation of nature," she replied.
"Oh, that disturbs you. Well, we wouldn't have chosen it, but someone held back the fact that we COULD, in fact, fall pregnant, so we didn't do anything about it. But even after only barely two months we wouldn't want to miss our little ones. We have a boy and a girl. You'll probably see for yourself over short or long, that having a baby is the most special thing you can experience!" Sirius told her.
But neither he nor Remus lingered. They had taken an immediate dislike of Vernon Dursley, which pleased Lily very much, because she hated the man with a passion. When they were together with Peter, James and Dari later on she told them:
"I'm dead sure he's made her this bad! She never really liked that I'm a witch, but she didn't really mind either. Since she's been with him and he knew she's turned around completely. Don't know what she sees in him!"
"Forget it, Lily! You look so happy now!" Remus said.
"I am! We are! You know the feeling... of course we won't be able to life-bond like you, I wish we could though. I'll come to Hogwarts in two weeks by the way. Will spend most of my time with you guys, which is just fine, because James will be out in the field."
They enjoyed an evening of talking and laughing together like they did in their school days. Remus turned to Peter:
"I'm to send all the best and all her love from Sabina! I saw her in the library today. She's toiling for the NEWTS. Can't wait to get out of there, because she misses you!"
"That's only a fraction of how I miss her! But it's less than half a year now. She intends to join her dad in his apothecary at Diagon Alley."
"Good for you, that won't be far away."
"No, it won't. And she won't have to look for a job."
Peter looked down on the floor for a moment and then turned back to the others, announcing:
"And then I'm going to ask her to marry me..."
"Woohoo, Go Peter!" James hooted and all of their friends followed suit.
"You're doing great, man! Give us lots of nice little Peters after that, will you?" Sirius said and smiled.
"You can talk, now that you know all about it," Peter teased back.
Sirius' smile became softer.
"You don't know how great the feeling is to have a tiny human in your arms! Just you wait, Peter, once you'll know you will also know how much there is you want to defend! Sod Voldemort and his idiots! Really! I'd gladly give my life for Vega and Polaris."
"Yes, well, that's you and your super-human powers... you can easily say that," Peter replied sombrely.
"No, Peter, the motivation in this case is love," Remus said, "Have you never noticed that your love for Sabina has unleashed more power in you? Remember when you did much better in your NEWTS than in your OWLS? You were driven by the positive feelings inside of you, you are happy with Sabina, you know we're your friends, that helped you get stronger. Her love gave you self-confidence we could never build up in you."
Peter looked puzzled for a moment, but then James started to grin and exclaimed: "Yes, that's true! Once you were together with Sabina our work in boosting your self-confidence seemed like a piece of cake!"
And Peter had to admit that this was true. He looked a bit sad though.
"Still... I'm no good. It's through others that it was done."
"Again you're putting yourself down too much, Peter. We could only unleash what was already in you, we couldn't add anything to you. When you got better at school that was your own potential. You were just a late bloomer," Remus countered with a smile.
"Thanks, guys! And in that case thanks for putting up with me for so long. You really did help me stand on my own feet..." Peter mumbled.
"What do you mean? You had some of the most brilliant ideas for pranks ever, Pete!" Sirius yelled, "there's no reason to thank us for something that was no big deal when you participated in it!"
And they all laughed and wished Peter luck to pop the question to Sabina.
Sirius apparated to Wales to see how the little ones did. Both slept quite soundly, but he decided to pick them up one by one and feed them both. Since they were both asleep he woke up Polaris softly and took him down to the living room. He sat down and conjured a cushion to be comfortable nursing his son. Polaris, once awake, gladly took the offered food. Venetia, watching her son-in-law, chuckled and said:
"You're gaining routine at this, eh?"
He smiled. "Yes, we do. But it's a great feeling..."
"I know that very well, Sirius."
"Of course. Having had seven of them."
"Will you want more?"
"I don't know. Not just now, that's for sure, but one day... I hope we can get Voldemort out of the picture before that."
Sirius caressed the baby as it suckled. Polaris pedalled lightly with his legs and arms, but he gripped Sirius' index finger with his tiny hands. He smiled down at the nursing child with a look so tender it almost brought tears to Venetia's eyes. She wondered if Richard had felt the same kind of emotions back when he watched her nursing. Sirius seemed wrapped up in it just the way she used to be.
"You know it's quite amazing to share such typical female things with one's son and son-in-law. You seem to be happy."
"Right now I could burst with happiness, it's just pouring out. It's so easy to love the little buttons. And Remus!"
"How did it turn out with your sexual organs, Sirius?"
"Still the same as during the last month of pregnancy. I suppose it will right itself sooner or later. Maybe nursing has something to do with it. I'm not worried. Even if prolactin is the driving hormone right now there's enough testosterone in us to remain males... interesting enough both of us have our testicles in place, only the penis has made room for the vagina."
"Strange..."
"It's given us both even more magical power, Venetia! Sometimes that's scary. I mean, both of us would never misuse that power, but what if it becomes known again and Voldemort starts creating werewolves left and right to do what we just did?"
"He doesn't know that Remus is a werewolf, does he?" Venetia asked, fear in her eyes.
"As far as we know he doesn't. It'd be horrible..."
"Well, he'd need to have a werewolf attacking a young child and that child would have to mate with someone the way you did. Always provided that child would survive in the first place."
"He'd not worry about that. He'd just abduct any child. Hell, he'd even MAKE children just for that purpose. Or would put his Death Eaters behind it. I'm quite sure, some of his female followers would even offer to carry such a child. And if it didn't take years until the child would be old enough he'd do it tomorrow..."
"On the other hand, don't forget that love is part of the bond. Without it the bond would probably never happen, so you can't just put two individuals together and tell them to get bonded the way you and Remus are..."
"And according to Dumbledore Voldemort has no concept of love at all... neither have most of the Death Eaters."
Polaris let go of the nipple. Sirius gently helped him catch it again. The baby suckled a few sips more, then let go.
"Is that it, love? No more? Well, then let's get you back to bed and take on your sister..."
Sirius closed the bra he wore and pulled up his robe, then he took Polaris back to his crib and picked up and brought Vega, as soon as Polaris was asleep again.
"I love how you love to sleep, child," he whispered to his son.
He took Vega along and as she started suckling Venetia asked:
"Does it make any difference for you whether you nurse Vega or Polaris?"
"Not at all. Just a little mouth sucking milk actually. Yep, that's you, little lady. You and your brother... we're doing this at times, one of us feeding both of them, especially at night. Though in the morning it feels like our breasts are exploding when they haven't suckled during the night. It's happened last week that Remus had slept the night through and then let Vega suckle. She's a bit more eager than Polaris. Grabbed the nipple and the milk spurted out at her! I had to clean her face before she could give it another try!"
Venetia laughed.
"You don't stop producing milk that quickly. But it's good that there's enough for them in both of you."
"But Remus didn't like the feeling much! It can become painful. Also we've decided that we switch them. I'm usually nursing Vega two times, then Polaris two times. We do that so that they get used to both breasts, not only one side."
Once Vega had been fed everything in Sirius' breast he let her suckle what was left on the side Polaris had used a while before. She still found a few sips and let go of the nipple, yawning.
"No wonder you're tired, little one. You've been sucking like a milking machine. Now you're going back to sleep? That's my girl..."
Vega slept again by the time he reached the children's room and laid her back down in her crib. He said goodbye to Venetia and returned to the party at the Potters. There were now only his friends left, the rest of the party had vanished, including Martha and Oliver.
"Everything okay?" Remus asked.
"Yep. Both fed and sleeping again."
"You're nursing them both?" Lily asked, astonished.
"Sure. There's enough in here, believe me. Remus will suffer a bit, because he'll almost burst with milk..." Sirius replied with a smirk.
"And that hurts pretty badly. But I'll have them both next time around."
"I'm still wondering, how you could even give birth to them," Hope Foster, Dari's new girlfriend asked.
Remus blushed. Sirius blushed, too, though much less.
"Do you really want to know? - I guess, you're a former Ravenclaw after all."
Hope grinned.
"Well, in the last weeks before they were born, the required opening developed in the place of our penis. It's still there for the time being..."
Hope and Dari grinned even wider.
"Our two gay boys are LESBIANS right now! Isn't that just too funny?" they hooted.
Peter and James shook with laughter. Remus blushed even more, but Sirius said:
"Well, not quite. Our balls are still firmly in place, holding the fortress!"
The others laughed even more. But they came back down and after a while started discussing other things. Lily told them she'd be coming to Hogwarts soon and that she was looking forward to it. Remus and Sirius invited their friends for a dinner at their new flat. It became very late, but finally Remus and Sirius returned to Wales and got a few short hours of sleep.
Remus woke early. His breasts hurt him and milk oozed out of them. He grabbed a towel and put it underneath himself to catch the drops. Sirius woke up next to him, stretched a bit and touched Remus' nipples. Remus hissed.
"Pain?" Sirius asked, worried.
"No... I wouldn't call it pain... went right down to where it feels best is what I'd call it."
"Really?"
Sirius turned to Remus and started to lick the nipples, then suck them into his mouth and when he started to suck Remus almost screamed.
"Oh! Wow, that feels good..."
Sirius took a small amount of the milk. It tasted sweet, he thought.
"No wonder the kids like that stuff so much. Give it a try yourself, love!" he said and turned on his back.
"What! You want me to suckle on your tits?"
"Yeah! Get out some of the milk. Tastes great! You're the sweet tooth among us anyway! You should like it."
Remus leaned in and gave it a try. Sirius responded the same way as he had done.
"You're right, this feels great! Come on, just a bit more..."
Remus caught some of the milk and liked it. He licked Sirius' nipples and suckled on them until they were dark red. Sirius sighed and moaned softly.
Vega and Polaris fetched them from their well-being. They cried for breakfast and got it as quick as Remus and Sirius were able to get up. Both found a breast and the milk in it and looked content immediately.
Once they were up they got dressed and went downstairs to raid the kitchen for some breakfast of their own. Both of them emptied a large glass of water before they started eating. Having to produce all that milk made them thirsty. Then they ate a well sized breakfast. Venetia came down and watched them tuck in.
"You have a healthy appetite..."
"Seems that producing milk for the babies is pretty demanding... we're constantly hungry and still have lost all the weight from the pregnancy already," Sirius explained.
"Yes, I know the feeling. Are you going back to Hogwarts today?"
"Yes. We'd like to go on with our work..."
They left right after breakfast, apparated their babies to the gates of Hogwarts and rode their brooms up to the castle.
Remus and Sirius attended their first meeting of the Order of the Phoenix at Hogwarts only a few days after James and Lily's engagement party. They found a motley crew of quite special people in the room where the Order met and noticed, that James, Lily, Peter, Dari and Hope were among the newcomers, too. They were introduced to the older members and took part in the discussions of tasks already on the go or planned. People who had missions reported on them, ideas were collected to help them on if they were stuck somewhere, the material they brought was analysed and new tasks were handed out.
Dumbledore talked with Peter.
"Your ability to turn into a rat could be invaluable to us, Peter. Does anyone know that you can do this outside of your friends?"
"Not to my knowledge."
"Good. If you are willing and ready we can take you to places where we know the Death Eaters to congregate and you can listen in on them. The perfect inconspicuous spy..."
Peter's eyes gleamed. He had done that a number of times when he spied for the Marauders, he'd been around Hogwarts like no other student before him. And finally he was unique in something and that uniqueness would be of value for an important cause. He would prove himself without the assistance of his friends.
"I am, sir," he said.
James, Remus and Sirius all beamed at him. Sirius piped up:
"We're so proud of you, Peter, you'll be great at this and you'll help us a lot!"
Peter's first chance to spy came soon. One of the older Order members took him to a clearing in a forest where a small circle of Death Eaters congregated around their Lord. Instantly the little rat had found a spot to hide and scurried out of sight. No one paid him any mind. He would stay there until everyone left and then find his way back to the Order.
Voldemort looked his Death Eaters over, with a deep frown on his ugly flat face.
"What do you mean you couldn't get to the house, Lucius? Wards can be brought down! Now they're back in that blasted castle where we really cannot harm them. And what's more they have reproduced!" he hissed.
"I don't know how to get close to them, my Lord. I have tried everything. Unless we can plant a spy among them we see no way of getting close to them. They seem to have grown antennas to feel us."
"That is no excuse! I must get my hands on these two men! There is something about them that makes them powerful and I must know what it is... they must be eliminated!"
"If you'd allow me to propose something, my Lord..." Rodolphus Lestrange said.
"What, Rodolphus?"
"A spy among them wouldn't be such a bad idea. It should be fairly easy to scare Peter Pettigrew into spying on them and giving us the information we need..."
Voldemort looked pleased.
"Ah yes! The weakest link, so to speak. But who should approach him?" he asked.
"I think, Augustus Rookwood has connections to the Pettigrews."
"A very good idea. And very inconspicuous, too. I shall contact Augustus. We shall see how much we can get out of him and should he be useless we can still eliminate him. I commend you, young Rodolphus."
Peter was hidden underneath a pile of leaves from the last fall. His first time out as a spy and he had to hear that he was to be recruited as a spy for Voldemort. He shuddered at the mere thought of such a horror. After the Death Eaters vanished, he scuttled away from the scene and met up with the other order members only minutes later at the meeting point.
"Did you find anything out?" Alastor Moody asked.
"Oh yes, you could say I did! What am I going to do? They want to recruit me to spy on all of my friends. Mainly to find out why Remus and Sirius are so powerful!"
"Oh dear! Let's take you back to Albus and see what he thinks..."
Dumbledore offered them some tea and after Peter had drunk the first few sips he looked up and said:
"I'm supposed to be recruited as a spy for them! But I don't want to do that, sir! What can I do?"
Dumbledore thought for a moment, then he asked:
"Did Voldemort mention who was to approach you?"
Peter thought for a moment. Then he nodded.
"Yes! Someone called Augustus Rookwood. He seems to be some acquaintance of my parents."
"Augustus Rookwood? Are you sure?" Alastor asked.
"Yes. Yes, I'm sure that this was the name. This seems to be a surprise for you?"
Dumbledore and Moody exchanged glances and nodded. Then Dumbledore said:
"Well, I do not know about you, Alastor, but the only Augustus Rookwood I know is an Unspeakable and would have never been suspected to be a Death Eater..."
"I think, it's probable that you will be contacted in the very next days, Pettigrew. We have several options now. Capturing Rookwood immediately would mean that Voldemort gets suspicious that someone in his own ranks is a spy. He'll know that only the people around him tonight would know about the plan... what do you think, Albus, should we thwart it?" Moody growled.
"I think, Voldemort would still approach Peter - through someone else. But you are right, if something like this was leaking AND if we could have a trial where the reason to snatch Rookwood was that he was trying to recruit a spy FOR the Death Eaters it would mean trouble for those in Voldemort's inner circle. And that would at least be very entertaining to see for the rest of us."
"Crouch will not easily allow us to arrest an Unspeakable..." Alastor said.
"I think, he will consent. I am quite convinced, that Augustus must have the Mark on his wrist if Voldemort can casually make use of his services, which is quite a clear sign for one of them. Also you might get Richard Lupin's assistance, Crouch cannot work against his superior."
"Let's hope for the best. Barty will jump to the ceiling at first, that much is clear."
But two days later Augustus Rookwood was interrogated in a holding cell at the Ministry, after the Mark had been found on his arm. He played quite the blasé nobleman, but as soon as he was taken to court a few weeks later and Veritaserum came to play he spilled his beans quite nicely.
Veritaserum had been developed very recently in one of the Ministry's lesser known departments and the effect had stunned everyone. Someone who obviously tried to tell a lie was compelled to speak the truth. Every single test person had shown the same typical signs when under the influence of the truth potion. They spoke in a monotonous tone and they spoke the truth. People had been asked to tell a very slight lie. Something that was very close to the truth and as soon as they had the truth potion they told their stories slightly different.
And now for the first time they had brought this new potion to the light in court. The Ministry kept the strictest control over the potion's recipe. It was guarded day and night and only the most trusted Aurors were guarding it. Rookwood had already tried to get his fingers on the potion, very subtly of course, to pass it on to Voldemort's potions masters to find out its contents. Ironically he was now the first Death Eater to actually taste it in court.
The only thing he didn't tell was of course who ratted him out. Because he didn't know. Voldemort seethed in his hide-out. He raged, punished his Death Eaters, but he couldn't find the leak.
One morning a week after Peter's first successful foray into spying Sirius woke up and found himself and his male parts completely in order again. It was a strange feeling, especially when he heard Vega waking up and crying. He got up and went through the bathroom to the nursery. Polaris was still sound asleep, while Vega cried. Luckily she didn't scream at the top of her lungs and had been heard quickly, so her brother could still sleep. Sirius picked up his daughter and took her back to the bedroom, where he sat down next to Remus, who was only just waking up. While he watched Vega suckle he looked at Remus, who had just discovered that his mate had back what he was still waiting for. But he grinned. He calculated, that in about a week he'd feel more complete again himself, as Vega was a week older than Polaris.
"Eight weeks old... she's getting cuter every day, love," Remus said.
Sirius leaned in and kissed his mate on the cheek. Remus turned and kissed Sirius fully on the lips.
"Can't wait to have you back inside of me, love! But today I'll have three books to go through..."
"Well, that matches the three or four I'm looking forward to," Sirius countered with a grin.
"And there's our regular training, not to forget..."
Sirius grinned more, because he really enjoyed that training. They were regularly stretching their magical abilities. They were made to duel with each other and with very strong Aurors for hours on end to train not only their powers but also their physical condition.
Lily arrived at Hogwarts and took residence in a similar apartment as Sirius and Remus on the other side of the corridor. She worked alongside of the boys and even attended some of their training sessions.