Title: Baby Boom! 13/18
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!
13. Babies left and right
Sirius was a bit more scared of this birth than before the first one. Now he knew what awaited him and he tried to get ready for it, but to already know the feeling frightened him. At least before the event took place.
The baby took some time, but was finally born on the sixth of May. Sirius felt the first waves of pain only slightly early in the afternoon. The contractions grew in intensity over the course of the afternoon and the intervals reached five minutes after dinner time. Remus had called Poppy over and Sirius dropped his final clothes, stayed on his bed and just let the waves of pain roll over his body. He was doing quite well, rather getting tired, but concentrated. But from about eight until the baby was out he was really under a heavy dose of pain, and he screamed an awful lot. James had taken the two children over to his room, while Lily stayed with Remus and Sirius. Sirius worked hard, he pressed the baby out and finally, after eight hours little Alya was there, shrivelled and covered with the whitish fluid that had protected her skin in the water. Poppy first gave her to Sirius, who welcomed his second daughter in his arms. He had tears in his eyes, from the labour and the pain, but also because he was so moved that it was over and he held his healthy little baby daughter in his arms.
She was small and looked like a carbon copy of Remus. That was at least what Lily claimed to see.
The baby opened her eyes already, turned her little head around and thrilled Sirius to bits with that. He caressed her very gently with his big hands. Remus watched this and said:
"Thank you, love! She's quite a lovely little one."
"You've given me another daddy's little girl, love..." Sirius whispered.
"Happy?"
Sirius nodded. He let Remus caress the baby. Poppy spelled the navel clean and once the cord was gone she wrapped Alya in a baby blanket. Remus picked her up for the first time.
"Hello, my sweet little daughter! Welcome to the family, little one."
He held her so that she could look into his face for a moment, then he laid her against his chest. Remus beamed as he held his daughter. He felt the slight kicks of the baby in his belly at the same time and thought it was an incredible feeling. It made him smile. Lily watched the two men. She almost cried and thought it looked so sweet. Poppy quickly cleaned Sirius and the bed up. He sat up and stretched out his arms. Remus returned the little one to him. Both smiled at each other and Remus bent down to kiss his mate.
"Love you. And the little ones."
Sirius held him in place and returned the kiss.
"Feeling okay?" Remus asked softly.
Sirius nodded and turned back to Alya. She made a few little noises and he grinned.
"Yes, girl, speak up! How about filling that little belly of yours? Want a first taste of your food for the next couple of months? It's tasty, you'll see!"
Sirius guided the little mouth over the nipple and Alya didn't need telling twice. Her reflexes in place she snapped the nipple and started to suckle. Sirius snapped, too, but for air.
"Wow, lady! You're knocking the wind out of me! Take care of your old man, will you? That's better now..."
Alya struggled a little at first, but she got enough into her belly to satisfy her for a while. By the time she had finished she was almost asleep, but the food in her belly helped her stay awake for another little while. Poppy took her to check her up with a few spells.
"She's perfectly fine, Sirius. Congratulations. You've done a fine job, too!"
"Thanks, Poppy."
Remus took Alya back up and went to get her dressed. She was completely dry now and while there were still a few red spots all over her she looked rosy and healthy. Remus unwrapped the blanket. He gently washed her with a soft cloth, then he got her dressed. Her crib had been set up in the bedroom, so he brought her back to the bedroom and put her down into the crib. He turned around and Lily stood there, giving him a great hug. He grinned.
"Both of us pregnant... makes for funny hugs!"
He patted her bulging belly. She still had to wait for a good three months and his own baby was still almost two months away.
"Let's fill the announcement and send them off," Remus said.
"Yes, let's go."
They left Sirius back to recover and take a nap. Alya slept as well, so Lily and Remus returned to the living room where Remus filled one parchcard and spell-copied the others. The envelopes had been prepared beforehand and all the cards were inserted. He only needed to pick them up and take them up to the owlery. While he did that Lily informed the headmaster. She gave the password to the gargoyle and climbed the moving staircase and, reaching the oak door, knocked.
"Come in!" Dumbledore called.
Lily opened the door and her smiling face promised good news.
"Hello, Lily. What can I do for you?"
"Sirius has just given birth, Albus."
"Oh, lovely! Is he well?"
"Yes, very well. He has another girl. Her name is Alya. She's a cutie and perfectly fine according to Poppy. Both are asleep now."
"I shall see them tomorrow then. Remus is happy, too, I would think?"
"Beams! He's just gone up to the owlery to send the birth announcements. Even with the baby in his belly he's had that spring in his walk... he's looking great right now."
"That he does. After that confrontation with Voldemort and now with a newly born baby daughter I would expect him to be quite happy. It is good for him to become so self-confident. He needs to think more of himself. And how are you feeling?"
"Oh, I'm fine. It's still a couple of months, but James can't wait now! I think, I have a bit more patience."
Remus had meanwhile reached the owlery and sent off a couple of birth announcements. He returned to Sirius quickly and found his mate fast asleep. Remus undressed, threw a last glance into Alya's crib and climbed into the bed next to Sirius. Sirius snuggled up to him in his sleep. Remus smiled as he pulled his husband close and slept right away.
They had the usual round of people congratulating them the next day. Peter and Sabina had taken the day off to come and see the newly born girl and the baby's two godmothers Dari and Hope turned up as well. Sirius was back into nursing and this time it was already known territory, so he didn't mind the visitors who streamed into their place at Hogwarts. Remus was happy to have another daughter. Actually he was just happy to have another child.
It was a bit of work to get settled into their new life with now three children. Sirius was off the hook for some of the work because he was already nursing Alya, who proved to be a hungry little one and was quite demanding. Vega and Polaris were curious, but they didn't really understand that they now had a younger sister. Remus played with them as much as he could, always trying to avoid making wrong movements with the baby still in his belly.
His time came just before the June full moon. He had hoped that the full moon would pass before the baby was born, but it was not to be. In the middle of the night on the twenty-seventh he went into labour and it lasted well into the next day until the baby was born. It was another boy and everyone around grinned, now Sirius had borne two girls and Remus two boys. They named the new little one Antares. Remus had hardly time to recover from the birth, when Sirius helped him to the Shrieking Shack, because they didn't know if Remus would transform that night but had to think he would. And he did. But Moony was very subdued that night and Padfoot didn't have a hard time nudging Moony on the bed. They stayed there for most of the thankfully short night.
Still, giving birth and transforming twice, all within twenty-four hours was a bit much for Remus, he was out of it for most of the day and the next night. Sirius took it onto himself to nurse not only Alya, but also Antares. But the second feeding he propped Remus up a bit and helped Antares feed from his other papa, just to get the lactation going. It was a bit of a hard job, but he managed to do it. Poppy was by his side, helping him. She had assured Sirius that Remus was fine, just over-exhausted and that he needed some rest. By the next morning Remus was awake again and hungry like a wolf. Sirius beamed at him and sent for his breakfast, then he brought Antares to him and made him nurse the baby.
"There isn't much in there, I'm afraid, love," Remus said to his suckling son, "but I promise a better cuisine very soon."
"He'll take what's there and wake you up an hour before his time..." Sirius prophesised.
"Takes no skills in Divination to guess that," Remus replied.
They were both extremely happy. They had made it that far, Remus had survived the birth and the subsequent transformation, everything was just fine at that moment.
But there was a surprise in store for them later in the day. They had both installed themselves and the babies as well as their toddlers in their living room when there was a knock on the door. Sirius opened it and in strolled a haggard looking Snape.
"What are YOU doing here?" Sirius sneered.
"Dumbledore told me to come here, how should I have known I'd find YOU here?" Snape replied, a bit too loud, because he woke not only Antares, but Alya, Vega and Polaris, too.
"Oh, great, now look what you've done, you idiot?" Sirius swore.
Snape looked around, rather bedraggled, and pointed at the children.
"What's that supposed to be? A bloody nursery? I thought you were doing research here..."
"For your information, we ARE doing research here. They're our children though. And if you can't behave in here then march straight back out. We don't need any Death Eaters around our children," Sirius seethed, door still open in his hand.
"I sent him to see you, Sirius, because you will work together on some levels. Severus has come to see me today. May I come in and meet the new Mr. Black?"
"Hello Albus! Yes, of course, please come in. He's crying over there, Severus just woke them all up. We need to get them back to sleep."
It wasn't quite so easy to soothe four tiny children back to sleep at the same time. Remus picked up Antares and Sirius lifted Alya on his arms and both sat down and let them suckle for a while, which put them back to sleep nicely. Then they stood up and took the babies over to their bedroom, where they could lay them into their cribs. Then they returned to the sitting room to take care of Vega and Polaris, who were both still quite upset. Both took hold of one of the children, taking their time and not caring whether the headmaster wasted time waiting for them or not.
"You'll have to pardon us, headmaster, but the children do come first," Remus apologised.
He calmed Vega down, put her head on his shoulder and rocked her gently. Sirius mirrored his actions with his son. He threw a worried glance at his mate and asked him:
"Are you okay, Remus? Not tired?"
"I'm fine, love."
"Good. - So, what's all this about?"
"Voldemort has ordered Severus to come and ask for a position on the Hogwarts staff. He thinks he needs a spy in our ranks, and he was convinced it would be a good idea to have someone here who is sly enough to find out what we might be up to. Severus has offered because it is known that I am out of a Potions Master since the end of the school year. I have, of course, given him the position. For one, he is excellent at potions, for two, Severus has come straight to me to tell me he would like to work for us and help us defeating Lord Voldemort. That obviously means you will see each other here at Hogwarts and I want you to be civil with each other. You will also work together at some levels. Severus, if you need to report something you come either to me or you go straight to Remus and Sirius, if I should not be available. Is that understood?"
"Yes, headmaster," Snape said, but it was clear that he wasn't pleased with the prospect of having to report to those two.
"Good. I trust you three can behave like adults and leave each other alone?"
"We are busy enough with the research and our little ones, we will certainly not waste time with schoolboy amusements," Sirius promised.
"That is what I wanted to hear from you, Sirius, thank you."
Snape still looked at the little ones. He took in the changed appearance of both, Remus and Sirius and was rather bewildered. At the last confrontation between Voldemort and the pair of them he had remained in the circle of the other Death Eaters of the inner circle as he had been told to do and his back had been to the area where they fought, so he had not seen them then. Now he noticed that both of them had fairly prominent female breasts hidden under their robes.
"What's the meaning of that?" he asked, pointing at the children.
"That, I am afraid, is my fault, Severus. But I can't give you the details unless Remus is comfortable with me giving away his secret to you..."
Remus looked at Dumbledore angrily, but gave in.
"Only if you memory charm him if he gets aggressive..." he whispered.
"Granted. Remus has been bitten by a werewolf when he was but a small child, Severus."
"What? And you let him into the school? Werewolves are monsters!" Snape said.
"If Remus is a monster, then I'm a giant," Sirius spat, "he's certainly less of a monster than all of you Death Eaters. At least he hasn't ever killed anyone."
"As you know Remus is a very gifted wizard, Severus. That is why we have allowed him the education that is selfunderstanding for every wizard and witch. It was far from selfunderstanding to Remus. And he has not disappointed us. I know that Tom Riddle has the greatest of respect and seethes about the wards Remus has set up left and right. You probably know that as well. Now the reason for them to be able to procreate is that werewolves can mate for life after all. It does take a while, but Remus and Sirius underwent the rituals. One consequence is that the body of a mated werewolf, if male, develops all inner female reproduction organs. The werewolf becomes a fully functional hermaphrodite. Since in our case we have two males who were mated the effect showed in Sirius as well. The mating boosted a lot of magical power in them. You might remember an incident in Hogsmeade when you were disarmed and not only you, but about a dozen other people found their wands gone and themselves on the ground, too. That was the effect of them casting a spell together. A very powerful combination. The mating only works when both partners who wish to bond for life are virgins."
"So they could get... pregnant?" Snape asked, baffled.
"Yes, they could, and they did, because I did not tell them of the possibility. It did take a year for their bodies to have undergone that internal change. Once they were pregnant for the first time, some time in February or March before the end of their seventh year, their power was boosted a further step. I can safely say that if these two here cast a spell together, with their bodies connected in some way they are probably casting the most powerful magic possible in these days."
"Are you telling me that these two are capable of killing the Dark Lord?"
"I am. Did you see Lord Voldemort after his confrontation with them?"
"Only a few days later."
"Then you did not see the wounds they cast on him. Among other things they sent a hailstorm worth of sharpest knives at him and he caught a fair few of them. The beauty of the spell is that they can, once they have it down completely, send a whole line of such knives, so that no matter to where the victim tries to jump they will be hit. They will even be able to make those flying knives follow their victim. For this time Lord Voldemort was only hit by the knives Sirius threw at him, but if they get a chance to ever do the same and cast the spell together... then I expect that this will be the end of your Dark Lord. He is not yet far enough to have conquered death and I do not intend to let it come quite that far. I am sure you will agree with me."
"Yes, I think, I do," Severus admitted.
"Good. Are you ready to see your quarters now? I do expect they have been prepared by now."
"Thank you, sir."
Dumbledore took Snape along and Sirius and Remus looked at each other with their mouths slightly hanging open. Remus pushed his jaw back up with his hand and said:
"Well, there's a surprise."
At lunch they met Lily who came over to share it with them, and they informed her about the new Potions teacher.
"Oh dear! Imagine our children having school with him! He'll be SO mean to them."
"He'll be a killer! I really hope that by the time they come to Hogwarts he'll be out of the picture. But he really seems to want to help Dumbledore. I don't think, Dumbledore would trust him if that wasn't the case," Remus said.
"You know, if it was Voldemort himself who planted Snape here, and Snape acts as a double agent for our benefit, then we could use that one day. We need to give them time to gain trust on both sides. I have a few ideas!" Lily said.
"Like?"
"Well, there are the meetings. It's going to be too obvious if we get information about attacks from Snape and thwart them. That would put him into a very awkward position. But if Snape can use excuses during term for not going to meetings we could send Peter again and then thwart attacks. That would make Voldemort suspect anyone but Severus, because Severus wasn't there and wouldn't know details straight away, would he?"
"Brilliant! No wonder you're good at chess. Let's suggest this at the next Order meeting!" Sirius exclaimed.
They did just that. The next meeting was just a week away, so they had a chance to bring this up. They arrived on the spot in time and when Dumbledore entered, he brought Snape with him. Most people started to murmur and were outraged, but Dumbledore asked them to be quiet for a moment and listen to him:
"This young man has become a Death Eater something over a year ago. But half a year into serving Lord Voldemort has taught him that this is not what he wants. You all know that it is a very difficult thing to get away from the Death Eaters and to our knowledge no one has been able to do it so far. Voldemort enslaves his servants. Instead of trying to get away fully, Severus has given his master the idea to plant him as a spy at Hogwarts. He had heard about the opening for a Potions teacher and came to me, to ask if I would entrust him with the position. He told me that Voldemort wanted to use him as a spy right in the middle of our safe haven. And he offered to act as a double agent in our favour. I now give him some classified information to take to Voldemort. Nothing really dangerous, but he needs to bring some things to his master, so Voldemort won't suspect he has changed the sides. I now want to ask you to accept Severus as a member of the Order of the Phoenix. I have full trust in him and believe him. He has already given me some valuable information and will continue to do so as he is in Voldemort's inner circle already at his young age."
There was a vote against trusting a Death Eater from two members, but then Sirius stood up and said:
"I agree with you, Albus. We should accept him."
All other Marauders supported that vote and since everyone knew how much the four of them despised the 'greasy git' they also knew that if the Marauders accepted Snape into the Order he should be all right. Snape was almost dizzy when he heard his arch-enemies from his school days speak up for him. He received a place at the table and then Dumbledore opened the meeting.
Snape blinked. No initiation or anything? He looked puzzled and quietly asked Peter, who sat next to him.
"No. You are free to leave anytime. You do this here out of your own free will," Peter said quietly.
"Oh."
"Your master won't know and won't see anything that will give away that you are a member."
"That's good then," Snape said and put his right hand over the Dark Mark on his left wrist.
Dumbledore outlined the development of the situation since the last meeting, several members reported their latest missions and then Dumbledore asked:
"Very well. It has been a bit quiet in the past two months. He has made himself known at the Quidditch game, but otherwise we know not what Lord Voldemort is up to. But nothing has happened anywhere and there is the danger that people get lulled by the inactivity. Severus tells me that he desperately tries to regroup and is now recruiting new Death Eaters. We have taken about six hundred out of his service, so it will certainly take a while until he has regrouped and he will have a harder time finding such people as he is looking for. I do not think that the pureblood families who are his prime target for recruits can replenish their ranks that fast. And he would have to wait a considerable amount of time for the new soldiers to grow up, would he not?"
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled and there was laughter in the room.
"Now then. That gives us a little time for our own schemes. Now that we have the upper hand I would like to work out some trap or something, because he remains to be a great danger to many lives and we need to have him eliminated. I would not normally claim a life, but this is a life that must be exterminated. Does anyone have an idea to contribute?"
Lily stood up.
"I think we should give Voldemort time to trust that Severus really spies for him. I would not suggest to feed all too wrong information, that would make Voldemort very suspicious. And finally I have thought about this and thought it might be good to take all suspicion away from Severus and try to find out if there could be reasons for him to stays away from meetings. To which we would send Peter instead of Severus."
Snape snorted.
"You actually think you could send Pettigrew under my robes and mask? He'd be found out in seconds flat."
The Marauders, Lily and Sabina all grinned.
"No, of course not, Severus. But every time you 'can't' go to a meeting - you're held up as a teacher of this school after all, and you can't get out without being missed, at least not too often, because that would really cause suspicion, well, to such meetings, Peter would go. He has a perfect disguise, rest assured of that, because he's been to dozens of your meetings already..."
Snape's eyes grew wide. Then he counted two and two together:
"Voldemort tortured Woodward to death with Cruciatus because he thought he was the traitor! So he wasn't? How did Pettigrew know where to go?"
"Mr. Woodward was not really a spy. But he supplied me with the dates and locations of your meetings and Peter went to pick up what he could. Mostly we have received a full account, because all he needed to do was place his memories into my Pensieve, Severus. Now, I am telling you this only because I know that you are a very skilled Occlumens, and you will certainly be able to keep that particular information away from your master."
Dumbledore turned to Lily, who had taken her seat again.
"If it is at all practicable I think you have just had a wonderful idea, Lily. We absolutely need to protect Severus from harm. Not only because of his value to us as an informant, but definitely because he is in a very dangerous position and trying to turn his back to evil. That alone obligates us to do our utmost for his protection. Severus, do you think, you will get your master to be a bit pliable about your attendance at meetings? It would take suspicion away from you. So far Voldemort has no idea that we have a spy far outside of his ranks who nevertheless is in a position to be there. We will not tell you how Peter can do that for his own protection."
"I don't know, sir, but I will have to report back if I have been accepted to the position in the next days. I'm waiting for the call as it is and then I can discuss the terms with him. Usually he is not pliable at all. So far I have mostly been asked to brew potions for him. And since he was satisfied with them I do think I am quite in his favour. But these potions are almost all very deadly poisons, which he uses on those Ministry people in the most cases. Usually they just vanish after having been exposed to those poisons. I cannot guarantee that I can fail them all in future. I can make some antidotes and play them into the hands of possible victims, but not all of them or he would be suspecting me in an instant."
There were gasps in the room. Some people started to protest again, to Snape's surprise two of them were former Slytherins, among them one Andromeda Black.
"I understand that, Severus. As terrible as it is, if he asks you to brew such potions you will have to oblige. I am sure we still will lose lives, but I am certain that we can prevent a few of them. Very well. I shall await your information when you come back."
Nothing else needed to be discussed. While the people started to leave the room, Severus looked at them and noticed that the Order of the Phoenix was a very mixed society. Men, women, old, young, members from all four houses, some from the lower segment of the wizarding population as well as nobility. There were Aurors, professionals of all sorts and several house-wives. But he had heard a few reports from several of them and had quickly gathered that they all knew what they were talking about. Some people were so old he thought they had probably already taken a great part in the war against Grindelwald. He left to find his quarters near his classroom in the dungeons. Since there were no students in the castle, the Order members casually streamed through it to the main Entrance Hall, something they certainly wouldn't do when school was in session.
It was the beginning of July and the students had only just left. A week after his first meeting with the Order Severus was called to Voldemort. He apparated there and noticed they were completely alone. The high pitched voice of his master told him to get up. Snape obliged and saw himself opposite the man he would hate for the rest of his life.
"Master, I come to you as your loyal servant."
"Very well, Severus. What do you have to report?"
"I have been accepted as the new Potions teacher of Hogwarts."
"That is excellent, Severus. And did you gain the trust of the old fool?"
"Yes, master. I thought it would be a good idea to even offer to spy for him to gain his trust."
"That is brilliant. Did he accept?"
"Not at once. That's why I was glad you didn't call me right away."
"I thought it would take a while. After all there are the school governors to be convinced of the choice of teacher... so you have already taken residence at Hogwarts?"
"Yes."
"Did he entrust you with the knowledge about the wards?"
"Alas, no, master, only he himself and the headmistress know about the wards. They are not allowed to pass the knowledge on to anyone else, not even the school governors."
That was a lie and immediately Snape felt Voldemort prying into his head. He had to use all of his strength to cover the lie up.
"What else have you found out?"
"There is a secret organisation, master, which they call the Order of the Phoenix..."
"I know about that! That's very old news already, Dumbledore started this ridiculous thing back when he fought Grindelwald. Anything else?"
"Black and Lupin are part of this Order."
"Could have known that..." Voldemort hissed.
"Yes, it was quite obvious."
"Will your work as a teacher leave you time to continue brewing potions for me?" Voldemort asked.
"Yes, I think so. Potions that will take more time will have to be done over the weekends, but quick potions I can make any time. I might not be able to come to all the meetings though, because I might be missed. Not only by Dumbledore, but especially by McGonagall, who is responsible for the staff as she's the deputy headmistress. And she won't take well to a teacher being absent all the time."
"Yes, that is clear. You will try to make it as often as you can and I will summon you on weekends only."
"That will be best. Can we say you can call me on either Saturday afternoon or Sunday evenings? To bring you the potions I've made or to take your orders..."
"Can you add Friday evenings?"
"Yes, master."
"Very well, that will be all for the moment. If you are absent from a meeting I know that you have not been able to get away, but I do expect you as often as you can. At least once or twice a month."
"Yes, master."
"Very well, Severus. I will need you to make these four potions, soonest. You can go now."
"Yes, master."
Severus took the parchments with the potions and threw himself to the ground as was asked from a servant of the Dark Lord and as soon as Voldemort had left he got up and returned to Hogwarts. He reported back to Dumbledore. He then proceeded to do the same as Peter usually did, to not forget anything he placed the memory of his encounter with Voldemort into a Pensieve. They looked at it together and Dumbledore nodded.
"Do you mind if we show this to everyone in the Order at the next meeting?"
"I do, actually, but I suppose it has to be..."
"It would prove to them that you have done your best," Dumbledore said softly.
"Okay. Then let them see."
"Very well. Thank you. Severus. I trust you have made yourself comfortable in your quarters?"
"Yes, I have, thank you, sir."
"Wonderful. Now I won't hold you up, I think you have some potions to brew."
"Unfortunately," Snape sighed and left the headmaster's office.
On the last day of July Lily finally went into labour. She sent Sirius out to go and find James. Sirius had to go quite far to achieve that and finally caught up with James on the south coast, where he was observing a suspect Death Eater. From the Auror headquarters Sirius brought a replacement, so that James could leave.
"Hey mate!" Sirius whispered behind James, who jumped half a metre into the air.
"Padfoot! What are you doing here, you prat?"
"I'm bringing your replacement, because you're on duty somewhere else today. Lily needs you, she's gone into labour three hours ago. Remus is still with her. Moody lets you off the hook for three days."
"Yay! Hey, Kingsley! Thanks for replacing me!"
"That's very well, James. I know the feeling! Good luck to your old lady!"
"I'll tell her! Everything here's been quiet so far, I only got here about an hour ago. I'm off then!"
Sirius and James apparated to Hogsmeade and rode the two brooms Sirius had taken along up to the castle. In no time they reached Lily and James' rooms, where Lily was working through the contractions with Remus' help. He and Sirius did most of the support in the next hours, James had declared that since they knew how it felt they would have to know how to help best. He was happy to run around and do errands for them. But they ordered him next to his wife when the baby finally came. A tuft of jet-black hair announced the arrival of little Harry James Potter, an adorable baby boy. As soon as she held her son on her arms, Lily felt revived and was happy when Remus helped him to find the nipple and suckle his first meal. James was completely taken with his son and seemed to only consist of a smile.
"Wow, what a feeling to finally meet you, Harry," he whispered.
As soon as the navel was cleaned and magically healed and Harry had his first meal in his belly, he was allowed to move to James' arm. There were tears of emotion streaming down James' cheeks and he was so proud that everything had gone well. He marched out of the bedroom with the baby to present his son to his parents who had arrived two hours before and whoever else was in the sitting room. Dumbledore was there, of course, and McGonagall.
"Everyone! Please meet Harry James Potter, my son. He's now an hour old."
Sirius and Remus had stayed with Lily, until everything around her was cleaned up and Lily declared she would like to get a bit of sleep. Remus laughed softly, kissed her on the forehead and said:
"That's about the last time you can get that unconditionally, Lily, because from now on little Harry is going to rule your life!"
"I'm very afraid that is going to be the case. Thank you both for so much guidance and care!"
"Can't leave a fellow mother in the ditch, now can we?" Sirius teased.
"No, and I'm glad for that maternal solidarity!"
"You're very welcome. Now sleep well."
The two followed James to the sitting room, where their own children had been watched by two house-elves and later on Oliver and Martha Potter. They greeted Sirius and Remus warmly.
"Hello Sirius, Remus! It's so nice to see you again. I have met your children! They're delightful!" Martha said.
"Hello Mrs Potter. Thank you. It's wonderful to have them, but they're four and they're all still tiny, so it's a lot of work. But we love them to bits," Sirius replied.
"Call me Martha, Sirius, it's about time for that! I can guess that they are a lot of work, but you seem to do a fine job. I heard you are even nursing them yourself?"
"Yes, and I expect the next meal is in order now. We've had to take off a couple of times during Lily's labour. How do you like your grandson?"
"We love him already! He's such a cute little fellow. How is Lily now?"
"She's fine, just tired. She's glad for a little nap right now. I'm sure you will see her later."
"Excellent. Now you go and feed your little ones."
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!
13. Babies left and right
Sirius was a bit more scared of this birth than before the first one. Now he knew what awaited him and he tried to get ready for it, but to already know the feeling frightened him. At least before the event took place.
The baby took some time, but was finally born on the sixth of May. Sirius felt the first waves of pain only slightly early in the afternoon. The contractions grew in intensity over the course of the afternoon and the intervals reached five minutes after dinner time. Remus had called Poppy over and Sirius dropped his final clothes, stayed on his bed and just let the waves of pain roll over his body. He was doing quite well, rather getting tired, but concentrated. But from about eight until the baby was out he was really under a heavy dose of pain, and he screamed an awful lot. James had taken the two children over to his room, while Lily stayed with Remus and Sirius. Sirius worked hard, he pressed the baby out and finally, after eight hours little Alya was there, shrivelled and covered with the whitish fluid that had protected her skin in the water. Poppy first gave her to Sirius, who welcomed his second daughter in his arms. He had tears in his eyes, from the labour and the pain, but also because he was so moved that it was over and he held his healthy little baby daughter in his arms.
She was small and looked like a carbon copy of Remus. That was at least what Lily claimed to see.
The baby opened her eyes already, turned her little head around and thrilled Sirius to bits with that. He caressed her very gently with his big hands. Remus watched this and said:
"Thank you, love! She's quite a lovely little one."
"You've given me another daddy's little girl, love..." Sirius whispered.
"Happy?"
Sirius nodded. He let Remus caress the baby. Poppy spelled the navel clean and once the cord was gone she wrapped Alya in a baby blanket. Remus picked her up for the first time.
"Hello, my sweet little daughter! Welcome to the family, little one."
He held her so that she could look into his face for a moment, then he laid her against his chest. Remus beamed as he held his daughter. He felt the slight kicks of the baby in his belly at the same time and thought it was an incredible feeling. It made him smile. Lily watched the two men. She almost cried and thought it looked so sweet. Poppy quickly cleaned Sirius and the bed up. He sat up and stretched out his arms. Remus returned the little one to him. Both smiled at each other and Remus bent down to kiss his mate.
"Love you. And the little ones."
Sirius held him in place and returned the kiss.
"Feeling okay?" Remus asked softly.
Sirius nodded and turned back to Alya. She made a few little noises and he grinned.
"Yes, girl, speak up! How about filling that little belly of yours? Want a first taste of your food for the next couple of months? It's tasty, you'll see!"
Sirius guided the little mouth over the nipple and Alya didn't need telling twice. Her reflexes in place she snapped the nipple and started to suckle. Sirius snapped, too, but for air.
"Wow, lady! You're knocking the wind out of me! Take care of your old man, will you? That's better now..."
Alya struggled a little at first, but she got enough into her belly to satisfy her for a while. By the time she had finished she was almost asleep, but the food in her belly helped her stay awake for another little while. Poppy took her to check her up with a few spells.
"She's perfectly fine, Sirius. Congratulations. You've done a fine job, too!"
"Thanks, Poppy."
Remus took Alya back up and went to get her dressed. She was completely dry now and while there were still a few red spots all over her she looked rosy and healthy. Remus unwrapped the blanket. He gently washed her with a soft cloth, then he got her dressed. Her crib had been set up in the bedroom, so he brought her back to the bedroom and put her down into the crib. He turned around and Lily stood there, giving him a great hug. He grinned.
"Both of us pregnant... makes for funny hugs!"
He patted her bulging belly. She still had to wait for a good three months and his own baby was still almost two months away.
"Let's fill the announcement and send them off," Remus said.
"Yes, let's go."
They left Sirius back to recover and take a nap. Alya slept as well, so Lily and Remus returned to the living room where Remus filled one parchcard and spell-copied the others. The envelopes had been prepared beforehand and all the cards were inserted. He only needed to pick them up and take them up to the owlery. While he did that Lily informed the headmaster. She gave the password to the gargoyle and climbed the moving staircase and, reaching the oak door, knocked.
"Come in!" Dumbledore called.
Lily opened the door and her smiling face promised good news.
"Hello, Lily. What can I do for you?"
"Sirius has just given birth, Albus."
"Oh, lovely! Is he well?"
"Yes, very well. He has another girl. Her name is Alya. She's a cutie and perfectly fine according to Poppy. Both are asleep now."
"I shall see them tomorrow then. Remus is happy, too, I would think?"
"Beams! He's just gone up to the owlery to send the birth announcements. Even with the baby in his belly he's had that spring in his walk... he's looking great right now."
"That he does. After that confrontation with Voldemort and now with a newly born baby daughter I would expect him to be quite happy. It is good for him to become so self-confident. He needs to think more of himself. And how are you feeling?"
"Oh, I'm fine. It's still a couple of months, but James can't wait now! I think, I have a bit more patience."
Remus had meanwhile reached the owlery and sent off a couple of birth announcements. He returned to Sirius quickly and found his mate fast asleep. Remus undressed, threw a last glance into Alya's crib and climbed into the bed next to Sirius. Sirius snuggled up to him in his sleep. Remus smiled as he pulled his husband close and slept right away.
They had the usual round of people congratulating them the next day. Peter and Sabina had taken the day off to come and see the newly born girl and the baby's two godmothers Dari and Hope turned up as well. Sirius was back into nursing and this time it was already known territory, so he didn't mind the visitors who streamed into their place at Hogwarts. Remus was happy to have another daughter. Actually he was just happy to have another child.
It was a bit of work to get settled into their new life with now three children. Sirius was off the hook for some of the work because he was already nursing Alya, who proved to be a hungry little one and was quite demanding. Vega and Polaris were curious, but they didn't really understand that they now had a younger sister. Remus played with them as much as he could, always trying to avoid making wrong movements with the baby still in his belly.
His time came just before the June full moon. He had hoped that the full moon would pass before the baby was born, but it was not to be. In the middle of the night on the twenty-seventh he went into labour and it lasted well into the next day until the baby was born. It was another boy and everyone around grinned, now Sirius had borne two girls and Remus two boys. They named the new little one Antares. Remus had hardly time to recover from the birth, when Sirius helped him to the Shrieking Shack, because they didn't know if Remus would transform that night but had to think he would. And he did. But Moony was very subdued that night and Padfoot didn't have a hard time nudging Moony on the bed. They stayed there for most of the thankfully short night.
Still, giving birth and transforming twice, all within twenty-four hours was a bit much for Remus, he was out of it for most of the day and the next night. Sirius took it onto himself to nurse not only Alya, but also Antares. But the second feeding he propped Remus up a bit and helped Antares feed from his other papa, just to get the lactation going. It was a bit of a hard job, but he managed to do it. Poppy was by his side, helping him. She had assured Sirius that Remus was fine, just over-exhausted and that he needed some rest. By the next morning Remus was awake again and hungry like a wolf. Sirius beamed at him and sent for his breakfast, then he brought Antares to him and made him nurse the baby.
"There isn't much in there, I'm afraid, love," Remus said to his suckling son, "but I promise a better cuisine very soon."
"He'll take what's there and wake you up an hour before his time..." Sirius prophesised.
"Takes no skills in Divination to guess that," Remus replied.
They were both extremely happy. They had made it that far, Remus had survived the birth and the subsequent transformation, everything was just fine at that moment.
But there was a surprise in store for them later in the day. They had both installed themselves and the babies as well as their toddlers in their living room when there was a knock on the door. Sirius opened it and in strolled a haggard looking Snape.
"What are YOU doing here?" Sirius sneered.
"Dumbledore told me to come here, how should I have known I'd find YOU here?" Snape replied, a bit too loud, because he woke not only Antares, but Alya, Vega and Polaris, too.
"Oh, great, now look what you've done, you idiot?" Sirius swore.
Snape looked around, rather bedraggled, and pointed at the children.
"What's that supposed to be? A bloody nursery? I thought you were doing research here..."
"For your information, we ARE doing research here. They're our children though. And if you can't behave in here then march straight back out. We don't need any Death Eaters around our children," Sirius seethed, door still open in his hand.
"I sent him to see you, Sirius, because you will work together on some levels. Severus has come to see me today. May I come in and meet the new Mr. Black?"
"Hello Albus! Yes, of course, please come in. He's crying over there, Severus just woke them all up. We need to get them back to sleep."
It wasn't quite so easy to soothe four tiny children back to sleep at the same time. Remus picked up Antares and Sirius lifted Alya on his arms and both sat down and let them suckle for a while, which put them back to sleep nicely. Then they stood up and took the babies over to their bedroom, where they could lay them into their cribs. Then they returned to the sitting room to take care of Vega and Polaris, who were both still quite upset. Both took hold of one of the children, taking their time and not caring whether the headmaster wasted time waiting for them or not.
"You'll have to pardon us, headmaster, but the children do come first," Remus apologised.
He calmed Vega down, put her head on his shoulder and rocked her gently. Sirius mirrored his actions with his son. He threw a worried glance at his mate and asked him:
"Are you okay, Remus? Not tired?"
"I'm fine, love."
"Good. - So, what's all this about?"
"Voldemort has ordered Severus to come and ask for a position on the Hogwarts staff. He thinks he needs a spy in our ranks, and he was convinced it would be a good idea to have someone here who is sly enough to find out what we might be up to. Severus has offered because it is known that I am out of a Potions Master since the end of the school year. I have, of course, given him the position. For one, he is excellent at potions, for two, Severus has come straight to me to tell me he would like to work for us and help us defeating Lord Voldemort. That obviously means you will see each other here at Hogwarts and I want you to be civil with each other. You will also work together at some levels. Severus, if you need to report something you come either to me or you go straight to Remus and Sirius, if I should not be available. Is that understood?"
"Yes, headmaster," Snape said, but it was clear that he wasn't pleased with the prospect of having to report to those two.
"Good. I trust you three can behave like adults and leave each other alone?"
"We are busy enough with the research and our little ones, we will certainly not waste time with schoolboy amusements," Sirius promised.
"That is what I wanted to hear from you, Sirius, thank you."
Snape still looked at the little ones. He took in the changed appearance of both, Remus and Sirius and was rather bewildered. At the last confrontation between Voldemort and the pair of them he had remained in the circle of the other Death Eaters of the inner circle as he had been told to do and his back had been to the area where they fought, so he had not seen them then. Now he noticed that both of them had fairly prominent female breasts hidden under their robes.
"What's the meaning of that?" he asked, pointing at the children.
"That, I am afraid, is my fault, Severus. But I can't give you the details unless Remus is comfortable with me giving away his secret to you..."
Remus looked at Dumbledore angrily, but gave in.
"Only if you memory charm him if he gets aggressive..." he whispered.
"Granted. Remus has been bitten by a werewolf when he was but a small child, Severus."
"What? And you let him into the school? Werewolves are monsters!" Snape said.
"If Remus is a monster, then I'm a giant," Sirius spat, "he's certainly less of a monster than all of you Death Eaters. At least he hasn't ever killed anyone."
"As you know Remus is a very gifted wizard, Severus. That is why we have allowed him the education that is selfunderstanding for every wizard and witch. It was far from selfunderstanding to Remus. And he has not disappointed us. I know that Tom Riddle has the greatest of respect and seethes about the wards Remus has set up left and right. You probably know that as well. Now the reason for them to be able to procreate is that werewolves can mate for life after all. It does take a while, but Remus and Sirius underwent the rituals. One consequence is that the body of a mated werewolf, if male, develops all inner female reproduction organs. The werewolf becomes a fully functional hermaphrodite. Since in our case we have two males who were mated the effect showed in Sirius as well. The mating boosted a lot of magical power in them. You might remember an incident in Hogsmeade when you were disarmed and not only you, but about a dozen other people found their wands gone and themselves on the ground, too. That was the effect of them casting a spell together. A very powerful combination. The mating only works when both partners who wish to bond for life are virgins."
"So they could get... pregnant?" Snape asked, baffled.
"Yes, they could, and they did, because I did not tell them of the possibility. It did take a year for their bodies to have undergone that internal change. Once they were pregnant for the first time, some time in February or March before the end of their seventh year, their power was boosted a further step. I can safely say that if these two here cast a spell together, with their bodies connected in some way they are probably casting the most powerful magic possible in these days."
"Are you telling me that these two are capable of killing the Dark Lord?"
"I am. Did you see Lord Voldemort after his confrontation with them?"
"Only a few days later."
"Then you did not see the wounds they cast on him. Among other things they sent a hailstorm worth of sharpest knives at him and he caught a fair few of them. The beauty of the spell is that they can, once they have it down completely, send a whole line of such knives, so that no matter to where the victim tries to jump they will be hit. They will even be able to make those flying knives follow their victim. For this time Lord Voldemort was only hit by the knives Sirius threw at him, but if they get a chance to ever do the same and cast the spell together... then I expect that this will be the end of your Dark Lord. He is not yet far enough to have conquered death and I do not intend to let it come quite that far. I am sure you will agree with me."
"Yes, I think, I do," Severus admitted.
"Good. Are you ready to see your quarters now? I do expect they have been prepared by now."
"Thank you, sir."
Dumbledore took Snape along and Sirius and Remus looked at each other with their mouths slightly hanging open. Remus pushed his jaw back up with his hand and said:
"Well, there's a surprise."
At lunch they met Lily who came over to share it with them, and they informed her about the new Potions teacher.
"Oh dear! Imagine our children having school with him! He'll be SO mean to them."
"He'll be a killer! I really hope that by the time they come to Hogwarts he'll be out of the picture. But he really seems to want to help Dumbledore. I don't think, Dumbledore would trust him if that wasn't the case," Remus said.
"You know, if it was Voldemort himself who planted Snape here, and Snape acts as a double agent for our benefit, then we could use that one day. We need to give them time to gain trust on both sides. I have a few ideas!" Lily said.
"Like?"
"Well, there are the meetings. It's going to be too obvious if we get information about attacks from Snape and thwart them. That would put him into a very awkward position. But if Snape can use excuses during term for not going to meetings we could send Peter again and then thwart attacks. That would make Voldemort suspect anyone but Severus, because Severus wasn't there and wouldn't know details straight away, would he?"
"Brilliant! No wonder you're good at chess. Let's suggest this at the next Order meeting!" Sirius exclaimed.
They did just that. The next meeting was just a week away, so they had a chance to bring this up. They arrived on the spot in time and when Dumbledore entered, he brought Snape with him. Most people started to murmur and were outraged, but Dumbledore asked them to be quiet for a moment and listen to him:
"This young man has become a Death Eater something over a year ago. But half a year into serving Lord Voldemort has taught him that this is not what he wants. You all know that it is a very difficult thing to get away from the Death Eaters and to our knowledge no one has been able to do it so far. Voldemort enslaves his servants. Instead of trying to get away fully, Severus has given his master the idea to plant him as a spy at Hogwarts. He had heard about the opening for a Potions teacher and came to me, to ask if I would entrust him with the position. He told me that Voldemort wanted to use him as a spy right in the middle of our safe haven. And he offered to act as a double agent in our favour. I now give him some classified information to take to Voldemort. Nothing really dangerous, but he needs to bring some things to his master, so Voldemort won't suspect he has changed the sides. I now want to ask you to accept Severus as a member of the Order of the Phoenix. I have full trust in him and believe him. He has already given me some valuable information and will continue to do so as he is in Voldemort's inner circle already at his young age."
There was a vote against trusting a Death Eater from two members, but then Sirius stood up and said:
"I agree with you, Albus. We should accept him."
All other Marauders supported that vote and since everyone knew how much the four of them despised the 'greasy git' they also knew that if the Marauders accepted Snape into the Order he should be all right. Snape was almost dizzy when he heard his arch-enemies from his school days speak up for him. He received a place at the table and then Dumbledore opened the meeting.
Snape blinked. No initiation or anything? He looked puzzled and quietly asked Peter, who sat next to him.
"No. You are free to leave anytime. You do this here out of your own free will," Peter said quietly.
"Oh."
"Your master won't know and won't see anything that will give away that you are a member."
"That's good then," Snape said and put his right hand over the Dark Mark on his left wrist.
Dumbledore outlined the development of the situation since the last meeting, several members reported their latest missions and then Dumbledore asked:
"Very well. It has been a bit quiet in the past two months. He has made himself known at the Quidditch game, but otherwise we know not what Lord Voldemort is up to. But nothing has happened anywhere and there is the danger that people get lulled by the inactivity. Severus tells me that he desperately tries to regroup and is now recruiting new Death Eaters. We have taken about six hundred out of his service, so it will certainly take a while until he has regrouped and he will have a harder time finding such people as he is looking for. I do not think that the pureblood families who are his prime target for recruits can replenish their ranks that fast. And he would have to wait a considerable amount of time for the new soldiers to grow up, would he not?"
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled and there was laughter in the room.
"Now then. That gives us a little time for our own schemes. Now that we have the upper hand I would like to work out some trap or something, because he remains to be a great danger to many lives and we need to have him eliminated. I would not normally claim a life, but this is a life that must be exterminated. Does anyone have an idea to contribute?"
Lily stood up.
"I think we should give Voldemort time to trust that Severus really spies for him. I would not suggest to feed all too wrong information, that would make Voldemort very suspicious. And finally I have thought about this and thought it might be good to take all suspicion away from Severus and try to find out if there could be reasons for him to stays away from meetings. To which we would send Peter instead of Severus."
Snape snorted.
"You actually think you could send Pettigrew under my robes and mask? He'd be found out in seconds flat."
The Marauders, Lily and Sabina all grinned.
"No, of course not, Severus. But every time you 'can't' go to a meeting - you're held up as a teacher of this school after all, and you can't get out without being missed, at least not too often, because that would really cause suspicion, well, to such meetings, Peter would go. He has a perfect disguise, rest assured of that, because he's been to dozens of your meetings already..."
Snape's eyes grew wide. Then he counted two and two together:
"Voldemort tortured Woodward to death with Cruciatus because he thought he was the traitor! So he wasn't? How did Pettigrew know where to go?"
"Mr. Woodward was not really a spy. But he supplied me with the dates and locations of your meetings and Peter went to pick up what he could. Mostly we have received a full account, because all he needed to do was place his memories into my Pensieve, Severus. Now, I am telling you this only because I know that you are a very skilled Occlumens, and you will certainly be able to keep that particular information away from your master."
Dumbledore turned to Lily, who had taken her seat again.
"If it is at all practicable I think you have just had a wonderful idea, Lily. We absolutely need to protect Severus from harm. Not only because of his value to us as an informant, but definitely because he is in a very dangerous position and trying to turn his back to evil. That alone obligates us to do our utmost for his protection. Severus, do you think, you will get your master to be a bit pliable about your attendance at meetings? It would take suspicion away from you. So far Voldemort has no idea that we have a spy far outside of his ranks who nevertheless is in a position to be there. We will not tell you how Peter can do that for his own protection."
"I don't know, sir, but I will have to report back if I have been accepted to the position in the next days. I'm waiting for the call as it is and then I can discuss the terms with him. Usually he is not pliable at all. So far I have mostly been asked to brew potions for him. And since he was satisfied with them I do think I am quite in his favour. But these potions are almost all very deadly poisons, which he uses on those Ministry people in the most cases. Usually they just vanish after having been exposed to those poisons. I cannot guarantee that I can fail them all in future. I can make some antidotes and play them into the hands of possible victims, but not all of them or he would be suspecting me in an instant."
There were gasps in the room. Some people started to protest again, to Snape's surprise two of them were former Slytherins, among them one Andromeda Black.
"I understand that, Severus. As terrible as it is, if he asks you to brew such potions you will have to oblige. I am sure we still will lose lives, but I am certain that we can prevent a few of them. Very well. I shall await your information when you come back."
Nothing else needed to be discussed. While the people started to leave the room, Severus looked at them and noticed that the Order of the Phoenix was a very mixed society. Men, women, old, young, members from all four houses, some from the lower segment of the wizarding population as well as nobility. There were Aurors, professionals of all sorts and several house-wives. But he had heard a few reports from several of them and had quickly gathered that they all knew what they were talking about. Some people were so old he thought they had probably already taken a great part in the war against Grindelwald. He left to find his quarters near his classroom in the dungeons. Since there were no students in the castle, the Order members casually streamed through it to the main Entrance Hall, something they certainly wouldn't do when school was in session.
It was the beginning of July and the students had only just left. A week after his first meeting with the Order Severus was called to Voldemort. He apparated there and noticed they were completely alone. The high pitched voice of his master told him to get up. Snape obliged and saw himself opposite the man he would hate for the rest of his life.
"Master, I come to you as your loyal servant."
"Very well, Severus. What do you have to report?"
"I have been accepted as the new Potions teacher of Hogwarts."
"That is excellent, Severus. And did you gain the trust of the old fool?"
"Yes, master. I thought it would be a good idea to even offer to spy for him to gain his trust."
"That is brilliant. Did he accept?"
"Not at once. That's why I was glad you didn't call me right away."
"I thought it would take a while. After all there are the school governors to be convinced of the choice of teacher... so you have already taken residence at Hogwarts?"
"Yes."
"Did he entrust you with the knowledge about the wards?"
"Alas, no, master, only he himself and the headmistress know about the wards. They are not allowed to pass the knowledge on to anyone else, not even the school governors."
That was a lie and immediately Snape felt Voldemort prying into his head. He had to use all of his strength to cover the lie up.
"What else have you found out?"
"There is a secret organisation, master, which they call the Order of the Phoenix..."
"I know about that! That's very old news already, Dumbledore started this ridiculous thing back when he fought Grindelwald. Anything else?"
"Black and Lupin are part of this Order."
"Could have known that..." Voldemort hissed.
"Yes, it was quite obvious."
"Will your work as a teacher leave you time to continue brewing potions for me?" Voldemort asked.
"Yes, I think so. Potions that will take more time will have to be done over the weekends, but quick potions I can make any time. I might not be able to come to all the meetings though, because I might be missed. Not only by Dumbledore, but especially by McGonagall, who is responsible for the staff as she's the deputy headmistress. And she won't take well to a teacher being absent all the time."
"Yes, that is clear. You will try to make it as often as you can and I will summon you on weekends only."
"That will be best. Can we say you can call me on either Saturday afternoon or Sunday evenings? To bring you the potions I've made or to take your orders..."
"Can you add Friday evenings?"
"Yes, master."
"Very well, that will be all for the moment. If you are absent from a meeting I know that you have not been able to get away, but I do expect you as often as you can. At least once or twice a month."
"Yes, master."
"Very well, Severus. I will need you to make these four potions, soonest. You can go now."
"Yes, master."
Severus took the parchments with the potions and threw himself to the ground as was asked from a servant of the Dark Lord and as soon as Voldemort had left he got up and returned to Hogwarts. He reported back to Dumbledore. He then proceeded to do the same as Peter usually did, to not forget anything he placed the memory of his encounter with Voldemort into a Pensieve. They looked at it together and Dumbledore nodded.
"Do you mind if we show this to everyone in the Order at the next meeting?"
"I do, actually, but I suppose it has to be..."
"It would prove to them that you have done your best," Dumbledore said softly.
"Okay. Then let them see."
"Very well. Thank you. Severus. I trust you have made yourself comfortable in your quarters?"
"Yes, I have, thank you, sir."
"Wonderful. Now I won't hold you up, I think you have some potions to brew."
"Unfortunately," Snape sighed and left the headmaster's office.
On the last day of July Lily finally went into labour. She sent Sirius out to go and find James. Sirius had to go quite far to achieve that and finally caught up with James on the south coast, where he was observing a suspect Death Eater. From the Auror headquarters Sirius brought a replacement, so that James could leave.
"Hey mate!" Sirius whispered behind James, who jumped half a metre into the air.
"Padfoot! What are you doing here, you prat?"
"I'm bringing your replacement, because you're on duty somewhere else today. Lily needs you, she's gone into labour three hours ago. Remus is still with her. Moody lets you off the hook for three days."
"Yay! Hey, Kingsley! Thanks for replacing me!"
"That's very well, James. I know the feeling! Good luck to your old lady!"
"I'll tell her! Everything here's been quiet so far, I only got here about an hour ago. I'm off then!"
Sirius and James apparated to Hogsmeade and rode the two brooms Sirius had taken along up to the castle. In no time they reached Lily and James' rooms, where Lily was working through the contractions with Remus' help. He and Sirius did most of the support in the next hours, James had declared that since they knew how it felt they would have to know how to help best. He was happy to run around and do errands for them. But they ordered him next to his wife when the baby finally came. A tuft of jet-black hair announced the arrival of little Harry James Potter, an adorable baby boy. As soon as she held her son on her arms, Lily felt revived and was happy when Remus helped him to find the nipple and suckle his first meal. James was completely taken with his son and seemed to only consist of a smile.
"Wow, what a feeling to finally meet you, Harry," he whispered.
As soon as the navel was cleaned and magically healed and Harry had his first meal in his belly, he was allowed to move to James' arm. There were tears of emotion streaming down James' cheeks and he was so proud that everything had gone well. He marched out of the bedroom with the baby to present his son to his parents who had arrived two hours before and whoever else was in the sitting room. Dumbledore was there, of course, and McGonagall.
"Everyone! Please meet Harry James Potter, my son. He's now an hour old."
Sirius and Remus had stayed with Lily, until everything around her was cleaned up and Lily declared she would like to get a bit of sleep. Remus laughed softly, kissed her on the forehead and said:
"That's about the last time you can get that unconditionally, Lily, because from now on little Harry is going to rule your life!"
"I'm very afraid that is going to be the case. Thank you both for so much guidance and care!"
"Can't leave a fellow mother in the ditch, now can we?" Sirius teased.
"No, and I'm glad for that maternal solidarity!"
"You're very welcome. Now sleep well."
The two followed James to the sitting room, where their own children had been watched by two house-elves and later on Oliver and Martha Potter. They greeted Sirius and Remus warmly.
"Hello Sirius, Remus! It's so nice to see you again. I have met your children! They're delightful!" Martha said.
"Hello Mrs Potter. Thank you. It's wonderful to have them, but they're four and they're all still tiny, so it's a lot of work. But we love them to bits," Sirius replied.
"Call me Martha, Sirius, it's about time for that! I can guess that they are a lot of work, but you seem to do a fine job. I heard you are even nursing them yourself?"
"Yes, and I expect the next meal is in order now. We've had to take off a couple of times during Lily's labour. How do you like your grandson?"
"We love him already! He's such a cute little fellow. How is Lily now?"
"She's fine, just tired. She's glad for a little nap right now. I'm sure you will see her later."
"Excellent. Now you go and feed your little ones."