Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other known character from the Harry Potter series. I do own the plot and a few characters.
I have to give a very, very special thank you to ANNE( v )79 for helping me reach the 100 reviews. I HAVE 100 REVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy…………….. Well hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 37 – Katherine Black & Rosh Lupin
Soon the news of the engagement reached the ears of all the members of the Order. Some were sceptic but most of them were happy and excited. The date was decided and the kind of ceremony too. The problems started right after that. For one Sirius was still wanted and two Iris was reported as missing/dead, so finding a priest or someone to marry them was complicated. Then there was the place for the ceremony. It was this that made Sirius, Iris, Remus, Sarah, Harry, McGonagall and Dumbledore meet at Hogwarts. They were all at Dumbledore's office.
" If I can make a suggestion?" asked Professor McGonagall.
" We are all open to suggestions Minerva." Said Sirius, who had Iris sitting on his lap.
" Well, maybe we could do it here at Hogwarts. During the Easter holiday. Most of the students are gone."
" It's a good suggestion Minerva but I'm not so sure. True, most students are gone but what would we do to the ones that stay? We can't force them to leave." Said Dumbledore.
" Dumbledore has a point. We can't tell the students to go take a hike. However I have one suggestion. It's something that's been coming to mind quite often." Said Iris.
" Let's hear it." Said Dumbledore.
" Well, we can do it at Sirius's house and for the minister I suggest that Professor Dumbledore does the honours."
This suggestion was received with a rather thick silence. Everyone was exchanging looks and Dumbledore seemed to be pondering the offer. After a few minutes of silence Dumbledore smiled and spoke.
" I fell honoured that you would chose me to marry you. I accept gladly even though I'm not a minister."
" Well, technically Sirius and I are already married, right sweety?" Iris asked Sirius.
" I guess."
" He's the one who insists on a ceremony so I don't care if it's not a real one." She continued.
" I'm fine with her suggestion. It will be great to have you, Professor, as our minister." Concurred Sirius.
" So I believe this concludes our little meeting. We have a date, a location and a minister. All is worked out. You can all return to your duties."
Everyone left Dumbledore's office. Now everything was all right.
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The happy day for Sirius and Iris arrived and everything at Grimmauld Place was ready. At the time Iris was in a room trying to get dressed. In the same room were Hermione, Ginny, Mrs Weasley and Sarah. Iris was having a fit because the dress showed her rather large belly.
"Look at this. I'm fat. And this dress is making me even fatter. I hate this." She complained.
"You are not fat. It's normal." Said Mrs. Weasley trying to make her feel better. "Here's a tip. Try to imagine me when I was expect Fred and George."
They all exchanged glances and Iris seemed to calm down a bit. Obviously someone expecting twins would be much fatter than she was. So finally she managed to get in the dress and feel comfortable with it. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were fixing her hair when Sarah started feeling sick. She made her way to the bathroom as fast as she could and left behind four perplexed women.
"What was that?" asked Iris.
"I don't know but I'm not sure your sister is well." Said Hermione.
"She'll be fine." Iris said simply. In fact she smiled.
Mother and daughter shrugged and continued their work. Soon Iris was looking beautiful. She had a pearl white dress, with long sleeves and a short veil. Her hair was caught in a high bun, which was held in place by a small tiara. Sirius's necklace, which had been brought by Sarah, was on her neck. The ring was no longer on her finger because Sirius had taken his off so that Harry could give it back to him during the ceremony.
Ginny and Hermione were wearing a dark pink dress and Mrs Weasley a blue one. Sarah was wearing a light red one, which at the moment was probably getting a bit dirty. Iris was about to check that when someone knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" asked Mrs Weasley.
"It's me mom. Are you guys ready? Sirius is getting pretty annoying." Said Ron from the hallway.
They all laughed.
"We're going. Just one minute." Said Iris.
Ron mumbled an 'ok' and Iris made her way to the bathroom door.
"Sarah, are you alright dear?" she asked. No answer came. She tried again and still no answer.
"I can stay here waiting for her to get out. You should go before Sirius comes barging in here to get you." Suggested Mrs Weasley.
"Thank you, Molly. I'm sure she'll be fine. See you downstairs."
Iris, Hermione and Ginny left the room and made their way to the door of the living room. The place had been completely changed. Now it had a sort of altar in the far back and people were sitting in rows, just like a church. The odd thing was the person waiting for Iris at the entrance. Seeing that Iris's father couldn't come, someone else had to walk her down the fake aisle. Now Dumbledore was the 'priest', Remus was the best man and everyone else was sitting in the chairs waiting for the bride. There was only one person left and that person was at the door looking bored and wishing with all his might that he wasn't there. His greasy hair was actually combed a bit and he looked rather decent wearing a nice black suit. Iris smirked at the site of Snape.
"Well, well, Severus. Don't you look nice today?" she said still smirking.
"Let's get this over with. I was practically obliged to be here. The last thing I wanted was to witness such a ridiculous event. And actually be a part of it makes it worse." he said in his usual tone.
Iris simply took his arm and smiled as they started walking inside the changed room. Sirius and Remus were at the front, near the altar. Ron and Harry were in the first chairs and near them was Professor McGonagall. The boys were wearing black suites like Snape's and Sirius and Remus had their robes over the suit. Dumbledore was behind the altar smiling. Sirius and the boys had a strange look on their faces. Iris simply smiled even more. They reached Sirius's location and Snape handed her over to him. He shook his head and took Iris's arm in his hand. Then he smiled at her. Everyone sat down and Dumbledore started the ceremony.
Sarah and Mrs Weasley arrived when the ceremony was under way. The older Renata sat near Remus and he looked at her a bit concerned. Mrs Weasley sat near Ginny and started crying almost immediately. Ginny and Ron rolled their eyes and the twins started giggling. Harry smiled.
The ceremony ended with the traditional kiss and then everyone followed the couple to the kitchen. Mimi had already everything set and they started eating straight away. Iris, Sirius, Remus, Sarah and the trio were together when a question arouse.
"What happened to you Sarah? Why did you arrive so late'" asked Sirius. Iris swallowed hard. Sarah almost spilled her drink.
"I had a problem with my dress." She said, while nodding as if trying to convince herself of that.
"Oh. I see."
"So, Iris, how did it felt like to walk that close to Snape?" asked Remus.
"Well it was different. Weird even." Iris explained.
"Only Dumbledore to have the idea of using Snivellus to walk my woman to the altar." Sirius commented while shaking his head. Everyone laughed.
After the laughter subsided Sarah started looking around nervously. Iris noticed and sighed.
"Sarah, dear come with me. I have to show you something." Iris said. "We'll be right back." she added turning to the rest of the group. They all nodded and the two sisters left the kitchen. Iris took Sarah to the room and started changing.
"Sis, help me out this thing."
Sarah helped Iris and the younger Renata put on a more comfortable dress, which didn't reveal her belly so much. After releasing her hair she looked deep into her sister's eyes.
"So, sis, we are going to have a little wolf in the house and you forgot to mention it." she said simply. Sarah gulped.
"How do you know that?" she asked.
"I had a dream about it. I saw my little girl, the black dog, a brown haired boy and a puppy wolf. Don't need to be a genius to figure that one out." Sarah sat down on the bed and started staring at her hands.
"What if he doesn't want the baby? I didn't even know werewolves could have children."
"Well apparently Remus can. And you will. I thought you were happy about it?" Iris asked kneeling in front of her sister.
"And I am. But maybe he won't be."
"Of course he will. Deep inside he wanted my child to be his. He's sad about it but now he won't have to think about it because you are going to give him a baby." Sarah smiled. Maybe she had a point. Surely he would be happy about being a father. And maybe the baby wouldn't be a werewolf. Maybe.
"Let's go back. If we stay a second longer Sirius will come here to get us." Iris said getting up.
"I guess." Sarah said and got up as well.
And true to Iris's word, Sirius was already climbing the stairs.
"I thought you girls had ran away somewhere." He said.
"Like I would ever leave you." Iris said smiling and gave him a kiss.
"I guess not." He said when the kiss was broken. The trio returned to the kitchen and met up with the others. More than once Iris nudged Sarah to do something but the older Renata maintained the silence. One by one people started to leave. Soon only the two couples and the trio remained.
"This was an interesting way of spending the day." Said Harry. Ron yawned and Hermione followed his lead. After that the whole table yawned.
"I guess it's time for bed." Said Remus.
"Wait a second everyone. Sarah has something to say." Iris said before anyone started to get up. Sarah shook her head vigorously. Iris glared while all eyes rested on the older Renata.
"Well, what is it?" asked Remus.
"I'm pregnant." Sarah said loud and clear. The reaction she got was weird. Everyone was silently looking at her. Remus seemed to be in shock. Sirius smirked and Iris was the only one with a normal look on her face. Hermione was the first to talk.
"But I thought that werewolves couldn't procreate. That was the reason why I never believed Professor Lupin could be the father of Iris's child."
"Me too." Sarah started. "But apparently they can. At least Remus can."
"It has to do with the Wolfsbane potion. It has to be it." Iris said.
"Perhaps. Maybe something in the potion changed the genetics or something. I don't know. All I do know is that I'm expecting a child and it's yours Remus."
He was still in shock. All he did was blink. Sirius hit the back of his head and he snapped out of his trance.
"You are pregnant?" he asked.
"Yes." She answered simply.
"That's…great. I'm going to be a dad." He said facing Sirius and beaming like a child. Sirius smiled and gave him a hug. The two remaining Marauders were going to be parents.
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The months went by not too fast and not too slow either. The quidditch cup went to the Griffindors again and Ginny started her O.W.L.s as June arrived. The trio also had their exams. Finally June came to an end, as did classes. Iris's first year as a teacher had been rather good considering everyone had good grades on their O.W.L.s and NEWTs.
After school was over Harry had to go to the Dursleys' house for two whole weeks. Fortunately for him the Order's threat and Sirius's visits made those two weeks not seem so bad. Before he knew it he was back at Grimmauld Place #12. Iris looked really tired but, as Sirius stated so many times, she was still radiant. The baby was due to August but sometimes things don't go exactly as you expect.
31st of July. Harry's 17th birthday. Sirius, Iris, Remus, an already chubby Sarah, the whole Weasley family (except Percy of course) and Hermione were gathered in the Black's kitchen. A cake with a snitch was on the centre of the table and everyone was ready to sing Happy Birthday. That was until Iris started to feel bad. Harry was the first to notice the look on her face.
"Iris are you all right?" he asked.
She was starting to breath hard and had her hands on her belly.
"Iris dear is something wrong?" asked Mrs Weasley.
"I think…it's coming." Iris said panting.
Needless to say everyone panicked, especially Sirius. Slowly and carefully Sirius and Remus helped her up and took her to the nearest room. Mrs Weasley took over the situation and threw orders everywhere. Mimi got the towels, Ginny the hot water and everyone else was to stay outside. Including Sirius. Which meant that five minutes later the hallway was being paced continuously. Sarah stayed with Remus and the rest of the people in the living room. Sirius and Harry remained at the door, Harry sitting in the floor.
"Sirius, pacing the hallway won't make time go by faster. Sit down and relax." Harry said after ten minutes of watching his godfather walking back and forth in front of him.
"I'm too nervous to be still. You'll understand one day." Sirius said simply.
Harry shook his head and sighed. There was nothing he could do except wait.
"Something is going wrong. It usually doesn't take this long." Sirius said after five more minutes.
"Calm down. If something was wrong we would know by now." Harry said trying to comfort him.
Finally Sirius leaned against the wall beside Harry and slowly slid down until he reached the floor. At that instant the door opened and Ginny come out. Sirius and Harry got up quickly.
"So? What's wrong?" Sirius asked immediately. She smiled.
"Nothing's wrong. It's a perfect little girl." Ginny said smiling broadly. Sirius smiled too and Harry hugged him. Then Mrs Weasley appeared.
"You can go in now boys." She said proudly. Behind her came Mimi.
Sirius nodded and let go of Harry. He entered the room not quite sure of what he was going to see. Loads of blood would probably be one of the things. He was a bit surprised when he saw a very clean room and sitting in the bed holding a bundle in her arms was Iris. Sirius smiled broadly and made his way to the side of the bed. Harry entered right behind him and made his way to the other side of the bed. Sirius sat down beside his wife and gave her a small kiss before locking his view on the baby girl. She had dark little hairs and the moment Sirius looked at her she yawned. He touched her little nose and leaned down to kiss her forehead. Harry also kissed her forehead and then kissed Iris's cheek.
"She's very pretty. The cutest thing ever." He said smiling. You could say he was almost drooling. Surely Sirius was drooling. He grabbed one of the baby's little hands and kissed it softly.
"Are you intending on kissing every inch of her?" Iris asked playfully.
"Not yet. But eventually." He said grinning like a maniac. Iris gave him a kiss and caressed his cheek. Then everyone that was downstairs came into the room. Sarah was the first to reach them.
She wrapped her arms around Sirius's neck to get a better view of the baby.
"I have a niece. And she's the cutest." She screeched.
"And you didn't see her yawning." Said Sirius.
The rest of the people present in the room took a look at the baby and left Iris to rest. Soon only Harry and Sirius remained in the room.
"Sorry for ruining your birthday Harry." Iris said.
"You didn't ruin anything. This was the best gift I could ever have. I love it."
"Well now we have to chose a name, Sirius."
"Yes I guess. I'm not good at these things. Maybe Harry as the godfather could suggest something."
Harry had his eyes wide open and was looking from Sirius to Iris trying to figure out if he had heard it right.
"I'm the godfather?" he asked.
"Sure. Remus was my best man and we want you to be the godfather." Sirius answered.
"That's right Harry. Now if you would be so kind as to help chose the name." Iris said smiling.
It took a while before they reached consent.
"So Katherine it is. Katherine Renata Black." Iris said.
"Hello Kat." Sirius said before taking hold of the other hand and kissing it softly.
Sirius and Iris now had their bundle of joy. The next day Katherine received Dumbledore's blessing and Professor McGonagall's visit. And strangely enough even Snape came to see the baby. Needless to say no one was around to witness it.
In the following months Sirius and Remus took turns in watching the baby. Remus considered it as a practice for his coming child. And coming was he.
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Sirius and 4-month-old Katherine were in the kitchen and he was eating ice cream. Katherine was extending her little arms as if begging for some of that delicious looking thing her father was eating. Sirius refused to give it to her and soon she grew tired of so much wiggling her arms. She yawned when Harry came in.
"Hey, Harry. What brings you around?" Sirius asked between spoons of ice cream.
"Came to check on things. Are you keeping her warm enough? You know how winter gets cold here." Harry said crouching beside the baby girl.
"Will you stop that? Who's the father here, you or me?"
"I'm entitled to get worried Sirius. I never imagined you to be the fatherly type."
"True, but Iris would kill me if I did anything wrong." Harry laughed at this.
"Where did you get that?" Harry asked pointing at the box of ice cream his godfather had in his hands.
"It was in the freezer. Not sure who it belongs to." He said before diving the spoon back into the box.
"And it had no spells on it?"
Sirius stopped eating almost immediately. He took a good look at the box and got up to close it and return it to the freezer.
"Best put it back." he said.
At the moment he opened the freezer Iris came in.
"Don't store that. I want some."
"Is it yours?" Sirius asked.
"No, it's Sarah's." She answered and removed the lid and stole Sirius's spoon.
"Are you sure we can eat it?"
"Yes. She won't be needing it soon." She said simply and took a spoon full.
"And why is that?" Sirius insisted.
"Because her wishes are gone. And we wouldn't want perfectly good ice cream to ruin now would we?"
"Wait a second. Her wishes are gone? I thought it only ended when the woman gave birth."
"And that's true." She said between two spoons.
"Are you saying that Sarah is giving birth right now and we are here like idiots?" Sirius asked confused.
"I don't remember seeing her in my room when I was giving birth. And unlike me she's at the hospital so she'll be fine. And what matters is that Remus is with her."
"Why nobody warned me?"
"Why would you need to know?"
"Are you forgetting something? It's our godchild that's coming to the world. I wanted to be there."
" Relax. You can still be there. Doctors said it would probably take some time." She said and placed the ice cream back into the freezer. Then she took Katherine and left the kitchen. Sirius shook his head and Harry shrugged. The two then made their way to the hospital where they found Remus sitting in a chair in the waiting room.
"Hey, Padfoot. It's going to take a while. Iris said she would drop by later." He said still sitting.
Sirius and Harry sat beside him and the wait continued. It was going to be a long day.
It was 20:30 when finally the doctor came to call for Remus. Iris was already there, having arrived at 17 o'clock. Katherine was behaving very good and kept quiet all the time, actually sleeping on her father's lap for most of the time. So when the doctor arrived Remus got up and followed him. The group had to wait a couple more minutes before they were allowed to enter the room Sarah was in. Sirius and Iris remembered the day they came to meet Harry and the boy smiled when they told him how he sucked everyone's fingers and seemed to like Remus.
The baby was adorable. He had no hairs whatsoever and was rather small. But adorable nonetheless. Iris allowed Katherine to touch him for a bit and smiled when her daughter smiled at the touch of the baby's skin. However she soon lost the reason to smile about. She had a strange feeling that made her hairs stand on end when she looked at the two babies at the same time. She shivered but no one seemed to notice it. Iris backed away from her nephew and looked at Katherine then at the boy. There was something really strange between them. Almost like an invisible web connecting the both children. And Iris had the feeling it was a bad connection. She was snapped out of her thoughts as Remus's voice entered her ears.
"Everyone, meet Rosh Lupin. My boy." He said proudly.
Iris smiled but to her it seemed fake. She could almost see the web. And it was scaring her a bit.
Finally I updated. God almost three months. bows head in shame sorry y'all.
Let me continue my thanks to my reviewers:
Snuffles2984: Thank you so much for reviewing and reading my story. I know I love yours. And thanks to you I have 125 reviews. ;D
Aria-wolfstar: Well, you are one crazy reviewer. But I like that. About your ideas, I just proved you wrong right? Well at least Sarah was pregnant too but no death for little Kat and Sirius will never break up with Iris. Or at least I hope. ;) And I really have to thank you for reviewing my story at fictionpress. That was very cool of you.
Siri Lupin: I'm glad you liked my beginning. Hope you like the rest too. And who doesn't love Sirius? I think it's cool you did a whole series. Great idea.
And I would like to apologize for my constant delays. The thing is I've been having some minor disagreements with my muse and I don't know why but I seem to have lost the will to write. The problem is apparently the lack of will applies more severely to this fic. Strange if you ask me. Well anyway from now on be prepared for some time of wait. And the interesting part is that the fic is coming to an end. I have about 6 chappies 'till the end. So now you know.
Cheers.
