AN: I apologize for taking so long to get this out! RL kidnapped me, and then when I got the chance to finally get this up, I decided I didn't like half of it and spent the last month rewriting a good chunk of this chapter. I hope you like it! The next chapter is written, but it still needs to be typed and then sent to beta. But I'm not going to give a date this time as to when it will be up.
Chapter 12
Harry lay shivering in the hospital bed, Padfoot curled up on his feet, much to the displeasure of Madam Pomfrey. James sat in a chair next to the bed, Hamilton secure in his arms. Severus stood behind him, one hand on James' shoulder. Hugh was on James' left side, and he wasn't exactly sure where Helena was, but she was somewhere in the infirmary.
Dumbledore had just argued with Fudge about how the man they all believed to be Alastor Moody suddenly changed into Barty Crouch, Jr. - a man who had supposedly died within Azkaban's walls eight years ago - and was holding Harry in a chokehold. In Harry's arms had lain the golden cup of the tournament, one side stained with his blood.
Fudge had come running at that point, having refused to take part in the 'portkey project' as James had mentally labeled it. The Minister had told Dumbledore that he was responsible for the impersonation and called for a Dementor to guard him from Crouch, who had started to laugh uncontrollably - and quite insanely - once Harry had been accio'd from his arms by Hermione Granger. Fudge had tried to order his guard to Kiss Crouch as well.
By that time James had had enough of the man. His eldest child had been hurt and the Minister was acting as if he had been the one impugned. Hexing him silent, James had made sure Harry wasn't going to expire any time soon. Once sure of Harry's health was fine, other than a cut on his arm and a twisted ankle, he turned to Fudge.
"Minister, we are going to be bringing this matter before the Wizengamot," James said as he stood straight and tall. "I would suggest that you call your top Aurors to take this man into custody, for a trial which will be held tomorrow at ten in the morning. If you do not, I will call for a vote of no confidence with the Wizengamot in terms of your leadership as a minister."
He released the silencing hex and gathered up Severus and Harry.
"Are you threatening me?" Fudge spluttered.
James turned his glare on the minister, honed from years of living with Severus. "I am not. I am acting as any concerned and voting citizen would. I have no confidence in your leadership, Mr. Fudge, and if you fail to act in accordance with Ministry laws, there will be a lot more concerned citizens other than me."
Fudge's mouth flapped a couple of times before he snapped it shut with a click. He glared at James, who returned it with an imperious look of his own. The Minister visibly shuddered before turning to Percy Weasley. "Go floo Shacklebolt and have him come here with Martins to take him back to the Ministry holding cells. Then go home, Weatherby."
Harry snorted from where he stood, next to James, earning a glare himself from Percy as he headed up to the school.
The Minister adjusted his bowler hat and took a pouch from his cloak. He held it out to Harry.
"Your winnings, Mr. Potter." With that he left, the dementor trailing behind him. The Minister cut a swath through the crowd that had gathered, and several people fainted as the Dementor brushed past them.
Dumbledore looked at the immediate group. "I suggest we head inside. Minerva, Severus... Would you please stay until Kingsley and Andreas arrives to take Mr. Crouch away? I believe I will escort James, Harry, and Cedric to the tender care of Madam Pomfrey. We will reconvene in the hospital wing."
Harry lay on the bed, Padfoot at his side. He kept one hand clenched in his fur, feeling the silkiness of it, as though it was an anchor to reality. He had told his fathers and Dumbledore what had happened as Pomfrey finished patching him up. Sirius, Remus, and his siblings had come midway through his explanations and he must have looked so pathetic because Sirius changed into Padfoot and joined him on the bed. It had helped, but not quite enough for what he'd been through this evening.
Dumbledore had sent Remus out to 'gather the old crowd' when Harry had protested Sirius being sent. It wasn't that he didn't like Remus, but he didn't want his comfort to go. It had been so long since he had seen Sirius that it was a welcome balm right now.
The other teachers had finally left, leaving only his family and Cedric. Madam Pomfrey had given the sixth year Hufflepuff some Dreamless Sleep potion once his parents had gone to rest. The nurse had also given some to Harry, but he didn't want to take it just yet. His dad was laid out on a bed next to Harry's, with Hamilton in a bassinet Pomfrey had found between the two beds.
"Harry, you need to take that potion," his father said in a low voice. "I am taking Helena up to her dorm and Hugh to my rooms. If you need anything, ask Black. Let your father get some rest."
Padfoot gave a soft yip in response.
Harry watched as his father guided a tired Helena and carried a half-asleep Hugh out of the side ward. He heaved a sigh and looked at Padfoot.
"Thanks for staying, Padfoot."
A whine answered him as the grim nudged him with a wet nose.
"Eew, Padfoot. That's just gross." He hugged Padfoot gently, taking care not to disturb the bandage Madam Pomfrey had put on his arm. "I love you, anyway."
Padfoot gave him a long lick up the side of his face as Harry chugged the potion he'd been given. He managed to get half of it down before sleep overtook him.
A soft cry woke Harry, and it took him a minute to realize it was Hamilton. Next to him, Padfoot was deep in a doggy dream, snoring softly. At least Harry thought it was a doggy dream, because his paws were twitching and his upper lip kept curling. He could still remember Sirius complaining that when he slept as Padfoot, he was always chasing rabbits and voles in his dreams.
The cry became a quiet wail. Harry lay there for another minute before realizing that his dad hadn't woken up. A little groggy from the dreamless sleep potion, he pushed himself off the bed and shuffled his way over to Hamilton's bassinet.
Carefully, Harry picked up his little brother and held him close. Hamilton stopped wailing and just snuffled. He shifted the six-week-old and discovered why he'd been crying - a wet nappy. Harry quietly groaned and shuffled back to his bed to wake Padfoot. He carefully moved his arm enough to poke the sleeping grin.
"Sirius, wake up," he whispered.
Padfoot gave a doggy sigh but otherwise didn't move.
"Padfoot."
When he showed no sign of movement, Harry looked at Hamilton, whose big hazel eyes were staring right back.
"Well, kid," Harry whispered. "Let's make this a team effort, shall we?"
Hamilton sniffed loudly.
"You wake Sirius when I put you close to him, and he can show me how to change you." Harry grinned at his little brother, who gave a watery smile. Tipping him to Padfoot's ear, he said "here we go."
Hamilton shrieked loudly, making Harry almost lose his grip when he was startled at the noise. Padfoot yelped and rose to his front paws, coming face to face with a rapidly reddening Hamilton. The grim looked to Harry, who shrugged.
"He needs changing, Paddy."
Padfoot hopped off the bed and changed back into Sirius halfway. "What's that?"
"Hamilton needs to be changed, but I don't know how to do it," Harry stated succinctly and quietly.
"Didn't James teach you yesterday?"
Harry shook his head. "He went to the staff bathroom behind the Great Hall because Fleur's mum raised a big fuss."
Sirius sighed and looked over at the sleeping man on the next bed. He nodded and led the way over to the small table Hamilton's bag had been set on. Harry set his brother down as Sirius pulled a clean nappy and an odd container out of the bag.
"What're those?" Harry asked as he struggled to get the buttons undone on Hamilton's one-piece.
"Muggle disposable wipes," Sirius answered with a grin. "Lily discovered them when you were born, and James just thought whoever invented them was a genius." He leaned in as if to conspire. "Much better than having to clean some potioned rag."
Harry scrunched his brow. "Don't they have disposable nappies, too"
"Yeah. But the charm to keep them on doesn't work on them." Sirius pulled off Hamilton's dirty nappy and tucked it neatly enough so that nothing could leak. He then put it in a side pocket that smelled like the potion Patri used to clean his cauldrons.
"Now," Sirius said in a trying-to-be-teacher voice, "You just need to make sure the little screamer is clean using these wipes." He lifted one chubby leg and went to wipe when Hamilton began to pee. Sirius jerked his hand back very quickly as Harry began chuckling.
"Yuck!" Sirius complained. "That's so gross." He glared at Harry, who was starting to get loud.
"What's up?" came a sleepy voice from behind Sirius.
"Harry turned. "It's great, Dad! Hamilton just peed on Sirius."
His dad slapped Sirius on the back, quietly chuckling. "So how many times does that make it, Padfoot? Seven? Or is it eight"
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, Prongsie boy." Sirius lightly poked the newborn in the stomach. "And as for you, Mr. Squirm and Pee Boy, I'll have to deal with you later." He gently tucked the clean nappy around the baby, pointing out to Harry where to fold and pin.
"Wonderful job, Padfoot," Harry intoned in as deep a voice as he could manage. "You've just won the very prestigious award of 'Best Nappy Changer at Three in the Morning!'"
His dad shook his head as he picked up Hamilton. "I think I will head down to Severus' room, Sirius. Do you want to stay with Harry then"
Sirius grinned and hauled Harry up against his side, squeezing the air out of him. "And listen to you snore? Hah! I'll stay with dear ol' Harry."
Harry's dad nodded and looked at Harry. "Try to keep him out of trouble until morning, okay"
Harry nodded. "Sure thing, Dad. If he does, I can call Madam Pomfrey."
Sirius held up his hands. "No! I'll behave. Please have mercy on me."
Harry was still laughing when they were left alone. Calming himself, he grinned at Sirius. "Thanks for staying, Sirius" he said in his most sincere voice. "I really appreciate it."
He rose to his tiptoes to give him a kiss when Sirius turned to speak. Harry froze as he realized he had just kissed Sirius full on the lips. Then he thought that this was a really long moment. Then it was that neither of them was moving and that maybe he should move.
But it was much different than kissing Amelie. His lips were so much softer than hers. Moister, too, but not wet. And just when did his eyes close, anyway?
James turned back to the hospital wing, cursing himself for forgetting Hamilton's bag. His son would need a battle soon and he couldn't exactly breastfeed. Stepping into the side ward where Poppy had put Harry, he stopped dead in his tracks.
What the hell?
He closed his eyes and waited a second before opening. No, that had not erased the image of his oldest son and his best friend of almost thirty years with lips locked and stock-still. Not moving. At all. Except lips... and was that tongue!
James cleared his throat, and both kiss participants jumped a good two feet apart. He almost laughed at Sirius' expression, except that his confusion was mirrored on Harry's face as well.
"James-"
"Dad, I -"
Harry and Sirius looked at each other and flushed, before quickly looking away. Taking pity on them, only because Cedric was still sleeping two beds away, James walked forward and steered Harry back to the bed he'd been given.
"Drink the rest of your potion, Harry. I will talk to you in the morning." He looked over at Sirius. "The both of you. And Sirius, you will be sleeping in the other bed."
He watched Harry knock back the last couple swallows of dreamless sleep potion and Sirius was in the bed James had previously occupied. Satisfied, James grabbed the bag he'd come for and made his way down to his husband's room. Severus was not going to like this at all.
000000
"And what happened?"
"She dumped me."
"Too bad. She was starting to become likable."
"Patri!"
Severus looked at Harry and Hugh, who were doing their respective summer homework at the table in the den. Looking up from his book, he raised an eyebrow at his eldest. "Remember that you were the one to kiss someone else."
Hugh snorted. "Uncle Padfoot's so old, Harry. It'd be like kissing Dumbledore!"
"Professor Dumbledore," Severus corrected. "And I might remind you, Hugh, that he is the same age as your father and I."
"Yeah. He's old," Hugh said. The ten-year-old stood. "I'm going to find Dad now, before you hex me for that, Patri." He grinned before fleeing.
Severus sighed. He must get that from James, because Severus' self-preservation would have prevented him from speaking. He looked across the table at Harry, who was smirking. Severus glared, but he continued. He went back to his book and finished the chapter before setting it aside. Looking up, he saw that Harry was frowning as he stared off into space. Severus held back a sigh as he studied his oldest child.
Severus had been beyond furious upon learning Harry and Black had kissed. He had watched Black go through girlfriends and boyfriends like Muggle disposable tissues in school. It had slowed down after he entered Auror training, but the man drew people to him like bears to honey. He didn't want his son to be hurt by the son of a bitch. And added to that his son had just witnessed a terrible ritual in which he'd been forced to participate in, bringing back the Dark Lord. That was traumatic enough without having to deal with a life-changing event like kissing Black. Well, life changing in the sense that Black had always been around in a parental-like role. He had been the one to baby-sit all of the children and had been "Uncle Padfoot."
Now it was all changing.
And what scared Severus the most was that Harry would be the one bearing the brunt of everything. Yes, he had not gone when the Dark Lord had called his followers, but he wouldn't be number one on His hit list - his son would be. And that would make the entire family a target, from Harry to Hamilton, James to him.
Severus would give almost anything to ensure his family was safe and would stay that way. At Crouch's trial, he had told the Wizengamot that they needed to do everything to protect the children. Severus knew that James could take care of himself, but the children couldn't. At least not with some of the teachers they had. Who knew what Crouch had been thinking when he had taught the Unforgivables. Still, it had helped Harry when faced with those spells cast by the Dark Lord himself.
Severus let himself finally admit that Harry had become a man the night of the Third Task. There was no other way to describe it. A mere boy wouldn't have been able to tell the events that had happened after Harry had touched the portkey without breaking. Instead, he had told of the ritual, of diving out of the way of the first curse the Dark Lord had cast at him - a Killing Curse that had hit one of the Death Eaters who hadn't moved fast enough. Then their wands had connected, and Harry had seen the shades of the missing Bertha Jorkins, a Ministry employee, an old man, and then Lily Evans had appeared. They had been the ones to tell Harry to bring back Crouch, that if he didn't, the coming war would turn out ill fought and ill won.
He looked up at his son once more, seeing all of the changes that had taken place since that terrible night. Harry looked back at him suddenly, green connecting with black.
"Are you mad, Patri?" Harry asked in a hesitant voice.
With a steady look in his eyes, he answered, "No, Harry. I'm not." He stood, going over to the fireplace. Severus picked up a family photo taken last summer. James and Hugh were giving each other rabbit ears and Helena was poking Harry in the side as he poked her in the arm. The picture Severus was holding James by the waist, the only solemn face as he watched the rest of his family with a protective eye.
How was Harry going to change because of what happened, beyond what already had?
Harry was much quieter this summer than he had been in the past, but what else would change, Severus couldn't say for sure.
"Patri?"
"Yes, Harry?" Severus looked at his son, who was wearing a thoughtful frown.
"Just how exactly did you know you loved Dad?"
He was quiet for a moment, before an unnatural feeling swept over him. Panic as he'd never felt swelled as he realized just why Harry was asking the question. All he could think to answer the question was a shouted, "JAMES!"
000000
James could hardly contain his laughter as he told his friends about being called in to describe what 'being in love' meant. Sirius had actually blushed when the subject had been introduced at their weekly outing to Diagon Alley. Remus, on the other hand, had laughed so hard, James had been afraid that he would have to take his friend to St. Mungo's. He was still laughing, but in a more restrained fashion after several matronly witches had glared at the three men sitting in front of Florean Fortescue's ice cream shop.
James looked down to where Hamilton lay at his feet. His son was still asleep, thankfully, even after the loud bursts coming from Remus. He tucked the light blanket securely around Hamilton's feet from where he had kicked it away in his sleep, admiring the gift Sirius and Remus had chipped in to get.
"Just where did you find this again, Sirius?" James asked as he pointed at the baby carrier.
"Manhattan Alley," the man replied, talking around the last bite of his Mint and Cookie scoop of ice cream. "The stores there sell a lot of Muggle items, and this way you can take Hamilton out with you when you go Muggle."
Remus' chuckles had started to taper off. "You're just lucky Padfoot asked me to help pick which one, because this man has no fashion sense at all." He shuddered. "He had to pick the orange and neon green polka-dotted and striped fabric."
"It was cool looking!" Sirius protested.
"It would have given the poor mite nightmares."
James laughed softly as he looked down at his son. He had hopes and dreams for each of his children, and for Hamilton, right now, he wished that his son could grow up on a world where a war wasn't just starting, where there was peace. He looked at his friends, who were fighting over the last bit of ice cream left in Remus' bowl. Oh, how James wished that everything would turn out all right for all of his family. He shook his head to get away from maudlin thoughts as Sirius pointed out into the alley, distracting Remus long enough to dip his spoon into the bowl and eat the last of the ice cream.
"Who's she?" Remus asked, startling both James and Sirius.
James looked back to where his friend was pointing. Raising an eyebrow, he turned to Sirius. "Is he looking at what I think he's looking at?"
Sirius waggled his eyebrows. "I don't know, Prongs. I though Moony here had turned celibate."
Remus shoved him. "Seriously - and don't start with the joke, Padfoot - who is she?"
"That's Anne Sinistra, the Astronomy witch up at Hogwarts," James answered. "Severus said she went to Salem and moved... here..." He stopped when he noticed his friend wasn't paying a lick of attention to him. James turned to Sirius. "I think we lost him."
Sirius shrugged. "Had to happen sometime." He perked up. "Now I can tease him about 'mooning' over someone!"
James put his hand over his eyes. He certainly didn't want to see what hexes came out of that situation. He handed Hamilton a toy and straightened up in time to see an owl swoop towards him. The eagle owl certainly acted pompous as it only allowed James to take the parchment from its leg, even after both Sirius and Remus tried to do so.
"What you got there, Prongs?" Sirius asked.
James scrunched his eyebrows together as he read the letter. He couldn't make head or tails of the situation, and this would need a good, long conversation with Severus to accept what lay within.
"What is it?" Remus asked when James didn't answer.
He looked up at his two friends from across the parchment. "It seems that I've inherited a seat on the board at Hogwarts."
"What!" Sirius asked. "From who?"
James scanned the letter once more. "From Mr. E. Negma. It says here that he was my great-great uncle."
Remus leaned over and read the letter from just behind James' shoulder. "Maybe Dumbledore knows who he was."
James folded the letter and tucked it securely into his robe's inside pocket. "I certainly hope so."
ffnet's quickedit stripped the puncuation. If you find any missing, please let me know. I most likely missed one myself.