Chapter Nine

Eight months had gone by since Remus first found out that he was pregnant. He and Sirius had been through six different appeals with the support of their friends, as well as Healer Fenwick, Professor Dumbledore, and the lone Committee member who'd supported them, a woman by the name of Scythia Sinclair. The last one ended yesterday, with the Ministry finally agreeing to allow Remus and Sirius to keep their children – on the condition that they are examined by Ministry medi-wizards at regular intervals, as well as St. Mungos' Healers. Neither Sirius nor Remus really had a problem with that condition, as it would insure that the children stayed healthy.

Now, Remus and Lily were having lunch together, both just having finished their latest checkups at St. Mungo's. Remus, of course, still had to disguise how large he was using a few special charms – the last thing he needed was for some muggle (or wizard, for that matter) to realize that he looked pregnant. Therefore, despite the fact that Remus was nine months pregnant with twins (he and Sirius had decided that they wanted the babies' genders to be a surprise), he appeared to be just as skinny as ever. Lily, on the other hand, resembled nothing so much as a beached whale. Or at least, that's what she'd spent the last half hour bemoaning.

"I can't wait to get this bloody baby out of me," she said with a groan, as she sat down at a table outside a small café in Diagon Alley.

"Just think how I feel," Remus said as he took the seat across from her. "At least you're not having twins. These charms only make me look normal – I still feel like I'm about to pop."

"Yeah, well, I still say you're lucky – I don't get to hide just how fat I am," Lily grumbled. She pushed her flaming red hair out of her face as they perused the menus they'd been given.

"Oh, you look great, Lily. I don't know why you keep complaining," Remus said.

Before Lily could respond, a waiter appeared at their table. He was tall, had dark blonde hair and blue eyes, and asked in a thick Russian accent, "Are you ready to order?"

After lunch, Remus said that he still had a few things he needed to get for the babies, and Lily agreed to go shopping with him. They'd been in the store Babies R Us (Let's just pretend that's a wizard shop, shall we? Yes, we shall.) for about fifteen minutes when Remus was overcome with waves of pain. Lily turned to him in concern as he dropped the baby monitor he'd been about to purchase.

"Remus?" She asked him as he doubled over, grasping his abdomen in pain. "Are you okay?"

"No-" He gasped out. "I think –I think it might be the babies."

It was then that Lily noticed the wet spot on his pants. Remus had gone to the bathroom a few minutes ago, so she was sure it wasn't urine. She quietly pointed this out to Remus. "Um, Remus, I might be wrong, but I think you're water's broken. You're in labor."

Remus took a deep breath as the pain passed. He stood up straight once more and looked at Lily. "I think you're right," he said as he handed the shop keeper all the items he'd intended to purchase. He'd get Sirius to come back for them later. "I need to get to St. Mungo's."

Lily nodded and took his arm to offer some support as they left the shop in a hurry. Not for the first time, Lily and Remus both cursed the fact that pregnant women – or, in this case, pregnant people – were not allowed to Apparate. The Ministry said such magic was too dangerous to the woman's unborn child. While Lily wasn't sure that flooing was any better, Remus was adamant that they not take the Knight Bus. She couldn't fault him for that, as it was nauseating enough traveling on it under normal conditions; taking the Knight Bus when you were pregnant was pure hell. Therefore, they had no choice but to use the floo in the Leaky Cauldron.

Just as they reached the pub, Remus nearly fell to his knees as he was hit by another contraction. "Should it be this bad so soon?" He gasped out, as Lily helped him to his feet.

"I don't know," she said. Lily frowned in concern as she helped Remus walk to the fireplace, ignoring the odd looks they were getting from the other patrons.

"James, remind me again why we're down here?" Sirius asked in annoyance.

James sighed. "Because. Moody wants us to research the histories of all the pure-blood families associated with the Dark Arts. And the only way we can to that is to come here – the Ministry's Library."

"You mean the hind-end of the magical world," Sirius said, his expression skeptical as he glanced around the enormous room on the bottom floor of the Ministry. (A/N: I'm not sure if there is a Ministry Library, but if there was one, I think it would be on the same floor as the Department of Mysteries.) It looked like an exact copy of Hogwarts' Library, except that it was larger. Much larger. "What good does he think this will do?"

"Who knows?" James asked as he pulled down a likely-looking book and set it on a nearby table. "Maybe he just sent us down here because he wants to get you out of his hair. You haven't exactly been the easiest person to work with the past few weeks."

Sirius dropped another book on the table and said, "Yeah well, if you'd been through all the stress I have recently, you wouldn't be very pleasant all the time, either."

"I guess not," James conceded as he resumed his search. "But I notice you always manage not to be quite so snippy when Remus is around."

"Well, what did you expect?" Sirius asked with a slight grin. "I love Remus, but a pregnant werewolf is not easy to deal with – especially if he's worried about losing his kids, or it's near the full moon. His mood swings are probably twice as bad as Lily's."

James grimaced. "I'm just glad that part's almost over – for all of us. Not that I'm looking forward to changing diapers or waking up at two in the morning, but at least I won't have to worry about Lily trying to hex me if I say or do the wrong thing."

"I know what you mean," Sirius said as he of one particularly ancient book. He was just about to place the book on the table when he heard something. It was Remus, and he was in pain – great pain. Sirius felt the blood leave his face as he dropped to his knees, placing his hands on his head.

"Sirius?" James asked, turning to his friend. When he noticed Sirius' position, James hurried over to him, dropping to his knees when he reached the other man. "Sirius, what is it? What's wrong?"

"It's Remus," Sirius gasped out, his face contorted in pain. "Something's wrong. Very wrong. I've got to get to St. Mungo's."

A/N: I know I said this one would be longer, but I decided that this would be a good place to end the chapter. I just got back from the beach, and actually meant to post this before I left. Unfortunately, I was having problems getting online, and wasn't able to update anything. Anyway, please review and remember – flames will be used to make my cauldron boil!