Title: Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

Author: SweetMercy

Rating: M

Warnings: mpreg, slash, may have small references to HBP, has naughty swear words!

Pairings: RL/HP but has references to others

Chapter 17: And the Father is…

Two hours after Remus had left, Harry was to be found sitting in the empty armchair, staring aimlessly at the wall whilst slowly rocking back and forth with Skylar in his arms. Only two days old and Harry had already noticed personalities developing in the babies. Well, not so much as personalities; they were more like little traits, characteristics.

Leanna was always the one that started to cry first which almost always resulted in her waking up her brother and sister. She was the one who cried the loudest and Harry swore she did it on purpose.

Joshua, the eldest, hardly ever cried. The only times he cried was when Leanna woke him up and when that happened he was always the one to go to sleep again first.

Skylar, the youngest, however, cried the longest. She wouldn't even start to calm down until the other two were asleep and then, and only then, would she stop her wailing and start to sob quite pathetically (but in a cute way) into Harry's arms. Harry assumed she just wanted the most hugs.

He smiled as she gave another little sniff and cuddled into him. Two days ago he had almost lost her, but she had come back to him. Now he had lost Remus. Maybe he would come back as well?

The Healers had checked, double-checked, and re-double-checked Harry and the babies over and when they had announced that they were completely satisfied, Harry had been informed that he could go back to Hogwarts tomorrow.

He was glad that he had only had to stay in Hospital for 2 days and not longer, but he found himself dreading going back. He knew he wouldn't be going to classes just yet, but he couldn't avoid everyone for forever. But maybe he would get a chance to speak to Remus? Hopefully he would have had time to cool down by then.

His thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door and Harry looked up in time to see Healer Neeson poke her head around the door.

"Is Remus here?" she asked after looking around the room.

"No," Harry told her quietly. "He had to get back to Hogwarts to prepare for lessons tomorrow. Why? Do you need him for something?" He wasn't about to tell her the real reason he had left as she would no doubt start making a fuss about Harry's 'stress levels' again (which Harry thought was stupid since he was now a single parent of triplets and he was bound to get stressed, but whatever.)

"No," she said, coming in and closing the door behind her. "It's you I need to see but I wanted to make sure you were on your own. I have the test results."

Harry's stomach fluttered horribly. He had forgotten about those, what with everything else playing on his mind. He tried to look at the Healer but found he was too nervous to do so, so instead he kept his eyes fixed on his daughter. Here it was; the moment of truth. The question he had asked himself for 9 months was about to be answered. But now that it was time to find out he wasn't all that sure he was ready to hear it.

"Now," she asked kindly, "Do you want me to read it out to you or do you want to look for yourself?"

"I…I want to read it myself," he said, wondering at the same time if he would actually be able to make himself look at the name.

"Alright," she said. "At the bottom of the page is a list in which we did the order of the testing. The name with the word 'positive' next to it is the father, ok?"

Harry nodded and she passed him the parchment. As soon as his fingers touched it his heart leapt uncomfortably.

He was now alone in the room with nothing but the babies and the name of their other father. His mind was racing with all the possible scenario's this could bring about. It all felt unreal again. A small part of his future - a large part of the triplets future - was about to be decided just by looking at a name that had been written down. His heart was beating painfully fast and his hands were shaking. He was scared, he had to admit it. He was really scared of seeing this name. But he had to do this and if he put it off any longer he would never do it.

He took a deep breath and flipped open the folded parchment. His eyes scanned over all the numbers and figures to the bottom of the page and they came to rest on the names that had been neatly written there in black ink. Right on cue, his eyes filled with tears.

"Oh, they are so adorable!"

"Triplets?"

"Look at the ickle babies! I could just eat them up."

"Is anybody else seeing three?"

"What have you named them Harry?"

"Triplets? Three? Hello?"

"Can I hold one Harry?"

Harry had just gotten back from the Hospital and had walked into his new room to be greeted by half of Gryffindor. Just like Ron and Hermione had said, the room had been decorated with balloons and banners which now read 'Congratulations! It's Triplets!' and there was an assortment of balloons floating around, some reading 'It's a Girl' and some reading 'It's a Boy!'

"I think you owe me 20 galleons Seamus," smiled Ron, holding out his hand. "Two girls and a boy."

"You cheated," he said, "You already knew."

"I did not!" said Ron indignantly.

Harry smiled and made his way over to the sofa and deposited a basket on the floor which held Skylar. Hermione and Ron followed him with the other two.

"I really wanted to come and visit," said Ginny, kneeling on the floor to look in the baskets, "But Mcgonagall wouldn't let us; she said something about 'letting too many students wander off.' Oh, look at their little fingers!"

"So?" asked Seamus, joining the small crowd that was cooing over the babies. "What have you called them?"

Harry sighed before sitting up straight and leaning over to see his babies. Two of them were awake and were looking up at the many faces with the cutest expressions of bewilderment.

"This one is Joshua," he said, indicating the baby that was wrapped up in blue. "He's the oldest. This one here," he pointed to the one in yellow, "Is Leanna; she's the loudest. And this little one here is Skylar," he pointed at the one wrapped in pink. "She's the youngest."

"They're so cute," squeaked Colin, reaching into his bag for his camera but Ginny had the sense to stop him before returning her attention back to the new arrivals.

"I want one," moaned Hermione and Harry tried hard not to laugh at the look on Ron's face when he heard her say that.

Conversation broke out between the gossiping students and Harry lay back on the sofa, delighting in the feel of being back at home. He knew that there would be an article in tomorrow's paper about him having triplets (it was sure to get leaked) but he found that he didn't care too much about it. He had nothing to be ashamed of; he had three beautiful children and that was all that mattered.

Someone broke out the drinks and for one moment Harry was anxious; he didn't want alcohol around his three day old children! Something of this must have shown on his face because Hermione leant over and smiled.

"It's just juice, don't worry," she said. "You really think I'd let them drink alcohol around them? I didn't even want to let them in here in the first place but they all insisted. I hope you're not too angry about that."

"Nah, it's fine Hermione," he said. "I haven't seen this many people all weekend. It makes a change."

He looked up at the many students and saw Dean standing close by with a relieved look on his face. When he noticed Harry looking at him, he leaned over on the pretence of congratulating Harry.

"They're not mine are they?" he said, looking down at the babies who were still looking around at the many faces. "I can tell. They'd be darker if they were mine wouldn't they?"

"Yeah, they're not yours," Harry told him and he felt a horrible pang as he thought about who their real father was.

"I have to say," said Dean with a smile, "It is a relief. I didn't fancy…well, you know."

"I know," said Harry, "Yeah, its cool. Just forget about it all, ok?"

"Thanks mate," and with another smile at Harry he went over and joined Ginny.

Finally, Hermione took it upon herself to shoo everyone out so Harry could have some much deserved rest. She tided up the room in one swift wave of her wand and then collapsed onto the sofa next to Harry as if she too had had a trying weekend.

"It's good to have you back Harry," she smiled. "It feels like you've been gone for an eternity."

Harry laughed softly. "It's good to be back," he said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to have a nice, relaxing, well-earned, bubble bath. You don't mind keeping on eye on them do you?"

"Of course not," she smiled and her eyes lit up. "You go and relax; don't worry about the triplets, they're in good hands."

"Just as I suspected," said Hermione, dropping a copy of The Daily Prophet onto the coffee table in front of Harry. "Someone in Gryffindor has talked."

As Harry had predicted, an article had indeed appeared in the paper the next day. Although they had no picture to go with it, the story about Harry and the triplets had made front page news. Harry was immensely glad that he hadn't told anyone the babies' middle names. The only people who knew about them were people Harry trusted not to talk.

"The whole school is talking about it," said Ron, throwing himself down into an armchair and helping himself to a piece of chocolate cake. "Everywhere you go it's all people seem to want to talk about. Merlin knows how many people have come up to us and asked about the father."

"And what did you say?" asked Harry unsurprised by this news.

"That it wasn't our place to say," Hermione told him. "'It's Harry's business and it's up to him to tell people if and when he chooses.'"

"And speaking of which," said Ron slowly, "Who is the father? Surely you know by now."

"No offence guys," he said, "But I think it's best if I tell him about it first."

"That's what I thought you'd say," smiled Hermione. "Well, whoever he is, good luck with telling him. I hope everything goes alright."

"Thanks Hermione," he said. He really didn't feel like talking about the father so he cast around for a change of subject.

"I need a nanny," he told them matter-of-factly.

"Huh?" said Ron, looking around at him.

"You know? A nanny. A babysitter. I need someone to look after the children when I go back to school which, by the way, I want to do next week."

"Have you got any ideas how you're going to find someone?" asked Hermione.

"I was thinking of going to one of them childminder agencies and conducting some interviews," said Harry and as soon as he said it he knew Hermione disapproved.

"I really don't think that's such a good idea," she said, confirming Harry's belief. "Any one of them could be working for Voldemort or the Ministry, and you know what the Ministry's like; they'll have the person spy on you, keep tabs on you, get inside information on you."

"But they're professionals," said Ron. "Surely they'll have some sort of morals. Besides, it's what they enjoy doing isn't it; looking after babies?"

"You can never be too careful Ron," she said darkly. "You always hear about childminders bringing harm to the baby they were supposed to be looking after; there's been loads of cases of that happening."

"I've never heard that," said Ron.

"Well, we hear it all the time in the muggle world," Hermione told him.

"But this is the wizarding world Hermione," he said as if stating the obvious. "Things are different. Why do you think we haven't heard of cases like that, eh?"

"Because the witch or wizard in question uses magic to make sure no one hears about it," said Hermione. "Harry, I really don't think that turning to the public for a nanny is a good idea."

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed. "But what do I do then?"

"You could ask a friend," she suggested. "I'm sure they'd be more then happy to help."

"All of my friends are at school," he said.

"What about the Order then? It's their job to help, and I'm sure Dumbledore would have them alternate things around to fit it in."

"I can't keep running to Dumbledore for help, Hermione," he said. "I'm grateful for everything he's already done for me; I can't ask for more, especially something that messes with Order business."

"But they have a duty to protect you," she pointed out.

"But not a duty to baby sit," he said.

"Well have you got any better ideas?"

"I'm sure I'll think of someone," he muttered. "It can't be that hard, can it?"

Harry spent the next two days cooped up in his private rooms and not once did he set foot outside the door. He wanted more than anything to be able to get back to normal life – well, as normal as his life had ever been – but he found himself worrying about all the looks he was going to receive from the other houses. Gryffindor house had really come together for Harry. They made sure to tell him what everyone was saying so he could be prepared when he was ready to get back into school life, and they squashed any nasty rumours that were floating around. They all promised that when Harry ventured out into the castle again, they would all be ready to leap to his aid whenever he needed it and Harry couldn't be more grateful.

Hermione never failed to bring him the homework he had asked for and Harry found that he quite enjoyed sitting around in front of the fire in the evenings completing the work. He supposed it was because he was itching to get back to school life and it made a change from looking after the babies. He didn't admit this to anyone of course.

Harry was sitting in front of the fire one night, finishing off his Defence homework. He had just spent almost an hour trying to get Skylar to go to sleep after her feed and he was shattered. All he wanted to do was go to bed.

Hermione was sat at the table putting the finishing touches to her Arithmancy essay, and Ron was leaning against the sofa, rocking Joshua in his arms. Both of them had been a huge help over the past few days and Harry had a feeling that if it hadn't been for them, he would have gone insane. Parent-hood was a lot of hard work.

"He's got gorgeous eyes, this one," Ron said quietly, looking at the baby in his arms. "I never usually notice people's eyes but you can't miss these. I swear they look familiar though."

"He's got Harry's eyes," Hermione pointed out with a smile. Ron blushed.

"Thank you, Ron, for that lovely compliment," he grinned and Hermione laughed.

"Skylar has got those eyes as well," she said. "I noticed earlier. But Leanna's are a shade of brown."

He could tell that they wanted to talk about the father again but, for Harry's sake, they held back. Harry finished his homework and closed his book.

"Here," he said, handing it over to Hermione. "Could you give that to Professor Lupin for me?"

"Sure," she said and she placed the parchment in her folder with her work. "Harry, can I ask you something?"

"Hm?"

"Have you and Remus fallen out?" she said, looking over at him carefully.

"What makes you think that?" he asked.

"Because neither of you has asked how the other one is," she said simply. "I would have thought he'd come and visit you."

"We…kind of had an argument, yeah," he said, picking absently at the carpet.

"About what?" she asked.

"Just some stuff," he muttered. "Can we change the subject?"

"Sure," she said. "So, when are you going to tell Malfoy's he's not the father?"

Harry's head snapped up. For one horrible second he thought she had seen the note that the Healer had given him at the Hospital with the name of the father on it. He quickly reminded himself that it was impossible as it had been in his pocket ever since.

"How do you know he's not?" he asked her, slightly suspiciously.

"Because if he was you would have been in a right mess," she said. Which was true, he told himself.

"I dunno," he muttered. "I don't really want to see him." He looked up at them both hopefully. "Will you guys do it for me?"

"What?" Ron looked around at him.

"Please," he begged, "I don't feel up to telling him the 'good news'. He'll just get all 'Malfoy' again and I don't want to deal with him just yet."

"What makes you think we do?" Ron asked, but Hermione butted in.

"Of course we will Harry," she said.

"We will?"

"Yes, Ron, we will," she said to him, "As long as Harry makes up with Remus."

"That's a threat," said Harry, looking over at her at the table.

"It's an encouragement," she said. "If you want us to tell Malfoy then you have to at least try to make it up to Remus."

"How do you know that it isn't Remus who should be making it up to me?" he asked smartly.

"Because I know you," she said, "It's more than likely that you've gone and done something stupid and hurt Remus' feelings in the process."

Harry didn't know if he should feel insulted or not.

Hermione stopped by at lunch time the next day to tell Harry that she and Ron had spoken to Malfoy. By the sound of it, he hadn't believed that he wasn't the father and had demanded proof, but Hermione had been stern with him and in the end he had had no choice but to leave it or else risk causing a scene. She advised Harry to have a little talk with him when he was ready, but apart from that, the deed was done. Now Harry was left with just over 24 hours to talk to Remus.

Harry woke up on Friday morning with a plan half formed in his head. He wasn't entirely sure if it would work, but he had to try. All he had to do was somehow get Remus here alone. Remus obviously loved the children as his own, so spending a couple of hours with them might soften him up, leaving Harry free to talk to him. He might even take some of the Felix Felicis that Remus had given him for his birthday.

As always, Ron and Hermione stopped by at lunch time to keep him company and he took that time to explain his plan to them. If this was to succeed however, he would once again need their help. He needed them to somehow get Remus to come to Harry's room around 8 o'clock this evening and to make sure he at least held one of the babies to get him in a better mood than he might have been previous to that. With their assurances, Ron and Hermione left for their next lesson, Charms, and then Potions.

Harry spent the rest of his afternoon seeing to the many needs of the babies. This time last week he had been going into labour, and now here he was, back at Hogwarts with three beautiful children.

He held Skylar in his arms gently and she looked up at him knowingly with big, green eyes. He smiled softly down at her.

"I have to do this," he said to her as if she had questioned him. "If I don't then daddy will never have Remus back. I have to use the potion if I want this to work."

But as time ticked by, Harry wasn't so sure if he should drink the Felix potion or not. God knows he wanted Remus back with him, but could love really be decided by a lucky potion? Love was such a natural and complex thing after all, something that no one should ever mess with. Who was he to influence both their lives with a potion? Sure, he would use it in life or death circumstances, but this was love. This was something much more powerful. Look at what had happened to Voldemort's mother; she had influenced her love life with a potion and look how that had ended up. Besides, he would probably be in need of it for something else.

So no potion then, Harry decided. He would have to do this on his own.

It had just gone 7:30pm and Harry was pacing up and down anxiously. School had finished over three hours ago and he hadn't heard anything from Ron or Hermione. They could have just been held up at the Halloween feast, but what if something had happened? Maybe Remus had hexed them both for interfering? Even in his head that sounded completely ridiculous but it didn't stop him from looking down at his watch to make sure that they were safe.

He had just had enough time to register that the hands labelled 'Ron' and 'Hermione' were pointed at 'Hogwarts/Safe' when they spun to 'With You' and Harry heard his door open.

"He's not coming," said Hermione sadly. "We tried three times to get him to come but he won't budge."

"What did you do to him?" asked Ron in slight awe. "It must have been pretty big for him to completely hate you." Harry ignored him.

"Well that's it, isn't it," he said hopelessly, throwing himself onto the sofa. "It's been almost a week since we argued and he still doesn't want to talk. And Sirius hasn't even contacted me so he's probably pissed as well; Remus no doubt told him about us."

"What's Sirius got to do with anything?" asked Ron looking confused, but before Harry could answer, Hermione spoke up.

"That's what you argued about isn't it?" she asked, although she knew she was right. "Remus found out about Sirius."

"What?" asked Ron, shocked.

"Sirius told Remus about it," said Harry bitterly. "Obviously he didn't know about Remus but judging from the fact that he hasn't talked to me since then he probably knows now."

Harry stared at the flickering flames of the fire. Remus wasn't coming. The man hated him so much that he wasn't even going to give him another chance. Well, thought Harry, if he won't come to me, then I'll just have to go to him, won't I?

He stood up so abruptly that he startled Ron and Hermione, but he didn't have time to talk. If he stopped to explain then he would lose his nerve. He just needed to know one thing.

"Where's Remus?" he asked, marching over to the door.

"He's at the Halloween feast," said Ron quickly, "But it's full of students and teachers."

"I don't care," said Harry and he flung open the door and found himself in the common room for the first time in a week. It was empty apart from some of the older students who had grown tired of the feast. They looked up, shocked to see him in such a mood; probably just shocked to actually see him.

"But what are you…"

"Just stay here," Harry told them both as they followed him across the room.

"But Harry, your stress lev…"

"Screw my stress levels," he said loudly as he reached the portrait hole. "You just stay here."

"But…"

"Stay here and look after the triplets," he ordered. And before they could say anything he had climbed out into the corridor.

Thankfully, the halls were blissfully empty, ghosts and students alike preferring to spend Halloween at the infamous Hogwarts feast. As Harry sped down the deserted corridors, he couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. He couldn't remember the last time the corridors had been this quiet and this empty. There was always a ghost lurking somewhere or other, but tonight the place was very much uninhabited. There was also something about the fact that it was Halloween that made him uneasy. Exactly 16 years ago his parents had been murdered by Lord Voldemort. Plus, he had been meant to give birth on Halloween but they had been a week early. Not that this had anything to do with the empty corridors…there was just something foreboding about Halloween.

He looked around the corridor and sped up, watching his shadow following him on the walls as he went. He reached the marble staircase and his ears were greeted by a great deal of noise; students talking and laughing with each other, the clatter of knives and forks on plates. The sound seemed almost alien to him as he hadn't heard the collective noise of Hogwarts for a while now. He reached the bottom of the staircase, his footfalls drowned out by the laughter and the chatter of those beyond the wooden doors that stood open, and he resisted the temptation to just stop for a moment. He knew that if he allowed himself a moment to collect himself then his mind would catch up with his body and he would be tempted to turn back. If he stopped, he wouldn't do this.

Walking swiftly over to the double doors he allowed himself a deep breath before he rounded the corner and went through the doors into the Great Hall.

Thankfully, most of the students were too busy to notice him but he knew it was only a matter of time before they did. He kept his eyes forwards and made his way down the middle of the hall towards the teachers table at the bottom.

By the time he had reached half way, however, students had started to notice him and his mind, which didn't want to be here in the first place, had to do some quick thinking. If he walked straight up to Remus it might look a tad too suspicious and would get the gossips talking again.

To Harry's immense relief, the students were still talking loudly amongst themselves although more students were now sneaking glances at him. The Gryffindor's looked pretty shocked to see him, but happy all the same, and they came to his rescue by causing a slight stir which involved blowing up some of the pumpkin pie and grabbing everyone's attention. As laughter erupted, Harry walked up to Dumbledore who was smiling down at him, as were most of the teachers (barring Snape, who just looked amused, and Remus, who looked apprehensive).

"Harry, my dear boy, is everything ok? I didn't expect to see you down here tonight."

"Yeah, everything's fine," said Harry. "I was just wondering if I could borrow Professor Lupin for a while? I need help with my Defence homework and I thought I might as well get it done with before the babies start crying again."

Harry knew perfectly well that Dumbledore wouldn't believe this for a second but it served as the ideal alibi in case any students or teachers were listening in.

"Of course Harry, of course," he smiled with a twinkle in his eye. He leaned around Professors Mcgonagall and Snape and looked at Remus.

"Remus, dear boy, go with Harry will you," he said, "He requires your assistance with some work."

Remus looked from Dumbledore and stared at Harry unbelievingly. Harry just stared right back, glad something was finally going his way. He knew that once they were out of ear shot Remus was going to yell at him but he found that it was worth it.

"Can't it wait?" he asked Dumbledore, although his eyes stayed fixed on Harry.

"I'm afraid not," smiled Dumbledore. "Best go with him now before those delightful children of his wake up."

Reluctantly, Remus pushed his chair back and stood up, dropping his napkin on top of his half empty plate. He came around the table and without looking at Harry swept out of the hall. Harry smiled at Dumbledore.

"Thanks Professor," he said and without waiting for an answer he followed Remus. They both walked in silence down the deserted hall ways and towards Remus' rooms, Harry hurrying slightly to keep up. When they finally reached them, Remus slammed the door shut behind Harry before turning on him.

"What the hell are you playing at Potter?" he snapped.

"What am I playing at?" he said, glaring at the man in front of him, "You're the one who refuses to talk to me!"

"Because we have nothing to talk about," he said sharply.

"How about us for a start?" snapped Harry. "Don't you care what happens to us?"

"There is no 'us' anymore," he said and he turned his back on Harry.

"How can you say that?" Harry asked incredulously. "Just last week you said you would always love me."

"Last week I didn't know you'd fucked Sirius," he retorted.

"Oh, so this is still about Sirius is it?" asked Harry angrily. "Don't you love me enough to just look passed that?"

"I love you enough to die for you!" he shouted, turning back to look at Harry. "I just don't want to be with you knowing that you've also been with him."

Harry was slightly taken aback by this. He knew, had just knew, that Remus still loved him, but he hadn't been prepared for him to admit it in his anger.

"He's your best friend," said Harry trying to reason with him. "Can't you two work something out? You guys are stronger than this."

"If we'd been stronger we would never have slept with you," he said acidly and Harry was stung.

"So…so you regret it?" he sobbed. "You regret it?"

"I didn't say that," sighed Remus.

"But it's what you fucking meant!" he yelled. He couldn't believe Remus had just said that. If Sirius regretted it then yeah, fair enough. But Remus as well? "Is my life just one, huge, fucking mistake?"

"You think you've had a bad life?" scoffed Remus and Harry literally gasped with disbelief at these words. Of course Harry had had a bad life! He was Harry Potter!

"I had nothing when growing up," shouted Remus. "My family lived in a small apartment and we couldn't even afford to eat everyday, let alone have personal possessions! By some miracle if I actually managed to own something, even something as small as a pencil, by brothers would take it from me! I've been a bloody werewolf since I was 8 years old and even my family was scared of me. They locked me in some cabin in the middle of the woods and left me there alone all day and night! And then I came to Hogwarts and things got better. I had friends; I actually had a few boyfriends until Sirius came along and stole them!"

"Sirius…?"

"And then I finished at Hogwarts and had to move in with the almighty Sirius because I couldn't even afford a set of robes let alone a house! And then all of a sudden my life falls apart; Lily and James are murdered, Peter is supposedly killed, and Sirius is arrested for it all! Do you have any idea what that feels like? Lily and James were some of the very few people that I ever let myself grow close to and they were taken away from me!"

"They were my parents!" Harry shouted. "Of course I know!"

"You never knew them!" Remus yelled. "How can you say you miss them when you never even knew them? You never had them!"

These words were like a brutal slap across the face. They hit Harry hard and he felt himself recoil slightly. Remus might as well have punched him for all he felt.

"How dare you?" he whispered in shock and there was hurt in every syllable. "How dare you say that!"

"I'm sorry," said Remus and Harry could tell he truly meant it. "I'm so sorry Harry. I shouldn't have said that."

"Damn right you shouldn't have!" he yelled and he felt the familiar tears spill down his face. He couldn't believe Remus had said that.

"I didn't mean it," sobbed Remus. "I wasn't thinking. I'm really sorry."

"If you were sorry you wouldn't have said it," Harry shouted. "You obviously meant it enough to say it!"

"No," Remus cried. "No, I really didn't mean it!"

"Well, you know what?" said Harry coldly. "You can add one more thing to the list of reasons why your life is worse than mine. Sirius is the father."

He watched the tears sliding down Remus' face and felt a grim satisfaction in what he had done. All he wanted to do was hurt Remus the way he had hurt him and he didn't care how he did it.

"No," said Remus despairingly, shaking his head. "No, he…he can't be…he just can't…"

"Believe it Remus. Sirius Black is the father of my children and there's not a thing you can do about it. Happy Halloween."

And he turned on his foot and stormed out of the room, slamming the door with such force that the windows rattled in their frames.

But before Harry had closed the door, something white had fallen out of his pocket and had floated to the ground. Remus, who was shaking with tears, had slid down his desk and onto the floor. He extended a hand and picked it up.

He unfolded it and saw loads of numbers and figures, calculating something or other. His eyes were drawn to the bottom of the page where some words had been handwritten:

Draco Malfoy – negative

Dean Thomas – negative

Sirius Black – negative

Remus Lupin – positive

Remus looked over the page again for some sign of what it was. He looked again at the calculations and, at the top of the page, he saw the words 'DNA'. He turned the paper over and saw the St Mungo's crest. He looked back at his name.

"I'm the father."

A/N: I know some of you aren't going to be happy with Remus beign the father but after careful consideration it worked out best. I did have a few chapters written where Sirius was actually the father but I thought the Remus one's were best so I deleted the Sirius ones - which I regrt know coz I wanted to re-read them to see if I could get any ideas from them but oh well!

This chapter did my head in when I was writting in. I couldn't think of how to word anything at all so I left it and came back to it yesterday to see how I could try and improve things but I wasn't able to do much on it so sorry if the wording of this chapter sucks. Most of you know I've written up to chapter 21 already but chapter 22 seems to have hit a dead end in terms of wording it correctly so if it takes me longer than the usual one update a weeks its coz I'm struggling with later chapters. I don't want to post everything I have so far only to make you wait liek a month for the next so I want to get as much written as possible if that makes sense. But don't worry, the next update soon be in a week again. I wouldn't leave you all hanging with this ending.

I loved all your reactions to the last chapter! I'm sorry they had to agrue like that but things will eventually get better. It is RLHP after all and I would hate for them to hate each other forever.

lol, so it turns out that two of my lovely reviewers were also born on 24th October like the triplets. lol, it's a small world. Happy Birthday for then!

Thank you all so much for all the lovely comments in your reviews! You guys are the best!

Wow. That was one long Authors Note. Sorry about that, lol.