Chapter 5: A changing future

I don't own 'Harry Potter'

"So, how does it feel? Knowing that your own experiments have led to an unprecedented number of Black pregnancies?"

Harry just glared weakly at Orion, trying to calm his breathing so he didn't vomit on the expensive Persian rug. Morning sickness – which was not relegated to just mornings; pure lies – was just as awful the second time around, though it helped knowing just what worked for him and what didn't. He was also grateful that he could still use magic and do his job, a fact that was made even better by every one of his current patients being a member of the House of Black. He could keep up with a routine that did wonders for his stress levels, all the while not having to expose himself to potentially dangerous situations in any way.

The vast majority of said patients were pregnant at this moment in time, creating something of a baby boom for the Blacks. Aside from Alphard and Lucretia, Orion had in fact managed to get Harry pregnant startlingly quickly, as well as Dorea spontaneously turning up a couple of months ago and essentially demanding the same fertility potion as Lucretia, then railroading her husband into having a second child. Not to mention that Lucretia was carrying twins, meaning an extra vessel of mayhem in several months.

He was grateful that his sons were so accepting of the fact, though. Al and Ri thought it was great that they wouldn't be the youngest anymore, reminding Harry of little Reg when the twins had been announced all those years ago.

Reg himself was openly supportive of Harry's pregnancy, simply wondering if they'd inherit the Black or Peverell Family magic. It could really go either way, to be honest. His second son was quietly eager for a new sibling, and Harry couldn't help but wistfully imagine this is what Reg would be like with his own children in the future. (Children that didn't seem that far into the future with how Alistair had gone the whole nine yards and sent an official offer of betrothal for Reg to Arcturus. Once the Lords Black and Potter hashed out the details, his precious son was going to be fully betrothed. Madness. Complete and utter madness.)

On the other hand, Siri had decided to start up several different betting pools with both his friends and other members of the family over every little facet of Harry's pregnancy. More than a few were already grumbling about losing gold since he'd revealed he was only carrying the one child this time. Harry was also aware of bets concerning gender, eye colour, magic leanings, and for some bizarre reason, hair colour. As if he and Orion didn't both have black hair. Yes, genetically speaking it was possible for something else to occur, but it was highly unlikely. Siri was just a compulsive gambler; he'd have to keep an eye on him.

Harry closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, wishing desperately that he could fast-forward the remaining months of his pregnancy and simply wake up in bed with his baby. Aside from the horrendous nausea – which should be tapering off in the next couple of weeks, fingers crossed – he also had to contend himself with the inevitable weight gain, insomnia, mood swings, then giving birth again. His body was much healthier this time around, but that didn't mean that complications might not arise. Harry had already asked one of his associates from Saint Mungo's to be on call in the weeks up until his due date. One problematic birth was enough for a lifetime, thank you very much.

He felt warm hands cover his and he opened his eyes, peering up to see Orion hovering over him looking more than a little concerned. Harry smiled and tried to speak, but he was interrupted by the annoyingly familiar sensation of his stomach turning violently. He pulled back and quickly leaned over the side of the sofa, inwardly thanking the presence of the bucket he'd conjured.

After emptying his stomach, and somewhat wishing that the man he was in love with hadn't seen him in such a disgusting situation, Harry pulled back and began the routine of vanishing anything untoward and cleaning out his mouth with a few intensive spells. He rested his head against the armrest and tried to regulate his breathing. This kid pulls no punches.

"Not to be harsh or anything, but I really don't think I can do this again."

He felt his husband pause from where he was rubbing Harry's back. "What do you mean by that?" he asked, the words worryingly unsure for such a confident man.

"After this pregnancy, I don't think I'll be able to cope with another one. I know having children is something we both love, but I have a feeling that my body isn't going to accept that decision after this time."

The older man sighed, the relieved sound puzzling Harry. Why was he so relieved? Harry slowly lifted his head and turned, meeting silver eyes and asking the very same question.

Orion looked incredibly reluctant to answer before he huffed and leaned forward to cup Harry's cheek, his thumb stroking the skin there as he looked Harry in the eye.

"I was worried that you were referring to this current pregnancy. That you couldn't deal with it now."

Harry blinked as his mind processed the words, but once he made the connection, he lightly flicked Orion's nose with his fingers, grinning at the bewildered expression and crossed eyes. A rather good reaction, if I do say so myself.

His husband huffed and rolled his eyes, moving so he could sit on the sofa with Harry's legs on his lap. The older man laid a hand on Harry's stomach, slowly rubbing where he could no doubt feel the light kicks from inside. Their child was incredibly active; Harry wouldn't be surprised if he had internal bruising from all the stray movements. He had a feeling they'd be a great dueller when they were older.

Harry hummed at the soothing massage and closed his eyes, leaning his head back on the arm of the sofa as he took deep breaths. Thankfully, the nausea was quickly fading. If anything, he was feeling hungry again. Bloody morning sickness. I wish it would stop messing me around.

"Are you okay now?"

"Hmm," he replied, eyes still closed. It was nice being able to take a few moments to himself without being judged for it. Just another reason as to why he would never regret marrying Orion. The man was so ridiculously understanding, it was all Harry could do not to drape himself all over his husband and never let go. Which might sound sappy, but he was pregnant again. It was a pretty good excuse.

The time traveller stretched his back out before settling back into the soft cushions. "Do you think Reg is going be okay with the exam pressure?" He opened his eyes and gazed up at Orion. "From what he's said, the professors aren't doing much to help anyone. I'm worried that the students are suffering for no real reason."

Orion frowned heavily. "It shouldn't be hard for the staff to hold review sessions. I don't really see why they're being like this."

"Perhaps it has something to do with the number of professors," Harry said slowly. "It does seem rather ridiculous that each of them has to oversee hundreds of students all by themselves. There has to be so many kids that slip through the cracks when it comes to getting the academic help they need. I can remember the professors all being constantly run off their feet before. Actually getting them to help with schoolwork was a miracle," he added quietly, memories of his disastrous school career running through his mind.

His husband was silent, but Harry could see his thoughts racing as he stroked Harry's rounded stomach. It was an endearing sight; no matter how distracted he became with other issues, Orion remained focused on his children. Yet another reason that Harry loved him.

"It looks like it might be time for Hogwarts to get a much-needed overhaul."

"Do you think it'll be easy?" Harry asked, thinking about how much support his husband would need for such an endeavour.

Orion smirked at him. "Harry, do you really think there's any chance of me failing?"

Harry huffed and rolled his eyes, silently conceding the point. If there was one thing that could be said about Orion Black, it was that he was tenacious. 'Failure' wasn't a word that existed in his vocabulary.

"I'm sure the next academic year will be rather different, won't it?"

The taller man smiled down at him before leaning down, brushing a soft kiss against Harry's lips that made him sigh contentedly. Harry lifted his hands to cradle Orion's jaw, pushing up into the chaste intimacy. He could feel Orion's barely-there stubble rubbing his own cheek and hummed, pulling his husband's bottom lip into his mouth and sucking it lightly.

Orion groaned and licked his top lip quickly before slowly extricating himself from the bruising kiss, though he remained barely an inch from Harry's face. He felt warm and knew his cheeks were flushed a deep red, though he was gratified to see that Orion was just as affected. The man stared down at him as he stroked Harry's neck, silver eyes darkened with desire.

"You're going to be the death of me one day, Husband."

Harry grinned in response. "I'd say sorry if I didn't feel the same way about you."

The taller man snorted softly and pressed a gentle kiss to Harry's mouth for a few seconds before pulling back. Orion sat up and moved Harry's legs so he could stand up, turning to the green-eyed man to help him get up.

One of Harry's hands automatically found his stomach as the other was held in Orion's larger hand. It was astounding how casual intimacy such as this could do wonders for one's happiness. He'd always wanted a family in every way possible, and this man next to him had given Harry everything he'd ever wanted and more. Orion might consider himself a lucky man, but Harry felt truly blessed on so many levels.

He was happy.

The sound of giggling suddenly floated through the door and Orion and Harry turned to each other, Harry fighting a grin at the familiar sound. His husband's lips twitched in amusement and shook his head, looking far too entertained to be the stoic Heir Black in this situation.

The couple made their way towards the door and poked their heads out, peering around before they found the source of the mischievous laughter. Harry stifled a snort at the image in front of him and bit his lip. I don't know why I'm even surprised anymore.

Across the hallway stood a large oak table, the surface draped with an embroidered silk cloth from China. The cloth was large enough to touch the floor on all sides, and would usually do so if it weren't for the two sets of feet poking out from underneath. The giddy laughter from underneath was more than enough evidence as to who was hiding behind the silk, even if the imps were supposed to be in a tutoring lesson right now.

Harry and Orion walked over to the table in silence and bent down on the ground, pausing for a moment to share a small smirk. They broke eye-contact to turn and grab the tablecloth, lifting in unison to expose the little demons taking refuge underneath.

"Dad! Papa!"

Sheepish expressions were sent their way, contrite green eyes flicking from their faces to the ground and back. Ri and Al were constantly shifting where they were sat, but what really tested Harry's composure – and Orion's, if Harry was right – was the chocolate smeared around their mouths from the slices of cake held in their grubby hands.

Orion cleared his throat, impressively holding in his laughter. "Do I even want to know why you're here instead of downstairs with your aunt?"

Al pouted, his cheeks puffing out adorably. "But Dad, we already know the potion that Auntie's teaching us! Papa did that with us ages ago!"

"Yeah!" Ri added, nodding furiously. "She doesn't believe us, and she won't let us do something else. It's boring," he whined.

Harry swallowed his hysterics. "And the chocolate cake? I seem to remember that your aunt said you weren't allowed any sweets until your lesson was done."

Instead of the expected guilt from his sons, Harry watched as smug pride filled their eyes, the two boys lifting their chins in defiance. Harry wondered what it said about him that he found the sight cuter than anything else.

"Actually, that's not what Auntie said."

"She said that we weren't allowed any cookies until we were done."

"And she got Kreacher to make sure we didn't have any cookies."

"But she didn't say anything about anything else."

"Which included cake!"

"Yeah, so we asked for some after we escaped!"

"And then we hid under here to eat it."

Harry was taking steady breaths so he didn't start crying with laughter, because his sons were such sneaky little shits. Really and truly, he couldn't say anything about their behaviour, because they hadn't really done anything wrong. A glance at his husband said he was on the same page. The corners of his mouth were just slightly turned up, Orion fighting the grin with everything he had.

Considering Harry often taught the twins various potions far ahead of what other children their age would know, he had no doubt that their current lesson would be far behind their capabilities. The boys probably felt offended, knowing them.

As for the cake, well, they weren't wrong, were they? Harry just shook his head. If they were already finding loopholes to their own advantage at eight, then there was no way they'd be avoiding Slytherin in a couple of years. Sneaky little snakes.

Harry's stomach took that moment to rumble, apparently ready for solid food once more. Ri and Al blinked at the sound and looked at each other, using that mystical power all twins seemed to possess in order to talk without words.

The boys turned back to him and silently offered Harry their cake with earnest looks on their dirty faces.

"I think the baby's hungry, Papa."

"Don't worry, they can share our cake."

A few seconds later saw the parents laughing loudly, each with a chocolate-covered child seated in their lap. Orion and Harry had their arms wrapped around the boys, heedless of the mess now covering their clothes. Harry buried his nose in Al's hair and grinned widely.

What had he done to deserve this brilliant family?

"Well, that's interesting."

Harry turned to Orion and raised a brow. "What's that?"

His husband shifted closer to Harry and wrapped an arm around his waist. "Do you remember how Bellatrix and Narcissa said they'd be bringing the men who wanted to court them?"

He let his eyes drift over towards the door, his eyebrows climbing towards his hairline at the surprising sight. "Well, I certainly wasn't expecting that."

"Considering what you mentioned of your life before, I can't help but agree," Orion murmured to him. "I daresay that Cygnus' daughters are far better off now than before. Being able to make their own choices has done wonders for them, even if those choices are rather unusual to everyone else."

That's a mild way of putting it.

Harry watched as Bellatrix strode into the gardens, tall and proud in a way her future self could have never achieved. The young woman's hair was smoothly piled on her head in elaborate twists, which paired with the lack of insanity in her clear silver eyes gave her a far different appearance than the insane woman who'd murdered her own cousin with relish.

Considering this Bellatrix and Sirius got along swimmingly, both having a terrible sense of humour with a healthy dose of sarcasm, Harry thought it was safe to say that those scenes from his nightmares were never going to happen.

Even more bizarre was that Sirius' cousin was arm in arm with one Lucius Malfoy, the blonde looking far more relaxed than Harry had ever seen him. The young man had an amused glint in his grey eyes as he quietly conversed with Bellatrix, the two seemingly evenly matched for snark. From what Harry could see, the two magicals balanced each other out far more than Lucius and Narcissa ever had. Where the two blondes had been cold and reserved together, Bellatrix brought out Lucius' inner fire. Harry wished them luck.

It was even better as Narcissa was clearly happy for her eldest sister, smiling gently at the black-haired witch whenever her blue eyes strayed over to her. The blonde witch also looked content herself, freely smiling as opposed to the icy Malfoy matriarch from Harry's childhood. From his place on the garden sofa, Harry watched Narcissa laugh freely at whatever her new beau had said, the man grinning in response to the younger woman's amusement.

He'd certainly never expected to see Narcissa with Fabian Prewett of all people, though.

"Any idea how Narcissa found her way towards Fabian?" Harry asked quietly.

Orion snorted softly. "I believe that after she came back from holiday with Bellatrix and Andromeda, Alphard invited the three of them round to his home to meet Gideon. Fabian was, of course, also present. Alphard told me the two of them hit if off rather quickly."

"Hmm … She definitely looks happier than before. I hope she's happy this time around. The same for her sisters."

"Well, they're already doing better than in your past," Orion quipped, a small smirk playing about his lips.

Harry rolled his eyes, not deigning to give his husband a response. His green eyes drifted around the gardens of Black Manor, settling on his sons running around with Marius' sons and their Kneazles. The various other children were dotted around the extensive gardens, either by themselves in small groups (supervised by elves) or trailing after their parents. It was rather adorable, to be honest.

He smiled and gazed around, the slight breeze blowing strands of his hair askew. It certainly wasn't a sight that strangers would have expected of them. House Black and their various descendants had gathered for the day for no other reason than to catch up with one another, and give the children a chance to have fun with their cousins. The relaxed atmosphere seeped throughout the whole grounds, the sounds of laughter and casual chatter emphasising the informality of the occasion.

Harry was glad he'd come.

"Thinking deep thoughts?"

He turned to Orion and shook his head, a small smile on his face.

"Thinking happy thoughts."

His husband leaned forward and placed a kiss on Harry's forehead, pulling back to stare into his eyes. Orion Black was an eloquent man in every way, but he didn't always use his words in every situation. In this case, he didn't have to; Harry knew what he meant.

I love you.

Harry snuggled into Orion's side and rested his head on the strong shoulder, sighing softly at the warmth.

I love you, too.

A/N: I love experimenting with different versions of the Black sisters. I would have loved to see their canonical childhoods. Also, the twins are awesome.