A/N Thank you very much for staying with me through all of the missed deadlines. Hope you all are enjoying this lockdown just as much as I am (which is not at all!) I also want to thank Karatekid-ninja because she just makes this such an easier 's a wonderful beta! Here's Ch. 34. You'll get ch 35 next weekend
Ch. 34
Saturday 21 November 1998
Jaime, and a reluctant Padfoot, were up at the crack of dawn "What if he doesn't like it here? What if you both don't get along with him? What if he has trouble fitting in here?" She quickly fired at her boyfriend.
Sirius stopped in front of her taking her hands into his, "Love, everything will be fine, we'll help him fit in and he'll love the family. You did, didn't you?" He hugged her as she buried her nose in his neck.
"You're comfy. I know I'm overreacting but he is my brother and I want him to like you guys, especially you" She muttered as he laughed and kissed her hair.
"You keep telling me how alike we are, I'm sure we'll get along just fine." She curled up to his chest, he could feel her relax in his arms as she calmed down. She took a few deep breaths and when she looked up into his eyes, he could see his witch in her eyes, not the panicked person she'd been all morning. "Thank Merlin! You're back." He grinned at her as she hit him in the shoulder lightly.
"Breakfast!" His godson called.
Around the breakfast table a few minutes later, Hermione asked, "So how is Mark getting here?"
"He's taking a portkey to the Ministry, where he has to check in before he is able to take the next portkey to the castle, he will arrive there in about an hour. I thought Sirius and I could meet him and bring him back here."
"Got any plans for while he's here?" Hermione continued
"I thought that today we'd bring him home and spend the weekend there, I think he'll enjoy family dinner Sunday night. He also wants to observe some classes while he's here, he has agreed to teach some lessons about American History to my fourth years. I'm hoping he'll be comfortable enough to come back and bring the family for a longer visit, preferably during holidays where I can show them around properly."
"I'm sure he will love it." Hermione smiled comfortingly, giving Jaime's hand a squeeze across the table.
HP
A little under an hour later, Sirius and Jaime left for the castle gates. The rest of the Family had dispersed-the boys to do some more research for essays due the following week and the girls to their offices to get ready for the next week. Dora was putting Teddy down for his morning snooze and hoping to get a bit of marking done before he got up again.
On the walk down to the gates, Sirius started to get really nervous, this was the first time he had to do the whole meeting the family thing. Jaime could feel the tension through their joint hands, She stopped and took his other hand, giving them both a squeeze she said "He's my brother Siri, he just wants me to be happy. When he sees you make me happy, he'll be just fine."
"I know. I just want to make a good impression, I've never done this before." He smiled down at her and they continued walking the last little bit to the gates, as they arrived a man stepped out of the whirlwind created by the portkey. To Sirius, he was huge, probably about 6'4" with long, dirty blond hair. He could crush me like a bug! Sirius thought. What made Sirius smile and reach out to offer his hand was the bright smile on the younger man's face.
"You must be Sirius, right?" Mark asked in a booming voice as he took Sirius' hand.
"Yeah." Sirius replied as Mark looked over at his sister.
"And you Jaime. How're you doin'?" He grinned at his little sister.
She ran and jumped on him to give him a hug. "I've missed you Mar. I've missed you so much." She said into his chest as she burst into tears. Seeing him for the first time in over two months was overwhelming to say the least. This was the sibling who had helped her through all the bad times in her life and he had not been here to help her through this last transition.
"Hey Jame. I'm right here kiddo." He soothed as he held Jaime to him. "I'm right here. No need to get emotional." After she was done hugging him and crying, she looked up at him, kissed his cheek, took a deep breath, letting it out slowly to help calm herself down.
"I'm so glad you're here." Then she looked over at Sirius. "Sirius, I'd like you to meet my crazy brother Mark."
Mark smiled at Sirius as Jaime stood with Sirius. Mark noticed the proprietary way Sirius held his sister. Even though Mark never really liked Jaime's boyfriends, he liked the way this one treated her right off. "Thanks for making this move easier for Jaime." Mark smiled as Sirius led them up to the castle.
"My pleasure." He grinned as they walked in the entryway.
"Wow!" Mark sighed as he looked around him in awe. "I know you told me you lived in a castle but it was hard to picture, sis."
"I know. You should see the library they have here too. It's bloody brilliant, not to mention the library at home." She smiled as she walked into the game room.
Mark stopped dead in the doorway. "This place is amazing." He looked over at Sirius. "Is this your place?"
Sirius laughed at his wide-eyed look. "No, it's my godson's but it's a replica of our game room at home." He sighed as he looked at Mark. "I know. It's every guy's dream room, yeah?"
"Yeah." He smiled as Sirius tossed him a soda as he sat down. "Your godson is Harry Potter, right?"
"Yeah, his dad, James, was one of my best friends in school. You'll meet the whole family soon, they'll be back for lunch." He smiled.
"It's not a traditional family Mark, there are no blood relatives, except Hermione and her parents Emma and Dan, who you'll meet tonight. They are a ragtag group who have kind of adopted each other, they are all connected through Harry, in one way or another. Why don't I show you my classroom quickly before everyone gets back?"
"Sure thing sis, thanks for the warning but family is family no matter how it is made, I'll see ya in a bit Sirius."
"Jaime, why don't you bring Mark to the house when you're done? I'll call everyone and let them know to be there at noon, everyone can meet there."
She smiled as she said. "Sure sweetheart, you're going now?"
"Yeah, I have Wizengamot paperwork I need to finish up." She gave him a kiss before showing Mark out, he called everyone to tell them the new plan and went home.
HP
When Sirius got home he began to work on the last of his grading, putting off the Wizengamont work until later, after working solidly for two hours he decided to take a break, one his way down to the kitchen the family started to arrive, Nev and Harry were the first to arrive. "Hey Sirius. Where's Jaime?" Nev asked, they all went to the kitchen to make some tea quickly for the family.
"Showing Mark her classroom, I had some work I wanted to get finished so I could enjoy our weekend" He returned. The next to arrive was Dora with Teddy, they headed to the game room, on the way up Sirius took Teddy into his arms "Hey little man. How are you?" He sat down to snuggle him. "I miss your dad so much, he'd know just what to say. Even at Grimmauld he could do that. Your daddy was amazing." Teddy just reached up and pulled Sirius' hair and giggled. "Your dad used to do that too when I was growing it out." He smiled thinking of his friend. It had become easier over the months to think about Moony he found, if he was talking to Teddy. Soon after they had settled into the games room, Hermione and Luna wondered up, chatting excitedly.
HP
"That school is amazing." Mark grinned as they floo'd into the Madhouse.
"Told you you'd love it."
"I can't believe you actually teach in a castle. That's just amazing."
"Amazing yes. Warm no." Sirius laughed as he handed Teddy to Harry and greeted them at the top of the stairs.
"Didn't think of that. No indoor heating except fire. That'd suck." Mark looked as though he'd bitten into a grapefruit, Mark started giggling as he looked around. "You weren't kidding about their family room being a duplicate Jaime."
"No, we did that because we spend so much time here when we are home that we didn't want to leave it when at school." Nev replied.
As everyone sat down, Sirius got up. "So Mark, let me introduce you to my family, this is my godson Harry." He pointed to each person. "His dad James was one of my best friends. Next to him is his fiancée Hermione who saved my life in their third and fifth years. Next is Neville, his dad and mum were also very good friends of ours in school, his mum is Harry's Godmum and the Potters were Nev's godparents, Nev also came to save me in their fifth year. Next is Luna, his fiancée, another person who came to save me in their fifth year, actually she was a fourth year at the time. Then there's my cousin Dora and her son Teddy. Teddy's Dad was best friends with both James and I in school. Everyone, this is Mark, Jaime's older brother."
A round of nice-to-meet-yous went around the room. Afterwards, Mark looked at Sirius, "So why'd you need saving twice by teenagers?"
Sirius laughed his barklike laugh. "Well, that's a long story." He said as he began the tale, this time though with commentary by all.
"I have to tell you Mark, there's no way you'd ever get me to fly unless it was with Harry." Hermione smiled. "It was the look in his eyes as he asked for help that got me. That and Sirius was gonna get the Dementor's Kiss for something he didn't do."
Then Luna and Nev took up the story of the Department of Mysteries. By the end, Mark looked at Sirius and said "I don't want you getting Jaime into any of your shenanigans, Sirius. She doesn't need it."
"Don't worry. My days of being hot headed are over with. Now, I just play a few pranks at school." He grinned.
"No matter what Mark, eat nothing at lunch in the castle, or drink for that matter." Luna warned.
"Why?"
"That's when I test my new potions on the students." Sirius grinned and they spent the next hour regaling Mark with stories of the pranks Sirius had played on the students.
As they walked down to lunch, Sirius said. "You know, your sister can be brutal in her pranks. Usually when she throws an idea out, I'm the one that has to bring it down a notch. You have no idea how odd that is for me. I'm usually the one going the step too far. I mean having the students of each house have the fur of their house mascot is great but them only being able to hiss or roar instead of talk too is a little over the top."
At that Mark burst out laughing so much the rest of the family just looked at him like he was mental, eventually he calmed down and they began to eat. "Jaime." He tried to look sternly at his sister but it failed horribly because he was still grinning. Then he looked to Sirius, "We got a month's detention from that prank at school."
Everyone got a laugh out of that. At the end of lunch, Sirius called out "Dobby!" The little elf popped in.
"Yes, Master Dogfather."
"I want to introduce you to Mark, Jaime's brother. Mark, if you need anything, and I mean anything, this week call for Dobby. He'll get you squared away."
"I put Mr. Mark's luggage in the room Ms. Jaime used her first time here." Dobby grinned.
"Thanks Dobby." Mark smiled as Dobby nodded and popped out.
After that, Mark, Sirius and Harry decided to go flying, Jaime, Hermione, Dora and Luna went to the pool and Nev went to see Dirk.
About an hour after they separated, Jaime asked, worry in her voice, "I wonder how they're doing out there, if Mark is behaving."
"I'm sure he is. If not, Sirius and Harry will figure out what's wrong." Hermione laughed.
"I'm just worried because Mar and I have always been close and I want him to feel comfortable here." Jaime bit her lip in frustration.
At that moment the men came into the pool house laughing. "I can't believe you actually got away with that." Mark grinned.
"Well, we didn't actually, we got detention." Harry laughed. "And Ron got a Howler."
"You wanna talk about detentions, Mark's the king of how to get detentions." Jaime grinned at her brother.
"I didn't get detentions until you showed up!" Mark complained. "Of course, I pulled more small pranks before Jaime got there."
The whole family spent the next few hours in the pool or spa, which is where Dan and Emma found them when they arrived, this was the first time Emma had seen her daughter since being told she was going to be a Grandma. She had seen her daughter the night they went to buy the chair Hermione charmed for the Hogwarts stairs Hermione got out of the pool to meet her, Emma took her in her arms. "Come here my girl." She whispered to Mione. As she hugged her daughter, she smiled "I can't believe you're pregnant. I can't believe I'm going to be a Grandmum soon."
Hermione chuckled as she pulled back and sat in a lounge chair. "I know. It's weird thinking of my being a mum. When I was little, I never thought I'd be so young when this happened."
"Yeah. You told me you wouldn't have kids until you were old, like 30, so you could have a career first." Emma laughed as Hermione grinned.
"Well, I can do both at the same time."
"That's my girl." Emma grinned. She looked up as Jaime and Mark sat next to them. "So, you're the young man Sirius is so scared of?" she asked, looking up at him.
"Scared of me? That's ridiculous." Mark laughed. "Why would he be scared?"
"Maybe because he's been dreading this since he found out about you!" Dan yelled from the side of the pool as he grinned evilly.
"He doesn't have anything to worry about from me as long as he treats my baby sister well." He gave a little faux growl.
At this, Dan laughed as he commented, "It's nice having someone else to tease Sirius with."
Sirius got out of the pool at this point and walked up to a fully clothed Dan as he transformed into Padfoot. He then shook his wet coat out all over Dan. He then transformed back and laughed as Dan shrieked.
"Not nice Sirius." He yelled through his laughter as he took his daughters towel to dry off.
"You get him Sirius." Hermione encouraged through her own laughter as she got up to give Sirius a hug.
HP
That evening, they made their own pizzas and watched Return of the Jedi. They spent the evening getting to know Mark. They found that, like Jaime, he seemed as comfortable in the muggle, or non-maj, world as he was in the magical world. Sirius was fascinated by this.
"So, you're telling me that you go to muggle places all the time?"
"Yeah. I can't wait to take my kids to Disneyland." He grinned at Jaime.
"You have to wait till she's four and I have to come with you." Jaime growled as Mark laughed.
"I know. I know." Then he looked at Sirius. "Jame and I decided when we were little that each one of our kids would go to Disneyland at 4 and that it would be a trip between her and I with the kid. Now that I've had Jordan, she's counting the days until we can take her."
"Why 4?" Hermione asked.
"Before 4 it's too hard with naps and diaper changes and such." Jaime explained.
"If you ever get to California, we can make a day trip of it." Mark suggested.
"Sounds like fun." Harry grinned.
"We keep hearing from Jaime how muggles and magicals are so intertwined but that doesn't seem to be the case from your history." Nev asked.
"Well, it depends on where you live. If you live on either coast, as we do, you are generally a little more liberal than in the Mid-West. In California, where all the strange people live, you tend to blend in with no-maj society."
"We tend to have the same kind of entertainment as no-maj's. For instance, my Dad is a huge American Football fan and goes to the 49ers games all the time." Jaime added.
"Let's put it this way, my wife Sarah's best friend is a no-maj. They met in college. However, Ellie has no idea my wife's a witch." Mark finished.
HP
On Sunday, Hermione woke up with cramps. She groaned as she got up.
"Are you okay, love?" Harry asked as he got dressed for the day. "You don't look so good." He came over and sat next to Mione on the bed and took her hands. "What's going on?"
"I'm just cramping up a bit." She responded with what he knew to be her fake smile.
"Mione, talk to me. Are you okay?" Harry's demeanor became more serious. "You really don't look good."
"That's just what a woman wants to hear." She smirked at her fiancé's hangdog expression.
"I'm worried. So sue me." To Hermione he looked even more worried.
"Harry, I'm fine." She said in a more confident voice. "Take Teddy and do breakfast. I'll be down in a little while."
"You sure?" He asked as he got up.
"Yes. I'm fine." She smiled more convincingly at him as he left. She got up very slowly. As she got dressed, she took several breaks because she was cramping pretty badly.
As she was walking downstairs, she ran into Luna. "Luna, can I talk to you in the study?"
"Of course." Luna frowned as she followed Mione into the study. "What's up?" She asked as Mione sat down on a sofa.
"I'm cramping a lot. It started as soon as I woke up and hasn't seemed to let up." Hermione began to cry softly. "I think I'm losing the babies."
Luna came over and put her arm around her friend. "Okay. We have options. We can give it a little more time to settle and hope it goes away or we can go to Pomfrey and see if she can get help. I'm assuming Mungo's is out because you want discretion not Skeeter, yeah?"
"Yeah. Definitely not Mungo's." She tried to smile but it came out as a grimace because she suddenly groaned and doubled over with a cramp.
"Okay." Luna's voice turned from its normal dreamy-state to cold determination so fast Hermione looked up in alarm at her. She got up, grabbed Mione's arm as she helped her up. "We're going to Pomfrey now. I'll come back and get Harry afterwards."
"Don't let anyone else know okay?" she asked as she leaned on her friend to help her get through the cramps as they went to the entryway.
"Sure you don't want Emma or Sirius?" Luna looked concerned.
"I want Harry, you and Nev until I know what's going on."
"Okay." She picked up floo powder, called out "Hogwarts Hospital Wing" and floo'd out.
When they fell out, Poppy was to them straight away. "What is going on?" she asked as Luna helped Hermione to a bed.
"I think I'm miscarrying. I'm cramping an awful lot." Hermione said between cramps.
"Mione, I'm going to go get Harry and Nev, alright?" Luna asked in her normal, soft voice. She got a nod in return. "I'll be back."
HP
Luna arrived back at the Madhouse a few minutes later and walked into the kitchen as everyone was eating breakfast. They looked up as she came in. "Where's Mione?" Harry asked.
"Can you and Nev come into the study?" She answered a question with a question.
"Sure." He and Nev got up and followed her to the study. As they left, Sirius began to follow.
"It's okay Sirius, I just need to talk to these guys." Luna smiled, knowing he was now worried about Mione as well. He gave her a dirty look that said he didn't like being kept in the dark as he sat back down.
When they closed the study door and had put up silencing charms, Harry turned on Luna, now especially worried. "Where's my wife?" He demanded.
"She's in the Hospital Wing." Luna put a hand on his arm. "By the way, she not your wife yet."
He ignored Luna's comment. He had more important things to think about. "What happened? Why's she there? What's wrong?" He fired off.
"She's cramping. She doesn't want to make a big deal so she's asked for you, Nev and me to come back without everyone worrying." Luna replied. Then she looked directly into Harry's eyes. "I think she might be losing the babies."
Harry's legs went out from beneath him. Nev reached out to grab him, but he missed. "Love, can you go talk to Sirius while I take care of Harry?" he asked.
Luna nodded as she left. "I think the four of us are going back to school. Hermione's tired and the rest of us have plans to make. Okay?" she told the room.
"Are you sure everything's okay?" Dan asked.
"Yes. Tiredness is a symptom of early pregnancy, Dan." She smiled as she heard the whoosh of the fireplace.
"I know but I'm her dad and I'm worried." He replied grimly.
"I'll have her call you soon, yeah?" Luna smiled at the concern written on all the males' faces.
"Okay. Have a good week Luna." He smiled back as she left.
HP
When she got back to the hospital wing, Nev was sitting outside the room that clearly held their friends, Poppy and a healer they didn't recognise. He got up as he saw her striding towards him.
"What's going on?" Luna asked
"They're checking her out right now. Apparently, her healer from Mungo's is here." He replied as he began walking the ward.
HP
Over the next 2 hours, Luna knew the time because she had been checking the clock every five minutes, she and Neville rotated between walking the ward and staring off into space thinking the worst had happened. Meanwhile, people came and went from the room Mione was in.
Eventually, Nev got frustrated. "I need to concentrate on something." He said. "I'm going to go get our stuff from the house so I can work on my lesson plans and grade. Want me to pick your stuff up too?" Luna just nodded as she sat still in her chair, silent tears streaming down her face. "Luna, everything will be all right." He came down to her level and took her hands in his. "She's not your mum. She's not going to die on us. There's no reason she won't survive this love."
"I know that up here." She smiled, tapping her temple. "But in here" She put her hand over her heart. "I'm worried sick." She took and let out a deep breath. "Go get our stuff from the house love."
"I can wait." Nev replied softly, putting his forehead on hers.
"No. Go. I'll be here." She said resolutely.
"Okay." He squeezed her hand. "I'll be back soon love." He gave her a kiss as he left.
HP
It was while Nev was gone that Harry came out. Luna took one look at him and jumped up. He was ghostly white, his eyes a dull green and his hair looked like a rat had taken up residence.
"Harry! What's going on? Is Hermione okay? What about the babies? Can I see her?"
Harry gave her a half-hearted smile as he sat in a chair next to her. "Well, she almost miscarried all the babies. According to Healer Axel, you getting her here saved two of the babies. Only one died. He said if you'd waited much longer, we would've lost all three."
At that, Luna sighed as she fell back into her chair. "Oh my. I actually suggested waiting. I'm glad we didn't."
"So am I. Anyway, she and the babies will be fine. They had to clean her out a bit so they could give the alive babies more room to grow in. That's what took so long. They put her to sleep and did a weird half-muggle/half-magic procedure on her. Now she's down for the count."
Luna had taken Harry's hand halfway through his explanation. "Can I go see her?"
He tried to smile at Luna. "Have I ever told you how lucky we are to have you as a friend?"
"You just did." She smiled.
Harry reached over and hugged her. "Go on in. I'll wait here."
"Thanks Harry." She skipped to the entrance of Mione's room.
HP
Nev came back a little while later to Harry asleep in his seat. Gods, he must be exhausted. I'll let him sleep, Nev thought as he transfigured a bed into a table and organised everyone's paperwork. He had decided to bring Harry and Hermione's stuff as well as their own so they had everything they needed.
"Hey Nev." Harry croaked as he sat up.
"Hey Harry. Mione okay?"
"Yeah. We lost one of the babies." Harry replied dully. He looked at Neville with such grief in his eyes that Neville blanched.
"Oh Merlin." Nev whispered.
"Yeah. I'm not exactly sure how I feel yet. I mean, on one hand we lost a baby. On the other hand, we were able to save two. And Mione's alive." He looked at Nev. "I'm just so glad of that. I don't know what I'd do if I lost her. How the hell would I survive without her?"
"Let's hope we never have to find out." Nev half-smiled. "I don't want to even think of losing Luna."