Hi, all! Big chapter with a lot in it, so enjoy!
Read and Review!
Love, Essie
I listen for the thud of reindeer walking on the roof
As I fall asleep to lullabies, the morning's coming soon
The only gift I'll ever need is the joy of family
Oh, why? 'Cause that's Christmas to me
I've got this Christmas song in my heart
I've got the candles glowing in the dark
And then for years to come we'll always know one thing
That's the love that Christmas can bring
Oh, why? 'Cause that's Christmas to me
~That's Christmas to Me, Pentatonix
Christmas was around the corner—only two days—and Shay had taken up the responsibility of making their home as spirited as possible, so they were living in a veritable Christmas card. Dany's mother Rhea, used to do they very same and Shay had been honored that the tradition had been passed on to her. The four parents had agreed that it was time for all three kids to have their first actual brooms, so those had been purchased weeks ago.
Rhaegar—for his part—was slipping into his role of Minister perfectly, as if he had been made for it (which he kind of had been). He was currently in the middle of having some very stern sit downs with people who had apparently been slipping Fudge money. There were more than anyone had expected and Sirius suspected that he'd be having those talks on and off for the next year or so.
Shay and her kids were adjusting to the new titles and respect rather well—although that probably had something to do with the way that everyone still had to do chores and use their manners in the house so at least something was constant. Sirius suspected that the kids were adjusting well in part to the fact that Harry didn't care who they were and was just thrilled that they were his family.
Sirius was just thrilled that he, Dany, and Rhaegar had work off for the next week and a half because of the holidays.
Dany seemed to be the only person who wasn't absolutely floating on cloud nine these days, although she put on a very good face around the kids, her brother, and Shay. It didn't take a genius to figure out why she wasn't blissfully happy. Her mood always bottomed out every time she took a pregnancy test. It had gotten so bad that Sirius had limited her to one test every 2 weeks because "love, taking a test every other day isn't going to make it happen quicker and you're just stressing yourself out". That and Sirius wasn't sure he could bear watching her test negative over and over for much longer without his heart literally breaking into tiny pieces.
He also had no idea what he was going to give her for Christmas, something he brought up with Rhaegar before either woman or the kids got up.
"I never know what to get her so I usually just get her something kind-of thoughtful and write a card." Rhaegar said with a shrug.
"I still feel like I should really make an effort seeing that this is our first Christmas together since I was released from Azkaban." Sirius groaned. "What do you give a woman who has everything?"
"What does she want that no one else can give her?" Rhaegar asked patiently.
"A baby, but I doubt the fertility gods are going to send one by stork for me to Christmas wrap." Sirius said and Rhaegar laughed.
"She wants a baby?" Sirius nodded. "Are you trying?" Sirius nodded again.
"All the time."
"Ew, too much information."
"Sorry. For about two months now. I had to start letting her only take one test every other week because every time she gets a negative test, she leaves the house almost in tears. I couldn't take watching it every bloody day." Sirius sighed, glaring down at the copy of the Daily Prophet on the table as if it were responsible for his wife's tears. Suddenly the paper caught fire—and it didn't just catch fire a little. It bust into flames. Rhaegar jumped in surprise, looking at his brother-in-law before looking reproachfully at the pile of ashes now on the kitchen table.
"Mate, take a deep breath—I'd rather not be next." He said.
"Sorry. It about breaks my heart to watch though. Obviously." He sighed. "Oh my God." He said suddenly looking up. Rhaegar looked alarmed. "I'm not going to set you on fire—calm down." Sirius added. Rhaegar rolled his eyes. "I think Dan's late."
"Does she have somewhere to be?"
"No, I mean she's late." Sirius realized. "I know what I'm going to get her." He said and grinned. "Because I think the fertility gods just came through for me."
Sirius woke up the next morning—Christmas Eve—and quietly walked into the bathroom, making his best attempt to not wake his wife.
See, Dany peed in the middle of the night without fail, but she never flushed because she didn't want to wake him up, so technically—if Sirius was lucky—he'd be able to find out if she was pregnant before her. He dug around under the cabinets looking for where she kept the pregnancy tests, finding them and popping one out of the box, quickly reading the directions. 'Pee on stick and wait' was pretty much it.
Sure enough—Dany hadn't flushed, bless her. Sirius stuck the end of the stick into the toilet and put the stick on the counter waiting. There was the first line, which was normal. Halfway done and nothing. Three-quarters done and still nothing. Damn. Then there was another line. Sirius almost passed out. He pulled out another test and tested it again to make sure and it came back positive again.
Dany was pregnant. She was pregnant and she had no idea. She hadn't been obsessively checking and watching her period because of all of the mania surrounding Rhaegar's inauguration. Once he finished crying and trying to keep himself from walking back into their bedroom and insisting that Dany just pee directly onto the stick to be sure, Sirius quickly vanished the boxes for the tests and put caps on the tests themselves, pocketing one and vanishing the other, and heading downstairs, leaving Dany to sleep.
Rhaegar and Shay were both already up.
"Happy Christmas Eve, Sirius." Shay said. Sirius grinned. "Are you okay? You look like you're going to cry." She asked reproachfully.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fantastic. Happy Christmas Eve." He said and Rhaegar looked at him skeptically.
"What is it? There's something going on."
"You can't tell Dan because she doesn't know. Swear you won't tell her." They both nodded. "I'm serious. I'm going to tell her tomorrow so say nothing."
"We won't say anything to her Sirius, just bloody tell us why you look like you're going to cry." Shay said.
"She's pregnant."
"Wha—? How?"
"She's doesn't flush when she pees in the middle of the night." He said.
"Dany's pregnant? Seriously?" Sirius nodded. "Did you do it twice?" Sirius nodded again. "She seriously doesn't know?"
"She has no idea and she isn't going to until tomorrow." He said pointedly to both of them and they nodded.
"Not a word." Shay said and Rhaegar winked at him. "Congratulations—you're going to have a baby."
"Yeah, I'm going to have a baby." Sirius said, letting that sink in. Wow.
"I didn't get you a baby for Christmas, honey." Rhaegar said. Shay laughed.
"I'm happy with the two we have. Seen the paper this morning, Sirius?" She asked and Sirius took it from her. "I heard you set fire to yesterday's before I could read it." He rolled his eyes, glaring at his brother-in-law.
"What? It's an interesting story." Rhaegar said and Sirius shook his head vaguely and started scanning the paper. "Morning, Dan." He said casually and Sirius turned around to smile at his wife.
"Morning." She said and kissed Sirius on the cheek before going to the coffee. Sirius had to physically bite his tongue to stop himself from telling her to put the caffeine down because it wasn't good for the baby she didn't know was inside her. Rhaegar silenced him with a look that quite clearly said 'one cup of coffee won't hurt so shut up' when his sister's back was turned. "Are you done with that paper?" She asked Sirius, unaware that he had just been handed it.
"Sure. You know, I actually have a couple things to take care of today, so I'm going to get dressed and head out." He said. The more time he spent away from his wife, the less of the chance he'd accidentally tell her she was pregnant. She looked at him curiously.
"Is everything okay?" She asked and he knew why. He always told her where he was going.
"Yeah, everything's fine. I still need to get your brother something for Christmas." He lied. Rhaegar scowled.
"Hey! I'm right here, you know." Dany smiled a little at her brother.
"Alright, just make sure you don't get anything he hates. We'll never hear the end of it." She said before returning to her coffee, probably wondering why he didn't want her to come with him to shop for her brother.
Sirius quickly got dressed and Apparated away with a very specific reason, remembering something Dany had told him a long time ago about a family tradition.
Dany frowned a little at her brother, who was pointedly not looking at her over breakfast.
"Is he okay?" She asked him.
"Who? Sirius? He's your husband, not mine."
"Yeah, but did he say anything to you to make you think something was wrong?" She asked. "That was weird." Both Shay and Rae shrugged.
"If there's something wrong, he didn't say anything to us." Shay said and Dany nodded slowly. "Why don't we make paper snowflakes with the kids today? I bet Harry's never done that before, living with his terrible aunt and uncle." She added, changing the subject. Dany nodded.
"That sounds wonderful, actually." She agreed.
Sirius came back at about seven that night. Dany heard him Apparate into their room and walked up to find him stowing bags in his closet.
"Okay, no snooping because one of them is for you."
"Did you wait until today to get me something?"
"No, but I was shopping for your brother and I saw something that seemed like you so I got it. So no peeking." He said sternly and she nodded, smiling a little.
"No peeking. Promise." She said and he relaxed noticeably. "Okay, what's going on with you? You've been weird all day and Rae didn't know why and neither did Shay."
"Dan, I'm fine. Really." He said and she noticed that he was standing in a way that prevented her from seeing his left hand. He was hiding his tell. He was lying.
"Uh-huh."
"I'm just really nervous about your gift, okay?" He said and she smiled a little.
"What can have you so worried? I'm not a picky person, you know." She said and he shrugged.
"I'm not telling you. It's a surprise." Dany rolled her eyes.
"I wouldn't expect anything different. The kids made paper snowflakes today. It started out pretty disastrous, but it ended pretty well."
"Yeah? Have you lot had dinner? I'm starving." He said. Dany shook her head.
"No, Shay's just finishing it now, I think." She said and the two rejoined the rest of their family, strange behavior forgotten for now.
Dany and Sirius were both woken by the sound of their door creaking open.
"Dany? Padfoot?" It was Harry. Dany sat up to see him in the doorway.
"Happy Christmas, Harry." Sirius yawned, sitting up as well. "Can we both get Christmas hugs?" He asked and Harry ran over and got into bed with them.
"Happy Christmas." He said, one arm around them both. Dany kissed the side of his head before wishing him a Happy Christmas.
"Lynn and Mason are getting up your aunt and uncle?" Sirius asked and Harry nodded. "Well, we best be getting downstairs then. Why don't you help Dany take some of her presents downstairs?" Harry nodded and Dany got up and handed him presents from her to the other people in the house as Sirius hastily put a shirt on. Dany felt lucky that she had slept in her husband's flannel pajama pants and one of his t-shirts—fully clothed. She took the rest and they headed down together, Sirius trailing them with more presents.
"Now, let's get these under the tree." She said and they started pushing them under, seeing that Rhaegar and Shay had already done the same last night.
"Happy Christmas all." Shay said, walking in with the rest of the family.
"Happy Christmas, Aunt Shay!" Harry said, hugging her tightly.
"Happy Christmas, Harry. How about you and your cousins come help me and Dany make some cocoa, huh?" She asked and they all nodded, leaving Rhaegar and Sirius alone.
"Does she know?" Rhaegar asked and Sirius shook his head.
"Not unless someone else told her."
"Care to bet on if she'll cry?"
"Only if you bet that she won't."
"Not a chance. You have my sister, Black. You don't get my money too." He said and Sirius chuckled. "Should we start sorting these into piles?"
"Probably. The downfall of a loving family: all the presents." Sirius sighed as the two men started to shift things into piles for different people.
"Hey, what's this?" Rhaegar asked him, nodding to a wrapped box.
"Dan told me a while ago that your dad bought you music boxes when your mom found out she was expecting each of you so…yeah." Rhaegar nodded.
"I did the same for my two. I'm glad you remembered."
"Cocoa's here!" Dany said, bringing it in on a tray. "Harry has marshmallows, Lynn has whipped cream, and Mason has extra milk." She added, putting it down on the coffee table. Dany sat down next to Sirius, everyone claiming cocoa and sitting on the ground.
"Ready?" Everyone nodded at Rhaegar. "Now, we best get this out of the way now. Harry, Mason, Lynn, all four of us made a decision and thought that you were old enough for these…" He said and stood, handing each one of them a wrapped broomstick, which were hidden in boxes. "Harry, yours is from Dany and Sirius."
All three kids tore through the wrapping paper and started cheering once they opened the boxes.
"Are these real, Dad?" Mason asked. Rhaegar nodded.
"We thought you all were old enough for your first real racing brooms, so Happy Christmas." Sirius said and they all hugged their respective parents.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" All three kids kept chorusing. "Can we try them out?"
"How about after everyone opens the rest of their presents?" Shay asked. "I bet Dad and Uncle Sirius can show you a few tricks if you ask really nicely, Mason. Uncle Sirius was even on Gryffindor's Quidditch team." She added and the kids looked to Sirius and Rhaegar hopefully. It was pretty cute, Dany had to admit.
"Maybe a few things. For now though, let's get through the rest of these presents." Sirius said and Rhaegar nodded in agreement. Gift giving went around the circle pretty easily until the very last gift, when Dany picked up one of the two things Sirius had gotten her. People had been intentionally trying to put it off until the end so they could get through everyone else's gifts before the entire day was derailed.
"Love, there's two and they go together, so open this one first." He said, catching her hand and handing her the bigger one first. She nodded warily, but unwrapped it. It was a music box. It was silver with engravings over the lid and sides, with four sapphires set into the center of the lid. It was gorgeous. It looked like the one her father had bought for her before she had been born.
"Oh, it's lovely. Did you know that when my parents found out about Rae and I, Dad bought—?" Sirius nodded.
"Yeah, I know. Open the other one, Dan." He said gently and she looked at everyone in the room. The kids looked as clueless as she was, but Shay and Rhaegar obviously knew what was going on. She unwrapped the smaller box. "I've never been so glad you don't flush at night in my life." He added as she opened it. It was a pregnancy test. It was positive. Her mouth dropped open.
"I—oh my God, really?" She asked, feeling the tears come on.
"Yeah. I swiped a test and tested your pee from the night before yesterday morning." He said and she started laughing and simultaneously sobbing, throwing her arms around him.
"Did you check twice?" He nodded. "We're going to have a baby?" Sirius nodded again, hugging her. She heard Harry, Mason, and Lynn gasp.
"Yeah, we're going to have a baby, Dan. You're pregnant." He murmured into her hair, laughing a little. She let go of him and looked around, wiping her eyes.
"Did you all know?" She asked.
"Shay and I did. Why do you think we all refused to pull out the wine last night at dinner? Alcohol is bad for babies, little sister." Rhaegar said.
"Sirius, you told my brother first." She said, still smiling ridiculously.
"Good thing he did. He and I had some silent words yesterday morning when you started drinking coffee because he almost told you to stop." Rhaegar said and Dany looked at Sirius.
"Aw, that's so cute." She said, smiling and kissing him. The kids all yelled "ew!" and Rhaegar and Shay laughed.
"Well, luckily we're done because no one's topping that. Kids, why don't we give them a minute alone?" Shay said and guided the kids out. "Let's see those broomsticks." Dany barely heard her she was staring so intently at her husband.
"I want to take another test. Just in case." She whispered and he nodded.
"Probably smart." He agreed and pulled her up by her hand, walking up to their room. She pulled out a test and took it quickly, somehow able to find the extra pee, despite having just gone. They waited and sure enough, this one came back positive. "Thank God. That would have been awful if the toilet water had messed with the results or something." Sirius sighed, leaning against the counter. Dany couldn't help it and practically flew into his arms again.
"We're going to have a baby, Sirius." She said and he chuckled, kissing her temple. "There's a little person inside of me."
"I know we are and I know there is, love." Sirius murmured as Dany completely broke down into tears again.
"I already love him or her so much." She hiccuped. "Is that normal?"
"I think it's pretty normal, Dany. You're allowed to love your baby." Sirius said gently, continuing to hug her and rub her back. She pulled back to look at him.
"It's our baby. The little grape in here is both of ours. We made it together." She said, putting a hand on her stomach. Sirius kissed her nose.
"I know we did and that's the best part."
Dany and Sirius walked back into work a week later holding hands. Ever since they had found out that Dany was pregnant, they had become exponentially more loving with each other and were both taking extra care to nurture their relationship. Dany wanted her baby to grow up like she had, knowing Mommy and Daddy loved each other more than anything else.
Sirius kissed his wife goodnight every night before kissing her stomach, just below her bellybutton, goodnight too. Dany made a point to be more publicly affectionate, as that was something she had always held off on, not wanting to look like some idiot girl who couldn't take her eyes off her boyfriend—and then husband.
So, they walked into work holding hands, waving to people as they both headed for their offices. They had decided to wait to tell anyone outside the family about the baby, although Dany was going to have to tell Moody soon—she couldn't keep going on assignments forever; eventually her stomach would grow too big for her to be helpful in combat and he needed to know in advance. People waved back and smiled a little.
Elizabeth—one of Dany's friends in the office—appeared in Sirius' doorway a few hours later.
"Lizzie. What's up?" He asked, putting his quill down.
"You know how Moody's out of the country?" Sirius nodded. "That means that you and Dan are in charge and…well…you're going to want to see this." She said slowly. Sirius got up and looked out into the rest of the department.
It was raining.
It was raining slugs to be more precise.
"Do we know what happened?" He asked, looking around for someone who looked like they could be guilty.
"I can guess." Lizzie said, nodding towards where Parker and Simmons were chuckling. "I put in a request with Maintenance, but thought you should know. I think that's him." She added, pointing at a bloke in blue robes who just showed up.
"Thanks, Lizzie. I'll go talk to him."
"You're from maintenance?" Sirius asked and the man nodded. "Well it's fantastic you're here. One of the guys charmed the ceiling to rain slugs—obviously. You think you can fix it?" The man inspected the ceiling and a slug fell onto the floor beside Sirius' right foot.
"Yeah, I think I can do something about it. Do you know what spell he used?" The man asked and Sirius searched around for Parker.
"Yeah, hold on…Parker! Come here. You're going to tell this nice man from Magical Maintenance what exactly you did. So help me if a slug lands on my head." He said and Parker grinned.
"Wow Black, is that your Dad voice? It's not very scary. Why Harry takes it seriously is beyond me." He laughed. Sirius raised an eyebrow and didn't miss the sharp look that the guy from maintenance gave him. Weird.
"Please, if I wanted scary, I'd go get Mom Voice from her office." He said and nodded towards Dany's office. "I'm really shitty at yelling at Harry, just by the way."
"Duly noted…and as for the spell…" Parker said and then leaned in and whispered it to the maintenance guy. He nodded and seemed almost amused. Suddenly, Dany walked out of her office and looked around, apparently just discovering the mess outside of her office door.
"Parker…Simmons…I know this was one of you two idiots." She snapped and Simmons looked over at Parker incriminatingly. "That's what I thought. What would possess you to do something like this? Really, are you twelve? I'm pretty sure that your maturity level is on par with my son. He's nine." She asked him, obviously unhappy, but still amused. She walked over to Sirius with paperwork in her hand, clearly meant for him. "You need to sign off on this. It's the witness account from last—" She glanced at the guy from maintenance and her body language changed completely and she dropped the papers. A slug landed on them almost immediately.
"Are we missing something?" Parker asked. Dany didn't acknowledge him.
"Sirius, I'm assuming that you remember Brady Harris." She said hollowly and Sirius raised his eyebrows.
"It'd be rather hard to forget him…why?" He asked, not getting it. Dany pointedly looked at the guy from maintenance. "Seriously?" He said. Parker looked between the two older men. Simmons walked over unannounced. "Whatever, man. Just get the ceiling to stop raining slugs before we have to worry about them damaging anything." Sirius said, waving a hand dismissively.
"You know, now that I think about it…I don't know if there's anything I can do. You might just have to wait until the spell wears off. It could be days." He said and Parker raised an eyebrow. He had clearly thought that someone could clear it up and it wouldn't be a huge deal, just funny.
"Shit…I'm sorry, both of you. Moody's going to have my hide, isn't he?" He asked and Dany shook her head reassuringly.
"Don't worry about it, Parker. We can get this cleared up before Moody comes back from Scotland; he never needs to know it was you. Let's just say that you're not the first to do this and you do not want to be on the receiving end of this one. We would know." She said, putting a hand on his arm gently. Being pregnant had really softened her up, especially to people in the department. Most people were wondering why as no one knew she was pregnant, but welcomed it anyways.
Suddenly her eyes flicked to Brady. "Now, Brady. I know you know how to fix the ceiling. So why don't you so we can all get on with our lives and go back to never speaking or acknowledging each other's existences." Brady looked amused.
"I see you're still the same."
"Don't make me go get your boss." She said with a sigh and Sirius noticed that after all of this time, he still looked her up and down like he was undressing her with his eyes. Sirius now had the right to be pissed about it too, which he was grateful for. She was his wife. She was married and had a kid; she was pregnant with someone else's child. Not like he knew the last part, but it was still probably time to move on.
"Aw, please you're not actually going to go get anyone." He said and Parker raised an eyebrow. "You always were so sweet, Dan; you were always so gentle. It's a damn wonder you became an Auror—this has to go against all of that compassion and empathy of yours. I always thought that you'd be a Healer…if you got a job at all." Parker and Simmons exchanged looks and Dany didn't look pleased.
"I have to say; it was all very predictable. You graduated top of your class, married Black, rose up in the Ministry, and now you're a mom. It's such a shame that you didn't have any of your own…probably because your husband was in jail. Where he should still be because he attacked me, completely unprovoked. I was afraid to say anything back then, but I could always drag that one out of the closet. I'm sure your cell's still empty, Black." He said and Dany looked like someone had pulled the rug out from under her feet. She had quite forgotten that had ever happened. Sirius hadn't. He also had to bite his tongue from correcting him about the child. He couldn't know that Dany was expecting; that had to stay private.
"Fuck you, Harris. That will be unprovoked the day hell freezes over. You're damn lucky you're not dead. You would be if James hadn't kept me from kicking your nose into your brain." He snarled. Dany looked at him warningly. He ignored that look. Brady Harris had always brought out the ugly side of him.
"That had nothing to do with you, Black. You had no reason to attack me. I wasn't doing anything to you." He said and Sirius raised his eyebrows.
"Seriously? 'No reason'? Let's talk about the fact that you were hitting your girlfriend. Yeah, let's talk about how you cheated on your girlfriend and then slapped her across the face—your girlfriend, who happened to be one of my closest friends at the time. If we hadn't stopped you, would you have kept going? Would you have beaten her until she bled? Answer that and tell me again that it was unprovoked." He snapped and Brady shrugged.
"I never really had to chance to think about it seeing that I was too busy being mutilated. I really should thank you, Danilynn; if it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't have really had the chance to get to know my wife so well." Dany laughed.
"Who was stupid enough to marry you?" She said incredulously.
"You know her. Actually, you both do; Black, I'm assuming that you remember Kenzie." He said and Sirius felt his jaw drop. No fucking way.
"Crazy Kenzie? You married Crazy Kenzie Levitt? Please tell me that you had enough curtsey for the rest of us not to reproduce." Dany said. Parker and Simmons snorted at that.
"We have three kids. We get along great and we started dating after we broke up, Dan. I have to say that she was definitely an improvement. I mean she let me fuck her." He said and Dany's mouth dropped open and her eyebrows rose. "But appears that someone finally got the Minister's precious daughter to spread her legs…congratulations, Black." He added on. Dany looked shocked and Parker and Simmons no longer thought that this was funny at all.
"Sirius. No, no, no you don't need to go back. Look at me." She said quietly and Sirius realized that he had taken a couple of steps forward. Seeing him had pulled out the temper he had managed to put away for so long he barely remembered it existed.
Sure, he got angry and he lashed out sometimes but he hadn't felt the overwhelming urge to kill someone in a very long time. Not since Lily and James had died. He hadn't felt anything quite like this since Brady Round 1. The war had been fueled by fear. But this was pure anger. It was blinding. Dany was watching him and she had a hand on his chest, her back to Brady, and was looking up at him, begging him not to do anything silently. He took a step back and suddenly Brady chuckled.
"Same as always, you two. She still has you on a leash, Black. She owned you even when she wasn't yours; you would have killed me for her—you almost did. Oh, I never got an answer all those years ago, Dan—when we were dating, how exactly did you convince yourself that you weren't cheating?" Dany said nothing and Sirius looked over at her, surprised. There was no way she had been sleeping around behind Brady's back. She had been a virgin in almost every sense of the word when they had started dating.
"Enough. It's been over a decade." She said tightly; she apparently knew exactly what he was talking about and clearly didn't feel like sharing. Parker and Simmons glanced at Sirius and he shrugged. He had never heard about this before.
"Um, what's going on?" Parker said and Dany shook her head a little. It was really obvious that she couldn't believe that this was happening.
"Let's just say that I wasn't the only one that wasn't completely monogamous. At least I only fucked Kenzie." He said, obviously taking a dig at something only he and Dany would know about. Dany shook her head again.
"I'm a lot of things, but that isn't one of them. I don't have to justify myself to you. Funnily enough, I really don't care what you think." She said and Sirius suddenly remembered what she had said all those years ago. Brady had told her that she'd been having an emotional affair and hadn't even realized it. He remembered thinking it could have been James, but they had never talked about it after she had mentioned it in passing that day.
"Sure you don't. You don't have to justify your affair of the heart to anyone, especially because you married him." Brady said with a shrug. Dany froze. Sirius looked up. Brady smirked. Parker and Simmons' mouths dropped open.
"What?" Sirius said blankly and Dany now looked very unhappy.
"Out, Brady. Out. Now." She snapped and he didn't move.
"You never told him? You never told him that we broke up over him, did you? Well now you know, Black. Take it from someone who knows, she isn't worth much if you don't have her heart. Her body isn't that great on its own; then again, I never really got a look. She left anything worth seeing for you." He said and Sirius seriously considered killing him. Brady was actually still pissed that Dany wouldn't sleep with him when they had dated in school.
It was technically legal; he was an Auror. Brady had committed an act of violence; it had been like ten years ago but still. Besides, Rhaegar wouldn't convict him. Rhaegar was his brother-in-law and Rhaegar protected his family.
"Sirius. Sirius! Please look at me. Don't hurt him. I know what you're thinking and Rhaegar's hands would be tied. Please don't do this. I'm begging you not to do this to us." Dany started saying immediately and yet again turned her back to Brady and forced him to look at her. Her eyes had become huge and then the last part caught up with him.
She had said 'us' instead of 'me'. It was a subtle reminder that it wasn't just about them anymore. There was a baby involved now—not to mention Harry. She was pregnant with their child and she was speaking on behalf of herself, Harry, and Baby. She was their mother and it was her job to protect and speak for her young children. "We need you here with us." She said quietly and touched his face. He knew what she was asking him: is this worth not being there for your children? She was asking him to deal and handle his temper if not for her, then for them.
"Black, don't do this mate." Parker said slowly and Simmons nodded. Dany looked over at the other two men gratefully.
He took a step back purely because he had no intentions of being in Azkaban when he found out whether his wife had given birth to a boy or a girl.
"Aw, look at that; I bet Mommy and Daddy would be so proud, Dan. They raised you to be a controlling little bitch, didn't they?" Brady said condescendingly. Dany froze immediately and Parker and Simmons both looked at him in disbelief.
Before anyone could do anything, Dany had turned around had had hit him straight across the face. Brady had finally pushed her beyond logic or reason.
"That's fucking incredible." Parker said with a laugh and Simmons grinned. When Brady spit out blood moments later, he also spit out a tooth. She had literally knocked his teeth out. Sirius laughed disbelievingly.
"You had that coming, Harris. Now get out." He said and Brady lunged at Dany and before anyone could intervene, she grabbed his arm and twisted, stopping short of breaking it.
"Is there anything else you want to say?" Sirius sometimes forgot what she was made of. He often forgot the woman that he had gone to war alongside. He saw that woman for the first time in a very long time. Dany Black, his wife who was practically glowing she was so happy to be pregnant, was gone. This was Danilynn Masters in full-force: vengeful, fearless, powerful, and bordering on sadistic. This was the woman that had killed and fought alongside him with a righteous anger that didn't know mercy. She wanted him to suffer.
"You crazy bitch. What the hell—?" Dany snapped his arm. There was a nasty crunch and he yelled.
"Get out before you have to crawl out. It's awfully hard to walk when your kneecaps are in pieces." She hissed. Parker and Simmons both took a step back, suddenly wary. They had every right to be. "Parker, Simmons, if you don't mind walking Mr. Harris back to Magical Maintenance? And fix his arm. I'm not in the mood for justifying this." She said and both men nodded.
"Sure thing, Dan. By the way, wicked right hook." Simmons said and the two men walked Dany's ex-boyfriend out of the door of the department.
"Dan…what was he—?"
"I loved you when I was dating Brady and he knew it. That's why he picked Kenzie; I guess it was his version of poetic justice or whatever." She said hollowly and shook her head. "The worst part was that he was right…I should have broken up with him, it's what was fair to everyone, but I didn't. I thought I could convince myself that I really loved him." She said quietly and shook her head again as if to clear it. "It doesn't matter. It was a long time ago and it's over now." She added on before she walked off to her office.
"Dany, love you're jittery and it's worrying me a bit." Sirius said, putting a hand on Dany's knee to keep her from bouncing her leg. They were waiting for their first appointment with an obstetrician a couple days after running into Brady.
"I know, but this is the first time we're going to see our baby." She said, looking over at him seriously. "That doesn't make you nervous?"
"Of course it does, but that's driving me insane." He said, nodding down towards her knee. She nodded, taking his hand.
"Do you think it's a boy or girl?" She asked eagerly. Sirius had to fight the urge to smile at her inability to talk about anything but their baby right now.
"I don't know. I don't think I want to know until you give birth, actually." He said suddenly, just coming to this conclusion. Her forehead wrinkled.
"Really?" He nodded.
"Yeah…really. I want to be surprised." He said, making up his mind. "But, I think it's a boy." He added, letting her play her guessing game.
"Really?" He nodded. "I was thinking our little grape is a girl, actually." She said, touching her stomach lightly. She had taken to calling the baby that: our little grape. It was still too young to really be considered a baby, so it was still a grape.
"Do you feel pregnant?" He asked her and she shrugged.
"A bit. My clothes don't fit perfectly anymore, but other than that and the random bouts of vomiting, I'm fine." She said with a shrug.
"Danilynn Black." She looked up, practically bouncing to her feet and pulling Sirius along by his hand. 'Expecting a baby' was a good look for Dany. She hadn't taken the smile off her face since she had found out about her pregnancy. "We're just going to take your weight, height, blood pressure, and measure how big your belly is around." The nurse said and did just that. "You can go ahead and take a seat in that room right there and your Healer will be right in." She said kindly and they walked into the room, Dany sitting on the exam table, her legs dangling off the side. She looked over at him.
"Who do you think my Healer's going to be? Bloke or girl?"
"Haven't a clue. I'd like you to have a woman though—someone who's lived it and all." He said and she nodded.
"I think I'd like that too, but as long as he or she knows what they're doing then it's—Michelle?" Dany said, turning towards the door. Sirius recognized Michelle Carson, but damn had it been a long time since he had last seen her.
Michelle was a long-time friend of the Masters family and had healed Dany's bumps and bruises as a kid, along with being the head of Intensive Care. She had saved Sirius' own life before, along with Dany's father. She also had delivered both of Rhea Masters' children, meaning that she had actually delivered Dany herself.
"Hello, dear. I know it's been a while since I was in obstetrics, but I couldn't help myself when I heard the Healers talking in the break room and one of them said you had an appointment. I hope you don't mind." She said. For being almost sixty, Michelle looked virtually the same, Sirius thought.
"Of course I don't mind! I wouldn't want anyone else." Dany said warmly.
"I personally like knowing that her Healer's good at her job—and has her best interests at heart." Sirius commented. Michelle turned to look at him.
"It's good to see you, Sirius. It's been a long time—ten years, I suppose." She said with a smile—not saying what they were thinking. They had last seen each other at Daniel and Rhea's (and supposedly Rhaegar's) funeral.
"Hey, Michelle. It's good to see you." He said. "Now please tell my wife that she's officially pregnant because she's losing her mind. She doesn't trust the at-home tests—so naturally she's taken seven." He added and she suppressed a smile, waving her wand and parchment appearing in her hand.
"Congratulations, dear." She said. "You're pregnant." Dany grinned and started to cry again. Sirius quickly got up to hug her before she could really get the waterworks going.
"Come on, Dan don't you want to see him or her? You need to stop crying for that." He said gently and she nodded, wiping her eyes.
"Right. Sorry, Michelle." She said and Sirius sat back down, aware that his wife's tears had stained his shirt.
"It's not a problem. Do you want to know the sex?"
"Sirius doesn't. I do." Dany said and Sirius raised an eyebrow. He didn't know how she was going to keep that secret, but she could try.
"Well that's unusual. Sirius, if you wouldn't mind leaving the room for a moment?" Michelle said and Sirius got up. "It might be a bit—I'm going to give her a pelvic exam while you're gone." She added as he left. He heard Dany start to whine at her. "Hush, the speculum doesn't bite." Michelle said as he closed the door.
Sirius leaned up against the wall outside the door, waiting to go back inside the exam room where his wife and their little grape were waiting for him.
"That hurts, you know. 'The speculum doesn't bite', my ass." He heard Dany say from inside the exam room and suddenly Sirius had the overwhelming desire to go in, fix whatever the problem was, and take her and their baby far away. He then stopped and realized what he had just thought. Dad instincts were weird.
"Sirius." Dany said and he heard her through the wall, even though she hadn't spoken very loud at all. He walked in and Michelle raised an eyebrow.
"Good hearing." She commented as Sirius took a seat.
You have no idea.
"Now, I haven't told Danilynn anything outside of the sex of the baby, so we're going to talk about how I think delivery will go based on how your vagina and uterus are shaped and then take a listen and get a picture of the little one." Michelle said and Dany nodded eagerly.
"Sounds perfect." She said, prompting her.
"Well, delivery isn't going to be a dream, I'm going to tell you now that you have a relatively small uterus and your vagina is also relatively narrow so some tearing in the perineum is very likely." Dany nodded and Sirius looked over at her.
"Not to sound like the idiot husband, but what is that?" He said slowly.
"It's the skin between the vagina and the anus." Michelle said and Sirius felt his stomach squirm at the idea of that ripping. "It's very likely, as it's your first birth and you're so narrow on the inside. Other than that, I didn't see anything wrong with your cervix or labia, so that's all good news." Dany nodded again. "Now, how about a heartbeat?" Dany nodded much more eagerly this time, putting a hand on her flat stomach.
"I don't know if you told her already, but how old is the baby?" Sirius asked.
"Eight weeks old." Dany said with a smile. "I'm due in early August." He nodded as Michelle arranged Dany so she was laying on her back with her shirt pulled up to just under her chest. Dany reached for Sirius and he moved so he could sit next to her head and hold her hand.
"Alright, let's take a listen." Michelle said and poked Dany's stomach with her wand. Sure enough, there was a heartbeat filling the room.
"Why is it so fast? Is everything okay?" Dany asked, looking alarmed.
"No, everything's fine. Fetal heartbeats are much quicker than ours." Michelle said. "It's perfectly healthy." Dany smiled and squeezed Sirius' hand, looking over at him from where her head and torso were propped up in the exam bed.
"It's beautiful." She murmured. "It's inside me. I have two heartbeats in my body." She whispered with no small amount of wonder. That suddenly hit home for Sirius and he squeezed Dany's hand back tightly. She looked over at him and smiled, reaching out and touching his face as he tried really hard not to cry.
"Are we ready to see Baby Black?" Michelle asked gently and they both nodded. The heartbeat vanished when she moved her wand and Sirius suddenly missed it immensely. Dany did too, judging by her face. "I'm afraid that I need Muggle equipment for this so it takes a bit of time." She said and wheeled a machine over to the hospital bed. "It's nothing scary, I promise. Just some cold gel and this thing—" She held up a wand-looking thing, "—goes on your belly." She said and Dany nodded, adjusting her hold on Sirius' hand. Michelle squirted clear gel onto Dany's abdomen and she made a face.
"Damn, that is cold." She agreed as Michelle pulled the wand out and turned on the machine.
"I know. There's nothing I can do about that. Now, we're all going to look at that screen." She pointed. "Once I find where the little one is, we'll get the heartbeat back too." They both nodded and Sirius and Dany both looked towards the screen. Suddenly, the heartbeat came back, much louder than before. "There's your baby." Michelle said. "Dany said she's been calling it your little grape and she's about right. Baby is only about the size of a raspberry and still has remnants of its tail. But, you can definitely see the giant head in the making and if you look here, there's the beginning of limbs and Baby already has ear holes." Michelle said, pointing to the screen as she spoke. "Also, you can see eyes forming and little nubby fingers and toes, even though they're still webbed."
Dany looked over at Sirius and grinned, tears dripping a little. "Let me just take a quick picture so you can freely look whenever you want…" She trailed off and pressed a couple buttons. "Everything looks really good, Dan. I want to see you back in another eight weeks for your sixteen week, but until then congratulations." Michelle said, waving her wand and vanishing the gel on Dany's stomach. "I'll leave these here." She added, putting the pictures on Dany's purse. "Take as much time as you need." She said before leaving. Dany pulled her shirt down and looked over at Sirius, grinning. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.
"We're having a baby." She whispered and he nodded.
"We're having a baby." Sirius said and pressed his forehead against hers. "Want to know something?" He whispered.
"Tell me." She whispered back to him, their foreheads pressed together.
"Today's probably the happiest day of my life, not counting our wedding day." He whispered and Dany smiled, tears dripping down her cheeks.
"Mine too. Until Baby gets here." She whispered back and he smiled and wiped the tears off her cheeks.
"I think the day you give birth to our child will tie with the day we said our vows." He said and she laughed a little.
"Probably. I love you so much." Dany murmured. "More than you can know."
"Oh, I reckon that you underestimate how much I can know." He said and she laughed. "I promise that I love you more. Now, we should probably give them their exam room back." Dany nodded and got off the exam table before picking up the pictures Michelle had left of the ultrasounds. "Time for Mommy, Daddy, and Baby to go home."