Resolutions
By Neurotica
Thirty-Three
The clock had just struck midnight in Gryffindor Tower and Harry let out a quiet groan, earning glares from several people, including Hermione. The fifth years had joined the N.E.W.T. study session to work on their O.W.L. prep work. Harry turned the page in his Transfiguration book and continued reading about human-to-animal transformations. They were similar to Animagus transformations, except that they didn't require studying spells and brewing potions. Not to mention they were far more legal than Animagus transformations.
He'd just reached the second paragraph on the page when the portrait hole opened. Not one student turned to see who'd entered, and Harry yelped and jumped a few inches off his chair when someone tapped him on his shoulder. He turned, barely hearing Hermione's quiet "Evanesco" (must have spilled some ink or something) and found Professor McGonagall looking down at him, the corners of her lips just barely twitching.
"Come with me, Mister Potter," she said quietly. A few students, the ones who hadn't seen McGonagall, said "shh," causing McGonagall's own eyebrows to rise.
Harry stood and followed the professor out into the hall, all the while wondering what she'd caught him doing now. He climbed through the portrait hole and turned a corner into the main corridor where, to Harry's surprise, Sirius was leaning against the wall with his arms and legs crossed. Harry's stomach fell. "What's happened?" he asked quickly.
Sirius smiled. "Nobody's hurt, so get that look off your face." Harry relaxed significantly. "You're about to be Uncle Harry again; Emmeline's gone into labor."
"You've been granted the weekend off by Professor Dumbledore," McGonagall said. "Ron Weasley will help out with Head Boy duties until your return."
Harry nodded vaguely, still staring at Sirius in shock. "But she's not due for almost two months!"
Sirius shrugged. "Apparently the twins are like Mira; they don't want to wait. C'mon, we've got to get back. Moony's going crazy in the library, and Ted's said he could come in towards the end."
"I don't even want to know," McGonagall said wearily.
Sirius winked and grinned at her. "Thanks for the help, Minnie. Come by in a few days and see your future students."
"I will, on one condition, Mister Black: stop calling me Minnie."
As it turned out, Remus and Emmeline's bedroom wasn't large enough to hold seven people (Tonks had shown up looking for her parents shortly after Sirius and Harry Flooed back). Ted had been trying to move around in order to examine Emmeline's vitals, and had run into Naomi. Not long after that, he'd hit his daughter on accident when he stretched his arms. At some point in a thirty minute period, he'd hit or run into every person in the room, and finally, calmly, around one in the morning, kicked everyone out but Naomi.
"Sirius, you can bring Remus in now," Ted said as the Auror made to leave. "But I want you here as well, with your wand out, just in case."
"Aye, aye, Captain." Sirius saluted the Healer. Ted didn't reply; he was busy running tests on Emmeline.
Sirius followed Harry out of the room and left the waiting group for the library. He was smart enough to resist making a good doggy joke and petting the werewolf waiting at the door on the head. That's a good way to get bitten right now, with Remus/Moony as stressed out as he is.
"All right, Moony," he said instead. "You've been granted permission to be with Emmeline tonight." Moony stopped whining immediately and began wagging his tuft of a tail. Sirius suppressed a laugh. "The only catch is Ted wants me in there with my wand out in case you lose control. I suggest you don't do that if you want to see your boys born; the only spell I can think of that will keep you under control is illegal, and it's not Imperius. It will knock you out for about two days, and I don't think you'd like that too much."
Moony nodded, looking excited. Sirius bit down hard on the sides of his cheeks to keep from doing something stupid, like laughing. He looks like he's about to start running around in circles.
The Auror took out his wand and opened the door, gesturing for Moony to go first. When the pair reached Emmeline's room, there was a good bit of staring—Molly, Tonks, and Andromeda had never seen Remus in his transformed state.
"Hey, Remus," Harry said, completely unfazed. "Busy night, eh?"
Moony glared at him as he approached the door.
"I suggest you don't aggravate him tonight, kid," Sirius said in his Auror business tone. "Too much can happen if he gets pissed off."
Sirius vaguely noticed that Molly gave him a look for his language, but it was the last thing on his mind. He opened the door for the werewolf and followed him in the room. Naomi was sitting beside Emmeline, wiping the sweat off the other witch's forehead. Emmeline seemed to be relaxing: her eyes were closed.
"She's just finished a mild contraction," Ted told Sirius, briefly glancing at Remus.
Moony was looking past the Healer to his wife. He whined and Emmeline opened her eyes. She smiled tiredly. "Hey there," she said. "Glad you could join us."
The werewolf moved around the bed and Naomi vacated her seat so he could jump up beside his wife. Emmeline immediately laid her hand on his head and began running her fingers through his fur.
Ted cleared his throat politely. "Remus, I have a few rules if you want to stay in here. First of all, do you understand what I'm saying?"
Moony lifted up his head from Emmeline's chest and nodded clearly.
"Good." Ted sat back in his chair and crossed his legs. "I'm going to need you to stay away from my area when I'm examining Emmeline, and when the babies start..."
"Trying to escape from that hell they're in now and entering a new one?" Sirius suggested innocently. Naomi punched him in the arm and the Lupins glared at him.
"Something like that, yes," Ted said, smiling slightly. "And once the babies are out, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the room until you transform again. I don't want to take any chances. I'm in unknown territory right now, and I'm trying to make this all go as smoothly as I possibly can. Naomi, I'm going to need you to be my assistant. When I say so, I need you to stay at my side until I say otherwise."
"What can I do?" Sirius asked.
Ted turned to him. "Make sure Emmeline has ice chips when she needs them."
Emmeline grinned and held up a cup. "Oh, Sirius, I'm out of ice chips."
Moony made a sound that resembled a chuckle.
Sirius rolled his eyes, but made his way over to the bed to refill the witch's cup. "Now what?" he asked.
"Now we wait," Ted said. "We may even make it to after moonset, unless these boys push their way through earlier."
Around three o'clock, it seemed the Lupin twins were actually holding out for their father to transform in a few hours. Those who hadn't been allowed to remain in the room headed down to the kitchen for more comfort. Most everybody tried to sleep and waited for news from the second landing.
It was a restless time for Harry; he was worried about Emmeline. Sirius had told him about the situation the witch was currently in, and from what Harry could tell, it was bad. Emmeline was losing energy quicker than Ted liked, and her level of magic was dropping as well. Harry had heard Molly talking with Andromeda, and found out it was normal for a witch to lose some of her magic when giving birth, but apparently, Emmeline's loss was greater than normal. They did say, however, that the magic level rose once the birth was over. Harry wasn't sure if that was true or if the two witches had seen him listening in and were trying to reassure him.
After trying to get comfortable in one of the kitchen chairs, Harry got up as quietly as he could without waking Tonks, who was sleeping two chairs down from him, and left the kitchen, heading up to his bedroom. On the way, he stopped by Emmeline's room to see how everything was going.
Unfortunately, he walked in during what seemed like a rather painful contraction. The teenager winced at the noise, but entered, closed the door, and located his godfather. Sirius was standing against the wall with his arms crossed, looking amused.
"What's so funny?" Harry asked when he could hear again.
"Look at Moony," the Auror replied.
Harry did and snorted. The werewolf's head was buried under a pillow to shield his hearing from the screams, and Emmeline's hand was nearly pulling his fur out. Naomi was on Emmeline's other side, rubbing her shoulder and holding her hand.
"He was howling with her earlier," Sirius said. "She had a hold on his leg and was squeezing."
"Ouch," Harry replied. "So these contractions are taking a lot more energy from her, aren't they?"
Sirius sighed and nodded. "Ted's getting ready to give her a painkilling potion and a mild Pepper-Up Potion."
Harry looked worriedly at Emmeline. He didn't know much about healing potions, but he had experience with the two potions Ted wanted to give Emmeline. The times Madam Pomfrey had given him the two potions in combination, he'd ended up needing an anti-nausea potion as well, or he'd just thrown up. Either way, Harry didn't think Emmeline needed to be sick at the moment.
"She'll be fine," Sirius said quietly, watching his godson's face closely. "Don't worry about it. Go relax for a while and I'll come get you and everyone else when the time comes."
Harry nodded and tried to smile at Naomi when she looked over, but failed miserably. He made his way out of the room and down the hall to his own bedroom. He collapsed on his bed and reached over to his bedside table for his stuffed stag. As odd as it sounded, Harry'd always had the feeling some piece of his father had somehow been transferred into the toy. It gave him a comfort a normal stuffed animal didn't come close to giving him, regardless of the fact that when he was six, the stag was partially the reason Wormtail had been able to kidnap him. It didn't take long for Harry to fall asleep once the stag was close to his chest.
The final battle was in progress. Death Eaters greatly outnumbered the Order of the Phoenix members, Aurors, and what looked to be Hogwarts students. Harry was fighting harder than he ever had. Somewhere behind him, Sirius and Remus were doing the same, as were Ron, Hermione, and Ginny.
Suddenly, the battle sped up, and when it stopped, Harry could see friends and schoolmates either dead or badly injured. But the fight wasn't over yet. Feeling his spine turn to ice, Harry turned and saw Lord Voldemort walking towards him. Harry stood tall, not showing any fear of the dark wizard. He could feel his friends and family group behind him, and beside him, someone else stood—Harry couldn't make out who it was.
Something dropped into the teenager's pocket. His brow furrowed as his hand tried to decipher what the item was. The scene became blurred, and Harry seemed to be in a daze of some sort. All he knew was that whatever was in his pocket, he could use it on Voldemort. He walked forward, pulling the item out.
A bright light filled the area and horrible pain filled Harry's head. He was sure it would kill him if it went on any longer, but somehow he stayed alive.
After what seemed like hours, the pain ended, and Harry saw only black.
"Emmeline, you need to stay awake..." Ted was saying as the witch was halfway through a contraction about an hour before moonset. The Pepper-Up Potion she'd been given had worn off and the painkilling potions were taking over. Everything had been done to try to keep her energy level up—Sirius had tried telling her stories, which seemed to be the worst way to keep a person awake; Naomi engaged her in a conversation about what the twins would be like; and Moony had given her a playful swipe in the arm every time she started nodding off.
All attempts had failed. Emmeline was out cold, and Ted was ready to resort to magical means of helping a witch give birth. The spell was similar to the Imperius Curse, though it was more legal and didn't give the caster complete control over the person on whom it was being used. It allowed natural birth, which Ted preferred in terms of the Lupin twins, and was easier on the mother in the end.
"Unfortunately, I need verbal consent by the closest relative, which would be Remus," Ted said, looking at the werewolf.
"Would you settle for adopted brother-in-law?" Sirius asked.
Ted hesitated. "As a friend, absolutely, but as a Healer, I'm not legally allowed to take your consent, Sirius."
"Okay, we're going to play a game, then," Sirius said. "You like games, don't you, Teddy?"
The Healer looked suspicious. "Sure, Sirius."
"Remus is not Emmeline's husband. Naomi is not my wife. I am Emmeline's husband, and as such, I grant you verbal permission to use your spell on my wife."
Naomi rolled her eyes at Remus. He returned the favor.
Ted shook his head slightly. "I could lose my license for this..." he muttered. "All right, I'll accept that. But I have the silence of every single person in this room. Understood?"
Every person (and Remus) nodded.
"Anyone have the time?" Ted asked, looking around.
"Half hour till moonset," Naomi read from her watch.
Ted ran another test on Emmeline. He bit his lip as he looked at Remus. "I really hate to do this to you, but I can't have you in the room during your transformation. I know you won't transform until moonset, but I have to ask you to leave now. The minute you're transformed again, you can come back in."
Remus gave the equivalent of a sigh, licked his wife's cheek, and jumped off the bed. He went to the door and looked over his shoulder, waiting for Sirius to open it for him. Once the door was closed again, Ted glanced at Naomi.
"I'll need your help again," he said quietly. The witch put the book she'd been flipping through down on the table and went to the Healer's side. He glanced to the door, to Emmeline, and up at Naomi from his stool. "You know, this has to be the strangest birth I've ever been involved in, and that includes every single one of the Weasley children."
"Even the twins?" Naomi asked.
"Even the twins."
Moony was not happy, and Remus wasn't too pleased, either. His wife was just down the hall, and he should be allowed to be with her. Granted, if she'd been taken to St. Mungo's, he wouldn't have been with her nearly as long (or at all) as Ted had allowed. But as soon he transformed, he'd be with her again.
He did his best to relax, but the next thirty minutes seemed to drag on forever. At one point, he was standing in front of the clock on the mantle, growling at it because it was going so slow. He was anxious, more anxious than he could ever remember being for the end of the night to arrive. He hoped Ted was right and the twins being born on the full moon was only a coincidence. His nagging fear of his sons being werewolves had come back full force.
Stop it. They're going to be fine, he told himself as he paced the length of the library for the twentieth time. Worrying and stressing isn't going to get you out of this bloody room any sooner, Moony. Just relax.
The werewolf stopped pacing and took a few deep breaths, then shook himself. Who am I kidding? I can't relax right now... The one time I want to transform is the one time it takes longest.
Finally, he could see the moon beginning to set and the sun to rise. His whole body tensed and the transformation began. He lost all his strength and fell to the floor, howling in pain. After so long of going through this, he should have been used to the feeling of his bones breaking and his muscles tearing. Panting, he reminded himself how much worse it was before the Wolfsbane potion, and what was waiting for him once the transformation ended.
When it was finally over, his body was exhausted and protested heavily when he tried to stand. But he forced himself to stumble over to the desk where his clothes were folded. It took him a moment or two to button his jeans with his hands weak and shaking, and he didn't even bother with a shirt. He sprinted out of the library, skidded around the corner without slowing down, and threw open the bedroom door, startling Ted, Naomi, and Sirius.
"Welcome back, mate," Sirius said, standing from the chair beside Emmeline's bed so he could sit. "How're you feeling?"
"Fine," Remus said distantly, sinking into the chair. "How is she?"
Ted smiled. "She's doing very well. The spell is working perfectly, and very soon, we'll be ready to deliver your sons."
Remus was sure he was grinning like a total idiot, but found he didn't care too much. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Just sit back and wait," Ted said.
"Will she feel anything?" Naomi asked.
Ted shook his head. "Nothing, but that's mostly due to the painkilling potion I gave her before."
"I should go tell everybody it's almost time," Sirius said. "Moony, you want something to eat or drink? You're looking a bit peaky."
"When do I not look peaky?" Remus asked. "I could use some water..."
Sirius winked and left the room. Remus took his wife's hand. "Once the twins are out, will she wake up? I know she wouldn't want to miss more than she has to."
"It may take a little bit, but she will wake up," Ted said. "She will probably be weak for a while, and her magic will take some time to reenergize, but other than that, she will be perfectly fine."
Remus nodded distantly and lifted Emmeline's hand to his lips.
About half an hour later, Ted pulled up a chair at the end of Emmeline's bed. "All right, Naomi, Remus, it's time."
A little more than an hour after Sirius left, Naomi exited the room, finding the entire house had congregated in the hall. Fred and George had joined the group, as had Bill, Fleur, and Charlie. They all looked at her eagerly. "So who's ready to hear about the newest additions to the family?" she asked.
Regardless of the fact that most of them hadn't slept all night, the group cheered and Molly dabbed at her eyes.
"Can we see them?" Harry asked.
"Not yet," Naomi said. "Ted's checking their vitals, trying to wake Emmeline, and making sure Remus isn't going to pass out."
Sirius chuckled. "Eh, he'll be fine. He'll probably pass out from exhaustion in a few hours, once he makes sure his kids are as normal as they can be for being his kids."
Naomi rolled her eyes at him as the door opened behind her. "Okay, some of you can come in, but only a few at a time. Emmeline's just woken and she's still a bit groggy," Ted said.
"You three go," Molly said to Naomi, Sirius, and Harry. "The rest of us can wait."
Sirius entered first and found the new parents each holding a baby, both smiling widely. "Hey there," he said. "Care for some company?"
Emmeline looked up and smiled at him. "Sure, come on in," she said tiredly.
Naomi sat on Emmeline's other side, and Sirius and Harry went to stand beside Remus. "So who's who?" Naomi asked, looking at the small boys.
"This is Alexander James," Remus said, blinking hard and rocking the boy he was holding. "And that's John Garrett."
"Garrett?" Harry asked. "How'd you come up with that?"
"My father's name," Emmeline said, staring into her son's face.
"They're gorgeous," Sirius said, smiling just as wide as the Lupins. "Smaller than I'd expected."
"Ted said that's normal," Emmeline said dismissively. "They're both completely healthy, though."
Remus sighed happily. "They're perfect," he said quietly, letting Alexander take hold of his finger. "You want to hold one of your godsons, Padfoot?"
"Absolutely," the Auror said eagerly, pulling a chair up beside his best friend. Remus carefully handed his son over. "Looks like they'll have your hair, Moony." Each baby had a fine down of blondish-brown hair on his head. "And I don't see any hair anywhere else, so I think all your paranoia about them being werewolves just went out the window."
Remus did his best to glare through his smile.
"It should be interesting to see how Mira reacts to them," Harry said, gently taking hold of John's tiny foot. "She's used to getting all the attention."
"Eh, she'll be fine with them," Sirius said, running his long finger down Alexander's smooth cheek. "You were used to getting all the attention before she was born, and look how you turned out."
Remus and Naomi exchanged a look and laughed.
"What?" Sirius asked obliviously.
"You were the one having trouble adjusting to not getting all the attention after Harry was born," Naomi said.
Sirius rolled his eyes and looked back at his new godson.
"It's true," Remus said. "If you weren't holding Harry, you would do whatever it took to get attention. And that included blowing things up."
Emmeline chuckled. "Well, I don't think we'll have a problem with Mira blowing things up; she can't even pronounce Reducto yet."
Over the next few days, while the adults of Number Twelve fussed over the Lupin twins, Harry returned to Hogwarts and his ever-growing pile of homework. As requested by his friends (mostly Ginny and Hermione), he'd brought back a picture of the babies for them to see, which he now had on his bedside table with the other pictures of his family. Harry had never seen Remus so excited and exhausted at the same time; out of the whole weekend he'd spent at home, he'd only seen the new father sleep for about two hours total. The rest of his time was spent in the nursery, which the twins shared with Mira.
Emmeline had spent a lot of time sleeping, as if making up for what Remus wasn't; Ted had said it was normal, after the potions she'd taken and the adjustments her body had made. Sirius was in rare form, balancing his time between his own daughter and his new godsons. He'd already bought each of the boys a training broomstick, even though they wouldn't be able to use them for a few years.
Harry enjoyed seeing his family so happy. This was what life was supposed to feel like. They were supposed to be able to live happily, welcoming children into the family without having to worry about raising them in a world full of war and misery.
How is it possible to be incredibly happy one minute and thoroughly depressed the next? Harry asked himself as he made his way to Gryffindor Tower. And why do I always manage to pull it off?
He rolled his eyes and switched his mind over to Quidditch, the one thing he knew couldn't make him depressed. He was just going through some new plays he and Ron had come up with when voices in a supposedly empty classroom caught his attention. An eyebrow rose as he recognized one of the voices as being Snape; the other sounded a lot like Naomi...
"Look, I'm telling you, the only people who know what happened to him are in the Order," Naomi was saying angrily. "And unless you're trying to tell me that there's a spy in the Order—in which case, we need to go to Dumbledore—you're hallucinating."
Harry moved to peek through the cracked door. Snape looked angrier than Harry had ever seen him and was standing closer to Naomi than Sirius would approve of. "Don't think you're better than me, Watts, just because the Mark no longer burns on your arm. I know what I heard, and if I find out there was a leak of information—"
"You'll what? Now you're accusing me of leaking information? Funny, since what you're referring to would require me to have contact with Death Eaters, and you of all people should know that's not exactly possible anymore. I'm not exactly on the Dark Lord's most trusted list," Naomi replied in a tone that actually scared Harry. He wondered how it was that Snape wasn't running for his life.
"The Dark Lord is the last thing you need to worry about," Snape said softy.
Naomi raised an eyebrow. "Are you threatening me?" she asked mildly.
"If I am, are you going to send your little Auror husband after me, Watts?"
Naomi took a step forward, putting her face inches away from Snape's. "I don't need my husband to fight my battles, Severus, I can fight my own. Now, for the very last time, my name is not Watts anymore; it's Black. And I suggest you back off before something bad happens. I also recommend you go find a breath mint and a shower. If you ever threaten me again, you and I will have some very serious problems. Do you understand me?"
Snape gave her the death glare usually reserved for Sirius, Remus, and Harry. "I have a suggestion as well," he said coldly. "I suggest you straighten out your loyalties and realize who your true friends are. Furthermore, I suggest you keep your mouth shut about certain situations if you wish to see your daughter enter Hogwarts."
There were a few very tense moments where Harry thought Naomi would curse Snape into oblivion, but Naomi only glared harder, turned on her heel, and headed towards the door. Harry quickly crossed the hall and hid behind a suit of armor, which grunted as Harry squeezed in and looked over its shoulder at Naomi. The witch was marching quickly back to her private quarters, her robes swishing angrily behind her. Snape left a minute or so later, going in the opposite direction.
Once he was sure the coast was clear, Harry slid out from behind the suit of armor and quickly made his way back to Gryffindor Tower.
"But why would Snape want to threaten Naomi?" Hermione asked after hearing what went on between the two professors. "Snape was the one who got the Mark off her arm, right?"
Harry nodded. "It sounded like some sort of secret had been leaked. Naomi said something about the Order being the only ones who knew what happened to someone."
"Who?" Ron asked.
"No idea," Harry said with a shake of his head. "But whatever is going on between Snape and Naomi, once Sirius finds out, he's going to be pissed, and I wouldn't be surprised if there's a huge duel between Sirius and Snape."
Ron grinned. "I'd pay to see that."
"That's because you're twisted," Ginny said. "So there's a secret that only the Order knows about—that's not a surprise; I'm sure there're loads of things they know about that we don't. But like Hermione said, why would Snape threaten Naomi, and why would he think Naomi leaked information?"
The four Gryffindors looked at one another for long minutes before Harry turned his eyes to the common room fire. "Maybe Snape thinks Naomi's still loyal to Voldemort. He said something about Naomi needs to remember where her loyalties lie and who her friends are..."
Hermione hesitated. "You don't think Naomi might still be passing information to You-Know-Who?"
"No," Harry said promptly. "Absolutely not. She went through hell to get away from Voldemort—she nearly died trying to save Sirius, Remus, and Emmeline."
But some part of him wondered if maybe Hermione could possibly be right. Was Naomi still spying on the Order for Voldemort?
No way. Naomi never passed information to Voldemort in the first place. Why would she do it now, after everything she'd been through? Why am I questioning the loyalty of someone I've grown to love because of something Snape said?
"Naomi wouldn't do that," Harry said finally. "Right?"
His friends looked at him, but couldn't manage to give him any reassurance.
"Maybe we should talk about something else," Ron said finally. "Whatever's going on isn't our business."
Ginny raised an eyebrow at her brother. "Since when do you care about what's not your business? You've got to be the nosiest person I've ever met."
Hermione and Harry rolled their eyes at one another as the two Weasleys began to argue.
"What do you think, Mione?" Harry asked quietly.
The Head Girl sighed. "I really don't know, Harry. Naomi is a great person, and I don't want to think she would do something like Snape is suggesting, but this is a war. Anything's possible."
"Well, that's reassuring," Harry said, running a hand through his hair. "My godfather's wife may still be a Death Eater spy. Thanks."
"Not what I said," Hermione said patiently. "Snape's probably just overreacting again. We all know he's quite practiced in overreacting." Harry grinned and nodded, and Hermione chuckled. "I wouldn't worry about it, Harry. Maybe you should just go talk to Naomi, clear everything up."
Harry snorted. "Oh, that'll be a fun conversation. I can start out with 'Hey, Naomi. I heard you've been passing information to the wizard who killed my parents and your best friends. Could I have some tea?'"
"Has anyone told you you're too much like Sirius for anyone's good?"
"Once or twice," Harry said, shrugging. "All right. I'll go tomorrow after Herbology and talk to her. I've got a free period before Potions."
Ron and Ginny finally stopped arguing when one of them mentioned Quidditch, and the conversation switched over to Ron trying to convince Hermione that the sport was important. Harry tuned them out and started thinking about how to confront Naomi. He hadn't thought of Naomi as a Death Eater or traitor for over a year, and he felt guilty for thinking it now. Could it really be possible that Naomi was just acting, and her marriage to Sirius was for no other reason than to get information on the Order?
Harry shook his head. He was wrong—he had to be. If Naomi was lying to everyone, Sirius' heart would be broken. And not only Sirius, but Remus, Emmeline... Not to mention Mira.
Even as he lay in bed, staring at the canopy over his bed, Harry knew what he had to do. He had to know the truth, even if the truth would hurt his family.