Disclaimer: Anything you recognise is not mine… anything new is a figment of my imagination. I'd also like to take the opportunity to state that this is meant to be a short, fast, story. I wrote it in a weekend, and like to think of it as something of a prelude to a bigger idea. Though what that is exactly, my muse has failed to inform me…
Updated: Friday 10 November 2006.
Chapter 2: And then there were three…
Madison and Sirius had been married in two separate ceremonies. Once, with the local parish chaplain where, for the benefit of Madison's Muggle friends, the marriage certificate read 'Mr & Mrs Patrick S. O'Ryan'; and then again privately, with Albus Dumbledore officiating the service and using their real names. The busy headmaster and Sirius' cousin, Andromeda, had reluctantly left shortly after the ceremony, but Sirius' oldest friend in the world, best man Remus Lupin, stayed on.
"Doesn't he just look the part of another little lost puppy," mused Madison, watching Remus stroll around the garden aimlessly from a window in her studio. Behind her, Sirius stood with his arms wrapped around her waist, his head resting on her right shoulder. Tilting her head to the right so as to rest her head against his, Madison sighed; "Do all you English boys look like that?"
"Nope, only us wizards," said Sirius lightly, though inwardly he was lamenting about the respective horrors said wizards had faced in order to look like that.
He needn't have elaborated any further, however, because Madison intuitively understood, the slight gesture of her hand reaching up to cup Sirius' cheek as he nuzzled her from behind conveying more than words alone ever could.
"I love you, Madison Black," said Sirius, his lips unable to stop grinning as his wife's name rolled off his tongue.
Madison growled playfully, but grinned at her new surname.
"I love you, husband mine," she returned, craning her neck to the side to meet him in a chaste kiss. Pulling back momentarily, she smirked and gestured her head towards the scene outside. "Even if you invited your best man along for the honeymoon."
Before Sirius could retort, Madison stole his lips in another kiss, which quickly deepened. Soon out of breath, standing close in each other's arms with their foreheads touching, the pair paused to take stock of their good fortune.
"You don't really mind Moony being here, do you?" said Sirius quietly, a slight fear flickering across his face at the thought of being inconsiderate towards his beloved's needs.
"Of course not!" said Madison firmly, stroking Sirius' cheeks with both hands before carding her fingers through his soft hair. Sparing a look out the window, to where Remus Lupin was oblivious to their presence, she smiled sadly. "He's the closest thing to a brother that you have left in this world, and he was all alone…" she turned back to face her husband. "We may not be able to have Harry here with us, but if giving Remus a refuge and being there for him is something we can do, then I'm not about to stand in the way. This is as much your home as it is mine, and besides, having Moony here will undoubtedly help us around the property when, in a couple of months, I won't be able to do as much…"
Concern filled Sirius' face and he inhaled sharply.
"What's the matter? Are you ill?" he asked hurriedly, hands simultaneously flying to her forehead to check her temperature and wrapping around her waist, to hold her up.
"Oh, no," said Madison nonchalantly. "Only in the mornings… but I suspect that will go away in a few weeks…"
Blinking rapidly, Sirius stared at his wife for a few moments, the wheels in his mind slowly turning into alignment. Spluttering a few nonsensical words until the revelation hit him with full force, Madison could only watch in eager anticipation as her husband's expression passed from concern, to confusion, to rapturous joy.
"You're… you're… pregnant?" he gasped, eyes wide. "H-h-how did that happen?"
Smiling wryly, Madison raised a brow suggestively.
"Are you asking for a demonstration, Mr Black?"
"N-n-no… I mean, hell yes," he had a hard time articulating himself as the implications settled in. "How… how far along…"
"About seven or so weeks," she said with a smile. "By Easter you're going to be a Daddy."
"Easter…" Sirius repeated dumbly, becoming a little overwhelmed at the prospect of finally having a little somebody to call his own. Looking deep into his wife's eyes, Sirius realised that no one could take this child from him… no one could tell him that this baby was 'better off' with an aunt or uncle, or that it was 'safer' to keep certain things from him. All at once, Sirius Black felt a stab of guilt for not knowing when, if ever, his godson could be told of this whole secret life he'd built for himself. Now, he was no longer simply omitting his location in letters and neglecting to mention who was providing him shelter; now he was faced with keeping the news of his wife and unborn child from the boy he was supposed to be raising, and Sirius didn't think he could do that.
"You want to tell him, don't you?" said Madison softly, reading his face as though it were a child's picture book with extremely large text. "It means so much to you – do it. I'm sure Dumbledore is only being over-cautious-"
Sirius sighed in frustration and ran a hand through his hair before lowering it to rest instinctively on his wife's belly.
"I can't," he said in a choked voice. "Any time up til now you might have been able to convince me, but now…" he rubbed the deceptively flat stomach in emphasis, "…now there's the little one to consider. I can't do anything that could possibly endanger you. I can't tell Harry and not bring him here – and yet to bring him here could lead him to us…"
"Oh Sirius," said Madison sadly, her heart feeling her husband's pain as surely as it were her own, for she too wished that this strong, resilient young man could be present in their lives and a brotherly influence to their unborn child. "He'll know in time, and he'll understand… and if he doesn't, I'll make sure he does. Memories in a Pensive can't lie, right?"
"Pensieve," Sirius corrected her, a warm look of adoration in his eyes. Dumbledore had, indeed, presented the newlyweds with their very own Pensieve as a wedding present. Through it, Sirius and Remus had been able to show Madison memories of their youth, and Dumbledore had begun to regularly send them vials of the silvery thought threads via his Phoenix, Fawkes, who periodically flashed into being with memories of Harry at school. While it frustrated Sirius that his godson did not quite know the extent by which his godfather thought of him and wanted to participate in his life, being able to witness pivotal moments of the boy's school years as though he was there firsthand was of some consolation. One day, Harry would find out everything, and when that day came, Sirius knew that the Boy-Who-Lived, with help of memories like these in the Pensieve, would be able to see just how much everybody cared for him. There was even a room for him at the lodge just waiting for him to arrive, just waiting for the threat to be over.
"Sirius… Sirius!" said Madison, calling the wandering mind of the Animagus back to attention. "I know you want Harry here, but don't you think there is another person already here who deserves to hear the good news?"
Sirius followed Madison's gaze out the window and soon sported a smile to rival hers.
"Moony," he said softly, then, realising that the man could not hear him from so far away, he flung the windows open and yelled at the top of his lungs. "MOONY!"
In the garden below, a bewildered werewolf looked up from his silent musings and squinted up at his friend, not quite able to discern the nature of the married man's urgency.
"Yes, Padfoot?" he called up quizzically, twenty years of friendship conditioning him to hardly bat an eyelid at his friend's exuberant enthusiasm; the dog Animagus known for getting riled up at the smallest things.
"I'M PREGNANT!" Sirius shouted back in unadulterated glee, meaning to both say that Madison was pregnant and that he was going to be a Daddy, but the exciting revelation getting mixed up in translation.
Remus raised a brow.
"Oh really?" he drawled, deciding to poke fun by taking Sirius at his words; "and how, pray tell, did that happen?"
Sirius was about to retort with a comment about his friend being in self-imposed celibacy for too long, that he'd forgotten about the birds and the bees, but Madison stopped him before words could come out of his opened mouth. Realising then, that he had just exclaimed that he was pregnant, Sirius shook his head at his friend's literal interpretation.
"Mad's pregnant, you daft git!" he called back to his friend, who was now steadily making his way up the exterior stairs that traversed up the side of the stables, headed towards the studio. "We're having a baby!"
"I know," said Remus quietly, a goofy smile on his face as he strode in through the open doors and embraced the expectant mother in congratulations.
"You knew?" Sirius was flabbergasted, and he looked from his best friend to his wife in mild betrayal. "Did you tell him before me?"
Remus burst out laughing and pulled his 'brother' into a hug.
"No, you daft git! You just told me!" said Remus, snorting derisively. "Or did you really think that I thought it was possible for a guy to get knocked up?"
Sirius cuffed his friend on the back of the head and growled unintelligibly. Remus retaliated in kind until Sirius transformed and started chasing the lithe lycan around the room. Leaning against the windowsill, lest she fall over with her laughter, Madison clapped a hand over her mouth in a vain attempt to curb her giggles.
"Good grief, why do I feel as though I am about to have three children, and not just one?" she said to no one in particular. "Thank heavens Harry, at least, can act his age…"
Phineas James Black was born several weeks premature, early that following March. He was named not for Sirius' great-great-grandfather, Phineas Nigellus, who was one of the least-favourite headmaster's in Hogwarts' history, but rather for the man's son, a great-great uncle who had been the first in the Black family to support Muggle rights. His middle name, James, both stood in recognition of Madison's maiden name, acknowledging her mother's precedent, and also as a homage to Sirius' lost friend.
In including 'James' in his son's name, the dog Animagus had wanted to pay equal homage to the surviving Marauder, but Remus would have nothing of it, declaring that to add anything to the baby's name would be 'adding names for the sake of adding names'. By way of compromise, the baby's Muggle birth certificate – one that was lodged to identify the infant as the son of Patrick S. O'Ryan and his wife, Madison O'Ryan – listed the child's name as Patrick John, the baby now officially sharing a middle name with his honorary uncle.
Accordingly, Madison's Muggle friends knew the baby as 'P.J', not quite realising that the moniker equally stood not only for Patrick John (as they had been told), but also for Phineas James and, in Marauding terms, Padfoot Junior. Privately, the adults had come to call the child Jamie, but whenever the boy did anything that was decidedly 'Sirius', he was proudly referred to as 'Junior', in much the same way as Harry had been called 'Pronglet'.
"The kid's going to have a identity crisis by the time he is two!" said Madison in exasperation as the said child crawled away from her at warp speed, ignoring her calls.
Across the room, Sirius slid off his chair and onto his hands and knees, where he began to chase his son in earnest.
"Relax, Mad," he said laughingly, as he trapped his squirming son between his taller arms and legs and, rolling the slippery nine-month-old onto his back, began to blow raspberries on his stomach. "Junior knows exactly what he's doing, don't you kiddo? You've been deliberately ignoring your mother, haven't you?"
Innocent blue eyes gazed up at his father's twinkling grey, a gummy smile revealing two deceptively sharp front teeth. Babbling happily at his father's attention, little Jamie Black was oblivious to the stern talking-to his father was attempting to deliver, the child laughing fearlessly; effortlessly turning his father to mush in the process.
"I think that's a yes," said Sirius solemnly, looking up at his wife in apology, the look of pure joy on his face betraying his tone. "We're going to have a little home wrecker on our hands, Mad… this kid's his father's son all right."
"I wouldn't settle for anything less," said Madison, grinning at how happy they all were. Changing the subject, she began to eye the clock; "how long until Remus gets back, do you think?"
Ever since the previous November, the two Marauders had been periodically coming and going between Australia and England, both keen to meet their respective responsibilities in both worlds. With the assistance of Portkeys from Dumbledore and a Time Turner one of their mutual contacts had filched from the Ministry, the pair were able to alternatively honour their commitments, seemingly without any time passing for Madison and little Jamie.
This arrangement worked well for Sirius, who had then been able to travel to and from Hogsmeade to check in on his godson during the Triwizard tournament without leaving his family unattended for days at a time. Between living the same day twice and the time differences, however, the lifestyle undeniably took its toll on Sirius – each day he lived twice was an extra day he'd physically age – but it was a small price to pay for having his cake and eating it too.
For Remus, this enabled him to return to his semblance of a life in the wizarding world, so as to do occasional reconnaissance work for Dumbledore and dissuade the suspicions of anyone who might have been watching him. On the nights of the full moon, Remus would Portkey to his cottage in England to transform away from the baby, Sirius by his side. Whilst for Remus, three days would pass away from the mother and child who were the closest thing to a sister and nephew to him, Sirius would use the Time Turner to be in both places at once.
"Last night was the final night of the full moon," said Sirius, recalling what he'd done that night the first time round. "I wound the Time Turner back at 2pm the next day, and it's…" he cast a glance at one of his watches, of which one ran on England time, "early morning there at the moment… so we can probably expect him back a little after midnight, give or take."
"I'll make sure to have his bed ready and a potion of that pain relief stuff on the cool," said Madison routinely. As it turned out, the ingredients for many potions could be found growing within the rainforest and, incidentally, Madison had been brewing derivatives of established magical potions for years, passing them off as most Muggles did as 'Natural Therapies'. Borrowing from the books of her husband and his friend, Madison had since familiarised herself with the art of actual potion making, and whilst the absence of magic rendered her brews less effective, it didn't stop her from preparing ingredients and having Sirius do the actual wand-stirring that infused each brew with magic.
Nodding absently, Sirius' eyes travelled to the Muggle plastic Christmas tree that they had erected several weeks earlier. Whilst they all agreed that a real pine would not survive the humid heat of the tropical wet season they were in the midst of, Madison drew the line at conjuring pixies to light the tree. It would have been too much effort, she explained, to remember to banish the magical decorations whenever one of her clients or friends turned up on the beach. For that same reason, all photos around the house were frozen to look Muggle, and images depicting magical attire or Quidditch were specifically confined to safely-hidden albums.
Following her husband's gaze, Madison anticipated his thoughts, the man still being as easy to read as the first day she'd met him, stumbling and stammering on her private beach over eighteen months earlier. After Jamie had been born, Sirius had made the determined vow to tell Harry of his wife and young son by Christmas, so that he could spend his child's first Christmas with their family as a whole. But then Voldemort had to come back, reinforcing the risk, and Sirius had been left feeling conflicted ever since.
"Tell him," said Madison firmly, latching onto her husband's arm – the one that was not securely holding their son on his hip as they stood regarding the colourful decorations. When he looked at her, his eyes filled with a certain pain - one that no matter how happy their son or she made him would never go away so long as Harry was apart from them - Madison shook her head sadly. "Don't let our son's first Christmas be marred with regrets. Don't let your fears for us stop you from filling that hole in your heart… he is winning right now-"
"I don't want to lose you," said Sirius brokenly, regaining his composure only when he paused to cuddle his son, the light weight of the child's small body reassuring him. "I'll never forgive myself if anything happened-"
"Nothing will happen," said Madison soothingly. "Voldemort may be able to find out we exist through Harry, but if we don't tell Harry about this place he'll never find us… and you said yourself that Grimmauld Place is impenetrable…"
"I can't do that," said Sirius sadly, turning to look at his wife pleadingly. "Once Harry knows about you he's going to ask where we've been all this time, and I can't bring myself to lie to him, or refuse to answer. It's the whole truth, or nothing at all…"
"That's a hardline to take, Sirius," said Madison, "but I understand."
Resting her head on his shoulder, she sighed.
"We'll figure something out."
That 'something' had been Remus' brainchild. The decision, then, to inform the entire Order of Madison and Jamie's existence had not been made lightly; but Sirius knew that if it would enable his wife and son the opportunity to meet other wizards – to meet Harry – then it was a small price to pay. Madison was right, after all… Grimmauld Place was impenetrably secure, and as long as they didn't tell anyone about their little slice of paradise, his family could be kept safe. To deter any unanswerable questions being asked, Sirius had taken to Remus' suggestion that his wife and son be introduced to non-Order members by their Muggle identities, Madison and P.J. O'Ryan. He felt rotten to disassociate himself from two of the most important people in his life, and he hated deceiving Harry by omission, but he could not help but acknowledge that this was the only compromise. He could only pray that, one day, Harry would understand why it had to be done.
Luckily, Jamie was at the trusting age, where he would be quite at ease in anyone's company. Any noticed preference the child exhibited towards either Sirius or Remus would only lend weight to the unspoken implication that Madison O'Ryan had come and gone from Order headquarters quite frequently during the term. Asides from the initial introduction, in which Madison had resigned herself to be pointed out to Harry in passing, along with a handful of unfamiliar Order members, it was hoped that the Boy-Who-Lived would conclude that she was simply another Order member. Whilst this invariably meant that Madison could not get too close to the boy she had come to look upon as a second son, both her and Sirius' attendance at meetings gave them the perfect excuse to call upon Harry to look after little P.J.
Of course, that would only work out if Harry wasn't too busy with his friends, and if one of them hadn't expressed more enthusiasm for the job first. The young family also had to hope (and pray) that their son didn't turn out to be an early talker… doing something incriminating like calling his father 'Da' in front of the oblivious teenagers. Telling Mrs Weasley the truth, and then expecting her to keep her overbearing opinions to herself was another variable they had to consider. That woman loved Harry like a son, and Sirius' concerns that she might not be able to see the reasons for their deceit from their point of view were not without their merit. Then there was the tiny matter of the wards at Grimmauld Place recognising Jamie as it's new heir, the knowledge passing on to both the house's incorrigible house elf and all the portraits.
"I don't think this is a good idea," blurted Sirius worriedly, as Madison dropped another bag at his feet to be shrunken for the journey. "There are so many things I am not going to be able to control…"
Madison snorted.
"Since when were you a control freak?" she said, shifting their son's weight on her hip before relenting and handing the squirming child to his father. "Stop procrastinating and put your 'controlling skills' to good use while I make sure we have everything."
"I mean it, Madison," said Sirius exasperatedly, stepping over the ignored bag to follow his wife down the hall to their son's nursery, which sat across from Harry's room and was decorated in airy pastels of blue and white. Staring at the monsoonal rain that bucketed down outside the window, the humid climate causing fissures of steam to rise up as the moisture hit the deck outside, Sirius was abstractly grateful for his wand and the Cooling Charms he and Remus had kept up throughout the house.
Pulling a few well-loved stuffed toys from their son's crib and stuffing them into an overnight bag before straightening and facing her husband, Madison took the time to school her face into a determined mask.
"Don't you dare," she said in a low voice, careful to keep her tone unthreatening, lest she spook the baby. Wagging her finger at her husband, she shook her head. "Don't you dare take this away from me… from you… from Jamie… from Harry," she said firmly. "We've gone over the bases a hundred times… we're going a few days before the Christmas break begins so that you can take us Christmas shopping in Diagon Alley, pull the portraits and such in line, and introduce us to the Order;" she paused to take a breath, "what are you so worried about? Even if that portrait of your mother and that house elf, Screecher, don't obey you, no one is going to be inclined to listen to their insane ramblings! Bloody hell, Sirius, your mother's been dead for a decade, don't let her ruin this!"
Taking a deep breath, Sirius crossed the room and pulled his wife and son into an embrace.
"You're right… as usual," he admitted, kissing each person in turn on the top of the head, causing the smaller of the two to giggle and tug at the ends of his hair, which was growing out again. Holding his son close, he tightened his grip around his wife's waist and sighed contently. "Whatever would I do without the two of you? No… don't answer that…"
"You spoil all my fun," said Madison pouting as she pecked Sirius on the lips.
"And you make sure I remember to have mine," said Sirius warmly. "Pretty good trade if you ask me… but oh, Mad? It's Kreacher…"
Realising that her husband was attempting to correct her again, Madison scowled and hit him in the side with the small bag that she had stuffed full of plush toys. Handing the bag to him simply because the image of him juggling a baby in one hand and bag in the other was so unavoidably endearing, she stole from the room purposefully.
"C'mon, you oaf," she called over her shoulder. "Portkey is set to go in a minute, Remus and Buckbeak are already waiting for us on the other end!"
END CHAPTERNext Chapter: 'Meeting Harry'
Due: Wednesday 22nd November