CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: YOU'RE STILL HERE

Two days later (July 10th, 2009)

Harry and Hermione were seated next to each other, neither listening to the priest presiding over the service. Right in front of them was a casket that contained what was left of Hermione's father. She had finished crying long before, and instead now sat staring into space, listening to others faking tears all around her. Harry was much like her. He had his hands folded in his lap and was staring at them intently. Michelle was nowhere to be seen, and hadn't been seen since she walked out of St. Mungo's the night Sirius had died.

They were placed right by the Whomping Willow, where Sirius was to be laid to rest. All of his adventures with his friends had started there, and that was where Remus, Hermione, and Harry had deemed an appropriate place for his to end. Hermione glanced over to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where, to her amazement, a beautiful stag stood proudly watching the commencement. Hermione nudged Harry and watched as his jaw fell.

"Wow. How suiting." He smiled.

"Harry, do you feel right about this?"

Oh God, Harry thought, she knows I still love her. Why are we having this conversation now, of all times? "Feel right about what?"

"Dad. There's something not right about all this. We don't know how he died, and frankly, well, I don't get it." she said weakly.

Of course. I should have known she wasn't thinking about us. "Hermione, that's his body in the box. What don't you get?" he asked in amazement."

"This is going to sound way crazy and maybe I'm just demented with grief, but, I don't think that's him. I don't think he's dead."

"You're going straight home and going to bed. I don't care if I have to carry you to bed, I will." I lied. I do mind. Everybody has sex after funerals. Right?

"Ah, damn, I knew you wouldn't understand." she growled, shaking her head and turning away from him.

The service ended, and, choosing to skip the reception, Remus and Hermione walked to the Hogwarts gates and Apparated back to Remus's house, where a bizarre surprise awaited them in a bundle on the front doorstep.

Remus stood gaping at the small figure at his feet. Wanting to do anything but look at the shape, he turned to Hermione to see her white in the face and ogling at it, too.

Under the folds of the blankets lay a note addressed to Remus. It read:

Remus

Her name is Emily Thea Black. Sirius picked her name. He said he wanted her call name to be Emily Thea. She was born July 9th, at 8:38am, 20 in. long and 7 pounds, 7 ounces. Take care of her and raise her right. I don't want to. You're better for the job anyway.

Michelle

PS: The box is for Hermione. I found it in a bag Sirius had.

"Well, that was short, sweet, and to the point." Hermione remarked bluntly as she bent down to pick up the box that was underneath the baby Remus had just picked up. Inside the box was five letters addressed to her. One from each her mother, her father, James, Lily, and Remus. She'd read them later. Piled on top of the letters was a beautiful diamond and pink sapphire cross necklace. The note attached was from her dad, saying this was a cumulative gift from all five of the people that loved her most, given to her on the day she was born.

"She wants me to raise her baby. What was she thinking?" Remus struggled to form the words. He was in a state of total shock and disbelief.

"I say she's right. You're much better qualified to raise my sister than her mother is."

"Hermione."

"What? Remus, I'm telling you, for once in her life, she was right. Besides, I'm right here beside you, and you're gonna do fine."

"I've had hardly any experience. The only babies I really knew was you, Harry, and your kids. And now I have to raise her." He glanced down at the sleeping newborn and watched as she snuggled closer to his chest. As much as he was scared of the harmless little child in his arms, he could tell that he loved her almost as much as he loved the woman standing next to him. Her sister. He shook his head to clear it and handed the infant to Hermione. "I can't do this. She deserves better than me and anything I could ever give her."

Hermione looked up from the baby and into Remus's stormy gray eyes. "Remus, you can do this. She can't get any better than you. You are my father's last friend, and I doubt he'd want anyone else than the man he already entrusted the care of his oldest daughter to to raise his younger one. What do you think?"

"Hermione, I've got no supplies, not enough money to get any, barely a home. I've got nothing for her."

"Remus, Babe, you're wrong. You have everything in the world to give her. You can raise this baby. You can be there for her, you can teach her morals and help her grow. You can love her. That's all she really needs. And, face it, Moony, you need someone to take care of and love as much as she needs what you can give. You two need each other. I'll help you with the money, and the care. She's my sister, and now she'll be as much your daughter as she is Dad's."

Remus could only look at the lady standing across from him on the porch. She certainly was Sirius's daughter, always acting on whims and tumbling into things with blind faith that what she was doing was right. Whether he thought he could take care of a baby or not, she thought he could and had already made the decision for him. She was in the house and had seated herself on the couch, her baby sister in held safe in her arms. It was all Remus could do to follow her.

Remus sat next to Emily Thea, who was asleep in Remus's spare bedroom in her brand new crib. He and Hermione had already decided to have it painted later. Other than the fact that the walls weren't full of color, the place had been turned into a full blown baby nursery. There was stuffed toys stacked in one corner next to a soft rocking chair, a changing table with diapers and wipes stacked neatly on the shelf under it in another corner, and a toy box in the other corner. The crib occupied the last corner.

The baby slept every night clutching Remus's smallest finger, him rubbing her tiny curled hand. She had her first Healer's appointment in the morning, and to be frank, Remus was a little weary of anyone else touching his baby girl. She was growing quickly. She had a full head of platinum blonde hair and shocking blue eyes. She and her sister could not look any more different, but Hermione had stepped up and formed a close bond with her already. After all, the little baby that her goddaddy had fallen in love with was the only direct link to her dad Hermione had left.

Hermione crept up behind the man and baby and shocked the man when she laid her hands on his shoulders. "Why, Remus, you're glowing like a new mother!" Hermione exclaimed in a whisper when a smile from Remus greeted her. Remus laughed.

"I'm head-over-heals in love with this baby. I just can't believe I'm a father. She may not be biologically mine, but she's mine in every other aspect. I don't think I'll ever have any biological children, but oh well. I've got her."

You'll have biological children if a certain woman I know has anything to do with it, Hermione thought. "You've been a good dad, Remus. I'm proud of you, and I love you." She threw her arms around his neck and planted a big wet kiss on his scruffy cheek. He kissed her back. "I love you, too, Hermione," he said before wrestling her to the ground and tickling her breathless.

Remus sat cuddling little Emily Thea in a very brightly lit, white room. Hermione was silent and staring at her hands beside him. The Healer had just told them the news. Emily Thea was sick, and although it wasn't positively life-threatening, Remus and Hermione were both scared and out of the loop. Emily Thea had an aging disease, almost as if she had ingested an aging potion. The doctor said she should stop growing by the time she hit eleven weeks. The only trips were that her body would be eleven years old, and they weren't entirely sure that she'd stop growing at eleven. It could take longer, it could take less. They'd just have to wait it out.

Remus had been picky about his daughter all week. Hermione knew he was determined to not let her get any more sicknesses, and although she knew it was impossible for him to prevent her from ever getting sick again, especially when she started school in September, she didn't try to stop him. Hell, it wasn't like he could hurt anything. He'd kept her relatively clean, almost to the point of not letting her go outside to play in the dirt. Hermione had stepped in when he mentioned that, saying that a one-year-old child had to play in the dirt, and that he may as well institutionalize her now if he wasn't going to allow her to play. He caved, as he did most of the time when Hermione challenged him. Hermione had been staying with Remus and Emily Thea instead of at her dad's old place ever since Emily Thea arrived. Together, Hermione and Remus were tackling the day-to-day jobs of raising a child. Neither one had raised a child past the point of two, but Harry and Mrs. Weasley were available to coach them.

"Remus," Hermione spoke quietly from the kitchen to avoid waking Emily Thea. "What are you going to do when she realizes that kids have mothers, and that their sisters aren't their primary caretakers?"

Remus sighed. He'd been mulling over the same question since Hermione had asked him what he wanted Emily Thea to call him. He knew she'd been putting off this conversation for a while for his sake. They so far had Emily Thea calling Remus 'Papa' instead of 'Daddy', and had been pretending that Hermione was Remus's special friend, not her sister.

"We'll tell her when she discovers it. We'll tell her everything except that her mother abandoned her. We'll tell her you're her sister, I'm not really her father, and who her real father is."

"How long do you think it is before she finds out? We can't let her go to school thinking that, you know."

"Yeah, I know." Remus griped.