Chapter 8 – Hogwarts under Attack
Then came the day when Dumbledore's spy didn't tell him about a meeting. And precisely through that meeting an attack on Hogwarts was planned. Hogwarts had become such an important fortress of the Light that Voldemort decided he would be partaking in the attack himself and it was to take place on the last night of March.
"We'll have the rogue Dementors and three giants to our aid. I want every single Death Eater out there to join us in that attack. That would be 638 and if even one is missing I shall be very angry!"
Dumbledore's spy was finally able to tell him about the date of the attack a week before it was scheduled. That gave Dumbledore a week to summon the Order and give Richard Lupin an information to order Crouch to dispatch half of his available Aurors to Hogwarts. Dumbledore organised the students' security by relegating all of them into an area in the dungeons right in the centre of the castle, which the house-elves had prepared in the days before the attack. Right after dinner on the expected day of the battle all students were sent to this room except the sixth and seventh years, who were held back and asked if they were prepared to help defending the castle. Many of the Ravenclaws, some Slytherins, all of the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were at the front to help. All others were led down to join the other students and support the fifth year prefects.
Remus and Sirius wanted to fight, but Sirius was in his seventh month, so he was ordered to join Poppy Pomfrey and help at the hospital wing, and Remus would not be in the forefront of the battle either. But both would be coming out if a direct encounter with Voldemort was possible as their spells cast together were more powerful than anything Dumbledore himself had ever produced.
It was a tough fight. The intruders came by night and while it wasn't exactly difficult to come to the grounds of Hogwarts it was impossible for them to enter the castle, as the wards that centuries of headmasters and headmistresses and their helpers had set up held strong.
Not even the giants were any help. They didn't even get close to the castle, because knowing that there would be giants on the battlefield a group of Aurors had been stationed around the castle on brooms and covered with strong Disillusionment charms. They had nothing else to do at first but wait for the giants and eliminate them in any way possible long before the giants even got close. And that meant to kill them.
Nothing else to do still demanded an awful lot. The Aurors waited and feared their job. The giants had been sent out as the first line of attack. The Aurors used specially constructed brooms that sat four of them. This enabled three of them to cast and one to steer the broom. Spells cast together by several Aurors would bring the giants down much faster than a spell by one single person.
Voldemort expected the giants to get through and cause enough damage on the castle walls that the Dementors and Death Eaters might be able to get in after them. He himself arrived near the Shrieking Shack very shortly before the giants were supposed to start their destructive march onto Hogwarts. Since the Shack stood on a hill it was an excellent place to see over to the castle. He immediately noticed that the whole of Hogwarts and the grounds almost to the edge of the Forbidden Forest was flooded with magical light. A fact that made him swear quite creatively.
"Betrayed! Again! Who is the traitor? I will find you and if I do you are going to die a very slow and painful death! Where are the giants now? Does anything work out here?" Voldemort screamed and looked around some of the people around him.
They were all masked, so none of them was able to see the sheepish faces of the others. But underneath their masks each and every one of them was shocked and embarrassed and very, very worried. They all knew they had not passed on any secrets. All but one. Who was very glad for the mask right now.
The giants turned up on time and went through the forest, but to his horror Voldemort had to see that they started to flail their arms at something he couldn't see.
Of course the Aurors were there and started throwing curses at the giants in groups of three. It took at least five of them to take one of the giants down. They quickly assembled and attacked the giant in front, bringing him down with a collective Avada Kedavra. The giant broke down, falling back and hindering the man behind him, whose grunts rather sounded like yells in the ears of the Aurors, who attacked the next and finally the third giant. On their brooms they could react to every movement of the giants. Dumbledore's most important first line of defence had worked successfully.
"If Voldemort knows anything about the wards around Hogwarts he goes home with his Death Eaters now," Moody grunted to Remus.
"He should... but I doubt he will. He's that arrogant…"
They were waiting on the South Tower, out of the light, which had been charmed on the outside of the walls of Hogwarts on about thirty metres height. From there the light shone over the grounds on all sides and on all towers there were people waiting for the Death Eaters. Of course Voldemort knew now that they must be ready at Hogwarts. But he still tried by sending the Dementors ahead. At least two hundred of them slowly glided across the grounds from all sides. Dumbledore ordered everyone who was able to cast Patronus charms to send out theirs and a lot of them were charging at the Dementors. Remus quickly sent for Sirius, who came up to the South Tower within minutes.
"We need to cast a Patronus together, love!"
"With pleasure, my dear!"
Sirius and Remus went to the highest tower in the school, the Astronomy Tower to cast their Patronus. They didn't cry it out loud and they didn't need to hurry, as the Dementors were far enough away from them, they couldn't really feel them. The good thing was that they could still fight them at this distance. Remus said:
"What's your memory, love?"
"The moment, Vega landed on my belly," Sirius said without thinking.
Remus smiled and replied:
"And I was going to suggest the same - feeling Polaris on my skin just after he was born. On three then?"
They held each other by the hand.
"On three! One, two, three! Expecto Patronum!"
Remus had cast his Patronus at the same time and both watched as two giant animals broke from their wands, a huge silvery dog from Remus' and an equally huge wolf from Sirius' wand. Both animals charged down the tower, over the grounds and broke into the ranks of the Dementors, sending them packing, but the Death Eaters were able to turn them back to the castle again. New Patroni were sent from the castle, including another pair of the wolf and dog from the Astronomy Tower. This was repeated about three times, then Remus lost patience.
"Come along, Sirius, we go back to Dumbledore. I want to try out a theory of mine."
"Okay. Let's go."
They returned to the South Tower, where Remus said:
"Have the others continue to send Patronus charms, but let some come closer here, I want to see if it's true that the Dementors can be burned. I know that they are bred practically from decayed flesh, stabilised and mobilised, so it must be possible to destroy them. I want to try with fire."
"That's not a bad idea, we watch out and send them away again with more Patroni. It's good for us to be up here, they can't get into the castle and they can't climb, we're so far away that it's not too bad being around them."
"That's our advantage. Are the Slytherin students who are sympathetic under control?"
"Absolutely. The students are all locked in and the charms are set that they can only be reversed from the outside of the doors. In other words, even if the students know the counter charms they won't help them. Filius has done excellent work there."
"Very well."
Dumbledore called the other towers through two-way mirrors and informed them to keep throwing Patroni onto the Dementors. But there were none from his end. Several Dementors eagerly came closer and when they were only a few metres away from the castle walls Remus sent a common Incendio charm down at the first one. The Dementor's cloak took the fire and within moments the creature stood in flames. Moody and Sirius immediately attacked other Dementors with the same charm and saw that the result was good, because Remus' Dementor was already nothing but ash. Upon that Dumbledore gave order to let all the Dementors come close and finish them off this way.
On the other hill Voldemort was reaching the maximum of his rage. He fumed and ranted, but it didn't help him and when he finally heard Dumbledore's voice, amplified by the Sonorus charm he almost exploded in rage.
The voice was loud, but calm and gentle.
"Do give up, Tom. You know that you cannot get through here. Hogwarts will always remain to be a haven of learning and we do not take kindly to being attacked. Attack us and you might even be sorry, because you will lose. We are prepared to receive you and there is not a millimetre of this castle that is not protected against your entrance."
For a moment it seemed that the Light side would win because the evil Dark Lord was almost exploding. He jumped at the voice of his old teacher. He fumed even more and in his blind rage he sent out his Death Eaters to get into this castle or die at his hands. He only kept his inner circle back.
The Death Eaters were doomed. They had to attack, their master wanted it so, but even those who were able to cast decent Disillusionment charms didn't get very far. On the grounds were charms to counter these spells and the area was flooded in light. Dumbledore's order was clear:
"Do not kill them. Carefully choose your goals and stun them. Then bind them. Repeat until they are all stunned. I would like to isolate Voldemort."
There were far less people defending the castle than attacking Death Eaters, but they were organised and they had a good and able leader. Voldemort had assembled all of his terrorists and they had to openly attack the castle. The result was that the defenders could pick their objects and mow down one by one. The stunners came in such masses that the Death Eaters didn't have the time to enervate their comrades and so they all went down. Behind the main doors Aurors were ready to go out and summon the bound and stunned people and take them to the Great Hall. As soon as an area was quite clear they went to work, levitating the stunned Death Eaters inside, disarming them and binding them properly so they couldn't move anymore.
Sirius looked down from the tower and said:
"Let's see, if we can't get him out there. He probably still has his inner circle around himself. I'll taunt him for a bit if you let me, Albus."
"I am not sure that this is a really good tactic, but since his Death Eaters are now mostly out of the picture I think you can have some fun with Voldemort," Dumbledore said with a smile.
Sirius cast Sonorus on his throat and his deep voice boomed over the grounds:
"Voldemort! If you aren't a bloody coward show yourself and stand up for yourself!"
There was no reply. That pleased Sirius, because he went on:
"You can see that we got your Death Eaters and those we haven't got are disapparating faster than you can say attack! They must be even bigger cowards than you are!"
Still no reply but Voldemort was seething. And then Sirius hit the nerve:
"Your ability to lead an army is slightly less efficient than your ability to be cruel, Voldemort! Where are your legions now? They are very good at cowardly attacks on innocent and defenceless people, but it's a lot easier to torture and kill little children than it is to stand up to grown up and trained fighters, isn't it?"
This was the final straw. Voldemort cast the Sonorus himself and screeched:
"Who are you? Who dares to insult the Dark Lord like this?"
Sirius' eyes glinted. That was to his taste and he gladly told Voldemort off.
"Take three guesses, Voldie-dear. It's one who was asked to become your follower by his parents and who refused. Because I would never ever lower myself to your level, Tom Riddle. I rather enjoy my Muggle and Muggle-born friends, thank you very much! I rather like my half-breed mate and I'd kill you a dozen times over if you'd dare to endanger him. Besides you're a bloody hypocrite, or is there another reason that you aren't bragging about your daddy dearest? He was a Muggle after all, wasn't he?"
"BLACK! Oooooooh! Let me see you and shred you to pieces! Come out and duel me, you... you... I'll tear you up and even if you come with that Lupin creature, you'll lie dead at my feet in a minute!"
"You want us to duel you? Fine, Voldemort, we're there! In the grounds, in the open where everyone can see us! You'll not stand the point of a chance, so better beware!"
"Sirius! You're pregnant! Both of you! You can't go out there and duel him!" Dumbledore hissed.
Sirius took the Sonorus charm down.
"Yes, I think, we can. We give him a clear warning and either we succeed in killing him or he'll flee. I'm quite sure that once he's been at the end of our first two or three spells he'll get out of here. Besides, he's so angry now that he'll make mistakes."
"And that would be a nice headline in the Prophet, Albus. People would know that he's not invincible," Remus confirmed.
"He's thrown the gauntlet; I'm ready to throw mine down as well. We have to do it."
Dumbledore sighed.
"You are not only playing with your own life now. You are responsible for the two lives you carry and the two you've already created..." James cried.
"Exactly. And we're not ready to waste them. They give us extra strength. I'm quite sure this will not last long. We have some pretty good strategies. Like Remus can conjure slabs of stone to hold off his expected Avada Kedavra spells..."
"That's the only reason why I let you go out there," Dumbledore decided, "Because I've seen these slabs."
Sirius and Remus were let out of the main door. They walked to meet the Dark Lord, or should one say waddled? Sirius, as tall as he was, showed his pregnant belly prominently through the robes he wore and Remus, though almost two months less far, started to show very well, too. Neither tried to hide the fact, on the contrary they used it.
Voldemort was coming at them quickly. He thought he would finally eliminate two of the most annoying of his enemies, the two who did much of their damage with their wards and with their research. But he didn't know just how strong the two were in duelling. When he saw their obvious condition he started to taunt them:
"Oh, so you want to get rid of the things growing inside of you?"
"Shut up, Voldemort and get ready to die!" Sirius replied, rather annoyingly calm.
"You can't kill me, Black! No one can! Bow!"
"Will you? Rather get to the point, Voldemort. You know nothing about honour, because you haven't any."
About ten metres apart they stood. Remus kept to Sirius' left side, because they would cast their spells connected by their hands and used their connected hands to cast most of the spells wandless. They had no scruples for fighting Voldemort two against one, the man was simply too dangerous to the peace in the wizarding world to be let off the hook. If they could they would kill him tonight. Though they had prepared a few spells that were killing through other means than Avada Kedavra. Spells they had kept to themselves, but practiced with and without their wands.
As expected Voldemort immediately started casting the killing curse, but Remus steadfastly brought up slabs of granite to catch the spells, while Sirius used regular duelling spells from Expelliarmus to Stupefy, but gradually after a few minutes he threatened Voldemort with flying knives. Voldemort was hit by a swarm of them and of course they were so sharp they injured him quite badly.
Up on the tower there were cheers for Sirius and Remus and lots of people taunted and verbally attacked Voldemort to distract him. James and Peter were the rowdiest and threw some pretty ugly insults at the Dark Lord's head.
Sirius was just going to crown his work with an Incendio spell when Voldemort disapparated right from the grounds at Hogwarts. Dumbledore had quietly lifted the anti-apparition wards to give Remus and Sirius the opportunity to apparate into the castle if need should be.
Seeing their master disapparating, his remaining Death Eaters followed suit. Remus and Sirius looked around. They looked up to the South Tower and apparated there, then Dumbledore reset the anti-apparition wards immediately.
"Well done, you two. I would not have let you go alone, Sirius, but together with Remus you will be very hard to beat. And now he knows what to expect. Those flying knives were quite impressive," Dumbledore commented.
Inside of his mum's belly Harry had gotten all he needed to know. His heart became very light as he understood that he would not have to be the one to beat this monster.
"Haven't they done extremely well, Mum?" he asked quietly.
"Exceptionally, my love. Seeing that I'm not half as afraid anymore."
"We'll have to find the Horcruxes soon, Mum, possibly before he's killed, because then he'll be killed for good."
"We're working on them, love."
Several people had taken photos of the duel, which wasn't really a duel at all. Sirius was quite happy with his evening's work.
"Thank you, Professor! All that waiting and training paid off, don't you think? It was good to have a little something to do finally! Now I gladly return to my nursery and the library..."
Everyone around him hooted and roared with laughter.
"Voldemort driven off the battlefield by two pregnant men! Isn't that just THE biggest joke of the war?" someone shouted.
"And the thing even asked for them both! What an idiot he can be!"
"I really liked your taunt with his inability to lead troops in battle, Sirius! That was great!" Lily cried. Inside of her, Harry loudly agreed.
Harry had enjoyed the little duel immensely. He now knew that the honour of getting rid of the monster would now most certainly fall on Sirius and Remus. Both of them seemed to accept the duty, too, but not without their usual portion of humour. They didn't like that they would have to kill, Harry could feel that, but when he heard them talking after the event he learned that they were prepared to use those flying knives again – and not only in a training-like environment as tonight, but in a proper barrage of knives. It would be quick and even though it would be messy it would be inevitable. There would be so many of these knives Voldemort wouldn't be able to get out of them anymore.
All in all they were all very relieved. A full attack on the castle's defences had gone by and there was not a single scratch on anything or anyone. Voldemort had literally run against a wall. And what was worse he had left the battlefield ridiculed. All of his thugs were gone. None had gotten closer than a hundred metres before they were hit. He still fumed and raged when he met the poor remainder of his Death Eaters again. And he let them pay for it. All of the ones close to him were punished with heavy doses of Cruciatus.
Then Voldemort had them all turn up a few days later and served them stolen Veritaserum. He did find his traitor and he also thought he found his spy. The man was tortured with Cruciatus until he died. It took a long time, but finally after several hours his heart couldn't take the pain anymore and gave in. Voldemort burned him on the spot and whoever mentioned his name again in Voldemort's company was tortured, too.
The biggest damage was the loss of most of Voldemort's followers. Dumbledore was sorry to see the count. About half of the people were not British, but those who were had almost all passed Hogwarts, most of them former Slytherins, but there were only too many from the other houses. Dumbledore entered the Great Hall when the first of them started to recover from the stunners. All of them had been disarmed and all of them were still under a full body bind.
It took the Aurors all night to take the prisoners to Azkaban. There were only a few Dementors left in the fortress, but those were willing to stay there seeing the masses of fresh prey to feed on. The prisoners would be kept there until their cases were tried. For the Light side this was the most important battle in this war. With one strike they had taken out most of the Dark Lord's active followers. The Daily Prophet brought out a special edition with all of it and the front page featured the best picture of a prominently pregnant Sirius throwing the knives at Voldemort, who staggered backwards on the photo, unable to get away from the knives until he disapparated, bleeding heavily from the cuts.
A reporter showed up and interviewed Dumbledore and then Sirius and Remus. Pictures of the two and their two children turned up in the next edition of Witch Weekly. Sirius and Remus hardly ever lived down all the letters to the editors of the two publications that stated how cute the two of them looked feeding their children porridge at breakfast.
"Oh, stuff it already, people! I'm NOT cute!" Remus cried, frustrated.
But the fact that he had chosen the moment for his explosion to coincide with his changing Vega's nappy, didn't really help to make that point clear.
The Death Eaters were expected by most to lick their wounds and take some time to regroup, but Dumbledore suspected that Voldemort would probably strike somewhere smaller just to show to the public that he was still there. So Dumbledore stayed attentive. He planted an article through Dari in the Prophet in which he stated that everyone should remain very alert. Voldemort was wounded, but not deathly injured. He would have to show his grip on everyone by hitting somewhere and it would probably be somewhere unexpected.
And indeed he struck at a place where no one expected him to except for the Aurors and the Order. Though there were quite a lot of Aurors at each Quidditch match he chose to attack a game between the Ballycastle Bats and the Wimbourne Wasps. Both were extremely popular teams, so there were always masses of spectators. The Ministry didn't want to stop the Quidditch league, because they felt that people should live as normal as they could, even in times of war. But there were usually not more than three matches on one day, because for each match it took twenty Aurors. Strict anti-apparition wards were set onto the stadiums. People could apparate out at the end of the game, but no one could apparate in or out as long as the game took place. The wards were set up one day prior to a game. It was a rule that was applied on any regular Quidditch game to ensure that only people with valid tickets got into the stadiums. What wasn't advertised was that Portkeys, whether properly issued or illegally enchanted ones would be stopped as well.
The attack was launched in late April, on a beautiful day, because good weather would guarantee lots of spectators. The Wimbourne stadium was packed with several thousand people. As an added point of interest was the fact that the Bats would play for the league championship, so many fans came along with their team from Ireland. No one knew that there were several of Voldemort's remaining Death Eaters in the audience, waiting for a few 'bombs' to explode. The bombs were poisonous snakes, trained by Voldemort to attack humans. They were told to hang on to the Death Eaters and would be given a signal to sneak from their holders' arms into the pack of people around them. They were to bite as many people as they could to start a panic.
Since Dumbledore was out of the spy inside of the Death Eater ranks he didn't know where they would strike. He placed Order members in all public events, the Quidditch matches, too, where they supported the Aurors.
The match started on time at one in the afternoon. Everyone's focus was on the game when after half an hour the snakes were let loose. Small snakes could not do too much of a damage in terms of poisoning people, because they could bite two, maybe three people before their poison ran out, but they could easily cause a panic. Which set in only moments after people discovered the little beasts who had spent their poison quickly onto several victims.
With the anti-apparition and anti-Portkey wards still firmly in place people panicked and started to move to the exits. The snakes had been trampled to death after only a few minutes, but the panic was not to be stopped as easily. Children were falling off the balustrades. Some people pushed others out of the way who then fell down to the pitch. But when the stadium speaker finally spoke up he was able to stop everyone:
"STOP! STOP! Do NOT move, please! Everyone please stand still exactly where you are! It seems that a couple of small snakes have bitten some people, but please! They have spent their poison, please stand still, freeze, do not move, so not more damage can be done! Healers, please rush to aid those who need it! We will not lift the anti-apparition wards in order to find the people who let those snakes loose! Please, everyone, stay where you are and, if you can, return to your seats! Help those who are injured or give us signs where someone has been bitten..."
The stadium speaker was the hero of the day. He was able to halt the mass of people in movement, to get them to sit down again, so that everything could be sorted out. The game was interrupted, but the speaker announced that it would resume as soon as everyone injured or killed and their escorts were taken care of. All information the speaker got he passed on immediately. Not much later it became clear that the game could not be resumed, but the speaker promised that everyone would receive new tickets for the re-match.
"We have blocked all exits. No one can come in or go out uncontrolled. The Aurors are searching the stadium; please grant them access around your seating areas, thank you! Remember that we cannot let these attacks rule our lives; we have to move together and show them that they are not wanted! I know it is hard to trust, but today we all stick together and help each other!"
The speaker turned out to be a member of the Order of the Phoenix and he took the chance to stand up and say his piece about the Death Eaters. The Aurors took their time, but by working from one end through the oval stadium in both directions and meeting again at the other end they caught at least three of the people who were responsible for the attack. More had probably left the stadium on foot long before after setting lose their snakes.
Sirius read the Daily Prophet the next day:
"An attack at the Quidditch league championship match between the Wimbourne Wasps and the Ballycastle Bats yesterday led to sixteen dead and seventy-two injured. All injured people were out of the hospital by midnight.
A panic, caused by a few snakes let loose by Death Eaters almost led to a disaster. Thanks to Ed Simpson, the stadium's speaker, and his courageous coaching through the loudspeakers a worse outcome could be prevented. Simpson, a 46 years old wizard who acted as speaker for Quidditch matches since shortly after leaving Hogwarts and one of the best known savants of the British Quidditch league, held up the morale through his verbal coaching for hours on end. He was taken to recuperate from exhaustion after the stadium was finally cleared shortly before midnight.
It seems that the Death Eaters calculated that the stadium's responsible authorities to lift the anti-apparition wards to allow those people with apparition licenses to leave the stadium immediately. But the authorities, under the direction of the Aurors watching over the game, decided to stick to the wards and to block every exit or entrance to the site.
Three Death Eaters were captured. They were recognised by the Dark Mark tattoos they wear on their left forearms. It is unknown how many other Death Eaters were present and were able to get out but it seems that only three were on site.
The match will be repeated next Friday, 26th April at the same stadium. All ticket holders are free to use them again. Even damaged tickets are still valid, as long as they show the date or the pairing of the match."
Sirius put the paper down and looked up at Remus.
"So Albus was right as we thought he would be. He needed to set a mark..."
"Not altogether very successful though, don't you think?" Remus replied.
"No, but a mark nevertheless. Now he's probably going to sit back for a while and lick wounds. We've greatly reduced his forces for the moment. It will be harder to find more followers now. Especially since we ridiculed him," Sirius said.
"I think so, too. We have some time for you little ones! And your soon to be expected siblings. After which stars do we name the next batch?" Remus asked cheerfully.
The weather became a bit friendlier now, there was more sun, but it was still quite cold. Remus and Sirius took the children out to the grounds to play with them. They visited Hagrid in his cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. They read them stories and looked at picture books with them. And Sirius prepared for the birth.
Sirius was a bit more scared of this birth than before the first one. Now he knew what awaited him and he tried to get ready for it, but to already know the feeling frightened him. At least before the event took place.
The baby took some time, but was finally born on the sixth of May. Sirius felt the first waves of pain only slightly early in the afternoon. The contractions grew in intensity over the course of the afternoon and the intervals reached five minutes after dinner time. Remus had called Poppy over and Sirius dropped his final clothes, stayed on his bed and just let the waves of pain roll over his body. He was doing quite well, rather getting tired, but concentrated. From about eight until the baby was out he was really under a heavy dose of pain, and he screamed an awful lot. James had taken the two children over to his room, while Lily stayed with Remus and Sirius. Sirius worked hard, he pressed the baby out and finally, after eight hours little Alya was there, shrivelled and covered with the whitish fluid that had protected her skin in the water. Poppy first gave her to Sirius, who welcomed his second daughter in his arms. He had tears in his eyes, from the labour and the pain, but also because he was so moved that it was over and he held his healthy little baby daughter in his arms.
She was small and looked like a carbon copy of Remus. That was at least what Lily claimed to see. Inside of her Harry sent out his congratulations. His own birth came nearer and he was in a very cheerful mood.
The baby opened her eyes already, turned her little head around and thrilled Sirius to bits with that. He caressed her very gently with his big hands. Remus watched this and said:
"Thank you, love! She's quite a lovely little one."
"You've given me another daddy's little girl, love..." Sirius whispered.
"Happy?"
Sirius nodded. He let Remus caress the baby. Poppy spelled the navel clean and once the cord was gone she wrapped Alya in a baby blanket. Remus picked her up for the first time.
"Hello, my sweet little daughter! Welcome to the family, little one."
He held her so that she could look into his face for a moment, then he laid her against his chest. Remus beamed as he held his daughter. He felt the slight kicks of the baby in his belly at the same time and thought it was an incredible feeling. It made him smile. Lily watched the two men. She almost cried and thought it looked so sweet. Poppy quickly cleaned Sirius and the bed up. He sat up and stretched out his arms. Remus returned the little one to him. Both smiled at each other and Remus bent down to kiss his mate.
"Love you. And the little ones."
Sirius held him in place and returned the kiss.
"Feeling okay?" Remus asked softly.
Sirius nodded and turned back to Alya. She made a few little noises and he grinned.
"Yes, girl, speak up! How about filling that little belly of yours? Want a first taste of your food for the next couple of months? It's tasty, you'll see!"
Sirius guided the little mouth over the nipple and Alya didn't need telling twice. Her reflexes in place she snapped the nipple and started to suckle. Sirius snapped, too, but for air.
"Wow, lady! You're knocking the wind out of me! Take care of your old man, will you? That's better now..."
Alya struggled a little at first, but she got enough into her belly to satisfy her for a while. By the time she had finished she was almost asleep, but the food in her belly helped her stay awake for another little while. Poppy took her to check her up with a few spells.
"She's perfectly fine, Sirius. Congratulations. You've done a fine job, too!"
"Thanks, Poppy."
Remus took Alya back up and went to get her dressed. She was completely dry now and while there were still a few red spots all over her she looked rosy and healthy. Remus un-wrapped the blanket. He gently washed her with a soft cloth, then he got her dressed. Her crib had been set up in the bedroom, so he brought her back to the bedroom and put her down into the crib. He turned around and Lily stood there, giving him a great hug. He grinned.
"Both of us pregnant... makes for funny hugs!"
He patted her bulging belly. She still had to wait for a good three months and his own baby was still almost two months away.
"Let's fill the announcement and send them off," Remus said.
"Yes, let's go."
They left Sirius back to recover and take a nap. Alya slept as well, so Lily and Remus returned to the living room where Remus filled one parch-card and spell-copied the others. The envelopes had been prepared beforehand and all the cards were inserted. He only needed to pick them up and take them up to the owlery. While he did that Lily informed the headmaster. She gave the password to the gargoyle, climbed the moving staircase and, reaching the oak door, knocked.
"Come in!" Dumbledore called.
Lily opened the door and her smiling face promised good news.
"Hello, Lily. What can I do for you?"
"Sirius has just given birth, Albus."
"Oh, lovely! Is he well?"
"Yes, very well. He has another girl. Her name is Alya. She's a cutie and perfectly fine according to Poppy. Both are asleep now."
"I shall see them tomorrow then. Remus is happy, too, I would think?"
"Beams! He's just gone up to the owlery to send the birth announcements. Even with the baby in his belly he's had that spring in his walk... he's looking great right now."
"That he does. After that confrontation with Voldemort and now with a newly born baby daughter I would expect him to be quite happy. It is good for him to become so self-confident. He needs to think more of himself. And how are you feeling?"
"Oh, I'm fine. It's still a couple of months, but James can't wait now! I think I have a bit more patience."
Remus had meanwhile reached the owlery and sent off a couple of birth announcements. He returned to Sirius quickly and found his mate fast asleep. Remus undressed, threw a last glance into Alya's crib and climbed into the bed next to Sirius. Sirius snuggled up to him in his sleep. Remus smiled as he pulled his husband close and slept right away.
They had the usual round of people congratulating them the next day. Peter and Sabina had taken the day off to come and see the newly born girl and the baby's two godmothers Dari and Hope turned up as well. Sirius was back into nursing and this time it was already known territory, so he didn't mind the visitors who streamed into their place at Hogwarts. Remus was happy to have another daughter. Actually he was just happy to have another child.
It was a bit of work to get settled into their new life with now three children. Sirius was off the hook for some of the work because he was already nursing Alya, who proved to be a hungry little one and was quite demanding. Vega and Polaris were curious, but they didn't really understand that they now had a younger sister. Remus played with them as much as he could, always trying to avoid making wrong movements with the baby still in his belly.
His time came just before the June full moon. He had hoped that the full moon would pass before the baby was born, but it was not to be. In the middle of the night on the twenty-seventh he went into labour and it lasted well into the next day until the baby was born. It was another boy and everyone around grinned; as Sirius had now borne two girls and Remus two boys. They named the new little one Antares. Remus had hardly time to recover from the birth, when Sirius helped him to the Shrieking Shack, because they didn't know if Remus would transform that night but had to think he would. And he did. But Moony was very subdued that night and Padfoot didn't have a hard time nudging Moony on the bed. They stayed there for most of the thankfully short night.
Still, giving birth and transforming twice, all within twenty-four hours was a bit much for Remus, he was out of it for most of the day and the next night. Sirius took it onto himself to nurse not only Alya, but also Antares. But the second feeding he propped Remus up a bit and helped Antares feed from his other papa, just to get the lactation going. It was a bit of a hard job, but he managed to do it. Poppy was by his side, helping him. She had assured Sirius that Remus was fine, just over-exhausted and that he needed some rest. By the next morning Remus was awake again and hungry like a wolf. Sirius beamed at him and sent for his breakfast, then he brought Antares to him and made him nurse the baby.
"There isn't much in there, I'm afraid, love," Remus said to his suckling son, "but I promise a better cuisine very soon."
"He'll take what's there and wake you up an hour before his time..." Sirius prophesised.
"Takes no skills in Divination to guess that," Remus replied.
They were both extremely happy. They had made it that far, Remus had survived the birth and the subsequent transformation, everything was just fine at that moment.
But there was a surprise in store for them later in the day. They had both installed themselves and the babies as well as their toddlers in their living room when there was a knock on the door. Sirius opened it and in strolled a haggard looking Snape.
"What are YOU doing here?" Sirius sneered.
"Dumbledore told me to come here, how should I have known I'd find YOU here?" Snape replied, a bit too loud, because he woke not only Antares, but Alya, Vega and Polaris, too.
"Oh, great, now look what you've done, you idiot?" Sirius swore.
Snape looked around, rather bedraggled, and pointed at the children.
"What's that supposed to be? A bloody nursery? I thought you were doing research here..."
"For your information, we ARE doing research here. They're our children though. And if you can't behave in here then march straight back out. We don't need any Death Eaters around our children," Sirius seethed, door still open in his hand.
"I sent him to see you, Sirius, because you will work together on some levels. Severus has come to see me today. May I come in and meet the new Mr. Black?"
"Hello Albus! Yes, of course, please come in. He's crying over there, Severus just woke them all up. We need to get them back to sleep."
It wasn't quite so easy to soothe four tiny children back to sleep at the same time. Remus picked up Antares and Sirius lifted Alya on his arms and both sat down and let them suckle for a while, which put them back to sleep nicely. Then they stood up and took the babies over to their bedroom, where they could lay them into their cribs. Then they returned to the sitting room to take care of Vega and Polaris, who were both still quite upset. Both took hold of one of the children, taking their time and not caring whether the headmaster wasted time waiting for them or not.
"You'll have to pardon us, headmaster, but the children do come first," Remus apologised.
"That is quite alright, Remus. Do take your time."
Remus calmed Vega down, put her head on his shoulder and rocked her gently. Sirius mirrored his actions with his son. He threw a worried glance at his mate and asked him:
"Are you okay, Remus? Not tired?"
"I'm fine, love."
"Good. - So, what's all this about?"
"Voldemort has ordered Severus to come and ask for a position on the Hogwarts staff. He thinks he needs a spy in our ranks, and he was convinced it would be a good idea to have someone here who is sly enough to find out what we might be up to. Severus has offered because it is known that I am out of a Potions Master since the end of the school year. I have, of course, given him the position. For one, he is excellent at potions, for two, Severus has come straight to me to tell me he would like to work for us and help us defeating Lord Voldemort. That obviously means you will see each other here at Hogwarts and I want you to be civil with each other. You will also work together at some levels. Severus, if you need to report something you come either to me or you go straight to Remus and Sirius, if I should not be available. Is that understood?"
"Yes, headmaster," Snape said, but it was clear that he wasn't pleased with the prospect of having to report to those two.
"Good. I trust you three can behave like adults and leave each other alone?"
"We are busy enough with the research and our little ones, we will certainly not waste time with schoolboy amusements," Sirius promised.
"That is what I wanted to hear from you, Sirius, thank you."
Snape still looked at the little ones. He took in the changed appearance of both, Remus and Sirius and was rather bewildered. At the last confrontation between Voldemort and the pair of them he had remained in the circle of the other Death Eaters of the inner circle as he had been told to do and his back had been to the area where they fought, so he had not seen them then. Now he noticed that both of them had fairly prominent female breasts hidden under their robes.
"What's the meaning of that?" he asked, pointing at the children.
"That, I am afraid, is my fault, Severus. But I can't give you the details unless Remus is comfortable with me giving away his secret to you..."
Remus looked at Dumbledore angrily, but gave in.
"Only if you memory-charm him if he gets aggressive..." he whispered.
"Granted. Remus has been bitten by a werewolf when he was but a small child, Severus."
"What? And you let him into the school? Werewolves are monsters!" Snape said.
"If Remus is a monster, then I'm a giant," Sirius spat, "he's certainly less of a monster than all of you Death Eaters. At least he hasn't ever killed anyone."
"As you know Remus is a very gifted wizard, Severus. That is why we have allowed him the education that is self-understanding for every wizard and witch. It was far from self-understanding to Remus. And he has not disappointed us. I know that Tom Riddle has the greatest of respect and seethes about the wards Remus has set up left and right. You probably know that as well. Now the reason for them to be able to procreate is that werewolves can mate for life after all. It does take a while, but Remus and Sirius underwent the rituals. One consequence is that the body of a mated werewolf, if male, develops all female reproductive organs. The werewolf becomes a fully functional hermaphrodite. Since in our case we have two males who were mated the effect showed in Sirius as well. The mating boosted a lot of magical power in them. You might remember an incident in Hogsmeade when you were disarmed and not only you, but about a dozen other people found their wands gone and themselves on the ground, too. That was the effect of them casting a spell together. A very powerful combination. The mating only works when both partners who wish to bond for life are virgins."
"So they could get... pregnant?" Snape asked, baffled.
"Yes, they could, and they did, because I did not tell them of the possibility. It did take a year for their bodies to have undergone that internal change. Once they were pregnant for the first time, some time in February or March before the end of their seventh year, their power was boosted a further step. I can safely say that if these two here cast a spell together, with their bodies connected in some way they are probably casting the most powerful magic possible in these days."
"Are you telling me that these two are capable of killing the Dark Lord?"
"I am. Did you see Lord Voldemort after his confrontation with them?"
"Only a few days later."
"Then you did not see the wounds they cast on him. Among other things they sent a hailstorm worth of sharpest knives at him and he caught a fair few of them. The beauty of the spell is that they can, once they have it down completely, send a whole line of such knives, so that no matter to where the victim tries to jump they will be hit. They will even be able to make those flying knives follow their victim. For this time Lord Voldemort was only hit by the knives Sirius threw at him, but if they get a chance to ever do the same and cast the spell together... then I expect that this will be the end of your Dark Lord. He is not yet far enough to have conquered death and I do not intend to let it come quite that far. I am sure you will agree with me."
"Yes, I think, I do," Severus admitted.
"Good. Are you ready to see your quarters now? I do expect they have been prepared by now."
"Thank you, sir."
Dumbledore took Snape along and Sirius and Remus looked at each other with their mouths slightly hanging open. Remus pushed his jaw back up with his hand and said:
"Well, there's a surprise."
At lunch they met Lily who came over to share it with them, and they informed her about the new Potions teacher.
"Oh dear! Imagine our children having school with him! He'll be SO mean to them."
Harry, who hadn't told her about Snape yet, confirmed that.
"He'll be a killer! I really hope that by the time they come to Hogwarts he'll be out of the picture. But he really seems to want to help Dumbledore. I don't think, Dumbledore would trust him if that wasn't the case," Remus said.
"You know, if it was Voldemort himself who planted Snape here, and Snape acts as a double agent for our benefit, then we could use that one day. We need to give them time to gain trust on both sides. I have a few ideas!" Lily said.
"Like?"
"Well, there are the meetings. It's going to be too obvious if we get information about attacks from Snape and thwart them. That would put him into a very awkward position. But if Snape can use excuses during term for not going to meetings we could send Peter again and then thwart attacks. That would make Voldemort suspect anyone but Severus, because Severus wasn't there and wouldn't know details straight away, would he?"
"Brilliant! No wonder you're so good at chess. Let's suggest this at the next Order meeting!" Sirius exclaimed.
They did just that. The next meeting was just a week away, so they had a chance to bring this up. They arrived on the spot in time and when Dumbledore entered, he brought Snape with him. Most people started to murmur and were outraged, but Dumbledore asked them to be quiet for a moment and listen to him:
"This young man has become a Death Eater something over a year ago. But half a year into serving Lord Voldemort has taught him that this is not what he wants. You all know that it is a very difficult thing to get away from the Death Eaters and to our knowledge no one has been able to do it so far. Voldemort enslaves his servants. Instead of trying to get away fully, Severus has given his master the idea to plant him as a spy at Hogwarts. He had heard about the opening for a Potions teacher and came to me, to ask if I would entrust him with the position. He told me that Voldemort wanted to use him as a spy right in the middle of our safe haven. And he offered to act as a double agent in our favour. I now give him some classified information to take to Voldemort. Nothing really dangerous, but he needs to bring some things to his master, so Voldemort won't suspect he has changed the sides. I now want to ask you to accept Severus as a member of the Order of the Phoenix. I have full trust in him and believe him. He has already given me some valuable information and will continue to do so as he is in Voldemort's inner circle already at his young age."
There was a vote against trusting a Death Eater from two members, but then Sirius stood up and said:
"I agree with you, Albus. We should accept him."
All other Marauders supported that vote and since everyone knew how much the four of them despised the 'greasy git' they also knew that if the Marauders accepted Snape into the Order he should be all right. Snape was almost dizzy when he heard his arch-enemies from his school days speak up for him. He received a place at the table and then Dumbledore opened the meeting.
Snape blinked. No initiation or anything? He looked puzzled and quietly asked Peter, who sat next to him.
"No. You are free to leave anytime. You do this here out of your own free will," Peter said quietly.
"Oh."
"Your master won't know and won't see anything that will give away that you are a member."
"That's good then," Snape said and put his right hand over the Dark Mark on his left wrist.
Dumbledore outlined the development of the situation since the last meeting, several members reported their latest missions and then Dumbledore asked:
"Very well. It has been a bit quiet in the past two months. He has made himself known at the Quidditch game, but otherwise we know not what Lord Voldemort is up to. But nothing has happened anywhere and there is the danger that people get lulled by the inactivity. Severus tells me that he desperately tries to regroup and is now recruiting new Death Eaters. We have taken over six hundred out of his service, so it will certainly take a while until he has regrouped and he will have a harder time finding such people as he is looking for. I do not think that the pureblood families who are his prime target for recruits can replenish their ranks that fast. And he would have to wait a considerable amount of time for the new soldiers to grow up, would he not?"
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled and there was laughter in the room.
"Now then. That gives us a little time for our own schemes. Now that we have the upper hand I would like to work out some trap or something, because he remains to be a great danger to many lives and we need to have him eliminated. I would not normally claim a life, but this is a life that must be exterminated. Does anyone have an idea to contribute?"
Lily stood up.
"I think we should give Voldemort time to trust that Severus really spies for him. I would not suggest feeding all too wrong information; that would certainly make Voldemort very suspicious. And finally I have thought about this and thought it might be good to take all suspicion away from Severus and try to find out if there could be reasons for him to stay away from some meetings. To which we would send Peter instead of Severus."
Snape snorted.
"You actually think you could send Pettigrew under my robes and mask? He'd be found out in seconds flat."
The Marauders, Lily and Sabina all grinned.
"No, of course not, Severus. But every time you 'can't' go to a meeting - you're held up as a teacher of this school after all, and you can't get out without being missed, at least not too often, because that would really cause suspicion, well, to such meetings, Peter would go. He has a perfect disguise, rest assured of that, because he's been to dozens of your meetings already..."
Snape's eyes grew wide. Then he counted two and two together:
"The Dark Lord tortured Woodward to death with Cruciatus because he thought he was the traitor! So he wasn't? How did Pettigrew know where to go?"
"Mr. Woodward was not really a spy. But he supplied me with the dates and locations of your meetings and Peter went to pick up what he could. Mostly we have received a full account, because all he needed to do was place his memories into my Pensieve, Severus. Now, I am telling you this only because I know that you are a very skilled Occlumens, and you will certainly be able to keep that particular information away from your master."
Dumbledore turned to Lily, who had taken her seat again.
"If it is at all practicable I think you have just had a wonderful idea, Lily. We absolutely need to protect Severus from harm. Not only because of his value to us as an informant, but definitely because he is in a very dangerous position and trying to turn his back to evil. That alone obligates us to do our utmost for his protection. Severus, do you think, you will get your master to be a bit pliable about your attendance at meetings? It would take suspicion away from you. So far Voldemort has no idea that we have a spy far outside of his ranks who nevertheless is in a position to be there. We will not tell you how Peter can do that for his own protection."
"I don't know, sir, but I will have to report back if I have been accepted to the position in the next days. I'm waiting for the call as it is and then I can discuss the terms with him. Usually he is not pliable at all. So far I have mostly been asked to brew potions for him. And since he was satisfied with them I do think I am quite in his favour. But these potions are almost all very deadly poisons, which he uses on those Ministry people in the most cases. Usually they just vanish after having been exposed to those poisons. I cannot guarantee that I can fail them all in future. I can make some antidotes and play them into the hands of possible victims, but not all of them or he would be suspecting me in an instant."
There were gasps in the room. Some people started to protest again, to Snape's surprise two of them were former Slytherins, among them one Andromeda Black.
"I understand that, Severus. As terrible as it is, if he asks you to brew such potions you will have to oblige. I am sure we still will lose lives, but I am certain that we can prevent a few of them. Very well. I shall await your information when you come back."
Nothing else needed to be discussed. While the people started to leave the room, Severus looked at them and noticed that the Order of the Phoenix was a very mixed society. Men, women, old, young, members from all four houses, some from the lower segment of the wizarding population as well as nobility. There were Aurors, professionals of all sorts and several house-wives. But he had heard a few reports from several of them and had quickly gathered that they all knew what they were talking about. Some people were so old he thought they had probably already taken a great part in the war against Grindelwald. He left to find his quarters near his classroom in the dungeons. Since there were no students in the castle, the Order members casually streamed through it to the main Entrance Hall, something they certainly wouldn't do when school was in session.
It was the beginning of July and the students had only just left. A week after his first meeting with the Order Severus was called to Voldemort. He apparated there and noticed they were completely alone. The high pitched voice of his master told him to get up. Snape obliged and saw himself opposite the man he would hate for the rest of his life.
"Master, I come to you as your loyal servant."
"Very well, Severus. What do you have to report?"
"I have been accepted as the new Potions teacher of Hogwarts."
"That is excellent, Severus. And did you gain the trust of the old fool?"
"Yes, master. I thought it would be a good idea to even offer to spy for him to gain his trust."
"That is brilliant. Did he accept?"
"Not at once. That's why I was glad you didn't call me right away."
"I thought it would take a while. After all there are the school governors to be convinced of the choice of teacher... so you have already taken residence at Hogwarts?"
"Yes."
"Did he entrust you with the knowledge about the wards?"
"Alas, no, master, only he himself and the deputy headmistress know about the wards. They are not allowed to pass the knowledge on to anyone else, not even the school governors."
That was a lie and immediately Snape felt Voldemort prying into his head. He had to use all of his strength to cover the lie up.
"What else have you found out?"
"There is a secret organisation, Master, which they call the Order of the Phoenix..."
"I know about that! That's very old news already; Dumbledore started this ridiculous thing back when he fought Grindelwald. Anything else?"
"Black and Lupin are part of this Order."
"Could have known that..." Voldemort hissed.
"Yes, I admit it was quite obvious."
"Will your work as a teacher leave you time to continue brewing potions for me?" Voldemort asked.
"Yes, I think so. Potions that will take more time will have to be done over the weekends, but quick potions I can make any time. I might not be able to come to all the meetings though, because I might be missed. Not only by Dumbledore, but especially by McGonagall, who is responsible for the staff as she's the deputy headmistress. And she won't take well to a teacher being absent all the time."
"Yes, that is clear. You will try to make it as often as you can and I will summon you on weekends only."
"That will be best. Can we say you can call me on either Saturday afternoon or Sunday evenings? To bring you the potions I've made or to take your orders..."
"Can you add Friday evenings?"
"Yes, Master."
"Very well, that will be all for the moment. If you are absent from a meeting I know that you have not been able to get away, but I do expect you as often as you can. At least once or twice a month."
"Yes, Master."
"Very well, Severus. I will need you to make these four potions, soonest. You can go now."
"Yes, Master."
Severus took the parchments with the potions and threw himself to the ground as was asked from a servant of the Dark Lord and as soon as Voldemort had left he got up and returned to Hogwarts. He reported back to Dumbledore. He then proceeded to do the same as Peter usually did, to not forget anything he placed the memory of his encounter with Voldemort into a Pensieve. They looked at it together and Dumbledore nodded.
"Do you mind if we show this to everyone in the Order at the next meeting?"
"I do, actually, but I suppose it has to be..."
"It would prove to them that you have done your best," Dumbledore said softly.
"Okay. Then let them see."
"Very well. Thank you. Severus. I trust you have made yourself comfortable in your quarters?"
"Yes, I have, thank you, sir."
"Wonderful. Now I won't hold you up, I think you have some potions to brew."
"Unfortunately," Snape sighed and left the headmaster's office.
On the last day of July Lily finally went into labour. She sent Sirius out to go and find James. Sirius had to go quite far to achieve that and finally caught up with James on the south coast, where he was observing a suspect Death Eater of the inner circle. From the Auror headquarters Sirius brought a replacement, so that James could leave.
"Hey mate!" Sirius whispered behind James, who jumped half a metre into the air.
"Padfoot! What are you doing here, you prat?"
"I'm bringing your replacement, because you're on duty somewhere else today. Lily needs you; she's gone into labour three hours ago. Remus is still with her. Moody lets you off the hook for three days."
"Yay! Hey, Kingsley! Thanks for replacing me!"
"That's very well, James. I know the feeling! Good luck to your old lady!"
"I'll tell her! Everything here's been quiet so far; I only got here about an hour ago. I'm off then!"
Sirius and James apparated to Hogsmeade and rode the two brooms Sirius had taken along up to the castle. In no time they reached Lily and James' rooms, where Lily was working through the contractions with Remus' help. He and Sirius did most of the support in the next hours; James had declared that since they knew how it felt they would have to know best how to help. He was happy to run around and do errands for them. But they ordered him next to his wife when the baby finally came. A tuft of jet-black hair announced the arrival of little Harry James Potter, an adorable baby boy. As soon as she held her son on her arms, Lily felt revived and was happy when Remus helped him to find the nipple and suckle his first meal. James was completely taken with his son and seemed to only consist of a smile.
"Wow, what a feeling to finally meet you, Harry," he whispered. "Your mum could at least feel and hear you, I only had everything second hand. It's great to meet you, my love."
After all these months inside of his mum Harry had left embarrassment behind because he had to witness every sexual encounter between the two, but feeding from his Mum's breast still embarrassed him greatly. He wanted to reply to his father, but found that he couldn't produce the words yet. A completely normal baby wail came out of his mouth well expressing his frustration. The four young people who knew how well Harry was able to communicate, laughed, but Lily immediately consoled her son:
"Well, methinks that for the next few months you'll simply have to learn to be a baby, my love. No worries about suckling – forget Freud, I'm sure this won't do you any harm, even though it is a conscious act for you, okay? It is, after all, the best food for you at this stage."
Harry nodded. At least he could do that he noticed. And of course, even though he was a newly born he could smile, because he knew what it was to smile. First Lily and then James bent over him to kiss his rosy cheeks and assured him of how much they loved him already. Harry held out his hands to James, who was allowed to hold his new baby.
As soon as the navel was cleaned and magically healed and Harry had his first meal in his belly, he was allowed to move to James' arm. There were tears of emotion streaming down James' cheeks and he was so proud that everything had gone well. He marched out of the bedroom with the baby to present his son to his parents who had arrived two hours before and whoever else was in the sitting room. Dumbledore was there, of course, and McGonagall.
"Everyone! Please meet Harry James Potter, my son. He's now an hour old."
Sirius and Remus had stayed with Lily, until everything around her was cleaned up and Lily declared she would like to get a bit of sleep. Remus laughed softly, kissed her on the forehead and said:
"That's about the last time you can get that unconditionally, Lily, because from now on little Harry is going to rule your life!"
"I'm very afraid that is going to be the case. Thank you both for so much guidance and care! And of course we're very lucky in that Harry can already consciously work with us."
"Can't leave a fellow mother in the ditch, now can we?" Sirius teased.
"No, and I'm glad for that maternal solidarity!"
"You're very welcome. Now sleep well."
The two followed James to the sitting room, where their own children had been watched by two house-elves and later on Charlus and Dorea Potter. They greeted Sirius and Remus warmly.
"Hello Sirius, Remus! Your little darlings are delightful as ever!" Dorea said.
"Hello Auntie. Thank you. It's wonderful to have them, but they're four and they're all still tiny, so it's a lot of work. But we love them to bits," Sirius replied.
" I know you do and you seem to do a fine job. Nursing's all fine, too?"
"Yes, and I expect the next meal is in order now. We've had to take off a couple of times during Lily's labour. How do you like your grandson?"
"We love him already of course! He's such a cute little fellow. How is Lily now?"
"She's fine, just tired. She's glad for a little nap right now. I'm sure you will see her later."
"Excellent. Now you go and feed your little ones."