Chapter 2- Slytherin and Gryffindor.
"Sirius Black" the nurse called from an open door across the hall in 's hospital. I stood up aching from several hours of sitting in an uncomfortable plastic chair. Walking towards the nurse an endless stream of thoughts in my head, was the baby born? Was it okay? Where was it? The nurse obviously saw the panic on my face and immediately began to calm me down
"Sir I would like to congratulate you on the birth of your baby girl, she weighs 8st 1lb which is a very healthy weight and seems to be completely healthy" Smiled happily.
I stood in shock mouth open wide trying to register what she had just told me, I'm a daddy, a daddy to a little girl, my own little baby girl. I finally gathered the strength to smile back sincerely and ask,
"Can I see her" I asked hopeful
"Of course you can, she's healthy enough to be held as well, oh and I have to tell you the mother has already named her, but refused to look at her" She said going from cheery and reassuring to sympathetic and angry.
"What is she called" I asked with a stab of disappointment
"Charlotte Francesca Black" She replied
I frowned inwardly not what I would have picked, I liked Francesca and I was so glad Romaine had kept my last name. However I don't think I could even look at Romaine without shouting my head off, how could she not even have one look at her own baby?
The nurse led me through a busy crowd of nurses and doctors, to the baby unit; she led me up to a crib with a pink name tag saying Charlotte. I leant over and picked her up adjusting her to the nurse's orders of how to hold her head and body properly, then she left letting me have a moment with my daughter.
"Hey cutie, I'm your Daddy" I couldn't help but smile at the fact that she was mine. "Charlotte's a... an interesting name shall we say, how about I call you Charlie" I spoke gently, she said nothing "I'll take that as a yes, I love you Charlie –bear, I will always protect you" I promised my daughter.
I woke up to Charlie trying to tickle me, but her little fingers couldn't really get past my muscled stomach, but I played along anyway.
"Ahhhhh" I cried out grabbing her and she giggled
"Play Daddy" She asked through giggles
"Not today baby, Daddy has to go to lessons today so we need to get ready" Charlie often accompanied me to lessons so that I could keep an eye on her and also because I didn't trust anyone with something as important as Charlie.
I walked in to the bathroom leaving Charlie to wake up James and Remus, which even from just hearing sounded hilarious, a bang followed by James's voice,
"Oww Shi- Ouch" He shouted, all of us had to cut back from our swearing because of Charlie, after she told Snape to stick it where the sun don't shine, which was incredibly funny, but I had to tell her not to say it again much to Lily's happiness and my disappointment.
I came out of the bathroom ten minutes later showered and dressed, to find James running around the room with Charlie over his shoulder and Remus running after them, this had become our normal morning routine before school and on weekends. I went to the wardrobe I shared with Charlie and grabbed a blue t-shirt with white writing that said; I'm a little monster, a pair of blue jeans, white socks with multi coloured stars covering the tops and her tiny white converse.
"Charlie come and get washed and dressed" I called her over.
Since Charlie was a lot like me in her personality she was definitely not a girly girl, there was not a single item of pink clothing in her wardrobe, it did not take her long to get ready, so after ten minutes I was sitting on my bed with Charlie between my legs as I brushed her black hair and clipped the side back with a glittery butterfly clip.
We walked down the stairs hand in hand with James and Remus behind us and saw Lily waiting in the common room with Alice.
"AUNTIE LILY" She screamed and let go of my hand to run full pelt at Lily, who opened her arms just in time to catch her.
"Hey Munchkin, you look lovely today" she smiled
"Daddy did my hair with the clip you brought me" she said while turning her head so Lily could see the clip.
"Wow, it looks so pretty in your hair and look I'm wearing my one too" and like Charlie tilted her head so Charlie could see her clip
While the girls got engrossed in their conversations about sparkly hair clips and tomorrows Hogsmede visit i turned to face the boy's.
"What do we actually have now, I have completely lost track of the days" I said
"We have potions first with Slytherins" Remus replied
Having my lessons with the Slytherins made me uneasy, I hated taking Charlie into the potions room anyway because of all the ingredients but with the Slytherins there too just made the feeling even worse.
"Are you boy's ready to go, where going to be late" Lily called over to us still holding Charlie
"Yeah your gonna be late" Charlie said imitating Lily
We all laughed at her and walked out of the portrait hole and through the corridors which were buzzing with the latest gossip from last night and the excited talk for tomorrow's trip. Potions was on the other side of the school from the common room, so it was a fair trek and poor Lily was carrying Charlie all the way, not that she minded of course. As we turned round the corner I came face to face with Sasha Marks, Romaine's best friend, oh goody. She glares at me with dagger like eyes, which really does nothing for her already scowl ridden face, hidden behind her badly dyed black hair and bleach blonde roots. After Charlie was born I told Romaine that when she was older she would obviously have to come to the school with me and in that one sentence she decided that if the baby would be there she would not, claiming that Charlie had ruined her life enough already. She transferred to Beuxbatons a week later and hasn't contacted me or anyone including Sasha since, I might of felt a bit of sympathy towards Sasha had she not glared at my daughter with every possible chance she got, it's not her fault she's only a baby, if it was anyone's fault it was mine but she already blames me too. She walks past and doesn't look back at me or Charlie as we continue to the dungeons.
"So I take it Sasha still hasn't forgiven you" James jokes
"No" I say, seeing the look of regret flash across his face because of what he said and made me say,
"But who really cares, she can hate me, trust the feelings are mutual, have you seen the way she looks at Charlie" I added angrily
"Just ignore her mate and next time she tries to kill Charlie with her eyes we can simply go hell out Marauder on her" he smiled and I couldn't help but return the gesture.
We entered the classroom to see Lily setting Charlie down in the corner on her mat surrounded by her toys which she entertained herself with while we had lesson. Remus was already sitting down next to Maddie Jones, who were both blushing while talking. Everyone knew Remus liked her and I'm pretty sure she liked him, but Moony didn't exactly like attachment because of his monthly issues. Maddie was a pretty girl I must admit, but she was so quiet, her wavy brown hair reached the middle of her back and ended with ringlets and she had deep chocolate brown eyes the exact shade of Moony's.
Halfway through the lesson I looked over at Charlie who was attempting to read a book about farm animals, I suddenly felt a wave of guilt come over me, I was the one that should be sitting and reading with her it broke my heart to look at her as she struggled to try and make the words with her mouth, regretfully I turned my head back to the teacher. As we moved onto the practical of the lesson, Professor Slughorn approached Charlie and brought her over to his cauldron, where he started to put in different ingredients making the smoke turn different colours, making Charlie clap each time at the same time I heard about 10 different girls Ahh at the scene in front of them. Normally I would feel uneasy about teachers being with Charlie but there were 4 exceptions; Slughorn, McGonagall, Dumbledore and Madam Pompfrey, but only because they had known Charlie since she was born.
Remus POV
Talking with Maddie always made my day better, she was one of the few girls who knew about my err... issue along with Lily and Alice. I had liked her a lot before I told her, but when she said she accepted who I really was every time I saw her my heart quickened and my palms got sweaty. When I was seated next to her in Potions I was over the moon inside and we got to know each other inside out, she was one of my best friends along with the boys Lily and Alice.
That was the one thing I loved about our group, everyone, even on occasion Lily and James, were always there for each other and you didn't even have to ask about their loyalty to you because you know you always have it.
Lily POV
As I stirred the last of my potion, i chatted absent minded to Alice about her and Frank Longbottom her 6 year long crush who had just left Hogwarts last year to go into Auror training. Frank was tall and dark haired with big brown eyes and suited Alice to a tee who also had dark eyes and short pixie like brown hair. We then moved our topic onto Maddie and Remus, anyone with a single brain cell could see that they liked each other and I know for definite that Maddie liked him and had done for some while now.
"Alice, do you think that maybe we should set Maddie and Remus up for a date tomorrow at Hogsmede" I asked her quietly to avoid them overhearing.
She squealed "Oh my god yes absolutely, they are so meant to be together" She clapped her hands nearly knocking her potion off the table and I laughed at her craziness and complete and utter clumsiness.
"Right well I have an idea so listen" I said and pulled her close to me.
"That's brilliant Lily" she smiled
"I Kn-"I was cut off by the sound of shouting and many people turning their heads to get a glimpse of the scene going on before them, Charlie was stood up against the evil asshole Lucius Malfoy narrowing her eyes into little slits and attempting to fold her arms, her whole look and stance just screamed 'I may be small, but don't mess with me'
"Slytherins are silly and yucky" She told him with a tone full of fact
"I'll have you know that Slytherin is the best house in the school" he sneered back and I couldn't help but giggle at the completely pathetic and immature comeback he had just given to a little three year old girl,
"No Gryffindor are the best!" she all but screamed at him "my daddy's in Gryffindor" she told him
By now the shouting had gained the marauders attention and they turned to watch the show but only to have a flash of horror cover their faces when they saw Malfoy squared up to Charlie- as best as possible, given the size difference- who had now crouched down to her level,
"Your daddy is a good for nothing idiot, who is going to get what's coming to him if he doesn't start changing his attitude and sweetie your dad really isn't all that to look up to, I mean he didn't even want you when he found out that he was going to be a dad, he didn't love you" he sneered at Charlie.
My mouth dropped open at the cruelty of the harsh words, but what made my stomach drop was the look of hurt that crossed Charlie's face when he said it. I gasped as he reached out to stroke her hair but by this point Sirius was already shoving people out of the way to get to his baby.
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!" He roared at Malfoy, Lucius put his hands on his knee's to pull himself and regain his full height and even with it Sirius still towered over him with a look of pure anger covering his face,
"Don't you ever go near her again Malfoy or I swear to God I will break your arms to ensure you can't touch her" He threatened through gritted teeth. Charlie was now hiding behind her daddy's legs peeking around the side to see what was going on.
"Well I can't help it, she is such a darling little girl and given the right training of course could become the next in the Dark Lords inner circle" The whole room gasped and Sirius' fist connected flat out with Malfoy's face which resulted in a sickening crunch. The whole room exploded then with 'fight, fight' and 'hit him' I screamed Charlie's name and ran forward to grab her to make sure she would not get hurt in the brawl. I watched wide eyed as James, Remus and a couple of the decent Slytherins attempted to pull the boy's off each other, while Professor Slughorn stood there mouth agape sending a patronus to somebody. As the boy's were pulled off each other Sirius with a split lip and Malfoy a black eye and bleeding- most probably- broken nose Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall walked in the door slightly out of breath, staring at the scene before them. A wave of silence washed over the classroom and it seemed like nobody dared to breath until the silence was broken,
"Daddy" Charlie said in a small innocent voice and for the first time in a while sounded completely her age. Sirius turned sharply at the sound of her voice, she reached out for him as he turned completely, but before he could take her into his arms Professor Dumbledore spoke,
"Sirius I would like to see you and Mr. Malfoy in my office please" he spoke gently but in a tone that was not to be messed with.
Sirius reluctantly and Malfoy willingly followed the old man out of the room, I bounced Charlie in my arms who had now become agitated seeing her daddy getting hurt and then leaving her without saying goodbye,
"Daddy, daddy" She wailed trying to get his attention.
"Lily" James said "Take her back to the common room, I'll go wait by Dumbledore's office so Sirius doesn't freak out when he can't find her" he told me taking control of the situation. It was then I saw a different James, not the infamous prankster can't-take-anything-seriously-Potter, but a genuine person who was concerned about his friend and the girl he thought of as his niece,
I smiled at him "Okay" I couldn't help but blush when he smiled back obviously glad that i hadn't turned him down for once. Okay so maybe he isn't that bad, maybe he is even good but can I really say yes to him after six years of saying no. I sighed inwardly I really need a chat with Alice and Maddie.
Sirius POV
As I left the room full of rage and seeing red, I could hear Charlie calling for me and the anger evaporated immediately and if it hadn't been for Malfoy standing behind me I would have turned back, but I knew that if I set my eyes on his face I would lose all control again. How dare he say them things about Charlie and try to touch her! I meant what I said if he goes near her it will be the last thing he will ever do with his arms again.
As I sat down on one of the chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk I looked around at the moving pictures and star covered ceiling, I had to admit I loved this room. Dumbledore sat in front of us both and took each of our statements, Malfoy coming out with a load saying he was simply trying to have a conversation with Charlie when she started insulting Slytherin, which was around the time when I started shouting at him again, she was three for Christ sake, he didn't mention anything about her joining the dark lord or trying to reach out for her. After I had calmed down and Malfoy left Dumbledore looked at me with sympathy,
"So I take your going to tell some completely different story" He said with a twinkle in his eyes, I always liked Dumbledore but sometimes he was strange and just downright confusing, but he was right and I was going to tell the right story. After I finished he sat there looking at me processing what I had said,
"Sirius have you thought that maybe it would be better for Charlie to not go with you to lessons, not only will she be in situations like this but also incredibly bored." He said.
"I think about it all the time, but I don't trust anyone these days and I can't leave her with you because or your business trips, McGonagall and Slughorn teach and Charlie with Madam Pompfrey would be ideal but Charlie in a hospital would end in complete destruction." I laughed slightly at the thought of my not so graceful little girl, for someone so small she could cause a hell of a mess.
"Well I have been thinking recently that maybe you should enrole Charlie in a preschool" He said.
"Preschool ?" I asked confused
"It's a place where children can go to play and learn during the day while their parents go to work or have things to do, It will give Charlie the chance to make friends and learn things like her colours and numbers." He told me.
"Where is the nearest one to here." I asked liking the sound of the idea and hoping for it to be near.
"It is easily in access via floo as it is a wizard school, therefore Charlie will be kept in touch with her magic as well." He smiled reassuringly at me
"That sounds great sir, would you be able to fix a place for her in short notice, I would rather she is there sooner rather than later." I told him.
"Leave it to me" He winked
"Thank you Sir" I stood to leave before he spoke again,
"Oh but Sirius just a message from Professor McGonagall you have a week worth of detentions with her and she told you not to argue because Mr. Malfoy received three weeks for threatening you and your daughter."
I laughed "Ok Sir." And then I left back to the common to tell Charlie about her new school.