Author's Note: Sorry it took so long for this chapter to come up! My grandfather was diagnosed with non-alcoholic cirrhosis and I had to go out of town to help care for him. I will be updating regularly again. Thank you to whoever voted on the genders. The results:
Snapes: Girl- 6, Boy- 0; Lupin-Black: Girl- 4, Boy- 2
There is a surprise in the chapter, however. Thank you to the guest who suggested names, I have used one suggestion, and the other is mentioned more in passing, as, while I enjoyed the name, I didn't quite feel that it fit right. Now without further ado, onto the chapter.
Disclaimer: I will never own Harry Potter.
"It looks like you're having a little girl," Madam Pomfrey said.
Hermione smiled up at Severus, who was grinning widely.
"A girl," he whispered. "I'm going to have a daughter."
"Yes," Hermione confirmed. "And it sounds like I'm going to have to stop you from spoiling her rotten."
"I'll try and restrain myself," he chuckled.
While they were talking, Madam Pomfrey had moved over to Sirius and Remus and was examining their image to see if she could determine the gender of their child. The other couple looked over when the matron gasped.
"What is it, Poppy?" Remus stammered.
"It's nothing bad, Remus," she acknowledged. "Stop fretting. It's just something I hadn't noticed earlier."
Severus and Hermione walked over to the couple, and peered curiously at the image. The three men had not seemed to notice what Madam Pomfrey had seen, but Hermione noticed it quickly and also gasped.
"What?!" Sirius cried. "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with our baby?"
"Nothing, Sirius," Hermione said. "Though you're not exactly right. Can I show them?"
The matron nodded and Hermione moved closer to the image.
"See this fuzzy line here?" she asked, and the men nodded. "Well that is odd, considering that the baby's head is obviously outlined here. Now, Poppy can you turn the image around?"
She did and Hermione pointed out that the line had moved to the other side.
"Do you realize what that means?" Hermione asked, shaking her head at their blank stares. "Think about what I said earlier."
"That's not exactly right," muttered Severus, clearly trying to remember Sirius's words before her comment. "Oh. Oh!"
"What?" Sirius asked.
"Ever the clueless one," Remus chuckled. "Siri, we're not having one baby. We're having two. Twins."
Sirius gasped, before smiling. "Can you figure out the genders of both?"
"Of course," Madam Pomfrey answered. "It looks like the baby we are currently looking at, which, is also extremely healthy, by the way, is a girl. The baby we had previously known about, is a boy. One of each for you two."
Remus smiled and kissed Sirius passionately, causing the women to giggle at the sight of them.
"Alright," Madam Pomfrey said when the two broke apart. "You all are done here. You can leave now."
The four walked out of the Hospital Wing and back to Severus and Hermione's quarters, where Harry, Ron, and Ginny, were anxiously awaiting the news.
"Well?" Ron asked when they walked in, clearly impatient.
Hermione chuckled. "Patience is a virtue, Ron."
Said man gave her a look.
"We are going to have a little girl," Hermione answered their unspoken question, leaning into her husband.
She was instantly wrapped up in three pairs of arms, her friends hugging her tightly and fiercely.
"Hey!" she shouted. "As much as I love your hugs, I can't breathe."
"That's great Mione!" Ginny exclaimed after they had pulled away. "About the girl, not the not being able to breathe. What are you going to name her?"
"We haven't really discussed it, Ginevra," Severus said smoothly. "But I'm sure we will soon, considering we know the gender of the child."
"What about you two?" Harry asked Sirius and Remus. "Am I getting a god-brother or a god-sister?"
"Actually, Harry," Remus started. "We had a little surprise today. So to answer your question, you're going to have a god-brother AND a god-sister."
"Bloody hell," Ron muttered, while Harry and Ginny's eyes widened. "Twins."
Harry engulfed the two men in a tight hug and asked,
"Have you two discussed names at all?"
"We have," Sirius said. "But we probably won't decide for sure until the children are born. For the boy, we were thinking Theodore Orion, and for the girl, Carina Hope. Sadly, the name we both liked carries on the Black constellation tradition."
The room laughed.
"I think those are lovely names," Hermione said, before turning to Severus. "We should probably discuss that after everyone leaves."
Slowly, the other members of the group made their ways to their respective homes.
"So," Severus said as soon as they were alone. "We have to choose a name for our little princess."
"Yes, we do," Hermione said. "What about Isabella?"
"No," Severus replied. "I had a student named Isabella that was the most disrespectful brat I have ever seen. I don't want to associate that memory with our child. What about Eloise?
"I do like the nickname Ellie," Hermione pondered. "But I don't think that sounds quite right."
She thought for a moment. "What about Athena?"
"Athena," Severus wondered. "The goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. That seems rather fitting."
"Athena, then," Hermione said. "And I thought of a middle name that would still allow us to call her Ellie. Though it's not Eloise."
"What is it?" he asked, curious.
"Eileen," she said, staring into his eyes. "Athena Eileen."
"I love it," he said. "My mother will be very pleased."
"I thought as much," Hermione said, coming to sit in his lap, straddling him.
She kissed him roughly. "Celebrate with me?"
With that, he scooped her up and the pair disappeared into their bedroom.
Author's Note: Thank you again for your continued love and support. I will update soon.