Present - In the previous chapter Sirius and Remus find out that there is a woman willing to surrogate for them.

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I glared at the mirror, watching the face on the other side of the glass glare back at me and fiddle with his shirt buttons, wondering whether I should pretend that I wasn't one sexy, gorgeous, amazing, pretentious arsehole or if I might as well have let the whole thing rip.

"Keep them closed," Remus sighed, pacing over and placing his chin upon my head. "It looks more presentable."

"I'll suffocate, you know. Never used to be able to cope with the top button on the shirts for Hogwarts."

"Well we're not wearing the shirts for Hogwarts. If you really think it'll kill you, keep the top two undone. But I don't want your nipples hanging out for the woman who might be bearing our child."

I tilted my head back to gaze up his nostrils, stroking a hand down his face. "You're beautiful, Rems."

"Haven't heard that one in a while." A quiet laugh penetrated his lips and then his face fell flat. "...I really haven't... Have I gotten old and ugly, Siri? I know I wasn't very pretty in the first place but..."

I spun on my foot and gabbed his shoulders, staring him dead in the eye. "No! No! Of course not! Why would you think such a thing? Moony, honey, you're still as stunning as you ever were."

"I've just been thinking... about things... about us..." His forehead dropped onto my shoulder with a faint thud, shaking against the fabric of my shirt. "I see the way you look at Harry, like he's some kind of delicious meal, how you take his letters and reply to them in secret – like you did yesterday. It worries me. We're having this baby and I'm scared that we're not going to last the rest of the year, let alone the rest of the child's life." He glanced up to me, tears welling in the pits of his eyes and threatening to run down his face. "You don't know how terrifying this is – I'm frightened that you'll just up and leave like you did the morning before you went to Azkaban... I didn't even get to say goodbye..."

My arms reached around his neck and I pulled him into my chest. "Where did all that just come from? I wouldn't do that – this ring is a promise and a promise I am not willing to break. You're worried about the baby and you're letting this fear slip into other realms that it shouldn't be in. And with regards to Harry I just thought I'd seen a little flicker of James in him though it turns out I was wrong."

He lifted his head and heaved, fingers playing through the winding lengths of my hair. "So what are we going to do with this?"

"Tie it up, I suppose. Maybe like we did before..."

"It's gotten a bit long for that, don't you think? We might be wrap it round itself in a sort of loose bun."

I smirked, raising my eyebrows and shaking my head at him. "If you want me to look like a female Librarian, go ahead."

"Ok, ok... just keep it up in a ponytail but don't come weeping to me when she disapproves," he chuckled and removed his hand from my hair to straighten my collar.

"She can't disapprove. It's us - no one can disapprove of us!"

X

We positioned ourselves outside flat number 51, Remus clutching desperately at my hand as if his sweet life depended on it and listening to the approaching thud of feet from within the walls of the house. The door clicked with a sliding hiss of bolts and chains, then opening onto Tonks' brightly haired head, beaming and beaconing us inwards.

"You're early. We weren't sure if it was going to be you. Did you get here fine? Nothing suspicious?"

Remus smiled, sending a faint flutter of rose across the girls face. "No, we apparated – I don't think anybody saw us."

"Follow me, we're in here." In a swirl of bubblegum, she skipped from the hall into a doorway on the right.

I turned to face my fiancé and grinned, giving him time to inhale, to pace over this in his head before we entered. "Ready?"

He squeezed my hand and nodded. "Ready."

What I assumed to be Tora Stuarts was perched on the sofa, gazing dreamily towards us over the top of a Quibbler; eyes a bright, wandering green with the careful smile of any Mary Sue.

"Hello there," she sung. "You look very different to what I imagined you – I thought you'd be more camp..."

I glared at Remus, asking for permission to take offence at the woman, but he shook his head and whispered, "Look at her, she was clearly in Hufflepuff, we cant blame her."

"Ok, we're leaving. I refuse to have a child who has even the slightest chance of being a Hufflepuff."

He merely laughed and dragged me to a seat, keeping his hand attached to mine so I couldn't run away.

"I wasn't even joking," I groaned and gave the girl a cold glower.

For an awkward moment, well all sat staring at each other, the loudest sounds being the creaks and whines of the chairs as we shuffled.

"So," Remus hummed, looking upward from his hands to Tora's face. "How's this going to work? I suppose you know more of it from the fact that you've offered."

"Well, I've been talking within the ministry and it appears rather simple, especially seen as we're doing this privately. Firstly, I think I need one of yours semen," she muttered, looking between us.

He motioned a thumb to me. "That'd be his job."

She smiled in my direction, "Will we be having sex then?"

"I don't see why n-"

My fiancé's elbow thrust into my stomach.

"No... we can do it with swabs and stuff," I managed to wheeze out before curling up into a ball.

"Ok. But before we do anything, I think there are some contracts that need to be drafted out, things we require of each other during the pregnancy period. You should do that at home so you have time to run over what you want to do. After that, there's nothing else until the birth."

Remus' hand crushed around mine and pulled me inward. "We're going to have a baby!"

I let a faint smile spread my face. "I know, Remmie, I know."

Tonks stood and tottered to the door, "Tea or coffee, anybody?"

"I think I will," Moony grinned, unlocking our fingers and shuffling to the Auror. "Sirius, why don't you talk with Tora for a moment."

I grumbled to myself, eyes fixed on the door frame, staring longingly to the space where my fiancé had been.

"I know who you are," the young woman whispered to me from her spot on the sofa.

"Of course you do," I laughed nervously, tapping a finger on my leg. "Nymphadora must've said."

"Yes, she did. But I know who you really are. I've seen your face on the posters – I know those eyes."

"You must be mixing me up with someone else."

"No, I know it's you. You're Sirius Black, aren't you?"

I gawked at her, almost literally shitting myself. "No," my voice choked, quivering, "I don't think I am."

"Then you are obviously mistaken. I was 14 when you got taken to Azkaban. I remember reading The Daily Prophet, the one which had an article about your Remus Lupin in it – 'A View From The Inside' I think it was called – I thought it was beautiful and there this one part where he said" - she pulled a small newspaper clipping from her pocket - "'It was terrible to find it all out, to find out the man that I've spent the best parts of my life loving was a murderer. At first I didn't want to believe it, but there was all this evidence, things I could not deny by simply saying that he just wasn't like that because part of me knew that sometimes he was. From time to time it hits down very hard, when I'm alone in bed at night, I realise I've never loved anybody as much as I loved him, I'm sure I never will, and the saddest part is that after all that he has done, whenever he sends me a letter, the part that isn't angry at him actually smiles and aches and wants him back." She folded the crumpled piece of paper back up and returned it to where it had come.

"That doesn't prove anything, is it completely impossible to rule out the idea that he's fallen in love again?"

"That isn't the voice of a man who can change his feelings. And if you aren't actually Sirius, I am very sorry, because he seems to be using you," she sighed.

"...Aren't you going to arrest me then?"

"If you were guilty, I'm sure Harry Potter would be dead by now. Besides, anybody who wants a little baby can't be bad." A broad smile spread her lips, turning to face the door as Tonks and Remus entered once more.

"Everything ok, guys?"

"Everything's fine, Remmie. I'm pretty sure she's a Ravenclaw!"