Chapter 13

Work had been a pain on one seemingly regular day. Long stressful hours of filling out paper work, and dealing with impatient and demanding people.

All I wanted was to get home, enjoy a hot meal, and lay back on my sofa. Little did I know what really awaited me.

I stepped through the door, and Vivian was there waiting to jump right into my arms.

I was surprised, but hugged her back. When she pulled away I saw tears in her eyes.

"Vivian are you alright?"

She smiled through the tears. "Everything is fine, great really."

I just stared at her, perplexed. "I... Don't understand."

"Harry," She looked straight at me, I then saw that she was shaking. "I'm pregnant."

…

"WHAT?!" All three of my children shouted at once.

"I can't believe this!" Lilly looked hysterical.

"We. Have. Another. Brother or sister?!" James jumped out of his chair halfway between surprise and anger.

"Why didn't you ever tell us?!" Al demanded.

"Calm down." I said. They didn't make any change. "James, sit. Just keep listening, and you'll understand." That didn't seem to assure them, but at least they were quiet.

…

"I'm pregnant."

The words bounced around my head, until my mind was so far away.

I literally had no thoughts. Dark blankness clouded my mind. It was as if my brain was completely disconnected.

Finally thoughts came, after an eternity.

I'm going to be a father.

I have no idea how to be a father.

At all, whatsoever.

Still, no emotions came. Was I happy? Was I sad?

I felt nothing. Until I felt nothing but complete anxiety.

How on Earth could I be a father?

"Harry?" Vivian's voice brought me back to that flat. I saw that she was looking at me with worry. "Harry, please say something."

When I looked at her, things changed.

The anxiety didn't go away, not even a little. However, when I saw her I felt over come with joy.

This was Vivian. I love her, and we're having a baby, together.

A baby.

I smiled.

It's hard to explain just how happy knowing you'll be a parent makes you. Some day you all will understand.

I pulled her into a warm embrace.

"I..." There were no words in my mind to string together. "I can't believe it." I pulled away.

"Me neither." She smiled, I wiped a tear off her cheek.

"We're having a baby!" I felt like laughing, or better yet running down the street proclaiming my joy. She did laugh a little, before kissing me.

"I know!"

"Well.." I had no idea what to tell her. "We're... How about you marry me?" It just came out.

She gasped, and then smiled. "Really! Do you really mean that?"

"Of course." I didn't know where it came from, but it felt right. "I love you Vivian." I pulled her in for another kiss. "So, will you marry me?"

"Of course!" She exclaimed, kissing me once again.

…

Hours later we were cuddled up on that little sofa so lost in our joy and worries.

"I think we should find a real home, for the baby." Vivian said.

"I have a house." The words came out before I had time to realize how stupid they were.

"You do?" She was surprised.

I'd just realized that she'd never heard of Sirius. She had no clue I'd inherited his manor and small family fortune.

"I got it from my god father, when he died." I decided to explain things to her. But could she go to a home like that? She wouldn't be able to see it, or understand it at all. I shouldn't have brought it up, but it was too late.

"You had a godfather? Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"I uh... Must've slipped my mind."

"You forgot that you inherited a house?" She turned to give me skeptical look. I gave her a weak smile, and she turned away. "Any other things I should know about?"

Well, I'm a wizard, first of all. And our child will likely be magical too.

Oh Hell. I'd forgotten that too.

That was my chance to tell her, to come clean. I have no idea what might have happened if I did. But I took the cowardly way out.

"Well..." I thought it through. "Not that I can think of, you?"

"No." She let out a long sigh. "Well, I'd like to see this house of yours."

"Oh, I don't know if that's a good idea..."

"You expect me to move into a house I've never seen?"

"No, I never said we should move there."

"Why shouldn't we? It'd save us a lot of time and money."

"It's a bit of a wreck right now." And what about Kreacher? He was attached to Grimauld place. None of that really mattered though, Vivian couldn't get into the place any how. I wondered if there was a way to remove all the spells and make it visible to muggles. But even if there was would I want to live there? It had never seemed like home, even with Sirius there. But since I'd brought it up, she'd insist on seeing it no matter what.

"Well we can clear it up." Vivian turned back around so she could look me in the eye. "Why don't you want me there?" I saw how much this hurt her.

"Well..." I wanted to tell her the truth, but how could I? So I decide to tell her about Sirius, as much as I could anyways. I told her about his family life, that they were racist and kicked him out. How he hated that house, and I didn't like it much either. I explained that Sirius had given me everything, including the house, but I didn't really want it. "I can't imagine raising our children there." I concluded. "It just makes me sad."

Vivian's eyes had turned tender. "Aww, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you felt that way. You must have really loved this Sirius. Why didn't you ever tell me about him before?"

"I don't like to talk about it." I shrugged. "He was murdered."

Vivian gasped. "That's terrible!"

"It's alright, we caught her." I felt good about that at least.

We didn't talk again for a while, I think Vivian didn't want to press me to tell more. But eventually she piped up.

"Uh, Harry?"

"Yes?" I braced myself for a difficult question. She surprised me.

"You said 'our children', I don't think we're having twins." She said.

"Oh, well I meant when we have more children latter."

"Oh." Her tone was another surprise. "You want more children?"

"Well, yes. I guess I've always imagined having at least east two kids."

"Oh." The same tone again. "I only want one."

"Oh." Now I had that tone. We'd never really talked about children, at all. But I'd always assumed she liked kids, that she'd want a couple or more.

"It's just, I was an only child. You too, I guessed you'd want it that way too." She said.

"Well I wasn't really raised like an only child, I lived with my cousin."

"Oh yes, but that wasn't pleasant was it? We can avoid that by just having one child, that way they won't fight over favoritism."

I was becoming irritated. "We can avoid the way I was raised by not being terrible people."

"You know what I mean."

"How do you think we should raise our child?" I was beginning to worry.

"Well we'll just give her all our love, and try our very best."

"Her? Who said it was a girl?"

"That's just my guess." She shrugged.

"Well, alright."

"Harry, what do you think we should name her, or him?"

"I honestly hadn't thought about it. You have any ideas?"

"I've always wanted a daughter named Lizzie, do you like it?"

"Yeah, that sounds nice."

"You can pick her middle name."

"Oh. Could that be Lilly? After my mother."

"Of course. Elizabeth Lillian Potter. How pretty."

"But what if it's a boy?"

"We could name him Sirius, from what you've told me he sounded like an excellent god father."

"I like it. Speaking of godfathers, would it be alright if Ron is the kid's godfather?"

"Of course!"

"I love you." I kissed the top of her head, then placed a hand to her stomach. "And our little mystery in there too."

She laughed, putting her hand over mine. "And I love you."

AN: Please, please, PLEASE! Leave me a review :) It's the only payment I get!