A/N: Amy's POV, this chapter is dedicated to new reader and reviewer, IchoseSlytherin. I hope you continue to enjoy the ride!

-C

The Daily Prophet sat on the kitchen table, mocking me as it did every morning. It was getting worse and worse. Sirius told me that things were getting better, that they weren't exactly winning, but that they weren't losing.

But I looked at those words on that waste of print and I couldn't decide what to believe.

"Amy?" he called, frowning as he popped his head into the kitchen, Aludra in his arms. "What's up with you?" Then he smiled at me slightly, glancing down at my absolutely massive belly.

The twins were very, very active, much like their father. When he touched me, they went mad, kicking and pushing and making me have to pee at best, causing me exceptional discomfort at worst. It seemed like even his looking at me caused them to stir.

"So many dead," I muttered, looking down at the paper with disgust. "And I'm sure this isn't even the whole picture."

Sirius frowned moving into the room and glancing down at the paper. He sighed with relief.

"Love, most of these are recycled stories. There are only three new deaths on this page. The paper's trying to scare you."

I shook my head.

Sirius could tell me all he liked that there was nothing wrong, that I shouldn't feel like we were losing, but I didn't believe him. I found myself struggling to walk over to make tea, though, and Sirius helped me to sit in the nearest chair and then handed me Aludra while he made tea.

"There, now," he said happily. "Can we have our little girls soon? I'm getting too excited to wait. I want them out now."

"Don't," I groaned as he touched my belly again and both girls scrambled inside of me to kick at it. "Ugh, they kick when you do that. I've told you."

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, setting the tea in front of me on the table and taking Aludra back. "I just get so excited. Do you think they'll come early?"

"Lily says it's likely, with twins," I said, yawning. "Oh, and can you stop sleeping cuddling my belly? It keeps me up all night."

He winced. I did feel bad, asking him to essentially give up everything he loved doing, but it was driving me crazy.

"Please," I sighed. "There's only a little while left of this pregnancy and I'd rather not be spending every moment of it in discomfort."

"Sorry," he said, picking up her hand and kissing it. "I just…I just love knowing they're coming soon. And it's become something of a habit, like how when you're not pregnant you would hug that pillow to your chest while you slept. It's comforting, right?"

I supposed he was right. There was something comforting about my belly and its obnoxious size. There was something comforting about the constant presence of our little girls.

"Do you have middle names yet?" he asked, blowing on his own tea as he set Aludra down on the floor to play with the blocks she'd left there.

I glanced down at the paper.

"This one," I said, pointing at a name in one of the articles of a little girl who had been murdered with her whole family by who the Aurors suspected was Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Noela," he muttered looking through the article and wincing. "Is that really something you want to remind yourself of, love, every time you write out or use our daughter's full name?"

"Yes," I whispered.

Full names were used when reprimanding, and when I reprimanded my little girls, I wanted to remember how lucky I was to have them in the first place, to keep me from being as hard on them as my own parents sometimes were on me.

"Very well, then," Sirius said with a sigh. "It is a pretty name. And it's only a middle name. Not a constant reminder, I suppose. Which first name do you want to pair it with?"

I frowned. I hadn't thought of that bit. I looked down at the name, trying to picture it and hear it beside the first names I'd chosen. It was a harder thing than I'd expected, but I finally settled on one.

"Arista Noela," I whispered. "Arista Noela Black."

Sirius nodded thoughtfully, leaned forward, and kissed my temple.

"I love you, Amy," he whispered, his eyes burning. "I know sometimes I'm gone more than I should be and I take risks that maybe someone else could take, but I love you, and I love our daughters, and everything I do, every decision I make, I make because I feel it's the right thing to do for all of us. I…I just need you to know that."

I licked my lips and nodded, but part of me wanted to ask if he had thought about how afraid I was, if we actually had a prayer of winning this war or not. But in such a beautiful moment, I didn't want him to lie to me.

"I know, love," I said, smiling at him, blowing on my tea. "I love you, too."

The smile on his face was so brilliant, so proud, that I couldn't bring myself to mention my fears, despite their raging just under the surface of my happiness.

"Now," I sighed, stretching a little. "Do you think you can get me some pickles and pistachios today?"

He gave me a half-perturbed, half-adoring look that had come to grace all discussion of strange requests for cravings. He found my cravings amusing, I knew, but I saw no amusement in them.

Sirius got the requested items and then helped me onto the couch. I'd been playing with Aludra, but even that wore me out with how large I had become.

"Here," he said, helping me recline in a way that was acceptable for my stage of pregnancy, and then handing me my requested snacks. "I'll play with the princess. You rest, love."

He kissed my forehead and I just smiled and watched, crunching a pickle between my teeth.

Aludra had begun to crawl in the last month. Sirius's eyes on the day when she'd first gone from swaying back and forth on her hands and knees to actually crawling forward toward him had been filled with tears of joy and pride.

We were also quite proud with the array of teeth she had grown. She had ten already, including the two lower molars. Since we were beginning the process of weaning her, it was good that she had so many teeth, although teething seemed as painful and irksome for her as it had reportedly been for me as a child.

She could interactively play with the blocks with her father by this point as well, and would take the things he offered her. When he brought her new toys, she would poke at them experimentally before taking them. And their block play involved actual building instead of just banging together and chewing. Aludra had begun to figure out the process of stacking blocks and making things. They weren't well-developed structures, but it was always interesting to see what Sirius made of them. Usually he called it a castle for the princess, but sometimes he was a bit more creative.

Aludra crawled over to the sofa at her father's request that she go and say hello to Mummy, and she pulled herself to her feet using the sofa.

"Look at that, clever girl," Sirius said, his voice thick with pride. She giggled at the praise.

"That's my clever little girl," I sighed as she moved closer to me, side-stepping.

"Mumumum," she babbled happily at me. "Mumumum."

"That's right," he said, wiggling over toward her and hugging her. "That's Mummy."

"Mumumum."

I smiled and looked at her happy face. There was nothing that made her happier than knowing that her father was pleased. They drew mutual pleasure from the pleasure of the other. I wondered what would happen to their perfect relationship on the day when Aludra realized that her father was not perfect. Or vice versa. I could see them both as they were, but they were so enamored with each other that neither of them saw flaws or faults in the other. Aludra's blindness was understandable. She could only understand the most basic of commands. Sirius's blindness was much more troubling.

"How do you feel, Mummy?" Sirius said happily.

"Mummy has to pee," I muttered. "Can you help me to my feet? I can manage from there."

"You're sure?" Sirius asked, helping me up. "Because I can walk you all the way there and help you…."

"Sirius," I sighed, "please just let me do one thing for myself. It's hard enough I can't even get up on my own."

It bothered him that I was upset at the state of my own inability to do anything. He liked to point out that he'd cared for me in this way before, but it was different. I hadn't been a verifiable whale then. I hadn't been fully aware of what a burden I was. I'd had a virus in my brain for Merlin's sake! That was nothing like having children in my womb and being too large to properly function.

When I was standing, I waddled to the bathroom, ignoring the way Sirius stared at me as Aludra babbled on tunefully, very likely tugging at her father's trouser leg to get his attention.

I sat down on the toilet and just sighed, cursing my incredibly tiny bladder. It hadn't been this bad when there was just the one, just Aludra.

Sometimes I was so overwhelmed by it all that I actually would cry, but this was not one of those days. I had a sneaking suspicion that Sirius was standing right outside the bathroom door, listening to make sure I was okay and didn't actually need his help. It wasn't that he was over-protective. I actually rather appreciated the attention and help most of the time, but there were certain things that made me feel helpless, like not being allowed to make my own tea, or not being able to play with my daughter as he could. Aludra didn't seem to mind. She found my belly fascinating.

I decided, though, as I stood again, making myself ready to go back out and recline on the couch once more, that Sirius was going to give me answers when we talked later. I was going to find out what was happening in the war. Nothing he wasn't allowed to tell me, of course. General things. I would stick to general questions he would be allowed to answer, but things he'd been keeping from me. I fixed my hair and nodded at my reflection. That would be the best plan, I decided.

Sirius had scrambled back to playing with Aludra at some point before I came out again. He smiled at me while Aludra hit him on the leg with a block.

"Hello, love," he said in a very cheerful voice that was my instant confirmation that he'd been listening in at the door. I would have rolled my eyes if I hadn't cared if he knew that I knew. I thought it was prudent to have some sort of edge on my husband.

"Hello," I said, allowing him to help me back onto the couch. "I was only gone for a few minutes, you know."

"I know," he said, his gray eyes shining, "but I miss you ever second you aren't with me."

It was a cheesy sort of line, but I knew Sirius meant it. If it hadn't been for the way he'd been when Mr. Potter died, I might not have, but Sirius and I had been through many, many things.

"Well, let's see this castle, then," I said as he pressed his lips to my fingertips. "Oh, she's using the blue ones today."

"No, I'm using the blue ones," Sirius laughed. "Apparently, she doesn't like triangles."

"Apparently," I laughed, running my hands lovingly through Sirius's hair.

That night, Sirius made dinner, steaks and pistachios, and he spoon-fed Aludra mashed peas as she babbled.

"Good job, love," he cooed as she ate a spoonful of peas. "Yummy, yummy, mushy peas!"

I giggled. He got a strangely immense joy in feeding Aludra, the one thing he hadn't really been able to do much of while she was exclusively breast-feeding. I knew he hadn't liked not being a part of something she did so much of, but I hadn't realized just how much it bothered him until he was finally able to feed her baby food.

"Sirius," I said softly as he made flying-motorcycle sounds to accompany the spoonful of peas. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything, my love," he said when Aludra's mouth closed over the spoonful.

I licked my lips slightly, sliding a bit of steak around my plate. How to ask?

"Are we winning? Or…."

"We're not losing, Amy," Sirius said, trying to hold a smile for Aludra, but I could see his face darkening.

"But we're not winning."

He turned to me as Aludra began pushing away the peas, deciding she was done for the night.

"Of course we're winning," he said, frowning. "I just…. Maybe it's James in my ear every time I try to say that. You know how he was."

James had this belief that when it came to Quidditch, to assume that one would win or to announce that one was winning, would ensure that one would not win. I supposed that superstition carrying over the war made some sense, as it had carried over to nearly every other aspect of James's life except for winning over Lily. And I could see why "jinxing," as it were, the outcome of the war was a completely adverse sentiment.

Winning the war. Obviously not by much, and I wondered what it meant to be winning a war of attrition, but I nodded, eating the last bits of my steak.

"I'm going to get our princess cleaned up and ready for bed," Sirius said as Aludra yawned. "She's got peas in her hair."

"That's what happens when you let her hold the spoon," I said dryly, helping myself to some more cauliflower florets.

Sirius just waved at me dismissively as he picked up the messy Aludra and carried her in for a bath as she babbled away.

I stretched out, frowning down at my cauliflower. I would likely have to pee again soon, from the feel of the way that one of the girls was pressing against my bladder. I bit my lip.

Sirius returned a bit later with a dry, clean, dressed-for-bed Aludra who was yawning in her cute little way.

"She's here to see Mummy for a goodnight kiss," he informed me solemnly. I laughed and kissed her forehead gently.

"Goodnight, princess," I said as she smiled sleepily at me. "Sweet dreams."

Sirius carried her off to bed and I watched him.

Part of me had wondered, for a moment, if he was lying to me when he said that they were winning the war. But Sirius had never lied to me before, not unless it was very small and inconsequential, like a surprise of some sort. And even then, I could usually be certain that he was lying. The very fact that I could not be certain convinced me that I was mistaken. What good would it do to lie about something like this, anyway?

He came back several minutes later, grinning at me.

"Cauliflower not to your liking, love?"

I blinked and looked back down at my plate. The cauliflower florets were still steaming there, beckoning me to eat them.

"Ah," I muttered. "Sorry, no, they're delicious. I was just lost in thought."

He sat beside me, watching me eat as he picked up his own fork for the first time that night.

"What about?" he asked, cutting a bit of steak.

I wasn't about to tell him that I'd questioned his honesty, even if I'd come to the conclusion that he must be telling the truth. It wasn't the sort of thing I wanted to subject his pride to. I just shrugged.

"I still haven't thought of the other middle name, the one for Lyra."

Sirius nodded thoughtfully as he chewed his steak.

It wasn't a lie, exactly. Lyra's middle name was a concern that actually had been bothering me all day. I shifted, thinking about possible options to throw out, but Sirius said, "Whatever you do, don't make it something from my family. I thought about using Andromeda's name and asked her the other day what she would think, and she said she'd poison me in my sleep if I ever suggested such a thing again."

I giggled.

I thought Andromeda's name was beautiful, and far preferred it to my own. There were all sorts of names in my family, as it was very large, but I couldn't think of a single one I liked enough to use, and certainly not one that went with Lyra.

"What about Natalie?" Sirius asked, putting more cauliflower on my recently-empty plate.

"No," I said firmly. "No, I don't like that 'ee' sound in a middle name."

"Well," he said, rubbing his chin, "you could…. Well, I mean, it would be a bit controversial, but you could use Sarah."

My heart pounded.

There were dozens of reasons not to use Sarah's name for my child, even as a middle name.

"No," I said softly, shaking my head. "No, I think that would be a poor idea. Every time I disciplined her, every time I wrote her name on a form…"

"You're right," Sirius said quickly, his gray eyes wide and apologetic. "I don't know what I was thinking. It would be a bad idea."

We sat in silence for a long moment, eating our food, lot meeting each other's gaze.

Finally, I stretched and said, "Well, we'll think of something. Can you help me get to bed, then?"

"Anything you ask," Sirius said with a smile, kissing my cheek and helping me up.