A/N: Sirius's POV, this chapter is dedicated to reader and reviewer, danceegirl92. Enjoy!

-C

Amy squeezed my hand. The midwife had assured me that being two weeks early was not going to hurt the girls, but I was still standing there, panicking, as my wife screamed. I hated this. I hated seeing her in pain. I hated even more knowing that Remus was out there, trying to calm down Aludra, who had been upset when everyone around her had begun to panic. Aludra needed me, but so did Amy, and I couldn't be in two places at once, so I had to call in reinforcements.

"Padfoot?" Remus said, poking his head in. "I've reinforced her room a bit. I'll stay in there until you call for me. She's finally got to sleep and I don't…"

"Fine, fine," I said as Amy gave another grotesque shriek. This was not fine. This was not okay.

"I'll fetch more ice," the midwife said happily as the Healer measured the dilation.

I was swearing up and down that next time, if there was a next time, Amy would be forced to take something for the pain, of only for my sake. This was agony.

When the midwife returned, though, the Healer said, "All right, Mrs. Black, let's get you pushing on the next one, all right?"

Amy nodded, focusing on her breathing exercises. I squeezed her hand this time, absolutely terrified.

The next contractions came and she gave a guttural cry, pushing. I winced, holding onto her as tightly as I could, hoping that somehow my energy would translate into some sort of extra energy for her as she underwent this awful experience. I could feel tears in my eyes, but wiping them away would have meant letting go of her hand, and I couldn't do that.

"Good, good," the Healer said happily. "You've got one of them nearly out, Mrs. Black! A couple more good pushes."

I was shaking. It was strange, of course, because we already had a daughter, but somehow this was something entirely new and different, three children. What had I gotten myself into?

"Push!"

Amy shrieked. Her voice was growing weak from all the strain. I squeezed her hand again, pressing it to my lips.

"Good, again, push!"

At this push I actually could hear the crying of my little girl, and I watched as the midwife took her, cleaning her as Amy calmed slightly.

"Arista," Amy croaked. "That one's Arista."

The midwife and I walked over to the side as she handed me my second child, Arista Noela Black, and she put a small mark on her foot.

"It's permanent," the midwife said. "Painless. Hers is black. Her sister's will be green. You'll always be able to tell them apart as babies, but I doubt you'll look at their feet much as they get older. With any luck, you won't have to."

"Excellent," I sighed, kissing my crying daughter's forehead. "My greatest fear was mixing them up and us never knowing again which was really which."

The midwife laughed, but she was called back to the bedside.

"Hello, beautiful baby," I whispered to my daughter, who was beginning to calm down, blinking her strange eyes. I finally wiped my tears and I moved back, holding her carefully in one arm so that I could hold Amy's hand for the birth of her twin sister.

"This one needs to be turned, hang on," the Healer said darkly. "Don't push until I tell you."

"It's going to be okay?" I asked, turning nervously to the midwife. She nodded.

"This happens," she said. "He's caught it soon enough. She'll be fine."

I licked my lips and held my daughter, wrapped in her soft red blanket.

It was an agonizing ten minutes, waiting for the second one, listening to Amy's cries of pain, but when Lyra came shrieking into the world, even louder than her twin, I felt a surge of relief and pride.

I had three beautiful baby girls, and Amy was safe, if a bit sweaty. What more could I possibly ask for?

"Lyra Medeia," Amy sighed as the midwife began cleaning her up. She spelled out the name while the Healer marked Lyra's foot. I smirked a bit, wondering if she'd thought about the fact that her daughter's middle name was virtually the same as the name of her mother's owl. I suspected that it hadn't yet occurred to her.

When the Healer and midwife were satisfied that the mother and both babies were healthy and able to be left, they retreated, leaving me to place Arista in her mother's tired arms while I scooped up Lyra.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" I sighed. "And they came from you."

"They came from both of us," she murmured.

"Don't be so modest," I snorted. "I didn't carry around two children for nine months."

Amy just rolled her eyes, running her fingertips along Arista's head.

"You know," she said softly, "thirty years ago magic hadn't figured out how to properly turn a child in a case like Lyra's without harming the child? They would live, but…with consequences almost every time."

It was strange to think about, but I nodded, smiling down at Lyra.

"Well, she's alive," I said happily. "She's alive and born and perfect. Merlin, they really do look so much alike."

"Good thing they mark the feet," Amy said with a yawn.

"Do you want to sleep?" I asked.

"No, no, I want to see Remus," she muttered, although she was obviously sleepy.

I nodded, putting Lyra in the little cot that had two spots for children, designed specifically for twins. We were going to have to move them to the new nursery, but not until they'd been with their mother for a few days, gotten used to being out of the womb.

"Remus?" I whispered, poking my head into Aludra's room. He grinned, lowering the charms and following me out.

"How are they?" he asked.

"They're so tiny," I sighed. "It's always strange, seeing such tiny little people, and knowing they're my responsibility to protect."

We entered the bedroom to find Amy dozing slightly. Remus hesitated.

"Should we wake her?" he whispered. "She looks so tired…"

"No, no, she asked for you," I said, wincing. "If I don't wake her there will be hell to pay when she does wake." I gently shook the sleeping Amy, who was holding a sleeping Arista.

"Mmm," she moaned, stretching slightly. "Did I doze off?" She smiled as Remus crept closer. "Hello, Remus."

"Hello," Remus said, blushing slightly, looking down at the baby intently.

It was then that I realized that my wife wasn't wearing a bra, and that this was very obvious through her thin nightgown. I bit my lip.

I was having a hard time with the fact that Remus still had a crush on Amy. I mean, I knew she was wonderful, but it had been a while since he'd known she didn't feel that way about him. And if he'd had any doubts, she married me and had now had three of my children. The likelihood that she would drop everything and be with him was very little.

"Come and see them, Remus," she whispered. "Look, their hair is very dark, Sirius. Darker than Aludra's was."

I had noticed. She was probably hoping that they would take after me, and although I wouldn't mind my daughters having fabulous black hair, I hoped that they looked mostly like their mother, just because it was already so great having two versions of Amy. How could I do anything but be thrilled with four versions?

"Raven black," Remus said, raising his eyebrows. "I think they'll look like you, Sirius."

"Merlin forbid," I teased. I tucked Amy more fully into the bed, covering her breasts with the duvet. She frowned at me until I raised my eyebrows at her and she realized my reason for doing so. Then she blushed.

"So, Lily told me you were going to be away for a while, Remus," Amy said, rubbing her eyes as I picked up Arista. "What are you doing?"

Remus cleared his throat, smiling at the sleeping baby.

"Order mission, very secret," he said softly. "I'm afraid I've been instructed to tell no one what I'm doing."

"We don't have too many of those," I said slowly.

The last one had resulted in Caradoc disappearing. Those sorts of missions were exceptionally dangerous, because there was no back-up, no one to check in on you if you don't report for a while except Dumbledore.

"Be careful," Amy said, her voice still weak. "Don't you go doing anything reckless, Remus."

"I wouldn't dare," he said, giving her a gentle smile.

I wasn't jealous of Remus. I already knew how Amy felt about him, so it would be stupid for me, her husband, to be jealous of a man I knew was just her friend. But there was some negative feeling eating away at me in that moment, and I put the sleeping Arista in the cot beside her sister to avoid lunging at him for smiling at Amy like that.

I didn't know where this jealousy had come from, but it wasn't something I wanted to harbor.

"I need to go, actually," Remus said with a frown. "I'm checking in on Lily and James before I go. Do you want me to report to them about the twins?"

"Please," Amy said happily. "They're supposed to come tomorrow for tea, if Lily feels up to it. I hope she does."

Remus promised to talk to them about the girls, kissed Amy's hand, hugged me, and spared the girls a smile before leaving.

"How do you feel?" I asked, crawling onto the bed beside Amy, touching her hair.

"Tired," she admitted. "So much more tired than with Aludra." She frowned. "Can you help me shower, Sirius? I know the midwife cleaned me, but…"

"Of course," I said, kissing her temple. "Let's get you clean."

She was incredibly weak on her feet and it was mildly terrifying, seeing her so helpless. I hadn't really seen her like this since she was sick, and then she hadn't been out of my bed for the whole time. I pulled off her nightgown when we got to the bathroom and turned the water on to her favorite temperature.

"Thank you, Sirius," she sighed as I helped her into the shower. She stood there, holding her arms around her, shivering slightly.

"Are you all right?" I asked, reaching out.

"Just very tired," Amy said with a shrug. "You know I get cold when I'm tired. I'll warm up in a minute."

I watched her stand there, growing accustomed to the temperature and I took in her body.

It wasn't perfect. In this light I couldn't see the scar on her thigh, but I knew it was there. I could see the stretch marks caused by bearing three children. She hated them, but I thought there was something sort of charming about them.

I did feel sorry for her breasts, though. We'd only just managed to fully wean Aludra and now she had two more children to breast-feed. She was going to be cranky about that, when she was done being tired and the girls needed feeding.

"Sirius, are you staring at me?" she chided through the shower door.

"N-no."

"Stop being an idiot and get in here."

I couldn't help but laugh as I peeled off my clothes. I was fairly sweaty too, after all.

I climbed into the shower beside her, feeling her fingers resting on my collarbone as I wrapped my arms around her.

"I love you," she sighed. "I missed being this close to you. Stupid belly, getting in the way."

"Hey," I teased. "That belly was our daughters."

"Still," she sighed, pressing a tired kiss to my collarbone and resting her head on my chest, "I've missed you."

I closed my eyes and soaked in the feel of her against me. This, this was something I could never live without.

The following day, Lily demanded that they come to see us for tea in spite of the fact that she was exhausted.

"Let me see them!" Lily said happily as I carried out Arista and Lyra for her pleasure. Amy laughed, still tired, but much recovered from the long labor the night before. James was making tea. "Oh, Amy, they're gorgeous! Oh, I hope our baby is half this beautiful."

"I hope your baby looks like his mother," Amy teased. "Or he's doomed."

We all laughed, except James, who came in with a tea tray, scowling.

"No cheek from you, McAuley," he snapped playfully. "James Jr. will be a beautiful child."

"We're not naming him James Jr.," Lily said firmly. I got the sense that this was an argument they'd had quite a few times. "What did you two settle on, then?"

"Arista," I said, touching Arista's forehead. "And Lyra."

"Oh, that's so beautiful," Lily cooed. "Oh, it's so nice to have so many babies around. I'm excited for Frank and Alice to have theirs, as well. Oh, that reminds me." She gave James a significant look, and James cleared his throat.

"We have something rather important to ask you," James said, grinning as Lyra giggled while he ran his finger along her foot. "Our child is coming very soon, and we were hoping that you would be his godparents."

Amy gasped, but I wasn't surprised. We'd made an agreement, James and I, not long after we were both married, that we would be the godparents of each other's children. The tricky part was talking our wives into it, but that wasn't even so tricky. They were best friends, especially now with their other friends all gone.

"Oh, James, we'd be honored, wouldn't we?" Amy said happily, tugging at my sleeve.

"Of course we would, love," I said, kissing her forehead. "I'd say let's toast with the tea, since Lily can't have anything more…substantial."

"Thank you, Sirius," Lily said with a nod, and we raised our tea cups.

"To the four most ridiculous parents there ever were," Amy said happily.

"To friendship," I said.

"To Amy's incredibly fertile womb," Lily teased.

"To ending Voldemort," James said with a grin, and we all shared an uneasy smile as we began to drink our tea.

The end of Voldemort. It was a pleasant notion, but I looked down at my little girls as my friends held them and I sighed. When would that end come?

Aludra began to cry from her own bedroom and I rushed in to get her.

"Hey, there, princess," I said happily.

Even though I was thrilled with the twins, Aludra was still my princess. She was over a year old now, and could actually say Mum and Dad, and Rem, which was what she called Remus. She could stand on her own for a few seconds before falling over, and followed commands when it came to getting her dressed.

When she was done being dressed for the morning, I put Aludra on the floor and she crawled out to the front room, thrilled to find Lily and James present, as well as the strangers she was about to meet: her baby sisters.

"Oh, look at you!" Lily said, delighted. "Oh, you've gotten so big! And crawling like a champion, I see?"

"Well, Blacks are the best at everything, as my mother liked to say," I replied in a stuffy voice. Aludra lifted herself to standing beside Lily's chair and Lily cooed, handing Arista to Amy so that she could pull Aludra up to sit with her.

"Oh, such a big, beautiful girl," Lily said. "Oh, you're going to look just like your mum."

"She's discovered the joy of crayons," Amy said with a smirk. "She's also trying to figure out how to feed herself. She can't seem to hold the spoon the right way up."

"She's just fighting the system," I said proudly, kissing Aludra's forehead. "Aren't you, princess?"

"Dad!" she said happily, and I grinned.

"She's also gotten to the point where when Sirius reads to her she wants to turn the pages," Amy said with a giggle, "although she always wants to turn them when he's in the middle of a sentence."

"She's also more or less stopped putting blocks in her mouth," I sighed. "I miss that a little bit. It seemed so…canine."

Amy rolled her eyes as James laughed.

"She's also started trying to have tea parties with her dozens of dolls, but she hasn't really got a table big enough," Amy admitted. "I've forbidden Sirius from buying one, because then he'll only buy her more dolls. She's also figured out how to demand things."

"How?" Lily asked, laughing.

"She just points to what she wants and says, 'Dad,'" Amy laughed. "And it works every time."

"Watch this," I said eagerly. "Hey, princess, where's James? Can you find Uncle James?"

Aludra blinked happily, and pointed at James.

"Good girl!" Amy said happily, snuggling with Arista. "She's very clever. Aludra, love, where's your nose? Show me your nose!"

Aludra put her finger right beside her nose, where the bridge met her cheek. Lily laughed.

"Well, aren't you just talented," Lily teased, kissing Aludra's forehead.

"She knows where all her toys are, and shoes," I bragged. "And she tries to sing along with the wireless. She even helps me with clean-up, sometimes, when she's not already basically passing out from exhaustion."

Aludra had turned her curious attention to the babies in her presence.

"Princess," I said happily, "meet your baby sisters. Arista, and Lyra."

"Baby," she said and Lily laughed.

"That's right," Amy said as Aludra reached out for Lyra curiously. "Babies."

"Baby."

"How much contact do you want her to have?" James said nervously.

"Not much yet," Amy admitted, giving him the leave he needed to scoot out of her reach. "They're just newborns, after all."

"Baby," Aludra said, both curious and frustrated.

"Shh," Amy said gently, trading with Lily to take Aludra back. "Shh, now, calm down love. It's all going to be all right."

I looked at my companions and thought that this was how it was supposed to be.