Yes, people, this is a Baby Daddy Lucifer story. Having THE hardest time finding a good pic for the story.
Phoebe realized the hard way that she hadn't left a moment too soon when her water broke on Christmas Eve. Two days after she had left Grimmauld Place without a second's hesitation.
Thankfully the charms around her made her look like she was roughly seventeen and not the fifteen she actually was.
It seemed her luck was in, because she was a stone's throw from the hospital. She managed to waddle into the ER, explain her situation, and was given a bed within thirty minutes. It didn't hurt that she had given them the magical equivalent of a credit card and proven she could pay for it. As far as the hospital was concerned, she was a trust fund baby that had gotten knocked up from a party.
Ten hours of excruciating pain...and she gave birth to a surprisingly healthy baby girl at five pounds and six ounces who started squalling almost immediately. And if that wasn't enough to suit her sense of irony, the girl had been born exactly at midnight. On Christmas day.
Phoebe was able to hold her baby girl for the first time...and to commemorate such an unusual timing for a child to be born, they took her picture.
"What's her name?"
"Alexandra Prudence Potter," said Phoebe without hesitation. She had thought long and hard about what to name her child the moment she found out the gender, and that was the perfect fit.
The nurse made a note of the name, and then had Phoebe sign it. She then left the room leaving Phoebe to rest in peace with her new daughter Alexa at her side.
The real trouble, however, started the next morning, after Alexa had been given a clean bill of health.
"What."
"It's really for the best dearie. After all, one can't expect a young mother such as yourself to be able to handle caring for a child."
"You expect me to hand over my new daughter just like that...because of my age?!" hissed Phoebe. The nurse seemed taken aback by the sheer animosity in her voice.
And just like that, the Molly Weasley tone switched to a sneer worthy of Parkinson.
"Really dearie, you're too young to be able to handle the pressures of a newborn, especially considering your...condition. And since you won't name the father..."
"The father has nothing to do with this, and don't assume I can't handle a child. Just because I look young doesn't mean I'm not responsible," growled Phoebe.
"If you really were responsible, you'd never have gotten yourself into this mess in the first place," snapped the old woman.
Any patience Phoebe had snapped like a twig.
"Just out of curiosity, is there anything preventing me from signing out right now and leaving with my daughter?"
The woman narrowed her eyes at her.
Fortunately before any spells were thrown, the doctor came into the room anyway. Apparently someone noticed the sheer fury in Phoebe's tone and sent for him, and he was on the floor anyway.
"Is there a problem?"
"Aside from this senile old woman drawing up adoption papers for my daughter and assuming I wouldn't know the first thing about taking care of a child..." growled Phoebe, giving the old nurse a scathing look. Something in Phoebe's eyes made the old woman flinch and visibly step back.
"It's more of a formality, considering the number of teenage mothers who prefer giving up their children instead of raising them. Particularly when they come in with no parents," explained the doctor.
Phoebe could accept that explanation, but she still didn't like the way the old woman had treated her like a child who had done something stupid.
"Well I'm not handing Alexa over for adoption," she said firmly.
The doctor picked up her file off the bed, looked it over, and then said "Well you're healthy enough to leave, and your daughter is in better shape than some considering your age. If nothing else you can talk it over with your parents about keeping it, but be prepared for a lot of sleepless nights. And if you start to fall into depression I urge you to come back and get a prescription. It's not uncommon for young mothers to have extreme hormonal imbalances, particularly for teenagers."
Phoebe nodded, and paid the bill. The old woman gave her the stink eye, but the glare she shot back had her scurrying away. She was wheeled out of the hospital with a new bassinet to carry Alexa in, and once she got her strength back she hid her features under some make up and charm work that would last her past the pub.
As far as the wizards would be concerned, she was a witch out for some late Christmas shopping. It didn't help that she hid her new daughter under the invisibility cloak she had brought with her.
The goblin in charge of the Potter account was most agreeable considering her situation. He was able to walk her through registering her daughter as the new Potter heir, the forms that automatically labeled Phoebe as the new Head of the Potter family (and the Blacks once Sirius was gone), and to her delight helped her to create a new high security vault where she deposited all her gold under the name Evans.
By the time she was across the ocean and in the Americas (where their Ministry was quite lax considering some of the issues they had with demon-witches) most of the pure bloods that followed Voldemort or Dumbledore were drained almost dry of their gold.
And with her new card Phoebe would be almost untraceable. It didn't help that she had little interest in continuing her magical education outside of runes.
It took little time at all to arrange a nice, peaceful ride across the ocean in a muggle air plane. She was able to cover for her daughter by claiming Alexa was her 'sister', which decreased the number of looks from the stewardesses quite a bit. And while some of the passengers were unhappy to find a young woman with an infant (the cover story was that her mother died of childbirth, so she was taking them to their aunt in America) they were pleasantly surprised to find out the 'older' sibling was on the ball and kept Alexa quiet throughout most of the ride.
Phoebe almost wished she could see the look on the faces of those she left behind, but Alexa's safety was her top priority, not petty revenge. It wasn't worth it.
It was during the ride while she was feeding the infant that she noticed something unusual.
Alexa had unusual eyes. One was green like her own, and the other was the exact same shade of blue as the man who helped make her.
She still didn't know who Luc actually was...and if she ever saw him again it would be a toss up of whether she slapped him or kissed him.
Being a fifteen-year-old mother was exhausting, even if people actually bought the bullshit lie that Alexa was her kid sister.
Thank all that was holy for Dobby and Winky. Winky was excellent at medical charms and knew more about caring for young witches and wizards, and Dobby was able to keep the house clean for her.
Winky would make the bottles for Phoebe while Dobby insured that she wouldn't have to deal with the headaches of cleaning up most of the messes her daughter made.
That wasn't to say Phoebe had nothing to do.
She still had to feed her daughter, make sure she got to any and all doctors appointments, work on getting her high school degree (mostly through judicious use of a time turner to get to classes while her 'other' self took care of Alexa) while keeping up the ruse that they were living with an aunt. An aunt played by Winky under a disguise spell.
There was also the headache of washing, feeding, waking up at awkward hours of the night, and having to endure the nightmares that came with American programming people assumed was suitable for small children.
One episode of Barney and she narrowly avoided blasting the tape with a hex.
No way in hell was her daughter watching any of that mind-numbing rot. No way.
She'd rather corrupt her with anime. Teach her a new language and give her some decent variety. Sailor Moon was a bit girly and long winded, but it was still more tolerable than a singing dinosaur that made parents want to rip their ears off and gouge their eyes out.
Plus it would give her daughter ideas about magic. No sense in limiting her to what was considered normal.
After a month she fell into a workable routine.
After three, she started to notice a difference in herself. She was happier, more relaxed (despite the lack of sleep), and feeling more alive than she had in fourteen years.
And in six months, she found something that would make hiding that much easier.
It was an RV. More than big enough for a teenager and her six month old daughter.
And thanks to the fact the Americans had made it clear they would claim ignorance about the fact that she had decided to settle in their country (they hated Fudge and Dumbledore, enough said), it meant she had an easier time getting a license and keeping people from asking awkward questions. So long as she didn't do anything like killing mundanes randomly, they ignored the fact she magicked her new vehicle to the point it couldn't be found by magical methods.
Phoebe used every bit of magical knowledge to turn the rather old RV into a veritable tank. Then she hid it inside the woods outside her home under enough subtle spells to make it difficult to notice unless you walked right into the damn thing.
Phoebe was about to start yet another day of her new life when she heard a knock on the door.
In order to understand why she was wary of this one had to understand that the only ones who had her address was the high school she attended and that she had more or less forced them to accept a P.O. Box as her home address. No one ever bothered her because of the fidelius charm around her daughter that hid the fact Alexa wasn't her sister.
No one knew where she lived, and she planned to keep it that way. Especially after the rather irritating visit from social services that was completely unwarranted.
Nosy old hags...
Rather than put herself or her daughter in danger, she slipped up to the attic with Alexa and cautiously opened up the curtain.
There, down below, was one Sirius Black...among others. From the rippling across her yard she could see a few in invisibility cloaks or possibly disillusionment charms.
It was hard to hide that particular effect when you were looking for it, especially at noon on a bright sunny day.
Idiots.
She carefully replaced the curtain and said "Winky."
"Yes, Mistress Potter?" asked Winky. She had come a long way from the drunken elf she had been.
"Distract the idiots down below while Dobby starts moving everything out of the house. Make sure they don't come inside, and when the door closes I want you to take myself and Alexa to the RV. We're leaving town for a week, or possibly altogether."
"Yes, Mistress Potter," said Winky agreeably.
Winky donned her 'disguise' as Phoebe and Alexa's aunt Winnow and opened the door. The two stayed up in the attic safely behind the wards until Winky slammed the door shut after a minor shouting match that would send the Order to a completely different part of town. As far as they knew 'Phoebe' and the little girl were at the park like they usually were on Sundays.
With the Order gone, or enough that it didn't make a difference outside of a few idiots watching for her car in case she came driving up while the others were gone (including Hermione), Winky teleported Phoebe and Alexa to the RV. It took minutes to partially remove the covering enough that the cops wouldn't automatically pull her over, but would keep the magicals from noticing the driver or occupants.
It took Dobby a few moments before he and Winky were in their part of the RV. Phoebe had given them free reign to decorate it however they saw fit, down to their uniforms.
Giving them clothes was considered a sign that they weren't doing their job right. Given them uniforms made them official members of the family.
At least that was how Phoebe phrased it to the horrified Winky. The female elf took it better after she said it like that. She had several different kinds of uniforms, so she could change it up however she liked. It was a bit more freedom than the poor elf was used to, but she quickly adapted and took pride in it.
Dobby just loved the fact that Phoebe kept giving him the most outlandish and odd looking socks. He was never in the same pair twice, and they rarely matched. In a bit of humor, Phoebe followed suit.
"Everyone belted up?"
"Yes, Mistress Potter!" said Winky.
"Everything put up?"
"Yes Mistress Phoebe!" said Dobby.
"Dobby, I'll have you get the car as soon as I find out if I have to leave the area permanently, alright?"
Dobby nodded. Phoebe checked that Alexandra was buckled up correctly in the second seat in her baby carrier...then turned the engine over. It started up with a purr and she quietly drove the old vehicle down the dirt road. Aside from a few bumps, it was mostly smooth driving.
By the time the Order realized they'd been had, the group was long gone.
"Where is she?" demanded Sirius.
"I don't know! That woman said she was at the park, and there wasn't a car in the garage!" said Tonks irritably.
"I still can't believe Phoebe came all the way out here without so much a goodbye. And why did everyone assume the infant she had with her was her sister?" said Hermione with a huff.
"Who knows. I'm still wondering what that weird sound was earlier," said Tonks shrugging.
"Weird sound?" said Hermione.
"Sounded almost like a rumble or a weird purr. Hard to describe."
"Did it sound like the engine of a car?" asked Hermione intently.
"No idea. Sounded too big for a car though...maybe a truck?" said Tonks.
"Or another vehicle. She must have seen us and managed to slip out without us realizing it. Which means that there won't be anyone inside the house," reasoned Hermione.
"I don't care about that. I say we storm the place and find out if she was even there," snapped Sirius. And without much thought, he blasted the door down...only for the shrapnel to suddenly go from being blown inward to suddenly reverse direction and come right for him.
Yelping, anyone within the blast range ducked as best they could.
As if that weren't enough, with the door gone one of the wards around the property slammed down and made it impossible to go inside. They could see inside, yes, but they couldn't go in and snoop for clues.
It was rather ingenious and far more devious than anything Hermione would have given Phoebe credit for. The reversal of the massive splinters gave the wards ample time to activate and bar entry...and give anyone inside a chance to get to safety.
Moody eyed the ward with some approval.
"Well Potter's not here, I can tell you that much."
"How do you know?" asked Sirius.
"This ward's one of those that make it impossible for anyone to get in or out once it's set, and it's a pain in the arse to bring down even from inside. And I don't think the girl would willingly trap herself inside the house. It'll even repel a house elf from entering."
Sirius growled in frustration. They had been so close!
He just couldn't understand why his pup felt the need to leave so suddenly and without even a word of goodbye.
At first he thought it had been a great prank...right up until he found out that she had been declared the new Head of the Noble House of Potter.
There were only a few things that would cause the goblins to legally declare her as the family head.
Emancipation, passing her NEWT's two years early...or if the house of Potter suddenly gained a new heir of her bloodline, thus pushing her as the "head" by default.
Out of all of them, only the first seemed likely. With how tight security had been around Phoebe the idea that she had gotten knocked up at such a young age was laughable, if not highly unlikely. She was too responsible for that! Besides, Hermione said that her change in behavior had been due to teenage rebellion, a phase Sirius was very familiar with.
Denial wasn't just a river in Egypt, and had they been able to access the interior of the house they would have found a picture Dobby accidentally left behind of Phoebe with Alexandra after they first moved in. Fortunately she had copies.
