Sirius was so excited that he, as Padfoot, tugged Ramona into a side alleyway a couple blocks down from her doctor's office, ducking behind a dumpster.
It was all he could do in the appointment to stay in his canine form, the many feelings swelling in his chest as he saw his child, his son, they now knew, on the monitor. Heard his heartbeat. It made everything so much more real to him. The ultrasound for determining sex was usually done at 20 weeks, but as Ramona had not yet had one done, her 17 week check up allowed them an early reveal.
"Are you okay?" Ramona ask gently, Sirius bursting into tears as he stood from Padfoot's height back to his own.
"Yeah... No..." Sirius shrugged, smiling as he continued to cry. He pulled knelt down on his knees before Ramona and put his hands on her now fairly obviously pregnant belly. "Our little boy." Sirius kissed her stomach, holding himself there for a long moment before looking up at her.
Ramona laid her hand on Sirius' jaw, and he leaned into her touch.
"A boy." She repeated, smiling. "Come on, we should go tell his family that he is a 'he'. Besides, I think Tonks is bringing the impromptu gift she got Rem, and you're going to want to see that."
Their home, however, was not in the good spirit that they'd left it in.
There was an emergency Order meeting in the dining room, everyone speaking in hushed voices. When the couple entered, Molly stood from the table, and gently guided Sirius and Ramona back out in the hall, closing the door behind her.
"Welcome home, everything is a bit... Hectic." Molly sighed, shaking her head.
"Did something happen?" Sirius ask, crossing his arms. Ramona put a hand in the middle of his back in support.
"Before I start- He is fine." Molly tried to explain. "Harry-"
"What about Harry?" Sirius cut her off.
"Let her talk, love." Ramona soothed, rubbing his back.
"There was an incident, Dementors in Surrey attacked Harry and his cousin. Harry fended them off with a patronus, but-"
"Where is he now?" Sirius pressed, interrupting again.
"Let me speak, Sirius." Molly scolded firmly. "He used the charm, the Ministry has suspended him, pending a hearing, he may be expelled from Hogwarts. But he is unharmed, he is safe, and Remus and Tonks went and got him. He's upstairs with... with Ron." Molly said, as Sirius darted away toward the staircase. She looked over to Ramona, who had nervously started to bite at her lower lip skin. "Come on, love. You can listen in, have some tea."
"My brother here?" She ask, a bit defeated.
"Of course. Go on in." Molly nodded, pushing the door open.
Ramona kept her eyes down as heads turned when she entered her dining room, quietly taking the open place on the far side of Remus, Tonks being in the spot on the other side. Kingsley was giving a more in-depth report of what the Ministry had to say about the incident in Surrey, the decision to first expel, then roll back expulsion to a suspension, pending a hearing before the Wizengamot.
Ramona hadn't even realized she'd zoned out so badly, until Remus was gently shaking her shoulder, and she shook her head, noticing that everyone had left, save Remus, Tonks, and Molly. Kingsley and Arthur both had to get back to the Ministry to work, and the others went their separate ways for the evening.
"You good, kid?" Remus ask, face full of concern. "Baby okay?"
"Fine. I'm fine, he's fine. Healthy." She said, shaking her head, still distracted.
"He?!" Remus, Tonks and Molly all gasp at once.
"Oh." Ramona cringed inwardly. "Sorry, yeah. It's a boy... Surprise?!"
"Would you ladies excuse us?" Remus ask politely. "Just a moment, if you don't mind."
Molly nodded and tugged Tonks along out of the dining room. Once the door closed, Remus turned to his sister, brow furrowed, and he crossed his arms.
"You look... wrong." Remus said after a moment.
"Rude." Ramona snorted.
"You don't look like a woman who just found out she's expecting a healthy baby boy." Remus explained. "You look like someone popped your balloon."
"I think the expression is 'burst your bubble', and I guess I do feel that way." She shrugged again. "Hormones, maybe. I dunno."
"I don't think so." Remus sat back in his chair. "I think you no sooner came through the door, and Sirius was off upstairs. Didn't even look back, did he?"
"He was supposed to do that, Rem." Ramona defended. "Its his job."
"It is." Remus nodded. "Doesn't mean you don't have feelings about it. If it hurt you, you can say that. You're allowed to feel how you feel."
"I am feeling how I feel." Ramona snorted. "It all came down to this, and here it is. He is upstairs talking to Harry. What will happen will, and I can't do anything about that. Kinda want to be sick, but I've made it close to half way through this pregnancy and only been sick a handful of times, so I am going to make it a point to not do that."
"Don't do that." Remus agreed. "Shall I take you upstairs, too?"
Ramona sat for a moment, looking at the table, fumbling with her fingers. She swallowed thickly, took several deep breaths, closed her eyes for a moment. After she had completely collected her nerves, she nodded. Remus held out a hand and helped her up, then guided her out and to the stairs.
Sirius had sat Harry down across from him in the study.
When he'd first came into the teen's bedroom, Harry had nearly taken him to the floor he hit him so hard, the hug he wrapped Sirius in was bone crushing, and he could feel the fear coming off the younger wizard. Sirius simply held him close, shushing him and trying to soothe the boy for a long moment. He peaked past him to Hermione and Ron, then looked back down to Harry.
"Best take this somewhere else." Sirius said, guiding Harry out by the shoulders out of the room.
So here they sat. Harry looked at Sirius expectantly, waiting for the 'whole story' as he'd been wanting from Hermione and Ron, yet words wouldn't come to Sirius. He'd opened his mouth several times, thought better of it, and closed his lips again with exaggerated sighs each time.
"You didn't write." Harry said finally. "One letter since school let out, and that was my first day back with the Dursleys."
"I know, and I'm sorry. I would give you the same 'Dumbledore said' story, but I expect Ron and Hermione gave you it already, yeah?" Sirius guessed, and Harry nodded. "Its a partial truth, honestly. He did request, for your safety, we cut contact back."
"Remus wrote to me." Harry said flatly. "Sometimes twice a week."
"I think you'll find Remus has never really given a fuck what Dumbledore said about anything, honestly. But tell me, how informative about the events of late have these letters been?" Sirius' stormy grey eyes watched Harry's face carefully. Harry shook his head.
"They weren't. But they were comforting. I needed that." Harry snapped.
"Fair enough, son. Fair enough." Sirius sighed, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes and rocking back into his chair for a long moment, where he sat with his eyes closed, taking time to compose himself. "It's been busy and-"
"I heard. Renovations are time consuming. I could see why you'd be too busy to write your Godson, who saw a friend killed, who faced Voldemort-" Harry sneered again, his voice raising.
"Harry." Sirius commanded, keeping his own voice firm but low, and Harry stopped speaking. "Thank you," He continued, his voice softening. "Damn the house, kid. There are other things on my plate. Things I really didn't think were something you send to family in a letter if you can help it, and I knew it would only be a short time until you'd be here, and I could tell you, face to face."
"Tell me... what, exactly?" Harry scoffed, crossing his arms, looking away. Sirius couldn't help but notice he, in this moment, was the perfect vision of James when he'd fight with his own father, the years Sirius lived at the Potter's home.
"I heard you ask about the 'Lupin baby'. Its not- It's not Moony's baby. It's mine. Ramona, that's his sister, so that's her last name too, we-"
"What?!" Harry squawked, jumping slightly in his seat. He looked pale suddenly, a mix of excitement and horror blending on his face.
"Surprise?" Sirius tried to jest, sounding more sorry than excited. "Just found out today, we're having a boy."
Harry sat for a moment, still in his bunched up position in his chair, blinking at Sirius. The silence that fell on them was heavy, and Sirius tried to give Harry time to fully realize everything he'd just told him, so he listened to the ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner. After seven minutes of silence, save the ticking noise, Sirius finally cleared his throat and sat forward.
"Say something, please." He begged. Harry continued to sit silently, though he did relax into a more natural posture in the large armchair.
Harry simply shrugged and swallowed.
"Come on, mate." Sirius pleaded. "Anything. Fuck off, congratulations, I don't care. Just- something."
"That's what had you busy?" Harry finally ask, his voice so quiet Sirius thanked his lucky stars being a dog animagus gave him a boost in hearing.
"It is." Sirius nodded. "I'll spare you the gushy details of my relationship, but let's just say it was a bit rocky, to start. We got past that, but then, there was this old house. This place, as you can still see in some places, was kind of a dump from years of disuse. I couldn't in good conscious have our family living here like this, so we started with redoing it. Ramona has the room for your permanent spot stripped, figured you'd want to pick out your colors and furnishings. That's why you're in with Ron for now." He explained.
"Wait- What?" Harry's eyebrows knitted together as he objected.
"Your room?" Sirius repeated. "You said you wanted to live with me, I understand that was a couple years ago, and things have been a bit of a mess sense, and I still don't mean to assume, but-"
"You still want me to?" Harry ask quietly.
"Are you kidding?" Sirius snorted. "Yeah, Harry. I do- We, we do." Sirius paused and cleared his throat. "Ramona, she's um-"
Sirius stopped for a moment. He held a finger to his lips and then out, gesturing for Harry to sit where he was for the moment. He walked about halfway to the door, listened for a second, then came over and sat back down.
"She's outside." Sirius whispered. He took his wand out, and with a quick flick of his wrist, set a silence charm around them, so their conversation wouldn't be overheard.
"What's-" Harry started to ask, looking back to the door, then to Sirius once again. "What's going on?"
"She's so scared of you, son." Sirius sighed, pushing his hair back with one hand. "She's terrified you won't like her. It's been a whole ordeal."
"Scared of me?" Harry ask, gesturing to himself. He looked equal parts offended and confused. Sirius nodded.
"She, uh." Sirius swallowed for a moment, "She, and Remus, as you know, haven't had had the easiest time of family life. Their only constant has been each other. She's been hurt badly before, and I don't just mean had her heart broken. Plus the fact their mother died when she was so young, she's scared about being a mum, scared of being, for lack of a better term, your 'step godmother', as it were, and I've been trying to help her. Let her know how much she means to me. I'm trying to be a good man, Harry. I am. So I'm sorry I didn't break Dumbledore's rules like Remus. I'm sorry I didn't just come get you. I just really do have a lot on my plate right now."
"You're also still wanted for murder." Harry deadpanned. Sirius met his eye, and for a brief second, they simply stared at each other, then both wizards burst out laughing. Before Sirius even knew what was happening, he was on his feet again, locked in another tight hug with Harry.
"Hey Harry?" Sirius said, stepping back, keeping one hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Yeah?" Harry ask, still smiling.
"Love you, kiddo." He said, moving the hand on Harry's shoulder up to his cheek, where he gently patted him, making wrinkle up his nose and pull away a bit, laughing.
"Love you, too, Sirius." Harry said, nodding. "And- I'm really sorry."
"For?" Sirius questioned, an eyebrow raised.
"Being selfish." Harry sighed, his eyes falling to the floor, looking ashamed of himself.
"You weren't being selfish." Sirius assured him. "You simply didn't know. If Ramona hadn't gotten pregnant, and everything else remained true- I'd be a shit Godfather. You deserve my time, and I'm sorry that you didn't get more of it for the last few months. But you're here now, and I've got you..." Sirius looked over Harry's shoulder to the locked study door. "Moony has Ramona outside. Would you like to meet her?"
Whew! That felt a bit wordy- and I left y'all with another cliffhanger- so sorry.
Please be sure to follow for updates- and PLEASE review! Also- who want's to give some boy name ideas? Ramona may have her mind made up, but the author can be persuaded.
Thanks for reading!