oooOOOoooOOOooo Chapter 4

Padfoot stared at Harry in horror. "No! Say it isn't true," Padfoot said. Remus looked equally as horrified but also offended by the language Harry and Padfoot were using to describe the situation.

Harry nodded his head. "Harry! That's the one thing I told you to watch out for! Did you forget the spells I taught you?" Padfoot asked.

"No! I mean. It's just that you taught me those spells after. Not before," Harry said, significantly.

"Way to go, pup. That made you, what, 13?" Sirius asked. Hermione reached through and smacked Sirius' shin. It's all she could reach.

"Hey! Sorry! I didn't mean to be offensive but that is a feat. How old is she?" Sirius asked, concerned for the girl's health if she was younger than Harry.

"She had the body of a 20 year old but she was only 13," Harry said, miserably. Sirius whistled.

"That's a conundrum. No wonder you couldn't say no," Sirius said. Remus gave him the death glare. Sirius held up his hands in supplication. He didn't want to get smacked again.

"When is she due?" Remus asked, turning to the crux of the problem.

"About a week ago. I didn't even know she was pregnant! She just showed up on the train and said she had a gift for me. She left me this basket and disappeared. Like literally. She isn't at school. Her dad took her out of the country!"

"She trapped you good!" Sirius laughed. It wasn't really funny but he needed to break the tension somehow. Harry gave him a baleful look.

"She tricked me into signing this," Harry said, handing through the surrogacy contract he had found in the babies' basket along with their birth certificates and healers' reports, a baby book, and a whole slew of pictures of an age-advanced Luna, her pregnant belly, and the birth of the babies.

Remus took the document and read it quickly. He gaped and handed the document to Sirius who choked.

"She charged you 50,000 galleons per live birth? You keep saying babies, so I assume there's more than one?" Sirius said in disbelief.

"Twins," Harry said, miserably. "I didn't even see she'd done that. Can I afford that?"

"The payment is specified to come out of the Potter vaults, not your trust vault, so yes, you can. But still. She got you coming and going, pup," Sirius said.

"I find it hard to believe a 13 year old girl came up with this plan. Who is this girl?" Remus asked.

"She's Luna Lovegood," Hermione said. "Her dad owns The Quibbler."

Remus raised his eyebrows. "I know Xeno. He couldn't have planned this either."

"She said the goddess told her to give me a gift. I thought she meant the, you know, lovemaking," Harry said, his face bright red. "She said it would save my life."

Sirius laughed. "You thought a good shag would save your life? Granted, I don't see how a couple of babies are supposed to save your life either."

Remus smacked Sirius in the shoulder. "What else did she say, Harry?"

"I don't know," Harry said, throwing up his hands. "She was naked and I was distracted. I pretty much agreed to whatever she wanted, including an oath sworn on my life and magic that I would accept her gifts, cherish and love them, and never give them away to anyone else."

"Harry! You didn't! Oaths are serious business," Remus said, shocked that Harry could be so unwise.

Hermione smacked Harry's arm. "Ouch," the boy said, rubbing his shoulder.

"There goes that idea. You can't do adoption, either then," Sirius said. Harry reached forward and tried to smack his shin.

"I wouldn't do that anyway!" Harry said, hotly. "They're my family. My only blood family and I won't be giving them up!" Harry wasn't sure why it made him so angry to even consider the idea of adoption but it did. He didn't know his kids and didn't truly love them yet. The idea of them was still too new. Yet, he felt very protective of the tiny, helpless babies lying in the other room.

"Okay! Okay! I was just considering all the options," Sirius said. He didn't want to upset his already upset pup. "What are you going to do?"

Harry looked lost. "I really just don't know."

"For now, Professor McGonagall has given Harry a family housing suite in the Gryffindor dorms. Dobby and Winky, the house elves, are helping to look after the babies. I suspect we'll have to soldier on," Hermione said, brusquely.

Harry looked at her gratefully for saying "we".

Sirius looked at Remus. "You need to think about what you're going to do long term, pup. My uncle Cygnus had a kid at 13 and stayed on at Hogwarts until 17. Bellatrix LeStrange was the witch who grew up with only house elves to care for her. Of course, my cousin Andromeda, Bellatrix's sister, is a perfectly sane person and she was cared for by elves for the first year of her life. It could really go either way."

Harry shook his head. "I'll need to think on that. I can't decide anything further out than how am I going to sleep with innocent, helpless babies in the room? What if I break them?" Harry asked, fearfully.

"You won't, Harry," Remus assured him gently. "Could you use some help? For a couple of days? Maybe me and this mutt could sneak in and come visit."

"Please," Harry said, desperately. "There's no class tomorrow. Classes don't start until Monday. I could meet you in Hogsmeade and you could come back with me. I'll bring my cloak! I'll tell them I bought the dog to be a guard dog for the babies! Just please!"

Sirius laughed but agreed. "I'd love to hang around and help with the little baby pups. Let me at 'em and I'll spoil 'em rotten."

Remus looked serious. "I can only stay for a couple of days. I have a day job and as much as I'd love that day job to be looking after your children, it's not. I can leave Padfoot for as long as you like, though."

Harry looked a little hopeful, "Are you interested in a job as a nursemaid? Or governor? I'll gladly pay you."

Remus laughed this time. "Little children aren't really my forte. Give them to me when they're school aged, and we can talk again."

"I have an idea. I'll need to speak with someone first. We'll try to call tomorrow in Hogsmeade," Hermione said, thinking hard.

"We'll meet you at the Shrieking Shack at around 2pm? That'll give you time to shop and eat before you meet up with us," Remus said, sensibly.

"Sure. How hard can it be, shopping with babies?" Harry asked. He had no idea.