The Dog Star Story

Alexandra Black looked fondly down at her third child and only son. Just a few hours old, he was looking around him with wide blue eyes. He took everything in, from the doctor in the white coat who he hopefully didn't remember spanking him, to the dark-haired little girls on the side of the bed who were nevertheless much larger than he was, to the man above him looking utterly ridiculous cooing to his only son.

Jeremy looked up. "He's so adorable, Alex. How can you sit there with a straight face?"

Alex shifted upward to get more support from her pillows. "I don't know much about my son, Jeremy, but I know this: he's a stubborn rascal, just like his father. It took me hours to get him out, and I'm too damn tired for extreme expressions." She smiled anyway, though, and her cheeks ached with it. "He is adorable, though. What should we name him?"

Jeremy looked back at the boy. "He's so... serious."

Alex looked at the boy too. He gurgled and stuck his tongue out at her. "He is not."

"He is too. Did you see how he looked about? Like he was assessing every little feature of the room. Probably a future Gringotts employee!"

Alex snorted, and took the baby. She held him up jiggled him, and he made one of those noises that makes men retreat in fear of being spit up on, and makes women swoon at the cuteness. Alex giggled. "Darling, you know nothing about babies." She sighed, and leaned back, cuddling the little one.

"Humph. We should decide on a name, Alex."

"We should. Indeed we should. Any ideas?"

"Hmmm... well, if he were a girl I would suggest a flower."

"Darling, I thought you at least knew that much about babies-he's not a-"

"I know he's not a girl! I said if!"

Alex smiled faintly again. "Gotcha."

"Humph. How about a saint?"

"We could... but most saints have either dreadfully boring names, or name that, well... well take... well, they're awful. Come up with something different, darling, we did better than this with the two girls."

"I could name him after the most important person in my life-Alex." He came around and looked over her shoulder.

"You're so sweet. Kiss?"

He kissed her. "Love you. So serious, Alex Black!"

"Which one of us?"

"Him."

"I'm sure I don't where he gets it."

"Hmm. We have a problem."

"I know. I don't want to spent the rest of my life asking which one, Jeremy."

"We could make it his middle name."

"Fine by me, but what for his first name?"

"Jonathan?"

"Boring."

"James?"

"Ditto."

"Jason?"

"I thought we dealt with this with Jennifer?"

"It was worth a try."

"No, dear. It wasn't." The baby made a reaching motion, and she held him so that he could nurse.

"Maybe a plant."

"What?"

"We could name him after a plant."

"There aren't many male plant names."

"How about Gabriel?"

"That's not a plant."

"I didn't say it was; it was an alternative suggestion."

Alex started to shake her head, paused, and then shook it more slowly. "I like it, but I don't think it fits him, somehow." She brushed a hair from her son's forehead. "Let's take a break, darling, it'll come to us eventually."

The both spent a moment looking down at their son. Jeremy said, "I should go get the camera." Alex said that was fine, as long as it got nowhere near her. After a bit, the governess came in to take the two girls to bed. They walked out, but a moment later Demetria bounced back in.

"I just wanted my bedtime kisses."

Both parents kissed her, Jeremy on the top of her head, Alex on her cheek. "How has this governess been? I know you said the last one was horrid..."

"Oh, this one has been much better, Mama! She always tells us a bedtime story, and if we eat all our vegetables without complaint, she gives us an extra sweet!"

"Wonderful, dear. What sort of bedtime stories?"

"Well, at first she told us about a circus... It's a Muggle thing, and the Muggle children go to it for entertainment, and she told us stories about all these clever Muggles who work there, without magic and everything! And now she tells us stories about the groups of stars-I didn't even know the stars came in groups, but she has this ball she lights up that can show the stars on the ceiling, and she points them out-and she tells us these marvelous stories about these old Greek people and Gods and things!"

"I'm so glad you like her, dear! And you know, those stories originally helped to give magic its shape, back when they were first discovering how to even use wands. It might do you good to pay attention to them."

"I will. Jen is much better at remembering them than I am... I can go back a few, and then I sort of forget. The last one I remember is the group of dog stars... umm... what was it? Um..."

"Canis?" her father suggested.

Her eyes lit up. "Yeah, that's it! Thanks, da!"

She grinned, and it was the sort of grin that was impossible not to return. Even little Blank Alex Black was smiling. The adult Alex Black wasn't saying anything, but her smile was slowly getting less tired and more energized. Jeremy sent Demetria off to bed, and asked, "Well? What has got you so energized?"

Alex laughed, picked up the now-full baby, tossed him a bit, and cuddled him. "Sirius Alex Black."

"I thought you didn't think he was serious?"

"Not the adjective, Jeremy... the star. S-I-R-I-U-S. The dog star."

Jeremy stared at her for a full minute. Finally, he said, "How do you do that?"

"Do what, darling?"

"Come up with the perfect compromise?"

"You've forgotten, I'm the eldest of five."

"Ah."

"And you know what the best part is?"

"What?"

"If you try to make it the adjective "Serious," you're either wrong, or making a joke yourself."

Jeremy laughed. "Incorrigible!"

Sirius Alex Black looked through the books. There wasn't much time left-they had figured that if they didn't have these six summarized by the end of the night, they might not get another chance. Luckily, they only had to do the chapters on the Animagus transformation.

There were a surprising number of books with that information, and James had pointed out that they should probably read them all, or they might miss something.

"Chapter 19, the Parseltongue, 20, the Healer, 21, Lumiosi-hey! Why would Fox and Star be in here? Oh, wait, here's the Animagi stuff. Chapter 23, the Animagus: Although rare, Animagi are perhaps the most common of the special wizards and witches in this book." What was the book called again? Special Wizarding World Talents: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How, or At Least as Close as We Can Come. Huh. Some people had way too much free time.

Sirius diligently copied down all information that he didn't already have; unfortunately, with this book that meant only a few pieces: they already knew quite a lot about it. Then he bookmarked the section on Lumiosi; he really was curious about that.

James closed his last book, and leaned over to look at Sirius' notes. "Pick an animal which you have an affinity to; spell to find it if help needed-charms, fifth year; ask Lily?" He looked up. "Sirius, we can't ask her that; she doesn't know about this."

Sirius snorted, and ran a hand through his hair. Getting long again; he'd have to get it cut. "James, please. We just have to ask her if she knows about it, we don't have to tell her we want to try it."

"We don't have to ask if she knows about it, either, you know."

"I know. But that would give you more time to make a fool of yourself in her company; how could we resist?"

Peter snorted from the other side of the table. "Did you two have any ideas on what you're going to be?"

It was effective; both James and Sirius shut up and got thoughtful looks on their faces. After a bit, James said, "I've got one. I remember, my Gram used to tell me tales... and there was this one... Dagda, I think it was..." His eyes snapped back to them, and they were sparkling in a way normally associated with silly putty coating Slytherin boxers. "I want to be a stag."

"Well, that was quick. Any ideas yourself, Peter?"

"Something small, but fast, because one of us will have to get past the Whomping Willow. And with big teeth," he grinned. Peter got rather a lot of taunting because of his rather small teeth. "I'm surprised you're not going with the animal you're named after, Sirius."

"That I'm-Oh, that! Huh... I guess I could. If I'm going to be a dog, though, I want to be a BIG dog."

"Be a Grim! I bet we could have an awful lot of fun with Trelawney over that one."

"Trelawney? James, you're brilliant! I swear, the word "coot" was made for her!"

"Thanks, my friend. I'm going to pack up, and you two should too. We still need to get back to the dormitory."

Sirius packed up his bag, grinning. A Grim. "Heh. It just occurred to me... I'm happy to keep it as my animal, but wouldn't you two say that I'm one of the least grim people you could get?"

"You're certainly the least serious!"

"James! Si! Please! If you start that tired old pun war again, I swear I'm going to lock you in Moaning Myrtle's toilet! With Snape! So cut it out, alright?"

"My goodness, Peter! What a grim fate!"

"Indeed, a horrible punishment."

Peter groaned.

~finis~