Happy Christmas, Family Malfoy

Happy Christmas, Family Malfoy

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Chapter 5

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"Oi! Anybody home?" called out the darkhaired man as he walked further into the house. "Remus?"

"Over here, Sirius," came the response to his call from the nearby room. "We've got an owl from Keith, I'm currently reading it. Would you care to see it, too?"

Now, Sirius grinned. "You bet," he said cheerfully. He walked into the living room and sank onto the couch next to his husband. Wrapping an arm around Remus's shoulders, he glanced down at the letter in the werewolf's hands. "So, what does our dear son say?" he asked curiously.

"Wait a minute, I'm just reading," Remus said. "He just says that Severus had been visiting Hogwarts -- oh, Merlin." Remus looked down at the letter, stunned. "Guess what? Severus is pregnant, again."

"Merlin," breathed Sirius. "You would think those two have never heard of contraception. I mean, they have ten kids already; you would think they have had enough of babies."

Remus, however, gave him a serious gaze. "Sirius, I happen to know that they have done everything they can," he said. "After Janus, they have tried all the best charms and potions available to keep Severus from becoming pregnant again. It's not that their children weren't wanted, just not wished for. Pregnancy is so hard on Severus; they are trying to prevent it, but always fail. And he wouldn't abort to save his life."

Sirius gave him a disbelieving gaze. "Just how fertile is that man?" he asked.

"After Remus and Sirius, he took a potion that should have made him absolutely sterile, unable to father or carry," Remus said. "After that, he has fathered Severah and carried Juliah. That's how fertile he is."

"How is that possible?" asked Sirius disbelievingly. "I mean, when you become sterile, you stay sterile. We should know that, if anybody." At this, he raised a hand onto his stomach.

Sirius's efforts in the Ministry had done much good. True, some new regulations were still pulled through regularly, but those weren't half as bad as the old ones. Nowadays, werewolves and their human mates were equals in marriage and divorce. They were also allowed to have children -- no young werewolf would ever again have to go through the humiliation Remus had been forced to experience on his sixteenth birthday. However, like Sirius had noticed to his great sadness, unlike most charms, the sterilization charm couldn't be undone. They could never have biological children, which was why they let Keith think they simply weren't allowed to reproduce. It was easier to explain that way.

However, Remus just smiled a bit and covered Sirius's hand on the Animagus's stomach with his own. "Exactly," he said. Then he added, "And on that note... How are you feeling right now?"

Sirius smiled in response. "Well, I'm doing greatly," he said cheerfully. "Except for the morning sickness, I am feeling just wonderful. I think the baby's enjoying its life just as much." He rubbed affectionately his almost perfectly flat belly. "Grow big and strong, little one," he murmured downwards.

"You heard your Daddy, brat," Remus, too, said gently, directing his words to Sirius's stomach as well. "Do as he says, and you'll never have a worry in your life." He then glanced up at Sirius and smiled again. "Now, we only have to hope that he or she is an obedient child," said the werewolf. "Right?"

"Yeah, let's hope so," Sirius replied. Oh, yes. Sirius was indeed pregnant again. And, as impossible as it should have been, the baby was Remus's. A child of his and Remus's was growing inside him, not maybe biologically theirs, but magically, yes. A bit of both of their genes had been taken with a charm and made into the small fetus that was now in his "womb". They hadn't told anyone yet, however -- the charm was still on the testing stage, and it was probable they would lose the baby. Still, they were determined to keep trying until they managed to get another child of their own.

Of course, Remus immediately switched onto his mediwizard mode. "How was your morning sickness today? It wasn't worse than usually, was it?" The werewolf raised a hand to feel his forehead. "You do look a bit tired. Maybe you should lie down for a bit and have some rest."

Sirius, however, brushed his hand off. "I'm fine, really, Remus," he said. "If I needed sleep, rest assured that I would make sure I got it. Right now, however, all I need is being with you."

Remus grinned sheepishly." Sorry," he said. "I guess I'm just too used to dealing with risk pregnancies. However, I might remind that yours is just that." He gave his husband a stern glance.

"I know that," Sirius said. "And I'm not taking any chances here. I'd really like to keep this baby."

"We have a goal in common, then." Now Remus turned towards Sirius and wrapped his arms around the Animagus's waist. "This baby is going to grow up and be just as wonderful a kid as Keith has been."

"That it will." Sirius smiled at his lover, then leant in to place a kiss onto Remus's lips. "I love you."

"And I love you, too."

*

"Father?" asked a voice behind Lucius. "Father, could I maybe ask you something?"

Turning around, Lucius saw his second eldest daughter in front of himself. "Of course, Hannah," he replied. "What is it you wanted to ask?" He wondered the girl's serious expression. Was something wrong?

Now, Hannah glanced around. Then she asked hurriedly, "Is Dad having a baby again?"

Lucius blinked. Then he said, "No, he isn't. He is having three babies."

Now, the girl's grey eyes lit up. "I knew it!" she exclaimed. Then, to her father's great surprise, she turned around and shouted, "Did you hear? Daddy's having three babies!"

In an instant, several heads came to sight from behind the corner. Janus, Draconah, Lucius Junior, Marius, Remus, and Sirius soon surrounded their father, firing questions at him. Lucius answered them as well as he could. However, then Marius said, "Then Juliah will be a big sister, too!"

In an instant, the elder siblings corrected him. "Juliah had a little twin sister," Janus told with the knowledge of all his seven years of age. "But her sister was so small she died in Dad's stomach. Right, Father?"

Lucius swallowed. Forcing his voice to stay calm, he said, "Right. You all have a little sister who's an angel in the Heaven now." As he then watched his children hurrying back to their games, cheerful as ever, he swallowed again. The children couldn't mourn a sister they had never known, so they just happily accepted the fact that she had died and was now an angel. To their parents, it hadn't been that easy.

Two months to his pregnancy with Juliah, Severus had suddenly got some painful stomach cramps. As Lucius had immediately gone to call Remus over, they had discovered that Severus had had a miscarriage. Lucius had been half shocked, half relieved, although this second feeling he had well hidden from his heartbroken husband. Just as messed up had his feelings been when Severus had later joyfully announced that he was pregnant -- not again, but still. He had been carrying twins again, and had only lost one. 1)

That had been a horrible experience -- their baby had died. In the end Lucius had been thankful about the fact that Juliah had still been there. Although the pregnancy had been by no means easy to Severus, he had realized that his husband couldn't have got over the miscarriage without having another baby to care for.

Now, Lucius walked towards the master sitting room. On the doorway he stopped, a faint smile touching his lips as he looked over to the couch. Severus was lying there, napping happily, Juliah curled up against his side, equally asleep. The sight was so cute the blond felt his heart clenching in his chest.

Lucius's hand crept slowly towards his wand, but pulled his hand away immediately. No, that would not do. He had heard other people suspecting that some of his children weren't his at all, but he trusted Severus. Who could tell that there hadn't been some redhead a long time ago in the Snape family, and that the gene had just been hidden for Merlin knew how long until it now showed up? Or perhaps it came from Severus's mother's family. It just was that blond hair was a recessive trait, and the genes their children got from Severus defined their hair colour. Yeah, that was the only thing there was to that.

This time, however, there was some doubt hidden deep inside his mind. For a reason, too. After having seen how hard Severus's pregnancy with Juliah had been, Lucius had, unknown by his husband, casted a certain charm on himself. To be exact, a sterilization charm -- the same the Ministry had used on werewolves before Sirius's team had got that regulation cancelled. Could the triplets really be his?

Well, they were. He knew that adultery would be just as impossible to Severus as an abortion, and should have been disgusted with himself for having even thought about that possibility. There was no way his husband could have cheated on him; he just was fertile like the worst Weasley...

Wait a minute... Weasley. Weasleys had always a lot of children, and they had red hair. But there most certainly was now Weasley blood in his own family, that he knew for sure.

Therefore, he would have to take a look at the Snape family tree.

Now with a new set determination, Lucius headed towards his private library.

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