Happy Schoolday, Keith Lupin

Happy Schoolday, Keith Lupin

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Chapter 2

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"I hate you, Jamie and Pete," murmured Remus with a weary sigh, then collected his son into his arms.

"No, you don't," James said self-confidently, dragging his trunk forward, completely oblivious to the wailing child. "You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"But I really, really do hate you," argued the werewolf. "I was dreaming of a peaceful journey with a happy, quiet child, and you've already ruined that." Rocking his son gently in his arms, he murmured soothingly to the baby. "Shh, don't cry, dear, everything is all right. Dad and Father are right here. Don't cry now, Keith..." And truly, the child slowly calmed down in his dad's embrace.

"He really reminds me of Paddy," chuckled Peter. "At one second, he's bawling his eyes out, and the next, he's all happy and smiling again."

"I resent that!" protested Sirius, while everyone else laughed. Even Keith smiled a bit, although he didn't of course understand what exactly was so funny. "I was pregnant by that time! It wasn't my fault, it was that brat inside me!"

"Calling your only son a brat isn't a sign of a good father," Remus pointed out after getting over his laughing fit.

"Technically, he's not the father, you are, Remus," Lily said.

"So I'm a mother?" asked Sirius, insulted.

"No. In technical terms, you're a carrier," Lily corrected. "Although the fact that you immediately assumed that is a bit suspicious..."

Again, everybody else laughed. Sirius grumbled, "Not funny."

"Aww, but it is, dear," grinned Remus. "See? Even Keith thinks it's funny!" He pointed at the giggling child with his free hand, while his other arm was holding Keith securely.

"E tu mi Keith?" sighed Sirius in resignation. "Honestly, what can I do when even my husband and son are turning against me?"

"Nothing but wail and cry," said his werewolf husband with a smirk. "Although if you ask nicely enough, maybe Keith could do that for you."

"Merlin, no," breathed Peter. "I have a suspicion that I'm going to hear a lot of baby wailing in the near future. Do not do anything to raise the possibilities for that."

"So we should not do anything?" asked Remus disbelievingly. "I really don't recall being the one who rushed into the compartment and startled my son crying!"

"Your son?" echoed Peter before he could stop himself. It wasn't until James and especially Lily shot him a warning glance that he noticed his mistake.

To their great surprise, Sirius just bursted into laughter, and Remus chuckled, too. Then the darkhaired teen father -- er, carrier -- started to dig through Keith's bag. A moment later, he fished out a piece of parchment and handed it to Peter. "Read it aloud," he commanded.

"Keith Simon Lupin," the fair-haired boy read from the parchment. "Biological parents: Carrier Sirius Lupin and father Remus Lupin." Raising his eyes from the parchment to the grinning teen parents, Peter stammered, "But... how? Why?"

"Easy," replied Sirius nonchalantly as he snatched the copy of Keith's birth certificate back from his friend's hands and put it back into the bag. "I got pregnant with Keith just a couple of days before Remus turned sixteen."

"Then why --" started Lily, frowning, but stopped then as sudden realization dawned her. "The Ministry," she breathed in horror.

"Exactly," said James with a grim nod. "If they'd known that Sirius was pregnant to Remus, he wouldn't have been pregnant for long."

"Hey, wait a minute," Peter interrupted him. "Do you mean you knew it all along?"

"Of course," the bespectacled boy replied. "Why would I otherwise had lied about having supposedly slept with Padfoot?"

"So it's not true?" asked Lily half curiously, half teasingly.

"Of course not!" James exclaimed, sounding a bit annoyed. "Sirius is like a brother to me, and no matter how perverted I may seem, incest has never been my cup of tea."

"What a pity," murmured Sirius. "So you're not bedding Snape, then? He's your first cousin, or is he not?"

"Do not remind me about that," groaned James. Then he turned towards Peter and Lily. "You two shall not tell anyone," he said sternly. "The Ministry can't do much to Keith now, so we don't have to worry about those gits. However, unless we can make up a believable story, it would be really hard to explain how our sterile friend has a biological child."

The two nodded with serious expressions. They would not tell the secret to anyone. Even though Keith was now safe, telling somebody the truth might very well mean that Remus's secret got into public. And they couldn't let that happen.

"What's the point of that thing, anyway?" Peter then asked in an attempt to break the silence that had fallen over the compartment. He was pointing at the cloth folded over Sirius's chest.

"It's for carrying the baby, you daft," James told him. "My aunt had a similar one when my cousin was just a baby. You put the kid inside the cloth, and it stays safe, warm, and calm with a parent so near."

"Plus, you have your both arms and hands free," added Sirius cheerfully. "It's really useful."

Just then, the door to the compartment was opened. Thankfully this incomer had more sense than James and Peter, and didn't bang the door and thus startle Keith. Two girls came to the compartment. As one of them saw Keith on Remus's arms, she exclaimed over her shoulder, "See, I was right! The baby's here!"

After a second, the whole compartment was full of girls of varying ages, from first-years to seventh-years, all giggling and cooing over Keith. The baby took this all with a wide smile, obviously enjoying this position as admired.

"What's her name?" asked Judy Melrose, who was a year below the Marauders.

"Keith Simon Lupin," replied Remus, glowing with fatherly pride. "He's just a month old."

"Awww," the girls chorused. To their great shock, James and Peter noticed that Lily had also joined the chorus. Sirius kept a watchful eye at anyone daring to come near his son, while Remus was busy introducing Keith to every curious girl.

It didn't take long until the inevitable question came. "May I hold him?" begged Bilba Baggings from third year. After a second, every girl was asking the same thing.

Exchanging brief glances, Remus and Sirius seemed to be having some kind of a silent conversation. At last, Remus nodded. "Everybody wanting to hold him, get into a line," he commanded calmly. In an instant, all girls -- even Lily, who'd already been granted this privilege -- stood in the line that went a long way out of the compartment.

Bilba was happy enough to get Keith on her arms first. As Remus instructed her how to hold the baby correctly, she cooed down at the baby under the envious gazes of the other witches. Soon enough, the turn was given to the next girl in line -- they only had so much time before they'd arrive to Hogwarts.

As the line went on, James's quick calculations told him that far more girls were coming to hold Keith than had originally been in the compartment. In fact, he noticed that they were soon getting near the amount of a full year of girls. It didn't take long from that line to be crossed -- what's seventy people when there's a baby? -- and soon they were getting near one hundred visitors. Most of the girls were Gryffindors, many were also from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and he even managed to see a couple of Slytherins. Slytherin girls were usually in couples or larger groups, like they hadn't dared to come alone. And of course there were the first-years, who hadn't been sorted yet, cooing most shamelessly over the little charmer.

However, no good can go on forever. At last, Keith began to wail pitifully.

"Oh, he's hungry," sighed Remus, taking the baby back from the girl who was currently holding him. "Pass me the bottle, will you, Sirius?"

Obedient to his husband's wish, Sirius sought a milk bottle from the baby bag. As he finally found it, he gave it to Remus, who with a quick tap of his wand and a murmured incantation cancelled the conserving charm on the bottle. All girls in sight oohed and awwed as Keith sucked greedily on his milk.

After the feeding, however, Remus announced that it was too late, and that they all had better get changed. The girls let out sounds of disappointment at this, but left all the same. A barrier charm on one corner on the compartment allowed Lily some privacy so she could change herself into the school robes, while they boys did the same on the other side of the barrier. At first, Sirius held Keith while Remus slipped into his robes, then Remus held the baby while Sirius changed himself, too. At last, Sirius tied the carrying cloth around his back and shoulders and then across his chest, folding it carefully over his school robes. Taking the baby then from Remus, he set Keith into the folds of the cloth, making sure that he lay there securely and that the cloth couldn't get onto his face.

When they were all ready, Lily again started to coo over Keith. "He's absolutely cute in those miniature school robes," she chirped. "Where on earth did you manage to get that tiny Gryffindor badge?" She pointed at the tiny badge fastened on Keith's robes that could just be seen above the edge of the carrying cloth.

"Simple, we shrank one of mine," said Sirius with a grin. "And of course he's cute. He's our son, remember?" At this, he flashed a broad grin at Remus, who simply huffed and then smiled. With a quick incantation, he attached Keith's little trunk on top of his own.

Then the train screeched to a halt. The Marauders and Lily all stood up and made their way out of the compartment. Ignoring the admired chirps from almost every girl around, Sirius and Remus started to move towards the carriages. They were full of excitement, which was pretty understandable.

After all, their son was soon going to be on his first year at Hogwarts. Okay, so he wouldn't be studying there, but did that little detail really matter?

So, bubbling with curiosity about what would be the female professors' -- and especially the Headmaster's -- reaction to Keith, they started to move towards the castle in the magical carriage.