Happy Very First Birthday, Baby Lupin

Happy Very First Birthday, Baby Lupin

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Chapter 1

*

It was early in the morning, and Remus had just waked to notice that he was alone in the bed. He sat up, looking around the room.

Suddenly, his keen werewolf hearing caught the well recognizable sound of vomiting. Slipping to the floor, he shivered at the sensation of the cold stone floor under his bare feet. Softly, so as not to wake James and Peter who were still asleep, he padded to the bathroom door.

"Sirius? Are you there?" he called through the door, even though he already knew who he was. Nothing short of a horrible disease could bring Sirius voluntarily out of bed before midday. In fact, the three other boys had taken turns in waking him in the morning. As Remus was the only one who actually could do that without half an hour of shaking Sirius, yelling at him, and finally dragging him out of the bed and under a cold shower, Peter and James just bribed Remus with chocolate to drag his boyfriend out of the bed every morning.

Now, however, Sirius was up by his own, and that meant that he had to be very sick. The sound of throwing up just confirmed Remus's suspicions.

"Yes, I am," came finally the weak reply. As Remus entered the bathroom, he found Sirius washing his mouth, obviously trying to get the taste of vomit out of his mouth.

Remus walked to his boyfriend, wrapping his arms around Sirius's waist from behind. Hugging the other boy tightly, he asked, "Have you been ill for long?"

Sirius shook his head, having finished the washing. "Just this morning. I must have eaten too much yesterday."

Remus nodded grimly. The day before had been his sixteenth birthday - something he did not want to think about.

"Maybe you should go to Madame Pomfrey," he suggested, genuinely worried.

Sirius shook his head again. "I bet it's nothing," he said. "I'd only be scolded about eating too much candies and such."

"If you're sure," Remus said uncertainly. He had enough problems by himself, problems that Sirius was always ready to share. He didn't wish any more troubles to his beloved.

Through the breakfast, Remus kept a watchful eye on his boyfriend. Sirius ate a little, while he usually stuffed masses of food into his mouth, but Remus figured that it was just the still lingering nausea.

After breakfast, they went to the Charms classroom. To Remus, Sirius looked a bit pale, but nobody else seemed to notice anything out of ordinary.

Halfway through the lesson, however, Remus noticed that his black-haired boyfriend's wand wavered in the middle of casting a spell. As the charm had been almost ready, a shining bolt escaped the tip of the wand, and hit a nearby desk. In an instant, the whole class ran around in panic as the desk exploded as a result of the uncompleted charm.

"Silence!" Professor Flitwick piped up. "Mr. Black, what was that?"

"I -" Sirius began, then grasped on the desk next to him for support. Remus stepped forward to help him, but before he got near enough, his boyfriend collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

The werewolf knelt next to his boyfriend, lifting his head to his lap. The professor came nearer, looking worried.

"Enervate," Flitwick said, pointing his wand at Sirius. The black-haired boy blinked slowly, then sat up.

"Sirius!" James exclaimed, coming nearer with Peter behind him. "You really frightened us all!"

"I - Sorry," Sirius mumbled, then shook his head as if in an attempt to clear his mind. "Everything just went black as I was casting the spell.... Next thing I knew I was on the floor."

"You'd maybe better go to the Infirmary, Mr. Black," their tiny professor said concernedly. "Can you get there yourself?"

"I'll take him there," Remus said hastily. After receiving a nod from the professor, he collected both he and Sirius's books, stuffed them to his bag, and dragged his boyfriend out of the classroom by hand.

As they'd walked for some time, Remus's arm all the time securing Sirius, the black-haired teen stopped abruptly.

"Remus, listen to me," he said. "I have a rather good suspicion of what this is. So, whatever you hear me saying to Pomfrey, don't, and I mean don't believe a single word of it. Okay?"

Although Remus did not understand, he nodded. "If you say so," he added uncertainly.

"Good," Sirius said, then collapsed again.

*

"Mr. Black, I know now what's wrong with you," Madame Pomfrey said seriously. "And if I'm right in my suspicions, I have rather bad news to you."

Sirius bit his lip and nodded, then watched the mediwitch, waiting for her to say something.

"You, I'm afraid, are pregnant."

Sirius's eyes widened in shock. "You aren't serious," he whispered.

"Unfortunately, I'm dead serious," Pomfrey said. "Now, I have just one question for you. Is the baby Remus's?"

On the other side of the Infirmary door, Remus was growing nervous. His lycanthropic senses allowed him to hear clearly everything that was said inside.

So, he now heard as Sirius's voice said quietly, "N-no... We've never slept together without protection."

With a great effort Remus put himself under control. 'Don't believe him,' he chanted to himself. 'I have made love to him without protection several times, he's lying like he said he'd be...'

Now, he heard again the mediwitch's voice, "I any other situation I'd be angry at you, but now, I'm merely relieved. If it had been his, the Ministry would have forced you to terminate the baby. You knew that, didn't you?"

"Y-yes," Sirius said meekly. Then he continued, with a bit stronger voice, "That's why I slept around... I can never have Remus's children, but I and he can raise a kid together, if it's somebody else's." He sniffed, then said, "I just hope Remus understands why I did it."

"So do I, Sirius," Pomfrey sighed, with real concern in her voice. "Really, so do I."

Then, sounds of footsteps approached the floor, and Remus hastily backed away from it. Sirius came out, traces of tears on his cheeks.

"What is it?" Remus asked, trying to sound like he knew nothing else was out of ordinary but Sirius's sudden illness.

"I'll tell you," Sirius mumbled with a teary voice. "Let's just get out of here." Then he dragged Remus out of the door to the corridor, the mediwitch's eyes still on their backs.

As soon as they were out of hearing, Sirius stood on his place. "It isn't true," he said hastily. "I haven't slept with anybody but you... But I could never abort our child."

Remus didn't say anything at first. Instead, he just hugged Sirius tightly. Then he said softly, "Thank you, Sirius."

"Hey, no thanking, dear," the other boy replied with a grin, even though it was a weak one. "You'll be sick of me being pregnant before the month's out, I'm sure. Besides, we still need somebody to cover up for us - or, more specifically, you."

Remus nodded in understanding. "We need a 'second father' at least until the pregnancy's too far to be aborted."

"And after it's born, they have to let us have it," Sirius added firmly. "Lycanthropic or not, it's always one of us who gets the custody over it."

Remus nodded grimly, then asked, "Have you thought about how you're going to ask James for the cover-up?"

Sirius shook his head, not surprised by the exact question, since James really was the only possible option. "Maybe we should play a loud breakup, the Ministry officials tend to be suspicious."

"I agree." Before Remus had time to say anything else, they heard a familiar voice shout, "Oi, boys! Wait for us!"

They stopped and turned around, seeing James and Peter running to them. Waiting for them to come nearer, Sirius hastily whispered to Remus, "You don't know anything yet, right?"

In response he got just another nod from Remus, but it was enough. Just then, the two other boys reached their side.

"What was it, Sirius?" James demanded as soon as got his mouth open.

Now, Sirius' expression turned grim. "Jamie, I have talk with you," he said. "With you, and Remus."

*

"So, let me get this straight," James said, still a bit astonished despite the thorough explanations. "You're up the duff by Remus, who was sterilized only days after he managed to impregnate you. Now, you want me to say I slept with you and am the brat's father so they won't force you to abort it, right?"

Both Remus and Sirius nodded. Then, Sirius said, "That's the only way... There's no way I could abort the baby, but if the bastards get to know that it's Remus's, they'll force me to it." There were tears evident in his eyes.

James nodded slowly. "I'll do it," he then said. "I take it that Peter isn't to know the truth?"

Sirius shook his head. "As dear as that boy is, he can't keep a secret to save his life."

"So..." Remus drew a deep breath, then suggested, "What about playing the breakup act now?"