Standing Still

Standing Still

*

Confirmations and Conversations

*

"Ah, Sirius!" exclaimed Poppy as she saw the familiar wizard entering the Infirmary. "May I ask what's bringing you here? Nothing is wrong with Remus, I hope?" she asked then worriedly.

"Oh, no," Sirius replied with a weak smile. "Remus is doing perfectly well. It's me I'm worried about."

"Why so?" Poppy led him to sit on one of the hospital beds, surveying him from the head to toe. "You look perfectly good to me. What makes you think you're not?"

"Well, I..." Sirius drew a deep breath, then locked his eyes at her. "Poppy, this morning I woke up, ran to the bathroom, and threw up anything that was in my stomach. I have to know whether it's just a stomach bug, or -- or something more." He bit his lip and added quietly, "I have to know whether I'm pregnant."

"Well, it would be a bit late for morning sickness to show up," the mediwitch said, frowning slightly. "It's been, what, two months already? At least. But it is not impossible, not by any means." She motioned towards the bed. "Lie down, will you." Sirius complied immediately.

For some time the mediwitch examined him, pressing his stomach from every direction with her fingertips, all the time looking very concentrated. At last, she drew her wand from her pocket.

"It might very well be that," Poppy muttered. "Now, let's just see..." She muttered an incantation Sirius had never heard in his life, pointing the Animagus's perfectly flat stomach with her wand. Instantly, the tip of the mediwitch's wand began to glow with a pale purple light.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Indeed you are pregnant, Sirius. Congratulations. You're about..." She ran a quick scanning spell, then finished her sentence, "Yes, you are a bit more than two months along now."

"So it was that last time, then," mused Sirius half-aloud. The news was truly fascinating, and a bit frightening. How could he manage with taking care of both Remus and a little baby all on himself?

"Indeed I think it was that," said Poppy calmly. "A werewolf's sperm is more fertile if they are extremely passionate, or if they think they won't see their mate for some time."

"Poppy!" exclaimed the young wizard, his face flushing in extreme embarrassment at her words. "How can you talk about these things so -- so calmly?" Obviously he couldn't do that.

"I'm a mediwitch, Sirius. I'm expected to do talk about anything without getting embarrassed," she replied, not batting an eyelid at his outburst. "Now, do come over here and have a cup of tea. You needn't worry about Remus; I am sure he's in extremely good hands. We do, however, have many things to discuss, so it'd be better if you just relaxed and listened to what I have to say for starters."

*

Sirius hurried through the corridors of Hogwarts. When he'd gone to Minerva to get Remus, she'd told him that Severus Snape had taken care of the werewolf. Sure, Sirius knew that Severus was on their side, that he'd once been Remus's friend, and that he'd never hurt the werewolf. Still, his steps were indeed more hasty than usually when he moved towards the Potions classroom. Old habits die hard.

When he came there, however, he found to his great relief only Remus and Severus standing in the corridor, as the lessons were already over. The werewolf was holding a bright-coloured magical flower, while Severus was having a "conversation" with him, nodding at every one of Remus's cheery comments.

"Ziwiuz!" exclaimed Remus happily as he saw the tall wizard approaching. "Ziwiuz come Wemuz!"

"Hi, my dear," Sirius greeted, smiling. Remus could make anybody smile, he was such a not-so-little cutie. "Have you had fun around here? Has anybody taken care of you at all?"

"Yez!" Remus nodded eagerly in confirmation. "Batty cawe Wemuz! Batty give Wemuz pwetty flowewz!"

"Really?" Sirius raised an eyebrow, turning to look at the tall Potions Master on Remus's side. "Well, if that is the case, I thank you, Sn -- Severus. As sweet as he is, Remus can get rather difficult at times if I'm not around, or so I've been told, at least."

"No problem, Black," replied the Slytherin calmly. "He's been nice and quiet if he only has some flowers. Very easy to look after, really." Then, raising an eyebrow in turn, he asked, "Well, what did Poppy say?"

This made Remus remember the reason for their visit. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "Ziwiuz okay now? Poppy make Ziwiuz okay? Ziwiuz not ill?" The werewolf looked pretty worried as he spoke.

"I'm afraid I'm not yet okay, m'dear," Sirius said with the tiniest sigh. "I'll be quite okay by time, though."

"So Minerva's assumptions were correct, then?" asked Severus. "Or did she tell you about those?"

"Did she tell that she assumes I'm pregnant? Yeah, I figured so," the Animagus replied. "And before you can ask anything else... Yes, she was right. I'm two months along. But if anybody hears of this, I'll kill you," he added threateningly. "I certainly do not need any more publicity."

"Understandable," Severus replied calmly. Then, after what seemed to be a moment of hesitating except that he never hesitated, he said, "Black? I know this probably sounds rather odd, coming from me, but... If you need help with, well, all these things... I wouldn't mind looking after Lupin at times."

For a moment Sirius just watched him. Then, seeing that the man was actually being sincere, he nodded. "Thank you, Snape," he said. "You do not understand what that means to me." Then, after letting Remus bid his cheery goodbyes to the usually so stern Potions Professor, he took the werewolf home.

*

Sirius watched his ex-lover, deep in thought. Remus was currently playing with a magical teddy bear that was charmed to hug its owner. As Remus was bigger than your usual kid, however, the bear settled to hugging his arm. This, of course, made the werewolf giggle in delight.

At last, Sirius cleared his throat. "Remus," he asked warily, "do you know what a baby is?"

Remus frowned slightly. "Hawwy baby?" he then suggested, seemingly deep in concentration.

"That's right," Sirius replied, sighing inwardly in relief. If he could get Remus reason this by taking Harry as an example of a baby, maybe it would all go well. Harry was two years old now -- in fact, it had been his second birthday a month before -- but he was still just a toddler, and calling him a baby was just fine with Sirius. To him, Harry would always be just a baby boy. "Harry is a baby. And Ginny is a baby, too. You remember Ginny, right? She's a really little baby." He smiled slightly as he saw Remus at first frown in thought, then nod enthusiastically in delight as he indeed remembered the little girl. Sirius had a couple of times taken Harry and Remus meet the Weasleys, as Molly never minded a couple of guests. Both had been absolutely fascinated by little Ginny, who was only about half a year old now.

"Ginny baby," Remus said, nodding in affirmation. "Ginny little baby." Then he just sat there, watching Sirius intently, obviously waiting for him to continue.

"Well..." Sirius hesitated for a moment, then decided that it would be the best if he just went for it. "Remus, we are going to have a baby. You and me, together."

Remus's golden eyes widened at this. "Ziwiuz baby?" he asked, glancing suspiciously around as if he was expecting to see tiny babies bouncing from every corner.

"Not yet, Remus m'dear," Sirius said, smiling a bit, "not yet. The baby's not been born yet. Instead, it is inside me, in my tummy." He placed a hand on his abdomen. "The baby is in here. It's still only a very little thing, like a -- like a very very tiny flower," he then concluded, hoping that Remus would understand that.

"Tiny baby," the werewolf said, nodding in confirmation. "Baby Ziwiuz tummy." Then, frowning a bit as he stared at the Animagus's stomach, he asked, "Baby come out now? Wemuz zee Ziwiuz baby?"

"No, I'm afraid not yet," laughed the other wizard. "You'll still have to wait for a plenty of time before you will see the baby. Just be patient, love, okay?"

"Okay!" said Remus happily. Then, having seemingly completely forgotten the whole baby thing, he turned his wheelchair around and began to roll to another direction, smiling happily.

Sirius, too, smiled at the retreating form of the werewolf. However, his smile was a nervous one.

He was not so sure he could do this.

*