Zigzag

Zigzag

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Chapter 6

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However, before anything could be done about the Harries, something happened. To be exact, a few of them were again updated about the recent events in their universes. The first ones were Father Remus and the others of his universe.

At first the werewolf looked shocked, then relieved. Then, to everyone's great surprise, he drew Severus Malfoy into a warm hug. "Thank you for bringing Keith back," he said, his voice sounding a bit hoarse. "And do not worry. We will get Mariah back to you, no matter what it takes. Nobody deserves a fate like that."

"Thank you," said the other boy quietly. Then, however, before anybody could ask just what they meant, Father Remus, Sirius Lupin, Severus Malfoy, and Lucius Snape all disappeared into thin air.

Dumbledore broke into a wide smile. "Ah, it seems that they have now left the Author's consciousness," he said. "Hopefully their story had a happy end here in this kingdom, and just as well I hope their story will remain happy even now that the Author is no more handling their lives."

"Well, from what I've heard, it wasn't that happy most of the time," Remus Shacklebolt muttered. "Besides --" Suddenly, he covered his mouth with his hand. "Oh, Merlin," he whispered, then ran towards his room.

Most of the people around were astonished. Severus Potter and Sirius Snape, however, seemed to be aware of whatever it was that had shocked him, considering the gazes they were exchanging. Another update, then. Almost as if on an unspoken agreement, Sirius Snape then hurried after his friend, while Severus Potter stayed, no doubt to welcome the Harry of their universe once he arrived. Even the Potions Master, however, looked a bit nervous.

"Oh, Merlin," whispered another voice, although the quiet words were easily heard. Everyone turned around to look at Ziwiuz, the one who had spoken the words. The man looked very shocked for a reason none of them knew.

"Err... Ziwiuz?" asked Carer Sirius. Seemingly it wasn't only his husband he cared for. "Are you all right?"

The other replica gave him a weary smile. "Oh, it's nothing," he said quietly. "Just an update on what has happened."

"And?" questioned his almost identical, though older, replica curiously. "Have you caught some illness? You look pale."

"Ziwiuz not ill," announced Wemuz then firmly, for a moment becoming more attentive again. "Ziwiuz baby. Baby Ziwiuz tummy. Baby no come long," he then explained at everyone's questioning stares.

"You -- you are pregnant?" stuttered Laugher. "Woah... That's something I'd never expected from, well, me."

"I'm pregnant also," Sirius Lionsnake piped up. "So he's not the only one, not by any means. Though I'm having twins!"

"Really?" asked Severus Lionsnake immediately. "When did you find out? Why haven't you told me about it?"

"Well, we really didn't have time," replied the Lucius of their family calmly. "Sirius and Harry are both having twins. They found out from their checkup -- during which, if I'm not sorely mistaken, you were chopping your fingers off."

"WHAT?" shrieked Remia, looking disgusted. "How -- how could anybody do that to themselves?"

"That's what I'd like to know as well," sighed Remus Lionsnake, one hand protectively over his stomach. "Alas, I do not know, nor does any of us. Thus, we can't stop him from doing something stupid." With this, he glared at his Potions Master husband. Severus Lionsnake, however, determinedly ignored all the glances they got to their direction.

"That brings us a difficult question," Dumbledore said, frowning a bit. "I know that anything you do here most probably won't affect your true self, but just to be sure... How many of you know that some person of your universe are inclined to hurt themselves, and who are those? I do not want to intrude," he hastened to say as he saw numerous furrowed eyebrows. "I am, however, rather concerned. It would be the best if we could be prepared ahead of time."

After some time, Carer Sirius spoke up. "Does only cutting and such count, or any self-harming actions?" he asked. At the Headmaster's confirmation that anything harmful to oneself would be quite enough, he said, "Well, then both my husband and our universe's Remus are. Severus is known to have actively hurt himself, while Remus only refuses to eat." Of course, this statement brought him a glare from his husband and a sad glance from the werewolf of his world.

Dumbledore nodded slowly. "I'll remember that," he said quietly. "Anybody else? Severus Lionsnake?"

The addressed man startled. Then he opened his mouth -- no doubt to tell that yes, he was perfectly fine -- when Lucius Lionsnake, however, got the turn to talk first. "You can be sure about that," he said firmly. "We've been trying to keep him from hurting himself, but seemingly nothing we can say can stop him." Now, the one of his husbands he'd talked about at first tried to glare at him, but then sighed, gave up and merely stared at the floor.

"Remus Shacklebolt has been suicidal at times," said Severus Potter very quietly. "Which, of course, is exactly why we're worried about him. He's just had a great shock, so it'd maybe be better to watch him." Most looked curious about this, and some even opened their mouths to ask something, but a cold glare silenced them very effectively.

"Well..." Cane Lucius seemed to hesitate a bit. Then, placing an arm around his husband's shoulders, he sighed, "I'm afraid that my Remus counts as well. He's attempted suicide -- what? Ten times already, wasn't it, Remus, love?" he asked then, turning towards his husband. Despite the graveness of his words, there was a sad smile on his lips.

"Twelve, Lucius," the eldest of the werewolves replied very quietly. "It's been twelve times by now." Unlike all of the others who'd been declared suicidal, he didn't try to deny it. Seemingly he knew of his problem himself, too.

"You heard him." Then, Cane Lucius -- who had a cane nowadays, courtesy of Dumbledore -- became silent again.

"Anybody else?" As nobody spoke up, Dumbledore nodded slowly. "Good. There are indeed some that we need to be worried about, though not as many as I'd feared, taking to regard our Author's obvious penchant for dark themes. However, unless some of you have pressing news they absolutely have to tell right now, shall we wake the Harries?"

Everybody agreed -- well, everybody whose universe actually included a Harry, the others stayed silent. This time, the Headmaster didn't lead the replicas to them -- as some of the Harries were just little babies, he had one person of each Harry-containing universe come with him. Luciuses couldn't do that, since some Harries wouldn't probably trust them right away. So, Sirius Lionsnake, Remus Malfoy, Severus Potter, Turner Remus, Remus Snape, Remus Potter, Innocent Sirius, Remus Lupin, Dark Remus, Thin Remus, Ziwiuz, Severus Snape, Master Sirius, and Laugher followed him. Nobody from the Scared Remus's universe was currently present, but Remus -- the original one -- went along, hoping that he could explain the things to the boy. Some became curious as of what he had done with Siri, but didn't ask anything.

As the people who'd followed the Headmaster entered the room, they saw a variety of Harries in front of them. There were two babies, two toddlers, seven teenagers, and five adults. Most of them looked the same, except for a few of them. Three had golden brown hair -- one toddler, one teenager, and one adult -- one of the babies was a redhead, and one teenager had a long, black ponytail almost to his waist instead of the short messy hair everybody else seemed to have. These all had facial features different from those of the other replicas, as well. Some were only slightly different, like the ponytailed one, but the teenager with golden brown hair shocked them all -- his face looked as if it'd been just a direct copy from Severus's. Smiling a bit at their confusion, Dumbledore casted the spell to wake all Harries.

In an instant, the room was full of life and noise. "Ziwiuz!" exclaimed one toddler happily, running to hug the man fiercely. The other toddler looked confused, glanced carefully around, then quickly ran to Remus Snape, clinging on the werewolf's robes as if his young life was depending solely on how hard he held on. The babies got picked up -- the red-haired one by Remus Lupin, the more Harry-looking one by Innocent Sirius. Thankfully, both were currently asleep and not wailing. Most of the teenagers and adults began to demand explanations, and every Remus, Sirius, or Severus started to give those. Two of them, however -- the golden-haired adult, and the ponytailed teen -- soon attracted everybody's attention to themselves. They were both talking with Severus Potter, and neither looked too happy.

"I still don't understand why I have to be here," muttered the adult one. "Okay, so I am Harry Potter, but what about that? I sure as hell am not the Boy Who Lived! Lily Potter wasn't even my mother!"

"Well, neither was she mine," snapped the ponytailed one. With a long glance around him, he added, "And, by the looks of it, we're not the only not-Lily's-kids ones. All in all, you have more reason to be here than I! At least, you're James Potter's son, something that I most certainly am not!" He glared at the other replica.

"Well, you are James's identical twin's son, so that should be near enough," said Severus Potter dryly. "And now, young man. What's eating you? I kind of understand why Harry here is irritated, but what is wrong with you?"

"What do you think?" snapped the teenager. "My girlfriend just left me! That's what's wrong with me!"

"Your dear Samantha left you?" Now, Severus Potter raised his eyebrow. "Why on Earth would she do that?"

"Well, I'll be damned if I know!" snapped the boy. "She started to bitch about me not telling her that we were going to the Ravenclaw Dungeons, and the next fucking thing I knew she was storming off, telling that we were over!"

"Language!" snapped the adult. "I can't maybe tell Harry off for it, he's an adult and not my son, but you most certainly won't use that kind of language in front of me. Now, calm down. You're certainly not the first teen boy who's been left by his girlfriend, and even more certainly you're not the last one. So, stop whining and start to behave your age."

"So this Harry has a girlfriend, eh?" asked the one Harry on Remus Malfoy's side. "How many of you -- or, rather, me -- are straight, then? Not gay, not bisexual, but just completely, absolutely straight?"

The four youngest Harries clearly didn't even understand what he meant. Of the eleven older ones, however, only three raised their hands, and two of even those seemed rather hesitant, as if they weren't entirely sure.

"Well, it looks like this Author of ours has a liking for homosexuals as well as for dark themes," said Dumbledore cheerfully. "Although how she's picked these pairings of hers, we'll probably never know."

"Dad?" asked then a clear child voice, attracting everyone's attention. The older of the toddler Harries -- the golden-haired one -- looked a bit uneasy under their gazes. He did, however, finish his question. "What means 'homosexual?'"

"Well, Jeremy," laughed Remus Snape -- he seemed a lot more cheerful now that he had the little boy with him -- "You know that some boys like girls, right? Well, some boys like boys instead, and some girls like girls. Those are called homosexual. Like me and your father," he then finished, kissing the top of the tiny boy's head.

"Oh." The boy looked hesitant for a moment. Then he glanced around. "Why are there so many yous and Fathers?"

"It's magic, dear," was all of an explanation Remus Snape offered him. However, it seemed to be enough to the boy.

"Magic!" the other toddler giggled. Then he, too, glanced around. "Unca Wemuz!" he exclaimed happily. "Many Unca Wemuz! Ziwiuz Unca Wemuz?" he then asked, turning curiously towards Ziwiuz.

"Well, you'll see Remus in a little bit, Harry dear," the man reassured him. "As soon as Professor Dumbledore here gives us the permission to go out of this room." At this, he glanced questioningly towards the Headmaster.

"Well, I see no reason why you couldn't do that," said Dumbledore, smiling a bit. "I'm sure you all want to see the rest of people from your own universes. However, I want to remind you that none of the Luciuses here is evil, nor are they any threat to you or any of your loved ones," he added, looking at the Harries over his half-moon glasses. "So, I'd really appreciate if you didn't treat them badly. No matter what has happened in your universes, none of these Luciuses deserves to be treated badly." At the mention of wrongdoings some people looked stern, but they all nodded.

And with that, the ancient wizard opened the door again. Immediately they started to file out of the room. However, every Harry who was old enough to understand looked very surprised as one of the Severuses waiting in the next room stepped forward, bowing with respect at somebody in front of him. "Master," he said quietly, then stepped back again.

Only one of the Harries seemed to be aware of what was going on -- from the universe of this Severus. At first he glanced at Slave Severus, who looked the tiniest bit uneasy, then at Master Sirius, who looked much more uneasy under the firm gazes of the Harries who'd noticed the slave's eyes being fixed on him during the boy. Then, the young man sighed, shook his head, and then whispered something to Master Sirius's ear with a furious expression.

"Do not worry, Harry," the man said quietly. "I will not forget that." Then he forced himself to smile, glancing around.

Everybody was still watching them -- well, almost everybody. Wemuz, who'd been in Batty's care, squealed in delight as he saw the toddlers. "Hawwy!" the werewolf exclaimed happily. Then he glanced at the others and looked confused. "...Many Hawwiez?" For a moment, everybody was shocked to notice that he could indeed understand the older Harries as other replicas of the little child he knew. Then, however, all that Wemuz got out of his mouth was a high-pitched giggle that erupted from his mouth as one of the toddlers -- Hawwy -- ran into his lap, giggling as well.

Dumbledore watching the tiny boy and the werewolf start playing, a small, sad smile on his lips. "Now, what about we come up with some names to these young gentlemen?" he suggested then. Everybody agreed, of course.

So, soon they'd settled the names for the Harries -- well, most of them were Harries -- as well. They had Remy, and from his universe also Harry Lupin. Then there were Jeremy, Hawwy, Baby Harry, Harry Pettigrew, Dark Harry (who had nothing Dark in him, but had been named to fit the others from his universe), Harry Lionsnake, Harry Malfoy, Harry Snape, Harry Lovegood, Father Harry, Carer Harry, and Teddy. Teddy had been named that just because none of the other people from his universe seemed to have a proper name. The last two Harries had been a bit hard. However, at last they'd settled on Shocked Harry, for the one from Turner Remus's universe, and Confused Harry for the other one. During this naming, everybody noticed that Turner Remus and Werewolf Severus no more avoided each other, having settled back to their original half wary, half friendly relationship. Why it was thus, nobody knew, since they were both very reluctant to speak about their universe; however, everybody suspected it was about some new update.

Just then, however, the door to the "saferoom" bursted open, and Rem, Sev, and Siri emerged. Siri was seemingly very excited about something, and not in a positive way. "How could you?" he shouted at Rem. "James's Potters were damned offering to adopt you! Why on Earth didn't you take up on the offer? They're the best parents ever!"

"I know that," replied the other young boy quietly. "However, you know how James has been. It's bad enough that he'll now most probably discover that I'm an orphan. If his parents truly adopt me, he'll hate me even more!"

"Don't talk like that," Siri said, frowning. "James is not an idiot, he'll come around. Though I do not trust Snape, nor do I like him," he said, glaring at Sev, who replied it with a calm gaze, "I kind of understand why you've hooked up with him. I mean, you've probably never had anybody else to trust, right? Well, now you could get a nice family. Stuff that, the best family anybody could have! And you -- you're just throwing it away?"

"I'm not just throwing it away, Siri," said Rem, looking rather uneasy. "And can we continue this discussion later, please? There are other people around here, you see." He glanced at the others nearby, all of whom, save the four youngest Harries, were older than they at least by a few years each. "I don't like attention," he then muttered quietly.

"Woah," breathed Siri. "There truly are a lot of you, Rem -- and a lot of Snapes, too," he added, glaring at the young Slytherin. "And -- Merlin's balls -- I'm seeing even myself many times over! Seemingly that stuff about alternate universes wasn't pure bullshit, then," he muttered, looking rather thoughtful.

"For Merlin's sake, do mind your language," snapped Father Severus, who currently had Jeremy in his lap, Remus Snape being seemingly permanently attached to the boy as well, cooing at him on every occasion. "In case you managed to miss the fact that there are even younger people around, I'd like to remind you of that. I most certainly do not want my son to pick up language like that just because you can't keep your loud mouth shut."

"Only bad boys say bad words," said little Jeremy in firm confirmation. "You are a bad boy."

"Do listen to him," commented Remia. "Besides -- oh, are those babies you've got there?" she squealed then as she saw Baby Harry and Harry Pettigrew. "May I hold one of them for a while? Puh-lease? They look absolutely adorable!"

Innocent Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Sure, go ahead," he said, handing her the baby boy in his arms. "May I ask who you are, however? You look rather much like my Remus here." Obviously, he hadn't been paying much attention earlier.

"I'm Remia Lupin," the girl said cheerfully. "Though I used to be Remus Lupin once, too. And Straight Sirius there is my boyfriend," she added then. Then looking at the baby in her arms, who had just woken up and looked around with very confused eyes, she started to coo at him. "Who's there, who? Is it a big boy I'm seeing? It doesn't happen to be ickle-pickle Harriekins, does it? Oh, yes, of course it's him! Who is a cutie? You are a cutie!"

"That's getting almost scary," muttered Straight Sirius. "Sure, I don't mind babies, either, but... Isn't it a bit too early for you to get crazy about little kids, Remia? I mean, we're still on our sixth year at school!"

"Shut up, will you?" asked the girl, frowning. "The fact that these little guys are absolutely adorable doesn't have to mean that I was craving a baby of my own!" Then she again turned towards the baby, chirping, "Aww, aren't you cute!"

Everybody was watching the girl chirping at one of the babies. Then, one by one, more people gathered around the babies. Like Remus noticed to his great amusement, most of these people were those who were pregnant themselves, or whose partners were that. Father Harry and Sirius black were cooing at the children just as shamelessly as their husbands. And even though Severus Junior, Severus and Lucius Lionsnake, and the variety of pregnant Severuses would have never sunk quite that low, they did skirt around the group with looks of mild interest on their faces. Even Hawwy and, though shyly, Jeremy left their Remuses and went around, only to be picked up immediately.

"Unbelievable," murmured Werewolf Severus. As he saw Turner Remus slowly walking towards the group as well, he rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. "Don't now tell me that you are pregnant as well," he said dryly.

"I'm not," replied this Remus. "However, even though I'm not sure if the rules of Lycanthropy are the same in each universe, at least they're affecting me in the same way as in our universe. And as all we werewolves form one big pack by my instincts at least, that Jeremy kid could just as well be my own. Don't try to tell me it doesn't affect you."

"I don't let it affect me," replied his companion stiffly, his now amber eyes flashing a bit. "It's bad enough I have to care for some strange kid in our own universe, I definitely am not going to start the same game over here!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Thin Remus, sounding a bit curious. "True, I don't know everything there is to know about us werewolves, but it definitely doesn't work that way in our universe, that I do know for sure!"

"Really?" Now, Turner Remus forgot "the cub," Jeremy, immediately. "So it truly isn't the same in every universe? Maybe we should compare the things further, just to look for the similarities and differences."

"Actually, that sounds rather good," the other greying werewolf replied, interest glinting in his eyes. "Maybe we should question the other Remuses also? You know, just to see if some things are different or the same in every universe!"

They were so deeply immersed in their conversation that they even missed the extra twinkle that entered Dumbledore's blue eyes when he heard of this particular plan.

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