A Godfather's Love (aka The Other Side of the Coin)

17 - Telling Sirius About the Baby/Anti-Fatigue Treatment

As much as Sirius wanted to do more, the most he did upon seeing Harry was draw him into his arms for a hug and hold him for a time. "How are you feeling, mate?" he asked softly upon releasing him.

"All right; just tired," Harry replied with a weary smile, marveling at how tired he still was even after a total of twelve hours sleep. "Can we sit down on the couch?"

"Of course," Sirius said, resting a hand on his partner's shoulder as they headed for the couch. Harry sat down and snuggled up to his companion, resting his head on his nearest shoulder. Sirius stroked the dark, silky mop of hair affectionately as Harry's arms locked around him and vice versa. "Now what did the Healer say?"

"I'm supposed to have the baby about the middle of August--and it's a girl." Sirius seemed stunned into silence--and for such a long time that Harry sensed (or seemed to) that he was disappointed at the news. "That's okay, isn't it?"

"Of course; that's fine. I'd love to have a daughter. What about Ginny?"

"She's supposed to have twins--fraternal, a boy and a girl."

"I can imagine how that made you feel. A single child is one thing, but two ... Every problem seems to double in size and difficulty."

"At the same time, parenthood can be most rewarding. We've got to take the good with the bad. Everything has its ups and downs."

And I intend to see to it that you have more ups than downs as often as possible, Sirius thought to himself even as he felt his partner's head become heavy and realised that Harry had fallen asleep. The best part of the whole thing was that there was no more Voldemort to cause him nightmares, so with any luck, he would finally be able to sleep peacefully at least most of the time. The boy looked so peaceful and ... yes, even beautiful ... in sleep, so Sirius didn't have the heart to wake him. Rather, he just sat and held him for the next several hours, resting his cheek on top of Harry's head, even resting his free hand on the boy's gently rounded belly (a belly which concealed a three-month-old embryo) for a time.

They hadn't talked nearly as much as they'd intended, but he wasn't too concerned. There was time for that--just as he'd better expect occasional situations like this when Harry was too tired for fun and games of the sexy kind. What mattered was that he would be here for his young lover and do all he could to help him through this unexpected, albeit most welcome, pregnancy. He would have preferred a boy, of course, but the important thing was that he and Harry would have a little miracle created by their love for one another.

* * * * *

Ginny was somewhat surprised when she saw Harry again and he confessed to her that he and Sirius had talked some, but for the most part, he had simply fallen asleep in Sirius's arms. Even at that, he fully intended to talk more with him and assured her as much. She told him that she wasn't surprised that he had been tired; that was a normal thing in pregnancy because all the blood that was going to aid in the baby's development was being re-routed from its usual business of nourishing the parent's body. Once they told Molly of their fatigue, she suggested a new potion that would give nourishment to their bodily systems. She assured them it would work because there had been many times she had felt that way herself.

Once he took the potion, Harry became het up enough that he definitely wanted a night of sexy fun and games with Ginny--and almost immediately after dinner, they excused themselves from the rest of the family to follow their pre-arranged agenda. First it was a hot, steamy shower, where first Ginny had made love to Harry, then vice versa. After that, they dried off and returned to their bedroom, the vigorous rubbing of the towels on their skin having once again stimulated their desire, and it had begun all over again upon his laying her across (yes, across) their bed and spreading her legs to properly accommodate him.

From that point on, it didn't take long for their own personal magic to almost literally explode between them, and it was nearly morning before they declared themselves sated, at least for the time being. Ginny was definitely not fond of the idea of Harry being with Sirius the following night, but as long as Harry didn't constantly throw it in her face, she could live with it at least fairly easily. What mattered was that he loved her and that she was carrying his child ... or rather, children. Even at that, Ginny still found it hard to fathom that Harry was also pregnant, and that his was a single pregnancy, not a multiple one. But then, maybe it was a genetic thing, since women were designed to be child-bearers and men weren't. Just the same, pregnancy wasn't easy, even a single one, as Molly could well testify. The only double one she'd had resulted in the prankster twins, Fred and George.

Ginny could only hope that her babies would be more well-behaved, although considering Harry's and her background, it was just as likely as not that at least one of them would end up a prankster and what Muggles called a "free spirit," not fond of following rules of any kind, unless it suited his or her purpose. But however they turned out, what mattered was that she and Harry were going to have children, little miracles created by their love--and with luck, the twins would be only the first of many, perhaps even as many as Molly and Arthur Weasley had had.

Over the next week, mainly due to the potion Molly had given them, Harry had enough energy to sit down and discuss things with Sirius--in fact, he virtually insisted on doing so before he would allow any physical interaction between them. Of course, due to their age difference, there were bound to be places where they would disagree as to how to raise a child, but that was par for the course. In the end they were likely to compromise on as much as possible and do as the custodial parent (in this case, Harry) saw fit the rest of the time, although he would definitely allow Sirius input when it regarded their child, especially in important things like her education, what things she was taught and when, stuff like that.

At one point, Harry even decided he liked the idea of giving birth first: to a certain degree, anyway. At least that way, he, Ginny and Sirius would be able to have at least a little bit of parenting skill before the twins were born. They all were apprehensive and nervous, even above and beyond their joyful anticipation of the babies' births. If marriage was a big responsibility, parenthood was an even bigger one, and none could be sure that any of them were mature enough, especially not emotionally, to raise children properly. Even at that, they were glad that they would have help from experienced parents such as Molly and Arthur, and vowed to call on them for advice if and when they needed it. The vast majority of their children had turned out well, so the new parents-to-be figured that if any- one knew best how to raise children right, it was them.