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Remus sat back in the booth grinning at Sirius as he ranted to himself. "Really Sirius. It's not all that bad." The grumbling man glared at his lover. "Sirius, you know nothing about shopping for a girl. You'd make her buy masculine clothing just to be difficult."
"What's wrong with that? Harry should want the more masculine stuff, Harry was a boy after all." Sirius glared at his mug of butterbeer. 'I need something stronger than this,' he thought angrily. He couldn't believe that sneaky Slytherin was in muggle London, doing Merlin knows what to his goddaughter.
He couldn't believe he let that snarky bastard distract him like that. And Harry, he didn't know what to do with a girl. He could barely handle Harry as a boy. "Oh Siri. It's not all that bad," Remus said as he patted the mans leg. He pointed towards the door when he heard the bell above it ring. "See, Severus brought her back in one piece. And she's even smiling."
Sirius stood up, intending to drag his errant goddaughter home and lock her in her room, when she caught sight of him and smiled and held up a ridiculous amount of shopping bags. Maybe it was best that Severus had gone with her. He hated shopping and it would have taken them all day to accumulate the amount that those bags most likely held.
"Hey Remi, Siri. Have you had lunch yet?" Harry asked as she slid into the booth next to Remus, smiling when the man motioned towards the back of the bar. "I'm so hungry. I never knew shopping would be this much of a work out." Remus quirked an eyebrow at the faint flush on Harry's cheeks, causing the girls blush to deepen.
"Is there anything else you need to get Harry? Or do you have what you'll need for the summer?" Remus smiled at the young witch as she pulled out the list Madam Pompfrey had slipped her when they left Hogwarts.
"Any one have a self-inking quill or a biro?" She smiled as long fingers placed a quill on the table in front of her. "Well, I've got undergarments, a handful of sundresses, a handful of 'moderate' weather dresses, three cold weather dresses and 2 formal dresses." Harry paused as Tom placed a butter beer in front of her.
Severus grabbed the drink before she could touch it, pushing it back towards the kindly bartender. "Miss... Black would prefer juice or weak tea." Harry smiled brightly at the seemingly dour man.
"Hey! What gives you the right to tell Harry what she can drink?" Sirius whispered furiously. Not understanding why Remus and Harry looked almost content with the Potion Master’s display.
"Sirius, even small amounts of alcohol in the begging of a magical pregnancy can cause sever issues with the child and the mother." Remus patted the mans arm consolingly as he paled at the mention of Harry being pregnant.
"Well, I have everything but robes. Poppy wrote that I should get six everyday robes, three house robes, one dress robe and a cloak. One that can be adjusted depending on the weather." She pushed her list aside when Tom's wife came out floating four heavily laden platters before her.
"There you go dearies. Do you need anything else?" Smiled at her hungry customers and bid them an enjoyable meal when she was told no.
"Harry?" Said girl looked up meeting Siruis' gaze and cocked her head to the side. "Remus and I were wondering if you had any... issues decided?"
"We'll help you no matter what you decide Harry," Remus was quick to insert, casting a glare at his mate.
Harry set down her silverware and took a sip of her tea before answering. "Only one thing has been decided, I'm going to carry the baby to term. The discussion that come with that decision need to be had and I'd rather do that in the safety and silence of Headquarters."
"Alright Harry." Sirius smiled lightly at her, "We'll table any conversations until later."
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"Harry, you can't be serious! How could you give the snarky bastard your child," Sirius ranted, pacing in front of the fireplace ignoring the increasingly irate witch.
"I am in the room, Black," the rich voice replied in a cutting tone. "I also make up half the child's genetic makeup. Who would you suggest take the child should Harry decide she does not want to raise the child?"
Remus quickly silenced his mate before he said something he would greatly regret. He did greatly enjoy Sirius and if the looks Harry was shooting at the man were anything to go by, he wasn't to far away from becoming a eunuch. "Sirius. Sit down before you start losing body parts."
"Okay, I'm getting tired of this discussion and getting angry isn't going to solve anything." Harry leaned back into the settee she was on. "I'd like to change my name."
"What? Why?"
Harry rolled her eyes in exasperation before answering her irrational godfather. "Because Sirius, Harry James Potter ceased to exist just over a week ago. I'm not sure that keeping my name is going to help with keeping peoples hopes up." She looked at Severus with a questioning crease etched in her brow. "I feel like people are going to see this as the ultimate defeat. The Saviour wasn't killed, no, he was emasculated instead."
"She's right. The majority of those in the wizarding world do not know of the prophesy or anything concerning the war, past what is printed in the Daily." Severus slowly unfurled from his seat to walk the room. "If he has not done so yet, The Dark Lord will soon release what he did to Harry. If we announce what has happened ourselves and slip in that Harry has chosen a new name to go with her new form, we could cut the outright chaos that the Dark Lord releasing it would cause."
Harry saw Remus nodding, a thoughtful look on his face. "If that's the case, Harry, you should choose a name with a strong reference to female military commanders."
"Also, you might want to use a flower in your name as well, showing a reference to family tradition like that can only bolster support for you," Severus added. Watching with interest as Harry scanned the book shelves for a book on Goddess and female warriors.
"So, I could go with Athena, Morrigan, Badb, Freya, Andraste and possibly Kali, if I want to go for Deities of War. Then there's Boudica, Aife, Gwendolen," Harry paused to look up at the men in the room. She blushing slightly when she noticed the amused light in their eyes. She continued on with her list, "Cordelia, Atalanta, and Blenda, if I want to go with female warriors know to exist."
"Well, what about flowers then?"
"That depends on what you want the name to embody? Lily means virginity, purity and majesty." Severus looked thoughtful as he listed feminine flowers in his mind, finally continuing, "There is also Calla Lily which means beauty. Iris stands for hope, faith and wisdom and valor."
Remus nodded slightly, his eyes far away in thought. "Lily is a lovely name, however, when it becomes know that you are pregnant, it could cause some issues with your morality and such. I think your best bet for names are Gwendolen and Atalanta."
"Hmm... I can't think of a flower that sounds good with Gwendolen." Harry wrinkled her nose, "What does Sage stand for?"
"Sage signifies respect, wisdom and female fidelity. There is also Iris, signifying wisdom and valor, faith, promise in love and hope." Severus rattled off easily.
Harry looked over to Sirius and giggled at his pouting face. "What do you think Siri? I like Atalanta Sage Black, of course, that means you'll need to file papers of adoption." Harry blithely stated.
Sirius looked up at her in shock. "You'd... you'd want me to?" Harry nodded happily at her godfather. "I'd be honored to adopt you cub."
"Good! You're the closest thing to a Father figure that I've ever known. So what would you name your daughter, Papa."
"Well, I had this conversation with your mother when she found out she was pregnant with you." Sirius looked wistfully at the girl seated next to him. "She hated the whole flower thing, thought it was horribly cliche. Anyway... We both liked Cassiopeia Pyxis Potter, that would have been your name if you were a girl."
He smiled at the stunned look on Remus' face, "You didn't think you were the only one to have baby chats with Lily did you?" he scoffed at his mate. "Anyway now, I think I like Iris Sagitta Black. I think Iris does a splendid job of embodying who you are. And Sagitta is a constellation in the form of an arrow."
"So, should we send an owl to Mr. Lovegood and the Daily Prophet to see if they would like to interview the new and improved Harry Potter?" She smiled brightly and hugged Sirius for all she was worth. "What do we do to make you my father? We should have that all squared away before any interviews are given."
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To say that Iris was miffed was more than an understatement. After deciding to contact the two major British Wizarding newspapers, she and her father had gone to the Ministry to get the adoption completed. It was far simpler than she had thought it would be. A few drops of Sirius' blood in a potion, a dose of veritaserum, a list of 20 inane questions about her and a signature later, she was officially Iris Sagitta Potter Black. Apparently, being the only living member of a pure-blood family made it illegal for her to drop the name.
But that wasn't the source of her bad mood, no, her horrible mood was caused by the currently ranting figure pacing in-front of her. For the last three days Sirius had insisted on going everywhere with her. Her borrowed wand had been confiscated after she had used levicorpus on the man when he had tried to follow her into the bathroom.
"Black! If you do not cease and desist, I will be forced to use the Unforgivables on you!" Severus roared at the man. Remus sighed, the tension in the room dropping caused the man to sag in relief. "We ALL know that Iris being pregnant is an issue, however, that is not a logical reason to take out your frustration on the girl or myself."
Iris smiled in gratitude at the man she was quickly being attached to. "She is not pregnant by our cooperative efforts. She is in such a way because of the Dark Lords scheming and no amount of yelling and crying is going to change what has occurred."
"He's right Sirius. You've spent the last three days following Iris around whining. You haven't given her and Severus the privacy they need to make a joint decision on what they want to do." He stopped and glared at the blue-eyed man when he snorted in disgust. "And mark my words, Sirius Orion Black, if you don't let them make this decision on their own you'll be getting in touch with your canine side for the foreseeable future!"
"But..."
"No buts Siri." Iris sighed tiredly, "I've been fighting Voldemort for most of my life. I grew up in an abusive home and been manipulated by an old man who thinks no one knows better than he." She smiled sadly at the man, "I've always been just a bit more mature than my peers, I've had to be. I know you want to be the one to make the choices, but the way I was raised, I can't let you do that. I need you there to listen and help me work through the problem, not tell me what I'm going to do."
Sirius nodded dejectedly and shifted to Padfoot. He slowly walk to Iris and put his head in her lap. "It's okay Padi. I know you care, I just wish you wouldn't be so vocal about it." She patted his head and gave him a scratch behind his ears. "Just think, you'll get to spoil this kid rotten. And teach it all of the Marauder's tricks."
Padfoot whined softly before rubbing his nose against Iris' stomach. "But before anything like that can happen, you need to let Severus and I decide what we should do. We're at war and I'm on top of the 'Important People To Take Out' list."
"Come on Padfoot. Let's go work on your bike. It's been sitting in the garden shed all this time, I'm sure it could use a major tune up." Remus threw a wink over his shoulder at Iris and tapped his nose causing the girl to blush violently.
The silence she and Severus were left in was deafening. She looked over to the man only to see him staring intently at her. She smiled sweetly at the man and giggled when all he did was roll his eyes at her. Iris got up and slowly walked over to Severus, straddling his lap before he could so much as twitch and wrapped her arms around the mans neck.
"Thank you Sev'rus," she mumbled into his neck. "You've been a great this last week. I don't think I could have handled Sirius without you to back me up." He smiled at the girl and wrapped his arms around her tightly.
"What is it you wish to do concerning the child? My offer still stands or should you wish to take on the child, I will help you in any way you deem helpful."
Iris smiled softly at the cautious man, carefully gauging her words, "You keep inferring the same thing, Severus. I know it's my body and that I have the final say in what I want. And other than saying that you'd raise the child if I didn't want to, you haven't made your wishes known."
"I want this child. It is not at fault for how it was created and I will not punish it for something it had no say in. Having said that, I need to know what it is that you want before I can make any strides in my decisions."
He gently turned her head, looking in her eyes to gauge the depth of truth her statements held. With a sigh he nodded, "I am unsure of when it started, but I have become attached to you. If nothing else, I would like for us to raise our child together."
"I'd like that too. I want this child to have the family I never did." She looked up at Severus with pleading eyes, "We can be a family right? You, me, Siri, Remi and the baby?"
Severus took one look at her face and knew he could never deny her, "Of course. We can't have our Saviour not get her way." He smirked when his statement pulled a giggle from Iris. 'A family would be nice,' he thought to himself. "How do you feel about six?"
"Six? Six what?" She couldn't help the bewildered expression that touched her face when Severus did nothing more than raise an eyebrow at her. She smiled quite suddenly and chuckled, "Hmm... why stop at six?" She jumped up suddenly, "So, does that mean you've got to make an honest woman of me?"
"Of course, with the amount of sex we'll be having, it would be scandalous of us not to." He pulled her back to him and took her mouth in a bruising kiss. 'Oh Merlin! I could get used to this quickly,' they both thought. They broke apart minutes later gasping for breath. "Come. Let's go inform your parents of our decision."
Iris smiled happily as Severus lead her to the garden where Sirius kept his flying motorcycle. "I bet you a weeks worth of detention that he faints."
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"Are you ready sweetheart," Remus asked again. Iris smiled at him, taking comfort in the face of his concern for her feelings.
"I'm ready. Hey, Remi?" She cautiously asked, smiling when he turned back, worry etched into his face. "Can I call you Dad?" When he nodded his shocked consent she threw her arms around the mans neck and squeezed for all she was worth.
"Let's get going, your Papa and Severus should be done setting up the ground work of the interview." He smiled brightly at her, "Time for you to shine my little star." He held out the floo powder for her.
She threw down the powder before stepping in and shouted, "Leaky Cauldron, Private Dinning Room 1!" As a boy she had hated magical travel, Port-keys made her feel jittery and queasy and the Floo made her want to puke before even making it to her destination. She stepped out of the floo without missing a beat.
"Gentlemen, may I introduce Iris Sagitta Potter Black, formerly Harry James Potter." Severus' dulcet voice washing over her. She dropped a curtsy before shaking the two reporters hands.
"Iris, you've met Mr. Lovegood before. And our other guest is Mr. Rama Hanuman from the Daily Prophet."
"Nice to see you again my Lovegood. How is Luna doing? I didn't get to talk to her for long when she came to see me in the infirmary." She laughed lightly when he said something about her missing the last heffalump parade. "Mr Hanuman. Very nice to meet you. I hope your quill is nowhere near as vile as Ms. Skeeter's."
"Oh heavens no. That woman is vile." His voice genteel and slightly accented, it instantly relaxed Iris. She could tell that this man would report what she said and not write a sensationalist type article.
"Shall we begin gentlemen? After this Papa and Dad are taking me to order my birthday cake!"
"Alright, Xeno, you won the toss. You go first."
"Miss Black, your father tells us that you were abducted by a handful of the Dark Lord's followers over a month ago. Could you tell us what you were feeling at the time?"
"It's very strange actually, for most, you'd expect to be scarred for some time after being abducted and tortured at the hands of a madman and his followers. I don't feel that, I remember in a sort of cloudy, detached manner waking up in Voldemort's lair, sure that I would die there. I remember Bellatrix Lestrange torturing me on her masters order. I even remember Professor Snape healing me and telling me that he could not do anything more for me yet."
"How do you feel knowing that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had planned to turn you into a woman?"
Iris laughed deeply, stunning the men around the table. "This is the thing I find most peculiar about the whole thing. I don't know if Voldemort planned for me to feel emasculated by this whole ordeal or if he thought that I would become some weak willed little slip of a girl. If either was the case, he failed miserably!"
Iris locked eyes with each reporter before continuing seriously, "The nature of the spell he used was to easily transition the subject into their new body. I did not experience a period of trauma over going from male to female. It was a seamless transition. Professor Snape had to inform me of what took place for I had no difference in my mind between my two selves."
"Are you angry with the Dark Lord for putting you in this position?" Xenophilius asked next.
"And what position is it that you are referring to?"
The man blushed, looking slightly flustered by the question. "Well, of forcing you into parenthood at such a young age."
"No." She said simply, startling the men surrounding her. "I think it would wrong of me to be angry at the creation of a child. It wasn't rape, I was fully informed before anything was done. I know that if I had told the Professor no, he wouldn't have touched me. But I also know that if I had done that, Voldemort would just have made another Death Eater truly rape me and the Professor would have been tortured and killed."
"How do you plan to finish your education?"
"Well, that's simple! At Hogwart's of course. Severus and I are going to be married on Samhain so there will be no issue with my continuing education."
Iris moved closer to the man in question when four voices all shouted "What?"
"We might not have had any control in how or when our child was created but that doesn't mean we have no control on how our child will be brought into this world. I will not allow my child to be ridiculed because they were born out of wedlock." Iris took a deep breath, steeling herself to address her biggest pet peeve since entering the wizarding world.
"I have found since my re-introduction to the wizarding world, that wizarding folk are far more hypocritical than most muggles I've encountered. They'll feel sorry for me because I'm up the duff with a Death Eater spy's child, but the minute I have my baby, if I'm not married I'll be labeled as some Harlot and my child denigrated as the bastard of this perceived beast. And that is something we will not tolerate!"
"Why are you giving this interview, Miss Black?" Rama sat forward in his chair, expecting a simple answer, but knowing it could be far from simple.
"Honestly Mr. Hanuman, I'm tired of everyone thinking it's okay to allow an underage wizard, well, witch now, fight a war on behalf of a mostly adult society. I ask you, how is it okay to let an eleven year old face a three-headed dog and a possessed DADA Professor. Or how about a twelve year old face an ancient Basilisk and a life stealing spirit." She paused to take a sip of the drink Severus handed her. "I am appalled at the incompetence of those leading our world, that they would let such a thing happen."
"The only thing that truly frightens me is this one... simple... thing. The wizarding world appointed a politically minded man to the position of Headmaster after he did nothing to stop the rise of the current Dark Lord. He taught a Tom Riddle during his fall to darkness, yet he did nothing to stop him. Never tried to counsel him or help in any way. If anyone, should have to deal with Voldemort, it's Headmaster Dumbledore. Who is a fully trained wizard and might I add who has already removed one Dark Lord from power."
"I'm tired of having the role of leader thrown at me. Tired of being the one that people look to to save them. I care barely save myself and half the time I find myself indebted to Professor Snape because he's the one to help me." She sighed heavily, before squaring her shoulders. "Let me tell you this gentlemen. It is a shame that the people of this world allow themselves to be bullied around like I see every time the prophet prints an article slandering someone. Instead of looking for the facts and using their minds, they decide to follow the Shepherd to the slaughter. And slaughter it will be, if the adults of this world do not stand up and fight back!"
"Well, thank you Miss Black, that was very informative." She nodded to the Indian man and rose from her seat to shake hands.
"Thank you for meeting with me Mr. Lovegood, Mr. Hanuman. I look forward to reading your articles. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have cakes to pick out!" The two men looked at each other in wonderment. It was strange to them how the young woman could go from serious one moment to silly the next.
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I had thought to keep going with this chapter but I decided to stop here. The next chapter will be the birthday party, wedding and some lemony goodness. Not necessarily in that order.
Thanks to my reviewers, you kept me going with this chapter!
Hpfandom.net:
Dom - That last chapter totally was hot! Always wanted to find a way to work in a romp in the dressing room scene. I wasn't sure at first if I'd be able to pull it off.
LadyJ - Thanks so much!
FanFiction.net:
Winter Delight - I totally agreed! I had thought of just making it something like Jamie Potter, but as you can see, that's not what happened!
Mr. 16 - That is the very reason I wanted to write one! I've always found them poorly done and lacking in depth. They never give you a plausible WHY?
Well, Ladies and Gents, this was the last chapter that I needed to re-write. Not much changed in this chapter, just fixed some grammar issues, spacing issues and changed the break line. Hope to have chapter 6 up by tomorrow!!
=^.^= Birdie
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Fiction M can contain adult language, themes and suggestions. Detailed descriptions of physical interaction of sexual or violent nature is considered Fiction MA.
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