Order Only: Private Message to Moony

[alt_sirius]

Bugger all.

No - before I get into that. I'm okay. Pomona's been seeing to me when she can, and Greenhouse 4, if you remember, has that little potting room off the main chamber, where I can hide during the one or two lessons she has to teach the NEWT students. I think a Gryffindor boy caught a glimpse of me just as I was arriving but I hid quickly enough. I haven't heard any other murmurs about it, and certainly no students have come out looking or approached the greenhouses with any sort of hesitation, so I think I dodged that hex.

It's something else, though. An owl.

Bugger.

Right, no good way to say it, so out with it, then. Fair's fair: You can take the piss all you like, mate, for how I reacted when I found out you'd gone and got my own cousin up the duff. Wand's in the other hand, now, isn't it?

Yeah. It's Terrie. She's

Well.

Bugger.

Look, don't - don't tell anyone else, will you? Not even Allie.

Bugger all. Complicated.

Comments

[alt_lupin]

Good grief.

Congratulations. I think.

What are you going to do?

[alt_sirius]

Fuck if I know.

It's not like she can announce she's been harbouring Sirius Black and she's having his love child, and all. Not like we could take your way and legitimise the sprog, either.

And there's

Well. I'm not exactly the only potentially responsible bloke, am I?

Bloody Erebus. I should go right back down there but of course I can't, not just now.

[alt_lupin]

Oh. Well.

I'm sure Terrie wouldn't have told you if she wasn't sure it was yours. There are bound to be questions though, so perhaps it's for the best if there are potential alternatives she could name as being responsible, if necessary.

Perhaps you should go to her now. Someone else can watch out for Harry. It's not the kind of conversation one ought to have by owl.

[alt_sirius]

Hm. She figures it had to have happened last time I visited - end of March - but I distinctly remember her boss insisting she 'stay late' a time or two then. In some ways, it's more likely to be his than mine. Not as if I can insist she look into a paternity charm, is it? She can't say it's his without a load of trouble and she can't say it's mine without a world of suffering.

Merlin, what if something happens and Grimmauld Place is open now? What if Bellatrix Lestrange finds out?

I should go, yeah. I really should. There's one other thing about it that's troubling me, though.

[alt_lupin]

I can't see any way a child could cause Grimmauld Place to suddenly open up. If anything, it would make the place more secure if there were a direct descendent in your line to pass it down to. And if Bellatrix finds out, though goodness only knows how she'd manage such a thing, we'll Portkey Terrie out to Moddey Dhoo.

Perhaps it's yours, perhaps it's not. We'll deal with that when the time comes too. Either way, I can't imagine her boss stepping up to take care of an illegitimate child, so you may have no choice but to do the right thing by her.

It's well-timed, at least. Dora's still swearing up, down and sideways that Bump is going to be an only child, so at least this way he or she will have someone to play with.

Both of us fathers, imagine that. I bet James is having a good laugh at us now, wherever he is.

[alt_sirius]

I'm a father already, Moony. Sort of. Well, a step-father - godfather, whatever - though a poor one at that. Though Merlin knows it's not for not wanting to take care of Harry.

But what you've said about having to acknowledge the child and take responsibility for Terrie ... that's part of what's bothering me about this. I mean to say, don't you think it's awfully quick for her to realise, isn't it? How long did it take Dora to figure out her condition?

And you remember a while back, Terrie and I had a bit of a row about her wanting another child? And I told her all the reasons it would be a terrible idea?

I suppose I just wonder if she actually listened to me. Not a pleasant thought, I know. But she'd hardly be the first witch to trap a husband that way.

[alt_lupin]

Dora went in to see the healers at St Mungo's when she was a month or so along, because she'd been feeling under the weather and was worried that it was an after-effect of the illness she had before. Neither of us were expecting a pregnancy to be the real cause, as you know, so how soon she would have realised if she hadn't already been cautious about her health, I can't say.

If Terrie's been pregnant before though, I imagine she'd recognise the signs much sooner.

That's not to say she didn't plan it, I suppose. Is she that sort of person? It doesn't feel right to judge her behaviour when I've never even met the woman, but I know she must have a terribly difficult life. I can hardly blame her for wanting to find a way to hold on to a bit of happiness. Although it's perhaps not quite what you had in mind for yourself.

[alt_sirius]

Well, I don't know if I'd say you've never met her, Moony. For Morgana's sake, she and Gary were close enough, back in the day.

I suppose it's fair to say that she's changed, though, since all that. And since her Alicia died. Bound to have changed, hasn't she? And you're too right, her life's no picnic.

Speaking of which, the students have all been out on the grounds all day, celebrating May Day. (One reason I've not changed back - those bells! They're a bit too high-pitched for Padfoot's hearing.)

I don't know. I suppose I'm not as good as you are.

[alt_lupin]

I can't quite reconcile the Terrie you know with the girl we went to school with. So much has changed, for all of us, it feels like another life.

So what are you going to do?

[alt_sirius]

Did you see Minerva's last?

I suppose for the moment, the decision's been made for me.

I'm changing back to Padfoot. I can't do this without a decent spliff.

Too much to hope Pomona has some growing in here somewhere?