"The Mudblood" One-Shots

Growing a Gremlin

Year: March 18th, 2007; June 11th, 2007; June 30th, 2007

Canonicity: Canon to "The Mudblood" (a continuation of "The Underworld")

Point-of-view: first person, Lainey Fitzroy

Harry and Ron had to help me Apparate Brian back to our house since he'd passed out after consuming the Concussion Combatant and seemed to weigh as much as a basilisk. The Aurors unceremoniously dumped my boyfriend on our tiny bed before Ron disappeared back to the Puceys'. My brother and I probably should have accompanied him to help extinguish the forest fire Teddy had started, but we lingered in the messy bedroom, casting uneasy looks at each other.

Finally, I expelled a weary breath. "If you're going to give me a lecture about how 'we have the gold to buy a proper bed,' just leave already. I'm not in the mood."

Harry scratched the back of his head. "I, uh, was actually going to commend you on how well you're raising Teddy. He seems happy, and I...I worried he'd never feel that with Remus and Tonks gone."

"Oh. Right..." I blinked a few times, unsure if he was messing with me. "Did we both not just leave the same disaster I inspired? The kid's going to end up in Azkaban before he's ten."

Harry smirked like we were rebellious teens again. "I'll deal with the Ministry."

"Thanks," I muttered, slightly embarrassed. With my Fitzroy brothers, I'd always been the mature one rectifying situations, but with Harry, I was the reckless little sister in need of saving. It didn't bode well for my future as a mother to two kids. "Oh, and, um, Harry... I'm pregnant. Er, well, I will be once the sperm officially meets the egg in my...oh, you know how it works. You'll be an uncle in about nine months."

"I...already am an uncle," he managed, disturbed by my strange explanation. "Rose, Victoire, Dominique, Louis, Molly—"

"All right, yeah, I'm stupid," I cut in before he could voice the name of George and Angelina's son. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, and I don't want to know any further details." He shot a deliberate glance at Brian and the bed, then gave me a genuine smile. "I'll try not to tell Ginny."

"Sage choice. She'll want to scream and hug me in person."

He snorted quietly and took a step away from the bed. "I'll make sure Teddy gets back here safely. And your...mum."

My awkward nod went unseen as he vanished from the room, the sudden movement jolting Brian awake. He collapsed back onto our pillow immediately after sitting up, eyes squeezed shut.

"Smells like Malfoy in here," he grumbled, squirming on the bed. A moment later, he pulled Bletchley's Baby Blocker from beneath his back and squinted at the label. "Isn't it too late for this?"

"Unfortunately yes," I mumbled just loud enough for him to hear. Alarmed, he tried to sit up again but only made it halfway before his headache drew his fingers to his temples.

"What do you mean 'unfortunately?'"

"I mean...you're reckless, Brian. You don't consider your own safety when it comes to anything involving Quidditch. And I know I can be incautious as well, but that only adds to the problem. We can barely raise Teddy properly, and with him we even have help from my mum and Harry and Andromeda and everyone else who treats him like their son. With our own kid... How are we going to handle a baby?"

Oddly, my argument eased the tension in his shoulders, and he slumped back down, eyes peacefully closed. "Ashley has a kid. I think we can manage."

"Ashley's kid is doomed! She likes to read. She's probably got Melody's reincarnated soul or something!"