Chapter Text
The Lupins had become a brood. They’d wanted a family of four, Remus and Sirius hoping for two children close in age, just as Sirius and Regulus were. For Remus, the lonely memories of only childhood pushed him to want two, while for Sirius, it was the blazing love he could gift to his children by giving them a sibling. They’d ended up with a family of seven, which only grew with partners and pseudo-siblings added to the mix.
Edward Alphard Lupin was first. Sirius had caught wind of a trial for a magical womb, being created by the same experimental medicine company he worked for. The magic to create a child from two sperm or two eggs had existed for a few years, but a human womb was still required to implant the embryo. Remus and Sirius had been uncomfortable asking someone to give up their womb for nine months for them but were desperate to have kids of their own. Harry was already 3, Lily and James were actively trying for another, and Sirius refused to not have a kid older than a Potter. He never would, with the Potters settling for one kid after years of heartbreak. He didn’t know that at the time, though.
Their names were the first on the list for the magical womb trials, and their kid was the first to be born with the new technology. They’d named him after Remus’ grandfather, who had become a second father when his actual father left after he was bitten, and the uncle who had left Sirius enough inheritance to build their life. His name was quickly shortened to Teddy due to the boy’s love for everything cuddly.
It wasn’t all plain sailing. Something in the magic made their Teddy a metamorphagus, giving him the ability to change his appearance at will. It wasn’t something either Remus or Sirius cared about, didn’t stop them from loving him any less. The experiments on the wombs continued, and when Teddy turned seven months old a second version was going into testing, and once again Remus and Sirius were top of the list.
Two months into the gestation of their second child, their plans were changed. The couple had built a sanctuary for werewolves on a plot of land in rural Wales, opening three shacks, each of which could fit 30 changed wolves. They’d never reached full capacity, but a fourth shack was in the works given the numbers they’d been having recently. The wolves were all part of Remus’ pack. He’d joined it during the summer of their sixth year, after extensive research from both Sirius and James. Remus was high-ranking in the pack now, sitting just below the pack’s leader, Nara. She had become a close friend to both Remus and Sirius since he joined the pack, and it had seemed obvious to her that her rise through the ranks wouldn’t happen unless Remus was right behind her.
It was for this reason that Remus was chosen to go with Nara to follow up on a report from one of the guarding wolves that checked the sanctuary perimeters the morning after fulls. When they’d reached the location, they’d been greeted by the two who had made the report and the pack’s head of guard.
Beside them was a small bundle of blankets. Heartbreaking sobs were breaking through the layers of cloth, and Remus had immediately knelt and picked it up. The baby inside was covered in blood, which was still flowing from a wound on its leg. Nara had approached him to see the baby for herself, but Remus had snarled so fiercely at her that, in different circumstances, a battle for pack leadership would have been triggered.
And so 9-month-old Teddy had become an older brother to 1-month-old Adhara Hope Lupin. Adhara had never been used as a name in the Black family’s long history, but with its proximity to Sirius in the night sky it felt right, and Remus had always wanted to honour his mother. There were complications with her too, of course. She was a werewolf, although there was no way of finding out who had bitten her or the circumstances of her bite. The early transformations were horrendous, with Sirius staying with her as Padfoot while Teddy went to James and Lily’s. It took a long time for Remus’ wolf to settle enough to let Adhara around the pack, its possessive need to take care of its child overwhelming every rational sense for a time.
It was the arrival of their third and fourth children seven months later that forced Remus to allow Adhara into the pack for full moons. The chance of twins, especially non-identical ones, using a magical womb was meant to be virtually zero, given that few embryos were transferred into the device. Sirius had always been one to beat the odds, however, and it seemed their children were doing that before they were even born.
Leo Romulus Lupin was Sirius’ nod to his brother, the Leo constellation including the Regulus star. Romulus was Sirius’ attempt at humour, a nod to the myth of twins Remus and Romulus. Remus was busy with said child when Sirius was filling out the paperwork to register his birth, and only knew of his partner’s decision once it was too late.
Sirius hadn’t done anything to the name of their fourth. Minnie Sirrah Lupin was the smallest of their children even from birth, but she was no less beautiful for it. Remus had insisted on honouring their beloved Professor McGonagall, but Sirius disliked the name Minerva. So, they used the shortened version they had tormented their professor with. Her middle name honoured Andromeda, the woman who had helped Sirius escape the Black family, with the star Sirrah being the brightest in the Andromeda constellation.
Their fifth was another surprise. They’d truly thought they were done until Lily called them into her office at St. Mungo’s one afternoon just before the twins' first birthday. A baby had been born at the hospital three months prior. Something was wrong, and it had taken those three months to figure out the child was a metamorphagus. The parents had promptly abandoned the child, and however much Lily promised she hadn’t invited them to visit her under the pretense of adoption, Ophelia Poppy Lupin was welcomed into their home. She was named after a moon of Uranus known for its dramatics, a description that Sirius felt honored him too much not to use, and the nurse at Hogwarts who had cared for Remus during the fulls.
In the space of just over two years, Sirius and Remus’ dream family of four had already become a family of seven. Each of their children was nothing short of perfect and could do no wrong in the eyes of either of their dads. All five kids received Hogwarts letters, and Remus and Sirius were called into the headmistress’ office more times than they could count. They ended up playing a game as to whether they could guess the child based on the act committed. They never minded, they never really punished, they just laughed at the antics that occasionally matched their own. They only guessed incorrectly five times and were lost for words only once.