"To check on me?" Sirius laughed in spite of himself, "When you look like that? Darling. Please."
Dorcas looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "Now you listen here, Sirius, I did not just drag all of this --" she waved at her pregnant body "-- all the bleedin' way across London to check on you... LIKE A MUGGLE, MIND YOU... just to have you act flippant, as though you don't even know what I'm here about." She put her hands on the area where her hips used to be, and raised her eyebrows at him.
He couldn't quite put his mental faculties on it, but something about her was really, really, really jangling his whole nervous system. And at some point since he'd seen her last she had changed her scent - a new shampoo? new perfume perhaps? Most people might not even notice the way their therapist smelled, but being a dog at heart, Sirius relied on those things as a comforter. It bothered him quite a lot that Dorcas smelled so different, and on top of the nervous energy coming off him -- blimey, his innards were souping about like they were in a blender.
She was equally the most and least threatening thing that Sirius had ever laid eyes upon.
A flash went through his mind then.
If this was how Dorcas Meadows was pregnant, then what the bleeding hell were they all going to do when it was Lily Potter? Sweet, beautiful, tame ickle Dorcas had turned into a firebreathing dragon with a basketball for a stomach. Lily Potter was already a firebreathing dragon half the time.
Oh Gods, we're all going to die if Lilith ever is in this state, he thought.
"I mean, I'm alright, if that's what you're meaning," he said slowly, still reeling from the realization that their doom was all quite imminent.
Dorcas wagged her finger at him. "Sirius, we've worked far too hard on your well being, and you've been through a LOT this year and I'm honestly - I'm sorry, I've been... well precoccupied, and I feel very guilty for it. I should've been here a dozen times by now, far sooner... I wish you'd please talk to me."
Sirius stared at her with an unreadable expression.
Honestly, the last time he'd talked to her had been December, back when Maryrose's body had turned up at the Ministry looking like Regulus Black and he'd gone in to identify and left with the manic (and correct, by the by) thought that his brother had still been alive. (Oh he really would need to bring that back up sometime, he deserved credit for that which he'd never gotten - being RIGHT and all...) But thing was that he had told Dorcas then that Regulus wasn't gone and she, like everyone else, had thought he was a nutter for it.
Sirius shifted uncomfortably.
If she'd believed him, would he have pushed harder against his brother's stupid choice to hide away alone? Would he have had more time with Regulus if he'd just been given at least a smidgeon of support from just one person back in December? Wasn't it Dorcas's job to support him? And she hadn't. He wasn't sure what to do with that any more than he was sure what to do with the thought that Remus had gone off to America at the moment when he, Sirius, needed him most in the entire world. Sure he'd come back, but that first night back at the flat, alone, laying in an empty bed and battling Archlys had been so dark and horrible... and he'd just needed his Moony and...
Well, thinking about either of these things only hurt, so, like he'd become accustomed to doing, he shoved these thoughts out, buried them deep, deep, deep where he couldn't see them anymore and he drew a deep breath.
"I am talking to you, darling, what do you think this is?" he said with a drawling laugh.
Remus returned then, carrying a bouquet of six licorice wands in varying flavors. "I knew Pete would have one for you. There's an assortment here."
"Oh bless him." She took the wands and quickly selected out a green one - Strawberry-Kiwi flavor - and bit into it.
Remus lay the other flavors on the table and Sirius plucked a gold one - pineapple - from the stack and sat down on the arm of the sofa, his stocking feet up on the seat.
Remus glanced between Dorcas and Sirius, then said, "If you excuse me, I've got to get back to the Kelpies." He gestured to the briefcase.
"Ohhh - that's how - Gosh I'm a bleedin' idiot. I swear I've got baby brain," Dorcas said.
"Yeah, Newt Scamander's briefcase."
"How is Newt? Is he in there?" Dorcas asked.
"Oh no, he's in New York," Remus answered. "He's alright, but long story short he's had a bit of surgery and needed some help looking after his creatures in the case and I'm on a bit of a holiday before summer classes and volunteered." He smiled, then nodded to Sirius, who stared at him blankly, sucking on the wand as he stared at Remus. "I'll be back out in a bit." He met Sirius's eyes and then glanced at Dorcas meaningfully.
Sirius sucked extra hard on the licorice wand in response and Remus rolled his eyes and climbed over the lip of the suitcase, disappearing down the ladder and subtly closing the lid behind him.
Sirius looked back at Dorcas again.
"So tell me what happened with this woman and the accusations and everything, Sirius, honey," Dorcas said. "Same rules apply, even if it's not an official visit. I won't tell anyone anything you say. I'm sure you were really upset - Gideon said there was time in the holding cells at the Ministry involved? And now house arrest?"
Sirius chewed and swallowed the last of his quickly eaten wand licorice wand to give himself a bit more time to stall, and he flipped onto his side on the couch, putting his legs up on the arm where he'd been sitting and propping up his head with a throw pillow. They looked the stereotypical part of a therapist and a patient now, he thought, and he stared up at the ceiling.
"It seems there was a good deal of misunderstanding," he said, reciting the words that Harry Underhill had told him the night they sat up, playing Go Fish in the dungeons of the Ministry of Magic. "Ms. Leonards said things I misunderstood, I said things she misunderstood, and my poor darling Remus ended up in the middle of all that. You know how people flip out over any mention of a werewolf these days!" Sirius shrugged. "That's all."
Lycanthrophobia had taken a bit of a resurgence lately, Dorcas had to admit. It seemed like mention of Greyback was everywhere - his picture popping up in nearly every issue of the Daily Prophet. He'd been turning a lot of people, mostly in villages in Southern Scotland for the time being, and although the Ministry kept trying to reel him and his new turns in, they'd not been very successful on a whole. The Restriction Act was being talked about, debates about whether they needed to work on an amendment to the Act, increasing measures and allowances for the collectors, perhaps some sort of enticement for the werewolves to register themselves in the form of financial support... things of that like... And yes, there were a lot of accusations flying. Why just the previous day there had been an article about a man in a fight with his neighbor pointing the finger and falsely calling his neighbor a werewolf, resulting in the man being forcibly dragged off by the collector to be tested for infection.
Dorcas tried to shift her weight, but this was too much work and she ended up in the same spot she'd been before she tried at moving. "I suppose. It must've been scary just the same, though?"
Sirius shrugged. "Prison wasn't that bad."
"You can tell the truth, Sirius," Dorcas pressed. "You told me once you're claustrophobic. Those cells are tiny - weren't you anxious?"
Sirius shrugged.
She looked down and sighed. "How are you doing about your brother? I know it's been near to six months --"
Of course because as far as the world knew - Dorcas Meadows included - Regulus really had died back in December. The body that had been in the morgue at the Ministry really had been Regulus Black's body, according to the paperwork and the general knowledge. The boy in the hospital in March had been Freddie Jenkins, a friend James and Lily had met during their trip to France.
Diverting the topic, Sirius said, "I've met Freddie Mercury since we last spoke."
Dorcas looked confused, unsure she understood the connection between leading into talking to Sirius about his brother's death and Freddie Mercury had come in, but with a mind like Sirius Black's, there was simply no telling where it came in.
"Did you?"
He nodded and pointed up at the rose. "He gave me that."
"It's very lovely."
"Yes it is," Sirius answered.
Dorcas struggled to stretch and reached forward for another licorice wand. An orange one this time - tangerine-mango flavored, of course, and sat back with a sigh.
"Do you lot have a name yet?"
We're stuck between a couple of them," Dorcas said, "Right now, we're leaning toward Hannah."
Sirius pulled a face, "Terrible name. It's all square-like and not a single flourishing characer."
"Well we think it's pretty," Dorcas argued.
"With a name like Dorcas, though, right?" Sirius smirked at her to show he was only taking the mickey out of her.
"Ooo, Sirius, you're lucky I'm as capable of getting out of this chair as an elephant is to fly, or I'd beat you silly."
He laughed and ran his hand through his hair. "Ah well, it's a very useful name. Unisex, you know."
Dorcas shook her head, "You're such a little imp."
Sirius grinned, crossing one leg over the knee of the other and letting out a long sigh, closing his eyes.
Suddenly the floo lit green and Sirius turned his head, thankful for whatever the distraction was about to be - he had a feeling Dorcas had been about to attempt to bring things 'round again to his mental well being and he wasn't sure how many times he could deflect her. He was excellent at changing subjects and talking in riddles, but he was also exhausted of trying to hide how he was feeling and not really in the mood to play such games - specifically with Dorcas Meadows, who was exceptionally good at drawing things out of him.
Like it was her job or something.
So it was very much to Sirius's pleasure when Lily Potter emerged from the hearth, dusting herself off and holding a large Pyrex wrapped up in a quilted dish warmer printed all over with chickens.
Sirius sat up. "Is that mum's Pyrex?" he asked.
Lily nodded, "Well hello to you too."
"Hullo. Did mum cook whever is in that Pyrex?"
"Yes, she --"
"THANK YOU." Sirius rolled off the couch, scooping the Pyrex out of Lily's hands eagerly. "Oh, look, Dorcas is here." He waved at Dorcas, still lounging in the highback chair, then grinned wickedly. "Keep each other entertained while I go and get a fork."
"That is for dinner, sir!" Lily snapped as Sirius snickered and whisked the Pyrex away to the kitchen. Lily turned ot Dorcas, "I swear, I thought you were meant to fix him?"
"I'm a therapist, not a miracle worker," Dorcas shrugged unapologetically.
Lily's eyes were wide. "Oh my. You are so pregnant, you poor thing."
Dorcas nodded, "Yes - am I ever." She sighed. "I don't recommend it."
"I'm actually trying right now, so --" Lily flushed. "Any pointers?"
"Yeah, don't." Dorcas laughed and so did Lily. Then Dorcas said, "Make sure Potter is ready to become your own private house elf and that he'll have a good attitude about it. And you be prepared to find yourself asking him to go fetch you foods that you never, ever dreamed you'd crave. I was eating cottage cheese with blocks of chocolate the other day. I don't know why, the very thought makes me ill today, but there I was, gobbling it up like it was going out of style."
Lily laughed.
"Oh you laugh - laugh now while you still can. You get six - seven - months into this thing and you laugh and you best be having a diaper on for it or you'll be wetting yourself."
Lily smiled, "I'm so sorry, Dorcas, love."
"You aren't yet. But you will be," Dorcas promised.
Sirius returned then, grinning.
"There better be some of that roast left for later," Lily said turning to Sirius with a look of accusation.
"Would I do that?" Sirius demanded.
"Yes," Dorcas and Lily said together.
Sirius pointed at Dorcas, "You don't live here, shut up!"
Dorcas laughed, her face pinkening as she did.
Lily turned to Sirius, "I'll ask Remus later about that roast, and Peter, too, so keep your paws out of it."
Sirius grinned and opened his mouth to say something (likely a dog pun), but instead what happened was Dorcas Meadows suddenly made a rather shrill yell and clutched her stomach, squeezing her eyes shut and gasping in the aftermath of her shout.
Both Lily and Sirius turned to look at her - Sirius's face pale. "Bleeding hell -" he gasped, his nose twitching.
Lily gaped at Dorcas, and it was like her mind had left her. She was pale and her jaw dropped. The pain on Dorcas's face was so evident...
Sirius grabbed the lid to the suitcase and yanked it open. "MOONY?!?!? COME OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!!!!"
Dorcas laughed at the sight of Sirius frantically yelling into the suitcase and said, "God almighty that's what I've been doing all week!" She gestured at her pelvis and laughed so hard that tears were pouring down her face.
Sirius stared at her, panic in his eyes.
Remus's head came up out of the suitcase - inciting even more laughter from Dorcas - and he said, "What's on?" but before Sirius could find words, he saw Lily's face, followed her petrified gaze, and took in the sight of Dorcas Meadows, in labor, and clambered out of the briefcase so fast he nearly fell off the coffee table, "Oh shit!"