“Oho!” Eddie exclaimed when he saw his siblings. He ran forward and wrapped his small arms around Tabby.
“Ed!” Tabby said as she hugged her youngest brother. His black hair was sticking up everywhere and his bright brown eyes glowed with happiness.
Ed slowly broke free from Tabby’s grasp and moved on to Trent, who hugged his brother with great affection.
Tabby went up and hugged her father, who was watching the scene with mild interest. Harry kissed his daughter on her head and held her close.
“A tabby cat for Tabby,” he whispered in her ear and he handed her a small figurine of a cat. Tabby smiled at the cat as it walked across her palm. Her dad did this often, and each time he whispered the same words. Tabitha had quite a collection of figurine cats on her night table that her and her friends admired once in awhile.
Tabby smiled at her father, and said, “Is it a boy or girl?”
Her father smiled. “Come see.” He ushered his children down a long hall and through a large doorway.
Tabby took in her surroundings. This was the same hall she walked down to see Chris and Eddie. No doubt this was also the same hall Trent walked down to find out he had a baby sister. Healers were rushing around. Some were escorting patients, others walking alongside each other, discussing things Tabby didn’t want to know about.
Her dad rounded a corner, and they followed along quietly. Finally, her dad stopped at a door and smiled. “Go on in,” he said.
Trent led the way into the room, where all four children saw their mother holding a tiny pink bundle.
Pink.
Tabby had to cover her mouth to hold back her squeal of delight. Trent looked down at her and grinned. Tabby finally got her wish: A baby sister.
Tabby edged forward to her mother. She looked down. There, in her mother arms, was a black-haired baby girl. “What’s her name?” she asked.
Her mother shrugged. “We were expecting a boy, so we don’t have a name picked out yet.” Tabby nodded. Her parents had the name Jacob Ryan picked out if they had a boy. Now that they had a girl, they weren’t prepared.
Trenton and Christopher now moved in next to Tabby. They stared down at their new sister. “She’s so small,” they whispered in unison.
“C’mon,” their father said, and he led them out the door. “You’ll have more time with her later.”
Tabby was hurt that her time with her baby sister was cut so short, but when her father led them into a small room with several chairs and an easel in it her sadness was replaced by curiosity.
The easel had a large piece of paper pinned to it. On it were various girl names, such as Isabella, Olivia, and Lauren.
“Sit,” their father commanded, and they all immediately sat in the nearest chair.
“Your mother and I have an idea. We decided we were going to let you pick out the name for, er, her.” Harry watched as his children’s eyes widened.
“This is a list of approved names your mum and I selected,” he nodded towards the large piece of paper pinned to the easel. “So have at it.” He shut the door behind him as he left.
Trent turned towards his siblings. “Well, it’s official. Our parents are legally off their rocker.”
Chris laughed. “For letting us pick the name of their child?”
Trent shook his head. “No, just look at the names of some of these names! What kind of name is Edwina?!”
Eddie grabbed the quill sitting on the table in the corner and hurriedly crossed it out. “If they name her Edwina, then her nickname will be Ed, and that’s MY nickname!”
Tabby laughed. “What about some of these other names? Hey, Abigail isn’t so bad,” she said, inspecting the list.
“Then her nickname will be Abby, which sounds to much like Tabby,” Ed pointed out.
“How do you pronounce THAT name?” Trent asked, pointing towards the name Sraddha.
“Shrah-rad-huh,” Tabby said laughing. “Trent’s right! Our parents really are off their rocker. Where did they get THAT name? I think it’s German.”
Chris snorted. “The name is Hindu, and it’s the name of one of Shiva’s wives. It means ‘faith’.”
Trent looked at his brother in awe. “Where the hell did you find that out?”
Chris was about to answer when Tabby interrupted him. “What about this name? Clarimonde?”
“I’m not going to have a sister named ‘Clarimonde’,” Trent exclaimed. “Sheesh. Thank god mum and dad let us pick out her name, or we could of had a sister named,” Trent paused as he looked at the list,“Bertha.”
His siblings laughed at this.
Ed pointed at the list. “What about this name. A-a,” he paused; he couldn’t pronounce the next letter because he was just learning to read.
“Ava,” Chris helped. Eddie nodded with enthusiasm.
“Yeah! I like how it’s spelled,” he said.
“How ‘bout the name ‘Alison’?” Tabby asked no one in particular.
Trent shook his head. “That’s the name of my ex-girlfriend. Alison Temple from Hufflepuff, remember?”
“Oh yeah. The dunderhead that kept calling me ‘Tracey.’ How the heck did she get ‘Tracey’ from ‘Tabitha’?” Tabby demanded.
“Dunno,” Trent answered. He obviously wasn’t as moved by this as Tabby was. “How does ‘Thalassa’ sound?”
“Like crap,” Tabby answered, and Trent retaliated by sticking his tongue out in a very childish manner.
When Chris burst out laughing, Trent and Tabby looked over at him. “T-they have the n-names ‘Brilliant’ and ‘Blue’ on h-here.” He couldn’t even talk straight because he was laughing so hard.
When Chris calmed down, Tabby said, “‘Sundari’. Hm. I like that.”
Trent snorted. “Well you’re the only one.” Tabby elbowed him in the groin.
“Isn’t ‘Aaron’ a boy’s name?” Chris asked.
“It can be a boy’s name,” Tabby corrected. “But it can be a girl’s name as well.”
Trent was still bowed over from when Tabby elbowed him. “It’s usually a boy’s name though,” he said.
Ed pointed to another name, and instead of trying to say it, he asked straight away, “How do you say this name?”
“Ah-kay-dee-ah,” Tabby answered when she saw the name Ed was pointing to: Acadia.
“You know, none of these names are good enough for her,” Trent said, scanning the rest of the names on the list.
Tabby walked over behind him. “I agree. Who thinks we should screw the list and brainstorm our own name for her?”
“AYE!”
The Potter siblings walked into the hospital room where their parents and new sister were waiting for them.
“So,” said their mother. “What name did you pick?”
Ed stepped forward. “Juliana Rose. Julie for short.”
Their parents furrowed their brows. “That wasn’t on the list,” said Ginny.
Tabby stepped forward. “Mum. Dad,” she said, nodding to them individually as she said their names. “No offense, but your list sucked. So we threw it aside and came up with our own name. Juliana Rose is what we picked.”
Their father smiled. “It is, is it?”
“Yup.”
Ginny smiled. “We love it.”
All seven Potters walked into the living room of their house, Ginny holding baby Julie. St. Mungo’s released Ginny and Julie that evening, and they were happy to leave. Using a portkey, they traveled back home, and were now standing in the Potters household’s living room.
Ginny yawned and looked down at her sleeping baby. “I’m going to put Julie to bed and go to bed myself. G’night,” she said. She kissed her husband and children and slowly made her way up the stairs.
Eventually, the rest of the family made their way to their rooms. Tabby laid in her bed thinking. This had been one of the best days of her life. Slowly, Tabby drifted off to sleep, thinking about her new baby sister.
AN: First, I’d just like to say that this has been my favorite chapter to write so far. I love writing about the Potter children and how they react to one another. (Sheesh, I sound like Steve Erwin, don’t I?) Also, the bit about Sraddha being one of Shiva’s wives is true. I’m not Hindu, but I did a lot of research for this chapter.
Also, a big thanks to my beta, Ella Gardené and butterflykisses.
This chapter is dedicated to inkfreak, my big friend Eavin. You kick-arse, Eav!