Unexpected Revelation

Half an hour later, Mrs. Edevane was gathering her paperwork as Furensō gingerly sat Diana and Delia on his lap. Big, coal-dark eyes, so much like her own, looked up at her father as two chubby fists reached out and grabbed a lock of our beloved protagonist's wild black hair.

"So, Diana and Delia are mine, now," DarkRock asked absently.

The woman working in the Ministry's Child Welfare Department nodded her head with a smile.

"Yes, all yours, Mr. Furensō. Your birth certificates, health records and other documents are in these files here, which I will leave for you. We have another copy filed in our records. I or another social worker will leave. I will visit you from time to time, to see how you are doing."

The young man with tousled black spiky hair was still half in shock.

"I have no idea what to do with two babies," Furensō confessed with his gaze on Diana and Delia.

The twins smiled at him again, and he couldn't help but smile back.

Mrs. Edevane saw this and was glad that they were slowly beginning to understand each other.

"There are books available, Mr. Furensō, both Muggle and Magical. You might even have time to read them, which you wouldn't have if you were a newborn. Those little ones take the boredom out of you and keep him so exhausted he doesn't know if you're coming or going."

DarkRock nodded and Mrs. Edevane smiled indulgently at the bewildered new father. "Now, don't forget you have an appointment with the Douglases' lawyer next week. Diana and Delia have a bequest from their parents, and he will pay you a stipend for their support and it will be settled in full when she is seventeen, I believe."

"No," Furensō said instantly. "I'm not going to take any money for taking care of my own daughters. They are my daughters, aren't they?"

The woman who works in the Ministry's Child Welfare Department looked at the professional Quidditch player with a touch of curiosity.

"That's between you and the Douglas will, Mr. Furensō, and yes, they are your daughters. I performed the paternity test myself. Apparently, Mr. Douglas was unable to produce adequately motile sperm and that's where his donation was employed."

The dark-eyed young man's charcoal-dark cheeks turned red, but he wasn't sure if it was due to the older woman's cheeky comment about the late Mr. Douglas's shortcomings or DarkRock's own contribution.

"That must have been where the oysters came in," he muttered, and was surprised when Mrs. Edevane let out an amused, full-throated laugh. When he thought about it, however, he supposed there was nothing Mrs. Edevane hadn't seen while dealing with the various offspring of the magical world as they fell through the cracks of society and ended up in the safety net of his apartment.

The generously hipped woman rose from her seat once she stopped laughing.

"Goodbye, Mr. Furensō, and good luck," Mrs. Edevane declared, as she held out her hand to him.

The young Saiyan stood up and juggled the twins awkwardly as he shook the older woman's hand.

"I suggest you get out and go shopping, boy. I've brought you enough clothes and food for the next few days, but you'll have to get them a cot and prepare a sleeping space for them. They'll be restless for a few days, since they don't know you, but I'm sure you'll both adjust," Mrs. Edevane assured with a serious expression.

Our dear protagonist gulped as he saw the look on the older woman's face.

"All right," DarkRock agreed absently with his gaze on the twin girls in his arms.

He walked her to the door and said goodbye once more. And as if on cue, as soon as the door closed behind her, Diana and Delia let out a cry of unhappiness at being left behind with a complete stranger.

The elf, Winky proved invaluable the following week as the twins got used to their new surroundings and Furensō began the never-ending task of shopping for baby items. She pored over books on baby care, dithered over the proper method of showing up with two underage girls, and argued with Winky over the timing and method of potty training. The last was a moot point since Diana and Delia could now only crawl upright by holding on to the furniture or chair or their legs or the house elf nearest them. They happily strolled around (and around and around and around and around again) the coffee table as Winky hovered over their new mistresses. Our beloved protagonist told her not to bother him and began placing plastic covers on all the electrical outlets in his apartment.

DarkRock also discovered many of the joys of parenthood rather quickly. For example, why Winky, when changing diapers, would remove the dirty diaper from the twins' front and then immediately replace it. The term 'Old Faithful' crossed his mind as Winky laughed himself silly and informed him that the cold air hitting the warm skin of little Diana and Delia's private parts; apparently it was a signal to leave a "little present". Besides, once in a while he suffered the attacks of the little ones because from time to time he would forget something they wanted... And boy, were they strong, they certainly got that from him.... He didn't want to imagine when they were teenagers.

There were also nights when Furensō would sit in the new rocking chair for hours, rocking the twins to sleep and marveling at the absolute perfection of each eyelash and the curve of the cupid's bow lips. Every swirl of their fingerprints and the tufts of their thick tufts of black hair were examined and stored in memory, every murmur, contraction and rustle of the round little faces worked their way deeper and deeper into the heart of our beloved protagonist.

The visit to the Douglases' attorney was enlightening. Diana and Delia had a modest amount in trust for them, and arguing about the stipend was to no avail. DarkRock pointed out that he had a generous salary from playing Quidditch and had spent next to nothing. He also had an Order of Merlin First Class, and the monetary award he had received along with it. He didn't need the stipend.

Eventually, Furensō decided to deposit the money in a separate Gringotts account and stated that he would simply hand it over to Diana and Delia when they graduated from Hogwarts. The lawyer was equally satisfied with this arrangement and they finished almost all of the paperwork in no time at all.

"Just one more question, Mr. Furensō," ventured the buttoned-up man in his formal, officious tone. "Will you have the twins keep the Douglas surname, or will they be adopted with the surname of their liking?"

The young Saiyan almost fainted as he remembered that he didn't have a last name... he could use his nickname 'DarkRock' and even if it wasn't a last name like the others in the end no one would know... I guess.

"I hadn't thought of that, to be honest," Furensō replied with a grimace as he took a chance on the following. "Maybe... I can add 'DarkRock' to the end, right? Diana Douglas DarkRock and Delia Douglas DarkRock?" he said.

The lawyer stared at him with a touch of curiosity at the choice of that last name.

"It depends, I guess, on whether you're officially adopting them or not."

An imaginary question mark appeared above the war hero's head.

"They're my daughters. What does adopting have to do with it?" asked DarkRock with a quizzical expression.

The lawyer looked over the top of his small, vaulting glasses. "You're a single man, Mr. Furensō. I'd be very surprised if you don't marry at some point and produce legitimate offspring. Don't get me wrong, please, although your daughters here are quite legitimate, your legal status stands as part of the DarkRock family, not your legal heir. If you have other children that may cause you difficulties later on."

The young man with tousled black spiky hair frowned in confusion.

"I suppose I should go discuss this with my own lawyer, then?" Furensō hazarded a guess. "Though he's more involved in negotiating Quidditch contracts, not family ones."

The lawyer seeing the war hero's confusion decided to give him some help.

"If you need a good all-purpose family lawyer, our firm would be happy to serve you that way, or else provide you with the name of a comparable firm. Perhaps that would be best, to avoid any hint of impropriety."

Furensō took the card, placed his sleeping daughters on his right and left shoulder, respectively: and went out into Diagon Alley. At first he had been wary of being mugged, as his public appearances almost always caused a stir and seeing him with two babies in his arms would be far worse. However, the opposite was true: with the babies in his arms, he was almost invisible. Since everyone knew that the War Hero, Furensō had no children, then this man with two sprouts in his arms could not be Furensō.

The new law firm was pleased to be on duty and DarkRock soon found himself ushered into another impressive office as another buttoned-up wizard went over the situation with him. Our beloved protagonist had never drawn up a will before, and that required some thought. As he had promised his friend Harry Potter he left his bequests to Teddy Lupin and the Weasley family, and designated heirs for the possessions he had. Most of his estate, which was actually larger than he had anticipated once the Gringotts report was returned to him, was left to Diana Douglas DarkRock and Delia Douglas DarkRock and any further problems Furensō might have in the future.

"I'm not sure you want to phrase it that way, Mr. Furensō," the lawyer advised. "The language should make it absolutely clear that you will only inherit your acknowledged problem."

The young Saiyan lifted his gaze from the papers to stare at the lawyer.

"I have no acknowledged problem, other than the twins," Furensō protested with a serious expression.

"Mr. Furensō, you have told me that your daughters were the result of a... 'deposit' you left with this healer... 'Sallow', he said his name was."

The dark-eyed young man nodded his head, a little confused as to why the lawyer brought that up now.

"Yes. Why?" said DarkRock with his gaze fixed on the lawman.

The lawyer looked at Furensō over his glasses, which this time were small rectangles. It must have been a move they taught in college while studying law. "That raises the question, then, of how many other children are the product of your... generosity."

Our beloved protagonist's face went from confusion to horror at those last words from the lawyer because he only now understood everything.

"Oh, no..."