The evening was young as the four lovers crept out of the castle: two from the sly and one each from the noble and the clever. Bells ringing in the distance didn't cause them to pause nor did the eerie sounds from the forest slow the pace of seventh years walked to the lakes edge. There were shadows cast by the moon but no bodies for the shadows forms. One giggled as her companion poked her.
"Sssh! Lily, we can't get caught. This is our last night to see them. Now come on. This is the way." Two shadows became girls holding a blanket of sorts under a willow tree and a pair of young men stood beside them with their own cover. Of the figures that greeted each other with hugs and more that night were the four most influential witches and wizards of the graduating year.
Lily Evans stood tall and proud with her deep red hair in a knot at her neck. Her green eyes looked eagerly out to pierce the stars with their gaze. She was not Head Girl but good enough a student to be Ravenclaw prefect. Her figure was slim and flexible like the willow under which she stood but not fragile enough to deny her strength as a novice Quidditch player.
Her best friend gazed into another's eyes. Narcissa Black was tall as well, perhaps an inch above Lily. With blonde hair and blue eyes, she was the epitome of beauty in the moonlight. She too was a prefect for her house of Slytherin but captured the minds of many other male students other than her usual snakes. A stunning Keeper, Narcissa understood the ways of the game both on the pitch and in dark places. Her knowledge and smart logic was enough to make her Ravenclaw if it was not for her pureblood parents who told her to go where duty willed. She loved them not.
Once a lanky boy, James Potter had turned into quite the man. The classes were turned upside down when he entered for the girls of his own courageous Gryffindor could not keep their admiration at bay. Then again, most girls in other houses couldn't resist a well formed Seeker with midnight hair and eyes bluer than the sea. Truly a gentleman, he cared for all in a special friendship but saved his own adorations for a girl none knew of. Rumors would fly of whom he loved each week and the unfortunate woman would be sent to the hospital wing for no fault of her own except a rumor. Untrue gossip was spoken of James and none less than his close man and natural enemy.
Lucious Malfoy was the bad boy whom all girls swooned over but would never take home to their mothers. Charming the ladies was a daily ritual and not eagerly followed by the youth who already had a bride. The long platinum hair and gray eyes that sent hearts against a breast was nothing but a piece in a long and tiring exercise that he was nearly forced to complete. A typical Slytherin bad ass, Lucious made sure his work was done and all was quite on the Dreamland front before he snuck out to join his private friendship with James Potter. While all thought they loathed each other, in all honesty, it was love they shared in those long looks that they were so renowned for giving in the halls. Pure, brotherly, caring, love.
A love that brought these four together that night was not wasted; it never had been before. This end of daylight was different. There were no passionate declarations of eternal love or everlasting companionship. They held each other, tenderly, two snakes entwined next to a lion in love with the raven. Lily spoke for them to begin.
"I'm pregnant." She said softly. "Don't ask me the father 'cause I didn't do the spell yet." The announcement was met with shocked quite. Then laughter floated from her friends lips. Narcissa repeated Lily's words and added that it was the truth. The two best friends were both to have children.
"Do you want to know the father?" James asked, concerned of the answer.
"Yes. Will you see how many children I have first? I shouldn't be showing so soon. It's only the first month."
Lucious looked at Narcissa. "Do Cissa next, James. Then we will figure out a plan for what to do when we graduate."
His friend nodded. He whispered to spell and to his horror and the girl's pleasure, two balls of light appeared in Lily's abdomen. James gulped and repeated the charm on Cissa. This time only one light glowed silently. Lucious let out a sigh of relief. A sucked in breath from behind them made the three turn to see a pained Lily shut her eyes and say mutter a curse before giving them a radiant smile.
"I'm fine. It just hurt a little afterwards. Are you alright Cissa? You didn't feel it?" When the woman shook her head Lily looked confused for a moment before shrugging it off and asking James for the next charm. He obliged and the four gazed in amazement at the sight before them. Above the place where two lights had glowed were two faces. One was James and the other Lucious. None were surprised by the faces appearance but they could not understand how one baby was so distinctly James' and one Lucious'.
"Not even my Ravenclaw logic can attack that one. I have never heard of a mother being impregnated by two men and having twins who are very much one father's or the others. Well, I guess that makes things a whole lot easier to sort out who should stay with whom. Lucious' baby or babies will go with him and James's children will go with him. Cissa, it's your turn."
Narcissa lounged gracefully in her betrothed's arms and was not the least bit surprised when James was the father. Nor did she mind when it was decided that Lily and James would raise her child and she would raise Lucious and Lily's. She enjoyed the fact that she could bring up a child that was not hers and spoil him or her while her own was being spoiled by Lily and James. The four almost reveled in the fact that it was so easy to figure out arrangements. Until the day the babies came.
St. Mungo's was in an uproar. Two of the most prestigious pureblood families were both due to have children and there were only two Healers who could be called upon for the task. One was in Arabia and the other was a very young witch. She knew her stuff no doubt but she couldn't possibly take on this job.
James and Lily Potter stood and sat in the waiting room. A few minutes after their arrival, the whole medical facility was shocked when Lucious and Narcissa Malfoy burst through the doors and came to a halt. The supposed rivalry between the two families was put to and end when James sat Cissa down next to Lily who embraced her old friend while Lucious shook his fellows hand and pounded him on the back in congratulations. His actions mirrored by the other man, their attentions turned to their wives.
"It will be soon Lu. I can tell. Mam'm!" James stopped the doctor who was in the process of coxing his wife and Cissa onto two stretchers. "Where are you taking them? May we follow? What is going to happen?"
The nurse smiled. "First time father, huh?" James and Lucious nodded sheepishly.
"There is nothing to be afraid of. You wives will yell at you and tell you that they hate you for a couple of hours but you have to look past that and see that they are in extreme pain. It's like a man with a kidney stone only much worse." James flinched at that comment. He couldn't forget Snape and when he had cursed James with a mock kidney stone. The memory still hurt…in other places.
Lucious stifled a smile at James's pained expression. The black hair turned to the point where Lu could see his comrade's face. "I remember the spell Lu. Would you like to be the one whom I test it on to make sure I do remember it?"
The smile was instantly wiped off. "No. Hey, come on. We have to catch up to our wives. They are halfway down the hall."
For most, it was a hilarious sight to see the pair of grown men dashing through the halls of St. Mungo's that day. For the men themselves, it was a wonderfully terrible day. Their wives yelled at them and James wanted to be with doth Cissa and Lily, while Lucious wanted the same. Thank goodness for Apparition. Every hour, they would switch rooms to be with the other woman. Finally, at midnight on July 30th Lily's first son was born.
Lucious was with her and was about to get James when he realized that this was his baby. The boy had light hair with only the slightest red tint, and gray eyes looked wonderingly at his father. Lucious melted. Lily's eyes shone as she held he baby. "You know this one is yours. What will we call him? Something in another language, perhaps?"
He smiled. "Wonderful idea Lily. What about Isildor? No, nothing in Spanish will do. French or Italian might work. Marco, Antonio, or Roberto would be nice."
The baby gurgled for a moment. "We could just call him Dr. Snarfuls. That's the kind of sound he makes." (A/N that's what we call my baby brother Noah. I call him Noah Boa.:))
Lily laughed at the idea. "Not going there Lu. Try Latin. It's so fluid and beautiful." Her hair was mussed and her face was covered in sweat but Lucious thought that she never looked more beautiful than when she told him what she thought their son should be named. "What about Draco? It's dragon in Latin and sounds very masculine. We don't want him to have a girly name that can be made fun of, now do we?" They laughed together and James appeared next to them.
"So what's his name? I know that he's Lu's because his hair is so light. Come on you guys stop laughing and tell me his name. He's quite a cutie." That shut Lily and Lucious up fast.
"His name is Draco for now. We haven't quite figured out his middle name-" "Or names." Put in Lu. "Or names." Lily agreed. "But I think that Carlos, Daemon, or Antonio would be good names."
Lucious thought for a moment. "I think that Carlos is pleasant but not exactly for Draco. Daemon or Antonio would be an excellent name; I said Antonio for his first name."
Lily nodded in agreement. "Antonio it is. Hello there Draco Antonio Malfoy. Hi little one. Ouch!" She immediately stopped cooing as she felt another contraction coming. Lucious picked up his son and Apparated to Narcissa's room.
Three hours later, Harry James Potter was born to a proud first time father and exhausted second time mother. Lily beamed as James held his first son. A moment later, Lucious popped back into the room with Draco to tell James that Cissa needed him. Another hour to go and Narcissa was a mother herself. James was already swelled with pride at Harry's birth but it seemed that his ego had no boundaries.
Cissa smiled in happiness to see her daughter in the arms of her friend. "What are we going to name her James? I don't think we should follow any strict family legacy with her first name but we could with her middle name. What do you think of something from Mythology?"
He shook his head. "Mythology for her first name is good but don't do anything that is from either family. It seems strange, being married to Lily and all but I really always liked the name Magnolia. Isn't that funny?"
Agreeably she chuckled as well. "I love magnolias. That could be her middle name. But what of her given name? Should we call her Juliet for the play we both love so much? Janelle would be a good name, too. Or what about-"
"Cissa, you are stuck on the 'J's. How about Hermione? The name is mythological and it sounds very pretty in a line. Hermione Magnolia Potter, eh?"
"And you, my dear, are stuck on the 'H's for some reason that I don't know of. Hermione Magnolia Potter." She nodded. "I love it." The pair watched in silence as their brunette daughter gazed around herself with eager eyes like her brother and parents. Eyes that were blue gray like most babies' eyes are. Hermione gurgled and smiled quietly.
An assistant healer walked into the room and announced that she would take the baby to the other room. James and Cissa dismissed her after kissing their daughter good-bye for what they did not know to be the last time in seventeen years. The Healer set off with the girl in the crook of her arm, supporting the head and tripped on the stair. Her ankle twisted and back broken, it was relatively easy for the cloaked man to grab the child and rush to the one place he knew she would never be found.
The Muggle orphanage was very glad to receive a baby that was as adorable as this girl was. The first couple on the list had specifically said that they wanted a child that was newborn and had brown hair. Soon after they were contacted, Mr. and Mrs. Granger showed up on the front stoop of the Orphanage. The cooed over Hermione and asked her name and several other trivial facts about her that they considered important before they finally tucked her into the car seat and went home.
Hermione Magnolia Potter was changed into Hermione Michelle Granger in a Catholic mass the very next day. Meanwhile, the nurse had been discovered and the Potters packed off into hiding. Narcissa turned bleak and unresponsive unless she held Draco in her arms. It comforted her to have a baby to hold if she could not hold her own. Lily was having problems feeding because her body had not quite figured out that she only had one hungry baby to feed. James gazed out the window for long periods of time, unknowing that the baby that had been adopted by the family across the street was his little baby girl.
The Potters, Grangers, and Malfoys all lived on Magnolia Crescent a few blocks from the Dursleys and the place that Harry potter would come to dread.
And you thought that I was all about making Akala come true. I have other interesting ideas for both of these fics.
Dani