Chapter 1: A Love for a Child

"So when will he be born?" Infinity asked.

"July," Lily answered looking at her husband. James smiled a huge grin that brought back his boyishly, goofy looks that Lily fell in love with. Infinity couldn't help but be caught in their contagious happiness. Sirius sat in the chair opposite James. He was smiling as well, but not looking at the happy couple. He sat with his glass hanging in one hand, slouched in the chair, gazing at the woman next to him.

They had met in their seventh year at Hogwarts when James and Lily had started to date. Sirius had watched as she came through the doors of the Great Hall during one of the normal suppers. There was barely anyone eating dinner. Only a few at the Gryffindor table and some at the Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff and Slytherin were even less occupied.

The Marauders sat and talked happily planning jokes. They laughed and laughed, Lily smiling at the four friends.

"At least I didn't hex him like I wanted to. He would have been a toad now. I could see it, 'Well, I didn't know it was a student, headmaster," Sirius said mimicking the potions masters' voice, with all of his annoying accents on unaccented syllables and with the odd draw and scratch it held. The five erupted into laughter.

"Sirius, we really need to…" James' voice died off, with the other noise in the room. The doors had fallen open and in their threshold was a girl. She was short with sleek black curls. Her eyes were grey beyond imagination. Sirius slowly turned back to see why James had stopped talking. His eyes met the girl's. She was stunningly beautiful. Her eyes held and animated gleam that sparked his curiosity. She stared back at him, and then glanced at the head table, where Dumbledore had flown from his chair. A slight smile stretched across her face and she crumbled to the ground.

Sirius jumped from his chair and caught her before she hit the ground. Dumbledore reached them, glanced at Sirius, nodded and took the girl from his arms. Sirius watched as Dumbledore disappeared from the Great Hall. Sirius took a step forward.

"Stay where you are, Mr. Black. Go back to your meal," the voice belonged to McGonagall. Sirius rolled his eyes and sat back down. James patted him on the shoulder, muttering. Lily looked at him as she caught the harsh words from his quiet words.

"Padfoot, don't look now, but our friend is getting away with leaving," Remus said nodding toward Lucious Malfoy walking through the door after Dumbledore.

"Let's go," Sirius said, dropping his napkin and standing from the table. He didn't gaze at his friends, he just left the room.

Sirius followed Dumbledore around turn after turn, staying back enough as not to get caught. Dumbledore wasn't headed for his office. The girl still lay limp in his arms. Her weight was nothing on the elder man. He kept walking, carrying her with no pain as he made his way to his destination. Sirius stopped as Dumbledore pulled a door open. The headmaster walked into the room, leaving the door open. Sirius watched from behind a knight in armour. Dumbledore emerged from the room and stood on the threshold.

"Are you going to wait there all night?" Sirius startled and turned around, looking for who he was talking to. "Mr. Black? Are you coming?" Sirius jumped again and stepped from behind the knight.

"Professor, I…" Sirius began, but stopped as the girl emerged from the room.

Dumbledore, who before looked like a headmaster teaching his student, now looked like a scared parent, whose kid had fallen and cut their head. He turned toward the girl and reached for her. She stepped back to tell him that she was fine. Dumbledore watched her carefully as she made her way past him and into the hall. Sirius watched silently as the angel came toward him.

"I'm Infinity," she said. Her hand extended and Sirius stared at it.

"Oh, I'm, uh…Sirius Black," Sirius replied trying to gain his composure. No girl had ever had this effect on him. Not Sirius the Untouchable. He was invincible when it came to love. He dated someone new almost every week. This was wrong in every way. He never got flustered in front of females.

"Sirius Black, It is nice to meet you."

Sirius now stared at his wife. No one knew of their engagement. Not even James, Sirius' best friend.

"Yeah, hopefully he'll have my great looks," James said laughing. Sirius looked at him and smiled.

"Poor kid," Lily muttered teasing.

"We're married," Sirius said. Everyone stopped and looked at him. Infinity smiled back at Lily and James, after flashing a confused look at Sirius.

"He asked about three months ago and two months ago, we had our secret wedding," Infinity threw in to clarify. Lily and James erupted into smiles at the same time. Sirius looked actually interested for the first time that night. It wasn't that he didn't care about James' baby, it was just that he had a weight, something he was keeping from his best friend, on his shoulder, and it had bugged him.

"Okay, get up and come here." James pulled Sirius up and dragged him out of the house. Infinity looked after them.

"Don't worry, he won't hurt him," Lily said.

"Who won't hurt who?"

"Exactly."

"You, married? Are you serious?" James asked.

"Yes, I am…and yes I am married," Sirius replied. "James, she is so different from everyone else that was at school, she is perfect. She was the only one that changed me, the only one that ever affected me. I love her."

"Okay, that's all I needed to hear. Now let's celebrate." James was gone, his voice carrying onto the wind as his figure rode off into the night as a stag. Sirius barked out laughter and followed him as his dog.

"Lily, I think I'm pregnant," Infinity whispered after the boys disappeared from the house.

"How do you know?" Lily asked turning back to her friend.

"I can feel her."

Harry sat in his crib giggling at his mother and father. He was eleven months old. Lily picked up Harry and rocked him back and forth. James picked up clothes from a cardboard box and brought them to Lily for Harry. He had a play date with Artemis in a few minutes and he had to get ready.

Lily laughed as Harry burbled and chatted with his parents. He made no intelligible words but he just seemed to talk away. He was eleven months old now and Artemis was only three months, so their play date wasn't really that, just them sitting in their parents arms as the parents talked. Harry had taken excellent care of Artemis when they rolled around on the carpet. He would sit right behind her and make sure that she was safe and if she did anything bad they would both start crying, Harry usually first.

There was a knock on the door. James kissed Lily and glanced at his son, then went to answer it. Lily picked up Harry and went to see who it was. A muffled scream from James sounded through the room, followed by a loud thud. Lily peaked into the hall to see James lying motionless on the ground and a cloaked figure over him. Lily panicked and ran through the house. She held Harry close to her and kept running. As she passed the phone, she grabbed it and dialed Sirius and Infinity.

The phone rang at their house only once. Lily stood before Voldemort, holding her son in her arms and pleading to spare them. As Voldemort held up his wand and said the final words, Lily turned away to shield her son. Her body collapsed onto the floor. Harry screamed and cried, not knowing what was going on. Voldemort approached the annoying child and raised his wand to kill him as well. The baby giggled slightly and touched the wand carefully. The words were spoken.

"Maybe I should go check on James and Lily, it's not like them to be an hour late. They only live a few minutes away. Maybe I should call. Or…"

"Sirius, they would have called. Let's just stay here okay. We can't do anything but wait," Infinity pleaded holding Artemis close to her.

"But what if…" Sirius began. He shook his head and approached his wife. Kissing her on the head and hugging her and the baby, he crossed to the door.

"Sirius, no," Infinity stood and began to come towards him. "It's a death wish, please."

"Infinity, you and I both know that if they haven't called something bad happened. I can't sit here and let that bad thing happen." Sirius grabbed his coat and left the house.

Infinity watched him leave, knowing that this would all end badly, knowing that this would be the last evening she had to spend with him for a very long time, if ever again.