December 24th, 1980
...
"Lily, are we..." James muttered, not really knowing where he was going. "Um, Lily...are you sure we're in the correct place?"
Lily rolled her eyes for about the tenth time in a few minutes. Her husband was still trying to figure out how did that little pram they had bought for Harry worked. He had suggested carrying their four-month old baby in his own arms, but Lily had looked so scandalized at the sole thought he had thought it would be better to shut his mouth.
The family of three walked through the supermarket's corridors. Lily was doing all of the shopping, whilst James just stood to her side, awkwardly feeling looked at by the Muggle customers. He wore some pretty Muggle-ish clothes - a plaid shirt and jeans - but he still felt bothered when one of those old ladies looked at him and stared at their little son.
"Oh, doesn't the little thing look adorable!" she exclaimed. "It's a boy, isn't he?"
James vaguely nodded. It wasn't like he wanted to be rude, but the whole Muggle world made him feel a little bit uncomfortable. Once the women had cooed Harry once or twice, they would just walk away with smiles plastered in their faces, as if seeing that little adorable baby had just made their day.
James sighed as Lily moved on to the butchery area. His wife started looking around for some meats, and he looked at his groggy son, who seemed about to fall asleep. James smiled, and understood those old women's giddy expressions. Seeing his little son's face right there, thinking the little thing was his own flesh and blood, made him want to scream out of pure joy.
When Lily turned around to ask James about Sirius's choice in meats, she found her husband had slightly ducked to Harry's sight, and was looking at their baby with a silent grin. He gently brushed his index finger against Harry's tiny cheek until their baby grabbed hold of his father's finger and shook it gently until he fell asleep again. She smiled at the view and walked over to James with two packages of turkey ham in her hands.
"He's just so handsome," she whispered, when she saw her little baby cuddling to sleep.
"He looks like his mother," James commented, giving Lily a smile. The woman smiled sheepishly as her husband gently kissed her cheek.
After paying everything they had bought - James had some trouble with Muggle pounds, but luckily enough Lily was there to help him - the three of them headed to the supermarket's door.
"Well," James sighed. "Peace is over."
He was right. After those supermarket doors, which may have seemed like quite average, stood a completely different world for James and Lily. Outside, Lord Voldemort was seeking their position, ready to kill them and their beloved son. Lily wanted to tear up at the thought, but she always stood strong, at least when the baby was around. She knew Harry would vaguely notice her crying, but she didn't want to cry in front of her child anyway.
She felt James's strong arm wrapping around her shoulders as they took a step outside.
There they found someone both of them - even Harry - knew very well. A man around twenty-one years of age stood leaning next to the supermarket wall, whistling an old Wizarding song. At the sight of their old friend, Lily beamed.
"Remus!" she called him, hugging her friend tightly. "You're going to be our escort?"
Their old friend shrugged and nodded, "Kingsley had to go do some stuff in the Ministry, so I took his place. You know it's just security measures, but they thought you could use my company."
James nodded, glad to have one of the Marauders with him. He hadn't seen Peter in a while - they hadn't seen each other after Harry's birth, actually - and Sirius was usually just too busy with his job for the Order.
"Glad you're here, mate," James said, giving Remus a small hug. "How's life, Moony man?"
"Not bad, taking this dirty war into account," the man sighed. "Center London is one of You-Know-Who's main targets, and we usually spend an awful lot of time over there."
The two men went into a small conversation about Remus's parents and his siblings, which ended in a few chuckles and Harry's soft shrieks. When James turned back to his wife, he realized Lily was holding Harry in her arms, rocking him back and forth slowly as she whispered something to their son. James smiled as he saw how Harry's face relaxed and when his little son yawned again and fell back to sleep, he smiled.
"He has Lily's eyes," Remus noted to no-one in particular. "But other than that, he's your spitting image, James."
Both parents smiled contentedly. Lily knew she should leave Harry in the pram, but she just wanted to hold him in his arms forever. That little creature she now held had been born from her and James's love...the sole thought of it was incredible. Harry was their little hope, their reason to keep going. Even in those dark, difficult times, Lily would always find a reason to smile whenever she saw her little son. She adored how James loved him so much, bringing a son to the world had completely changed him, and yet he was still plain old James. They loved Harry so much, and yet she felt something inside her telling they wouldn't be able to keep him from Voldemort's wrath. She feared not being up to it, losing her little child to Voldemort's hands and watch him die. She tried to hold tears back as James took the baby in his arms.
"Hey," he whispered, looking at her with concern visible in his features. "What's wrong, love?"
"Nothing," she answered faintly. "Let's...let's head home."
Remus nodded, knowing that would probably be a good idea. He told James to apparate with Harry in his arms, while he would join Lily since he didn't know their address in Godric's Hollow. James frowned slightly at Lily's upset expression, and gave her a soft kiss on the lips before trying to tell her everything would be alright. Lily gave him a small smile before linking arms with Remus and disappearing in front of them.
James held Harry in his arms for a few seconds, staring at the spot his wife had occupied until a few seconds ago. War had changed all of them, but he just couldn't stand seeing Lily like that, he just loved her too much. He held Harry against him and whispered something before apparating to their house.
"We'll have to find a way to cheer your mummy up when we get back home, won't we Hazzy?"
...
In no time, the three Potters found themselves preparing everything for a small Christmas dinner. There weren't many friends coming, since Peter said he had already been invited over to his parents' and couldn't say no, so it was only Remus, Alma and Sirius, and of course the three Potters. It was better not to invite anyone else over anyway, it would be dangerous.
The Potter Cottage had been cleaned up for their friends' visits, and Lily was giving its last touches to their dinner. Harry was laying in his crib in the living room, having fallen asleep half an hour earlier, and James was upstairs fixing some rather formal attire for the dinner.
When the man was done, he jolted downstairs just to find his son fast asleep. He looked at the baby's peaceful expression and smiled dumbly, as every time he saw his son asleep. Then, he moved on to the kitchen, where Lily was placing a little cherry on top of a plate of strawberries and whipped cream.
"Perfect," she whispered.
She felt two arms wrapping around her waist and a chin resting on her shoulder and smiled. Over the last years she had learnt to recognize James's strong, caring embrace.
"Yes, everything looks perfect," her husband agreed. "Nearly as perfect as you."
Lily giggled. She loved those moments in which they could both still act like teenagers, forgetting about the world outside their cottage and the dangers that they were likely to face in their everyday lives. She said nothing and let her husband kiss her neck, kissing up to her jaw and then moved onto her cheek. When Lily's lips curled into a smile, he kissed the corners of her lips and she giggled.
"You're such a sap," she told him, despite enjoying every one of her husband's kisses.
James shrugged. "I might be, but we don't have many of these moments any more...so I try to make the most out of them." He kissed her ear lobe and whispered into her ear, "I love you. So much."
Lily gave him a soft kiss in the cheek. Those moments were her favourite, and she never wanted them to end. Unfortunately they had to. In this occasion it was due to someone ringing the doorbell, to which Lily turned around in an attempt to go open the door. However, James cupped her face in his hands and gave her a long, sweet kiss.
"You look beautiful," he said.
"You don't look bad, either." Lily smiled, and looked at her husband's attire. It wasn't anything special, just a blue shirt, one of his black ties and dark pants. She fixed his tie so it fit the shirt's collar and then giggled.
"Seven years in Hogwarts and you still don't know how to put a tie on," she whispered.
James was about to respond, but the doorbell rang again. He scowled, whichever of his friends was ringing so insistently would definitely get a good ramble from him after dinner.
Lily smiled again and gave him a soft peck on the lips. Then, she went over to open the door.
"James, please check if Harry is okay."
Her husband walked over to the living room and found their little son wide awake, with his big green eyes shining in glee at the sight of his father. The little baby reached out his wrinkled, tiny hand, and wrapped it around James's index finger, a gesture that always made James want to tear up. He looked into his little son's eyes and smiled warmly.
"What's up, mate?" he whispered to his baby, despite knowing Harry wouldn't understand a single word. "Had a nice sleep?"
"Gaaz!" cried Harry in response, smiling widely at his father.
James couldn't take it any longer and scooped Harry into his arms. The baby giggled at this. James couldn't help but think of Harry as a little innocent creature brought into a world of cruelty and fear. A war was going on, and yet Harry would light up his parents's faces at the sight of one of his giddy smiles.
James was so caught up in rocking Harry back and forth that he didn't notice footsteps approaching him until a man around his age with curled black hair and a slight beard patted his back friendly.
"Fathering around, are you not Prongs?" asked Sirius Black with a smile. His best friend rolled his eyes.
"You're just envious, Padfoot," he protested, rocking his son in his arms. "I know you'd give anything to have a son like Harry."
"Harry's one great child, but that's because I'm his godfather," Sirius winked an eye at Lily teasingly, and the woman couldn't help but chuckle. Then, Sirius signaled to his best friend to hand him the baby. James was a bit reluctant at first, but finally he placed Harry in Sirius's arms. The man rocked the baby slowly, smiling down at the little thing.
"Hey, Mini-Prongs," Sirius whispered faintly to his godson. Harry's eyes fluttered open and stared at the man with a confused expression. "Oi! Lily! Don't tell me the boy can't recognize his own godfather!"
"Sirius, he has only seen you once or twice a month, and he's only four months old," Lily answered, giving him a small roll of her emerald green eyes. "Of course he doesn't recognize you."
But Sirius couldn't care less about Lily's words. He just rocked Harry back and forth. Yes, he was not his own flesh and blood – but he could tell something really special linked him to that baby. He was his best friends' son, his godson. If something ever happened to James and Lily – which he truly hoped didn't – he was the one to take care of Harry. Sirius wanted to show he would always be there for his godson, but as he heard the doorbell ringing again he handed Harry back to his father, who smiled – rather dumbly – again.
Lily came back to the living room with a young couple. Both of them were twenty-one too. The man had short brown hair and blue eyes, and a small scar ran down the lower half of his left cheek. He seemed tired, but nevertheless smiled brightly at the sight of Lily, James and Harry. The woman who held his hand had long blond hair and big hazel eyes, and ran over to Lily to give her a big hug.
"Lily!" she cried at the sight of her best friend. "Oh, I've missed you so much!"
"Alma!" Lily cried with a smile. "I missed you too. How is everything?"
Alma looked at Remus, who nodded and gave her a big smile. The woman giggled and looked at her best friend again.
"Remus and I are living in a small house in Surrey," she explained. "It's small, but it's cozy and comfortable..."
"Oh, Alma!" Lily exclaimed, hugging her friend again. "That's great news. I'm so happy for you."
Sirius walked to Remus and gave him some pats on his back.
"Another friend who's fallen in love's nests," Sirius sighed, standing next to his friend. "Say Moony, how is Alma dealing with your furry little problem?"
Remus punched Sirius's arm playfully, but told him things were going quite well. After leaving Hogwarts, he was provided with some medicines which reduced the pain of his transfigurations, and although he was still quite dangerous to be around once every month, Alma had known how to take things quite well.
After a small conversation sitting in the living room, with James hardly ever letting anyone else hold Harry, Lily and Alma talking unstoppably about their lives and Sirius and Remus catching up with James's new father life, the five adults and the baby sat down in the table. James sat next to Sirius and in front of Lily, with Harry presiding the table and Alma in front of him. Remus sat next to Lily, between the two women.
Lily accio-ed the first plates to come over to the table. Everyone else started drooling: from the kitchen arrived a big plate of roast beef and boiled potatoes with a very creamy orange sauce. All of the adults served themselves, until Sirius joked if Harry would be taking some roast beef too, to which James answered by accio-ing a little pot of baby food and a plastic spoon. The baby looked eagerly at his own delicacy, and smiled gleefully at the adults in front of him, who enjoyed their own meals. After they had been done, Lily turned to feed their son, who ate eagerly despite more than half of the content of the pot ended up staining his red and gold jumper. Everyone else in the room smiled at them, especially James, and Alma, who wouldn't stop commenting something into Remus's ear. The man chuckled and nodded, and in one point he even pecked the woman softly in the lips.
...
The hours flew by. None of them gave a sole thought to the war, death or fear, because they were all there together celebrating Christmas Eve. Soon enough, they found themselves talking until midnight, when Remus and Alma stood up.
"James, Lily," said Remus. "It's been very nice to see you again. But I'm afraid we'll have to go back home – I have a feast day round to do tomorrow in the Ministry."
James and Lily nodded, telling Remus they understood. The other couple stood up and hugged each of them until Lily led them to the door and watched them disappear in the middle of the Potter Cottage's front garden, going back to Surrey. When she came back to the living room, she found James and Sirius standing up and chatting in faint whispers. She realized the reason for such a low tone was Harry's groggy eyes as James tried to rock him to sleep.
"Here, I'll take him to his bedroom," Lily told James, taking their son in her arms. She gave Sirius a hug. "It was very nice to see you, Sirius. I hope you show up more often now that you know you have such a handsome godson!"
Sirius smirked, "Of course I will. As long as James allows me to even see his face...he hasn't let go of the poor thing in the whole evening!"
James and Lily chuckled. Harry let out a long yawn and gripped his mother's jumper protectively. Lily smiled.
"Well, I'd better take the little prince to his cradle," she said.
James nodded and gave her a kiss on the cheek before his wife left the living room, walking upstairs. James eyed his best friend, who was grabbing his jacket from a perch in the corridor.
"Well, I think I should leave now," Sirius said. "I think Dumbledore wants to meet me tomorrow morning in Grimmauld Place. The man looked quite concerned, so I better be ready for something bad..."
James shook his head. He checked to see if his wife was out of earshot, and when he realized she wouldn't hear them, he asked something in a faint whisper.
"When is this going to be over, Padfoot?"
Sirius didn't answer straightaway, looking rather thoughtful for his usually cocky attitude. Then, he shook his head and shrugged lightly.
"I really don't know, Prongs." he said. "It might be a handful of months, or perhaps another couple of years...Voldemort is not as strong as the first day, but he's definitely planning something. You two really need to watch out. You know, the smallest suspicion you have, contact the Ministry. They'll sort you out into somewhere else, but you mustn't risk your lives."
James nodded knowingly, and then gave his best friend a long hug.
"Good luck, Padfoot," he whispered. "Good luck."
Sirius nodded. Then he looked at his friend with a rather cocky smile. "When all of this is over, we must make sure we celebrate a big feast over here, mustn't we?" James smiled, and Sirius added, "Take care, Prongs. Don't let anyone touch Lily and Harry."
"They'll have to kill me first," James growled under his breath.
Sirius nodded, admiring his friend's bravery and honest words. Sirius know that was perfectly true: James would have to be killed to allow Voldemort touching his family. Sirius black admired James very much, although he would never admit it.
The curly-haired man stepped outside of the Potter's house, and bade his last goodbye to his friend by waving his hand. James nodded lightly and Sirius disappeared.
James closed the house door again, and let out a slight scowl. What would become of him in the next months? And most importantly – what would become of Lily and Harry? James knew he wouldn't mind passing away if that meant sacrificing for his wife and son's life. They were the only two persons he was sure to love above anything in that cruel world of theirs, and he would never let anything happen to them.
The man walked upstarts, undoing his tie thoughtfully. He looked around, feeling the weight of the world being pushed over him. He had a frown in his face, which quickly disappeared after leaning on the doorframe of Harry's room. He watched as Lily cradled Harry to sleep. He watched his son's eyes slowly falling closed, and his wife's peaceful expression. James couldn't help but smile peacefully, too.
When he saw Harry was completely asleep, he walked in and took a seat next to Lily in the couch. The woman wrapped her arms around him, resting her head in the crook of his neck. They were both exhausted, and after a small meeting with their old friends they had come back to real life – a life in which Voldemort looked for them all day and night. James wrapped his arms around her protectively, as if to tell her he would never let anyone hurt her.
"What's going to happen to us now, James?" she whispered faintly.
"I don't know," James answered truthfully, stroking her red hair. Then, he kissed her head and frowned lightly. "But he will have to kill me first if he intends to touch you or Harry."
Lily shivered at her husbands words, and felt how tears started watering her eyes. James just held her, trying to comfort her with sweet words whispered into her ear.
Lily shifted slightly before falling asleep in James's arms.
"I love you," was all that James could hear before she fell asleep.
...
Author's Note: I hope you liked this! I wasn't in my best mood as I wrote this, I hope it doesn't sound too depressing. But anyway, please let me know if you've liked it! Reviews are always welcome as long as they include constructive criticism and are not flames. Thanks for taking the time to read my story!