"Lily," James Potter said abruptly, sitting up. Lily Potter pursed her lips, looking as youthful as the day that she had died. She was knitting, something she did every day; knitting a sweater for Harry, or perhaps a scarf. "Lily, listen to me," James said sharply, his hazel eyes wide. Lily's knitting needles stilled, and she looked at her husband, perplexed.
"What, James?" Since they began their journey in the afterlife, she and James had long ago decided to be calm and wait for Harry to join them- though not for a very long while, they both fervently hoped. Even before their untimely deaths, James had hardly ever spoken sharply to her, and now that he had, it was extremely unsettling.
"He's gone," James said softly, searching for the emotions he knew he should feel: sadness, hopelessness, even fear, maybe, for Harry, left on Earth alone; but he felt none. All he could feel was immense relief and joy at soon being reunited with his best friend. Lily cocked her head to the side, enjoying the look of happiness on James's face, but still curious to what the cause of his joy was. James smiled, shyly at first, but it soon grew into a wide grin. "Sirius, Lily; Padfoot is gone. He's on his way, I can feel it!"
Lily sighed softly, reaching for her husband's hand. James had had a few feelings such as this one, all of them being as disappointing as the last. "James, love," she said quietly, looking into his eyes. "I don't want you to get your hopes up… The last time you felt Sirius's life-flame go out, you waited and waited… You were so sad, dear, just like the time you swore you could feel Harry's presence." Her words were exceedingly gentle, but also remonstrating.
James scowled like an angry child. "He's here, Lily," he said stubbornly. "I know; this is different than the first few times. Those were just glimpses, just maybes… This is the real thing. Sirius has joined us. Think, Lily, think! He might have news of Harry." James was playing at Lily's only weak point, and she knew it. But there was nothing in the universe she longed for more than her darling son, and she weakly agreed to go to the Portal and wait.
There were always people waiting at the Portal. It was one of the most time-honored traditions of the afterlife; waiting impatiently. Almost every soul that came through the Portal waited for their loved ones, not leaving until they were forced to realize that whoever they were waiting for was not coming, that they still had more time left among the living. James and Lily had spent months waiting at the Portal, sure that Harry was coming soon; surely, if they, fully-trained wizards who had thrice escaped Voldemort, were defeated, their son should be an easy feat for the evil wizard. Soon, though, they were forced to realize that Harry must have escaped, though they had no idea how. Once again, they were back in the crowd of lost souls watching the Portal for their loved ones.
"James," Lily said quietly, pursing her lips. "James, I… I don't think that he's coming."
James frowned, craning his neck. "He's here, Lily; he's coming," James said stubbornly, refusing to give up hope. He looked at Lily helplessly, his eyes pleading for more time. "This time, he'll be here. We just have to wait a little longer."
Lily said nothing, but captured James' hand in her own. Though she did not believe that Sirius was truly gone, she would not dash her husband's hopes like that. They waited for an hour longer, and James's shoulders drooped, a dull, careless look in his eyes. "Lily?" He asked softly, not looking at her.
"Yes, James?" Lily answered, her voice quiet and reserved.
"He isn't coming, is he?" James replied brokenly. He looked up at her, his expression one of utmost sadness. Lily sighed before embracing him, her arms wrapping around his neck tightly. "Shh, shh, love," she whispered into his neck, kissing lightly. "It will be alright, darling; Sirius and Remus will join us eventually. They will bring us news of Harry, and maybe of our grandchildren, should they live so long." She tried to grin, hoping this would bring her husband out of his low spirits.
"Grandchildren? Merlin, Lily, the boy is hardly fifteen!" exclaimed a laughing, joyous voice that neither Lily nor James had heard since days before their death.
"Padfoot!" James yelled, jumping on his best friend, hugging him fiercely. Lily grinned, happy to see the two reunite at last. James had always been restless without his friends, and Lily knew that despite his happiness at having her with him, he had always missed his friends dearly.
Sirius, his face older and gaunter than Lily remembered it being, grinned, shaking off James. "Damn, Prongs, careful! I'm nearly thirty five, aren't I?" Sirius took a good look at James, taking in his and Lily's youth, and he felt a twinge of something he didn't recognize. They were young, and he was so old. Though he didn't look nearly as old as Remus these days, and he was well recovered since his twelve years in Azkaban, he still carried traces of his age.
While Sirius inspected his friends, James and Lily did the same, though with more pity than anything. Though they could not possibly known what Sirius had been through, they knew that it could not be good. Only a glimmer of the handsome man he had been remained, and his hair, once the envy of Lily, Alice Longbottom, and Marlene McKinnon, was lank and dull. "Padfoot, mate… What's been happening down there?" James asked uncertainly, feeling a twinge of regret. If only they hadn't picked Peter…
Sirius's grin slid from his lips. "It's been hell, Prongs," he admitted, shaking his head slowly. "I've been in Azkaban for most of it, though, so you'll have to listen to second-hand news of Harry for the most part."
"AZKABAN?!" Lily and James shouted simultaneously, their eyes widening. "Why in Merlin's name were you there?" James said angrily, glaring. Maybe Sirius had been the spy…
"Relax, mate," Sirius said grimly, sighing. "I cornered the rat after I… After I saw the wreckage," Sirius mumbled, his voice dropping to a whisper, which showed how finding his best friends' dead bodies had affected him. "He knew what I was going to do, and he shouted for the whole street to hear, 'Lily and James, Sirius? How could you?' Then he cut off his finger, blasted the whole street into bits, and transformed."
"He cut off his finger?" James exclaimed, while Lily only stared, openmouthed.
"The next the I knew, the Aurors were there, and I just couldn't believe the whole scenario. Twelve dead Muggles, I think, and I'm standing there, laughing my head off."
"What happened to Harry?" Lily said, her voice like steel. Her green eyes blazed, and Sirius knew she was serious.
"Hagrid took him; I volunteered, Lil, I wanted to take him, but Hagrid said Dumbledore had a plan, and I couldn't argue!" Sirius said quickly, when Lily opened her mouth to yell.
Lily gnashed her teeth, whipping her red hair out of her face. "Did Hagrid tell you where Dumbledore was taking him?" She asked, her voice dangerously quiet.
"To your sisters, to Petunia's. He did some spell or something; something to protect Harry."
Lily stiffened. Her sister? "But Petunia… Petunia hates me. She hates Harry; she hates everything to do with- with our world." James took her hand, rubbing it comfortingly; he knew how much it upset her that her sister wanted nothing to do with her.
Sirius winced. "Harry… Well, this is where I have to take other peoples' words for it; this is what Molly said, and she mollycoddles the boy, so it might be an exaggeration. Molly said that when she took her sons to Platform 9 & ¾, she met a boy, about eleven, who was alone and looked rough. He was clean, mind you, but in baggy clothes, broken, taped glasses, and he was skinny. He was polite, and Molly said he looked a little frightened, though I doubt that Harry would admit that." Sirius grinned proudly, in a fatherly way that made James ache for his son, whom he still thought of as an infant.
Lily closed her eyes, imagining her darling son, all alone in a strange place. At least he would have had more warning than she, Lily, had had at the time. Sirius cleared his throat, and began speaking again. "Harry wanted to know how to get onto the platform. The poor boy knew nothing; he didn't even know he was famous!"
"Famous?" James asked uncertainly, frowning.
Sirius pursed his lips, nodding. "That's right; you guys don't know. Well, after you died, Harry survived the Avada Kedavra from Voldemort, and somehow, he just- just banished him, I guess. All I know is that after that night, Voldemort was 'less than human, less than the merest ghost, but he was alive'. Or at least that's how he explained it to Harry in his first year, I think." Sirius shrugged.
"Explained it to Harry in his first year?!" Lily shrieked, livid. Eleven years old and facing Voldemort?! Her son! When she was eleven, she was focused on learning all the magic that she could, and staying away from the frightening seventh years.
"Lily, let's go home," James said quietly, his hazel eyes distressed. He looked from his best friend to his wife, and he sighed. "Sirius can better explain this to us at our home. It will be easier for us, and it will make less of a scene. Besides, we need to get Padfoot acquainted with his new home." He grinned weakly, and Sirius grinned back, something that James was eternally grateful for.
"This is your house? It looks…" Sirius began, awestruck. He looked at James and Lily's modest home, and he felt tightness in his chest, mourning for the home that Harry never got to know. He, Sirius, and the rest of the Marauders, had so many happy memories in this house, yet his godson had so few. His sadness was short-lived, however, because his best friend seemed to be reading his mind. James Potter put an arm around Sirius's shoulders, and Lily's hand slipped into his.
"Just like our cottage in Godric's Hollow?" James finished for him, a small grin on his face. "Yeah, it was just sitting here when we showed up."
"When we finally realized Harry wasn't coming, that is," Lily added softly, smiling at her familiar home. "Well, let's get inside, shall we?" She said briskly, opening the door for her husband and their best friend. The next few days, or even weeks, would be difficult enough; they might as well start early. Besides, Lily could not help herself; she was hungry for news of her precious, darling son, and Sirius had it. As happy as she was to have Padfoot back, and to see a true smile on her husband's face again, nothing would make her truly happy until she heard how her baby was. She craved the news more than ever now that she really had an opportunity to hear it.
"It's even got a room for you, mate, just like our old place," James said happily, grinning at Sirius. He nodded up the staircase. "It looks just the same."
Sirius smiled tightly, eyeing the sofa in the sitting room. James sighed, taking a seat and Sirius sat next to him. Lily curled up in her favorite rocking chair, looking at her friend apprehensively. There was an awkward silence in which Sirius stared at the floor, his head in his hands. Lily bit her lip, staring at him intently. She willed his lips to move, to hear her son's name, so she would truly know that he thrived, that he lived. He pushed his ragged hair back, his gray eyes flickering between James and Lily. "Well, I guess I better get started then," he muttered, biting his lower lip. "I'll start at his first year, then. He made two friends on the train, Ron Weasley, Molly Weasley's youngest boy, and a Hermione Granger; she's Muggle-born, mate, but I swear, she's almost smarter than Lils." Sirius eyed Lily playfully, grinning ever so slightly. "The three of them are thick as thieves, mate, it's almost like looking at us again. Harry couldn't ask for two better friends."
James's eyes shone at that, and he wiped away tears brimming in his eyes. A boy needs good friends, he remembered. That was the advice that James's father had given to him before his first year at Hogwarts. He had found his best friends, and now, it seemed, so had his son. Sirius smiled at him, then started again. "Well, he got Sorted into Gryffindor, of course, and so did his friends. The Longbottom's son, Neville, he got into Gryffindor, too."
"Oh, Alice and Frank must be so proud," Lily whispered, smiling.
"Alice and Frank were tortured into insanity shortly after you were killed," Sirius said softly, bowing his head. His hands clenched and unclenched in anger as he thought of it; he had tried to forget that it ever happened. Frank and Alice had been like family to the Marauders, and Lily's best friends. "The boy was raised by his grandmother, Frank's mother."
James's mouth opened and closed, like a fish out of water. "Frank? Frank Longbottom? He was one of the best Aurors in the department… top of our class, after Lily…"
"It was my cousin, Bellatrix, and her mob of idiots. They wanted information about where Voldemort went," Sirius said grimly, scowling. "Can't believe I'm related to that slag. She deserves to be roasted alive, then eaten by mangy dogs. No, worse, let Wormtail be forced to eat her, piece by piece." His eyes gleamed maliciously. That would serve them both, his disaster of a cousin (he gagged to even call her that) and that… that thing he, James, and Remus used to call a friend.
"Padfoot," James said warningly, glancing in Lily's direction. Sirius swore under his breath; Lily, little Lily, the sweetest flower in the garden, was crying. Sirius padded over to her chair, placing a hand on her arm. "Lily? Hey, honey, don't cry. They went bravely, and you should be proud of them. Please don't cry…"
James was by his wife's side, petting her hair while Sirius spoke. "The poor dears… That is a fate worse than death," Lily whispered, wiping her eyes. "Go on, Padfoot."
Sirius looked uneasy, glancing at James as if to get permission to continue. James just shrugged helplessly; as much as he too craved information about his son, every fiber of his very being was protesting Sirius's continuation of his tale. If it was hurting Lily, no more of it could continue. That had always been James's mantra, his motto… But what to do when what's hurting her could also bring them both news of the thing they both loved most?
"Talk, Sirius," Lily said roughly. "I can handle it! I'm not a ch-child. It's just… The poor boy, he's almost like Harry, practically parentless." She shrugged. "I can handle this, Padfoot. I need to hear of my Harry," she said softly, her green eyes looking into Sirius's gray ones.
Sirius sighed, nodding. "Alright, Lils. But if you start crying again, I'm going to stop and wait until… tomorrow, I guess? Are there days here?" He asked, looking at James for an answer.
James, content at the brief change of subject, answered cheerfully, "Yep. Sun goes down, moon comes out…" His eyes brightened mischievously. "Wait till Moony gets here!" He whooped. "We can still do our moonlight runs!"
This thought cheered up Sirius immensely, but upon thinking further about his still-living best friend, his expression dimmed. "Oh, poor Moony. He's alone down there, save for Harry… and Tonks, I suppose, if he still isn't being an idiot about it." He rolled his eyes.
"Tonks? Isn't that the surname of your cousin Andromeda's husband?" Lily interjected curiously.
"The very same," Sirius said, smiling softly. "You know their little girl? Nymphadora? Well, she grew up, and, just like I said when Andi named her, hates her name, so she goes by her surname, Tonks." Sirius looked at his friends, waiting for them to get it, but apparently they were lost. "Remus and Tonks are in love! But Moony's being a class act about it; using his age and his furry little problem as excuses to stay away from her. Swears he's 'dangerous'." Sirius shook his head, angrily.
Lily and James were thinking along the same lines. Both of them shouted obscenities, shaking their heads angrily. "There is nothing wrong with Moony," James said heatedly, his hazel eyes fierce with loyalty to his friend. "Moony deserves the best bird out there, and if your cousin's daughter is the one he loves, then he should have her. He needs to quit being stupid about it and just go for it! We've been-"
"Trying to tell him that for years?" Sirius supplied, sighing. "Yeah, I know. He was about to go for it and ask her out again, at my insistence, of course." He wiggled his eyebrows, grinning, then frowned. "But now with my death… Well, I don't know how he's going to cope. He won't show his grief in front of Harry; it took him six years to feel comfortable grieving around us, and he knows Harry looks up to him. He's going to keep it all inside, like he always does, and he'll push her away again." Sirius frowned, wishing with all his might that he could help somehow, and make his friend's life a little easier. Sirius wanted Remus to know love; he wanted that much for him. He wanted Moony to be happy. Was that too much to ask?
"Harry?" Lily interjected, biting her lip. She fidgeted, impatient.
Sirius chuckled, smiling fondly. "You two would be proud of the man he's become. He's one of the bravest people I've ever known. Fought off Voldemort in his first, second and fourth years; killed a basilisk in his second year, saving the little Weasley girl; saved me from the dementors in his third year, using the Patronus charm-"
"Voldemort?" Lily shrieked, at the same time James perked up and asked, "A Patronus, at his age?"
Sirius smiled bleakly. "What can I say? He's definitely your son."