(Written challenge from Lamia of the Dark) :)

Title: Nothing Is Easy

Prompt: Taking care of a baby

OTP: James & Lily Potter


XoX

"I know honey, but she means well. You know that."

"I know, Lils… but she calls every-single-day."

A rather short girl with long wavy red hair, and emerald green eyes began shuffling through her purse as they reached the dark chestnut door of the Potter Cottage; having the invisibility cloak thrown off her.

"You have to admit, James, my mum has been quite helpful the past few months." She looked over at her husband; tall with tousled dark hair and square spectacles that sat in front of his hazel eyes. "Merlin… where are the keys?"

"Oh! Uhm…" James settled down the baby carrier by his feet, as he began searching all his pockets and the diaper bag.

"James!" Lily yelled out, alerting her husband as he quickly glanced at Harry who was holding his key ring and trying to place it in his mouth.

James bent down, taking the keys away and replacing it with a teething ring. "Lil' man nicked my keys."

Lily took hold of them, unlocking the front door and entering; throwing the keys down on the hallway table. "He's already turning out to be as mischievous as you."

James followed closely behind, setting the carrier down and taking Harry out; holding him close to his chest. "Please, until he puts a charm on all the chairs in potions class that makes people fall through them when they sit… I am still the champion." He said proudly, grinning down at Harry who's wandering hand laid on top of James' lips.

Lily rolled her eyes, throwing her scarf on the coat rack and placing a hand on the back of Harry's head, kissing him lightly, and then turning to her husband to place her lips on his. "I'm going to get washed up, mind putting Harry down?"

"No problem, mama."

"Goodnight Harry, dear. Mommy loves you." Lily smiled down at her son, caressing his baby soft head before ascending the stairs to the bedroom.

James reached down to grab the diaper bag, and ascended to Harry's room. He opened the door, flicking on the soft yellow light and dropping the bag down on the rocking chair by the entrance. James walked across the room to the small wooden crib that already contained Harry's soft blankets and small toys. Carefully, he put him down; wrapping him lightly in his soft blue covers and leaning over the side of the crib.

"Alright little man, I trust you'll actually get some sleep tonight. Daddy's tired; Daddy had to listen to Grandma talk about all the different types of baby formula's… and all these muggle ways of baby proofing the house…" James gazed lovingly at his son, rubbing his tired eyes while Harry smiled up at him. "Yea, I think it's silly too. Besides, wouldn't you say mommy and I are doing a good job so far?" Harry continued smiling just before shoving a teething ring inside his mouth. "I'm sure I'll hear enough about it when you turn into a teenager." James joked, remembering not too long ago he was a teenager himself, having pointless fights with his parents and going through that stage every parent had to prepare the most for. "Love you buddy, good night." James kissed him lightly just before turning off the lights and heading towards his bedroom where Lily was already under the covers, leaning against the headboard with a book under her nose.

James kicked off his shoes, and began dressing into his sleepwear.

"Everything go alright?" Lily asked, flipping a page in her muggle book.

"Yep, I'm sure he'll just drift off soon." James accompanied his wife, throwing his spectacles off on the bedside table and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Are you okay?"

"Yea, just mentally preparing myself for baby proofing the entire house tomorrow the 'muggle' way."

Lily grinned, "Mum told me once that when Petunia was just about a year old, she had gotten into the kitchen cabinets. Apparently she knocked over the flour and the entire bag toppled down on her."

James laughed, "You did that when you were sixteen baking that birthday cake for Remus, don't you forget."

"I don't think you'll ever let me." Lily turned over, turning the lamp off and setting her book aside as she got comfortable in her bed covers. "Mind turning on the monitor?"

"I hate these things." James grabbed onto the baby monitor sitting beside his bed, looking at the object as if it came from the year 3000. He'd use it a few time before, but he could never remember how to work the muggle thing. He began turning dials, and pressing buttons till he heard a quiet noise. Turning it up, the quiet noise turned into a loud screeching static sound that scratched at their ears.

"Turn it down!" Lily yelled over the sound, cupping her ears.

"I don't know how… this bloody thing won't shut up!" James was turning the monitor in all directions, trying desperately to look for the correct buttons.

Lily grabbed onto the monitor, turning the dial to channel two and lowering the volume so all that was heard was white noise. Lily was better at the muggle things her mum insisted on the two having; she did live with non-magic folk all her life. James on the other hand… was feeling overwhelmed with the lack of magic that was being used because Lily's mum deemed it 'unsafe'.

'What if you accidentally turn him into a cat? Or burn the bottle so the milk is too hot? Or drop the carrier because your wand-thing was pointing in the wrong direction?'

James understood that she didn't understand magic as much as he and Lily did; but they were some of the best wizards in their graduating class! Surely they could at least use a simple levitating spell to carry all their things… but whatever made Mrs. Evans' happy made Lily happy; and when Lily was happy, James felt like he was doing his job.

"It's alright, you'll get it." Lily ran her fingers through his untidy hair, pushing it out of his face before placing the baby monitor down beside her.

James turned over, relaxing his arm around her torso and holding his wife close so he could feel the strands of her red hair tickle his neck, and smell the soft scent of shampoo that lingered. He took a deep breath, finally getting to shut his eyes as he began drifting into sleep while feeling the calm rise and fall of Lily's stomach.

It seemed like eternity since they'd shut their eyes; Godric's Hallow was quiet and still, the moonlight was shining in through the bedroom curtains, and the soft purple nightlight creeped down the hallway into the view of their opened door from Harry's bedroom.

It seemed like months since Lily and James had an actual good nights' rest. They were always up and about, running from and to Harry's room; trying everything they could to be the modeling parents they read about in muggle books. Deep down they knew no parent was perfect… but the added pressure from being so young, made them terrified to what people would say if Harry didn't turn out right. Of course, they kept this to themselves.

Now, about that good nights' rest…

The alarming cries of a distressed baby came blaring out of the baby monitor. Lily pushed on James' shoulder, "James… James it's your turn."

James groaned in response, turning over so he was face down in his pillow.

Lily let out a harsh breath, throwing the covers off and dragging her feet across the hallway to Harry's bedroom. The loud cries amplified once she walked in. She hurried over to the crib, picking up Harry in her arms. "Sh, it's okay. Mommy's here," She bounced him lightly, trying to calm him down but nothing seemed to be working. Lily grabbed her wand, flicking it towards the small radio on the windowsill so classical music flowed gently throughout the room.

"Sh… Harry, please. It's alright…" Lily said, continuing to lightly bounce her son. "Hear that? It's piano. Da-da…da-da-da…" She started to quietly sing to the tune of the piano, but Harry's face was even redder than before.

Suddenly, shuffling footsteps approached and James was now in the room, groggily looking up at his exhausted wife.

"James…" Lily gave him a pleading look. James turned off the radio, grabbing his acoustic guitar and sitting down on the rocking chair. "What are you doing?"

"The boy doesn't like classical, babe. It's simple – he's a Potter, he simply likes Rock n Roll'." James said, tuning his guitar.

"James… I don't know…"

James began strumming; and what seemed to be working throughout the past few versus, suddenly got louder as if the volume on Harry was turned up as loud as the volume of the baby monitor.

"James, I think that's too harsh right now." Lily began clearing the tears off Harry's reddened cheeks.

James exhaled, putting away his guitar and taking hold of Harry in his arms. "How do you not like Buddy Holly?"

"James!"

"Alright, alright. Uhm…

'Before you cross the street,
Take my hand,
Life is what happens to you,
While you're busy making other plans.
Beautiful boy.'"

James tried singing in a hushed tone, yet it just seemed his voice was drowned out by the loud screams.

"How can such a little boy, produce so much sound?"

Lily crossed her arms over her chest, unsure on what else to do. "Maybe… put on your Dumbledore costume?"

James glanced over at her, "What? No way. That was for Halloween one year, and one year only." He said, keeping his dignity.

"Then I don't know James! I'm out of options, and I'm not sure what to do." Lily slumped down into the rocking chair, putting her head in her hands. "This is hard… and the neighbors can probably hear us failing right now."

James placed Harry back in the crib, bending down so he was eye-level with Lily; placing a comforting hand on her arm. "Hey… don't be like that, Lils. We're not failing… we're just… having a tough time. We can get through this, okay? I'll figure something out."

Lily's green eyes glossed over his, and she gave a small nod.

James stood up, looking around the room for anything that would help the situation… He hurried over to Harry's play chest, swishing his wand so it illuminated and shuffled through the box. He hadn't noticed it before, considering his head was deep in the toy box and he was more focused on what toy would be amusing enough for the kid to fall asleep to… but it dawned on him that the only noise he could now hear was himself throwing toys around in the box. James turned around; Lily looking as surprised as James, noticing Harry was looking directly at the light on the tip of James' wand.

"This?" James said, pointing to the wand. He flicked the light off, gaining the oncoming weeps of Harry until James turned it back on.

"He likes the light, James." Lily said, tucking Harry in. "Can you keep it on?"

"Isn't it a bit bright? It'll keep the baby up, no?"

"Can't you dim it?"

James shrugged, then an idea popped in his head.


It only took about an hour, but Harry had finally fallen asleep holding his favourite dragon stuffed animal in his small hands. James leaned against the crib, holding tiredly at his wand where his light blue stag patronus stood; in the corner of the room. He looked back at Harry relieved, putting down his wand so the room grew dark, all but that one purple nightlight.

"Lils." James looked down at Lily who was laying asleep on his lap. He pushed her long red hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear; feeling too guilty to move and wake her up now. Instead, he grabbed a pillow in reach and slipped it behind his head, preparing himself for an uncomfortable sleep against Harry's wooden crib.

The next morning, Lily was awoken by soft cries from Harry. James turned in his sleep, as Lily immediately went to hold her baby boy.

"James. I need you to wake up." Lily poked her husband, whose head rested between the wooden bars of the crib; the pillow nearly slipping from behind his neck.

"Lily quit your crying, it's only one date." James said in his sleep.

Lily rolled her eyes and Harry threw his teething ring down at James so it bonked the top of his glasses. James immediately woke up, looking around the room and holding his wand out in alert.

"Who did that!" James quickly searched for his glasses and slipped them on, noticing Lily looking down at him raising an eyebrow.

"Harry's methods of waking you up seem to be much better than mine." Lily said, handing Harry over to James. "I'm going to make him some food. I think he's hungry."

"Oh man, me too." Lily looked back at James, and he immediately took it back. "That's why I'll make breakfast for the both of us later?" Lily grinned and exited the room, going down to the kitchen to make Harry's breakfast.

James brought Harry down to the living room, placing him on the floor and propping a pillow behind him so he wouldn't topple over. He leaned in, kissing the tip of his nose which made a smile dance on Harry's lips.

"Honey, the post is here!" Lily yelled from the kitchen.

"I'll be right back bud." James hurried off to the kitchen where Lily was microwaving baby food in small increments to make sure the temperature was just right. "It'll be faster if you use your wand you know?" James suggested, grabbing the mail and looking through the envelopes.

"Anything from Dumbledore?"

"Hm… bills… bills… your mother… how did she even mail us that fast?"

"James… Dumbledore?"

"Right, right… ugh… nope." James tore open the bills as Lily began mixing the baby food into a bowl.

She sighed, "I hate running around with that invisibility cloak of yours…"

"I know honey, but Dumbledore thinks this is the best option for us right now." James threw the envelopes down on the table, and walked back to the living room where Harry had fallen over on his side, rolling around on the carpet.

"What are you doing, silly one?" James picked up Harry and placed the pillow to his side; which didn't help much because Harry would just fall over on the opposite end. "Are you playing games with me?"

Harry smiled, as James picked him up and fixed the pillows so they were on either side of Harry. He was in his own little box now; James' idea to stop the baby from falling.

Lily entered the living room, looking at him confused. "What are you doing to our son?"

"He was falling over. Now he can't." James said proudly, holding his finger out at Harry as he gripped onto it with his tiny fingers.

"Here, use the high-chair." Lily unfolded the high-chair and placed the baby food on the tray.

James lifted Harry and slipped him into the highchair before running off to take a quick morning shower. Lily slipped his bib around his neck, and began spoon feeding Harry some sweet potatoes.

"Open up, love." It took a few tries but Lily had finally gotten the food inside his mouth; the only issue now was keeping it there. Harry began spitting the food right out, after nearly every spoonful.

"No, Harry. You've got to eat it." Lily said, trying to scoop the food back into his mouth. "Come on, open up." Harry stared at her with wide blank eyes as he grabbed onto the spoon instead and splattered the food all over himself and Lily.

"No! Harry, let go of the spoon for mama please." Lily tried to carefully unravel his tiny fingers from the spoon but Harry had other plans; he decided to throw the object at Lily's chest; causing a huge mess of food all over the two of them. Lily sighed, trying to clean herself off and trying desperately to get her son to finish his meal.


It was a tedious 20 minutes, but she managed to finish the entire container of sweet potatoes; even though most of it was on their clothes…

James walked in, drying his hair with a towel and stopping in his tracks upon the look of his wife and son covered in food.

"Lily, you told me food fights were immature." James joked, as Lily finished cleaning Harry's face.

"They are. Your son is only a few months, you were 13." She grinned, taking off the bib and wiping her clothes with a napkin. "I'm going to do the laundry before this stains." Lily hurried to wash out her clothes, leaving James and Harry alone in the living room.

"Alright, looks like it's just you and me little man." James picked up Harry, laying down on the floor while holding his baby boy above him. James looked into his son's deep green eyes, his mouth curved into a smile upon hearing Harry's joyous laughs. James swayed him lightly in the air, "You like that? I see those smiles. This is what it's like to fly on a broom." Harry's giggles warmed James' heart; he lowered Harry placing his lips on his cheeks. "You're goin' to be a Quidditch man like me."

Suddenly, James heard a loud ringing coming from the kitchen. "I'll be back bud, why don't you draw me an awesome picture?" He said, placing Harry by his crayons and hurrying over to the telephone Lily insisted on having in the house. It was mainly used for the consistent calls her mother made.

James picked up the line, "Hello?"

"Hey, man."

"Padfoot? How are you calling me?"

"With a telephone you git, don't you have one?"

James narrowed his eyes, "How do you even know what a telephone is?"

"Marlene insisted because Lily was talking about it. Who are we going to call on this bloody thing but you two? Anyways, was just checkin' up on you."

"We're all good here." James said, leaning his head against the wall with his eyes closed; feeling exhausted.

"Been a while, I know you're busy with Harry and all. Listen, do you guys need some help?"

"Help? Nah, uhm…" James sighed deeply, "We've got it under control."

"Because that sounded convincing."

"Listen-" James turned his head to check up on Harry; his eyes widened in surprise when he noticed Harry swinging a wand around. James looked down at his back pants pocket, and realized he must've nicked it from him. "Merlin… uhm, sorry Pad's, I've got to go!"

"Wait Pro-"

James slammed on the receiver and hurried back into the living room where Harry was flicking James' wand at the cat, turning the poor animal's fur pink. "Harry, no! That's daddies!" James grabbed his wand from his son, stuffing it in his pockets and enabling the alarming cries out of his baby boy. "Oh… come on, don't cry lil' man." James picked up Harry, holding him close against his chest and rocking his lightly. "Please don't cry, you'll get a wand someday. It'll be even cooler than mine, so don't be upset." James could feel Harry's tears run down his cheeks and land on his neck.

Lily rushed into the room, buttoning up her blouse; "What's happened? Is he hurt?" She asked alarmed.

"…No, he grabbed hold of my wand."

"What?!" The situation was put on hold momentarily while the doorbell echoed through the house. "Who's that?"

"Dunno. We're not expecting anyone." Lily gave a worried look to her husband, "Don't worry, they can't find us under the protective spell, Lils." The doorbell rang again… and again… till Lily finally swung open the front door to be greeted by a man with long black hair and a leather jacket, accompanied by a girl with lengthy blonde hair and an enthusiastic smile on her face.

"Lils!" Marlene jumped on her friend, wrapping her arms around her.

"Marls… Sirius…" Lily said, muffled in her friend's jacket.

"Can we come in?" Sirius asked, stepping inside the house and walking towards the living room, "Already am. Where's Prongs?"

Lily looked back at Sirius, "By the T.V."

"Been a while since I've been here," Marlene said, surveying the house with her bright blue eyes.

Lily closed the door and lead Marlene into the living room where Sirius took hold of Harry, who hadn't given up crying.

"What'd you do to my god-son?" Sirius looked up at James who crossed his arms against his chest.

Marlene rushed over to Harry, softly running her hand across the back of his head. "Maybe he needs his god-mother."

"No, I'm definitely the cooler god-parent." Sirius insisted, rocking Harry lightly.

"Guys… crying baby…" James interrupted.

"Right… I've got an idea," Sirius placed his god-son in the bassinet by the couch, watching as Harry's cheeks turned bright red. "Prongs, go get the Taylor."

"We tried that last night Sirius-"

"-But not with us here." Sirius said, interrupting Lily.

James quickly left and came back with his guitar, handing it over to his mate as everybody sat down on the couch around the bassinet. Sirius tuned the guitar, fixing the capo down the neck of the instrument and laying it comfortably on his leg.

"Gona' be like old times." Sirius said, grinning up at the three and looking down at the crying baby boy before him. He fixed his fingers on the D chord, and began finger picking a lovely, light tune.

Marlene smiled, parting her lips and singing, "Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter." She looked up at her best mate, sitting across from her.

Lily shrugged, thinking 'why not'. "Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here."

"Here comes the sun…" The four of them harmonized beautifully in Harry's ears; so much so that it seized his crying, for only now his wandering eyes were looking upon each of them curiously.

"Here comes the sun, and I say. It's alright."


After a miracle's work from the four, Harry was fast asleep. Sirius put the guitar down, kissing Harry lightly on his forehead and shifting the bassinet farther from the group so they wouldn't wake him. He slumped back down into the couch, kicking his feet up on the table, and relaxing his arms along the back of the couch. "Beautiful work my fellow Beatles."

James ran his fingers through his unruly hair, "Thanks a lot Pad's… we needed it…"

"I know you did, you just didn't want to admit it."

Marlene nodded, "Yeah, everybody needs help sometimes, so don't hesitate to ask."

"We're here for you." Sirius agreed.

"I appreciate everything, I do… so don't take this the wrong way when I ask… why are you here?" Lily added, leaning against James.

"When I called James didn't sound too convincing on the phone... he also hung up on me when I had information to tell you two… Wait a minute, is that a pink cat?" Sirius raised his eyebrows as he watched the furry pink cat hop onto the couch beside Marlene.

James leaned forward, fully attentive. "What is it, did Dumbledore say anything?"

"Has anything happened? Anything cleared up?" Lily asked hopefully.

Sirius shook his head, "No. Unfortunately there's no news from Dumbledore yet, but I've got news myself. I've been having suspicions lately."

"Suspicions?" James looked at him puzzled.

"Now hear me out, because this sounds from left field."

"It's about Remus." Marlene said; gaining the perturbed looks from Lily and James.

Sirius sat forward, looking at the two gravely now, "Remus hasn't been seen for a while, we're not sure where he is right now. It's weird, he just shows up out of nowhere sometimes, at first we thought it was just the transformations… then we found out a bit of information from The Order. Apparently Voldemort has been gaining followers; Werewolves. He's already got Fenrir, so it makes sense he'd join too."

Lily's brows drew together, "Just because he's a werewolf you think he'd join the Death Eaters?"

"That, and because he's already rejected by the wizarding world anyways. You remember how depressed he was about never finding a job, don't you Prongs? It just doesn't sit right with me…"

James' expression hardened "Say this is true… what do we do? Aren't we safe under protection anyways, you're the secret-keeper, not him."

Sirius drew a heavy breath, "Exactly why I'm here… so I've decided to resign last night."

"You what?!" James and Lily exclaimed.

"I think it's for the best, Voldemort might be onto me with my suspicions. I can't put Harry at risk…"

Lily turned her neck to face Harry, watching his small chest rise and fall underneath the covers. Her chest tightened in fear for her baby boy. The two couldn't piece together why anybody would want to hurt their Harry; he is the center of their world, their little miracle. It nearly broke Lily's heart to hear she had to be under protection the first time, to hear she wouldn't be able to bring Harry to her friend's house, or have walks along the street, or family outings. Now, to hear that a fellow Marauder could be against them?... She wishes she could give Harry a better life than this.

Lily's lips trembled slightly as her emerald green eyes gazed into Sirius', "Who's our new secret-keeper?"

"It'll be someone Voldemort would never suspect, the weakest of the bunch. I promise you this will all work out…"

"Who is it Sirius?" James asked anxiously.

Sirius gave the two a convincing look of reassurance, "Wormtail."