"What does it mean, Professor?"
"James, I have not been your headmaster for years, there is no need to call me Professor anymore. Please, call me Albus." Dumbledore got up from behind his desk and went over to the golden perch where Fawkes usually sat. "Frank, James, I feel it necessary for you and your families to go into hiding."
Frank looked at his hands while James turned to look at Dumbledore. "Do you really think that's necessary? I mean, Voldemort didn't even hear the whole prophecy. He might not come after the boys. And they might not even be boys! Lily and Alice could have girls!"
"I am afraid that is highly unlikely, James. You may discuss this with your wives, of course, and the decision is entirely yours. And you do understand that by marking him as his equal will not kill the boy, but will make him the only one capable of defeating Voldemort in the future."
He sat back down at his desk and pulled a stack of papers toward him. Frank stood up and headed toward the fireplace.
James didn't follow, but sat forward on his chair, still looking at Dumbledore. "What would this entail, exactly? I mean, I can't officially speak for all of us, but I don't want anything to happen to my son." Behind him, Frank nodded fervently.
Dumbledore sighed. "Well, of course, you would need to choose a secret keeper. I would be more than happy to do it for you. And you need to choose somewhere to hide."
"I'll speak with Lily tonight." Behind him, he heard the whoosh of flame as Frank left the office. "Thank you…Albus." James, too, stepped into the fireplace with a handful of floo-powder, and vanished in the emerald flames.
"What did he say?" Lily was sitting at the table, a serious look on her face.
James crossed the room to her and put his arms around her. He pulled a chair to him and sat down. He explained to Lily everything about the prophecy and Dumbledore's suggestion.
"We have to do it."
"Lily…"
"James, I won't let anything happen to him. He is more important to me than anything in the whole world. Write Sirius and tell him. We'll go to Dumbledore tomorrow." She stood up slowly and James stood up to help her. "I'm fine. I just need to lie down for a bit. Write to Sirius."
She left the kitchen and James leaned back in his chair, his face in his hands. He sighed and pulled a spare bit of parchment from the table toward him.
He had just finished the letter when there was a knock at that door. He went to the door and felt something vibrating slightly in his pocket and heard his name. The two-way mirror revealed his best friend's face. "Can you open the door, mate? It's boiling out here." James opened the door and Sirius stepped in. "Dumbledore keeps telling me not to forget secret questions and all that, so how many detentions did we have in fifth year?"
"Fifth year? I can't remember how many we had in any year." Out of habit, James rumpled his hair.
"That's good enough for me." He pushed past James and closed the door. "How's Lily? What's wrong?" For he had just spied the look on James' face. "Lily's okay, isn't she? And the baby?"
James walked back into the kitchen, Sirius following him anxiously. "They're both fine. It's just…Dumbledore told us about something tonight. A prophecy about the baby, or Frank and Alice's baby, and Voldemort. I…can't remember the whole thing. Something about born as the seventh month dies, and marking him as his equal, and…neither can live while the other survives. It means my son could be the one to destroy Voldemort."
For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Sirius cleared his throat. "You know what this means, don't you? It's a boy, so you can name him Sirius!" He laughed his bark-like laugh and James couldn't help but smile.
"Sometimes I wish you would take things more seriously. Dumbledore suggested we go into hiding and get a secret keeper and all that. I'd had all this written down in a letter before you showed up. It was beautifully written, you should have seen it."
"Are you sure that's a good idea, mate? To use me as your secret keeper? I mean, it's the first think he'll expect. Maybe you should ask Peter. No one would ever think of choosing him as a secret keeper."
James thought for a moment. "But Voldemort doesn't think like a normal man. What about Moony? Do you think he'd do it? Dumbledore said he would do it if we couldn't find anyone. I think I'll ask Remus. I could probably get away with switching the name on the letter."
"Sirius?"
Sirius stood up and motioned for Lily to take his chair. She sat down. "James told you already?" Sirius nodded. "So will you do it?"
"I've decided to ask Remus instead. Like Sirius said, he's the first person Voldemort will suspect. Are you feeling okay?" She nodded. "Sirius also thinks that since we know the baby's a boy, we should-"
"No." Sirius laughed again.
"I should go," he said, "You probably have a lot to discuss. I'll see you tomorrow, James." He left the kitchen and James and Lily heard the door close behind him.
Lily pulled out her wand and pointed it at the stove. A water filled pot levitated to it and began to boil. "We haven't talked about that, you know?"
"About what?"
"His name. What are we going to name him? Are we going to name him after someone? Is it going to try to mean something? Should we avoid stupid nicknames?" The water on the stove began to boil over. James pointed his wand at it and it stopped. "James, we can't just not name him. He has to have a name!"
"And he will. We can choose a middle name from someone, and pick a first name from a book or something. Don't muggles have books full of baby names and what they mean? And he can't escape stupid nicknames, his last name is Potter. But we probably shouldn't name him John." Lily laughed and his kissed her.