"Giving Up Harry"
Ch01
The air in the bedroom was thick with forced levity.
"We've always named children after flowers in my family."
"Lils? They're both boys."
She looked up at him.
"No."
She smiled.
He glared. "No."
She just smirked, and his eyes went wide in horror. "Rowan."
"Rowan?"
"Well, if you prefer Petal…"
He coughed. "Rowan. Fine name. Not as good as Harold…"
"Ugh." She blinked. "…James Potter, don't you dare!"
"Harry," he suggested.
"…I can live with that."
The names were signed. The midwitch was paid, shown out the door, and promptly obliviated. The young parents fell silent as Albus Dumbledore strolled into the room with his wand only halfway up his maroon sleeve.
Without warning, Lily snatched up one of the babes and held him close.
"Lils…" James tried, but she only curled around her son. He backed away, defeated, and looked at Dumbledore as the wizened man laid a hand on his shoulder.
She glared up at wizard through her hair. "Leave." Her eyes went to her husband. "And if you're with him, then you go, too."
James sagged. The exhaustion of the past weeks showed in his sunken eyes and the deepening worry lines around his mouth. He finally turned to Dumbledore. "You'd best leave, Headmaster," he said softly and walked the man to the fireplace.
When the flames banked down, he leaned heavily against the mantelpiece. Lily let out a sound much like a sob, but neither moved for several minutes. "We need him," James said in clipped tones at last. It was the opening volley in an argument that had rapidly grown old the past few weeks.
Lily stroked her baby's shock of black hair. "He wants Rowan."
"So does the Dark Lord!"
"And his Supreme Mugwump-ness is any better!" she scoffed.
Call it stress, exhaustion, or insanity. Something in him just snapped. He whipped around, seething. "DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT DUMBLEDORE THAT WAY!"
She stared at him, wide-eyed. Rowan and Harry jerked in shock, and then started to wail. Numb, James took a step towards the bed where his son lay frightened and in need of comfort. Lily beat him to it. He took another step towards her.
"Potter." He froze. He stared as his wife, his world, glared at him in perfect animosity. Her eyes flashed. They promised death. It was ludicrous. She was weak from the births. Her wand was nowhere in sight, and even if it was within her reach, her arms were too busy protecting two helpless newborns—from him. He looked down. He had his wand in a deathgrip, aimed at his own family.
Oh Merlin, no. "Lils," he choked barely above a whisper.
"Get out," she snarled.
o0o
When the alarm went off, a chime instead of a klaxon, Sirius Black grinned and dashed to the fireplace. "Prongs!" he called as he saw James Potter stumble from the hearth. Then his friend dropped his wand from a shuddering hand, and Sirius stopped in his tracks. "Prongs?" he asked tentatively. James stared at him like a corpse with tears. He was suddenly seized with a hundred fears. "The baby—Lily! What happened! Did she fall? A stillbirth? What!" He grabbed James' shoulders and ended up supporting the man's weight as he collapsed.
James twisted to look blankly at his fallen wand. "I—" he swallowed. "Oh Merlin, I didn't mean to—" He tried to bury his head in Sirius's shoulder, but Black had followed his gaze and now threw him to the floor in shock.
"What did you do?" he breathed. James looked up at him, helpless. Sirius's eyes hardened. He scooped up the man's wand in a guarded movement, then gestured coldly. "Get in the far corner. Now."
o0o
Three minutes later, Sirius barreled through the fireplace, only to stop short at the sight of Lily leveling her wand at him. Her hair was wild, her eyes wilder. A swaddled newborn was in the crook of her arm. Another lay in her lap. Sirius raised his hands slowly and knitted his fingers together in the Wizarding world's internationally understood sign of submission. "Easy, Tiger Lily," he said. She shifted as she recognized him, but the wand didn't lower.
"It's okay," he went on. He took a cautious step forward. "Are you…all right? The…twins?"
She nodded. His relieved sigh made the wand lower an inch. He took another step. "So. What happened? I didn't exactly"—step—"wait for answers."
She relaxed her wand arm, and looked down at the crying baby in her lap, torn. "Is James okay?" she asked.
His brows went up into his hairline as he heard her concern, but, truth be told, he was relieved. "He's at wandpoint in my living room," he answered truthfully and flinched at the reaction. "Hey, don't look at me like that. He stumbled in acting like he'd just killed you; I was allowed to overreact. …He didn't try to, did he?" Her silence was not comforting. He was standing at her bedside now, looking down at an infant that scrunched its eyes and wailed. He met Lily's eyes. "Is…it okay?"
She sighed and laid her wand on the bedspread. "Just scared out of his wits. James has the lungs to be loud, when he wants to." Her hand slipped under the newborn's neck, and she tried to lift him with the other child still in the other arm.
Sirius shooed her away. "Here, let me." He picked up the child and began to sway gently. "Hmm," he said softly, "You're a lot lighter than Nymphie was. Kid had giant's blood, I swear." In the same lulling coo, he asked, "So you and Prongs had a fight? What about?"
Lily leaned back into her nest of pillows and brought her baby up into both arms. A tear slid down her cheek. With a shaky breath, she began, "A few weeks ago, Dumbledore came to us about a…a prophecy…"
This story, written in four short parts, is complete (yay). The idea was to create a version of the Twin-Who-Lived-to-be-Given-Away concept where Harry was loved. I think the world needs both more James and Lily and less evil, OOC James and Lily. Also, no melodramatic, conniving, inner thoughts allowed. It's difficult to loathe anyone who sounds so stupid. Anyway, stay tuned for the next installment.
Happy readings,
C.E.