Chapter 1:
Harry slowly opened his eyes and looked around him. He was in a white room and there were lots of bright lights. A man in lime green was holding him.
"It's a boy," the man said.
Lily Potter summoned all the strength she could muster and held out her arms for her newborn baby son. The healer handed him to her, wrapped tightly in a pale blue blanket, and she hugged him close against her chest.
"Hello, Harry," she cooed, her voice hoarse, "Do you know who I am? I'm your mummy."
He had her eyes. Almond shaped and emerald green. She gently pulled back the blanket that was covering his head. He had James' hair. She patted down the soft black fluff, trying to flatten it, but it still stuck up at the back. She laughed softly and rocked the baby in her arms.
"Can you please send my husband in?" she asked the healer.
"Of course, Mrs. Potter."
"Why is it taking so long?" James Potter yelled, turning around and walking back up the foyer again.
"Just sit down, Prongs, everything will be fine," Remus Lupin said reassuringly.
"Unless he stops pacing," Sirius Black muttered exasperatedly, "Then it won't be Lily he'll have to worry about. Prongs! Sit down, already! You're making me seasick just watching you."
James turned around and glared at Sirius. "No, I won't sit down. What if--"
"James Potter?" a healer called from the door. James' head snapped to attention. "Congratulations, you're a father. You have a beautiful baby boy."
"Harry it is then," Sirius said with a smirk and held out his hand as Remus counted out five galleons.
James didn't even complain about the bet on his baby's gender. He was too busy staring blankly at the healer.
"Your wife would like to see you, Mr. Potter."
James didn't need telling twice. Pushing the man out of the way, he bolted into the maternity ward. He stopped in front of a door on the left and pushed it open, running inside.
"Lily, I--" but he stopped, for the woman lying in the bed had to be at least twenty years older than his wife. His face flushed as he realized his mistake and he apologized before making a hasty exit.
He gingerly walked up to the next door and checked the name before pushing it open. Inside he saw his wife lying, exhausted, on the bed. He stood in the doorway, staring as if in a daze. He tried to clear his through, but all that came from it was a mumbled, spluttering sound.
But it captured Lily's attention and she looked up at him, smiling feebly.
"Do you want to hold your son, James?" she asked.
He nodded, slowly walked over to her and took the baby out of her outstretched arms. He looked at it for a moment, not really sure what to do. He had played this moment over in his mind hundreds of times; planned all the clever, witty things he could say.
But all that he managed was a weak, "Hi Harry."
"He has your hair," Lily said, smiling.
Holding his son in one arm, he bent down and pressed his lips firmly against his wife's. He tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear and rose again.
Looking back at his son, a large grin spread across his face, "We made one good looking kid."
"Well I did think he looked more like me," Lily teased.
"For someone who looks like she's ready to fait, you sure haven't lost that fiery wit," James said and poked out his tongue.
She crossed her arms and a frown knitted its way across her forehead. "If you are going to be a good father, you need to start growing up, James Potter."
He just rolled his eyes in reply. "Lighten up, love."
Lily was about to retort when her voice was suddenly and completely drowned out by an obnoxiously loud bellow.
The one doing the bellowing, of course, was James.
"Sirius, Remus, Peter!" he yelled, "Come and meet your newest Marauder!"
"Where's James?" Peter Pettigrew asked, returning from the café with coffees.
"Meeting his new son."
"Oh, so you won the bet then Sirius?"
Remus nodded his head and sighed.
"You do realize, Padfoot, that you just robbed a poor man of yet another pile of gold that could have been much better spent--"
But what that gold could have been much better spent on, Sirius never found out, for Remus was suddenly interrupted by a loud a yell that seemed to shake the entire building.
"I think I hear James," Sirius grinned sideways at his friends.
"Yeah, but next time I think he may have to call a little louder. Hogwarts probably just missed that one," Remus said, grinning back.
Coffee abandoned, the three men young ran in the direction of the call, all beaming so widely their lips threatened to tear.
A young healer-in-training called Poppy Pomfrey was sitting at her desk in the maternity ward, filling out papers. She finished one pile and, with a flick of her wand, they were replaced by another. In the last month she had been on the ward, she had had to deal with a few over excited patients. She was beginning to grow quite good at handling them, she thought.
A loud yelled issued from one of the rooms further down from her station. Sighing, she flicked her wand again, filing the papers away. She jumped up and walked into the corridor only to be bowled over by three young men.
"Oh, sorry, doll," said one, a smirk plastered to his face, and extended his hand to her. He had shaggy long hair and looked only a few years younger than herself.
"Excuse me," she said in what she thought was a stern voice and ignored his hand. Once back on her feet, she brushed herself down.
"We're terribly sorry about that, we didn't see you there," said another.
"Well we'd love to stay and chat, really, but our best friend's just given birth and we need to go and see him," said the last.
"Guys don't have babies, Wormtail, do I need to explain the process to you again?" the first asked.
As she watched them continue, slowly this time, down the hall, sense flooded back into her.
"Wait a minute, you three," she called, "You're not allowed in here. Family only. Didn't you read the sign?"
They ignored her and continued walking. Only the dumb, shorter one looked around at her.
Sighing with exasperation, she ran after them and threw herself in front of the door they wished to enter. She crossed her arms for added affect, hoping she looked a lot more confident than she felt.
"I said you are not allowed in here. It's for family only. Do I need to get security?"
The first one put his arm around Poppy's shoulders and powerfully moved her out of the way.
"I'm the godfather. That family enough?" he demanded, but didn't wait for the answer before walking through the door.
"Ok, I'll buy that. But you two aren't going anywhere unless its back where you came from!"
Remus and Peter groaned.
When Sirius walked through the door, James was jumping around the room, swinging a bundle of sheets in the air, and Lily was pleading desperately with him to be careful. Sirius cleared his throat to make his presence known.
"Sirius!" James called and bounded over to him. "Look at your godson! Isn't he attractive? Do you want to hold him? Do you think he looks more like me or Lily?"
"Prongs, calm down!" Sirius said and chuckled. He wiggled his hand in front of the baby's mouth, "Does it bite?"
"It's not an 'it'!" James yelled outraged and continued the swinging game he had been playing with his son.
"Where are Remus and Peter?" he asked from the other side of the room.
"Training healer wouldn't let them in. Family only, apparently."
"So how did you get in?" Lily asked from the bed.
Sirius walked over to her, smiling, and kissed her on the cheek, "Because I'm the kids godfather. How are you going, anyway?"
"Not too bad; they have a potion for the pain which I take every hour. I'm just feeling very tired," she smiled back weakly.
James began singing. Loudly.
"Prongs, shut up and get over here; I want to see the kid!"
He obliged and was immediately at the bedside. He thrust the bundle into Sirius' arms, positively beaming.
"Sirius, this is Harry James Potter," Lily said.
"I still think you should have named him after me," Sirius joked and held the baby up to inspect it. It was an incredibly cute little thing. "I think it looks more like James. I mean, it has Lily's eyes, but everything else belongs to James."
"Told you so," James said to a pouting Lily, "and would you please stop referring to him as 'it'?"
"Oh right," Sirius looked embarrassed, "Sorry Harry."
After a few minutes, a healer came back into the room.
"I'm sorry, gentlemen, but you will have to leave now. Mrs. Potter and the baby are going to have to stay here overnight. Just for observations. Regular precautions, you know," he added at the look of absolute horror on James' face.
Sirius handed Harry back to his mother, and said a quick goodbye to the two. Then he left the room to give James a few minutes alone with his wife.
"It is recommended that you leave, sir. She will be fine with us. I'll give you two a moment," the healer said and followed Sirius out of the room.
"James, you heard him: I'll be fine. Go out and enjoy yourself," Lily said, holding onto his hand.
"Alright, alright, I'm going," James muttered, "I'll come back tomorrow morning to take you home."
He bent down and kissed her tenderly on the lips.
"I love you," she murmured against his cheek.
"I love you, too. I also love you, little James."
"Harry," Lily corrected. "Not it, not little James, Harry."
"Ok, ok," James replied unabashed, "I'll see you both tomorrow."
Remus and Peter waited outside the room. The former shoved his hands in his pockets, leaned against the wall, and waited patiently. The latter, however, was fidgeting anxiously. At the current moment, he had taken to interrogating the training healer.
"So, Poppy, when are we allowed go in?"
"You're not. A healer has just gone in to bring everyone out, and it's Miss. Pomfrey to you, not Poppy," she snapped back.
"But it says Poppy on your nametag," Peter stated, perplexed.
"That's for the other healers, not for you."
"Oh," he said, and went back to fiddling with his fingers. A few minutes past before he looked back at her.
"So, Miss. Pomfrey, I'm Peter--" he began, but was cut off.
"And I'm not interested," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. Peter seemed confused for a moment, but Remus got the drift.
He began to chuckle, "Don't take this the wrong way, but neither is he. He's engaged."
Poppy's face flushed and she was relieved when the door opened behind her. She turned around, opened her mouth to speak, found herself face to face with Sirius, and closed her mouth again.
"But I, on the other hand, remain an eligible bachelor," he said, his eyes twinkling mischievously.
"And I," Poppy snapped, "Remain uninterested."
"Feisty, this one," Sirius said to Remus, jerking his finger at the young woman.
She was about to retort when the healer left the room.
"Mr. Potter should be out in just a minute, Poppy. Then could you please show these gentlemen out?" he asked.
"Of course, sir."
He nodded and walked briskly down the corridor. Sirius waited until he had turned the corner before speaking up again.
"So, Poppy, what are you doing Friday night?" he asked, a smirk on his face.
"Certainly nothing that involves you," she muttered.
A few minutes of silence passed before Sirius started talking to Remus in hushed tones. Poppy picked up a few words like 'order' and 'drinks'. No way were they going to order her to do anything. The sooner the husband got back, the sooner they could leave. She turned to the door and put her hand on the knob, about to push it open, when it swung in itself.
James stood staring at her a moment with a quizzical expression on his face, before she moved aside to let him past. He shut the door behind him and walked over to his friends.
"Hey Remus, Peter. Sirius told me about the healer not letting you in. She sounds to me like a right b--"
"Behind you," Remus finished off, looking over James' shoulder.
"Oh," he blushed and ran his hand through his hair.
"Right this way please, gentlemen. I have been directed to escort you out of the hospital," she said and pushed past them, head held high in the air.
Sirius raised his eyebrow at James who returned the gesture.
"Padfoot asked her out, you know," Peter chimed in.
Soon the four were standing outside the dirty redbrick exterior of Purge & Dowse Ltd. The sun was slowly disappearing behind the tall buildings of London, and dusk was setting in.
"Morning Lupin," said a large man with a mustache as he approached.
"Good evening," Remus replied politely, "What brings you to St. Mungo's?"
"My youngest fell off her broom at the Quiddich Center last week and broke her arm. The Mediwizard on duty was new and accidentally had her growing teeth out of her nose. It's such a nuisance! A quick spell fixed it, but there's a heap of paper work I need to fill out at the hospital about the accident," the man scratched his head and sighed in exasperation. "I'm sorry, I'd love to stay and chat, by I'm running late as it is. I'll see you on Monday."
The man nodded to the other three before walking through the broken window of the department store: the entrance into the hospital.
"Who was that?" Sirius asked, as they started to walk down the street.
"Just a man who works for the Prophet. Always fixing up a mess caused by one of his kids. He has eight of them."
"Eight?" James asked in astonishment. "Merlin's beard."
They turned left into a secluded alleyway so they could apparate safely.
"Three Broomsticks for drinks?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrow at James.
"Well, Padfoot, I think recent events call for celebration. What do you think Moony?"
"Oh, definitely, Prongs. Wormtail?"
Peter just started giggling and, with a pop, disapparated. The other three exchanged quizzical looks.
Remus was about to open his mouth to say something when a small piece of parchment fell out of the air, right in front of him. He caught it, read it and shook his head with an amused smile.
"Clever," he said and handed it to James before turning with a pop and disapparating, just like Peter.
James read it through with curiosity and cottoned on.
"What's so funny?" Sirius asked, furrowing his brow.
James smiled mischievously, his eyes twinkling, threw the piece of parchment above his head and disapparated.
Sirius reached out and grabbed it before it fell to the ground.
Last one there's a rotten egg! Oh… and buys drinks.
"Crap," he muttered, and with a sigh scrunched up the parchment, turned on his heel, and disappeared with a faint pop.