Heavy clouds gathered above Godrics Hallow, but no rain was falling yet. In the Potter mansion Lily Potter was holding her petite newborn closely. She watched submissively as suddenly the rain started pouring down. Big raindrops crashed upon the window that she was looking through. The tears that Lily had swallowed for so long were now swiftly sliding down her cheeks. It were tears of fear, anger and powerlessness. She hugged the child closer while her thoughts wandered of to far and dark places.
All of a sudden she felt two strong arms sliding over her waist and she smiled weakly. The muscular form that was pressed to her from behind could only be James, her husband. She snuggled closer to him. He was the only person that could comfort her these days. He could ease her pain and remove her fears.
The thoughts of murders, pain and death left her mind momentarily as she looked down at the child in her arms: a beautiful little girl, her first child. The girl lifted her small fist and waved it at her parents. She yawned contently and closed her large eyes. A true smile graced the faces of Lily and James as they looked down upon their daughter. A tuft of black hair was already clearly visible on her head.
James and Lily named their daughter after something they hoped the future held for them. They called the small girl Harmony.
Lily frowned; she was not expecting visitors today. She opened the door in a warily. A wide smile appeared on her face when she saw Albus Dumbledore on the doorstep.
"Albus, good to see you again!" and hugged him close. She became slightly worried when she saw that the usual twinkle in his blue eyes was missing.
"Has something happened?"
"I'm afraid so." He responded looking grave. "Nobody has died," he added when he saw Lily panic, "but there's something I need to notify you and James about. Is he home?"
Although Lily was relieved to hear that nobody had died she had this strange feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"No, not yet, He'll be home any minute. He was doing some last minute because we will have guests tomorrow. Would you fancy coming, too? We'll have a small party for friends and family."
"I'd love to." Albus said while silently thanking Merlin for having the chance to befriend this wonderful people.
He settled in a fluffy chair while watching Harmony playing with her toys. He observed the child closely. She had developed greatly in the first year of her life: from a defenceless baby to a merry toddler. She was showing signs of great intelligence and a lot raw magic. Why was fate this cruel? Why was this little girl destined to be killed by Lord Voldemort? Albus shook his head slightly to banish all gruesome thoughts out of his head and silently whished that his pensive was here to store those thoughts. The door opened and a joyful looking James stepped in.
He desperately tried to hide a package behind his back, but to no avail. On all sides red wrapping paper was visible and the tiny snitches that zoomed over it made it only more noticeable. Harmony cried out loudly in delight when she saw her father stepping in. She stood up and made a few weary steps in his general direction before collapsing on the floor with a loud thud. James chuckled and went over to his daughter after quickly hiding the present behind the couch. He only noticed Albus after first securing his daughter in his arms and kissing Lily. Lily raised an eyebrow and watched the package without commenting.
"Hello Albus. What brings you here?" James said with a wide grin, happy to be home again.
Albus swallowed. This was so hard; James sitting with a beaming Harmony on his lap, Lily baking in the kitchen. He couldn't ruin their lives. Not now.
"I'd
like you and Lily to come over to my office tonight. Several things
happened that we need to discuss. Do you think you can find a
babysitter?"
James raised an eyebrow but asked no further
questions: "I think Padfoot and Moony can come over tonight."
Albus smiled and got up.
"Do you want to stay for dinner, Albus?" Lily's voice rang from the kitchen
"No, thank you. I have some business to attend to, so if you don't mind…" he said gesturing to the fireplace.
"No, of course not. We'd gladly have you over for dinner but you must not feel obliged!" James said while holding out a box with floo powder.
Albus grabbed a handful and smiled gratefully. "I'll see you tonight at eight in my office."
"Okay, we'll be there. Say goodbye, fawn."
"Bye Alwie." Harmony waved her tiny hand happily at him.
Albus smiled warmly at her before throwing the powder in the fire and yelling: "The Ministry of Magic."
James immediately floo called Sirius and Remus.
"Hi Pads. Can you come babysit Harmony tonight together with Moony? Lils and I have to go to Albus."
"Yeah, sure."
"Be here at a quarter to eight, okay? And please call Moony for me. Lily's got dinner ready and I don't want to miss it. Have you had dinner already?"
"No. I think I will order something. Cooking is definitely not my talent."
James snorted. That was a huge understatement. Sirius never cooked himself before he got an apartment of his own. First he had Kreacher, then the Potters and of course Hogwarts.
"You should come over. I'm sure Lily won't mind. In that way you'll be on time for babysitting too. Take Moony, okay?"
Sirius nodded and within a few short minutes the two Marauders flood in.
When they were all seated at the dinner table the sound of laughter filled the room constantly. They were happy, careless and free, even if it was just for a moment.
"You know, Pronglet, when you're all grown up and a big girl, you'll go to Hogwarts. Just like Prongs, Moony and me. You'll play all nice pranks on Minnie and the Slytherins and you'll be on the quidditch team, of course." Sirius was feeding Harmony who was happily hammering on the table. He felt extremely godfather-ish and made all weird noises in Harmony's direction. He wasn't very careful, however, and before he knew it Harmony had hit the spoon out of his hands and the mashed carrots that were on there had splashed onto his cheek. He blinked a few times, looking shocked. He stared at the other adults in the room.
Remus considered him carefully, trying to hold back on his laughter.
"Orange is definitely not your colour, Padfoot."
In unison James, Lily and Remus burst out in laughter. Sirius glared mockingly at Harmony who stared back with huge, innocent eyes.
"James and Lily are obviously not raising you properly. I will help them." He said, rather indignantly.
After James and Lily had disappeared in the emerald flames Remus went to grab a book in the extensive Potter manor library. Sirius had forgotten all about the carrot incident as soon as he had washed the mush of his face. Instead of sulking about the pulp he was now planning to take Harmony on her first prank. They had the perfect target: Remus.
"Okay, Prongslet. Uncle Padfoot has seen the light and came up with the best idea ever! Want to hear it?" Sirius was not waiting for an answer and just rambled on "Let's have a little fun with our old chap Moony."
Harmony squealed happily and tried to get a hold onto Sirius' hair. Sirius ducked quickly and said in a stern voice: "Not the time for jokes, Prongslet. It's the time for business, pranks!"
Sirius placed Harmony carefully on his arms, making sure he wouldn't drop her, and sneaked into the library. He placed one finger over his mouth to make sure Harmony would be silent. When they were standing behind the couch were Remus was reading, unaware of what was happening behind his back, Sirius started muttering the spell that he wanted to use on him. He wasn't paying to Harmony, however. Harmony waved her hand happily in her Uncle Moony's direction and while Sirius turned Remus' hair blue, Harmony somehow conjured a little cloud that hovered above his head. Sirius raised his eyebrows at Harmony and said rather loudly: "A cloud?"
Remus turned around, looking startled: "What is going on here?"
Sirius smiled sheepishly: "Nothing, Moony, everything's just fine."
Remus frowned and just when he was about to retort angrily the little cloud above his head rumbled. Sirius raised an eyebrow and threw a sideways glance at Harmony.
"Sirius Orion Black, what do you think you're doing?"
Within mere seconds the small cloud was not only rumbling but was actually producing small raindrops that fell down on Remus' head and soaked his blue hair. Remus looked around, bewildered, where that stupid water of came. Sirius had his wand in his back pocket so it couldn't be him. He turned around, expecting James or Peter to be behind him, holding out his wand and grinning, but no one was there. Then, he heard Harmony's giggle. Sirius smirked and conjured a mirror. Remus eyes widened.
Meanwhile James and Lily Potter arrived in Albus Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts by floo network.
"Hello Albus." James said and Lily just smiled pleasantly, trying very hard to ignore the nervous jolt in her stomach.
"Hello James, Lily. Thank you for coming over tonight. Lemon drop?" When both James and Lily politly declined he continued, "I have something rather important to tell you. No, actually, I can better show you."
He flicked his wand in the direction of a beautifully carved wooden closet and a small hidden door opened from which a large marble bowl appeared. Lily frowned but James nodded knowingly: "A pensive."
"Exactly, James, the memory I will show you is one of my very own memories and of an event that occurred today. You will be shocked by it but please, keep paying attention carefully. It's very important that you'll every word that is said."
James nodded, determinedly, and pulled Lily up while Dumbledore put his wand to his temple.
A/N: I'm so sorry for the long wait. Too much has happened for me to be able to update this, first a teacher of my school phoned my parents and told them I skived a lot. Well, easy to say my parents didn't like that so they took my computer away from me. Than, I found out that my story wasn't right with following the timeline J.K.R. has set. So I had to change a lot of things in my plot, so I had to fix that first. I've changed this chapter slightly so it can fit the changes in my plot. But now, I promise you some regular updates and I apologize again. SO SORRY!
