July 31, 1980

12:00 AM

Three minutes later, Lily was holding her brand-new, black-haired, baby boy. She was so relieved that he didn't have an extra eye in the middle of his forehead or any of the other things Sirius had mentioned. He was a perfectly normal newborn.

"So, what are you g-going to name him?" stuttered Peter.

James looked alarmed.

"You didn't think of a name for him yet?" he said incredulously to his wife who looked disapprovingly up at him.

"You can help too, you know. You're the father, if you were so clueless to not notice that." Lily added, rolling her eyes. "Sheesh."

"No, you sheesh, woman," James muttered under his breath. "So, what are we going to name him?"

"Well, we could call him Xavier, or, um, er..." Lily's voice trailed away. "Oh, you think of something."

"I dunno, Kyle, maybe, Joe, Christopher? Hey, I thought of more names than you!" James pointed out triumphantly.

Lily rolled her eyes. "But, I didn't like those names, so, we could call him, ahhh, Nicholas or Harry or Mitch- Harry! That's the perfect name for him, don't you think?"

"Yes, Harry, that's it!" James exclaimed. "But doesn't he need another one, like a middle name?"

"Well, I was kind of thinking that he could be named after, you know, you." Lily said tentatively, for she knew that James would probably explode with happiness.

"Named after me? Harry James Potter? OK! He's going to be named after me, uh huh, oh yeah, my son's gonna be nam-?"

Remus had clamped his hand over James's mouth.

"Shut up," Remus whispered dangerously in the latter's ear. "You'll wake the baby and your wife. If he's anything like you, he'll be screaming his head off."

James settled down at the thought of a screaming baby. He sat down in a chair next to Lily's bed and fell asleep holding Lily's hand. Everyone else also started to doze off. It may have only lasted about twenty minutes, but for those in the ward, it felt like the whole night.