Previously on What If?

Lily silently held out the blanket for him to see, hands shaking. Where the normal, human baby boy had been just seconds before, lay a sleeping, jet-black wolf cub.

"What is it?" whispered Lily.

James stared blankly at the cub.

"I don't know. It's not a werewolf. At least, not one that I've ever seen," he said, puzzled. He glanced around them again as Lily stared fixedly on the bundle in her arms.

"What should we do?" asked Lily.

James sighed. "I don't know. There doesn't seem to be any malicious intent anywhere near, but I still don't like this. Maybe we should take it back home. We can decide what to do there."

Lily nodded vacantly, still staring at the cub. James grabbed her arm and led his dumbfounded wife away from the graves. They moved back down the street in the direction of their house at a slightly faster pace than they had been when they first came. They reached their home before long and James ushered his wife inside. He took off his coat and hung it back in the hall closet, then turned to Lily. She was still staring down at the bundle in her arms. He lightly touched her arm and she looked up at him. But her face is not filled with fear as he expected it to be; instead it seemed she was pleading with him.

"Please, James. Can we keep him?" she asked quietly.

James was dumbfounded. She had been terrified of it when she had seen it change forms, but now she wanted to keep it without knowing exactly what it was. What had happened in the few minutes it had taken them to get home to change her mind so drastically?

"Lily, I think we should think about this first. What if it's some Dark Creature? It might turn on us once it gets older. Even if it isn't a Dark Creature, which seems highly unlikely, even a regular wild animal would eventually turn on its keepers eventually."

"But he won't be wild, James. He won't grow up knowing anything about the wild. We'll raise him to be a normal boy."

"But what if he can't be normal? What are we going to do then?" he nearly shouted, pointing at the bundle in her arms, which had turned back into a human boy.

"A Blood Adoption will suppress those characteristics!" she shouted back.

"What's a Blood Adoption?" asked James confusedly after a pause.

Lily sighed. "A Blood Adoption Ceremony allows someone to adopt a child into their blood family. The child will take on characteristics of the parent."

"Just characteristics?"

"Yes. So there is still a chance he will retain this transformation ability, but he should lose those animalistic qualities. He will essentially become our son."

James considered this for a few seconds. "And you know this for sure?"

"No. No one has ever performed a Blood Adoption on anything other than a muggle or another wizard."

James sighed, enveloping his face in his hands. He looks back up after about a minute. "So this may not work-" Lily nodded. "-but you still want to do this?" Lily nodded again.

"I know I've just met him, James, but I love him. And he's still at least somewhat human. We can't in good consciousness leave him out there."

James opened his mouth.

"Or let someone else deal with him. He was most likely abandoned because of his strangeness. We are probably some the of the most capable wizards in England. I don't want some other family to have to deal with this."

James shut his mouth and sighed again. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Are you absolutely, positively sure you want to do this? We might be able to get Dumbledore—"

"No! I don't want anyone else to know about this! Once we perform the Blood Adoption, he will be ours."

"How are we going to explain this then?"

"We've been married for two years already and, although we haven't tried, I haven't gotten pregnant. Just tell them that we gave up and adopted a baby."

"They won't become suspicious if he ends up look exactly like one of us?"

"Tell them that we performed the Blood Adoption."

James sighs again and looks at his wife. "If you're sure about this."

"I am, James. I want him to be my son."

"Alright. But if something happens, he's out of here. I don't want you to get hurt."

Lily giggled. "Nothing will happen, James. We'll raise him to be a good boy. And if something does happen, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I was top of my classes, remember."

"Yes, I remember. Okay. What do we need to do for this ceremony?"

"All we need to do is take a couple of drops of blood from each of us and recite a spell."

James laughed awkwardly. "Sounds like a cult."

"Well, that's how cults started. Some muggles secretly watched a wizard family perform a Blood Adoption Ceremony and decided that if they altered it a bit, they would become powerful. Like wizards and witches."

"Uh-huh. Well, when can we do this?"

"I have to go to the library to find the book that has the spell in it, so we can do it sometime tomorrow."

James grinned. "So the book-worm never learned that spell. Tsk-tsk, Lily. I expected better of you."

Lily scowled at him. "Well, I never thought that I would have to use it."

James yawned. "So what are we going to do with him tonight?"

Lily contemplated this. "We could put him in the guest bedroom, but we'd have to conjure him a crib."

James stared at the baby in her arms, which had turned back into a wolf, but was awake and yipping softly at them. "I sure hope this works, Lily. We'll have a lot to explain if it doesn't."

"It will, James. Stop worrying. Now go conjure me a crib while I see if I can find anything for him to eat."

James nodded and headed up the stairs and Lily walked into the kitchen. She shifted the cub to one arm so she could hold him with one arm and open the fridge with the other. She peered into the fridge for a moment before speaking softly.

"Well, dear, I never thought we would have a baby without any notice, but it's a good thing I like to cook with goat's milk," she said and pulled out a small glass bottle of the white liquid. She set the bottle on the island in the middle of the kitchen and reached into one of the cupboards. Since it had stayed in his wolf form, so she decided to try feeding it with the bowl first. She poured a bit of milk in the bowl and placed it in the microwave for a few seconds. Once the milk was warmed and back on the island, she unwrapped the baby.

His wolf fur shimmered in the light as he crawled out of the blankets and over to the bowl. He sniffed at the bowl for a moment before hesitantly tasting it, then hungrily lapping at it. Lily tentatively reached out to pet the cub. Her hand rested lightly on his head, but he gave no indication that he noticed her. She began to stroke him, starting between his ears and moving slowly down his back. They continued like this for a few minutes, then Lily pulled back her hand and rested her head on her hands on the island.

"What are you?" she whispered softly. The cub stopped drinking and whined at her. She lifted her head to see that the bowl was empty. She reached for the milk bottle and started to pour some more into the bowl, but the cub jumped at her hand, eager for more milk. Startled, she let out a small scream and the bottle crashes to the island.

"LILY?! WHAT'S WRONG?! WHAT HAPPENED?!" yelled James as he thundered down the stairs. He ran to the kitchen and his shoes screeched on the tile as he came to a halt and surveyed the kitchen. Lily, the cub, the island, and the floor were covered in milk. Lily began to giggle, which turned into a full belly-laugh. James walked toward her with his arms outstretched.

"What happened?" he asked as Lily leaned forward into his arms, still laughing.

"I'm sorry, James. He jumped at the milk bottle and I spilled it everywhere," she said.

They both looked over to the cub who was trying frantically to lick up the spilled milk. Lily's laugh gradually slowed until she only let out a few giggles every now and then. She let go of James and stepped away from him.

"Did you get the crib set up?" she asked him.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," he replied, still staring at the cub.

Lily heaved a great sigh to relieve herself of the rest of her giggles. "Well, then. Would you rather put him to bed or clean up this mess?"

"I guess I'll clean up. I don't know anything about babies. Or wolf cubs," he replied.

Lily put her hands on her hips and leaned forward. "And I do?"

"Well, you're the one that wants to become a mother, so you're more likely to have read about what to do. At least, with the human part."

Lily laughed again. "You're right," she says. "I suppose I do know a little about this."

She picked up the cub, who had finished licking the island and was yawning widely, and walked out of the room as James pulled out his wand.

"Well," she said to the writhing cub, "I guess we better have a shower before bed."

She walked up the stairs and into the master bathroom. She set the cub down and he started to crawl around on the floor, exploring his surroundings, as Lily undressed. Her top fell to the floor on top of cub and he yelped at the sudden weight. Lily giggled and picked up the clothing, placing it in the laundry bin. The cub stood up, shook himself, and continued exploring.

Lily finished undressing and picked up the cub. She walked over to the shower and turned on the hot water. She ran it for a few minutes to make sure the temperature was perfect before stepping into the shower. She set the cub down on the tile and closed the shower door. The pup sat down, confused by the warm water falling on him. Lily reached over to one of the shelves and grabbed the soap bottle. She squirted some into her hand and rubbed the soap into the pup's fur. He stayed surprisingly still as she scrubbed him. Only when she had finished with him and began washing herself did he get up and start slipping around the shower.

The shower was built with a slight incline leading toward the drain and the combination of soap and water caused the cub to fall and slide comically down to the drain. He whimpered and stood up again, trying to shake the water from his fur. Lily quickly finished washing the milk from her hair and turned off the shower. She stepped out, leaving the door open, grabbed a towel, and wrapped it around herself. Then, she turned around the watch the cub.

He tried to follow Lily out of the shower, but the step was just a little bit too high and he tumbled over himself to the floor. He stood up and shook himself, spraying water all over the floor. Smiling, Lily grabbed another towel and rubbed the pup dry, then wrapped him in the towel and carried him to the guest bedroom.

Their guestroom had a queen-size bed, a dresser, a chair and a small closet. Lily had been proud of the arrangement of this room, but now it would have to be turned into a nursery. She was a little miffed that she had put so many hours into this room's arrangement and it had not been used once, but she knew she would enjoy building the perfect playroom for her new baby. James had begun the transformation by conjuring a crib next to the bed.

She set the cub in the crib, then stripped the bed of its blankets and folded them around him. He watched her as she gathered the blankets then sat down abruptly under their heavy weight as she draped them around him. She smiled and debated with herself about whether she should wait for him to fall asleep. As much as she wanted to watch his heavy lids fall slowly over his great blue eyes, she knew that her presence would arouse his curiosity about what she was doing and he would not want to go to sleep.

So she slowly backed out of the room and closed the door. She waited there for a moment, listening for movement. When she didn't hear anything, she moved farther down the hallway to the master bedroom. The master bedroom was furnished much the same as the guest room, including a king-size bed and a vanity for Lily. A door next to the bed led to a large walk-in closet and another door across from the bed opened to a large bathroom.

James was laying in their bed, but he sits up as she enters.

"Well?" he asked.

Lily shrugged.

"He did fine in the shower," she replied. "I just put him in the crib. I'll check on him once I get dressed."

She moved to the dresser and pulled out a night shirt. Once she had her bed clothes on, she used the towel to rub her long hair dry. She sat at her vanity and started brushing the tangles out of it. James was still on the bed, propped on his elbow.

"Are you still sure you want to do this?" he asked.

Lily gave him a look through the mirror. James sighed. "All right, but you'd better find out what he is first."

Lily nodded and finished brushing her hair. Then she stood up again and started the leave the room, but she paused at the doorway.

"Want to come with me?" she asked James with a tantalizing smile.

James sighed and got off the bed. Together they walked down the hallway to the guest bedroom. Lily slowly and quietly opened the door. She stuck her head in and then opened the door a bit wider so that James could see. James peeked through the crack at the crib directly in front of them. In the pale light from the hallway, he could see the cub sleeping soundly, cuddled in his blankets. Lily leaned against him, looking through the doorway with him.

"We'll make this work, James. Don't worry," she reassured him.

James sighed. "If you say so."

Lily smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "I do say so."

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-GH

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