Chapter Ten: 1980

or A New Light

...

Shrieks. Loud shrieks piercing the air.

James groaned for about the tenth time in the night and turned around, gazing at his son's crib a few feet away. He grabbed his glasses from the bedside table and squinted through the darkness.

"Lils," he groaned. "Harry's woken up...again."

"I've heard," Lily yawned.

Lily had also woken up with Harry's loud, baby shrieks. She walked to her son's crib and scooped him in her arms, rocking Harry back and forth gently. At first, James had felt annoyed, because it was the first time in weeks he could have gotten a nice night's sleep. However, at the sight of his wife rocking their baby so peacefully, both with such gentle expressions, he couldn't do anything but smile. He stood up too, and looked at Harry's small, peaceful expression with a proud grin in his face. Harry only had a few hairs in his little scalp, but those few he had were remarkably like his father's, jet-black hair which was starting to grow in all directions. With his eyes closed, Harry looked like the spitting image of James Potter, but when the baby's eyes fluttered open and a gleam hit his big green orbs, everyone noted he had his mother's eyes.

"He's so handsome," whispered Lily, giving Harry a small kiss on his forehead as the baby yawned.

"Just like you," agreed James with a goofy smile. He looked at their son for a few more seconds and then told Lily, "Let me hold him."

Lily passed Harry onto his father's strong, caring arms, and the man rocked the baby gently. Feeling the touch of his father, the baby giggled slowly and closed his eyes.

"How's little Hazzy doing?" James whispered to the baby with the goofiest smile Lily had ever seen. "Listen Hazzy, tomorrow you're going to get to see Padfoot again. He's your godfather, remember?"

"Dooz," giggled Harry in response.

"He's talking, Lily!" exclaimed James excitedly, with a gleam in his eyes. "Look! He just said 'yes'!"

"He's four months old, James," said Lily, chuckling. "He can't be talking yet."

"Maybe he's really, really intelligent," James suggested. "Just like his mother."

Lily smiled, and looked at James rocking Harry in his arms until their baby was fast asleep. The man placed a soft kiss on Harry's forehead and left the little baby in his crib. After the baby let out a long, happy yawn, James rested his chin on the crib, and looked at his son with a rather goofy expression until he felt Lily's arms wrapping around him.

"It's – it's just amazing," James whispered. "Harry – Harry's our child."

Lily smiled, and felt how James grabbed her hand and brushed his lips against it. It was, indeed, one of the best feelings in the world – knowing a child had been born from their love even in such difficult times. They had been hiding for a month now, ever since Dumbledore told them it was probably the best thing they could do. James knew Lily was scared, and he endlessly tried to comfort her all day and night. He finally turned around and felt a lump in his throat as he saw Lily's eyes were bright with tears. His wife wrapped her arms tightly around him, letting the first tears stream down her face.

"I'm scared," she muttered between sobs. "I – I sometimes think we won't make it."

James wrapped his arms around her, desperately trying to calm down the woman he loved.

"Ssh, it's alright," he whispered. "No-one's going to touch you and Harry, not while I'm around."

"Perhaps we should have waited," she murmured distressingly. "We could have waited until we got older, to give Harry a better and safer life..."

James shook his head, but to no use. Lily still sobbed loudly, and the only thing he could do was sit down on the bed and place her on his lap, hugging her tightly. He wasn't going to let her think that.

"Listen, Lils," he said, when she had mildly calmed down. "Listen to me. Harry is the best child in the world, and we are the best parents he could have. It doesn't matter if we're twenty, thirty or forty, because we love him with all our heart and we will protect him with our lives if necessary. Understood?" Lily gave him a small nod, still unable to say anything. "Great. Lils, you must know, I'd give my life for you two. You're the two only persons I love above anything else in the world, and I would gladly die if that meant giving you and Harry a long and happy life."

Lily choked out again, "Don't say that, James. I – I would never be able to live without you."

James smiled and kissed her temple firmly, but didn't answer. Every single word he had said was absolutely true; he would be more than willing to die if it meant saving Harry and Lily. But then again, he knew Lily was being honest too. James couldn't really know the unthinkable amount of love that Lily felt towards her, but even if it was half of what he felt for her, she'd have love enough to last a lifetime.

"We'd better get some sleep," yawned James. "Sirius is coming over tomorrow."

"Oh, true," said Lily, pretending to slap her forehead with a small smile. "I bet he'll bring some sort of weird gift for Harry again."

James snorted, "Hey, the boy did actually like his last present – what was it, anyway? Something like a deck of self-shuffling cards..."

Lily laughed, "Yes. I found them stuffed in our cake later on that evening, remember? I reckon I really don't know how the little lad managed to stuff them in there."

The two of them laughed silently, looking into each other's eyes with big smiles. They had both temporarily forgotten about everything that was going on, and were simply enjoying themselves as any other married couple would do. Then, James switched off the light and gave Lily a small kiss on the tip of her nose.

"Good night, Lils."

...

Sirius Black hardly ever got anywhere in time, but curiously enough at eleven o'clock he found himself knocking at the Potter cottage door. He had a small gift for Harry in his pocket, and hoped it would have a longer life than the self-shuffling cards he and James had accidentally gulped down as they ate one of Lily's cakes.

The door flung open and he saw a man he only knew too well, who had a huge grin on his face.

"Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed, hugging his best friend tightly.

"Padfoot!" said James, slightly mimicking his best friend.

Sirius elbowed James hard on the ribs, and as always made himself at home at the Potters'. It was like his second house anyway. Ever since Marlene McKinnon's death he had completely lost hope on finding love, so he had stuck to his job in the Order and used all his free time to visit his best friends and his beloved godson.

"Sirius!" called a young woman with fiery red hair from the living room. As Lily Potter ran to give him a big hug, a grin spread through her face. "It's great to have you here!"

"Thanks, thanks," said Sirius, as if he had just been awarded a Hogwarts Honors badge. Then, he looked around with a smile playing on his lips. "Where's the little lad?" He whirled around and found Harry in his small seating chair on the sofa, looking at Sirius with curious, glistening eyes. "Oh, there's my little handsome godson!" He walked over to the baby and gently scooped him into his arms. "How's life, Hazzy Potter? Are your parents treating you well? I'm sure you miss your uncle Sirius a lot, don't you?"

Harry giggled happily and Sirius beamed. James and Lily stood in front of them, James's arm wrapped around his wife's shoulder. They both smiled at the sight too, for they knew Harry was like a son to Sirius. He had been there the day of his birth, and almost every weekend he managed to sneak to the Potter cottage for a while. That day, however, he did have Moody's permission to come over and have lunch, so he would stay a while more. James could always use a nice chat with his best friend, and Lily loved Sirius to be around.

"I've made some roast chicken and chips for lunch," said Lily. "I know it's your favourite dish, so..."

"Thanks so much, Lily Flower!" beamed Sirius.

Lily scoffed at the nickname Sirius had given her back in their seventh year, when she became a lot closer to the Marauders, but said nothing. She knew both James and Sirius had a lot to talk about, so she said she would be going to the kitchen to get lunch ready, but surprisingly enough both James and Sirius offered themselves to help.

The three of them walked to the kitchen. As Lily gave its final touches to the main course, James made sure the chocolate cake he and Lily had prepared over the last day didn't have any self-shuffling cards inside, as the last time Sirius had visited them. Sirius opened the cupboard and took a nice wine bottle and three goblets, placing them on the dining room table.

The three of them started lunch casually, as if they were just a normal couple seeing their best friend again after two or three weeks. The war wasn't mentioned once – at least through lunch – and laughter often filled the living room, making Harry peer up from his sitting chair rather curiously, and giggle along every now and then. Sirius told them about their old friends: Marianne had married her boyfriend Daniel and was living in New York City, Alma and Remus were living in Surrey, and Gale had just gotten a job in India as a Gringotts worker and had moved there with Juliet. Peter was still living in Devon with his family, as shy and chubby as always.

No-one mentioned Connie though, and perhaps that was the only awkward moment that day. James had been told on their last Order meeting that Connie, Miriam Heavensbee and Craig Thurman were killed together in a Death Eater attack, but Lily knew nothing about it. When she found out about one of her closest friends' death, she found it hard to hold back the tears as memories flooded her mind. All those days she had spent doing homework with Connie, chatting happily with the other girls and playing around...and she was gone. She was barely twenty, and she was gone. She wanted to cry so badly, but still kept a straight face and took in a deep breath as she felt James's hand atop of hers. She knew he would always be there for her, and that she would never be completely alone.

Where was that bloody war going to take them?

...

Author's Note: Eugh, I hate this chapter. But it's the best I could come up with after the whole week planning a rather crappy idea I had, so I guess that's what you get when I have a major writer's block. Oh well. And sorry if the ending's a bit too rushed, I didn't know what else could I write.

Next chapter, 1981 or Halloween will come as soon as I get it all planned and written, which I presume will be in a maximum of a week or so. It'll be the final chapter of Lily and James's lives, but I'll also include an epilogue after it. Cheers!