So, I'm finally back! And, I am so sorry for the long wait. It's been months. There is no excuse for my long absence, just that so many things happened and writing was on the backburner for me. I hope that there are still people out there who are interested in this story. Thank you to my readers, and to my reviewers, specifically, to potterphilosepher, writeyourcaresaway, GoldenKeeper2657, and thestargazer7 for reviewing during my long leave of absence. I wrote an especially long chapter for you guys, and I hope you can power through it. And, a heads up, this is one of the last chapters of exposition. The plot is coming! The plot is coming! Now, without further ado, on with the story!

It was a quiet night in the Potter household. James and I had been out practicing Quidditch for a while and we had just called it a night. Lily obviously was too tired to cook anything so James and I had assembled a variety of snack food for us all to eat in the living room while we amused ourselves. It was quite relaxing, honestly.

So, I was in for a shock when, just as I was turning the page of my favorite novel, Lily gasped and dropped the plate of waffles she was holding. James and I both started at the crash, and he immediately rushed to Lily's side.

"What's wrong Lily?" he asked frantically.

Lily said, "I think my water broke," before doubling over and clutching her stomach in pain.

"Milly! Floo Padfoot and tell him the baby's coming! Tell him I'm off to St. Mungo's, he'll know what to do!" James quickly commanded me. And at my shocked look, he added, "Quickly, Milly."

Jolting out of my shocked state, I rushed to the fireplace, tossed some Floo Powder into the flames, jumped in, yelled "Sirius's place", and was engulfed by the emerald green flames.

The sight I beheld when I stumbled out of Sirius's fireplace was not one that should be viewed by any two year-old. No matter what said two year-old's maturity level is. Sirius was half-naked and furiously going at it with some equally naked blond. For the second time that night, I froze in shock. Then after a second of utter revulsion, I yelled, "Sirius! The baby's coming and James and Lily are off to St. Mungo's!"

Sirius tore himself away from the blond and immediately clothed their bodies with a flick of his wand. "Milly," he said, aghast, "You don't just Floo in unexpected! If you do that, you witness what you've just seen. Oh Merlin, James is going to kill me for corrupting you." He kneeled down in front of me and said, "You saw nothing. You hear me? Nothing! You're going to forget about this. I'm going to forget that you witnessed this. And James and Lily will never have to know about my corrupting your innocence... Sorry about that by the way."

I just blinked at him. He seemed to take that as my assent and then said, "So, what did you say when you got in? Sorry, I couldn't hear you what with the shock and everything."

"The baby's coming and James and Lily are off to St. Mungo's."

"Holy shit! Bloody, buggering hell! Merlin's bloody sagging X-fronts! The baby's coming?!"

"Erm, yes. And surprisingly, James was much calmer than you about this. He said you'd know what to do."

When Sirius just stared at me, unblinkingly, I slapped his arm and yelled, "SIRIUS, snap out of it! What do we do?!"

He jumped at my words and said, "Right, right. Sorry about that. One sec, Milly, I'll just get a few things out of the way and then we'll get going."

I rolled my eyes and replied, "Well, hurry. I'm not about to miss my baby sibling being born."

"You do realize you won't be seeing the actual giving of birth, right?"

"Obviously. I meant being able to see him. Merlin, just get going, Sirius."

"Whatever, tiny."

I just tapped my foot impatiently in response. He turned to the blond who was blushing tomato red at this point and said, "Sorry Abigail, we're going to have to cut this short. My best friend's wife is having a baby right now, and I have to go and support them. So, maybe some other time?"

"Erm…yeah," said the blond, Abigail, squirming, "I'll, erm, just be going now. Good luck with y'know the baby and all…erm yeah." And with that, she rushed to the fireplace and Flooed to…the Lucky Cat, I believe. I'm not all too sure, but, in my defense, I was too busy concentrating on what Sirius and I were going to do.

"Right, so now we'll head off to your place and pick up the bag. Then we'll have to stop by the Longbottoms and the Mary's place. Oh, and obviously we have to let Peter and Remus know too," Sirius said while tossing some Floo powder into the blazing flames. When they were emerald green, he gave me a quick pat on the back and said in you go before hopping in after me, gripping my shoulder and shouting, "Potter Residence!"

When we got out of the fireplace on the other end, almost everything was where we left them. Basically nothing had changed, except for the fact that James and Lily and their wands were nowhere to be found. I had to hand it to James, as comical as he was, he sure knew how to take control of a crazy situation.

"Okay," Sirius said, "I need you to Floo the whole lot while I go put together the bag. When you enter the Floo just say 'Longbottom Manor', 'Mary's Place', 'Remus's Place', and 'Pettigrew Residence' to get to their houses. When you're done telling everyone, just come back here and we'll go together. Can you remember that?" When I nodded in assent, he said, "Well, you know what to do. Off you go, then!"

With that, I jumped into the still-emerald flames, shouted "Longbottom Manor" and was swept into the dizzying depths of the Floo network once more.

Surprisingly, I managed to get out of the Longbottom fireplace without stumbling, probably because they didn't have that stupid step and because they had a nice railing by the mantle. Of course, my grace didn't last long because, as soon as I stepped out of the flames, I found myself face-to-face with the business end of a wand held by, who I only could assume was Frank Longbottom.

"Who are you? Who sent you? Why are you here?!" he said roughly.

Shocked, I held my hands up in defence, replying, "Lily's having her baby and she and James are at the hospital. Sirius told me to tell Alice and Frank this. Please don't hurt me!"

Slightly mollified, he said in a slightly less tone (with his wand still up, mind you), "Ok, well then who are you? And how would you know those people you just talked about?"

"I'm Milly. I live with Lily and James. They took me in because…erm…well…my parents died," I said.

"Oh. I'm sorry, but I don't know if I can trust you. These are rough times we live in, and, well…erm…I'm going to have to look into your mind. If you're really innocent, then you'll let me." He raised his eyebrows in question for my response.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't want a man who I barely knew to see the innermost workings of my mind, but I was scared to death of what this man would do to me if I didn't let him read my thoughts and I still had to get everyone else to the hospital. "Bloody Sirius, sending me out here without any way of identifying myself", I thought. So, in a split-second decision, I nodded in agreement, something that had I done with anyone else at any other time, I would have regretted.

He looked surprised and lowered his wand. "There's hardly anyone I know who would let me see their thoughts, regardless of whether they were who they say are or not."

"Well, I don't think I've been around long enough to have thoughts I would be ashamed for people to see. Not that I want other people peeking around in my mind in any circumstance, though," I replied, "But, just checking, you're not going to read my thoughts, I take it?"

The corners of his lips lifted, and he said, "I'm not actually going to invade your thoughts. That was just a way to test you. If you were more of a suspicious character, I would have. But, seeing as you're only a little girl and have no real reason to harm me, I'm going to assume what you said is true. The name's Frank Longbottom by the way. Though you probably already knew that."

"Well, I kind of figured you were. I didn't really think Alice Longbottom was a bloke's name. But, anyway, are you coming? Because, not to be rude or anything, but I need to let Mary, Remus, and Peter know."

"Oh, yeah. Right you are—what did you say your name was again?"

"Milly," I replied with a smile.

"Oh, right. Sorry about that. I'll just be getting Alice then Milly, wait here."

I nodded and he exited up the spiral staircase at the end of the room, presumably to go get his wife. While he was gone, I amused myself by looking around the room. Longbottom Manor was a fascinating place, and I only saw the living room! The ceilings were arched, and there was a skylight at the center letting me see the full moon and stars in the sky. Not to mention the vast amounts of books in the room. There were shelves everywhere, filled to the brim with books, and the coffee table was covered with novels and magazines. But, the most fascinating thing to me was the portraits. I had read about magical portraits in James' and Lily's, well mainly Lily's, library. They moved and talked just like their original portraits. I found myself gawking at them for a while before one of them, a haughty old lady, barked, "Oi! What're you staring at?"

"Sorry," I quickly replied, "I've just never seen portraits like these before."

"Never seen a portrait? My, my what has happened to the world since I died. Though, you look pretty young, at least you've seen one now."

"Yes, indeed. All of the portraits here are quite beautiful."

"Thank you, young lady. You seem much preferable to the brats of your age that are always running around here and messing up the order of things. I swear, I don't know why my great grandson even bothers to keep them around! He has little Neville now to keep him and Alice company. Honestly—"

The lady's tirade was cut off by Frank's entrance with two other people. Well, a lady, who I presumed was Alice Longbottom, and a baby boy, who I guessed was the little Neville that the old lady in the portrait mentioned.

"Well, we're all ready now," he said, "Milly, this is my wife, Alice, and this is my son, Neville. Just born a bit ago, he was."

"Hello, pleasure to meet you all," I said, in the polite way that my mother had always taught me to.

"It's very nice to meet you, Milly. So, Lily's having a baby? Well, we'd best be on our way then. We'll see you when you get there."

"Bye!"

Ok, well, one down, three to go! Where did Sirius say to go next? Oh, right, Mary's place. "Mary's place!" I shouted and the emerald flames engulfed me once more.

This time, I ended up in a tiny shoebox apartment, and a blond lady was up and running about. When she saw me, an alarmed look came to her eyes and she immediately pointed her wand at me.

Almost expecting this reaction, I held my hands up and yelled, "I'm Milly, and I live with James and Lily. Lily's water broke. Sirius sent me! Don't hurt me! I'm just doing what I was told, and I still have to tell Remus and Peter!"

This lady was much easier to convince than Frank Longbottom. She lowered her wand and walked over to me. "Well, I guess that I should go to St. Mungo's then? I'm Mary by the way, though I'm pretty sure you already knew that. And, no, I'm not a dumb blond. I just am in desperate need to see something go on in my life. Nice to meet you, Milly, see you at Mungo's."

She then hopped into the green flames and shouted, "St. Mungo's!", and she was off.

Well, that was rather simple. But, who cares, less work for me! I jumped into the still-green flames and shouted, "Remus's place" and I was swept away again.

When I stepped out of the fireplace, I could tell that the place belonged to Remus. The room was filled with books and everything looked well-used. Nothing was too shabby, but nothing was too overdone either. Perfectly subdued, completely Remus.

Of course, when he heard the noise, Remus came running. The war obviously did things to people. When he saw me at the fireplace, the steely glint in his eyes disappeared and he sighed in relief. "Oh, thank Merlin, it's only you Milly. What're you doing here?"

I relayed that Lily was having a baby and that Remus needed to get to St. Mungo's now. He nodded, and with a few parting words, Flooed away. I then Flooed to Peter's place.

But, Flooing to Peter's place was not as simple as the rest of my fireplace trips. I found myself spinning endlessly in the dusty network of fireplaces only to stop at a blocked fireplace. I could hear a conversation in the place where I supposed Peter's living room was. At first, I didn't pay much regard to the conversation, but then I heard the words "Potters", "Lupin", and "Black". Hearing these words, I became as still as I could, trying to catch as much of this conversation as I could.

"Those blasted people… members of the Order. They'll get what's coming to them when we win. The Dark Lord'll take care of 'em. He'll do it," said a gruff voice at a level that would have been inaudible to anyone without my gift of hearing.

"B-but… they'll be alright if they just comply? They are skilled wizards after all. They would be very valuable to the Dark Lord," this voice sounded like Peter's, and he sounded almost scared. But, why would he be talking about this Dark Lord? Who would the Dark Lord be?

But, their next words really caught my attention. "Well," the gruff voice began, "They're just a bunch of filthy blood traitors. We'd be better off without them. The Potters are expecting a baby and that girl could be quite useful too."

That girl?

"Who? Milly? Oh, I doubt it. She doesn't need to be in the way. The real target should be the new child. But, we still should let the Dark Lord do what he wishes. He does know what is best," Peter replied.

Why were they talking about us? Why did Peter act like he wanted us dead and gone? Was he a double agent? Was he working for Voldemort?

As these questions bombarded my mind, I felt like the walls were closing in on me. I couldn't breathe. I had to get out of there.

When I tried to get out by pounding on the wood blocking me from my intended destination, I suddenly realized that the sounds coming from Peter's living room had abruptly stopped.

"Bloody hell," the rough voice cursed. And, then I heard a crack, and the room was silent once more.

I was sure I heard some things being swept across the room by magic and Peter's panting. But, after what seemed like an eternity, the fireplace was opened. I tumbled out into Peter's waiting arms, both of us panting for air.

"Peter," I began, still panting from my panic, "Who the hell was that?"

Peter dropped his wand, which spewed sparks and set part of the rug on fire. He rushed over to the flames and stomped on them to snuff them. After bending over to pick up his wand, he said, "Y-you heard us?" in a breathless voice with his eyes almost bugging out of their sockets.

"Yes," I replied shortly, "Now tell me who he was and why you were talking about me and everyone else. And don't skirt around this. You were talking about me to a very suspicious character; I think I have a right to know what was going on."

Looking back in hindsight, this probably wasn't the best thing to be doing as, despite his innate clumsiness, Peter was an adult wizard who obviously had some magical prowess, judging by his ability to turn his living room back into an innocent setting in a few seconds, and could have cursed me easily at that time. But, I obviously wasn't thinking clearly, and I just wanted answers. Fortunately, Peter obliged and no harm was done to me at that point.

With his eyes rapidly shifting around the room, Peter said, "Well…you see…I don't know how to tell you this. B-but…I…I'm on a secret mission for the Order! You know, the group Dumbledore formed to fight against You Know Who?"

"Yes, I've heard James and Lily talk about the Order a few times."

"Well, you see, I'm working as a double agent. Y-you know? I'm pretending to work for the other side so that I can get information to give to our side. So we can win! So all of us will be safe and be happy! You get that, right Milly? But it's top secret. So no one can know about this! Only two…now three, including you, know and that's how we need to keep it in order for everything to turn out right. You get that, right Milly?"

"Yes…but shouldn't you tell James and Lily. Or even Sirius or Remus?"

"No! This has to remain between the two of us. It's my first big mission, and it's all on me. I need to keep this top secret so nothing can go wrong! And, I kind of want to be able to say that I did this. On my own. Without my friends' help. Just so that I can say that I am worthy of being a Marauder. That I'm worth something."

I still wasn't completely buying it, but I did understand what Peter was getting at about proving himself. He had always been shoved aside when the other Marauders came in. Though I could easily tell that James, Sirius, and Remus all loved him as a brother, I could also understand his need to prove himself to be as great as his friends. So, even though his story seemed a bit far-fetched, I just nodded and made a mental note to talk to Lily about this later.

Peter, probably sensing my lingering suspicion, immediately jumped onto another topic. "So, what're you doing here?"

That question jolted me out of my suspicions, and I quickly told him, "Lily's having the baby. And James and her need you at St. Mungo's. Like now."

"Oh! O-ok! Yes! I'll be right there! You can go ahead if you'd like."

I nodded and moved to Floo again, but before I could do so Peter said, "But wait, I'll get you some water first," when I tried to protest, he continued, "Judging from the state of your robes, you've been Flooing for ages. Too much of that dust and heat can cause serious…what's it called…erm…dehydration! It's happened to me before. So, you just wait here, and I'll get you some water."

He scurried off into the kitchen before I could get a word in edgewise, and, after some bustling around in the kitchen, he came out with a glass in his hands. He gave the glass to me, and I drank all its contents in one gulp. Looking back, that was probably the worst decision I had ever made—accepting a drink from a shady character…a shady wizard. But, despite being exceptionally brilliant, I was still two, and I was impatient and overlooked my better judgment. Right after I drank, my head started to feel a little woozy. I knew where I was, I knew where I had to be, I sort of remembered what I just did. But, something was missing. Something important. About Peter. But, I couldn't remember. As I reentered the flames, all I knew was that something was off about Peter.

"St. Mungo's!"

My Floo ride to St. Mungo's ridded me of my suspicions for a bit, and, instead, replaced them with slight nausea and dizziness. But, when I hopped out of the green flames and saw the building around me, those feelings flew away, and in rushed the excitement. I ran up to the reception witch and asked, "I'm here for James and Lily Potter. Where do I go?"

"Maternity ward. Third floor."

And, so I rushed up the stairs and down the hall eliciting comments from the portraits lining the walls.

"Oi! Don't hurt yourself there!"

"We were trying to sleep, you know."

"Be careful!"

"Don't trip!"

Normally, I would have been fascinated with these portraits. In fact, I probably would have stopped to talk with them, but, in my state of excitement, I could only concentrate on one thing—meeting my baby sibling. I zoomed into the room where Sirius and the others were sitting, obviously waiting for Lily and James to come out.

"Hey there, tiny! Took you long enough!'

"Yeah, yeah. You didn't do anything! You just Flooed straight here. I actually had to go to everyone's house and tell 'em what was going on. And, what the hell, were you thinking? I almost died two times tonight. No one knew who I was. They all thought I was a Death Eater or something! I think the…ahem, activities you were…erm, partaking in when I got to your place clouded your judgment."

"Oi! I thought we agreed to forget all about that!"

"Well, that was before I was accosted by the business end of some formidable people's wands!"

"Ok, ok. Yes, I'm sorry. And, I should have come with you, but can you blame me? I really couldn't think! My brother's going to have a baby!"

"Well, actually, I can easily blame you…but I'm not going to because, from previous experience, I know that you can't think more than half of the time. And, I'm just going to let you know, that James isn't the one who's having a baby right now. Lily's having the baby, and James is doing his best not to cry at how hard she's squeezing his hand."

"Fine, well thank you for that kind description of me. I will always cherish your words…Keep them in my heart forever."

"Oh, shove it, Sirius," I said.

"I second that motion," Remus butted in, "Hi, Milly. We saved you a seat. You can talk with everyone later. You need to rest now. You look exhausted. I don't know what Padfoot was thinking, sending you off on your own."

"I have no idea either, but we have established that he doesn't think most of the time anyway, so…"

Remus just chuckled and motioned for me to sit between him and Sirius. I sat down and snuggled between the two of them, drifting off into a nice, restful sleep.

After what seemed to be only a few minutes, I was awoken by the commotion around me. Apparently the baby had come out, and everyone was bustling around to get a good look at it.

I clumsily tried to push my way through the group, but they were all stronger than me so I had to say quite loudly, "Excuse me, but that's my sibling. I think I should be able to at least see him. You lot are in the way."

Sirius gave a snicker, but everyone made some room so that I could move to the front. When I was right next to the door, Sirius was still snickering, so I turned to him and said, "What? I'm two. I'm short! I need to be at the front!"

Before Sirius could poke fun at me, James burst through the door with a bundle in his hand.

"Is it a Harry or a Julia?" I asked.

"Huh?" Everyone else remarked looking down at me.

Sighing, I restated, "Is…it…a Harry …or a Julia? You know, a boy or a girl?"

"Oh, right, right! It's a Harry, Milly. Harry James Potter. You have a baby brother, and I have a Potter son! It's a boy!"

The statement caused an uproar of happy exclamations and Padfoot collecting money from some unfortunate soul who lost a bet to him, presumably about the gender of my sibling…brother, now. Of course, all I wanted to do was to see my new baby brother, and, James, sensing this, knelt down to give me the first look.

He was beautiful, that brother of mine. His cheeks were so round, and he looked so peaceful. It was funny to think that we all start out like that, pure and innocent. He was so lovable, and when he gave a little cough in his peaceful state, I laughed and felt a sense of attachment that I hadn't felt many times before. At that moment, I knew that me and this baby, Harry James Potter, and that I would love him and be his big sister forever.

Ok, guys! I hope that was worth the wait. I would like to congratulate those who got through it. I didn't have time to edit because I figured I should upload the chapter sooner rather than later. But, I can tell you this, I appreciate each and every single one of you who is reading this right now-the followers, favoriters, reviewers, or those quiet ones. I can't tell you how much your support and love for this story means to me. Really, you're awesome. I'm currently writing the next chapter so that I don't let you down. Thanks guys!