Sirius' POV – April 1980
I stretched out on the sofa in my flat and pulled a thin blanket over myself. I was flicking through the channels on my TV. I was bored and Yasmine was at uni and April was at work and as far as I knew James and Lily were arguing, still! Something about some Order stuff. They've been really tense around each other since the order meeting the other day. Remus still hadn't come back from China though we all knew that Jenny's dad hadn't killed him yet because we got an owl from him the other day. Peter's also been really busy so I'm the only one left just sitting around. I really felt like going to see Yasmine, my newest girlfriend. Lily was a bit hesitant about letting us meet but I'm happy about it. Last time I went to visit Yasmine I accidentally disturbed one of her lectures, or something like that. I didn't want her at my throat again. Her temper was as fierce as Lily's. Ah, Evans women, you gotta love them.
There was a crack and April appeared in my living room, right in the way of the TV.
"Get out of the way." I said. April smiled and took off her auror robes and threw them over the back of my sofa.
"Budge up." She said slipping under the blanket as well. I let out a moan of annoyance as April leaned against me.
"What are you doing here?" I asked her.
"Battle zone at Lily's. Nothing to do at work, well there's loads to do but they don't want the 'newbies' to get hurt" April said.
"And so they shouldn't get hurt. I like you newbies." I said putting an arm around April. Since we'd broken up we'd become really close friends. We were probably closer now then I was with James.
"Thanks for your concern, change channel this muggle sport is boring."
"What is it?" I asked as I watched the little muggle men kicking a black and white ball across a big green field.
"Football, it's like the Muggle equivalent of Quidditch. So boring though." April said. She took the remote off me and changed to some strange show.
"So what's up with Lily and James this time?" I asked April. She smiled.
"Well you might want to go round there, I was there a minute ago and nearly got my head blown off." April said.
"By James?"
"No Lily. James has gone a bit too far this time." April said, "He pulled her out of Healer training."
"Oh, what's Dumbledore said about it?"
"It was his idea apparently." April said. "Dumbledore is supposed to be going round to their house later to try and stop them both from arguing. It's like we're in sixth year all over again! Well that and add to it a load of maternal hormones going through Lily. It's not a pretty sight." I laughed as I remembered Lily and James' many arguments in their Hogwarts years.
"Do you think we should go round there and stop them before Lily kills James?" I asked. April frowned and looked at her watch.
"Give it five minutes." She said. I gave her a strange look then she rolled her eyes. "Fine! We'll go now!" She got up and I followed suit. I picked my wand up from the coffee table and apparated to Godric's Hollow.
"YOU BASTARD! YOU KNEW I LOVED HEALER TRAINING!" Lily screamed.
"IT WASN'T MY IDEA! DUMBLEDORE TOLD ME TO!" James shouted back. I opened my eyes and a flash of yellow shot past my head and crashed into the wall in front of me. I widened my eyes and turned around. A now fairly fat Lily was standing with her wand pointing at James. James had his own wand out ready to defend himself. Ok, this was not good. Definitely not good.
"Why didn't you ask me first!" Lily asked angrily.
"We did!" James said. "You said no"
"And didn't it occur to you there's a reason I said no?" Lily asked, I could see the anger in her eyes.
"Hey guys" I said, hoping to attract their attention
"You're going to have to stop anyway because of the baby!" James said. completely ignoring me.
"It still doesn't mean that-"
"Silence both of you" Came Dumbledore's voice. It wasn't it's usual softness but had a harsh quality to it. "Lily sit down before you hurt yourself." Lily sat down in a fairly large chair and crossed her arms. "Sirius please take Lily and James' wands. I don't want them hurting each other while they're together." I nodded and went to James. He gave me his wand then I went over to Lily. She regarded me for a moment before throwing me her wand.
"Take it." She muttered. I picked her wand up off the floor then looked at Dumbledore. He nodded.
"Now, Lily please try and stay calm, you know as well as I do that stress is not good for your baby." Dumbledore said. There was a crack and April apparated in.
"I told you to wait five minutes." She said. She went to Lily and sat on the arm of the chair. "You alright?" she asked stroking Lily's hair. Lily frowned her response and put her head against April's body. James was standing by the door now with his arms crossed.
"Lily, I want you to listen to me. It is important that we take you out of Healer training for your safety and for the safety of your child." Dumbledore said. Lily looked as though she wanted to say something back at Dumbledore but he continued, "You know as well as I do the importance of you child and you can't be wondering around unprotected. If you stay here you will be safe-"
"Are you telling me you want me to stay in this house for months on end?" Lily asked trying to stand up but failing.
"No, I merely ask you stay in Godric's Hollow. Godric's Hollow is safe and out of the way. Voldemort won't find you here. By travelling to London every morning you are putting your entire family at risk" Lily's eyes narrowed but she accepted it. April put a comforting hand on Lily's shoulder. I looked over to James. He looked slightly annoyed but a look of sympathy was breaking out on his face.
"I'm sorry Lily." James said.
"Whatever." Lily said. "What about Alice?" She asked.
"Alice has also stopped Auror training until she's given birth. The Ministry won't let her quit entirely." Lily's mouth fell open at this. She looked kind of funny actually.
"What?" She asked.
"Lily, please calm down." April pleaded. "It's for the best." I glanced over and Lily stood up slowly. Obviously the weight of the baby inside her was stopping her from moving as freely.
"Fine" She said. She walked to the door and looked at James. James stepped out of the way and Lily left the room. No one spoke until we heard a door slamming above us signalling that Lily had just entered her bedroom. James looked uncertainly to Dumbledore.
"Are you sure that was the best thing to do? She'll be so, depressed and emotional now" He said anxiously. Dumbledore nodded.
"I know but Lily will see the sense of it. If she wasn't pregnant I believe that she would agree that this is the best course of action. Pregnant women can be unpredictable."
"I'm so glad I'm not pregnant." April muttered as she played with a lock of her blonde hair.
"Ah, April I've been meaning to ask you about the voices in your head." Dumbledore asked. April smiled.
"No one in here but me." She said touching her head. She glanced at me and I smiled.
"That's good." I said.
"I know." She said with a grin.
"Sirius, how is the reconnaissance going?" Dumbledore asked. I rolled my eyes. I had been given the job to search out the local deatheater haunts but everyone knew what I looked like so whenever I went they all just didn't talk to me and stayed quiet. I was actually getting a little bit of a reputation for being a deatheater. Someone had come up to me and congratulated me in 'seeing the light'. Like I would turn against my friends!
"Ah, it's going fine. Nothing new though. Deatheaters seem to go quiet around me." I said. Dumbledore nodded.
"Keep trying to find out more information. It's critical we try and get as far ahead as possible." I nodded and sat down. "James."
"Yes Professor." He said.
"Make sure Lily is safe. I do not wish to put this kind of burden on you but the fate of the world depends on Lily and Alice having their children."
"No pressure then." I said to James. He gave me a hard stare, one he used to give me when I said something stupid in front of Lily when he was trying to impress her.
"Yes Professor. Are you sure it'll be safe here. Voldemort has already tried to attack here once."
"All he knows is that he's seen you in the hill behind the house. He doesn't know that you live here, which gives us a slight advantage." Dumbledore said. James nodded. "I will come round again in a week to begin putting protection charms around the house. I have already done this to Frank and Alice's house." Now there's something I want to know, who are Frank and Alice. I just nodded along with this and looked at April. She seemed to read my mind and shrugged.
"Yes Professor." James said.
"Dumbledore, call me Dumbledore. You make me feel old when you call me professor" Dumbledore said. I immediately began to smirk. He could talk, he made us feel young. James and April both smiled.
"Yes Dumbledore." James said with a grin. Dumbledore nodded his approval and disapparated away. James turned to me. "So why are you here?"
"April told me you and Lily were having another fight." I said handing James his wand back. He took it and put it in a pocket in his robes.
"Oh yeah. It was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do." James said darkly. "Lily loves being in healer training so much. I almost couldn't go through with it."
"But you did and now she's upset." April said, she got up and straightened her robes. "I'll go and see to her. She'll be back to normal by Dinner...if that's possible." April said frowning. Lily had been having a lot of mood swings recently. Last time I was here, I dropped a tiny drop of water on the kitchen table and Lily would have cursed me to kingdom come if Yasmine hadn't been there.
"Ok, good luck" James said sulkily
"Oh here's her wand" I said throwing the wand to April. She caught it and left the room. James sat in a chair.
"You know, I wonder why, sometimes, I even bother trying to do what's right for Lily." James said. I sighed and stood up.
"You know what you need?" I asked him. He looked at me. "A round of one on one quidditch!" I said.
"You can't play that." He said with a smirk.
"Fine, we'll have a few broom races then we'll go marauding on our own." I said. James grinned.
"Sounds good to me." He said.
"Lets go then."
"Let me get my broom. It's in the bedroom." James said. "Accio Broom." He said. Soon there was a broom at his side and hovering in the air. It was a top of the range broom and I knew James would beat me.
"LILY, SIRIUS AND I ARE GOING FLYING!" James shouted. He waited a few minutes for a response but when none came he just shrugged. "Lets go."
I parked my motorbike outside the Hogs' head and pulled my cloak around me. Stupid recon! I wanted to stay at home. April and I were planning on having one of those pizza and videos evenings. I have a vague feeling that it's a very girlie thing to do but it's fun. But no! I have to go on flipping recon for the order. I pulled the hood of my cloak up so that my face was hidden. I pushed open the door to the Hogs' head and went into the bar. There were quite a few cloaked figures so I just fit right in. I went to the bar.
"Firewhiskey." I said. The bar keeper nodded and poured out a glass of fire whiskey.
"You heard anything bout the Potters?" I head a figure say to the left. I turned slightly and saw two figures talking. They both had hooded cloaks as well.
"Aparently Lily's pregnant. You think the Dark Lord knows?" Said the shorted figure. The figure had a woman's voice so obviously I think she's a girl.
"Course he knows. He's been looking for her for months." Said the man. "Have you heard anything else?"
"Only that they live in Wales." Said the woman. Another figure joined them.
"Lily Potter's stopped going to Healer training, you better tell the dark lord." The new person said. The taller person nodded and apparated away.
"What's this 'bout the Potter's?" I said with a slightly gruffer voice.
"Ain't you heard? The Dark Lord's after 'em." The newest figure said.
"Why?"
"Rumour has it that their child is gonna kill the Dark Lord. Load of bull if you ask me. I think it's the Longbottom's child who's more likely to do anyfing." The figure said. "I mean, look at this kid's parents then the Potters. A mudblood and a blood traitor." I drew a sharp breath and tried to contain my anger. This was a problem with the recon. I had to pretend to hate people like Lily and myself in order to fit in.
"What have the Longbottoms got anything to do with anything?" I asked.
"Ain't you heard? They're having a kid as well but the Dark Lord ain't that interested." The person said.
"Why not?" I asked. The figure shrugged. "So what else has been going on? Other then the hunt for the Potters?" I asked.
"Ah, the usual. Cursing muggles. Killed my sixth muggle today" The person said proudly. I couldn't see his face.
"Is that all?" the woman asked. "I'm on fifteen. No wonder you're still at the bottom."
"You're still not as good as the inner circle though. Malfoy, Lestrange and that lot."
"I spoke to Lowe and her friend the other day." The girl said. "Apparently they've got plans to kill some specific Muggles, not sure which ones though. Lowe wouldn't tell me. We've got orders to make sure that the aurors are kept busy." I nodded.
"So how we going to do that?" I asked.
"Easy, there's supposed to be an attack planned on Diagon Alley in two weeks and then we're gonna try and break a few people out of Azkaban but if you ask me it'll be suicide. I'm not going. I'm not risking my neck to try and get a few lousy people who were careless enough to run in with Marsden and Potter." The man said. I nodded.
"They're quite famous then, the Potters and Marsden." I said but it sounded a bit like a question.
"Where have you been? Everyone's watching out for their mentor group and them. Marsden's put in too many people." I saw that man's mouth break into a smile. "She's going to wish she didn't become an auror tonight."
"What's happening tonight?" I asked.
"Ain't you heard?" The man asked. "Her parents gonna be killed. She'll turn up all distraught then she'll be killed. Where you been man?" I felt my mind fill with panic.
"Well I have to go, I just remembered an appointment. Gotta get a few of me mates to go and kill a few Muggles."
"Alright, see you around." I turned and tried to walk out as calmly as possible. My heart was thumping. As soon as I was outside I wheeled my bike behind the Three Broomsticks then apparated to the Ministry. I ran through the ministry and went to the elevator.
"Hurry up." I said. I had to get to April quickly. The elevator came and I pressed the button for the Auror headquarters. The elevator was so slow. I watched the owls fluttering up above my head and at the other witches and wizards in the elevator. Finally the elevator came to the right floor. It didn't take that long but it felt like ages. The doors opened slowly.
"Auror Headquarters-" I didn't hear the rest as I pushed myself through the ever widening gap in the elevator and ran to the Auror Headquarters.
"April!" I shouted. The headquarters were quite busy. Aurors running to and fro from one cubicle to another, the faces of different deatheaters were plastered all over the walls.
"What are you doing here? Who are you looking for?" Asked a tall black wizard.
"I'm Sirius Black. April Marsden, where is she?" I said.
"Follow me." The auror said. "Kinsgley Shacklebolt by the way." He said. I nodded, not really taking this in. He led me to the corner of the room. I saw April sitting there and laughing. She was in a cubicle with a few photos of her friends pasted on the walls and in front was her desk.
"Shut up James." She said.
"I'm just telling you the truth." James said appearing from another cubicle. "Padfoot, what are you doing here?" James said pleasantly surprised. He smiled but his smile disappeared.
"April, we have to get to your parent's house now." I said. April turned and looked at me.
"I can't I'm in the middle of work."
"No, there's going to be a deatheater attack on you parent's house. They're in danger. You can either go now and try and save them or let them die and not go to their house after otherwise you'll die!" I said urgently. April looked at me and her eyes widened.
"Shit." She said picking up her robes. "Kingsley, I need to get to my parents. James and I will be back in about an hour." The black auror nodded.
"Ok, I'll cover for you" He said.
"Meet at my house." April said. "James could you maybe ask if Lily if mum and dad can stay at yours for now, Sirius come to my house" James and I nodded. I closed my eyes and apparated out of the ministry. When I opened my eyes I was in a strange house. I looked around and saw April walking down the hall.
"Mum." April asked.
"April, oh, it's nice to see you, we weren't expecting you home until tomorrow." Said a woman who looked a lot like April. April smiled.
"Well, we got some information that there was going to be an attack here." April said to her
"April." I said. April turned around and smiled.
"Um, Sirius found out there's an attack planned to try and kill you and dad. James has gone to ask Lily if you can stay at her house" April said. Her mum frowned.
"What? How do you know?"
"I over heard some deatheaters. Voldemort is trying to kill April and James and they came up with some plan. Where's Mr. Marsden?" I asked her.
"He's at work right now." Mrs. Marsden said. I nodded. There was a crack and James apparated.
"Lily is still in a stress but she's agreed. Your parents can stay round ours." James said. "Hello Mrs. Marsden." Mrs. Marsden smiled then turned to April.
"Are you sure-"
"Mum, get to Lily's house. I don't want you dying!" April shouted at her. Mrs. Marsden looked a bit shocked and nodded. She wondered off to get her things ready. April turned to me and sighed.
"What else did you find out?" April asked crossing her arms like she was cold.
"Just a few odd bits, various attacks." I said. "Do any of you know the Longbottoms?" I asked. James and April looked at each other.
"Um, yes." April said, "Alice Longbottom has just gone on pregnancy leave."
"Plus the Longbottoms have gone into hiding." James said. "Why?"
"Oh something I heard the Deatheaters say" I said. James nodded slowly, April didn't look too convinced but she didn't have enough time to try and find out more because at that moment her mum came down the stairs with a small bag.
"So, Godric's Hollow yes?" She asked. James nodded,
"Sirius, you go ahead and tell Lily they're coming. April I think we need to get back to the ministry and get some Aurors here." James said.
"That's what I was thinking." April said. "See you tonight mum." April said giving her mum a hug. I apparated to Godric's Hollow and looked around Lily's house.
"Lily darling." I shouted.
"In here Sirius." Lily said. "Could you give me a hand?" I went into the living room and found Lily sitting on the sofa.
"Merlin Darling you're fat." I said pretending to be shocked. Lily gave me a hard long stare and I went over to help her up onto her feet.
"Is April's parents coming round?" Lily asked. She didn't sound too happy.
"Yeah, are you ok?" I asked Lily uncertainly. She look at me and sighed.
"Hormones." She said. I nodded.
"That means nothing to me." I said. Lily rolled her eyes.
"Basically I'm having mood swings because I'm pregnant and I want to get to work but I've 'quit' training" Lily said testily. I pouted and hugged her tightly. This brought a slight smile to Lily's face, "Where's James?" She asked.
"Work." I said. Lily sighed.
"He's been spending a lot of time at work recently." Lily said, "And April hasn't been round to see me, Peter's off somewhere and Jenny and Remus are STILL in China." I grinned.
"I'm your only friend." I said. Lily nodded.
"Thank god you're unemployed as well." She said patting my arm. There was a crack and Mr. Marsden appeared in the living room with her bag. Lily smiled. "Mrs. Marsden." She said.
"Oh Lily, it's so good to see you again." April's mum said. She hugged Lily like a daughter then looked at Lily's belly, which I had to admit was getting bigger and was attracting more attention then any other parts of Lily's body.
"So, how are you coping with the pregnancy?" She asked.
"Mood swings, hate them, at least the morning sickness is over." Lily said, "Now I have back pains." April's mum frowned.
"You should go and rest dear. Do your parent's know about it?"
"Of course they do, mum is coming up for a few months next month." Lily said.
"Oo, will Yasmine be coming?" I asked. Yasmine, Lily's beautiful cousin. Lily gave me a look.
"No, Yasmine is coming the month after that." Lily said. I grinned and turned to Mrs. Marsden.
"Let me show you to your room, it's probably best if Lily doesn't do too much." I said.
"Thank you." Lily said gratefully. I gave her a grin, Lily was probably the only one who didn't go weak at the knees at it, unless she was really ill or drunk and about to collapse.
"No problem, Mrs. Marsden." I said taking Mrs. Marsden's bag. She gave me a smile as I led her to the spare room that Lily and James had decided would be the guest room. It was nicely decorated, even for my manly taste. The other room was currently a bit like a building site. They had started to redecorate it, when they had time, to get it ready for their coming baby, which I had been told by Lily was a boy, I was spending a lot of time with Lily recently, it was weird.
"You can stay here. Lily and James' room is just down there and the room next door will be the nursery." I said. "Um, the bathroom is just down the hall" I said as put eh bag on the bed. Mrs. Marsden nodded
"Thank you Sirius." She said. I beamed. "Such a gentleman, I wonder why April broke up with you? You'd have made such a good son-in-law." I laughed at this but not so it seemed rude.
"I'm not planning on marrying quite yet. I've learnt from my friends' mistakes." I said. Mrs. Marsden nodded and looked around the room.
"Well I think this will be fine. Tell Lily she needn't worry about anything, I can look after myself." I nodded and left the room. I found Lily staring out of the window of the Living room.
"Lily my darling."
"Sirius honey." She answered automatically. It was this little thing we had made up recently. Because we spent a lot of time with each other we called each other pet names.
"Mrs. Marsden said not to worry about anything." I said. Lily nodded. Not another of her fazes where she just stared at something. Lily sighed and looked at me.
"Sirius. If I said as the seventh month dies, what day would you think that would be?" Lily asked.
"Last day of the seventh month, why?" I asked. Lily frowned and nodded. What was up with her? I went over to Lily and gave her a curious look.
"It's nothing." Lily said quietly. She looked out of the window again.
"I'm not April but I know something is wrong, is it that prophecy thing?" I asked. Lily seemed to wince at that and I knew instantly it was the prophecy. "Tell ole Sirius Black what's bothering you." I said in what I hoped was a Texan accent as I sat on the sofa. I don't know why I picked Texan, it just seemed right. Why didn't I stick with my own accent? Who knows? Lily looked at me and sat down next to me.
"I don't know what's wrong. I guess it is the prophecy thing and being stuck in the house." Lily said with a sigh. "I just wished that the others had consulted me before making me quit Healer training and then the boy who's going to defeat Voldemort is supposed to be born as the seventh month dies. If that is my son then that means I'm going to have to go in hiding. You know as well as I do how James can't stay inside and it's just going to drive me insane." Lily said.
"Well didn't Dumbeldore said you could wonder around Godric's Hollow?"
"Yeah I suppose" Lily said looking at her belly. She put a hand to it almost instantly.
"What is it?"
"Baby just kicked." Lily said. She smiled slightly and I grinned.
"See, it's not that bad, if kicking babies make you smile." I said. Lily nudged me then pushed me to my feet.
"I'm hungry, pull me up." She said. I rolled my eyes and helped Lily to her feet. "Thank you honey."
"My pleasure darling." I said with a grin. Lily rolled her eyes and wondered out of the living room. Well, at least I made Lily smile which was an improvement of her moping around the house doing nothing.
A/N:-Ok, i'll try and answer a few questions before i turn in for the night and retreat to my bed. April's Chapter is after James' chapter (which is next)...then it'll be someone else (surprise person) then James again...don't ask why, i threw out my own rule book last chapter.
Jessie: Bo will learn some English. I think in one of the next chapters he goes "MUMMY! HARRY!" or something like that. and yay, your computer is fixed, i get to Beta again...WOO!! I got a review from you again..WOO!! (sorry, a mixture of wrigley's extra chewing gum, tea and no sleep has made me a tad loopy)
Ya ha ha whooo: I would love to make this a story where Lily and James don't die. I will if people don't want them to die, Ive not quite reached the end and I've written the last part of the last chapter, but that can be changed. and Remus dies? in not one of my stories has Remus died (for obvious reasons) and as for Jenny, i was thinking of killing her but i'm gonna let her live for a change, she died in All About Change and i feel slightly sorry for her.