Before Lily knew it, what would have been James's twenty-fourth birthday was upon them. Sirius had decided they'd have a small party with blue iced fairy cakes and presents for the four of them. He'd hung red and gold streamers and set up tiny canons that he Transfigured out of plates that shot wisps of red and gold smoke into the air at random intervals.

Remus had babysat Harry while Sirius set up the party and Lily had taken the time to visit James's grave in Godric's Hollow. It was the first time she could bring herself to go.

Through sheer force of will, she went to the house first and watched as the memorial sign faded into view. The plaque was pristine and gave a synopsis of James's life and mentioned how he bravely died for his wife and son. The statue Dumbledore had built didn't capture James's face at all but the artist had done a good job at getting his messy hair right. The entire thing—the memorial plaque, the hidden house, James's statue—it all seemed so impersonal, it didn't capture anything about who he was. Her eyes gazed over the damaged house and she wrapped her arms around herself tighter, willing the unease in her gut to settle. It was just a destroyed house. There wasn't anything left that showed it had been her home with him. Nothing but the brief mention on the plaque.

Lily walked on and stood at the kissing gate leading into the graveyard attached to the quaint church in the centre of the village. It had been a feature of the village that had made the move to Godric's Hollow from their first house tolerable and yet she'd never had the chance to attend. It saddened her but not overly much. Attending church had been something that her parents had always insisted upon, even after they found out she was a witch. If they'd ever had misgivings about her magic and the witchcraft denounced in the religious text they followed they never let on. They had loved her just as all-encompassingly as she loved Harry. She wished they had been alive to meet Harry. They'd barely been able to know James.

She slipped past the kissing gate and followed the path that Sirius had described to her. Last year, before he'd come home drunk and they'd had sex in the kitchen, this had been where he'd gone. At the headstone that read 'Potter' she stopped. It had his name and his birth and death dates. There was a quote at the bottom that she didn't remember signing for, but below his name and the blank space next to it—where her name would go one day, she assumed—was the line, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." Lily wondered if Sirius had added it later, but she doubted it. That wasn't the sort of thing he would say or think. It reminded her of Dumbledore and she wondered if he'd had it carved, or done it himself. It didn't matter really.

The James she knew and loved wasn't here. His decaying body was below her feet and though she missed him, the ache she felt in her chest seemed lessened by the time that had passed. She would be okay. Sirius had been right, she thought, she was moving on and James would have wanted that. There wasn't anything in this graveyard or in this village for her. With that in mind, she'd glanced around for Muggles and then Disapparated back home.

"You here?" Remus asked when she came back to the present. She blinked at the golden smoke she was staring at and then turned to look at Remus. She forced a sad smile but nodded. "Yeah."

"How was it?" Sirius asked as he came in, carrying a stack of four boxes.

Impersonal, she thought. "Cold," she said instead.

He nodded like he understood and maybe he did. "Harry, come in here, we're having a party!" he shouted. He set the gifts on the table and when Harry darted in, Sirius clapped his hands. "All right? Ready?"

"We aren't singing, are we?" Lily asked, biting her lip nervously.

Sirius frowned and shook his head, but then flicked his wand and a short jingle played out in the room. It wasn't the birthday song and it wasn't sad, which Lily appreciated. "So, we're having a party. We've got gifts and fairy cakes!" He smiled at all three of them.

There wasn't much of a party atmosphere, but Lily didn't think Sirius expected one. Harry craned his neck up to look at Sirius and then he looked back at them and at the blue fairy cakes on the table. Sirius sat down on one of the chairs at the table and handed out the gifts.

Harry's was a new Matchbox car and he grinned happily as he opened it. Remus's was a new chartreuse-coloured cardigan that already came with leather elbow patches. Lily's was a picture frame decorated with one of Harry's attempts at finger painting and the image inside was a photo of James and her dancing at their wedding.

"Thanks, Sirius," she murmured as she gazed at it lovingly.

"Why having a party?" Harry asked innocently. She looked past the frame to see him looking up at her with a furrowed brow.

She set the frame on the counter behind her and answered him. "We're celebrating your daddy's birthday."

His brow stayed knitted then he seemed to relax. He turned to Sirius, reached up and hugged him. "Happy birff-day," he said and then he took his new toy and ran from the room to add it to his collection.

Lily's mouth had fallen open in shock and she blinked at Sirius who was frozen in his chair. She had done such a good job of not crying this year, but it didn't matter, the tears burst from her with so much force she bent double as she wrapped her arms around her stomach protectively. "He's not going to remember James," she sobbed, gasping sharply as the revelation caused her breathing to stop momentarily.

Two pairs of arms wrapped around her and she was enveloped in the heat of Sirius and Remus. "We'll not let him forget," Remus said.

Sirius added, "As he gets older, we'll share more stories with him. More pictures. We have so many pictures. We'll make sure he knows James. I promise." His voice sounded strained and he might have joined in with Lily's tears but her gasping sobs were too loud in her ears for her to notice.

* . * . *

"Harry," Lily asked as she tucked the little boy into bed later that night.

"Mumma?" he asked. He reached up and touched near her eyes which were bloodshot and puffy from all the tears she'd shed early.

"Why do you think Uncle Sirius is Daddy?"

His lips pursed and he seemed to contemplate the question for a moment before speaking. "Dada gone. Dada came back."

Lily nodded and felt her stomach clench. He really didn't have much recollection of James at all. She wondered if this was partly her fault, she'd only had the courage to try and explain that James wasn't coming back shortly after Sirius went to Azkaban. If she'd tried to explain earlier maybe he would understand now.

Harry grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Wrong, Mumma?"

She nodded. "Uncle Sirius isn't your daddy, sweetheart. He's... he's your uncle. Your daddy's brother."

"Brother?"

"Like Ron and his brothers?" He nodded and she continued, "Sirius and James, your daddy, were brothers. Uncle Sirius is Uncle Sirius, not daddy."

"Sleepy, Mumma," he murmured and reached out to her again. She leaned down and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"Then sleep, my darling Harry. I love you."

"Wuv you," he whispered.

She knelt there next to his bed and watched him sleep. His eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks and her heart thumped in her chest as she contemplated how much she loved him.

"I wouldn't mind..." Sirius's voice floated to her in the darkness of the room from where he stood at the door. "I wouldn't mind if he called me daddy. I know you don't want him to forget James. I don't either but if that's what he does it wouldn't bother me."

She stood and turned to him. She gave the shadowy space where she knew he was standing a tight smile and nod, but then she looked back at Harry asleep in his bed. She felt Sirius's arm come around her waist as he stepped into her space and she let her body be pulled back against his chest. She closed her eyes and wondered what James would want her to do.