The long-awaited chapter :')

PASSAGE OF HESITANCE
Harry Potter (8 Months Later – July 1980)

"Are you sure Alice wants you out doing missions?" Sirius asked Frank, who he'd been paired with for a guard duty mission. "I mean, she only just had the baby last night."

"She's looking after him," Frank said. "She'll be fine by herself for a while."

"What did you call him?" Sirius asked.

"He's called Neville," Frank said, smiling. "Want to see a photograph?"

"Sure!" Sirius said. Frank pulled out a photograph of a chubby little baby crying his eyes out in Alice's arms. "He's cute."

"Yeah, he is," Frank said, looking proud. "Alice is over at Molly's with Neville. She thought that he and Ron could play together. I told her I think they're probably a bit too young to play exactly. I mean Neville's not even a day old."

"I guess it would be nice if they knew each other," Sirius said. "They'll be in the same year at Hogwarts, won't they?"

"EVERYONE!" James yelled, creating silence in the room. "EVERYONE, IT'S LILY! SHE'S HAVING THE BABY! MERLIN, WHAT DO I DO?! SOMEONE HELP!"

Sirius ran towards his best friend, who had a panicked look in his eyes. He was standing over Lily, who was sitting on the floor clutching her very pregnant tummy and wincing.

"Get me to a damned hospital, then!" Lily shouted.

"YES!" James said. "Is it safe to apparate?"

"We apparated this morning you fool!" Lily yelled, just get me there, now. This baby is coming RIGHT NOW!"

"Crap," Sirius said.

"Where's Wormtail?" Remus asked, who had just joined them. "I thought he wanted to be here."

"He's on an overnight for the Order," Sirius said. "We have to go."

##

The wait outside the hospital room was an agonising wait. Remus and Sirius had been sitting there for hours.

"I thought she said the baby was coming 'right now' hours ago?" Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

"She's never had a baby before," Remus said. "How was she to know?"

James's head popped out of the door. "IT'S HAPPENING!" he yelled, and disappeared again. Sirius and Remus exchanged glances.

"If this is another false alarm-"

"FALSE ALARM!" James yelled from inside the room.

"This is getting ridiculous!" Sirius said. Remus laughed and held his hand.

"You're so impatient, you know that."

"I know," Sirius said with a smile. Remus rested his head on Sirius's shoulder.

"When do you think this war will be over?" he sighed. Sirius shook his head.

"I suppose when Voldemort's dead," Sirius said. "Which could be never."

"I'm so scared of losing you," Remus said. "I can't even imagine – that would kill me."

"You won't lose me," Sirius said. "I won't let that happen."

"You can't be sure. Anything can happen in war," Remus said.

"Trust me."

"IT'S HAPPENING!" James yelled.

They knew better than to take him seriously. Sirius leaned over and kissed Remus on the forehead. "I love you," he said. "You will never lose me."

"FALSE ALARM!" James shouted.

"We've been together for a long time now," Remus said, smiling. "You know, I've been thinking a lot about marriage."

"Me too," Sirius said with a grin.

"IT'S HAPPENING!"

"Do you think we should get married?" Remus asked. Sirius kissed him again, this time on the lips.

"Definitely, Remus. Definitely."

"GUYS!" James came running out of the room, looking crazy. "I'M A FATHER!"

Remus and Sirius jumped up. "She had the baby?" Remus asked.

"YOU'RE A DAD!" Sirius yelled, clapping James on the back.

"Congratulations, James!"

"It's a boy," James said, grinning from ear to ear. "I have a boy!"

"Can we see him?" Remus asked eagerly.

"Yes, come on!" James replied, heading back into the room. When they entered, Lily was lying in the bed looking very tired and exhausted but over the moon.

Sirius smiled like crazy when he saw the baby in Lily's arms.

"He has your eyes, Lily," Remus said.

"And your pathetic excuse for hair," Sirius said to James. "Oh, look at him. My little godson!"

"Harry Potter," Lily croaked from the bed, looking at her son with so much love Sirius was only just managing to hold in the tears.

"Do you want to hold him?" James asked Sirius, who nodded. James took Harry from Lily and carefully handed him over to Sirius.

Sirius cradled the tiny baby in his arms and grinned down at him. "He looks so much like you, James," he said. Harry reached up to touch Sirius's face and made a funny noise. "Does he have a middle name?" he asked Lily.

"Harry James Potter," Lily said. "After his wonderful father."

James beamed. Sirius handed Harry over to Remus. "How does it feel to be a dad?" he asked James.

"I don't know, yet," James said, looking overwhelmed. "That's my baby. He's my son! Man, it's like, I can't even describe it. Do you think I'll make a good dad?"

"Of course you will," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "Best dad ever. I mean it."

Remus handed Harry back to Lily. "Sirius, we should get going back. We have things we need to do."

"Yeah," Sirius said. "Congratulations, both of you. He's amazing."

"Thanks," Lily said.

"I'll see you later," James said, waving them goodbye.

##

An hour later, Sirius and Frank Longbottom were standing together in a quiet alleyway waiting for a supposed Death Eater attack. There had been a lot of false trails lately, so it was rather unlikely that anything would happen. That's why Dumbledore only assigned the two of them to this mission unlike the others where they'd have four or five Order members.

There was a loud crack and hushed voices from nearby. Frank and Sirius peered around the corner to see four Death Eaters huddled in a circle underneath a tree.

"What should we do?" Sirius whispered.

"I don't know. I guess we just have to attack," Frank said. The Death Eaters had their hoods up, but Sirius recognised one of them almost immediately. This Death Eater wasn't wearing a mask. This Death Eater was staring right at him.

Without conferring with Frank at all, Sirius charged out and aimed his want at Severus Snape. He sent a few hexes towards the four Death Eaters. A small fat Death Eater ran away, causing Sirius to laugh.

"Cowards," he said, keeping his wand pointed at Snape. "Hey, Snivellus."

The other two Death Eaters were back on their feet and ready to attack Sirius, but Snape held his hand out. "Leave this one to me," he said.

Snape sent a jinx at Sirius that send him flying back into a wall. He hastily got to his feet and attacked Snape back. He couldn't stand that man.

"Sirius, stop," Frank said. "Come on, let's just go. We know he's a Death Eater now. We can tell Dumbledore."

Sirius ignored him and continued duelling with Snape. Neither was ready to give up. The hatred they had for each other was far more than just a school-boy feud.

"Is that the best you can do, huh?!"

"I see you're still as childish as you were back at Hogwarts, Black," Snape drawled.

The fight continued. Frank and the other Death Eaters just stood around watching.

"I always knew you'd join Voldemort," Sirius spat.

"I always knew you'd side with Dumbledore," Snape retorted. "Think you're so great after getting away from your family. Think you're so perfect after escaping Slytherin. You're nothing, Black. You're nothing special."

Both of them were sporting bruises and cuts, and their robes were stained with blood. Finally, when Frank could no longer take it, he pushed Sirius to the side out of the way of one of Snape's hexes.

"We're going, Sirius."

He grabbed Sirius's arm and apparated back to Headquarters before Sirius could do anything else.

"I had him, you should have just let me!" Sirius yelled. He stopped when he realised everybody in the Order had gone silent when they arrived, and many of them were staring at Sirius in shock. He probably looked like he'd gotten in the middle of an attack. Well, he reminded himself, he kind of had.

Remus rushed over quicker than Sirius thought possible. "WHAT HAPPENED?"

"We ran into Snape," Frank said. "You can imagine Sirius's reaction."

"Oh, Sirius," Remus said. "You're so stupid!"

"I wasn't gonna let Snivellus get away without causing some damage!"

"Yes," Remus said. "And he obviously thought the same about you. Look at you! What happened to me never losing you! You could have died!"

"I'm sorry," Sirius said, feeling slightly guilty. He hadn't been thinking of Remus.

"Sorry's not good enough!" Remus said. "God, stop being so reckless for Merlin's sake!"

Sirius grabbed Remus and pulled him close. "I'm sorry, babe. I'll try to be less reckless, but you know it's something I just can't help."

"I don't want to lose you."

"I know," Sirius said, sighing. "I'll be more careful."

"Good," Remus said, kissing Sirius softly. "I think you should see a Healer."

"You're probably right."

###