So I'm going to try really hard to finish this by the end of next week (Maybe make it an even 40 chapters?). I really want to start my next story!

Also, I'm glad you guys didn't come at my throat for the memory charm on the cat thing last chapter...I wasn't sure, but I could see why it could be borderline animal abuse lol.

Finally, not to toot my own horn or anything, but I love the last scene in this chapter :)

Enjoyyy & thank you guys so much for the reviews!

Lily remembered that she had blanched at the sight of number four, Private Drive.

Standing on the doorstep, she suddenly wished that she had taken up Sirius' offer to accompany her. Sure, he would have flirted shamelessly with Petunia, gotten a rise out of Vernon (Lily heard he could be quite quick to temper), and the whole thing would have ended in disaster. But at least she'd have a familiar face beside her. James was out of the question. Lily needed Petunia on her side, and James' unruly hair would almost certainly have inhibited that.

Lily took a deep breath and pushed the doorbell. She listened, and as the electrical chimes faded, she heard pounding footsteps. She shivered. Not due to the January cold, but the anticipation.

"Lily, so good to see you," Vernon greeted, throwing open the door. Lily's returning smile felt just as forced as the smile plastered onto Vernon's ruddy face looked.

"Good to see you too, Vernon," Lily said sweetly, pulling into an awkward hug. Over his shoulder, she saw Petunia's boney face peering from around the corner.

"Come in, come in," he insisted, sweeping his hand impressively around his house. Lily had a sneaking suspicion that he had been eagerly awaiting her arrival, eager to show off their brand new house with their brand new expensive furniture. Lily knew he worked in some high up position in some business—selling drills perhaps?—and she also knew that he was very proud of his job.

"Hello, Petunia," Lily greeted. Petunia pursed her lips, but embraced Lily none the less. Lily resisted the urge to glare; her sister seemed to be going out of her way to ensure Lily felt as uncomfortable as she did.

"Can I get you tea?" Petunia said, barely intelligible through her tight lips.

"That would be lovely," Lily said. Perhaps she would feel better with something to fiddle with in her hands.

"I see you're coming along," Vernon said, motioning to Lily's baby bump. "Petunia's due in June...can't wait to have a strapping young lad!"

Lily nodded politely, and noticed, when Petunia reentered with the tea, that her sister did indeed have a rounded belly. No one had told Lily that her sister was pregnant as well. Petunia and her hardly kept in contact—Lily not being bothered with the inefficient muggle post, and her sister's refusal to deal with the "horrid creatures" known as owls—but she was still in contact with her parents. Perhaps it was their way of expressing their disapproval of her long absence. She hadn't seen them in nearly a year.

"I didn't know you were expecting, Tune—Petunia," Lily said softly.

Petunia sniffed and nodded stiffly.

"Slipped my mind, I suppose."

Vernon chuckled, thinking it a joke, oblivious to the animosity of the statement. Or perhaps he did understand the meanness behind it; perhaps he thought Lily a freak, too.

"Your house is very lovely," Lily commented, looking around to give the impression that she was impressed. She knew that she had to lighten the mood, get them on her side, before she broke the horrible news. Petunia looked smug, and Vernon nodded enthusiastically. He launched into an explanation of the price of this, and the value of that. Lily nodded along, worrying about the best time to bring it up. There really was no good time.

"To what do we owe this visit?" Petunia said after allowing Vernon to ramble on for a few minutes. She sensed that her sister had something unpleasant to say.

Lily looked down to her lap, trying to compose herself. She placed a hand on Harry; this always comforted her. She looked up into Petunia's eyes, and launched into her story.

Now, Lily stood on the doorstep of her old home. This time, she had Harry snuggled to her chest and James by her side, but she felt a sense of fear worse than when she stood on Petunia's hostile doorstep alone.

James squeezed her arm and attempted a smile. She tried one back, but failed. She was sure that he was sympathetic towards her, but he couldn't really know how she felt.

"Lily!" Mrs. Evans shrieked, throwing opened the door and launching herself onto her daughter. She squeezed her tightly—or as tightly as she could without squishing Harry.

"And my grandson!" she exclaimed, wrenching Harry from Lily's arms. Lily smiled, looking away from the scene for a moment to force the tears back into her eyes.

"Hello, Lily."

Lily whipped her head back around at her dad's voice. He stood reluctantly behind Mrs. Evans, surveying his daughter.

"Daddy," Lily said, throwing herself into his arms. His motions were stiff, almost unwelcoming. He certainly was less forgiving than her mother for Lily's long absence from the family. After a moment, he seemed to soften a little under her embrace.

Lily focused her attention back to her mother, who was chattering away to James as she held Harry close to her chest.

"—much smaller than Dudley. You're not feeding him enough! Petunia says that she's sucked dry before he's even half full—"

"Alright, mum," Lily said, meeting James' eye and laughing awkwardly. She was sure James didn't want to hear about Petunia's breast feeding habits, and she had a feeling Petunia wouldn't want him to hear.

"I'm just so glad you're finally here," Mrs. Evans said, handing Harry off to Mr. Evans and pulling Lily into a proper hug. Lily watched as her father observed Harry with a blank expression. Harry suddenly giggled, reaching his hand up and grabbing ahold of Mr. Evans' nose. The old man broke out into a rare smile, snuggling closer to Harry.

Lily didn't think she could stand it any longer. It had to happen now, or else she'd give herself away. Everyone was in position; it was Lily's call.

"Oh no, James, I forgot to change him before we left!" Lily exclaimed, meeting James' eye meaningfully.

"No worries," James said smoothly. "I'll just pop back over to the house with him and do it. We'll be back in no time."

"Oh, do hurry back," Mrs. Evans said, worry etched into her brow. She kissed Harry on the forehead, as though she would never see him again. Lily's mother had always been intuitive.

"I brought some good wine," Lily said as James walked out the door. "Why don't I pop open the bottle?"

"That sounds lovely," Mrs. Evans said, hurrying to the kitchen to get wine glasses. Lily fiddled with opening the wine. Her shaky hands caused the cork to break in the bottle. Her father laughed at her, teasing her, and finally taking the bottle himself and getting the rest of the cork out. Lily's heart broke as she watched her father pour the end of life as he knew it into his own glass.

"To Harry," her father said, raising his glass. Mrs. Evans clinked hers with his, and Lily leaned forward to kiss each on the cheek.

"To Harry," she repeated quietly. She brought her own glass to her lips, not sipping, and keeping her eyes down. She couldn't bear to watch.

"What's in this stuff?" her father asked groggily, falling back to the couch as Mrs. Evans yawned widely.

"It's strong," Lily managed to choke out apologetically. Fortunately, by the time her tears started falling, her parents were in a deep sleep. The last they would know of their daughter was her gentle kisses.

Lily wasted no time. She furiously wiped the tears from her cheek, reminding herself that this was absolutely necessary. It was this, or have her parents die a horrible death at the hand of deatheaters. She retrieved her wand from her sleeve and took a deep breath, pointing it towards her mother's head. Countless Order members had offered to do this for her, but she obstinately insisted that she needed to do it herself.

"Obliviate," she said in a strong, clear voice. Although Mrs. Evans was asleep, Lily felt sure the spell had worked.

"Obliviate," she repeated, aiming at her father. Again, she was assured of its success.

She then hurried to the backyard and looked around. She noticed a cat perched on the fence, staring at Lily with large, wondering eyes.

"It's time," she whispered into the warm August night. The cat jumped down and eventually revealed itself to be Minerva McGonagall. Out of their posts in the bushes, Emmeline, Mad-Eye, and various other Order members appeared.

"You did good, Lily," Emmeline whispered, pulling her into a hug.

"You can cry about it later," Mad-Eye growled, pulling Emmeline after him into the house. "We don't have time."

The Order members would see them off. Emmeline would pose as their daughter, leading them to a far-off country that no one but her would know. When she returned, Lily would wipe her memory of it, so that no one would know where the Evans' were.

Lily followed them into the house and ran up to her parents' room. Once there, she went into her mother's jewelry box and grabbed the goblin-made necklace she, Sirius, and James had given her as a gift. She then searched her father's bookshelf, and grabbed the history books that she had given him one Christmas. She knew they were his favorite books, but he wouldn't remember them. He wouldn't feel their loss.

Lily was miserable. She lay in bed and remembered Petunia's scathing words from her first and only visit to number four Private Drive.

"I always knew your freak ways would ruin my life!" she'd shrieked. "Why don't you just leave us alone? Duddy will never know his grandparents! FREAK FREAK FREAK!"

Lily knew she deserved every one of those unkind words. She even wished she could go back, so that Petunia could throw another tea accessory at her. This time, Lily wouldn't step out of the way. She'd ruined her sister's life.

"Lily?" James asked cautiously. He had taken Harry to Sirius' for the day, so that she could mourn the loss of her parents.

"Yes?" she asked, trying to make her voice sound clear, as though she hadn't been crying for hours.

"Harry needs his lunch."

Lily nodded, her sadness ebbing away. She still had Harry.

"Bring my little wizard over here," Lily cooed, beckoning James into the room. She took Harry from him and snuggled him to her face. He giggled and commenced his habit of entangling his tiny fist into her tresses.

"Are you hungry?" Lily continued to coo, giving her finger to Harry's unoccupied fist. He smiled up at her with big, green eyes and squealed. Lily smiled, forgetting about her own parents.

"He looks just like you," James commented, looking fondly down at his son.

Lily shook her head. "He might have my eyes, but that hair. He's not even six months yet!"

James laughed and ruffled his son's already unruly black hair.

"I have to warn you of something," James said, turning to Lily as Harry latched on for his afternoon meal.

"Hmm?"

"His godfather has been calling him Sirius, in hopes it'll catch on."

Lily laughed, jostling Harry as she did. The baby grunted in discontent, and went back to his meal.

"Tell him that he'll be cursed into next century if Harry thinks his name is Sirius," Lily scolded good-naturedly.

"I'm not getting between you two," James said, throwing up his hands in defense. "You're going to have to take that up with him."

Lily rolled her eyes, and just as she was about to make a comment, a voice rang through their house.

"Hello?"

"I think it's Remus!" Lily said excitedly, throwing her legs over the bed.

"Yeah, I invited him," James said. "S'a shame that he hasn't even met Harry yet."

"I'm sure he's been very busy...there was a full moon last week," Lily said firmly.

Lily adjusted Harry, so that he was over his shoulder for his post-meal burping, and she and James walked to their living room to find Peter and Remus.

"Finally!" James exclaimed, greeting his two friends. "Peter, what's with the long sleeves, its bloody hot out!"

"Haven't been too well," Peter mumbled, embarrassedly pulling at his sleeves. "Hopefully not catching whatever my mum's got..."

"Let me see him!" Remus exclaimed, setting his eyes on Lily. She watched in affection as Remus took Harry and stared down at him, slightly awed.

"Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, meet Harry James Potter," Lily said proudly.

"I thought it was Harry Sirius Potter?" Peter asked, confused.

Lily's eyes flashed, and she turned to James. "He's been lying to other people, too?"

"He told me the same," Remus said with a half smile, without looking up from Harry.

"That's it, Potter, get your friend Black over here right now."

James grinned and grabbed some floo powder from the mantle of the fireplace. He loved when Lily and Sirius got into rows.

"Give Peter a turn!" Lily said, turning to Remus, who was ruffling Harry's hair.

"Oh, no I'm—erm—not good with children," Peter stuttered.

"Nonsense," Lily said flippantly as Remus held the boy out to Peter. He'd grown to be a very jittery man, although Lily couldn't blame him. It was probably the constant stress of his sick mother. "You're one of his uncles, so you'd better get used to holding him."

Peter took Harry in his arms reluctantly, holding him awkwardly, and far away from his torso. Harry looked up at Peter's face in wonderment, all giggles ceasing. Peter looked down on the tiny baby, becoming more and more uncomfortable under Harry's penetrating gaze. Lily laughed at him.

"Oh, you're more of a big baby than Harry is," she teased, handing Harry back to Remus.

Just then, the fireplace crackled, and Sirius stepped out.

"Black!" Lily roared, pointing her wand at his throat.

"Well, good afternoon to you, too, Evans—"

"It won't be a good afternoon for you if you don't listen up," she growled. James stepped out of the fireplace and immediately stifled giggles.

"I'm all ears," Sirius said, turning his nose up haughtily. This somehow annoyed Lily more than if he had placed his hands over his ears.

"What is my son's name?"

"Harry Potter."

"Say it."

"Well, the second name is up for debate—"

"SIRIUS!"

"Ah, I knew you'd come around!" Sirius exclaimed with a devilish grin. "Harry Sirius Potter, so much better than that James nonsense."

Lily lunged her wand forward, poking into Sirius' adam's apple.

"I'm going to ask you one more time, Black," she said, ignoring the other three's stifled laughter. "What is my child's name."

"Well, his papers say Harry James Potter, but—"

"Silencio!"

Lily joined in on the other Marauder's laughter at the sour look on Sirius' face.

"That's all I needed to hear," she teased. Harry's squeals joined in with his uncles' roaring laughter.