Disclaimer: Everything here (besides the few things you don't know) belongs to JK Rowling, creator of the worlds of Harry Potter.

A/N: Phew! Made it! A little later than I intended, but still on Wednesday! Sorry, been a long day.

Anyway! We're getting on with the story! And this, my friends, this is the chapter I hope you've all been waiting for! Can you guess why? Of course you can! So, without further ado, I wish you all a Happy New Year!

Enjoy!

Chapter Forty Four - Their Daylight in the Night

The months went by quickly. Soon the cold weather became just slightly less cold, and the heavy rains and thunder and lightening storms made way for spring drizzle. Nothing much changed in Remus' life. He still performed his duties for the Order where he could, still changed jobs every month or so, still went for dinner at his parents' twice a month or even three if he could manage it, and still visited with his friends whenever he could. Naturally, these days it mainly meant visiting Lily, for Sirius and James were usually out in the Hospital or out on the field or training rigorously at the Academy, and Peter was practically unattainable, and whenever he was around, he was surly and all he had to say was complain about his sadistic boss.

Lily, on the other hand, already in the sixth month of her pregnancy, was now banned from working at the Apothecary's anymore, seeing as James pulled on his Healer authority and told her the fumes were dangerous for their baby. Therefore she spent most of her time at home, working on the theory of potions and slowly starting to find what exactly were the demands and tests she had to go through in order to become a certified Potion Mistress and a teacher. Though she realised it will still be a while before she could apply for the job at Hogwarts (no matter how clear it was to everyone that Slughorn wished to retire) and be qualified for it.

Therefore, Remus was quite surprised one fine April morning, stopping by the Potter's flat in Birmingham to which they had moved after the attack on Lily, to find James opening the door for him. His friend looked as though he had not gotten enough sleep in a while, but he still greeted him with a weak smile and let him inside the flat, which was conspicuously Lily-less.

"And where is your darling wife?" he asked once they settled in the sitting room with bottles of butterbeer and the biscuits James found in the pantry. The new flat was not half as nice as the one they lived in previously. The cheerful colours were gone, and it seemed that the Potters lacked the energy to paint another flat yet again, and it was smaller, more cramped. It was in a relatively respectable area of Birmingham, but living there was just not the same as living in London.

"Visiting with her mother, though from what Marcia said I suspect that she's plotting to invite Petunia as well and to try bridge over their 'differences'. Like that'll work…"

"Is she likely to behave herself?"

"Petunia?"

Remus laughed. "I wouldn't expect her to behave if a thousand years would have passed. No. I meant Lily."

"Honestly? I really couldn't tell you. She's temperamental. Been so since her fourth month. And she's gone berserk lately, I tell you," James half-moaned. "She's having cravings."

"Is she?" Remus asked. "I thought she'd skip over that stage entirely, seeing as she's normally a very logical person."

"That doesn't stop her from wanting a whole bucket of chocolate ice cream in a freezing night, smack in the middle of a bloody storm," his friend ranted. "Luckily there's an all-nighter ice cream parlour just a block away from the flat, or yours truly would have died of bleeding pneumonia last week. Bloody England and its bloody weather."

Outside the flat, bloody England's bloody weather was having an absolutely lovely day, but that little fact did not seem to register in James' mind. He was gloomily sitting with his back to the flat's only front window, staring at the bottle of butterbeer as though it would help him get drunk and forget about everything that was bothering him. It had been a while since Remus had seen him so down – especially since the start of Lily's pregnancy.

"Sickle for your thoughts?" he asked finally when James started torturing the poor sofa's somewhat threadbare upholstery (the flat had come already fully furnished, and the young couple had not gotten around to getting rid of it), pulling threads out absent-mindedly.

For a while James said nothing, his eyes intent on those threads which he twisted around his fingers before snapping them off. A moment later, however, he sighed and looked up, his eyes cloudy.

"Am I really going to make a good father?" he asked Remus. By the tone of his voice, the young werewolf realised that this was a question his friend had been torturing himself with for quite a while.

For what felt like forever, all he could do was stare at his friend. Was this James Potter? Was James Potter asking him if he was going to make a good father? There were so many wrong things about this question that for the time being Remus was rendered speechless.

"James?" he finally said.

"What?"

"You're an arrogant bastard, you executed your share of bullying, you pulled the figurative braids of the girl you liked, you're much too bright for your own good, and you are so prideful that sometimes I wonder how your stick of a body can contain so much ego-"

"Ouch," James said with a painful grimace. "Trust Moony to tell you the truth-"

"I'm not finished – you can be vain, rash, you have a terrible temper sometimes, and you're not the most patient man around-" James winced at this, probably wondering how many more bad qualities he had, "-but you're a good man, and you love Lily and your child, who hasn't even been born yet. You risked everything for that child – your career, your life, everything. You're young, granted – both of you are – but you have a family to support you, friends who want to be there for you when you call, and most importantly, you have the ability to love and care for this child and make your home a happy one. Now do you understand?"

The two men stared at one another from opposite sides of the room, James on the sofa and Remus on a wicker chair. Hazel eyes met light blue, and finally, there was that familiar quirk of the lips – barely noticeable, but definitely there.

"So, basically, what you're telling me is that I'm acting like an idiot?" he said with that tiny sliver of a smile.

"Precisely," Remus said firmly.

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The Marauders and the girls all got together at the Potters' flat in late June, about a month before Lily's due date. The excuse for this was Haley's twentieth birthday, but really, it had just been a while since they had all seen one another and decided this was a great occasion to do just that.

Lily looked absolutely radiant. Even with her belly as big as it was, she still looked beautiful. And she was smiling so widely that it practically made the house full of light.

Remus chuckled as he approached her and then kissed her cheek. "You look wonderful, Lily," he said. "I don't know if James realizes just what great a prize he managed to get himself."

She laughed. "Since when have you become such a charmer, Remus?"

"It comes to me, every now and then," he said modestly, his lips fighting to rise.

The new flat to which the Potters have moved the month before was once again in London. Though Lily was a little reluctant to come back to the city, James had insisted that he preferred to be physically close to St Mungo's when Lily's due date would finally arrive – just in case something went wrong and they could not get to the Hospital in a non-Muggle fashion. He was adamant for his baby to be born at the wizarding hospital and not at some Muggle place he did not know.

This flat was even smaller than the one they rented back in Birmingham, but it was cosy, and it seemed as though in honour of the child that would soon enter their lives and probably change them forever, the couple made real effort to make the flat look like a home. The walls of the living space, the kitchen and the bedroom were painted very light yellow, and someone (most likely James, seeing as he was both the artist between the two and also not the one with an eight-months pregnant belly) had painstakingly painted flowers, vines and leaves in a chain near the meeting point of the wall and the ceiling.

The furniture was also new, and the style of the various pieces matched to the others, unlike in their previous home. It looked like James did not care about the cost as long as they managed to make this their baby's first home. But the one and only true concession to the fact that the Potters were expecting a third member to join their family was next to the double bed in the bedroom. They had not bought any toys, clothes or decorations. Nothing but the cradle standing by Lily's side of the bed. Remus wondered why, but tactfully chose not to comment.

Instead, he simply said, "Like what you've done with this place."

"Do you?" Lily glowed at his words. "I chose the colours and had James do it."

"She's an absolute slave driver when she wants to be, Moony," James said from the kitchen, where he was keeping an eye on the oven, where a freshly baked pie was slowly becoming golden. "Don't let that sweet smile and those fluttering eyelashes fool you."

"Never had been fooled, my friend. You were the only one foolish enough to fall for that," he called back, expertly dodging Lily's clumsy attempt to swat him. "Ah, my darling, Lily. You know it's all because I love you."

"Did I just call you charming?" she shouted at him, for he was standing at a safe distance now, keeping the sofa between them. "You've been spending too much time with Sirius!"

"Did someone call my name?" Sirius' head poked through the front door, on which he had apparently just knocked. "You have need of the dashingly handsome, wonderfully witty little old me, eh, Lily?"

The pregnant woman looked from him, to Remus, to James, who had difficulty holding his laughter in, his shoulders hunched and shaking and his face contorting in a valiant effort not to burst, before she threw her hands upwards and cried, "Marauders! I'm surrounded by bloody Marauders!"

"You were the one who threw your lot with theirs, Lily," Keira said, from her place behind Sirius. They had obviously come together, which was something that no longer surprised anyone. It did not even bother James anymore, to know that his cousin was freely and openly frolicking with his best friend. "You have no one to blame but yourself."

Muttering darkly about treacherous best friends and husbands, Lily returned to the kitchen, where she was putting the last touches on lunch.

It was a very pleasant event, with all former Gryffindors enjoying their meeting, everyone fussing over Lily's large belly and the baby that would soon come out to grace all their lives with its presence. Since this was the first baby to be born among their company, the Marauders and girls were almost as excited about it as Lily and James, and repeatedly offered their services for babysitting and helping in general. The meal itself was also good, and they all complimented Lily endlessly.

Finally, after the last crumbs of dessert were gobbled up by Sirius, Lily suggested that they move themselves to the sitting space, where they would be more comfortable.

"Who wants something hot to drink?" James asked, getting up. "I can offer you tea, tea and, let's see… Oh, yes. Tea."

"What happened to coffee?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow. Ever since he started at the Academy, he had developed a taste for the bitter drink. As if he was not hyperactive enough, now he also had caffeine on his side, making his friends absolutely terrified of being anywhere near him after consuming some.

"I absolutely can't abide the smell anymore," Lily said sweetly, and – to Remus it seemed – entirely falsely, since he had seen her the week before, mooning over James' cup of coffee, sourly muttering that one cup of coffee should not make that much of an impact over her pregnancy. "It upsets my stomach, see?"

"Oh," Sirius said, somewhat disappointed. "Then I suppose tea it is. I can always have some when I get back home."

Once this issue was settled, the group migrated to the sitting space, and tea and cake were brought, making it a successful finish for a lovely lunch.

It was early afternoon when a surprise visitor had come by the flat. James was just clearing the dirty cake plates and teacups when there was a knock at the door, and James, with his hands full of empty tea cups, frowned, hurried to the kitchen to unload his burden and then back to the front door. There was a low murmur of security charms being uttered and the sharp clicks of a key turning in its hole and a bolt being slid back before the door opened with a loud creak.

"Oh, hello, Marcia," Remus heard James say from the doorway, sounding surprised. "Didn't know you were coming by today."

"I wasn't actually supposed to be here," the voice of Lily's mother came. "But something happened and I wanted to let Lily know. Is this a bad time?"

"No, no. Come in. I hope there's nothing wrong with David?"

"Oh, no! Nothing bad happened!"

Then the two of them came into the sitting room, where the Marauders and the girls were all seated, laughing and talking, and Remus immediately pretended to have been part of the conversation from the start.

"Oh, I'm sorry, dear!" Marcia said, putting a hand to her cheek. "I had no idea you were having friends over today."

"That's all right, Mum," Lily said, smiling and getting up from her seat. "We just decided it had been too long since the lot of us were all together. It's been a while!"

"So what is the news?" James asked, coming from the kitchen with a chair for Marcia.

"Well," she said, a smile appearing on her lips, "Last night Petunia gave birth to a big, healthy baby boy. I know that you don't really get along with Petunia and Vernon, but I thought you might want to know, anyway, seeing as he's your nephew!"

"What is his name?" he asked, though Remus thought that it was more for sheer politeness than actual interest.

She looked somewhat uncomfortable, as though torn between defensiveness, pained amusement and absolute bewilderment. Finally she said, "Dudley."

There was a moment of absolute silence - before the entire room burst into violent laughter - starting with James, continuing with Lily, Remus and the others, and, at the very end, even Marcia cracked a smile.

"I can't believe she actually did that to the poor boy," Lily said, wiping a tear of mirth from the corner of her eye.

"Speaking of names," Marcia said, looking pointedly at Lily and James, "have the two of you decided on a name for your little one?"

The couple exchanged glances and then looked embarrassedly away from one another. Though the birth was only to be a few weeks away, they did not even begin coming up with names.

"Truth be told..." Lily mumbled.

Marcia gave her a Look. Remus knew it to be a Look since he was an expert at giving them. He could not remember the last time he saw the fiery-tempered redhead so uncomfortable and downright ashamed. Thinking it over, it was quite refreshing. But then again, he wondered why his friends did not start thinking about names. It was already the end of June, just a month away from the predicted due date, and so far it seemed that despite all the fears, Lily's pregnancy was going well. Were they still afraid that there will be something wrong during birth?

Whatever it was, the Potters were not telling.

Shortly afterwards, Marcia got up to leave, but was intercepted by Lily, who demanded that she would stay for dinner with her and James. Their friends, after all, were only there until teatime, so she should not feel uncomfortable.

As the women went chattering to the kitchen to make another batch of tea (James was kicked out of the kitchen despite wanting to help) and Peter was dragged off by Sirius to help him with something to do with his bike, Remus found himself cornered by James in the sitting room. His friend looked determined to speak with him about something.

"I have to talk to you about something, Moony," James said, affirming that thought, looking a little unsure of himself.

"What is it, Prongs?"

"I... err... You are truly one of my best friends, so I hope you won't take it too badly when I tell you that... Sirius is going to be our baby's godfather." James looked up at him anxiously, biting his lower lip.

Remus thought he had never seen him look so pathetic. "Of course it doesn't bother me," he said, speaking mostly the truth. "I could see it coming. Could I ask what made you decide, though?"

The expression on James face could be best described as saying, "You're so going to think this is stupid, because I surely do." When his friend finally answered, he understood why. James closed his eyes and said something as quickly as he possibly could.

"He called dibs."

"I beg your pardon?" Remus said, not sure if he had heard correctly.

"Back in fifth, when it became obvious to everyone that I had my heart set on Lily? Sirius cornered me and said that he wants to be the godfather of our first child."

Remus stared at James, wondering if his friend was completely off his rocker, then he sighed, shaking his head with a slight smile on his lips. "Figures," he said.

"I really would have preferred you as a godfather," James said in defeat. "I'm not sure I can trust Sirius with not corrupting the baby, and you're a much, much more responsible person - but a promise is a promise... I promise, though - next child Lily and I have, will be your godchild."

James' optimistic view that despite the unknown damage that Lily may have sustained during their short-lived captivity they would still be able to have another child made Remus smile. The idea of having his very own godchild was also something to be happy about and look up for. Truly, he understood James' reluctance to tell him about Sirius and the promise he had made him. It did sound ridiculous. But as James said, a promise is a promise, and James was not one to back out on his word.

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He had lost his job again. And just after the full moon. That was definitely a low blow. He was not feeling all that well as it was, and his boss just had to make it that much worse.

Mr. Cane, the owner of the coffee house he had worked in as a shop assistant for the past five weeks, had come in that day, his face a thundercloud, grabbed the startled Remus by the collar of his robes and practically threw him out of the store.

At least he had the decency to throw his wages after him.

Remus did not even bother to ask why or even how he had found out. He got up, picked up the money from the pavement, ignored the disgusted looks given to him by passersby, dusted his robes, and made his way to St Mungo's. He really needed to see a friendly face.

He found James on lobby duty, as his friend called it, sorting between various patients waiting to be diagnosed, calming distraught relatives and generally being a good guy. When he spotted Remus coming towards him, he waved him over. When he saw the look on Remus' face, he sighed.

"Bad day, huh?"

"You can't even begin to imagine," Remus replied with a sigh of his own. "Just needed to see someone who doesn't loath me entirely."

James shook his head. "Can you sound any more pathetic, Moony? I was on night shift and I'm getting off in about half an hour and I don't have to go to the Academy today. How about you go and sit in the tearoom for that period of time and then come home with me? I'm sure Lily would be happy to see you. She's been grounded to the house for the past week."

"Oh?"

"All she can do it waddle away at the moment," he said with a boyish grin.

Somehow he knew that his friend would not have dared saying that in front of his fiery-tempered wife.

And so Remus did as James suggested and came home with him, to the Potters' flat.

"Remus!" Lily called happily from the sitting room, where she was half-sitting, half-lying on the sofa, with a book resting on her huge belly and a steaming cup of tea beside her. "I just made a fresh pot," she said, gesturing at her cup. "Help yourself. It's in the kitchen."

"And what about me?" James asked jokingly, bending to kiss her.

"You don't deserve tea," she said grumpily. "You left me all alone here when I'm in such a delicate state."

Heading for the kitchen, Remus could swear he heard James snorting at the suggestion that there was anything about Lily that was delicate. Then he quite clearly heard a yelp and guessed that Lily possibly walloped James with a pillow. At least, he hoped it was a pillow.

Several cups of tea later, Lily was sleepily curled up next to James, contributing very little to the conversation between Remus and James which mostly revolved around James' work and the next full moon which was still a long way away. The last one had been only three days before, but that did not stop James from wanting to plan ahead.

"We should probably use the old warehouse in Liverpool, this time," he said, referring to one of the various places in which the Marauders spent the full moons ever since Hogwarts. "We haven't been there in a while, and it would be near the end of the month, so there shouldn't be anyone in the vicinity. They only ever come there on the fifteenth of the month. We should be safe. And in any case, we always cast Muggle-repelling charms over the place."

"I suppose so. We could also use the Swindon caves. No one knows-" Remus' words were cut off by the polite knock of an owl's beak on the Potters' window.

Before James could stop her, Lily shot out of the sofa and hurried to the window. James was right. She did waddle.

"Alice has gone into labour!" Lily suddenly shouted, half-excited, half-panicked, the letter gripped in a shaking hand. "This is so wonderful!" She started for the door when she caught a foot on the sitting room rug and began falling.

"Lily!" James shouted, catching her just before she could be harmed. "Don't get yourself too excited or you might go into labour yourself!"

"Sorry!" she said, laughing. "But this is so exciting! Can't I go there, James? Please?"

For a moment Remus thought James would agree, but after an agonizing moment of trying to decide, his face became set. "I'm sorry, love. I don't think it'll be safe. Voldemort might... Voldemort may have found out where the Longbottoms are. He might decide on taking them out when they are most vulnerable. I don't want you hurt - even if it is a small chance."

For a split second it looked as though Lily was about to argue, but then she sighed and sat back down, released from her husband's arms. "I know. I was being foolish. But I really... I really wanted to be there for Alice, you know? We've grown quite close, what with the work for the Order and the fact that we both got pregnant at roughly the same time. It's a pity. I wish..." Both men were startled to see tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "I wish this would have been a better world. I wish there was never a Dark Lord and that our child would be able to grow up in peace!"

She was now crying in earnest, and all the helpless James could do was hold her in his arms and let it continue until she stopped of her own volition. Over her head, he mouthed, "Hormones," to Remus, but the other man knew all too well that though it was meant in jest, James' heart was simply not in it. They all felt the same, after all, but now he realised that for Lily and James, it was much worse. Not only was it not safe to bring a child into a world so torn in war, but the two of them were right at the top of Voldemort's black list.

"I suppose I had better go," he said, not really wishing to intrude on them in what seemed to be such an intimate moment.

"No!" Lily said, turning suddenly, her crying halted. She hurriedly wiped her face and caught hold of his sleeve as he rose to go. "Don't go, Remus. I'm sorry. I was being unreasonable. You came here to spend the morning with us, and I know you're always busy, so please don't leave!" She sounded almost desperate. Desperate for him to stay. Desperate to have a friend over as though nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Desperate for life to back to normal. What was normal? Would life be back to normal once Voldemort would be gone? Would he ever be gone?

The atmosphere at the Potters' became a lot less light-hearted after that.

A short time before noon, Remus was just about to leave, feeling somewhat relieved, when the door to the flat burst open, letting in an excited Sirius. All three inside, who instinctively reached for the wands, visibly relaxed before James started shouting at their friend for scaring the hell out of them.

"What the bloody hell were you thinking?" he roared. "We could have hexed you to hell and back!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Sirius said, still smiling foolishly. "But I thought you'd like to know that the birth went smoothly, and the Longbottoms have a healthy boy named Neville!"

Remus stayed for a while longer before leaving. He had to admit, hearing that the Longbottoms' baby was born safely and that the two of them were alive and well and undiscovered by Voldemort, that he had left with a much easier heart.

And things once again seemed to better. As he walked on his way back home, he spotted a sign in a grubby herbalist shop, reading, Help needed! Please ask at the desk for details!

Feeling a little bit luckier, despite that morning's fiasco with Mr. Cane, Remus mustered his best smile and entered the shop, ready to start anew.

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The call came late that night after Alice Longbottom had given birth to her son, while Remus was at the back of the Herbalist's shop, placing jars and boxes back in place.

He had caught Sirius by floo earlier and told him where he was working now, so that he could be contacted in case of emergencies. It was lucky that he did, since at that moment his new boss, a dumpy witch in her late sixties, came in, hands stained with the juices of various plants she made into salves and simple potions, and said, "You had a floo-call. Someone called Sirius said that you had better get to St Mungo's quickly."

"Did he say why?" he asked anxiously, hoping someone was not hurt in a mission again.

"He said the little one is about to pop out."

Without waiting another second, Remus bid Mrs. Taylor goodnight and Apparated to St Mungo's, his heart thumping in his chest. He was going to be an uncle!

Well... sort of.

The maternity ward at St Mungo's was not much used. Most witches preferred to either give birth at home, or to go to the nearest Muggle hospital. It was a small ward, not even advertised on the sign hanging at the hospital's entrance, but it was quite obvious that James, being a worker of St Munog's himself, would prefer taking his wife where he knew she would get good treatment and where he knew the staff that would be taking care of her.

Remus had to ask several people for directions before he located the door, at the very back of the first floor, which led into the ward. As he entered the waiting room beyond, he spotted Sirius sitting on a shiny leather chair, with his arms crossed and his eyes staring at something across the room from him. He was the only person in the room, and there was no sound except those of muffled shouts and perhaps screams.

"Are we the only ones who came?" he asked in a way of greeting.

"David and Marcia are on their way, being brought over by Keira, and Wormtail said he'd be here in an hour's time - his mother's a little ill," Sirius said distractedly. "I just happened to still be at their place when it started." He continued staring ahead.

Following the direction of his gaze, Remus frowned. "Ummm… Sirius?" he said, looking at the door behind which came the muffled noises.

"Yeah?" Sirius asked, his eyes fixed on that selfsame object.

"Am I imagining things, or did someone set fire to that door?"

"They wouldn't let him in with her at first, because he had completely lost hold of his wits," Sirius said in a way of explanation as Remus continued staring at the singed edges of the maternity ward's door. There was a very strange expression on Sirius' face.

"Was that when he set fire to the door?"

"No," Sirius said, his voice sounding fascinated. "That was when he tried to barrel his way in. It was when they tried to push him back and he heard her screaming that he set fire to the door."

"And they let him in?"

"They did confiscate his wand first - for security reasons, you know?"

The two of them sat side by side, not saying a word, staring at the door, and waiting. About an hour later Keira arrived with Lily's parents in tow, all three looking either excited or terrified. It made one wonder what was the result of Petunia's birth, and, glancing at Sirius who seemed almost unable to keep a straight face, Remus guessed he had thought the same.

Soon after, Peter ran into the ward, looking positively afraid.

"Did I miss it? Did I miss it?" he managed breathlessly.

"Not that we can tell," Remus managed. "But they didn't come out since I arrived here."

"Glad I didn't miss it," their friend said with a sigh of relief. "Mum almost didn't let me leave. I was almost desperate enough to wallop her on the head and make a run for it. It's bad enough that my boss doesn't give me enough free time to see the lot of you, but now my mum is collaborating as well? It's a conspiracy, I tell you!"

Peter's comment seemed to take some of the worry from the room, making both of the other Marauders chuckle.

"I wonder if he'd be ugly like James," Keira said with a grin. "I certainly hope the poor kid will get Lily's looks. A miniature version of James Potter is an almost a terrifying idea. Almost too terrifying to consider."

That completely broke the tension in the room for a short while, making all people there relax a little bit more.

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Lily and James Potter's son was born just at the crack of dawn, July 31st, 1980. Those assembled in the waiting room outside could easily hear the sound of a fresh pair of lungs testing their capabilities. They all looked at one another, excited. They could not believe that it was finally happening.

Time passed sluggishly slow. Remus had no way of telling how long it was from the moment they first heard the newly-born screaming to when the door to the maternity ward opened, letting out a tall figure in lime-green robes.

"You can come in now, you lot," the Healer-in-charge said from the door. "They're ready for you."

All those sitting shot to their feet and filed through the door, Sirius barging his way in first. They were led down a pristine corridor and then through a wide doorway, beyond which lay Lily on a hospital bed, her red hair soaked with sweat, looking exhausted and perhaps a little lightheaded with whatever the Healers had given her to ease the pain. But she was smiling, and holding a small bundle in her arms, with James sitting protectively by her side, his hand touching her arm.

They all crowded around the bed, trying to catch a glimpse of the youngest Potter. Grinning almost manically, James took the baby from his wife and held him so they could see. The yet unnamed baby was fast asleep, a small, fuzzy tuft of black hair covering his scalp. He was so tiny.

"Dear Merlin," Keira said, "he does look like James, the poor thing."

"This is our son," James said proudly, stating the obvious, while glaring at his cousin who grinned at him.

"So… what's the little tyke's name, then?" Sirius asked, changing the subject, his eyes bright, losing no time. "It's Sirius, isn't it?"

"No, Padfoot," James said, mildly disgusted, to the amusement of all present.

"It's not Remus, is it?" Sirius said, affronted.

"No, Padfoot. It's not that either."

"Peter?!"

"For Merlin's sake, Sirius," Lily finally said, temper overcoming her exhaustion. "What gave you any idea that I would let my boy be named after any of you three? He has enough bad examples set for him without him trying to 'live up to his name' so to say."

"Then what is his name?" Sirius asked petulantly.

"Harry," Lily said with pride. "Harry James Potter."

Did you like it? Did you? Did you? Then tell me all about it! (Even if you didn't like it :D).

In the next chapter: Things are taking a darker turn yet again, Remus is once again sent on a covert mission for the Order, and old enemies are coming back…

Wait for Sunday, and the new chapter… Fall of the Angels

-Star of the North