Chapter 54: Harry James Potter
Sirius and May were soon smiling once again. It was a relief for all their friends to see them like this again. May started coming to the Order meetings but she did not want to go to any of the missions. She heard Marlene McKinnion call her spineless and a coward. May gave her a broken nose by punching the woman. "Say it again." May sneered at her. "I dare you." She glared at the woman. This was during a meeting. Sirius was holding May back, stopping her from hitting Marlene again. James was restraining Marlene. "Go on! I bloody dare you!" She hissed at the woman. Marlene shrugged away from James and stormed out of the meeting.
"There was no need for that." Fabian Prewett said to her. It was known that he had a soft spot for Marlene but did nothing about it.
"Well, when someone calls you a coward, you tell me if there was any need for what I just did." May pulled her arms away from Sirius. "I'm going home." She turned and kissed Sirius' cheek. "I'll see you at home." She walked out of the meeting and disapparated home. She was not a coward. She was not spineless. She was the person who would only fight when she needed to. She lost her best friend during this war. She wasn't going to lose another person. She worked as many hours as she could in the hospital as she thought that's where her fight should be. Bloody Marlene McKinnion. Always being the person, who thought she was right all the time.
An emergency Order meeting had been called to the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade in the middle of the May. Lily was due in two months and was very uncomfortable. Despite losing her own baby, May had become very supportive with Lily and her pregnancy. But secretly, she was jealous. She wished her own baby was here. She would be three months old, if she had survived. Everyone sat in silence as they waited for Dumbledore to start speaking.
May sat with Sirius, who had his arm protectively around her. The two of them watched Dumbledore as he stood up and addressed the Order. "Again, I bring you here with grave news." The silence was heavy in the room. No one made a noise. "I bring news of a prophecy. A prophecy which will bring down Voldemort's downfall." He pulled out a piece of parchment. "I have it here." He opened up the parchment and began reading it. "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies." No one spoke. James had his arm tight around Lily's shoulders. Frank was holding Alice's hand tightly. They knew what it meant. Their children had the chance of being the person to defeat Voldemort.
"Professor?" James spoke. His voice croaking as he spoke. "Does it mean our child or Alice and Frank's?"
He shook his head. "I don't know. It could be either child." He looked between the two couples. "Voldemort knows. Someone heard the prophecy and he was informed of it."
"Do we know what he could do?" Frank asked. "I am not risking Alice and my child's life."
"I'm not asking you to." Dumbledore shook his head. "Let's just wait and see what happens. The prophecy states it is a boy. Voldemort will most likely wait until your children are born. He may not believe it but we have to be aware of what could happen."
Everyone else was silent as Dumbledore focused his attention on the two couples, who were very terrified of the fact that their child would defeat the most evil wizard in history. "It won't happen yet. We will be on our guard for now. See what Voldemort does first and then we will act." He started to walk towards the door. "Go home. All of you. You all need to rest." He left the house and the entire room erupted into chatter. Each and everyone of them were talking about the latest news.
"Can we go home?" Lily asked James. Tears ran down her cheeks. She was terrified.
James nodded silently and helped her to stand up. "Come on, love." He and Lily walked past May and Sirius. "We're going home." They nodded to them. "See you tomorrow."
"Yeah." Sirius nodded. "See you tomorrow, mate."
May and Sirius lay in bed together. It was the only day off they had together. Most of the time they spent it in bed. No sex, just lying in bed together. His arms wrapped around her as she lay with her back against his chest. "Sirius?"
"Hmmm?"
"What if this war goes wrong for us? What do you think we should do?"
He sighed heavily and held her tighter. "I don't know. I'm terrified that something will go wrong. That I will lose you."
May turned in his arms and kissed him hard. "You will not lose me. That I can promise you." She kissed him again. "I am not going anywhere." She smiled a little.
Sirius smiled back. "It's nice to see you smile again."
"I smile." She chuckled a little.
"Not a lot. I've missed your smile." He reached up and pushed a strand of her hair away and tucked it behind her ear.
May chuckled. He was right. Ever since they lost their baby, she had no reason to smile. She tried but it was so hard for her to forget that there should be another person with them right now. A small, beautiful little girl should be sleeping in a cot at the end of their bed. But there was no cot and no baby. "I try to smile. It's getting harder."
He kissed her softly. "I know. Just think, this time next year, we might be trying for a baby. A cousin for James and Lily's baby to grow up with. A friend for Frank and Alice's baby. When our next baby is old enough, we'll tell them about their older sister, who is in Heaven with her grandparents. We will explain why, so they will always remember her."
She laughed softly and relaxed in his arms. "I like that. That sounds so perfect." She kissed him softly. "Come on. Let's dress and go food shopping. We're running low on bread." He nodded and kissed her again before they both climbed out of bed.
The end of July arrived. Lily and Alice were still heavily pregnant. Both were extremely uncomfortable. May had moved in with Lily to help her with things around their flat as James was forced to work more hours. "Stupid bloody war," Lily grumbled.
She and May were sitting on James and Lily's bed, eating sandwiches. (One of Lily's cravings were cheese and tomato sandwiches.). "I know. Sirius is working so much. I barely see him any more." She sighed heavily and leaned back on the many pillows. "This has been my first day off in four weeks." She sighed heavily once again and looked at her sister-in-law, who was rubbing her stomach. "Are you okay?"
She shook her head but smiled. "I think it's time." She took a deep breath and laughed nervously.
"Oh right." May smiled and climbed off the bed. "Right, where are your things?"
"By the front door." Lily took a slow breath as May helped her to sit on the edge of the bed. "I side-along apparate with you. The healer said I could do that."
"Okay." May spoke softly and helped Lily to her feet. "I'll owl James when we get to the hospital." The two of them slowly walked to the front door, but stopped when Lily had a small contraction. "Breathe. Breathe." May spoke slowly, encouraging her. She bent down and picked up Lily's hospital bag. "Ready?"
"No," she shook her head and laughed, "I doubt it. Let's just go." She gripped May's hand tightly and May disapparated them both away.
"Where the hell is he?!" Lily groaned and gripped May's hand as a contraction rippled through her womb. "I'm going to kill him."
May chuckled as she held Lily's hand tightly. "I sent the owl. He'll be here soon." She let go of Lily's hand and stood up. "I'll be back in a minute." She was just about to turn and leave, when the door flew open.
"Lily!"
"James." Lily smiled and sighed in relief. He was at her side and holding her hand. "I thought you wouldn't come."
James laughed and kissed her softly. "Silly thing to think." He smiled at her. "You'll never guess what. Alice is in labour too."
"Oh." Lily nodded. James knew what she was thinking. Both she and Alice could be the one to give birth to the boy, who would defeat Voldemort. "Is she all right?"
"I think so. Frank left early this morning and we haven't heard from him since." James smiled and sat in May's chair.
"I'll go and find some news." May smiled a little. "Is Sirius here?"
"Sorry, baby sister. He wasn't allowed to leave work." Her older brother gave her a smile but turned his attention back to Lily, who was groaning in pain. "It's okay," he reassured her. Neither of them noticed May quietly leave the room.
Three hours later, May returned to bring James and Lily the news that Alice had given birth to a boy. "They have called him Neville. He looks like Frank." May laughed softly. It was the late evening of the 30th of July, and there was no sign of Lily and James' baby. May sat on Lily's other side and held her hand. James had to go and get himself some coffee before he could fall asleep. "How do you feel?" She asked her sister-in-law.
"Fed up," she growled. "This baby is being awkward. I wish he or she would just hurry up!"
May laughed again and just rolled her eyes. "I think it will be tomorrow and you will have your baby in your arms."
"I bloody hope so," she swore and groaned again. "This bloody hurts."
May bit back the tears. She wished she could have been in the pain that Lily was in. Just to be able to feel contractions would have been nice. "It will be all right." Reassuring her best friend as Lily went through the pain. "Deep breaths." She held her friend's hand, but Lily was gripping her hand very tightly. "Ow. Lily, grip less please."
Lily laughed softly, "Sorry." She let go of May's hand. "Have you seen Alice's baby?"
She nodded. "Yes. He looks like Frank."
"His ears?"
May laughed. "Yep. His ears are there."
"You girls miss me?" James grinned as he walked back into the room.
His sister scoffed. "No. Is my husband here yet?"
"No. Peter is though."
"Any sign of Remus?" Lily asked as she shifted on the bed, rubbing her side.
James shook his head. "No idea. Probably doing something for Dumbledore." He shrugged a shoulder and sat down in his previous seat.
"I'll go and owl him." May stood up. "If not, I'm going to go and see if he is home. And then I'll go home, I'm quite tired." She gave them a small smile. "I hope to come back later to a niece or nephew." She hugged Lily carefully, and kissed James on the cheek. "See you guys later."
"See you later." They smiled at her as she left the room. Once the door closed, Lily turned to James. "It's really killing her. Seeing me like this," she spoke softly and sighed heavily. "Her heart will always be broken. I don't want to see her so sad."
"Me neither. She'll be fine. She'll never forget her baby." James smiled, but his smile fell as Lily groaned and gripped his hand tightly. "Slow breaths."
May returned to her and Sirius' small flat. She kicked off her shoes and slipped into bed. She had been to Remus' place and he was not there. This worried her. It was a full moon 3 nights ago, he would normally be recovering at home. But he wasn't there. She just sighed and slowly fell asleep. It felt like she had not been asleep very long when she felt someone shake her awake. "Hey. Hey beautiful," Sirius whispered in her ear.
She slowly woke up, to see him looking down at her. "Hello. What time is it?"
"2 in the morning."
May smiled and sat up, greeting him with a kiss. "You've just finished work?"
"I've just come from the hospital. You're an auntie to a rather handsome nephew." He grinned widely.
"A boy? They had a boy?" She grinned widely and hugged him tightly. "That's wonderful news."
"Are you okay?" He asked as he rubbed her back gently. She was crying. He could feel her tears falling onto his shirt. "Baby?"
"No," she whispered softly. "I feel so empty." Her sentence coming out in sobs. "I can't do this. Our baby. Our baby should be here too." Her hands gripped the back of his shirt tightly, not wanting to let go of him.
His large hands rubbed her back in comfort. "I know. I miss her so much." His own tears fell down his cheeks. "Right now, her cousin has been born. When he is older, we'll tell him all about her. How he would have grown up with her and been best friends with her." He felt his wife nod against him. "Now, let's go to sleep. We'll get up early and you can meet your nephew."
She moved away from him and laughed, "our nephew." Laughing still when he smiled widely. "Come on. Come to bed." She lay back down and held her arms open to him.
He willingly went to her arms and held her tightly. "This time next year, we'll be starting our own family or even have one on the way."
She smiled, "not yet. One day at time, first." She kissed him and they both fell asleep.
The next morning, Sirius and May arrived at the hospital early, both eager to see their newborn nephew. Sirius could tell his wife was very nervous and was probably jealous. Not a mean and vicious jealously. Just the jealously of someone having something that she should have too, but she was happy for Lily. She was extremely happy. "Come on." He tugged at her hand and led her into the maternity ward.
She was excited. Her brother and her best friend had just become parents. She wanted to see if Lily was all right and she was dying to meet her nephew for the first time. "I am," she laughed.
They both walked into Lily's private hospital room. "Hello." Lily grinned from the bed. In her arms slept a small baby. "Come and meet Harry." James sat next to her, with his arm around her shoulder.
The young couple moved further into the room. May sat in the chair next to Lily and smiled at her sleeping nephew. "Congratulations, guys."
"Thank you." Lily spoke softly, not wanting to disturb her baby. "Are you okay?" She asked curiously, hoping her sister-in-law was all right mentally being so close to a baby. Lily did not want May to be upset. Of course, May had lost a baby, but here May had a nephew to dote upon. Lily thought May would be exactly like that. May was.
"For Merlin's sake, let me hold my nephew!" May grinned widely and held her arms out, standing up.
Lily willingly handed her son to May. "Harry, meet your auntie May."
"Hello Harry." May smiled down at her nephew, slowly rocking him. "Oh Merlin! You've got your father's hair." The room laughed loudly, making baby Harry stir in May's arms. "Sorry boy, but you do." She chuckled and bent down and kissed his forehead. "Welcome to the world."
A/N: Hey guys, this story is slowly coming to its conclusion. BUT there WILL be a sequel, which will be set during the Harry Potter books.
Responses from chapter 53:
Forever Siriusly Sirius: The baby's name was originally going to be named Elizabeth May. Keeping in with the tradition of naming the baby's middle name after the baby's mother. The closure is there but the emotions are not. :)
Thanks. :) I love the amount of love I get for this story.
Warewolf-princess558750: Thank you. :)
HP. mandy. X: Awww thank you. :) Writing Sirius' reaction was the hardest thing to write. I didn't know how to originally write it, but it slowly came to me.
Charlotte: Uh oh! Sorry! :( Hope you were all right for your class. :)
