Chapter 78: Friday, July 31, 1981

"There are two great days in a person's life—the day they are born and the day we discover why."

-William Barclay

Hermione stared at the glass case in the bakery, looking at the several different types of cakes that were displayed. There was everything from basic chocolate with frosting to more complex flavours that had curds and custards sandwiched between layers of delicate sponge cake. She found herself wishing that Remus was home to bake something spectacular for Harry's birthday, knowing he would create the most perfect cake for him. Hermione had offered to peruse the bakeries in search of something for Harry, but now she felt at a loss.

What did babies even like?

Well, he hates peas. She thought, smiling to herself. That particular aversion he had never grown out of, the look of disgust on his face when pea soup was served for lunches at Hogwarts always made her laugh.

As she contemplated the overwhelming array of treats, she realized that one day, Remus would want a family of his own. It was something he had dreamed about—a daughter, he had said. In his wildest dreams, he wanted the basic life his friends had, and while she had never really thought about having children, she found herself wondering what her life would be life with this imaginary daughter.

First off, she hoped she would be blessed with Remus' hair. Because, Merlin knew her own hair was a travesty that she certainly would not wish upon another child. But Remus' soft honey-coloured waves would be lovely framing a heart shaped face adorned with a smattering of freckles and Hermione's own, wide chocolate coloured eyes. She hoped this hypothetical little girl shared the tenacity that both Remus and Hermione had, even if she knew it would be maddening to raise such a child. She knew without a doubt she would be intelligent, given her parentage, but she hoped she had even just an ounce of Remus' humor and wit, but hopefully not as much of a potty-mouth.

If she really thought about it, closed her eyes and concentrated, she could picture it. Remus in a rocking chair, an infant on his bare chest as he sang off-key Beatles songs to her, lulling her back to sleep. He would teach her how to read and about the importance of learning from not only text books, but fictional works as well—something he had told Hermione when they had first met. He would teach her how to bake the muggle way, and Hermione actually chuckled aloud when she thought of coming home to a kitchen coated in flour and Remus on the floor laughing as a little girl sat with a large mixing bowl on her head.

Hermione would work, of course, they would need money to sustain a life together and the galleons Draco had given her were beginning to dwindle. He had given her more than enough to get by for two years, but a lifetime? She would start at the Ministry and work her way up to ensure that Remus would be given the opportunities he deserved. That had always been her plan, anyway—reform the legislations that had been passed barring creatures and beings of all types to a life worth living. Because Remus deserved the choice of staying home with their daughter or pursuing his dream to teach.

She smiled at that thought. Remus teaching during the school term, keeping an eye on their daughter when she is old enough to attend Hogwarts. Regardless of how Hermione had tried to avoid it, she had always found herself wrapped up in Harry and Ron's shenanigans. Granted, most of the time they were trying to keep Harry from getting killed. Not to mention Remus being one fourth of the Marauders, she was sure their daughter would find herself in trouble from time to time.

"Do you need help, dear?" An old woman wearing a pink and white apron and a pair of large, square spectacles approached her from the counter.

"Oh, erm—yes, actually. I'm buying a cake for my...nephew...for his first birthday."

The woman smiled and began to explain what cakes might best suit a small child's birthday. Finally, Hermione had decided on a white cake with little red balloons made of icing piped onto it. The woman took the cake in the back to write "Happy Birthday, Harry!" on it, and box it up.

While Hermione was unsure of how she would be as a mother, one thing was extremely clear to her. Remus would make an amazing father, and she just hoped that they would stay alive long enough to share the experience together.

At four in the afternoon, Hermione tied on her trainers, grabbed her wand, the small gift she had picked up for Harry and the white box from the bakery and headed over to James and Lily's cottage. At the sight of Moody standing just outside of the property, Hermione arched an eyebrow and returned the nod he sent in her direction. When the raucous sound of laughter hit her ears, she understood.

The cottage was filled with small, red-haired children who ran about and laughed loudly as they played with toys and chased one another around the rooms. Harry was sitting on the floor next to Ron, both of the chubby little boys giggling at a young Nymphadora Tonks, who was morphing her face into animals and making sounds at them. Ted sat next to James on the sofa, shaking his head as he watched his daughter. A heavily pregnant Molly sat at the table, trimming sprouts while Andromeda and Lily chased the children from the kitchen.

"Hermione!" Lily shouted, a smile on her face. "About time you get here!"

"I didn't realize you were throwing a proper party!" Hermione laughed, reaching out to tug a book away from Bill, who had taken it from a now crying Percy, handing it back to the teary-eyed boy.

"We hadn't planned on it," Lily said, swooping her into a quick hug and taking the box from her hands. "But, I wrote Molly last night and asked if the boys would want to come play with Harry and then James thought to extend the invite to Ted and Andie."

"Shame Sirius isn't here," James said, appearing at Hermione's side and slinging an arm around her shoulder. "He loves it when all the kids are running around together. It doesn't happen much anymore."

"Do you think he'll have children of his own?" Andromeda asked, wiping her hands on a towel and leaning over to kiss each of Hermione's cheeks in greeting.

"Sirius?" James laughed. "Merlin, no! Could you imagine? I think he's perfectly happy with playing the role of cool uncle."

Hermione snickered. While she could plainly picture Remus with a child of his own, the thought of Sirius having children seemed ridiculous. Particularly, given the state of his flat.

"Anything I can do to help?" Hermione asked.

"No, we're about set," Lily said. "Thankfully Molly and James are adept in a kitchen, I'd be terrified to serve my own cooking to all these people."

Molly chuckled, waving her hand about. "It's just knowledge of the right charms, dear. You'll figure them out eventually. And if not, well, that's less for you to worry about, isn't it?"

"I'm surprised you're here, Molly." Hermione said, "You've got to be due to have Gi—the baby any day now!"

Molly eyed Hermione suspiciously, not missing the slip of tongue before nodding. "Two weeks, the healer says. But, what do they really know? Told me I would have a hard time having children after the difficulty I had delivering Bill and we can all see that was clearly not true."

From across the room, Arthur barked a laugh at his wife and Hermione chuckled. "I suppose they can't be right all the time."

Hermione talked with Molly for a bit, sitting down at the table to help her finish the sprouts. She was surprised to see her using a knife to peel them, knowing that Molly in her time, preferred to use magic when cooking, to speed things along.

"Oh, I've got to do something with my hands to keep busy or I'll be running after all the boys and Arthur gets nervous when I do anything when I'm this far along!" She explained, rolling her eyes. "As if I haven't been pregnant five times before now!"

"Ted was the same way," Andromeda said, dropping into the chair beside Hermione. "Wouldn't let me lift more than a glass of pumpkin juice!"

Lily had taken up a spot at the table as well as she chopped radishes for the salad. "I swear James was a menace!"

"Oi! I heard that!" James called from the living room.

"What about you, Hermione? Any little Lupins in your future?" Molly asked, pinning her down with a gaze.

"Oh erm...well, Remus has said he'd want to have children eventually. But, I don't know...we haven't talked much about it, really." Hermione said, shoving the earlier daydream of an unnamed child with brown eyes and honey waves to the back of her mind.

"Remus seems to think he can't father children," Lily said. "He's always thought that he'd be unable to have them."

"Really? Because of his...affliction?" Molly whispered the last word, looking around to make sure none of the children were nearby.

"I think so," Lily continued. "I've told him a thousand times over that's not how it works. I mean, he's a werewolf himself—it's not like he doesn't know how the infection happens!"

"I think he's more afraid of what kind of life a child would have if it got out that its father has lycanthropy," Hermione explained. "Remus would make an amazing father, I don't doubt that. But he worries about the life he'd be able to provide."

"Well that's rubbish," Lily said. "He's great with Harry!"

"Galleons are hardly the most important thing," Molly said, sparing a fond look over at Arthur and smiling as one of the twins pulled his glasses from his face and put them on his own.

"He can work in the shop," Andromeda said. "We'll need to hire someone soon, anyway. Nymphadora is requiring much more attention now that she's a bit older. She gets antsy sitting there all day while Ted and I work."

Hermione smiled, "I'll talk to him about it when he gets home."

The prospect of Remus having a solid job from someone who knew of his lycanthropy, who would be sensitive and understanding of the time he needed to take off, brought Hermione an immense amount of joy. She wondered if she could talk Andromeda into allowing her to work the shifts Remus would have to miss, that way the shop always had help and she wouldn't have to worry about working around the lunar cycle.

As an hour passed and dinner was almost ready, Hermione stepped into the living room and sat on the floor with Harry and Ron. She smiled at the blocks they were waving around—wooden pieces that looked like Wizard Chess pieces and moved when set on the floor—and she charmed the stuffed dragon to fly around them. Harry raised his arms to grab the dragon, catching it on his first try and Hermione smiled. Once a seeker, always a seeker.

Soon, they all sat at a magically enlarged table, eating and laughing. Hermione talked with Arthur about the happenings at the Ministry, smiled at Tonks as she morphed her face, and laughed at the ridiculous jokes James told. After washing up the plates from dinner, Lily brought the cake to the table and they sang a very off key version of Happy Birthday to Harry, who yelled loudly through the entire thing, laughing as Lily helped him blow out the single candle on the cake.

As the evening rolled around, Moody stepped inside, handing out the portkeys to take the families back to their own home. Lily had been irritated that they wouldn't connect the Floo again, even if just for a night, but their safety had to be considered and she understood that. It was the main reason Frank and Alice had been advised not to come, to which Lily had fought against. They were, after all, still allowed to do missions.

"They can't be that concerned about their safety," Lily lamented as she and Hermione tidied up the house. "I mean, they've barely been out of St Mungo's a couple months and they're being sent out!"

"Alice isn't," James interjected. "And Frank has only been allowed to the designated safe houses and only with another person."

"Still," Lily said. "I would have liked to see them! Harry, Neville, and Ron will all be in school together. It would be nice to have their friendships start off young."

"Once things settle down, we'll invite them over every day, if you want." James said, "Until then, we have to do what Moody and Dumbledore think is best."

"I know," Lily said, resigned. "Let's let Harry open his gifts so I can put him to bed."

Lily and James had somehow procured a decent amount of new toys for Harry, some muggle and some magical. Hermione had purchased him a book called Baby's First Charms and ironically enough, a copy of The Tales of the Beedle and the Bard, when she had seen it, she laughed—if a little cynically—and decided to purchase it. She had also found a set of Quidditch balls that were soft and light and would fly around, low to the ground, at a slower than usual pace.

"Padfoot sent a gift," James said, a beaming grin on his face.

At the mention of his Godfather, Harry looked up from the squishy bludger in his hand and looked around. "Pa-foo?"

"No, darling, Padfoot isn't here. He sent you a gift!" Lily said, running her fingers through the mess of hair atop his head.

"Moo-my?"

"No, Moony is away as well."

Hermione stifled a chuckle as Harry pouted, his large, green eyes looking pitiful against his stuck-out lip.

"Harry, look!" James announced, presenting a package wrapped with shiny red paper and a large golden bow.

"Is that..?" Hermione began, staring at the very obvious shape of the package.

"James Fleamont Potter! No! Absolutely, not! He is entirely too young—and you're ignoring me completely." Lily huffed, annoyed.

"I heard you, I'm just choosing to ignore that you think my son isn't going to ride a broom."

"He can hardly walk, James!"

James shrugged, "I was flying before I could walk. Harry will be fine!"

"You're going to be the death of me, you know that?" Lily grumbled, trying to hide the smile as Harry tore into the package and let out an elated yell at the broom.

Much to Lily and Hermione's horror, James scooped up Harry and used his wand to clear the toys on the floor. He helped him stand up while he adjusted the broom, sitting Harry onto it as it hovered a foot from the ground.

"At least use a sticking charm!" Lily begged. "James! A sticking—"

"I'm doing it, I'm doing it!" James chuckled, placing Harry's hands on the broom and casting the charm over him. Harry leaned forward a bit and squealed with delight when the broom moved forward. "And he's off! Potter looping the pitch, following Potter with the Quaffle! Potter passes...oh! And a miss from Potter!" James chased Harry around on the broom, tossing the soft Quaffle over his head and flicking his wand to send the plush bludgers and tiny snitch buzzing around Harry.

Once Lily's anxiety of watching Harry zoom around the living room faded, she hurried to the bedroom to return with a camera, snapping pictures of Harry to send to Sirius. Chester the cat was not impressed as Harry began chasing him, instead of the snitch. In an attempt to catch the cat, Harry nearly flew into a shelf, narrowly missing a vase and scaring poor Chester half to death.

"He's a natural!" James said, when he finally pried Harry from the broom.

"He really is," Hermione smiled, a memory of an eleven year old Harry zipping around the grounds of Hogwarts to get back the Rememberall that had been stolen from Neville.

Lily flopped back onto the sofa with an oomph and rubbed her tired eyes. "He is not happy," she said. "I have a feeling I'm going to be seeing a lot more of that broom in my future. Remind me to write to Sirius tomorrow and thank him."

"You've been writing to him?" Hermione asked.

"Oh yeah," Lily said. "Are you kidding? Trying to keep James and Sirius out of touch for longer than two days is like mixing water and oil—it simply doesn't work."

James rolled his eyes and groaned when Harry's cries became shouts from his room, "I'll get him."

He stood from the chair and stepped over to Lily, leaning down to place a quick kiss on her lips before heading toward the back of the house. Hermione and Lily sat in amiable silence for a few moments, simply relishing in the quiet after such a loud and busy day, before Lily turned to face her.

"We haven't had much of a chance to talk, lately." Lily began, "No more curse, no more vow...and now I hear you and Remus are mated?"

Hermione laughed, "It sounds strange to say it out loud."

"It feels strange to say."

"It's just a feeling, you know? I imagine it must be similar to how you felt with James when you got married. A bond that's put in place, connecting your magic and sealing your lives together. I can feel him more now, like his magic is sitting just behind my own."

"Hermione, can I ask you something?"

"Of course, you can."

"What are you going to do?"

Hermione pulled her brows together and tilted her head a bit to the side, "What do you mean?"

"I mean...Remus...he isn't going to take it well when you leave."

"Good thing I'm not leaving then, isn't it?" Hermione said, smirk on her face as Lily's mouth fell open.

"You aren't...what? What do you mean you aren't leaving? I thought you—"

"You said it yourself, don't you remember? I died, Lily. It broke the vow, the curse is gone...I don't have to leave."

Lily's face changed from delighted bewilderment to a grave expression. "Hermione, you know as well as I do that messing with time like that will never work out in your favour. If you stay, it could destroy everything."

"If I stay, I could change things. I have knowledge that no one had before, Lily. I can make sure things change for the better, I can ensure that—"

"Or you could cease to exist altogether," Lily said, her voice snipped and her face drawn. "There's a reason the amulet you use to stay here requires a blood sacrifice, there's a reason it's a dark artifact. Human, magical or not, were not meant to mess with time. A few hours is one thing, but an entire lifetime?"

Hermione understood the concerns Lily voiced. Hell, she had thought about them for the last year and a half, the uncertainty of it all constantly plagued her. But the fact still remained—if she could change things now, it was her duty to do that, wasn't it? If she had the ability to bring down Voldemort and his followers now, why wait? Why should she allow the terrible things that had happened in her time to happen, when she could stop all of it and rebuild the future—or the past, she didn't really know which—for the better.

"How can I leave?" Hermione whispered, staring into the expressive green eyes she knew so well. "How am I supposed to leave, when I can change things? When I can stay and be happy here?"

"I don't know," Lily sighed.

"What would you do? Honestly, if it were you, would you leave?"

Lily turned her seat to face Hermione fully and took both of her hands in her own. Her eyes bore into Hermione's with such intensity, Hermione had to turn her gaze down at their clasped hands. After several minutes, Lily finally spoke.

"No," she said, quietly. "No, I don't think I would."

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a/n: Aw, baby Harry 3 I hope you liked this one!

xo