England, London

1980, July 26

The tall, red-haired woman was very much exhausted. She had been going on for days in this condition. She wondered if she going to die like this. No, she shook her head. Too early. If she had to die, she would rather die after giving birth to her precious boy. If she died now, wouldn't everything be in a vain? Wouldn't his death be in a vain? What did he die for? So, she could stupidly die with his child in her belly?

No, she thought as she stood up on the cold ground. No matter what, she decided, she would give a birth. She would give a birth and be the mother she always hoped to be. Though, she wondered as her eyes landed on her round belly, would she be given an opportunity to be? The world they now lived in was in a middle of a war and during a war, not many survived. It was cruel but such was the harsh truth.

Whether she lived until she went all old or not, she wanted, more than anything to be able to see her little boy's first smile. Be able to hear her little boy's first word. See him walk. She tried to stop the soft sobs against her palms as the hot tears streamed down her face. It was no use, she realized. She wanted to raise her boy, her precious little lion. Or perhaps it was not a lion but...no, never mind. That did not matter.

She just...wanted to live just a bit longer. Enough to name her boy.

England, London

1980, July 32

Her boy was the very image of his father, she thought as she held him dearly to her chest in her arms so he would not fall. She had to take an extra care to not cause any possible harm to her boy. After all, this boy was the last piece of him that she was allowed to have. Everything else was snatched away from her along with that fire that burnt her whole house.

And a shame was it too, she thought with a frown on her face. That house was much beloved. He gave it to her the night she graduated on top of the hill as he smiled at her sadly. "I thought you should have a house that you can call your own now that you have graduated. Let's call it a graduation gift from me," he had said, giving her the key of the house she lived for three whole years before it was burnt by Bellatrix Lestrange.

That bitch, she thought. It did not matter that Bellatrix was his cousin, albeit not much loved one. She, that crazy bitch destroyed all the things that were given to her by him and which, she held dearly to her heart. One day, she swore, she would kill that bitch.

"Lily, can I come in?"

It was Remus, she saw. He was standing by the door, looking as awkward as he could be in that dark, muggle suit she knew for the fact that Alice gave him on his seventeenth birthday. "You don't have any suits," she had said in front of everyone that night of the party. "And I happen to find men in suits very attractive. So, if you want a chance to score a date with me, wear this and treasure this. Think of it as a greeting gift from me; your potential wife material."

And now, she was happily married to Frank Longbottom and with a little boy too, named Neville, last she heard.

She smiled, allowing her brown-haired friend inside. She really thought that it was going to work out for them and for a time, it seemed that it would too. They were happy, going on dates and stealing kisses from each other every now and then. To be honest, she was really jealous of them then. Seeing them, it reminded her of how she and her beloved used to be before it all happened.

To be honest, she did not know what happened between them that made them unable to look at each other without having that dark, guilty look in their eyes. And truthfully, it was none of her business but she had hoped that they would marry and have those pretty brown-haired children.

Remus walked over to her bedside and sat on the small, wooden seat beside her. He stared at her awkwardly, rubbing circles on his arms and finally, seeming to give up, he sighed hard. "I am sorry," he finally said. "I shouldn't have abandoned you like I did just because my friends did not like who you choose to have babies with. No, actually, let me correct that. Just because James was angry that he couldn't marry you and have as many as possible babies with you and because you choose someone else over him,"

"How's Sirius? Is he well?"

Remus sighed again, rubbing his hand through the back of his neck. "No, it's too soon. It's too much. Lily, Sirius, he watched him die. He wanted to save him, he said, but he was too frozen and was too late. He couldn't save his brother. And now, he's guilting himself over it,"

"He should stop that," Lily stated, looking at the tall, wide window as if it was the most interesting object in the room. It showed the blue sky clearly; the very sky that she used to stare at every night with him on her side the summer when she turned fifteen. "It's not his fault that Regulus suddenly decided all the crap that Professor Dumbledore had been sprouting all this time was worth dying for,"

"Isn't it sad how fast we die?"

"I didn't get to say goodbye," she said sadly, looking at her friend with a bitter look on her face. Her red hair swayed in front of her face, making it itchy in her eyes. But she decided to ignore that feeling. What was important now, was to tell her friend what she had been itching to tell him for a long time since Regulus died. The only friend she had that did not approve of them. At least, not in a way that truly mattered. Everyone else had somehow understood.

People don't plan on who to fall in love with. It just happened just as suddenly as she met him. It came as a shock when she found out but when she realized how she really felt, she never wanted to let him go.

But, fate, it was that forced them apart. Fate, simply that. Not his stupidity or her own. But fate. Even if he did not die that way, he would still have found a way to sacrifice himself if it meant for the greater good.

"The last time I saw him, I was so angry at him. I yelled at him, threw pillows at him. Cursed him. I did not mean any of it," she sobbed, covering her eyes with her hands as if they could to stop the tears. "If I knew that would be the last time, I would have hugged him tightly and told him just how much I loved him and would have told him that I was pregnant with his baby."

It hurt, she thought. The pain inside her chest did not stop. It tightened. It sharpened. It was as if she was being hit by the torture curse she thought lowest of them all. Her chest, felt like it was being stabbed with a knife again and again.

"I am sorry," Remus apologized again. "That I was not by your side when you needed me the most. I suppose that I forgot you loved him too. Maybe it's because I did not want to accept that you, my friend chose someone who was not an ally to our side but maybe it's because I was purely blinded by my anger at you for not telling me the truth about you at all these times you could have told me,"

"Stop apologizing, you idiot," she snapped despite her wet tears. "I forgave you a long time ago,"

England, London

1980, September 5th

"He looks like him," It was the first thing Sirius Black said to her after the months of a self-guilt and self-hate as he held his nephew in his arms firmly. He looked thinner and there were dark circles around his eyes that made him appear scarier than he was. She wondered when was the last he had a peaceful? Probably a long time be said, he looked like a ghost she saw in silent movies she used to watch with her muggle friends. "Merlin and Morgana, but he looks exactly like him to the point that it's scary. He even has his perfect dark hair perfected. Merlin, I remember wanting to mess it up every time I saw it. It frustrated me to the end."

Somehow, that made it all the more hilarious. It was hilarious enough that the infamous Sirius Black who made it his policy to not come near babies after that disastrous accident with his ex-girlfriend (where he almost dropped the poor woman's baby sister on the floor), but him, paying that much attention to baby Harry's hair made it even more hilarious.

It was not even like she gelled Harry's dark hair like more often than not, Regulus did his hair. To be honest, she did not even know if a baby's hair was allowed to be gelled. Though, truth to be told, she thought not.

"Okay, let me make this thing very clear," he stated in such a serious tone he rarely used that it was close to impossible to take him seriously. She tried hard not to laugh and she managed it, let's say for ten minutes. That was quite an accomplishment, she must say, considering her history. "I am the baby's uncle and you are the baby's mommy and my brother's baby mama."

That was it, she realized. She laughed. She couldn't help it.

"What is so funny about it here? I am just making things official! Don't laugh at me! I am being hundred percent serious!"

"I am sorry but, I can't believe that you said I am a baby mama!"

Sirius rolled his eyes, cradling the baby in his arms. "So, anyway, whether trouble we had in past; me bullying your dull friend or me pulling your hair in our first year, let's forget it all and get along for the sake of the little baby here."

"His name is Hadrian," she stated. "Remember it well,"

"Hadrian? That's not a Black name,"

"Regulus did not want a Black name. He told me once that if we were ever to have a baby, he would never ever doom the misfortune of having a Black name on his child. Hence the name." she said, smiling at her little boy. "Hadrian Regulus Black,"

"That is a perfect name for such a perfect boy," Sirius smiled as they shared a moment of an agreement.

England, Godric's Hollow

1981, January 30

"Please," she begged hard as the heartless monster drawled a lazy breath. He stared at her impatiently with his deadly red eyes. She shivered despite herself. The cold air threatened against her skin, her chest tightened with fear and Lily had a hard time breathing as she looked straight in the eye at the monster. She would not look away, she decided. If she was going to die, she wanted for her end to come with a knowledge that she did not look away even when her death was close to feel."Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead —"

"This is my last warning —"

"Not Harry! Please... have mercy... have mercy... Not Harry! Not Harry! Please — I'll do anything..."

"So be it then," the monster drawled again, staring at her with an irritated eyes. He raised his wand and in a single sharp gesture, cast that cursed spell at her. Her body met the cold floor with a thud and the last she thought was, "I had failed. My baby boy, that monster is going to kill him! I couldn't save him! Regulus, forgive me."

And drew her last breath.

Little did she know that the boy would survive.