DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER.
Lily, James and Harry had been safe under the protection of the Fidelius charm with Sirius as their secret keeper so far. Harry was such an adorable baby! Anyone who visited the Potters' cottage would coo all over baby Harry if they saw him nearby. Bathilda Bagshot, who lived in Godric's Hollow, was a frequent visitor. The most frequent visitors however, were Sirius, Severus, Remus, Peter, Marlene and Amelia.
As the months went by, Harry had soon learned to crawl. And soon, when he was around 10 months old, he had said his first word: "Mama." His second word was "Dada," at which James had tickled Harry in delight. His third word was "Ev," which Lily had realized was meant for Severus. Sirius had laughed and laughed until Amelia had glared at him murderously to stop him from embarrassing poor Sev.
Harry was now 11 months old, and had moved on to 'Ami' for Amelia.
Currently, it was the 14th of July 1981, and Severus, Marlene, Sirius, Amelia, Remus and Peter were gathered in the living room of the Potters' cottage that evening. Severus was holding Harry in his lap and messing his hair about.
"Just like your Dada, you are. His hair you have." Severus was saying, trying his best to imitate Yoda from Star Wars the Empire strikes back, which he and Marlene had somehow managed to find time to watch in a movie theatre the previous year. Luckily, there had been no Death Eater attacks that night. It had been the same thing with A New Hope in 1978, except that Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, Peter and Alice along with Frank had come with them, and that was just after joining the Order of the Phoenix. Anyway, Severus, due to his deep voice was more successful in imitating Darth Vader's voice as he said, "Harry, join me and together, we can rule Hogwarts together as godfather and godson!" Of course, Harry was too young to understand that, but Severus' voice impressions sent him into peals of laughter.
Remus then took Harry from Severus and holding him on his knee, said, "Come on Harry, here's Uncle Moony to you! Do you know what Uncle Moony loves the best in the whole wide world? It's you my Cub, it's you!" With that, Remus tickled Harry gently, causing him to laugh.
Peter was the next to hold Harry. As soon as Harry looked as his stupid expression, he started laughing all over again in peals. Peter took a toy car lying nearby and drove it on his left leg as if it were a road saying, "See Harry, like this, Vroom. Come on Harry, you're driving us all home. Come on Harry, Vroom." Harry smiled and slowly took the car from Peter, driving it up his leg and stomach, until it was on his neck and Peter had to move Harry's hand away to stop him from driving over his face!
Next, Marlene and Amelia, who were sitting on a plush carpet in the living room, took Harry and held him in their arms across their laps. Marlene smiled at Harry and exclaimed, "Aww you little one! You're so cute that I just want to hold you and squeeze you tightly in bed and sleep!" With that, Marlene kissed Harry on his forehead.
Amelia looked lovingly at Harry and said, "You are just incredibly cute and I just want to eat you! Can Ami bite off those cheeks of yours? Oh yes she can, I'm allowed to eat my godson's cute little cheeks, right? Yes, I am!"
She held Harry closer and pretended to bite off Harry's cheeks, making chomping noises as she did so, before proceeding to kiss Harry on each cheek.
Lily and James came into the living room and James looked at his baby boy and picked him up, adjusting him in his lap as he sat down on one of the couches next to Sirius. Lily sat beside James and kissed Harry's cheeks before taking him from James and rocking him in her arms.
"Harry's 11 months old now, and so far, he hasn't even seen the wide world outside this cottage. Of course, he's been in the front yard and the back yard, but that isn't much. If only Voldemort had lost by now!" Lily said as everyone (minus Harry) sipped their tea.
Severus replied, "Well, you do need to stay in hiding in order to be safe, at least for now. But, that surely doesn't mean that others can't come and visit, that is, if Sirius tells them."
James spoke, "For months now, Molly, Alice, Andrew and Lewis have wanted to bring their kids over. I think we should have them come over at least."
Remus responded, "That makes sense. They're all order members, and they're all good friends of ours. I don't see anything wrong with this."
Severus said, "All the same, I still think it would be best to ask Dumbledore for his advice. He's the only one Voldemort's actually afraid of, and he knows him best. We have to make sure that this is safe in all respects."
Lily said, "I see what you're saying Severus. It would be better if we asked him about it. He'll know the safest way to go about it." James replied, "I second that."
Amelia spoke, "Well, it would be best if it were done as soon as possible. Harry will be a year old in a little more than two weeks."
The next day, James and Lily called Dumbledore over and asked him about the safest way to arrange play dates for Harry. Dumbledore showed a concerned look throughout and finally said, "It's true that Harry does need friends to play with, but if you are going to arrange play dates, you need to be extremely careful. It would not do to have a Death Eater walking in disguise into your home. I would suggest having Sirius escort all the children and parents coming over to be on the safe side, as he is your secret keeper."
Lily replied, "I agree. We're really going to have to be careful about this."
Dumbledore asked, "Who all are you planning to invite?"
James answered, "Frank and Alice, Molly and Arthur, Lewis and Alexandria, and Andrew and Eliza have wanted to bring their kids over for quite some time. So it's definitely them."
Dumbledore smiled and said, "Good, good. And when will the first play date be?"
Lily replied, "This Sunday."
Dumbledore responded, "Anyway, I would like to be present just to make sure that everything is safe. I know you may not like the idea very much, but please allow me to."
Lily and James agreed without any hesitation whatsoever.
That Sunday morning at 10 am, Lily and James sat in the living room holding Harry and waiting for their guests. Harry was staring at his mother's eyes and brushing her lips with his fingers. Lily took Harry's right hand, the one brushing her lips and slowly brought it into her mouth, softly biting it and pretending to eat it before finally kissing it and cooing all over Harry.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
James went to the peephole and asked, "Who's there?"
The answer came, "I am Sirius Orion Black, James' brother in all but blood. My nickname is Padfoot. Severus and I are Harry's godfathers and Amelia, my girlfriend is his godmother. Harry calls her Ami, and yesterday, he said 'foo' to me."
James opened the door to see Sirius standing in front of the door. Behind him, James saw Molly standing behind him holding a red haired baby in her arms, Ronald Weasley no doubt. And next to him were Frank and Alice with a cute chubby baby boy, Neville Longbottom in their arms. Just behind them were Lewis and a thin woman with dark brown hair, Alexandria Bones, holding a cute baby girl with hair whose color was yellowish brown, Susan Bones. Just next to Lewis and Alexandria were Andrew and Eliza who was holding another baby girl with blonde hair. This obviously had to be Daphne Greengrass.
James went and hugged Sirius before inviting them all to come inside. The guests made their way to the living room and once they saw Harry, they began to coo all over him.
The parents sat their children down on the plush carpet there and soon, all the toddlers were looking at each other and babbling in baby language.
Some time later, Dumbledore and McGonagall arrived and McGonagall beamed at the sight of Harry who was like a grandson to her playing happily. She picked him up and kissed him on the forehead before putting him down. Of course, she had to kiss all the other children too. And she did not mind when Susan tried to touch her glasses. She simply just laughed.
As Lily observed the children playing with the toys that she and James had brought into the living room, she felt her heart warm up.
Molly went and sat down next to her on the sofa and said, "It's so lovely to see our children playing with each other like this. In these times, we all need some peace and joy."
Lily replied, "I agree with you Molly. I just can't help wishing this war would just end right now! If it weren't for the fact that we have to stay in hiding, I would have been more than happy for all of us to hang with each other, bring our babies to the park or something like that."
Molly stated, "All we can do is hope that Dumbledore kills You-Know-Who one day."
"Yeah," Lily replied in agreement, although she knew the truth, deep down within, that no matter what, either her baby boy or Neville would have to be the one to kill Voldemort.
All of a sudden, she heard Molly exclaim, "Oh my goodness, look, Ron and Harry are both sharing that toy car! I've never seen something so wonderful like that happen before, a baby being so, giving! How sweet they look!"
Lily looked at Harry and beamed at the sight before her. Harry and Ron were both moving a toy car with their hands, together. Neither of them was attempting to actually snatch it from the other, nor did they have any look of resentment on their faces.
It looked like Harry had just made his first friend!
Lily smiled and kissed Harry and Ron on their cheeks before going into the kitchen to make sure that James was not fooling around in there while making lunch.