Born on the thirty-first of June 1980, in the Huntington Palace in the heart of Gryffindor is the world's answer to the desperate need of good magical rulers.
The Heir Apparent James's wife, Heiress Apparent Lily has given birth to their first children, a son, Harry Remus Potter and his twin sister, Liberty Arabella Potter. The young couple, at the time aged twenty-one and twenty, are glowing with happiness. A close friend of the Potters, predicting the two will team up to bring down the Dark Lord, made a prophecy.
The Dark Lord hasn't been seen since the children's birth.
The children possess a definite beauty. The boy already possesses James's messy black hair and Lily's dazzling green eyes. The girl has her father's sparkling blue orbs for eyes, and her father's dark hair, with her mother's smoothness to it.
The two children have a large destiny before them, and their parents seem completely willing to help them along the way.
"The Heir Apparent seems quite distracted lately. You'd think with the birth of his son, he would be overjoyed." Someone whispered into the new Gryffindor minister of magic's ear, as James passed them abruptly, not even acknowledging their presence.
"Oh, his daughter, the next Princess Liberty, is quite a handful. Very sick. You know how twins are.." The minister trailed off, not really finishing his sentence because he didn't really care. The behavior of the Heir Apparent and his bride was most appalling.
Lily kissed Liberty's cheek softly, teasing one of her dark locks into a bouncy curl. "You are lucky, darling, that you don't have your father's hair. Life would have been a nightmare for you."
Liberty started to wail softly.
"Oh, Libby, sweet.. I didn't mean to ridicule your father.. He's just an easy target, being the oblivious little prat he was." Lily picked up her daughter, cradling her in her arms. The diaper wasn't wet or goopy, and she had just fed her after her nap. Liberty had had her toys at easy reach. "Grace! Call the nurse! Libby's real hot!"
The nurse rushed in with Grace and they took away Liberty quickly. Lily gulped and stood there, knowing that soon, the room that had been decorated with feminine pieces, would be transformed into another royal guest room.
It took her awhile to get the information to register. Steadily and swiftly, she rushed to the throne room to find her husband.
"The Heiress Apparent, Lily Potter!" A minstrel announced as Lily entered quickly, rushing to her husband's side.
"Jamie, Libby's sick. Really sick." The tears were welling up in Lily's eyes. "Magic cannot save her.. Nothing can."
James looked at his aunt pleadingly, and she nodded, dismissing the couple.
She looked sadly and solemnly around the throne room, and the minister of magic wiped away his scowl. "I'd like you all to say a prayer for my great-niece, Liberty Arabella Potter.."
".. Destined to be a charming presence in the royal court, Liberty was a fast favorite of her family and her godmother, Arabella. It is to rest that we lay this beautiful baby girl and send your condolences not only to her parents, but to her brother, who will never know of his sister's presence in our lives." Sirius rolled up the parchment that he had written his speech on, moved to kiss Lily on the cheek and hug James. "I am so sorry."
Lily looked sadly at him. His own twins were supposed to be born soon- October, to be exact. Lily held back her tears, swallowing the lump in her throat and closing her eyes to keep them back. She knew she couldn't cry.
James, however, didn't share this sentiment. He moved into Lily's arms, crying hysterically into her shoulder. How could she be this heartless, this unmoved?
The thought left his head as he felt warm, sticky drops fall onto the crown of his head. She was hurt, badly, but she was better at being royalty than he ever would be.
That October..
"Liberty Isabella Black, born on this past thirteenth day of October, the heir to the Black fortune!"
The twenty-seventh had been a dark day. Exactly a month after the death of Lily and James's daughter Liberty Arabella Potter, James Godric Black, Sirius's son, and Nadia, Lily's close friend and Sirius's wife, both died of the mysterious disease that had taken Liberty's life. Now, all Sirius had for a nuclear family was his darling baby daughter.
How his secretary could announce Liberty's inheritance so joyously was beyond Lily. The blonde young woman eyed Sirius with a coy grin, and Sirius met no one's eyes. The only happiness he seemed to have was in his daughter, named after Lily's own.
"I guess this is fate, Lils." Sirius whispered into her ear. "You have what I want, I have what you want."
Lily softly handed Liberty to her husband. "Sirius, I'm.."
"So sorry.." Sirius finished for her. "Yeah, I know."
"Her eyes are beautiful. Extraordinarily blue." Lily offered, placing a hand on his forearm.
"They are, aren't they? The color is her mother's." Sirius murmured distantly, cradling his godson in his arms.
"Did you love her very much?" Lily asked, gulping.
"Not as much as I loved Jackie, and not as much as I love the three of you." Sirius whispered. "But I loved her."
The three adults stood in silence, looking at the babies in the men's arms.
"It brings me to what Dumbledore spoke to me about the day James and Libby were born." Sirius continued. "I'm sending Libby to live with my family in California. And he wants you under the Fidelius Charm."
Lily gasped. James was confused, but of course, he had copied Lily's homework for Charms throughout seventh year. Lily whispered softly into his ear and his eyes widened.
"Dumbledore wants to be your Secret Keeper, but the decision is up to you."
"You, of course." James said automatically, but Lily's other hand went onto James's own forearm.
"Not that I don't trust Sirius, but I'd like to talk to Dumbledore himself." Lily stated in a very finalizing manner.
Both men didn't meet her eyes. She was right.
That Evening..
"This is our son, James. I will not have him live in a world like I did!" Lily hissed softly, closing her book and looking at her husband with great skepticism. Her eyes contained a trace of sadness, though her heart felt heavy. "You yourself aren't ready for it!"
James tried to reason with his feisty wife, sitting down to be eye-to-eye with her. He looked at their son in her arms with a fondness and a sadness that reflected Lily's own. "Lily, you're being ridiculous. He will not have to live as we did, constantly having to be the perfect son in the spotlight."
"It was fine when we were first married, because the minister didn't give a rat's ass if we were behaving or not. But our faces are covering newsstands and the new minister has this big fixation with acting according to protocol! I will not have that!" Lily threw down her book. "Our son will not be as we were, James. Look how long it took us to realize we loved each other at the same time! Look how long it took for us to get our lives organized! Remember how many have died for us, and then you can make the decision of where we raise our child."
James took a deep breath, and he stood up. "I will think about it, and I will come back when I've made my decision."
Lily grinned slyly at him. Though she was a mother at twenty, she still had that playful, arrogant air about her, as if she was still fifteen and hating her husband's guts. She was still the beauty she had been- motherhood flattered her. "Very diplomatic answer, Jamie. Polite, but vague."
James took a walk around the castle. Selfish Lily was no more, and her three top priorities were as follows:
Harry, their son. James himself Her friendsNormally, James would have been number one, their friends number two, and their country number three, with herself at number four. But ever since their daughter had died, she had been especially overprotective of Harry.
However, she was right. They would raise their son in their own way, far away from the castle that had brought on the death of his sister, his mother's close friend, and his possible best friend.
Half A Year Later..
"Peter? Are you sure?" James asked wearily, burping Harry over his shoulder.
"I'm quite sure." Sirius confirmed, though he didn't look James in the eye.
"But Peter? You don't think he'll confess under pressure?" James inquired, his expression worried. "If anything, Sirius, you should have us switch to Dumbledore."
"James Potter." Lily spat, standing up. "I am ashamed of you. Sirius is our best friend. I am trusting his decision, as should you."
"But Princess, Peter is not our bravest friend. How he got into Gryffindor, I have no idea. He should have been a Hufflepuff!" James tried reasoning with her without raising his voice. It wasn't working.
"James, I trust Sirius's decision. If he thinks that Peter can do it, Peter can do it. Sirius, we'll make the switch. I trust you."
I trust you.. I trust you..
The words haunted Sirius as they locked his cell. His eyes had already gone cold, knowing that the Potters' downfall was his own doing.
I trust you.. I trust you..