A/N: Well, the end is almost near!  But, let's stretch this all out just a bit more, shall we?  Here's another chapter for my faithful readers to enjoy!  Let me know what you think!

Oh, and the usual disclaimer… I own nothing… not making a penny from this… so please don't hold anything against me… hehehehehe

Chapter 28: "Qit-itch"

For the next few weeks, James made an effort to be at home with Lily and Harry more. Sometimes Arabella would come to their house to work with James in his laboratory, and every so often, Dumbledore would as well. In fact, it wasn't until Dumbledore started coming to their meetings that Lily dropped any remaining suspicions she had about James and Arabella, actually beginning to feel guilty about having them in the first place.

"Da-ba-baaaaal!" Harry cried.

"Alright, it's okay, mummy's here," Lily said, rushing over to him, a bottle in her hand.

"He's become quite demanding, hasn't he?" Dumbledore asked one afternoon as Harry began drinking hungrily from his bottle.

Lily smiled. "You don't know the half of it!" She laughed. "He's started following me everywhere I go around the house, always underfoot. Sometimes now he'll walk along the furniture, using it for support."

"Children. They grow up so fast." Harry suddenly started tugging on Dumbledore's robes. He reached down and picked Harry up in response. "Hello my dear boy," he smiled. Harry yawned. "It looks as though someone is ready for their nap, a fine idea if you ask me. The adults in this world seem to have forgotten the simple joys of a daily afternoon nap!"

Lily laughed again. "James certainly hasn't, but excuse me for a moment. I'll just put Harry down."

"Of course," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.

"Professor?" Lily asked as she came back into the room.

"Lily, how many times must I tell you. There is no need to be so formal anymore. Call me Albus, please."

Lily smiled and shook her head. "I know, I'm sorry… years of habit I suppose…"

"Don't worry about it," he said. "You had a question for me?"

"Yes, that's right. What is it that you are all working on? James said that it had to do with Voldemort, but other than that, he's been so vague about it… I don't think he's even said anything to Sirius…"

"And that is what is best for us all. It is in relation to Voldemort, but, my dear, you are much safer not knowing."

Lily lowered her eyes and nodded. "James said the same thing."

"I do hate to leave things like this, but I must return to the school grounds. In these times, I do not like being away from Hogwarts for any longer than can be helped."

"I understand. Do tell everyone that I say hello."

"I will be sure to. Please send Scarlet or contact me by fire if you need anything, anything at all."

"I promise," Lily said, hugging Dumbledore farewell. "Until next time."

"Goodbye, Lily. Keep watch over the little one, and the bigger one, come to think of it," he smiled. He then disapparated.

Remus had been out of the country for nearly two months now. He just didn't feel comfortable enough to stay somewhere that everyone knew his horrible secret. He chose, instead, to travel around the globe, trying to learn and experience those things he may have missed out on due to his condition. He still kept in touch with his friends though, mostly by owl.

It was one of these owls that caught Lily and James's attention one evening in June.

Dear Prongs & Lilz,

I do hope that this letter finds you both well. I am currently on my way back to England after my journeys through Albania. There is much to discuss, and I am afraid that it might be better to do so in person. I have heard many things during my travels though, many rumors about Voldemort. Everything that I have heard though seems to have a common theme: your family.

I should be back home by the 14th, but I will send word if that changes. In the meantime, please be very careful. It is hard to say whom you can trust these days. See you both soon!

Sincerely,
Moony
P.S. I have contacted Padfoot and Wormtail as well. We should all meet when I get back.

"Oh God, James. What do you think it is?" Lily asked uncertainly.

"I don't know, baby, but it looks like we'll find out soon enough." James kissed Lily's forehead. He was right, June 14 was only two days away. Lily hoped that everything would be alright until then.

The next two days went by far more slowly than either James or Lily would have liked, but, as days have a tendency to do, they finally passed and the 14th arrived. Lily kept pacing around the house, peering out of the windows every time that she passed them. Harry was constantly underfoot, and she nearly tripped on him several times. She finally couldn't handle him being there anymore, so she picked him up and handed him to James.

"Just, amuse him, please. I'm going to end up hurting him by accident if he keeps trying to follow me," Lily said anxiously.

"It's alright, Lil, really. Just calm down," James said, bouncing Harry on his knee.

"How can you just sit there? Did you even read what he wrote? James, we're known all over the world! And why? There's no reason, but rumors are spreading… Voldemort is after us, and you're just sitting there like it's another day! Why aren't you concerned?" Lily was now biting her nails in anticipation. She looked out the window again. "Where is he?"

"He'll be here, don't worry. There's no point in getting all worked up until we know exactly what is going on."

"Hello? Anyone home? Prongs? Lil?" called a voice from the back of the house.

"Moony? That you?" James answered.

"Yeah, c'est moi!" Remus said, entering the living room. Lily ran to him and gave him a big hug, which startled him for a minute. "Good to see you too, Lil," Remus said cautiously. Meanwhile, he gave James a puzzled look. James rolled his eyes in response. "Um, Lily? Can- Can we sit down maybe?" Remus asked, trying to release himself from her grasp.

"Oh, right! Sorry," she said sheepishly.

"Where are the others?" James asked.

"Should be here in a bit. Sirius had to go collect Peter."

Lily resumed her pacing. "I wish they would hurry…"

"Please, Lil. Sit down, have something to drink. Just don't pace anymore… you've started to make me nervous too," James said.

"Good," Lily said, refusing to sit.

It took about 20 minutes, but Sirius and Peter finally arrived at the Potter residence.

"Hi, nice to see you, sit down, let's start talking," Lily said in a matter of about five seconds.

"Whoa, slow down there, Lil!" Sirius laughed.

"She's right though," Remus started. "We should get all of this unpleasantness out of the way."

"W-w-what have y-you heard?" Peter asked.

"Well, we all know that Voldemort has long since been interested in the whereabouts of you, Lily," Remus said. Lily nodded. "And now I've heard things about him wanting to get his hands on Harry, and he will do anything that he can to get him and the Stone." Lily and James exchanged a glance at this; neither had told their friends about the charm that Dumbledore had performed. "Well, I don't know what it's worth, but it seems that someone has been passing information to the Dark Lord for some time now. That is how he is getting closer and closer to finding you. There have been rumors of a spy, it could be anyone…"

James set Harry down on the floor and he started crawling around the room happily. "I just wish that there was something, anything that would explain all of this. I just hate living like this," James said glumly.

"Unfortunately, the way things are going at the Ministry, it doesn't look like they're any closer to catching him, either," Sirius said. "Well, hello there, Harry," Sirius said looking down at the child who just crawled over to him. "What have you got there?" Harry was clutching his broom in his tiny fist.

"Qit-itch!" Harry said proudly.

"What was that?" Sirius asked surprised.

"Qit-itch!" Harry yelled again.

"Oh, my God!" Lily exclaimed. "His first real word!"

"That's my boy!" James grinned, jumping up from his seat and sweeping Harry up into his arms.

"Qit-itch! Qit-itch! Qit-itch! Qit-itch!" Harry repeated over and over again.

"Well, if there was ever any doubt about Harry being James's child…" Remus laughed.

"Remus!" Lily exclaimed.

Any of the tension that had been in the room during their conversation about Voldemort was now gone.  Harry was excited to be the center of attention, clapping his hands together and shouting "Qit-itch!" as he laughed with everyone else.  The evening turned out to be far more enjoyable than any of the friends had originally anticipated.  When Sirius, Remus and Peter left it was with the understanding that they would meet again, in two months time (if not sooner). 

"Come on, Harry," James said.  "It's bedtime!"

Harry shook his head violently.  "Qit-itch!"

"I'll read you a story…" James coaxed.

"Qit-itch!"

James sighed and turned to Lily for help.  She rolled her eyes.  "Alright, I'll get him ready for bed, but you had better teach him some new words soon!"

Once Harry was in his pajamas, James walked into the nursery only to find Harry standing in his crib, banging on the rails and, naturally, shouting "Qit-itch!" at the top of his lungs.

"I have just the book for you, son," James said, lifting Harry from the crib and sitting down in the rocking chair placing Harry on his lap. 

"Qit-itch," Harry said quietly.

"That's right!  It's Quidditch Through the Ages," James said.  "This is one of my favorite books, and I hope it will be one of yours too."

"James I thought I said to teach him new words…"

"Now, Harry, I want you to just ignore mummy.  You learned one of the most important words in the world…" And with that, he began reading.

Before Lily and James could tell where the time had gone, July 31 had arrived and it was time to celebrate Harry's first birthday.  It was only going to be a small gathering, just some friends and their children playing on the lawns of the Palace of the Prophets.  After all, that was the only way that Victoria could be there to take part in the joyous occasion.

"Oh my God," James said as he and Lily walked into the front gardens swinging Harry between them.  "Those have got to be from Sirius…"

"He has gone too far," Lily said breathlessly.

"Harry!  Happy birthday!" Sirius shouted, opening his arms so that Harry could run into them.  He then swept Harry up into a big hug.  "Getting much better at the walking thing, I see," he said, winking.

"Sirius, that is too much!" Lily said pointing at three tables piled high with presents.

"Well, they're not all from me," he responded.  Lily and James both sighed with relief.  "One or two might be from Remus."

"You're kidding, right?" James asked.

"Nope, not at all," Sirius grinned.

"You're spoiling him too much," Lily said. 

"It's his first birthday!  How many first birthdays do you get?  Only the one!  And besides, like I told you before, he's my godson and I'll spoil him as I see fit."

Before Lily could protest again, Victoria walked over to her.  "How does it feel?" she asked smiling.

"What do you mean, Gran?"

"It's been a whole year.  How does it feel?"

Lily smiled.  "Wonderful."

"Our little Harry has grown so much," Victoria said. 

"I know," Lily agreed.

"And he learns so fast.  He will go far, you may rest assured of that.  He has a bright future ahead of him."

"Thank you," Lily whispered.  She was now watching Harry playing with Daisy, Virginia's daughter who was about his age.

"Harry!" James bellowed.  "Come to daddy!"

Harry obediently toddled over to where James was standing with Sirius and Remus.  "Daddy!" he laughed, lifting his arms.  "Up!"

James laughed and picked his son up.  "Are you ready for your first birthday present?"

Harry was laughing and clapping his hands excitedly.  Of course it was hard to say if this was because of the prospect of presents, all of the attention he was getting, or the bright yellow and orange butterfly that had landed on his nose for a second before taking flight again.

Lily excused herself from Victoria and made her way over to her husband and son.  "Are we starting already?" she asked.

"Just with the big one," James grinned.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive!"  James set Harry down in front of a large present on the lawn.  "Go for it, buddy!"

Harry tore into the present, flinging wrapping paper all over the place.  When all the paper was gone, he looked at the large box quizzically.  "Wha da?"

"Harry!" James said.  "It's your first quidditch set!"  Sure enough, the box was labeled My First Quidditch Set, but it seemed that Lily was the only one who took notice of the smaller print below it, For Ages 2 and Up. 

"Prongs!  You didn't!" Sirius shouted.

"I most certainly did!" James answered.  "Why shouldn't I?"

Sirius sighed and shook his head.  "That's why," he said, gesturing to a box behind one of the tables piled with presents.

Remus couldn't help it.  He burst out laughing.  "The most expensive present he could possibly get… and he's got two of them!  Way to go, Harry!"

The other children had already torn into the box and Harry was now riding around the gardens happily on his new quidditch broom chasing the beginner's snitch, which while still gold, was the size of a baseball and didn't move nearly as fast.  The set also came complete with bludgers that were also chasing Harry around as two other children hit them gingerly in his direction.

"Michael!" April shouted.  "Stop that!"  He was aiming one of the bludgers directly at Harry's head.

James laughed.  "It's alright, really!  They're padded!"

"James!" Lily shouted.  "He could get hurt!"

"Nonsense!  Look at him on the broom!"  It was true.  Even though he couldn't get higher than 3 feet off the ground, Harry could fly.  He was learning quickly to avoid the bludgers and keep his eyes fixed on the (large) golden snitch, which he snagged a moment later.  "What did I tell you?  Our boy's a natural…" James was beaming with pride.

"Hello, hello!"

"Arabella!  Hi," Lily said, smiling.

"You made it," James said.  "Oy! Sirius!  C'mere!"

"What do you want?" Sirius asked, running over to James and Lily.

"Look who's here," James grinned.

"Well I'll be damned… It's been years, Arabella!"  Sirius extended his hand to her.

"It's good to see you too, Sirius Black, but I'd rather not shake hands with you.  God only knows what pranks you might be ready to pull."

Lily nearly spat out her drink.  "Oh, how well you know them," she laughed.

"I learned very early on never to trust Sirius," she nodded.  "James however, well, yes."

James looked at her, a puzzled expression on his face.  "Huh?"

Lily laughed.  "I understand perfectly," she said.

"Anyhow, I really can't stay… I just wanted to drop by and give Harry his present, if you don't mind."

"Of course not!" Lily exclaimed.  "Harry?" she called.  "Come to mummy!"  Almost immediately Harry appeared at her side and she lifted him up.  "Guess what!  Because you are such a special little birthday boy Ms. Figg has brought you a present!"

"Now, I didn't clear this with your mum and dad, Harry," Arabella began, "but my mum really wanted you to have this."  She waved her wand and a small carton appeared on the grass.  Lily set Harry down and he toddled over and started poking at it.  Arabella knelt down and pulled the lid off revealing a beautiful tabby cat with a ginger coat and bright green eyes.  "One of mum's cats just had kittens, and he was the pick of the litter."  She turned to Lily and James.  "I hope you two don't mind…"

"How could we?" Lily asked.  "He's beautiful!"  She was now kneeling next to the box and pulled the small kitten out for Harry to pet.

"Lily's a sucker for kittens," James said, smiling.  "Harry, be careful.  You don't want to pet him to roughly."

Sirius snickered.  He was never too fond of cats.  Especially those that Mrs. Figg had, and she had had a lot of cats during her time.  "Well, at least his fur almost matches your hair, Lily."

"Oh, stop it Sirius.  You're just jealous because the focus isn't on you," Lily said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"What should we call him?" James asked.

"Erimentha," Lily said.

"Bless you?" Sirius said.

Lily rolled her eyes.  "Erimentha," she repeated.  "It means Collector of Thoughts, or Determined Protector, in Greek."

"Eri!" Harry shouted.

"Well, Harry seems to like it, so I suppose that Erimanta-"

"Erimentha," Lily corrected.

"Yeah, whatever," James smiled.  "I suppose that that'll be his name."

For the next two weeks, Harry and Erimentha were inseparable.  Wherever Harry went, Erimentha followed.  When Harry would fly around pretending to play quidditch, Erimentha was right there with him, running underneath the broomstick and batting at the snitch.  If Harry was sleeping in his crib, Erimentha was curled up right next to him. 

One afternoon Lily woke Harry and Erimentha from their nap earlier than usual.  "It's time for you to eat, and then we're going to visit Uncle Sirius!" Lily said brightly.

"Eri!" Harry called out, reaching for the kitten. 

"Don't worry, baby.  We'll take him with us.  Now let's get you ready first, and then we'll deal with waking daddy up."

It took about an hour, but Lily finally got Harry, Erimentha and James ready to go and over to Sirius's apartment.

"It's about bloody time!" Sirius bellowed as he opened the door to let the Potters in.  Lily shot him an angry glance.  "Sorry," he muttered.  "Oh, good.  You brought that blasted cat…"

"Siri!" Harry said.

The expression on Sirius's face softened.  "How's my littlest godson?" he asked, lifting the child up off the floor. 

Harry hugged Sirius around the neck and then turned around in his arms.  "Eri!" he called, throwing his hands forward reaching for the cat. 

"Oh, no you don't, Harry," Sirius said, but Harry looked up at him, tears filling his eyes.  "Fine, fine…"  James grinned and took Erimentha out of his carrying case, setting him carefully in Harry's arms.  "Well, we might as well all sit down and wait for Remus and Peter to get here."

Lily rolled her eyes.  "Thank you, Sirius.  You are quite the gracious host."

Sirius flashed her his winning smile.  "I do try, my dear.  I do try."

Remus arrived about 10 minutes later, followed almost immediately by a very nervous looking Peter.  The instant Peter apparated into the room, Erimentha leapt in front of Harry and arched his back, hissing and spitting at the small man.

"W-w-what is w-wrong w-with th-that darn c-c-cat?" Peter stammered, backing away slowly.

"Maybe he senses what a rat you are, Wormtail," Remus laughed.

Peter forced a small laugh.  "R-r-right."  He then backed into a chair, moving his legs as far away from Erimentha as possible.

"I'll lock him in the kitchen," Lily said, rising from her seat on the couch.  "He probably would like something to drink anyhow."  She turned to Sirius.  "Have you any milk?"

"Yeah, in the icebox," he said.  Lily nodded, picked the cat up and walked him into the kitchen, followed closely by Harry.  "That's probably for the best," Sirius said.  "I mean, if Harry stays in the other room too."

"Why?" James asked.

"Wait for Lily."  A moment later, Lily returned, cat & childless.  "Alright.  The reason that I thought we should all meet is of course regarding Voldemort."

"S-Sirius, please.  D-d-don't say his n-name," Peter pleaded.

"Peter, I'm not going through this again.  Let's just move on, shall we?"  Remus, Lily and James all nodded.  "I spoke to Moody this morning," Sirius began.  "He overheard a conversation that Crouch was having.   About the new measures aurors are to take when apprehending death eaters."

"What new measures?" James asked.  He was, of course, very curious about any new developments regarding his old job.

"He's giving aurors permission to use the Unforgivable Curses."

"What?" Lily gasped, her eyes wide with disbelief.

"He wouldn't!" Remus said.

"Oh, he would," James said.  "I'm surprised it took him this long to make that decision."

"B-b-but they're f-f-forb-bidden," Peter said, looking around the room apprehensively.

"Oh, well, since they're forbidden… you're right, Peter.  We'd best not use them," Sirius said angrily.  "Maybe you'd like to be the one to hunt down Voldemort to remind him that they're forbidden and ask him to please stop using them for that reason."  Peter paled at this.  Sirius shook his head.  "Sorry, it's just that – well, I'm really worried.  Moody also overheard Crouch saying that you," he looked at James, "and Lily are-" he paused. 

"That we're what?" Lily asked, uncertain if she wanted to hear the answer.

"That you're top priority on Voldemort's list.  According to some of the death eater's the Ministry has caught, they're after you, and Harry."

"How close are they?" James asked, a sudden seriousness in his voice.

"It's hard to say.  Like Remus said before though, there are rumors of a spy… it could be anyone."

"Sirius is right," Remus said.  "I think you've waited long enough.  We need to take action for your protection."

James nodded somberly.  "You're right," he whispered.  "All of you… I was just hoping that it wouldn't come to this."

"My offer still stands," Sirius said.  "I will serve as your Secret-Keeper, if you still want me to."

"Yes, I think that would be best," James told him.

"We need to notify Dumbledore," Lily said absently.

"I agree," Remus said.  "Let him know of the decision.  But, if you're willing, I'd like to be the one to perform the charm.  That way it will be kept just amongst us."

James nodded.  "Thank you, Moony."

A/N: Whatcha think?  Here's a wild and crazy idea… leave a review and let me know!