Thursday July 31, 1980.
"Then James and Lily named Sirius Godfather to Harry."
It was 2 o'clock in the morning when James and Sirius sat waiting in a Muggle-hospital somewhere in England. Sirius was laying on a few chairs, reading Lord of the Rings, while James at next to him, nervously biting his nails and the tops of his fingers. He had called Sirius because he couldn't stand waiting alone in the waiting-room while Lily was giving birth to their first child (the doctor kicked him out of the room because he couldn't stand James standing in the way). Sirius wasn't al to happy to come, he was sleeping of course, but somehow James convinced him to come over. They had been waiting for two hours and still nothing had happened.
Sirius swung his feet from the chair. "Do you want some coffee?" he asked James. "It'll keep us awake."
"Yeah, whatever" James replied.
When Sirius had walked away to get some coffee, a nurse came walking by. James jumped to his feet.
"Excuse me, but to do you know… er… Mrs Potter, will it take long?" he asked.
"And you might be…?" she asked frowning. James felt like he was talking to professor McGonagall.
"The father – husband I mean" he replied.
"First born children always take longer. I expect half an hour. I don't have time to talk." And away she was.
James sat down again and picked up Lord of the Rings. He could remember hour-long discussions between Sirius and Remus, Sirius defending the new fantasy-books and Remus defending the old classics like Shakespeare which he liked so much. On one evening on James´ birthday Lily had joined the discussion, saying books from Jane Austen were thé books to read. Everybody laughed at her, especially Remus. "They might be classics", he said, "but there's no way I'm going to read them. They're books for women." Lily talked him into reading one ("You'll never know when you never try!") and know he liked them very much, although he hadn't much time to read.
Sirius returned with two steaming hot cups of coffee. The cups were made of plastic, but this didn't seemed to bother Sirius. There were two possibilities, thought James; or Sirius hands were numb, or he used a clever cooling-down spell. Sirius handed over the coffee.
"What was it again, never draw Muggle attention?" James asked. Unfortunately, the ´McGonagall´-nurse walked by and she looked very suspiciously when he said ´Muggle´.
"Yeah James, how dare you! You know what they say: never draw Muggle attention!" Sirius cleverly replied.
"I hate you." James took a nip from his coffee. They sat silent for a moment, then Sirius said: "James, what are we doing here?"
"Waiting for my child to be born, idiot" said James, taking another nip from his coffee.
"Duh, I know that! But why in a Muggle-hospital?"
"So we won't draw wizard attention. It could be dangerous for us, with Voldemort, you know who I mean, looking for us."
"Hiding for muggles, hiding for wizards, who can you meet?! And what is this Voldemort-looking-for-you-stuff? It hasn't got anything to do with that stupid prediction from Trelawney, has it?" And when James nodded: "No, please! You don't believe that stuff, do you?"
"Dumbledore has been tracking the Potters down to the middle-ages and it is very likely we are the last descendants from Griffindor."
"Okay, but it sounds so very stupid." Sirius set up an high-pitched voice. "`The heir of Griffindor will defeat the heir of Slytherin, who will not be defeated´. That's a silly part, someone cannot be defeated and not be defeated. And then that servant-part: `the servant who is not the servant will be captured, while the servant will seek revenche´. Do you get it? I…" He fell silent when they both heard a baby cry. James went slightly pale when a doctor walked out of the room where Lily was.
The doctor stretched out his hand: "Mr Potter? Congratulations, you have a wonderful son." James did not move. "A son", he muttered. Then, without saying anything to anyone, he ran into the room, to Lily and his child.
Sirius and the doctor looked at each other. "Er… I'm sorry. This is his first born" said Sirius. "Oh, not to worry, I'm used to that" the doctor laughed.
"Oh, well, er… excuse me, I think I´ll take a look at the baby too."
When Sirius walked into the room he saw this: Lily Potter was laying on a bed, looking very tired and very happy. James sat next to her, holding a tiny baby with wild black hair. Sirius just stood there watching this little family. He was suddenly very jealous at James…
After a few minutes, Lily discovered him. She said: "Sirius! I didn't knew you were here! Come in! James, show him our son!"
James handed the baby over to Sirius. He was rather small, even for a baby, and had black hair. He turned his head to Sirius and looked him right in the eyes. "He is fantastic " said Sirius. "How´re you going to name him?"
"Harry James Potter" James said proud.
"That's a nice name." Sirius handed Harry over to Lily again. She slowly fell asleep with little Harry in her arms.
When the morning sun shone trough the window, Sirius stood up. "I hate to say it, but I've got my work to go to. I guess I´ll see you later."
"Yeah, see ya. Oh, and Sirius?" Sirius was already at the door, but turned around. "Would you be Harry's godfather? He needs one and I think you would be a good godfather" James asked.
Sirius stood there like he was frozen. Finally, he said: "I would be very honoured, and will try my very best to be a very good godfather."
"Then give a good example and go to work. I´ll see you later."
When Sirius was gone, James looked at his son again. In his mind, he could almost see the great things he would do. "Harry James Potter" he muttered, "you are very special. Maybe because you're going to do special things, but first of all because you're my son."
He checked his watch and concluded that half past 5 in the morning was a little early to inform the grandparents. He yawned. Maybe some sleep would be nice now. He rested his head on his arms. Just a few hours… He fell asleep.
James Potter slept with his head at the feet of his son, little Harry Potter.