***DISCLAIMER: Okay, okay, so it's a story.  But it's not my story; I'm just telling it.

"I told you, didn't I?"  Sirius laughed and raised his glass ecstatically, "I remember when we were kids at Hogwarts, and I told you then!  We were fifth years, and I knew it!  And Remus!"  He threw his free hand out toward the man a few chairs down from him.  "Remus knew as well!  And Peter!"  Another wide arc of his arm, and champagne almost spilled all over James in his tuxedo.  "And no doubt old Dumbledore knew!"  Sirius laughed again, this time toward an older wizard beaming happily on the newlyweds, and set down his glass.  "And so I congratulate the pair I predicted at fifteen years old, the two best friends a man could asked for and the finest witch and wizard I've met!  James and Lily Potter!"  He winked at the pair, "James, I told you I'd be your best man when you married that girl."  Lily stood up and leaned across her new husband to kiss Sirius' cheek; the best man only blushed.

"You're kidding."

"No, dear."

"Lily angel, you're kidding?  But you've got to be kidding!"
        "James darling, send the boys owls!  Our dearest friends—they ought to know!"

"Geez, by Prongs, you're not kidding!  And that means that we're—and I'm—you're!  Angel!"  He swept her into his arms and kissed her ecstatically, held her away from him to study her.  She smiled modestly and shook her head, "Owls?"

"Yes, owls…."  He looked around, perplexed, and Lily giggled, "Honestly, James."  She disappeared into the kitchen for an instant, returned with several envelopes in hand, and handed them to her husband.  He stared at them, each neatly addressed in clean violet ink and sealed in matching wax.

"Pettigrew, Mr. Remus, Sirius Black, Dumbledore…  Anyone missing, Lily?  We'll send formal announcements later."  James' hands shook as he spoke, and he managed to drop an envelope in his excitement.  Lily stooped to pick it up and studied it; "Mr. Peter Pettigrew…."  She shrugged and returned it to James' grasp, and he dashed into the garden the instant he gripped it.  Lily moved to the backdoor in time to see a gray-brown owl take off heading east and James jump like a child, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Go!  Fly, Odysseus!  And come home with some replies!"  He hurried to his wife's side, kissed her again, held her close, and simply breathed in her reddish hair.  She smiled and matter-of-factly quipped, "If it's a boy, his middle name will be James, after his father."

"Harry.  His name is Harry James Potter."  Lily kissed his tiny forehead again for the eighth time in two minutes, then looked radiantly at the small crowd gathered around her.  Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black stood around her hospital bed, James in a chair on her other side.  She laughed aloud for no apparent reason, kissed him again, and kissed James.

Remus stared at the chocolate cigar in his fingers, smiled at James' idea of a joke.  He knelt at Lily's bedside, watching the new baby intently, shaking his head.  "I still think his name should have been Remus," he grinned.

"Or Sirius!"

The shortest man shuffled his feet nervously, "Can you imagine a 'Peter Potter'?"  He chuckled bashfully as even the baby giggled.

"James, I don't know if I like him walking as much as he does," Lily warily followed her one-year-old through the house as he toddled about in search of trouble.  James laughed at the sight, "I can't wait till we can teach him to ride a broom!"

"James!  He'll hurt himself enough walking!"

"Lily, no boy of mine will grow up without learning to play quidditch!  He'll love his first broomstick; it'll be dearer to his little heart than his first animal!"  He reached for his son, and little Harry made a mad rush for his father.  James held him close and offered him a cookie, which the little boy immediately pushed away.  James smirked, "Picky like his mum."

"James!"

"Here, Harry; try this," he handed his son a piece of chocolate and smiled almost as brightly as the child when Harry shoved it into his mouth joyfully.  "There, Lily, there he's like his dad!  He takes to Chocolate Frogs!"  Lily shook her head and took the baby from her husband's arms.

"Enough of your Chocolate Frogs, James; it's time for bed, Harry angel!"  The man leaned in to kiss his son's thin black hair and then kissed his wife's forehead.  She smiled and hummed to Harry as she danced to his room across the hall from theirs.  She laid him down in his crib and tapped his little nose lightly, "Good night, Harry dear."  She assumed a deep, would-be solemn voice and murmured, "Good night, sweet prince, and may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."  She whispered a sweet "Good night" before turning to leave.

Then suddenly the windows shook in their frames with a deep, resonant rumble.  Lily stood bolt upright, already frantic.  She heard heavy footsteps coming up the hardwood floors toward Harry's room, and she fixed herself aggressively ready to receive whatever came through the door.  James scrambled into the room, eyes alarmingly wide, his wand releasing orange sparks from the grip of his hand…

"Lily!"  He gripped her shoulders too tightly for comfort, and she winced.  "Lily, take Harry and go!  It's him!  Go!  Run!  I'll hold him off!"  He kissed her lips desperately and dashed from the room.

Lily froze for an instant, terrified at the scenario they'd dreaded for so long come true.  Her senses returned abruptly; hurriedly she gathered Harry and a few blankets into a wicker basket.  She jumped as she heard the front door tear off its hinges and fly against the wall behind it.  She hurried across the hall to duck out of the back door in her and James' room, realized in sheer horror that the door was locked.  Frenzied shouts and cries carried from the living room and threw her concentration, her fingers fumbling numbly at the two simple locks on the door.  She froze:

"Forget it!  You'll never have the—"

"Oh, Potter, if only you knew!"

She heard James groan loudly in pain and only then realized hot tears streaming down her cheeks.

Then the world seemed to stop.  She heard the low rumble travel down the hall, could perceive the bright green light glowing toward her—she had to save Harry—

And then the one thing that terrified her more than anything—he stood before her in all his terrible glory, and her heart skipped more than a single beat.  Silence swallowed her voice, and then from a space inside that she had never known, a force exerted itself, came loud and desperate.

"Not Harry, not Harry!  Please, not Harry—Please, I'll do anything!"  She pushed the basket away and got to her feet, back to the wall and pleading as desperately as she dared.

His high cruel voice echoed through the small room, menacing and far worse than she had ever imagined, "Stand aside—stand aside, you silly girl!  Now!"

"Not Harry, please, no!  Take me—kill me instead!"  She dropped to her knees, not able to shift her eyes from his evil gaze.  "Not Harry—please!  Have mercy!  Have mercy!"

Twin curses and flashes of agonizingly bright green erupted from the dark figure, Lily's screams echoing into the night, and the voice laughed, high and shrill in the darkness of the house lying in ruins.  And as suddenly as he had come, as though he could dredge no more vile power from within himself, the Dark Lord Voldemort was gone.

And the orphaned baby boy lay crying in the night, a strange shape cut deeply in his tiny forehead.