Disclaimer: All people and places belong to J. K. Rowling

Life Had Just Begun

By Terra

Chapter Eighteen: Arrivals

I practically threw myself up the stairs in one leap, rushing to our bedroom. Lily was packing some clothes in a suitcase with some personal items.

"Lily!" I gasped as I burst through the door. "Is it time?"

"Yes," Lily said calmly, "my water just broke. Help me pack."

"Do you hurt or anything? Do you need to sit down?"

"I'm fine. I had a contraction a while ago but it's gone now. Help me pack."

I couldn't relax. I was pacing madly around the room like some inexperienced post owl. I could barely breathe. "Oh Merlin! Oh Merlin! I can't believe this is it!"

"Help me pack!" Lily commanded.

"Pack what?" I demanded.

"My toiletries, James! Get them from the bathroom!" I sprinted into the bathroom and stared blankly at the objects in the bathroom. I couldn't for the life of me remember what exactly Lily used for toiletries.

"Lily! What do you need?"

"Toiletries!"

"What ones?" Lily burst in behind me and grabbed her stuff in a frenzy. With a gasp, she dropped them on the bed and held on to the edge of the bed. I ran up to her, unsure of what to do. "What's wrong? What's happening?"

"Contractions," she hissed. "Oh, ow," she moaned, closing her eyes.

"Do they hurt?"

"Yes, they hurt, James. They'll pass. I'm in the early stages."

"Oh no! Oh no!"

Lily turned to me sharply and exclaimed, "James! Please be calm!"

"How can I be calm? My first child is about to be born!"

"James," Lily pleaded, with clear worry in her voice, "if you freak out, I'll freak out. The doctor told me to stay calm and do my breathing exercises, not panic. Please, James. I need you to stay calm. I'm already on the brink, okay?!"

I took a slow, steadying breath. "Okay, alright. Let's take this one step at a time."

Lily took a breath as well as she slowly nodded. "Right. Okay. We need to pack."

We quickly packed the things that Lily needed into the overnight bag we had bought. With that done, we looked at each other and gulped. "Okay," I said calmly as I could even though I was shaking, "now what?"

"I'm going to go with Sirius on the motorbike."

"Remember the face mask," I added. "Where is the face mask?"

"Oh. Right—ah!" She bent over, clutching her stomach. "Ow. This really hurts," she mumbled.

"Why don't you sit down for a minute?" I suggested. She nodded and I led her to the chair in the room. She pointed to the nightstand where the face mask was and I went to retrieve it for her. She began doing weird breathing exercises. "Does that work?' I asked.

"What?"

"What you're doing."

"It better since I spent money being taught it."

"Was that the class you took while I was out in the coma?" She nodded and continued to do the weird breathing. I came over and stroked her hair. "Okay, when Sirius has the bike all ready, I'll put the stuff in the back and see you off."

"He has to fly. I don't think I could take a regular drive," Lily added in between breaths.

"Right. We'll tell him that. Right after that, I'll Apparate to St. Mungo's and tell them you're coming."

"We want Doctor Laurel. Doctor Vita recommended Doctor Laurel, don't forget," she reminded.

"Doctor Laurel. Doctor Laurel. Right, got it. We want Doctor Laurel."

We heard Sirius bounding up the stairs and I went over to the bed to gather the bag as he walked through the door.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Want to hear something funny?" he asked dully.

"Sure. What?"

"It won't start."

"What won't start?"

"The bike. Won't start. I've been trying and trying and it won't go."

"What do you mean it won't start?" I demanded, gripping the bag's strap.

"It won't start. It putters and dies."

"Then fix it," I responded, gritting my teeth.

"That could take hours. I don't even know what's wrong."

I threw the bag back on the bed. I went towards him, my hands going for his throat. "I'm going kill you, Sirius!"

"It's not my fault! It won't start!"

"It has to start, Sirius! How else are we going to get Lily to St. Mungo's?"

"I don't know. That bike is not going to start within the next ten minutes, that's for sure."

I began to pace again. I put my head in my hands. "I can't believe this. Of all the stupid times for your stupid bike not to start..."

"We could find another way to get her there, couldn't we?"

"What?" I laughed bitterly. "Floo her?" Lily shook her head sharply at the prospect. "Apparate? This is only the worst time she could try it!" I ran my hands through my hair. "Maybe... maybe... she can just give birth here. On the bed."

"Are you nuts?" Lily screamed.

"It's not unheard of. People still do it." I explained, nodding as I pointed out, "I was born at home."

"Do you realize what that would do to our sheets? We'd have to throw all of them out! Never mind that, I'm not giving birth without a professional present or in a sterile setting! Forget it!"

"Why? You're going to give birth whether you're with a professional or by yourself."

"James, please shut up. I'm not giving birth her—ah!"

"Personally," Sirius said, "I don't feel like playing doctor. Okay, so we can't Floo her, we can't Apparate her, my bike is shot, now what? Taxi?"

"St. Mungo's has anti-Muggle shields. We need a special charm to give to the driver to break it and that could take hours to get," I explained.

"Why not a regular Muggle hospital?"

"No! Absolutely not!" I snapped. "Magical accidents can happened during labor and besides, I wouldn't feel that our baby would be safe in Muggle hospital. No, it has to be St. Mungo's."

"Well... we could take a taxi as far as we could and walk the rest of the way."

Lily hissed, "The 'rest of the way' is two miles! Unless you want to carry me, there's no way I'll be able to make it."

"Broomstick?"

"We don't own one and besides," Lily answered, "I don't think I'd be able to fly the whole way there."

I growled in frustration. "There has to be a way to get you there."

"Isn't there a Wizarding taxi service or anything?" Lily demanded. There was silence. Before Sirius could answer, I snapped, "No."

"James," Sirius answered sharply.

"We're not doing that."

"James, we have to!"

"It scares me!"

"So what? You had one bad experience with it and you're put off it forever?"

"It's a bad omen!"

"James, I don't see any other way. Yes," Sirius replied to Lily, "there is a version. It's called the Knight Bus."

*** ***

You probably know all about the Knight Bus. Just stick your wand hand up and it comes to fetch you from anywhere on land to take you to anywhere else on land. It was developed during my parent's early adulthood, after the war with Grindelwald. I hate it because it reminds of a rather bad experience I had.

When I was sixteen, I was reaching my sense of individual self. It was the early seventies, come on. I was really fed up with my parents. They had their routines and their boring standards. I was so sick of it. They never did anything unusual or fun. They expected me to just follow in their footsteps. It had slightly annoyed me since I had begun at Hogwarts and met my three friends but at that age, everything about them drove me crazy. They were too old, too conformist, too relenting, too boring, too... ugh. Just everything about them I hated. I hated our mansion, I hated our House Elves, I hated the times we ate meals for goodness' sake. During the summer, I was confrontational about everything. No matter what they said, I would argue against it.

"Do you think we should change the colour of the dining room to green, dear?"

"No! I hate green! Why do you want to make everything green?! Pick some other colours!"

"Fine, how about blue?"

"No! Why is blue always the second choice? Do you people have no imagination?!"

Of course, my parents were startled by my behavior and at first wondered what was wrong, what was making me so upset. I guess they talked it over with the pureblood friends and they must have come to the conclusion that it was phase I was going through. So, later on, when I did my whole "I-hate-the-world-and-everything-in-it", one would say, "Yes, dear. We understand" while the other would say, "it's just a phase, he'll grow out of it."

That line drove me more insane. It wasn't just a phase, I thought angrily. They just didn't understand. I was an individual and soon to be an independent adult. I had ideas, dreams, ambitions, motivations, and opinions of my own. They just didn't want to accept that I had grown up beyond their stupid humdrum ways. So, I became more argumentative.

One night, at dinner, I was brooding in my usual teenaged style while my parents discussed how everyone was "growing up".

"Yes, Lucius is growing up just like his father. Don't you think Narcissa and he make a wonderful couple?" my mother said.

"Well, he seems a bit too big for his britches if you ask me," my father replied.

"Well, he's at that age, like James is. He's just eager to start adulthood. They're all like that now. Soon, they'll grow up and have children of their own. I think Narcissa would be a good mother, don't you?"

I snorted. Narcissa a good mother? Yeah, right. And I can pass an eye test with my glasses off.

"Do you think they'll get married?" my father asked.

"Oh, you can never tell with children these days. They live in a much different world than we did, Harold. Very different." My mother paused and cooed, "Do you know who I think also turned out lovely. Yvonne. I remember her with her lisp."

"Good thing they got rid of that," my father replied.

"Yes. Little Yvonne Zabini, what a darling child she was. She has really grown in a dashing woman. She got the looks of the family, I must say."

"Isn't she a year below James?" her father inquired.

"I think so. Isn't she, James?"

"Yes," I muttered darkly. "Slytherin."

"Hm... very pretty," my mother sighed. "You know, I think you would be cute with her, James."

I dropped my fork and stared darkly at my mother. "Cute? With Yvonne?"

"Yes. You two would make a cute couple."

"I'm dating Lily Evans, remember?"

"I know that, dear. But, if you weren't dating Lily, you would be..."

"Do you two have something against me with Lily or something?"

My mother looked horrified. "No, James. Not at all."

"You didn't like her from the start. Didn't think Muggle-borns were good enough, did you?"

"Now, now, James," my father interrupted, "although we didn't think much of Muggle-borns at first, we don't think that anymore. Lily shows herself to a fine woman."

"So, what's wrong with Lily?" I demanded.

"Nothing, dear," my mother said, laughing slightly, "I was just saying if you weren't with Lily, then I think Yvonne would be a good match. It's just hypothetical."

"Why did you say that about Lily?"

"We didn't mean to say anything about Lily. You just took it the wrong way."

"Are you two arranging a marriage with Yvonne behind my back or something?" I shrieked.

"James, don't be silly. No one arranges marriages anymore, not even the Malfoys and they used to love that practice. They didn't get all that money from nowhere." My mother sighed and shook her head. "You're clearly in one of your teenaged mood swings. We won't discuss it anymore."

"I'm not having a mood swing," I grumbled, stabbing my carrot with my fork. "I can be upset when I want to."

"That's enough," my father said softly. "Eat your dinner."

"Anyway," my mother commented, "I think Yvonne is a pretty girl."

"I DON'T LIKE YVONNE!" I shouted.

"James Harold Potter!" my father barked fiercely, "one more outburst and you're going to your room and staying there until I say so. And you don't scream at your mother like that. You're nearly an adult and you should start behaving like one."

I got up sharply. "Fine! I will! I want to be excused!"

"You are excused," my mother replied tensely. I tossed my chair aside and marched up to my room in my empty area of mansion. There I paced and sulked and muttered obscenities. I was furious. How dare they? If I'm nearly an adult, why don't they treat me like one?! I was so mad. I wanted to run back down there and give them my real opinion of what I thought of them. Yeah, I'll show them.

I don't need them, I thought. I'm nearly seventeen years old. I'm the brightest student of my year. They can't stop me from doing what I want. I had decided. I was leaving this stupid cage of society and striking out on my own. I had money in my account, which had been slowly growing since the day of my birth. It was enough to live on and buy a flat in Muggle London with until I could find work. I couldn't live in Wizarding London, it had to be Muggle, it would be harder to track me down there.

So, once night had fallen and I was positive my parents had gone to bed, I packed my possessions in my school trunk, put it in the Minimizer bag I had gotten for my fifteenth birthday, headed downstairs to walk out the door. With a look of triumph, I swung the door shut behind me. I walked down the fields of our estate in the half-moon lit darkness, feeling very adult. I was doing it, I told myself, doing it on my own. No one to stop me.

Once was I far enough away from the mansion, I held out my wand and the purple triple decker bus with the gold letters reading "Knight Bus" on its windshield stopped in front of me. The door opened and a young man in a purple uniform stepped out. He looked about twenty years old and very bored. I grinned up at him. He raised an eyebrow but only said, "Where to?"

"London."

"Where in London?"

"Muggle London."

"Where in Muggle London?"

"Um... East End?"

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Which shore of the river?"

"Uh... South is good."

The uniformed man looked wary but said, "Eight sickles, please." I fished it out and handed it to him. "You can have a hot chocolate for twenty-six Knuts and with twenty-six Knuts you get a hot water bottle and a toothbrush." I shook my head as I climbed abroad.

Inside was a half dozen of brass beds and light came from brackets on the walls with lit candles in them. There was a staircase leading upstairs but since no one was down with me, I decided to sit on a bed. However, as I went towards the bed, the Bus gave a mighty bang and, with a violent lurch, knocked me off my feet. The conductor snickered at my lack of footing. I scowled at him before crawling to the nearest bed.

The ride was rather rough and unpleasant. I ended up clinging to the bedpost the entire frightening ride. Feeling rather shaken, the conductor finally announced, "East End, South Side, Muggle London. We've stopped right at Tower Bridge. Good enough?"

"Yeah, great." Glad to be off the Bus, I leapt off and with a bang, it moved on. I had no idea which side of London was best but I wasn't quite sure whether or not this area was rough. I shrugged. I have my wand and you are allowed to use it in emergencies. Besides, I asked myself as I began walking aimlessly, could the Ministry find me here in Muggle London anyway?

The streets were very dirty but after visiting Quesera, nothing fazed me. I wondered if I might run into a Muggle version of Sirius. I chuckled. Everyone's got a double somewhere and it would be just my luck to find another him. There were a lot of people on the street. Many drunk young men and women staggered out of pubs and excited (and sometimes drunk as well) men and women were heading into or out of discos where there was a lot of light filtering out onto the street with the music blaring. I began to feel a brief flutter of panic but I was resolved to stick to my plan.

My first move was to find a newspaper with ads for flats in London. Next, find a hotel to stay at for the night. Once I got lodgings, I could look for employment, most likely in Wizarding London, seeing as I knew next to nothing about Muggle life. As I walked through the streets, I took in the Muggles around me although I saw some older students of Hogwarts that had left in years past but they didn't pay attention to me. I debated with myself as I walked whether or not to tell my friends where I was. On one hand, they could visit me and see the sights. On the other, my parents might ask them first and they might be attacked by their consciences and say where I was. I decided that I would tell them on the train since at that point, I would already have a place and employment and it wouldn't matter what my parents thought. Feeling satisfied that my plan was going so well, I hummed along to the music playing in the discos and bars.

After a quarter of an hour, I gradually left the brightly coloured discos and saw more bars. These bars were more akin to Quesera as well as the streets. There were more flats and housing projects surrounding me. It was generally darker but that could have been my imagination. The discos gave way to stores labeled "Adult XXX Entertainment. Magazines, films, books, toys, and more!!!" and clubs that also served as, I realized as I gathered clues from signs, strip clubs. There were no motels so I had to keep walking.

As I passed another strip club, I saw that in the alleyway was a newspaper stand. Realizing that it would have flat listings, I scurried over. One required something denoted with a weird symbol (I later learned that the Muggles call that symbol a pound. One pound of what, I wonder) and one of it but the other said "Free" and it clearly said it had listings of available flats so I got that one.

Across the street, between two brick buildings, was a shadowed woman leaning against the wall of the left building. Starved for some human interaction and needing some advice on where the nearest hotel was, I was walked over to her. She had on fish-net stockings with a blue tube top that seemed pasted on and too-short leather skirt. She wore very high heels on her feet and her hair was long and appeared to have been straightened. She wore dark blue eye shadow and with dark red lipstick and way too much blush. At her feet was a brown bag with a bottle in it with another square package.

"Looking for a good time?" she asked in a bored tone as I approached.

"A good time?" I repeated.

She turned her head around to look at me. She snorted. "Oh, it's a kid."

I growled, "I'm not a kid!"

"Sure you're not. How old are you?"

"Eighteen years old."

"When's your birthday?" she asked quickly.

"March 15th."

"The year, dummy."

"Uh..."

"Too slow. How old are you?"

"Sixteen," I admitted glumly but I added, "But I'll be seventeen soon."

She sighed as she rolled her eyes. "I guess I'll accept that. Even if you were looking for a good time, you wouldn't know what to do with yourself." She looked at me again and smiled. "Or you do know what to do with yourself but not with another person."

"What?" I asked.

"Fine, play innocent," she answered.

"Um..." I mumbled, "do you mind if I sit here? I've been walking all night and my legs are tired."

"Sure, I don't care," she scoffed. I sat down carefully on the dirty street and stretched my legs.

"You're short," she remarked suddenly.

"Thanks," I replied, annoyed.

There was a long silence in which she drank from the bottle.

"Is that good?" I asked.

"What?"

"What you're drinking."

She laughed. "I never really notice the taste anymore. I drink it to keep from going mad!" She took another drink and then she said, "Well, if you're going to sit there, I might as well know your name."

"James. You?"

"Trish. So, why are you wandering around Bermondsey of all places?"

"I ran away from home," I announced proudly. She just raised her eyebrows.

She took another drink and inquired, "So, James, do you have a girlfriend?"

I nodded. "Yes, her name's Lily Evans. She's the smartest girl in our year."

"Huh. Like smart girls, James?"

"I don't know. I guess so. I've only liked her so far. But she is pretty. Prettiest girl I know."

"Do you tell her that a lot?"

"Well..." I admitted, "I still get kind of shy around her still. I'm not the type of guy to start composing sonnets."

"Hm. So, you haven't slept with her yet, have you?"

"No," I told her glumly.

"You sound so sad. Do you want to?"

"Yes," I guiltily admitted, red-faced.

"Have you tried?"

"Well..." I told her all about what type of girl Lily was and about my family's reputation. She laughed until she cried. "It's not funny."

"Yes, it is! So, you're the innocent one of the group, I take it?"

"Yeah, and the only one who has a steady girlfriend. It's kind of sad."

"You're right. It is." She took another drink. "You know, you could just take her to a motel sometime. No one would interrupt you there."

I squirmed. "I don't know."

"You like getting caught?"

"I don't think she would go for it."

She shrugged. "Well, don't say I never tried to help. So, you've never been interested in any other girls?"

"Nope. Just Lily."

"Never? Not one other girl?"

"Just her."

"You haven't looked at another girl? Not once thought about fooling around behind her back?"
"Why would I do that?" I demanded, horrified.

"For a bit of excitement? A bit of practice? A rush of danger? How should I know?"

"But I love Lily!"

"You've never even looked at another girl's butt as she walks past you?"

"No. Why should I?"

She stared at me. "That's unnatural. You're lying. You must have at least looked at a dirty magazine once in your life."

"No! My parents would kill me!"

She bent down to stare at me in the face, giving me a view I didn't want to see. I could smell liquor on her breath and cheap, foul perfume on her body. "James, your dad probably has a stack this high," she said slowly with her hand up to my head, "of dirty pictures hidden away that your mum has never found and never will."

"My father wouldn't have such things! He's too boring, for starters," I explained.

She laughed. "Whatever, James. Believe what you want. Tell yourself you've never thought about another girl in your life. Keep telling yourself that." She straightened up, shaking her head. Her hair caught the street light. It was a dirty brown.

"What do you know?"

She shrugged. "So," she replied, "what do you plan to do with yourself now that you've done a runner on your parents?"

"Well," I explained, "I have to find a room to stay at and find a flat. And look for a job. That's why I came over, to ask if you know where there's a hotel where I can stay."

"Sure but you might dirty your little pure mind with the sounds of people doing dirty things that you never think about," she answered, smiling.

"Oh, I don't care. I can handle it."

"Yeah, but people do some weird stuff in hotels. Thought I'd warn ya."

"Where?"

"Down the block. It's called the 'Rest Stop', can't miss it."

"Good. I'll stay here a minute longer though. My legs are still sore."

The woman bent down to the square package and opened it up. I couldn't see inside past her but she took up what appeared to be a self-rolled cigarette. She took out a lighter and stuck the white cigarette to her mouth. Seeing me, she asked, "Want one?"

"What is it?"

"Grass."

Grass, I thought sagely. Hm, must be Muggle slang for a cigarette. "Sure."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Well, if anyone asks, I didn't give it to you, got it?" I put the "grass" in my mouth and she flicked her lighter near my chin to light it. It smelled funny. "You know how to do this, right?" she asked skeptically.

"Breathe in?" I mumbled around the rolled up bit of paper. She lit the end and I breathed in. Smoke filled in my mouth and throat and I coughed violently. She laughed but did not move to assist me, she just continued to smoke her own. Once the coughing fit had passed, I put the smoking roll up to my lips again and breathed in. I coughed again. Growling at myself for my weakness, I resolved to smoke this entire thing to ash even if it killed me.

Once I got the hang of it, I felt elated and happy. My mind was really foggy and I couldn't really remember what I supposed to be doing. My heart was racing in my chest but that didn't bother me too much. Feeling very satisfied with life, I thanked Trish for her delightful conversation, as she most likely gave me a very worried look, and set off to find the motel.

As I walked along, I became increasingly hungry. All the buildings seemed to look otherworldly and the alleyways seemed to be the wrong width than before. I finally made it the motel and made my way to the glass door. However, I misjudged the width of the door and ran smack into the brick wall next to it. This happened a few times before I finally gripped on to the door handle and pulled.

There was receptionist and I can't for the life of me remember what she looked like and I can only remember there were keys on the walls and it was dark. I went over to the desk, which seemed to slant to one side but everything stayed on it so it could have just been me. I asked for a room and the receptionist asked for some amount in pounds. I didn't quite understand what the receptionist meant. She asked again. Then I realized I didn't have any Muggle money with me.

I began to panic. I didn't have any Muggle money, I didn't know where I was, I didn't know how to get to Grignotts from there, and I was starving! I finally ran out of the motel and had a rather splendid panic attack in the street. I didn't know where to go from there. My thoughts were completely scattered. What about my parents? They'll probably going to kill me for what I said tonight! And Lily would probably think I'm an utter failure for running away to London like this. What if I get mugged? What if I'm expelled for defending myself here?

Breathing harshly and my heart racing more than before, I tried to think of a safe place I could go. Not Peter, his mother would never allow me to lay low there. Not Remus either, he would go tell my parents. Sirius? Yes, Sirius would help me. He'd probably understand this mess and his aunt would never ask questions.

I stuck out my wand hand again and the Knight Bus appeared. It was the same conductor from before but his face was all warped. I jumped on, saying quickly, "Quesera, Sirius Black's house."

"Eight Sickles, please." I paid the cash and staggered over to the bed. If the first trip was rough, this trip was unbearable. All the objects in the room seemed to creep towards me and then slip back farther away. I buried my head in the pillow to avoid looking around.

Finally, I reached Sirius' house. I ran up to the door and began banging on it with all my might. Soon enough, Sirius opened the door. He was dressed in just some old shorts. He blinked at me bemusedly, I had obviously just woken him up. "James?"

"Oh, Sirius! You have to help me!" I burst into his house. "I ran away from home and my parents are going to kill me and I have no Muggle money and I am so hungry, I'm going to die!" I ran into his kitchen without bothering with the light and heading towards his fridge. However, it seemed to leap forward and I ran into it.

"James," Sirius asked wearily as he followed behind me, "do you know what time it is? It's 2:40 in the morning. What are you doing here? And what is that smell?"

"I need a place to stay until I can get to Grignotts and exchange my money."

"And do what?"

"Rent a flat in Muggle London. I ran away from home," I explained, swinging the door open. "I need something to eat."

"You ran away from home?" I told him the whole story about how this summer was going and what had happened at dinner. I then went on to relate my stories in London and my conversation with Trish. "She gave you something called 'grass'?"

"Yes. I think it's Muggle slang for a cigarette. I never thought a cigarette would make me feel this way."

Sirius looked stunned. "James, you are such a moron. Grass isn't a cigarette. Grass is marijuana! No wonder you're acting so bizarre!"

At that point, Clarissa came down to ask what was going on. Sirius told her what happened and she covered for me with my parents, saying I had taken to trip to London to blow off steam and ended up back at Sirius' place after she had gone to bed (which was true, I suppose). My parents brushed off the entire affair as one of my teenaged mood swing episodes.

Looking back, I realized that that was the stupidest thing I had ever done. To this day, the Knight Bus reminds me of that stupid running away episode.

*** ***

But we were going to use it whether I liked it or not. We gathered Lily's bag and went outside. Sirius held out his wand hand and the Knight Bus appeared. It was the same design as nine years before but with a different conductor (a young girl this time) and driver. We paid the nine Sickles and refused the hot chocolate, hot water bottle, and toothbrush.

"St. Mungo's," Sirius requested. Lily laid on one of the beds as I sat on her left and Sirius sat on her right. I rubbed her hand nervously.

"I hope we get there quickly," I remarked, nervously.

"Don't worry. We have plenty of time," Lily said quietly, "Labor can take over twelve hours."

"It can?"

"Of course! Well," she admitted, "there are exceptions. I was born in five hours for example."

"That's weird, because my mother told me I took seven hours during Christmas and everyone said that seven hours is an unusually long time."

"James, she must have said seventeen. You must have heard wrong."

"I took three hours," Sirius commented.

"I said there are exceptions! On average, it can take twelve hours but I've heard of longer."

"I took four hours," the conductor added. "How long did your mum take with you, Billie?"

"Three hours. My mum used ta say, 'I spent three long hours with you and this is the respect I get!' whenever I acted up. Dear ol' mum."

"But that's impossible! Most people have very long labors! How come all of you were born under ten hours?" Lily demanded..

"But the book said five hours was normal," Sirius reflected.

"What book?" I asked.

"Remus' present. I flipped through the introduction in case she went into labor while you were at work or something. It said that most Muggles take nearly twenty hours or more but witches don't. Something to do with the magical energy. The baby can 'will' itself out faster."

"You're joking," Lily gasped.

"I thought you looked through it too. That's why Muggles have a one percent chance of dying when delivering magical children, the mother isn't ready yet when the baby comes out."

"I didn't know that! I just asked my mother and that's what she said! She said... she said... I can't believe this!" Lily shrieked.

"Wait," the conductor asked, "are you in labor now?"

"Yes!" We all answered.

"Billie! This lady's going to pop! We need to make a detour to St. Mungo's now!" She grabbed an intercom by the door and said sweetly, "Pardon us but the Knight Bus has to make a detour to St. Mungo's Hospital. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. Thank you for your patience." She set the intercom aside and barked, "Billie! Step on it!"

"Don't worry, little lady," the driver drawled, "Billie's gonna make sure you get to St. Mungo's. I'm gonna break every speed limit!"

"How comforting," I muttered as I lurched forward and Sirius flew backwards on to the bed. Within minutes, we were outside of St. Mungo's and we bolted out the door of the Knight Bus.

We ran into the double doors of the hospital and I slammed myself against the desk, gasping, "My wife's having a baby."

"We want Doctor Laurel!" Lily added.

The nurse nodded and pressed a button. "Doctor Laurel to Reception. Doctor Laurel to Reception."

With a pop, a doctor slightly older than myself appeared right beside me. He flashed an identification card at the nurse behind the desk, who nodded. She pressed another button.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Laurel. There will be a wheelchair brought over shortly to carry Lily Potter, is it?" Lily nodded. "To send you to the Delivery Room. Which of you is James Potter?"

"I am," I answered.

"Would you like to stay in the room with your wife?" I nodded. He looked at Sirius. "May I ask who you are?"

"Sirius Black. I'm just a friend. I'll wait outside."

"That would be best. The nurses and I need room to work and the less people there, the better." Soon enough, a nurse sped over with a wheelchair and Lily, giving a weak smile, sat in it. "Follow us, you two," he ordered, nodding to us men, "we will pass the waiting room where Mr. Black may wait and Mr. Potter can follow us into Delivery."

He didn't wait for us to see if we understood because the nurse and him sped off with Lily and I sprinted to catch up. The doctor asked Lily various questions on when her water broke and how her contractions were. When we passed the waiting room, Sirius stopped and said quickly, "I'm going to owl Remus and Peter, okay?" I nodded and waved good-bye. "Good luck!" he called out as the door slammed behind me.

*** ***

I will spare you the gory details of birth. It was an exhausting process of doctors checking, Lily and I answering questions, Lily screaming in pain, and I constantly reassuring her but mostly myself that everything was going fine.

After five hours since the whole process began, at midnight on July thirty-first 1980, Lily gave one last push and we all heard a high-pitched wail. I was staring at Lily's sweaty face as Doctor Laurel announced, "It's a boy."

We grinned at each other. Lily was panting heavily but looked triumphant. "James, look at your son," she said softly.

I had asked many fathers what they felt when their children were born. All said that it was indescribable. I have to agree on that.

It was the most hideous thing I had ever seen. It was all purple and covered in blood, attached to Lily by some hose. I had seen babies before but none of them looked like that. Its head was all misshapen and it was flailing its little arms around madly. It was not what I had expected. I gave a little squeak and fainted.

*** ***

I soon found myself lying on my back, looking up into a white overhead light. Blinking a few times, Sirius' face entered my field of vision. He was grinning broadly.

"Sirius? Where am I?"

"The waiting room," he answered cheerily. "They say you fainted at the sight of your son."

I pulled myself up to a sitting position. Remembering the horrible sight, I remarked, "There is something wrong with that baby."

"Oh?"

"It looked like a House Elf that was left in the garbage compactor!"

Sirius laughed and wound up banging his head against the wall. "Ow! James, what did you think babies looked like when they came out?"

"Like babies! And how come you know?"

"I asked about where babies really came from and Elliot, the sadist, gave me a book that outlined everything. It had plenty of pictures. It put me off girls for a week. I'm surprised you didn't know."

"I did," I explained, "I knew that babies weren't picture perfect but that was gross."

"Well, you were probably pretty ugly too."

"Hey!" I smacked him across the shin. He hissed.

"That's the shin Lily kicked earlier! It still hurts."

"Speaking of earlier, where is Remus and Peter?" I got up from the floor and brushed myself off.

"Don't know. I called their houses but no one was home. I owled them too but they didn't come. Jerks."

"Oh!" I interrupted, suddenly remembering, "Marguerite! You didn't..."

"I called her and explained what had happened. She understood. I'm seeing her tomorrow at four in the afternoon. Come on, let's get the owls out to announce the gender of the baby and head home."

After we sent out the message to Peter and Remus and finding out that Lily was fast asleep when I came to visit (I kissed her good night as she slept), we Apparated home.

As we headed to our rooms, Sirius called out softly to me, "James."

"What?" I answered, stopping at my bedroom door.

"You're a daddy now."

I took a sharp breath. That hadn't really hit me yet, it was still such a new idea. "Yeah, I guess I am."

"Congratulations, James."

"Thanks."

He entered his room and I went into mine. I brushed my teeth quickly and changed in my night clothes and as soon as I laid down, I fell asleep.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes: DON'T DO DRUGS!!!! MARIJUANA IS BAD FOR YOU!!!! James is a trained professional. Plus, he's fictional! I can not stress it enough! DON'T DO DRUGS! Anyway, finally, the chapter you had been waiting for: Harry's birth! Only fifteen story months to go until the end of this story! Thanks to sugarquill.net for helping me decide what the old term for marijuana was in the seventies and what shady part of London James should end up in. I adjusted the prices for the Knight Bus to allow for inflation, that's why it's cheaper than when Harry goes in the third book. This took forever to write for some reason, I don't know why. The next couple of chapters are pretty intense! Just warning you! Tell me what you think! I need to know! I need reviews! I want to hear what you think! Review, e-mail at destinyplot@lycos.com , make sure to leave your e-mail address so I write back! See ya later!