***The Marauder Chronicles; The end of Innocence, is a fan fiction. Some characters belong to J.K. Rowling. IWBI concept belong to me, as do other original characters. No copyright infringement is intended, this story isn't to be duplicated or sold***
Note: If you are disappointed and find some of this chapter to be "cliché" then I'm sorry you feel that way. I have set this up, and you'll know what in a short while, to introduce another important theme and to theorize, correctly or incorrectly I do not know, which is why it's called a theory, about why things happened they way they did in the books "Harry Potter." If you're going to leave a review attacking me with harsh words of anger, disappointment, "you're a boring and terrible writer," because of this, even after I have made this statement, I will delete the review, and if you signed it I will block you. I'm tired of getting reviews like that from people who are frustrated with my story after reading it for so long. Please don't do that. If you have a *constructive* criticism then go ahead, but if you're going to repeat what I have just said…I'll cut it. If you have read this long, and this is one of the longest fan fictions on this site, then hopefully you will continue to read after this chapter. If not, hopefully you will read my next story. And even if you don't, thank you anyway.
SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Five: July's End
James was escorted by security the moment he appeared in the Bureau. They instructed him not to speak or ask questions until he was asked to do so. Baffled and curious, James obeyed them and walked in between the group of security wizards up to the Intelligence sector where he had never been before.
The Intelligence sector looked very similar to the Counterintelligence one, so much so that he couldn't tell the difference.
The four security wizards led him into a conference room that had been turned into an interrogation room. In the room with him was Ashika Narayan, his director, and a very tall man whom James assumed to be the director of the Intelligence sector.
"Sit down, Mr. Potter," he said.
James did as he was told and sat at the end of the table.
"This is Rushmore Stile," Ashika said, holding her hand up to the man.
"What's going on?" James asked.
"What is your relationship to Mr. Burgess?" Rushmore asked.
James was perplexed by the question but answered it anyway. "He's an acquaintance of mine. We talk about some stuff."
"What kind of stuff?" Ashika asked.
"Quidditch, um...his girlfriend, my wife, stuff. What's is this all about?" he asked, this time looking to Ashika.
"Guy Burgess was uncovered this morning. He's a mole, James. As of yet he has not been caught, but we know he's a Death Eater working here. We need to know the kind of relationship you have with him. We need to know what he has been saying to you."
James couldn't believe what she had told him. Guy, a Death Eater? "Are you sure?" James asked.
"Yes," Ashika said. "How we know that is not your concern."
"Wait one second," James said, holding up his hand. "This is way too much for me right now. Guy can't be a spy against us; he just can't."
"The ones closet to us are the most effective, Potter," Rushmore said. "Has he said anything about the Dark Lord to you?"
James thought for a second. Now that they mentioned it, he had on several occasions, but didn't everyone during these times? "Yes," James said. "But so does my wife, and I doubt she's a spy."
"What has he said specifically?" Ashika asked.
Again, James collected his thoughts. "The usual. 'He's getting stronger, how far do you think he'll go? What would it take to join...'" James stopped. They had talked about the Dark Lord but not really in an admonishing way. James looked to the directors, both of whom were smirking. "Maybe he is," James said faintly.
"He is. A year ago a letter was intercepted. It was going to the Dark Lord from here," Ashika said.
"Like he wanted to be caught," Rushmore added.
"It was encoded. Your friend Sirius broke the code. The letter was about you, trying to cross you over to the dark side, requesting more time. That was over a year ago, however. Since then the letters have been changing. You see, after we intercept them, we allow them to go through so he thinks he's fooling us. He's not."
"This letter," James said, "it named me specifically?"
"Not exactly. I know it is referring to you, and that is all you need to know. Since then I have placed high security around you, watching your every move to see who came in contact with you. But then Black broke through again and hypothesized about whom the mole could be. Burgess came up positive."
James could hardly believe his ears, yet at the same time the pieces were beginning to fall into place. He took off his glasses and pinched his nose, letting out a long sigh. "Why is he trying to cross me over?" James asked.
"We don't know," replied Rushmore. "But we have reason to believe that those efforts have been cancelled, at least as of now. We think that there is a connection to your father's death and to this effort, but we don't know for sure."
"He was killed because he was an Auror," James said.
"Yes and no," Rushmore said. "He didn't go looking for You-know-who, it was the other way around."
James let that wash over him before he spoke again. Voldemort had hunted his father down? He was murdered over three years ago, and this was the first he heard of it? James shook his head, then looked back to the directors. "Why haven't I been told this before?"
"There was no reason to," Ashika said. "But now we need your help, and we're giving you all you need to know."
"I don't have a reason to know how my father died?" James said bitterly. "Look, I think you know a lot more than you're telling me, and I do need to know! What is going on here? Why does Voldemort want me? What was in that code? What do you want from me?" James yelled.
Rushmore was about to start yelling back, but Ashika stopped him.
"That's fair," she told her counterpart. "We need you to go along with Burgess and find out what he's doing. That's what is going on, and that is what we want from you. We don't know why Voldemort wants you. You're a talented wizard, no one is questioning that, but why you...we don't know. As for the code, I don't know that it is appropriate to show you that right at this moment, but I will at the right time. We do know this: Voldemort is not happy with your latest news."
"You mean the baby?" James asked, fearing the answer.
"Correct."
"Why?"
Rushmore shook his head. "We don't know, Potter. We've tried looking at your genealogy, but there is nothing too significant on your side of the family. You had some very wealthy ancestors, but they all kept to themselves and didn't cause any trouble. We can't find any other reason for him to be angry about it."
"My side," James said. "What about Lily's?"
Ashika gave a rare smile to him. "That is something you need to ask your wife. She's been keeping something from you, James. She doesn't want you to know about her ancestors, one in particular."
James reflected on the conversation he had with her before his departure just minutes ago. "Her grandfather," he mumbled to himself.
"Yes, on her mother's side. It's really quite fascinating how small this world is, and even smaller England seems to be. But it explains Mrs. Dursley's personality and temper." Ashika drew a small slip of paper from a file which sat before her. She smirked then handed it to James. "Suddenly now seems the right time for it. This is the code which Sirius Black broke over one year ago."
James hesitated but eventually grabbed it. He read: 'Trying to cross over. Unable so far. Married the Riddle granddaughter. Need more time. Keep open channels and keep Russ out of it. Eureka.'
"Riddle granddaughter?" James whispered.
"Tom Riddle, Voldemort's father, had an affair with Lily's grandmother and had a bastard child. Lily shares a link. She has good reason to cover this up. She is related to him in a very strange way."
James stared at Ashika as she explained this, but he couldn't come to grips with it. His Lily related to that monster? No, impossible. This had to be a joke or something. It was too strange, to operatic to be true. But the look in her eyes when her grandfather was mentioned...
"She described it as being very Star Wars," James said. "What does that mean?"
Ashika laughed. "It's a movie now. A Muggle movie in which the hero's father is the villain and darkness of the universe. He didn't know until he was confronted with it. It's one way to describe it."
"This can't be," James said, his head shaking. "Lily would have told me about it. She tells me everything."
"No she doesn't," Ashika said. "She didn't tell you this. She hasn't told you that she wants to be a doctor right now, not a mother."
James leapt out of his chair. "What the hell are you trying to pull? My marriage is none of your business. I don't care what trade you practice! I don't know how you find this information about us, but leave it alone!"
"We need your help to catch Burgess and others like him," Rushmore explained, effectively changing the subject. "Find out what Burgess knows; find out what he's doing."
James ran his fingers through his hair and paced the room. "Why can't you do that," he asked Rushmore.
"We are. He's good at this. Play along with his game for a while, and see where it leads. You want answers just as badly as we do, Potter."
He does have a point, James thought. You want to know what's been going on. He could have been the one who leaked information to Voldemort about the rescue mission and uncovered the agents. But Lily?
"So I just listen to what he has to say and encourage the conversation?" James asked.
"Yes," Rushmore said. "But don't be too obvious."
"I'm not an idiot," James said. He took some deep breaths then nodded. "Alright, I'll do it."
"Perfect," Ashika said, standing up and making her way for the door. "Report to me directly using the guise that you're informing me about a mission." She made a head motion and the security team came back in to escort James back to his sector.
******
Sirius whistled loudly as he folded, or tried to fold but failed, his laundry. Nothing had really changed in his life other than the feeling of responsibility, which was not yet in full swing and wouldn't be until the end of July.
There was a soft knock on the door.
"It's open," Sirius said.
Jade opened the door and stepped in cautiously. "You're cleaning?" she asked, looking around the severely cluttered apartment.
"Nah, doesn't need cleaning."
"Of course it doesn't. Um, I was going through my stuff, because I was cleaning, and I found some of your stuff," she said, showing him a box.
"Oh," he said, taking it from her. "You don't have to give this back." He pulled out a shirt of his. "You really liked it."
"Well it's yours. I mean it still fits you, doesn't it? And it smells like you," she said, handing it back to him.
"No, you keep it. It's blue, and blue is your favorite color."
"Blue is everyone's favorite color," she said with seriousness.
"No it's not."
"Yeah it— hey," she said, picking up a magazine from underneath an article of clothing. "You have a subscription?"
Sirius's cheeks got a bit red. Jade was holding up a Harley Davidson catalog. On the front cover was a shiny motorcycle, but seated on the machine was a scantily clad blonde with a suggestive look on her face.
"Uh," Sirius said, trying to take it back, but Jade pulled it away from him. "They just send that to me. I don't actually read that or look through it."
"No?" she asked.
"This is me we're talking about," he said.
Jade flipped through the magazine, stopping on some pages to show him the pictures of nearly naked women. "Some of these pages look as though they've been flipped through a number of times. Oh and look at this—a page has been torn out."
"Must be the resident rats. Perverts," he said, shaking his head. "Let's put that down now, you're too young to be looking at that stuff."
"Sirius, this is a little like porn," she said, giving the magazine back to him.
"No it isn't. And you know what? I find it hard to believe that you don't look at muscular men in magazines."
"So what if I do? They're not looking like those women, that's for sure."
"That's probably a good thing," he said. "You've been looking at dirty magazines since we broke up? You need a substitution for me, don't you?"
Jade gave a hollow laugh then stepped back. "Don't flatter yourself," she said.
"No, no. I think you still pine for me. I've seen the way you look at me from across the room."
"Really? And how do I look at you?" she asked.
"Lustfully."
She laughed again then slapped her hands together. "That's rich, Sirius."
He grinned. "It's true. I think you want me, and it's tearing you up inside."
Jade cocked an eyebrow. "Oh?" she asked. "I seem to remember a certain someone kissing another woman when we were dating."
"It wasn't you, was it?" he asked, then laughed at his joke. "Oh come now, it was a long time ago, Jade. Can't we forgive and forget?"
"I can forgive, and I have, but forgetting the way you kissed her...that's easier said than done."
"Well, I was drunk and upset."
"Well you had no reason to be. I wasn't having an affair, as you thought I was."
"Now wait just one minute," Sirius said. "You spent an awful lot of time with him instead of with me."
"For my job, not for him."
"How was I supposed to know that?" he asked, his voice rising.
"Because I told you, that's why. It's something I like to call trust, Sirius. I told you I was only attracted to you, not Kevin. But you couldn't believe that for some reason. You kissed that woman in a bar, a drunken kiss after our fight. I saw you do it! I saw how much you enjoyed it."
"Hey, it took two people to break up this relationship!"
"Yeah, you and that blonde!"
"Why is it that women always blame it on the men?"
"Oh don't even try to bring feminism into this. I'm not a feminist in any way, so it won't work. How was our break up my fault? Really, tell me Sirius. What did I do to break us up?"
Sirius opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. Both of Jade's eyes were wide, her arms crossed, and her toe was ready to start tapping.
"Well," Sirius said, "you were working too much."
Jade rolled her eyes.
"It's true. Admit it, Jade!" he yelled.
"Fine. I worked too much. There was a period when I was required more than expected. If I didn't work then I would have lost my position. Should I have quit for you?"
He didn't say anything, but shook his head slightly.
"You were jealous," she said.
"No I wasn't!"
"Yes you were."
"You thought it was charming."
"I thought it was charming at first, but then you took it to a whole new level, didn't you? You became obsessed with being jealous of someone who wasn't even close to you. You had no reason to fear me being attracted to that dumbbell when I had you."
Sirius watched her closely.
"I smiled every time I heard your voice, or the mention of you name. Don't you know what that means? I had so much fun just talking to you, I felt like I could tell you everything. Sirius, I loved you. Didn't you know that?"
He shook his head.
"Well I did. After we had that fight I went looking for you to fix everything, but you had already moved on. Do you have any idea how much that hurt?"
Sirius shuffled his feet. "I was just as upset as you were," he said. "I had a few too many drinks, and I lost control. I'm sorry, Jade. I'm so sorry." He stepped closer to her, as if wanting to hug her. "I didn't want to hurt you. I would never do that on purpose."
Jade wiped her damp eyes. "Yeah," she said.
"I'd never hurt you on purpose. Can't we be friends? Don't you want to smile when you hear my voice?"
She stared at him.
"Look," he said leaning against his wall, "we have two options. We remain civil and friendly like we've been doing just fine, or we can bicker every time we see each other. What do you want to do?"
"I'll have to think about that," Jade mumbled.
"We can't avoid each other! James is my best friend and Lily is yours!" Sirius started to pace his apartment, kicking his clutter in frustration. "It's de ja vu," he said to himself.
"Fine," Jade said. "We'll be friends."
"You want to shake on that?" he asked.
"Why not?" she said, moving for him with her hand outstretched.
"Friends for our friends," he said, taking her hand and shaking it.
"Deal," she said, still shaking his hand.
Sirius smirked in a smarmy way and looked down at their still shaking hands.
"You want to let go of me?" he asked.
"Why don't you let go of me?" she said, still shaking his hand.
"I will when you do," he said smiling.
"What's so funny?"
"You."
"Sirius, let go of me."
"You let go of me."
"I will but you have to let me go so I can go."
Sirius sniggered. "This is so typical of you," he said.
"What is?"
"Always having to win and have control. Wait. Now that I think about it, all women need control. I think I'm finally starting to understand your species."
"That is not true," Jade insisted.
"Sure it is. Look at Lily and James. Try telling me that's an equal partnership. Lily has controlled him since day one. You all want to control us."
"I can't believe we're having this stupid conversation."
"I can't believe you're still holding my hand," he said.
Jade looked down at his hand, which was holding hers. She withdrew it quickly and stormed out of the apartment.
"I'll see you around, friend!" Sirius yelled down the hall after her.
Since it was James's regular day off, he went back to the Evan's manor where he could question Lily about her family heritage. The maid was in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner, Mr. Evans was on the phone with his hospital, and Mrs. Evans was humming to herself while she pruned some of her indoor plants.
"Amanda," James said, going over to his mother-in-law, "where's Lily?"
"Oh, she's upstairs in the attic. Where did you run off to?"
"There was a bit of an emergency at work, but I took care of it. I'm going to talk to Lily for a second," he said, pointing upwards.
"Alright dear," Mrs. Evans said.
James walked up to the attic, thinking of how to best approach the subject of Lily's grandfather without upsetting her, which was fairly easy to do these days. He knocked softly on the door, then peaked his head inside.
Lily was sitting cross-legged on the floor, sifting through boxes. "Hey," she said with a smile, "back so soon?"
James walked inside and sat across from her. "Everything has been sorted out," he started, "well, almost everything."
"What do you mean by that?" she asked, but she avoided James's eyes.
"Lily, I know."
"Know what?"
"I don't want to play games. Lily I know about Riddle being your grandfather. I just found out, and I can't believe you didn't tell me and that you weren't going to tell me. How is our marriage going to work if you keep things from me?"
"Who told you?" she asked, an air of tension in her tone.
"Director Narayan," James said.
Lily pounded her fist on a box. "That bitch!" she yelled.
"You've only met her once," James said, "how do you know she's a bit of a bitch?" he asked, thoroughly interested. "It usually takes a little while to really know that about her."
"She lit up a cigarette when I was in the room. She could have damaged the baby. If she knows everything in the world, then she should have known that."
"Alright," he said, pulling back, "alright. But why didn't you tell me about Riddle?" he asked in the nicest way he knew how.
"I don't know," she said, looking down.
James pulled her chin up so he could see her face. "Lily," he said with a faint smile.
"Because if anyone found out about me being related to that savage that has killed so many people..."
"Lily you're nothing like him. I can understand your fear, but you shouldn't be afraid of that. Besides, I doubt very much that more than three people know about it. You're grandmother didn't take his name, obviously, so it's almost impossible to trace."
"That woman did it," Lily said.
"Well she's smart and crafty. I have respect for her knowledge, and she certainly has been around the bend, but she isn't great with people."
"It's not just her, though," she said. "I'll bet Voldemort knows."
"I don't think we'll know about that, but if he did it could be to your advantage," James said.
"Why, because I'm family? I doubt that. I don't even want to think about it."
"When did you find out?" James asked.
"After I started Hogwarts, of course. Someone said, and I don't remember who, that Tom Riddle was Voldemort. I knew the name sounded familiar. That summer I heard my mother talking about him, and that's when I found out. At first I thought surely it couldn't be true. Riddle is not so uncommon, but mum told me the whole story. She had never met him because he had been mysteriously murdered with his two parents. Riddle might be a common name, but under those circumstances...I don't think it was coincidence.
"I wanted to tell you, but I was so afraid that you wouldn't want me because of it."
James chuckled lightly. "That's ridiculous. You can't help something like that."
Lily snuffled, then wiped at her eyes before she cried. "Why are you so sweet?" she asked.
"Well it's very hard work," he said seriously. "It's an up at dawn thing, and I practice in the mirror sometimes."
Lily smiled, and he grinned in return. "You're going to be a good dad," Lily said.
"I'll try," he said, still grinning.
"Cory," Lily said.
"Cory?" James asked. He nodded slightly then let his mind slip into a Quidditch stadium....
"And now entering the field" the loud booming voice sounded to the ten thousand seated fans, "Cory Potter!" At that moment, a slender boy with black hair and glasses shot out onto the field, the fans cheering his name. On the back of his robes was "C. Potter."
"No," James said, coming back to reality. "Cory won't work."
Lily sighed in disappointment. "You have a little less than six months to come up with something we both like that's not strange or Greek."
"That's plenty of time," James said. "Cory didn't do anything for me."
****** March 3, 1980******
Sirius popped some candy into his mouth as he stared at his wall in his fairly new office. There was nothing of great importance on this wall, no awards, no plaques, no family photos—it was just a blank wall. But, it was his, and that was important. It was the wall inside the upper division analysts' section, a wall that only the best saw. A wall that simply said: Hey, you're good.
Sirius nodded and grinned as he stared at his wall. "I've worked here for two years," he said to himself. "I sure do progress."
I guess you could say the reason he wasn't analyzing anything at the moment was because there wasn't much to analyze. There hadn't been anything of great substance passing through this office for weeks. The lack of Dark activity put everyone on their guard, made them all desperately nervous, and allowed them time with which they would hypothesize, theorize, and wonder.
But Sirius wasn't too worried for the time being; why should he be? There was no reason the Dark wizards of the world would come looking for an analyst, especially one who was seemingly unoccupied. His magical powers were above average but not much to fret about if you're Voldemort; Sirius wasn't competition for him.
So Sirius spent some of his free time eating candy and thinking about all the activity going on, not in his life at the moment, but in James's life.
James and Lily would be starting Lamaze class today, a class for expecting parents. Sirius had heard of them before but had never seen one and wasn't too curious about them. James told him it was more than just breathing class, but Sirius didn't really care; he was glad he didn't have to go. "It's about natural child birth," James would say. "And why take a class about something that happens naturally?" Sirius would ask. James would roll his eyes, speak under his breath, and change the subject.
They had also redone an entire room in the apartment. What was simply the spare bedroom was now a full blown nursery, with light blue walls, a white crib and changing table, diaper bins, and wonderful charms which included an anti-stench spell, a sound muffler, and monitor spell.
The apartment was free of sharp edges, hard edges, and sharp objects; the cabinets had wards against anyone under three feet tall from opening them. Nothing small, which could fit into a baby's mouth, littered any part of the home.
The only thing they needed now was the baby, who still had no name. But he was there, inside his mother, growing steadily. Lily, being in her fifth month, was definitely starting to show physical changes in her body. She wasn't very large as of now, but there was a small round pooch where her flat stomach used to be. So far the young Potter wasn't very active inside, but Lily would say she could feel him moving just a little.
On their refrigerator James and Lily had taped pictures of their unborn son. In one corner was a picture of him at three weeks, when he was just starting to take human form, and his heart started to beat, to ten weeks, when his brain started to function, and the pictures continued. They got them each time they visited the obstetrician, saying they wanted a log of their baby's life. Sirius personally thought this was a bit eccentric, but he didn't tell them that.
But Sirius couldn't help seeing a difference in how James and Lily viewed this change in their lives. James seemed more anxious and excited about it than Lily, who seemed mildly pleased. Sirius found this somewhat strange, thinking that all women wanted to have children like Jade did.
Lily focused mainly on her schoolwork again; final examinations of the semester and year were in the last weeks of June. James complained about the time she was spending on her studies when finals were very far off, but Lily would come back saying that the reason she was the top student in the class was because of her persistence and studious attitude.
When Lily wasn't around, James told Sirius many times that he was worried about her. "I hope she gets her priorities figured out," he said one day over lunch.
"You want her to quit," Sirius said.
James shook his head. "No. There is no reason she needs to be beating herself up to be number one. She's too competitive. What's wrong with being good, not the best?"
"Because that's not her. She wants to be the best, she is the best, and she will always be at the top of that class. That's the way she's built, James. You know that."
"Yeah," he said. "We sure are in for a world of change."
And when Lily wasn't studying for school, she was reading a book about babies: child development, parenting books, and others. Sirius noticed that she would bite her nails when she read them, but he didn't know why, even though he asked.
James, however, took a different approach. James was to the point that when he introduced himself to people, he might as well have said he was having a son. Sirius, who had known James his whole life, had never seen him look so excited and giddy. As July came closer, he became more anxious.
Sirius ate the last piece of candy, then crumpled the bag and threw it across the room into the trash receptacle. He stood, stretched, flexed his toned muscles, then walked out of his small office, wishing that he could go outside, but there were no windows in the Bureau or doors leading to nature.
"I can't believe you won," Matt Sanders, his former mentor, said to him as he handed Sirius a bag of gold.
"Well, you have to see the hidden talent. I knew Parker would catch the snitch before Hansen. They played in California, where it's windy right now, and Hansen is from Alice Springs, Australia, desert. I knew Parker, the heaviest, would win against the light and speedy Hansen. You have to do your homework when you bet against me," Sirius said, taking the gold and pocketing it.
He grinned then continued on to the front desk, hoping there was something he could work on. "Anything for me?" he asked.
"Yes, actually. It came straight from Director Narayan's office. I was just going to get you," the girl said, handing him a file.
"Bless you," he said to her. He started back for his office, then opened the file. It was compiled of a series of different statements, interviews, photographs, and motion film of Guy Burgess who was now tagged with being a double agent. Sirius recognized James's handwriting on most of the written reports. They were written in a journal form with the date at the top of each page. Sirius pulled the stack of parchment out of the file and began to read.
'Wednesday February 13, 1980'
I met with Guy Burgess at approximately 12:14 p.m., London time, for lunch. Everything with him seemed normal. We had a brief conversation about the Quidditch match between England and the Western United States, then moved on to more serious matters. Burgess started to discuss the plundering of another English town by the Dark Lord. His manner was strangely casual. I mentioned that it was a terrible thing, he agreed with a head nod then noted the Dark Lord's success. I also agreed.
Burgess then engaged me with conversation about the tactics which the Dark Lord uses, citing fear with the use of murder and suspicion. He said that even though the acts are horrible, they are proving effective on the public of the world. I agreed with him.
Burgess then asked of me what I might do if I had that kind of power. I responded with question. I said I wasn't sure.
He then started to ask me about my wife, Lily, and how she was doing. I told him she was fine. He questioned me about the pregnancy, how far along she was, when the baby was due, etc. I answered him with reservation.
At one sharp, he left for his office, upon which time I wrote this report.
~James B. Potter, Operations Director, Counterintelligence.'
Many of the reports were similar. Guy was a very patient man, and Sirius wasn't surprised that he hadn't been discovered for so long. His movements were small, discrete, and very slow— perfect if you didn't want to be caught.
After he read each report from James, members of the security team, and various other agents who were watching Burgess, Sirius examined the photos and motion film. Even he, one of the best analysts in the sector, had trouble detecting anything out of the ordinary. It looked as though Guy lead a very normal life and had a stubbornly clean record with the law.
Sirius tossed the folder onto his desk, and ran his fingers through his shiny black hair. "When do you go to the Fortress?" he asked as he looked at the Bureau photo of Burgess. "Or maybe you don't."
Remus filled out yet another evidentiary form for what seemed to be an insignificant piece of 'evidence,' a toothbrush. But though he felt his mind was being wasted on this job, he was still glad he had it. He managed to glance at his watch quite frequently, thinking of how much money he had made and how much longer he had left for the day.
One more hour, he could do it. And then a most unlikely visitor dropped by.
"Peter?" Remus said.
"Hello," he said in a nervous squeak, looking around the round room.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I'm delivering some files to the upper floor."
"Where have you been, Peter? No one's seen you for weeks."
"I've been moving out. I saved enough money to have my own place," he said with a smile.
"That's terrific," Remus said. "Do you need help moving?"
"No. I'm almost done. How are James and Lily doing?" he asked.
"Fine so far."
"When's their baby due?" he asked.
"Sometime in July. The twenty-third or fourth as I recall. She looks pregnant now, you should drop by and say hello."
Peter agreed to it, then walked up the stairs to deliver his files.
*******
"Now, let's practice our breathing," a thin woman said in an annoying airy voice. "Breath in," she said, then demonstrated, "and breath out. Very good."
There were about eight expecting couples in the room, James and Lily included. All of them were sitting on fluffy carpeting, wives in front of husbands who were supporting in the breathing exercises. So far they had gone over the importance of correct breathing, and promised a video on childbirth in the not so distant future.
"Good, so they show us how much pain we'll be experiencing," one woman said. When others gave her a questioning look, she explained that she was on her third child. "You'd think that with magic, they could reduce labor pain, right? No, no, no. I was in painful labor for twenty hours with my first child."
"She's optimistic," James said in Lily's ear.
"Now it's story time," the thin woman said.
"Why is she talking to us like that?" Lily asked.
"I don't know, but it's irritating," James answered.
"You think she's had kids?" Lily asked in a whisper.
"Probably not. You know the expression, if you can't do it, teach it."
"Today," the woman started again, "we have parents who have come to tell us about natural childbirth. I would like for us to give a warm welcome to Mrs. Molly Weasley who just gave birth to her sixth child!"
"Oh dear," James said.
A short, red-haired woman came into the room with mild applause to greet her. She looked very friendly, for she had a warm smile playing about her lips. She was a little overweight, and her skin looked loose, though it should if she had just given birth.
"Hello everyone," she said. The rest of them nodded back to her. "As Betsy said, I just gave birth to my sixth child, and sixth boy, little Ron. We were trying for a girl, but obviously we didn't have one, so maybe next time. I'm feeling outnumbered, you see. The testosterone level is almost unbearable, and my twin boys, who are almost two-years-old, are driving me to insanity and—" Molly stopped as Betsy waved her off. "Oh, sorry. I came to this Lamaze class for my first two boys, and it really helped me with giving birth."
"How long were you in labor?" a woman asked.
"It got less and less each time. When I delivered William it took a lot longer than with Ron. Are you on your first?" Molly asked.
"Yep," she said.
"Time varies for each woman." Then she talked about the actual birth and didn't gloss over the immense pain it caused her. She used words like "excruciating," and phrases such as "I almost killed my husband," which got all the women laughing.
Lily found it very appropriate that Molly was there, seeing as how she had a vast knowledge on the subject. Molly told them she was a stay-at-home mother and never regretted a second of it. She said she liked having a large family, though they were all male. She said it made everything very close and supportive.
After a brief question and answer period, Molly brought in her newborn. Even the men were touched. Ron was very small, weighing in at seven pounds and seven ounces, and rarely opened his eyes when all the women cooed over him. He made tiny murmuring noises when Lily touched his soft face and moved his little body closer to his mother when he was done with all the attention.
"He's precious," most of them said.
"Thank you," Molly replied. She wished all of them luck, then, with Ron in her arms, she left. Not too long after Molly's departure, the first Lamaze meeting ended.
James and Lily walked hand in hand on the street afterwards, talking about the class. "He was cute," Lily said of Ron. "So small and helpless."
"Four months until we have one of our own," James told her.
"Yeah, four more months."
******June 7, 1980******
"Um, Lily," James said, looking over the newspaper, "did you know you're wearing two different shoes?"
Lily looked down, then sighed. "I can't see my shoes," she said. "How is it that I've gained over twenty pounds for a six pound baby? It's funny how much I miss seeing my feet."
Though the weight gain had been very slow yet progressive during the first two trimesters, the third had proven completely different. Lily would tell people that as soon as she hit month six, the baby hit a major growth spurt. She had been reading, of course, about fetal development and knew that the third trimester was when the baby grew the most. And while she was expecting this to happen, she wasn't quite ready for the size she would grow to.
Lily had always been very small. Her waist was always tiny, so much so that she was the envy of all the girls. Lily was also a short woman; the top of her head reached James's chin. But being eight month's pregnant gave her a different appearance.
Lily often complained that she looked like a beached wale, or like someone who had swallowed an entire watermelon whole. In fact, she was quite round. She could no longer lay flat on her back, she frequented the bathroom on the hour, every hour, and she often slipped on non-matching shoes because she couldn't see her feet.
"Ow!" she exclaimed, touching her stomach.
"What, what happened?" James asked, throwing down his newspaper.
"He kicked me again," she said, rubbing the soar spot. "Why is he always kicking me? And his elbow. Why can't he get it in the right place? Ow!" she said again. "You behave down there," she said to her stomach. "Do you hear me, young man?"
James always laughed when she did this, which was often. It seemed that the baby was very active inside the womb, always kicking or punching.
It was a very big day when everyone first saw the light change on Lily's stomach. "He's moving!" Lily said to everyone who was in the room. All of them shoved each other out of the way to feel the young Potter moving around. Jade had a very vicious fight with the others to be the first, but James insisted that he be the first one.
They were lucky again when they witnessed the baby turning over so his head pointed south. Lily had grabbed James's forearm and opened her mouth as she felt the strange sensation.
"It looks like he's got a really big head," Peter had said.
"Well of course he has," Lily answered. "It's to carry the really big brain to support his genius-ness." But after those moments, the movements became routine to her yet special for everyone else. People would tell her that she had a very active baby. Lily would snap back and say, "Like I didn't know that."
Her mood swings were awful by James's standards. One moment he would be the spawn of Satan to her, the next he was the most wonderful man in the world and bring her tears of happiness. He knew she couldn't help it, but at times it was almost unbearable.
"What time are you're friends coming over?" James asked.
"I think eleven or so. Mum planned it and said she'd bring everything that's needed. She just had one of these things last month for Petunia."
"What did you give her?" James asked.
"A blanket. A yellow one since she doesn't know what it is. I guess she didn't open it in front of her friends, didn't want them knowing about the evil witch of a sister she has. But at least she opened it."
"You're not evil," he told her.
"I know. She's evil, not me. Anywho, I take it you won't be sticking around for the baby shower?."
"That's correct," he said with a smile. "Those kind of functions are for you girls."
"Sirius is taking you somewhere isn't he?" Lily asked.
"Yeah."
"Gotcha. Probably a really exciting Quidditch match where lots of people get hit with those bolder balls."
James winced. "Bludgers," he corrected her.
"Whatever, you knew what I meant. When are you leaving?"
"In about an hour or so."
"He's moving again," she said, taking his hand and placing it on her stomach. "You feel that?"
"Yes," he said, grinning. "I think he's going to be really strong."
"And brilliant," Lily added.
"That's a given," James said.
"He'll have to be, I mean, look at us."
"I know. You and I are almost full blown intellectuals. We're too modest to act like it."
"Precisely," she said. "We don't want to turn our friends away with our astounding minds."
James chuckled then kissed her gently. "I love you," he said.
"Mmmm," she mumbled, pulling him in for a deeper kiss than he gave her. "You have an hour?" she asked.
"A whole hour," he told her.
"What are we going to do with all that time, I wonder," she said.
"We could pay the bills," James said, raising his eyebrows.
Lily laughed at his analogy. "How much money have you got?"
"How much do I owe?" he asked, walking behind her and kissing her neck.
Lily smiled. "You owe a lot, mister."
He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and went to kiss her. She hooked her arm back so her hand was on the back of his head, her other hand on his. It wasn't one of those kisses you'd ever see in a movie, because those are generally fake, but this one got the baby moving again.
"Oh no," Lily said, touching her stomach.
"What is it?" James asked.
"He's already developing the Oedipus complex."
"He's going to have to deal with it," he replied, leading her out of the kitchen.
Roughly forty-five minutes later, the doorbell announced that Mr. and Mrs. Evans were waiting to come in. Lily thought their timing was peculiar and wondered why her father had come. She left the bathroom with her hair still out of place, hairbrush in hand.
"Here's your shirt," she said, picking it up and throwing it to him.
"Thanks," he said. "Why are your folks here?"
"Search me. Come out when you're presentable."
"You don't think I'm presentable?" he asked, his shirt open and his hair most untidy.
"I mean for my parents," she giggled. "You can look like that all the time when it's just us."
She left him to get dressed then walked to the door. When she opened it, both her parents started talking very quickly. They walked in without her inviting them, both a flutter with some kind of news.
"One at a time," Lily said. "What's happening?"
"We're grandparents!" they both yelled.
"What?"
"Petunia just gave birth! Vernon phoned us from the hospital!" Mr. Evans said.
"Just now? She just had it? Now?" Lily asked.
"Yes!" Mrs. Evans said, her face flushed.
"Well what is it?" Lily asked.
"She had a boy, Lily!" Mr. Evans said.
"A boy?" Lily said. "But I'm having a boy."
"We're going to have two grandsons," Mr. Evans said as he turned to his wife to start jumping again. Lily walked briskly to her bedroom and nearly ran into James.
"Petunia had the audacity to give birth to a boy. A boy. Can you believe that?" she said to him.
"That's great isn't it?" he asked.
"No it's not. She can't have a boy!" Lily said.
James hesitated. "Why not?"
"Because I'm having one. Don't you see what's going on here?"
"No," James said.
"She's copying me."
James couldn't help but laugh at this statement. "She had hers first, so it's hardly copying."
"But I wanted the boy," she said.
"Lily," he replied, holding her shoulders, "what are you worried about? It doesn't matter that hers is a boy. Ours is going to be smarter, stronger, better looking, and much more talented than her son, right?"
"Yes, but still."
"But still you're acting crazy about this, Lily. Let's go out and talk to your parents about this boy."
"Will you let me go over to that hospital and change the sex with some magic?"
"Lily!" James said.
"What?"
James didn't answer; he shook his head and walked Lily back out into the entryway.
"Congratulations," James said to the two of them. "Have you seen him yet?"
"No, they won't let anyone in to see him. Vernon said we could come by in the afternoon. It's so exciting!" Mrs. Evans said.
"Little Dudley is his name. Little Dudley Dursley."
Lily snorted with laughter. It took her a while to calm down.
"That's the best they could come up with?" she said.
"I think it's cute," Mrs. Evans said.
"Well it is a cute name, I guess. But it starts and ends the same way as their last name. D-U in Dudley, D-U in Dursley. It would be like us naming our kid Porter Potter. That's a horrible name. All right, so we don't name him anything that starts with 'P' or ends in 'R,'" Lily said to James.
"Because we were going to go that way?"
"Just cooperate with me," Lily said.
"Well, I've gotta run, Sirius will be expecting me," James said to her. "Have a great shower, eat lots of cake, coo as much as you want," he said before kissing her goodbye. "Robert, Amanda, congratulations again. I'll see you around," and with that he left.
"Dudley," Lily said to herself. "Dudley Dursley. Dudley Dursley. The more you say it the dumber it sounds," she said before dissolving into the giggles.
Sirius, Remus, Peter, and James all took their seats at the London Quidditch Stadium for the World Cup playoffs. England was to play France, and England was expected to win. Sirius had won the seats in a recent Quidditch bet he had against some wizards in the Intelligence sector and, as usual, came out winning.
"I hope we kick their sorry asses," Sirius said. He took up his omnoculars and stared down into the field.
"We will," James said.
"God I hope so. You know some French guy called me arrogant the other day. A Frenchmen called me arrogant. That's when you know the world is upside down," Sirius commented.
"It's going to be a long match," Remus said, looking at the program. "They've got the same odds."
"Yeah but we have one advantage that they don't have," Sirius said.
"What's that?" Remus asked.
"We're not French," Sirius answered. The four of them shared a good laugh just as the game commenced. Remus was correct in saying it was a long match, but it certainly wasn't boring. Surely the friction between France and England contributed to the action involved in the game. There were many injuries, tons of fouls, and plenty of scoring.
"This is so much better than some shower," James said.
"I can't imagine going to one of those," said Sirius. "I sent my gift with Jade."
James and Remus smirked.
"What?" Sirius asked.
"Oh nothing," James said.
"Don't tell me that. You have a look, both of you do."
"You seem to be on good terms with her...again," Remus said innocently.
"She's just my friend, and we're not on great terms," Sirius said defensively.
"Uh huh," James said.
"What, you think there's something more? There's not, trust me."
"Of course there isn't," Remus said. "Why would there be, you were only in love with her."
"I was not!" Sirius yelled. James and Remus sniggered.
"What's going on?" Peter asked.
"Sirius was in love with Jade a while back, but he denies it. He never told her, but I know he loved her and probably still does," James said.
"He's lying Pete," Sirius said.
"No, James is being honest. You look at Jade the same way James looks at Lily," Remus said.
"Ew," Sirius said, "I do not. That's disgusting."
"Thanks Sirius," James said.
"Well you guys are way too flirtatious when you look at each other."
"It's the look of love, and you have it when you look at Jade," Remus said.
"I don't see it," Peter said.
"Oh it's there," James taunted.
"You're both crazy. We're just friends. Besides, she won't ever forget what happened between us."
"She'll get over it," Remus said, "give her time, and she'll get over it."
"I could bet on this kind of thing," James said to Remus. "I'm thinking they'll hook back up by...November."
"November, eh?" Remus asked. "No, sooner. I'm saying August."
"How much?" James asked. "Five galleons?"
"Yeah, I can't spare more than that," Remus said.
"Then we have a bet."
Sirius rolled his eyes and sighed.
Lily was only halfway through her gifts by twelve o'clock. Her mother had invited some of Lily's fellow students and family friends, her bridge friends, and Lily's personal friends. Lily, therefore, had lots of gifts. It had, as James suspected, turned out to be a very large coo gathering. With each present Lily opened, all the women went "Ahhhh" and talked in small voices. She had several blue pajamas, plenty of blankets, tiny socks, hats, cute outfits with small fluffy pictures on them, small shoes, and an assortment of other adorable gifts.
Sirius pulled out all the stops and gave a small leather jacket, a miniature to the one he had. He had also given small sunglasses, and a black warmer hat with "Harley Davidson" written on the front. Everyone found it irresistibly cute.
After cake (Lily had three large pieces) and stories about babies, the guests left. Not long after, Lily's parents left for the hospital to see Dudley. Only Jade stayed behind to help clean up and put all the gifts in the nursery.
"Are you excited?" Jade asked, folding a t-shirt for the baby.
"Yes," Lily said, "if for no other reason for not being pregnant anymore."
"No, I mean are you glad that you're having a baby?"
"Yes. I want children. Sometimes I think I wished I wasn't pregnant so I could finish med school, but at the same time I really want to be a mother. It's hard to describe the feeling. James, he's so happy about it. Just last night he was talking to the baby, telling him about his life, and how we got together, Quidditch, and the like. I had to tell him to stop so I could go to sleep."
"He's so sweet, Lily," Jade said.
"I know he is. Speaking of sweet," Lily started, "wasn't the leather jacket the best thing? I think Sirius might be coming around."
"I know where this is going," Jade said, "and no."
Lily giggled then bit her tongue. "Oh please, Jade. Why not? You can forgive him, it really wasn't a big deal in the scheme of things."
"If James had done that while you were just dating...?"
"You really can't compare the two. James and Sirius are quite different. I mean, if you think about what Sirius did, it's kinda sweet. Just think about it. He went out and got drunk because he was devastated that it was over with you. He loved you. You know that don't you?"
"He never said it. He never shared anything with me. He's just a vault of secrets, and he won't give anyone the key."
"He is private, but I bet you could crack him open with time. Lots of time."
"He only tells James things, not me."
"Well things could change. Don't pretend you don't want him back. Let's run down the pro list on Sirius. He's dead sexy, smart, has a great sense of humor, a good body, a good heart...what's not to like about him?"
"You're married to James," Jade said with a smile, "you can't marry Sirius."
"You know what I'm trying to say. You should give him a second chance. You'd have beautiful kids."
Jade smirked. "He is handsome, isn't he?"
"I think he knows that."
"That is one of his many flaws."
"Well, you know you're pretty, and I know that I used to be pretty until I blew up. We all see our reflections in the mirror."
"You haven't blown up," Jade said. "Your face is still thin."
"That's the only thing. I have to wear my rings on a chain around my neck because my fingers started to swell. Look at these fat fingers," she said, shoving her hands in Jade's face. "They're like salamis. And my ankles, have you seen those? I can't wait to deliver this kid."
******July 3, 1980******
Lily waddled into the kitchen and crossed off the "July 2nd" space on her calendar. Today, as was marked, was her twentieth birthday. It was also extremely warm. She never really knew how hot it could get in July; it never bothered her before. But now that she weighed in at over one hundred and fifty pounds, thirty of which was attached to her front like a watermelon, the heat most certainly bothered her.
"Happy birthday, beautiful," James said as he walked into the kitchen.
"Thank you," she said. "Wouldn't it be nice if it was someone else's birthday as well?"
"It would be, but do you want to share it with him?"
"Not really," she said, still examining the calendar. "How about Nicholas?"
James curled up his nose. "Never."
"He's not coming out until you pick a name for him. He can hear us."
"He can hear us, but he can't understand what we're saying. I don't like Nicholas,and I could swear you're asked me about that one before."
"Well you only like weird names, not common ones, and Nicholas could be both."
"No. I liked some common names, like Cory, just not for our kid."
"Well I'm tired of thinking about names."
"Then don't think about them," James said. He opened the refrigerator, which was now completely covered with the developing baby; the last picture showed him looking like a normal newborn...nearly.
James pulled out a small cake which he had bought for her breakfast. He had another cake planned for after dinner. Lily's appetite had grown considerably now that she was feeding for two, and she was no longer concerned about gaining weight.
"I'm sorry I have to go to work today," he said, cutting into the cake.
"It's really not a big deal. Twenty isn't one of the important ages. I'll probably sit around under a fan and wait for labor pains."
James chuckled. "Sounds terrific."
"Yeah, it's a shame you won't be here to listen to me gripe and complain. I really wish he'd stop kicking me all the time, you know? It's as if he hates me already."
"Lily, he won't hate you. He's probably hungry, have some cake," he said, pushing a large slab of gooey chocolate cake to her.
"Oh," Lily said with gusto, "this looks so good. I knew I liked you."
"Milk?"
"Please," she said through a large mouthful. "Mmmm."
James ate his cake and watched Lily enjoy hers. She actually ate about half of it, belching at the end. James laughed then kissed her goodbye.
When he reached the Bureau he was greeted with a large whiteboard with a calendar of July mapped out in black ink. Heading the calendar were the words "Potter baby due date." James looked down the calendar and realized what it was: a pool.
"Sirius," James said. "You did this didn't you?"
"Right-o," Sirius said, emerging from behind the board. "I thought it only appropriate that you guess the first day and place your bet."
"Lily will kill me if I say anything after the 23rd."
"Lily won't find out so you can guess away."
"Well," he said, examining the days. "I like the nineteen for some reason. Put me down for Saturday the nineteenth."
With a wave of Sirius's wand, the words "James Potter" were written permanently on the whiteboard.
"And you?" James asked.
"I'm hoping he's born on my birthday, the twenty-seventh." He waved his wand again and put his name on the corresponding day.
"Isn't strange," James said. "Lily's is today, yours is the twenty-seventh, and mine the eighth of August. They're all so close, and now his. It's curious."
"Not so much," Sirius said. "We're all close, aren't we?"
James smiled. "I suppose."
******July 30, 1980******
James was awakened by loud banging coming from the kitchen. He had to go into work that day, thankfully, but certainly not this early. He felt beside him; it was empty. James squinted at the clock on his bed-stand. Five in the morning.
James swung out of bed and shuffled down to the kitchen. Lily was slamming pots onto the stove, shutting the refrigerator door with excessive force, and banging the cabinets. James could see that she had her jaw clenched tight, and a vein in her temple was throbbing.
"Lily," he said timidly.
"What?" she snapped.
"Sweetheart, are you alright?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew it was a bad idea to have inquired.
"Do I look alright to you? How many people do you know that are overdue? And I'm not just overdue; I'm now a week overdue. A week! Seven bloody days, James. You have no idea what it's like to be seven days overdue. I am tired of being pregnant!"
She smashed a few eggs into a frying pan, shells included.
"I swear I'm being punished for something. The doctor," Lily said, "either knows bloody nothing, or there is something seriously wrong with our baby. Seven days! It's like he can hear what's going on, and he's scared to death to come out. Hell, it's safer in there than it is out here."
"We've been to a few doctors, and they've all said he's fine. Sometimes they just take longer. Do you want to have surgery?"
"No," Lily said. "I'm going to do this the normal natural way because it's safer. I'm not taking an easier route and have a doctor remove him when I can push him out."
Lily started to take the shells out of the pan and throw them into the sink. "Did I wake you up?" she asked.
"Nah," James said, tossing his hand in a dismissive way. "I wanted to get up early."
"You're not just saying that, are you?" she asked.
"Would I lie to you, sweetheart?" he asked.
"No," she said, wiping hair out of her eyes. "You still love me, right? Even though I'm like this."
"Lily," James said walking towards her, "of course I still love you."
"I don't mean to be like this, you know," Lily said, tears starting to flow. "I have no control of my hormones."
"Come here," James said, going to hug her.
"We can't even hug because of this," she said, dissolving into tears.
"You'll deliver very soon," he whispered into her ear. "I'm sure of it."
At eight that morning, Sirius swung by to check on things, which he had been doing for several weeks. Lily greeted him the same way she greeted everyone these days— not warmly. He was used to it, but never liked it. He offered her a flower, which made her cry. She put it in a vase then walked to James for comfort.
"Maybe I should call in sick," James said. He smoothed out Lily's hair and kissed her forehead. "Then I could stay here with you."
"No, I'm fine," Lily said. "You can go into work today," she sobbed, "I'll be fine."
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yes," she said nodding. "Come home early, alright?"
"I will," he said soothingly. "You know, I bet that he would be born on the nineteenth," he added with a quick smile.
Lily put her arms around his neck and kissed him. "I love you," she sobbed. "Be safe, okay?"
"Okay."
"Okay," she said feebly. She walked back down the hall and into the bathroom.
James turned around and saw Sirius's facial expression, which would have made him laugh any other day.
"She's going crazy," Sirius said as they walked down the hall of the Bureau that morning.
"Wouldn't you? I can't blame her for any of this. She's worried sick that something's wrong, as I am, and she's tired of it. It's not easy being pregnant, and I'm just the one living with her. Can you imagine being her?"
"I can't imagine being you living with her. What are the doctors saying?"
"They say that it's very unusual to be overdue, but to be overdue this much is very rare and strange. They've looked inside the womb, and they say he's fine. We can still see him moving around like he's been doing for months. His head is down in the right position, he's healthy...he just doesn't want to come out yet. There's a surgical way to remove him, but Lily wants to go the natural route."
"So when is she going to pop?"
"Any day. Now, tomorrow, another week, who knows? Her emotions are all over the place. I feel so sorry for her. There's nothing I can do to make her feel any better, you know? I took that class every other Monday for a few months and they didn't say a word about this kind of thing."
"I hope it's soon," Sirius said.
"You're not the only one."
Lily spent all day eating spicy food, dancing wildly around her home, and going to the theater with her mother to watch scary films. Nothing worked.
"He'll come when he wants to come," her mother said.
"I wish he'd come now," Lily said, rubbing her tight stomach. "I want to see him."
"Oh, you will," she said. She didn't realize the reality of those words.
James came home very early. He brought with him bags of food and desert. They had a meal that was more like a feast, making both of them very tired. James walked Lily to the bedroom, one arm around her shoulders. He took off her sandals, which didn't match, and swung her legs into bed. James crawled in beside her, tucking one arm under her and the other over her stomach. "Sweet dreams Lily," he said.
"Night," she said drearily.
Lily slipped off into sleep in no time at all.
Suddenly, she felt a strange sensation, like she was walking. Lily opened her eyes and saw thin, white mist, like fog, all around her. She noticed that she could see her feet; she wasn't pregnant. This was a dream, she thought. She continued to walk through the fog, then began to hear faint noises, which turned into voices, young voices.
Lily found herself walking on a sidewalk. To her left was a park where she heard many children playing. Most of the park was draped in fog, but one small muddy hill was clearly visible, and on the top sat a young boy, not more than five years old, playing in the mud. Lily walked closer to him; he was humming to himself.
She quickened her pace when she noticed his black hair was standing in a very odd way. She stood in front of him, then kneeled so she could see his face.
Lily threw her hand to her open mouth to stop her gasp. Sitting in front of her was not just a five year old with black hair...he looked just like James. His face was thin for a kid his age, he wore round glasses, and he held his mouth just like James did when he was concentrating on something. He clearly was not aware of her presence, for it was a dream after all, but that didn't stop her from exploring it. Lily bent closer to him and passed her hand through his shiny hair, just as the wind blew. Then he looked up, almost straight at her.
"Green," she whispered, "they're green," she said, crying. The eyes behind the round glasses were bright green, just like hers. It was he. Lily took both of her hands and started to pass them through his hair and down to the shoulders clothed in a baggy sweatshirt. He didn't notice her touching him; he went back to humming and playing with his mud.
"Harry!"a man yelled.
The boy dropped his mud, looked to his left, then got up and ran into the mist.
"No, wait!" Lily said, standing up straight and chasing after him. "Wait!" she yelled. But she was lost in the mist. "Come back!"
A wave of mild pain brought Lily back to her bedroom. She opened her eyes and clutched her stomach. Seconds later she felt wetness in between her legs. Lily felt beside her and started to hit James.
"Wh-what?" he asked.
"It's time," she said, strangely calm.
"What time?" he asked.
"My water broke," she said. "I'm going into labor."
James leapt out of bed so fast that he slipped and fell out, bumping his head on the bed-stand. "I'm okay!" he said as he stood back up. He put his shoes on the wrong feet, pulled his pants on backwards, and completely forgot about his shirt.
"Are you breathing?" he asked as he helped her out of bed.
"Yep," she said, standing up and going for her handbag. "Breathing."
"Perfect, I'll go...tell Sirius!"
"Whatever," Lily said, clutching her back as she waddled to her closet to put her robe on.
James dashed out of the bedroom, prodded Artemis out of her slumber, then sent a note to Sirius. "Wake him up, girl," he said to his bird. She screeched then flew out the window. James ran back into his room. Lily had her flip flops, her robe, and her handbag.
"James," she said. "Honey, I think you should take a look in the mirror before we go."
"What?" James said looking at himself. "Oh," he said. He fixed everything then took her by the hand. "Can you Apparate?" he asked.
"Sure," she said just as calmly as ever. "Diagon Alley Hospital?"
"Yeah."
"See you there," she said with a smile.
"We're having a baby," he said before kissing her.
"Uh huh," she said, grinning.
Seconds later, they appeared at the Hospital. "My wife's in labor!" James yelled to everyone who could hear.
Nurses rushed over to them and had Lily lay on a bed which they hovered away. James started to go with her, but was stopped by the staff.
"That's my wife having our baby!" he said to them.
"Yes, we know. You need to put this on before you can go in there," one of the nurses said, handing him some scrubs.
"Okay," he said, putting them on with the nurse's assistance. Once on, they walked him down to Lily's delivery room. She was now on a bed, her legs up in stirrups.
"How are you doing sweetie?" he asked, rushing to her side.
"Good," she said.
"Can I get you anything?" he asked her, rubbing her head.
"Um, some water would be good," she said smiling.
There was a knocking on the open door, and the Obstetrician came in. "I knew you'd be in here soon," he said to them. "How you doing Lily?" he asked.
"Good," she said.
"That's great. Let me look over here," he said, going over to her legs. "You're fully dilated, Lily. You'll be giving birth today."
"It's about time," she sighed, taking James's hand.
"Sure is. This is what we're going to do. First, we're going to give you a flushing potion so you'll expel all of your wastes, then we'll give you another potion, which will prevent you from having to dispose of them later when we'll have you push this baby out. Is that clear?" he asked.
"Yes," she said.
"Your contractions are pretty far apart so you can relax for a while."
"Thank you doctor," she said. He left the room. "Could you get me some water please?"
"Yes," James said, grinning from ear to ear. He walked down the hall and stopped a nurse for a glass of water. He was just about to take it to her when someone called his name. James turned to see Sirius running down the hall, dressed in the same scrubs everyone else was wearing.
"Sirius!" James said, hugging him. "We're having a baby!"
"I know you are!" Sirius said back. "She's not having him yet though, right?"
"No, but she's fully dilated and ready to go. I'm taking water to her now," he said, showing Sirius the glass of water. He walked back into the delivery room and gave Lily her water.
"Those potions were disgusting," she said before drinking all of the water at once. "Really disgusting stuff."
"You're so brave," James said to her.
"So are you," Lily said back. She took his hand and started to smile at him, but then a new expression took over. Lily's eyes bulged, her cheeks sucked insider her mouth, and she squeezed James's had so hard he could hear the bones popping.
Then Lily screamed, shouted some words that are not appropriate for children under seventeen to hear, then fell back onto her bed, panting.
The nurses ran back into the room and looked at her chart. "You had a contraction," one of them said.
"No shit Sherlock!" Lily yelled.
"This isn't normal," the nurse said.
"When were you born?! My whole pregnancy isn't normal!"
"I mean you shouldn't have had that contraction so soon."
Lily grabbed the nurse by the collar and pulled her towards her. "I," she started, "want pain killers."
"We need to talk to the doctor about that," the nurse said.
"If you don't get me my pain killers, you won't be talking to anyone ever again, is that clear? " Lily asked.
"Sure," the nurse said, unfazed.
"Good," Lily said, releasing her. She laid her head back on her pillow, then started to take deep breaths.
James started to breathe as the Lamaze class instructed. "Breathe dear," he said to her. "You've got to breathe."
"I know," she said.
"Breathe like they showed us, remember?"
"Screw that class," Lily said.
The doctor came back in with a long syringe.
"Bless you," Lily said. "Will that stop the pain? You know, I think you should give me more, because I'm in more pain than other women, and I've carried this baby longer than anyone has every carried a baby."
"It'll help take the edge off," he said, injecting her with it.
"I love you," she whispered to the doctor, her face going into a smile. "Bless you."
"Change of plans," he said. "Looks like he's coming sooner than I thought."
No sooner had he said this, Lily had another contraction. She tried not to scream so loud this time, but James could tell it was worse. He couldn't feel his hand, but he could hear the bones cracking.
...Four hours later, James was feeding her ice chips and wiping her forehead with a damp cloth. "You're so strong," he told her.
"I think another one is coming," she said. "I hate this," she said.
"It's almost over," James told her.
"I don't want to be pregnant anymore," she said, shaking her head.
"You won't be," he said.
"Ever again. I know we said we wanted more than one, but this is too much," she said. "Oh, it's coming."
And even with the charms in the room and the pain-killing potion, Lily was in so much pain that she announced to all the nurses and the doctor that James's parents were never married. None of them took it to heart, as it wasn't the first time she'd insulted him during her fit of pain.
After she relaxed again, James pried his hand out of hers.
"James," the doctor said, pulling him aside. "Why don't you step out for a bit of fresh air, and come back in a minute or so? She's almost ready to deliver, and I need you to be relaxed and set."
"She doesn't really hate me, does she?" James asked.
"No, all of them say that, trust me. Go out into the lobby for a few minutes, alright?"
James nodded and walked out into the lobby. Remus, Peter, Jade, Liz, Sonja, Mrs. and Mr. Evans, and Mr. and Mrs. Black were all there.
They all surrounded him in a second.
"She's almost ready," James said. "I've gotta go back in a little bit."
"How is she?" her father asked.
"She's...in pain," James said.
"How far apart are the contractions?" he asked.
"They're almost constant. I think I should get back, I don't want to miss it." They didn't keep him. Sirius had been standing behind him the entire time, patted him on the back, and sent him back into the delivery room.
"James," the doctor said, "perfect timing. I need you to help her breathe."
James sat next to her, took her hand, and coached her in Lamaze, which she did along with him.
"Lily," the doctor said as he sat in front of her spread legs, "I'm going to ask you to push as hard as you can, alright?"
"Okay," Lily whispered with effort.
"On the count of three, push as hard as you can and don't stop. One," he said, Lily clutched James's hand, "two," James started to feel light headed, "three. PUSH!" he yelled.
Lily bore down as hard as she could, her eyes tightening as her hands gripped on the hands she held. The candles in the room flickered as Lily threw off magic.
"Keep pushing!" the doctor yelled.
It was hard and energy draining, but Lily pushed with all her power. It felt better to push, but she couldn't keep it up for much longer.
"Come on Lily, push!" the doctor yelled.
"You can do it, sweetheart," James said.
"I can see the head," the doctor said. "Keep pushing, you're almost there!"
Lily pushed one last time, then the pain vanished from her body, and she relaxed.
"Awa!" she heard. "Awa! Awa!" They heard the snipping of scissors, they saw the doctor whisk something away. Neither of them could see the baby yet, however, because the nurses were cleaning him and clearing his nose and throat, but they could hear him cry.
"Congratulations," the doctor said, moving to them with a bundle cradled in his arms, "you have a healthy baby boy." He bent down and gave the baby to Lily to hold; he had stopped crying.
He was very small, especially his hands and fingers. His head was wet and sticky looking. His skin was still bluish in color, which was normal, his hair was slimy, and his cheeks were fat. "Hello," Lily whispered to him, her face breaking into a wide grin.
James leaned on the bed and laid his hand on his son's head. "Hello," James said, rubbing the soft cheek with his thumb. "I'm your father," he said.
Lily laughed, but didn't take her eyes off of her baby, whose eyes had just opened.
"So you're the overactive little man," she said to him. His skin slowly started to turn pink, his eyes were dark gray, and his hair was drying. He opened his mouth as he looked at his mother and made small murmuring sounds.
"He's talking to us," James said.
The doctor came up to them with a clipboard and a quill.
"Do you have a name?" he asked.
Lily heard James give a small sigh. She looked away from the baby for the first time, and caught her husband's eye. "How about Harry?" she asked.
James considered it for a moment, looked back to his newborn son, then smiled. "Yeah," he said, "I like that."
Lily kissed James, then gazed down at her baby. "Then Harry it is. Harry James Potter."
The doctor scribbled the name down on the form, then had a nurse fill out the name on a small band which would go around Harry's wee wrist.
"He's so beautiful," James said, touching Harry's hand.
Harry gripped his father's pinky finger; his hand was so teeny that it barely covered half of James's smallest finger.
"He's got a very firm grip," James said.
Lily giggled. She looked from Harry to James, then smiled. "You hold him now," she said, passing Harry to him.
James picked him up and cradled him in his arms. "Hey Harry," he said softly, swaying him back and forth. "He's so beautiful," James said again. "I think he's smiling, Lily, look." He sat down next to his wife and rested Harry on her stomach.
"He is!" Lily said.
In fact he wasn't. Newborns cannot smile or make any real facial expression for a month or so, but try telling that to two new parents. After Lily and James fawned over Harry, the doctor said they'd have to take him for a while and take his weight, check him over, just routine stuff. He also told Lily it would be beneficial for her to take a shower and rest for a while.
Needless to say, Lily didn't want to do any of that. She insisted that the doctors weigh Harry with some kind of spell and said she felt fine and wide awake; she didn't want to put him down. The doctor promised he'd have Harry back in fifteen minutes at the most. James said that would be fine then he took Harry from a complaining Lily.
"You can have him back in no time," the doctor said.
"How 'bout now?" Lily said, trying to sit up and walk after him. James held her back.
"No, I need to check and see how you're doing first. You've already had the afterbirth, that's good, but I still need to check blood pressure and all that boring nonsense," he said, walking over to her.
Lily found no benefit in protesting, so she didn't. Instead she looked down at her stomach and started pulling at her loose skin.
"Why am I still fat?" Lily asked the doctor.
"It's going to take a while for your body to return to normal after all you've been through. Your son looked to be seven or eight pounds but you gained more than that during the pregnancy. Also, you're breasts will swell quite a bit."
"They've been swelling the entire time," Lily said. "They're going to get bigger?"
"Yes because you'll be using them for their correct purpose; feeding your baby."
"Lily," James said, "I'm going to go into the lobby and spread the news."
"Okay dad," she said smiling.
"We have a baby," James said. Lily grinned at him, then he ran out of the delivery room, down the hallway, and into the lobby where he threw his hands up in the air like an Olympian.
The group of his friends, who had been seated nervously on one of the couches, jumped up and hugged him all at once. They all broke into questions, but because they were talking over each other, James couldn't understand them. He didn't know why all of them were grinning at him as they asked about the baby, but he didn't realize that he was wearing the biggest smile he'd had in his life.
"Details," Jade said, "we need details, James."
"They just took him away for some routine checks and all that. He's perfect," James said breathlessly.
"And the name?" Remus asked.
"We got one. Harry."
"Awww," they all said, even Sirius didn't have a comeback. "That is so cute," Jade said.
"Lily suggested it when the doctor asked for a name, and we both liked it. He looks like a Harry," James said.
"When do we get to see him?" Sirius asked.
"I think very soon. After they check on everything they'll put him in that room," James said, pointing to a glassed window room where there were already several newborns. "We could go over now," James suggested, walking towards the glass.
Everyone followed him. "He's not in there yet, but— wait, she's bringing him," James said as he pointed to a round nurse with a friendly face. She walked up to the glass and showed Harry to all of them. Harry's eyes were half open at the moment.
"Awww," they all said again, smashing their faces against the glass so they could get a better look. "He's so cute!" Jade said.
"He looks like you," Mrs. Evans said to James.
"He'll be a chick magnet then," James said.
"He's your son, James, not mine," said Sirius. Everyone laughed.
"Hello little Harry," Jade said as she waved her finger to him. "I want to hold him."
"He's a lot better looking than the other babies," Sirius said.
"Of course," James said.
"He's done being looked over?" Lily said as she came over and stood next to James.
"You're done taking a shower and being examined?" James asked.
"Yep. Well he sure is a cute baby," Lily said pointing to Harry through the window. "His parents must be extremely good looking."
James chuckled, then pulled her close to him. "Can you believe all of this?" he asked.
"Yes, it was very painful. But I know what you mean. Do you feel different?" she asked.
"Yeah. You?"
"Complete," she answered, snuggling up to him as she stared at Harry.
Minerva McGonagall opened her window that morning to let the sun pour inside. An owl swooped in not long after, carrying a brief note.
She untied it and read it out loud to herself. "Harry James Potter was born today at 4:13 a.m. weighing seven pounds, five ounces, to Lily and James Potter. His birth has been recorded in the Hogwarts Acceptance Volume."
Minerva smiled and wiped a small tear from her eye. She then sat down at her desk, pulled out several pieces of parchment, and informed Albus Dumbledore and Hagrid about Harry's admittance into their school in eleven years. "Harry Potter is in our book," she simply wrote. "Another generation has begun."
Events such as these leave an impression on everyone. James, Lily, Sirius, and others were euphoric. Minerva McGonagall, Albus Dumbledore, and Hagrid wished to see the young Potter very soon. Mr. and Mrs. Evans were, again, flushed with pride a joy.
And while many of them suspected that Harry had been added to the countless other names in the Hogwarts Acceptance Volume, they were all, even the wisest among them, unaware that Harry's name had been recorded in another book...
Remember: If you're going to tell me that the relationship was "cliché, disappointing, horrible, uncreative, boring" I will delete it of block you. I have to defend myself.
