A/N Harry Potter and all related characters, places and terms belong to JK Rowling and/or (not sure which) Warner Brothers.

Sorry this took so long, but it's a nice long chapter for you.

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Chapter 6: Life, death and in between

James was lying in bed, and couldn't get to sleep. It wasn't surprising, since Lily kept rolling around next to him. Wondering what was wrong, he shook her gently.

"Lily," he whispered "Are you OK? What's wrong?"

Lily turned to face him, wide-eyed in the moonlight streaming through their curtains.

"I think" she managed to pant out "the baby's coming…"

* * *

Severus sat in his office, awaiting a reply to his letter. It was the middle of the night, and he knew that the Dark Lord would probably not have time, but he was hoping against hope that he would at least consider.

The black owl winged its way towards Hogwarts. Dumbledore hadn't seen a black owl for quite a while, and found it quite curious when it flew into Snape's office. He stood up and walked towards the Dungeons.

Snape held the reply in his hand. Voldemort's owl had come, dropped the letter and flown away, leaving Snape to unroll the parchment. The reply was on the back of his original letter, and was only two words - Come Now. Snape let the parchment spring back and roll around itself, and put it in his robes. He walked out of his office and…

…bumped straight into Albus Dumbledore.

"Good evening, Severus," he said pleasantly "where are you going at this time of the night?"

"Out, Headmaster. Must you know my every move?"

Dumbledore raised his hands in a sign of surrender. "Just wondering, Severus. Goodnight, then."

"Goodnight."

As Snape swept away, a roll of parchment fell out of his robes, and Albus picked it up to return it, but when he looked up, Severus had gone.

* * *

The maternity ward at St Mungo's was surprisingly quiet. James, walking through the hallways of the hospital, was surprised that he couldn't hear any crying babies. Little did he know that there was a silencing charm on all the wards. Newborn babies screaming at the top of their lungs was never a good thing to hear, so the mediwizards and witches had decided to silence it.

James returned to outside the ward where Lily was. It had been a false alarm, but the nurses thought that the baby would be coming quite soon, and decided to keep her until it did. The nurses told him that he could go home, but he wanted to stay as well, so he sat down in a surprisingly comfortable chair, and waited. Sure enough, his eyelids began to droop, and he began to doze.

James had had his eyes closed for less than five minutes when he was woken by some peculiar noises. There was the sound of muffled laughter, and someone else reprimanding the other person in hushed whispers. Both were very familiar.

"Padfoot, it's not the best idea..."

"Oh, come on Remus, I'm sure he won't mind."

James, trying not to show that he was awake, kept his eyes closed and kept on listening.

"Sirius, don't!"

"Oh don't be a spoil sport. Wait and see, he'll find it funny!"

What it was that he was going to find funny James would never know, because he snapped his eyes opened, stood up and spun around, whipping out his wand.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Sirius fell onto the floor with a bang, and James walked over. Standing over his best friends' rigid body, James exclaimed a "Ha!" of victory. "Another point to me, I do believe. What's the score now, Moony?"

Lupin sighed. He was open to a laugh now and again, but he was getting a bit tired of James and Sirius' games. He'd been counting scores since first year, and it had become automatic for him to add a point or two either way every time they pulled a prank on each other. "Oh, I think it's about 3060 to you and maybe about 3055 for old Padfoot here on the floor." Looking down at Sirius, he addressed him like a teacher would talk to a particularly slow student. "See Sirius, what did I tell you? You should know by now, you can't sneak up on James!"

* * *

Snape walked towards the Dark Lord slowly, clearing his throat to announce his presence. Voldemort was sitting with his back to Snape at his desk, writing, and made no move to turn around. Hogwarts' Potion Master stood a respectful distance away from his Master, and waited. Without even turning around, Voldemort addressed him.

"I know why you're here, Snape."

Snape was a bit taken aback. "Yes, My Lord? What would that be?"

Voldemort turned around, and stood up. It was quite a daunting sight, with the unnaturally white skin, red eyes, slitted nostrils and the fact that Snape was half a head shorter than he was.

"Malfoy has informed me about the … situation … with Lily Potter." Snape silently cursed Lucius, but before he could say anything, Voldemort continued. "It has always perplexed me. Love, that is. I have never really had much of a use for it. Loyalty, yes. Friendship, well, to an extent. But I will never step in front of a killing curse to save someone's life. It must be a very powerful emotion, Snape, that brings you here to argue with me. Either you're very brave, extremely foolish, or desperately in love."

Severus, for once, was lost for words. After opening and closing his mouth several times, Voldemort spoke again. "It's truly a pity, Snape. I thought you were smarter than this. I must be mistaken." He leaned down until his scarlet eyes were level with Snape's. "What's wrong Severus, hippogriff got your tongue?"

Snape seemed to snap out of it. His eyes refocussed and, after blinking after a couple of times, he replied. "No My Lord, I just have nothing to say. It seems that my question has already been asked for me."

"Ah yes, Lily Potter. I am sorry, Severus, but my decision still stands. I cannot risk it."

"But My Lord…"

"No Snape."

"Please, My Lord! Why won't you reconsider?" Voldemort was getting angry, but Severus was getting desperate. He spoke before Voldemort had the chance to. "I mean, it isn't necessary. She isn't part of the prediction, she can't do any harm. If we kill Potter and his child after it is born, there is no need to hurt Lily…"

Voldemort stopped his rambling with a sweep of his hand. He really was getting annoyed. "That will be enough, Severus. No means no." And with that, Voldemort turned around to go back to what he was doing.

Snape was standing very still, trying not to say anything. He was still standing there attempting to breathe deeply a minute or two later, when the Dark Lord looked up, and seeming to remember something, turned around again. "Well, Snape, are you waiting for something more? You may go."

"My Lord…" he started quietly.

"Yes?"

"Isn't there any other option? Does she have to die?"

Voldemort really wasn't in the mood. The final straw had broken long ago. His voice, when it spoke again, was deathly quiet. "Did I not make myself clear, Snape? Now go, and I do not want to hear anything more of this business ever again, or I will make you kill the Potter woman yourself. Do you understand? Now go, before I really get angry."

Snape turned to walk out and apparate. But he was stopped by Voldemort's voice ringing out once again through the room. "Severus, stop. An episode like this will not happen again, do you hear me? What I say and what I do is what is best. Remember this. You swore to eternal loyalty to me."

Snape ground his teeth and turned around slowly. "Yes, My Lord, I will remember. But you remember this. I didn't do it without some persuasion. I will not grovel like Lucius and Pettigrew do. I have no reason to. I don't owe you anything. I am not scared of you, and neither am I in awe of you. You knew this when you took me on, but you still insisted that I joined. You don't own me and you can't make me do anything."

Voldemort stood absolutely still, watching Snape, who was slightly out of breath. The Dark Lord pulled out his wand to reprimand his servant, but Severus had already turned around and gone.

* * *

James, Sirius and Remus sat outside Lily's ward, talking. They had owled Peter earlier, and suddenly, he appeared in front of them. Peter, as usual, looked like he had just gotten out of bed. His robes were twisted and his hair was all over the place. Everyone said hello, and, out of instinct, Remus got up and started tidying Peter up. Once Remus had finished, Peter sat down as well and they started their conversation up again.

"So James," Sirius began, "are you finally going to tell us what you're going to name your child? Or have you still not decided?"

James punched Sirius in the arm. "Of course we have. But if you're going to be like that, then I won't tell you."

"Fine then." Sirius tried to keep silent and not ask again, but it lasted for all of six seconds. "Oh, all right." He put on a sickly sweet voice. "Please Mr Potter, can you please tell me what you're naming your son?"

"Or daughter." Peter added.

"Very true, Mr Wormtail." He turned back to James "Or daughter?"

James laughed. "OK, but don't put that voice on again. It makes me sick."

"Well," said Remus "tell us already!"

"Geez, OK! You guys are the ones who keep interrupting! I chose the girl's name, and Lily chose the boy's. If it's a girl, we're naming her Arelia, and if it's a boy, we're naming him Harry."

Sirius nodded. "Fair enough. They're good names, but where did Harry come from? It sounds like a really muggle sort of name. Harry Potter." Sirius said the name a couple of times, seeing what it sounded like. "It sounds sort of weird."

"Hey, it's OK. Lily's dad's name was Harry."

"Oh."

Suddenly, a nurse rushed out of Lily's ward. "Mr Potter - your wife's in labour. It's real this time!"

James shot out of his chair like a bullet. Turning around, he addressed his three friends sitting on the seats around him. "Do you guys want to come in? It might be a bit disgusting."

The three of them stood up as well. Remus spoke for all of them. "Who cares if it's disgusting. We're coming in."

"All right… let's go!"

The four of them rushed into the room.

* * *

Snape walked up the long, curving drive to Hogwarts, hate for his 'master' growing every second. He was also attempting to make up his mind about what to do about it. He knew that next time he saw Voldemort he would be in a lot of strife. He figured that he had two options. He could never see Voldemort again, and run for the rest of his natural life, which probably wouldn't be that long if the Dark Lord was after him. Or he could join Voldemort the next time the tattoo on his arm burned, and face the consequences.

But there was one other option that he could take, and it was looking better and better. Especially if it would save Lily…

Snape had never really thought about changing sides seriously, but now it seemed like the only practical thing to do. If he just told Dumbledore what had happened and that he wanted to turn against Voldemort, he might stand a chance.

He headed towards Dumbledore's office, and at the gargoyle, gave the password. The stone statue came to life and jumped aside, and Snape got on the slowly spiralling staircase. But when he got to the top and entered, the Headmaster was nowhere to be found. Utterly perplexed, Snape headed towards the dungeons.

But as he opened the door to his office, he stopped deadly still. Albus Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, holding his letter to Voldemort. Dumbldore's fury was almost tangible, and when it came out, his voice was as harsh as gravel, and so soft it was nearly inaudible.

"Give me one good reason why you shouldn't be in Azkaban right now."

"Please Headmaster, I can explain. I was just looking for you, I was about to tell you about it."

"A likely story, Severus."

Snape whipped a small crystal bottle of clear liquid out of his robes. "Fine, headmaster. Will you believe this?" And before Dumbledore could stop him, Snape drank the whole bottle.

* * *

If it hadn't been the fact that he was about to become a father, James would have laughed at the scene unfolding in his wife's ward. Lily was lying on the bed with a gaggle of nurses around her, Sirius was standing with his mouth hanging open in disbelief, Peter was standing with his hands covering his eyes, muttering constantly that he couldn't watch, and Remus had somehow, at the request of James, transfigured a bedpan into a video camera and was recording the whole thing. As for James himself, he was nearly jumping up and down with excitement and worry.

It was a surprisingly short labour period. After many many anxious moments and one final "Push, Lily!" from James, the baby was born. One of the nurses declared that it was a boy, and he was handed to Lily. James rushed over to stand next to her, and as he was placed in her hands, James heard Lily whisper,

"Hello Harry".

Sure enough, the nurses then whisked the newest Potter off to clean up, and Lily and the Marauders were left alone in the room. James kissed Lily on the head, and she quickly fell asleep out of exhaustion. Joining his three friends, James was congratulated enthusiastically by his three friends.

"James" Sirius practically shouted, "do you realise what this means? You. are. a. father. A father! Who would have ever thought?"

"I know, it's really weird." He turned to Remus. "You can turn that thing off now, Remus."

Lupin turned off the video camera, and gave the tape to James. "Here you go." He looked around. "Hey, where did Wormtail go?"

* * *

"My Lord!" Voldemort turned around to see a thoroughly exhausted Peter Pettigrew prostrated on the ground at his feet. He sighed.

"What is it now, Wormtail?"

"My Lord, the Potter's son has been born!"

Voldemort barely managed to conceal his surprise. "Already? I thought Snape said…" The Dark Lord trailed off, thinking about the conversation he had had earlier that night with the Potion's Master. "No matter what Snape said. Are you sure, Wormtail?"

"Absolutely, My Lord. I was there. I saw the whole thing."

"Good work Wormtail. Now come, we must prepare to visit the Potters…"

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Ooohh, look it's my first cliffie! Hope you liked it and it wasn't too confusing. The next chapter should be up very soon.

~*Lady*~