Chapter 20
Family
Two months had passed since Harry was born, and it was now September, and the trees started to change colors, indicating that fall was on its way.
Harry was one of those happy babies. The ones that laugh no matter what, and enjoy watching things. He was starting to sleep less and less, but still neverless slept through most of the day and night. He was so cute though! With his head full of jet black hair already, and his emerald green eyes that he obviously inherited from his mother, and his creamy white skin. He was so adorable.
Lily got used to the sensation of Harry breast-feeding, and of being a Mother. And honestly, she loved the role. She loved looking down at her son while he slept, and watching his beautiful eyes roam the rooms looking at objects. She plain loved her child. And she spoiled him too. But what good mother doesn't spoil their baby when they're first born? Regardless of the two in the morning feedings, and all of the dipper changing's, Lily enjoyed being home all day taking care of him. And when he cried, she got a joy out of just holding him and singing softly to him. She loved her role as a Mother. She was meant to be a Mother.
And James doted on Harry endlessly. And after a few days, he got used to the sight of his son sucking on Lily's breast, and felt some kind of contentment for some reason. But everything was exactly how he wanted it in life. Lily was going to be going back to work in a couple of months, he had a wife whom he loved more than life its self, a healthy baby boy, and his best friend was about to have his first child too, and that'd give him a god son to look after too. Nothing could ruin his mood.
~*~*~*~
James smiled as he mounted the stairs leading up to the master bedroom. They had taken to having Harry sleep in the bed with them so that they didn't have to get up in the odd hours of the morning to get him.
James had just gotten off of work, and wanted to see his wife and child.
"Lily?" James whispered as he inched the closed-door open and looked around their room. There, in front of the fire, lay Lily with Harry on her chest, his head pillowed on her breasts, and both of them were sleeping. James smiled as he slipped off his shoes so that he wouldn't make that much noise as he made his way over to his family. Bending, James picked Harry off of Lily slowly as to not wake the sleeping. After laying Harry in the middle of the bed, James rushed over to where Lily was laying asleep on the floor still and picked her up, cradling her against his chest as he walked over to her side of the bed and put her under the sheets.
Lily sighed and snuggled into the warmth of the blankets before settling down again and reaching out to rest her arm over Harry's tummy.
James smiled at the sight and stroked his wife's cheek lovingly as he looked at the picture that his family made. It wasn't a family that he was born into, it was the family that he made.
"James!" a voice yelled from the hallway, making James frown. 'Didn't people know that there was a baby in this house now?' he wondered as he got off the bed and walked towards the door and opened it swiftly.
"Sirius?" James whispered as he closed the door behind him just as swiftly.
"James!" Sirius sighed with relief. "Thank God. Kayla. Labor." Was all he said before disapparating, leaving a bemused James in his wake.
Kayla? Labor? What does that mean? James wondered as he opened the bedroom door again, only to find a pair of sleepy emerald green eyes looking at him inquisitively.
"Who was that?" Lily asked as she tried to cover up a yawn. Harry was taking a lot out of her lately.
"Sirius," he said as he walked over to her side and gave her a quick kiss before sitting down on the edge of the bed. "He said something about Kayla and labor then left…" he trailed off as it began to click.
"Labor!" The two yelled together before jumping off the bed. Lily slipped her shoes on, grabbed the baby bag that she kept nearby incase they had to hurry to get somewhere, and grabbed Harry off the bed.
Lily and James took their wands out, and disapparated to St. Mungo's, Lily holding Harry.
"James! Lily! Thank God you're finally here!" Sirius praised as he walked towards them, out of the pale white waiting room.
"They say that it's going to take a while until it's time, and Kayla is a little, how do I put this . . . mean, at the moment." Sirius explained as he continued his pacing of the room.
Lily walked over to a seat next to Aria and sat down, cradling a sleeping Harry in her arms still, and slipped the baby bag off of her shoulders and onto the floor next to her feet. "How long have you guys been here?" Lily asked Aria as she settled back into the plush cushions of the gray chair that she was sitting in.
"We got here a couple of minutes before you did," Aria's melodic voice whispered, scared that she would wake up Harry. "How's little one here doing?" she whispered just as softly as she took a peak at the baby wrapped in a baby blue blanket.
"He's been sleeping less, and tries to gain control of his limbs more often than not. But he's been really good on when he wakes up during the nights," Lily explained with a smile as she gazed down at her son.
"Wow. Isn't that a little advanced for a two month year old?" Aria asked Lily as she settled back into her seat and watched Sirius pace the floor along with James and Remus in amusement. This is exactly what had happened when Lily was in the hospital with Harry on the way. The three of them pacing the confined space of the maternity waiting room worrying.
"I honestly don't know," Lily stated as she two looked over at the men. "Shouldn't someone be in the room with Kayla?" Lily scolded with a glare in their direction.
"I tried!" Sirius cried indigantely as he crossed his arms over his chest, and looked at Lily. "But she told me that if I didn't get out of the room she was going to curse me something bad!"
Lily shook her head sadly and stood up. "Here. Will you watch him?" she asked Aria.
The blonde nodded her head and took the small bundle out of Lily's hands and cradled him to her chest.
"If he wakes up and needs food, I have a couple of bottles in the bag for him, and dippers also if he needs changing. But I'd just give him to James if that's the case," she winked as she walked out of the room after demanding the room number that Kayla was in.
"Hey there Pouncy," Lily greeted as she entered the plain room and shut the door behind her.
"Lily," Kayla sighed in relief. "How in all hell did you do this? I'm fucking terrified!" she groaned as she laid back down on the bed. "And I'm starting to get twitchy."
Lily laughed and kissed Kayla on the forehead. "It'll get worse, then it'll get better. And I honestly don't know how I did it," she smiled as she sat on the edge of the bed.
"Thanks for making me feel so much better Lils," Kayla remarked sarcastically.
"You're welcome. Now, why don't I get Sirius in here. I'm sure that he'll put you at more ease than I will."
"Okay," Kayla sighed. "But I don't see how that'll happen. He's more panicked about this than I am!" she laughed.
Lily shook her head and with a kiss on Kayla's cheek left the room to order Sirius back to his wife.
"Were you guys acting like this while I was in labor?" Lily asked, amused by their pacing and fretting.
"Yeah, they were. Except James was with you and Sirius was out here worrying. It's amusing, isn't it?" Aria laughed.
"It really is though!" Lily laughed quietly as she rocked Harry in her arms. 'He just looked so cute when he was sleeping!' Lily thought as she gazed down at him happily. Who knew that she would ever feel this content.
"Hey," James whispered as he sat down next to her.
"Hi," Lily smiled as she handed over Harry. "He's about to wake up," she told him as she bent down to get a bottle out of the dipper bag. "Since magic isn't allowed in the waiting room I'm going to go find a place to warm this up okay?"
James nodded his head absently and hummed quietly, hoping to keep Harry asleep until Lily came back with the heated up bottle.
~*~*~
Lily walked outside of the hospital and took a deep breath. It felt good to be out of the stuffiness of that waiting room. It was fairly empty outside, and Lily was grateful for it. She could only spot four people lounging around the outside perimeter. One was sitting on one of the benches that were around the various trees, another was sitting on the curb close to the door that led inside, the other was pacing on the sidewalk anxiously, and the last one was a man who was simply leaning against the wall of the building.
Lily took another deep breath and after a quick look around to make sure that no one was watching, Lily heated up the bottle without using her wand. Lily smiled as she felt the familiar tingle go through her arms and escape out of her fingers. She missed doing that. While she had been pregnant with Harry, she had refused to allow herself to do any wandless magic, and she missed the sensation of having so much power flowing freely through her veins.
Just as she turned to go back into the hospital, the man who was leaning against the wall pushed himself away from it and made his way towards her. Lily paid no attention to him and headed towards the door.
"Your first test awaits. Fire, Water, and Air must combine or you will fail," the man said as he passed by her.
Lily, startled by what the man said turned around sharply, trying to find the man, but he had disappeared. He had disappeared without disapparating, because Lily was sure that there was no pop indicating that he did so.
Lily rolled her shoulders and breathed in deeply, shrugging off what the man had said.
~*~*~*~
"What's wrong baby?" James asked as he saw Lily's face when she sat down next to him and handed him the bottle to feed Harry, who was now awake.
"Nothing. Just something I need to figure out," Lily replied as she leaned against the cushions of her chair.
"Okay," he said with a frown before giving Harry the bottle.
~*~*~*~
After eight hours of labor, Kayla brought a baby girl to the world, and she and Sirius happily named her Hermione. She was a beautiful little thing.
Kayla took joy in holding her and feeding her, and caring for her. Doing everything for her child that her own parents didn't do for her. She would always be the Mother that hers wasn't. Hell, her own mother hadn't even been there while she was giving birth to Hermione!
September faded into October, and Lily went back to work, but she got the little cases, instead of big ones due to her wandering mind. She couldn't get what that man said to her out of her head. 'You're test awaits,' What did that mean? What was going to happen? Was the prophecy about to begin?
All these questions and more kept circulating through Lily's mind, driving her nuts. She didn't want to tell anyone about the man, she was scared to. She didn't want to put the weight on anyone else either. She knew that the test would involve all six of them, but what did 'Fire, Water, and Air must combine,' mean? What did they have to do? When did they have to do it? This was all so confusing.
Lily would go home every night, spend time with her son, who now loved to look at everything, and get into anything, sing him to sleep, and then spend some time with her husband if he got home before she fell asleep. Which was becoming less frequent.
Voldemort was becoming more active, and James would be called into the office at odd hours of the morning to look into something. One thing that Lily was grateful for was the fact that he wasn't out there fighting the Death Eaters as they called themselves. He was just out there to try to figure out where they'd end up next, and if there was anything that the department could do to stop the next attack. There never was though.
Lily knew that Kayla feared for Sirius when he was called out. She knew that Kayla always wondered if she'd ever see her husband again. And it was driving her insane. She didn't want to see any of her friends so confused, helpless, and worried about one another. But she knew that there was only one thing for her to do. And that was to stay one step ahead of Voldemort. And that meant figuring out the prophecy. Because she was now sure that Voldemort was the darkness that they were talking about. And she now knew that they would have to over come his power.
~~*~*~*~
Authors Note:
I know that this is short, but if I was to put anymore stuff in this chapter I think that I would have confused you guys . . . cuz I was confused when I was writing this… so if this makes no sense, tell me okay?
Well, I hope that you liked this chapter! Review and tell!!
Always,
Mistress del Mare