Title: Goodnight, Stars
Chapter: Yet Another Marauder
Author: Cinnamon Sunrise
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Yeah, right. Like I own Harry Potter…
A/N: Yeah, yeah, Lily and James are both still really young. That's the way I'm writing it for a reason. So yes, they are young, but I had conflicts doing it any other way.
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Our work with Dumbledore got tiring after awhile, but there nobody could stop us until Voldemort was gone. Throughout the fall of that year, James and I were the some of group's most devoted aids, we dedicated our lives to it; our intelligence, our money, our time, everything. And it was worth it. We met so many great witches and wizards, and with much effort we joined the ranks of the most respected. Our flat became a regular home to meetings and members, housing those in between duties. More and more deaths were occurring at a sporadic, yet frighteningly large, occurrence. I can remember that year, 1978; the change in season was dramatic, the great leap from fall to winter. It was then that I found out some of the greatest news of my life. Something so grand that it counteracted all the grief of daily life. I was pregnant.
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"Oh, no, Sirius. Ha, ha, it's nothing, really." Lily said, tossing her long red hair behind her shoulders. She was sprawled across one of the comfortable burgundy sofas in the Potter residence, looking quite peaky. Early that morning, the group had met for a quick meeting at the apartment. James had taken off directly afterwards for an assignment involving his father's ministry department. Lily had just returned from an afternoon of errands, and had already made two trips to the loo since arriving home. Sirius had promised her repeatedly that he would no longer insist on preparing breakfast for the meetings, and Lily found herself laughing, reassuring him that the eggs and toast were not what had caused her queasiness. Consequently, though, the more she thought about the runny eggs and burnt toast, the more she inwardly agreed with Sirius' plea. Sirius asked if Lily needed some sort of a spell to ease her stomach, she just smiled and shook her head. "Really, Sirius, it's absolutely nothing." Sirius looked puzzled, yet with sympathy he fetched a glass of ice water for her to sip on. While he was sitting back down in one of the chairs, the door swung open, and a very hot and sweaty James Potter appeared.
"Hullo!" He said brightly, kicking off of his shoes and walking over to the sitting area were Sirius and Lily were relaxing. Sirius and Lily both replied with a subtle hello back. "How are you, love?" He pecked her cheek, eyeing the glass of water on the coffee table.
"Go ahead." Lily said, nodding at the glass. The color was returning to her face, she was more than delighted to see James that afternoon. She was also exceedingly happy that it seemed James' day had gone well; it looked as though neither trial nor tragedy had struck his day.
"Thank you," James said, downing the water quickly. He walked hurriedly to the kitchen to refill the glass, and in his absence, Lily straightened up. Sirius sat silent, still in the arm chair, paging through a Quidditch magazine James had taken a subscription out for.
"James, you look quite content. Your day went well, did it?" Lily asked, looking up into James' hazel eyes, grinning. James nodded.
"Just had to go get a bit of information from a few of the fellows my dad works with, mostly outside work. Quite an easy task, if I do say so. One of the guys from the games department showed me a new Quidditch area; you know I hadn't played a bit of Quidditch since school? Not one game. So when I finished my duty, I went back out and we played for awhile. What did your day hold, Lily?" James was looking at the magazine from behind Sirius' shoulder, still smiling widely.
"Oh, well quite a bit, really. After breakfast, I ran down to Diagon Alley, had to run a few errands, that sort of thing. I came back here, and the three of us have just been relaxing." Lily grinned toothily.
"Oh, that's nice, love." James said, still looking at the magazine. "Three of you, eh? Where'd Remus go off to now?"
"Remus? Why I'd have thought for sure you'd remember, James. Tonight's a full moon, he isn't anywhere around here. Wasn't at the meeting either, dear, you do remember, don't you? There was an empty chair, and everyone kept asking you if Remus was very ill." Lily was still smiling through her words.
"Oh, yeah, that's right. Did you two have company then? Who came over?" Sirius looked up from the magazine at Lily, studying her, his eyes panning from Lily's face, to her belly, and quickly back to her face. An expression of realization crept across his face. He winked at Lily.
"No, not company. Just us." Sirius motioned between himself and Lily. James stood in confusion, taking another sip from the glass.
"That's right, James. Just Sirius, myself, and the baby." Lily said casually. It took James a minute to comprehend what she meant, but unfortunately, as his face broke into the biggest grin possible, the water glass came crashing to the ground with a smash. Lily and Sirius laughed, as James, who was now a deep shade of red, yet still smiling uncontrollably, fumbled around for his wand to repair the broken glass.
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James was thrilled, of course. There had been no doubt in my mind since early 7th year that he would make a wonderful father, and the time in between then and that afternoon had only secured my thoughts. I have never seen that man so ecstatic, so delighted. Sirius was elated too, as were Remus and Peter. Sirius especially, I think, because James and I had asked if he would be Godfather. Peter was out of the question, I mean, he was a great guy, but he lacked dependability. It was him who lost the Marauder's Map in 7th year, and believe me, James had never fully gotten over that. Remus was the sensible choice, being the responsible, nice guy he was, as I told James while we were discussing the matter, yet Sirius was almost an uncle as it was. Both would make a lovely Godfather, but James' bond with Sirius was like nothing else, so the choice was obvious. James and Sirius, I swear those two are as inseparable as it gets. Honestly, there hasn't been a day I can remember, not one day that they've spent without talking and joking with each other. It's nice, really; Sirius has become a brotherly figure to James, and James and myself a family to Sirius. You have to remember, that although all of us were, are, still young, we've been through more than you could ever imagine. Death had been close, you see, for even us a few times, being involved with the "good" side. Members of our group had been murdered themselves, others torched into an almost lifeless existence. Into spring, as my stomach grew larger, I was faded out of the active duties of our side. Dumbledore and the others didn't want to risk the lives of both myself and an unborn infant, I suppose. For me, it was very distressing not to be active anymore, for doing my duties had become my life. James filled me in on all of the important happenings of the days and I still sat in on the meetings, whenever I felt good enough to attend. Let me rephrase that, whenever I didn't feel horrible, I would attend the gatherings. I needed the group, you see. I felt like I was doing something so worthy, so great. My sister delivered her son, Dudley Dursley, in the early summer; I knew I wasn't far behind. Throughout that summer, my-, my mum was a frequent visitor to our place, and she brought pictures of my nephew. Neither my sister nor her husband has ever taken much interest in our family, 'suppose it has something to do with our involvement in the wizarding world. Petunia was still sore about something related to me, probably my entire existence, so I was not allowed to meet her son, but no matter. He was quite an enormous baby in the pictures, just massive. Gets that from his dad's side, I believe. Never did like that Vernon much, but I was always friendly towards him, which is more than I can say about him. Nasty, grumpy man he could be. The lot of them moved into a house, purchased with the help of my parents, in Little Whining. I had a cousin, my father's side, who was quite a pleasant man with a lovely wife; they lived just by my sister and her family. That summer, the hot, sticky days of July were seemed endless, and on the very last day of the month, it happened. James and I picked the name Harry James Potter, born weighing 3 and a half kilograms was born. I went into labor very early in the morning, and by midday on July 31, it was over. James wasn't allowed into the room until right after the birth, but I'll never forget the look on his face when father met son.
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"Lils?" James asked hesitantly, walking into the room. A couple of medi-witches grinned at him as he made his way to Lily's bedside. She had been given a few strong potions, which had completely eased the pains of natural childbirth. As James approached her, he was met with Lily's sparkling emerald eyes, and the piercing cry of the newborn boy.
"James." Lily said, her voice soothing and quiet. Her face was laden with droplets of sweat, yet to James, she looked flawless. "James, meet your son." James was beaming as Lily handed the freshly swaddled baby to its father. He immediately noticed the eyes, which already looked a hazy green. He supposed they would look just like his mummy's in due time, like two brilliantly jade orbs. The baby had a bit of downy fluffy hair on his head, already ebony like his father's. James laughed inwardly, the tiny infant's crying ceased as he gently rocked it back and forth in his arms. "Harry." Lily said plainly, still staring at her husband and new born with a look of absolute adoration.
"Yes, Harry James. Harry James Potter." James studied the baby's tiny facial features, his delicate, miniature hands. "It's perfect." James said as the baby's grandparents began flowing into the room.
*~*~*
He was in complete ecstasy, let me tell you. My parents were quite confused, in the wizarding hospital, you know, but they were very happy too. It's not every day a new grandson enters your life. Mr. and Mrs. Potter, senior, they were both completely ecstatic, too. Their first grandchild, with James being an only child. They weren't very old, even, but Mrs. Potter was so delighted to be a grand-mum. It was the last time we were all in a room together, I believe. My parents, James' parents, us. Maybe there was, no I believe that was it. But what a wonderful day it was. Sirius, Remus, Peter. They all came, too. None of them were, are, married, nor are they even dreaming about starting a family, I don't suppose. But they all congratulated us, and I remember feeling wonderful when they jumped right in, wanting to hold my dear son in their arms, chuckling at silly little things. Ha, ha, it was then, in Sirius' arms, that I realized that I had not only birthed a son that morning. No, it was James Potter's son, destined to be yet another marauder.
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A/N: For some reason, my paid subscription is *not* expiring like it was supposed to August 27. SO, if you have me on "author alerts," you will probably still get them. Sorry if you get an email from me & from them. Hah! Anyways, this chapter isn't the best, but only one more chapter (the important one!) to go…And possibly an epilogue, I'm still not sure about that. Have a marvelous day, and please remember to review! ~x~ Natalie
Ooh, big thanks for the eye-color thing, I can't believe I discarded that fact. Oops! It's all changed as of now, in all of the chapters, as is the annoying capitalization. I also found a quite a few typos. Annoying typos, too. So sorry!
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cinnamonsunrise@hotmail.com