You make a good point, there, Dree. I could have made another story about Lily's life after Hogwarts, but I thought that it would keep more people awake if I kept it short. I mean, how many interesting things can happen once Hogwarts is over? It's tough competition, let me tell ya. But I thought that important highlights would suffice, and I'm so happy that you're enjoying them!
Virginia, it sounds totally cool! That's how I started my very first ever Harry Potter fic—by putting myself into the story. Too bad that it turned out shitty and I decided to never let it see the light of day… yeah. I'd love a little credit for them names… wink, wink! LOL! Oh, and where Remus went is a secret! Ha! But you can find out where he was in another story under this panname that I didn't write. That's your only hint, fools!!
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About ten months later, Lily lay in the maternity ward at St. Mungo's Wizard Hospital, holding James's hand tightly. He brushed back her damp hair, and kissed her pale cheek. Though magic made the delivery less painful, it was still exhausting. They both watched the doctor's back anxiously, as he scrutinized their baby.
After what seemed like forever, Dr. Lee turned around with the nurse, holding their baby boy joyously. "He's perfect."
"You hear that, Lily? Perfect!" James exclaimed proudly, as Lee handed the child to Lily. She smiled with pleasure, as she looked down at the baby. His little green eyes blinked up at his parents, and Lily gently stroked his jet-black hair.
"He looks just like his dad." Lily said softly.
"He's beautiful…" James whispered.
Suddenly, Belle, Sirius, Remus, and Peter burst into the room, wearing green smocks that matched James's and the mediwizard's. They all gathered around the bed to see the newest addition to their lives. Carefully, James handed the child to Belle, who glowed with excitement.
"Oh, he's adorable!" She cooed, as she looked at Peter, who motioned for her to hand it to Sirius instead.
"Have any names, yet?" Sirius asked. "I think I like Sirius Junior…" He passed the baby to Remus as everyone laughed. "I'm serious!" Sirius argued, as Remus looked at the youngster thoughtfully.
"Harry." Remus said, looking up from the baby's smiling face.
"Harry…" Lily repeated, looking up at James. "Harry Potter…"
"You know, it has a nice ring to it." James agreed.
Dr. Lee looked at them, holding a birth certificate. "So? Harry Potter, then?"
Lily and James looked at each other in resolution. "Yes. Harry Potter."
"All right:" Dr. Lee replied, writing on the certificate. "Harry Potter, born July 31, 1980, at 9:36pm."
"You should still call him Sirius." Sirius groaned. "What's wrong with Sirius?"
"Do you want the short list, or the long?" Belle teased, as Remus passed Harry to James tenderly.
"Well, congratulations." Peter said, as he and their friends shuffled out of the room, waving goodbye with smiles almost as large as Lily and James's.
"Lily, you and Harry should stay here tonight for monitoring. James, will you be staying, as well?" Dr. Lee asked.
"Yeah." James nodded, and Lee left the room.
"We're parents, James." Lily whispered. She looked at baby Harry with an excited smile.
"I just can't believe it…" He said breathlessly. James held Harry close, and Lily had to admit he looked fatherly.
"You know, it'll be hard moving away from Voldemort with a baby." Lily told him, as she leaned her head against his leg.
"No harder than when you were pregnant." James reasoned, handing Harry to Lily's welcoming arms.
Lily sighed. She looked at their baby with comforting eyes. "I just—I don't want Harry to grow up on the move all the time." Lily said to James.
"I know. Neither do I."
"So, what will we do?" Lily asked. "Someone will tell Voldemort where we're staying…"
"But you know what's weird?" James said. "Did you notice that Dumbledore never told us we had to move when you were seven to nine months pregnant? I mean, it's not like Voldemort felt like being nice and giving us a break, so you could give birth to this little guy…"
"You know, you're right." Lily said, as Harry slowly started to fall asleep in her arms. She lowered her voice to a whisper, joking, "There must be some forgiving spy following us."
"That's not funny." James said in all seriousness. "There is a spy following us. And it's someone who cares about us enough to let us have our baby in peace."
"Okay, so say there is a Death Eater tracking us. Why should they care if I was having a baby? Wouldn't that only make it easier to kill me off?"
"That's what scares me." James said softly. "It must be someone we know, who would care. We've had enough encounters with Death Eaters to know that they have minds like jello, and only do what Voldemort tells them. Most of them wouldn't give a shit us, if they weren't Death Eaters. They only want us dead because their leader wants it."
"I guess so." Lily yawned, stroking Harry's hair.
Dr. Lee rapidly opened the door, carrying a pillow and blankets for James. "Lily, I'll have to take Harry to the baby wing, so we can monitor his breathing for the night." Reluctantly, Lily handed Dr. Lee her sleeping baby. "Drink this potion, Lily, and get some sleep." He said, placing a goblet of potion on the bedside table.
"Thank you, Doctor." James said, as Dr. Lee left the room, carrying Harry carefully. James shifted off of Lily's bed and into a chair next to it. He tried to arrange the blankets, so he could be comfortable, and Lily laughed meekly at his effort.
"So, what should we do about our Death Eater stalker?" She asked him, moving awkwardly to face him.
"I'm not sure." James answered.
"Hey—what about that group of Dumbledore's? Isn't it, like, the Order of the Phoenix, or something? Maybe they could help. Dumbledore did invite us to join them—remember? We just couldn't, since we were moving at the time. But all of our friends are involved. I'm sure we could come up with a plan with them. Don't you think so, James?" Lily said, excitedly.
"You know, maybe we should go to a few meetings. I bet that they might have some ideas. I mean, they're all about fighting Voldemort—that's what they do." James said. "But you should get some sleep. We'll talk more in the morning." He suggested.
"You're right…" Lily yawned.
"Hey, drink your potion." James reminded her, handing her the goblet. Lily drank in it three gulps and instantly felt warm and tired. James reached out and held her hand, as she slowly drifted into sleep.
A few weeks later, Lily and James brought Harry up to Hogwarts for their fifth Order of the Phoenix meeting. Lily loved coming back to their old school and walking through the halls again, almost as much as she loved the people in the Order. They had been helping Lily and James find new places to hide from Voldemort for five weeks now.
"Hey! I didn't know you two were coming today… or three, my mistake!" Remus smiled, as he met up with them at the doors. He looked extra happy, and Lily couldn't quite put a finger on why. He took Harry out of James's arms, and led them up to Dumbledore's office.
Lily and James held hands, as they walked through the school. Hardly anything had changed. The marble staircase was still polished and shining, and the halls still had that magical feeling that was only present at Hogwarts.
Remus spoke the password for Dumbledore's magical staircase, and they all were about to hop on when--
"Wait!" Peter called, as he ran up after them. "Okay. Now we can go." He panted.
"Hey Peter. You didn't come last week." James said, clapping his friend on the back.
"Yeah. Got tied up." Peter replied.
"With what, Pete?" Lily laughed. "You're living with your mom."
When they emerged at the top, people were already seated in chairs around Dumbledore's desk.
"Ah, James and Lily!" Mundungus Fletcher, a new friend with a rather large mustache, exclaimed. He got up out of his squashy armchair to welcome them.
Lily took Harry back from Remus, and sat down near Dumbledore's desk. He was smiling at her and James, pleased to have them here.
Sirius and Belle stumbled in a little late, and took their seats quickly next to James, Lily, and Remus. They whispered hello, as Dumbledore looked out at the group with a smile.
"Hello, and welcome. I declare this meeting of The Order of the Phoenix underway. First order of business—Lily and James Potter are here to discuss their current living situation, due to Voldemort."
"How did that last house work out? It's still working out fine, right?" Fletcher asked, sounding contented.
"It was wonderful. But you see, we decided that we don't want to keep moving around anymore." Lily said. "Especially not with a newborn baby."
"Right," James agreed. "So we need your advice."
Dumbledore looked at the men and women in the group.
"Honestly, I don't see anything wrong with moving around. When I was a young girl, my parents moved us around all the time—and I turned out fine. You don't have anything to worry about." A woman named Tracy Egbert replied pompously.
"They've already tried moving around." Sirius said. "And I have to agree with them—it was stressful."
"Hm, this is difficult." A different woman murmured.
"Very." Another man agreed.
"Have you thought about the Fidelius Charm?" Arthur Weasley asked them. Both he and his wife, Molly, were members of the Order as well, and had six children, one close to Harry's age, twins at age three, a six-year-old boy, and two older boys, one of which was in his first year of Hogwarts.
"The Fidelius Charm? Of course! Lily, why didn't we think of that earlier?" James exclaimed happily. "That's it! Problem solved."
"Not quite, James." Dumbledore interrupted. "Are you sure that you and Lily want to go through that?"
James and Lily looked at each other. "Yes. It seems like the only logical option we have."
"All right, if that's what you want." Dumbledore said. "Who will you choose to be your Secret-Keeper?"
Lily looked at James.
"We don't know." James shrugged.
"I'll do it, James." Peter volunteered quickly.
"Any of us will." Dumbledore added.
At that moment, Harry started to cry. Right on cue, sweetie… Lily thought.
"Excuse us." Lily said apologetically, as she motioned for James to follow her outside. They quickly made their way down the spiral staircase, and stood outside Dumbledore's office.
"Well?" Lily prompted James, as she tried to silence Harry. "What should we do? Who should we pick?"
"I'm not sure. I mean, I trust all of them, it's just…" James drifted off, looking down the hall.
"Just what?" Lily asked him nervously.
"Well, these people have been telling us where to hide, and where to stay for about a month now. But still, Voldemort has found us. Everyone in the Order agrees that there is a spy following us… but what if the spy is sitting in that room, right now?" James proposed.
Lily gulped. "But you don't think that one of our friends… they would never…"
"Lily, people aren't always what they seem." James said in a whisper.
"But, who do we choose to be our Secret-Keeper? What if we picked the spy?" Lily asked edgily.
"I don't know." James said, shaking his head. Lily leaned up against James, with Harry in her arms. James put his arms around her and said, "But whomever we pick, we have to trust them with our lives."
"Right." Lily agreed. "Remus, Sirius, Peter and Belle are the ones that first come to mind. But then, Dumbledore volunteered as well."
"Peter would crack, when questioned." James offered.
"And Belle probably couldn't handle the responsibility." Lily laughed gently. "That leaves Remus, Sirius, and Dumbledore."
"I have to say Sirius. I'd trust him with everything." James said.
"But could he handle everything?" Lily asked.
"He'd do anything for us, Lily." James told her. "Which he proved, while we were on the move."
"You're right, James." Lily approved. James hugged her tightly.
"We'll be okay, Lily. This will pass."
"I hope so." Lily sighed, holding Harry close. "I hope so."
They returned upstairs, and everyone stopped talking to watch them closely. Lily and James took their seats, and Dumbledore looked at them expectantly.
"Have you come to a decision?" He asked.
"Yeah." James nodded. "Sirius, we want you to Keep our secret for us."
"Really?" Sirius said, in disbelief. "You want me?" Lily smiled and nodded. "Wow, you guys! I promise—I won't let you down. Not ever. You'll see." He said excitedly.
"All right then. Tomorrow, I want you three here to perform the charm. I'll get Professor Snape to make the potion and—"
"Professor Snape? You mean, Siverus Snape works here now? As a Potions teacher?!" James said in surprise.
"Yes. Don't be so shocked." Dumbledore chuckled. "I'll have him brew it up tonight."
"But, sir?" Lily began tentatively. "Isn't Snape sort of… into the Dark Arts, if you know what I mean."
"Indeed, Siverus was. But now, he's sided with the Ministry, and helping me and the Mistress." Dumbledore said. "I trust him as much as anyone in this room." He added, glancing at Peter, who shifted under his gaze.
James, Lily, and Harry left by floo powder, and arrived at their small hotel room.
"Only one more night of this." James said to Lily, as she placed Harry in his foldable crib.
"Thank God." Lily breathed, leaning down to kiss Harry goodnight.
The next morning, after performing the Fidelius Charm, Lily, James, and Harry arrived at their new home. It was a two-story house in a wizarding neighborhood, called Godric's Hollow.
"Well, here it is." James replied, pulling open the front door. Lily looked around, scrutinizing their new house. There was a large staircase across from the front door leading up to the second story. Small steps led down to the furnished living room, and through that, the kitchen. To the right was the dining room, with a rather large fireplace behind the table. James quickly set up Harry's portable crib in the living room, and Lily placed him in it, with a small kiss.
She moved away from the sleeping baby, and flopped onto the couch. James followed her, and sat on the floor, leaning against the sofa, while watching the crib carefully.
"I don't know what to think about all this, James." Lily said softly. "I mean, one minute, we're moving from place to place—and the next… It's like we have nothing to worry about."
"We still have to worry about it." James argued. "It's just not a top priority anymore."
"Right." Lily groaned. She paused, and sighed. "I'm just so scared, you know? I mean, what if it really is one of our close friends spying on us?"
James reached up, and cupped Lily's chin in his hands. "You have nothing to worry about." He repeated, before pushing her cheeks together so she resembled a fish. "I'm sure it's nothing personal." He laughed. Lily grabbed his hand and playfully blew a raspberry into it, before kissing it. In response, James grabbed her nose painfully, and Lily groaned nasally, trying to remove his hand.
"Ouch." She chuckled, rubbing her now red nose.
"Sorry." He laughed, wiping his hand on Lily's pants.
"Eh, you punk." Lily muttered, smacking James's messy head lovingly, and moving into the kitchen to make lunch.
