Previously:

She turned back around and walked down the corridor, searching anywhere for anyone. She felt another pain in her stomach.

"James, where are you?" she tried again. This time, she received an answer.

"Lily?" a voice called from behind.

She snapped her head around and saw her husband and Stephan walking towards her, anxious looks upon their faces.

She breathed in deeply and said, "It's time."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

James rushed over to her, putting his arm around her shoulder and steering her in the direction to their Infirmary. Lily started to breathe in and out obediently when James suggested it.

"Easy does it, Lils," said James when she started to whimper a little. He turned around to see Stephan hurrying a few feet behind him, an anxious look on his face.

"Stephan, could you quickly owl a letter to Madame Pomfrey over at Hogwarts?" said James. Another thought occurred to him. "Oh, and find Sir Albus, wherever he is around here, and ask him if he would floo back to Hogwarts for a few minutes to retrieve Harry. I'm sure he won't want to miss this." Stephan nodded and quickly rushed off down the hall. Dumbledore had had a meeting with James that morning to discuss some of the security measures being taken place over at the Ministry.

James rubbed the small of Lily's back; she was pale. "Just think, honey. Pretty soon, we'll have another tiny baby crawling around here." He smiled.

She looked over, her face brightening between her gasps of air. That calmed her down. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it. "Another child we can teach Quidditch to," breathed Lily.

"Another child we can teach the art of pranking to," suggested James.

"We'll have noise in old tree house again," put in Lily.

"We'll spoil her, give her anything she wan-,"

At that moment, James tripped over a pushed up part of the rug they were walking on, unintentionally pulling Lily down with him. Lily, with one hand protectively over her stomach, groped the air with her other hand, expecting her face to meet the not-so-cushiony ground. Fortunately, her hand fell upon something solid and she struggled to maintain her balance. James fell with a thud to the ground.

She looked down concernedly at him. "Are you alright, Jamesie?" asked Lily, her hand still tightly holding onto the thing that kept her upright.

James, eyes towards the ground, retrieved his fallen glasses which had flown a few feet away from him. "Yeah," he answered, turning his head up to look at her, "I'm fi-," the words died in his throat when his gaze fell to something behind her. He tilted his head. Lily's eyes narrowed curiously, still looking at him.

"Matthew?" asked James, picking himself up.

Lily spun her head around. Matthew's smiling face took up all of her vision. She looked down at her hand and saw she was clutching Matthew's shoulder tighter than ever. She slowly unclenched her hand and let her arm drop to her side, mind forgetting all about the fact that she was in the middle of going into labor.

"James, Lily," said Matthew, beaming.

"Matthew," a voice behind him said. He turned his head and Lily and James both looked behind him, all three catching sight of Matthew's wife, Sarah. With her walked Frank and Alice Longbottom.

"Sarah?" spoke James. "Frank? Alice?"

They all three smiled, spotting the two of them. "James," Sarah replied. When she stepped to her husband's side and looked down. Her eyes widened just as Matthew looked down as well. Frank and Alice spotted her stomach as well. "Lily?"

"Lily?" Alice repeated, surprised.

"Alice?" asked Lily, thinking she had passed out when her contractions started and was now dreaming all of this.

"Lily!" exclaimed Matthew.

"Matthew?" She was so confused. "Sarah, Frank?"

"Lily! James," said Frank.

"This could go on for days," chimed in James, rolling his eyes.

 "You're pregnant?!" questioned Frank, absolutely astonished. Lily blinked, regaining her wits.

"She's in labor!" cried James, coming to his senses and started to guide Lily again to the Infirmary. Matthew and Sarah were hot on their trail.

Sarah squealed with delight. "This is wonderful. You must tell me, Lily, is it a boy or a girl?"

"She's a girl," answered Lily, at that moment gasping as another contraction occurred.

"How are Parvati and Padma?" asked Matthew anxiously. They had not seen their children since the girls started Hogwarts."

"They're doing very well. Parvati got in Gryffindor ("That's my girl!" exclaimed Matthew) and Padma got is a Ravenclaw ("Just like her mummy!" cooed Sarah.)" explained James.

"And Neville?" asked Alice.

"He got into Gryffindor," answered James.

Alice and Frank exchanged pleased looks.

"They're doing well, though? Academically?" questioned Sarah.

Lily nodded, and said through her breathing, "All…breath…exceptional students."

James' curiosity finally got the better of him. "What are you two doing here? Does this mean that-," James was cut off.

"Hey hey, guess who's ba- Lily?"

Lily's head snapped up sharply. James practically tripped again, only this time over his own two feet. There in front of them stood a man that went through his whole life being mistaken as James' twin.

"Padfoot?" stammered James.

 "Siri," gasped Lily, half from shock, half from pain. A perplexed look overtook Sirius' facial features, most likely from the scene before him. He looked down at Lily's stomach.

Sirius' mouth was hanging open, his eyes narrowed and looking Lily up and down. Once he composed himself, he allowed a lighthearted grin form upon his face. "Did I miss anything?" he asked in jest.

James barked out laughing, letting go of Lily's shoulders (she stumbled a bit, but Matthew steadied her) and striding over to him. He pulled Sirius into a great big bear hug. Lily let out a delighted giggle; it was the second time in five minutes that forgot that she was in labor.

As though sensing Lily's sidetracked attention, another contraction overtook her and she reluctantly let out a strangled gasp. That sound seemed to pull James and Sirius out of their reverie. Both men broke apart and rushed over to their favorite woman. James continued directing her to the Infirmary.

Now, with three people trailing behind them, James and Lily put their full focus onto their unborn child.

"So, boy or girl?" asked Sirius airily.

"Girl," replied James, just as airily.

"Name?"

"Lydia."

"Cool." 

"So Sirius," chimed in Matthew, grinning. Any person could recognize that grin. Matthew was about to place a bet, "What say you to a wager?"

Sirius, never one to turn down a bet, smiled suavely, "The terms?"

"I bet she's in labor for more than four hours," said Matthew.

"And if she isn't?" inquired Sirius.

"Remember that trunk of gold we found while traveling through the Cave of Santaro? The one I insisted on taking?" asked Matthew.

Sirius looked confused for only a split second before replying confidently, "Of course."

 "It's yours if she delivers before five o'clock," replied Matthew. "And if she doesn't, I get that splendid little motorbike of yours."

James had to chuckle at the last part. There was no way Sirius would put his bike in jeopardy like that. His laugh was cut off by Sirius', "You're on." Apparently he would put his bike in jeopardy like that.

"You're…breath…betting on the duration of my pain!?" exclaimed Lily, gripping James' shirt tightly.

"Just wait a minute," cut in Frank.

"Thank you, Frank," Lily gasped, pleased that someone would stick up for her.

"I want in on this, too," Frank said.

Lily opened her mouth to protest, but her husband spoke before she could.

"Here we are, Lily," said James, walking her through the Infirmary doors. The others stood outside the doors, waiting eagerly. He set her down on a large bed. Madame Pomfrey flew out of the fireplace in the large room at that moment and bustled over to the two of them.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Do you understand now?" asked Hermione in a kind, almost patronizing voice.

She had been tutoring Neville for the last fifteen minutes on a simple Transfiguration spell in the Great Hall during their lunch break. He had meekly approached Harry, Ron, and she with a large textbook in his hands. Immediately, he began to beg for her help. She, who had had her first spoonful of soup inches from her face, looked longingly at the spoon before unhappily turned away from her food, ignoring her grumbling stomach, and began helping.

Neville's brows formed a dark 'V' on his forehead as he narrowed his eyes at the paper. He bit his lip nervously then said unsurely, "N-not really. Could you show me the last part of the spell again?"

Hermione bit back an exasperated sigh and forced a small smile, "Sure."

"You know, Neville, if you'd like, we can help you with this exam of yours." cut in Fred, sitting a seat away from them from with George and Lee Jordon.

"For a small fee, of course," chimed in Lee.

"That's a very kind offer," spoke Hermione, in a false polite voice, smiling too wide to be considered sincere, "But we're doing just fine oursel-,"

"How can you help?" interrupted Neville, a bit desperate. Hermione snapped her head to look at Neville sharply.

"Well, if what we heard was correct, you have to turn a quill into a flower, am I right?" inquired George.

"Yes, that's right," replied Neville, ignoring Hermione's look.

"Have a seat," said Fred, motioning the bench next to him, "And we'll talk business."

Neville was out of his seat before Hermione could even open her mouth to protest.

Across the table from Hermione and Neville, sat Harry and Ron both lost in a heated conversation about Quidditch. The doors to the Great Hall opened, going by unnoticed to everyone in the hall. Dumbledore walked purposefully into the large room, gazing the Gryffindor table for his target. Spotting him, he smiled slightly.

Hermione was the one to spot Dumbledore first as he started over. "Dumbledore's back," she announced to Harry and Ron.

"I didn't even know he was gone," said Ron.

"He wasn't at breakfast this morning," said Harry, turning around in his seat to glance at his Headmaster. He was surprised to find that Dumbledore was looking straight at him, walking in their direction.

When Dumbledore reached their table, he smiled down at them all and then said to Harry, "Harry, I need to speak with you."

Harry nodded and stood up, curiously. Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling merrily, so he threw out the option of any sort of crisis.

 He turned back to his friends at the table and said, "See you in Transfiguration." They waved to him in reply.

He followed Dumbledore in silence until they reached his office, where Harry's curiosity got the better of him.

"Professor, what's this about?" It came out a little arrogant, he realized and winced. His princely traits were showing a little. He always tried to not sound so stuck up to people.

Dumbledore didn't notice the cocky tone. Instead, he simply smiled as he opened the door to his office, letting Harry enter first and following him in. His door shut with a sharp 'click'.

Walking over to the fireplace in his office, Harry trailed behind. Wordlessly, Dumbledore grabbed the floo powder that was settled on the edge of his mantle. He turned back around to face Harry, who had raised his eyebrows by this time, and finally spoke, "It's your mother, Harry. She's gone into labor."

Harry's curious face turned into one filled with glee. Instantly, he bombarded Dumbledore with questions. "Really? When? Is Madame Pomfrey already done there? Does Uncle Remus know?"

Dumbledore raised a hand to stop Harry's inevitable endless questions. He smiled and said, "Perhaps we should return to Godric's Hollow so your parents can answer all your questions."

Harry smiled and Dumbledore held out the bag of floo powder to him. "You go first, Harry. I'll be there as soon as I inform Professor Lupin."

Harry didn't need telling twice. He seized some of the grey powder from the bag and quickly floo'd to his castle.

He landed with a 'thud' on the ground and quickly got up. He ran out of the room, saying quick 'hello's to a few of the guards standing in the corners of the room and halls. His glasses were askew from his floo expedition, but he didn't care.

With a turn of a corner, the doors to the Infirmary clouded Harry vision. Eagerly, he broke into a full-fledged sprint. Not noticing that there were people sitting on some benches placed outside of the room, Harry stretched his arm out to hoist open the door.

A familiar voice made him stop dead in his tracks, though. "Harry?"

 Harry turned his head and his jaw promptly dropped. Standing in front of him was his Godfather, a man whom he hadn't seen for close to three years. "Sirius?" His eyes were wide as saucers. Sirius grinned widely, absolutely beaming at him.

Harry rushed over and hugged Sirius with all his might. Sirius gripped the boy in front of him tightly. They stayed that way for a few minutes before Harry pulled away, now noticing a few more pairs of eyes he hadn't seen for close to three years. He grinned again. "Matthew, Sarah. Frank, Alice."

Frank and Alice waved and Matthew gave him his infamous, cocky grin. Sarah rushed forward and hugged Harry in a motherly fashion, "Oh, Harry, love, it's good to see you. Oh, you've gotten so big," she gushed.

Elizabeth, Stephan, Cynthia, Patrick, Molly, Arthur, Bill, his Grandmother, and Aunt Madison were all staring over at them. Harry broke away from Sarah, still smiling and looked over at his family, waving at them all.

"I-I don't get it…when did you-,"

The sudden sound of a baby's cries interrupted Harry's question. Harry's eyes widened again, twinkling wildly. He, without a word, tore into the Infirmary, leaving the rest of his family to laugh merrily behind him.

Inside the Infirmary, he spotted Madame Pomfrey, his father, and his mother…who was holding a tiny bundle in her arms. His parents were beaming at him, Lily having tears streaming down her face.

"Mum, dad!" exclaimed Harry, rushing over to them.

"Hello, son," said James, clapping his boy on the back.

"Hello, love," replied Lily, bouncing the bundle in her arms gently, "Say hello to Lydia." James gently pushed Harry closer to his mother and she placed the bundle into his arms. James bent down and kissed the forehead of his baby daughter in his son's arms before patting Harry on the shoulder and walking to the head of Lily's bed, engulfing her into a hug.

Harry looked into the face of his new baby sister. She was beautiful. The most beautiful thing Harry had ever seen. She had her eyes closed, making a little whimpering noise. She had a head full of jet black hair, exactly matching him and his father's. Harry began to rock her gently back and forth and whispered to her, "Hello, Lydia." Tears prickled the side of his eyes as he continued, "I'm your older brother, Harry…I can't tell you how much I'm happy to see you."

Lydia slowly opened her eyes. Harry was shocked to find how green they were, the exact color of his and his mother's. They could have been his mother's eyes the way her thick, long lashes curtained around them.

"She's beautiful," Harry said a little louder to his parents, not taking his eyes off his sister.

Lily half laughed, half sobbed, nodding her head in agreement. James grinned, squeezing his wife's shoulders.

After a few more minutes of Harry cradling the baby, James stood up from his seat next to Lily's bedside and took Lydia from Harry's arms, "I'm going to go introduce her to the rest of the family. No doubt, they'll want to see her."

"I saw Sirius out there," said Harry.

James' grin widened, "Yeah, he and Frank, Alice, Sarah, and Matthew finished their latest assignment."

With that, James walking out of the Infirmary, leaving Harry alone with his mother.

Lily was absolutely glowing. "How are you, Harry?" she asked, motioning for him to sit down. Harry obliged and took his father's chair.

"I'm great," said Harry, smiling so widely his face looked as though it would crack.

"Is school going alright?" asked Lily.

"Yes," he answered, his face loosing some of its happiness as his thoughts stopped on one subject that had been really bothering him.

"What is it, son?" Lily asked, noticing Harry's sudden mood change.

Now's as good of time as any, I suppose, Harry thought to himself. He stood up, rubbing his hands together a bit nervously.

"Is something the matter, Harry?" Lily pressed, worry in her voice.

"Mu-mum, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about," spoke Harry, his back facing her as he looked out the window into the sunny day.

"Alright," said Lily, starting to grin again, her light mood returning, "Talk away."

Harry sighed and then said softly, "It's about that night Hermione, Ron, and I saw you at Hogwarts," Lily's grinned faded slowly. "I know you lied to me."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N- there ya go, everyone! Sirius is now back into the story; I know that makes some of you very happy. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, though it may be a bit rushed since I wrote the second half just today.

Well, please review and tell me what you thought of it!

And please read my newest one-shot, Beyond Death. It's in Hermione's POV about an incident she witnessed focusing all around Harry. I think you'd enjoy it, please give it a chance!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, I loved them all! And to American Mione, I will have more focus on Harry, Hermione, and Ron. You're right; their friendship will have to face some tough tests. It'll take a few chapters, but you won't be disappointed…I hope.