Chapter 54 The Calm Before the Storm
Six hours later, James staggered into the lounge where Sirius, Peter, Morwenna, Dorcas, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, and Mr. and Mrs. Evans sat, waiting for news. Seeing James coming, they all stopped talking and turned to watch him, their expressions expectant.
Tired as he was, James' face split into a grin. "It's a boy."
The room erupted into chaos at the news; Sirius let out a whoop and spun Morwenna off her feet, Dorcas dashed down the corridor to tell Alice, James found himself sandwiched between his parents, and Mr. and Mrs. Evans bombarded James with questions and congratulations.
Finally free of bodies, James informed everyone that Lily and the baby were fine; Lily was sleeping and the Healers had taken the baby away to bathe him. Everyone continued celebrating, laughing and talking and asking questions, until a Healer hurried over to shush them all and kick the visitors out of the hospital. After being informed in no uncertain terms that they wouldn't be permitted to see Lily and the baby tonight, the four proud grandparents decided to return to home to inform people of the good news and to catch a few hours' sleep before returning to visit in the morning. Dorcas suggested that she, Mrwenna, Sirius, and Peter all go out to celebrate, but Peter begged off, claiming to be too exhausted.
"You coming, Sirius?" Dorcas wanted to know.
"Be right down," Sirius replied. "I'll catch up with you." Shrugging, Dorcas and Morwenna gave James their parting congratulations to pass on to Lily and left.
"So?" Sirius demanded as soon as they were alone.
"So what?" James had no patience for guessing games at the moment.
"So what was it like?" Sirius wanted to know. James flopped into one of the waiting area chairs as he considered.
"It was………" he began, then stopped. Even now he didn't quite know how to describe it, even to his best friend. The hours of waiting, letting Lily squeeze his hand while she made sounds that had made James feel sick to his stomach. James had been terrified, thoroughly grossed out, and inexplicably fascinated by the whole ordeal, and when the Healer had come round the bed, placed a squirming bundle in Lily's arms, and said: "It's a boy!" James had felt an overwhelming joy mix with the terror. Those feelings had only intensified when he'd actually held the baby, a tiny, red, slimy, wrinkly thing wrapped in a blue blanket. "It was all right," James finished lamely.
"All right?!" Sirius stared. "All right?! After all of the horror stories about blood and screaming and pain and all of that miracle of life crap, it was just all right?"
"Don't get me wrong, it was disgusting," James shuddered slightly as he got to his feet. Of course, he'd known in theory what was supposed to happen, what was supposed to be coming out of where. But deep down, James hadn't actually believed it until he'd seen with his own eyes….James shivered again.
"What's the baby – like?" Sirius seemed embarrassed by his eagerness to know, but continued to ask questions regardless.
"Well, he's small, and red and wrinkly, and…….and he's amazing, actually," James grinned.
"Congratulations, mate," Sirius said gruffly, patting James awkwardly on the back.
"Thanks," James returned the gesture. "I'd take you to see him if I knew where he went. They're cleaning him off. In fact, he might be back soon, and Lily's asleep….I'd better be getting back, actually. I wouldn't want Lily to be on her own when she wakes up."
"Right," Sirius nodded. Things had changed, and he accepted that. "I'll see you lot tomorrow then." He broke into a sudden grin. "Told you the bananas would work!" Sirius crowed. "We have another Marauder!"
"Yeah," James' own grin reappeared. "With our help, he ought to be able to put a few grey hairs on McGonagall's head."
Lily woke with a start as an unfamiliar sound filled her ears. Frowning, she tried to remember what the sound meant; she was pretty sure that it was important, but she couldn't quite remember why. Lily began to sit up and it all came flooding back as her sore body protested the sudden movement. She'd given birth to a baby boy and the baby was crying somewhere. Gingerly, Lily lowered her feet to the floor, but before she could brace herself to put weight on them, she spotted the cot, pushed up next to the bed and within easy reach. Lily leaned carefully over and scooped up the wailing blue bundle. Catching sight of James in the armchair, awake now but still clearly befuddled, Lily beckoned him over.
James abandoned the chair and came to sit next to her on the bed so that they could both observe their son. The baby had stopped crying as soon as Lily had picked him up and was now staring up at his parents with an expression that was nearly as bewildered as the ones they wore. "What d'you reckon he wants?" James whispered to Lily out of the corner of his mouth, as though he were afraid that the baby might read lips.
Lily looked at the baby consideringly. "If he's hungry or wet he'd probably still be crying," she pointed out. "Maybe he was just scared or lonely or something." Lily tightened her arms round her son a bit and touched his cheek softly. "It's all right," she told him rather uncertainly. "We're here."
The baby continued to gaze up at them solemnly, showing no signs of sleepiness or distress, and Lily and James stared back. In the mad rush of the birth and its aftermath, neither of them had really had a chance to examine their son thoroughly.
This baby that stared at them now was slightly less red and wrinkly, and his eyes were open a bit wider, making it possible for Lily and James to determine that they were distinctly green, even in the dim light. The baby's hair, clean now, was a thick black thatch that stuck up and waved all over his head, exactly like his father's.
"Do you want to hold him?" Lily asked James.
"Er –" James hesitated, remembering what had happened in the delivery room. Lily, sweaty, exhausted, and glowing with pride, had handed the baby, still covered in goo, to James, and he'd very nearly shot out of James' arms like a greased pig.
"You'll be great," Lily smiled, in a good mood now that the baby had arrived and had not been delivered by Sirius and Peter on a sidewalk. "Besides, you're sitting down now."
"Ha, ha," James snorted, but he held out his arms and allowed Lily to transfer their son into them. Once convinced that he wasn't going to drop, catapult, or otherwise injure the baby, James carefully peeled back the blanket. Good; ten fingers, ten toes, a belly button, and….well, it all seemed to be there. The baby shifted slightly, and James' eyes shot back to his face, embarrassed to have been caught.
Lily rolled her eyes at James, but she was unable to keep the corners of her mouth from turning up as she leaned over to kiss him.
"What was that for?" James asked eventually.
"Because you're such a prat," Lily said affectionately, leaning her head against James' shoulder. The three of them continued to watch each other in silence, all apparently lost in their own thoughts.
"Harry," James said suddenly into the quiet.
"Huh?" Lily lifted her head to shoot James a questioning look.
"Harry," James repeated, grinning down at the baby and then up at Lily. "I think our son's name is Harry."
Lily stared down at the baby, brushing the hair away from his forehead. "Harry James Potter," she said, giving James a dazzling smile. "It's perfect."
Peter hurried through the darkened London streets, clutching his hooded cloak tightly about him. His lungs burned and there was a stitch in his side, but Peter didn't dare stop, or even slow his pace. His master had been waiting impatiently for news ever since he'd sent the message that Lily had gone into labour, and it was never wise to keep the Dark Lord waiting if you could avoid it.
He was moving as quickly as he could without attracting attention to himself, but Peter wasn't in any hurry to reach his destination. Lord Voldemort would not be pleased to hear Peter's news, and the thought of displeasing the Dark Lord was enough to make Peter shudder.
At last, Peter reached his destination, raised his wand, and whispered an incantation at the door, which swung back to reveal three hooded figures, their faces obscured by white masks. Peter stopped short on the threshold. Their presence made him nervous; why were these Death Eaters attending their master at nearly midnight?
"I –I am here to see our master," Peter blurted. "I have n-news for him."
"You dare to talk of such matters now?" The voice that wafted from under one of those hoods was cold, sneering. "Close the door immediately. Any Muggle on the street might hear you."
That voice was vaguely familiar to Peter, but he couldn't quite place it, not when he was so tense. He jumped to obey the faceless Death Eater, slamming the door shut in his eagerness to comply.
"That way," One of the figures gestured carelessly down the corridor. "He has been waiting for some time."
Peter rushed off, steeling himself for the confrontation that was to come. He knocked softly on the door at the end of the corridor.
"Enter." That high, cold voice wasn't as calm as it usually was, a definite bad sign.
"It is I, my lord," Peter gulped, wetting his dry lips. "I-I have news."
"Well?" Voldemort's voice crackled with nerves.
Peter took a deep breath. "Lily Potter gave birth to a boy," he squeaked, swiping at his watery eyes.
"'Born as the seventh month dies…'" Voldemort murmured softly. Then all at once, he was pacing the room furiously, an unfathomable expression on his face. Peter fidgeted in place, not sure what the Dark Lord expected of him. In fact, Peter had never seen Lord Voldemort like this.
"You will go," Voldemort said abruptly, not looking up from his pacing, "and keep watch over the Potter boy. I want to know everything about him: what he looks like, who cares for him, who visits him. It is time to prove yourself useful, Wormtail."
"Y-yes, my lord," Peter quivered obediently, inclining his head.
"Now get out." Voldemort had stopped pacing at last. "Send the other three to me as you go. I trust I do not need to remind you of the penalty for failure."
"N-no, my lord," Peter gasped. "I mean, right away, my lord." But Voldemort had already turned away from him, lost in his own thoughts once more.
Peter scurried through the corridor, stammered his message to the waiting Death Eaters, and practically ran from the house, shaking and sweating.
He'd never seen the Dark Lord like that, so…..not in control. In fact, if Peter hadn't known better, he'd almost say that Voldemort had been scared. But it was a ridiculous notion, the all-powerful Dark Lord scared of a baby only a few hours old. Peter swallowed hard. If anyone ought to be frightened, it was Lily and James and their son……
Quickly Peter pushed all thoughts of his friends aside as he reached the corner and prepared to Disapparate. If he thought too much about the prophecy and his friends' involvement with it, he began to feel sick.
But it was too late. Peter felt nausea curl round his stomach and he stopped for a moment, burying his face in his hands. He hadn't slept well in weeks, not since the nightmares about Kathleen had started, and then he'd found out about the prophecy. His worry for his friends was almost constant now, and Peter only hoped he didn't crack under the strain. He couldn't afford to crack.
Peter took a deep breath and raised his wand again. Much as he wished it were otherwise, he and his friends were on opposite sides of a war.
James didn't know how it had happened, but Harry was flying round the room like a Snitch, dodging and darting as James tried to catch him. A broomstick, James thought wildly, lunging after Harry. I need a broomstick.
But while James was looking for a broomstick, Harry had found a banana somewhere and hovered over James, prodding him with it.
"Stop," James protested, trying to avoid the banana. "Stop it, Harry."
Then Harry opened his mouth and Sirius' voice came out. "Bloody hell, Prongs, are you going to wake up or not?"
"Huh?!" James sat bolt upright to find himself tangled with Lily in her hospital bed and Sirius standing over him, about to poke him again.
"Where's –" James began, then spotted Harry fast asleep in his cot, as innocent and un-Snitchlike as possible. Then James remembered the previous night and scowled down at his sleeping son.
Apparently Harry's staring competition with his parents had been the calm before the storm, because he'd spent the rest of the night howling at the top of his lungs. As soon as Lily and James had fed, changed, or burped him and settled him into his cot, Harry would begin to wail again. It had been a nerve-wracking, hellish night that had left both Lily and James secretly convinced that they were terrible parents.
Harry had finally drifted off to sleep an hour or so before dawn, and Lily and James had collapsed back onto the hospital bed and slept like the dead.
"What time is it?" James whispered.
"Half past nine," Sirius replied cheerfully. James shot him a filthy look, not entirely convinced that he didn't hate his best friend at this moment.
Lily stirred, then blinked blearily up at them. "Do I need to feed Harry again?" she asked James.
"He's still asleep," James informed her. "Sirius came to visit."
"Well, for Merlin's sake don't wake Harry up," Lily whispered frantically.
"I wasn't being loud," James felt rather put-upon. "And if Sirius is, HE can deal with Harry."
Right on cue, Harry began to whimper. Sirius jumped away from the cot as though expecting an assault.
James reached into the cot and gathered the baby up gingerly, turning him toward Sirius. "Meet Harry James Potter," James grinned at his best mate.
"Hi, Harry," Sirius smiled and stretched his hand out to touch the baby, then drew it quickly back.
"He won't bite you; he doesn't have any teeth," James smirked, completely forgetting his own earlier hesitation regarding Harry.
"You can even hold him if you like," Lily offered, sitting up and pushing her hair sleepily out of her eyes so that she could see Harry, James, and Sirius a bit better. "I never did get a chance to thank you, by the way," she added.
"Thank me?" Sirius raised a brow.
"For taking care of me yesterday," Lily explained. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been there, and – well – you were brilliant, really, so thanks."
"That's all right," Sirius muttered, plainly wishing that the floor would open up and swallow him. "I couldn't exactly leave you with Peter." He, Lily, and James all winced at the thought.
Coming to a decision, Sirius held out his arms and James handed Harry to him. "He's so small," Sirius commented. He and Harry stared at each other, much as Lily, James, and Harry had done the previous night. "Why Harry?" Sirius asked a moment later, never taking his eyes off of the baby.
James glanced at Lily and shrugged. "It seemed to fit him."
Just then the door opened and Mr. and Mrs. Potter, followed by the Evanses and Morwenna, filed into the room. Apparently no one had much felt like going to work today.
"We simply couldn't wait any longer to meet the newest Potter," James' mum explained to him as she came over to kiss his cheek and Lily's.
James opened his mouth to reply but was distracted by an odd choking noise. Lily, sandwiched between her two parents, was beginning to suffocate.
"I just feel so terrible that I wasn't there with you!" Mrs. Evans was saying, squeezing Lily even tighter. "I was helping Petunia with Dudley, so I wasn't home to receive the message, and –"
"Er, Mum, don't you want to see your grandson?" Lily asked breathlessly, hoping to distract her mother.
For the next couple of hours, Harry was passed round from visitor to visitor, taking it all more or less in his stride, even when they snapped photos, and Lily and James were bombarded with endless questions about the baby's name, his birth, Lily's health, and every other possible related topic. Lily and James opened presents on Harry's behalf, and by the time the Potters and Evanses left, Harry had enough outfits, blankets, and stuffed toys to last him for the rest of his infancy.
"Merlin's beard," James sighed as the door closed behind Morwenna and Sirius, who had gone to visit Alice, Frank, and Neville. He flopped down in the armchair next to the bed.
"That does seem to sum it up," Lily agreed, shifting slightly. Harry, worn out by the chaos, had fallen fast asleep in his mother's arms.
"What do you think about asking Sirius to be Harry's godfather?" James wanted to know, examining the large stuffed Quaffle from the Quidditch set that Sirius had brought for Harry. "I know he can be a bit irresponsible, but he's my best friend, and no one would take better care of Harry if we couldn't."
"Of course we'll ask Sirius," Lily said softly. "Who else would we ask?"
"Oh good," James grinned, relieved that he didn't have to attempt to convince Lily.
"Speaking of Sirius," Lily shifted again, trying to get comfortable, "where were you yesterday when he couldn't contact you?"
James sighed heavily. In all of the excitement of Harry's birth, he'd completely forgotten. "I went on a raid with five other Aurors," he explained. "Moody got some sort of tip that Rosier and Wilkes would be in London, and we went to bring them in."
"Did you get them then?" Lily asked eagerly, trying to keep her voice down so she wouldn't wake Harry.
"No," James ran a hand through his hair. "They were both killed while resisting arrest."
"What?!" Lily exclaimed, completely forgetting about the sleeping baby. "But they must have had all sorts of information!" Lily fought to keep her voice down as she comforted a whimpering Harry, who had been startled awake. "How could Moody, or anyone, lat that happen?"
"Crouch," James replied bitterly, helping Lily set the still-sleepy Harry back in his cot. "He's the department Head, and he stands by his decision to allow the Aurors to use the Unforgivable Curses on Death Eaters. Moody's very strongly opposed, and so are most of us who were trained by him, but Moody can't stop anyone from doing it. I think Dawlish hit Rosier, and I'm not sure what happened to Wilkes. Moody was livid and that was why I couldn't get away; I had to give a statement to Crouch and some of the other higher-ups about what had happened."
Lily glanced down at Harry, who had gone peacefully back to sleep. In the last twenty-four hours she'd managed to forget almost completely about the outside world's many threats, that there were other concerns besides her baby. It wasn't pleasant to be reminded.
Severus Snape glanced quickly over his shoulder as he slipped into the Hog's Head, then made certain that his hood was still in place. Reassured, he nodded to the barman and strode briskly through the storeroom to the secret stairway.
Once he was safely ensconced in the underground room, Snape removed his hood and sat to wait for Dumbledore, closing his eyes briefly against the pounding headache he'd developed in the last few hours.
He'd come from the Dark Lord early this morning and had immediately penned a message to Dumbledore, then he'd fallen into bed for some much-needed rest. But sleep had eluded him, and Severus was beginning to feel the effects of insomnia. He tried to remember the last time he'd slept and deduced that it had been three days ago. Much too long; Snape would have to get some sleep soon or he'd become sloppy in his exhaustion…..
"Severus, I've just received your message. What has happened?" Dumbledore seemed to glide across the room, his eyes intense.
"It would seem that our fears were justified," Snape said dully. "The Dark Lord knows about the prophecy."
Dumbledore sank into a chair across from Snape, and in that moment he looked every day of his age. "I see," was his only response.
"I left his side only a few hours ago," Snape went on. "He summoned myself and three others last night. The others had been with him when he learned about the Potter boy's birth. We were all masked and hooded, but one of the others was Lucius Malfoy."
"I'd expect nothing less of Lord Voldemort," Dumbledore replied softly. "Lucius Malfoy is one of the few respectable public faces the Death Eaters have. He has access to people and information that many of the others do not. Go on."
"The Dark Lord is – obsessed by this prophecy." Snape hesitated to use the word, but he knew it to be true. He'd never seen his former master so fixated on anything before, not even his quest for immortality. "He informed us that he did not have enough information yet to determine which child was the one mentioned in the prophecy, but he would know very soon because of the spies he has in place. As soon as he knows, he will have the child taken and he will kill him personally."
"How does he intend to determine which child is mentioned in the prophecy?" Dumbledore was absolutely calm and still; only eyes expressed any emotion, and they were livid.
"I am not certain," Snape replied. "The Dark Lord seems to be relying on his spies to witness some sort of outward sign or collect telling information. While he is waiting for that information, he wishes me to redouble my efforts with my experiments in the hopes that he can take one more step toward immortality. But it is my belief that the Dark Lord will not wait long before acting. I have never seem him so – agitated."
"As long as he is human, he is vulnerable," Dumbledore spoke softly. "It is not an easy thing, to hear of a prophecy foretelling your own downfall."
"Will you inform the Longbottoms and the Potters?" Snape asked, hating the fact that he found himself sympathising with James Potter.
"I believe I will wait until we have more information," Dumbledore answered slowly. "We know very little, and it appears that we will have something of an interval before Voldemort takes action. Even he appears to know that he must tread carefully here."
Snape nodded once and stood abruptly. "I will keep you informed, Professor," he said, drawing his hood up.
"I thank you, Severus," Dumbledore said rising gracefully to his feet. "We all thank you."
Snape only nodded curtly, unwilling to allow the headmaster to see that the words meant anything to him.
"I will keep you informed," he repeated, and strode from the room, his cloak whirling round him.
The rest of Lily and Harry's hospital stay passed by in a whirl of visitors and presents. Lily and James' respective parents came at least once a day, Morwenna, Dorcas, or Peter was almost always about, and Alice and Neville were in and out almost constantly. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Flitwick came along with Hagrid, and several of Lily and James' colleagues and fellow Order members popped in at least once. James had taken the afternoons off of work, which Lily was very relieved about, as both of them were rather inclined to panic whenever Harry began to cry.
Sirius came for a few hours after work every day, bringing Lily and James outside news and decent food. They'd asked Sirius to be Harry's godfather, a position he'd accepted immediately. He and James had already begun making plans for all of the things they planned to teach Harry, ranging from Quidditch maneuvers to practical joke tactics. Lily became a bit upset when she heard them discussing ways for Harry to torment his cousin Dudley.
The one thing they didn't discuss was Remus, and Lily knew that James and Sirius were secretly hoping that the impossible would happen and Remus would walk through the hospital room door, his old self again. Lily herself was wishing for that, but they all knew just how unlikely it was, so none of them mentioned it.
Finally, the requisite week was up, and it was time for Lily and Harry to go home. James packed up all of the gifts and transported them to the flat, which took three trips in Lily's car, then returned for Lily and Harry.
The drive from the hospital to the flat took twice as long as it should have, mainly because James insisted upon driving at half the speed of all of the other motorists and kept glancing back at Harry, strapped in a car seat next to Lily, fast asleep. James had been highly skeptical when he'd seen the car seat and remained unconvinced that it was a safe way for babies to travel. After the third near-accident, however, Lily felt it was time to point out that this was not precisely safe for him either, and James conceded to watch the road, though he still refused to speed above a slow crawl.
"I had no idea that Muggle drivers were so rude," James grumbled as they made their way down the corridor towards their flat.
"They do tend to get a bit impatient when you're driving less than half of the speed limit," Lily pointed out.
"Was not," James mumbled as he unlocked the door with a flick of his wand and turned to take Harry from Lily.
Lily just raised a brow at James and stepped into the flat.
"SURPRISE!!"
Lily very nearly toppled over in her shock at finding her parents, Sirius, Peter, Dorcas, Morwenna, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, and all of the assorted Longbottoms standing in her lounge.
"We thought we'd come and welcome you and Harry home," Morwenna explained, beaming.
"They attacked me when I came with the first load of presents," James whispered as he and Harry came to stand alongside Lily.
The next couple of hours was given over entirely to fussing over Harry and Neville as every adult in the room passed the two babies round to each other, cooing and snapping pictures all the while (with the exception of Sirius, who refused to coo and wore a faintly horrified expression as he listened to others do it). Lily and James' parents spent a good portion of the party trading grandparent stories with Frank's parents, the six of them arguing vociferously about every baby-related topic under the sun.
"Are they still at it?" Lily turned to find Alice standing next to her, watching the grandparents.
"Yeah, they are, and now they've gotten hold of both Harry and Neville," Lily replied. The six grandparents had indeed managed to commandeer both babies; Mrs. Evans held Harry while Mr. Potter made faces at him, and Mrs. Longbottom held Neville, talking in strident tones to Mrs. Potter all the while. Neville stared in fascination at the vulture that quivered atop his grandmother's hat, his eyes round.
"Mrs. Longbottom seems to have taken to grandmotherhood," Lily observed a moment later, her lips twitching.
"Yeah, she has," Alice sighed. "She and Mr. Longbottom and Professor Dumbledore popped in for a visit earlier and she insisted on accompanying us when we told her where we were going and that Neville was coming with us." Alice's expression was distinctly disgruntled.
Lily coughed to hide her laughter. "I'm sure she's just – er – concerned." Alice merely shot her a withering glare.
"So why didn't Professor Dumbledore come with you?" Lily tried to change the subject.
"He was going to," Alice replied absentmindedly, her eyes on Neville as he continued to watch the trembling vulture on Mrs. Longbottom's hat. "But he got a message while he was at our house and had to leave. He said he'd try to pop by later though – er, maybe I'd better go and rescue Neville." Alice dashed across the room to her baby, who did indeed appear as though he were deciding whether or not to cry. She was halfway there when Neville made up his mind and began to scream. Cottoning on to Neville's fear, Harry let out a whimper as well.
Lily hurried over to the grandparent corner herself, hoping to avoid a full-scale screaming session like the one Alice and Frank were having to deal with.
"It looks as though someone wants his mummy," Mrs. Evans said to her daughter, holding Harry out to her.
His mummy. Lily's mind reeled with the sheer enormity of the idea even as she took the baby and automatically began to pat his back and murmur soothing words to him. All of a sudden Lily felt very young and very unsure; she wanted HER mummy, it was frightening to think of being someone else's.
Then all of a sudden James was there, putting a hand on Lily's shoulder and helping her comfort Harry. Relief swept through Lily as she turned her head to smile at him. This Mummy business would still take a lot of getting used to, but as long as James was there, it would be all right in the end.
Author's Note:
I'm really, REALLY sorry it's taken me this long to update! The whole thing can be chalked up to two words: technical difficulties. Suffice it to say, I need a new computer (I'm still having flashbacks to the horrifying lost file debacle; I spent an entire week believing that my computer had somehow eaten this entire story) So again, I'm really, really sorry to have left everyone hanging for so long.
On a happier note, Priori Incantatem has been nominated in two categories in the Multifaceted Awards. It's in the Laughter category and the Love category. If you want to vote, the link is on my profile page. Thanks to shannon for letting me know and a big thank you to whoever nominated me; this definitely made my week!
As always, thanks to everyone who reviewed, and also thank you for being so patient with my lack of updates. Hope everyone enjoys!