James groaned. Then he hurried out of bed. "I'm coming Harry, I'm coming."
He hurried in to the nursery to see a wailing 6 month old. The boy stopped crying and lifted his arms. James, taking the hint, lifted him up. He started cooing and making faces without paying any attention to anything except his son's high-pitched laughter. He, for the first time he could remember, jumped when arms circled around his waste.
"Love, you are going to spoil him rotten." Lily whispered into his ear. "Not that he already isn't." She added thoughtfully.
"He may be spoiled, but he's anything but rotten." James responded, now tickling Harry.
"True," Lily laughed. "He's as sweet as they come. Any idea why he woke up?"
"Nope." James said, shrugging. "Nightmare? Anyway, as soon as he saw me he stopped crying. Whatever it was, he's fine now." Lily nodded. Harry lifted his hands up. Lily took the baby into her arms.
"Now who's spoiling him?" James smirked.
"Mothers don't spoil. They don't need to." Lily returned. "Isn't that right, Harry?" The baby giggled. James only rolled his eyes at them.
"Whatever, Lil. Seeing as it's morning, we might as well stay up. Breakfast anyone?"
Lily smirked. "With you cooking? I think not."
James looked offended. "I can cook! I just rarely use that wonderful talent of mine." Lily snorted.
"I happen to remember that one dinner you planned to make. What was that supposed to be again? Lasagna?" She asked slyly.
"Yeah, so what. One mistake." James replied.
"That mistake had us covered in sauce and cheese, not to mention the walls, the table, the kitchen, and even the ceil-"
"All right, all right! I get the hint. No lasagna! Who wants that for breakfast anyways?" James said, leaving quickly before Lily could reply. Instead she yelled after him.
"Just don't plaster eggs all over the place James Potter!"
"No problem!" He called back. Lily just shook her head.
"I still don't know how I fell in love with your daddy, Harry. At least I don't regret it." Harry giggled. "Let's see how long it takes before daddy makes a mess and needs mommy's help."
They played for ten minutes before James let out a strange yelp. Lily, laughing already, took their child downstairs. She walked into the kitchen to see a flabbergasted Sirius and a laughing Remus. Looking around, she noted her husband on the pancake mix covered floor. The mix covered all walls and the floor, though the ceiling seemed fine. Lily shook her head.
"Well, at least you listened a little. Pancake mix is better than eggs." He looked up, blushing furiously. "Have you learned your lesson?"
"No cooking." James muttered.
"Hmmm. I think there's more to it." Lily said in a patronizing tone.
"No one cooks in this house, except for you."James said, grimacing. Lily often said this.
"Perfect. Now, would - Peter! Are you okay?" Lily screamed, for Peter Pettigrew had just come running through the door and, as usual, had not paid any attention to his surroundings. He had made it about five feet into the room before losing his footing and landing on his backside, covered in the pancake batter. James, being a loyal Gryffindor, tried to rise to help his friend, only to find himself right back on the ground seconds later. Lily, Sirius, and Remus were howling with laughter. Harry was handed over to Sirius so that Lily could clean the mess.
"So? What's with all the visitors today?" Lily asked after everyone was relatively calm, and in some cases, cleaned up. The men all turned to stare at her as if she were crazy. "What?"
James laughed. "Lil, we planned this months ago! Harry is going to the playground, remember? Sirius and Peter will watch out for him in their animal forms."
Lily paled. "Oh, James, I don't know. It's so dangerous. What if..."
James stopped her. "Lily, calm down. He's only a baby. All we're going to do is push him in the swings, and maybe some other little things. All of us are going to be there, plus we'll be in a muggle area. Don't worry so much, okay? We won't let anything happen to Harry."
Lily frowned. "I know, but... I just think it's too dangerous."
"I am going to be watching in the background, Lily. You know that I won't let anyone come into the playground to hurt any of you. Harry needs to see the things outside of the backyard. He'll have fun and it will give you two some time away from home." Remus said, staring her in the eyes. "You'll be quite safe."
Lily nodded. "All right, I suppose Harry does need to leave the house for awhile." Everyone smiled at her. "Let me get him ready then." She plucked Harry out of his Godfather's hands and carried him back to his room to put some clothes on him. Still worried, she brought him back down to see the four telling jokes. She stopped in the doorway, glad to see them all being carefree, even if only for a short while. Voldemort had been somewhat calm for the last week, causing everyone to be worried. Who knew what he would do next.
Finally, Remus noticed her. "All ready?" She nodded. Sirius kissed the baby's cheek before turning into the big black dog. Peter had already resumed his rat form. "Go ahead, I'll follow behind." Lily nodded nervously and they all headed out. There was a park about half a mile away, and the weather was very nice for the first of March. Lily tried to smile for her son and husband and not look left and right every two feet. James, however, noticed.
"Here." He took Harry from her and put his other arm around her shoulder. "Relax. Everything will be just fine. If it makes you feel any better, there is already someone there waiting for us. We could not be any better protected."
"Who?" They had arrived at the park and Lily was looking around in mild fear until she saw a familiar face. "Albus! Oh, thank you, James. I feel much better." James nodded and she hurried over to hug the old Professor warmly. There were very few people in the park and Lily noted that they were all muggles, then she froze. "Alice?"
The woman looked up, also holding a toddler. "Lily! Was it you who sat this up?" Lily shook her head and looked to her husband, who also seemed shocked to see their old co-worker and classmate.
"I did," Dumbledore said. " I figured all of you needed some time to relax and with so many people here to protect you you'll be fine. I have placed wards all around the park, there is no need to worry."
Lily smiled gratefully. Then looked around before finally spotting them. "Frank!" She called, going towards the man by the swings. He looked up and greeted her with a friendly hug.
"How is young Harry?" He asked, smiling as James, Remus, and Alice joined them.
"Wonderful. He's a great baby, hardly causes any trouble." Lily said, eyeing the toddler in James's arms who was looking at all the brightly colored tubes and swings. "How about Neville?"
Alice beamed. "He couldn't be better. I am glad that we got this chance to get out of the house. It's been so horrible keeping him cooped up." Everyone nodded. Lily took her son and placed him in the swing next to baby Neville's and began to push him. He giggled and soon Alice was doing the same to Neville. All the adults had bright smiles at the looks of pure joy on the two boys faces. Even Padfoot was wagging his tail madly.
Eventually James talked Lily into putting Harry on the slide so that he could catch him at the bottom. Lily didn't like this idea at all, but she went along with it. As soon as she let Harry go, the baby's face went into a shocked expression. Lily regretted it and was about to rush back down when she heard him squeal with delight as James caught him. She breathed a sigh of relief. They used the slide a few more times before Remus caught sight of Harry yawning. When he pointed it out, everyone agreed it was time to go so that the children could have a nap.
Lily hugged Alice and Frank good-bye and pecked little Neville on the head. James and Remus said their farewells and Albus said that he would come by later before escorting the Longbottoms back to their hide-out.
On the way back Remus carried the sleeping child while James and Lily walked hand in hand. As soon as they were back inside, Peter and Sirius returned to their normal forms. Peter said he needed to be off and left soon after, smiling at them all. Only Lily seemed to notice that the smile was rather forced and then thought she was going crazy. Sirius and Remus stuck around for lunch and tea before departing.
Lily just couldn't seem to get Peter off of her mind. There was something different about him. He hardly spoke at all, and he seemed somewhat depressed. She mentioned it to James who considered her.
"Well, he wouldn't be able to talk much as a rat, would he? But, he did seem sort of depressed. I don't know, I'll speak to it the next chance I get. Okay? He didn't seem to be ill, but with him you can never tell. He's always been so ... secretive."
Lily nodded, and even though she wasn't sure why...she was worried.
Thank You all for your reviews and for reading my story! I'm about to start another one, but don't worry. I plan on posting a lot, just taking turns between stories. Now, I have had a couple of requests on how this should turn out... so give me any requests you really want to see. Sirius getting Harry. James being the only one to die. Lily being the only one to die... Just let me know. How this turns out is really up to all of you! Next chapter will be Harry's first birthday (and first word - any requests?) After that is Halloween - and we all know what that means. After I get a few reviews/requests I will write the next chapter and post it. Again - Thank you all for reading and an extra thank you to everyone who reviews!