NOTE TO REVIEWERS
Trocle, green is the aura stone colour that represents kids.
opalshine, go right ahead and use the name. Thanks for asking.
And so far the vote will end up that I will do the first choice during the Christmas holidays. I have decided that this story will have 35 chapters in all, and the last one will be the epilogue.
THANK YOU ALL FOR REVIEWING
Ch.33, Growing Babies!
Soon Sirius and Remus were allowed to see the baby before he was moved to the Nursery for a few days. Sirius and Remus laughed when the saw the resemblance to James. Last week, James and Lily had asked Sirius and Melissa to be godparents.
It was 'so cute' in the opinion of the girls when Sirius held little Harry, who was still sleeping. But then the nurse came in to take Harry to the Nursery for a check up, and everyone except Lily, who would be let out at the same time Harry was, was kicked out.
Three days later, Lily and James arrived home, with Harry, who looked around with wide eyes. Lily happily noticed that Harry's eyes were exactly the same colour as hers.
"Welcome to you're home Harry." she said softly to the bundle in her arms.
Harry made a little indistinguishable sound and continued to look around.
They gave him the 'grand tour' as James called it, but then they realized that he had fallen asleep on Lily's shoulder. James snapped a quick picture at Lily's whispered insistence, (she wanted to make a rather large scrapbook) and then the happy new parents placed their child in the small nursery they had made out of Lily's old bedroom. It consisted of: a crib, a rocking chair, a box of toys, and anything else you can imagine in a small baby's room.
Of course, they were waken up a few hours into the morning, by a few loud cries.
"How could he be up this early?" James asked groggily.
"If you had read all the stuff that Len and I read on the subject, you would know that babies don't really care if it's morning or night. They wake up whenever they want to." Lily said as she got up and went to Harry's room.
After Harry stopped crying, it was nearly 4 am. They decided that since James had work at 7 am, it would be quite useless to go back to sleep now. So they started their morning routine, Lily made breakfast while James took a shower and got dressed. Lily found it quite amusing when she made the bacon. Harry started crying, and would stop until she took him down so he could see what smelled so good. But he pouted when all he got was baby formula.
Days passed, and soon Lily commented on the remarkable resemblance between James and their son. Both had the same hair, and both had the same eating style: wolfing. Sirius had grown quite attached. One day, he and Harry even had a mock eating contest, even though it was obvious that Sirius let Harry win.
A week after the hospital, Dumbledore even came to visit the little boy. When he held little him, Harry looked up at him with a cute expression on his face. Like awe.
On Harry's two and a half week (yes, James was counting the weeks) anniversary, Remus popped into the Potter house. He looked very happy, but slightly pale.
"I thought you guys might want to know, Len's gone into labour." he said quickly before popping out agian.
Lily stared. Then, she scribbled a quick note to James, who was still at work, grabbed Harry, and Port Key-ed out.
Melissa was in with Len when she got there, and Lily couldn't go in because Harry wouldn't like the screaming. So then she got Sirius to hold him, and went in the room to comfort her friend just as James arrived.
Remus wasn't exactly happy. Since he was a werewolf, he had slightly increased hearing. He could hear his wife's screams loud and clear. But he stopped pacing the moment he heard a babies cry. And it didn't belong to Harry.
The Healer came out of the delivery room and turned to Remus. "You are her husband, correct? I think you might like to know that you're wife and daughter are both healthy, (Babies cries increase) and grouchy. You might want to see them." the healer said.
Remus ran into the room, to see a very disgruntled Len and a bundle of blankets in her arms, wailing her eyes out.
"Remus, meet you're daughter." Len said, as she passed the blankets (pink) to her husband. He took them with a big smile on his face. He sat down in the chair previously occupied by Lily, (they had left)
"She looks so much like you." he said.
"Are you saying I wail my eyes out on a normal basis?" she asked with mock anger.
"No, I meant that she looks gorgeous no matter what she is doing." he said, still looking at his crying daughter.
"Now what should we name her?"
"I've always like the name Crystal. What do you think?" Remus asked, finally looking up from his now sleeping daughter.
"I think it's perfect for her. Now onto the next order of business."
"And that is?" Remus asked, handing Crystal back to her mother.
"When am I going to get out of here?"
Two days later, mainly because Len made herself a right pain in the backside (and Crystal did too), the two Lupin girls were released from hospital. When they got back, they put Crystal right asleep in her crib, in the yellow nursery. The couple had followed Lily's example and changed Len's old bedroom into a nursery. Then, Len Floo'ed to her parent's place, (Let's just imagine that back then all the muggle families with magic children had Floo connections) and told them the wonderful news.
"She's called Crystal. Would you like to see her?" she asked her parents.
"Of course I want to see my granddaughter! She isn't asleep, is she?" her mother asked.
"Yes, but considering Remus put her in her crib 10 minutes ago, she'll be up in 5. She seems to prefer plenty of short naps." Len explained.
"Is that husband of yours still treating you well?" her mother asked strictly.
"Of course he is! He's wonderful! He was so supportive during my pregnancy. He's the best husband a girl could have!"
"All right, all right, we get it. Now let's go see little Crysy." her dad cut in. He then looked at the fireplace cautiously.
"Oh relax, here. Incendio! (the fireplace get's a fire) Now just sprinkle this powder in, and say where you want to go." Len instructed. Her dad still looked reproachful. She rolled her eyes, and stepped into the green flames, and shouted the name of her home.
When she got out, she was met with the cutest sight yet. Remus was holding a laughing Crystal, who had obviously just woken up.
Len's parents tumbled out after her, covered in soot. Crystal, hearing this, looked over and saw her mother with two people she didn't recognize. But to her, that didn't matter, as her mother was back.
Crysy stretched her arms out to her mommy, who walked over and took her from her father. Len's parents (or more her mother) 'aww'ed when they saw this. But then, her parents nearly had a heart attack when 4 people materialized right beside them.
Crysy obviously didn't like so many people around, because she snuggled even more into Len's side.
"Aww, she's shy." Lily cooed.
"Shh, it's okay Crysy." Len said, calming her child enough so she would look around.
Crysy's blue eyes looked at the many new people around her. It was clear to her that her mommy and daddy trusted them, so she felt confident with them.
Harry looked at the little girl that, to him, looked about his age. He had never seen another baby before. The adults all laughed as Harry and Crysy started to have a baby conversation.
The adults didn't understand a word that they babies said, but it was to cute to pass up. Len quickly passed Crysy, who was still talking to Harry, to Remus, who took his daughter carefully. Then, she summoned her camcorder, and got the rest of their conversation on tape.
Babies POV
"Who are you?" Harry asked.
"My mommy and daddy call me Crysy. Who are you?" Crysy asked.
"I'm Harry. This is my mommy." Harry said, talking about the woman holding him.
"This is my daddy, and my mommy is the one with the big black box."
Normal POV
"Would you like to hold her?" Remus asked Len's mother as the babies continues their conversation.
"Oh yes, I would love to." her mother replied as Remus handed her granddaughter to her.
"Crysy, meet you're grandma." Len introduced, still taping.
Crystal stopped her conversation with Harry to look up at her grandma with big blue eyes. (I know that babies can't lift their heads on their own at this age, but lets say that magic babies mature a lot faster than muggle babies.)
Crystal was introduced to the rest of her family and her parent's friends. It seemed that once she saw her that her parents trusted them, she became much more outgoing.
It seemed that the babies soon got bored with the adults, and they re-started their own conversation, which the adults found very amusing to watch.
Remus noticed that Len had a rather forced smile as her mother talked about Crysy meeting all her other relatives soon.
"Uh, mum? Did you see how shy Crysy was when you all came over?" she asked carefully.
"Yes?"
"Well, maybe it would be a good idea for her to meet everyone at once? Sure, she can meet them, but just a few at a time okay?"
Soon the babies stopped their conversation, and Crysy fell asleep on her mother's shoulder. Harry was already asleep. Lily and James left, and Len put Crysy in her crib.
Mel and Sirius left not long after. But then, to Len's horror, her mother started questioning Remus about his family.
"So Remus, I don't think I've met you're parents..." she said.
"Mum, can I talk to you for a sec.?" Len said, as she dragged both her parents into the kitchen.
"What's the matter dear? They aren't dead, are they?" her mother asked.
"Mum, Remus... his parents disowned him after an accident. So did the rest of his family, other than his uncle and aunt. He grew up with them, they were at our wedding." Len explained, knowing her parents wouldn't like it if they found out he was a werewolf. There were muggle tales, after all.
"Oh that poor boy!" her mother said.
"But, why would they disown him if it was an accident?" her father asked.
Len thought about how to explain this without telling them her husband was a werewolf. "Because of the accident, he got a condition. (her mother opens her mouth) It's not contagious or anything, so don't worry. But the wizarding world has stupid prejudices against people with this condition. But don't talk about his parents or anything like that, and don't ask him about his condition. It's a soft spot for him." she said, and then added not to pity him.
"All right. Eeek!"
An owl had landed right in front of Len's mother, who, even though her daughter had been getting owls for years, still wasn't used to it.
Len opened the letter, and then, with a big smile, shouted to Remus to come out.
"It's from Lily! She says that Harry just blew up his first pot!" Len said, handing the letter to Remus, who read it quickly.
"He blew up a pot?" her father asked. "Why is that good?"
"For a wizard, blowing something up is the first sign of magic. It's a milestone, like walking or talking. But even I have to say, that's quite early." Len explained.
"She says that she was trying to get him to eat that baby formula he detests, and the pot it was in blew up!" Remus said with a laugh.
Weeks passed, and soon it was time for Melissa's and Sirius's wedding. Len was the maitren of honour, and James was the best man. Their godchildren (Harry and Crysy) were the ring bearers/ flower girls.
The wedding was small. Sirius only had a few family members that didn't want to kill him, (his Uncle Alphard, cousin Andromeda, and her family) and Melissa's family had disowned her after they heard she was marrying a Black. They did have a bad reputation, after all.
So really it was only friends. But neither Melissa or Sirius really cared, as they were both having the greatest day of their lives.
But Melissa went bright red when Lily and Len decided it was their job to embarrass her with story from their teenage years.
"In our first year, Melissa had this er.. infatuation, with one of our teachers. (Don't you dare!) It was particularly funny, on Valentines day. She wrote him a poetic valentine, but didn't have the courage to sign it. (Some friends you are!) But then, she moped around for days when she found out in our second year, that he had decided to retire to spend more time with his wife. (I hope you have you're wills written out!) But don't worry Sirius, she got over him in third year, when you came along! Good luck you two!" Lily and Len said, alternating sentences. Melissa had her very red head in her arms, and Sirius was laughing his head off.
(At Hogwarts on September 1st)
"And the Forbidden Forest is still forbidden, to those of you who may have, forgot. And lastly, Professor Tton, a temporary supply, will be leaving us in January, when our own Professor Lupin will be coming back! And for those of you who may be curious, Len Lupin gave birth to a healthy baby girl on August tenth. I shall not keep you from the feast any longer. Dig in!" Dumbledore announced.
The seventh year JM cheered with the rest of Griffindor. And Hufflepuff. And Ravenclaw. None of the houses, (minus Slytherin) liked Professor Tton that much, mainly because he openly favoured the Slytherins. The fact that they only had one term left to publicly humiliate Tton disappointed the JM a little, but they were equally happy that the easy going, no detentions, Griffindor favouring, Professor Lupin was coming back.
(Hint: look at the name Tton backwards)
James and Sirius were planning Harry's first Halloween. They were laughing when a loud BANG was heard. Both men jumped up and reached for their wands. James panicked as he saw that his wasn't there. Just as he was about to call for Lily, she shouted out to him.
"James! How many times do I have to tell you not to leave you're wand lying around! Harry got a hold of it!" Lily said, as she came out with blue hair.
James and Sirius couldn't help it. They started laughing uncontrollably. They could even hear Harry laughing his cute little baby laugh from the kitchen.
"He is so like you Prongs!" Sirius shouted.
"Truly a son of a Marauder!" James said.
They forgot that Lily still had her wand. (duh duh duh duhhhhh)
At Harry's and Crysy's first Halloween, they dressed the kids up as simple things, like ghosts (Harry) and fairies (Crysy). The kids were particularly happy when the adults pretended to be scared of the kids. But their mothers made sure they didn't get to much candy.
"Oh come on Lils, let Harry have some more candy, his first Halloween can't pass by without him stuffing himself!" James had argued. He got green hair for that one.
After Halloween, it was the time that Len had been slightly dreading. Her relatives were all coming, and it would all be at one time. They all arranged to get off work at one point, but it was just for the weekend.
"Len, relax, you're scaring Crysy." Remus said with a laugh, as he looked from his frantic wife to his daughter, who was looking at Len nervously.
"I know, but she gets scared when there are too many people around, and twenty people at one time will positively terrify her!"
But they came, and Crysy snuggled into her father's side, (Len was to busy being crushed by her relatives) with wide eyes and a trembling lip. Over the months, she had gotten hair like her mother's, but her eyes remained that of her father's.
Remus did his best to comfort her, but his specialty was making her laugh. He was sitting on the sofa in Len's parent's house. Luckily for Crysy, at the moment they were insisting that they see some magic. So he started entertaining his daughter, but silence rang through the house at the first sound the baby had made since all the people entered the room. A sweet, little child's laugh.
Luckily she was paying to much attention to her father that she didn't notice that every eye in the room had turned to her. But then, everyone rushed forward, even with Len telling them not to, and Crysy saw them. She snuggled into her father's side once more, and everyone that had ever been near a crying baby knew that whimpers and a trembling bottom lip were bad signs.
"Shhh, it's okay honey, mommy and daddy are here." Remus soothed as Len pushed her way through the crowd that wanted to see their new niece/grand niece/ cousin (1, 2, and 3 times removed)/ great granddaughter.
But she was still frightened, and so, even at the protesting of Len and Remus, (which didn't make it any better in her mind) tons of people rushed towards her.
A bang and the tinkle of broken china was heard.
Everyone stared at the now broken vase on the table between Crysy and her (unknown to her) relatives. Then, everyone turned to stare at Crysy. Both parents were bustling with pride.
"Oh Crysy, I'm so proud of you!" Len said, and as Remus gently handed her the bundle of blankets. Crysy could tell she had done something good, by the sound of her parent's voices.
"Why would you be proud of something like that? The kid's a safety hazard!" Someone shouted.
Len and Remus looked up from congratulating their daughter to glare at the person.
"Crystal is born a witch. The fact that she can blow something up at this age is wonderful, it practically guarantees power when properly trained. Magical babies don't usually blow something up until 4 months, at least. I'd watch you're mouth Mark, or else you might end up with pink hair my dear cousin." Len said coldly. This shut him up.
"Len, I'm going to go write an owl to the others, they have to hear this!" Remus said excitedly.
And so the group (after the family reunion, which took hours just to let Crysy see everybody, one at a time) had a little party for Crysy blowing her first object up.
Time passed. It was the end of December at Godric's Hollow, and Harry had just had his first Christmas. He was still playing with the miniature flying broomstick (curtesy of James) which made said parent very happy. James had chased Lily around the house for her camera when she caught him playing with Harry in a rather childish way.
But for him the real milestone occurred just after James had come back from a day of work that had went very long. Harry crawled over to him, holding out a toy, asking to play.
But James was exhausted. "Not today Harry, daddy's very tired, the er... (catching Lily's glare at almost using bad language in front of their son) mean people at work were very mean." then he ruffled Harry's hair in a playful way, and walked off.
"Daddy."
James froze. So did Lily, even though the stew was boiling over. They both turned to look at their son, who was looking very pleased with himself for gaining their attention.
James snapped out of his stunned state to ask Harry, "Can you say that again?"
"Daddy!" Harry chirped.
Beaming, James went over and picked his son up and put him on his shoulders. James ended up playing with him for the rest of the night.
awww! I just had to enter that little sentimental bit there, it's so cute! Okay, after this, it's just the chapter for that fateful night on Halloween, and the epilogue. Unfortunately, I will have to mention the rat, Peter Pettigrew, though he will be called The Rat. Actually, scratch that. He doesn't deserve capitals, or 'the' . So he will be addressed as 'rat'.
The vote's still on people! So far, (1) is winning, 4 to zip. Sorry, but I shouldn't officially count votes that could go for any one except three. Story will be done by September 4th, when my summer holidays end. After that, the winner of the vote will come around Christmas, when I get a break for a week or two. R,E&R!