Disclaimer: The novel Harry Potter, nor any of the characters or ideas pertaining to it belong to me, they are the sole property of the one and only J.K. Rowling.
Okay I'm really sorry that this took so long, this chapter has been sitting in my computer for a long time now, but I got rather angry at it and felt it wasn't very good, in the end I re-read it and just decided to go with it.
Anyway should actually update soon, as these chapters are less time consuming to write and read over than my other story as they are considerably shorter.
As always thanks goes out to all those who read my crazy ramblings.
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Chapter Two – Hezakiah & Life's Little Wonders-----
Harry however proved the healer's prediction wrong. He was still unconscious twenty-four hours after he was supposed to awaken and his family was really starting to worry. None of the healers could explain the reason behind it and were now conducting every test known to wizard-kind on Harry.
James, Lily and Sirius had moved very little from their positions beside Harry's bed, they even conjured some recliners so they could sleep there, though sleep wouldn't find them.
Remus came in early the next morning looking exhausted, warn and worried, though it was at least two weeks until the full moon.
"Moony, what's wrong?" James asked in concern.
"I've had a hell of a time... taking care of your fan club" he answered as he sank down into a nearby chair, rested his head back and closed his eyes.
"What do you mean?" James asked rather confused.
"You mean you don't know?" he asked as he squinted one eye open.
"No?!" James said, starting to get irritated with the distinct lack of answers from Remus, so he glared at Sirius instead.
"Don't look at me! I've been with you the whole time!" Sirius answered defensively.
With a lopsided grin Remus said "the Potters have become instant celebrities – if you don't believe me take a look at the news crews outside that window. Crowd control has been hell, Dumbledore's got the entire Order down there; but there is a momentary lull at present, though it won't last for long". Remus stared bemusedly at the faces around him and sighed "Which reminds me, I better get back down there or we may have a stampede on our hands". He turned to Harry and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead with a muffled "wake up soon Cub". Remus then gave Sirius' shoulder a quick squeeze before walking round the hospital bed to Lily and James, enveloping them in a hug with a soft exclamation "I'm so glad you guys are alright, I was so worried" they both patted him on the back before he turned and quickly strode from the room.
James rose and stretched before making his way to the window to confirm Remus' reports and what he saw shocked him. "Lily…" he said with his mouth gaping "Lily, I think you better come here."
"Oh dear, not good" she murmured as she reached him "not good at all". They sighed as they stood hand in hand and beheld the massive crowd that awaited them.
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The stood there for Merlin knows how long in a deep contemplative silence, pondering over what had happened and what this would mean for them in the future. They were finally disrupted from their musings by a happy squeak from Sirius. "Lily, James I think he's waking up!"
As Harry's parents rushed to his bedside they saw one of the happiest sights of their lives, their son's eyes opening. Harry looked around him seeing Sirius first and smiling before turning to his parents, holding out he arms saying "Up?"
Sirius finally felt relieved after the innumerable hours of suspense, and rushed to find the healer that had been assigned to them, quickly finding her he dragged her into the Potter's room. They found the Potters hugging their son tightly with tears streaming down their cheeks.
The Potters regretfully released him as the nurse began examining the boy; after many minutes she sighed and said "he seems to be in perfect health, though I would like further tests to be conducted, as I'm still not entirely sure what caused all of this." With this she turned to walk away, but then thought better of it and turned to Lily "Mrs Potter, you really aught to get some rest, you have to be careful not to overdo yourself in your condition, especially after the last few days" she said as she smiled. The healer then frowned before continuing "and please let me be the first to thank you and your family on behalf of the Wizarding world for all that you and your family have done, though I do not know the particulars, you have made our world a better place" she smiled again and scuttled quickly out the door.
The people remaining in the room shared bemused looks before their attention was quickly taken again by Harry; they found he was once again asleep, though he had a much more peaceful expression on his face.
James turned to his wife and said "The healer was right my love, you should get to bed, If he wakes up again I will wake you" he smiled as his wife protested loudly when he physically directed her to bed. Lily did indeed feel quite tired, though she would never admit it, the emotional strain of the past couple of days had really taken it's tole on her. With the added strain of her new pregnancy, she fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.
His attention was soon caught by a deep yawn from the other side of the room, and for the first time noticed the worn expression on Sirius' face. Smiling he said "Padfoot, you look like you haven't slept in a week" then adding as he realised "and you probably haven't either. Take my bed, I want to sit with Harry" Sirius merely nodded and got up with a groan. With one last smile towards his godson he slumped over onto James' bed and fell asleep even faster than Lily, if that were possible.
James smiled to himself as he stroked his son's hair thinking of his wife, his son and their unborn child before he lent back on his chair and rested his wearying eyes.
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James awoke the next morning to find none other than Albus Dumbledore sitting opposite him. Rather groggily he asked "Albus, when did you get here?"
Dumbledore answered with a smile "I have been here all along my boy, I have been attempting crowd control with the Order out there, I think we have finally removed as many as possible, in the end we had to resort to some rather interesting measures" he said as his trademark twinkle returned to his eye "an idea provided by your friend Remus actually". Amused, James thought to himself 'I definitely have to ask Moony about that some day'.
The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes quickly disappeared once more as he said, "My boy there is much we must talk about though it is not safe to do so here, when are you going to be released?"
"Sometime today most probably" James replied with gravity.
"Then I shall return later today and take you someplace safe" he got up to leave before turning around and adding "and James I do believe congratulations is in order" he smiled as he stared between Lily and James.
Catching his hint James replied "yes indeed they are, thank you Albus" his expression widened into a full-blown smile while he was inwardly wondering at how all-knowing this man seemed to be.
"With all I've seen of the world pregnancy is something that still amazes me and gives me hope, that even during a war, a time of chaos and destruction, something so innocent and perfect can still be born into this world" he smiled as he shook his head as he turned muttering "amazing…" again as he left.
James smirked and shook his head at the absurdities of his mentor before his eyes rested on his sleeping wife. He smiled as he thought to himself "she's so beautiful, I can't believe she picked me" he shook his head and chuckled "how is it possible that I fall in love with her more every day that I'm with her?" he asked himself. His smile grew even wider if that were possible as his gaze found her stomach, and his musings took him to the child currently residing in her belly. With fondness he thought on what was to come, the morning sickness that lasted all day, the mood swings, the cravings at all hours of the night, he definitely wouldn't give that up for all the world. His mind took him back to the single most important event in his life, although it was a close tie with his wedding; the event at which Lily yelled at and abused him more than any other time, even all the days at Hogwarts put together could not add up to the amount of abuse he suffered that day, but still he treasured it above all – he got the one thing he loved most in this life - Harry. "Oh yes I'll have that to look forward to!" he muttered to himself as he pictured holding a new child in his arms.
His musings were interrupted by the little boy at his side as he loudly said "Daddy!" before jumping on his unsuspecting father and giving him a large hug. After hugging his son for a while and reassuring himself that Harry was indeed alright, he remembered his promise to his wife to wake her when Harry woke up. Instead of getting up to do this however his eyes took on a rather mischievous glint as he looked at Sirius. He whispered to his son "how about we go wake up Uncle Sirius?" Harry looked up at his father with wide eyes, though not entirely comprehending he nodded. As James walked over to the bed with Harry in his arms he whispered "now on the count of three we jump on him" as he placed Harry on the bed lightly he began his countdown "Ready…" he whispered as he held Harry up "one… two… three!" and with that he let Harry go who promptly landed tummy first on Sirius's chest. Sirius let out a squeal before noticing it was in fact Harry that had landed on him, while James stood behind him chortling.
He gave his godson a quick hug while saying "cheeky brat, just like your dad" at which point Harry was reduced to a fit of giggles that sounded every bit like his father, but Sirius didn't think he could have understood his comment and so was rather confused as to what caused this particular round of laughing. As Sirius sat up with his godson in his lap, he rubbed his chest and said in a false grumpy voice "Padfoot why did you make him do that for?"
James answered rather smugly "I had to wake Lily up and it wouldn't be anywhere near as amusing if I had done it in a conventional way"
"Yes, thankyou Sirius for the wakeup squeal, and I quite agree, much more amusing" Lily giggled at Sirius as he pouted at her choice of words. For Lily had indeed woken up as her husband had intended, though she rolled her eyes at her husband and son's antics muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "like father, like son".
"I did not squeal thank you very much; it was a manly shout of alarm!" Unfortunately for Sirius, Harry had learned a new word at rather an inconvenient time, saying loudly "squeal!" This earnt a large bout of laughter from the Potters while Sirius merely pouted and let out an indignant "Hmph!" he then began to tickle his nephew to death before his prisoner was rescued by his father.
As Sirius went to try to flirt with someone so he could get some breakfast, James brought his son over to say hello to his mother. As Harry was being cradled by Lily, she said to James, "I've been thinking, I want to go see Frank and Alice, the article in the Daily Prophet said they were here" she said as a few tears rolled down her face "I want to go see for myself whether it is true"
"Ok love, I know what you mean" he said giving her a half hug "I'll go find someone and see if it is okay" he bent down and gave her a swift kiss as he ruffled his son's hair "I'll be back soon" he murmured as he walked out the door.
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To the surprise of his wife, James came back about half an hour later, his arms laden with food. After dumping his stash onto her bed James spoke, "the healer said he'd send someone up with us in an hour or two, though he wasn't very happy about doing so" he shook his head and took a deep breath "but in the meantime I've brought us some breakfast!"
"But it's too early for breakfast, how on earth did you get it?" Lily asked questioningly
James waggled his eyebrows in a roguish manner before saying, with a large amount of flair "I found Sirius and gallantly assisted him in his endeavour to flirt with some charming nurses who then procured this food for us."
"You didn't!" Lily said, halfway between shock and amusement.
"Okay, so maybe not" James laughed "I did find Sirius and decided to help him with his efforts in finding food, apparently the nurses were all horrible old biddies that Sirius couldn't bear to flirt with, or so Sirius tells me, I think it much more likely that the women were much more intelligent than him, and wouldn't fall for his charm" his eyes crinkled smilingly "so we then went in search of the kitchen, hoping to pilfer some food, instead we met the house elves… and Sirius' charm worked on them…" he chuckled "when you think about it, it is slightly ironic that Sirius can attract creatures that aren't human, but he can't attract females…"
"Hey!" Sirius interjected with his mouth full, he came through the door to hear James' last comment, "I take offence to that, however too busy eating to have a comeback!" His arms were indeed full of food which he dropped unceremoniously down on James' bed, before jumping on it himself and stuffing his face full of food.
Lily and James contented themselves with the food they had, watching Sirius eat made them quite a bit less hungry than they were when they started. To avoid watching the rather gruesome display, they found amusement in James' attempts to feed Harry by levitating the spoon laden with food to his son's mouth. More often than not his attempts backfired as Harry would hit the end of the spoon, causing the contents to fly all over the room. James himself even got hit quite a few times, which caused no end of amusement to Harry, though James did not appreciate it particularly.
After Sirius had consumed all his food, and even some of James' which he pilfered off his plate, he decided he needed to walk off some of what he'd eaten, and then maybe return via the kitchens for some more food. This time however he swiftly picked Harry up off his mum's bed saying to him as he went "come squirt let's go for a walk…" and he scampered away as quickly as he could, before Lily had a chance to object. Unfortunately Sirius was not quite that nimble.
As Sirius was walking out the door Lily yelled out to him "Sirius Black don't you dare use my son to assist you in your flirtatious endeavours!"
Sirius' head popped back round the door, though he made sure he was as well covered as possible "Why Lily I'm insulted that you think I would ever need his help in such pursuits!" he held his hand over his heart in a rather over dramatic manner. "But now you mention it, that is a very good idea, thank you Lily" he gave her a self-indulgent smirk before strategically retreating. Lily was looking particularly irritated, and Sirius was not in the mood to be hexed into oblivion.
Sirius had completely disappeared by the time Lily had formulated a reply to his particularly infuriating comment so she merely rolled her eyes and said "your friend is going to be the death of me one of these days! Well, either that or I'm going to strangle him."
She quickly sobered when she realised what she had said, as she rapidly recalled just how close her family did come to dieing. "James" she said quietly as tears once again threatened to fall down her petite face "I just don't understand… what happened? I'm so confused. How is it that we are still alive, and Harry, I don't even know where to start with him. I am quite sure I remember everything that happened in vivid detail, but what I remember has to be impossible, everything we've ever learnt supports that fact. This is something I don't understand, and I'm…" she sighed "well I'm scared James. I just don't know what to think." She stopped, frustrated with her distinct lack of coherent speech.
James took this opportunity to answer as well as he could "I don't understand it either, I've been trying not to dwell on it, I think it best that we wait, it's not safe here. I spoke to Dumbledore this morning and he reaffirmed my feelings in this matter, there are simply too many wandering ears." He paused, taking a deep breath "Albus also said he would come by later, he is taking us somewhere safe where we can discuss this in privacy, besides which I am sure he will be able to shed some light on this matter." He sighed, giving Lily a quick hug "I know its difficult love, but now is not the time"
Lily nodded slowly and closed her eyes, tiredly resting her hand on her stomach, as if to ground herself, she succeeded somewhat especially when, some moments later James lay his hand on top of hers.
After sitting for many moments in relative silence James randomly blurted out "If it's a boy can we name it Hezakiah?"
"James" Lily said reproachfully as she lifted one eye open "you are not naming my baby Hezakiah." Lily remembered this aspect of her husband's character very well from when she was pregnant with Harry, her husband apparently had quite a love for obscure names, and more often than not they began with the letter H for some unknown reason. She did love this particular quirk in her husband, though she did begin to get exasperated with it last time as James came up with more new names at absurd times, each as outrageous as the last. Hopefully she could once again strike a compromise like she did last time, though it was this same compromise that led to her latest pregnancy… so perhaps not. 'Oh well' she thought 'I don't really mind…' At which point James interjected "Hypatia?"
… 'Well I don't mind too much anyway'.
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shamelessly stolen from "the wedding planner" which ironically I also do not own.
No offence intended to anybody who actually has these names, I am personally fond of obscure names and there is no disrespect intended.