Chapter 2

"James?"

"Yeah Lils," he said softly. "Come on in."

Lily pushed the door to the room open the rest of the way before shutting the door behind her. She walked over to the bed that her husband was lying on and smiled down at him.

"He's beautiful James," she whispered, afraid to wake the baby. "Have you named him?"

"Yeah," James said, he still had not taken his eyes off the baby in his arms. "Harry James, Harry after Severus' father and James after my father, well and me," he glanced up at the redhead with a smile. "I wish Sev could be here."

"I know," Lily said as she sat on the edge of the bed next to the new father.

"You know that you will have to pretend to be his mother right?"

Lily nodded as she looked down at the baby who was still sleeping.

"And we will be expected at the Order meeting in two weeks now that he is here."

"I know James, Sirius told me," Lily said. "He said that he will have to act put out with us. I don't understand why the people in the Order can't know the truth. I mean they all knew that you and Severus were together before he left."

"Yeah," James said as he looked at the woman. "But we think there is a traitor now, Severus could have claimed that he was leading me on but if they knew who's child this really was… then he could not protect himself as well. Dumbledore said that Malfoy told him that Voldemort is trusting Severus more than the others right now and I don't want to do anything to jeopardize his safety in any way."

"Okay," she said. This was a conversation that she, James and Sirius had been having often since James found out he was pregnant.

"You want to hold him," James asked her before he helped her hold the baby. "Remus and Emmaline know the truth, and you and Sirius and Dumbledore and Poppy. But that is it Lily. I know that you and Molly are friends but she must believe that you are Harry's mother. Not because we think she or Arthur are the traitors but because you never know who is listening or how something could get out."

"Do you think he has heard about our marriage?"

"I don't know," James whispered. He was still watching his son like a hawk. "Lucius hasn't said, but his wife just had her baby as well. He may not have had enough contact with Sev to know one way or the other. The problem is, now that we started this… story, I'm worried about how we can change it's plot once Severus comes back."

"We'll figure it out," she told him, as there was another knock on the door.

"Hey Prongs," Sirius whispered from the door. "Can I come in?"

"Course."

"I contacted Dumbledore, though Poppy said she would talk to him when she got back," Sirius told the couple as he walked up next to where Lily was sitting on the bed and looked down at his godson. "He wants the three of us, well four, to come back as soon as you're ready. Poppy said that you should be feeling fine by the weekend, maybe just tired. She said that Lils and I need to help with the late night feedings so that you get enough rest that it won't be evident what has gone on. She says that Lils is the one who is going to need to look tired and run down."

"So," Lily said as she stood up taking the baby with her. "We will take the munchkin in the other room so you can sleep now."

"Wait," James said as he reached up and kissed his son on the forehead. "I love you, my little lion."

Sirius smirked, "Severus would kill you if he heard that."

"I would let him, if he was here," James said looking up at his best friend with tears in his eyes.

"Lils," Sirius said softly. "Will you take him on out, I need a minute with his father."

"Yeah," Lily leaned down and kissed James on the head before standing up and kissing Sirius on the lips and turning and leaving the two alone.

"Look James," Sirius said as he sat on the bed and put an arm around James. "I know that you miss Severus and when he left you had to be strong for him, but now you need to be strong for his son."

"I know," James cried softly. "But it hurts. There's this ache, it hurts in here," he grabbed his chest and borrowed his face into Sirius side. "I love him Siri, why did he leave? Why didn't he fight this assignment?"

"Because he wants to have a future with you, not only a right now."

"But there's not a right now," James told him through his tears. "He left me."

"No," Sirius rubbed James' back. "He didn't leave you, he just…"

"He left me Sirius," James told him. "He left me and he's not coming back."

Sirius didn't know what to tell his friend. He knew that most of this out burst was due to the fact that he had just given birth and there were lots of hormones still hanging around, but he also knew that some part of his friend really believed this as truth. Severus left 8 months ago and had not had any contact with any of them. Sirius held James as he cried himself to sleep.

When he went into the other room, leaving his friend to sleep in silence, he found the love of his life standing by the window singing to the new baby. It made him smile on the inside and out.

"Lils," he said softly. "Is he awake?"

"Yeah," she said not looking up. "Sirius, I'm scared for him."

"I know love," he said as he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

"How's James?"

"Asleep," Sirius said sadly. "For now anyways. He misses Severus. I have to be honest I miss Sev too. Our snake was very important in our sanity."

"I know," Lily said. "Remus and Emmaline are coming over soon; do you think we should let James sleep through their visit?"

"Something tells me that he is not going to sleep long," Sirius kept watching the baby's fingers that were wrapped around one of Lily's. "He thinks that Severus has left him."

"Oh Merlin," she whispered as she looked at Sirius. "What did you tell him?"

"I didn't know what to tell him," he said.

"Sirius, you let him think that you believe that. I can't believe you," she whispered furiously.

Sirius leaned his head against her shoulder not knowing what to say to her.

*KNOCK*KNOCK*

"That'll be Remus and Emmaline," Lily said. "You can let them in."

Sirius let go of Lily, kissing her cheek, and walked to the door.

"Hey," Sirius said quietly as he pulled the door open.

"Oh dear," Emmaline said. "No body died, did they?"

"No," Sirius said sadly. "James is just missing Severus. Come on in."

"Thanks," Remus said as he walked in behind his wife. "Where is James, I thought he might want to see Rora."

"I'm here," James said from the doorway to his room. "Let me see my beautiful god daughter." James came into the living room and met Remus in front of the couch. He took his god daughter into his arms he turned and sat on the couch.

"Lily," he said as he looked up from the little girl in his arms. "Did Harry sleep?"

"Yeah," Lily said. "He is back asleep now, he woke up about half an hour ago and I gave him a bottle."

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me James," she told him. "At this point, he's my son too. I need to learn how to take care of him, and you can't thank me every time I do."

"I know," he said looking back down at the baby he was holding. "I just needed to now."

"James," Sirius started.

"I'll be fine Padfoot," James said. "I'll be able to go back tomorrow, I just need today, okay," James asked his friends. "I need today to miss Severus and tomorrow I will be Lily's husband. By the way, since I haven't seen you lot in months, what is my god daughter's name?"

"Aurora Rose," Emmaline said. "We've been calling her Rora or Rory as Moody has dubbed her."

"I like that, Rory."

"What about your son," she asked him.

"Harry James… Potter," James said. "I wish it was Snape but that might be a little obvious," he said with a smirk.

Sirius snorted, "Ya think?"