Disclaimer: I don't own the world of harry potter, or any of the characters

I don't normally do a comment at the start, but I just wanted to say that this chapter is set a few weeks before Lily and James have to go into hiding.

1.

4th November

Dear Mum,

I can hardly believe that I've only been married two months; so much has happened. I'll tell you my news first. That's interesting; a year ago I would have saved my news until last, to end the letter with a bang. But life's too short- I've realised that now. Anyway, the news; you already know you're going to be a grandma soon, because Petunia is pregnant, but I can tell you you're definitely going to have a grandson in about nine months!

Alice and I are both pregnant! Magical pregnancy tests can tell you the sex of your child as well, so we both know we're having boys.

They're going to be best friends at Hogwarts, I just know they are. James is really excited as well; we've already decided that Sirius will be the Godfather, and they spend every evening in the sitting room talking about the "little prongs". They're already taking bets on whether he'll have black hair or ginger. I expect Little Potter and Little Longbottom will both be the troublemakers of their time, like James and Sirius. I can't wait to see them grow up.

I feel like I'm starting a new era of my life. Hogwarts was one era, and then my marriage era started, now my baby. It's like I'm about to start another first year- my first year of motherhood. You'll have to come round and give us lots of tips about being parents! I don't want this war, or the fact that I can do magic to help me, to change that. You'll be an ordinary mum giving me advice as you would have anyway.

James insists that even when Little Potter is big enough not to need breast feeding or nappy changing any more at least one of us should be home to look after him every day, even though it wouldn't really be necessary; old Bathilda Bagshot next door would be happy to babysit quite often when he's old enough. But, as James pointed out, "If he doesn't get to know his parents well enough, he'll probably end up like Sirius." Well. We wouldn't want that happening, would we? No, I'm just kidding. Sirius is brilliant, really he is. We were feeling a bit guilty about bringing a baby into this war-torn world at the moment, even though we wanted him so much, but Sirius made us feel much better about it just by being so very excited. He has insisted on having the right to buy Little Potter his first toy broomstick. I honestly think that Sirius will be the best godfather ever.

There are rumours going round that You Know Who's followers are after Marlene's family, the McKinnons. They are refusing to go into hiding, though. I tried to persuade Marlene that if He's after them and they don't hide, He'll catch up with her one day. But Marlene told me, "We're in the middle of a war. People die in wars. If I'm going to die, I want to keep working to bring Him down to the last." Apparently that's what her whole family thinks. I don't know if I could be that brave. Of course, I have the baby to think of as well.

If they get Marlene, I'm not going to let myself fall to pieces like I did after Dad died. I'm going to be strong. I talked about it with James, and we discussed life after death a bit. He firmly believes that one day we'll see everyone again. Could it be true Mum? Or is it all wishful thinking? I wish I knew.

How is dear Petunia? She's about two months pregnant isn't she? It's funny how so many people I know (including me!) are getting pregnant at the same time. Apparently a family friend of Alice's, Molly Weasley, is pregnant as well. She's about ten years older than us, and her first son William was born when Alice was ten. This will be her sixth son, I think Alice said. I wonder how on earth she manages with five boys and another baby on the way! Alice remembers holding little Bill when he was only a few months old. When he got a bit bigger, and the next few brothers started arriving, she would boss them all around and take charge whenever their families had a get together.

My son and Petunia's baby will be born within about a month of each other, won't they? I doubt I will be allowed anywhere near Tuney's offspring, but do try and knock some sense into him or her when you're round there won't you? With parents like Petunia and Vernon I think the poor kid will need it.

Anyway, could you come over next Wednesday? James and Sirius will be going off on a boys' night out, to celebrate (it'll be their first chance because of work and Order commitments), so that would be the perfect opportunity for us to spend hours talking about the baby!

Love,

Lily

4th November

Dear Dad,

I've been thinking a lot about what James said about life after death. So if you really are out there somewhere, watching me, then you probably already know our news. But it feels right to write you a letter. After all, that was one of my main regrets when I thought about you after you died; I hadn't written enough letters just to you personally. So here it is.

My time of the month was really late, so I thought I'd slip out and get a pregnancy test from Diagon Alley in my lunch break without telling James. We hadn't planned on having children until after the war, and I didn't want to worry him at this stage when it might be a mistake. But when the test showed that I was indeed pregnant, and it was going to be a boy, I knew that I had to tell him. I decided to wait until we got home.

At the end of the day we were both exhausted, but I was determined to break my news. I sat him down in the sitting room, and he was looking a bit nervous; I suppose I probably was as well. When I told him, he went very still for a minute, and then said slowly, "Are you sure?"

"Well, they do say 100% accurate," I replied, holding out the pregnancy test. He looked at it for a few seconds, then back at me, a wide smile spreading across his face.

"It's going to be a boy? We're going to be parents Lily!" he exclaimed. I went limp with relief. I was so worried he was going to be upset. I personally was absolutely thrilled. I had secretly longed to have children as soon as possible, because we could never be sure if the chance would be snatched from us. But we had agreed that it would be unfair on the children to knowingly bring them into a world where they never knew if their parents would be coming home at night.

Nevertheless, we are both incredibly excited and pleased.

You would have had a grandson, Dad. But he's going to grow up knowing about the best granddad ever, who just wished he could have met his grandson.

We have decided not to tell anyone, not even Sirius, that the baby was a mistake. After all, it was only our sense of fairness on the baby that stopped us from trying for one anyway, and how could anyone possibly call something as wonderful as a baby "a mistake"? I think it's alright to tell you though, since you're not going to be telling anyone down here.

One last thing, Dad, that I wanted to tell you first. I remember when you were alive, most of the time Mum called you Harold, but when she was particularly happy she would call you Harry. Like when you cooked the dinner, and Tuney and I were still best friends and didn't argue, so she had a perfect evening. Or when we were on Holiday in Spain, and the weather was so lovely that we could just sit outside all day long. Those were the happy times, or the Harry times, as I like to call them. Now Mum hardly ever seems happy. So to get to the point, I want to call my son after you. James can see that it's important to me, so he's agreed, as long as he chooses the name of the next one. ("What will you choose?" I asked with some trepidation. "I've always liked Elvendork as a name- plus it's unisex of course- always a bonus" he replied. Oh dear, oh dear.) But rather than call him Harold, I want to call him Harry; to remind Mum, and me, of the happy times.

Love as always,

Lily

So, that's the end everyone. Please do review and tell me what you think, I'd love to hear your comments as ever. Even if you come back from your Easter holiday to find this waiting for you, I'd still love a review a couple of weeks from now, or whenever. It would be like when you get late Christmas presents in January; as though Christmas isn't quite over.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed before with all your wonderful support, making me feel like it's all worthwhile.

Special thanks to americanathogwarts for always coming up with something for me to aim for, to help me improve.

And finally, this chapter is dedicated to LaTashaMalfoy.

Thank you.