Authors note: I've finally got this chapter typed! Sorry I took so long to update!

Chapter 2- Magic in the air

Lily Potter rubbed her sleepy eyes and sighed. It was 9pm and Harry still wasn't in bed yet. But no, she did not blame her precious baby boy, oh no, she blamed her precious big boy and his friends who insisted that Harry stay awake so that they could play with him.

'BEEP BEEP' screeched the fireplace, warning the family that somebody was about to arrive via the floo network. Looking up from her magazine, lily saw Albus Dumbledore elegantly step out of the fireplace and into her currently messy living room. Jumping up with a hand to her mouth Lily gasped in realisation.

"I'd forgot you were coming tonight Albus. Excuse the mess. It was tidy in here before a certain group of three decided to corrupt my baby and let him get all of his toys out at once."

The three men looked innocently at the chuckling Albus. Shifting into a comfier position on the rug, Sirius looked up at Lily with an offended glance before turning to Dumbledore.

"Who do you trust headmaster? The fiery redhead – also known as James' wife- or us?" Sirius feigned anger before totally cracking up and rolling around with laughter. Lily tutted at him and looked at James for back up.

"Come on Harry," he said as he scooped the infant up and into his strong arms. All of the adults (apart from Sirius) returned to the sofas. James and Lily shared one with Harry, supported by a cushion between them. When Harry saw Dumbledore a wide grin spread across his young face.

"Gan-da," he cried happily.

Sirius burst out laughing whilst Remus bit his lip to avoid doing so.

"Albus, I can never make out if he's calling you Gandolf from Lord of the Rings or granddad!" James muttered.

"Me too!" both Sirius and Remus answered as Albus smiled.

Harry however, was not at all amused and scowled.

"What's up sweety?" Lily asked him.

"Them" Harry replied.

Turning to the three men he was referring to, he sighed. " Pong, Pafut, Mooy, suttit now. Gan-da wonna talk!"

This rant sent the three yet again into hysterics.

"Pong?" James screeched. " Lily he's bullying me, tell him to stop. He's turning into you already!" he moaned.

Lily picked Harry up and hugged him.

"Good boy Harry, put those three in their place!" she praised. Harry nodded eagerly then slipped off the sofa and back on to his play mat.

Sitting more comfortably now, Albus turned serious. " Right, now getting to the more serious stuff. I see Peter isn't here tonight?"

"No, he said he had a meeting with his boss."

"Ahh, so he has but not with Mr Grayson."

"Not?"

"Not. Severus informed me this afternoon that Peter has joined Voldermort's ranks and is due to be branded tonight."

Silence filled the room.

"Are you sure?" James asked quietly.

"One hundred percent sure", Albus confirmed.

Sirius sighed loudly. They all knew that Peter had been the weakest member of their group but they had never, ever thought that he would turn to the dark side. Dumbledore started speaking again.

"At least we know that he cannot disclose your location as he is not the secret keeper- I am. You are safe for the time being at least."

Lily slowly closed her eyes and then suddenly gasped.

"Harry's never liked Peter," she said, her hands running agitatedly through her long red hair. "It's almost as if he could sense something about him that he shouldn't trust."

Remus nodded. "That's true, very true in fact. For months now, Harry's been totally miserable when Peter was here."

"It does make sense," confirmed James. "Harry seems to be able to sense who he can trust and who he can't."

Everyone turned to look at Harry who had fallen asleep on his play mat cuddling his toy stag.

"What does this mean?" Lily asked in a concerned tone.

"Well, I think his magic is maturing a lot sooner than usual. You'll have to keep a close eye on him to check whether he shows any other magical signs."

James got off the sofa and bent down to pick up his baby raven-haired son. "I'll put him to bed," he whispered, extremely careful not to wake him.

Lily turned to Dumbledore when James left the room, anxious about the welfare of her precious baby. "What do you think?" she quizzed. And knowing his vague answers only too well she added " And answer honestly!"

Albus sighed, his twinkling blue eyes gazing at the young woman in front of him. "I'm really not sure. If I were to have a hazardous guess though, I'd presume that this is an indicator that one day, Harry will be extremely powerful." He smiled at the shocked faces in front of him.

Sirius groaned and twisted around on the rug so that he could see Lily better. "Tut, tut" he reprimanded. "It's all your fault Lily flower! You had to pass the brains on to our junior marauder didn't you? Do you know what this means?" he quizzed.

Lily shook her head, a smile gracing her soft pink lips as she almost knew what Sirius was about to say, but decided not to spoil his fun.

"It means that unwillingly you have helped to create a new marauder, not only skilled in the arts of pranks, oh no, he'll have the brains to do even more than we mere mortals could ever dream of! Watch out Hogwarts because when this little champion is old enough to attend, he'll mean war!"

Lily rolled her eyes and Remus, Sirius and Albus laughed loudly. Several minutes passed before Sirius calmed down again and got up from his position on the floor to dive on to the sofa. Again Lily rolled her eyes at his antics but secretly she herself found Sirius fun to be around and a very close friend. Plus he was an excellent godfather to Harry!

"Sirius, will you ever grow up?" Remus asked with mock sincerity

Thinking for several moments before finding a suitable retort, Sirius replied. " Well you know me Moony, I'm a happy-go-lucky type. I'm sort of like a dog that has got a bone if you excuse that humungous pun!" His laugh sounded quite dog-like and even his blue/grey eyes reminded you of those of a puppy.

Lily glanced anxiously at the clock. James had been over twenty minutes now and she was worried what he was up to. She shook her head (although not as theatrically a Sirius had done) and got up from her comfortable position on the couch. Just as she did, and left the room, Remus grinned in humorous anticipation, wondering what his friend upstairs was up to. As silence set in between the three men, a piercing scream, clearly Lily's pierced the night air. Disturbed and worried the three men swiftly drew their wands and hastily ran upstairs.

Please reviw and let me know what you think!