July 1980…

James had known, the second that he'd "married" Lily Evans to protect her and her unborn child from Voldemort, that there was a lot that he didn't know about the redhead. She had, of course, told him as much as she was able to as soon as they moved in together.

"James. This must be a bit awkward for you. I mean, we've been friends for years and now Dumbledore expects you to…"Lily said as James helped her onto the couch.

"You know that as a Marauder, I'd do anything to protect you." James gave her that grin that Lily had become so used over their Hogwarts years.

There was a look in Lily's eyes that James couldn't quite recognize as she turned toward him and began a very long story. "Despite the fact that we've know each other for a rather long time, I'm going to assume that you don't know much about me, other than what Sirius has told you, which I know breaks the Marauder Code. Though, if you want to know more about me, you could just look in the "Marauders' Guide to the Marauders and friends. I'm going to start at the beginning, and tell you everything, even the things you already know, so sit back and get comfortable." She smiled as James grabbed a pillow and blanket from the basket at the end of the couch. "You take everything so literally. I was born on a very snowy and cold January morning to Orion Black and his girlfriend at the time, Aurelia McGonagall. My father's wife, Wallburga, whom you know is Sirius' mum, had just given birth a few months prior to my dear brother, and my father made sure that we were well taken care of in a nice house in Spinner's End."

"I knew that. That was one of the first things you two told me."

" Sirius is going to be one of the godfather's of my baby, too, which I'm sure you think is wonderful. May I go on?" James nodded. "He made sure we were well provided for. I spent Christmas, my birthday, and several other times with him. In the Black family it was quite common to have one or two illegitimate children, and I was somewhat welcomed. So we lived in Spinner's End, quite near my mother's best friend from Hogwarts, Eileen Prince Snape. She had married a horrible muggle name Tobias, but their son became one of my best friends. When I was about a year and a half old, my mother married Richard Evans, a muggle who was almost as horrible as Mr. Snape, and they had Petunia. Though I knew all about magic, I was forced by my mother to keep quiet about it. That's why Severus and I became such good friends; he was the only one I could talk about magic to. In the end, my stepfather found out about me, and he wasn't very cordial about it either. It was okay for me, because I was at Hogwarts by then, and I'd made more friends beside my brother, like you and the rest of the Marauders. Father agreed that it was better to play it up that I was a muggleborn, despite his family's obviously negative views on muggles. It would protect me from some of the nastier fellows in Slytherin, like Lucius Malfoy, who was in his seventh year when we were in first, and his side-kicks. You know most of the Hogwarts stuff, so I don't need to tell you much about that."

"Of course you don't…I know almost everything there is to know about my fellow Marauders and you. Like the fact that you and Gawain Malfoy, aka Winter, have been married since you turned seventeen, and your brother is going to join the death eaters and Sirius hates him because of it and…"

"Thank you, James. I'll continue now. Seventh Year was also the year my stepfather finally succeeded in killing my mother, which my sister still blames me for. It can't be helped. I suppose that you also know that, despite all of Padfoot, Moony, and Midnight's attempts that we can't reach him. Aunt Minerva's been giving him updates."

"I talked to him at work a few days ago, before we, you know, officially went on this "mission". I know that if that was me in his situation, I'd have gone mad by now." James patted Lily on the shoulder. "I'm also glad that my family is not so intermarried that my cousin is my sister-in-law," James grinned.

"You're lucky. You don't even have any cousins that are your age anyway. They're all much older than you. Narcissa isn't that bad though. She might be married to a Death Eater, but she isn't one herself, like Bellatrix is."

Time went on, and soon, at 11:59 on July 31, Lily's child was born. His father wasn't able to be there, but his pseudo-father James, his newly named godfathers Sirius and Severus, and Remus were. "Gawain insists that our son be named after his grandfathers, though he didn't say that I couldn't put a name in front of it so, Sirius, you are holding Harrison Orion Abraxas Black Malfoy"

Sirius rolled his eyes and looked down at the tiny emerald eyed baby in his arms. "With a name like that, you're going to be made fun of a lot, even if most of the other pureblood kids have funny names. Though, if you take after your favorite uncle in the looks department, having a funny name won't matter, because you'll have girls hanging all over you."

"Sirius!" Lily scolded. "The boy is only five minutes old, and you're already scarring him for life. If you don't watch out, he's not going to have a 'favorite uncle' much longer."

Severus smirked. "For once, Lily, I agree with your dimwitted brother. He better be the favorite uncle, because the other biological uncles are both in the service of the Dark Lord."And before you say anything about one of his godfathers also being a Death Eater, Sirius, you know that I did not volunteer to have a permanent connection to that creepy maniac. My uncle made that choice for me." James smirked. Severus was the only one of them who ever managed to shut Sirius up when the man wanted to go on a rant.

The next year went by quickly, and as the days grew darker, little Harry became their only bright spot. It was only a matter of time, though, before Lily and James had to go into hiding, as it became increasingly clear that Voldemort was after their little boy. On their last day of freedom before the fidelus charm would be applied Lily made Harry's godfathers give her Unbreakable Vows. If something happened to her, and James or Gawain Malfoy, who had now been forced by his cruel father to join Voldemort despite his pleas that he'd rather not, she wanted to make sure that her son would be taken care of.

"Do everything you can to make sure he is protected. Take care of him."

The two black-haired twenty-one year olds walked away from the cottage in Godric's Hollow that day, not knowing that those would be the last words that they would ever hear Lily say, and not knowing that it would be those words that would be haunting them one steamy June morning fourteen years later.