Everyone looked out on to the beach with smiles. They had all decided to take a day trip to California to come and relax. The war didn't even touch on their minds as the sound of the waves calmed them. James and Frank had Harry and Neville near the shallows with Peter and Sirius while Rebecca, Alice and Lily sat back drinking lemonade with Remus and Andrew.
"Oh this is nice." Rebecca sighed and lifted her head from Remus' lap.
"Yeah it is, it's nice not having to worry about Death Eaters jumping out every 5 seconds." Lily said and James walked over with Harry in his arms.
"Here's mummy." James said with a grin as he swooped Harry around and he let out a happy scream before Lily took him in her arms.
"I bet you are hungry mister." She said and pulled out a bottle and started to feed Harry. Frank handed off Neville to Alice who in turn pulled out a bottle.
"Alright I'm going to start lunch guys." Andrew said as he got up and grabbed the cooler as he walked over to the grill to the side and started on burgers.
"Can you put some more sunscreen on me Remus?" Rebecca asked as she handed him he bottle.
"Sure love." He said and she pulled her hair aside as he lathered it on to her shoulders and back.
"Lets go out to the water." She said and stood up and held her hand out to him. She pulled him up and out to the water and waded in to her knees.
"I'm glad you suggested doing this, it looks like everyone is having a good time." He said wrapping his arms around her and looking out to the horizon. She smiled and turned her head and he kissed her cheek.
"Yeah, I've never had the war farther from my mind." She sighed. It had been a stressful time for everyone. Death Eater attacks were coming closer and closer, they were gathering more followers with each and every day. People were going missing every week, people being killed; it was nice to just get away from it all for once, even if it was for only a few precious hours.
"When will this war end?" Rebecca sighed.
"I keep asking myself the same thing every day."
"And what have you concluded?"
"I try not to think about it and focus on the good things I have." He said and smiled as he nuzzled her neck.
"Yeah? Like what?" She asked with a smile as she turned around to face him, wrapping her arms around him and pecking his nose.
"My friends, my job, the love of my life." He said and kissed her.
"Don't you get tired? I'm so tired, tired of fighting. Tired of losing people I care about. Tired of fighting a war that is never going to end." She said and buried her face in his chest. "I'm scared everyday I am going to lose one of you guys." She said and looked at the group sitting on the beach.
"It will end Becky, just you wait and see." He sighed and hugged her tight, not even sure of his own words.
Before they knew it, it was time to pack up and get back to the war.
Andrew and Rebecca walked up to the shoreline as everyone packed and she looked at him.
"I worry about you every day, you know that?" He said and she gave him a weak look. "I worry if I will see you again every time you leave. I know I can't convince you to do anything, like come back here and be safe but don't do anything stupid alright? Don't try to be the hero alright?" He said and she looked at him and hugged him tight.
"I'm sorry Andy." She said holding back tears.
"I just want you safe that's all." He said and pulled back and kissed her forehead. "Just please come back safe." He whispered and she squeezed his hand and walked back to the group. They grabbed the two portkeys they had set up and Remus looked at his watch.
"5 minutes guys." He said and Rebecca smiled as she looked at Neville and Harry asleep in their dad's arms.
"It was good seeing you Andrew." Remus said and shook Andrew's hand.
"Take care of her, I want her back safe." Andrew said and looked at Rebecca.
"I will." Remus smiled at Rebecca and she smiled at him.
They all grabbed a hold of the portkey and within a few seconds Lily and James' house came in to view. Rebecca felt herself go flying and laid sprawled out across the grass and Sirius let out a bark like laugh.
"Not funny Black." She muttered as Remus came over and helped her up.
"Thank you honey, I'm fine really." She said with a smile as he fussed over her.
"Alright we'll see you guys later." Rebecca said and gave Lily and James a hug and kissed Harry's forehead before her and Remus apparated back to the house.
Rebecca stared out the window in the kitchen as she prepared breakfast and sighed to herself. There was a tap on the window and she saw a small owl with the paper and she opened it and it flew in and dropped the paper on the table and flew out.
"Merlin no." Remus said and she turned around and saw a distressed look on Remus' face.
"What?" She asked and looked at the front page of the paper. Her knees went weak and she grabbed the chair and sat down. On the front cover of the paper was what made her stomach churn. Edgar Bones and his family were dead. A picture of the house with the death mark and a picture of the family were plastered on the front.
"No, not Edgar." She whispered and buried her face in her hands. Tears welled in her eyes and she looked to the picture of him, his wife and his 4 kids. She slammed her fist in to the table and got up.
"Becky-."
"Not now Remus." She said quietly and went back to the food on the stove.
"I am so sick and tired of being the good guys sometimes, I just want to go out there and start picking their families off one by one and see how much they like it." She hissed and Remus got up.
"Becky you don't mean that." He said as he walked over to her.
"You know, sometimes I do, and sometimes I am so angry…" She said and trailed off.
"It wouldn't make anything better it wouldn't bring anyone back and it would make you just as bad as them, don't give them the satisfaction." He said and touched her shoulders.
"Its just not fair." She said and turned around. "Elle just turned 8, and Jeremy was only 5 months old and the twins, they were going to be 6, how is that fair?"
"It's not fair but what choice do we have?"
"I feel so helpless just sitting around and watching everyone I know get killed, how long till its you or James or Lily? What if it was Harry?" She said as tears filled her eyes. He pulled her in to a tight embrace and she cried in to his chest.
Rebecca gave a quick knock on the Potters front door and stepped inside.
"Guys I'm here." Rebecca called out.
"We're in the living room." Lily called out and she made her way in to the next room and saw Sirius sitting on the couch across from James and Lily.
"You." She muttered as she sat down next to him and Lily pushed a glass of lemonade towards Rebecca.
"I knew you wouldn't want tea." She smiled and Rebecca took it with a grin.
"Know me best Lily." Rebecca said and took a sip.
"So you guys are probably wondering why we invited you both here." James said as he held Harry who cooed with a smile.
"We have been doing some thinking about the future and such, and thinking about what would happen should both Lily and I not be here."
"Hey don't think like that, you'll be fine." Rebecca said with a wave of her hand.
"Well its just something we have to consider." Lily said looking at James. "And we wanted to ask you something. Well both of you." Lily said and took James' hand. "We wanted you guys to be Harry's godparents."
"God what?" Rebecca asked choking on her lemonade and Sirius snorted in to his tea.
"Should anything happen to both of us, we want you guys to take care of Harry. Becky you're my best friend and Sirius you are James' and we want to name you too Harry's godparents."
"Oh wow Lily, that's huge, I uh-." Rebecca said and set her lemonade down and looked at Sirius who was looking at her. "I mean aren't there people you know more qualified?" She asked and Sirius frowned at her.
"We trust you guys more than anyone and should anything happen to us we feel Harry would be safe with you guys." James said.
"We don't even get along that great." Sirius said and Rebecca rolled her eyes.
"That's because you're a pig." Rebecca muttered.
"Guys not now." Lily cut in and smiled. "We aren't asking you guys to get married or anything, just take care of Harry should anything happen to us."
Sirius and Rebecca looked at each other.
"I would be honored." Rebecca smiled.
"Me too." Sirius nodded and Lily and James smiled.
"Harry, you have god parents." James said bouncing Harry who smiled with a laugh and clapped his hands together.
"You wouldn't expect something so cute to be such a eating, crying and pooping monster." Rebecca smiled and Lily rolled her eyes.
"That's what babies are." Lily said and stood up and took Harry from James.
"Which is why you guys are crazy for making one." Rebecca said and picked her lemonade up and took a sip as she looked at Sirius who was looking out the window.
"Thanks for making dinner Lily." Rebecca said as she set up the table at the Potters house.
"It's going to be nice to have everyone together for a dinner. Everyone has been so busy."
"How long will Harry we down for?"
"About an hour hopefully." Lily said and there was a knock at the door.
"James dear would you get that?" Lily called.
"Hey Padfoot." James greeted from the door.
"Wasn't sure he would show up." Lily said surprised. "It seems Jane takes up all his time."
"About time we finally get to meet her." Rebecca said and felt a stab in her stomach. She had heard of this girl but had never met her. She didn't know what she was feeling but she didn't like it. She looked at Remus helping Lily with the food and tried to focus on him. She loved Remus, Sirius was just her friend. Remus walked over and handed her a glass of wine and she gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks dear." She smiled and took it from him.
"Hey guys." Sirius said walking in with a girl following him. Lily and Remus stared for a moment as James walked in.
"Can you see it?" James said humorously.
"Hey, I'm Rebecca. Nice to finally meet you" Rebecca said with a small forced smile. James and Remus exchanged eyebrow raises while Lily smiled.
"I'm Lily, its nice to meet you." Lily said walking up and embracing the girl with a hug.
"Jane." The girl said with a smile. "It's nice to finally meet all of you, I have heard so much about all of you."
"This is Remus and hopefully Peter will be joining us soon." Lily said. "And believe me, we have all been waiting to meet you, seems like Sirius likes to keep you to himself." She said with a smile at Sirius.
There was a knock on the door and James answered it and soon Peter came in with a bottle of wine.
"Just put that in the kitchen Peter." Lily said and Peter looked from Rebecca to Jane and back to the other and back to Jane.
"This is Jane, Sirius' girlfriend." James said and Peter gave a nod and sat back down.
"So, how have you been Sirius?" Lily asked and Sirius looked away from Jane with a smile.
"Pretty good, just doing things here and there, mostly spending time with Jane." He said looking back to her. Rebecca rolled her eyes and made a gag face and Remus nudged her with a smile.
Dinner rolled by and they all sat around sipping on their wine.
"Well we should get going." Sirius said as he looked at Jane. "Thanks for dinner Lil." Sirius said as he got up.
"Oh come on, stay." James said and Sirius shook his head.
"No, I should get Jane home."
"Sweetheart don't worry about it, I can get myself home. Stay, enjoy your friends." She said as she got up. "Thank you very much for dinner, it was lovely." Jane said with a nod to Lily.
"Are you sure? I don't mind." Sirius said getting up.
"Yes, please stay, we are having lunch tomorrow, I will see you then."
"Alright well I'll walk you to the door."
"It was nice to meet you all." Jane said looking at everyone and they all nodded and smiled back as Sirius walked her to the front door.
"Wow." James said with a smile.
"What?" Rebecca asked.
"You don't see it?" James asked.
"See what?" Rebecca asked.
"She looks like Rebecca." Peter said slightly tipsy from his seat.
"Yeah." Lily said as she gathered the empty plates.
"Don't worry about it dear." James said as he placed a hand on hers.
"She does not look like me." Rebecca chuckled.
"I'll have to agree with Prongs, looks like she could be your sister." Remus smiled.
"Please, you're crazy." Rebecca laughed.
"You guys do look alike." Lily said with a smile.
"She is like the nice version of Becky." James laughed.
"Oh shut up." Rebecca said throwing her napkin at James.
"So what did you guys think? Cute huh?" Sirius said as he entered the room with a grin and everyone started to laugh.
"What?" He asked confused.
"They all seem to think your latest squeeze looks like me, which is crazy, she looks nothing like me." Rebecca said and threw the rest of her wine back.
"What?" Sirius asked as he looked at her.
"Exactly what I said, she is nice though, not a bitch or stupid, you might want to hold on to this one." Rebecca said and stood up with a slight wobble and Remus put a hand on her.
"I'm fine dear." She said and made her way to the kitchen. "Doesn't look a thing like me." Rebecca muttered to herself.
Lily, James, Alice, and Frank stood in Dumbledore's office holding their kids close.
"I'm sorry to call you all out here at such an hour, but there is an urgent piece of news that I must divulge as soon as possible. I am sure you all remember Professor Trelawney, althought you have not met her daughter Sybill Trelawney." He said and the four of them nodded. How could they forget their odd Divination teacher.
"She does not posses the Eye, however, she recently made a prophecy that I believe to be quite accurate. It has to do with one of the two babies that you just had."
Lily gasped; she and Alice looked at each other in wonder then to their babies.
Dumbledore continued quietly. "One of them, so the prophecy goes, will have the power to defeat Voldemort once and for all." Total silence fell upon the room. After a moment, Dumbledore continued. "Voldemort himself managed to hear part of the prophecy, unfortunately, and I expect that you will be especial targets for the next few months, and your children. They are threats to Voldemort."
Lily made a strangled sort of noise, and James put an arm around her protectively. Why was this happening now?
"I am ordering all of you to go into hiding, you will all need to find a secret keeper and hide away." He said sadly.
Frank and James nodded.
"Also, it will be to your advantage not to share this information with anyone. I am truly sorry about this, you will need to find someone by the end of the week, that gives you three days until we have the Fidelius charm is done." He said and stood up. Everyone looked at each other then to the babies before leaving.
James and Lily walked in to the nursery and laid Harry down to sleep and stood over him.
"I want Padfoot to be our secret keeper." James said and kissed her forehead.
"I think that would be a good idea." Lily said.
"We should inform him right away." James said.
"First thing tomorrow." Lily said and looked over at Harry who was sleeping in his crib.
"Okay, I'm so sorry about this Lily." He said and took her hand tightly.
"Don't worry about it James." She said and they quietly walked out.
"I don't know what I would do without you and Harry Lily, if anything happened-."
"James it's going to be fine, we're going to be safe alright?" She said as she took his face in her hands.
"Alright." He smiled and kissed her.
"Sirius we called you here because we needed to ask you something." James said as he took Lily's hand.
"Albus has just informed us of a prophecy made about Harry or Neville, he urged us to go in to hiding and we both thought of you when he told us. We want you to be our secret keeper. It would be safest with you." James said and Sirius looked at them dumbfounded.
"Of course I will, you guys mean the world to me." He said and Lily smiled with tears in her eyes.
"Albus said the Fidelius charm will be performed this week. We'll let you know when to be there."
"I just want you guys to be safe." Sirius smiled.
James walked in to the nursery where Lily was watching Harry sleep.
"Hey." He whispered and gave her a kiss.
"Isn't he darling?" She smiled at Harry.
"As precious as his mother." James smiled. "Hey I was thinking. How about we go on one last date, tomorrow is our last day of freedom, lets enjoy it."
"What about Harry?"
"I'm sure Becky or Pads can take care of him." He said and she made a face.
"Hey they are fully capable of taking care of Harry, you really think either of them would let anything happen to them? Besides we did name them his godparents, what's the use if we aren't going to dump our child on them?" he said humorously and Lily frowned at him.
"Its one night, everything will be fine."
"Alright but they both have to be here, I don't trust them by themselves with Harry for now. Rebecca still has trouble holding him right." She said and James chuckled and led her out.
"Here is a list of dos and don'ts." Lily said handing Rebecca a piece of paper.
"Lily this really can't be that hard, I can't believe you made this." Rebecca said with a smile as she took the list.
"No throwing him, no giving him koolaid, don't put him on the floor-Lily this isn't necessary." Rebecca said with a smile and Lily gave her a frown.
"Alright, alright, give him here." Rebecca said and held her arms out to Harry and Lily looked at James and he smiled.
"You really think she is going to let anything happen to Harry?" James asked and smiled.
"See James has confidence." Rebecca grinned.
"Keep him in one piece." James said and gave Harry a kiss. "Come on Lil, we got reservations." He said and Lily begrudgingly handed Harry to Rebecca.
"Do not let him out of your sight." Lily said and looked at Sirius.
"Go out and have some fun, its your last night of freedom." Sirius smiled and pushed them towards the door. "Harry will be fine, he has us." Sirius said as he pointed to him and Rebecca.
"Because that makes me feel so much better." Lily sighed as James led her out. "No silencing him." Lily said. "Its rule number one." Lily said as James pulled her out.
"Good luck guys, thanks a bunch." James said with a grin and closed the door.
"Goodness gracious Harry, you are a boatload of trouble." Rebecca said as she walked towards the kitchen with him.
"You would think they thought we couldn't take care of a baby for a few hours." Sirius said as he followed her.
"Its just a baby, what's the worst that could happen?" She asked as she opened the fridge.
"Why wont he stop crying?" Rebecca yelled over Harry's crying which had not stopped in the last 10 minutes. He was screaming.
"Do something Walcott!" Sirius yelled and she glared at him.
"YOU do something!" she bit back as she shoved Harry in to Sirius' arms and walked out of the kitchen with her hands over her ears. After listening to a few more minutes of Harry's crying it suddenly stopped and she rushed in to the kitchen and saw Sirius holding a silent screaming Harry in Sirius' arms and she frowned at him.
"You aren't supposed to silence him." She growled.
"Well I don't know what to do!" Sirius snapped and she grabbed Harry from him.
"Where is that list?" She asked and took the charm off him and his wails filled the house.
"I don't know, you threw them away after they left."
"Well he can't be hungry, we just fed him." Rebecca said and tried to bounce Harry around lightly. "Make another bottle."
"Why me?" He groaned. "I made the last one."
"Because I'm a little occupied if you haven't noticed." She growled and walked out of the room and to the living room; maybe he wanted to play with toys.
"Sirius where did you put that giraffe Harry likes?" She yelled as she searched the toys.
"I don't know." He called and she searched for the giraffe and finally found it between the cushions.
"Look Harry its..." she said and paused. What was the damn giraffe's name? She waved it around in Harrys face but he cried louder.
"Sirius I need that milk 5 minutes ago." She called out and he came out glaring at her.
"I went as fast as I could go." He said and handed her the bottle.
"Did you test it?" She asked and he gave a frown.
"Of course I did." He said and she stuck the bottle in Harry's mouth and he instantly shut up.
"Wow." She said and looked at Sirius with a grin. "Guess he was hungry after all." She said as Harry suckled the bottle quickly.
"Definitely eats like Prongs." Sirius grumbled as he plopped down on the couch next to her.
"That wasn't so hard." He sighed.
"Sirius he stinks." Rebecca said as she nudged him from the couch.
"Yeah, and?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Go change him." She said and laid Harry on Sirius' chest.
"I don't want to do that, you're the girl." He said and she glared at him.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you have to change him." He said and handed Harry back to her. Harry started to fuss and she glared at Sirius.
"Hey I made the bottle, its your turn."
"I fed him and burped him, its your turn." She said and held Harry out to him.
"I don't know how to change him." He said and she glared.
"Do you?" He asked and she paused.
"No."
"That settles it." Sirius sighed.
"What settles what?"
"You should do it, your a woman, its in your genes, you'll figure it out."
"Sirius so help me if you don't take this baby I will make sure you never have any." She growled and he frowned and took Harry.
"Thank you." She said and laid back on the couch.
"Oh you're helping me." He said and motioned her to follow him.
They opened the diaper and both pulled back.
"What's that smell?" Rebecca asked as she held her nose.
"I don't know, clean it up." Sirius said holding his own nose and threw a few wipes at her.
"You do it." She said and stepped back and Harry started crying.
"Now look what you've done." Sirius said looking at her.
"Its nasty, you clean it." She said as she gave him a small push.
"Priss." He muttered and started to clean Harry up.
"What do I do with these?" Sirius asked as he held up the dirty wipes towards her.
"Oh gross throw them away!" She shouted as she backed away and he followed her with them.
"Stop it Sirius." She said running away from him and he laughed and threw them away.
"Alright now what?" He asked as he looked at Harry.
"I guess put the new diaper on." Rebecca said as she grabbed a clean diaper and threw it at him.
"What-how?" He said holding it up.
"Put it on him, like this." She said putting it on Harry.
"That doesn't look right." Sirius said as he stared at the diaper. "I think its on backwards." He said as Harry started fussing.
"Then turn it around." She said and started to take off the diaper and putting it on right.
"There." Sirius said proudly as he stared at the diaper and looked at her.
"Hey you can't take all the credit, I helped." She said and picked Harry up and headed out of the bedroom.
"Yeah but I helped." He said cheekily.
James and Lily walked in to the house and stared in awe at the mess all around. The kitchen was a mess with food and formula all over the counters with some pudding on the floor. They made their way in to the living room where Rebecca, Sirius and Harry were sleeping. Rebecca laid across the couch with her legs on Sirius who had Harry sleeping on his chest.
"Oh my goodness." Lily said rushing over to Harry and picked him up off Sirius' chest and Sirius stirred.
"Huh, wass goin on?" Sirius said sleepily and Rebecca woke as well.
"The house is a mess what happened?" Lily asked bewildered as she looked at the living room which was torn apart. Remnants of a pillow fort laid in a crumble.
"We thought Harry would appreciate a fort." Rebecca yawned as she sat up. "How was your date?"
"It was great, thanks for watching Harry. How did it go?" James said and Rebecca and Sirius looked at each other.
"Well looking at the house, I would say well." James chuckled.
"Hardest thing in the world, you would think it would be easy because he's so tiny but, its a monster, it poops and eats and cries and poops and eats and cries and cries some more." Rebecca said and Sirius groaned in agreement.
"Well Harry is still alive so you guys did alright." James joked. "Alright guys go home, we'll take care of the mess, thanks for watching him, it was nice to get out."
"Yeah no problem." Rebecca said and her and Sirius headed out of the house half asleep.
"Well that was fun." She said as she stepped outside with Sirius.
"Don't ever make me do that again, me and diapers don't mix."
"How on earth does he poop that much?" She asked and they walked down the path and on to the street.
"I have no idea but I'm pretty sure at one point it was coming out of both ends." He said and she laughed.
"The look on your face."
"Alright I should be getting home." She yawned. "Who knew a kid was so much work?"
"Tell me about it."
"See you later Sirius." She said and Apparated away. Sirius stared at the place she had been before shaking his head and sighing. He walked a little more down the street before Apparating himself.
There are only a few chapters left of this series, if you guys really like it i will continue with a continuation :)