Chapter Two; Happy Birthday Harry

Gee thanks guys for all of the positive feedback! This idea came to me because of the dream I had last night. Anyway, here's the next chapter and Lily/Severus forever! (Never was a big fan of James Potter, he can be a jerk sometimes!) By the way, I can't remember what really happened about the warning of the prophecy, I'm a little fuzzy on the details so I thought I'd come up with my own way. I hope you enjoy it!

A few days later Lily and James brought their new bundle of joy home to their cottage. Cosmo was very interested in Harry at first but it turned out that he wasn't a big fan of Harry's crying. "I feel really bad for Cosmo," Lily began one afternoon after she finished nursing. "the poor kitty has been hiding under the bed since we've brought Harry home." She said.

"Oh I'm sure he'll come around after Harry's been here awhile." James told her. Lily rolled her eyes at him when suddenly the baby started to cry.

"It's alright Harry, Mummy is going to get you a fresh nappy and then read to you the story of The Three Brothers before you take your nap." She told him softly and soothingly before carrying him back to his nursery.

As the months flew by Harry started to grow, which was saying a lot since he was born such a tiny baby. He was supposed to be born at the start of September when all the other older magical children would be on the train to Hogwarts. Lily thought about Hogwarts often, and she frequently dreamed about her old childhood friend whom she dearly missed. Although Severus turned to the dark arts, Lily never really forgot about him. Of course she didn't tell her husband this.

When Harry was five months old, he was already sitting up and talking quite a bit even though it wasn't in English yet. One morning Harry had been in a particularly happy mood when Lily sat him down inside his highchair and tried to feed him a jar of applesauce. She pushed up her chair when suddenly the doorbell rang.

"Can you get that for me please James?" she questioned not realizing that he was already on his way to the door. There stood a man with a scruffy beard and long brown hair.

"Hullo James, can I come in and talk to you and Lily for a second? It's important." He said nervously as Lily looked up at him worriedly and Harry instinctively followed her while he came inside. "My goodness, this must be Harry. I can't believe how much he's grown since I last saw him. He was only a tiny little thing then." He said while he smiled warmly at his godson.

"Sirius," Lily began as she turned over to him. "what did you want to talk to us about?" she asked him.

"This," he began as he dug an envelope out of his pocket. "Severus gave this to me. It's a letter from Dumbledore." He explained as he handed it over to her.

"Snivellus?" James questioned with disbelief while his wife tore into the envelope and rolled her eyes.

"Honestly James, I thought you were better than that now." She said with a shake of her head. "Severus might have had his flaws about him but he was the first friend that I ever had." She told him when all of a sudden she gave out a large shriek and dropped the bowl of applesauce onto the floor as her eyes hit the parchment that now lay unfolded inside her hands.

Dear Lily and James Potter,

I regretfully have to inform you that your lives are in danger along with your son's. I have been notified by a reliable source that there is a prophecy written about your child and the evil dark wizard Lord Voldemort. He is aware of it too, it speaks of a boy born at the end of July who will defeat him in the end. Voldemort will do everything in his power to kill Harry and all the people in the way of protecting him from Voldemort while he is trying to stop the prophecy from coming true.

You must take Harry and go into hiding for your safety. The protection enchantment has been placed upon your home. You must not tell anyone about this or you will risk breaking it. Please take whatever caution as necessary.

The best and warmest regards,

Albus Dumbledore Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

"Lilly, what is it what's wrong?" James asked her out of concern as he watched his wife start to tremble and breathe heavily.

"It's Harry," she began frantically. "You-Know-Who wants to kill him because of a prophecy!" she cried when she suddenly burst into tears. "Oh James! He can't! Harry's just a baby and he's barely had time to live!" she sobbed as James wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly.

"Don't worry Lily, I won't let anything happen to either one of you. I promise." He assured her.

"Maybe we should have Harry's christening early, you know just in case." Lily began. "But it will be small and private so we won't draw any attention to ourselves." She finished as James and Sirius nodded silently in agreement while Harry continued watching them. For the moment, all he cared about was what was left on top of the rug, and how he was going to get it inside his stomach.

…..

Lily heeded Dumbledore's advice very seriously. As the months flew by she captured every moment she could of her and her husband and Harry who was now a year old. She smiled down at the pages as she flipped through them. There was everything from Harry's birth announcement and his first ever baby picture, to his christening in Saint Jerome's church, and learning how to crawl. She started to laugh a little bit as she saw him crawling towards Cosmo who stood at the end of the hall apparently wanting nothing to do with him and then to prove it raced back inside the bedroom.

Now Harry could chase after him with two legs instead of four. He also had one tooth sticking out from the bottom of his mouth. He still hadn't learned to talk yet though. He raced around the kitchen squealing with laughter as the cat constantly ran away from him. Lily set her photo album down on top of the coffee table and raced after the tiny toddler before scooping him up inside his arms.

"Harry, how many times have I told you to leave the kitty alone sweetheart?" she questioned him sternly. "I don't have the slightest idea how you keep getting out of your playpen anyway." She told him before she sat him down inside his highchair. "Come on, why don't you say we get some food into the little belly of yours?" she asked him with a grin while she started making lunch and James continued decorating the house for Harry's first birthday party.

Of course there wasn't a whole lot of guests who showed up. Sirius, Petunia (and her very reluctant, husband Vernon and son Dudley) Hagrid, Minerva McGonagall, and their old friend Peter Pettigrew were the only ones there. Lily wished that she could have invited Severus, but she hadn't spoken to him in such a long time that she thought he wouldn't even want to come. Besides that, James and Severus hated each other, and she didn't know whether or not that Severus' feelings for her husband would be passed onto her son.

That night Lily swore that Harry had more food on him than in him, so she decided to give him a nice warm bath before he went to bed. Harry loved all the toys that he had received for his birthday, (books, teddy bears, unpopable bubbles, magic crayons, and bouncy balls) but his favorite present that he had received was from his now official godfather Sirius. For Harry now had a new way to torment the cat as he raced after him on his brand new toy broomstick.

James thought that it was a clear indication that he would grow up to be a fine Qudditch player just like he was, but Lily only lectured him. (the last thing that we need is Harry growing up to be like you were at Hogwarts, and besides, he nearly killed the cat!) James placed the repairo spell charm on the vase that had been a wedding present to them from Lily's sister and magically glued it back together with a wave of his wand. Even though in his mind it was the ugliest thing he ever saw and he couldn't imagine why his wife wanted him to fix it.

After Harry finished his bath, his mother wrapped him up in a towel and began drying him off before carrying him back to the nursery. She read him his favorite story about The Three Brothers before kissing him goodnight and tucking him into bed. Then with a wave of her own wand she turned on his enchanted mobile that caused fairies (that glowed in the dark) to flutter around the room and sing in sweet harmonious melodies as Harry's eyes shut and he drifted off to sleep.