Moments

I don't own any characters you may recognize.

Chapter 34:

I balled up the parchment in my hand.

"I'm going to kill her."

I don't think I've ever felt this much hate in my life.

I didn't make it very far before someone grabbed my arm.

"James, don't."

I shook my head. "Dad you don't understand." I tried to shrug him off me. He had a death grip on my arm. I wasn't going anywhere, anytime soon. Not unless I wanted to curse my dad or drag him with me.

"No, I don't understand what you're going through right now. I'd lose my mind if something ever happened to your mother. You're so strong just for hanging in there and continuing to live. So it won't do you any good now to go get yourself arrested. What kind of life would that be for you behind bars? What kind of life would that be for your daughter?"

Everyone keeps saying that. You have to live for your daughter. You have to do this and you have to do that. What if I don't have the strength to do that? I know it's not her fault, but I can't even look at her.

"Let the hit wizards do your job. Lacey will stand trail and she will face the repercussions of her crimes."

Come to find out I wasn't just being paranoid. Lacey, that damn miserable excuse for a human being had mailed Ali pretending to be me, asking to meet. Oh, my poor Ali, she should have known something was wrong. Sure Lacey wrote in my handwriting, Emilia found the note that started the whole investigation, but that didn't mean she had to believe it. It didn't help that Lacey still had a locket full of my hair. That damn polyjuice potion should be illegal. Long story short Lacey pretend to be me to break up with Alli, but Ali eventually saw threw it. Lacey got made and pushed Ali down a moving staircase. That's when Ali started hemorrhaging and went into premature labor. Hemorrhage or a blood clot, that's what killed my Ali. That and a jealous child not used to not getting her way. And to think of all the times I've been nice to her. And her fake sympathy. Just thinking about it was pissing me off all over again.

I never wanted to punch something so bad in my life.

A sharp cry pierced the night causing me to turn my head and lose focus. Mum walked into the living room with the baby on her arm.

"James, come hold your daughter" Mum said.

Dad still had a grip on my arm. I still won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

"Mum"

"Don't mum me. Come get her. I fed her, burped her, and changed her diaper. She's crying because she wants you. Her daddy. So come hold her. Rock her. Name her! She's five days old, she needs a name, and a father."

I winced. Yeah, I'm not being a good one. I know it's just…. this was something I never intended to do alone.

Dad finally let me go and I walked forward tentatively. I held out my hands and mum just rolled her eyes.

"She is a baby, not a quaffle. Harry, show him what to do before I lose my patience and strangle him."

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. "You need two hands to strangle me, and you can't let go of the baby."

"Smartass" mum muttered.

Dad showed me the way I was supposed to put my arms. It felt weird kind of stiff.

"Merlin's beard!" I shouted when mum handed me the baby.

"Support her head" mum chided.

"It's just rolling. Is that normal? Feels like it's going to roll off. Should we go to St. Mungo's?"

Dad started laughing uncontrollably. I don't see what's funny.

"You have to support her head. Her neck it's strong enough to hold it up yet."

I guess that make sense. Her neck is tiny and her head is huge. "She's got a big head."

"I wonder where she got it from" mum said sarcastically.

The baby finally stopped crying. Her hazel brown eyes looked into mine. She has Ali's eyes. I haven't picked out a name yet because Ali and I never could agree on a name. We had better options for girl names anyway. Ali said she didn't want the baby to be named after anyone, herself included. I wonder Ali if I mix it up become Lia. I like it, but maybe it's too simple. My daughter, she's anything but simple. I can tell this already.

My eyes watered. She's so beautiful. I can't believe I never really looked at her until now. She had Ali's eyes, and hair, and it looks like eventually her skin tone too. But she had my smile. I'm sure that's a world record or something, my baby is five and she can smile already.

How much have I missed out on in these past five days?

"Aaliyah" I spoke. "Ali really liked names that start with A. It was nearly our whole list. I think she'd like it."

"Aaliyah Potter" mum repeated.

"Aaliyah Alana Potter."

"It's a beautiful name" dad said.

"Thanks."

I know Ali said she didn't want the baby to be named after anyone, but the middle name...I had to. Alana was the name of Ali's grandmother. To me, it seemed like Ali's childhood was horrible. The only good stories she had about home were about her grandmother. Alana had passed from cancer when Ali was just ten years old. Ali always spoke highly of her. I think this is what she would have wanted.

Speaking of, or rather thinking of, Ali's family. I had a mission to do.

Once Aaliyah went to sleep I got dressed in my muggle finest, well a pair of jeans and a concert tee, and headed out.

I apparated a block away from the Leighton house. Hopefully they'd both be in.

Taking a deep breath I knocked on the door and waited. and waited. Then I waited some more. Just when I was about to walk away I heard footsteps.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm my nerves.

The woman who answered the door had dark hair, baggy eyes, and pale skin. Did I get the address right?

"Mrs. Leighton?"

"Who's asking?" the woman replied popping a piece of bubblegum in her mouth.

"My name is James, James Potter. Is your husband home?"

"He is, but he don't know no James Potter and neither do I." She continued popping her gum. it was really nerve grating.

"I need to speak to the both of you in private. It's really important, about your daughter."

Mrs. Leighton's eyes widened. "You're one of them aren't you? You shouldn't be here."

"Who is it?" I heard a male voice call from somewhere in the house.

"Girls scout, Donnie" Mrs. Leighton called.

"We don't need none of them fake hormone cookies. Tell them to bugger off" the man shouted.

Mrs. Leighton turned back to me.

"Wait" I said before she could shut the door on me, "It's really important that I have to speak with you."

Mrs. Leighton looked hesitant. "Meet me at the grocer's on 5th in an hour. Maybe I'll see you there" she said and then she slammed the door.

That was...certainly different. I didn't even meet her dad, but I could tell Ali was a lucky girl to escape this family.

It took my twenty minutes to find the grocer's on fifth. It was a small little store with only one worker, an elderly lady who kept staring at me. She probably thought I was a thief or something because of the way I was just lurking around.

I had forty minutes to kill and nothing to do. I could always apparate home. I just didn't really feel like going back there. The news had spread and my whole family had shown up. They had only met her at Christmas but I'd knew they'd be sticking close now to support me. That's family, it's what we do. I just didn't want to be around it.

I don't know how much more of the pitying stares I can take. I feel like a rope that's been strung tight and can snap at any moment.

I met Mrs. Leighton outside when she finally did show up. She got rid of the bubblegum and exchanged it for a cigarette. Ugh, I couldn't tell which one was worst.

"So where is she? How come Alison didn't show up herself?"

Do I just come out and say it? "Alison….Ali she" I took a deep breath. Saying it out loud isn't going to make it any more true. Holding it in won't make it false. "She didn't make it. She died during childbirth" I blurted.

A gross understatement, but I take it she didn't need the long version.

The cigarette fell out of her mouth and her eyes watered.

"You did this to her." The words were like taking a knife to the heart. "You took her away. With all your fancy dancy magic telling her she was different. And now you killed her. She was supposed to be normal, but then she turned out to be just as freakish as the rest of them."

Mrs. Leighton was muttering, her eyes unfocused. I don't think she was talking to me. "I always knew this would happen, because this is what always happens. There's some kind of curse you put on me to make me suffer alone in this hellhole. But she got out didn't she. Went to that school of freaks and started fornicating and doing God knows what else."

"Mrs. Leighton?"

She blinked. "You're still here? Why you delivered your news?"

"The funeral-" she cut me off.

"I'm not going. I don't want anything to do with you or your kind ever again."

"You have a grandkid now."

She shook her head, "No I don't. I don't even have a daughter. She wasn't mine. They stole my daughter from me a long time ago. They switched her in her crib when she was just a baby and replaced her with that freak. My Alison is already dead and gone. I knew it the moment it happened. I'll be going now, don't darken our doorstep ever again."

The woman was on drugs, she had to be. Sure I knew there were fairy tales about 'changelings' who stole children in the middle of the night with a doppelganger, but that was just a myth.

There was no point in sticking around so I left.