i all, so I am back to this wonderful fandom with a new story! I am taking a delve into a fandom, an era and a couple that has always fascinated me and it's the James/Lily era.
This is the second part of the story that started in the Beginning of the End and these are the moments in the first Wizarding War and the build up to Harry.
This story will be twenty chapters long and some events/events that do take place might be missed.
Also spelling/grammar...not my best thing. Again keep that in mind when you read...please.
Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine.
Please Read and Review.
And on a side note, I like so many other Fanfiction Authors no longer receive notifications via email about reviews/PMs etc. So if you do send any it might be a while, if ever before I get back to you. Please keep that in mind for it is not intentional-If anyone has a fix please let me know
I do not receive PMs anymore, if you have a question stick it in a review and I will answer it in the chapter notes.
The End Of The Beginning
Chapter 14-Acceptable Risk
In which Lily adjusts to being pregnant. James asks Sirius a favour. Bathilda Bagshott shares a secret.
"Grindelwald?"
"You heard me girl"
"Dumbledore and Grindelwald?"
"Right in one"
"You're telling me that he knew Gellert Grindelwald? That he was friends with him and that he knew him before he met him for the duel to end all duels?"
"Of course" Bathilda Bagshott said as she sipped her tea. "It was common knowledge. I don't doubt that Albus would rather forget it but it was one of those things. Sometimes I think we've gone backwards as a society, I think that back then…alright perhaps you could not be out in the open but the truth of the matter was that we didn't condemn. Albus and Gellert were too men very much in love"
Here Lily spat out her tea. She tried to claim that the baby was kicking and the old woman allowed her the grace of her excuse but the truth of the matter was that she was sure that her neighbour was going gaga. There was no other way for it. Because she thought that night as she wrote a letter to Sirius, there was no way that Bathilda Bagshott could be right.
She stared at the ink on the paper and then she threw it into the fire. She didn't want to put words to paper anymore. Words were now dangerous. Words could now get you killed.
And Lily had made it this far…right?
She was not going to get killed of a piece of paper that had been intercepted by the wrong person.
Not yet anyway. Not when she could see them in person.
And Sirius was here in person. Certainly more so than Remus who was never here and when he was here he was beaten and bruised and bloodied. Her visits with Remus were few and far between and he didn't say what he was doing or who he was doing it with and now more than any she was aware that both James and Sirius were keeping something about her oldest friend from her. She didn't know what but she was going to find out and she was going to find out soon of that she had no doubt of.
When Lily set her mind to something she found that she was going to get what she wanted. She had come this far after all.
Hadn't she?
Things had been progressing well since she and James had decided that she was going to carry on with the pregnancy. Okay, the mourning sickness had not been great—and could she say that it was deceptively named? Mourning sickness should be renamed and rebranded as all day sickness to say nothing of when James attempted to use oil to cook scrambled eggs.
Seriously, new wizarding decree…no more scrambled eggs.
That being said this baby seemed to like treacle on everything which all things considering was not necessarily a bad thing she thought as she spooned more of it over her ice cream.
And then he started kicking.
She was not sure when she had decided that the baby was a he. She was not sure when that had been a thing. She and James had been adamant that they were not going to know the sex of this baby and yet in her head when she thought of him it was always a he. She thought she was carrying a boy.
When she went to see Molly one day (despite Arthur's insistence that they did not want to get involved with the Order, we have very young children James and I have to think of them—of course you do Arthur we understand—) and told her of those feelings she was not surprised to see the other woman laugh.
"Oh darling girl" Molly Weasley said her belly still round with her sixth child. "What you feel is natural, there is not one woman who has not had an instinct about weather or not their baby is a boy or girl no matter what. I have thought about what to name a girl since I was pregnant the first time and it's never ended or changed. I love my boys to death you know I do but there's no sin in hoping that you have a girl."
"If you had a girl what would you call her?"
"Ginevra. Ginny for short. Don't ask me where that name comes from but that's what I would call her."
"And if you have another boy?"
"Oh if this is a boy his name is going to be Ronald. Ron for short but Ronald. Again, don't ask me where that came from but…Arthur said that he wants his middle name to be Billius you know after his brother? And well…despite my feelings for that man I suppose that is the least that we can do."
"I didn't think about names" she said finally. "To be honest with you I've barely gotten my brain around being pregnant, it seems that we barely got over the whole morning sickness—deceptively named mind you—and now we have to pick out names and sort out a nursery and think…"
She trailed off suddenly. She was not going to tell Molly that she (if not James) had thought about what was going to happen if her baby was to live and she was not. There was a line that she was not sure if she was ready to cross just yet. She was not sure if she was ready to tell this or any woman how afraid she was about leaving her baby alone. And the one person that she should have felt safe in telling this too was steadfast refusing to see her. Was steadfast in her refusal to be seen with her or to let her around her own son or to share her excitement when it came to her own pregnancy. Petunia did not want to see her and while Lily had known that the coldness when it had come to her own pregnancy was still hurtful.
She didn't know what to make of the fact that she and James had no relatives. None that would share their excitement in being with this baby. This baby who was kicking now and telling her very happily that he didn't like that mummy was sitting there refusing to alleviate her bladder and that he was board.
And so that led to another problem.
"We need a name" she told James that night as he climbed into bed.
"A name?"
"For the baby"
"Yeah Lily I didn't think that we were picking a name of the cat"
"We don't have a cat"
"I could get you a cat"
"James be serious"
"I am! Look…we decided that we didn't want to know what we were having right?"
"Right"
"So we have to think of two names"
"I know"
"And…and we have a lot of family—"
"James I love you but we are not naming this child after your parents, I mean it the poor kid would get his ass kicked all the way through Hogwarts and back and you know it"
James turned to her flipping on his elbow and he grinned.
"Alright then" he said pushing up her pyjama shirt so that he could draw patterns on her belly—damn him he knew what that did to her—with one fingertip.
"Alright then that leaves your parents"
"Please" she said finally. "I mean…I don't mind my Dad but we are not naming our daughter after my mother. No flower names whatsoever"
"What was your Dad's name?"
"Harry"
"Harry's a nice name"
"Harry is a nice name" she agreed. "But is it the name?"
James stared at her softly for a second in that gaze that he did when he had asked her to marry her, the first time that he had been with her and all of the times that had come between that moment and this.
"I like Harry" he said softly. "I think it could be the name"
She nodded and her eyelashes fluttered. She didn't want to acknowledge that she had started crying somewhere down the line but James pushed himself up on his elbow and kissed her softly as the tears were falling…damn hormones and so she carried on regardless.
"So Harry…what?"
"James"
"Yeah no I mean what?"
"No I mean James. Harry James Potter"
For a second James looked at her and then blinked rather dazed.
"I don't…you want to name our son after me?"
"I want to name our son after a good man" she said quietly. "I want to name him after a strong man, a brave man, a man who loves and lives and who will do whatever he has to do to be with his family. I want to name him after the man that I love whole heartedly. So yes…I want to name our son after you James. I really, really want to name our son after you. You got a problem with that?"
For a second James stared at her and then he grinned his brown eyes overbright.
"I'd love that" he said softly and when he kissed her, his kiss was as soft and light as a feather.
"And if it's a girl her middle name should be Lily" he said grinning as he pulled back and she rolled her eyes. She very much wanted to say hell no but she had been around James long enough to know that that was never going to work.
"Alright" she said quietly. "Think of a first name then"
He paused for a second and then.
"Elizabeth?"
"Elizabeth?" she said turning to the side to stare at him. "Where did that—"
He shrugged. "I kind of like the name" he said quietly. "I don't know why but I just do. Elizabeth Lily Potter. There you go, no flower names as your requested"
For a second she stared at him and then.
"Yeah, okay. Harry or Elizabeth."
He grinned at her and moved to grab his wand so he could flip off the light and then.
"Sirius should be godfather" he said quietly.
"You don't want Remus?" she asked in surprise.
"No" came the short supply.
"I mean he is more responsible than Sirius" she argued in surprise. "I mean you at least know that Remus is going to feed our child and get him off to school in one piece and perhaps the laws will change between now and…" she trailed off realising she had fallen into the trap. It was not about finding a suitable godfather or godmother or whatever it was it was about finding someone who would take care of their child if they died.
Here they were first baby, straight out of High School and this was what they were thinking about.
"Okay" she said softly refusing to dwell on the images that suddenly were presented to her. "Okay Sirius. But you have to ask him. And whatever the hell is going on between the two of you and Remus sort it out or tell me about it."
There was a very hard kick to her swollen belly.
"See" she said pointing at it. "Harry agrees with me"
"And Elizabeth" James said flipping over and waving the lights off. "Agrees with me"
She rolled her eyes stroking a hand down her belly.
She knew her baby was a boy.
A mother always knows.
"Oh Merlin are you sure?"
"Yes" James said stabbing his fork into his pasta, "Yes I am totally sure that I want it to be you"
Sirius stabbed his own fork into his chips—they had gone for lunch in a muggle pub which was rather concerning considering the last time that they had taken the motorcycle outside of the wizarding world.
And here it was that he had asked Sirius to be the godfather of his unborn child.
"Yeah okay" Sirius said finally. "I suppose between me and Peter and Remus we can get the little bugger to Hogwarts if you die. Anything else?"
"If I have a daughter I don't want her to date"
"Sure" Sirius said spearing another chip. "Should I torture the bastard who dares to ask or just frighten him away—"
"Just ask Remus"
"Will do. Does that mean you trust him now?"
"I don't know" he said truthfully. "I don't. But I want to believe Padfoot. Give me today to let me believe that it's all going to be okay"
Sirius said nothing.
"Godfather" he said finally. "Merlin's saggy left tit. Can you imagine me with a child?"
"Just remember, their number one goal is to see McGonagall to a happy early retirement"
"Oh I can do that" Sirius said laughing and James was suddenly laughing with him even though there was nothing in this situation to laugh about. "Oh I can do that brother" Sirius said again. "Trust me. I will be the best godfather that your kid will ever have"
And recklessly, James believed him.
It was such an acceptable risk after all.
And there you go, we are nearly at the end.
Next Chapter-In which two boys are born to two wizarding parents who have thrice defied Voldemort and Albus Dumbledore decides to give an interview in his brother's bar to a new candidate for the post of Divination.
