Hello. I'm thinking of posting chapters every Sunday or Saturday, but I haven't completely decided whether to post weekly or biweekly.

Posted in: 27/08/2023

Harry Potter was born healthy on July 31, 1980, weighing 2.7 kilograms and 46 centimeters long. Lily had spent a sleepless night at St. Mungo's, suffering the pains of her own flesh tearing as the midwife gave orders about what she should do.

Outside the room, James Potter was pacing the hallway.

"Prongs." Sirius smirked at James. "Lily isn't going anywhere. Sit down.

"But what if she yells for me and I'm sitting down?" It will just get in the way!

Sirius laughed at the brunette.

"She spent 9 months brewing explosive potions on weekends. It's kind of late to worry about her screaming your name or not."

A month after the birth of baby Potter, a huge party was held in Godric's Hollow, wizards and Muggles alike taking part in it as if it were a small local event – which it has a chance of being, being such a small village where everyone knows everyone else.

"Boo!" one of the neighborhood ladies cooed at Harry, who burst into cute giggles.

It's been a month since James or Lilian didn't know what sleep was. Although they didn't have any experience, with James being an only child and Lily the youngest, they knew that dealing with the first days of a child would not be easy – but the strangeness wasn't just that.

Harry didn't wake up crying at dawn, neither because he was hungry nor because he was dirty. Nor did he cry early in the morning when he saw no one, nor did he make a fuss when they stopped paying attention to him. A month or not, it was already visible that there was something different. The letters from Alice, Lily's friend and Harry's godmother, recounting Neville's early days could be said to be a completely different world.

There wasn't a moment when baby Harry wasn't excited to crawl – because he already knew how to crawl, a thing that took everyone by surprise – and to follow anything that moved. He laughed and guffaw with Padfoot, which was the way Sirius always was if Harry was around.

Lily never told James about her dream before finding out she was pregnant. It was an almost memory, an almost nothing now long gone for a dream, but she still remembered it as vividly as in the moment she dreamed it. Insane as it might seem, in her awakening she saw a beautiful veil as fine as a haze of silver dust shimmer for less than a thought in front of her on the morning of November 1st.

Two cracks sounded inside the Potter's cottage, which was behind the party table. A very old couple with swarthy skin came out of the entrance door, but their hair still carried half the black of youth.

"Okay, where's my grandson?", the woman spoke as soon as she approached Lily and James, her eyes wandering around in search of the baby. She found it on top of the table, where little Harry was sitting in an open carrycot for all to see. The woman let out a coo when she saw him.

"It's good to see you too, Mum." James glared at his mother, who took little Harry in her arms.

"You too," Euphemia greeted, lifting the wee over her head, making the boy laugh. "What a cute thing we have here!"

Harry's smile was as bright as a small sun, making the ladies coo at him. Sirius, who was sitting at the table drinking with some of the village men, was very helpful in saying:

"He's going to be a hit with Minnie, James."

Fleamont and James roared with laughter, along with Charles Montefield, John Maynard and Henry Fill, some of the village wizards. Lily gave him a Look.

"Fleamont," Eufemia called her husband's attention. "How old is the Greengrass girl anyway?"

"Euphemia!"

"Mum!"

"What it was? He's too cute to miss the chance," Euphemia waved her hand at her husband and son, sitting baby Harry in her arm. "Isn't that so, wee?"

Harry let out a cute laugh, which was rewarded with a chuckle from the ladies nearby.

"A success indeed," Fleamont admitted, eliciting a loud laugh from the other men, a smile from Euphemia, and a quiver of lips from Lily.

Euphemia placed the baby back in her carrycot, and Harry threw up his hands, cutely excited. It didn't take long for him to be picked up by one of the women, a beautiful lady with long black hair intertwined with gray hair, covered in a chalk-white blanket and deep-set eyes. Around her were other ladies, with a gal holding a straw bag.

"Hello, wee." The woman smiled widely, lifting the boy over her head. Harry laughed heartily, louder than before. "See if this isn't the cutest thing?"

Little Harry opened his arms, as if to say "me! Me!", babbling while putting the small tongue between the gums. The smile the woman gave him was so warm, as if a fireplace had been lit for him.

James and Fleamont, men, were unmoved. Euphemia took no notice, arguing with her husband about Macmillan's daughter ("She's five years old, Euphemia," sighed Fleamont), but Lily felt jealous at the sight of the woman. There was something odd about her, a kind of menacing feeling that Lily felt coming from her.

"Good afternoon," Lily said to the woman, in a falsely polite tone. "I don't think I've ever seen you before. Do you live here in the village?"

The woman turned her head towards Lily, who instantly felt small under the light brown eyes that were nothing compared to the light brown in James's or Fleamont's eyes, so perfectly brown they lookedlike hazelnuts. She stared at Lily intently, causing her to catch her breath unconscious. The woman chuckled after a while.

"I live outside the village," the woman replied, lowering little Harry and holding him on his back so he could see the other ladies who were pampering over him. "I have many families living here, so I can visit often."

Her voice had something strange about it, like a soft and confused kind of sound that came from behind the voice but didn't interfere with her communication. Harry let out another "bluh!" between gums and began to move in the woman's lap, announcing his desire to crawl again. This elicited a hearty laugh that felt like a strong summer breeze.

"I told you you'd need luck, didn't I?", the woman said good-naturedly to Lily.

Lily's eyes widened in shock, which only made the woman laugh again. She placed Harry inside the straw bag which the gal behind her opened as she approached, and the boy, for the first time in his one month of life and between periods of waking, stopped dead in his tracks and opened his eyes wide, in an expression of shock and curiosity, difficult to distinguish in babies.

"What happened to him?", Lily hurriedly became desperate, looking euphoric at her own son.

"Oh, nothing." The lady waved her hand reassuringly. "He's just thinking. The straw isn't from this land, so he's finding the sensation very strange, but it won't do him any harm. See, he's already coming back." She laughed again when she saw the baby's eyes shrink and he returned to smile at everyone.

Lily relaxed, but she couldn't help but remember the situation she was in, so she looked warily at the woman in front of her. Very slowly, she went to the table where the gal had placed the bag with Harry and picked up the baby, who was very happy to be carried.

"Who are you?" Finally, she repeated the question she asked almost a year ago, and that until now she wasn't sure if it was just a dream or not.

"I've been a few things," the old lady replied, not offended to see Lily groping Harry to see if he had any injuries. She would be offended if the redhead didn't actually check up on the boy. "But you can call me Juno."

"Hmm... the lady..."

"Yes dear?"

"How... I mean... what did you do?" Lily asked, a little wary.

"Oh, a bit of this, a bit of that." Juno waved her hand carelessly. "But tell me, how was it?"

"How was what?"

"The pregnancy, dear?" The lady asked, a little amused and exasperated.

"Oh! Oh, oh, yes, yes", Lily fumbled confusedly. "Was it okay, I guess? I have no experience to say" she admitted, with a tone of sadness. Juno smiled gently at her.

"I know it was difficult," Juno comforted her, touching her head gently. "You are very strong, Lily Potter. Many women have given up when they've been in your situation - or they're overcome by fear and stopped trying. You took it all the way, and now I see this adorable wee here."

She leaned over to see Harry, a move that looked much grander than it looked, and smiled into the smile she received from the baby.

"I expect great things from you, Harry James Potter. May you live as long as the depth of love your mother gave you and may you be as strong as the strength of her love."

The wee babble and chuckled at her, holding out his hand. She smiled and squeezed his small hand between two fingers and released it, rising again.

"I think that's all in order for now.", Juno commented, and the gal took another step forward and handed her a very large straw hat that fit her like a glove. "Again, good luck, girl. You will need it more than ever."

And she walked away, disappearing into the streets of Godric's Hollow with the gal. Only Lily saw her come or go, no one took any notice of the conversation that took place – except for little baby Harry Potter.

There wasn't a moment after that that Lily didn't remember the last day of August, 1980. If she hadn't told James before, she couldn't even think about telling him now, not with so many assumptions she'd made in her head about Juno – and each one of them scared more than the other. In the end, she concentrated her efforts on protecting Harry, building all sorts of defensive spells around Godric's Hollow for when – "Not if, James, he's coming " – Voldemort approached the village.

They had been in hiding since June, when Death Eater attacks became more and more frequent – and the Dark Lord himself attended their share. There was nothing they could do, Dumbledore was still deciphering the prophecy...

"Lily, catch Harry and run," James said calmly, rising from his chair. She, too, felt the barriers falling, but she didn't feel any panic.

"James, there's still time," she said nervously. "Come with us..."

" Lils," he smiled confidently at his wife. "I'll be right behind. Take the portkey and go, I'll meet them with Padfoot. Go."

Lily took a deep breath and picked Harry up from his playpen and walked up the stairs, not looking back.

"Papa!"

Lily's heart fluttered as she heard her son call to his father over her shoulder, but she continued, looking straight ahead as she climbed to the second floor. She still managed to hear the door falling before she entered Harry's room and locked the door, casting every spell she could think of.

She placed a kiss on the boy's forehead and placed little Harry in his crib and crouched down, looking at him from behind the fence.

"Harry." The baby lifted his head, staring at her. "Mama loves you, see? I won't be here, but mama loves you. I want you to study hard and get a job you like, even if it's at the Ministry. Don't eat too many sweets. Oh, and find someone nice, listen to mama, I'm going to be really mad if I'm with someone who's mean to you."

The baby smiled at her mother, nodding his head to everything she said. Lily sniffed and put her hand through the railing, touching Harry's head.

"Mama will protect you, my prince. Don't worry."

The door disintegrated as soon as she finished her promise, and she turned at once. There, lofty, Lord Voldemort was staring at her with his red eyes. His skin was white in a marble tone and his robes were as black as shadows, which made him stand out even more with features that did not resemble human ones.

"Good night." He greeted her politely, stepping forward politely*. That took Lily a little by surprise.

"I'm afraid I've already done more damage than I'm tolerated, Mrs. Potter. I wish not to cause further harm to our people, so if you can go to the side, I will ensure your safety."

Lily fixed her feet in place.

"Good night," she returned the greeting, maintaining control. "I will not leave my son."

The man in front of her twisted his face into something that could be called a smile.

"I admire your courage, Lily Potter, and it is for her that I insist you step aside. You will be able to have another family, build a new branch for the New Society that will arise among the witches. So step aside and you will be spared."

Lily crossed her hands, bringing her feet together. She accepted fate.

"I stand my ground."

Voldemort nodded at her.

"So be it. Avada Kedavra!"

Lily's body landed on the floor with a muffled thud, in front of Harry's crib. The boy looked with big eyes at what happened in front of him, barely understanding anything. Voldemort stood in front of him, pointing his wand at his forehead.

"Good night, Harry Potter." He greeted the child, and the tip of his wand shot green.

That night, men lost friends. That night, Voldemort lost his life. That night, the world lost heroes. That night, Harry Potter lost almost everything.

That night, Lily Potter tricked Heaven, Earth and Death.