Advance Arrangement
by Teddylonglong

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.


For Lily, the nightmare still continued on the following day. First thing in the morning, Merlin contacted Amelia Bones, who had recently been promoted to be the youngest head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement of all times, and showed her the memory of how Peter Pettigrew had fooled them all.

"Oh Merlin, Dumbledore told everyone that Sirius had been the Potters' Secret Keeper and had killed Pettigrew and the muggles." Amelia let out a deep sigh. "It means a lot to me that Sirius is innocent. He is my fiancé after all. The problem is that we'll need Pettigrew alive to prove his innocence apart from this memory. As you know, memories can be faked."

"It isn't, but if you give me a few minutes, I'll fetch Pettigrew for you. I am a phoenix Animagus."

Afterwards, everything went fast. Sirius was still in a ministry holding cell, supposed to be shipped to Azkaban that very morning. However, Amelia questioned him and Peter under Veritaserum, and Sirius was free to leave.

"Thanks, Meli. Now, I need to look for my godson."

"Don't thank me, thank Unspeakable Merlin. As to your godson, Professor Dumbledore has made himself his guardian and took the child to his muggle relatives for some reason, which is beyond my understanding. You'll have to pick up a fight with Dumbledore. He wouldn't even listen to Minerva."

Merlin let out a deep sigh. "Will the two of you swear me a wizard's oath to keep my secret? I can help you in the matter of your godson."

To Lily's relief, Amelia and Sirius swore their oaths, even if Sirius seemed ready to strangle Merlin, stating that he did not have time to listen to anyone. "The sooner I can free my godson from these horrible people the better," he muttered, before he hastily swore his oath.

Hearing the whole story from Merlin, Sirius fortunately agreed to not go after Dumbledore at this time but to accompany Merlin to the North Pole instead.

HP

While Sirius was over the moon with joy upon seeing them and Harry was delighted to have his uncle Padfoot at his new home for the time being, Lily observed in horror how Dumbledore had Buckbean, their account manager at Gringotts, seal their will and how Petunia treated her precious son, even if it was only a copy of Harry.

'Thank Merlin the real Harry is here with us,' she thought, observing in relief how Sirius was playing with him, efficiently distracting her son from the screen, to which her eyes had been glued ever since the previous afternoon.

Whenever Merlin switched the screen to show the Dursleys' house, where Copy Harry was lying on a tiny mattress, crying from hunger and neglect in the cupboard under the stairs, tears streamed down her face.

After dinner that evening, when Harry had already retired to bed, his copy at the Dursleys' was still crying, sounding hoarse by now. When Lily saw Petunia's husband duck into the small place to punish the baby for crying, she jumped from her chair in anger.

"Merlin," James spoke up in a strangely quiet voice. "Can we please fetch Copy Harry here? I know that he's going to vanish sooner or later, which will be hard on our Harry, but I can't have Lily grieve over him and observe him being mistreated by my sister-in-law and her awful husband who absolutely detest our whole family."

"Thanks, James," Lily sobbed. "Merlin, please."

"Santa will be able to help him," Merlin promised, before he transformed into his phoenix Animagus form and flashed away in a bright flame.

An instant later, Lily observed how the phoenix appeared in the small cupboard. He took Harry with both feet into a firm grip, before he flashed back not a minute later.

HP

"Harry, my baby," she whispered, as she gently cradled the small boy close and wiped the tears from his face, eyeing the bright red scar on his forehead in concern.

"Lily." Santa addressed her in a firm voice. "It's already late, and you haven't slept at all last night. The little one needs you now. Holly will help you clean him and feed him, and then please make him sleep with you tonight. First thing tomorrow morning, before Harry will even be up and see him, I shall take him to the North Fir Tree to get rid of that scar and secure his life. What are you going to name him, by the way? He and Harry are going to be twins and need different names."

"Robert?" James suggested, and Lily agreed, recalling that James had given in to Harry's name, although he by then already wanted Robert as his name.

"May I call him Bobby then? Robert sounds so formal for a baby," she whispered, giving her husband a pleading look.

"Of course, dear." James smiled.

Lily and James swiftly returned to their igloo with their second son in Lily's arm. She quickly cleaned the baby, smiling, when Holly brought something to eat for the child. Soon, they were lying in their large double bed with the copy of their own baby nestled between them to recover from his nightmare.

"I suppose that we'll need to get used to having twins all of a sudden, just like the whole magical world, as everyone knows that Harry has been a single child so far."

"That's true." James grinned. "Perhaps, Merlin can cast a charm at the screen that will change everyone's memory. If anyone will be able to do such a thing, it'll either be him or you. Lily?" he asked in lack of a response, only to notice that his wife was already fast asleep with the baby nestled into her embrace. A contented smile was playing on her lips.

HP

Holly fetched the two boys very early the following morning, while she and James were just only waking up.

"Santa will take them to meet the North Fir Tree. Please feel welcome to join us and watch."

Lily and James hurriedly got up, nodding when Holly reminded them that their clothes would be exchanged, as soon as they stepped out of the door.

"We'll just have to remember to return here and properly dress before going anywhere else," Lily whispered to James, when they followed the elf and the two toddlers outside.

To her relief, both children were too sleepy to question the presence of the other boy. However, when they arrived in front of the overly large tree, in front of which Santa and Claire were waiting for them, they both looked up in amazement.

"Good morning, boys," Santa greeted them in his booming voice. "This is the North Fir Tree, the most magical tree in the world. Do you want the tree to make you twins, so you can always play together?"

The boys exchanged a look, before they both nodded in obvious eagerness.

HP

Lily and James stood together with Claire and Merlin and observed how two small fir cones separated from the large North Fir Tree. Each of them headed straight towards one of the boys and were consumed by their bodies, causing them to be surrounded by strong golden glows.

"It's all right. Santa would never harm them," James whispered to her, gently pulling her into an embrace.

Lily nodded. 'Still, it's unsettling that they're glowing so much that I can't properly see them,' she thought, inwardly sighing in relief, when the golden colour slowly receded. While Harry was sitting there smiling in obvious happiness, Bobby seemed to be unconscious.

"What happened?" she asked, horrified. "Is he all right?"

Santa nodded. "Yes, he is just asleep. His scar was not just a simple scar, but an evil piece of Voldemort was settled behind it. It was pushed out by the magic of the North Fir cone, which took a toll on his small body. We'll let him sleep for a while, and he'll be all right."

"A piece of Voldemort?" James was the first to ask, seeming as horrified as she felt at the idea.

"Don't worry. It's gone now. The twins now believe that they have been twins from birth onwards by the way."

"Is that the reason why you needed Harry as well?"

"One reason." Santa grinned. "The magic of the North Pole has now accepted both of them as members of the North Pole. That means that they have the magic of the North Pole at their disposal. They will be more powerful than any other wizard of their age."

With that, he ushered them inside and strode ahead carrying the sleeping toddler. Placing him onto the sofa in the screen room, he turned to Harry, grinning mischievously. "Now, the two of you were so brave and such good boys that I believe you both need a present."

"Yef," Harry replied in apparent delight, causing Lily to roll her eyes. "Everyone is spoiling him," she lightly complained in Santa's direction.

"While that may be, this present is a necessity. Come, Harry." He leaned down to link hands with Harry and led him out of the screen room, while his twin brother was still fast asleep with his head comfortably resting on his mother's lap.

tbc...

Thank you for the kind reviews for the previous chapter. Please continue feeding my muse. Any ideas, suggestions or opinions are welcome.