Five months into Lily’s pregnancy, and things were going about in their normal fashion. Lola’s death had not, as one might assume, reduced Sirius into a kind of feral state, but had instead given him a fierce determination. Everything he did, was done with a feeling of anger put into them, and any missions he was given by the Order, he did with everything he had and more. It was even beginning to scare the people who didn’t know him as well.
He still ate at the Potter’s every day for dinner, and sometimes they were joined by Remus and Tara, Peter, or even Penny and Jack, who had been accepted into their group quite well. James had qualified as an Auror, and Lily as a Healer. Remus was working in the Ministry as a Researcher, and the job was perfect for him, while Tara remained at the Muggle beautician’s, “Magic Touch”, and adored her job “ she was apparently quite good at it too. Peter of course, continued to work with Sirius.
This Saturday, however, it was only him. Lily was looking big, and although she was happy, seemed anxious and distracted. They sat to eat.
“So Sirius, how was work today?” asked James.
“Okay, I guess. We’re mainly preparing for the rush of Hogwarts kids this summer. And how is the ‘Good Fight’ going?”
James sighed, and stabbed a potato with his fork. “We think there’s a spy. Well, we know there is, someone passing him information ... maybe even someone in the Order somewhere.”
“Maybe they even have greasy hair and a large nose. Am I the only one to have noticed that?” Sirius asked, not really expecting an answer.
“Dumbledore trusts Snape. Trust me, he knows of our concerns, but seems determined that he’s right.”
“Well, Dumbledore may be blind and trusting, but I for one “”
“How many times have you guys had this conversation?” asked Lily.
“Lily dearest!” James grinned playfully. “Wife to my husband, jam to my doughnut, Albus to my Dumbledore, wand to my magic ...”
“James,” stated Lily placidly, smiling a little. “Husband to my wife, pain to my arse, bane to my existence, leech to my life ...”
James looked at Sirius and shook his head, sadly. “It’s those raging hormones. She can’t control them, doesn’t know what she’s saying. You know, the other night, I came home from a hard days work fighting crime, and she “”
“We’ll have no tales, thank you, James. And you don’t fight crime, mostly Moody makes you fill out paperwork,” Lily teased.
“But particularly naughty paperwork,” James laughed.
It saddened Sirius to see the two of them bantering away. It made him miss Lola all the more. They continued to eat their dinners, and despite their cheerful manner, he felt he was missing something important. There was a very slight fake-ness in their chat that was usually never there. It wasn’t much, but it was enough.
“Guys!” he exclaimed eventually. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
They looked uncomfortable. “I guess you know that there’s a reason only you’re here,” James muttered.
“Yes, because surprisingly I’m not stupid, mate,” he said pointedly.
James nodded. “Fair point. Okay, about three months ago, Dumbledore came to us. He told us that there had been a prophecy made about a month before Lola ... well, about a month before that last battle. It said that the boy born at the end of July, to parents who had defied Voldemort three times, would be the one to defeat him. And ... well, when he found out that Lily was expecting for late July/early August, he knew it was possible that the child might be ours.”
Sirius was in shock, not believing what he was hearing. “Possible in a definite kind of way?”
Lily shook her head. “Alice Longbottom. She and Frank also have a child due around then. They also defied him three times.”
“They’re Aurors, right?” Sirius asked, recalling their faces from various Order meetings. “So why are you telling me now? Why not then?”
“We wanted to get used to the idea first. And we are only telling you, because we know we can absolutely, one-hundred percent trust you. We can, can’t we?”
“Of course,” Sirius nodded, taking all this in. “Absolutely.”
They smiled in relief. Lily had tears in her eyes. “Thank you so much, Sirius. Thank you so much.”
Sirius apparated in St Mungo’s Hospital and stood in the foyer. “Lily Potter!” he cried, grabbing a passing Healer. “Where is she?”
“The information desk is over there, Sir,” came the reply.
“Who cares about information? I want to know where Lily Potter is!”
“Are you family?” he asked, reluctantly.
“Sure, why not? I mean, yes, yes I am. Her brother. Sirius Potter. Evans. Yes, Evans, that’s her maiden name. Look, it doesn’t matter, just take me there!”
Eventually, Sirius found his way. “Lily!” he cried. “Are you okay? What happened? Tell me! I told them I was your brother, so if they ask, we’re twins. Tell me what happened, damn it! James said it was serious!”
“I had a son, Sirius,” she said, finally getting a word in edgeways. “He’s over there.”
Sirius blinked. “But James told me it was serious.”
Lily pretended to look shocked and offended, “You think that my first born son isn’t serious?”
“Lily!” a voice squealed. Tara ran in, and hugged her. “By the way, we’re twin sisters for now. Triplets actually, Remus is our brother.”
“Make it quadruplets,” Sirius laughed.
“No, no. Me, Lily, Remus ... three. Triplets. That’s right, isn’t it, Remus?”
“Yes dear. But I think Sirius means that he also said he was Lily’s twin,” Remus explained. Comprehension dawned.
“What a coincidence!”
“Sick, really,” Lily mumbled. “Tara, you’ve dated both of your twin brothers!”
“Oh no, Lily. I don’t have any twin brothers,” Tara said. They all laughed. Tara may not be the smartest girl in the world, but she was one of the nicest, really, and they all loved her. She had completely forgiven Sirius for all the “LaLa Business” long ago, and things had been good between them for a long time. James came into the room.
“Hi everyone! Have you seen our son yet?” When they realised that they hadn’t done this, they all rushed over to the little incubator, where a tiny newborn baby was lying. He was perfect. “We called him Harry,” James said, his eyes glazing over. Tara made an odd whimpering noise, which meant that she thought everything about him was adorable. He had soft black hair which was already sticking up on end, and he was sleeping contentedly, despite the commotion. There was a knock at the door, and Peter came in.
“Am I late?” he asked breathlessly.
“No, mate, the Wonderful One is still here. Speaking of which, stop crowding him!” James already seemed to be an oddly protective father.
“Oh, and Lily, I told them you were my twin so that they would let me in,” Peter whispered. They all burst out laughing, save for Peter, who looked confused.
A little while later, Harry had awoke, and everybody was crowded around Lily, who had him in her arms. He was quite content, and had grasped a lock of his mother’s hair in his hand. Two more people entered the room. Jack was holding a balloon, and Penny had a bunch of flowers.
“Hello,” Penny said, laying the flowers on Lily’s bedside table. “I thought I’d drop by, and so I called on Jack to see if he wanted to come too.”
“I brought a balloon!” Jack told them, grinning.
“Why?” asked James.
“Well, it made a lot of sense at the time ...” he muttered, thoughtfully, pushing his long locks out of his face.
“Please don’t say that you told them I was your triplet so that they would let you in,” Lily implored.
Penny snorted with laughter. “That’s ridiculous! Why would you think that? We said we were good friends, and they let us in no problem!”
Everybody’s mouths fell open at this. Jack and Penny burst into laughter. “Did you guys all say you were her twin, or something?” Jack gasped between laughs.
“Uh, yes,” Remus admitted. Penny and Jack fell into a new wave of laughter that was bordering on hysterical now. Tara began to chuckle too, followed by Remus, then Peter, then Lily and James. Finally, Sirius forgot his grief for a moment, and joined in, genuinely laughing for the first time. Suddenly, as clear as day, he saw Lola’s face break into a relieved smile. He knew this was because he had begun to head to some sort of normality again, just by being able to laugh with his friends over their own stupidity.
All the visitors had left except Sirius. Harry was sleeping again, and the three adults were talking.
“You know what the date is, don’t you? 31st of July,” Lily sighed. “The prophecy ... It could ... Our little baby might be the one to defeat Voldemort.”
“What about the Longbottom’s boy ... when was he born?” asked Sirius.
“Yesterday, I think. They called him Neville.”
“Neville Longbottom? That poor kid ...” James shook his head, sadly.
“Oh, get away with you, this is serious, James. I don’t want my son to defeat Voldemort! I don’t want him to ever come within 100 miles of him! Oh, James ... what if we’re killed, and we can’t protect him?” There was panic in her eyes. Sirius stepped in, quickly.
“Lily, you know that if anything happened to you, I would step right in. I promise, okay? I promise I’ll protect him.”
Lily smiled up at him. “I know you will.”
“But ... but only if we die, right? Which, let’s face it, may not happen. Right?” James looked worried.
“Come on, mate, you’re not going to die! Then you’d leave me on my own in this hell, and it would be hanging over your heads for eternity!”
“Sirius!” Lily cried, throwing herself at him. His eyes were wide, and he tentatively patted her on the back. “Oh, Sirius, you don’t deserve to have to go through all this! To see happy couples every day, and know that ... That L ... L ...”
“I know,” Sirius said, quickly. “But at least I still have you guys, right? I mean, without you both, I’d go completely mad and end up ... I dunno, Azkaban, probably.”
There was a gurgle the other side of the room, and Lily jumped up to take her son and rock him for a while. She passed him to Sirius.
“Say hello to your new Godfather, Harry,” Lily cooed.
“Godfather? Really?”
James grinned, “Unless you’d rather be his Godmother, but that might be a little weird, even for you. Hey, we could ask Jack to do that, I guess,” he said laughing, and the other two joined in.
“Godfather ...” Sirius muttered, waggling his fingers around Harry’s face. “I always wondered how it would feel to be a god of something ...”
Harry caught one of his mocking fingers, and smiled.
AN: Okay, I just about had a fit picturing little Baby Harry ... Didn’t you? I hope you liked this, please review! Then you can move on to Chapter 15, and either read it again (if you read it before I realised what I had done), or read it now, so you can understand. I hope you don't hate me about the whole thing.