“Congratulations! It’s a boy!” the Healer felicitated the woman who was lying on the bed. The mother glanced at the baby, which was in the cot adjacent to her bed.
The occupant of the crib was a newly born baby boy with raven black hair, like that of his mother, and grey eyes. He looked cute and innocent, just like the typical babies.
This was Walburga Black's first child. The next moment, her husband entered the room and examined the baby and his wife. When he saw that both were fine, he said a few words to his spouse and left for work as he was a busy man. Then the baby’s aunt and uncle arrived with their daughters: Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa.
They left soon and the baby was left alone with his mother who insisted on going back home. She took the Floo Network back home with the baby, turning a deaf ear to the Healer’s protests. She had performed a spell on the baby so that he was in a deep sleep and did not mind the ashes or the weird feeling of traveling by using Floo Powder at all.
Mrs Black went straight to her room, kept the baby in the cot and went to the mirror to inspect her self. She was not up to her usual self and that was sort of surprising for her. She had not been warned that having a baby was going to be the most difficult effort of her life. There was a little bit of soot on her thick black hair (no doubt from travelling by using the Floo), which she brushed off. Then she applied mascara on her beautiful long eyelashes. She applied black eye make up, which literally made her eyes look black. But she looked beautiful all the same.
Then she turned the long deserved attention towards the infant and smiled. It was not the usual cold, artificial smile of hers. It was a genuine one which reached her eyes.
Walburga left the room after calling a house-elf to look after the baby. Then she went downstairs and into the drawing room. She went straight to the tapestry on top of which was written:
Toujours pur'
She closely examined it, muttering to herself whilst she did so. ‘That’s it!’ she thought to herself and left the room and went upstairs to her room.
Walburga had decided that her first son’s name should be Sirius because no one from the previous generation had been named Sirius. By the looks of the family tree, it had been a sort of a tradition in the Black family to have at least one person in each generation who would be called Sirius. She didn’t want the custom to be forgotten and had thought that she would honour her first son to carry out the tradition. So, that infant, who was born on the 25th of November, was christened 'Sirius Orion Black.'.
“Wow! Can I hold her, Dad? Please?” pleaded a toddler to her father.
“Well… okay, but be careful,” Mr Evans replied back after contemplating over it.
He went to the crib, carefully took the baby in his arms and gave her to his eldest daughter, Petunia, who was thrilled.
Mr David Evans had become a proud father of another daughter. His wife Nancy had already discussed it with him before. If it were to be a boy, he would be named Rupert and if it would be a girl they would call her Lily. And so it was. A baby girl was born on 30th January 1960, who was called Lily Nancy Evans.
After three days, the mother and the daughter went back home from the hospital. Petunia was thrilled; she was only three years old and was very excited with the arrival of a sister. It was enough to make her shout with sheer happiness although she was a bit disappointed. Lily was not like her. She had dark red hair and green eyes. Lily was not at all like Petunia who was thin, blonde and had a long neck and a face.
Petunia just couldn’t wait to play with her new sister. But, she couldn’t do anything about it. Lily was a newborn, whose only way of communicating was crying or moving her chubby hands. She was quite adorable. Very beautiful, just like an angel.
There was a baby lying in the cot with light brown hair and matching eyes. This child was only a week old. This infant was born on 10th March 1960 and was named Remus John Lupin.
When Mrs Rosie Lupin saw the baby, she was ecstatic. This was her first baby who was born alive. The first time she got pregnant, she had had a terrible accident, which had resulted in a miscarriage. She had then been like the living dead. She had almost committed suicide when the Healer had said that there were very slim chances of her being able to conceive again. But her optimistic husband had made her forget about the past although he had been as sad about it. But then, there was no use moaning over it. They had to carry on with their lives and not cry their hearts out for someone who hadn’t even come in this world. A year had passed since the miscarriage and she had become almost the same as before thanks to her husband. And when she had become pregnant again, she had been overjoyed. And then, she had given birth to Remus.
Mrs Lupin walked over to the cot and scooped the baby up in her arms. She considered herself really lucky. Mr John Lupin- her husband, was very, very glad. And so, to celebrate and share their happiness with everyone, they had called a few friends and neighbours over. There was no one in their family except a cousin of Mr Lupin, and he also lived abroad. So basically they did not have anyone in the family to invite and share their joy with.
Mrs Lupin looked up when she felt the warm pressure of a hand on her shoulder. It was her husband standing there, his hand on her shoulder, smiling. She was happy, her husband was happy, everyone was happy! They finally had a baby. Nothing would happen to this baby… Life was perfect!
“How are you feeling now my dear?” asked a concerned voice. The occupant of the bed, whose black hair was spread on the pillows, looked up. She saw her husband; his forehead creased with worry lines, and gave a quivering smile. He held her hand and returned back her smile saying, “I have just sent an Owl to Mother and Father telling them that now they are grandparents.” His smile widened into a grin as he said this. Obviously he was very excited about finally being a father.
Mrs Dorea Potter’s eyes reverted back to the cot beside her bed. She had given birth to her first baby boy an hour back on 27th March 1960. Delivering a baby, especially the first one, is not a joke and also the fact mattered that she was not exactly young at thirty five. She felt a little weak but was excited that now she had earned the sacred title of ‘Mother’.
Soon the Healer gave Mrs Potter the permission to return home. It was huge, just like a mansion. It had to be, her husband being a very successful, highly trained Auror and had also inherited quite a bit of money. His grandfather had left around five hundred Galleons for him. After a week of rest, Mrs Potter continued with her daily tasks, such as telling the house-elf what to do.
That day Mrs Potter was sitting on the couch cradling the infant whom the couple had christened James Charlus Potter, in her arms, happy to be back home. She heard footsteps and glanced up to see Mr Charlus Potter- her husband. She gave a small smile when she thought that James resembled Charlus a lot. Her son was fair and had the famous Potter hair and hazel eyes, the only trait which was not his father’s. Mr Potter had brown eyes and his wife green, so it kind of made sense.
“Yes, dear?” Mrs Potter asked her husband after placing James carefully in the cot.
“Sweetheart, I am just going to work now. Mother wrote that now that you are finally home, she would be coming for a week or so. (They had already visited them in St. Mungos but she wanted to spend a little bit of quality time with her daughter-in-law and grandson.) My parents will be Apparating in the evening. Bye and take care of yourself and James,” he replied with a smile. He ruffled the infant’s hair and Disapparated.
Mrs Potter smiled and let her thoughts wander, only to be interrupted by James’ cries. She took the baby in her arms and went to the bed to feed him. Soon, the young boy became quiet and went to sleep. Mrs Potter also thought of resting and laid down. She hadn’t had proper sleep since the last week and soon followed her son’s example and went to sleep.
“So have you thought of any name for this little baby?” Mrs Raymond asked whilst cradling Mrs Pettigrew’s one-day-old baby in her hands.
Mrs Pettigrew shrugged. “Well, we have thought of a few names but my husband will decide the final one,” the mother answered back with a forced smile.
“Okay. Well, I’ll be going now. I have my own children to look after.” She smiled and then continued, “Bye and take care!” After giving the baby in his mother’s arms, the visitor left the house.
Mrs Pettigrew had given birth to a baby boy on 12th May 1960. He was not skinny like babies usually are, but was chubby. He had small, watery eyes. His very less hair was thin and colourless.
A week had passed after the conversation with Mrs Raymond. It was on the seventh day that Mr Pettigrew finally decided the boy’s name. He was called ‘Peter Pollex Pettigrew’. Although Mrs Pettigrew had thought about ‘Harold’, naming the child after her dead father, her husband had flatly refused. It had always been like that. Mr Pettigrew had always done what he wanted to do and Mrs Joan Pettigrew’s nature was such that she always listened to him. She never fought for her rights. For her, whatever her husband said had to be correct. Even though she admitted to herself that he was usually wrong.
Mr Thomas Pettigrew was cruel. He was harsh. He had always had his way and because of this his parents had disowned him but it still didn’t affect his nature. He did whatever he wished to do.
On the other hand, Mrs Pettigrew was a sweet, innocent lady. She always used to succumb to her husbands wishes. Whatever he said was law. It had to be followed. Life was really tough.
Her chain of morbid thoughts was broken when she heard a shout. She sighed. Her man was bidding her to come downstairs and sit with him and as usual she would listen to his requests. Or rather, ‘demand’ would be a more appropriate word.
She went downstairs, leaving the sleeping baby behind.