August 1st, 1980
"Welcome to the world, Harry James."
"Well, aren't you just precious?" Rosalie sat in Saint Mungoes the next morning, cooing down at her newest grandson as Lily handed him to her, Harrison having gone to call the hotel to try to get ahold of Petunia.
They had transferred James and Harry to Saint Mungoes as soon as it was safe to do so. Rosalie stifled a yawn, thinking of the night they had had last night. It had been a while since she or Harrison had pulled an all nighter for any reason, they usually tried to avoid it. Looking down at the sleeping baby in her arms though, this one had been wholly worth it.
Blue eyes, already showing hints of emerald blinked up at her sleepily, waking up due to being jostled when handed off.
"You're going to have green eyes like your mama, aren't you?" Rosalie asked with a smile, thinking of how Lily had had the same blue and green mix when she was born. Harry stared up at her, a concerned look on his little face, before whimpering.
"He's probably going to be getting hungry soon." Lily told her in explanation, "He had been asleep for a bit before we came out here."
"Well, do you have a bottle?"
Lily shook her head. "We'll have to go wake James up." She stood from the crouch she had been in, "In fact, we'll go do that now. We'll be right back."
xXx
"Guess who I managed to find and wrangle into coming with me!" Sirius announced as he swung open the door to the hospital room, Sirius, Remus and Peter all filed into the room.
"Well, I'll be. Look who's actually still alive." James deadpanned, looking directly at Peter. He might be slightly bitter about Peter's recent unexplained flightiness.
"On a different note!" Sirius interrupted. "Look what we have for little guy there."
"Stuffed versions of our animal forms?" James asked, when shown. Sirius nodded. "Where did you even-?"
"Pandora Lovegood." Remus answered.
"And a twelve month sleeper for a five pound newborn." Lily added, teasingly.
"That he will grow into." James said pointedly, causing Lily to smirk.
Sirius shrugged. "Yeah, well, it was the smallest they had."
August 2nd, 1980
"You have visitors." The ICU nurse said, stepping into Euphemia and Fleamont's room. "Don't worry, they have been cleared to visit."
Euphemia rolled her head to look at the door, who-? James, their son, their beautiful son with her hair, nose and lips and Fleamont's eyes. Everything else being a perfect mix of them both. Her attention was drawn to the bundle he carried in his arms.
"James?" Fleamont asked, watching as he sat in the chair between the two beds, with a sharp hiss.
"Hi." He answered simply, wincing as he positioned himself in the chair better.
"Is that my grandchild you're holding?" Euphemia asked, still looking at the small bundle. She recognized the white blanket as the one she had knitted.
"It is. Would you like to hold him?" Him. Grandson, she had a Grandson.
"You're sure it's safe for you two to be here?" Fleamont asked worriedly.
James nodded, gently laying the babe in Euphemia's arms. "I had dragon pox in third year." He reminded them, something he was having to do more of recently, "Because of that, we shouldn't have to worry about it with Harry until after I stop nursing him." Which would be a good two years or so away if he and Lily had their way.
"When are you going home?" Euphemia asked, not taking her eyes off of Harry.
"Either later this evening or early tomorrow." James answered. "Rosalie and Harrison are staying in a hotel nearby, to help out."
"I can honestly say, I am a bit jealous of them." Euphemia said, looking up at her son.
"I'm sorry." He said, smiling sadly.
"You have nothing to apologize for." Euphemia told him, reaching out a hand to grab his.
xXx
"Welcome home, Harry." Lily said softly, opening the door to their flat.
August 7th, 1980
"Do you want to go get Crookshanks?" Lily asked, sitting on the floor with Harry. They had decided to wait to introduce Crookshanks to Harry until Rosalie and Harrison had headed home, so they wouldn't have to worry about company coming and going in the process. Crookshanks was known for being rather territorial at times, especially when it came to James who had spent the most time at home with him the last few months.
Lily listened as James went to open the bathroom door to let Crookshanks out, then the sound of his little feet padding on the floor as he bolted from the small bathroom.
She looked up in time to see Crookshanks round the corner into the living room and freeze. His eyes narrowed as he stared at his new brother, yellow eyes glanced up at James who was watching, leaning on the back of the rocking chair, before slowly creeping closer to her outstretched hand.
Just as Crookshanks was in Lily's reach, Harry let out a small cry from Lily's other arm. Crookshanks froze once more, a low growl escaping his throat.
"Hey. No, this is why you were in the bathroom the last few days." Lily scolded, pointing a finger at him.
His fur stood on end, back arching, he backed away, hissing, before turning abruptly and skidding back around the corner he had come from.
September 11th, 1980
James could practically feel the glares on him as he tried to calm a crying Harry. It wasn't easy when he wanted to cry himself. He was about to stand and leave when Lily stopped him.
"I'll take him." Lily whispered, grabbing Harry and leaving the church. She saw no reason for James to leave his parents funeral, when she just as well, could leave the church and stand outside for the last ten to fifteen minutes.
September 19th, 1980
"Your turn." James muttered, still half asleep, when he and Lily were woken by Harry crying across the hall.
"He's probably just hungry again." Lily grumbled, but still rolled out of bed.
"Then you can bring him back with you." James told her as she stumbled out of the room.
"Hey buddy." Lily cooed, flipping on the nursery light. "Are you hungry again?" she asked, scooping the month old up. "We need to buy you a bottle, don't we? So Daddy can sleep more?" she whispered, pushing the door to their bedroom open, she knew James had only just gotten back to the room maybe an hour before Harry had woken up again.
October 8th, 1980
"You're sure you'll be okay?"
"Lily, love, we will be perfectly fine. If we need anything, I'll call you." James said as he took Harry from her. "Now go to work before you make yourself late."
October 21st, 1980
"Say 'bye Mummy and Daddy'." Sirius baby talked, grabbing Harry's little hand and waving it at Lily and James as Remus and Peter practically shoved the young parents out the door.
"Have fun! But not too much fun, because this one isn't even three months old yet!"
"Sirius!" Lily exclaimed, appalled, just before the door slammed shut.
November 15th, 1980
Lily stared at Dumbledore incredulously,
"Me?" she asked, "You want me to be potions mistress after Professor Slughorn retires?"
"And Potions Professor." Dumbledore confirmed.
"Would I be required to live at Hogwarts?" she questioned, crossing her legs and twiddling her thumbs. She had always wanted to work at Hogwarts, specifically as potions mistress, but now she didn't know. She didn't know if she could handle living at the castle full time and leaving James and Harry for that long.
Dumbledore smiled knowingly, blue eyes twinkling. "You would be allowed to go home Friday evening until your first class Monday morning, and any holiday. I would just ask that you have Madam Pomfrey fully stocked. Then of course, staff members can have their family visit on the evenings of Tuesday and Thursday."
There was a beat of silence, before Lily spoke. "I- I don't know, I would have to talk to James about it." It was a big decision, and not one she was going to make on her own.
"That's all I ask."
November 16th, 1980
"So, what do you think?" Lily asked James, having laid out everything Dumbledore had told her.
"What do you want to do?" James responded, he knew this job had been her goal ever since their fifth year, but, she had ended up stumbling and tripping her way into healing.
"I want this job."
"Then take it."
"I don't want to leave you and Harry."
December 24th, 1980
"We're going to see grandma and grandpa Evans… you're actually named after your grandpa Harrison." Lily said, holding Harry close as she walked slowly up the recently shoveled pathway, he gave a gummy smile, reaching up to grab Lily's hair only to be swiftly intercepted by Lily gently grabbing his small hand. "Last year… last year at this time, we were still telling people about you." She continued, walking up the porch steps, head snapping up as the front door swung open.
"Lily!" Rosalie exclaimed, pulling her daughter and grandson into a hug.
"Mum." Lily said, pulling out of the hug, looking down to Harry. "Go to grandma so Mummy can help Daddy with the luggage."
"I get to have Harry cuddles?" Rosalie gasped, taking the almost five month old from Lily. She turned stepping into the house, calling out, "Harrison! Guess who I have!"
xXx
Rosalie flinched slightly as Harry screamed seemingly at the top of his lungs in James arms, pushing the bottle away and turning to root into James.
"No." James said softly, bouncing Harry gently, "You can have your bottle." He continued, putting the bottle to Harry's lips in offering. The five month old screamed, little fists clenching as his entire body went rigid.
"He could nurse." Rosalie said, staring at her son-in-law and grandson, as Lily stood, taking Harry from James. "Harrison and I wouldn't mind. We could leave the room."
Lily shook her head, holding Harry to her shoulder, swaying back and forth, "We're trying to save that for morning and night, he needs to learn to take a bottle during the day at least, if he's going to start daycare after the first of the year."
Rosalie nodded in understanding. "Let me take him?" she asked, holding out her arms. Lily gladly set Harry in her arms, grabbing the bottle from James and handing it to Rosalie.
Rosalie held Harry in a sitting position, rubbing the bottle nipple on his lip until he latched on. "See? It's the same stuff, just in a bottle."
"How?" James whispered, head in his hands, fingers curling in his hair, as he stared at his son and mother-in-law.
December 25th, 1980
"Oh, a vase!" Lily said with fake enthusiasm, looking down at the gift her sister had given her.
December 26th, 1980
"Couldn't you do that in private?" Petunia asked, disgust clear in her voice as she stepped into the living room, Dudley on her hip.
James tensed, head snapping up to look at Petunia. This was in no way, any position he had ever wanted to be seen in by the magic hating woman. Sitting crisscross in an armchair, t-shirt held up with Harry held to his chest nursing.
"I was in private." he snapped back quietly. Rosalie could be heard moving around the kitchen, Harrison was helping Lily pack and load the car, and Vernon and Petunia were supposed to have left almost an hour ago so Vernon could go back to work. Petunia just stood, glaring, shielding Dudley's eyes as if to protect him from 'the freakishness' as she would put it.
"It's unnatural." Petunia hissed, face rapidly turning the color of a tomato. The sound of running water and dishes clinking from the kitchen quietened. "Men shouldn't be able to… do that." She, a woman, a mother, was unable to nurse her child, what right did her brother-in-law have to do so in front of her?
He and precious Lily liked to act as though their way was best, natural birth, nursing, a cat and a dog, they had the seemingly picture perfect family. Always demeaning Petunia and Vernon who did things the exact opposite them, they didn't have pets, they lived in an actual house instead of a flat, Dudley was born via C-section, they were formula feeding. Petunia and Vernon both worked while Lily was briefly between jobs and James was still on leave, among other differences. Their lives were completely different. Did you see her and Vernon talking down to people that did things differently to them?
"I am just feeding my child." James told her slowly, bringing his knees up to his chest as well as he could with Harry on his lap, partially hiding him from her view. "We never meant to offend y-"
Oh, so now he knew what she was thinking, did he? He was just feeding his child, was he? As if he wasn't doing something so… so freakish and unnatural in a common area.
"Petunia." Rosalie gasped from the doorway to the kitchen. Petunia slowly turned at the sound of her mother's scandalized gasp, she had been suddenly made aware that she had been speaking aloud.
The front door swung open as Lily and Harrison came into the house, "Alright, car's ready to g-" Lily cut herself off, noticing the tension in the room. "What's going on?"
January 5th, 1981
James stared up, through gently falling snow, at the house in front of him. It was an old brick house, with a white picket fence in the front, with children's toys scattered in the yard. The daycare was run by muggleborn Sarah Davis, a rather stout, middle age woman with graying brown hair and kind eyes. She had two other women working with her. Lily had met all three when she first looked into the daycare shortly after Harry was born.
Another car pulled into the double driveway beside his, and James sighed, pulling the keys out of the ignition, and sliding out of the car walking around to get Harry out of his carseat.
February 14th, 1981
They spent their Valentine's Day at home with a fussy, teething baby. The fireplace was blazing, music was softly sounding from the radio, they were sat curled up quietly on the couch, no sound other than the radio coming from the room as to hopefully not wake Harry.
March 7th, 1981
"How would you feel about moving to Godric's Hollow?"
April 18th, 1981
Lily stared around the now bare flat. It was hard to believe they had lived here nearly a year, it was bittersweet to her. They finally were moving into a house, Euphemia and Fleamont's old house in Godric's Hollow, a four bedroom, two bath, with a basement which also had a couple rooms that could easily be renovated into extra bedrooms if need be. A living room that was somehow both cozy and spacious. An actual dining room that wasn't part of the living room, on top of room in the kitchen for a breakfast table. A backyard, that wasn't exactly big, but was still a backyard.
Plus, they would finally be living in a magical community.
On the other hand, this flat held a lot of memories for them. A lot of firsts had happened here.
They would also be switching secret keepers from Sirius to Peter.
"Lily?" James called from where he stood, holding Harry in the doorway.
Lily startled out of her thoughts, shaking her head, "I'm coming." She called back.
May 22nd, 1981
"He is not going to be left with my sister." Lily said, they were working on updating their will on the off chance that something happened to them, they wanted to be sure Harry would be well taken care of. And loved. They hadn't wanted to bring him to Gringotts with them, so Harry was currently with the babysitter they had hired to babysit him, primarily for while James was at work.
The girl, Katelyn Bell was only just out of Hogwarts, but she had only been a couple of years below them, and her brother was a Hufflepuff in their year.
"Oh, definitely not." James agreed immediately.
They had a top five they would prefer he go to. First being Sirius, then Alice and Frank, Remus and Dorcus, Mary and Reginald, and Molly and Arthur.
But under no circumstances, did they want Harry to go to Petunia and Vernon.
June 24th, 1981
Harry held tightly to James' thumbs as they walked around the living room, grinning his toothy grin up at James.
July 31st, 1981
"Good morning birthday boy!" Lily cooed, picking Harry up out of his crib.
"Ummamama." Harry babbled back, emerald green eyes serious as he looked up at Lily.
"Are you hungry?" Lily asked, as she quickly changed Harry out of his Pjs. "Dada's downstairs making pancakes. Do you want pancakes?"
"Dadadada?"
"Yeah, Dada." Lily told him, pulling him to stand with her support, so she could pull his pants up. "And Uncle Padfoot too." She continued, picking him up, and heading down the stairs.
"Un moomoo?"
"And Uncle Moony too." Lily said, chuckling when Harry clapped his little hands together.
"Harry!" Sirius squealed, as Lily put the one year old in the highchair. James slid the tray onto the chair, putting cut up pieces of pancake and banana on it.
August 16th, 1981
Lily sat back, setting the camera down and just watching as Harry zipped around in circles on the practice broom Sirius had gotten him, James stood beside the one year old, ready to stop him, should he get too unruly on the broom that couldn't go over two feet.
"James, I'm sure he'll be fine." Lily told her husband, "It can't go over two feet, can barely go faster than he can walk, and he's literally stuck to the thing." It was weird, usually this was the other way around, with Lily worrying, and James trying to reassure her.
Just as Lily finished talking, Harry took off with a giggle and zipped to the other side of the room, a loud shattering crash ringing through the room.
The two young parents stared at each other for a split second, before going to investigate.
Finding a perfectly happy toddler, and a shattered, ugly vase.
August 31st, 1981
"I can't believe Summer's already over." Lily muttered, falling into bed beside James. She had spent the day mostly just packing to head back to Hogwarts.
September 25th, 1981
"James. You have a phone call."
James shot up from where he had been slumped against his desk, arms crossed and face buried in them. He was supposed to be doing paperwork, but between having been up late with Harry the night the night before, and just being more tired recently than usual, he had drifted off into a doze instead.
He fumbled for the phone, "Hello?"
"Mr. Potter."
His eyebrows rose, as he leaned back in his chair. "Katelyn."
"Um. So, Harry just kinda… threw up? Everywhere."
James sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. "Alright, just. Hang tight, I'll be there as soon as I can." He told her, already grabbing his keys from his desk drawer and standing, closing his eyes against the brief dizziness that washed over him from standing suddenly.
"What was that about?" Sirius asked, as he watched James hang up the phone.
"Harry's sick." James answered, slipping his jacket on, moving to the door. He still had a pile of paperwork on his desk, but it would have to wait until Monday.
xXx
"Hey buddy." James said, taking Harry from Katelyn when he got home. The one year old was stripped down to just a diaper, there was a large spot on the carpet that had some cleaning solution on it. "What do you say about a bath, huh? I think you need a bath, but first we need to pay Katelyn." It was a Friday, after all.
October 19th, 1981
Harry had been sick, then Lily, and now, apparently James' body decided it was his turn. It had been long enough between, that he had started to think that maybe he had gotten out scot free. But, nope!
Here he was, hunched over the toilet at 3 A.M.
Silly him, thinking nearly a month would be long enough to put him in the clear.
If he had to say, the last time he felt near this sick was… when he was pregnant with Harry.
He sat back on his heels, doing quick metal math.
xXx
"Sirius, can you do me a favor?"
xXx
"Well?" Sirius asked that evening, from his spot on the floor with Harry, looking up at James as he came out of the bathroom.
James sighed, sinking to sit on the floor beside Sirius. He leaned back against the couch behind them, dragging his hands over his face. "We weren't planning on having another so soon." He said with a high pitched whine.
"So, you're…?"
"I'll need to see if I can get it Healer confirmed tomorrow, but according to that test, I am."
October 21st, 1981
Lily dropped her over night bag by the fireplace, quietly walking to the kitchen, assuming, since it was dinnertime, that her husband and child would be either there or the dining room.
Sure enough, Harry was in his highchair eating cut up pieces of toast and banana, while James watched him from where he was leaning against the counter.
"What are you doing here?" James asked in surprise, having noticed her leaning on the doorframe.
"Professor Dumbledore decided to give me the night off." Lily grinned, walking over to wrap her arms around his waist, "For our anniversary." She elaborated at James' confused look.
"Right." James murmured, rubbing his eyes under his glasses.
"…you forgot, didn't you?"
"No! No, I didn't, I just," James sighed, "wasn't expecting you until Friday." He continued, leaning down to kiss her. She supposed that was fair enough.
"Ummamama." Harry babbled from his highchair.
"Harry!" Lily squealed, breaking from James to lean over and plant a noisy kiss on the toddler's dark hair. "Are you eating toast? And a banana?"
xXx
"Can you believe he's almost fifteen months old?" Lily asked, sitting on the couch beside James, having put Harry to bed. Sometimes it felt to her that he was just born yesterday.
"Can you believe he's going to be a big brother eventually?" James asked quietly, as Lily closed her eyes, resting her head on his shoulder.
"I'm not sure I want to think that far ahead, yet." Lily laughed.
"Not sure I'd call seven months far out."
"Hmm." Lily hummed, starting to drift off as Crookshanks jumped onto the couch beside her.
Wait a minute. What did that mean, seven months? That seemed oddly specific to Lily, did he mean he wanted to start trying for another baby come May? But that wouldn't make much sense to Lily, not with that wording. So, did he mean…
She sat up, suddenly feeling wide awake, turning to stare at her husband suspiciously. "What?"
James glanced at her from the corner of his eye, before repeating himself.
"Seven months. Why seven?" She blurted out.
"Because. Harry's going to be a big brother." James took a deep breath, looking at Lily. "I'm pregnant again."
"You're serious." Lily stated more than asked, after a beat of silence. "You're not joking?"
"Completely serious." James confirmed.
"And you're sure that you're…"
"Healer confirmed."
October 31st, 1981
"I got him." Lily muttered, climbing out of bed, when Harry woke them up at five that morning. She was most definitely tired, and would have preferred to sleep later, but someone had to get up with Harry. And she knew James had been running on just a few hours of sleep a night, between near twenty-four seven morning sickness, which was already proving to be worse than with Harry, and Harry waking up rather early in the morning.
She stretched, walking across the hall to Harry's room. Opening the door, she saw a little head peaking over the side of his crib. "Hi, my little lion." She cooed, lifting the toddler out of the crib and seeing the sleeper James had put him in the night before, it seemed the lion sleeper Sirius had gotten Harry finally fit him. And the weather was right for the heavy fleece.
"Mamamama." Harry babbled at seeing her, unfortunately, Harry had already been in bed by the time she had gotten home the night before.
"Do you want breakfast?" Lily asked the toddler, as she bounded down the stairs. Harry grinned, laying his head on her shoulder.
xXx
Lily winced at the sound of gagging coming from upstairs several hours later. Her eyebrows rose as she looked down at Harry, "Should we go check on Daddy?" she asked, climbing to her feet from where she was sitting on the floor, picking Harry up and setting him on her hip.
xXx
Lily grinned, watching as Harry giggled and clapped his hands, staring in wonder at the bubbles that had come out of James wand.
James yawned, dropping his wand on the couch beside him and stretching his arms above his head.
"Okay, Harry." Lily said, stepping into the room and picking the fifteen month old up. "Time for bed. Say good night to Daddy."
James stood planting a sloppy kiss on Harry's forehead, "Goodnight, Harry. We'll see you in the morning!" The toddler grinned, flapping his hands, as Lily headed for the stairs.
She was half way up the stairs when she heard the words she had never wanted to hear.
"Lily! It's him! Take Harry and go, I'll hold him off!"
She turned to look behind her into the hall, not that she could see much from halfway up the stairs. Did he really expect her to-?
There was a loud bang as the front door swung inward hitting the wall.
A bright burst of electric green filled the hall, emerald green eyes widened and she bolted up the rest of the stairs.
He was coming for her Harry.
The creaky fifth stair creaked, telling her just how little time she had left. Determination filled her.
Voldemort may have killed James, and he would kill Lily, but Harry would not be dying tonight.
Lily would do anything, anything in her power to keep her son alive.