Elsie had to place a hand over her mouth to prevent a chuckle from slipping through her lips. She truly couldn't help herself, not when the boy sitting on the couch looked up at her as if she had three heads. One of his eyebrows were raised quizzically, his lips pointed in two different directions, and his mouth was dropped open slightly at the question she had just asked him.
"You want me to hold...it?" Rory breathily responded as his eyes flickered from Elsie's amused face to the small one that rested in her arms.
Elsie rolled her eyes and snickered as his face somehow distorted even more, "Godric, Rory. It's been 4 months already and you still haven't held Harry."
"Well, it's not my fault he's so small. He's practically the size of one of those bloody pumpkin pasties," He pointed at her before licking his bottom lip and winking, "And you know very well that I have never have to deal with anything small, Princess."
"Oh, shut it!" Elsie giggled while walking over and forcibly placing Harry in Rory's arms, "There. Not so bad."
Rory's body stiffened as the 4 month old baby stretched his tiny arms into the air, looking down at him as if he were a foreign creature, "So...erm...this is Harry, huh?"
"My little Harry Regulus Potter," Elsie knelt down until she was eye-level with her baby and nuzzled her nose into his, a tiny giggle slipping from his lips, "Merlin, Rory. Ease up a bit, why don't you? You act like you've never met him before."
Rory's shoulders relaxed at the sight of Elsie with Harry and the crease between his eyebrows seamlessly slipped away, "I've never held him so close before...or at all."
Elsie stood up and ruffled his hair while sitting down next to him as James came down the stairs of the Potter household. Her lips curled into a smirk as she locked eyes with her husband, "Well, at least you didn't faint as the doctors were about to place him in your arms."
James pouted and crossed his arms over his chest, huffing and stomping his foot onto the ground, "I was overwhelmed with emotions!"
"Right," Elsie let out sarcastically, laughing at James at he walked over to where she was, "As if the pregnant girl who spent 8 hours trying to push him out wasn't."
"Yeah, yeah," James grumbled under his breath while leaning down and placing a soft kiss on Elsie's lips, "Good morning, my deepest desire."
"Aw, Potter, you flatter me. But maybe not right in front of Elsie, yeah?" Rory teasingly looked over at James and fluttered his eyelashes, the spectacled boy rolling his eyes in response.
James then bent down and ambushed little Harry with dozens of small kisses until the baby was giddy with laughter, "Good morning to you, too, my Prongslet."
Rory picked up Harry and held him out in front of him, tilting his head while furrowing his eyebrows. He glanced at Harry, then up to James, finished off by a longer gaze towards Elsie, "You're sure Harry is his? I rather think he looks more like Fenwick if you ask me."
Elsie immediately burst out into laughter as James narrowed his eyes and stomped off to the kitchen, growling out while doing so, "Watch it, McLaggen."
"Love you too, Potter," he shouted back at him as the kitchen door shut, once again leaving Rory and Elsie alone with Harry.
As Elsie's laughter began to settle down, Rory brought Harry back into his arms, his head resting on his elbow. It was obviously a joke, he thought, because Harry was almost a split image of James. Bushy, dark hair that was already messy and much to overgrown for being that small. His smile when he laughed was crooked, the rising of his lips favoring the right side of his face just like his father. The tiny boy even at 4 months old needed to wear prescription glasses since his eyesight wasn't developing correctly, and of course his glasses were round and overbearing as James' were. There was no mistaking it; Harry was the definition of a Potter.
Rory let out a laugh under his breath as he watched Harry's tongue slip in between his tiny lips and his eyes, that were magnified through the glasses, flicker up to meet his own. And his heart nearly stopped beating. Because as he was staring down into the crystal blue eyes that were so familiar to him, he swore he could only see Elsie in Harry. The small boy may have looked like his father, but his eyes were all his mum.
As his eyes locked onto the boy in his arms, he absentmindedly brought his large hand onto Harry's cheek and stroked down the side of his face. His body slightly jolted out of his trace when he felt a small hand curl around his finger tightly. And for the first time in over a year, Rory was reminded of what he was so abruptly ripped away from, what he could've had, what he never was able to have. He glanced over to Elsie, who was watching him carefully, and knew that he was deprived in more ways than just not getting to be a father.
Elsie placed her had comfortingly on Rory's shoulder and sent him a genuine expression, "You'll be a great father one day, Rory."
"I think that ship has already sailed," Rory looked up at her sadly, before his gaze fell down to the hand that was now rubbing his shoulder, "I'll never have that again."
"A baby?" She questioned and moved over so her arm was now wrapped around his back the best that it could be, letting him know that he was never alone, that he still had her, "You're so young, Rory, don't close yourself off already. You'll have your little Cormac running around soon enough, yeah?"
"Yeah," he chuckled out at the reference to the conversation they had back in 7th year, "But, I wasn't talking about a baby."
He turned his head to look over at her warm, welcoming gaze that was waiting for him to continue. But just before he could, Remus and Sirius came down the stairs, looking ready for the day ahead of them.
"There's my baby pup," Sirius commented as Rory handed the baby to him. He lifted Harry in the air and swirled him around, keeping his hand firmly behind his neck for support. Harry giggled until he was back in Sirius' arms, where he was bombarded with kisses.
"Still can't believe you made him the Godfather," Remus grumbled while crossing his arms over his chest, "You could've at least let me be the Godmother."
Elsie rolled her eyes playfully and walked over to Remus, planting a kiss on his cheek and ruffling his hair, "That was all James' decision, and we both know that Lily would've beheaded me if she wasn't made Godmother after everything she did for us while I was pregnant."
Remus huffed one more time before wrapping his arms around Elsie and whispering, "Be safe today, yeah? It's your first time back, take it easy."
Today was Elsie's first mission post-pregnancy, and after they received the sudden news in the middle of the night before Harry was born, everyone knew it was a big risk for both her and James to be out in public. But they refused to sit by and watch their friends suffer, both Alice and Frank, who had baby Neville a day before Harry, were on the same page as them. Besides, if it got to the point where it was too dangerous, there would be another Phoenix patronus signaling them that it was time. And, Elsie thought, she hoped it would never be time.
Her and Sirius said goodbye to Remus, handing him Harry since he wasn't on the mission with them and agreed to look after the baby.
Rory watched the two walk out, his eyes still sadly glued onto Elsie as he whispered under his breath the answer to the conversation they never got to finish, "True love, I'll never have that again."
"What was that, mate?" Remus, who was bouncing Harry in his arms, curiously looked at Rory with his eyebrow raised.
He stood up from the couch and shook his head, before following Elsie, Sirius, and James to the meeting place of their mission today. The group of four apparated to Knockturn Alley, where they were supposed to intercept a meeting between Lucius Malfoy and another Death Eater who had valuable information. It was supposed to be a 4 on 2 fight. It was supposed to be an easy victory for the Order. It was supposed to be.
But as soon as they followed Malfoy into a back alleyway, they realized they were deeply mistaken. This was an ambush, a set-up. Somehow Voldemort knew about the mission, and now the 4 were staring at the masks of at least 10 different Death Eaters.
James protectively wrapped an arm around Elsie's waist as the same time Sirius and Rory stepped in front of the two with their wands on guard. She didn't know who casted the first spell, but soon enough, Elsie found herself in a very heated battle. She quickly sent out a patronus to Dumbledore requesting back-up while Sirius covered her before plunging herself back into the fight.
"Levicorpus!" James shouted just in time to levitate a Death Eater right in front of a spell that was sent from another Death Eater, blocking it from hitting any of them. He then quickly shot out a body binding curse, leaving two from the opposing side moaning and groaning on the ground.
Sirius patted James on the back at the same time that he shielded them from what looked like a bombarda spell, sending it bouncing back towards the Death Eaters, "Nice one, James!"
"Right back at you, Pads," James called out excitedly, his eyes flickering over to Elsie every few seconds to make sure she was doing okay.
Elsie was fighting side-by-side with Rory, replicating the position Sirius and James were in with each other. Rory was hit with a stinging hex on his arm and he quickly hissed while grabbing it out of pain. In an attempt to protect him, Elsie casted a Protego with her wand to shield them from one side. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a Death Eater getting ready to attack from the side that was left unprotected. She quickly grabbed Rory's wand from his hands and casted another Protego to keep them shielded on both sides. A third masked figure was aiming towards the the sliver of area that wasn't protected by either shield, threatening to blow their protection to shreds. Studying the three masked enemies, an idea popped into her head that sounded just crazy enough to work.
"Rory, when I count to three I need you to catch both wands and shoot a spell at the men on your left and right. I'll get the one in the middle," she quickly whispered so that only Rory could hear her.
"Fuck, no. Elsie, you won't have a wand. I won't put you in danger like-,"
"Three!" She shouted when she realized the third masked figure was a perfect distance from her.
She dropped the shields and tossed the wands towards Rory, who caught them and quickly casted two Stupifys with the two wands in his hand. Just as the spells knocked out both Death Eaters, Elsie launched herself forwards and punched the third figure right in the face with her fist. A smirk graced her face as the man's mask fell off and he clutched his bleeding nose while falling to the floor.
"Bloody shit, that's my girl!"
"If you don't snog her after that, I will, Potter!"
Both Sirius and Rory shouted after watching the scene play out. James, whose mouth was dropped open, ran over to Elsie and grabbed her face, crashing his lips onto hers passionately, "You're the fucking hottest human on this planet. Baby number two tonight to celebrate, yeah?"
Elsie snorted and brought James' face back onto hers for perhaps a moment too long, because when she looked up a hooded figure had their fist flying towards her. She winced and prepared for the impact, but it never came.
"Don't you even fucking think about it," Sirius spat out, his hand blocking the Death Eater's fist just in front of Elsie's face, "Don't touch her. Ever."
Elsie stared up at Sirius with a renewed sense of awe, her mind flashing back to the deal they made back in 7th year. They vowed to protect each other, and here he was. Continuing to protect Elsie, even if it meant his hand would most likely be severely bruised in the morning. But as she locked eyes with him and that smirk formed on his face, she knew he would do it over and over again if it meant she'd be okay. Sirius would always protect her, and that's exactly how she found herself spitting out the next few words.
"Be our secret keeper," she said quietly to him as the two resumed fighting off spells around them.
Sirius' arm wrapped around Elsie's shoulder protectively as they both continued fighting, James now helping out Rory.
"What?" He asked back, his eyes focused on the battle in front of him.
Elsie took a deep breath before casting a shielding charm and explaining herself, "Before Harry was born, Dumbledore sent for us in the middle of the night. He told us there's a prophecy."
She paused her sentence to release a Stupify, followed by a Protego before continuing again with a low voice, "A boy born at the end of July will have the power to defeat You-Know-Who. A-and he's decided that it's fucking Harry. He told James and I that if we see his patronus again that we'd need to leave immediately and go into hiding, where only a secret keeper would know our location and be able to get in and out of where we are."
Sirius suddenly stopped fighting, his body freezing up at the words coming out of Elsie's mouth, "What the fuck?! No, you won't need anyone, Els. You and James and Harry will be fine, nobody will hurt you. I won't let them."
Elsie turned towards Sirius and called out to James to cover them. She sighed and put her hand on Sirius face, a pained expression taking over it, "I know you won't. That's why I need you to do this for us, Pads. I don't want anyone else. I need you."
"Fuck this, no! You won't need to go into hiding, that's bloody fucked up. No, Elsie, you can't leave us, I can't lose you both," Sirius voice began pleading with her as if she had a choice of going or not.
"And hopefully it won't come down to that, Siri," she spoke out softer, knowing that hearing this for the first time would make him as angry as both her and James were about it, "Listen, Padfoot. I've talked to James and Moony about this, they both think you're our best option. You are the only one I want to do this, the only one I trust my life with. Protect each other at all costs, remember?"
Sirius' eyes were filled with pain, hurt, anger, but when he looked up at Elsie and remembered the pact they made, he already knew his answer before he spoke it. James was his brother, he did more for Sirius than his own parents ever did. And Elsie was his sister, she was always there to make sure he was okay. And now it was his turn to be there for them. It was his turn to protect his two best friends, and he was willing to die in order to do that.
"Okay," he breathed out just as more members of the Order flashed onto the scene, the Death Eaters all disappearing while doing so, "I'll do it."
She wrapped her arms around Sirius before a voice pulled her out of it.
"Elsie, this is for you," Rory handed her a letter with a confused expression on his face, "One of the Death Eaters handed it to me. It has your name on it and it's charmed to only open to you."
Elsie carefully opened the letter, not noticing the older man reading it from behind her.
Elsie, Dumbledore, Order Members,
There is a spy amongst you. You-Know-Who knows about your next few missions.
-SS
"There can't be," Elsie gasped with wide eyes as she stared down at the paper, turning around when Dumbledore spoke after her.
"We mustn't jump to conclusions," the man spoke to her wistfully, "But we both know this person would not lie to us. There is a spy amongst us, and it more important than ever to only trust those we know we can count on. I will make the announcement at the next meeting, but for now let's keep this between you and I."
She nodded her head and handed him the letter before walking over to James, Rory, and Sirius with a shocked expression lingering on her face.
"Alright, love?" James quickly ran up to her and wrapped her in a hug.
She once again quietly nodded and let him apparate the both of them back to the Potter household, shaking all notions of a spy out of her head until it was absolutely necessary to think about it. When the 4 flashed into the house, Elsie's stress immediately was replaced by a laugh at the scene in front of her.
Remus was sitting there feeding Harry a bottle of something that was certainly not milk, a bar of chocolate stuffed in his mouth while doing so. There was an orange substance splattered all around the floor, the couch, and both boys sitting on it.
"Erm...Remmy," she held back her chuckles while sending him a confused glance, "What exactly is going on here?"
He looked up and swallowed the heap of chocolate in his mouth before gesturing towards the bottle in his hand, "Feeding Harry, obviously."
"Moony, what exactly are you feeding our son?" James questioned with an amused, yet concerned tone as he looked at the chaotic mess in front of him.
"Milk," Remus simply answered while shoving her another piece of chocolate in his mouth.
"Bloody fuck, I thought he was the smart one," Rory mumbled under his breath at the same time Sirius glared at him and looked back at Remus, "Moons, t-that's brown. Milk isn't brown."
Remus looked up at his friends with a smirk on his face, "Chocolate milk is."
Elsie couldn't hold back her laughter anymore and the three other boys followed her lead. She ignored the orange mess, which she assumed to be puréed carrots, and threw herself on the couch next to Remus and Harry. She curled up into a ball and looked up at Remus expectantly with an open mouth. He rolled his eyes before breaking off a piece of chocolate and proceeding to feed it to Elsie.
The room once again was filled with the odd sound of laughter and light during a time filled with darkness. And as Elsie looked around the room at the boys she loved most, she couldn't help but think back to the letter claiming there to be a spy. Her eyes glanced from Rory to Sirius to Remus to Harry and then finally landing on James, who was already smiling at her. She was safe with them, and no one could try to convince her otherwise.
If only she hadn't been dealing with death, pregnancy, and a baby, then maybe she would've realized how distant Peter had started to become.
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AUTHORS NOTE:
I never knew I needed a scene where Remus was feeding Harry chocolate milk until I wrote it. I will say this til the day I die, Remus Lupin>everything.
Guys this book is almost over I'm gonna cry I became so attached WOW. Anyways, what do we think is coming up next🤔🤔🤔
Exciting news, the George fanfic will be up some time next week!!!