In all honesty, the midwife had told Dorcas McKinnon all she needed to know about giving birth. The most comfortable sitting positions, how to pass time during labor, how to actually push the child out of you, but even with all the countless knowledge that she had built up, Dorcas feared she still was not ready.
On July 29, 1980, Dorcas ignored the obvious signs that she was heading towards labor for as long as possible. The contractions hadn't started any more painful than a regular period cramp, but as time ticked on in the early morning, it was clear to her that she needed to tell Myles.
Yet, this was a process in and of itself. He looked so peaceful sleeping in their bed, she felt that maybe she could wait a little longer. This thought seemed logical until the next contraction came and was so painful it convinced her to wake Myles up in an instant.
Of course, waking him made the situation much more real—as she knew it was bound too—and Myles surprisingly took the entire thing very well. He wasn't as freaked out as Dorcas expected him to be, but he did move the process along much faster than she would've.
"Do you have the to-go bag?" Dorcas asked as she waited sitting on the couch for him.
"You've asked that same question three times in a row, love, but yes I do have it," Myles showed the bag slung over his shoulder.
He helped her carefully off the couch and prepared to apparate to St. Mungo's. Giving his wife a kiss on the forehead, he turned on the spot and transported them safely to the hospital.
...
Two hours later Dorcas suddenly remembered that they should call people to the hospital to see their child—who still has yet to be born—when the time comes that they're both cleaned up.
Dorcas wasn't especially close with her family members, partly because she had lost touch with most of them, but she knew how close Myles was with his family, so she made sure he made an effort to get them here.
He stepped out of the room to send a few messenger patronuses to a select few people. Although, he didn't really understand why he was being so selective when the people he was sending one to would probably bring more people with them.
The first one he sent was to his parents since they were the two people he looked up to the most. That, and they were very excited to become grandparents.
Marlene and Michael received the next ones. He assumed that Marlene would bring Sirius, yet his siblings were his priority because—little did they know—he was going to ask them to become the godparents of his child. It wasn't much of a surprise though because they had talked about it in the past.
"I don't understand why we have to get there so early anyways! It's not like she's had the child yet!" Sirius whined having just been woken up from a nap.
Sirius wouldn't have been whining any other day since he loved children so much—just ask his cousin Andromeda when she had Nymphadora—however, sometimes people's wishes just didn't sit right with him. What was he supposed to do at a hospital for so long?
"Merlin, you don't have to go if you don't want to, but I'm going to be an aunt—"
"Auntie 'Lene has a nice ring to it," James popped into the conversation from the living area where he sat with Lily. "Even if it does make you sound old."
"I wouldn't be talking if I were you, you're going to be parents sooner rather than later," Marlene retorted quickly.
"Okay, okay, we're leaving now," Sirius flourished his arms in a melodramatic manner. "Good-bye everybody, I know how much you'll miss me."
With a snap the soon to be aunt and uncle left the room to enter St. Mungo's mere seconds later.
"You sure you want him to be the godfather?" Lily quirked an eyebrow.
"I'm sure," James snorted at the remark.
...
He was a father.
Myles McKinnon had morally supported Dorcas throughout the entire process of having their baby boy—without passing out, which he thought was an accomplishment—and now walked out to the waiting room to announce it to his family.
The first to see him and jump from their chair was his mother, Eve McKinnon. It looked like she had been crying, hopefully tears of joy. Marlene jumped from her chair soon after.
"Asher Myles McKinnon, a healthy baby boy," Myles smiled the biggest he ever had his entire life.
In the moments shortly afterwards, Marlene and Michael McKinnon were asked to become the godparents of Asher. They both heartily accepted what Marlene called an honor.
Everyone was blinded by the new addition to the family, he was their sun and he made sure of that. (Lmao I'm hilarious did you catch that pun?) His bright blue eyes—a McKinnon trademark—scanned the room and found only people that cared about him so early on in his life. It was just as it should be.
...
Marlene simply refused to leave Dorcas's bedside, so Sirius went home as the day reached its end and grabbed a change of clothes for each of them. Also grabbing a blanket, he assumed he would be unable to convince Marlene to come home for the night because of how committed she was to helping Myles out. Although, he may turn out to have more luck than he originally thought.
As he walked into the flat, he noticed that it appeared as if some news had just reached the people inside. Soon he would find out that this was exactly what had happened, and that his observation skills were better than he thought.
"What's up with you guys?" Sirius asked nonchalantly, taking a sip of water from a random glass on the kitchenette counter.
"Alice has gone into labor and Lily is going to provide her support," Remus answered, looking up briefly from the newspaper to see Sirius spit out his water all over Leilani.
"Oi! What's wrong with you?" Leilani looked down at her now wet clothes in disgust as if she hadn't lived in the woods for the majority of her life.
After Leilani's accident, she proved to grow in many directions and sprout deeper roots. Some would probably say it had woken her up, but she would call bullshit on that and reply with that she was only daydreaming her way through life, not sleeping.
"You don't want to know what's wrong with him," Remus laughed shortly at them.
"So many children, it's like our group has been invaded by babies," Sirius shuddered as Lily walked past.
"Nice to know you're looking forward to seeing my child, anyway, I'm going to the hospital with Mary to see Alice. Y'all should probably join us at some point," Lily rolled her eyes at Sirius's remark and strolled out the door.
...
Sirius had returned to St. Mungo's with James and Remus—they had no idea where Peter was—along with a set of clothes for Marlene, who looked annoyed at his later arrival. It seemed that the promise of another child being born by one of her best friends was enough to pull Marlene away from Myles's side, yet Sirius suspected that she had had asked if they needed help before she went to see Alice.
This time around when Frank walked out into the waiting room, the group of people waiting in the hospital were much more anxious for the arrival of the child. It was like the marauders had brought the anxiety with them.
As if Merlin could read their thoughts—sometimes Sirius thought he actually could—Frank rushed out into the waiting area with a pep in his step.
"Neville Frank Longbottom, another healthy baby boy," Frank also smiled widely.
Everyone immediately popped up from their chairs as quickly as they could and congratulated the new father. Excitement filled the air as they waited longer to see Neville, who everyone was sure was a beautiful human already.
Alice and Frank had chosen not to do godparents because they felt it would be way too difficult to choose, and they wanted all of their friends to have an equal hand in having an influence on Neville. They were surrounded by so many wonderful people that they felt it was smarter just to include them all equally.
...
Dorcas had Asher.
Alice had Neville.
Lily could survive too.
The clock struck two in the afternoon on July 31, 1981, and Lily Potter knew it was time for her to have a baby too. Alice had explained exactly what it felt like, so, hypothetically, Lily had a firsthand account's advice under her belt as well as the midwife's. However, this was one of those events that you couldn't help but be nervous.
"James?" Lily involuntarily winced as she walked into the kitchen where all four marauders stood talking about something.
"Yes, Lily? Is something wrong?" His attention, along with the other three's, was drawn to her.
"Just the fact that I'm going into labor, but nothing really," Lily said casually.
She could see the moment it registered in each of their eyes. Remus was the first to have his eyes widen slightly, followed by James—who appeared to be rendered speechless—then Peter, and finally Sirius screamed obnoxiously.
"Oh my Merlin! We've got to go right this second!" Sirius spoke urgently. "Well, Prongs, what are you waiting for? We've got to go!"
...
After a minor argument between Sirius and Lily about a certain person's pushiness, Lily had apparated to the hospital with James while the boys rounded up the troops. Now, they all waited in the waiting room for round three.
Sirius paced the hospital and bit his freshly painted nails, causing everyone else's anxiety to rise as they saw his visible displays of it.
It didn't take long for James to come out into the waiting room with tears of his own streaming down his face.
"What's their name James?" Euphemia asked as she embraced her son enthusiastically.
"H-Harry James Potter," James stuttered out finally, "Lily wants mum and dad to see him first."
Lily's orders were what they followed, so after Euphemia and Fleamont held their grandchild, James pulled their friends into the hospital room—even if they really weren't supposed to have that many people in the room.
Sirius and Remus both became hesitant to hold Harry though because in a twisted thought process they both concluded they'd fuck Harry up somehow. James persisted though, and soon Sirius held Harry in his arms with tears eyes.
"Sirius?" James said softly.
"Yeah, mate?" Sirius replied, not taking his eyes from Harry.
"Do you want to be Harry's godfather?"
"More like dogfather," Sirius laughed at his own joke.
"Merlin..."
...
Author's Note:
I wonder what Asher has to do with the plot... Surely Teddy wouldn't just throw in another family for the heck of it. Or maybe she would?
Fun fact: I forgot the word only existed. How? I have no clue.
I am aware of the fact that I did the date the American way, but I am, in fact, American and also too lazy to change it at the current moment.
Lmao anyways thanks for reading
-teddy👩🍼