"You saw Harry."

Sirius dropped Lily's hands, his eyes wild, staring at her with pools of tears just itching to spill over, but his expression one somewhere between shock, awe, and fear. Lily realized hers probably mirrored his, she could feel the same stuff he was radiating off him in her own emotions and they just sat there for a ridiculous amount of time, staring, each waiting for the other to speak up. 

Finally, Sirius said, quietly, "Did... did he just - did that - did you - he - you -  James."

Lily somehow followed all that. "I know."

"Lily -- what the fuck did I just see?"

"Sirius, I've wanted to tell you for so long but Mopsus said I couldn't, that I musn't tell anyone, but I didn't tell you so I guess I can explain it now, right?"

"You better!" Sirius nodded emphatically. 

"When James and I went to Edinburgh in seventh, 'round his birthday, we were in the castle on a tour and we - we ran into Mopsus. He just showed up and took us aside and the next thing we know, he's telling us about himself and how he's this ancient ancestor of James's... that James is gifted with this ability to like, manipulate time because of it, and how there's some desperately old feud between his descendants and those of this other man's, and that it basically descends through all these years that he, Mopsus, has been -- alive, I guess? -- and it's current manifestation is in Voldemort and - and James."

Sirius looked thoroughly perplexed.

"I know, I felt the same way," Lily said, feeling the confusion and incredulous disbelief coming from Sirius. "Thing is, he said all this stuff but then he immediately backs it up by telling us he needs our help because he's been manipulating time all these years in an attempt to end that feud once and for all... and we have to help him because there's - there's a boy who needed our help... and it's only us who could do what he needed. And because James had manipulated the timelines before, he knew that James could do it."

Sirius got up and started pacing, his legs tingling restlessly as he bit his lip anxiously.

Lily continued, "So he says he can't give us many details, only to go and comfort this - this boy... the boy you just saw."

"He called you mum."

"Yes," Lily nodded. "He was - it was the future, Sirius. It was the future and that was - that was our son."

Sirius paused his pacing and stared at Lily. 

"His name is going to be Harry."

"...like Underhill?"

"What?"

"James's boss? Harry Underhill?" Sirius asked.

Lily stared at Sirius. "No. Is Underhill named Harry? Why did I know that? No, actually, I - I don't know where the name came from. I --" she paused. She was going to say she thought it came from the bit of parchment that she'd found in Charlus Potter's old school trunk, but that had stood out in her mind so much because she'd already heard the name Harry in her heart, which was why it resonated so much with her when she'd found the parchment. And now, after having sort of met Harry through Mopsus's work, she had already known that Harry would be named Harry so there'd been no real question of it, even when her and James were talking about baby names - which had happened at least two or three times more since the first time he'd brought it up - Lily had already known Harry would be the one that would ultimately be given her son. Then she'd found out the name had been given to a lost child, a lost elder brother that never came... and that was what the bit of parchment in Charlus's trunk had been for. A tiny bit of paper that recoded the name of a tiny bit of life that Charlus Potter never got to hold...

Sirius looked down at the coffee table between them. Then back up when the pause in Lily's words had dragged on long enough that he could tell she was drifted away, lost in some thought or another, and he said, "He was fighting." Sirius's voice was quiet.

Lily's eyes turned to Sirius and she nodded slowly.

"You-Know-Who."

She nodded.

"He was a teenager, Lily."

"I know."

"So Vol --- You Know Who --- he's still... at large... all that time?"

Lily said, "I've struggled with that very thought ever since I saw it."

"And Harry - he was personally fighting him. That light - what was happening?"

"I don't fully understand myself, honestly," Lily said, "But Mopsus said we only had a few precious seconds and that he, Harry, desperately needed us. So we went. We went and the next thing I know, I'm - standing in a graveyard, and I'm in this - this horrible ring of death eaters, Sirius, all in their horrible masks, all surrounding this poor boy, and he's got some sort of - of connection to You Know Who and he's struggling so hard to just survive and I just knew - I knew he wasn't just any boy, he was mine, and I loved him so much, so deeply, so instantly. Sirius, you hear how mums love their babies when they meet them? How there's some connection and - it was like that, I might as well have been holding him in my arms the first time and I've longed --" she started crying, great tears that fell over her eyes and rolled down her cheeks, "I've longed so much to actually --" and she cradled her arms like she was holding a child. "He needed me then and I - I need him now."

"Did James see him?"

"Yes, I was there first and James came a few moments after - and he was so brave. But I think -" she shook her head, "James thought it was himself, I think. I don't know. He got so upset that - Mopsus took the memory from him so he wouldn't have to live with knowing what we'd seen. It was for the best - James was a right fright - and Mopsus meant to take it from me, too, but I begged him. I didn't want to lose my memory of Harry. So he let me keep the memory."

"So James doesn't --"

"James doesn't remember any of this, no."

Sirius sighed heavily and dropped back onto the couch beside Lily, staring at the fireplace, his eyes still wide. "He looked exactly like --"

"I know."

Sirius murmured, "But he had your --"

"My eyes," Lily nodded.

Sirius shook his head. He could feel it, Lily's love for the boy, and his heart felt about ready to burst from it. He didn't reckon that in all of his entire life he had ever felt anything so strong as that. Even his own emotions didn't feel as strong as what Lily's love for that boy was. He had felt some mighty intense things in his life, but this was on a whole other level.

"James and I have said so many times that we didn't want to have babies until after the war," Lily said numbly. "But Harry - Harry is still fighting the war that we were going to wait for the end of. We - we can't wait. We can't because we have Harry."

"Why didn't Mopsus just ask you - future you - to go help Harry? Why'd he have to take you off from now?"

"I reckon the reason Mopsus didn't just have me go to Harry when the time then comes because, well, maybe I was busy taking care of Harry's siblings or something. I don't know. I don't know why, I wish that I did and could explain to you... I reckon wherever I was, I must've been a right worried mess thinking about him and whether he was okay and ---" She paused. "Sirius, you must do me a favor," she said eagerly.

"A favor?"

"Yes," Lily grabbed onto his forearm. "When the time comes, when I'm worrying for him... remind me. Remind me that I was with him, that he's alright because James and I were with him."

Sirius nodded solemnly. "I will."

"I'll need to be reminded," Lily said. "I'll be so terrified. I'll - Thank you, Sirius." Her eyes glistened, "I'll be so comforted to know that somebody is taking care of him when he needs it the very most... and doubly so that it's me that's doing the caring." Her heart beat picked up and she shivered. "Oh Sirius, I'm so glad that somebody besides me knows of him now."

He could feel her heart beating in his own heart, like an echo, and he lay his hand over his chest and then looked at her and he had never felt so close to someone in his entire life, even Remus, even Remus after he'd incorporated Remus. It was as though Lily were a part of his very life, like they were sharing a heart. 

"Lily, I --"

The locks on the door all undid then and Lily's head snapped to look at the door as James came through it, looking distinctively worse for wear, his uniform wrinkled and dirtied, a smudge on his face and hairs all out of place, but he was smiling like an idiot and already had five of the twenty-eight buttons on his vest undone.

"Hey you lot!" he called the moment he was in as he continued working those buttons, fingers fumbling, "Blimey, I hope you saved some of that food, I'm bloody starving, I could eat a hippogriff! What an absolutely crazy afternoon I've had, a true rolly-coaster if there ever was one, you lot aren't going to believe it."

Lily gave Sirius the Look, then hurried over to James, taking up the task of completing the buttons for him and he laughed as she did it and said, "Whatever would I do without you, Evans?"

"What happened, love?" she asked, finishing them up. She reached into his jacket pocket and took out his handkerchief and swept it over the smudge on his face. "You smell like smoke!"

"Smoke?" Sirius asked.

"It was crazy! Jasper Odair and I - and Underhill - and of all things some death eaters - blimey!" He shrugged off the coat and the vest and Lily took them and made a mental note to magic them fresh for him for tomorrow when they went home. James bent to undo his boot laces, and as he did, he started relaying the whole story to them, starting from when he was in the curry shop and then telling them about Jasper seeing Oliver as Jasper had told him when he'd first arrived on the street in West London to the row houses.

Sirius interrupted, "I know that Jennings place!" he said, "It's not far from Grimmauld."

"I didn't think it was too far," James said. 

"Must be something about the area and abusive mums," Sirius mused. "Reckon they formed a club? Well Mother wouldn't be in it any longer, seeing as she is -- elsewise preoccupied..."

"Well neither would the Jennings woman," James said, "She's dead."

"Dead?!" Lily and Sirius both exclaimed at once.

"Yeah." So James continued the story, talking of him and Jasper visiting the house, and having to leave for the warrants.

"Bloody hell, one of you should've stayed with the children!" Lily exclaimed when James said they'd both left to get the warrants from the Ministry.

"Yeah, Underhill ended up saying hte same thing," James answered, "But in order to get the warrants you have to have a corroborating witness. I didn't see the bruises, I couldn't testify to it, and therefore as the auror on the case I couldn't personally get the warrant without the witness since it hadn't been formally reported through the offices, see. Even with it being Fabian I talked to, he was magically bound to request the corroboration so I had to bring Jaz, see, the rules... Then we got Underhill, I knew we needed more man power, see, so it was maybe ten minutes we were gone, tops --"

"The Ministry is so fucking ridiculous," Sirius interrupted again. "So bloody much can happen in ten minutes! Mother could've had me near to dead given a ten minute span to do whatever the hell she wanted to me in. If I'd ever been to blame for a bloody inquiry -- Merlin's abscessed hernia! She would've had a right jolly time cruciatusing me to oblivion in ten minutes. Got near enough without an inquiry to piss her off! Would've lit me up like a bleeding Christmas tree if I'd ever caused an inquiry to take place!"

Sirius laughed lightly, as though he'd shared some hilariously adorable anecdote and not what was possibly among one of the most unsettling things he'd ever said.

"What?" he asked, seeing the expressions of horror on their faces. He shrugged. "Blimey, continue your damn story, stop looking at me like that." 

Lily trembled. 

James shook his head, "If your mother was still over at Number 12, I'd go and open an inquiry right now and fetch a time turner and --" 

Sirius stiffened slightly at the word time turner, and it suddenly occurred to him that Lily said that James was able to manipulate time before - as in, he'd done it prior to having seen their son in the future... and Sirius made a mental note to ask Lily what she'd meant by that.

"Oh stop being so dramatic," Sirius said and he waved his palm at James.

"Oh I'm dramatic am I, for wanting to save my best mate from being tortured?" James asked.

Sirius shrugged. "Go on with your story, then, unless you plan on whipping back to my childhood right this moment."

James sighed, then said, "Well - when we got back, somebody had already taken care of everything."

"What?" Lily asked. Her eyes widened, "Oh no. Not like what happened with the Odairs?"

James shook his head. "No - far weirder than that, Evans. The dark mark was on over the house when we returned."

"The dark mark?" Lily gasped and Sirius's eyes widened.

"Death eaters?" Sirius asked.

"We're not sure how - or why - or  anything yet, honestly. Underhill didn't want to question the kids tonight, said they were far too exhausted yet, but the Jennings woman? Dead. The roof blasted open, windows all shattered, glass everywhere, smoke - that's why I smell like smoke, I helped Underhill catalogue the scene a bit once things started sorting out - and muggles just everywhere - as there would be when a house on their row blows open like that! Powerful wizard what did that spell, or else several fairly powerful ones... the intensity of the magic, it was so heavy. You could feel the air crackling with it. It was -- for a lack of a better way to put it, the magic was beautiful. Dark as hell, but -- not some crass jaggedy type magic like most of the death eaters leave behind, like Chainwright or after any of the battles we've been in. This was far more elegant. Poetic. I don't know how to describe it."

Lily shivered because she knew what he meant about elegant or beautiful feeling dark magic. She'd heard words similar to this spoken by Severus Snape before in the past, describing what magic should feel like. He'd once spoken of magic like a symphony with sections - wind and string and how the light brand of magic was like the wind section while the strings were more like dark magic, how the sound of a low violin's song could be equal parts dark, haunting and beautiful. "That's how dark magic ought to be," he'd said, "But most people picture it like trumpets off key when it isn't like that at all if it's done properly... It doesn't have to be evil. Dark and Evil aren't the same thing in magic. Evil comes from the intent. Dark magic is just a different depth."

Even Professor Laurie had once said that love magic - magique amour - was technically a form of dark magic because dark in the correct term was more about the dark places of the mind, the unilluminated subconscious, rather than dark or evil forces. Defense Against the Dark Arts, for example, was about fighting evil, and that's what the word dark referred to there, but not in the phrase dark magic. Not originally. Evil magic was called black magic.

"Where are the kids?" Sirius asked, voice scared.

Lily's eyes widened, "Oh my God. The death eaters didn't --"

"No. No all five kids are fine. They were out on the street and not harmed a bit. Trauma, of course, but alright mostly. And we're going to get help for them of course."

"Where are they?" Lily asked, repeating Sirius's inquiry.

"Jasper took them."

"What?"

"He took them home. They're staying with him until something more permanent can be worked out."

"So Jasper literally came home to Meg today with children?" Sirius snickered, "Did he at least put a bow on them? Surprise honey, you're a mum!"

James laughed, "He brought her flowers ad left me outside with them while he went in to break the news. Apparently that's the proper way to tell your girl you've brought home children."

Lily raised her eyebrows. She glanced at the door.

"Don't worry, Evans. I didn't bring any children home with me."

Lily paused, and realized she'd half hoped he might've done.

Later that night, in their bed, James took off his glasses and sank into the pillows with an almighty sigh, his back aching, his head spinning. He was bloody exhausted - and never did get that nap he'd fancied earlier on. He'd just closed his eyes when he felt Lily inch closer and lean over him, running her fingers suggestively over his chest.

"Oh gods Evans - I haven't got it in me tonight."

She kissed his chin and ran her hands through his hair. "Come on Potter,  if you can give Jasper Odair five children, surely you can give me just one?" she teased.

James opened his eyes to look at her.

She was smiling, her hair all piled up pretty on her head, and her eyes sultry, pouting, some bright lipstick on her mouth, the sort that left all kinds of little marks on his skin wherever she'd kissed him, which he'd confessed once he found incredibly hot. There was a lot of lace all over her, too, her little tiny nightgown barely long enough to touch the top of her thighs, the chest cut so low as to be purely of a decorative nature... She had come to bed with Plans.

"Oh bloody hell have your way with me," James said, unable to resist her when she looked at him like that, "But if I fall asleep midway through it's not my fault and it cannot be held against me."

Lily laughed, "Don't worry, James," she whispered, bending to kiss him, "The only thing I plan to hold against you is me."