October 5th, 1977

"Sirius, I need to talk with you."

Marlene Anne McKinnon's golden blonde curls bounced as she slid into the seat next to said seventh-year Gryffindor, bright blue eyes imploring him to listen to her and get up from the bloody table already.

"Bloody hell, warn a bloke next time you appear out of thin air, will you, Marls?!" The nearly eighteen year old exclaimed, hand thrown dramatically over his chest. His other arm wrapped around her shoulders casually.

James Potter leaned over the Gryffindor table, hazel eyes glinting excitedly from behind his glasses. "Oh-Marlene, there's Quidditch tryouts to find a Beater and Chaser to replace the Prewett twins. I'm having the whole team there to help me decide the best men or women for the job. Saturday eight AM."

Marlene winced, worrying her lower lip between her teeth. "Yeah... about that... you might need to find another Seeker."

"What, are you transferring to that school in France? Beauxbatons or whatever?" Sirius snorted, taking a bite of cottage pie. He added on, drawling, "Or Durmstrang? Wouldn't recommend it, it's cold as fuck and both my parents approved so... automatic dislike."

"No, flying's just bad for the baby," Marlene deadpanned.

The reactions were instantaneous.

Sirius Orion Black choked on his food. James dropped his fork, splattering the remnants of his dinner into Peter's face, whose jaw had dropped so widely that he accidentally caught some of the food in his mouth. Remus closed his book, shutting it with a snap as his head jolted up fast enough where his neck cracked.

"WHAT?!" The four young men's voices blended together in shocked unison.

The blonde young woman sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Did I stutter? That's why I said that I needed to talk to you. Less people around to spread gossip or whatever. The soap opera Skeeter reporter graduated Hogwarts before we came, but I wouldn't be bloody surprised if she had ears at Hogwarts."

"I-you-what?" Sirius blurted, grey eyes wide as he stared at... well, they weren't boyfriend and girlfriend. It was weird. They were in this limbo of sorts.

"Oh Merlin kill me," Marlene mumbled. "June. Potter Manor. Six bottles of Firewhiskey in all split between you four, Lils, Alice, Frank, Mary, Dorcas, and me. Need I go on?"

Remus' honey-brown eyes flicked from Marlene to Sirius and back again. "...This was not what I was expecting when you said you needed to talk with Sirius. And I'm really not happy about it because I was very excited to win ten galleons from Wormy."

    Sirius blinked. "Wait... what the bloody hell do you mean winning ten galleons?!"

    "Can we focus for one second on how the hell two teenagers are going to raise a baby while still attending school themselves?!" Marlene snapped, folding her arms over her chest frustratedly.

    "Oh dammit Pads, I'm gonna have to find a Seeker," James moaned, banging his head on the table.

    "Somehow I think that's the least of our group's worries," Lily Evans murmured dryly, sitting next to Marlene. "You told him?"

    The blonde raised an eyebrow, gesturing at Sirius. "What else would make him look like he's been hit by a strong Confundus Charm? Or smacked upside the head with a Bludger?"

    "...holy fucking Merlin," Sirius whispered under his breath, a small smile slowly stretching across his face.

    Lily snorted, twisting a strand of her fiery red hair around her index and middle fingers. "There's your answer, Marls. We told you he'd be elated."

—————————————————————————

March 22nd, 1978

    "My niece or nephew better be born on my birthday," James Fleamont Potter insisted for what felt like the billionth time.

    Remus dragged his quill dipped in ink down the scrap of parchment he was using, making a neat tally mark identical to all of the lines previously drawn.

    Marlene scoffed, swollen feet kicked up in Sirius' lap as her boyfriend kneaded the arches of her feet. She had no idea where he had learned how to work magic with his hands, but she thanked Merlin for it. Her hand rested gently on her nine month pregnant belly. "Yeah, I'll make sure to hold the baby in my vagi-"

    "Marlene!" Lily exclaimed, fighting against herself to not laugh. Her lips quirked into a tiny grin even as she shook her head.

    "What?! Children come whenever the bloody fuck they want according to Mum... if they want to be born on the same day as James then they will. If they don't, they won't."

    "Do we have a name for this baby or are we just forced into calling him or her the McKinnon-Black baby?" Peter snorted as he moved one of his bishops on the chess board he and Remus were facing off against each other on.

    Marlene glanced at Sirius, blue eyes soft as she raised her eyebrow in a wordless question.

    "Lyra Euphemia," Sirius declared, lips curving  into an unconscious smile as he told their friends the name they had picked out if the baby was a girl. "Or Rigel Fleamont."

    "They're gonna cry, you know?" James snorted, spinning his wand absentmindedly between his fingers. "And I can picture you full-naming that poor kid."

    The group dissolved into laughter as they pictured Sirius Orion Black the Third, of all people, parenting and reprimanding a kid.

Seven days later - and nearly four thousand pouts from James over the fact that his niece or nephew wasn't born on his birthday (sue him, he wanted a birthday buddy!) - Lyra Euphemia McKinnon-Black came into the world at precisely 11:09 in the morning, howling and screaming at the new environment.

Marlene, flyaway hairs plastered to her forehead with sweat, nearly collapsed against the propped-up pillows in exhaustion. "She's going to be an only child. Never. Again."

Sirius cradled the infant carefully, not even looking up from the newborn's perfect little face as he responded, "I'm perfectly fine with that."

"...We should get the gang before they break down the door, right?" Marlene questioned rhetorically.

His eyes snapped up to look at her. "Prongs will be pissy, but if you want to... I dunno... nap or something?"

"It'll be a quick visit. I can drop into a thirteen hour coma after." She joked, shifting carefully on the hospital bed, face scrunching up slightly.

Sirius carefully handed Lyra over to his girlfriend as he went over to the door.

James, Remus, Peter, Lily, Mary, and Alice nearly fell into the room as the door opened.

"Smooth," Sirius snorted. "Truly. Moons, wanna meet your goddaughter?"

Remus Lupin nearly choked on his own spit in shock. "Me?! What about-"

Marlene and Sirius rolled their eyes in synchronized, unplanned unison. "We don't give a bloody fuck about that. James is already uncle, and Marls assumed you'd be less likely to drop her."

"Hey!" James said overdramatically, hands on his hips like a true mother bird.

"I mean... you can't deny that they're wrong..." Lily added softly, snorting at the look on her boyfriend's face.

Don't ask her how it happened. She probably couldn't tell you.

Remus' face split into a blinding smile as he untangled himself from the mass of limbs.

James bounced on the balls of his feet, unable to contain his Quidditch obsession. "One question - Seeker or Beater?"

"Beater."

"Seeker."

"Excuse me?" Marlene and Sirius scoffed in unison.

The next generation of the Marauders had been born, and barely two hours after Lyra Euphemia McKinnon-Black's birth she had been christened Padslette.

The baby girl slept soundly as she was carefully passed around the group, Remus reluctant to let go of his goddaughter. Lyra was unaware of the darkness that would soon come spiraling in like a wrecking ball and rip her family apart.

—————————————————————————

March 29th, 1981

    Lyra Euphemia Black's third birthday dawned as if it were any normal day, Marlene McKinnon - soon to be Black, given the brand-new diamond engagement ring on her finger - dressing her toddler daughter in a birthday gift from Lily Potter and shooing Sirius out the door to fetch the birthday cake from the bakery down the road.

Marlene apparated to her parent's house, holding her daughter in her arms. Lyra's toddler grin was infectious, all of Marlene's brothers swarming the birthday girl immediately after they appeared out of thin air in the living room of the McKinnon household.

     And she had three brothers - two older and one younger. Mark, Matthew, Marlene, and Michael McKinnon.

     It was a normal, rambunctious McKinnon family event. The entire family was there to celebrate Lyra's birthday, as she currently was the only grandchild and niece.

     Until the door broke down from a well-placed Bombarda and Bellatrix Lestrange, followed by an entourage of Death Eaters - bloody hell and Voldemort too.

     Marlene stepped in front of her daughter, gripping her wand in her sweaty palm as she raised her head high, shooting daggers at the older curly-haired witch before her.

     "I know you're Sirius' cousin and all, but you were not. invited."

     Lyra poked her head out from behind Marlene's leg, gripping onto the fabric of her mother's pant leg with all the force her chubby little toddler hand could muster.

     Bellatrix laughed, a high, lofting cackle that sent shivers down the McKinnons' spines - that laugh would ring incessantly through Lyra's nightmares for over a decade, just past her twentieth birthday. "We have a little birthday gift for the brat! At least she's a pureblood, really, the only thing my disgraceful cousin did right."

     "Mummy?" Lyra questioned, lower lip wobbling as she wound her arms around Marlene's calf and held on tight.

     The blonde carefully shifted her weight, her daughter firmly in the center of the McKinnon clan, who had formed a circle around the youngest member of their family.

     Marlene was directly facing Voldemort. She mentally cursed the unfortunate Potter luck that had corrupted the entirety of their friend group since their first year at Hogwarts.

     "Mark?" She murmured, glancing out of the corner of her eye to her eldest brother, who had his wand pointed directly at Bellatrix's chest. "Give her hell."

     "Sickwe fow the no-sweaw jaw!" Lyra whispered to herself, huddled in the midst of her family.

     The McKinnons were all decimated within minutes. They couldn't avoid the sickly, acid-green Killing Curse, as hard as they tried. Ducking meant another family member would be taken out, and they would rather die than be the reason Lyra's protection shattered.

     The circle tightened around Lyra until the toddler was backed into a wall, Marlene her only defense against the hoard of Death Eaters who had no qualms over killing a child.

The former Gryffindor swallowed the lump in her throat as the hand holding her wand moved in an arc, not sure which target she should land on.

Marlene Anne McKinnon had gone out fighting, firing off two Blasting Curses even as three separate Death Eaters targeted the last McKinnon adult with the curse that spelled certain, instant death. Her wand rolled out of her limp hand, eyes glassing over.

Lyra Euphemia McKinnon-Black would never forget those eyes.

Sirius Black apparated into the house, grey eyes widening as he took in the horror in front of him. Pivoting on his heel, he stared silently at the Death Eaters - and bloody Voldemort himself, couldn't forget him - as his fingers tightened around his wand, knuckles bone white from tension.

He backed up, sliding his body in front of Lyra. The three year old was silent. Sirius' eyes narrowed, unsure of how he was going to get them out of this.

Sirius whispered to himself, "Fuck it."

Chucking Lyra's birthday cake at Bellatrix, he whipped around, picking his daughter up and summoning the engagement ring off of his dea-no.

Get out of here first. And don't think about her.

Sirius spun on his heel, disappearing with a sharp crack.

He reappeared in Godric's Hallow, landing on top of James Potter on the living room couch.

"Whoa!" James exclaimed, snorting even as his eyes sparkled with mischief behind his glasses. "I mean, we probably should let Marls and Lily know before we run away with each - Pads. What happened?!"

James Potter knew something was wrong, cutting off his own joke due to the haunted, horrified look in his brother in all but blood's eyes.

"They're gone... they're all gone," Sirius mumbled, holding Lyra tightly as if she were the only thing tethering him to the earth.

She was one of four people who had that effect on Sirius Orion Black. That Halloween brought that number down to two - and then Lyra had lost another parent.

Word Count: 2,102