It was a peaceful summer night at the Potter cottage. The oppressive humidity of the afternoon had finally broken into a gentle summer rain. That particular evening was beautiful, a glorious example of the magic of the season. Unless, of course, one was fighting with a colic-y one-year old.

Lily was in the back garden, bouncing Harry with only the fireflies to witness his cries and hacking coughs. It was nearing the forty-five minute mark since she’d begun the process of putting him to bed, and she could feel her own tears welling up due to sheer exhaustion.

“Come on sweetheart, take deep breaths. Breathe, Harry. You’re okay.�

Clutching the small boy close to her chest, Lily switched to a rocking motion, and began to quietly sing to him. She ran through just about every song she could think of, from the lullaby her parents sang her as a child, to the disco songs James made fun of her for liking. Her voice cracked, and she had trouble reaching the highest notes, but Harry slowly began to still in her arms. Halfway through a half-remembered version of ‘Both Sides Now’ by Joni Mitchell, she realized he was no longer crying. Gently, ever so very gently, she opened the back door and went back inside.

She laid him carefully in his crib, and stood by warily for a minute. Finally, when it seemed that he was well and truly asleep, she collapsed in the rocking chair by the window. Lily was tired to the bone. Her parents had warned her that having a baby was hard work, but of course, they hadn’t been simultaneously fighting a war against the darkest wizard in the world. Take that, mum, Lily thought to herself with a hoarse laugh. She sobered quickly, wishing more than anything that her mother could be there to help her. It had been three years since she’d buried her parents, but the memory still occasionally hit her like a train moving at top speed.

Lily stood once more, her feet screaming at her. She drank in the sight of her happily sleeping son. Though he hadn’t been planned, though his arrival had meant she’d had to put her career on hold, she couldn’t begin to imagine life without him. She mused that a younger version of herself would be appalled at her current life. A housewife with a child at twenty-one? Where was the little girl who read the newspaper voraciously, eager for any update on the women’s lib movement; who’d wanted to burn her bras before she was even old enough to need one? She supposed that girl was still in there somewhere, but with a different perspective. Before, she’d been opposed to 'oppression' in the abstract sense - now she knew it like an old friend. The world was hard enough, she knew. Lily had learned to accept love and happiness where she found it, even if it looked different than she’d expected.

She gently swept Harry’s already-wild hair from his eyes. The poor thing had had a long day, with visits from Sirius and Marlene in the morning, and the Longbottoms in the afternoon. Harry and Neville were quite taken with each other. They’d had a joint birthday party for the boys just a week ago, and the very next day, Harry had asked when ‘Ne-bull’ was coming back. She grinned as she looked to wall behind her. She found the picture of Alice and herself, stomachs round and heavy, smiles wide and excited. It made her happy to think that Harry was already so loved, and that he always would be.

Downstairs the door slammed shut, breaking Lily out of her reverie. Harry squirmed, his small face screwing up. She quickly put one hand on his chest, shushing him desperately.

"Lily, dearest, I'm home!" her husband shouted, causing Harry to finally let out an ear-splitting cry. Lily sighed heavily, lifted him from the crib, and headed downstairs. She wasn’t surprised to see her husband was accompanied by two of his best friends. She gave tight smiles to Sirius and Remus, and headed straight for James.

"Hello James," she said tersely, and handed him a squirming and crying Harry, "Goodnight James.� Lily turned on her heel and made her way back to the staircase.

"Where are you going?" His words stopped her about halfway up the stairs. She turned to look at him. She could see from his vacant expression and the redness in his cheeks that he was well and truly hammered. Helping Remus move, my ass, she thought.

"I," said Lily, "am going to bed. I only spent about two hours getting him to sleep, and now you get to have a go at it. Goodnight, James.�

James looked helplessly at the boy who resembled him so much. He swayed a little, and quickly plopped down on the couch before he could drop his son.

“Uhhhh, okay, shush Harry, iss okay,� James slurred half-heartedly, doing his best to ignore Sirius and Remus’ uproarious laughter.

“You think izzo funny? You get him to sleep then, you arseholes.� Remus, who was nowhere near as drunk, took pity on his poor friend.

“Give him to me, Prongs. Come to Uncle Moony, Harry!� He took the screaming boy from James, and gently rocked him. There was a brief moment of peace, and then his cries became even louder than before.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, put him on the floor, Moony. I’ve got this.� Sirius cracked his knuckles, and faced his godson. “It always had to be me. I’m the chosen one,� he muttered, rolling his neck.

“The wha?� James questioned, from his horizontal position on the sofa.

“Go to sleep, James,� Remus replied, watching Sirius with interest.

“Ok,� he murmured, already drifting off.

“It’s my destiny, as his godfather. This is my birthright-�

“Would you shut up and do it already?� Remus was getting tired of Harry’s screams, which apparently weren’t loud enough to drown out Sirius’ ego.

Sirius frowned at him, but crouched down to Harry’s level. As he did, he transformed into Padfoot. Harry stopped his cries, and crawled over to the large black dog.

“Pafoo?� Harry’s little hand reached out and patted his snout. Remus was once again surprised that a dog could look smug.

Harry and Padfoot played for a while, taking turns chasing each other and having a tug of war with an old copy of the Daily Prophet. While Harry was now in a good mood, any time bed time was mentioned, there was another meltdown. Sirius finally changed back after the third tantrum.

“So, your destiny was what? To fail completely?� Remus lazily ribbed him.

“Shove off. At least it worked for a little while.�

Remus sighed and looked at the clock that hung behind the sofa. It was almost midnight, and he and Sirius were due to go on a mission for the Order tomorrow morning.

“We’ve got to do something. What else do people do to calm babies?�

Sirius shrugged. “Fuck if I know, my mum usually just had Kreacher or the nanny take us away. I remember there was a spell the nanny used on us if things got really out of hand.�

“What, like ‘silencio?’�

“No, it was more complex. I remember she told us once that it didn’t actually stop a tantrum, just sped things up so that they could have some peace sooner rather than later. I think I remember it?�

“I’m not sure I want to bet on you thinking you remember some insane sounding pureblood spell that your nanny used.�

“Come on Remus, would I do anything to hurt Harry? I had this spell used on me tons of times, and look at me! I’m totally fine!�

“Mmhmm. Even if that was true-� They were both distracted by the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. “Shit. Fine, go for it, but if anything goes wrong, it’s your fault.�

“Well, it won’t, but thanks for the vote of confidence,� said Sirius dryly. As Lily got to the bottom of the stairs, he confidently aimed his wand at Harry.

“Futurum Tranquilitatas!�

And sure enough, the house became completely silent.