The Blossom, The Bud, The Brother and The Beast

I have walked and prayed for this young child an hour
And heard the sea-wind scream upon the tower,
And under the arches of the bridge, and scream
In the elms above the flooded stream;
Imagining in excited reverie
That the future years had come,
Dancing to a frenzied drum,
Out of the murderous innocence of the sea.

May she be granted beauty and yet not
Beauty to make a stranger's eye distraught,
Or hers before a looking-glass, for such,
Being made beautiful overmuch,
Consider beauty a sufficient end,
Lose natural kindness and maybe
The heart-revealing intimacy
That chooses right, and never find a friend...

-- "Prayer for my Daughter" by William Butler Yeats

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CHAPTER 02- All Hallows Eve

Late night, October 31, 1981

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It was late night when loud screaming and bawling were heard from the Potter house. If it wasn't for the Fidelius Charm, the racket could have been heard by the entire neighborhood surrounding Godric's Hollow.

Little Harry, only fifteen months old, cried in his crib while James tended to his wife - who was just sleeping beside him a few minutes ago- now starting to twist her body around in pain.

"James," screamed Lily, grabbing on to her stomach. "I think I am in labor."

James gave her a really weird look. "Lily, you're not due until two weeks..." But before James can even finish the sentence, Lily shrieked in agony again, holding on to the sheets as she cringed.

"James!!!"

James touched his wife's forehead as she continued to writhe. "Are you sure it's not indigestion or something?"

"James!!!" Another cry. "James, please! I think I am in labor! Aah!"

"You can't... You're not..."

"James, it's not really a good time for a discussion, right now! My water just broke!"

James scampered around the bathroom closet, collecting all the towels he can grab with both his hands and ran, and almost tripped, back to his screaming wife. His hands nervously cover the damp areas of the bed sheets with the towels, trying to keep his wife warm.

He examined her conditions, having gone through the same thing only about a year ago, and said: "Lily, I think your water just broke.

"No duh, James! Aah!"

"And sweetie, you're dilated."

"I surely can feel it! Aah! James!"

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The grandfather's clock in the Potter's Godric Hollow home struck twelve when Lily pushed for the last time. James caught the newborn baby in a clean towel.

"It's a girl, Lily!" he screamed as he cleared the baby's lungs. After the baby's throat was cleared, it started to cry. He then carried it to the tub in the bathroom, and cleansed off the blood and the other icky residue. He wiped off the water from the baby with a towel, and then wrapped her in the receiving blanket that they had used on Harry only a year ago.

'There is something wrong with the baby,' James thought. He noticed that the baby was a little tiny due to its premature birth. It was not as heavy as Harry when he was born. It was only about five to six pounds in weight, he guessed. It has a face of an angel, cherubic with little chubby cheeks. Its eyes were still closed, but its mouth wass booming with cries. It was its own innocent way of saying 'I am alive.' But otherwise, compared to any other newborn baby in the world, the baby was fine. It seemed fine. But that was not what really caught James' attention.

What caught his attention was the color of the baby's eyebrows and eyelashes. He moved the hood part of the receiving blanket that revealed the baby's hair. The baby had blonde hair. He also noticed that its skin was pale white, as white as it can possibly be, and it had a nice and obvious prominent nose. The baby did not have any of the Potter characteristics.

The baby finally looked at him, sleepily, revealing the green color of it eyes. 'Just like Lily's' he though. The baby was hers, but James knows that the child is not his. James admitted to himself that he felt pity for the little thing, being so tiny, innocent and helpless. But he cannot deny that he despises it at the same time.

'How could I hate something so innocent, so young, someone I've just met?' James asked himself, as he handed Lily her new baby girl, his heart about to break in two.

Lily smiled as she took the baby from James' arms. She kissed the baby's forehead as James looked at the both of them, in disgust. "I wanna name her Iris Cecille, James."

James looked at his wife in disgust, his voice almost quivering. "I don't care."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Why should I have a say in this? She isn't mine."

Lily looked at him, her eyebrow and forehead scrunched, revealing confusion. "What are you talking about, James?" She looked back at the baby and noticed the hair on the baby's head. Her lips started to quiver, her mind racing as to try to find the right words to justify the unexplainable circumstances. "James, I..."

"Lily?" asked James in a stern voice.

"I don't... She's ours!"

James headed to the bathroom, took off his glasses and washed his face. He looked up and stared at his ghostly reflection. He leaned closer, unable to focus that well without his glasses. But even without his glasses, he was able to realize that his face was ash white and tears were rimming around his bloodshot eyes.

He toweled his face dry, placed his glasses back on and took off his water and blood drenched shirt. He stared at the blood stain right where his stomach is. Normally, he would be shivering because his chest is wet, but at this moment, nothing matters to him, except for the fact that the blood that is on his shirt was not caused by the union of his and Lily's love, but hers and someone else's.

"James?" he heard Lily say in a trembling voice, trying to talk louder than the wailing of the baby girl and Harry's crying and screaming from the next room. "James? Please..."

James walked into the room, still carrying his shirt, his eyes never leaving Lily's. He tossed the shirt right at her foot as he let emotions take over in the form of tears and whimpered. He ran to the next room, took Harry from his crib and carries him back to the room. He tried to gain his composure back, but tears continued to stream down his face.

"How could you do this to me, Lily?"

"James, I never... I wouldn't. You know I would never cheat on you."

"But you did, Lily. You did." He hugged his son, his only real child, tighter, rubbing the nape of the boy's neck. He hushed him down then turned to Lily and her baby.

The baby girl was still crying, so Lily tried to calm her by breastfeeding her. The baby nursed as her mother started to cry.

James kissed his son's forehead, his eyes glaring back at Lily. "How could you do this to us, Lily? How?"

"James, I don't know how to explain..."

"What did I ever do to deserve this? Huh? Explain this to me!"

"I don't know James! I don't! If I knew..."

"You knew you were pregnant with somebody else's child, didn't you?"

"No, James!" But James finally lost control of himself.

"But what?" he screamed. "How could a blonde haired baby be born between a redhead and a brunette?? You explain this to me!"

Lily looked at the innocent baby stuck in the middle of everything that was going wrong in her life at the present. How could she have a baby with that hair color? It was impossible to tamper with the baby's hair before she's born. And she most definitely could not have gotten the color from either James' or her side of the family. Where could the baby have come from?

"Well?" James asked again, his brown eyes practically burning Lily's green.

"I don't know, James. I really don't."

"You don't know? How could you not know?"

"I just..."

"Why? Huh? How many guys have you cheated on me with?"

"What?"

"That's the only reason why you wouldn't know. You've had multiple partners!"

"James! I never cheated on you. With no one! You were my first, you were my only."

"Then were did she come from?"

"I don't know!"

"That's bullshit, Lil!"

"You can't pin this on me James!"

"Then who, huh? Who am I to blame, Lily? Who?"

The little girl in Lily's arms suddenly convulsed uncontrollably, her body almost jumped off her mother's arm. At the same time, Lily felt a jolt right in on her forehead. She fought against the pain, and at the same time tried not to let go nor hurt the baby. She saw a vision, split-second flashes, each one causing mind-searing pain.

(Flashback)

"Imperio!" A man's voice.

"Let go of me!" Hers. "I will have nothing to do with it!"

"Make love to me, my Lily." The man's voice again. "Show me you love me. And you will enjoy it as much as I enjoy you. If I can't have you, my little Lily, neither can he."

"You gave him a son and you will give me a part of you in due time," says the same man. "Too bad you're not really mine. Too bad I no longer have any use for you. You will give me something that is both yours and mine. Lily you are beautiful."

Then her voice, quivering. "You are also, My Lucius. I am all yours, Lucius."

"Mummy!!! Don't let him get me, mummy! No!!!"

"Avada Kedavra!" It was a man's voice, but it certainly wasn't from Lucius.'
(Flashback ends)

When Lily's eyes regained focus, she realized that her husband was now sitting in front of her, carrying both the children in his arms.

"Lily, what happened? You started crying and you almost dropped your baby."

"James, James..."

"What?"

"It was Lucius. He placed an Imperius curse on me. He raped me. I don't know how but he's the father."

"You're right about that, Lily!" answered one of the two dark-cloaked apparitions that had just appeared by their bedroom door, both pointing their wands at the Potter family.

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**********FIN*********

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Okay, everyone. Reviews please!!!

NOTES:

Curses/Charms are in Bold Italics and flashbacks are in Italics. Don't blame me if it doesn't show up!!!

NEXT CHAPTER:

So we now know (already knew) who the father of the baby is. But will Voldemort spare Lily and/or the baby?

PLEASE VISIT MY OTHER FANFICS AT:

Unusual Beginnings:

http://www.schnoogle.com/authorLinks/ZzzShiroNeko/

The Blossom, the Bud, the Brother and the Beast & Fighting for Honor (My Father, An Auror):

http://www.thedarkarts.org/authorLinks/ZzzShiroNeko/

To Roar at a Hiss:

http://www.thedarkarts.org/authorLinks/ZNeko/