Those Who Have Thrice Defied Him

SGR's Note: I figure a lot of you are watching le Superbradygasmbowl, so I could sneak this one in under you. I do apologize for not getting it done yesterday. I also apologize for the suckiness of it.

"Where it was dark now there is light
Where there was pain, now there's joy
Where there was weakness, I found my strength
All in the eyes of a boy."
-A New Day, Celine Dion

Those Who Have Thrice Defied Him
Chapter Three

"You..." she breathed. She took two steps backward, and her vision was filled with James and Sirius. They stood in front of her protectively, each had their wand at the level of their eyes. She placed a hand on her stomach and fear like she had never known washed over her. For the first time, she understood what it felt to be afraid for her child's life.

"She's not the one you want," James said. "It's the Longbottom child-"

"Somehow I doubt your sincerity" Voldemort said, looking at his wand mildly. "Besides, I rid the world of a dirty Half-blood and his Mudblood mother all the-"

James was not one to stand around while his wife and child were insulted. With a rough shove, he pushed Lily away from them and cursed Voldemort in the chest. Or attempted to, anyways. Voldemort was a much better dueler and deflected it easily, and rather boredly.

"Lily!" he cried. "Get out of-oof!" Voldemort flung James and Sirius onto their backs, recovering from the curse quickly.

Shaking, Lily was about to Apparate, but Voldemort cursed the wand out of her hand, slicing open the top of her hand. She fell back a few steps, holding her bleeding hand and looked up just in time to see a shot from Voldemort's wand connect with her swollen belly.

Lily's screaming brought James to his feet so fast his head spun. Voldemort seemed to be moving in for the final kill, raising his wand at her. Lily was lying on the ground, the first curse still causing her so much pain she couldn't even open her eyes. She was aware of nothing, not even the wand aiming at her and the incantation that was about to end her life.

James flung out his wand and said the first thing that came to mind, hoping that it would distract Voldemort long enough for Lily to Disapparate. Voldemort turned around and deflected a spell from Sirius, who also had gotten to his feet. The two of them combined pushed Voldemort back and engaged him in a duel away from Lily.

Lily took a deep breath and opened her eyes, sitting up slightly, still clutching her unborn baby. She looked around for her wand, still feeling the aftershocks, and unable to stand.

"What's wrong with her?" James asked, holding his bleeding arm. He was starting to get worried about her, because she was holding her stomach and not getting up. "Why isn't she getting out of here?"

Voldemort heard him and noticed Lily again. With a gruesome smile, he cursed her again, and the scream that came out of her mouth was enough to set James' blood on fire. He flung a curse at Voldemort to stop him, and he took the bait, humoring James with a duel.

Sirius rushed to Lily's side while James fought Voldemort, brushing his hands over her face. "Lily, talk to me," he whispered. "Can you get up?"

"It hurts," she moaned, her voice high and desperate. "It hurts so bad..."

"Lily, love, get up," Sirius said, terrified, for the first time.

"I can't move," she sobbed, eyes streaming. "Hurts....so bad..."

Sirius would have loved to say more, but Voldemort had finished with James for the moment and had Summoned Sirius by his neck and flung him into a nearby trash receptacle. Lily opened her eyes to see Voldemort standing above her, wand pointed at her.

She took in a shaky breath and closed her eyes, hands still grasping her overalled stomach where her baby was. She just wanted the pain to stop...

"GRAH!"

"Lily! Catch!" James yelled. Lily opened her eyes to see James fling his wand at her while Voldemort held his eyes in pain after James had sent a curse into them. She reached up, with some difficulty, and grabbed the wand.

James was looking at her with a determined and heartbroken look. "Go!" he said, his voice strangled.

"I can't....leave you...." Lily said, shaking her head. Voldemort was blinking, as if he was starting to get his sight back from the attack on his eyes.

James looked at her and for a second, time stopped. His eyes told her what she didn't want to know, that the life of their baby was more important than his life. She had to escape, she had to go on with their child. He was the most important thing...

"I love you," she whispered, tears spilling down her face.

Voldemort's sight had returned to him and he was quite angry for it being gone. He turned to James and used the Unforgivable Crutacious curse. It was then that he noticed that James had no wand. With a ferocious glance, he turned to Lily.

"LILY!" James screamed. "GO NOW!"

Heart breaking into a thousand pieces, Lily Disapparated.

James struggled to his feet, and watched Voldemort turn slowly back to face him. His hand itched without the feeling of his wand in it, but he showed no signs of fear. He really had nothing to fear, now that his wife and child were safe.

"Very brave," Voldemort said softly. "But also very stupid."

James squared his shoulders and stared at Voldemort. He didn't say anything, because he didn't want to give Voldemort the pleasure of mocking his words before he was sent off into the great beyond.

"No last words?" Voldemort asked, raising his wand. "I suppose that you want it over with quickly, hm? I am afraid you've caused me too much trouble for that..."

A spark of purple flew across the top of Voldemort's hand and blood spurted out. He looked at his hand, furious, and then to the source of the magic.

"That hurt, you white-faced fucker!" Sirius said, coming out of the alley that he had been thrown into, blood tricking down his cheek from his matted black hair.

***

Lily appeared in a pile in the waiting room of St. Mungo's. Every inch of her body hurt, physically, mentally, and even her soul was aching. She would never be able to get that sight out of her mind. That sight of James telling her to go, to get out of there, while he sacrificed himself for their baby.

She held his wand to her chest and heaved in breaths. It was suddenly very light where she was. The person above her was talking to her, but she couldn't understand what she was saying. There was someone screaming in her ear and it was the only thing she could comprehend.

Her body was suddenly bathed in cool air and then lifted onto something soft. The screaming was still going on, but either it or her hearing had dulled into a low roar. The lights were flashing now, and felt herself moving.

She was having difficulties breathing now, and there was definitely something wrong with her stomach.

"Baby..." she breathed, hands flying down to hold her child. But she couldn't move her arms. There was pressure on her wrists, and she couldn't hold her baby. She wanted to hold her baby. The screaming was louder now, and she finally realized that it was herself. When she realized this, the dulled sound that had been covering the sound was lifted, and the shrillness of her own voice filled her brain, as well as the rest of the sounds.

"Mrs. Potter! Calm down!"

"We need to give you this potion-!"

"James," she sobbed. "He's gone...."

"Lily, it's all right," a very pudgy hand slipped into her own. "They're trying to get James out of there."

The dullness had settled over her hearing again, and suddenly a new feeling came over her. There was a horribly clenching feeling around her baby. It hurt so bad that the screaming was back, and she was writhing against her bounds.

It lasted forever, it seemed like, but it did end, and when it did she let out a breath she was holding. Her chest had been aching from lack of air as well, but it had been but a dull pain compared to what was going on in her belly. The dullness lifted once more and she could hear voices.

"That's the second one in a half-hour..."

"I think we should stand by, she should be ready soon."

"What?" Lily breathed. "What do you mean?"

"You're having your baby tonight, Mrs. Potter," the Healer said, feeling her stomach gently.

"No...." Lily started breathing erratically. "No, not tonight...No, no, no, no....noooo!" She violently shook her head. She wasn't ready to be a mother, and that would mean the prophecy would pertain to her baby, and she couldn't face Lord Voldemort again without James...James would never get to see his baby born...

"Lily, you have to breathe!"

"I can't...I can't do this..." she gasped, closing her eyes. Another horrific pain was hitting her. "I can't do this without....without James!"

"You're going to have to, Lily," the pudgy hand said. "You're nearly ready!"

"James...." she whispered, the room oddly silent for so much activity. "I need you..."

"Holy fuck!"

At the sound of his voice, everything was suddenly clear. She was in a room at St. Mungo's, Peter Pettigrew was holding her hand, there were two Healers in the room as well as three Mediwitches, and James was standing in the doorway with Sirius behind him, they both having mirroring expressions of confusion on their faces.

Lily sprung up into a sitting position, her heart beating so fast that she was getting dizzy. "You're ...alive..." she breathed, eyes filling with tears.

"You're in labor!" James exclaimed, looking quite terrified. He rushed to her side, but couldn't do anything because Lily had hugged him so tightly that he was having difficulties breathing.

"I was so scared I'd lost you," Lily cried. "I can't do this alone..."

"It's all right," James said, brushing her face. "I'm all-" His eyes bulged when Lily crushed him to her again, only this time she was crying out in pain.

She hissed in pain and her whole face contorted in pain. It slowly ebbed away and she sat back, not releasing James' hand from her own.

"Ah! Here comes the head!" the Healer that was seated in-between Lily's legs cheered. Lily poked her head up and frowned.

"What the bloody hell do you think that you're doing down-AAAARG!" Her baby was definitely crowning and she could definitely feel it.

"Lily, look, there's his head!" James said, leaving her side for a minute.

"I can't bloody see," she said, through clenched teeth. "Get back here!"

But instead, when another painful contraction hit her, she came to James, sitting up straight to push better. James reached behind her to hold her up and next to him, wanting them to experience this together.

"All right, now, this is going to be the hardest part!"

Lily closed her eyes. She was very tired and she wasn't sure if she could do it anymore. She pressed her head against James' and her lip trembled. He held her tightly to him and kissed her on the cheek.

"You can do it, Baby," he whispered. "Almost done. Just a little bit more..."

"I can't, James...I'm so tired..."

"We'll push together, all right?" James said, looking her straight in the eye. "Ready? One, two...."

Lily closed her eyes and pushed as hard as she could, gripping James' hand as hard as she could.

"Look! Lily, baby, look!"

Lily's eyes flew open just in time to see her newborn baby boy fall into the Healer's arms. He was very, very tiny, about the size of a girl's doll, but he was very much alive, screaming at the top of his little lungs.

A feeling of joy that she had never known washed over her. Tears filled her eyes once more, but this time, they were tears of happiness.

"He's so...tiny..." James, too, was crying.

"Congratulations," the Healer said, placing the baby, wrapped in a blue blanket, into Lily's arms.

The weight of her baby in her arms caused another wave of tears to fall down Lily's face. He was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her entire life. Small and pink, screaming his little lungs out, and complete with jet black hair to match his father's, here was their baby boy who had been kicking from the inside.

"So this is what you look like," James said, leaning down to kiss his son on the forehead. Words were too mundane to express the feeling that was within his chest. He couldn't believe that he almost died without seeing this paradigm of perfection.

Remus, Sirius, and Peter were at the borders of the room. They had been there the entire time, having been too involved in the excitement to leave. Peter had a smile on his face and was beaming proudly; Dumbledore had asked him to watch over Lily, as the rest of the Order was trying to get James back to his family. Remus had tears of joy in his eyes, and was trying discreetly to hide them.

Sirius was bawling into the nearest Mediwitch. Remus and Peter took both of his arms and lead him out of the room, as he was starting to cause a scene.

"James," Lily said, eyes flashing open happily. "James, look!"

"What?" James asked, following her eyesight. "I-It's past midnight!!!"

"Thank God," Lily closed her eyes and holding her baby close to her. It was August first, this nightmare was finally over. The prophecy didn't apply to them, their baby was safe. Their lives were going to be all right, they were going to have a normal life.

"Do you have a name?" asked the Healer gently.

Lily looked to James and they both smiled. They weren't prepared in the least to pick out a name; thinking that they had a few more weeks to figure it out. They had always joked that they would be able to figure it out once they saw their baby.

"He rather looks like a Harry, doesn't he?" James asked.

"Harry James Potter," Lily whispered on top of her baby's hair. James closed his eyes and nudged her head gently. It was a Potter tradition to name the first son after the father, which was why James' middle name was "William," after his father.

"So, that's it then?" the Healer asked.

Lily nodded fervently. Her little Harry was quieting down slightly but was still whimpering. James leaned down to kiss him again on the forehead.

"Right then, Harry James Potter. Height of twenty-five centimeters, weight of one pound, ten ounces. Born to James and Lily Potter, at 11:56 PM, on July the thirty-first...."