"Lil…wake up!"
"Hmmm?" Lily swatted at James half heartedly as he roughly shook her...
"Wake up! We need to leave, now!" the urgency in his voice blinked her into awareness and she tossed the blankets off of her and placed her feet onto the cold floor.
"What's wrong?"
"There's trouble," were his only words as he ran out of the room again and quickly slipping into her slippers, she hurried after him into the living room where Sirius was standing near the fireplace with his wand drawn.
"What kind of trouble?" she asked alarmed at the sight of his wand as they both knew he shouldn't use it.
"Death Eaters," Sirius didn't take his eyes off the fireplace. "There's a dozen of them on the streets outside."
"But the Fidelius Charm is keeping us safe, isn't it?" Lily drew her own wand, scanning the street through the windows to indeed see several masked and robes shadows move around.
"It should, but James isn't going to take any risks so he wants to move us."
"Why would they attack now?"
"Mum passed a message that the Longbottoms' were attacked a few hours ago; they've moved into safety with their baby."
"Alice gave birth already?"
"A little before midnight, apparently. Mum helped with the delivery and was there when it happened."
"Is she all right?"
"Yes, they managed to get away before the Death Eaters entered. They don't know how they managed to enter despite the Fidelius, but Augusta Longbottom was apparently the one who warned them."
"But how could they get past it?"
"Not something we are going to wait for to find out, especially not now," James handed her a bag before hurrying away again.
"Because the birth is so close?"
"I'm actually hoping he will wait just a little bit longer before wanting to come out," Sirius had one hand pressed against his abdomen, seemingly unconscious as his eyes never left the fireplace and Lily followed his movement.
His abdomen, although being nine months along, wasn't half as large as she expected it to be. But Dorea had assured her it was a combination of Sirius' own natural slenderness and the baby's smallness that made it seem so and that he had gained more than enough weight in the last six months.
"It's the last day of the Prophecy, isn't it?"
"Yes, I keep telling him to wait just a little while longer and then everything will be all right..."
"But?"
"I've been having strong pain in my back for about five hours now," Sirius' eyes finally lifted up to her. "It intensifies in regularity every couple of minutes now."
"Regu..." realising what he meant, her heart skipped a beat.
"Yeah. James was actually on his way to come warn you when Mum's message arrived."
"Is that why you are so tense?" Lily asked, wishing he'd look at her but his gaze had returned to the fire place once more.
"Sort of. Do you remember our discussion about the birth and we spoke about caesarean sections?"
"Of course I do."
"That's not going to work," Sirius' eyes narrowed and he called out. "Hurry up, I can hear movement."
"What movement and what do you mean it might not work?" alarmed Lily's eyes snapped to the fireplace as well.
"When the first pain hit me, I accidentally blew up the lamp in the kitchen because the sudden pain took me by surprise. By all means the shards should have cut me open, but instead they bounced right of the parts of my stomach not protected by my arms."
"They didn't cut you at all?"
"They cut into my arms easily enough, but this thing was completely unharmed," Sirius indicated to his swollen stomach and Lily tensed.
"What will we do if we can't use caesarean section?" she grabbed his arm to make him look at her and she swallowed at the badly concealed fear present there.
"I don't know. Mum warned us that Potter Manor might have been breached so she and Dad ran. James threw warding against the Floo connecting our houses to keep them away in case they come through there as it's an easy way. Mum told us to go lay low and she'd contact us once she could."
"She doesn't know..."
"No, and our messages aren't reaching them either so we cannot count on her help either."
"Oh no," taking a deep breath, Lily decided to focus on the first problem on hand, keeping an eye on the fireplace now as well, able to pick out the wards now that she knew they were there. And because she was staring so intensely, she could see them moving as if something or someone was attacking them. "How do we get to a safe location?"
"James is going to Apparate us," Sirius waved her concern off even as she opened her mouth. 'I'm aware. But we haven't got another choice."
"The wards I threw at the Floo aren't going to hold much longer. I've erased all unusual traces of you from the house," James returned to them and Lily blinked as she hadn't even thought of that.
"Where will we go? If Sirius is having contractions..."
"It's not..." tensing suddenly, Sirius cried out as pain flashed across his features and his breathing stocked and Lily grabbed his arm as he almost buckled under the pain. "And people dare to claim women are weak, Merlin..."
James was at his other side immediately and wrapped an arm around his waist; easily holding him upright while Sirius buried his face into the other's shoulder to try and muffle his gasps.
"I got you...I've not quite figured out a location yet," James answered her earlier question. "But we need to move quickly."
"W-we could use that cabin in which Moony transformed in back during our sixth year Easter holiday," Sirius suggested once the pain subdued again.
"Good idea. I will have to use a detour for precaution, though. Think you can make it?"
"Do we have a choice?" Sirius smiled wryly. "I'm in pain right now anyway, just don't stop even if I pass out. Just keep going until we get there."
Taking a deep breath, James shifted to pull Sirius fully into his side and turned to Lily. "Keep your wand at the ready and whatever happens, don't let go of him."
Wrapping her arm around Sirius' waist from the other side, she tightened her fingers into the fabric of his pyjama shirt to secure her grip and in turn Sirius wrapped his arm around her as well.
"Ready?"
Nodding, Lily felt Sirius tense again, the flames flaring and Lily was fairly sure she heard someone scream in the distance. But before anything else could happen, she felt the familiar pull behind her navel and her vision blurred for a moment as she forgot to close her eyes.
Once reappearing Lily immediately tightened her hold on Sirius as she felt his grip slip slightly even as James Apparated them on, doing so more times than Lily could keep track off before he settled on a location.
The moment they arrived and she didn't feel an immediate pull any more, she turned to check their surroundings without ever letting go of Sirius and forcing herself to ignore his muffled screams as his hold had disappeared completely.
"Clear," she whispered after casting a revealing charm over the area, her eyes flashing through the cabin they'd landed in. "There is no one around for miles."
"Good, the wards that my parents placed on this cabin haven't been touched in years so I think we are good for now," James slipped his wand into his sleeve and slid his arms under Sirius' knees to lift him up, carrying him to the small bed in the corner.
"Lumos Maxima," capturing several lights in transfigured lanterns, Lily placed them strategically around the cabin so they could see properly, pausing as she saw the state of the cabin properly.
Deep angry looking marks were scratched into the walls no matter where she looked and as she turned to the bed she saw that the blankets were torn so badly it was a miracle they hadn't fallen apart yet. "James?"
"Remus transformed here while we were on holiday together and Padfoot kept him company during the full moon because Prongs was too big. They played around."
"This is from playing around?" Lily stared at him in disbelief.
"You should have seen the Shack," James smiled faintly as he picked up the rags and fixed them with his wand before covering Sirius with them.
"Is he still conscious?" Lily focused her attention on the matter at hand again, ignoring their surroundings for now.
"Sort of. The combination of Apparating, magic being used around him and the contractions building up took a lot out of him. I could feel the spasms in his body reacting to the magic even from just holding him," James said and Lily leaned forward to caress the hair out of Sirius' eyes.
"He is burning up," smiling softly as Sirius moved into her touch; she carefully measured the time as his entire body tensed again before turning to James. "They come almost constantly now. What do we do?"
"I don't know. We apparently can't perform a caesarean section because of the spell and we cannot summon the baby either for the same reason."
"And transfiguring him into a girl?" Lily suggested as Sirius gasped, tears appearing at the corners of his eyes.
"I can transfigure him into an animal or object, but his gender wouldn't chance."
"You've tried before?"
"We might have tried to turn Peter into a girl once when he was being particularly whiny," James admitted. "But it didn't work."
"James..." Sirius had clearly regained conscious fully again as he spoke between pained breaths.
"Just try to relax, we'll work something out."
"You have to cut me open."
"We already concluded that that would not work, Siri."
"No..." Sirius almost doubled in pain and James immediately dropped down onto the bed to try and support him. "These contractions...the-they're not...I'm not..."
He didn't seem to be able to form a proper sentence as another wave of pain hit him, rendering him unable to speak.
"They aren't what?" James asked once the pain seemed to subdue a little again.
"They are not contractions."
"Of course they are. They come at regular intervals and increase in strength as time passes," Lily frowned.
"I don't have a vagina or birth canal...h-how can I be having contractions if I don't have t-the parts necessary that cause them?"
Both James and Lily tensed as his words got through to them.
"It can't be contractions...so what are they?" Lily blinked.
"The baby is trying to get out the only way it instinctively knows how to," Sirius groaned.
"The instinctive way would be through...he's tearing you apart from the inside!" Lily exclaimed horrified.
"Yeah...you have to cut me open," Sirius repeated as he blinked rapidly, tears falling down his cheeks as he did.
"I just said..." James started irritated.
"Just a few inches be-below the stomach shouldn't be protected….if you don't, h-he'll force his own way out," Sirius took a gasping breath once more before grinding his teeth.
"I...I can't! You'll be torn apart if I try to get the baby out like that," James exclaimed.
"He's doing a pretty good job of that right now, too," Sirius deadpanned. "I rather have you do it controlled than have him have his way. No offence but I really, re-really don't want that to happen."
Lily let out a nervous laugh as she realised what he meant. "None taken."
"If we cut you open there, you'll bleed to death," James was near panic now but Sirius seemed to calm down completely despite the pain.
"I think I'm already bleeding internally anyway. If y-you don't then I'll certainly will. We...can't wait for Mum any longer."
He looked up at James with glassy eyes full of pain but they also burned with determination.
"I trust you."
James swallowed as he stared into his eyes before Sirius had to close them as the pain became overbearing.
"All right...I can do this..." James whispered.
He fumbled with Sirius' pyjama trousers, pushing them off and his shirt up so he had room to work and Lily leaned over him slightly so she could place her hands onto his upper arms and hold him down as she was fairly sure she would need to.
He glanced up to her, a tiny smile momentarily crossing his features, but his gaze was filled with so much pain that she couldn't be sure if he was aware of her reasoning or just thought she was trying to comfort him.
"You're bleeding," James sounded horrified.
"I wasn't kidding when I said he's trying to tear me apart," Sirius shivered in both pain and coldness and Lily bit her lip.
"He won't last much longer," she warned as she was it wasn't just the cold that made him shiver as exhaustion was clearly sweeping in as well.
"Can we sedate him in any way?"
"Can we numb the area?" Lily suggested.
"With what? I don't know a spell like that," James admitted, taking a deep breath. "Right, this is going to hurt."
Sirius let out a slightly hysterical chuckle that made James smile faintly before he swallowed and began to cut in the lowest part of the stomach, managing to cut through the skin without a problem as Sirius had predicted.
Involuntarily Sirius bucked, trying to get away from him, but having anticipated it, Lily pressed down to hold him in place as much as she could even as an intense scream tore from his throat.
"Merlin ….I-I need to cut wider," James choked on his words, sounding hysterical.
"Do it, James," Lily ordered, feeling Sirius tremble below her hold.
"I can't! It's a bloody mess in there. I think part of his spleen is ripped apart. The womb is torn and there's blood everywhere. I can't see a thing."
"James…James, listen to me. You need to get the baby out or Sirius will bleed to death. You can't fix the damage being done unless the magic's cancelled and that won't happen until the baby's out."
She felt close to hysterics herself as she saw blood rapidly pool around James' knees, more than could be considered safe. But she forced herself to push it away, knowing that she needed to be the voice of reason now. James was beyond it and Sirius was in no condition to be able to get him to focus.
"Do you understand?" she hated sounding so harsh and her heart clenched as terrified eyes met hers. She had never before seen James so afraid, but she couldn't comfort or assure him all would be all right. Not with Sirius bleeding out between them.
"T-Tergeo," Sirius stuttered out and even as Lily looked down surprised, not having thought him still to have any coherent thought, James immediately nodded and the blood rapidly leaving Sirius' stomach immediately disappeared, giving James more sight.
Nodding at his brilliance, Lily focused as she could see James trying to grab the baby without having to cut further. "Okay…Sirius, I know you are definitely not a girl, but we are going to need to help James get him out. When I say yes, I need you to push with everything you have. The baby is up too high and you might be able to push him down that way."
Bleary eyes blinked up to her as tears flowed down freely and he coughed weakly, causing blood to splatter onto his lips and she swallowed as his internal bleeding was a lot more severe than she had originally thought. He was barely coherent enough to remain conscious and what she was asking was going to take what little energy he had left. They had to hurry.
"Just once, then you can rest, okay?" she pleaded with him as she brushed the sweaty hair out of his face, trying to comfort him a little before tightening her hold on his cold clammy arms as he tensed.
"Now."
James' whole body tensed as well as he prepared to grab the first part of the baby he might be able to reach, but it was clear that Sirius didn't have any strength left any more.
"It's okay….you tried…just try to stay away, okay?" she tried to reassure him as tired eyes met hers apologetic as he seemed to realise his efforts were falling short.
Glancing up at James to decide what to do now, she saw his expression become determined as he, too, could clearly see that Sirius was slipping away rapidly.
"I'm sorry," seeing Sirius so weak seemed to give James new strength and he took a deep breath before he suddenly pushed down hard on the bloodied stomach before pulling without warning.
Sirius' breathing stocked as his eyes glazed over, but a sudden unexpected wail made Lily look up abruptly to see James pull the baby free at last.
He was covered in blood and really small but still he was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.
James hurriedly wrapped Sirius' deserted pyjama trousers around him and Lily laughed as tears filled her eyes.
"Did you see that? We did it Siri," she whispered as she looked down at him.
Immediately her heart clenched as his eyes were closed and he was completely motionless, his body not shivering any more. He had gone completely slack in the few seconds she had been distracted.
"Siri...Sirius!" she yelled his name as she ran her hands over his cold skin to locate his pulse and heartbeat, trying not to flinch at the blood and the extreme coldness of his skin.
"Sirius...Sirius wake up!" James appeared out of nowhere again and clawed at Sirius' unresponsive body, shaking him desperately.
"He's not breathing...there's no heartbeat."