The Beginning
James and Lily's House circa November 1981
“Lily it’s not him, I don’t know where your head is at but it certainly isn't here,” James insisted from the kitchen table where he looked up at his wife.
The others were sitting silently in the family room, tensions rising with every tick of the old clock. After about the fifth insult that Remus and Sirius threw at each other, James decided to take Lily into their kitchen to talk about… well, James didn’t really know what but he just didn’t want to sit in that room watching his best friends’ marriage fall to pieces over something that he was sure wasn’t true.
See, the issue was they knew there was a traitor amongst them, yet every option was just as unfathomable as the last. So, as the war stretched on with no end in sight, bringing out the worst in people, arguments and blaming arose as they tried to find any logical option.
In the arguments that happened with every new bit of bad news from the war, Sirius and Remus blamed each other. Remus would reason that Sirius was a pureblood who could easily go back to the ideals he was raised with, if just for the sake of an easier life, and Sirius would shoot back that Remus’ true allegiances were an entity known only to himself as a werewolf and a spy. They went in circles, stabbing the same old painful knives into each other’s backs with each repetition.
Meanwhile, the Potters were unable to step in, as they had for many of their arguments in the past, they engaged in the same one with the same constant frequency. James could never imagine his brother, the godfather to his son, as a traitor while Lily could never imagine her best friend as one. It had gotten to the point where Lily denied letting Sirius stay the night after a particularly bad fight between Sirius and Remus, something that would have seemed preposterous a mere few months ago.
After a couple more days of this particular circle of arguments breaking the trust among the four of them, James had enough of everyone fighting and invited everyone over. So here they sat, Sirius and Remus glaring at each other across the living room and Lily about to tell James to go sleep on the couch.
“James, I love you, but you always see the best in people. You won’t even let the thought cross your mind!” Lily tried to argue.
“Cause I know it’s not him!” James shot back.
“How can you be certain?” Lily insisted, trying to move towards James but failing as he immediately got up from his chair and walked across the kitchen.
“Cause he’s my brother, Lil! He’s my family! And ever since Mom and Dad died, he’s all I have!”
“Oh, so are me and Harry not your family?”
This is another thing that occurred often which both James and Lily were guilty of: they brought Harry into it. Sometimes it was to end it or other times it was to start the fight, but they both did it nonetheless.
“Oh, don’t you even bring Harry into this,” James countered, “I am his father, you are his mother, of course, we love him and I love you! Just like I love Sirius, which is why I know that he is not the-”
All of a sudden, James’ argument was interrupted by a slamming of the front door and Sirius screaming, “James, come in here right now!”
Quickly, both James and Lily ran to the front door, where they saw the back of Sirius, who was being protectively held behind Remus' back. In front of the two stood none other than Regulus Black, covered in blood. At the sight James’ mouth fell open and he couldn’t help but notice Regulus wasn’t visibly wounded or even bleeding anywhere, which meant the blood wasn’t his.
“Reggie,” Sirius started, pausing in the shock of the scene, “Reggie, what did you do?”
Regulus looked up at him and smiled.
“Well, big brother of mine, why don’t you see for yourself.”
He gestured outside of the house and the four slowly walked to see what was out there, wands drawn protectively in the uncertainty of it all. Remus kept a hand on Sirius’ back while Lily stepped in front of James, defensive spells running through her head at a rapid pace. Though, once they got outside to the lawn, they saw a sight none of them could ever imagine, let alone prepare for.
On the grass of the Potter’s front lawn, Voldemort's dead body lay there limp.
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“Okay, tell us again, ” Remus asked, “How did you do it?”
The four were sitting on the couch while Regulus sat in front of them on the coffee table. Sirius sat closest to the table, Remus squeezing his hand as if he was going to leave, where next to him James had his arm around Lily’s shoulder and every couple of seconds reached over her to move to comfortingly rub Sirius’.
“Are the details really important?” Regulus asked, slightly manic in the eyes, “Your good old friend Peter betrayed you to Voldemort and he’s on his way to Azkaban as we speak, I better not be heading there and getting an Order of Merlin with a set of bodyguards cause I killed Voldemort. Honestly, I better be the godfather to your daughter, Siri, nothing can top that!”
Regulus then got up from the coffee table and walked over to look at some old pictures, face turning more serious as he contemplated each joyful scene with the rat among them.
“You know, if you guys weren't so wrapped up in yourselves, you might've seen it.”
Remus opened his mouth to say something, but just then Harry began to cry, startling everyone in the room.
“I got him,” Sirius said, standing up from the couch and letting go of Remus’ hand for the first time since Regulus got here.
“You sure Pads?” James questioned “I can get him. It’s been a lot tonight.”
“No Prongs, I need some time with my godson,” Sirius replied, already walking upstairs to comfort a crying Harry with a complicated expression on his face, too many emotions merely making him seem lost in them.
“Well,” Lily said, trying to break the tension, “I’ll get the guest room ready for you, Baby Black,” and with that, the family started the next chapter of their lives.
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In the February of that year, Remus and Sirius decided to have a baby with Marlene as the surrogate. With the war and Marlene going into hiding, the pregnancy was mainly forgotten about by all, with little hope for a normal birth on the horizon. Yet, after the war ended with Voldemort’s death, Marlene peacefully gave birth to a baby girl named Euphemia Lily Black-Lupin, or Effie for short.
Regulus was named the godfather, Lily the godmother, and the tiny family began their life of happiness with the rest of their family. The two couples had bought a house together, unable to even consider separating again, where they lived in as much peace as one can manage in a house with the Marauders and their children. Due to this and despite Effie being a year younger than Harry, the two kids were best friends growing up, something that brought their parents great joy.
Despite not needing to work due to the families’ fortunes, the four of them all got jobs, if just for the sake of something to do. Lily went on to become a reporter for the Daily Prophet, seeking to make sure the truth never got distorted again as it did in the war, while James followed in his father’s footsteps and became a Potion Maker, resulting in many a headache as the explosions and inventions came hand in hand. Sirius became an Auror as he had always wished to be and Remus worked in the ministry, though no one really knew what he did due to its complexity and being largely confidential, but all Sirius knew was that it had to do with other werewolves, and he must have been quite good at it.
Regulus decided that with his fortune, considering he would inherit most of it while Sirius only received some, he did not need a job, instead using his time to become an advocate for muggleborn rights and help them re-adjust after the war, hoping to make up for the mistakes he had made in the past. A private part of his work included helping change the ideologies of other purebloods who were raised like him, including his friends Barty and Evan, who now owned a bakery in Hogsmeade.
As the kids grew up, Regulus was a huge part of their lives, partially because he didn't have much of a family of his own besides his brother and cousins after switching sides in the war. He was immensely proud of them and had pictures of Effie, Harry, and even Draco, who Narcissa had named him godfather to before their relationship had grown more strained after the war, all over his house, and would boast about them to anyone who would listen.
With Regulus being such a big part of the kids’ lives, Evan and Barty were too, with their bakery becoming an almost weekly visit for the kids as time went on. While James didn’t really trust the two around Harry, still hesitant on trusting any former Death Eaters, Evan and Barty became known as Uncle Evan and Uncle Barty to Effie as nearly any time with her godfather also became time with them. Around the café, there were pictures of Effie learning to bake with the two and on vacations, every time someone would ask about them, neither of them would shut up about her. They loved her and, as their honorary niece, she was their whole world.
Similarly, the two kids were the whole world to their parents. Sirius, Remus, and Effie were unmistakably close and, by the time she had to go to Hogwarts with Harry. Both of their birthdays fell just right for them to go together, taking into account the disfunction the ending of the war had caused to Hogwarts’ admissions and a few personal letters to Dumbledore from their parents
At the train station, Sirius cried a lot, sobbed even, over how far she had grown up and her leaving them, while Remus shed a few tears but told her to have fun and not to be nervous, his nerves coming out through a vise of a hug. Meanwhile, James would not let go of Harry, practically surrounding his son with his hug while he rambled reassurances more meant for him than Harry, and had to have Lily hold him back from running onto the train with him.
They all reassured the kids no matter what house they were sorted to they were still loved, yet it proved to be a nonissue as both kids were sorted into Gryffindor. They even joined the quidditch team during their third year, Effie as a seeker and Harry a keeper, mimicking the positions they’d played growing up.
During their school years, the two kids had been lucky in finding lifelong friends. Harry gravitated towards becoming friends with Ron and Hermione, a seemingly mismatched group brought together by chance but undeniably loyal to a fault, while Effie became friends with Dean, Seamus, and Neville, a rambunctious group that knew detention more than their dorm in their efforts to give the teachers flashbacks to her fathers’ days at the school with their pranks and undeniable care for each other.
Yet, now in fifth year, something was different. Effie had started to care more and it was because of a certain Slytherin girl who happened to be best friends with Draco Malfoy. Her name was Caitlyn Connor and not to be dramatic but Effie was certain she was the love of her life, which was quite detrimental given she had to play in a quidditch match against her in twenty minutes and had potions with her after that. After the hundredth time hearing it in as many days, Dean was so tired of it that he bet Effie if Gryffindor won the match, she had to ask Caitlyn out in potions with a note, but if they lost, she had to do it right on the field.
So now Effie stood in her quidditch uniform, wondering how much this match meant and if she would have a girlfriend by the end of the week or not.