“Lil, I kind of need to tell you something, that I er… forgot to mention.” James said whilst hanging up birthday decorations.

“Mmhmm?” I asked, a bit distracted.

“I switched Peter to our Secret Keeper.”

I dropped the pin I was holding and turned to him, mouth agape. “What?”

“Well… Sirius and I have both come to the conclusion that it’d be best to bluff all of this out. Bellatrix knows that Sirius is my ultimate best friend, and Sirius is already in danger as it is. No one will suspect Peter. We can be here, safe, until all of this blows over.”

“But we don’t exactly know what we’re waiting to blow over!” I cried, throwing a roll of tape at him. “How long had Peter been our Secret Keeper?”

“About a week,” he responded guilty. “But look! It proves he can keep a secret… right?”

I raised my eyebrows at him. “Mmhmm. Listen, I trust your judgment, I really do. Peter stayed with Marie during… during all of that. He also watched Harry when we couldn’t get anyone else to. It’s fine, I promise, just a bit of a shock. Let’s finish this before Alice and Frank get here.”

He nodded and kissed me on the cheek. “Thanks.”

****

“Happy birthday to you… Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Harry; Happy birthday to you!”

“Blow out the candles!” James laughed at Harry’s awe-struck face. “Lil, help him.”

I wrapped Harry’s little fingers in my hand and counted to three. “Blow!”

I blew out the candles and Harry just looked at me like I was something he’d never seen before. However, this attitude changed greatly as he began to open presents.

Soon, we had Neville and Harry playing together, so we could go and sit down.

“They’ve gotten so big,” sighed Remus, digging into his slice of green-frosted cake. “Must make you proud.”

“It does,” said Sirius, before James and I could answer. He put on an extremely exaggerated sad face and moped a little. “Brings a tear to my eyes every time I look at my little Godson!”

James shoved Sirius, laughing. “You’ll just never grow up, will you?”

“Why should I? How boring! I’d rather be stuck in Azkaban any day then be all adult, like all of you.”

“Oh, because I'm so adult.” Peter rolled his eyes. “Speaking of Azkaban, though, did you hear about the Secretary to the Ministry… Tracey… er, Modisette, I believe… anyway, did you hear about her trying to break into a Muggle’s house at three in the morning?”

“Oh, yeah, I did!” said Remus, his eyes growing wide. “How’d you know about that? I thought it was confidential!”

“Oh… er… Dumbledore… yes, Dumbledore… he brought it up to me. Since I work in the Ministry and all. I think he just wanted to know if I knew anything?”

I shot him a curious glance then stood up. “Wow, have to all seen the time? It’s getting late. I don’t want Harry grumpy tomorrow morning- we’ve got a doctor’s appointment and the shots should put him in a bad enough mood without any extra sleep.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Frank nodded. “Neville’s got a play date with a Muggle down the street…”

“You let him play with the Muggles?”

“Yes, but to an extent.”

“Is that really safe, and all? We try to keep Harry as much out of the public eye as possible. Dumbledore said it’s the best way to keep him safe… I don’t want Harry to get hurt on account of one of our missions.”

“I know what you mean,” sighed Alice. “Well, thanks for the cake. I hope Harry has a good birthday! We’ll see you soon, I suppose?”

I hugged her and let them out of the house. Sirius stopped to ruffle Harry’s hair and Remus patted us on the back.

“Stay safe, you guys. We’ll see you in a couple of days.”

Peter was the last to leave. He shook both of our hands, wished us a good night, and closed the door behind him.

****

“He makes me happy, you know,” James said, wrapping my hand into his. We were laying in bed, cuddling, and reminiscing on the first year we’d shared with Harry.

“I know,” I smiled, squeezing a little closer to him. “Think about it… all of the things we’ve been through. He’s so beautiful. I just hope that he grows up with as good as a personality as he has now.”

“And looks. Because everyone says that he looks just like me.”

“Wow, conceited much, babe?”

“Nope, just confident,” he laughed, leaning over to kiss me. “I love you, Lil.”

“I love you too, James. Good night.”

“’Night.