Brighter Than the Sun

Chapter Fifty-Four

I was standing in what looked like a nursery. The walls were a light blue, like the sky on a summer morning. The furniture, which consisted of a cradle, a rocking chair, and a wide dresser, were all dark ebony. By the window across from the cradle stood a woman with curly blonde hair. She was holding a baby.

She swayed from side to side, softly singing "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles. I noticed that she had a warm, gentle voice that I could easily fall asleep to.

A loud crack interrupted her song. The woman stopped singing and peeked out the window.

"Ah," she said to the baby. "Here they come now. Though I still don't think it was very wise..."

I immediately liked her accent as well, definitely Belfast, which I could tell from the way she said "now." I moved to the window to see what she was looking at.

A man with dark messy hair and glasses and a woman with long, bright red hair had appeared in the street and were heading for the house. As I looked closer, I noticed that the woman was carrying a baby.

The blonde woman left the nursery. I followed her down a set of stairs and through a living room to the front door, where she admitted the couple and their baby.

"Lily!" she said. "James! I'm so glad you could come! But... are you sure it's safe? I mean, with You-Know-Who—"

"We're fine, Aileen," Lily said cheerfully.

Aileen. I looked at the blonde woman's face for the first time.

I could see why Sirius had mistaken me for my mother the first time we'd met last year, the time I'd threatened him with a knife. We had the same thick, curly blonde hair, the same dainty nose, the same cheekbones, the same... everything. Actually, no, not everything. While my eyes were blue, hers were a pleasant, warm green; not bright emerald like Harry's or cool sea green like Percy Jackson's; but leaf green. I also noticed when she smiled that she had a bit of a gap between her two front teeth like mine, a feature that Grandma'am found not necessarily unattractive, but not very ladylike, either.

"Harry's very happy to see his little friend, aren't you, Harry?" Lily said, fondly burying her nose in Harry's neck and triggering an adorable giggle from baby Harry. I grinned, wishing I had a camera to take some embarrassing baby pictures for Harry.

"How's the little tree?" James cooed, grinning over baby-me. Baby-me stuck my tongue out at him and blew bubbles. Lily smacked her husband on the arm. "What?"

"Don't call your goddaughter a tree!"

"But her name literally means 'small tree.' Aileen told us, remember?"

" 'Small ash tree, ' " My mother corrected. "Get it right, James."

"My apologies."

"Where's Sirius?" Lily asked, frowning. "I didn't see his motorcycle in the driveway."

"He went to get another present for Aisling's birthday," my mother replied with a slightly exasperated roll of the eyes. "I told him that the toy broomstick and the life-sized, stuffed baby hippogriff were enough, but he wants it all to be perfect."

"Who would've guessed Padfoot would be such a devoted daddykins?" James mused. Then he grinned. "Ha — a devoted Dadfoot! Geddit, Lily? He's a —" He dissolved into laughter.

Lily gave my mom a desperate look.

When James had finished laughing, he took Harry from Lily and held him high in the air. "Not as devoted as me, though, huh, Harry?"

Harry looked delighted to be up so high, but Lily nervously made James lower him down.

"You'll drop him," she scolded.