PROLOGUE
↳ beginnings

ELARA CAME INTO REMUS AND SIRIUS' LIFE UNEXPECTANTLY. Fresh from Hogwarts, they hadn't anticipated adopting a little girl as soon as they had. After all, they were 19, struggling through the war as members of the Order of the Phoenix, they didn't have time for children. So, to them, a child seemed out of the question. However, with war, came tragedy. Despite all of this, Elara was a happy and content baby. Looking at her, you wouldn't imagine the ordeal she had gone through since a young age. Seeing her, she just looked like a sweet little girl who liked to smile and laugh too often.

However, Elara Roya, daughter of Xavier and Esmerelda Roya, lost her entire family in a savage werewolf attack. James and Lily hadn't expected to arrive at Roya Hall to find everyone dead, minus the small wailing baby lying underneath the overturned cradle in the master bedroom. Yet, by some miracle, whether it be luck or parental intuition, Elara survived, the only Roya to do so.

When deciding what would happen to her, it came to no surprise that Sirius wanted to keep her. He loved Esmeralda like she was his sister, he couldn't abandon her daughter just as he lost her. Remus had been more hesitant, knowing a creature like him was responsible for Elara's loss. But, one look at Elara was all Remus needed to know he had to take her in.

Elara was at that stage now where she was too wobbly on her feet but still was faster than most of the Marauders. James hated it a lot, she always scrambled away taunting him, laughing even louder whenever he fell over. For some odd reason, Elara found extraordinary pleasure in watching him hurt himself, howling so loud until she complained her tummy hurt. That was probably a side effect of Sirius' sick sense of humour, it wouldn't surprise anyone if he had taught her to make fun of James whenever she could.

"Stupid." Elara waved her finger at him, her brows furrowed like she was judging him. Even though she wasn't related to Remus, she looked quite a lot like him whenever he critiqued James. He really needed to remind Remus to not criticise him too much in front of the babies, especially Harry. The last thing he needed was his own son calling him stupid. Elara gave a toothy grin, flailing her hands out elaborately. "Stupid!"

James shook his head, huffing in mock annoyance to entertain the toddler. He picked her up from under her armpits, holding her at arm length. "You think you're funny, don't you?" He squinted at her and Elara responded by reaching forward and throwing his glasses.

They landed on the ground with a loud smack. "Uh oh." She whispered, eyes widening at James with that silly little grin that gave him baby fever all over again. Godric, he really loved this little girl, no wonder he got Lily pregnant not so soon after they began helping Remus and Sirius adjust to having a little kid around. This kid was fucking adorable.

The front door slammed closed. "Is she bullying you again, Prongs?" Sirius asked and Elara's head immediately jolted his way.

She perked up almost immediately, unsurprisingly, and began squirming in James' grasp before he finally put her down. "Da!" She babbled, hobbling over as quick as she could. Sirius scooped her up, just as she was about to fall over, pressing kisses on her face while she giggled. "Prong stupid!"

"I am not."

"Are."

"James, you're not arguing with Lara again, are you?" Lily walked in, yawning heavily. She had only now managed to put Harry off to sleep. James had offered, obviously, but Harry seemed to cry even more whenever he was away from Lily and when Harry cried, Elara did too. He was now entering his fussy stage where he really wanted to stay awake but still couldn't. "I left you alone with her for fifteen minutes and she's already bruised your ego?"

James rolled his eyes. "Ha, ha, very funny," he huffed, but Sirius could easily see the smile on his face.

He pressed more kisses to Elara's cheeks, hoisting her on his hip. "You wanna go see Pa today?" Immediately she brightened up. While Eara was young, she understood very quickly that during a specific time every month, Remus would vanish and she would have to stay with Uncle Prongs Auntie Lily. As Godfather, James, of course, happily enjoyed spending time with her, entertaining her even though she insisted on insulting every little thing about him. "We're gonna go and eat lots of sweeties until you feel all queasy or until Pa says for me to stop over feeding you!" He tickled the underneath of her chin, smiling even wider at her shrills of laughter.

"How is Remus?" Lily asked. "You said this month's was–"

"Nothing Poppy couldn't help with." Sirius gave a tight lipped smile. James could tell he was lying, when Madam Pomfrey had to get involved then it was bad. Elara let out a loud sneeze, nose scrunching up.  "Bless you, Poppet, you ought to go give your Pa all the cuddles he needs back at home. Now, go give Auntie Lily and Uncle Prongs some goodbye kisses, yeah?" Elara nodded excitedly and Sirius heaved her down.

She toddled towards Lily, who squatted on the ground. With a big 'mwah', the one and a half year old planted a kiss on Lily's cheek. Lily pressed more kisses over her face, hoisting her up onto her hip.

"'Arry, 'Arry." Elara clapped her hands together, frowning.

Lily shook her head. "He's sleeping, sweetheart," she pressed another big kiss on Elara's cheek. "Don't worry, you can come over again soon and see him." She turned towards James with a coy grin, whispering into Elara's ear loud enough for the entire room to hear. "You really wanna kiss that smelly toerag?"

"Lily!"

"No!" Elara let out a shrill of laughter.

"Elara!"

Elara let out a big laugh. "Love you!" She stretched her arms out, making grabby hands until James finally picked her up. He faked disdain, holding her out away from him. Yet, he knew everyone could see the very big smile on his face. It was rather difficult to fake annoyance at the little girl whose first word was your childhood nickname. "See soon!"

James nodded, pressing a wet kiss to her cheeks. "Only if you start being nice to me," he laughed, pressing another kiss to her forehead. "Go get your teddy, I need to talk to your dad." He placed her down and she toddled away, towards the sofa. He made sure she was out of earshot when he began. "Have you spoken to Moony?"

Sirius awkwardly shifted leg to leg. "No," Sirius pressed his lips together in a flat line. "I trust him... just he's going through so much right now, I don't want there to be–"

"Leverage?" James guessed. He was right. If Remus knew, there was another liability. They needed this to work for Harry, there wasn't no chances for a do-over. They either succeed, or risk his son dying. "No, I get it. He's involved in too much right now, especially with Greyback right now."

"I just feel awful, lying..." Sirius pressed his lips together. "But, this is the best thing we can do for now. Just to buy some time to find another way."

"Sirius, we really do appreciate this," Lily said, pulling him into a hug. "There's a reason we made you Harry's godfather. This is the best thing for him.""I know and you both know I trusted you enough to make you both the godparents of El." Sirius shakily breathed out. James hated all of this. He hated putting his best mate in a position where he would have to lie to the man he was so deeply in love with. But, he also knew he had a family to think about. So did Sirius. This way, both families would make it out fine. He trusted Peter enough to know so.  What sort of man would James be if he had his son growing up in a world that only knew hatred? If there was a way to stop it, he would do it. Sirius walked towards him and held him close. "Listen, if anything goes wrong, you get me immediately." James laughed, grip tightening. He never wanted to let go. "I'm in the safest hands I've ever known."

(Edited: 30.09.25)

I haven't touched this since I was like fourteen I actually do not know what has overcome me. But, I was bored and just started reading and had this burst of energy and now here we are. I've made quite a few (a lot of ) changes to this entire book. I remember being proud of myself for all of this book so I think I should honour that and try and give it another chance.