PLEASE READ FIRST!

AN: Alright guys, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has read, followed, or added my story to your favorites. This is the first time I've published anything that I've wrote and I'm really happy that you all like it! NOW! I'd like to explain a few things before y'all get to the new chapter:

1) Updates WILL be sporadic. I have a very specific editing process and I am not changing it to get chapters out faster. I will NOT let my quality suffer

2) This is my DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, but J.K. Rowling does. I also do not own any other references that will occasionally pop up every now and again, they belong to their respective creators.

3) I'm only one person I am not going to catch all the mistakes that I make, if you see any, please let me know and I will fix it when I can.

4) Author Notes will be few and far between, they will only be popping up when I feel the need to explain something that has happened in the story, so usually at the end of the chapter.

5) If you have a Legitimate question about the story Message me or leave a Review, I'll answer to the best of my abilities

Now with that! I'm KoKo saying, "Enjoy the chapter my dears!"

Chapter 1

The First and the Last

As the soft morning sun breaks through the cloudy skies, two young parents awake, excited for the new day. It had been exactly one year to the day that Mother Magic had blessed them with their beautiful little Rose. One wonderful love filled year with their strange little patchwork family, even with the on going Civil War, it just made them appreciate the moments that they were able to spend with their loved ones, and today they were going to celebrate their precious flower's first birthday. After extensive planning, done by James and Lily (with Sirius throwing in a thought or two and Remus chuckling at the more creative ideas) they decided to just invite Alice, Frank, little Neville ("I don't know love… He might try to get fresh with my little Rose-bud!" "YEAH! I saw how the little bugger was eyeing her the last time he was here for a visit! He even pulled at her skirt!" "Oh hush you two! He's only a year old!), Sirius, Remus, Peter ("Don't know if I can make it Prongs, mum has been pretty sick lately… I'll send a gift if I can't though!"), Minerva, Albus, Hagrid, and Poppy. It wasn't much of a gathering for a child, but they were the only ones that already knew the location of their house and they couldn't risk letting anymore people know where they were hiding, it could tip off the wrong person, even with the Fidelius charm in effect. So they checked on their little love and while Lily kept her occupied, James set about decorating the family room of their house for the small gathering.

Just as he was hanging the last of the streamers a soft tapping sound from the window caught his attention. A quick glance out confirmed his suspicions and he flicked his wand toward the single pane to allow it entrance. "Guess Wormy couldn't make it after all… Lets see what we got then.", he mumbles to himself as he unties the shrunken package from the owl's leg, set it aside, and then let the owl feed and water before letting it out. Just as he was about to open the letter that came with the gift, his wife called to him from upstairs, "James, could you come up here? I need you to take Rosie for a bit", setting the letter down on the table he quickly made his way upstairs, but if he had glanced back, he would have seen something surprising, something very strange… Other-worldly. For the letter that had come with Peter's package began to glow a vivid silver before the message itself faded from existence, as if it had never been written.

"Little rat", mockingly crooned the crazed voice of Bellatrix LeStrange, "Did you complete your task little rat?", she purrs. "Yes… ", whispers the coward, "the letter has been sent… All that is left is for it to be opened!", he squeaked when a curse wizzes by him, barely missing his head. With a vicious cackle her eyes snapped open, the psychotic glint in her poisonous gaze causing the man to quiver in fright. "Good job little traitor", she coos, "My Lord will be so pleased with me! So very pleased! The Potter's have been a thorn in his side for too long, I'm sure that my… taking care of them will please him greatly!", Bellatrix squeals happily. After a tense pause, Peter manages to choke out, "B-Bella...!", he ducked a particularly nasty hex, "D-Does our Lord know that you had me send that letter to them?", he rushed out before she could fire another curse at him (this one shinning a suspiciously familiar green color before it faded). An especially vicious snarl escaped her throat, "Of course not vermin!", she growls, "The source that I acquired this information from is not entirely… reliable. My Lord need not trouble himself with something that I can handle myself!", she giggles childishly, seeing his chance, the rat beat a hasty retreat as the crazed female falls into a fit of maniacal laughter.

And so the rat like tratior slinks his way into Godric's Hollows to see if his part of the plan had come into fruitarian. (he did not feel like having to "play" with Bella again, thank you very much!) As he approached the house he had to stifle a sound of surprise when he noticed that nothing had changed! "No!" he yelp quietly, "It can't be! The Charm is still up! It shouldn't be up!", he whispered urgently to himself, "Think Peter… Think! How do I fix this?!", and then it hit him, why hadn't he thought of this before! He picks up a good sized rock from the ground and clumsily transfigured it into a polished stone rose. Dashing towards the door, his eyes glinting in determination, he realized that he'd just have to get himself an advantage, before Bella found out about his failure! He needed to make sure that he had information that would make him indispensable. Without stopping he squeaked out the emergency password and barreled through the door. "James! L-Lily!", he squealed out before he tripped over the raised step, just managing to save rose, "Where is Sirius?!", he wheezed out as he caught a glimpse of them rushing into the entrance way, "He's upstairs putting Rosie to bed", Lily replies as James helps him to his feet and into the family room to sit. "He needs… to be… careful!", Peter pants out, "They… They know about the charm on the house!", he rushes out before James can ask, trying to press the urgency, "They're looking for him! Y-You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters! I overheard Crabbe and Goyle grunting about it when I was leaving the Alley…", then he slumps against his seat and tries to catch his breath. (no need to tell them which Alley he thought to himself)

Earlier That Day

Lily had just set Rose down for a nap and had started to make a small cake for her when Sirius and Remus arrived, chuckling to herself as she heard James squeal (It was a MANLY YELL! "Keep telling yourself that Prongs, I'm sure Moony agrees with you!"). Turning her head towards the doorway, she calls out in a soft voice, "If you wake Rose from her nap you three will have to deal with her. You remember what happened last time!" ("Come on Rose-bud, you can put good ol' Paddy down now love!" "I don't know Siri, I think I'd be more worried about when your hair is going to turn back to normal…" "What are you saying Moony? I personally think grey is a lovely color on him, makes him look… pffft old!" "Stop laughing James! Oh, Rosie not you too!"), once the volume in the family room returns to a more tolerable level, Lily pours the finished cake batter in two pans and places them into the oven. A flick of her wand has her walking out of the kitchen as the used bowls and utensils wash, dry, and put themselves away.

When she enters the family room she has to press her lips together to keep from laughing at her husband, it seemed that Sirius finally got James back for that "old" crack from the Nap Incident, "Change it back Pads!", growls James, "I don't know Prongs, I think it makes your look… OLD.", smirks Sirius, while Remus just sighs and sits off to the side. "Sirius, just change it back already! Before he throws a tantrum.", Lily manages to teasingly chide between bursts of giggles. After receiving a betrayed glare from her husband and a barking laugh from Sirius, James finally had his regular hair color back, "Oh do cheer up Prongs… At least you know you'll be able to pull off the more sophisticated look", Remus grins and greets Lily with a warm smile before turning back to his two best friends.

As the morning wore on and the rest of their guests began to appear, Lily disappeared upstairs to wake Rose. Opening the door to the nursery she was greeted by the sight of her Little Flower gnawing on the ear of her favorite teddy bear, "Oh! How long have you been up Rosie?", the answering cry of "Mumma!" had Lily beaming at her baby. Picking up her little love and heading to the closet she pulled out two dresses, one a pretty pastel green with a butterfly pattern along the bottom and the other a soft silver with the gentle outline of roses in various stages of bloom scattered about the skirt. Humming to herself Lily turns to Rose and says, "Well love? Which one do you want to wear today?", squealing loudly, Rose makes a grab for the silver dress, green eyes wide with awe. Nodding in agreement, she places the pastel green dress back into the closet, the young mother then sets about dressing her daughter for her very first birthday party. Huffing softly to her self once she finally manages to place the tiny hair clips in her baby's thick hair to keep it from getting in her eyes, Lily sighs in exasperation, shaking her head, "Oh darling, sometimes I wish that my coloring wasn't the only part of my hair that you inherited…", Rose looks up at her mother and answers with a giggle, patting at the skirt of her dress, "pweet!", she squeals as she quickly glances back down to continue admiring the pattern. Chuckling softly Lily pick up Rose, sets her on her hip, and makes her way back downstairs.

Laughter greeted them as soon as she opened the door and the cry of the only other child at the party seemed to echo through the hall. "Well, I think everyone is here darling! Why don't we go say "hi"! Hmm, love?", walking down the steps and turning into the family room, Lily could see that all of the guests had arrived. The sudden cry of "Daa!" that rang through the room had James perking up and excitedly bounding towards his wife and daughter, "Well look who's up!", chuckles the young father, "Don't you look like a princess today my Angels!", James exclaims as he snatches his waiting daughter into his eager arms and hurries back to his little huddle on the couch, "we'll just have to keep Neville away from her Pads", he whispers softly when he made it back to his brother-in-all-but-blood, "Right", Sirius growls softly as he sent a discreet glare to the unsuspecting boy who was currently sat in his mother's lap, occasionally releasing a soft sniffle every now and again.

Soon it was time for presents and cake, Lily brought out the two cakes, one a small personal cake that was set in front of Rose and the second larger on places on the table next to the small pile of colorfully wrapped gifts. James had already set up the camera and had begun to snap pictures of Rose as she smashed the frosting covered dessert everywhere, the occasional piece miraculously making it into her mouth. "It's a good thing I had that dress baby proofed, huh Lily?" giggled Alice to her best friend, who only spared her a brief nod before all her attention was once again focused on daughter as she enjoyed her cake, a lot of which had seemed to have made it's way into Sirius's hair, "So, am I to assume that you will be bathing and putting young Rose to bed then Mr. Black?" Albus chuckled gently as he removed a chunk of frosting from his beard, his only answer being a sheepish grin

After all the guests had left and every present opened, most of which happening to be clothes with the exceptions of Sirius who had given her a shaggy black dog plush and Minerva who had given her a glowing rose suspended in a glass case ("Oh! It's beautiful, thank you Professor!" "Thank nothing of it dear, I figured that it would make a good nightlight. She's getting to that age were the dark starts to seem scary"). Sirius had gone upstairs to clean up Rose as well as himself, then set her to sleep when they heard the front door slam open, followed by Peter yelling for them and a loud thump soon following.

"James. Lily. I think you should switch Secret Keepers. Peter can do it! Listen to me James! No one would suspect a thing! They'll be chasing after me, while he hides! The Perfect Prank Jamie"

"You have done well Pettigrew. I'll see to it that thisss information is used sssoon. Very sssoon…"

"Please! Not my baby! Not my Rosie! Take me! Kill me! Just spare my Rose!"

"To Rose Potter! The-Girl-Who-Lived!"