5Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, JKR does.
What's in a Name?
"No!" Lily shouted at her husband once again. "Absolutely not! I can't believe you would even suggest that I give my child a name like that – that – monstrosity!"
"Oh come on, Lils," James implored. "It's not that bad. Besides, Sirius and I completely forgot about wizard's oaths when we came up with it. And I certainly never actually thought I would have a kid!"
"My word still stands! We are not naming our daughter after Sirius!"
"It's not really Sirius…"
"Padfoot, then. My answer is no, James; not under any circumstances would I torture my child by giving it a name like that."
"Like I said, it's not that bad. It could have been Goldie or Queenie or something."
"Tell me, how, exactly, is Grim a better name than Goldie or Queenie? At least they are girls' name!"
The Marauder scoffed. "As if I would name my child something so common like that; the child of James Potter deserves something unique."
Lily sighed tiredly. "Why did you have to make that oath, James?"
"Like I said, we forgot about oaths for a moment. And we were just joking around; we didn't think that our magic would actually take us seriously. Ha, Siriusly, you get it?"
His wife rolled her eyes at his immaturity. "You still shouldn't have done it, joking or not. You realize what I'm going to have to do now, don't you?"
"Really? You'll name her Grim?"
"I'm going to have to, won't I? After all it is an oath."
"Yes! I can't wait to tell Padfoot that you agreed. Oh, you're absolutely wonderful Lily. I knew I loved you for a reason."
She couldn't help but smile at his words, though it was a little grudgingly. After all, she just knew that her daughter was going to be teased for having a name like Grim. "Now we just need a middle name. Have any ideas?"
"Er, well…"
"Tell me you didn't."
Uh, yea, while Sirius and I were doing the oath, I might have said…" his voice trickled down to mumbles.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" She asked him, pretending to be sweet. He was lucky that she had put a silencing charm on their newborn daughter's crib, or else he'd have hell to pay if she woke up.
"Well, I might not have just said I would name my first child Grim Potter."
"And what, pray tell, did you say the name would be, then?"
He mumbled again, but a quick glare from Lily made him speak up. "I said Grim James Potter."
She smiled again, the pretend sweetness still clinging to her expression, but he could tell by the way her eyes were flashing that she was upset. "So, let me get this straight; you not only agreed to name your first child after Padfoot, you also said you would name your first child after you? Without even knowing if it was a boy or girl or not."
"In my defence, the Potters have birthed sons first for the past twelve generations. How was I supposed to know I would have a daughter first!"
"JAMES POTTER, YOU ARE HOPELESS!"
Years later, seven years after the death of her parents and eight after her birth and naming, Grim James Potter sat underneath the stairs in the tiny cupboard that her aunt and uncle allowed her to call her room. Her nose was still bleeding slightly, as was her lip, from when her cousin, Dudley, had punched her in the nose. This kind of thing happened all of the time in the house of four Privet Drive, and even more so was the reason behind it. Dudley had been making fun of her name again, and she had stood up to him. Perhaps it was her use of big words that confused her dull cousin that caused him to punch her, but it didn't necessarily matter.
It is an odd name, she admitted to herself while inside the dark, enclosed space. But, still, it's my name. For whatever reasons, this is what my parents called me.
And as her aunt, uncle, and cousin detested her parents – going so far as to pretend they never existed, and that Grim was just an unwanted pest that lived within their home – it was the only thing she had from her mother and father, and that made her proud of it, no matter how odd or different it was.