James to her rescue by saying loudly, "I don't know about everyone else, but I'm famished!"
"Should we be surprised?" Miguel asked dryly, rising from his seat in a heavy leather chair.
James, whose real calling was the stage, managed to feign an incredibly realistic look of hurt. "I, a heroic defender of this great country, sent away from my loved ones on a holiday, who was tortured, abused, and STARVED, most certainly deserves to be fed as often as I request it. I sacrifice my personal comfort so that ungrateful ingrates such as yourself can sleep safely at nights."
The room looked around at each other in silence, Sirius, Remus, and Lily exchanging looks in hopes of deciphering if he was joking or not.
"Wow, I didn't know I was that good. Screw being an Auror, it's the theater from me here on out." James said smugly.
There was still a silence.
"Er, did you people miss that I was just joking?"
Silence.
"I LIKE MY JOB!!!"
"What did they do to him while he was gone?" Sirius muttered to Lily, who shrugged.
After a second, "James, do you want me to get a hold of Julia for you? I'm sure she'd be more than willing to see you." Lily suggested, raising her eyebrows questioningly.
"I don't need to see the physchiatrist again, I'm just fine, thank you very much."
"Rrriiigghht." Lily agreed slowly, then turning her back on James. "So, if everybody is ready, how about we go to breakfast?" She grasped James's arm to keep him from stampeding into the dining room. Once everybody had cleared out, Lily turned him to face her. "When do you want to talk about it?"
"It can wait."
"Obviously not. Do you want to skip breakfast?"
"No, after breakfast, there isn't any need to bother everyone else." At Lily agreement, they joined everybody else in the dining room, James seating Lily next to him, and kissing her fondly as he pushed her chair in before sitting down himself.
Lily felt what she supposed was the strain of the past week finally catch up with her, now that she could finally relax, and it suddenly seemed like a superhuman task just to stay upright for breakfast. James, seeing her exhaustion, tried to be extra cheery. "Have you tried this jam, it's very good." He unceremoniously started spreading it on her toast.
"I made it, therefor I know how it tastes."
"This is really very good, my compliments."
"Thank you." Lily said, leaning far back in her chair in an attempt to steady her swimming vision, the sparkle of her wedding ring making her feel slightly nauseaus.
"Lily? Lily? Are you going to be alright?"
"I would be fine if would hold still."
"You are the one moving."
"I knew that."
"Of course you did." James said, putting her juice glass in her grasp while watching her hawkishly.
"Are you making fun of me?"
"Not in the slightest." He took the glass from her shaking hands, and watched while she swayed back and forth.
"I think I'm going to go lie down for awhile." Lily put her hands down on the table to lever herself out her chair.
"Do you want some help?"
Lily managed to look highly affronted. "I am quite capabale of going upstairs on my own."
"You're going upstairs?" James asked, a note of panic reaching his voice.
"No, I'm going to go sleep in the snow."
"I think a nearby couch might be a better option. Er, you're a little shakey, stairs might not be at their best right now."
"And are you going to insist on escorting me to the chosen couch?" Lily asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
"As a matter of fact, yes, I am, thank you for that marvelous idea." James rose from his chair, and easily picked Lily up.
"How embarrassing, I'm capable of walking." Lily muttered, blushing from the roots of her hair to what she was sure was her toes.
"Actually, I don't think so considering your eyes are unfocused, hinting of possibly lurking unconsciousness."
"Thank you for that astounding physcoanalysis, Doctor Potter."
"My bill is in the mail."
"Quit talking to me, I have a splitting headache." Lily relaxed and closed her eyes, willing the world to stop spinning, the noises to stop pounding, and most importantly, the smells not be so offending. She felt the gentle rocking motion of James walking up the stairs, and he balanced her weight to open their bedroom door. She heard, the sound seeming magnified, the blankets being pulled back, then she felt her backside hit the soft mattress and Heaven was met. Silence. Then an incredibly loud rustling.
"James, quit doing whatever you're doing." Lily groaned, pulling the blankets over her head.
"I'm just closing the curtains, calm down."
"I think I'm dying a very long, painful death."
"I seriously doubt you're dying." There was no denying the amusement in James's voice.
"Alright then, Smarty, I just have a very bad twenty four hour bug." Lily snapped, her eyes opening so she could see James sit next to her on the bed, looking ready to start laughing any minute.
"I would say it's more like the nine-month bug."
"There is no such thing, you idiot."
"Of course not." James acquiesced, leaning against the footboard, watching her with sparkling blue eyes.
"I don't know why you're enjoying me being miserable."
"I have to admit, this is rather entertaining."
"I'm dying, and I only want you to have fond memories of me, so I won't hit you."
"Lily?"
"James, you'll have to face the world without me, but I want you to move on and be happy, I-"
"Lily, y-"
"I mean it, James! I know it'll be hard, but you'll have to find someone else as wonderful as I am. There aren't many, but I know if anyone can find one, you can."
"Lily, you aren't dying."
"That's okay, James darling, I know the truth. There's no need to sugar coat it for me."
The bed seemed to be shaking to Lily's perception. And upon further inspection, it seemed to be caused by the imense shaking of her laughing husband.
"My guess is that we'll have a new Potter in a little over eight months."
Lily felt incredibly hurt. She hadn't really MEANT all that about him replacing her.
"I can hardly wait, what about you?"
"I'll be dead, I don't suppose it'll matter." Lily spoke dully.
"What shall we name the baby?"
"Pardon?"
"Our baby, what do you want to name it? We have to pick out names now so that we have fall-backs when we inevitably change our minds."
"What are you talking about, you goober?"
"Lily, don't tell me you don't know you're pregnant."
"Excuse me, Doctor, but how in the hell do you know that, what you seem to believe is a concrete fact?"
"I like to think that I'm rather intelligent, and I do have good eyesight with my glasses, allowing me to see that you are obviously pregnant. Beside, Remus told me to keep you away from the egg-nog Sirius insisted on putting alcohol in this
in this morning, and that, my dear, concluded my suspicions."
Lily closed her eyes again. "I suppose that explains a lot."
"Quite a bit, I'd say."
"Could you really tell, even in that little time after you got home?"
James smiled, "Yes."
"Are you glad? About my having a baby, that is?"
"Of course."
"That's good."
"I'm glad you approve."
"Potter, quit being so...I don't know what you're being, but don't be it."
"Alright. Are you feeling better yet?"
"Aside from the fact that my skull seems to be splitting open, I think I'm fine."
"That's always good."
"James?"
"Yes?"
"Please leave me alone. Maybe if I rest my headache will leave, then you can tell me about your trip."
Lily didn't get an immediate answer, instead she felt the bed shift as his weight left it. "Alright, sleep well, my Lily."
"Your Lily, huh?" Lily asked drowsily after James kissed her.
"All mine." James put a hand on Lily's stomach. "I'll wake you up in a couple hours if you aren't downstairs yet."
"Alright."
Lily didn't have to be awakened, she got up by herself just three quarters of an hour after she fell asleep. After a shower and putting on some jeans and a heavy turtleneck, Lily went downstairs, grinning, as Sirius would term it, like and idiot. Finding most of the adults, and a few teenagers, in the library, Lily decided to go in there. James and Harry were sitting on the floor, reading the manual for Harry's new broom.
"Hola." Lily chirped brightly, walking to a shelf and pulling out a book she had started long ago, and curled up in a chair.
"Look, she can walk again." Sirius pointed out.
"I was able to walk earlier, but of course, Potter here had to pull rank." Lily said breezily, turning a page to the book.
"Pulling rank implies that I have higher rank than you."
"I seem to recall that when I said I could walk, you hit me with a list medical conditions."
"I see your nap left you feisty."
"I thought that's what you like." Lily managed a rather ditzy voice, reminiscent of some of James's Hufflepuff fans. This sent Sirius, Remus, and Chessa into fits of laughter, and James blanched.
"That was very, very, terrifying."
"I scared myself." Lily returned to her normal voice, rolling her eyes.
James, deciding Harry had a grasp of the superb craftmanship of the Firebolt 1000, left his station on the floor to sit on the arm of Lily's chair.
Harry was personally glad James left. Although he appreciated having his father, James was slightly obssessive about the broom, bordering on an Oliver Wood-type fixation.
"So, James, old pal, when do you want to talk about you-know-what?" Lily asked pleasantly, not looking up from her book.
Holy crap, I'm in trouble! James thought, not liking the unusually sweet tone of his wife's voice. "Er, I don't know what you're talking about."
"Potter, I'm talking about the subject you've been skillfully avoiding since you got home, i.e. your trip, dumbass."
"Excuse me?" James asked, shocked at being cussed out. Lily generally didn't talk like that.
"You heard me." Lily said once again, in a pleasant voice. "And I better get an answer very quickly, otherwise, I know a two-hundred pound James H. Potter who will go toppling off this chair with a great big thud."
"So, what about after dinner?" James suggested.
"Excellent." Lily smiled up at him, patting his knee fondly.
Oh freaking hell, it's going to be a long nine months.
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