AN: This is for deant33 for the Monthly One Shot Exchange. This turned out a lot more fluffy and cute than I was expecting, I hope you like it :)
"I just don't know what to do, Lily," Marlene said, her head sticking out of the Potters' fire. "This is the third morning in a row I've thrown up, but I know I'm not ill."
Lily laughed from her position on the floor in front of the fireplace. "Marly, it sounds to me like you're pregnant."
Marlene's face twisted and she felt like she could throw up again; her throat had almost completely dried up and her words came out as more of a croak. "Pregnant? But I can't be pregnant. I'm only nineteen. Sirius and I aren't even married."
Lily was no longer laughing. The smile that had previously plastered her face fell, replaced instead with concern, making Marlene feel even worse than she already did.
"Look, I could be wrong, but it does sound like you're pregnant. Talk to Sirius about it…" Oh god, Sirius. How am I ever going to tell Sirius? "...and then go see a Mediwitch. You won't know unless you see someone. Unless you want to wait and find out from mother nature that is." Lily chuckled again as she finished speaking, trying to put a bit of humour into the situation, but Marlene couldn't stop the sinking feeling in her chest.
"Okay, okay…" Marlene took a deep breath. "Thank you. Honestly, thank you. I don't know what I'd ever do without you."
"You'd probably go insane. I know I would if I had to live with Sirius." This finally made Marlene smile.
"You're probably right. I'm not sure how I've lasted this long if I'm honest." She let out a soft laugh. "Anyway, this floor really isn't very comfortable. Are you and James still coming round for dinner?"
"Of course!"
With this, Marlene sat up, pulling her head through the fire and back into her own house.
Merlin, she thought, looking down at her stomach. What am I supposed to do if I am pregnant?
Marlene shook her head and forced her face into a smile. She needed a cup of tea.
Hands wrapped around her third cup, Marlene stared down into the brown liquid as she thought over her options. The more she thought about it, the more Marlene suspected that Lily might be right.
If she was pregnant, Marlene and Sirius were going to have a lot of planning to do. She hadn't thought about it when the idea was first brought up, but they would have to move; the flat they were currently living in didn't even have a spare room. Where they'd get the money for a bigger flat, or a house, she had no idea. Sirius hadn't finished his Auror training yet, and working in the Apothecary in Diagon Alley didn't exactly have the best pay.
"Morning," Sirius greeted, making Marlene jump as he entered the kitchen and headed straight for the coffee pot.
Marlene plastered a smile on her face and let out a soft chuckle. "Morning? It's one o'clock in the afternoon."
Sirius just laughed as he continued to make himself a coffee. "Lily and James still coming for dinner?"
"Yes, they are. I still need to go out and buy a couple of things for dinner. I'll go after this cup of tea."
"Okay, love. Want me to come with you?"
Marlene's laugh was a lot louder this time. "Last time you came with me you spent the whole time acting like a three-year-old and trying to buy everything other thing you saw. No, I don't want you to come with me. Go back to bed."
Sirius wrapped an arm around Marlene's shoulders and planted a kiss on her cheek. "I knew there was a reason I loved you—other than your stunning looks and wonderfully perky boobs."
Marlene batted him away. "Sirius Orion Black, one more comment like that and—"
"Okay, okay." Sirius held his hands up in mock surrender. "I knew there was a reason I loved you other than your stunning looks, perky boobs, and the fact that you're a lot smarter than I am."
Marlene finished the rest of her tea and placed the mug in the sink, which was filled with unwashed dishes from the past two days. "Well, while I'm out, you can use your wildly inferior brain power to find your way to the sink to wash these dishes."
"What's in it for me?"
Sirius asked this every time Marlene wanted him to do something around the house, but she didn't mind. It was fun to be able to tease him, especially if she was going out.
She pressed her body close to his, rested her hands on his bum, and left a trail of kisses down his neck that she knew would make Sirius' knees weak. "You know exactly what's in it for you," she whispered before playfully nipping his ear and taking a step back.
Marlene took a deep breath before walking up to the reception desk.
"Hello," a witch with a bright smile on her face greeted her. "How may I help you today?"
"I… I think I might be pregnant," Marlene told the witch.
"Oh, that's wonderful!" the witch beamed, oblivious to Marlene's obvious discomfort at the subject. "If you'd like to follow Amelia here, she'll take you into the waiting room for you to be seen."
Standing a few feet away was a young witch, not much older than Marlene herself, with yet another bright smile on her face.
Why are they all so happy? Marlene thought to herself. The more she thought about the possibility of being pregnant, the more scared and cynical Marlene got.
"I'm Amelia," the witch told her. "If you'd just like to follow me, I'll take you through to the waiting room. There's only one Mediwitch working in the pregnancy department today, but it's been fairly quiet so you should be seen within ten to fifteen minutes."
After asking Marlene for her name to give to the Mediwitch, the young witch kept talking about how wonderful pregnancy was, and how she was trying for a baby with her husband, but Marlene wasn't paying much attention. Years of dating and living with Sirius had given her the skills to be able to tune out of a conversation, but still pick up enough information to understand the gist of what was being said.
"Here we are then," Amelia prompted, and Marlene said her thanks as she went to take a seat.
There was only one other person in the waiting room, who was called almost immediately, so it was not long before Marlene heard her own name being called.
"Please, take a seat on the bed," the Mediwitch prompted her as she entered the room. "I'm Meredith, and I'll be your Mediwitch for the duration of your pregnancy—"
"I don't know that I am pregnant. I just thought—well, my best friend thought—that I might be pregnant. I've been throwing up in the morning quite a bit but I haven't been ill and..." Marlene trailed off. The more she had thought about the possible pregnancy, the more she had realised she had other signs of being pregnant like getting cravings and missing her last two periods.
"Okay, just lie back and lift your top, please."
Marlene did as the Mediwitch asked, and watched as Meredith waved her wand in a few complex motions over her stomach. It wasn't long before a white light appeared above Marlene's stomach.
"Congratulations, Miss McKinnon, you're pregnant!" Marlene felt both her stomach drop and her heart flutter simultaneously. "Would you like to know the gender?"
Marlene shook her head, but she was hardly aware of doing so; the room seemed distant, almost as if she was dreaming.
Thanking the Mediwitch, Marlene left the hospital on autopilot, her mind going at a hundred miles per hour as she tried to process the new information.
Taking a deep breath, Marlene readied herself for the task ahead. She picked up her shopping bags and opened the door to the flat.
Almost as soon as she had closed the door behind her, she felt a pair of arms around her. "Thank Merlin you're here! I don't know how they did it, but James and Sirius have cast a spell on the TV so they can watch every channel from around the world and they've found this awful sport on the TV and won't stop watching it."
Marlene laughed and followed the sound of shouts to their living room where James and Sirius were sat next to each other on the couch shouting things at the TV.
"What in Merlin's name are you watching?" Marlene asked, standing right behind the two of them. Both Sirius and James jumped at the sound of her voice, although Sirius tried to hide it.
"It's wonderful!" Sirius exclaimed. "I'm not sure how it works, but it's brilliant. Some Australian sport I think—"
"They called it AFL earlier," James interjected.
"Yeah, AFL, and they all sound Australian so I'm assuming the sport is too. It's great. Come watch with us."
Marlene had made the mistake of moving to the side of the sofa Sirius was sat on and she felt a hand grab her wrist. The next minute, she was landing heavily on the sofa next to the boys and being forced to watch the TV.
It wasn't long before Marlene was shouting at the TV along with the boys. She wasn't sure how the game worked, but it was some Australian type of football and it was strangely addictive. All thoughts of pregnancy and dinner flew from her mind until she felt Lily tap her on the shoulder half an hour later.
"Shouldn't you be cooking, Marly?" Lily asked. "Don't worry; I'll help." While Lily's tone was cheerful, she was staring down at Marlene with a look that told her that Lily hadn't forgotten about the pregnancy.
With a heavy sigh, Marlene tore herself from the screen and followed Lily into the kitchen to tell her the news.
"It's a shame Remus and Peter couldn't make it," Lily said as she passed the potatoes over the table to Marlene. "We could have made it a proper party."
"I think I've already had enough excitement for one day," Marlene said with a laugh. "I don't think I could deal with all four of them here."
As she said this, Marlene saw James flicking peas at Sirius with his wand. It was a game James, Remus and Peter liked to play where they would see how many peas they could get stuck in Sirius' hair. They'd started it in their third year when Sirius had let his hair grow out of control.
"James! Stop it." Lily swatted at him with a half-hearted flick of her hand.
"Oh, leave it, Lily. Let them have their fun." Marlene was laughing, probably more than she should have been. It had taken a while sat with Lily, but Marlene had finally come to terms with her pregnancy and was actually starting to look forward to having a baby.
Sirius stared at her, the look on his face one of pure shock. He leaned in and put a hand up against her forehead.
"You're not hot—well, you are hot." Sirius waggled his eyebrows. "I wouldn't be with you if you weren't—so what's wrong with you?"
"Nothing's wrong with me," she replied, although the smirk on her face probably wasn't doing anything to confirm this. A plan had started to form in her mind, and Marlene couldn't control her expression as she realised how brilliant it was.
"Say, Lily," Marlene asked, grinning at the ginger-haired witch, "is that house near you still up for sale? The semi-detached place on the next street."
Lily laughed, obviously catching onto what Marlene was going. "The one with three bedrooms? Yes, I think the owner has just lowered the asking price as well."
Sirius was still staring at Marlene when she turned to flash a dazzling smile at him.
"What do you think?" she asked. "I've been feeling a little cramped up in here recently. It's about time we got somewhere bigger than this flat don't you think?"
"Marly." Sirius' voice was soft, almost as if he was trying not to hurt her feelings. "We don't need to move—we're more than comfortable here. We could never afford a place like that anyway."
"We could help," Lily said, poking James—who was looking just as confused as Sirius—in the side until he added, "Yeah, of course we could, mate."
Marlene beamed at Sirius, a genuine smile that wasn't intended to manipulate him into agreeing with her.
"You're being strange tonight," Sirius said with a chuckle. It was obvious he was trying to work out exactly what she was doing. "What's got into you?"
"You have," Marlene said, a smirk on her face and eyebrows waggling, repeating Sirius' gesture from earlier. Lily spat out her drink as she did.
"I… What?"
Marlene had been hoping to keep the fun going for a little while longer, but was so full of excitement that she couldn't.
"I'm pregnant!" Marlene shouted, the smile on her face spreading even wider than it had all night.
Sirius was too stunned to move for a minute, but after a sharp kick from James, he became animated again.
Jumping out of his seat, Sirius lifted Marlene from her own and spun her around. He couldn't recall ever feeling this happy before in his life.
She's having a baby! My baby!
Sirius put Marlene down and couldn't stop the flow of questions that seemed to tumble from his mouth.
"When is it due? Is it kicking yet? Is it mine? It has to be mine. It is mine, right? Is it a boy or a girl? Please tell me we don't have to name it after a constellation—I hate that bloody family tradition. Are you going to be able to work still? Do I need to get a second job? Do you need me to do anything for you? Why are you standing up? You're pregnant! Sit down, sit down."
Sirius tried to push Marlene back into her seat but she stopped him with a kiss.
"Calm down, I'm only two months pregnant. It won't affect me too much for a while yet."
He wasn't quite sure when he'd become so tense, but Sirius felt himself relax as soon as Marlene spoke.
Throughout the rest of dinner, Sirius couldn't help but stare at Marlene and smile. The conversation had moved from general plans for the future—Lily was thinking about becoming a teacher, and James was helping his parents plan where to relocate—as it had been at the start of the night, and now consisted mainly of Sirius asking Marlene random questions about her pregnancy.
"Can you feel it kicking yet?"
"No, not yet. It's only been two months."
"Do you know if it's a boy or girl yet?"
"No, I didn't want to find out the gender without you."
"What colour shall we paint the bedroom?"
"We don't have a bedroom to paint yet."
Sirius was so excited that he couldn't keep still. Marlene told him he was behaving like an overexcited puppy more than once, so when she went to the toilet, Sirius transformed into his animagus form and waited for her, tail wagging, outside the bathroom door. She had screamed and almost fell backwards when she came out, and Sirius had instantly felt terrible in case it had harmed the baby (Marlene reassured him that it hadn't). He had been so lively all night that even James had told him to shut up.
As soon as James and Lily left, Sirius rounded on Marlene.
"How much is that place in Godric's Hollow that you liked?"
"I have no idea," Marlene said with a laugh. "I noticed it was up for sale last time we were at James and Lily's so decided to run with it."
"This baby really has made you start acting more like me," Sirius said, winking at Marlene as he spoke.
Marlene laughed before giving Sirius a quick kiss on his cheek and walking towards the bedroom with Sirius following close behind her.
"You're right, though," she told him, "we do need to find out how much that house is. We can't live here anymore."
Sirius smiled to himself, his mind racing. He was trying to think of everything he'd need to do to prepare for the baby, but all he could think about was how happy he was.
Word Count: 2,756.
AN: This was my first attempt at writing Sirius/Marlene so I hope it's okay. I actually have more of this that I want to write, so I might be adding a chapter or two at a later date :)
Thank you so much to Mary and Mags for betaing. You are both stars.
This is for;
Monthly One Shot Exchange;
(pairing) Sirius/Marlene, (genre) Romance), (genre) Family, (word) kick), (sport) AFL.
The Valentine Making Station;
Hershey's Kiss: Write about a relationship that lasts past Hogwarts.
Black Ribbon: Write about Sirius.
Ladybug Sticker: Write about an Animagus