"Alright, love?" James asked, putting his quill and unfinished essay to the side, and scooping up my hand in his.

"Quite," I replied nervously. "I'd like to talk to you about something, though. If you don't mind. Not that you would. I just thought I'd ask. Because it's polite. And it's always nice to be polite. Don't you think it's- "

"Lily," he chuckled, giving me a strange look. "What is it?"

I stared at him for a moment, wondering where to begin. "Look… We've been perfect for a while, yeah? No hiccups or anything… but, um. I- …Well, I think… I mean, I have something I'd like to… tell you. That you need to know."

A distorted expression took over his face, and my stomach flipped. "You can't be serious."

I frowned. "What do you-"

"Now? You have to tell me now?" He sounded like he was getting angry.

"You- you know?" I gasped. "But I haven't told anyone! No one knows, how could you have found out?"

"Anyone could tell from the look on your face," His expression was slowly turning into disgust. He stood up roughly, yanking his hand out of mine, and took a few steps away.

I could feel tears swelling in my eyes. "You're unhappy with me." It wasn't a question.

"Well of course I am!" He nearly shouted. "How could I not be? When you did this? How could I be happy with you now?" A few tears slipped out, and I looked down, trying to hide them. "Oh, don't you dare try to use that on me now. I won't feel sorry for you."

"Why are you being like this?" I whispered, my voice catching somewhere in the middle.

"Why am I- Are you kidding me? Merlin, Lily, why wouldn't I be?" He spread his arms out wide, as if giving me leave to explain it to him.

"I didn't know you were that kind of man, or I never would have done it to begin with." I said quietly, looking into the fire. "My mistake."

"And I didn't know you were that kind of woman." He countered loudly.

I shot a glare at him, standing up. "Look, it's not like I'm going to make you pay for any of the physician's visits, or support, or- or anything! I just thought you should know!"

"Physician's visits?" He gave me a weird look. "What are you on about?"

I narrowed my eyes further and crossed my arms. "Generally, there are physician's visits for these situations, James."

He paused, and then reluctantly asked, "Are you hurt?"

"Well of course I'm not-" I stared at his confused features for a moment, before asking slowly, "What did you think I meant?"

"What do you mean?"

"When I said I had to tell you something, what did you think I meant?" I clarified, taking a step towards him.

"It's not hard to guess." He said, his voice hard.

"Tell me." I demanded, taking another step closer.

He glared at me. "That you've been with another man, obviously." My eyes widened, and my hand clapped my forehead. "Is… Is that not what you meant?"

"Of COURSE I haven't been with another man, you wanker!" I shouted, hitting him in the chest.

He looked more confused than ever. "But then, what did you mean?"

I huffed at stared down at his shoes. "mrffumr."

"Sorry?"

"I'm pregnant," I grumbled out.

There was a very long moment in which neither of us said anything, before he wrapped me up in his arms, a stream of apologies and swear words spewing from his lips.

And that was the day we learned the importance of communication.