Title: Couldn't Forget
Summary: Remus thinks back to a memorable meeting with James and Lily.
Warning: kind of fluffy
Word Count: 1,771
Rating: PG
Remus remembered the day very clearly, even eighteen years later. But he had many memories from those days that never left him.
The weather was unusually bitter that December. The whole world, it seemed, was cold and dark. Remus had lost both of his parents that summer. James lost his mother. Sirius's brother was as good as dead. Peter lost two of his Uncles. This bitter winter had taken something out of each one of them.
They had all finished school that June. Things were terribly different from the days where they were safely protected by the walls of Hogwarts. There was less smiles, less laughs, less childish pranks, but they were still the Marauders.
Tied together by the bonds of their strong friendship, the four joined the Order of the Phoenix. They were not the types to sit around and let a war destroy everything they loved. The Order was exactly what they needed. It was a perfect fit, it seemed, as the Marauders were young, skilled and spirited.
James and Lily had gotten married that September. They were far too young. Although many thought the reason for their rushed marriage was the war, Remus was convinced that they would have probably gotten married anyways. The war was just a good excuse for being young, dumb, and in love.
On this particular Wednesday morning Remus, unlike his usual self, was late to a meeting. But that was not what made this meeting stand out in Remus's head after all these years.
Remus quietly walked into the room, hoping to have his lateness go unnoticed. But he should have known that his friends would not allow that.
"Nice of you to join us, Moony ole pal, now that we have discussed everything of importance" grinned Sirius, announcing his friend's arrival. Many amused faces turned to look at him.
"Sorrymlate" croacked Remus.
"Remus Lupin is late?" snorted Peter, looking up at Remus and sliding over to make room for him on his bench.
He apologized to the group again and took a seat in-between Peter and James. Remus waited for James' smart comments about his lateness. Usually James would be the first to poke fun at him, but today was different. James was strangely quite. He didn't even acknowledge Remus' arrival.
As they sat and listened to the meeting, Remus noticed James even more. He was acting unusual, like his head wasn't really in the room. Remus wondered if James had even noticed his loud entrance. He was blanking staring at the pictures on the wall to his right. He shifted in his seat only to put his arm around Lily, which was probably a subconscious movement. Lily, seated on the opposite side of James, was staring just as blankly at her own fingers curled up in a ball on her lap.
Remus found eye contact with Sirius and Peter and looked significantly at James and back to them. Remus saw his own confusion mirrored in Peter's face. But Sirius merely shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes.
Remus wondered if they were nervous about the upcoming mission, but he highly doubted that. James was usually up for any kind of danger. Lily may not share James' passion for danger, but she was certainly strong enough to handle the mission. They had gone against Voldemort himself once before and come out alive, so a small mission with a couple of Death Eaters would be nothing to them, right?
The rest of the meeting didn't last long. It was a simple plan and considering everything, not particularly dangerous.
"…Now, we don't need everyone on this one. Just a good dozen of people should be plenty."
A good number of people volunteered including Sirius, Peter, Remus, and James. But James looked furious when Lily thrust her hand into the air right next to his. He turned and shook his head, staring daggers at her.
"No" he said in an unsuccessful whisper.
"Uhh…You're telling me 'No'?"
"Of course I am." spat James stubbornly, locking eyes with Lily.
"Seriously? No, you're not telling me what to do." She glared strait back into his eyes. Lily was not the type of girl that let people order her around. Remus had an idea of what was going on, but he was surprised in James.
The last mission they went on, which was nearly a month ago, was hard. It ended with Lily in St. Mungo's for a week. She suffered a bad injury but nothing that was severely life threatening.
Lily's injuries hit James harder than they hit her. He was a wreck the whole week, staying by her bed constantly. But even the healers had to kick James out of her room to let her relax. Remus met up with James, Sirius and Peter at a pub near St. Mungo's one night and listened to a drunken James ramble on about how Lily was the love of his life and how he was going to personally kill anyone that hurt her.
It was a stressful week for all of them, and when it was over James told Lily that he didn't want her to be around the fighting anymore. It was a losing battle. Remus knew Lily was just as stubborn as James. No one was going to tell Lily not to fight. Her willingness to fight was part of the reason James loved her anyway.
James was less than thrilled about the idea of Lily being in any more life or death situations but agreed that she should be able to fight just as much as anyone.
"You know why, Lily." Most of the Order was now paying attention to James and Lily as their voices were rising.
"I am just as capable as I have always been."
"Well yeah, but its too much of a risk just for a simple-"
"You get to fight but I don't?" Lily was furious with him, and Remus could see why. Everyone in the room turned to stare dumbfounded at James.
"Well, why shouldn't I? I'm not-" He cut himself off and looked around at all the eyes on him. "Damnit" he mumbled.
The couple stared into each other's eyes for a moment, arguing wordlessly.
"Your making me look like a prick when all I want is…its not a big deal…I mean think about it, Lils…I just-" He stuttered through his sentence. "I'm not going to let you go. I'm sorry. Its too big of a risk." He finished strongly.
"Lily can do this if she wants to. We're not going to stop her for you." interrupted an older member, nodding at Lily.
Lily looked smug.
"No." said James firmly. "Then I'm going to have to tell everyone."
"James." Lily wined.
"I don't really have a choice, do I? Everyone here thinks were crazy." said James in a soft tone, looking around at all the people in the room now fixated on the couples' conversation. He reached over and squeezed her hand. "They are going to know eventually, anyways."
She sighed, gave him a nod, and then corrected, "They think you arecrazy."
James smiled nervously and looked around the room but mostly at Remus, Sirius and Peter.
Remus didn't remember what exactly he had expected James to say to them but he definitely didn't expect to hear the words that came next.
"Lily's pregnant, We found out last week."
The room exploded in sound. There was a round of congratulations and pats on the back.
Struggling with how to respond, Remus turned his head to Sirius and Peter, they too look just as shocked as he felt. Remus felt as if time had slowed down. His mind was flying.
Surely this was unplanned, because 19 year olds in the middle of a wizarding war do not want a baby. What did they even know about babies? James and Lily were soon to be parents. It was hard for Remus to wrap his head around it. He was having a hard enough time adjusting to the fact that James was married. Now he was having a kid.
He smiled courageously at them. "Wow" It was all he found he could say.
"Honey, they look just like you did when I told you." Lily nudged James in the direction of his friends.
James observed Sirius, Remus and Peter and began laughing.
"Yeah, sorry 'bout that," he said grinning at his wife.
"We'll give them an hour before they start producing actual words and sentences." said Lily, turning her head to start paying attention to the meeting again.
"Although probably only half-hour for Moony." added James, winking. "He already said 'wow.'"
The rest of the meeting was a blur. Before they knew it, it was over.
Lily ended up agreeing not to fight because of the baby. Baby. They were going to have a baby.
As they began to walk outside James threw his arm around Sirius shoulders.
"Talk to me bro."
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" he accused.
"Lily. Well we wanted to wait a bit before telling people." James smoothed.
Sirius glanced at Lily. "But I'm not just people. In the future, I will be the first one to know about all pregnancies." said Sirius half joking, half serious.
"You will, Sirius." Lily promised, giggling. "Speaking of pregnancies, lets go eat somewhere. I'm hungry."
"Mo's!" jumped Sirius immediately. Lily made a disgusted face.
"Yeeaahh!" jeered James "C'mon Lily. Mo's! Mo's! Mo's!" he began chanting. Soon Peter and Sirius joined in. "Mo's! Mo's! Mo's!"
That was when Remus seemed to find his voice.
"You're going to be a great mother, Lily. Seeing as you have been dealing with these children for years now. Great practice."
Lily laughed as they made their way to Mo's.
"One day you will too, Remus, you have much more practice than me. Make a good father, that is. Hopefully, it will be years from now." She sighed. "But I can see you being like the best dad ever."
"Agreed!" James, who was apparently listening to them, turned around and patted Remus on the shoulder. "You are such a dad. And you're going to need to start teaching me, Moony."
Remus had never told them that he vowed to never have kids, let alone get married. He decided to keep that burden to himself. Besides, he thought as he looked at Lily and James smile, it would break their hearts if they never got to see him be a father.
Thinking back to this day eighteen years later, Remus couldn't help but smile. If only his friends could see him now. He snuggled newborn Teddy close to his chest and kissed his forehead.