His Mistake

A/N: I do not own any Harry Potter related content.

This fic was written for Shane (Nightmare Prince) from the Diagon Alley II forum. I hope you enjoy my take on the theme and pairing!

A huge thank you to Twi (TwilightMoonbeams) for her amazing job in beta-ing this fic! Especially for the paragraph surrounding Teddy towards the end :D

This is my first time writing a next-gen fic, and hence I have used a combination of my head canon, wiki research, and the characters from NightmarePrince's 'The Lord of Shadows' series to form these characters. I really hope I did them, as well as the topic, justice in the fairly short amount of writing.

"You've ruined me! How could you?"

"I'm sorry, Alison, I-"

"Ugh, my parents are going to kill me!" she glared at him, before adding, "and you."

"I-"

"I can't believe this is happening to me," he watched as Alison Longbottom continued to pace around his dorm room.

James couldn't believe it either. His heart thrummed wildly in his chest and his hands shook, feeling cold and clammy as he tried to settle them by his side. How could this have happened? What would his father say?

Clearing his throat, he nervously asked, "Are- are you sure it was- it was right? Maybe we're safe-"

"Of course I am you moron! Those potions don't lie!"

"Oh."

"Oh? Oh? Is that all you've got to say? This is all your fault! I should never have let you talk me into this," she kicked a bedpost, only to hop around in pain, wincing as her toe throbbed.

He couldn't bring himself to smile- ordinarily; he found it funny whenever someone caused pain to themselves. This situation, however, made him feel weak.

She turned a fierce glare at him, daring him to apologise again. Instead, he returned his own scorching glare upon her.

"You were the one who told me you were ready; you said you had taken everything into account."

"Well I didn't think this would happen!"

They continued to glare each other; neither one willing to break the tension as they both huffed.

His mine whirred as he thought about all the consequences of what they had done. It wasn't supposed to have gotten this far- it was only meant to be a harmless bit of fun. He was only seventeen, barely old enough to take care of himself without the added responsibilities that came with being classed as an adult in the wizarding world. How was he supposed to know things would turn so sour?

He wanted to become an auror like his father, or perhaps a professional Quidditch player. If this got out, surely he wouldn't be able to do either activity. He might even get expelled- he and Alison had broken at least five school rules the other night, and that was not counting the consumption of copious amounts of fire whiskey in the common room.

He tried to calm himself, swallowing back the vomit that threatened to escape his mouth. The thought of facing up to the next few months, let alone the rest of his life, were enough to make him sick. He took a deep breath and focused on a particularly dirty patch of crimson carpet, repeating a soothing mantra in his head, 'calm down mate, you're a Gryffindor for Merlin's sake. You've done the crime, now you have to serve the time.'

He scrunched his eyes up, grumbling. He had obviously spent too much time lately hanging around Alison and Rose, for his own thoughts now seemed to rhyme, not helping the dire situation in the least.

Alison, meanwhile, had plonked upon Andrew's empty bed and began to muffle her screams into his pillow. He realised that she felt just as scared and confused as he did, perhaps even moreso.

Heaving a sigh, he knew they needed someone to help them- they needed an adult. Clearly neither one of them could cope with the situation, and they needed to act fast before the wrong people found out. He didn't want to tell anyone the details, but perhaps they could word it so that they merely looked curious about a situation. The trouble was, he couldn't think of anyone that wouldn't be suspicious of their motives, least of all Madame Pomfrey, who could probably soothe some of the damage, if not erase it all.

Still, he had to try. "We have to tell someone then. Maybe one of the professors could help-"

Alison's head shot up before he could finish. "Are you nuts? They'd tell my father! No way, absolutely not! You have to come up with something better- we can't hide this forever."

"Well, you think of something then. You rejected my first idea."

Alison scoffed, throwing the tear-stained pillow at him. "I am not doing that! That's the easy way out and you know it."

"I know, I don't want to but-"

"Well how's this for something? I'll go and sort it out, hopefully fix my reputation along the way, whilst you sit around in your room playing with your thing." She leapt up, storming towards the closed door. As she passed the threshold, she turned back towards him, "and if you ever think of talking to me again, James Sirius Potter, I will personally feed your bits to a dragon!"

He raked a hand through his tousled black hair, sinking further onto his own four-poster bed. He didn't know what else he could do. Outside, he could hear a toad croaking loudly, mocking him.

James spent the rest of the day hanging with his mates, refusing to think about the situation he was in. He laughed jovially at their jokes, and talked animatedly about the next Quidditch match. He joined in as his group whistled at girls walking past, ignoring as Rose, one of Alison's closest friends, glared at him disapprovingly- inside he felt doing so was not right, but stifled his conscience in favour of blissful ignorance.

As the group got up from the Gryffindor table after lunch, he groaned. His sister was heading in his direction, a determined look on her face.

"Do you want to tell me why Allison has spent most of the day crying in the toilet?" she demanded, her hands on her hips.

He felt a little guilty, but refused to acknowledge that he had done anything wrong.

"How would I know?"

"Because usually you are the one to cause problems around this school, especially when it comes to girls."

He rolled his eyes at her, mumbling something to his mates about 'sisters, am I right?'

Lily fixed him with a fierce glare, tapping her foot as she waited for him to explain. She didn't appear perturbed as he shrugged and hastily picked up his satchel.

"I'm right, aren't I? What is it? What did you do to her?" her green eyes bore into his, willing him to confess his guilt. Her eyes widened slightly as she continued staring, evidently realising that his easy smile was simply for show. "It's worse than I thought. You've gotten her into trouble somehow, haven't you?"

"Lils, its nothing, ok?" her glare didn't falter, so he continued. "Ok, fine, I- we did do something. But I won't say what here," he looked warily at his mates, not wanting them to overhear. "Meet me at the Quidditch pitch in twenty and I'll explain."

He didn't plan on telling her the truth, but he smiled encouragingly as she nodded her head.

"Fine. Don't be late."

He sighed as she skipped off, trying to think of an excuse. His mates continued laughing as they walked, debating whether or not they should spend the remainder of the Saturday afternoon by the lake.

James paced up and down the front gates of the Quidditch pitch, his hands clasped behind his back as he wore a path into the soft grass. He desperately needed to come up with a believable story, and fast. His sister would be there any moment, and she had a knack for knowing when he was lying.

As if on cue, he spotted Lily marching towards him on the rocky path- and she wasn't alone. He slapped his hand on his forehead as he saw Albus trudging behind her. Dammit- his bother always informed his parents of any trouble he got up to, and if he screwed up his story, he would certainly be in bigger trouble than he already was in.

"So, are you going to tell me what you've done?"

"Yeah, I wanna know if you're about to get expelled."

He glared at Albus before he turned to Lily, "Honestly, why do you even care?"

"I sensed something was up, and since I knew only you could've done it, I need to cover your ass so people don't think we're all delinquents."

"Hey!" Albus protested, having never done anything controversial whilst at Hogwarts.

Albus tended to be the quietest sibling, preferring to keep to himself where possible. It was only when he had been sorted into Slytherin his first year that he ever acted out- students had been whispering about his placement into the wrong house, made worse when he befriended Scorpius Malfoy, and began pressuring him into thinking that he was not good enough to be the Harry Potter's son. One day a student took it too far, teasing him about being the 'black sheep' of the family, and Albus had retaliated by punching him squarely in the nose. Since then, he had always tried to make himself look better by achieving high grades and trying out for the Quidditch team- even going so far as to tell on James to his parents or the professors whenever he could.

It was probably why his younger brother was now grinning at him in anticipation, hoping that he would confess to having done something really terrible.

"What makes you think I'll tell you anyway?"

"Please, I thought you'd know by now. As your sister I will not leave you alone until you confess. That means every time you have breakfast- I will wait by your side, every time you sit with your mates- I'll ask them what you have been up to, maybe even share a few of your stories regarding the fact that you still keep your stuffed dragon- Flame, is it?- on your bed at home, and every time you sit in the common room- I will stare at you, making you feel uncomfortable."

"Fine, fine. I get it. Look, all we did was have some fun."

Lily stared at him questioningly as Albus scratched his head, trying to figure out what that could possibly mean.

"So, let me guess. You've dragged her into a joke and of course, didn't think ahead about the consequences, and now you know you'll get into big trouble over it."

"Ah well, yeah, sort of."

"So let's see," Lily thought for a minute before continuing, "did you try and feed Filch's new cat, Matilda, to the Giant Squid? No, Alison loves animals too much, she wouldn't help you with that. Mmm, did you steal McGonagall's owl and send a love letter to Kingsley?"

"Yes, yes. That's what we did, now can we just drop it?"

"No- that wouldn't have been bad enough to get you expelled, even if McGonagall does fancy the younger bloke and won't admit it. Mmmm," she continued to stare at him in thought, eyes narrowed in deep concentration.

"Does it have something to do with the order of Firewhiskey you made uncle George get you?" Albus piped up. He smiled when James fixed another glare on him and chuckled, "it does! Boy, mum will kill you when she finds out!"

"Tell her and I'll tell Fleur what you did with her broom last Summer," he growled, holding his balled fist up threateningly.

"You wouldn't!"

"Oh yes I-"

His threat was interrupted as Lily gave a light gasp. Her cheeks reddened as she looked at James in disbelief, shaking her head slightly.

"You didn't- oh James, it all makes sense now! No wonder I could sense that you were so upset at lunch… How could you be so stupid!" she whacked him painfully on the shoulder.

"What? What did he do?" Albus looked back and forth from James to Lily, clearly not picking up on whatever revelation Lily had.

"That hurt!"

"It's less than what dad's going to do when he finds out!" she didn't apologise to him as he rubbed his arm up and down his shoulder in soothing motions.

"He won't, at least not right now."

"Find out what?" Albus whined.

Lily and James ignored him.

James realised too late that he hadn't denied what Lily had said. He couldn't bear to keep looking into her eyes- not at the disappointment shining in them, nor the worry. He shuffled awkwardly on the spot, willing the ground to swallow him up.

Finally, Lily broke the silence that had fallen upon them. "So… what are you going to do?"

"I dunno."

"You don't know?"

"No, I don't know! I can hardly keep it now, can I?"

"Keep what? What can't you keep?"

"The baby!" Lily shushed Albus, finally growing impatient with him.

"What baby? I didn't know you had- oh…" finally, the news seemed to dawn on the boy. It seemed to take him in shock as for once, he did not gloat about James' latest mistake, despite how big it was.

Lily took matters into her own hands, asking him the questions he didn't want to contemplate the answers to.

"Well, I guess I can see why you can't keep but, I mean, don't you- don't you want to?" she asked, her eyes beginning to water.

Did he? As soon as he had found out that morning, he had suggestion to Alison that she abort it. In all honestly, it would've been the easiest thing to do. Neither of them had a job, so they could hardly fund a kid, and even if some miracle occurred that their parents were accepting and willing to help out, he wasn't ready to settle down. It was only meant to be a one-night stand- he and Alison were more so friends than lovers, and he never dreamed of the two sharing a child together.

Still, another part of him questioned the decision. The idea of terminating his own flesh and blood once again brought the taste of bile to the back of his throat, and he pushed it down. He never believed in killing another creature- a principle instilled in him by his parents. He had been brought up to respect all life, especially other human beings, and the thought that he was even contemplating killing his own child- born or unborn- made him feel uncomfortable.

No, he relished the idea of having a son, or a daughter, and he would leave that decision to Alison.

"I don't know… I don't know if I'm ready to be a father. I just didn't think it would happen so… soon."

"I know, but you won't have much time to decide. What does Alison want?" Lily asked gently.

"To keep it, I think. She doesn't exactly believe in abortion."

"Have you two talked through what's going to happen then? Have you made plans for the future or-"

"Well, we ah, we sort of-"

"James-" she said warily.

"We might have had a fight this morning. Don't give me that look, we were both stressed!"

"Does that mean you two are going to have to get married?" Albus plonked himself onto the ground, playing with a blade of grass.

"Well, um, I guess its tradition, but, uh-"

"Because I am not wearing a stupid frilly dress robe to the wedding. You know mum will make me wear Uncle Ron's hideous set just 'cause it's traditional." Albus pulled a face, remembering his mother's threat to make him wear the robes if he ever followed in his brother's practical-joker footsteps.

Lily rolled her eyes at Albus, turning back towards James. "I'm guessing no one knows, do they? You need to tell someone soon."

"I tried getting Alison to listen but she wouldn't- she thinks if we go to a professor her dad will find out."

"Well, he'll need to find out sooner or later…. Ok, ok," Lily raised her hands up in surrender, "I know it's not helpful, but you both need to tell someone to get all the correct information."

James sighed, knowing she was right. He felt so helpless- he couldn't think of anyone that would be willing to help a teenager who had knocked up his girlfriend without spilling the beans.

He felt a strong breeze ruffle through his untidy hair as he sat down next to Albus. His brother smiled at him sadly, not able to come up with any solution. Picking up a small twig nearby, he began to carve his name into the dirt.

Finally, Lily snapped her fingers, an idea evidently finding its way to her mind.

"I know exactly who can help! I'll go owl him now," she went to turn on her heel, before he called her back.

"Who?"

"Look, you need to tell someone, and I hate to say it, but our parents are going to find out eventually. I know exactly who has been in this situation before, and who will help you make it easier," she smiled, running off.

"Lily, no! Wait! You can't tell anyone! Lily!"

"Just go sort things out with Alison!" she called behind her.

Albus looked at him and shrugged, crumbling an old leaf beneath his fingers. "You better do as she says mate, you know how she gets," he rolled over and stood up, dusting the dirt from his trousers.

James looked at his brother as a heavy sigh escaped his lips, "yeah I do."

He picked himself up, helping Albus to his feet. He hoped that his brother would come up with a distraction that would allow him to avoid heading up to the castle to find Alison- he was not looking forward to her reaction at this latest development.

Surprisingly, Alison had taken the news pretty well.

He had found her in a darkened corner of the library, having heard a slight sniffling coming from the potions isle and assuming it could only be her. Sure enough, as he had turned the corner, he had spotted the brunette curled over, head in her hands.

At first he had gulped, unsure whether or not she would be very receptive to what he wanted to say. When she had simply raised her watery brown eyes to him and smiled weakly, he had immediately felt better. She hadn't screamed at him to get lost, nor did she throw any books his way. It was just as well as Madame Pince's replacement was an even stricter librarian than the retired witch, and would surely have given them a detention.

The two spent a good hour talking over their fight and explaining their confusion, apologising over the way they had treated each other. James had admitted that he had not considered what she had wanted- Alison confessing that she had been largely worried about what would happen to her slender body. When the tears they shared finally stopped falling and they could think clearly, they eventually came to the conclusion that yes, the only option that they had was to inform their parents and hope that they would know what to do.

It was why he and Alison were now sitting in the courtyard on a stone bench, facing Lily as she finished reading them the letter she had received earlier that morning. Albus had promised to his brother and sister that he would remain quiet and not spoil their plan- so long as James went through with it.

"Alright, are you ready for this?"

"Yes," he and Alison said in unison, smiling nervously at each other.

"Ok," Lily examined her watch, double-checking that they weren't too early or late, "Teddy is going to walk into your father's office any minute. I'd say you have about ten, maybe twenty minutes top. Good luck."

James gulped and pulled Alison up. Entwining their hands together, they both gave a nervous smile to Lily and Albus before entering the castle.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the family, Teddy had gotten himself into a similar predicament the year before with their cousin Victoire. Teddy's first instinct was to confide in his godfather Harry. Lily wouldn't say how but she managed to overhear and recalled that her father was more than understanding regarding the delicate circumstances. In the end, Victoire didn't learn she was carrying until it was too late. She was unable to take the necessary precautions and ultimately lost the baby. Nonetheless, Lily believed that Teddy could be an asset to James by calmly breaking the news to Harry. Luckily, he had obliged and was already heading to the auror's office to break the news.

In turn, James and Alison were required to tell her father.

They continued holding hands as they made their way through the castle halls, eventually stopping at Professor Longbottom's office. Before Alison could knock on the door, he turned to her.

"Alison, um, whatever happens- I'll be here for you, ok?"

Alison smiled at him, standing on her toes as she placed a soft kiss upon his cheek. "I know- we're in this together."