A blush crept onto James's cheeks as he and Sirius made their way the aisle of the transfiguration class ten minutes late. Professor Mcgonagall quickly got up and went over to James, whispering comfortingly to him and taking him to the front of the classroom.

Sirius meanwhile, slid into the seat next to Remus, who stopped whispering to Peter quickly and both turned to him.

"How's he doing?"

"Better now. Still a bit upset though."

"But he's not going to go throw himself out the astronomy tower if we don't watch him, is he?" Sirius looked at James, who nodded to Professor Mcgonagall and started coming towards them.

"Wouldn't put it past him. We'll just have to take turns." He whispered quickly before James took a seat next to him. He greeted them and went quiet as Professor Mcgonagall started talking about the lesson.

With a thump, a crumpled up piece material landed on his table. He frowned and unfolded it. A little piece of paper fell out the handkerchief.

Cry-baby

Sirius read it over his shoulder and plucked the hankie from James's hands suddenly. He blew his nose on it loudly and asked James if he would like to make a contribution. When his friend just stared at him, he crumpled it up, tossing it back to the sender, a Hufflepuff boy, so that it hit him in the face before grinning and thanking him loudly.

James laughed loudly and though he didn't say it, was especially grateful at that moment. Grateful only his friends knew what had happened. Grateful for people who cared for him. And most of all, grateful to have Sirius as his friend.

Time didn't seem to slow down as much as it had felt like for that week, but instead everything seemed to be rushing past him and as October became November. James put that down to the reason for the strange headaches that seemed to blind him for an hour or so every few days.

Grieving as much as he was, his friends were doing their best to make it bearable. Just last Friday when he'd been feeling upset, they'd suddenly whisked him off to Hogsmeade and in those few hours, even Remus had stopped worrying about anything as they spent the night getting drunk in the shrieking shack

Somehow they'd got a picture of it and now on their wall hung a photograph of their silliness. Currently, photo Sirius, top hat and all, had hauled the Photo James up and was doing some sort of ballroom dance.

Now around the middle of November, Professor Flitwick reminded them during Charms of how the holidays were quickly approaching, though James didn't hear much as another headache hit him full on. He put his hands over his eyes and gripped his hair.

"You alright Prongs?" Peter asked and James shook his head. He looked at Remus, who frowned in worry and rubbed James's back while Sirius waved his hand in the air as he tried to get Flitwick's attention.

A sheet of parchment was pushed in front of him and he reluctantly moved his hands to look at what it was. He immediately wished he hadn't. A lump formed in his throat and tears he'd been struggling to hold back leaked out of his eyes, though not of pain. Not physical anyway.

Silently, he signed his name and slid it along the table to Peter, who passed it behind him.

"Don't worry Prongs." He whispered to him and someone behind them laughed.

"Potter staying behind for the Holidays? Not wanted at home then?" The rest of the class besides his friends and a few, who preferred to stay out of trouble, started laughing and James stood up and spun around.

"SHUT UP! I'M STAYING BECAUSE I HAVE NOBODY TO GO HOME TO ANYMORE!" He roared angrily and then realised what he had just told them and spun around, hurrying out the class. Professor Flitwick who, like all the staff, knew about his parents and tried to calm down the gossiping students but to no avail. Remus exchanged worried glances with the other two and hoped the class would be over soon.

"We looked everywhere for you! We thought you'd gone and thrown yourself in the lake or something when you weren't on the map!" Peter said as James closed the door to the dormitory behind him that night.

"Nah, Prongs just went for a run in the forest." He said tiredly as he lay down on his bed, hands once again over his eyes and groaned. "My head is killing me."

Remus approached him frowning and removed his hands as he put a hand on his forehead. James glanced up at him tiredly.

"You haven't got a fever. How long has this been going on?" He shrugged.

"Couple of weeks, it comes and goes. Like a bad itch." Remus didn't say anything for a moment and James noticed the quietness of the room. "That reminds me, where has Black disappeared off to?"

"Astronomy. He left you something though." Remus pointed to a package he hadn't noticed on his night table. He took it and tore off the brightly coloured paper, the little stars that had been dancing on it quickly moving out the way, and curiously pulled out what looked at first glance to be a blanket.

Examining it closer, he found it to be a handkerchief. A giant white and red spotted handkerchief. Frowning, he read the note then laughed loudly and threw it to Remus.

A hankie to strangle all the bastards that give you a hard time. Hope you're feeling better.

Padfoot

P.s: Remember the lonely cow.

Following approximately one month after fertilization, the male starts to feel migraines as the body adjusts to the new organs inside it. The egg is now a zygote and will continue to grow in size for the months following.
Thank you all my lovely reviewers! I'm hoping the positive response for this story will continue as it gets further along.