October 1979 – Lily is Pregnant

Lily Evans-Potter had never felt so sick in her life. Constantly nauseated, sometimes even throwing up … and she'd hardly eaten a morsel the last three days. What's more, James had been telling her more and more often how pale she'd been looking lately. They had been married about four months now and had made love fairly regularly since—at least three times a week. Was it possible that she was pregnant?

It had been said that it was very difficult, if not impossible, for a Muggle to become pregnant by a
a pureblood wizard, but Lily had never subscribed to that old wives' (or in this case, witches') tale. Even at that, she recalled that her mother, Ginevra Evans, had once told her a way to find out whether or not a woman was pregnant—but what was it? Lily couldn't remember … at least not all of it.

Lily grabbed her wand and pointed it at her lower belly, finally touching the tip to her skin. After a few moments, she was stunned to see her skin take on a bluish tint. It stayed like that for about five minutes, then her skin tone returned to normal. She then set the wand aside and reached for an old book in the nearby bookcase, the former being one her mother (who, despite her Muggle background, had always held a great fascination for anything from the wizarding world) had once given her, and looked up the Pregnancy Detection Spell.

Lily's eyes widened when she read out loud, "If the results are positive, the woman's skin will turn blue for roughly five minutes, then return to normal. If the results are negative, there will be no change." Oh, Merlin!

"James! James!" she called out. "Come in here, now!"

James Potter rushed into the kitchen from the living room to find his wife trembling, her legs threatening to buckle beneath her, holding a half-open book in her hands. He rushed to her side and pulled her into his arms, holding her securely. "What is it, Lil? What's wrong?"

"Look. Read." Lily thrust the book into his hands. James gave his wife of four months a funny look but did as she said. He read in silence for a time, then looked up, wide-eyed, meeting her green-eyed gaze with his hazel one, asking with said gaze the question he was unable to voice. "Yes. I'm pregnant."

Once it sunk in, James set the book aside and hugged her so tightly that she could scarcely breathe, then spun her around and kissed her soundly. "That's wonderful! We weren't even sure if you could get pregnant!" Upon releasing her, he suggested, "I'm sure Padfoot would love to be godfather. Why don't we ask him the first chance we get?"

Lily smiled and nodded, still scarcely able to believe it was actually true. She, a Muggle, was carrying the child of a pureblood wizard! Obviously their physiology was similar enough so that pregnancy was possible, despite the old legend. Now, what to name their child was the first consideration. For a girl, Ginevra Lily, or perhaps Elizabeth Ginevra …

James's excited voice jolted her back to reality. "How about naming a boy Harry James? Harry for your father and James for me? Or maybe Robert Elias for my father or Marcus Robert for Padfoot and Dad?" He made several other suggestions, using variations of the Christian and middle names of both his father and best friend.

"Let's not worry about that right now. Still plenty of time to decide."

"I suppose you're right," James conceded, still scarcely able to fathom that he was actually going to be a father by next summer—late July, if his calculations were anywhere near correct. It was near the end of October (24th or thereabouts right now), so their child would likely be born around the end of July 1980, possibly even on the last day. He couldn't be certain until the day actually arrived, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was that he and Lil were going to have a baby!

"Do you think the baby will have your eyes, Lil? Wouldn't that be great?"

"I'm hoping he/she won't have your hair. You know the trouble you've always had with it."

"Come to think of it, maybe Moony, Padfoot and I could even teach him or her how to play Quidditch."

"For the time being, though, let's just concentrate on getting the baby born, all right?" Lily gave him a hard look.

"Of course, luv. Sorry. Just got carried away." James was properly contrite, at least outwardly, although he fully intended to talk to Moony and Padfoot about teaching his child Quidditch at the proper time. "I wouldn't worry, though. Everything should be all right. Who knows, our child may even grow up to defeat Voldemort."

Lily's answering expression was one of pure horror. "Don't say that! Don't even think it! If I have my way, they'll never even lay eyes on each other!"

"Sorry again, luv. Didn't mean it."

"I should hope not," Lily shot back. "Childhood, especially in the wizarding world, is tough enough without that."

Tough enough, indeed … most of the time, anyway. But not if they had anything to say about it!