Briar POV

I practically skipped into my dorm room that night, Dom was already up there and watched my every move. I had reason to suspect she knew everything surrounding my pregnancy. I also have a slight inclination to believe she knows - or has a very good idea- about my and James's past relationship. I was concerned at one point she'd put two and two together. But it was a brief moment. Like she was testing the waters on that thought and gave up.

"Why so chipper?" She spoke from over her book.

"No reason." She rolled her eyes.

"Fine, don't tell your best friend." Drama queen. "Anything to do with you coming to James's rescue this morning?" Sneaky.

"Nope." I popped the 'p' and carried on fussing around gathering my shower kit and fresh pyjamas.

Friday eventually came around, it was a drag of a week. The rumours carried on - according to the mill, I'm pregnant with twins. One Harry Potter's and one some unnamed muggle stripper. Both conceived under the influence of love potions, naturally. But nothing was shaking the smile off my face. While I didn't want James to know that this baby is his, and almost every night I close my eyes and see the pain in his eyes when I told him, I can't say I wasn't enjoying spending time with him again. Sure our 'spending time together' in the past was usually a few stolen moments here or there around the castle to relieve a bit of tension. Now it was different.

Now, we talked. We sat together for hours laughing. Every so often he'd put his hand on my belly. At first, he'd ask and it was awkward. Usually he'd be sat across from me with his arm held out in a rigid manor. But as the week went on, he'd shuffle beside me and just slide a hand over while he prattled on about quidditch training or the latest owl he received from a potential recruiter. I had cared about him before, that's why I made the choice to never tell him, but I never thought I could possibly love him.

No, Briar, don't be silly. You can't love James Potter.

It was five minutes to two, and Madame Abbott was starting to get snippy with me, telling me I needed to get into the fire 'right this second if I didn't want to be late'. But James wasn't here yet. He'd promised me. I sighed and turned towards the flames and the pot of powder being held out to me. Give her her dues, she did offer me a sympathy smile.

"I could always come with you if you don't want to go alone?" She offered. Her eyes were kind with little crinkles in the corners as she smiled at me in a rather motherly way. She wasn't judging me like some of the other teachers had been.

"I... urm..." I felt hot tears stinging the back of my eyes. "It's okay. I guess I need to start being a big girl now and all that." I laughed shakily and grabbed a handful of dust from the pot and stepped closer to the flames.

"B!" I heard from behind. Turning, it was none other than a rather dishevelled James sprinting down the hall. I felt my heart soar and my shoulders shrug off the twenty stone of weight I hadn't realised they'd been carrying at the sight of his stupidly messy head.

"Oh," Madam Abbott nodded next to me. "I see."

"James is just a friend," I said in what I hoped was a confident voice.

"Yes," I could hear the smile in her voice. "I'm sure he is."

"So I'm not too late?" James finally reached us, out of breath and pink in the cheeks. I couldn't find words. But Madam Abbott said something and then ushered us into the fireplace with a fresh handful of powder. I felt James snake his arm around me, throw the powder and call out 'St Mungo's Maternity Clinic'.

The room outside of the fireplace shot out of sight and was quickly replaced with the entrance to the sterile blue room that was the clinic waiting room. We stepped out and dusted ourselves off before walking up to reception to sign in.

"Um...Hi?"

"Yes?" an elderly healer called over the tall counter.

"I... urm... I have an appointment?"

"Is that a question or a statement?" she sighed and stopped her note writing to look over the matching blue counter at me.

"A statement." I nodded, my heart was pumping a thousand miles a minute. I felt James's hand wiggle into mine and he gave my fingers a quick squeeze. "Briar Landon."

"You're late," she grumbled scanning down the appointment sheet. "Take a seat." James led me by the hand to the uncomfortable plastic chairs on the wall next to the reception desk. I tried to distract myself by looking around the room, but it was rather boring. A few posters on the wall about giving birth at the clinic, a couple of scary ones I decided not to focus on and a rather drab looking painting of a field. The reception desk had a small vase of fresh flowers in and the coffee table had a selection of magazines and pamphlets. James dropped my hand and picked up a few but I couldn't. I'd read most of them last time I was here.

"Yo, B?"

"Yeah?"

"How many weeks are you?" His eyes were trained on a booklet he'd picked up.

"24." He nodded and repeated '24' a few times before stopping silent again.

"Hey..." He stopped reading. "Did you know that your baby can wiggle his eyebrows?"

"I did not." I chuckled.

"And it says here we should talk to baby loads." He pointed at a small paragraph I didn't bother to read. "Says it will help them to recognise us when they're - you know - here." He made a rough gesture of a baby in his arms and then leaned over his head close to my little bump. "Hey baby, I'm your Uncle Jamie," Before I could respond a disembodied voice called my name.

The new room was just as boring at the waiting room, except this one had a cheap blue curtain, a bed, a couple of small metal tables on wheels. The healer hadn't arrived yet, so we just stood awkwardly in the room not really knowing what to say to each other anymore.

"Hello, hello!" A cheery voice called as the door swung open, nearly taking James out as it did. "I'm Fliss Saxton, I'm going to be your healer for this pregnancy!" Fliss was the type of person both me and James would usually avoid. She was bubbly, cheerful and smiley without reason. Her white blonde hair was high in a long pony tail that swung side to side every time she moved- which was a lot- and her face had a large, possibly fake, smile painted on. The pink robes that formed her uniform clashed horribly with the blue walls around her. "Lets get you up on the bed, shall we?" I nodded and complied while Fliss turned away to sort through the paperwork. I struggled and slipped a couple of times before a strong hand wrapped around my arm.

"Here," James effortlessly lifted me onto the high bed. "Wouldn't want you hurting yourself." He grinned at me. He let go of me and stepped back. It felt cold with him so far away.

"So," Fliss turned back with the file open in her hands. "Just to confirm your full name?"

"Briar Anne Landon." I muttered, my hand automatically going to my belly the way it always did these days.

"Date of birth?"

"Fifteenth of March '04." Fliss nodded and flipped a page.

"I have last menstrual period at 18th April," She looked up at me. She seemed kind enough but I could help but feel she was judging me a little. "That sound about right?" I nodded. "Oh, fantastic! A V-day baby!" She clapped her hands.

"What she on about?" James muttered next to me while Fliss faffed about in a draw again. "Surely you'd be about ready to pop if this was a Valentines baby?"

"Wrong 'V-day'," I shot back before Fliss turned back.

"So we'll just shuffle down the bed a little more," She started to help me back into a more reclined position. "And we'll have a little look shall we? Is this dad?" She nodded to James with a smile.

"Merlin, no!" James laughed loud. "Just moral support!" She nodded and smiled at him. I tried to fake a smile too but it was robotic and screamed otherwise.

"Couple of quick checks first, and then we'll get down to the magic," She grinned at me then grabbed my arm and pressed hard at my wrist taking my pulse. She then pulled out two little vials from her pocket and shook them at me apologetically before bringing the vial and her wand to my arm to draw blood. She wandered off back to the units at the side with the blood and clattered around a little.

"This baby thing is starting to look less fun," James had reached for my hand when Fliss had started to take blood and was rubbing his thumb over the top of my hand in a reassuring way.

"Oh," I smiled. "This is the easy bit."

"All good!" Fliss came back with a bottle of potion. "So, if you can just wriggle your top up over belly, I'll rub some of this on and have a bit of a look and then I'll show you baby! Are we wanting to find out the sex?"

"Yes" We spoke in unison. James muttered a sorry afterwards, but I just squeezed his hand. The guilt sat heavy in my stomach over not telling him. Fliss nodded again and poured some of the potion onto my exposed stomach then rubbed it in before putting the tip of her wand against my skin and fixing her eyes on a sheet facing away from me and James. It felt like forever that Fliss was moving her wand across my belly, pressing harder in some areas then moving it around more. I felt my chest tightened. Surely it shouldn't take this long. I started breathing heavier, feeling tears burning my eyes. Something must be wrong. Then James squeezed on my hand and pulled it up to his mouth. He wasn't even watching me while he did it, he was watching the healer. It looked natural on him and it made me feel about a thousand percent calmer.

"Okay," Fliss finally said before flicking her wand at the sheet in front of her that then enlarged and positioned itself by my feet, giving me and James a clear view. As soon as her wand made contact with me skin again the sheet slowly flooded a dark pink and something came into focus. Five little fingers waved across the sheet, then Fliss moved her wand a little and a perfect little face came into view. Tiny pursed lips, delicate little eye lids closed with tiny podgy cheeks underneath and the most perfect button nose. "Meet your daughter." Fliss said quietly.

When we returned to Hogwarts, I passed over the notes Fliss had given me for Madam Abbott and followed James out of the hospital wing and down the stairs. He reached out for my hand and I let him. I was riding cloud nine and even the surprised looks a group of first years gave us couldn't shake it. As we got closer to The Great Hall, James pulled me into a quiet corner.

"Thank you," He kept hold of my hand. I looked up at his brown eyes. He seemed happy. The bubbling in my chest started. I wanted to tell him. To scream it at him. But I just smiled. "Do you mind if I take a copy?" He whispered nudging my other hand that held the small square picture I'd been handed by the healer. He quickly duplicated it and slide his copy into his pocket. "I'll see you later," he bent and kissed my cheek before turning and quickly striding towards The Great Hall and his tea.