The ride to the train was a long one because, despite the potion she had taken in the morning, Lily's stomach did not appreciate the act of bouncing along the road. She was grateful when they finally arrived on the platform and saw the scarlet red of the Hogwarts Express.

Lily and her friends were filing into a compartment when she heard a voice calling her name. Potter was standing a few feet away. He looked exhausted, and there was a slight bruise on his left cheek. "We have a meeting, remember?"

No, Lily wanted to respond. They had already worked out a schedule for prefects to follow on the train ride home, but she figured that wasn't actually what James wanted to talk about. "Yeah, just a minute." Lily put her bag down in the compartment and excused herself, and then she and James walked silently to the Prefect's carriage.

James closed the door behind them, and then went over and leaned on the desk that stood in one corner. Lily stood facing him.

"So how are you doing this morning?" Lily asked.

"I'm fine, how are you feeling?" James responded, his voice much calmer than the night before.

"I'm good."

James let out a long breath. "So after spending pretty much the whole night using Sirius as a punching bag-"

"So that's why you look why you got run over by a truck."

"-I think I can handle this."

"You can handle this?" Lily repeated.

James took a few steps towards her. "From now on, whatever you need, I'm there for you. I will do whatever you need me to. I'll sneak out to Hogsmeade or down to the kitchens to get whatever you need. I'll help you with explaining to people. I'm still extremely mad at myself for letting this happen, but it happened, and I'm not going to leave you alone, I promise."

"James, this isn't your fault. It's as much my fault as it is yours."

"That doesn't even matter. What matters is that… I don't know, that we'll figure this out together."

"If I even want you to help me."

James faltered. "You don't?"

"No, I do."

James didn't laugh. "I just..." He pushed his hair back. "Are you planning on keeping it?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Good." James nodded. "So, we have a week and a half, and I'm guessing we should get over to St. Mungo's so we don't have to explain to McGonagall and Dumbledore immediately after we get back. And what would be a good day for me to come over to tell your dad?"

"To tell my dad? This week?"

"You would rather write him a letter about it? If you wait till summer, you're going to be extremely pregnant. I think we should tell both of our parents before we go back to school."

Lily held a hand up. "You're moving really fast. I haven't even gotten around to thinking about all of this yet."

"Well, you have to. Otherwise it's going to be too late," James said.

Lily felt her stomach turning over. How had she forgotten about all of this? She had been so nervous about telling James that she had let so many other issues slip her mind. "You're right," she said quietly. "How about we go to St. Mungo's on Monday?"

James nodded. "Great. I'll find someone to double-check with, but I don't think we will need an appointment or anything."

"Alright."

James stared at her sadly for a long moment, with bags under his eyes and his hair looking messier than ever.

"James. It's going to be fine. We'll figure this all out."

"I know," he responded. "It's just, ya know, when I pictured starting a family with you, I figured we would be out of Hogwarts with successful careers first." He gave her a small wink and walked towards the door. "See ya, Evans."

James Potter had joked about having children with her for years, but this was the first time that Lily ever responded with a laugh.

James set up the appointment with the Healer and sent Lily a letter about it. She got it only a few hours after she had gotten home, but she guessed that it had taken James less time to get home, so that was probably a factor. Lily replied with another important question: when they would get around to this whole telling the parents deal. She offered Monday night as a possibility for him to come over, knowing that her dad would be around.

Lily spent the first two days of her vacation doing a lot of thinking as she settled back into her home. She spent time with her dad, got a bit of homework done (though not as much as she should have, certainly), and she just relaxed. With all of the stress that she was facing at school, that was really important.

Especially because she could pretend that there wasn't a wand pointed at her neck at all moments while she was at home. She had never really told her family about the war. Sometimes she felt kind of bad about lying about something this big, but she had never even explained to them the prejudice that she faced when she was in the magical world. They (Petunia especially) thought of her and her classmates as different, and Lily wasn't sure that she would be able to explain how in the magical community, some people actually thought that her family and herself were the abnormal ones.

So the war had just never really come up. It was easier that way, because her dad was not worried about her every time she took longer than was expected to get home, and he did not send her frantic, "Are you alright?" letters every time that she did not respond right away. She had observed this behavior emerging in her friends' parents, and they always looked at her jealously.

With her mother's unexpected death just two years ago, right as the war was creeping into people's minds, Lily had been especially glad that she had never told them. Her dad did not need to be worrying about her, or himself even.

Sometimes Lily worried that this would be a problem, yes. What if something happened to her dad? Was she leaving him as an open target? But she had expressed these concerns to Dumbledore a few times, and he had assured her that, at the moment, her family was safe. Since she was still a student, the Death Eaters did not really have her on their hit list. In a few years… But Dumbledore never got that far.

So Lily remained optimistic that the war would end and that she would never have to tell her dad and Petunia anything, and while she was home, she pretended that there was nothing bad going on. She hid the headlines of the Daily Prophet from them as more people disappeared and more people were tortured and more people were killed.

On Monday, she apparated to St. Mungo's and met James in front of the main entrance. He was standing there waiting when she walked up.

"Evans," he said, nodding at her.

They walked into the hospital, making small talk about how their vacations were going so far and what their Christmas plans were and such. They waited in the waiting room for a bit, and then they were led to a small room at the end of a hallway, where Lily sat on a plastic bed and James sat on a black chair next to her. They waited a few tense moments, and then the Healer came in. She barely even glanced up at them as she greeted them, and started ruffling through her folders. She sat down on another chair that was in the room and started asking Lily some basic questions. She had short, dark hair and eyes that were nearly black.

The Healer put her folder down and started cleaning her wand. "So how long have you two been married?" the Healer asked, with a kind smile.

Both Lily and James turned pink. "We're not married," James told the Healer.

Her eyes refocused on them as if she was just seeing them. "Oh, my apologies. Er, how old are you?"

"Seventeen," Lily answered as the Healer grabbed her folder again and started jotting things down. "Both of us."

"So I assume you two are Hogwarts students, then."

"Yes."

She looked over them one more time. "And are you in a relationship?"

"Only in my dreams," James replied.

None of them laughed.

"And you are the father, yes?" the Healer asked.

"That's what the ginger tells me," James replied.

Lily swatted his knee. "I'm sorry about him, he just doesn't know how to hold his tongue. He's making this out to be a lot worse than it is. We both understand how serious this situation really is."

The Healer tapped her fingers on the desk, and then rolled over to the bed that Lily laid on. "Alright, let's check you out then."

The Healer ran her wand over Lily's stomach. Then she washed her hands and placed those too over Lily's stomach. "As of right now, there is not too much to be seen. But it feels to me as though everything is fine at the moment. So all we really need to talk about at this point is how to keep it that way." She frowned and paused. "That is… assuming you are planning to carry through with the pregnancy."

"I am," Lily responded, exchanging a look with James. It was something that they had never actually discussed. Lily had decided on the answer almost immediately after she had discovered that she was pregnant, and apparently James had felt the same way.

The Healer nodded slowly. "Alright, you'll need to make sure your diet is healthy, then."

"Yes," Lily replied.

The Healer pursed her lips. "You'll also want to avoid strenuous activity, especially as your pregnancy progresses. You'll want to avoid broomstick travel later on, and no apparating from now on, unless you are in a dire situation. Splinching could be disastrous.

"You'll also want to start thinking about delivery, though that's still a little premature at this point," the Healer said.

"Sounds like I'll have some reading to do. I hope you got me some pregnancy books for Christmas, James," Lily joked.

He smiled. "I think Sirius might have."

The Healer put her book down. "I just want to make sure you do understand the seriousness of what's going on here. You kids are seventeen and still in school. You don't have careers or even jobs. And there's a war brewing. The next few years are going to be ugly ones.

"And, I hope you don't think I'm being intrusive, but may I ask what your parentages are."

James stiffened. "I don't think that's relevant."

"Well, obviously you are a pureblood. But Miss Evans, I have not heard of your family… I personally don't care about that kind of stuff, but I think we've seen recently that it's not safe. You will be putting yourself and the baby in danger. Just remember that."

"We are here to get your medical opinion, not your political opinion," James snapped, standing up.

"You'll be putting yourself in danger, too, Mr. Potter. By associating yourself with muggle-borns," the Healer continued, as though she hadn't heard James' last comment.

Lily snorted. "You might want to watch what you say because you're going to upset some muggle-borns with that kind of talk. In fact you have upset me. Thank you for the appointment, but we won't be returning." Lily, too, now stood up and pulled her shirt back down to cover her stomach. "Come on, James."

And the pair left the room together.

Both of them were fuming as they walked through the lobby.

"Are we going back to my house still? How are we getting there?" Lily asked as she realized that she could not apparate. Great, she thought, Less than six months of being able to do it legally, and I already can't again.

James sighed angrily. "I don't know, we could fly?"

"We don't have brooms," Lily replied with a snarky smile.

"Fine, then let's Floo to my house, get some brooms, Floo back here, and then ride them to your house. Sound like a plan?" James had his fingertips held to his temples and the side of his face, like he had a bad headache.

So they Flooed to and from James' house and then discreetly left St. Mungo's with the brooms held under their arms. They traveled through London on foot for a bit, until they found a little park. Taking cover behind some trees, they put Disillusionment Charms on themselves and the brooms, and then they took flight. Since Lily knew the way to get from London to her home by car, she led the way, following the highway that her dad usually took. James had trouble seeing her a few times, and had to shout for her to slow down, but if they stayed close enough, he could see the spot where the sky was shimmering.

When they reached Cokesworth, Lily's small town, Lily pulled down to ground, and James followed behind her.

James looked down the street. "All of the houses look the same. How do you tell which one is yours?"

Lily glanced around to make sure there were not any Muggles nearby, and then she took the Disillusionment charm off of her and James. "That's one of the most ridiculous things you've ever asked me," Lily replied, taking James' broom from him. She shrunk them down so they were smaller than her wand, and then she handed them back to James, who put them in his pocket.

"I'm not kidding," James said. "Haven't you ever walked into the wrong one by mistake?"

Lily actually had once, when she was five, and it was dark out so she could not see the color of the curtains, but she did not admit this to James. She simply put her wand away and beckoned for him to follow her down the street.

"Alright, so when was the last time you were in a Muggle house?" Lily asked.

"Er… it's been awhile," James responded.

Lily smiled. "That's what I figured. Alright, so obviously my dad knows about magic and everything, and my sister does, too, but I don't think she will be home. But, you know, I try not to completely overwhelm either of them with magic stuff. I'm not saying don't mention it, like if you want to talk about Quidditch or whatever, both don't like decide to disappear in front of him out of nowhere because you forgot something at home or whatever."

"I can handle that."

They walked quietly for a few more minutes.

"About what that Healer said…" Lily said finally in a soft voice.

"You're not still thinking about that, are you?" James asked, the anger returning to his voice. "Lily, that was the most ridiculous, inappropriate thing I have ever heard a Healer say. It was… oh, Merlin, I actually had to remind myself not to kill her."

"But you don't think that she was kind of right?" Lily stared at the ground beneath. "I am a huge target, and that will make this child a target. It's even worse than it is for most people who are considering having a child during the war."

James put a hand out and stopped her. They stood on the sidewalk and he looked at her for a long moment. "Listen to me. Did you have a single doubt about this before we went and saw that Healer?"

Lily shook her head.

"And do you think that I will let anyone near that baby?"

"But, James-"

James cut her off. "No. I will die before I let anything happen to that baby, and it's not even born yet. Merlin, Lily, I know this is crazy, but I love it already. And when I said that I was here for you and for the baby, I really, really meant it. I will do absolutely whatever it takes to keep you and the baby safe. I promise."

Lily smiled at him as she felt light tears prick at her eyes. "Thank you. You're right."

"Great, now let's go see your dad. I'm ready to tell him. I mean, if you are."

"Yeah." Lily nodded. "There's just one more thing that I should tell you before we go over there."

"Hmm?"

"My dad doesn't know about the war," Lily told him. "He, uh, he isn't even really aware that anybody feels any sort of prejudice against muggle-borns."

"I knew you were crazy," James murmured.

Lily sighed, exasperated. "No, I'm not. He just lost my mum. He doesn't need to know that there's a chance he might lose me, too. He does not need to stress out about that."

James shrugged. "It is your decision. But don't you think he'd be even more upset if something did happen to you and he only found out then?"

"Can we just tell him I'm pregnant first?"

James laughed. "Sure. Lead the way."