Chapter 14: Lectures, Announcements and Babies
Monday morning was not pleasant. James collected everyone's weekly reports, and read as much of them as he could before lunch, at which point he burst into Khyana's cubicle (where most of the team had gathered to laugh at James) in fury, throwing the reports down on her desk.
"What is this?!" he exploded.
Khyana calmly browsed the reports.
"Looks like everyone's weekly reports to me," she replied composedly.
James' face was nearly purple, and most of the team were having the same problem, although theirs was due to trying not to laugh, as opposed to James' fury.
"It should be everyone's weekly reports. Read the top one."
Khyana calmly opened the folder, which was clearly marked "EMILY-HOPE" and opened the front cover. She cleared her throat and began to read.
"Monday, July 22. This morning was fairly boring, James told us we had to write these stupid weekly reports, so that's what I'm doing. I spent most of the morning doing…well, basically nothing. Sirius stopped by around noon, looking for Yana, but she'd gone out with Kelria. I had lunch by myself in my cubicle. I had cucumber sandwiches, a bag of potato chips, and a juice box. Muggles are really very ingenious! Why haven't wizards thought of juice boxes? I mean, really!"
"That's enough!" James said angrily. "What is that? Juice boxes, Emily-Hope?"
Emily-Hope shrugged, a big grin on her face. "I had to express my opinion, James."
"Whose bright idea was this?"
"You have to ask?" Khyana said snidely.
James glared at her. "You?"
"Of course me," Khyana replied, smirking widely and bowing.
James shook his head, and left the cubicle, calling over his shoulder, "Lily, talk some sense into your friends!"
Lily glared around at her team, who all looked a little sheepish, even Khyana.
"Come on, guys! James is really stressed out right now. Cut him a little slack, eh?"
"Well, it was funny," Kelria said sheepishly.
"Just leave James alone, okay?"
"Sure, Lil. And you tell him to stop with the ridiculous reports, okay?" Khyana replied, starting to get a little angry.
Lily sighed and rolled her eyes. "Please don't start with me, Na. This baby's due any day, I don't need more stress from you."
Lily left the cubicle, followed closely by the rest of the team, leaving Khyana and Kelria alone.
"Maybe we went a little too far with this," Kelria said quietly.
Khyana shrugged and returned to her work. "Maybe. But he'll live."
Kelria shook her head. "Not everyone's a Malfoy, Na."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Khyana snarled, whirling around to face Kelria.
Kelria shrugged and started to leave the cubicle. "Just that not everyone can handle as much as you can."
Tuesday night (technically, Wednesday morning), James, Khyana, Kelria, Remus and Sirius all had a pretty bad scare.
Kelria was woken up about 3 am by the phone ringing in her ear.
"Hello?" she said groggily.
"Kel, 'tis Yana. Lily's in labour at St. Mungo's. Call Remus and get down here ASAP!"
Kelria hung up the phone, pulled on her work robes, put her wand in her pocket, spun on the spot and apparated to Remus' front door.
She pounded on the door over and over again until her fiancé opened the door, looking very groggy.
"Kel!" he exclaimed, suddenly wide awake. "What's wrong?"
"Lily's in labour! Get dressed, we're going to see her."
Remus waved his wand once, was suddenly fully dressed, and the two spun on the spot, appearing seconds later in the St. Mungo's lobby.
"Kel, Remus!"
The two approached Sirius, Khyana, Peter, Frank and Alice, who were in the waiting room. Sirius was pacing constantly, and Khyana was sitting, but agitated, and Peter was the only one who looked calm. Frank and Alice looked just as agitated, and Alice looked like she was even trying to suppress some kind of pain. Kelria remembered vaguely that Alice's due date was around the same time as Lily's…
"Sirius, sit down!" Khyana exclaimed finally. "You're going to wear a hole in the floor, and pacing won't help Lily any. Sit."
He sat down beside her, and Kelria and Remus sat in the two chairs across from them.
"How long has she been in there?" Remus asked.
Khyana glanced down the hall quickly before replying, "About four hours. James told Sirius about fifteen minutes ago. The healers don't think it'll be too much longer."
Remus nodded and the four fell into an uneasy silence. Sirius stood and began pacing again, to everyone's annoyance.
About two hours later, a healer came down the hall and approached them.
"Excuse me, are you the Potters' friends?"
Sirius and Remus stood, and Khyana replied, "Yes."
"I'm Healer Montgomery. Mrs. Potter has given birth to a very healthy baby boy. They would like to see you all."
Everyone walked down the hall behind Healer Montgomery, wide grins on everyone's faces.
Lily was sitting up in the bed holding the baby, looking flushed and exhausted but very happy. James was standing to the side, looking extremely proud.
"Hey, congratulations, Prongs!" Sirius said happily, hurrying to embrace his friend.
"Thanks, Padfoot. His name is Harry."
"Harry…James?" Khyana asked, a sly smile on her face.
"You bet," James replied proudly. "Harry James Potter."
Everyone laughed, and then Alice cried out in pain, doubling over.
"Alice?" Frank said worriedly, grabbing her arms to hold her up.
"I think I'm going into labour," Alice gasped.
Everyone groaned, and the healers hurried Alice and Frank into the next room.
For the next four hours, the seven friends in the Potter room admired the new baby, took turns holding him, and listened to Alice's screams from next door.
Remus and Kelria finally stood, holding hands.
"We don't want to take away from all the attention little Harry's getting, but we have an announcement too," Remus said. "We're getting married!"
Everyone made glad exclamations and hurried to embrace their two friends.
"You're going to have to come here to hug me," Lily said, a big grin on her face, "Because I can't stand up."
Everyone laughed and Remus and Kelria went to her side so she could give them each a hug.
"Khyana's already agreed to be my maid of honour," Kelria said, grinning.
"What?!" Sirius exclaimed. "You never told me they were getting married!"
"You were too busy being mysterious when I stopped by on Sunday," Khyana replied coolly. "And besides, it's their announcement, I'm not going to ruin it for them by telling everyone!"
Suddenly, there was a loud scream from next door, and then the sound of a baby wailing. Everyone looked at each other with wide grins.
The healer hurried over to the room and poked her head in the door.
"Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom would like you to know that it's a boy, and they've named him Neville. You may go in in a little while to see him."
"They can come now!" Alice's voice sounded from the next room.
"Tell Alice and Frank I say congratulations," Lily said. "James, darling, will you take Harry, please? I think I'm going to go to sleep."
"That sounds like a good idea," James replied, hurrying to take the baby. "You rest."
The rest of the party hurried next door to admire baby Neville for a while, before everyone went home to sleep.
Kelria fell asleep with a wide grin on her face. Today had been almost perfect. Now all that needed to happen was Sirius and Khyana's engagement…
A/N: YAY! So now Kel and Remus are engaged, and Alice and Lily have had their babies. But don't expect another big thing for a while, I have to spread these things out, you know! R&R please!