Chapter 24: Day 180/180
"I'm pregnant," Lily exclaimed, her emerald eyes glowing with joy, her face flushed, her husband sporting the most excited, most terrified look that anyone had ever seen.
"Congratulations!" Marlene exclaimed, immediately scooping her friend into her arms and bouncing up and down with her.
"Good on you, mate," Sirius said, bringing his arms around James and giving him a manlier version of what Lily was getting from Marlene.
"How far along are you?" Remus asked, once he'd exchanged his congratulations with the couple.
"Fourteen days," Lily replied proudly, her hand placed firmly on her belly, which didn't have a hint of anything going on underneath it.
"How can you tell so early?" Marlene asked, looking down at Lily's belly as if little Harry would be able to tell her when he wasn't even far enough along to be anything more than a bundling of cells.
"Well," Lily said, blushing. "When I tried to take my Mrs. Peppers' Patented Pregnancy Prevention Potion yesterday, Mrs. Peppers yelled at me from the bottle. She wasn't very nice about it either. Told me I was dumb for trying to prevent pregnancy after the fact."
Hermione laughed. Sometimes, things in the magical world still made her giggle - like all-knowing pictures of people on potions bottles and the ridiculous addiction to alliterations that everyone seemed to possess. She was just glad that the woman hadn't ratted Hermione out. Lily's last batch of the elixir had been swapped out for a placebo by an unknown woman who had happened to sneak into the bathroom while Lily went to buy tea, even though she could have sworn she'd just bought some.
Hermione eyed Percy and winked at him. She had a bit of fun doing this ridiculous but important mission that she'd been sent on. But now, it was time to go. This was the announcement she and Percy had been waiting for before they were able to leave, and judging by the way Remus's hand was fiercely digging into hers, he knew this as well.
Hermione was just stuck on what to tell people like Lily and James and Marlene, who'd become such good friends but still had no idea where she had come from. Explaining to someone that you had to go back home was substantially more difficult when you weren't allowed to tell them to where and why and that contact was impossible. Plus, Lily seemed to be set on being a bridesmaid at her and Remus's wedding.
Hermione had woken up to a bouquet of white lilies with a teal and brown polka-dotted ribbon wrapped around the stem once. Hermione had questioned everyone staying the night at headquarters about it, Lily had averted her eyes and mumbled something about good, fun color combinations.
Remus had nearly choked when he realized what it was, and he had to be resuscitated by James, who whispered something about Lily surely not forcing them into marriage. He laughed nervously when he said this.
After lunch, James said his goodbyes to everyone and walked toward the door in a weird sort of way that reminded her of Luna Lovegood. Lily, as she said her goodbyes, explained that James wanted to visit his parents' graves and tell them the good news. Lily teared up a bit as she said this, but she wiped her eyes and slapped a smile back onto her face as she went to follow her husband out.
Marley and Peter left as well, having to go on Order business, and Hermione and Percy were left with Sirius and Remus.
"So what was your mission?" Sirius asked, when he noticed Hermione nervously fiddling with the Black amulet around her neck, for the first time pulling it out of her robes and into plain site.
Percy snorted into his cup of tea, but disguised it with a cough.
"I was a glorified babysitter for Lily and James, making sure they both stayed alive and talked to each other enough so that they'd be happy enough to be... intimate. And I may or may not have swapped Lily's contraceptive elixir with a fake to make sure she got pregnant," Hermione said, her cheeks tinged with pink.
Sirius and Remus nearly died laughing, and Hermione couldn't escape the deja vu she felt. Especially when she heard Percy join them.
"So the baby they're about to have; he or she's important, huh?" Sirius asked, once he finally caught his breath, leaning onto Remus for support.
"You have no idea," Hermione said, smiling at the thought of her other best friend awaiting her return back home.
"I'm not surprised," Sirius said, pride in his eyes. "James told me he'd make me Godfather of their first one, you know?"
"After you got drunk and complained for an hour that you'd never have kids," Remus pointed out.
Sirius nudged him roughly, although a smile remained on his face. "Point is that no kid could turn out bad with me as a Godfather."
Hermione raised her cup of tea, and they toasted to Sirius' s statement, because it was true.
The amulet on her neck suddenly glowed a bright pink color, and she couldn't help but feel as if it was nudging them along to get going. Everyone else in the room seemed to notice it, and they fell into an awkward silence.
"What do we tell the others?" Hermione asked Percy, frowning.
"No idea," Percy replied with a shrug.
They'd talked about it a few times since his return, but they'd been unable to come up with anything of their own. They'd visited with Dumbledore and McGonagall, after the Order meeting earlier this week, and they'd left it up to them. Dumbledore then said his goodbye, just in case he was 'gone on business' when they had to depart.
Hermione was suspiciously aware of the fact that Dumbledore seemed to know when they'd be leaving, as his 'trip' was only three days, and this was the second day of it. Hermione had nearly lost her wits again, bursting into tears as she hugged him goodbye.
She then said goodbye to McGonagall, who also seemed to have glassy eyes as she hugged Hermione. McGonagall stopped by the dungeons to check on Hermione's progress every now and then, and they'd taken to eating lunch together. In the process, McGonagall's fondness of Hermione had grown, and she was barely trying to masque the fact that she was upset that the young witch would be leaving soon.
"Let us handle it," Sirius said after a long silence.
Hermione's eyes widened at the responsibility they had agreed to take on, and she looked at Remus, who nodded firmly, even though he looked absolutely exhausted. The full moon was tonight, and it was the last time he'd have the benefits of a Wolfsbane Potion for a while.
"Thank you," Percy said warmly, and he stood up, shaking hands firmly with Sirius, a look of understanding passing between them.
"Let me give you a box of things to take with you," Sirius said, leading Percy out of the room.
"Subtle," Hermione whispered, as her eyes remained glued on the table.
She saw Remus stand up through her eyelashes, and he walked to the other side, sitting next to her. Wordlessly, he enveloped her in his arms. She snaked her arms around his back and sighed.
"You just had to be so sweet, didn't you?" she quietly joked. "Had to make me fall for you."
"I could say the same to you," he whispered, kissing the top of her head.
They stayed in silence for a few moments longer, cherishing each other's warmth, well-aware that this would be the last time they were in each other's arms like this, and both unwilling to voice the fears they had for her return.
Hermione heard a cough behind them, and they separated slowly. She looked into Remus's tired eyes, and she wished she could stay with him for the full moon at least, but the amulet around her neck was Sirius's, and it was glowing brighter and brighter, telling her it was time to go. Remus leaned in regardless of the fact that they had an audience and gave her a long, tender kiss.
When they broke apart, he gave her another brief hug before he stood up, giving her a hand. She took it and looked at Sirius and Percy.
"I've got your trunk," Percy said, patting the inside pocket of his robes.
"Alright," she said.
Sirius walked over to her and gave her a big, goofy grin.
"Sorry for being such a huge cock to you at first," he said with a laugh.
Hermione beamed at him and said, "you've already apologized to me for that."
"No, I haven't," he said with an amused twinkle in his eyes. "I keep track of every apology I ever make, and I'm sure I haven't apologized to you for this properly yet."
She laughed heartily at him. So he did realize he hadn't. She just shrugged and shook her head. "Future you apologized before I even got here. I just hadn't known for what."
"Smart man, he is - I mean - I am," Sirius said, and he wrapped his arms around her in a bearhug. "I'm going to miss you, sweetums."
"I'm going to miss you, too. This you, I mean," she said with a laugh. "This is weird."
"No kidding," he said, and he let her go.
Hermione looked at the boys in front of her, anxious to see the men they would turn into soon enough, and she pulled the chain around her neck just like Sirius had taught her and flicked it toward Percy. It coiled around his wrist and glowed.
There were not dramatic, frenzied, or passionate last minute words exchanged. There wasn't a tearful goodbye. There was just an encouraging smile, a grip on her wrist from Percy, and they were off, with a feeble "see you soon!" from Sirius, who cracked up laughing, because he must have thought himself hilarious.