CW: pregnancy, taking a pregnancy test, references to abortion, keeping this news from a partner, very mild references to abusive relationships where women are expected to have children, mentions of past disordered eating, if these things bother you, please be super careful with this chapter as the entire thing revolves around these points. I'll leave a short description at the bottom so you can catch up! x

1st September 1981

Mason had finally replied to Moody's frequent owls and had made it into the Ministry to attempt getting back to work. Lyra hadn't gone in; she knew it was something he needed to do alone, but she was immensely proud. In her own letters to Moody, and when she'd seen him around the Ministry, they'd shared their concerns that Mason wouldn't make it back at all, either to work or to the war effort in general. With the injuries on top of his trauma, it hadn't been certain at all. Not that she'd been surprised – you didn't come back from a loss like that easily, and plenty of people never did. The fact that he was still functioning was something she didn't take for granted.

But there was another reason she'd wanted him out of the flat today.

She took a big gulp of tea, which she'd only recently began to enjoy again, set the mug down and then placed both of her hands flat on the table, grounding herself as she stared at the little box.

It was a Muggle invention, but she'd felt far less likely to be caught in a Muggle shop than in Diagon Alley shopping for the wizarding version, and the spell wasn't one she was confident she could perform properly – it was something Marlene could've done, and would've done gladly, Lyra knew, but Marlene wasn't here. If she was doing this herself, the Muggle method was the most reliable.

Picking it up, she moved into their little bathroom and carefully slid the stick out of the box. Swallowing hard, she read and then reread the instructions before following them all gingerly and setting the contraption on the side. And then… she waited.

The two minutes crept by achingly slowly as she gnawed on her bottom lip, her knee bouncing as she leaned back against the bathtub from her spot on the floor. Honestly, she wasn't sure why she was bothering with this dumb test except to have the answer there in front of her, to have the suspicion confirmed once and for all. Lyra picked up the stick hesitantly, slowly cracking one eye open, then the other, then staring.

The tiredness, the nausea, the missing periods, all of which she'd written off to stress and grief and burnout, the sudden aversion to tea that she'd only just got over, the weight gain despite nothing about her diet changing, it all made sense now.

She let out a sudden sob and clamped her hand over her mouth to muffle the noise even though she knew she was alone in the flat.

She was pregnant. She was pregnant, and there was no one she could tell – no one who would know about these things. No mother, no sisters, no Dorcas or Marlene or Marie, no one who could tell her what she was supposed to do or how she was supposed to tell Mason. No way of knowing if Mason even wanted this because they'd never discussed it and right now seemed like the worst time in the world.

She sobbed again, gasping for air as she curled up on the floor of the bathroom, her hands wrapping around her stomach automatically. The test sat patiently on the toilet seat with its perfect, undeniable plus sign.

After nearly an hour sat on her bathroom floor, Lyra pulled herself up, washed her face, tipped out her now cold cup of tea and apparated to Sirius' flat. Her logic was that if anyone would help, it would be her big brother, but she also knew logic didn't get you very far with Sirius these days.

She knocked and waited, tugging the sleeves of Mason's jumper down over her hands and wrapping them around herself again. She'd forgotten her coat and it was cold for September.

"Lyra?" Sirius said from the other side of the door. "Is that you?"

"Yeah," she said miserably, looking into the peephole that she knew he'd be on the other side of. "It's me."

"Security info?"

"You've got two birthmarks on the back of your left ankle that look like a little snake bite and you always played the dragon who kidnapped me in games as a kid," she mumbled. "Can I come in?"

Sirius opened the door slowly and tugged her inside. Since Marlene's death, the distrust that he'd been struggling with even before had spiralled into near-crippling paranoia and even familial trust was thin these days but she took being let in as a good sign and looked around.

"What do you want?" Sirius asked, making a half-hearted effort to clear a space on one of the sofas for her to sit down.

"It's okay," she said hastily, grabbing his arm and stopping him, taking in the unkempt beard and the state of the flat and the faint but noticeable smell of Firewhiskey. "I just… I just need a brother right now."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong with Mason?"

"No, no!" she said quickly, knowing that Sirius' issues over the loss of Marlene had somehow seeped into a hatred of Mason – something akin to survivor's guilt but warped, as most of his emotions seemed to be these days. "Well… kind of," she whispered.

Sirius' eyes narrowed. "What is it? If he's hurt you, I'll kill him."

"Oh for goodness sake. Nevermind," she muttered, tucking her hair behind her ears and shaking her head. "It's okay, honestly." She knew Sirius would absolutely take her news as Mason hurting her even if she tried to say otherwise.

Sirius let his gaze flick over her quickly and then he rolled his eyes and didn't press the subject. "Right, fine, whatever. I'm going on another mission tonight anyway so I dunno if I'd have been able to help."

"Cool," she said quietly, heading for the door.

"Talk when I'm back though, okay?" Sirius said, grabbing her sleeve quickly, sensing that maybe he'd done something wrong even if he didn't know what it was. If Marlene had been here, he guessed it would be one of the times she punched his arm and gave him a look. He didn't notice much outside of his own grief any more but Lyra looked… worse than he'd seen her. More like how she'd been living at Grimmauld Place.

She managed a little smile. "Sure. I love you, Sirius."

"I… I love you too, L. Look after yourself," he frowned.

"You too," she nodded, hating how final she sounded.

She had one more option left and realistically, she should've gone to Remus first. Why she'd thought Sirius would be a sympathetic listener she didn't know. She shut Sirius' door behind her and then apparated once more, landing on Remus' doorstep and steadying herself, cursing as she remembered that she should probably be avoiding travelling like that now.

Remus opened the door to her once she'd identified herself and immediately put the kettle on, seeing her pale cheeks and worried expression. He didn't ask any questions until she was sat down with a hot tea in her hands, and only once he was sat opposite did he open his mouth.

"What's up?"

Lyra took a deep breath, let it out slowly and licked her lips. It was the moment of truth. She had to tell someone.

"I can't believe I'm saying this out loud, but… I'm pregnant," she whispered, levelling her gaze at him and watching his eyes widen and then settle as he processed the information.

"Oh."

"My thoughts exactly," she laughed nervously, tightening her grip around the mug and shifting on the seat.

"How far along?" Remus asked, glancing down at her stomach – he would never have guessed so either she just wasn't showing yet, or this was a very new predicament.

"I'm… not exactly sure. A… a few months, maybe? Four, maximum?"

"And I assuming by the fact that you're here and alone that this wasn't planned and Mason doesn't know?" Remus checked, leaning forwards.

"You'd be assuming correctly, this was… unexpected, we'd thought we'd been careful," Lyra admitted, "And I have… no clue what to do next."

Remus sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I think you know what my advice will be."

"Tell Mason?" she said, shivering involuntarily as she imagined how much harder she was going to find it to speak to him.

"Lyra, he needs to know!"

She made a little noise and swallowed another nervous gulp of tea. "I – I don't know how he'd react," she whispered, "This – this was very much not planned. We were trying to avoid this! He's a wreck, I'm a wreck, the war is still going on, we're both targets, a baby is the worst idea ever!"

"And yet you haven't just… dealt with it?" Remus said awkwardly, hating the words coming out of his mouth. "Purebloods in particular must have some way of dealing with unwanted babies, if-"

"Please don't," she whimpered, shaking her head. "I don't know what scares me more, keeping it or that."

"And I can't make that decision for you, you knew that before you came here," Remus protested, moving to sit next to her because she looked close to tears. "You know who can help though?"

She put her mug down and buried her face in her hands. "How could I be so stupid?" she cried, "I'm such an idiot! What would my mother think! Nineteen and pregnant and fighting in a war with no end in sight. I'm an idiot."

"Right, because this is all your fault, Mason is responsible for none of this," Remus said sarcastically but he tried to keep his tone light, rubbing her shoulders gently. "This is not just your problem, and I know you're scared, God knows Lily was when she found out she was pregnant with Harry, but you don't have to do this alone."

She kept crying, trying and failing to stop thinking about Mason's reaction. Remus wrapped his arms around her carefully and rocked them back and forth slowly, closing his own eyes and praying that it all got less complicated soon.

"I'm sorry for coming here and sobbing all over you like always," she whispered after another minute, her whimpers having slowly grown quieter. She wiped her eyes and pulled away. "I'm an awful friend."

"You're not, this is what friends are for," Remus smiled, "We've got to have each other's backs. Especially now-"

'Now we're the only ones left' hung in the air after he finished speaking.

She nodded slowly and grabbed a tissue to blow her nose, "Even so, any time you feel like having a breakdown on me, you're more than welcome," she said with the ghost of a smile.

He snorted and rolled his eyes, "Whatever, Black. I don't do breakdowns, they're your thing."

"Say it isn't so," she giggled wetly, running her fingers through her hair to smooth it out. "Am I really that predictable?"

Remus smiled back and then his expression fell serious again. "You will tell him though, won't you?"

Her smile dropped and she bit her lip, shrugging. "I… I don't know. Maybe not yet."

"Lyra, you don't have forever, you know?"

"Believe me, I know," she mumbled, her hand skimming across her stomach. "Soon. I'll tell him soon."

Remus got the feeling that was the closest he'd get to a definite promise so he nodded. "And I'll keep my mouth shut for now. Deal?"

"Deal," she breathed.

Remus glanced at the clock and sighed, rubbing his eyes. "I hate to kick you out, but I need to go and meet Moody, it's more Order stuff and he made it sound urgent."

"No, no, please don't be late on my account," she said hastily, sniffing and wiping her eyes fiercely with the back of her hand, "If Moody will be with you, it means Mason will probably be home soon anyway, and I need to sort myself out."

"Okay," he said gently, "But I won't be away for long, owl me if you need me and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

"I don't deserve you, Rem," she smiled.

He chuckled as he stood up, rolling his shoulders out. "I know, I'm an angel."

"You are," Lyra laughed, sending her mug flying back through to his kitchen so he wouldn't have to clean up after her. "I'll see you soon, okay?"

"That's a promise," he smiled, "Take care."

Lyra flashed him a little smile as she slipped back out of the apartment, hating that there was now a large part of her that worried if it was a final goodbye every time she left.

4th September 1981

Regulus' twenty first birthday passed with no word from him. The subject was too painful and Mason carefully didn't bring it up. Lyra didn't get out of bed at all.

22nd September 1981

It had taken a while but gradually they'd fallen back into a semi-normal routine. Mason still barely slept, still went to work and came back drained and couldn't face it again for another day; Lyra still continued to visit Dorcas' sisters despite the sight of them tearing the stitches out of her healing heart every single time. They still clung to her every time and asked about her and Mason and she still came home and cried into her pillow with Mason's arms around her.

They got through painfully, taking each day as it came and waiting for news, good or bad, from Moody.

An owl arrived one morning, as Lyra slowly ate some toast and Mason frowned, thanking the owl and turning the letter over in his hands, before his expression cleared.

"It's from Lily," he smiled, sitting opposite her and opening it carefully, not wanting to rip the envelope, treating it like it was far more precious than paper and ink.

Dear Mason and Lyra,

I know it's a silly thing to say, but I hope you're both doing okay. We're all sending our love, and wishing we were with you. We're managing as best we can and Harry, bless him, is helping to keep us going but I know James is finding it hard, Dumbledore has asked that he don't leave the house at all now we know someone is leaking information so please keep writing, he likes to hear from you.

Lyra, try rotating out food, find what's making you feel sick and go from there! And fluffy socks and hot water bottles too! Best of luck my love.

Harry is currently clambering onto that awful broomstick Sirius got him for his birthday so I'll have to go and intervene because God knows James won't (men are useless) but please write back soon, let me know how you both are, and attach a new book if the owl can manage it!

All my love,

Lily x

Mason read it several times carefully and then passed it to Lyra, rubbing his temples slowly. Although the letter read cheerfully, he knew Lily, and he knew James, and he knew they'd be going mad. They'd spent too long cooped up, and it wasn't fair on a one year old either but there was no other way to guarantee as much safety for them all.

"What did she mean, about the hot water bottles?" Mason asked, watching her read the letter too, her eyes flickering backwards and forwards.

Lyra looked up quickly and took a sharp breath. She hated that she was about to lie to him but she hadn't managed to pluck up the courage to tell him yet. "Nothing, I just mentioned that I'd been under the weather in my last letter and she was offering some advice."

Mason nodded and stirred some more sugar into his coffee before taking a gulp. "How are you feeling, by the way?"

"Still a bit weird," she mumbled, running a hand through her hair and smiling. "But better."

"Good," he smiled, kissing her hair as he passed by to go and shower. He had more energy today and wanted to make the most of it.

Lyra sighed slightly as she watched him go, reading the letter again and then smiling to herself. Lily had picked up on her hints in her letter and managed to get an answer back without spelling it out to Mason. She was an angel. It was less for morning sickness now and more for just general discomfort as it got harder to hide her situation and more uncomfortable to live with it.

Mason popped his head back around the door and smiled. "Do you want to do anything today? Or just… chill?"

They'd had a lot of chill days recently.

"I don't mind," she promised, crossing her legs on her seat and shrugging. "Whatever." She finished her toast slowly.

"Maybe a walk?"

Lyra smiled and nodded; she'd take anything, and the fresh air would do them both good.

"Cool, I'll find another jumper, it's cold."

"Can you grab me your Quidditch one? I like that one," she called. All of her jumpers were far too form fitting for her liking these days.

"Thief!"

She giggled. "Are you going to say no?"

"… No."

Lyra laughed again and enjoyed the sound of him laughing too – the flat hadn't seen much of it recently and the sound of it soothed something inside her.

30th September 1981

"Happy birthday, beautiful."

Lyra stirred and opened her eyes sleepily, smiling when she felt him kiss her quickly. "Mmm, thank you. Good morning."

"Good morning," he chuckled, stealing another kiss and wrapping his arms around her.

"I'm not getting up yet," she warned, "I want a lie in."

"I think we can manage that," he grinned, having had no intentions to move just yet anyway. "There are some presents here if you fancy sitting up."

She raised an eyebrow. "There are?"

Mason mimicked her and raised an eyebrow too. "It's your birthday, of course there are."

Lyra snorted and rolled her eyes, running her finger over his chest lightly, ghosting across the line of his ribs where he'd been hurt before, silently casting a prayer out that there had been no lasting damage. "You're awful."

"No, I'm Mason," he said with the ghost of a smirk. He was most like himself on these kinds of mornings, before they had to get up and remember where they were and what had happened, and she loved the stolen minutes when he joked and laughed like he used to.

"Alright, smart arse," she grinned, crinkling up her nose and sitting up, keeping the covers over her lap carefully. "What have I got?"

"Lily sent a parcel for you, I really don't know how the owl carried that and I'm not going to ask what's in it, she says it's for your eyes only which scares me," he snorted, "Remus said he'd bring his over later, this one is mine and the flat one is from Sirius."

Lyra smiled and glanced over to her bedside table where the little notebook from Dorcas last year lay in the top drawer. "I wasn't expecting this."

"An excuse to buy you shit that you'd never accept normally?" Mason scoffed, "I've been planning this for ages."

She leaned back against his chest happily as he dragged the presents over and she reached for Sirius' first, unwrapping the records carefully and reading the attached note. After he'd trashed his flat, he'd slowly set about putting it back together and had passed on the records he knew she'd liked when she'd stayed, promising that a record player would follow it soon enough.

"Any decent ones or has he just dumped all the shitty B sides on you?"

"No, they're good ones, I even got Summer Nights!" she grinned, stealing a kiss as he leaned over her shoulder. "Lucky me."

Mason hummed happily and then grabbed his present for her from the end of the bed. "Okay, now mine!"

"You're a child," she grinned, "And you've also gone overboard!"

He scoffed. "This is tame, my mum would've…"

She sighed softly as he trailed off, the light in his eyes dulling and she turned around on his lap to brush her hands though his hair and trace the line of his jaw gently. "I know," she smiled, "It's okay."

"I'd hoped I'd get through today without us having to do this, it shouldn't be about that, not on your birthday," he whispered, blinking her and tightening his arms around her.

She shook her head. "Before you even do it, don't even think about apologising. You can't turn this stuff on and off, you know you can't. Today is still a day like any other, probably even harder when this sort of things only reminds you of who isn't here," she breathed, rubbing his chest where she knew it always tightened up as he tried to breathe carefully.

He kept his eyes on her as she took a breath in, feeling him copy.

"That's it," she murmured, smiling. "Better."

"You can open your present if you want, I'll… I'll be okay with a distraction."

She nodded and picked up the smaller of the carefully wrapped presents, sliding her finger under the wrapping paper and revealing the little square frame.

She gasped, her hand flying up to cover her mouth. "Is this?"

"It is."

"And did you…?"

"I did," he laughed.

The tiny painting perfectly depicted the view from her bedroom window back in the old flat, the view she'd loved so much. It was a Muggle painting, the bright acrylics showing it at sunrise, the rooftops glowing. It was exactly how it had looked when they'd dragged themselves out of bed ready for their early shifts, still wrapped up in blankets with Dorcas fast asleep next door. She wiped her eyes as she traced a finger over it delicately, marvelling at the detail. He'd mentioned a few times that he'd painted, but she didn't know he'd done any recently.

"It's… beautiful, thank you," she choked. Since the flat had been packed up and resold, she'd missed waking up to that view. Having a piece of that flat, the first place that had felt like home, was priceless to her.

He nudged her and tugged the other parcel over. "This one is kind of a group one, but it's me who put it together so I get the credit."

She sniggered and felt its weight, looking at him curiously.

"Just open it!"

Unwrapping it happily, she carefully lifted the cover open, revealing the pages of Muggle polaroids and magical photographs and Mason's careful handwriting under every one with a date, names and a description. There were some from training with the camera Dorcas had taken with her, some from her graduation, even some from moving into the old flat with all their friends looking very unimpressed with the number of boxes they were carrying. And then there were Mason's ones, all the ones of her he'd taken because he could never resist taking photos when she saw on the sofa reading, curled up with a cup of tea, or half buried under their blankets in bed in the early mornings when he woke restless. There were stacks and stacks of photos that hadn't made it in because although he thought she looked amazing in all of them, she would've howled at the unflattering angles.

She turned each page reverently, pausing on the page of her and Dorcas from his birthday party, pulling stupid faces at Harry on the rug and the one Marcus had taken of his whole family when she'd been for dinner.

"Mason, I… I don't know what to say."

"I know you don't have much stuff from before you left home, Lily once asked me if I'd go to Grimmauld Place and get more of your stuff but it felt wrong to do it secretly and you'd mentioned you didn't want to go back so we had to improvise. Sirius had some photos at least, I know for a fact he put one in there of baby you and Reg – which is insanely cute, by the way, who knew you were a chubby toddler? – but I also know that that's all you had, so I – we – wanted you to be able to start this album. Obviously it's only a year's worth of stuff, but-"

"It's perfect," she breathed, flinging her arms around him and holding onto him tightly, "Oh Merlin, I love you."

Mason laughed and covered her in kisses, tugging her back down happily. "Happy birthday, Ly."

She kissed him properly, cupping his cheeks as she smiled, blinking away tears. "I don't deserve you."

"Not true at all," he laughed in between kisses.

"Very true," she grinned, laughing as he rolled them over, getting them both hopelessly tangled in their sheets.

Mason declined to answer, he just deepened the kiss and smiled, brushing his hands down her sides.

She shivered in anticipation and then her eyes widened as she realised the difficulty of her situation. She wanted birthday sex, but that would invariably mean taking off the nightshirt she was wearing which would mean having the noticeably large bump she was now dealing with on display. Which would mean some awkward questions. But how did she get out of this when they'd both been struggling far too much the last few months to even get close to this? She was going to ruin everything no matter how this went.

"What?" he smiled, pulling back slightly and then his eyes lit up with realisation. She froze.

"The presents are still on the bed," he said, moving away to put them somewhere safe, not wanting anything to be damaged.

Lyra pulled the sleeves of her night shirt down over her hands nervously as she watched him and he turned back, raising an eyebrow at her expression.

"Okay so that wasn't it, there's something else?"

She bit her lip and he waited quietly for her to speak.

She made a little conflicted noise and kissed him back so he slid his arms around her waist, happily inching under the shirt until she sucked a sharp breath in and pulled back again, squeezing her eyes shut and kneading her brow.

"A-are you okay?" he frowned, thinking she was hurt. "What's wrong? Do you have a headache or something?"

"No, no, not that," she whispered, her heart pounding. This was it, this was when she had to tell him. Merlin, this wasn't how she'd wanted this to go. This was her punishment for putting it off for so long.

Mason shifted closer again and tilted her chin up softly. "Talk to me? Because if this is just because this has come out of nowhere, I get it. I know I've been… shitty the last few months, I wanted to-"

"It's not you at all," she croaked, her throat suddenly very dry as she fought against her panic to get the words out. "It's me, I promise. And it's not that I don't want to – do that. I do. I just can't take my top off."

His frown deepened. "Why? Wait… have you not been eating again?" he whispered, "Have I – have I completely missed this? Fuck. You've not had a problem with that since we first met, did I-"

"It's not that either," she promised, covering his mouth with her hand to stop him rambling guiltily and to give herself time to work out what she wanted to say. Where did she even start?

"Please don't be mad," she whispered, looking up at him beseechingly. "Please don't say anything just yet, either I need to… I don't know, I just… I didn't think this through."

He watched her with concern but didn't try to say anything so she dropped her hand and hid them in the long sleeves again, taking a deep breath.

Knowing she couldn't say it in so many words yet, she just sent another quick prayer upwards and then dragged the shirt over her head, dumping it next to them and watching him. His eyes ran over her quickly, evidently checking for any weight loss and the skinniness he'd seen when she'd first started training a year ago, but there was none of that, and so at first he didn't notice that he was looking at the opposite. And then he did notice. She reached out nervously and held his hand, the lump in her throat too big to speak through even if she'd known what to say.

"Uh," he said, swallowing. Terrified he was jumping to conclusions, he glanced up at her for confirmation and the fear in her eyes told her everything he needed to know. "Oh my God."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, shaking her head as she started to cry. "I'm sorry, I suspected but didn't do anything, I thought I was just being paranoid, and then everything happened and I just didn't think about it, but I wasn't being paranoid I was right and then it was far too late and I didn't know what to say or how to say it, I didn't know what you'd think-"

"Oh my God," Mason said, his voice shaking.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, leaning her head on his shoulder, shaking as her panic came to a head now she was faced with potential disaster.

Mason was just staring blankly at the wall behind her but he tugged her onto his lap automatically, gathering the blankets around her again before she got cold. "You're pregnant?" he croaked, his mouth finally working again as his brain caught up.

Her answering sob was all the confirmation he needed.

"Shhh, shhh," he breathed, rubbing her back in slow circles as she fell apart against him, the secret out with no way to take it back. "It's okay, I promise."

She wound her arms around his neck as she broke down and he knew better than to try and talk just yet – it'd only work her up again and he'd long since learned it was best to let her cry things out and compose herself.

Eventually she quietened and wiped her eyes roughly, wrapping the blanket around herself and pulling back, turning her red rimmed gaze on him as he studied her, his eyes soft.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he whispered. "I… I assume you've known for a while."

"A few weeks for definite, I suspected a while before," she admitted, wiping her nose miserably. "I… I barely believed it myself, I didn't want to believe it and I was so scared."

"Of what I'd think?" he frowned.

"Of course, because it's far too late to do anything about it, and-"

"Do you want to do anything about it?" Mason said, raising an eyebrow. "What I want is secondary, surely you know that?"

"No," she said, a slightly hysterical edge to her voice, "I don't know that! We've never discussed this, we were actively trying to avoid this, and even though you're you and you're lovely, I was never raised – never told – to think that I would have a say in this at all!"

Mason often forgot that this was probably the situation she'd have been in if she'd not left home, except it would've been with Robert Avery and her husband's preferences would not be secondary at all, all of this would've been out of her hands.

"Hey, hey," he soothed, "I know you weren't, but this is me telling you right now that I will do whatever you want, whatever that is. Right now I am, uh, startled, to say the least, but only because, sure, we weren't really expecting this. Not because I hate you and I'm kicking you out or making a decision for you," he said firmly, cupping her cheek.

She searched his expression for any indication that he was lying and found none, so she forced herself to take a deep breath and closed her eyes to gather her thoughts.

"I got a book," she explained quietly, "It says it's too late to… stop it. Both Muggle or magical methods have to be much earlier, but I didn't even know then, so whatever happens we have to… we have to-"

"Lyra, don't get stuck in your head," he smiled gently, still watching her as she opened her eyes again nervously, "Don't speculate, don't calculate all the odds, don't lay out every eventuality to me, just talk to me, love. What do you want?"

"It's not that easy," Lyra whispered, "There's too much to consider. I turn twenty today, that's… that's so young. And the war! We're still fighting a war, Mason, and neither of us are exactly in the best headspace for this."

"Okay, but all of that is… an extra issue, sure, but nothing insurmountable," he promised, "Do you want a baby? I wouldn't blame you for saying no. You just got out of that situation, if you're not thrilled to be getting back into it then fine, we'll figure something out."

"It's not that," she promised, "This isn't anything like that, you're nothing like him, it's not that."

"Good to know," he smiled, "But the offer still stands."

For the first time since taking the test, she stared at him and truly considered what she wanted.

"If I wanted it, would you? You say you're secondary, but you still have to have a say," she breathed, trembling. "I couldn't do it without you."

"I would," he said sincerely, "Sure, I didn't think we'd do this yet, but if you think I'd not daydreamed about it then you don't know me. And we can't let James and Lily have all the fun," he added, poking her sides gently.

She giggled wetly and let out the breath she'd been holding, feeling dizzy with relief. "I know I should've told you sooner, can you forgive me?"

Mason rolled his eyes. "I'm not even answering that. There's nothing to forgive."

"This is insane, you realise this is insane," she said, looking up at him.

"Yeah, but no more insane than anything else we've done in the last year," he pointed out, moving his hands to run over the gentle bump of her stomach. "How in hell did I not notice this?! How far along are you?"

She snorted. "You think you're so observant! Lily worked it out via letter after just a few hints about feeling sick and putting on weight. And… I reckon it was early May, so about five months, ish? Maybe a little less."

Mason scoffed. "That's not as bad as I thought, I was worried we'd only have a month to get everything sorted. And sure, but she knows about this stuff! I just thought you were ill because that's what you told me!"

"I thought it was that too!" she protested.

"Ly, I love you, but at what point when you didn't get your period did you not go 'hmm, this is unusual'?" he grinned.

"You can just not get it when you're stressed too, I thought – I mean I wasn't really thinking at all," she corrected, "I really should've figured it out earlier."

"Oh well," he smiled, "We know now."

"That we do."

He laughed and tugged her down for another hug, tucking her against him. "We do! We're having a baby!"

"Mason," she whined playfully as he pulled the covers over their heads. She didn't know why she'd ever been scared to tell him, her loveable idiot.

"Nope, we're staying in bed and snuggling all day."

She huffed but she was smiling as she relaxed, closing her eyes again. There was a lot to do, a lot they should've done already if she'd known earlier, told him earlier, but that could wait for another day. For now she was content to stay in bed.

Catch up:

Mason is at work so Lyra takes a pregnancy test. She already knew but wanted physical confirmation - she's pregnant. She goes to see Sirius, but doesn't tell him because he's too upset still. She then visits Remus, who listens and she tells him. He agrees to keep quiet so Lyra can tell Mason on her own terms.

Skip to 4th September. It's Regulus' birthday but no word from him.

Time skip to 22nd September. Lyra hasn't told Mason, but they're kind of getting back to work etc slowly. Letter from Lily arrives, she worked out about the baby from Lyra's hints in a previous letter and offers advice.

Skip to 30th September. Lyra's birthday! Mason painted her the view from her bedroom at the flat with Dorcas and worked with their friends to make her a photo album. They start to mess around, intending to have sex but Lyra realises this will involve showing Mason her stomach. She freaks out, he thinks it's because he's been so out of it recently so she forces herself to show him. They know it's too late for any other option, they'll have to keep the baby. Lyra is upset because if she'd been with Avery still, she would never have had a choice but Mason reassures her it's her decision and that she should think about what she wants as a priority. She admits she wants this, and they reconcile and he jokes around, also excited!