Chapter 19 – Big Announcement – Lily's POV
(This is so exciting! I've actually been working on this chapter for quite a while, at the same time as the last two, but I've saved it until now. I'm so excited about this. Ok…here it goes. Enjoy!)
We arrived in the kitchen of our house in Godric's Hollow after we picked Harry up from Kings Cross.
The house had been perfectly restored to its original state while James and I were in the hospital.
Sirius was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea and the Prophet.
"Oh, hey Harry. Have a good term?" he asked, looking up from his paper.
"Yeah, it was pretty good," Harry said. He walked over to the table and sat down opposite Sirius.
"Have you told him yet, Lily?" Sirius asked.
"Told me what?" Harry asked suspiciously.
I shook my head. James and I both sat down at the table with Harry and Sirius.
"What's going on?" Harry asked.
"We've got something to tell you, Harry," James said.
"Ok…" Harry replied slowly.
"Well…" I said. It had been a lot easier to tell Sirius this news. "I'm pregnant, Harry."
Harry blinked.
"Really?" he asked.
I nodded.
His face broke out into a grin. "Cool."
James laughed.
"How long have you known?" Harry asked.
"About a month and a half, but we wanted to tell you in person," I replied. I was very relieved at his reaction.
I leaned against James, whose chair was right next to mine. He reached over and brushed the hair out of my eyes.
"You want a boy or a girl?" Sirius asked us.
James shrugged. "S'long as it's alive and healthy, I'm happy. Well…us being alive as well might be a nice change," he added as an afterthought.
"I want a girl," I said, "Someone to dance to 'Man, I feel like a woman' with."
Sirius and James both gave me puzzled looks. Harry laughed.
"What's so funny?" James asked.
Harry shrugged. "Muggle thing," he said. I smiled proudly.
"Oh, great," James groaned. "You see? If we hadn't died, he wouldn't know anything about all this…well…whatever it is you're talking about."
I laughed. "Wanna bet?" I asked. "I assure you, he would know plenty about muggle music."
James laughed and kissed my hair lightly. "Whatever you say, princess."
"Yes, that's right. Whatever I say. And I say go get me a cup of tea and some chocolate frogs," I grinned.
James rolled his eyes as slid out of his seat to get my things.
"Oh, wait. Forget the tea, I'll have pumpkin juice. No wait…orange juice. And could you put chocolate sauce in it? Thanks, Jamie," I said.
He cocked an eyebrow but didn't say anything. A few minutes later he arrived back at the table carrying a tall glass or orangey-brown liquid and a large pile of chocolate frogs. I took a swig of the juice, sighed contentedly, and dug into the frogs.
James sat down cautiously, as if worried I might explode. I glanced up at him. "The mood swings haven't started yet. I'm not going to have a tantrum if I don't get the right chocolate frog cards."
"Actually, if I remember correctly, Lil…you started having temper tantrums before you even knew you were pregnant with Harry," Sirius said without looking up from his newspaper. I kicked him under the table. He gasped loudly. "Ow!" he said, rubbing his leg.
James chuckled softly, but his face suddenly became serious when I looked up at him. I burst out laughing.
James' eyes widened in shock. "Are you feeling alright?" he asked worriedly.
I shrugged.
"Ok…I think it's time for you to go to bed…" James stood and pulled my out of my chair.
I sighed. "You're right, it's late," I said, calming my fit of laughter. "Night, Harry, night Sirius."
"Night, Mum," Harry picked up the Prophet, which Sirius had finished.
"Good night Lil, Prongs," said Sirius.
"Any excuse to get me alone, hmm?" I asked as James closed the bedroom door softly.
"Of course," he said, grinning wickedly. He stalked towards me and slid his arms around my waist.
"Mmm…" I sighed as he kissed me fiercely. I began biting and sucking my way down his neck. "You are so…fucking…sexy…" I said between kisses.
James laughed. "I don't know about the sexy part, but the fucking…now that I can deal with."
And with that he pushed me down onto the bed and crawled on top of me, working away at the zipper of my jeans.
o
A few days later, Christmas Eve, I was sitting on the bed wrapping Christmas gifts when Harry knocked on the door and shouted, "I need to go to Hogsmeade. It's an emergency."
I threw the quilt over my gifts and slipped out the door, closing it behind me. "What's wrong?" I asked.
"I'm missing part of Hermione's present. And I need fresh roses…Dad's charm didn't work on them. They died."
Lily laughed. "I'll give you a little hint. Don't let him do little stuff like that…he sucks at it," I laughed. I grabbed my cloak out of the closet. "Ok, let's go." I put my arm over Harry's shoulder and apparated to Main street of Hogsmeade.
"Where do you want to go?" I asked cheerfully.
"Jewelry store," he replied. We walked down the snowy street and into the jeweler's.
The inside of the store was a light purple, the carpet a soft, slightly darker purple velvet. There was a coat hanger by the door, and Harry and I hung our cloaks on it.
"Good afternoon, Sir," said the man behind the front desk as Harry approached him. "Oh…Harry Potter?"
Harry nodded and shook the man's hand, used to this behavior from the public by now. "Good afternoon."
"How can I help you, Mr. Potter?" the man asked cheerfully.
"I'm looking for silver charm bracelets," Harry replied. The man nodded.
"Right this way, Mr. Potter." He came out from behind the front desk, placing a small bell on the desk, and led Harry to one of the glass display cases at the back of the store. I followed closely behind them.
"This display, right here," said the man, giving the glass a quick wipe with a cloth from his pocket, "As well as that one, right behind you. Shall I leave you to have a look?"
"Yes, please," Harry replied. He turned his attention to the display case in front of him.
Harry spent several minutes scanning over every bracelet in the display case in front of him, before moving onto the next one and studying it with equal delicacy. Once he was done, he returned to the original one and looked over them all again, slightly quicker this time.
"What do you think of this one, mum?" he asked, looking up from the display. I walked over to him and he pointed to a beautiful silver bracelet.
It had two different sized links, alternating with one large, and then one small. Each large link had two tiny diamonds on each side. The clasp was small and shaped like a heart, with a thin loop of the metal from one lump of the heart to the other, making it look like a miniscule padlock. Each end of the chain was linked around the tiny loop. In the middle of the heart was a small keyhole.
"Excuse me," Harry called out to the attendant. "Could I have a look at this one?"
The man quickly crossed the wide floor of the shop, pulling a large set of keys from his pocket. "Certainly," he said, smiling.
He slid the key into the door at the back of the glass display case, and pulled out the bracelet, as well as a small box which it was resting on. He set it down carefully on the counter.
"This is one of my favorites," said the man. "It comes with these keys…" he opened the box which the bracelet had been sitting on and pulled out two fairly small silver keys, about the size one would expect of a diary key. "When you put one of these keys in the hole in the clasp, it turns the bracelet on. Er…Is it safe to assume that this is for your girlfriend, Mr. Potter?"
Harry nodded.
"Right, so there are two key. One for this girl, and one for yourself. The keys bind the wearers. If one is in danger, both keys will glow red and become warm."
"Nice choice, Harry," I said, admiring the bracelet.
"Ok. Wait…you said something about turning the bracelet on?" Harry asked.
"Ah yes," said the shopkeeper. He picked up one of the keys and slipped it into the hole in the clasp. He turned it all the way around and pulled it out again, before handing the bracelet to Harry. "Take a look, Mr. Potter."
Harry held the bracelet up so he could see it. Where diamonds had been a few seconds ago, here were now rubies. After a few seconds the rubies were replaced by sapphires, and then by emeralds. In about a minute, the bracelet had gone through a complete rainbow of precious gemstones…and then some.
"It's beautiful…" I said.
Harry passed the bracelet back to the shopkeeper. I'll take it. Could I look at charms, please?"
The man nodded and led Harry over to a spinning display case near the front. "This one is all silver, and the next one is all gold." He left Harry and I to browse.
Harry picked out a plain, silver heart and then went to look at the rack of silver chains on the counter next to him. He scanned them for a few minutes, before picking out two chains, both exactly the same only one was larger. He took the bracelet, the charm, and the chains up to the front desk to pay.
After the shopkeeper put everything in boxes and gift wrapped it, we walked down to the florist and bought a dozen red roses, two black, and two white. I cast a charm on them to prevent them from wilting as we exited the shop. "That should last a few months," I said.
Harry smiled. "Perfect."
o
When we arrived home the house was empty save for an owl which Harry recognized as Percy's owl, Hermes. I took the letter from him and he took off out the window which was open a little in case of letters.
Dear Lily, James, Sirius, and Harry,
We hope you can join us for Christmas dinner tomorrow afternoon. If you are coming, feel free to apparate in any time after 2. Have a lovely Christmas morning, Hope to see you here.
Love Molly, Arthur, and the family.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"It's from Molly," I said. "Just reminding us about dinner tomorrow night. Shall I make lunch?"
Harry nodded.