A/N: Thanks for your encouraging reviews for last chapter. I haven't had much of a chance to update, and for that I apologize. The weekend is finally here, leaving the opportune moment to write. So, here is the new chapter. Just so you know, I may (not sure) put some foreshadowing in. It might not be this chapter, it might not be the next, but there will be some. I already have a plot forming in my devious little mind. An elaborate, scheming plot. Oh yes, can't wait to write it. For now, I must continue on where I am. So, please review. I'll love you for it.
Catch My Fall
Chapter 13-Mood Swings
As Lily walked around the site with Katy, her stomach quavered a bit. She had been getting these feelings often, due to the pregnancy, and hoped that she could just move on and do her job.
As Katy eyed the torn curtains, Lily did her best to concentrate on the clues. Another murder had occurred, this time on the McKinnon household, but the Death Eaters had stealthily left before the Aurors had arrived. Moody had put Lily, Katy, and Frank on the job. James was back at headquarters, naming off a list of suspects that could possibly have killed Marlene and her family.
The bodies had been removed and sent off to be examined. There were Healers on the site as well, checking for fingerprints and what-not. Lily tried breathing in slowly, in and out as the Maternity Healer had instructed, but she could barely fight off the nauseous feeling.
Lily looked around the well furnished home that was now dark and cold. She had made a couple of visits to the McKinnon home to alert them about attacks. She had read through the "Home Safety Guide," with them. Marlene and her husband had been nice enough. They had three children, two little girls and a nine year old son. The children had been killed in their sleep, the parents having put up some sort of fight.
Lily could only imagine how Marlene had felt, watching her family die off at the hands of several Death Eaters and possibly Voldemort. It was almost every witch or wizard's greatest fear.
Her eyes started to water, releasing the tears that had been struggling to come out. She saw a broken picture frame lying on the ground near her feet. The McKinnon family looked up at her, their faces lit up and their smiles wide and proud. She whimpered a little, imagining the fear that had pulsed through Marlene's veins as she had watched her husband struggle through the Cruciatus Curse before being killed by Avada Kedavra. The exams on the body had shown that Dark magic had been placed on Marlene before she was killed.
Lily could only imagine..
Before she knew what was happening, she was cowering on the floor, her hands covering her face and her knees collapsing on her. She heard Katy and Frank rush over to her. They tried to help her up, but she resisted.
"Lily honey," Katy soothingly said, hoping to calm her pregnant friend down.
"They all died," Lily cried. "All of them. Her entire life, her whole family came crashing down. She worked so hard on her life, she was strong and talented. Why does this happen?"
"Lily, you know why this happens. He's evil. He lacks compassion and the power to act humane. That's why we're here. We're trying to stop him," Katy said, explaining to her friend the basic principles they had learned in training.
"It's hormones," Frank muttered to Katy under his breath. "She's more susceptible to breaking down and becoming emotional than the average Auror."
He kept this low as he knew that Lily and James didn't want everyone to know they were expecting. Dumbledore had cautioned both the Potter's and the Longbottom's about revealing this information. So, they had only shared it with one another.
"We need to get her back to headquarters," Frank decided, lifting Lily off the ground and handing her over to Katy. Katy held onto her and Apparated into her office. She set Lily in a chair and looked over when Frank Apparated with a crack.
She saw James rushing down the hall, stumbling into the office nervously.
"Is she ok?" he asked anxiously, worry written all over his face.
"She's fine," Frank assured him. He closed the door, blocking the sound of their voices from the outside, and turned back to James. "She's just a bit emotional right now if you know what I mean."
"I feel so weak right now," Lily murmured quietly from the chair. James smiled and kneeled down beside her, kissing her palm and brushing the strands of red hair out of her eye.
"You're not weak," he said, holding her hand. "You're just pregnant. I suppose it would be hard to do your job when you're slightly more considerate than normal."
He knew immediately that he had said the wrong thing.
"More considerate than normal? Are you saying I'm not considerate?" she demanded, standing from her chair, wobbling a bit.
"Mood swings," Frank said quietly under his breath. James nodded and held onto Lily's arm, leading her out of the office.
"Let's go talk to Moody about some nice paperwork," he suggested.
Katy laughed and turned to Frank.
"I have a feeling that's mild compared to what we'll be receiving for the next seven or eight months," she chuckled.
"You have no idea," Frank said. "Alice has been a mess. Nearly everyday she falls apart at the hospital, sometimes from injuries as petty as bee stings. I can't even say good morning to her without her biting my head off."
"I DON'T WANT ANY OF YOUR GODDAMN PAPERWORK!" Lily's screaming voice could be heard. Frank and Katy stepped out of the office and saw Moody closing the door behind him. Through the clear walls they could see Lily still shouting and James rubbing his temples.
Everyone on that floor looked over to Frank and Katy for some sort of explanation.
"Lily's a little hung over today," Katy covered. Everyone resumed working and general "that explains a lot" comments could be heard.
"If this keeps up, people are going to take Lily for an alcoholic," Frank figured.
.X.
As they sat in Florean Fortesque's Ice-Cream Parlour, Lily, James, Alice, and Frank were talking quietly about their weeks. The couples had become good friends, having a lot in common. Lily and Alice were both pregnant, Frank, James, and Lily were all Aurors, Frank and James supported the same Quidditch team, and their children were both in danger of Lord Voldemort.
"I have the biggest headache," Alice complained.
"James, dear, can you read me the ice cream flavors?" Lily asked.
"Did you take come potion before we left?" Frank asked his wife.
"Vanilla, Chocolate, Banana, Strawberry," James listed off.
"Of course I took potion!" Alice snapped. "I am a Healer, what kind of fool do you take me as?"
"No, no, no. I meant read me the good flavors," Lily said testily.
"I didn't say you were a fool," Frank insisted calmly. "I was only wondering. I thought maybe the reason you had a headache was because you didn't take the potion."
"What are the good flavors?" James questioned. "Those are the good flavors."
"Maybe it's a migraine," Alice offered. "I took a potion for headaches, not migraines."
"Don't be ridiculous," Lily replied to her husband. "Those aren't the good flavors."
"I need to use the bathroom," both Frank and James said at the same time.
They left their hormonal wives at the table and left to head towards the bathroom. Instead of going in they stood outside the door and conversed.
"They're driving us mad," James put out in the open.
"She's the one giving me a headache," Frank complained. "I could use some of her blasted potion."
"I know they're supposed to be snappy, but vague? Could Lily be anymore vague?" James asked, muttering on about the good flavors.
"They're pregnant," Frank reminded not only James, but himself.
"True, true. Let's try this again," James said. He and Frank nodded and walked slowly back to their table.
"Have you made up your mind, baby?" James asked Lily. She was looking at the menu.
A waiter had been called over after Frank and James had left. He looked on the verge of tears. James could only imagine.
"What kind of flavor is Rocky Road anyways? It sounds so awful," Lily said, making a face.
While she said this, Alice was naming off the five scoops of ice cream she wanted on her cone.
"Vanilla, Cherry, Pumpkin, um, let's see, how about a scoop of Lima Bean? Oh, one more and then I'm done. Oh yes, can't forget Peppermint," Alice said, more cheerful than she had been before. Frank was counting the bills in his wallet, making sure he had enough to cover five scoops of ice cream excluding his own.
"I'll have a baby scoop of your cheapest ice cream," he mumbled.
"Do I want it in a cone or a dish?" Lily questioned herself.
"Lily, would you please just decide?" James asked, rather impatiently.
"Fine, I'll just have a lemon ice please. Small," she told the waiter. She turned to James. "I'm the pregnant one here. No need to be so moody."
Frank and James sighed as Lily and Alice began to compare traumatic morning sickness stories.
.X.
"My lord, there is a prophecy," the trembling figure of Peter Pettigrew told his master. He was standing in a cold, bare house, a snake circling at his feet. He sucked in a breath, trying not to look at it. His hands began to sweat.
"Tell me more, Wormtail," Voldemort insisted.
"Well, I don't know the specifics," Peter mumbled.
"Tell me!" he roared.
So, Peter Pettigrew revealed the information he knew. He thought he knew it all, but he didn't know that Lily and James hadn't divulged the entire prophecy to him.
.X.
"Does she look heavier to you?" a blonde woman asked her photographer from outside a famous ice cream shop.
"Heavy?" the camera man asked. He was stout and dark haired, pudgy and not well dressed. "She isn't heavy."
"Of course she's not heavy," the woman said, rolling her brown eyes. She was short, petite, and dressed in decent robes. A quill was at her hands and her blonde bob was neatly framing her face. "She's perfect. I just thought maybe slightly heavier."
"You're really fickle," the photographer noted. The woman smacked her bag over his head.
"I don't pay you to judge me," she reminded him. "I'm just thinking we should keep an eye out for her."
"Why are you so obsessed with the Potter's anyhow?" he asked his boss.
"Never you mind," she grumbled, walking away and marking down the names Lily and James Potter upon her list.
A/N: Ok, so I did foreshadow. The woman at the end, sound familiar? Probably not. Well, she is. You'll know in good time. So, please review. Hope you enjoyed it.