Before it Began
By. SkyQuill
Summary
James knew he was in love at first sight, but what would it take for Lily to love him back? Read their story leading up to their deaths and discover the dangers they faced and the loves and friendships they shared.
Disclaimer
I do not own most of the characters and places or anything else that may seem familiar. J.K. Rowling has the exclusive claim to this as well as the general plot that formed this fanfic.
Chapter 26: Dawn of Life
Painfully, Lily slipped out of bed and got changed. She was still extremely sore from the battle against Voldemort yesterday.
Then slowly, she made her way to the bathroom to get ready for work. She would have much rather lay in bed with James all day, staying within the comfort of their warm, soft bed but auror lessons must be attended. Besides, James couldn't fall behind now that he had just begun.
After completing her morning preparation ritual, Lily headed back into the bedroom and strode over to where James was sound asleep. Gently she shook him,
"James? Time to get up!" she said softly. No response. Rolling her eyes, Lily picked up her wand off the bedstand and focused her mind on a certain spell. In an instant, a loud firecracker burst from the wand and went off with a bang. If Lily had not been used to James' deep sleep disorder, she would have been shocked that he still gave no sign of awakening.
Finally, Lily turned to her last resort. Giving her wand an elegant, twirling wave, she muttered,
"Aguamenti!" and a spurt of water sprayed out from the end of her wand. The shower of cold water splattered directly onto James' face and spluttering, he jolted into a sitting position.
"What in bloody hell was that for?" he cursed angrily. Lily scowled at him impatiently and jerked her head towards the alarm clock. For a moment he stared indignantly at the clock then finally gave in. With a sheepish smile, he apologized and hurried to get ready.
By the time James was ready to go, the two of them only had about five minutes to get to the Ministry and to the classrooms.
"See you later love." James bid, kissing his wife on the cheek. Lily smiled and returned the sentiment. Then the two of them apparated to work.
000
Lily strolled out of the classroom several hours later feeling famished. The group had just been practicing fatiguing spells and to say the least, they didn't exactly have a positive after effect.
Lily's mind however was not on her weariness but on Alice. She had not turned up for lessons that day. At first Lily had suspected she might be on another junior mission (for the last few months her, Frank and a few others had embarked on simple missions due to their pronounced advancement in their auror education) but the Professor would have surely mentioned something. He was always rubbing it in the others faces that they, unlike his star pupils, were not good enough to do quests for the Ministry yet.
Lily would have been amongst the few doing the extra tasks as she had the highest marks in her auror classes but she always turned them down. She wanted to fully complete all her courses before actually tackling the field work. She had been that way since she started at Hogwarts. She had even refused flying lessons until she had covered enough books on the sport. Now, in training for her job, she was no different in that aspect.
"Lily?" a voice called. Spinning around, Lily saw that she was being trailed by Frank. She sighed in relief, finally she could put her mind at rest.
"Hey Frank. Where's Alice?" Lily said trying to sound cheerful rather then exhausted. Frank smiled grimly,
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. She's really sick, and when she get's sick, well...she tends to get really cranky. I was wondering if you could maybe come over and cheer her up?" Lily laughed lightly,
"Of course. I'll be over in a second, I just have to send an owl to James."
"Okay, thanks. See you in a moment then." Frank replied, sounding a little happier and then he apparated from the hallway. Feeling quite amused at Alice's antics, Lily hurriedly located an owl and sent it off with a message for James. Then she too apparated from the Ministry.
000
With increasing frustration, James hacked away at his Fretwool Vines. In his current class, he was supposed to be creating a 'Face Disguising' potion which was supposed to an electric blue in color but so far all James was managing was a bright pink mess.
Normally he would have done fine working with potions but at the moment, his mind was on his and Lily's last night exploit of ardor. His pleasent reverie however was soon interrupted by the ever pesky Professor Patil.
"Mr. Potter, do you recall what happens when you cut Fretwool Vines in vertical cuts?" he asked snottishly. James strained his memory back to the previous morning,
"Er, they grow back thicker?"
"That is correct. Now may I ask why you wish to thicken the roots you are supposed to be dicing?" the ministry professor continued.
"I forgot." James replied tersely.
"Begin again, and with new roots Mr. Potter." Feeling angry and impatient, James chucked his ruined vines in the rubbish bin and collected new ones. Then vanishing his previous concoction, he began a new one.
A few hours later, James emerged from the dimly lit room sweaty faced and tired. He could really do with some marauder humour at the moment. Therefore, it came as a convinence when Lily's letter arrived, bringing news of her visit to Alice's. In a much brighter mood, James apparated to Sirius' house.
000
"Alice!" Lily called enthusiastically, "I brought chocolate!" Lily stood in the landing, removing her travelling cloak as she waited for Alice to appear. It didn't take long.
"Lily! her friend called back merrily. Lily smiled as Alice led her to the living room. "It's really nice of you to drop by! How did you know I was ill today? Franks gone out to visit a few friends so we can have some nice, private girl talk. Oh and thanks for bringing some chocolate by, you don't know how much i've been craving it lately!"
"Woah slow down!" Lily exclaimed feeling bemused as she held up her hands in a halting gesture. "And for one, Frank told me you were sick, for two, it's no problem coming by and all that." Alice laughed,
"Sorry."
"That's okay." Lily replied, offering her friend the chocolate. "So how are you feeling?"
"Mmmm, "Alice mused taking a bite of a chocolate frog, "Alright. I feel better then I did this morning anyways."
"Well that's good. You probably just caught the flu or something." Lily stated, helping herself to a frog as well.
"Yeah. My partner in stealth class recently had it so that's probably it." Alice commented sounding quite indifferent. Then she paused momentarily, studying a chocolate frog she had just unwrapped. "You know, this is missing something. Hang on, i've got just the thing!" Feeling slightly taken aback, Lily waited patiently for Alice to return from the kitchen.
Finally Alice re-emmerged, and to Lily's bewilderment, she was carrying a large jar of pickles.
"Er, Alice, what are you doing?" Lily asked, eyes wide as she stared at Alice's invention. She had removed several pickle slices from the container and crammed them into her mouth alongside the chocolate.
"Eating. You should try it, it actually tastes pretty good." Alice replied, smiling mischieviously. Lily wrinkled her nose in disgust,
"No thanks. What's gotten into you anyways? Frank said you've been in a bad mood all day and now you're eating pickles and chocolate. You hate pickles."
"No I don't." Alice said simply, munching on another 'Chockle'.
"Mmmm hmmm, "Lily mumbled, feeling unconvinced. However Alice didn't seem to want to discuss it any further so Lily changed the subject. "Hey do you know what Dumbledore was talking about yesterday?"
"About me?" Alice asked. Lily nodded curiously and Alice shrugged. "No clue, although he might have caught wind of me complaining to Frank earlier. I had just mentioned I wasn't feeling all too great."
"Oh," Lily said quietly. She sensed something different about the Alice in front of her know, like something had changed. However, she couldn't seem to quite place it. Shaking this thought from her mind, she and Alice continued to converse, from things as simple as the latest robe trends to the more complex issues about their lovelives. Soon, it was dark outside.
"Oh Merlin, look at the time." Lily said glancing at a large grandfather clock on the wall opposite to them. Alice smiled,
"Yeah it is pretty late. Anyways thanks for coming by Lily. It was really thoughtful of you." Lily made to return her friend's smile but she stopped when she saw Alice's eyes all watery.
"What's the matter?" Lily exclaimed feeling slightly alarmed. Alice shrugged and wiped impatiently at her eyes,
"Sorry, I guess i'm just really tired."
"Er, okay then." Lily replied cautiously. Then after embracing each other in a quick hug, Lily went back outside and apparated home.
000
The next morning arrived sooner then Lily would have liked. Groggily, she stretched her hand outside the blankets and hit the sleep button. Then she curled back up against James, prepared to spend an extra ten minutes alongside his warmth. She would have managed this had a wave of sudden nausea not overcome her.
Catapulting out of bed as fast as her sleep ridden legs would allow, Lily barely made it to the toilet before she lost the contents of her stomach. Slumping against the bathtub, she listened to James slow footprints as he made his way to the bathroom, obviously awoken by her sudden movement.
"Are you okay love?" he asked sounding quite concerned. Lily opened her mouth to answer but before she could utter a word, she vomited again into the toilet. Flushing it miserably, she allowed James to help her up.
"I guess i've caught Alice's flu." Lily mumbled sulkily. James helped her back to bed and pulled the covers back up to her chin. Then he laid his hand across her forehead,
"Weird, " he commented, "You don't have a fever." Lily shrugged, not really caring about her symptoms now. All she knew was that she was sick and wouldn't be able to go into auror training today. She wished the sick feeling in her stomach would go away.
"Well, i've got to get going. Are you going to be okay alone today?" James continued.
"I'll be fine." Lily sighed. James smiled encouragingly at her and kissed her forehead.
"Good. Get some rest now and you'll be better before you know it." As James got ready and left, Lily's bad temper increased. Although the sickness went away around noon, her temper persisted.
She kept getting mad at stupid things, like when she accidentally knocked her wand off the side table and she had to go across the room to retrieve it, or at the ticking noise the clock seemed to be making louder then usual.
Lily was just lying down on the sofa in the living room, reading a book when the doorbell rang. Impatiently, she hurried to answer it, expecting it to be James checking up on her or something but she was surprised, yet pleased to find Callidora and Cadence on the doorstep.
With her friend's keeping her comapany, time passed rapidly and Lily soon bid them goodbye. Feeling much better as evening settled, she hastily threw together a quick dinner and waited for James to arrive home.
After supper, ham with mashed potatoes and corn, Lily was ready for an early night. James obliged and the two retired at a mere eight o'clock.
The next morning, Lily awoke feeling one hundred percent healthy. Happily, she awoke James in her usual watery fashion and scurried about, getting ready. She was just about ready to head out the door when that familiar nauseaous feeling overwhelemed her again.
"Not again, " she groaned hurrying past James on the stairs and back into the bathroom. Again she was lucky and made it to the toilet in time. Almost as if it were Deja vu, Lily waited in the same fashion as she had yesterday for James to come in.
"Sick again?" he asked incredulously and Lily nodded. "Maybe you should see a doctor. You're flushed and all but you said that you only feel sick for a little bit and then you're fine. That's really quite odd."
"But I don't feel sick enough to go to the doctors!" Lily protested grumpily. Great, her temper was flaring up again.
"Okay, okay. Sorry, it was just a suggestion." James surrendered as he helped Lily back to bed again.
"I know i'm sorry." Lily sighed, knowing she shouldn't have snapped, "I just hate being sick." And to her surprise, Lily felt tears flooding to her eys again. Before she knew it, she was sobbing into James' shoulder.
"Lily, shhh, it's just a flu! You'll be fine!"
"I know, i'm sorry. I'm being st-stupid." Lily choked. James patted her on the back soothingly but suddenly Lily felt as though she were about to retch again. Pushing James aside she made to head to the bathroom but it was already too late.
James quickly vanished the mess from the floor and surveyed Lily shrewdly. Once again he checked her temperature.
"Lily, i'm going to take the day off of work okay? And i'm going to take you to St.Mungo's." James said firmly.
"Why?" Lily asked, "Do I have a fever?"
"No, that's what bugs me." James said.
"Please James, i'll be fine. I don't need the healers, honestly." Lily pleaded. Hospitals always made her feel uncomfertable.
"No, I really think you should go. What if it's the after effects of a spell that hit you and Alice at the battle with the giants a few days ago? Besides, if you're not cured, you're going to miss a lot of auror classes." James argued persuasively. Lily considered all of this for a moment then finally gave.
"Fine." she sighed reluctantly and allowed James to help her get ready.
000
"Stick your tongue out." a short, kindly looking healer told Lily. Obediently, Lily obliged. The elderly witch studied the inside of her mouth for a moment while a quill took notes without human assistance on the table beside them. James was waiting patiently outside.
"So you've been having mood swings and sudden bouts of nausea? Is this correct?" the healer asked as she picked up the clip board and studied the notes. Lily nodded mutely.
"When was the last time you had intercourse with your husband?" the witch asked abruptly. Lily almost fell off the examination table in shock.
"P-pardon?" she studdered. The healer smiled at her and while turning red, Lily answered her question,
"I dunno, a few days ago. And then maybe a week or two before that..."
"I see. And have you missed your period at all?" the healer pressed. Not sure where this was leading, Lily exclaimed,
"Now that you mention it..."
"Mrs. Potter, do you think you can diagnose yourself?"
"What?" Lily asked confused. Then suddenly, something in her mind clicked. "Oh Merlin!" she gasped. The healer smile broadly at her,
"Let me be the first to extend my congragulations." she grinned, "Shall I fetch your husband?" Lily nodded, emerald eyes wide as the joy and fear of the news began to sink in. She was pregnant. She was going to be a mother. She was going to have a baby. Her and James were going to be parents.
James entered the room looking thoroughly confused. The healer shot Lily an encouraging smile and then left the two of them alone.
"So..." James began, "Are you okay? Is it the flu?" Lily tried to speak, honestly she did but words failed her. All she managed was to nod again. She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.
'Well are you going to tell me?" James pressed curiously. Lily threw her arms around him and James stumbled backwards in surprise. "Lily? What's going on?"
"James, we're going to be parents!" Lily croaked, eyes brimming with tears of happiness.
"What are you talking about?" James asked in disbelief.
"I'm pregnant." Lily said simply, letting the glorious words settle upon them.
"As in, you're going to have a baby?" James asked, still looking unconviced. Lily smiled and squealed,
"James! We're having a baby!" For a moment, James was silent then as the joy kicked in, he embraced Lily, picked her up and swung her around once.
"Blimey. I can't believe it." he muttered, eyes unfocused as he thought more about it. Lily smiled ecstatically and stared into James' eyes. For a few touching moments, the couple stood there, drowning in joy at the realization. Then James leaned in and they shared a joyous kiss.
000
Later that night, after collecting mounds of paperwork on the subject, Lily was found hurrying to answer the door. Swinging open the door, she was immediatly bowled down by Alice. Tears of happiness streaked down their cheeks as both women exchanged the news.
And even later, as Lily lay in bed alongside James that night, she reflected on the irony of it. She and her best friend were going to be mothers at the same time. She felt more elated then she had ever believed possible. She was going to have a baby with the man she loved. It was really the beginning of their new life together, and soon another life would join the one they already had... So this, Lily thought, Is truly the dawn of life.
A/N: Hooray! My longest chapter so far! I am so relieved, and proud at this accomplishment! And I actually updated within a decent time range!
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, i've been looking forward to writing it for forever. I hope i did it justice. I also hope I wrote the pregnancy symptoms down accurately. I tried to put in the mood swings, the cravings and morning sickness and all that. Well once again, I hope you enjoyed and i'll update as soon as possible.
Oh and i'll take it you all are very fond of dear Sirius. You should've seen how many reviews I got regarding him, lol 3 Padfoot 3