"Do you think I look pregnant?" Lily fretted, staring at her stomach. She stood in front of her mirror in nothing but her underwear and bra and James sat on the edge of her bed watching.

"You're not even far enough along for an ultrasound, of course you don't look pregnant."

Lily sighed at that. They'd gone to her doctor on Thursday who had confirmed her pregnancy with a blood test but said there was no point scheduling in an ultrasound until at least nine weeks. That said, they got a referral to a Doctor Bodine and booked in their nine week appointment which meant they had an agonising four weeks to go before they could get a confirmed due date.

At least James' nerves were eased on the morning sickness. Lily's tendency to vomit at least twice a day had him concerned to say the least. And it was confirmed, Lily could have one heavenly cup of coffee a day.

"Ah, I see Lily has found something new to stress over," Mary said waltzing into her room. "I'd certainly love to see Petunia's face if you came to dinner in that."

"Oh, hush. Go away all of you so I can concentrate."

"On putting on clothes?" James smirked.

"Yes!"

She moved to her open wardrobe and began flicking through garments upon garments vetoing as she went along. With the door left open, the conversation from the living room floated in. Apparently, they were still talking about her.

"The way Lily was stressing that morning, you'd think this pregnancy was worse than the burning of the Library of Alexandria."

"I was in shock!" Lily called in defence but she could already hear James' laughter floating.

"Lily said you actually took it pretty well. Fatherhood doesn't scare you?" Marlene teased.

"Oh, well someone had to be calm. Lily word-vomited at me after she actually vomited."

"Ouch," Marlene sympathised. "Are you guys going to tell Petunia tonight?"

"Absolutely not!" Lily butted in.

"Evans, are you even dressed yet?" James asked with slight exasperation in his voice.

He couldn't be blamed really. This was outfit change number four. You see, she'd originally chosen a loose top to hide her non-existent belly because she was scared Petunia would sniff it out of her. But then she considered what if Petunia found it weird that normally-tight-fitted-top-wearer Lily was now wearing a loose top and so changed back into a fitted long-sleeve only to decide it was too booby. So she changed into a button-up blouse tucked into high waisted jeans but that felt too casual. And so now she was putting together outfit number four with ten minutes to spare.

"Almost!" She allowed, still half naked in front of her open wardrobe, "and are you mad, Marly? Tell Petunia tonight when we're supposed to be celebrating her pregnancy? Do you want this baby to be born?"

"Jesus, your sister really is a cow if she could get offended that you got pregnant at the same time as her," Mary said and Lily imagined a roll of the eyes accompanied it. "How are you feeling about meeting Petunia and the Walrus?"

"Lily's stressed enough for the both of us but I don't think there's much to worry about. People generally like me."

"Petunia won't," the three girls chorused as though rehearsed.

"I honestly don't know whether to be offended."

"Don't be," Marlene assured.

"It says more about Petunia than you, trust us. She hates anything or anyone that brings Lily joy."

"Harsh, Mary!"

"She's a cow," Mary counteracted.

"She's still my sister," Lily conceded. "I'm sure some part of her wishes me happiness."

"If Petunia were a circle she'd be filled with things like snobbery and jealousy and gossip and her version of manners, and the bit of sisterly love she possesses would be a tiny little dot right in the centre that you'd have to swim through all the other shit to find."

Lily didn't respond to that. Mary was just trying to poke fun but Lily couldn't help but feel today wasn't the day. This dinner was important. Petunia had to like James. She just did. James wasn't the type to scare easy — god knew she knew that — but it was a fear. A very real fear and one she'd had for so long ever since her year eleven boyfriend dumped her because Petunia was being generally horrible to him.

"Lils?"

Her head whipped around and there stood James, leaning in her doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked handsome — he always did — in a beige sweater and chinos. He stared at her softly, as though he could read every thought and emotion running through her and, even though she literally had nothing on but her bra and knickers, that's what made her feel naked.

"You okay?" he asked.

"No. This week has just been," she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I just — ugh, I don't even know what, it's just everything. Finding out we're expecting and the vomiting and my sister and Tomorrowland and we haven't even told Sirius and wondering if my wanting mangoes at three in the morning means my cravings have started and I just, it's every—"

He walked up to her purposefully and wrapped her in a hug, her head nestling against his chest as she let her arms wrap around him.

"Everything is going to be okay," James promised. "You're going to find something to wear and you'll look beautiful in whatever it is. We'll have dinner with your sister and her husband and everything will be okay."

"Mayday word: mangos."

"Is this your way of telling me you're craving mangos?"

"Maybe," Lily allowed.

"Tell you what, I promise we can stop at Waitrose on the way back and buy all the mangos you want if you put something on."

"My, I never thought you'd be bribing me to put clothes on," she teased, lifting her head to look up at him with a sly grin.

"It physically pains me," he promised, dropping a kiss to her lips then her nose then her forehead and back down to her lips. "And I promise to take all of it back off again the moment we're behind closed doors."

Lily smiled into his lips. "Now that's a promise."

James took up residence on her bed once more as she finally decided on a black knit dress that she paired with sheer stockings and nude ankle boots. On top she wore her dusty rose coat to give it a splash of colour. James and the girls praised the outfit and two minutes after that, Lily and James were driving to the restaurant.

When the car was parked and there was nothing left to do but make a dash through the rain that was just beginning to fall, James grabbed her hand.

"I have something for you."

Lily raised a brow which turned into widened eyes as he pulled a black velvet box out of his pocket.

"James…"

"I'm not proposing," he said quickly, assuringly. "As much as I'm sure about you, about us, I think we ought to tackle the pregnancy thing first before we decide if we want to get married, this is just…" he agonisingly trailed off and Lily was left with her heart beating in her chest.

The last time he'd asked her something this nervously, it had changed her whole life.

"This is just…?" she prompted.

"A gift. A you're-having-our-baby present. A you-have-to-push-out-a-three-kilo-baby apology. A this-is-the-start-of-our family token. A promise." He opened the box. "I hope you like it."

Inside was a ring. A deep green emerald in a gold bezel setting. The stone was rectangular and was set sideways comforting Lily in that it was very different to an engagement ring.

"Marlene and Mary helped with the sizing but I picked the design and," he trailed off as Lily held her hand out. He slipped the ring onto her index finger where it fit perfectly.

"I love it," she whispered, staring at it. "You really didn't have to. I don't need presents."

"No one needs presents," James brought her hand up to his lips, "but they're a nice perk."

"They are and this is and it's never coming off." James laughed warmly as she leaned in, covering his lips with her own lightly and she hummed lightly, wishing they didn't have to get out of the car. Wishing they could lock themselves in a room somewhere and just enjoy each other. "Now, I doubly can't wait to get home so you can undress me."

He groaned into her mouth and dragged out her name, "Li-ly. How do you expect me to sit through dinner with your sister with that thought in my head?"

"Because I love you."

"And I love you." He kissed her nose and she laughed. "Come on. We better go. I'll get the umbrella from the boot just wait in the car."

"James, it's barely sprinkling."

"You'll wreck your hair."

"It'll survive," she snorted but James still met her on her side of the car with the open umbrella and together they dashed through the rain, their hands gripped around the umbrella handle.

They were being shown to their table when Lily spotted her sister and brother-in-law and a new onset of nerves set in and multiplied by the second.

"Just remember what Mary said."

James snorted, his hand on her lower back. "What that your sister is a cow?"

"Mmhmm," Lily smiled brightly as they reached the table.

Petunia and Vernon were already seated, and Petunia allowed a smile to grace her face as she greeted her sister with one timid kiss to the cheek. The smile dimmed ever so slightly when Lily reintroduced James. Vernon didn't even stand to greet them, instead, he waved his fat hand at them and gestured for them to sit down, which they did.

"I took the liberty of ordering you a red, Lily," Petunia said, gesturing to the glass at Lily's place.

"Oh," Lily exclaimed, caught off guard. "Thanks, Tuney, but, um, I'm actually on an alcohol detox. Some new thing Marlene's got us doing."

"I'm sure they won't mind if you have a cheat day," Petunia reasoned. "We're celebrating after all!"

"The girls have made it a competition," James interjected. "They're a bit mad about it if you ask me. They have a spreadsheet and everything to track streaks and who's winning. Lily's actually coming first at the moment so we can't break her streak but I love red wine and would be happy to have the glass you ordered, Petunia."

Vernon, his hand wrapped around a glass of scotch, scoffed and Lily raised a brow as James grabbed the glass of red and placed it in front of him instead. If Petunia noticed she didn't mention, instead she launched into telling Lily all there was to know about her niece or nephew to be — how they found out, how they'd been trying since the wedding (Lily really wasn't sure she had wanted to know that), and what her plans were for the nursery. This took them through ordering and until their food arrived.

"And we've started looking at names," Petunia announced, cutting into her chicken.

"Names and nursery?" Lily laughed only to hide the sudden panic that had begun to grow inside of her. Should she and James be looking at paint samples and buying baby name books? They didn't even have a place to live. "Isn't it a bit early for all that? I thought you said you were only nine weeks? You've plenty of time to figure that stuff out…"

"You know what they say, you can never be too prepared for a baby," Petunia said. "And we're going to settle on a name just as soon as we find out the gender. All the books say that babies who know their name from inside the womb become more confident and assured children."

James snorted and Lily kicked him so he quickly made a show of sniffing and saying, "allergies."

But this lapse brought the attention to himself.

"So, Jim, was it?" Vernon asked.

"James," he corrected.

"Yes, of course. What do you do?"

"I'm a DJ with my brother, Sirius. It's a DJ band, group thingy."

He really had never let her forget that one.

"Oh! Is that how you were at our wedding?" Vernon asked and Lily wanted to lock herself in the bathroom and never come out.

"Ah," James spared a glance at Lily, "no. I was at your wedding to surprise Lily."

"You two met before the wedding? And you flew all the way to Paris just to see her?" Petunia's brows were practically in her hair. "How did you meet exactly? When did you meet?"

Lily let out a nervous laugh, "it's, um, you know, in a club where James was DJ-ing. You know, he played Taylor Swift for me."

"Well, I had to make up for spilling that drink down your shirt." He squeezed her hand with a lovesick grin and she took a deep breath in. This was fine.

"Where do you … DJ?" Vernon asked. "Any places we would know?"

Lily almost snorted herself at that one. She doubted Petunia and Vernon had ever stepped a foot inside of a club let alone knew ones in London. They most definitely never would have partied their way through Europe at the type of places James would play at.

"Oh, well, all over really. We've played all across Europe and Japan, and even America. In January, we're heading down to Australia to do a few festivals there as well and then to Brazil."

"That's a lot of travelling," Vernon stated. "Doesn't that affect your real job?"

"I'm sorry, I don't follow."

"Well, what else do you do? Surely pressing play on a speaker doesn't earn you enough to live. It sounds like more of a hobby so where do you make your real money?"

"Er," James looked at Lily for this one and she didn't blame him.

"Vernon, being a DJ is James' full time job. He's from this DJ duo called The Marauders. It's very popular and they release songs with very popular artists. Like, um, Tuney, do you remember that song from this summer Bring Me Back with Ariana Grande? It played on the radio quite a bit. That was James and his brother."

Petunia's eyes narrowed and Lily held her breath.

"So when you say you met in a club before the wedding…?"

"We met in Ibiza. And then … well, then again in Mykonos and then, um, Paris. And, uh, remember how I decided to go to Tokyo after?" Lily asked.

"A meditation trip, wasn't it?" Vernon asked and James snorted unashamedly at that one.

"Not quite. I, uh, well, I went with James and his brother. James invited me to come along as they had a few shows in Tokyo and it kind of just … happened."

"You went to Tokyo with two men you hardly knew?"

"I promised her I wasn't a serial killer first," James attempted to lighten the mood.

Petunia looked like she was fending off a headache. Lily was wishing she could have a glass of wine.

"Wait — is he why you went to Mykonos and was late to my wedding?"

Oh boy. The vein in Petunia's forehead — or her stress-o-meter as Lily had dubbed it — was close to revealing itself.

"Er, I wasn't late to the wedding," Lily protested. "It was a lunch, which I apologised for and I really thought we'd moved passed this."

"That was before I knew you were just slagging your way through Europe and following around some boy like a groupie!"

Lily felt a lick of anger but James' hand squeezed hers again.

"I'd hardly say it was like that," he said curtly. "Lily and I, we just knew from the second we met."

Vernon scoffed this time. "Don't you think you're both moving a bit fast for a one-night stand in Europe? I mean, come now, Lily, how well do you even know the fella?"

"I know him like the back of my hand," Lily said honestly. "And I'd say it stopped being a 'one-night stand in Europe' when we continued to have one-night stands which I think makes it a relationship. Wouldn't you agree, love?"

"Couldn't agree more."

"But think of your future! With him gallivanting across the world with his little shows and he's probably living pay check to pay check not to mention, you can't really think you're the only girl he's-"

"Can you please stop talking about my boyfriend like he is not even here?" Lily said sharply.

The table was quiet for a moment.

"So Vernon, what do you do for work?" James asked to break the tension.

Vernon blinked owlishly a few times before jumping into drivel about his company and the drills they sell and Lily couldn't stand it. She placed her napkin on the table and excused herself quietly.

In the bathroom, she leaned against the sink, staring at the ring James had given her only an hour ago. They didn't understand. They couldn't or wouldn't or maybe they could but they just didn't care to. But maybe it was too much to expect them to. Lily and James … they had gone from not knowing each other one day to sharing inside jokes within ten days. To being so comfortable with each other they introduced each other to the rest of their friends the second they landed in London. To wanting to be near each other day in and day out. To loving each other so quickly. And now they were going to be parents.

Bun in the oven. How would Petunia ever understand that? How was Lily ever supposed to break the news to her? Over the phone, definitely over the phone. At least that way when Petunia began shrieking about it, Lily could feign bad reception with a chip packet and hang up.

A knock at the door.

"Occupied," Lily called out, annoyance in her voice. Couldn't they read the little 'occupied' sign in the lock? Knocking wasn't going to make her mental recoup go any faster.

"Babe? Lily, it's me."

Oh. She turned to the door, unlocking it and pulled him inside quickly before locking it again.

"How much is this making you want to run?" she asked as he placed his hands on her waist.

"I'm only running if I've got you next to me. But, you know, Australia is apparently really nice this time of year, if you're interested?"

Lily laughed, leaning the top of her head against his chest so that she was staring at their feet.

"I'm so sorry about them. They always do this. It's why I've stopped telling them about guys I'm with."

"Hey, it's okay … but question."

"Proceed."

"Is it okay if I mess with them a little?"

"As long as you don't tell them about our little alien, do whatever you want. They deserve it."

His fingers found their way to her neck and he gave her a soft massage, "hmm, how is our little alien?"

"In want of that Nutella flavoured ice cream I know Sirius is hiding in the back of your freezer."

"I thought it was mangoes today," James murmured, leaning his forehead onto hers. "Mmm, doesn't matter. I'll dig it out for you as soon as we get in."

Lily pressed a kiss to his lips, soft and lingering as he pressed against her with his leg between her own. Her arms slipped around his back and she could sense the warning signs in the back of her mind as his hands buried themselves well and good in her hair — this kind of kissing usually led to something more.

"James," she breathed out but her lips were on his again before she could say much else and he flipped them around so he was pressing her against the door, his hands sliding down her body only to grip her arse and lift. She hitched her dress up and wrapped her legs around him easily, her arms moving to loop around his neck, their lips never leaving.

He trailed kisses down her neck and he moaned softly when she rolled her hips against his.

"I don't wanna wait until we're back home," he whispered in her ear.

"Jesus, James," she groaned, bringing his lips back to hers. "We," kiss, "shouldn't."

"We absolutely should."

She shivered at the words and then squealed as he spun them around, his arms holding her up as he moved them across the tiny bathroom and sat her on the vanity. His hands came back up to her face, smoothing her hair from her face.

"There are those eyes I love so much," he whispered.

"I've always wanted to fuck in a public bathroom."

"Is it more or less trashy if it's at a restaurant?"

"More. Less. Who fucking knows just get your pants down."

He grinned as his hands went to his zipper. "I like it when you're bossy."

"And I'm going to be super bossy because we don't have a lot of time."

"We have all the time in the world," James countered. His pants were now pushed down and his hand was playing with the edge of her knickers.

"My sister-"

"We'll tell her we had a one night stand."

Laughter was about to spill out of her when he thrust into her eliciting a squeak from her as she tried to stay quiet. He pressed a kiss to her lips as he thrust in and out at a steady, slow pace.

"James…" she whimpered. "Faster."

She didn't want slow and gentle. She wanted hard and fast. He smirked knowingly from just her tone of voice and she knew he understood when he covered her mouth with his hand and pounded into her hard and fast and just the way she wanted it.

"Fuck, Lil," he groaned lowly, his eyes closing before opening, blazing into hers as he rocked into her, his hand muffling the sounds he was making her make.

When they finished, they stayed frozen in the same spot, Lily resting her forehead on his shoulder as his hands traced up and down her back.

"I can't believe we had dirty-bathroom-restaurant-sex with my sister waiting for us. What the hell are we going to say took us so long?"

"Line was long?" James grinned, bringing her face up so he could kiss her softly. "Come on, I think I smudged your makeup a little."

They spent another few minutes in the bathroom fixing themselves up before Lily headed out into the restaurant first, taking her seat.

"What on earth took you so long?"

"Oh, um, there was a line."

James took his seat next to her, his hand brushing across her back.

"So sorry, there was a whole debacle with toilet paper. Can you believe a fine establishment like this was out of toilet paper? It's a disgrace. Lily, we must always make sure to have toilet paper at our new place."

"So you two are really moving in together?" Petunia asked. "When?"

"Just as soon as we find a place," Lily said.

"Yes, we were originally planning for something smaller — we loved this one-bedder in Kensington — but I think we've decided to go for something a little more long-term."

"Long-term," Vernon huffed. "You barely know each other. You see, I was very respectable about all of this. Petunia and I moved in the proper way-"

"Oh, you hired moving trucks?" James asked and Lily bit down on her lip to stop from laughing.

"No, I meant-"

"You didn't use moving trucks?" James frowned. "That must've taken you quite a few trips with a car. Not very economical."

It was nearing midnight when they finally stumbled into James' flat, still laughing at Petunia and Vernon's reaction to some of the sillier things James had said to goad them. James went straight for the freezer to dig out Sirius' Nutella ice cream as Lily kicked off her boots and sat on the couch and a few moments later, James was with her holding the tub of ice cream with two spoons stuck in it.

Lily grabbed hers, popping a spoonful of the ice cream into her mouth as she studied him.

"What?"

"You."

"Me?"

"You're brilliant. I have never seen anyone handle my sister and Vernon so well."

James smiled. "So are you convinced now? Are we true love now that I've defeated the dragon?"

"We're true love because you fuck me in bathrooms and steal ice cream from Sirius for me. The Defeater of Dragons thing is just a perk."

"One I'll hold on to until Sirius discovers we ate all his ice cream."

"We'll tell him your going to be a father. He can't-"

"Yeah, right," came a snort from the hallway and Lily almost jumped a mile, James' grip tightening on her thigh. "Like I'd believe that."

"Sirius!" Lily exclaimed. Was her voice too high pitched?

"I thought you were going to be out tonight?"

"Remus left early with some girl so," Sirius shrugged. "Decided to call it a night. What about you? The dinner with your sister go so well that you're already fantasising about him being your baby daddy?"

Lily glanced at James with a panicked expression. She sucked at lying. Everybody knew this.

"Well, Pads," James started, "it's not … it's not a fantasy."

"Right," Lily agreed, nodding to tell James it was fine to keep going. "But it is, um, maybe this will go down better with ice cream." She jumped up and deposited Sirius' own ice cream into his own hands and got him a fresh spoon sticking it into the ice cream. "It's still really early."

"Like super early."

Lily watched as Sirius' face creased in puzzlement. "Wait, you're — are you saying that you're actually— what are you saying?"

"I'm pregnant," Lily blurted.

"And I'm the baby daddy," James added for good measure.

"As in you're going to have a baby, pregnant?"

"What other kind of pregnant is there?" James asked.

Something sparked in his eye. "Wait! Is this why Marlene messaged me asking who'd be a better godmother out of her and Mac?"

"Er, yes," Lily said, and then under her breath, "traitors."

"Huh." Sirius sat on that for a moment. "I said Marlene if the opinion of your progeny's godfather and favourite uncle is of any importance to you."

"Presumptuous," James noted.

"I don't think I've ever known anyone who's had a baby. Are we sure we're old enough for that?"

"Eat the ice cream," James advised. "It helps."

"When?"

"Oh well, I found out last week just before lunch with James' parents."

"I found out in the bathroom between lunch and dessert. I think you'll recall you interrupted us."

"Yeah, well what else was I supposed to think you were doing? And I didn't mean when did you find out. I meant when are you due?"

"Oh, well, um we're not really sure yet. Too early for an ultrasound," James said. "But we think, we think early August."

"Early August," he repeated, "so Tomorrowland-"

"Nothing's been decided yet," Lily said hastily. "We don't even know when exactly the baby is due though I suppose I'll be staying behind in London either way. Can't travel after thirty-six weeks."

"Boo," Sirius said, "but I suppose I can live with that. We'll get you a streaming link or have someone FaceTime you or something. Pregnant," Sirius repeated again.

"Sounds weird, right?" Lily asked.

"Luckily we all have nine months to get used to it."

"In the meantime, we have your ice cream," Lily added.