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Chapter 1

Rosemary Euphemia Potter

Lily Evans was eighteen when she found out she was pregnant. She'd only just completed her final year at Hogwarts, and was still reeling from shock. Her world was at war, her parents had died in a car crash unexpectedly, and she and her older sister Petunia had been left orphans. She'd gone to James the night she found out, her eyes red and swollen from crying. He was shocked, but he understood what it felt like. His parents were older than most, and his dad had died of a heart attack a few years back, shortly before his mum was diagnosed with late-stage cancer— one of the handful of sicknesses that wizard healers didn't have a cure for. Both Lily and James knew that she didn't have much time left.

Lily hadn't planned for what happened next. She'd never really thought about it before— she and James had only been dating a few months— but it felt so natural, and all she wanted was for him to hold her in his strong arms. For him to make her feel safe, loved, secure. It had been the first time for both of them.

The next morning, James had panicked and asked her to marry him. Lily had given him a gentle no, and they'd both agreed to not repeat the events of the previous night. It took Lily time to process her parents' deaths—she still wasn't used to the empty house, she still wished, more than anything, that her parents had stayed with Petunia and her new husband, Vernon, that evening, and she was still angry at Tuny. She was angry at her for not insisting that her parents stay with them overnight, angry at her for not being the one to drive them home herself, but most especially, she was angry at her for waiting so long to give her the news. Five days. Five days her parents had been dead, and she'd known nothing.

But despite her grief, she'd made it through her last few weeks at school. James had helped. So had Sirius, Remus, and her other friends. Professors had been understanding, and she knew it wasn't just because of her. With the war raging, lots of students were losing family members. Lily found a strange relief in the knowledge that her own parents had died perfectly normal, muggle deaths, instead of dying after hours of whatever kind of torture the Deatheaters were experimenting with these days.

But she wasn't thinking about any of that now. Right now she was in the bathroom of her parents' old house—her old house—looking at the pregnancy test that she'd gotten from the pharmacy down the street after she realized that she hadn't had her period since before... that night. It looked like a small chemistry set, sitting up on the edge of the sink. Lily was sure there was a faster way to get results with magic, but this wasn't something typically covered in Charms textbooks, so good old-fashioned science would have to do. It had been two hours of anxious waiting, and pacing up and down the hall, but the liquid finally turned blue. The verdict was out: she was pregnant.

Lily's immediate response was to kick over a small rubbish bin in the hallway, letting out a cry of frustration and disbelief, but as she sank down onto the floor and cupped her face in her hands her panic and confusion turned to pity for the tiny life inside of her. A war was no place for a child. Slowly, she picked herself up and walked over to the telephone, praying that James had finally had one installed, as he had promised he would. The operator put her through, and after several rings, she heard James's muffled voice on the other end.

"Merlin's Beard, Padfoot, if you make one more fake takeout order I am going to march down to whatever dingy little pub you're hiding out at and force-feed you chicken tikka masala until you have curry coming out of your arse. I've had this blasted contraption for two days and they've already sent me a bill for eighty-seven calls. EIGHTY-SEVEN CALLS, SIRIUS, IN TWO DAYS!"

Lily couldn't help laughing, in spite of the wave of emotion that threatened to overwhelm her. "I told you not to tell him you were getting a phone," she said.

"Oh thank god it's you," James said, "Sorry, I just assumed... well, I think you got the gist. It's been a nightmare. He called five times in the middle of the night, pretending to order Chinese food. He only stopped after I told him he'd woken mum up, but then the calls started straight back up at eight o'clock this morning. Half the time he wants Indian food, the other half, he puts on a voice and says that he's prepared to make me the richest cortesan in the world if I wire 20,000 to a bank in Nigeria. I swear I'm just about ready to strangle him with the telephone cord. Anyway, how are you? I've been hoping you'd call. I tried to reach you after I got this thing installed, but all I got was a husky-voiced woman with a thick Scottish accent."

"That was probably the telephone operator. Don't worry, I'll explain it later. I... um... I need to tell you something."

"What is it? You sound worried."

Lily grimaced, unsure if she should gradually work her way up to the admission or just get it over with.

"Are you okay, Lily?" James asked after a few moments. "Are you safe?"

"Yes, I'm fine, that's not... it's just... well... I took this test, because, well, y'know... I don't know if you remember that night, in the Astronomy Tower..."

James's voice came softly through the receiver, "I remember."

"Well, um, funny thing," Lily felt the panic rising in her voice and tried to stifle it down, "I'm pregnant."

There was a long pause.

"James? Please say something," Lily pleaded.

There was another long pause before James's voice cracked through the speaker. "Stay where you are, I'll be right over," He said, and he hung up.

A minute or two later, Lily heard a loud pop come from outside, and a knock on the door. James was there, on the doorstep, his black hair in its perpetually messy state, and his large, rectangular glasses knocked slightly askew.

Lily opened the door and he threw his arms around her. She fell willingly into his warm embrace. After several moments, James pulled himself away, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small velvet box. Grasping Lily's hands, he opened the box to reveal a small gold ring set with a glimmering opal. Lily gasped.

"Lily Evans," James said, "will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

Lily tried to stifle a sob. "I'm not doing this again, you stupid knob. I don't want you marrying me just because you got me pregnant," she said.

"I'm not asking you to marry me just because you're pregnant," James retorted, "I've wanted to marry you for years. I just figured now's as good a time to ask as any."

"We're in the middle of a war, James."

"I know," he said softly, "Everything's so uncertain right now. But that's all the more reason to act, don't you think? We can't be afraid of what the future holds. Merlin knows, we may never live to see it. All we have is right now, these moments. Let's be a family. Let's make something that's worth living through this blasted war for. Because I love you, Evans, and I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life by your side— That and you've got to be joking if you think I'm going to let you raise this kid on your own. I mean, I know I can be an arse, but that really takes the cake— So please, marry me?"

Lily was sobbing so hard it was difficult to focus her attention on anything, least of all the soft, pleading hazel eyes behind James's glasses, but somehow she managed to meet them.

"You've had this planned for ages, haven't you," she said, smiling in spite of her tears.

"You have no idea how long," James laughed. "Padfoot thinks I'm half nuts. I'm not going to lie, I didn't imagine doing it like this. I'd hoped I'd be able to take you someplace romantic—I heard there's a lake somewhere in Wales where the water glistens a thousand different colors at high noon, and if you stay there until evening, you can hear the merfolk singing underwater as the sun goes down—but I figure we can save that for another time."

"Okay," Lily said.

"Wait, okay what?" asked James anxiously. "Okay we can go to the lake another time, or okay you'll marry me?"

Lily laughed, and wiped her face. "Okay I'll marry you!"

And with that, James grinned wider than Lily had ever seen, and pulled her red, teary face into a long, deep kiss.