"Lyla?"
She jolted out of her reverie and focused her eyes on her hands resting gently on her stomach. "Coming!"
"Lyla!" her sister Vanessa opened the door to the bathroom, flooding the room with natural light and clicked her tongue impatiently until her eyes fell on her sister's hands, then she smiled knowingly. "It's amazing isn't it?" she tucked her younger sister's hair behind her ear.
"It went so fast." Lyla replied, smiling and running her hands over the large, living mound that had grown over the last five months.
"We could use your help when you're ready." Vanessa said softly and walked back out of the bathroom.
It was early May and the day of Lyla's baby shower that her sister had insisted on throwing for her. Charlie and Lyla had waited another month after she came to see him before telling their parents. Even after the four months that had passed since then Mrs. Weasley was still very prickly about the whole situation but had come to terms with it enough to agree to coming to the baby shower and be in the same room as Lyla. Lyla's mother, Hannah, excelled at choosing to see only the good in the situation and completely ignore the bad as she had been ever since the day her husband had disappeared.
None of the stressors that had been influencing her life up to this point were on her mind today. She had finally stopped feeling fatigued and was much more energetic, enough so that she had been able to handle cleaning her and Charlie's brand new two bedroom cottage all on her own at three o'clock the previous morning. Additionally, she was very uncharacteristically excited for her baby shower.
Since having her own baby Vanessa had been insatiably enthusiastic and the most supportive of her sister since Lyla and Charlie had told them over brunch four months ago. It was because of this enthusiasm that Lyla, herself, was so excited for the shower her sister was throwing. After dressing in a spring green, empire waist maxi dress with a design of iceland poppies moving up from the hem with silver glitter and crystals swirled around them Lyla moved through the cottage and met her mother and older sister in the small yard out the side door of the kitchen.
A handful of round tables were dressed with deep teal tablecloths and peach doilies underneath the place settings and playful centerpieces that featured diaper cakes with animated clay baby dragons climbing around it, complementing the colors on the table. Lyla's mother was waving her wand at the chairs, tying tulle around the backs of them into big fluffy bows. She kissed her pregnant daughter on the cheek and touched her stomach before continuing dressing the chairs.
"You guys are the best." Lyla said, looking around at the beautiful colors and table arrangements that her family had gotten up early to assemble.
After two hours of prepping food and Vanessa doing Lyla's hair to keep it off her neck in the warm, early summer sun of May Abirami knocked softly on the open front door and entered through the curtain of streamers.
"Lyla!" she called into the kitchen
"Hey!" Lyla said, wiping her hands on a towel and going to hug her friend. Since they had met Lyla's first night on the observatory campus she and Abirami had become close.
"How are you doing today?" Abirami asked, rubbing Lyla's back "Still dizzy?"
Lyla shrugged, "Nah, way better." She passed a crudite tray to Abirami and led her out to the yard carrying a pitcher of lemonade. "Mum, Vanessa" she said as she placed the pitcher down, "This is my friend Abirami, she works here with Charlie."
"Nice to meet you!" Hannah said warmly, shaking Abirami's hand.
The four of them did some light setup as the rest of the guests began trickling in. In addition to Abirami and Lyla's family members, Velma and two other wives Lyla had met over the last five months - Belle and London all came in together holding a large basket full of a handmade blanket, painted onesies and baby friendly soap that they had all used their collective talents to make. Soon after, Mrs. Weasley had arrived with a very stiff smile on her face that softened when she rested her hand on Lyla's stomach after forcefully handing Lyla a box wrapped in lime green paper with gnomes dancing across it. One of Lyla's best friends from school, Rebecca strode elegantly into her backyard in all black, contrasting her pal grey pixie cut - a long, sheer black skirt over a short black skirt swishing over the grass - and placed a silver wrapped box with a burgundy bow on the gift table before hugging Lyla as tightly as she could. After completing her education at Hogwarts Rebecca had since moved to France and began working as a robe designer. Despite the distance Lyla and Rebecca had remained close friends through post and when she told Rebecca that she was pregnant she made arrangements to have three days off from work to spend in Romania with her after her baby shower.
Lyla and Rebecca were sitting close to each other laughing when Jack burst into the backyard. He had dyed one eyebrow pink and the other blue and was wearing skin tight neon green jeans.
"Missus Murphy!" he screamed after dropping the bags in his hands on the ground and ran to hug Lyla's mother. Lyla hoisted herself onto her feet and braced herself as Jack ran over to her but he hugged her gently and kissed her on the cheek. One of the best things about being friends with someone like Jack while pregnant and tired is that he was perfectly happy going around to everyone and introducing himself all on his own.
After a few more fringe relatives arrived the party they began playing all these silly shower games that Vanessa had at her party. Some were pretty basic like the guests guessing what gender they thought the baby would be by firing different colored sparks at the large white three tiered cake, dying it different colors. It was pretty evenly split between pink and blue, hedging a little more on the pink side.
"Charlie would be so great with a little girl!" someone exclaimed
"You know he always was good with Ginny" replied Mrs. Weasley
"But, with that Weasley luck the odds are against it being a girl" one of Charlie's aunts wheezed in amusement.
Others were more in-depth like everyone putting their wishes for the baby in a golden bowl. After reading some of them outloud and the rest to herself Lyla then lit it ablaze. The fire that grew from it burned a bright purple and turned into a clear liquid that she then drank, supposedly transferring the good wishes from her family to the baby.
At the end of the shower, covered in different colored bows, streamers and ribbon after having opened the presents Lyla then got up to cut the cake. The top tier had a special seeking potion developed by leading healers at St. Mungo's that would provide answers to the drinker. It had been honed by a marketing company that then sold it as a gimmick for baby showers that would reveal the sex of the baby by staining the mother's mouth either pink or blue after consuming it.
Everyone in the garden tittered and hushed as she cut into the cake revealing the chocolate inside. When she sliced her fork into the piece she cut everyone went quiet while she lifted it to her mouth. She smiled as she chewed as her skin tingled with anticipation.
She swallowed slowly, ran her tongue over her teeth to make sure they were clean before opening her mouth to the guests in front of her.
A wave of noise rose from them as they squealed and cheered.
"A boy!" Lyla's mother cried as she ran to hug her daughter.
