A month and a week into the school year, and Remus woke up extremely nauseous, sprinting to the bathroom to throw up into the toilet.
This wasn't the first odd occurrence involving Remus that had happened over the past month. First, there was his food preferences changing. He had no idea why, but his love of chocolate had completely subverted. From nowhere, the very smell of it made him feel like he was going to puke. Instead, he had developed a love for jam. Not on toast, not on crumpets, not on scones or any other food. Just… jam. Straight from the jar. It's safe to say, his friends thought he was crazy when he first grabbed a jar and spoon at breakfast a week into the school year, and started shovelling it into his mouth. Other strange cravings he suddenly had included ice cream, pepperoni and olives all mixed together, and doughnuts dipped in ranch dressing.
This linked to another strange occurance: a sudden increase in appetite. He was eating so much more than usual, enough that he seemed to have put on weight. Sirius was the first one to point out the ever so slight bulge in his stomach that had gradually appeared. And it was very slight, Remus wouldn't have noticed himself if he hadn't been told by his boyfriend.
But now, puking apparently had to be added to the list. The past week, he'd been waking up only to have to bolt to the bathroom. His friends just put it down to the full moon, which had been the week before the puking started. However, there was one friend Remus had who did not know of his lycanthropy.
Remus and Lily Evans were working together on astronomy homework in the library when he accidentally brought up his repeated sickness. She didn't brush it aside like the rest of the Marauders.
"You've been puking all week?! All week?! You need to go to the hospital wing."
"Lily, I'm fine, really."
"Being sick every morning for the past week is not fine, Remus." Lily slid the book she was holding back on the shelf before grabbing Remus' wrist. "Come on, we're going to Madame Pomfrey."
Before Remus could protest, Lily dragged him from the library and through the corridors of the school. They soon arrived at the familiar set of double doors leading to the hospital wing, Lily pulling Remus inside and calling for Madame Pomfrey. The nurse in question came over.
"Yes, Miss Evans?"
"Remus apparently has been throwing up every morning for the past week. I thought it was best he come for a check up."
"I really don't need this, Madame Pomfrey, I'm fine."
The nurse just tutted. "Doesn't sound fine to me. Come on, sit down over here."
Remus sighed, following Pomfrey and sitting down on one of the beds.
"Okay, so is the puking the only thing, or are there other symptoms?"
Remus bit his lip. "Well… my tastes have changed. Like, I hate chocolate."
"You hate chocolate?" Lily raised an eyebrow.
Remus nodded. "Just the smell of it is enough to make me feel nauseous. Instead I've started to really like jam, as well as some weird food combinations."
"Go on…" Pomfrey had a curious expression, noting everything on a piece of parchment.
"I've also had a bigger appetite than usual. Sirius says he thinks I might have even started to put on weight."
Pomfrey noted this down too, nodding. "Hm… Anything else?"
"Don't think so."
Lily couldn't help but notice a confused expression on the nurse's face. "Can you not make a diagnosis?"
"No, no, I can, it's just…" Pomfrey trailed off, muttering to herself. Eventually she stopped, turning to the boy sat on the bed. "Remus, could you lie down and unbutton your shirt please."
"Um, okay…" Remus did so as Pomfrey pulled her wand from her pocket. She muttered an incantation and the tip glowed a soft baby blue. Once Remus' stomach was uncovered, she started moving her wand over it, scanning Remus' belly. After a minute or so doing this, she moved her wand away. "I'll be right back." She turned and walked away in the direction of her office.
"What was that all about?" Lily muttered.
"No idea." Remus sat up and started doing the buttons of his shirt back up. He and Lily waited for a good five minutes before Pomfrey returned. She was holding what looked to be sheets of ultrasound film, and her eyes were wide.
"I cannot believe this… By all means, this should be impossible! As far as I know, this has never been accomplished even with magic! It goes completely against human biology…"
Safe to say, Remus was terrified at this. Impossible? Against human biology? What had happened?! His mind came up with all sorts of dark thoughts…
Lily seemed to sense his increasing anxiety and spoke up. "Madame Pomfrey, what's wrong? Is Remus going to be okay?"
"I-I think so… I don't know, this is completely unprecedented!"
"What's unprecedented?"
Pomfrey looked between the boy on the hospital bed and the images on the sheets in her hand. "Remus… I can't believe I'm saying this, but… You're pregnant."