Chapter One: Not Pregnant Faces
"So we're not telling people?" asked James, climbing into the driver's seat of the new red 1979 nine Renault 20 he shared with his fiancée.
"Yes," said Lily firmly from the passenger seat. "Or," she added with great uncertainty, "Maybe we should?"
"We could wait until after the ceremony."
"Say it in a toast?"
"While you're drinking water," said James. "They'll probably have figured it out."
"They probably already know."
"They suspect," corrected James, starting the car and pulling out onto the road.
"It was the first thing Dorcas said when I told her."
"I know, but that's Dorcas, isn't it?"
"Mary asked too."
"Politely though."
"And Angie suggested it," said Lily.
They had had this conversation countless times, ever since James had proposed. They had refuted any question of Lily being pregnant, one which had come up almost every instance of announcing their engagement and impending wedding.
"So if you're not pregnant," Dorcas had said, her belief in the contrary ringing clearly even through the phone, "Then why are you getting married so quickly?"
"Three months isn't all that quick," Lily had retorted. "It's not as though we're getting married next week."
"It's more like two months and that's still suspiciously fast," Dorcas had pointed out.
Lily and James had made the tentative decision to not tell anyone about the pregnancy until their wedding to avoid any assumptions about their motivation to get married.
"It's not a bloody shotgun wedding," said Lily, more to herself than James, who was driving the both of them from London to Sowsworth for the wedding.
"Definitely not," agreed James, hearing her. "Although, you are pregnant."
"Doesn't make it a shotgun wedding."
"And," he continued, an amused smile playing on his lips, "I did only propose to you because it was honourable. I'd never have wanted to marry you otherwise."
Lily narrowed her eyes at James and tried not to show any signs of laughter.
"You're lucky you're driving."
"Otherwise?"
"I'd punch you."
During the three hour drive James and Lily made no less than thirteen decisions with regards to telling people. They first decided that they should, in fact, tell everyone. After all, the baby would be born well within nine months. They then decided to revert to the decision they had begun the day with and not tell anyone so as to not risk putting a damper on the wedding day. They swung between these two schools of thought until, finally, they decided they would tell at least their close friends.
James pulled up outside his father's house, in far better shape since the Dearborns had signed over ownership to Mr. Potter, and began to exit the car. This was when Lily grabbed at his shoulder, getting a handful of jacket.
"You alright?" he asked, leaning back into his seat.
"I don't think we should tell them."
"Okay," said James, nodding in solid affirmation. "Final decision then; no telling anyone. Agreed?"
"Agreed."
They shook on it.
"This is now legally binding," he said.
"It is not," said Lily. "But, we should treat it like it is."
"So prison as a forfeit?"
Lily couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter.
"Alright," he continued, "Time to put on our Not Pregnant faces."
"Easier for you than me."
The young couple unpacked their car as quickly as possible, shivering in the early February midday sun. James' father was there to greet them at the door, taking Lily's suitcase and giving her a warm yet awkward one-armed hug with a quick kiss on the cheek. James received a clap on the back and a ruffle of his hair.
"You can just leave all your stuff at the bottom of the stairs for now. Angie's in the kitchen making the tea," he said.
"Thanks, Mr. Potter," said Lily cheerily and breathlessly.
James followed his dad over to the stairs as Lily vanished into the kitchen. It shouldn't have taken more than a moment for the men to finish this simply task and join the women for tea.
However, Kieran Potter let out a cough which his son knew meant he wanted a quiet word.
"Yeah, dad?" he asked.
"I just wanted a word with you while we have a moment."
Kieran was very deliberately not making eye contact with his son and James was almost certain he knew what was coming.
"Dad," began James softly, saving his father the trouble of finding an appropriate way to quasi inquire into his son's sex life, "Lily's not pregnant."
Kieran breathed a sigh of relief.
"Not ready to be a grandad?" teased James.
"No, just, thank you for not making me ask. Of course, if you were… going to have a baby that would be fantastic news."
And that was the first time James had to actively restrain himself from telling somebody. It was going to be a long day.
The four of them drank their tea with jovial conversation. Lily and James were berated, lightly and a little passive aggressively, for not returning for Christmas.
There were three important reasons for this, the first being that Lily had a doctor's appointment at the end of December, the second that their days off from work had to be saved for the impending wedding, and the third was that it had been their first Christmas in their new London flat. With all the time they had put into decorating the tree with fantastically ugly baubles, draping tinsel over every available surface, and poorly personalised stockings hung on the electric fireplace, it seemed a shame not to spend Christmas there.
Originally the plan had been to go to Lily's mum's for Christmas, it being the first one since Mr Evans had passed away. Unfortunately, Petunia had invited the family to come to hers and Vernon's. Lily had told James she would rather die than spend Christmas Day with Vernon and his poisonous sister. What she did not tell him was that Petunia had not so subtly told Lily that James would be a little less than welcome to join them.
So they spent the day together in London and were happy for it.
But they knew the cost would be complaints from their family and friends back in Wiltshire. They had made their bed and were now going to lie in it.
"Next year, we'll come stay with you," said Lily, reaching for Angie's hand as she did so, "That's a promise."
"Of course you will!" cried Angie. "It'll be my great niece or nephews first Christmas."
Mr. Potter choked on a gulp of tea.
While James smacked his father on the back, Lily said, "Angie, you know I'm not pregnant, right?"
Angie raised her eyebrows and took a long, pointed sip of tea.
Lunch was surprisingly less stressful in spite of all the guests who swarmed upon the Potter house for to eat Angie's cooking and to wish the engaged couple the very best. Many of the guests, including Sirius and Remus, emphasised the fact that their main priority was the lunch. Lily and James being present for well-wishing simply allowed them, in Sirius' own words, to kill two birds with one stone.
Dorcas, Mary, and Jill all took a wildly different stance. Jill kept hugging Lily tightly and excusing herself to the bathroom to cry. Mary and Dorcas largely ignored the food altogether in favour of bombarding Lily with questions about and ideas for the wedding.
"I know Modest Mary over here likes the long skirt, but can I cut mine? My legs are my best feature," said Dorcas.
"If you like," said Lily.
"Cas, who are you trying to seduce at Lily's wedding?" cried Mary. "Just wear what all the other bridesmaids are wearing."
All the other bridesmaids were Mary and Petunia, the latter of which Lily had only asked out of sisterly obligation.
"I just want to look nice," said Dorcas defensively, pouting a little too purposefully to be believed as being genuine sadness.
"Don't worry," called James from across the table, hearing Dorcas' words, "No one will be looking at you."
"Aw that's sweet," said Jill.
Lily leaned towards her mother and said, "He means they'll be looking at him."
"Obviously," replied James.
Lily stuck her tongue out at him to which James responded with a sarcastic blow of a kiss.
"So," said Dorcas, loudly and lengthily to draw Lily's attention back towards her, "As maid of honour."
"I told you I'm not choosing a maid of honour," interrupted Lily.
Dorcas continued as though nothing had been said, "I've made all the plans for your hen night."
"We're gonna wear plastic tiaras and go down the pub?" said Lily.
Whipping her head towards Mary, shoulder-length blonde hair swinging, Dorcas cried, "You told her?"
"This is Sowsworth," replied Mary blankly, "What else would we be doing?"
After a few belated Christmas presents had been exchanged and unwrapped, the group divided in two with James following Sirius and Remus out the front door so that Lily could try on her wedding dress for a begging Dorcas.
James knew where they were going almost the moment they turned left up Hangleton Road.
"Murder hill?" he guessed with a grin.
"Yep," replied Sirius.
"Wait, I thought it was your drinking hill," said Remus shoving his shivering hands into his coat pockets.
"It's multifunctional," said Sirius.
The walk to the hill from James' father's house was noticeably shorter than the walk from Angie's and all three young men were thankful for this, desperate for a drink to warm their bones.
"I can't believe you still keep booze here," said James, watching Sirius sprint up the hillside to the old well.
James himself kept a slow pace so as not to let Remus fall behind. This allowed Sirius enough time to pull up a rusty bucket spilling over with rainwater. Sirius grimaced as he fished around for the whiskey bottle he was soon holding with pride.
"This," he said as though he were beginning a rather important speech, "is the last bottle of whiskey I stole from my dad before I left home. I stashed it here for a special occasion and I can think of no occasion finer than this."
"You sap," teased James.
Ignoring this slight, Sirius simply turned to Remus and asked if he'd brought the glasses. Remus pulled three crumpled plastic cups from the pocket of his threadbare coat and handed them over to Sirius who reluctantly accepted them.
"I did say glasses," he said.
"We're drinking whiskey you hid in a well over three years ago," replied Remus, unfazed, "I think we're past worrying about class."
James and Remus pulled a cup each from the stack and watched Sirius fill each one up with amber liquid before tapping plastic against plastic in silent cheers.
"So," began Remus as James began to down his drink, "Lily is pregnant, right?"
James promptly spluttered a mouthful of whiskey all over Sirius.
As soon as Lily unzipped the bag and revealed her dress to the room, Dorcas said, "Lily that's a pregnant woman's wedding dress."
The other four women in the room gave Dorcas a glare as they tutted under their breath. James' dad had declined the offer to join them in favour of reading a book.
"Cas, I'm not wearing anything flowy right now. Should I expect to somehow get massive in a week?"
"I mean," began Mary, "You might not have known how big you were gonna be when you bought the dress."
"So does everyone hate the dress, then?" asked Lily, a little irritated.
"I think it's lovely," said Jill.
"But it would also look lovely on a pregnant woman," added Angie.
It was more than a relief for both Lily and James to climb into bed that night.
"Thank God we're alone," said Lily, burying her head in the pillows.
"Yeah," agreed James, mindlessly running his knuckles up and down Lily's forearm.
For a moment the two of them were on the brink of sleep, but then James sat up suddenly, a guilty look on his face.
"What's wrong?" mumbled Lily, face slightly obscured by the pillow.
"I almost told Sirius and Remus earlier. I mean, I was really close to telling them," he confessed.
Lily pushed herself up so that she was upright, resting on her knees and facing James.
"I almost told everyone," said Lily.
"I also almost told dad."
"Maybe we should just tell them."
"Yeah."
Both of them fell into a contemplative silence until James said, "No," adamantly. "No, we made a deal. We shook on it."
"Which I thought you understood was not legally binding."
"Doesn't matter. We decided so we've got to stick with it. It doesn't make sense to tell people if we're not absolutely sure, right?"
"Right," said Lily. "Okay."
"Should we shake again?"
"Only if you don't use the dark as an excuse to surprise me with a spit shake."
James' lack of response told Lily everything she needed to know.
"Night, James," she said before falling onto her side and burying her face once more.