AN: and a year later I update. I'm sorry I love you all!

Chapter Two: An Unmistakable Bump

Lily and James awoke at the exact same moment the next morning. There was a resounding knock on the bedroom door and Angie's voice filled the whole house, "I hope you're getting ready. We leave for church in ten minutes."

James fumbled for his glasses on the bedside table as Lily threw her head back with a groan.

"I'll see you downstairs in five," added Angie before they heard her retreat downstairs.

"I thought she said ten minutes," said Lily.

"I thought I was a grownup who didn't have to go to church," said James.

They dressed themselves clumsily before Lily attempted to run a comb through both of their hair.

"It won't make a difference," said James, yawning as he did so.

Lily mirrored his yawn as she tossed the comb behind her.

"I know," she said. "But I thought if I made an effort Angie might not try to attack you with a brush over breakfast."

"I could wear one of those big hats women wear to church."

Lily looked at James for a moment before saying, "My mum has a yellow one that would suit you."

Breakfast was a quiet affair, Lily and James stuffing their mouths with toast, Angie gulping down tea, and Kieran lost in a newspaper.

Only when they were clearing the table did Angie say, "You two look like you're not used to being up this early."

"Not on a Sunday," said Lily.

"London churches do late services do they?"

"Yeah," said James quickly, uncertain if he was lying or not. "Yeah, the church down the road from us does a second service. That's the one we usually catch," he added, certain he was lying.

"Catch? It's church not the pictures," said Angie, leading the way from the kitchen to the front door where they put on their best shoes before a bitterly cold walk down to St. Albus' Church.

As they walked, Lily grabbed James' arm and pulled him close, using him for warmth while keeping him slightly behind his aunt and father.

"Hey," she whispered, "Are we pretending we go to church?"

"Apparently. I panicked. Maybe it'll add to our immaculate conception story."

"The immaculate conception was Mary. She was perfect from the moment she was conceived."

"So was I."

"Really? What happened afterwards to make you so awful?"

Mary's father led the service as usual, with Mary in the role of verger. She was uncharacteristically good at pretending not to be bitter, it seemed. Though Lily knew the truth was actually quite different.

"It's ridiculous," Mary had complained when she first began working with her father. "Just because I'm a girl I can't be a vicar. But Colin can be?"

Lily wholeheartedly supported Mary's anger over the situation but had learnt to avoid suggesting an alternative career path.

And so Lily and James smiled pleasantly, and Mary smiled pleasantly, and an elderly man in the front row who could not really hear what was being said smiled pleasantly.

But as Lily's attention faded from the Reverend's muffled words and onto the way James' glasses sat, slightly crooked, on his long nose.

Perhaps he felt her breath on his cheek, or caught the movement of her hair out of the corner of his eye. Or maybe just wanted to look at her as much as she had wanted to look at him. Regardless, he turned and met her eye, squeezing her hand as he gave her a true, genuine smile.

He then leaned a little closer towards her to whisper, "You know, next time we step foot in here, it'll be our wedding day."

Lily grew so unexpectedly flustered by this she could no longer meet his eye. Staring up at Reverend Macdonald, she replied under her breath, "Shut up."

He raised their joint hands and kissed her wrist. As this happened, something rumbled in her stomach which might have been morning sickness but definitely prompted a craving for dry rich tea biscuits.

"Lovely service, don't you think?" asked Angie as they joined exiting crowd.

"My thoughts exactly," said James just as Lily said, "It was very early.

Angie looked a little affronted but Lily was too caught up in thoughts of bed and biscuits to realise. Fortunately James, added in an aside, "Lily's just a little irritable today. We're having Sunday Lunch with her sister."

Lily groaned while Angie gave a firm nod of understanding.

"Sorry, Ange," said Lily. "It really was a lovely service; I was just hoping I could sleep through until noon so I'd have less time to worry about seeing Petunia."

They game to a halt on a small patch of grass free from headstones and let the remaining flock pass them by.

Once they'd stopped, Angie reached out to give Lily an affirming back rub and said, "I understand, dear. I don't like calling people names, but your sister is an utter cow."

Lily smiled softly, making to lean into Angie, but Reverend Macdonald had just exited the church and Angie darted over to be the first to compliment his service.

Given that they were about as well dressed as they were going to get that Sunday, neither James nor Lily had a reasonable excuse to not immediately go to her mother's.

"I hope Petunia's not there yet," said Lily. "I need more time to prepare. How does my stomach look?"

"Empty and childless," replied James quickly.

"You didn't even look!"

"It can't have changed from yesterday."

"If it doesn't change a bit every day then that means it'll just suddenly become a huge bump overnight."

"It's too early for you to be this pedantic, Lily, just breath in until dinner. Then you can eat so much you can just pretend its bloating."

"I am hungry. And I suppose if we get there first I could just sit down, tuck right into the table, hide everything."

They did not get there first. Petunia had, as Jill Evans revealed upon opening the door, early that morning with an inordinate amount of luggage.

"Why would she have so much stuff?" asked Lily, squeezing James' arm and already knowing the answer.

"She's staying until the wedding. Says there's no point going to Surrey and back. Not to mention she'll need to resize her dress."

"Why? I got her the smallest size possible," said Lily.

"You'll see," said Jill smugly, "Come in! Petunia's just napping on the sofa but I'm sure she'll be delighted to see you when she wakes up."

"Since when does Petunia nap? Isn't that a waste of time she could use to talk about other people behind their back?"

James let out a snort of laughter which he strategically turned into a fake sneezing fit.

"Who's sick?" came Petunia's voice from the living room, shrill and accusatory. "Don't come in here if you're sick."

Jill eyed James suspiciously while Lily followed her own suspicions and rushed into the living room. Petunia was more relaxed than Lily had ever seen; lying across the sofa with her socks off and feet up, multiple blankets wrapped around or draped across her, and almost every pillow in the house behind her back.

"Lily, you're not sick are you?" said Petunia, holding up a hand as though it had the power to stop Lily from getting any closer.

"No James was just sneezing out of politeness. What's going on?" she asked, knowing the answer.

Petunia smiled with the smugness of a child who had just dressed themselves for the first time as she pulled back the blankets that covered her torso.

There was an unmistakable bump. Not enormous, but Petunia's tiny figure drew further attention to it. From the dozens of pregnancy books James had been reading, and the two she had read herself, Lily guessed she was about four months gone.

"Congratulations," said Lily breathlessly.

"Petunia! You're looking… pregnant," said James.

"He's gonna be strapping like his father," she said fondly, stroking her stomach.

"So it's not Vernon's then, huh?" asked James.

Lily supressed a laugh and elbowed James lightly in the side.

"I forgot how charming you were, James. Where's mum?"

"Checking on the roast," said James

Suddenly a high pitched ringing sounded from the kitchen.

"I'll go see what's burning!" cried James before anyone else could so much as react, running off and leaving Lily alone with Petunia once more.

"Come, sit down," she offered, pulling her feet in just enough room for Lily to almost fit on the end of the sofa.

Giving the tiny space a distasteful and deliberate glance, Lily seated herself in the arm chair.

"So, you wanted to resize your dress?" asked Lily, "Dorcas wants to cut her skirt in half so there'll be extra material."

"Of course she does," sneered Petunia. "Next time bring my dress with you and we'll see. I brought a couple of my own with me just in case."

"In case you were too big for the dress I chose or in case you hated it?"

"Both."

Lily turned her head in the direction of the hall and yelled, "Need any help in there?"

"We're fine," replied Jill. "You two just relax and catch up!"

Reluctantly, Lily turned back to face her sister who had picked up an almost completely empty glass of water and was tipping it back to get the last few drops down her throat.

"Would you like some more?" asked Lily, teeth clenched.

"If it's not too much of a hassle," said Petunia, holding the glass out.

Too happy for the excuse to get away to be offended, Lily did as Petunia commanded.

There was hardly any smoke in the kitchen when Lily arrived; James was frantically fanning any remains of it out of the open window with a tea towel and Jill was scrubbing what looked like a freshly burnt pot.

"Don't worry, darling," she said, seeing her youngest daughter appear, "All the food is fine. I accidentally put the wrong hob on so instead of boiling the potatoes I ended up boiling air."

Jill let out a laugh and James let out a similar, forced laugh a couple of seconds too late.

"I got distracted by your sister. Isn't she glowing?"

"She sure is, Mum," said Lily.

"Did you want me to fill that for you?" she asked, nodding at the glass.

"No rush."

"Nonsense, nothing's too good for my bride or mother-to-be."

James started and accidently slammed the window he had been in the process of closing with a regular amount of force. Lily widened her eyes at him in warning and Jill hummed happily as she ran the tap.

Fortunately for Lily, there seemed to be a lot to do in the kitchen what with the potatoes still being raw and one pot down for the count. Petunia remained alone on the sofa, too pregnant apparently to lend a hand, while Lily and James kept themselves busy.

Unfortunately for Lily, three pairs of hands sped up the process of cooking quite a bit and before she was ready she was sat across the dining room table from her sister without a single excuse to save her.

"So, James?" said Petunia, causing every protective instinct Lily had to flare up, "How did you get a whole week off of work? Vernon won't be coming down until Friday night. The office just couldn't spare him."

"Well, I'm not very important," sighed James with mock sadness, "I'm more of a liability than anything. They were probably happy to get rid of me for a week. Even for something as trivial as my wedding. The real shocker is that they let Lily have the time off. She's the best we've got."

"Oh, yes. I forgot you worked together. How sweet."

"Yeah, we like to spend time together," said Lily.

"Vernon would love to be here, but, as I said, he's too valuable."

"Imagine all the drills that would go unsold," said James.

"The power tool economy would collapse I'm sure," added Lily.

Jill stood up abruptly, crying out, "I'm going to make more gravy."

The remainder of dinner followed in a similarly uncomfortable vein.

Once it was over, Petunia returned to the living room for an apparent much needed rest while Lily and James helped Jill wash and dry.

"Thanks for dinner, Mum," said Lily, finishing off drying the serving bowl James had just scrubbed and handing it to her mother to put away.

"Don't be silly, darling, you did just as much as I did. Besides, it's just nice to have you home."

"Sorry I couldn't help fighting with Petunia."

"Well, it wouldn't feel like a family dinner if you two weren't at each other's throats."

James piped up, "My family dinners were always a warzone. My parents could never agree on which one of them loved me more."

Lily threw a tea towel at James' head, landing perfectly so as to cover his delighted grin.

"Thanks, I needed this," said James, pulling the towel away and using it to dry his soaking hands.

As she looked at her future husband wipe away the remains of a good three hours of cooking and cleaning and felt her heart explode.

"Hey," she said, taking a step toward him, "Before we settle down and watch telly for the rest of the night, there's a few things I wanna grab from my bedroom: something old, something blue, a couple of pairs of socks (I think I under packed).You wanna help me out?"

"I do have the best taste in socks."

Lily's room was just as she had left it upon moving out two years before. This included a couple of piles of clothes Lily had thrown on the floor, deciding they weren't worthy of taking to London; a desk cluttered with unsorted papers, magazines, and makeup that should have been thrown away long ago. There was also a faded cat bed in the corner that Lily looked upon sadly.

"When can we get a new cat?" asked Lily.

"When we've finished paying off the wedding and the car and the baby," answered James in the same way he always did.

"You hated Brutus."

"He hated me!"

"He liked you he just didn't know how to show it."

There was an unmissable and uncontrollable woe in her voice as she spoke which she supposed was why James' arms found their way around her middle, his head on her shoulder, pressing her tightly against his chest, right when she started to cry.

As she leaned back into him, he muttered softly into her ear, "You know I'd go out and get a cat for you in a heartbeat if you really wanted one."

"I do really want one. But you're right we can't afford the vet bills."

"No, but I'm a trust fund kid, I'm sure dad would send some our way so we could rescue a cat."

"I think we should save that money for the baby."

"Lily, my dad is really really rich. He can afford both."

"He's already paying for our wedding. I don't want to take the piss. It's our lives, we should make our own way."

"Well, we'll find room in our budget for a cat anyway. It can watch over the baby while we go out partying all night. We can feed the cat with the money we save on childcare," said James, giving Lily a quick kiss on the temple before releasing her. "So what are we looking for?"

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to get away from all the pregnancy talk. I mean, did you see how happy my mum was?"

"Lily, you know she'll be just as happy when she finds out about you. Probably even happier because let's face it our baby is gonna be better. So, whenever you want to tell her, even if that's sooner than we planned, and don't tell me you don't want to tell her because I can see how badly you want to, it's gonna be amazing."

Lily sighed and stared down at the dust covered carpet.

"What else is wrong?"

"It's just, I don't know, I was already nervous about what Petunia would say when she found out I was pregnant before getting married, but now it's even worse."

"Why? Because she got pregnant first?"

"Yeah!"

"Lily, it's a baby not a hairstyle, you can't copy it off someone."

"That's not what she'll say."

"Okay that is completely," James began.

"Don't say irrational!" cried Lily, cutting in.

"I wasn't going to call it irrational, Lily! I was going to call it crazy."

"I'm carrying your child, James. You're not allowed to call anything I think or feel crazy. Even if it is crazy."

"What can I call them?"

"Nothing, just tell me I'm pretty and bring me cups of tea."

"You said tea makes you feel sick now."

"I told you to let me be irrational!"

"Okay!" cried James, holding up his hands in surrender, "You be as crazy as you like."

"Thank you."

"You know," said James, flopping down onto Lily's old bed, "We could go down and tell them both now."

"Well, then it'll really seem like I'm copying her," said Lily, joining him.

"We can just tell your mum."

"But then I can't use it against Petunia when she tries to make me do stuff for her just because she's pregnant."

"So we're at an impasse."

"Again."

With a groan, Lily turned and buried her face into James' chest.

"Hey," he said, pulling her closer, "Do you remember when we were about seventeen and we sat here in this room talking about what our babies would look like?"

"Ginger lizards."

"And in just six months we'll be taking home our very own ginger lizard baby."

A smile spread across Lily's face.

"And," she added, "In just under a week it'll be our wedding. I'm really excited. In spite of all the pregnancy stress. And I'm really excited to be a mum, in spite of all the wedding stress."

"Me too," said James. "Except I'll be a dad, not a mum."

"If you're the father that is."

"Well if it's a lizard it's mine. If it's a ball of grease it's Snape's."

Lily leapt away from James, sitting up and pretending to gag.

"Don't worry I'll love it just the same," he reassured her.

The gagging subsided and Lily got to her feet, stretching and giving her stomach an absent-minded stroke. James watched on fondly.

"You ready to go watch TV in awkward silence?" she asked, holding out a hand.

"Always," replied James, allowing her to pull him to his feet.

"You know," said Lily in a low voice as they ventured downstairs, "That's also the room you lost your virginity in."

"No it's wasn't!"

"Really? You could've fooled me."

Then, immediately after saying this, Lily doubled over with such violent laughter she could no longer walk and so James was forced to wait and watch as Lily laughed harder and harder at her own joke.

"You know we're not married yet, I can leave whenever I want," he said.

Lily only laughed harder.

AN: thank you so much for reading

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