Saturday 16th February 1980

Potter Manor, 14:00

"I am so glad that we get to see you pregnant with our grandchild," Euphemia told her happily.

"You'll get to see him too," Lily added, touching her stomach. "Only a few months away."

Her mother-in-law gave her a sad sort of smile. Something that Lily didn't want to spend too much time thinking about. Of course, the Potters would see their grandson when he was born. They had to.

"So, how have you been feeling?" Euphemia asked, changing the subject.

Lily frowned but let her. "Okay, just feeling a bit tired. No real morning sickness, thankfully."

"Now, that is lucky," Euphemia said wistfully. "I was sick every morning for four months with James."

That got her wince in sympathy from Lily. She didn't think she would be able to bear such a thing. It would throw her whole day off.

"But I'm doing well and James is making me take it easy..."

"I should hope so!"

Lily couldn't help but laugh at that. Even if her husband's mother-henning was a bit much at times.

"My Healer says I'm healthy and I'm seeing a midwife next week."

Everything was getting organised and starting to come together. It made it all feel a bit more real. She was having a baby. An itty-bitty baby that was going to be a combination of her and James.

She couldn't wait to meet him or her. To see the little fingers and toes and the chubby cheeks. Would their child have red hair or black? Or maybe a combination? Would that be brown?

"You better hope that the child doesn't inherit the Potter hair," Euphemia joked, as if she knew what Lily was thinking.

Lily thought about James' bird's nest that claimed to be hair and how she loved running her hands through it. And of how soft it always was.

"That wouldn't be so bad," she said softly, a smile on her face.

Euphemia gave her a knowing look.

"You do come to love it, don't you?" She said absentmindedly, probably thinking of her husband.

"Love what?" Came a familiar voice. "Are you talking about me?"

"Yes."

"All good things, I hope," James joked, coming into the parlour still in his Auror robes. "Wait, there's only good things you can say about me."

"Idiot," Lily said fondly, though she didn't roll her eyes.

"You love me for it."

James greeted her by wrapping his arms around her from behind, his laced fingers resting on her rounded bump, and kissing her cheek. She returned the gesture but made sure to get his mouth. Euphemia looked on happily.

"How are you, mum?" James greeted her next, her also getting a kiss on the cheek.

"Better than I've been in a while," she replied pleasantly, her voice going slightly raspy at the end. "Have you checked on your father?"

James nodded while Lily chewed on her lip. Fleamont hadn't been doing so well recently, especially today. He was reading upstairs in his bed, several potions on his bedside table for him to take at the appropriate times through the day. Severus had provided them happily, any excuse to brew. Lily would have done it herself, also always eager to brew but the fumes of two of the potions were not good for pregnant woman and she shouldn't even be handling one of the ingredients of another.

"How is he?"

"He's sleeping. The pain reliever must be working."

Euphemia nodded in satisfaction.

"Can I get you something to eat?" James asked hopefully.

Neither of the Potter parents had been eating well recently. But unfortunately, Euphemia shook her head.

"I'm fine, dear, but please, both of you, go eat dinner," she said, gesturing at Lily's stomach. "You have to eat for two, after all."

Lily and James exchanged worried looks.

Wednesday 20th February 1980

Marlene and Tonks' Flat, 09:00

"Haven't seen you around recently," Marlene said far too casually, leaving against the counter.

"Hmm?" Tonks said, running around, looking for her left boot.

Seriously? Why were her boots never together? It's not like she ever went walking around with one boot on, she always took them off at the same time so why were they never in the same place?

"You've been avoiding all of us," Marlene said in a slightly more accusing voice.

Which, considering that Marlene didn't exactly do subtle meant that it was quite accusing.

"I've just been busy," Tonks replied evasively.

And she had, going to Healer's appointments, trying everything imaginable to avoid nausea (ginger biscuits thankfully helped with that) and studying whenever she could. Just because she was taking time off from the Auror Academy didn't mean that she had to get behind on her studies. She was going to prove that she was still worthy of becoming an Auror when all this was over.

"Busy? We've all been busy."

Tonks nodded, not knowing where she was going with this. Yeah, so what? They had all been busy. That was life, wasn't it? She couldn't help that and Marlene didn't need to get on her case about it.

"But you just haven't been busy," Marlene continued. "You haven't been around at all."

"Because I've been busy," Tonks said weakly.

She didn't like where this questioning was going. Marlene was too good at this. Was this how she interrogated Death Eater suspects? Tonks hadn't got to that part of her training before she had to quit.

"No, you've been hiding from us."

"No, I haven't."

"Sure, you have."

"I haven't."

Why couldn't everyone just leave her be? She was always trying to push away their questions and prying recently. Merlin, if she wanted to be alone, she should be allowed to be alone! She didn't need to be with someone constantly! She just wanted to be left alone to deal with things. Or not deal with things, as it was. Whatever. It was her choice! No one else.

"Oh, just leave me alone," she huffed at the reproachful look Marlene gave her.

She tried to stomp off but Marlene was too quick and grabbed her elbow. Tonks shook her off and placed a few feet between them but it worked. She wasn't going anywhere.

"What?" She demanded.

Obviously, Marlene wanted to say something so she may as well say it.

"Seriously, Dora. What gives?"

Tonks tried to hold her friend's gaze and out stubborn her but all the fight just seemed to leave her body. She didn't want to be like this. She didn't.

"I'm pregnant," she whispered, refusing to look up at Marlene and instead choosing to stare at her feet.

Which meant she didn't see Marlene cross the space between them and jumped when she wrapped an arm around her. She could feel the small bump that was Marlene's child.

"Oh, Dora..."

Thursday 28th February 1980

Marauder Flat, 19:00

'CRACK' went his jaw as he went flying across the room. 'BANG!' That was his head as he fell against the wall. That was a fine greeting to get when you returned home to your flat after weeks of being away. On a reasonably dangerous mission too. Something or someone had got him. Seeing how there was a very angry looking Sirius Black in front of him.

"What the actual hell, Sirius?" Remus shouting, regretting that as it hurt his jaw.

This was not the welcome he had been expecting. Seriously, who expected to get punched in the jaw as soon as you appeared in your flat?

"I can't believe you! You are the last person I would have ever thought would do something like that!"

"Something like what?" Remus groaned, rubbing at his jaw.

He wasn't in the mood for this. He was literally just back from a long Order mission; he didn't know what was going on between him and Dora and the full moon was in a few days. Now was not the time for this sort of thing.

"Oh, you know fine well what I'm talking about."

"I really don't."

Though, Remus was starting to get this sinking feeling that he did know what Sirius was talking about. Or maybe that was just his guilty conscience.

"You got Dora pregnant! Pregnant!"

And yep, that was exactly what he was thinking. Great. Not.

"Where did you hear that?" He spluttered.

He wouldn't have thought Dora had told anyone. She hadn't told him she was going to do that. Would she tell him that, though?

"Heard it from another trainee," Sirius said, still glaring at him. "They were talking to someone else and apparently he overheard Williams talking to Dora about taking leave because of it."

"Leave?" Remus repeated stupidly. "Dora left the Auror Academy?"

Sirius snorted. "She can't very well be an Auror if she's pregnant, can she?"

No, he supposed she couldn't. Crap. Crap. Crap. He hadn't thought of that. Though, to be honest, he hadn't thought that she would get pregnant. He evidently hadn't been doing a lot of thinking. Oh, Sirius was expecting an answer from him.

"I suppose not."

"You just completely disrupted her life!"

"It's not necessarily a bad thing. Anyway, you're one to talk," Remus spat, glaring at Sirius.

Okay, in his and Dora's case it wasn't exactly a good thing but he was not giving Sirius anymore ammunition right now. He already wasn't winning this argument.

Well, glaring as best he could when his left eye was rapidly swelling shut.

"Excuse you?"

"You heard me. You're hardly one to talk."

"Don't talk crap."

Remus snorted. He was hardly talking crap if it was true.

"I'm not. Or are you forgetting that you got Marlene knocked up?"

"We've been in a relationship for years. Just because neither of us want to get married doesn't mean anything! Which is more than what I can say for you!"

That hurt more than Remus cared to admit, even to himself. But he wasn't going to show Sirius that.

"And how do you know?" He asked defensively.

Sirius snorted at his poor deflection. "You two weren't even going out with each other."

"Maybe we were!"

Lies, lies, lies. Or was it? They had both been very busy, between Dora's Auror training and his Order missions (which he had been doing a lot of), they really hadn't had that much time together. Or, if they did, it was so brief that they couldn't really do anything. Which meant they ended up making put which led to other activities. Activities that got him in this mess in the first place.

"And you hid it from all of us?" Sirius said sceptically.

Remus just looked away. Yeah, that had been a weak lie.

"I thought so. I can't believe you got her pregnant."

"We were both consenting adults," Remus felt he had to point out.

It had definitely not been one-sided. They both imitated such activities pretty equally between them.

"You knocked up my little cousin!"

"One, she's an adult, not a little child, and two, yes I did and you can't change that!"

That was not the right thing to say because all that did was make Sirius' face darken even more. It was kind of a scary thing to witness. Sirius didn't normally get angry easily.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up! You don't get to talk about her. I don't want to hear you talk!"

"You're the one that wanted me to explain myself!"

"Well, I've heard enough," Sirius said, finding his arms across his chest and glaring at him.

Suddenly, Remus didn't want to fight anymore and deflated. He just wanted to get into bed and sleep and not deal with this right now.

"Whatever," he grunted, turning around and heading to his room.

Thankfully, Sirius didn't follow.

Tuesday 4th March 1980

Severus' Flat, 20:00

"It's nice to see you and Chryssie spending time together," Lily commented far too innocently.

Severus gave her a look. "Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't make this something it's not."

"And what exactly is it?"

Severus sighed. "Nothing. It's nothing."

"So, Chryssie's nothing to you?" Lily asked, eyebrow raised.

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

Lily just hummed in response but he really didn't like the look on her face. It was too knowing. She had no right to give him that sort of look. Because nothing was happening to know about.

Of course, Chryssie mattered to him. She was his friend. A good friend. Evans' were good at being friends. Well, maybe except for Petunia but she didn't bear talking about. That would just be a waste of time. Severus didn't think he'd ever like her. Or even tolerate her.

Anyway, he didn't want to think about Petunia Evans or whatever her new surname was. Definitely not. No, he'd rather think about his actual friends... or, rather, his family, he supposed. Yes, that was still hard to wrap his head around most days but whatever. Yes, Lily and Chryssie and their parents were more his family than his own. And he supposed that the Marauders were too, as weird as they were and considering their rather... tumultuous start.

So, yeah. It wasn't weird that he was spending time with Chryssie. Chryssie was fun to spend time with. She was funny and smart and didn't care so much when he got distracted by potions or had stained fingertips (which people used to tease him about in school and not in the funny way that the Marauders did - placing bets on what potion he had been working on by the colour of the stains). She was a good friend.

"I feel like we haven't been spending much time together," Lily thankfully changed the subject when he remained silent.

"We all celebrated Imbolc together," he reminded her. "That was just a few weeks ago."

Though, it was very downplayed and more muted than such a celebration usually would be. And not just because they were no longer in school and therefore any celebration of a Greater Sabbat was small in comparison. No, between life in general getting in the way, people working and studying, there just hadn't been a lot of time to prepare. Or even do much. They did share a traditional meal together, prepared by the Potter House Elves, which contained plenty of dairy products. Severus had particularly enjoyed the custard with the desert. There was something magical about it.

Marlene had added her Irish twist on the day, ensuring that a little straw doll was present for St Brigid and they had finished the day with a bonfire on the grounds of Potter Manor. It had been a good day.

"Yeah, but I meant just us. You know. Like we used to."

"We've changed," Severus shrugged. "We're a lot busier now. It doesn't mean we're not friends."

In fact, as close as he was becoming to Chryssie, he still considered Lily his best friend.

"I know... I still miss just hanging out, though."

"Well, we're hanging out now, aren't we?"

[xxxxxx]

Saturday 8th March 1980

Muggle London, 10:00

"Oh, come on, Alice, it will be fun!" Lily urged.

Alice gave her a sceptical look but allowed herself to be pulled out of the Leaky Cauldron, not out the back but out the front. To the muggle side. Because that's where they were going today. The muggle side. Because Lily wanted to go to a baby shop in London. To shop for baby things. Because why would they be going to a baby shop otherwise?

It was weird that all three of them were pregnant and were the same amount of time along but it was also good because it meant they were all going through this together. Which was nice.

What wasn't nice was basically getting dragged through muggle London like some sort of recalcitrant child so Alice decided to actually walk properly alongside her friends and tried to look like she knew what she was doing.

"What's the shop called again?" Alice asked, trying not to stare too hard at the people around them.

People, they were just people. No different from her except for the fact that they didn't have magic.

"Mothercare," Lily answered, looking at the shops. "It should be just... down... here. Ah ha! Here it is!"

Alice looked in askance at the storefront in front of them. It had big windows that was tastefully decorated in all the products a baby could need. A pram took the centre with a cot to one side with all the accessories. Some clothes and even toys like blocks and soft Teddy bears.

It was a bit odd not seeing anything moving by itself or things with wizarding accoutrements like broomsticks or cauldrons (she must remember to get that cute, little Cauldron infant bath that she'd seen in the catalogue at home). But baby things were baby things, right? Muggle and magical babies weren't that different, were they? That's what Lily was always saying.

"Normally you walk into a shop you want to buy stuff out of," Marlene said sarcastically, walking past her.

That snapped Alice out of her thoughts and made her roll her eyes. In some way Marlene would never change.

"Are you coming or what?"

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

Reginald's Home, 14:30

It was remarkably easy to get away from his friends these days. Of course, it was because they all had a lot going on between work, being married, babies and arguments. None of which involved him which made it easy for him to just... get on with his life. Spend more time away from them. Peter had never meant it to get like this but that's just how things went. And he suspected that his friends didn't intend for this to happen either. Oh well. That was life, he supposed.

It just hurt a little that it just seemed to be him that was drifting away from them all. James and Sirius were still always together. Remus easily slipped in with them when he was around. Not that he was around much currently. But still, even if Remus was away for weeks, he was still sought out more than Peter was!

Which sucked but Peter was learning not to dwell on such things. Mainly because he didn't want to cause any drama.

"I have more people I want you to meet," Reginald was saying.

Peter perked up at that. The people Reginald knew always sounded so interesting. And the last person Reginald had urged him to meet was really lovely. Peter took this moment to smile at Leila. So other people should surely be just as nice?

"Really?"

He hoped he didn't sound too eager but the amused look on Reginald's face said otherwise.

"Yes, would you be interested 9n joining us for a meal?"

Well, let it be said that Peter Pettigrew never turned down good food.

"Sure."