Trials and Tribulations
Summary: Harry Potter knew he was going to get shocked when he visited his parents graves. He knew that'd he'd see family he never met; like grandparents, uncles, and aunts. But one thing he didn't know was that he was going to meet his sister.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am not making any profit off of this fanfic.
Chapter Nine: All Alone
Lily groaned quietly. She opened her eyes, and tried hard not to focus on the churning in her stomach. She heard snores in the room, but Lily didn't want to check and see who was still in the room.
She threw open the hangings and realized she was in the Marauders room. The snoring was coming from Frank.
'James is gone.' Lily thought. She stretched a moment, and then she looked at her feet. She frowned. "Do I just get bigger and bigger over night?" She asked herself. She got a grunt for a reply from Frank. She couldn't help but smile. She sat back down on the bed and looked around.
The room was very disheveled and dirty clothes lay everywhere. 'No wonder they never have clean towels. They use them all and then never wash…The house elves can't even get in here to clean and do their laundry at night…' She kicked at a boot by James's bed. 'Isn't that Peters?' She sighed and did another sweep of the room. It was a lot better than her previous one, even though the girl's dormitory never got this dirty.
She kicked at the boot again. A sudden thought came to her, and she looked at the closest clock. 'So what am I forgetting?' She stared for a moment at the clock, and then she reached for her trunk and pulled it out from underneath the bed. She had shrunk it to a small size so she could put it somewhere that didn't take up space. She opened it and pulled out her calendar. She flipped through the months and stopped on today's date.
In large purple letters it said, Healers Appointment.
For a moment, Lily just stared at it. Then she looked at the clock, and then she consulted the calendar. 'Well…It started five minutes ago…' She hurried and ran into the lavatory. She turned around and ran back to her trunk, grabbing the jeans Elizabeth had allowed her to borrow and a jumper. She ran back to the lavatory and threw her pajamas off, throwing them to the corner of the bathroom. 'I'll get that later.' She brushed her hair into a quick pony tail, and then she was off.
Lily ran from the dorm through the Gryffindor Common Room, and to the Great Hall. She had bumped into a few people, actually knocking over a small first year. It slowed her down when she stopped and helped her up and apologized. About three minutes later she was in the Great Hall. She made a beeline towards James, seeing as how he had food on his plate. Lily hurried and ate his toast. The Marauders and Elizabeth watched as she quickly shoved the food in her mouth.
"Where are you going?" James finally asked, lifting up a goblet to her. She took it and took a large gulp.
"Healers this morning. Forgot," Lily said around her food. She hurried and drank the rest of his juice and then bounded out of the Great Hall. A few people were watching her, but she didn't care. It was already fifteen minutes into her appointment; it wasn't good that she was running late.
A moment later, she made it to the Infirmary. Madame Jacobs was already there in her blue robes. She smiled at Lily, as she slowed to halt in front of her and gulped down air. She had a stitch in her side, and that didn't help matters either.
"You didn't have to run here, I would have waited," Madame Jacobs said. Lily nodded her head, still slightly winded. Madame Jacobs led her to the last bed that had a screen around it for privacy. "I'll just be a moment," she said, going to Madame Pomfrey's office.
Lily sighed, and swung her legs back and forth, still trying to get her heart to beat at its normal rate. Madame Jacobs was talking to someone and walking towards Lily's bed, but she turned away, and began walking in a different direction. Lily tilted her head slightly and listened as she heard more footsteps. 'The Wing is pretty busy today.'
She turned away from the screen, and leaned back into her bed. She rested her hand on her stomach, and closed her eyes. 'Why am I so nervous?' She thought, drumming her fingers on her stomach. She answered her own question. 'Because it's the start of my second trimester and I'm not showing that much.' She opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. 'I almost went to the Library to look that up. Is it normal not to show?' She chuckled quietly to herself. 'What if someone saw me checking out books on pregnancy? That would be the day.' She laughed some more.
After a moment, Lily felt her eyes drooping. She tried not to fall asleep, and she didn't, as someone's voice floated to her. "Lily, are you in there?"
She jumped and looked towards the darker patch of the privacy screen. "James?" she asked, surprised.
James slid into the small area, a hand over his eyes. He peeked through to make sure she was fully clothed. 'I totally forgot that I invited him to come to my appointments!' She slapped her forehead.
James smiled at Lily's reaction. "Is it okay that I come to these appointments with you?"
Lily nodded her head. "Yeah, that's fine. That's great actually." She smiled at him, and her smile grew bigger as he smiled back. He walked towards her, and she wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him tightly. She whispered a quick thank you before breaking away. She could hear someone's footsteps coming back to her bed.
Madame Jacobs appeared, and James shook her hand. "I'm James Potter," he said brightly.
"I've been waiting to meet you, Mr. Potter," Madame Jacobs said. She smiled at him and returned his handshake. "I'm Anita Jacobs, Lily's Healer."
James nodded his head and sat down in a vacant chair beside Lily's bed.
There was a moments silence as Madame Jacobs pulled out her clipboard. She began writing things down, and then she looked at Lily. "Lily, have you been feeling well lately?"
"I had really bad morning sickness the other day," Lily said. "But other than that, I've been feeling fine."
Madame Jacobs nodded her head and wrote it down. "Have you been running any fevers, anything odd of the sorts?" Lily shook her head, and she wrote that down too. Then she set the clipboard on Lily's bed. "First things first, you need to be weighed and measured."
James looked from Lily to Madame Jacobs. He saw that they understood what was going on, but he didn't. "Measured for what?" James blurted out. 'Okay…maybe a little more subtle on the idiocy here…can't let her Healer think that the baby is going to have my stupid genes.' His cheeks turned a deep shade of red when he realized that Lily was laughing at him.
"To see how the baby's growing," Lily said. Her eyes were sparkling with mirth, and James couldn't help but smile. She looked so much happier than she had been lately. He nodded his head. She hopped off the bed, and Madame Jacobs flicked her wand and a Muggle scale appeared on the floor. James looked at it curiously, his head tilted to the side because he had never seen one before. He gave Lily a look, and she smiled at him again. "It's a Muggle scale. They're easier to use." James nodded his head. Lily stepped onto the scale. Madame Jacobs stood behind her, and wrote down the numbers.
James wasn't going to know how much she weighed. Lily felt that that was a bit of information that she could keep to herself.
Then Madame Jacobs pulled a tape measurer out of her robe pocket. She asked Lily to lift up her shirt, and then she measured Lily around her abdomen. James watched in interest. 'I didn't know they had to do all this. I learn new things every day.'
She wrote down the numbers, and then Lily sat down again.
"I think you'll be more comfortable in wearing maternity shirts, pants, and bras now," Madame Jacobs said.
James blushed. 'So they do all this…but in front of me. Please sweet Merlin; don't make them start discussing things…'
Lily glanced at James and saw the look on his face. She couldn't help but giggle and slap his arm playfully. "You said you wanted to come to my appointments now. You'll have to endure all our talk."
James just shook his head. He had this sudden feeling, and he couldn't quite explain it.
Lily rolled her eyes. Madame Jacobs put down Lily's chart. "Hold out your hands. We have to check for swelling now," she said. She also asked Lily to take off her shoes and socks. She did so, and let them clatter to the floor.
Lily held out her hands and when Madame Jacobs was done, she went to her face and feet. "Why would I be swelling up?" Lily asked, after Madame Jacobs checked and said she wasn't.
Madame Jacobs leaned against the bed. "Because you now have an expanded blood supply. It's common for your ankles and feet to swell, but if your face and hands start to swell, you need to come here immediately." She emphasized immediately. "Also if there's major discomfort, you should contact me or Madame Pomfrey. Actually, any discomfort. Don't be afraid to come here, even if it feels like something you can handle it, okay?"
Lily nodded her head. Madame Jacobs gave James a look to make sure he heard. He nodded his head too.
"Do you have any more questions?"
"I have one more," Lily said. Madame Jacobs listened as Lily asked, "I've been feeling a weird feeling…like I have bubbles in my stomach. It kind of reminds me of butterflies fluttering around."
"Is it in your lower abdomen?" she asked. Lily nodded her head. "That's called quickening. It's your baby moving around."
James felt another pang of—well, he wasn't sure what to call it, hit him. He shook his head again and looked at Lily. She was smiling as if Christmas had come early.
"Are those your questions?" she asked. Lily nodded. She asked James the same question and got the same response. "Okay, before this appointment is over, I need to ask James some questions. I asked Lily the same ones, it won't take long."
xoXoXoXox
By the time Lily and James left the Infirmary, James's face was so red that he thought it would never return to its original color again. Lily was beside herself with laughter.
"James they were just questions about you and your family history," Lily said, her voice a bit higher because she was trying not to laugh.
"She basically examined me with my clothes on," James retorted.
Lily shook her head and leaned it against his shoulder. James slipped his hand in hers, but he still felt a little weird. Something was nagging him in the back of his head, but he wasn't sure what it was. 'I didn't forget anything did I'
"Are you okay?" Lily asked, suddenly serious. He had broken out in a sweat, and he was breathing quickly. It looked like he was almost running a fever.
"Fine. Just fine." He adverted his eyes from hers.
Lily gave him a weird look. "Maybe you should go lay down. Are you sure you're okay?" She put her hand against his head, but he wasn't running a fever.
James nodded his head. "Fine, couldn't be better." They continued down the corridor for a few minutes, and then he suddenly let go of her hand. "You know what? I'm gonna go lay down." He didn't look at Lily when he said this, and he quickly left, leaving Lily alone in the corridor.
xoXoXoXox
BB/N: To My Reviewers!
Question: Do you mind that my stories are really long? Like going on to 30 something chapters? I know Unplanned Pregnancies was long…and my new fanfic that I'm working on has 19 chapters…I can start cutting down on things that happens if you don't like the idea of my stories being so long.
Ooh! I forgot to do this in the last chapter.
I'd like to thank Iloveinuyasha44 for giving me the idea for the last chapter, about the Bulimia thing…Because I had been in a tight spot and didn't know how to finish the chapter. Thank you! You helped me loads!
Have A Nice Day!
Love,
Bob Bennit