"Fallon! Wake up-oh my!" My mother cut herself off as she opened the door. She hadn't seen my stomach without the spells in a while either. I'd left it off the night before.
"Well, haven't you gotten rather large," My mother said untactfully, though she meant it as a compliment so I took it as one.
"Thanks. What time is it?" I asked, I knew I had an appointment at St. Mungo's today at eleven.
"Its nearly ten-thirty…maybe you should go ahead and get ready," My mom replied.
"Thanks, I'll go. By the way, could you let Oliver know what time to be over here to go to St. Mungo's with us?"
"Go with us? You mean you told him?" She asked suddenly speechless.
"Yeah, I told him a couple days ago," I replied.
"Good," She replied decidedly, "That means it won't be awkward at our annual Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow."
"Yeah, good," I replied dreamily, remembering the small gold band with the little diamond sitting on my ring finger now.
"C'mon Fallon! The appointment in less than half an hour!" She ordered. I dragged myself from bed and threw on a loose t-shirt and a pair of size sixteen jeans. Now they were getting tight…great. Soon I would be too big for any jeans
~At St. Mungo's
We'd just came through the fireplace when it came to life the second we were out. Ashes on his shoulder's, Oliver stepped through the emerald flames.
"Ah, Oliver, punctual, excellent," My mother said. I slapped a hand to my forehead. Leave it to my mother to say something that completely weird at a time like this.
"Er, yes. I didn't want to be late," Oliver gave a valiant, but failed, attempt at not sounding completely awkward. Once again…. my mother….
We sat down and my mother grabbed a clipboard from the desk and filled it out.
"Oliver, I'm glad you came," I smiled at him. He gave me one of those stunning grins and said,
"I'm already five and a half months behind, I wouldn't have missed this for anything." He gave my hand a squeeze that sent the same kind of shiver down my back that it did nearly a year ago when he grabbed it without realizing after we beat Hufflepuff at quidditch.
The nurse called me in a second later. My mother was too busy swearing at the forms to notice or come ("what do they mean have you ever had measles? Is that some sort of bloody muggle disease?!?!")
Oliver and I followed the nurse back to a room. She asked me to lie on a table and then explained the procedure.
"I'm going to rub the gel on your stomach then use a spell to see inside, the image will appear on the screen behind me. Simple enough right?"
I nodded in agreement. The healer then rubbed the gel on my exposed stomach and muttered a spell. Oliver and I watched the screen and soon a hazy then clearer image appeared.
"Would you like to know the sex of your baby?" The healer asked.
"No," both Oliver and I replied simultaneously. It was nice how we could be thinking the same thing and feel comfortable blurting it out in front of each other.
The healer pointed out the head to us, as well as a couple of other body parts. The baby was healthy also, which is what my biggest concern was after what Flint did to me. My baby could have been dead because of him.
With that the healer removed the gel, and changed my vitamins slightly. Then we walked back out to the waiting room to find my mother.
"There, they are finally done, now where did Fallon and Oliver get to?" We heard my mother muttering to herself as we appeared.
"Sorry Mum, they already took me back for my examination. I'm done. We can go now," I grinned sheepishly.
"Oh, was everything alright? Is the baby healthy? Do we need to go and switch your vitamins?" She queried
"The baby is healthy, and no, she only upped how much I take, but I'm still on the same vitamin," I answered with a slight chuckle at my mother's endless question.
"Okay then, um…" She thought for a moment, "Would you like lunch? I'll treat." I nodded enthusiastically, and my stomach rumbled in agreement.
"You too, of course Oliver," my mother added as an afterthought, realizing Oliver might feel like he was supposed to go.
"Is the Black Cat okay with you two?" She asked. The Black Cat was a small place that served mostly lunch, and a bit of dinner.
"Thanks Ms. Grier, that would be excellent," Oliver recalled his manners. My mother had always been as good as his mother, but I believe the fact that he impregnated her daughter was kicking in.
"Oliver stop all that nonsense. You will call me Aunt Felicia as you always have thank you. I've been aware of this since the day it happened. If I had hard feelings you would have noticed by now Oliver. Now come, lunch," She corrected him in a rather nonchalant manner.
Oliver gave me a look that clearly said, 'am I in trouble?' I could only laugh at him. It was rather funny to see is puzzled face; it's a rather cute face.
Anyway though, despite my laughing and his confusion we did manage to floo after my mother to the Black Cat.
"What would you like?" The waitress asked. We all order sandwiches and soda for Oliver and I while my mother chose to drink tea instead.
"Oliver, I am curious why you're acting so oddly. Its not as if I haven't known," My mother said. If there were such thing as a British blonde that was my mother.
"What do you mean you've known? How long?" Oliver asked. I didn't tell him because it hadn't been important.
"Why you dear boy, I've known since it happened. Your mother too. And your fathers have known since the night you left for Hogwarts, we had to wait until you two were gone. And Braeden knew before school started too," My mother went on, not realizing she was definitely annoying Oliver. I could tell simply from his body language. I gave his hand a squeeze for reassurance.
We finished our lunch before heading home. Oliver went back to his respective home as he had things to do there and I went to mine to help my mother decorate, and she wanted to show me the nursery. She'd had fun designing the whole thing, so I'd let her.
"Mom, its gorgeous," I commented as we walked in. Since we decided not to find out what the baby was she opted for a pale green for the walls. The carpet was white as was the trim of the room and the furniture.
"I thought you'd like it. It would have been more practical if you'd found out the sex of the baby, but this is different, unique."
"Thanks mom," I gave her a hug. After we retrieved the Christmas decorations and began the 'grand decoration of Wood Lodge'. We preferred to call our home a lodge instead of a mansion, which is technically what it was.
We were done around five thirty and the place was stunning. Mistletoe hung in many of the doorways, garland hung around the doorways, and never melt icicles hung from the stairwells and the walls.
"Whoo," My mother wiped her brow as we hung the last of the mistletoe. We could have done it by magic, but if we'd done that we couldn't make it perfect, everything just so, how we like it. Because of that, we, my mother and I, have always put up Christmas decorations by hand, the muggle way I mean.
"It seems better every year," I commented aloud. She gave me a warm smile and we made our way to the kitchen for some cocoa.
We sat sipping on the warm liquid when my father walked in. He and I hadn't really spoken since break started. I was afraid he'd be angry, and he'd just been busy.
"Hey daddy," I said tentative over the edge of my cup. He gave me an open and welcome smile.
"How're you doing sweetheart?" He asked. My eyes watered slightly, but I pushed the tears back.
"I've been better, but I'm doing well," I replied shakily. He chuckled a bit and replied,
"You're practically glowing though. I know this baby is going to make a lot of people happy," He flat out recognized and squashed the tension.
I gave a laugh and hugged him tightly around the neck.
"Thanks Daddy," I whispered in his ear. Yes, I am a daddy's girl. I can't help it, but I am.
"Well," My mother said, for once gracefully breaking the awkwardness that occurred after the hug, "I'm not cooking tonight, I'm tired. Are we ordering in or going out?"
"Ordering in," My dad and I replied simultaneously.
With a grin my mom picked up the muggle phone we only used for when we wanted to order in. We didn't have much muggle, but all of us had a fondness of muggle Chinese.
Later after a shower, and with a full belly of Chinese I retired to bed. I'd left my stomach spell-less all day except at the Black Cat. This was getting much easier to accept. In fact, I'd already accepted it.
~The Next Morning
I'll tell you what I haven't accepted is the morning sickness. It's coming more often now and medicine can't control this much, it's normal at my time. That doesn't mean I have to like waking up earlier than I normally would with puke nearly pouring out of my mouth.
Braeden, awoken from my falling to the floor from my bed made his way sleepily to the bathroom in time to pull my hair away from my face. Oh yeah, he definitely earned what I'd gotten him for Christmas this year.
I couldn't wait to show everyone what Oliver and I could do now. Professor McGonagall had finished her lessons with Oliver and me, but after the argument we took them separately. She also said we didn't have to register until we were out of Hogwarts. Oliver and I hadn't told anyone yet. Heck, we hadn't even told our friends in school why we had to keep seeing Professor McGonagall. I think they just assumed we were dreadful at Transfiguration. They would all be excited.
After I'd puked the entire content of my stomach, and Braeden left I made my way back to my room and I locked the door behind me. I suddenly felt uncomfortable and bulky at all the weight I was carrying in the front right now.
I figured I'd try shifted shape to see if I was more comfortable that way. And surprisingly, as a leopard, it was more comfortable. The weight was carried below instead of in front of me. And I felt much more agile this way. I hopped lighted up to my bed, and curled up on top of the blankets into a large white ball before dozing off.
"Fallon?" I heard a voice calling. Fearing it was Braeden I tried to awaken myself enough to change back when instead casting the unlocking charm on my door was Oliver. Upon seeing this, I lowered my head back to my bed and began to doze.
"Tired?" I only opened one cat eye in response, "I'll have to take that as a yes. And I'm going to assume that the reason you've got furry on me is because you're more comfortable with the extra weight that way." In response to that I rolled over. There was now room for him if wanted and if not the movement felt nice.
"That does look comfortable. I think I'll join you," He commented. In one fluid gentle leap he transformed and joined me on the bed. He didn't doze but instead left his head nestled on the top of my back with his eyes half open.
~Later
"WHY ARE THERE TWO THREE HUNDRED POUND CATS ON FALLON'S BED?!?!?" said…