I'm on the fence with how I feel about this chapter. I really like it, but I don't know if anyone else will. So, since I'm so nervous about it, I'll post it early. Yay? Also, this is the longest chapter so far. That probably won't change until the last chapter.

Thank you my "followers" (that's just a weird term for me. Alert List people?) and reviewer! Group hug!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. J. K. Rowling claims that. It's better that way, though. Harry probably would have had ten more kids. Poor guy. But I claim Cora and the majority of her family. Not her last name, though.

Winning at Everything

Chapter Three: James Wins at Family

Month Three: Eleven Weeks – January 24, 2022 to January 26, 2022

James knew they probably should have gone to bed a couple hours ago. He wasn't making any headway studying for charms, and he was moderately sure Cora was sleeping with her eyes open. She had been on the same page of her potions book for far longer than was needed.

He looked over Cora and stopped at her stomach. James stared for minutes before lightly poking the spot he was staring at. "That's the baby?"

Cora sat down her book, showing a blush coloring her cheeks. She traced a circle over the very slightly rounded skin of her abdomen. "Yeah. I thought it was fat for a while, but..." She shrugged from her lying position on the sofa.

James pulled himself to his knees and looked down at the spot again. He pulled up her shirt and tilted his head. "You can't really see the roundness from the front." He narrowed his eyes. "Can I talk to it?"

"I-" Cora's hand caressed the spot again. "I guess. I always talked to Aunt Melinda's belly when she was pregnant with Darren."

James sat back on his heels. "It seems kind of awkward right now to talk to it. It's too small. You've got a baby flavored Every Flavor Bean in there or something."

He grinned when Cora giggled. "That is really creepy, James."

"I'd eat some Cora flavored beans right now," James told her with a leer.

Cora laughed. "That's flattering from the guy who likes dirt flavored beans." She raised herself up on her elbows and gave him a smirk. "Then again, you're weird."

"I'm not weird. I'm eccentric." He pecked her on the lips and then pressed a kiss to her stomach. When he looked up her face was so red it blended in to the common room around them. "What?"

"N-Nothing. ...Just wondering if you want to sneak off to the prefect bathroom?" Cora grinned wickedly.

James matched it with one of his own. "Miss Head Girl is just a rule breaker in disguise aren't you?"

"It's not like you can get me pregnant again," Cora commented.

"Dude, you knocked up the Head Girl? You're my hero."

James and Cora both whipped their heads towards the common room entrance to see Fred Weasley standing there with a shocked grin. James almost cursed. He'd been avoiding telling the rest of his family until Easter. Albus and Lily knew, but they had been swore to secrecy by James and both their parents. Letting all of his cousins know was like letting all of Hogwarts know. There were so many of them that it would be only hours before the whole school knew. Cora didn't deserve so much attention so soon.

"I'm going to go to my dorm, James." With a quick kiss Cora was gone.

James turned to Fred, who turned back from watching Cora walk away. "Sorry I just ruined your night of naughty fun, mate. When were you going to let me know you're going to have a kid?" While casual, there was a hint of reproach in Fred's voice. James couldn't really blame him. Fred was his best friend and knew pretty much everything there was to know about James.

"I don't know. We were just trying to keep it quiet for a while," James told him. "The only people who know are the Uncles, Grandparents, and Albus and Lily. Cora's parents don't even know yet."

Fred raised his eyebrows. "I get it, mate. So is it a boy or a girl?" He grinned wide. It seemed Fred was going to take the news just like Albus had, which was a weird prospect to consider.

James chuckled. "I don't know yet. We've got another month or something until we can find out."

"Dude, you're going to have a kid. This will be awesome." Fred made a wide sweeping gesture with his hands. "Child of James Potter and the wildest Head Girl Hogwarts has ever had. That kid's going to be in detention for life."

James gave his own grin. "No, we'll teach it better than that. They'll learn to never get caught."

By lunch the next day the whole school knew about Cora's pregnancy. James wasn't sure how it got out. Fred swore he hadn't said a thing to anyone and James believed him. Cora had interrogated her brother between classes, while James had questioned Albus, but neither had told. It felt like an invisible train wreck had happened during the night and everyone had grabbed a piece of James and Cora's luggage instead of their own.

Lunch was had in the kitchens. The amount of pointed fingers and whispers were too much for both of them, so they had opted to eat somewhere else. The house elves didn't point and were polite and excited at the idea of serving James and Cora, who was adored by the elves. Apparently they liked pregnant women and knew how to handle the nausea that had been troubling Cora for weeks.

That's where Fred, Albus, and Jack found them. Albus put up the map he was carrying and slapped James on the back of the head.

"Nice to see you too, Al," James said with a frown.

Jack started gathering up the food sat in front of Cora into a basket, while Fred put his arm around Albus's shoulders. "James, we're going up to the Room," Fred told him.

James's stomach dropped. "The family's there, right?"

Albus rolled his eyes. "It was either that or keep saying 'no comment' every time they spoke to us."

"Which is actually really fun to watch," Jack told them. Cora gave him a smile. "Especially those blond twins. No wonder they were sorted into Hufflepuff."

James ran a hand over his face, then sent a sharp look to Fred and Albus. "You invited Lor and Ly? It'll be dinner before we can get them to stop talking." For having such an easy going mother, both Scamander twins were ruthless when trying to get information on something. They were first years, but still slightly scared James with how interested they were in things.

Albus just smirked, but Fred raised his hands in defense. "You know how they are. I was scared what they would do to me if we didn't invite them."

Albus snickered. "You two are pathetic."

James pushed Albus and laughed when he hit the wall. "The twins just like you for some strange reason." Albus just shrugged.

"Who will be there?" Cora asked, taking James's hand. He gave it a reassuring squeeze. His family was large, but they were pretty harmless. To her at least. James was pretty sure he would be hexed at least once.

Albus took on a thoughtful look. "Lily will be there with Hugo, the twins, Fred and Jack, of course. Then there's Lucy. Beware of Lucy, James; she's not happy with you. Louis is coming and he said he'd try to get Rose and Roxanne. I think that's all. Oh, I invited Scorpius, too."

"Of course you'd invite Scorpius," James teased. Fred and Jack laughed quietly into their hands.

Cora slapped both Jack and James on the shoulders. "I always forget how many cousins you have," she muttered.

It was Albus, who had just pushed down a blush, who leaned to look at Cora with a smile. "The only thing you have to worry about is the twins asking you too many questions and Lily and Rose hanging around you like house elves."

Cora smiled. "I guess it'll be nice. I've been surrounded by boys for a while." Which kind of made James feel bad. The only people who had known at school had been their siblings, and Cora and Lily weren't the types to seek out each other.

The door to the Room of Requirement was plain and unassuming. The Room itself looked like the living room of the Burrow. James knew at once that it had been Lily and Hugo who had designed the room. Lily would have wanted it to seem like they were really having a family discussion and Hugo probably just wanted to put everyone at ease. It more or less worked on everyone but Cora and James.

Three wands were instantly pointed in James's direction. Cora stepped in front of him as if to shield him. It made James's heart warm at the same time as it pounded in fear. She was pregnant, she couldn't just start jumping in front of spells for him!

James slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her to his side. Louis, ever the peacemaker, stepped beside them and raised his hands. "Hey girls, let's lower the wands. At least until we can get the truth."

"So, is it true?" Loran Scamander asked excitedly.

"Did you really get the Head Girl pregnant?" Lysander Scamander followed up for his twin, slightly more subdued.

"You know, I've been your girlfriend longer than I've been Head Girl," Cora muttered to James with a frown. It was all he could do not to grin.

Lucy put her hands on her hips after she lowered her wand. "Of course its true. James would be stupid enough to do something like this." James ruefully wished that Lucy could have been as easy going as her sister. Molly had been great help in pranks, along with Dominique, when she had been in school.

"Hey, at least James is taking responsibility for it," Lily protested. That was his sister. She'd yell at him until she was blue in the face, but only she was allowed to.

Then things started to fall apart. It devolved into people debating his morals and whether or not he should be punished with spells or get a pat on the back for not acting immature. Only Scorpius, Jack, Cora, Louis, and himself hadn't gotten into the discussion yet. The way Scorpius was smirking, Louis was pinching the bridge of his nose, and Jack was gaping it wouldn't be them who broke it up.

It apparently wouldn't be James either. "Hey! I will take off points right now if you don't sit down and SHUT UP!"

Everyone, even James, looked at Cora with wide eyes. Her brown eyes were narrowed and there was a hard expression on her face that James had only seen a few times and usually only after she had been at her parents for a long time. It was the first time he had ever heard her yell, if he didn't count quidditch matches. People sat down though.

He didn't mention the fact that her hand on his back was shaking, but he did hold her closer. "Now, if you all are done yelling about James's actions concerning my uterus you might find out the truth."

Lorcan raised a hand. "What's a uterus?"

The next morning James woke up to Cora's head resting on his chest. The day before had gone somewhat okay, though he was a bit fearful of what Aunt Luna and Uncle Rolf would do to him once the twins started asking uncomfortable questions. Cora had been nearly silent after her shouting, but had gotten along with Lily, Lucy, Rose, and Roxanne when they had cornered her with questions. James hadn't questioned it when Cora followed him up to his dorm and had fallen asleep immediately.

After he had woken her up and gotten dressed, they walked down to breakfast. James had tried to steer Cora towards the kitchens, but she had been stubborn about wanting to eat in the Great Hall. It was really her decision. He could handle the stares even if he didn't like them, he was Harry Potter's son after all, but Cora wasn't as used to them. She had told him it was practice and he couldn't deny her.

Fred, Rose, Roxanne, Lily, and Hugo sat with them at the Gryffindor table. So when the mail started coming in, James was okay with leaving her to go talk to Louis. His family would distract her and protect her from obnoxious gossips.

"Hey, Louis. Can I talk to you for a bit?" James asked.

Louis waved to his friends and turned to James with a questioning look. "Sure, here or...?"

James shook his head. "Here's okay. You still do prefect rounds, right?"

"Yeah, every Monday at eleven," Louis responded.

James snapped his fingers. "Great! I knew you were the right one. See, Cora does rounds at midnight every Monday. You don't have to every night, but once and a while do you think you could walk with Cora during her rounds? I don't like the idea of her being out there alone, you know?" James was also going to try and get Scorpius on board for it despite the Malfoy's study habits that Albus had complained about.

Louis gave a bright smile that lit up his face. James could have sworn he heard girls near him swooning. "Sure James. Is Cora alright with it?"

"She thought I was overreacting, but told me she was okay with it if it didn't mess with anyone's grades. It's not, is it?" James gave a doubtful glance at Louis, who laughed.

"I'm already ahead of most of my classes." Louis's blue eyes moved over James's shoulder and narrowed. "I think Cora might be sick or something. She just ran out."

"Shit. Thanks Louis. Talk to you in Herbology," James called as he ran towards the Great Hall doors.

He didn't have to look far to find her. Cora was sitting on the steps leading up to the second floor, holding her knees. James pulled her into his side, then realized she was crying. After she calmed down, he was going to go kill his cousins and maybe even his sister too.

"What happened?" he asked her quietly. The Entrance Hall was practically empty, but he still didn't want others hearing them.

Cora just shook her head and handed him a letter that he hadn't noticed before. It looked very proper and crisp. He read it with wide eyes, growing angrier.

Corabelle,

Jacob and Isabelle Bobbin have heard from unnamed sources about your pregnancy with James Sirius Potter. They have little to say in your punishment, as you are of age. They would like to inform you that they are very disappointed and saddened at the shame you have brought upon their family.

Corabelle Elizabeth Bobbin, you are hereby disowned and struck from the family tree and any descendents thereafter. All of your possessions will be transferred to your personal vault, along with the items left for you in Wanda Elizabeth Bobbin's Last Will and Testament. Any attempt to contact Jacob and Isabelle Bobbin should be issued through a third party. Any contact with Jack Richard Bobbin will be met with legal action.

Jacob and Isabelle Bobbin would also like to inform you that they will be contacting Headmaster Filius Flitwick with their suggestion to strip you of your Head Girl status.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please contact me through owl.

Dearest Wishes,
Ollie Smith

Then there, at the bottom, was a little note from the letter writer.

P.S. My sincerest congratulations on the pregnancy, Cora. It you need any help at all, please do not hesitate to contact me. One of my business partners would be glad to take any cases you have in the future. Please let me know how the birth comes along.

James put his face in Cora's hair, unable to speak for a very long moment. What kind of parent would do that to their child? Apparently Cora's parents. There was something so wrong about the letter that made James sick to the stomach.

"I shouldn't be so surprised," Cora commented weakly. "Of course they would react like this."

James's frown deepened. "You don't have to worry about a thing, Cor. Whether or not you like it, you're part of my family now. Mum and Dad would love to have you in the house, and if you hate it there, you can stay at the Burrow or even with one of my Aunts and Uncles. You're now part of one of the largest families in the Wizarding World." He pulled away to let her know that he was serious about that. Her parents might have been uncaring demons, but his weren't.

Tears welled in Cora's eyes and she pressed her face into his neck. "I love you, James Potter."

James pulled her close and sighed. "I love you too."

Just in case anyone is wondering about the Weasley-Potter-Lupin-Scamander-Malfoy-Bobbin (that's a mouthful) ages and Houses at this point in time, here you go.

Teddy – 24 – Gryffindor – Graduated
Victorie – 23 – Ravenclaw – Graduated
Trevor Bobbin – 21 – Hufflepuff – Graduated
Dominique – 20 – Gryffindor – Graduated
Molly – 20 – Gryffindor – Graduated
Fred – 18 – Gryffindor – Seventh Year
James – 17 – Gryffindor – Seventh Year
Cora – 17 – Gryffindor – Seventh Year
Louis – 17 – Hufflepuff – Seventh Year
Albus – 16 – Slytherin – Fifth Year
Rose – 16 – Gryffindor – Fifth Year
Roxanne – 15 – Gryffindor – Fifth Year
Scorpius – 15 – Slytherin – Fifth Year
Jack Bobbin – 15 – Slytherin – Fifth Year
Lucy – 14 – Ravenclaw – Fourth Year
Lily – 13 – Gryffindor – Third Year
Hugo – 13 – Gryffindor – Third Year
Lorcan – 12 – Hufflepuff – First Year
Lysander – 12 – Hufflepuff – First Year