Moments
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Usually I don't like putting ANs at the top of the chapter but this one is for sarahmichellegellarfan1 thank you for your reviews, they're awesome. Hopefully your question should be answered by the end of this chapter.
Chapter 15:
"I got to hand it to you James, you can't call me the black sheep anymore" Al said. "Knocking up your girlfriend is way worse than being sorted in Slytherin"
"Shut up!" I threw a pillow at him and he dodged it.
"I didn't even know you two were dating" Al said continuing to enter my room and invade my private space.
"There is some information you're not privileged to when we don't share a house" I replied.
"Whatever. So does Rose know you knocked up her best friend?"
Would he ever leave?! "Rose knows we're dating and I told her to butt out of our relationships. It isn't her business no more than it's any of your business."
"Hey, I'm just being brotherly. What kind of brother would I be if I didn't hassle you all the time?"
I smiled a little as he used my favorite words against me.
"So do you know what you're going to do when the baby comes?"
"Nope, and you're starting to sound like mum and dad."
"Great minds think alike" Al said, "and look I'm here for you for whatever you need unless it's changing diapers."
I threw another pillow at him.
Al laughed as he dodged the pillow. "Hopefully you two have better naming sense than mum and dad."
"Hey, you're the only one who doesn't like his name. James is cool. James Sirius the second, it has a nice ring to it, right?"
"Merlin's pants you are hopeless" Al said.
I frowned. Too bad I didn't have any more pillows to throw at him.
"I know" I muttered.
"Don't get all serious on me" Al said sitting down at my desk. "I was just joking. You're going to be a decent father."
"You don't know that" I replied.
"Remember all the bad shit you used to do when we were little? Putting firecrackers in my diapers? Slipping Fainting Fancies in Lily's milk? Setting Rose's hair on fire? Sticking dad's wand up my nose? Telling Hugo two dementors dropped him out of the sky?"
I nodded. I was a little shit as a toddler. I barely remember half of the bad stuff I did when I was younger. The firecrackers in Al's diaper I remember, it was my first prank.
"Just don't do any of that and you'll be fine" Al said.
I reached for a pillow to throw at him as he laughed, but I was all out.
"You're an arse" I pointed out.
"Who do you think taught me so well?"
I did, I know I did. For a little brother, Al wasn't too bad. He's still the black sheep though.
After I showered I decided to go check in on Alison.
Lily's bedroom door was open. I stood in the door way. Someone, probably dad, had summoned a standard double sized bed with a dark red comforter that Ali was lying across. Lily was on her own bed flipping through a magazine.
It was nice to see the two of them get along, although it was potentially dangerous. I could imagine all the embarrassing stories Lily could tell Ali about me.
"So Shane Connor asked me out on the last day of break. I'm thinking about saying yes. Isn't he dreamy?" Lily was asking.
Isn't that that Seeker for Hufflepuff? Like hell I'm going to let my sister date him. He's way too old for one.
"No, he's not dreamy" I replied causing both girls to look at me. "If I catch him anywhere near you I'm cursing him into next century."
Ali and Lily both rolled their eyes.
"See what I was telling you about overprotective brothers. I'm glad I'm finally getting a sister" Lily said. "By the way, why are you standing in my doorway with nothing but a towel on?"
"I'm wearing boxers. I came to talk to Ali. Would you mind going down stairs and seeing when breakfast is ready?"
"Are you trying to kick me out of my own room?" Lily asked.
"Yes, can you shut the door behind you when you go?" I replied.
"Hey, be nicer to your sister" Ali spoke up.
"Yeah be nicer to me" Lily said.
"Please" I said sarcastically.
"Sure I'll go. I'll call for you two when dad finished making breakfast."
Lily flicked me on her way out the door.
I took a seat on the edge of Ali's bed.
"How are you feeling?" I asked. I don't know why I felt awkward.
"I'm fine" she replied.
"My parents gave use a lot to think about last night."
"Yeah, I didn't sleep much last night."
"Me either."
"What are we going to do?"
"I have no idea" I laid back across the bed. "They should really teach this stuff in school."
"I don't think they teach this stuff in school because they don't want to seem like they're encouraging it" Ali said.
"Still teaching the potion or the charm isn't a bad idea" I shrugged. "I doubt the library carries baby books either. Maybe we can go book shopping or something. I bet there's a book out there called 'what to expect when you're expecting' or something just as cheesy."
"We should visit Flourish and Blotts. Maybe some time later today." Her voice cracked as she spoke.
I looked down to see tears in her eyes.
"Hey" I said leaning over and brushing tears off her cheek, "don't cry." I pulled her into my arms, "Everything will work out."
"We don't know that."
"It's not like you to cry so much it must be the hormones."
She slapped my shoulder, it was the reaction I was hoping for.
"What are you worried about?"
"I'm worried that we won't be good parents; that we won't be able to take care of our baby. That something bad might happen."
"Hey, nothing bad is going to happen" I said. "The baby isn't due until the end of June. We'll have plenty of time to learn how to be parents. We'll be able to take care of the baby because we'll have a plan. We'll start writing out a plan today. In fact we could probably buy one of those planner things that say what we're supposed to be doing on what week of pregnancy or what not. From now on we're only going to think positive. Nothing bad is going to happen."
"You don't know that."
"I do know that."
"Knock, knock. Please don't be making out" Lily came into the room. "Breakfast's ready. You should put on some clothes James before you head down. Come on, Ali, you can sit next to me."
"Wait let me at least wash my hands first" I heard Ali call as Lily pulled her out of the room.
Getting up I went to my room. I put on the first pair of pants I saw and a random shirt. Everyone else was already sitting down. I sat next to Al and began loading up my plate. Lily seemed to be explaining about how we usually spend Christmas.
"So what are your plans for the day" Dad asked me.
"Ali and I are going to go look for baby books and stuff"
"Stuff?"
"Yeah. We're gonna come up with a plan" I said.
"It's a start" dad said.
A start. Yeah and I'm three months behind.
Ali and I decided not to go to Diagon Alley. The place was always full of reporters and the last thing we needed was to get our photos taken of us buying baby books. Mum was right, it would look better if we were married. I tried not to let it get to me. It didn't matter what other people thought. Was this the 2020s or what? Instead we got a catalogue from Flourish and Blotts and decided to mail order the books. We also traveled about muggle London. We went to a store called Waterstone. Ali said it was the book store to get all of your books, and she was right. The place was huge. The one we went to had three floors.
"Have you told Rose about this place?" I asked as I looked around. "This place is like heaven to her."
"I'm sure she's heard of a bookstore before" Ali said rolling her eyes.
"This isn't a normal bookstore. It's like four times the size of our school library."
"I'm surprised you actually know what the school library is"
"Hey, I've been in there before. You know to borrow Quidditch Through the Ages."
There was a whole section on pregnancy books. I laughed when I saw there was actually a book called 'What to Expect, When You're Expecting'. There were books on how to handle the birthing process. Books about the different stages of pregnancy; I only thought there was one stage, being pregnant. A countless number of baby names books. Books about newborns, and infants. Ali had to stop me from buying them all. We picked out the ten best books. The line wasn't long. Ali said it was because most people bought their books digitally and bookstores like this were slowly becoming extinct. I have no idea what buying a book digitally meant so I shrugged it off.
"Ooh, what's this?" I asked picking up a book called the Wizard of Oz. "Do you think he's one of us?"
"No, silly, it's a child's book."
"Cool, we can get it. I'll read it to the baby."
We got lunch from a little restaurant a few blocks away from the bookstore.
"I don't think I'm going to go back to school after I have the baby."
"Why not?" I frowned. "You don't have to drop out of school."
"We've talked about this before. I don't know what I want to do after school. I could get a standard ministry job or something but it's not really something I want to do. I'd rather stay at home and raise the baby."
"You don't have to do that" I said. "You should still get your NEWTS, you might want to do something later after the baby grows to be a teenager or goes off to school. You should think about it first."
"I did think about it, last night when I couldn't sleep. I mean I can get a part time job working in a shop or something." She was shrugging as if this wasn't a big revelation.
"I could wait a year before going trying out for a Quidditch" I said.
"You don't have to do that, how will we have money to take care of the baby?"
"I'm a Potter. There's more money in my bank account than I could spend in one lifetime." I sighed. "I just don't want you to have any regrets."
"I won't regret this. It's not even a sacrifice really. There's no point in getting my NEWTs if I'm not going to use them. Even your parents said we'll have to make sacrifices."
"Alison" I took her hands into mine. "Please, just think about it. You don't have to make a decision until after the baby is born."
"Okay, fine." I knew she was just saying that to appease me. She already made her choice.
I called for the check.
"Do you think we'll even still be together when the baby comes?"
Where in the hell did that question come from? "Of course we'll still be together."
A waitress came with the check. I paid for our meals and then we headed out.
"The country or the city?" I asked as we walked hand in hand to Charring Cross.
"For what?"
"To live, after the baby is born. Would you rather live in the country or the city?"
"I've only ever lived in the city. But I think living in the country might be nice. Somewhere where we could fly or use magic without having to worry about neighbors."
"We'll have a pet, like a dog or something for the baby to play with in the backyard."
"We won't be getting a dog until the baby is at least four."
"That's cool, as long as we can get a dog."
"Let me guess, you always wanted one but either your parents or your siblings are allergic?"
"Al, he's allergic to pet fur."
"Big house or a small house?"
"Small, like a cottage."
"The French half of our family lives in a small cottage by the ocean"
"Louis and Roxanne?"
"Yeah, and Victorie. You probably never met her she finished school a year before you arrived. Of course they're all of age now and don't live there anymore. It's just Aunt Fleur and Uncle Bill. You'll meet the whole family at Christmas. Just so you're prepared, if you thought there were a lot of Weasleys at school, you haven't even met half of them."
"Yeah, Lily was explaining the whole family to me earlier."
"You think that maybe you might want a big family one day. Like we'll have another baby in a couple of years."
"More babies, James, I can't possibly thinking about more babies when we have to think about this one."
I couldn't help it I laughed. "Okay, no talking about future babies. But I thought every girl knew how many kids she wants to have, that's why they play with baby dolls"
"I never played with baby dolls."
I was surprised, "Really? Lily had like twenty of the things"
"My family wasn't big on letting me play with dolls. Or I should say my dad really. They taught me how to read and do math, at a young age. I didn't really have any toys. My dad wanted me to become a surgeon or a politician. He thought it would be necessary to mold me from a young age. When we found out I was a wizard dad almost said no to me going to Hogwarts. Mom had to convince him that my using magic was a good thing and I could use it to make a name for myself. Of course she didn't know that kind of thing is illegal. But there's never been any sense of love and caring in my family. I don't know why I was so surprised when they kicked me out"
I cut off whatever else she was going to say by pulling her into a hug. "You don't need them. I love you. I'll be your family, me and the baby. We'll get our own place and we'll raise our kid right."
"James, I…we can't just stand here hugging, we're in the middle of the street."
"I don't care."
So we stayed there, hugging in the middle of a crowded street. If anybody gave us dirty looks I didn't notice nor care.
"You said you love me" Ali recalled after some time.
"I did say that. I do love you."
"I…"
"You don't have to say it back."
"I do. Love you too" she whispered. "I was just afraid to say it."
"It's good. We can get married now."
"WHAT?!"
"We're in love, we're starting a family, and we're going to be together forever. We should get married. It doesn't have to be right now, or before the baby comes, we could get married a year from now, or two, or whenever. It doesn't really matter when."
Major thank you goes to everyone who followed, favorited, or reviewed this story. I really appreciate it! Sorry for the erratic posts. I don't really have a schedule for when I post new chapters, but I'mg grateful people are following my story.