August 2025
When Lily Luna Potter-Black woke up she discovered that she was in a hospital bed. This must be St. Mungo's because above here was not the high ceilings that would have been there if she'd been in the Hogwarts infirmary. Fuzzy details were coming back to her…she had been in St. Mungo's when she felt dizzy…and she had been visiting Alice. Oh, Alice!
Tears overflowed from her eyes and she brought up both of her hands to catch them just as a Healer stepped into the room. "Ah, glad to see that you're awake, Ms. Potter. How are you feeling?"
"Tired," she admitted. "But not dizzy like before I fainted. When can I go home?"
"As soon as your parents are done speaking with your Healer," he replied while waving his wand over her and checking the results.
"My parents are here? Why are they speaking to my Healer?" Lily tried to push the blankets off of herself but the Healer kept adjusting them back to where they were.
"Healer Patil wanted to speak to them personally about your situation."
"What situation?" she growled.
"Your pregnancy," said the Healer after making an impatient 'tsk' sound. Then he noticed the look on her face. "Oh Merlin. You didn't know. But you're approximately two months along. I thought for sure there must've been other symptoms by now and you knew…"
Lily stopped listening. Pregnancy? Other symptoms? She tried to recall what the past two months had been like but it was all a blur. She'd been sleeping a lot but blamed that on the depression. After returning home she'd had one short menstrual cycle but that was it. Of course her periods had never been completely regular and she wasn't sure how time travel would affect her.
Wait. There was no way she could be pregnant. She took a test that had proven that much.
Azkaban. The word hit her almost as hard as a literal truck. It had never occurred to her to take precautions then. It had never occurred to her that she could possibly become pregnant. At the time all she'd been thinking of was comforting her husband.
As the full seriousness of this situation wiggled its way into her mind Lily felt as though her stomach had dropped. Of course she'd wanted to be pregnant, that was why she'd stopped taking the contraceptive potions. But after her talk with Dumbledore and the realization that she still needed to finish her seventh year here she'd agreed that it wouldn't have been the best idea.
There was also the fact that she was finally starting to be okay. Just the past few days for her had been better. Spending time with her cousins and playing Quidditch at the Burrow had a very positive effect on her. Now she would have to go through this. She couldn't tell her family the truth. They must never know who the father of her child was. Because she wasn't sure she could yet face having to tell everyone the truth. What would they think of her? Because Luna Black felt like a different person than Lily Potter.
Luna had dropped into the past, married her father's godfather, dueled Death Eaters, made friends with Severus Snape, and returned a year later as if not a single day had passed. That was the biggest chapter of her life and her parents had missed it entirely. They would never know who she had been then and they would never accept the decisions she had made. Would they look at her differently? Well they certainly would now that she was going to have a baby.
A baby. Immediately she thought of a tiny little Sirius on chubby legs running through the house. She thought of taking him to purchase his first wand and showing him how to read. Taking him to the Hogwarts Express on the first day of school each year. All of this and more was circling in her mind when she noticed the Healer was still speaking and she became angry.
"Excuse me, but is it even legal for you to tell my parents anything about this visit?" she snapped.
The Healer looked down his nose at her and replied in a smarmy voice, "It is, actually, because you signed a document when you turned seventeen that your parents could access any of your medical information they wanted and could speak to any Healers freely about you."
Shit. She had signed that document now that she remembered. But fuck! She hadn't imagined something like this ever happening! What were her parents and Healer Patil talking about for so long anyway?
…
Immediately after looking over her patient, Parvati Patil had owled Harry Potter. She'd been waiting in the hall when Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron rounded the corner and came striding up. They probably didn't realize how imposing the four of them looked together.
They were all heroes and stars. Famous enough to be featured weekly in magazines, newspapers, and tabloids. It was always the four them. With fondness she remembered Hogwarts days when it was always the three of them; the Golden Trio that was Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley. The addition of Ginny Weasley-Potter only made them that much more powerful and awe-inspiring.
"Parvati," called Hermione with a wave and rushed to the girl to embrace her. All who had been members of Dumbledore's Army – all who had been in the Battle of Hogwarts – were close. Parvati returned the hug then pulled back at the looks of worry on their faces.
"Lily is alright," she told Harry quickly. "She fainted while she was up on the fifth floor visiting Alice Longbottom. Neville brought her in."
Ginny frowned. "Why was she visiting Neville's mum?"
The Healer shrugged then motioned to a door behind her. "Can we take this into my office?"
When the four of them filed in Parvati frowned. "Normally procedure would dictate that I could only speak with Harry and Ginny but I imagine you'll just repeat everything I say to Ron and Hermione later."
"You'd be correct," Ginny asserted.
"Very well. Where to begin?" she paused as she opened Lily's medical file. "Are any of you aware that Lily is two months pregnant?" the shocked silence that followed gave Parvati her answer. "In short, that was why she fainted."
"But I don't understand," Hermione interrupted, "Of course many women faint or become dizzy when pregnant but it's usually an extreme symptom. Is everything okay with Lily and the baby?"
"It's difficult to explain which is why I called you into my office to sit down," Parvati wasn't sure if Harry was listening as he appeared to be in his own world, still in complete shock that he was going to become a grandfather if Lily chose to keep the baby.
With a glance in his direction to regain his attention Parvati continued. "There is a little-known medical fact that a few years back could have been devastating to the cause if it had gotten out. Of course, this fact could have done both good and bad for both sides of the war, which was why any Healer with knowledge of this was sworn to secrecy by the strongest spells and potions. Since the end of the war and the peace we've experienced in the last few decades these protective measures haven't been followed as strictly and I was not sworn to secrecy about it which is why I can relay it to you now."
Hermione furrowed her brow in concentration as the rest looked like they were struggling to keep up. "You've heard, of course, about magical cores?" Parvati began with a question.
"Of course," Hermione dismissed, "Every magical person has a reserve of magical energy. It varies from wizard to wizard which is why some are more powerful than others. It is also why Squibs can sometimes perform a little magic but not enough to qualify for Hogwarts."
"Blimey, when will I stop being surprised by how much you know?" Ron asked as he stared at her with a slack jaw.
Hermione smiled at him lovingly as she tapped him under the chin. "It's obvious Parvati knows more than I do about this so let her finish."
"Right. Well, Hermione's correct except it goes deeper than that. Healers use a scale of zero to 100 to gauge magical cores. Even muggles have magical cores it's just that their levels stay resolutely at zero. No magic. Imagine, if you will, an empty vial," she held up a cylindrical phial as an example. "Now picture this inside every person on the planet. Muggles all have empty vials. Every magical person has a different amount of magic in the vial. The contents of the vial can increase and decrease depending on time and state of mind but normally they steadily increase from conception to the age of 17. Once you reach the age of 17 your magical core is set and stabilized. It is at the most it will ever reach."
"100?" Asked Ron, referring back to the scale of zero to 100 that she had previously mentioned.
"Actually, no. Each witch or wizard has a different number. The trick is that I can run certain tests to check numbers. Now let me tell you about what we normally see. Usually around the time a baby is born, the number is around 20. By the time he or she reaches the age of seven the number is closer to 30. If a person's magical core is at or below 20 by the age of seven then he or she is classified as a Squib and will most likely not be able to attend Hogwarts. At age eleven we see another little jump up to 40. Throughout the next seven years while you are trained you reach 60. 60 is the average for adult wizards. However, some have a little more and some have a little less. For example, both Lord Vol – You-Know-Who and Professor Dumbledore were above average. I have taken the liberty of checking their files and the last time that Tom Riddle saw a Healer he was 16 and his level was already up to nearly 80. The last time Professor Dumbledore saw a Healer was about two years before his death and his level was right around 90."
"But," Hermione interrupted again, "How can that be? I always thought it was the skill that was important! Not the power level," she scoffed. Because this would mean that not all witches and wizards were on equal footing when they started out.
Parvati was shaking her head gently. "This does not mean that a powerful wizard could beat a skilled wizard in a duel. It takes hard work, focus, dedication, to become a skilled and powerful witch or wizard."
"Well what's my core at then?" asked Ron.
Parvati blushed, "Your core is a steady 70. I take the liberty to check the cores of some patients. In case the rest of you are curious, Ginny is also 70, Hermione's between a 65-70, and Harry's almost 80. Which explains how you could cast such a powerful Patronus when you were only in Third Year."
"That's all very interesting," said Harry who spoke for the first time, "But what does that have to do with my daughter?"
"The baby is already functioning at 20 and is gaining power quickly. We expect it to level off at some point but in the meantime it is exhausting for Lily's magical core to keep up with the baby's. Now, before you panic, she is not in any danger at this point. She will be dizzy and could have frequent fainting spells. She may also begin experiencing a lot of morning sickness. It is a normal pregnancy just to extremes. More fatigue, worse mood swings I imagine, that sort of thing."
"I don't understand how this information could have played a part in the war," Hermione stated.
"Again, it goes even deeper than that. By looking at the magical core of a witch or wizard we can tell the blood status of the parents. For example, it is clear in Harry's core that his father was a pureblood wizard and his mother was not. I can give you a rough estimate of the power levels of your parents as well. There have been deep studies into this over the years and it is very complex."
"Is there any correlation between parentage and power level?" asked Hermione in small voice.
"None," Parvati reached across the table to put her hand on Hermione's. "That's why this information could have been used by either side in the war. Because even though we can identify magical or muggle parentage, we cannot find any connections between skill or power level and parentage."
"Does this have anything to do with Lily?" Harry asked, still only thinking of his daughter and not any implications of the new knowledge Parvati had just provided them with.
Her face fell. "I actually wanted to ask if you know who the father is or any guess as to who he might be?"
"Lorcan, perhaps?" Suggested Harry. "They were dating for a while but then they broke up. But he's been on the other side of the world for at least six months now and you said Lily is two months pregnant."
Parvati nodded. "Lorcan isn't a possible candidate anyway. You see, I can tell that the baby's father is pureblood and that he was particularly powerful. Lorcan's power level is average. I checked his charts before you came."
"Then why were you asking us?" Ginny bristled.
"Because there aren't many powerful purebloods left, Ginny. Almost none close to Lily's age. I could name, maybe three, and I checked thoroughly through records. Which leads me to believe that it's quite possible your daughter was raped. Either that or she had a summer fling with a powerful foreign wizard without mentioning it to any of you."
"You said there were maybe three possibilities…" Harry's voice cracked on the last bit. Had his daughter been raped? It would fit in with why she was acting so depressed the past few months. It would explain her erratic behavior. But why wouldn't she have told anyone?
Parvati grimaced. "Liam MacMillan, Cassius Zabini, and….Scorpius Malfoy."
All of them flinched. Scorpius Malfoy had married Rose Weasley just six months previously. It was during the reception when Lily and Lorcan had broken up. "Okay," said Ginny with a sharp exhale of breath, "Let's think about this. Liam and Cassius are possibilities…"
"There are others," Parvati qualified, "but with increasingly large age differences. William Flint, Kyle Boot, Hans Longbottom…" Harry thought of Hans Longbottom, who was nearly ten years Lily's senior. Hannah and Neville gave birth to Hans only eight months after the war. Having a grandchild with the Longbottoms wasn't so bad, he thought. Perhaps he had jumped to conclusions when Parvati had suggested rape as a possibility.
"We'll talk with her," said Ginny gently and Harry knew they were thinking along the same lines. "Were there any memory charms detected or anything else that might make you think there was foul play?"
"None," said Parvati, "just the shortage of possible fathers."
Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron, each thanked Parvati in turn before exiting her office. "Well," said Ron, "Let's go talk with her."
The others nodded and Harry led the way. Because Parvati's observation had been right. The four of them had been inseparable since the war. They had raised their children together and felt completely comfortable with the others knowing everything that was going on in their lives.
"Lily?" Harry entered the room timidly. Lily was sitting up in the hospital bed with her arms crossed over her chest and a glare aimed in the direction of a Healer who was scowling while folding bedding.
"Hi, Dad," Lily said quietly. What would his reaction be? Harry didn't even know what he was thinking at that moment. Had his baby girl, his only daughter, been taken advantage of? Or was she, as he originally assumed, parading around while his back was turned playing a scarlet woman? Worse…had she had an affair with her cousin's husband?
Harry swallowed thickly. "Hello, Lily." Harry sat in the chair beside her bed while the other three hung back and leaned against the wall. "Parvati told us about the baby," his voice was soft.
"I know," there was a stiffness to her chin that Harry recognized from Ginny that meant there were some things she wasn't going to share.
"Are you going to tell us who the father is?" Hermione stepped forward when she asked her question.
"No," Lily averted her eyes to blanket covering her legs. "I'm sorry, but I'm not ready to talk about him yet."
"Lily…did something happen? Did someone take advantage of you? We won't judge you, darling, we're just concerned…" Ginny trailed off uncertainly when Lily stared at her in shock and hurt.
"Of course not," she scoffed easily and they all visibly relaxed. "Is that what you lot thought? That I was raped?" she bit out the word angrily. "No. The man who got me pregnant would never have touched me if I hadn't wanted him to," she spoke of him in the past tense which was something Hermione noticed. To Hermione this meant it had probably been a summer fling with a foreign wizard. It sounded as if this bloke was solidly out of Lily's life.
"But then-" Harry began but Lily cut him off.
"No. I said I don't want to talk about him. I will tell you when I'm ready but until then can you just leave me alone?" she pulled the blankets back and stood up. She was already dressed and Ginny imagined that was why the Healer had been scowling when they entered. Lily could certainly be a fireball when she wanted.
"What are you going to do?" asked Ron. Lily hadn't told many people that her Uncle Ron was her favorite. He never prodded too much and he wasn't as observant as Aunt Hermione.
Lily smiled at her uncle. "I'm going to be the best mum that I can be."
"That's my girl," Ron gave her a hug which she eagerly returned. "Merlin's pants, Harry! You're going to be a granddad!" Ron laughed and slapped his best mate on the back.
Now that the relief of Lily's not being raped was setting in, Harry's anger was rising. "I still don't understand how you could be this irresponsible, Lily. I didn't even know that you were…that it was…even a possibility…" he struggled for words and suddenly felt like he might be the one to faint.
"Honestly, Harry, Lily and I had the talk when she was in third year," Ginny scolded as she took her daughter into her arms. They were nearly the same height and Ginny didn't have to stoop to kiss her daughter's forehead.
Lily couldn't even speak to defend herself. What could she possibly say? That she had been in the middle of a war and a married woman and that contraception was the last thing on her mind? Oh, also her child was conceived in Azkaban prison. That was just lovely.
Lamely, she mumbled something about getting caught up in the moment and Harry's scowl deepened. "When you finally get around to telling us who this bloke is, I'm going to have a very stern talk with him," he ran a hand through his hair and thought back to when he had been seventeen. He didn't have the time to think about being intimate with a girl because of the war. But if he had the opportunity, he probably would have at least discussed the possibility of a more physical relationship with Ginny….he shook his head to rid himself of these thoughts.
"We are not okay with this, young lady," Ginny admonished. "But we love you and we are going to do everything we can to help you. Have you given any thoughts to how you would like to complete your schooling? I'm sure Neville will accommodate you if you'd like to still attend Hogwarts, but you won't be on the Quidditch team and I'm sure it will be hard with all of the other students talking about you behind your back."
"Well what are my other options?" Lily asked a little bitterly as they left the hospital.
"You can do an owl course study where your professors will owl you notes and lectures and assignments that you have to turn in. You could also let someone tutor you at home until you feel ready to take your NEWTs," Hermione ticked off on her fingers.
Luna's ears perked up at that. Her NEWTs! She'd nearly forgotten. She'd already taken those blasted tests. She was sure that they were still on file at the Ministry. Any job she wanted to apply for she could tell them her NEWT results and they would put her application through truth detection spells and they would know she was being honest. Because she had done rather well.
The only problem with her plan was that she wanted to be an Auror and her father was the Head of the Auror office. He would know, or he would think he knew, that she hadn't taken her NEWTs.
"I'd like to do the owl course study," she replied, interrupting whatever else her aunt was going on about.
"Alright, I'll floo over to Hogwarts and discuss it with Neville first thing in the morning," Harry told her promptly. Lily was somewhat shocked by how accepting her parents were about this. They must be in shock and they also must know that there really wasn't much they could do to prevent it at this point.
…..
Lily's brothers had been a thousand times worse. Lily had a dizzy spell upon entering her home and Harry's incredibly fast reflexes allowed him to catch her easily and guide her to the couch. "What's wrong?" Albus, who had been home when his parents had taken off to St. Mungo's, leapt up from his chair and rushed to his sister's side.
"Nothing, Al," Lily groused as she put a hand on her forehead. "Just another knocked-up teenager."
Al's face drained of color. "I'm going to kill him!" he screamed.
"Who are you going to kill, dear?" asked Ginny absently as she came into the room.
"Lorcan!"
"It's not Lorcan's!" Lily cried. To her, Lorcan seemed like a lifetime ago. How did they still even think of the two of them together? She couldn't imagine it and even now cringed at the idea of kissing Lorcan.
"Then who is the bastard? Tell me and I won't even use a wand! I'll strangle him with my own hands!" Albus was frantically pacing.
"None of your business! It's none of anyone's business!" Lily screamed as she glared at each person in turn. After living for a full year in a time when her parents didn't even exist, Lily had become accustomed to being independent. She'd had her friends and she'd had Sirius but nobody that she had to answer to or request permission from or anyone who thought they could stick their noses in where they didn't belong.
"Lily," Ginny scolded, "You're barely seventeen years old. You're pregnant and the father is clearly not in the picture. We're your family. Of course we're concerned. We love you and we want what's best for you. Did you think we wouldn't ask you who the child's father is?"
The truth was that Lily didn't know how to reply to that. Her mother made a valid point. Except that she wasn't seventeen. She wasn't the child they thought she was. She was over eighteen, well on her way to nineteen by this point, she'd completed school, she'd been married…she was…she was….overwhelmed.
Would she ever be able to reconcile who she had been with who she was? Just when she was finally starting to feel normal again was when the rug was pulled out from under her and she knew she would never be normal. She didn't even belong in her own generation. Her experiences were closer to that of her parents' now that she had faced some of what they had faced as well. Unbidden the memory of Lord Voldemort came to the front of her mind and Lily shivered violently. Occasionally she would still have nightmares about it.
"I just…need some sleep," Lily waved off her family as each stepped toward her as if to assist her up the stairs. "I'm only pregnant, not incapacitated," she grumbled as she stomped up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door shut behind her.
….
A/N: We have at least three more chapters to go so I hope you're all prepared – the end is in sight! Let me know what you think so far, as always.
MofDA