He opened the door to find her standing there, crying.
"Lily?" he said tentatively and stepped into their bathroom, closing the door to block out the shouts and yelps of the other Marauders. He did not want to know what they were getting up to.
To his dismay, Lily backed away from him. She sat down on the toilet seat and covered her face with her hands, sobbing. James knelt to crouch in front of her.
"Evans…Sweetheart…" he said, looking hopelessly around the room to try and find out what the source of her tears was. Everything seemed to be as it normally was. Lily had seemed fine only minutes prior when she had been sat with him and their friends, playing a game of Monopoly that was getting rather out of control. Sirius was arranging a mock marriage between Remus and himself, in order to try and combine their funds. Peter had pretty much shrieked with indignation at this, reminding Sirius that they had had a brief love affair which ended in Peter giving Sirius £100 as 'child support'. Lily had left amid cries of "think of the baby!". James seriously doubted that this incident had reduced her to tears.
"We do need to think of the baby," She choked out, clearly trying to calm herself. Well, maybe he had thought wrong. Wormtail had indeed reduced Lily to tears.
"What?" James said, as Lily moved her hands away from her face to fiddle with her hair as she sniffled, still avoiding eye contact with him, "Lily, Padfoot is probably going to abandon Wormtail, fictional baby or not. We could offer to adopt it if you'd like? Though Padfoot will probably find a way to get us to pay him for that…"
During his pondering, Lily's tears had subsided significantly, though not disappeared completely. She shook her head, a half smile appearing on her face, and gently took James' hand.
"Potter, you prat, I'm pregnant."
He could have sworn the earth had stopped spinning for a moment. Time seemed to pause as this monumental revelation crashed into him and he tried to hold his mind steady and process it.
He cleared his throat as he stared into her red-rimmed eyes.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I am pregnant or, if you don't understand that, you could say I'm with child or expecting or knocked up or eating for two or up the duff or I've a bun in the oven…need I go on?"
James grinned and rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, I get the point. No need for the sass."
He moved to stand, pulling Lily up with him.
"How long?" he asked.
"I'm not entirely sure. Probably a bit over a month? I've done the spell but it doesn't provide any more information other than whether or not I'm pregnant… which I am."
She stared up at him nervously, twirling her hair in her free hand. Lily was not worried that James would panic and abandon her and the baby. No, if he could fight in this war then he probably had the guts to deal with a baby. Moreover, if James had the absolute audacity to pull a stunt like that, she was sure she could manage without him, since he probably wasn't all that great to begin with. But that wasn't the man she knew she'd married. No, it was the fear of how he would react to having to bring up a child during this war. Though this was definitely not a planned pregnancy, Lily had admitted it to herself: she was happy, and she wanted James to be happy too.
James was silent for a few moments, before brushing the remaining tears from her face and pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"I've always wanted to be a dad," he murmured, resting his forehead against hers.
She smiled, moving her and to his cheek.
"It's not too early?"
James shook his head gently.
"There could never be a wrong time for us to bring more love into this world."
Lily pulled back and, though her eyes were still red, they shone brightly as she gazed at her husband.
"I love you, James."
"I love you too."
"I think I might love you more."
"Oh Evans, you don't know the half of it," James chuckled.
Their reverie was interrupted by a shout.
"I would kindly ask you to take your hands off of me, young man!"
James glanced at the the door before returning his eyes back to Lily.
"Should we go back in? If you want to, of course, I'm fine to stay here if not,"
"Yes, I'd like to," Lily nodded,"We could tell them too, if you'd like. I'm not sure I could keep it secret for long while living with them. Plus, I could imagine Sirius fainting if he knew you had kept a secret from him for more than one second, and Remus pretending to be upset that I had kept a secret from my favourite marauder. Pete could actually react reasonably."
"Your favourite marauder?" James asked skeptically, latching onto the small insult, "I don't think you would have let me do that, love" he gestured to her stomach, "if I wasn't your favourite marauder."
She flushed, before retorting, "Ok, fine, so you just might be my favourite overall, but I stand by the fact that Remus is my favourite marauder. You guys would have been nothing without him and he's probably the most bearable out of all of you. A fan-favourite, I'd say, especially when we were still at school."
Lily then began to shoo him out of the room, saying she needed a few minutes to freshen up before she returned.
"You'll change your mind about that tonight, Evans." He winked at her and left, leaving her with a face vaguely resembling a tomato.
James returned to the living room of the little flat Lily and all of the Marauders were currently sharing, where he found Wormtail sat atop Moony, who was determinedly trying to wriggle away, and Padfoot shouting indignantly about how Moony's current misfortune would not hinder the impending nuptials. He ceased his braying when he noticed James in the door-way.
"Prongs mate! Help me remove Wormy from my blushing bride, would you?"
"'Course, Padfoot. Anything to aid you in pursuit of your true love!"
The two positioned themself in front of the sofa and each took one of Wormtail's arms, lifting him off of Moony and plopping him on the floor between the sofa and the coffee table, where the Monopoly board was now being thoroughly ignored, though the game was still being 'played'.
"My love!" Sirius cried as he joined the now free Remus on the sofa, "together at last!"
Peter glared at Sirius for a moment, before turning to James.
"Is Lily alright? You two were gone awhile." he said, a tad reproachfully. Peter never liked it when Lily got in the way of their escapades. He liked her the rest of the time and actually viewed her as a much-needed addition to the group, but their time being the Marauders was sacred to him.
James nodded, sitting on the floor beside Peter and carefully hiding the grin that threatened to reveal itself. "She's fine, just had something she wanted to talk to me about."
It was then that Lily returned to the living room. She smiled at Sirius and Remus snuggled up together on the sofa before curling up in her armchair. Lily had her own armchair and it was not to be touched. The slowest to learn this rule had been Sirius, who had been wrestled off of the chair the last time he had attempted sitting there. James had looked on worriedly. Sirius was rather larger than Lily. It was obvious that Sirius would never purposefully hurt Lily, but Sirius was used to the people he wrestled being the Marauders, who were generally rowdier than Lily, and might forget his own strength. On the other hand, Lily knew Sirius' weaknesses, knowing exactly where to pinch or tickle to subdue him. It was not long, on this occasion, until Lily had Sirius by the ear and had pushed him away from the armchair. Protecting her chair made Lily a determined fighter.
Now she rested placidly in her armchair, smiling beatifically at her friends.
"Should we continue with the game?"
"Gladly," Peter said, "I could still win this thing."
Sirius snorted before handing James the die, who rolled and landed on one of Pete's properties, and was then given him 'mates rates' on the rent. James then passed the die up to Lily. She shook the die carefully and kissed her hand before rolling, an important step in her game-playing process. She landed on a chance space.
Sirius oohed, rubbing his hands together.
"Ladies and Gents, this is where it gets interesting."
As she reached over to pick up a card, Lily noticed James flicking his wand. She read the card and laughed slightly, giving James an exasperated look.
"Announce your pregnancy to your friends. Collect £200 and a hug from each player as congratulations."
Sirius looked at her quizzically.
"As the resident Monopoly-master, I know that that is in fact not a real card. You can't pull one over us that easily, Flower," he said, shaking his head sagely.
The other two were silent, confusion written across both of their faces. This silence was interrupted by the sound of paper rustling and James standing.
"Here's the gift, Evans." He gave her and the cash, then leant over and kissed her softly before straightening again, "And there's something better than a hug. Hopefully this means that I now don't have to pay child support?" he said, quirking his eyebrow.
Lily smacked his arm lightly. "You're going to be far more involved than merely paying, Potter."
Silence then ensued again. Sirius and Remus still looked rather puzzled, but comprehension was starting to dawn on Peter's face.
"Really, Lils?" he asked, a grin beginning to brighten his face.
Lily nodded and smiled, moving a hand to rest on her stomach.
"Really."
It then got a lot noisier. Sirius whooped before launching himself at James, throwing his arms around him. Remus and Peter both hugged Lily with utmost caution, as if too hard of a hug could risk injuring her or the baby. Jumping for joy, Sirius then turned his attention to Lily, leaning down to wrap his arms around her in a big bear hug.
"Congratulations, Flower. I've been waiting for so long for this family to get a bit bigger."
"I hope that's referring to the arrival of a new member, rather than a reference to the fact that I'm going to get a bit bigger."
He shrugged. "Either or"
She gasped and smacked him playfully.
"Sirius Black! You are incorrigible."
They then gradually resumed their positions around the coffee table, after much more congratulating, though James stayed perched on the arm of Lily's chair with an arm wrapped around Lily, tucking her into his side.
"I have noticed that you haven't paid up, guys," Lily said sternly. Pregnancy was not going to stop her winning this game.
"Take all my money," Remus laughed, handing her a fat wad of Monopoly money. He was then nearly knocked over by Sirius leaping off of the sofa.
"You should name it something Monopoly themed!" he said excitedly.
James raised his eyebrows.
"What do you suggest?"
"Marylebone Potter."
"No way." Lily snorted, "Sorry, but I don't think there's a single Monopoly themed name that would be appropriate for our baby."
Throwing himself backward on the sofa, Sirius made a great show of thinking hard, before Remus then came to his aid.
"What about a middle name?" Remus suggested, "You could name it blank…" he looked wildly around the board, "Bond Potter."
"No." Lily said flatly.
"Ok…ok, hear me out" Remus continued, "It doesn't have to actually be Bond, just something related. What do you think of when you think of Bond?" he paused a moment, "Aha! James Bond. You could therefore call your child blank James Potter, as a reference to Bond Street."
James looked questioningly at Lily, who then nodded.
"Fine," James said, "If it is a boy, we will call it blank James Potter, after Bond street, though many might presume it would be after me."
Sirius tapped his nose. "That would be quite foolish of them. They should know that all is not what it seems when it comes to the Marauders. We're a cunning bunch. But even if they do think that, we'll all know the truth."