From the playlist:

Old Time Rock & Roll - Bob Seger

Chiquitita - ABBA

Danny's Song - Loggins & Messina

Pinball Wizard - The Who

Ch. 20 - Expecting

Two Days Later

By the time Remus awoke, Emmeline had already gone to work in Diagon Alley. The quiet combined with the empty spot next to him in bed always elicited a bit of anxiety he had to talk himself out of.

He swung his legs over the side of the mattress and stretched, his perpetually achy bones creaking and crackling like he was ninety, not nineteen. Pushing himself off the bed, he strode to the bathroom to carry out his normal morning routine: brush his teeth, shower, comb his hair, so on. As of late, he'd been shaving more often, too.

When he'd finished in the bathroom, he dressed and picked his wand up off the nightstand. Alastor had given them a day off, but he wanted to practice in preparation for the next training session tomorrow. Emmeline was still having trouble with the charm, and Remus thought if he could master his own Patronus, he'd be better able to assist her.

"Expecto Patronum."

The wolf materialized. When he'd dissipated, Remus raised his wand again.

"Expecto Patronum."

This time, his wand produced a shapeless silver vapor. He repeated the process a few more times.

He was fairly certain he'd figured out the differences in casting the incorporeal versus the corporeal Patronus. The incorporeal was simpler and required a less detailed memory than the corporeal, though the result was not as strong. He ended up selecting two memories to have on hand: the one of his friends from second year for his corporeal, and various memories of Emmeline cutting his hair for the incorporeal. If he could keep those two straight, he could be sure that the wolf remained a secret when he needed it to.

A crackling noise from the ground floor distracted his practice, and he paused to investigate.

When he descended the stairs, he saw Sirius's disembodied head in the hearth.

"Are you my wakeup call?"

"Not quite," he huffed.

Odd; normally, Sirius would have taken the bait and cracked a joke. Remus crouched down in front of the fire. "Alright, Padfoot?"

"Me? Yeah, fine. Prongs is...erm…" He seemed to turn and look behind him. "What- er…What are you up to right now?"

"Is he there with you?"

"Yes, Wormtail's on his way too. Bit of an impromptu Marauders meeting."

"What's this about-?"

He heard muttering somewhere behind Sirius.

"Oh, hang on, James wants to talk to you," he informed him, leaning back out of the fire.

There was a faint rustling and some more mumbling before James's head appeared instead. "Moony, mate - Emmie around?"

"No, she's got a shift at the bookshop. Why?"

There was more muttering in the background. "Lily's a bit...out of sorts. Marlene's gone over to see her, but I just think she'd want Em there, too."

"She'll be off this afternoon, I'll leave a note...Are you two alright? You and Lily?"

"Yes, yeah we're...just wanna see our mates, is all."

"If you say so…Should I...er...bring anything over?"

"...You haven't got any booze, have you?"

...

Remus apparated to Sirius's flat ten minutes later, having squeezed in a stop at the off-license on his way. In one hand he held a replacement bottle of brandy for Sirius, and in the other a bottle of gin. When he entered the kitchen, Peter had already arrived, and James looked far too relieved to see him with the alcohol.

"Saint Moony," he said in lieu of a thank you, rising from the table and hugging him tightly before snatching the brandy from his hand.

"Actually, that one's-"

"Let him have it," Sirius hushed him, taking the gin. "You didn't need to do that. I would've bought another."

"I know, but…" His eyes drifted to James, who began liberally pouring himself a brandy. "Godric's sake Prongs, it's not even eleven yet…"

Sirius levitated three more glasses down from the cupboard. "Pour four, what the hell. We're celebrating, after all."

Peter stood from his spot at the table. "You still haven't said what we're celebrating, exactly."

"By the looks of it, the newlyweds' first row," Remus guessed.

James took a hearty swig of the brandy and winced. "We didn't row." His voice came out smaller and more timid than Remus could ever remember hearing it.

"Who died, then?" asked Peter, only half joking. James glared at him over his glass as he took another sip.

Sirius nudged him. "Do you want to tell them, or would you rather I do it?"

…

Still in her work cloak, Emmeline knocked sheepishly on the Potters' front door. She had walked over briskly as soon as she'd seen Remus's note on the kitchen table. If he was trying to instill panic, "CHECK ON LILY" in all capital letters was definitely one way to raise her heart rate.

To Emmeline's surprise, Marlene answered the door holding a glass of wine. "Finally," she griped, yanking Emmeline in and shutting the door behind her.

"Merlin's sake, I had work. What's the matter? Where's-..."

And just then, she spotted Lily. She was curled up on the couch, clutching a pillow to herself with a half-eaten block of cheese and a box of savory biscuits next to her. The wine and cheese suggested a celebration, but Lily looked rather contemplative.

"I'll get you a glass," Marlene offered, disappearing briefly into the kitchen.

Emmeline hung up her cloak, then crept towards where Lily was sitting and knelt at her feet. "Hi," she said with an anticipatory tone of sympathy.

"Hi," Lily murmured, smiling half-heartedly. "I'm really glad you're here."

Now that she could see her up close, Emmeline realized she'd been crying. She began putting two and two together: Remus gone, James gone, Sirius and Peter probably with them, the note - they must've fought. James and Lily had always bickered, even more so before they were a couple, but to Emmeline's knowledge they'd never had a fight that had ended in tears. She reached up and clutched Lily's hand tightly. "What's he done?"

Oddly, Lily responded with a weak chuckle.

Marlene returned and handed Emmeline a glass of merlot before sitting down in the adjacent armchair. "What's the occasion?" asked Emmeline, about to sip from her glass. She noticed that Lily did not appear to have a glass of her own. "And where's yours?"

"...I can't have any."

Emmeline puzzled at her; then, her eyes widened.

"...Are you…?"

Lily nodded unenthusiastically as another tear rolled down her cheek.

Instantly, Emmeline felt her chest constrict. She set down her wine, then shifted the plate of cheese and biscuits over so that she could sit next to Lily and take both of her hands rather than just the one. "Congratulations," she said with a heartfelt smile, though her bottom lip began to quiver. She bit down hard on it.

"This should feel like something I want to be congratulated for, but I'm really...I'm really…"

"...Scared." Emmeline finished her sentence.

"I missed my monthly, but at first I only thought it was just from all the wedding stress. Last night after the lesson, I finally whipped up a potion to check...James watched the color change with me, he's…" she trailed off.

"...Was he upset?"

"No, he was really good about it, actually. He was in shock, though. We both were. He just held me and told me it was gonna be okay, all night long...I'm really glad I have him…" Lily smiled through her tears. "He went over to tell Sirius this morning, but I think it turned into a bit of an event with the boys...I just think he's really nervous."

"And you?"

Lily drew in a shuddering breath. "I want to be happy, but it's such bad timing with everything...we hadn't planned on this happening yet."

"I thought you might be able to offer a good perspective on all this, Em," Marlene added, having already heard Lily's worries and woes.

Lily squeezed Emmeline's hands. "You know how you told me everything last week? Well, I understand why you went away. I didn't get it before, but I get it now. And I-"

"Lily, I want you to listen to me." Emmeline took Lily's splotchy face in her hands. "This is different. You're going to be different."

"How can you know that?" she quavered.

"Because you took the test with James and you told your friends," she replied matter-of-factly. "Because you didn't make the mistake of thinking you had to do this all by yourself. You don't have to do this by yourself. Me; Marley; the boys; we're all here for you and James." She released her face and took her hands again. "And because you, Lily Jane Evans-Potter, are going to be the best mother there ever was, and that's a fact."

"Well said," blubbered Marlene.

Lily tipped forward into Emmeline's embrace, pillow and all. "I love you both, you know that?"

"We know," they said together.

After a few moments, Marlene pushed herself up off the floor and wiped her face. "I refuse to let us mope all day. Today, we are disregarding whatever is outside these walls, and celebrating." She walked over to the turntable and selected a Celestina Wabbeck vinyl, sipped her wine as she set it up, then got the other two off the couch to dance.

…

Meanwhile:

"Why is it that you lads can't cast a brat blocking charm to save your lives?"

Remus, who was draped across the armchair in a very creative fashion, visibly cringed at his terminology. "Merlin's sake, Padfoot."

"What?"

"That's a horrible thing to call it."

"That's what it is!" Sirius insisted, pointing his brandy towards him.

"Contraceptive charms aren't guaranteed to be one hundred percent effective every time."

"Wh-...What? Really?" Peter hiccuped from the floor across from them, his mouth full of crisps.

Sirius squinted to stare through his glass as if it were a lens, chuckling intoxicatedly. "They are if you're good at them."

"We know Sir Shags-a-lot, you've had loads of practice. We get it," Remus griped, his half-full glass pressed to his forehead. He was drinking much slower than the others after his episode last month.

"So many skirts, and not a single pup. My magical prowess has spared the world from my sexual prowess time and time again."

"Let's keep it that way, yeah? Knowing you, you'd probably spawn the antichrist."

"Shut up, Moony..."

"Guys, question," Peter began.

"Oh Lord, here we go."

Sirius's eyes lit up. "No- Shut up, Moony!" He scrambled over the arm of the sofa and thwacked Remus's shoulder, tickled by what was sure to be a wildly entertaining opportunity to take the piss out of Peter. "Come on, let's have it. Fire away, Wormy."

"How's it work?"

Sirius looked disappointed by the mundaneness of the question. "I know for a fact Prongs and I already gave you the talk about the birds and the bees."

"They did, I was there-"

"Not getting pregnant. I mean the pregnancy itself."

"You're going to have to elaborate," Remus bade him.

"Taking gravity into account, how's it stay up there…?"

Remus swiveled to Sirius in an "I told you so" sort of way.

Sirius couldn't even bring himself to laugh, he just squeezed his eyes shut in secondhand embarrassment. "...Peter…what the fuck-"

"I mean it!"

"Do you think babies just free float up around a woman's kidneys and drop through their legs at a moment's notice!?"

"I meant before it's done growing!"

"Leave him alone, Pad." Remus put his feet flat on the floor and braced his elbows on his knees to level with Peter. "They grow in a…casing."

"What, like a sausage?"

"No, not like a sausage…It's more like a casing inside a pouch."

"So like a kangaroo."

"KANGAROO?!" Sirius guffawed, collapsing on his back in a fit of laughter.

Remus put his head in his hands. "Jesus Christ, Wormtail."

"What are you, some kind of female anatomy expert?"

"No, I just asked my mother like a normal person!"

Sirius could hardly catch his breath. "Yeah, I think you're due for a visit at your Mum's, Pete-"

"Oh- screw you, Padfoot!"

"-Clearly she neglected to tell you a few things!"

"Well who'd you ask?" he shot back. "Because it sure as hell wasn't your mum."

Sirius wiped tears. "Andromeda, of course."

"I guess that makes sense…"

"I got plenty of lectures about genetics, but mummy dearest never saw fit to tell me how babies develop."

"That makes two of us, then."

"Yeah, I suppose it does."

Remus rubbed his forehead but couldn't recall. "How old's Andromeda's daughter now?"

"Six or seven, I think. I'll drop by over Christmas and see how many fingers she holds up," he decided, downing the remaining drops of his brandy.

"Tell her I say hello."

"And I'll ask if little Nymphadora just dropped through the floor one day for Wormtail- hey, watch it!"

Peter had thrown the bag of crisps at him. "I'll drop you through the floor!"

Sirius would've had a clever comeback, had he not been distracted by the sniffling coming from James's general direction.

Messrs Moony, Wormtail, and Padfoot looked to Prongs, who sat on the floor with his back up against the sofa and his palms over his eyes.

"James?" Sirius muttered worriedly, coming down off the couch to put his arm around him. "Hey, I didn't mean what I said about the charm, I was only having a laugh-"

"It's not that…" James kept his hand clasped over his face to hide his tears.

The other three boys kept silence for him.

"…How am I supposed to protect them?" James whispered.

Remus got down on the floor and sat across from him in solidarity. Peter scooted forward and followed suit.

Sirius gently removed James's hand from his face so that he could look into his watery eyes. "The real question is, how are we going to make the world safer for them?"

"I can't possibly," he began, gasping. But he never finished his thought. The world was just too big, full of too many terrible things, and he was just one man. A sense of helpless insignificance was a frightening new feeling that James Potter had never been made to reckon with before.

"...Not alone you can't," Sirius continued. "But the four of us don't do much of anything without each other, so I don't see why this should be any different."

"I don't know the first thing about babies," he whimpered. "I'm going to fail as a father."

"Nonsense," Remus challenged him. "You've already had years of practice with Peter."

The other three sat gobsmacked in utter disbelief of his wit before busting out laughing.

James chortled through his tears. "Nice one, Moony."

"You're a git, Remus," Peter complained, though he was laughing too.

When the laughter had subsided, Sirius tugged on James's shoulder. "...You can do this."

"And you couldn't possibly have picked a better person to do it with," Remus added.

Just then, James straightened up. "...Lily…" His hands flew up into his hair. "What am I doing here?!" he wondered aloud, suddenly in hysterics.

"What do you mean?" asked Peter.

"My wife's at-…my pregnant wife's at home!"

Sirius didn't understand his agitation, and shook him gently. "She's fine, Emmeline and and Mar-"

But James shrugged him off, wobbling to his feet. "I'm her husband, I ought to...I need to go home. Now."

"Okay, alright, just- gimme a minute to get off the floor-" Sirius began.

But before any of them could stop him, he lunged out of the huddle and disapparated.

"JAMES, NO-" Remus dove after him.

"OH SH-" Sirius's hands flew up to his mouth.

"How drunk was he?!" Peter questioned.

"Outside of his wedding, have you ever seen him cry sober?!"

"This is sort of a special circumstance though, don't you think-?"

"What if he's hurt himself?!" Remus cut in, jumping up off the floor.

"Well I'm in no fit condition to disapparate and check! Wormtail?!"

"I'm steaming, Padfoot! Sorry…"

"Both of you, hold on," Remus directed them.

…

"I've got a cauldron of hot strong love,

It's a recipe so rare

There's no potion or elixir that

Could ever quite compare!"

The girls had dried their tears, and were now singing at the top of their lungs as they danced around with reckless abandon. Without warning, James apparated gracelessly into the middle of the room and tumbled to the ground.

"HOLY-...James?" Lily crouched to make sure he was okay.

"Not my best idea," he groaned, peeling himself off the floor.

The strong scent of alcohol on his breath assaulted Lily's nostrils. "Did-...did you apparate drunk?"

"Like I said, not my best idea."

"Where are-" Marlene began to ask, but James was already rising to his knees and preparing to go off on his tangent.

"Lily, love, I should have been here-"

"James, it's okay-"

"No no no, it's not okay. I vowed to give you the very best of myself, and leaving to get pissed with my friends is not the best of myself."

"James-"

"But I'm going to do better Lily, I am, because I want to be a good father. I really, really, want to be the best dad, 'cause I already know you're going to be the best mum-"

"Potter!"

He finally took a breath. "Yes?"

"...Relax. I love you."

"I love you so much," he declared, hugging her with all his might.

And then there were seven. Suddenly the rest of the boys landed a few feet from where James had, all twisted together like a great three-piece pretzel.

"OW!"

"Get your sodding foot off my-"

"I thought you said you were sober-!"

"I said I was the most sober!"

"Did I splinch my- I CAN'T FIND MY HAND-!"

"It's RIGHT HERE, you numpty-"

"They're all pished, aren't they?" Marlene speculated.

"Plastered," James affirmed.

Remus was the first to stagger to his feet, but he turned worriedly towards James. "Did you make it back with all your limbs?"

James released Lily and looked down at himself to check. "...I think so."

Sirius was the next to rise. "Wow, that's...Color me impressed." He had to lean against Remus to get the room to stop spinning.

"Look what you've d-done, you've g-given Padfoot ideas," hiccupped Peter. He'd given up on trying to get off the ground.

"Why didn't you all just take the Floo network?" Marlene pointed out.

The boys all looked around at each other.

"Moony-!?"

"Don't, Pad. I don't want to hear it."

Peter snorted a laugh. "Oh yeah…"

"Is that wine?" Sirius asked, suddenly distracted and pointing to Marlene's glass. "Is there more?"

"I think you halfwits are all forgetting something," Marlene informed them, cocking her head towards the ground where Lily and James were still kneeling.

"Oh sweet Merlin you're right," Sirius realized. Congratulations, Lily-flower!"

Lily turned adoringly to her husband. "We're having a baby," she giggled.

"We're having a baby," he repeated, finally able to delight in it. "LILY EVANS IS HAVING MY BABY!" James stood, scooped his wife up into his arms, and spun her around.

"Merlin James, she's not a broomstick, be gentle," Emmeline chided, but neither of them were paying attention.

After she'd spoken, Remus registered that Emmeline was there, and suddenly felt a weight in the pit of his stomach. He left Sirius to his own devices and moseyed over to her amid the merrymaking. "Are you-"

"Not now," she pleaded quietly. "Please...later."

Remus nodded and swallowed his question.

...

The celebration went on until long after the sun had set. Sirius eventually started griping about the Warbeck vinyl ("geezer music" as he called it), and commandeered the turntable to play Lily's collection of muggle rock music instead. The dulcet tones of The Who's "Pinball Wizard" accompanied a rather silly air guitar act that Sirius was performing, and Lily even got up to join him on lead vocals. Peter found this incredibly amusing, and waved his arms about as if he were at a concert.

"Don't encourage him," Marlene begged from the couch.

James laughed, enjoying the production from his spot on the floor next to the turntable. "What, he doesn't do this at home?"

"I don't let him do this at home."

"Criminy, is that the time?" exclaimed Emmeline, her lips stained with wine. "I have to work in six hours."

Sirius paused his show-stopping performance to offer this sage piece of wisdom: "Work shmork," he slurred.

She rose to her feet, wobbling a bit. "Some of us don't have vaults full of gold, you know."

"Then somefffus should pro'lly be gettin' their arses to bed, eh Vance?" Bedtime was a construct reserved for the middle class, apparently.

Emmeline flashed Sirius an unfriendly finger gesture before turning to Remus. "You can stay if you like, I don't mind."

"I won't have you walking back by yourself at this hour."

"We live in Godric's Hollow, not Glasgow," James teased him.

Marlene, the resident Scot in the room, shot him a dirty look. "Watch it, Potter."

"Buh-bye!" Peter waved as Remus put Emmeline's cloak on for her.

Before they turned to go, Lily approached and grabbed Emmeline's arm. "Remus, hug your mates before you leave."

"Yes ma'am," he complied, walking to James and lugging him off the floor to congratulate him once more. Lily led Emmeline out the front door and closed it behind them.

"It's cold, dear."

"It'll only take a moment," she assured her, taking Emmeline's hands. Lily smiled warmly, and said: "I know all this probably brings back some bad memories, and that's okay. I'll never resent you for feeling sad."

Emmeline had gone the whole evening without letting her defenses crumble, but she had to hold on for just a bit longer. "Thank you," she whispered. Any more volume and she would've begun to sob.

"And I think you'll make a brilliant auntie." Lily wrapped her in a tight embrace and kissed her cheek. "Thank you for today. Thank you for being my friend."

God, Lily was making this really hard. One more word and Emmeline would lose it. Lily was privy to this, so she said nothing more.