April 1st, 1980
Amelia Bones was a woman on a mission as she strode through the halls of the pregnancy ward in Saint Mungoes. All she had done was flash the badge declaring her the new head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, or DMLE, and the nurse had allowed her entry.
She wasn't impressed with how her coworker, Rufus Scrimgeour, was handling his position as Head Auror, nor how he had handled the pregnant aurors. Generally, how a pregnancy in the DMLE would be handled would be to put the pregnant person on paid leave immediately, for the entirety of their pregnancy and up to three months after. Or, in a bearer's case up to six months after they give birth. There were just too many variables in the job to comfortably allow them to continue working while pregnant. Anything could happen, from simple overwork to curses to torture or murder.
Unless they signed an agreement saying they would not hold the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, or the Ministry of Magic responsible, should anything happen to them. Saying that it was their choice to continue working for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and in extension, the Ministry of Magic, throughout their pregnancy. Even signing this agreement, they would be allowed to go on leave at anytime during the duration of their pregnancy should they choose.
In this case, they had a five month pregnant bearer hospitalized after having collapsed at work the day before, due to exhaustion and low blood sugar. He had also been under the effects of a curse ward at the scene of Amelia's brother and sister-in-law's murder. The curse was a slow acting one, presenting as common illnesses while slowly taking more and more nutrients from the affected person's body and attacking the person's mind making them think mothing of it, until they were already six feet under. The curse ward had been in the Karkaroff family for generations, confirming suspicions that Igor Karkaroff had had a hand in Sarah and Daniel's deaths.
Thankfully, Amelia thought, knocking on the door to room three hundred and seven, they had managed to catch this one before any permanent damage had been done.
She was going to give, or at least offer, James leave until at least the first of the year.
April 9th, 1980
Lily sighed, as she got home late that night, slipping her shoes off at the door. Hanging her jacket and purse on a hook, she picked up Crookshanks who, as always, had come running when he heard the door open. Crookshanks growled, tail twitching as he put his paw up to push Lily's face away when she tried to kiss him.
"Okay!" Lily chuckled, "I'll put you down." She set the kitten on the couch, and went to the bedroom to change, dodging the boxes James had packed that morning. Madam Bones had put him on parental leave until the end of the year, not wanting a repeat performance. Something Lily was glad for, that had not been a fun phone call to get. She could have sworn her heart stopped at hearing over the phone that her husband (her pregnant husband) was being taken to Saint Mungoes. Luckily, she had a wonderful boss who understood the situation and had let her leave immediately.
As she changed, she glanced through the dark to where James was asleep in bed, one of his hands under his head, the other resting on his stomach. She climbed into bed beside him.
"Hey." James muttered sleepily in greeting, looking at her through half lidded eyes.
"I didn't mean to wake you." Lily said apologetically.
"It's fine." He assured, eyes slipping closed. "You didn't."
There was a pause before he reached over and grabbed her hand, guiding it to lay on the top of his stomach. Lily closed her eyes, putting the slightest bit of pressure where her hand laid, she had been trying to feel their child move for the last several days.
"What about Elvendork?" She could hear the grin in James voice as he asked.
Her fingers tapped irritably on his stomach, "We are not naming our childElvendork!"
"It's unisex, though." James teased, chuckling when her face, eyes still closed, scrunched in distaste. Apparently their child agreed with Lily's distaste, as James got a particularly sharp jab to his bladder, making him wince.
"Okay! Okay," James soothed, rubbing the bottom of his stomach, "we won't name you Elvendork, no need to kick my bladder."
Lily snickered, moving her hand down just slightly.
"Glad to see someone agrees with me!" Lily teased, opening her eyes a sliver to look up at James who rolled his eyes.
"Though… if we did name you Elvendork, you would have your Uncle Sirius to thank." James continued, earning another jab, he was pretty sure it was a hand this time, straight up into where Lily's hand was resting.
Her eyes widened.
"There we go!" she cooed, "That wasn't so hard, was it?"
April 15th, 1980
"Lily!"
He was the last person Lily wanted to see while she was at the Apothecary picking up prenatal potions and nutritional potions for James. She inhaled sharply at the sound of his voice, heart pounding, she grabbed a potions book and opened it randomly to a page about the calming draught, she held it up to help hide her face.
"Lily?" she froze, stopped breathing, he was right in front of her! She slowly lowered the book until just her emerald eyes peaked over the top.
"…Yes?" She squeaked, clearing her throat as her emerald eyes, still peaking over the top of the book, met the onyx eyes of her once best friend.
"I wanted to speak to you." Snape muttered, stepping closer.
"Oh. That- That's nice." Lily stuttered dismissively, taking a step back.
"And I jus-" He trailed off, staring at her hands. "…you're married."
"I would have thought you would put that together after Valentine's day." Lily snapped, lowering the book slightly.
"To Potter?" Snape hissed, taking yet another step closer.
"Yes." Lily hissed back, not moving back as he stepped closer and closer, blame her Gryffindor tendencies, but she was not going to be intimidated by him. "What the Hell, Snape?" Lily fell silent, breathing deeply, trying to keep her cool. "Why does it matter to you?"
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why him?" he asked, voice breaking slightly as he came to a stop inches in front of her. "Why Potter?"
"Because I love him!" Lily exclaimed, voice raising, not knowing why she was bothering trying to explain.
"But he doesn't love you." Snape said softly, Lily glared, eyes flashing as she felt heat rise to her face behind the book. "He's been hitting you, hasn't he? Why else haven't you lowered the book." He added, thinking back to how Potter treated him at Hogwarts, conveniently forgetting that they both gave as good as they got. Forgetting that he had his group of Death Eater friends just as Potter had 'the Marauders'. "He can't love you. Not as much as I love you."
"How- How d-" Lily stuttered, quietly, emerald eyes swimming with tears of rage, as she snapped the book shut.
His hands came up to cup her face, her stammering was cut off by his lips meeting hers. And it was just…
Wrong.
The lips were dry and chapped instead of soft like she was used to. The smell of a potion's lab instead of nature, the taste savory instead of sweet. Unfamiliar. Unfamiliar and wrong because this was not her husband.
Snape pulled away, looking at her compassionately, "How did I know?" He asked, looking into her eyes. "I-"
"How dare you!?" Lily erupted, the large potions book slamming into his nose with a crunch! making him stumble back, nose gushing red, the commotion drawing a crowd of on lookers. "How dare you even insinuate-!" She cut off growling wordlessly, "I can not believeyou!" she shouted, as tears of rage finally spilled.
"Lily." Snape started, reaching out to her with bloodied hands.
"Don't you dare!" Lily screamed, backing out of his reach, as she swung the book again, making him lean away. "Don't you dare touch me!"
"Okay! Okay, break it up!" The owner of the Apothecary exclaimed, moving over to them, ready to physically get between them if needed.
"I won't hurt you!" Snape pleaded. "I'm not going to hurt you like he did!"
"Stop it!" Lily raged, face beet red. "Stop acting like I'm abused! I am not abused!"
"Lily." He started once again reaching for her. "I-"
"Break it up," The owner commanded again, stepping between the two, one on each side.
"Can't you see?" Lily cried, backing away.
"What?"
"Can't you see that I'm happy without you?" Lily asked, thinking of her husband and unborn child, her friends, her family. Her tarnished relationship with her sister, 'Can't you see that you just make things worse for me?' she thought to herself.
April 20th, 1980
"Is that my old nursery?" Lily asked blankly, that afternoon, looking at the disassembled white furniture her parents were carrying into the new flat. The first thing they had done that morning was set up the wards and Fidelius charm. Then with the help of all of their friends, and even a couple neighbors, they had moved within just a couple hours.
Harrison grinned, "Would you like to help me reassemble it for your little one, Lily-flower?"
"Petunia didn't want it, then?" Lily asked, leading her parents to the would be nursery. She and Petunia had had the same nursery, she would have thought Petunia would want the furniture.
Rosalie shook her head, eyes misting as she thought of Petunia's reaction when offered. "No. She didn't."
"Then let's get this thing put together, shall we?" James asked from behind them, leaning on the doorframe, holding a meowing Crookshanks.
xXx
"The chair too?" Lily asked, looking at the white painted wooden rocking chair, the one thing that hadn't been disassembled when she and Petunia had out grown the set. "How did you-?"
"We rented a trailer." Rosalie deadpanned to her daughter.
"Right."
xXx
"That can't be right." Lily muttered, looking at the crib pieces. Because of course the one thing that did not survive the twenty plus years would be the instructions for assembling it. Even the mattress and changing pad had both lasted, due to being wrapped in plastic when her parents put the set in storage.
"I could have sworn I had kept the instructions!" Harrison muttered to himself.
Rosalie and James shared an amused look from where they stood watching from the doorway,
"Do we tell them?" James whispered, crossing his arms.
Rosalie snorted, "No. They're the ones that banned us from helping!" Harrison often did this, ever since they were young, banning Rosalie from helping for a chance to show off. James was banned for obvious reasons.
"Maybe we should start with something else." Lily suggested, looking around the room, and picking up a large piece of painted wood. "This is obviously a part of the changing table."
It was actually a part of the crib, as the instructions that had haphazardly been wrapped with the mattress showed.
Rosalie cleared her throat, ready to take pity on them. "Would you like some help?"
"Uh, no, honey!" Harrison exclaimed, putting two pieces of the dresser together.
Rosalie shrugged, "Well, okay then."
xXx
"Time for the mattress and changing pad! Then we're done!" Harrison exclaimed, it had taken them several hours, but he and Lily had managed to assemble the nursery set. The crib, changing table, dresser, bookshelf, toybox. The chair had been the only thing to not need assembled.
Rosalie jumped up from the armchair she had been sitting in, moving to stand in the doorway of the nursery.
"Put that on the changing table," Harrison was saying as he handed the changing pad to Lily, turning to unwrap the mattress.
"They still haven't found them?" James asked from beside Rosalie, who shook her head incredulously.
Harrison tore the plastic off the mattress with a loud rip! the paper instructions slowly fluttering down to the floor.
"Are you kidding me?" Lily muttered, picking the instructions up and staring at them.
"What was that?" Harrison asked, dropping the mattress down into the crib, and turning around to look at Lily, freezing when he saw the paper she was holding.
There was a beat of silence before,
"Are you f-"
"Harrison!" Rosalie interrupted.
"-king kidding me!"