Potter

Epilogue : Part 2/7

March 2000

"She's due May fifth." Fleur lounged on the chair across from me, a hand curled carefully over her baby bump. "I'm trying to take advantage of the quieter moments before the baby arrives."

The smell of chamomile curled throughout the air around us, a fine companion to the firewood and sand smell that seemed to cling to the rest of Shell Cottage. I sat cross-legged on the couch, tea held between my fingers and Lucy's head resting contentedly on my lap. The dog had gotten incredibly white in the face since I'd last saw her, the golden colors of her fur fading; her personality, however, had not done the same.

"I can imagine." I smiled, letting the fingers of my free hand brush over my old dog's nose. "You and Bill must be excited, though. You're so close."

"Ecstatic," the quarter-Veela admitted with a small nod. "I do not know if we ever would have thought we'd be starting a family so soon, but..." she lifted her shoulders in a graceful shrug. "Now that she is on her way, I cannot imagine a world without her."

"She's going to be well-loved," I said knowingly, and Fleur beamed, bright and beautiful. We'd become considerably good friends since the news of her pregnancy arrived, though I was certain at least part of it was due to my being a Healer and Fleur having a million and a half questions prepared for every visit.

"Yes, she is," she agreed with a sigh, perking up when Tonks re-entered the room, a giggling Teddy balanced on her hip. I set my cup down to reach out for my godson, pleased when he reached back out for me with a happy cry.

"Lily!" The almost-two-year-old squealed, hair shining bouncing between a vivacious yellow and my own darker shade of brown as Tonks dropped him carefully into my lap, then reclaimed her spot at the corner of the cottage's plush couch. It was a faded blue, its color near identical to the waves that swallowed the shore outside, the foggy grey that took up the sky and drifted over sand. Knowing Fleur's eye for color coordination, I was certain it had been on purpose.

"You were only out of the room for ten minutes, kid," Tonks sighed at Teddy's continuous giggling, but her eyes were fond as she watched her son curl into my lap, his head pressed into my shoulder. "He thinks you're the sun, Lily."

"Fine with me." I wrapped my arms tightly around my godson,  ducking to smack a kiss atop his head before I looked over to Fleur with a bright smile. "Hopefully your kiddo will think the same. I'm always free for babysitting, you know. Sort of. Depending on the day."

"I think Ginny and Hermione have already claimed rights to babysitting," Fleur said with an apologetic grin, "but you're more than welcome to visit anytime you please. Especially with Teddy in tow."

"They'll have playdates," Tonks chimed cheerfully, and Fleur nodded in graceful agreement, knowing eyes turning on me.

"You have enough on your broom without having to fit another little one into your schedule." 

She wasn't entirely wrong. Today was an unusually peaceful moment in a chaotic life– which is exactly what I had been hoping for when Fleur invited me to join her and Tonks for an afternoon over at Shell Cottage. The dinner with Ginny, Lavender, Hermione and Luna tomorrow night would likely be energetic and filled with laughter. Not bad, of course– very far from it– but when my eyes felt ready to sink into my skull from lack of sleep, I didn't mind the blissful uneventfulness of sitting on a couch and Teddy Lupin wrapped inside my arms.

Of course, not that all sleeplessness was bad.

Draco and I had gotten better at embracing it– pushing sleep off a few hours more in favor of just sitting on the couch together, flipping through a book or simply talking about our days. Sometimes we'd move to the bedroom, curl up in the silken sheets and fall asleep as close as we could be. Other times we'd end up falling asleep on the couch, tangled together against the surprisingly forgiving leather.