Over Again

Chapter 16

The next couple months in the Potter household were very interesting to say the least, with everyone walking around Lily on complete eggshells and barely allowing her to lift a single finger, which in turn just made Lily's swinging moods much worse. One second she would be happy and smiling and the next, a hurricane would rain down on them. Literally. Everytime she burst into tears, a mini hurricane would erupt in the house. The only one who could calm her down was weirdly Sirius, who could somehow predict her moods and knew exactly what she needed.

Majority of the time, it turned out all he needed to do was turn into Padfoot as she just needed some comfort to get over her guilt, the major reason for mood swings. She hadn't seen or talked to Alice in the months since she had found out she was pregnant. A twisted guilt formed in her stomach that she was able to get pregnant, but Alice couldn't. The remnants of Bellatrix's curse which had rendered her unable to have any more children. James had come out basically unscathed yet, Alice was suffering. Strong, trusting, dramatic Alice who had so much love to give.

Unfortunately, even though the repeated mood swings didn't last long, they did have a negative effect on her overall health. And no matter how many times Alice tried to see her, Lily always refused. Her family had come out of the war practically unscathed, they were actually progressing. Whereas, the Longbottom's were stagnant, unable to grow more.

That had been the price that they had paid. The price that Bellatrix's curse had extracted from them.

Yet it all came to a head one day in early April. Lily was alone at home. James had gone to the Black Estate to discuss some legislation with Sirius and had taken Harry along to give her some alone time.

Just as Lily settled in the kitchen with a plate of blueberry scones, she heard the fireplace chime, indicating a visitor. She had expected her husband to walk in but was surprised when instead of him, a blonde haired woman stepped into her kitchen, discarding her gloves and coat.

Lily's mouth remained open for several seconds, her hand frozen in mid air with a half eaten scone in it.

"You are not going to run away anymore Lils." She glared.

"I-I wasn-" Alice didn't even give her a chance to finish, she just advanced on the red head, her finger pointed menacingly at her.

"How dare you? How dare you take my best friend away from me?" Blue eyes glared as teared gathered in her eyes.

"Do you really think so little of me? That I would be mad that I was unable to get pregnant but you did?"

"No-Alice-"

"I wasn't done." Alice hissed from between gritted teeth. She angrily swiped at the tears gathered in her eyes.

"You are my best friend Lils, godmother to my son, and I am the godmother to your son. How could you even think that I would be anything but happy for you?"

Silence reigned over the kitchen as the two women stared at each other.

"I'm asking you." Alice snapped out, crossing her arms.

Lily placed the piece of scone back on her plate, shredding it with her hands as her eyes refused to meet Alice's. Words seemed to escape her, she opened her mouth multiple times, yet was unable to say a single thing. Even the click clack of heels across the floor was unable to hold her attention.

Alice slid to her knees, one of her arms resting on Lily's stopping her assault on the scone. "Lily?" She prompted in a gentler voice. All of a sudden, she had her arms full of the pregnant redhead sobbing into her shoulder. A sigh left Alice's lips as she settled into the familiar rhythm of soothing Lily whenever she pushed her feelings aside until they burst out, overwhelming her and reducing her to a wreck. She runs her hands throw Lily's hair, humming the same tune she had always hummed when soothing Lily, ever since her first breakdown in third year, which incidentally is the same tune she hums now to soothe Neville too.

Slowly the sobs subside and she lays still in her arms. "Better?" Alice asks.

"Better." Lily replied, pulling back from her and wiping her face. "I'm sorry Alice, I know you wouldn't be mad, it's just, you've always wanted a big family. You and Frank were both only kid and now..." Alice conjured a cloth and began cleaning Lily's face with it.

"Yes, before we did think we wanted more kids, but after the war and everything we went through, me and Frank were already discussing stopping our family at three and going back to work. Plus, family doesn't just mean blood family sweetie, we found our family in Hogwarts, and it's pretty big, noisy and wonderful isn't it?"

"God, look what you made me do. I'm crying again." Lily laughed through her tears. Her hands found Alice's, holding it in a vice grip. Alice returned her grip with a smile. The unspoken words of sisterhood rang in the silence, as it had hundreds of times before.