Lionhearts | hp. ✓

Year 7 | Sweet Melancholy

         Lily raked a hand through her hair and looked into Fleur's blue eyes, "How can I be pregnant? As if I don't already have a million things to worry about."

         Fleur noticed Lily's look of anguish, "Zis is not a burden, Lily. It's a gift."

          "Considering the circumstances, it's not a gift at all. We're in the midst of a war and whether I want to accept it or not, Harry and I are at the head of it." She stared at the vase of poppies sitting on the desk to the right. She wanted a calm life like this more than anything... "And there's so much I'm responsible for, so much that I have to do. I left Fred in the Burrow because I know I won't be making it out of this war and even if I do, I won't be the girl he fell in love with once upon a time."

And this, after everything, was Lily's greatest fear.

"You have not seen zee way he looks at you when you turn your back. He looks at you like you are his entire world." said Fleur, "He is madly in love with you and to stop feeling a love like zat means losing himself."

"I can't settle down with him until this war is over and the threat is gone." Even if she was to consider it, Lily didn't want to raised a child in the cruel world she was living in now.

"Think about it," said Fleur, "And talk to Fred. He should know."

Fleur smiled, stood and exited the room, leaving Lily to her thoughts. The sunlight poured through the windows opposite her, showering her with warm golden rays that made her hair resemble fire. Before she could talk herself out of it, Lily grabbed parchment and a quill from the desk across the room and sat down. This was not the way she would have liked to do this, but...

Dear Fred,...

*****

It was hours later, when day turned to night, when there came a knocking on the front door. Fleur was in the kitchen when she heard it and she froze; they weren't expecting anyone. She made to slip out of the room to fetch Bill, but Lily walked through the archway with her wand at the ready. Harry and Ron descended the stairs seconds after Bill slipped into the kitchen and ushered his wife and Lily into the living room. He pressed a finger up to his lips and opened the door. Relief washed over him as he found himself face to face with a beaming Remus Lupin.

"Remus," Fleur sighed in relief as she and Lily emerged from the living room, "Thank heavens. You gave us a fright."

"So sorry about that Fleur," but clearly he wasn't sorry. He was bouncing on his heels as he entered the house, practically bursting to tell the new. "Tonk's had her baby! It's a boy! I have a son!"

Everyone broke out into cheers and smiles. Bill brought out a bottle of firewhiskey and handed everyone a glass, but Fleur and Lily politely declined. Harry raised an eyebrow because his sister never refused a nice glass of the golden liquid. Remus pulled both the the Potters into a jubilant hug and when he pulled away, they couldn't help but notice he looked twenty years younger. The dark circles under his eyes and pale pallor seemed to have faded away.

         He gave Lily a meaningful look, "Thank you, Lily. If it wasn't for you, I would've made the biggest mistake of my life."

        "But those horrible things I said–" everyone was listening on in confusion but neither Remus nor Lily cared to elaborate.