Mitigate [S. Black]

nine | the birth of harry potter

"You're doing excellent, Alessia," Lily complimented the brunette with a smile. They were sitting on the floor of Alessia's bedroom, where the redhead had taken to quizzing her on many different charms and incantations. So far, Alessia hadn't missed any and had also been able to perform them correctly. "Honestly -- you're quite a fast learner."

"Lils, it's been five months since I've started all of this."

"Exactly!" Millie agreed with a smile. "It's only taken you five months to learn what the rest of us took seven years to."

The younger Ashwood had taken to visiting Alessia as much as she could, now that she had graduated Hogwarts. Although her training to become a Healer took most of her time, as well as the Order meetings she and the rest of them attended, Millie spent however much time she could spare with her sister. Of course, Alessia was always present at the Order meetings as well, but no one else could know they were sisters; for it would have thus been obvious that she was the prophetic girl Voldemort thought to be dead. Peter still attended these meetings, as the group of friends were waiting for a small slip-up by him that they could use to accuse him of betrayal. They couldn't simply come out with it and accuse him of such a thing without just cause.

Nevertheless, Alessia feared that Peter was catching on to everything. While a cowardly wizard, he wasn't entirely stupid. And James, Lily, Remus and Sirius were rather terrible at masking their newfound disgust with their childhood friend. Lily shied away from him, and Remus remained almost entirely silent whenever Peter was around. James, surprisingly, was the only one that attempted to act normal with Peter; but even then, he always found a reason to be elsewhere whenever Peter spoke to him.

Sirius, on the other hand, was rather blunt with his dislike of Peter. He glared openly at the traitor, with a fierce hatred for the wizard he once would have trusted with the lives of his best mate and his family. Peter had, on multiple occasions, asked Sirius if there was something he had done to anger him, for his harsh looks had not gone unnoticed. Alessia had taken to weaving whatever white lie she could to explain away Sirius's unpleasant disposition: stress, anxiety, nerves due to the upcoming war. But eventually she ran out of things to say. Therefore, for the remainder of the Order meetings, Alessia simply steered Sirius to the other side of the room away from Peter and kept his hand entwined with her own in an attempt to keep him somewhat grounded.

"Perhaps, but only in Charms, DADA and some Transfiguration," Alessia responded to her sister, during the conversation currently at hand. "I know hardly any potions or things like that."

"Well, you helped me brew the Wolfsbane potions for Remus," Lily reminded her. "And you did quite well. That's a very strenuous potion, and one of the hardest to brew. You should give yourself more credit."

"Oi!" James's voice called out up the stairs. "Enough with the book-work already, Lily! We've still got a Patronus to conquer!"

Alessia had almost nearly come full-circle with her DADA lessons from Sirius, Remus and James. While the two latter men came over during the day and worked with her, oftentimes she and Sirius would find themselves practicing in the backyard whenever they both could not sleep. She had even taken to dueling back and forth with him; something he had talked her into, as it helped him to be more confident in her abilities knowing that she was able to fight him off. 

Sirius worried for her. While she was fierce and intelligent, Alessia was also very soft and dainty, and only wanted the best for everyone. He feared that her kind heart would be the very thing to get her hurt one day, but dueling with her and seeing her progress as a witch comforted him somewhat.

"Alright, we'll be down in a few minutes!" Lily called back to her husband.

"Hurry up!"

"Honestly." Lily rolled her eyes as Alessia and moved moved to help her off of the floor. "You think he'd be more patient, seeing as how his wife is nine months pregnant and literally carrying another person inside of her— ahh!" Lily's words cut off with a sudden cry of pain as she clutched at her rounded stomach, an unexpected contraction sweeping through her. She bent over slightly as Alessia held her up and supported her. There was a strange sensation, and then a dampness between her legs that had her looking to Alessia with wide eyes. "My water just broke. My water just broke!"