INSTEAD, james potter [1]

Chapter Seventy-One

Lyra was sick and tired of being sick. She had been leaning over a toilet seat for weeks, puking her guts out every single day. Finally, she had had enough. When Lucius was out on some sort of Death Eater business, Lyra had apparated over to St. Mungo's, ready to finally find out what was wrong with her. 

She would have told Lucius. She supposed that most wives told their husbands when something was wrong, but she thought it was nothing. She had also been distancing herself from him, ever since that night she saw Remus and James again. 

She had found herself psyching herself up to pack a trunk and take a step out that door every morning when Lucius left her alone in the house. Every time she was about to, she had to run to the bathroom to throw up again.  

The healer who had been doing her check up, entered the room again, finally having gotten the result of the test. It had taken so long that Lyra had to use her last name to get them to hurry up, no matter how much she hated it. "Good news. You're not sick."

Lyra, who had been particularly moody lately, glared at the healer, who was only trying to do their job. "I think you should check those charts again. I've been throwing up for two weeks straight. How am I not sick?"

The healer didn't seem very threatened by her, as if it was expected that she would get so angry. He supposed it was only hormones. "It's just morning sickness. It's a normal symptom of pregnancy in the first trimester."

Lyra's eyes widened in surprise at one of the words. She quickly reached down to clutch her stomach, but not thinking it felt any different or more bloated than usual. "Are you saying that I'm pregnant?"

"I am. Congratulations, Mrs. Malfoy," he nodded curtly at her. "By my estimates, you're about ten weeks along. I'd say you're due around the end of May or start of June. I can't tell unless we do further testing. I can set up an appointment for it."

"Thank you," Lyra smiled politely. It was quite forced, though. She had always been excited to become a mother one day, but not so soon. Not when she had been trying to psyche herself up to leave her husband. This child was a like a trap, trapping her inside her life with Lucius. She looked down at her stomach, frowning. 

Now, there was no going back. There was a child coming, one that Lyra would be responsible for. There was no way she could be so selfish to leave it without its father. She was determined now, to protect it. She would have to get it together. 

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Lyra had been even more silent than usual at her daily dinner with Lucius. Then again, she had been strangely silent for the last weeks. Lucius hadn't bothered to comment on it. He had long days doing Merlin knows what. The silence was welcome. 

"How's your day been?" Lucius asked casually as they ate whatever meal the house-elves had prepared that day. He always asked, right in the middle of the dinner, just to be polite. He hadn't ever cared much about the answer. She always answered the same thing anyway. 

Lyra looked at his nonchalant face, knowing he was expecting her to answer with the usual fine and they'd just go on with their lives. But she felt the pressure of what she had found out pressing on her chest, so she blurted out: "I went to St. Mungo's today."

Lucius quickly dropped his fork on his plate, making it ring out through the room. He looked alarmed. Going to St. Mungo's never seemed to bode well, especially for a man who had lost both his parents there. "Why would you do that?"

"I've been feeling ill for a few weeks so I went to get checked up and..." she tried to explain, though hesitating before she gave him the final answer. "I found out that I'm pregnant. I'm due around June."