by HecateA
When James Potter was called for by his wife, he usually listened. When he was called for by his extremely pregnant wife, he listened very closely. He heard her call his name from upstairs and hurried to wash and dry the last of their dinner dishes before draping his dish towel over the stove handle and following the sound of her calls. He found her when he peaked his head into the nursery, whose white walls they had recently finished painting over with grey stars. A yellow blanket was peeking over the wall of the crib, already populated by stuffed toys. Lily was sitting in the rocking chair by the window reading one of the many, many pregnancy books she had gotten her hands on.
Since the end of her first trimester, she hadn't been taking the potion she took when she wanted to hear the world around her. Little to no research had been done on the Hearing Potion's effect on a pregnancy, but she and Slughorn both agreed that the baby might be born needing the potion to function if Lily took it frequently. It would be fine for their child to be born Deaf, but Lily had chosen to temporarily pause her use of the potion anyways—in case it had other side effects.
It suited Lily fine; other than in classes at Hogwarts, she had rarely needed the Hearing Potion per se—and that's why it had been given to her and why she'd learned spoken English in the first place. She said that it was useful at times, but Lily knew how to make her way around the world as a Deaf woman and James, Marlene, and anybody else truly relevant to her had learned sign language or was happy to communicate in the synchronized journals she had charmed so that text written in one appeared on the other. Since she wasn't going on Order missions at the moment and the meetings were all interpreted anyways, the change had been rather breezy. It just meant that when she called his name, her intonation and enunciation was a bit off, and that when James walked into the nursery, he signed to ask her if she was alright.
"Yes," she signed—her fist knocking at an invisible door before her three times. It was one of the first signs James had learned when they had been in Hogwarts together, and he'd used it often to answer the question "do you want me to repeat that?"
She beckoned for him to join her and James pulled an ottoman to her side to sit by her.
"Read this," Lily told him, pointing out a passage in the book. James took the book from her and pushed his glasses back up his nose.
Babies developing in the wound develop ears at around 9 weeks, and hear their first sounds at around 18 weeks. The first sounds that they hear may include the sound of their mother's heartbeat or breathing, as sound outside the uterus and body continue to be muted by amniotic fluids. Development really begins at around 24 weeks as they develop their sensitivity to sound. By 25 to 26 weeks, babies in the womb respond positively to voice and sound. By the third trimester, they can even recognize voices they commonly hear.
"Interesting," James signed.
"You need to talk to it," Lily said before resting her hands on her swollen belly. The baby kicking around inside (which, judging by how active it was, would for sure be a Seeker) had been growing for about 26 weeks now.
"Talk to it?" James asked.
"If the baby can hear, it should hear something," Lily said. "I don't think the sound of my breathing is particularly interesting, and you know how bad my pronunciation is without my potion."
"I'm sure fetuses don't care," James said.
"I know and I've been playing the radio for it, but I want them to recognize one of our voices if they come out," Lily said. "They're going to learn to sign with me, but they'll speak with you so it should be yours. I don't want the world to sound strange to them when they come out."
This was a cause James could get behind.
"What… what do you want me to say to them?" James asked.
"Say whatever you want," Lily said. She leaned back in the rocking chair and swung her feet up so that they rested on James' lap.
"Quidditch Weekly just released an updated ladder for this season—"
Lily clucked her tongue and waved her hand, interrupting him.
"Say whatever you want to our child," Lily said. "Babies don't care about Quidditch."
"This one could," James said. And in Merlin's name, it would if James had anything to say about it.
"Alright," Lily said. "I mean, if it could see me sign right now I would tell this baby how much me we already love them and how excited we are to see them… but I'm sure it would also love to know all about Gwenog Jones' new personal best."
"I can do both," James said. "I'm very proactive. Watch."
Lily smiled and hummed, pleased, when he started rubbing her tired feet while they were sitting like this. Hands otherwise occupied, he turned from speaking to his wife to speaking to his child.
"This is weird," James said. Lily's eyes had fluttered closed as she leaned back in the rocking chair, red hair tumbling over her shoulders and hands resting at the top of her bump. She had been getting really big really fast in the last few weeks, which James was trying not to get freaked out about. He knew that she could hear some of his voice as he spoke, the vibrations and depth of it, but not the exact words.
"This is weird, but your mother's right," James said. "You deserve to know how much we love you if there's even a little chance you can hear us say 'I love you.' You should get used to hearing that. Your mom's going to say it to you too, when you can see her say it, but I'll tell you every night and every day in every way I can until then."
Lily's lips twitched into a smile and she opened her eyes.
"Give me your hands," she said.
He did, inching closer, and she placed his hand strategically on her bump so that he felt the kick. She smiled when the baby kicked again and James couldn't help but laugh.
"What did you tell them?" Lily asked.
"I told them that their mother was always right about everything," James signed.
"Good," Lily said. "It's important that they get off to a good start."