Prologue
April 1st 1976
The peace of the fifth year boys dormitory was interrupted by an ear piercing shriek, making the other three boys in the dorm startle, glancing wide-eyed at each other.
"Uh… James?" Sirius called hesitantly, throwing his homework to the side, for it to slide right off his bed, to the floor.
"Why the bloody hell, am I bleeding?!"
Remus slowly looked up from his homework to pin Sirius with a look that screamed 'I told you so'.
February 14th 1976, Morning
"Zonkos!" Sirius screeched, making those around him cringe away, as he ran into the Hogsmeade store, Peter closely behind. Remus having split from the group to do a quick sweep of the area, as part of prefect duty. James having had to stay behind for detention with Filch, and wouldn't be in Hogsmeade until lunch.
"Ah, Mr. Black!" The shop owner exclaimed, "I was wondering if I'd see ya this morning!"
"Hogsmeade weekend, Mrs. White. You're always my first stop!."
"Glad ta hear it." The middle aged woman said jovially.
"Got anything new for me this lovely Hogsmeade weekend?"
"As it so happens, I just finished putting out our Valentines collection this mornin'," Mrs. White declared, gesturing to a white, pink and red display near the front window. "Have a look 'round, see if anythin' tickles yer fancy."
Sirius skipped away, toward the Valentine display.
"Mr. Pettigrew." Mrs. White greeted with a dimpled grin and a nod, just before the boy followed his friend over to the display.
February 14th 1976, Lunch
"Remus!" Peter called, waving him over as he walked into The Three Broomsticks.
"James not here yet?" Remus asked, arriving at their table, sitting across from Sirius and Peter.
"Nope." Sirius said, popping the 'p', as he emerged from his Zonkos bags, holding medium sized box.
"Wha-?" Remus started, but was cut off as Sirius flipped the box around, showing Remus the front.
The box had a rainbow pattern on it, and a plastic window in the front to show off several potions,
Assistant à sorcière !
was written above the plastic window.
"Is that, French?" Remus asked, roughly translating the text to himself to mean 'wizard to witch'.
Sirius nodded, "It's a French export that Zonkos had."
"What does it do?" Remus asked, warily, taking the box when Sirius pushed it toward him. Flipping it around to see an English translation. The first thing that stood out was the large:
Caution!
These potions may act as a bearer potion, should they be taken by a male bearer. Stop use and seek medical attention immediately if you experience any: migraines, fatigue, chest/breast pain, hip pain, pelvic pain, abdominal pain, or menstrual cramps/bleeding.
"-yway," Remus looked up when he heard Sirius speaking, "I was planning to use it on James."
"I'm. Not sure that's a good idea." Remus said, hesitantly, thinking about how, every month, close to the full moon when his sense of smell is heightened, James smelled... weird. Not necessarily bad, just weird. During that time, Remus could usually tell a person's gender and approximant age via smell, or rather, the smell of their magic. For James it was expectedly, fifteen, almost sixteen, year old pubescent male, and unexpectedly, hints of fifteen, almost sixteen, year old pre-pubescent female.
Now, Remus has smelled this combination before, in his uncle who ended up being a bearer.
"Why not?" Peter, who had been the one to find the potions and suggest using them, demanded from across the table.
"You mean other than the fact that you would be drugging him against his will?" Remus responded, pushing the box back towards Sirius.
"You've never had a problem with that before." Peter pointed out, smirking.
Before Remus could answer, James slid into the booth beside him, with a cheerful "Hey guys!"
February 16th, 1976
Sirius bit his lip as he stared down at the little pink vial of potion in his hand. The first of forty-five, to be taken one a day. If he started this morning, they would be finished on April Fool's. He had bought the set with the intention of pranking James with it. Then Remus had voiced his concerns, and suddenly Sirius wasn't so sure.
"Sirius?" Peter called from the doorway of the dorm. "You coming?"
"Coming." Sirius called moving to put the potion back in the box.
"What're you doing?" Peter yelped slightly. "I thought we were starting that today?"
Sirius fidgeted with the vial, tossing it from hand to hand. "I'm not sure it's a good idea anymo-"
"Oh, come on!" Peter exclaimed walking over to the other boy. "It's a harmless prank! It'll just make him like girly things for a few days!"
"But Remus-"
Peter scoffed, "Forget about Remus. He's just jealous that I thought of it before he did."
Sirius glanced back down at the innocent pink potion, he'd gone over the ingredients list several times, and while James has several potions ingredients and ingredient combinations he was allergic to, none of them were in these. Sirius had seen the warning about male bearers, and he didn't think James was a bearer. As far as Sirius knew, he wasn't, surely if he was he would've told Sirius.
Looking Peter in the eye, he shrugged, pocketing the potion and heading to the door. "Let's go, then."
xXx
Sirius looked around to make sure no one was looking before quickly uncorking the potion vial, and dumping it in James pumpkin juice when the other boy was staring at Evans. Looking up from his task, he accidentally make eye contact with Remus, who had seen the entire thing.
February 23th, 1976
"Well, I'm going to bed." James told them around a yawn, while stretching.
"Mate. It's only seven."
James just shrugged in response to Sirius.
March 3rd, 1976
James was in potions when it hit him. A blinding, mind numbing, nausea inducing migraine. He was prone to this though, so he thought nothing of it as he raised his hand and asked to be excused.
"You know the rule, Mr. Potter. No leaving the class within ten minutes of the beginning or end of the class." Was Professor Slughorn's response.
His stomach flipped as he folded his arms on the table top and laid his head on them.
"Head up, Mr. Potter!" Slughorn called from the front of the class.
James lifted his head, trying not to gag as he did so. Judging by the nervous look Peter shot him, he had failed.
"Ar- Are you okay?" Peter whispered nervously.
In response, James shook his head as he shoved himself back from the table and heaved, vomiting onto the floor of the potions classroom. There were disgusted gasps as he heaved again, one hand braced on the table, the other shooting up to his head to try and sooth the sharp pain.
"Oh! Oh my!" Slughorn exclaimed, once he processed what was happening. "Ah- Mr. Pettigrew, take Mr. Potter to the infirmary."
"Ah… Class dismissed." Slughorn announced after the two boys had left the room. There was still five minutes of class left, but there was now a mess to clean up, and unfortunately vomit was one of the few things that couldn't be efficiently cleaned with magic, and this was only his first class of the day. Everyone gave a wide berth as they left the room.
Sirius could feel Remus' eyes boring into the back of his head as they left the classroom.
"Don't look at me like that!" Sirius finally snapped. "We all know he's prone to migraines. It probably had nothing to do with me!"
March 12th, 1976
"We Won!" Sirius yelled as they landed. It was the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match. He pulled James into a bearhug, only to let go at hearing James' gasp of pain.
"You okay?" He asked, concerned, seeing James rub his chest with a pained look.
"Yeah, fine." James answered, laughing nervously, as he dropped his hand. "Don't know what that was about…"
March 20th, 1976
James rubbed his hip with a confused and pained look on his face.
Remus shot Sirius a look.
"He fell during practice last night it's probably just from that." Sirius said irritably. "Besides. I already stopped giving him the potion after his migraine a couple weeks ago."
March 25th, 1976
"James, get up. Breakfast is almost over, then we have class right after!" Remus exclaimed, pulling the covers off his friend.
"Tell the Professors I'm sick." James mumbled, pulling his covers back up.
"James." Remus growled slightly.
"Seriously, think I might have the flu."
Remus sighed, "Alright."
March 30th, 1976
"-r. Potter, are you feeling okay?" Professor Mcgonagall asked, noticing her student hunched over, arms wrapped around his abdomen, rocking slightly while wincing.
"Yeah. I'm fine." The now sixteen year old answered, the Professor suspected, dishonestly.
"Well, if you need to go to the infirmary, just ask." The professor told him, before continuing with her lesson.
April 1st 1976, just after midnight
The peace of the fifth year boys dormitory was interrupted by an ear piercing shriek, making the other three boys in the dorm startle, glancing wide-eyed at each other.
"Uh… James?" Sirius called hesitantly, throwing his homework to the side, for it to slide right off his bed, to the floor.
"Why the bloody hell, am I bleeding?!"
Remus slowly looked up from his homework to pin Sirius with a look that screamed 'I told you so', before getting up to go into the bathroom.
"I swear, I stopped giving him that potion." Sirius insisted as Remus walked pass.
Peter snickered. Sirius turned to look at him as Remus stepped into the bathroom.
"What's with you?" Sirius asked.
"Well, you may have stopped giving it to him." Peter stated, with a smirk. "But I didn't."
Sirius stared at him for a moment, before yelling, "Are you insane?"
xXx
"James? I'm coming in." Remus called, before opening the bathroom door. James was standing in the shower, blood running down his legs and tears welling in his eyes. He crossed his arms over his chest, freezing in place when he felt the small breasts that had developed there seemingly overnight.
"Let's get you to the infirmary, okay?" Remus asked, grabbing the t-shirt and pajama pants James had brought in the bathroom with him, helping him clean up and dress.
xXx
"Madam Pomfrey?" Remus called, as they reached the hospital wing after the long trek from Gryffindor Tower. Poppy, hearing this, hurried out of her small living area, pulling on her dressing gown as she went.
"Mr. Lupin? Mr. Potter? What's the matter?" She asked, seeing the two boys, and leading them to a private room, partly to keep from disturbing her other patients, Remus waited outside the room while James told her what he knew from his experience and what Remus explained on the way there.
At least Poppy had kits for situations like this. 'Just usually for the girls', she thought, pulling one out, not that she has never had boys, male bearers or otherwise, need them. Package of pads, hot water bottle, pain reliever (both potion and pills), wipes, hand sanitizer, panties (briefs, in this case, given this is one of her few male ones), a compact bag for on the go, all in a small cardboard box no one will be able to see through. "Go change." She told him, handing him a pair of hospital pants, underwear, a pad, and a pain relief potion, watching the boy's face immediately start flaming as he went into the bathroom. "Let me know if you need help!" she called after him, watching his already red face flush even more.
Poppy walked over to her floo, she needed to speak to her husband, as he was the one that dealt with pregnancy on a daily basis, and one of the very few to specialize in male bearers.
xXx
"I assume Professor McGonagall has spoken to you about the birds and the bees?" She said, that usually fell to the heads of houses to do for their students.
James could feel his face immediately start to burn, no doubt turning an unattractive shade of scarlet. Again. "Yes. She did."
"What do you know of male bearers?"
James shrugged, "I guess just that they can get pregnant? And that it still takes… a man and a woman?" he paused, thinking. "Will I have to go through this every month?"
Poppy sighed softly. She'd write them a pass for class tomorrow morning if they wanted, they were going to be here a while.
"I guess lets start at the beginning. But to answer your question, it varies from bearer to bearer, but it should be every three to four months. And last no longer than three days."