"Maybe we should… wait to start trying."
"…Maybe..."
"Like until April or May. Safely out of the 'born at the end of July' range… Hell, make it August. To be extra safe."
xXx
He stumbled immediately after he transformed back. Black dots danced along his vision and he felt himself grab someone's, he hoped it was Peter or Sirius, shoulder as his knees went weak.
"Woah, Prongs!" He heard Sirius exclaim, and he felt nausea rise. "Are you okay?"
He took a deep breath trying to calm his stomach before speaking. "Fine." He assured them, letting go of Peter's shoulder and pulling out of Sirius' grasp. "I am fine."
xXx
He blinked awake, barely having time to register that Lily had already left for work, before he was untangling himself from the blankets, and nearly tripping over Crookshanks as he rushed to the bathroom, bile rising in the back of his throat.
Minutes later, he was brushing his teeth, when Sirius' "Potters! I'm home!" rang through the small flat.
"In the bathroom!" James had called back.
xXx
"So, what do you say? Would you want to go for a ride once I get the motorcycle up and running?" Sirius asked James as soon as he saw him at work.
"Uh. Yeah, sure." James answered, "Sounds like fun."
"I knew I could count on you!" Sirius squealed, pulling James into a tight hug, "Remus and Peter both shot me down!"
"Uh- Sirius?" James asked, feeling nausea rise.
"Hmm?"
"Wh-What cologne are you wearing?"
"…Just…The…Usual…?" Sirius answered slowly in confusion. James pushed away from him, gagging. "…James? C'mon. I don't smell that bad, do I?" Sirius asked, teasing falling flat even to his own ears.
"Be right back." James muttered, as he rushed to the bathroom, making it just in time to vomit into the toilet. He lowered himself into a squat, elbows on the toilet set as he cradled his head in the palms of his hands. He gagged again, the smell of the public bathroom not doing anything to help his nausea.
"Dude. You okay?" The person in the stall over asked, tapping on the metal wall between them.
X
"I am so sorry about that." James told Sirius, returning to the office. "I have no idea what that was about."
xXx
He had felt really bad when he got sick again just because Lily had cooked dinner on her day off. He still thought it was probably the smell of the garlic as he entered their flat that did it.
xXx
"Maybe we should… wait to start trying." Lily had muttered.
"…Maybe..." James had agreed, 'If I'm not already pregnant.' He thought to himself. No. No, he would not do this to himself. He would get a test tomorrow, and it would prove him wrong and be negative.
"Like until April or May. Safely out of the 'born at the end of July' range… Hell, make it August. To be extra safe."
November 19th, 1979
Lily was at work, 2 A.M.- 12 P.M., when James had gone to the Apothecary in Diagon Alley, bought the test for an entire galleon, then gone home and taken the test. Meaning, he had nothing to distract him during the Ten. Whole. Minutes. Male pregnancy tests took to accurately test.
So, the innocent little white stick sat innocently on the bathroom counter as James paced, wringing his hands, in the living room, waiting for the timer to go off.
One blue line was negative. Two blue lines was positive.
He looked at the door when he heard the jingling of keys.
"Hey!" Lily beamed as she shut the door to the flat.
"Hey!" James parroted back, glancing at the clock, 11:07.
"I got off early." Lily explained, taking long red hair out of the bun, as she moved to the bedroom to change out of her light blue scrubs.
"I… See that." James answered, as the timer finally, finally went off.
"What's with the timer?" Lily asked from the bedroom, as James moved to the bathroom.
He slowly picked up the little white stick, hand over his mouth as he stared at the two small blue lines.
"James?" Lily called from the bedroom. He startled, wiping his eyes when he noticed they were starting to tear up.
"Well," He moved to stand in the bedroom doorway, watching as she pulled an oversize white T-shirt on along with gray sweatpants. "I- I took a pregnancy test."
Lily froze as she was pulling her T-shirt down, holding it at mid waist for a few seconds, before letting go and allowing it to fall to her upper mid thigh. "Seriously?"
In answer, he held it up, facing her.
"Seriously?" She repeated, eyes lighting up when she saw the lines.
"Seriously."
November 21st, 1979
They sat in Carissa Greengrass', the Potter family healer, office. Waiting for both the urine and blood tests to come back so they can get a referral to Ethan Pomfrey, one of the few healers to specialize in male bearers. There was a soft, but firm, knock on the door before Carissa came in.
"Okay." The healer started, as she shut the door behind quietly behind her. "Both tests came back undeniably positive. Congratulations!"
Lily thanked her softly, laying a hand on James bicep as he sucked in a deep breath.
"Now, unfortunately, the soonest Healer Pomfrey can fit you in isn't until December third. However, he does want me to go head and get you started on a couple prenatal potions, James. One will help provide nutrients and hormones, the other will help your magic support your pregnancy." She paused, flipping through her notes on her clips board.
"On the subject of your magic, avoid magical travel, no apparition, no portkey, no brooms, floo generally is okay through the first trimester, but I would advise against it." The couple nodded in understanding. "Try to keep spell use to a minimum as well. I'm not saying don't use magic, I'm saying don't use any powerful magic. Simple household charms and Healing spells should be fine, no transfiguration, advanced charms, or if you can, try to stay away from offensive and defensive magic. Generally, Protego, Stupefy, and Expelliarmus are the least dangerous of that category. Though I should hope you won't find yourself in a situation where they are needed." Carissa finished, sternly, giving James a look over the rims of her glasses.
"Now, any questions?"
James shook his head, "I mean, I don't have any." He said, looking questioningly at Lily.
"I have a question." Lily started, folding her hands in her lap, taking a deep breath. "H-How does this work? I-I mean, obviously baby was made by sperm meeting egg. But, how-?"
"How did the baby get into your husbands-?"
"Yes."
"Well, what a lot of people don't know is, that a bearer potion alters a bearers magic." Carissa started, she had answered this type of question many times. While some couples didn't even wonder about this sort of thing, just chalking it up to 'magic', most wanted to know.
"What."
Carissa couldn't help but feel slightly sympathetic for James, having been told what had happened in '76. "Just slightly." She took a deep breath, "Long story short," she started again, looking back to Lily. "When his sperm meets your egg, sperm, in a way, acts as a portkey to his uterus."
"What."
November 22nd, 1979
"I guess I'll take the Oldsmobile to work, and you can take the truck?" Lily asked, as they were getting ready to leave that morning. Lily had, for once, the same hours as James. She knew she was going to have to come up with a story to get more regular hours once the baby was born, maybe she could say they had a surrogate, or that they had adopted…
"Sounds fine to me." James answered, suddenly very glad he had taken the time to learn to drive when he was seventeen.
xXx
Vomiting into a trash can, James found, was not a fun experience. Especially if it was the public one right outside your place of work, and your coworkers had to walk by it to get to work. And most of them thought you were hungover.
November 25th, 1979
Lily, as per usual recently, woke alone to the sound of retching coming from the bathroom. She glanced at the clock as she rolled out of bed. 3:39 A.M. She was just glad she had the day off, and James didn't usually work Sundays. She padded past the bathroom, to the kitchen, quickly washing a glass and filling it with water. He couldn't take anything pregnancy safe and over the counter for the nausea due to his allergies. Taking the glass of water and grabbing some crackers on the way, she made her way to the bathroom. They had found over the last couple days that water and crackers did actually help, if only slightly.
She entered the bathroom to see James sitting cross legged on the floor elbow on his knee and head propped on the palm of his hand, eyes closed.
"Hey." Lily said softly, kneeling down beside him, unintentionally making him jump, his eyes flying open. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."
"Eh, It's fine."
"Here." She said, offering him the glass. "Then if you think you're done, we should head back to bed, you look exhausted."
November 30th, 1979
Lily could feel the looks she and James were getting. Her sympathetic, James disgusted. They couldn't use magic in a muggle area, but Lily, despite how much James may protest, wasn't going to let her pregnant husband help carry a six foot tree to their second floor flat. So, she and Sirius were carrying it instead.
"Excuse me?" An elderly voice said, and James turned to see their next door neighbor, Mrs. Thompson.
"…Yes?" James said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his coat.
"Isn't that your wife? Helping that other man with that tree?"
James glanced to Lily and Sirius who had now reached the stairs. He sighed, "Yeah."
"…Shouldn't you be helping him." It was more a statement than a question.
He sighed again, "Yeah, probably."
"Then why aren't you?" Mrs. Thompson asked. This was just how Mrs. Thompson was, she was elderly, not afraid to speak her mind, but also childlike in many ways. It was a wonder she was still allowed to live on her own.
There was a pause before he answered her. "…Because I'm sick."
"Well, you look perfectly fine. Back in myday-"
Oh. God.
xXx
"So? You wanna tell me why James couldn't help with that?"
Lily and James shared a look, "Because I'm pregnant."
"What?" Sirius shrieked, wide eyed, making Lily rub her ears with a muttered 'geez'.
"Sirius! What have I told you about the noise? Keep it down."
"You're pregnant? No kidding?"
"No kidding."
"No kidding what?" Peter asked, as he and Remus entered the small flat, to see a squealing Sirius hugging James tightly.
"Sirius, can't breathe." James muttered, before squeaking out, "Can't be good for the baby!"
"James is pregnant." Lily told Peter and Remus, as Sirius gasped and let go of James.
"Sorry Prongs! Sorry baby Potter."
"When's he due?" Peter asked.
"Prongslet!" Sirius gasped again, "Could we call baby Potter Prongslet?"
"We don't know when I'm due yet, Peter." James answered, "We'll find out on Monday."
James just really hoped this child would not be entering the world in July.