Chapter Text
She was going to vomit.
No, she was going to pass out.
No, she was going to cry.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
The doctors had all said the same thing.
She was infertile. She had PCOS.
She couldn’t have kids.
But the pregnancy test was staring back at her with that evil little pink plus, clear as day.
But pregnancy tests could be wrong, right?
There were false positives all the time.
“Lily?” a worried voice called through the door. “What’s the verdict?”
“I’m pregnant.”
“Oh.”
Marlene’s shock was palpable, even through the thick wooden door of their flat’s toilet.
“It could be a false positive?” her friend suggested, “only blood work will confirm it for sure.”
But the blood work did confirm it, and so did the twelve other pregnancy tests she took that night.
She was pregnant.
And worst of all, it was HIS baby.
One month prior
Remus owed her a pint.
No Remus owed her ten pints.
He owed her all the pints the three broomsticks had on tap.
Because she hated James Potter, and now she had to oversee his physical therapy. All because Remus had a not-so-secret crush on Sirius Black and had begged her to switch their appointments.
“Please, Lily!” her old friend had begged. “I swear he winked at me the other day. I just need a chance.”
So there she was, fuming and willing the day to end.
Because she had to deal with the world’s most enormous prick.
“Oh, he’s not that bad, Lils.” Remus had chastised earlier.
But Lily knew better.
He was a womanizing prick—a new girl on his arm every week, a new scandal gracing the tabloids every month.
He was the bad boy of football and drove Lily up the wall.
He’d grown up wealthy and only become richer as his career progressed.
She found it very hard to like the Eaton-educated, over-privileged, and asshole extraordinaire James Potter.
Growing up in council housing with a state education, Lily was as self-made as they came, and her dislike of privilege and those who abused it came easily.
She’d heard of him before she took her job with Arsenal, and she’d given him the benefit of the doubt.
Tabloids were known to exaggerate. God only knows how many false pregnancy stories they ran on Jennifer Anniston every month.
So when he had his first physio appointment with her, she’d gone in with an open mind.
But he was an hour late.
And when he did arrive, he gave her a once over that made her blood boil with anger.
He’d been so uncooperative and douchey, flirting shamelessly and making all sorts of comments. He took every opportunity to call her sweetheart. To make matters worse he found any and every opportunity to ask her out.
Lily had refused to see him again, delegating all his appointments to Remus, who she knew he wouldn't look at the way he’d looked at her.
When he passed her in the hallways, he would block her way in the same taunting manner boys at school had done, asking her out constantly in what could only be some sort of joke. When she would go over stretching with the team, he would give her a once-over that made her cheeks burn with anger and her gut burn with something else (not that she would ever admit that part).
She hadn’t had to be alone with him since their first disastrous appointment, and she wasn’t looking forward to it now.
She was prepping the physio table, keeping her back firmly to the door, which he was lounging casually against.
“Are you going to talk to me or?”
She grit her teeth, pulling the resistance bands out of the cupboard and slamming the door with more force than necessary.
“Sit on the bench,” she instructed, still avoiding his eyes.
He snorted, an infuriating smirk gracing his handsome face.
That was another thing that drove her crazy.
He was good-looking.
Mouthwatering, panty-dropping gorgeous.
Even she couldn’t deny it.
Tall with broad shoulders and a physique that put the statues in the VNA to shame. His jawline was sharp enough to cut, and it didn’t help that his messy black hair and bright hazel eyes popped against his olive skin.
He was so attractive it almost made her forget about what a prick he was.
Almost being the keyword.
His personality trumped his looks.
She hooked the resistance band around the table’s hold and snapped the other end onto his foot.
“Lift as far as you can, or until your leg is straight,” she said, again avoiding looking at his face, focusing instead on his knee.
“No.”
This caused her head to snap up, looking at him with a mix of confusion and anger on her face.
“No?”
“Yeah. No.”
He was giving her a shit-eating smirk, one she wanted to smack off his face.
She let out a meditating breath. Whatever happened, she needed to stay professional. He could get her fired with a single complaint.
“Why not? This is the routine you do with Remus.”
“Because I don’t feel like it.”
She clenched her fists, feeling her nails dig deep into the palms of her hand.
“And what would you like to do instead?” she asked, stepping over to her drawer of printed physio routines. “I assumed we would do what you normally do with Remus.”
James leaned back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, thighs parted wide, and the same condescending smirk that made her want to throw something at him.
If it weren’t Potter, she’d be itching to climb into his lap.
But it was Potter, and she had self-restraint.
“I want to chat.” he supplied, his grin still in place. “I’ll admit, I was surprised to see my appointment was with you. It was my understanding I made a rather bad impression.”
“Remus had something come up.”
“You mean he wanted to get to know Sirius,” he smirked.
“No. Your appointments take longer, and he has somewhere to be tonight.”
“And you don’t?” it was thrown like a question more than a barb, but Lily wasn’t about to turn their conversation friendly.
“I work early. Not all of us have time to party and no obligations.” She snapped
His expression hardened, though his posture stayed loose and nonchalant. “Who says I have no obligations? I’m at this stadium every day.”
“Ah yes, kicking a ball and being a good-looking prick is such a troublesome existence,” she muttered under her breath, turning to her charts to try and find a routine that he would be willing to do.
“Sorry, what was that last bit?” he asked, his taunting look had returned to his face, “cause I think you just called me good looking.”
“Just put your damn leg in the resistance band and move, Potter.” She grit out, her resolve disappearing quickly.
“I think I just heard you call me good-looking.” He continued, ignoring her request to start the physio routine.
“Potter. If there is something you would rather be doing, you are welcome to go do it because I really don’t want to spend the next hour trying to convince you to do what you’re supposed to do.” She snapped, looking up and finally meeting his eyes.
But it wasn’t the usually taunting look he had on his face, his gaze was pure heat. And she was suddenly melting under it.
“There is something I’d rather be doing,” He replied, hazel eyes flicking down to her mouth. His voice was husky, settling deep in her stomach.
Before she had time to register anything, his mouth dropped to hers, pressing softly.
She gasped, shoving him back, a sudden look of fear on his face as he registered what he’d just done.
“Wait, Lily, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”
She cut him off, pressing her mouth harshly against his. This wasn’t going to be sweet, it was an itch she needed to scratch, and she intended to scratch it hard.
He took his cue, hoisting her up onto his lap, gripping her thighs tight enough to bruise.
Given the number of conquests he had, she shouldn’t have been surprised at what a great kisser he was. His mouth and tongue were well-practiced, tracing her tongue and teeth, sucking viciously on her bottom lip.
His hands, however, had become soft, sliding up her side in an almost loving manner and settling on her hips in a gentle caress.
If James Potter thought she was someone who would fall for that, he was sorely mistaken. This was a one-time.
Taking his hand off her hip, she lifted it to her breast, guiding his thumb to roll over the peak of her nipple, causing them both to gasp at the contact, squeezing her thighs against his hips in an attempt to find friction where she needed it most. A motion that seemed to throw him off his well-practiced rhythm. Taking the opportunity to deepen the kiss, Lily pulled his head back, gripping the roots of his hair and tugging firmly. She rolled her hips in a strong, punishing rhythm, the heat between her hips building nearly intolerably. She could feel his arousal pressed against her thigh, and it made the fire in her veins burn brighter.
“You like to be in charge, don’t you, Evans?” He breathed out, his pupils blown black and a gorgeous flush decorating his handsome face.
“Don’t talk.” She ground out, giving him an extra punishing roll of her hips that made his eyes slide back into his skull.
“Okay, no talking, got it.” He breathed as she began to suck a harsh trail from his jawline to his collarbone. Tugging on the bottom of his jersey, he lifted his arms, allowing her to tug his top off. Trailing her hands down his sculpted torso she scratched gently across the muscles she’d spent more time than she wanted to admit admiring. Shifting her weight off his lap slightly, she reached between them and gripped him firmly through his shorts.
He groaned, bucking up into her grasp.
She gripped him harder this time, and he grunted, shifting in her hand slightly, “a little gentler, please.” He gasped.
Loosening her grip, she tugged his shorts and pants down until she could touch him without the barrier of fabric.
She moved her hand along his shaft in feather-light, barely-there touches. She smirking at the frustrated look on his face. “I thought you said gentler?”
“Evan’s is the point of this to tease me?” He choked, his breath coming out in short pants.
Tracing her thumb in firm, slow circles along the head of his cock she revelled in how his head fell back against the wall. “The point is, I’m not a sweetheart, and I’d like for you to stop calling me that.”
He just nodded deftly, allowing her to work a punishing rhythm for a few minutes before he tugged her hand away.
“Too hard?” she asked frowning, she didn’t want to actually hurt him.
“No, but I’m about to finish, and I haven’t even touched you.” He panted, shifting her off him. Lifting her far too easily, he lay her on her back on the physio table, looking up and raising an eyebrow to ask if it was okay.
Sifting her fingers through his hair, she gave him a short nod.
Lifting her hips to help him tug her leggings down, he settled his chest between her thighs, biting and sucking his way up from her knee to her center, his strong hands pinning her hips down.
A moan caught in her throat as he sucked on the tiny bundle of nerves between her legs, causing her to tug his hair hard, nails scratching against his scalp. Something he seemed to enjoy because his own moan reverberated through her, making her pant.
“You taste amazing, Evans.” He praised. His smirk was insufferable.
She yanked his hair hard, causing another moan that wiped the smirk off his face. “I said no talking.”
At the instruction not to talk, he put his mouth back to better use. And it was relentless, tugging and sucking on her sensitive flesh the same way he had her mouth. His grip on her thighs shifted, and soon his mouth was joined by two fingers, pumping in and out of her in a slow rhythm that had her squirming.
She hooked her leg over his shoulder and neck, bringing him closer to her body. He sucked hard on her clit, his fingers stretching and exploring her in a way that had her breathing coming in shallow gasps.
But too soon, he pulled back, moving along her body so that their hips aligned.
“I don’t have a condom, do you?” he asked, his face flushed, mouth glistening with her desire.
“I’m on birth control.” She said, propping herself up on her elbows. She didn’t feel like elaborating on her fertility woes to him.
“I don’t have sex without a condom.” He said, shaking his head, moving back down towards her hips.
“Trust me, Potter, I’m clean and can’t get pregnant.”
He studied her for a moment, considering what she had said, having some sort of internal arguments. The logical side of his brain lost because a moment later, he surged forward, capturing her mouth with his.
Positioning his hips between hers, she could feel him nudging her entrance.
Looking up, he caught her eye, “You sure, Evans?”
“You think you would have got this far if I wasn’t sure?”
He let out a short laugh before easing slowly into her.
Digging her fingernails into his shoulders, she bit her lip hard, shifting her hips to try and accommodate him. She would not give him the satisfaction of saying anything about his size, but the slight wince she gave when he pushed forward was a clear giveaway.
Sliding a hand under her ass, he used it to help guide her hips and thighs into a more accommodating position. “Need a sec?” He asked, panting slightly. His tone lacked any indication of mocking, and he had a slight look of concern.
She rolled her hips in response, biting down the moan of pleasure and slight pain that coursed through her.
“If you insist,” he said before he began moving in a slow-rolling rhythm.
Frustrated by the suddenly slow pace, Lily slid her hands down his side to grab his ass, pushing him to move faster.
He ignored her, continued the slow rhythm that was doing nothing but build on the fire that had been burning deep in her stomach.
“Potter, if you’re not going to speed up, then sit back and let me be on top.”
That seemed to spur him on because his pace picked up, and he moved her leg over his shoulder. Thrusting into her in a way that had her suddenly biting into his shoulder.
“This work for you?”
All she could do was moan.
His hand on her back moved, instead, reaching in between them to press harshly on her clit.
Between the movements of his hip and hands, she felt as if every nerve ending was on fire, building and burning to a peak that had her biting down on his shoulder to stop her from screaming, her walls fluttering around him mercilessly.
That seemed to undue him because his thrusts grew erratic and hard. A moment later, she gasped, burying his face in her shoulder to smother his moan, hips pressing deep into her.
“Holy shit.” He panted, looking down at where their bodies were still joined. “I meant to pull out.”
Rolling her eyes, she pushed him off her, sliding off the physio table grabbing a towel from the cupboard. She wiped away the evidence of what they had just done before pulling on her leggings. Regret was already starting to settle over her. She just fucked a co-worker in her office.
James was still propped up on the physio table. His expression softer than she expected it to be, his voice light and teasing when he asked, “So does this mean you’ll go out with me?”
She froze, “This never happened.”
“What do you mean?” He frowned
“I mean, this never happened. We don’t speak of it. Understand?”
Looking up at James, she didn’t expect to see the hurt and stung look he gave her.
“So we fuck and just forget about it? We can’t even talk about it?”
“As far as we’re concerned it never happened” She replied harshly, turning her back to him. Suddenly unable to meet his eyes.
He dressed silently, slamming the door angrily behind him.
And that was that.
At least she thought it was.
One Month Later
“What are you going to do?” Marlene asked softly, passing Lily another box of tissues.
“I don’t know.” Lily sniffed, whipping her nose on her already snotty jumper sleeve. “This isn’t supposed to happen. It’s impossible.”
“We’ll maybe Potter’s got some magical jizz.”
Lily shot her friend a glare.
“Sorry, wrong times for jokes.” The blonde sighed, leaning against the wall beside Lily’s bed. “What do you want to do? Do you want to keep it? Or?”
The last question hung in the air unspoken.
Get rid of it.
Lily was fiercely pro-choice. She’d been to more women’s marches than she could count, and bodily autonomy was an important value of hers. But it was a choice she never thought she’d have to make for herself.
The doctors had been clear. This was a miracle pregnancy, and it would be a difficult one if she went through with it. She’d be completely infertile afterwards if she chose to have the baby.
But Lily had always wanted to be a mom, and she’d spent the past few years researching adoption thinking she wouldn't be able to have any of her own.
“This is the only chance I’ll have.” She whispered, her hand settling on her still flat stomach
“So I’m gonna be an aunty?”
“Yeah, Mar, you’re gonna be an aunty.”
She let out a watery laugh as the blonde wrapped her arms tightly around her, squealing excitedly.
“Now you just have to drop the bomb on ol’ Jamesy boy.” Marlene grinned, “I’ll pay you real gold to record his reaction.”
“I’m not telling him,” Lily said after a moment, shaking her head determinedly. of
“What? Lily, you have to tell him!”
“No.” Lily insisted, “He’ll try to make me get rid of it. Do you know what a baby would do to his career?”
“Well, it’s not his choice to make.” Marlene frowned
“Marley, he's rich. He’s the most important player on that team. A scandal like this would ruin me and my career. I’d be fired from Arsenal, and I doubt any other team would want to hire the physiotherapist who got pregnant by a player. I need to keep this quiet.” Lily insisted.
“But what are you going to do when you start showing?” Marlene questioned, “people are going to know you’re pregnant when your stomach is as big as a watermelon! And what about after when you’re on mat-leave?”
Lily sat back, gears turning in her head. “I’ll go on sick leave.”
“Sick leave?”
“The doctors said this would be a difficult pregnancy. And recovery afterwards will also take longer than usual. They recommended taking a full year and a half; they were going to draft a letter when I got the results. Once I’m getting to the stage where I’m showing, I’ll go on sick leave. My contract allows for 16 months of sick leave with a doctor’s letter.” Lily explained
“Lil’s this is extensive.” Marlene faltered, “And I don’t know, it just feels wrong….”
“Wrong?” Lily questioned, feeling a wave of anger come over her “wrong for me to want to keep this child?”
“No! No, not that,” Marlene elaborated, “It just feels wrong keeping it from Potter. I mean… like it or not, he’s the dad, and he should have the option to be in his child’s life.”
His child’s life. Those words hit her hard, and Lily fell silent, mulling over Marlene’s words. A knot of guilt forming, part of her agreeing that Marlene was right. He should have the option.
But she knew what he was like. And she knew he wouldn’t want to, that it would cost her and her child far more than he had to gain.
“No.” Lily said firmly, “This is my child. Potter was the unfortunate donor.”
Marlene just nodded, though Lily could see the hint of disapproval in her friend’s eyes.
But this was Lily’s burden to bear and no one else’s.
And what a burden it was.
The morning sickness alone nearly ended her.
She spent the entirety of her first trimester with her head in the toilet.
Waking up early to puke would have been fine if she’d been able to get enough sleep in the first place. She was constantly tossing and turning, kept up by a combination of night sweats and anxiety.
She looked so terrible at work her boss suggested she take a week off. But she refused, knowing that she needed to hold out until she began showing.
Remus had been quick to sense something was off. He gave her worrying looks during meetings and joint sessions.
It wasn’t until she turned down a glass of wine did he figure it out, dropping the glass of merlot he’d been holding. “Holy shit, you’re pregnant.”
She’d been so determined not to tell Remus,
But she sobbed the whole story into his chest while he held her.
“Jesus Lily,” was all he said.
She knew he disapproved of her not telling James, but he held his tongue. Agreeing to keep her secret.
Telling Remus was like a weight off her shoulders, and she found herself more relaxed at work, able to push through the exhaustion and fatigue.
Her first ultrasound was also a source of light. Watching her baby’s heartbeat flutter on screen made her own heart soar more than she ever thought it would. She was finally feeling at peace with this.
But as soon as she’d adjusted to the first round of symptoms, her second trimester hit her like a lorry full of bricks.
She’d give anything to have the nausea back.
Because the migraines that plagued her were debilitating, she would spend weeks in beds with the blinds drawn, sometimes too dizzy to stand.
By then, she’d gotten a letter from her doctors, and the head of staff, Clara Cartwright, had given her the time off no questions asked.
Lily loved when women were in charge.
Remus complained endlessly about her replacement.
“He doesn’t want to listen to ABBA while we work! The rat-faced the bastard!”
But Lily was just grateful to have him visiting as often as he did.
Truthfully she was grateful for all her friends. They were a lifeline through it all.
Especially Marlene, who had been all too excited to clear out the sparsely used office and begin turning it into a nursery. She had gone especially hard on the baby shower, considering Lily’s mother was no longer alive, and she wasn’t on speaking terms with her sister.
The whole party had been ‘witch or wizard’ themed with tiny cauldron-shaped cupcakes and little black cat motifs.
Lily had decided not to find out the sex of the baby. It gave her something to look forward to because she knew giving birth would be hell.
And hell it was.
Ten hours of wandering around a hospital room, willing her contractions to speed up so she could get this damn baby out of her. She was pretty sure Marlene was ready to go in, sleeves rolled up and pull the baby out of her because of how much Lily was complaining.
It felt like the baby was never going to come.
But he finally did, announcing his new presence in the world with a strong pair of lungs that made her OBGYN laugh.
Cleaned off and having just been placed on her chest, she looked down at her son. His black hair tufted off his head, far too like his dad’s. But her own eyes stared back at her, and that was enough.
“Hi Harry,” she cooed, smoothing her hand over his head adoringly. “I’m your mummy.”
“Does he have a middle name?” the elderly nurse asked, filling in the information on the birth.
Lily stared down at her son, a small bubble of guilt forming in her chest.
“James, his middle name is James.”
3 Years Later
“Harry, you behave for Mumma, okay?” Lily insisted, tucking his lunch box into the toddlers’ small arsenal backpack.
The toddler just giggled, hanging onto her legs.
His daycare had a burst pipe, which meant ‘Aunty Marley’ would be taking him for the day.
Marlene loved the little boy, and he would often return from her place riled up on sweets and playtime. Which meant bedtime was a nightmare for Lily. It would take three readings of his favourite book, “the stag and the dog’s midnight adventure,” before he would settle down enough to go to sleep.
He was such a mischievous little boy. She could always tell when he was getting into something by the loud giggles she would hear from his room. But he was so sweet, cuddling into her side when they would watch his shows on the telly, or excitedly helping her measure out baking ingredients.
But he looked so much like James.
Everything from his face to his hair, he was a little carbon copy.
The only thing setting him apart was her own bright green eyes.
She knew that just seeing him would be a dead giveaway for anyone, which was why, as far as the team was concerned, she didn’t have a child. Her illness and year-long absence from the team was explained away as an autoimmune issue.
The first few months being apart from him had been horrible. Lily constantly fretted, texting the daycare constantly for updates. And having to pump was awful. She’d have to lock herself in her office and hope no one questioned the odd mechanical sounds coming out of her office.
And while Lily felt in her heart she was making the right decision, it was painful in so many ways, pretending Harry didn’t exist, keeping him squirrelled away.
Most painful of all was still seeing James, who still ignored her with a cold indifference that stung far more than it should have.
But it was what it was.
She didn’t regret keeping Harry.
Not a bone in her body did. But a small part of her regretted not telling James. Marlene’s words from the day she decided to take on motherhood would ring through her head on occasion.
‘He should have the option to be in his child’s life.’
But she wasn’t sure she wanted him in Harry’s life.
His partying had only gotten more intense. And his scandals of drunken madness were not something she wanted around her son.
Especially when a new model was hanging off his arm every other month.
It was so hard though, seeing him at work.
And she knew it was difficult for Remus too, who after two years of dancing around things with Sirius had made things official six months prior.
Sirius Black was James’s best friend.
The two were basically brothers, and the youtube compilations of the two spanned hours online.
She knew Remus felt shit about it. He felt he was lying, Lily tried to convince him she was simply withholding information, but that point of view had earned her a glare.
“I’m basically keeping his nephew from him, Lily!”
But he kept his promise, and as far as anyone else on the team was concerned, Harry didn’t exist.
And for the most part, it was easy to hide. She had a no social media policy in general. No photos of Harry were allowed online, even on private Instagram accounts. She’d watched a documentary about online child predators and had gone a bit overprotective mom crazy.
Lily wished she could have photos of him in her office, the way other administrative team members did. But since Sirius and Remus had started dating, she’d been the one to take over his physio appointments, and she knew he would question the photos of the small boy who looked like his best mate.
Typing through her notes, Lily was pulled from her screen by a frantic knock on her door.
“Come in!” She called, expecting it to be her next appointment.
Instead, a frazzled-looking Marlene burst through the door, both Harry and his backpack clutched in her arms.
“Mar?”
“Lily, I’m so sorry, my client’s just been indited, and I’m needed down at the station ASAP. I didn’t know where else to bring him! Dorcas and Mary are on their anniversary trip, and I didn’t want to drop him off with someone he didn’t know.” The blonde rambled, depositing Harry onto lily’s cramped desk.
“It’s okay!” Lily assured her, picking Harry up and propping him up on her hip, “Go see your client.”
“I’m so sorry, Lil,” Marlene called, already halfway down the hallway.
Lily looked at Harry, who was happily sucking on the small stuffed owl his uncle Remus had bought him.
Her next appointment was in 15 minutes, and with Sirius, there was no way she could have Harry in the room with her. How the fuck was she going to explain the random child that looked like his best mate? Glancing at the joint physio schedule that was open on her calendar, she was relieved to see Remus was available for the next hour. He was going to have to put up with some impromptu babysitting.
“Would you like to go see uncle moony?” Lily asked the toddler, bouncing him on her hip.
Harry nodded enthusiastically and giggled, waving the plushie around, “moony!” he giggled excitedly.
When harry was first learning to talk, he hadn’t been able to pronounce Remus, so the poor man had gone from mouse to monse to moony. And moony had unfortunately stuck, and while Remus pretended to be annoyed by it, she could tell he enjoyed the extra special nickname Harry had given him.
Hurrying down the hall to Remus’s office, she didn’t bother knocking before shouldering open the door.
“Lily? Harry!” Remus’s eyes went wide, “What’s he doing here?”
“Daycare had a burst pipe, Marlene’s client got indited, and I have Siriurs’s physio appointment in 10 minutes. Can you watch him?”
“Of course!” Her friend exclaimed, scooping the young boy out her arms, “But it’s not a good idea for him to be here, Lily.”
“I know, Sirius is my last appointment for the day. I’m taking him straight home afterwards. You’re not expecting anyone, are you?”
“I have James at 2:30, so you’ll have to be quick.”
“I will, I promise!” she insisted, turning to open the door, but before she could do so, it swung open, and the very person she didn’t want to see stepped into the room.
“Hey Remus, I know we’re not till 2:30, but I was hoping to get out of here early with-” He froze, eyes settling on the small boy in Remus’s arms.
“Who’s this?” He asked tentatively, eyes flicking between Remus, Lily, and Harry.
“Mummy!” Harry whined, reaching for Lily. He didn’t like strangers.
A heavy feeling of dread flowed through her. It felt like being dunked in an ice bath, her muscles were frozen, it felt like she couldn’t breathe.
“This is Harry,” Remus supplied, realizing Lily had suddenly lost the ability to speak. “Harry, this is James can you say Hi?”
“Mummy!” Harry whined again, wiggling in Remus’s grip trying to get to Lily.
Remus gently deposited Harry back into Lily’s arms, and she clutched him to her. The look on James’s face reminded her of a dear caught in the headlights.
“I didn’t know you had children,” James faltered, still frozen in the doorway.
“Just Harry,” Lily whispered, pressing a kiss to the crown of Harry’s head.
“Just Harry.” He breathed taking a small step forward, “And how old is Harry?”
“It’s none of your business.” She moved towards the door, but he stepped back blocking her into the room.
“I have a very funny feeling that it is my business.” He seethed, his shock had clearly worn off.
Remus gently took Harry from Lily again, “I’ll be in your office, Lily.” He said quietly, stepping past James who watched Harry until he disappeared from sight.
He turned back to Lily, fixing her with a disbelieving, angry stare.“I thought you couldn’t get pregnant.”
“He was a surprise.” She sighed, leaning back against Remus’s desk.
“I need you to tell me right now Lily, how old is he.”
She could feel bile rising in her throat. “He’s three.”
“And is he mine?”
Unable to say yes, to verbalize the very thing she did not want to admit, did not want to confirm what he already suspected to be true. She just looked up and nodded.