Following the events of the same universe where Juliet Potter and Remus Lupin fell in love, the insouciance has faded into misery as all parties prepare for the war, willing to pull any card to win a war from which none will truly come out victoriou...
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April 1979
"No, you must have hallucinated."
"James."
"There's no way."
"James?"
"I don't believe it. This isn't real. What if it was someone else but under the influence of the Polyjuice Potion?"
"JAMES!"
Juliet breathed in, calming her nerves by caressing her bump slightly before glaring up at her twin for stressing her out.
Andromeda butted in. "There has to be a rational explanation to this. Whoever that Snape lad is -"
"Snivellus." Sirius corrected.
"I feel bad hearing you call him that after he saved Juliet's life." Peter admitted.
"What!?" Sirius and James both turned to their best friend dramatically.
"Peter's right, maybe wait for him to screw up before you call him that again." Juliet agreed.
"He's a Death Eater! He is already a screw up!" The eldest Black defended.
"WHOEVER THAT SNAPE LAD IS," Andromeda repeated louder, still intending to finish her sentence. "Maybe he has a sense of value or honour or whatever. Maybe he refuses to kill children and women."
"Oh yeah, what a good lad, just kill all the men." Sirius scoffed.
"In retrospect, that's not an entirely bad idea." Regulus smirked, fist bumping Juliet.
Juliet let her eyes fall on her boyfriend, who had silently been sat by her side, apparently still in shock. She patted his thigh, comforting him.
"Look who's awake!" Ted walked in the living room, a sleepy Nymphadora in his arms. "Dora, who's that?" He pointed at Juliet.
Nymphadora beamed, jumping out of her father's arms and running to the young woman. Juliet chuckled, opening her arms and allowing the little girl to hug her, carrying her and settling her on her lap.
As his daughter seemed to be fascinated with the baby bump, Ted took advantage of it to join the conversation.
"Did not mean to eavesdrop, but maybe there's something in for him if he helped you? Maybe he's expecting you to return the favour."
"I don't know. He seemed genuinely shocked to see me there." Juliet sighed, recalling the feeling she got when she got caught. "And if he wanted something in exchange, he could have threatened to tell on me right then and there. But he just looked at me like I wasn't supposed to be there and told me to hide."
"Well, what if he's a spy?"
"A spy? No way, Snivellus has been friends with all those dirty bastards since we were 14." Sirius scoffed again.
"You kept count? That's cute. I never knew you had a crush." Regulus mocked.
"I nEvEr KnEw-"
"Enough." Andromeda scolded her cousins. "We could just ask Dumbledore when the times come. If anyone knew, it's him."
Remus finally spoke up. "With that mindset, isn't he supposed to know about the traitors on our side? Fuck-"
"Remus." Juliet interrupted, nodding at the kid on her lap playing with her hair.
"Right. Freaking Fletcher told on all of us. What are we going to do?"
"I suggest hunting him down and burning him like a witch, the old muggle way." Regulus said proudly.
Nymphadora looked up at Juliet, scared. "They burn witches?"
"No, baby, Uncle Reggie is just joking." She then glared at the boy. "Aren't you?"
"Um."
"You sure you want to defy her?" Sirius whispered to his brother.
"I mean, her weapon burned down with the house." He whispered back.
"You're really f- freaking stupid if you think she's not going to get Daphne to bring her three of those by the next hour." Peter commented.
Andromeda stared at the young adults with an amused smirked, sharing a look with the pregnant girl. "You've been traumatising these boys, haven't you?"
"They grew up in the House of Black. They can handle it." She shrugged.
"I didn't." Remus raised his hand.
His girlfriend pulled her tongue at him. "You got me pregnant. You're just paying your dues."
"Uh, hello? What about me?" James waved.
"You're collateral damage."
~
Remus took a lot of comfort in laying with Juliet in his arms. He knew he would lose his mind without her around, but he himself witnessed the extent of it earlier when his entire heart shattered.
He woke up that day, was entirely relaxed, then had to hurriedly go and fight to save his friend, then was confused because the fight in question vanished, then his heart dropped to his stomach because he realized it was an ambush, and he searched throughout a burning house about to collapse for the love of his life, came out unsuccessful and enraged, just to be relieved to find her miles and miles away in safety.
So, it was great to just hold her after that.
"We never discussed bean's gender, you know." Juliet whispered.
They were in a guest room, and the four other boys were all in the living room, so there really was no reason for her to whisper, but the silence felt too calming to break harshly.
"I mean, I don't really care." Remus shrugged.
"You won't be disappointed if it's not the gender you wanted it to be?"
"Of course not. I don't care about that. The baby will be whatever it will be. As long as it's healthy."
Juliet smiled, content with his reply.
"Why, are you expecting a specific gender?" He raised an eyebrow at her.
"No." She shook her head. "I just feel like it might be a girl."
"Well, good, let's hope she's 100% mum." He grinned.
"Like you could handle that." Juliet scoffed.
Remus laughed. "We need to find a name for bean."
Juliet paused. "We're really awful at this baby talk, we're not going to be ready when bean comes out." She frowned, getting upset.
"Hey, we're doing our best now. And we'll do our best then. We're not alone." He reminded her, kissing her forehead.
She sighed, burying her face into his neck. "I wish I could have a drink after the day we just had."
"Yeah, I'm wishing for something else right now, but I'm not allowed for at least another four months."
Juliet smacked his chest.
* * *
Remusbe wanting to make babies before the first baby is even born
