Lily was doodling on her notes for her classes, hardly listening as Professor Laurie went on about handling emotional young witches and wizards whose accidental magic was prone to outbursts. She smiled as she colored in bubble letters of Harry's name, smiling at the curve of the Y's tail. She filled some of the letters in with circles and some with stars and she was working on some stripes in the second R when Professor Laurie cleared his throat and she looked up to find him standing over her, the other students gone, the class well over and her mind anywhere but in that hall.

"Oh my stars," she said, flushing pink.

Professor Laurie's voice was amused, luckily, as he declared, "I am sorry that my lecture was so boring, Miss. Evans..." he glanced at her paper. "I thought that your husband's name was James?"

"It is," she said. "Harry's the name of our -- our baby."

Professor Laurie looked surprised. "Your baby? I didn't know you had --"

"Oh no - not yet. We haven't had Harry yet."

"Oh I see." Professor Laurie glanced at her stomach. "So you're --"

"Trying," Lily answered, her mouth a slight frown. She had, after all, spent the night crying over having not yet succeeded.

"Ah. Well I shall be -" Laurie paused, then shook his head, "I was going to say thinking of you but that seems wrong, and rooting for you doesn't quite feel right either so suffice to say that I'll be happy for you."

Lily laughed in spite of herself. "Thank you, you're very sweet." She paused. Then, "Harry's not really what is distracting me, though, and I actually meant to talk to you today."

"Oh? And how can I be of help?" He sat in the chair next to hers.

"My --" Lily thought about the connection a moment, then said, "My brother-in-law passed away last month."

"I'm very sorry to hear that, Lily," Professor Laurie's eyebrows tugged together. "Were you close?"

"He was the first person I purposefully chose to incorporate," she answered.

Professor Laurie let out a long, low breath that said all she needed to hear - he knew exactly what she was about to ask him. "I'm so sorry. Gosh, usually this doesn't happen until much, much later in the practitioner's lifetime when they choose to begin Magique Amour..." he paused. "You feel empty."

"Yes," Lily gasped.

Professor Laurie nodded. "Because a part of you has been taken away."

"Because it has, hasn't it? That part of me that's connected to him?"

"No," Laurie replied, "No... You haven't lost a part of yourself, not really. It's been returned to you."

Lily stared at him.

"Magique Amour is not destructive magic," Laurie explained, "You don't lose a part of yourself or give a part of yourself away. You only stand to gain from it. The act of loving another is a growth. You expand to fit it in there and when the subject is gone, the part of you that grew remains on. You've not lost a part of yourself but you've gained an empty place."

Lily frowned. "I don't like that he's gone."

"No one likes when their loved ones are gone."

"I mean from me."

"He never will fully go. Once you've incorporated a person, they're a part of you forever. But you've got room now to match the love you had for him for another. I suppose that sometimes around losing him is when you decided to... try... yeah?"

Lily nodded. "But I wanted to before that anyway. I've... had dreams before." Dreams was the only excuse she could come up without explaining everything about Mopsus.

Laurie nodded. "I'm very sorry you're going through this loss so early in your Magique Amour." He sighed, then said, "I'm very impressed by the way, with how much you've done and how persistent you are to continue on. Most people I have had approach me about Love Magic have not made it so far as you have already, even after years of trying. You really are very remarkable."

Lily smiled.

"How is it going with the incorporating by the way? Has your husband relented? And have you tried any... enemies?"

"No. But I've got a few people I am planning to incorporate this week. One might be considered an enemy."

"Let me know how it goes."

"Yes sir." Lily hesitated, then asked, "Professor?"

"Yes, Lily?"

"For my baby... Is there any special way to prepare myself for him with my magique amour?"

"You can love in advance. True unconditional love. Build that now and your baby will be born in love, of love, and fully surrounded by it. There are many very, very strong, deeply magical properties that love magic can achieve and they're most easily put into place by prenatal practice. I'll bring in a book for you that I have at home. I've never been able to practice it myself, obviously, but I studied the theory a bit and I think you'll find it terribly fascinating."

James was laying on the bed, his feet hanging off one side and head hanging over the other side of the mattress. His limbs were stretched so much that his shirt was riding up and his belly showed. He looked like a cat in sunlight. Which was only made funnier, from Lily's perspective, because Rodger actually was doing the exact same thing on the floor in a pool of light coming in the bedroom window. 

Lily was at her desk, looking at the pages she'd already translated of the Magique Amour and marking out the next few sections she wanted to translate. Through the open bedroom door, they could hear Dora downstairs, singing away as she made dinner in the kitchen, the telly playing some muggle drama that she'd become fond of watching. 

James suddenly asked, "Evans? What're we gonna name our baby when it comes?"

Lily hesitated, taking a sip of tea from a cup to mask the fact that she needed a moment to compose herself. "I don't know, what do you think?"

"I'd like to name a boy after my dad, and a girl after my aunt."

Lily paused, "So... Charlus or Ottalie?"

"Well Charlus was his middle name technically, I rather thought we'd use my Dad's real name. Fleamont."

"Fleamont."

"Yeah," James said. He paused, then, "What were you thinking?"

"Oh... I don't know..." Lily sipped her tea again, and looked down at her notes, her stomach jumping about with nerves. She said slowly, "I suppose I like Rosalie for a girl and... for a boy.. maybe... maybe Harry?"

"Harry?" James said.

"Yes, Harry."

"Like Harry Warbeck?"

Lily flushed. "No, not like Harry Warbeck."

"Do we know any other Harrys?"

"I don't know."

"I think Underhill might've been named Harry." James mused. He thought for a moment and she sipped her tea again. "I dunno any Rosalies, either."

"Well it's a unique name, then, isn't it."

"Yeah." He was quiet a moment, then, testing the waters, said, "Rosalie Potter... Rosalie Ottalie Potter? What about Ottalie Rosa Potter?"

"I don't know. If Ottalie and Rosalie were sisters would be cute. Oh James, imagine if we had twins like me and Tuney?"

"Not like Tuney. Like you, sure."

They were quiet again, then, "I dunno about Harry."

"Why not?"

"Well it's a common name, isn't it?"

"Yes, but that doesn't make it a bad one. James is a common name, too, after all, before you answer that too quickly."

James rolled his head to look at her. "Touche."

"Thank you."

"You don't like Fleamont?"

"I love you James. I loved your father. I do not love that name."

"What was your father's name?"

"John."

"Oh."

"It's not as exciting as Fleamont, I'm sorry."

"Fleamont John Potter. It's -- very --"

"Square."

"It does sound square doesn't it? Even with the flare of Fleamont in there, it still sounds very square. There's no...bendy sounds."

"You make no sense and yet I know precisely what you mean," Lily laughed. 

James laughed too and his glasses slipped, so he rolled over and slid across to get them so he was folded over on the bed. "Why don't you like Fleamont for?"

"Come on, James."

"What? We'd call him Monty, obviously," James said, as though that would improve her opinion on the name.

"Well we certainly would not be calling our son Flea," Lily answered with a shudder.

James laughed, "Mum called Dad Flea all the time."

"We have plenty enough fleas in our life with your best mate always dragging them in. I saw one the other day in his water dish, by the way. He needs another dip."

"I'll talk to him about it," James said with a sigh.

"Thank you. I've had to do the last several and honestly it ought to be Remus's job."

"You know Remus. He never gave Sirius a single detention in three years - he isn't about to start laying down the law now," James chuckled. 

"Yes, well, that doesn't mean that he oughtn't," Lily said, rolling her eyes and taking a sip of her teacup.

"So -- Fleamont, Ottalie, Rosalie."

"Harry."

James looked up. "You really like that name."

"I really do."

"Why?"

"I dunno. Just -- picture the ickle little thing, James, all wrapped in a precious blue blanket..."

"Your red hair and my brown eyes?"

"I think he'd look like you, rather. Since you look like your Dad so much." Lily flushed. She could see Harry plainly in her mind's eye and she knew already precisely what he would look like. She wished James remembered, too. It would make this whole discussion such a lot easier.

"You sure you don't know any other Harrys?" James asked suspiciously.

"I'm sure," Lily answered.

"Positive? I don't need you naming our kid after some broad shouldered wanker from your love life past." He was smirking even as he said it.

Lily eyed him. "If I was going to do that, it would be after Jasper Odair." 

James rolled over and sat up. "Well we're not naming our boy after Jasper Odair!"

"Did I say I wanted to?"

"I dunno, didn't you just say --"

"I said if I was going to, and no I don't want to name your boy after Jasper Odair, James, relax." Lily laughed at the way he was bristling. "No more than you'd want to name our girls after Meg... or McKenna... or Annalee... or Carly... or -- Blimey, James, was there a single girl in Hogwarts you didn't date?"

"I'm sure there were one or two I missed."

"Mmhm," Lily shook her head. Then, "I'll make a deal with you," she said, feeling inspired - but also a little bit like a cheat even as she said it.

"What's that?"

"What if... for the first round... if it's a girl, we name her Ottalie, and if it's a boy, we name him Harry. Then, when we have another pair, we'll name the second girl Rosalie and the second boy --" she paused, then sighed, "We'll name the second boy Fleamont. The poor thing."

James grinned. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"And Harry could be Harry James, couldn't he?" James thought about it. "Harry James Potter. You know, actually, that isn't so bad."

"I really like it," Lily agreed. 

James grinned. "Harry James or Ottalie Lily? Ottalie Lilian? Ottalie..."

"Ottalie Jolene."

"Ottalie Euphemia."

"Ottalie Dora."

"Ottalie --- blimey nothing goes with Ottalie really well, does it?" James frowned.

"We have time," Lily said. 

"Yeah," James said. "Nine months at least." He grinned.

Longer, she thought, because she was going to have her Harry first.

They were all about the dinner table that night, Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, and Sirius was telling them all about Nymphadora Tonks and her crayons and how they'd spent the afternoon drawing.

Remus was holding onto Sirius's hand under the table on one side and poking at his food on the other, his mind going over and over and over the implications of what his academic advisor had told him about the way they were monitoring the absences and tardies next year. He couldn't just expect Lily to cover all those classes - that was a lot and the poor girl had her own schedule to keep up with. What if her own classes conflicted with his? No, he had to find another solution.

He was just thinking that when the final point of why he couldn't expect Lily Evans to cover for his classes during Autumn came up.

Dora had gotten up and was refilling everyone's plates - despite Remus's beg of not having his refilled - and she piled extra spinach onto Lily's. "Oh mum, please I'm quite full," Lily said, gasping at the sheer amount of spinach Dora was giving her.

"It's good for you!" Dora said, "Folate and folic acid are both in spinach. It'll help you conceive."

James choked loudly and turned away from the table, coughing, and doubled over, turning red.

Sirius grinned, "Eyyyyyy Prongs."

Remus looked up and then looked at Lily.

James exclaimed, "Mum!" He was choking still and she came 'round the table to whack him on the back a few good sturdy times as he tried to catch his breath. "How did you --?"

"Oh the pair of you think you're so stealth!" she clucked, rolling her eyes, then went off into the kitchen with the pan of spinach in her hand.

Lily looked at James with wide eyes and James shook his head, "No. No. Nope, I refuse to believe that she -- no."

Sirius snickered, "Being too loud, Evans?"

"Me?" Lily turned to Sirius. "Why does it have to be me that's loud?"

Sirius's head turned to James so fast --

"No." James got up and left the room, red as a beet.

Lily laughed and so did Sirius.

Remus said, "Wait, hang on - hang on. You lot are --?"

"Not yet," Lily said, flushing again, "Not yet, but we talked about trying."

Remus and Sirius exchanged looks, then Remus asked, "What about the war?"

Lily shrugged. "If we wait for it to be over, we could be waiting our entire lives."

"I think it's awesome," Sirius said. "A miniature Prongs running about. A Prongslet if you will. Or a - a mini Lily. A Liliet?"

"Blimey," Remus murmured.

He didn't say so outloud, but he couldn't help but think that if she was trying to become pregnant that would mean that sometime very soon she would certainly have success - sooner than later, Remus reckoned, given James's manliness - and that would mean she wouldn't be able to use the polyjuice anyway. It wasn't safe as a pregnant mother to be using the potion to transform, too much could go wrong, and he certainly wasn't going to be the reason there was any kind of trouble with such a precious thing as the Potter child. Certainly not - he'd never forgive himself.

So he would definitely be needing to figure out some other alternative for what to do come autumn.