metanoia

Chapter Eighty-six

Rather than the screams of her nightmares or the visions of death waking her up, the screams from downstairs woke Alex from her sleep. Falling out of bed, then stumbling down the stairs to find most of her friends and loved ones at the foot of the stairs, "Oh for the love of Godric, why is there screaming? I just woke up."

Sirius stumbled out of the bathroom, tripping as he violently pulled his jumper over his head, "What is going on? Is someone dying?"

James looked around the room frantically, wand drawn, "Who screamed? What's going on?"

Both Alice and Lily raised their hands timidly, "I did."

Lily laughed when they all looked between them, confused as to why they screamed, "Well we both did."

"Anyone mind telling us why?" Sirius pressed, a little annoyed that the two girls screamed and scared everyone but wasn't explaining why.

Alice and Lily shared a look, realizing that their original plan of only telling their partners was out the window. Alice sighed, looking at their friends that stood around them, "Okay, I guess we're telling everyone."

"Tell us what? What is happening?" Frank demanded, scared by how elusive his wife was being.

"We're pregnant."

"What?!"

Alice nodded, beaming from ear to ear, "She said we're both pregnant."

"Holy shit."

Charlie launched herself at Alice, wrapping her in an excited embrace, "Congratulations. You're going to be mothers. I'm so happy for you."

"I'm going to be a father?" Frank asked, eyes wide as he braced himself against the wall as though he were going to faint.

James, however, had a very different reaction. He wrapped his arms tightly around his fiancée's waist, spinning her happily, "Fuck yeah, I'm going to be a father!"

Though she was extremely happy for her friends and their news of babies on the way, the mere thought of her visions of Voldemort killing the Potters made her stomach churn and her head pound. She moved past Charlie, "Excuse me."

Sirius saw his best friend excuse herself from their celebration, seeing the twisted expression on her face as she made her way to the bathroom, "Alex, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I just need to use the restroom." She locked herself in the bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror as her mind raced.

"If only I were a Muggle, then I could be home right now with my sisters. And we could be watching Disney movies, I could be teaching Josie how to skate, and I could be with my mom," Benji sighed, talking to himself as he made himself another cup of coffee. He sat on the rooftop of one of his safe houses, watching an airplane fly overhead. "I miss my mom. I miss Josie and Katie and Mary. Why did I have to be the special one?"

Caradoc Dearborn, his mission partner, sat down beside him, his feet hanging over the side of the building, "I miss going to the cinema. And being able to trust people."

"I never trusted people, but I understand what you mean. This whole mess, the War, everything just makes it hard to ever trust anyone ever again because we Muggleborns have spent the past nine years living in fear and how are we supposed to live after it's all done?"

A pop cracked through the air around them, filling their ears with what they assumed were their fellow members of the Order to relieve them from the specific mission they were on so they could go back to Headquarters to sleep for a few hours. However, much to their dismay and horror, a group of eight masked Death Eaters surrounded them. The two Muggleborns' first instinct was to stand back to back with their wands drawn.