Symphony || Remus Lupin

LIX

Late July 1980

"WHY ARE THERE TWO BABIES COMING OUT AT THE SAME FUCKING TIME?! IT'S A FUCKING SET-UP, I'M CALLING IT NOW!"

∞-∞-∞

9 hours earlier

Myra, Marlene, and Alice were all relaxing at Alice's house. Lily was supposed to come, but James had refused since Lily was due soon and he didn't want to risk it. Alice raised the argument of her being due soon as well, but he didn't listen, only saying 'It's your choice if you want your husband to miss you going into labor. I'm not going to risk it.'

So the three of them were relaxing. They hadn't been able to do so for a while now, with Voldemort rising. The Order had been reluctant to have Myra go on raids, with what had happened the last time. But she persuaded them and was now allowed to go on the smaller ones for rounding up the Death Eaters that had already been caught. She was getting bored of it but always told herself that things would change, that she won't be dragging tied Death Eaters away for the rest of her life.

They were sitting in Alice's main room, talking about whatever they thought of. It had been a while since they had spoken to each other like this and it was nice to catch up without the looming presence of a mission.

Many things had happened since they last met. Marlene and Katherine moved into a larger house with the money that they had stored away. Marlene's parents weren't keen on them living alone since they were 'two girls in the middle of London', but they made it work.

Alice and Frank were redecorating and, at the same time, trying to choose names for their child. Frank was in charge of girl names and Alice was in charge of boy names.

"So, what do you think of Christopher?" Alice asked, taking a sip of water. Myra shrugged but Marlene shook her head.

"Hell no. You're not having your child named after a demented child who dreamt up a talking bear who ate honey." Alice rolled her eyes, laughing.

"Alright. What about... Dennis?" Myra shrugged.

"I don't know. Dennis Longbottom?" Alice nodded thoughtfully.

"Yeah, you're right. Doesn't really flow that well." Alice hummed to herself, drinking a sip of water. "What about Neville?"

"Neville Longbottom," Myra tested the name out and Marlene nodded.

"That's good." Alice opened her mouth to speak but stopped, her hand going to her stomach.

"I think he likes the name too." Myra smiled softly as she saw Marlene get up and move closer to Alice, placing her palm over the dress that stretched over Alice's stomach.

"Damn," She said to herself, leaning away. "I think Lil' Neville's going places. That kick of his could have broken my hand." Myra laughed until Alice wince, shifting in her seat.

"What's wrong?" She asked but Alice brushed her off.

"Ah, it's probably just a kick. It was harder than usual, that's all." As she said that, Myra could see Marlene's eyes widen as she pointed to Alice's leg.

"There's not supposed to be something running down your pant, is there?" She asked, and Myra could hear the slight tremor in her voice. But she stopped paying attention to Marlene as Alice's eyes grow larger, her hand going to her belly.