ENTERING HER SECOND TRIMESTER MEANT MANY THINGS FOR OLIVIA.
One would be that in only a couple more weeks, they would be able to find out the baby's gender and the Marauders plus Kat and Lucas were already betting if it would be a boy or a girl. James had refused to show favoritism towards one gender, once again, claiming that it doesn't matter to him while Olivia, though she never said it out loud, is mostly hoping for a girl, because just imagine a mini James Potter running around.
Two would be how drastically her body was changing. It's now very obvious how pregnant she is. Wearing big shirts just isn't hiding it anymore so Olivia had now been forced to really use a disillusionment charm at all times which tends to make her mood worse. Apart from that, hideous stretch marks Olivia loathes had started appearing. Her breast is significantly getting bigger each day and her back has started hurting.
And third is how James Potter no longer regarded her in a platonic way. In fact, he now goes out of his way to be as romantic as he could. His affection and attention is now completely focussed on her, which Olivia didn't think was possible considering he already gave her all he could give before feelings had messed it up, but somehow, James has found more ways to shower her with attention more than he's already been doing.
Olivia is terrified. Terrified of the way he makes her feel because she had never wanted to feel anything in the first place. Perhaps it's because the monsters in her head knew she would lose him in the end. He's the sand and Olivia is the waves. Each time she inched closer, she pulled away and she doesn't know how not to.
She had always had a bad habit of pushing away the people she wanted most in her life and she convinced herself it's because she needed to learn how to live without attachments, but Olivia knows that's a lie. James Potter had already broken her walls and the only thing she can do now is to find out if he's worth all the pain she'd inevitably go through.
And the only way to do that is to finally allow him to find his way to her. She would stand in a corner and watch. It could only go two ways. Maybe he'd be another disappointment, another regret or maybe, like Minnie had suggested, he would be unlike the others.
And so Olivia Kinsley allowed James Potter to try and woo her, but watching him now with his eyes trained on Olivia's baby bump as if it's a pot of gold under the rainbow, Olivia can almost imagine how easy it would be to be loved by someone like him.
"It's so big," James said in awe as his eyes remain focused on Olivia's now exposed baby bump.
Behind him, Sirius snickers. "That's what she said."
As the rest of the people in the room rolled their eyes at the boy's immaturity, Remus didn't hesitate to whack him on the head with the book he had been reading. "Your mother carried you in the womb for nine months and you decided to be an idiot."
Sirius rolls his eyes playfully, a slight smirk curling up his lips. "Well, my mum's a bitch so that's invalid."
Peter laughed while both Olivia and James can only sigh. It's times like this where Sirius Black is a real piece of shit.
"Pads, we don't want to hear your perverted thoughts," Peter says with a laugh.
"Stop acting like you weren't snogging Mary Mcdonald in the cupboard closet, Pete."
"Excuse me?" James butted in as he turned to the red faced Peter, obviously only hearing about the information for the first time. "Wormtail was snogging Mary Mcdonald? Why am I only finding out about this now?"
"You were too busy being Olivia's daddy," Sirius said with a smirk. "Oops, I meant baby daddy."
Olivia can only roll her eyes, already used to Sirius' inappropriate humor. "Say another sex related joke and I'm hexing you into next week."
"But sex jokes are the best jokes," Sirius says with a pout.
"Your face is a sex joke,"Â Peter snarked without losing a beat.
"That doesn't even make sense, Wormtail!"
"Like your entire existence," Remus tutted without looking up from his book.
James places both hands on either side of Olivia's tummy as if covering their baby's ears. "Will you assholes stop? I don't want my baby hearing the shit that comes out of your mouths."
Olivia pushes his hands away. "Maybe try not to curse, too."
"With how much you two love the freaky, I doubt little nugget is fazed," Sirius says, wiggling his eyebrows in a suggestive way.
Remus didn't hesitate to take off his shoes and chuck it towards the grinning boy. Unfortunately, Sirius was able to dodge just in time as Madam Pomprey pulled the ward's curtains open and so the shoe hit her straight on the face. Not having seen who was responsible, the mediwitch glared at the four boys in presence.
"Sirius did it," Remus says quickly, pointing at the Black boy as his face showed a perfect picture of innocence. "He grabbed my shoe and was going to hit Peter with it."
"That's true," Peter backed him up, nodding along. "It's because he wants me to do his homework for him and I refused."
The mediwitch turned to the wizard in question. "Detention at six, Mr. Black. And fifteen points from Gryffindor."
"Butâ"
"No buts. You better be here at six or I'm going to extend it till next week." Madam Pomprey placed her hands on her hips, turning to Remus and Peter. "Unless you're the father, you better be out of my sight."
And with that, the three men scrambled out of her way with Remus sheepishly picking up his shoes.
"You kids will send me into an early grave," Madam Pomprey mutters to herself before she turns to the young parents to be. "Considering you're entering your second trimester, I thought it would be best to invite healer Helem specializing in childbirth from St. Mungos."
A woman dressed in a healers' uniform then entered, kind eyes regarding the two. She smiles as she approaches them. "What a beautiful pair of faces. I'm sure your baby will be gorgeous."
"Thank you," James responded, standing up to offer his hand for her to shake. "James Potter and Olivia Kinsley."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Potter and Ms. Kinsley," she says kindly as she places her bag on the floor. "Now, why don't we start? Ms. Kinsley, will you please lay down on the bed and lift your shirt up."
Olivia did as she was told, revealing her baby bump as James sat beside her, instantly reaching over to place a hand as if feeling the baby, the biggest smile on his face. He then redirected his smile to her before pulling his hand back. "Little nugget's getting so big."
"That he is," the healer said as she set up the same little mirror-like thing that Madam Pomprey uses. "Have you guys thought of names?"
James looked at Olivia again as if asking for permission to share such personal information. When she let out a small smile, he turned back to the kind witch. "We thought Maxwell Fleamont if it's a boy."
"That's a very beautiful name." she says as she walks over to Olivia.
"Thank you. Maxwell is named after my brother and Fleamont is from James' father. We're not sure for a girl yet."
"It's a beautiful name," she repeats. "Very regal."
She then points her wand on Olivia's belly and the mirror comes to life, showing a black and white figure. Immediately, James and Olivia's attention is focused on their baby, watching it's small movements.
"Well, the babies seem to be healthy," the healer says. "You can see that their eyes are starting to form and come closer together. Their fingers and toes aren't webbed anymore andâ"
"EâExcuse me?" James interrupted as the healer hadn't realized that both teenagers had frozen. "Did you just say... babies? Like more than one?"
Healer Helen seems to be surprised to be surprised that they weren't aware, but a smile quickly went to her face. "That's right, Mr. Potter. You're having twins. Congratulations."
"Holy shit," Olivia muttered as the words processed. It's almost bittersweet. Her and Maxwell had been twins. She could only imagine what his reaction would have been had he been here with her. There was also the fact that Olivia was barely ready for one child and now they're having two?
She doesn't know how to feel. It's no secret how terrified she is to bring one baby into this world and now she'd be bringing in two. Will she be able to protect them both? Will she be a good mother?
James' hands wrapping with her own pulled her out of her thoughts. She turned to meet his teary eyes. "We're having two babies, mon amour."
"Two," she repeated again, her head spinning. "Two babies."
"That's right," the healer says, turning to the image. "Here's baby number 1. He or she seems to be bigger than baby number 2, but that's only normal. And behind baby number 1, you can see baby number 2 hiding in there. It's easy to overlook this little one seeing as it's hiding behind its brother or sister, but there's definitely two of them in there."
"Holy shit," James says this time. "There really are two of them."
The healer laughed. "That there is. And both of them seem to be healthy. Their development is coming along smoothly. And if you listen closely, you can hear their heartbeats."
The room instantly quietened as James and Olivia heard their breaths. Two soft and even thud thud thud can instantly be heard and Olivia's hand went to cover her mouth in shock. They're alive. There's two little humans growing inside of her.
And they're alive. They're alive and healthy and Olivia already loves them with every part of her being. It doesn't matter that she wasn't ready for twoâhell, she wasn't even ready for one, but that doesn't matter because she will be the best mother for them that she ever could. If she has to, she would lay her life for them. Her little nuggets.
"So you still may experience some of your earlier symptoms like nausea, but I can tell you that they will not be as bad anymore. Trips to the loo may also lessen," she says, making Olivia sigh in relief. "However, your weight will increase drastically considering you're carrying twins. There may also be increased skin pigmentation, also known as melasma. Your breast will start to sore and become tender. The things you need to pay very close attention to in this period is your diet. Because you're gaining weight simply due to the pregnancy, you should pay closer attention to your diet to make sure you don't gain too much. Too much weight gain can lead to complications like gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, and pain in your back and legs."
"So a more monitored diet then?" James asked, their little journal now on his lap as he took notes.
The healer nodded. "That's right, but that doesn't mean you should avoid eating. Eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, and complex carbohydrates. Avoid junk food. Instead, eat snacks like yogurt and dried fruit, which contain protein, calcium, and minerals. If your usual diet hasn't been especially healthy up to this point, now is the time to make a change. You and your baby need a variety of nutrients to get through the rest of your pregnancy. And by now, you should be taking prenatal vitamins."
"Oh, we're already taking that," James says as he continues jotting down notes.
"That's good. The earlier, the better. Your skin is also becoming more sensitive. To help reduce the effects of "mask of pregnancy," be sure to wear sunscreen with SPF 15 or higher whenever you are outside. Do you understand, momma?" She asks Olivia, noticing that it was mostly James to do the talking for the two of them and it's important that she understands the things being said.
The brunette nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
"Week 12 can be a good time to start doing Kegel exercises to strengthen your vaginal muscles. This can help with delivery and recovery after the birth," she says.
"We'll work on that," James promises as he writes 'kegel exercises' down and underlined it.
"And that's about it," healer Helen says kindly. "Just remember those and you guys will be alright. Also, try and avoid stress as much as possible. That's very important. When you're in a stressful environment, immediately remove yourself from that situation."
Olivia nodded along. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, darling," the woman says kindly. "Once again, congratulations."
Once the healer left, Olivia and James were left along, both still not having completely processed what had just happened.
"So," James starts. "Twins. I guess we're gonna need to come up with another name."
"I can't believe it," she mutters, her hands going to her still exposed belly.
"Neither can I," he admits, giving her a reassuring smile. "But we'll be okay, alright? We'll be fineâthe four of us. We'll get through this together."
"Okay," Olivia agrees, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "Together."
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
and after procrastinating this chapter
i finally finished it. Yey!
I'd just like to say that I know nothing
about pregnancy and therefore, I'm not
sure if everything here is accurate. Feel
free to correct me if you any mistakes.
Fun fact: I was also a surprise baby.
my mom didn't know she's having twins
till four months in since I was much
smaller and was hiding behind my
my brother.
Also, if you guys play animal crossing
hit me up.
PLEASE STAY SAFE AND STAY
HOME, GUYS.
-lexie