Frigus . Sirius Black (Mortem BOOK 2)

chapter seventy-four

July 31st, 1980 – Muggle London

In the past two years after graduating from Hogwarts, Nephera's life had changed drastically. Gone were the days were she could just wander around the Wizarding World with no issue, no, now, even her visits in Knockturn had to be few and far between since Ailani wasn't there anymore to watch her back. With both the Ministry and Riddle gunning after the young witch, the only place where she truly could wander freely was the muggle world, and even there, she had to be careful in case someone tracked her down.

However, no matter how much her life had changed, no matter how many twists the universe had thrown Nephera's way, the young witch never could've prepared herself for where she was at that moment. That being trailing after an excessively pregnant Lily Evans in muggle London, in search of a very specific quilt the girl just had to have. Nephera typically wouldn't have minded, with Sirius back at work at the request of Moody, she did not want to be alone, not when her thoughts were so loud and dark they threatened to swallow her whole. Not to mention that she had promised James, who was also working despite how much he didn't want to, and had tasked her with a very simple request: do not let anything happen to Lily. 

Nephera was a stubborn person. If she had something in mind, she would not let it go no matter how many people were against her,  but if there was one person more stubborn than her, it was a pregnant Lily Evans, "Lily, I know this quilt is important and all," started the brunette, "But wouldn't you be safer inside the house," 

"No, how many times do I have to tell you? This baby is due any day now, and I need that quilt from that specific store. My mother bought one from there when I was born, and I will be doing the same," 

"I know, but maybe because this baby is due any day now, we could just send James?" 

Lily huffed, stopping for a moment to place a hand on her bump, causing Nephera to tense up, only to relax when the other witch simply took a few deep breaths before she continued walking, "I don't need James to do everything for me, I thought you of all people would understand that. Aren't you the one always preaching about independance?" 

"I'm not the one who's carrying a kid the size of a small cauldron inside of me," 

"Small cauldron?" 

"I have a lot of free time, I did some reading," 

There were many reasons why Nephera was so ansty walking around the baby aisle at the small shop. The first, was that she was bombarded by pale blue and pink everywhere she looked, so much so that it was actually starting to give her a headache. The second, was because Lily was stressed, and when Lily was stressed, so was everyone around her these days. And the third, and biggest reason, was that Lily looked just about ready to burst, and Nephera was spending every minute praying to all four Hogwarts founders that when the redhead went into labor, she was with someone else.  

Realizing that they weren't leaving until they found the quilt, Nephera hiked her bag higher up her shoulder before sighing, "What does it look like?" 

"It's pink, with purple stitching and-" 

"You just described every single article of clothing in this place. Besides, what if you're having a boy?" 

Yet another thing Nephera could not understand. James and Lily had elected not to find out the gender, claiming they wanted it to be a suprise. If you asked the young Winchester, a pregnancy in the middle of the war was suprising enough, but she kept that to herself. What she refused to keep to herself was when James had almost painted the nursery a horrid yellow, claiming that the color was "gender neutral", needless to say, Nephera had spoken up then with a few choice words of "at least your kid throwing up won't be an issue, it'll be the same color as the wall, camouflage, and all that".