A/N: Hey y'all! This was written for the Hogwarts Eastern Funfair, for the Ferris Wheel. My prompt: (animal) bear. I have to say, this one got away from me. It was supposed to be a short trip to the zoo. I guess the AU carried me away…
Word Count: 2068
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Those rights go to JK Rowling.
Enjoy!
Lily Potter rolled her eyes as James drummed his fingers restlessly against the dashboard. Without taking her eyes off the road in front of her, Lily smacked him on the arm.
"James. I'm not going to crash the car."
James glanced at her, startled. "I know that, Lily. I am fully confident in your ability to drive this Muggle death trap."
Lily sighed. They had this conversation every time they got in the car. "It's not a death trap, James, we've been over this. There are just as many broom crashes as car wrecks."
"Mummy, are we there yet?" Harry, their three-year-old son, interrupted.
Lily smiled at him fondly, looking at him through the rearview mirror. "Yes, baby."
Harry grinned happily, the green eyes he shared with his mother sparkling. Lily thanked her lucky stars that Harry was still with them. Two years ago, when Voldemort had been in power, he'd sought to kill the one person destined to defeat him: Harry.
Times were hard then. Everyone was scared, and no one knew who they could trust. Unfortunately, that included Lily and James. In school, James had three friends who had become more like brothers: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.
The five of them had joined the Order of the Phoenix, an organization dedicated to taking down Voldemort. Too late, they discovered that there was a spy in the Order. Since the spy had to be one of the five of them, as they were the ones who had known the plans regarding Harry, and everyone knew it couldn't be the Potters attacking their son, eyes turned to James' friends. Sirius was the estranged son of the Black family, a family dedicated to the Dark Arts and blood purity. But Sirius was James' other half; no one believed him to be the traitor, devoted as he was to his godson. That left Peter and Remus.
Peter had always idolized James in school, and had confided in Lily. He had never been the most talented of wizards, but he had always been a loyal one. Besides that, Peter had no reason to defect to Voldemort's side. So their eyes had fallen on Remus.
Remus, out of the whole Order, had the most incentive to join Voldemort. He was a werewolf, and the Ministry had been passing many oppressive laws regarding werewolves during that time. As much as she hated to admit it, that was the primary reason the Order had suspected Remus— his lycanthropy.
Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts and founder of the Order, had sent Remus to work undercover in the werewolf packs. Whether this was because he trusted Remus or not was up for debate; while spying on the werewolves was an important task, it wa also far away from the Order and its secrets.
In the end, though, everyone was thankful that Remus had been positioned there. Thanks to his troublemaking tendencies back in school, Remus was very good at his job; he managed to overhear a rumor on Halloween night that Voldemort would attack the Potters.
He abandoned his mission and raced to warn them, still loyal to his friends despite their mistrust of him. Dumbledore was alerted, and as a precaution, the Potters were moved, without the knowledge of the Secret-Keeper, who James revealed to be Peter Pettigrew. Voldemort arrived later that night to find the entire Order of the Phoenix waiting for him. It was too late for the Dark Lord to call for reinforcements, and the Order took him down.
It was revealed to them later that the only reason they had been able to kill Voldemort was because of Regulus Black. A year previously, he had deserted the Death Eaters after finding out the truth about his master's so-called immortality. Regulus had contacted Dumbledore; the two of them, plus Severus Snape, a Death Eater working as a spy for the Order, had all been hunting down the six Horcruxes that were preserving the Dark Lord's life, and destroying them.
After the Dark Lord fell, his followers fled. Most of them, including Peter, the real traitor, had been sent to Azkaban. With the Order testifying against them, very few Death Eaters managed to slip through the cracks.
Remus Lupin and Severus Snape had both been awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class, for outstanding bravery during wartime. Regulus received an Order of Merlin, Second Class.
Receiving his Order of Merlin had revealed to the world Remus' best-kept secret— his lycanthropy. While some protested loudly about a werewolf receiving the wizarding world's highest award, others spoke up in his defence after hearing of his heroics. After much debate, Remus was given what was rightfully his. He had, unintentionally, done wonders for werewolf rights; he had become a shining example of what a werewolf could achieve if given the right opportunities: a great wizard.
But right then, all Lily wanted to do was tape her husband's fingers to his sides and stop her son's endless chatter about Quidditch.
It was to everyone's relief when they finally arrived at the zoo.
The Potters climbed out of the car and paid for their tickets. Then Lily looked down at Harry and said, "Want to go see the monkeys, love?"
Harry's eyes lit up, his wild black hair ruffled by the breeze. "Yes! Let's go!"
Lily and James both chuckled at their son's enthusiasm. They made their way to the monkeys, watching with amusement as the animals swung around their cage. After a few minutes of watching the monkeys climb the branches of a tree, Harry got bored. They moved on to another exhibit, Harry tugging James' hand all the way.
Harry didn't much like the reptile house, except to the boa constrictor, much to James' dismay. He feared it was a sign that Harry might one day be sorted into Slytherin. The birds, too, failed to hold Harry's attention for long. The penguins, on the other hand, captivated the small boy for over a quarter of an hour.
Harry and James were both captivated by the anteaters— it was James' first time at a Muggle zoo, and this the first time he'd seen so many foreign animals. Lily laughed at their twin looks of wide-eyed wonder. The tigers and leopards fascinated James, but Harry fell in love with the bears.
He pointed excitedly at a large black one as it lumbered around, sniffling at the ground.
"Mummy! Daddy! That one looks just like Padfoot!"
Lily tried to stifle a giggle— James was in stitches.
"You're right, Harry," he gasped. "It does."
Harry watched the bears for a long while, amazed at their resemblance to his beloved godfather. He made his parents promise that they'd take Sirius there one day, then let them lead him towards the lions.
These were James and Lily's favorite, mostly due to their House pride. Harry giggled and pointed at two cubs at play. They got a passing family to take a picture of them in front of the lions, which ended up being Lily's favorite snapshot of the day.
They took many more pictures; James cackling along with the hyenas, Lily strutting alongside a peacock (which she insisted was a rendition of how James walked in school), Harry grinning as he stuck his hand in a pool full of stingrays, and Harry on James' shoulders as he fed the giraffes. Lily also took pictures of James and Harry charging each other like rhinos, Harry imitating an elephant, and James pretending to be a lemur.
Around midday, they stopped for lunch. Harry excitedly recounted stories of his favorite animals, despite the fact that his parents had been there with him. After lunch, the Potters went to see the kangaroos, and James snapped a picture of Harry pretending to be Lily's joey. They visited the prairie dogs and porcupines, the chinchillas and the woodchucks. They watched the sea lions before heading to the last stop of the day: the otters.
They watched the otters for a long time, entertained by their playful attitudes and graceful swimming. Eventually, though, Harry's eyes began to droop. The little family grabbed a small bite to eat, then James carried him into the gift shop. Harry sleepily picked out a stuffed bear, which nearly set James off again. Lily chose a stuffed lion for Harry, ignoring James' knowing wink. Whatever he thought, she was not trying to influence Harry's Hogwarts House.
Lily drove home, the sky inky black and dusted with stars. James sat beside her contentedly, and Harry snored from the backseat. All three Potters were slightly sunburned, and their feet ached, but they were happy.
James smiled at his wife. "Today was fun, Lils. Good idea."
Lily half-heartedly glared at him for the use of the nickname. "I had a good time, too. I think Harry enjoyed it."
James grinned. "He has the time of his life. He made a life-long friend— Padfoot the bear!"
Lily snickered. "Sirius is going to die."
James laughed. "Remus won't ever let him live it down."
They rode in silence for a few more minutes, before James said softly, "It's days like this that make me happy we're still here. As a family."
Lily glanced at him in surprise, startled by the somber change of subject. "James," she whispered. "What brought this on?"
James took a shuddering breath, staring determinedly out the window. "That year, Lily… we almost lost him." James voice broke. "That year was… the scaredest I've ever been. Have you ever considered— if Remus has done one thing differently, then we might not be here. Harry might not be here. I just— I wonder sometimes that if we hadn't made it, would Harry still have days like this?"
Lily pulled over. She took one of James' hands in her own. "There's no use worrying over that." Lily kissed his knuckles. "We are here. Harry is here. Remus did save us."
James was trembling with fear of everything that might have been. "That's another thing," he replied shakily. "I don't feel like I can ever make it up to him. We didn't trust him because of the one thing we swore we would never hold against him. Then he saved our lives, but more than that, he saved our son. How do I apologize? Make it up to him? Repay him?"
Lily reached up and cupped her husband's scratchy cheek with her hand. "Remus already accepted our apologies, love."
James look deeply tormented. "It's not enough, Lily. I failed him."
Lily wrapped her arms around him. As brave as James was, the thought of his friends or family getting hurt could get him worked up like nothing else. These same thoughts haunted Lily, but she knew one thing James couldn't quite accept: Remus understood. He had forgiven them. He understood that their mistrust of him had stemmed from fear for their son. Someday, Lily knew they would all forget, and move past the events of the war. It was impossible to explain that to James, though.
"You were afraid for Harry," she murmured into his ear. "Remus knows that. I know that you don't feel like you've done enough for him, but being there through his transformations and patching him up afterwards— that's all he wants. You all— us— being there, loving him, is worth more to him than anything we can say."
Jame returned the embrace. "I forget sometimes," he admitted quietly. "I forget how lucky I am to have everyone in my life. And I'm terrified to forget, because one day, they might be gone."
Tears welled up in Lily's eyes. "But we're here now."
James buried his face into her neck, his glasses digging into her shoulder. "I know. And I know I shouldn't fear tomorrow. But I… I lost Peter. I nearly lost Remus, and you and Harry. I can't lose you, Lily."
Lily pulled back and kissed James' lips, slow and sweet. "You won't. Not if I can help it. You ought to talk to Remus and Sirius about this. The three of you need to sort everything out."
James nodded, resting his forehead against hers. "You're right. Let's go home."
Lily smiled gently. "Yeah."
She began driving again, the night sky sparkling peacefully above them.
After several minutes James whispered, "I love you, Lily."
Lily took one hand off the wheel and entwined their fingers. "I love you too, James."