Team: Montrose Magpies
Position: Beater 2 - Fred Weasley's Basic Blaze Box
Prompts: (Word) Lace, (Word) Hypothetical, (Quote) "I may be drunk, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly." - Winston Churchill
National Hobby Month: Cooking: Write about teens cooking a meal for their parents/guardians.
Zodiac Challenge: Write about someone manipulating/fooling someone else into doing something.
2017 Resolutions: Write a minimum of 50 one-shots this year, Write at least one one-shot (1,000-5,000 words) in every genre listed on the site, Write at least one drabble/one-shot for all the characters listed in 'Harry Potter Characters' on .
Word Count: 1768
The Set-Up
Lily slipped into her brother's bedroom as the screaming and shouting of her parents continued to grow louder. She hated hearing them argue with each other.
"We have to do something," she informed her two older brothers, holding back her tears. "This has gone on for long enough."
"Lils, they do this all the time," James sighed as he continued to scribble on his parchment. "It's nothing new."
"That's exactly my point, James," Lily said. "They do this all the time. Every day they argue. And have you noticed that Mum and Dad sleep in different bedrooms now?"
"So?" James asked, quirking his eyebrow. "Dad works long hours. He probably doesn't want to disturb Mum."
"Yeah, Lils, it's nothing to worry about," Albus chimed in. "They're just going through a rough—"
"Harry James Potter, I wish I had never married you," their mother's voice rang out, followed by the sound of something smashing against the floor or wall.
"Patch," Albus finished, stunned at the words he had just heard his mother say.
Lily nudged the bedroom door with her shoulder so that it closed completely, and gave James a pleading look.
The shouting and smashing of objects continued as James reached for his wand, and cast a silencing charm on the door.
"Still think we have nothing to worry about?" Lily asked, sitting next to Albus on the bed.
"Fine, what do you have in mind, Lils?" Albus asked, resigned to the fact that there was something seriously wrong in their parents' marriage.
~o~o~o~
"Do you really think this will work?" James asked sceptically as Lily started pulling ingredients out of the cupboards.
"Of course it will," Lily replied, rolling her eyes. "All we need to do is remind them about how much they enjoy spending time together."
"But what if it doesn't work?" Albus questioned, raising his eyebrows. "What if Mum and Dad won't stay near each other for long enough?"
Lily set the ingredients down on the kitchen worktop and sighed heavily. "Don't worry, I have that taken care of," she informed her brothers.
James and Albus gave Lily an exasperated look, silently urging her to tell them what her plan was.
"Lily, don't keep us in suspense," James stated, bouncing up and down. "What's your plan?"
"Fred Weasley's Basic Blaze Box," she said as though it was the simplest thing in the world. "I have several boxes stored away for Victory Day, since they always start selling out quickly around this time of year, and I didn't want a repeat of last year when Uncle George didn't save enough stock for the firework display. But this is more important."
"And what exactly do you plan on doing with them?" Albus asked.
"Al, they're fireworks," Lily laughed, furrowing her eyebrows. "I was thinking we could set them up in the garden, and then whilst they're eating, James could cast a charm to light them from a distance and the first lot to go up could read: 'Harry and Ginny forever' to remind them of their everlasting love."
"Lils, I hate to burst your bubble, but what if this doesn't work?" James asked, hating that he had to be the voice of reason.
"It will… it has to," Lily answered, pulling a knife out of the block and starting to chop the carrots. "Now, if you want to make yourself useful, start preparing the salad, and don't use your magic, James. I want this to have a personal touch."
"You're just jealous that I can use magic and you can't," James said with a smirk on his face as Lily stuck her tongue out at her older brother.
"What can I do?" Albus asked, smiling hopefully as he rocked back and forth on the spot with his hands in his pockets.
Lily halted her chopping and placed the knife down next to her. She was more than aware that Albus was not the best cook in the world… in that respect he took after their father.
"Why don't you take over from me with carrots, and I'll start preparing the chicken?" Lily suggested, moving towards the fridge. "Remember to take your time, Al."
Albus nodded his head and Lily watched warily as he began to pick up where she left off with the carrots. It was only when she was satisfied that he wasn't going to mess up that Lily finally took the chicken out of the fridge and began to prepare it.
~o~o~o~
"Dad, come quick!" Lily exclaimed, rushing into his study and interrupting him.
"What is it?" Harry asked, setting his quill down and looking up at his daughter. "I hope it's important."
Lily nodded her head. Of course it was important, just not for the reason she was about to express to her father.
"It's Al," Lily said, trying to get as much worry into her voice as possible. "He's had a fall in the garden and he's not moving."
"What?" Harry asked, jumping up from his seat and moving towards the door. "How did it happen?"
"I don't know," Lily replied, squeezing her eyes shut to force a few tears out as her father ushered her out of his study and down the hallway. "One minute he was fine climbing the tree and the next he was falling."
She grasped her father's hand and urgently dragged him behind her. If James was doing his part, their mother would be arriving in the garden at the same time.
As they entered the garden, she saw her mother stooped over Albus' unmoving body. She had to give her older brother some credit because his acting skills were incredible. Her mother had no clue that he was perfectly okay. Her father removed his hand from her grip and raced over towards his son.
Lily nodded her head at James who then gave Albus a tap with his foot. Albus jumped to his feet, startling the two worried parents and hurried toward Lily whilst James quickly levitated the preset table, which was covered with a white lace tablecloth, and two chairs towards them and set it down on the ground in front of them. James offered his parents, who were still trying to figure out what had just happened, a wry grin before joining Lily and Albus.
"Accio wands," he said before setting the wards around them.
"Kids, what are you doing?" Ginny asked, trying to make her way towards the three of them only to come up against an invisible barrier. "James Sirius Potter, remove these wards and give us our wands back right now!"
James shrugged as Lily took a step closer to the wards and cleared her throat.
"Mum, Dad, we feel you need to spend more time with each other, " she said, smiling."So sit down and enjoy the meal we prepared, and enjoy the show."
Ginny and Harry exchanged bemused looks before following their daughter's orders and sitting down and tucking into the meal. Lily smiled brightly as they began to talk and turned her attention to her James.
"Are the fireworks set up?" she asked.
"In a hypothetical world, have you thought about what will happen if this doesn't work?" he asked, ignoring his younger sister's question.
"Yeah, Lils, what if your plan doesn't work?" Albus asked, reiterating his brother's point.
"I don't need to think about it, James, because it will work," Lily replied stubbornly. "So I ask again, are the fireworks ready?"
"Yes," James sighed, shrugging his shoulders, knowing there was no getting through to her.
"Well what are you waiting for?" Lily asked. "Now is the perfect time to set them off. Look at them… they're getting along great."
James and Albus followed their sister's gaze and, as much as they hated to admit it, Lily seemed to be correct. Their parents were conversing normally across the table as they tucked into the meal they had spent the day cooking.
~o~o~o~
"You're drunk again, aren't you?" Ginny asked, keeping an eye on her hopeful children out of the corner of her eye.
"I may be drunk, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly," Harry snapped, reaching for the glass of firewhiskey and emptying it. "But if we're going to talk about flaws, how's Dean?"
Ginny's jaw dropped. "How—what are you talking about?"
"Answer the question, Ginny," Harry demanded.
"I—"
Ginny's response was cut off by a loud bang, and the arguing couple's gaze instantly snapped in the direction of the sound and up towards the sky.
There, in bright colours, were the fading words: 'HARRY AND GINNY, FOREVER!'
More fireworks flew into the sky, creating a beautiful display reminiscent of the ones they saw on Victory Day. It slowly dawned on the couple what the evening's events were about as they sat there in silence watching the fireworks.
~o~o~o~
"Look, it's working!" Lily exclaimed as James set off the next firework. "Mum and Dad are getting along better than ever."
"They are," Albus admitted. "I hate to say it Lily, but you were right. I guess all they needed was to spend a little time together."
"Yeah," James chimed in, lazily flicking his wand and sending a Catherine Wheel into the air. "Good job, Lils."
Lily smirked at her brothers and gave them her best 'I told you so' look as she continued to observe her parents talking and enjoying themselves.
~o~o~o~
"So, where does this leave us?" Harry asked as a dragon roared to life in the sky.
"I think we should get a divorce," Ginny answered.
"I agree," Harry said, refilling his glass. "We haven't been happy for a long time. If it wasn't for the kids, I doubt we would still be together."
"The children will be so heartbroken," Ginny commented, glancing over at the trio.
"But, it's better that we do this now, rather than further down the line when we've grown to hate and resent each other," Harry told her.
"I know," Ginny sighed, nodding her head. "We'll tell them tonight when they finally let us move beyond these wards. Until then, I think we should give them one last happy memory of us as a family and enjoy these beautiful fireworks. It would be a shame to ignore them when the children have gone to so much trouble."
Harry nodded his head and glanced back up at the sky. He knew his children would be distraught by their decision, especially Lily, but he also knew that they were strong and would eventually get over it and see that this was the best thing for all of them.