Hi! I wrote this for Lily's birthday, which is today, the 30th of January. I really should have been doing work, so I hope you appreciate it! =P
It started as a drabble, that became a rather extended one-shot. My apologies. There are more drabbles coming.
Anyway, enjoy!
No one lives forever
It's foolish just to try
One of these days you have to
Accept you're gonna die
"Hey, James," Lily said suddenly, squirming around on the couch so that she was facing him.
"Yes love?"
"What if…what if one of us dies?"
James put his book down, and looked into her sea-green eyes.
"Lily, do we have to talk about this?"
"We've escaped him three times, James. Three. Do you really think we can do it again?"
James sighed.
"Lils, I think at some point we have to accept that there's a good chance we're going to die. We're fighting Voldemort for Merlin's sake!"
"But…" She looked down at her stomach, where her baby bump was only just visible.
James put a finger under her chin and turned her face to his.
"What do you think happens, Lily, when you die?"
"I…don't know. Some of the muggles reckon that you – "
"Forget the muggles Lily. They have their own stories. What do you reckon will happen to us?"
Lily shook her head slightly. "I don't know."
James looked away, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"What are you thinking?" She shifted on the couch so that she was closer to him, and leaned her head on his shoulder, staring into the flames of the crackling fire.
"Lily-flower, you know my cloak?"
"Your invisibility cloak?" She grinned. "Or your normal one? I have some pretty good memories of both…"
James chuckled, and threw her a slightly guilty sideways look. Lily giggled.
"Are you still embarrassed about that?"
He blushed a little.
"No?" It came out rather high-pitched, sounding like a question.
"You so are!"
"Am not!"
"James, there's nothing embarrassing about - "
He tackled her on the couch, and began tickling her ribs, making her squeal with laughter. He was laughing too, as her held her down while she squirmed.
"Honestly Lils, you're lucky Moody doesn't know you're so ticklish. One tickling hex during auror training and you'd lose that reputation as an expert dueller like that!" he snapped his fingers, and Lily giggled again.
"My my, aren't you in a giggly mood this evening!" He joked.
"I think I know how to stop it." Lily murmured, pulling his face down to hers.
He kissed her slowly, gently, savouring every moment, every touch. It amazed him that the love he had held for her, even since that first moment on the Hogwarts express, continued to grow, every day, every minute, every second.
They broke apart, and James made to sit up, but Lily grabbed his shirt and made him stay.
"You were saying something about a cloak?"
"Oh, yeah. The invisibility cloak."
"Oh, so it was that cloak!"
"Lily," he warned.
"Sorry. Continue."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"No giggling?"
"Well…I suppose."
"Good. Have you ever heard of…Lily, this really isn't practical." He gestured to his body, lying on top of hers.
"Practicality be damned. I like it." Lily said firmly, tangling her legs in his.
"If you insist…anyway, have you heard of the deathly hallows?" He slid to the side a little so that he wasn't lying entirely on top of her. That was better.
She screwed up her face slightly, and then beamed. "Yes! We translated the story in Ancient Runes. I remember, because I mistook the rune for blood for the one for wine, and I couldn't understand why they were all spilling each other's wine! I thought they must have been alcoholics or something."
"Interesting interpretation…but I think we might go with the more commonly accepted 'blood'."
"You ruin all the fun."
"A knowledge that I must live with daily, my love. But if you know the story, by all means refresh my memory."
"Well," she said, seriously, "there's the wand," she traced a line on James' chest with her finger. He felt his skin burn where she touched him. "There's the stone," she drew a circle, and his arms erupted in goose bumps, "and there's the cloak." She outlined a triangle, and then leaned over and kissed him.
James was breathless. He had no idea why, but somehow Lily's unique mix of nerdiness, breathtaking beauty, and Gryffindor daring always made him feel like he was breathing the air at a height of at least two and a half thousand metres above sea level. There just didn't seem to be enough to fill his lungs.
"You alright?" Lily chuckled.
"Fine." He choked out. She grinned.
"Stop grinning!"
She grinned even wider.
"OK, that's it. I'm getting my revenge."
He placed a hand on her waist, and pushed up her top. When her stomach was exposed he slowly drew his fingers across it, tracing circles over the bulge that was their baby. She gasped a little, and he smiled, and touched his lips, gently, to hers. Lily's legs tightened on his, and he laughed.
"Who's in control now?"
"You don't play fair!"
"Never said I did. Where were we?"
"The deathly hallows." She made to draw the sign again but he caught her finger in his hand.
"Not now, Lily-love. We'll never get this story told if we keep getting distracted."
She pouted, but did not argue.
"So, the deathly hallows. Well, my invisibility cloak was given to me by my father, and it was given to him by his father, and it was given to his father by – "
"You mean…?"
"Dumbledore reckons that it's the third hallow. Which means I'm descended from the third Peverell brother, Ignotus."
"Are you serious?" Lily breathed.
"I certainly hope not. James is far more handsome."
Lily gave a wry smile. "Very funny."
"But yes, I'm serious. Which I guess explains my amazing magical abilities."
Lily snorted.
"Lily, like it or not, I beat you in our transfiguration NEWT."
"Yeah, and I beat you in charms, and potions, and divination," James made a 'pfft' noise, "which is a legitimate subject, James Potter."
"How, in Merlin's name, did you get an 'O' in divination Lily Evans?"
"Oh, it was easy. I just told the examiner that my husband and I were going to die horrible early deaths. He lapped it up."
"Merlin forbid you'd have any actual skill in the subject!"
"Regardless. I beat you. And I beat you in Defence."
James squeaked and tried to sit up, an attempt that failed spectacularly due to the fact that his legs were otherwise engaged.
"That's not true! You beat me in one miserable practical."
"Too right I did."
"We got the same mark in the end. We tied."
"Sure we did."
"Besides, I got the grumpy witch! And you got that Tufty guy who looked as though he wanted to marry you!"
"He was so disappointed when he saw the ring."
"Yeah…poor guy." James said sarcastically. "Unlike Slughorn, who practically wet himself with excitement."
"Hey! That's not fair!"
"But it's true."
"That doesn't make it fair."
James decided not to question her on this dubious bit of logic, and returned instead to the cloak.
"We were discussing my amazing magical prowess."
"Oh, yes, we were, weren't we." Lily smiled.
"Do you remember what the last line of the story was?"
"Um, it was something about defeating death…"
"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Yes. Do you know what it means?"
"Well, I always thought it was a bit odd, you know. Destroying death. Isn't that a Death Eater sort of idea?"
"Not really. It's from the bible, actually."
"The bible?"
"The King James bible, to be precise."
"You're kidding. Is that coincidence?"
"Maybe. James is a popular name in my family."
"Hmmm…we should do a family tree."
"Oh, we have one already. You can see it any time. It's in my parents' house."
"So where in the bible is it from?"
"1 Corinthians, chapter 15, verses 25-26."
"I never knew you were religious!"
"Relax, I'm not. Some ancestor had carved it into the wood above my bedroom door at home. I saw it every day for a long time."
"I wonder who?"
James shrugged. "It doesn't matter. But do you know what it means Lily?"
Lily shook her head a little.
"Defeating death. It's about life after death."
"So you are religious!"
James shook his head. "Lily, the Christians are not the only people who believe in an afterlife. Just about every culture does. All they disagree on is where that afterlife is. In the sky, under the ground, on earth through reincarnation, you get the idea."
"So where do you think it is?"
James looked thoughtful.
"Where do vanished objects go?" He asked finally.
"Into non-being, which is to say, everything". Lily answered, parrot style. She'd asked McGonagall that very question in third year.
James smiled slightly. "Well, that's where I think it is. If you're in a state of non-being, if you're everything, then death holds no power over you."
Lily considered this for a while.
"Dumbledore always says, that to the well organised mind, death is but the next great adventure." She said eventually.
"An adventure that, whatever happens, we'll be taking together."
"Are you sure?"
"Lils, you're talking to the boy who failed his divination OWL. Of course I'm sure!"
Lily giggled and kissed him.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
"Thank you James. I feel a lot better now."
"I can tell! What's the time?"
"Almost midnight."
James grabbed her hand and stared at the watch intently.
"Whatcha doing?" Lily asked in confusion.
James held up a finger, and did not answer.
"James!" Lily whined. He didn't move.
He watched as the planets circled on the watch he had giver her for her seventeenth birthday, closer and closer to midnight.
Three.
Two.
One.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILY-MY-LOVE!" He yelled, hugging her so hard that they rolled off the couch onto the floor.
"Ouch" he added as an afterthought.
Lily smiled happily. There were definitely benefits to having James Potter as a husband on your 20th birthday.
"I love you James."
"I love you too Lily."
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
So, did we like? R&R? =D