Lily often thought that there was some witchery in her mother's kitchen. Not the flashy magic that came from wands and cauldrons but something more subtle but no less powerful. And she needed some of her mother's magic right now because as satisfying as throwing crockery at James' head had been an hour ago now it felt dramatic and a bit petty.
Her mother didn't seem surprised when she'd apparated into the kitchen—Sunflower Evans was never ruffled by the things her youngest could do with a will and a word—simply studying her over the rims of her glasses for a moment and then nodding a bit to herself.
"Hm, tea," she declared. "Take a seat, dearest, and help yourself to some scones, your father and I made them last night."
"Daddy helped?" asked Lily breaking one of the scones in half and summoning the black currant preserve and clotted cream from the cupboard.
"Mmhm," hummed Sunny, bustling around the kitchen preparing the tea, "I let him measure out the ingredients and eat half the cream."
Lily chuckled that sounded like Daddy. Harry Evans was as hopeless in the kitchen as Sirius Black, and that was definitely saying something considering that Sirius was convinced that the oven was the best place to hide Christmas gifts from his housemates.
Lily ate three scones and watched the sway of her mother's long dusty-ginger curls, they'd gone more grey at the temples since the last time Lily had visited, but otherwise Sunny w such the same as always, moving with a dancer's grace around the kitchen in her bare-feet, paint-stained jeans and loose smock adding candied lemon slices to their teacups and bending to press a kiss to Lily's forehead.
"Now, what's got your feather's all ruffled?"
"James," sighed Lily, "And tangentially Sirius and Remus, no surprise there."
"I thought you and James were doing well?"
"We were, we are," Lily insisted chewing on the edge of her thumbnail, "At least, I think we are, I spend more time in that shoebox the three of them call an apartment than I do at home. And it's great, wonderful even and even with this war going on this might be the happiest I've ever been."
"But?"
"But ever since James and I started getting serious it feels less like it's just me and James, honestly sometimes I feel like their using me as a replacement for Peter. And most of the time that's perfectly fine because I like being included so—so…seamlessly."
Sunny makes a little noise, not quite a chuckle, and takes a sip of her tea.
"Oh? That is quite the feat," she says, smiling a bit like she's figured something out and is enjoying knowing the secret.
"I know it is," Lily said, "I don't have all the details but I know that their families aren't close, they've been there for each other when there was no one else. And I'm kind of…"
Touched? Honored? Lily didn't think there was a word to describe the bittersweet ache in her chest. The warmth of their trust mingling with the empathetic sting of knowing just how rare and precious it was to earn that trust, and why that was.
"So then what is the problem, dear heart?"
"I don't know, I don't even know why I was so angry, I just…" Lily huffed, trying to articulate the vague feelings of—not unhappiness but maybe discontent? Or something like weariness at the familiar twist and turns of her relationship. "Sometimes I just wish I had a piece of James that was just mine, you know? Sirius and Remus have been a part of every milestone—our first date, our first kiss, meeting the parents, now living together—I walked in on the three of them designing my engagement ring this afternoon and Sirius said—I don't even remember what he said, but it made me so angry and I just lost it for no good reason."
"Oh Lily-bird," laughed Sunny, "You're always so focused on other things you forget to look at what's right in front of your nose."
Lily made a disgruntled noise and let her head thunk down hard on the wood of the kitchen table, "Not helpful, Sunny."
Sunny reached over and ruffled her hair.
"You have parts of James to yourself, of that I've no doubt, dearest," she said, "And I'm willing to bet good money that you have parts of Sirius and of Remus too, parts that even James has never seen."
And that was…well, that was probably true actually, she thought, a few incidences coming to mind. Sirius coming into her workshop one night and sobbing apologies into the back of her neck. Remus naked and exhausted and terrified and whimpering about how his shoulder was wrong. James wrapping his arms around her waist and whispering about how disappointed in him he though his father would be in the sanctuary of their bed.
"You each lean on the other for different reasons, but you fundamentally operate as a team, and as far as I can tell that's how it has always been between you. If that's not what you want it might be past time to have a talk with your young men," Sunny pointed out, gesturing with her teacup. "Your father and I see it whenever you bring them over you know. You're each of you caught in the others' orbit. And that's not a bad thing, in fact I think that it's good for you. Now consider, you've been with James for three years now and every milestone has been shared between the four of you, isn't it natural for James to assume that this one is no different?"
"I guess, I just thought—it's marriage. It's supposed to be about tying the two of us together, pledging to be a partnership."
"Maybe, for other people," agreed Sunny, "But I have the sneaking suspicion that maybe for James it's more about pledging to be a permanent part of his team, and to share your love with his family."
And that did make a strange sort of sense. But it wouldn't be James that needed those assurances, they had already done that song and dance, it would be Sirius and Remus. Lily shook her head at the realization. It was just like Sirius to urge James into proposing before it was really the right time just to tie her to them once and for all, and Remus wouldn't voice any of the sensible objections because Sirius' antics would also get him the assurances he wanted. And James, well, James would just be the one who would do anything to get those assurances for his best friends.
"Caught on have you?"
"Honestly, those three," she sighed, "They need so much looking after."
"It's a good thing they have you then," Sunny pointed out.
"Yeah," said Lily, laughing a bit because not only was she going to have to apologize for trying to murder her boyfriend with crockery but it was looking like she'd need to finagle a way to manage what was essentially a three-way marriage proposal, and sometimes she wondered how this ended up being her life, "I guess it is."
AN: For the Level-Up Competition on HPFC, introducing OC Sunflower Evans, flower mama.