For James and Lily on the 30th anniversary of their death - 31st October 2011.
I
The late-autumn sunlight pours onto Lily's pillow, luring her into consciousness. She rubs the sleep out of her eyes and blinks; once, twice, three times. Her eyes catch sight of James who is still asleep. Lily always thinks he looks charmingly like a child when he sleeps, with his hair sticking up in every direction and a small smile playing on his lips. James suddenly stirs, the mattress shifting with his movement, and cracks open one eye. "What are you looking at?" he murmurs.
"Nothing special," Lily quips, and she immediately has to squirm away as James reaches for her. She can't get away; James has rolled on top of her before she can even protest and she is trapped beneath him. "Take it back," he orders.
"Never," Lily laughs. She looks up at James, and as always, his beauty momentarily paralyses her. She takes in his face; his strong jawline, the straight edge of his nose, the smirk that makes her positively shudder. But it is his eyes that capture her the most, especially now as they dangerously darken. Who is she kidding? James is overwhelmingly special.
"I take it back," Lily mumbles, almost unable to form the words. She reaches up and clutches greedy fistfuls of his hair, using the leverage to pull his head firmly down until his lips meet hers. James responds enthusiastically, running his tongue along the contours of her mouth and entwining his legs with hers.
It is only a few moments before James pulls his lips away, and Lily whimpers in protest, but he has only broken away to scatter kisses across her jaw, down to her pulse point, which quickens as he sweeps his tongue across it, and up to her ear so he can whisper, "Happy Halloween".
II
Sirius had turned up on their doorstep in the early afternoon, three pumpkins balanced precariously in his arms. "Trick or treat?" he'd yelled exuberantly when Lily had opened the door.
"Our one and only trick or treater," Lily had mournfully replied as she'd closed the door behind Sirius, who looked put-out.
"Hey, you either have to give me a treat or I get to trick you," he'd whined.
"In that case, I'll go with the safer option and give you the treat," Lily had said, as she'd jerked her head towards the kitchen. "Come on, I've got pumpkin pie." She'd led the way into the kitchen to where James and Harry were sitting on the floor, Harry happily using a wooden spoon to bang a non-existent tune onto a saucepan.
"I've been doing all kinds of tricks with my wand to try and stop him making that bloody racket, but he won't let up for a second," James had yelled over the din, as he'd shot a half exasperated, half affectionate look at his son. Harry had simply giggled and increased his banging tenfold. "We weren't expecting you today mate."
"Yeah," Sirius had shouted back, "But I know Lily's miserable about not being able to have a proper Halloween, so I thought at the very least we could carve the hell out of some pumpkins."
A couple of hours later, Lily practically skips over to Sirius and wraps her arms tight around him before plonking a kiss on his cheek. The pumpkin carving has cheered her up innumerably. "Thank you," she sings, as Sirius squirms in her grasp.
"You're welcome," Sirius replies disgruntledly. "Now off, that is entirely enough touching." He continues to try to wrestle his way out of Lily's tight hold. "Oi, Prongs, will you bloody well sort your missus out," Sirius bellows. James laughs good naturedly and makes quick work of the few steps that lie between himself and Lily and Sirius, and put his arms around them both.
"You know you love it Padfoot," he smirks, as Sirius increases his protestations.
"You can't resist me," coos Lily. Sirius finally falls still, a look of resignation on his face.
"You're right, I can't," he sighs in defeat and he presses a friendly kiss onto Lily's lips. Lily pushes Sirius away and lets out a squeal half way between delight and disgust. James merely raises one eyebrow and looks at Sirius in mock-outrage. "Well, come on mate," Sirius all but purrs, as he winks at James. "You're not telling me that you expected us to go our whole lives without me landing one on Evans?"
III
James whistles a pleasant tune as he washes up after dinner. Lily watches him for a few minutes in quiet contemplation. Eventually she pushes away from the doorframe and steps into the kitchen. "Do you want a drink?" she asks James, who nods in response. She walks over to the fridge, grabbing a couple of glasses on her way, and takes out a bottle of wine. "Hey James," Lily begins, as she fiddles with the cork. "When we're free of this house, when this war is over and Harry is safe, what's the first thing you want to do?"
James is quiet for a moment as he ponders her question. Lily pours the wine and picking her glass up, goes and stands at the window that overlooks the garden. She looks out into the pitch black that has settled all around them. "I want us to take Harry to the park," James finally answers, and the simplicity of it almost breaks Lily's heart. "But eventually, I want us to do everything."
James walks over to her and wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her back firmly against his body. Lily pushes the back of her head against his shoulder and sighs contentedly as he murmurs softly in her ear, telling her about all the things they are going to do. "It all sounds beautiful," Lily breathes, as longing for the future bubbles up inside of her. "When," she demands, "when will it be?"
James presses his lips to her temple. "Soon Lily," he mumbles into her head. "I promise."
IV
Lily sees a flash of green light and has to brace herself from the pain that she is certain is coming. When it hits she almost cannot withstand it; her legs buckle and she has to grip Harry's crib to stop from completely sinking. Her face is already soaked with tears she hadn't even realised were falling. James is dead. Her James is dead.
When it is her turn, when Voldemort has turned his wand upon her, the last thought in her head is Harry, but the last word she utters is, "James."
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