Here she sat, just like any other night, yet Lily Potter could honestly say she was blissfully happy. Surrounded by her husband and firstborn, she knew in her heart of heart that she would not change a single thing about her life and the way it turned out – Godric knew all the twist and turns and turn of events that had brought her there.
Growing up with someone is always an interesting slight of chance, yet she knew that falling for James Potter was not a mistake. Through everything they had experience together, beginning as school rivals, through a brief loathing stage, eventually blossoming into the lovers, best friends, and deepest companions that they now were – Lily would take none of it back. All their experiences had only made them stronger, and she knew that strength would get them through the rest of their lives together. They had only been brought impossibly closer and increased their unrivaled happiness with the birth of the first child, a promising boy, Harry.
As she sat on the couch in their home in Godric's Hollow that evening, contemplating their life and drawing these conclusions, she looked upon her husband and one year old with a small, yet obvious smile on her face.
"What's on your mind sunshine?" James prodded, interrupting her thought process.
"Oh, nothing dear. Just thinking how extremely lucky I am to have gotten all of this" she responded sweeping the living room with her eyes, coming to rest them on the face of her baby boy, resting on his father's knee.
"You know you're my only beam of hope in surviving this world," he replied. "I don't know how I'd make it from day to day without your shining face to wake up to to push me through. You're all I have left, you and Harry. Of course, I earned it all." he said smirking, bringing back some of his signature cockiness her knew so well from her school days to ease the intensity of the meaning behind his words.
She smirked in response, knowing full well that this cockiness was one of the many reasons she had fallen in love with him.
"I miss it too you know. But you and Harry are more important than anything else, and I don't even want to think …"
She trailed off as he grabbed her hand to stop her imagination from going any farther.
"I know honey," he replied quickly, he himself trying not to let his mind wonder in the same place as hers. "With any luck this will all be over soon and we can get back to a normal life." His thoughts wondered to, she knew, what he wished he could be doing to help the effort.
"James," she warned with the tone of her voice, "You know I need you more than anything"
He sighed, "I know. We've been over this a million times, doesn't make it any easier." He stared into the green depths of her eyes and she knew the sincerity behind those words, and it shattered her heart to know she could not give him everything he ever wanted.
"How about I write to Sirius? Maybe he can come visit soon." She attempted to life his mood with the mention of his best friend.
"Yeah, if he's not too busy saving the world" he muttered, almost under his breath. She shot him a sorrowful look, understanding his desire to be right beside his best friend, fighting the dark forces that threatened their very lives.
She gave him a playful ruffle of the hair as she moved up to get parchment, ink, and a quill from the adjoining room, along the way muttering to herself about how she knew he wanted to go fight, yet hoping he would just give up already and accept the situation they were in. Then maybe he would be content like she had been a mere three minutes ago. She was sure he heard some of her rant, and thought maybe he would change his attitude before she got back.
A few minutes later she returned to find him entertaining Harry by producing variously colored sparks from the end of his wand, and reveling in the laughter that ensued. She flashed her brilliant smile at the pair, and settled herself back down on the couch beside her husband to begin her letter.
She mulled over several ways to start, and just what to include for several minutes before putting her quill in the well to finally start. The entire time she was trying not to get distracted as her husband had begun to make things fly around the room now, much to the amusement of their young son.
"Fly!" Harry screeched for the very first time, making both his parents jump with excitement. They looked at each other, to Harry, then back to each other in rapid succession.
"What… Did he just…" stammered James.
"I think so" was the reply, before Lily turned back to Harry. "What did you just say?"
Harry simply smiled back at his amazed parents, and then began to giggle. "Fly" he said again, immediately erupting into a new wave of laughter.
"Merlin's beard" James whispered, "I'll make a Quidditch player out of your son yet!" he teased. "We all know that's the real reason why you feel for my charming and devilishly handsome self."
Lily lightly pushed a joking punch into James' arm, and retorted, "With any luck he won't inherit any of that useless skill, and will instead have half the talent I do with Charms."
James scoffed at this remark, replied, "I'll show you", and immediately shoved Harry into her lap and ran into the other room. He returned seconds later with the toy broom Harry had gotten from Sirius for his birthday and stared at her with a gleam in his eye.
"Oh, alright, go ahead," she laughed as James eagerly bound across the room to reclaim Harry. "Just be extra careful this time not to let Harry land on the cat or bump into any walls!" she scolded as James took Harry to the middle of the room to mount his on the broomstick.
"Here we go Harry, fly!" he said to the boy before the broom began to rise, Harry with in. All of a sudden Harry took off across the room, laughing widely his father close in tow behind.
Lily just smiled to herself at the silliness of her family, and remember last weekend when Wormtail had come to visit them. He had been enthralled by watching little Harry fly around, and had collapsed on the floor in laughter when Harry broke a rather ugly vase sitting in the corner. He had insisted, in a rather odd way, on taking a picture for them to capture the happiness of the family. Lily had went and gotten the camera and handed it over. Lily thought maybe she might include a copy in her letter to Sirius. He was responsible for Harry's possession of the broom in the first place, and was probably in need of a good laugh anyway. She thought. Yeah, she would include it she decided as she tucked back in to finally begin her letter.
She started off on a simple note, telling him about Harry's love for the broom and telling a little about the small gathering they had for his birthday. She them began to ramble, getting lost in her thoughts, yet trying to make light of their situation. She was sure to mention that Sirius should come to visit soon though, true on her earlier promise to James. After she had filled a page with her ramblings, she thought that was quite enough of their boring lives – Sirius was rather busy after all. She finished off her thought, signed her love and her signature and turned back to her husband.
James had taken Harry of the broom at some point in the middle of her letter, and they were now sitting in from on the television watching Tom and Jerry. She smiled to herself, remembering the first time she had shown James the muggle tv. He had been completely amazed and it quickly became his new obsession – one he had shared very quickly with Sirius actually. Tom and Jerry had entertained them to no end, and they always ended up hanging off of each other in a fit of giggles when he came to visit. James had begun to share the hilarity with Harry whenever it was on.
Her husband and son sat on the floor in front of the couch, transfixed on the tv, both bursting out in laughter every few minutes. Harry was switching his glance between the tele and his father's face, watching it transform in the middle of his laughter.
Lily watched, and again began to think about how lucky she was. After a few minutes she moved over on the couch to allow James to lean back against her legs. She began to run her fingers through his hair absent mindedly, laughing along with her family.
When the cartoon ended Lily noticed that James had fallen asleep in his father's arms and James had his head leaned back in her lap, content with her ministrations with his hair. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips.
"I think you should take Harry to his room. I'm going to send this letter off to Padfoot, and I'll be up in a few minutes." She instructed. James slowly got up as to not awaken the boy in his arms and moved upstairs.
Lily sat on the couch for almost half a minute, contemplating her day and trying to think of something she could do to ease her husband's restlessness. She sighed and resigned to continue the subject tomorrow. Stifling a yawn, she moved from the couch and went to fetch the family owl. After settling him off into the night, she turned off the tv and the downstairs lights.
Moving through the still of the house she stepped into Harry's room and saw her beautiful boy asleep in his crib. She moved to softly kiss him on the forehead, whispered an I love you, and backed from the room. Moving into her own room she saw her husband sitting on the bed in deep thought.
"Dear, what's on your mind?" she prodded gently as to not completely disturb him.
He looked at her with glazed eyes then slightly shook his head, seemly ridding it of his thoughts. She knew by the expression on his face that he had once again been longing to leave their solitude and join the fight. This only strengthened her earlier resolve to figure out something nice to do for him.
"Oh, nothing sunshine, just about how beautiful you are." He said opening his arms "come here."
She moved into his embrace and they held each other for a long time, both lost in their respective thoughts. Finally he moved to get ready for bed.
A grin breaking out on her face she looked at her husband. "I'll race you to the sink." In the brief moment it took him to comprehend her statement she had gotten up and moved a few steps across the room.
"Oh no you don't," James shot back, taking the two strides to her and grabbing her about the waist. "You will not beat me again. I will win the toothbrush war this time!" As a wicked grin covered his face he threw her over his shoulder, eliciting giggles from his wife, and marched off toward the bathroom.
"Oh James, put me down. We both know I always win."
He set her on the counter in the bathroom and grabbed their toothbrushes. Handing hers to her he said "well maybe that's because I let you."
She stuck her tongue out at him and grabbed the toothpaste, adding some to both of theirs. "We'll see about that" she challenged as she set off at the task. He quickly followed suit and they both brushed for several minutes, trying to outdo the other.
Finally James could not handle the bristles against his gums any longer, and spat into the sink, finishing up. She smirked, finished her own assault of her teeth, and spat in the sink after him. They both turned to face each other, flashing their pearly whites.
He leaned closer, examining her teeth. "I don't know Lil, I think I win this time."
"Oh, of course you don't. I scrubbed for a full thirty seconds after you!"
"Alright, alright, you win. Again. Goodness woman, how I love you."
She leaned in again and pressed her lips to his again. "And how I love you."
They smiled at each other then, and then Lily moved into the bedroom and began to change into her night clothes. James followed and they both crawled into bed, snuggled close, and fell asleep.