A/N Another Jily Secret Santa present (again already on Tumblr), this time for gaiusfrakkinbaltar. The prompt was, "It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them"

Reviews are what it feels like to chew 5 gum.

An Unusually Usual Sunday

"Lily," James began after five minutes, "what exactly are we doing?"

His wife rolled her eyes, glancing into the rear vision mirror before changing lanes. "I told you, we're driving."

"Ah." James paused a moment, then, "Er, why?"

Lily sighed, but she chuckled a little, too. "Because Dad left us the car for the weekend and I felt we should use it, go somewhere, do something!" She paused, and then added quietly, "While neither of us is putting our lives in danger for a whole two days."

"If you wanted to go somewhere Lil, we only had to take three steps into the bedroom. No need to get into this ruddy machine."

Not taking her eyes off the road, Lily smacked him lightly on the arm. "Come on, it's good to get out of the house and just take a break. You work too hard."

"We could've just apparated somewhere, or flooed, or flown, why'd we have to do something that takes so bloody long?" James mumbled, looking out the window. Lily laughed.

"Good things take time!" she sang, "Besides, we can do lots of things while we're driving; we can talk, and look at the scenery, like ... oh, look, a cow!"

James chuckled, and Lily was pleased to finally get a reaction out of him. That had been the purpose of the drive; to get him, for a couple of hours, to return to the carefree James she'd fallen in love with when she was seventeen.

"Okay, that's a nice looking cow. Next to a nice looking barn, I'll give you that. Where'd you learn to drive this thing anyway?"

Lily shrugged. "You know my parents never fully grasped the whole 'don't need to do ordinary muggle things' concept, and they kept pushing me to take the test. It's a sort of coming of age thing. Plus, all my muggle friends would ask me when I was going to get my license, and it was a bit weird if I didn't have one for no apparent reason. I wasn't scarred for life from a car crash or any other reasonable excuse, so ..." she gestured slightly to the steering wheel in front of her, and then grinned suddenly. "Hey look, we're learning things about each other! This is perfect cheesy romantic drive material!"

James shook his head slightly in amusement, while Lily smiled contentedly at the road. "Alright, you need to tell me something, now."

He fell silent momentarily, eyebrows furrowed in thought. Lily waited as he picked slightly at the lining of the seat, before he grinned. "I failed my first apparation test."

Lily spun around to stare at him, the car jolting slightly in process. Straightening up, but still staring at her husband incredulously for a moment, she spluttered, "What?"

James laughed, "I didn't want anyone to know, so I made unbreakable vows with Sirius, Moony and Pete so they wouldn't breathe a word."

Lily rolled her eyes. "'Course you did. Couldn't have anyone thinking you couldn't do something."

James put a hand over his heart. "Obviously!" he exclaimed dramatically. "Can you imagine the effect that would have had on my reputation?! I would never have been snogged again!"

Lily shook her head, chuckling slightly. Then she frowned, remembering something. "Hang on, how could you have failed? You bragged for weeks about how easy it would be ... and then you were apparating around England the summer before seventh year just like everyone else, I remember."

James smiled a little. "I saw a certain flash of red hair celebrating with Marlene McKinnon just before my test, I was a little distracted. And then ... well, sometimes Dad's connections in the Ministry are a bit of a blessing. I took the test the next weekend."

Lily laughed, a little at the sort-of compliment, a little at the connections. "Course you did," she said again, and then for a moment her mind returned to how useful the Ministry connections might be; should anything happen to them. Trying to clear her head of the negative (and entirely un-romantic-drive supportive) thoughts, Lily looked at James for a little longer than she had previously that morning, and smiled broadly.

"You look ridiculous, you know."

James' smile changed quickly to a scowl. "You only gave me five minutes! I've been wearing just robes for ages now; it's bloody hard to find decent muggle clothing in that short a time!" He looked down at himself. "Is it really that bad?"

Lily shook her head, but the fact that her shoulders were now trembling from trying not to laugh contradicted the action. "Of course not! I've just never actually seen someone wear bell-bottomed pants outside a disco, and certainly not paired with a jumper that brightly patterned. Then again, I did immerse myself in the wizarding world some time ago; I may have missed the latest fashion trends."

James began to smile again. "The jumper is rather orange, isn't it?"

"The green stripes don't help, dear."

They both began to laugh then, first James, and then Lily, and it turned into one of those situations where the pure fact that someone else is laughing is enough that you can't ever stop. Lily had to pull off the road and into a ditch before the car swung out of control. And then they weren't laughing at the horrendous colour of the jumper, or the fact that Lily's giggle sounded like a dolphin, but laughing for the sake of laughing. It felt freeing, somehow. For once the bigger picture didn't matter, because it was just them, too wizards in a car on a Sunday drive. That was perhaps the most peculiar thing they had done together, and when the thought occurred to them, it only inspired further hilarity.

It was sitting in that car, laughing with her husband, that Lily realised just how much she really did love James. He was her James, and Lily knew with an abrupt clarity that he would always be her James. No matter how many lives he saved with his work in the Order, no matter how important the things he, they, did would one day be, no matter how either of them was remembered, it would always be her and James. Her laughter faded to a quiet smile, and she looked at her husband sitting beside her.

Like always, he seemed to know exactly what she was thinking, and he reached out and touched her cheek gently. "I'm here," he murmured, leaning across to kiss her. It was soft and gentle, but as Lily covered James' hand on her cheek with her own, she felt that it said many of the hopes and fears they'd both been feeling so often of late.

"I love you," she said softly when they parted. "Just remember that."

"Lily..." James said, his eyes now slightly concerned. "Of course I know, and you know, right? That I love you, always."

Lily bit her lip and nodded, managing a weak smile. James pecked her lips gently again, and then grinned. "Come on woman, I'm starving. If you're forcing me on this trip, at least drive somewhere with a decent meal."

Lily's smile grew to a proper one, and she nodded again, loving how her husband didn't brush over things like they didn't matter, but still managed to change the subject before thoughts could become too depressing. And with another quick nod, she put the car into drive, and they were on the road again.