Written for Round 4 of the QLFC.
Key Prompt: Emotion – Love.
Additional Prompts: #2 – Dialogue: 'Lesson Learnt?'; #8 – Dialogue: 'Didn't we have fun though?'; #10 – Glasses.
Pairing: Lily/James.
Domestic Bliss
It was late in the evening; the last rays of the weak autumn sun were sinking down below the horizon. Lily emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on the apron she wore, a contented smile playing at her lips.
"The messy part's over," she declared. "I swear, we've got enough pumpkin to make a year's supply of juice – a few pies as well – the thing is humungous! Is Harry ready to help with the carving?"
Halloween was only a week away and Sirius had called by that afternoon with a ridiculously large pumpkin, courtesy of Hagrid. Lily had always enjoyed Halloween – even more so since she had discovered she was a witch – and even though no one would be able to see her decorations, due to the Fidelius Charm hiding their humble cottage, Lily had insisted on decorating the place inside and out. As neither she, nor James, was able to leave the cottage, and so it fell to their friends to help them get what they needed to bring Lily's vision to life.
James looked up from his seat on the couch, wearing his usual confidently cocky smile. He was squinting as he tried to focus on Lily's indistinct form: his glasses were in the plump grasp of their beloved toddler, sat at his father's feet.
"Oh, James," Lily sighed. "How many times have I told you, not to let Harry play with your glasses? You know he always breaks them, and you are useless at repairing them."
James gave her a guilty grin, "but Harry loves playing with them."
Lily rolled her eyes, but continued to smile. "Our child is going to be the most spoilt little boy in the Wizarding world – you can't refuse him anything, can you? Come on, take them off him and let's go carve that pumpkin."
"Come on, squirt," James said to his son, kneeling down on the floor and entering into a tug-of-war contest over the spectacles. "Give Daddy back his glasses, it's time to carve your first pumpkin!"
"Harry's first Halloween was last year, James," Lily reminded her husband. "This isn't his first pumpkin."
"Yes, but he was only a few months old then," James said patiently, as he and Harry continued to tussle. "He could only just hold himself upright in our arms. This year will be the first time he actually carves – or at least helps with the carving."
There was a sudden crunching noise, accompanied by the most adorable gurgling giggle that had Lily laughing in spite of herself – Harry had successfully broken his fathers glasses, yet again.
James looked up at Lily with an apologetic - yet expectant - grin; the remains of his glasses now safely back in his possession, "please?"
Lily laughed again, shaking her head at James, and resisting the urge to say 'I told you so'.
"Honestly," she lovingly chastised. "Sometimes I can't help but wonder, just who is the child in this family?"
Lily withdrew her wand from her apron pocket and pointed it at the mess in James' palm: "Oculus Reparo."
With his glasses as good as new, and back in their proper place, James stood and lifted Harry onto his hip, before stepping over to Lily and giving her a quick peck on the lips.
"Thank you, love."
"Mmhmm," Lily tried to frown, but failed miserably. "Lesson learnt?"
James smirked his infamous, marauder, smirk, "What do you think? Now let's go carve a pumpkin!"
It took a good couple of hours to successfully carve out their designs into the mammoth pumpkin that sat on the kitchen table. After James – with the help of Harry, whose little hand grasped his father's wand during the whole operation – had expertly carved out the traditional Jack-O-Lantern's face, Lily took it upon herself to carve into the rest of circumference.
With perfect precision, she carved out the silhouettes of a stag, a wolf, a dog and a rat – the perfect Marauder's pumpkin. Then, after a moment's deliberation, she took the liberty of adding a representation of herself: a flowering lily.
As Lily stood back to admire her wand work, James came to her side and wrapped his free arm around her waist, holding her close. Harry held out his arms, wanting to be transferred to his mother's embrace and Lily obligingly took him, placing a kiss on the top of his head in the process.
"I swear you get better every year – that puts my skills to serious shame. I hope Harry inherits your charms abilities-" James commended, adding as an afterthought "-and my talents on the Quidditch pitch."
Lily laughed. "Time will tell, but let's not wish the time away. Before we know it, Harry will be eleven and we'll be putting him on the Hogwarts Express, and then we'll be reminiscing about these days when we had him all day every day."
"Yes, but we'll still have his little brothers and sisters at home, to keep us occupied," James joked.
"Oh really, Mr Potter?" Lily asked with an arched eyebrow and a grin. "And which brothers and sisters would they be?"
"The one's we're going to start having very soon," James said in mock-seriousness, before leaning down and capturing his wife's lips with his, as Lily chuckled once more. James didn't think he could ever get tired of hearing that laugh, and it always filled him with pride when he was the one to cause it.
When the kiss ended, Lily's gaze returned to the pumpkin. "So much mess," Lily sighed.
James grinned, and shrugged, "Didn't we have fun though? I think the mess is worth it."
"Only because you're not the one who will be cleaning it up," Lily pointed out. "It needs candles. There are a few big ones in the cupboard above the fridge."
James nodded, and went to the directed cupboard, "How many do you want?"
"I think five will suffice," Lily decided, as Harry gently grabbed a handful of Lily's tresses and gently began to scrunch them in his tiny fist. "And then we need to put this one to bed – he's getting tired."
James smiled as he pulled down the required candles, "Is he doing that thing with your hair again?"
"Yep."
James chuckled as he arranged the candles strategically, and lit them with his wand. "Now, where do we want this beast to go?"
"The sitting room, on the hearth, in front of the fire," Lily ordered, and James obliged.
When the pumpkin was positioned, Lily looked at it with satisfaction for a moment as Harry began to fall asleep against her shoulder, before turning to James with a gleam in her eye. "Tomorrow, we'll start decorating the garden."
James smiled, but the smile was dampened by the sadness that lingered behind his eyes, "What's the point, no one can see it."
Lily sighed, she knew James truly hated being shut up like this, but she was only trying to make the best of it. While she had been feeling superstitiously uneasy for the past weeks or so, she refused to let it show – James was bad enough without her worrying him more. And so, she was determined to carry on as normal, to try and lift James' spirit.
"We can see it. And Sirius, Remus and Peter, when they come to visit. And Harry should learn to enjoy Halloween," Lily said patiently. "And besides – just because we're in hiding, it doesn't mean we can't still try and carry on like normal. Just because we won't be having trick-or-treaters come up to our door on Saturday, doesn't mean we can't still celebrate the holiday. And, you know, it won't be forever. We will win this war, Voldemort will fall, and we will laugh about this one day."
"You amaze me," James said, summoning back his smile. "You are so positive, all the time."
"I know," Lily grinned, perfectly masking her unease, and willing herself to truly believe the words she had just said. "It's one of the many things about me, that makes me so amazing. I'll take Harry to bed, and then we can continue our talk about more kids."
Lily gave James a suggestive smirk, before turning and walking away. When she got to the doorway, James called her back.
"Lily?"
"Yes?" she stopped mid-step, looking back over her shoulder.
"I love you."
Lily smiled her heart-melting smile, "I love you too."
A/N: Short and sweet, perhaps a bit too sickly sweet? - this was quite a difficult one to write, as I'm not the most 'lovey' person in the world (-understatement of the year right there ;D) but I would love to hear your thoughts.
xBx