Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of this work of fiction and no profit, monetary or otherwise, is being made through the writing of this.
A/N: An AU in which Lily is alive and married to Severus. Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry 365 prompts challenge: Falling asleep on the sofa.
"Come to bed, love," Lily says, fingers trailing down Severus' face to his neck, waking him from a nightmare in which she'd been taken from him, first by Potter, then by the Dark Lord.
There's a crick in his back, and it cracks when he stretches. He's fallen asleep on the couch again, baby Harry tucked in the crook of his elbow, snoring softly. It had taken forever for him to soothe the colicky child to sleep, and he doesn't even remember sitting down on the couch, let alone falling asleep on it.
He blinks lazily, and frowns when Lily laughs, her breath tickling his neck. Her lips feel like her namesake where they linger on his cheek, soft, supple. She smells of summer - honeysuckle and orange blossoms.
"Here, let me take, Harry," she says, reaching for their son.
Sleep-bound, Severus resists at first, uncertain - the nightmare had been so real. Glaring when Lily laughs at him, he hands Harry over and slaps her hand away when she offers him a hand up.
"Grouch-puss," Lily says, pouting.
Severus grumbles, and ignores the heat that rushes to his cheeks when he attempts to stand on his own, only to fall back to the couch.
"Damn it." Severus feels like he's been trampled by a hippogriff.
"No swearing in front of the baby," Lily says, teasing.
Severus glares at her, provoking another round of unrepentant, lilting laughter from the woman he loves. He still can't believe that someone as prickly and sour as he is could have won the heart of such a beautiful, loving woman.
"He's asleep," Severus says, glancing at the boy in question to make sure that he is, indeed, still asleep. He is, one tiny little fist tucked under his chin, the other clutched tightly around the stuffed dragon his Uncle James had given him.
He shakes his head when he recalls how he and James had finally buried the hatchet and become good friends. How they'd bonded over their mutual pining for Lily, over the death of the Dark Lord, over the birth of Harry. James is the boy's godfather and Severus wouldn't have it any other way, even knowing that having James in their lives means having the man's insufferable husband, Sirius, in their lives as well.
"And it's time to put the both of you into a proper bed," Lily says, lips quirking upward when Severus groans as he puts his hands on his hips and stretches backward, back popping audibly as he works out the stiffness.
"Lead the way, woman," Severus says, voice gruff. He sounds like a grumpy old man.
"Whatever you say, old man," Lily says, laughter leading the way to their bedroom.
Severus is suddenly wide awake, gaze locked dumbly on Lily's swaying hips, the curve of her ass. His back isn't any less stiff, and he mentally curses himself for his stupidity. He really does need to stop falling asleep on the couch, especially if he wants to keep up with his much more limber wife. The woman of his dreams. He pinches himself and winces, grateful that this isn't a dream and the nightmare his reality.