Those Lovely Moments

Chapter 1: Little Blue Potion

Lily Potter was a brave woman, through and through. She had fought Voldemort himself not once, but twice, once by herself and once with her husband, James. But on this cold, winter morning, Lily did not feel brave at all. She felt frightened. Thoroughly and properly scared in a way she never had been before. The simple potion in the cauldron bubbling beneath her was a seemingly innocent pale blue. The color of a cloudless, sunny sky, so rarely seen in Britain with it's typically dreary weather. The color of her favorite dress as a child, the one that had been a hand-me-down from her sister Petunia and clashed horribly with her vibrant red hair. The potion beneath her represented one undeniable fact;

She was pregnant.

Lily tried to recall back to when this could have happened, as she had tried to be careful in the span of her nearly two-year marriage. No single event sprung to her mind, but trying to pair the word careful with James Potter was laughable, so it could have been in a number of places. They did have their own house after all, and James had a nasty habit of getting a look in his eyes, a lustful, greedy look, that was always followed by an intense shag, no matter where they were. They would laugh about it, and she would pretend to be mad, but she secretly loved the spontaneity just as much as he did.

Back to the matter at hand, Lily didn't know what to do. She looked out the window to see flurries of snow floating to the ground. It was early Sunday morning on January the second, 1980. Lily had just kissed James goodbye on his way to work, and now regretted keeping the fact that she might be pregnant from him. There was no denying it now, as the potion was never wrong, proving that Lily had a tiny baby inside her.

That thought brought her up short. A baby. Lily was going to be a mother. Tears pricked her eyes, and she looked down at her still-flat stomach, imagining a life growing in there, and felt a warm glow. How could she have been scared over this miracle? Sure, the timing was awful with the war going on, but it was done and Lily would see it through and end up with a warm bundle in her arms, a little piece of her and James. James. How was she going to tell him? He would surely be as happy as she was, right? Lily's stomach started churning and she vomited in the conveniently close toilet. Lily had been doing that for the past week and now realized it was not a stomach bug, as she had previously thought, but morning sickness.

She was being silly, of course James would be happy. He had wanted children since the moment they said 'I do', only Lily's constant reminders of the war keeping him at bay. She still needed a way to break the news, so she set off to begin an extravagant dinner. Right after she brushed her teeth.

It had been a long day for James Potter, with an attack on a muggle village killing 20 and 6 seriously injured, all the handiwork of Voldemort's cronies. He had seen a little girl lying in the streets, with tight blonde curls splayed around her head, and a small doll clutched in her hands. She couldn't have been more than 5, and her life was over. Even as an auror, who saw this type of thing every day, it still got to him. He just wanted to go home to his beautiful wife, possibly shag her senseless, then sleep and start the whole cycle over.

He Apparated right outside his doorstep, and swung open the door boisterously and yelled, "Honey, I'm home!" as he had seen on some muggle TV show Lily made him watch.

"In the kitchen! Wash up, I'll have dinner on the table in a mo'." Lily yelled, her voice floating over to him.

James quickly washed his hands and took off his cloak, then snuck into the kitchen. He just stood in the doorframe, watching his wife cook something that smelled delicious. Her back was to him, letting James admire the extremely nice view. He moved forward and snaked his arms around her waist, murmuring in her ear, "I missed you."

He started kissing her neck as she giggled and sighed, a smile dancing across her lips.

"Go sit down, I've been working on this all day and I will not let it burn."

James still found it amusing that Lily insisted on using muggle cooking appliances, insisting "they're much simpler, and I've been using them my whole life." He sauntered over to the table and took a seat, reclining and stretching, trying to work out the kinks after a long day of work.

Lily took out her wand and tapped it on the plates, causing them to fly to the table and arrange themselves, along with the forks and knives beside them. She sighed and said to James, "Have I mentioned how much I love magic? Even after eight years, it's the little things that amaze me."

A crooked smile filled James' face, and he was further reminded how much he loved Lily. Her appreciation for everything and everyone never ceased to astound him. She was the most caring, loving person he could imagine and he still had no idea how he even remotely deserved her.

"So, how was work? Anything new?" Lily asked as she took her place across from James, setting the food in between them. Red roast beef, creamy mashed potatoes, and a medley of vegetables lay in front of him, making his mouth water and his stomach give an almighty growl.

"Another attack, muggle Village outside of Camden Town. Twenty killed. A little girl was found alone in the street." James eyes were downcast and sorrow weighed him down. Lily reached across the table and took his hand, squeezing it and giving him a reassuring smile. James cleared his throat then started piling things on his plate. Through a mouthful of beef, James said,"How was your day?"

Lily bit back what seemed to be a smile, puzzling James, but she just said, "Oh, nothing special. Too quiet without you. Sundays are just boring around here." Lily, being an Unspeakable, didn't have to work weekends, unlike James' hectic auror schedule.

They sat in companionable silence, James devouring the delectable meal.

"Save some room, I made treacle tart too, your favorite." Lily's eyes were almost glowing, and her nose kept twitching, a sign that she had a secret.

"Is there something I'm missing? You seem to be in an exceptionally good mood, and you're buttering me up. What's going on?" Curiosity filled James, wondering what she could possibly be keeping from him.

Lily opened her mouth to say something, then abruptly shut it and stood up, racing to the bathroom and emptying the meal she had just eaten into the toilet.

"Lily, what's wrong? Are you sick? Do you need to see a healer?" His curiosity turned to worry as soon as he saw his wife's form bent over the toilet, and he went to hold her hair back. She continued to heave until she had nothing more in her stomach and sat back against the wall and closed her eyes.

"I'm pregnant."

Shock rang through James system, rendering him paralyzed, trying to process what she had just said. Pregnant. He has a pregnant wife. Before Lily could say anymore, he lifted her up and swung her around, whooping for joy.

"We're having a baby!" James shouted to the high hills, running around, waltzing through the house with Lily in his arms, laughing so hard tears streamed down her face.

"Put me down, I'm getting dizzy." James instantly stopped moving and gently placed her on the ground, worrying if he had harmed her.

"Oh God Lils I'm sorry, are you okay?" Concern laced his tone, causing Lily to beam at him, radiating delight.

"I'm fine, just a bit dizzy from spinning. So you're happy about this?" Although her fears had been mostly alleviated, she had to make sure.

"Happy is not a big enough word. Elated, jubilant, ecstatic, maybe, I need a better vocabulary to express how happy I am right now." He pressed a tentative hand to Lily's abdomen, and smiled. "Lily, there's a baby in there. Our baby. A little life, growing as we speak. I've never been this happy in my life. This may even trump our wedding day, but only because I was dead scared for half the day that you wouldn't show up."

Lily grabbed his head between her hands, looked him dead in the eyes and said, "James Potter, as if I could ever leave you at the altar. You've had my heart for too long. You may have driven me mad for the first few years we knew each other, but you wore me down, and stopped being such a prat. I love you, and I always will. And now we have a family of our very own," she placed her hands over his on her stomach, "and we have each other. Always."

James bent down and kissed her chastely, loving her more in this moment than he thought he ever could.

"I really have to brush my teeth, meals taste much better going down than coming up." Lily said with a slight blush. James just looked down at the beautiful woman he held in his arms and smiled. He picked her up again, much more gently this time, and carried her up to their room, setting her down in front of the bathroom door.

"I love you,'' said James reverently.

"As I you," Lily claimed with a small smile and went to brush her teeth.

James just sat down on the bed and thought about what just happened. Lily came out to find him deep in thought, and pounced on him with a giggle. "So, dad, what'cha thinking about?"

"Dad. Wow. I'm gonna be a dad," breathed James with no small amount of wonder. He started wondering if he would be a good dad, if his kid would like him at all, and a frown fell upon his face.

"James, what's wrong?" Lily had lost the joking tease to her tone immediately as she saw distress on her spouse's face.

"What if it doesn't like me? I don't know how to be a dad, I've never tried before."

Lily looked at him in wonder, as this was the only time she had ever seen James Potter doubt himself. "Look at me James. Our child will love you unconditionally, just as you will it. As for never trying before,that's typically the case before you have children. You are the funniest, kindest, most gentle man I have ever known, and it will be impossible for our child to have anything but pure adoration for you."

"I am being a bit silly, aren't I? But God Lily, we're going to be parents. The great James Potter, tied down with a family. And you know what?" James leaned in closer, "I couldn't be happier."