A/N I own nothing the title of the story is a song lyric from Ed Sheeran Photograph and all rights to this song are his.
We keep this love in a photograph
Lily gazed at the photo on the mantlepiece and sighed again. She just didn't believe she would ever be able to find such perfection as what was captured in that image. It was of her parents dancing at their wedding. A smiling laughing Ginny with small white flowers woven through her hair in a beautiful simple gown her arms round Harry's waist as he bent down kissing her neck and murmuring in her ear with his arms holding her close, as the summer evening sunlight bathed them in a soft glow. It was the image she most associated with love and romance, and she had seen how even now they were as happy with each other as they were in that picture. She knew it was not like that for everyone, uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione had a completely different way of being a couple, they seemed to find joy in the conflict. Uncle George and Aunt Angelina constantly made fun of each other. Lily longed for what her parents had, what Teddy and Victoire had, a comfortable easy togetherness.
"You moping again Lils?" Her big brother James wandered into the room knowing exactly what she was doing. His hair was wet and he was wearing his training kit, she half expected him to still be holding his broom. His cat like grace of movement meant he was always sneaking up on her, he didn't even do it on purpose anymore. She did not let it show that he had succeeded in startling her, she didn't really want to talk to him about it. Relationships were not his thing, romance, passion, yes but as soon as it got to serious he was off finding another girl. Al was usually better to talk to about relationships, he never teased. All three of them were so different, but yet she knew he was the only one who could understand this particular problem, perhaps he could help.
"Do you think I'll ever be like that?" She asked him suddenly, pointing unnecessarily at the picture. He hid his surprise well but she still spotted it, he had not been expecting her to confide in him, and she had always been able to read him.
"You've only just turned fifteen, give it some time." He lounged in an armchair, one leg resting over the arm. "I think mum and dad would prefer you be more concerned with your OWLS especially if you want to follow dad." He regarded her shrewdly, seeing her serious face he went for a different tack. "Not all Slytherins are dicks and not all Gryffindors are not. Al could tell you that, he's had enough of them." She gave him a withering look at the slight barb to their brothers sexuality. She and James had known for years but Al had only just introduced his boyfriend to the family and James had found it highly amusing to tease their brother about it. Mum and Dad had been so cool about it she was sure they had suspected for a while.
"You know perfectly well there is only one tart in this family." She told him pointedly he didn't even look ashamed. He simply smiled and shrugged. "You can't keep sleeping around you know, eventually one of these girls is going to sell their story to the papers." He scoffed at that.
"The papers don't care anymore. Everyone knows my reputation, it's not worth writing about, as it's all old news, as long as I continue to play well for England they don't dare say anything bad about me, but anyway we are getting terribly off topic. I take it your moping and looking at soppy photos of mum and dad mean things are not going well with Declan?" She looked sheepish. She really didn't want to hurt the boy, but he was exactly that, a boy. Not someone who got her pulse racing, like the characters in the steamy book she had borrowed from Rose and had to hide in embarrassment at the bottom of her school trunk.
"He's fine but nothing sparks, he doesn't understand my interests. He seemed alarmed when I suggested going to a muggle concert. He is always polite and kind and…."
"Dull?" He answered for her, he chuckled at her sad nod. "Lil sis I've spent plenty of time finding out all sorts of things about the people I have been interested in. Honestly I have!" He defended at her disbelieving scowl. "I used to think if I met enough women, one would be the one surely, but I have realised for myself I don't think there will ever be a perfect one for me, because mum and dad have set such an incredibly high bar I won't settle for anything other than what they have, and the kind of girl that would be interested in settling down is certainly not interested in a womaniser like me." He looked so sad at that and she suddenly realised how lonely it must be to never really trust a relationship. He seemed to catch on that his tone had given more away to her than he wanted and he tried to dismiss his moment of vulnerability as a joke, but she knew him to well.
"Maybe if you try to be friends with a girl like that and not make it about sex, refuse to sleep with them." He looked horrified at the suggestion and she had to laugh. "Well if Al can find a perfect partner there is hope for us too, but you are definitely running out of options in the uk, unless you meet a muggle I suppose." He moved to sit beside her and give her a hug.
"Look at me getting advice from my fifteen year old sister, when I was supposed to be helping you out." He kissed the top of her head in a very protective brotherly way. "Muggle girls are fun sometimes but I prefer magical precautions over muggle ones." She wanted to ask him what precisely but he seemed to realise dad would not be happy with him telling her about such things just yet. "Dump Declan, if there is no spark there is no spark, don't put up with it just because he is nice. Please follow Al and fall in love first before taking that big step, and not follow my example." He shook his head looking ashamed of himself "my reputation is not something aspire to." She took pity on him then and tried to make him feel better
"You are the son of Harry Potter, you were famous before you were born. Then you played Quidditch for England at Eighteen when you had only just finished school. You've had girls dropping their nickers for you since puberty, how else were you going to behave?"
"Dad didn't." He said quietly. The openness and how easily the Potter children all talked to each other about sex and their relationships, was a very natural thing to them. Teddy had never been shy to share experiences if asked and they had all followed on from him really. It sometimes made their other cousins deeply uncomfortable, Victoire had certainly been a little surprised, but having a French mother made her quite relaxed about it too. The fact that it was so very obvious that their parents were still so into each other, to the point that all children were very grateful for the privacy wards surrounding their room, had made it seem the most natural thing in the world.
"Dad was a little bit more interested in not getting killed by a dark wizard, and by the time that was done he had mum. They have only had eyes for each other since." As if they had heard their offsprings conversation, the music that always played when dad was cooking started to play a bit louder so they could now clearly hear the tune. Ed Sheeran one of Dad's favourites. The siblings looked at each other and rolled their eyes. James pointed his wand to the doors that separated the lounge from the kitchen, and sure enough revealed behind were Harry and Ginny slow dancing, their eyes closed. They did not stop when the doors opened merely opened their eyes and smiled.
"James you might be a full grown Wizard but if you are sitting on my sofa still in your sweaty kit…" she let the threat hang in the air.
"I showered mum. It's all clean on." He had still leaped up from the sofa and run his hand through his still damp hair. "Lily was just asking me the best way to dump her boyfriend."
"Lily doesn't have a boyfriend." Harry said in a flat voice that made Ginny groan.
"Of course she does, you idiot. She is fifteen, popular, and not going to school during a war." Lily, not for the first time wondered if her Dad still saw her as the little girl who carried around a cuddly kitten, and needed to be sung to sleep. But he just gave her a wink over Ginny's head and continued to dance. The picture of the perfect couple once more.
A/N I know it's short but it's a brief glimpse on how I see the Potter children as they become adults. Please let me know what you think.