Lily sat on the couch in the living room, staring blankly at the wall. It was well past midnight, but she couldn't sleep for several reasons; her enormous pregnant belly made it nearly impossible to get comfortable anymore—Why did she have to have three weeks to go in the middle of summer?—her wand was lit and lying beside her, the only light on in the whole house… and James was missing.
Two days beforehand, she'd gotten a message from Emmeline Vance that there had been an attack on the Ministry. James had left for work just an hour before that, so at first Lily thought he hadn't even arrived. But as the hours had passed with no sign of her husband, Lily became frantic with worry.
She'd first written Alice; surely she'd heard from Frank, who had gone in to work with James? When her reply came, Alice said that Frank had sent her a Patronus message that he was fine, and shortly after Lily got another message that Frank had returned safely. After that, Lily Flooed to the Burrow, hoping to seek consolation from Molly. But seeing Arthur playing with his boys was too much for her: what if James could never play with their son? So Lily returned home—staring out the sitting room window, only eating when she absolutely had to, and jumping at the slightest movement.
The sky was slowly lightening to grey when Lily jumped to her feet—a large silver stag had just landed in the center of the sitting room.
"On my way."
Lily almost cried with relief. But she held her composure, watching the door like a hawk. James would have some serious explaining to do when he got home. It was almost ten minutes before the doorknob turned and a flustered-looking James walked through the door.
"JAMES POTTER WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"
James stopped in his tracks, his invisibility cloak still hanging out of his pocket. You can imagine his surprise: Lily, who had mellowed out quite a bit during her pregnancy, looked very intimidating indeed as she stood there fuming. Her green eyes certainly looked a great deal less friendly than usual.
"I was being tailed by Death Eaters," James said, hoping that Lily's temper would simmer down. It didn't
"Alice got word from Frank right after the Ministry was attacked!" Lily cried. "He said you'd gotten separated but that you were headed here! That was almost three days ago! Do you have any idea how sick I've been with worry?"
"I'm sorry—"
"And of course you couldn't be bothered to send a message beforehand!" Lily said, throwing her hands in the air dramatically. "You had to make absolute sure that I would be scared out of my mind for you!"
"Lily, calm down!" James pulled his arms around her shoulders from behind, pinning her arms to her sides. "I'm alive, see? I'm safe."
"Yes but that doesn't mean I wasn't scared for the past few days!"
"Lily, do you remember the promise I gave you last week?" he asked softly.
Lily had to stop and think for a moment, all the while trying not to let the tears in her eyes fall. "You said you'd be there for our son," she said quietly.
"For how long?" James prompted.
Lily let out a sob and turned around to bury her face in her husband's shirt. "For his whole life," she whispered.
"Exactly," James stroked Lily's hair and held her as close as he could. "Now why would I break a promise like that?"
"You wouldn't," Lily shook her head. She looked up to meet James' eyes. "I know you wouldn't."
"So do you have anything to worry about?" he asked, wiping a tear away with his thumb. All Lily could do was shake her head.
They held each other's gaze for a moment, before James kissed the tip of Lily's nose and said,
"I love you, Lily Potter."
"I love you too, James Potter."