A/N: Written for The last Poison Apple over at the HPFC Forum. Thanks so much for taking the time to organize the Christmas Fic Exchange! We all appreciate how much work it took to make the challenge and keep it going! I hope you enjoy the story!
Warnings: Possible OOC (Not good at these two characters, I admit)
NOTE: I wrote this on the assumption that Lily and James did not immediately go into hiding after school. I assumed they spent maybe a year or two with free movements before having the Fidelius charm cast and everything.
Lily was having a great day. She had just come back from a girl's get-together with Marlene and Alice. Together, the trio had done nothing but shop and eat and chat to their heart's content for the entire day. It was a much needed break from the war that was going on around them, and nothing could ruin her—
A scream rang throughout Godric's Hollow.
Lily stared, horrified, at the various holes that riddled the walls of her house. James stared back sheepishly.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing?"
In response, her husband held up a dry wall patch and gestured to an assortment of tools that were scattered around him.
"I was out in the Muggle world and there was this store that had a bunch of interesting stuff! A man told me these things were for fixing walls, so I thought I'd try it out!" He told her cheerfully.
Lily groaned, and with a vicious wave of her wand, muttered, "Reparo!"
The wall immediately fixed itself. James stared up at her with the look of a kicked puppy.
Lily very expertly averted her eyes and walked to the bathroom to get a Calming Draught. She had a very bad feeling that this was not an isolated incident.
It was really too bad she was right about most things.
James's eyes were wide as he stared at the screen in front of him.
"Lily! I didn't know Muggles could do magic!" he exclaimed loudly to the irritation of their fellow Movie-watchers
"Muggles can't do magic," Lily whispered back.
"Then why—"
"I'll explain later!" Lily snapped back as quietly as she could because they were starting to get glares and shushing noises.
An hour later, the movie was finished and James was practically squirming in curiosity. He stared at her expectantly as she held back a sigh. She didn't tell him how he looked like a little kid about to open a present on Christmas.
And so, they apparated home and she spent the next three hours explaining animations and special effects. Which led to questions and another hour or so describing computers.
But, Lily wasn't a database and finally tells him to shove it and search it on the internet or something.
"What's the internet?"
She slammed the door in his face.
It's when they're taking a walk together that his interest is peaked again. And this time, it's in a children's park.
"So, muggle children come here to play?" He asks curiously.
"Well, yeah," she says, "What did you do then?"
James shrugs. "I mostly played with my toy broom, or a doll."
Lily simply nods while he scrutinizes the playground. Wandering over to the swing set, he sits on an empty seat and pushes off slightly. Slowly, he attracts the attention of the children, who laugh at the grown man attempting to figure out how to stay in the air. After satiating their amusement, they finally come over and show him how it works.
Meanwhile, the other adults at the park are staring. Lily hopes that her blush isn't too prominent.
"Wow! This is just like flying!"
"It's just an elevator James. Please lower your voice."
At dinner, James casually brings up a topic of seemingly no importance.
"You know Arthur Weasley? From the Order?"
Lily nods and looks at him curiously.
"I'll be going over to his house for a bit so I'll be a bit late coming home tomorrow," he clarifies.
"Okay, but what are you going over for?" She's fairly certain that it doesn't have anything to do with the Order because they just had a meeting last week.
"Just… getting to know him better!" He smiles that charming, boy-ish grin at her and she is not impressed.
Raising her eyebrow at him, Lily patiently waits.
Finally, James sighs. "Okay, he has a collection of batteries that he said he'd let me see."
Lily stays silent for a bit, before bursting into uncontrollable giggles. She doesn't know what's so funny about that fact, but she can't seem to stop laughing. Maybe it's just his dorkiness that's causing the wide smile on her face.
"Why did I marry you?" She asks between laughs.
James seemed a bit confused, yet sends her a cocky smirk. "Because I'm awesome and you love me, of course!"
Lily simply shakes her head with a smile on her face. She must really love him then, especially considering the fact that she's still by his side.
…
Or, she might be masochistic. It was really hard to tell.
