Lily was stuffing her laptop back into her bag, when movement on the periphery of her vision caught her attention. Something silvery and silky-looking fluttered onto the floor. Lily glanced up; the man who'd gone through the security check before her was shouldering his bulging backpack again and took his son's hand with a cheerful "Come along then, Harry!"
"Sir?" Lily called after him.
He continued walking, unable to hear her over the din of the airport.
Lily muttered a curse and hastily grabbed the rest of her items off the tray, stuffed them in her hand bag, then struggled a moment to slip on her heels. She scooped up the silvery cloth and hurried after the man and his son – as much as one could hurry in a pencil skirt.
"Sir?" she called again, straining to pick him out in the crowd. Noticing the unmistakable messy black hair, she pursed her lips in determination. She chased after him, her heels clicking decisively against the polished tile floor.
"Excuse me, sir, I think you dropped this."
The man finally halted and turned, looking quizzically at Lily. The boy holding his hand – five, maybe six years old – gasped. He broke free of his father's hold and ran over to Lily.
"My Invisibility Cloak!"
Lily's lips twitched, a single eyebrow arched. Invisibility Cloak?
The father gave her a sheepish shrug and mussed his hair.
Lily crouched to hand the cloth to the boy. "Here you go, love."
He took it, and clutched it to his chest. His eyes flickered to her face and he offered her a toothy grin.
"What do we say, Harry?" the father prompted, his hazel eyes twinkling behind his glasses.
"Thank you, ma'am!"
"You're welcome." She resisted the urge to ruffle his hair, every bit as messy as his father's.
Still clutching at his cloak, the boy went back to his father. The man nodded and smiled at Lily.
She allowed herself a second or two to look at them walk away, hand in hand, talking to each other in low voices.
A sweet pair, Lily mused. Then she dug around her hand bag and pulled out her boarding pass. She double-checked her gate, then peered around for the signs overhead.
She stopped once at the tax free shop to buy a bottle of water and a suitably trashy novel to entertain her for three hours she'd be sitting on the plane, then made a quick pop to the loo.
She glanced at her watch, and groaned. The security check had been quicker than she'd expected, she still had over an hour before the flight would depart. She smiled wryly as she strolled towards her gate. No better time than present to get started on her novel! …And if she would get truly bored out of her mind, she could always check her work e-mail.
Plan set, she checked the flight information on the screen at the gate to make sure she was in the right place, then plopped down to an empty seat.
She raised her head – and squarely met a pair of surprised and amused hazel eyes, staring at her from under raised eyebrows.
Lily blinked, taken aback. It was the man from earlier, sitting on the row of seats across from her. Waiting to board the same plane Lily was. His son, Harry, sat next to him, waving his feet in the air as he leafed through a comic book.
What were the odds? Lily fought the urge to shake her head and instead offered the man a polite if a little hesitant smile.
She received a crooked grin in return, accompanied by a greeting nod.
As Lily wondered if she should strike up a conversation, the man raised his hand to his messy hair. She stared at the curious gesture, and made an idle and quite subconscious note that there was no wedding ring on his finger.
"Thank you, for earlier," the man spoke, jolting Lily out of her thoughts. "Harry loves his Invisibility Cloak and we both would've been sad to lose it."
"You're welcome," Lily replied. "I was happy to help."
Lily itched to ask more about this Invisibility Cloak – in fact the words dancing on her tongue before she decided against it; inquiring after a child's beloved possession would probably be too personal a question outright from a complete stranger.
So instead of satisfying her curiosity, Lily steered the conversation to more neutral waters.
"So…" she ventured slowly. "Malaga, eh?"
The corner of his lips twitched and Lily found herself staring at his jawline, quite zoned out for a brief moment. Then he spoke, his pleasant voice calling her back to Earth.
"Yes… Harry's summer break just started so we're going to visit his grandparents – they moved to Spain after they retired."
"That sounds really nice." Lily smiled.
"What about you?"
"I'm travelling on business – going to attend a conference."
"Sounds important," he acknowledged, his lips quirking again.
"I think it'll be very interesting, so I'm looking forward to it."
They considered one another, politely, as the small talk faltered. Then, the little boy Harry looked up from his comic, having trouble with a word he didn't recognise. The man turned to his son, and Lily hastily picked up her trashy novel. She stared down at the small print of the paperback but didn't actually read; the words on the page blurred as she got lost in thought. She hadn't really paid attention before, so intent on her mission to return the lost item to its proper owners… Had only noticed the heart-warming interaction of a father and son… But now, after having seen him up close, it had become quite apparent to Lily that the young father was attractive.
Her gaze left the book, discreetly slanting over the short distance between their chairs.
He was talking to his son in a low voice, ruffling his hair. Harry pointed something out in the comic book and the man laughed.
Lily quickly lowered her gaze back to her book; all of a sudden she found herself fighting off a blush.
Bloody hell! Lily gritted her teeth. Had she been single for too long? Were her ovaries starting to grow desperate for some action? Because she was well into her twenties now, and hadn't been this flustered over a fit bloke since her hormonal teen years.
She glowered at the book in her lap and angrily turned the page though she hadn't read a single word.
She needed to get a grip.
Lily took a calming breath and grimly stamped down the urge to steal glances at this endearing guy and his adorable son. She settled into her chair and focused back in her book. Minutes ticked by slowly as she tried to get into the story. It would've been easier, she wagered, if he hadn't been so aware of the man sitting across from her.
When the gate finally opened and the flight was ready for boarding, Lily breathed a sigh of relief. She stuffed the novel into her hand bag and got up, her boarding pass at the ready. Her eyes unexpectedly met with the man's. They shared a quick smile and then walked to join the queue.
It was rather sweet though, how excited young Harry was. He puffed his little chest when he handed his boarding pass to the smiling staff member.
Lily shook her head. At least on the plane she'd have three hours to kill, plenty of time to compose a stern letter to her reproductive organs for going on an overdrive. Was this some early awakening of the biological clock? Had she finally crossed the line where she started looking at men as potential father candidates? Lily suppressed a shudder. God, she hoped not.
Her smile was a little strained as she handed her boarding pass to the flight attendant. She hurried on, the click of her high heels echoing in the walkway.
Lily boarded the plane, clutching her bags and nodding politely to the flight attendant welcoming her aboard. She double-checked her seat number and started down the narrow corridor, looking at the numbers marked below the luggage compartments. She found her seat and rose on tip-toe to safely stow her laptop bag away. Then, she froze, staring flabbergasted into the now familiar laughing hazel eyes.
"Hullo again," the man offered, while his son craned his neck to peer out of the plane window.
"You've got to be kidding me," Lily muttered under her breath as she slumped to her seat.
The man grinned. Lily quickly looked away and started fumbling with her seat belt.
"At what point do you think we should stop thinking something a coincidence and start believing it's some big cosmic joke instead?" he wondered conversationally.
"Well, they do say third time's the charm," Lily said, convinced that her smile was a shade away from rueful.
"That's true. I suppose we should just give in and accept the inevitable," the man said. "I'm James Potter."
"Lily Evans," she replied, squeezing his hand.
"And this is my son, Harry," James added, nudging the little boy in the window seat.
"Hello," Harry said, his grin nearly identical with his father's.
"Nice to meet you," Lily said. "You know, for the third time."
James laughed. Lily's stomach fluttered.
"What's this conference of yours about?" he inquired politely.
"Um, antimicrobial research. I'm a biochemist, working in the medical field so…"
James' eyebrows shot up. "That sounds challenging. Must be important to stay on top the latest research."
"It is," Lily admitted. "That's why attending this conference is such a wonderful opportunity."
"I hope it'll be an enlightening experience."
"Thank you. What do you do?"
"Nothing so glamorous as you; I make websites."
"Well, that's important too, in this day and age," Lily insisted.
James shrugged. "It's fun – I get to geek out and be creative at the same time."
"Biochemist," Lily reminded him. "Can't really judge other people for being geeky."
James smirked. "Honestly, though, web developing is just something I kinda ended up doing 'cause I needed a job I could do from home. You know, because of Harry."
Lily's heart skipped a beat. The question teetered on her tongue, then tumbled out in a deceptively light tone. "Oh, his mother's not around then?"
"Nope, she never bothered."
Their conversation stalled for the safety demonstration, to which Lily scarcely paid any attention. Harry was staring out of the window, his eyes wide and alight behind his glasses when the airplane rolled towards its designated runway.
"The lift off's the best part," he told Lily.
She nodded to Harry. "It is, isn't it? After that it just gets boring."
The plane accelerated, gaining more and more speed – then they were up and climbing through the air.
Lily decided she'd finally sate her curiosity. "Listen," she said, turning to James. "I got to ask… what's this about an Invisibility Cloak?"
"It's a cloak that makes you invisible!" Harry piped up.
James sheepishly scratched his head. "It's a family heirloom," he explained. "Something my dad gave to me when I was little. I had so many good memories from when I was a kid, sneaking around and making mischief…"
He bent close to confidentially whisper into her ear, and Lily had to suppress a shiver when his warm breath fanned her neck.
"My dad honestly made me believe it worked for real. Of course when I grew up I realised it had all been just a very elaborate game… But I thought it was amazing, for my dad to commit like that."
"That is very sweet," Lily said, a little breathless from both his proximity and realising just how great a guy James was. "So you're continuing the tradition with Harry?"
"Wouldn't have it any other way."
A flight had never passed so pleasantly for Lily. The hours flew by as quickly as the miles, as she chatted and laughed with James, had serious discussions about comic books and favourite superheroes with Harry, tried to find shapes in the clouds spreading below them together with the both of them. When the time came at last, for the plane to land, she almost felt a little sad. She got up from her seat, but James followed in suit, resting one warm hand on her waist – a wholly natural gesture, like his hand belonged there.
"Let me get it," he offered, then reached to get Lily's laptop bag from the overhead luggage compartment. Lily blushed.
The three of them left the plane and walked to the baggage claim area together, little Harry between them, holding hands with the both of them.
She felt empty when they finally bid goodbye at the baggage claim. Harry craned around to wave to her and she waved back, her stomach sinking as she watched them walk away.
They would go on and visit family and Lily would go to her conference. Their paths could very well never cross again, and yet she had never bonded with perfect strangers like that…
Lily sighed and set out, wheeling her suitcase behind her. She went to pull her phone out of her jacket pocket, to check on the hotel reservation info on her e-mail – when her fingers brushed a piece of paper.
She pulled it out and stared at it.
If you have any spare time from your conferencing and want to tour Malaga or just have a good lunch, give me a call.
James
The phone number hastily scrawled to the bottom of the note was the most welcome sight Lily'd seen in ages.
The End.