If Only

Only a week before that fateful Halloween night, the young Potter family were away on holiday in France. They were staying in Marseille, a muggle part France but had a few wizarding villas, one of which they were staying.

It was beautiful, white villa with a private pool and a clear view of the harbour. They were in love with it, and the peace that came with being away from the reach of Voldemort was amazing too.

At this particular moment in time, James was playing around in the pool entertaining Harry, who sat in a swim-nappy, with his chubby feet dangling in the pool. Lily was reclining on a sunbed soaking up the sun while reading her favourite book – To Kill a Mockingbird.

James' hazel eyes caught a mischievous glint. He grabbed a wet Harry and stealthily got up and out of the pool. He walked over to Lily and unceremoniously plonked Harry on her chest then shook his head letting his curly hair shake water all over his dear Lilyflower.

She closed her eyes, "James. You shouldn't have done that sweetie!" In a sickly-sweet voice, she continued, "You just soaked my limited-edition book. You do realise what's going to have to happen, don't you?" The redhead looked up at him innocently from behind her shades. She sat up slightly and Harry slid to her waist, he blinked up at his parents with large, green eyes.

James gulped and nodded, any words that might have passed his lips were demolished by the threatening sparkle in her eye.

"I thought so, Hun." She smirked, and pulled out her wand, "aguamenti mutatio hyacinthum!" She whispered this under her breath (so that he couldn't turn it against her in the future) and water dyed blue flushed down over James, she put a lot more power than was truly necessary so that it was slightly harsh against his skull. He winced slightly. Lily felt slightly smug but just to add to it, she also put a lasting spell so that the colour would stay until the day after tomorrow.

Somehow, for some reason, Harry had stayed on her waist and she turned to look at him as her husband began to plead with her stop the spell as 'it made his luscious mocha skin look sickly'. She rolled her eyes at Harry and he giggled, his small hands coming up to cover his mouth, his sweet green eyes, so like her own, crinkling. The mother of just over a year, smiled and reached out a finger to stroke his soft, plump cheek, and smiled softly.

Harry started to clamber over his mum's legs and body, trying to find a comfy spot. James stopped complaining and his mouth turned up at the corners at the sight of his wonderful wife and child. He pushed Lily forward gently and climbed in behind her. Her body moulded to fit his, and sighed in content. They would have been perfectly happy to stay there for eternity.

If only they were there for two weeks, not one, then maybe, just maybe, fate wouldn't have been so cruel. If only they could have stayed past that fateful day.