Bedrooms

"You've got to be kidding."

James runs his hand along the wooden door frame. "What? You don't like it?"

"No, I don't."

"What's wrong with it?"

Lily sits down on the staircase's fourth step and arranges herself as best she can, what with her swollen belly pressing against her knees. This is only their first stop of the day, and already she feels like they've been house-hunting for hours. "It has four bedrooms."

"So?"

"There are only two of us."

"Three," James says, looking pointedly at Lily's swollen stomach, "if you're counting Harry."

"Fine. Three of us. So we only need two bedrooms."

"Plus a spare, don't you think? If Petunia ever comes to visit?"

"Petunia's never going to visit."

"Your parents, then."

Lily glares at him. There's a tiny kick within her womb. "That still only adds up to three bedrooms."

James glances at the ceiling for a moment, and Lily knows that look, she used to watch him do that look all the time during Transfiguration when he was trying to think of an excuse for why he didn't do his homework. "We could have more kids," he says finally, returning his eyes to hers. "I'm trying to think ahead."

Lily shakes her head. "We both know why you want to buy a house with four bedrooms."

"It's not because—"

"It's because you want Remus, Sirius, and Peter to move in with us."

She watches that smirk spread across James' face. "It'll be like Hogwarts all over again!"

"No."

"Come on, Lily. They're good roommates."

"I don't want roommates."

"Oh? When were you going to inform me?"

"You're not a roommate. You're my husband."

James smiles. "I love hearing you say that."

Lily struggles to her feet, starting a little as baby Harry nudges her with his toes. "Yes, well, you're going to be my former husband if you try to talk me into purchasing a four bedroom house."

She starts down the staircase, clinging to the bannister. James follows; she hears his heavy footfalls on the wooden steps, and she shudders a little at the thought of four boys (for that's what they are, really: boys, no matter what their ages are) scampering up and down that staircase in the middle of the night. "Our whole house would smell like dog," she says, wrinkling her nose.

"We could forbid them from transforming indoors."

"It doesn't matter. We aren't buying this house." They reach the bottom of the stairs and walk through the kitchen. Its countertops gleam like new, and Lily runs her fingertips over the handles of the cabinets as she passes them.

"You love the kitchen, don't you," James says.

She closes her hand into a gentle fist. "I can fall in love with a different kitchen."

"It's such a good neighborhood. Godric's Hollow—there's a lot of Gryffindor history here."

"You don't know Harry's going to be a Gryffindor."

"There's a lot of Quidditch history, too."

"You don't know if Harry's going to play Quidditch."

They walk out to the foyer, where the real estate witch is handing out business cards to another couple who's been touring this house.

"It's the only mixed neighborhood left," James says as they walk out past the witch. "Muggles living next door to wizards. Just like how you grew up."

Lily stops dead in the doorway.

"Are you stuck?" James asks in a hushed voice. "D'you need me to push you?"

In spite of herself, she smirks. "I'm not stuck." She turns to face him. "I'm not quite that big, yet." She looks up into his bright blue eyes. "I forgot Godric's Hollow was mixed."

"Yeah!" James taps the brochure in his hand. "It's a great neighborhood for half-bloods."

Lily touches her belly again.

"And it has such a nice kitchen." James puts an arm around her shoulder and guides her back into the foyer.

"I do love that kitchen."

"And we'll have built-in babysitters."

"What do you mean?"

James' eyes widen slightly and flick to the ceiling again. "You know, because—all the neighbors will want to watch Harry. Because he's going to be the cutest little tyke in town. He'd have to be, having you and me as his parents. And—"

Lily squirms away from him. "James! You can't invite your bloody friends to live with us!"

"But why not?" James runs a hand through his hair. "You like them."

"I like a lot of people. That doesn't mean I want to live with them."

"But—"

"Forget it. We aren't getting a house with this many bedrooms."

"Excuse me," says the real estate witch, tapping Lily's shoulder. "The house next door is up for sale, too. Two bedrooms. Double kitchen."

"We're not interested," James says quickly. "We want four—"

"I want to see the house next door," Lily says.

James groans.

"Brilliant," the witch says. "We can pop over there just after I help this family."

With a smile, Lily rocks up onto her tiptoes and kisses James' cheek. "It's such a nice little town, remember, James?" she says with a wink, and James, after only a moment of hesitation, returns the wink and wraps his arm around her shoulder.

Baby Harry kicks.

"James Potter, you've got to be kidding me," Lily says four months later.

James leans out of their brand-new bathroom in their brand-new Godric's Hollow house, shaving cream coated across his cheeks. "What?"

She's standing in their new bedroom, one hand drawing aside the curtains while the other hand cradles newborn baby Harry. "There's a family moving into the four-bedroom house next door."

"Really?" James ducks back into the bathroom. "Do they look like good babysitters?"

Lily closes her eyes. "I dunno, it's three fully-grown men you went to school with. Does that sound like a recipe for a good babysitting experience?"

"Three men? Who could they possibly be?"

"Don't play dumb with me, James."

James pokes his head out again, still grinning. "They're only renting for a few months," he says. "Sirius wants to be close to his godson, and so we thought it only made sense to have Remus around to clean up any messes resulting from that situation, and Peter—you know how Peter is, always following us around."

Lily drops the curtain and moves to put Harry in his crib. "We're moving," she says, but there's a small smile on her face she can't hold back.

"There's one more empty bedroom over there, if your sister ever wants to visit!"

Lily lets out a laugh, which sends baby Harry into a fit of giggles, and when James finishes shaving, the family of three walks over to greet their new neighbors.

For Magnolia: "Write about a couple buying a new house."