Disclaimer: J.K Rowling owns Harry Potter. Obviously.
"A good marriage is when both people feel like they're getting the better end of the deal" – Anne Lamott.
Lily woke up to the smell of bacon, eggs, toast and tea. She smiled as she yawned and stretched her arms high above her head and threw her legs over the edge of the bed. She put on a housecoat and brushed her hair before walking out of the bedroom into the kitchen, and found her newly become husband standing there, spatula in hand. He was already dressed in jeans and t-shirt and his hair was as messy as ever. He also wore an apron on which it stood 'Kiss the Cook' and he grinned as he saw her.
"Slept well, love?" James asked as she walked up to him. Lily nodded and tiptoed, pressing a kiss to his lips. She felt him smile into the kiss before they parted.
"Wonderfully." She replied with a smile. Honestly, was it allowed to be so good-looking in the morning? "How long have you been up?"
"Only half an hour. I wanted to have breakfast ready as you woke up." The black haired man smiled, looking incredibly happy. "After all, a man must be allowed to spoil his wife once in a while."
It had only been a week since their wedding. Normally they would have been on their honeymoon right now, but neither of them had felt it was right to leave now. They would have their honeymoon when the war was over instead. If it ever stopped raging. But Lily didn't want to think about that now. They had instead taken a week away from all fighting, and this was their last day. Tomorrow they would go back into the war again, so she wanted to enjoy every moment of this day.
"Of course." The redhead said as James dragged out a chair in front of the table for her to sit down. She still found it hilarious – and extremely sweet – that cocky, arrogant James Potter in fact had been raised to an old-fashioned gentleman. Opening doors, pulling out chairs, offering her his arm when they took a promenade… the best thing was that he never went over the limit, never made her feel like she was incapable of doing it herself. It simply made her feel very cared for.
Her husband placed a plate in front of her, and another in front of his chair, filled with fried eggs, bacon and toast, and gave her a cup of tea and a glass of fresh orange juice before he sat down. Honestly, what had she ever done to deserve him? Lily thought, smiling, as she bit into a piece of bacon. It melted in her mouth. Wow, he could really cook.
James smiled lovingly as he sat in the couch, his wife leaning toward him and gesturing dramatically. Sure, it was war outside, but in this moment, everything was perfect.
"And what happened then?" He asked curiously.
"Well," she said, making a wide gesture with her arms as she continued. "Mary dragged out her wand, but I was so tired of his idiocy so before she could say an incantation I took a step forward and punched him." She laughed, and James joined in. She was telling him how a member of the Resistance – he fought against Voldemort but wasn't in the Order like them – had been making snide remarks about Sirius and how a Black – not that Sirius was a Black, he was a Potter through and through – shouldn't be allowed to fight with them. "He was so shocked, so he didn't know how to react! Hadn't expected the muggle approach – no one ever does. Also, I think I broke his nose." She added with an afterthought.
James laughed loudly and couldn't help himself when he put his arms around her and hugged her tightly. Since she sat with her back against him she couldn't hug back properly, but she hugged his arms instead. Kissing her beautiful red hair he felt like he would explode by the sheer happiness he felt at the moment.
"I love you, you wonderful wonderful woman." He said, grinning. "Have you told Sirius about this?"
"I love you too, you dork." Lily answered, grinning the same grin. "And no. I'm not sure whether I should or not. While I'd love to tell him about breaking that man's nose, I don't think I want to bother him with prejudices. He has had too much problems with being born a Black already, he doesn't need more."
"Fair point." The black haired man nodded. "I bow to your wiseness." He bowed as well as he could, sitting down.
"Wisdom, James. It's wisdom."
"And once again she has proven her wiseness." He exclaimed loudly and she giggled and hit him over the head.
"Ow."
Lily stood up and walked into the bedroom to get the books they were currently reading: she was reading "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by some ancient muggle writer and James was reading a book about Transfiguration he had bought last week. He had never understood why people read fictional books, but he loved to read books about the fields within magic he was interested in, especially Transfiguration.
He watched her as she walked back toward him and smiled. His fierce, beautiful, honest, strong-willed, intelligent and simply incredible wife. He still had a hard time believing she was actually his wife. James had no idea how that even happened, and how in Merlin's name he ever had succeeded to get her to give him a chance. But most of all, he had no idea why Lily Evans had wanted to date and marry him, but he was the happiest man alive because of it. He didn't know what he had ever done to deserve her, but he would make damn sure he made his best to one day actually do that. If that even was possible, of course.
Lily laughed loudly where they were standing in the rain. It had been a really stressful week filled with sorrows – Marlene and her whole family was dead – and there wasn't much joy in their lives at the moment, but after five days filled with crying after they got the message it had begun to rain violently and James had just let out an aggravated growl before dragging her up from the couch, put raincoast on them and dragged her out in the rain. They were in their garden, so they were in the middle of Godric's Hollow, but she really didn't care at the moment as she watched the mirth on James' face when he spun her around. She was wearing grey and brown sweats but honestly, she felt like a princess – no, a queen – at the moment.
They were both drenched in the rainwater and soon they would begin to shiver, but at the moment she felt pure delight for the first time in two weeks.
Her wet hair fell into her face and she smiled as James carefully wiped it away and bowed down to kiss her. She forgot everything that was wrong in the world as he kissed her and she threw her arms around him, dragging her fingers through his messy hair. Merlin and Morgana, she loved his hair.
"You're so beautiful." James breathed, and the gaze in his hazel eyes really made her feel like the loveliest person in the world, despite being wet and dressed in rags. Before she could say anything he took a quick jump back and landed in a puddle. He grinned, looking so incredibly mischievous, as she shrieked when the water splashed all over her.
"Oh, you're so going to regret that." She growled playfully as she threw herself onto him. Normally he would've been able to catch her without problem, but now he fell backwards by some reason, and landed on his back in the middle of another puddle.
Smirking a dangerous smirk she held him down as she scooped up some water in her hands and poured it over his face. Her husband spluttered and tried to cover his face, but she sat on his arms so he couldn't move them.
"Ahhh!" He cried. "Stop it!"
"Admit I'm the best person in the world and the conqueror of everything!"
"Never! I'll never surrender to you!"
"Just what I hoped you'd say." Lily grinned as she scooped up more water in her hands, this time with some mud in it, and slowly dripped it onto James' face. He trashed, trying to get loose, but she held him down.
"Ahhh!" He cried again, this time throwing his head backwards, which only resulted in him getting even wetter. The redhead laughed evilly.
"Surrender!"
"Okay, okay!" James said, laughter in his voice. "I surrender! You're the best person in the world and the conqueror of everything. Especially my heart." He added.
"Cheesy."
"I know. But it's the truth."
They both laughed as she stepped of him and stood up. Then she held out her hand for him to take and she helped him got on his feet again. They both had begun to shiver. It was the beginning of autumn, so it was getting colder outside. Still laughing, James held his hand out for her to take and she did so before they walked in to get some hot chocolate and blankets to get warm again. Or perhaps something else.
He could always get her to laugh.
James clung onto her and felt his brother doing the same next to him. He let out a violent sob and she held him closer. All of them were mourning, but it was the worst for him and Sirius, and Lily knew it, so she simply held them and kept them from falling apart.
"I… I can't bel-believe they're dead." He stuttered out, finding a slight comfort in being so close to the two persons he loved the most in the entire world but still feeling an overwhelming sorrow.
"They can't be dead." He heard Padfoot mutter from behind, but the words lost all meaning as the Potters' eldest son let out another sob. "Mum and dad can't."
"I'm so sorry." Lily said, voice low as tears prickled down her face. James knew she had loved his parents too, though obviously not as much as he and Sirius, or Remus and Peter, had done.
"No." The black haired men refused to believe it. "We're only teenagers. They're supposed to be here still. They must be here for the end of the war. For their grandchildren. For family Sunday dinners and Christmases. They can't be dead."
"I'm sorry." Lily repeated again. "So sorry."
That was the words that finally made it seem real for James. Because Lily knew exactly how it hurt to lose your parents; she had done it already in 7th year when her parents died in a car crash. He buried his head in her hair and let out another sob. Suddenly the weight of Sirius disappeared and a whine was heard as Padfoot's head was placed in his lap. He simply moved one of his arms from around Lily to the animagus' head, petting him slowly. Sirius often turned into Padfoot when the emotions became too much. It had happened more and more as the war quickly worsened. Still, nothing during the war this long had been as horrible as this, and mum and dad hadn't even died because of the war! They had died in Dragon Pox of all things! They were old, even with wizarding standards, and hadn't been able to fight the pox. They had died peacefully in their bed, both sleeping next to each other. But that didn't make the sorrow easier to handle.
The door was thrown open and James heard the familiar sounds of Remus and Peter running into the room. After so many years of knowing them he could identify their steps without seeing them.
"We heard." Peter said, sounding very concerned and sad. They mourned too. "Is there anything we can do?"
The black haired man felt Lily nod.
"Can you go make come camomile tea? I think we could all need it."
"I'll do it." Remus immediately said. He was the one of them who was best at making tea. Then, after a moment of silence. "Come, Wormtail, you can help me."
"Sure, Moony."
James felt immensely grateful for his friends. They knew that Lily was probably the one with the best chance of making this feel better, and they didn't feel offended but just accepted it and did what they could to help.
After a while Remus and Peter returned with the tea and they just sat there in silence for a while, all five of them, with only the occasional sob coming from James and Sirius until they had stopped crying.
She made everything feel better.
Lily moved the brush over the wall, liking how the light gold slowly covered the white ground. They could've done this with magic and it would've been over and done with but she had insisted that they'd to it for hand and James hadn't put up much of a fight. He was always willing to try things the muggle way. Almost, at least. He refused to chop tomatoes the muggle way, thought it was disgusting to get the insides all over his hands.
He was standing next to her, wearing a spare white t-shirt and old jeans. He never wore sweats except when training. He was already getting gold all over himself, having never painted the muggle way before and therefore having no technique for not spilling the paint.
She smiled as he rubbed some colour away from his face and smeared it all over his arm instead.
"Here, dear, let me." She said and took up a handkerchief from her pocket, rubbing the colour away.
"Thanks, Flower." He looked around. They had painted half a wall by now. "Do you think the baby will like it?"
The redhead smiled and tousled his hair, getting paint in it. It looked good with the golden in the black. She kissed his cheek.
"The baby will love it. How can they not? Red and gold for Gryffindor, and seeing how it's our child, how can they be somewhere else? And either way, should they not like the colours - or get Sorted somewhere else - when they're older we can just repaint it."
James nodded and they continued to paint in a comfortable silence. Soon they had managed to paint two of the walls. Three walls should be light gold and the fourth a comfortable red.
As Lily went to open the can with red paint she felt an overwhelming urge and grinned quickly before opening it. She wasn't as agile anymore as she had been before she got pregnant, but yet it wasn't so bad, so she should probably use her agility while she still had it. So as soon the can was opened she put her brush in it.
"James!" She screamed as she bowed, and he immediately turned around with lightning speed. He had been pretty overprotective ever since she told him they were having a baby. He opened his mouth to ask what was wrong and she quickly stood up and whipped the brush toward him, making the red paint rain over him.
He looked completely shocked for a few moments as she broke down in laughter, laughing so hard she could hardly breathe, before a wide smirk exchanged place with the gaping mouth and he whipped out his wand, muttering a spell and making another brush fly to him from the other side of the room.
"Hey! Cheating!" Lily cried out but it turned into a shriek as he, with an evil look on his face, splattered golden colour all over her. She chuckled madly as she ducked down to get more colour on her brush, and soon a full-out-paint-war had broken out. Red and gold colour splattered everywhere.
The redhead threw herself on the floor to avoid an attack from her husband and took the opportunity to throw another shot on him. This was the war they were meant to participate in, not those where people died and got hurt and lost others. In a perfect world… but nothing was ever perfect, and she didn't want it to because flawed was much better than perfection. Perfection was boring, flawed was interesting. Had she wanted perfect she wouldn't have married into the Marauders.
"I'll get you!" James warned her, grinning with his whole face, and Lily abandoned all thoughts about the actual war going on. In this moment the Great Paint War, as it was to be known later on, was all that mattered and she got on her feet, taking the can with red colour with her.
"Attack!" She cried out as she went on the offensive and run toward him, throwing colour blindly.
"Augh! I'm hit!" James said, sinking to his knees, but then looked up with a mischievous gaze in his eyes. "But I won't go down without taking you with me!"
Lifting up the can with gold colour he grinned before throwing all of it on her. She was too close to have the time to dodge and was soon completely covered in golden paint.
"James!" She exclaimed as she dried away the paint from her eyes. "I'll get revenge, just you wait."
James' eyes widened as she hurried up closer to her and tried to roll away but didn't have the time as she emptied the red paint over his head. Thank Merlin it was non-poisonous colour.
Lily yelped as her husband threw himself over her, knocking her to the ground.
"You'll regret that." He said, where he loomed over her. Before she had the time to wonder what he was going to do he brought his head down and rubbed his now-golden hair on her face. Trying to pry him away she couldn't help but laugh.
"James! James it tickles!" She immediately regretted that as he grinned evilly and began to tickle her.
But after a while of screaming of laughter on the floor she caught his head and smiled.
"Oh, come here, you idiot." She brought their lips together and James happily responded and kissed back.
As they stood up a while later they stared in horror at the destroyed room. There was paint everywhere. James let out a choked laugh before turning to her.
"Magic?" He asked weakly. Lily had wanted to do this the muggle way – a nursery should be decorated with love – but watching the catastrophe in front of them…
"Magic." She nodded as they both dragged their wands.
He made her forget.
James held Harry close to his chest, breathing in the scent of his baby. He felt more at peace when he felt the child sleeping next to his heart, but nothing got completely take away his anxiety. It had been three months since Harry had been born, and Lily was out on her first mission since the pregnancy made her unable to go on them. He had gotten used to know that she was safely at home when he was away – not that he had been away much, but when he had been needed and unable to be replaced he had went on a few missions. He had known it couldn't stay that way; there was no way his fierce warrior to wife would stay at home when he was out endangering himself, but he had wished…
A whine woke him up from his thoughts as the miniature him with Lily's wonderful eyes in his arms had awoken.
"Are you hungry, little one?" James asked with a tender smile. He loved this little being so, so much, more than he had ever loved anyone. More than he loved even Lily and Sirius. He hadn't known it was possible to love someone so fiercely and so deeply as he loved his baby. He would do anything, anything for this little human. Harry whined again and the newly become father stood up and walked over to the fridge. What a curious and useful invention. He was happy Lily had insisted they installed electricity in the house when they first moved in.
He hummed quietly and bounced Harry in his arms as he used a quick warmth charm to warm the milk Lily had left in the fridge before feeding his son it through a baby bottle. The black haired infant happily drank it all. Just as he placed the empty bottle in the sink he heard the door open. His hand was halfway to his wand as he heard a familiar voice call out:
"James?" Lily, oh thank Merlin. Holding Harry closer he hurried out in the foyer before stopping abruptly. He dragged out his wand and held it up as he walked out in front of his wife. Probably-his-wife.
"What would've been your name if you had been a boy?" He asked cautiously. Normally he didn't take these precautions around Lily, but he had Harry now and Harry had to come first, even before the love of his life. Lily looked very tired, but she nodded approvingly.
"Jasper, after my mum's dad."
"Lils." James let out a sigh of relief as she ran up to him, not even bothering to remove her cloak. He let go of Harry with one arm and held her tightly as she threw her arms around him and their baby. "I've been so worried."
He buried his face in her hair and breathed in her scent; lilies, vanilla, books and blackberry bubble gum. There was also unknown scents; the scents of war. Death, terror and destruction. But she was here, and she was safe, and that was all that mattered.
"Oh, it was so dreadful." The redhead said, her voice low. "Everything's gotten so much worse than the last time. So much death… Frank only just escaped Bellatrix and her terrible husband and brother-in-law yesterday."
Of course, all the Marauders knew Bellatrix Lestrange née Black on more personal terms than most of the wizarding world. She was one of Sirius' cousins, and Andromeda's older sister, after all. She was truly the most terrifying human in this world, second only to Voldemort himself. Sirius had been on her wedding, and her husband and his brother was apparently almost as bad, though not as manic. James shuddered at the thought of one of his dearest friends in her company. They hadn't been very close to Frank and Alice when they were at Hogwarts since they had been a couple years older, but as the Marauders and Lily joined the Order and Lily and Alice were pregnant on the same time they had become close friends.
He hugged his wife closer and forced himself to breathe slowly.
"At least you're safe now. We're both."
She nodded.
"Yeah. Sirius and Peter will be over for supper tonight, by the way. Moony is busy on a mission."
Another wave of fear almost overwhelmed James and he felt it becoming harder to breathe. They had no idea what missions Moony went on and that only made their fear for their best friend worse. He could be killed anytime and no one would know anything because he would be alone.
"James?" Lily's voice came from below. He tilted down his head and looked at her concerned face. "Don't worry. He'll be fine. It's Remus. He'll always be fine, and then he'll return in time to tea."
"Of course." He breathed. "Of course. You're right. You're always right. It's just…"
"I know. He's your – our – friend and you worry about him. It is as it should, but I promise, he'll be fine."
James was about to tell her not to promise things she cannot keep, but restrained himself. After all, she could be right and saying anything else felt like inviting a tragedy to happen.
Suddenly Harry began to stir and giggled happily as his mother's hair tickled him in the face. James didn't even try to suppress the smile adoring his face as Lily took the baby from his arms and began to tickle him.
She understood him like no one else, perhaps not even Padfoot.
Lily laughed as she watched her now one-year-old son and her husband playing. Harry was laughing while James conjured multi-coloured bubbles from his wand. It was Harry's favourite game after flying on his broomstick. There was no doubt in her mind that he would be just as good a flier as his dad, perhaps better.
"Dada!" Harry giggled as the black haired man booped his nose. Harry had only just learnt to say a few words, such as 'dada' and 'mama', though 'Pafoo' had been his first, much to Sirius' happiness. He could also say 'Moo-ey' and 'Vomy'.
"I'll be back soon." She told her husband and laughing child, and James nodded, laughing together with Harry. She loved his laugh. His laugh was probably the best with James, really. How it made her want to laugh too, and how he even could get a friend lying on their death bed to laugh, one last time. Walking into their bedroom she sat down to write another letter to their friends. No one would come and see them until the danger was away, and only Padfoot and Wormtail knew where they were. She didn't like that they didn't tell Moony, and neither did James, but they couldn't risk anything. Harry was more important than anyone else, after all. And if there was the slightest chance that Remus was the traitor, despite how neither she nor James could believe it, then they couldn't take it. But she wrote these letters so they could give them to James' fellow Marauders when they could leave the house and meet them again.
As she had finished writing her letter she walked back into the living room, where James had begun to create smoke instead of bubbles, and Harry was trying to catch it in his little hands. He was so precious. And so was the older copy of him with hazel eyes who was creating the smoke.
"What about some tea?" Lily proposed. James grinned and stood up and took Harry in his arms before handling him to her. Throwing his wand on the couch he stretched and yawned.
"Sounds wonderful, Flower."
They made moves to go to the kitchen – which was on the other side of the same room – as a bang was heard from the front door. James' eyes widened.
"What's that?" He asked, sounding extremely worried. "Stay here with Harry. I'll go see."
It was pretty much an order, and normally she would've argued, but who could be here? Neither Sirius nor Peter would come here, and no one else could because of the Fidelius Charm.
Lily held her son close to her chest and in a tight grip enough for him to begin to whine as she waited. She loosened the grip slightly when he began, though. The fear flooded her and she couldn't breathe. Calm down, Lily. She told herself. Anytime James is going to come back with someone and laugh and…
"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off…"
A green light was seen through the opening to the hall and a hollow sound reached her as something fell to the ground. The sound of a body falling of a ground.
Lily screamed.
Voldemort was here.
And he had killed James.
The sound of his footstep echoed in the room next to them and she froze for half a second before Harry's babbling reached her ears. He wasn't crying, even though she had screamed. He was still a happy little baby.
And so he would stay.
Lily ran. She didn't have her wand, she had left it in the bedroom, what an idiot she was but she would protect Harry with all her might. James had died for them. James had died so she could get Harry out of here. James was dead. The thought echoed in her mind as she held Harry as tightly as she could without hurting him, tears trailing down her face as she ran upstairs toward the nursery. She had to get out of here. He blocked the door, but there had to be another way out. She heard His steps coming upstairs. He wasn't hurrying, He knew they were trapped.
Desperately she stocked everything she could move in front of the door as a last attempt to protect them. Lily knew it probably was useless, this was Voldemort, but it was their last chance. It might work as a distraction – like James, because he had only been a distraction and they had both known it – until help could arrive. Help. Suddenly she realized something.
Peter. Peter had abandoned them, Peter was the traitor. Not Remus. Peter.
Sweet, darling Peter, who played peekaboo with Harry, who had the potential to change the Arithmancy world, who could listen to James complain for hours after everyone else had stopped paying attention, not once getting bored. Peter, who was like a little brother to them all, who they all, and especially Sirius, felt the need to protect. Who they all, again especially Sirius, loved fiercely. Sirius. Sirius would get the blame. Everyone thought he was the Secret Keeper. No one knew about the change, not even Remus. Sirius would take the fall. Because of course the Rat would slip away somehow.
But all those thoughts felt insignificant as Harry let out another laugh and played with her hair. Lily dried her tears. There was no time for this now. Getting Harry out of this alive was all that mattered.
She smiled through her sadness.
"Mummy loves you, Harry." She whispered to her baby. To their baby. He would always be their baby, even though James was dead. "Mummy loves you. Dada loves you. So, so much. Always know that, little prankster. Mummy and dada loves you more than anything, more than life itself."
Her barricade tumbled to the floor and the door flew open. He stood in the door. Lily quickly dropped Harry in his crib, standing in front of it. She knew it was futile, her body wouldn't protect Harry for long, but it was all she could give and she would be Harry's shield as long as she still was in this world.
"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!" She begged, feeling tears in her eyes though they did not fall.
"Stand aside, you silly girl… stand aside, now…" His voice was cold, high pitched, and emotionless except the slight triumph in it. But no. He would not get to Harry. Ever.
"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead…"
"This is my last warning."
"Not Harry! Please… have mercy… have mercy… Not Harry! Not Harry! Please… I'll do anything…" She felt Harry's hands playing with her hair. He didn't understand that this was a life-or-death-situation. She almost smiled, but she couldn't. She couldn't.
"Stand aside… stand aside, girl…" Why didn't he just kill her?
He seemed to finally loose his patience and raised his wand.
As the green light surrounded her, the light in the same colour as her eyes, she closed her eyes. She hoped with all of her heart help would arrive in time to save their baby. Harry must live, she didn't care what happened, as long as Harry lived.
But as her dead body fell to the floor, the last thought in Lily Potter's mind was:
"I get to see James again."
He would die for her. For them.
James sat curled up on the grass, his arms hugging his legs. His mum and dad both sat on his side, but not touching him because he didn't want anyone to touch him right now, and his dead friends were all here, but he only had eyes for the pond. Onto it surface he watched his wife fall to the ground, dead, and he couldn't help but scream as it happened. Now Harry was alone in there with Voldemort. He was standing on all four, watching in fear, as the man-who-couldn't-be-human-anymore raised his wand, pointing at his one year old son. Harry began to cry for the first time that evening, realizing that it wasn't a game.
The green light surrounded the toddler, and a scream was heard.
But, it wasn't the scream of a baby. It didn't even sound human. James watched in awe as the dead body of Voldemort, not Harry, fell to the ground.
"But… but how?" He asked no one in particular. Relief flooded him, but he had no idea how it was possible.
"Love." Mrs Potter breathed. "I read about it once. Lily's sacrifice, when she died even though she could've survived since He by some reason would've let her live, to protect Harry worked as a shield. Harry is protected by his Mother's Love."
James let out a sob of relief. His baby would live. Voldemort was dead thanks to his Lily. And Harry would live.
He just sat there, watching Harry crying in his crib for a few moments before a shout was heard from behind.
"James!"
He immediately got on his feet as he recognized the voice.
"Lily!" He shouted and began to run toward her. As they met he hugged her as tightly as he possibly could. He was crying, but he didn't care in the slightest. Both he and Lily was dead, but they were together, and Harry would live.
"James." She sobbed. "James, James, James."
"Lily, my Lily." He whispered into her hair. Neither wanted to let go off the other.
After a few moments of silence James spoke up, silently.
"He's okay." He said. "Harry is okay. Your sacrifice saved him. Harry will live."
Lily looked up at him with teary green eyes.
"Really?" She didn't sound like she dared to believe it.
"Really." He assured her and led her toward the pond. They sat down, not letting go of each other once and watched everything that was going on in Life.
They held onto each other and cried and screamed and yelled, in relief, anger, sorrow, regret, as Hagrid came and fetched Harry, as he refused to give him to Sirius. As Padfoot filled with grief began to hunt the Traitor down. As the Traitor killed those people and blew the street up, screaming about how Sirius had betrayed them, how dared he, and Sirius, mad with grief, began to laugh because he didn't know how to else cope with it all and the Ministry officials dragged him to Azkaban without a trial, how Harry was left at Petunia and Vernon's doorstep and how Remus the day after as he returned from one of his secret missions got the news. How Moony screamed and sobbed and punched things and cried and shrieked in grief, in betrayal, in sorrow. His grief was intense enough for even Dumbledore and Minnie to seem afraid of his sorrow as they watched him after telling him. Watched Frank and Alice get tortured to insanity by Bellatrix and Rodolphus, in front of little Neville, Harry's playmate.
They didn't leave the pond for three days, watching their friends and son, cursing everyone and everything, Voldemort, Dumbledore (it wasn't really his fault, they knew that, but they weren't in mood for rational thinking) and especially Peter Pettigrew. The cowardly, traitorous, disgraceful rat.
But finally, as everything had settled a little and Sirius was in Azkaban and Peter was in the sewers with the other rats and Remus was no longer screaming but simply lying there, empty, and Harry had 'safely' gotten home to the Dursleys Mr and Mrs Potter and Mr and Mrs Evans, everyone who knew them in the Afterlife finally dared to get close to them and their sorrow. They practically forced the younger Potters to leave the pond and go meet some people.
"Happy 22nd birthday, Padfoot." James mumbled as he threw a last glance at Sirius, who had turned into a dog and was lying on the floor in his cell, whimpering and crying, blaming himself for their deaths, because of course he did. Sirius always blamed himself, and for something like this… But it wasn't his fault. It was the Rat's, and Voldemort's fault. And whoever had told Voldemort the Prophecy.
They dried their tears as they followed their parents toward the Afterlife's version of Hogwarts. They walked hand in hand, still refusing to let go off each other. James felt like Lily was his only anchor to reality, to anything, right now, and he held no doubt she felt the same about him.
Their parents showed them around and they met several old friends and family members, and was told where they could pick out a place they could live. They choose a cottage which looked exactly like the one they had dreamed about having when the war was over. Exactly, in detail. But it felt empty, because Harry would never run around here playing, and Sirius and Remus and the Rat would never come over for tea and to teach Harry to pull pranks.
But slowly they accepted that nothing they did could change what happened in Life, and when they did so things did feel better. After a week in the Afterlife they were finally able to smile again, and after a month they were happy.
Lily and James decorated their cottage, met old friends and family members, found out that some people gone missing were in fact still alive to their great relief, met new people. Even the Founders of Hogwarts, who were eager to meet the Wizarding World's saviours, even though they didn't feel as such. They found their will to laugh once more and they continued much as before, just with that eternal hole of something missing in their lives, but all in all, they had a good death.
They still missed Harry and Sirius and Remus so much it physically hurt, even though they were dead, but they were happy.
She was his anchor, his lifeline, his home.
And he was hers.
I swear, I didn't mean it to turn out like this! I was writing fluff and I only meant it to be fluff, and then THIS happened! I don't even know how! I had no intentions of writing the deaths of James and Lily Potter but somehow it happened anyway.
Oh well. Review!
But really, I meant to write some happy Jily marriage fluff - which is obvious looking at the title and quote in the beginning - and I don't even know how this came to be! But I just felt an overwhelming urge to write it and couldn't fight back! It demanded to be written! I am weak.
But it doesn't matter. I can't write sad anyway, it's not very good, so I think you survived. Well, obviously you did, because you're reading this now.
I'm not really happy with this one, but I put too much work in it to let it go to waste so I'll publish it anyway.
Now, all of you, go think about how terrible it must've been for Lily and James to watch their best friends from the Afterlife, and their son. The Traitor. The Prisoner. The Lost. The Innocent. (Sorry, I've got tarot cards on my head at the moment.) Peter. Sirius. Remus. Harry.
So... nothing more to say, I suppose. Now I'll go watch BBC's Sherlock. Hej svejs!
PS! Next week school starts, so perhaps you'll get fewer stories then, I don't really know. We'll see.