Author's Note: This was written from a prompt on Kitty East's Prompt Table, entitled Seven Ways To Bake A Cake. This is my first James/Lily piece. If you enjoy it, please review!
The Seven Ways To Bake A Cake
It was an overcast and chilly January day, and James Potter entered his house with his nose burning red from cold and his eyes streaming; he stomped snow from his boots and unwrapped the much-abused red-and-gold Gryffindor scarf from around his throat as he called into the seemingly-dormant house, " Lils? I'm home!"
He stood for a moment, listening for her response, and when there was none James skulked quietly down the front hall of their Godric's Hollow home, a wicked grin sported across his face; he slipped quietly into the kitchen and found himself facing the back of a very still red-headed woman who was gazing out the window over the sink with both hands folded over her stomach; it was obvious that she hadn't seen him, but, owing to the solemn atmosphere of their home, James decided to surprise his Lils, however rudely.
She screamed two curses that were thankfully not magical and spun around as he wrapped his arms securely about her waist. She raised her hand to punch him, caught sight of his face, and made do with beating his chest angrily.
" Dammit, James!" The normally-docile Lily Evans-Potter swore again, and James laughed, pulling her tightly to him like a tantrum-railing child until she had tired herself of half-heartedly striking him and instead buried her face in his shoulder. Her terrified breathing slowed, and she muttered something that sounded an awful lot like, Only a Marauder…
At least she understood his roots.
" What are you doing here?" Lily demanded after a short pause, pulling away to better see his face, though he did not release her from his embrace. " I thought you were working overtime…"
" Sent me home." He shrugged. " Thought we could take the time to set up the baby's room, better do it now while we've got the time…"
" James, I'm only two months along." Lily smiled tenderly and reached up to brush his unruly bangs from his forehead. " The baby isn't due until July, we have plenty of time."
" With Voldemort on the loose, who knows how long we have." James muttered, his tone more vicious than frightened. Lily gasped minutely, and her hands flew down to rest against her flat stomach again; James guessed what she had been so absent-mindedly thinking of when he had caught her gazing out the window.
" It's okay. Lils, it's okay." James assured her, releasing her waist to grab her wrists. " I won't let him get us. I promise."
Lily's blazing green eyes met his sincere hazel ones for a moment, and then she nodded, and turned back to the sink.
" Well, all of that painting and priming and setting up of the baby's room can wait until a weekend when your good-for-nothing best mate is free; better having Sirius here, doing something useful, than out there carousing and getting drunk every night." She stated baldly. James bristled.
" Hey, for your information, Lils, Sirius is very invested in our baby's life. He's already agreed to come over tomorrow to help set up a few things…"
Lily decided not to ask what those few 'things' were. She knew well enough by now that she was worried about the baby, but James downright obsessive about the whole matter, and whatever he needed Sirius's help on, it likely involved protective charms around the crib he had set up the day she had found out she was pregnant, and he would probably try and spell-proof the nursery door...
" Right. Well, run along then, James, I've got lots to do." Lily ordered offhandedly, resting her hands on her hips and surveying the counter with a keen eye. James followed her glance and it registered to him at last that there was an excessive amount and strange assortment of utensils, mixing bowls, cutting boards, and packages lying strewn about their kitchen.
" What is all this?" He demanded, as per usual of a man in a kitchen. " Lily, what have you been up to all day?"
" Not all day, I haven't even started yet." Lily snapped back. " But for your information, I am baking cakes."
" That's a lot of mix." James observed. " How many cakes are you making?"
Lily's eyes lit up; of all the Muggle activities she had ever engaged in, he knew, cooking was her greatest love of them all.
" Well, we need to make one for the Longbottoms, Alice is pregnant as well and Frank says she's already come down with the cravings…I think one for Sirius, he needs something besides eggs and fudge and butterbeer in his stomach for once…Remus, although we'll have to call around a bit to find out where he's at now if we want to deliver it…Peter, of course, he was just begging for some home cooking last week…Albus, he expressed a special interest in seeing if I could make a lemon-flavored one…Severus, I doubt he ever…gets…"
Lily trailed off, staring at James' face as the wide, open planes closed, a hard mask veiling his normally buoyant features. Reciprocal pain flashed through Lily's eyes, and she dropped the hands she had been counting names off on, her green eyes hurt.
" Why him?" James spoke with icy tones.
" He's…he was my best friend, James." Lily stated quietly, not meeting his burning gaze. " I get farther away from him every single day. I want to do something for him. I care about him."
" But youlove me." James' voice was a token brighter.
" Of course." Lily sighed, exasperated.
" Well, that's okay then, I guess." James stepped closer and rested his hands on her waist, pulling her close to him but not embracing her. " So, tell me, how do you bake a cake?"
Lily grinned mischievously.
" There are seven different ways I know of to bake a cake." She began, her voice a conspiratorial whisper.
" Go on." James grinned.
" The first…is this." Lily reached around behind her, lifted her wand without removing her eyes from his, and cried out, wand held aloft, " Accio bakery cake!"
For several moments, nothing happened; then, with a whizzing bang and the tinkling of shattered glass, a large white box sailed through the window over the sink and landed on the floor at Lily's feet.
Blushing scarlet, Lily repaired the broken window with a flick of her wand, pulled away from James' hands, and picked up the cake box, setting it on the table.
" Clever, woman." James complimented grudgingly.
" Isn't it? I bought it earlier this morning." Lily stated brightly.
" That's one down, six to go." James hesitated, then added, " By the way, who gets the last cake?"
" Us, of course." Lily replied with a mock-roll of her eyes.
" Oh, good, I thought it would be Voldemort, the way you're going." James joked, hopping up to sit on the counter and watch her. " So, what's phase two?"
" Phase two and phase three involve…" Lily grinned, and lifted her wand a second time; the cake-mix boxes near James' left hand sailed to Lily's arms, and she set them down on the counter. " Mixing by magic, and by hand, using pre-made mix."
" Fun." James interrupted, and when Lily shot him a hard look, he grimaced apologetically. " Sorry, go on."
" Right." Lily sighed. " Observe." She twisted her wrist, and the utensils and mixing bowls sailed over, the cake box was stripped of its top, and a rhythmic clanging and whooshing filled the air as the cake began to make itself.
" Nice." James complimented a second time. Lily smiled and set to the second box, following the instructions to the letter, her burrows furrowed in singular concentration. James watched her, watched the subdued sway of her hips and worshipped the tender tuck of her stomach with appraising eyes. He found it extremely difficult to pay attention when she and her magicked utensils finished the second and third cakes, runners-up to the bakery-snatched one, and she flounced across the room to grab the next two boxes.
James grinned wickedly as Lily drew even with him, and he brushed his hand once from her temple to her belly, in a motion so quick she didn't have a chance to stop him. Lily gasped, her cheeks going red, and she slapped his knee with the hand not burdened down by a mix-box.
" Stop it. You're acting like Sirius."
James laughed.
" There are worse people to imitate." He commented. " Besides, you're my wife."
" And I'm trying to concentrate." Lily snapped pertly. " Now, if you please…"
She spun around and flounced back to the opposite counter, but James leaped down to follow her, standing at her shoulder as she began to strip the tops of the boxes.
" Phase four and phase five involve mixing with magic and by hand from scratch." Lily's tone bubbled with enthusiasm; she had already forgotten and forgiven him his transgressions, it seemed.
" Erm…why the boxes, then, if it's from scratch?" James inquired.
" Because these…" Lily smiled. " Are all of the ingredients needed for scratch." She dumped several large packages onto the countertop, and turned to smirk devilishly at him. " Since you're so interested, why don't you help me?"
While the cake-children of phases two and three baked in the oven, filling the kitchen with their rich aroma, Lily and James worked side-by side at one mixing bowl, letting the magicked utensils work the other; James made a point of smearing batter on Lily's cheek, and she got him full on the tip of his nose. They laughed heartily, eyes shining, and within an hour James had learned how to bake a cake from scratch.
" Excellent." Lily stated admiringly as they pushed the third and fourth cakes into the oven. She glanced at the first two, cooling on a counter-rack nearby, and added, " The bakery-bought cake can go to the Longbottoms, I'm sure Alice will enjoy it…the double-fudged chocolate one can go to Sirius, he's got such a sweet tooth, and the angel's-food can go to Severus."
" Might rub off on him." James muttered, and Lily smacked his arm reproachfully.
" In case you hadn't noticed, James Potter, that Devil's Food cake has rubbed off on you." She touched the tip of his nose, and her finger came away smeared with batter. She licked it clean, keeping her eyes fixed on James, and he felt a subtle tightening in his midsection at the allure of her beautifully seductive green gaze…
Just when his eyes had begun to cloud over with the force of his somewhat wandering thoughts, Lily pulled her finger from her mouth, and grinned.
" Right, then, we'll give the orange-crème to Remus and the Devil's Food to Peter, he loves sweets even more than Sirius…" She spun around with an absent-minded cant of her head and began to wave away the steam rising from the already-baked cakes. Shaking away his errant thoughts, James stepped up behind her, so near that their bodies melded infinitesimally together.
Lily sucked in a harsh breath at the contact, and held it so long that James feared she would soon turn purple from oxygen loss. When the silence showed no sign of breaking, he forced himself to speak, though his voice wavered slightly.
" So, what's next on the agenda?"
Lily exhaled in a quick burst and stepped away from him, moving toward the refrigerator at the far end of the room. She rummaged inside of it for nearly a full minute before she emerged with several wrapped plates balanced precariously in her arms.
" Chilled lemon cake." She grinned wryly at his raised brows and wide eyes. " I know, I know, it's not exactly baking, but I'm sure Albus will enjoy it anyway."
" And how does one make chilled lemon cake?" James pronounced the last three words with an even more forcefully pronounced English accent than was his normality, and Lily laughed lightly at the rhythm of his speech as she splayed the ingredients out before him.
" It's simple, really, just like making meringue pie, only there are two layers of the topping rather than just one—one on top, one on bottom, and the lemon filling in the middle."
" Sounds delicious." James' teeth grazed her earlobe as he leaned close to whisper the words, and he felt a token smug as a tremor rocked visibly down Lily's spine.
Then he stepped past her, leaning against the counter to watch as she immersed herself in her work. He noted that her hands moved frequently to pat along her stomach, as though she was communicating silently with the tiny life growing inside of her—the child. Their child.
" Thought of any names?" James asked impulsively as he watched Lily whipping the egg-whites together a few moments later.
" You men!" Lily sighed, exasperated; she did not turn to face him. " It's a bit early for that, isn't it, but I suppose you and Sirius and Remus have already gone over some names?"
" Some." James allowed with a small smile. " More nicknames than anything, I mean, he's already a Marauder by birthright and he'll need a proper nickname when the time comes for his true induction…"
" It had better not be like Peter's induction, Remus told me the Great Squid nearly drowned him, and really what were you thinking sending a first-year into the Lake?" Lily snapped, all hot-head and temper again.
" That wasn't my idea, Lils, honest! It was…okay, well, it sort of was, but…"
" Right. I had forgotten who we were talking about." He could almost hear her eyes rolling as she mashed the whites together more forcefully than was necessary. " I suppose you wouldn't have nearly drowned and had to be saved by a teacher, would you?"
There was a sheepish silence from James that lasted for several minutes as he watched his wife simmer down from her anger, and then Lily spoke again, her voice surprisingly tentative.
" You said…you called the baby a 'he'." She was nearly whispering.
" And…?" James drew the word out into three syllables, acutely relieved that she had decided to let the subject of Peter's near-drowning all those years ago slide away.
" So you think it's a boy?"
" It had better be, can't be an honorary Marauder if it's a girl, can it?" James tried for a severe tone, and failed. He saw Lily's shoulders shake with silent laughter.
" Names, then, while we're on the subject?" She prompted.
" What?" James snapped back to reality, having been temporarily mesmerized by the subtle sway of her hips as she giggled to herself. " Oh, right. Well, we've just been throwing some things around, nothing too big and fancy, or something that's been used a million times…"
" James…"
"…Not much to choose from, then, I mean, we don't want something ridiculous of course…"
" James…."
" And you know how Sirius gets when he's drunk, and, well, I wasn't exactly of a right mind myself…"
" James!"
" Yes, love?" James broke off, sounding wholly innocent. Lily's teeth smashed audibly together.
" The names."
" Well, we were talking Kiera if, God forbid, it was a girl…nickname of Shadowfox, since she'd most likely have your hair and your foxy personality…"
" I'm flattered." Lily growled.
" And for a boy…" James hesitated. " Well, don't laugh, Lils, it's pretty common, but we were thinking of Harry."
A prolonged silence stretched between them. Lily began to mold the cake together—layer by layer by layer—and James watched her apprehensively.
And then she turned, cake complete, tray in hand, and her smile was radiant.
" And have you thought of any nicknames for our little Harry James Potter?"
James' face broke into a grin to match hers, and he twisted around to follow her to the refrigerator as she stowed the cake there for chilling.
" I dunno, Sirius was thinking Lightningfoot since we're meaning to make him an Animagus as soon as we possibly can, and we figure the only animal fast enough to keep up with the rest of us would be a horse…"
" He sounds like a true Marauder." Lily commented softly as she turned away from the refrigerator and into his embrace.
James held her for a moment that seemed to last a lifetime; the feeling of her warm breaths against his chest was causing strange happenings in his lower torso, and his heart was racing in ways that months and months of contact with her should have prevented, and they only abandoned one another's arms—with an almighty leap that set them five feet apart from each other—when the oven chimed to show that the two cakes within had completed their baking cycle.
Lily was a curious shade of red that nearly matched her hair as she bustled around James and made for the oven; James stood stiffly still as he listened to her moving about, banging the oven door and clanging the hot cakes down on the cooling rack with much more force than was necessary. At last, feeling controlled, he ran a hand shakily through his hair and turned to face his wife.
Lily was standing before the oven, her hands braced on the countertop widely apart, her head bowed beneath the line of her shoulders. Concern washed through James in a hot tide at the sight of her immobile form and stepped toward her, standing behind her and resting his hands gently on her hips.
" So tell me, Lils." He murmured. " What's the seventh way to bake a cake?"
" The seventh way?" Lily's voice was slightly high-toned with excitement. " The seventh way to bake a cake…"
And she broke off mid sentence, spun around, and leaped; James caught her reflexively but unnecessarily as her legs wrapped around his waist and she rested her hands on his shoulders. Her eyes, a head above his, held his gaze with a fire that was impossible to escape from.
" The seventh way to bake a cake is to let it bake itself."
James' grin was so wide it pained his face to wear it as he swung around and crushed his lips to hers, bearing her down the hall to their room and slamming the door behind them.
Written from a prompt-table. Cross-posted to my one-shot collection, Brevis Fabula. Please, review! Constructive Critism welcomed!