Just for One Moment
Disclaimer: I wish I were J.K. Rowling...alas, I am not.
Author's Note: This is my first attempt at posting anything, just a short oneshot. Just a simple moment in time I wanted to capture, one of nothing more than that strange and scary experience of love. I hope you enjoy!
Darkness engulfed her. She was falling with no ground any sign below. Blind panic took control of all senses. Suddenly, a desperate screaming filled her ears: the sound of a woman recognizing her oncoming death.
My screaming, she thought.
There was no escape.
Out of the shadows came sinister high- pitched laughter that instantly silenced her screams. Horrified, she slowly turned toward the sound and saw a white blur of a face near hers.
No, not a face, she reasoned, something about it wasn't quite human.
Harsh green light encircled her and the figure. She expected him to attack her, but he merely stared from beneath his cloak. His red eyes watched as she twisted in midair, fighting the fall.
Then, just as quickly as it came, the face vanished and she was alone. Her feet hit solid ground with a jolt. Bright light filled the air around her in dusty beams. It was as if she stepped into a light fog. Warmth flooded her veins and the red-eyed man was forgotten as she gazed on the scene before her. She recognized it immediately
It was her wedding day, not so long ago. With a little jump, she saw her younger self as she put on her dress and adjusted it with a frown and shaking hands
She smiled as she recalled the nerves that plagued her that day. Suddenly the door swung open. Her heart stopped beating in her chest at the sight of her now-husband
"Lils, you know I hate to see you frown," chuckled a tall man with dark ruffled hair and glasses from the doorway
"James! What are you doing here! You can't see me before the wedding!" Her other-self exclaimed dramatically, though her eyes glinted with laughter.
"Oh those bloody muggle superstitions are ridiculous, and I won't have them keep me from you."
With that he swept into the room and wrapped his arms around his beautiful fiancée. She pressed her cheek into his chest. He held her there for a long time, saying nothing, each absorbing the warmth of the other in return for nothing but the same.
Deep down, Lily knew he was afraid to let her go. She knew he was terrified of losing her in the war against Voldemort. To the Death Eaters, their marriage would make them appear more vulnerable, yet Lily knew this love could only make her stronger.
"You know, I will love you until the day I die," she whispered into his shirt.
Then, suddenly, there was a ringing in her ears and all the fog disappeared. She groaned and rubbed her eyes before groping around the nightstand for her wand. She felt a warm body sigh beside her and a lazy arm grab her waist, pulling her back.
"Jaaames," She groaned in annoyance. Finally grabbing her wand by squirming out of his grasp she swished it in the air, silencing the damned alarm. Collapsing in relief of the silence, she felt the arm pull her in once again, although this time she couldn't resist. She yanked the covers tighter around her bare shoulders and turned to face her husband, who sleepily opened his eyes.
"We should get up," she whispered without much conviction, "the baby will be awake and hungry soon." She smiled and rested her head on James' chest.
The baby. Harry. Her baby, she thought with a contented sigh. James felt her smile and knowingly put his arms around her once more, reminding her briefly of a dream she may have had, but she brushed off the idea as another thought of her imagination.
"Mmm. I think we should stay in bed just a little longer." He said, pulling his fingers absentmindedly through her hair. Any other day she would laugh and drag him out of bed despite his complaints, but something about this day made her give in.
And so they defied the sunrise. She, wrapped in his arms for what seemed like an eternity, and he, tightening his grip, as if to protect her from the coming day. Not saying anything, they just enjoyed the comfort of the breathing, warm body from the one they loved most in the world.
I will love him until the day I die, Lily thought Beside her, James was thinking the same thing.
Little did they both know, that day had arrived.
About an hour later, Lily quietly opened the door to the nursery. She peeked around the side to gauge whether her son was awake or not, and sure enough, there he was sitting up in the cradle watching the mobile above zoom around and around his head. It was made of tiny broomsticks and quidditch players who passed the quaffle along the circle like a perpetual game of hot-potato. Every time the different player caught the red ball Harry would laugh and clap, and curiously with each clap gold sparks would burst from his hands.
Lily froze in the doorway. It was his first sign of magic and at such a young age! Waves of relief and wonder jolted through her spine. In that moment Harry's future flashed before her in nothing more than a gut feeling: she knew he would be a powerful wizard some day.
As if he sensed this notion pass through his mother's mind, Harry turned and let out a boisterous giggle on seeing her face, as if he were rather pleased with himself.
"Good morning, my little love," she whispered while lifting him up. He instantly wrapped a few chubby fingers in her shining hair and mumbled some incoherent words in reply. "Happy Halloween darling. Did you know on this day alone, you can be whoever you want?"
Harry's eyes grew round with wonderment at her serious tone; she swore he could understand every word. She looked away and thought to herself how useful it would be to be anybody else at the moment. All she needed was a permanent mask so she could hide from evil forever.
Looking into her son's face, she realized she wouldn't trade her life for anything. In fact, she was sick of hiding. She wanted to take her son outside and show him the beauty of the world. Instead, they were cooped up in Godric's Hollow, where no matter how often she performed scrubbing spells, the dirt of fear gathered like cobwebs in the dark corners of the house.
Love was a terrifying thing for Lily, a new thing for Lily. Sure she had parents and a surly sister but they never understood her on a deeper level, they only ever loved the side of her she revealed to them. For some reason, maybe the differences between their two worlds, Lily never felt completely at home with her real family.
Hogwarts was her only solace in a lifetime of wearing a mask to those she loved. It was the one place she could truly find herself. She was never ashamed of who she was there, even when the taunts of "mudblood" rang in her ears. Looking down at the son in her arms, she hoped that one day the walls of Hogwarts would be a comfort to him as well.
This new breathing bundle she held surged sublime love through her as she looked simultaneously into Harry's eyes and into her own. The piercing green of his innocent spheres washed over her. He was hers, and nothing could ever change that.
He giggled once more and put a chubby finger to her cheek, pulling her from the spell.
"Alright, let's go see what Daddy is cooking."
It was the perfect day, one full of this unfamiliar, overwhelming love that Lily still marveled in.
Harry spent the morning knocking over all the furniture in the house by whizzing by on his tiny broomstick, and James spent it chasing after him with a booming laugh. Lily meanwhile, watched all the mischief from the safety of the couch, with a radiant smile of happiness on her face.
Perhaps just for this one moment, all was well in the world of Lily Potter.