Lily Potter walked up to the cottage she shared with James, Sirius, and as of late, Remus and Nymphadora Lupin. The sun shined brightly on her wavy sparkling red hair, and her green eyes seemed more dazzling than usual. She smiled serenely at the lovely picturesque view before her as she opened the little wooden gate, her 21 year old immortal face still as beautifully porcelain as it had been the day she'd died. The flowers seemed to come alive as she walked past them, her presence stirring the bees and other insects to move on to the next flowerbed.
Her husband looked up as she entered the cottage, and smiled upon seeing her. It was hard not to. James pushed his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose and got up to kiss his wife.
"Do you have it?!" Sirius broke in, bounding down the staircase and all but pouncing on Lily.
James scowled at his best friend.
"Yes," Lily laughed, handing him the bottle of firewhisky she had purchased just as she would hand a bone to a dog.
Sirius sighed in relief as he caressed the bottle. "My love," he whispered. "We shall never be apart again."
James arched an eyebrow, but said nothing.
"Where are Remus and Nymphadora?" Lily asked Sirius, but he was too busy downing large amounts of firewhisky to notice.
"They've gone for a picnic," James said, sidling over to Lily, "they'll probably be gone for hours, and Sirius is so old that bottle of firewhisky will have no problem putting him to sleep."
"I heard that!" a gruff voice said from the upper floor of the cottage. A coughing fit ensued and some more gurgling noises.
"See what I mean?"
Lily pondered for a moment. "James, is sex all you think about?"
"Well excuse me, but isn't this supposed to be heaven?"
"It's the afterlife, James; many people have different interpretations of the word 'heaven', clearly."
"You wouldn't have said that last night…"
Lily blushed as red as her hair and went off to put the rest of her groceries away. James smiled crookedly and then went to join his best friend for some firewhisky and other manly activities.
***
An old, greying dog plodded through the house in a way that emphasised how utterly bored he was. Remnants of a once handsome youth were shadowed in the lustrous dark hairs that still clung onto him. His head snapped up as he heard his friends returning from a day out, and skipped merrily over to the door to greet them.
Remus looked down and saw his best friend panting at him and wagging his tail. He rolled his eyes but chuckled, "Hey Padfoot."
The dog then moved on to greet his niece, looking as if he were about to jump on her in excitement, but instead going for the picnic basket she had in her hand.
"Sirius!" Remus berated. "You could've taken her arm off!"
"Darn it," the now human Sirius replied. "No cauldron cakes left."
"That's the point of a picnic, you eat the food," Nymphadora laughed.
Sirius turned back into a dog and trudged off, even more moodily than before, seemingly mumbling to himself.
"Remus!" Lily said, descending the staircase gracefully yet quickly. Her hair was uncharacteristically ruffled and her lipstick was smudged all over her face. Similarly, her clothes were very untidy.
"Hello Lily," Remus smiled, kindly not commenting on her appearance. James followed moments later, looking particularly smug. The large pile of black and grey shaggy fur in the corner grunted.
"Did you have fun on your picnic?" James asked, putting his arm around Lily's waist.
"Yes, the weather was lovely," Nymphadora replied, smiling at Remus.
"Well, what do you expect? This is heaven," James said.
And this time, Lily didn't argue.