Disclaimer: Anything amazing on here is all due to the one and only J.K Rowling!
The beginning of a series of one-shots from the life of Lily and James!
If you enjoy it...even if you don't.. Please R&R and tell me how I can improve!


Lily absentmindedly drummed her fingers on the dining-table. She was staring at the same page of 'The Evening Prophet' that she had been on for the last quarter of an hour, her bright green eyes glassy and unfocused. A small smile danced across her lips as she brought herself back into reality. Blinking, she refocused on real-estate section of the paper she had been studying over the evening. She had been looking at houses to buy with James for the last few months since the wedding, but their small apartment in London was perfect for the two of them, so they were in no rush... Well... they hadn't been in a rush.

Lily smiled again as she dragged her eyes around the page of moving advertisements to see if there were any she'd missed. She had been thoroughly searching the paper for the last three days, since she got the news, but so far the only place that looked promising was a cottage in Godric's Hollow. Lily had fallen in love with its thatched roof, the Ivy climbing slowly up the walls and the pretty little hedge that ran around its borders. She could easily imagine herself and James living there, watching him play Quidditch with the Marauders in the summer, cuddling by the open fireplace in the winter... She just had to get him to agree first.

Thinking about her husband caused Lily to glance anxiously at the clock. James wasn't due home for another hour; he had been away with work for the last five days. Lily hated it when he went away... They were living in dark times and she wouldn't be satisfied until she saw him walk safely through the door. Thinking about James' return caused excited butterflies to dance in her stomach, and Lily gently laid a hand on her abdomen. She couldn't wait to see his face when she told him...

She sighed and let her head rest on her arms on the table...She could never sleep properly when James wasn't there...she would just close her eyes for a second...


What seemed like ten seconds later, Lily was woken by the sound of the front door clicking open, and she heard her favourite sound in the world.

"Lils?" a low voice called. "I'm home!"

All traces of sleepiness forgotten, Lily launched herself out of the chair and ran down the hallway. She couldn't stop her smile stretching from ear to ear when she saw him, clothes ruffled, jet black hair messier than ever, hazel eyes shining from behind his glasses that were almost falling off his nose...windswept, but safe...completely safe.

James looked up, his smile growing equally as large as Lily's when he saw her rushing towards him. Without pausing for a second, Lily launched herself into her husband's waiting arms, and laughing, he picked her up and swung her around.

"I missed you", Lily whispered in his ear when they stopped spinning, and she pulled him even closer, filling the space in her heart that had been missing for the last week. They stood like that for a moment, and then James traced his fingers down her cheek, turning her chin up so he could look into her beautiful emerald eyes.

"I love you", he said, and not breaking eye contact, he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her gently.

Then, eyes gleaming, her lifted her up and spun her around again, their laughter bouncing through the apartment.

Still smiling, they walked hand in hand back down to the kitchen as they filled each other in on everything they had been doing for the last few days. The butterflies started in Lily's stomach again as she looked at the parcel she had left on the table, and so that James didn't see the expression on her face, she quickly busied herself getting his dinner ready.

"... I wouldn't have believed it unless I'd seen it myself...Wilkies, a Death Eater?" said James, throwing himself down into his seat at the table. "It just keeps getting worse, no one knows who to trust anymore and... What's this?"

Lily couldn't look at James, and suddenly she was gripped with fear. What if this had been a bad idea? Should she have told him a different way? They'd talked about wanting this, but they'd always said later, when it was safer...what if he was angry? Her heart raced as she heard him ripping the paper off the parcel. There was a second of silence before James said in a strained voice that sounded nothing like his own,

"Lily? What... I... What is this?"

Taking a deep breath, Lily turned slowly around. James was pale as he looked up to meet his wife's eyes, bewilderment etched on to his face. He gestured again to the tiny Quidditch uniform he was now holding, his eyes filled with questions, his expression unreadable.

Lily gripped the bench and tried to steady her heart as she said breathlessly,

"Surprise!"

James continued to stare blankly, his eyes glazed over. In the same strange, strained tone, he said

"You...this...are you...?"

Lily bit down on her lip and nodded, her long red hair falling free from its clip and tumbling over her face, obscuring her view of her husband.

She jumped when she felt James' strong hands on her shoulders, and stared at him almost guiltily as he gently pushed her hair off her face.

"Lils... are you pregnant?"

She didn't have to say anything; the look in her eyes answered his question. Suddenly, Lily felt the ground disappear from underneath her as James swept her off her feet and spun her around. Their eyes met, and all of Lily's fears instantly vanished when she saw the look of utter elation on her husband's face.

"We're going to have a baby! We're going to be parents! I'm going to be a dad!"

His look of maniacal ecstasy was contagious, and Lily found herself laughing loudly as he continued to spin them around. His grin was still blinding when he finally set Lily down on her feet, and a look of wonder crossed his eyes as he stared into hers, realisation setting in.

"So...so you're happy?" Lily asked hesitantly. "I wasn't sure how to tell you, I didn't know how you'd react, I know we've always said we wanted to have kids, but it was always later, always when it was safer, and I didn't know how you'd feel and.."
James silenced her by planting a prolonged kiss on her lips.

When they broke apart, James continued to stroke Lily's face, and looking deep into her eyes he said,

"Lily Potter. I can honestly tell you that I have never been this happy in my life...except maybe the day you said "I do".

Lily beamed at him, but a thought was still nagging at her.

"It's not safe James, our world. It's not safe for a baby."

James just continued to stare at Lily, and to her surprise she noticed his eyes gleaming with tears. He took a deep breath and said,

"I know beautiful, I know. The thing is...I don't know when, or if any of us will ever be truly safe again... and that's scary. But we have a choice. We can sit around and do nothing...We can hide, we can live in constant fear as a shell of our former selves...Or we can keep going. We can live, and laugh and keep making amazing memories. We still have life, which is more than we can say for some...and I feel like we owe it to the people we've lost to keep going. They gave their lives so that people like us could keep going...they gave their lives so that we could bring a new one into the world..."

The tears were flowing thick and fast from her eyes as she gazed at her husband. This side of James, the sensitive, compassionate and vulnerable side, was not one that she saw much, but it made her love him even more until it felt like her heart was swelling to the point where it would burst.

"He will make an incredible father", she thought to herself.

"...Besides", James continued, "our baby will have us...and we'll protect our little boy or girl...until the very end".

Lily's head was suddenly filled with images... watching James rock a tiny bundle to sleep, laughter filling their home, first words, first steps, a cake with a single candle on it...and she found that her hear was swelling with a new kind of love, a kind that she never knew she could feel.

"We'll be ok, Lils".

Looking up at her husband, she knew he was right and a smile so big it hurt stretched itself across her face. James laughed, kissed her passionately again, and suddenly jumped and started bustling around the room. Lily laughed at the animated actions of her husband as he rushed over to the empty fire place and pulled out his wand. When the fire was roaring, James leant across and took a handful of the glittering powder sitting on the fire place.

"You only just got home!" Lily laughed. "Where are you going?"

James' eyes lit up as he grinned at his wife and stepped into the flames.

'I have to tell Padfoot!" he said, and with a whooping laugh, James spun out of sight.