Note: This one-shot was written for Round 5 (Borrowed Inspiration) of the 2018 Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, Season 6. I'm writing as a Chaser (3rd Position) for the Wimbourne Wasps. I'm also a Slytherin in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments). Prompts for these two competitions will be listed in an author's note at the end for spacing purposes. The title is taken from "Home" by Gabrielle Abrin.
home is where your heart is set in stone
A ripple of air tickled Lily's ankles, drawing her eyes to the red blur zooming through the kitchen and into the living room. Shortly behind was the scampering patter of a cat and her swamp-monster of a husband, face wrapped in toilet paper and fingers clawing the air like the sort of b-movie horror films she used to watch with her dad when she was small. The playful 'raaWWWRR' bellowing out of the living room was followed in turn by a deflated sort of mrowr and a delighted squeal that carried sharp and clear through the air; when that squeal wasn't punctuated by a crash, she thought she could probably count it as a small victory. Harry was finally getting used to that toy broom Sirius had bought him for his birthday a few months prior, but she had lost count of the picture frames and decor she had Reparo'd since July.
The teapot was warm beneath her fingers, but Lily's face was warmer with the lift of a smile as she shook her head and poured a cup for herself, opting to let James get his own. 'Dressing Harry for bed' seemed to be diverting a bit from the traditional way of it, and at this rate, the tea would chill again before either of her children—one literal and one figurative—managed to wind down for the night.
Blowing steam from the surface, Lily held the teacup between her hands and strode towards the chaos. Leaning against the door frame, her amusement rose into an eye roll as Harry swung his broom in a loop to grab the cat's tail.
"You're teaching him to terrorise the cat," Lily scolded with a sip.
"I'm teaching him to be a brilliant Seeker! Look at those reflexes. Bloody spectacular, they are," James said with a grin as the cat yowled and yanked, tumbling Harry off of the broom in some half-tripping thump to the ground.
"You should probably leave that to an actual Seeker. It wasn't even your position," she said with a snort into her cup, but when Harry's head thunked against the sofa leg and triggered a legitimate wail, she promptly abandoned her drink to a side table in order to scoop Harry out of the fuss. The cry lingered as she began affectionately rubbing the start of a bump, gently bouncing him in a soothing rock. When Harry buried his sniffling face into her neck, she thought to herself that she could watch the both of them for an eternity, however despairing it might be for her poor cat (and her son's poor skull).
Just a pace away, James was eyeing the two of them but must have decided the damage wasn't permanent as he resumed his point: "You say that, but it might've been! I bet I could've done both if I put an effort to it," James puffed with a wink as she grasped a pillow from the sofa and playfully smacked him in the face, balancing Harry in the other arm. "Now look who's terrorising!"
"Your head was starting to do that inflating thing it does. Thought I'd better pop it before the whole of it floats away," she quipped.
"Cheeky," he said. "Or was it pretty cheeks," he added, reaching over to pat her cheek. Mischief lit his hazel eyes as he then started reaching toward her rump. "Or was it se-"
She smacked him with the pillow again, punctuated with an amused eye roll as she settled down on the sofa, Harry nestling into her chest. The triumphant grin on her husband's face indicated that he wasn't taking much mind of the assault this time. Leaning down, James planted a kiss to her lips and ruffled the thick mess of hair on their son's head. He had quieted quickly, little hands grasping at the dark red locks hanging down like flimsy handles. Maybe it wasn't very motherly to think her baby's head looked a bit like a bush someone had dropped into an oversized inkwell, but even as she smoothed a wild cowlick (which sprung immediately back into position), she felt a rush of overwhelming fondness and pressed a kiss on the spot.
"How about you do the mum thing and lull Harry to sleep," James said, running a ruffling hand through his own hair.
She arched an eyebrow, cheek resting against the baby's forehead as he started chewing on her hair. It could probably use a wash, but Harry didn't seem to mind. "It could be the dad thing too if you hadn't specifically brought out his broom, you know."
"Quidditch is important," James began. "You never know what day could be your last." The words hung in the air with an unexpected sting, and Lily felt a harrowing chill spread in her stomach. "You know. Sest la vye," James added, though the playful tone had strained in his delivery.
"It's c'est la vie," she corrected, her voice like a murmur buzzing into Harry's squirming head. Again, she pressed a kiss to the baby's temple and looked over at her husband. "And I think you mean carpe diem."
"Carp is de yum."
"That doesn't even make any sense," she said, resting her chin on Harry's head. "You're not nearly as funny as you think you are," she added, though a little smile was playing at the edges of her mouth.
"Joke's on you. You're stuck with me. Nothing but bad jokes for the rest of eternity," he said as he squeezed onto the sofa, jamming her into the back cushions.
"In the house, it feels a little bit like eternity," she said, sitting up a little so he could maneuver behind her, and as he circled his arms around her waist, she felt her throat seize. Trying to swallow the knot with immediate frustration, she dipped her face down to brush her cheek to her son's temple, and however fortified Godric's Hollow might be, she could feel the stress and prickling fear start to grip at her heart. Harry had fallen still against her chest, little arms going limp, and she tightened her hold.
He was so small, and so much of his short life had been enclosed within the walls of one safe house or another. He had missed the heat of the summer sunbeams, climbing instead on precarious ledges to peer at summer through the window, yet unable to do something as simple as go to a park and toddle barefoot through the grass.
"I know this place is safe. Our home is safe, and that is more important than the freedom to come and go… The reason just makes me so angry; it's monstrous that anyone could want to hurt him." Angry—and frightened for Harry. She would lead the Death Eater pursuit to the ends of the earth (and drop them off the edge) without much concern, but that these masked demons could scramble to murder a baby... "He's so little. He hasn't done anything."
James unlaced his fingers from where they had settled just above her belly button, pressing a hand to Harry's back and burying his face in her neck. "They think he will, which is more than reason enough for a Death Eater. Can you imagine how that conversation went? Voldemort all strung up over this prophecy: 'Groveling slaves, I hast found mine greatest enemy, the ultimate nemesis! It is—the Potters' baby!' Cue here a wave of gasps. 'His nappies of doom will unleash upon us great chaos! In place of our destruction, he will bring healing and really, really adorable, small, tiny displays of Quidditch prowess!'"
Lily sniggered through the clench in her chest, and however serious and harrowing it all felt, a little smile tugged at her lips against the will of her more rational mind. "I wish I could just throw nappies of doom at them and end this war."
"The wizarding world isn't ready for our world-saving nappy bomb." James kissed her ear, and she smiled more fully. "But maybe someday. As stir-crazy as I feel, as scary as it is to think that a horde of psychotic murderers want at our kid, I'm kind of proud of the little munchkin already."
"Every cloud has a silver lining," Lily said, though it felt a little trite. Looking down at her son, mouth open with a bit of drool now wetting a spot on her pyjamas, she tried to grasp tight to the words and strong-arm them into feeling true, despite the suffocating desire to protect him from anything that would ever cause him to suffer. "Sometimes that lining is the simple fact that your baby makes a monster lose sleep at night, and that the house you're stuck in protects him from that monster."
"Cheers to that."
Rubbing a hand over the soft mess of hair on Harry's head, Lily snuggled to the side so she could more comfortably rest her head on James's chest, shifting Harry so he was nestled between them. For some time, silence fell over the house, she focused on little more than Harry's sweet baby smell and the way James's fingers combed absently through her hair. When she noticed James's breathing had evened out, Lily shifted to pull her husband's wand from his pocket and set it safely on the side table behind him. Tugging out her own wand, she dimmed the lights as James flopped an arm off the edge and made a soft snuffing sound in his sleep. With a swift wand-tap to the edge of the sofa, she extended the cushions to prevent a near-tumble overboard, then arched to set the wand beside his on the side table.
Wriggling back into place, Lily nudged James over a little to make room for Harry between them, and as she watched his sleeping face, she felt her chest wrench again. "You are so loved, my sweet Harry," she whispered in a familiar mantra, voice nearly inaudible as she continued. "I would fight with every bone in my body if it meant I could protect you. Will fight. Your dad will, too, no matter what it takes, for however long it takes…" For all of eternity, if that's what it came to. Lily felt the sentiment more passionately than anything she'd ever felt in her life, blazing in her mind like a roaring fire. She just wished they didn't have to.
Slipping her finger into his tiny, grasping fist, Lily closed her eyes tightly, and as the blaze cooled to flickering embers in her mind, she soon followed them to sleep, curled and tucked in a fortified ball that the prophecy could not—would not—break.
author's notes
Quidditch League Prompts:
Position Prompt: Use the title of a story written by your Chaser 1 (TheQuietAwakening) for inspiration. The title I used for inspiration is "Safe."
Optional Chaser Prompt #1: (word) eternity
Optional Chaser Prompt #2: (quote) every cloud has a silver lining
Optional Chaser Prompt #3: (word) playful
Applicable Hogwarts Prompts:
-Writing Club, Character Appreciation - (Quidditch position) Seeker
-Writing Club, Disney Challenge, Snow White, Dopey - Write about someone being cheeky
-Writing Club, Showtime, Hamilton: That Would Be Enough - (pairing) James/Lily
-Writing Club, Emy's Emporium: Spain, Gibraltar - (trait) Cheeky
-Writing Club, Ami's Audio Admirations, Comedy - Write about someone who is funny (or thinks they are!)
-Writing Club, Sophie's Shelf: Vault 53 - (word) Stress
-Writing Club, Lyric Alley, "Helpless" by Hamilton - As long as I'm alive, swear to God you'll never feel so helpless
-Northern Summer Funfair, The Ghost Train, Compartment 19 - (action) Running
-Eastern Summer Funfair, The Circus: Trapeze - (word) Healing, (emotion) Fear, (colour) Red, (action) Crying
-Southern Summer Funfair, Henna Tattoo Booth - (object) Teapot, (word) Imagine, (action) Tripping over
-365 Day Challenge - 4. (action) Falling asleep on the sofa
-Insane House Challenge - 427. (word) Nemesis
-Summer Seasonal Challenges, Days of the Year, Happy Heart Hugs Day - Write about a couple snuggling.
-Summer Seasonal Challenges, Summer Prompts - (word) Park
-Summer Seasonal Challenges, Birthstones, Turquoise - (dialogue) "I would fight with every bone in my body if it meant I could protect you."
-Summer Seasonal Challenges, Flowers, Foxglove - (word) Heart
-Summer Seasonal Challenges, Elemental, Fire Element, Leo - (pairing) James/Lily
-Summer Seasonal Challenges, Gryffindor Challenge - (character) Lily Evans, (trait) Arrogant, (location) Godric's Hollow
-Summer Seasonal Challenges, Astronomy Prompts, Mars at Opposition - (emotion) Anger