Anniversaries
James Potter awoke late that day. He rolled onto his side to find the bed devoid of his wife. He followed the mouth-watering aroma emanating from the kitchen downstairs. "Morning Lily," he said, kissing her forehead, "Morning Harry," he said, kissing her rotund stomach.
He took in the smell of pancakes, bacon and egg: his favourite. "Everything looks wonderful, love, any special occasion?"
Lily slammed her spatula on the counter, and as she turned on her heel, James had to jump out of the way to make room for her enormous belly.
'Uh-oh…' he though. He mentally ran through a list of dates he could have missed: birthdays, Mother's Day (even though she wasn't technically a mother yet), Valentine's Day, oh wait, yes-
"It's only our one year anniversary!" she informed him.
James took a few steps back at the malice in her voice. "Damn pregnancy hormones," he muttered under his breath.
"Excuse me?!" the tiny, fat, scary lady in front of him thundered.
'Oops…' thought James, 'Not quite quiet enough.' She was glaring at him and breathing heavily. James hastily tried to rectify his mistake. "Lily, love," he began, "I'm so, so sorry. I cannot believe I forgot our anniversary. I love you so much and I-"
"Do you?" she shrieked, "Because a loving husband does not forget the most important day of his life!" Her voice broke on the last word as she burst into tears. He made to give her a hug, but she pushed his outstretched arms away. "Just leave me alone James," she said, as she stomped into the living room.
James was suddenly acutely aware of the overwhelming smell of burning bacon. He went to clean up the remnants of breakfast from the stove. As he was tipping the charred remains of what would have been pancakes into the bin, an idea came to him.
He peeked into the living room to see that Lily was knitting baby blue booties. She was doing it the Muggle way because she said it reminded her of her grandmother. James knew this activity always calmed her down, so this was a prime opportunity.
He tiptoed up the stairs and into their bedroom, retrieving a small, worn, leather-bound book and returned to the living room. "Lily," he said tentatively, "I have something to show you. An anniversary present of sorts."
Lily looked tempted to rebuke him, but instead sighed and went back to her knitting. James chose to take her indifference as encouragement (as he always did) and sat down on the couch next to her. He untied the strap of leather around the book and began to read.
"September 1st, 1971- Pretty, redheaded girl sat in my compartment on Hogwarts Express.
September 2nd, 1971- Pretty, redheaded girl's name is Lily Evans, she is in Gryffindor and in every one of my classes.
September 3rd, 1971- Used a hex to chop off Lily's pigtails. She threatened to feed me to the giant squid. I think I love her."
James glanced up to gauge Lily's response. She had put down her knitting needles and was looking at him expectantly, so James rifled through the journal and continued.
"November 13th, 1973- Finally decided to ask Lily out. She said no.
November 16th, 1973- Asked her out again. She said no. Again."
He kept rapidly flipping through pages, reading through random dates, speaking very quickly.
"February 11th, 1974- Lily got a haircut.
March 2nd, 1974- Lily and I have to work together on a potions project! Yes!
September 1st, 1975- Guess who the other Gryffindor Prefect is?!?!?!?!
September 1st, 1977- Guess who the Head Girl to my Head Boy is?!?!?!?!?!
October 20th, 1977- Lily hasn't called me a toe-rag once this year. I think she's beginning to like me.
May 12th, 1978- I asked Lily Evans out and she said… YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
James turned to the very last page in the book, and read, "And finally,
May 12th, 1979- I just married Lily Evans, the smartest and most beautiful witch that ever lived and the love of my life."
He shut the book and looked pleadingly up at his wife, "Lily, I'm so sorry I forgot. With the state of the world as it is, I'm lucky I remember where my own wand is, but that's no excuse. I've documented every event of our lives in here and if it were up to me, we'd celebrate the anniversary of every single one of these things."
Lily giggled, "Yes, 'Happy," she glanced at a page at random within the book, "Three year, six month, and one day anniversary of the day my hand brushed against yours during Prefect duty' does have a nice ring to it."
"I think it does." James replied hopefully.
"That's a lot of dates to remember," she cautioned him.
"I'll do it for you, love," he assured her.
"Mhmm," she said, "Now where's my real present?"
James scrambled for a minute, "Well, actually, the gift for the first anniversary is traditionally paper!" he said holding up the book, "So, really, I didn't forget at all. This was all planned."
"Very well executed." Lily said with raised eyebrows and a sarcastic tone.
"I'm nothing if not a planning mastermind," he agreed.
"You're nothing if not a prat," she said chucking the book at his stomach a little harder than was entirely necessary. James looked afraid of another explosion. Lily sighed, "It's a good thing I love you."
James broke out into a big smile and said, "Now, how about you sit down and relax while I make you breakfast."
"Now, that sounds like a very good plan," she told him.
James kissed her once lightly and walked off to the kitchen. "Oh and Lily," he called, sticking his head out into the doorframe, "Happy Anniversary."
Lily smiled, "Happy Anniversary James."