The bright sunlight was penetrating Lily's aching head. She cracked open one eye, and then stuffed her face into a pillow. Her head felt as though it were splitting open; a chance glance at the numerous champagne bottles on the dresser would have explained why. Last night, James and Lily had celebrated their first night in their new home in Godric's Hollow.
Eyes still firmly shut she slowly – ever so slowly – sat up and swung her legs out of bed. But an invisible force had latched around her waist, preventing her from getting up. Lily plucked up a note from her bedside table.
Making breakfast. Don't move.
As if on cue, she heard James's none too dulcet tones from the kitchen: "EVANS!"
This time, when Lily climbed out of bed, nothing slowed her but the insistent hammering in her head. When she got downstairs, she saw that James had decorated the kitchen table with fresh daisies; a steaming urn of coffee was set out, as well as an overflowing basket of buttered toast. James stood at the stove, frying eggs and sausages - without magic. It looked – and smelled – so right. Lily watched him for a few moments, feeling decidedly relieved.
She knew that when James and she moved in together they wouldn't have any trouble with the shagging part of their relationship; that they had down pat. But Lily hadn't been sure if James would saddle her with all the housework and cooking, while he romped about. James had always led a privileged lifestyle; he had rich parents who doted on him, and house elves to cater to his every whim – until now.
But the James that Lily was watching now was different; he had voluntarily donned a pinstriped apron and was flipping eggs and washing dishes at the same time (the latter with a little bit of magical help).
She better appreciate that I learned these daft household spells before moving in with her, James thought to himself as he turned the sausages. He recalled the recent evenings he had spent under his mother's tutelage, learning incantations for dish washing, water boiling, furniture dusting, floor cleaning, and undesirable household tasks generally.
The petulant James was mollified, however, when Lily snuck up behind him and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the neck.
"It looks lovely," she murmured, wisely choosing not to comment on the amount of cooking oil James had used to fry the eggs.
As she staggered over to an unpacked box full of potions, James learned the true meaning of the term 'love is blind'. He thought Lily looked lovely in a lumpy, frumpy nightgown that had been within easy reach in her clothes suitcase; she hadn't bothered to remove her eye makeup the previous night, and it had smudged down to her cheekbones. A frizzy sideways ponytail completed the picture. James smiled dotingly at Lily as she poured each of them a sampling of the hangover potion Sirius had given them as a housewarming gift.
At the breakfast table, Lily couldn't help contemplating that now that James and she lived together, they could shag whenever they wanted. Wherever they wanted. She sipped her coffee coyly, not taking her eyes off James.
James, satisfied with his cooking handiwork, turned his mind over to more interesting things – such as the way Lily bit into her sausage, so slowly, so delicately. It had not escaped him that now that they lived together, they would not be subject to anyone's schedule but their own. And that, James deduced, was a good thing for their sex life. Right now, for example, would be the perfect time…
And suddenly Lily had tossed her coffee cup aside; James had wrenched the table aside, and they had tumbled toward each other (James pretended to himself and to Lily that he had rushed into her arms, and not tripped on his chair and literally fallen into her arms). Moving in together, went Lily's last rational thought before giving in to pleasure, had definitely been a good idea.