L/J: 4, Stubble (Zayz)

The early morning sunlight streams through the window, and immediately blinds them both. James reacts by groaning and rolling over so his back is facing the window, and Lily buries her face in James's shoulder, like a woodland creature seeking solace in the mud.

"It looks like it's going to be another beautiful day." James chances a glance at the offending window, where the city of Brighton reveals itself as his eyes adjust. The sky is a perfect forget-me-not blue, the ocean just visible by the horizon line. He gently shakes her off and yawns, stretches out his arms, puts on his glasses and grins.

"So, what do you want to do today?" James asks her enthusiastically. "Want to get breakfast and take it to the beach? Want to go scuba-diving? Want to explore the city and then have lunch someplace?"

"I don't want to go anywhere."

James's bright smile falters. "But, Lils. It's our honeymoon. We should go do things. Like explore the city."

"We've already done that."

"We only have a couple of days left here." He pulls the blanket off of her and starts pushing her off the bed. "Come on, let's go."

"No!" She pouts like a toddler, knowing exactly how irresistible her large, lovely green eyes can be. "I want us to stay here." She wriggles back to her original spot and throws her arms around him, pinning him to the bed, her hair like a curtain around both of their faces. She kisses him hard and full and woozy, and feels his resolve melt as he relaxes against the pillow.

"Okay," he murmurs. "Party-pooper."

So they lay together like that in bed all morning, listening to the sound of the wind against the glass, the chirruping birds, the soft pitter-patter of their heartbeats. Lily rests her head against James's shoulder, soaking up his heat and his scent and the way he's holding her so close, like she might fly away if he loosens up. His stubble is prickly against her cheek, like rubbing up against a baby hedgehog, but she kind of likes it. It's comforting, in a way, because it means less pressure.

He doesn't have to shave, and she doesn't have to tame her bird's nest of red hair, and they don't have to leave this bed all day if they don't want to - and in the next few weeks of marriage, maybe they'll fight, maybe they'll get mad at each other, maybe they'll drive each other crazy - but they can be happy in all of that. Because they are who they are, for better or worse. And for now - and for always - that's enough.

L/J: 5, Spring Cleaning (Mina)

Lily jerks awake in the middle of the night, accidentally kneeing James in the thigh. She gasps and freezes, waiting to see if he's going to move, but his snores continue loud into the night and Lily feels safe enough to roll out of bed and sneak down the stairs. She turns on the lamp in the corner of the living room and sits down on the floor in front of a few boxes they took down from the attic earlier in the day, arranges them in a semi-circle in front of her.

James would say that she's nesting, but that can't be it. She's only a few months pregnant, and that nesting thing doesn't begin this early, she doesn't think. Lily puts her hand on the warm bump that her stomach has become. It's a convenient enough excuse that spring is coming soon; she's just getting some early spring cleaning done, going through some stuff that they should've tossed when they moved in. Right? And anyway, they need room, now. Everything has to be perfect and in its place. The world may not be a welcoming place for a baby, but she will make her home safe and good and wonderful, a place for a family.

So for a long while, she goes through the boxes, makes stacks of things that need to be donated and things they can throw away, things to keep, things that make her laugh and cry and stare into space for too long, lost in what used to be. The small clock on the mantel chimes two o'clock in the morning before James stomps down the stairs in nothing but his pants, scratching at his thin circle of chest hair.

He mumbles something that sounds like, "What are you doing down here?"

"Going through some boxes." She holds up a copy of one of his favorite Quidditch magazines, dated 1967. It's worn and coming apart but James smiles upon seeing it, sits down next to her on the rug and takes it from her hands.

"Dad used to read these with me," he says, turning the pages with careful fingers. "We'd get them from Quality Quidditch Supplies each month and he'd tell me all about the different teams, the old rivalries, which ones were his favorites…"

Lily leans against him, tucks her chin onto his shoulder and places a kiss on his cheek. He smiles, asks, "You going to be awake for much longer?"

"Probably not," she says on a yawn, snuggling closer to him. He leans back to snag a quilt off the couch and pulls it around them, all three of them, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her in closer.

She points to the cover picture, a slow-moving photograph of a man on a broomstick, waving to his fans on the ground. "Tell me more about this bloke."

"Yancey Gothbart?" James exclaims, immediately launching into a detailed explanation of the man's past teams, statistics, greatest hits. Lily listens to the sound of his voice, rests one hand on his back and one on her stomach and thinks, hard, so that she hopes the baby can hear: Listen closely, little one; we have so much to talk about.

L/J: 6, Curses (Zayz)

One rainy April evening, Lily is lying on a common room couch, doing her homework, brow furrowed in concentration. Charms has a way of being tricky at the best of times, and it's nine o'clock at night, and she still has a History of Magic paper to write. She sighs, rubs her face in her hands, grumpily willing this night and this year to be over already. Because as much as she knows she will miss Hogwarts, she will not miss the homework.

James saunters in a little while later, grinning as usual. He flops down on the couch beside Lily, yawning slightly, watching with interest as she scribbles frantically. She briefly smiles a hello, but she's trying to find her stride - and he finds that adorable.

"Hey, you." He kisses her cheek.

"Honestly, James, do you ever do your homework? I don't understand how you never seem to be doing anything besides floating around the common room or playing Quidditch." Charms is making her snappy. He laughs at her irritation.

"Nah, homework is for losers."

"Gee, thanks."

"You know what I mean."

"I suppose." She sighs again and rests her head against his shoulder. "This is all rubbish."

"I know."

"But I have to do it."

"If you say so."

"I swear, James, I have been cursed with a good work ethic and I don't know what to do about it." She shuts the book in frustration and tosses it to the table. She thew it a bit hard, though; it slides off the table to the floor. James snorts.

"That was pitiful! Here, try again."

He races off the couch, leaving her startled as her head's resting place disappears, and fetches the book. "Okay. Throw it again. With feeling, this time."

She grins, eyes glinting. "All right."

She flings the book across the room again. It hits the opposite wall and falls open on the ground, defeated. James whoops, and rushes back to Lily, kisses her sweetly.

"Maybe you've been cursed with a good work ethic, but fortunately, you were blessed with me as a distraction. Come on. Let's go get some cherries from the kitchen and spit the seeds at balloons."

It's late. This is never going to get done anyway. James starts bouncing off to the portrait hole, looking back expectantly at her. Her weak resolve melts entirely. Her sunny smile returning in full force, Lily gets up, abandons the books, and follows.