Disclaimer: I like this chapter. Don't make me remove it, or you will suffer the consequences!

A/N: see above.

Lasting A Lifetime

Chapter Seven:

A Touch of Silk

"As this blind rose,

no more than a whim of dust

achieved her excellence without intent,

so man, the casual sport of time and lust

plans wealth and war, and loves by accident. -"

Humbert Wolfe

James was finished. He didn't want to do anymore research on cauldron-bottoms. He just didn't care if some stupid idiot built their fire too hot and ended up swelling their feet to the size of baby dolphins. "The burned foot teaches best," he mumbled to himself.

Standing up, he casually scanned one of the seven bookcases for something interesting. "Here we go," he said. "So You Want to Be an Auror. Just for a few reminder tips." Flipping to the last twenty or so pages (he had already memorized the first three hundred), he perused each word. Dumbledore had asked for his help nearly a week before the wedding, and James would be tested soon to be an Auror, like Lily was.

Speaking of Lily, James couldn't figure out where she was. She had gone out, but she hadn't mentioned where. He had checked the calendar, and there wasn't anything there. No clue as to any appointment she might have made. James wished he knew where she had gone, but he knew that if Lily had wanted him to know, she would've told him. Oh well. 'Poor James is stuck in the dark, but yet again,' he thought to himself and turned back to his book.

Actually, if he had really wanted to know, all he would've had to do was use the bathroom. But he didn't need to, and so only found out where his wife had been once she had made her return.

But that was a ways off, from what James could guess, and he didn't feel like wasting it. Going back downstairs to the kitchen, he heated up a kettle of tea, and pulled some leftover scones out of the refrigerator. Nestled down in on of the couches they had slept on the night before, he sipped his tea and nibbled on his scones while his eyes distractedly read the pages.

Daylight slowly faded away from its noontime brightness, and the words grew harder to discern. James was forced to light a few lamps and lay a blanket over his feet. Finally, he lost interest in the text and lay huddled in the corner of a worn, olive green couch. "Where is she?" he wondered aloud.

Almost as if to answer his question, the door creaked open. James sat up, clutching his wand tight in his right hand. Lily stumbled in with her sunglasses slipping off her nose, her hat askew, and several bags hanging off her arms. He scrambled off the couch to help her as she shouted for him.

"I'm here!" he cried, and her head turned to him, a smile playing across her lips that made James wonder how God had let him marry an angel. In a quick gesture, he relieved her of several bags and set them on the ground.

"Thanks," she mumbled as she tried to untangle her hair from the hat. James laughed and with a few simple finger twists, held the hat in his hand. "You annoy me," she laughed as James began to flex his muscles.

"Love you too, sweetheart," he said and kissed her. She returned the kiss as quickly and elegantly as she could.

"James, you may want to sit down. I have something important to tell you." James playfully plopped down in the foyer and looked up at her expectantly. "Get up, goofy. This is serious." James stood up and, grinning, swept her off her feet and into the den.

"Fine," she growled. Despite herself, she couldn't manage to suppress a smile. "I won't tell you 'til tomorrow."

"Oh, now that's not fair," James whined.

"Too bad, Mr. Look-At-Me, I-Can-Lift-My-Spouse." Lily tweaked his nose like a parent scolding their child.

"But Lils…"

"You'll just have to wait like the rest of your friends."

"But I'm your husband! I have certain, 'I can spill the secret first,' rights!"

"Go to bed, little mister, or you won't find out until…"

"Until what?" James asked, hoping blindly to catch her.

"Until. That's what." Lily grinned and blushed, and James dropped her in the chair with a thud.

"You're no fun," he grumbled. He slumped back to the foyer and gathered the remaining bags.

"Where do you want me to put these?"

"Oh, anywhere. I don't care." Lily snuggled down into the chair, and her eyelids fell shut.

"So I take it purple elephants are invading Peru?" James mumbled casually a few minutes later. He wanted to look in those bags. As he tried to push aside the tissue paper, an electric shock zapped his hand. A letter floated to the top of the bag, and James cautiously picked it up. Finding no pain issue from the parchment, James slit it open with his wand.

"Dearest James:

       I know you too well. If I say you'll wait, you'll wait.

                          Yours,

                              Lily.

    P.S. - I discovered this handy little charm from the new apothecary assistant. I have a feeling we will become good friends."

"Damn," James whispered. No Marauder could beat Lily's charms, and well he knew it. "I don't wanna wait…" he griped as he stumbled up the stairs.

~

Lily awoke to the sound of the Rolling Stones drifting through the house. Her back creaked as she fell out of the chair and onto the floor. "Damn, if I'm not even fully into it, and I can't even get out of a chair, my life's gonna be hell…"

"What was that all about?" James asked, a worried frown creasing on his face as he saw his wife clutching at the chair and trying to stand. He strode across the room to help her up, but she waved him away.

"It's okay, baby. Just a little falling out of bed thing that I need to get used to." Lily straightened up, and smiled sadly.

"James, darling, I have something important to tell you…"

"What?" he asked eagerly.

Lily gazed slowly around at the room, and decided that this wasn't it. "Not here," she said. "Not now. I'm going to take a shower and get changed first. Then we'll talk. Just get yourself a coffee or something."

James shrugged and started back to the kitchen. When Lily was no longer watching him, he came back and watched her struggle to climb the stairs. He prayed to God that she wasn't sick… His grandmother had died of cancer, and he remembered being so young that he didn't realize why grandma couldn't take a bath without Aunt Laura helping her. He hoped with all his heart that that wouldn't be his Lily…

~

Lily let the warm water wash over her… It felt so comforting, to let it stream down her body in little rivers… The conditioner in her red hair was sliding thickly down her back and legs. She felt cleansed, immortal, like the Lord had seen her in the cramped shower, in the tiny town of Deverton, in the speck of Great Britain, in the insignificant world.

Lily regretfully turned off the taps and stepped out of the showers. Unorthodoxly she wrapped a green towel around her hair and began patting herself down with another. She unfolded the towel that engulfed her hair and combed it out until it was sleek. With her wand, she made it spiral on top of her head loosely, creating a Hershey's Kiss effect. With her towel pressed to her chest, she leaned her head out of the bathroom to make sure James couldn't see her. She saw that the coast was clear, and quickly shuffled over to her walk-in closet. She let the towel fall as she searched the racks for her white silk dress with the little straps that did nothing to hold it up, you were just supposed to let a larger loop droop over one shoulder and the other was the right size to stay put. It showed off her figure perfectly, was just transparent enough to capture James's attention, and made her feel graceful. Besides, she wouldn't be able to wear it again for a long time.

~

James had slipped into his Invisibility Cloak moments later after Lily had left the staircase. He needed to make sure she didn't get hurt; he had seen her dry off and get dressed. It was really adorable to watch her check for him in the room and not know he was only a few feet behind her.

The way she got dressed was so beautiful and innocent. She knew every fold in the dress and exactly where to place it. Lily smoothed it out over her belly particularly, and James noticed a slight increase in its size. 'I told her that eggs were cholesterol bombs,' he thought. She slipped into small red strap heels and cautiously began making her way down the staircase. Lily was so light on her feet, he didn't even hear the sensitive step creak, and James was sure that she hadn't skipped it. Quietly sweeping out of the room, he removed his cloak, stuffed it in his dresser, and pretended to come from the study when she started calling his name at the landing.

"There you are," she teased. James could tell that she was trying to hide the weakness in her voice. He skipped down the steps noisily, and Lily grinned as she took his hand.

She led him out the back door and towards the grey wooden bench in the northern corner of the rail-fenced yard. Two magnolias shaded its seat, and Lily had always admired the place. James preferred to describe it as, "You'll just have to see for yourself." The flowers blooming on it were creamy buttermilk and the bench itself had a deep and wide seat that rocked when one set it in the correct motion. It was here that Lily Potter sat down with her husband and kissed him.

For a few minutes, they sat with their lips locked, breaking only moments only to say how much they loved each other. Lily broke first. She pushed him back, saying, "James. I have something very… crucial to tell you."

"What is it?" James whispered, fearing the worst.

As a response, Lily merely took his hand and pressed it to her stomach. "I'm pregnant, darling."

Whatever sickness James had been expecting, it wasn't this. His jaw dropped, and he blinked too many times in one second for it to be healthy. "B-b-but h-h-how?" he stammered.

"Oh, come on, James. We learned this in sex ed. First a boy meets a girl…"

"No, not that. I mean… h-h-how long?"

"How am I supposed to know? Maybe it was during Paris… It could've been that night where-"

"I-I-I know what yo-yo-you're talking about Lils." He paused for a moment, perhaps trying to figure out what to say. He merely pressed his lips to hers. In that one singular kiss, he silently expressed what ten thousand words could not have stated. He fed her his excitement, love, passion, joy, worry, sadness, youth, maturity, willingness, shame, fear, and other feelings that names haven't been created to falsely entitle. It was the second most romantic kiss of their life, and Lily could slightly feel a morning breeze softly stroke her shoulder and play with James's hair.

With the sun rising over the tall treetops of the surrounding parks, his callused palm on her smooth cheek, that moment was frozen in time, in memory, in love, in truth, and even in the eyes of God, gazing pitiably at the two young people in love, with no hope for their future.

A/N: Yippee! I'm ready! I'm ready! I'm ready! Or maybe I'm not… oh, wait! Yes I am! I know what I'll do next chapter. I almost want to write about Snape again (he's sooo cool!), but I set myself a rule. One more chapter before you can see him again.

    Also, my chapter review goal slowly built up, so I'm somewhere around 59. Please help me get to… oh, I'll say 70. Does that sound reasonable? So R/R!