Chapter 10 - Bubbles

Lily turned slowly and reached out towards Harry to pick him up, still grasping the note tightly in her fist. He looked at her contemplatively for a few seconds, then dropped his snake and crawled happily over, setting himself down proudly at her feet. She smiled down at him, and lifted him gently to balance on her hip, immensely relieved that he seemed to have stopped squirming around her. Harry pulled curiously on a lock of her long, auburn hair as she started across the common room towards the staircase once again. This had to be a good thing surely, she thought as they walked, adjusting Harry as he clung onto her side slightly awkwardly. Dumbledore must have found out something useful, or he wouldn't want to see them so soon after his arrival. The owl on the table regarded her quietly as she passed, then ruffled it's feathers and took flight out of the window; Harry's eyes followed it curiously, obviously fascinated by the beautiful animal. Lily began to climb the narrow staircase, listening intently for any sounds of movement from the dormitories above. A few faint shuffling noises could be heard, but it didn't sound like many students were up and out of bed yet. "Perfect" Lily said, smiling at Harry who obligingly tugged on her hair as a response. "Let's go wake up your favourite person then". Pushing open the heavy door with her shoulder, Lily peered nervously inside. She cleared her throat.

James spun around at the sound, dropping the shoe he was holding onto the hard floor with a bang. He rushed over to the two figures in the doorway wearing just one, his eyes burning with worry and his voice frantic.

"Lily! I thought- I didn't know where he-" he ran a hand through his already untidy hair and sighed. He had clearly dressed in a hurry; his shirt was buttoned madly and his tie nowhere to be seen. "You should have woken me up or something Lils. I didn't know what to do." he said in a softer voice, reaching out to stroke the baby's head, who was reaching out his arms towards him. Lily walked over to James' bed and placed him on the fluffed up pillows and entangled sheets. She smiled apologetically and handed James the note without a word. He scanned it quickly and threw it down on the bed next to Harry, his expression unreadable.

"This is probably good right, James? He must have found out something" Lily offered eagerly, stepping neatly over the disorganised trunk next to the foot of the bed towards James. "Right?" James looked up, looking slightly distracted.

"What? Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's probably a good thing." he shook his head and grinned up at her. Lily smiled back tentatively and looked around the empty room. The sound of running water came from the door which led to the small bathroom, and listening closely she could just make out the sound of voices talking animatedly. James had sat down on the bed next to Harry and given him his glasses to play with, laughing as the baby lifted them up to his face and peered through them curiously.

"Hey James, are you-" she was cut off by the deafening sound of the small door banging against the wall as it was flung open with considerably force. Sirius strode through, hair dripping wet and barefoot, talking over his shoulder to the others still in the bathroom behind him. He made it almost all the way to his own bed before realising that Lily was watching him with an amused expression on her face. He gaped at her, looking between her and the distracted James.

"Wha? You? You - weren't here last night, were you?" he said slowly, trying to make sense of the situation in spite of the early hour. Lily raised her eyebrows. He shook his wet hair out of his face and continued to gape at her. "But… you weren't here all night, were you?" Lily laughed, startling Harry who stared up at her curiously, then began to babble happily as he recognised Sirius from across the room.

"No, Sirius, I think you might have noticed that much." she giggled and swept her hair out of her face. "I just came in to tell James that Dumbledore is back. There's no rule against me being here, especially since I'm a prefect now" she finished with her eyebrows raised at his sleepy, uncomprehending manner, and turned her back on him as he shook his head at her and turned around to find his shirt, to face James and the baby. James, who had been watching their exchange with amusement looked between the two figures. In the early morning light the dormitory shone beautifully, and looking up at her framed in the light of the window, he realised he had never seen Lily so happy since the arrival of Harry. He cleared his throat.

"I don't know about you Lils but I'm starving" he winked at her, silently glad that she didn't protest the nickname. "Fancy some breakfast?"

Early afternoon found Lily and James back in the busy dormitory, forced to halt their plans for a walk around the grounds with Harry due to an unscheduled snowfall. Gryffindor tower was teeming with people on breaks in between lessons, or simply people avoiding the heavy snow outside. The fireplace crackled happily away - not that it could be seen from the windowsill on the other side of the common room where Harry sat with the two teenagers, watching the huge amount of people still teeming through the portrait hole, shaking themselves free of snow and ice.

Lily slid onto the floor next to the window to grab on of the steaming goblets full of hot chocolate that Remus had brought in for them a few minutes earlier before hurrying off to resume his duties. He must be doing double duties, Lily realised with a pang of guilt, since I haven't been doing them. At least he wasn't being as much of a child as Sirius was about finding her in the dormitory this morning; indeed by midday the only way to stop him making crude comments was James' only half joking threat to jinx him if he carried on. She put down her own goblet and picked up a bottle also full of hot, steamy liquid which she handed gently to Harry, keeping hold of the end of it as he grabbed it greedily to make sure he didn't drop it everywhere as he had earlier. James watched her appreciatively.

"Not so hard once you get the hang of it, is it?" he said, nodding towards Harry who was still emptying the bottle of it's contents with considerable speed. She smiled.

"I guess not." she replied. "He seems to like me a bit better now anyways. I think he could tell that I was nervous" she finished, looking rather embarrassed at confessing this.

"Well of course he could! He knows not to waste his time on people who don't want to be with him" James grinned. "Someone's taught him well."

Lily flushed. "It's not that I didn't want to. I was just… scared, I guess. I was terrified of him, and how easily you accepted it. It felt like everyone knew something that I didn't. But I guess I can see now - everyone else is just as scared. So it's okay" she gave a small smile, and picked up her wand. Harry, who was finished with his bottle cast it aside and leaned forward with interest, trying to touch the end of the beautiful willow wand. She laughed and muttered something under her breath. Streams of multi-coloured bubbles poured out of the end of her wand, rising a few metres into the air before disappearing with a quiet pop. Harry gave a shout of delight and, supported by James, struggled into a standing position to grab the rising bubbles that threw odd, multi-coloured shadows on the wall behind them. As he touched one of the bubbles it burst in a small cloud of green smoke which dissipated almost instantly. James raised his eyebrows in surprise, and reached out to touch one of the bubbles himself. This one exploded in a small shower of golden sparks which hung for a moment in the air and then faded into nothing. He laughed in surprise and looked at Lily, who grinned guiltily.

"Bloody hell Evans, I always knew you were a know it all when it comes to charms but I'm genuinely impressed." she gave a snort, momentarily interrupting the stream of bubbles.

"Wow, thanks Potter. I can sleep easy now I know I've got your approval. My mission in life" her voice however, James noticed, held none of the animosity that it would have a few weeks previously. He opened his mouth to reply but was immediately distracted as a large shadow descended over them and swept Harry up into it's arms. Lily turned around with a start, her wand at the ready - then sighed.

"What do you want Sirius? Come to annoy us even more?" Sirius raised an eyebrow casually and swung Harry up to sit on his shoulders where he teetered happily.

"Well if you don't want my help…" he turned and made as if to walk away, pausing with a concerned look on his face as he looked back towards the confused looking pair. "I simply thought you might appreciate a bit of my immense baby-sitting skills while you two totter off to see our dear headmaster - of course I read the note Prongs, you left it lying on your bed you prat." he added as James began to protest. "If I'm not wanted though…" he trailed off, shrugging his shoulders and grabbing Harry to put him back down. He turned away and waited with a smile.

"Padfoot, wait…"

James and Lily made their way determinedly to the portrait hole as the setting sun cast long shadows over the figures of Sirius sitting by the fire next to Peter, chattering happily away to the baby on his knee in a choice seat formerly occupied by a morose looking seventh year. They looked at each other nervously before slowly making their way through the common room exit. Both had the same anxious question in their heads: what on earth was going to happen to them now?

I forever apologise for my erratic updating ^_^ review if you like the chapter as always! I read every single one and you're all lovely :3