Chapter 14 – The Letters

Disclaimer: A list of things I wish I had: the really hot Comcast guy who came to fix my Internet today, the Harry Potter franchise, and a car. *cough FAIRY GODMOTHER cough*.

A/N: This story hit 40 pages on MS Word at 9:45 PM PST on November 10, 2008, thus becoming the LONGEST STORY I have EVER WRITTEN. And it is all thanks to you, my fabulous, lovely, most wonderful reviewers. I love you ALL, especially callie, Ariel, cookie dough, and aridnie. Also for anyone who saves fanfics in Word (which is fine, just don't plagiarize), Lily's handwriting is 9-pt. Bradley Hand ITC, James' is 9-pt. Kristen ITC, Harry's is 12-pt. Monotype Corsiva, and Dumbledore's is 12-pt. Freestyle Script.

Sunlight was streaming through the slats of Auntie Lu's Venetian blinds when James woke the next morning. Lily shifted in his arms, still asleep, and James smiled in a self-satisfied way, remembering the events of the night before.

After the four friends, Auntie Lu, and the Japanese tourists had stormed into the bar, James had addressed the patrons with a loud shout. "We're getting married! Who wants champagne?" Everyone in the bar had cheered loudly, and the bottle was passed around the room.

"To James and Lily Potter!" Sirius shouted, and the bar had echoed his sentiments. Around midnight, the five witches and wizards had stumbled back to Auntie Lu's in a champagne haze. James' grin became even wider as he remembered how Lily had grabbed him by the collar, yanked him into their room, and promptly jumped into his arms, kissing a trail down his neck as he simultaneously pulled off her dress and pushed her onto the bed. She had grabbed him and pulled him on top of her, tearing off his shirt as he dipped his head to ravish her breasts and–

Lily opened her eyes, smiling, and James grudgingly stopped his train of thought. "What time is it?" she asked lazily.

"Who cares?" he replied, drawing her closer to him. They snuggled for a moment before a horrible thought occurred to him. "Wait…after last night…you're not–"

"Merlin, no," she said with wide eyes, guessing what he was going to ask. "Contraceptive Charm works every time." She blushed and he kissed her red cheeks, amused.

"You're so beautiful, Ms. Potter," he whispered, letting his hands drift.

"No roaming, Mr. Potter!" she replied, slapping his hands cheekily. He growled, nuzzling her shoulder, and she giggled, pushing him away playfully before a tear ran down her cheek.

James looked up and found her crying. "What is it?" he asked in concern.

"I-I just wish my mother was here," she whispered. "And I wish my dad could give me away."

"Maybe Remus could do the honors," James mused as she buried her head in his neck, letting the wave of grief break.

Eventually, she lifted her head to stare into his hazel eyes. "You don't think we're moving too fast, do you?"

"Of course not!" James exclaimed. "We only have so much time, and we should make the most of it!" A horrible thought occurred to him. "You're not backing out, are you?"

"No!" Lily cried, aghast. "I just wanted to make sure that you weren't doing this just because you knew you had to eventually."

"Don't be silly, Evans," he whispered, tracing a thumb along her spine. She shivered at his touch, and at the use of her last name was thrown back into 1999 in her mind, seeing herself on the snowy grass with Harry and in the boys' dormitory with James. Untangling herself from James, she grabbed a quill, ink and parchment and pulled on underwear and a shirt that said "BULA FIJI" in large letters. "Are the clothes really necessary?" James asked, looking crestfallen.

"Yes," she said with one end of the quill between her teeth. "I'm cold."

"I could warm you up," he purred, reaching for the shirt's hem. She giggled and swatted at him playfully before getting serious.

"James. Put on pants."

"Yes, dear."

When James was decent, he sat back down next to her on the bed. "Whatcha writing?"

"Letter to Harry," Lily mumbled mid-write. James leaned over her shoulder to read what she had written so far. Dear Harry, she wrote. I can't stop thinking about you and wondering how you're doing. While you continue to remember your father and myself, I hope that you won't dwell on it too much. And okay, so this letter won't help things much. I just wanted to say again that I love you and I hope you are well. Your father proposed to me last night, and I accepted. The wheels are in motion, and I couldn't be happier. Make sure you tell Remus, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. I know they'll want to hear from me – James Harold Potter, you are such a little voyeur! Stop reading over my shoulder! James blushed and looked at the wall on the other side of the room, and Lily kept writing, smirking. Okay, got rid of your father. Honestly, some people have no respect for privacy (don't give me that look, I love him!) I'm going to try and tie a Timeturner to an owl and send it into the future with this. Please don't tell Dumbledore as I'm sure this is completely illegal, and it might not even work. Maybe it'll be sent back to, like, 1790. If it has, hi people from 1790! Please don't make women wear corsets, as they're very uncomfortable indeed. Okay. Here's your father. She passed the quill to James, who seized it and began to write.

Son! he wrote jubilantly. A word of fatherly-type advice: when you propose to your future wife (I bet its Ginny. Is it Ginny? I bet it is), anyways, when you propose to her, do it on a beach. Girls love the beach. Like, seriously. Something about the ocean drives them crazy. Lily snatched the quill away. Your father is just being silly, she interrupted. Ginny (I agree, I bet its Ginny), she'll be happy with whatever you manage to think up. As long as the ring has a diamond in it (Thank you, Padfoot, James thought,) and you love each other, it'll be great. James stole the pen back. Merlin, Lily, you wouldn't even let me look at what you were writing. Away with ye! Okay, she's gone. So anyways, I still think about you quite a bit. Now that I've proposed to Lily, I suppose it's only a matter of time before I meet you again. Please don't be that really annoying baby that's colicky and never lets a man get a good night's sleep. Also, I hope you like really horrid jumpers and such, because I'm sure that's what your mum will force you into. I'll say goodbye now and hand the quill back to your mother. Goodbye. I love you (crap, that's weird to say to your future son. I still do, though. Here's your mother.) James.

I love you, Sweetheart, Lily wrote. I'll be meeting you soon. I only wish we could have had more time together. Hopefully I'll be able to send you more letters like this one. Lily.

"Well," she said, slipping into a pair of jeans. "I guess it's time to go buy an owl."

Once they had returned from Vertic Alley with a tiny Scops owl, Lily wrapped the Timeturner around it and turned the hourglass twenty times. "Bye," she whispered as the owl faded away.

***

"Harry, there's an owl's wing on your bed with a Timeturner and a letter on it," Neville said, gaping at the strange sight. Harry turned, saw the familiar handwriting on the outside, rushed over, and grabbed the letter. As he read, a smile unfurled across his face like a banner. He grabbed a quill, ink and parchment, and began to reply.

***

A mere two hours later, Lily and James were sitting at Auntie Lu's kitchen table when there was a bang like a gun, a giant flash of light, and a letter and Timeturner were sitting in the middle of the table. They both lunged for it, and Lily tore open the envelope.

Mum, Harry wrote. Dad. Just so you know, the owl you sent the letter with arrived in several pieces. There was a wing on my bed, and apparently, the head and legs ended up in Dumbledore's office. When he found them, he guessed what had happened and…he wasn't too chuffed. I'm allowed to reply, but we aren't supposed to correspond after this. It's good to hear from both of you. Hermione and Ginny send their regards to Lily about the engagement (by regards, I mean that they jumped around shouting about marriage for awhile.) Hogwarts is still reeling from your reappearance. A couple of goth Slytherin girls tried to send themselves back to 1902, and they ended up…I suppose they ended up in the time traveling equivalent of splinched. Again, Dumbledore was not chuffed at all. I miss you both, but I suppose I'll be seeing you soon. Harry.

There was an enclosed letter from Dumbledore, who, as Harry had stated, was not happy at all. Ms. Evans and Mr. Potter, he wrote. While I appreciate that you miss your son and his friends, I must impress upon you the seriousness of your actions. This sort of recklessness could have meddled with the effects of time very badly, causing Marlin-knows-what. Please do not do this again. If you do, your Ministry will know, make no doubt about it. Yours Truly, Albus Dumbledore.

"Okay, so we're not doing that again," James said after reading the letters. Lily, who was beet-red, nodded. They heard a key turn in Auntie Lu's lock and hurriedly stashed the letters in Lily's bag, just in time for Sirius to enter the room and greet the engaged couple most jovially.

A/N: I'm not really very happy about the end of this chapter. I think it was mostly lengthener/filler…next two chapters definitely have a purpose though. See you soon!