James was walking through a long corridor, just ahead of him he could make out the figure of a man. James wasn't sure why he was following this person but he felt like he needed to. The figure turned into another hallway and James quickly raced after him. The figure was walking fast and James was beginning to fall behind. James started running, trying to catch up, but no matter how fast he ran James got no closer to the figure. Suddenly James found himself standing in his own living room. There was a greenish glow and James could see a jack-o-lantern on the coffee table. The face that had been carved into it was creepy and it seemed to be mocking James. 'Lily?' James' voice was distant. No one replied to his whisper. James walked into the front hallway and froze. On the ground in front of him, eyes wide, was his beautiful Lily. Lying on her chest was a dead baby Harry. James looked around himself. There was no one else there. Who had killed his family? James, oddly, wasn't sad. Rather he was confused. Why was he still alive? James went back into the living room and stared at the creepy pumpkin. It smiled cruelly at him.
'Are they all dead, James? That's a shame.' The pumpkin spoke in a high cold voice which James knew all too well. 'I did it, you know. I killed your family.' The jack-o-lantern seemed to grow before James eyes until standing before him was Lord Voldemort. 'And now, it's your turn.' There was a flash of green…
James sat bolt upright in bed, breathing heavily and drenched in a cold sweat. The images from his dream were burned into his retina and he was unable to forget it. The dead staring bright green eyes of Lily and Harry were mocking him. James glanced at Lily sleeping peacefully next to him. James very carefully got out of bed and slowly made his way into Harry's room. Baby Harry was asleep in his cot, his messy black hair hiding his face. James sighed, safe in the knowledge that Lily and Harry were both alive and well. How long would that last though, James asked himself. He didn't want too but the images of dead Lily and Harry were still in his mind. James reached out and gently placed his hand on Harry's back. Beneath his hand, James could a feel a little heartbeat and the slow rise and fall that indicated breathing. James smiled down at his son. Everything was okay. It had just been a nightmare.
...
In the morning, James was woken by Lily gently prodding his side. James smiled up at her and Lily laughed.
'Your son's asking for you,' Lily jerked her head towards the door and James guessed that Lily meant he was in the kitchen waiting to be fed. James rolled his eyes and pulled Lily onto his lap. 'James!'
'Harry can wait.' James smiled and kissed his wife passionately.
'I suppose so,' Lily said rather breathlessly when they finally broke apart. 'But we really can't leave Harry alone for too long.' James threw his head back and sighed. Lily smiled and ran a finger slowly and gently down the length of James' throat. James smiled and kissed lily again.
'Nah, he's a good kid. I'm sure he'll be fine without us for a few minutes.'
'A few minutes?' Lily questioned, an eyebrow raised. 'I'd prefer a lot longer than that if you don't mind.'
James laughed. 'Of course, love. Whatever you want, you shall receive.'
'Sounds like an excellent plan,' Lily kissed James lightly. 'But we really must get back to our son.'
'Fine.' James sighed. Lily got up and pulled James to his feet. James put his arm around her shoulder and the two of them made their way down to Harry. When they arrived James went over and gave his son a kiss. 'Hello, my boy. One day, Harry, you're going to learn never to interrupt a couple in love.'
'James!' Lily admonished.
'You know what I mean, Lil.' James smiled at Harry. 'Hungry, Harry?'
'Hung'y!' Harry yelled impatiently, his little arms outstretched to his father and his mouth wide open.
'Alright, alright.' James began to feed Harry, though his eyes occasionally drifted to Lily. After all the years they had been together James had never quite got over the shock of Lily agreeing to go out with him. James still had problems believing that they were married with a beautiful child. James smiled happily and turned back to Harry who was giving him a strange look. James stared back at him, equally confused.
'You stopped giving him food,' Lily piped up. 'He wants to know why. I swear he's getting more and more like Siri every day.'
James shuddered. 'Don't say that, Lil. You'll give me bad thoughts. Sorry, Harry, lost my train of thought for a minute there. Apologises, my dear son.' Harry smiled as James offered him another spoonful of muck. Harry gobbled up the food and James had to admit that Harry was beginning to eat like Sirius did: inhaling his food instead of chewing. James laughed at what Sirius would say if he was told. James vowed to tell Sirius this piece of news when they next saw each other.
As the day wore on, it became more and more apparent that it was one of those days that Harry didn't feel much like sleeping. James and Lily tried many, many times to get Harry to sleep but he simple refused. The twp parents were beginning to run out of ideas, until James' mind finally came up with something. He picked up Harry and plopped him down in front of the television.
'James, what are you doing?'
'Simple, putting him to sleep.' James said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
'By over stimulating him? It's not gonna work, love.'
James picked up the remote and began flicking; clearly looking for something that he knew was one. 'Trust me, Lil.' James settled on the channel and sat down on the lounge, pulling Lily with him. James pointed at the television. A program on British architecture was playing and Lily couldn't help but smile at James' stroke of genius. If anything was going to put Harry to sleep it was boring TV. Soon enough Harry had lain down on the floor and was snoring gently. James very carefully picked him up and put him in his cot, turning on the baby monitor just before he left. James went back into the lounge room to find that Lily had already changed the channel to an action movie. James smiled and joined his wife.
'He asleep?'
'Out like a light,' James kissed Lily lightly. 'He's fine, Lil. And we're finally alone.'
'And I've found a movie that I really want to watch.' Lily countered back. James sighed and threw his head back. Lily smiled and leant against him. 'Unless it suddenly becomes boring and pointless. Then maybe.' James looked at her hopefully. 'Maybe, James.'
'You don't like action movies.'
'I might change my mind.' Lily laughed. James sighed again, not being able to think of anything in return, and held Lily close to him. Lily seemed to read something in the way James was holding her because she looked up at him questioningly. 'James, what's wrong?'
'Nothing, Lily,' James kept his eyes firmly on the movie. 'Just a nightmare I had.'
'Is that why you were in Harry's room this morning?'
'Yeah. I just had to check that he was okay,' James smiled down at her. 'And you, of course.'
'Of course. I suppose there's no point in asking what the dream was about.'
'Nope.' James said lightly. He still wasn't able to forget the dead Lily and Harry.
'Okay. You want to talk to Sirius?'
James stared at her. 'And how the hell would I do that?'
'I don't know. Those mirror things/'
'Nah, he's got both.'
'Why'
'I wanted to make sure that they wouldn't get broken.'
'So you gave them to Sirius Black.'
'Yeah, better than a baby,' James smiled again. 'But only slightly.'
'Hmm, okay,' Lily fell silent. James rested his head against Lily and slowly started drifting off to sleep. Lily smiled and lightly poked James' side to wake him up. James jerked up slightly and kissed the top of her head.
'I'm awake.'
'Sure you were.' Lily laughed. 'I think I might be losing interest in the movie.' Instantly James was wide awake.
'You mean it?'
'I think so,' Lily stared at the television at screen and watched as the hero was captured. 'Actually, I take that back. I'm very interested in this movie.' James looked at the movie and his interest was piqued.
'Okay, catch me up.'
...
Lily sighed as the movie finished. In the end, the movie had actually been very good and both she and James had lost focus on everything else. Lily straightened up and heard James huff in frustration. Lily smiled. She loved teasing James like this. Lily stood up and stretched before racing up the stairs to check on Harry. Lily looked into his cot and saw that Harry was still sound asleep. Lily sighed knowing that when he woke up he wouldn't sleep for hours again. Lily kissed Harry's head and went back down to James, who was still on the lounge, flicking through channels.
'Still out like a light.' Lily said curling up next to James again.
'Good,' Lily raised an eyebrow and James quickly rephrased. 'I'm glad he's getting his rest, that's all. And that we're still alone.'
'It's not happening, James.'
'What? Why not?'
'I'm tired.' Lily shot back easily. James muttered something under his breath which soundly oddly like 'as if'. Lily smiled and kissed James' cheek. 'I want to do something special for Halloween this year.'
'Why?' James asked, watching his wife. The image of the pumpkin transforming into Voldemort came into his mind unbidden.
'Because how else are we going to destroy the boredom?' Lily teased.
'Okay fair enough,' James laughed. 'But no jack-o-lanterns.'
'What? But they make Halloween. And you love them.' Lily frowned when she saw James wince slightly.
'Yeah, I know. But they might scare Harry.'
'Scare Harry? James, you're son isn't scared of anything. Much less a smiling pumpkin.'
'Please, Lil? No smiling pumpkins.'
Something about James' voice stopped Lily. There was fear in his voice. 'Okay, no smiling pumpkins.' James relaxed beside her. 'But we need the witches.'
'You are a witch, Lil.'
'Yes, but we need the Muggle version of a witch. Warts and all.'
James laughed. 'Alright. We'll get started on it tomorrow.'
'Don't you think we'd be better off doing it now?'
'Nope, tomorrow,' James kissed Lily. 'I can think of something much more fun to do now.'
Lily laughed. 'Okay, okay. Decorations tomorrow. I can't believe we'll be doing the decorations on the actual holiday. How sad is that?'
'It's not.' James kissed Lily again. 'Tomorrow will be fine. I promise.'
