James potter sat with his father in the family room. His father had mostly healed himself with his wand. He could do it pretty quick. He had a lot of practice, james supposed.
It was odd to think that james himself might be coming home one day to a wife and son beaten up from an attack or raid. If he did in fact want to be an auror than that was bound to happen. If he didn't die. It was a morbid thought, but a very realistic one. There were so many death eaters and voldemort supporters that the aurors these days just couldn't keep up. They were losing more than they could train. They were accepting them into the training programs younger and younger now, too. James was going to sign up as soon as he graduated hogwarts. In fact, he was considering not even finishing his last year at hogwarts and just going straight to the ministry. It wasn't like he wanted to but at this rate he might have to.
James's thoughts were interrupted by his mother appearing in the fireplace in a puff of smoke.
"Monty?" she asked in reference to james's father "are you alright?" she walked over and sat on the couch next to him
"Fine, mia." he gave a reassuring smile. James's father had a way of being resilient like that. He could bounce back from anything. His very presence made you feel warm and safe.
"You're certain?" she questioned once more
"Quite certain, mia." he answered once more with his unfaltering smile.
"Well, alright then. She stood up. Let's have dinner then, shall we?"
James and his father followed her lead into the dining room. James always thought their table looked odd. It was too large to only have four chairs. If the room didn't echo so well you would probably have to yell just to be heard at one end of the table from the other.
James took the seat he always sat at, facing the empty chair across from him. his mother and father took theirs at the ends of the table. Only moments later the food the house elves had prepared appeared in front of them. James usually helped them cook dinner, rather enjoying his time in the kitchen, but tonight he had been too caught up in seeing his father again after his year at hogwarts.
His parents could sometimes be cold towards him and they were hardly ever home, but james still loved them and wanted to spend time with them whenever he could. He couldn't imagine having any other parents.
Sometimes when they were gone for days at a time and james was all alone in the house he thought differently but times like this almost made everything worth it. He smiled as his mother laughed at one of his father's jokes, spooning vegetables onto her plate. They sat together like a normal family, his mother's laugh brightening up the room as only her laugh could.
…[...[]...]...
"Lily," a knock on her door woke her up. She groaned and sat up, her dirty hair tangled and matted in front of her face
"Yeah?" she answered. Or at least she tried. She wasn't entirely sure it had been intelligible. Apparently her mother had distinguished something of the sort from her groan because she opened the door and strode in.
"Lily, why are you still asleep?" she asked, nor angry or rushed, just slightly confused.
"Because i'm tired." lily answered trying to sort out the mess of hair on her head
"It's almost eleven, you never sleep in this late." she was right. Once lily's mind was used to a sleeping schedule it hardly ever strayed from it.
"No, i don't." she agreed "i was up pretty late last night, that must be why." pretty late was a bit of an understatement. It was past three by the time she went to bed. Normally going to bed at eleven or midnight, lily was exhausted. There was a book she was reading that she told herself she was just going to read one chapter of, then had just end up reading the entire thing in one sitting.
"How late is 'pretty late'?" her mother asked. Lily told her reluctantly and her mother just shook her head. "If i had known that," she said "i might have come upstairs to say goodnight to you when your father and i got home. I just assumed you were already asleep."
"Usually a safe assumption." lily agreed
"So, anything interesting happen last night while we were away?"
"Uugh." lily groaned
"'Uugh'?" her mother asked "what does 'uugh' mean?"
"Well," lily started "i ordered pizza last night."
"Yes, i saw the box in the trash."
"And jacob delivered it like normal," her mother nodded along "and confessed his undying love for me." she face planted into her pillow, thinking the situation was so ridiculous that it seemed like some crazy dream
"What?" her mother asked, slightly shocked, slightly amused.
"You heard me." lily mumbled into her pillow
"Are we going to get discounts now?"
"mum."
