A/N: OH GOSH! I'm SO sorry that this took so long for me to post! Things have been rather hectic on the homefront… still need to find a job (*gag*) and stuff like that, but that's ok… moving on, here's the next chapter! Hope you all enjoy!
Chapter 22: Looking Back
Lily carefully removed the silver wrapping paper and removed the lid from the box. Inside they found what appeared to be a calendar. James picked it up and smiled at the picture that was on the cover. It was of him and Lily at their wedding, smiling and waving. He then flipped it open to the month of January.
"Oh my god! Look at that!" Lily exclaimed. She pointed to the box labeled January 7th. Inside the small box was a picture of her and James in their 4th year at Hogwarts labeled First break-up. They couldn't help but laugh. Then they saw on January 19th another picture, this time from their 5th year of them both in Gryffindor quidditch robes, labeled First Quidditch Game Together.
"I remember that! You were our reserve chaser, and then, who was it? Whalen! That bludger broke his nose and you had to play…"
"What else could be in here?" Lily asked as she flipped through the calendar to see what was in the month of September. Sure enough, once she got there, she found what she was looking for. "September 1," she read.
"God, we were so young," James sighed. Sure enough, there was a picture of them together on the Hogwarts Express for the first time with the caption saying Love At First Sight. Then the box for September 18th caught James's eye. First Prank, it read. He burst out laughing when he saw the picture of Lily with plaid hair. "I almost forgot about that!"
"And I wish that I had…" she said, pretending to be upset with him. Unfortunately, then she looked down and saw it. The box labeled September 24th. It had a picture of Claire in it, and was labeled Beloved Sister Passes On.
James was speechless. He simply sat there with his arm around Lily staring at the calendar. Then, suddenly, with his other hand, he flipped the calendar to May. He looked at May 29th and found what he was looking for. A picture of Angelica was there with the label A Guardian Angel is Born. Lily rested her head against James's shoulder and wiped a tear away from her eye. They then looked at the following month, June, and found a picture of Marilyn there, on June 19th, smiling and waving at them. Always Watching Over Us, the caption said.
Lily and James continued to look through their present for the next hour or so, laughing, for the most part, at the various memories Jem and Sirius (and apparently Remus) had put together for them from their days at Hogwarts. Lily found the one labeled First Slap to be particularly humorous.
By the time they made their way up to bed, both Lily and James were exhausted. Having spent the better part of the evening reliving memories, the couple felt that they had definitely earned the right to a nice relaxing night of sleep. Before going to bed though, they did make sure to hang the calendar up in their kitchen, on the month of November, since it was the 15th now, to serve as a daily reminder of the life they have led together, and the things that would come.
The following morning, Lily was surprised to wake up and find James's side of the bed empty. Now what's that boy gone and gotten himself into, she thought to herself. Just as she was about to sit up and get out of bed though, the door flew open and James appeared, holding a tray.
"Happy anniversary," James said, grinning from ear to ear. He crossed the room and sat beside her on the bed.
Lily smiled. "Happy anniversary to you too." She took then took a better look at the tray James had and her smile disappeared when she saw what was on the tray. "You cooked?"
"Really, Lil. Do you have to be so childish? Just enjoy it!" James insisted.
Lily remained skeptical. "You try it first."
James rolled his eyes. "Fine then." He took a bite of the eggs he made and promptly grabbed the napkin and spit them out. "Okay, maybe we should skip breakfast." He got up to put the tray down on the dresser but Lily stopped him.
She had noticed the rosebud in the vase with a gold ribbon tied around it and a card leaning against it. "May I have my card?"
James smiled again. "Of course," he said, handing it to her.
Half expecting something to jump out of the envelope and into her face, Lily was quite surprised to find what appeared to be a traditional card there. She carefully slid it out of the envelope and smiled as she read the front of it. For My Beloved Wife, On This, the Anniversary of Our First Year of Marriage. She then opened the card. Before she could read what it said though, a small brass key fell out of it and to the floor. She looked from the key to James and back to the key again. "Is that what I think it is?" James smiled and nodded. "Where is it?"
"In what will soon be the nursery. I though that would be the best place for it," he said. But Lily didn't hear anything he told her past the word "nursery" for she had rushed out of bed and through the door. Once she made it to what was to become the new baby's room, she saw it.
"Mother's old toy chest…" Lily breathed.
"I actually had to hunt down your sister and fight with her for nearly a month to get that. She didn't seem to want to part with it, but I figured that was more out of spite than any real sentimental value."
Lily nodded as she ran her fingers over the wooden chest and carefully sliding the brass key into the lock. "She never liked this thing, said it caused her to have nightmares… She was always imagining that monsters lived in it or something…"
"So you like it?"
"I love it, James! Thank you so much!" Lily jumped up and gave James a kiss.
James couldn't have been more excited by Lily's reaction. "I really wasn't sure if you'd like it," he said foolishly.
"Oh, James, how could I not? I wondered what had happened to it." Lily's expression suddenly changed and she turned to face James again. "How is my sister?"
"She's the same, well, perhaps worse now since she married that other awful muggle-"
"Vernon," Lily interrupted, thinking back to when she knew him as a child. "He and 'Tunia deserve each other."
"You're right about that. They also deserve whatever bundle of wretchedness they bring into this world."
"You mean?"
James nodded. "She's pregnant too. I'd love to see what would happen if that child of theirs turned out to be magic," he said grinning.
Lily smiled and shook her head. "Don't even say that… Anyway, enough about them, and back to us. I have something for you as well," Lily told him. Her eyes twinkled as she led James out of the nursery and down to the kitchen. She opened up the pantry and pulled out a tin labeled wheat flour. "I knew you'd never think to look in here," she explained as she opened the tin and retrieved a small parcel from it.
James's eyes were bright with excitement. "What is it?" he asked anxiously.
Lily laughed. "You'll just have to open it to find out, won't you?"
Not wanting to waste another second, James tore the wrapping paper off of the package and quickly pulled the lid off of the small gift box. Inside he saw an old pocket watch. "Thanks, Lil," he said, somewhat puzzled. This, his confusion, made Lily smile even wider.
"You and I have been spending entirely too much time together," Lily began.
"Oh, 'happy anniversary' indeed," James cut in.
Lily rolled her eyes. "I say that because our gift ideas are very similar. You gave me something of my mother's, and I you something of your sister's." James continued to look at her skeptically. "That was Claire's while she attended Hogwarts," Lily explained. "A very interesting little tool she and her friend devised to cause trouble… much like your Marauders and the Map."
James's face lit up. "What's it do?"
"It just brings you what you want. For instance," Lily picked up the device, opened it and then said "my wand." James watched in awe as she reached her hand in and retrieved her wand from within it. "Claire told me they used to use it to steal keys and things from Filch's office."
James grinned. "And she always tried to make me feel guilty for causing trouble at school… Thanks, Lil, really." He hugged his wife to him and kissed her.
"She would have wanted you to have it, I'm sure," Lily said. "Now, what are we going to do today?"
"First, you are going to get dressed. And then we're going to London for the day. Don't worry; I've got everything all planned out. You'll see…" James said reassuringly.
Although she remained skeptical of James's plans at first, once they arrived in London, Lily gave in and had a wonderful time. The pair played the role of honeymooning tourists all day, starting with their arrival at Kings Cross by muggle train. This was very amusing for James, for he had only ever been there for Platform 9 ¾. Fascinated by what Lily called the Tube, James would have happily remained on the Underground all day. He was, however, inclined to change his mind when Lily threatened to divorce him if he didn't "move his ruddy arse above ground."
From that moment on, Lily genuinely enjoyed herself. They went shopping in various boutiques along Oxford Street, saw Buckingham Palace where Lily insisted on getting a picture of them waving at the Royal Family ("But James, Charles might actually be there looking out!"), had lunch at a sidewalk café, and finally walked through Madame Tussauds Wax Museum before heading to the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley to apparate home.
"I'm just going to make a quick run into Gringotts," James said, "Just to exchange some more money."
"That's fine," Lily told him. "I'll run in and visit Mr. Ollivander." James gave her a confused look. "I just need to ask him something."
"Fine. I'll meet you back here in a half hour, alright?"
"Sounds good," Lily said, kissing him goodbye.
Lily watched James walk down the cobblestone street and into the pristine white building that was Gringotts Wizards Bank. She smiled to herself as she thought how lucky she was. Of course, when she turned around to walk toward Mr. Ollivander's Wand Shop, the smile faded from her lips.
"Severus?" Lily whispered. "What on earth has happened to you?"
The figure standing in front of Lily was barely recognizable as the friend she remembered from Hogwarts. Snape was wearing robes that were tattered and torn, and it looked like they might have even been singed. He was even paler than usual, his eyes sunken in with dark circles around them. He smiled faintly at the sight of Lily and reached out for her, his hands worn and bony. She rushed over to him and hugged him, more out of fear that he would collapse in the middle of the street than to give him a proper greeting. Very carefully, she guided his worn out frame over to a café.
Once they were seated, Lily asked again "What happened?"
"I can't say," Snape told her. She gave him an angry look. "No, really. I'd tell you if I could, but that's just it. I don't know exactly." He coughed deeply and then grabbed his forearm. "Can you do me a favour?"
"Of course, anything."
"Don't say anything to anyone about this," he paused for a moment, and thought about his request. "Don't say anything to anyone about this, except Dumbledore. Can you do that for me? Contact him?" Lily nodded, but was still confused about what was going on with him. "Here," he tore off a piece of paper from a napkin on the table and scribbled something on it. "Tell Dumbledore that he can find me at this address. He'll know what to do. Now I've got to go before anything else happens…"
"But, Severus… what's going on?"
"All will reveal itself in due course." He jumped up from the table and kissed Lily on the forehead. She couldn't help but wince slightly at the touch of his cold, dry lips on her skin. Snape didn't seem to notice though. "Goodbye, and thank you, Lily. You are a true friend."
Before she could say another word, Snape had disapparated, and not a moment too soon. James was walking down the street and over to Lily.
"Hey baby," James said. Lily heaved a relieved sigh upon hearing his words. This meant he hadn't seen Snape. "How is Mr. Ollivander?"
"I decided against going in to see him today… maybe I will on our next visit here."
James sat down at the table with Lily. "Are you alright? You look a little pale."
"I'm fine. Just a little rundown, that's all." She forced a brilliant smile. "We were all over the place, and it just tired me out. I guess I can't keep up nearly as well carrying this baby around."
James laughed. "We should probably head home anyhow. It's almost time for dinner."
Lily looked at him nervously. "You're not going to cook again, are you?"
James shook his head. "Why would you suggest such a thing?" He winked at her.
"Thank goodness… I wouldn't want to end up eating blue soup or anything like that…"
"Don't worry… let's just go home, ok?" Lily nodded and the couple disapparated.
When Lily opened her eyes, she was shocked to find that she hadn't apparated to her own living room, which is where she had planned on going. "James?" she whispered.
"Over here, Lil," he said, causing her to turn around cautiously.
"Surprise!" shouted 100 people or so. Lily broke into a huge grin as she realized where she was. Sirius and Jem's new house. They had thrown her and James a surprise party for their anniversary.
Lily and James were very excited to see all of their friends gathered together in celebration of their first anniversary. In fact, the last time they had seen many of them was a year ago at the wedding itself. Jem had truly outdone herself with this party. There were all sorts of food, ranging from traditional muggle dishes and sweets to what seemed to be the entire inventory of Honeydukes sweet shop in Hogsmeade. There were sodas, punch, pumpkin juice, wine, champagne, beer… the menu was endless.
About an hour into the party, everyone had settled down a bit and was sitting (or standing) and chatting. It was at that time that Sirius decided to tap his beer bottle with a fork to get everyone's attention. This of course didn't work though, so he ended up grabbing Jem's wine glass out of her hands and dodging her blow to his chest.
"If I could have everyone's attention please!" Sirius called out. "Peter! This means you! Stop talking!" Peter blushed. "Thank you! As I was trying to say, the last time we were all gathered together was exactly 1 year ago, and well, I gotta say it, damn. None of us thought that you guys would survive a year alone together. We all saw what you were like in school, so how you manage day after day without any supervision- that's just mind-boggling." Everyone laughed, mostly because they agreed with what Sirius was saying. "Anyway, today we're here celebrating the fact that you've both survived a year together. It's been a rough one, I know, but things can only get better. I mean, after all, you do have that new baby to look forward to!"
Everyone gasped and looked from Sirius to Lily and James. Lily had gone pale and James sat there stupidly with a wide grin on his face.
"Thanks for ruining the surprise," James said once the crowd had gone back to chatting in small groups.
"Well, I figured, we're amongst friends," Sirius said.
"I can't believe you did that!" Jem shouted.
"What's the big deal?" Sirius asked, genuinely confused as Jem dragged him out of the living room.
Their clique had separated from the rest of the party and was now lingering in the kitchen. It was Sirius, Jem, Lily, James, Remus and Peter. Jem was shaking her head and Peter was biting his nails nervously.
"Well, we weren't going to tell everyone yet, that's what the big deal is," James told him.
"I'm sorry, I thought that it was good news…"
"It's alright. We would have told them anyhow," Lily assured him.
Sirius beamed. He knew that once he had Lily on his side it was only a matter of time before everyone else joined in.
Jem looked at Lily and James very apologetically. "I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have told him in the first place, but—well, I'm sorry…"
"Don't be. It's okay, really," Lily insisted. "It's fine."
"You're sure?"
"Positive," chimed in James. He put his arm around Lily's shoulder. "So when can we expect the presents?" he grinned.
"You mean we have to buy you two more stuff now?" Remus joked.
"Damn straight! This one's gonna be a boy, so I'm expecting a baby quidditch set for him… nothing with frills or ruff-" James was interrupted by Lily slapping his chest with the back of her hand.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Just ignore my husband, he's slightly out of his mind," she laughed. Everyone else joined in too. James just stood there looking rather sheepish.
"Do you know if it is a boy or girl?" Jem asked.
"Not sure yet. It's still too soon to tell, but we have a strong suspicion…"
"W- well, c-c-con-congratulations," Peter stammered.
Everyone looked at Peter strangely. "Thanks," Lily replied.
"Anyway," Remus said, breaking the awkward silence that had taken over. "The three of us," he gestured to himself, Peter and Sirius, "have a special present for the 4th marauder and his bride."
"Oh god…" James began.
"It's nothing too bad. You'll see," Remus grinned. "Back in a sec!" Before another word was spoken, he ran off, with Sirius close behind him.
It took a few minutes, but soon enough, the two of them returned. Between them there was a very large levitating package.
"What on earth is that?" Lily asked, staring at it in awe.
Sirius lowered the parcel onto the floor and said, "Open it and find out." He, Remus and Peter were all grinning.
James and Lily walked forward and carefully removed the paper from the package. James then pulled out his wand and used it to remove the box. Neither he nor Lily (nor Jem for that matter) could believe their eyes at what stood before them. It was the Mirror of Erised.
"Do I want to know how you got this?" Lily asked cautiously.
Remus was beaming with pride. "I think so."
"You've got to tell me…" James said.
"Well, I still have your invisibility cloak," Sirius started.
"What? Why do you have it?"
"Oh, right…" Sirius looked to Lily for help.
"I asked him to bring it to Dumbledore for safekeeping. We don't need you getting into more trouble…" Lily shook her head and changed the subject quickly. She could tell that James was not too pleased by her decision. "So how did you get the mirror?"
"Well, we kind of snuck into a certain person's home and took it."
"You stole the Mirror of Erised?" Jem shouted.
"It was already stolen. We were just liberating it and returning it to its rightful home," Remus said simply.
"You are kidding, right?" a nervous Lily asked.
"Of course they are! The fact of the matter is we bought it for you two, and that's that. So enjoy it!" Peter grinned.
"Granted it took some hunting," Sirius said.
"And haggling," Remus added.
"But we finally managed to get it. Just don't expect anything else from us for a while," Sirius told them.
"Thank you so much!" Lily exclaimed. She wrapped her arms around Sirius, Remus and Peter, pulling them all in for a rather uncomfortable hug. She then kissed them each on the cheek before letting them out of her grasp.
"How does it work?" Jem asked, looking at the elegant frame and into the mirror's glass.
"You have to be really careful with it," Lily replied. "I've read about how this works… it's just a matter of standing in front of it. But apparently you can get lost in the mirror…"
"Lost?"
"It is said that the mirror shows you your deepest desire, what you think will make you truly happy," Lily explained. "I read that people have been known to waste their lives looking into the mirror… rather than actually living them…" Her gaze wandered from her friends to the inscription on the mirror.
Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.
"What?" James asked. "What's wrong?"
Lily shook her head, almost as if snapping herself out of a trance. "Nothing. So, what shall we do now?"
"I know what I want to do! I want to see what the mirror has in store for me!" Sirius declared, grinning from ear to ear. He pushed James aside and stood in front of the mirror. "Well, I'll be damned."
"What do you see?" Jem asked, no doubt hoping that it would involve her somehow.
"I don't think it's working," Sirius stated flatly.
"What do you mean?" asked a very curious Lily.
"I see me. Here. In my jeans and shirt, with all you guys around. It's just us." He turned to Lily. "Do you think it's broken?"
Lily smiled and rushed to Sirius, giving him a big hug. "You are the perfect one, aren't you?"
James was taken aback by her action. "Hey now, there's no need for that. Just because he's happy with himself… I'm sure I am too. Let me have a go at it." James shoved Sirius aside and looked into the mirror.