The next few weeks passed in a blur, seeming to Lily to alternately drag with impossible slowness and rush by much too fast. The days she spent at the Hogwarts library with Alice, at their table far back in the recesses of the Restricted Section, screened by a Silencing Spell from any curious students or other eavesdroppers, working out the charm. The two of them read every book they could find even tangentially related to the subject. Lily worked out several refinements to her original rough outline. This was her favorite sort of charm, one in which the delicate interplay between spoken word and precise motion of wand which was the essence of charms was prolonged and complex. In the end, as she copied out written instructions for Frank and Alice once the charm was as perfect as she could make it, she felt a glow of pride. She had done good work on it; it was solidly crafted, balanced and elegant.
That night, she and James brought their wands into bed with them, to practice the charm for the first time. She felt faintly ridiculous, clutching the polished length of willow wood in first one hand, then the other, as she let James slide her robe off each of her arms in turn. She turned to him, then burst out laughing as she saw his own wand held in his teeth, leaving his hands free to run sensuously across her newly bare skin.
He raised his eyebrows and blinked in mock innocence, removing his own robe and drawing her down beside him onto their bed. He reached up and removed the wand from his mouth and kissed her deep and long. Then pulled back and grinned. "Okay, now show me what I'm supposed to do with this thing." He waggled it at her. "You know, I've always heard you can tell the measure of a wizard by what he does with his wand." He leered at her, and if her laughter had touch of hysteria behind it, they both chose to ignore it.
She walked him though the many complex steps of the spell, which involved both alternating and synchronized movements of both their wands, tracing intricate patterns in the air around their bodies, between and during the caresses and kisses of lovemaking. At first they could barely accomplish a single move without bursting into laughter and having to start all over again, but eventually they settled into serious concentration, practicing each step of the charm until it was committed to heart. Eventually they felt the magic starting to gather, and had to deliberately alter the angle of their wands and mispronounce the words lest the charm take premature effect. Later, when all portions of the spell were learned, they set aside their wands, and gave all their attention each to the other. This magic had nothing to do with wands or charms, and they reveled in it.
The October weather was glorious those weeks, crisp air and brisk wind moderated by slanting golden sunlight. At times Lily could almost forget. Babies and death seemed far away the night she and James met Sirius, Remus and Peter at the first Quidditch match of the season, and cheered themselves hoarse as the Chudley Cannons first pulled ahead, then lagged behind, over and over, until long after midnight the Cannons' seeker snatched the Snitch just inches ahead of her opponent, winning the game by only ten points. Arm in arm they trooped to the pub afterwards to celebrate, and it was only when the four men were deep in planning for their next full moon outing two weeks later that she realized with a start that the full moon fell three days after Halloween. By that time, it would all be over.
Having exhausted the Hogwart's library's meager selection of pregnancy books, Lily ventured to Flourish and Blotts to seek out the wizarding world's popular works on the subject – What to Digest While You're Gestating, Your Pregnancy Spell by Spell, Beyond Merlin and Matilda. She even sought out a Muggle bookshop, and devoured what she found there, much to James' amusement.
"You know," she remarked to him one morning over breakfast, "a baby's not actually conceived right during sex." She waved her latest reading material at him. "It says here the sperm and egg usually get together at least twenty-four hours later, and it can sometimes be as much as five days before it happens. Not that it has anything to do with the charm, of course," she hastened to add, in response to his incredulous stare. "Magic is concerned with the symbolic and emotional significance of the event, not the… Stop looking at me like that!" She glared at him, until he rolled his eyes and went back to his breakfast.
"Muggles," he muttered into his tea.
The next day was one of the regularly scheduled Order meetings. As they gathered around the long table, Lily hung back, choosing a seat as far from Dumbledore's chair at the table's head as she could. She felt sure if she met his eyes he could read her secret written in guilty letters across her face. She could see nothing out of the ordinary in how James, Frank, or Alice behaved. Perhaps a bit more subdued than usual, but then they all were. The news was grim. They continued to lose ground, while Voldemort's supporters gained strength with every passing day. None of the Order's latest schemes had yet borne fruit. Lily longed to share her clandestine hope, to relieve even a little the despair on her comrade's faces, yet even to her the plan seemed so precarious and fragile, the cost so high, the payoff so uncertain and remote, that she too came close to despair.
Finally, after an eternity of waiting that passed in a breath, the day came. Lily and James attended the village Halloween party, laughing as they watched the children bob for apples, and warming themselves in the glow of the bonfires. Afterwards they walked back to their home, where Frank and Alice met them. Again they shared dinner.
Around the table, having finished the meal, they lingered over pumpkin juice, all of them reluctant to speak. Finally, James stood, and raised his glass. For a long moment, he stared into the distance, then spoke.
"A toast. To Voldemort's downfall."
They all shuddered a bit at the forbidden name, then the other three raised their glasses in response and drank. Next Frank stood.
"To the Order of the Phoenix. May it forever stand against evil."
Again they all drank. Then it was Alice's turn.
"To our children. May they always be protected by our love."
Lily could barely swallow, but she forced a sip down. Then she stood and raised her glass, hand trembling, voice shaking but certain.
"And to us. May we work our magic well."
She closed her eyes as she drained her glass, then opened them to see that the others had done the same. James slammed his glass to the table. "Let's get on with it then. Everyone knows what they have to do. Frank, Alice?"
They rose, and Lily and James escorted them to the door. Lily and Alice embraced, and Frank and James clasped hands. Then the Longbottoms stepped outside and vanished.
Lily moved toward the kitchen, to tidy the last of the dinner things, but James intercepted her. "That can wait until morning. It's time." She met his eyes, and nodded. He reached for her, and hand in hand they made their way to the bedroom.
No laughter, this time. Their wands seemed natural extensions of themselves, as they undressed each other and sank onto the bed. The words of the charm flowed from their mouths like song, and the motions of their wands melded with the motions of their bodies in a seamless dance. She wove the magic around his heart and his loins, and he bespelled her breasts and belly. Together they called forth the form of body and spirit of the child who would be. Each spoke the vow and signed their secret name to the binding contract that traded life for power. Lily lost herself in the beauty of the magic and the pleasure of her lover's body, until at last the moment came when his low and her high voices joined to cry out the final word in harmony with their bodies' climax, and she knew, with joy and without regret, that the deed was accomplished.