Assignment 3-/-Mythology, Task 4 (Demeter): Write about someone with a floral name.

Insane House Challenge-56. (Pairing) Lily/James

Scavenger Hunt-1. Write about your OTP

Writing Club-Liza's Loves: Red Stag - Write about James Potter

Writing Club-Book Club-Francis Goldman: (character) Lily Evans-Potter, (word) pregnant (emotion) hope

Writing Club-/-Days of the Month- World Marriage Day: Write about a married couple.

Writing Club-/-A Year in Entertainment- Movie: Mean Girls - (color) Pink

Writing Club-/-Showtime: The Wizard and I - (word) Quirk

Serpent Day: Emerald Tree Boa: Lily/James

It's Lily who decides they're going to have a girl, and the spare bedroom-turned-nursery has to have pink walls.

"I have a feeling it's going to be a girl," Lily says out of the blue, rubbing her bulging stomach. James is lounging on the loveseat opposite her with a Quidditch magazine in his lap and his feet propped up on the armrest.

"Really?" James glances up. "I thought you said it was going to be a boy."

"I'm confident now," she insists. "She's going to have my red hair and your lovely eyes—"

"Lils, we don't want her to have my atrocious eyesight," he interrupts, the corner of his mouth quirking up. "I wouldn't mind a replica of you, actually. At least she'll be beautiful."

He expects her to be flustered, but she fires back immediately, "Oh yeah? Then you're going to have to scare off all the blokes that come calling."

He isn't the slightest bit miffed with her witticisms; it's something he's grown used to, after years of knowing her. It's adorable, frankly.

"If she's anything like you, Lils, she'll find the right bloke the second time around," he jests.

Lily scowls. "You're lucky I'm too pregnant to reach over there and smack you right now," she replies huffily. "As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted—" she glares at her husband pointedly, "—I definitely think it's going to be a girl, and we should paint her room pink."

"Sounds good to me, Lils." James redirects his attention to perusing his magazine, and Lily stares off into the distance, envisaging her daughter's bedroom.

"James?" she asks a few minutes later, her thoughts drifting to other matters. "Do you think we'll be able to raise our child without exposing them to the war?"

James's eyes latch onto her own, the magazine forgotten. There's something unreadable glimmering in those hazel depths. Not bewilderment, but something deeper.

"I dunno, Lily," he says, and she knows he's serious because he rarely calls her by her real name. "I mean, even if we shelter her, she's still going to inevitably find out about it whether we tell her or not. A part of me wants to protect her from it, but I don't think we'll be able to shield her from it forever."

Lily nods thoughtfully, a small smile appearing on her face. "I feel like that too," she confesses. "At least, if she's anything like me, she'll be sensible. She won't run off in the middle of night to go fight or something."

"Hey, that was one time!" James protests. "If you didn't notice, I'm still in one piece!"

They descend into another round of playful banter, but there's still hope lingering inside of Lily. Maybe, she hopes, her daughter will be understanding, and perhaps lionhearted like her parents. She and James have fighting spirits dwelling within them, and she hopes her daughter will inherit them.

Hope is a beautiful word, and as long as it's there, her family will fight for it.

503 words.

Hope you enjoyed my first story!