Harry is now seven months old, and he had started talking and was at the age where he could crawl into any space. He was now the spitting image of James, except for his eyes. Lily and Calvin were still really close friends, and while he hadn't told her how he felt she was starting to catch on that he might feel more for her. James and Sirius were always popping in to see Harry, at least once a day.
"Harry, where are you now?" said Lily, exasperated. She had just given Harry his lunch, she turned her back for one minute and he had disappeared again. Harry was going through a phase where he wanted to explore and cause as much mayhem as possible. He didn't just look like James.
"Harry, I'm not playing," she sighed. They were still living in the flat and it seemed to be getting smaller each day. Lily just didn't have a lot of time to house hunt. Then she heard someone coming in the front door.
"Who's that?" she called as she crouched down to check if Harry was under the table.
"It's just me," said James, standing in the doorway. "What are you doing?"
"Your son is hiding again. He's been doing this all morning, if I take my eyes off him for one second he's gone," said Lily, getting to her feet and dusting herself off.
"Where could he possibly hide?" said James, looking around the tiny kitchen that had baby toys and other essentials lying around.
"Under the cot, inside the TV cabinet, the gap in between the toilet and the wall those are just a few of his favourites."
"Harry," James called, half laughing at Lily's little rant. "Harry."
"Dadda," Harry squealed, his little head suddenly poking out on of the bottom kitchen cabinets.
"Oh, now you come out," said Lily, her voice full of frustration.
"I hear you have been bad boy today for your Mummy," said James, lifting Harry out of the cabinet.
"Doggy? Doggy coming?" said Harry, looking around.
"No, the Doggy isn't coming. Doggy had to go to work," said James, taking Harry into the living room and sitting him next to his toy chest.
"Doggy? Does he mean Sirius?" said Lily.
"Yeah he does…"
"You let him see his godfather transform into a dog? Does he knew Daddy is a dear?" said Lily, obviously disapproving.
"Daddy Stag," said Harry innocently as he pulled out all his toys.
"I just put those away," groaned Lily.
"I'll take him to my place this afternoon," said James. "You can get things done."
"Thanks," said Lily. "The problem is this place just isn't big enough anymore."
"I told you to move into the house," said James, meaning the house they had bought when they got married. They had rented it out for a few months, but now it was empty.
"And I told you I didn't want to move in there, I'll find somewhere else when I have time to look," said Lily wearily.
"Then look this afternoon, I'll bring him back after dinner," said James, lifting Harry up.
"Okay, his bag is in his room it's fully stocked," said Lily. Even though James had everything Harry needed at his flat, Lily always insisted that he take extra nappies, clothes and food.
"Right, come on then Harry," said James.
"Toy…" Harry whimpered, looking down at his toys.
"Alright you can pick one," said James sternly. There was a huge collection of Harry's toys already at James' flat.
"Here take the troll, I've been tripping over that all week," said Lily, putting the toy in Harry's hand.
------------------------------------------------
"Wow…" said Calvin, looking round the flat it was immaculate. "What happened here? Did you murder the baby?"
"James has him this afternoon," said Lily. She was lounging on the sofa, reading a letter that had arrived half an hour ago.
"Are you okay? You look a little…peaky?"
"It's from the lawyers," said Lily, handing him the letter. "A reminder we have to draw up the divorce papers and sign in a month or we have to file all over again."
"Right… what are you going to do?" said Calvin, sitting down next to her. He hadn't acted on his feelings yet. He couldn't hit on her after she had just had a baby, he was giving her time. If she was going to get divorced, then he would tell her; if not, then it probably meant she still loved James. His heart was pounding, waiting for her to answer.
"There is no point in waiting any longer and having to file again," said Lily.
"You're going to have the papers drawn up?" he asked, hardly daring to believe it.
"Yeah… it'll be fine. The divorce will be easy: joint custody of Harry and a fifty-fifty split of the assets," said Lily. "I'll write to my lawyer now and have him draw them up."
"Yeah that's good. You can move on… have you thought about dating again?" asked Calvin, sweating nervously.
"I've thought about it and to be honest… it terrifies me. I'm a soon to be divorced single mother… that's scary," Lily confessed.
"It doesn't have to be scary," Calvin said quietly.
"But it will be, I know it will be, and I have Harry to think about."
"Why don't you go out with me? You know me, we get on and I think Harry is great, and he likes me too," said Calvin, rushed.
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah, I've been mad about you for ages. You must have noticed something… I mean if you don't think it would be a good idea… we get on so well and… what do you think?" asked Calvin anxiously.
"Um… okay I guess we could try that," said Lily quietly.
"Really?"
"Yeah, okay."
"What about dinner, tomorrow night?" he asked eagerly.
"Sure… that'll be great."
"Great, I'll make reservations."
-------------------------------------------
"Can you take Harry tomorrow night?" Lily asked James. He had dropped Harry off and she had just put him to bed.
"All night?" asked James. Harry had never spent the night at his flat.
"Yeah all night. If you can't… or you don't want to it's fine…"
"Of course I want to, it's just you've never let me keep him all night," said James.
"I know I've been really over protective but… you should be able to have him all night. He listens to you more than me now."
"Thanks I'd love to have him," said James it didn't even occur to him to ask why she wanted him to have Harry.
"Thank you, if you pick up about six, I'll have everything ready."
James had gotten the reminder letter the same as Lily. He didn't bring it up and neither did she. He took it to mean she didn't want the divorce and he was more than happy with that. If she was going to go ahead with it she would have mentioned it, wouldn't she?