Harry had the grace to look sheepish.
"Er, yeah. That'd about sum it up," he admitted.
"So was I. I mean, Lily—your mother teased me a little. I was so cocky and brave at Hogwarts and the Ministry…you wouldn't have thought," James said, a wistful tone in his voice.
Harry felt himself relax an iota. Grinning, he said, "Yeah, word is you were a bit of a prat at school."
"A bit? Harry, either you're as kind as your mother or your sources confused me with someone. I was an arrogant little twerp. We ruled Hogwarts—Remus, Sirius and me—and Peter, to an extent," he added darkly. "Point is, I matured some sixth year and then a hell of a lot more seventh. Your mother got me pretty well straightened out by the time I talked her into marrying me."
Here he let out a laugh not unlike Sirius', then he stopped.
"But I was not even remotely ready for a kid. And with a war gathering momentum, it was far from an ideal time to be popping out a kiddo," he explained. "As you know, Lily was your mother from the moment she found out she was pregnant. Of course it didn't faze my perfect Lily," he said.
Harry found himself warming to James a little. For all the unpleasant memories Snape had inadvertently shown him, the other Marauders were evidently truthful with Harry. James had loved Lily deeply.
"Wait, what do you mean, 'as you know,'" Harry asked.
"What—no one told you about that afternoon? The afternoon she told me about you?"
Harry felt the room spin before catching sight of a younger James. The gray, wintery day didn't hold any sway over the man, who had an auror's badge pinned haphazardly to his robes. Lanky and fresh-faced, he assaulted the steps to his second story flat two at a time. Wind-blown hair and rosy cheeks hinted at James' excitement. Harry felt his own pulse quicken as James thrust open the door.
Entering the small flat noisily, he whipped off his cloak, neatly tossing it to a hook by the door.
"Lils? Flower petal? I've got some potentially—no, definitely life-altering news!" he shouted.
A young woman with auburn locks and a warm expression poked her head through the kitchen door.
"Good evening to you too, husband," Lily said. Her eyes sparkled, Harry noticed happily. They were so happy. Harry tried to do mental math to pinpoint the first war's progress at this point, and failed.
"Have a good day at work, I take it?"
James embraced her, roughly kissing her before answering.
"I'll say! Promoted again—I'm out of stupid training level!" he let out a whoop of joy. "And," here he paused for dramatic flair, "I've got the option to go to Egypt for six weeks' special recon training. Finally give me a chance to prove I'm not just some young upstart, I can go above their ridiculous expectations," he finished.
"James, that is wonderful," Lily said with a smile. Harry rather thought it looked as though his mother was enjoying a private joke. "You've been chasing a chance like this for what? The last five months?"
"Six," James corrected easily. "But who's counting?" he laughed.
Picking up his wife in a hug, James twirled the redhead around the kitchen. "Lily, m'dear, everything's coming up roses. No! Better! Everything's coming up lilies!"
The young Mrs. Potter giggled, not bothering to protest as James dipped and twirled her with the skill of a Quiddich champion. "You've worked so hard for this! You've earned it, James," she said and James deposited her on the kitchen countertop.
"I won't argue with that," James leaned forward, kissing her. "And let's face it, us Marauders always get what we chase," he said cheekily.
Lily rolled her eyes with a grin. "Oh do you?"
With a devilish wink, James smiled. "Quite. Let's see: top marks, Quiddich wins, Auror training, Ministry job, oh yes—a beautiful wife who somehow puts up with all the aforementioned pursuits."
"Somehow," Lily agreed. She looked around the tiny kitchen as James busied himself with squatting down to untie his shoelaces. "So we're still set to move into the Godric's Hollow cottage, right?"
"Yeah, two weeks from now, got it all signed over. Just waiting to take a Friday off work," James answered absently, tugging forcefully at a knot in the laces. "Why?"
"Er, no big reason. Just be nice to have the extra space when the baby comes," Lily said quietly, a small smile playing at her lips.
From his position on the floor, James' neck snapped up toward his wife.
"The…what? Is this like a hypothetical baby or a—"
"Like a due-at-the-end-of-July baby," Lily answered. She looked mildly concerned as James stood abruptly.
"July," he said softly. "July. A baby. A baby in July with Lily," he repeated, not evidently directing his words to anyone.
"Yeah," Lily said, her voice adopting James' quiet tone. "Baby Potter."
"Baby Potter." James was nearly whispering now. "Lils—don't get me wrong, I'm happy but, but…try as we might to ignore the obvious, there's a bit of a tiff with Riddle going on and we're in the bloody Order and expected to fight and oh Merlin you can't possibly go out on any more of those missions," he rambled, running a hand violently through his hair several times. "Not while you're…you're…"
"Pregnant? With child? Carrying a baby?" Lily supplied helpfully.
"Right. Those. That."
"It hasn't stopped Alice," Lily protested. "And besides, I'm not daft. I'll stop going out on missions when I get all big and lumbering," she said sharply.
James leaned quite close to Lily, who was still perched on the counter. "Lils, I am scared shitless to be a…dad," his voice cracking with desperation.
"I know you are, James. That's why there's two of us and like seven more months until we have to really figure out how to be parents," Lily answered. "We'll figure this out, like we've figured everything else out. We can do this."
Although she spoke with manageable conviction, Harry noticed his mother's hands trembled slightly in her lap. Suddenly, James leaned further forward, giving Lily a lengthy kiss.
"I know, Lils. It's just, wow. A baby. Us," he said, sounding slightly less terrified. "This is really happening, huh?"
"What is?" Lily asked cautiously.
"Life," he said simply.