Written for Hogwarts' Around the World Event: Algeria - Animagus, the Herbology Assignment - Write about someone resisting something (e.g. a change) and only making the situation worse for themselves, Princess Adora - She-Ra - Write about a transformation, the Writing Club: Showtime - We Love the Prince! - (dialogue) "This is embarrassing.", Days of the Month - Housewife's Day - Write about a housewife, Count Your Buttons - (pairing) Jily, (object) welcome mat.

Word count: 831

oh deer (let me in)

Lily blinked. The stag blinked back. She stepped to the right, the stag stepped to the right. She took a step to the left, the stag mirrored her. She tried to enter the house, the stag moved to block the door, standing on their welcome mat.

She tried to go to the windows, cursing the fact that they had set anti-Apparition wards over the property, forcing them to enter by the actual door instead of just popping up inside, but the stag followed her there too, blocking her way.

Finally, Lily snapped. "Oh, come on, James, I've been up for seventeen hours. I swear to you, whatever disaster you've managed to create while I was gone is so far down the list of my concerns right now that you could set the house on fire and I literally wouldn't care."

The stag froze, its face a perfect rendition of the 'deer caught in the headlights' saying. Lily stared at its familiar brown eyes, biting back a laugh and arching an eyebrow impatiently. "Well? Are you going to let me pass sometime this century?"

The transition was so smooth and fast that Lily almost missed it— one moment the stag was there, the next her sheepish and stunned husband stood before her.

"Well, this is embarrassing," he chuckled awkwardly, running a hand through his already messy hair. "How did you…?"

"How did I know you were an Animagus?" Lily asked, smirking knowingly.

James nodded mutely.

Taking a deep breath, Lily started, "Well, aside from the fact that you were nowhere to be seen and a giant stag stood on our porch, there were quite a few clues…"

James looked offended. "Clues? What clues?"

Lily rolled her eyes at him. "Well, for starters, you and Sirius are absolutely pants at keeping a secret—between the dog jokes and the deer ones, it's a wonder you haven't been found out sooner. And you were even worse at hiding what you were up to at Hogwarts-"

"Excuse you, we were great at hiding at Hogwarts," James protested, chest puffing up as he crossed his arms defensively. "No one ever figured out that we became Animagi!"

"Only because no one thought you'd be dumb enough to actually do it," Lily replied with a snort and a fond smile that said, I love you but you're stupid sometimes. "Because once you figured out that Remus was a werewolf—he was pretty bad at hiding it too, by the way, but at least he wasn't anywhere as bad as you guys—figuring out that Animagi were the only way to stay safe around him on the full moon was just a matter of doing some fact-checking.

"Oh, and you let the books out on the table when you tried to ask me out," she added, almost as an afterthought.

James was gaping. "That was hot."

Lily rolled her eyes and huffed out a laugh. "I can't believe that's all you managed to get from that."

"I'm sorry, but how do you expect me to focus when you get all lecture-y like that?" James lamented dramatically. "You know I have a weak spot for that."

Still laughing, Lily rose to her tiptoes and kissed her husband's cheek. "I love you too. Now let me in so I can nap and you can clean up whatever mess you've made while I sleep."

James winced as she backed him against the door. "Well, about that…"

Lily sighed tiredly and put her hands on her hips. "James… What did you do?"

"Nothing," he hastened to answer. "Nothing, it's just… I love you?" His voice came out as strangled and Lily started to fear the worst.

"James," she said in a no-nonsense kind of voice, "open the door."

James winced again but he slowly turned the handle. Lily only got a glimpse of their living-room before she had him snap the door shut again.

"Sirius thought it'd be a good idea to try to assemble Harry's nursery the Muggle way," he confessed under her questioning glare.

"Alright," she said, voice strangled and high-pitched, "you have five minutes to make it look like none of this ever happened. I will go upstairs, sleep, and when I come back down in a couple of hours, I want this mess not to be there, alright? Or you can sleep on the couch for the rest of the day for letting Sirius drag you into this mess."

James nodded enthusiastically, though Lily could see from the scheming look in his eyes that he was already plotting revenge on his best friend.

He reluctantly opened the door again, shooting her a mournful look that made her laugh. She pecked him on the lips as she ran past him, her gaze resolutely avoiding the living-room where Sirius was sheepishly looking at a three-legged crib and an instruction manual, and climbed up the stairs two by two.

Sleep.

Maybe after some rest, the world would make sense again.