Kidnapped

Chapter 2: Tempest in the Teapot

James Apparated to the designated point near Godric's Hollow later that night, still under his Invisibility Cloak, and hurriedly walked to their porch. He had tried using the Floo network earlier only to discover that the fireplace inside the house had been temporarily disconnected.

Security measures, no doubt, he assured himself. It was not as if she intentionally locked me out or something. On second thought, considering how he had been acting lately, that was not exactly a remote possibility.

He withdrew his wand and touched the keyhole with it. Nothing happened. "What's wrong?" he muttered, kicking the door angrily. He and Lily had charmed it several weeks ago so that only both their wands could open it. She must have altered the enchantment somehow. He exhaled in frustration. Obviously, there was nothing he could do but knock and hope she was still awake.

She is, don't worry. She always waits up for you. James rapped smartly on the door. Once, twice, a dozen times.

Nothing.

"Lily," he called softly, hoping his voice would carry up to their room. "Lily!" he repeated, a little louder this time.

The door suddenly swung open, and he almost jumped back in surprise. He had not heard the stairs inside creak.

Lily was standing in the open doorway, her fiery red hair tousled as though she had just woken up. She had her hands on her hips, and it was hard to tell whether that was more intimidating than the glare on her sleepy face. "I'm surprised you still came home," she welcomed sharply.

Pulling the cloak off him, James entered the house and heard his wife close the door with a bang. He massaged his temples with his fingertips. It had been a long day, and it looked like he was in for a longer night. He tossed the flimsy material on the couch and sat down beside it, tilting his head up at her.

"Have you had dinner yet?" she asked, her voice softening somewhat.

He shook his head in response.

"Good," Lily said, her tone hardening once more. "Because I didn't leave anything for you. I gave the food away to the neighbours."

James instructed himself silently not to match her temper. "Why did you do that?"

"You were not going to eat it anyway," she accused him. "I wasn't even sure what time you were going to get home--or if you even plan to."

"What are you talking about?" he demanded. "Just what are you insinuating, Lily?"

She narrowed her eyes before answering. "There's someone else, isn't there? You're in love with another woman. That's why you've been acting so cold, so unfeeling towards me!"

Had her voice not been trembling, James would have burst out laughing. Judging from the wild expression in her beautiful green eyes, however, he knew his wife believed what she was saying. "Lily, no, it's not that. It's just that--"

"Don't even think of lying to me, James," she threatened.

"I've just been tired, okay?" James finished, his eyes flashing dangerously even as he held his hands up in a pacifying manner. "I've never lied to you, and if you can't even give me the benefit of the doubt--"

Lily took out her wand and waved it around the room. James followed the movement with his eyes and wondered what in the name of Merlin had she just done. He was busy puzzling it out when Lily finally shouted, "Stop trying to turn the tables on me, will you!" Agitated, she paced the living room while ranting feverishly, "How can I give you the benefit of the doubt when I don't even know what you're up to anymore? When every time I ask you, you get that look of irritation on your face as though I'm not supposed to be meddling with your affairs? I'm your wife, James Potter! I deserve to know everything!"

She must've cast a Silencing Charm, James realised. He was extremely slow on the uptake tonight; he had not anticipated a confrontation as stormy as this. "Lily, please understand--"

"How can I understand when you won't tell me?" Lily interrupted angrily, passing her hand across her face in frustration.

"I'm telling you now, I've just been tired lately," James repeated pleadingly. "I've been under a lot of pressure."

Lily let out a harsh laugh. "And you think I've not been feeling the same? You think it's easy having to stay here at home, maintaining the house and hiding just so I can be safe? I worry all the time! I worry about my safety here; I fear for yours while you're out, praying you will come home to me unharmed..." A few tears had slipped from her eyes and had travelled down her cheeks. She hastily wiped them away. "The problem, James Potter, is that you are so arrogant, as arrogant as you've ever been. Just because you're one of the best Aurors alive, you think the fate of the world rests on your shoulders, that you alone can save it! If I didn't know you any better, I'd believe you were hoping that the prophecy had been made in reference to you instead. Or are you doing this so that everybody will think you deserve to be the father of the one prophesied to defeat the Dark Lord?"

James stood up, his features darkened with fury and his hands tightly clenched into fists. He stared angrily at her for several long moments. "I've already told you the truth," he whispered ferociously. "If you can't see that, you don't deserve to hear anything else."

Her knees were shaking and buckling as she watched him walk to the door. He cannot be thinking of leaving me alone! her mind screamed in panic. Pull him back! Tell him you've finished explaining your side, that you're willing to hear his now! Say that together you can patch things up! Say it! Say it!

But he had already slammed the door shut behind him. Lily covered her face in her hands and cried.

* * * * * * *

"Prongs?" Sirius said thickly, stunned to see his best friend on his doorstep. "Nice of you to drop in, but don't you think it's a little too early in the day for me to be entertaining visitors?"

James was not in the mood for jest. "Lily kicked me out of the house."

Sirius rubbed his ear. "You wanna repeat that again, James? Because it sounded like you said Lily kicked you out of the house."

"Could you let me in first, Sirius? It's kind of dangerous to be lingering outside at these hours." James pulled the cloak off him and stepped inside without further invitation, closing the door behind him.

"Right, I was forgetting my manners," Sirius replied sarcastically, more awake now. "Maybe you would like to trouble me for some coffee?"

"That would be nice," James mumbled, eyes on the floor.

Sirius snorted as he watched his best mate sink into one of his poufy, exceedingly comfortable couches and put his legs up on the table. "So what happened?"

"I left the house," James answered.

"You said Lily kicked you out."

"I was wrong, okay?" James snapped, his temper rising once more. "We fought, and I left before I could say anything I'd end up regretting."

Sirius sat down on an armchair and crossed his arms behind his head. "Well, what's new? You and Lily used to fight a lot then."

James threw him a dirty look. "That was before we got together, Padfoot. And we never fought as intensely as we did tonight. Man, she never even screamed at me like that." He pulled at his hair in frustration.

"Sounds scary. So what did you fight about?"

He paused for several moments, trying to recall all the zingers she had shot at him. "I--I don't really know. She said something about treating her coldly, not going home on time... Did you know that she even accused me of having another girl on the side? I mean, how could she?"

Sirius snickered. "Yeah, you're right. Nobody's that dumb." He laughed as he received another scowl from James. "Barring all jokes, mate, I think I'm on to what Lily's angry about. She probably feels neglected, like you have no more time for her because of the long hours you work at the Ministry."

"But the only reason I work hard at the Ministry is to try and help bring Voldemort's supporters down," James argued. "It's not as if I'm doing everything for my own personal glory. It's also for her own good, for our child's future so he..." He swallowed hard. "So he won't have to live with that prophecy."

"Well, to tell you the truth," Sirius said thoughtfully, "I think you're becoming obsessed with Voldemort. I understand what you want, James, but maybe you're misunderstanding Lily's. She needs you to fight, yes, but she also needs you beside her especially since she's pregnant." He smiled wryly. "And pregnant women can be so emotional--quite clingy, actually."

James scoffed. "Yeah? How did you know that?"

Sirius guffawed. "Well, I've been pregnant once, didn't you know?" At James's sour look, he simply laughed and said, "Come on, James. This is exactly what I am talking about. Lighten up, for Merlin's sake. These are dark times, but there's light somewhere. And you ought to realise that light is far easier to find within your home than in the prison cells of the Death Eaters you've caught. Don't go looking too far ahead that you miss what's right beside you."

"I can't believe it, Sirius, but you sound so damn rational right now. It's very tempting to just concede to everything you're saying," James complained.

"That's partly because I'm right," Sirius said, "and partly because I want to cut this conversation short so I can go back to sleep."

James laughed, cheering up a little. He could never stay down for a long time with Sirius around. "Right. I'm sorry for waking you up in the middle of the night, Padfoot. By the way, where's Moony and Wormtail?"

"Lucky blokes, snoring the night away upstairs," Sirius said. He stood up and yawned. "Are you sure you're now feeling fine enough for me to safely leave you?"

"Just tell me you're fine with me soiling your couch, and I'm all set," James quipped.

Sirius shrugged. "I'm not a hard man to please, Prongs. Go ahead."

He had already walked to the base of the stairs when he heard James call out, "Just one more thing, Sirius. What am I supposed to do now?"

Sirius groaned. "Can we talk about that tomorrow morning?"

"It's tomorrow morning already, Padfoot," James cajoled.

The long-haired man turned and sighed exasperatedly. "You asked me what you were supposed to do now. I'd say you sleep for the moment. We'll talk about this in seven hours or so."

James had decided that he had absolutely no plans of going to work without first stopping by Godric's Hollow to see his wife and apologise. "Fine. Thanks for the pep talk, mate. Good night."

Sirius was already halfway up the stairs.

* * * * * * *

He had not had a good sleep on the couch.

Remus, who had already descended the stairs at five in the morning to prepare breakfast for the other Marauders, looked surprised to see James lounging around. His eyebrows jumped, but he knew better than to enquire outright about what had happened the night before.

"Would you like some coffee, Prongs?" Remus offered graciously as though he was used to seeing him in Sirius' house everyday.

James rubbed his eyes and shook his head. "Nuh--uh, Moony. Thanks, anyway." He stood up and tried to smooth his rumpled clothes. "I have to get home right now. Do you think I can use the fireplace?"

Remus shrugged in that offhand way of his. "I don't see any problem with that. Go ahead." He watched as James took some Floo powder from the urn on top of a nearby cabinet, stepped into the fireplace and sprinkled it onto the floor.

"Godric's Hollow!"

The green flames danced around him as several grates passed by in a blur. Finally, it stopped at one that overlooked a familiar living room, and thankfully, the fireplace at their home had not been screened this time. James allowed himself a small smile. Things are looking up. He clambered out and walked into the kitchen, half-expecting his wife's slender form to be peering into a pot of something that was hot and tasted as delicious as it smelled.

He was disappointed to find no one there.

Maybe it's too early, he thought, climbing the stairs to their bedroom. His knees almost buckled with relief at the sight of Lily sleeping, her long hair fanning over the sheets and her arms wrapped around a soft, large pillow. He was afraid she'd gone and left him.

James approached her and sat on the other side of the bed, raining kisses all over her face, slipping an arm around her waist and gently caressing her womb filled with proof of their love.

Lily started and tried to sit up, turning to face James in the process.

"Morning, Lil," he whispered with a soft smile, leaning over to kiss her on the lips as his hand covered hers.

Lily stiffened at his touch and backed away, wrenching her hand from his. Last night's events came back to her in a dizzying rush, and she suddenly felt nauseated. Did he honestly think that one stupid, handsome smile from him was enough for her to forgive him?

James felt her resistance and bit the inside of his cheek in silent reproach. He distanced himself and attempted to hold her hand once more, but she abruptly twisted it out of his reach. "Look, Lily. I'm sorry about last night."

You don't sound sorry at all. Her face remained impassive, however, as she replied coolly, "There's some bread and meat left in the fridge. Warm them up yourself." With that, she grabbed their blanket, reclined once more on the bed and pulled it over her head.

"Lily--" James tugged at the coverlet, but she wouldn't let it budge. Sighing regretfully, he swung his legs over to the other side of the bed, stood up and left.

Lily waited until she was sure her husband was downstairs--she could hear the clanging of the metallic pans against each other and was pretty certain a plate had crashed to pieces--before peeking out of the blanket. She reached for the large pillow she had been hugging to herself earlier and tightened her arms around it.

"James," she breathed, unknowingly mimicking the lonely sigh James had let out earlier. I'm sorry too.