We Will Dance

The sun rose over the ocean, her rays of orange and pink and the palest shade of purple dyeing the tips of the waves. Lily laid back and watched, a white silk robe separating her from the sand. The world seemed far, far away, as it should be. The ocean was the only place to be...

"Good morning."

Lily looked up and smiled. "Morning, James."

He sat down next to her and handed her a glass. "Orange juice, freshly squeezed."

She took it and paused before drinking. "What if I told you I had a craving for a tomato and egg smoothie?"

James smirked. "I, being the dutiful husband, would immediately conjure one up for you. But of course," he held up his own glass of orange juice, "you’d be drinking alone."

She laughed. "Good, because I hate tomatoes."

James shook his head. Women amazed him. Especially pregnant women. Especially his wife.

She drained the glass all at once and handed it back to him. "Thanks."

"Coming back into the house?" He asked.

Lily looked back at the ocean. "In a minute."

"All right." James got up and walked back to the beach house. Their beach house, he reminded himself. He had signed the paper yesterday. The lawyers should be finished by now, and the deed would come by Express Owl Mail. And the look on Lily’s face when she opened it... He smiled to himself. She loved this place, and now, it was hers. What better way to celebrate their anniversary?

James put the glasses away and went to the magic mirror to check for messages while they were out.

There was one.

how do i/
get through the night without you?/
if i had to live without you/
what kind of life would that be?/
oh, i need you in my arms, need you to hold/
you're my world, my heart, my soul/
how do i live without you?/
i want to know/
how do i breathe without you?/
if you ever go/
how do i ever, ever survive?/
how do i, how do i, oh how do I live?

"LILY!"

The scream came from the house. Lily had never heard anything like it. James never screamed...

She ran, tripping and sliding in the sand, to the house, past the open veranda doors, through the kitchen and to the study where James sat before an active mirror.

"James?" His back was to her, but she could see his hand, clenched, the veins raised in tension.

"What did she say?" He was yelling at the mirror. Lily stepped closer and saw Professor Dumbledore’s face in the reflection.

"Ah, Lily, there you are."

James whirled around and stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. "Lily...oh, Lily..."

She took his hand and held it between hers. "Professor? What’s happened?"

"Lily, this is very grave. Last night, I went up to the Divination tower to speak with Professor Trelawney. When I arrived, she was in a trance-like state, and suddenly spoke a prediction."

"A real one?" Lily breathed. In eight year at Hogwarts, Trelawney had never made a true prediction.

Dumbledore bowed his head. "I believe so."

A shiver encompassed her body. "What did she say?"

"Lily, there’s something I have to ask you two first. When is your child due?"

Her face turned very pale as every mother’s worst fears flitted through her mind. "July 31^st."

Dumbledore sighed. "Professor Trelawney’s prediction was in the form of a riddle, and I can only guess at its meaning. I think you two would understand more clearly."

"Professor..."

He looked at Lily. "I’m sorry, I don’t have the answers."

Dumbledore picked up a sheet of paper and passed it through the mirror and James took it.

"I wish you the best."

The mirror reverted to its normal state as Dumbledore’s face vanished and her own appeared.

"James, what does it say?"

He looked down and began to read:

Born of stag and bore of flower

Upon the dawn of lion roar

Raised to light by dark’s hand

And cast by late October gloom

What child is this

That the Dark Lord seeks

Who fells the flight of death

Child of magic, child of flames

Child of myth, child of dreams

Lily curled up in a chair, her arms wrapped around her legs.

"He can’t be sure, he..."

James massaged his temples. "The signs are there... But why, why did Dumbledore come to us? How does he know?"

"Born of stag and bore of flower..."

"He doesn’t know I’m an Animagus, he can’t!"

"James, do you remember, last year, when were went to Rome..."

He looked up, but dared not interrupt her thoughts.

"And I met that fortune teller, and afterwards, I wouldn’t tell you what she said?"

James nodded.

She lifted her head and he could see the face clearly, the tear streaks shining on her cheeks.

"She drew card after card... All Death, and then, she drew one last card. I didn’t understand it, but she told me it was my son. I told her I had no children, but I was wrong, wasn’t I? Because two days later, I found out I was pregnant."

"Lily..."

"I had asked about my past, present, and future. But she told me my destiny was great, that what she drew was not just for me, but for the world. I asked her why, and she wouldn’t tell me." Lily shook her head. "I understood the Death cards. What has this world had these past ten years? Voldemort and his Death Eaters. And the present, the same. But the future? Would it ever end." Lily sobbed. "I asked Dumbledore, and he told me to go to Oracle."

James jerked. The Oracle.

The Oracle was ancient magic that no one understood. The rules were simple. Everyone got one question. Only one in a lifetime. The questions had to be simple, or the Oracle wouldn’t answer, and no tricks. Not ‘what is the meaning of life’ or ‘who’s going to win the World Cup’. No one could fool the Oracle, and the Oracle never lied. If it couldn’t answer, it didn’t, and if it could, it would give a straight and truthful answer.

"What did you ask it."

"I asked what the cards meant. And the Oracle just look at me, and she—it was a young woman—said she couldn’t answer that, but she could tell me what I really needed to know. She said my child was very special, and the cards signified the downfall of Voldemort, but the cards did not say if my child would provide that downfall.

"So you see," Lily whispered, "I don’t know."

i’m so tired but i can’t sleep/
standing on the edge of something much too deep/
it’s funny how we feel so much but we cannot say a word/
we are screaming inside, but we can’t be heard

James came in just as the owl left.

"Lily?"

"The mail came." She carefully sorted through the letters.

"Lily..." He wanted to tell her about the deed, but she seemed so preoccupied.

She stopped at one letter and stared at it. Then slowly, she opened the envelope and pulled out a letter. He watched as she read it, her face getting paler and paler with each line. He knew it was not the deed.

It seemed to take an eternity, yet only a few minutes, for her to finished. Lily slowly refolded the paper and carefully placed it back into the envelope.

"Lily?" James asked quietly. That seemed the only word he could say these days. "What is it?"

She handed him the letter. "It’s from Trelawney."

James, hand shaking, took the letter. "What...? She... Why...?"

"Read it."

Lily stared out the window at the ocean view, deep in thought.

"Dumbledore told her about the prophecy," she whispered in a hollow voice. "She doesn’t remember any of it."

James took the letter out and opened it, but dared not read the words. "And?"

A tear slipped down Lily’s cheek, sliding down her skin and disappearing into the crevices of the fine lines around her mouth.

"She went to see the Oracle."

James froze. He looked down at the letter and began to scan its contents.

"She told it the prophecy, and she asked, ‘what child is this’.

"And it answered—"

"Child Harry Potter." James finished, reading the last words.

Lily looked at him, her eyes the color of the Forbidden Forest.

"The Oracle never lies."

i know that you feel like the walls are closing in on you/
it's hard to find relief and people can be so cold/
when darkness is upon your door and you feel like you can't take it anymore

James put his head into his hands and cried.

Lily stared out at the ocean, one hand resting on her swollen belly. The other sought out and found her husband’s hand, which she gripped tightly.

The tears came, one after another, falling freely onto the table. James could only hold his wife and pretend that all was all right.

She kissed him, softly, looking for reassurance that he was still there with her. "Why were you such a fool, James, to marry a Muggle-born witch."

"Because I love you."

Lily looked down. "We’re going to die very young James, I know it. The threats, the predictions, the Death Eaters... We’ll never have a normal life, will we?"

"Lily, don’t you think I regret this. I love you, and I will never regret marrying you. Even when Harry—"

"Listen to me! Before I asked you to marry me, I went to the Oracle. I asked him if I should marry you. He said, ‘It won’t be easy, but at least you’ll be happy.’ I made a choice to be with you, and I’ll always be with you."

Lily looked into the mirror and saw them reflected back at her. Her and James, and the child between them. "And I will always be with you."

and i swear by the moon/
and the stars in the sky i’ll be there/
i swear like the shadow that’s by your side/
i’ll be there for better or worse/
till death do us part/
i’ll love you with every beat of my heard/
and i swear

James watched his wife. She was watching the ocean again.

Maybe now...

The past few days had been one tense moment after another, and she hadn’t said a word to him all morning.

James picked the envelope with the deed for the house out from among the papers.

"Lily?"

She looked up at him, but not really seeing him.

He handed her the envelope and she took it.

"Happy anniversary," he whispered as she opened it and pulled out the official-looking document.

Lily stared at it, then put it down and took her husband’s hand.

"Come on. I want to show you something."

He followed her out onto the beach and they walked alongside the ocean. Finally, far from the house, Lily stopped.

"I’ve been thinking a lot these past few days, maybe too much. Life was never easy, but sometimes, it seemed to be. We were supposed to be the fairy tale couple, but we’re not. This isn’t a fairy tale, and we’re just two people in a world of billions."

She turned to the ocean. "Look at it, James."

He looked. The water seemed to be infinitely gray tumbling, long and wide.

And she began to sing.

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance

Never settle for the path of least resistance

Living might mean taking chances but they’re working taking

Loving might be a mistake but it’s worth making

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean

Whenever one door closes I hope on more opens

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance

Lily watched the waves dance. "The ocean is big, bigger than you and me, and all of us, even Lord Voldemort. She is as old as time. Whatever happens, if we die, of he dies, or even if he conquers the word, Earth will live on. Whatever happens, happens."

She turned to James. "But life has given us a choice, and we will dance. You and I," she whispered as he wrapped his arms around her. "We will dance."

James nodded and kissed her forehead in agreement. "No matter what happens, we will always dance."

And then, to the rhythm of the waves, they danced.