Coming Home

Lily hummed to herself as she fixed her hair on the couch...again...

Where was James? What if something happened to him? What if Voldemort got him? I can't do this alone!

She took a few deep breaths, remembering all that Poppy Pomfrey had told her about hyperventilation and calming down. After all, she was the stupid one, bringing a baby into the world at this troubled time...

The door opened and slammed, and a familiar voice rang throughout the modest house that they were living in.

"Lils? Where are you?"

"In the living room," Lily called, satisfied that maybe she wouldn't be bored for about a minute. James walked into the room soon, throwing his cloak on the floor and lying down beside Lily, burying his head into her shoulder.

"Aww..." Lily of eight months ago would have screamed at the motherly affection in her voice, but as it was, "did someone have a hard day...week?" Hazel eyes greeted her green ones, grinning.

"Yup, but the minute I saw the gorgeous woman I managed to snag, they all disappeared..." he was about to lean it to sneak a kiss when Lily began pouting.

"I'm not pretty, I'm *big*."

"Come on Lils, you look fabulous," an incredulous stare, "okay, so you're a bit bigger than normal. Okay, a lot bigger. That's okay, you're eating for two...did you go see Pomfrey again?" Lily groaned.

"It's Madame Pomfrey now, she got the job of head nurse after the rest of them left after learning about Remus." James sat back on the floor; his head still reached Lily's.

"Congratulations to her, and I feel sorry for any future students - James Jr. included. The Pomfrey cure: feel them something vile and maybe they won't notice the injury." Lily laughed.

"Yes, but I'm sure that our son will have a bit more common sense...no way he's going to be getting into as much trouble as you did." James frowned at the our son bit, but appeared thoughtful.

"What, you don't want our son to have my glorious name? Hey, stop!" Lily bashed him once on the head then sat back.

"I've got the worst feeling he's going to come out a replica of you...and I will make sure you don't tell him all those passages you used to run from the prefects." James smiled evilly, walking his fingers up her lips.

"Oh, I'm sure a few of those magical closets will find their way to his knowledge, I'm sure you won't mind...in around thirty years," he added hastily at the look on her face. She sniffed, turning her face the other way.

"You will never let that down, will you?" James grinned even wider.

"Lily Evans, Head Girl, running down the corridor and hiding from McGonagall in a closet after getting caught snogging...at least I never got caught. Come to think of it though, the closet you went in never appeared on the map-" James stopped mid sentence.

"James. Did you steal a copy of the Hogwarts school map?" James nodded guiltily, but Lily couldn't shake the feeling that somehow he wasn't telling the truth...she smiled.

"In any case, we've left those halls, and I doubt either of us will teach...thank God almighty, we're free at last!"

"Lily Evans, former Head Girl, relishing being away from school?" he clutched his hand to his heart in a mock faint, then came back up, his eyes teasing. Lily smiled, flicking his nose.

"For your information, I did too break the rules every now and then. Remember the Filibuster incident?" James' jaw dropped.

"That was you?" Lily smiled.

"No, but that look was worth it. Besides, it's Lily Evans-Potter now, and I like the sound of that." She smiled at her husband, dropping a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Oh, are you feeling okay?" Lily hoisted her increased body weight up slowly.

"I'm fine, besides the sickness and the nausea and the headaches and I swear I'll have bruises inside my stomach after this troublesome kicking fiend is born...one day, I'm going to have a talk with him about that...and this craving for pistachio almond ice cream with chocolate syrup..." Lily looked quizzically as he took out his wand, "and I can't use magic now that I'm into my third trimester..." James frowned, then picked up an empty cup.

"Uh...one, two, three, veraicio. Cool. And um...chocosorsia? Here you go!" Lily took the ice cream, looking at it suspiciously.

"By all laws of magic, language, and basic grammar, those spells should have never worked. How...?" James shrugged.

"Uh...glasses into mice are veraverto, so just vera then a fancy word for ice cream. And serpensorsia makes a snake come out, so instead of serpent, chocolate!" Lily shook her head.

"Why, oh why couldn't I have your textbook talent in Transfiguration? You just wave your wand and things change for you." Lily stabbed her ice cream, sticking the entire giant spoon into her face and pouting.

"Well, you just think of a charm and it works."

"Big deal, I can make a pineapple tap dance."

"Oh, big deal, I can make a rat change into a wine glass."

"I can get a pineapple to tap dance."

"I can get a table to change into a pig."

"I can - wait, are we being modest or showing off?" James shrugged.

"Big deal." Lily sighed.

"I really love you."

"I love you too."

"Hey, where are the rest of you?" James frowned.

"Check the window, Remus is occupied. Peter's aunt died in Australia, so he had to leave. And Sirius...I couldn't find him." James looked at Lily, tears almost forming behind his eyes, "Do you think that..." Lily placed a finger over his mouth.

"Shh. Don't think about it. Dumbledore makes mistakes, this is one of them. None of your friends are passing to the Dark Side." James nodded.

"I don't think I'd like to live if any one of them did." Lily felt tears form in her eyes at the obvious bond between the four boys.

"James, everything will be alright. Once I'm free of little Harry here," she paused, beaming, at the nods from her husband, "of little Harry here, Voldemort won't stand a chance against the two of us. Harry. Harry James Potter. Sound good?" James nodded.

"Perfect. Just hang in there Lils, I know you feel helpless. But just as you feel that Harry will look like me, I feel that you will do something to help the war end soon." Lily smiled back.

"Thank you." James stretched, making his way to the kitchen.

"Oh, and I'm very sorry for leaving you alone all this time...what have you been doing?" Lily pointed to the front of the room.

"Remember, mum gave us a telly? I got it assembled. Quite fascinating, although I find myself very emotional watching the soaps...oh, never mind," she said, seeing the look on James' face.

"Well, I promise that once the little tyke is born, I'll do the cliché three month thing...you get time off, and I take care of him. As of right now, I haven't had a dubious confection, so I need dinner. Oh, I almost forgot. This is for you." James pulled out a small box from his pocket and opened it, revealing a chain-link amethyst bracelet that was made of small lily flowers and leaves. Lily took it, rapturous.

"Oh, its beautiful...I love guilt gift..." she smiled as James chuckled, leaving the room again. Just as he was about to close the door, she spoke up again, absently,

"This reminds me...I saw Sybil today." James was at her side in an instant, grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her up.

"She came into this house?" Lily nodded slowly.

"James..."

"You know I told you not to let anyone come into this house!"

"James,"

"What if she was a Death Eater? How could you let her enter?"

"James."

"DON'T LET ANYONE ENTER THIS HOUSE UNLESS IT'S DUMBLEDORE, ME, OR ONE OF MY FRIENDS!"

"James, you're hurting me!" James let do of his wife, who slumped back down. Breathing heavily, he knelt down, tears forming in his eyes.

"Lily, I'm-"

"Forget it."

"No, I'm sorry. It's just," he got up again, running a hand through his hair distractedly, "I'm just feeling a bit overprotective, what with Harry and all. Promise me, Lily, that you won't let anyone else in?" Lily nodded.

"I promise. But James, she passed all the wards and my charms too."

"As much as we do, the Order is pretty much in the dark about Voldemort. We have no clue who is a Death Eater, and we barely know what he's up to. Who knows, maybe they have figured out a way to get past your charms. No, honey, listen to me. We've used your charms all this time, and they've worked, but that might mean that Voldemort is working on how to foil them...I agree that you're the most talented Charmer that Hogwarts has seen since Dumbledore himself, but even he acknowledges that Voldemort's control over his abilities and knowledge is unsurpassed. Until we figure out his weakness - and Dumbledore believes he has one - I'm afraid we can't put anything as impossible. Wow, I made a speech!" Lily laughed, shooing her husband out.

"Come on, I'm still hungry...the ice cream was for me, and Harry is hungry." James made his way out for the third time that night.

"What did that old fraud want, anyhow?"

"Come on James, she's a harmless old fraud. She wanted to know if I wanted my future read, or if I knew any one who did..." James stopped again.

"Seems to me like she was desperate." Lily nodded.

"I asked her if she needed a job, and she almost burst into tears behind those ridiculous glasses of hers."

"Well, I doubt we can be of much help...I will never understand why you actually put up with her." Lily looked wounded.

"Pardon me if I try and be nice. In any case, I told her to ask Dumbledore for a job...Vickie was telling me - Victoria Vector, the Arithmancy professor - that after the demise of the Divination professor, the board was considering stopping the course." James shook his head.

"Well, if you wanted to place even more strain on the poor old man..."

"Oh, come on James, what will it do? She'll go there, get told by the greatest wizard of them all that she's worthless, and then go away somewhere else to try and get someone to believe her. In any case, what you put out there comes back to you, and so I've done her a good deed that will one day come back to me."

"Continue to convince yourself, Lils...I'm making dinner." Lily watched him go out the door, satisfied. Her eyelids drooped, and she willed herself to stay awake. Any moment now, James would come back out, asking her again what the incantation for getting potatoes out of their skins was. It was a particularly difficult charm...

Lily Evans-Potter fell asleep, content that her world for now was secure. She barely noticed as her husband levitated her into the bedroom, muttering about bloody potatoes and massaging his black eye.

James Potter smiled at the sleeping figure, content that he was finally doing the right thing. Turning off the nightlight, he promptly fell asleep.

~* fini *~

AN: I didn't know how to end it...oh well. I wanted the scene about Sybil, and so I made this set up...especially when Lily says that James is hurting her. I think that's a great line for any story.

Read and review!

wicherwill = )