These Tumultuous Times

Lily leaned over the cot, dangling a slender arm inside and caressing the cheek of her sleeping child. He was so new - only a few months old. And she just couldn't keep her eyes off of him. He was perfect, everything she'd ever expected. Everything she'd ever wanted.

She smiled as he sniffled slightly, wriggling his little arms and sticking his thumb further into his mouth. Content was she, just being near him, in his presence. She hardly left his side whether he was sleeping or not. He was their creation, after all. She'd be devastated if anything happened to him - especially in the current climate of the wizarding world..

They were now living in perpetual dark times and were constantly harrowed by malicious events taking place. The fact that James basically lived in danger as an Auror, was a ceaseless concern of Lily's. She hardly ever saw him these days apart from late at night when he got home from long, stressful days working for the Ministry or the Order - or both. He always had time for them, though. Lily and Harry were his ray of sunshine in an otherwise morbid world.

And Lily always made a point of waiting up for him. To enjoy Harry with him. To enjoy the little time they had together these days. She brushed the hair off Harry's forehead as he sighed softly in his sleep.

After a few more moments of watching her child sleep soundly, slithering arms found their way tightly around Lily's waist and something heavy rested on her shoulder. She closed her eyes and smiled slightly, reveling in the warmth that her husband's presence brought. She then turned her head and placed a tender kiss amongst a swath of messy ebony hair.

"Look at him," chuckled James, amusedly noting his son's utter contentedness in sucking his thumb.

"He's perfect," Lily replied, resting her head against James'.

"Mmn," he agreed as he nuzzled affectionately into the curve of her neck.

"How was work?"

A silence followed this otherwise ordinary, everyday question, being pierced only by the suckling sounds of their sleeping baby. This alarmed Lily slightly. He never went quiet unless he didn't want her to find out about something. Or he genuinely didn't want to talk about himself.

She looked down at the top of his head, still snuggling into her neck. "James?"

"Mmn?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "How was work?"

"Let's not talk about work," he mumbled into her ear.

She frowned, bringing her hand up to his cheek and resting it there. The stayed like that for a while, chuckling every now and then as the watched Harry make slight snorting noises in his sleep. He was almost purring like a feline.

James swiveled Lily around to face him, holding her in his arms and pressed his forehead against her own.

"Dumbledore wants to see us tomorrow," he muttered.

"All right. To do with the Order?"

"That's what I asked."

"What did he say?"

"...Not...exactly." He pulled his face back from hers to study her confused expression. She was searching his, looking for a clue as to what he was talking about.

"Then what?"

He closed his eyes and sighed deeply, pulling her in towards him again and placing a soft kiss on her forehead.

"He didn't say exactly. But he said it was to do with us personally more than it was to do with the Order."

Lily pulled back from sharply, a wave of alarm apparent in her expression.

"To do with us?"

"Don't worry Lils, I'm sure everything's fine."

She looked at him, frowning worriedly and then turned sharply back to Harry's cot, her hands clinging tightly to the rim.

"It better be, James," she said determinedly, watching Harry again. "Because if anything happens to you or me or...or to Ha - "

"It wont. Nothing's going to happen to us."

He put his arm reassuringly around her waist and pulled him in towards her, again. This time, it was her that sighed and dropped her head onto his shoulder.

"I love him so much James...Both of you."

"I know, Lils. Me too."

They stood in silence, watching their precious baby sleep on.

A million minutes or more thereafter, Harry lay in a familiar magical castle in the hills of Scotland. As he slept, he smiled slightly as he sucked on his thumb and turned over in his sleep.