The Request by redhead414

Chapter 25

Ten Years & One Month Later…

James walked out of the shower wearing nothing but a towel hanging low on his hips, sauntering into the bedroom he and Anya had been sharing since the day after graduation at Hogwarts. The downtown condo they lived in looked very much different from when Hermione lived here, the walls painted dark, rich colors with white trim in each room. The carpets had been replaced with hardwood floors at Anya's request, which was great in the summertime and in the winter too – as long as she kept a pair of slippers nearby.

He saw Anya awake in bed, propped up by her pillows with one bare leg out from under the covers, gently resting on another pile of pillows with a gigantic bag of ice wrapped around it as she flipped through a magazine. "Well?" he asked, toweling his head dry. "How does it feel to be officially retired at twenty four?"

She laughed, not even looking up at him as she flipped the pages. She had been a professional principle ballerina with the London Ballet Company the moment she finished Hogwarts, but with a reoccurring knee injury, Anya decided that enough was enough, and danced her final performance tonight in front of a packed theater. "Ask me in a few days when I'm on the brink of going stir-crazy."

"But just think of all the things you can eat," James said with a grin. "Now that your diet isn't dictated by those crazy ballet people."

Anya grinned. "This is true. Maybe I'll just spend a week letting Molly and Grandma Jean feed me. Maybe I could gain some weight and actually grow some breasts."

"Well," James said as he shimmied himself into a pair of clean boxers. "If you want to grow larger breasts, just know that you've got my full support."

She kicked her good leg towards him, despite it being under the covers. "Wanker."

He laughed at her, tossing the covers back and crawling into bed. Following his father's footsteps, James became an auror, and was quickly becoming of the department's best recruits. No longer gangly, his toned and muscled physique had not gone unnoticed by his family and friends, mostly the older male adults who booed at him in good fun during the summer time when he took his shirt off while swimming at the Granger's backyard pool. His strong arms snaked around Anya's petite ballerina frame, his chin resting on her shoulder as she placed a chaste kiss to his forehead.

"I really am going to need something to do," she said with a sigh, discarding her magazine on the end table. She looked over at him, pushing his damp hair away from his eyes. "Maybe go to university or something."

James made a face. "Not that I don't think you're brilliant – because you are – but why go to school now? You don't necessarily need a job…it isn't like we're ever going to need money. Even without your ballet contract…we'll be more than fine on my auror salary. Besides – they did say if you ever wished to go back and teach classes they would take you in a heartbeat."

Anya sighed; knowing everything James was saying was true. "I reckon as long as I'm always smarter than you we'll be alright."

James leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. "You'll always be smarter than me." She kissed him back, mindful of her iced knee as James moved to straddle her one leg, his forearms braced against the bed to keep most of his weight off of her. "And if you really wanted something to do, Mrs. Potter," he mumbled as his lips moved to her cheek, then down her jaw. "We could just have a baby."

"That would mean telling our parents…that we got married…" she said, moaning slightly as his mouth lightly sucked against her neck. "And when we do…they're going to kill us."

"Not if you're pregnant," James mumbled, peeling down her thin black bandeau bra before placing a mouth on her nipple. "It's the…perfect plan."

Hands shoved into James' shoulder, stopping him from moving to her other breast. He looked up and saw Anya staring at him, her eyes serious as she chewed on the inside of her cheek. "You've never mentioned children before."