Thicker than Water (Marauders Era)

18 December, 1979 - Normal

The funeral was a small and quiet affair. This was in part due to practical reasons - it was unwise to hold large gatherings these days - and in part because the Potter family was small and there simply weren't many people to invite. All in all, there were perhaps two dozen or so people attending but no one seemed to mind the small size and everyone seemed to know each other, with the exception of Lavinia, Peter, Remus and Lily, who all knew they were there more to support the living than to mourn the dead.

By the end of the small ceremony during which a dumpy little man gave a eulogy, Sirius and James and frankly most of the people in the room were crying. Lavinia had her arm around Sirius, her head leaning against his shoulder, but her eyes were dry, watching as the little man waved his wand so the dirt settled back into the open grave.

It wasn't that this didn't affect her, but rather that she finally understood what everyone had been telling her to do when Regulus had died. Make peace with it. She hadn't known how to do that with Regulus and frankly, she still didn't. The absence of him was still an ache in her heart, but with Mr. and Mrs. Potter, she had understood what everyone had meant. And she had understood why it had been impossible before.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter had passed quietly in the night. They had fallen asleep and simply never woken up. And they had been ready to go. They had told her as much. They had told James and Sirius as much too, but Lavinia didn't think either of their sons had understood. But Lavinia had. She had been ready to die once too.

And though her death wish had been a broken, desperate thing, she could understand where they were coming from. They had lived a good life. They had loved fiercely and freely and lived long enough to see their sons settled into adulthood. And they were ready. There was nothing left for them to do in life, no next step. They had died happy and fulfilled and though that still hurt, it was an easier kind of ache to bear. It was the kind of grief Lavinia could make peace with.

She had already made peace with it, if she was honest. Because it had been expected and because she had gotten to say goodbye. And when she had come to the ward before her shift one morning and seen only Mrs. Potter, she had held the woman's hand and known it was the end. So Lavinia had listened to the woman reminisce about her life and her husband and had understood that Euphemia Potter held no fear and no regrets and would welcome death when it came to her.

Lavinia hadn't bothered coming by the next morning.

She hadn't told James or Sirius this because she knew they didn't want to hear it. Both of them were as fierce in their grief as they were in their love and Lavinia had stayed up late into the night, letting Sirius cry onto her shoulder and wishing she knew how to soften this pain even as her own heart ached rather dully in the face of this new grief.

After the funeral, they had all started spending more time together, offering whatever support they could. It had been nice, actually, to see everyone so frequently, nice to be reminded that however much the world moved one, some things never changed. Even if it was depressingly rare that they could actually get everyone together at once.

It was on one such occasion, a week after her birthday that Lavinia was making dinner, preparing to have the whole group over when James and Lily came in the door looking bright and utterly happy. Once upon a time, this would have been completely normal. James was easily the most happy-go-lucky person Lavinia had ever met - aside from Miriam Strout, of course - and though Lily was more serious by nature, James's joy was often infectious. But these days... Well, these days, this was less normal.

"What's got you two so happy?" asked Lavinia, poking her head out of the kitchen and unable to help a smile and James practically bounded into the living room