The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part One

The Plans They'd Made

Once Lily's hand was set, James took her back to the flat in East London, not wanting to spend a minute more at Mungo's than was absolutely necessary - especially now that they'd found what shoddy protection was afforded them there. "I don't trust you with anyone except myself," James told Lily, tucking her under a warm blanket on the couch. "Do you want tea, love?"

"Tea would be nice," Lily said, "But I can get --"

"No, no! You stay relaxing. Rest your hand. I'll get it." James leaped up and walked into the adjoining kitchen, waving his wand to put on the kettle as he went and collected tea cups from the cupboard. 

Lily sighed and leaned into the cushions, closing her eyes a moment.

James returned with the tea what seemed like only seconds after she'd closed her eyes, though she supposed she may have dozed just a tiny bit. He was sitting beside her on the couch when she opened her eyes again, the tea cups steaming on the table before them, bent forward and staring down at the carpet, a look of deep concentration on his face.

"What's the matter?" Lily asked him.

He looked up at her in surprise. "Nothing's the matter... Sorry, I thought you were asleep." Lily leaned over and rested her head against his shoulder as he sat back against the couch, putting his arm around her. "I'm just glad that you're alright, I s'pose is all I'm thinking," he said quietly.

She nuzzled into him. "I'm glad that you're alright, too."

They sat quietly, huddled together, for some time. Somewhere in the apartment, one of the wall clocks was ticking quietly and, despite all the trouble with ticking clocks and the blind seer, Lily was surprised to find the sound oddly comforting. It reminded her of the last vision she'd had from the Seer, when she and James had been visiting Edinburgh, and been sent to assist the boy in a graveyard...

"I love you, Potter."

"I love you, too, Evans," he said.

She smiled. "You know what? I don't want to sit here lingering on the terrible things anymore. We have enough terrible things to think about when we're actually engaging in them, why waste the time we have when we aren't by thinking of them all the more?" 

James's lip quirked up, "And what would you rather be thinking about, then?" he asked.

"Something fun. Something good." She reached for her tea cup and took a long sip of the warm chamomile, curling back up as she held it so that her legs were folded to her chest and her shoulders wedged beneath James's strong, warm arm. The yellow diamond in her engagement ring caught the light and flashed and she smiled at it, then said, "Let's talk about our wedding."

James's eyes lit up almost as brightly as the diamond had. "Alright. What about it?" he asked.

Lily said, "What sort of ceremony would you like?" 

"Are there different sorts?" James asked cluelessly.

Lily laughed, "There are tons of sorts, James. I was thinking a small wedding, but really lovely... maybe at night, so it's all candle lit and soft."

"I like that," he said.

Lily snuggled closer. "When should we have it? That will affect the colors and the flowers and all of that lot."

"Dunno," James answered. "Not in July - that's been taken by Rey and Sirius." He considered a moment. "What about April?"

"Petunia's going to be married in April," Lily answered. "She would positively murder me if I chose the same month. Besides, Spring is sort of cliche for a wedding, isn't it? All that rubbish about new beginnings and that lot... Everyone gets married in the Spring it feels like."