Three Hallows' Eve || Harmione & Jily

Chapter 11.1

Chapter Eleven - The Broken Limb

Tuesday 12th August, 1982

'Remind me again why London is out of the question?' Sirius asked Lily for the fourth time that evening. 'You could find somewhere near me in Highbury, then I'd be round the corner should you need me.'

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, desperately trying not to lose her temper with him. Sirius only wanted to look out for them, she reminded herself, and he wasn't trying to be petulant or argumentative. He was being trying though.

'Let's start with the most important thing,' James thankfully interceded before she snapped. 'No child of mine is going to grow up anywhere near the Gooners.'

Lily dropped her head in her hands. The sensible, rational point she'd been hoping her husband would make was instead tossed aside in favour of restarting an oft-repeated argument about football. Once every week or two, she'd seriously regret ever introducing the men to the sport. Their enthusiasm for the sport in general wasn't the issue at all - growing up, her father had been an avid Aston Villa fan, so she was used to the over-enthusiasm.

No, the issue was that the two brothers in all but blood had managed to fall for rival teams: Sirius supported Arsenal, while James backed Tottenham. The North London rivalry was as bitter as it was well-known, and apparently wizards were just as susceptible to the fanatical arguments it caused as the wider population were.

After five minutes of listening to them both regale the other with the successes of their own team and the failures of the other, she'd finally had enough. 'Pack it in,' she snapped, 'both of you.' Immediately they both quieted and apologised to her sheepishly. 'I don't want Harry to grow up in London. The chance is far too high that a wizard would end up finding us, plus any accidental magic would be far too easily noticed given the amount of people. The only way we'd solve that is living in a lower-density and nicer neighbourhood of the city, and if he went to a school there, there's a pretty high chance that he'd end up supporting Fulham or Chelsea, and then I'd never hear the end of the bloody football arguments.'

James and Sirius both recoiled at that thought, their differences set aside in their mutual disgust at the mere thought of Harry supporting Chelsea.

'Every family and their pet crup lives in the West Country, so it'd be a safe bet to avoid going down there,' James said, making a sensible argument finally, thank God.

Sirius still screwed his nose up, though. 'What's wrong with Terra Cottage? Now, don't glare at me like I named the bloody place, Lils, that was all Flea,' he argued when she shot a look in his direction. Terra Cottage was the stupid pun of a name for the secluded log cabin they were currently taking refuge in. Calling it a cottage was optimistic at best - it had four small rooms, no electricity, and was barely water-tight.

'All I'm saying,' Sirius continued, 'is that nobody knows you're here. This is probably one of the safest places in the country for you right now. All it really needs is doing up a little, really.'

She shook her head and took a deep breath. 'And that would be fine for you, Sirius, but there are three of us. We need to go out and get jobs eventually, too. Don't get me wrong, the vault's nowhere near empty yet, but we can't live off of that forever.' Finally he seemed to accept that point, however grudgingly, and she continued. 'I was thinking about Cambridge. There isn't a very large established magical community there or anywhere near. It's small enough to be overlooked but still large enough to not stand out, and it'd be a good place for Harry to grow up and go to school.'

'And by "thinking about Cambridge", you mean that you've already decided, right?' James asked with a smirk.

'I might have seen a house,' she hedged, and sighed when they both gave her an amused look. 'It's not too expensive and it's in a nice village just outside of the city. Plus, there's a good primary school nearby and a park and the end of the street.'

The men exchanged badly-hidden smirks before James nodded. 'Cambridge it is, then.'

A comfortable silence settled on them for a moment as they all privately considered the future. Well, comfortable for two of them - Sirius broke it after a very short while. 'You mentioned both getting jobs. Anything in particular, or...?'

She shrugged. 'Nothing concrete. I'm only maybe a couple of weeks away from finishing my Charms Mastery and I'm sure Filius would be happy to work around me looking after Harry, so I'll probably do that. For a while I really considered the Department of Mysteries, but it's too much of a time commitment at this point, I think.'

'They'd probably jump at the chance of having you, even if just as a consultant. I'm sure that your name was well known in those circles even before what's-his-face croaked it.'

'I've been considering private research and development, to be honest. That would give me the most freedom with Harry, too.'

'Here's something I've been wondering,' James piped up seriously. 'When we were... you know - dead - Death mentioned that Voldemort would have come back and caused even worse trouble, right?' Lily nodded. 'Merlin knows that Britain isn't the most progressive of magical societies, but how could they let all of this happen again, never mind let it happen worse?'

None of them, James included, had the answers to his question.

'Something needs to change, dramatically and with haste,' he said solemnly.

Lily snorted sardonically. 'Wizarding Britain needs a bloody revolution.'

'Vive la France!' Sirius exclaimed, only to be met with incredulous looks from both Potters. 'Les Miserables? No?' he offered, and frowned when their expression turned even more disbelieving. 'What?' he insisted huffily. 'I read. Occasionally.'