Red- James Potter

102"

The trips to the Burrow and the warren had slowed and Camilla hadn't seen her family for months. It was far too dangerous to move between each house often and didn't want to risk any of her family's lives further, especially the boys. She had promised to visit molly and Arthur soon and promised to drop by at her parents with James. They had been begging to see them both for some confirmation on certain ideas for the wedding. Camilla hadn't been thinking about wedding which was due to occur in around a month. She had far larger concerns playing on her mind than what kind of snacks they should have on the table. It was something she certainly did not waste her time thinking about. Although it wasn't her main priority, she wasn't immune to the extreme excitement that came along with getting married. It was a strange thought that she was going to be a wife.

James, as optimistic and hopeful as ever, often visited the Potters household. Mr and Mrs Potter seemed in good spirits, as always, and never wanted to dwell on the topic of war whenever they visited, though the radio would always be on in the kitchen, humming in the background uttering the names of the dead and missing.

Camilla's only vice in her turmoil current situation was her alone time with James in the house, or the rare catch ups with Lily and the girls in the kitchen over steaming mugs of tea. They had discussed normal things, that normal women would talk about. They spoke about Camilla's wedding and how Alice hoped that Frank would propose soon and how Marlene had put a deposit down for a small flat in muggle london, similar to Sirius'. Lily had said she had tried to take steps to rebuild her relationship with her sister petunia and expressed that it wasn't going as terribly as she thought it might have. Mary, who had always been quite unsure of her future career path, had announced her plan to work in the muggle world once the war was won, rather than take a typical wizarding job. She said that it was nice to just do things ordinary sometimes.

To Camilla, she was slightly confused by this. Magic was ordinary, but for Muggleborns like lily and Mary, magic was anything but. The war had put a sour taste in her mouth about the wizarding world. Camilla couldn't blame her.

Sirius and Remus obviously had made an appearance at the cottage no end. It was Peter who was a rarer visiter.

James and Camilla put it down to his innate nervousness about quite literally everything.

When the marauders were all in one room together, Camilla would watch James' face completely light up. He may not have had any siblings but he had made Sirius, Remus and Peter his brothers. Truly.

Camilla knew how that felt. She felt the same for Lily.

Whilst both James and Camilla had hated being cooped up within the house, yet Camilla had dealt better with it all than James.
He was restless and an early riser and late sleeper and eventually ran out of things to keep him entertained. The pair of them craved the feeling of their brooms between their legs and the wind in their hair, the salt spray of the sea on their face, but it was just too dangerous. Any journeys made were important and unmissable and they had come up with new ways to keep them entertained.

Camilla was never good at cooking or baking. It was usually something she had left to Molly or her mother. She didn't seem to have the knack for it, despite herself trying greatly. James on the other hand, was a whizz in the kitchen and claimed that Euphemia had taught him everything he knew. He had attempted to teach her several recipes, all of which seemed to end up in disaster. One night, they had decided to bake some bread. It had come out of the oven completely flat and under-proved. The next night, they had attempted a victoria sponge. It tasted absolutely disgusting. Even James was baffled how it had even happened, they had followed the recipe exactly. The night after that, it was cheese scones, which were hard as rocks, and then lemon biscuits which were James favourite. Those ended up not even making it to the oven and fell into the fate of a food war in the kitchen.

The pair of them had gotten slightly carried away and Camilla was still finding flour across the kitchen a week later.
She was sure it was still in her hair and up her nose and the faint smell of the lemon and sugar batter presented itself whenever she came downstairs in the morning to make herself a coffee.

James would follow her downstairs and wrap his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder as she boiled the kettle.

"it still smells of lemons in here" he chuckled into her neck

"At least it's a nice smell" Camilla hummed as she poured the water into the mug, "It's needed really, the smell of Sirius aftershave was still lingering around from the other day"

James just laughed and released her, taking a seat at the kitchen table and looking out of the window.

"When are we going to be allowed outside Prewett? When will this all be over?" He asked, looking longingly into the distance

Camilla sighed and walked over to him to run a hand through his dark curls, "It's just for a while. When we win the war, you'll have the rest of your life to be outside Potter"

"I bloody hope so" James sighed, "I feel like a house elf lingering around inside all the time"

"You could make yourself useful like a house elf and help me do the rest of the dishes?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips and smiling sweetly, glancing to the stack of pots on the side

James just rolled his eyes in amusement and stood up to kiss the crown of her head, "I'll wash, you dry"