Marauders - Always - Part One

Oh My God We're Having a Baby

When James came home from the Ministry that afternoon, it was to find Lily in the kitchen, hair a bit frazzled. Utensils, pots, and pans were flying about, and he had to dodge not to be hit in the head by a flying dutch oven as he was finishing off unbuttoning the 28 buttons of the Ministry uniform. "Whoa Evans!" he cried, ducking and only just being missed by the Le Creuset she'd gotten when they'd gone to Paris. "Love, what --?"

"The dogs and Peter are coming to dinner!" she explained hurriedly. "I fell asleep with Sirius earlier and I'm late-late-late starting dinner!" Lily's face was flushed as she hurried to the fridge and pulled out a roast. "Can you grab the veggies from the bottom left please?"

James loped over and bent to grab the things she was indicating as she hurried back to the counter, seasoning bottles and little branches of herbs flying across to where she stood. James carried it all over and lay it down on the counter for her as she waved her wand and stock that had been bubbling on the stove poured to cover the bottom of the cast iron pot. He'd barely put it down when a large knife flew over and started chopping up carrots rather violently. "Oi, careful," James laughed.

"Where's the onion?"

"What onion?" 

"The one that was with the other veggies."

"That was all of them."

"No, there's an onion..." she turned quickly with a sigh of frustration, wiping her hands on the apron tied over her torso, pulling the fridge door opened. "Oh Gods!" she exclaimed, "I forgot to get an onion!"

"Ah well, we'll do without," James shrugged.

"No - James - it has to have an onion. That's part of the recipe!" Lily exclaimed. 

"I'm sure it's not a big deal if --"

"IT IS A BIG DEAL JAMES! WE ONLY GET TO ANNOUNCE THAT WE ARE PREGNANT FOR THE FIRST TIME ONCE AND IT HAS TO BE PERFECT!" Lily burst.

"Alright! Blimey! I'll run down and get an onion from the market!"

"You will?" She had gone instantly from shouting to doe-eyes looking at him.

"Yes," he answered, "I'll go and fetch the onion. Anything else you need?"

Next thing he knew, he had a whole list of things to get while he was there and he was back in the foyer, hanging up his Ministry issued uniform jacket and grabbing down his own coat as the night air was settling in outside and there was a bit of a breeze fluttering through the trees he could see through the windows. As he was shrugging on, he heard a dish break in the kitchen and he turned around, "Lily? You alright?"

"JUST CLUMSY!" she yelled back.

"Alright, well... I'll be right back."

"Love you!"

"Love you as well," he called, and he was out the door and into the garden, headed for the little fence, hands shoved in his pockets. When he opened the gate, the latch squealed loudly and he muttered, "Gotta fix that," and pulled it closed behind him with a second loud squeal. Lily said she liked it, but really it was an awful noise.

James trotted down Kirkyard Lane toward the market, the light coming from behind the church across the way, casting long shadows over the road and sidewalk. The sky was turning that golden-pink color and he was just going past the cemetery beside it when he paused, glanced back at the house he'd just left, and hesitated for a moment... then he ducked through the gap in the stone wall and walked through the little yard there.

His fingers grazed over the top of the smooth rounded stone with Regulus Black's name etched upon as he passed it, and he dodged 'round til he came to the spot he was looking for.