Out of the Past, Into the Future (a Harry Potter fanfic)

4 - Lily, James and the Mirror

Chapter Four - Lily, James and the Mirror

(Sunday, 16th of August)

Godric's Hollow, 1981

The events of the past weekend still weighed heavily on Lily's shoulders. She simply could not forget that her friends, the McKinnons had died, and that it easily could have been them.

Slipping out of her bed, she quietly stole out of the room, careful not to wake her husband who was lost in his dreams. What would he say if she told him? They had a loyal secret keeper, probably. And that was true, Sirius would rather die than betray them. So why did she still feel so vulnerable?

Pushing the matter to the back of her brain, Lily sat down heavily onto a stool at the kitchen counter, and thought about her day ahead, her "to do" list. Ok, so she'd cleaned the living room yesterday, the kitchen the day before, and the bathrooms the day before that. So what today? And then the answer came to her.

She had nothing to do. No cleaning, no extra cooking, she had no essays or homework. No paperwork - neither she or James worked, having plenty of money at their disposal, and they couldn't either, they weren't allowed out. They had nothing to do for the Order. Going out was out of the question. So what was Lily going to do?

James had been bored for weeks. Occasionally, something would happen to occupy him, and Harry helped, but the fact remained - he was exceptionally, extremely bored.

Lily had been avoiding the fact for weeks - he would find something to do. As she cleaned the house, avoiding the things that were bothering her, she had rolled her eyes at James being bored. Now his problem had become hers - there was nothing left to do.

Of course Lily could clear out the boxes in her wardrobe - but she thought it best to leave it for the time being. Conjuring the kettle info boiling, she got up to find the tea bags - a shared hatred of divination, combined with the fact that a prophecy had almost condemned Harry, James and Lily to death, and forced them into hiding, meant that no tea leaves could be found in their house. She found them quickly, exactly where she'd left them when cleaning the kitchen on Friday. Of course.

"Morning Lils," James yawned, half asleep, and he rolled over to kiss her. Instead he got the pillow. Now he was awake. Looking up to make sure Lily wasn't in the room to see his embarrassment, he quickly grabbed his wand and ran down the stairs in just the shorts he had slept in.

Bursting into the kitchen, wand in hand, and in a pair of shorts, to see Lily reading the morning's Daily Prophet, and enjoying a cup of tea, James realized how ridiculous he'd been.

"What's all this about?" Lily said, shooting James an amused look. "Not that I don't mind you being half-naked, but what's with the wand?"

"I was worried. You weren't there when I woke up."

"You looked so adorable in your sleep, like you were having a really good dream, so I didn't want to wake you."

James grinned. "Adorable, huh?"

"Yeah, in a good dream?"

James almost blushed. "Mmmn hmmn," he smiled sheepishly.

"You didn't try to kiss me, did you?" Lily raised her eyebrow, her face in mock disapproval.

The smile was wiped off his face.

"Don't tell Sirius," he begged.

Lily smirked.

Sitting at her desk, Lily raised her quill and wrote Sirius's name at the top of the parchment. James had given her the idea to write to Sirius to give her something to do, but she wouldn't mention the pillow. Probably.