▵ — Lily smiled when James jabbed at his young perception of marriage - another example of how different they were. She’d known since she was young that she wanted to be married someday. When she and her sister were very small, before everything fell apart and their relationship was left in shambles, they would talk about the person they thought they’d marry, and what the wedding would look like. Petunia, of course, had always been Lily’s maid of honor, but the reality was that her sister didn’t even show her face at the wedding. But the rest she’d been right about: she’d married the most wonderful man on the planet - handsome, smart, loving, the most caring person she’d ever met, funny, and, best of all, hers.
Of course, not all of it was expected. Lily’s fifteen-year-old self would have laughed out loud had someone tried to tell her she would marry James Potter one day. It would have happened anyway.
Lily laughed - a real, genuine laugh - when he latched onto the dragon comment, looking at him with a cheeky smile. “ Sure. If by some chance we actually live in a chocolate house, we’ve already beat the incredible odds stacked against us, so why not have a dragon? If that were to ever happen. ”
Lily squeezed his hand gently, lovingly, grateful for his reassurance. She wasn’t sure how much she believed it, wasn’t even sure how much James himself believed it, but hearing the words was a comfort nonetheless. Something they could hold onto and look forward to. Something to keep them going, even after three long years already. “ You plan on turning him into the little Quidditch player you are, huh? Wouldn’t it be funny if he didn’t even end up a chaser? ” She asked, teasing, and looked down at their son. “ What do you think, huh? D’you want to be a troublemaking chaser like your father? ”
⎯ ✴︎ It should be clearer than anything to James that he had in fact changed, that he was constantly changing. He was learning new things, experiencing new things to add to learning new things. And he was definitely still him in his base, but things were different. And that was supposed to happen naturally with people. Except he didn’t really think he was better all the time. And he’d voiced it out loud followed by the quick reassurance of Lily every time, but it was happening less and less frequently.
“This sounds like a challenge.” He was sure she hadn’t meant for it to sound like that, but he considered this a challenge made, and he was taking it up. “I will be getting that dragon. I feel it fair to war you now.”
He was happy to have shifted the conversation to quidditch ( even if he has started the other one too ) and let the feeling of this world falling apart slip from his shoulders once more. Talk about quidditch always was easy. It spoke to a simpler time and Hogwarts. “No. I don’t think it would be funny. It would be a travesty. What do you think he’d be? A beater? Are you sure you’d like that? Our son’s job would be to attack murder balls. Keeper? I saw more of them fall of their broom from rough play and missed quaffles than anyone else. Seeker? If he has my eyesight, certainly not.” He then looked down at Harry when Lily asked him and he smiled up at them brightly. “Sirius said beaters were the best on the team.”