To Remember | Lily & James | 20th Aug 1978
@asphodelroot
The tag of his Muggle shirt made his skin itch where it touched. At first, it had been a minor annoyance, but after several minutes of pulling on his collar in search of some relief, James could almost feel his sanity slipping away. How could the Muggles stand it? It was technically such a tiny thing, but it had bothered him so much in such a short amount of time that he didn't want to imagine the psychological damage it was bound to cause after several hours. With one last pull on the fabric, he dropped his efforts and pushed his hands deep into the pockets of his trousers and eyed the neighbourhood.
It hasn't changed much since the last time he had visited, and yet it felt different, obviously, considering the reasoning behind all his previous visits in Cokeworth. Somehow the accompany of a loss had transformed the place from the wonderfully delightful trove of Lily's childhood secrets into a painful reminder of the days long past.
At that slightly ridiculous thought he chanced a glance at Lily walking briskly by his side. He wondered what was going on under the fiery locks, wanted to understand her better in those dark times, but at the same time, he knew that without having gone through the same experience he never could. And he hoped his parents had many, many years ahead of them.
The silence between them wasn't awkward per se, but at the same time, it was not in the slightest way, form or shape comfortable. However, it was heavy. It weighed on his shoulders, pushed them towards the ground, making him lose his usual confident stride. And it wasn't even his parents who had died in the car accident...
He reached out and with a hand settling on Lily's shoulder he forced them to slow down. They were, after all, walking through half of the town instead of apparating straight into the Evans' house for a reason. 'You sure you want to do this today? We could, you know, come back later. After some more time has... passed.'
