#fleurdelisxevans

[thelionheartedstag]

It was not as though James had intended to get kicked out of the Leaky Cauldron. There was no spot on his resume for it and, honestly, he hadn’t entirely been sure it was possible to get kicked out of the Leaky Cauldron. But there he’d been, swaying where he sat on the curb, everything kind of floaty and awful. He was in no condition to apparate, was probably just going to fall asleep right there where he sat, but then the Knight Bus came.

He probably should’ve asked to go home. Nah, he definitely should’ve asked to go home. But the conductor asked him where he needed to go and he was giving Lily’s parent’s address before he could stop himself. Right. Good idea, Jim. It’d been a few days, it was time to confront her face to face and be a man about it and whatever other cliche things he could come up with. Plus...he still had her ring. Which, she was trying to give back, but that was rather rude, wasn’t it?

When the bus finally came to a stop, he stumbled off it, rather messing up the last step and toppling to the ground. It took him a solid moment to pull himself up, using something rather vertical as a crutch to do so. A mailbox. No, their mailbox. He was here. What time was it? The lights were off. Oh well. Whatever. He’d just ring the doorbell. It’d be great. Surely she was awake. If he hadn’t been able to sleep, she couldn’t either, right?

So off he stumbled to the front door, bracing himself against the frame as he hit the doorbell once. Then again. And again. And then he knocked, because maybe the bell was broken. Tried it again. Was she coming yet? This was taking an awful long time, you’d think she’d be asleep or something. Then his finger started pushing the button in a tune that wasn’t particularly reminiscent of anything familiar, but he thought it was quite catchy. He was going to title it, ‘You’re a horrible person who broke my heart but I’m giving you the bloody ring back because I can’t stand to look at it anymore.’ Yeah, catchy.

[thelionheartedstag]

through the looking glass ;

His first thought was that the floor was vaguely more comfortable than he thought it would be. After all, the last thing he’d seen was the ceiling of the Leaky Cauldron. He must have lost it when his head hit the ground? And Merlin, did his head hurt. Actually, rephrase- did his everything hurt. He had absolutely no idea what he’d been hit with but he never, ever, ever wanted to get hit with it again.

Did his arms work? Not really, actually. Nothing felt like it worked. Was that a blanket on him that he felt when he moved his finger? Checked again and, yep, a blanket. After what felt like a much delayed reaction, his eyes cracked open. Okay, so not the Leaky Cauldron. Somewhere else. His eyes began to move around, trying to assess where he might be, but instead they landed on Lily. Lily, slumped in a chair, looking exhausted and puffy eyed. 

“Told you leaving me was pointless,” he said, voice far more croaky and weak than he had anticipated.

@fleurdelisxevans @indogyearsimdeadsirius

[stormprayers-blog]

                  “   And she just starts feckin’ goin’ for it.  ” Marlene was curled up on the couch of Petal’s flat, a cup of coffee mixed with whiskey on the ground, beside where her feet should have been. Instead they were curled up under her, and one of Lily’s sweaters was wrapped around her shoulders. Marly had insisted that if they couldn’t go out she needed to bring the part here, and she certainly needed a bit of caffeine to keep her up if she didn’t have the natural stimulation of staring at pretty birds, and loud music. Of course, with this particular red head, Marlene didn’t actually need any additional stimulation, she could stay up for hours just to stare at Lily, to worship her, to protect her.                                              Its as close as she would ever get to the  l o v e  a mother                                            has for a child, a husband has for his wife, or a believer has                                            for his god.

@fleurdelisxevans

[lionheartmarls]

"I can’t imagine life without you."

The words seemed to come out of nowhere. The girls were sitting in a booth in one of the muggle diners that Lily had introduced—and subsequently addicted—James to, waiting for Sirius and James to get back from the counter; James had volunteered to go get them food, despite Lily's insistence that one of the waitstaff would come, and Sirius had elected to go with him, because he always found it hilarious when James tried to do muggle things like an over-enthusiastic puppy dog. One second, Marlene had been telling Lily, accompanied by much eye-rolling, affectionately abusive descriptions of Sirius and bouts of laughter, a story involving drunk Sirius, a horse and some firemen, and the next, those words were pouring out of Lily's mouth like she didn't know how to stop them.

Marlene blinked, and looked carefully at Lily. The beautiful redhead looked aghast, but not regretful, and she was trembling. The blonde reached out her hand and placed it on Lily's knee, before sliding closer until she was flush against her best friend, and she wrapped one arm around Lily's shoulders.

"I just—" Lily started, before breaking off, and looking down at her lap. "You're so much, Marley, and you're just—" she gestured helplessly. "You're inextricable from my life, and I can't imagine life when—when you're not in it," Lily choked out, still trembling, and a wave of affection and protectiveness washed over Marlene, provoking her to reach out and just pull Lily even closer, into a proper hug.

Marlene got it—after all, hadn't she and Mary stuck around the longest? Petunia abandoned Lils, Snape fucked up, and James was brilliant for Lils, and so was Sirius, but they were more recent developments, and as much as they loved Lily, Marlene had loved Lily longer and had her back since the day that they met, and she got it.

"Oh, Lil," she said with a sigh, burying her face in the older girl's hair. "Hey—hey," she said, looking stern as she pulled back, peering into Lily's—currently wet—green eyes. "Lily Ev—Potter," she said quietly, in a fierce tone that seemed to resonate through her soul, "you will never have life without me. I've always had your back, haven't I?" 

Marlene wasn't thick—she had always felt that she would die first, out of her wolf pack, because she had things and people worth dying for, and they were also the only people worth living for; Lily and James were in love, and married, and they would die for each other, but Marlene would much rather they lived with each other. One of them without the other seemed too cruel. Remus and Mary had endured too much, in their short lives, and she would do anything she could to balance out the scales, to give them a bit longer, a few more chances for happiness. She had faith that they could find it—if anyone deserved happiness, it would be Remus Lupin and Mary Macdonald. Peter, for some reason, wasn't someone she could ever imagine dying—he wasn't as brilliant a wizard as his friends, but maybe that was it; he was humble, and quiet backup, but he wasn't on the front lines, and hopefully that would keep him safe. And Sirius—Marlene closed her eyes, trying to steady her breathing. Marlene could not imagine existing in a world without Sirius; the one thing she could always rely on knowing how to be around, the one person who could read her at a single glance, the boy so full of loyalty and life, the man he'd become, willing to die for any of his loved ones but never been given the chance—and Marlene hoped he never would, though she didn't think this would be the case: Sirius Black had too much bravery and loyalty not to die for someone, and she had no doubt that one day, the world would provide him the opportunity to do so. She understood it—she had the same inclination in her heart—and she knew it would kill him if he couldn't do it when presented with the opportunity, but that didn't mean she had to ever like it—no, Marlene McKinnon could not imagine ever living in a world that didn't have Sirius Black in it.

So in this, Marlene wasn't promising to Lily that they'd live to be the same—hopefully old, but unlikely—age, but she knew that she would always be in Lily's life, just as Lily would always be in hers, as long as she lasted, because they were, as Lily had put it, inextricable from each other's lives. Lily would always have Marlene, in her heart and photos and memories and scrawled upon her soul, if nowhere else in her life, and the same was true for Marlene of Lily.

"I love you, Lils," Marlene promised, kissing her on the forehead. "And some day, you and James are going to have six children, and the first one'll be George—nah, it was Harry, wasn't it?—and then Marlene, and then Minerva, and then Hor—" Marlene teased, reminding Lily of a note from their Hogwarts years.

"No," Lily said, with a teary smile, just like she'd written on the note, and Marlene could have hugged her again just for going along with it. Then Lily looked straight into Marlene's eyes and said, "end of July," in a whisper.

Marlene blinked. "What?"

"You said some day," Lily replied. "It's going to be the end of July."

It took Marlene a second to process this. Then—"you're having a baby?" she exclaimed in a breathless, excited whisper. The sound of metal clanging on the floor came from next to them, and they turned to see Sirius, jaw slack, and four sets of cutlery littering the floor around his feet. A few steps behind him, James arrived by his side and shook his head exasperatedly.

"Honestly, Padfoot," he said in amusement. "Such butterfingers." James slid into the seat beside Lily and slung his arm around her in the position that Marlene's had just vacated in her exclamation. "What made him drop his shit, anyway? Marls talking about how shite he is in bed?"

Sirius made a strangled noise. James looked at him in mild alarm, Lily moaned slightly, and Marlene did her level best not to laugh. "I'll go help with the cutlery," she said, and then got up, scooped up the silverware and grabbed Sirius, pulling him over to the bench before she finally started laughing. Next to her, Sirius was mouthing the word baby over and over.

"Chill the fuck out," Marlene said finally, through her giggles. "You'll be the best godfather." As his eyes widened and he stared at her, Marlene giggled again, and glanced at him, then back at James and Lily, who seemed to be having a very stammer-y discussion. She understood what Lily meant. She couldn't imagine life without any of them, either.

(In the end, she supposed, Travers pointing his wand at her as she spat him in the face, it was lucky that she didn't have to experience it. I never got to see Marlene, she thought, sadly and absurdly, as the curse travelled towards her. I would have liked to meet her.)

[jamesxpotterxprongs]

You pick! Or do both. 1) "Do you know how much you mean to me?" 2) "You're not being fair."

1. “Do you know how much you mean to me?”

The demand had come to him in the middle of the Great Hall, the day after they’d returned from Christmas holiday. It was 1978, a bright new year. Not that James had expected it to be all sunny and cheerful until Lily stormed up to him in her usual fury and asked that.

He turned to her with his spoon still inserted in his mouth, which was hanging open in shock. “Wha’re’oo—” he began before he swallowed his food and set the spoon down. “What are you on about?”

Lily Evans was not one to make scenes over him, over her feelings for him, so this must have been important. He had a strange, squirmy kind of feeling in the pit of his stomach that something monumental was about to occur.

She glared down at him and repeated the question, unyielding as ever. James knew she was arguing with herself over something.

"Well, sure I do, Lil," he answered with a shrug. "We’re friends, yeah?"

"Why do you do that?" She demanded of him. "Why do you act like it’s nothing all of a sudden? The only time you weren’t asking me out over the past seven years was when you were off having a brief fling with some hussy, and now, of all times, you want to act like this is completely platonic?"

He could feel Sirius smirking at him, and he knew what his brother was thinking. ‘You’re playing a dangerous game, Jim. She’s admitting she likes you. Kiss her, you daft idiot.’

It was probably a toned down version of what Sirius was actually thinking, but James grinned nonetheless.

"Why, Lily, I don’t have any idea what you’re—"

And suddenly, his plan had worked as her frustration boiled over and she grabbed him by the tie and yanked him in, snogging him quite near senseless.

He blinked a few times when she practically pushed him away. His trademark smirk pulled onto his face and he laughed. “I knew I’d wear you down, Evans. Now, can I take you on a proper date?”

And for the first time in six and a half years, she didn’t say no.

2. “You’re not being fair.”

James was so tired of arguing with her. He’d tried to separate himself, give her a little distance and have a little time to figure out how he was feeling about all of this so he didn’t snap at her. But she’d thrown that line at him and it hurt too much to walk away from.

"Fair?" He repeated as he turned back to his wife, his gaze dropping to her stomach. She wasn’t far along and she wasn’t showing yet, but he knew his child was there, and it made the conversation so much harder to have. "What about any of this seemed fair before I got this assignment, Lily? Was it the fact that despite the family I was born into, I’m being hunted? Or maybe the fact that we’re having a baby in the middle of a war? Or the fact that either of us have to fight for our lives—for your life?” Because he didn’t care about his, not if it meant hers was safe. “Fair that I keep getting assignments while you’re stuck here at home? Fair that I’ll be out there worrying about you and you’ll be here worrying about me? No, I’m not being fair, but I wasn’t the one who made it that way. I’m not being fair because the circumstances aren’t fair.”

He hadn’t raised his voice—he never yelled, if he could help it. Not unless he was terrified, which he wasn’t. Sure, he was nervous about stepping out that door and not returning, but he was far more motivated by the fact that Lily needed him and their baby needed him, and he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to rip a Death Eater to shreds if they stood in the way of him getting back to his family. But Lily looked at him like he’d yelled and it was nearly enough to convince him not to go on the assigned mission.

Her face hardened though, her jaw setting in the rigid tell-tale sign that her temper was about to flare. He sighed and braced himself.

"You are not going. End of story," she growled. She didn’t yell either, which surprised him. "You’re staying here and we are going to bed so I know you’re not leaving me."

He stepped toward her, kissing her forehead. “Hey—hey,” he soothed as he set his hands on her upper arms and rubbed them. She was scared. If she wasn’t, she would have yelled. If she’d yelled, he would have gone but now? How could he leave? “I’m staying, okay? You don’t have to worry. I’ll stay.”

She didn’t argue after that and he retired upstairs with her, sliding into bed and wrapping his arms around her. “I’m not going anywhere,” he murmured as she clung to him.

But he did. When she fell asleep and her grip on him finally loosened, he slipped away. He dressed in the dark and slipped out of the house to meet Sirius for their mission, knowing that a well deserved slap would be waiting for him when he returned home.