This Paradise Has Disappeared; James and Lily
The cottage at Godric's Hollow was more often cold than not now. Using warming charms was too risky if you didn't want even more inferi trying to bash through the wards than already were, and Lily only very occasionally bothered to get a fire started by hand. Instead, she stayed in bed as much as possible. And that was exactly where she was aiming go directly to when she apparated into living room of the cottage just before dinner time. There was some of last night's leftover food if James wanted anything - Lily wasn't hungry at all. She was just tired, like her whole body had turned to lead and would fall through to the other side of the earth if she didn't lie down and sleep soon.
She'd spent the day in Hogsmeade helping with a bunch of wounded newcomers who'd arrived that morning. A young boy had an inch deep gash on his leg that had taken what felt like an age to stop bleeding, even though they'd been using magic to heal it. It was cursed, probably, although it hadn't looked like a bite from a walker. The entire time she'd been working on him Lily had attempted to give the eight-year-old comforting smiles and soothing words, but by the time an hour had passed she'd just been silent, thinking 'I just want to go home'. It was selfish of her, and she'd hated feeling like that. She told herself it was just a bad day, but the truth was that every day was a bad day lately.
Climbing the wooden stairs quickly, the cosy covers of the bed foremost in her mind, Lily was startled to find James already in their room. Of course it was his room too and it wasn't as if he was never home at this time, but somehow she never really thought about him very much anymore if she could help it, and so she felt a little surreal being in the same place as him. Like he was someone from another life, almost, and either she or him didn't belong there.
"Hey." She greeted him with, giving him a small smile that she knew wasn't at all convincing. "Er, how was your day?"
