Lament
October, 1980
When Lily walked in, the table was beautifully set. Candles were burning bright upon the table. Sweet, thick aroma filled the air. Steaming platters were placed at strategic locations upon the table for easy serving access. A bouquet of flowers was set in the centre, just to top everything off.
This did not surprise Lily for two reasons.
1) It was her wedding anniversary. Such a scene is almost expected.
2) She was the one who had set the table, made the meal and bought the flowers.
The person it was supposed to surprise was not home at seven as he was supposed to have been. Nor was he home at seven-fifteen. Nor was he home at seven-thirty, when the aroma started to fade. Nor was he home at eight, when the first candle went out. He was home, in fact, shortly after nine, covered in mud and scratched all over.
Lily almost kicked him and kissed him simultaneously when he came home. He was alive, happy, jovial, and oh-so-apologetic about being late and wasn't fighting evil such a demanding job. He didn't seem to realize either that being two hours late when fighting Death Eaters is an effective way to kill your wife with worry; nor did he seem to realize that it was their wedding anniversary until he walked into the kitchen and found the fantastic meal sitting in the fridge.
"Lily, you lovely darling, you've made pudding! I haven't had pudding since our wedding, and that was... that... was... ohhhhhhh."
"Forgotten?"
James shook his head immediately and put on the pair of eyes he used to use when he was in trouble with McGonagall. "No, love, of course not. I'm just so sorry I wasn't here to eat your fantastic meal with you."
"It's fine," she said, unable to hide the stiffness in her voice.
"No, it's not," he said softly, slipping his hands around her waist and pulling her into a hug. "But I swear to you, I hadn't forgotten. In fact, the reason I was late was because I was writing a song for you."
Despite herself, Lily laughed. "You write songs?"
"'Course I do! Well, with a bit of help from Padfoot I do."
"Padfoot writes songs?"
"Have you honestly never heard one? He could be a rock star if he wasn't so busy fighting evil with us."
Lily nodded skeptically, eyebrows raised. "I'm sure."
"Really."
Lily hummed impressively. "Well, he's got the hair for it."
"And the voice. But enough about Padfoot and his sexy dulcet tones."
"Yes, I'd like to hear this song you so graciously wrote for me while you were out getting attacked by Imperiused rodents."
"Not while, before."
"Mmhmm."
"Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Because we can move into the living room if you..."
"I'm ready, James."
"What about Harry? We don't want to wake him up. You probably just got him down..."
"I put him to bed at six. He won't sleep through the night anyway. He may as well wake up to the sounds of his father's singing voice."
James hesitated, took a deep breath, and started singing in a low tone.
"Lily, my love, we were married today,
But it was last year, just on the same day.
Now we have Harry, and he is amazing.
Also you're pretty; you're downright stun...nazing.
I am such a jerk, I missed your nice meal;
You have no idea how stupid I feel.
But I love you still, and now here today,
I'm wondering if you still feel the same way."
Lily was extremely impressed. As it turns out, she had married a man with an incredible singing voice, who stayed on key and everything. She kissed him when he had finished. "Of course I do, you goose," she whispered, "even if you do make up stories about writing songs with Sirius."
"No! I really did write that this afternoon at 1:41."
"You predetermined that you would be required to lament your missing my meal before it happened?"
James frowned and thought back. "Oh, balls."
"Well-improvised, though."
"You'd think after years of getting into trouble and subsequently getting out of it, I'd have thought this through."
"You'd think." Lily kissed him again and wrapped her arms around his middle.
"I didn't forget, Lily," he said quietly.
"Okay."
When Lily pulled back the covers of her bad later, a small white box was sitting on her pillow. The removal of the cover yielded a gold bracelet, with an inscription in beautiful cursive on the inside:
For Lily: my wife, my love, my everything.
For that, James was adequately tackled.