The motorbike landed and came to a stop in the square by the fountain. James didn't so bad at driving it, really, and they landed nicely before the statue of Godric Gryffindor, who stood bold and strong in stone form over the fountain. Lily stared up at Godric's face from the foot of it as James shrunk the motorbike down and slipped it into his pocket. He turned to look at Lily.
It was cold and what had been a light rain most of the day was now a light snow, and though the ground was a bit slippery from the ice that had formed, it was too beautiful to be mad at - everything seemed to glisten. Moonlight filtered through the clouds and turned everything pale blue-grey, and it was terribly cold. Lily's dress was not made for keeping warm, and James shrugged off his tuxedo jacket and walked up behind her at the fountain, slipping the fabric - warm from his skin - over her bare shoulders, pausing to kiss her neck as he did.
"Hmm," she hummed, reaching up and catching his hand on her shoulder before he could slide away, his mouth still on her skin. She smiled up at the statue. "I do say, sir, you're excellent at fulfilling wishes."
"He's never failed," James murmured against her skin. His nose touched her jawline as he lingered.
"I wished for you that day."
"I wished for you, too."
Lily turned about to face him and she brought her arms up around his shoulders, staring into his eyes and he smiled at her with his lip hung up on his tooth and she thought how perfect everything had been. He put his hands on her hips under the suit coat, and they gently swayed back and forth for a moment. James hummed Born to Run, since that was the last song they'd heard it was stuck in his head, and Lily lay her head against his chest, feeling the rumbling of his hum deep inside of him.
They stayed like that for a long while, just enjoying each other's presence as snow fell slowly around them, and the peace of the moment filled them up like calm waters. James stroked her hair with one hand, the other slipping over her lower back as she wrapped her arms around his torso, bringing her hands up to hang onto his shoulders in the back. She looked up and their lips met again in another kiss... long, passionate and deep.
When they broke apart to come up for air - for Lily really was breathless from the kiss - James took a step back, his palms slipping from her until they were only holding hands. He smiled. "C'mon." They started walking down the road, which was all lit up for Christmas... String lights hung from street lamps in long arcs and the town was glowing in the distance at the end of the road. Lily could still hear people in the streets shouting Merry Christmas as they went in and out of the Lion's Den. She could just see the reflection of glowing colored tree lights in the ice of the square of the town, though the tree itself was tucked 'round a corner and just out of sight. It looked so picturesque and beautiful - a lovely little village, all cobble stone and wood and goodness.
Across the road, an old church's clock tower bell rang, announcing that it was one o'clock in the morning. James came to a stop, staring up at the church. Lily looked up at it, too. "I almost suggested we got married there," he said.
Lily stared at it. It was a beautiful old church. "Do you regret we didn't?"
"No, what we had was perfect," he said. Lily laced her fingers through his. James murmured, "Just the proximity would've been really convenient."
"The proximity?" Lily asked.
James turned, unlatched the gate in the very same swift motion that he scooped her up into his arms. Lily squealed in surprise as he did, her legs hanging over one arm while her torso pressed against his shoulder. She laughed, "What are you doing?"
"It's tradition to carry the bride over the threshold the first time," James replied.
"What?"
James turned and kicked the gate open, stepping into the snow-covered garden, stepping on the step-stone pathway. The gate slammed shut behind them, the latch clicking and a protective charm shimmered in the moonlight as it locked behind them - Remus's magic. Lily looked up at the house and she remembered once, standing before it and saying it was a lovely house. "What are we --" Lily's eyes widened, her breath stopping as her heart began to race. "James?"
James carried her right up to the front door and the door, recognizing him, opened without him having to touch the knob. He turned carefully stepping through the small frame of the door, ducking down to keep her from bumping her head, and they were inside... The door closed behind them and James looked up into her eyes. "Welcome home, Evans."
"Home?" Lily whispered, and she turned and looked around.
They stood in a foyer that looked out into a kitchen in one direction and a living room in the other. It smelled of burning wood and good food. James was glad that he and Dora had come earlier that day to make the roast that would be his wedding night dinner - served by the house elves that served the rest, of course, but he wanted no other roast than his own mum's. She'd made butterbeer cookies and muffins for the morning, too, while she'd been there - so the place just smelled of delicious home cooked food. A fireplace in the living room burned spruce and pinewood, crackling merrily, setting a warm orange glow on an eclectic collection of mis-matched couches and high back chairs. On the counter in the kitchen was a vase with bluebells and Lily's snowglobe - the one he had given her all those years ago, the one that had inspired Remus for the wedding venue. Stairs cut through the center of the room, zig zagging things that were strung with fairy lights that added to the glow, and there was garland and a great big Christmas tree...
As she stood taking it all in, she suddenly heard a purr and she looked down to see Roger was already here, too, and had come over to greet them, his tail flicking as he came up and rubbed against her skirt, twisting his head against her legs through the fabric. She bent down and rubbed his ears, her jaw dropped, unable to put words to what she was feeling.
"It's sort of a joint Christmas and Wedding gift," James said. "Do you like it?"
"How --?"
"I've been working on it... since Summer, really..."
Lily stood up again and Roger switched to James's legs, weaving in and out around his ankles.
James smiled and crouched to pet Roger as Lily stumbled forward, her dress trailing behind her. She ran her hands over the smooth green countertops and admired the beautiful kitchen. She saw the plateful of cookies and a little handwritten notecard next to them from Dora Potter that read welcome home on it. She paused to breathe in the smell of the bluebells and to look out the window at the huge expanse of backyard, lined with trees. She could see a short garden wall and bushes that looked like they might be lavender and roses and a space where she could grow vegetables in the spring, tomato stakes already stuck in the ground. The window was framed in thick ivy vines, snow flakes catching on the dark green leaves. There was a second hearth in the kitchen, and in it set a big copper tea kettle and over the mantel was a painting of the very forest they'd been married in - deer between the trees.
Lily turned and walked back to the living room. It was so warm and comfortable looking, with the couches and chairs all different patterns and shapes. The ceilings were valuted at angles and thick rafters lined the room, a huge brass chandelier hung in the center of the highest peak and the windows had beautiful criss-cross moldings. Over the fireplace in there James hang hung up a painting of the boardwalk at the beach, and she could see the ferris wheel they'd ridden on their impromptu date that day in the autumn, and she looked down to find her feet were on ornate rugs that covered a beautiful wood floor.
She returned to the foyer, where James was still squatting, patting Roger, but as she approached his hand fell away from the cat's ginger fur and he stood up to face her.
"Well?" James asked, smiling, "Do you like it?"
"Like it?" Lily gasped. She shook her head, "No... James, I love it. It's so cozy and warm and inviting and... oh I love it so much." She rushed to him and flung herself up into his arms, her arms wrapping about him as he caught her and held her, laughing as she kissed his face over and over and over again. "Oh thank you so much, thank you. It's so wonderful, I can't believe I get to live here with you for the rest of our lives and I'm so - I'm so happy, I'm so happy, James. You've made me so happy."
His whole face glowed with this and his grin was about as wide as it had ever been - all of his teeth showed across the top. She thought that right there may be the only smile that beat her gyrari tooth grin. She kissed him all over again.
"There's more to it, I reckon you'll want to explore it some..."
"In the morning," she replied. "Where is our room?"
"Up stairs... c'mon."
James took her hand and led her up the stairs, which creaked only enough to be endearing. Roger raced past them on the first landing and James nearly tripped over him. They went up to the top and in the corridor the walls were lined with empty photo frames. Lily looked at one of them, seeing only wall behind the frame, and looked at James with a curious expression. "Well we need to fill them up, see," he said. "But one day this will be full of pictures of all our fondest memories, won't it?" Lily smiled, and instead of seeing empty frames on the wall, she suddenly saw a thousand future memories to be made and her eyes filled with tears of anticipation at the days that were to come.
The room was down the hall and she could see there were at least two other rooms the other direction. James waved his palm to one that stood open, though, and she could see a fireplace glow already from the hall. She stepped inside and found herself in a room, wallpapered in a delicate yellow and primrose pattern. The bed was an old sleigh and it was covered with thick quilts and knit blankets. She spotted Miami the flamingo by the pillow on her side and James's worn out copy of Quidditch Through the Ages on his side's nightstand. The fireplace burned low, keeping it warm without lighting the place up. The mantel already held photographs from the stag party in small frames and pictures of them and their friends from over the years.
There was a bureau on the wall closest to her and on it was one of the mason jars, glowing rice and bluebells and all, and beside it a small box in gold wrapping paper. "What's this?"
James looked. "I don't know, actually."
Lily picked it up. There was no note. She looked at James. He shrugged, "Maybe mum left it? Or one of the dogs...?"
She opened it and found inside a small golden key. Beside the key was a tiny scroll. James unrolled the scroll. "This is the key to a long and happy life," he read, "Guard it well." He paused, turned the parchment over, and then looked at Lily in confusion. "No signature."
Lily tilted her head. "What d'you suppose --?"
"Dunno," James replied. "Maybe Dumbledore? Though I don't know how he would've got it in here, as far as I know only me, mum, and the lads know about the house. And mum only found out this morning."
"Interesting." Lily put the key back inside the tiny box and James rolled the scroll back up and put it in, too, before they closed the lid. He put it on the mantel beside the pictures.
When he turned back, Lily had taken off his suitcoat and draped it over the arm of a chair in the corner. She stared at him, and he stared back at her. A lump rose up in his throat. Suddenly, he felt so nervous in a way he couldn't explain. His mouth went very, very dry and he felt his breath was reluctant to leave his lungs. Lily's eyes were wide and he could see the same feelings reflected in them as he was feeling.
"Alright, Evans?" he asked.
Lily nodded.
He walked across the room to her, and he stopped right in front of her, their toes practically end to end, but otherwise not touching. Their eyes met searched each other's, then Lily slowly turned around, scooping her hair away from her back and looking over her shoulder at him, "Can you untie me?"
James licked his lips and nodded, reaching out with trembling hands for the strands that hung down her back from the dress. They criss-crossed all down her spine, holding the dress closed together, and he undid the knot at the top, carefully pulling the strand out of the eyelets, the dress parting like the petals of an opening flower, revealing the pale skin of her back beneath the cloth. He reached the bottom of it and the dress fell away so she stood there in her underthings, still back-to him.
She stepped delicately out of the dress and swept it aside with her foot.
She turned around and James felt a headrush come over him. He stared at her, breathless, speechless, and she just stood there for a long moment, just letting him look, biting her lip, feeling self-conscious and nervous.
"Wow, Evans," he whispered.
Lily laughed, flushed, and stepped up to him. He took off the cufflinks and put them on the bureau carefully. Lily reached up and undid his tie, tossing it to the floor with her dress, and started unbuttoning his shirt, her fingers moving quickly down the line of tiny buttons that he'd fumbled with that afternoon when he'd gotten dressed, and soon she was pushing opened his shirt and his chest was bare. Her fingers undid his belt, pulled it from the loops about his waist, and dropped that, too. His trousers, shoes, and socks joined the other things on the floor and she pressed herself against him - his shorts and the unbuttoned shirt all that remained on him, her under things all that remained on her - and they embraced, their skin touching, him bending to kiss her as she stood on tip-toes to kiss him back. His hands slid over her hips and onto her bottom and she squealed just a little bit in excitement as his palms pulled her closer, lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist, and he carried her like that to the bed, setting her down and crawling up as she crawled backwards onto the mattress, him leaning over her, their legs tangled up already, their kisses never breaking apart.
The fireplace smoldered until all that was left were the embers and the room was dark and smelled of warmth and safety, and Lily knew that she was really, truly home.