(DM05i) Interlude

“We’re all bloodless and blind / And longing for a life / Beyond the silver moon”

“Tired of Being Sorry,” Enrique Iglesias

“No, Lily,” James said as they entered their home in Godric’s Hollow.  “What you suggest is madness.”

“No, just listen,” she said, talking with her arms.  Her hair appeared a muddled brown in the darkness, not its usual auburn.  “I found a charm.  They wouldn’t even know.”

He grabbed her arm.  “Who cares if they don’t know?” he demanded.  “We would know.”

“The child would be ours,” Lily countered.  “Ours, James.  You can’t give me children.  What other choice do we have?  There is no such thing as wizarding adoption as children go to relatives—and I refuse to sleep with another wizard just to get pregnant.”

“Lils, I know I’m a disappointment,” James began, but she took his face in her hands and kissed him.

“Not a disappointment.  Never that,” she swore.  “It’s just—what they’re doing is heinous, James.  You know it is.  They couldn’t even be married under magic, even dark magic.  They had to go to a Muggle priest.”

“He’s my best mate.”

“Not really,” she argued.  “I was at Hogwarts with the both of you.  You were best mates in Gryffindor, but outside of our House, he was always with her.  They were inseparable.  You were always complaining about it.  ‘Sirius this—Sirius that—‘ And then he goes and does this.  It must sicken you on some level, especially as a pureblood.”

“I’m a pureblood who married a Muggle-born,” James reminded her.  He moved away from her, toward the kitchen, where he leaned up against the kitchen table where they ate.  “We both broke the rules.”

“Not of Mother Magic herself,” Lily argued again.  “James, why can’t you see it?  The child’s going to be a bastard, worse than a house elf.  We’d be saving it from that fate, give it the Potter name.  True, it won’t be a Black and in direct line for the title of Lord Black, but that couldn’t happen anyway, what with the abomination Sirius stepped into.”

James laughed hollowly.  “We don’t even know if the child would look like us.  Look at her.  She has violet eyes and blond curls.  Sirius has black hair like me but gray eyes.”

“Your grandmother was a Black,” Lily stated, “and my sister Petunia has blonde hair.  It’s plausible.  Please, James.  Give me this child.  Have I ever really asked you for anything?”

“You’re asking me to betray my best friend in all the world.”

“I’m asking you to save his child,” Lily corrected, now standing beside him.  “We’ll be giving him or her a better life.”

James sighed, as if defeated.  “I’m going over in a few days.  I’ll perform the charm then.”

“Oh, James!” Lily squealed, throwing herself into her husband’s arms.  “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”  Their lips met, long and slow, tongues twisting together with familiarity.  When they pulled apart, Lily whispered, “We’re going to have a baby!”

“One caveat,” James stated.  “If we take his child, we at least name Sirius godfather.”

She sighed.  “It would look odd if we didn’t,” she agreed.  Lily smiled at him, slow and seductive.  “Take me upstairs, Mr. Potter.”

“Of course, my dear,” he said, swooping her up into his arms and carrying her up the stairs to their bedroom.