Unofficial Portkey Archive

Epilogue

"Where are we going?" Lily asked, walking cautiously in front of James, blindfolded. The hot July air was making her sweat slightly, as was the anticipation of what surprise James had fabricated for their one-year anniversary. Beside her, she could hear Sirius breathing lightly, and Remus on her other side. Pete was either behind James or not there at all.

After they had left school, Lily had moved into Sirius' old room (as he had moved to a flat nearby). James' parents had been very adamant about her living with them, as she had no family to speak of to live with anymore. Mrs. Potter was tickled to finally have a daughter to pamper and go shopping with, and Lily was usually always available to go to a robe expedition to Gladrags.

"James?" Lily grinned, knowing it was him by the feel of his hands on her hips, the exact pressure that she had grown to know like the back of her hand.

"Almost there," James said. "Stairs ahead."

Lily nearly tripped when she ran into the bottom step. It was rock, she could tell, and she climbed until the stairs ended, about five or six steps.

"Door," James said, and she felt a gust of wind coming from some sort of air conditioning. "More stairs," he said behind her. Lily began to climb, and soon noticed that there were a great deal more stairs to climb.

"Are we there yet?"

"Nope," James said, cheekily.

"Wouldn't it have been easier to Apparate?"

"Easier, but no surprise."

"Stop complaining, Lily," came Sirius' gruff voice from beside them. "James went through a-"

"Hush!" James shut him up.

Lily smiled, but said nothing else.

"We're here," James said, stopping her. She heard a door squeaking open and bit her lip in anticipation.

"Can I see yet?"

"Yeah, happy anniversary," James undid her blindfold and it fell off her eyes. She blinked for a minute, in the half-dark, half-lit hallway. She took a few steps forward and looked inside. He had taken her to a dingy apartment with no furniture or any sort of indication that anyone lived here. She looked around, confused.

"What...?"

James came into the room and smiled complacently. "Like it?"

"I....oh God..." she said, realizing what he was implying. He had bought her a flat. "How did you...This is ours?" she breathed.

He nodded. "Well, we're leasing it at least. The first couple payments have already been paid, a few from me, a few from my parents, one from the guys. We've got about a year paid off as it is."

"James," she felt tears welling up in her eyes. "I love it. I absolutely love it."

"Well, it's not much," James rubbed the back of his head.

"I don't care," Lily walked over to him and hugged him. "Thank you, thank you so much."

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you, too," she kissed him. "Thank you, so much."

"Oi, are you two going to have sex right here or are you going to show her around?" Sirius grunted. Remus elbowed him in the stomach, roughly.

"No tact," he rolled his eyes.

"Sorry," Lily grinned from over James' shoulder. "Show me around, then?"

"Of course," he reached down and took her hand, leading her into the barren kitchen. "The kitchen, we'll have to go buy some appliances-"

"I'll take care of that," Lily smiled. "After all, a little ring isn't...well, it's nothing compared to this-"

James looked down at the silver ring adorning his right index finger. Inscribed on the inside was their names and the date of their anniversary. He looked up at her and shook his head.

"I love my ring, it's amazing," he assured her. "This is the living room/dining room/family room/eating room," he explained, coming into the main room again. Taking her towards a door, he brought her inside the one bedroom, with a bathroom.

"We'll need a bed, so I think we'll have to stay at my folks until-"

"Who needs a bed?" Lily winked at him. James raised his eyebrows and Lily leaned up to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her deeper, his hands sliding up to play with the warm, soft skin just under her shirt. Her body had, in no time at all, become his territory and he knew pretty much every inch of it by heart. And he was most pleased to say that she knew his entire body by heart as well.

"Hey!" Sirius barked, breaking them up. "No shagging until you show her the best part!"

"What's the best part?" Lily asked, putting her head under James' chin. Sirius bounded forward and grabbed her hand, leading her out of the bedroom into the main room. He led her to a door that she hadn't noticed before, and she vaguely wondered if there was more to this flat.

To her slight horror, the door opened to reveal the living room of Sirius' flat.

"See!" he exclaimed gleefully. "We're neighbors!"

"Joy..." Lily threw a nasty look back to James and he rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, look at the bright side, you have a live in babysitter whenever you start popping out kids," Sirius said, thoughtfully.

"We are not going to start 'popping' out kids!" Lily flushed.

"Right, right, whatever," Sirius rolled his eyes. "Come along Moony and let's leave these two lovebirds to their little nest..."

After they had left, James approached Lily cautiously. "You don't like it, do you?"

To his surprise, Lily flashed him a smile. "No, James, I absolutely adore it. It....it couldn't be more perfect..."

"Really?"

She lifted herself up onto her toes and kissed him. "Really."

"So you don't mind Sirius being on the other side of the door?" he asked.

"As long as there is a strong Silencing charm on both of our flats, I don't think that I'll mind one bit..."

"Really?" James asked, sliding his hands around her waist. "And why would we need one of those?"

"Well, we do need our privacy..."

"My dear, that's what the bedroom is for," and with that, he picked her up and carried her to the bedroom, slamming the door with his foot.