(no subject)
Title: Old hag's tales
Author: apostrophe_ess
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JKR, I merely gain from playing these games in her playground.
Pairing/Character: Lily and James
Word Count: 757
Rating: PG-somethingish
Prompt: For potterverse100, number 82 - potions. Prompt table here. Chronological list here.
Summary: There's a thin line between trying to beat the prophecy and doing something a bit silly. Lily has found it. (The last in the "Harry almost born" theme that seems to have been going on lately - for a while, anyway! Something new tomorrow.)
Old hag's tales
“What was that in aid of Lil?” James asked breathlessly, beads of sweat trickling from him. It wasn’t that he minded, far from it. Being greeted by the most gorgeous woman he’d ever known when he came in, a woman who obviously had one clear intention on her mind wasn’t something he had any intention of complaining about. It just wasn’t what he was used to the last few weeks and not something he’d expected with her in her current massively expanded condition.
Lily looked down at her husband, feeling triumphant, satisfied and quite exhausted. It was the seventeenth of July and the last day that she had been willing to try what they’d just done.
The swooping broom ride that James had taken her on two evenings ago hadn’t done it; nor had the spicy pumpkin pasties she’d made for tea last night. There was an old hag’s tail about a concoction of hellebore and riccinis kastorka that was supposed to do the trick, but the potion maker in Lily wouldn’t even let her consider it. It was true that hellebore could be used as a purgative, but it was also true that if handled improperly it could be poisonous. When mixed with riccinis kastorka, a relation to the castor oil plant that Muggles used for all sorts of healing things, it could be highly volatile and dangerous. Even if she could have mixed it herself, and she was the only potion maker she knew she would trust, she’d have not taken it. Her baby, their baby, was far too precious to risk. No, she’d rely on the natural old hag's tales, and if they didn’t work? Well, if they didn’t then nature would take its course.
When the time came, if it was as July moved into August as the prophecy had suggested, and theirs was the baby then what would be, would be. She and James and the rest of the Order would fight to finish the Dark Lord before their child was big enough to think of vanquishing him. There was plenty of time for that, after all.
“I’m going to have to lie down,” Lily explained to James, lifting herself to move beside him. “Move over.”
“Lily?” James asked. “I’m not complaining, please don’t think I am. I’d happily be met every night of the week in that way, but …” he paused.
“What?” Lily asked, looking into his face as he laid on his side looking over her.
“Was that one of your old hag’s tales?”
Lily wiggled her eyebrows playfully. “You’ve never asked me that in the past.”
“No!” James agreed. “But in the past you’ve not been working out the safest time to bring her into the world either.”
“Him.”
“Lil, be serious - for a moment?”
They both laughed at the irony of it. James telling Lily to be serious? That was worth remembering.
“It was the last thing on my list of safe things.”
“You call two on a broom swooping up and down at the speed and the angles we did, safe?”
“With you as the pilot, yes.” James had refused to let her fly herself and his broom was a good one, just about the best money could buy. It took them both easily even in Lily’s condition, with an added comfort charm on Lily’s part of the seat, once it got used to the additional load.
“So, if you don’t mind me asking, how was that supposed to help?”
Lily grinned and wiggled her eyebrows again before she whispered exactly how into her husband’s ear.
“When will you know?”
“In a few hours. By morning? I don’t know. But that’s it now. If he doesn’t come after that, then I want to wait and see what happens.”
“Okay,” James agreed, pulling her close to him. He couldn’t imagine what she was going through. He loved feeling the baby moving inside her, watching his or her arms and legs moving to make Lily’s stomach into strange shapes. But walking around with a bludger slung between her legs couldn’t be much fun, and that was how she’d described it as feeling lately.
“Whatever, it’s not long now.” How many times had they said that lately?
Lily yawned and slipped down the bed, getting as comfortable as it was possible to be. “Don’t worry, I’ll wake you up if he wants his birthday today or tomorrow.”
“Night Lil,” James whispered a few moments later, feeling somehow that his words might be too late, she was sleeping already.
.
Author: apostrophe_ess
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JKR, I merely gain from playing these games in her playground.
Pairing/Character: Lily and James
Word Count: 757
Rating: PG-somethingish
Prompt: For potterverse100, number 82 - potions. Prompt table here. Chronological list here.
Summary: There's a thin line between trying to beat the prophecy and doing something a bit silly. Lily has found it. (The last in the "Harry almost born" theme that seems to have been going on lately - for a while, anyway! Something new tomorrow.)
Old hag's tales
“What was that in aid of Lil?” James asked breathlessly, beads of sweat trickling from him. It wasn’t that he minded, far from it. Being greeted by the most gorgeous woman he’d ever known when he came in, a woman who obviously had one clear intention on her mind wasn’t something he had any intention of complaining about. It just wasn’t what he was used to the last few weeks and not something he’d expected with her in her current massively expanded condition.
Lily looked down at her husband, feeling triumphant, satisfied and quite exhausted. It was the seventeenth of July and the last day that she had been willing to try what they’d just done.
The swooping broom ride that James had taken her on two evenings ago hadn’t done it; nor had the spicy pumpkin pasties she’d made for tea last night. There was an old hag’s tail about a concoction of hellebore and riccinis kastorka that was supposed to do the trick, but the potion maker in Lily wouldn’t even let her consider it. It was true that hellebore could be used as a purgative, but it was also true that if handled improperly it could be poisonous. When mixed with riccinis kastorka, a relation to the castor oil plant that Muggles used for all sorts of healing things, it could be highly volatile and dangerous. Even if she could have mixed it herself, and she was the only potion maker she knew she would trust, she’d have not taken it. Her baby, their baby, was far too precious to risk. No, she’d rely on the natural old hag's tales, and if they didn’t work? Well, if they didn’t then nature would take its course.
When the time came, if it was as July moved into August as the prophecy had suggested, and theirs was the baby then what would be, would be. She and James and the rest of the Order would fight to finish the Dark Lord before their child was big enough to think of vanquishing him. There was plenty of time for that, after all.
“I’m going to have to lie down,” Lily explained to James, lifting herself to move beside him. “Move over.”
“Lily?” James asked. “I’m not complaining, please don’t think I am. I’d happily be met every night of the week in that way, but …” he paused.
“What?” Lily asked, looking into his face as he laid on his side looking over her.
“Was that one of your old hag’s tales?”
Lily wiggled her eyebrows playfully. “You’ve never asked me that in the past.”
“No!” James agreed. “But in the past you’ve not been working out the safest time to bring her into the world either.”
“Him.”
“Lil, be serious - for a moment?”
They both laughed at the irony of it. James telling Lily to be serious? That was worth remembering.
“It was the last thing on my list of safe things.”
“You call two on a broom swooping up and down at the speed and the angles we did, safe?”
“With you as the pilot, yes.” James had refused to let her fly herself and his broom was a good one, just about the best money could buy. It took them both easily even in Lily’s condition, with an added comfort charm on Lily’s part of the seat, once it got used to the additional load.
“So, if you don’t mind me asking, how was that supposed to help?”
Lily grinned and wiggled her eyebrows again before she whispered exactly how into her husband’s ear.
“When will you know?”
“In a few hours. By morning? I don’t know. But that’s it now. If he doesn’t come after that, then I want to wait and see what happens.”
“Okay,” James agreed, pulling her close to him. He couldn’t imagine what she was going through. He loved feeling the baby moving inside her, watching his or her arms and legs moving to make Lily’s stomach into strange shapes. But walking around with a bludger slung between her legs couldn’t be much fun, and that was how she’d described it as feeling lately.
“Whatever, it’s not long now.” How many times had they said that lately?
Lily yawned and slipped down the bed, getting as comfortable as it was possible to be. “Don’t worry, I’ll wake you up if he wants his birthday today or tomorrow.”
“Night Lil,” James whispered a few moments later, feeling somehow that his words might be too late, she was sleeping already.
.