James Potter

It was a sign of the changing ways of the world that her immediate reaction these days was to be on the defensive. A younger Gwen wouldn’t have been, and perhaps that was naive but she longed for the peace of not immediately being cautious.

“You’re just doing your job,” Gwen sighed immediately feeling guilty as soon as she realised how irritated he seemed to be himself at having to ask the questions. “Sorry, I do know that.” She knew she had no right to berate him, especially when her job didn’t even feel real half the time. “I’m guessing there’s some orders they don’t check that you guys are okay with before they make you do them?” 

She offered him a smile instead of more harsh clipped words. He seemed nice enough and Gwen liked to believe when people were nice to her it wasn’t just because they recognised her face from the pitch. Glancing down at the shopping, she shook her head. “No, it’s alright. It’s just dinner, my partner basically never has real food in.”

“We don’t get asked anything,” he confirmed for her. He didn’t like the Order. He appreciated the sentiment, of wanting to keep muggleborns safe, but he personally thought there were better ways to go about it. Acknowledging that the death eaters were real, and a threat, would have been a good place to start. Actually trying to stop them would be better. Anything else was just a pitiful bandaid solution. Rip it off, and the wound still gaped beneath. “I mean, the seniour Aurors might be asked, but it’s usually the Wizengamot’s job... or it was.”

“And I’m just trying to go home,” Severus snapped. He took a steadying breath after that and let the hood fall, eyes narrowing at James. He hadn’t wanted any sort of conversation and that quickly backfired. The only thing left to do was trying to avoid trouble by taking his annoyance toward the weekend out on the auror.

“Avoiding you,” He wrinkled his nose and went to step around him. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I will be on my way. I would hate wasting your time or making you late to get home to your precious  girlfriend.”

“Well go home then,” James wasn’t about to stop him. In fact, the less time he had to spend in Severus’s company, the better it would be for both of them. James might have taunted Severus, but there was no way Severus was innocent of playing into their rivalry either.

Gwenog longed for a holiday. Ever since it had been suggested it had been practically the sole thing on her mind, but there were a few things that needed to be planned before she could go anywhere. It would have been easier to get everything on her to-do list ticked off if Diagon wasn’t rioting, and Diagon wouldn’t be rioting if it wasn’t for the Ministry and their fucked up plans - though this was not an opinion she’d voiced at home. 

She’d had to wait until it was quieter until she could finally do some kind of grocery shop, they couldn’t very well keep having take out. But quieter meant the curfew wasn’t in place and while it didn’t affect her directly, it was painfully obvious it was in place. If only by the Aurors that seemed to appear and ask useless questions.

“I’m a halfblood,” Gwen said, hating the defensive tone to her voice. She had always been proud of her Muggleborn father. Proud to not care what people’s blood-statuses were, including her own. Now to have it questioned every time she stepped out after dark, it wasn’t right. “Or have you started coming after us now as well?”

Her tone was unnecessarily snappish, but she was unapologetic about it in the moment. Her hands clutched uncomfortably at the bag of shopping as she waited for him to either let her continue on her merry way or reprimand her.

James blanched at the defensive tone of the woman. He wondered if the Ministry had thought about the backlash the Aurors on the beat would have to deal with when trying to enforce the curfew. More likely they just didn’t give a shit.

He realised it was an unfair thought. Poor over worked aurors when there were people being killed and tortured. He silently chastised himself for being so selfish. It was something he was trying to work on, but it didn’t come naturally. 

The other reason for his discomfort was that he recognised the person talking to him. Gwenog Jones, one heck of a quidditch player. 

Severus was on edge, still a little shakey after the news seemed to take a turn for the worst. He took to roaming Diagon. As someone that was not a people person, he was used to being alone and hiding away in his room. He couldn’t stay alone over the last couple of days. Sofia’s presence had been helpful but he feared scaring her away by requesting that she stay again or seeming too needy or – The never-ending list of what-ifs were what made him wander in the first place.

He took a shaky breath then rounded the corner, immediately wanting to backtrack when he spotted James Potter. Severus felt like he was going to be sick. He drew his hood up over his head then went to continue on his way, rolling his eyes before he answered.

“Piss off,” He muttered. “I’m a halfblood.”

“Look, I’m just trying to do my job...” he said before he paused. He recognised that voice, right down to the snarky tone. 

Admittedly, reminding people about the curfew had not gone well so far. And now he realised it was about to be so much worse. He and Severus had never exactly had the smoothest relationship (understatement) and considering what he knew of how Snape felt about muggleborns, he couldn’t imagine the other man would be pleased to be mistaken for one. Didn’t mean he wasn’t acting all kinds of suspicious though.

Elspeth had reluctantly agreed to check on the shop. Madam Primpernelle had been relentless in her owls, the old bat had even taken the time to make a damn phone call. She had tried to avoid them but, alas, she had been right. Elspeth lived the closest to the shop and the potions did need to be tended to, as well as making sure the ingrediants would be fresh for the madam’s return. Also, Elspeth was sure she couldn’t trust any of the other flighty shop girls as far as she could thrown them.

She huffed in irritation as she locked the door behind her. Elspeth couldn’t help feeling resentful. She understood that Madam Primpernelle’s husband had gotten caught up with the madness at the ministry but really, her? She in no way considered herself weak, of couse. If trouble did rear its ugly head she would be more than ready. She was confident in that. She couldn’t help feeling like some sort of sacrificial lamb though. Her appearance would make her seem like an easy target.

As she began to make her way back home, she clenched her teeth angrily. She always seemed to be getting the short end of the stick lately. Stuck in her own reverie she didn’t notice an auror approaching her until he was already in her face, badgering her about curfew. “Curfew’s only for muggles, yeh?” She snapped, “Why don’t you go find one of them?”

James sighed and rubbed one hand across his brow. He should have expected hostility. He could only imagine what he’d have said if an auror had approached Lily about the curfew. Merlin knew it wouldn’t have been pretty. He was still trying not to think about the ways the Ministry were now actively discriminating against his wife.

He was just doing his job. So why did it make him feel like the worst person alive?

As James called his mother, Lily sat up to figure out the logistics. They’d stay for a few days, obviously, because if they were flying that far they might as well make a trip out of it. There was probably a better way for them to travel, as they were wizards and all, but as Lily went through the motions of planning a vacation she booked three plane tickets and two hotel rooms. This trip would pretty much blow their rainy day fund but as Lily finalized the details that was the last thing on her mind. 

It wasn’t until James hung up with his mother and a silence fell into the room that Lily realized the severity of what they had just done. She had just booked a trip for them to travel to Las Vegas. They were going out of the country after deciding five minutes prior. And, as James reminded her, they were getting married. Talk about reckless behavior.

Looking back at James, Lily felt herself freeze momentarily. Was this the right decision? Were they going to regret getting married on a whim? They were still young, not even nineteen. Was she going to regret not having a proper wedding when this was all said and done? Was James going to think in a few months their relationship had moved too quickly? There were so many questions and as her chest began to feel heavy Lily nearly voiced her concern. But as her eyes met his Lily could feel everything silenced. She wasn’t going to regret this. 

“We’re getting married”

As the smile returned to Lily’s face she leaned over to press a short kiss to James’ lips before setting her laptop to the side and getting out of bed “You better start packing or else we’re going to miss our flight, and I think I might draw the line at marrying you in an airport”.

James couldn’t stop grinning. Even knowing he had only a few minutes to pack didn’t stop him from grinning at Lily and wrapping his arms around her. He couldn’t help it. He was getting read to make his vows to stay with her for the rest of his life, and he couldn’t get enough of her. 

The plane trip had been an experience. James had flown many times, but never on a plane. His mother hadn’t been on one either, so between them, they had about a million questions. But they made it out the other end, and somehow even managed to get through customs without being stopped.