Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was beginning to feel quite painful to twist around the corners to reach all the small crevices around the home. Clearly, James and she hadn’t thought as far as cleaning when they decided on their old stone cottage. She can’t really complain, however. It’s a lovely house, and she gets to live there with the love of her life. Pretty great how life can work out sometimes. None of this, however, eradicates the fact that her back is hurting from the day’s labour.

That morning, they had come to the unanimous decision that the house was getting dirty. Incredibly dirty, even. There were dishes in the sink, quilts on the floor, a mixed array of shoes in the entry, and lots and lots of dust. Since they didn’t have anything better to do for the day, they had whipped up two pairs of gloves and plenty of cleaning material. Using magic for this wasn’t even on their minds. She felt she had become too accustomed to cleaning the Muggle way, and in her opinion, it always felt cleaner to do it without magic. James seemed to agree, sometimes, she still gets stuck staring and wondering how she managed to whip him into the shape of such a perfect partner.
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Despite the ache that her body was holding onto, she couldn’t help but feel a lot calmer now that the house was clean. Or, well, cleaner. She had to admit that she had given up a little around the third hour of cleaning and was now walking around organizing the bookshelves. She didn’t feel too bad, however, as she could see James doing pretty much the same thing in the kitchen. He was rummaging deep into one of the cabinets, almost crawling into it. She greatly appreciated it as it gave her a nice view of his ass. God, she loved him.
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“Oh my god, Lily!” He immediately bumps his head on the top of the cabinet, simply too excited to show her what he has found. “Ow.”
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She couldn’t help the loud snort that escaped her, seeing her husband half-crawling out of one of the kitchen cabinets with hair like a bird’s nest. It wasn’t at all helped by the fact that his marvellous find looked to be a completely regular frying pan.
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“James, what?” She gently teased, fearing that maybe he had gone insane from all the dust he’d consumed during the day. “It’s a frying pan, no?”
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“Lily, no,” he giggled, “It’s the frying pan, don’t you remember?”
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Then, as the memories washed over her like a flash wave, she remembered the pan. It was the same pan they had used while trying to cook dinner for three during a visit to Sirius’s apartment, some time ago. All three of them had been hanging out until Sirius got called away to help the order with something. While he was gone, James and Lily, the kind souls that they are, decided to cook him a nice dinner to return to. It had ended in utter disaster, nearly requiring evacuation of the building. Despite the whole mess, she remembered it fondly. She and James weren’t even dating at that point, and now they’re married - crazy what can happen in just a year. A year. The thought struck her.
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Shaken from her reverie and recognizing the date, she exclaimed, “Merlin’s beard, James!” and dashed off to their bedroom. James’ confused voice echoed from where he remained on the kitchen floor.
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When Lily returned, she had a Polaroid in hand. The earlier aches her body held were dampened by the excitement of her realization. Wasting no time, she shoved the picture in James’ face to have him read what the scribbled marker on the bottom said.
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“Bloody hell, we look a mess, I had forgotten we even took this picture.” He couldn’t help but smile while looking at their younger selves covered in varying amounts of food and with hair like mad scientists. She could tell when he read the date.
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“Lily, that’s today, a year ago,” he said dumbly.”It’s exactly a year since we almost burnt down Sirius’s kitchen!”
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The absolute glee in his voice about destroying his best mate’s kitchen gets her giggling all over again.
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“It’s a sign,” he said decisively.
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“A sign for what exactly, Mr Potter?”
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“Well, Mrs Potter, it seems we have a certain anniversary to celebrate.” James smiled brightly at her, and she couldn’t resist doing the same. “If you would have me, of course.”
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She hoped that the kiss she gave him was enough of an answer.
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—
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“Pretty sure this is the exact recipe we used last time.” James established. He was decked out in a wonderful pink apron that Remus had gifted him last Christmas. The front was adorned with the classic text ‘Kiss the Chef’, which was a personal favourite of Lily’s. She was wearing her own apron made by a bunch of different green fabrics that James had sewn together when trying to learn sewing, another one of her favourites.
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She leaned over to take a look at the recipe herself. “That’s foolproof.”
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“That’s what we said last time, too, and that ended with us decorating Pads’ kitchen with spaghetti noodles.”
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“Doesn’t matter,” Lily tutted back,”because this time we’ll follow the recipe exactly.”
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James had always been a bit more of a free soul when it came to measurements; Lily knew this very well. She suspected that he took after his mother in that area. The mother and son duo’s biggest difference, however, was that Euphemia measured with the heart in the correct way. Sometimes she truly didn’t know what James was measuring with.
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“Alright then, ma’am,” James teased while handing her a pot,”fill this up with some water, then would you?”
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“Oh, aren’t you hilarious, mister?”
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Despite the teasing, she did indeed walk across to fill the pot up. However, she made sure to poke her husband in the side with her nail while passing by. He yelped, and a few spaghetti noodles slipped out of the package he was getting.
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“Hey! What was that for?”
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It was hard to feel accused when he was giggling at her.”Karma.”
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“For what? For telling you to fill up the pot?”
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Lily placed the pot on the stove and signaled for James to portion out the noodles. “No, dumbo, for ruining the meal last time.”
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He stopped with his pasta measuring. “Excuse you, little miss, but I remember there being two of us in that kitchen that night.”
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“Well, mister, I have significantly better eyesight than a certain someone here.” She walked towards him, putting her hand on his chest and gently pushing, getting him to lean back on his hands. “Therefore, I would be a much more reliable source about what happened.”
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James let out a humored snort and grabbed Lily’s waist with his right hand, pulling her closer. “Does that not mean that you should’ve been able to see what was going wrong quicker than me then, which would mean you’re accountable for the acci- OW!”
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His sudden yelp surprised her, and she backed away, allowing James to walk away from the stove. He was holding his left hand, and as soon as he moved from the stove, she could see why.
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“Oh Godric, it's boiling over!”
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“Heh, another pasta flood.”
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“James, put your hand under the sink, you doofus!”

Although she doesn’t condone letting your husband get hurt, she had to admit that it felt incredibly nice and warm to get to take care of him like that, even for just a bit.
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—
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“You need to mix it slower.”
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“I am mixing it slowly!”
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Lily had insisted on stirring the sauce. Allegedly so that James could rest his burnt hand for a bit, but really, they both knew they were now in a competition of who could cook the best.
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“No, you’re not!” James laughed. “It’s gonna get too thick.”

“Great, then you’ll match,” Lily proudly snided. She felt quite happy with that one.
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James couldn’t even pretend to be offended; instead, he let out a loud burst of laughter and leaned in to give her a peck on the cheek. “Aren’t you just wonderful?”
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However teasing James’s comments were, they always warmed Lily up. She kept stirring but could actively feel her attention slipping towards him instead. Watching how he was standing by the fridge getting some more ingredients, his sleeves rolled up, showing those godly gorgeous muscles. God, she was whipped.
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“Honey, the sauce.”
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James’ comment seemed to bring her back to reality. The sauce. It did indeed need to be stirred gently; it seemed she had not done that. What was currently in the pan looked like goo.
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“God damnit.”
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“Congrats, love, you’ve created cheese glue!”
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This man.
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-
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“What’s the flour out for?”
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“Well, usually you’d put some in the sauce, but it seems it isn’t needed anymore,” James responded from where he was standing, grating the parmesan cheese. She wanted to wipe that big dopey grin off his face. Probably with a kiss, if possible.
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“Yeah, alright, mister smartass.” She went to put the flour away when, out of nowhere, James started gasping for air. She whips her head around, obviously concerned for her husband, but quickly relaxes.
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“ACH-OO!”
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Parmesan. Everywhere.
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The cheese is dusting the entire kitchen, she can even feel it in her hair. Just how hard does this man sneeze? And who manages to sneeze in the fucking parmesan. Despite how gross it is, she once again can’t help but laugh.
“That was gross, James!”
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“Can’t even disagree on that one.”
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Well, since he got parmesan on her, it would only be fair if he got a little dirty too, no? Picking up a handful of the flour at hand, she aimed and threw it right at James. hitting him a little all over.
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“Got you!” By this point, she wasn’t sure she would ever be able to stop laughing. James seemed to be in a similar state.
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“What was that!?”
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“Warpaint, own it,” she commanded smugly, while going to fetch a rag to help him clean up. She didn’t rush, though, he was very cute while laughing his arse off.
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-
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“You take the pasta, I take the sauce.”
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“Yes, ma'am."
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There was still hope in them that they would manage to solve this. They had pasta, and something that at least resembled a sauce; it could work. Maybe?
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“Oh fuck.”
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Or maybe not.
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Turning around to where James was standing by the sink gave her quite a shock. Spaghetti noodles, everywhere. The whole sink was filled.
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“Love?” Lily approached, putting her hands on his shoulders. “Did you just try to strain noodles?”
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The only response she got was a weird mix between a mumble and a whine, which, yet again, got her laughing.
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“It’s okay, Jamie! There’s still some left in the pot, we can just use that.”
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There was some left, like a little. At least two bites. Maybe.
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“Yeah, enough to feed a singular bunny,” James snorted,”That’s what I call portion control, alright?”
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“We’ll live, come on,” she beckoned,”Blend it with the sauce!”
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He did as he was asked, and they quickly noticed that something didn’t go quite right. It all looked… Weird?
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“My sauce looks like porridge,” Lily stated, floored.
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“Gourmet porridge.”
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It was a poor attempt at consolation, but it got her laughing anyway. “Yeah, well, we’re not opening a restaurant.”
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This time it was James’ turn to laugh. He walked behind her and put her in a warm embrace with her back to his chest; it felt safe. “Thank goodness for that.”
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-
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The takeaway pizza stood oddly balanced on one of the countertops, a pair of wine glasses close by.
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“Hey, at least the smoke detector didn’t go off this time!” She giggled, slightly wine-drunk.
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“Don’t think we have one, it’d go off every other minute,” James said, turning his face towards her where they were sitting on the countertops. He had a big smile plastered on his face, yet again, it warmed her insides. Her cheeks were aching from the amount of laughter they had endured through the evening, it was a lovely ache. She would miss it when it went away, although she’d probably only need to find her husband, and it would be fixed within a matter of minutes.
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“This was really fun.”
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“It was, wasn’t it?” He stared into her eyes, it somehow still made her tingly.
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“I love you.”

“I love you too, happy fire-versary!” He smiled at her.
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Lily refilled their wine glasses. “Here’s to not burning the place down… This year.”
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They clinked their glasses together and took a few hefty clunks each. It had been a really good day, even if they ended up having to order in. Every day spent together was a day well spent, she doesn’t think she could ever feel differently.
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“Love,” James interrupted her thoughts. “This wine is absolutely disgusting.”
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His flat voice almost made her spit out the liquid in her mouth. She made sure to swallow before laughing in his face, him joining in quite quickly. Her heart possibly felt warmer than the sun. She felt herself already looking forward to spending another day with her James.
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