Epilogue For Set Up

Epilogue For Set Up !!

Ok, I haven’t written this story for a while …well, ages, so this epilogue might not really fit. But oh well, I feel like it.

It was Christmas Eve. The living room was full of warm, flickering light from the fire in the grate and the candles on the window sill.

The curtains were open, so that the people inside the house could look out upon the beautiful snow-covered houses and the stars which showed brightly in the clear night sky.

Inside, a single stocking hung over the fireplace, empty for now. Hundreds of assorted picture frames full of laughing, waving people were cluttered on the fireplace, along with a few ornaments – china cats, and long-since broken clocks; that sort of thing.

The room wasn’t particularly tidy, but it was definitely a Home. It had a cosy, family feel about it – exactly the look that Lily and James had been looking for when they had bought the house.

“Oh, do you remember when Peter dressed up as Professor Trelawny?” James laughed.

“What!?” Lily cried with laughter, causing the black cat on her lap to jump off and stalk out of the room.

“Sorry, I forgot …of course, you weren’t there were you?” James said. “Yeah, that was before Sirius had his crazy plan.”

“Couldn’t have been that crazy, could it?” Lily pointed out. “It worked, after all. Now where has that cat gone?”

“I suppose,” James grinned. “Hey, who would have thought it? Class prankster and class boffin get together …classic.”

“Boffin!” Lily spluttered. “Excuse me?”

“Well, nerd, geek, whatever you prefer,” James teased.

Lily threw a sofa cushion at James …and missed.

“Oh, admit it, you were,” James laughed.

“I was not!” Lily protested, still laughing. “Just because I’m clever doesn’t mean that I’m a nerd!”

“Sure(!)” James said slowly, with a big fake wink. “But just between you and us …”

“James!” Lily shrieked, getting to her feet. “You are soo dead …hey, get back here!”

James, sensibly, had run as soon as he saw Lily coming towards him. He ducked under a line of washing (which had been moved indoors after the snowing) and into the kitchen.

“Shame, dead end!” Lily grinned triumphantly, a little out of breath.

“I take it back!” James protested weakly.

Luckily, James was saved by a crying noise from upstairs. Harry was awake.

“Ooh, you are so lucky, young man,” Lily said.

“Not even one year old and already he’s getting his dad out of trouble,” James joked. “He’s gonna be a right little trouble-maker that one.”

“If he is I’ll blame it on your side of the family,” Lily threatened from half way up the stairs. “Or on Sirius. You two are a bad influence!”

“Thanks,” James called upstairs, taking it as a compliment.

“That was an insult, Potter!” Lily yelled.

“Hah, you can’t call me Potter now,” James pointed out. “You’re Potter too.”

The crying stopped. James smiled and walked back into the living room where the fire was threatening to go out – the spell was wearing off. Walking over to renew it, James’ eye was caught by a picture of him, Sirius, Lupin, Peter, and Lily. He remembered it had been taken a few weeks after he and Lily had gotten together.

“Thanks mate,” James whispered to the picture. “I owe you one.”