"It's only me that wants to wrap around your dreams
And have you any dreams you'd like to sell?"

...

Godric's Hollow was their own little safe haven. If Lily could stay there forever in the peaceful gardens that surrounded the home, she would. She had a feeling that James would too, but his fighting spirit would never be able to be kept out of the outside world.

So, Lily would just have to keep a peaceful life in her dreams as it felt the war would keep it there forever. The countless months of bloodshed—not literal bloodshed since the killing curse could snuf you without a single drop of blood lost, but you get the point—seemed to drown out the dreams every once in a while so that Lily was only left with reality.

When the sunshine streamed in the windows, and Lily could sit with James in their kitchen as he hummed along to a record, those dreams didn't feel so far away. It was as if she was now brushing them with her fingertips, which was by far the most painful part. The dreams taunted her as they clouded themselves over without a second thought about Lily's well-being.

Every letter was traced onto the back of James's hand before she traced I love you and left for a place filled with its own dreams. She went to a place where chaos screamed in every crevice of the house, and love outweighed the amount of oxygen in the air.

She went to the Burrow.

...

With a sigh that could part the clouds and push ocean waves the opposite direction, she knocked on the freshly painted door—it was red, the color of many different things, such as love—and watched as Molly tripped around the kitchen with a baby on her hip.

That would be Lily in only a few short months. If she could remember, she would tell you the exact number of days until her due date—which she had counted with Marlene—but she couldn't remember, so two months would have to suffice as the number she gave out for now. The thought brought a smile to her face. Lily would've never been able to imagine her becoming a mother at the age of twenty, she didn't even like children that much! However, as long as she didn't think about actually birthing the thing, mothering didn't really bother her that much.

"Lily! I'm so glad you've come!" Molly threw open the door, effectively startling the baby in her arms.

Lily had been previously told about how Molly was due to have a boy, but the last she knew, Arthur and Molly didn't know what they were going to name the newest redhead edition.

"I'm glad I've come too! I've missed our chats!" Lily leaned in for a hug from Molly, but her belly stopped her short, which caused everyone to laugh.

The walls of the house filled up more between each one of Lily's visits. It was inevitable because Lily didn't get to come to the Weasley's house very often, but the amount of color and life that occupied the walls shocked her each time she made her way there. The oddest objects took their place, stuff Lily would never be able to dream of, yet they all fit into the house like puzzle pieces.

"So, what's this little guy's name?" Lily cooed at the baby that had now been put in her lap as they sat in the living room.

"Officially, he's Ronald Billius Weasley! We just call him Ron though," Molly beamed in her chair.

The smile suited her, it lit up her features and even though she had plenty of smile wrinkles already, they told a story. They spoke in whispers of a little girl that was out-shadowed by her older brothers, but still managed to find her rightful place in the world. They chanted what her past held in a world where everybody was so ready for the future.

"Hello there, Ron," Lily laughed as the baby's eyes filled with wonder.

Those eyes didn't know what was going on in the world. They didn't know that the best of his dreams would be suffocated by the people around him, and they didn't know that everything around him was a ticking time bomb.

But, maybe that's how it should be for now. Let the little ones not have a care in the world. Let them grow their own opinions and thoughts and dreams. Perhaps a few of those dreams would be able to survive adulthood.

"Where're the other kids?" Lily asked as she heard no distant laughter or arguing that usually filled the air.

She should've realized earlier that the atmosphere around her was different, it grew colder. Instead, she was looking at the walls and kept herself sheltered from what was happening around her. She couldn't hear Charlie running around, stomping his feet, and pretending to be a dragon to the point where he drove Bill into insanity. She didn't see Percy covering his ears because they were just so loud. And she didn't find the twins snickering in their childish way that exuded an inkling that they know something you don't, even if they're only two.

"They're at my Aunt Muriel's house," Molly adopted a somber tone, "Arthur thought it would be safer since we're involved with the Order and everything."

Feeling as though all her dreams had been shattered all at once, Molly began to break down and cry, and Lily got up as quickly as she could with Ron in her arms. A wave of nausea washed over her—replacing the spot her dreams had been held—but she ignored that for now, Molly needed comforting.

"They're my babies, Lily! My babies," Molly cried into Lily's shoulder.

"I know, I know, it's gonna be okay," Lily assured with a sure tone despite her hesitation to say such a thing.

Empty promises. That's all Lily could make these days. She didn't know if everything would be okay, but Molly knew she didn't too. Even if it was empty, the words comforted in the darkest hour they had seen yet.

...

Molly, of course, apologized profusely for her outburst, but Lily brushed the apologizes aside. Everyone was a little fragile during this time, and in Lily's opinion everyone else should keep this in mind.

For the rest of the day, they spoke about topics that didn't weigh down on them much at all. Their words were less enthusiastic than usual, yet no one had the heart to point it out because their façade would crumble in an instant.

Lily couldn't help but wish that she was talking to her mother about having a baby in two months. Her mum would know exactly what to say, and her sentences would fill Lily's entire being like the sunshine that had found her that morning. Yet another dream that would be left unfulfilled, Lily would never be able to speak to her mum again. That was until she died herself, however, that was still ways away.

She was left to fend for herself in this dreamless world, nothing but her own kindness and wisdom along with the help of her friends to get her through it. Although, in the end, it was really all her will.

...

Frank had never been considered a handy guy. Perhaps he should've focused on developing those skills already, but, the truth of it was, he didn't particularly care for building at all. So, when Alice had asked him to build the crib she had bought with Michelle—that woman was a godsend, she knew everything there was to know about babies—he called Myles McKinnon.

Frank had grown closer to Myles in the past year as they were both members of the Order, and found themselves on missions together frequently. They had also bonded over the fact that their wives were both pregnant.

"How do you not know how to build a crib!?!" The confused voice of Myles echoed out of the telephone.

"I hardly know how to use this felly-tone! Let alone how to use these confusing instructions!" Frank defended himself.

"I forget how helpless purebloods are sometimes." Myles sighed on the other end of the phone.

"What's a hammer look like again?"

"Merlin... Wait for me, and don't touch anything! I'm coming over!"

...

Not being as helpless as Frank, James was able to build a crib a long time ago. Today, he needed to paint the nursery walls, no matter how much he insisted to Lily that their child wouldn't care what color they were. Apparently, the walls couldn't be a boring color.

The obvious two choices of color were blue and pink, yet that felt generic to him and Sirius when they went to the store. Red felt too obnoxious, even if they were the most Gryffindor people could get. They settled on lilac purple, so if the kid didn't like purple, then that was just too bad.

Lily wanted to help him—James guessed she was hoping for a distraction—but he wouldn't let her in the room because of the paint fumes. He didn't want anything to hurt her or the child, which were both his top priority.

"James! Look here!" Lily giggled as she snapped a polaroid picture of James covered in lilac paint.

There were streaks of purple in his hair, and at one point Lily had had to charm his glasses so the paint would repel off of them. Not to mention the way his clothes looked at the moment.

He posed flamboyantly for the picture, which made Lily laugh even harder.

"This is a keeper," Lily said with a grin as she shook the polaroid film.

...

Marlene McKinnon wanted more than anything to live with her head in the clouds. She wanted to keep her head free from thought at all times. But most of all, she wanted to forget that Marcus McKinnon ever even existed because that seemed less painful than remembering him.

Thinking about the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled, and the way his entire face lit up when he laughed had become a full time job. The pain rooted itself so deeply into her soul that she felt to feel it would destroy her completely.

In order to distract herself from the dead weight inside of her, she accepted every invitation that was sent to her, and practically drowned herself in extra Order work she had taken up.

Dorcas saw similar things happen to Myles. He was far quieter than he was usually, and would only talk to a few select people. She hoped that by inviting Marlene to see them, both McKinnon siblings would get something out of it.

However, Dorcas's wishes did not come true—which seemed to be a common occurrence with the war—and they spent the day in awkward bursts of conversation about random things, obviously dancing around the most obvious topic.

Exhausted from just living, Marlene walked into the marauders' flat with a spare key an hour before sundown. Sirius turned to see her with a grin that slowly slid down his face at the broken down look on hers.

"'Lene?" Sirius asked gently right before her legs folded under her.

Life appeared to be playing a cruel game with them all, and currently against Marlene it was winning. She was just a single pawn in the grand scheme of things. Yet, she hadn't gotten to fall off the chess board and live freely yet.

So, as if she were a wounded soldier, she fell into Sirius's arms and weeped. She weeped for herself, for her mother, her father, Michael and Myles, but most of all she weeped for Marcus, the man who got his life cut short.

...

While Marlene had the mental breakdown of her life, Remus and Leilani walked the streets of muggle London. They were having a splendid time eating their ice cream in an abandoned alley before Remus dumped his ice cream all over Leilani on accident. (He claimed it was an accident anyway, Leilani didn't believe him about that.)

As the gentleman, he ran back to the ice cream store in hopes it wasn't closed so he could grab napkins. This meant Leilani was left alone in the alley.

She realized quickly that she hadn't been completely alone since before she was bitten by Greyback. (Dumbledore had conveniently invited her to his office to explore magic further during the Order mission, so that she didn't question anything.) The silence made everything seem so much louder than it actually was, and it was practically deafening until she heard a growl.

A familiar growl.

...

Author's Note:

Song: Dreams
By: Fleetwood Mac

I meant for Lily's visit to the Burrow to be a happy one, but I think I'm better at writing sadness lmao.

I couldn't resist the cliffhanger, sorry about that.

Was the chapter confusing without the specific dates to tell you when it took place? I tried to specify, but if you're not sure this chapter took place throughout May of 1980.

Lmao anyways thanks for reading
-teddy🦅