Work Text:
Snow Magic
‘James, you can't do that, he's too small to sit on there on his own, he’ll fall off,’ Lily said, her words turning to smoke as they left her mouth.
‘You hold him then and I’ll sit behind you, so we go together,’ James said as he pushed the sledge towards her.
Lily looked down from where they were standing at the top of a steep hill in the middle of a forest. The world around them was white, the trees covered with thick fresh layers of snow and the bare part of the hill looked as if someone had painted it with glitter. Far down below she knew there was a meadow; today it was as if a white bowl reflected the morning sun. From up above, she couldn’t see any trails disturbing the snow.
‘It’s a long way down. Won’t we go too fast? ’ she asked, knowing as she said it that her husband would never agree that something could go too fast.
‘Evans,’ he scolded, ‘of course not. I’ll hold the both of you, don’t worry. We used to do this every winter when I was little.’
She rolled her eyes at him.
‘It’s interesting how you call me Potter when I do something you like, but when I act like an actual responsible adult we’re back to Evans,’ she said with a sly smile, sitting down on the sledge anyway.
James put Harry in front of her, so he faced forward. Next he gave her the old rope attached to the front of the sledge and she pulled it tight. She waited for him to sit behind her. When he scooted them forward, crunching the snow, she held her breath as the sledge teetered just on the edge. She didn’t look down.
With a big push, James tipped them over and they took off.
A family of three, for the first time on an old wooden sledge.
Lily let out a cry of excitement as the cold air rushed past and the thrill of going down the hill made her grin despite her worries.
This was fun, but she still pinched her husband in warning —don’t do anything too reckless now— and pressed Harry firmly to her chest.
James laughed, that low laugh she loved; she could feel it thrum all through her body. His strong arms were wrapped around them, holding them as their speed increased. And increase it did.
The hill was steep, but the meadow below would allow them to ride it out safely.
Harry squealed, his little hands flying up in the air. She thought for a second that he was scared, that he was about to cry, but then she caught a glimpse of his face, cheeks flushed red from the cold, his black hairs peeking from under a woollen cap and his mouth open in a big smile. A very big Potter smile.
Harry loved it. Well, she thought to herself, was she even surprised with a father like James?
As they gained more and more speed, she however was feeling less secure, the descent putting her stomach somewhere in her throat. Then in a flash, she saw a fallen tree trunk covered lightly by snow, blocking their path. She gripped Harry tighter as she gasped, “James, we’re going to hit that tree.”
He saw it a second later. They were still gaining speed, and going much too fast to use their feet to break. She could feel James trying to get to his wand. Her muggle instincts took over and she tried to stop them with her feet anyway. They just skidded over the snow and made their tracks wider, it didn’t slow them down, not even a little.
Just mere seconds before they would hit the trunk, she felt the sleigh rise up as if they were catapulted. Her stomach made another swooping somersault, as they flew upwards, rising higher into the air. For a moment she felt frozen in time. Then with a gracious little bow, they skipped the tree trunk and smoothly touched down to resume their path in the snow, racing down to the meadow.
Surprised she looked at the hill behind them. The tracks of the sleigh went down in a perfectly straight line until there were none and then they were there again. As if they’d suddenly been picked up by…Magic?
She looked back to Harry, who was gurgling. Waving his hands in small mittens up and down happily despite her crushing grip on his small body.
“James, how? Did you…?”
She turned around to look at James and fell silent when she saw the look on his face. His eyes burned bright behind his glasses, his grin wide enough to split his face in two. He stared at the boy, whom she held firmly pressed to her pounding heart, in absolute awe.
“He did it. Lily, he did it. He’s magic!”
