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"He went down quiet for once."

Lily returned to the sitting room, and with a pleased grin circled the couch towards where James stood. Harry, while never a particularly fussy baby, was not usually the biggest fan of being told that it was time to calm down and go to sleep. Tonight, however, the one-year-and-three-month-old was calm as could be. The moment his head hit the pillow, Harry James Potter was far off in dreamland. "Must like Halloween."

Or maybe he was just in the mood of the evening. For a night that consisted of large numbers of children set free to run around the neighborhood and bang down doors to procure pounds upon pounds of sugar, everything seemed strangely peaceful. Relaxed. It all made Lily want to do nothing more with tonight than cuddle up under a blanket, read a book, and fall into bed early.

But not before she took advantage of this rare, quiet moment alone with her husband. With a newly walking baby toddling around the house and getting into everything, it was hard to find time to just be alone with James without interruption. So, slinking both arms around his neck, she raised up to demand a kiss and gently nudge him backwards towards the couch. It was a good night to be peaceful--or a good night to have fun.

Unfortunately, someone else apparently thought so too.

Lily had just fallen into James' lap on the couch when she glanced up to witness their front door smash into the wall before it. Looking akin to a deer in the headlights, heart suddenly racing a million miles a minute, she jolted up immediately and her hand groped her backside for the wand she kept in her pocket.

... and then realized she had left it upstairs. Upstairs, on top of the dresser--she could picture it in her mind, and yet it did nothing to bring it to her now, when she needed it the most. Tangible fear pumped through her veins as she turned to stare wild-eyed and terrified at James, as if asking how. They couldn't have found them here... not under the Fidelius Charm... they couldn't have found them here, unless--