Let the bough break, let it come down crashing
Let the sun fade out to a dark sky
I can't say I'd even notice it was absent
Cause I could live by the light of your eyes
We were doing our rounds as Head Boy and Head Girl and I was talking about something that I can't even remember anymore. Our hands were so close yet so far apart, the electricity in the air around us making the hair on my arms stand on end – but I shouldn't, really, because why would I say yes after so many years of saying no. I stared straight ahead as you stared at me, not wanting to look into your hazel eyes that flicker like jewels in the firelight of the torches, almost as if they have fire themselves hidden inside.
So instead I kept walking, kept talking about inane things like the Potions homework and whether or not Professor Slughorn really had marked our last assignment yet. I was fully aware that as we walked you came closer, ever so slightly, but enough to make my heart stand still for just a moment as our fingers brushed. And then I pulled away because I didn't like the butterflies in my stomach or the fact that my palms were sweaty, but when I turned to look at you, to ask you whether we could turn in early and not tell McGonagall because you had that important Quidditch match the next morning, I couldn't help but feel like there was entirely too much space between us.
And emerald met hazel as we spent exactly three seconds in silence, captivated by each other, before you took a step forward and suddenly your lips were on mine and all I could do was kiss you back.
I'll unfold before you
What I've strung together
The very first words
Of a lifelong love letter
My hair is on your pillow, spread out like a sea of fiery flames, my legs entangled with yours under your sheets. It is well past breakfast but your friends have long since left your dormitory, obviously smart enough to know that waking us would not have ended well for them. You're sitting, your face too high up for me to look at properly so I'm on my side, one hand propping the sheets up to my chest and the other holding one of yours. You trace patterns along my arm, freckle to freckle, inducing shivers as your touch had the entire night before. I smile at the memory and revel in the fact that it causes your cheeks to redden.
I glance about your face, committing this moment to my memory before I shatter the beautiful paralysis and sit up, the hand that was clutching the sheets to my chest falling down as I clasp the back of your neck and pull you towards me, kissing you because if I don't then surely this was all a dream. Our breaths become ragged as the kiss grows deeper and my hands are in your hair and on your arms, pulling you closer, but you're moving away from me and our kiss is broken and I'm about to give you the look you can't say no to when you blurt out three words that give me pause.
"I love you."
There was a time when I would have believed them
If they told me you could not come true, just love's illusion
But then you found me and everything changed
And I believe in something again
"He hasn't changed," she says, chastising me once again. "He's Potter, the boy you've hated practically since the first train ride here!"
I smile as I stare out our dormitory window onto the Quidditch pitch as you practice. You're flying about so fast I can barely follow you – but my thoughts aren't on you on the pitch so much as they are with you and me, my back against a stone wall and your lips on my neck. I smile and tell Mary that everything's alright, that I know what I'm doing.
"He'll never be your Prince Charming, Lily," Mary sighs, twirling a piece of her hair as she walks over to look out the window with me.
But I don't want a Prince Charming, I tell her as you fly about the pitch, your voice carrying as you yell at your team to buck up if they want any chance at the cup. Mary and I wait there for a minute, my eyes on you while she watches the black haired boy in the stands with his arms around the McKinnon girl. I can see why she doesn't believe you've changed, especially since your friends haven't, and at one point I would have been on her side. But you have changed, and as your head turns and your eyes seem to meet mine, as far away as we are, you begin to fly towards Gryffindor Tower as I feel my heart skip a beat. When you get to us I unlatch the window and you grab me without warning, pulling me onto your broom for a long kiss while your team cheers for you down below.
No, I don't need Prince Charming, I think as your hands snake around my waist, as long as I have my court jester.
My whole heart
Will be yours forever
This is a beautiful start
To a lifelong love letter
We are holding hands and laughing as we walk along the edge of the pond, the ducks quacking at us as we amble about. You had brought a basket and a blanket but in your haste to get me out of bed this morning so we could watch the sunrise, you had forgotten everything but the bread that we now were throwing at the fowl in the water. The air is warm, a beautiful summer day, and your hair is messy, as it always is, your eyes shining in the sunlight. We divert our path along the outskirts of the pond and find our way back onto the paved walkway through the park, not needing to talk but only needing each other to feel complete. As we round a bend you see an ice cream cart ahead and drag me towards it, excited at the fact that a muggle cart could possibly keep ice cream cold in the summer.
I laugh as you buy your treat, marvelling at the man in charge of the cart who you've confused with the simple word, muggle. After you finish your ice cream you drag me through the small town, mentioning small things like the farmer's market and the various clothing shops, then finally you tell me that you're taking me out to tea even though I protest. I ask if perhaps it's a bit backwards, ice cream and then tea, but you chuckle that perhaps we're a bit backwards. I laugh myself and we continue walking until we're in front of a large cottage, ivy climbing up the walls, the bricks a deep red. You walk to the front door and open it and I'm too surprised to protest but when you gesture at me to follow I frown. I chastise you for breaking into a house and how much trouble you'll be in when you smile and take a step towards me and hold out the house key.
"It's not breaking in if it's ours."
We are not perfect
We'll learn from our mistakes
And as long as it takes
I will prove my love to you
I am crying and you are trying to comfort me but the only family I have left is gone. Couldn't you have just let Vernon be pompous? What was the point of bragging about your broom when he asked about your car? What was the point of bragging about your family's fortune when all you had to say was that you had money saved? What was the point of bringing up my childhood in an attempt to assuage the situation when you knew that my sister still holds resentment in her heart for me? You say you're sorry and I believe you, but can I trust that you will change? The entire restaurant is looking at us and I'm beginning to feel self-conscious so I get up and leave, you trailing behind me like a lost puppy.
Outside the restaurant you stop me and turn me around. You promise that you'll make it up to me. You promise that you'll do whatever it takes to prove to me that you are not a boy I once knew but the man I love. I tell you what you have to do and you promise to make things up with my sister and the loathsome Vernon.
I am not scared of the elements
I am under-prepared, but I am willing
And even better
I get to be the other half of you
You shout at me to leave you behind, brandishing your wand as the men in silver masks come closer. I shake my head wildly, my fiery strands blazing in the darkness of the abandoned alley. This was our shortcut to Order headquarters when we decided to walk instead of apparate, and enchantments were supposed to have protected us. Now that they hadn't, I had to protect you.
With a flick of my wrist I send one of them flying crashing into the side of the building. With a swish of yours you stun another, but the four others advance. You're barely able to put up a Shield Charm before a curse rebounds off it, and I'm barely able to dodge a Killing Curse, inches separating me from death. You roar as they advance, screaming at me to get myself to safety. I clench my teeth and with a fair bit of wand work I manage to push two of them back, if only for a few seconds. I run towards you, dodging the curses thrown at me as you yourself deflect the spells at every second. When I finally reach you I grab the edge of your sleeve just as a tall man appears at the end of the alley and the other men back off.
I gasp as I recognize who the newcomer is. "James," I whimper. "Let's go."
You grab my hand and we turn together, disapparating to headquarters and out of danger. When my feet hit the ground I crumple and tears of fear roll down my face. You try to comfort me, saying soothing things in my ear but I am distraught. It is only when you pull a box out of your pocket and lift my eyes to yours that my panic subsides.
"Lily Evans," you shake, "I can't live without you by my side."
I wipe tears from my face and tell you that it isn't the time, that what we just went through only cheapens the moment, but you respond that because of what just happened, you'd want to be at my side for the rest of your life in case the next time something goes awry. You are on one knee and you open the box, the glittery ring inside shining like the sun.
"Yes. Yes, a million times yes."
Tell the world that we finally got it all right
I choose you
I will become yours and you will become mine
I choose you
I walk down the aisle, my stomach in knots as you stare at me from the alter. Sirius is beside you, beaming over at Mary who is waiting for me. I hand her my bouquet once I reach the alter and replace it with your hands. You quickly let go to pull my veil over my head and lean in closer to whisper, you fingers stumbling over my knuckles as you grasp me again like a dying man gasp for breath.
"I love you Lily."
I beam and a tear falls from the corner of my eye. "I love you too."
I choose you
A.N. Merry Christmas Sian! Since I may have stalked your MTA page, I found that James/Lily used to be your OTP. Maybe not anymore, but I recently heard Sara Bareilles' song I Choose You and I couldn't stop myself. Hope you like it, and for everyone else, I hope you like it as well! Tell me what you think? Also, all the lyrics in this songfic, as well as the title and the story summary, are from the song I Choose You, written by Jason Blynn, Pete Harper, written and performed by Sara Bareilles, and produced by Mark Endert. No part of it belongs to me! And also thank you to my Secret Santa/Grinch, Em who was so amazing and Beta'd this for me!