AN: Thanks to Ninja for Beta-reading!
'Mr. Potter, will you come with me, please?'
Lily and James looked up. It was most unusual for Professor McGonagall to interrupt a lesson, but even more unusual was how pale her face looked.
Professor Flitwick looked from Professor McGonagall to James.
'If you will excuse him for a moment,' Professor McGonagall added.
'Yes, of course,' Professor Flitwick said in his squeaky voice, and he nodded. He, too, had paled, and he looked at Professor McGonagall, questioningly.
She, however, had already turned around to leave.
James got up and gave Lily a short, frowning look before he left the room to follow their head of house.
Lily looked on after him, in concern. She didn't like the look on McGonagall's face. Her facial expression made it seem as though it had nothing to do with mischief. No, she had looked worried.
Lily usually enjoyed Flitwick's classes thoroughly, but today, she was glad when the lesson finally drew to a close, and she could leave. Lily was the first out the classroom door. She wanted to look after James, for he hadn't returned to class.
Something was wrong.
Lily went straight to the common room, but she didn't find him there. Frowning, she sat down into one of the armchairs and crossed her legs, planning to wait for him. Occasionally, she looked out of the window.
It slowly started to get dark.
He didn't show up though, so Lily stood up again and went downstairs.
On her way down, she met Sirius and Remus.
They smiled at her when she passed, and Lily came to a stop.
'Guys, you haven't happened to see James, have you?'
Remus glanced at Sirius.
'Isn't he in the common room?' Remus asked. 'He didn't catch up with us for dinner.'
Lily swallowed, and she shook her head. Her worry turned into slight panic. Something had happened.
'He's not,' she replied, 'but I'll go and look for him. See you.'
'Yeah,' Sirius mumbled, and Lily hurried down the remaining staircases.
Her feet carried her outside, where, to her surprise, she found him. He was sitting under a tree, staring out at the lake. It was freezing outside, and Lily regretted not having brought her cloak, but James, too, was merely wearing his school robes, no cloak, no scarf.
Carefully, she hurried over to him. He didn't even seem to hear her coming.
When she had reached him, she hesitantly sat down next to him and looked at him.
He turned his head and looked at her for a split-second, only to look back at the river again.
'James?' she asked quietly.
He gazed at the lake and ignored her.
'James, what is it?' she asked, taking his hand in hers. He turned his head and looked at her again. Now, she saw that his eyes were red.
'It's my parents,' he said thickly, and he looked down at his trembling fingers. He started to wring them nervously.
Lily swallowed, and she hoped her immediate thoughts were wrong. For several moments, they sat next quietly to each other.
'They're dead,' he said plainly. His voice was emotionless, but it had a slight tremble deep within it.
Lily looked at him and held his hand a bit more firmly.
'I'm sorry,' she said, after a moment of hesitation.
James merely shook his head, and a few loose tears fell into his lap. 'Dead,' he said. 'Dead. Dead. Dead.'
She started stroking his hand and said nothing. But she knew James didn't want her to say anything anyway. He wanted to have someone to listen to him, not talk to him. She knew that.
He sniffed and started rummaging in his pockets. Lily handed him a tissue without saying a word.
'Thanks,' he mumbled without looking at her.
After he had wiped his eyes, he drew his wand out of his pocket and looked at it for a long moment. Then he randomly pointed it at the tree that stood closest to them. He mumbled an incantation and the next moment, leaves started falling from its branches. James stared at them.
Lily couldn't remember him being this silent during any other day of their life. He had always been cheerful and impulsive. Bragging, too. And now? It all seemed gone. As if the old James had just vanished, along with his parents. Lily swallowed. She wished there was something she could say to him, but all she could do was sit there next to him. And be there for him.
He rolled his wand in his fingers and pointed it at the fallen leaves. 'Evanesco,' he muttered.
Lily frowned and looked at the leaves, then back to him. James watched the leaves disappear, one by one as he raised his wand over and over again. When he looked at her again, his face was full of fresh tears. 'Gone,' he said. 'Vanished.'
Lily was biting her lip. She began stroking James' back. And then she found herself hugging him. She held him so tightly he could barely move. His entire body was shaking. Now, Lily was crying, too.
When they let go of each other at last, Lily noticed that James looked slightly embarrassed yet relieved at the same time. He looked down at his hands and his wand again.
'I don't even know how it happened,' he mumbled. 'Don't know if it was a wizard. Don't know if it happened by a spell. I wasn't there. And now they're gone.' His voice was hollow. 'Don't know who it was,' he said. 'Don't know who killed them. If I knew, I'd go and kill those bastards now.'
Lily didn't have an answer for that. James pointed his wand at the remaining leaves and made them vanish too. She watched him uncertainly.
'Do you want to be alone?' she asked quietly.
He looked at her and shrugged.
'Maybe,' he said hesitantly. 'You can go. Or you can stay. Whichever you prefer.' He lifted his wand again. 'Evanesco.'
Lily looked at him and scooted a bit closer. 'I think I'll stay,' she whispered.
James looked at her, and there was gratitude in his face. He didn't say anything, just nodded, but Lily saw the relief in his face. She put her arm around his shoulders, and they remained sitting at the lake silently, watching the day die and the night awaken.