We've Got Tonight

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything related belongs first, and foremost, to JK Rowling, and then to her partnerships with Bloomsbury, Scholastics, Warner Bros., etc.

Summary: Following their first encounter with Death Eaters, stressed and terrified, Lily and James share a small happy moment.

Posted: 07/19/14

Author's Note: Small one-shot, inspired by my (apparently naïve) view of "We've Got Tonight" by Bob Seger…and not the one-night stand/street walker real inspiration.

The common room was eerily quiet. But that was expected. Though usually filled with careless, homeworking-avoiding chatter most nights, there was a silence that hung heavily. A silence that could only be caused by the darkness of war around them. Hogwarts was, it seemed, no longer exempt from the war that was brewing outside of its gates. It was not entirely unexpected, Voldemort and his Death Eaters had been growing strong over the last few years, recruiting, it seemed, even within Hogwarts own walls.

And it had almost cost lives.

Though only seventeen, Lily Evans and her fellow classmates were used to scanning the obituaries daily, silently praying to not see any names, recognizable or otherwise – but they were often not so lucky. There were already two orphans among their fellow seventh years, and others in the years below them.

But still, they lived in a world of ignorance when they arrived at school. They felt utterly safe within the stone walls. Of course, they weren't.

It had been two days since Hogsmeade was overrun by Death Eaters, terrorizing the shop owners, and forcing their way through the secret passageway into the Hogwarts castle itself. The professors insisted – demanded that the students remain hauled up in their dormitories, safe from the intruders. But to the seventh year Gryffindors, that was impossible. It was the first time Lily Evans fought alongside James Potter. Once upon a time, one was more likely to find them fighting with each other, not against a mutual enemy, but times had changed. Their time as Head Boy and Girl had softened their once hostile relationship by now. One might even call them friends…

It had been two days since Lily had gotten a proper night's sleep. Flashing lights and crumbling bodies flashed over her waking and sleeping eyes, and she felt very cold at times. She had given up hope of finding sleep this particular night, and thus decided to try to complete the potions essay that was due by the end of the week. It didn't take long for the words in her textbook to become meaningless to her, and with a great sigh, she leaned back in her chair, rubbing her face with her hands, and admitted defeat.

Before fully contemplating what she was doing, and perhaps how stupid it was, she arose and began walking out of the portrait hole. Her feet led her around the seventh floor, and before she knew it she was at the entrance to the Astronomy tower. Thinking this to be just as good a place as any, she began climbing the circular stairwell.

When she reached the top she quietly pressed the heavy wooden door open, but found the tower was otherwise occupied by the Head Boy.

He turned to her as she entered.

"Hi…" she muttered weakly to him.

"Oh…hello Lily." This was new. Still slightly strange for him to say and her to hear. Evans felt common and familiar on his lips, but it wasn't right for them anymore. Things had changed, their relationship had changed, so Evans would have to change too.

"Sorry," she apologized, still lingering in the doorway. "I didn't realize anyone would be up here. I'll just go—"

"Why don't you stay?"

It was a gentle request. One of the few times she had heard his voice so…meek.

"Are you sure? I'm not very good company these days," she warned.

"Neither am I," he assured. "I nipped some butterbeer from the kitchen though, which might just end up being better company than either of us could hope to be."

"Just butterbeer?" She was almost skeptical as she silently closed the door behind her and walked toward him. He was sitting near the edge of a landing, and the light of the stars reflected dimly off of his glasses.

"Yes," he assured her.

"I figured you'd've found something a little stronger…considering."

It wasn't a stupid thought, but James shook his head. "You're supposed to drink to make things even better," he explained, as if it were a mantra he commonly explained. "Not just better."

She smiled slightly, finding a spot on the floor next to him. He looked weary. But then she supposed that she probably did too. They sat in a comfortable silence after she had thanked him for a butterbeer. They sat, inches apart, staring on to the grounds and up to the sky. It was a beautiful silence, but then, so were their words.

"I can't sleep," Lily admitted out of nowhere, her eyes falling from the sky to her drink; her fingernails dug into the label.

"Neither can I," he admitted, his eyes, however, remaining on the sky as he raised the bottle to his lips again. "I don't reckon it's because of that potions essay Slughorn's assigned us, eh?" This time his eyes peered over to her, and she gave a slight laugh. He was attempting to cheer her up a little, but of course why wouldn't he? He was James Potter.

"Oh yes. But, then, I'm kept awake more so for your marks than mine, considering you're dismal at potions."

He shrugged his shoulders slightly, placing the bottle back onto the floor, smirking despite himself. "Yeah, I don't know how I managed to get into NEWT Potions with my Dreadful OWL score."

She nodded, admitting defeat there. "Well, you're still rubbish compared to me." At this he actually laughed.

"Touché."

Another long silence followed. As time wore on, the stars and moon shown brighter, alighting the grounds in what Lily felt to be a pure and beautiful way. Something she would severely miss when they left the school. They both watched as the smoke stack came to life in Hagrid's cottage, and looked around as owls swooped across the tree tops of the Forbidden Forest.

"James." This was new. Also strange. But it felt nice for him to hear, and it wasn't entirely unpleasant for her to say. Because Potter was associated with a past that both were too tired to relive. They had agreed to put it behind them at the start of term and, though Lily rarely spoke of it (and she never would admit to it), she was grateful to move on from hating him.

He turned to look at her in response, and the action seemed involuntary.

"What's it going to be like in seven months when we're done at school?" she inquired. She hadn't really expected an answer, but it weighed heavily on her mind and felt nice coming from her lips. He seemed to understand the rhetorical nature of her question, but he still craved to answer it.

"Bad," was the first word to come to mind. "It's going to be bloody awful, isn't it?"

"I'm scared," she whispered stupidly. Though he didn't think it was very stupid at all.

He arose suddenly, and offered his hand to her. Questioningly she took it. He led her from the edge of the landing to the other part of the Astronomy tower, where the roof didn't cover them: the part where students took their midnight classes gazing upward at the stars. For a long moment she was certain he hadn't heard her, and was slightly grateful for it, but it turned out that was not the case.

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the stone ledge, continuing to look across the grounds. "I am too," he admitted after a long while. Then suddenly he stood up straight and turned to her, facing her for the first time that night. "But I will never stop fighting to protect you."

At once she was grateful that the moon, despite its brightness, was not bright enough to show her reddening cheeks. His hazel eyes bore into her own even after his lips stopped moving. She half expected a stuttered retraction along the lines of, "You know…you as in, you muggleborns," but it never came. Because though he would fight for all muggleborns, he was, in particular, vowing to protect her, and she knew that.

She reached out and grabbed his hand. At once his other hand found its way to her face, cupping it tenderly. She closed her eyes at his touch, leaning into his palm as a tear escaped through her lashes. This was new. But it was not strange.

He was standing closer than he ever had – and certainly closer than she ever would have allowed in the past. "It's going to be awful," he reiterated. "And we are going to have to be prepared, even at times when we feel like we needn't be."

"I know," she said. "And what kind of life is that anyway?" She now looked up at him, but they didn't move from their spot.

"Bloody awful," he simply said again. "But how I see it… there will still be happy moments, sprinkled in there."

"How can you be so certain?"

"Because people like you still exist… And Sirius, Remus, Peter… You know. Good people. I reckon we can always find some happiness where there are good people."

She never admired his matter-of-fact attitude when they were younger, but there was a beauty to it at a time like this. It was comforting, when she felt there was not much able to comfort her. At this point though, she seemed particularly aware of her fingers still holding his and let go. As if cued, his hand fell from her face.

"It's getting late," she commented, peering away from him. "I ought to go. You know, try to get some sleep tonight, so I'm not a complete mess tomorrow."

He nodded, understandingly, but still… "Why don't you say? I know it's late, and you're exhausted…but who cares about tomorrow? We've still got tonight, at any rate; you suppose we could make tonight one of those happy moments?"

She smiled warmly at him, because his optimism, however quiet it was, was endearing. She held out her hand and he allowed her to lead him away from the ledge, and back to the landing they had previously inhibited. As they sat she leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder. After a moment, he tentatively coiled an arm around her waist. Whether due to the chilling November air or not, he didn't know, she nuzzled up closer to him, and he could tell she had closed her eyes.

He sat for a long time, seeming to calculate the risk. Finally, the results were in.

"Lily." Still new. Not-so-strange.

"Yes?" she replied, opening her eyes. With a tender finger, he titled her head to look up at him, and leaned down to kiss her.

It had been something he had dreamt about for years – years longer than he would admit to Sirius or any of his mates. And he found, he had been right in dreaming about it, for it was as nice as a first kiss could possibly be. Definitely not strange.

And though there were many things left unspoken as the kiss broke apart, he found he was in no rush to talk about them. The world was growing darker every day, their entrance into the real world looked more ominous and dangerous as time went on. There were fears about his future that he wished didn't exist, questions about the beautiful girl next to him that he wanted answered, and insecurities about all the tomorrows to come... But for now, at least, they had tonight.