Lily Evans folded up her last long-sleeved shirt and packed it, finally closing her trunk, and sitting on her bed in a daze.
Her mind relayed to what had happened, just last night…
James had sent her a note, asking her to meet him in the Room of Requirement as soon as she got the note.
She quickly ran a brush through her messy dark red hair, and walked out of the girl's dormitory in the Gryffindor tower.
It was the day before they would leave Hogwarts for the final time. Lily had turned 17 a few months ago, in January, James in March.
She walked through the familiar stone walls, remembering all the wonderful and sad memories that had gone on here. She felt a tear slide down her face, but she didn't bother to wipe it away.
She felt that each tear she shed was a tribute to the castle where she had spent seven years of her life.
She passed the kitchens and chuckled, remembering how, just last year, when she and James had started dating, they had a food fight there. It was absolute hilarity to watch the house-elves run amuck, trying to shield the kitchen, but getting pies and food in their faces at their feeble attempt.
She turned away, and headed to the seventh floor, to the tapestry where the trolls were trying, and failing terribly, to learn ballet.
She paced three times back and forth, thinking, 'I need to see James, I need to see James'.
It opened for her, and she was that it was just a simple room, no furniture, and no nothing.
It was just James, who was standing in the middle of the room, back to her, pacing frantically.
She watched, amused, for a moment, and then called, "James? You wanted me?"
He turned around, and smiled nervously at her, messing up his raven-black hair every couple of moments, before finally stepping forward until he was only a few feet away from her.
Like Lily, James was wearing Muggle clothes, as exams had finished earlier today; it was almost eight at night.
"James, what did you want? We need to go back to the common room soon, to say our goodbyes and such."
He ruffled his hair once more, and Lily heard him mumble, "James Potter, you arrogant prat, just do it!"
He got down on one knee, and she immediately knew what he was going to do. He took out a ring box, and slowly opened it, hesitantly, she noticed.
"Lily Evans, I understand that we have only been dating for a year bu-" Lily rolled her eyes, and interrupted him, not teary at all.
She wasn't not like that; she didn't burst out crying at mushy stuff like this. "James, cut the junk. Yes, I'll marry you!" She said, laughing a little.
He looked very startled, and then pleased, and suddenly he jumped up and captivated Lily in a kiss.
He then slid the ring onto the red-head's finger, and not surprisingly, it was a perfect fit. Lily hugged him tight, the first tear escaping from her, and it would be the only one that would that day. "Perfect." Lily muttered, closing her jade-green eyes tight.
"This is perfect."
Now, Lily sat back down on the four-poster bed, laying back.
This was it.
She was leaving Hogwarts, forever.
Never to come back.
But, hopefully, in a decade or so, she would be sending her own son/daughter off to Hogwarts!
That thought cheered her up a little, and Lily pulled her trunk and owl-cage down to the Great Hall, eating breakfast slowly, looking around.
The whole school knew about James and Lily's engagement, as they had tried to keep it a secret, so when she got down there, people were congratulating her left and right. She just smiled, and went back to her kind of morbid thoughts.
This was it; she wouldn't ever see these tables again. Or eat the delicious toast. Or watch the magnificent stained glass windows.
Lily closed her eyes tight, and when she opened them, they were teary, no matter how hard she tried to keep them blank.
She looked over at the Slytherin table, where she caught Severus Snape's eye; She hadn't spoken to him since that horrid day when he called her that unforgiving word; 'Mudblood'.
Lily was one to hold grudges,
'But,' She thought. 'I want to be remembered as a forgiving person.'
She smiled at Severus, and lifted her glass of pumpkin juice to him. He let out a half-smile, that looked very relieved, which Lily, after being his best friend for several years, knew that meant he was happy.
She gave him one last smile, and then trudged out of the Great Hall, down to the carriages, which were pulled by thestrals. (SP?)
James had already gone down to the train, and she knew that he was holding a compartment for her there. The carriage ride went by in a blur, and before she knew it, there she was, in front of the giant scarlet train.
This was her last time riding it.
She numbly pushed her trunk on, and scoured the train compartments for James.
She finally found him, and she spent the entire train ride having her eyes blurred by tears, nestled into his arms.
They arrived at the King's Cross Station, and James practically had to pull Lily off the train, where she would have waited all year, just waiting for the train to move again. When she felt the tears coming, she conjured up a handkerchief, and cried into that, not even trying to hide her tears.
She finally wiped them away, and then James looked at her, a sad expression on his face. "I have to go with my family, Lil. I'll owl you soon about the wedding details, all right?" He said, pleading with her, silently, not to cry.
Lily nodded, vanishing the handkerchief now, and waited on the Hogwarts Express platform 9 ¾ for just a moment more, before going to the train and getting her trunk and owl-cage.
She breathed in the smoke, and closed her eyes, getting a last feeling of pleasure and safety.
Just then, she felt something being pushed into her hand, but when she spun around, no one was there.
She saw a black cloak whip around, disappear behind a pillar, but that was all.
Not really caring, she stuck the paper into her jean pocket, and pushed her trolley through the barrier, where she met up with her parents.
Only when she was safe at home, in her room, door locked, did she remember the paper. She took it out of her pocket, and uncrumpled it slowly, hoping that a jinx or hex was not bestowed inside.
Instead, carefully written in beautiful handwriting, with green ink on lilac paper, was a small, simple note.
They say, if you love someone, let them go.
~ Sev
Lily didn't more words to understand the heartbreak that he was going through, the pain that must have stabbed through his heart when he wrote this.
But that note meant everything to her, and when Lily Potter died, many years later, clenched in her fist was the same note, crumpled once again, as if it had been unfolded many times.
And, in her own beautiful handwriting beneath it, were the words,
Everything is just perfect.
