Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Note: there will be no mention of why Lily is sad nor why she is crying
"Evans! There you are!" As soon as Lily heard James Potter's chirpy voice, her hands flew up to her face, wiping her tears away. She cleared her throat and quickly responded to the boy before he came closer.
"Not now, Potter. Go away." Her voice was hoarse from crying and her words broke as she told him to leave. Not once did she turn around yet James' heart wrenched just from hearing her words. James stopped skipping towards her. It was probably the umpteenth time he has heard her tell him that but this time it felt different. James felt like her words were silently calling him to her. He turned around and gave a signal to get the Marauders to run away from where they were hidden behind a tree. They gave him hopeful smiles and scurried away towards the castle.
Lily heard James' skipping stop, shortly followed by the sound of people running away from her. She wondered who else was out past curfew when the obvious hit her. For some inexplicable reason, she found herself wishing she could have asked James to stay. Just then, she heard footsteps coming close to her and she soon found an abnormally quiet James dropping, rather clumsily, onto the grass beside her.
"Not so charming when you are silent hm?" A sheepish smile played on his face as he rubbed the back of his neck. She turned away from him to face the lake, observing how the moonlight reflected onto the lake, making the ripples from the gentle breeze visible. She knew she was about to cry again any moment but she did not want to, not in front of James.
As much as she hates to admit, Lily did cry once in a while. She has cried ever since she was a child, especially when her sister threw hurtful words at her innocent heart. Whenever she cried, she would run away to the pond near her house where she could be alone. That was where she first met Severus. He would be there whenever she cried, trying his best to be a good friend. It did not quite work out most of the time as he would always get her to talk though she did not want to. Ever since they fought recently, she never saw him again, whether she was crying or not.
The tears that welled up in her eyes started to roll down her cheeks and she made no attempt to stop them. If he was so stubborn about dating her, he might as well get used to seeing her when she was down. Her hands reached down to the grass and she started pulling them out mindlessly when an arm rested on her back and a warm hand held her shoulder. She instantly let go of the grass and tried to process what James was doing.
James held on to her, his thumb slowly rubbing small circles on her shoulder. She took in a deep, shuddering breath, closing her eyes. He gently pulled her closer to him and Lily felt drawn into James' warm body. She flung her arms around him and pressed her face into his chest, her tears falling uncontrollably. He did not move away and simply held her close, one hand caressing her back while the other cradling her head.
After what felt like hours to Lily, her tears stopped and she pushed away from James who, fortunately, let go silently. A quick tempus charm told her that prefects would have been back in bed fifteen minutes ago, after their patrol. She stood up and started straightening her robes, dusting away some grass that stuck on to it. James did the same and the pair soon fell into step towards the castle, staying as silent as they could, lest some teacher was out and about that night. As they reached the castle, Lily stopped walking and turned to face James who gave her a soft smile with an eyebrow raised in question. If she had felt a slight fluttery feeling inside, she took no note of it.
"Just to make things clear, this does not mean any-" Lily's word stopped short as she found herself being embraced. She froze, hands by her side, shocked at James' unexpected action. His arms stayed wrapped around her, hands back at where they were when she was crying.
"I know…and it's fine. We can even go on to pretend like this never happened too…if you'd like. I just didn't want to see you upset and alone." His words came out as a comforting whisper and warmth spread throughout her body. She nodded and muttered a 'thank you' which came out muffled against his chest. He pulled away from the embrace and gave her another small smile, gesturing towards the castle and Lily found herself missing his touch immediately.
Every part of her was completely attracted to the sincerity and love that radiated from him. His eyes twinkled and smile grew wider when she smiled back. Her heart was full and it felt the affection emanating from James. She knew she had been successful in ignoring his charms all this while, regardless of how effective they were. However, this new charm James brought out was surely the winner.
As they walked up to the Gryffindor common room in silence, Lily felt her arms brush against his a few times. They did not speak of it but they were both aware, faces tinged pink and eyes trained on the floor. As they reached the common room, they shared one last smile before splitting ways inside, going up to their dormitories to sleep. James fell asleep peacefully, feeling the happiest he ever thought he would in Hogwarts. Little did he know that he would be thinking the same the next day.
Thank you for reading my first shot at Jily! I am quite happy with this piece personally though it is quite short. The ending is kind of up for interpretation but for those who want to know what I was thinking of, it was that Lily would say yes to dating him when he asks her as part of his usual routine. Do leave a review and tell me what you think! :)