Stay With Me
Disclaimer: I can't say I own any of this because it's all, but the song, J.K. Rowling's. If I was her, do you honestly think I would be spending my time writing a little one-shot when I could be writing the final HP book and killing off Snape and Voldemort? The song is not mine either because Stay With Me belongs to Josh Gracin.
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Lily Potter could not have been any happier than she was at this moment. The wedding service had just ended and now was at James' and her reception.
Lily had just noticed that the constant movement in the distance appeared to be directed towards her and turned to see what the fuss was about. There, making wild arm motions, was Lily's best friend, maid of honor, and practically James' sister: Heather Mitchell. Accompanying her was the one Sirius Black: Master of Mischief, best man, and James' best friend and should-be brother. Lily nudged James with her elbow into his side to get his attention. He turned to her and followed her gaze to the table where Heather and Sirius were sitting at. The next thing he knew was that Lily had grabbed his arm and had started to drag him over to the couple.
James pulled out a chair for Lily to sit in and noticed that Lily and Heather were already gushing over the wedding and how cute young Nymphadora Tonks looked as a flower girl. James just shook his head as he pulled out his own chair to sit in and began talking to Sirius.
"Is everything set?" he muttered quietly to Sirius.
"As far as I know, mate. Heather's just waiting for you to give her the signal so she can get it started for you."
If it was possible, James' grin got even bigger. "Good," he said. Sirius just smirked at his friend's reaction for his best friend seemed to get this look a lot when he was around Lily. He just had that expression that he was in complete bliss and his eyes got a faraway look but still held awe and happiness in them. To Sirius, this look on James' face never got old even though he had seen it repeatedly for the last eight years, all the way back to their first year in Hogwarts when James first saw Lily.
"Hey, Padfoot?" James said suddenly.
"Yeah, Prongs?"
"Promise me something."
"I don't know whether if I should be scared or not since you're making me promise something when half the things you make me do force me to wind up in an embarrassing situation…"
James laughed softly. "No, I'm being serious for once-don't do the pun for Merlin's sake!" Sirius sniggered. James' expression became unreadable though so Sirius tuned in again to what James was saying. "Do promise me though you'll take care of Heather. She has been through a lot. Mum made me promise when she came to live with us when her parents died to help her make it through. Well, I think you can take a part in that promise too. She makes you happy like Lily makes me happy and I want the next wedding I attend to be yours and hers."
At that time, Sirius looked, well, serious. He looked back up at James from where he had been fiddling with the tablecloth. "I promise to take care of her, James. She means everything to me just as you, the rest of the Marauders, and Lily do. No idea when a wedding will be, though. I'm just going to wait for her to get her burdens off her shoulders."
And with that said, James gave Sirius a pat on the shoulder and thinking that the time was right, pointedly cleared his throat. Heather glanced at him and saw James ruffle his hair and she excused herself from the table. After a moment, James leaned over to Lily and asked if she wanted to dance. Lily agreed and stood up, still laughing over something Sirius just said. She grabbed James' arm and they started to make their way over to the clear area to dance.
"You know you look more beautiful today than ever before, don't you?" James asked Lily.
Lily grinned and said, "Thank you. You're not too bad yourself." They both laughed.
"You do know you made me the happiest man alive today. I love you."
Lily laughed again. "I love you too, James. But really, how many times are you going to tell me you are the happiest man alive? You said that when I agreed to go out with you, on our first date, that Christmas two weeks later, on my birthday, that day in the common room, the last day of school-"
"Okay, okay, I get the point. But you do know it was true every time I said that, right?"
"Yeah, I believed you." Lily giggled. "Especially once I agreed to go out with you. I didn't think you were ever going to stop jumping around so I had to resort to telling you I would not date a kangaroo."
"I would come back with a retort but since I don't want to argue during the middle of our reception, I'm not going to say anything."
"Aw, such a good boy," Lily replied and patted James on the head like a dog.
By then, James and Lily had made it to the dancefloor.
"My fair maiden, may I have this dance?" James asked her with a very overdramatic bow.
Lily laughed and said, "But of course, my kind sir." She then placed her hand in his.
James then turned, looked, and nodded at someone Lily couldn't see but guessed it was Heather from the color of the dress. Then, music started to play and Lily recognized it immediately.
"Ooh, I love this song!" she exclaimed.
"I know," James told her.
"What do you mean you know? I only heard it yesterday!"
"Well, I just heard you humming it yesterday and it sounded really pretty. So, I went and found out what song it was."
Lily then playfully pinched his cheek. "Aw, you're so sweet, James."
"Well, I try…"
James wrapped his arms tighter around her and leaned his head down closer to her ear just before the first verse.
Baby, the clock on the wall is lying
It's not really that late
It's too cold outside to be walking around
The streets of this town
Anywhere if you think you have to be can wait
If it were possible, Lily would be a puddle of goo right there. James was singing to her the most romantic song and apparently figured out which song it was, learned it overnight, and then set it up to play all for her.
So why don't you stay with me?
Share all your secrets tonight
We can make believe the morning sun never will rise
Come and lay your head on this big brass bed
And we'll be alright as long as you stay with me, yeah
Sometimes, Lily didn't understand how she ever became lucky enough to get a man like James to have for the rest of her life. Lily always thought she never had good luck. Apparently, fate and destiny were kind to her for once.
Baby, there's just no use in hiding
The way that I am feeling right now
With you standing there baby I swear I can't help but stare
Girl you're wearing me out, wearing me out
Lily laughed softly. Back at Hogwarts, James' chase after Lily wore them both out, honestly. He would always look after her while she tried to avoid him at all costs. Her first five years at Hogwarts, she hated him. The whole school knew about their whole love/hate relationship. Lily remembered how James had tried to change in his sixth year but Lily wouldn't give him the time of day. She thought she was better off leaving him so she wouldn't get hurt. She couldn't deal with any more pain than she had since her parents had died that summer before. However, in their seventh year when they were both Heads, she was forced to spend time with him and saw James' true side. Finally, she agreed to go out with him. She thought she would regret the decision which actually turned out to be far from ever thinking it after that.
Baby stay with me
Share all your secrets tonight
We can make believe
The morning sun never will rise
Come and lay your head on this big brass bed
We'll be alright as long as you stay with me
Before Lily knew it, she had fallen head-over-heels for him. She had never felt better or safer her whole entire life. Sirius claims that the Potter charm had finally gotten to her after six years and now she was forever stuck with it. Once Lily thought about it, she never wanted to escape it anyway. James had shown her another side to life that Lily so desperately wanted to leave alone but had later decided it wasn't so bad after all. She had learned to deal with it. She had decided that James was the best thing that happened to her life, along with befriending Heather and the other Marauders because she knew they would always be by her side.
Baby don't go it looks like it's starting to rain So Stay
And it's so warm here in this apartment wrapped up in this blanket
Stay with me
Share all your secrets tonight
We can make believe
The morning sun never will rise
Come and lay your head on this big brass bed
We'll be alright as long as you stay with me
She remembered the time Heather told her in seventh year that she would never regret her decision of going out with James. How right she was. Lily trusted Heather when she said it would be okay. Besides Sirius and now herself, who knew him better anyways? James and Heather were pretty much brother and sister and had been since the age of eight years old and were inseparable. Even to this day they are. She remembered the time when she finally coaxed Heather to date Sirius when she, like Lily was with James, was wary to give him a chance. Now Heather knew what it was like to be as happy as Lily and James were with each other. Lily smiled at the thought. How odd life is sometimes.
I'll be all right as long as you
Stay with me
At that moment when the song ended, Lily was afraid her heart would burst from happiness. She had never felt better and better yet, everyone was happy along with her. For a moment, Voldemort didn't exist and everything was right. She could only hope it was this way forever.
She gave James a kiss and said, "I love you. I've never been happier. I'm amazed at the stuff you do for me."
James hugged her. "I love you, too. I do the stuff for you just to see your beautiful smile. I'll say it again: you've made me the happiest man alive."
"I promise, James," she said softly.
"Promise me what?"
"I'll stay with you. Forever. And nothing will change that."
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A/N- This is my first fanfic. All reviews are welcome and are appreciated. Hope you liked it because I enjoyed writing it. Also, I have Tonks as the flower girl at the wedding. I'm guessing she was about six or so at the time and Lily and James are eighteen. Just to throw that in… This is actually part of a story I've had stuck in my head for a while but I don't have time to write it. So, I gave you this one-shot that I hope I can make part of a real story one day. Do you think I should write it? I need to know if this was any good or not so I will know whether to give up on the dream of writing it... Well, thanks again. Review Review Review!