Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.

Written for the Ship til You drop Challenge - JamesLily

Written for the Fanfiction Marathon Competition - JamesLily


Bigger Battles To Fight

It's confusing when you come back from the summer holidays and he leaves you alone. You've always said you hate the way he hounds after you for a date, you complain about it to your friends, you shout at him, you've even hexed him on occasion. Now that he's stopped, you feel...oddly bereft. Lonely even.

He looks sad this year, and he's quieter than usual. Of course, he still jokes around with his friends, but there is something different. Obviously you're not willing to believe that James Potter has grown up, but you can't help but wonder.

When you found out he was to be Head Boy, you were irritated. Watching him with the first years though, you're beginning to believe the teachers might actually know what they're doing, because he is excellent with them. He seems to know instinctively how to cheer them up, how to make them laugh, and how to make them forget their homesickness, even if only for a few moments.

He talks to you now, and you listen. He is full of anger for the Death Eaters that are tearing the world apart outside Hogwarts. He is scared, worried for the safety of his friends and family. He is full of indignation that terrible things are being done in the name of Pure-Bloods, and he has told you on more than one occasion that it makes him ashamed to be classed as it himself.

He whispers to you during your late night checks around the castle, telling you about his plans for when he leaves the school. He wants to become an Auror, to help fight to save the lives being lost every day. He plans to join the Order of the Phoenix, a not so secret organisation run by Dumbledore, and he tells her that Sirius, and Remus and Peter will be joining it too.

One late night, when you can't sleep, he joins you in the common room. He surprises you again when he asks, begs in fact, you to leave the country as soon as the school year ends. He tells you he cannot bear to see you hurt in the war, and everyone knows that it is muggle-borns who are the most at risk. When you tell him you intend to stay and fight, he smiles ruefully at you. He tells you he already knew you were going to say that but he had to try.

When he kisses you gently following that conversation, you kiss him back, your hand tangling in his messy black hair. It has been almost seven years, and you can't find any more reasons to deny the attraction you feel for him, especially now. He was willing to give you up, to see you safe, and that has made all the difference in your mind.

The following morning when you find him waiting for you before breakfast, you return his smile and take the outstretched hand in your own.

You have bigger battles to fight, and truly, you know that no one will protect you and love you as much as he does. Squeezing his hand gently, you know that you will more than reciprocate.