A/N: my first multi-chapter james/lily fic. Woohoo! Read and enjoy…

Disclaimer: sigh, not mine. Although I really wish I could have my own james potter right about now.

Lily Evans sat on the stairs leading down to the Great Hall, tears in her eyes. The letter she held in her hands was crumpled, the words smeared. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe that Petunia had finally won out – this had to have been her idea. How could her parents listen to her sister when they knew how much contempt she had for Lily? Taking a deep breath, she read the letter again.

Dear Lily,

Your father and I hope the end of school is going well for you. We've been keeping up with the news in The Daily Prophet, and considering the current danger your world is in, we don't think it would be wise for you to return home for the summer holidays. This is for your own safety darling, as well as the safety of the entire family. With you staying at the home of another Wizarding family you will be far better protected than you would be here, and no one will be put in unnecessary danger. Please don't be upset sweetheart, your father and I are just so worried for you. Send word to us as soon as you know where you're staying and we'll have your things sent along.

Love always,

Mum

Lily sighed, some part of her hoping that the words had changed since she last looked at her mother's petite handwriting. Her parents were kicking her out of the house. Of course they'd put it in a much nicer way, but that was the bottom line. And the worst part was that Lily had nowhere to go. Of all the times to suddenly become paranoid, her parents had chosen the end of sixth year. Within a week of school letting out Alice Corrigan would be moving from one side of the country to the other and Joanna and Jillian Spears would be leaving for France. Lily's three best friends would be unable to take her in.

"Damn," she whispered quietly, pushing her dark red hair away from her face.

"Were you talking to me?"

Turning, Lily saw James Potter stopped on the steps, looking at her expectantly.

"No," Lily replied, hastily wiping her eyes, "No, sorry. Just to myself."

"A sign of insanity you know," James remarked lightly.

Lily shook her head ruefully, "It would be wouldn't it?"

Sensing that something was wrong, James trotted down the last few steps and sat down next to her.

"What's wrong Lily?" he asked, "I mean I know we're not exactly close and you're probably wishing I would just leave you alone, but if you need to talk about something … "

"My parents kicked me out," Lily muttered, so quietly he barely heard her.

"Sorry?"

"My parents," Lily repeated, wondering why the hell she was telling this to James Potter, "They kicked me out of the house. Said it was for my own safety or something like that. It's not true though. They're more scared for themselves than for me. Especially my sister Petunia. She's hated me ever since I started coming here – I'm willing to bet she was just waiting for a reason to get rid of me."

"No, don't say that. I'm sure they really are concerned for you."

Lily laughed, "My parents, probably. But Petunia? Definitely not. Trust me."

The two sat in silence for a moment, James studying Lily's face out of the corner of his eye. She was trying not to cry – he could tell that much. Her eyes were glassy and red, and he could see the tears that would start to fall if she blinked.

"What are you going to do?" he asked finally.

"I don't know. I have nowhere to go. Alice is moving and the twins are going abroad to France …" A single tear slid down her pale cheek as she faced him, "I don't have a home James."

Without even thinking about it, and knowing that he was most likely going to get slapped across the face or hexed into oblivion, James pulled Lily into his arms. He didn't care if she wanted that or not, if she hated him or not. What he cared about was that she was hurting, and he wanted to make it better. She didn't deserve this sort of treatment, not from anyone and especially not from her own family.

"It'll be all right Lily," he said quietly as she cried, "I promise."

After a few moments, as if suddenly aware of what exactly she was doing, Lily pulled away. James braced himself for a slap that didn't come.

"You know," she said, wiping her face, "Just because I use your first name doesn't mean you now have permission to touch me."

James shrank back immediately and nodded, a rather sad look in his eyes, "Right," he said, "I shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry."

Lily smiled a little bit, "Relax," she said, "I was only kidding – mostly."

Immediately his hazel eyes regained their light. Lily had never noticed before how easily she could make or break his mood. Reaching out, she gave his arm a squeeze.

"Thank you though," she said softly, "I think I needed that. Anyway, I'm sure things will work themselves out."

Without another word, Lily got up and continued her way up the staircase. James watched her go, a question on the tip of his tongue that he was afraid to ask. A question like that could break their fragile truce, shatter the almost-friendship they had built up this year. She could misinterpret it a hundred different ways. This question …

This question was out of his mouth before he could think anymore about it.

"Stay with me?" he called up to her.

Lily stopped short, one hand on the railing.

"What?" she asked, turning to look down at him.

"I said," James took a deep breath, glad there was no one nearby, "Do you want to stay with me? Of course you can say no, I'm expecting you to say no. It's just that if you don't have anywhere to go I really wouldn't mind if you decided that you wanted to maybe – " he stopped, ruffling his hair nervously and collecting his thoughts before looking back up at her again. "What I'm trying to say is that you're welcome to stay at my house this summer. I promise I would stay out of your hair and I'm sure my parents would be thrilled to have you."

Lily walked slowly back down the stairs until she was face to face with him.

"Do you mean that?" she asked.

"Absolutely," he replied, "Every word of it Lily."

Much to his surprise, a pair of arms were suddenly around his neck and Lily was hugging him tightly.

"Thank you James," she whispered, "Thank you."

A/N: sooo, what do you think? Reviews are food for the soul