Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Lily chose the abandoned classroom tucked away in the corner of the fifth floor precisely because it would be hard to find. The door had no lock, but there was no time to find another room, because her tears could not be held in any longer. She grabbed the nearest chair, dragged it to the farthest corner of the room from the door, and sat down, facing the wall. Thus settled, she let her emotions out in huge, wrenching sobs that turned, over the course of an hour, to quiet weeping. There was a class she was supposed to be in, but for once she didn't care-there was too much else to think about right now.
"What's wrong, Evans?" asked a sincere, concerned voice at her shoulder.
Lily looked up to see James Potter hunched beside her, his face close to hers. He must have entered the room without her noticing. Though she knew she ought to be yelling at him, doing the usual get-away-from-me-Potter routine, she couldn't find it in herself to turn away sympathy of any kind right now. "It's my parents, James," Lily sobbed. "They've disappeared-and the Ministry-thinks You-Know-Who-is behind it!"
James gasped. He was shocked. Odd things had been happening to the families of plenty of Hogwarts students, it was true, but not to anyone he knew very well, and certainly not to the family of the girl he loved. For a second, James was too stunned to speak, but Lily's sobs brought him back to the present. He took her hand and murmured, "Oh, Lily, that's terrible." He was surprised and gratified when she did not pull away.
"How could this-happen?" Lily wept. Suddenly she flashed back to the scene when she'd found out-McGonnagall telling her Dumbledore wanted to see her, Dumbledore telling her that it was a shame, that it was so sad to have to deliver such news to one of his best students. Lily's sobs turned to anguished wails; she was clearly falling apart from grief.
James's heart was breaking for the girl in front of him-the love of his life, who was suddenly dealing with such a devestating loss. When she started wailing, he decided desperate measures were required. Without letting go of Lily's hand, he summoned a chair, sat down on it, and pulled Lily into his lap. Ordinarily she never would have allowed this, but now she was glad of the comfort. James sat and stroked Lily's hair, holding her tightly. He didn't bother with empty reassurance; all he had to offer was himself, and hopefully that was enough.
Lily sobbed for two hours in James's lap. Finally, she stood up, knowing she needed to find her friends and tell them the news, little though she wanted to talk about it. When she stood, James stood too, and she found herself looking into his hazel eyes.
James surveyed Lily, his love, his all, and knew that, though there wasn't much chance he could make her feel any better, he had to try, and, anyway, he had been wanting to tell her something for a long time. He wiped a tear from her cheek and whispered, "I love you, Lily."
Lily put her arms around James's neck and gave him a fierce hug. "Thank you," she managed to whisper through her tears, "for everything."
James didn't let himself be disappointed that Lily hadn't responded in kind. After all, yesterday she had hated him, so this was definitely improvement, and it would be selfish to be sad now for any reason after Lily had just lost her parents. "You're welcome," he whispered back, hugging her tightly. "If you need anything, any help now, anyone to talk to later, you have me."
Lily managed a weak smile, though she was still crying hard. "Thank you, James." Today was the first day she'd used his first name.
James took Lily back to the Gryffindor common room, walking a bit awkwardly because both of his arms were around Lily. She was grateful for this; those arms were the only things keeping her from falling apart.
Over the next two months, James lived for Lily. Every morning, he met her in the common room and escorted her to breakfast. They shared all of their classes but one, so James walked Lily to all of her lessons, too. He kept tabs on her even more than he already had, offering her his company at the slightest sign of grief or loneliness. When she rejected these offers, which was rare, he didn't argue but merely nodded and walked away. Sensing that it was too early, he didn't ask her out once, never tried to kiss her, never even laid a finger on her unless he thought she really needed it. Through all this, Lily came to really appreciate James's love, the way he never let her down, the way he put her before himself, and the way he stuck up for her when the Slytherins teased her or threatened to give her the same fate as her parents.
So two months later, when Lily walked into the common room, coming back from Ancient Runes, her one class without James, and he was not there to meet her, Lily was instantly worried.
Remus Lupin met her at the portrait hole. "Lily, we need you in the boys' dormitories," he said without preamble, looking grief-stricken.
"Oh no! What is it?" Lily responded immediately, feeling her stomach twist with worry.
"I think you'd better leave it to Prongs to tell you that," Remus answered gravely, taking Lily's wrist and dragging her up the steps to the Marauders' dormitory.
"What is it?" Lily muttered to herself, Remus's off-key behavior making her distraught.
Remus opened the door to the dormitory. Peter was sitting on his bed, staring at the floor in apparent misery. Sirius was sitting on James's bed, crying softly, his arm around James. But Lily barely noticed any of this. All she saw was James, cocky Quidditch captain turned caring Head Boy, sitting on his bed and weeping as if he were heartbroken.
She rushed to him. "James, James, are you all right? What happened?" One arm was around him, overlapping with Sirius's, while the other was wiping away his tears and caressing his face.
James attempted a watery smile. Lily's fingers on his cheeks did put him in marginally better spirits. "All right, Lily?" he asked, trying to avoid the matter at hand.
"I'm fine, James, but you aren't!" Lily replied, still drying James's fast-flowing tears. "You would never cry unless it were something awful."
"I've cried over you plenty of times, and you're the most wonderful thing in the world," James told her.
Lily wanted to shake him and demand an answer, but she couldn't, not while he was crying. "James, please tell me what's wrong," she begged.
James looked down at his lap. "You know my parents were Aurors, right, Lily?"
"Oh no," Lily moaned, understanding.
"They killed two Death Eaters before they went down, Dumbledore told me," James said, attempting another smile. Instead, he merely cried harder.
"Oh, James," Lily murmured. There was nothing else to do; she took James's face in both of her hands and kissed him, full on the mouth, not stopping until she ran out of air.
"I don't know why you did that, but thank you," James said, still full of grief but no longer feeling as if he wanted to be dead.
"I did it because you needed it," Lily answered, "and you always give me everything I need, so I had to return the favor."
"So you don't love me?" James asked, hope leaving him.
"I never said that," Lily replied, kissing him again.
James Potter stopped crying.
A/N: Reviews are lovely! Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaase!