"Hey, Lils!" Lily spun around, and a grin found its way onto her face.
"Hey. I was just heading down to get some lunch. Walk with."
James' smile widened. "Well, duh. Let's go." He grabbed her hand, and their hands welded together perfectly. "So, was I right?" Lily raised an eyebrow.
"About?"
"About me being the best possible thing for you." He smirked a little, but his eyes were sin
Lily dropped his hand and rolled her eyes. "James, let me know when your ego is an acceptable size. Bye." She tried to stalk off, but he caught her wrist.
"I'm being serious." Lily stared at him, unsure how to reply.
"I…er, well…" The room spun around her. She blushed and couldn't meet James' eyes. "Yeah, you were." This was it, the moment she would finally tell him. "James, I love you." He appeared taken aback, but after a second, his eyes crinkled.
"I love you too, Lily Evans." She gave him a small smile.
"Let's go get food."
"So, what happened with you two today?" Sirius asked. James feigned confusion.
"Who?" Sirius snorted.
"Oh, please. You two were making cow eyes all throughout lunch. It was sickening." Sirius scooted closer on the Gryffindor couch. "Did you snog her?" James shot him a death glare. "You snogged her, didn't you?"
"No." Then, he reluctantly mumbled, "She said she loved me, and I said it back."A glint of…something flashed in Sirius' eyes, only for a second. Weird. He must've imagined it.
"So, what happened between you two?" Chelsea asked. Lily's eyes widened in innocence.
"Who?" Chelsea rolled her eyes.
"Come on, don't play dumb. You know who."
A blush crept up Lily's neck and onto her face at the thought of it. "Did he snog you?" Lily shook her head no. Chelsea half gasped. "Did he shag you?"
Lily slapped her friend in the arm. "Chelsea! No, he didn't. He said he loved me." Lily paused. "Well, I said it first."
She smiled. "Awww," She crooned.
"Shut up."
Two Months Later
"POTTER!" Lily screamed. Her hair whipped around her face from within the colorful, powerful vortex of spells she was ready to fling at him. James hair, too, flew around him even more than usual as he deflected her spells and sent flying ones of his own. It was a beautiful scene, in a haunting, macabre way.
"Lily, I've already told you-" He launched a Bat Bogey hex at her- "IT WAS NOT MY FAULT!"
"Well," she sneered and dodged the hex. "You certainly weren't pushing her away!"
"I told you Lily, she snogged me!"
"And I'm supposed to believe that? This is the second time this month I've caught you with another girl!"
"I'm not apologizing, Lils! It wasn't my fault!" He dodged her Levicorpus curse.
"You know what, James? I'm done with you." She straightened her back. "Goodbye."
Lily hated pink. She loathed the extreme cliché it spawned among girls. It was stereotypical. So she didn't wear it. That was why, when she opened her trunk for clothes that morning, she started screaming profanity at Chelsea. Every article of her clothes was a bright flamingo pink.
"WHY the BLOODY HELL would you do this?!" She screamed. Chelsea raised her eyebrows.
"Cor, Lils, it was just a bit of fun."
"Not for me!" Lily glared at her. "Now I'm stuck in my least favorite color ALL BLOODY DAY." (Well, let's just assume she said bloody)
"Sorry. The countercurse is probably in the library somewhere. Sheesh, can't you take a joke?"
"I'm getting tired of your little jokes." She spun on her heel and stalked out of the dorm.
A few of the girls in the hallway snickered at her as she walked past them to go to dinner. She shot them a razor sharp glare and they shut up, not wanting to be on the receiving end of her fury.
Chelsea had even turned her robes pink. That settles it, Lily thought. I'm never speaking to her again.
She took a seat quietly at the corner of the Gryffindor table and started picking at her food. There was a rustle of wings as the owls came in to drop off the mail, and Lily was surprised when a small package landed in her lap. Taking the yellow envelope in her hands, she ripped the flap open and pulled out a letter.
Lily Evans,
I am terribly sorry to inform you that… well, it's your parents. They've passed away. There were some Death Eaters targeting them, and they didn't make it.
Lily stopped reading, shell-shocked. Tears began to well up in her eyes. She continued reading.
I am so, so sorry. But they died bravely, a noble death; fighting back. I've enclosed your father's pocket watch, your mother's ring, and their wedding photo.
Condolences,
Albus Dumbledore
With shaking hands, Lily pulled out the watch, the ring, and the picture. "Oh, God," She whispered. "Oh, God." Silent sobs racked her body, and she gathered up the items and raced back to her dorm as fast as she could.
She put the three objects under her mattress and collapsed on her bed, sobbing. Tears streamed down her face. Her life was falling apart. She was completely, utterly alone; James was with some other girl, and Chelsea and the rest of the school thought she was a joke. So Lily did what she always did in times of distress. She turned to books. Grabbing a random novel off of her shelf, she stumbled to the Common Room and settled on the red couch next to the cheery fire.
She tried to read, but her tears blurred the pages, so she curled her up into a tight little ball and let herself drown in the saltwater, blocking out the rest of the world. Her book lay forgotten on the floor.
"Lily?" a voice as smooth as silk asked. Raising her head a fraction of an inch, she saw none other than Sirius Black standing there, looking concerned. He sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms. He smelled like autumn and cinnamon; it was a scent Lily felt safe in.
"Wanna talk about it?" He asked gently.
"Not real-" She sobbed. "Not really." Sirius pulled her into his comforting warmth and tucked her underneath his chin. She nestled into him.
He was stronghold, a place that could keep her safe from taunting students and raging Death Eaters, ghosts and heartbreak. He was all she had.
She cried into him for what felt like hours, and he just held her. Eventually, her sobs came to a stop, and she looked up at him, this man who had just saved her from total darkness, complete oblivion. And she thanked him.
"S'okay, Lils. You know I'm all about saving damsels in distress." He grinned at her, and she managed a weak smile. Then her face fell.
"It's my parents. They…They're dead."
Sirius looked at her pityingly. "I won't say I'm sorry, because I know how meaningless that would sound." He looked at her carefully, as if she was made of porcelain and would break and second now. "But I wish it didn't have to happen to you." She gazed up at him with her sad green eyes.
"Sirius, you're all I have, you know that?"
He sighed. "And you I." Lily frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"James and I aren't speaking, and Remus is staying out of it."
"Of what?" Sirius ran his fingers through his hair, stressed.
"I told him off for cheating on you. You deserve better."
"Really?"
"Really. The truth is, Lily, I've had a crush on you for a while now. You're smart, and you're pretty, and you're strong and independent. But you were James'. And you were happy." Lily snorted.
"Emphasis on were." Sirius snorted back.
Lily thought of all the times she had caught Sirius staring at her in class, during meals, when she was with James… she had never really thought about it. She thought about the way he always pulled pranks on, well, everyone, everyone except for her. She then thought about how close they were right now, the strong feeling of his languid body underneath her, and she thought about the heat radiating off of it. Most of all, though, she thought about the way he had just held her; held her heart together until she was strong enough to stand on her own again.
His silvery eyes stared into her, right through her. Never had she seen a gaze so burning, intense. It seemed as if some magnetic force was pulling them together, and Lily's head tilted up of its own accord. Lips met. All of their sadness burned away in the white hot points of contact. They were like one person, they were so close.
Lily couldn't think. Sirius' kisses swept her into a place that was beautiful and alluring, wicked and addictive. She couldn't get enough. His lips were warm and so unlike the cool gray of his eyes.
Their tongues wrestled and fought for dominance. His won. He flipped her onto her back and pressed her into the couch, burying his fingers in her hair and settling on top of her.
A primitive chant started in her head: mine mine mine. Sirius made a sound halfway between a growl and a moan and started kissing her neck. He nipped a pressure point, and Lily gasped. She needed him, he needed her, and neither would ever want to stop.
Sirius' breath ghosted over her neck and into her ear, making her shiver. "Damn, Evans," he whispered. "You should cry more often." With that, his lips brushed her jaw and his mouth was on hers again. They lost themselves.
Later that night, Lily fell asleep in his arms. He picked her up and carried her back to his dorm, her limp in his grasp. He laid her gently on his bed, then crawled in beside her. She woke up groggily.
"Sirius?" She asked, her voice raw.
"Mm?"
"Don't leave. Never, ever leave." He snaked his strong, sinewy arms around her and pulled her into him.
"Don't you worry. I wouldn't dream of it." Lily smiled and lost herself again in the scent of him; this man who had rescued her.