Disclaimer: Any characters who seem familiar, do not belong to me. They belong to the amazing J.K. Rowling. Further, I own neither the play nor the movie musical, Grease, so any familiar lines or plot scenes are not mine.
X. We Go Together
"We're for each other
Like a wop ba-ba lu-bop and wop bam boom
Just like my brother is
Sha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na yippity dip de doom
Chang chang chanitty chang sha-bop
We'll always be together
Wha oooh, yeah!"
The breeze lightly blew through her hair as she sat underneath the willow tree. It was an old tree, with limbs twisted so it looked like it was taking a swing at you. The students called it the Whomping Willow, and some of the first years were afraid to go near it due to rumors the elder students had spread about it coming to life on the full moon. Lily liked sitting by the tree though. It's draping leaves offered a great deal of shade, and it was the perfect hiding spot.
Lily pulled her knees to her chest, setting down The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. She'd been gradually making her way through the book set James had bought for her. She'd been reluctant for the first couple of months to even touch the books, though she'd brought them with her to Hogwarts. Finally, the call of tales to be read and adventures to experience was far too great and she gave in. They were beautiful editions, the kind people usually kept on a shelf to look pretty, but never opened, and she had a feeling they had been expensive.
She leaned back against the trunk of the willow, feeling the bark dig into her lower back and the back of her head. She sighed, closing her eyes as the wind blew through her hair. It had been two weeks since the race at Thunder Road, but Lily had seen little of James. Chemistry was tense with Severus as her partner still. He ignored her during class, not even acknowledging her when she asked him a question, or needed to discuss measurements for an experiment. It was frustrating, to say the least.
Things had stopped being tense with her roommates though. After speaking with Marlene, she had realized she was being rather ridiculous, shutting out Alice and the other girls simply for being associated with James. She'd apologized and they had welcomed her back with open arms.
She had gone with Marlene to a drug store to pick up a pregnancy test. She had no clue whether Marlene had used it or not, but since then things between them had been much better than they had been all year. They were by no means friends, but Marlene treated Lily as one of her gang now, and stopped calling her 'Lilywhite'. Marlene found it hysterical when they walked through the halls together and would pass Georgia, who would duck her head and hurry by, no longer able to sneer at Marlene or look Lily in the eye.
Everything for the end of the year was shaping up nicely. Lily's grades were excellent and she was likely to be top of the class; she had heard back from the universities she had applied to, and had been accepted to all of them so far; and her father had made up with Petunia, and even gotten her to apologize to Lily for blaming her for their mother's death. With everything going so well for her, Lily felt like she should be happier than she was, and yet… she still felt like something was missing.
She had no desire to be one of those girls who desperately needed a man in her life to feel complete, but Lily still felt upset with how things had ended with James. She felt unbalanced, and knew she would never be able to move on until she had talked to James. The problem was how did she do that? She had spent so much time ignoring him, it would seem strange if she just started talking to him now.
And yet, you had no problem talking to him at Thunder Road. Or kissing him.
Lily flushed at her thoughts. She had not been planning on kissing James; it had been totally in the moment. After he won the race, she'd panicked, knowing he'd take her actions as Lily offering him her forgiveness. But Lily couldn't do that just yet. She needed to hear him at least apologize before he could gain her forgiveness. Even then, she had no clue whether or not she was ready to start up with him again. How could she trust herself with him when he had already hurt her twice?
She shook her head, picked up The Tenant of Wildfell Hall again, and tried to distract herself. She knew she was stalling, as she had been doing for weeks now. She just could not seem to get her mind and heart to reconcile with one another, and she wanted all of her to agree before she made any concrete decisions about James.
She had just settled into her book, just gotten herself immersed in the plot, when her concentration was disturbed.
"Lily."
She yelped, being taken totally by surprise. She clutched a hand to her heart and stared at the person who had disturbed her peace. "James!"
He chuckled, running a hand self-consciously through his hair. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."
She let out a breath and shook her head. "It's okay. How'd you find me?"
"Alice."
Lily nodded. She didn't know what to say, and waited quietly for him to go on. James didn't speak for a long while, just standing in the low hanging leaves of the willow, staring out at the lake in the distance. Lily felt uncomfortable just staring at him, so she turned back to her book. She was surprised at how easy she felt in his presence, even with everything that had gone down between them. He still somehow managed to make her feel comfortable and safe.
"So… we should probably talk." James broke the silence finally.
Lily nodded, stuck her bookmark in her novel, and placed it aside. "Yeah. I'd say it's about time."
James chuckled, nodding. He walked over to her spot under the tree and sat down across from her, tapping his fingers against his knees anxiously. Lily waited patiently for him to gather his thoughts, knowing that he had to be the first one to speak.
"I don't really know how to say this. I feel like every time I try, it's not enough, but I am so sorry Lily. I promised you I wouldn't hurt you a second time, and I broke that promise. I don't have an excuse for my actions aside from the fact that I'm a selfish person."
"Except you're not really, James," Lily cut in. "You have your moments when you don't think and you just act, but for the most part, you're not really selfish."
James shifted his weight, looking a bit uncomfortable. "With you, I've been nothing but selfish." There was a heavy silence as they both thought about the dance. He looked over at her, his eyes intense as he spoke his next words. "You unnerve me, Lil."
Lily tilted her head, feeling confused. "What?"
James looked away, a faint blush on his cheeks. "Being with you, even just being around you, it's scary. You're an intimidating person; you're good and kind, and you forgive so easily. You're gorgeous and you don't even know it. You're not afraid to call me out on my shit the way so many other people are. You're not afraid of what other people think."
Lily shook her head. "James-" But he carried on without stopping.
"You have this aura around you that is so warm and inviting, but you also have these expectations you want the people around you to meet, and when they don't, dealing with your disappointment is more than one can bear. And yet, the fact that you're so forgiving means there's usually the opportunity for redemption, but screwing up that second opportunity…"
Lily held up her hand, like she was calming a panicked animal. "James! You're talking over the place. Slow down."
He took a deep breath. "I'm scared of you."
Lily was taken aback. She literally recoiled, like he'd slapped her with his words. She stared at him, her eyes huge saucers. "What?" she cried incredulously.
James shook his head. "That came out wrong. I'm scared of us." Lily continued to stare at him blankly, so he elaborated. "I've never been in a relationship like ours before. I mean, yeah, I've dated and been in relationships, but I've never been with someone I'm in love with."
Lily felt the world spin rapidly around her, her stomach clenching and her heart pounding. "What?" she breathed. The conversation had taken so many unexpected turns and twists, and she felt as if she was lost inside a maze, each turn leading her to yet another dead end.
"Marlene helped me figure it out. I mean, I already knew I was in love you with. I think I've been in love with you since the summer, but Marlene was the one to point out to me my behavior. And the funny thing is, she's so right. I'm afraid of just how much I love you and how badly you could potentially hurt me, so I ruined things between us before you had the chance to hurt me. But I now realize you could never really hurt me because that's not who you are. And yet, when I think about Snape, and how he lost your friendship and how much it must have hurt him, well… it scares me even more because while he loved you, he never got to be with you. I have, and I truly know just how much I have to lose."
Lily's head was spinning, and she placed a hand on the ground to steady herself as she tried to dissect James's words. He opened his mouth like he was going to go on, but she held up a hand to stop him. "Just… gimme a moment."
She leaned back into the tree and started from the beginning of his jumbled monologue. First, there was the fact that he had just announced he was in love with her. She had never even thought that could possibly be true. Sure, she'd noticed his slip-ups in speech, and other people had told her as much, but she had never thought the sentiment could actually be true. Her whole body felt warm, like she had spent hours laying out in the sun, just letting its light hit her skin. There was such satisfaction in knowing that her affection was mutual, but also a great deal of confusion. If James had truly been in love with her since the summer, than why was he continually pushing her away?
That brought her to the next point he had made: that he was scared of being together, of being in love with her. There was a brief moment of amusement as she thought about his mentioning that Marlene had been the one to speak to him, but she brushed it aside as unimportant for the moment. He was scared that being with her would mean that she would hurt him. Had she? She assumed it must have hurt him when they parted the first time, and the second time, but both times it had been his doing. He had been the one to push her away when she's been willing to accept him with open arms.
She thought even further to him talking about her expectations for people. It was something her mother used to tease her about: whenever there was a shooting, or a terrorist attack announced in the news and Lily took it personally, her mother would point out that Lily had such high expectations for humanity and was upset that humans kept falling short. And while James certainly had not killed anyone, he had fallen short of her expectations, but he had also scorned her because she didn't fit into his idea of what his image should look like. She thought this tied in with the way she idealized him as well. A part of her was ashamed that she had made James feel like he wasn't good enough for her, which she felt was not true at all, but another part of her was indignant, stating that having expectations for a person and getting upset when they didn't meet them wasn't a bad thing, especially since James had basically done the same to her.
She looked at James, whose hands were twitching at his sides as he fought the need to card them through his hair. "I s'pose I should apologize as well," she said slowly.
His hands stopped twitching. "Why? You haven't done anything wrong."
Lily gnawed on her bottom lip. "I made you feel like she weren't good enough for me. But that's not true James. You are, and no matter how many times you screwed up, you still somehow managed to make me to fall in love with you as well. But I was unfair to you. I kept comparing you to this guy I met over the summer, but I've come to realize that Summer James was really only a small part of who you are. There's so much more to you, and I need to be willing to accept all of you, every little bad bit as much as every little good bit, if I want to be with you."
James was staring at her incredulously, as if he couldn't believe her words. "You love me?"
Lily flushed furiously. She looked down at the grass around her, running her palm over the very tips. "Yes."
They sat there listening to the rustling of the willow's limbs, both of them reeling from the confessions that had just been made. They were quiet for so long, Lily jumped when James started laughing. "Look at the pair of us. So serious. You'd think we're Romeo and Juliet with the way we're talking."
Lily rolled her eyes, a small smile forming on her lips. "It is all rather dramatic."
James nodded, still chuckling. When he had settled down, he looked back over at her. "So, what now?"
Lily took a deep breath, and let it all out slowly. "Honestly, I have no fucking clue. I'm still recovering from you telling me you're scared of me."
James shrugged. "You're intimidating in your own way. Intimidating in your goodness."
Lily flushed yet again. "You make me sound like some kind of fairytale princess. I'm not that good, James. I'm human, just like you and everyone else."
"Sometimes I don't think you are human though. Because you are just so different from everyone else I know. You're more genuine, and more real."
Lily was uncomfortable. She didn't like the way James spoke about her, like she was some kind of deity merely deigning to bestow her presence on the mortals around her. "You need to stop. You're making me uncomfortable with all this talk. I'm not that good James. You viewing me that way doesn't help make things better at all. It just makes matters more messy if you think of me as some perfect person. I'm really, really not."
"But Lily-"
"No. Seriously, stop." Her voice was harder this time, making her seriousness clear.
They lapsed into silence again. Lily knew where all this was headed, but she wasn't ready to discuss that yet. She was enjoying just sitting there with James, enjoying the warm spring weather. She had such a longing to move closer to him, to lean back into his arms, and have him hold her, but she withheld. He had apologized but her mind still felt so mixed up and uncertain with how to proceed.
"Now we have to decide where we go from here, don't we?" James asked.
Lily nodded. "We probably should." She glanced over at James and saw him looking just as reluctant as she felt. "But let's not talk about that yet."
James looked surprised, but he smiled and nodded. They both turned their gazes back to the lake, their backs leaning against the willow, just spending a few moments in peace.
There was a cacophony of noise echoing off the stone walls of the castle coming from the playing fields. Bells and whistles, bangs and clangs, screams and laughs. The air smelt of a mix of the butteriness of popcorn, the sweetness of cotton candy, ice cream, and zeppoles, and the saltiness of pretzels. It was a beautiful day, a gentle breeze that helped cool down the heat of the sun. There was so many people mashed together in one place that it was hard to make one's way through the crowd.
Marlene smirked down at it all as she swung up above the crowds in a car on the ferris wheel. When Dumbledore had first announced the plan to hold a carnival at the end of the school year, all the underclassmen had been super excited while the upperclassmen had groaned about it. Secretly, all the older students had been just as excited as their younger counterparts, especially for the thrill of getting to be a child one final time before facing the adult world.
Emmeline was giggling besides Marlene, kicking her legs out as she tried to freak Dorcas out by rocking the car. Marlene had to hide a grin as she watched her friends. It had been such a tumultuous month for her, her emotions had been on a major rollercoaster ride, and she was so excited to be able to just lay back and have some fun with her friends.
"Emmeline!" Dorcas was squealing, her eyes clenched shut. "Stop!"
Emmeline laughed, throwing her head back and letting her blonde locks cascade down her back. The whole wheel started turning again, bringing the girls a bit closer to the ground. They stopped about halfway, the whole wheel paused to let other riders on and off. "Don't worry, Dor. We're almost to the ground." Marlene leaned over Emmeline to squeeze Dorcas knee reassuringly.
Her attention was drawn away at the sound of her name.
"Marlene!"
She looked over the edge of the car and saw Sirius running to the exit gate for the ferris wheel. "McKinnon! What the fuck are you doing?"
Marlene felt butterflies take flight in her stomach, and her toes curled in her sandals at the same time her fingers curled around the hand bar. Emmeline and Dorcas stopped bickering and were grinning enthusiastically at Marlene. She ignored them, all her attention on the dark haired boy below her. "Taking a ride on a ferris wheel. What does it look like I'm doing?"
The wheel started moving again, bringing their car to the ground. A carnival worker came over and let them out of the car, the three girls stumbling out. Dorcas and Emmeline linked arms, skipping ahead of Marlene as she walked over to Sirius.
He stepped close to her, hesitating for a short second before bravely wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer to him. He didn't move or speak, waiting to see how Marlene would react. When she didn't resist or try to pull away, he smirked. "Shouldn't you be avoiding carnival rides in your condition?"
His hand moved from her waist to her lower stomach. Marlene caught his wrist in hers and pulled his hand away from her stomach. "It's not something I need to worry about," she said, trying to fight back a grin.
Sirius's brows furrowed, so Marlene clarified. "I'm not pregnant."
"What?" Sirius's eyes were huge, and Marlene felt a kind of affection rise in her. She found his confusion absolutely adorable.
"There's no baby. I was never pregnant." Marlene finally allowed herself to grin, knowing her smile was probably huge and absolutely ridiculous.
Sirius stared at her uncomprehendingly for another moment before laughing uproariously. He tightened his hold on her and picked her up, spinning her around in a circle. She wrapped her arms around his neck, giggling as he cheered and whooped. He placed her back on her feet and placed his mouth against hers. It was a messy, excited kiss, but it still was able to make her heart pick up speed. They pulled apart and stared at each other, both grinning like idiots, and Marlene felt better than she had in a long time.
James walked around the carnival with Peter and Remus following behind him. They'd been stopping at various booths, playing games and trying to win prizes. They'd just left the booth 'Pie the Professor'. It was probably the most popular booth in the whole festival, especially since the concept was that students were allowed to throw pies at their professors. James had been hoping McGonagall would be one of the professors, but unfortunately, she was in charge of running the booth. She had explained that all the proceeds were going to the professors' retirement fund, so Peter, James, and Remus had each forked over some money to try. Slughorn, Flitwick, and Hooch had been the professors, and none of them had had any food on their faces, all the people prior to the Marauders having missed. James, far too afraid to aim for Hooch, even if she wasn't his coach anymore, had aimed for Slughorn, hitting the robust professor straight on. Slughorn had taken it well, laughing it off and congratulating James on his good arm. Remus and Peter had followed; Remus aimed for Flitwick and hit the man on the chin, while Peter aimed for Slughorn, but went wide and ended up hitting Hooch's cheek instead.
They were now headed for a cotton candy stall, since Peter was having a desperate craving for the pink fluff. While James was enjoying being with his friends, he'd been keeping a constant eye out for Lily, but he had yet to spot her in the crowd.
"Fuck," Remus breathed beside him, drawing James's attention. "Is that Padfoot?"
James followed the direction of Remus's gaze and saw he was pointing at a dark walkway between the ferris wheel and whack-a-mole booth. There stood Sirius, his mouth and body pressed up against a brunette, whose back was pressed up against the booth. This was not so very shocking, as the Marauders had often walked in on Sirius and his dates multiple times. No, the shocking thing was that Marlene was the brunette Sirius was passionately snogging. James grinned, and turned to Remus with a shrug. Ignoring the temptation to burst their moment, the trio walked away and continued roving through the carnival.
They spotted Frank and Alice standing next to the strong man test. Frank was next in line, practicing swings with the mallet, as Alice stood off to the side pointing at a giant stuffed panda, presumably telling Frank she wanted him to win it for her. Next to her stood Lily. James swallowed hard as he took in her appearance; she was wearing black high-waisted shorts, showing off her long legs and shapely arse, and a red off-the-shoulder top, which emphasized her collarbone and shoulders. She was laughing, her head thrown back so her curled hair tumbled over her shoulders.
James felt his pulse pounding as they all walked forward, and he tried to focus on anything but Lily. Dorcas was was currently attempting the challenge. She adjusted her hold on the mallet, swung as hard she could, and a few seconds later, the sound of the bell's ding resounded around the area. Everyone around Dorcas cheered, laughing as she bowed dramatically. She picked her prize, a stuffed wolf doll, and moved aside so Frank could take his turn. She grinned when she noticed Remus, handing him the doll and telling him she won it for him.
Lily looked over and finally noticed him, her cheeks heating as she smiled shyly. His pulse sped up even more and he felt his fingers twitch in his pocket. "Hey," he said softly as he stood next to her.
"Hi," she replied, rocking on her heels. James felt a bit smug knowing he was making her as nervous as she was making him, but he hid it away as best he could.
He leaned closer to her so he could whisper in her ear, "When you've got a chance, I'd like to talk to you privately."
Lily shivered ever so subtly, but nodded, looking at him with curious eyes. She gestured for him to follow her, lightly tapping Alice's arm and informing her that she was going to talk to James for a minute. Alice nodded, watching them suspiciously. Though Lily and James had come to a truce, Alice still made it abundantly clear that she did not trust him, nor particularly liked him. James could not blame her.
He followed Lily over to the very outskirts of the carnival, in an empty area behind the popcorn machine, and waltzer. She walked a little farther before plopping down on the grass, crossing her legs pretzel style. James sat down beside her, stretching his legs out in front of him, and leaning back on his hands. "What's up?" she asked, giving him all of her attention.
James took a breath, uncertain where exactly he should start. Guess like a plaster, just rip it off. "I know who killed your mother."
Lily's face instantly became devoid of color, her eyes growing to huge spheres and her mouth falling open as she started hyperventilating. "What?" she gasped.
Okay… probably should have been more delicate about that… He scooted closer to her, hesitantly reaching out a hand, and rubbing his hand up and down her arm. He registered that her skin was so soft, so smooth, so familiar under his palm, but he pushed aside his desire, making himself focus on calming Lily at the moment. "Sorry. I probably should have eased you into that."
She placed a hand against her chest, and James tightened his grip on her arm, trying to be more soothing. "You think?"
He chuckled briefly, and slid closer to her again. It'd been so long since he'd been that close to her, and he could smell her perfume, her shampoo, could feel her body's heat, and it all made him feel dizzy. Focus. "Lemme start from the beginning."
He explained to her about the bet that had been placed before the race, leaving out the part where Snape had demanded for Lily to be a prize - while James knew it would be the perfect way to ward her off of the slimy git forever, he couldn't bring himself to hurt Lily in that way - and how he and Sirius had overheard Snape and Malfoy discuss the hit-and-run. Through it all, Lily remained deathly pale, her eyes distant, and her chest still rose and fell at a rapid rate. James tried to be delicate and careful with his wording, whilst also giving her all the facts and information.
When he'd finished, there was a heavy silence while James watched Lily sort through everything. Her breathing had slowed down some, but her face was still pale. She blinked and looked at him, her eyes focusing for the first time in the last twenty minutes. "So you think this Mulciber bloke was the driver who killed my mum?"
James nodded. "I know he was. When I was talking to Lestrange about the accident, Mulciber couldn't have reacted in a more guilty manner, plus Malfoy had practically implicated him when he was talking to Snape. I'm just angry neither Padfoot nor I thought to record them."
Lily tilted her head. "I take it from that that they never went to the police."
James clenched his fist around a clump of grass, ripping out the green spikes and tossing them away defeatedly. "No. We were all too busy celebrating that by the time we turned back, Mulciber had driven away, and Lestrange was refusing to call him back. There'll be repercussions for breaking his beat; no one gets away with not keeping up their end of the bargain at Thunder Road. Plus, Riddle will hear about this and be pissed, so they'll all be punished one way or another, but, unfortunately, Mulciber won't end up in a cell. At least, not yet." He glanced up at Lily, and stared at her, trying to will her into believing what he was saying. "He's an absolute coward and an idiot, and one day, he'll fuck up again and get taken in, and the truth will come out, and he'll go away for a long time."
Lily let out a long breath, and buried her face in her hands. James wasn't sure if she was crying or just trying to gather her thoughts; he thought probably the latter since her shoulders weren't moving and he couldn't hear any sobs. In fact, Lily didn't seem to be moving at all, barely even breathing. She'd gone totally still, just a small, huddled statue of a girl.
He let her have her time, simply leaning all the way back so he was laying on his back, staring up at the sky. It was a gorgeous day, the kind of day people looked back on on the worst of days, just remembering how the wind made the leaves rustle, how the clouds lazily drifted overhead, shifting and changing shape as they went along. It was neither too hot, nor too cool, and the sun shone down happily, embracing and emphasizing the excited atmosphere already surrounding the carnival. James thought if anything could possibly make Lily feel a little better, it was a day like that.
He heard her shift next to him, and he turned his head to see her laying down next to him. Her hair fanned out around her head, blood spilled on grass. He waited patiently for her to say something, staring at her profile and memorizing each dip and curve.
"I'm not really sure what to think."
James didn't respond, just waited for her to go on.
"It's been something I've wanted to know for the past year: who could be so terrible as to hit a woman with their car and just leave, but now I know who it was... and there's no way to get justice. This has to be some great, cosmic joke. A part of me just wants to scream and cry, while another part just wants to take a breath and say 'Well, at least you can sleep at night knowing who it was.' but then another part is yelling, 'Idiot girl! How can you sleep knowing Mulciber is out there and could be putting other people in danger!' It just all makes me want to do something." She turned her head to look at him, her green eyes filled with pain, but also determination. "I want to be able to do something to prevent other people from feeling this way. I want to prevent cowards like Mulciber from getting away scot free. I want to make sure people like Riddle end up in prisons where they cannot influence people or protect their henchmen from anyone. I want to do something!"
She sounded so frustrated, like she was struggling to deal with her thoughts and emotions, and figuring out how to put them into words, how to put them into actions. James reached over, and found her hand lying on the grass next to her hip, and grabbed it. He encased her much smaller hand inside his large one, squeezing tightly. He slowly unwound the small fist she had made. He massaged her palm, easing each of her fingers out, and slid his palm against hers. He laced his fingers through hers, and brought their entwined hands up to his mouth so he could kiss her knuckles.
She stared at their hands curiously and continued speaking. "I'm not sure how to tell my dad or Petunia. God, Petunia! She'll blame me for Mulciber getting away, and Dad will be crushed again. But I can't just not tell them." She thumped her head against the ground, groaning.
James rubbed his thumb soothingly against the inside of her wrist. "You don't need to tell them immediately. You can ease them into it, let your father know first, then the two of you can tell Petunia together. Then the three of you can go to the police and let them know. Sirius and I already left a tip, but it wouldn't hurt to have the information come from the family of the victim as well."
He stared up at the sky. "I get what you mean when you say you wish there was some way you could fight this. Some way to prevent other guys like Mulciber and Riddle from getting away with their crimes. I've been thinking about it more and more, and it's about damn time someone did something about Riddle." He turned his head to look at her. "And then I think, 'Why not us?'. We're the ones who'll be just starting out in the world, which gives us the chance to make a difference. So, why not us?"
Lily shifted next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. She let out an audible sigh, the two of them continuing to stare up at the sky, their minds thinking over all that had happened. "Why not us?" she echoed.
That was how their friends found them, hands locked together, Lily's head on James's shoulder, the pair staring up at the sky. No one remarked on the strange position of the couple, everyone else just moving to join them. They all laid in one giant circle: Marlene and Sirius to James's left, Emmeline and Peter across from him. Alice and Frank laid to Lily's right, with Dorcas and Remus completing the circle.
Lily marveled on the fact that she had all these people around her. She had never expected to have met and experienced so many ups and downs with these people when she had first arrived at Hogwarts, but she was grateful for them all at that moment.
James felt in a similar fashion, though he was thinking more about how in all his years of living in the castle, he had never felt a closer kinship to his friends than he did in that moment. They all just lay there, like little kids, staring up at the sky.
It was Dorcas who broke the silence first. "I can't believe this is it. I can't believe we're actually done."
Everyone murmured their agreement. "I can still remember Dumbledore's start of the year speech from seven years ago," Peter said. James knew it would be the hardest for Peter to let go and move on from Hogwarts.
"I sure as hell won't miss serving all those detentions with McGonagall," Remus put in.
They all chuckled, and James grinned to himself. "C'mon Moony," he said. "You know you enjoyed them."
They were all silent again, most likely thinking over all their past pranks and adventures. "D'ya think we'll all stay in contact?" Emmeline asked.
James snorted, not even hesitating in his response. "Of course we will."
"You don't just form a seven year relationship and then never speak to one another again," Marlene scoffed.
James felt Lily shift beside him, and he knew she was thinking they'd all forget about her. He squeezed her hand, a silent reassurance that that would not happen.
"I gotta say, it was a pretty great seven years, even with all the shit that's gone down," Alice spoke up. "I wouldn't change a thing, though."
Everyone murmured their agreement. Lily nodded, knowing that even with all the bad things that had happened that past year, she would always hold all the good moments close to her heart. Plus, it was those bad moments that helped create a person, helped mold them into who she or he became in the future.
It was Sirius who eventually broke them all apart. "Enough with this mushy, nostalgic crap. Let's have some fun!"
They all laughed, and slowly got to their feet. Alice hopped on Frank's back, while Dorcas got on Remus's, the two couples racing each other to the teacups ride. Peter and Emmeline followed along, while Sirius and Marlene lagged behind everyone else, hoping to get in some more snogging before going on the rides. James stood up, holding out a hand to help Lily up. He kept a hold of her hand as they walked after their friends. He hoped she wasn't going to try to pull it back, because he had no plans to give it back to her any time soon.
As they made their way across the carnival grounds, he looked up at the castle, outlined against a blue sky. He thought about the beginning of the year, how he had been dying to be done with the castle. He had thought about all the school's flaws, all the negative aspects of Hogwarts, but now, as he looked back at the stone façade, all he saw was his childhood. He didn't want to let go of it, but he knew it was time. He had a life to start, a destiny to make happen.
So he simply nodded to the castle, sending up a silent thanks to the building that had been his home for seven years, and turned his attention back to the little redhead next to him, knowing that he had a new home walking next to him at his side.
Author's Note:
So, this is the last chapter of Don't Let Go, though I will be posting an epilogue next week. I had a really hard time writing this chapter, and suffered through a few weeks of writer's block. Though it's here and done, I'm not totally happy with it, but honestly, I've written the epilogue and I would like to start on some of my other ideas. So, apologies if it's crap.
Also, a special thanks to ElizabethAnneSoph who helped me decide that Lily in leather was not exactly something we could picture happening.
Thank you all for reading, and I'll see you next week with the last last update.
Xoxo Evie