Two Is Better Than One

A Story by -Jeisa-

Chapter 1: Not What's To Be Expected

Lily opened her eyes suddenly, the dream she had been having rocking through her brain. Not having time to think about what it really meant or what had just been brought up from her subconscious, she rolled over in her bed and smiled at the dark-haired form next to her. She traced her finger over his lips and he smiled in his sleep. She looked at the clock over the shoulder of the sleeping form. Shit. 7:30 already. Lily groaned and pushed the figure. He didn't move. She started to shake him.

"C'mon wake up."

"Liiilllyyy." he groaned before flipping over quickly. "Five more minutes."

"If you don't get up right now Will Andrew Collins, I'll get a bucket of water and it will be all over you in about two seconds." Lily said as she slapped him on the arm.

"Fine." he said, sitting up, shaking his head.

Lily laughed at him a pushed him off the bed. "Hey!" he exclaimed as he fell to the floor.

Lily couldn't stop smiling, the most handsome man she'd seen in a long time was hers and he always made her smile. They had been dating for a little over a year, and had finally gotten engaged a couple of months ago. Lily knew their engagement had been a surprise to everyone, especially her friends who went to Hogwarts with her. After all, everyone had seen the way she and James looked at each other at the end of 7th year.

It was the last time any of them would ever see each other for a long time. James and Sirius were off to training to be Aurors, Remus had a new job in Germany, Lily was off to become a Healer, Riley was off to travel the world, Alice was going into an internship in Switzerland and Em was off to Spain to pursue art. School had already ended and the seven friends were having a get-together/going away party before they left the next day at lunchtime.

The mood of the evening was a celebratory one. They were all excited for each other and wanted each other to do well. After they all were sufficiently drunk, the party began to wind down, with all six of them falling asleep on the new couches in James' new apartment.

Lily woke up when it was still dark. She looked around and noticed a figure outlined in the moonlight that was streaming in from the window. She stood from the couch and sat next to James.

"So…" she said.

"So…" he answered.

"I'm glad you're my friend James." She told him.

"Same here." He answered.

The two sat in silence together for several moments before James spoke.

"I always wanted more you know."

"I thought that you didn't- I mean, after this year, when we decided to just be friends, I thought-" She stopped, looking at him.

"I didn't ask you out because our friendship was, and still kind of is, really fragile. But I'll always love you Lily Evans." He stared at her, she stared back at him.

Then she did something that surprised them both. She kissed him. After a moment, he kissed her back willingly. When they needed air, they broke apart.

"I'll always love you too James." She told him, trying to calm her now pounding heart.

"Geez, you could've told me sooner."

"I didn't know you still liked me." She told him.

"Excuses, excuses." James said, kissing her again.

Lily pulled away. "James this'll never work. You're going into intense Auror training and I'm going to be a healer…" she drifted off.

"We can make this work Lily." He told her.

"I'm sorry James. But we'll be so busy for the next couple years we just won't have time. We'll barely see each other, if at all."

"I see your point. I want this to work. I want us to work. I want this so badly it almost hurts. But it can't work right now. And there's where you're right. So just-" he paused, "just promise me. Promise me you'll stay in touch. If I can't have you right now, I at least want to know that I'll have you as a friend when I come back."

"I would," James looked crestfallen for a moment, Lily continued, "but I thought Aurors-in-training couldn't get mail."

"Oh, right."

"Let's just enjoy this. Right here, right now, before we can't be together." Lily told him.

The spent the next couple of hours wishing they had more time. By the time lunch rolled around the next day, they were all ready. Everyone gave each other hugs, Lily with James the longest. He kissed the top of her head.

"See ya later." He said. She smiled and they looked at each other longingly before she left. They both knew it wouldn't work for a long time, if it ever did.

"Lily? Lily…"Nick said snapping her out of her memories.

"Oh, sorry."

"It's okay. I was just thinking of using that bucket of water on you, that's all."

Lily laughed and kissed him on the cheek before walking to the kitchen to get breakfast. Nick walked up behind her and encircled her waist with his arms.

"We could take a shower together..." he suggested.

"Will!" she exclaimed turning around in his arms. "We talked about this."

"I know, I know. You want to be all traditional. No sex before marriage, and I'm not allowed to see the dress before the wedding day."

"And don't you forget it." Lily told him, kissing him lightly on the lips.

"Well, if you change your mind," he told her, "I'll be in the shower."

She smiled and shook her head as he walked away, but they both knew that it wouldn't happen.

As soon as he was out of the room, Lily sighed and let her mind wander back to the dream she had just had earlier in the morning.

James leaned in and kissed her. She kissed him back willingly. His lips roamed down her jaw and neck, sucking and nipping and sending chills down her spine. She started to undo his shirt, and he did the same by pulling hers off, barely breaking the heated kiss that they were sharing. Lily pushed off his shirt and began to work on his belt, as he did the same.

The setting changed, and suddenly she was with Will, but it didn't feel right. Not as right as it had only a moment ago with James. She wanted that back, she wanted to see him, to feel his arms around her.

The scene changed again, and then Lily found herself standing, well not exactly standing, but floating. She looked to each side of her and saw a pathway down a seemingly endless road that was covered with fog. There were no markers on it, but she knew that both of them were important decisions that weren't really clear to her yet.

The dream ended and Lily instantly pulled out her cell phone, the only muggle device that she had convinced all her friends to get. She wiped the tears out of her eyes that had surprisingly appeared.

"Hello?" a voice on the other end said.

"Riley?"

"Yea?"

"It's Lily."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't look at the caller ID when I answered."

"It's fine."

"What's wrong Lily? You don't sound too good."

Lily nodded, even though she knew that her best friend couldn't see her. "We have a problem."

LINE!!!!!

James woke up a groaned. The dream he had replaying in his mind.

"I love you too." Lily said, as she leaned in and kissed him fervently. The memory was from the end of 7th year, two and a half years ago. Of course, from there the dream was taken a hold of by his imagination, leading James to a place he'd never gone with Lily. Not only did that fact frustrate him to no end, but the fact that this was the third night in a row he'd had the dream and he always woke up painfully aroused when it ended. He rolled over to the sleeping form next to him, red hair covered her face and images from the night before flooded him.

It was the first night in a while he had had a break from his almost-complete training. Sirius wanted to go to a bar. So they did.

From there it was all a blur. The two friends were enjoying a drink when suddenly James was flirting with a sexy redhead. Then he was dancing with her, snogging her and going back to her place right down the street a few blocks.

James sighed and stood from the bed, careful not to wake the sleeping form, as he grabbed his glasses from where they'd fallen on the floor. He grabbed his shirt, pulled on his jeans and shoes and quietly slipped out the door, knowing he'd never see the muggle girl again.

As soon as he was out the door he apparated home and flopped on the couch. He still had at least an hour before he had to go to work.

Pulling out a small mirror, he said Sirius' name and his face appeared.

"Dude, what the hell?" Sirius asked, looking like he'd been asleep.

"How was your night?" James asked.

"Man that brunette was fine. Not too bad in bed either."

"Aren't you still with her?"

"Yea, but she sleeps like a rock."

"Whatever man, just don't be late today. You heard Moody last time," James said, "next time you're late, you're gone." He imitated Moody's voice almost perfectly.

"Yea, well we'll see about that." Sirius said.

"Dude, come on, don't push it."

"Well if I get kicked it won't matter. I'm kinda getting tired of all this stress anyways."

"I thought you wanted to be an Auror with me."

"Well, I think I can fight Voldemort without being an Auror. But let's forget about that, how what that striking red-head last night?"

"Good, but I had that dream again."

"Seriously man? You need to get Lily out of your system so that you can move on."

"I don't think it's that simple."

Sirius sighed and shook his head at his best friend.

"Whatever, see you at work."

"Peace."

Sirius' face disappeared and James put his mirror away. He let his mind roam back to his dream and the girl that got away. Lily Evans. He would do anything to see her again, to kiss her again. And James knew no matter how many redheads he slept with, none of them were the real deal. It just wouldn't be the same until he was with Lily, and he hadn't spoken to her for two and a half years. Only six more months and he would be able to return to her.

A Story by –Jeisa-

Two is Better Than One

Chapter 2: Four More Months

Two months later, James was itching to get back home. Sirius dropped out a couple of months ago and now James was dying to know what was going on. Not to mention what Lily was up to. And Remus. And everyone else. Just four more months. Four. More. Months.

James turned to his roommate, Jonathon. "Four more months, man. I can't wait to get out of this hell hole."

"Seriously. I really want this career and all, but I am ready to be done with training and just get out on the field."

"You better hope you past the field test then, or else you'll be stuck behind a desk."

"Dude, you're the one that I'm more worried about."

James laughed. "I don't know, only four out of the twenty of us actually get to go out on the field, you better be careful yourself."

Jonathon shook his head as he laughed. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at a plant on his desk. Without him even saying a word, the plant grew six inches, and then it slowly crumbled into itself and turned black.

"Well your plant controlling spell is going well." James told his friend.

"Yea," he replied, "I've been working on that forever."

"Honestly, I don't see how that will come in handy in a fight."

"Well, if you're in a place with lots of plants, you could have the plants attack someone."

"True. Now enough talk about plants. Let's get this day over with so we can get the next one done so that we're closer to getting home."

"Seriously dude."

Together the two roommates walked out of their small suite and towards the training rooms.

LINE!!!!!