"What do you mean it's over?" Sirius asked James that night.
"I mean she told me we're finished," said James, taking another swig of fire whiskey. He had been drinking constantly since Lily left.
"What the hell happened? You two were the perfect couple last night! What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything."
"Tell me everything."
"Everything was fine last night, better than fine," James explained. "But then this morning she was… she called me Colin as she woke up…"
"Ouch."
"Yeah," said James, polishing off the fire whiskey.
"Then what?"
"Then I got mad and left," said James, getting to his feet and grabbing another bottle of fire whiskey.
"Do you really think that is helping?"
"It's how I got through it last time," said James, swigged right out the bottle.
"Right, then what happened?" asked Sirius. He hated seeing his best friend so miserable. He knew he had to help fix things with Lily. Those two were meant for each other.
"Then she tried to talk to me after the meeting, I ignored her," he said, sighing. "God, why did I ignore her? Why couldn't I just tell her it didn't matter?"
"Because you're a twat," said Sirius simply.
"I am," James nodded sadly. "Then I accused her not really wanting me. I told her I thought she thought she made a mistake and that she really wanted to be with Colin."
"You're a bloody moron," Sirius said, almost laughing at the stupidity of it.
"Then she brought up Gina, and we both lost our tempers," James finished pitifully.
"You're both idiots," Sirius said dismissively, shaking his head with frustration over the whole situation between the two of them. "You broke up because she accidentally, emphasis on accidentally, called you Colin!"
"She ended it."
"You were being a wanker!"
"I know."
"That's it!" Sirius shouted, jumping off the couch, walking to the door and holding it open. "Get off your arse, go find her, and talk this thing out! I'm willing to bet she's just as miserable as you are!"
"Okay," said James, trying to get to his feet but stumbling on his way to the door.
"Maybe once you've sobered up mate." Sirius closed the door and helped James back to the couch.
"Alright," James slurred.
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"EVANS!" Sirius shouted the next morning. James was still sleeping off his hangover at headquarters, so Sirius decided to wake Lily up at the crack of dawn. He had let himself into her flat. "EVANS!"
"Am I in hell yet?" he heard her croak.
Sirius turned and saw Lily standing the doorway of her bedroom. She looked awful, her hair was sticking up at odd ends and she still had on the same clothes she had the day before. It seemed she coped with the fight the same way James had, she got drunk. And now they were both suffering for it.
"Well, well. Is the delicate little flower a tad hung over?" Sirius teased.
"Fuck off, Black," she groaned.
"Charming."
"If you won't leave, then make yourself usefully and make me some coffee," grumbled Lily, heading for the bathroom.
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"Well don't you look better now," said Sirius cheerily.
Lily had just come out of the shower, she was now wearing a dressing gown, and looked anything but better.
"I feel like death," she moaned, grabbing a cup of coffee.
"Well drink up, the hangover potion should be brewed in 10 minutes," said Sirius.
"You made hangover potion?"
"I did."
"Oh I could kiss you but…"
"But you'd probably end up puking on me instead," Sirius finished.
"With the way I'm feeling right now, yeah. But thank you."
"No problem," said Sirius. "You get the potion on one condition."
"Ah... what is it?" groaned Lily. If she knew Sirius, and she did, she was not going to like this condition.
"Take James some. He got himself in a right state last night."
"Do I have to?"
"Yes, you broke up with him. So you have to make the first move."
"I hate you at times," Lily grumbled.
"You love me, dear."
"This potion better be worth it."
"You know you want to fix things with him anyway," said Sirius, stirring the simmering potion.
"Do I?"
"Do you want to lose him forever?"
"No."
"Well then, just go and see him. You know James, he'll probably do most of the talking," said Sirius, tipping some of the potion into a vial and handing it to Lily.
"Fine," said Lily before downing the potion.
"Atta girl."
"Just give me half an hour to make myself look human," she said, walking back to the bathroom.
"I'll just leave the potion here," Sirius called after her then he left.
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James felt like shit. He had just woken up with the mother of all hangovers and they were out of hangover potions. He could have sworn there were more left… oh well, he'd just have to brew more. He could barely open his eyes, but he had been making hangover potion since he was 15.
"You look like you really need this," he heard. He knew that sweet voice. It was her. She had come back.
He turned and he saw a blob with a blob of red on top. It was definitely her, she was holding something out to him. He reached out and felt it. It was a vial, she had brought him some hangover potion. She was an angel.
"Thank you," said James as he gulped the potion down.
"I thought we should talk. Or rather, Sirius thought we should talk. He blackmailed me into coming here," said Lily, looking at James's disheveled state. "But I'll…uh…wait. You should go and shower first."
"Okay… but you'll be here when I come back down, right?"
"I have the day off work, take your time," said Lily, sitting down at the kitchen table and starting to reach for the Daily prophet.
"Okay, I won't be long."
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"Lily…? Lily?" called James. He had had a shower and got dressed, but when he came back down to the kitchen, Lily was gone.
"What?" came Lily's voice. He breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't left, she was just in the other room.
"I thought you had gone," he said, coming into the living room.
"No, I was just tidying up after you. Honestly your mother was right, you two are complete pigs," said Lily, carrying a pile of dirty clothes into the kitchen.
"Leave that, I'll do it later," said James, taking the clothes from her and putting them on the floor.
"No, you won't, they will just lie there until they walk to the washing machine," said Lily, placing her hands on her hips.
"Alright I'll do it now," said James, picking the clothes up and stuffing them into the washing machine and turning it on. "Happy now?"
"Yes."
"So what's going on?" asked James, placing his hand on her cheek. "What are we doing? Is this really over?"
"I don't want us to be over," said Lily. James' voice was just so sincere, it made her want to cry. She didn't want to hurt him, but she did she could tell just by his voice that she had.
"Me neither. I don't want to lose you again. I don't want to lose what we have," he said, his hand now stroking her hair. "I'm sorry I was such a twat."
"I'm sorry I started all this, I didn't mean to say it. I was half asleep and I'm not used to waking up with you. I know I'm making excuses but I'm really sorry," said Lily, resting her head on his shoulder.
"That's okay, it's alright. And you better get used to waking up with me, because if you think I am not going to spend any unnecessary time away from you, you've got another think coming," said James, wrapping his arms around his and pulling her closer.
"I'm sorry I brought up Gina. I really am. I know I can't throw that in your face every time we have an argument, it's not fair."
"I'm sorry, I said you thought you made a mistake. I know you know what you feel and for whom. I'm sorry I said otherwise."
"It's okay. It was such a stupid argument, we both overreacted. Can we just forget it happened?" said Lily, looking up at James.
"Yeah," he said, pulling her into a kiss.