Prompt: Jily panic attack


Remus had said he'd deal with it later but Lily had already had to direct three groups of people away from the corridor so she'd decided to tackle the problem herself. They'd covered boggarts firstly in third year but hadn't done anything practical with them since fourth. She'd fared quite well against her own fear - in third year it had been an impossibly large rat which she had changed into a tiny mouse - but she had no idea what her fear would be now, in seventh year. It can't be too bad. Lily had thought when she first let it out from the suit of armour it had been hiding in. Except it had been.

When Remus had mentioned to him that he was going to deal with a boggart Lily had found, James had offered to do it. The Potter household received quite a few boggarts in the rooms that were unused for the majority of the time and he was confident enough to deal with them. And Remus had to finish a DADA essay - which James had done the night they got it - so it was easier for the black haired boy to do it. Usually teachers were called in when boggarts were involved but the Head Boy and Head Girl were trusted enough to sort it out. But he wished they weren't when he reached the corridor.

"Lily?" He's about two steps away from turning the corner and the sounds of muffled sobs reach his ears. Quickening his step he rounds the corner and his heart drops. Lily is curled up against the wall, shoulders heaving as she rocks back and forth, shaking her head and crying. He's by her side in a second. "Lily? What's wrong, hey, hey, it's me, I'm right here." She's shaking uncontrollably and when he tries to touch her she flinches, pressing herself into the wall. "Hey, its me, James… Lily, you're alright." She turns to look at him and her face is tracked with tears and the only thing in her green eyes is panic.

A stream of mumbled words tumble from her pale lips and all he catches is "not real." The crease on his brow deepens as his eyes flash up and down the corridor. They're the only two there. "Not real." He catches again.

"I'm real Lily. I'm really real. Sex on legs with specks." James makes sure his voice is gentle and soothing even though he can feel his own panic start to rise. What's happened? His hands hover about her, wanting to touch her and comfort her but not wanting to make her flinch again.

"The boggart…" she shivers. "not real." Lily's voice is trembling and James fights the urge to hug her to him.

"Boggart?" It dawns on him. "That's right, the boggart isn't real. Not at all. I'm real. Real as can be." He smiles. "What was it?"

"You… my mum, dad, 'Tuney, Sirius, Marls, Peter, Remus, Mary, Em, Dorcas, Alice…" her eyes meet his and they are full of tears. "You were all dead." James feels as if an iron fist has grabbed his heart but he forces a smile.

"That's not real. We're all alive. Me, your mum, your dad, Petunia. My cocks for friends. Emmeline, Marlene, Frank and Alice, Dorcas, Dumbledore, the Prewetts. Everyone. We're all alive. Still here." Slowly he reaches an arm around her shoulders. The redhead freezes, her breathing speeding up again but when he pulls her into his lap she relaxes slightly.

"You were bleeding… your eyes were open and they were blank and I, I just, it was so real…" she buries her face into his shoulder and cries silently, James' arms wrapping around her body and lips pressing kisses in her hair.

"It was just the boggart. I'm alive and I'm not going anywhere. Not until we're old and grey with hundreds of great-great-grandchildren. We'll have a great long shag and then die peacefully in each other's arms." He murmurs the words into her ear and the tears start to slow, just a bit.

"You're real?"

"Real as can be." James tilts her chin up, already noting the fact that she is no longer shaking and her eyes are less full of panic. "You and me, we're real too." Lily nods slowly, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again.

"I was so scared, I thought I'd lost you." Her voice is still shaky and James sneaks in a quick kiss. Her eyes flash from the corridor to his and her lips quiver. "That was very real."

"Told you so." Lily smiles - almost - and then leans forwards, catching James' lips in a kiss. They stay like that, Lily curled up in his lap, James with his back against the stone wall, for a while and when Remus comes across them later it is to find them both asleep, exhausted but just about happy.