A scream pierced the air of the Heads tower at Hogwarts just past 3 AM on February 7th, 1978.

It took a few groggy moments before Lily realized that the scream in question belonged to her, and she instantly shut herself up. Then, the feeling of fear from her nightmare was instantly replaced with a feeling of mortification.

Please don't let him have heard, please don't let him have heard, please don't let him have heard-

"Evans!?"

The door swung open with a slam, flooding the room with light from the Heads common room just outside. James Potter, the Head Boy, stood in the doorway, breathing heavily. Evidently, he'd just sprinted all the way to Lily's room.

"Potter, how many times have I told you to knock before coming in here?" Lily wrapped her blanket around herself tightly, so that James would not see her wearing nothing but a tank top and shorts.

She heard James breathe a sigh of relief. "I thought you were hurt. Or dead. Or worse"

"Worse," Lily repeated sarcastically. "What's worse than death, Potter? Losing a Quidditch match?"

"Only if it's against Slytherin," James responded automatically, and Lily could hear the smile on his face, although she couldn't see it. His entire body was shadowed. "Are you okay, then?"

Lily nodded. "Just a nightmare," she assured him.

"About the war?" James asked quietly. "I get those, too."

It had been a nightmare about the war - specifically about her parents and sister being tortured by Voldemort. But she really didn't need James to know that, so instead, she answered:

"Actually, Potter, it was a nightmare about you. Your general presence tends to give me nightmares. Have I told you how much I hate you, recently?"

"It's been about 3-5 business days, I think," James answered in a completely serious tone, and Lily cracked a smile. James must have sensed her shift in mood, because he grinned as well, and leaned casually against the doorway. "What were we doing in this dream exactly, Evans? Because I've had a few dreams about you recently…"

"Out, Potter," Lily demanded, pointing at the door.

"Message received," James said with amusement, and he backed away from Lily's room, closing the door behind him. "Night, love," he said, his voice muffled through the wood.

Lily didn't answer, but instead rolled her eyes, smiling. She noticed her heart was very fluttery, as though butterflies were flying around inside of her.

She'd been having that feeling a lot, lately, when she was around James.

She tried to pretend it wasn't happening. She thought, maybe, if she ignored it, it would just go away.

Strangely enough, it never seemed to go away. Perhaps her plan of action was a bit faulty.

Annoyed at the stupid butterflies, Lily forced all thoughts of James Potter out of her mind, and went back to sleep.

The next night, Lily had another nightmare.

This time, however, she was exceedingly grateful that she hadn't screamed. She really didn't need another James-Potter-barging-in-like-a-knight-in-shining-armour type of night.

Although…

No. She really didn't need that.

Breathing heavily from the nightmare (this time it had been about Marlene McKinnon, her best friend, becoming a Death Eater), Lily shakily stood to her feet. Water. She needed water.

Slowly, she crept to the edge of her room, and opened the door as quietly as she could. She tip-toed down the staircase that led to the Heads common room, wishing desperately that she still lived in Gryffindor tower with the rest of her friends, where there was a water tap in every dorm.

Then, she saw him.

He was asleep on the couch, still in his Quidditch uniform. His glasses were askew and there was parchment scattered all over the coffee table in front of him - Charms homework, no doubt. Flitwick had been in a bad mood earlier, and had decided to take it out on the entire class.

Trying not to make any noise whatsoever, Lily silently made her way to the sink, turning it on the lowest it went, and filled her water bottle. Unfortunately, she wasn't quiet enough, because when she turned back around, James' eyes were open and staring at her, flickering the reflection of the firelight.

"Hi," he said, flashing that classic Potter smile, as though they were having a completely normal conversation over lunch, and it wasn't 2 in the morning.

Lily narrowed her eyes at him. "Go back to sleep."

"Can't. I had a nightmare."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right."

"I did!" James exclaimed, suddenly looking very energetic for someone who'd supposedly just been asleep moments before. "It was a horrible nightmare Evans, really. You'll never guess what happened. I asked you out, and you-"

"Said no," Lily finished for him. "Sounds realistic."

"It was traumatizing. I cried. In the dream, I mean."

Lily snorted. "Well, I wish you the best of luck asking me out in your next dream, alright?"

James was staring at her with an expression of pure adoration. His eyes were bright, and there was that stupid, lovesick-teenager grin on his face. Lily tried to ignore the jolt in her stomach as she stared back at him. She hoped desperately that her feelings weren't as painfully obvious as his were.

"Goodnight," she said promptly, eager to get out of his presence as quickly as possible. He really wasn't doing any favors for her mental health, that was for sure.

"Night," James said, still grinning. Lily looked down to hide her blush and made her way back to her bedroom to go back to sleep.

She did not, however, sleep. She had rather a lot on her mind.

For the third night in a row, Lily had a nightmare.

Once again, she did not scream.

However, she did something much worse.

She cried.

James had been in the dream. They'd been married - with a baby, if she was remembering correctly - and Voldemort had just walked through the door, and murdered James! She'd heard his body fall to the floor. She'd seen his lifeless face.

It had traumatized her.

And now she couldn't stop crying. Not just because of the dream, but also because she was so confused.

Why did she suddenly fancy James? It made absolutely no sense. She'd never even been remotely friendly with him before this year… so what had changed?

She knew he'd be absolutely over-the-moon if she told him her newfound feelings. After all, he'd always made his feelings for her very clear. There'd even been one instance, just a few weeks earlier, where he'd sat her down very seriously and told her he'd wait for her "however long it took". Well, it hadn't taken very long. But did she really want to put herself out there like that? What would she even say to him?

Hi James. I know I've openly hated you for the last six years, but I've actually just decided I want to literally become your wife. Is that cool?

James was ridiculous sometimes, but even he would recognize how stupid that sounded.

After wiping away her tears, Lily once again found herself creeping down the stairs to the common room, not really having a plan in mind. Just as she'd suspected, James was once again on the couch - although he wasn't asleep this time. This time, he was scribbling furiously on a piece of parchment.

"Homework?" she asked in a soft voice. James jumped in his seat and whipped his head towards her.

"Evans," he breathed. "What are you doing down here?"

There was no point in lying. "Nightmare," she said simply, and his face softened.

"I'm sorry," he said. He looked at her for a moment, then suddenly shook his head as if to clear it. "No, I'm not doing homework. Writing a letter, actually." He swallowed. "Parents."

"Oh," Lily said, nodding. Once again, she felt that uncomfortable jolt somewhere in her internal organs. She knew her face was burning up, and she looked down.

"Are you okay, Evans?" she heard James ask softly. She didn't answer for a long time, then looked back up.

"Can I just… sit here with you for a bit?" she mumbled.

James' face was blank. He didn't seem to know how to react, or feel. Then, slowly, and with a look of slight disbelief, he nodded.

"Yeah- I mean, of course!" He suddenly moved very quickly, clearing off part of the couch to make room for Lily. "Sit wherever you'd like, Evans. Do you need anything?" he asked, looking up at her as she made her way over and sat down timidly. Lily shook her head. "Okay," James continued. "Just- just let me know."

James sat back down a bit hesitantly. The two were about three feet apart. Lily was staring into the fire. James leaned back over the coffee table, and continued writing his letter.

They were silent for nearly an hour. Lily could not believe how much James was writing - what could he possibly have to talk so much about? Didn't he write to his parents, like, every week? She couldn't even remember the last time she'd written to her family.

Suddenly, James stopped writing and looked over at Lily. He had a strange expression on his face, an expression that made the Lily's butterflies return.

"Evans?" he said after a moment's hesitation. His voice was a bit hoarse, and he seemed as though he was already regretting whatever he was about to say.

"Yeah?" Lily swallowed, nervous. She had a feeling she knew what this conversation would be about.

"I'm not imagining this, am I?" he softly asked, studying Lily's face intently. "Us?"

Lily did not know what to say. Her heart was suddenly racing, and she felt her palms begin to sweat.

"Potter-"

"Actually, nevermind," James said suddenly, shaking his head. "I- I'm sorry. I know how you feel about me, Evans… I don't know why I thought anything had changed…" His face was now tinged slightly pink as well. "I won't bring it up again. Forget I said anything. I'm sorry." He turned back to his parchment and continued to write, looking very embarrassed and thoroughly miserable about the whole situation.

"Don't be sorry," Lily heard herself say. James didn't look back to her, but she knew he was listening intently, hanging on to every word. In any case, his quill had stopped moving. "Potter, I-" She took a deep breath. "Something has changed. You- you're not imagining it." Her voice was barely even perceptible, but James heard it, and she saw him freeze.

It must have been a full minute that James sat frozen, staring into the fire. Finally, Lily spoke again.

"A response would be nice," she said timidly, and James finally cracked a smile.

"I'm not exactly sure how you're expecting me to respond to that, Evans," he said. Then, he turned to her, as though she was a vision that he wasn't fully sure he was actually seeing. "I- I'm going to kiss you now, Evans. Is that okay?"

Was that okay? Was that okay? Lily wasn't sure what was okay and what wasn't. The Head Boy and Girl snogging in the middle of the common room at 4 in the morning certainly didn't seem okay by any standards.

"We can't, Potter," she finally said. It pained her to hear the words come out of her mouth. "It wouldn't work."

James' face fell. "But- but you don't deny that you want to?"

"I-" Lily hesitated. What did she want? What did she want?

She wanted him. She knew that.

But she couldn't have him.

Could she?

"I knew you'd be like this," James said, with a slightly amused smile, though his eyes still looked a bit disappointed. "I knew that when you finally came around, and finally felt the same way about me, I knew you wouldn't make it easy. I knew we wouldn't be able to do this the same way every other couple in the world does it. Merlin, you're so difficult, Evans."

"I'm sorry," Lily said, and she really meant it. "I'm just… I'm just scared, I guess. I know it sounds stupid, but how do I know you aren't going to be like how Sirius is with girls and leave me the second you get me?"

James laughed out loud. "Sirius? Because Sirius is a moron, that's why. And I'm not a moron."

"That's debatable," Lily said, rolling her eyes, though she felt far more comfortable now that she'd finally gotten her feelings for James off her chest. She felt him shift over toward her a bit, closing the gap between them on the couch, and sling his arm over her shoulder. She didn't protest.

"I'm going to tell you this one final time, Evans," James said in a quiet voice. She could feel his whisper on her face. "I love you. I really, really love you. If you gave me a chance- I'd never let you go, Evans. Never, never in my life. I'd be an idiot if I did!" He squeezed her shoulder. "But I can't keep going on the way we've been going. It's torture, Evans, it really is. So I need to know, right now, if there's any chance at all of us being something. Maybe not now, but in the future. Just tell me the truth. Please."

Lily suddenly remembered her dream again. She remembered James' body, dead on the floor. She felt herself shiver, and James began rubbing her arm.

But then she remembered the other part of the dream. Her and James, being married. Having a kid. It had been…

Well, it had just been right.

"Okay," Lily finally said, after a very long moment of thought. "Okay, I've changed my mind."

James must have been confused, because he stopped rubbing her arm. "What?" he asked blankly.

Poor James. He thought she'd changed her mind about fancying him.

"I- about the kissing thing," Lily mumbled. "I've changed my mind. You- you can. I suppose. If you still want to, you know."

James stared at her in disbelief. "If I still- Lily, are you mad?" He broke into a grin. "Of course I still- oh, Merlin, Evans-"

And then his words were cut off as he lunged himself at her, and their lips crashed together. However gentle his voice might have been, his lips were certainly not being gentle. He was kissing Lily unlike she'd ever been kissed before - he was kissing her with a want, a need - and she was him kissing back.

When they finally broke apart, James was breathing in hot pants. "I- you can't even imagine how long I've been waiting to do that, Evans," he breathed, staring at her with a look of pure ecstasy.

"I think I can," Lily mumbled, though she was smiling. "You haven't been the most secretive about your feelings, Potter."

"I suppose I haven't," James replied, not sounding at all ashamed of it. He pushed his glasses up his nose, took a deep breath, and squeezed his eyes shut. "Am I dreaming?"

"I don't think so," Lily said, giggling.

"Am I nightmaring? Are you going to tell me you were just kidding, and leave me to cry here again?"

"No," Lily confirmed, and James opened his eyes up again.

"Good," he said, grinning. "Evans?"

"Yeah?"

"I think you need to have nightmares more often. It does wonders for this relationship."

Lily smiled, reaching her hand out to find James' and squeezing it.

"I'll consider it."