"You have no right to fall in love with me," she whispered the words, but they sounded loud and jarring in the hush of the room. Disrupting the peace and calm of the otherwise silent room.

"Excuse me?" he loosened his arm wrapped around her, allowing her room to turn against him and stare up at the ceiling, sheet pulled tightly around her otherwise bare form.

"You have no right to fall in love with me." she repeated.

"No, I heard you." He clarified, eyes incredulous, "but what do you mean, exactly? I didn't tell you I loved you and even if I did, you don't get to tell me how I feel."

"In this case, I do. I do when it's about me and when you look at me the way you do everytime we do this or are alone together."

"Now you have a problem with the way I look at you?" he sat up further in bed, hand coming down to rest on her stomach and fist the sheet there.

"Yes!" she snapped at him, "yes, I have a problem with how you look at me."

"Alright, alright," his eyebrows knit together, trying to soothe her by rubbing circles on her stomach. "Help me understand. How do I look at you?"

"You look at me like, like you love me or are falling in love with me or like you think that this, us, is real."

He sat up further in bed, glaring down at her now, "This is real. Who are you to tell me whether or not this is real for me."

"Are you joking right now?" She sat up now too, turning the full intensity of her glare on him, holding the sheet up to cover her. "Do you know what it would mean if this was real?"

This fight had been brewing for weeks, since they started up really. "Yeah, Lily, I do. It would mean I could hold your hand in public, maybe take you to Hogsmeade without the invisible cloak, maybe carry your books to class. It would mean I wouldn't have to sneak you up here or pull you into unused classrooms for a kiss. Besides, all of our friends already know we're together, what's wrong with the rest of the school knowing we're together. Is that really so bad? Are you really that ashamed of me?"

"Ashamed? You think I'm ashamed of you? More like scared out of my goddamn mind Potter. Do you realize how big of a target that would make you, nevermind me?

"Lily, I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm kind of already a target. As are you. Being together might open us up more, fine but it also means we could tackle it together. As partners," he grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers.

Her eyes welled up and turned to face the ceiling.

"Look at me, Lily," he pulled her chin back to face him, wiping away the one tear that slipped out, "I hear you. I understand that you're scared. I'm scared too, of course I'm scared. But being scared isn't going to stop me from falling in love with you or wanting to be with. Which I am, by the way, if that wasn't clear before. I don't really care if I have the right to because I am. And I think you want to be with me too or you wouldn't be saying all this right now."

"Of course, I want to be with you. I want to kiss you and not worry about who's going to see. I want to be with you. But doing that is risking losing you and I can't lose you James. I won't."

"Hey, hey, hey," he loomed over her, both hands caressing her cheeks as one of her own came up to cover his, "I'm not going anywhere. Ever, really. So you can stop it with all of that right now, okay? I'm with you, Evans. Come hell or high water or blood thirsty Slytherins. I'm with you."

He pressed his lips back down to hers to reinforce his point and felt the relief seep through him as her lips turned up to a smile against his.