DISCLAIMER: This is very, very late. I just remembered I had to do it. I don't own any Harry Potter characters that you recognize. Dana, Clara, and all the others you don't know are mine. All that you recognize belong to J.K. Rowling. Thank you.

Lily woke up in a cold sweat, gasping for air. The dream. what did it mean? Why was James there? Who was Harry? Who killed them?

In another part of Gryffindor Tower, in the fifth year boys' dormitory, James was trying to catch his breath after a horrible nightmare. Lily! Lily was there! Was she awake, too? Recalling this same dream? He decided to go down to the kitchens in his invisibility cloak to grab a cup of hot chocolate.

Meanwhile, Lily went to sit in the common room. After putting on her slippers, she descended down the girl's staircase, into the common room, just in time to see the portrait swing close.

"Now who could be up at this hour?" She said to herself. Concluding that it was just probably her eyes playing a trick on her, Lily sat down on the hearth rug, in front of the blazing fire.

She started humming a soft tune, to lull her to sleep. But sleep wouldn't come, so she decided to recall some bad memories.

There was that time when she was six, and a bully in her school chased her 'round the playground, and she was running out of breath, the bully was suddenly thrown backwards, giving Lily time to run away safely. The teacher had gotten mad at her, since her tormentor went home with a lot of bruises.

Another time when she got her Hogwarts letter and Petunia didn't receive hers, she had gotten very jealous and started calling Lily a freak. Up until then, both sisters shared a special bond with each other, playing together, trying on make-up, helping with homework, gossiping, sharing favorite things. All that changed the day Lily found out she was a witch.

The worst was when she was bitten by a kundor* during her second year, while she was in detention in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid. She'd felt a pain she had never experienced before. Madame Prinuella had been able to fix it, but the hangover lasted for about a month afterwards.

Lily was about to doze off when the portrait swung open and a set of footsteps followed the sound. When she turned, no one was there.

"ACHOO!"

"Who's there? I heard you sneeze! I know you're there somewhere!" Lily spun around and flung her arms wildly about her. She touched an invisible material and quickly pulled it off.

"James? Fancy seeing you here, like this. "

In his boxers stood James Potter, with a cup of was that hot chocolate? in his hand. She breathed a sigh of relief and slumped back down on one of the armchairs.

"Hi, Lily Flower. I couldn't sleep, I had a nightmare so I decided to sneak down to the kitchens to get some hot chocolate," he explained. "You're not looking too shabby yourself."

She was wearing some jogging pants and a black tank top for pajamas. Lily nodded and asked, "Is that (pointing to the cloak which lay on the floor) an Invisibility Cloak? Where did you get one?"

"My dad gave it to me. It was a family heirloom."

"Oh."

"Do you want some hot chocolate? I could duplicate it for you."

"Thanks."

"Duplicio! Here you go. So, why are you here? I told you my reason, what's yours?"

"Same as you. Nightmare. I tried going back to sleep but I couldn't."

"D'you want to talk about it?"

"Well, I was in a room, watching my self and someone else." Lily avoided his eyes and decided not to tell him the truth.

"Yes?"

"High-pitched cackles filled the room as the front door opened. This- this person with my older self said something like, 'Run, Lily. It's him, I'll hold him off!' and I didn't want to leave him."

"Wait, did this person say something like, 'Take Harry and go! I'll be fine!'?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"'Cause I think I had the exact same dream. This," he gestured to an imaginary person beside Lily, "person you were talking about, that was me. You were in my dream."

"What happened next in your dream?"

"I-I was killed. You ran up the stairs and locked a door."

"It burst open and I wouldn't give the baby over to him. Whoever that was," Lily added as an afterthought.

"It was V-Voldemort, Lily. He killed you next." James looked somber.

"You mean to say, that, we- you and I- both had the same dream?" her voice quavered.

He nodded. "It's like we're connected or something. I don't know. D'you think we should tell Dumbledore?"

Lily shook her head no. "Maybe we should wait until something like this happens again. So we could be sure."

"What if that something is bad? What if we have to get hurt just to be certain? I can't risk you being hurt in any way, Lily Flower," James protested.

"We'll just have to risk it, then. It's not like I'm important," she snapped.

His face fell.

Her expression softened. "I'm sorry, James. I didn't mean to snap at you. I mean, I'm not that important to the world, am I? Like the, let's say, Minister of Magic?"

James stubbornly shook his head. "No, Lily. But you're important to me. I mean us. Your friends."

"Let's leave this subject alone and try to get some sleep. I'm awfully tired," she yawned.

He hugged her. "Goodnight, Lily Flower. Don't wilt tonight."

An electric shock surged through the both of them when he wrapped his strong arms around her. It was nothing like any of them felt before. Lily felt so safe in his arms, like no harm could come to her; she was protected from the world. James loved the way she fit perfectly in his embrace, the way her head leaned on the crook of his shoulder and when they pulled apart, the two felt incomplete.

"Goodnight, James. Thank you for the hot chocolate."

"Anytime, Lily Flower. Anytime."

He watched her as she went up the stairs and smiled to himself. He was sure he'd have good dreams for the rest of the night.

*KUNDOR- a Dark creature which looks like a small black panther, with a bird beak. A Dark Wizard could take over a Kundor and bite a person whom he/she wished to infect, forming a connection of some sort between the biter and the bitten.