Disclaimer- If I owned it I'd be rich, but I'm not and so I don't. Let's eat cake!
It was late at night, 3 am at least. Lily sat in the far corner of the common room. She had tried to sleep but her mind was racing. She was alone, completely and utterly alone. Had there been others in the room they would have heard the frenzied scratching of a quill on parchment. Idea after idea was racing through Lily's mind, each one worse than that last. She scratched out her latest idea and threw the parchment across the room. Never before had she been faced with such a problem, something she wasn't sure she could solve. Her new parchment was quickly filled and discarded again. She brushed her hair aside to reveal tears falling down her cheeks.
"I need to fix this." She screamed through gritted teeth. Everything had been so simple. She had always had a passion for her protest group, but now she couldn't afford to fail. Everything had to be perfect. Only one thought was racing through her mind now. "I must protect Remus." She would never let them take him. Never. She jumped up. She just couldn't sit still. The energy was rushing through her. She couldn't go to bed. Reese was there. There was no way she could share a room with that, that thing. She paced the room, the tears now ran steadily down her cheeks.
Lily collapsed onto an armchair. She cried for what seemed like hours. She slowly fell into an uneasy sleep. She had barely begun to dream before she was ripped back out of her sleep. At first she was confused. She touched her face, it was still wet with tears. She pulled herself off the chair. She still refused to enter the room where Reese slept. She slowly climbed up the stairs to the boys' dormitory. She quietly opened the door and crept over to Remus' bed. Careful not to wake him, she parted his bed hangings and climbed into bed with him. He half woke up and made room for her. With his arms around her Lily finally felt calm. He was so strong and soothing, she couldn't ever picture the world without him.
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James walked around the castle. He couldn't bring himself to go to bed; too much had happened. He found his feet taking him to a place he knew too well. He quickly climbed the stairs. As James opened the door to the east tower he felt the cool night air against his face. It did its part to wake him up. He felt a surge of energy rush through him. He breathed in the cool air, savoring every second, trying to calm down. The tower was usually the place he went to when he needed to relax, clear his head. Tonight, however, the place had an opposite effect.
His eyes darted over to the wall, and memories came flooding back. It was as if he was watching a movie. He saw him lead Lily to his special place, the look on her face as she stared at the stars. He saw himself never take his eyes off her. They sat so close, yet too far apart. He wanted to scream as Lily started to cry. Nothing was worse than seeing her in pain. He wished he could take all that away, wished it was him and not her. He really did need her. But he had Reese. "And that should be enough." He said harshly, sarcastically. Everything Lily did seemed perfect. Reese, well, Reese was Reese. He could never love her. God, and she was cheating on him. "I can't do this." He said quietly as he sat against the same wall he and Lily once occupied. The tears flowed freely down his cheeks. He couldn't do it anymore. Everything was wrong. Why try? Nothing could ever be perfect. Not the world, not Reese, not himself. The only thing that was he couldn't have. So why try?
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A/N- I know this is pathetically short. I'll try and update tomorrow to make up for it. I really wanted this chapter to just focus on Lily and James though. I hope you liked it, please review. Oh, and I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to update, I was grounded {i.e.- no computer.} Oh, {again} Feel better Jackie, I finally updated!