Disclaimer: It's a fanfiction. Not an original.

"James!"

He turned. There she was, black robes billowing, red hair whipping around her as she ran, almost causing her to trip over several tree roots. Lily looked desperate, though for what, James didn't know. And neither did he care.

She said no, he thought. That was it. The end. And he threw a pebble into the dark, churning waters of lake.

When she neared him, James could see that her bright green eyes were dark with tears, her cheeks flushed from the run and the cold.

Against his will, James felt himself wanting to help, wanting to comfort her and kiss her forehead and tell her it would all be all right and that of course he's okay with her decision because he loved her too much and she should stop killing herself over him and that everything would go back to normal…but no. He wouldn't. Because it was more likely that he would be the one killing himself over her, since obviously she just didn't care.

Lily was sorry, sorrier than she had ever even thought possible. She knew it would never help, that she had no chance, but she had to. She had to. She had to. Overhead, the dark clouds had blocked out the sun and dull gray rain was falling. James stood under the willow tree next to the lake, hands in his pockets as he stared out onto the water. Lily reached him, stumbled and nearly fell, but caught herself just in time.

He turned, and his eyes, his expression, shocked Lily. They were so full of something, something unfathomable…something like…love. And Lily was berating herself over and over and over again, because she had been too stupid to realize it before even when he had gotten down on one knee and…

"James," panted Lily. He looked at her with raw, full eyes. She bit her lip, trying not to cry. "James, I'm sorry, so sorry. Please, please forgive me."

James looked at her. His jaw twitched. "Sorry," she had said. "Sorry" was not what he wanted to hear. He knew how much it cost her to say those few words, how much pride she had to throw away, how much courage it must have taken her to face him so soon after…but "sorry" was not what he wanted to hear.

"I've realized something," she continued tearfully. "It was something completely unfathomable to me-that you l-loved me, and that it wouldn't go away after a little while and leave me hanging on like-like a barnacle or something." She sniffed and bit her lip. "So I said no. But now I'm going to change my mind, and I say…I say yes."

"Right," said James, controlling himself. "Right, because all this time you were worried about you being a passing fancy for me, when you are standing here saying yes, no, yes, no and…" James was speeding up now. "How do I know that a change of mind equals a change of heart, Lily? Because I'm not too sure of that right now-"

"James! James, don't you see? I didn't need to change my heart." She tucked a strand of fire behind her ear, looking right at James. "It was always there."

There was a loaded silence.

"James…James, please. I think I've had enough of staying grounded. Bollocks to age and responsibility and N.E.W.T.s! James, remember you asking me if I wanted to go flying the other day? And I said no. But now I'm ready. I think…I think I want to fly."

There was a pause, and then-

"James, I love you."

There was a long silence after that, in which James slowly dared to look at Lily, not believing. Then he threw his arms around her, hugging her so tightly that neither of them could breathe, a few tears leaking out of his own hazel eyes. He kissed her forehead and her nose again and again and again, as if he couldn't get enough.

"I love you Lily," James whispered into her ear. "I love you so much it hurts. And for this love, I promise you that there will be nothing, absolutely nothing, that I wouldn't ever do for you."

Redone, revamped, better-ized. Review!