A/N - Sorry it took so long! I was away for some of the summer, and then school started and... well... is being school... Well, here's this chapter and I plan on updating again within the next two weeks or so... Sorry about the wait! ENJOY!
DISCLAIMER - Only the stuff you don't already know is mine... After all, if I was Rowling I wouldn't be here...
"Dammit," James said violently, grabbing Lily by the waist and roaring as he blocked another curse shot in his direction, "Padfoot, get the hell out of here! Go get someone!"
"But Prongs," Sirius started, running over to help his best friend as James pulled the senseless girl into his arms.
"Padfoot!" James roared, his eyes darting between Lily's still form and the man before him who now twirled a wand idly between his fingers. "Go get my dad! I'll be fine!"
Swallowing as he watched more Death Eaters appear and the few other panicked people around them creep closer inwards, Sirius gritted his teeth together and nodded, apparating away. "Ah, that's better," the snake-like man before James hissed, "no more stupid muggle-loving Black to intervene. Now we duel."
"No," James said hurriedly, his eyes darting around the room for Lily's wand, "we don't. You can't duel us, and you can't kill us today. Lily, Lily, ennervate."
A cruel chuckle escaping past his lips, his voice was cold and calculating, "Crucio."
James fell to his knees with a scream as Lily's eyes opened, his wand falling from his fingers limply. The colour drained from her face and she grabbed James' wand, standing and screaming the first curse that came to her head, "Expecto patronum!"
A tiger hurtled out of James' wand and Voldemort retaliated, letting the crutacious curse fall from James. Stumbling to his feet, he watched as the curse that had burdened him was turned onto her. Her fingers tightened on his wand and she screamed, a scream that broke something in James. Forgetting wands, forgetting magic, James went back to the instincts of primitive man and threw himself on the dark wizards, using hands, nails, feet, and teeth to claw at him. Voldemort's scream was eerily hellish and Lily's cry ripped through the air, "James!"
Forgetting that it was a dark wizard she faced, Lily darted towards James and screamed as he was thrown away from Voldemort. His head slammed against the hard ground and he lay limp. Turning away from the dark wizard, Lily hurtled to James' side, falling to her knees and cradling his head saying, "James, wake up. James, James. Oh God, please wake up. James."
"He won't wake," was the snake-like man's cold reply.
"He's going to be fine!" Lily shrieked, oblivious to the tears that coated her cheeks. "You're wrong! He's going to be fine!"
"He won't wake," Voldemort repeated. "And when I'm done, neither will you."
"No!" Lily's scream rent the air and she cried out between the curses she threw, one after the other, "I'll kill you if anything happens to him."
In her hazed rush of emotion, Lily felt her mind go blank as he retaliated. James' wand went flying from her hand and she felt as if the world had slowed as she heard the cold, cruel word, "Crucio."
The pain was enough to kill, but they wouldn't let her die. Her scream split the stale air and her vision faded into darkness. As her thoughts began to slip away from her, become radical, she realized exactly what would happen to a person if exposed to the crutacious curse long enough. Then it was gone, as suddenly as it had started, and she saw the tall frame of Andrew Potter grab his son and head towards her, his white face strained. Just as he knelt to help her to her feet she felt conscious thought slip away and her world blackened.
A/N - Don't you just hate Voldemort? icky butt-head...
James could hear sounds, but everything was dark. He could distinctly hear Sirius and Remus, and he wondered if the third voice Gideon or Fabian Prewett. And then he heard Lily, and he knew it was Lily. Panicking as he wondered why everything was dark, James froze after a moment and scolded himself. His eyes were still closed. Opening them uncertainly, he saw Sirius sitting on the edge of his bed, looking over at Lily, Remus sitting on a chair beside him, Gideon pacing beside Lily's bed, and Lily sitting up and looking over at him.
Her face broke into a huge grin and she cheered softly, "James! You're up! We were so worried about you."
Without thinking, she turned to slide out of the bed, but Gideon stopped her, his face going white as he grated harshly, "Lily, get back in bed. You know you can't get out of bed yet. In all honesty you shouldn't even be sitting up."
Huffing, Lily slammed herself back against the bed, glaring at her best friend, "Shut up Gideon. Stop mothering me around. I have a mum, and Miss Eli, to do that for me! Sorry, James, mum over here won't let me get up."
Gideon snorted and resumed his pacing as James asked, "What happened? I remember fighting Voldemort and him throwing me back."
Remus copied Gideon's impatient snort and said, "You idiot. Lily told us about that, and Llewllyn was liable to have a fit. You threw yourself, empty handed, onto Voldemort. What were you thinking? Merlin, we were worried out of our minds about you, especially since nobody could figure out what curse he hit you with. Merlin, even Lily came around before you did."
"When did you wake up?" James asked, eager as he turned to face Lily.
"About twenty minutes ago," Lily replied. "We've been here for three days. Tomorrow's New Year's Eve."
James' eyes went wide and he stared at her. Then realization sunk in and he gaped at Remus, "Moony, what do you mean, even Lily? What happened?"
Gideon turned, eyes hollowing, away from Lily as she shrank in her bed and snapped, his voice filled with worry and anxiety, "Crutacious curse. For a damn long time too, apparently. Llewllyn said she was lucky, any longer and it would have caused permanent brain damage."
Sirius cursed violently and stood up behind James, grabbing his shoulder reassuringly and saying, "Dammit, Gideon. Prongs, it's alright. You're both fine now, and the bastard's going to pay for what he did."
Looking up at his best friend, James instantly recognized the frantic attempt to pacify him. Knowing that comfort was not Sirius' strong point, nor was it his favourite thing to do, the young man inherently knew something else was wrong. Remus winced, realizing how apparent Sirius' attempt at hiding information was, and Lily's eyes hardened and she, too looked at Sirius. Gideon and Remus cursed Sirius silently, both of them feeling that neither James nor Lily were ready to hear more bad news. With the subconscious knowledge that Sirius would never be able to hide anything from him, James asked slowly, "Padfoot? What else happened? Where's Mum and Dad?"
Sirius flinched and kicked himself before answering, "They attacked your house last night. Death Eaters. Your dad sent Miss Eli home and then he went and saw it."
Lily shot straight up and begged as James' face became an unearthly white, "Miss Eli. Is she okay?"
Eyes going wide, Sirius shook his head frantically, "She's fine. Merlin, she got there after they attacked. But they trashed the whole house."
"Dear Merlin," James moaned, "the whole house. Even the bedrooms?"
Sending James a pointed look through shining eyes, Sirius gritted painfully, "Every room Prongs. Every god dammed room."
Gideon and Lily exchanged glances as James' head fell into his hands and when he spoke his voice came out raw and muffled, "Dammit, they knew. They had to have known. Dammit, Padfoot, how did he find out? How's Mum?"
"I don't know," Sirius said, his face tight. "I haven't seen her. But I saw your dad. He was going to come here too, but I came and told Dai and he stopped him. Merlin, Prongs, he looked like shit. I've never seen him look like that."
"I have," came a strong voice as Dai Llewllyn stepped in and motioned Sirius aside, "more than once. It was harder on him than he'll let on. Almost as hard as it was on Eli. Now James, look up at the ceiling and tell me if you see any spots."
Obedient, partly because it was his godfather speaking and partly because his godfather looked about as bad as his father supposedly did, James looked up and said, "No, nothing. That's a good sign, right?"
"Yes," Remus said automatically, "it means your head's recovered well enough."
Pulling up a chair, Dai sat in front of James and said, "Look, James, I'm going to let you and Lily out today. I normally wouldn't, but I think circumstances say it's okay. If Lily can stand up and not get dizzy I'm sending you two back to your house. Your parents need the distraction. And you'll be going down to the Evans' tomorrow anyway. Lily, stand up and tell me, honestly, if you get dizzy at all. It's elementary first aid, but it works."
Nodding, Lily stood. She was shaky as first, but within seconds Dai's hand grabbed her by the elbow and she regained her balance. She shook her head at him and he smiled and nodded. "Good. Alright, James, you go ahead and get up and I'll take Lily to where her robes are and let you two out. Lily, come with me."
Ignoring Gideon's violent glare, Dai pulled Lily out of the wing and spoke as he stepped through the hospital, "You have no idea about what James and Sirius were talking about. My guess is you want some answers." Dai Llewllyn did not stop for an affirmative, but dove right into an explanation. "About Eli and Andrew. James had a younger sister. Alexandra, after Andrew's mum. When she was born there were some complications with the birth and we knew that she probably wouldn't live to see two.
"It was hard on them both, but they decided to leave it and enjoy the two years with their baby girl. James adored her, being three years older than her. They got lucky. Alexandra lived past two without any serious illness, which really was a miracle in its own right. We were stumped, nobody had any idea how she had, but she had and there seemed to be no complications at all. Andrew would have never admitted it then, but he absolutely adored her. She looked just like Eli, and he showered Alexandra with everything a child could possibly want. James was never jealous, because he showered her just as much as his dad did, and he was too busy fussing over his mother. And there were enough reminders when James was growing up of how much Andrew adored his kids. I think that made it worse, when Alexandra got sick.
"It was dragon pox, perfectly natural. She was four years old then and she caught them in the most natural and mild of cases. James had already had it by the time she was born, so she didn't get it from him. But it blew up in our faces. Within two weeks Alexandra had gone from being a perfectly healthy four year old to having a fever up so high we couldn't even deal with it here."
There was disgust in his voice now, shame at not having been able to do anything. Perhaps because she knew what would happen that Lily felt that same sick feeling at the mere thought of a parents losing a child at so young an age. "She died two days after they brought her here. Of dragon pox. Merlin, Andrew was devastated. James stayed with us for about two weeks before Gwen would even consider taking him back to Eli and Andrew.
"They wanted him there, but they couldn't take it. Andrew's always been controlled, like a robot sometimes even, but he had just shattered, and Eli wasn't in any condition to help him. They recovered quickly, for James' sake, or so he thought. Merlin, it ate at them. James had just turned seven when she died, and well after he turned eight Andrew was still trying to get past it. I'll never see Andrew lose control as easily as he did that year, and even now all you have to do is mention her and he starts to break. He won't, for Eli's sake, because it took so much out of her to deal with it. But it's there.
"They kept her room, perfectly. All the toys, all the pictures, the crib that Andrew and I had made and then enlarged for her. You could find Eli in there easily, and Andrew too at times, and I think that room helped keep them sane. Knowing that she wasn't really gone, their little one. It was James' haven too, when he got upset after she died. And yesterday, the Death Eaters. They trashed the room. Merlin, it was sick. Eli broke down, and Andrew refused to leave her. Gwen was going to stay, but she's too close to Eli. She can't. So you and James are going to have to be there. I just thought you should know."
Lily stared at him in horror as he opened the door and showed her where she could change. Unable to say anything better, Dai shrugged and offered her a pathetic attempt at a smile, "I just thought you should know."
Sirius was right, was Lily's first thought as she stepped after James into his house. The furniture and the physical damage had been fixed, for the most part, but even the air suggested that some deeper ill had been done. Andrew Potter walked in easily and Lily felt the air in her lungs vanish. Again, Sirius had been right. His normally strong face was white and troubled and his hair was tousled. Dark circles were under his eyes, but relief crossed over shadow that haunted his face as he grasped his son firmly and said, "James."
For a moment James clung to his father before saying, "Dai said we could come home. He told us what happened."
Andrew's already white face paled further, but he nodded and turned to Lily. She didn't wait for an invitation, but as she looked at him she thought of her own father, who she adored, and she flung herself into his arms. James had long adjusted to the fact that he, who had his own grief in losing his sister, could never comfort his parents completely. Still, he felt a wave of relief as he watched his father's face change. Lily watched as Andrew nodded curtly and spoke, though there was some colour in his face again, "Your mum's in the kitchen. She's doing better."
James and Lily followed Andrew into the kitchen and before anyone could think, James cried out, "Mum," and flung himself into her arms.
Despite the fact he was a full head taller than her, she held him in the way only a mother could hold their child, and she said softly, "James, darling, you're okay. I was so worried about you. Thank Merlin."
"Are you okay Mum?" James asked gently, looking worriedly at her ghostly white face.
Elizabeth Potter wiped her eyes hastily and managed a weak smile at him, "I'll be fine James. Don't worry; I'll be fine."
Still not satisfied, James nodded slightly and backed up beside Lily as his father swept down and kissed his wife. Andrew's voice was soft, gentle, "Come on Eli. You look like hell."
Allowing herself to be lifted into his arms, she murmured, "You look worse Andrew, I promise."
Pressing another kiss to her hair, Andrew nodded, "I know Elizabeth. But I can't see myself. Let's go now."
James turned to Lily as his parents disappeared. She watched as he began to crumble, and she pulled him into the sitting room, sitting beside him on the couch.
Tears streaked his face and he buried his face in her neck, sobbing helplessly. When he had finally composed himself, slightly, he looked at her and said, "She was my sister, Lily. I loved her; she was brilliant. She was already doing wandless magic at three, she was so talented. She could have been anything. And she died. For no reason, she just died."
Feeling a horrible sense of sadness deep within her, Lily wrapped her arms around him, tears sliding over her cheeks for his loss, for his parents' loss. She stroked his messy hair as he lay in her lap, stretched across the couch as he clung to her for comfort. Tears streaked her own cheeks, and she watched as he fell easily, quickly, tiredly, asleep. Moving so that she lay in his arms, she rested her head against his chest, her heart pounding in her own. She felt herself calm as his arms moved around her, his head against her hair, and his voice a sleepy, sad murmur, "Lily. I love you."
Reaching up and clutching him as she felt tears fall over her cheeks, she nodded into his chest and closed her eyes, falling asleep with his scent as she replied softly, "I love you too James."
So they slept, curled in each other's arm so tenderly that the next morning Andrew Potter would walk in and walk out, overcome at the mere sight.
It had been over a week. James was again composed, after having stayed four days at Lily's house, and his parents were back to normal, however normal they ever were. They sat together now, Gideon, Marlene, Sirius, James, and Lily, and they waited for Remus. Peter was meeting them on the platform the next morning, and Remus was due to arrive soon. Lily felt her eyes widen as he stepped into their line of vision, a beautiful, radiant, young woman with him, shoving him lightly and saying, "You stupid little boy. Where would you get an idea like that?"
Laughing easily, Remus winked and said, "From Dad. He's the one who comes up with these sort of things."
"Your father is a senseless male. And he's old."
Raising an eyebrow as he glanced sideways at the woman who seemed hardly in her thirties, he said, "I'm going to tell him you said that."
"And then he'll glare at me. Nothing that hasn't happened before darling," she beamed.
He laughed again, and the five sitting at the table wondered what occasion had him so light and carefree. Casting another sideways glance at the woman, Remus demanded, "Aren't you supposed to be resting? I thought you were sick."
"Me? Sick? Never been, not a day in my life."
Turning to face her, he laughed, "Yes you have! You could hardly get out of bed three days ago. I'd know, I was the one dragging food up to you. Dad said you should stay in bed."
Sniffing playfully, she pretended to be shunned as she said, "Oh, the horrors! He denies my healthiness! I'm fine Remus. And your father's a barmy old coot. I gave up listening to him years ago."
"You never listened to him," Remus pointed out, chuckling as she sighed and leaned against him.
"I was never too bright," she teased, but then straightened and spoke more seriously. "I need to get something for your father, and then I'm going home. But you're not one to talk. I don't want to hear about you and the boys running around playing a prank two nights before the full moon again. I have no problem coming and bringing you home."
Grinning, Remus nodded, knowing that her threats were idle and only meant to advise him. "Alright. Now go home Mum. For all you know it might be a baby that's getting you all riled up."
"Mum?" Lily mouthed, wide eyed with the shock that this woman, who couldn't have been fifteen years their senior, was Remus' mother. James shushed her and listened as she reached up and hugged Remus.
Voice muffled, she said, "Don't be silly Remus. We tried that once, and the baby turned around and said we were stupid for even trying. Besides, no baby could ever live up to you. Now go and have fun. And do try to stay out of trouble."
Kissing her on the cheek, Remus grinned cheekily and laughed, "Mum, we always stay out of trouble. We make it for everyone else."
Laughing, the woman kissed him and said, "If you say so. See you soon dear. I love you."
"Love you too Mum," Remus said easily, the simplicity of the statement, the truth in it dwarfing the levels of passion and teenage-level love that the eavesdroppers understood so well. Reaching up, the woman kissed him again quickly and left, turning back and waving as Remus said, "See you soon."
Without a trace of embarrassment, as many boys would have felt after having publicly exposed being on such good terms with their mother, Remus turned and waved at them, sliding into a chair beside them easily. Sirius grinned at him and said, "She's still pale. Getting better though?"
"Not really," Remus said, shrugging. "She just refuses to admit it. She'll be fine, of course, but Dad's been beating himself because she's so maddening."
"Remus!" Marlene chastised, smacking him for being rude. "That's your mother you're talking about like that!"
"And I love her to death," the boy grinned, ignoring the chiding element of her statement, "but she's good at trying people's sanity. That's why my dad married her. Because she makes people forget themselves. He's about to strangle her because she's on such bad terms with the Ministry right now."
"Mum mentioned that," Marlene said, leaning back. She looked quickly at Gideon, who had just placed his head on her shoulder, before asking, "What did she do this time?"
Shrugging, Remus said, "Same thing as before. Doing everything in her power to keep them from passing the new bill. She's always had an affinity for not entirely human intellectuals. I think that's why I like her."
Easing himself back in his chair, Sirius laughed, "Isn't that why we all like her Moony? Merlin, she's great."
"Believe me Padfoot, I know," Remus replied with a chuckle. "It's not everyone who can help a five-year old me and manage to hook my dad in the process."
James snorted into his butterbeer and nodded, "Merlin, Moony, it takes a great woman to drag your dad away from his work. And even with your mum he still kicks and screams about it."
Grinning, Remus shrugged and began to laugh as Lily said smoothly, her voice laced with cynicism and crude humour, "And I'm guessing you get your diligence from him."
It was Gideon who snorted this time, and Marlene who smacked him for being rude. All five of the kids erupted in laughter as Elizabeth Potter walked by, slapping her husband soundly, in exactly the same manner, and snapping, "Overbearing jerk."
Glaring, Andrew Potter snapped back, "Arrogant pig."
"Inhuman idiot."
"Selfish snob."
"Bossy brat."
"Impatient imbecile."
Laughing sarcastically, Elizabeth Potter tossed her hair with every trace of her teenage arrogance. "I was always smarter than you."
Mocking her while he made a face, Andrew retorted, "Dammit, her ego's expanding again. Your head's going to knock me over it's so bloated."
"At least mine's pretty. More than you can say."
"If you weren't a woman I'd have hit you by now."
Whipping around, she raised an eyebrow and taunted, "You always say that. And you hit Gwen every time you see her. You're just scared because you know I'd beat you."
"Oh yeah?" The taunt was an immature one that had James snickering at his parents' child-like bickering. "Well who's the Auror here?"
"Aurors are stupid. They're all stupid muscle men with not enough brains to become Healers."
Arching an eyebrow, Andrew asked, "Are you saying that Dai's smarter than me?"
Elizabeth began to laugh, helplessly, and she shook her head, "Dear Merlin, no. Oh, Andrew, I was arguing with you and then you had to ruin it."
"Glad to know I'm of service to you."
She noticed that he had stiffened slightly, and she linked her arm in his and smiled up at him, "I love you Andrew."
"I know," he said mildly, and she began to laugh.
"And you called me arrogant?"
"Well, you are," Andrew grinned down at her now, and then stopped in horror. "Dammit, Eli, we're going in the other direction now. I'm not having my son watching me."
Laughing, Elizabeth turned and waved at the kids before saying, "Alright then. You go talk to Dai and I'll meet you there. But first I want to check on Rhea. She's been out of sorts. I think she's pregnant again and doesn't want to get her hopes up."
"I don't blame her," Andrew said softly, steering her away from the kids, who all heard every word. "The last one nearly killed her. Not that they'd let Remus in on that. And besides, having a werewolf as a son isn't exactly easy, and she likes being able to focus all her attention on him."
Shrugging, she kissed her husband quickly, "Don't talk like that Andrew. It's not Remus that drains her, it's his father. Lupin loves her too much not to, and can't stand her too much to avoid it. Dai's ready to strangle the man. His rant's the same as always, 'Rhea's a healer, she can take care of herself,' but I don't listen to him. They did wonderfully with Remus, especially with the trials they had to deal with in the beginning."
Rolling his eyes as he ruffled Elizabeth's hair, he said, "She was fourteen when Remus was born. Any man marrying a woman sixteen years his junior when he has a five-year-old boy running around the house is going to have a hard time of it, though it won't be quite as hard as the woman he's marrying. Still, they did well. Much better than most expected. Now you go and check on her and I'll see you at Dai's later."
Lily turned to Remus, stunned into silence, and felt even more surprised when she saw him laughing with Sirius. James grinned at her and explained in a whisper, "Not everyone here has the ideal family like ours Lily. You wonder why Remus and Sirius get along so much better than they should? They're the oddballs out in the family department. But Remus is close to his parents, and nobody who knows them would even begin to doubt that his mum loves him like her own. We all love her like our own mums, even if she isn't that much older than us."
School had juststarted. And already Lily was worrying about having time to study for her N.E.W.T.S. So much that Remus had to yell at her for about five minutes before getting her out of "worry-mode" enough to conjure a patronus. "If you worry about something else while your fighting, you're never going to be able to duel properly! Focus, Lily!"
"So says the one who spent over an hour pacing the common room because his mum's having a baby!" Lily retorted sharply.
"LILY!" Remus roared, glaring at her. "That wasn't when I'm supposed to be fighting a dementor! Now concentrate!"
James found it amusing, watching his girlfriend yelling at his normally calm and composed friend, who was yelling back even louder. Finally they stopped, and Lily rolled her eyes and shot death glares at Remus for the rest of the hour they were working. And as they left, the three of them, as it often was this year, the two were engaged, once again, in a glaring contest. No longer amused, James threw his hands in the air and exclaimed, "Oh, for Merlin's sake you two! Moony, you ever dare to comment on how bad Lily and I were before this year and I'll kill you! Stop bickering! It's driving me insane!"
Remus snorted and Lily looked appalled. Moving to the other side of James, so that he now separated them, Lily took his hand and continued in silence. James began to laugh, and said thoughtfully, "Now, if this really works that well, I'll have to do it more often. Lilyflower, you're quiet now."
Glaring up at him, Lily stuck her tongue out and leaned against him briefly. With a satisfied grin, James went to ruffle her hair before freezing. Gideon was standing in front of the portrait hole, staring at them all through haunted eyes. Breaking away from James, Lily ran over to him and grasped his hands, asking worriedly, "Gideon, what happened? Are you okay?"
Burying his face in her hair, his voice was more revealing than James or Remus had ever heard, "Dear Merlin, Lily. They hurt her. They hurt her."
Eyes going wide with fear, Lily asked slowly, "Who hurt Marlene? Gideon, oh, come inside. Don't stay out here."
James and Remus rushed after Lily and Gideon into the common room, straight towards where Sirius and Peter sat in the corner, talking and laughing. Gideon's voice was bitter now, and he straightened. His eyes glinted dangerously and his figure was imposing, "She's in the hospital wing, Lilyflower. Because of those dammed Slytherin bastards."
Squeezing his hands, Lily asked worriedly, "Gideon, look at me. What happened?"
Against at a loss, he held her to him tightly and said, "I don't know. I didn't see it all. I heard her, and it was Lestrange, Rosier, and Black. Merlin, I'll kill them."
Sirius' face had gone white at the mention of his cousin, but Lily gripped both Gideon's hands and looked up at him, her voice hard, "Gideon, stop it. She's going to be fine. Don't you look away from me Gideon Prewett! She's going to be fine. Now get upstairs and sleep. We'll go down to the hospital wing first thing tomorrow morning. Now go Prewett."
Pressing a kiss to her hair, he said gruffly, "If any of them laid a hand on her, I will rip their throats out and worry about the consequences later. Goodnight Lilyflower."
With a fond smile, Lily pushed him gently towards the stairs and said, "I know. 'Night Gid."
Remus looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. She sank onto the couch between him and James and buried her face in her hands. Voice muffled, she said, "I want to go back to Patronus lessons."
Thinking of how frustrated she had been with them earlier, Remus reached over and placed a hand gently on her shoulder, saying, "Are you okay?"
She nodded into her hands and spoke, her voice muffled, "I'm fine. Marlene's the one in the hospital wing."
James placed a hand on the small of her back, rubbing it reassuringly. Standing, Sirius motioned for Peter to follow him. "Hey, I'm going to go upstairs and make sure Prewett doesn't destroy anything. Come on Wormtail. You coming Moony?"
Standing, Remus nodded and followed the two up to his dormitory. Lily stood and James followed her example, drawing her into his arms and placing his cheek on her hair, "It's okay Lily. We have Patronus lessons once a week, that's enough."
"No," Lily said, shaking her head. "I want to go back James. Everything's okay there."
Everything's okay there. The words rang through James' head, and he pressed a tender kiss to her hair, shaking his head, "No, Lily. Everything's okay now. You don't need a patronus, I'm here. I'm here, Lily."
Patronus lessons, Lily thought, the words sinking in with a strange vitality that made her cling even tighter to James, is going to be my saviour. It's going to keep James busy.
Patronus lessons, James thought, realizing what he had said with a sinking feeling that made him hold Lily even closer, is going to be my best friend. It's going to keep Lily happy.
A/N - Hope you liked it! And, please REVIEW! Yes, that little button that makes everyone happy... Thanks tons!
