"No, no, absolutely not". Lily fought as she snatched away the bottle from Sirius. She had a bad enough day without having to fight with Sirius.

"Aw. Come on, Red."

"Sirius. Black.", she warned, "If you call me that one more time, I will hex you into the next dimension"

Sirius grinned at her cheekily.

"Git" she muttered, grinding her teeth.

"Remus!", Sirius yelled for the entire tower to hear, "Get down here".

Remus came out of the dorm, rubbing his eyes. He took one look at Sirius and the whiskey bottle, and turned right back to the dorm.

Lily was relieved. She didn't want to argue with Remus, and she certainly didn't want Sirius giving fourth and fifth years free access to alcohol.

"Come on, Lils", Marlene nudged her.

"Oh, don't you start too, I thought you were on my side".

"I am," Marlene replied indignantly, "We all had a hard day today, go on", she wiggled her eyebrows, "I know you want to".

Lily laughed at Marlene, Sirius looked amused.

"I can just take the next bottle, you know?", he said, reaching for another one.

Lily eyed him warily. There was no way she could stop him. They did have a crappy day, and they all needed a break.

"Only the sixth and seventh years get the firewhiskey, and then we get as wasted as you want," she sighed.

"We?", Sirus teased her. Lily rolled her eyes.

Prefects weren't supposed to go around issuing alcohol. But considering how professor Jerkins had acted today, she didn't really care to follow the rules. If teachers could issue detentions because they felt like it, then she could drink whenever she felt like it.

She kept a close eye on the bottles, but it didn't seem like anyone wanted to drink fire whisky on a Wednesday night. They were all too focused on the homework and revision for the exams. All the younger students had gone to bed. Cassandra, Emmilene and a few other fifth years were near the window working on their transfiguration essays. Mary and some of the other seventh years were huddled near the table.

She let out a huge sigh and took a swig of firewhiskey. But somehow, instead of drowning out the sorrows, she seemed to be drowning in them. The alcohol just seemed to amplify the bad parts. News about the attacks, deaths in the village, werewolves imprisoned, professors fighting between themselves and multiple fights with the Slytherins all in one day.

The worst part was, it wasn't going to stop today. Things were getting worse, and she badly needed these moments to escape from the reality of it all. And she knew it wasn't just her. Alice's brothers were fighting for the order, Marlene's parents were healing hundreds of people at mungo's and James's parents were still struggling for the order, years after their retirement. They all had their family fighting every day, sacrificing their lives to protect others. And she knew deep inside that she would do the same to protect her friends. She'd do it without a second thought. Just like they would too.

Suddenly her eyes filled with tears. It broke her heart to imagine losing even one of them. She loved them all dearly, and they meant the world to her. She blinked away her tears and looked for them. Peter had headed upstairs; Marlene was curled up in the armchair; Sirius was out cold from the firewhiskey, his body half on the couch and half on the floor, and James was staring into the fireplace, lost in thought.

"James?"

He looked with a sad smile. It broke her heart to see him like this.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing" he whispered with a smile.

"Any idea where Dorcas and Alice are?"

"I think they went to bed after Sirius started snoring", he chuckled.

Lily climbed down from the armrest and sat down near James. No matter how well he hid it, she knew it worried him. Worried him to think about his parents. His eyes would sometimes become dark and lost when he was mulling over their letters. And it pained her to no end that his eyes would never twinkle again. It was heartbreaking to see him so distraught and never be able to do anything about it.

she laced her fingers into his, moving closer to him.

"You okay, lily?"

"Yeah, I am. What about you?"

"I think so." He sighed.

"They're going to be okay, James." She squeezed his hand.

"I know, I can't do anything worrying about them. But it's so hard."

"I know. I know," she smiled sadly, resting her head on his shoulder. James put his arm around her and pulled her close, and she snuggled up next to him.

"Sometimes I dont know what I would do, if I lost any of you," she said shivering at the thought.

"We're not going anywhere, Lils."

"You promise?", she asked doe-eyed.

"Even if I do, I'll come back to haunt you", he chuckled.

"Don't you dare", she said shaking her head.

"you're not going anywhere, James Potter," she shot him a look, "not without me."

James chuckled, squeezing her shoulder as he rested his head on top of hers. She closed her eyes and moved closer to him. They sat there in comfortable silence. Both of them lost in their thoughts. It was comforting to be sad together, to know that there is a hand holding you when all seems lost. They were in the middle of a war and everything seemed to be falling apart. And these moments of love were what held them together, gave them support, and made space for calm in midst of the chaos.

These moments didn't last forever, reality and chaos would crash on her when she woke up, and so would the hangover. But right now, snuggling close to James, warm against the April breeze, she felt at peace. And for the first time in so many days, she felt relieved...