Name: Lily and Prongs; aka Lily

House: Gryffindor

Week: three

Task: chose one of the given 8 prompt tables and use at least 5 of the 7 words

Prompts: outside, letters, something is missing, step, survey, dancing, slope (all used)

Title: I wish I could make it last longer

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter universe!

beta- read by: SiriusMarauderFan (thank you, again ^^)

I wish I could make it last longer

When, in three days, this school year was over, everything would be different. When this school year was over, he would probably still desperately wait for his usual Hogwarts letter that listed all the books needed for the upcoming term. He would probably still desperately wait for September 1st to come – until he would realize that there wouldn't be any more Hogwarts letters, and September 1st would be no different than August 31st and September 2nd.

Despite the start of a new chapter of his life, there was something else that made James Potter feel so excited about the summer: The Quidditch World Cup in Belgium. The best about it was that he, James, had convinced his girlfriend to accompany him to the final match.

At first, she had refused to come with him because, as she had said, there was no point in watching a game of Quidditch with teams playing each other you didn't actually support. But James had convinced her that it was the event itself that made it all so special and worth watching. The two best Quidditch teams of the world – who would want to miss that?

James bringing Lily to like his favourite sports was another step in the right direction – closer together. He didn't want to change her but Quidditch was an important part of his life and it was his life he wanted to share with the girl he loved.

So he hoped that he would be able to make Lily like the sport a bit more than she used to like it. She never disliked it, but Lily could probably live without Quidditch. He could never live without it. It would always feel as if something was missing. James Potter without the famous fast sport on broomsticks in his life would be like a chocolate cake without chocolate, a lion without teeth, a sweet lemon, socks that never started to smell even if you were wearing them for days and weeks, a... to get to the heart of it: impossible.

So... now that Lily was definitely going to be with him at the match, the only question that needed to be answered was 'What about Sirius?' James wanted to spend time with his girlfriend, and he wanted to have time to show her how such big events worked in the wizarding world. With all the security arrangements concerning the Statute of Secrecy, and how all the people found a place to sleep.

The only problem was, he also wanted to enjoy the World Cup together with his best mate. Just like four years previously. The Potter family and Sirius Black had been camping at a hillside in Portugal for a week. And although they had a rather large tent, the two of them preferred to sleep outside because they had been very lucky with the weather and they just felt like doing it.

They also had 'just felt like it' when they had been running downhill one of the paths that were marked with a large sign

STEEP SLOPE – DO NOT RUN.

To them, this was an overstatement. After all, there was a path that lead downwards!

James grinned by the thought of it. He and Sirius had done a lot of things that were forbidden by signs. Or school rules. They either just ignored them because they didn't take them serious or didn't think them important enough to be followed, or they broke them on purpose to show that they could.

Thanks to his inherited Invisibility cloak and their most precious invention – the Marauder's Map – they often got away with it. But not always. They also had ended up in detentions rather frequently. Or in accidents, as on said day while running downhill where you really shouldn't. Fortunately, nothing too serious had happened to them.

They were usually lucky quite often in this kind of situation, too. If someone ever conducted a survey, they would easily become top of the list, 'The luckiest students to ever pass through Hogwarts'. Three days and they were able to actually say that they had passed though Hogwarts. Hopefully they had (though they were absolutely sure about it!). They were going to receive their N.E.W.T. results later in July.

Only two days left until the ball. This was another thing to worry about. James may have had some lessons but these lessons didn't make him a good dancer. In fact, he was still lousy – and therefore a little worried that Lily insisted on dancing with him. Dancing was okay, as long as they were alone. But embarrassing himself in front of the whole school? That was different. Still, James would risk it. Lily loved dancing, and he dancing with her made her happy, and a happy Lily made James happy.

After the ball, their schooltime was finally going to end. There were only three days left. Three days! If he was honest with himself, James didn't really want to leave. Never again coming back to the castle in autumn? Never again sneaking out at night with his fellow Marauders? Never again spending hours just sitting by the lake with Lily, watching the Giant Squid? And – the worst of it all – never again playing Quidditch for the house team?

Then, there was the question what to do with his life now. Would he have to make important decisions? Attend the Auror Academy, like he and Sirius had told McGonagall in their fifth year, or not? If yes: how much time would he have to actually see Lily? If no: did he have alternate ideas for his future?

These were thoughts that scared James. He was not known to be scared easily. After all, there were reasons why he had been sorted into Gryffindor. Nevertheless, this was different. This - well, this was life. The actual life, not a scheduled, easy life of a student, any more.

He walked downstairs into the entrance hall, heading for dinner. This was one of the very counted last times it was ever going to be like this.

Why couldn't you just make the things you liked last at least a little while longer?