Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling is a beast.
There was about ten seconds of just impermeable silence as I stood there, rooted to the ground in shock. And then I regained my sense of being, and I bent down to, so we were face to face, eye to eye, heart to heart.
"Yes." I whispered. "I will." And then his smile was on his face, that perfect, slightly cocked smile, and he was looking at me with such love in his eyes that the whole crowd around us disappeared, and it was just us two, as it would be forever more. He reached for my hand and I let him take it, not even paying attention to the pretty ring he put on my finger, I couldn't take my eyes away from his face. And then he was kissing me, like no kiss ever before, because we now belonged to each other and no one else. My first kiss would now be my last, and that was perfectly okay with me.
Wolf whistles started erupting around us, and then a tremendous cheer rang out through the crowd and we resurfaced from each other, grasping hands. It was then that I looked down at the ring on my finger and couldn't help but gasp. It wasn't pretty, it was beautiful. A thin, silver band, with one diamond set in the middle, and smaller diamonds all around it. "It's beautiful." I said, still looking at James.
"It was the ring my father proposed to my mother with." he said simply, and I could tell he was perfectly content, staring at me, staring at him. I smiled up at him and he caught my lips with his in a gentle kiss. We were interrupted by a loud voice.
"It's about bloody time!" followed by a bark like laugh and I turned around to see Sirius. He was grinning broadly and came over to us, clapping James on his back before turning to me and kissing me on the cheek. And then the girls were all there, squealing and hugging me. Remus was also there and gave me a kiss just as Sirius had. Peter was mysteriously absent, but who knew where he was these days anyway. And then Dumbledore was magically there in front of us.
"Congratulations." he said, with a slight twinkle in his eye. And then he was gone, making me even more confused.
McGonagall's stern voice broke out from all the noise. "I know that this is very exciting, but we do need to get back up to the castle for the feast and I'm sure most of you need to back." She had a smile on her face though, so I could tell she was happy for us too, and was trying not to show it.
We walked hand in hand back to the castle, and without a word went down the right passageways to get to our dorm. Even before I had closed the door, his lips were on mine, sending us crashing to the floor, a tangle of arms and legs. These kisses were different also, because we knew we now had all the time in the world for this, so they were slow, yet filled with passion and love. After a very long while, we just laid there, staring at the fire James had created shortly after we had come in. Laying on the carpet, in each others arms, just staring at the flames. James was tracing patterns on my arms, causing the hair to raise and Goosebumps to form.
"I love you." he whispered and kissed my hair, burying his face in it. I reached my hand up to stroke his face.
"I love you too." I replied, looking up at him, keeping my hand on his face, which he then grabbed with his other hand and pulled it to his lips, and kissed it too. It was probably the sweetest thing I've ever seen, and he was all mine.
"Let's skip dinner, ok?" he said, looking at me intently that all I wanted to do was sink in them and stay there forever.
"We can't! It's the last feast we'll ever go to. Come on." I said, and stood up, yanking him up with me.
"fine." he huffed, but then smiled at me, already forgiven. We walked down holding hands, and when we walked in there was a slight pause as the noise ceased around us, and then cheers erupted around us and we smiled slightly before making our way to our seats. The cheering ended when we sat down and I could see Hagrid blowing his nose on his tablecloth sized handkerchief. We ate slowly, savoring the goodness of the meal and recounting memories of the past seven years.
"Do you remember that prank back in third year when we turned all the waters in the showers to back your hair turn blue? Everyone walked around with blue hair for weeks!" Sirius said and Remus and James howled with laughter.
"I remember that. It took ages to get it off! Even Dumbledore had it in his beard for weeks." Emma said laughing at the memory.
"What about when you dated that troll Danny Becker because you didn't know how to reject him?" Mary said to Alice who turned beet red.
"He was so sweet, but he was atrocious. I felt so bad when I told him I wasn't interested, but that was the worst first date of my life." Alice responded while we all laughed at her expression.
"Well I have to say though," Sirius said, pausing dramatically, "It think, even after all of our pranks, James takes the thing that will be remembered most, the lovely proposal at graduation. Imagine the humiliation if she had said no!" he clutched his heart and pretended to faint, causing him to accidentally fall off the bench, making us all burst out laughing, clutching our sides. He resurfaced from the floor laughing too. Once we had calmed down enough, we kept recounted stories until my jaw was sore from talking so much. It was then that Dumbledore cleared his throat and called for attention.
"Another year has gone past, more memories to keep. I am sad to see it go, especially the graduating class, but alas, things always have to end. I hope most of you will at least try to keep in touch. Returning students, I hope you have a good break, and please try not to forget everything. And now for the house cup. Hufflepuff is in fourth with 383. Gryffindor is in third with 402. Ravenclaw is second with 413, and Slytherin comes in first with 417." Thunderous applause rang out from the Ravenclaw and Slytherin sections and groans issued from the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff sections. "Yes, well done, well done. One more thing before we are done here. I would like you all to remember this. Remember who you are fighting against. Thank you, goodnight." Puzzled looks issued from that, but we got up without comment. When James and I reached the entrance hall however, someone's arm was blocking my path.
"Excuse me." I said patiently trying to get through, but the person stepped out from the shadows to face me, and I looked into the sallow face of Severus Snape. Before I could say a word, Sirius and James both closed in front of me, shadowing my view from Snape. They seemed to be saying something, though it just sounded like low hisses.
"Please, I just want to talk to her." Severus was pleading with him, and I could just picture his pitiful expression, and the life-long best friend in me still wanted to comfort him, so I shoved my way through the two men blocking my view.
"It's all right, I can talk to him." I said bravely, though not meeting his eyes. Sirius looked puzzled, but James looked mortified.
"Lily, you can't talk to him! What are you thinking?" he seemed scared for me, which made me feel safe, and I placed his hand on my cheek.
"I'll be fine." I said, and kissed his hand. Then I looked at Severus, whose emotions were hidden by his black eyes. "What do you want?"
"I'd like to speak to you alone, if you don't mind." he said, eyeing my two "bodyguards" apprehensively.
"Ok, Sirius, James, please excuse us for a second." they nodded, though James seemed to be in pain by doing so. Severus and I walked a little down the corridor and stopped a reasonably distance away, close enough to see, but far enough away that they would not hear us.
His eyes melted once he was just with me, and they filled with emotion. Hurt, anger, doubt, mixed with envy, pain, and suffering. I had to look away.
"Lily, what can you possibly be thinking? How can you marry him? This isn't right. You can't marry him." he said, pleading with me. I looked at him with no emotion and he flinched.
"What I'm thinking is that I'm in love with him. And who are you to tell me what I can and can't do Snape? We're not best friends anymore. We're not even friends." The last comment made him flinch also.
"I know that Lily, but just know that everything, the Mudblood, the cuts, was a mistake. You don't understand how he can control.." but he trailed off, seeming to be unable to speak.
"Seems like your little master has you under a confidentiality spell. Shame. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to-" but he cut me off by pushing me against the wall. "Let me go!" I said angrily, unable to get to my wand, his hands around my wrists.
"Please Lily. Don't marry him. Don't. You have another option. Any other option. Just don't marry him." he said, still pleading with me, but my wrists were throbbing, he was squeezing me too tight, and he was pushing me at an angle that was making it hard to breath.
"James!" I screamed loudly, struggling to get his attention. And then the wait was off of me and Severus was slammed into the wall opposite of me.
"HOW DARE YOU TOUCH HER!" James shouted, pushing him into the wall again roughly, holding him by the collar. He continued to shout incoherent things at Severus, while I assessed my damages. My wrists felt slightly swollen, but were nevertheless fine. My throat hurt slightly, and I was sure I'd have bruises in the morning. So I brought my focus to the two people in front of me, and was shocked to see James reaching back to bring his fist on Severus's face.
"NO!" I screamed, which caused James to drop his fist and turn around. I reached for him and he pulled me in his arms. "Don't hurt him. He's not worth it."
"Ok, for you Lily." and then he turned to Severus. "If you ever touch her again, I will triple it on your worthless skin you hear me? Just be glad she was here to stop me." he said with a voice that gave me the chills.
He ushered me away quickly, and I turned back towards my childhood best friend. He was coughing and clutching his throat. But he did manage to look up at me for one last time and looked straight into my eyes, and I saw the one word that could turn my blood even more cold than it was. Please. Never did I think that would be the last time I would ever see him.
James and I made it back quickly to our common room, where I sank automatically on to the armchair and James made a fire spring out quickly. He walked up the stairs quickly without telling me what he was going to do. I sat there for a while, before he came down to me. He picked me up bridal style without a word and led me to the bathroom, where the tub was filled and I could smell lavender coming from the smoke coming out in spirals from the water. He tore off my robes, my socks, then my shoes and stockings. He then unbuttoned my shirt, so slowly, and slid it off, leaving me in just my bra and skirt. He then slipped his own shirt off, revealing his smooth chest, and slipped off his nice pants, leaving him in just his boxers. He then kissed me gently and slid off my skirt. And then, still kissing me, lowered me slowly into the steaming water, following me in deeper and deeper. He kissed me slowly, deeply, and the water swirled around us innocently, bubbles brewing around us, the lavender smell covering us everywhere. And all my thoughts were gone, it was just James, because he was the only real thing here, the only real thing. And then, because I was such a nerd, I laughed and broke away. He looked at me like I had gone slightly crazy.
"Did you seriously just laugh? I guess you're over what happened back there." he said, still puzzled but pulled me on his lap, where I nestled into his neck.
"No, it's not that. It's just I'm having a complete nerd moment. You know Plato right? The renowned writer?"
"Yes, he was actually a wizard, though most of the Muggles just assumed he was a complete genius." he said, but I could tell he was still confused.
"Well, in my head just then, I just compared you to his story, The Cave. Have you heard of it?" I said, staring up at him.
"Yes I think so. The levels of knowledge being represented first by the shadows, then the fire, then the real things, then the sun, right?" he confirmed.
"Yes. It's just, in my head, I was just thinking about how you're the only real thing I have, how you're the realest thing I know, and it's basically like I'm on the level of knowledge you know? You're my realest thing, you're my sun because you make everything else real. You're the highest level of knowledge that I can reach." I explained, hoping I didn't sound so nerdy.
"I'm seriously the realest thing you know?" he asked, the confusion in his eyes melting away to be replaced by passion.
"Yes." I mumbled, embarrassed, not meeting his eyes. He pulled my chin up so I was forced to look into his eyes. And then he bent down, ever so slowly and teasingly went over my lips with his, brushing ever so slightly.
"I love you." he whispered, lips against mine and then we were kissing again, kissing so passionately and he was pulling me deeper and deeper into the water, and into him, and we shared our first underwater kiss, which left me choking and him laughing. But that was over quickly and we continued to explore each other's mouth, while my hands roamed over his back and chest, feeling the rock hard abs there, yet the smooth skin that covered the rest of him.
"You know," I whispered pulling away. "When we get older, you better not go bald or get fat. I might just have to divorce you."
He grinned into my hair. "You better do the same Miss Evans." We got out soon after that and went to his bedroom, wrapping up in towels along the way. Without me even having to ask he threw me a t-shirt and boxers.
"Thanks. They always smell so much better than my clothes." I said, inhaling deeply before pulling off my bra, with my back turned, and shoving his shirt on.
"I would beg to differ. You smell bloody fantastic. But lucky for me, I get to sleep with you tonight, and I'll be inhaling your smell all night long." Seeing the expression on my face he quickly hurried to explain. "I meant literally sleep. I told you, we're doing this the right way."
I ran into his arms and jumped onto him, wrapping my legs around his waist and burying my head into his neck. "I love you." I whispered again.
"As do I." He said, and carried me to the bed, where he threw me down with a bang, causing me to bounce slightly on the bed, making me giggle. He followed suit, throwing himself down dramatically.
We got under the covers quickly, and he pulled me to him, fitting himself perfectly around me and I nestled myself closer to him, wondering how I never realized we fit so perfectly together. I fell asleep quickly, barely needing the covers because James was so warm. I was in my favorite spot in the world, and content knowing that that was where I would stay forevermore.
A/N: i'm so sorry i took so long to update! it's just school started and that was completely hectic. But i hope you enjoyed this chapter! I have some review answers for you all!
loslate: thanks for reviewing first! thanks i try (:
ROFLSHVUAKOMAIL: i love your name
and for all the rest that reviewed, thank you so much! I appreciate it, and please keep them coming!
with love,
Tibby09296