"Lils? You alright, Lils?" James asked, sliding down the wall to sit next to her, still wearing his robes from the game against Ravenclaw.

She sighed, "Fine."

"You didn't come to the match."

"I watched from the window." She pointed a finger towards the one in the Common Room, up high enough that the players were merely dots on the Castle's wide grounds, grass turned brown by the winter's cold. "You all won."

"You didn't come, though."

"No, James, I didn't."

"How come?"

"Because I was tired, alright?"

"No, it's not alright, Lils. At least tell me what's wrong..." He put a hand on her shoulder.

"Nothing's wrong! I wanted to be alone's all."

"Damnit, Lily! You always wanna be alone."

She looked up at him, "And is that such a bad thing?"

"Yes! You're my girlfriend, Lils, can't you spare a second of your time?"

"Merlin, we had breakfast together just this morning!"

"That hardly counts," He snorted, "You barely said a word to me, had to talk with that bird MacDonald."

"She's nice..."

"But she's not you, Lily. I wanna to talk with you."

"Cor then, must I devote all my time to my bloody boyfriend?"

"Lils..." He wrapped an arm around her, "Please tell me what's wrong. You didn't used to be like this!"

"I'm fine, James." Lily's voice was devoid of any emotion. "Now leave me alone..."

"Something's wrong-"

"No, it isn't."

"But we can work through it, whatever it is... Please talk to me, Lils."

"Leave me alone."

"Talk to me." He pressed,

"N-No..." And then, to his absolute horror, she burst into tears.

"Merlin, Lils, I didn't mean to-to..." James trailed off, not sure what to do. "Come here."

He pulled her towards him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I-I'm sorry...I didn't mean it, any of it!" Though what it was, he wasn't entirely sure.

"I know you didn't, Lils. It's alright..."

"N-No it isn't! Nothing is!"

"Shh... You can tell me, sweetheart."

"No I can't!"

"Why not?"

She cried louder.

"I-I wanna be alone..."

The offer was tempting but he couldn't let her go, not again.

"Love..."

"Leave me alone! I wanna be-" She hiccuped, "alone."

"You can tell me anything, Lily. I know you-"

"Leave me alone!" This time she screamed it, though there was no one else in the Common Room, strange in itself. "Alone-Alone-Leave me alone, damnit!"

"I can't do that, Lils, not when-"

"When what? I wouldn't be like anything if you w-weren't here!"

"That's not-"

"Yes it is!" She screeched, cheeks blotchy from crying.

"Alright then, what've I done?" He crossed his arms, looking at her. It was the first time he'd seen her this upset, even in the last month or two, and he wanted answers. Nothing she could do, short of selling someone to You-Know-Who, could be as bad as what she was making this out to be. Honestly...

"Get out of here, James, get out!"

"I will not get out." He made air quites around the words.

"GET OUT!"

"NO!"

Lily stood up, walking towards the Girl's Dormitory "F-Fine!"

"Lils..." He grabbed her around the waist then, pulling her tight up against him so he could rest his chin on the top of her head. It had been awhile since the two of them were this close and he wanted to take advantage of it, even if it was for all the wrong reasons.

"You let me go, James Potter!"

"No."

"Please, James, let me go..." She shook in his arms.

"Talk to me, Lils."

"Leave me alone...It's not that hard to do."

"But I love you, Lily... You and only you." He kissed her on the forehead, again and again.

"W-well, I don't love you." But it was half-hearted

"Sure you do." He told her. "You'll move in with me after school; marry me and have beautiful children together..."

Her voice held tremors, "I don't love you..."

"Yes, you do."

"NO, I DON'T." She tried pushing him back against the banister, breathing hard from the effort.

"You do, Lils. You have to..."

"But I don't, damnit!"

"Don't lie to me, Lily..." His voice was sharp.

"I'm n-not lying!" But she sank back to the floor, hiding her face in her hands. "But please, leave me alone..."