Here's a little bit of Jily action and a little bit of melodrama for your Monday.

After writing chapter 5, I realized I didn't want to rush the "pining" stage of their relationship so much, so despite the romance ramping up, I'm trying to stretch the yearning period out a bit.

It would have been helpful to know when and where James had expected to meet her. Despite hours of patrolling, she spent every second of it waiting to see him appear. It wasn't helping that she was keeping herself occupied by replaying the image of him bare chested over and over in her head…

Turning the corner to the potions classrooms, she felt something snake around her waist. Before she could scream, she was pushed into a familiar embrace and immediately smelled James' scent.

"You git, you scared me." She tried to push him off, but he squeezed her tighter.

"Don't act like I didn't warn you," he said before pulling her face to his. Despite trying to distract her with his mouth, Lily noticed a shimmer of cloth disappear behind his back and a rather beaten up parchment sticking out of his pocket.

"W-what is that, hm?" She sputtered out, trying to keep focused while his hands were already winding around her waist.

James, who had started peppering kisses up her neck, continued his course upwards before sighing in her ear, "Do we have to go over logistics right now? I'm a little preoccupied, if you don't mind."

James used the arm wrapped around her waist to propel her forward into a quick walk beside him. He turned to the potions classroom and stuck his head inside before pulling Lily in after him.

He didn't waste time. After shutting the door, he all but threw the parchment and his wand to the ground and enveloped her. Her cheeks were burning as he kissed every part of her face before ending with her lips. Despite his mouth moving frantically on hers, his hands made paths on her body with calm precision. Each hand softly winding their way around her to caress the areas where they paused. Lily immediately combed her hands through his hair and gave a little tug, eliciting a moan from deep within him.

He pushed her into a sitting position on a tabletop and she opened her legs slightly to let him stand between them. She had snogged boys before–some of which ended with wandering hands in unchartered territory, but something about her time with James felt different. Despite clearly propelling years of lust into a single kiss, he had a softness to him that she found endearing. Maybe it was years of rejection, but he always waited for her lead. For her to say how far they will go.

Despite her skirt pulling upwards from her position and the motion of his leg rubbing alongside hers, he never took the bait. Yes, he would take note, and his eyes would practically drown in desire at the sight of her upper thighs starting to peek out, but then he went back to the places he knew he was welcome: Her back, her hips, her face. Despite being so vulnerable–especially in a time where she didn't know what to make of him or her feelings in general, he felt safe.

"Merlin you looked so bloody fit on the pitch today," Lily breathed out while he stroked her neck. Realizing what she had just said, she froze.

He pulled back with an almost childlike glee. "Really?

Lily burst out into a laugh. "Don't let it get to your head Potter. I just noticed that you look like you— you play sports is all." Lily trailed off, trying not to give him the benefit of hearing more incriminating words to boost his ego.

James grabbed her sides and pushed their foreheads together. "And it's the first time you noticed?" He moved his head side to side on hers letting the tips of their noses brush together. Lily giggled and scrunched her face.

"Did I play well then, Miss Evans?" He eyed her lips and Lily saw his playful nature melt back into desire.

"Dunno, haven't finished reading Quidditch Through the Ages yet. I'll keep you updated," She whispered and he pressed their lips together once more.

They melted together again and Lily could feel James' heart beating fast against her body. The year was already almost over and they would be going home soon. Despite only being friends and romantically involved for a little over a month, Lily had a pit in her stomach about what would occur in their departure. She was getting the sense that she would actually miss him.

Lily felt as he removed his hand from her hair and attempted to prop himself up on the table for better leverage. He was too preoccupied with their kiss to look where his hand was going and it landed squarely on her upper thigh. Not expecting the quick, hard pressure of his weight, she jumped at his touch and he jerked the hand away.

"S-sorry!" he stuttered and the hand flew to his hair in reflex. Before giving it enough thought to stop herself, she reached to take the hand out of his hair and rest it where he had laid it moments before.

"Don't be." She didn't mean for it to come out so seductive, but the second she said it, his fingers curled around the soft skin of her thigh and he made a soft noise under his breath.

He looked down at her hand which was still holding his in place just above where her skirt had pushed up. He had never felt his heart beat this fast; not in quidditch, not when facing a werewolf; never.

He looked up at her for reassurance and her eyes were wide and glazed over. Her lips parted and a blush ran across her face but she didn't remove his hand. He had never seen someone look so beautiful in his life.

"Well this is an interesting development."

The words felt like ice water. Lily immediately jumped up and away from James' touch. Snape stood in the doorway holding a cauldron and a potions set. His mouth made a straight line and his eyes seemed black and hollow. He flashed his eyes towards the ground to see James' wand rolled under one of the front tables and a smile twitched on his lips.

"S-sev." Lily had her arms crossed over her chest and had started to position her body to get in front of James. It had been a long time since he had heard her say his name like that.

"Oh, hey Snape." James leaned himself where Lily had just been sitting on the table and ruffled his hair.

"Sorry, rooms taken." Lily turned and gave James a sharp glare and he immediately shored up his cocky attitude.

Snape's eyes twitched again towards James' strewn wand. "I'm sure Dumbledore will find it interesting what his little prefect does when he isn't there to babysit her," he said with a sneer.

Lily continued to box out James who had now straightened up behind her.

"Just go Sev. I don't care what you say. We are going now anyway." But when Lily moved to walk forward Severus dropped his cauldron, pulled out his wand and pointed it at her, then towards James.

James, who had now realized he was defenseless, walked slowly behind Lily and grabbed her arm.

"It's my fault Snape. I asked Lily to come here." It was the most calm she had ever heard James speak to him. While he spoke, she felt something shift. James reached a hand behind her and tried to grasp her wand which she had left on the nearest table.

Snape noticed and slashed his wand through the air like flourishing a sword.

Sectumsempra.

James stumbled back and fell against the table. His jersey started to fill with a dark line of red that matched Snape's movement. His breathing started to quicken. His hands were stained with blood as he grasped at his chest.

Lily let out a scream and ran back to James who had fallen to the ground. The blood didn't stop and Lily attempted to put pressure on the wound with no avail. Tears pouring from her eyes, she haphazardly tried to wipe them away for better vision and smeared some of his blood on her brow.

"What did you do! What did you do!" Lily wailed, still attempting to stop the blood.

Snape stood frozen in the doorway watching Lily sob over a helpless James. He had never seen her like this—this desperate. Not for anything. Not for anyone.

"Make it stop! Make it stop!" She was screeching through her sobs. James' breath was slowing…

Stepping toward them, Snape muttered a tune-like incantation under his breath 3 times in rapid succession. Lily, who had yanked up James' jersey, watched as the deep slash in his chest first stopped bleeding, then like an invisible thread woven through it, sew his skin together until all that was left was the excess blood and a small pink line on the skin. Lily placed her hands where the wound had been just moments before before cradling James' now unconscious face.

Snape walked back to where he had dropped his potions set and rummaged through it until he found a small vial full of fresh Dittany. Tossing it at James' feet, he gave one last look at Lily who continued to whimper and grasp at James' face before walking out in the hall.

James woke up to light coming through gauze curtains. He felt a heavy weight on his body and looked down to see some sort of salve spread across his chest. Madame Pomfrey stood over him and offered him his glasses.

"You are pretty lucky to be alive Mr. Potter. Nastiest curse I've seen in a while." James tried to sit up but she motioned for him to stay still.

"You need to keep the Dittany on a bit longer unless you want to scar. You are very lucky Miss Evans knew how to treat you—I'd never seen anything like it."

James frantically searched the room but Lily was nowhere in sight. Noticing him getting peaky at her name, Mme Pomfrey said, "Rest easy. I sent her back to get herself cleaned up. She was a real mess when she brought you in here."

James laid back defeated. He heard clambering coming from the doors and Sirius burst into the room with Remus and Peter in tow.

"I'll fucking kill him. Bloody fuckin' hell I swear to—"

"That's quite enough screaming, Mr. Black," said Pomfrey in a curt tone. The boys rushed to James' side and Sirius eyed what he could see under the salve.

"What in the bloody fuck did he do to you? We have to do something mate, this is beyond Snively being an arsehole."

Remus, also taking a look, added, "For once, I agree with him on this one, James. This is nasty work. What even happened?"

James thought about Lily. About how good everything was going before Snape showed up. What had she called him? Sev? She had been his friend long ago. Did she know he was capable of doing something like that?

"I was wandering around trying to nick some Bezoar and he found me. Didn't even have time to fight back," He felt the lie fall out of his mouth.

"The rumor going around is that Lily found you—at least Marlene has been saying she showed up in the dorms this morning covered in blood," Remus raised his eyebrows at James.

"Yeah— she was on patrol. You knew that Moons." Remus nodded.

"Did you see her?" James blurted it out before he could regulate his volume.

Sirius' eyes turned to slits, and responded, "Nah mate, but I hear she's really fucked up about it. Strange to be that messed up if she just found you."

"Yeah, strange." James leaned back and closed his eyes.

James was allowed out of the hospital wing after the hour passed. He couldn't remember much after the initial curse, but whatever had happened, his wound had been practically healed by the time Lily dragged him to the clinic. Pomfrey's work was purely esthetic and thanks to the Dittany, his scar had completely disappeared. Despite this, James was prescribed bed rest for the next day to make sure there weren't any lasting effects. Not wanting to lay in bed, James posted up on the common room couch and held court to all of his house-mates' well wishes.

He hadn't seen Lily most of the afternoon. Marlene had come to stop by and offered a vague update that she was still shaken and hadn't wanted to speak much on the matter ( or much at all).

"She's tougher than she looks." Marlene added. "She needed her illusion that Snape would come around to break. It's for the best."

James had not really considered the implications the night had caused for Lily and her previous friend. He knew from third party sources that they had stopped speaking in year 5, but Lily had never made a huge show of any fallout between the two. Marlene's comment cemented that Lily had some hope for him—despite everything he had come to support in the past few years. He was glad that they had grown apart, but that didn't mean that seeing him do things like this hurt any less.

A door closed up from the girl's stairwell and Lily descended. It was clear she had been crying and had certainly not gotten much sleep. Despite it being a school day, she wore her muggle clothes and her hair was still air drying from a shower. Seeing her, James sat himself up on the couch.

"Hey."

Lily ran towards him and let out a sob. She seemed as though she was about to throw herself at him, but by the time she got to the foot of the couch, she choked back any tears threatening to fall and sat herself down with her back facing him. She pulled her knees up and hugged them while staring silently at the fire.

Moments passed between the two. James didn't really know how to proceed. After another moment he broke the silence.

"Hey, Evans'."

"Yeah." She didn't turn to him.

"Did the Beatles break up?"

Lily brushed her face with her arm and continued to look at the fire.

"Yeah they did. A while ago." She answered sincerely, and James even detected the smile he was fishing for.

"That's a shame. I was hoping to have a go as the 5th Beatle."

"I think you have your own group to manage, Potter." He could tell her mood was lightening a bit.

James scooted over on the couch and patted the seat.

"Wanna come be my friend?"

Lily pulled herself up and looked at him for the first time that day. Red circles rimmed her eyes and her hair was limp and still slightly damp. She placed a shaky hand on his leg.

"I thought you were going to die," she whispered. She didn't cry. Instead, she stared at him intensely with a hollow vision.

"I think you had a hand in stopping that from happening." He put his hand on top of hers and they looked at each other for a long while.

"I'm sorry."

"Me too."

Neither needed to elaborate on the apology. He saw the pain of realizing her friend was truly lost in her body. He absent mindedly rubbed his thumb over the hand that still rested on his leg. She scooted over and leaned her head on his shoulder and he placed a small kiss on her temple.

"And on top of it all, we leave school soon." She made a dramatic groan, attempting to lift out of the somber mood.

"Evans."

"Hm."

"Can I write to you–over the summer holidays?"

"I think I'd like that." At her response, James leaned his head on hers and nuzzled his face into her hair. She smelled like roses and clean both stared at the fire. If anyone entered the common room, they never noticed or cared. He started to drift off and Lily remained at his side.