Lily sits beside James under a starry summer sky, silently slipping her fingers into his weathered hand. She squeezes gently, once, a contented smile settling on her lips.
“It’s nice here,” she says.
James glances down at her. Long shadows cover her face, and her facial expressions are hard to tell. James, though, knows.
They have been dating for two months, but it feels like he’s known her forever. He still glances over at her sometimes, just to make sure that she’s really with him, after so many years of secretly obsessing over her. He’s a lucky git.
He reaches over with his free hand to tuck a stray stand of hair behind Lily’s ear, and she smiles. Looking up at the sky again, Lily slowly leans back until she is lying flat on the ground. With a gently tug on their joined hands, James follows her, shuffling closer as he stretches his limbs out. James marvels at the warmth of her, just there, lying still beside him. Her bare shoulder touches James’s arm, but she doesn’t move away.
James takes a deep breath, holds it, and lets it out. He tries again, holding the silence out as long as possible, before he bursts out,
Silence. Lily stiffens beside him.
James holds his breath, not daring to move, waiting.
After what seems like an eternity and a half, Lily turns to him. She lets go of his hand, instead letting her other hand trail up his arm until it reaches his shoulder. James doesn’t think he can face her, so he starts counting the stars.
James sighs, and turns to her. Her emerald eyes search his in the darkness, before crinkling in that Lily way of hers.
She reaches up to touch his cold cheek, running her fingers along the edge of his jaw. He turns his face into her hand, pressing a kiss to the inside of her palm.
James doesn’t remember ever being so happy.
“I am going to burn you,” Lily says calmly, adjusting her foot on the point of the roof, “If we make it off here alive.”
James and Lily are hanging off a window ledge on the Astronomy tower at three in the morning, having badly messed up a prank. Fireworks litter the ground, a long way below them, and James isn’t confident that they won’t be next. Lily has managed to put her right foot on the very tip of the roof below, but James has only his Quidditch-trained arms to have faith in.
It was a nice two months being Lily’s boyfriend, James thinks. If they’re lucky, he’ll look back on it with some fondness as Lily runs off with some Transfiguration-prodigy git who won’t be putting her in near-death situations in the early hours of some bloody morning. If they aren’t so lucky, they’ll both die, whereupon Lily will find some attractive dead git to run off with, who also won’t put her into life-threatening positions because, well, they’d be dead.
“Fair enough,” James replies. He tries to edge his grip along the ledge to try and support Lily, letting one hand go to reach out to her.
“Save it,” Lily snaps. James pulls his arm back. “I’m not letting go just yet.”
James shuffles back to his original place, cringing as his foot whacks against something sticking out of the wall. His ankle is probably going to be bruised tomorrow. If he lives to see tomorrow. He laughs to himself. Bloody hell.
“James!” Lily hisses. James tries to turn his head to her, but then decides it isn’t a good idea as the wood above him gives an ominous creak.
“Put your foot on that brick, test it for strength, and get yourself back up on that window frame.”
James lets out a breath. “You’re brilliant.”
James creeps his right foot along the wall, pausing when it hits the object. Gingerly, he places his foot on it, shuffling along the wall until he can place a considerable amount of his weight on it. It shifts, just a little, but holds. Here goes. With a heave, James hoists himself up on the window frame. It doesn’t open, but this is better than nothing.
He reaches down, grabbing Lily by the arms. In a single motion, he pulls her up with a grunt to seat her next to him.
“I guess we wait to get caught. Or fall and die.”
Lily snorts, leaning back against the window. She watches the skies as silence envelops them.
“The stars are pretty,” Lily comments after a moment.
James sucks in a breath. “Yeah.”
“It’s a shame we’ll never see it again.”
“Yeah.” James laughs quietly. Lily’s frowning lips turn up at the corners.
She shuffles closer to James, pressing her bare arm against his for warmth. James hesitantly smiles down at her, but she is looking out over the forest in the distance.
“It was a good life,” she continues. “I had fun. I traveled Europe with my family. I made some nice friends. I gave up on Petunia. I’d have loved to have lived to see her marry that cow, though.”
The window ledge creaks under them.
“I made Head Boy. I have three brothers to mourn me. I got you to hold my hand.”
Lily rolls her eyes, crossing her legs. The ledge tilts forwards, ever so slightly.
“Lucky you got that done before you landed us in this mess.”
James blanches. She snorts.
“I’m not joking. I think this thing’s going to give out on us.” Lily looks down, then up at James, an almost amused smirk playing on her pale face. James shifts his weight, and hearing the wood protest, takes a breath.
“Look, Lily. I just… I wanted…” He closed his eyes. “I lov-“
“Don’t you dare,” she interrupts, “say something you wouldn’t say to me if we weren’t going to die and if you hadn’t gotten us into this mess.”
There’s a silence, then James opens his eyes.
“I love you, Lily Evans.”
“I’ll consider it,” Lily says finally, “But it will work in your favour if you get us off here without any broken bones.”
“BREAK HER BONE AND YOU BREAK YOURS, TOO.“
A broomstick appears out of nowhere, and James barely has time to catch it as it zooms at his crotch. A grinning Sirius pops up from under the roof below, straddling one himself.
Lily rolls her eyes. “Was that sorry attempt what I think it was?”
“It sounded better in my head,” Sirius admits with a shrug. He holds out a jacket to Lily, who pulls it over her shoulders as James mounts his broom. James holds out a hand to Lily, who ignores it as she swings her leg over behind him.
As they fly off under the starry sky, debating how to get back inside the building without being skinned alive by McGonagall, Lily leans forward.
“I love you too,” she whispers, tightening her grip around his waist as the broom, surprised, drops.
Righting it again, James smiles. He doesn’t remember ever being so happy.
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