"Lily! Lily, wait!"
Lily stopped in the corridor, turning around with a slight smile on her face. She couldn't hide it from herself anymore-- she enjoyed when Potter sought her out, especially when they were alone. It was real, it was genuine. Not a show for his friends, not a show for the Great Hall.
It was what she really wanted from a relationship.
"Hey," James said, smiling down at her. He gave her cheek a quick kiss.
Lily broke into a grin. Could she really help it? If this was the true James Potter, then she had been missing out.
"Hey," she said back, staring into his eyes. Another game they had going. Lily couldn't remember where it started or when it started or why it started, but it was always a battle to continue the eye contact. In the middle of class, during a meal.
James broke it first. Lily was surprised; she had won twice in a row.
"I have something for you."
He said it without looking at her, staring down at a piece of jewelry in his palm. Lily had to smile; it was plastic with scarlet and gold beads.
"For me?"
James nodded, and motioned for Lily to hold out her wrist. As he slid it on, Lily couldn't help letting out a giggle. "It's Gryffindor colors."
"Yep."
He seemed awfully proud of the fact, Lily couldn't help but notice.
"I wanted to remind you," he continued, after a pause, "that you deserve to be in this house. Gryffindor, I mean. I didn't want you to forget that you're strong and brave and smart and beautiful and everything all rolled into one."
Lily was touched. It was only recently she had started to pour her heart out to her housemate. Days ago he had found her, just staring into the fire. When he asked her what the problem was, she figured she had nothing to lose.
Out came the worries for her parents, their health and safety in a place she couldn't visit often. The concern for her sister, who wanted to conceive, but struggled. Who had a miscarriage only months ago. Who wouldn't talk about it to anyone. Not her husband, not her parents, not her sister. At one point, they had been best friends.
She told of her astonishment at Severus Snape's turn for the worse. How she feared for him. Wondered if he had a social disorder. Wanted nothing more than to help him, but couldn't. She wouldn't involve herself in the Dark Arts. Ever.
She spilled the questions of her future, life after Hogwarts. Her desire to have a career, to be a wife, to be a mother, to teach, to counsel, to cure.
She admitted she felt as though she held the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Lily looked at him. "Thank you, James."
He smiled. "See you later?"
She nodded and sighed as he walked away. Looking again at her wrist, she smiled. There was something about James Potter.
And damn, if she didn't love it.
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