ALWAYS

The glue that holds us together

"A bit to the left". James and Lily had finally rented an apartment a few blocks away from Sirius's house.

A lot had happened in the past few weeks. Sirius's younger brother Regulus had gone missing and people figured he had gotten into something big with Voldemort and had probably gone underground for some time. A few days after Regulus had gone underground Walburga Black, Sirius's mum passed away. Being the only Black alive Sirius took care of the burial and inherited the Black ancestral house. He gladly offered it to be used as the Order's headquarters. James and Lily decided that it would be better if they were closer to Sirius, for his safety and theirs.

"Not that much James" she huffed "move it back to the right" . They were putting up their family picture on the wall and James was having a hard time meeting Lily's standards. "Perfect" she said and James left the picture hanging where it was, got down from the chair and rotated his arm which had gone stiff the past few minutes. He walked to where Lily was standing and pulled her closer. She wrapped her arms around his waist and together they looked at the picture. Charlus, Dorea, James, Lily and Sirius. All of them were smiling from ear to ear and they looked the happiest they had ever been.

"I'm going to go take a nap okay." she said getting up from the couch and walking towards their room. She lied down on the bed and curled up into a ball, pulling the blanket over herself. She closed her eyes and she slipped away into a deep slumber.

"Lils, hey. Wake up". James was shaking her gently to wake her up. She slowly opened her eyes to find James, his face had a worried expression. She sat up immediately rubbing her eyes. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Petunia. Their house has been attacked" said James. Lily let out a gasp. "Was it-", "Yes" answered James before she could finish her question. "We have to go" she said getting up and grabbing her coat. She was about to leave the bedroom but turned around to see James sitting on the bed, not moving. "What?" she asked James who was looking at her. "Lils, the last time we went to her, she...... well you get it. Do you seriously want to go now too?" he asked her. Lily's eyes grew wide, anger flowed through every vein of her body. "James Henry Potter, no matter what she says to me, she is my sister and I will go to her if she has been attacked, especially because she has been attacked by death eaters. And I will go - with or without you" she said storming off. James got up to follow her but decided it was better for her to go alone and clear her head.

"What does he mean if I want to go? Of course I do. She's my sister" scoffed Lily as she talked to herself. She closed the door behind her as she stepped outside, closed her eyes and apparated to 4 Privet Drive. She knocked on the door and waited for someone to open it. She heard footsteps and then the door slowly opened to reveal a frail Petunia, her face scared and traumatised. She peeked from behind the door. "Hey Tuney" Lily greeted hesitantly, yet kindly. "You- you freak. It's because of you. It's all because of you. Mum, Dad and now me. How many do you want to kill" she said storming out, her finger accusingly pointing towards Lily. Lily had expected her sister to react like this. Yet she was shocked. Her sister had a huge belly. She was pregnant, at least 5 months and she hadn't bothered to tell her. Lily had sent her a letter but in the absence of a reply figured that she was too petty to write her back.

"You-you're pregnant" Lily said looking at her. "Why do you care?" said Petunia harshly. "You'll kill my baby too" she scoffed. Lily was shocked. How could her sister ever think that she would do that, especially when she too was pregnant. Lily shook her head. "You know what? I came to see if you were fine, which you definitely are" she said taking a step back and vanishing into thin air. Lily found herself back at the door step of their house. Tears welled in her eyes. Her relationship with Petunia was broken beyond repair and she couldn't do a thing about it.

James was sitting in the kitchen, looking at the door and waiting for Lily to come back. He saw the knob turn and immediately pulled his wand out. Lily was gone for less than an hour so she wouldn't come back this early thought James. But as the door opened he saw her walk in and lowered his wand.

"You're back early" greeted James. She didn't reply but gave him a blank look and proceeded to take off her coat and shoes. "Dinner?" asked James as Lily hung her coat in the closet. "I'm not hungry. I'm tired. I'll go sleep" she murmured loud enough for James to hear and rushed inside. James looked at her with a weird look on his face. Was she still angry?

Lily plopped down on the bed and turning sideways she closed her eyes and let out the tears she had held back for so long. She silently cried into her pillow and didn't notice James come in. James gently lay down on the bed beside her and wrapped his arms around her waist, spooning her in. Lily felt James's presence only when he wrapped his arms around her waist. 

"You okay?" he asked her. "She wiped away her tears quickly and sniffled. "Mhmmm..... I'm fine" she said now turning around to face him. "You sure?" he whispered as he gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Yeah" she said nodding her head. James looked into her eyes and yawned sleepily. Lily laughed at James. 

"Okay babe, you need to sleep" she said nestling closer to him and laying on his chest. James nodded obediently before closing his eyes and hugging Lily close to his chest. Sleep came to James almost immediately but Lily on the other hand lay there thinking about what Petunia had said. Why did Petunia always have to be so mean to her? Even when she was trying to be nice? Perhaps their parents were always the glue that had held them together. Always.