Jily (a fan-fic)

Chapter 50

Lily slipped back into bed next to James silently and he woke her up in hours. "Good morning," James kissed her. Lily's breath didn't smell like alcohol and Lily didn't feel hungover.

"Good morning," she repeated.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"It doesn't even hurt anymore," Lily insisted. "I was cursed like a month ago!"

"I was talking about your parents," James told her.

"I'm fine on that too," Lily told her. Her experience with Sirius last night had been deeply cathartic. Lily was fine, or she would fake it until she made it. "Come on," she said. "You have Muggle Studies."

James rolled off of the bed. "Why did you even take that class?"

"I wanted to impress you," James said.

"Well it was stupid," LIly said. "You just gave yourself an even bigger course load and I could have taught you."

"Good morning," James said. "You're stupid, get to class."

"You know that's not how I meant it," Lily insisted. She rolled off the bed and followed him to the other corner of the room. "Good morning, you're stupid, I love you."

James smirked at her, "Much better."

Lily was fine, she would be fine. Later she apologized to Marlene, who said it was fine. Lily didn't tell Marlene about her parents though, she didn't tell anyone except Alice, James, and Sirius. A week went by and Lily decided that she would pretend that her parents weren't divorced until she graduated then she would deal with it.

Lily was in full study mode, she was stressing about her OWLS. James on the other hand took the approach where he thought he did not need to study. Alice said that Lily was doing enough studying for the both of them.

The first midterm was about to come up on Monday and James had hidden all of Lily's textbooks so that she could "tapper". When Lily tried to explain that studying was not quidditch. James insisted that Lily could spend one Saturday afternoon without it.

James dragged her outside and under a big tree that provided shade for an oddly warm March day.

"See this isn't so bad," James said. He was playing with a snitch that he insisted wasn't stolen, but they both knew that it was.

"Not so bad," Lily said. "This was great, can I have my books back?"

"Very funny," he said.

Lily leaned against him, they were quiet for a minute. "What are you going to be when we get out of here?" she asked him.

James frowned, he hadn't thought about it seriously. "An auror," he decided with a smile. "What about you?"

"An auror," Lily said. "Or maybe a job in muggle communications."

"Being an Auror is so dangerous," James told her.

Lily sat up straight and looked at him, "you're one to talk."

James just frowned, "Lily it isn't safe."

"You do realize that whatever you are saying to me right now is also what you are saying to yourself right?"

"I do now," he said.

"If it's safe enough for you it's safe enough for me," Lily countered.

James frowned in discontentment. "Lily, I care more about your safety than mine."

"You don't think that I feel the same way?" Lily asked him.

"That was a very nice thing you said in an angry tone of voice," James said more softly. They hadn't realized that they were starting to raise their voices until a gaggle of Ravenclaw girls turned to look at them.