ALWAYS

One final Adventure

It was yet another bright morning. Another morning in hiding. Lily's eyes fluttered open as sunlight flooded the room. She smiled to herself as she watched James sleep, his face serene and his hair dishevelled. Lily gently brushed the black locks away from his face, getting a clearer view of his face. She smiled to herself and nuzzled closer, burying her face into the crook of his neck. She felt him stir and tighten his hold around her waist. "Good morning" he said, kissing her head. "Morning" she chirped back, pecking him on the lips.

"What are you so happy about today?" James asked her as he tucked a loose strand of her hair behind here ear. "Just the fact that I get to wake up to such a great face every morning" she said. James immediately burst into the cutest smile Lily had ever seen, melting her heart. "Well, I am very handsome, aren't I" he said, grinning. "Eh" shrugged Lily nonchalantly. "Lily Potter do you not think I am handsome?" he said, shocked. "I mean not that handsome. Maybe a tad bit" she said, testing his patience. "Oh yeah, and who have you seen who is more handsome than this" he said, motioning towards his face. "I mean, Sirius looks great".

James's eyes immediately looked shocked and more importantly jealous. Lily knew this would get on his nerves and a triumphant grin adorned her face. "Mrs.Potter, you did not just say that" he said, as he flipped Lily onto her back and hovered over her. She placed his hands around his neck, running her fingers through his hair. "Maybe I did" she said. "Take.That.Back" he said. Lily shook her head giggling. And the next minute Lily was laughing so hard that tears came out of her eyes, and she was begging James to stop tickling her. "Take it back" he ordered again, still refusing to stop tickling her. "Okay okay, I take it back" she said in between giggles trying to catch her breath.

"And?" asked James. "You, James Henry Potter", she said poking him in the chest with her index, "are the most handsome man that has ever walked the face of this earth". "Much better" James said nodding his head in contentment. "Now give me a kiss" he said. He leaned in and Lily closed her eyes, waiting for his lips to meet hers, but they were interrupted by Harry's cries.

"Ughhhhh" groaned James as he plopped his head onto Lily shoulder. Lily ran her fingers through his hair with a giggle before pushing him off and making her way to Harry's room. She picked him up, changed his diapers and walked to the kitchen where James had already started cooking. She placed him on the ground handing him a few toys and went to take a bath.

"Hey beautiful" he greeted from the dining table, where James was feeding Harry. "Hello handsome" she said, as she made her way over to her boys and gave Harry a kiss, ruffling his air and walked over to eat.

After breakfast James and Harry began playing around with his new broom that Sirius had given him. Lily watched as the father tried to teach his son how to play quidditch. "James he's just a kid" Lily said as James tried to teach Harry the Wronskei Feint, one of the hardest seeker moves in the history of quidditch. "He has to make a good quidditch player babe" he said looking at her. Lily shook her head in amusement as she looked down at the piece of parchment in front of her and began writing.

Dear Padfoot,Thank you, thank you, for Harry's birthday present! It was his favourite by far. One year old and already zooming along on a toy broomstick, he looked so pleased with himself, I'm enclosing a picture so you can see. You know it only rises about two feet off the ground, but he nearly killed the cat and he smashed a horrible vase Petunia sent me for Christmas(no complaints there). Of course, James thought it was funny, says he's going to be a great  player, but we've had to pack away all the ornaments and make sure we don't take our eyes off him when he gets going.

Lily smiled to herself as she looked at James who was now trying to stop Harry from breaking anything else as Lily continued writing. Her recent conversations with Bathilda Bagshot had revealed a lot of stuff. Stuff both her and James wished to share with the rest.

We had a very quiet birthday tea, just us and old Bathilda , who has always been sweet to us, and who dotes on Harry. We were so sorry you couldn't come, but the order's got to come first, and Harry's not old enough to know it's his birthday anyway! James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell -- also, Dumbledore 's still got his invisibility cloak, so no chance of little excursions. If you could visit, it would cheer him up so much. Wormy was here last weekend, I thought he seemed down, but that was probably the news about the McKinnons; I cried all evening when I heard.Bathilda drops in most days, she's a fascinating old thing with the most amazing stories about Dumbledore, I'm not sure he'd be pleased if he knew! I don't know how much to believe, actually, because it seems incredible that Dumbledore could ever have been friends with . I think her mind's going, personally!Lots of love,

Lily

She smoothed the paper one last time before putting it in the envelope and handed it to the owl and watched it fly away. She felt arms wrap around her waist and James's head nuzzling in the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent. "Hey" he whispered. "Hey" she replied, placing her head over his. They stayed like that for a while and then Lily went to the kitchen to make dinner while James lay down on the couch tired. "Today was a good day" he said. "It was" agreed Lily. James watched Harry play with his toys on the ground when he heard a knock on the door.

He immediately froze and turned to Lily. Her eyes showed nothing but fear. No one was supposed to come by this week. Not even the Marauders or Dumbledore. "Quick take Harry and go inside. Lock the door" he said, picking a confused Harry up and giving him to Lily. Lily was walking towards the room with Harry in her hands, trembling with fear when she herd James's voice. "Hey Lils". She turned around, "I love you. I love you both" he said. "We love you too James" she said. Both of them knew this was it. They had an intuition that this was bad.

He opened the door, and Lily stood transfixed until she heard James scream. "Lily run" she heard his voice. "Avada Kadavra" she heard another voice, and she knew it was Voldemort himself. A tear escaped her eye as she ran to Harry's room and locked it behind her. Placing Harry in his crib, she stood in front of it shielding Harry from whatever was to come. She closed her eyes in fear, as she held onto Harry for dear life.

Images of James, the Marauders, her parents, Hogwarts, her friends, her teachers and every single moment flashed before her. "I love you" James last words rang in her ears. She imagined James's cold, lifeless body, lying in the living room.

Her husband was dead. The realisation made her want to die. But the bundle of joy in her arms needed her. She felt the world collapse around her. She wanted to cry her heart out. She felt a tug at her heart and wanted to sob, she wanted to cry until the tears were over. Because she knew that James would never leave her alone, he would always come back. Because he never let Lily cry alone, he hated the thought. A hope lingered in her heart that he would come back and protect them from all harm, just like he had promised. She held Harry tighter as she heard the door burst open.

She placed Harry down and turned around. "Please" she begged, a crack in her voice. She tried very hard not to let it all out. The thought of James, the love of her life, dead caused her heart to constrict, a heavy weight on her chest. "Please. Take me. Don't hurt him. Take me instead" she begged when Voldemort's eyes fell on Harry. "Move, or I will kill you too" his cold voice drifted through the air. She stretched her arms, blocking his path and pleaded. "Please" she said again. "Avada Kadavra". Before she could react green light zoomed through her body and she fell down, taking one last glimpse at her son as a tear escaped her eye.

At least she was going to where James was. She was going to be reunited with him. She was going to see the love of her life again. Just like she always wanted. For James and her to be together. Always.

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Hey Guys! Firstly thanks to ever one who has been following and reading this book since the start. Thank you for all of those who voted and commented. It was such a joy writing this book. The emotions, the cheesy scenes and the tragic ones. I am really happy with how the book turned out. Not the ending though, but that's what happens and I wanted to stick to the original story. Writing this chapter broke my heart and I am so very sad that this book has come to an end. But I'll come back with more romantic stories in July. So hold on until then for me.