Magic

13: James x Lily ~ Don't Let Go Part 1

Lily was horrified by what she saw. Snape was torturing James.

"Stop it! Stop it!" she screamed.

It was as if Snape couldn't hear her. She ran up to Snape and tried to stop him, but he simply pushed her to the ground. The curses kept hitting James.

"James!" Lily yelled. His expression reflected pain.

"James!" she screamed.

She hoped to see his gorgeous hazel eyes again, his mischievous smile, his annoying smirk, his dimples. But James Potter remained on the ground, unmoving. Snape disappeared into thin air. Lily ran forward and collapsed on her knees next to him. She regretted being scared of telling him her feelings. She regretted turning him down for 3 years. Now he'd never know the truth.

"James," she sobbed, "please don't leave me. I love you. I love you!"

Lily felt hot tears running down her face.

"Please," she whispered.

Lily woke with a start. She touched her forehead and felt beads of cold sweat. Her heart was beating faster than she'd ever felt it, and she couldn't stop shaking. Lily wiped tears from her eyes. Had that been real or a dream? She ran downstairs as fast as she could.

"James! James!" she screamed. The door of the Head Boy's room remained shut. Lily collapsed on the ground and began to cry again.

"Evans what—Evans?!"

His amused expression immediately changed to concern. He'd thought that she was angry and was about to yell at him for pranking Snape, Avery, and Mulciber. James was also taken aback by the fact that she'd called him James, not Potter. However, he decided not to bring it up.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Lily looked up from the ground and saw him. There he was, with the hazel eyes that always made her heart beat faster. He was alive. He was okay. Lily ran forward and threw her arms around him. She'd given up on trying to avoid him. None of her childish feelings mattered anymore. What mattered was that he was alive and healthy.

"I'm glad you're alright," she said through tears.

Lily felt James stiffen slightly. Then, he hugged her back. There were a million thoughts going through both of their heads. Both thought that they shouldn't think much into it; after all, the other didn't return their feelings. Even so, both of them thought the same thing. Don't let go. In fact, Lily was afraid to let go. She felt as if she wouldn't be able to see him anymore, or be this close to him if she did. Once she let go, she wiped her tears away.

"Sorry, I got your shirt wet," Lily said with a slight apologetic tone.

"It—it doesn't matter," James stammered.

They looked at each other for a moment, until Lily looked down.

"I'll just go now." she muttered. Just as she was going to walk away, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

"Ev—Lily, what happened?"

Even though her heart beat had returned to normal since the dream, it started fluttering again. Lily felt butterflies in her stomach, and she felt her cheeks grow warm. He'd called her Lily. Somehow, she thought it sounded better coming from him than anyone else.

'There we go again,' she thought. 'The strange things he always makes me feel,'

"Nothing important. Just a dream," Lily said.

'You're the dream, Lily,' James thought. However, he decided not to say anything.

"Alright. See you at breakfast then." James said, smiling and waving slightly. She smiled back and walked back to her room. James had never been happier to see a smile on her face.

A while later, both of them walked to breakfast and sat next to their friends. James sat on one end of the table, next to Remus, Sirius, and Peter, and Lily sat at the other end, next to Marlene and Mary.

"Hello," Lily said, feeling extremely tired. She grabbed a few pieces of toast and buttered them.

"You look like you haven't slept in a week." Mary commented.

"I had a dream last night that kept me up for a while," Lily replied.

"Oh yeah? Was it about Prince Charming?" Marlene teased. Lily looked down at her plate. Her cheeks heated up. She stuffed a piece of toast into her mouth so she'd have an excuse not to answer. Marlene gaped at her, and Mary giggled.

"It was!"

"Shut up."

"When are you getting together?!"

"Not so loud!"

"Oh please, he's all the way over there. It's not like he'll hear me."

Lily shushed Marlene and glanced over at James to make sure he hadn't heard anything. At the same time, he looked at her. Green met hazel, and they looked at each other for a while. They both smiled.

"Ooohhh." Mary teased. Sirius smirked and nudged James.

"Shut up." they said at the same time.

"Mate, just go and profess your undying love for her already!" Remus said.

"Just tell him you fancy him!" Marlene exclaimed.

"What use is that?" Lily asked.

"He obviously fancies you, too." Mary said.

"I don't know," Lily said. He'd stopped with the pick up lines and he'd stopped asking her out. On top of that, she'd avoided him since she'd realized her feelings for him. Why should he like her now?