Patience | jily • wolfstar

The Place Where Lily Is • James

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." I whispered, wand pointed towards a piece of parchment, the Marauders Map. I smiled when the map began to form, it never did cease to amaze me, you know, how much of a genius us Marauders are.

As soon as the map formed, I began to scan for Lily.

She's the only thing I've been able to think about throughout the day, but I've been held up with Dumbledore and no one escapes Dumbledore.

Almost instantly, I spotted Lily's name not too far away from mine. At first, I assumed she was going to the Gryffindor common room, that's all there is on the seventh floor anyway, that and Dumbledore's office. But then she started walking in the opposite direction, towards me. I'm not so worried about her finding me, but how could she know I'm here? However, before I could prepare myself for her to turn the corner, she turned back towards the Gryffindor common room. She did this three times before coming to a stop. And then, all of the sudden, she disappeared.

What the fuck.

She can't do that! You can't apparate on school grounds, I've tried it. But then again, the map doesn't lie, it always works. There's no way we made a mistake on the map, it's our most genius achievement. With this in mind, I turned the corner, hoping to find an answer of some kind.

I'm not sure what I expected to find, but when I saw that she had in fact disappeared, I couldn't believe it. I didn't know whether to be proud that the map wasn't wrong, or curious as to how the hell she disappeared.

It's simply not possible. There's no way that she just vanished like that, unless by vanishing cabinet maybe? But would that even work in Hogwarts? There's not even one here.

However, when I did look around to prove my point, I found a door. It was very obviously out of place, as if it didn't belong there. And it didn't, this shouldn't be here, it's never been here before. Could this be where she disappeared to? Even if she is in there, why is it she's not on the map?

Unless?

Could it be?

I've heard Remus talk about it, the room of requirement, a hidden room which presents itself only to those in need. He had hoped it would shield others during his transformations, but he had no clue where to find it.

If this really is the room of requirement, then maybe Remus could finally be put at ease during the full moon. Would he even want it now? He has us. We have the shrieking shack and our animagi forms, would he trade that for this?

But Remus isn't my concern right now, it's Lily. What would she need? Where would she go?

But I don't need to know that, do I? Lily paced three times in front of this wall and, I'm guessing, thought of the place she needed. Why did the door stay?

Curious, I opened the door, knowing her door shouldn't have stayed. And I was right, behind the door was just a brick wall. Maybe it was left to trick anyone who tried to follow? I know she may not want to be followed, but what if she's hurt?

What happened with Snape today, I know that hurt her, it had to.

And so, doing as I saw her do, I paced before the wall.

I need the place where Lily is.

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I need the place where Lily is.

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I need the place where Lily is.

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I came to a stop, just as she did, and looked at the wall expectantly.

The door was gone.

The wall started to distort itself, and the bricks began to replace themselves with wood. Where the old door used to be, stood two doors, much larger than the last one.

Did it work? There's only one way to find out. But what if she's not there? What if this is like those genie's in muggle movies where you wish to be made a prince and the genie makes an actual prince and gives him to you? What if it's just a room full of Lily flowers?

Although, a room full of Lily flowers mightn't be so bad. I could make a bouquet and give them to Lily, that's quite genius actually. Why haven't I made a her a Lily bouquet before? Maybe if I did that right off the bat, then we'd be together by now!

No but, I'm not here to ask her out. That's for another time, she could be hurt right now. But if I'm not here to ask her out, then how on Earth am I supposed to talk to her?!

I stood in front of the doors like this for a while, feeling panic rise in my chest. Potter's don't panic! What if I'm becoming an Evans? James Evans... nothing like Lily Potter, but beggars can't be choosers. Not like I'm a beggar or anything.

I can do this.

I'm still a Potter, for now at least.

And so, raising a rather shaky hand to the door knob, I opened the door.

Potter's don't shake.

But at the same time, Evan's don't cry.

825 words

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