the sweater ~~ jily

19.

Chapter Nineteen: Protecting Him

"Hey, sleepyhead," whispered James. Both Lily and James were awake early. The sun was barely rising by the time they both woke up. James woke up first, then Lily of how loud he was (he didn't try to wake her up, he just did by accident). 

"Hi, James," she greeted. 

"Were you talking last night?" James asked. "I heard something, were you talking to someone else?"

Lily hesitated before shaking her head. "No, not really. R, Remus was just checking in. Probably because you weren't in your dormitory," she lied.

"Are you sure? Because that sounded like a lot of whispering."

"What did you hear?" asked Lily, no longer resting her head on his shoulder.

"I don't know." She felt relieved. "I know you were talking to someone else, though."

Lily thinned her lips. "Yeah, just Remus. It was nothing, just nothing." she tried to act as relaxed as possible and stared at the wall in front of them. Did he hear their whole conversation? Oh god, if he did...

James tilted his head to her. "Hey, just nothing? Did something happen, are you okay?"

Lily grabbed his hand. "I'm okay. We were just talking about something personal and I didn't expect you to hear because you were asleep."

He smiled. "I felt the forehead kisses if you're also asking."

Lily paused to think. Was this a bad thing? Should she be embarrassed? She pursed her lips and stared at the wall silently. James laughed at her. 

"Why're you laughing?" asked Lily.

"You seem embarrassed, that's not something you have to be embarrassed about. It made me feel a lot better after...I told you I like you," James told her, leaning his head back to the wall. 

Lily still didn't have anything else to say.

"I think classes start soon. I really don't feel like going today."

She furrowed her eyebrows and stared at him confused. "James, you're Head Boy."

"Yeah, and you're Head Girl."

"And I can clearly tell who's more responsible," Lily snapped. "You still have to go to classes, why don't you want to go?"

James paused. "Because I feel like an idiot —."

"You're not wrong."

He rolled his eyes. "I meant because I'm worried about the reactions of other people when they see me. They all saw me fall, they all saw me run to the corner. They'd think I'm a baby —."

"Shut up, they won't. Even if they did, which they won't, you don't have to listen to them. And that won't be easy, but no one said you'll have to face that stuff alone," Lily reassured him.

"Wow, you want to spend another day with me?" he smirked.

She rolled her eyes. "There's always something called independence, James —."

"Okay, I get it. Thanks, Evans."

"See, no one's even looking at you!" said Lily, walking with James on their way to breakfast. She was pulling him by the sleeve of his Gryffindor robe.

James hesitated. "I don't think that's a good thing. They could be ignoring me."

"They don't stare at you all day, do they?" said Lily sarcastically.

"I could understand if they did, I'm gorgeous —."

"Yeah, whatever makes you happy," interrupted Lily. 

Lily pulled him like a child through the hallways until they got to the Great Hall. Everyone was eating, no one stared at James. As normal. Lily continuously pulled James to the Gryffindor table annoyed.

"Okay, you can let me go now," said James. Sirius, Remus, and Peter looked at them weirdly. James sat down.

"What the hell happened?" asked Sirius.

"He didn't want to go to classes because he was scared people were going to make fun of him from yesterday. Then he noticed no one was looking at him and he thought they were ignoring him. Then he said he could understand if he did because he said, and I quote, 'gorgeous'."

"Well, Lily, I'd assume you'd agree with him on the 'gorgeous' part," said Sirius teasingly.

"Shut your arsehole." Lily sat next to James. She took a glimpse at Severus in Slytherin table. He had a strange smile on his face, gesturing to James. Lily rolled her eyes and ate her breakfast.

After breakfast, Lily no longer had to pull James around the halls, which was a relief. She noticed no one seemed to be bothering him, which was also a relief.

The two were holding hands in the hall as they did on a normal day. Everything went normal, James told her his stupid ideas and Lily laughed at them, then James smiling of how he made her laugh unintentionally.

"Oi, Potter, thanks for helping Slytherin win yesterday, you really looked like an idiot," said a small voice behind them. Lily turned around and saw the smallest of Severus's friends, the one who pointed his wand at her.

Lily let go of James's hand and looked down at him mockingly. "And you really look like a house-elf, noticing your...height. Why don't you look at your own imperfections before looking at others? So you're not so self absorbed?" said Lily fiercely.

"Why don't you start acting like I gave a shit about what you just said? Because I really didn't?" the boy snapped.

Lily was about to move, but before she could, James caught her arms and held them back. "Let's not beat up someone, today, Evans." he whispered.

"My patience is as small as your dick and the amount of girls you 'attract'. Give a shit about that because really, we've all noticed," Lily said angrily while James held her arms back. The boy's face turned white and he paused.

James took her hand and walked away with her to get to their first class. Lily was still angry.

"Sometimes I'm a little scared of you. You're amazing, really, but just a tad bit scary," whispered James.

"You're not the first person who said that."

"Hey, but don't get me wrong," James stopped himself. "I really appreciate you standing up for me there."

Lily smiled. "I said you're not facing any of that alone. Why did you have to hold my arms back?"

"Because I know you well enough that you were going to make some move at him. You're still Head Girl, meaning beating up another student will —."

"Oh god, I know."

a/n

it took me forever to find out the little fighting thing. 
i was debating a lot, should i do this, should i do that?
this chapter (including author's note) is 1,084 words

~the sweater