ALWAYS

Snivellus and his Prom dress

"NO! LEAVE ME SEVERUS LEAVE ME! JAMES? JAMES?". Lily was having the nightmare again. A week had passed since the Slytherins had cornered Lily and she still had nightmares about it. She called out to James in her sleep, and at times even cried. "Lils- Lils- wake up" he said, gently shaking Lily. She woke up with a start to find James looking down at her drowsily "I'm right here" he whispered, his face right above hers. She pulled him into a hug and blinked back tears. "I'm sorry" she whispered, but James was already asleep, clinging on to her, his neck resting on her shoulder. 

"Bad morning" asked Remus eyeing James, who was rubbing his eyes. "Bad night" corrected James. "Lily flower's still having nightmares?" asked Sirius, concerned. "yeah. I swear to Merlin, I'll kill Snivellus" groaned James. "That's something I can help you with" grinned Sirius. And they spent the whole day devising a strategy that would make sure that Snape never messed with James's girl again. 

"Can't wait for tomorrow" said James as he left for the Heads dorm. He found Lily clutching a book close to her chest and fast asleep on the couch. He smiled to himself as he tugged the book away from her and threw it aside. Lily let out a groan, as she opened her eyes, to find James smiling to himself. "And what may I ask, are you smiling about" she asked standing up. "You" he said, slipping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer, her hands snaking up his neck. "You must have had quite a laugh then" she joked. "Yep" said James pulling her into a warm kiss. They studied for sometime, with James falling asleep on Lily's shoulder for half the time. She closed her book and gently got up making sure not to wake James and walked towards the portrait hole. "Lils, where do you think you are going? Alone?". Lily bit her lip nervously as she turned around, "Patrolling" she replied casually. "Not without me miss" he said, holding her hand and dragging her along with him. Ever since the incident James had become more and more protective of Lily, making sure he knew where she was and didn't go out after hours alone. Whenever he wasn't with her, either the Marauders or her friends would be or James used the Marauders map to keep track of her. 

Two weeks had passed by and everything was back to normal, except Lily still had nightmares sometimes. 

"Ughhh..... classes are killing me" she said rubbing the soles of her feet as she sat down on the couch. "WOW! Classes killing Lily Evans. Who would've thought" he exclaimed. "Very funny" she retorted. "I am funny" he said, pulling Lily's legs onto his lap and massaged her feet. She closed her eyes and relaxed. "Hey- Lils?". "Hmmmm" she said opening her eyes to look at him. "I was wondering- uh- when was the last time my mother wrote to you?" . "After the Yule Ball" she said, "Why?" she asked now sitting up. "Sirius hasn't received a letter from mum since after the Yule Ball, and Dumbledore or McGonagall wont tell me what's going on even though they know my parents really well" he said, his voice breaking. "I don't know what to do" he said, tears now falling down his face. "Oh, Babe" she sighed, as she pulled her boyfriend closer. She held him in his arms for a long time, until he pulled away, wiping his face. "Lets go to sleep? I'm really tired". "Sure" she smiled and they walked up to James's room where Lily changed into one of James's shirt and they fell asleep, each lost in the whirlwind of their own thoughts. 

The next morning they joined their friends in the Great Hall for breakfast, because James had insisted that they go down today. "That's mine" James whined as Lily snatched his cup of coffee. "Now it's mine" she smiled and James was about to argue back when Remus tugged at his shoulder. The next few minutes James, Sirius, Peter and Remus all had their wands under the table and muttered incantations. They shared a look of victory before they fell down laughing when they heard Bellatrix yell. Lily got up to see what the commotion was to find Bellatrix and Lucious jumping around, looking like disco balls. Their hair was changing from one neon colour to another every three seconds. Snape on the other hand looked the worst. He was drowning in the ruffles of a huge lace prom dress and his hair too, was changing colours. Lily burst out laughing and walked up to James, still laughing before she pulled him into a hug. "I love you" she whispered and he gave her a kiss. She then walked up to each of the three Marauders and hugged them, whispering her thanks to Sirius. 

Watching the teachers trying to reverse the spells was an amusing affair. Flitwick, Sprout, McGonagall and even Dumbledore all tried to break the three Slytherins free from the spells but in vain. Each teacher tried and tried and left discouraged shaking their heads. McGonagall had tried to reverse the spell, but instead had made it worse for Snape from whose hair little flowers started sprouting up. McGonagall walked away from the Slytherins shaking her head and walked towards them. Everyone stopped laughing. "You guys give people what they deserve. Excellent. But might I add, the flowers were my idea." she said as she smiled at the Marauders and left the Great hall. The Marauders all looked at each other and shrugged as if it was normal to be appreciated by McGonagall, that too for a prank. Lily shook her head with amusement as she looked at the Marauders who were now high-fiving each other victoriously. 

James and Lily were back in the Heads dorm and were cuddling in bed when James sat up and looked at Lily. "I was thinking, that we go back to my house for Christmas- you know" he said. "I would love that. Besides we need to get away for a while." she said. She knew how much it would mean to James if they went to his house. James smiled at her gratefully before sliding back down into bed. Lily nestled closer, interlinking her hand with his as she whispered, "I love you". "I love you too Lils" said James kissing her head and pulling her closer as they both drifted into sleep. 

As James slept, a troubled Lily looked at his peaceful face as she wondered what was going on with Charlus and Dorea. They were good people fighting against evil. She prayed that nothing would happen to both of them as she drifted away into sleep nestling as close as she could to James, like she always did. Always.