ALWAYS

Family Time

"James? James? No! Please! Please, I beg you, take me, take me instead" Lily cried, her arms flailing around. "Hey. Hey. Hey. Lils, Babe, I'm right here. Look". James was already awake and had showered and was sitting by the window drinking coffee, when he heard a fast asleep Lily call out to him frantically. She opened her eyes slowly, as if frightened to see the sight in front of her, but all her fear, her sorrow, everything faded away at the sight of him. She sat up and buried her face in her hands. James looked at her, his hazel eyes concerned for the girl sitting in front of him, his girl. He heard gentle sobs and the next minute James was holding Lily, his arms wrapped around her, her head resting on his chest, tear still trickling down her face."Lils, hey, I'm sorry, I really am so-" before he could finish her lips met his. She sought this, his touch, his warm embrace and now that she got him back, she would never let him go. He kissed her back and after a minute they broke apart. Lily didn't look tired anymore, she looked weak from a lack of eating and her eyes red. He snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. He gently wiped the tears from her face. Lily closed her eyes at the touch of James - she was safe. "Lils, I'm sorry, but I'm here and I'm not leaving. Now, can we please go down?" he asked. She looked at him, still unable to control herself, she herself didn't know why she was crying so much, she never had before. She bluntly shook her head. 

James seemed to have understood her thought. He moved closer, his forehead against hers, and whispered, "I love you". This was enough to calm her down. She pulled him into a tight hug, her arms around his neck, her fingers running through his hair. They were wrapped in each others warm embrace, until Lily broke the silence. "I like this" she said into his chest. "Me too" said James, planting a kiss on her head. "Me too" came Sirius's voice from behind them and they jumped apart at the sound of him. "Ever heard of privacy Black" grinned Lily. "Well, look who's back to normal" retorted Sirius. And they all burst out laughing. "Kids, enough with the racket, come down for breakfast!" hollered Dorea and they all rushed down. But before Sirius could enter the kitchen, someone pulled him back. "Hey, I want to eat, let go" said Sirius. James pulled him into a hug. "I'm glad you're back too Prongs" said Sirius patting him on the back. "No. Thanks for being there, for Lily. It meant a lot mate. I know both of you will not accept it, but you both were there for each other, and I reckon that Lily was the harder one to manage" he said. "Yeah she was. And you Prongs, owe me big time. Took me an hour to convince the girl to take a bite of sandwich" whined Sirius. But both of them understood what the other meant and together they took their places at the table, still grinning. 

Breakfast was a lively affair. Everyone was stuffing themselves with pancakes Dorea had made and were cracking jokes. Dorea and Lily teamed up against the guys and they seemed to be at a loss for words as Dorea and Lily shot insults after insults at them. Soon, this turned into a competitive game of exploding snap, with Dorea supporting Sirius and Lily and Charlus supporting James. At the end of the second hour of the match, Sirius gave up, much to Dorea's dismay and they declared James as the winner. This was followed by Dorea and Sirius handing over twenty galleons to Lily, James and Charlus, and then everyone devoured lunch. They retired for an afternoon nap to their respective rooms. 

James and Lily lay on the bed, Lily resting her head on his chest and they spoke about everything - from the minute Lily found out that James was kidnapped to Dumbledore and the McKinnons visits and finally the moment Dorea, Charlus and James had returned. James listened to everything with awe, tightening his grip on Lily whenever he heard her voice crack and planting hundreds of kisses on her head. Lily was narrating yet another story about Sirius and how he went to the Black Manor when she realised James was asleep. He was sleeping peacefully. Lily smiled and decided to go down and help Blinky cook dinner and tried getting up. But James's grip around Lily's waist was so tight that she struggled to free herself, failed, gave up and sank into the warmth of her boyfriend and she too fell asleep. They woke up only to Sirius jumping around the house and making a huge racket. 

"I swear I'll send him to Azkaban someday" said James as he sat up on the bed. Lily pulled herself up and leaned her back against his chest, "at least someone's waking us up" and she turned around to plant a kiss on his lips before they headed down for dinner. They talked and talked for hours, teasing each other, talking about Charlus and Dorea's time at Hogwarts and all the pranks James and Sirius had pulled on everyone, including Lily. 

"You turned my hair green" exasperated Lily for the hundredth time as James was putting up a strong front against the accusations of pranking his girlfriend. "That was not a prank", "Oh yeah, what was it then", "It was uhh-um-it was so that your hair colour and your eye colour are the same" he said. Sirius looked proud of his best friend for coming up with such a decent excuse in seconds. Lily nodded sarcastically, as Sirius yawned loudly. And as though it was contagious James, Charlus and Lily all yawned. Lily struggled to stay balanced on her chair, and wobbled side to side and would have fallen down if James wouldn't have placed his hand firmly on her back, noticing that his girlfriend was having trouble sitting straight. Dorea looked at the faces of all the kids, and then her husband and chuckled. 

"All of you, off to bed" and she planted a kiss on each of their heads, before dragging Charlus up along with her, leaving the kids alone. " Prongs I'm going too mate. Goodnight. Lily flower, try not to shout in the middle of the night" he said, knowing he was tiptoeing on dangerous territory. He was met by James's angry glare and immediately averted his glance and headed up. James turned around to look at Lily, who now had an expression of guilt and regret etched all over her face. James's arm around her waist tightened it's grip and he planted a kiss on her forehead, "Just so you know, I love it when you shout at night. Makes me feel important and you look even more beautiful" and with this Lily burst out laughing, forgetting all the thoughts swimming around in her head. They walked back up to his room hand in hand, where Lily changed into one of James shirt, which came just above her mid thigh, and then they drifted off into blissful oblivion, their dreams filled with love and affection of all their friends and family. 

They were grateful for all the things they had. Lily for the second set of parents and such a great boyfriend. James for such a great friend, more like a brother, loving parents, and the best girl in the whole world, his girl. They smiled as the they thought of both of them growing old forever. They wouldn't have it any other way. They would always stay together. Always.