ALWAYS

A DAY WELL SPENT

"Always". Lily's voice rang through his ears. But all James could think about was his tired, sleepy and scared girlfriend. "Good" he said, as he got up to go take a bath. And when he returned in ten minutes, Lily was swaying side to side, her eyes closed, but her mind refusing to let her sleep. He smiled at how determined she was in trying not to sleep, but his smile wore off immediately as the fact that she was scared enough to not sleep dawned on him. He walked up to the couch, sat down and Lily opened her eyes with a start. "Hi" she whispered. James pulled her closer, not uttering a word. "Go to sleep" he said, his voice stern. "You'll stay with me?" she asked innocently. "I'll stay" said James. These words were of immense solace to Lily and resting her head on his chest she drifted off to a much needed slumber. James summoned a book and began reading, occasionally listening to Lily breathe, stroking her hair and rubbing her back as she stirred in  her sleep, a nightmare possibly eating away at her sleep. 

"Pron-". Sirius walked in hollering as loud as he could but shushed himself when he saw James hold up his finger to his lips, his eyes glaring at Sirius. Sirius wore a perplexed expression, not able to understand why James was being such a spoilsport and silenced a highly energetic Sirius. But Sirius understood why James had done so when he saw Lily's head buried deep into James's chest. He tiptoed to the couch as James slowly rested Lily's head onto his lap and began rotating his shoulder that had gone stiff from lack of movement. Sirius looked at James as he massaged his neck. James gestured for him to sit on the couch, but Sirius clearly didn't know where because Lily had stretched her legs on the couch. Sirius stood there confused for a minute and then pulled Lily legs up, sat down and replace them on his lap. James looked at Sirius and there was nothing but silent laughter between them for the next few minutes. 

James and Sirius never had the jealousy problem with each other and there were numerous occasions when Lily had fallen asleep on one of the Marauder's shoulder, be it in some particularly boring class, in the Gryffindor common room or the Hogwarts Express. So this was completely normal. For the next three hours James and Sirius talked and laughed about their pranks, planned new ones, caught up on gossip and talked about their girls. At around half past four Sirius left in a hurry to meet Marlene. James sat on the couch, stroking her hair and gazing at the ceiling of the Head's common room. His thoughts drifted to his parents as he thought what his parents were doing, where they were. He reminisced about his childhood when his dad would help him fly and play Quidditch every summer, his mom cooking his favourite dishes. He thought about Lily and how often she thought about her parents, silently and alone though, James knew that she thought about them but he never told her, giving Lily the pleasure that she was hiding her pain from James. He thought about Sirius, and how he too often thought about the family that disowned him, his brother who didn't even acknowledge Sirius as his own. He thought about Remus and the pain he goes through every full moon, for no fault of his. 

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't feel Lily stir in her sleep. "Hey you" she said, shaking him out of the trance James was in. "Hey" he said smiling. "Sleep well?" he asked, and she nodded, "Yep, after a long time" she said, getting up and walking to her room. 

An hour later they were patrolling the corridors, hand in hand. They walked to the astronomy tower and checked the dungeons twice. "That's it for today, please" begged James. Lily was apprehensive but his puppy eyes melted her heart and she gave in. "Fine" she said and they walked back to the dorm, where they spent the night talking about everything. Like they always did. 

The next morning the Marauders, Lily, Alice and Marlene decided to go down by the lake. Everyone sat down under a tree and talked about everything, from pranks to crushes to first kisses to worst fears. They had just finished eating when Sirius piped up "Anyone up for Quidditch?". The guys jumped at the chance and looked at the girls. The girls shook their head defensively. "Fine" said Remus and the guys raced to the grounds. The next hour the guys played Quidditch. 

The girls on the other hand had other plans. "So Lils, what's up". Lily blushed as her friends teased her. "Nothing. I mean me and James are in a good place now. I have great friends. I'm doing great in studies. You tell me Mar, what about you? she said, nudging her gently. "Oh yeahh.... Marlene and Sirius, who could've imagined" chimed in Alice. "Sirius is great. I mean I love him, he loves me and we're doing great. Alice, you're the one in a relationship with Frank, who's training to become an auror. Spill" . "Oh, I miss him so much. But we write to each other everyday. We love each other. So yeah, everything's good" she replied. The girls giggled at how good their lives had turned out. And the next minute they were all wrapped in a group hug, sobbing. This was their last day together. It was their last day as students. Tomorrow they would graduate. And then they would be set free, they would be unleashed into a dangerously frightening world, where they no longe would be protected by the charms of Hogwarts.

 In a distance you could hear James and Remus teasing Sirius about something that had probably happened during the Quidditch match. The girls immediately pulled apart, wiped their tears away and changed the topic. The guys approached them, looking happy but tired. Lily handed Remus a water bottle, which was drank from and passed from one Marauder to another. "Hey, Mar, what happened?" asked Sirius, staring into her dark brown eyes. "Nothing" she said. "It's not nothing. You cried. What happened?' he asked, immediately concerned. Lily stared at Sirius, with admiration and surprise that he had noticed that Marlene was upset when the girls had done their best to hide their emotions. "Oh fine, we were really sad that after tomorrow we'll leave Hogwarts and no longer be students.". "I mean we'll still stay friends, all of us" said Sirius looking at each one of them. Everyone nodded. "We'll always stick together" he said wrapping his arm around Marlene who was beaming with happiness. 

The group split up after their melodramatic pact of sticking together no matter what. "That was nice" said Lily, her hand tightly gripping James's. "It was" said James giving her hand a gentle squeeze. They walked in to the dorm and went to their rooms to take a bath. Lily walked down from her room, to find James in the kitchen preparing dinner. Ten minutes later, they were eating sandwiches and talked for a long time. They were sitting on the couch, Lily resting her head on James's chest, nestling as close to him as possible, James, holding her close to him. And then, the portrait hole burst open, and the whole group piled in making a lot of noise. They bustled in and the happy couple on the couch froze with surprise. "PARTYY!! yelled Sirius and Remus holding up crates of butterbeer and firewhiskey. 

"Think we'd leave you all alone on our last day? No way" said Sirius. "You're stuck with us forever mate" said Remus. "Yeah, we're the Marauders" chimed in Peter. "And I wouldn't have it any other way" said James. "We'll always remain the Marauders. Always".