Nov. 23rd, 2010 04:08 pm
Fic: These Four Kings (Year Six 2/9)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fox_confessorTitle: These Four Kings (Year Six 2/9)
Author: Dani (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
escribo)
Word Count: 2771
Rating: PG-13
(Pairings: in the future will be Remus/Sirius, Lily/James)
Timeline: October 6, 1976
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended. I've not made nor seek any profit.
Year 1: one/ two/ three/ four/ five/ six/ seven
Year 2: one/ two/ three/ four
Year 3: one/ two/three/four
Year 4 (coming in the future when work quits eating my brains! Sorry for the out-of-order-ness)
Year 5 one/ two/ three/ four/ five/ six/ seven/ eight
Year 6 one
No matter what Alice said, Lily did not like James Potter. It was just that she had to admit he wasn't quite the ignorant berk she had always assumed him to be, and if she happened to be able to admit (to herself if not to anyone else) that she also found him a tiny bit handsome and really quite funny, that didn't mean she was falling for him or his supposed charms. He was good at Potions and she needed a partner now that she couldn't even talk to Severus without arguing with him. She had asked Remus first, as she had assumed Sirius would pair off with James as they had since first year. Since Peter was apparently not taking it this year, it left Remus on his own (or at least without his usual partner) but then it had become weird--strange--and she found herself agreeing to James and switching seats with an (in her opinion) irrationally angry Sirius and ignoring Severus' glares from across the room.
A month in and she found she enjoyed having James as her partner (in this alone, thank you very much Alice for even planting that idea of more or different). He actually made an effort to study (not that he generally needed to) rather than flirt, and kept Sirius from fighting with his on-again/off-again girlfriend who would sometimes join them if they all went to the library. She also couldn't help but notice how unspeakably kind James was to Remus, even when teasing him, sometimes mercilessly (until Remus would finally bristle at the attention and threaten to hex James), and she hadn't expected that. What she also noticed (though she really hadn't want to) was that James wasn't the only one who was kind to Remus.
In Lily's opinion, Sirius Black was a misplaced Slytherin and she couldn't imagine how he'd become friends--much less best friends--with James, Remus and Peter. She'd seen him be cruel and cutting, quick to hex and quicker to curse in a fight, and there'd been plenty of those since the start of their sixth year. He was handsome and quite fit (she'd have to be dead not to notice that, and Lily was even sure she'd seen some of ghosts looking at Sirius with fondness) but when she looked at him bits of her mother's advice would float through her head, things like judging books by their covers and beauty being skin deep. She knew his brother, too, and while Regulus (when forced to speak or work with Lily during Prefect meetings) had the same lovely manners as Sirius, he left her with no doubt about how he felt about her and the other Muggle borns at the school. She suspected Sirius felt the same by the way his lip would curl into something resembling a snarl on the rare occasions when she met him without James or Remus there to keep him in line.
That's why she was so surprised when she followed James into the sixth year boys' dorm. They'd gone to retrieve a book on curative potions that James had checked out of the library weeks ago, which Lily wanted for a special study she was doing for Professor Slughorn. The room was dark and overly warm, the curtains drawn over the large windows and a fire burning low in the stove. As her eyes adjusted (and no, she was not watching as James kneeled beside his trunk and then stretched to search beneath his bed) she realized that she and James were not alone. Sirius lay stretched out on a bed wearing only his dress trousers, the book he was reading balanced in one hand as his other arm curled protectively (and really there was no other word for it) around Remus, who was asleep (she was sure he was asleep) with his head resting on Sirius' (bare) chest and his hand clutching at Sirius' (bare) waist.
She tried not to look once she realized what she was seeing but James, who obviously couldn't find the book amongst his own possessions, looked over to where Sirius lay and Lily followed.
"Sirius," James whispered. "Do know where the Kline book of potions is? Did you have it last?"
Sirius lowered his book, his eyes flickering over Lily who stood still and quiet in the middle of the room, before he answered, his voice a low rumble. "I don't know. It might be in my trunk."
James crossed the room to Sirius' trunk (so they were on Remus' bed, Lily thought, even as she tried not to--she had expected his space to be neater, when she thought of it (which was never!)) and kneeled to raise the lid and shift through the contents.
"It's not here," James whispered before carefully lowering the lid. He went then to what must be Peter's side and looked on his table, beneath the bed, and then rooted through Peter's trunk, huffing when he didn't find the book. He walked back over to Lily and stood next to her, his hands on his hips as he tapped his finger on his chin, looking around the room.
"It's okay, Potter." Lily had to stretch up onto her toes to whisper it into his ear, her hand light on his shoulder, loathe to disturb the other boys. "You can give it to me later."
James smiled down at her, his grin crooked and his hazel eyes shining even in the dim light of the room (not that she was the least bit thrown off balance just by that), and shook his head. He looked back to Sirius, who was reading his book again and ignoring them, and Lily tried not to follow his eyes but couldn't help it. Sirius was dragging the tips of his fingers in lazy circles over Remus' bare back, moving them over his neck and across his shoulders and down his arm, and Remus was relaxed into Sirius' side. It was intimate and familiar in a way that made Lily embarrassed to have looked, to be watching, and she forced herself to look down at her shoes, her hair slipping heavily over her shoulder. In just that moment, she hated that she blushed so easily and that even in the low light of the hot coals in the stove, James could probably see her turning red.
"Sirius? Did Moony have it last?" James whispered, taking a step closer. "Do you think he'd mind if I looked for it?"
"Not if you quit whispering and let him sleep," Remus said, and Lily looked back up then, surprised in a lot of ways, starting with that this seemed quite normal to them all, Remus and Sirius having a snuggle in the middle of the day, and James completely oblivious as if he's seen it a million times, and Sirius reading of all things (because she hadn't taken him as quite literary or literate for that matter, though she knew that wasn't right or fair, since he'd bested her in Muggle Studies--Muggle Studies--last year), and lying motionless, which she would have thought was physically impossible for him.
"Is it in your trunk?" James whispered, leaning now over Sirius, his hand light on Remus' back.
"My bag."
James bent down and kissed Remus' shoulder in thanks, a wet, smacking thing, and Lily blushed again, raising her eyes to the ceiling now as if she'd found something intensely interesting there. This easy affection was almost as disconcerting as the scars that crisscrossed Remus' back and arms like a map of London (and she really hadn't meant to look again) since in her family it'd been years since she'd even thought about hugging her sister.
"Evans," Sirius drawled by way of greeting, drawing her from her thoughts, though he had obviously known she was there before.
"Black," she answered, meaning to make her voice hard (as was their tradition when they were forced to speak to one another) but it came out whispery, choking her when she realized that it wasn't a greeting but a warning because Remus hadn't known she was there. She saw something in his look that was both protective and proprietary, which made Lily feel as though she was intruding (and she was positive that he thought so). She pulled her cloak tighter around her, her arms going around her middle, and bit her lip.
Remus started to lift his head at the sound of her voice, his face gray and pale, but Sirius moved his hand from Remus' shoulder to rest on the back of his head, to pull him back down to rest back on Sirius. Lily held her breath as she heard Sirius' mumbled go back to sleep and saw that his lips were practically against Remus' forehead as he spoke before he seemed to go to his book, his fingers moving to stroke slowly through Remus' hair.
James retrieved the book, grabbed his bag, and slid his hand to rest on her elbow, ushering her from the room. She glanced over her shoulder before the door shut to find that Sirius was still looking at her, his face twisted into something that felt like a dare (and that was at least familiar) and she knew the whole "not hexing a girl" thing probably wouldn't apply if she decided to make Remus her target (she didn't think for what would particularly matter). She squinched her face, the words "I would never" on her lips, though she didn't bother to say them out loud (would never what?) and turned away from then both.
They were out of the common room and headed up to the library, Lily silently following James, when Lily put her hand flat on her stomach. She tried to find the words to say something like tell Black that I would never hurt Remus or… well, she couldn't think of what else she would say (or need to say) because all she could think of was the scars that covered Remus' skin, how Sirius had touched Remus, of Severus' theories and her own. She remembered suddenly that the full moon would come the next night and she felt (again so suddenly) that she couldn't breath, and had to stop, reaching out to touch the nearest stone wall to steady herself.
"Are you okay?" James asked as he touched her shoulder.
"Remus."
"He has trouble sleeping sometimes," James said, his voice sounding strange to Lily's ears. He shifted his bag to his other shoulder and reached for hers, which she let him take so that she could rest her back against the wall, wondering if her legs would continue to support her.
"The illnesses. The scars. I told Severus he was wrong. I thought I knew but I told Severus he was wrong."
"Evans."
At the note of warning in James' voice, Lily looked up at him and saw the same thing she had seen in Sirius. "I like Remus," she whispered, looking away from the danger in his eyes. "I wouldn't do anything to hurt him. I told Severus he was wrong."
Lily gasped when James took her arm and began to steer her down the hall, and Lily had to almost run to keep up. He looked in several rooms before finding an empty classroom and pushed her inside before he slammed the door shut, casting a locking charm and then a silencing charm on top of it. He dropped their bags onto the floor and turned to look at her, his hands jammed deep into his pockets, so much like Sirius just then that they actually could be brothers at just that moment.
"Remus has been my friend," she said, feeling like a fish that has been thrown onto the bank.
"He's still your friend." James pushed his hand through his hair and it wasn't like when he did it for affectation. It was fear and frustration, so completely foreign to how she's always thought of him that she couldn't bear to look away. "Whatever you thought you knew, Evans--"
"I know he's a werewolf, James. I know. I've known."
James sat down heavily on a long, low bench, his elbows on his knees. Lily watched as he washed his hands over his face and beneath his glasses, leaving them askew, before meeting her eyes again. "You can never say that out loud again, Lily. To anyone."
"It's true then."
James nodded, miserable. Lily perched on the bench beside him, stunned, and wrapped her arms around her middle. They were still and quiet for a long time. Lily could hear some other students yelling as they played a game down on the grounds, the sound floating up to them, and then, even more quietly, someone walking down the hall, singing slightly off key, until even that was gone.
"I know what can happen," she whispered. "I know what can happen. I know that-- I won't tell anyone, James. I promise."
It took James a long time before he nodded, and Lily covered her face with her hands, a sob escaping her before she could swallow it back. "I didn't know it would be so bad," she said, thinking again of Remus' scars.
"The transformations hurt. For a couple of days before the full, it's like his muscle and bone are warring in his body." James stopped, shrugged and shook his head. His voice was dull, pained, and he shifted uncomfortably along the bench, clearly unsure of how much he should say. "He hurts so much that even the clothes against his skin make him ache."
It took Lily a few seconds to work out what "near the full" meant, her mind still rebelling slightly (not Remus, not a monster though her mind rebelled stronger to that). She said, "oh," not knowing what else to say, but then came up with "Sirius," but stopped because it felt strange to say it out loud after she'd so clearly misinterpreted what she had seen in the dorm.
"He's always been the one who could keep Remus calm before." James shrugged again, this time as if he's never thought about it before. "Remus has like, really vivid nightmares--night terrors, a few days before so he can't sleep. He can't eat." James ticked things off on his fingers before he tossed up his hand then pushed it through his hair again.
"So Sirius--"
"Takes care of him even when he doesn't want anyone near him. Has since third year, at least." James turned to Lily suddenly, clasping her hands between his own. "You can't let on to Remus that you know unless he tells you himself. It wasn't my secret to tell."
"I understand, James."
"Or to Sirius. Especially to Sirius. He's extremely protective."
"You all are."
"It's different with Sirius. He'd probably kill Snape if he found out." James gave her a grim smile, his eyes flashing, and Lily shivered, suspecting that he wasn't joking. "He'd probably just obliviate your memories."
"He wouldn't." Lily felt a little breathless when he didn't answer her but continued to look steadily into her eyes. "What do I do, James?"
"Same as you always have. He's always had his furry little problem, as long as you've known him, and he's never hurt anyone. He's kept safe during the full. You're in no danger, not from Remus."
"I know. I mean, I didn't think I was."
"If you think it would help, I could let you go out with me. Lupin would never eat my girlfriend."
Lily made a noise that was both a cry and a laugh at James' cheek, shaking her head before turning away from him and burying her face in her hands. It was too much (all of it) and she was crying before she knew it. She hated to cry and was embarrassed to do it now, in front of James, and couldn't have even said why she was doing it, not specifically at least. She was comforted though when James only sat quietly for several long minutes, his hand on her shoulder, before he took a sheet of clean parchment from his bag and transformed it into a large handkerchief.
"All right?" He asked much later as they sat in the dark, the halls and grounds long gone silent.
She nodded her head and stood, reaching for her bag. "Thank you, James."
"For what?"
"I don't know." Lily's hiccupped in the middle of her laugh and she swallowed hard before it turned into more (embarrassing--really embarrassing) tears and followed him from the room.
continued.
Author: Dani (
escribo)
Word Count: 2771
Rating: PG-13
(Pairings: in the future will be Remus/Sirius, Lily/James)
Timeline: October 6, 1976
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended. I've not made nor seek any profit.
Year 1: one/ two/ three/ four/ five/ six/ seven
Year 2: one/ two/ three/ four
Year 3: one/ two/three/four
Year 4 (coming in the future when work quits eating my brains! Sorry for the out-of-order-ness)
Year 5 one/ two/ three/ four/ five/ six/ seven/ eight
Year 6 one
No matter what Alice said, Lily did not like James Potter. It was just that she had to admit he wasn't quite the ignorant berk she had always assumed him to be, and if she happened to be able to admit (to herself if not to anyone else) that she also found him a tiny bit handsome and really quite funny, that didn't mean she was falling for him or his supposed charms. He was good at Potions and she needed a partner now that she couldn't even talk to Severus without arguing with him. She had asked Remus first, as she had assumed Sirius would pair off with James as they had since first year. Since Peter was apparently not taking it this year, it left Remus on his own (or at least without his usual partner) but then it had become weird--strange--and she found herself agreeing to James and switching seats with an (in her opinion) irrationally angry Sirius and ignoring Severus' glares from across the room.
A month in and she found she enjoyed having James as her partner (in this alone, thank you very much Alice for even planting that idea of more or different). He actually made an effort to study (not that he generally needed to) rather than flirt, and kept Sirius from fighting with his on-again/off-again girlfriend who would sometimes join them if they all went to the library. She also couldn't help but notice how unspeakably kind James was to Remus, even when teasing him, sometimes mercilessly (until Remus would finally bristle at the attention and threaten to hex James), and she hadn't expected that. What she also noticed (though she really hadn't want to) was that James wasn't the only one who was kind to Remus.
In Lily's opinion, Sirius Black was a misplaced Slytherin and she couldn't imagine how he'd become friends--much less best friends--with James, Remus and Peter. She'd seen him be cruel and cutting, quick to hex and quicker to curse in a fight, and there'd been plenty of those since the start of their sixth year. He was handsome and quite fit (she'd have to be dead not to notice that, and Lily was even sure she'd seen some of ghosts looking at Sirius with fondness) but when she looked at him bits of her mother's advice would float through her head, things like judging books by their covers and beauty being skin deep. She knew his brother, too, and while Regulus (when forced to speak or work with Lily during Prefect meetings) had the same lovely manners as Sirius, he left her with no doubt about how he felt about her and the other Muggle borns at the school. She suspected Sirius felt the same by the way his lip would curl into something resembling a snarl on the rare occasions when she met him without James or Remus there to keep him in line.
That's why she was so surprised when she followed James into the sixth year boys' dorm. They'd gone to retrieve a book on curative potions that James had checked out of the library weeks ago, which Lily wanted for a special study she was doing for Professor Slughorn. The room was dark and overly warm, the curtains drawn over the large windows and a fire burning low in the stove. As her eyes adjusted (and no, she was not watching as James kneeled beside his trunk and then stretched to search beneath his bed) she realized that she and James were not alone. Sirius lay stretched out on a bed wearing only his dress trousers, the book he was reading balanced in one hand as his other arm curled protectively (and really there was no other word for it) around Remus, who was asleep (she was sure he was asleep) with his head resting on Sirius' (bare) chest and his hand clutching at Sirius' (bare) waist.
She tried not to look once she realized what she was seeing but James, who obviously couldn't find the book amongst his own possessions, looked over to where Sirius lay and Lily followed.
"Sirius," James whispered. "Do know where the Kline book of potions is? Did you have it last?"
Sirius lowered his book, his eyes flickering over Lily who stood still and quiet in the middle of the room, before he answered, his voice a low rumble. "I don't know. It might be in my trunk."
James crossed the room to Sirius' trunk (so they were on Remus' bed, Lily thought, even as she tried not to--she had expected his space to be neater, when she thought of it (which was never!)) and kneeled to raise the lid and shift through the contents.
"It's not here," James whispered before carefully lowering the lid. He went then to what must be Peter's side and looked on his table, beneath the bed, and then rooted through Peter's trunk, huffing when he didn't find the book. He walked back over to Lily and stood next to her, his hands on his hips as he tapped his finger on his chin, looking around the room.
"It's okay, Potter." Lily had to stretch up onto her toes to whisper it into his ear, her hand light on his shoulder, loathe to disturb the other boys. "You can give it to me later."
James smiled down at her, his grin crooked and his hazel eyes shining even in the dim light of the room (not that she was the least bit thrown off balance just by that), and shook his head. He looked back to Sirius, who was reading his book again and ignoring them, and Lily tried not to follow his eyes but couldn't help it. Sirius was dragging the tips of his fingers in lazy circles over Remus' bare back, moving them over his neck and across his shoulders and down his arm, and Remus was relaxed into Sirius' side. It was intimate and familiar in a way that made Lily embarrassed to have looked, to be watching, and she forced herself to look down at her shoes, her hair slipping heavily over her shoulder. In just that moment, she hated that she blushed so easily and that even in the low light of the hot coals in the stove, James could probably see her turning red.
"Sirius? Did Moony have it last?" James whispered, taking a step closer. "Do you think he'd mind if I looked for it?"
"Not if you quit whispering and let him sleep," Remus said, and Lily looked back up then, surprised in a lot of ways, starting with that this seemed quite normal to them all, Remus and Sirius having a snuggle in the middle of the day, and James completely oblivious as if he's seen it a million times, and Sirius reading of all things (because she hadn't taken him as quite literary or literate for that matter, though she knew that wasn't right or fair, since he'd bested her in Muggle Studies--Muggle Studies--last year), and lying motionless, which she would have thought was physically impossible for him.
"Is it in your trunk?" James whispered, leaning now over Sirius, his hand light on Remus' back.
"My bag."
James bent down and kissed Remus' shoulder in thanks, a wet, smacking thing, and Lily blushed again, raising her eyes to the ceiling now as if she'd found something intensely interesting there. This easy affection was almost as disconcerting as the scars that crisscrossed Remus' back and arms like a map of London (and she really hadn't meant to look again) since in her family it'd been years since she'd even thought about hugging her sister.
"Evans," Sirius drawled by way of greeting, drawing her from her thoughts, though he had obviously known she was there before.
"Black," she answered, meaning to make her voice hard (as was their tradition when they were forced to speak to one another) but it came out whispery, choking her when she realized that it wasn't a greeting but a warning because Remus hadn't known she was there. She saw something in his look that was both protective and proprietary, which made Lily feel as though she was intruding (and she was positive that he thought so). She pulled her cloak tighter around her, her arms going around her middle, and bit her lip.
Remus started to lift his head at the sound of her voice, his face gray and pale, but Sirius moved his hand from Remus' shoulder to rest on the back of his head, to pull him back down to rest back on Sirius. Lily held her breath as she heard Sirius' mumbled go back to sleep and saw that his lips were practically against Remus' forehead as he spoke before he seemed to go to his book, his fingers moving to stroke slowly through Remus' hair.
James retrieved the book, grabbed his bag, and slid his hand to rest on her elbow, ushering her from the room. She glanced over her shoulder before the door shut to find that Sirius was still looking at her, his face twisted into something that felt like a dare (and that was at least familiar) and she knew the whole "not hexing a girl" thing probably wouldn't apply if she decided to make Remus her target (she didn't think for what would particularly matter). She squinched her face, the words "I would never" on her lips, though she didn't bother to say them out loud (would never what?) and turned away from then both.
They were out of the common room and headed up to the library, Lily silently following James, when Lily put her hand flat on her stomach. She tried to find the words to say something like tell Black that I would never hurt Remus or… well, she couldn't think of what else she would say (or need to say) because all she could think of was the scars that covered Remus' skin, how Sirius had touched Remus, of Severus' theories and her own. She remembered suddenly that the full moon would come the next night and she felt (again so suddenly) that she couldn't breath, and had to stop, reaching out to touch the nearest stone wall to steady herself.
"Are you okay?" James asked as he touched her shoulder.
"Remus."
"He has trouble sleeping sometimes," James said, his voice sounding strange to Lily's ears. He shifted his bag to his other shoulder and reached for hers, which she let him take so that she could rest her back against the wall, wondering if her legs would continue to support her.
"The illnesses. The scars. I told Severus he was wrong. I thought I knew but I told Severus he was wrong."
"Evans."
At the note of warning in James' voice, Lily looked up at him and saw the same thing she had seen in Sirius. "I like Remus," she whispered, looking away from the danger in his eyes. "I wouldn't do anything to hurt him. I told Severus he was wrong."
Lily gasped when James took her arm and began to steer her down the hall, and Lily had to almost run to keep up. He looked in several rooms before finding an empty classroom and pushed her inside before he slammed the door shut, casting a locking charm and then a silencing charm on top of it. He dropped their bags onto the floor and turned to look at her, his hands jammed deep into his pockets, so much like Sirius just then that they actually could be brothers at just that moment.
"Remus has been my friend," she said, feeling like a fish that has been thrown onto the bank.
"He's still your friend." James pushed his hand through his hair and it wasn't like when he did it for affectation. It was fear and frustration, so completely foreign to how she's always thought of him that she couldn't bear to look away. "Whatever you thought you knew, Evans--"
"I know he's a werewolf, James. I know. I've known."
James sat down heavily on a long, low bench, his elbows on his knees. Lily watched as he washed his hands over his face and beneath his glasses, leaving them askew, before meeting her eyes again. "You can never say that out loud again, Lily. To anyone."
"It's true then."
James nodded, miserable. Lily perched on the bench beside him, stunned, and wrapped her arms around her middle. They were still and quiet for a long time. Lily could hear some other students yelling as they played a game down on the grounds, the sound floating up to them, and then, even more quietly, someone walking down the hall, singing slightly off key, until even that was gone.
"I know what can happen," she whispered. "I know what can happen. I know that-- I won't tell anyone, James. I promise."
It took James a long time before he nodded, and Lily covered her face with her hands, a sob escaping her before she could swallow it back. "I didn't know it would be so bad," she said, thinking again of Remus' scars.
"The transformations hurt. For a couple of days before the full, it's like his muscle and bone are warring in his body." James stopped, shrugged and shook his head. His voice was dull, pained, and he shifted uncomfortably along the bench, clearly unsure of how much he should say. "He hurts so much that even the clothes against his skin make him ache."
It took Lily a few seconds to work out what "near the full" meant, her mind still rebelling slightly (not Remus, not a monster though her mind rebelled stronger to that). She said, "oh," not knowing what else to say, but then came up with "Sirius," but stopped because it felt strange to say it out loud after she'd so clearly misinterpreted what she had seen in the dorm.
"He's always been the one who could keep Remus calm before." James shrugged again, this time as if he's never thought about it before. "Remus has like, really vivid nightmares--night terrors, a few days before so he can't sleep. He can't eat." James ticked things off on his fingers before he tossed up his hand then pushed it through his hair again.
"So Sirius--"
"Takes care of him even when he doesn't want anyone near him. Has since third year, at least." James turned to Lily suddenly, clasping her hands between his own. "You can't let on to Remus that you know unless he tells you himself. It wasn't my secret to tell."
"I understand, James."
"Or to Sirius. Especially to Sirius. He's extremely protective."
"You all are."
"It's different with Sirius. He'd probably kill Snape if he found out." James gave her a grim smile, his eyes flashing, and Lily shivered, suspecting that he wasn't joking. "He'd probably just obliviate your memories."
"He wouldn't." Lily felt a little breathless when he didn't answer her but continued to look steadily into her eyes. "What do I do, James?"
"Same as you always have. He's always had his furry little problem, as long as you've known him, and he's never hurt anyone. He's kept safe during the full. You're in no danger, not from Remus."
"I know. I mean, I didn't think I was."
"If you think it would help, I could let you go out with me. Lupin would never eat my girlfriend."
Lily made a noise that was both a cry and a laugh at James' cheek, shaking her head before turning away from him and burying her face in her hands. It was too much (all of it) and she was crying before she knew it. She hated to cry and was embarrassed to do it now, in front of James, and couldn't have even said why she was doing it, not specifically at least. She was comforted though when James only sat quietly for several long minutes, his hand on her shoulder, before he took a sheet of clean parchment from his bag and transformed it into a large handkerchief.
"All right?" He asked much later as they sat in the dark, the halls and grounds long gone silent.
She nodded her head and stood, reaching for her bag. "Thank you, James."
"For what?"
"I don't know." Lily's hiccupped in the middle of her laugh and she swallowed hard before it turned into more (embarrassing--really embarrassing) tears and followed him from the room.