heymistercomehere

[heymistercomehere]

Common Room - 7th Year - Some way into becoming friends

Lily entered the common room to see James staring out of the window on the other side of the room. Despite the warm fire in the corner, the glass was a cool relief on his skin as was the breeze coming through the cracked window pane window. A small group of first years lingered by the couches, but Lily paid them little mind as she wandered over to James. 

He looked up, a small inviting smile playing over his lips as she sits across from him. 

‘What's got you down Potter?’ She tucked her knees to her chest to ward off the chill of their chosen seat. 

‘Ahh Evans. Everything and nothing I suppose.’ His tone was light but she could tell his thoughts were heavy. He turned to look right at her. 

‘Are you okay? After everything that happened this morning?’ 

She stared out of the window for a pause before answering. 

‘It’s funny, I thought that I’d gotten used to that kind of thing happening every so often. Words don’t aways cut very deep for me. But something about the relentlessness of it all. It’s not going to stop with them, and it feels like it’s only growing. That’s the hard part to me.’ 

‘I’m so sorry.’ He reached out and grasped her hands, which were linked around her knees. The warmth from his hands seeped into her bones, and she felt safer for it. 

‘You have nothing to be sorry for.’ She took another moment. ‘I’m glad you were there actually.’ 

‘Oh, yeah?’ His lips twitched upwards. 

‘Not that I need your protection, but the back up support is always appreciated.’ 

‘I’ll keep that in mind.’ They settled into silence for a moment, and he slipped his hand away. She felt the loss immediately. 

‘I know what you mean, by the way. About feeling them growing?’ He couldn’t meet her eye as he spoke. ‘I don’t know what to do about it.’ 

‘Well it’s not all on you, you know.’ 

‘I just feel so helpless here. All we do is hex and jinx each other like we’re children, meanwhile they’re attacking families and Muggles outside the castle and all I can do is sit here and read about it in the paper. I just want to be out there already.’ He huffed this out and Lily could feel his temper rising. She leant forward and grasped his hand in hers, stopping him from running it through his hair again. 

'No you don’t. Not yet.’ She kept her hand on his, rubbing her thumb over his palm. ‘All this violence, James. Surely this can’t be the way to go about things. There’s so much loss out there. What we need to do here is love and protect.’ He was staring into her eyes, entranced. 

‘I don’t know if it’s that simple.’ He said finally. 

‘Maybe it’s something we could try?’ She squeezed his hand and let go, resting back against the wall again. 

‘God I wish I had a cigarette right now.’ 

‘Not in the Common Room, Head Boy.’ He smirks at her words. ‘Maybe next time.’ 

They fell into a silence, listening to the beginnings of rain spitting at the windows, and watching the sky darken under storm clouds. Lily turned to James again, and saw him clearly very deep in thought, his brow furrowed and expression steely. She kicked him lightly to shake his revere. 

‘God when did you get so serious?  It’s unnerving. What happened to Prongs?’ 

He laughed softly, pulling himself back to the present. 

‘He grew up I guess.’ 

‘Yeah. Looks like he did.’ Lily admired James for a moment. He had grown since the previous school year. His face had thinned out, his chest was larger and his eyes were a little darker. 

‘Don’t grow up too much.’ She swings her legs off the window seat and makes her way towards the staircase, leaving him to stare out the window until the fire burned out in the grate and he lugged himself to his own bed for the night.