finally, lily and james

not anymore comforting

Months passed by, trials and tribulations along with it, and with that came the Marauders (plus Lily)'s final exams. The day of the actual exams were probably the least stressful, and that was because the anticipation for results and letters from different Universities the days following made it all the worse. And that's why on the first day of June, Lily and James laid on their backs in the courtyard as a distraction.

The skies were a pretty and vibrant blue that day, and there were little to no clouds as the couple stared up up at the sky. Lily smiled, looking over at James's side profile, taking in his appearance and once more realizing how much had changed since just last year. He'd grown up so much and she just began to take it in...he had stubble growing on his jaw, and his cheekbones were much more pronounced, his hair was still messy as ever, but darker, and a bit longer on the sides. He'd grown obviously much taller, and Lily remembered with a smile how he used to be shorter, and how he'd reacted when he finally surpassed her. Now, he was taller by a good four or five inches!

"I'm sort of scared." Lily admitted, looking back up at the sky, folding her arms.

James looked over and rose an eyebrow, "What? How so?"

"We're leaving tomorrow." Lily stated, biting her lip. James rolled over to her and leaned up on his elbows so he could look down at her properly.

"Yes, I'm aware," James grinned, "I'm failing to see what's so terrifying about it, though."

Lily took a deep breath, meeting his eyes, "It's just...after we leave, we're not coming back to Hogwarts—and we're starting our real adult lives out there," She looked away, and thought about the war, and the dangers and attacks, "And we won't have Dumbledore's protection anymore, we'll be fighting, and there'll be war."

James stayed quiet for a moment, picking at the grass and staring very intently at the ground before sighing, "You're right, it's going to be hard...but, I think as long as we're together it'll be okay."

Lily paused. For the past two years almost every day she thought about what would happen after Hogwarts, and especially how she'd deal. With the war approaching and now the 'Death Eaters' expanding, she was terrified. She'd never expressed it to anyone before, except James, just now—and if you told her two years ago that after Hogwarts she'd be dating James Potter she probably would've fainted.

And she was perfectly okay with that. Somehow this mischievous and dorky and athletic and really annoying but hot guy had wormed his way into her heart. She couldn't imagine another future that didn't include him, and she didn't particularly want to. So, his answer was perfect to her.

Lily smiled, "Yeah." She looked up at the sky again, "Yeah, you're right. As long as I'm with you, I'm sure I'll be okay."

James' grin widened, and Lily once again shamelessly got lost in his eyes. Shaking herself out the the daze she was in, "Unless you know, you don't accidentally kill us all with another 'harmless prank'," She joked, earning a laugh from her boyfriend. She loved when she made him laugh, it was usually the other way around.

"Very funny, haha," James snickered, taking her by the arm and helping her get up so they could walk back to the castle. It was getting late, and chilly. He offered her his jacket, as they were in only uniform, leaving their robes in their dorms, "That'd only happen if you lived with me, most of my little experimental pranks happen in the kitchen."

"You know I wish I could—but mum wants me to stay at home until I'm married," Lily said, swinging their arms in between them, "And also, I'd rather not put my life at risk and stay with you, Remus and Sirius in one flat." James snickered, not really protesting because he knew she wasn't entirely wrong.