The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix Part Three

The Love Lived Forever

It was late afternoon, the sun was coming through the window even though the curtains were drawn, and because of it - despite being truly, thoroughly exhausted - James couldn't quite get his head to fall asleep. Nor could he get up the energy to reach for his wand on the night stand to block the light better. So instead, he lay there on the bed, staring blankly, feeling numb, in a strange half-awake, half-asleep state.

He'd seen to it that Dora was home and tucked into her bed, Roger curled up on the pillow beside her head, and she was sleeping off the lingering tiredness that came from a multiple-day hospital stay. Lily had gone to wash up and James laid down. But the thing was, without even Roger there to distract him, the darkness that had been stirred up by the cruciatus to the chest he'd taken started cess pooling around his brain and he felt all dredged up and murky. Plus the weight of the Prewett Twins' deaths - the echoing of Gideon's last words to him, spoken in a hushed, irritated whisper just before they'd disapparated from the Ministry.

They'd just finished alerting the muggle liaison offices that there would be a possible disturbance in Knightbridge needing attention so that the disapparation team would be prepared come morning, and they were headed down the corridor to the disapparation hall. James pressed his point about getting Underhill once again and Gideon had turned around and he'd said, "James! Please. Just let it go and we'll talk later."

James had let it go.

But they wouldn't talk later.

James closed his eyes.

The door opened and Lily tip-toed, thinking James was asleep. She climbed onto the bed and settled herself, sitting up beside him and opened a jar of lotion she kept beside the bed, rubbing it over her knees and elbows. The warm-sweet scene of vanilla and coconut wafted from the lotion and when she'd finished putting it on, she took up her wand and waved it at the windows, darkening the light in the room - casting the spell James was too heavy to cast himself. Then she settled down, carefully turning to lay against him, snuggling into him.

She was startled when he wrapped his arm around her and, fully awake, said, "I love you Evans."

"Gods, Potter, I thought you were asleep."

"I know, it was cute how you were being so quiet."

"I didn't want to disturb you."

He pressed his face into her hair, freshly washed, died, brushed, and braided. Just being next to her made him feel a little bit of the blackness ebb away and he wished he could pull her even closer to himself, as though he sort of wished to tear open a hole in his chest and settle her inside, protected by his rib cage the way his heart was.

Gods, that's kind of gruesome, he thought.

But it was true.

Even that might not be as close as he really wanted her to be.

They lay in silence for a long time.

Lily  traced hearts on his chest with her fingertip, biting her lip and thinking how horrible Dorcas Meadowes was feeling right now - how she never, ever wanted to get the news that she would have gotten today. She buried her fingers tight into his shirt, wanting to hold onto him and keep him from ever going anywhere near a battle again. She didn't care if it was selfish, she didn't want to risk losing him.

Meanwhile, James thought about the twins and the connection they had, how close they were.

He could still see Fabian's hand holding onto Gideon's - the life gone out of the twins' bodies, but not the love.

Not the love.

Never the love.

The love lived forever.

"Evans?" James said into the dark.

"Potter?" she answered.

"You can do it."

"What?" she opened her eyes and sat up, extricating herself from his grasp, staring down at him, laid out before her all strong and handsome, but vulnerable and beautiful at the same time. Her heart thumped wildly.

"Love magic," James said. He swallowed back the hesitation he was feeling as he stared up at her beautiful green eyes, which shined with emotion as she comprehended what he was saying.

"Are you sure?"

James nodded. "Love magic me, Lily."

Without a second of hesitation, Lily leaned forward, putting her hands on the sides of his face so her fingers were up in his hair and her palms were cupping his jaw and she kissed his mouth and the moment their skins touched he felt it begin...