Letters From A Stranger || James and Lily ||

Murmured Happy Birthdays

"Is something wrong, Marlene?" she asked.

Marlene sat up abruptly. "Nothing." Her gaze wandered around the room once before settling back on Lily.

Lily noted that there was a strong kind of smell that hung in the air, something like an aftershave or cologne. Something that definitely didn't belong in their room.

"Why did you go to the boys' dorm?" Marlene asked, distracting Lily from her suspicious thoughts.

"I had to talk to James. I was kind of ignoring him after the Defense class." Lily replied, "But how did you know where I was?"

Marlene shrugged. "I have my sources."

"Anyway, in all this confusion I forgot to ask you something. What is your patronus?"

"Why do you want to know?" Marlene asked, looking down at her lap, a light pink rising on her pale cheeks. That itself was enough to make Lily curious because Marlene never blushed.

"Because I am your best friend. Now tell me." Lily said, sitting down next to Marlene.

"Poodle." Marlene mumbled.

"What?" Lily asked, her lips twitching in the beginning of a laugh.

"My patronus is a freaking poodle, Lily."

And then Lily lost it. She fell backwards on to the bed, laughing hysterically.

"Marlene McKinnon's patronus. The Marlene Mckinnon's patronus is a poodle? A tiny little poodle?" she gasped between laughs.

"Shut up!" Marlene hissed but she was smiling too, "It was cute."

"You." Lily said, pointing her index finger at Marlene, "The most badass Gryffindor girl's patronus is a poodle!"

Both of them then burst into peals of laughter again.

~~~~~

Lily woke up to a chorus of "Happy Birthday" and face full of blonde hair.

"Happy Birthday, Lils." Marlene shrieked in her ear.

"Holy shit, Marlene! I wanted to use that ear in the future." Lily said, pushing Marlene away and smiling giddily.

She threw the covers off her and got down from the bed. Alice, Mary and Daisy then took turns hugging and wishing Lily.

Remus gave her a gentle hug and a pat on the head. Sirius, in total Sirius fashion, squeezed Lily to death. Peter shook her hand awkwardly.

Lily felt her stomach twist when she saw the last person in the room. He was smiling, all messy hair and bright eyes.

What should I do? Say hi? Hug him? Run out of the room? Merlin, I didn't even brush.

James didn't give her time to think anymore as he stepped forward and hugged her.

In that moment, it was just them. Just James and Lily, standing in her dorm, lost in each other's presence as the world around them blurred into nothingness.

Lily didn't know how it happened but in the few seconds they stood there, a thousand things got etched in her mind. The little things like the faint thud of his heart against her ear. The way he held her - close yet gentle. How his arms wrapped around her - tentatively, like he couldn't believe it wasn't a dream, that she was really there. The dazed look on his face when their eyes met and the soft "Happy Birthday" he murmured in her ear as he stepped back.

And the thought that struck her next scared her and made her heart race at the same time.

If this is what it felt like to be with him....