Letters From A Stranger || James and Lily ||

A Breath Away

"Why not?" Marlene questioned again, not catching on to why James was so worked up about such a small thing.

"I don't know." James flopped over and buried his face in the pillow, his voice coming out muffled, "But I'm not going to write to her."

Marlene and Sirius shared a look of absolute frustration at how dense he was being.

Meanwhile, James wondered why even though Lily was back home, miles away, it still felt like she was just a breath away.

~~~~~

Lily was suffocating. She couldn't breathe.

She felt like she was going to die if she stayed in her room any longer. She usually loved being at home, alone with just herself and her thoughts for company. But now, for some weird reason, she was craving for human presence.

Throwing away the book she had been trying to read, she dragged herself out of the bed. She grabbed a cardigan on her way out of the room, pulling it over her shirt. On her way out, she peeked into Petunia's room and saw her immersed in whatever paperwork it was she was doing.

She closed the gate and turned around to see that the streets were empty. There were barely any commotion or traffic on the road. So against her better decision, she decided to take a walk.

As much as she liked Hogwarts, Lily missed Cokeworth. Sure Hogwarts was beautiful, most certainly her favorite place on the face of earth. But she couldn't compare it to Cokeworth. Hogwarts was magical, ethereal, something straight out of a children's fairy tale. But what made Cokeworth beautiful was its simplicity. The small town and the few people, who all knew each other like a big extended family.

As she walked along, pulling the cardigan closer around her, she felt her thoughts wander and as usual, end on the one person she just couldn't stop thinking, how much ever she tried. It had been a few weeks and Lily had tried everything in her will to distract herself, unsuccessfully too.

She half expected to look up and see him strolling down the street towards her, hand running through his eternally messy hair and that trademark grin on his lips. If she deluded herself enough, maybe she would hear his voice in her head asking Alright, Evans? as he sees her.

She wondered what would happen if she was to run into James Potter now. Maybe he would pretend to be shocked to see her. Maybe he would say something along the lines of how small the earth was that he just happened to run into her. And maybe she would duck her head, hiding the small smile and obvious blush that would spread over her cheeks. Lily laughed to herself, shaking herself out of her crazy reverie.

Lily walked without any care of destination and found herself in the park in front of the church. The park had been the place were she had the most nostalgic memories so it was no surprise that she ended up there when she was feeling lonely.

She smiled when she spotted the twin swing sets that had witnessed so many of her childhood memories. Not caring if anyone was watching her, she ran towards the swing, sitting on the one on the left side.

She grabbed the chain of the swing and pulled herself back, her feet slowly leaving the ground. She let her hands go, feeling as if she was floating. Lily closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of the light breeze in her auburn hair. It reminded her of how James had played with her hair, the day before she left Hogwarts. A smile spread across her lips at the memory.

She wondered how it is that everything somehow managed to remind her of the same person. Lily felt like she had time traveled back to her pre-teens, fantasizing over a boy, a blushing mess at just the mere thought of him. If he saw her now, he'd probably call her crazy for smiling to herself like this.