For You

Prescription Laughs

Severus sat up in bed at the incessant knocking on his door and forced himself out of bed for another day of being groomed for high class, Pureblood society.

Geoffrey had taken it upon himself (as usual, he liked to state) to turn his ignorant, poorly raised (something else he liked to state) in the ways of manners and civility. His patient, semi-sensitive attitude seemed to have passed along with his sister, and he was back to his old self.

Part of Severus' 'further education' included going along to dinners and small parties in order to become acquainted with all the people important to his future.

Though rumours of an uprising had died down in the majority of the wizarding world (the individual who had leaked had been severely punished) it was nevertheless the favourite topic of conversation among the more important men at dinners when they retired for after-supper firewhisky.

As the weeks went by in June, Severus found himself mentally noting the goings-on at Hogwarts. When dinner was. What would be going on in Potions. It was exam time now; people would be studying, the school would be dead-quiet. That was his favourite time at Hogwarts. Severus found himself wishing he was there, if only just to take the exams, and said so at dinner one night.

"There's no point in going back," Geoffrey snorted. "You won't have learned enough to pass them now."

And that was that.

Still, Severus found himself wondering what they'd been brewing in Potions class and he still read the textbooks. He missed Defence Against the Dark Arts as well, since he knew more about it than anyone in his year, even Lily.

Lily. He missed her as well, though he had forced his mind from it as soon as he'd arrived at the Prince Manor. Still, she'd managed to creep back into his thoughts arbitrarily, just long enough to remind him of the smell of her hair, or to flash him the colour of her eyes across his only briefly enough to make him uncomfortable.

It was all very 'Lily' of her, and that fact hurt worse than anything else.

Geoffrey had no idea about Lily at all, and had taken to talking of different girls to Severus at every new opportunity, preferably those of connectional value.

Severus didn't bother to argue; he never argued anymore with Geoffrey, for he had accepted his future and knew that, in a strange way, there was reason for his concern toward the welfare of their family. Things were changing rapidly, especially for Pureblooded families, and things such as marriage and connectional value were the surest things to preserve a family's existence.

That said, Severus suspected he would never marry. Though his only exposure of marriage was for power and money, the only example of love in a marriage for him was of his parents.

Severus didn't believe in marriage. Even if he did, he knew he still wouldn't marry, for even in his cold, hard resolve to forget her, he knew in his heart that he could never bear another woman who wasn't Lily Evans.

Exams were over before he realized it, and he knew the students would be home in a few days. He hoped she was fine. He hoped her family went away for the summer on an extravagant holiday somewhere nice, maybe France. Somewhere that would take her mind off what he had done to her. He knew he had broken her- he was not so brainwashed and diverted as to ignore what her feelings must have been- and hoped one day she would forget him. He wanted her to be happy, to have the life they could never have together with someone else. Only those who truly love someone can sacrifice their own feelings for those of whom they love.

July passed in a tedious state of evening parties and charcoal dinners on the lawns of the 'purely' wealthy.

Lucius Malfoy, who was nearly seven years Severus' senior, took it upon his charitable self to befriend him, and visited often- much to Geoffrey's delight.

"You'll do well to appreciate this stroke of good luck boy," he advised Severus one night while preparing for yet another cocktail ball. "The Malfoys are the purest of the best when it comes to wealth, connections and security. You'll be hard-pressed to find a family equal to them."

"Right then," Severus replied, buttoning the front of his robes. "I'll propose tonight before another man grabs him up."

"This is no joke boy," growled Geoffrey. "I've been working my arse off to set you up with a future for this family. It's time you started pulling your own weight around and secure some connections.

Lucius seemed agreeable enough, however, and aside from the obsessive exhaustion of the topic of Pureblood, which Severus had already begun to be immune, he made relatively good company. He made it very apparent that he held Severus in a high esteem, and introduced him to a great many of his other rich, young friends. They entertained each other every weekend at their manors, getting drunk on elf-made wine and sometimes even inviting girls to the party, although the well-bred ones such Narcissa or Bellatrix Black never stayed long.

Severus turned seventeen late July, and Lucius, as his only near-peer, took it upon himself to throw his young protégé a proper party.

So when he arrived at the Prince Manor at midnight with a gang of other older wealthy boys, Geoffrey could hardly protest. Not that he wanted to.

"Show him a good time, Lucius," he waved them off, furious he was in his bedclothes in front of a Malfoy and a Lestrange, among others.

"Nothing to worry about, Geoffrey," Lucius called back jovially, firmly gripping Severus' arm.

As they furthered their way from the house, Lucius leaned close to Severus' ear, whispering "are you ready to have some real fun, Snape?"

They all Apparated to what appeared to Severus as Knockturn Alley, though he had never seen that area of it before. It was filled with many younger people, and loud music was playing from an unknown source.

The group whom Severus was with was lively. There were five, not including Lucius or Severus, and all seemed well established in the ways of a turnaround pub.

They took over the bar, and Lucius shoved a flaming drink into Severus' hand and told him to drink it down.

Severus was no stranger to wine with dinner, and had had firewhisky the odd time in the Slytherin common room, but he hadn't liked it.

Nevertheless, he did as he was told, coughed a great deal and received an almost overwhelming amount of pats on the back for it.

The pub was full, congested and very loud, almost to the point of confusing. One drink quickly became ten, and Severus found himself laughing and shouting along with the rest. It wasn't until Lucius had decided the pub was boring, and declared that they had more amusing things to do.

Severus wasn't sure how he came to be standing in a field, staring at a house with a large part of its garden on fire. Lucius had given him a strange mask and cloak to wear upon Apparating, and had told him to wait. He was relieved when he saw the group returning, one wizard holding a girl likely a year or two younger than he by the arms.

Lestrange was missing, but Severus though he heard screams in the distance, coming from the house.

He barely noticed, however, as everyone else seemed to be laughing and singing. He didn't even seem to process a mask with Lucius' blond hair levitating a young boy, spinning him in the air like a top, who was crying loudly.

Everything was a blur, loud and strangely funny.

"Happy birthday, mate!" the man laughed, gesturing to another masked person who had just stepped forward with the girl.

He shoved her, shaking, in front of Severus.

"Well?" one of the men demanded, shoving her again impatiently.

Severus looked from the cackling masked person spinning a child in the air, upside down.

"Go on, Snape!" the mask shouted gleefully. "Have a little fun with her, don't be shy!"

The others cheered at this, and began yelling at Severus, though their words were lost to him, and were rather blurred and frightening.

The girl in front of him was hunched over, sobbing, but didn't fight when one of the others grew tired of waiting and ripped off her nightcap. A wave of red hair spilled from it and onto her shoulders.

Severus grew cold and caught his breath in his throat, stepped forward with his hand hesitantly stretched out, and vomited onto the grass in front of him.

Geoffrey couldn't have been prouder when Lucius returned Severus to him covered in vomit, along with a group of rowdy, wealthy young men. He even allowed Severus to lie in bed all the next day, leaving the house elves to care for him.

Severus lay in bed for the entire day, feeling confused and unexplainably ashamed, with images of fire, screaming shadows and spinning red hair in his head.

Lucius called the day after, sans mask, looking as fresh and refined as usual.

"I trust you are feeling better?" he asked amusedly as he sat opposite Severus in the parlour.

"Quite," Severus returned with a practiced smile.

"Did you have a good time then?" Lucius inquired, leaning back studiously.

Severus felt as if he were being tested. He swallowed the steaming pile of guilt forming a lump in his throat, and nodded.

"Right up until I was sick," he joked, and Lucius laughed.

"I thought so," Lucius remarked, smiling. "It's too bad you were though. We could have had so much more fun."

Severus ignored the familiar echoing of screams in the back of his mind.

"So, it's rather all a blur," Severus began. "What did end up happening after I made such a disgusting fool of myself?"

"Oh, think nothing of it," Lucius waved his hand. "It happens to the best of us. We left right away, of course."

Severus hid the wave of relief that washed over him, and as Lucius did not bring it up again, decided there was nothing more to do on the matter.

Lily had stepped off the train from Hogwarts a week ago, had said goodbye to James Potter for the first time, and had stupidly forgotten the shoulder bag containing her school books on her seat.

After a number of owls delivered and received to and from Hogwarts, it had been resolved that her books had been taken, for the train had been checked and they were nowhere to be found.

Five days had gone by since, and it was on the sixth that Lily came down for breakfast to a letter at her place on the table.

"This came for you this morning, love," her mother said, gesturing to it from her seat.

Lily took it up and examined the seal.

"It's not from Hogwarts," she said, puzzled, and ripped it open.

My dear Evans,

I was unpacking yesterday and found a bag that wasn't mine. I went through one of the books (sorry), and saw your name inside it. It appears that you left your books on the train and I snatched them up by accident.

I'd send them to you, but then I thought, why not have you over and you can pick them up yourself?

So here's my proposal: I'll return your books for a day at my house. If you should choose to accept my offer, I'll be at your house at eight-o-clock tomorrow. If you do not choose to accept my offer, I'll be at your house at eight-o-clock tomorrow. Either way, you get your books back!

See you tomorrow,

Your Potter

Lily didn't know whether to laugh or close her eyes in frustration, so she did both.

"What is it? Did you find your books?" her mother asked, reaching for the letter. But Lily held it out of reach.

"Yes," she replied. "I'm to go pick them up tomorrow at eight-o-clock."

"Pick them up? Where are they?" her mother said, incredulously.

"At a friend's," Lily replied with a smile. "I think I've been invited to his house for a day, and probably for dinner as well."

Her mother studied her expression and smiled. "And does this friend have a name?"

Lily shrugged. "You can call him Potter. Everyone does. He took my bag by accident."

"Yes, I'm sure he did," Mrs. Evans humoured, standing up to clear the table.

Lily shook her head, crumpled up the letter and tossed it in the wastebasket, starting out of the room. Then she stopped, turned and fished it out again.

"In case I forget the time," she said to her mother, who turned away with an annoyingly bemused look.

Lily was awakened by a loud knocking on her window the next morning, promptly at eight-o-clock.

She rolled out of bed and stumbled to the window, threw the curtains aside and gasped. There, perched outside her window in mid-air, was James.

"What are you doing?" she hissed, opening the window.

"Nice bed hair, Evans," James said, nodding at her mess of tangled red hair.

"Shut up," Lily scowled, putting an arm self-consciously over her head. "What time is it?"

"Eight-o-clock," he said, looking confused. "Like I said in my letter. Didn't you get it?"

James grinned as he watched Lily's expression change as she realized he'd meant eight-o-clock in the morning.

"Oh my god," she said, shutting the window quickly and drawing the curtains.

Shaking his head, James descended back to the ground.

Lily fell down twice trying to get dressed, and, after nearly ripping a chunk of hair from her head, had to charm the comb untangled.

On top of that, is had just hit her. She was going to James Potter's house, and was going to dine with his parents. She'd never met wizarding parents before. Come to think of it, she'd never been to a wizarding house before. As well, it was common knowledge that the Potters were extremely wealthy, and therefore she had to take extra care in selecting her clothes.

Half and hour later, she came back downstairs, just as James was finishing his eggs.

"And then she said 'I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid!'" James was telling her parents, who were laughing uproariously.

"But of course," James added upon her entering, "that was back when we were stupid kids. We're just friends now, aren't we, Evans?"

"Not even," Lily replied cheerfully, crossing the room to kiss her mother and father goodbye.

"Don't wait for me for dinner. I'll be gone all day."

"Do bring your friend around again, Lily," Mr. Evans said. "He is a most amusing fellow."

James shook hands with Mr. Evans and had to thank Mrs. Evans twice for the breakfast before Lily was able to force him back into the garden.

"Ready to go finally?" he asked, feigning impatience.

"Yes," Lily said, "though I'm not fond of your idea for a comfortable ride. Why broomstick, might I ask?"

"Because neither of us can Apparate and I didn't think you had Floo," James shrugged, pulling the Invisibility cloak over both of them.

"I didn't know you had one of these," Lily observed, feeling the strange cloth.

"What? Invisibility cloak?"

"No, a broomstick," Lily smirked.

"Oh, yeah. It was a birthday present."

"Right."

After a rather long and fearful ride that had Lily resentfully clinging to James' shirt most of the way, they descended onto the lawn of what Lily had to assume was his house. Or rather, his castle.

The grounds were extensive, and very green. The home was surrounded by forests, and Lily was sure she'd seen a rather clear pool of water through a clearing in the trees overhead.

"So this is your house?" Lily asked, stepping off the broom and stumbling at the feeling of solid ground again.

"Sure is," James said, reaching out to grab her arm, steadying her. "This is the ol' Potter slum."

Lily laughed at this, but didn't take her eyes off the house. It was magnificent; likely limestone or something of the sort, and very large.

"It's... big," she said lamely, and James laughed.

"Yeah. But that's not where I live," he said. "My family lives there." He pointed at a small ramshackle shed about a hundred yards away.

Lily frowned. "Really?"

James smirked. "Nope. C'mon, or would you rather stand gawking all day?"

Lily scowled and hurried to follow James up the pathway to his front door.

The front hall was spacious and echoed their footsteps. James pointed to a corner for Lily to discard her shoes, but she hadn't brought a coat for him to take.

"Maggy's in the kitchen," he said. "We only have one house elf, and she's ancient- been in the family for years. My dad's not much for servants, but Maggy's a special exception."

Lily nodded as she followed James into the closest room.

"It's so quiet," she observed, looking around. "Where are your parents?"

"My mum's in the garden, most likely," James shrugged. "And my dad's at work. He's in the ministry."

"What does he do?"

"Dunno."

James led Lily through one room and into another, and despite the general splendour, each were relatively modest. There was nothing unnecessary decorating the rooms, save for some beautiful paintings, and the very presence of the house relaxed Lily's nerves about meeting wealthy adults.

They walked through a few hallways, Lily too amused at the artwork decorating the walls to bother to speak, and James too used to the reactions of guests to bother to try.

He led her through the house, gesturing and naming the rooms as they came to them, finally stopping at the end of a hall on the third floor.

"And this," he said, opening the door, "is my room."

It was everything that Lily had come to learn of James in the past month, from its scarlet bedspread to the posters of Quidditch players adorning the walls. A particularly fantastic picture of a man who looked rather like James hung above the fireplace.

"My Grandfather," James said. "He was a seeker for Ireland once."

"I didn't know you were Irish," Lily said.

James shrugged and grinned suggestively. "There's a lot about me you don't know, Evans. Why don't you come over here and let me show you?"

"James Potter!" Lily gasped, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"What? The balcony. Let me show you the balcony!" James grinned.

"Oh, right, like that's what you meant," Lily said, red in the face.

"Get your mind out of the gutter Evans. I wouldn't have you now anyway- I know you too well."

"If that's all it takes, I'd have become friends with you long ago," Lily snapped back, following him out onto his veranda. She was silenced from further comment, however, by the sight of his garden.

"Oh, wow," Lily said, gazing at the outstretch of hedge maze, white walkways, flowers and fountains.

"It's girly, I know, but the maze is a good time," James grinned, leaning on the stone rail of the balcony.

Lily had an aching to try it, and told him so.

"Well then, let's do it," James said, returning into his room.

Lily followed him eagerly, but stopped with an exasperated sigh as she saw him lying suggestively on his bed. She noticed her bag of books sitting at the edge of his bed, on the floor, and made a mental note to remember them before she left.

"You do what you need to do, I'll be in the maze," she informed him laughingly.

Lily somehow found the doors to the garden, and walked out onto the patio into a wall of flowery scents. James came up behind her, and waited for the signature praise.

"How can a person so hygienically deprived live in a place so beautiful?" Lily asked, hands on her hips.

James cocked his head to one side. "Luck, I guess."

Lily nodded. "That's clearly the only explanation."

"Luck, as well as perseverance," a mild voice said behind Lily. Lily turned to see a tall, aging woman in her sixties, a once brunette-turned shades of grey. Her face was kind and, at the moment, amused.

"I'm Mrs. Potter," she said, extending her hand to Lily. Lily took it, genuinely pleased to meet the mother of her former-nemesis. "You must be Lily."

"Yes, ma'am," Lily said, smiling. "It's nice to meet you. You have a beautiful house."

"Thank you. James," Mrs. Potter said suddenly, looking at her son, "why didn't you tell me she was so pretty? All you said was that she was smart."

"Aw, mum," James began embarrassedly, "I did tell you she was pretty. Loads of times. It's the senility."

Lily gasped and turned to James, not sure of what to be surprised of first.

But Mrs. Potter merely smiled and leaned her cheek in for her son's kiss.

"What time did Dad and Sir leave this morning?"

"Oh, a few minutes after you did. I do hope he manages to secure that emancipation order for poor Sirius."

"Sirius?" Lily said, looking to James for an explanation.

"Sir's coming to live with us for a while," James said dismissively, and Lily caught the hint not to inquire further.

Lily and James spent the morning exploring the hedge maze, laughing and talking about the most random things. It was easy for them; they had a habit for witty banter, and both found, due to their history, that it was much easier to playfully insult each other than jump straight into compliments.

Tea was taken out in the garden, brought by Maggy, their ancient house elf. Mrs. Potter ate with them and regaled Lily with stories of James' childhood which, though embarrassing and adorable, also savoured strongly of a spoiled upbringing. Lily said so afterward, as James led her across the knoll toward the woods. She'd expressed a desire to see the pool they'd flown over, and Mrs. Potter had had the idea for them to go swimming after tea.

"Yeah, I guess I was a little spoiled," James said indifferently as they entered into the tall, green trees. "I was an only child, and my parents had been trying for kids for a while before they gave up. I was a surprise."

Lily laughed. "Yeah, that's what my parents call me, but we all know what they really mean."

They reached the pool, and Lily, after taking a moment to admire the blueness of the water and the sickening beauty of the small, creek-fed waterfall trickling into it, waded out to a rock surrounded by water.

James discarded his shirt in no time and plunged into the water, but because Lily had no bathing suit, she had to be content to dangle her legs in the water, and watch James swim.

"Oh, come on," James scoffed when he turned around and saw that she hadn't followed. "We can use a drying spell when we're done. Get in here!"

Lily grinned and shook her head. "I'm fine just sunning, thanks."

"Look, Lily, I understand if you're afraid, but you shouldn't let that stop you from not being a complete wimp," James taunted, treading water a little further out.

Lily smirked mockingly at him and leaned back on her elbows, basking.

"You know, I always wondered why you were such a jerk, but now I understand. You never have to worry. You have a beautiful house with rooms you probably don't even know about, a garden that would take up an entire day just walking in, delicious food, and a pool in the middle of a private forest. Not to mention miles of green land to ride your broom around all day."

"Even the rich and fortunate get lonely," James retorted indignantly, swimming up to her. "That's why I asked you here. But I'm afraid, now that you've seen where I live, I can never let you leave."

Lily smiled. "But you aren't lonely. You have your best friend to keep you company."

"Yeah, well, even though Sirius does like to cuddle at night, it's not the same as having a girl around."

"You could have fooled me, the way you look at him sometimes," Lily teased, but didn't get to laugh long, because James took that opportunity to grab her leg and pull her into the water. Lily came up sputtering, her nicely pinned hair now ruined, to James standing atop the rock.

"You- you," she stammered angrily, barely able to touch ground on the side she'd walked to.

"What are you going to do about it?" James teased, jumping back in over her and swimming toward the waterfall.

"Oh, you think you're so smart," Lily called furiously, swimming after him at a speed that took James by surprise. "Don't you know Muggles can swim too?"

She chased him to the base of the waterfall. After cornering him, Lily grabbed the top of his head and shoved him underwater.

He surfaced after giving her a few moments of satisfaction, then let her dunk him again. This time, she felt him sweep out from under her grasp, but then he didn't come back up.

"James?" Lily called, searching the water beneath her. She couldn't see through the clear ripples, which puzzled her. "James!"

No one answered for far too long. Lily was just about to climb atop the rock to see better, when she heard her name called.

"Lily!"

"James?"

"Lily! Help!"

"Where are you?" Lily tread water frantically, searching above and below her.

"Come to the waterfall! Quick!"

Lily swam as close to the trickling of water as she could, and screamed when she felt herself get pulled underneath of it.

Surfacing and sputtering for the second time in a day, Lily found herself face to face with a grinning James.

"You-"

"Me," he finished for her, smiling in such a way that made Lily, who three seconds ago had been afraid for him, hate him ridiculously.

Smacking furiously the only part of his body not covered in water- his head- Lily began to squeal a stream of obscenities, but stopped short when her voice started echoing off the stone walls of what she realized was a cave behind the waterfall. It was very small, really just a cubby behind a stream of water, but it was cool nonetheless.

James, struggling to defend himself, grabbed her wrists, as Lily had forgotten to stop hitting him.

"Oh, why do you suck so much?" she cried, gazing around as the water reflected off the ceiling of the rocks.

"Yeah, sorry about all this," James said. "I thought you might hate it."

Lily laughed, her voice echoing again, glanced at him briefly, then glanced back again. He was still holding her wrists, and the look he was giving her was somewhat unsettling.

They stared at each other for a moment, then James leaned forward, almost as if to kiss her. Lily felt her lips part, but he then pulled back.

"Your lips are blue," he mumbled, letting go of her wrists.

Lily touched them.

"Yes... they do that when I swim," she stammered. Then, by a stroke of subject-changing genius- "Er, thanks, by the way, for asking me over today. I've been having a really good time."

James shook his head modestly, but still fixed his unsettling gaze on her.

"Anytime, Evans. Anytime."

"Hello?" a distant voice called from the other side of the waterfall.

"That'll be Sirius," James said, completely returned to normal. He ducked under the waterfall and disappeared, leaving Lily to touch her blue lips, quite unconsciously.

Sirius, in an excellent mood due to his very recent emancipation, swam with them awhile, and had, over the past month, been proving to Lily again and again that he was not the heartless git she'd taken him for all those years.

He was easy going and very funny, though in a bitter, hateful of life kind of way.

They swam and joked around for an hour or so, Lily climbing out a while later to dry off in the sun, and was re-pinning her hair when the boys finally climbed out and snatched up their shirts.

They headed up to the house together, where Lily had the pleasure of meeting James' father.

"James has told me much about you, and it's a pleasure to meet you at last," he said gallantly, shaking Lily's hand.

They sat in the parlour together for quite a while, Sirius playing chess with Mrs. Potter while James, Lily, and Mr. Potter conversed, at first merely about Lily's home life and her take on wizardry, then on to more controversial topics that carried them to the dinner table.

"It was the talk of the school for about a month," Lily said, referring to the rumours of an uprising. "It had a lot of people spooked, that much is for certain."

"Yes, it even reached the ministry, but it all seemed to have died down now," Mr. Potter replied. "This sometimes happens when agitators feel restless."

"But why agitate at all?" Lily asked. "I know it sounds like a stupid question, but

I really can't understand how they can exist in today's world."

"Oh, they exist because it's been passed down through the generations," Mrs. Potter said. "Our world isn't like the Muggle world, Lily. Things aren't swept up in a flurry of electronics. Things stay relatively the same, save for newly invented charms and potions. Ideas stay the same much longer."

"Not to mention a lot of families are so bored that all they have for entertainment is to complain about dirty blood," Sirius chipped in darkly. Lily looked at him, surprised. She'd heard of his family as one of those who detested Muggle-borns, but had never heard him commit anything remotely offensive toward her origin.

"Oh, it's ok," Sirius said cheerily. "They aren't my family anymore. I can say stuff like that." And he laughed as he stabbed a potato.

After dessert, they entertained in the parlour together for much of the evening, until James leaned over to Lily and asked her in a low tone if she wanted to go home.

"I think I'd better," she said apologetically to her protesting hosts. "My parents will wait up for me, if I know them."

Lily thanked the Potters for having her, said goodbye to Sirius, and followed James to the door before stopping and remembering that her bag of book was upstairs.

"Oh, right," James said, starting up the staircase. Lily followed, rationalizing that she'd already had a lengthy goodbye with his family, and didn't want to walk right back in there while she waited for him.

"Here you go," he said, handing her the bag once they reached his room. "Hey, it's going to be cold outside this late at night. Did you bring a coat?"

"Oh, no, but I'll be fine," Lily shrugged. He seemed to have forgotten the waterfall incident, and Lily was beginning to wonder if she'd imagined it.

"No, you'll freeze up in the air. It gets cold- especially if you go through the clouds. Here," he had fished into his wardrobe and extracted a jumper.

"Oh, that's ok-" Lily began, but caught the look on his face, which plainly let her know he wanted her home as soon as possible, and took it with a mumbled "thanks."

The ride back was silent, and Lily, reluctantly warm in James' jumper, closed her eyes as the crisp night air breezed her face. She sighed into it, full of the delicious food she'd eaten, thinking back to the beauty of the area where James lived, as opposed to the modern suburbia she lived in at home, and what a great time she'd had with James and even Sirius. She toyed with the idea of seeing if James wanted to get together again in a couple weeks, and even thought about having them to her place. She could show them a Muggle movie, even.

"Lily," James said, jerking her out of her daydreaming. She realized they were on the ground.

"Oh, sorry," she said, climbing off the back of the broom. "So um, thanks for everything, again. Hey, I was just thinking- why don't you and Sirius come down here for a day sometime? I can show you all sorts of fun Muggle things. I don't have a magical forest waterfall cave, but there is this place called an arcade, and I think you guys would really-"

"Lily," James said suddenly, stopping her. But he didn't say anything afterward. He just stared at her, awkwardly atop his broom.

"Y-yeah?"

"My jumper," he said after a moment. He'd looked at a loss for words for a moment, but had forgotten.

Lily took it off, but before she handed it back, took a breath. "James, I don't want to come off sounding like a loser, but- you know I just... I have some things going on right now, and I never thought I'd hear myself saying this, but... you doing the whole friend thing with me makes those things a lot easier to deal with. So, thanks."

James gazed at her steadily again, seemed to relax, and nodded.

"Anytime." He then did a very strange thing. He reached out, and pulled Lily in for a hug. It was brotherly, very friend-like, and Lily smiled over his shoulder.

"So, two weeks, Sirius and I will be outside your window. And you'd better show us a good time, Evans, because I've wowed you with my magical splendour, so it's your turn to do the exact opposite."

Lily frowned. "What- disappoint you with my Muggle dysfunction?"

"Yes," James said seriously. "Sirius and I have had a hard sixth year and need a couple laughs at your expense."

Lily laughed. "Oh, right, like today wasn't enough for you."

"What can I say?" James shrugged, taking off a few feet into the air. "You're a regular dosage. A prescription laugh."

"Thanks a lot," Lily called up to him, though he'd already put his cloak back on. "I'll be crying myself to sleep tonight, just so you know."

But there was no reply, and she assumed he'd gone, leaving her to yell into the sky by herself, likely hoping that there was a neighbour still awake to watch her.

Yes, that would be something James would do.