Jily Oneshots (pt2)

Safe & Sound

by missinsertname

I remember tears streaming down your face
When I said, I'll never let you go

"Lily?"

She swallowed and turned her face away from him, blinking rapidly, defiant against weak emotion; her fiery waves whipped across her shoulders to mask the half of her face that he could see. She must be strong, for Harry's sake, and her husbands, who looked down at her sitting on their bed with a terrible mixture of sympathy and sadness on his handsome face. Lily could see him through the gaps in her hair, and longed to have him hold her and rock her while she cried; but she couldn't, she was strong, and he was hurting too, she must think of her family first.

"Lily."

This time her name was not a question with answers she did not know; it was a statement, a strong dependable statement, and she felt some of the feeling deep within her which him saying her name could still bring.

He sat down gently next to her but she kept her eyes forward to the large window which overlooked the quiet cobbles of the street. She craned her head slightly to see their elderly muggle neighbour putting out her bin. She could see the small smile which Mary always wore, even from this distance, and it cheered her ever so slightly; she knew Mary had not had an easy life, who had, but she was so content, maybe there was hope.

But she had no children.

"Listen."

She turned her head toward him, capturing his dark eyes with her startling green ones. She saw him take a sharp breath when he looked at her, and flushed involuntarily and went to turn away, but he reached over and caught the side of her face with his hand and softly brushed away the moisture there, looking at her with deep tenderness and love that caught the tears itself.

When all those shadows almost killed your light
I remember you said, Don't leave me here alone

"Do you remember the night you heard about the lives of the muggle family who lived near you being taken by the Death Eaters?"

She sighed with the memory. That marked the beginning for her, the real beginning of the war; it made her appreciate it was real, it was happening. That the girl she had gone to primary school with had lost her life at that of her entire close family, simply due to her not being magical. That day was etched on her memory, because that was when she had decided she had to stop it. She had to fight.

"How could I forget," she whispered softly. She went to turn her head away to hide her face, but James caught the other side of her face with his other hand and knelt on the floor in front of her, his fingers interlaced through her soft hair, holding her gently so her face was inches from his.

"I remember because that was the first time I truly saw you in all that you were. That was when I saw everything beautiful and terrible about being you."

She frowned, drawing back slightly.

"Terrible?" she questioned, feeling slightly hurt and confused.

"Yes. Terrible because of your incomprehensible ability to turn anger and fear into bravery. Terrible because of your self imposed chivalry. Terrible because your capacity to love is such you never think of yourself. So terrible it is stunning."

James had spoken words which had reached inside her. She felt her floodgates failing as he broke them down.

"But I can't, she wouldn't have wanted, I need to-"

"Do you remember what you said to me, when I found you in the Owlery that night?"

She swallowed, taking deep breaths, trying her utmost to look away but not being able to.