WHO: James Potter and Lily Evans
WHAT: They escape the evil Death Eaters!
WHERE: Petunia's flat
WHEN: After escaping the evil Death Eaters!

James hated Apparating. Not that he’d done it often, only in the practice sessions in school, but this was worse than Flooing and going by Portkey combined. He’d never get used to this, ever. But, that could be because of the throbbing headache he was now sporting.

They landed…somewhere. A flat. It looked like a flat. Okay. James shut his eyes tightly and opened them once more, still gripping Lily’s hand tightly. “Li…ly?” he croaked.

It was a good thirty seconds before Lily would pry her eyes open, not even responding to James when he said her name. Her eyes did seem to be coaxed open, however, by the ear-splitting screech that emanated from what she figured was the doorway of whatever room they were in.

"Wha--wha--I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION FOR THIS THIS INSTANT, YOU LITTLE--" Petunia seemed to be too angry to find a proper insult for Lily and so continued on otherwise. "I'VE SAID TIME AND TIME AGAIN, YOU WON'T BE DOING YOUR LITTLE DEMON TRICKS IN THIS HOUSE AND--" She seemed to, for the first time, notice James. "--AND WHO IS THIS? YOU'RE NOT TO HAVE--HAVE--YOUR KIND AROUND MY DECENT FLAT!"

Petunia’s shrieking snapped James out of his daze and---wait, no, just made his headache worse. He groaned and finally let go of Lily’s hand, putting both of his to his head and sitting down on…oh, the floor. The floor was a good sitting space.

“You’re being haunted by a banshee,” James moaned, opening one eye and glaring with it (something quite impressive, for one eye) at Petunia.

Petunia seemed to be suddenly very torn between getting that strange boy up off her spotless carpet and not wanting to touch him and be infected by--by--whatever disease it was that gave these freaks their tricks.

She seemed to settle instead for turning on Lily, who was standing there without a word, half out of shock of what had just happened and half out of not wanting to deal with Petunia at a time like this.

"Listen here, you and your freak take your little circus and get the hell out of my house," she hissed. "I don't know why you're here, but I don't want to be involved in this in any way, you hear me?"

Lily rolled her eyes and grabbed James by the hand, pulling him up. "You can't kick me out," she told her sister plainly. "We'll stay in my room, whatever. I swear we'll be 'good'. Come on, James."

Petunia bit out a sarcastic remark about what they would be doing in said room, but Lily didn't really hear what it was. She wasn't listening; she didn't know if she could have even comprehended it if she were, her mind was swimming with so many thoughts.

“Nice meeting you!” James managed, sending a slight wave at Petunia, though he itched to flip her off. “Circus!” he hissed, once they were out of sight, “I look normal, look, I dressed all Mug…gle, ow,” he muttered, looking down at his severely bruised arm. He didn’t even notice they were in Lily’s room, and he looked over at her in concern.

“Are you okay?” James asked, putting his hands on her shoulders. His headache could wait.

"It's not about what you're wearing," Lily said with a sigh. She glared at the closed door. "She's always been a mean, jealous bitch, especially to me." Not really caring at the moment about watching her tongue (and it wasn't like James hadn't a colorful mouth of his own), she continued to stare at the door until she felt him grab her by the shoulders.

"...what? No, I'm fine," she said, shaking her head. There was a cut on her right cheek from a shard of glass and a few small bruises on her arms from debris, but it was obvious that James was suffering more. "What about you? Let me look at that arm…"

James would’ve commented on the cussing, but decided this was definitely a time where anyone and everyone was allowed to use foul language. He put out his arm obediently, grimacing at the bruising that was already forming. His other hand went to where the headache was pounding the hardest and he pulled it back went he felt—

“Aw, fuck,” see, his colorful language being put to good use, “I’m bleeding. Not too bad, but---shit.”

"Hold on," Lily ordered at seeing his headache, and walked over to her desk and opened a drawer. She fished around for a few seconds but finally came up with a small white bottle. Taking out a couple capsules, she put the bottle away and held them out to James. "Here. Tylenol. Muggle painkiller. I find it's wise to keep some around here for when she gets into her fits. It'll take a few minutes, but it'll fix your headache just as well as any potion."

He hesitated a few seconds before taking the pills out of Lily’s hand; he’d always been slightly wary of Muggle medication, or…really, Muggle anything, even if he was able to fit in at home. It was just…so foreign, but Lily wouldn’t try to poison him (at least, he hoped) so he popped one pill into his mouth.

And choked, but then somehow managed to swallow it, eyes watered. “Bugger!” James gasped, but decided not to be a baby and swallowed the other two. “They…taste better than the stuff Pomfrey has?” Which wasn’t all that good, yuck.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Well usually you're supposed to swallow them with water so it's easier to take, but I don't exactly have any of that here, so I'm sorry," she said.

She walked over to her bed and allowed herself to fall back on it, closing her eyes in exhaustion. She took a deep breath in and then blew it out again. "... what was that?"

Now, James realized he was in Lily’s room. Oh. Whoa, okay. It was pink…which…was something unexpected, but fit perfectly. Along with the stuffed animals (ha, he recognized a few that he’d given her). It was kind of girly, but, it was Lily, and it really just sort of worked.

Plus, he was too in shock at the fact that he was actually in Lily’s room to laugh about the fluffiness of her comforter. Being exhausted as well, James fell back onto the bed beside her, staring up at the ceiling (he’d seen Frank flop down on his bed just like this, numerous times). “What was it? I’d…say...hell.”

Lily gave an ironic laugh to James' answer. "Yeah, I'd say that about describes it..." She folded her hands over her abdomen and opened her eyes to meet a stark white ceiling. The feeling of dread for what could have happened to them out there was setting in full force now and a huge knot formed in her stomach just even thinking about it.

That had been…Merlin…there were just no words. Reaching over, her hand searched out and found James' again, and held it tightly. She shut her eyes again to hold off tears. "That... was so... so bad…" she whispered.

His hand found hers and James squeezed it tightly, thinking…what if Lily hadn’t known how to Apparate, would either of have been able to do it without a license? Would they have had the strength? What if they’d gone down a different alleyway, what if they’d stayed out in the open, what if…what ifs would do them no good. They were out of there, they were safe, they were alive, and they were together.

“It was horrible,” James agreed softly, turning his head slightly to look over at her. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Lily pursed her lips together lightly and nodded, trying to get control of herself. It was okay... they were fine, they were alive, they had gotten out... and, most importantly, it was over. There wasn't a Death Eater pointing a wand at them, no curses, no mass of black-cloaked men outnumbering them, no dark alleyway.

But Lily couldn't help but feel shaken up by what had just occurred. It was too hard not to imagine what could have happened.

"I'll be fine," she assured him. "I'm just.. a little freaked out right now."

“Okay.” James looked back up at the ceiling, letting out a long breath. He hoped no one they knew had gotten caught in the cross-fires, but then that was selfish, why should only their friends survive? That’s not how war worked.

War. They were in a war, and right now there was nothing, absolutely nothing they could do about it. “My dad is probably going insane,” James murmured, but still aching too much to get up and go.

"You probably should go let him know you're alive," Lily admitted reluctantly. She honestly wanted more than anything to ask James to stay there with her for a little while more, for the night, forever or as long as she needed, but she knew how selfish that wish was. He had a father who needed to know that he was okay, and she knew that Petunia would never allow him to be there.

She gave his hand one last squeeze before letting go. "My sister's going to throw a fit if you're here much longer, anyway. Vernon gets home soon."

“I hate leaving you with them,” James mumbled, sitting up, but still gripping her hand. He glared at the closed door, then looked back down at her, “I’ll ride the Knight Bus over here every day if you want, it’s a…relaxing ride, anyway,” he said with a slight grin.

James stared at Lily for a little more, and through the blurriness that was the past twenty minutes, he recalled their very short, but important conversation. “Back in the alley…er. You really meant it? I mean. About the girlfriend, thing?”

Lily shook her head. "No, don't worry about me. And they'll really be more tolerable if I don't have any friends visiting."

She looked down at the ground for a long moment before standing up next to him. "I did mean it," she said, leaning her forehead on his chest lightly. "I've been waiting for that question for a while, actually. A long while."

James could just about put his chin on the top of her head, but it felt just a bit awkward so he settled pressing his cheek on the side of her head, arms going around her in a loose, but secure, hug.

“Sorry it took a dozen Death Eaters to get me to ask,” he muttered, but he pulled back and sent her a soft smile, “at least it was memorable.” Oh, he was horrible for trying to crack jokes.

Lily couldn't help but smile a little at his humor, however interesting it was. "Well, at least you did do it," she said. By turning her head very slightly, she found she could kiss James' cheek rather well and did so. "And I suppose it's a ray of sunshine through the grim circumstances of the day, yeah?"

Reaching up her arms, she wrapped them around his neck and drew him in a little closer, for a little tighter hug, just for a moment before she let go and stood back a step. "I'd better let you get going."

He couldn’t help but pout slightly, though his eyes had a slight twinkle, “I don’t get my first kiss as your boyfriend before I go?” James asked, trying to put his best puppy dog eyes into affect.

Lily arched an eyebrow at him and leaned back a little, observing him, as if in thought. "I don't know..." she mused, jokingly. "I've never believed in kissing on the first date." Which was total bollocks, seeing as they'd made out in every corner of Hogwarts, it seemed, in the past few months.

James’ face mirrored hers, and he took a step or two before his arms slunk around her waist, pulling her close, even if his arm still stung, “I did buy you ice cream today,” he murmured, “pretty damn good ice cream, if I say so myself.”

Lily pursed her lips together in thought. "Mm, that's true, but does it count if I didn't get to finish it because a group of psychopaths attacked?" she asked. "I don't know if it does. Maybe that only counts for a half-kiss. And I already gave you a kiss on the cheek, sooo..."

“What about not hexing your sister for calling me a circus act?” James questioned, grinning, “I think that deserves a full on snog, but, you know, I can go easy on you…this time.” His cheeks flushed slightly as he realized he’d sort of requested for a snog in her bedroom, but hell, it’d been a long day.

A smile spread across Lily's lips slowly and she nodded once, thoughtfully. "Yes... yes, I hadn't taken that into account," she said. "Yes, I think that deserves at least one kiss." Without wasting any time (because Merlin, it wasn't like she didn't want a kiss too), Lily leaned up slightly and allowed their lips to meet for a long moment.

He’d kissed her a million and one times before, but hahaaaaaa, now she was his girlfriend, honestly and truly, so this was a real fireworks setting sort of kiss, a celebration going off inside his head (and elsewhere). James tried not to kiss her too hard, but with all the stress of the day it was hard not to.

After a bit, though, he regrettably pulled away, “Okay, before you tie me down like I know you want to,” he said cheekily, “I’ve got to go, my dad’s probably roaming Diagon Alley.”

Lily rolled her eyes. "Yes, escape now before I'm tempted to get out the rope," she said sarcastically, but there was still a small smile on her face. "I don't want your dad to murder me for keeping you when he's worried."

“Ooh, interesting,” James said with a wink, giving her a kiss on the cheek before straightening up. “Okay, care to sneak me out, I’m sure your sister has laid some traps.”

"She knows better. She saw my wand," Lily said, going over to the door to open it. "Just keep yours out and in plain sight at all times, make a beeline for the front door, and she won't say a thing. I'll stand here and watch if you want," she offered with a smirk.

James flipped his wand out and peeked out of the door. He couldn’t see Petunia, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t poised, ready to pop out from a closet and scare the shit out of him. “All right, I’ll Owl you when I get home, Highnessness,” he said, giving her a quick kiss before shooting out of her room as fast and quietly as he could.