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He finds her sitting against the wall in a dark corridor. It's nearly after hours, and he knows from the map that it's McGonagall's turn to patrol the fifth floor, so he goes after her, draped in the cloak and hoping she won't be too angry to come back to Griffyndor tower with him. She looks up when she hears him coming.
'How do you always know where I am, Potter?' There are tears in her voice and James winces.
'Would you believe animal magnetism?' She snorts.
'Not even a little bit.'
'Well then I don't know what to tell you,' he says. She sniffles and he slides to the ground next to her. 'What's wrong?' he asks.
'I don't want to talk about it anymore,' she tells him.
'Was it the Slytherins again?' He takes her silence for a yes. 'Lily, you've got to stop letting them get to you. They're idiots, the lot of them.' Lily gives him a look.
'They're not though! Most of them are smart, and they're going to be powerful some day, if they aren't already and they think that because my mum and dad aren't magical, I shouldn't be able to belong in this world!' James sighs.
'But we know that's not true,' he tells her. 'Plenty of purebloods think that group is off their nutter, but they just don't say anything because they're afraid.'
'That's no better then,' said Lily, wiping her nose on her sleeve.
'It's not,' he said. 'It's really not.' They drop into silence for a moment, and James keeps his ears sharp for McGonagall's footsteps.
'They were just first years,' says Lily. 'Litttle eleven year old idiots who think they're better than I am because their mums work at Gringotts and their dads are Unspeakables. It's like they've been brainwashed!' She began to cry for real. James felt a sore spot where he thought his heart might be.
'I thought it was going to be better here,' said Lily into her hands. 'I thought magic would fix problems, but it's just made everything worse. Sometimes I just want to leave and never come back.' James feels cold. He slides an arm around her shoulders, and when she doesn't throw it off, he keeps it there.
'Come here,' he tells her. She leans into his chest, and he feels the tears seeping into his shirt. 'Let me fix it,' he tells her. 'We'll go to Dumbledore. We'll start some kind of class where you have to share your feelings or something. We'll make the little shits understand that they're never going to be as amazing as you are.' Lily lets out a watery giggle, still buried in his chest.
'It's going to be war,' she tells him, and he's desperately sad because he knows it's true.
'I'm going to fight in it,' he tells her. 'I'm going to fight for you, and for all the muggleborns who don't want to live in this world anymore. I promise Lily, I'll fix it.' Lily pulls back out of his arms.
'You shouldn't have to,' she says. Her eyes are so much older than they should be.
'I know,' he tells her. 'But neither should you.' Lily wraps her arms around his waist and they sit in the hallway, neither willing to move.