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I’m never gonna leave your life
Even at the times I’m miles away, you are always on my mind
Forever and now, I will be by your side
I know it can change from day to day, but this love will keep you alight
I’m never gonna leave your life
- Ed Sheeran “Leave Your Life”
It was hot.
Unseasonably warm for October, for changing leaves and constant rain and cloudy skies. It wasn’t the month for sunshine and bright blue skies and heat radiating down on her.
But Lily had always loved warm days, she always came alive in the summer, in the first warm days of the spring. She loved late March and April and she loved every warm day until the chill of autumn washed her out.
Lily looked up from her novel the second she felt a pair of warm hazel eyes move off of her and towards the goal posts on the Quidditch pitch. There were certain perks to an unseasonably warm October day, perks that she hated to be in love with. Watching James command his team on the Quidditch pitch the same way he commanded the prefects during their nightly rounds and meetings, watching him strip out of his kit when the heat got to him.
It was enough to make her interested, to stop reading and to start paying attention to practice in front of her. It was enough to make her lose track of where she was in her book, she had read the same sentence four times in a row.
She watched as James’ muscles rippled and flexed as he rode his broom, the Quaffle under one arm. She was having trouble deciding what was more impressive, more handsome, the muscles in his back or his biceps. It was mesmerizing either way.
Lily didn’t even bother to look away when James met her eyes. He smiled at her in a teasing way, and Lily couldn’t help but smile back and watch him as he wiped the sweat off of his brow. She licked her lips as heat flared in her stomach and chest.
She was thirsty.
“Like what you see Evans?”
Lily picked up her book and read the same sentence for a fifth time, blatantly ignoring James as she finally flipped a page for first time in over two hours. She didn’t want to admit to James that yes, of course she was enjoying what she was seeing. She couldn’t deny that James Fleamont Potter was attractive, she had always had a thing for tall boys, men. She couldn’t deny that when he smiled at her she could feel her heart flutter. She couldn’t deny that she wanted to run her fingers through his mess of dark curls and look into his beautiful hazel eyes and kiss him until she couldn’t breathe anymore.
She couldn’t deny it, but she could lie about it.
“Not particularly.”
Lily peeked over the top of her book and watched James as he flew away, back to the circle of his team. He finished his practice, before diving down to the ground to pick up his kit from where it landed when he threw it off.
Lily sat back against the stands behind her, setting her book down and pulling off her sweater as James did a few more laps around the pitch. She watched him carefully, while letting the heat and sunlight shine on her touch starved skin.
She closed her eyes and relaxed as a slight breeze touched her chest, ruffled her hair, kissed her cheeks. She felt a pair of warm lips against her own a moment later, a calloused lightly touch her shoulder, and when Lily opened her eyes, she couldn’t help but smile as James pulled away.
It was the game they liked to play.
They both knew why she was here, why she would ever willing come to a Quidditch practice. It wasn’t as if she had an affinity for the sport, though Chaser was quickly becoming her favorite position.
“Just admit it,” said James, between soft kisses, “you are so in love with me?”
Lily moved her hand up into his hair and help his face close to hers as she wrapped her other arm around his neck. She kissed him as she had wanted to kiss him for the last few hours, she kissed him until she couldn’t breathe and James was like putty in her hands.
“I could never do that,” whispered Lily, hoping that he got it, that he heard her teasing promise just behind her words.
Falling for James Potter hadn’t been hard, it had come out of nowhere. One day she couldn’t stand being around him, she couldn’t stand him and his stupid laugh or his stupid friends or his stupid stupid hair. And then it was gone, his smile was sweet and gentle, his hair was a mystery of stress and anxious energy, he was a person that was meant for her. A person with thoughts and emotions and actions that she cared about, that she wanted to know more of.
She just wished that she had done something, anything, before the summer separated them. She wished that she kissed him, told him that yes, she did love him.
“Evans?”
Lily opened her eyes and stared up at James, her fingers laced through his as they hurried up to the castle. As great as the sudden heat wave was, it was still October, it was still that wild time of year. Getting caught in a rainstorm wasn’t a big deal, but it was getting dark outside and they were going to miss dinner if they didn’t hurry.
It wouldn’t be the first time they stumbled into the Great Hall together, rain soaked and laughing, it wouldn’t even be the first time this week that it happened.
But Lily didn’t care.
She got one perfect day of summer, she got one happy day where she didn’t have to think about the war outside the castle grounds, her sister’s upcoming wedding, or if she was going to flunk her classes. It was her one perfect summer day full of heat and sunshine and James.
Lily kissed James again just inside the Entrance Hall doors, ignoring the slight shiver that ran down her spine as James wrapped his arms tight around her. It was amazing how beautiful the moment was.
“Miss Evans.”
Lily pulled away from James, unable to let go of his arm, unable to truly look away from his face. “Yes Professor McGonagall?”
She felt a blush move up from her stomach, her chest, her neck, and finally to her face. Bright and red and as dark as her hair. It was one thing to get caught kissing her boyfriend, her fellow Head, her…her James, after curfew, but she could hear dinner going on in the Great Hall. She could still hear a thousand of students eating and laughing and talking just in the next room.
“Lily,” said Professor McGonagall, and Lily knew that whatever came next, it wasn’t going to be good. “I’m sorry, but there has been an accident.”
She could feel her perfect day slipping away, like the rain water still dripping from her hair, her clothes, her skin. Images of her parents, her sister, her neighbors and childhood friends, of her old school teachers, of the little kids she babysat over the last few summers for extra money, they all flashed in her mind before she registered Professor McGonagall’s next words.
“What?” asked Lily, sure that she hadn’t heard right.
“Your father was killed in a car accident this morning,” said Professor McGonagall and Lily felt ice suddenly freeze her veins. She felt a sudden puncture wound in her heart, so big and sharp and consuming. “I’m so sorry.”
It was so mundane, death was touching them and crowding in on them every day they were at Hogwarts. Voldemort and his Death Eaters vs the Aurors and the Ministry, the fight was becoming more and more real, pushing in more and more on them every day.
And yet, her father was killed by the most simple of things. It didn’t matter if you were magical or not, a car accident could kill anyone.
Her last summer day was gone.