Work Text:
Lily sat down in the corner of the library, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them tightly. The table was in the furthest corner next to the history of magic books, a place where students barely bothered to go, so it was the perfect place for peace and quiet. Perfect for hiding. Not that she often had to hide, but when she needed to, this was the go-to place. Today was one of those rare occurrences when she wanted to hide, wanted to be away from all the people, away from all the noise and stress.
She looked out the large window beside the table, the evening sun was shining beautifully, and she had a clear view down to the castle grounds. A lot of people were enjoying the sun, gathered around the lake and sitting underneath trees. Some had books with them and were studying for the upcoming exams, some were just playing around with their friends. She should be studying too, but she just couldn't gather the strength to pull out her books and start to read.
She was supposed to study with Remus today, but he was sick, or that's what Sirius said when Lily had ran into him earlier. Now that they couldn't study together, she found it hard to study by herself, she was so used to company or someone always bothering her while studying that doing it alone felt almost impossible now.
She wanted to be alone, but at the same time, she didn't. She wanted to be alone, but with someone. Lily just wanted to sit quietly and not do anything, but she wanted someone to sit there with her so she wouldn't feel so lonely in the quietness and get lost in her anxiety inducing thoughts. Though, she hadn't told anyone where she was going since she wanted to be alone, but sitting in the quiet she realised she didn't want that after all. She could go find someone, but couldn't find herself to get up.
She leaned her head against the window, closing her eyes. Maybe she should just leave the library and go to her dorm, sleep until the morning. It was too early though, only past seven and it was Saturday tomorrow. She could sleep in any way, so going to bed early didn't even make sense; she had nowhere to be.
“Lilypad,” Lily jumped at the sudden voice, opening her eyes and looking up at Pandora, who was standing next to the table. “It's just me, darling, don't look so spooked.” She smiled softly, sliding to sit down next to her on the bench, she was smiling, but still looked worried.
“Just caught me by surprise.” Lily whispered, smiling sheepishly. “How'd you know I was here?”
“Well, you always come here when you're upset, love.” She said, reaching to brush a strand of hair behind her ear. Lily laid her head down on Pandora's shoulder, closing her eyes again, taking in the comforting scent of her perfume. It smelled like fresh flowers, sometimes it was vanilla, but the floral scent was her favourite.
“I'm not upset.” Pandora hummed, reaching around her to pull her in a sideways hug, rubbing her upper arm for a moment, then moving it to hold her by the waist. “I'm really not.”
“I believe you.” She whispered, kissing the top of her head, letting her lips linger there for a moment before speaking again. “But, hypothetically, if you were to be upset about something, it would be okay.” Lily nodded. “Do you wanna talk?”
“No.”
“Do you want to be alone, love?” Lily shook his head. “Okay.” She smiled, kissing her head again before reaching to grab something from her bag, Lily opened her eyes, watching as Pandora set her sketchbook on the table, along with a few of her pens.
“Am I in the way?” She asked, biting her lip and lifting her head up to look at her.
“Not at all, Lilypad.” Pandora whispered. “I want you right there.” Lily nodded, laying her head back down, though still a bit hesitant until she relaxed, realising that it wasn't a bad thing. She watched as Pandora balanced the book on her lap and started to sketch something onto the page. Lily closed her eyes after a while, listening to Pandora's calm breathing, and the soft scraping the pen made against the paper.
She felt herself starting to fall asleep, but every time she blinked her eyes open, watching Pandora draw before her eyes shut once again. She didn't even know why she was so tired, but she just was. “Lily, dear?” She hummed, lifting her head to look at Pandora, who smiled as she saw the sleepy expression, leaning in to give her a kiss. “You should go to bed.”
“I don't want to.”
“Why’s that?”
“I want to be with you, haven't seen you in ages.”
“You slept next to me the whole night, love.” Lily just smiled, shaking her head. “Why'd you think I wouldn't come with you, huh? I can't sleep without my snuggle bug.”
“Don't call me that.” She whispered, blushing slightly as she looked away, but Pandora reached to cup her cheek, kissing her nose, which made her blush even more.
“Oh, but you love it, don't you, bug.”
“Stop it.” Lily giggled, leaning away from her as she peppered her face with kisses, or tried to.
“Fine, fine.” She smiled, holding her hands up in surrender, sitting up straight. “But, only because we're in the library. Otherwise, you'd have no mercy.” Lily smiled, leaning back against Pandora's shoulder. “Let's go then, huh?”
“Yeah.” She nodded, watching as Pandora packed up her stuff and took Lily's hand, starting to lead her out of the library. Pandora led her down to the dungeons, let her into the Slytherin common room, and then into her dorm.
“Go sit down, I'll find you something comfy to wear.” She smiled, kissing her cheek before letting go of Lily's hand. She watched as Pandora grabbed her pyjamas from where she had folded them in the morning, walking over and giving them to her. “I'm gonna go grab us some tea from the kitchens, okay? Then, if you'd like, I can braid your hair.”
“Okay.”
Pandora kissed her forehead before making her way to the door. “I'll be right back, love.” She said before leaving. She changed into the pyjamas, starting to feel anxious now that she was alone in the quietness. None of the other girls were there yet, which she was quite glad about, she didn't really want to see anyone else right now, especially the people she didn't know as well. “I got some cookies as well, the elves said they were left over so I took a few.” She smiled, pushing the door closed with her foot as she came back into the dorm, setting the tray down onto the bedside table.
“I'll quickly change, then I'll braid your hair.” She said, walking over to her closet and pulling out clothes she could sleep in. “The green cup is yours, Lils.” She said as she pulled a new shirt on, Lily nodded, taking one of the cups as she watched Pandora go to the bathroom while pulling her pyjama bottoms on, smiling to herself at the sight.
“Sit on the floor, baby.” She said as she walked back with a hairbrush and a few ties. Lily carefully slid down the bed to not spill hot tea all over herself, sitting down onto the floor as Pandora settled down onto the bed behind her. She first tied her hair up in a bun, mainly to keep it out of the way for the night, handing Lily one of the cookies before taking one herself. Then she slowly started to brush through her hair, gently getting through all the knots that had formed throughout the day, then split it into two sections, starting to make the first braid.
“Did you do anything fun today?”
“Not really,” Lily whispered, wiping her mouth from the cookie crumbs and taking a small sip of her tea once Pandora had braided far enough that it wouldn't affect it. “I was supposed to study with Rem, but Sirius said he’s sick.”
“Aww. Hopefully, he feels better soon. Did you get any studying done?” Lily shook her head. “Well, maybe it's good to take a bit of a break sometimes. You do tend to study too much.”
“I do not.” Pandora laughed quietly, leaning to kiss the top of her head as if to say that she didn't mean anything bad by laughing, then continued doing the braid. “Did you do anything?”
“I was helping professor Sprout with one of her plants after classes.” She said while tying off the first braid. “We tried this new fertiliser I've been working with for a while now. I'm going to go see if it's worked tomorrow.” Pandora took a sip of her tea and ate the rest of her cookie before starting the second braid. “You could come with me, I could show you all the pretty flowers.”
“I'd like that.”
“Mm, let's go tomorrow after breakfast.” She smiled. “Though, none of the flowers are as pretty as you, Lils.” She blushed, looking down to her lap, though smiled.
“I'm not pretty.”
“Oh, but you are, darling.” She whispered. “The prettiest of ‘em all.” She said, tying the second braid off, before wrapping her arms around her shoulders, leaning to kiss her cheek. “Come cuddle with me, my pretty flower.”
Lily nodded, getting up from the floor, setting her cup down before coming to sit next to Pandora once she moved to sit with her back against the headboard. She first laid her head down onto Pandora's shoulder, but after a while they laid down and lily could rest her head on her chest, throwing one of her feet over hers, to curl up better to her: she just wanted to be close. It was as if being close to her would take away all the bad feelings, all the anxiety. Maybe it did. She let out a content hum when the blanket was pulled over them, and gently tucked around her.
“Are you tired, love?” She nodded, opening her eyes to search for her hand, intertwining their fingers together when she got it. “Mm, I'm too. Would you like to talk? Why were you upset earlier?”
“Wasn't.”
“Baby,” She whispered into her hair. “Don't lie to me, please love. Just wanna help you.”
“I'm just anxious.” She whispered, hiding her face more into Pandora's chest as she felt tears burning in her eyes. “It's really nothing, panda.”
“Can't be nothing if it makes you cry, Lilypad.” she said, gently rubbing her side. “It's okay if you don't wanna talk, or if there's nothing to talk about. But let me comfort you at least.”
“I'm just anxious.” She repeated, tears falling down and soaking through Pandora's shirt, but she didn't mind, just gently rubbed her back. “I-i don't know why. It's stupid.”
“It's not.” Pandora whispered, kissing her head, letting her lips linger there for a moment. “It's not stupid, baby. It's okay to be anxious without knowing why, it happens.” She nodded slightly, but that did nothing to stop the tears from falling. “And, it's okay to be upset, I don't mind. Not at all, princess.”
“I'm sorry.”
“No, no. Shh.” She soothed, running her hand over the braids she had made, letting her hand rest between her shoulder blades for a moment. “It's okay, Lils.” She rubbed small circles into Lily's wrist with her thumb, trying to calm her down. It took some time until the tears turned into quiet sniffles, and her breathing calmed down. But, she stayed there, doing her best to comfort her.
She sniffled quietly, letting go of Pandora's hand and bringing it up to wipe her eyes, but then it was gently pulled away. She looked up, smiling sheepishly as Pandora wiped the tears away with the pads of her thumbs, leaning to kiss the tip of her nose, then her forehead before she laid her head back down.
“Sleep?”
“Too early for sleep.”
“Mm no, never too early for sleep.” She whispered into her hair, closing the curtains around her bed before taking her hand back into hers. “C'mon I know you're sleepy, baby. And I'm sleepy, so let's sleep, hmm?” Lily nodded, but lifted her head to look at Pandora. “What, darling?”
“Kiss?”
“You're precious.” She smiled softly, before leaning in and giving her a chaste kiss. “Sleep now, Lilypad.” She gave her one more kiss before Lily laid her head back down, both getting more comfortable before they could fall asleep.
“Panda?” Lily whispered after a while, hoping she hadn't fallen asleep yet, Pandora hummed sleepily, running her hand down her back. “I love you.”
“I love you, Lilypad.” She smiled, kissing her head before settling back against the pillows. “Goodnight, sweet dreams. I'll try to stay awake until you fall asleep, yeah?” Lily nodded, smiling as Pandora started to hum quietly, knowing how quiet noise always helped her sleep. With Pandora, there, it actually didn't take all that long until she could drift off to sleep and let go of all those thoughts that were bothering her.