"I thought it was just in case you fainted and Sirius needed to step in," Lily deadpanned. It was actually rather adorable, if you ignored the slight insanity of it. There was the grin she found so irresistible. "You do realize that regardless of how I feel about the company, Sirius will be stubborn enough to sleep outside your door? And then I'll feel guilty... so it's far better to just accept the inevitable."
The instant his lips made contact with hers, Lily closed her eyes and allowed herself to get lost in the comforting scent of James. It scared her to discover how much she craved his closeness, even without knowing it had been missing.
Letting out a soft sigh when he pulled back, Lily could tell from the expression in his eyes that she needed to steel herself for whatever was coming next.
She could tell it was something horrible. And yet also important. She wanted to tell him to just spit it out already. However, the aura of anxiety radiating from him had her asking herself if she really wanted or needed to know.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure we can work through it, James," she urged as she met his gaze with a worried one of her own.
"He... He does?"
One hand flew up to cover her mouth. She knew exactly what he was speaking of. That didn't make the sharp pain any less brutal to feel. Lily fought back tears, finding strength in how levelheaded James was being. "But Harry was able to grow up... so no matter what else, we did our parts, James. We somehow protected him."