James nodded. It made sense. He'd done much the same thing when Peter had arrived. The confusion and not knowing had been almost as bad as the fact that Wormtail had sold them out in the first place. Despite everything that had happened since, that 'why' still gnawed at James sometimes, when he lay awake late at night.
A sharp, frustrated laugh escaped him at her words, however. Perhaps he'd been spending too long with Sirius. James resisted an urge to reach for his hair again, instead wrapping his fingers tight around Lily's.
"He did the same thing when I spoke to him, the first time. It's all our fault apparently, for daring to stick around. As if any of that justifies basically walking You Know Who to our front door. Anyway, how could we have made a decision to leave when we didn't know he..." He felt his voice rising angrily, and quickly shut himself down. "He did apologise later, to be fair," he added, once the heat died in the back of his throat.
It was easier to get angry about it with Lily here. She'd understand it, the deep wound that seemed to ache in his chest. Sirius and Remus were both trying to fix things with Peter - James got that. He'd love to be able to do the same, to have his friend back. It just seemed impossible, not when he thought about that night every time he saw him across the room.
James sighed heavily, finally giving in and pushing thick black strands off his forehead. "Oi. I'm very reasonable," he teased half-heartedly. It was a fair point though. Even if Peter didn't want to come to James (a fact that also stung), why not come to Lily?