So let's recap. If you have not read 'My Moon, Sun and Rising Star', I would HIGHLY suggest reading that first but it is not necessary! ( the link can be found in my signature ) If you have, WELCOME BACK! Now, let's recap, Lily has decided to stay in New York working where her grandmother worked after her best friend Steph was murdered. James, Remus, Sirius and Peter were sent back to England for the summer after the Death Eaters were captured in the United States. Lily had decided that even though she loves James, she feels that she needs to be on her own, in which James says that he can not promise that he'll be waiting for her when she returns.

So how are Lily and James coping without each other? This is the middle section to the 'Universe' series, a song-fic based on the song, 'Without You' from the Broadway Musical RENT! Music for the song can be found here -> Without You

Without You Feedback Thread

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So Blue. The water was just so crystal blue it shimmered in the lime light. The small lake that was naturally created years ago in his backyard looked more inviting more than ever. Crisp green grass surrounded it as if it were too look like a bath, and James Potter just continued to stare into the blue, staring at his own horrid reflection.

Had it already been a month? A full month without Lily with him every day? A full month after she told him she didn’t want him with her? Could time have really passed that fast? Or that slow? How had time really progressed after everything that had happened?

He looked horrible, he had decided as he glared into his reflection miserably. It’s not like he’s really cared for much this past month, and his friends weren’t going to say anything. What could they say? He was wearing the same shirt he wore now for the fourth day in a row, with matching jeans he had now worn three times. He had cheap muggle sneakers on…he had been doing a lot of running lately; it seemed to help him clear his mind.

The boys were still with him, James would think after a month of the three of them watching him wallow away all day and hardly speak, that they would leave. Maybe they sensed he needed them the most now, even when he hardly spoke at all? James looked up into the sky and noticed how more grayish clouds seemed to be crowding the sky. He looked over at his friends who were sitting on the back porch his great great great great grandfather built, playing a friendly game of Exploding Snap, occasionally looking over at him, to see how he was doing.

Sirius looked up this time, and gave him a small smile, and a hand gesture for him to join him. Sirius did this everyday now, once a day he’d try to get him to join the game, and today James was beginning to feel reluctant. He stood, for he had been sitting in the cool grass gazing at his reflection, and was welcomed by a surge of rain drops that began to fall from the sky. It was beginning to downpour and James just froze, standing in the middle of the rain.

Perfect.

Finally, it was raining – and not just a drizzle, plain out heavy rain. It only took him a matter of seconds before he was completely soaked. He raised both his arms in the air letting the rain fall around him in contentment. James then let himself smile as he began to laugh to himself, in which his friends looked at him oddly, since they had been hollering at him to come inside before his mother killed him.

‘Without you, the ground thaws, the rain falls, the grass grows’

James turned and smirked at his friends, before running through the grass and bolting inside where his mother was prepared to give him a scolding. He just smiled at his friends, who returned the smile, happy to see a little bit of their old friend back.

~*~*~*~

Applause. Everyone clapped their hands as they folded up their notebooks and packed their bags. Lily stood there taking the applause half-heartedly as she too packed her bags and equipment. What could she say? The past month had been a dream – the team and her were already on their way to discovering even more than any historian could ever dream of – and the seminars were just brilliant. Brilliant people listening to her every word for three hours at a time, twice a day.

She thanked them again, before proceeding through the door on the left where she would always exit. Lily put her books down to the side of the coat hanger and hastily put it on before reaching for her books once more and making her way outside. It was a warm day, perfect for just about everything that could be completed in the summer months.

Lily began to walk down the path back to the old house she spent some many months in, there was a new crowd of aurors staying there; they had just graduated from the American school and were about to start their first mission, it was going to be sad watching them go. Some of them were really nice people who always had time to teach Lily a thing or two. She was just passing the old elementary school very well knowing the high school was just up ahead…

‘Without you, the seeds root, the flowers bloom, the children play’

There it was. After a block or two there stood the remains of whatever relationship she had with …that guy. She missed him…she missed James so much it pained her to still be living here. The first two weeks…she just wanted to tell Madam that she changed her mind and run back into his arms. But she kept herself back, he was so heartbroken…she had been so horrible to him…

Lily took a turn to walk away from the memorial, knowing that some people were still visiting. She thought that what happened … that people would just move on and pretend it didn’t happen. But people still visited the memorial; some people she had seen around the school, some people she noticed at the memorial and just everyday people who had heard of what had happened.

But she didn’t feel the desire to pass by the memorial today; she just wanted to get … home? Well, she couldn’t call it home…but it was definitely her home for now – since she truly had none that is. Lily continued walking home but paused to stare at a familiar trash can…the same trash can where he fell into a pile of stuffed garbage bags. She felt herself begin to smile at the faint memory, but with a shake of her head, it disappeared once more.

~*~*~*~

The next morning James discovered that the rain was over, for now at least. He looked over at his calendar, July 15th, before glancing outside his window to see Sirius throwing rocks at him. He rolled out of bed, smashed onto the floor and then opened his window. A rock hit him in the forehead.

“Thanks you oaf!” shouted James before slamming his window shut once more, and quickly dressed himself, snatching his Nimbus 1500 (a gift from his parents on his previous birthday) and ran down the stairs.

He met Remus and Peter inside the kitchen, along with his mother who was warming up some pancakes for James, and settled himself in a chair before placing a heavy amount of whipped cream on top of his pancakes. Remus looked at James curiously, situating himself in a chair as well. Peter, the copy-cat of the group, followed suit.

“What you doing with your broom Prongs?” he asked watching James eat more than he has in a month.
“Gonna play Quidditch,” grunted James through his food. Remus face soon became etched with shock, Peter’s eyes glazed over in a confused matter and even Mrs. Potter dropped her egg beater and looked over at her boy.
“As thrilled, and I am thrilled, that you want to play Quidditch – which I believe is what you expected from Sirius’ wake up call for you, but you’re not playing Quidditch today,” replied Remus, after getting over the idea that James wanted to play Quidditch again.
“And why bloody he-I mean, why not?” came James’ response after correcting his speech since he felt his mother eyes on the back of his head.
“Because...we’re going to Diagon Alley today,” said Peter excitedly, semi-bouncing in his chair like a buffoon.
“…But, we don’t even have our letters yet and Remus don’t start your whole – ‘Oh, it’s always good to be down beforehand!’ spiel because we don’t get that until we have our letters. So, why would we be going to Diagon Alley?” asked James interested, narrowing his eyes on Remus who seemed to be semi-fidgeting while looking around the kitchen desperate for a distraction.
“Well, Padfoot had this idea…” began Peter nervously, looking like he was going to wet himself.
“Hmm, Padfoot had an idea huh? Alright, I’m going back to bed!” shouted James, rebounding out of his chair. He quickly felt invisible ropes tie around him and then he fell to the hardwood floor with a thud. He turned around and glared at Remus, who was smirking as he put his wand away.
“Darn you Moony, you and your of age-ness!” replied James angrily, still glaring at his friend from the floor.

Sirius then entered the kitchen, slamming the door earning a quick glance by Mrs. Potter in which he rapped, “Sorry MP, just been so lazy, yo where’s your boy at? You know, my bro JP. Been tryin’ to wake him up, but he sleeps like a duck. I’m gonna go holler at him, JP where you at?! Wordd,” then when he found James tied on the floor he said, “Yo dawg, why you tied up?!”

James, who clearly had heard Sirius’ previous performance, shook his head in disappointment…or shame, and glared at Remus who was still smirking and said, “Mister Prefect did it”
“Remus my fella, why you gotta be so cruel?” rapped Sirius, with hand motions and hip swaying movements that the other three boys burst out laughing when he finished.
“Sirius why do you have to be so lame? Who do you think you are? Now, go hide your shame!” responded Remus in the same tone, earning Sirius’ face to fall like he had been knocked off his high horse. “Seriously though, he doesn’t wanna go Pads,” said Remus, the three of them looking down at James curiously who couldn’t believe he was friends with these guys.
“Oh, but James Potter – you are going. It’s time we find you…a girl,” spoke Sirius as he watched his friends’ eyes widen.

‘The stars gleam, the poets dream, the eagles fly – without you’

Two hours later, they all apparated to Diagon Alley which was already bustling with wizards and witches, some people just making their daily commute to work and others just trying to relax and have fun. But could James have fun? How much longer could he portray his happiness for his friends? Did he really want another girl? He wanted Lily…

~*~*~*~

The tea pot let out its heavy steam as Lily reached for the pink polka dotted mug in the top cabinet. She carefully poured the tea till it was three quarter of the way full and dropped two spoonfuls of sugar inside. Carefully, she stirred four times to the right and then six to the left. Walking to the living room, she gathered herself up in a red blanket and laid out on the couch. No one would be home for a few hours. Or be home at all. She never knew these days. As usual, people just came and went now during the summertime. She turned on the television and just channeled searched for a few minutes before just switching on an old movie. Sipping her tea, a black feathery owl flew in through the window and landed on the edge of the sofa.

Lily wrapped the blanket around her, reached for two owl treats and walked over to the owl. She gave him the treats and he returned with the Daily Prophet. She was lucky she still got the paper these days.

‘MISSING CHILDREN BODIES FOUND IN ABANDONED ORPHANGE’
The fifteen muggle-born children that were reported missing throughout the past three weeks have finally been discovered. All fifteen were found decapitated and murdered inside an old abandoned orphanage past Little Hangleton. Discovered by muggle teenagers during a late night scramble from the law, aurors and oblivators were sent in order to keep the scene calm. All teens were oblivated and filled with the memory of driving down a highway to a pub. The family members of the children were notified at once with funeral or memorial arrangements being in the process…

She couldn’t go on. It was too horrible. At times she felt lucky to be in America where it wasn’t as bad. The children….didn’t James have a younger sibling? Wait…why was she thinking of him she questioned. No, he had no siblings...How was he doing anyways?

‘The Earth turns, the sun burns, but I die, without you’

She threw the paper, letting it land on the table and returned to the couch. ‘Why am I still here?’ she began to wonder….why was she here? She was only happy when giving those seminars because it reminded her of her grandmother. She wasn’t even friendly with any of the aurors who passed through. There wasn’t even anyone she’d even consider worth dating…

Sure, she’d been asked out a few times by students she taught but…she couldn’t bring herself to even consider someone. Why was that? Bringing the blanket even closer to herself, she turned the television off and tried to fall asleep with her mind drifting back to the old days where hazel eyed boys enjoyed messing up their black hair…

~*~*~*~

“TAKE THE BANDANA OFF MY EYES NOW!” screamed James, as he was pulled by Sirius and Remus who were pulling him throughout Diagon Alley.
“No way dude,” replied Sirius, tugging James even more forcefully.
“Why in the bloody name of Merlin do you need to do this to me?” asked James. Then he felt himself bump into someone where he quickly stuttered a “sorry” before being tugged on his right arm, from Moony.
“Look, we wish we didn’t need to do this but we are,” came the voice of Remus while he reached up and removed the bandana from James’ eyes.
“What did you need to do…you brought me to Quality Quidditch Supplies?” asked James ludicrously.
“If Quidditch can’t fix you dude, then nothing can.” Sirius was already shoving him through the door.
“I thought you guys were going to set me up…thank goodness. I can’t even begin to think of someone…” James trailed off and walked around the store, passing the new brooms and equipment. Though he couldn’t help but stop at the bright red quaffle posed in the back of the store. “Hey guys look, this quaffle is almost as red as Lily’s hair…”

Remus and Sirius gave themselves a look they agreed upon and walked over to James, who was now stroking the red quaffle as if he had forgotten what it was. “Look Prongs, let’s get out of here.”

James looked up at Sirius, mesmerized by the quaffle and just nodded, feeling the emptiness settled back inside him. They walked towards the front of the store, pausing to grab a few things here and there when they saw Remus outside already. “Bloody ****, come on!” Sirius started to pull James through the store.

Sirius was pulling too hard for James collided into another person. James looked up to stare into the bright blue eyes of a girl who seemed to be his age. She was several inches shorter than him and quickly steadied herself on the table placed in the middle of the store.

“Sorry, my friend over here was excited about his ice cream,” mumbled James thinking quickly on his feet. What was he supposed to say?
“It’s quite alright, It’s sort of refreshing to find one person who isn’t incredibly polite,” replied the girl. She removed her hair from the black hair tie and let her black hair fall down to her shoulders. James quickly noted her red highlights, similar to the color of Lily’s hair but a bit darker. She placed the hair tie around her right wrist and looked him in the eyes.
“Sorry, most people aren’t as abrupt like you,” replied James quickly.
“Don’t you need to be getting some ice cream?” snickered the girl in return.
“Actually, I recall saying my friend wanted his ice cream, not me,”
“My apologizes, name’s Annabel,” she stuck out her small petite hand raising her left eyebrow.
“James and no need to apologize. My friend’s stomach always gets in the middle of our plans,” shaking her hand briefly.
“And I’m Sirius Black, the one with the stomach,” his voice drifted through as Sirius popped up behind James, shaking her hand as well.
“Ah yes, well pardon me but I’m only passing through,” responded Annabel, releasing his hand.
“May I be bold? But you seem new to the area,” added James.
“Catch on quick you do, I just moved her with me mum two weeks ago. We figured it was time I get my school stuff together,”
“Ah, Hogwarts then? Wonderful, you look like a seventh year, right?” pondered Sirius; he was starting to like this one.
“Spot on. I’m quite excited to be finishing my education in such a wonderful school, oh dear, look at the time, I’ve got to be going,” she said glancing at her watch.
“You play Quidditch?” asked Sirius quickly, a plan forming in his head.
“Beater? Why?” she asked.
“Why don’t you join me and my buddy here for dinner at our place tonight? Folks will be out late and we’d love to get more acquainted,” suggested Sirius using his cunning smile and remarkable eyes.

James used his elbow to shove Sirius in his ribs, which stifled a groan but covered it up with a sparkling smile.

“Well, I don’t know. See, my mum and me always spend the nights together unless she’s working late. I suppose if she is working late tonight I could pop by,” replied Annabel softly, glancing at her watch again.
“Well, here’s our card,” Sirius slipped her a card with both their names printed on it including their address.
“You made … cards?!” James was astounded.
“How do you think those girls knew where to show up?” smirked Sirius quickly, lowering his voice so she wouldn’t hear.
“Well I’ll pop by if I can, I really must go now, nice to meet you…” she glanced down at the card quickly before turning back to them. “Sirius,” she said nodding at him, “and you too James Potter,” she said only more gently, letting herself smile as he began to feel like ruffling his hair.

Annabel walked outside of the store and passed by Remus, who gave her a courteous smile waiting for his idiotic friends to come outside. Moments later, the pair came outside and James gave the two a knowing look.

“Don’t you dare,” he threatened.

‘Without you, the breeze warms, the girl smiles, the cloud moves’

~*~*~*~

Lily had decided to get out of the house and walk to the pond. It was always so peaceful there with old married folks giving ducks pieces of bread, little kids with their sailboats and young & in love couples having a picnic. She sat down on an older bench that was fading in its pale blue color and removed her sketch book from her knapsack.

Turning the pages, Lily started to draw the graceful pond full of red and white sailboats chasing ducks from their food. With each contour, the picture became clearer on the paper and wished her life could be that simple. After only a few minutes, she had finished the drawing that matched the scene in front of her.

Turning the page, she decided to draw from memory and began to create the image of her and Steph laughing in the corridors. Another drawing and Steph was throwing her ‘A’ rated report into the common room fire. Another picture and the Marauders were hunched over demonstrating a new prank to use.

The more she drew, the more it became easier to draw James’ hollow cheeks and his round rimmed glasses. Easier to create the perfect shape of Steph’s eyes and easier to draw Sirius’ hair perfectly, strand by strand. Lily stopped after her tenth drawing and closed the book.

Small tears had fallen gracefully down her cheeks in amazement of remembering so much so easily. Lily decided to simply hug her knees, watching the sun give itself to the horizon, as pink and red filled the once blue skies. Growing tired, she laid her head on the dirty arm rest while a group of thirteen year old boys ran past, trying to make their way home before dark.

‘Without you, the tides change, the boys run, the oceans crash’

~*~*~*~

“It was nice hanging out with you Annabel,”
“And you too Sirius,”

Sirius returned to the living room and plopped himself on the large leather sofa stretching out his legs. “Well, that was fun wasn’t it Prongs?” he asked, turning to look at James, who was glaring at him.
“Yes Sirius, it was oodles and oodles of fun,” he responded in a sarcastic manner.
“Wonderful so you’re alright with her spending time with us for the next few weeks then?”

Remus looked up from behind his book, shook his head knowingly yet smirking at the same time, and returned to his book once more as James stood up and walked over to Sirius, “Sirius, why. Are. You. Doing. This?”
“James,” Sirius looked him straight in the eye, “you’ve been moping around since we got home and we’re going back to school in a month. We need you back, and she’s a nice girl,”
“She’s not Lily Evans though,”
“Merlin Prongs, are you really just going to sit around here waiting for her to show up?!” and with that Sirius stamped out of the room, up the stairs and slammed his bedroom door trying to calm himself down from seeing how much of a fool his friend was.

‘The crowds roar, the days soar, the babies cry, without you’

The days began to fly as Sirius’ advice started to lock into James’ brain. Annabel and him were beginning to become close friends as they joked around for the next few weeks with Remus and Sirius, and a little of Peter smiled. Though, Remus was no idiot and knew James was not interested in Annabel at all while she was hopelessly having a crush on him.

She was perfect for all of them; she even got along with Peter for Merlin’s sake. It was as if she had become one of them like a Marauderette.

~*~*~*~

“Maim? Excuse me, but you fell asleep and the park is closing in a few minutes. We need to lock up,” a park officer had shaken her shoulders gently, waking her up from the best dream she had in a while.
“Sorry, I’ll just be going,” replied Lily as she gathered her knapsack and started walking towards the entrance to go home.

The sun was completely hidden now as the white crescent moon shimmered in reflection on the pond and if a person stared long enough at the sky, a few speckles of stars could be found. Though, with the all the streetlamps it was hard to see any stars at all. Lily wrapped her long overcoat around herself when the wind started to become strong and continued walking. How many times had she imagined of walking with James, counting the stars aimlessly…

‘The moon glows, the river flows, but I die without you’

She had just left the park in time for the gates shut a minute after. Her mind wandered off to old stories she had heard about the city and life at night. It only took a few minutes to return to the old house. Opening the door, she heard someone going through the pantry for the first time in weeks. Next she heard two voices, similar in tone & range as they reached for cups and plates.

“Hello?” she asked, closing the door and walking around the corner to the kitchen. Lily stared at the two identical red heads that looked as if they had been petrified.
“Oh, hello. Mad Eye told us there was someone living here as a permanent residence,” voiced the first red head.
“Well, it’s not permanent but yeah…who are you too? You’re obviously wizards if you know Mad Eye,”
“Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Gideon Prewett and this is my brother Fabian,” the second red head could talk. Who knew?
“Ah, Lily Evans. So what are you two here for?” she asked, sitting herself down on the countertop like she usually did.
“Just inspecting the area. Rumors are going around that something dark may have been let loose, so Mad Eye just wants us to figure out what’s going on,” said Fabian, helping himself to a bowl of cheerios.
“I see, there’s been lots of that lately. How’s England?”
“Busy, that voldi-shmorts or whatever his name is, is gaining more support. It’s pretty scary over there some days,” mumbled Gideon who too was eating a granola bar.
“Oh, well the upstairs is full of guest rooms just pick one out except for the last one on the left. My room. Otherwise, the linen closet is the first room on the right upstairs so help yourself. I’m going to turn in, night boys,”

~*~*~*~

The letters had come and gone, with the surprising event of James being made Head Boy, and now the five of them were back to Diagon Alley for the official school shopping. All of them were nearly done since they had gotten their books, re-stocked their potions supplies and gotten new dress robes for graduation in which Sirius mocked, “Why are we getting them now? You never know, we could fail…or get kicked out,”

But it wouldn’t be a school shopping trip unless the crew spent more than twenty minutes inside the Quidditch shop. Sirius and Annabel were checking out the new bats, each considering whether to get a new one for their last season and James was looking at the bright red quaffle. He wasn’t really in the mood to look at it actually. Remus had been watching him, curious if he would stroke it once more but was shocked when James just passed it by after a few moments. He didn’t seem interested in the quaffle anymore.

Then he saw the gloves. Brand new, dragon skinned gloves. They. Were. Gorgeous. James walked over to them, trying to find his perfect pair when Annabel snatched them from his hands.

“So do you always wear women’s gloves Potter?” she smirked, waving the gloves in front of his glasses.
“Actually yes, they’re more fitting for my fingers,” he replied coolly.

She gave him a knowing look.

“Okay, so I got them mixed up. Whatever,” he stuck his tongue out at her and she smirked while her blue eyes sparkled.

‘The world revives, colors renew, but I know blue, only blue, lonely blue, willingly blue, without you’

James smiled, mesmerized by the specks of gold in her blue eyes when they sparkled and covered her fingers with his hands. Slowly, he brushed his thumb over her palms just staring into her small eyes. Her pupils dilated as he interlocked their fingers, keeping the steady gaze for a few more moments before realizing it wasn’t Lily. He broke the contact immediately and Annabel, who was shaking, handed him the gloves and whispered to him.

“I was joking; they are men’s sized,” and then she was gone.

James grabbed hold onto the first stable thing he could find, which happened to be Remus’ shoulder. Remus, who had seen the whole thing, just glanced at the floor, not knowing what to say or do. James put the gloves down, deciding not to need them and instead walked over to the Beater’s section. He took one of the bats she had been looking at, quickly paid and ran out the doors of the shop. James ran through the crowds of people, insisting on not losing sight of the black hair with red highlights. He found her sitting on a bench with her head in between her knees, rocking herself gently.

“Annabel, I’m so sorry about back there. I don’t know what came over me and...,” but he never finished for she looked up and whispered crisply, “Why aren’t you interested in me James?”
Taking a deep breath he answered, “Pardon?”
“Why aren’t you interested in me at all? My looks? Personality? Peter shows more affection for me than you and well…something is not right about that one,” she fought back quickly.
“Annabel, don’t get me wrong here, you are a beautiful girl. When we get to Hogwarts, any to every guy will be interested in you,”
“But why not you?”
“Look, I am interested in you. Okay? I’m interested in the way your smile quirks every time Sirius freaks about his hair. I’m interested in how you got gold specks in your bright shimmering eyes and how you could be so interested in Quidditch yet still be so feminine. I am interested, don’t get me wrong,”
“You...you just don’t want to date me,”
“I’ve been in love with a girl for a long time, she meant everything to me and she was almost mine last year. Then trouble started, and I guess you could say fate pulled us apart. It’s going to take me a while to get over her; she was so spectacular and amazing. I’m just not ready for a relationship now, but I am ready for a friendship, one I hope to have with you,”
“You’re just too perfect you know that Potter? Too perfect,”
“Wonderful, I’ll take that as a, ‘Yes James, I’d love to be your best friend forever and ever!’ Now, moving on, open” and then James thrusted the Quidditch bag at her.
“James you know this isn’t necessary,” she opened the bag and removed the bat and then placed it firmly in her lap, “you did not have to go and buy that for me,”
“Oh I know, I wanted to,”

~*~*~*~

Fabian and Gideon ended up staying longer than planned which was no issue to Lily. She was getting along with them great, and it was nice to have someone in the house besides her. A week later, Lily bounded down the stairs happily. She reached for the waffles and poured some orange juicy while humming a Beatles song.

“Why are you so hunky-dory this early in the morning, miss evil of morning?” inquired Fabian, finishing his cereal and dropping the bowl in the sink.
“I had a dream last night,” she started.
“Was it full of ponies?” asked Gideon excitedly.
“No. The dream told me to quit my job!” squealed Lily, covering her waffle in syrup.
“Oh, and this is good?” asked Gideon.
“Yes,” she answered.
“Does your job make you unhappy?” questioned Fabian.
“No,” snickered Lily.
“Then why is a dream about quitting your job making you happy?” they both asked at once.
“Because, it’s telling me what I was trying to convince myself for weeks,” she finished, sipping her juice.
“Oh?”
“Yupp, so I’m going to go resign right now, I’ll explain everything to Madame Lorain and it’ll be fine,”

‘Without you, the hand gropes, the ear hears, the pulse beats’

~*~*~*~

“You know Potter, I know how you feel about getting over people you care about,” mumble Annabel outside on the porch later that night.
“Really?” asked James, sitting down next to her.
“I never knew my father; he was a bloody **** he was. Left my mum before I was even born, and I always thought he still loved me but was running from his feelings. Every year on my birthday, I’d set an extra set of silverware thinking he was going to come through our door with a large present. I wrote a card every Christmas to send him until I was eleven. It took me thirteen years to realize he never cared, and he was never going to love me. I know what you mean James,” she whispered, holding onto a mug of butterbeer wearing a Cannons sweatshirt glaring at the sky above.
“I’m sorry Annabel, that’s horrible,” remarked James uncomfortably.
“It’s alright, but you know, time heals all wounds. But time is incredibly long, and sometimes you can’t sit around and wait for it to help you out. Remember that,” she started to stand up, brushing any dirt off her pants and reached for the porch door.
“Hey, do you wanna go take a walk?”

Annabel turned around to see James standing up, with his right hand out towards her.

‘Without you, the eyes gaze, the legs walk, the lungs breathe’

~*~*~*~

Lily walked to Madame Lorain’s office in a record time of ten minutes, energy filling her with every step closer. She walked into the main building, waving hello to her fellow employees and walked up to the receptionist.

“Hi Macy, I need to see Madame Lorain as soon as possible,”

‘The mind churns’

~*~*~*~

‘the heart yearns’

James held Annabel’s hand as they made it to the end of the backyard where the pool sat. James sat down and dipped his feet in, motioning for Annabel to do the same. Splashing their feet James snuck looks at Annabel’s smile growing wider making the small ripples in the water.

“You asked me why I wasn’t interested in you and I gave you a bad answer,” started James.
“No, I understand, I have this huge flaw of rejection…I don’t know how to control it,” stuttered Annabel.
“It’s alright. It’s sort of refreshing to find one person who isn’t incredibly polite,” quoted James, smirking at her.
“Touché,” she replied.
“Well, you’re right. Time heals all wounds but I don’t want to wait thirteen years for myself to realize I need to move on. A friend once told me I can’t sit around waiting for her to return,” spoke James gently.
“That’s true,” she muttered softly.
“Hey Annabel?” James was looking at her with extreme admiration.
“Yeah?”
“I’ve fallen for my best friend, what do I do?” he joked.
“Hmm, well it’s not a male best friend right?” she teased, splashing water in his face.
“Nah, it’s a she,”
“Well then, I’d kiss her and see where it goes,”
“Great idea,” and pushed her in the pool.

“JAMES!”
“Right sorry,” he jumped in too and smiled at her.
“Bloody baboon,”

Then he kissed her.

~*~*~*~

“You want to quit, Miss Evans?” inquired Madame Lorain, inspecting the girl before her.
“I wish to return to my form of education, I feel as if I don’t belong,” replied Lily, blushing all the way down her neck.
“You do belong. Here, doing research and enriching the mind of students across the globe,”
“More than half the students I’m enriching are older than me. Isn’t that a little odd?”
“You have a gift my dear,”
“But I want to go home,”
“You also have a contract,”

‘the tears dry without you’

“Isn’t there some form of compromise possible?” asked Lily, desperately.
“I suppose…stay with the company until the beginning of November and then we will end your contract as if it had never happened,”
“For real?” asked Lily bewildered.
“For real, we’ll continue to pay you and provide education but if you wish to return to England, then who am I to keep an Evans from doing what they want?” asked Madame Lorain.
“Oh thank you!”
“Oh dear, just make me proud. Now, off you go. Your team is waiting for you,” and then she was dismissed.

‘Life goes on, but I'm gone, 'cause I die, without you, without you, without you, without you.....’

To Be Continued….

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I hope you enjoyed that, the sequel which will be a nice and long fiction 'Return of the Universe' I will have a feedback forum up soon, but if i dont have the link posted here by the time you read this then please check the Fan Fiction Feedback Forum titled 'Without You'. Thank you and please review!

Gryffindorbabexhott<3