When Lily loses something very dear to her, James will go to any length to see her happy.

It was a drizzling, dreary Saturday evening at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Marauders were huddled around an open window in the Gryffindor Common Room watching lightning streak across the sky, as this was a favorite pastime of theirs.

"Whoa, that one was really close!" laughed Sirius.

"Apparently not close enough; it didn't hit you," joked Remus.

"Oi, come off it, Moony! You always know how to ruin a mood." Sirius stuck his tongue out and Remus slapped him in the back of the head. As usual, this led to the boys rolling around in a wrestling match on the floor.

James laughed and cheered for Sirius momentarily but soon became distracted by a swish of red nearby.

Lily crossed the common room and joined her best friend, Alice, at the table nearest the fireplace. Lily placed something on the table as she sat, but James couldn't tell what because it was being blocked by Alice's hand.

James, being the overly curious boy that he was, continued to watch in case Alice should move her hand and he could find out what Lily's mystery object was.

"Oi James, did you see that one? I think it might have hit a tree!" Peter squealed, but James wasn't paying him the slightest bit of attention. "James? What are you staring at?"

At these words, Remus and Sirius stopped their wrestling match to see what had captured James's attention.

"I see," said Sirius, catching sight of the direction in which James's gaze was fixated. "The red-haired, green-eyed beauty has once again captivated the young stag that is Prongs."

"Shove off, Padfoot. I'm trying to see what that is that Lily's got there," James said, snapping out of his daze.

"Ah, young Prongsie, Lily has what every male teenager (and probably a few females too, but we won't discuss that) wishes he could get his hands on. What she has there upon her glorious chest are—"

James slapped him on the back of the head. "That's not what I'm talking about, you idiot. She brought something in with her and put it on the table, but Alice's hand is blocking my view."

"Always the curious one, James. Can't you just ask her what it is?" Remus said.

"Yeah, hadn't really thought of that. Oi, Evans! Prewett!"

Both girls turned to look at their caller with curious countenance. Lily's expression quickly shifted to irritated when she caught sight of James, while Alice looked merely amused.

"What, Potter?" Lily snapped.

"Come here for a second…please," James added at Lily's annoyed huff.

Lily had no intentions of moving, but Alice grabbed Lily's sleeve and dragged her out of the chair. Lily snatched her mystery object from the table and quickly stuffed it in her pocket.

"Yes, Potter?" Alice grinned. Lily simply looked very frazzled.

"Well, Prewett, I've been wondering for the past few minutes what that thing was that Evans here has. She stuck it in there as you girls were heading over here," said James, pointing at Lily's pocket.

"This?" Lily questioned, pulling a small stone from her pocket. "It's just a rock." She turned and made to walk away but Alice snatched the rock out of her hand.

"Hey! Give it back!"

"It's just a rock, Lilykins. Calm down," smirked Sirius, taking the rock from Alice.

"It's special to me! Give it here, Black!" Lily lunged toward him, and Sirius, surprised, leaned away from her so that his arm went out the open window. In a flash, the rock slipped out of Sirius's fingers and hurtled toward the lake below. Six pairs of wide eyes watched it plop on the surface of the water and sink into the lake's murky depths.

The Marauders and Alice turned to see Lily, a look of pure horror etched across her face. She stretched out her arm as if reaching for the rock, then burst into tears and ran up the stairs to her dormitory.

"I didn't mean to. It just slipped," Sirius said guiltily.

"Yeah, I know," Alice quietly replied in sadness for her best friend.

James was still looking at the place where Lily had disappeared when quite suddenly he too charged away. He had been in the boys' dormitories for less than a minute when he reappeared astride his broom and soared out the portrait hole. The remaining party glanced at each other in confusion. Then Sirius and Remus moved away to play chess, Peter returned to his lightning observation, and Alice, at a loss of how to comfort Lily at this time, went to join Frank Longbottom by the fire.

James had been gone for nearly five minutes when he flew back through the common room and up the staircase to the girls' dormitories. He flew to the sixth year girls' door and dismounted his broom. He knocked on the door and gently called, "Lily? I have something for you."

Lily opened the door to see James standing there, dripping rainwater all over the floor.

"Here." James held out his hand and dropped a small stone into Lily's.

Lily dried her eyes. "How did you—"she started.

"I just used the summoning charm. You were so upset; I had to do something," James told her as he dried himself off with his wand.

Lily hugged the rock to her and placed it on her nightstand. Turning back to James, she said," The last trip I got to take with my dad before he died was to a nice, quiet river. We spent the whole weekend together doing things like swimming, fishing, and collecting rocks. When it was time to leave, our bucket full of rocks was too heavy to lift. We decided to just keep one and throw the rest back. There was nothing incredibly remarkable about this rock; it just seemed special. Dad handed it to me and said, 'This represents our relationship. I'm here for you whenever you need me, Lils. I'm your rock to depend on.' It's symbolized his love to me ever since. I thought it was lost forever. Thank you…James."

James looked at her for a moment and then replied, "I know I could never replace your dad, but I'm here for you, Lily. You can depend on me. I would do absolutely anything for you. I can be a rock for you anytime you need me. I just wanted you to know that." He turned to leave.

"James, wait!" Lily ran and jumped into his arms, and they were kissing. When that finally broke apart, her eyes shining, Lily said, "I'd really like that."

And he was her new rock.

Just something I threw together. Have time? Hit that blue review button down there. No flames please!

Alright, so, I'm an extremely sad author. This story has several favorites on it, so I know some of you must like it, but I still have seen absolutely no reviews! Please, I'm begging you, review my story so I can be a happy author! There must be something you can say. How about a bribe? I will pm a cookie to the first reviewer! :D