Author's Note: I was feeling a bit nostalgic about my camp counselor days, as you may be able to tell, and missing my kids and my old camp. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

Hogwarts: Assignment 6, Mundane Literature Task #2 Write about a summer camp.

Warnings: NA

Place of Solstice

Here's a hymn to welcome in the day

Heralding a summer's early sway

And all the bulbs all comin' in

To begin

The thrushes' bleeding battle with the wrens

Disrupts my reverie again

—June Hymn, The Decemberists

"You've barely had your Apparating license for a month!" Lily hissed, dragging James behind a cabin away from wandering eyes. The hint of reproach in her tone beckoned back to months ago, when Lily had barely been able to look at him—nevermind think of James as a friend.

"What are you doing here?" Lily asked.

Now that she was in front of him, beautiful as always and sunkissed and wearing a t-shirt so many sizes too big that it was tied back with a spare scrunchy, he could finally calm down. His heartbeat calmed as he assessed what kind of a braid she'd used to pull up her hair, as he counted the colours in the friendship bracelets on her wrists, took in the smell of sunscreen and lake water…

He turned from her to look at the copy of The Prophet in his hands.

He held it out to her in one stupid gesture before his brain kicked itself into gear and provided an explanation for her.

"It was all over the paper," he said. "The Death Eaters—Voldemort—they attacked a Muggle school. And, well, I know that you're working at a summer camp, not a school, but how much do the people at The Prophet really know about Muggles, you know? So then I got scared that it was this place, and I… I didn't think, I'm sorry."

Lily deflated when he explained. She took the paper from him and turned to the appropriate page and read over the article quietly. Her eyes seemed to glaze over and harden as she did. She shook her head.

"Needless violence," she said. "So needless, so unnecessary. But… but it wasn't me, James."

"I see that now," he said.

"You're shaking," she said. "Hey… hey, come here… I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to worry you like this..."

She eased herself up on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his neck. He closed his arms around her. Usually, being this close to his friend had the opposite effect on him—it usually go this heart beating a million miles a minute. But there was something relaxing and comforting about her hug now. Now that she was safe and his adrenaline was plummeting, like it did after a Quidditch game when he literally touched down and came back to reality, he realised how scared he'd been.

"I'm okay," Lily promised in his ear.

"I know," James said.

Lily pulled away and smiled.

"But you're at camp now," she smiled. "You get to see what I do in the summers! Which is, well, work…"

"Yeah," James said. He looked down at the logo on her teal t-shirt. "Camp Solstice... It's nice."

"It's like another home," she said. "I've been coming here since I was seven, counselor since I was 14."

"I know," James said. She'd been sending him letters through the Muggle post from this place—they had to write down the sender's address on those, in case the postman got confused or something. That's how James had known to come here.

Now that he wasn't in full panic mode, he looked around. The forest around them was lush but sparse enough that the sun was shining through the foliage. Everything looked bright and happy. Lily had pulled him behind one cabin, but he saw many others around the property—and a fireplace, and picnic tables, and piles of firewood, and…

"Today's my day off," Lily said. "I was going to hitch a ride to the village, where there's this coffee shop I like to read. But I can show you around if you like, show you the climbing wall, the lake, the canoeing, the archery range…"

"No, no," James said. "You've been working hard, you need to enjoy some time with yourself…"

"Are you telling me that you won't be showing me a good time?" Lily asked. The words struck fear in James' heart. When he didn't know how to respond, she burst out laughing. "Come on! If we head down to the lake we can get there before cabin inspections are over and the first swimmers get down..."

At the end of the day, James asked if they could go back to the lake where they'd started. Lily was more than happy to oblige, raving about how it was the most beautiful view of the sunset that camp could offer.

They sat on the dock, legs dangling off and up to their ankles in the lakewater. Around them, birds preparing for the night and frogs all around the lake made themselves heard. In the distance, James heard the campers singing something at their campfire but he didn't pay them much mind—even if he'd loved meeting the kids in Lily's cabin and kick soccer balls with them or hold one end of the skipping rope for him. They had all been more than happy to tease Counselor Sunshine, as she was known at camp, about her boyfriend (which possibly made James blush more than anyone else).

He felt more alive than he had since school had ended, with Lily by his side. A pleasant, happy fatigue from a day of kayaking and climbing and hiking and helping chop and move firewood had settled into his muscles. What had started off as potentially the worst day of James' life had somehow become one of his happiest ones.

"Is this lake why you like the Black Lake at school so much?" James asked.

"I think so," Lily said. "It's peaceful, you know? I have a lot of memories here—digging for seashells, building sand castles, trying to catch minnows, splashing around… When things get overly hectic, when news from the war comes up or its effects boil over and stir trouble at school, I remember this place. It was built by Muggles, maintained by Muggles, and it's a safe haven every summer—no matter what's happening in the outside world, no matter what some maniac says, no matter what... It reminds me that who I am isn't a loss or a waste. 'Camp Solstice,' it's funny how that works…"

"Yeah," James said. "Yeah, I'm glad… I'm glad I got to see it. I'm glad I got to spend the day in this place, with you. Thanks."

"Your parents and Sirius know where you are, yes?" Lily asked lazily. She was leaning against him, claiming that it was always cooler by the water than she expected, and James worried that she heard his heart beating wildly through his chest. Perhaps she was asking because she worried that he was going to drop dead from a heart attack.

"Earth to James?" she sing-sung when he got lost in his own thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"Sirius and your parents? They didn't spend the whole day worried, did they?"

"They know I'm with you," James said. "And I don't particularly want to leave. I… I don't want to be without you, to not know where you are."

"James," Lily said carefully though she didn't inch away from him or the comfort of his sweater. "James, we… we've only been apart a month—school just finished a month ago..."

"I know," he said quietly. "I know, but I worried so much. I… I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you, Evans. I saw my entire life flash before my eyes without you in it when I heard the news, and there was nothing there worth having."

"Stop that," Lily said.

"I can't," James said. The words got caught in his throat, even if he'd known them and practised them in his head for years now. "Lily, I'm in love with you."

Lily turned from him and looked at her hands. She chipped at the nailpolish on her thumb and looked up at him again, brow furrowed. But she looked… worried. Worries more than repulsed or shocked or disgusted or otherwise disagreeable. Could it be…

"James, this isn't going to get easier," she said. "This war is going to get worse before it gets better. I don't want you scared about me every second of every day. That's not good for you."

"Then let me be close," James said. "Let me be yours, let me be your person—through all of this. And then, when things get bad, I know that you'll come back to me and let me know that you're okay or let me help you if you're injured. You know, if I'm your person."

Lily smiled.

"You're already my person, James. That's the beauty of being friends before falling in love. Because for the record, I love you too."

James maybe could have died of a heart attack at that moment. But that would have been a shame, as he would have missed the soft, marshmallow-sweet kiss that Lily Evans planted on his lips.

Shipping Wars

Ship (Team): James Potter/Lily Evans (Patronus Pair)

List (Prompt): Summer Big List (Vacation)

Stacked with: MC4A; Hogwarts; Shipping Wars

Individual Challenge(s): Gryffindor MC (x2); Minerva's Migraine; Summer Vacation; Seeds; Old Shoes; Location, Location, Location; Themes & Things A (Reflection); Themes & Things B (Joy); Ethnic & Present; Rian-Russo Inversion; Short Jog; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

Word Count: 1498