[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
So Nice To See You Again Potter


Lily’s hand was damp with sweat. James held onto it as she led him down the stairs to the dimly lit docks. At the bottom, she turned to walk backwards, holding both his hands in both of hers, she stared up at him. “James. So… so we’ve known each other a long time.”

“We have,” he agreed.

“Six years.”

James nodded. “Nearly seven,” he supplied.

“Right.”

“Careful, love,” he added. She’d been about to trip on the edge of the dock and he held her hand tighter to keep her from falling over. James’s fingers wrapped around hers. “Don’t fall.”

She felt a thrill go up her arms when his fingers knotted through hers. They fit perfectly. Her heart was pounding quite hard. “Thanks.”

“Yeah.” He nodded.

“James, I’ve been a troll to you,” she said point blank.

“A troll? Nah.” He paused. “Well. Maybe a little.”

“Especially this year. In September. You were so kind to me about Jasper, and you took care of me… that couldn’t have been easy for you… Especially when you… when you said you liked me, and I… didn’t answer you.”

James stared at her.

“Or when I told you we could only snog as friends and that you couldn’t tell anybody about it, when I made you be my… what was the phrase you used? My dirty little secret?”

“Are we just listing like the things that hurt most in my life then?” he asked with a soft of breathy chuckle.

Lily shook her head, “James, I want you to understand why I did that stuff to you.”

“Because you hate me.”

Lily stared at him, her eyes wide. She swallowed, then, without answering that, she said, “When I turned eleven and I got my Hogwarts letter, it came from a Ministry Official who worked in the Muggle Liaison office… He came to tell my parents about magic, and about Hogwarts, and to gently break the news to them that I was a witch. I already knew, Severus Snape had spotted the signs years before in the park, when I jumped from a swing and didn’t hurt myself, and we’d talked about Hogwarts before, so for me it wasn’t new news, but for my parents it was. And for me it was confirmation of the things Sev had said…” she paused.

“My dad started that program,” James offered. “It’s one of the many things he’s done.”

“That’s great,” she said, “Your dad is an amazing man.”

“He is,” James agreed.

Lily cleared her throat. “James, I gained a whole world that day. I gained all of the magical community, the entire wizarding world. But I lost my sister.”

“Sounds like a fair trade,” James said with a smirk.

Lily shook her head, “James, Petunia’s horrid. I know she is. She’s always been. But she’s my sister and we were… best friends. We told each other everything. We were… close. When she would fall down and skin her knee, I would cry because I could feel it. I could. Sort of how Gideon and Fabian Prewett can. We weren’t perfect, but we were friends. And I thought that we’d always be close. But then magic came and while it was a blessing… it was also a curse… because I lost the best friend I had in the world.”

James stared at her, the smirk falling from his face as she spoke and he said, “I’m sorry,” in a low voice when she reached the end.

“It’s my fault for being a witch,” she said.

“It’s your sister’s fault for being… something that rhymes with witch,” James muttered.

“She calls me a freak.”

“You aren’t one. You know how I feel about her calling you that.”

Lily nodded. “But I lost her. That’s my point. Then first year was lovely and I made a new friend. Alice Bell… and I got to feeling better about losing Tuney. Like I had a new sister, a new best friend, and I thought maybe things would be alright.”

James looked down. He knew how this ended, of course.

“Then Alice Bell died.”

James’s heart ached. He nodded slowly.

“And I never told her how much she meant to me. And I felt guilty, like it was my fault she was gone. I never got to say goodbye.” Lily chewed her lip.

“...it’s not your fault,” James whispered.

“And then Derek Bell… He was my captain. He was our captain. You know how we all felt about him. He was brilliant. He was handsome and I think every girl in the school had a crush on him, myself included… and he was killed. And I felt like… like why is everyone dying?” Lily’s nostrils were flared and quivering with emotion. “And I remember crying into my pillow…” She took a deep breath. “James, so many of my friends have lost parents and siblings and we’ve lost teachers and terrible things have happened… We lost Andy Tinnamin and Bilius Weasley went crazy for awhile and… and I lost my Dad. He died. Because I’m a witch, because of magic, and Petunia said…. That it should’ve been me. And maybe it should.”

“Never, Evans. Never - ever - say that,” James said, shaking his head.

Lily bit her lip, “But maybe it should.”

“No.”

“Remus and Sirius broke up and Sirius was so depressed and I tried to help him, I did, I talked with him sometimes, you know, and he came to that vacation and he saw that bloody arsehole, Ace there. If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t have seen Ace again. Ace wouldn’t have… have hurt him…”

“That is not your fault, Evans!” James said firmly.

But she barely paused, “And - and your dad, your dad was sick, and you were sad and I - I lost your - your address and -- and the Death Eaters, they -- to your house -- and the fire -- the -- explosion…”

James’s face trembled. “Evans.”

“And all the -- the things -- I did… the things I didn’t say to you… they were because… because James, all these people, all these things… what it all has in common is… is me.”

He was shaking his head.

Beneath them, the water slapped the shore of the little lagoon. Outside, the wind was picking up. The water stirred.

“None of this rubbish is your fault, Evans. None of it. Not a tick.”

Lily stared up at him. “I’m a jinx, James. A curse… and I’m… I’m afraid that if I… if I let myself… care… for you… then… then I’ll jinx you, then I’ll hurt you, then you will suffer like… all the others I’ve hurt.”

James’s eyes were wide with dawning realization. “Evans,” he said thickly. “Do you? Care for me?”

She stared up at him.

“What if I’m a jinx?” she whispered.

“I don’t care,” he answered.

Lily’s breath was short, her chest constricted.

“Do you care for me?” he asked. “Even a smidge?”

“REDUCTO!”

The spell came out of no where.

It burst the dock at James Potter’s feet and he was blasted backwards into the water with a terrific splash. Lily let out a cry, “JAMES!” she yelled, grabbing at the air for him, but he was beneath the water in seconds. Lily drew her wand, “Accio James!” but of course accio doesn’t work on a person.

“JAMES!” she screamed, and she knelt on the dock, looking over the jagged edge, but the water was black and dark and he was gone. “JAMES! Lumos!” She waved her wand at the water, but it was still too dark, still no sight of him. “JAMES!” she screamed again.




Below the water, James’s arms were held fast, his legs kicking desperately but to no avail. He was dragged below…

He struggled, trying to get away.

There was no getting away.

Suddenly he was outside in the cold, the moon shining over him, bursting from the surface and dragged up into a boat like the ones in the dock. They were in the center of the black lake - he could see the castle looming over head, far off and away. He could barely hear the echo of Lily Evans’ scream - but it was as though from far, far away, and there was no hope of her seeing him way out here. And he was shoved down onto his knees and he realized he was tied by ropes and there were two masked figures in soaking black cloaks and they cackled and one of them hit James in the back of the head with his wand and the other pulled James head back by his hair, wrenching his neck so that he looked upward into a third figure’s face. Into red eyes and pale skin and a wide, humored smile.

“So nice to see you again, Potter.”