Chapter 13: Saying Goodbye All Over Again
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Whenever dawn turns to night
And all the dreams sing their song
In the daylight forever
To You I Belong.
-To You I Belong by B-Witched
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"James, who died? Please, tell me." James ran a hand over his clean shaven face and said,
"Your parents." Lily's jaw dropped, and she held a hand over her mouth in shock, tears forming in her eyes. James took her other hand in both of his, as he was fighting to keep tears back too, said,
"From what I'm told, Voldemort or one of his Death Eaters killed them, the Dark Mark was found over their house." Lily sobbed, and her legs gave out on her. James caught her before she fell (A/n: :-) He's always doing that ain't he?). He carried her over to one of the chairs and sat her down in it, and he knelt down in front of her. Lily asked tearfully,
"Why? Why did they have to be killed?"
"I don't know. I don't know, Lily," James said, rubbing Lily's arms comfortingly. She leaned forward and flung her arms around James' neck, and cried into his shirt.
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"Some new events have come into light within the past two days," Dumbledore said, addressing the Order members. "David and Rose Evans were killed by Voldemort yesterday. They were muggles, and you're all probably wondering why this is relevant now. They were Lily Evans' parents. We have reports from our inside man on why this would happen." Dumbledore motioned for Snape to give his report. He stepped forward.
"The Death Eaters were sent to find Lily Evans and kill her. I have heard that they went to David and Rose Evans' house in search of their daughter, but didn't find her. They demanded that they inform them of where she was, and they refused to divulge any information. The Death Eaters tortured them before killing them, and blew up a majority of the house."
"Why would they be out to kill Lily?" James asked.
"Because of you, Potter. They know of your relationship with Evans and will kill her before there can be another generation of Potter."
"How would they know about that?"
"I don't know. It is my belief that we may have a traitor in our midst, feeding information to the Dark Lord."
"It's probably been you, Snivellus," Sirius said, standing up.
"It is not my wish to kill Evans, Black. There would be no reason for me to do it." He looked from James' deathly glare to the identical ones on his two friends' faces, to Lily's expressionless one. Dumbledore stood up before a full-fledged fight broke out between school enemies.
"This will not be the last muggle attack. There will be more and more as long as Voldemort is powerful. This madness must be stopped, before you all lose loved ones. Be on the watch, you never know when he'll strike next."
"Constant Vigilance!" Mad-Eye Moody said, shaking a fist. The room became noisy with chatter. James knelt down next to Lily and wrapped his arms around her comfortingly.
"Everything'll be all right, Lils. It'll all be ok."
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The funeral for Lily's parents took place three days later. It was a dark, gloomy day as Lily, once again dressed in black, stood by her parents' graveside after they had been laid to rest. Her black dress billowed in the cold wind that blew that morning. James stood next to her, an arm around her shoulders. She had been very distant to him since the Order meeting, usually only responding with short answers. Lily looked up and saw her sister and brother-in-law standing on the other side of the graves. Petunia came closer to Lily, a determined look on her face. Her husband followed like a shadow. Petunia stood next to her sister.
"I blame you for their deaths. If not for you, Lily, they'd still be alive."
"But for how long, Petunia? Voldemort is growing stronger, no one is completely safe anymore."
"If you hadn't ever been born, or gone off to that freak school, they wouldn't be dead now." Lily didn't reply, she just turned her head away from her sister. James said,
"It isn't anyone's fault except Voldemort's. He's the reason why they're dead."
"You're the freak she was talking about. You're the bastard who if it wasn't for you, this Voldemort wouldn't be after Lily, and my parents would still be alive." Lily slowly turned her head back.
"Don't insult James, Petunia. And don't you dare blame him for this. He didn't do anything."
"That's right, I should be blaming you. And you know, I wish they had found you and killed you. The world would've been better off with one less of your kind in it, and I would've been relieved of the burden of having an abnormal sister, and I'd never have to think of you again." Lily slapped Petunia across the face, who was so shocked at the physical contact, stumbled backward, and was stopped and held steady by her husband. Lily looked her hateful sister in the eye and said,
"You bitch. You should be happy for what family you have left. Because you never know when you won't have anyone anymore. Then what'll you do?" Lily turned and left, James following close behind. When the coast was clear, they apparated from the funeral site.
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"Lils, I've been thinking." Lily smiled weakly.
"Shouldn't do that, you might hurt yourself." James laughed.
"You're talking to me, remember, Lils, not Sirius."
"Oh, that's right, never mind. Sorry, what did you want to talk to me about?"
"You know how before I left, I asked you to think about getting married?"
"Yeah?"
"I want to take it back."
"Why?"
"I think it'd be safer for you if you didn't marry me. Since the Death Eaters are after you so you don't marry me and we have kids, it'd be best that you didn't marry me. So you don't have to bother thinking about it."
"But I already have thought about it, and I want to give you my answer."
"What is it?"
"I want to marry you. I love you, and I want to marry you."
"Aren't you afraid of being killed? I'm bound to be killed sooner or later because of who I am, and if you're my wife, then your chances of being killed are twice as high."
"Like I told my mother, love knows no fear. All of these events going on in the world don't matter right now because I love you. I have loved you for the longest time, and nothing is going to stop me loving you." James put a hand behind Lily's head and pulled her closer to him, meeting her lips with his. They wrapped their arms around each other, and stood there holding each other, kissing for what seemed like minutes. James broke the kiss and said,
"I love you Lily Elizabeth Evans."
"I love you too, James Michael Potter. I'm sorry it took me so long to realize it."
"You're worth the wait." They kissed again, and the newly engaged couple celebrated long into the night.
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A/n: Kind of a short chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it all the same. Please review, I'd love it if you did.
Husker_fan_2006
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