Dedication: Dedicated to the airoplane that took me here to were I am now (Malaysia) because it didn't crash. here's hoping that the one that takes me home on Sunday won't crash either. I've been watching too much Lost. God I love that show...
A/N: OK, so this is a joint FanFic, I write one chapter, and then my friend, Prongs, writes the next one. The first chapter (this one) is mine, and the next one will be hers. You can also find this story on her profile page (link to her profile page is on my profile page).
Pain.
The one thing that registered in his mind was pain. His body felt as if it was on fire, and he was scared to move. James Potter was never scared; he always had courage, no matter how small of an amount it was. Lily had taught him how to do that.
Lily.
Where was she? Slowly and painfully he opened his eyes. His first instinct was to close them again and blink a few times to wake up from this dream. He was lying on his back in discarded debris, as if a fight had taken place. And then suddenly the memories swarmed back.
He had come in. Voldemort. James had to admit, he had stood up against Voldemort longer than he thought he would, he had told himself he needed to give Lily and Harry more time to hide.
Lily… Harry!
He sat up and every part of his body screamed in protest. He barely registered the fires burning on one side of the room, the sofa that had been ripped to shreds and the part of the ceiling that had caved in, allowing a view of the roof on the story above. Slowly he moved forward on his knees to crouch on the ground. He ignored the exceeding pain as he began to stand up. His head pounded, and his vision swam in and out as if he was looking through an aquarium of water.
The stairs seemed a colossal obstacle, and as he lifted his leg to step up the first one, he almost lost his balance and toppled over. No, he thought I have to get upstairs, I have to find them.
A fleeting thought hit him as he painfully and slowly climbed the stairs, but he pushed it out of the way. They had to be alright. They would be. He couldn't live without them. He'd push through the door into Harry's room, and they'd be ok. A little scared and shaken up, but they'd be ok. They had to be.
Suddenly a pain hit him so hard that he thought he was going to collapse. His head felt like it was going to explode and he could feel his heart beat in his mouth as his hands reached up and held his head. He closed his eyes and waited for the pain to recede, which it did after a while. Once again he was scared, scared that the pain would come back, scared that he wouldn't be able to fight it. But as he opened his eyes and looked up the stairs he knew there was no time to be scared, he had to reach the top.
The stairs seemed to take an eternity, but they finally came to an end. He skirted a rather large burn in the carpet that was still smouldering around the edges and took small steps toward the door at the end of the hall that was slightly ajar. He couldn't suppress a shudder of foreboding that ran through his body, and despite his usual optimism he couldn't help but fear for the worst.
Painstakingly he made his way to the end of the hall and stopped at the door. Did he dare open it? A thump downstairs shook him from his thoughts, and he looked over the banister to notice one of the support beams was quite ablaze, and looked ready to collapse soon. He realised the thump had come from a piece of it, that had broken off and was now burning proudly on the entry hall floor.
James shuddered and moved back towards the door, wiping the sweat off of his face. But as his hand came away sweat was not the only thing that was on his hand. Showing brightly through the sweat and the black soot from the fires was the unmistakeable red colour of blood. James suddenly felt dizzy and he put his hand to the wall to steady himself. He stared at the door, and if the door had eyes he was sure it would be staring right back at him.
The Door.
He only had to push it open and Lily and Harry would be sitting in a corner, playing a game like normal. But this wasn't normal he thought to himself. When, in the normal world, did the most feared dark wizard knock down your door? James suddenly considered the fact that he should be dead. Why was he not dead? Not that he wanted to be dead, never in a million years, but surely Voldemort would have killed him, right? Maybe he was dead then, and this was just….
Just what? A game? A test?
Why would this be happening if he was dead? Why would he be in this much pain? He stopped thinking. Thinking hurt too. He wasn't going to think about it. He was going to grit his teeth and open the door.
And he did just that.
At first he couldn't see, as his vision became fuzzy but slowly everything came into focus, and the first thing he noticed was Lily.
On the floor.
Not moving.
His stomach dropped to the floor before he did, and his heart rate increased tenfold.
"Lily?" he whispered, afraid there would be no answer.
And no answer came.
He reached out and touched her arm, which was still warm. His heart glimmered in hope and he leaned forward.
"Lily?" he whispered again, shaking her slightly. She didn't respond and his heart fell slightly, but his heart rate rose. "Lily come on, we have to get up and get Harry," he whispered urgently, shaking her slightly again. A silent tear crept from his eye and slid down his face, clearing all the dirt and slightly removing some of the blood in its path. "Lily, please get up," he whispered, another tear escaping and making its way down his face.
"Lily," he choked out. "Please get up. Please. Don't do this." He wiped the tears away on one side form his face, but they were only replaced with new ones. "Lily, don't leave me. Don't leave me here without you. I don't want to leave you. Please."
The tears flowed freely now as he stared down at her beautiful face. At the face that greeted him with a smile everyday, the lips that he kissed passionately every day, the bright red hair that he played with when he became bored.
"Lily," he whispered again urgently, his entire body shaking. "I can't be here without you. Please come back, without you I'm scared. Don't leave. I love you."
His head fell down and his body was shaking as quiet sobs escaped his lips. His hands left her arm and wrapped around her body, holding her close. He would have tried to look for a pulse, but deep down he knew that it was too late.
She was gone.
He was left in this world without her, and he'd never again be whole. He'd never get to see her happy face… never get to touch her soft skin… never get to kiss her lips…
He held her tighter as he shook, daring himself to believe she'd wake up in a second, and tell him that she and Harry were safe. Harry! Regretfully he slowly let her go; tears still free flowing and looked around the room. A rush of adrenaline hit him as he recognised his son's untidy hair, that he sported himself.
He stood up and strode over, still ignoring the pain, now coming from his heart as well as everything else. If Harry was gone, so was he. As he reached his son a small amount of relief rushed over him as he watched his little chest move up and down.
Harry was alive.
He scooped up his son and held him tight to his chest. Harry was the biggest connection to Lily he had. He studied his son's face and noticed a thin lightning bolt shaped cut on his forehead, beginning at his hairline. James hugged Harry and prayed that he'd be ok.
He sat down on the ground next to Lily and kept crying. But whether from exhaustion, or by overwhelming emotion, or smoke inhalation James fell unconscious, and was found later with his wife by his side and his son in his arms.
A/N: Could we hope for a review?
