Your Happiness Is Paid with His Misery

This is JKR's sandbox – I'm just playing in it.

The newest Mrs. Potter was going through the gifts she and her husband (Husband! She still couldn't believe it!) received when an elaborate scroll caught her eyes. Looking at it, she saw it was only addressed to her and to be more specific, addressed to her with her maiden name. Curiosity made her abandon going through the other gifts – it's not like James cared anyway – here they were, supposedly on their honeymoon and he was gone, 'with the boys.' It was like they were still in Hogwarts! Sighing, Lily Potter nee Evans, broke the seal to the scroll and began to read.

Dearest Cousin –

For that what you are now, because although James denies it, the truth of the matter is the blood of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black flows in his, and will flow in your future children's, veins. You have made the unfortunate choice of marrying James and now you are kin. As family, my wedding gift to you is this – the truth, a truth you must live with for the rest of your life.

People are not often what their first impression makes them to be, but in the case of your husband and his friends, they are. James was and still is arrogant, Sirius was and still is an ass, Remus was and still is a coward and Pettigrew (here, a puzzled expression crossed Lily's face, as the others were referred to by their first names and not their surnames) was and is a RAT, scurrying about and following the person or people with the most perceived power.

At first, you saw this for yourself and stood by your 'best friend.' A term I use loosely and lightly, as you haven't been a best friend to anyone except for yourself since Fifth Year. (Here, Lily flushed in outrage as she knew exactly who the writer of this letter was speaking of.)

For someone who was constantly praised by the professors as being the 'smartest witch' of your year, you know nothing of the world you now live in. All you know is what you were taught by the professors and what you was spoon fed by your Housemates. Nothing you know of is through personal experience, personal observations or self- teachings.

Here is the perfect example of this fact – Do you know your current happiness is paid with his misery?

Despite what you think you know - everything he did was for your happiness. Sirius didn't like you then and only tolerate you now. So many times, through your First through Fifth years, you were the unsuspecting victim of a hex sent your way via Sirius because he was jealous of the time James spent trying to get your attention. However, those same hexes and curses never reached you. He always paid the price later on, three on one with the coward acting as lookout.

He was constantly humiliated and belittled by those you now call husband and friends, however you never tried to help him. Instead, you overlooked their 'pranks' and constantly lectured him on his supposed friends, his associates and his 'fascination' with the Dark Arts.

Then Fifth Year happened. First, you ignored his warnings about Remus. Yes, there's a prejudice against werewolves but it is there because most of us FEAR them. Not the person they are, but the werewolf they become during the full moon – feral, uncontrollable. I care not for social experiments when they put an entire student population in danger, a student population that included you.

So late one night during the full moon, your oh so wonderful husband best friend Sirius set your best friend up. Sent him to that mad willow he did, as bait, using you as a lure. He went out there to save you and guess what he got in return? He was almost bitten by a werewolf, 'saved' by James (who was only looking out for Remus, for he would have been killed if he had bitten anyone) and was told by our so esteemed Headmaster if he was to reveal any of the events that occurred while still attending Hogwarts, he would be expelled. Also, to add insult to injury, he was told by the Headmaster that he owed James a 'life debt.'

Despite the restriction placed on him, he continued to try to warn you. You continued to ignore him. He withdrew into himself, became silent. You listened to James and took his silence as a sign of becoming 'one of them.' Never once did you ask him what was wrong. You instead ate the steady diet of your Housemates vitriol and he slipped further away from you.

He was going to come clean with you, tell you everything after OWLS. He was so worried about what he was about to do, to tell you what had happened earlier in the year and risk being expelled. In an attempt to calm himself down, he was revising the Defense Against the Dark Arts exam. He never saw them coming – one minute, he was studying and the next he was being choked by soap suds.

It looked like you were coming to his rescue but while he was hanging upside down, his robes hanging over his head, you were FLIRTING with James. Smiling, as the crowd watched and laughed, instead doing your duty as Perfect and instructing someone, anyone to get one of the professors to help. You threatened to hex James, instead of following through and in the end, the only thing you really focused on was him calling you a 'Mudblood' (which was out of anger and humiliation) and in retaliation, you called him that dreaded nickname that they gave him your very first year. Then you top it off by telling him he should 'wash his underpants.'

Of course, he attempted to apologize (which you refused) and the rest is history. You forgot about your best friend. James lied to you and continued to hex and curse him; by this time, he was constantly walking around with a shield spell. You dated and married one of his enemies and made friends with the rest of them.

I hope James is everything you ever hoped for, everything you want him to be. I hope that Sirius, Remus and Pettigrew are deserving of the friendship you have bestowed upon them. After all, your happiness is paid with his misery.

Sincerely Yours,

Narcissa Black