Hello everyone! This is something I loved to write (because it's about Lily, and I love love love Lily), but it made me cry, so I apologize in advance if it makes you sad.
Summary: Lily Evans Potter is like a ballerina: she loves to dance, and she's graceful even when she falls.
Rating: K+
Warning: On-screen character death (but not violent)
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling, and nothing belongs to me. I don't make any money out of this story.
.:.
Written for:
- Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments): ASSIGNMENT #5: Muggle Art: Masterpieces: Task 3 - Write about a Lily
- the If You Dare Challenge (REVIVED!): Prompt 378: Graceful Dance
Word count: 597 words
Ballerina: Lily Evans Potter
Lily is like a ballerina. Graceful, she dances, her hand in James's and her head on his shoulder. Her feet glide on the floor and she smiles, because she is in her new husband's arms and she is doing what she loves to do. Dancing has always been a passion for her, ever since she was little (but she is in the middle of a war, and this is one of the rare occasions she allows herself to be free enough to dance).
Graceful, she walks on her tiptoes, her baby Harry in her arms. He has just fallen asleep, and she can hear James's laughter behind her, and she resists the urge to go back to him and shush him (the way she will do it wouldn't matter; she could either kiss him or smack him on the head). But she has Harry in her arms, and he is asleep, and she is a good mother, so she will just put him to sleep in his crib before she does anything.
Graceful, she laughs with her husband, as Sirius's eyes widen. Harry's first word is not "Ma" or "Pa" or anything else, it's "Pfoo", and Sirius looks so happy right now, a bright smile on his lips. They are all laughing, and Sirius exclaims, "I like you, Harry Potter!" and Lily pretends she is offended, gracefully putting her hands on her hips.
Graceful, she moves, and every step she takes looks like a dance. She is young (she has turned twenty-one one week ago), and there are so many things that should be weighing her down, but they don't. She is a little ballerina thrown into the middle of a war, and she has lost her innocence a long time ago, but still, she's graceful and smiling and optimistic. She is the light in so many people's life.
That fateful night of October (it's a peaceful night, too peaceful – they should have known), she is leaning into James, and they are both watching their son fall asleep, when the door opens with a bang. This bang marks the precise moment Lily's life shatters into a million pieces, because she is running upstairs (James has told her to, and she would have anyway, because there is Harry in her arms and she has to protect him) and still, she sees James fall, and her heart breaks.
She knows it is the end for her; she doesn't stand a chance against him. But Harry is in his crib behind her, and so when the door to the nursery bursts open, she stands her ground (even if she is so terrified and there are tears running down her face).
She is like a ballerina when she falls, graceful, so graceful… But she falls all the same, and this time, she will not rise like she has always done. The bright light in her eyes is gone, and her dark red hair seems already dull.
The only beautiful thing that is found in the destroyed home of the Potters is a photograph (dusty, but still intact). A photograph of Lily and James Potter, Lily in a white simple wedding dress, and James in his most elegant suit. There are smiles (tender, loving smiles) on their faces, and the young woman twirls and twirls around and graceful, she dances to a song no one can hear anymore.
Lily Evans Potter will be remembered by the world as someone heroic, and strong, and loving, but really, to all those she knew, she was just the young ballerina who left far too soon.
I hope you liked this! :)