Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me. All rights go to JK Rowling/Warner Bros. I do not profit in any way.

Don't Go

She told him not to go.

They knew, she and James, that this day was bound to come. As much as they could hope for the threat to pass and for their family to be left alone, Lily and James knew in their hearts that they'd never escape from this nightmare.

And it was a nightmare. Being trapped inside the house, relatively defenseless, knowing that they were being hunted by a madman - worse; that their son was being hunted by a mass murderer. A psychopath. It was a situation from the worst of dreams.

But the Potters pinched themselves, they felt only pain.

Lily and James were in their front room. James was lying on the sofa, wand nowhere in sight. Lily was attempting muggle knitting.

Lily knew immediately when they heard someone outside their little cottage. She knew Remus's light tread, Sirius's stomping footsteps, the sound of Dumbledore's cloak dragging against the paved driveway. And Peter never made any noise.

James looked out of the window, and came back pale.

She knew it was him. Voldemort had finally caught up with them.

They were going to die.

James knew it too. He looked at her with eyes so wide behind his glasses. A magnitude of emotion evident in them. She knew how he felt - she felt the same. Knowing that their death was waiting just outside the front door.

Pain. Anger. Fear. Worry.

Sadness.

They wouldn't be able to look at each other for much longer.

There was no time for goodbye, and perhaps that was the real tragedy. Only a lingering gaze. A million 'I love yous' left unsaid. James touched her cheek briefly with his fingers, and gave her the weakest of smiles.

"Upstairs," he said. "Go to Harry. I'm getting the door."

"Don't go, James," she pleaded, but he was already gone.

Lily ran up the stairs, wishing that she could cry. Wishing that tears would finally blur her vision; relieve the painful block in her throat.

She faintly heard James shouting at her to take Harry and run. He must have known that the hope was futile. She couldn't run. There was nowhere to run to.

She didn't feel the moment he died. Not like in books or in films. But when she heard slow footsteps ascending the stairs, she knew he must be gone. James Potter. He wasn't the kind to die. James was the kind of person who ought to live forever. He had so much life energy left.

Still, not a tear dropped from Lily's eyes. She stood in front of the crib, in front of her sleeping son.

She was ready to die now. But if Voldemort thought he was getting to Harry, he was sorely mistaken.

Lily stood in front of her son as the door blasted open at its hinges. Her red hair was messy, her green eyes dull. Still not a tear in sight. She pleaded for his life. Offered hers in return.

She was told to stand aside.

She didn't.

And then Lily Evans was just a corpse on the floor, her green eyes still open but unseeing as Voldemort's next curse rebounded.

A single teardrop streamed from her eye, but Lily couldn't blink it away.

A/N: ...sorry. I was in a bad mood. And when I get in a bad mood, I pump out tragedy and angst to make me feel better ;)

It was also an entry for Jily October, where everyone in the Tumblr Jily fandom produces art/fic/graphics/gifs.

Hope you liked it! Let me know :)