Prologue: Darkly Dreaming
And though the sun was shining down
That trail to hell still froze
Mother mercy looked away
The sky was thick with crows
Trail Of Tears, Heather Dale
His blood eagerly stained the dusty wooden flooring and all Lily Evans could do was cry. 'This is just a dream,' she thought, 'Maybe James had been spared this particular bloody death?'
"I don't know," Lily tearfully murmured as she knelt beside the dead James Potter.
She gently brushed her hand against his dark, blood matted hair.
"Peter told me that he had checked for a pulse during the battle," Lily confided to the dead body.
"He hadn't found a pulse and so he had left you behind. Remus had to stop Sirius from wringing Peter's neck when he had informed everyone," Lily morosely added in.
She continued to stroke his hair.
"I miss you."
'The rooster will be crowing, any minute now,' Lily absentmindedly thought. This dream had continued for far too long. When would she be waking up?
"I left them all behind," Lily guiltily confessed to the dead body.
"Oh, don't be mad at me, James Potter! I was devastated when I heard that you were murdered, and I needed a way out! I know that I was not the only one grieving! They had just looked so broken and I had felt broken."
She angrily tried to stop her tears from falling but quickly gave up.
"You gave me a way out. For that, I'm extremely grateful," she softly told the body.
Lily heard a muffled sound and slightly tilted her head, and brushed her long crimson hair behind her ears in an attempt to hear the sound better. She heard it again. The rooster was crowing.
"It's time for me to wake up," Lily said before she gently kissed his cheek.
"Bye, my love. Be alive in the next dream, all right," Lily firmly ordered.
Unexpectedly, she admitted, "It kills me when I dream of you being murdered."
Then, after one last glance at the bloody body, she woke up.
Author's note: Written for the Guilty Pleasure Challenge and the 10K in 10 Days Challenge. I do not own Harry Potter or Heather Dale.
Wish me luck. ;)
~Griffin