If I owned Harry Potter, a number of people would have died far sooner and a number of people wouldn't have died at all. Though I would still read fanfiction, just to see what people would come up with.

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Lily Potter had always wanted a happy ending. She wanted to die peacefully, surrounded by friends and family, with the knowledge that those friends and family would live as fulfilling lives as hers before joining her in the afterlife.

She had always known James would be the first to die. He'd die in battle, in the thick of Death Eaters and Voldemort, and he wouldn't regret it for a moment because he would die trying to change the world. And she would be mourning his loss for the rest of her days because she couldn't imagine life without him, he had been a central part of her life since she was eleven years old on a train to a world so very different from the one she came from. But she would also be proud, so very very proud of her husband, because he had been changing the world and his death meant something, even if no one else recognized it.

She told him that, everytime they had that particular conversation. And he'd grin at her, that cheeky grin that had made her so mad for six and a half years, and tell that of course he'd be the first to go. He had to make sure the afterlife was safe enough for her, didn't he? And she'd fall in love with him all over again.

And now she thought about this as she knocked over a chair in her haste to get to her darling baby boy, the boy who would be a heartbreaker just like his daddy. He was crying, sensing that something was dreadfully wrong. She picked him up and held him close, soothing him with whispered words before turning on her heel in a futile attempt to apparate. She'd known it wasn't going to work, but she had to try.

And then he appeared in the doorway, and she spun around, placing Harry gently back down, before spinning back around, shielding Harry from view with her body. So many thoughts ran through her head as she pleaded with Voldemort to not kill her baby, to take her instead, including the random thought that this was the most cliched thing she'd ever done in her life--including falling in love with her former worst enemy.

He told her to step aside but she refused. Just like she knew apparating wouldn't work, she knew this wouldn't either, but still, she had to try. She would never forgive herself if she didn't try. And then there was a flash of green light and she barely had time for a whispered goodbye before she was falling, gracefully falling in slow motion. And in that moment she knew that she had gotten her happy ending, because in that moment she knew that Harry would live, and that his life would be fulfilling and long before he joined her in the afterlife.

She died with a smile on her face.

And when she met James, she smiled at him and asked, "Is it safe enough?" And he laughed and led her home.