A/N:

This one shot has been written as part of a challenge set by the lovely people over at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)

The task was to write about a character using the legilimens charm and how the character goes about this process and focus on how your character is affected by it.

Hopscotch prompts: Lily/Sirius (pairing), cherry (word), wool (word), "You have such a bubbly personality!" (dialogue)

Gringotts Prompt bank: Female OC 1: Jasmine Cooper

Should have been there

Healer Sirius hovered above his patient who lay on the cherry wood bed in St Mungo's Hospital. He observed the beautiful 21 year old woman who lay there battered, bruised and broken; the very same woman who had captured his whole being, heart, body and soul, the very first time he saw her on the Hogwarts Express ten years ago. She shivered in the bed and Sirius unfolded the wool blanket and lovingly threw it over her.

Her thick, dark red hair that usually shone brightly was matted and in disarray, covered in dried up blood, and her usually beautiful ivory skin was covered in bruises and looked sallow and pale. It broke Sirius' heart to see her laying here, a broken woman.

He had to know how she had come about these horrific injuries and why her husband, the man who was supposed to love her more than life itself, hadn't been around to prevent it from happening and why he hadn't even turned up at St Mungo's despite Sirius' many attempts to get hold of him. There was only one way he was going to be able to do this, use Legilimency.

Sirius paced up and down the length on the bed she lay in, agonising over whether or not he should do this. Whilst it was the only way that he could find out what had happened to her, he knew that there was a very good chance that he could end up seeing private thoughts that she would never in a million years want him to see.

He twirled his wand in his hand, and finally pointed it towards the girl of his dreams, "I'm sorry," he muttered before focusing on the task at hands and whispered, "Legilimens."

A very horrific scene greeted Sirius as he saw the woman he loved cowering in the corner of the room whilst a man towered over her beating her senseless. His face was unclear, but the fear that the woman felt was very clear on her face.

"How dare you try to leave me!" the man roared, and Sirius was taken aback by the familiarity of the voice; no it couldn't be, he wouldn't. "Crucio!"

The woman he loved began to writhe in pain on the floor, her head thwacked loudly against the wall behind her. "Please no," she screamed "Stop." Tears streamed down her face thick and fast.

The scene before him faded to black and was replaced by a moment that held a special place in his heart. There sat the younger version of himself, next to the gorgeous fiery redhead by the Great Lake at Hogwarts. Sirius recalled that James had been at Quidditch practice and that the two of them were spending some rare quality time alone together. Remus had been off somewhere 'tutoring' Jasmine Cooper, the Hufflepuff in their year that he had had a crush on for goodness knows how long, who was struggling with Transfiguration.

"You have such a bubbly personality!" Sirius whispered to her, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers grazing the pale ivory skin of her face sending sparks shooting through both of them. Their eyes locked, both their eyes briefly flickering to each other's lips.

As they leant forwards, the spell that they were under was suddenly broken by one of his best friends, Peter Pettigrew plopping himself down on the ground next to them.

He was drawn out of the memories and back into the present and looked down loving at Lily Potter, his eyes brimming with tears now that he knew the truth of what had happened to her.

He felt physically drained as he lowered his wand and collapsed into the chair beside Lily's bed. He was filled with rage and pain knowing that his best friend James had caused this beautiful angel pain. He had damn near killed her and Sirius knew that right now he could kill James for what he had done, and as he began to contemplate all the ways he could do so, a quiet voice broke through.

"And now you know," she whispered, her eyes opening to reveal the bright green almond-shaped eyes that he loved so much. She reached over and took his hand and looked up and him smiling a soft yet sad smile.

Sirius stood up and moved towards her giving her a hug, "I'm so sorry for what he did to you Lily," he murmured into her ear. "I wish I had been there to stop him. I should have been there."

He kissed her on the forehead and whispered the words that he had longed to say to her for so many years, "I love you Lily."

"I love you too Sirius," she choked out, and Sirius' heart soared with happiness.

A/N:-

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