A Bumpy Road to the Altar
Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize. The rest belongs to the genius, J.K. Rowling.
Note: First of all, thank you so much to all the ten people who reviewed the last chapter! Here is a surprisingly fast update for you; I'm trying to finish this story before the week is over. I hope you like this chapter, full of sadness and danger, yet I loved writing it. Only two more chapters to go! Please read, review, and enjoy!
Chapter Twelve
Destroyed Lives and Futures
"Katharine,"
Lily's voice rang strong and clear, masking the fear that she was
feeling as she stared at her cousin. It was scary; with that
expression of utmost fury and loathing and that very sharp knife in
her hand, Lily saw that this was not the Katharine Harper she once
knew. "What the hell are you doing here? Get out of my
house!"
Katharine narrowed her eyes, clutching the knife even
more tightly as she did so. "Katharine,
what are you doing here? Get out!"
she mimicked, using an exaggerated high-pitched tone. Then her voice
turned back to normal. "Bitch," she spat.
There
was such unconcealed fury and hate in her voice that Lily flinched.
Still, in a voice of forced calm, she said, "Katharine, don't
talk to me like that. What happened to you? We used to be so close,
the best of friends and cousins! What happened to change
that?"
"What happened? What
happened? Oh, I'll tell
you what happened," Her eyes were spitting fire. "You happened,
Lily, you! This is all your fault! It's because of you that my life
is messed up!"
Now Lily looked on with genuine confusion. "What
did I do?"
Katharine gave an exasperated shriek and started pacing; Lily did not move. "Oh, look at Lily, she's so wonderful!" She mimicked their various family members. "High grades, good job, working for the light side! Oh, and a dashing, rich, delightful fiancé to boot! Katharine, why can't you be more like Lily?"
Her voice turned normal again. "It was always Lily this, and Lily that, even from my own parents! Even when we were still little kids, they always thought you were better than me! Remember that time when we were five, and we went to the beach? Mother and Father adored your perfect sandcastle, but they didn't pay attention to the starfish I had caught? I've been ignored my whole life, Lily, by my own family, and it was all because of you! Because you had to be so perfect and charming and great!"
Lily stood on, still afraid by the hysterical and manic attitude of her cousin, but now she was also surprised. She had no idea Katharine felt this way. "Kat, you have to understand. I didn't do anything intentionally. I never tried to outshine you, never!" she said, hoping to make her cousin see reason.
Katharine pretended as if she hadn't heard her. "But you dominating my childhood just wasn't enough for you, was it? I only fell in love once, Lily, and I mean real love, something I would have sacrificed everything for! And lo and behold, it had to be James Potter, the person you said you hated all these years and the one who was pining after you at school."
"You know, I was so thrilled when he asked me out for the first time. I was only temporarily assigned to France then, before going back to Greece. Then we kissed, and started dating, it was wonderful. I even saw a ring box in his suitcase. He told me he loved me. I thought that for once, I would be able to upstage you, to outshine you. But no, you had to steal him from me too! Why, Lily, why?" And to Lily's great surprise, Katharine started to cry.
"I didn't steal him from you, Kat! He chose to return to England of his own free will, you know that!" Lily said.
"Because he still loved you! Because he kept comparing me to you, and decided that you were, as usual, better!"
"You cheated on him!" Lily yelled, a plan forming in her head. She would let Katharine talk, confess, and when she had heard enough, she would make a break for James's bedroom.
Katharine looked mildly surprised that Lily knew this tidbit of information, but, in a chilled calm voice she said, "Like I said before, a moment of weakness, that's it. Do you have any idea how hurt I felt when I found out that you two were engaged? You claimed to hate him all these years, you could have just given him to me, but no, you had to take the one thing I wanted badly for yourself, just like all the other times!"
"I
know he still loves me, I know it, and I'm going to get him back.
Like I said, Lily, I love him. That's why I sabotaged your wedding,
sent you threatening notes. And I'm going to sacrifice everything
for him, including Jason."
In that instant, Lily understood
what had happened to the four-year old. She had asked a doctor what
had happened to him—got hit by a car while going after James—and
thought that no mother would have been insane enough to allow her son
to go out on a busy street alone.
Apparently, there was one mother insane enough to do that.
"So you let your son go out, knowing that he'll get hit by a car, just so you could use James' guilt to get him back?" Lily exclaimed, anger now overpowering her fear, her heart twisting for the little, innocent boy who had been thrown into this mess. "You almost got your son killed, Katharine! What kind of a mother are you?"
"He's
not my son," Katharine admitted simply. "I adopted him after
James left, he just looks so much like him, you know? I thought that
he'd be perfect for my revenge, to get James back. Brilliant plan,
isn't it?"
The simple, nonchalant tone did it for Lily. She
shook her head. "You're crazy, Katharine. You need help. Listen
to yourself, you're being irrational!"
"Shut up!"
Katharine took steps towards Lily. The sinister expression was back,
and with it, Lily's fear came back full force. This woman was not
in her right way of thinking. And when it was in that instance, Lily
knew she was capable of doing anything.
"You made me suffer
all these years, Lily, so now, I'm going to make you suffer as
well." More steps. Lily was frozen in fear, her wand gripped so
tightly that her knuckles were turning white.
Katharine
ran her free hand over the smooth surface of her knife in an almost
loving manner. "You have no idea, Lily, how much I've waited for
this. How long I've waited to hear your piercing screams as I
plunge my knife into your body, watching the blood pooling around
you, robbing you of your life inch by inch….."
The image that
had logged into Lily's mind was so macabre that she couldn't
move, no matter how much her brain and instinct told her to. She
merely watched, waiting, waiting…
Suddenly, Katharine gave a loud yell and lunged forward, raising the knife, reading to drive it into Lily's stomach. Lily didn't even think; just in time she raised her wand and cried, "Expelliarmus! Stupefy!"
The force of the spells were so strong that Katharine was thrown backwards to the ground, seemingly stunned, her knife sliding neatly into Lily's outstretched hand. Knowing that she didn't have much time before the spell would wear off, she went upstairs and ran to James's room.
Throwing the knife under the bed, she rummaged through James's trunk until she found a small square mirror---James's two-way mirror. "Sirius," she spoke clearly, heart racing, wishing that he would appear now.
Within seconds Sirius's face floated into the mirror. "James, what's---oh, Lily…wait, Lily, what's the matter?" He looked alarmed as he looked at Lily's terse and anxious expression.
"Sirius, I need your help. Do you know where James is?"
"Probably out in the Ministry, there was an attack only a few minutes ago, and James
went to help. Why?"
"Sirius, listen to me. Get James home, now. It's Katharine, my cousin. She's the one who's been sabotaging my wedding, she's Jason's mother, and right now, she's in our house, with a knife, trying to kill me! I cast a few spells on her, but it should ward off in a couple of minutes. You have to find him now!"
Sirius mentally cursed to himself. He knew this day was coming, yet, he didn't really realize how serious and urgent it was. "He may be out in the field right now, but I'll try to get him there as soon as possible."
"Thank----" But before she could finish her statement, a white-hot pain shot through her as Katharine suddenly drove a kitchen knife into her arm. Lily fell to the ground, writhing in pain, dropping her wand in the process. Katharine picked up Lily's wand and took hold of the mirror, which was now empty.
"My, my, Lily, talking to yourself in the mirror? Unbelievable. You're more self-centered than I imagined," Katharine said, disgusted as she placed the mirror on the bed. She watched Lily on the ground, clutching her wounded arm, blood oozing slowly, and she laughed.
"What, the great and mighty Lily Evans can't get up anymore? You're pathetic, Lily. Get up!" She kicked Lily in the stomach, causing Lily to cry out in pain. "Get" Another kick "UP!"
Lily couldn't take it anymore; the pain was all too great. Never in her life did she imagine that this would happen to her, that her cousin would do this, but now, she wasn't sure what to believe anymore. Katharine gave her another kick, and Lily was almost fighting not to lose consciousness.
She was near the end, she felt. Darkness was slowly closing in on her, and no one was coming for her yet. And for a moment, she wondered how easy it would be to just slip away. To close her eyes, succumb to the pain, let it take her away from the world, ease her suffering…
Then James's face burst into Lily's mind, waking her from her reverie. If she submitted herself to the pain, she was giving in to what Katharine wanted—too see her lose, her life, the person she loved. Well, hell, she was going to allow that to happen.
She was furious at James Potter, but she still loved him, and she knew she had to live, for him.
Trying to put the pain away from her mind, Lily concentrated. In the next instant, Katharine was thrown backwards again, hitting the door. A look of triumph crossed Lily's face at the nonverbal spell she had just used as she attempted to stand up. Katharine looked dazed for a moment, and there was a wound on her arm. Seeing her cousin's sorry state, Lily almost felt guilty…
Then she remembered that said cousin had just stabbed her, so she pushed the feeling aside.
She scrambled to get out of the room before Katharine could move. It was a difficult task, with a bleeding arm and hurting body. She couldn't Apparate out of the house---with the threat of Voldemort, James had decided to put a charm so no one could Apparate in or out of the place. While James and Sirius weren't here yet, she had to leave the Muggle way.
She was successful in climbing down the stairs, gasping in pain as she did so. She headed for the kitchen, to find a healing potion. She could use nonverbal spells, to be sure, but as the pain intensified it would be harder for her to concentrate on casting the spell, so she had to heal herself right away.
She had barely made it to the kitchen when an arm grabbed her ankle in a vice-like grip, causing her to fall and hit her head on the cold, marble floor. Reeling from the pain, Lily had just looked up to see Katharine poised over her, the manic glint in her eye once more, her knife in hand.
This was it. Lily was too weak to cast any more nonverbal spells, and Katharine had her locked, she couldn't escape. The pain was too much, and although she wanted to fight, she felt like she was slowly slipping away.
Right then and there, she knew that she was going to die.
"Get ready to say goodbye, cousin dear," Katharine whispered as she raised her knife.
Lily sighed, pain running all over her, and allowed herself to submit. Before she closed her eyes she thought she heard James's voice crying, "Petrificus Totalus!" and a sudden, stop of motion.
And then, slowly, the world went black.
..------..
When Lily opened her eyes the sight of a worried fiancé met her. Very slowly, she looked at her surroundings—white, clean vicinity, simple bed---and knew that she was at St. Mungo's.
And she knew that she had survived.
How long had she been out? Probably a few days, but it didn't matter. Everything came rushing back to her, the memories of that day—knowing what her cousin's past with James was, almost getting killed because of it.
And for some reason, anger was the first emotion that she had felt. Anger at James Potter.
"Lily, thank god you're awake, everyone's been so worried about you. When I saw you lying there, I almost……" James said, taking her hand and kissing it. "How are you feeling?"
"Fine," she croaked, determinedly not looking at him. "When can I leave?"
This was clearly not the question James had been expecting, but he said, "Well, the healer said that since you were already fine, once you woke up, they'd perform one more exam on you, and you should be free to go."
"Good," she said, sighing and looking away.
James was worried; this was not the reaction he was expecting. "Lily?" he said, tentatively. "I'm sorry. I know what I did, and I just wish…."
"Please go, James, I need to be alone for a moment," Lily said in a voice no louder than a whisper. James looked visibly disconcerted at her passively angry actions, but merely nodded. "I'll see you and take you home after your exam." And with that he left.
The examination was performed with Lily in a daze. She neither knew nor cared what was happening, knew only that she needed to vent, to yell, and to let out the emotions she had been hiding for so long.
She couldn't take it anymore.
After the exam, James took Lily home. The house was empty and cold, but James had made sure to clear away any remnants of that night, like broken furniture or blood on the floor.
Lily moved as if in a trance to the couch and watched the flickering fire burn. James was unsure what to do. On one hand, he desperately wanted to touch her, to hold her and say that everything was going to be alright.
But on the other, he wasn't so sure if he still had that right anymore.
But he did know that he needed to talk to her, to clear everything. And while he wasn't sure that broaching the topic now was the best idea, it had to be dealt with right away. "She's in a mental facility, you know. Katharine," He said, unsure of his own words. "After Sirius and I got her, I went to your parents and they helped me set it up."
Lily merely nodded, as if the issue wasn't a matter of importance anymore. James didn't like it. He took a step forward. "Lily, I---"
To his surprise, Lily suddenly stood up and began walking away from him. "Don't talk to me, James".
"Lily, wha----"
She
whipped around to face him, and to his surprise he found an
expression of hurt, betrayal and anger on her features. "When were
you going to tell me that you and Katharine used to be a couple?
Huh?" she yelled at him, the anger in her voice unmistakable.
"After we were married? Never? How could you, James?! She was my
cousin!"
"Which was why I didn't want to tell you!" James
countered. "I didn't want to put a strain on your relationship,
especially if I told you why we broke up in the first place!"
"But if you could have told me, James, then this may not have happened!" Lily yelled, her tears flowing now. "If I knew why the both of you were so uncomfortable with each other, then I may have just removed her from the wedding to make everyone feel better! Then our wedding might not have been sabotaged! Then maybe Jason wouldn't have been hurt by her and he wouldn't lose his mother! And more importantly, if you had told me, Katharine might not have stormed into my house in order to kill me with a knife!"
"FOR GOODNES' SAKE, LILY WOULD YOU JUST TRUST ME FOR ONE MINUTE AND LISTEN TO ME?!" James yelled. The moment he said that, the two fell silent as they stared quietly at each other. James had never yelled at her in such a long time, but right now, every pent-up emotion was finally reaching the surface, and he had no way to stop it.
"Trust?" Lily gave him mirthless laugh. "That's hypocritical, coming from you, isn't it? Don't you dare, don't you freaking dare to talk to me about trusting you when it's so obvious that you don't trust me enough to let me know!"
"If
I told you, I might have put your life in danger!"
"Oh yeah,
right, and did not telling me keep me safe? I don't think so,"
Lily exclaimed. "James, it's not just me. There's Jason to
think about. He may not be your real son, but he has no one. His
adopted mother is a lunatic. How is he going to feel about this? He's
only a child James!"
"I know that, but we're talking about
us here, leave him out of this!" James said.
Lily shook her head. "We've caused too much trouble, already James, by getting married! I don't know how much more I have to lose! I almost lost my life, I don't know what more I have to sacrifice just so I can be with you with nothing to stop us from being together!"
"Lily, I'm sorry―" James made to say but Lily held up a hand to stop him in mid-sentence.
"No James, I am," she said in a cold voice she had never used with him before, a tear escaping and rolling down her cheek. "I'm sorry for ever believing that we could work this out. We're just too different. And I just can't bring myself anymore to do this when I find that you don't trust me enough to tell me everything about you. We made a promise never to keep secrets from each other, James!"
"Lily, that wasn't―".
"Just stop it, James," she said in a deathly quiet voice, willing herself not to cry, willing herself not to show that her heart was slowly breaking. "You know what? You can just tell Melissa to put a stop to everything, because James…..I'm sorry, but ah…….the wedding is off. And so are we".
"Fine," The words left his mouth before he could comprehend it, his tone one of ice. "If you're so sure that you can't be with me any longer, that you're willing to give up on me, then fine. We're through."
With that, she turned on her heel, took off the ring, and left their house, leaving her dumbstruck ex-fiancé behind, walking out and crying without another word.
James stared around the house, their house and slowly sat down on the ground, looking and feeling supremely dejected. With Lily gone, the place felt so empty, so cold, James hated it. He had bought this for her, for them, and now…….
A flash of bright light glittered near him, and James turned to the floor to check on what it was. His heart wrenching, he slowly picked up from the ground Lily's engagement ring, the single diamond glittering in front of him.
She was gone. And it was both their faults, but mainly his. She was right; if he weren't have acted so stupidly, this wouldn't have happened. She had almost died. And it was all because of him. He had nearly gotten the woman he loved killed as a result of his own selfish, stupidly noble reason.
He should have stopped her. He should have begged her to stay, damn his pride to hell. With his parting words, he had just made everything even more of a mess.
As this realization hit him square in the head, for the first time in a long time, a single tear rolled down James Potter's cheek as he stared at the ring, their sign of love, one more time, thoughts of their might-have-been future flashing through his mind.
He hung his head, full of shame and regret. His dream was over.
