One Reason to Die, Three Reasons to Live

As Lily is about to perform a charm to make it so she was never born, James makes a deal: if he can find three good reasons for her to have been alive, she won't do it.

Oopsies, last chapter I said it would be five chaps, it's only four. I had four reasons to live, but forgot one of them, so it's down to three.

This chapter is based on an experience I had with one of my sister's friends. I'll explain more at the bottom.

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First Reason to Live: Adora

"Adora," James said, bringing up the name of one of Petunia's friends.

Lily's eyes glazed over a bit as she remembered the occasion with the girl…

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

The car ride was very, very dull. Petunia, Mr. Evans, Mrs. Evans, Lily, and one of Petunia's friends, Adora, had been at Lily's grandparents' house. They (the grandparents) owned two houses, and hadn't been at the one they were visiting.

Petunia seemed pretty absorbed in reading a book, and Mrs. Evans was chatting with Mr. Evans, who was driving. Lily stared out the window, and then realized that Adora was doing precisely the same thing.

"I see an elephant," she said suddenly to the older girl.

She looked startled. "Where?"

"In that cloud, right there. And next to it, that's a boat!" Lily loved to play the cloud game, finding shapes in the seemingly formless blobs.

Catching on, Adora came to life. "That right there, is a little boy."

"And he's flying a kite, see!"

"And… a whale."

The rest of the long ride was spent playing this game, and laughing.

Petunia had liked Lily then, held nothing against her. She'd explained to her innocent little sister how Adora's parents were having problems, and Adora had been taking it very hard. She wasn't bored looking out the window, just thinking of their problems.

As Lily was beginning to feel sorry for interrupting the girl's thinking, Petunia went on. It turned out that the cloud game had helped Adora feel much, much better, and taken her mind off of her parents for a while.

"I can't even tell you how much it meant," she said to the tiny girl.

Lily couldn't explain how good she felt about making the girl feel better.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"Well, what about Adora?" So far, it had only hurt her: a memory where Petunia liked her, and her parents were alive.

"That girl was near suicidal, Lily. You just playing that game helped her… stopped her from killing herself. If you were never born, you never could have helped her. She could be dead now, if it weren't for you," James said, sounding shocked that she thought so little of her own actions.

"Fine. That's one reason, but you still have two more to go. And they had better be good, James, or all this will have been a waste and a way to make me even more miserable." Lily certainly sounded imposing and threatening, so James decided to hurry on if he could.

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I did play the cloud game with one of my sister's friends, and made her feel better. I don't know if she would've gone suicidal if I hadn't, but I know it helped.

R&R! Next chapter as soon as I can make it, promise!