All Rights of characters and AU go to JK Rowling :) Queen of everything.
James walked down the corridor with a small smirk on his face. He knew Sirius wouldn't see it coming until it was already too late.
Ha! he thought to himself Serves him right for stealing my last chocolate frog.
"PRONGS!" Sirius yelled from afar.
James ran down the corridor laughing freely. His black hair waving wildly in the wind. The thought of Sirius Black with bright pink hair chasing after him made James grin. Although not completely caught off guard, James was slightly surprised Sirius was willing to leave the dormitory with his hair like that. Padfoot was overly concerned with his hair. James quickly looked over his shoulder before turning the corner, Padfoot was nowhere in sight.
BAM
James fell to the ground with a sudden splitting headache, immediately reaching up to hold his forehead.
"Potter," snarled a familiar voice.
"Snape," James spit back.
"You could try using that minuscule brain of yours to see where you're going, but I suppose it might be too much for you," Snape hissed.
"Sorry," James said begrudgingly. The word tasting bitter on his tongue.
"Sorry?" Snape chuckled, "My, my, my. Aren't we whipped?"
James stood up and watched Snape carefully as he moved to do the same.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sorry," Snape cooed, "Do you really think that if you're nice to me and suddenly have some manners, she'll forgive you? Do you really think she could just forget everything you've done to us?"
"Don't do that," James said, "Don't drag her into this."
"Poor little Potter. So defeated from being rejected by his favorite flower that he can't even bare to have her mentioned in his presence?" Snape smirked.
"Don't talk about her!" James warned. His voice getting low and dangerous.
"Why not? She's not yours is she? Are you dating? Did you finally get that yes you so desperately begged for?" Snape's hand lay gently against his side, but held tight to his wand.
He stared at James, never breaking eye contact. James didn't respond. They paced slowly in a tight circle around the hallway.
"Well are you Potter?" Snape snarled, "Did you get your yes?"
"No," James growled out through his teeth.
James held his wand tightly, but didn't dare raise his arm. He wouldn't be the one to make the first strike.
"So upset?" Snape asked a smirk gracing his pressed lips, "So upset over a worthless-"
"Snape!" James roared.
"Little-"
"I'm warning you," James announced quietly.
"Mudblood?"
"Confringo," James swished his wand.
"Protego," Snape hissed, "Reducto!"
James quickly jumped to the side, the suit of armor behind him shattering to the ground.
"Oppugno," James commanded and the leftover pieces of armor flew towards Snape.
"Impedimenta," Snape yelled.
The pieces of armor stopped mid-air and then fell to the ground in a clamor. Students began to huddle around the circle. James was increasingly aware of the audience.
"Defending mudbloods part of your routine now? I thought you were the one to bully others, Potter," Snape yelled.
"Sectumsempra!" James fueled his anger into one final spell.
Snape jumped out of the way and landed with a large thud onto the cold ground. A flash of red and green flew backwards as the spell hit.
"Stop," Lily yelled.
James and Snape simultaneously whipped their heads towards the damage they had caused. Lily lay on the ground, bleeding from cuts all over her body. Her clothes had random gashes and holes. Her red hair pooled beneath her, floating in her own blood.
"LILY," James cried as he rushed forward diving to his knees.
James knelt by Lily and immediately began putting pressure on her wounds to stop the bleeding. Tears poured from his eyes as he tried desperately to save her. Snape lay cold and pale on the stone floor.
"Mr. Potter," Professor Mcgonagall swooped onto the scene, parting the watching students like the red sea, "Ms. Evans!"
James didn't look up at her. He merely continued to try and wake Lily, who was unconscious against the floor. Professor McGonagall looked at the scene for a moment before quickly whipping out her wand.
"Wingardium Leviosa," She muttered as Lily rose from the ground.
"Let me take her," James said hoarsely while rising with Lily, "Let me take her to the hospital wing."
She looked at him and nodded as he took Lily into his arms. He rushed down the hallway muttering quietly. Professor Mcgonagall and Snape followed.
"You're going to be ok, Lily. You're going to be ok," he repeated over and over.
James kicked the doors to the hospital wing open. Madame Pomfrey came rushing out of her office.
"What is all of this ruckus?" she hollered, "Minerva, what is going on? Ms. Evans! Potter you put her down right here, you hear me?"
She immediately took her wand out and began summoning curtain walls around Lily's bedside. James set Lily down.
"Out! Out!" Madame Pomfrey shooed the boys away.
James' heart stilled. He couldn't leave her. He couldn't leave Lily laying there like that. He wouldn't leave her. McGonagall grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the curtained off section, throwing him down onto the nearest bed. James' eyes couldn't look away.
"I want an immediate explanation. Now," her voice was pure ice.
"We were dueling," Snape started, "James threw that curse at me and I moved and Lily-"
McGonagall stared at the two of them, decidedly. She nodded to herself.
"The Headmaster is out on business. You will follow me and wait within his office for him to return. I will be talking to the head of Slytherin about this and we will come to our conclusion. I hope you two realize the seriousness of your horseplay," She eyed them, "Follow me."
Snape stood and followed Mcgonagall towards the doors, but James didn't move.
"No," he whispered.
McGonagall froze.
"I'm not leaving her," James said with finality in his voice.
"Mr. Potter-"
"Professor you can give me as many detentions as you want and take away my quidditch team. You can expel me! I'm not leaving her," James yelled. His voice and eyes softened as he uttered his next sentence, "I can't leave her."
Snape stood by the door throwing daggers at James with his eyes, but Mcgonagall studied his face. She had witnessed his affection towards the girl over the years. She had seen his ill advised attempts to win her heart and had always suspected a deeper connection fueling it all.
"You may stay with Ms. Evans until Professor Dumbledore arrives. Then, whether or not her condition is stable, you will see the Headmaster," She said before turning around and marching out the door with authority.
Snape slithered out behind her, glancing back at Lily's bed before leaving. Madame Pomfrey's voice could be heard through the curtains, mumbling spells quickly. James felt sick. He couldn't push the image of Lily's red hair drenched in blood from his head. His robes had her blood on them, in them. Her blood was soaked within the molecules of the fabric, clinging to his skin. James was stirred from his thoughts as Madame Pomfrey exited the curtained off area. She looked at him pityingly and began to walk away.
"You can sit with her if you like," She said kindly.
Even Madame Pomfrey knew of the boys affection. His obsession with the girl with the red hair and vibrant green eyes. James slowly walked past the curtains. He had expected to see Lily glaring up at him with harsh words ready to fly off her tongue like poison. She wasn't.
"Why isn't she awake?" James asked suddenly.
Madame Pomfrey stopped walking and turned towards James.
"To be honest, I'm not sure. The spell shouldn't have knocked her unconscious. The injuries were severe, but not that severe. They were well placed for a blood outpouring, though. Give her time. The mind is a tricky thing," she began to walk away before muttering under her breath, "But not as tricky as the heart."
James sat next to the bed silent and still. His hands rested upon his knees, supporting his head. His eyes never left hers. This was the sixth year of chasing after Lily Evans. He smiled briefly as he thought of her bright red pigtail braids in the Great Hall that very first day. He hadn't been able to resist pulling on them. Something in his heart just knew her hair would be soft and he just had to confirm it. What he hadn't expected, was the angry bright green eyes that had captured his own seconds later. He REALLY hadn't expected her hair to suddenly turn that same bright captivating green from his touch. James chuckled darkly to himself. It seems Lily was prone to be the victim of James' accidental magic.
Those angry green eyes would become his constant companion. After embarrassing her in front of everyone on their very first day, James had tried to apologize. But Snivellus had hissed prejudice into her heart before he had even had the chance. James had been furious. A few hours ago James had still been furious, but it didn't matter anymore.
Lily's face was healed. No signs of the horrifying abrasions that had covered her body earlier that day. Poppy was a great healer, one of the best. But even she couldn't explain why Lily hadn't woken up yet. James suddenly hit his fist into his leg as hard as he could, tears welling up in his eyes. It was his fault that she was in that bed. It was his fault that her eyes were closed in such a manner. They were cold, dead looking. James had watched Lily sleep hundreds of times throughout their years at Hogwarts. She often fell asleep with her legs draped over the arms of the sitting chair in the common room. Her head slumped against the back of the chair as if she was still trying to read. No. When Lily Evans slept her eyes were a direct window to her soul. In fact Lily's eyes were always a window to her soul that she couldn't seem to close. He would watch her. Before exams, her eyes would scrunch up in her sleep in concentration. He suspected that dream Lily was studying from the library of knowledge in her head, but he never dared asked her. Not that he hadn't been interested. James wanted to know everything about Lily, but he knew she wasn't as thrilled with the idea as he was. Her eyes would look tired and creased after their fights. This is how he knew she cared much more than she let on. But never, not even after 5th year, had James seen Lily's eyes like they currently sat. Motionless. Dead.
But what did he expect? Lily had lost her best friend only a year before and she had lost both her parents earlier this year. He knew things were rocky with her sister as well. Though he didn't know the intimate details.
Yet, things had been different between Lily and James this year. Sure, she still rejected his proposals to accompany him on a Hogsmead trip. But not with the same fire that she had once had. Until now, James had wondered if he was getting to her. If she was starting to hesitate and actually consider his requests—his pleas. But now, staring at her frail body and dead eyes James wondered if she had very merely been too tired to fight him. Drowning in her own life and James had somehow missed just how deep in she was. He had been too concerned with a "yes". It became an obsession. Not a game, Lily Evans was no game. As his affections towards her grew, so did his desire for her to want him as well.
So that was it. He had officially broken his own heart. He had broken Lily Evans.
"I'm so sorry," James whispered, "Merlin, Lily you just have to wake up. You just have to come back. I know you don't want to. It's the only reason you haven't woken up already. But you have to. Please."
His voice broke as more tears streamed down his face.
"Lily, I promise. I promise if you just wake up I will leave you alone. I won't ask you out anymore. I won't even talk to you unless you start it first. I'll stop following you around. Merlin I'll even change your name from Prongs' Property back to Lily on the map. I swear I'll let you go. I'll let you live and live peacefully and quietly and happily without me."
He grabbed her hands in his hands and kissed them. His tears rubbing off onto her skin.
"I am so sorry. I am so sorry for everything. For fighting with Sni- Snape. For embarrassing you. For loving you. I know you never asked me too, but Merlin I love you. I love you so much it hurts to breathe sometimes. Sometimes when I look at you across the room my heart just stops and when you laugh with your friends I just want it to be me so badly. I just want it to be me you're laughing with. And I'm so sorry that I have put that above your wants. I'm sorry I valued my wishes over yours. But I love you Lily and you have to wake up. I won't be able to live. Lily if you –"
He tightened his grip on her hands as another sob broke through his body.
"If you don't wake up, I don't want to be awake. I can't be here without you. Just wake up. Just live and be happy and be safe and it will be enough. I promise I'll leave you alone."
James sat holding her hands against his forehead and breathing in her scent. Memorizing it. No matter what, he knew he would have to let her go. Even if she opened her eyes, he would have to let her go.
"Potter," Professor Mcgonagall appeared by the curtains suddenly, "we have allowed you to stay here with her while the Headmaster was away. He has arrived now and has requested your presence. Come with me."
James nodded as he stood, still holding onto her hands. He leaned over and gently pressed his lips to her forehead and whispered as quietly as he could.
"I love you, goodbye."