Until My Dying Day

A Fan Fiction Based on JK Rowling's Original Work, the Harry Potter series.

By: BrittanyRose

Legal Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything affiliated with Harry Potter. This is a work of fiction, which is not created by me, but embellished by me. Any and all names, places, and/or incidents that appear in this fanfiction are a figment of either my or of J.K. Rowling's (infinite) imagination, and are purely coincidental to any and all names, places, and/or incidents that may have occurred in real life. In addition, although I do not own Harry Potter, or any of its affiliations, I do own this story idea. Therefore if it is to be copied for personal use or/and posted somewhere other than please ask my permission. Please understand that I will not hesitate to contact a lawyer.

Author's notes: This is my first Harry Potter Fanfiction, and I hope to do well. Because of a new rule, I cannot reply to your reviews, but I will dedicate chapters to helpful reviewers. If you want a reply, be sure to include an email addy with your review.

Some dialect borrowed from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, pgs. 647 – 649, for this chapter. Thanks Mrs. Rowling!

Okay, this fanfiction begins and continues from Book 5 in the chapter 'Snape's Worst Memory'. I hope you all like it. There is also an original character, who will be playing a major part in the development of the story.

As Always, Read, Review and Enjoy!

Prologue:

Corrupt Foundations

Splash.

A giant tentacle zoomed through the air and crashed onto the otherwise calm face of the lake, splashing several students, including three girls sitting in the shade of a beech tree.

While enjoying a rather beautiful afternoon, Lily Evans breathed a sigh of relief. The sun was shining, and the only clouds in the sky seemed to be there because someone wanted a bit of relief from the sun. The day could not have been more perfect, especially since she had just finished her Defense Against The Dark Arts O.W.L and hadn't another of these grueling tests for the rest of the day. She was pleased to discover this particular test, which she had been dreading for days, turned out to be much easier than she had anticipated.

Lily threw her body backwards onto the soft grass and lay there, looking at the underside of the makeshift umbrella the foliage of the giant Beech Tree provided for her and her two best friends. She closed her deep emerald eyes and fanned out her long auburn hair, yawning as tiny rays of sunlight crept in between the leaves of the tree and tickled her face.

"…So then he says 'So Alice, you think you could talk to her?' and I'm looking at him, like, 'What makes you think I'll want to ask Lily anything for you?' and you'll never believe what he said to me! He told me that if I talked to Lily for him he'd ask Frank Longbottom to take me to Hogsmede… Like I even like Frank! I mean, what gives him that idea…"

"Alice, Alice! Hold on, I think Lily has a concussion or something", said Lily's best friend, Charity Miller.

Alice Frankton, the other of Lily's partners in crime, raised an eyebrow at Charity, who had, in her opinion, sounded suspiciously as though she was trying to avoid the subject Alice had just brought up, before looking at Lily.

"Lils", Alice said, giggling, "You're drooling. Perhaps you should go fetch a bib?"

Lily looked around startled, as if just noticing there were other people besides her on the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, before her eyes settled on Charity.

Charity was a very extroverted, outspoken person. She had a flair for drama that was often the source of much entertainment in the Gryffindor common room, the Great Hall, in class, in the dormitories, and – well, any time really.

The two of them had been best friends ever since the first time Lily had seen the Hogwarts Express. She and Charity had met one another that first day, and had become best friends almost instantly. Charity was a muggle born, like Lily, who had thought Hogwarts was some kind of joke, also like Lily. They shared an eagerness to discover everything they could about this whole new world. Because of this, they were known as the two smartest girls in their year. Lily outshined Charity Potion, while Charity had a flair for Defense Against the Dark Arts Lily never mastered.

Charity was full of school spirit. She was a Prefect and was the unanimously voted the commentator for the Interhouse Quidditch Cup, while Lily had never taken much of an interest in the wizard sport, simply because James Potter loved it so.

Charity and Lily also differed in temperament. Charity was quick to anger, but was also able to forgive and apologize as fast as she had gotten mad in the first place. Although she tended to let her mouth get carried away with her, Lily knew that Charity was the most loving person she'd ever met.

Lily, on the other hand, rarely got angry… Except at one person…

Charity was one of those girls who couldn't look bad, no matter what, even if they shaved their heads. She had long, wavy blonde hair that reached the bottom of her shoulder blades and big, round, green eyes. She was very pale, not unlike a porcelain doll. Her lips were permanently swollen, as though she had always just gotten done snogging someone. Lily had found herself on many occasions staring at her wondering how she could get her lips to look like that, until once James Potter had made a comment about the two girls being more than friends. Charity and Lily hexed him at the same time on this occasion.

Charity was also at least half a head shorter than Lily, and yet, somehow, Charity had always managed to eat at least twice as much. It was, Lily believed, a miracle of nature that not only was Charity thin, but also absolutely, voluptuously, perfect.

Another peel of giggles suddenly woke Lily up from her reverie. This time it was Charity laughing at her. Alice was trying to hold of on making fun of Lily, no doubt trying to avoid hurting her feelings.

She was such a nice person. If anything could be said negatively about Alice, it may have been that she was too nice – so nice, sometimes, that people tended to walk all over her. Of course, that had only happened BEFORE Charity and Lily had become her friends. Now people walked on thin ice around Alice so as not to invoke the wrath of her roommates.

Alice was also a wonderful gossip. Not the kind who hurt people on purpose, but the kind who gets every last detail down exactly as it happened. She was sometimes better informed than the teachers of the goings-on at the castle.

She was a very pretty girl with a very round face. She had kind blue eyes that were accentuated by a spattering of freckles across her nose. Alice's hair was brown and straight and shoulder length. She was not as short as Charity, but not as tall as Lily.

Taking a closer look at her, Lily thought she looked like a hundred other girls at Hogwarts. She was average in a lot of ways, honestly… But, Lily thought, she's a damn good friend.

Charity suddenly laughed. "Lily, you're doing it again already."

Lily's eyes focused on Charity's face for a moment. "Oh man, I'm sorry you guys. I'm just so tired from staying up so late."

Charity smirked. "I knew the Defense O.W.L was going to be a snap, didn't I? And I hate to say it, Lils, but – "

"Well then don't", Lily snapped, not being able to bear hearing 'I told you so' from Charity again.

Charity did not, however, look even slightly abashed at this tone in Lily's voice, but rather amused. Staring at the two of them, Lily found that she could not scowl while her two best friends were both teetering on the edge of laughter. She smiled.

"That's better", Charity said, "Now", she said, as though she were a teacher moving on to another part of the lesson, "you can listen to what Alice was saying about Potter."

Lily's face suddenly contorted to an expression of utmost contempt.

Potter.

She looked at Alice slowly, trying to soften her eyes. She didn't want Alice to think she was angry with her – that wasn't the case at all. But, she wanted there to be no misunderstanding, none at all, that the subject of James Potter was one that excited nothing in her except pure disgust.

"Well", Alice started slowly, blue eyes full of apprehension, "I was just saying how James had tried to bribe me to talk to you for him. That he thought I'd be able to make you be nice to him or something if he told me he'd talk me up to – get this – Frank Longbottom! Can you believe it! Who in their right mind… but anyways, he really wants you to go out with him, Lils. Why else would one of them talk to me? I just couldn't believe he actually threatened to curse someone who was standing nearby because he thought they were listening in! He means business, Lily."

Charity spared Lily the task of speaking. "I guess he thinks if he stops harassing Lily and starts harassing one of her friends about her, that she may consider him or something."

Lily looked at Charity in shock. She'd never before heard this tiny blonde miss a reason to abuse James Potter. Lily was just about to voice this when Charity spoke again.

"To sum it up," she said, thoughtfully, "He's a total git." Lily and Alice laughed.

"I mean", she continued, "What kind of morons are those guys? James is a total jerk and Sirius abuses that pipsqueak Pettigrew as if it were his life's mission. The Remus lets the two of the run amok around here… I'm thinking the four of them are secretly in love with one another or something. James and Sirius both have girls flocking about them -"

"Sirius hasn't had a girlfriend for almost a year now, though", Alice said knowingly. "He stopped dating as much when he and Amelia broke it off, remember? It just seems like they date a lot."

"Yeah", Lily said venomously, "It seems that way because all those first and second years stalk them. And they LIKE it!"

Charity shuddered. "Last week that punk, Black, hexed me in Potions so that my robes started to ride up my legs. It took my forever to figure out why they kept creeping up, but there Sirius was, staring at my legs. When he caught me glaring at him, I think he wet himself."

The three of them sat there for a good five minutes abusing the Marauders, as they called themselves, when Charity Looked over Lily's shoulder and mumbled something that sounded like 'jackass', before throwing her head back and shaking out her hair, a sure sign of annoyance. Lily and Alice both looked in the direction Charity had just turned from to see the very morons they had just been discussing.

James, Sirius, and Remus were walking in their direction, Peter following at a trot, They, or at least Sirius and James, were doing a mighty good job being loud and obnoxious so that no one could ignore them. Lily glanced at Charity, whose eyes were following Sirius maliciously, as if deciding what would be the best Hex to use on him. Alice, however, was trying to carry on normal conversation. Lily suddenly heard her saying something about a Hufflepuff boy.

"..think he likes me or something? Why else would James try and use him to bribe me with? Alice trailed off, blushing. The other two girls, who, apparently, had both tuned in at the same time, shared a knowing look.

Lily and Charity knew Alice had long held a soft spot for Frank Longbottom, a kind, and shy Hufflepuff boy. Neither of them were going to push Alice into admitting it until she was ready, though.

Lily was just about to comfort Alice by saying it must've been a coincidence, but them she had a thought: How had James known? Alice was nothing if not careful to disguise her feelings about Frank, Lily was sure James must have been either stalking or some form of illegal magic on Alice to learn of this. Her mind was churning with possible explanations…

But just then Lily was distracted from making wild connections between Potter and Divination by a poke in the arm from Charity, who looked as though she were on the verge of bashing someone's head in with a broomstick.

Lily quickly found the source of the commotion: James Potter had just made Serveus Snape's mouth fill up with pink foam. This would have been very comical if it had not looked as though Snape were going to die of suffocation. Horrified, Lily saw that Sirius was rolling on the ground laughing at the sight. She began to feel as though she was going to throw up. Then, she noticed it - James was making it a point to look back in her direction.

He's doing this to make me look at him! She thought angrily

"Where the hell is Remus! He's a Prefect, he should know better! I'm going to go over there and kill them all!" Charity screamed.

Alice was making noises; she was obviously terrified she'd see someone be badly hurt. Lily looked at James, and all of a sudden she knew that Charity would never get him to stop, that he'd probably hex her too. He wanted Lily's attention, and he was going to get it.

"No", Lily said, placing a hand on Charity's arm, "I'm going to get Potter once and for all. You see him over there looking this way? He's doing this to get my attention. I'm gonna show him attention alright…"

Charity sized her up for a minute and then sat back down, looking away, as if there wasn't anything going on at all. Lily took this for what it was worth and marched towards James, boring holes in him with her eyes. By this time, the pink foam had disappeared, but Snape was lying on the ground, apparently Impedimented.

"Leave him ALONE!", Lily shouted.

Both James and Sirius looked around at her.

"All right Evans?" James said in a tone that indicated he was not going to acknowledge the fact he was torturing someone.

"Leave him alone" Lily said again, this time, quieter and far more deadly, "What's he done to you?"

James surveyed her, as if debating over whether or not to try and impress her with his wit.

"Well," he said, "its more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean…"

Everyone in earshot laughed at this – everyone, that is, except Lily, Remus and Charity, who was still staring intently at Sirius as one would stare at a bug they were intending to stomp on.

Lily was not amused at all – much to the contrary actually, she was infuriated.

"You think you're funny, but you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him alone."

James, never missing a beat, replied, "I will if you go out with me, Evans. Go on… Go out with me, and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again."

She couldn't believe the nerve he had.

"I wouldn't go out with you," she said, "if it was a choice between you and the giant squid."

Sirius picked this moment to chime in.

"Bad luck, Prongs", he said. Suddenly his ears perked up and he turned quickly back to Snape: however, it was too late. Snape had somehow reached his wand.

"Oy!" Sirius yelled out at Snape, but it was too late. In their distraction talking to Lily, James and Sirius failed to notice that the curse he had placed on Snape had worn off. In a split second Snape sent a silent spell towards James. A bleeding gash appeared on the side of his face. James howled with rage as he sent a second jet of light back towards his attacker.

Suddenly, Snape was the one howling with rage. Unfortunately, no one could see his expression.

This was because he was hanging upside down by his ankles in thin air, revealing the skinniest, palest legs Lily had ever seen. But what was catching most people's attention was the fact that Snape had preferred not to wear any pants under his robes – the only thing he had chosen to cover his southern extremities was a pair of underpants Lily was sure hadn't been washed in at least a fortnight.

Lily felt the urge to laugh until she remembered that James and Sirius were torturing Snape for no reason.

"Let him down!" she hissed.

James looked at her. "Certainly", he said as he jerked his wand upward. Snape hit the ground hard, but recovered quickly drawing his wand. Sirius, however, was ready for him this time.

"Locomotor Mortis!" He said, laughing gruffly as Snape's body stiffened and fell backwards with a sickening clunk.

Lily was now horrified that they could pick on someone so defenseless. She was fiercely reminded of the stories she had been told of Death Eaters torturing small children just for laughs. This was enough.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" she screamed, her own wand now brandished.

James had to take a second look at Lily when he realized she was holding her wand towards him.

"Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you," he said, with a look in his eyes that suggested sympathy.

She found this slightly unnerving but refused to be deterred. "Take the curse off him then."

James looked at Lily, fighting off the inclination to leave Snape there underneath his invisibility cloak for a few days. Then he simply shrugged. He muttered the counter-curse.

"There you go. You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus - "

Snape cut him off, looking mutinous – but not at James.

"I don't need help from a filthy little mudblood like her!" he spat.

Lily drew her shoulders back. She felt as though she had been slapped.

"Fine", she said coolly, "I won't bother in the future." She turned to walk away, but stopped after a moment and turned back to Snape once more.

"Oh, and I'd wash my panties if I were you, Snivellus."

As Lily stalked off to meet Charity, who was now hurrying towards her, James Potter had reached a whole new plateau of Pissed Off.

"Apologize to Evans!" he roared at Snape, wand up.

Lily rounded on James again. "I don't want you to make him apologize!" she screamed, deep auburn hair now flying wildly around her face, almond shaped eyes bulging, "You're just as bad as he is!"

"What!" James yelped, as though burned, "I'd NEVER call you a… a – you-know-what!" He was about to say, I'd never want to call you anything except my girlfriend, but unfortunately, Lily couldn't hold back any longer. She was going to let him have it now. This particular segue was far too perfect to pass up.

A sadistic smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she spoke in that lethal voice she saved for those rare occasions in which she could really tear into James Potter.

"Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing of with that stupid Snitch, walking around corridors hexing people just because you can – I'm surprised your broomstick can get off of the ground with that fat head of yours on it! You make me SICK!"

She stood there for a moment, out of breath for screaming before turning on her heel and stalking back to the beech tree Alice was still sitting beneath. Charity was now walking past where Lily had been standing not two seconds before, when James suddenly yelled out "Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?"

Snape was once more hanging upside down, robes over his head, but Lily didn't care so much anymore. She was too angry with James to even look at him – That is until she heard Charity Hex James and Sirius both with the Leg Lock Curse. Snape was instantly dropped back onto his head with another sickening crunch. Charity looked at Snape, who was scrambling to get to his feet, and sent a particularly violent curse towards him that made slugs pour out of his mouth. Alice and Lily laughed so hard they felt they would cry.

The scene playing out in front of them soon distracted Lily. Sirius and James were trying to figure out where their wands had gone to and Remus was arguing with Charity that he had been too engrossed in his book to notice the commotion, honest, he was. Charity finally gave him a one-fingered signal that indicated the conversation was over for good, and he stalked off. She then regarded Sirius, who was cursing fluently by now. Lily however was more worried about James. His face had become rather pale, although she assumed it was from the bleeding gash on his cheek and not because he had just, once again, had his dreams of romance thwarted by the only girl he ever cared for.

Alice was trying to not to catch the eye of Frank Longbottom, who was staring at her hard. She suddenly got to her feet and muttered something about going to sit with Remus and Peter. As Alice hurried off and sat down with the least arrogant of the four marauders, Remus looked over to Lily and gave a sad wave that suggested he was sorry for what had just happened. Lily knew that Remus had no control over the two of them, and she pitied him. He got very ill regularly and all he had for company was Potter, Black, and Pettigrew, who was now staring hopefully at Alice, like she were a candy bar he hoped to taste.

Lily shuddered. She turned her eyes back to James who was now staring silently at her. His look was peculiar, to say the least. She felt as if she were to divert her eyes from his that something bad would happen to all the puppies in the world.

The noise level outside had returned to normal as everyone was now going back to their own conversations, although some were still casting furtive glances at James and Sirius, the latter of the pair was still on the ground screaming in indignant rage at Charity for taking away 30 points from her own house, and the former of the two was still silently struggling to hold himself up, apparently forgotten by Charity, who had placed him there.

Lily stood up and walked over to Charity. "Hey," she whispered, "Potter looks ill. Should I take him to Madame Pomfrey?"

Charity threw a contemptuous look over James. "I guess so, but I'm keeping Black down here until curfew or until he apologizes… So I guess I'll see you at curfew, okay?" She rummaged through her pocket, which contained two wands other than her own which was in her hand. She pulled one out and handed it to Lily.

"Oh, and here's Potter's wand. Give it to him if you want."

Charity then took out the second wand from her pocket, Sirius's wand, and began taunting him with it.

Lily could not help but laugh at the sight of Sirius's usually handsome face red-tinged and contorted with animal rage.

She looked at James for a moment. He had yet to take his eyes off of her. There was something about the look on his face that made Lily sure she had missed something about him before. She finally kneeled down and handed him his wand.

"We're going. Take this… But if you try and hex me," she said, still holding onto one end of his wand while he had the other, "I'll make you sorely regret it, do you understand me?"

He regarded her for a moment, deciding whether or not she could truly make him regret anything. He decided that, yes, she looked capable of murder right now, so she'd certainly be able to 'make him regret it'.

"Okay, Evans" he said, defeated, "Where to?"

"Hospital Wing. You're face is awfully pale."

Oh great, he thought, exactly how I wanted to spend my first moments alone with Lily Evans. Looking pale and sick.

"Okay."

"Okay", she said.

They stood there looking at each other in silence for awhile before they heard Sirius, who apparently just noticed he was the only one with a curse still binding his legs together, yell, "Why in bloody Hell does Prongs get to go and I'm stuck with you, you raving maniac?"

Lily giggled as Charity calmly flicked her wand and sent Sirius flying about five feet into the air before landing on the hard ground with a thud.

"Bloody hell… you battleaxe!", he groaned.

As they began to walk off, laughing, Lily and James heard Charity click her tongue at Sirius.

"Next time", she said maliciously, "it'll be ten feet. If I were you, I'd shut up with the name calling, Padfoot."

James stopped laughing ad a look of reminisces crept onto his features. He smiled.

"What?" Lily asked.

James looked at her. "Sirius is going to marry her one day. He doesn't realize how much he's in love with that girl."

Lily laughed in disbelief. " Oh? How do you know?"

He stopped walking and looked at her seriously. "Because. I've been there. One day he's going to wake up and realize that everything mean and nasty he's ever said or done to her was just so she'd know he existed. He'll understand that his whole reason for being alive is to be with her, because he'll never feel fulfilled until she accepts him. He'll spend the rest of his life chasing her because he knows she belongs to him, and he won't stop until she loves him back" he said, stepping closer to Lily, "But… even if she doesn't ever love him back, he'll never give up. Not until his dying day."

Lily's heart was trapped in her throat, her mouth was dry, and her fingers were numb. She didn't know what was happening to her brain. James Potter was within six inches of her face and she wasn't screaming or trying to hex him. Suddenly, she felt the need to speak.

"Oh? He'll never give up? I have a question, Potter. You know, if you really think all that, then why, do you think, he wouldn't just approach her respectably, honestly, and earnestly and tell her how he feels? Why couldn't he make her feel that it was her choice instead of 'Give in to me or I'll never let you go? Huh? Why can't he just be normal instead of following her around forever!'"

James smiled the saddest smile Lily had ever seen. "Because he built a corrupt foundation."

She raised her eyebrows. "What?"

James looked up. "In the muggle world, when you build a house, you have to lay a foundation for it. All your plans for building and growing are based on it. When the foundation is uneven, or corrupt, you need something more than your plans. You need more than the traditional framework for it to work.

"Sirius is going to have to show her he's not the same anymore, and that even though their foundation is rocky, that they can grow together and build a life together... He has to show her that they can be happy, not just explain how its possible. He just… has to show her."

He looked down at his feet as another trickle of blood sped across his cheek. Lily reached out to wipe it away and he caught her hand. "I'm sorry for saying I'd hex you… I'd never hex you, Evans."

Lily wanted to pull her hand away, but couldn't just now. James looked so vulnerable.

"I know that", she said, "Thanks, though… for the apology, I mean…And, also… Thanks for standing up for me when Snape called me a.. a 'mudblood'."

James looked up angrily. "Don't say that damn word."

Lily nodded, surprised at his vehemence. "Okay… well…", she stuttered, "Ummm, I guess Madame Pomfrey awaits."

"Yeah, I suppose so." He looked at Lily and let go of her hand. The stood there for a moment, outside the doors to the Entrance Hall, looking at anything but the other person.

"You know what Evans?" James said suddenly, opening the great doors before them, "I can go by myself, I know you don't want to be near me."

He turned to walk up the stairs in the front hall without a backwards glance, His tone suggested that he didn't care whether or not she went, but his shoulders had a definite roundedness to them, and his usual strut was now more of a shuffling.

Lily felt stung. Isn't this what I want, though?, she thought, For James to leave me alone once and for all? Then why do I feel so hurt that he thinks I don't want to be around him? I don't… Do I?

Lily stood in the entrance hall looking after him. Could James Potter actually be maturing? Or maybe she just hadn't looked close enough before. Something was off, there must be… Otherwise why would I be feeling this way watching him go?

"OY! James!" Lily yelled.

He turned, eyebrows raised. "Yeah?"

Lily ran up the stairs towards him.

When she got there, she smiled at him, took out her handkerchief and dabbed as much of the blood off his cheek as she could. She did this slowly, looking into his eyes. He had beautiful hazel eyes.

When she was satisfied she had gotten all of the blood she could get off of him, she said, "I want to go with you."

He observed her, as though waiting for the punch line. When it didn't come he smiled, a genuine smile, at her and said "Great. Oh, watch this step, it disappears."

"I knew that… but thanks anyways."

"Hey Evans?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I call you 'Lily'?"

She smiled. "As long as you leave Alice Frankton alone about me."

He smiled at her and nodded. "Sorry."

"…Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you go out with me?"

Lily laughed. "No, James."

"Okay", he said, "rain check. Got it."

She glared at him, but saw he was smiling and left it alone.

"…Lily?"

She stopped. "WHAT!" She demanded, laughing.

He turned to her and smiled. "One day…You'll see… One day…"

She looked at him as though she'd never plainly seen him before. What was it about him that was making her feel so warm?

"Now, to Madame Pomfrey's!" He yelled out, imitating Sir Cadogen, and holding out his arm for Lily.

She punched his arm and starting walking. "To Madame Pomfrey's. We've got a ways to go."

James looked at Lily, unknown to her, and smiled. Yes, we've got a long ways to go, he thought, a very long ways to go… but I can't wait to get there, Lily. I can't wait.

There you guys go! I hope you liked this prologue, though I'm not sure where I'm going from here. I may skip to their seventh year. Idk yet! lol, anyways, Review for me, okay? I'll get back to you guys somehow! Thanks so much!

BrittanyRose

PS: If you guy get an email from someone from talking about a new rule, open it and sign the petition so authors can reply to their reviews again, please? Thanks guys!