Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the other characters that are in the Harry Potter books. J. K. Rowling does, like everyone already knows.
Author's Note: Thanks to LeslieGlady, pale pink roses, lOvEiNhEaVeN, Onawhim, PammaPotter, sassafras, Black's Gurl, Obbsesive, Marshmallow, Princess-Unicorn-Kyla, ilovecaptainjacks, lizziee, damned for eternity, dee, Desolation Lily, Serena, Kristanna, oceanjewel, KLLRS, and miss-mags-ak for reviewing the old version of Love Affair!
Thanks to i-LuV-cHaRmEd18, mugglemagician, dracomalfoysdragon, charspleenie, drumer girl, marrokinhas, Daisfunk, Faith Forever in Harry, Fairy-GYAKUTENNO-MEGAMI, blaiselover, Harry and Ginny 4eva, iris2489, me, Flame Of Desire, julies07, kkroonie, Miss Myrtle360, babi-gurl8907, wh00t, hprules, sugur-huny-bun, bratski, Juicilyn, x0x-Mystique-x0x, Idancer, BlueJeanMistress, sunlitmist, patsfan1254, onedaythen, theoneandonly, Chelles, always-blond, snazzysnez, On3-ShoT, cUTeLuChIa-PiNkpEaRl-mErMaId, Fiery Flower, pecanpie, Sue, and piratequeen24 for reviewing! I've officially decided that you guys are the best people in the entire world (actually, I decided that a long time ago, but whatever!) You all are truly amazing, and thank you times 100 for reviewing!
Daisfunk: First of all, I'm glad that you've liked what you've read so far! And second of all, Dumbledore didn't know about the information that Harry Pryce was talking about, or the conclusion that James made from it. And as for why Harry didn't say something about it sooner, well, I'm afraid I can't answer that question yet. But it will definitely be in either the next chapter or the one after that! Thanks again for reviewing!
Miss Myrtle360, sunlitmist, & patsfan1254: You all mentioned a very accurate point that Lily was in the Order too, and I just wanted to let you know that I'm know that! I decided to have James be in it first, and then Lily joins a little bit after he does. Props to you all for recognizing that though, I guess I should have mentioned that in an author's note! And once again, thanks for reviewing!
Lily glanced around her apartment, nothing was out of the ordinary, as she expected. It felt odd though, why, she didn't know. But it did. She couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right about the place she had lived for the past couple years.
Maybe it was just the first time in a very long time that she was home alone. Carina was off at work, running crazy errands that her new boss sent her out on. And James was at that meeting he told her about, The Order of the Phoenix.
She let out a sigh, shaking that weird feeling off. She then made a cup of tea and grabbed a book. It had been such a long time since she curled up with a good book in front of the fireplace, so she decided now would be as good a time as any to start up that hobby of hers.
Before opening her book though, Lily took another glance around the room. She saw nothing once more, but still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, something was very wrong.
Maybe she was just paranoid, yes, that's what it was, she was just paranoid. It was dark outside and she was all alone. There was nothing to be afraid of. Absolutely nothing.
Until of course she heard a noise, footsteps perhaps. Her heart was speeding up, and she clutched the book tightly. Maybe it was just Carina. Maybe Carina was playing some sort of joke on her. Yes, that must be it.
"Carina, joke's up, I know you're there," Lily called from her spot on the couch.
She listened for Carina's reply, but it never came. Lily's heart sped up another notch.
"Carina, I'm not kidding, come out here, you're not funny," she said, trying to sound confident.
Once again she heard no response from her best friend. Lily sighed, and then figured that she was just being silly. There was no one in the apartment, she was alone. She had just imagined the footsteps. They weren't actually there.
But then she heard them once more. Her eyes went wide. She definitely wasn't imagining footsteps. This was real.
"Who, who's there?" she called out, still grasping her book tightly.
"Hello," came a voice from behind her.
Lily snapped her head around and looked the intruder straight in the eye. The intruder's blue eyes didn't move at all, only stared right at Lily. They weren't soft and understanding like they were in the pictures that Lily had seen. Instead, they were fierce, dangerous, and most of all, disturbed.
"Emmy," Lily slowly said.
"Lily Evans," Emmy replied, her voice was nothing short of confident.
"Can, can I help you?" she asked, hoping that her voice sounded as certain as the woman standing in front of her did.
"Can you help me?" Emmy repeated, laughing off the feeble attempt at conversation.
Lily took a deep breath in, and then let it flow out of her mouth. She could do this; she could have a conversation with James's ex-girlfriend without it going too bad. "You, you scared me for a second there." Although scared wasn't the only appropriate word for how Lily felt. True, she was scared, but she was also nervous and intrigued.
Why was Emmy in her apartment? Why didn't she knock at the door? Why was she acting so odd?
"Did I?" she asked, sounding amused.
"Um, yes," Lily replied, not knowing what else to say.
The look in Emmy's eye was frightening. The way she walked showed both confidence and danger. The way she spoke sent chills down Lily's spine. Her personality turned an entire 360 degrees from the one time that Lily had previously met her. She wasn't happy or cheery, she wasn't talkative. Instead, she was fearsome.
Lily didn't like the situation at all. She needed to get away from the brown haired woman that stood in front of her. She needed desperately to get away. From the corner of her eye she glanced around for her wand, anything to protect her. She didn't see it though. Where could it be? Then she remembered, it was in the kitchen. She left it in there when she made her cup of tea.
"Would, would you like some tea?" Lily asked, backing toward the kitchen, not daring to take her eyes off of Emmy Sellick. She would use any excuse to get her wand.
"No," Emmy answered, she didn't sound amused any more, but impatient instead.
Lily stopped dead in her tracks; she needed to get into the kitchen. She needed her wand, now more than ever. "Well, I think I'll have one." She ignored the cup sitting on the coffee table and backed all the way into the kitchen.
Unfortunately, Emmy followed her. She kept her eyes locked on every one of Lily's movements. She was determined not to let Lily slip out of her view for one second.
Lily scanned the countertops, but still didn't see her wand. She could feel her heart beating faster and faster as each second went by. She could sense beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She could feel her stomach squirm with anxiety.
"Looking for something?" Emmy asked.
Lily turned around to see a smug look on Emmy's face. She was swinging Lily's wand in her hand, dangling it like a toy for a dog.
"Give me my wand," she demanded, trying her hardest to sound strong.
"I don't think so," Emmy answered, the amused look was once again present on her narrow face.
"Please, give me wand," Lily said once more, although this time she knew that she didn't sound strong.
"Not until you've learned your lesson," Emmy informed her.
"Lesson?" Lily asked. She now sounded nervous, and Emmy could sense it.
"It's rude to steal men from others, and even worse to cheat," she told her. Her eyes were now torn apart from Lily, and she let them slide from side to side as she watched the wand dangle in front of her.
Lily didn't know how to respond to that. So she kept her mouth shut.
Emmy then whipped the wand in front of her, aiming it at Lily's heart, "Flarano!"
With that said, Lily was toppled from her spot and thrown against the wall. Her petite body then fell to the hard, cold floor. She felt her head begin to ache; the impact was too much for her. Her back was sore, and Lily was positive that one of her arms was sprained.
Emmy walked toward Lily, her wand pointing at her the whole time, as if to say, '"Just try me.'"
Lily let out a small groan, but knew that she needed to do something. She needed to get up from the floor and take the pain. But as she attempted to stand up, Emmy yelled the curse once more and Lily was thrown back against the wall once more.
She had to fight back the urge to cry, she wouldn't let Emmy see tears, that's exactly what she wanted. She wasn't about to fall apart, she wasn't about to back down. She had enough common sense though, so know that if she stood up once more, Emmy wouldn't fail to send another curse in her direction.
Instead, she gathered up all her strength and asked, "Why are you doing this to me?"
Emmy screwed up her face slightly before softening her dark look. "Why? Because James deserves better than you. He doesn't need someone who cheats, someone who lies. He doesn't need anyone, but me. And I'm not about to let you destroy him."
"Destroy? What are you talking about?" Lily asked. She was truly confused.
"You could never give him what he needs," Emmy answered, ignoring Lily's pleading eyes.
Lily could clearly see her chest rising and lowering at each breath she took. Her heart was still beating fast, and she had all the signs of fear in her eyes. But even through the fear, she was still curious. Curious as to what exactly Emmy was talking about, curious to know what was going to happen to her.
"Emmy, please, just put down the wand," she said.
"And why would I do that?" Emmy mockingly asked, and then said, "I'm not going to let you take James Potter away from me. I'm not going to let you get in the way of our happiness."
"Emmy," Lily said once more, she was practically begging.
Emmy pointed the wand directly at her victim once more. Her eyes were narrowed and concentrated. "Don't think that you can win, nobody has."
That comment sparked a thought in Lily's mind. She remembered hiding in James's closet as Emmy came in and told James that his partner, Sam, was murdered. She could clearly see the conversation on her mind. There was no Death Eater sign above the house. The ministry guessed that there was no time for one. They never suspected that it could have been anyone. Anyone could have killed Sam and her sister. It wasn't necessarily a Death Eater, and Lily knew for a fact that it wasn't a Death Eater attack.
"You, you killed her," Lily stated, her heart beating faster than it had been before.
"Of course I did," Emmy replied.
"Why?"
"He told me his partner's name was Sam; I didn't realize that Sam was short for Samantha," Emmy began, "He spent a lot of time at work, a lot of time with his partner. Too much time. He probably saw her more than he did me, and I was his girlfriend. I couldn't let that happen, there was no way she was going to separate the time that James and I should have been sharing together. I wasn't going to let her take him away from me."
"And, and her sister?" Lily asked, her heart was now racing as fast as a racecar.
"I wasn't about to have any witnesses, I'm not an idiot," She answered.
Lily glanced nervously around the room. There was no way out of this. She was going to die; Emmy Sellick was going to murder her. And for what, a guy? She mentally slapped herself, he wasn't just any guy. This was James she was talking about, the man that she loved.
She had to get out of this situation. She wasn't about to give up without a fight. She wasn't going to let Emmy win this. She wasn't going to let James be in the presence of the woman standing in front of her. She wasn't going to let the man of her dreams live without her. Lily was going to find a way of this, or die trying.
"Emmy, please don't do this," she whispered, praying that this small act would somehow work.
"Oh, and why not?" Emmy asked, amusement flooded her eyes once more, "No one is ever going to know what happens tonight, and James will be mine once again."
"They'll trace the wand," Lily said, trying to distract the murderer in front of her.
"It's your wand," she replied, knowing that she thought this plan through thoroughly. No one would ever expect her to be the murderer.
"Shit," Lily silently said. She needed something, anything to distract her. Then she thought of it, the one subject that Emmy was touchy about, "James will never love you."
Emmy's face hardened, her eyes narrowed until they were barely slits. "He will love me."
"Even if you do kill me, do you honestly think that he'll come running to you?" Lily asked. She sounded confident in her answer, an answer that matched reality perfectly.
"Why wouldn't he love me?" Emmy asked, she was both curious and angry. But as everyone knows, curiosity killed the cat, and she couldn't stand not knowing.
"You can't change the way he feels, the heart works on its own. You can't make him love you; you can't get rid of me just to make him love you. If you do, you'll only make him miserable," Lily said, once more sounding braver than she actually felt.
"He's happy with me," Emmy angrily said, sourness filling the air.
"Is he?" Lily asked, prodding questions at Emmy, the only way she knew how to stop those two words that equaled immediate death.
"Of course," Emmy snapped.
"If he was so happy with you, then why'd he leave you?" Lily questioned. She knew that she was pushing the limit, but she didn't care. This may just be the only way to avoid death. If she could just convince Emmy that James's happiness was worth more to her than being with him, then Lily would get away.
However, Lily's plan backfired. Emmy's nostrils flared out in anger, fire was burning in her eyes. "Flarano!" Emmy hollered.
A second later, Lily was once again slammed into the wall and shattered down to the floor. She felt her head pound against the cold surface. She propped her head up long enough to see a small pond of blood on the floor, staining to white tiles red.
She looked up at Emmy, staring her right on the eye. Although she was in pain, more physical pain than she ever experienced before, she wasn't giving up. She wasn't backing down quite yet, she wasn't going to let Emmy win yet. No, she wasn't giving up without a fight.
"He never loved you," Lily bravely said, wiping away the mixture of blood and sweat that trickled into the corner of her mouth.
This only enraged Emmy even more. "Flarano!" Emmy screamed once more. She wanted Lily to suffer. She wanted the woman who tried to steal James away from her to suffer from every word she spoke. She wanted Lily Evans to beg her to speak the words that would kill her instantly. She wanted to hear Lily Evans begging for mercy.
Lily felt her entire body being rocketed from one end of the room to the other. She felt a smack on her back and heard the sound of glass breaking, several pieces being shattered into her flesh. She then collapsed into a heap on the floor, the remaining mirror pieces falling on top of her, puncturing into her pale skin.
Her entire body ached, her head, her back, her arms and legs. Everything. She felt as of every bone in her body had been broken, shattered beneath her delicate skin. She sensed that blood was flowing out of her body and staining the floor below her. She could feel every ounce of her energy release as she hit the floor, every struggling part of her gave up.
The only thing left for her to do was cry, and she did. Her salty tears ran down her face, dripping down to the floor, mixing with the beads of blood that fell from her face and neck. She didn't have the energy to look up at Emmy as she spoke, nor did she care to listen.
She knew what fate had in hand for her. She knew the outcome of her life as she lay on the floor. But even as she laid there in a tangled heap, her tears weren't from the physical pain she endured. They weren't from the thought of dieing either. She was crying because of James. She loved him, and desperately wished that she had told him so.
She watched as her life passed through her mind; getting her Hogwarts letter, meeting Carina on the train, becoming Head Girl, dating James, receiving the news that her parents were dead, and most of all, being with James again. She could clearly picture every moment with him, from their first night together, to watching him fall asleep next to her last night. She loved him; she loved him more than she had ever loved anyone before.
She wasn't afraid of death, she never had been. She always believed that after life, she would go on to a better place. A place with no crime, drugs, murder, rape, poverty, or anything else that harmed the world. But as she laid there in a curled up pile, she knew that there was one thing that wouldn't be in that better place. James wouldn't be there, the one person she was afraid of losing wouldn't be there.
As she pictured him clearly in her mind, suddenly the world around her went dark. She couldn't see a thing. She couldn't see Emmy standing over her, a hint of glee on her eye. She couldn't see the flood of blood that leaked from her body. She couldn't see the bloodstained clothing that was wrapped around her body. It was all dark, all she could do was listen, and she knew that it would soon fade as well.
Before it did though, she heard Emmy take another step closer, her steps vibrating the floor that Lily's ear was pressed against. "Avada Ked…"
She was unable to finish her words though because of a man saying, "Petrificus Totalus!" Lily heard a crash on the ground, and she knew that Emmy had fallen to the ground, stiff as a board.
She could hear the man coming toward her, and although she couldn't see him, she knew who it was. She knew that her savoir had come.
"Oh God," he whispered, placing a hand on her body. He could feel a pulse, although it wasn't as strong as he wished it would be. He then said, "I was afraid I'd be too late."
She could tell he was crying, she could tell by his muffled voice. But she knew it was him, she knew that everything would be okay. She knew that her one true love had rescued her.
She felt his lips on the top of her head, a comforting effort on his part. A sign that it was okay, a sign that he cared for her. It was the last sign that she could remember from him before drifting off into a deep sleep.
Author's Note 2: Hey guys! I hope you all enjoyed chapter 29! I'm sorry that this took longer than usual, I went away for Labor Day weekend, and didn't come back until late Monday night. But here it is now, and please tell me what you think!