I would like to dedicate this post to my amazing friend Aimée for introducing me to marauders fanfictions, and giving me this prompt.
- Liz
Why did you leave me? You promised me.
He stood back, head tilted up towards the grey sky, rain pattering softly onto the muddy ground. It was quiet, peaceful, alone. He took of his hat, and crushed in in his grip. Then he released it, his hand falling limply back beside him, as the hat drifted down to rest in the dirt.
"Why did you leave me?" he whispered, broken.
You promised to stay with me.
He pulled a single rose from a plastic bag, as perfect as they day it was grown, even though it was over a week old. He nestled it close to the stone, pushing it down so you could see the name written there.
Lily Potter.
Voldemort had finally caught up with them. Remus and Sirius had done their best to stop it, but when the Death Eaters found out about the prophecy, there was nothing that could be done. They had run.
Mother.
When they caught him, he fought. He sacrificed himself for her, but it hadn't been enough. And as he had felt himself growing more desperate, the sound of her panicked screams filling his head… They had left. But now he was a target too.
Wife.
He remembered suggesting they split up, him at the door as a first defence, and if they got past him, she would run, or fight as a second line of defence. He remembered watching her sprint into a bedroom. Turning to face the enemy. Preparing to fight. He remembered hearing her scream, abandoning his fight, racing back into the house just in time to see her collapse to the ground, her long red hair fanning out behind her, blood splattering against the carpet.
Friend.
He vaguely remembered his own shout, rushing to her side, kneeling beside her. He didn't care about the Death Eaters now, not when she was –
Not when she-
Where have you gone?
But it was too late, always too late, as she smiled sadly, and said –
And then a flash of red, his body falling rigid beside her, and nothing he could do but stare into those empty green eyes, couldn't look away, and as they fled, suddenly, he fell limp, dragging his eyes away from her cold, dead ones, but the stunner couldn't have worn off, it was broken, like his world was broken, and it was all broken because –
Because –
He remembered.
He remembered her. How she would fall against him when she laughed, how she would smile at his jokes, how she always knew what he was thinking, could always tell how he felt, how her eyes sparkled when she looked at their son, how she understood him better than he knew himself. How he was happier with her, how he felt empty when she was gone, how she had made him a better person, how she had saved him countless times, and the look on her face when she would say –
But now you're gone. Where have you gone?
And he remembered, remembered everything she did, everything she stood for, everything she was, the good and the bad, and remembered that one time, when she told him –
And he remembered how much he loved her, how he promised her to stay with her, how he saved her, how he –
How he –
I hate you.
But that wasn't true. He loved her. He loved her so much it hurt, so much more than he had told her, why hadn't he told her, so much more than could ever be expressed through words, so much more than his own life, but somehow, he knew she knew.
But he remembered how much he meant it when he said –
How much she meant it when she said –
"I love you."