Blind
One-shot songfic: “Blind” by Lifehouse

James looked up from the Evening Prophet, startled by a noise outside. He’d distinctly heard the sound of someone Apparating, a quiet pop! Lily, his beautiful, fiery red-haired, green-eyed wonder of a wife, had obviously heard it too, for she looked up from feeding their young son, Harry. James rose, stiff with worry.

“James?” Lily whispered, her emerald eyes pleading, hoping that it was not the one they dreaded so, that it was not --

“Voldemort,” James rasped, looking away and towards the door, unable to bear to see the pain in his love’s eyes. He shook ever so slightly, more scared, yet more determined than he had ever been in his life. He would do anything to protect Lily and Harry, little baby Harry. Harry, he knew, was in mortal danger. Harry might never grow to see Hogwarts, never pull pranks like his father, never fly on a broomstick, never find his own love, and never find the joys of life and its own magic…

By this time, Lily was by James’ side, putting her delicate hand on his shoulder, numb with dread.

Their gate creaked outside, and silent, muffled footsteps could be heard.

Step… step… step… step…

James seemed to come to, and gripped his wand until his knuckles were white. He seemed to just grasp the enormity of the situation; Peter must have been captured, and revealed their location. He’d led Voldemort right to them…

The door opened, and a dark silhouette appeared, a black robe over the body of the man everyone hated so. James stepped in front of Lily.

“Lily, it’s him! Run! Take Harry and run! Go!” James yelled, sending a jet of red light at the doorway. It was blocked with a lazy flick of the man’s wand- if you could really call Voldemort a man, for he was such a cruel, heartless being, it was a wonder he was on this Earth.

“No! I can’t leave you! James, no!” she shrieked, her passionate love taking over, but James shoved her off, towards the stairs.

“I’m telling you, go now! Do exactly as Dumbledore planned with us! Now go, please!” James bellowed, sending curses, hexes and spells at Voldemort, who was advancing, very slowly.

“James!” Lily began, but she knew he was right. She had to protect Harry, and James’ mind would not change. “I love you, James.”

All seemed to slow down, as if time were allowing them their last moment, as James turned his messy-haired head to look at her, and say, “I love you too.”

As soon as he turned back to Voldemort, time went back up to speed.

Once he’d heard her leave up the stairs, James thought of nothing but the situation at hand. He struggled, and did everything possible to keep the Dark wizard from further entering their home.

“What do you want with us?” James queried. He full well knew the answer, however, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named knew full well that James was simply stalling.

“I want young Harry and yourself, of course,” the Dark Lord hissed. “You’ve been one of my targets for quite some time now…”

“Never!” James knew there was no way he’d win, and he knew it in the bottom of his heart. He sent the Cruciatus curse Voldemort’s way, but to no avail, for it was deflected. “Just take me instead, and leave my family be,” he offered firmly, fully willing to die for the ones he loved.

“How many times must I tell you? Two will die tonight!”

James growled another hex Voldemort’s way, but again, it was blocked.

“Avada Kedavra!” Voldemort rasped, a green light blasting from his phoenix-feather wand. James dodged it, jumping behind a vase, which soon shattered into a million sad pieces, falling to the ground.

James knew hexes wouldn’t keep his enemy off, and soon sent his own Killing Curse at the antagonist, who dodged it.

“You’ll pay for that, Potter,” the hooded man spat. The Cruciatus Curse came at James, who blocked it a second too late.

James fell to the ground in agony, but refused to give his enemy the pleasure of hearing him scream, so he lay there, writhing in pain, but taking it all. He took it for Lily, for Harry, for love…

The curse lifted, and James took the man by surprise, sending the first curse he could think of. Sectumsempra! he yelled in his mind, pointing his wand and rising from the ground.

Voldemort doubled over, the curse half blocked. Nevertheless, great gashes appearing on his face and hands, as he took his share of James’ curse. He soon won over it, and screamed, “Fool!” Without another word, another movement, green light entered James’ vision, and his life, his too-short life, flashed before his hazel eyes.

I was young but I wasn't naive
I watched helpless as you turned around to leave
And still I have the pain I have to carry
A past so deep that even you could not bury if you tried

James was a boy of thirteen, standing in front of a redhead, whom he thought was so pretty, she shouldn’t be denied James’ unwonted attention.

“You’re really pretty. Wanna go out with me?”

“No!” was the girl’s answer, as she stormed away with her friends.

After all this time
I never thought we'd be here
Never thought we'd be here
When my love for you was blind
But I couldn't make you see it
Couldn't make you see it
That I loved you more than you'll ever know
A part of me died when I let you go


James was a boy of fifteen, ending his fifth year in Hogwarts. He watched Lily walk away in anger and frustration, after a particularly bad argument at the lakeside.

“What is with her?” he asked, pretending that he didn’t care about what had just transpired.

But at that moment, he knew one thing. As much as it would hurt, as hard as he knew it would be, he would never chase Lily Evans again. He would let go of her, and move on. Even as he thought it through, deep in his heart, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to, because if he did, James Godric Potter simply would not be the same person; letting go of Lily would be like a part of him dying.

I would fall asleep
Only in hopes of dreaming
That everything would be like it was before
But nights like this it seems are slowly fleeting

He clearly remembered a one memory in which he tried to fall asleep, but could not, for Lily’s face would not leave his mind.

“If you can’t get someone out of your head, maybe they’re supposed to be there,” Remus had said earlier that day.

James next saw the day in which a seventeen-year-old Lily had agreed to a date with him.

“But only one, you hear?” she’d stated. How wrong she was...

A few years later, James stood, in a tuxedo, listening to the wedding march as Lily came down the aisle, her dress on her swaying behind her, her face covered by the delicate curtain of lace. As James caught his soon-to-be-wife’s astonishing eyes, all else disappeared, and nothing mattered to him anymore, except losing himself in those green jewels.

James soon remembered the day Harry was born. The Healer had spoken the words, “Congratulations. It’s a boy,” but all James had seen was the two beautiful creatures on the hospital bed, losing himself, once again, in Lily’s eyes.

The last memory he saw was that of the one where Lily stood on the stairs and spoke, “I love you.” James remembered the way her eyes sparkled with the truth she spoke, and knew he had been the luckiest man in the world for even ever meeting this wonderful being. James knew he loved this woman with the very core of his being, as his body crashed to the floor.

They disappear as reality is crashing to the floor

“No!” Lily shrieked, as she heard her one and only hit the ground. She knew she’d be next. If James couldn’t fight Voldemort off, then she would never be able to either….

Lily ran to the bedroom that she and James had shared. Then, the horrible, piercing truth hit her. James. He was dead. Her heart tore open in grief, and tears filled her eyes.

No.

She had to stay strong for Harry, even if only for a moment, before death clouded her eyes over. She placed Harry in his crib, placing a kiss on his small head, before turning to the doorway, wand out and pointing.

Voldemort at the doorway far too soon. “Give me the boy.”

“Never,” she growled. This was the man who had killed her husband. This was the man who killed so many of her classmates over the course of a few years. This was the man who would soon kill her. But he was certainly not going to kill a third person this night; she’d never let him get her baby boy.

“Foolish girl. Silly little Mudblood. I shall have to kill you as well, if that’s what it takes…” it hissed. Voldemort was no longer a man in Lily’s eyes. It never should have been. It was nothing short of a coward, a creature that took power, and pleasure, out of taking people’s lives. It did not deserve the title of “lord”, of “human”, of “man” or “wizard”. It deserved nothing, nothing but death.

“You’ll never get Harry! Never!” Lily braced herself.

“Give me the boy!”

“NO! Please, not Harry! Please! Take me instead! Not Harry…” she ended, green light filling the room, accompanied by Lily’s shrieks.

After all this time
I never thought we'd be here
Never thought we'd be here

Lily couldn’t believe that she was falling, so fast, yet so slowly. Her world faded and her life flashed.

The first memory she saw was the one of their first date. She looked into James’ eyes, which were sparkling with happiness, as he leaned in to kiss her.

When my love for you was blind
But I couldn't make you see it
Couldn't make you see it

A boy of sixteen stood in front of her. His hazel eyes were flashing with anger as Lily reprimanded him. “Why do you do this to me, Lily? Why, when you know I love you?” Those beautiful eyes suddenly showed extreme hurt, and a breaking heart.

“No! You don’t! How can you, when you don’t even know me?” Lily painfully asked, when at the same time, her mind was screaming, I love you too, James! I love you, love you, love you! Why don’t you see it?! You don’t love me; you’ll date me, and drop me, setting your eyes on another pretty face that walks by…

That I loved you more than you'll ever know
A part of me died when I let you go

“James, we’re through,” Lily stated, a girl of seventeen once more. “I can be with you no longer; at least until you grow up.”

She had just caught her boyfriend hexing Snape, once again, when she thought he knew better, and had matured. Obviously, she was wrong.

Averting her head, she looked into the eyes of the boy she loved, and as she walked away from him, she saw his heart through those very eyes, a heart that was bleeding, torn. At the same time, she knew her heart was doing the very same…

After all this why

She saw herself, in the arms of James Potter, and remembering being unable to understand how her views of this person had changed. She was looking up at the man she had hated for so long, with nothing but admiration racing through her mind.

A few memories later, Lily walked down the aisle, seeing James, in his tuxedo, and she wanted nothing else, than to run to his arms right then and there. Forget about looking proper, forget about the slow steps she was to take to the altar, forget what the people would think. In heels, and a dress and all, that was what she did. She ran right into James’ arms.

Would you ever wanna leave it
Maybe you could not believe it
That my love for you was blind


The last thing she saw was James, saying his last and truest “I love you”, when the air felt like she was swimming, and time slowed just enough to allow for that last moment. As Lily died, she looked into her baby Harry’s eyes, and knew that he would live. She would see James soon, but would have to wait until she saw her little boy again. Until then, she’d watch over him, together with James. Goodbye, little one.


But I couldn't make you see it
Couldn't make you see it
That I loved you more than you will ever know
A part of me died when I let you go
That I loved you more than you'll ever know
A part of me died when I let you go