!send me ‘five times loved’ to see five times where my muse did something for yours out of love.
the first time that james had done something for lily out of lovewas something that he was completely and utterly ashamed tothink back to. he hadn’t been doing anything out of love whenhe had begun to torment severus, the only relation to lily in themyriad of (terrible) reasons that he was jealous of how closethey were. jealous and afraid of competition. mostly, though, itwas because sirius was bored, and he wanted to show off,and he picked somebody that he could hate everything about,not all related to lily. the boy was dark magic walking.
she had snapped for him not to defend her, yelled at him, andjames was stunned. it had been with the fire that had first drawnhim to the girl, but he found himself regretting upsetting her like that.it seemed like much less of a game after that. but then, severus hadcalled her that– that word, the one that james wouldn’t even allowhimself to think, and the split second of hurt on lily’s face positivelybroke his heart.
it hadn’t been snape’s retaliation that had urged james to lift himinto the air, to humiliate him in front of his peers. he could havedueled him, could have fought him, but he wanted severus tofeel absolutely powerless. it made his gut sink to think about inlater years, but he had wanted in that moment to absolutelyruin his schoolmate.
james would destroy anyone that harmed someone he loved.
when james had properly asked lily out, it had been a trainwreck.he had approached her in the common room, rocking on his heels,a newfound seriousness to him. he wondered if she even took himseriously anymore, with how many times he had asked her out. sothis time, shortly into his seventh year, he decided to try somethingnew. he had conjured up some flowers, lilies, and he held them outwith a lot more boldness than he felt. and she had laughed.
lilies. he knew they were a cliche. he knew that they were stupid,and he blushed, but she took them anyways, and that she smiledwhile she did it made his heart soar. he was sure that she thoughthe was an idiot, but maybe now he was at least a cute idiot. andfor once, he looked nervous, excited, doing something for real rather than shouting it from across the rooms or slipping it inbetween teasing. he was growing up, striving to be a betterperson for everyone that he loved, and lily most certainly fellunder that category. even if she loathed him, she wouldalways have a place in james’s heart.
but he guessed she didn’t, because she said yes.
james’s head thunked against the desk in his room, groaninginto the mahogany wood. he could hear sirius laughing at him,and he groaned even more loudly, hoping to drown him out.this time, lily wasn’t there, but she didn’t have to be for him tolove her. on his desk laid a piece of parchment, and he wascertain a bit of ink from the quill had gotten on his cheek inall of his dramatics.
“don’t laugh, padfoot, this is a very grave matter!” he wascareful not to say ‘serious’, and he could hear the puff atthe missed opportunity for a joke. “how am i supposed tofigure out how to ask her to marry me?! i’m not romantic!”
sirius was practically howling.
“fuck it. i’ll send for moony and wormtail, because you’reuseless.”
when lily had walked down the aisle, james potter cried withoutshame, beaming as he wiped the tears from beneath his glasses.lily was beautiful, stunning, ethereal, and though he knew that shewas too much of her own person to ever be properly his, she waswilling to give herself to him completely. she wanted to grow old withhim in this crazy world, and god, there wasn’t a thing that could havemade james happier.
her dress was beautiful, but it was nothing compared to her, and hefound his eyes drawn inexplicably to her face, which only made himsmile all the more. how could he have gotten so lucky?
when he kissed her, james cried, and he felt her giggle against hislips as he held her tight. he loved her even more for it.
“lily, take harry and go! it’s him! go! run! i’ll hold him off!”
there were so many more things that james wanted to say. he wantedto tell lily he loved her, tell his son the same, and kiss them both goodbye.he knew that he couldn’t buy her much time, he didn’t even have his wand,but he needed to try. lily and harry were his world, he had had preciouslittle besides them in the past year, and he would have loved them evenwithout that.
he couldn’t stand to see them die.
he hurtled into the front room, arms thrown out as he heard lily poundingup the stairs, head held high. he was going to die, and it wasn’t unlikelythat his family would too. he prayed to every deity that he had ever heardof not for forgiveness or solace, but for their safety, chest tight.
voldemort lifted his wand, and everything was moving too quickly, andjames didn’t even have time to lash out before he was struck down, bodythumping to the floor with a dull thud.
he would destroy himself if it saved harm from coming to anyone that heloved.