𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐒, james potter

36. is this the end of all the endings?

March 30, 1976

IT HAD BEEN two weeks since Nesrin came to her decision.

Two weeks leading up to this exact moment.

They were at their special spot. James had set up a blanket and had laid out food across it. She hadn't known he was doing this.

If she had, maybe she would have picked a better time. A better place.

She didn't sit down when he gestured for her to. He frowned.

"Is something wrong?" he asked. "You've been acting strange lately. You know, you can tell me if something's wrong. I can help—"

"We should break up."

That was it. Ripping off the bandaid.

He blinked as if he couldn't grasp the meaning behind her words. He let out a laugh despite himself.

"What?"

"I think we should break up," she said more severely, her words piercing through his body.

His eyes started to glisten with unshed tears. She yearned to rub her thumbs underneath his eyes. Yearned to take away the pain for him that she was unable to take away for herself.

"Why?" he asked, his voice so broken that she almost wished she could take back the words. "Why do we have to break up?"

She couldn't even look at his face at that moment. It was so dejected and defeated that she could feel her own heart crumbling.

She stared down at her feet. "We just do. I'm sorry, okay?" She willed her voice not to break. If he heard the heartbreak in her voice, he would know that she didn't want this any more than he did. But she had to end this now.

She had to protect him.

"I want to know the reason." He was adamant, as if he knew she was somehow messing with him.

She hated herself for what she was about to say.

"We don't work. We never did. This was just supposed to be a casual thing. It's gone on long enough. It doesn't make sense to continue this. Whatever it was."

There was a pinch between his brows. "How can you say that?" he questioned softly. He shook his head lightly. "It was never a casual thing. It was real. It has always been real."

She was on the verge of tears. So close to crying that it seemed nearly impossible to keep going with this careless facade she was putting on. But she had to. For him.

"No, it hasn't. It's not." She stared at him with a blank face, her eyes void of any emotion.

She reached her hands behind her neck and unclasped the necklace he had gotten for her from the muggle festival. She observed it one last time before holding it out to him. He didn't reach out to grab it. Instead, he looked at her with a pleading look on his face.

"Don't do this," he whispered.

She grabbed his hand, ignoring his warmth, and placed the necklace in it. She knew that if she kept it, she would end up coming back to him. She couldn't.

"Please don't stop me. I'm leaving."

Her body turned, but before she could even take a step, a hand curled around her wrist. Warmth spread through her body despite how cold the temperature was. It was so easy, then. So easy in that moment to just wrap her arms around his body and plant her face in his chest and never move again.

"Don't leave. I'm in love with you."

His voice cracked.

She couldn't hold it back anymore.

The tears started falling before she could stop them. Gently, she pulled her hand away from him without looking back. He called after her several times, but she didn't turn back for him. Even when she heard his heartwrenching sobs echoing through the walls. She did her best not to let out a sound until she reached a safe distance away from him. Tucking herself behind a corner and hiding herself within the shadows, she let the tears start falling harder and harder.

When she got back to her dorms, her stuff was packed, and her parents stood in the doorway.

She disapparated to Germany that very same day.

𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲 !

my broken bones are mending.