ALWAYS

TAKE ME BACK

The day after Lily had broken up with James, everything seemed to have changed. James looked less happy and the Marauders seemed to be reflected his sadness. They walked in to the Great Hall for dinner. James looked at Marlene who gave him a sad smile and Alice looked at him with pity. The Marauders pulled James away from them and they sat at the far corner of the table. He took a sandwich but dropped it when he saw Lily walk in, and he, walked out, anger filling inside him. Lily walked up to Sirius and asked "Why did James just leave?" . Sirius looked at her in disbelief, she acted like nothing happened. "Don't know" he shrugged and Lily left with a frown on her face. She joined her friends who looked at her with shock and they seemed to have argued and Alice and Marlene left her to sit alone. 

Lily and James avoided each other as much as possible. James spent all his time with the Marauders in the Gryffindor common room, and crashed in their dormitary. He went to the Heads dorm to take his things only when Lily was not around. Every time he saw Lily anger filled inside him. He failed to understand how she remained so cool and so calm even after she hurt someone so badly. The news that the power couple of Hogwarts, the head boy and head girl had broken up had spread like wild fire. Teachers treated James better, out of pity or kindness he didn't know. He also noticed that McGonagall acted bitterly with Lily, though she tried to mask with anger over a petty essay, everyone knew that James was her favourite and Lily had hurt him, beyond repair. 

Four days had passed by like this. James avoided Lily as much as possible. But he bumped into her on his way out from the Heads Dorm. He didn't look back but Lily called him. "James. Why are you avoiding me ?", James turned around but said nothing, anger enveloped him. "Why are you staying with the Marauders. Whats wrong? Talk to me". "Talk to you? You broke my heart Lily. I loved you. Loved. But you didn't care. You played me. And I hate you. Until now I never believed that a girl as vile and disgusting as you existed. But you proved me wrong once again.  And me not coming back to the dorm, I don't want to see your face anymo-", "You don't want to see my face? No one does. Alice, Marlene, Remus, Sirius, Peter, hell even McGonagall. What did I do that made all of you hate me so much. And you hate me? I hate you James Potter. I hate you. What do you even want from me?" she said, tearing up. "Nothing. Just... Just stay away." he sneered and walked out. 

A week later, James was still trying to get over Lily, but he couldn't. Every time he did he would see something that would remind him of Lily. Sirius was worried about James. He barely ate, he stopped concentrating in class and stopped talking. 

His thoughts were interrupted as he saw Bellatrix, Lucious and Snape all standing over a lump on the ground. Sirius moved closer, to find that it was Lily. He instinctively stepped forward but the fact that Lily played James and hurt him stopped him from doing so. But the friendship he developed with Lily compelled him to stay, his feet fixed to the ground. Lucious moved closer to Lily, who was fallen to the ground, clearly they had used the crucatious curse her. She was leaning on the wall. "Liked our little prank did you Evans. Potter seems to have enjoyed it.", Sirius frowned. What prank, they hadn't played any prank. "Your boyfriend seems to hate you now. Want to know why?", Lily looked up, her pained expression turned to a curious and angry expression. "Feisty. Anyways, you and Potter looked too happy with each other, and poor Severus here seemed to love you. So we wanted to help out a fellow friend. You know, Death eater to death eater. " he said, as Bellatrix chuckled. Lily looked at Severus in disbelief. "So we made a polyjuice potion. And you know where we got your hair from Evans. Your boyfriend. Looks like you got too cosy and left a few of those red hairs on him, so I had Severus here pluck it out of Potter's head, along with a few of his own. And then-", "We used it to turn into you and broke up with Potter, and had a fight with your friends" finished Lucious victoriously. Tears trickled down Lily's cheeks. Now she knew why James and the others were acting like that. They thought she broke James's heart. They thought she played him. And she thought that they didn't like her anymore and avoided them. "She's yours" said Bellatrix, nudging Severus forward. 

Severus knelt down, lifting Lily's head up by the chin. He looked into her eyes, "James is not worth it Lily. I know you. I love you" he said and before Lily could retort he forced himself onto her. His lips were pressing against her. She struggled to break free, but her hands were pinned to the wall by Severus. Lucious and Bellatrix looked with delight. "Enough. I have had enough" shouted Sirius as he emerged from behind the wall. "Stupefy" he yelled at Severus who was now looking up at Sirius. Sirius helped a sobbing Lily up. "It's ok" he whispered before he shot hex after hex, fighting Lucious and Bellatrix single handedly, and apparently winning. By the time Sirius was finished with them, Lily had ran back to the Heads Dorm. 

She felt dirty. She felt violated. She felt sad, James hated her and he didn't want to look at her face. She ran to the washroom and stood under the shower, scrubbing the soap vigorously on her body. She walked out half an hour later, still feeling polluted. She couldn't forget the feeling she felt, the pain and disgust she endured, when Severus forced himself onto her. She sat down on her bed, buried her face in her hands and cried softly. 

"You have to say sorry. You have to go to Lily. She needs you, more than Severus needs that revenge." said Sirius as he struggled to keep James from running to the Slytherins. He had told James everything who listened with a disgusted expression on his face. But Remus could tell he was relieved. Relieved to know Lily still loved him. James nodded and left the dorm room, before running back in and pulling Sirius into a hug. "Thanks" he whispered and ran towards the Heads Dorm. He could hear faint sobs from Lily's room and he walked up to her room, knocking on it. "What is it James. Just leave" she said, she didn't want him to see her. He still hated her, or so she thought. "I know Lils. I know it wasn't you that day. I didn't believe it then, and I don't believe it now. Sirius told me everything. Every single thing. I'm Sorry. I love you Lils. Please - take me back. But if you don't want to, I understand". He waited for a minute, everything was quite and there was no sign of movement, so James turned around to leave, but heard the creak of the door. Lily was on her bed, wand in hand. He turned around to see Lily. 

Her eyes were puffy and red, her hair still wet from the long bath she had taken, her face pale and sad and her arms scraped. She looked tired and seemed to be hurting. He ran to her side. Sitting on the bed, pulling her close. The minute her head touched his chest, she started sobbing. She was shaking, her hands tightly wrapped around his back. "Hey- hey... It's okay. I'm here now and I love you. Shhhh.... don't cry babe, please" he consoled. 

"He- he- tried to k-k-kiss me" , James felt his anger rise once again, "I'll kill Snivelly for that". "They used the cru-crucatious curse on me. They- all of them- are death eaters" she said, still sobbing. "Babe, don't worry. Right now I have you and you have me. That's all that matters.", "I love you" she whispered, her face still buried in his chest. James looked into her emerald eyes, and kissed her. He missed her, more than he could ever imagine, and she did too. Lily kissed him back, no longer feeling dirty but she felt pure once again. She felt relieved- she had her boyfriend back. James broke away from her as he lay down on the bed, pulling her down with him. She rested her head on his chest. "I missed you. And I-I don't hate you" she whispered. "I know. I don't hate you either" he said, playing with her wet hair. James wrapped his arms around her and pulled her as close as he could, kissing her on the forehead. Lily moved up, her face now levelled with his and she kissed him. They broke apart and she cuddled in close, and James and Lily talked about all the time they had missed with each other the past few days. 

At around ten, James was in the middle of the story of how he got drunk the night they had 'broken up', when he realised that Lily was asleep, on his chest, her hands tightly wrapped around his neck. Her face looked tired - she had been tortured by the Crucatious curse. He smiled as he kissed her goodnight and tightened his grip around Lily and fell into a deep slumber himself, thinking about how he would take revenge on Severus and wondered if Severus had been this vile and disgusting always, or had he become like this after he had come to Hogwarts. No, he was always like this. Always.