the denial month
"The gate creaked a little as he pushed it open, but James Potter did not hear. His white hand pulled out the wand beneath his cloak and pointed it at the door, which burst open...
He was over the threshold as James came sprinting into the hall. It was easy, too easy, he had not even picked up his wand...
"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!"
Hold him off, without a wand in his hand!... He laughed before casting the curse ...
The green light filled the cramped hallway, it lit the pram pushed against the wall, it made the banisters glow like lighting rods, and James Potter fell like a marionette whose strings were cut…"
A heavy sigh comes after these words, followed by a string of muttered curses.
From her couch, absently doing her Sunday crosswords, Lily readjusts the glasses on her face. "James, do you really need to read that aloud?"
"I can't help it! That's the stupidest thing I've ever read. Like a marionette?"
"It's Skeeter, what did you expect?"
"Some twisted version of the truth, maybe, but this… we die, Lily!"
"And that's why I don't read it. I remember when the first book came out—"
"The Philosopher's Stone," James reminds her, rolling his eyes.
"Wasn't it Sorcerer's?" Lily shrugs. "Anyway, dear Mrs Walkers from the apothecary seemed surprised I was alive! I go there every week for the past thirty years and she asks me if I was really Lily Potter—"
"Exactly! We can't let people keep thinking this thing is true… Can't we sue Skeeter for spreading lies?"
"I talked to Hermione when the Stone book came out. Skeeter was clever enough to call it a work of fiction based on true facts." Lily narrows her eyes. "And she was clever to also hide while publishing all this."
"Seven books! And we are dead! Why did we have to die?"
"A tragic hero sells better than one with loving parents, I guess."
"Ugh, I can't believe this is a best seller."
She throws him a mildly disapproving look. "Well, you did buy the whole collection."
"I got curious, you know I can't help myself! Sirius kept teasing that my death scene was even worse than his and I wanted to see."
"Nah, he fell behind a veil, Lily. That was more stupid than me just showing up in front of Voldemort… but you know who got a good death scene? Snape!"
"Harry did see him dying—"
"No, no, he can't get a better death than me, I'm the protagonist's father! And Moony dies off-screen, he is barely mentioned… no, no, we need to do something."
"Maybe it's time we publish our own memories. People have to know what really happened."
Lily opens her arms, and James accepts it at once, pulling her closer. "They know, love."
"I just hate everything… Do you know what happens when Harry goes to the forest to die for our sins? We show up with the Resurrection Stone… and we support him walking to his death!"
"Hey!" Now Lily is truly alarmed. "We'd never—"
"I can't believe they are turning this into a series of plays."
"It was announced last week on the Prophet. I thought you had seen it."
"Something to celebrate 40 years since Voldemort's first fall."
"You mean the day our son apparently got orphaned and Dumbledore left him in the care of your sister?"
"Ugh, don't remind me of this part. The only thing that Skeeter probably got right was Vernon's personality."
"Nah, Umbridge was just the same. And Snape, real charming guy. A little obsessed with you though."
Lily shakes her head, amused with his disgusting tone. "Some famous actor is playing him, people were gushing about all over the Leaky Cauldron last week."
"I can't believe it… wait! Who is gonna portray us?"
Lily shrugs. "Dunno. We are not very important, are we?"
"Come on, you sacrifice yourself all nobly, and I… well, my friends love me, my only lines are not from my best moments… ugh, they are just going to cut my character in these plays, aren't they?"
"You said the books were stupid," Lily notes amusedly. "Why would you want to even be portrayed when they got you so wrong?"
"Because Sirius will be shown and he gets more screen time than me," James replies as if it's obvious. "Can you believe we don't kiss once in these books?"
"I'm pretty sure we do," she notes, winking at him. "Harry was born after all."
That makes James let out one of his infectious laughs. He runs his hand through his hair, strands of white hair reflecting under the lights of the room.
"I’m serious, not a single kissing scene. Not even a smooch."
"We can fix that," she suggests, grinning, and when she feels James' lips over hers, Lily is sure that reality is much better than any fiction.
