Life

Times
THE

And

a fanfiction by

Jewels5

PROLOGUE

o one laughs at God when theyre staring down the end

of a wand.

Her words, emanating from that perfect little mouth as
clearly as if they had been uttered just a moment before,
resounded in Jamess head: over and over like the beat
of a drum. In his mind, she was beautiful, sixteenyears-old and sitting in that corridor with the torchlight flickering
against her pale, flawless skin and in her bright green eyes. That was
almost two years ago, and how things had changed. She was still beautiful,
of course, perhaps more so, but there must always be a difference in the
way which one understands the beauty they possess and the beauty they
covet from afar.

No one laughs at God when theyre staring down the end of the
wand, he remembered her saying once again, and he smiled just a bit,
because of course, Lily was right. Lily was usually right. With the tip of the
enemys wand pointed at the spot between his eyes, while his own wand lay
out of reach, there was a God. There was meaning and significance, and
there was a reason to survive, because there was order, truth, importance,
and something beyond the tip of that wand. He made a mental note to tell
Lily later that she was right: that such a threat makes cowards of intellectual
skepticism. It was irrational, he supposed, but that did not matter. Late
recognition of divinity may be an act of intellectual cowardice, but just
now, it made him brave. Lily was usually right.

He felt himself begin to smile and awaited the cursethe
curse that would end it, or at least bring about significant pain or
unconsciousness. But it did not come. At last, the enemy opened his
mouth, but no curse came out.

She doesnt love you, he barked desperately. She
doesnt.

Apparently, no one laughed at God when they
had lost the one they loved either.

James allowed the words to stab him, knowing
they must be true. He allowed the pain to fill but not
subdue him. He nodded. Maybe, he replied at length.
But thats just something Im going to have to deal with for
myself.

Broken by Jamess apathy, the older wizard
narrowed his brown eyes and pulled his mouth into
a tight frown. The youthful handsomeness he had
possessed only a year ago had vanished. Youll be
dead soon, he said.

James blinked. That was an odd thought:
dead soon. Then he nodded once more. Go
ahead, he responded, with something like
defiance. Ive made peace.

Because finally, he understood

ometimes, she thought that if she stepped

off the Astronomy Tower, she would just float
away.

He could not remember the last time hed
looked before taking a leap.

She believed in God.

He smoked too much.

She had her first kiss in a sun-soaked garden at the age of fifteen.

He lost his virginity to a girl named Sarah at the age of fifteen.

She wanted to write.

He wanted to play Quidditch.

She thought she was in love and disliked the fact.

He knew he was in love and positively hated it.

She smiled and laughed a great deal.

He did, too.

She was dramatic.

He was dynamic.

She was precise.

He was impulsive.

She excelled in diplomacy.

He excelled in diplomacy, but often resorted to throwing punches
instead.

She served seven detentions in as many years.

He served seventy four.

She thought he was barking mad.

He thought she was positively insane.

Whatever else this may turn out to be, it is first and foremost a love
story. It is the story of how a boy and a girl came to beand then to realize
that they werein love with one another. You see, it is probable that falling
in love was the most important thing that they ever accomplished, and
they accomplished a number of quite important things. He was James,
and she was Lily, and one day they shared a kiss, but before that they
shared many arguments, for he was cocky, and she was sweet, and
matters of the heart can require time.

It beganhe would later speculate as he stared down
the end of a wand that could very easily kill himwith a
punch. A simple movement of his arm as his fist came into
contact with Nicolai Mulcibers jaw, throwing the latter to
the ground and causing quite a bit of a stir.

It beganshe would later speculate as she stood by
the threshold of a room wondering if this could ever work
with a kiss: the simple movement of standing on her toes and
embracing Luke Harper on the train station platform at
Hogsmeade village.

Whether he or she was actually correct is not
a matter for us to discern, but either way, both were
agreed that it began on September 1st, 1975: the
first day of their sixth year at Hogwarts School of
Witchcraft and Wizardry. And, simply for the
sake of chronology, this story begins with the
event that she claimed initiated everything.
She stood on the Hogsmeade platform at

months for the first time in two days, and they kissed.

(I Love You)
uke Harpers lips were warm. He was soft, unassuming, and cautious, moving slowly and taking
his cues from her. There was no music, but the kiss seemed to err on the side of romantic. That
was fortunateshe thoughtbecause her character was decidedly romantic. She watched
black and white movies and liked the look of snow in her hair, for goodness sake; of course romantic was
a good thing. Of course she wanted... why the hell was her mind wandering like this? She was supposed
to be making out with her boyfriend, not... Good Lord.

They broke apart, and he smiled his beautiful, classic, even-toothed smile. It was quite possibly
his best feature, and it made the ensuing fifteen seconds or so of silence between them quite nice. Lily
Evans had spent most of the summer with Luke Harper, so a kiss on the train platform was not, perhaps,
as dramatic a gesture as it could have been, but they had been separated for the past two days, so there
was some sense of long-awaited reunion.

The sky had begun to grow dark, and the torches of Hogsmeade station had been lit when the
Hogwarts Express pulled into the station some ten minutes prior; now, nearly all of the trains two hundred
fifty or so passengers were disembarked and preparing to set off for the castle that was Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The dim moonlight just barely illuminated the lengthy path to the castle
turned school doors. Hogwarts first years had been shuttled off by the caretaker, Hagrid, towards the
boats that would bear them across the lake and to the path, while the upperclassmen were starting for
the horseless carriages that took the alternate path through the village of Hogsmeade.

In the poor lighting, Luke did not look his best, but that didnt mean he was not absolutely
gorgeous, with smooth brown hair, tender brown eyes, and, naturally, that smile. Even when Lily found
herself irritated with Lukea rare occasion in and of itselfthat smile made her stomach flip. Now, as
her hands rested on his chestone hand gently fingering his perfectly straight silver and blue uniform
tieshe realized that the last two months (the duration of her relationship with Luke) had been really
rather nice.

Luke was a decent kind of chap: he didnt much bother about politics or serious things, but he was
romantic and epitomized everything that a sixteen-year-old girls seventeen-year-old boyfriend should
be. He lived in Hogsmeade, because his family owned a business there, which was why he did not ride
the Hogwarts Express like all of the other students; however, he had met Lily on the platform, which was
a lovely gesture... rather like something from a black and white movie, Lily thought.

In one moment, however, Lilys happy recollections of the summer were thoroughly shattered.

I love you, said Luke.

Like his kiss, his tone was soft and unassuming, though the very gesture of professing his love
after a mere two months was anything but cautious. Time froze at the utterance of those three words, and
Lilys heart beat very quickly... not in the good way. She weighed her options.

He loved her. He loved her. Love was big. Love was epic. Love was... Certainly, she liked Luke
a great deal. She liked the way his hands rested on her hips when they kissed and that he managed a
moderately convincing show of enjoyment when they listened to her Led Zeppelin records. She liked that
he had been ridiculously bashful in front of her mother and that he hadnt asked about her friendship
with Snape once. She liked his smile and that he wasnt always trying to poke at what she was thinking.
She liked that he didnt seem to mind taking things slow and that he said those silly romantic things
just like the hero of a medieval poem.

I like Luke, she thought.

I love someone else.

And that settled it in her mind.

I cant say that back, Lily murmured after what seemed to her an eternity but was in reality only
a few seconds. Still, the confusion in Lilys eyes had been cue enough for Luke to know what her reply
would not be. He nodded dejectedly. Luke, listen, its not that I dontthat I dont care for you a great
deal, because I do. The platform was becoming less and less populated as the other students filled the