This story is written for The House Competition by Moonlight Forgotten (Year 2).

Round 10

House: Gryffindor

Year: 4

Short Story

Prompt: Relief

Words: 822

James Potter and Lily Evans were captured by several Death Eaters during one of their missions and were taken to the Lestrange residence. Their wands were taken away and James was tied up and thrown into a separate room as the Death Eaters decided to keep Lily to torture the "mudblood". As he was being dragged away, James yelled for them to take him instead but to no avail. Listening to Lily scream in pain as she was tortured with the Cruciatus Curse was the most horrifying thing James ever had to endure. He kept frantically yelling, crying and banging on door, begging them to stop. His heart was pounding fast and he had never been more afraid and helpless in his life. He would give anything to take Lily's place at that moment. He would have felt much braver if it was he himself who was being tortured.

This went on for fifteen minutes before he heard Bellatrix declare "Enough play-time, let's kill the mudblood and be done with." James felt like his heart was being ripped out as he continued crying but was unable to find his voice to yell. His Lily was about to be mercilessly killed and he felt completely useless for being unable to save her. He couldn't stand the idea of living without her. Both suicidal and homicidal thoughts were beginning to creep into his mind when he heard the door outside burst open. He felt a sigh of relief when he realized that Order members had shown up. He could hear them dueling with the Death Eaters. Sometime later, Sirius and Remus burst into the room he was in. They untied him and hugged him in relief before handing him his wand and aparating away with him. They aparated into Sirius's apartment before he could protest.

"SIRIUS, REMUS, WE CAN'T JUST LEAVE LILY THERE," James yelled.

"Relax. Marlene had already aparated back to their apartment with Lily," said Sirius.

"Is she alright? I'm going over there right now," said James.

"James, after the ordeal you just went through, maybe you should rest first," said Remus.

"I don't need rest," said James, quickly. "I can't be at peace until I see Lily."

Sirius and Remus knew it was pointless arguing with him when he had his mind set.

James was let into Lily and Marlene's apartment by Marlene.

"How's Lily?" he asked.

"She's fine. Just a bit shaken up," said Marlene.

"I need to see her," he said, making his way to Lily's room without waiting for Marlene's response.

James entered the room to see a pale and slightly shaken up Lily, but nevertheless a Lily that was alright. His felt life seeping back into his body as his relief increased a tenfold. As their eyes met, they both impulsively threw themelves at each other in a tight hug.

"I thought I was going to lose you," said James, as he smothered Lily's face with kisses.

Lily sobbed into James's chest as he had his arms wrapped protectively around her. He didn't feel like ever letting go.

"Are you alright?" he asked, gently pulling her off him just enough to have glimpse at her face.

Lily nodded. "I thought I'd never see you again and that hurt more than being tortured with the …"

"Lily, please don't," James implored, putting a hand on her lips."You don't know how relieved I am to have you in my arms again," he said, pulling her close to him.

"So am I. For a moment, I thought I would be dead before we ever got a chance to spend our lives together," said Lily.

"What if we don't," said James.

"Huh?"

"We're in the middle of war. The chances of either one of us dying is quite high. What if one of us dies and we never get a chance to spend our lives together?"

"I don't want that to happen," said Lily apprehensively.

"Marry me," he muttered.

"What?"

"If we don't want to take chances, it's now or never," James said, determined. "Lily Evans, will you marry me?" he asked earnestly.

"James, are you sure about this?" asked Lily.

"I'm positive. Lily, I love you more than life itself. I know that you're the one I want to spend the rest of my life with," said James. "But if you're not ready, I …" he began, but was cut off by Lily placing a hand on his lips.

"James Potter, I love you too and I wouldn't want to miss the chance of spending my life with you either," said Lily.

"Is that a yes?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes," said Lily throwing herself on his shoulders as happy tears began welling down her eyes.

The delight of her answer could be seen in the glow on his face.

"I promise I'll give you a ring soon," said James.

"All I need is you," said Lily as they kissed passionately.

A/N: I know that James was probably not a crier, but I think that in that situation where the girl he was in love with was being tortured, any guy would be crying.