The Reasons Why, a harry potter fanfic

"Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic."

-Oscar Wilde

The Reasons Why

A Lily/James has always been a sort of fairytale. Hell, that's the reason why most people read one. Who doesn't love that type of story? It's the classic that everyone wants for their own lives. Maybe even that boy who always teases you in the hallways will end up being the one you marry. Who knows? Maybe your life is meant to be like theirs.

There's something so sweet about reading of red-headed Lily Evans, about handsome James Potter. There's something so right about them, and it's hard to even imagine a Lily without James, a James without Lily. If you say their names together, they flow just right. Lily and James. James and Lily. Of course they belong with each other. And there's always something so destined to happen between them, because a Lily without James and a James without Lily is like an ice cream that's lost its cone – you just can't eat it without one.

Even in the most cliché of fics – when Lily flies into rage after rage, when James flirts and smirks and does all those devilishly sexy things of his, when Lily discovers he's changed and when James proves he has – even when you read something like that, you can't help but like it even a little. Because Lily/James is like a drug; it's something that you have to know, it's something that you can't really live without getting to that next chapter, without wondering When will they kiss? Because Lily/James is something as necessary as the sunrise, and even if you read every single goddamn thing about them, you can't help but want more. And because Lily/James is never, ever an easy ride, no matter how smooth one tries to make it.

When Lily and James are together, their worlds crash and collide and mix and shatter and devastate and ignite. Sure, it's beyond overdone. Sure, you've read a thousand and one takes on James asking Lily out, Lily yelling at James, James yelling at Lily. Sure, Lily and James might be the most freaking bittersweet love story of the century. But why? There are a million reasons why Lily, and James, and everything in between, are fire, are ice, are heartbreak, are hate, and are absolutely, absolutely imperfect.

There are a million reasons why Lily and James are beautiful.

There are a million reasons why Lily and James should've fallen in love.

There are a million reasons why Lily and James shouldn't've fallen in love.

There is absolutely no reason why they did.

Everyone loves it.

I hate it.

Because hell, if Lily and James falling in love wasn't enough, there is absolutely no reason why Lily and James had to die.

I know that Lily had to protect Harry, that the prophecy had to be fulfilled, that Lily and James had to be a mystery, but fuck it, if there is one thing that is definite about Lily, and James, and everything in between, it is that they should not have died.

Because when I read a Lily/James, I can't. I just can't.

But there's something so wrong. About Lily. About James. About Lily, and about James, and most of all about Lily and James, because how are you supposed to read about Lily and James and how they deserved to fall in love, just once, and how they tried, and how they did…

How are you supposed to read about Lily and James when you already know their ending?

Reader, I ask you this:

Can you?

Because whenever I read about Lily and James arguing, or Lily and James screaming, or Lily and James flirting, or Lily and James kissing, I can't.

Because however much Lily and James fight, they can't fight off the inevitable.

Because Lily and James should have fallen in love, and they did. Because Lily and James shouldn't've fallen in love, and yet they did. Because Lily and James did fall in love, and because they had a child, and because even though they deserved every small bit of fucking happiness they could get, happiness just isn't enough sometimes.

And because Lily and James always walked on a tightrope, and one day, it was cut.

Lily and James might have been beautiful, but fate laughs in the face of beauty.

Reader, how can you read a story that is supposed to be a fairy tale, but ends a tragedy?

"I was countin' on forever, now I'll never know
I can't even breathe."

-Carrie Underwood, "Just A Dream"