Quote from Heatherlly on February 28, 2023, 3:52 pm

The other day, I made this request in the "WTF Did I Just Read?" thread:

I'd like to read a story where Lily and James are together, he's physically (and possibly sexually) abusive, and she's stuck with him against her will (and/or was coerced into being with him in the first place). I'd like for Severus to be the one who rescues her from that situation, with (preferably) the two of them ending up together.

In other words, I want a story with dark/disturbing elements, but I don't want Severus to be the cause of them. I want the core relationship (Severus/Lily) to be a healthy/positive one, a story where he definitely isn't the bad guy.

I haven't found anything that fits that criteria, but it did give me an idea for a story.

We know that Lily initially hated James. That persisted for years, only changing when he (supposedly) became a better person. I've always found that a bit dodgy, not only because we know James was lying, but it doesn't quite fit Lily as a character. I find it hard to believe that it was a normal/healthy situation where she 100% wanted to be with him. There are just too many red flags, up to and including the fact that we know he could be manipulative/coercive. He also threatened her with physical harm ("Don't make me hex you, Evans") for trying to protect her best friend.

I did explore this manipulative side in Veritas Omnia Vincit. In that story, James is gay and (secretly) involved with Sirius, but he feels obligated to get married/produce an heir to continue the Potter bloodline. He chooses Lily for multiple reasons, though the biggest one (and why he pursued her for so many years) was to hurt Snape.

That said, this version of James isn't 100% bad. There were lines I wouldn't cross (e.g. physical abuse), and he does redeem himself toward the end. Overall, I was happy with the way I wrote him, but yeah… I think it would be interesting/fun to write a darker version.

MY IDEA:

Lily continues to reject James's advances after her falling out with Snape. He gets increasingly frustrated until finally (seventh year), he decides to try something more drastic. He starts slipping her love potions, right up to the point where she agrees to get married.

Obviously, this is a call back to Merope Gaunt. Like her, James convinces himself that Lily has fallen/will fall in love with him for real. After the wedding, he stops giving her the potion, only to realize that her real feelings haven't changed at all. She dislikes him as much as she ever did, only it's worse now because she knows he's been drugging her. Understandably, her first impulse is to leave/get the marriage annulled, but there's a problem.

James can't have that.

It would be a massive embarrassment, for one thing. His pride can't handle such a public rejection, and it would be even worse if she told people what he'd done. For the first time, it occurs to him that he could even be in legal trouble, up to and including a stay in Azkaban. Obviously, he can't let that happen.

More than that, he's obsessed with Lily. What started off as a normal crush has become far darker and more sinister, a single-minded determination to have what he wants. James is nothing if not entitled, used to being given everything he asks for and more. His desire for Lily is no exception… he can neither comprehend or forgive her continued rejection.

This is the set up for what would turn into an extremely abusive relationship. He resents/punishes Lily for not wanting him, controlling her to the point where she cannot escape. I won't get into too much detail here, but yeah… this one would come with a long list of content warnings.

ENTER SEVERUS

Severus happens to see Lily and James out in public at some point. He watches them from a distance, and as someone who grew up in an abusive household, he recognizes certain signs. He tries to tell himself that it's none of his business, that maybe he was mistaken, but he can't help it. It eats at him to the point where he knows he has to do something.

I'm not sure what that something would be yet, though I'm thinking he'd either send his Patronus or ask Dumbledore for help. With the first option, he'd also be revealing his love for Lily. If I went with the second, Dumbledore would refuse to believe him.

I don't want to give away anything beyond that, but yeah… it would be a story where Lily ends up with Severus, and a demonstrably evil version of James gets exactly what's coming to him.

😏