Chapter One: The Attack

Lily Evans, a young witch soon to be entering her seventh year at Hogwarts School of Magic, slept peacefully in her bed. It was a warm summer's night in the middle of August. A smile, unknown to her, crept across her face as she dreamed of her life in the magical castle which included a tall grinning, hazel-eyed boy with an unruly mop of jet, black hair.

Outside her parents' suburban property, a large group of masked men with dark cloaks, appeared with a sharp crack onto the pavement. Grinning maliciously all six men drew their wands and strode towards the unlit house that held the sleeping Evans family.

With a loud crash they blew the door off its hinges and marched inside, their cloaks swishing as they moved. Green, red and purple jets of light were thrown out from their wands breaking every ornament in the Evans' sitting room as the Death Eaters' evening of fun began. They quickly became bored with that tame activity and climbed the stairs to find the thing they came to do: torture muggles.

Inside her bedroom Lily Evans woke with a start as her ears registered the sound of multiple vases shattering and heavy footsteps on the stairs. She sat up in her bed, shaking with sudden fear, as she realised what was happening. The Death Eaters had come.

This thought was confirmed as a gleeful shout of "Crucio!" rang out followed closely by a shrill scream from Lily's mother. Her father's shout of pain joined in moments later and yet still Lily hadn't moved from her position of frozen shock on her bed. Then, as her mother's scream went up another octave, she crept quietly out of bed and grabbed her wand off her bedside table. The Death Eaters had yet to acknowledge her presence and she wanted to keep it that way, so she sneaked across her bedroom floor praying for a creak-free journey.

Thankfully the floor was on her side and she made it to the doorway noiselessly. Sticking her head around the door she saw her greatest fear in action. A group of tall, leering men stood over her parents laughing with delight as her parents lay shaking and screaming from the effects of the Cruciatus curse. Suddenly one of them turned slightly and saw the petrified witch in the doorway.

Lily let out a quiet gasp as suddenly all the Death Eaters' attention focused on her.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" whispered one of the Death Eaters menacingly.

"A little wanna be witch." murmured another.

"Mudblood!" spat the man torturing Lily's mother.

"And what do we do with mudbloods?" asked the first Death Eater.

"Kill them!" was the unanimous reply and then six wands were pointing straight at Lily.

She shivered once then straightened. She would be brave as a Gryffindor should be.

"Potego!" she screamed as hexes and killing curses were thrown at her. She ducked and put up another shield then another shooting stunning spells in between. She felt a curse slash her leg as a death eater hit the floor with a thud. Lily quickly lost her strength as the men continued throwing spells at her weak shields. Her world began to blacken. She could feel blood dripping down her face and leg. The Death Eaters all gleefully laughed as their victim fought to keep alive.

She collapsed to the floor as suddenly three red streams of light beamed out from behind Lily. Two hit Death Eaters who then joined their friend on the floor. The third beam hit the bedroom window promptly breaking the glass. Two killing curses were cast and a Dark Mark created before the three masked men apparated away.

Five Aurors raced their way inside the now silent room to find utter destruction.