A/N: The idea for this story came to me the other day. It's a hybridized version of my multi-gen fic series (as yet far from finished) and my as yet unfinished story, Broken. Also, there's some characters names and elements I'd like to point out, paying homage to other authors. In this story, Amanda Potter is based on a character named Alex from some stories by Alexia Gemini Potter. She's a great author and a lovely person, and I highly recommend her work! Audrey, as I neglected to mention in Broken, is named for a character in The Dark Lord's Only Hope, by The Musical Fool, but is not based on this character in any way. A character named Laura will appear much later, named for a character in Problematic, by xyellowconverse, my lovely friend and co-author. Cheers!

-J

Lily Evans was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, looking around, attempting to study for her N.E.W.T.s, which began the following week. Of the Gryffindor seventh years, most were present in her little group by the fireplace. Lily's boyfriend, James Potter, was playing with his younger sister Audrey's hair as she read her Charms essay for errors. Lily's best friend, Olivia, was sitting on the lap of James's best friend, Sirius, who had been her boyfriend for about two and a half years, and they were snuggling rather than studying, convinced they knew it all. Sirius's twin sister, Claire, was curled up against her boyfriend (Olivia's ex-boyfriend), Remus, who was revising madly, but still caressing Claire's knee as he worked, letting her know that he wasn't completely ignoring the girl. There was a fourth boy, Peter, who was reading Remus's notes frantically, attempting to remember everything he had forgotten while messing around with the boys when he ought to have been studying. It looked like a typical week-day evening, for this year.

There had been a lot of surprises, Lily thought to herself, over their time at Hogwarts. Lily, Claire, and Olivia, three very different girls, had somehow become the best of friends in seven years, with Audrey along for the ride at times. The other three girls were pureblooded witches, each from long, illustrious lines. Lily was a Muggleborn, the first witch in her family. At first, Olivia and Claire had bonded incredibly close together, and made friends with the boys in their year through Claire's brother, leaving Lily in the dark, sometimes alone in the dormitory while they went out to have fun, sometimes to make closer friends with Mary and Margery, the other girls in their year, but after Olivia said some hurtful and rather unintended things to Lily, the girl apologized and the three of them became very close.

Friendship with the boys had taken much longer. Remus and Lily had become friends in their fifth year, when they became the Gryffindor Prefects, but Lily didn't think much of his friends. James especially, who harassed her and asked her out nearly once a week from their second year on, had become fast one of her least favorite people at Hogwarts, followed closely by Sirius Black, Claire's flamboyant, rambunctious, womanizing twin brother. Lily had become more forgiving of Sirius after their fifth year, when the twins ran away from home and moved in with the Potters, because he threw away his womanizing days, settled down with Olivia, who he was clearly in love with, and went out of his way to look after his sister, who he obviously adored.

In fact, while Lily knew little of the details of the reasons the pair ran away from home (she and Claire weren't quite that close), she knew that it had something to do with how Claire had been treated, not Sirius. Sirius had begun going everywhere with her, attacking boys who bothered her, and even letting her sleep in his bed, because she had developed an extreme fear of the dark. Once, Lily had accidentally overheard Sirius begging his twin to get counseling, see Madam Pomfrey, get help, but Claire adamantly refused.

"They'll hurt you if I tell," Claire had whispered, tears obvious in her voice. "Please don't make me do that."

As far as Lily knew, Claire hadn't ever talked to anyone but Sirius, Olivia, Audrey, and Remus about whatever had happened to her that Christmas break, but Claire was a tough girl, so Lily knew it couldn't be anything trivial. It had to be awful.

Remus and Claire hadn't been together at the time, of course. It had taken them until the beginning of sixth year for them to start growing close, and then it all sort of happened at once. Nobody but the two of them knew what had made them suddenly inseparable, but Lily got the feeling Sirius knew exactly what had gone on. Everyone approved, certainly. Before she had started dating Remus, anyone but Sirius even accidentally brushing against her caused her to panic. With Remus, little by little, she seemed to feel safer and less anxious.

Olivia had had a similar time of things, although her home life had always been excellent. Her father, in fact, was a highly placed Ministry official, and their home was so large that their entire friend group would visit her at once. The Potters could do this, as well, but Olivia was better at getting everyone there than James had ever been, mostly because for years Lily wanted nothing to do with James, if she could help it.

No, Olivia's problem had been a stalker, a Slytherin several years older than them who had stalked her, harassed her, but in a far less well-meaning way than James did with Lily. In fact, several times he tried to force himself on her, which had made him the number one person on the Marauders' hit list.

Well, number two, actually. Severus Snape, Lily's former best friend, had long been number one on that list, and for a very long time it was the biggest reason Lily despised James and Sirius. At the end of their fifth year, however, under duress of bullying, courtesy the Marauders, Claire, and Olivia, Severus had called Lily something absolutely unforgivable.

She might have forgiven him, if it hadn't been for the fact that his other friends were even crueler to innocent people, like Mary MacDonald, Margery Kunzman, and even Claire Black and Olivia Cromwell, who appeared to be the favorite targets of the less-desirable Slytherins.

For a brief time, Lily thought James had actually gotten over her, moved on, decided she wasn't ever giving in to his begging. He had a short relationship with Olivia's little sister, Anne-Claire. It ended badly, however, as James clearly wasn't half as interested in the younger Ravenclaw as she was in him, and Olivia had humiliated James in front of the whole school for his treatment of her sister. Lily was impressed by one thing about how he handled the situation, however: He didn't fight back. He knew he deserved it, had earned the treatment he was receiving, and he took it like a man.

It was the first time Lily looked at James and really saw him as anything other than the arrogant toerag she had long since labeled him.

Somehow, between his more mature behavior, his being named Head Boy (and she, Head Girl), and the way he had handled Mary's untimely and gruesome death (murdered by agents of the pureblood supremacist, Lord Voldemort, right on Hogwarts grounds and tied up for everyone to see), Lily's opinion of James shifted radically from how she had seen him in their first year, or really any year since.

When he finally asked her out again, this time like a mature adult and not in front of the entire school, she wasn't sure what possessed her to, but she said yes.

And what's more, she enjoyed herself tremendously.

The two who weren't happy in the equation, though, were Peter and Audrey.

Peter, Lily had deduced long ago, had a massive crush on Olivia. It wasn't surprising. Sometimes it felt like everyone had a crush on Olivia, and everyone but James and Peter in the boys' dormitory had dated her, including Kurt Neuendorf, who had actually been dumb enough to cheat on her, incurring the wrath of the Marauders. She was a pretty, talented girl, and she also happened to be the heir to the largest wizarding fortune, making her even richer than James and Sirius (or rather, Sirius before being disowned when they ran away from home), whose family fortunes were more than most people even dreamed about. When she inherited her father's fortune, Olivia would actually be the richest witch in the world. But Peter was a bumbling, less-than-average boy who was chubby, small, and far from half as attractive as Sirius or Remus (Remus was a better gauge, Lily decided, because even she could see that Sirius was unfairly attractive). He never had a prayer with a girl like Olivia.

Audrey, on the other hand, was deeply infatuated with Sirius, as was almost every girl in school. She, like James, wasn't the best looking, and her brother would inherit everything. She wasn't as talented as her brother, but she was reasonably bright. She was a decent athlete, but James was a Quidditch legend. And when you put her next to Claire, Olivia, and even Lily in a lineup, Audrey would be the one everyone forgot was there. She was incredibly sweet, had a heart of gold, but was agonizingly plain, especially in comparison with the company she surrounded herself with. Lily and Claire were the only ones who knew about Audrey's crush on Sirius (they decided it was best if Olivia didn't find out), and they felt horribly sorry for her. Not only were Sirius and Olivia incredibly in love, but who would notice sweet little Audrey next to Olivia, the almost-queen of the world?

Still, Audrey and Peter never complained, and seemed simply grateful to be included in such an illustrious group. After all, in spite of Lily's long-waged war against the Marauders, she had to admit that they were truly and absolutely the coolest people in Hogwarts. Between their pranks, their attitude, and their ability to throw an insanely wonderful party, everyone wanted them. The guys wanted to be one of them and the girls wanted to be one of their girlfriends (except for Peter, although he did manage to get a different girl most parties, simply because there was usually a girl desperate enough to be in on the action to go on a single date with Peter).

"I think that's all I'm going to get done tonight," Lily sighed abruptly, closing her book. "Honestly, despite the fact that I'm absolutely terrified and know I should be studying all the time, I feel so confident in the material that I can't bring myself to spend the time I feel I need on it."

"That's because you do know the material, Lily," Claire snorted. "We all do. Well, except for maybe Peter."

Peter squeaked a little, but his blush at being mentioned spoke volumes: He knew he needed all the help he could get.

"Be nice, baby," Sirius chastised, much to Lily's surprise.

She wasn't shocked that he'd called his twin sister 'baby'. That was actually his affectionate nickname for her, and had been for as long as anyone could remember. What really shocked Lily was that Sirius, the hypocrite, was actually telling someone else to be nice. But then, Olivia had had a calming effect on Sirius, particularly in the last year, mellowing him and making him less rowdy and vicious than he had been. Also, Lily couldn't help but think sometimes that Sirius was a bit of a parental figure for Claire, not because she needed someone to keep any eye on her, any more than he did, but because she needed that sort of affection. It was well known that neither of them had had much parental affection, and from what Lily could deduce, Claire had gotten the worst of things.

Every new term, the Black twins would come back sullen, spirits just a little bit more broken, and Claire would have bruises and cuts all over her person, things she tried to hide, things she couldn't hide, and things she probably thought no one knew about, but Lily had seen Claire standing in front of the mirror once, nude, examining her body.

That had been in fourth year, and the only thing that had surprised Lily more than the severity of the cuts, bruises, and scaring on the girl's body was how thin Claire was looking. Olivia discovered after a while that Claire had stopped eating, and the pair of them informed Sirius and staged an intervention, rather more successfully than they had anticipated, but once Sirius knew, Claire wasn't able to bring herself to continue the dangerous behavior. Sirius had actually cried, begged her to stop hurting herself.

"You're so beautiful, baby," Sirius had whispered, rocking his twin sister in his arms. "You were always perfect, and you never had trouble seeing it before. I don't care what started this, but I want it to stop. You're scaring me, love. Don't do this to yourself."

Tears had rolled down his cheeks, dropping into his sister's raven-black hair, and Lily could hear Claire sobbing as well. It had taken several months of close and careful supervision, but Claire overcame her aversion to eating. Sometimes, she struggled, but she told Olivia or Remus or Sirius when she was feeling weak, when she had an urge to skip a meal.

They certainly weren't going into the world as the healthy, happy seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds they ought to have been. There was a war outside the walls. Many of them had already lost people who were close to them, Mary included. Sometimes, the war found its way inside the ways, manifesting itself not only in Mary's death, but in duels in the corridors, Claire's fear of the dark, Olivia's attempt to kill herself after finding Mary's body, Sirius finding places to cry alone, when he thought no one could hear him. The damage, the trauma… it was intense, it was extensive, and not a one of them knew the half of what they all were going through every day. Lily was observant, but even she couldn't say for sure why Sirius was crying in empty classrooms during his free period or why Claire and Olivia would sometimes cry themselves to sleep. Even Audrey had demons Lily could scarcely imagine, her father having been killed by Death Eaters that winter, when she and her brother had been staying at Sirius and Claire's new house.

Maybe it was better like that. Of course, everyone wanted their children to become healthy, well-functioning adults, live peacefully, fulfilling lives, and have happy, untarnished souls. But in a time of war such as they were facing, maybe it was better that they were going into the fight already battle-hardened and torn in two. Maybe it would make the things they had to do that much easier.

Professor Dumbledore had already approached them about his secret organization, the Order of the Phoenix. He wanted all of them, upon graduation, to join him in the fight against Lord Voldemort. They all said yes. They were to become soldiers, every one.

Typically, upon graduating, Lily would have expected to look for a job, find a flat, get closer to James by dating a bit longer, and go about her life as her parents had done. Instead, she was joining a secret organization to fight for her life and freedom, she'd accepted James's marriage proposal (to even her own surprise), and was going to move in with him at a little cottage in Godric's Hollow that his mother had bought for them, which was near the Potter Manor. Other than joining the Order, she had no idea what her friends had decided to do.

That night as they readied for bed, she asked them.

"Sirius wants me to move in with him," Olivia admitted. "But I don't think I'm going to."

"Why not?" Claire cried, horrified.

"Because," she muttered, squirming a little. "The Prophecy…"

There was a murmur of understanding.

There had been a prophecy hundreds of years ago that Olivia's child would be the most powerful witch to ever live. Her mother had been killed when she was a child by Dark Wizards trying to get their hands on Olivia. Even the Slytherin who had harassed her was attempting to claim her on orders of Voldemort. It was obvious why a Dark Wizard would want her on their side, would want her to be impregnated by one of his followers. Mary's death had actually been a message to Olivia that they were going to take away the things she loved one by one until she gave in. She didn't want to be too close to Sirius. She wanted to keep him safe.

"You're going to distance yourself from him," Lily said, knowing that was the point of not moving in with him. "You haven't even told him about the Prophecy, but you're just going to walk away?"

"I have to," Olivia sighed. "The less he knows, the safer he is."

"You'll break his heart," Claire pointed out sadly.

"Better broken-hearted than dead," Olivia hissed.

It was an interesting point, and Lily wondered, had she been in the same situation, would she have been strong enough to do what Olivia was doing, to push away the man she loved for his safety? James was Lily's rock, the one thing keeping her from falling to pieces in these chaotic times. Would she have been able to walk away to keep him alive?

"Remus and I haven't really talked about the future," Claire said with a shrug. "I mean, we're definitely jealous of you and James, Lily," she said with a sly smile, "but I don't think we're quite ready to make that step. And it's more complicated, given certain… stuff."

Yes, that was certainly true. Remus being a werewolf would complicate a lot of things. The deep prejudice within the magical community against werewolves was not something easily overcome, and certainly Claire wasn't emotionally strong enough yet to withstand the stigma of being so shunned from wizarding society. She was still dealing with being shunned from wizarding high society.

"You know what bothers me most?" Olivia whispered into the growing darkness. "People we've seen every day for the last seven years will be on the other side of this thing. I mean… we might actually have to kill people to survive. Have you guys thought about that?"

Oh, yes, Lily had thought about that all right. Every day since Dumbledore had spoken to them, it had been on her mind. It was the main reason she wanted to move the wedding date up so much. It was kill or be killed, and both things terrified her.

"Is there a chance at all that Eva's going to at least stay out of it?" Claire whispered softly.

Eva was Olivia's cousin, who looked just like her, but with blue eyes, and she was a Slytherin. She was an interesting sort of person, who was clearly jealous of Olivia (Olivia topped her at every class, dated the boy she was infatuated with, and even had the supposed glory of the Prophecy that Eva wasn't even mentioned in), but at the same time hated seeing anything happen to her cousin. It was sort of like Lily and her sister Petunia. They had been on bad terms for years, but Lily liked to think that if either one was in danger, the other would do whatever they could to protect their blood.

Hopefully, it never went that far.

"No," Olivia sighed. "From what your cousin Andromeda told me, she's already a Death Eater. I don't know if Regulus or Yaxley got to her first, but she's already at the meetings. Should cause some confusion on the battlefield."

That thought horrified Lily most of all. What if, in the haste of battle, one of the Order accidently mistook Olivia for her cousin? What if Olivia died because of the resemblance?

"We could all die, couldn't we?" Lily whispered. "I mean, there's going to be quite a lot of deaths, isn't there?"

"Yes," Claire whispered. "We could all die."

The silence that fell on the three friends said everything that needed to be expressed, but couldn't possibly be said aloud.