A/N: Heeeello and welcome to my new fanfiction! It's a Jily (of course it is) but that's not the only focus. I've been wanting to write one that includes some of the war as well; I think I've neglected it in my other stories so I want this one a little more serious. We'll have some happy things in it of course - and lots of Lily and James time - but there's also going to be some war stuff. So, strap yourself in and get ready for this Jily journey!

Disclaimer: alas, the Harry Potter universe belongs to J. K. Rowling but I do claim credit for the storyline. Everything else is hers!

Chapter One

Doomed.

How that word had haunted her since third year. She had chosen Divination at the time to quench her curiosity of the Wizarding World. Being a Muggle-born, everything at Hogwarts had seemed, well, magical and she had craved to know more and more about it. The ability to predict the future had seemed to be just what she was looking for. Whether she was a Seer or not didn't matter because all she wanted to do was learn.

And she wasn't a Seer. Lily could read symbols in tea leaves easily enough, there was no magic behind that, but she could no near see something in a crystal ball than she could tell what Marlene McKinnon was thinking. Severus had warned her against the subject, told her it was a waste of time, but something about the perfumed North Tower in which the lessons took place drew a kind of hunger from her.

At least for the first few weeks.

Then, on one fateful afternoon, when she had loitered behind to ask Professor Acranum a question about the homework, everything changed.

'You are doomed.' he had told her, indicating she take a seat in front of his purple-flamed fire. 'The fates have informed me. You are doomed. You will die, betrayed by one you call a friend, defenceless against the one who wields the knife.'

Acranum had always been dramatic, springing out of nowhere to inform a student they would catch the flu the following week, and Lily a teacher-shy thirteen-year-old, who nodded at whatever her teachers said. She had simply thanked him and left, the question about her homework completely forgotten.

She hadn't cared particularly about his warning of how she would die; why should she? She was only thirteen and her life had encountered nothing to make her fear such a thing. Death seemed so long away that she couldn't bring herself to care about it. But the first part, her doom, that bothered her.

Because doom didn't just refer to her death. It referred to her life too.

…

The train screeched to an abrupt halt, throwing Lily's head violently off the window it had been resting on. Marlene sniggered from opposite her but hastily fell silent when she saw Lily glance in her direction, her face sliding back into its usual neutrality, her copy of Witch Weekly rising to hide her face. Shaking her head slightly, Lily glanced about at the others in the compartment.

Dorcas stood in the doorway, clinging onto it, still swaying about as she recovered from the violent lurch a second ago. Emmaline was blinking slowly, recovering from the rough awakening from her nap. Mary was cursing down at the spilled nail varnish staining her robes; and Hestia was sprawled on the ground, wincing as she tried to stand up.

'We can't be there already, can we?' Emmaline asked the group at large, slapping her cheeks to regain complete consciousness.

'Must be.' Mary replied, checking the elegantly expensive watch on her wrist for confirmation. 'We always pull into Hogsmeade around eight.'

'Well, they didn't have to making me fall over in the process.' Hestia muttered, pulling herself up on one of the seats as Dorcas chuckled.

'Should've held on like I told you.' she said, and Hestia rolled her eyes as she got to her feet.

'Yeah but we all know Hestia wouldn't know what listening is if it slapped her in the face.' Lily piped up evenly, wiping away some of the condensation on the window to peer outside.

'I cannot wait to get off this train.' Mary declared, stretching her arms and legs out in front of her. 'If I stay in this stuffy compartment for any longer, I'll die.'

'You'll be dying pretty soon then, Mary.' Lily informed her casually, smirking as she squinted through the window, her nose touching the cold glass. 'I hate to be that person, but we aren't at Hogsmeade. All I can see is trees.'

'What?' Mary squawked, rushing over and pressing her face against the window to verify Lily's statement. 'For Merlin's sake!'

'Why have we stopped – if we're not at Hogsmeade?' Emmaline said, frowning. 'We never usually stop.'

'Maybe there's a tree across the tracks.' Dorcas suggested, unconcerned. 'It was windy earlier.'

'Maybe we're all about to be murdered.' Lily contributed, and Mary elbowed her.

'Keep your cynical jokes to yourself until we get to school.' she scolded, while Lily grinned. 'I can't deal with that side of your humour on an empty stomach.'

'You're hungry?' Dorcas snorted. 'What about all those cauldron cakes you ate?'

'But that was hours ago.' Mary dismissed, leaving Lily by the window and squeezing past those standing in the compartment in the direction of the door. 'I'll check the corridor. Maybe someone else knows what's going on.'

But there was no need for Mary to investigate for the answer to the question on everyone's mind came floating through the tannoy.

'Attention all students.' a voice said. 'We have been tipped off that there is an ambush awaiting us at Hogsmeade station. As such, we have made the decision that the students will evacuate the train now and walk to the school entrance. There will be members of staff along the route and your luggage can be left on the tr–'

'What do they mean there's an ambush –' Mary began in a rather loud whisper but stopped when everyone in the compartment shushed her.

'– Please could the first, second, third, sixth and seventh years report to the front of the train. Those in fourth and fifth year, please vacate the train and head North from the right-hand side of the train. Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick will be waiting to accompany you. Thank you.'

The girls turned to each other.

'What in the name of Merlin's going on?' Mary said, voicing what they were all thinking.

There was silence for a moment.

'We'd better go to the front of the train.' Dorcas decided finally and the others nodded. 'Don't forget your wands.'

They filed out but Lily stopped, noting Marlene hadn't moved. The others didn't notice.

'Coming, Marlie?' she said, watching her expectantly. Marlene nodded, slowly folding her magazine and slipping it into the pocket of her robes.

The corridors were absolute chaos. Students were running left, right and centre, the entire thing a huge mess as some battled to leave the train whilst being swept up in the throng moving towards the front of the train. People kept shouting, trying to find their friends. Everyone was moving in clumps, causing congestion, and several people were completely bowled over by the crowd.

Lily almost tripped over a little girl, who had been knocked over in the confusion.

'First year?' she asked, pulling her upright as Marlene shuffled her feet behind them, scowling at some fifth-year boys, who had stopped to laugh. 'Right, you come with Marlie and me.'

'Someone get the baby a tissue.' one of them cooed.

'Clear off, you lot.' Lily snapped at them while Marlene increased her glaring in their direction. 'You're supposed to be getting off the train.'

'You're not a prefect. You can't tell us what to do.' another one jeered smugly.

'No, but I can hex you.' she replied mildly, producing her wand. 'Your choice.'

They wrenched open the nearest door to the outside and piled out, Lily smirking in a self-satisfied way before chivvying the first-year forwards and pulling Marlene along with her. Their hold up had brought them to the back of the crowd so the rest of their journey to the front of the train had no other delays.

When they reached their destination, Lily steered the little girl to the cluster of her peers near the where the Head girl and boy were standing, ready to address the students in front of them. She slipped back to where Dorcas, Mary, Emmeline, Hestia and Marlene were hovering, waiting alongside everyone else for the Head team to speak.

'Could all the third-year and below students come to the front please?' the Head girl, Alice Prewett, instructed, the encouraging smile on her face slightly ruined by the way she was wringing her hands. 'Thank you.'

'We need two sixth or seventh years to accompany a group of younger students to the castle. Could you get into pairs while we sort out the groups?' Frank Longbottom, the Head boy, looked similarly false with his cheerfulness. His posture was altogether stiff and the reassuring grin he gave the crowd was more of a grimace than anything else.

Lily smiled at Marlene, who nodded stiffly, her face unreadable, her fist clenching tightly around her wand. Mary partnered with Dorcas, and Emmeline partnered with Hestia.

Once the groups had been decided, Alice and Frank started calling forth pairs of older students and, once paired, they would leave through the open door to the side of them. The number of students in the train slowly thinned.

'Lily, Marlene, this is your group.' Alice said eventually, beckoning them forward. The girls obeyed and Lily recognised the same little girl they had rescued earlier. She smiled in recognition.

Their herd left the train, Lily taking the front and Marlene the rear, both of them with their wands out, looking alert. The exits from the train were on the left-hand side so the group was forced to walk around the first carriage and clamber over the locks connecting it to the next carriage. Lily and Marlene helped the younger students across and then regrouped on the right side.

'I don't know if it's a good idea to light our wands.' Lily murmured to Marlene. 'By the looks of things, the other groups haven't.'

Marlene nodded, glancing at the dense wood that awaited them.

'Right.' Lily said to the group at large, conjuring a large rope. 'I want you all to hold onto this. It's going to be really dark once we get into those woods and I don't want anyone to get lost. If you need to let go for any reason, tug and we'll all stop.'

Obediently, everyone took a bit of rope to hold onto and, with a look of approval from Marlene, Lily led the way into the forest. There was a little moonlight from the half moon hanging in the sky so, if Lily strained her eyes a little, she could make out the tree stumps and sticks on the forest floor. On the horizon she could just see the group before them disappear over the small hill this wood sprawled over, a massive figure waving them on. Hagrid.

With much panting and a stitch growing in her midriff, Lily started to ascend the hill, her eyes flitting about for any sign of more human life. Whatever the announcement had meant by an ambush, it was clear things were serious. But the uncertainty of what the ambush actually was made Lily's heart pump much faster than it ought to. Facing an unknown opponent was oddly more blood curdling than knowing what danger lay ahead, even if it meant knowing she was heading towards her impending death.

They reached the top of the hill and Hagrid nodded to them.

'Tha's righ'.' he said upon their arrival, his voice uncharacteristically hushed. 'Don' want no lights giving yeh away.'

'Hagrid, what's going on?' Lily asked, matching his volume.

'Death Eaters.' he replied seriously, ducking down to speak to her properly. 'Loads of 'em.'

'In Hogsmeade?'

'Yeah… All over the platform…' Hagrid glanced over her shoulder. 'I reckon tha's the nex' group. Better be on yer way.'

Lily said goodbye and led the way down the hill.

Everything was horribly silent so that every step their group took sounded flinchingly loud compared to their still surroundings. She wondered how long they had before the Death Eaters realised there would be no students arriving at the station. Once that happened, they would start searching the surrounding area and this route couldn't be too far from the school or else they wouldn't be walking. They were also among the last few groups meaning they had far less time than the others to get back to the castle. The train couldn't be delayed for too long without being suspicious and once the train arrived in Hogsmeade the game would be up.

Lily didn't know when that would be.

When they reached the bottom of the hill, Lily noted the trees were thinning. Her stomach clenched. That meant two things; they were nearing the school and they were about to lose their cover.

'Apparently, the train's running late.' someone said up ahead. Lily's heart leapt. Death Eaters. Two of them. Both men, she thought, taking in their burly, gigantic forms.

'Good thing we're checking it out then.' the other said gruffly. 'Wouldn't want that old Headmaster getting the better of us.'

Lily tugged on the rope and then turned around to usher the now still group behind the cover of a clump of trees. Adrenalin was coursing through her as she motioned for them all to crouch. There was no way they could get passed without being noticed. And then there was the other group a little way behind them, just about to descend the hill. Shooting a slightly panicked look behind her at Marlene, Lily crept forwards, craning her neck around the tree to spy on the two Death Eaters.

The two men didn't seem particularly interested in moving. They appeared to be waiting for something. And then, much to Lily's horror, three others joined them, Apparating into existence with a spine-chilling crack.

Her mind was racing. How on earth were they supposed to get passed?

A single idea presented itself to her. It was a horrible idea and made her stomach churn uncomfortably, but she couldn't see any other way. She didn't know how to cast a Patronus and so couldn't send for help; even if she had, she would have given away their hiding place before any help could reach them.

Cautiously, Lily shifted over to Marlene.

'I'm going to distract them.' she whispered in Marlene's ear. 'Once they're looking the other way, get everyone to run and don't stop until you reach the school gate. Or a teacher. Whichever you find first.'

Marlene stared at her.

'I know it's a stupid idea.' Lily muttered, for once knowing exactly what Marlene's expression meant. 'But it's the only one I've got.'

Clutching at her wand, Lily stood up, taking deep breaths. She edged a little round the closest tree trunk. Her idea was suicidal, but she was the doomed Lily Evans, so she hadn't really expected it to be anything else.

You are doomed. You will die, betrayed by one you call a friend, defenceless against the one who wields the knife.

Somehow, the knowledge that her death would be due to betrayal calmed her breathing. Betrayal wasn't particularly likely here. And with that in mind, Lily raised her wand, ready to cause a distraction. She was a Gryffindor. She could do this.

Oooh, a cliff-hanger of sorts. I am a little cruel like that...

I know prophecies are a bit overdone but bear with me. This one gives Lily some motivation I like to think - she's reckless and to me she uses this prophecy to justify her jumping into danger. James is reckless too, of course, but I've always imagined Harry gets it more from Lily than James.

Anyway, make my day and leave a review. Let me know what you think of the story so far!