Disclaimer: If I said I owned Harry Potter, would you seriously believe me? There. Of course not. I obviously don't.

I'm not sure where this fic is going, so just bear with me...

Lily Grace Williams awoke with a start. It was barely just morning, and the sunlight slanting through her window had a pale quality that told her dawn had broken only recently. She massaged her temples, trying to remember her dream. A pale, pointed face, full of fear and determination... a flash of green light... a body falling, falling...

"Lily!"

The fragments of dream she had been straining to hold now escaped and melted away at the sound of her father's voice. Lily lifted her head and turned to her bedroom door. "What is it, Dad?" she called.

Her father burst into the bedroom, his face pale. "Lily - come downstairs. Urgent message - "

Lily jumped to her feet and shoved on her slippers, then snatched up her wand from the bedside table. "What is it, Dad?"

"Just come downstairs..."

Lily rushed down the stairs in her pajamas. Her mother was standing in the center of the kitchen, two tracks of tears on her face. "Lily..."

"What is it? Mum? Dad? What happened?"

Her mother pointed her wand at the floor and murmured, "Priori Incantatem."

A ghostly image of a silver cat appeared on the spot; Lily recognized the shining pelt of a Patronus. The cat opened its mouth and spoke with a voice that Lily vaguely recognized.

"Hogwarts has been in a battle with Death Eaters. Harry Potter is safe. Dumbledore was killed."

The ghostly image dissolved into nothingness.

Lily felt the floor spin under her feet, and she staggered backwards into a chair. Death Eaters had penetrated Hogwarts. Hogwarts. Lily had been homeschooled, but she knew how safe Hogwarts was supposed to be. How impenetrable. How invulnerable.

Death Eaters. Death Eaters in Hogwarts. That was impossible.

And Dumbledore was dead. Dumbledore, their last rallying point, their safeguard. The Only One He Ever Feared was dead.

But Harry Potter lived.

Please review or else I'll think no one's read this! Like I said, I'm not sure where this is going, so just... bear with me, all right?

TribalGirl