Wohooo. Marauder fic! Lily and James! Sirius and OC! War! It's all very juicy, indeed. I hope you like this! I'm really excited about it. I've got a Naruto story that I've sort of lost interest in due to the fact that I'm bored by the manga and I've shifted my focus over to Harry Potter. Please review with anything. Praise, criticism, personal stories, whatever floats your boat, really. Though I'd appreciate if it has something to do with the story as I'm searching for some feedback. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoy writing it!

Chapter one

I Found You

...

Her body was found amongst the rubble of her house. She was covered in blood, mostly hers but not exclusively, and her clothes were torn in shreds. She was so very young, Lily thought, as she knelt down and brushed away a strand of dirty, tangled coppery red hair from her face. But wasn't Lily young, too? They all were. Too young, too innocent, too careless for this war. But war didn't care about age. It sucked you in and you had no other option but to fight to stay alive and keep your loved ones alive as well.

"Is she alive?" the rich voice came from behind her, and Lily looked up to meet the older woman's eyes. She nodded slowly.

"She's in need of medical attention, though," Lily said, rising to her feet. She swished her wand a few times over the girl and bandages magically sprang out of the tip of her wand and wrapped themselves around the worst of the visible wounds.

"Her parents are dead," Marlene said sadly. "Muggles. We found this," she showed Lily a long, shiny wand. "It belongs to her. We found a trunk full of textbooks in her room."

Lily frowned. "You think she is still a student?"

Marlene nodded, her face twisting angrily. "We think so, yes. The books in her trunk were sixth year level. The school year ended just a couple of weeks ago."

The burning hatred Lily felt for Voldemort and his Death Eaters wasn't a new feeling, but in moments like this, she felt like she might just burst from it. Who did they think they are, to go around killing innocent people who hadn't done anything to deserve it, except to be born without a magical ability? It was absolutely disgusting and appalling.

Lily looked down at the girl, feeling pity and sadness. The girl would wake up soon and find out that she was left parentless. She remembered her own pain when her parents died just two years ago. She'd been around the girl's age and she hadn't taken it well at all. If it hadn't been for James and her friends, she would have fallen into depression. She only hoped the girl had as good friends as hers to help her through the tough times.

She raked her hand through her long, auburn hair and sighed heavily. "I better get her to St. Mungo's."

"Do that," Marlene said with a nod. "We'll finish her and meet the other teams afterward. I'll tell James where you went," she added as she saw Lily open her mouth.

Lily closed it, her lips twitching slightly. Marlene smiled back, though the smile was thin and tired. Lily understood perfectly. The older woman nodded one last time, glanced sadly at the prone girl on the ground and left to scout the ruins with the rest of her team, her Auror robes swishing behind her as she went.

"Let's get you some help," Lily murmured to the girl as she conjured a stretcher and lived the girl on it. "It would be all right."

…

Lily stepped through the front door and closed it softly behind her. She bent down to take off her shoes and smiled as she heard laughter coming from within the house. The war had made her more appreciative of moments like this. It had taken her awhile to warm up to James. Once she had found out what hid beneath the arrogance, she had fallen deeply in love. Her relationship with James had helped her to get to know Sirius better and she found out that there was more to him than arrogance and flippant attitude. He was fiercely loyal and loved his friends deeply. Lily was happy that she was counted amongst his closest people. She'd always gotten along with Remus in school but their relationship had gotten stronger and more comfortable after her relationship with James. As for Peter, he was like the little brother she had never had, even if he was her age.

They were her family, especially after her parents' death and her sister's refusal to have anything to do with her. The Marauders had let her in their little exclusive circle without any problems and she was grateful for that.

Figuring she had lingered a bit too long in the doorway, she took of her shoes and padded quietly to the living room, where she knew her boys would be. Sure enough, she found them there, sans Peter, laughing and drinking butterbeer.

"Hey, Lily," James greeted her with a warm smile as Lily sat down next to him. He put his arm around her shoulders and kissed the side of her head. "How's the girl you found?"

"Still unconscious," Lily said, her face pinching with worry. "The healers have taken care of her wounds but they said she'd been held under the cruciatus for an extended period of time and she'd need time to recover. They don't know how stable she'll be after she wakes up."

All traces of humour left the Marauders' faces and they exchanged dark looks.

"We're going to get those bastards one day," Sirius growled. "All of them."

"Are we?" Lily asked wearily, tiredly. She desperately wanted to believe that but the war has been going on for a few years now and with each year, Voldemort and his Death Eaters got bolder and bolder. If they didn't stop them soon, she didn't even want to imagine what they might do. Everyone was doing their best. The Aurors, the Order, too. They were fighting almost on weekly basis now and she'd had a brush with death so many times that she had become numb to it. And that scared her.

"Of course!" James said loudly with an indignant and passionate look. "We will win. We'll get them all in Azkaban, where they deserve to rot in the company of the dementors until they die. Don't ever lose hope, Lily! The moment we lose hope, we let them win."

"James is right," Remus said with an intense look in his pale green eyes. "We can't lose hope. It's what gives us strength to keep fighting."

"You're right. Of course you're are," Lily said with a gentle smile. She rubbed her temples. "I'm just tired and I've had a tough day. Maybe I should just go to bed."

"Don't you want to eat dinner first?" James asked. "Iffy is making us sausages and mash."

"I'm not really hungry," Lily said. She kissed him on the lips and stood up. "I've got to get up early, anyway. I'm going to St. Mungo's to check on Kathleen," she noticed their questioning looks and elaborated. "The girl I found today. She doesn't have anybody to check on her now, what with her parents dead."

James' face softened. "Of course. I'll never get over how good of a person you are."

Lily smiled. "Anyone would do it, really. Good night, boys."

"Good night, Lily!" Sirius and Remus chorused.

"I'll be up right after dinner," James said and she nodded, then she left.

She walked down the wide and lengthy corridors of the Potter mansion without much hurry. While she'd said the truth about being tired, she'd also wanted to be alone and she knew that if she told them that, they'd ask questions she didn't feel like answering. There was no particular reason for Lily's need to be alone. She was just like that sometimes, but the extremely close friends couldn't understand that. Even when they were angry with each other, they spend time together. Lily admired their strong bond. It was like they'd unknowingly made an Unbreakable Vow that they'd always be there for each other.

Lily thought of her own friends and how little of them she'd seen lately. She'd been spending time with people from the Order way more than her friends, though she supposed the people from the Order were her friends now. Alice and Marlene had become like the older sisters Petunia had never been, looking out for her and giving her advice. She'd even managed to warm up to Dorcas, only after the witch had stopped making googly eyes at James and started dating Gideon Prewett. Lily chuckled as she remembered how spiteful she had been towards Dorcas. Lily wasn't a jealous person by nature and James had never given her a reason to doubt him. But Dorcas was extremely pretty, like a supermodel. Someone like that showing interest in your husband was worrying even if you had the utmost confidence in him.

Without noticing, she had walked up to the bedroom she shared with James. She opened the door and walked inside. It was a big room, fitting for the enormous mansion, with a huge canopy bed that still made Lily feel giddy upon seeing it. The room wasn't as grand and big as the master's bedroom on the second floor but James didn't want to sleep in his parents' bedroom and she understood him. It was their place, he said. He wanted to keep it just the way it was before they died. Lily didn't particularly care about the size or the fact that every single piece of furniture was a high-quality antique and impossibly expensive. She only cared that it was theirs. Hers and James'. Their little palace. Since Remus and Sirius were both living with them, upon James' insistence, their room was the only place where they could be completely alone and in private, especially with Sirius in the house and that made Lily treasure it even more.

Lily stretched out her arms above her head as she walked up to the polished desk, overflowing with papers and textbooks that belonged to both her and James. After leaving Hogwarts, they had both wanted to get jobs, James as an Auror and Lily as a Healer but after they had gotten involved with the Order, they'd found that fighting against the darkest wizard of their time, possibly of all time, and his evil followers was a full time job and it didn't allow them time to study. Lily felt sad that she couldn't pursue her career choice but she could always do it after the war ended. She tried to be optimist about that. About the war ending. About surviving it.

Iffy had left them the daily mail on the same spot she always did. There were old letters that neither she or James had felt important enough to open but Lily noticed a new envelope, creamy and clearly expensive on top of the stack. It had her name writtin in golden cursive on it. She picked it up and noticed the same envelope beneath it, with James' name on it. It looked like a wedding invitation. She had gone to enough weddings, and also had one of her own, to recognise the tipe of letter anywhere. But who did she know that was about to marry? The only ones who weren't already married, single or simply not interested in marrying were Dorcas and Gideon but she doubted that they had taken such a serious step yet. They'd been only dating for a few months.

Ignoring the fact that she and James hadn't been dating for much longer than them when they got married, she carefully opened the envelope and read its contents.

Her jaw dropped when she saw the name inside. Both names, in fact.

You are cordially invited to celebrate the wedding of

Lucille Barbara Rowle

and

Derek Earnest Macmillan

On Sunday afternoon

August the 2nd

at three o'clock

in the Rowle family home

followed by reception

She couldn't believe her eyes. Lucy was going to marry Derek. When had they started dating? She wasn't even sure Lucy even liked Derek. She certainly hadn't when Lily had dated him. She always made snarky comments about how sappy and unexiciting he was. Morever, she remembered her friend saying that she wouldn't marry if she could help it. Lucy had always been very carefree in retaliation to her parents' conservative and old-fashioned views. She had always reminded her of Sirius in all her efforts to distinguish herself as much as possible from her parents and doing exactly the opposite of what they told her to do. And her parents had always wanted Lucy to marry someone from a respectable pureblood family.

Had they managed to persuade her, after all? Or Lucy had actually fallen in love with Derek and just hadn't told Lily about it? She realised that the last owl she had received from Lucy was last month and it hadn't been terribly detailed. Lucy had been meeting with various Quidditch teams, trying to get herself on a team. Yet another thing her parents disapproved of.

Lily grabbed spare parchment, a quill and an ink well and sat down to write down to her friend.

Dear Lucy,

I got your wedding invitation and to say the least, I'm shocked. When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me? Are you parents involved in this? Did you submit to their wishes or did you actually start dating Derek? And if you had, why didn't you tell me? You didn't think I was going to be mad, did you? Because I'm not. Really. I hope that isn't the case. I'm just really, really surprised. If you're in love with him, I'm so happy for you! But if this is about your parents... we can talk about it. I know you won't be happy if you do what they tell you to do.

I hope you manage to reply quickly.

I love you!

Lily

Lily reread it once before she found a spare envelope in the mess on the desk, sealed it with her wand and left for the owlerly.

...

"I'm invited as well?" James asked in surprise as he drank his morning coffee and disinterestedly flipped through the Daily Prophet until he reached the sports section.

Lily put down the knife after she was done smearing strawberry jam on her toast, and stared at James. "This is what you're asking after I told you that Lucy is getting married? Lucy! To Derek!"

"Well, I'm a bit surprised. I thought Lucy had better taste than that-"

Lily scrunched up a napkin in her hand and threw the ball across the table at James. Unfortunately, her aim had always been awful and

and didn't even glaze James. Her husband snickered. "Shut up! Honestly, you still haven't gotten over your irrationally hatred towards Derek?"

James' hazel eyes darkened. "I still got the memories of when Sirius and I ran into the two of you in that broom closet."

Lily rolled her eyes. "It's not like he forced me into it. I was a hearty participant."

"That's even worse!" James exclaimed. He flushed when he noticed Lily's raised eyebrows. "You know what I mean."

"I just think it's strange," Lily said, deciding to move on from the topic. "I hope she replies soon."

James shrugged. "It's her decision, Lily. Even if it was her parents who got her to do it, ultimately, it was she who said yes. Unless her parents use the Imperius Curse her, but they don't seem like that type..."

Lily fixed him with a glare. "Not funny."

"You're taking this hard," James noted, looking up from the newspaper. "Are you bothered that she's marrying Derek?" he asked suspiciously.

Lily sighed in utter exasperation. "Don't be ridiculous. I don't feel anything for him."

James shrugged. "Can't blame a bloke for making sure."

"Idiot," Lily muttered as she took a bite from her toast and chewed contendedly.

"Good morning, lovebirds," Sirius greeted as he walked in the dining room, still dressed only in his pajama bottoms, though curiously his hair was perfectly in order. Lily had gotten used to seeing Sirus bare chest and didn't even blink as he passed her by and patted her on the head before taking a seat on James' right. "You aren't fighting, are you?" He asked as he poured himself coffee and glanced between them.

"I was just telling that Lucy is marrying Derek Macmillan next month." Lily said, watching Sirius closely for his reaction.

Sirius' face didn't express shock, much to her disappointment, only thoughtfullness. After a moment of silence, he spoke. "You think she'll still let me shag her?"

James snickered while Lily threw her hands in the air in frustration. "You two are completely hopeless!" She exclaimed as she stood up. The two best friends grinned at each other, reminding her of their school years, and she rolled her eyes. "Well, if you excuse me, I've got place to be," she said in a fake snotty voice.

"Aw, Lily, don't pout!" James said, much to Sirius' amusement. "If it makes you feel better, we both think she's making a terrible mistake with marrying Macmillan. Right, mate?"

Since Sirius' mouth was full with toast, he just nodded.

Lily scoffed at him. "You think it's a mistake because it might end the shag buddy relationship you have with her."

Sirius didn't even pause to think about denying it, he just nodded again.

"I give up. I'm leaving now."

"But Lily, aren't you going to kiss me goodbye?" James shouted after her. "You know my day isn't good when you don't do it!"

"Dear Merlin, James, how much of a sap are you?" Sirius asked snarkily, sounding a cross between amusement and disgusted.

"Shut up!" James ordered and she could imagine his flushed cheeks at his best friend's teasing. She grinned.

"You'll deal with it!" She shouted back.

She entered the entrance hall and grabbed her grey ballet shoes that matched her pale powder dress perfectly. She draped a thin cloak over her muggle assemble, just because magical folk tended to look at her strangely when she went about in their world dressed completely as a muggle. She turned to look at herself in the mirror, smoothing any bumps in her hair that was pulled up in a bun, and checking her skin for any blemishes.

She heard footsteps and then James appeared behind her in the mirror, wrapping his arms around middle. He kissed her exposed collarbone, making her shiver. "That wasn't very nice." He said lowly, in what she recognised as his seductive voice.

"You weren't being very nice," Lily replied as she tried to ignore the feeling that spread through her body as he left butterfly kissed along her neck. He inhaled sharply and smiled.

"We were just teasing," he said, meeting her eyes in the mirror.

Lily smiled devilishly. "I was just teasing too," she said before spinning around in his embrace and kissing him on the lips passionately. James let out a squaek that he'd later deny producing, and kissed her back just as passionately, wrapping her even tighter in his embrace.

Goosebumps spread all over Lily's body and she felt her skin get hot as their kiss and touches became more and more searching and wandering. Then she remebered that she really had places to be and unwillingly pulled away from the kiss. "I've got to go," she whispered, not trusting her voice to come out even.

James pouted but understood. He kissed her on the lips one more time, then on tip of her nose and then on her forehead. Lily was very thankful Sirius wasn't there to witness that, because he'd have a disparging comment in a flash. She really wanted him to fall in love and try to refrain from doing the same things James was doing. "Be safe," he said before his arms pulled away from her completely, leaving her feeling colder than before.

"Always am," she replied cheekily. "I love you."

"I love you, too," James said.

Walking down the hallways of St. Mungo's, Lily couldn't help but dream. She imagined herself in the Healer's uniform, perhaps another colour, because that shade of green would look hideous with her hair. She'd work in the Spell Damage department and solve puzzling wounds and cases, and save lives. There was nothing more rewarding that, in her opinion. She was saving lives now, too, albet indirectly. She wished the war would end soon, so she, her family and everyone else could live normal lives without any fear.

Reception had directed her to the Fourth Floor to the Spell Damage department, where Kathleen Parker was currently being taken care of the Healers there. She made a note to contact Marlene to ask if they had found anything about her and if she had any family that could take care of her once she got better. It was possible that Kathleen had turned seventeen already but that didn't mean she had to be left all alone.

There were a lot of people burstling about the hallway as she stepped on the fourth floor and most weren't healers but visitors. Lily frowned as she got passed by a sobbing middle-aged woman, hugged by the shoulders by, what Lily assumed to be, her sad looking husband. She could only imagine the news they had gotten. She felt her stomach tighten at the sight and she quickened pace. She wanted to reach Kathleen's room as soon as possible. She didn't want to see the broken faces of people who had gotten that news that their loved ones had become another casualty in the war. She couldn't bare it.

Lily reached the end of the hallway where Kathleen's room was. She reached out for the doorknob but the door opened before she'd managed to open it herself. Healer Mason stepped out, eyes widening in surprising as he took in the sight of Lily standing there.

"Miss Evans!" He said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I didn't expect to see you here so soon!"

Lily smiled. "I just want to check how she is."

Healer Mason smiled. "You're so kind, Miss Evans. She is healing nicely, yes. Although I'm afraid some of the cuts made on her body are from a cursed blade and would never heal fully. It's very unfortunate that she got scarred at such a young age. Fortunately, none of the cuts on her face were cursed and we could heal those.

She should wake up in the next few days after her body had fully recovered from the shock of the torture curse." He sighed, rubbing his forehead. "The poor girl had gone through enormous pain. I just pray she'll be able to come out unscathed mentally."

"You can't say anything before she wakes up, then?" Lily asked anxiously. "No tests can tell you if she's, well..."

"Crazy?" Healer Mason smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile. It was a dark and humourless, making his relatively young face appear much older. "No one had predicted that the torture curse would become such a huge problem, so therefore, no diagnostic spells of this kind have been invented yet. But with recent events in mind, I'm sure someone is already working on it."

"Let's hope it gets invented quicker then," Lily said.

"Do you want to come in?" Healer Mason said, stepping aside from the door. "She's completely unconscious, of course, but if you want you can go in, you can."

"Just for a bit," Lily promised.

"Really, it's all right, Miss Evans. I find it admirable that you're so concerned about a girl you don't know at all. I must go now," he said as he checked his watch. "But it was nice seeing you, Miss Evans. Hopefully I'll have the pleasure again."

Lily smiled at his friendly words. "Likewise."

"Have a nice day," he said as he left down the hallway, presumably to check on other patients. Lily returned the sentiment and then entered Kathleen's room.

The room looked like a typical hospital room, except without all the gadgets the muggle hospitals had. Wizards didn't need them. Lily felt the room was terribly impersonal, but she supposed it didn't have to be. After all, no one came into a hospital intending to stay there and make it their home. Still, she remembered how different James' room had looked when he had gotten injured seriously enough during a Quidditch play to lend himself in St. Mungo's. The Gryffindors in his year had come to visit, his room had been full of presents, his mother had changed the drapes to red, James' favourite colours, and brought him his own bedding set which were, of course, gold and red.

Kathleen didn't have parents to do that for her, though, and that made Lily's heart ache. She noticed the dying flowers in the glass vase on the bedside table and took them. She swished her wand and conjured a boquete of fragnant and colourful flowers. She looked over at her work and nodded in satisfaction before turning to look at the bed.

Kathleen looked terribly small and pale in the hospital bed. She'd noticed that the girl wasn't especially tall but on the bed she looked like a small, crushed doll. The only visible parts of her were her face and neck and Lily was glad when she noticed that the cuts there were well on their way to healing.

She moved closer to the bed and brushed the red hair away from Kathleen's face. She had a lot of hair, and now that it was washed, Lily could see it was lush and shiny. She must be proud of it. Everything about the girl screamed innocence and victim in his moment, and something inside Lily, perhaps her innate mother instinct kicked in and she felt a surge of fierce protectiveness over her. Over a complete stranger.

James had always told her that she was motherly, what with the way she fussed over everyone when they got injured, especially the Marauders. He said that he thought she'd make a great mother one day. The mother to their children.

Lily let out a long breath and took a seat on the armchair beside the bed. Glancing at her watch, she noticed she had half an hour before she had to leave for her meeting with Alice. Since both of them were exceptionally good at Potions, Dumbledore had assigned them the task of fiding rare ingredients they'd need for some of the potions the Order would need in the future. They both had agreed readily, especially since lately, they hadn't been able to see much of each other. Alice was an Auror and the Ministry was understandably overworking them and needed them at all times.

She closed her eyes as she leaned back in the armchair and closed her eyes, simply relaxing. She'd come to treasure those rare moments of serenity, when she could just sit back and relax.

Of course, she could have known that wouldn't continue for long. About five minutes later, the door opened and she heard heels clacking against tiles. She opened her eyes and raised her eyebrows in surprise when she saw Marlene standing there, decked in her Auror uniform.

"How did you know I was here?"

Marlene grinned as she closed the door. "Swung by your place. You'd probably be interested to know that I found a shirtless Black on top of your husband when I got there."

It was a sign of how used to she was to the two of them that she didn't even twitch. She just sighed. "I knew there was something going on there,' she said in attempt to sound broken.

Marlene chuckled. "I told you," she shook her head. "Actually, having a homosexual affair behind you back would be better then wrestling for the last piece of toast but they didn't seem to agree when I said that. What do I know."

Lily snorted. "I can only imagine their reactions."

"There was a suspicious amount of vehement denying," Marlene said. "And Sirius offering to show me just how straight he is."

"You'd think he'd stop doing that after the last time Adam talked with him," Lily said, shaking her head.

Marlene shrugged. "Hey, I don't mind. Sirius a mighty fine bloke. It could be worse. It could be Moody."

The two of them grimaced in disgust at the mere thought of Moody making a pass at either of them. The thought was as disgusting as it was bewildering and improbable.

"Moving past that," Lily said quickly as Marlene nodded in agreement. "Did you find anything about her?"

"She has an older brother," Marlene said. Lily straightened in her seat. "He lives in America, though. I managed to find his address and owled him this morning about the happenings. I suspect my owl will arrive there soon. I've instructed him to reply immediately so Dew could arrive with the reply as soon as possible. She doesn't have any other relatives. Three of her grandparets are dead, the fourth one is on the verge of it. No aunts or uncles ergo no cousins. She's all alone beside her brother."

Lily stared at Kathleen's relaxed, sleeping face with thin lips. "How old is her brother?"

"Twenty-two. He's studying Astronomy from what my sources tell me. He's a muggle, gone through all the muggle education. Move to study in America four years ago."

Lily nodded. "That's good."

"It is," Marlene agreed. "You are very concerned about this girl," she said after a pause, making Lily look at her. Her friend's brown eyes were curious. "I mean, you're always concerned about everyone but this is even more than usual. Why?"

Lily frowned. She didn't know why she felt so concerned and protective over her. There was just something about finding her in those ruins with her parents cold bodies so close by that made her feel like the girl needed someone to protect her. Someone to care for her like a family would. It was completely ridiculous and she realised it but she couldn't change how she felt. "I don't know," she answered honestly.

Marlene peered down at Kathleen thoughtfully. "She looks very delicate," she said finally, as if that was all the reason Lily needed to feel such protectiveness over her. Although it did play apart. Lily knew that looks could be deceiving but until Kathleen had woken up and Lily actually met her, this was what she'd think of her.

Lily nodded. "She does."

Marlene looked away and shrugged. "Do you want to get some coffee with me? Adam chugged it all down this morning and I'd die if I have to go through one of meetings without caffeine."

Lily glanced at her watched. "I guess I have some time."

"So glad you could fit me in your incredibly cluttered schedule, princess," Marlene threw sarcastically over her shoulder as she opened the door and left the room.

Lily rolled her eyes. "You're welcome," she replied in a gracious tone. She glanced over her shoulder at the bed. Get better soon, she thought as she joined Marlene in the hallway and closed the door behind her.