A/N: To my dear Liza, I wish you a very, very belated birthday. I hope you like this. As they say, 'Better late, than never!' :)
It was 1941 and the world was at war. James and Lily were in France where they had joined the French Resistance. Currently, they were on a mission in Normandy, waiting for daybreak, when a boat would take them across to Mont Saint-Michel. In the Abbey on the island, the Germans were holding Dumbledore, Minister for Magic, Frances Copley, and Head Auror, Bertie Hanlow.
"Lily?" whispered James quietly.
Lily looked up at the man in her life. The flames from the fire made his face look eerily distorted for a moment, his glasses looked opaque and made him look blind.
"Hey love," whispered Lily back.
"Food?" asked James softly, holding out a piece of French bread and a lump of cheese.
"Merlin, yes," said Lily gratefully.
They both tucked in with relish. It wasn't long before the other men returned from setting booby traps to warn them of unwanted intruders. They took their places around the fire and also began eating.
"Traps all set?" asked Alice quietly.
"They sure are cuz," winked Fabian.
"What did you do?" asked Mary uneasily.
"Don't worry about it McDonald," replied Gideon.
"I am going to worry about it if it's going to set up a huge hoo ha and alert the Germans we're here!" hissed Mary hotly.
"Don't worry, the Muffliato charm has been set so that the Muggles won't hear it but we will," spat Fabian back.
Mary with her short fuse pulled her gun on Fabian.
"Woah, woah this isn't a bank holiday and bring your own sandwiches," said Lily sharply. "This is war! We have three people we need to rescue at day break, now cool your heels!"
Fabian and Mary broke apart and sat down muttering. Hestia leaned into Lily and whispered.
"I wish those two would get together already, maybe the tension between them would finally break."
Lily just grinned.
"So does everyone know what they're doing tomorrow?" asked Benjy Fenwick.
The general consensus was yes. Lily and Mary, the Muggles of the group, were to use a Tommy gun on the German guards. Reconnaissance showed that the German guards were acting under the Imperius curse. Anyone else was to use their wand.
After that, everyone finally settled down to sleep. They all bivouacked under the stars. Lily and James, where as far away from the others as possible. They were cuddled up together.
"Hey Lils, what are you thinking about?" asked James quietly.
"Hm?" queried Lily.
"You're very quiet, what are you thinking about?"
"Home," said Lily in a whisper.
James cuddled Lily closer still, their leather jackets creaking from the contact. Lily reached for her pocket and pulled a rather crumpled letter she'd received before they'd sailed for France again. This was their third mission. It was starting to take its toll on Lily's nerves, being that she was more of a pacifist. The letter was full of home, and how the nightly bombing raids were getting worse, and if they had to spend any more time in the air raid shelter, they would go completely insane. This worried Lily, what if a bomb was to drop on Cokeworth? What if she didn't get a chance to say goodbye? Lily shuddered and James pulled her closer.
"They'll be okay Lils," assured James.
"I hope so love," whispered Lily.
They were about to kiss when Sirius interrupted.
"Hello lovebirds," he said with a grin.
"Sirius," said Lily curtly.
"What's up Sirius?" asked James.
"New Intel," said Sirius immediately.
Lily and James sat up and began to move towards Benjy and Remus.
"What's the news?" asked James rapidly.
"They're moving them at daybreak," said Remus just as quickly.
Lily swore under her breath. They'd been afraid of this, ever since the joint venture with the British Military came into effect. Six months ago a secret meeting took place, a meeting between the British Military and the Ministry of Magic, to rescue anyone magical that had been taken prisoner of war. They couldn't risk exposing magic, they had to keep it to a minimum, they just didn't have enough Obliviators at the MoM to deal with the overexposure.
Lily and Mary were already working for the SoE (English section) when they were to combine forces with their magical counterparts. That had been when she'd met James Potter and fallen in love. At first she thought he'd been an arrogant asshole, but as the weeks went on, she came to realise that it was all a front that hid his deeper feelings. They'd now been together three months, even though it was strictly forbidden in case one of them were to get caught and tortured for information. Magical or Muggle it didn't matter. But they'd both said, in effect, sod that and they'd take their chances.
Lily and Mary had quickly made friends with their magical counterparts. Normally there wouldn't have been so many bodies involved in a rescue mission, but this was a high profile rescue mission. There were three important people to rescue. The news that they were being moved was disastrous.
"So what does that mean?" asked Lily.
"It means we need to get a hold of Pierre, tell him that things have changed and we need(Erased 'to') the boat to be here earlier," commanded Benjy.
Pierre was their contact in Normandy. He was the go-to guy in respect of weapons and arrangements. Mary nodded in agreement and took Fabian by the hand and Disapparated. They were back within ten minutes. Pierre had agreed to send the boat to arrive at four in the morning instead of five thirty.
They rested a bit more whilst waiting for four o'clock.
Finally they broke cover and headed for the harbour to the blacked-out boat.
"Welcome aboard the 'Fleur de Lys'," said the captain in accented English.
Everybody nodded politely to him as they boarded. Once they were comfortable the captain started towards the mount. Five hundred yards from it, the captain cut the motor, and the impetus just carried them on.
Quietly, they climbed the mount and headed towards the abbey. It was then that Fabian slipped and alerted the guards, all hell broke loose.
They moved from their positions and stormed forward. The guards opened fire, so Lily and Mary reciprocated with fire of their own. The bullets tore the Germans asunder.
Inside the abbey, Dumbledore, Copley, and Hanlow could hear the melee outside, they grinned to one another and then at their captor, one Gellert Grindelwald.
"It seems, you have been discovered Gellert, give up and come quietly," said Head Auror Hanlow.
The man in question looked at Hanlow, and scowled.
"Maybe I should just kill you all here and now!" Grindelwald sneered.
"I think if you were going to do that, you would have done it already," said Dumbledore quietly.
Gellert looked as if he'd been slapped. Angrily he pulled his wand and pointed it at his prisoners. But he just stood there for the longest time before lowering it again.
"Gellert, you're not a murderer," Dumbledore tried to reason.
"Albus, you have no idea of what I'm capable of," spat Gellert at his former friend.
Dumbledore just smiled serenely.
"Gellert if you were going to kill us, you would have done it before now. Your defences have been breached and it won't be long before we are discovered."
Gellert was starting to panic. He knew Albus was right, the fight was gradually growing louder.
In the entrance of the abbey, the rescuers had breached the magical boundaries and had stormed the abbey itself, killing anyone who stood in their path. They fought their way deep inside the building, gouging holes in walls and doors. Bits of rock and wood flew, and stone dust clogged the air.
"Where are they being held?" yelled Lily over the din.
"In the cellar," yelled Gideon back.
"I'm on it."
Lily ran, she could hear James pleading for her to wait for him. But she dashed on opening fire every so often. Finally James managed to catch Lily.
"Merlin, Lily, you're one spry female did you know that?" asked James casually, ignoring the battle raging on.
Lily just grinned and backed against the wall and looked around the corner. The coast being clear Lily whipped out of sight again. It was then that James heard it; a cold cruel voice shout "Avada Kedavra."James froze, his heart contracted and his breath caught in his throat.
Back in the cellar, Gellert was pacing up and down waiting for the fighters to arrive. He couldn't Disapparate from the cellar, or could he? What was the Muggle saying? 'Flee and live to fight another day'. Maybe it would be wise. He weighed his options and realised it was best to flee, there would be other opportunities. Gellert lifted the enchantments and Apparated away. Their German guard looked on as if nothing had happened. A few moments later the Imperius curse lifted. The German shook his head and looked around at his surroundings, uncertain how he'd gotten there.
He spotted the prisoners chained to the far wall and looked at them in puzzlement, Dumbledore especially.
"I say good sir, could you unchain us?" called Minister Copley hopefully.
The German just frowned at them.
"No not Lily!" was James' first thought.
He heard it then, the sound of bullets finding their target. James let go of the breath he didn't realise he was holding. Lily was okay. James whipped around the corner and found Lily on her back, gun pointing towards the fallen Wizard.
"Oh my dear Merlin, are you alright?" asked James collapsing to his knees beside Lily.
"I'm fine my love, I saw him out of the corner of my eye and dropped just as he fired."
Lily raised her hand and wiped the tears off of James' cheek.
"James you're crying," said Lily quietly as she sat up.
"Am I?"
James wiped his face and realised he had in fact, been crying. He pulled Lily into a bone-crushing hug and buried his face in her neck.
"James as nice as this is, we need to move," Lily whispered.
"What? Oh… right! Rescue mission."
As they got to their feet, Lily spotted movement and quickly pointed her gun.
"Lils, it's fine!" shouted James. He put his hand on the muzzle of the gun and pushed it towards the floor.
"Mr Potter, how nice to see you," Dumbledore said cheerfully.
"Sir, are you okay?" asked James quickly.
"We're fine, just fine," replied Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eyes.
Finally the abbey went quiet. The injured Germans were tied up and the SoE Agents took them down to the waiting boat and escorted them aboard. The rounded up Wizards were taken back to the Ministry of Magic.
Later that day they arrived in Blighty again. Lily and Mary travelled back to base ready to be debriefed. James and the others met them there later in the day.
After debriefing, they were free to go and relax.
In 1945 Dumbledore and Grindelwald came face to face again and Grindelwald was finally defeated. The Axis troops also signed the treaty and the war ended. In 1946 Lily and James married as did Mary and Fabian Prewett.