Disclaimer: James and Lily Potter as well as the other characters from the HP series are owned by JK Rowling.
Chapter 1 - The War
June 21, 1978 - Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
As she stepped through the large gates, she blinked the sunlight from her unsuspecting green eyes. Students poured around her as they left the castle, trunks and belongings in their hands, into the beautiful June day. She cast a glance at her surroundings one last time, the lake by which she had sat so often to think, because it reminded her of Spinner's Pond back home. And she turned, craning her neck to see the vast fortress that stood above her. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had been where Lily Evans had learned of an entirely new world, one that had since become her own. And now, it was time for her to leave it.
It wasn't like graduations in the Muggle world, where all one's family is invited to the school for a large ceremony. Her last feast had been simply her time to say goodbye. But most of her friends she would hopefully be seeing rather soon anyway.
"All right, Evans?" a voice asked gently, with a hint of humor, behind her. She turned to see the smiling face of her steady, James Potter, clutching his own trunk with his tawny owl, Magnus, perched in his cage. She looked down, checking her own trunk with her cat, Houdini, in his carrier carefully charmed on top.
Lily smiled, which came out more a grimace, and looked away as if it would hide her concern. She wasn't happily returning home as much of her peers were. Her destination was much more uncertain.
It had all started a month before, when she and James had been out in the Hogsmeade village. They had run into, or rather were approached by, a man they had known from Hogwarts who had since moved on to bigger and… well certainly bigger things.
Lucius Malfoy still had the same charms they had known to suspect since they had known him as the dangerously slippery prefect who did nothing without a benefit to himself. His greeting of the young couple had been no accident. Malfoy's master, Lord Voldemort, had sent him with a simple task: recruit the successful pure-blood seventh years to replenish the ranks of the Death Eaters, recently depleted by a victory in the Order of the Phoenix. James Potter was a talented descendant of ancient wizarding families, and would be a valuable asset, could he be turned.
He asked if he and James could go and speak privately, an invitation which James declined. Being himself he used humor, saying he wouldn't want to leave his date alone. With his signature icy stare, Lucius sized up the glaring Lily and muttered words she couldn't seem to forget "Well I'm sure you'll want to enjoy each other, while you still can."
The barely veiled threat was enough for James to pull his wand, but Lily was faster, grabbing him, spinning in place, and disapparating right to the gates of Hogwarts. James' anger lingered as he demanded of her why she made him flee. But her tears and obvious fear were enough of an answer for him.
Muggle born hunting had become a new sport among the Death Eaters, especially of those who were close to new recruits. It was a way to show the recruit the Dark Lord's power, and that he was willing to go for those for whom they cared without going for pure blooded family members. And now Lily had been openly threatened by a lieutenant of Voldemort's army of cruelty.
The pair instantly went to Dumbledore, who advised that Lily's family be put under protection. James Potter Senior was written, and despite his elderly disposition, made the trip to where Petunia Evans lived in St. Andrews and secretly put protective charms around her flat. Lily's sister was so against magic, even oddly attributing it to the deaths of the girls' parents, who both died of pneumonia, that she likely would have refused the protection should they have offered it.
Dumbledore next offered protection for Lily herself. A talented Head Girl, he felt she could handle herself well enough to be inducted into the mysteries of the Order of the Phoenix. James wanted to be there as well, every step of the way. His encounter with Malfoy had opened his eyes to the fact he was indeed a target as well, especially once he was labeled as a "blood traitor". They were informed that two of James' best friends, Remus and Sirius, had already accepted invitations to join. Remus was to go undercover in the werewolf world and Sirius was hoping to train to be an Auror under Dumbledore's former protégé Kingsley Shacklebolt. That information was enough for James to agree to induction on the spot, with Lily moments later giving her own consent.
And with that, at seventeen, they were already entering a dangerous war.
And as Lily Evans looked at Hogwarts for the last time, she knew that war awaited her.
