The struggle
The room was utter chaos as they entered. Prefects were shouting at each other, pushing and yelling. A piece of paper whizzed past his head as he stood at the door with Sirius, remus and peter behind him and sitting in the middle of the chaos was none other than lily Evans. She had her hand's over her mouth as if to top herself from shouting and she was breathing sharply through her nose her shoulder's were tense and she looked about a second from bursting.
"Well" Sirius said and James gaze snapped to him as he surveyed the scene before him amusedly "I'll just leave you to it" he had just turned when there was a sound behind them. Lily had stood up in the middle of the chaos.
"get out" the voice was low but spoke volumes, her eyes glared daggers at anyone in the near vicinity of her and the expression of if looks could kill sprang to James mind. Nobody heard her and the chaos continued. She stood there for a few minutes, and then all hell broke loose.
"I said get the fuck out" she shouted losing any small wisp of self control she had left and she turned to face Avery the slytherin prefect"I don't give fuck wether you want to patrol with a dirty Mudblood, I didn't ask your opinion I was telling you" her voice had continually risen until she now stood there her chest heavy with the recent exertion. She turned from Avery and faced the window.
"What did you just say to me Mudblood" Avery sneered at her. He saw her hands clench into a fist and she turned to face him.
"I said get the fuck out of this room before I make you" she replied drawing herself to her full height and glaring at him as if he was the worst piece of human flesh alive which wasn't a far off description. The room slowly began to empty and he pushed himself against the wall with his friends to let them leave. The last person to leave was Avery; he slouched through the door muttering obscenities to himslef. He entered the room with his friends behind him.
"That was bloody fucking awesome Evans" Sirius said. It happened all at once the fight seemed to pour from her, her shoulders slumped and her eyes pooled with tears. They were stunned Lily Evans didn't cry at least not in front of people, especially not them.
"Shit" he heard behind him, he spun around to see Grace standing there, she was panting as if she had just run here. She pushed past them and enveloped Lily who was now sitting on the floor sobbing in her arms.
"Is she going to be ok" Remus asked, he was the best of them with dealing with sobbing females, stepping forward.
"you haven't heard?" Grace asked staring up at them incredoulsly, she glanced at Lily briefly a struggle of thoughts were evident on her face, then she turned to them and continued "her parents house was attacked this morning, they were both killed, her sister wasn't there so she's ok and its rumoured that Avery's family had something to do with it" she turned back to Lily soothing her hair and rocking her gently, shock coursed through his veins. No this couldn't happen, he knew people's families were being attacked but not his lily's, if her family was attacked it meant she was in trouble and he James Potter would not let that happen.
"I told her not to come" Grace said "but I think it was something to help distract her" she paused then continued whispering to Lily "come on Lily we need to get back to the common room" Lily slowly looked up at grace, her express shocked him, she was quiet know it was as if she had recoiled back into herself, they was no emotion, no hurt, no sadness, no nothing.
Sirius stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Lily's slender shoulder supporting her weight and grace stepped back. Over the first couple of months of their seventh year Lily and Sirius had become close friends and Sirius now regarded her with a brotherly love and protectiveness. They proceeded to the common room slowly.
As they entered he glanced around, there weren't many people there but he was sure from the few that were there this would have spread around the school by tomorrow. The sight of Lily Evans having broken down completely, being helped by Sirius Black and surrounded by the marauders made for juicy gossip. Sirius gently led Lily to the couch in front of the fire and they sat down. Grace murmured something to Remus and then turned and left. He wasn't sure what to do so he gingerly sat down next to Lily. Sirius glanced up at him then jerked his head at the other two and they quickly departed.
"Hey lil" he whispered gently wrapping his arm around her shoulder and drawing her against his chest. She looked up at him and relaxed slightly. The evident sense of trust on her face shocked him slightly and he frowned briefly before quickly smiling at her reassuringly. She looked away from him and buried her face in his chest. He tightened his arms around her. He knew now were his place would be in a year once they had left school, in 5, 10 or 15 year, it would be here beside Lily protecting her from whatever came and come hell or high water, he would protect her with everything he had.