"We know exactly what you are."

She was shrouded in darkness, something heavy covering her head and face, arms pinned behind her back. Forced to her knees and deprived of her wand she had never felt so helpless in her life. She did not know where they had taken James and the others, she did not know if she would ever see them again, but unable to speak or move, her husband and friends could be on the ground right next to her, and she hated their captors all the more because she had no way of knowing. She felt the enchantment lift from her face alone, and she was able to open her mouth again, to breathe properly, the faceless man before her waiting for a response to his words.

"And what's that?" Her voice was stronger than she had expected it to be. She swallowed and ran her tongue over dry lips.

"You are an abberation. Your blood runs with filth. You should not exist. You have no right to exist." Spoken in a flat tone as though it was rehearsed or had been said many times. The anger inside of her spiked once more.

"I don't want to seem rude" she replied, drawing on the sarcasm that occasionally rubbed off on her from Sirius. "But I like existing."

Whatever had been covering her head disappeared and she was finally allowed to lay eyes on her aggressor, not that it made any difference. The room was dark, and the man before her wore a mask and heavy robes to conceal his identity. As she watched him come towards her and raise his wand she found it strangely comforting that she would know the exact moment that she would die, that it would not come as a surprise. Her magical bonds fell away and she felt the circulation spike back into her arms, tingling almost painfully.

"This is no longer your choice" the man said in an ominous voice as he reached her and pulled her to her feet, his very touch sending up goosebumps all over her body.

She refused to reply, but a strangled cry from the corner of the room made her turn her head and she realized that she had not been separated from the others. They had been shoved one next to the other into a far corner of what she had assumed to be an otherwise empty room and they were all bound and gagged as she had been, indistinguishable one from the other in their dark wizards robes, faces covered.

The death eater chuckled darkly. She shook him off, then stood up as straight as she could despite a strange pain growing in her side, most likely due to their violent capture. She was thinking quickly, estimating her chances.

"You're right" she said finally, matching the man's cold tone of voice with her own. She imagined that he looked surprised, though she had no way of knowing, impassive as his mask appeared to be. He said nothing.

"You're right" she repeated, "I'm a mudblood. Through some strange circumstance at birth I happen to have inherited magical powers just as any pureblood would have, but what right do I have to them? It's unnatural. It goes completely against nature and it weakens the true blood lines. So maybe I shouldn't exist."

Someone behind her was struggling against the enchantment and she instinctively knew that it was James. While the others were listening intently to what she was saying, and thinking of some way to get them out of the situation they were in, James was simply fighting with everything he had to get to her, to stop her from doing what they all knew she was about to do, but there was no other option really. She was buying time. As long as the death eater seemed intent on her she knew that she could keep him going long enough that the others at least might have a chance, for somewhere nearby Mad eye would already be looking for them, might have already come across some of the other death eaters.

He had yet again to stay silent. What she was saying didn't seem to be part of the script and she wasn't sure if she had confused him or if he was just waiting to hear the rest, so she took a deep breath and continued.

"The others" she said, gesturing to James, SIrius, Remus, Peter and Alice behind her, "They are Purebloods, all of them, and if you kill them you will be wasting so much clean blood when there are so few of you left. "

And now it was time for some unlikely convincing. Everything hung on the gullibility of this one death eater for if the others could leave now they might avoid his friends.

"You should let them go. It's my fault that they're here. I lied to them, manipulated them, and even put enchantments on them to convince them to help me, to make them want to help me, but I can't let them die for my mistakes. Let them go. They can carry on the pureblood line. You need them..."

Her voice was cut off and she was unable to move her lips once more. Time. all they needed was a little more time.

And then, very suddenly the old building was shaken by what could have only been a massive explosion that threw her forward into the death eater and sent them both flying across the room. The other prisoners tumbled forward, knocking into each other and landing on their shoulders and faces in unfortunate ways as large bricks and beams fell around them, thankfully missing the defenseless group.

And Lily saw what she knew would be her only chance. Still in shock, blinded by dust and blood she pulled herself up from the floor, spotting the death eater as he made to raise himself nearby, his wand broken into at least three pieces next to him, and she took the opportunity to kick him as hard as she could in the side of the head, sending him back to the ground.

"Lily!"

With the casting wand broken the spell had lifted from the others and she turned, just able to see them through the cloud of dust and debris, pulling at the covers over their heads, getting to their feet slowly, most of them with bloody noses and various other injuries.

"Lily!"

"I'm here. I'm fine!" she called to them.

She ducked down once more to ensure her opponent was at the very least unconscious then dug inside his cloak, withdrawing a handful of wands, all of which had thankfully survived whatever blast had shaken the building. Someone was scrambling over a fallen beam behind her and before she had even managed to rise to her feet she felt hands grabbing her and James was hugging her and she realized that she had never expected to see him or feel him again. But she was still alive, and she could feel his heart beating, and smell his sweat, and he was right there and she was still alive, they all were.

He pulled her to her feet then and she saw the look on his face for the first time and it made her flinch, the fear and the pain, and she could only imagine what it might have been like had the situation been reversed, had she had to be the one to sit and listen to James try to convince someone to kill him so that she could go free.

"Don't you ever..."

"I'm sorry"

Both of their voices were shaky. It seemed that he couldn't have let her go if he wanted to. She held out the wands as they reached the others who retrieved their own and hugged her in turn, James still holding her hand as if they were actually attached together.

The door sprang open and they all turned, wands at the ready, to find Mad Eye, Dorcas and Caradoc framed in the doorway.

"Well, it's about time we found you" Caradoc announced cheerfully. "Searched nearly every bloody room for you lot, and there's more than one or two doors to look behind, let me tell you! Did you feel that explosion a minute ago. Got a little bored with dueling those useless bloody idiots, thought we'd speed things up a bit. Y'all right?" he asked, lighting his wand and sending it over their stunned faces.