James Potter awoke with a start. He was in his bedroom in the Potter Mansion. Across from him, his best friend, Sirius Black had also woken abruptly. James rubbed his eyes, trying to remember the dream he had been having. It had involved Lily and Severus. A scream from downstairs brought him back to his senses. He and Sirius jumped out of their beds, grabbed their wands from the dresser in the room, and sprinted out the door and down the stairs. At first glance, everything in the entrance hall seemed normal. Looking around however, James spotted a Death Eater on the front lawn. They had their wand held high and was muttering an incantation. Suddenly, a bright green light shot from the end of it. James and Sirius panicked, thinking it to be the killing curse. Their panic only rose when they saw what it really was. For now, floating high above the mansion was a bright green skull with a serpent tongue protruding from it's mouth, crawling around the early morning sky.

"Stupefy!" Sirius roared, his wand pointed at the death eater. James ran over to the death eater, his own wand aimed somewhere near the death eater's throat. "Incarcerous," he cried, ropes bursting out of the end of his wand. They wrapped themselves around the death eater, whose mask promptly fell off, revealing heavily lidded eyes and a wild tangle of dark hair. James heard a deep growl behind him. Whipping around, he saw Sirius' face contorted with rage.

"Bellatrix!" He snarled, gripping his wand tighter.

"Hello cousin!" Bellatrix giggled up at him, fighting against her ropes.

"This psychopath is your cousin?" James screeched at Sirius

"Only by blood. We haven't spoken in years, even before-" Sirius felt his breath catch in his throat. James, realising what Sirius meant, wrapped his arms around his best friend in a loving hug. He knew that even though he had left his home because of his family, he still missed them.

"How touching," sneered a voice next to them. Somehow, Bellatrix Lestrange had escaped from the ropes James had conjured around her.

"Sectumsempra!" she hissed, bringing her wand down across his face.

James collapsed to the floor, blood pouring from a deep gash down the side of his face. He heard a crunch from above him, and felt somebody fall down next to him, unconscious. Looking up, he saw Sirius standing with his arm outstretched; the fist at the end was covered in blood. Bellatrix's face was also covered in blood, and it looked as if Sirius had broken her nose.

Sirius grabbed his best friend and pulled him up. James could barely stand and was losing conscious. Sirius wrapped his arm around his shoulders and held him up. He glared down at Bellatrix on the ground. Pointing his wand at her back, he breathed in, gathering all his hatred for the evil, twisted woman, and began to cast the spell "Cruci-"

"EXPELLIARMUS!" roared a male voice.

Sirius' wand flew out of his hand, and he turned to scream at the man.

Remus' face looked just as full of rage Sirius' as he walked over to his friend. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing? Do you want to go to Azkaban?" he shouted at Sirius who glared at Remus and shouted back.

"Have you seen what she did to James?" he roared, gesturing to James who then fell unconscious.

"Oh shit," Remus hissed, his face paling as his closest friend collapsed, blood pooling around his face. He ran over and knelt by his side, ignoring the blood he was kneeling. James' face was pale and sweaty, and Remus sensed that unless he did something, he would lose somebody he loved. He struggled against his surging panic as he tried to think of a spell that would save James from the fate that awaited him. "Episkey," he croaked, but all it did was narrow the wound slightly. 'Of course, that's only for minor injuries.' Remus thought. "Expecto Patronum," The wolf burst out of the end of his wand, and ran off towards the gates. Remus smirked slightly. It was ironic that his patronus was the wolf; he had always hated that side of himself. He gripped James' hand and felt Sirius kneel next to him, tears streaming down his face. Remus put his spare arm around Sirius and smiled at him.

"You're supposed to be the strong one," he said gently. Sirius barked out a feeble laugh.

"These are tears of manliness Moony," he chuckled.

"Of course they are Pads," came a feeble voice from the ground. James Potter had momentarily regained conscious. Bellatrix groaned groggily a few feet away, and Sirius brought his fist down on her head, sinking it a few inches into the ground. Ignoring this, James looked Remus in the eye and Remus looked back into James own 'Hazel orbs of beauty' as James described them.

"Am I gonna die?" he choked, coughing up a little blood.

"No," Remus sobbed, "I promise."

They heard a crack from beside them and looked up to see a St. Mungo's healer standing next to a silvery wolf patronus, which faded when it saw Remus. "Got your message," he said, looking at Remus. His face looked young and soft, and his blonde hair hung across it in a sweeping fringe. "What the hell happened?" he gasped, staring at James who had passed out again.

"Her," Sirius snarled, kicking Bellatrix hard in the face, and there sounded another sickening crunch.

The healer knelt beside James, next to Remus who was still grasping his hand and refused to move.

"Vulnera Sentura," The healer muttered, tracing his wand over the wound, which healed instantly, stopping the flow of blood. "That's a little known healing charm, simple but effective. It leaves no scar, even for most curse scars, if you get there quick enough," he explained to the always knowledge thirsty Remus.

"Thank you," Remus smiled at the young healer, "Have you got a pepper up potion?"

"Yes," replied the healer, handing Remus a green potion in a crystal vial from his bag.

Remus poured it down James' throat and his face regained it's colour as James awoke.

"I heard a scream," he said, sitting upright "Inside!"

James stood up quickly and ran inside, followed by Sirius, and the healer, who went in to help if somebody was injured. Remus pointed his wand at the unconscious form of Bellatrix. He flicked it upwards, and she was suddenly dangling in the air by her ankle. He floated her up and over to the top of a pole on the tall fence surrounding the Potter Mansion. "Incarcerous," he muttered and ropes sprang from his wand, tying her to the fence. He pointed his wand and thought of the first prank the Marauders had played at Hogwarts, and sent a second messenger patronus to the auror HQ, before running into the mansion after his friends and the healer.

James was frantically searching each room in the mansion, whilst Sirius covered their backs and the healer walked in between them.

"James, mate, maybe you should calm down a little," said Sirius cautiously from the back.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" James snapped back at him, "My family could be being tortured and killed right now, and you-"

James froze, having heard a noise from the room they had just been in. The three of them formed a line, pointing their wands at the toward the room. Their grips tightened as the door opened.