Against Lily's expectations, James did not ruin dinner. In fact, he was behaving so well that she felt bad for ever doubting him. He was kind, polite, and funny without crossing the line of good taste, and he pulled off the role of the supreme gentleman with such ease that Lily could hardly believe that he was the same person. Lily's father seemed very pleased with him, and he repeatedly hinted that he was more than happy to welcome James to join the family, should the two announce an engagement – which they weren't going to do, although she did feel relieved knowing that she would have her father's blessing if they did.
Petunia, on the other hand, used every wiggle of her nose, every frown, and every eyeroll to signal that she disapproved of James, simply because he was a wizard, and because Lily liked him. Petunia never missed an opportunity to hurt her sister's feelings by belittling everything that was dear for her. Why she was determined to do that, Lily had never understood.
"So, James. What was it that you did for living?" her father asked halfway through dessert.
"I already told you before, Dad. He – neither of us are doing anything right now. We both decided to take some time off to think about what we really want to do with out lives," replied Lily on James's behalf. She had chosen to keep her father in the dark about the war that was raging in the wizarding world, and especially about how she and James had gotten involved in it. Her father had seemed so... old lately that Lily had started treating him like he was made from glass. She felt like any level of distress might have just shattered him in pieces.
"So neither of you are doing anything useful?" said Petunia. "Must be terribly liberating. I could't bare the idea of doing nothing with my time. When I was your age, I was already working for Mr. Jarvis, but I suppose that's just me. Honest work suits me better than idleness."
An awkward pause followed her comment; James frowned, Petunia gave a smug smile, and Lily rolled her eyes. She knew perfectly well that Petunia hated working, and that she planned on quitting once she got married to Vernon Dursley, who had recently proposed to her. Petunia was more than willing to leave her job and live off her future husband as soon as she could.
"I think I need to use the bathroom," said James, and excused himself from the table. She wondered if he only did it because he tried to keep himself from turning Petunia into a slug.
"I have been thinking about becoming a Healer," said Lily, and she glared at Petunia. "It's kind of like a doctor, but for wizards. I could apply for an apprenticeship at the hospital."
"Did you hear that, Tuney?" said her father proudly. "Our little Lily is going to be a doctor! I always knew that you were heading that way. That's who you are, Lily. Always trying to save people, always fixing things."
"But I'm still not sure if that's what I really want, or whether I'd make the cut it in the first place," Lily said, blushing slightly. "They only take so many apprentices each year, so it's not a matter of simply waltzing in and claiming the title."
"Of course you'll make it!" her father replied. "You're such a bright girl! There's nothing you can't do when you put your mind into it. You always get what you want! Isn't that right, Petunia?"
"Precisely," replied Petunia. She was grinding her teeth and prodding her cake with her fork. "Everybody adores our perfect, precious, wonderful Lily. Perfect, perfect Lily never does a anything wrong, and everybody loves her for it. But I'm sure nobody loves Lily more than Lily loves herself."
Lily banged her fist against the table and glowered at Petunia. "If there's something you want to say to me, why don't you just go ahead and -"
"Girls!" her father shouted scornfully, "That's quite enough! Calm down, Lily, and stop teasing you sister, Petunia. We have a guest!"
He pointed at James, who had just come back from the bathroom.
"That's all right, Mr. Evans, but I really think that it's time for me and Lily to go home. It's getting late," said James. He quickly drew back Lily's chair and helped her up.
"Oh?" said her father. "Are you sure you don't want more dessert? I thought you might stay for a bit longer..."
"Another time, Mr. Evans," said James with a polite smile. He kept dragging Lily towards the door. "Thank you for the lovely dinner. It was wonderful to meet you. I hope we can do this again some other time."
Moments later, they were outside. Lily barely had the time to say goodbye to her father. Her face was still glowing red with anger.
"Oh stop it, James! We didn't have to leave because of her!" she said, "Petunia is always like that. If I just - "
"No. We really need to go. Right now," said James. It wasn't until then when Lily realized that he looked a little bit paler than before. "Moody contacted me while I was in the bathroom. The Order needs all of us at the Ministry of Magic."
"Why? What's going on?"
"Let's join the party and find out."
"James!"
"Sirius!"
The two friends greeted each other with something that looked like a blend of a hug and a handshake. They and Lily were among the first ones to arrive to the scene, but more and more members of the Order were Apparating in front of the Ministry as they spoke.
"What's going on here?" asked James. "Death Eaters?"
"What else?" replied Sirius. "A bunch of them have gone on a rampage inside the Ministry. We need to stop them."
"What are we still waiting for, then?" said Lily, pulling out her wand. "We should get in there before it's too late!"
James started at her.
"You're not seriously thinking about coming with us?" he asked.
"You told me to come!" Lily replied angrily. "What did you expect me to do – stand here and hold your purse while you get to play the hero?"
"I just don't think you're -"
"I can take care of myself, thank you very much. If the rest of you can handle this, then so can I!"
That wasn't exactly true. Most members of the Order of the Phoenix were skilled and experienced fighters. Lily was not; she had her talents, but dueling was not one of them. Up until now, her involvement in the Order had been mostly about practising defensive spells, taking part in meetings, and keeping up the spirit of the resistance. This was the first time she was about to enter a real battle with real enemies, but she was not afraid. The rush of danger and the desire to do the right thing were infusing her with a false sense of invulnerability.
"James is right," said Sirius. "You should wait here. You're not ready for this."
Lily glared at him. "Look, I joined the Order because I wanted to help. Standing here while the rest of you risk your lives is not helping, and I'm never going to be ready to fight if I always stay behind. I am coming with you."
"Fine, then," James grunted, kicking the ground in frustration. "Just don't blame me if you get killed."
It had started to rain. The street in front of the Ministry was now full of witches and wizards who had all heeded the Order's call. Finally, Alastor Moody himself showed up. All eyes were immediately on him.
"All right, listen up," he roared, "Pair up, we're going to split up and go in by twos. I need you to lure them away from each other. Together they are strong, but most of them are useless on their own. You know what to do – divide them, disarm them, and stun them. Any questions?"
There were none. Lily looked at James, who had teamed up with Sirius. She nodded to him and went to Marlene McKinnon, a curly-haired witch who was a few years older than her.
"Stay alive," she told James, as they all lined up to enter the Ministry.
"You too," he replied, and his voice sounded oddly stiff. He reached out and gave her hand a squeeze. She considered kissing him, but chose not to. It would have implied that she felt like there was a chance he wasn't going to make it, and she refused to think of that. But when they went down into the Ministry her stomach suddenly lurched; maybe she was a little bit scared after all.
And then it began. Two by two, they ran deeper into the building, and instantly had to dodge and block spells that were being fired at them from the darkness. Sounds of explosions, shattering glass, and yells filled the air as Lily and Marlene dove into the heat of the raging battle. Marlene, an excellent duelist, quickly took down two Death Eaters, while Lily only barely managed to protect herself from the furious attacks of her enemy.
"Come! We need to draw them away from each other!" shouted Marlene and grabbed Lily by the arm. They headed straight into what Lily could tell was the Department of Mysteries, the strange place where the Ministry conducted top secret experiments. Two hooded wizards charged after them.
They department was like a maze. They ran up and down the corridors until Lily had completely lost her sense of direction. Eventually, they found themselves in a hall with several identical doors.
"Let's split up here," Marlene suggested. "Find a place to hide. I'll try to sneak up on those two. Meet you back here in ten minutes, all right?"
Lily nodded, and chose the room closest to her. She took a quick look around. She had entered a huge chamber that had nothing else in it but something that looked like an old ruin – some kind of an ancient archway.
"Find a place to hide..." she grumbled. Great – of course she had picked the one room that didn't have any furniture in it. Now what she was going to do?
In the lack of better options, she went to the eerie archway and crouched behind it. It made for a pathetic hiding place, but at least she would have some cover if the Death Eaters barged in and attacked her.
Nothing happened for several minutes. When she felt like enough time had passed, she decided to find her way back to Marlene, so she went through the archway and –
Lily was walking through a misty forest. She was not entirely sure whether it was day, night, dusk, or dawn, and she could not even name the season. Nevertheless, everything was beautiful. The forest was bathing in silvery light that did not seem to have a source in the sky, as though the trees themselves were glowing.
It was a mysterious, pleasant place. It felt both familiar and strange. A part of her wanted to lay down and fall asleep on the grass beneath her feet, yet somehow she felt like there was somewhere she was supposed to go.
Strangely enough, there were some sort of ruins in the forest, covered in moss and leaves as though they had been there since the dawn of time. They appeared to be veiled archways, except that they didn't seem to be leading anywhere. They just stood there among the trees, like they had grown there along with the rest of the forest. They reminded Lily of something she thought she might have seen earlier, but she could not remember what it was.
Curious, she went to one of the archways, and ran her hand gently against the silky veil covering it. Suddenly, she felt an invisible force tugging at her arm, like something on the other side was trying to suck her in. The more she tried to resist it, the more powerful it got.
It pulled her in and sent her spiraling towards the unknown.
