4 Years Later…

James Potter blinked blearily awake as the sock by his bedside began to glow and make a weird buzzing noise. His door burst open and loud shouts heralded the arrival of his boisterous and obscenely awake mates. The redhead beside him – what was her name, again? – sat straight up in horror and grabbed him round the waist.

"What time is it?" He grumbled, impatiently untangling himself from whats-her-name while patting around blindly for his glasses. Finally, he shook her off and stood up to grab his wand. "Accio glasses."

"1 am, mate. Calm down." Sirius shook his head despairingly. "You are the worst twenty-something ever."

Remus thrust a jumper in James' direction. "Come on."

James jammed it over his head and pulled the rest of his clothes on, glancing briefly at the stunned form on the bed. "Listen, thanks for everything, um…"

"Stephanie, you asshole," she supplied, pulling her own clothes on. "See you never."

Three pairs of surprised eyes watched her as she marched out.

"Well that's not normally how it happens," James mumbled.

Sirius' gaze was still where her ass had been. "Nice."

Rolling his eyes at both of them, Remus stomped to the door. "Moving on! You got the signal, right?"

All traces of humor fell from James' face. "Yeah I did, what's the- "

"The attack was changed to tonight." Sirius interrupted grimly. "Edinburgh, a muggle hotel. We need to go."

A Muggle Hotel in Edinburgh

Lily wound her long red hair up into a ballerina bun on top of her head, cursing the manager for the thousandth time. Would it kill him to turn the temperature down? While nice and professional-looking, her black trousers and low-cut long-sleeved shirt weren't exactly conducive to cooling down, not to mention the long black apron that wrapped around her slim body.

Already crowded on a regular Friday night, the pub that was attached to the Roxburgh Hotel was bursting at the seams on the final night of the World Cup. The UK was playing Portugal and it was not going well for the home-team. One of the pub waitresses was on maternity leave and their wonderful manager had struck again by refusing to hire a temp while she was out. Lily didn't even want to fathom the stacks and stacks of dirty dishes that would be waiting in the kitchen at the end of her shift.

It would be a good night for tips though, she reminded herself with a sigh. God knew she needed it what with her astronomical car payment coming up, not to mention rent and groceries. She was thankful beyond belief that her parents had forced her to maintain an existence in the Muggle world, making her escape from the magic one so much easier. They had taught her how to drive, taken her to get her license, helped her get a bank account, and made her do all those other tiresome tasks that would be so essential to her new life here. She'd really missed them, though, when she struggled with how to find a flat and even how to find a job. Thank god she'd run into that random tattoo shop and met Padmil, otherwise Lily had no clue what she would've done.

"It's mad out there!" Padmil Patima, Lily's best mate and coworker bustled busily around the corner. Little did either of them know that fateful day four years ago that they'd eventually become the closest thing they both had to family. Padmil had recently quit her terrible job at the tattoo shop and Lily got her hired on at the pub until she found a different, less awful tattoo shop to work at.

Lily dropped the mass of her hair and shook it behind her shoulders. "I know! I suppose break is over. I'd hoped it would calm down a bit before I got back out there."

"Not a bit, love," Padmil said sympathetically, her dark eyes kind. Then she brightened a little. "But, there are a few really cute guys out there. If I was into men myself, I'd totally go for it. You should take a look." She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Not deigning to respond to yet another of her friend's matchmaking attempts, Lily rolled her eyes. "Hmm. See you in a bit."

It took just a few minutes for Lily to get back into her rhythm, listening, pouring, mixing, serving. It was actually a fairly challenging job when the pub got crazy like this, and the feeling of the crowd and the busyness gave her an energy she could never explain. Of course, she'd become an expert in turning down dates and throwing away phone numbers. Unfortunately, she'd also become a quick study in sizing someone up and determining whether they were a threat.

"Hand me the whisky, darling?" Charlie, the third bartender on tonight, slid past her to grab a glass and she tossed him the bottle. A few in the crowd clapped as he caught it and gave it a few flips before pouring. It was a little routine they'd come up with during a long and boring shift, after which they'd gotten drunk themselves and ended back up in Charlie's apartment. They'd both admitted to it being a mistake and ended up as great friends, jokingly referring to themselves as failed lovers.

The game took another turn for the worse and the crowd became less happy-drunk and more angry-drunk. By that time, Padmil had come back on and the three of them glanced at each other warily as they sensed the change in atmosphere. Drinks were demanded instead of asked for, customers rudely shoved each other aside as they tried to find a spot at the bar, and the crowd only grew larger.

"Keep an eye on Mari," Lily murmured to Charlie, knowing he could see over the crowd and, if needed, perform a quick rescue for their only waitress on the floor. Rowdy men tended to back down when faced with the wall of a man that was Charlie. The manager wouldn't hire a bouncer as they rarely needed one, however the few times they did need one, they really needed one.

Charlie glanced across the room and made a face. "I'll be back. I need a martini for the gentlemen over there and a vodka tonic for his friend."

As she made his drinks along with her own orders, Lily couldn't shake the prickly feeling on the back of her neck. Why do I feel like I've felt this before?

She placed Charlie's orders in front of the customers with a distracted smile, turning swiftly back to check someone out at the register. It wasn't until she'd already finished when she suddenly froze. Padmil noticed the blood drain from Lily's face and rushed over, abandoning her orders on the back of the bar.

"Lily? What's-"

"Oh my god. Oh my god."

Padmil followed her as she ran into the back and leaned hard against the wall. Lily grabbed her friend's shoulders, fingers digging in harshly. "Tell me to get my shit together right now."

"Honey you're scaring me, just tell me-"

Abruptly, Lily dropped her hands and placed them on her hips, taking huge breaths with eyes screwed shut. "Breathe, Lils, breathe."

Hearing her panic mantra, or sad mantra, or really any emotion mantra, Padmil's concern only increased. "Lily," she snapped, "get it together and tell me what the hell happened out there."

She was relieved to see her friend's eyes open, the shell-shocked look replaced with determination. "Go back out and look at the left end of the bar. Tell me if there are two men there, both with black hair. One is very fit, the other has a large hook-shaped nose. They're wearing all black. Don't talk to them," she added fiercely.

Lily waited as Padmil blessedly did what she asked and didn't ask questions. "They're still there. It looks like they're looking for someone. Do you know them?"

Death-eaters, here, at my pub. Oh god. Lily thought longingly of her wand, stolen from the boot of the car that night at the tattoo shop. She glanced wildly at the swinging doors toward the huge crowd of muggles that she wouldn't be able to protect. There might be more, I need to pull myself together.

"Don't freak out, but those guys are really bad news. I knew them a long time ago and I'm a bit worried that they might attack someone, which I know sounds super weird but please believe me, it's completely true," she begged Padmil. "If they pull out a knobby, short, kind of stick, just get down as fast as you can and run as far as you can."

"Lily, what the-"

"Promise me." She gripped Padmil's hands and willed her to understand how serious this was.

"I promise," Padmil said reluctantly, "but you owe me a full explanation after this!"

They both went back out after Padmil agreed to tell Charlie and Mari only the part about running the hell away from here in case of a fight. Lily glanced to the end of the bar, hoping against hope that she was freaking out for nothing. Sure enough, however, there sat Regulus freaking Black and Severus freaking Snape, drinking like they hadn't a care in the world.

4 Years Ago, 2:30pm

Lily glared at James as he sauntered out of the final exam like he hadn't a care in the world. Twenty minutes later, she put her quill down with a satisfied sigh. Transfiguration had never come easy to her, but she thought she'd done pretty well on the written portion of the exam. Now the practical portion yesterday had been a whole different story, but she was just glad it was over. As she gathered her things and prepared to leave class at Hogwarts for the very last time, tears filled her eyes yet again. Her home for the last seven years was kicking her out, albeit with a lovely celebration.

She was surprised when Professor McGonagall pulled her aside as she came to the front to deliver her scroll.

"Miss Evans, I've just received word from Professor Dumbledore. You're needed in his office."

"Is everything alright?" Lily asked nervously. Those hooded eyes and that agitated, anxious air coming from McGonagall never portended good things.

"It had better come from him," she murmured. "Just go, child."

Lily was totally taken aback when her teacher swooped in for a quick hug. She'd always been one of McGonagall's favorites but that had certainly never happened before. It only made her more nervous and as she climbed the stairs to the headmaster's office after only four password attempts (it was 'chocolate frogs' this time), her mind raced with possibilities. As bad as her imaginings were, she didn't get anywhere near the truth.

Fifteen minutes later Lily Evans descended those same stairs an utterly different person. Still in shock, snippets of Dumbledore's grave voice played through her head.

"Muggles targeted…"

"…large fire…"

"… no survivors."

Numbness spread through her. Her hands and feet felt strangely like rocks, like a world without her beloved parents was impossible to move through. She didn't even know if she'd cried or screamed or… anything, really. What now? Was all she could think. What now?

Lily dimly heard someone calling her name over and over again as she walked woodenly through the halls. It didn't register who it was until his face appeared right in front of hers.

"Lily!" Peter, cute, oblivious Peter, took her arm. His round face was slightly anxious and she noticed vaguely that he was sweating an abnormal amount. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

He took her silence as a cue to continue babbling, apparently, as he went on. "James wanted me to tell you-"

James. She seized onto the thought of him like it was a lifeline.

Peter jumped as she stopped in her tracks and squeezed his arms. "I need James."

He looked toward the castle doors uncertainly. "He told me to keep you up here. It's about time for quidditch warm-up anyways."

Lily's heart sank as she remembered the big quidditch game. Of all the times! She couldn't burden James with this now. Thinking quickly, she made up her mind.

"Peter, I need you to deliver a message for me. Something's happened to my family and I need to go home. Dumbledore's going to take me right now."

Sympathy filled his expression, as well as another thing she couldn't identify. "Oh no, I'm so sorry-"

"Tell James good luck, I'm with him in spirit and I love him," Lily interrupted. She couldn't take his sad eyes just now; she had to keep it together. "Tell him to meet me at the playground by my house after the game. Dumbledore will let him apparate from Hogsmeade."

As she watched his retreating figure, it was all she could do not to run past him down the hill to James. She knew he'd be her strength and keep her going, but right now she needed to be strong and give him this final game. One word about all this and she was fairly sure he'd skip it, although sometimes she wondered if he loved quidditch more than her, Lily reflected with a barely-there smile.

An hour later, as the quidditch game began and as Dumbledore apparated away, all traces of expression were gone from Lily's face. She had assured the headmaster that she'd be fine by herself, that her sister would be here any minute, but she was sorely regretting it. The burned-out smoldering mess that was all that remained of her childhood home wasn't fine. The unrecognizable bodies carried out on stretchers by pity-filled healers weren't fine. The Dark Mark, proud and stark against the incongruously bright blue sky wasn't fine. The team of aurors still searching the remains for evidence wasn't fine.

She flinched as a red sports car screeched to a stop outside the still-standing gate. Petunia folded her bony legs out and darted toward her sister while screaming incoherently. Lily held out her hands, halfway between opening for a hug and fending her sister off. The latter became necessary as Petunia began to slap, scratch, and pinch her anywhere available. Lily stood there taking it, numbly listening to her only remaining family demean her in every way possible.

"You killed them, Lily Evans! This is your fault, you freak! You brought this on us!"

Finally Lily could bear no more and she sank to the ground. The aurors, who had been hesitant to get involved, rushed forward.

"You need to leave, ma'am." One of them told Petunia firmly as he restrained her. "This is an active crime scene."

"Those are my parents!"

Time seemed to warp and bend as Lily vaguely noted the aurors modifying Petunia's memory before making her leave, the healers loading her parent's bodies into an unmarked van (they couldn't very well fly the stretcher through the streets, could they?), and the neighbors retreating into their houses as the sun set. Still, she stood there, arms clutching herself tightly, knees locked.

Finally she walked slowly to the park a few blocks away. It was the same park where she'd befriended Severus as a child and the same one where she'd rejected his apologies for the final time last year. Lily lowered herself stiffly onto a swing, grateful for the silence until she heard a noise behind her.

"James," she whispered, beginning to unravel already, before she saw who was standing at the edge of the grass.

His face could only be described as tortured, such was the mix of longing, fear, and conflict there. He hadn't bothered to change out of his wizarding robes and the inky black dress robes, so different than his Hogwarts uniform, looked quite out of place in the muggle playground. She wondered sarcastically if Voldemort required all his followers to wear their Sunday best.

"I know you don't want to see me-" Severus Snape spoke to her for the first time in two months.

"Go away, Sev."

"I need to warn you-"

"Go away! You're a few hours too late." She gestured brokenly to the smoke hovering around the Dark Mark over her house. "This is what you've joined, Sev. This is the choice you've made."

He didn't respond, couldn't even look her in the eye, and this annoyed her more than anything. "Damn it, Sev! He's killed my parents. My parents! They didn't have anything to do with this!"

A noise came from the direction of her house, and he began to look panicked. "Lily, go back to Hogwarts immediately. You're in danger."

Lily rolled her eyes. Same old, same old, always worried about her but not about what his deranged friends might be up to. "Sev-"

"I have to go." He stepped forward, reaching out his hand awkwardly and withdrawing it right away as Lily ducked to avoid his touch.

"Just leave me alone."

He tensed as another bang sounded in the distance, looking anxiously between her and the direction of the house. Finally he realized there was nothing he could do and his expression shuttered. "I did what I could," he muttered. As he apparated away Lily was left alone in the cold with nothing but her grief.