I don't own Harry Potter obviously. If I did there would have been another book written for the Marauder era. But alas, I can only dream.
The aurors arrived in dark neighborhood with a crack. They looked around and took in the sight of the house across the street. There was a dark mark hanging overhead and the door of the house had been blown off its hinges.
"With me." Moody growled quietly breaking from the group and moving swiftly forward. James followed, his jaw clenched in anticipation of what was to come next. He saw Sirius out of the corner of his eye move to his side. He didn't know what he would do without Sirius. Whenever they went out on raids he was always at his side. They kept each other safe, each one willing to give his life for the other.
The group reached the doorway and steeled themselves as Moody held up his hand in a silent signal. He stuck up three fingers and James' heart pounded as he lowered one, then another. James took a deep breath and rushed forward, surrounded by his co-workers. Silently they swept through the front door looking for signs of death-eaters. They didn't have to wait long. Just as Frank and Mad-eye reached the kitchen, a pack of death-eaters descended on them.
"Stay together!" Moody yelled as the scene erupted into chaos. Curses flew back and forth and yells filled the room as each side battled the other.
"Don't break formation!" Mad-eye ordered over the din. They aurors stood by the back protecting each other from any attacks that might come from behind. The death-eaters closed in around them.
James side stepped a curse and threw back a jinx of his own whooping as the death-eater fell. "Sirius you better catch up. That's three already." He called without taking his eyes off the death-eater who filled the space of his fallen comrade.
"I've taken out six already Jamsie. It is you who are behind." Sirius called back laughing.
"Frank?" James called out to their friend for conformation.
"Only two. I by the way have three." Frank announced with a slight hint of arrogance in his voice. "You better be on your game today James. I might just take the title from you."
"Hey boys!" called another voice behind James. He recognized it as Alice. "That was my fifth that just went down if you were wondering." She sang back gleefully.
The boys groaned but they were silenced. "This is not a game!" Moody snapped at his team.
"Ooohh somebody's got a low count today." Alice said in a staged whisper.
"Mrs. Fortescue you're going to be in charge of filling out the paperwork for every death-eater we bring in tonight." Moody growled back at her and was greeted with a groan from Alice this time.
James laughed as he took another death-eater down. He heard a thud to his side and saw the auror on his left lying on the ground. "Deverox is down." James called behind him and cast a shield charm over the unconscious man and faced his opponent. The man's hood had been knocked askew and platinum blonde hair spilled out from beneath it.
James knew who he faced. "Lucius Malfoy. It's been a while." James spoke wand at the ready. "I can't say I'm happy to see you though."
"I can assure you Potter the feeling is mutual." Lucius drawled before snapping into action. "Crucio!" he cried.
"Pretego! Stupify!" James countered, and the duel began. Soon they were ducking and diving as they both fought to take the other down. Around them, death-eaters and aurors fell but they were oblivious of all but each other.
"Having trouble Potter?" Lucius sneered as James narrowly missed a hex.
"Not at all." James answered through gritted teeth sending a jelly legged jinx back at Malfoy who countered it. "I was actually beginning to enjoy myself."
"Is that so?" Lucius asked sarcastically sending another burst of green light at him.
"Yup. I always enjoy watching Voldermort's followers proving him wrong." James told him giving a short laugh as he shot back a blue get of his own.
"What are you talking about?" Lucius demanded confused.
"You're proof that blood has nothing to do with ability. I mean come on, my 11 year old cousin duels better then you."
Lucius let out a shriek and redoubled his efforts. Spells bounced back and forth at an alarming rate. There were a couple close shaves and a few minutes later James had scrapes all down his right arm from where a curse grazed him and Lucius had a couple cuts on his cheek. They both ignored these injuries though. They were so wrapped up in their hate for each other they didn't notice as the battle was slowly drawing to a close. Although the floor was littered with bodies from both sides, the aurors were winning. Lucius seemed to notice however that soon he would be greatly outnumbered. He glanced around and seemed to make up his mind. He threw one more curse flying at James and threw up a shield charm before turning around and dashing towards the front door. James had a feeling he was trying to get clear of the spell that made it impossible to disaparate so he could get away and save himself. James dodged and dashed after him.
"Lucius don't you dare!" He heard another death-eater roar. "She's not even here yet! You can't abandon our mission!" But Lucius paid no attention to them and kept running.
The aurors had broken formation new and he ran between dueling pairs in hot pursuit of Malfoy. However he looked to the side and saw Alice backed into a corner trying to fight off an approaching death-eater. James faltered but in that moment Frank came charging past him and threw a stunner at the back of the death-eater.
"Hey! I was doing alright on my own." Alice complained. He knew it was all for show though. James could hear relief behind her words.
"You're welcome." Frank told her, noticing it as well.
James turned back towards the spot where Malfoy had disappeared but was met with the sight of his cloak swishing as he turned on a spot across the street and disappeared.
"Damn it." James cursed. All of a sudden a curse came flying at him knocking his wand out of his hand. James ducked for his wand but another spell was thrown at him and he became as rigid as a board and fell down in mid-leap. He saw Sirius who was dueling furiously with a dark haired woman who was cackling gleefully, his cousin James guessed, but no one noticed that he needed help. The death-eater approached smiling down at him.
"Not so tough now are you?" James would have made a comeback line but the curse was still on him and he couldn't make a sound. "Scared Potter? Maybe you should have thought of the consequences before you put my brother in Azkaban!" He growled as he neared James frozen body. "Well you should have." He kicked James in the stomach causing pain to explode though his abdomen.
All of a sudden a spell hit James and he was able to move. He wand also came flying up into his hand too. James threw a stunning spell at the death-eater who had attacked him. The spell hit making the man fall to the floor. James glanced over to his side and he saw Sirius give him a thumbs up while ducking a spell his opponent threw at him. Just then a few more people entered the room. James glanced at their robes. They were healers.
'What are they doing here?' James thought. 'The area isn't safe. They're going to get themselves killed.'
But as he watched the healers started fighting their way towards the bodies of the witch and wizards lying on the floor. As he looked around the room he saw a death-eater aiming a spell at the back of one of the healers.
The healer turned around as they heard the person come up behind them. James ran forward and threw a stunning spell at them, and the spell hit them square in the back.
James walked over and kicked the death-eaters body, rolling him over to look at his face. "Agustus Rookwood." He snorted in disgust. "Well at least we have one people we were looking for" he said to himself. He finally looked at the healer. His mouth dropped opened before him was none other than Lily Evans. He stared at her for a minute before, realizing what he was doing, looking away. He hadn't seen her since they had graduated Hogwarts. All the feelings that had lay dormant for so long were once again flooding through him.
"You better be careful." James warned her "It's not safe." Just as he said it a hex came flying towards the pair. James grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her to the ground.
"It's her! She's here!" A cloaked figure called gleefully to the group.
'Her? What did that mean?' James didn't have time to consider it. He rolled onto his stomach and shot another jinx at the death-eater who called out. They crumpled on the spot. James stood up and offered a hand to Lily and helped her to her feet.
He stunned another death-eater who was making their way towards them. "We should keep moving," James said. Lily stared off towards a body and James looked around for more death-eaters. Unfortunately a death-eater found him first.
"Crusio!" The death-eater roared. James was thrown into horrible pain. He writhed on the as he felt thousands of needles assaulting his body. All of a sudden it all stopped as the spell lifted and he saw the death-eater was staggering backwards. Lily was standing in front of him.
"Wow look you've got a girlfriend to protect you." Laughed the death-eater recovering his balance. He aimed a spell at Lily but she deflected it. The death-eater ducked as his own spell came flying back at him.
"If the Dark Lord wasn't so adamant about sending this message I would just kill you on the spot." The death-eater sneered. "I can't believe we're going through all this trouble for a little mud-blood like you."
When James looked back at Lily and there was a glint in her eyes that hadn't been there before, even her hair seemed to be charged with some unseen power. With one swish of her wand the death- eater fell over backwards and didn't get up.
"Wow. That's why the Slytherins never messed with you in school." James said in awe.
"Thanks." Lily said turning away from him to one of the bodies on the ground. She began inspecting them seeing what she could do to help. "Avery tried to jump me once in the dungeons. I hit him with a few curses that put him in the hospital wing for weeks. Nobody tried anything after that." She smiled slightly at the memory.
James smiled but it dropped off his face as he heard a spell shouted somewhere near them. He looked up in time to see a death-eater shoot a spell at Lily. James had no time to block it. Without thinking of the consequences he threw himself in the path of the spell. He saw a bright jet of light hit him in the chest and everything went black.
R and R please!