CHAPTER 3: THE AWAKENING

It was like Lily had ceased to exist in the moment and was watching an epic tragedy play out in front of her while she stood rooted to the spot unable to move, she was paralysed. She had run away from James, her heaven and ran straight into what could only be described as hell. Tall figures in black shrouded hoods were appearing from thin air, and people were screaming in fright; spells were being cast left right and centre, in flurries of blinding light. Lily couldn't believe that exactly what James had been trying to protect her from had occurred, and now he was nowhere to be found, she hoped he had stayed in the garden where he was safe but she knew there was no way he was going to leave everyone to fend for themselves, he was too good...too noble. And just like that, the thought of him made Lily spring into action. She delved into the crowd, her wand out, deflecting any curses that came her way. In the distance she saw Sirius and Remus battling two hooded figures and she began to run towards them, until she was blocked by another Death Eater.

"Well, well... if it isn't golden girl Lily Evans herself," sneered the hooded figure.

The voice sounded oddly familiar to Lily. "Malfoy?" she choked out, her wand hand shaking as she gripped it tightly.

"You have blossomed quite a lot since I was last at Hogwarts," he leered down at her.

"Get out of my way." Lily said, unthinkingly trying to brush past him towards Sirius and Remus who looked like they were struggling now.

"How dare you, Mudblood! Crucio!"

Lily dodged the spell, her heart beating furiously, the adrenaline was pulsing through her body, and she could feel her magic emanating, making her feel as though she was protected by its energy. She shot a Stunning spell at him, that he managed to deflect and suddenly Lily found herself in the middle of a duel with a Death Eater. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Alice battling an unknown Death Eater and Lily's heart twisted at the thought of Alice having to withstand the horror of this attack on what was meant to be the best day of her life.

"Quite the little fighter, aren't you?" Lucius spat at her.

"Yeah well I've had to learn how to defend myself against bigoted pricks like you." Lily remarked, shooting curses at him furiously.

Malfoy growled, "Being Potter's little bitch has given you quite a lot of confidence, but let me assure you my dear, there is no way he'll be able to protect you from what's to come."

"And what is that exactly? More little stunts like these from you and your little gang of bullies?" Lily knew she was antagonising him, but she could not help herself. Malfoy was one of those people, who believed they were superior to everyone and everything, and this was something Lily couldn't stand, in spite of the fact that he was trying his utmost hardest to make sure she stopped breathing.

Malfoy laughed mirthlessly, "You should really consider joining this 'gang of bullies' as you so commonly put it. We don't really take Mudbloods but I suppose for one as feisty as you the Dark Lord will be willing to make an exception."

"I'd rather die." Lily said, resolute.

"Then die you shall."

Malfoy continued to shoot spell after spell at her and Lily struggled to cope, his magic was Dark and nothing like anything Lily had come across before, and just as she dodged a particularly nasty orange spell, she saw over Malfoy's head, something that made her lose her composure entirely – Remus being thrown against the wall by a furious Fenrir Greyback. Just that one moment of hesitation was enough for Malfoy to hit her with the Cruciatus Curse, and watch as she dropped to the floor like a ragdoll. Her eyes were wide in a frenzy of pain and Lucius loomed down upon her, his wand vibrating with the amount of energy it was exerting.

If Lily could have fathomed any words at that point she would have said how all she could think about was the excruciating pain, as it happened she writhed around on the floor unable to make any sound other than the blood curdling scream that came out of her as a result of the torture. It was sheer hell, she couldn't comprehend anything other than how much pain she was in and all she wanted was to die, so the pain could end. And then the pain eased and Lily lay on the ground, her body shaking as she mustered her depleting strength and shot a Stunning spell which he lazily cast aside, his eyes focused on a fast approaching figure behind Lily.

James Potter had never been someone who was easily frightened, he ran around with a werewolf once a month after all. He and the Marauders often laughed in the face of danger, defying every rule so they could continue with whatever shenanigan they were up to. James hadn't been afraid when his mum had found out about him sneaking out of Potter Manor with his dad's broom to fly around the Potter estate. James hadn't been afraid when his dad had caught Dragonpox when he was a First Year, and almost died. He hadn't been afraid when him and Moony had snuck into Grimmauld Place to rescue Padfoot in the summer of fourth year, and Padfoot's mum started throwing curses at himself and Moony when she caught them hiding in the linen cupboard upstairs. He hadn't been afraid when the Death Eaters had come calling and asked him and Sirius to join. The only occasion he had been truly afraid was when Sirius had told Snivellus to head into the Whomping Willow on the night of the full moon – not because he cared about Snape being hurt, but because he knew what it would do to Moony if he was ever to hurt anyone.

The fear he had felt then did not compare at all to the fear he felt right now as he ran towards the mansion, which now had a large green skull with a snake protruding from its mouth looming above it – the Dark Mark. His heart was in his mouth as he scanned the scene before him. It could only be described as a raging battle – all around him all he could see was devastation and duels. His heart was thudding as the blood pumping around his body felt spiked with adrenaline. A few Stunners came his way which he dodged as he ran into the crowd, he passed Marls and Tia who were duelling Mulciber. James shot a full body bind curse at him while his attention was taken up with fighting the girls, effectively winning them their duel. They turned around to see who their saviour was, at which James hastily choked out, "where's Lily?"

Marlene replied shakily, "I haven't seen her; we thought she was with you!"

"She was, and then… I lost her." The most dreadful feeling settled in his belly, as if he had just gone ten rounds with a Dementor. He was furious at himself for letting her run off like that, he should have fought harder to make her see his point of view, and showed her how much he adored her instead of yelling at her while she cried. Pangs of guilt plagued James as he thought about how he had never seen Lily Evans cry before, she wasn't one to cry, and she just got on with things. The only time he'd seen her close to crying was when she dated Roman Fortescue in Sixth Year, and he cheated on her with Tatiana Vane. She had emerged from her dorm room, her beautiful eyes lacking their usual sparkle and rimmed in red. That was the day James and Remus (Sirius and Peter were in detention with Filch) had earned themselves a month of detentions for jinxing Fortescue into vomiting large rats out of his mouth every time he opened his mouth to speak. Lily hadn't even been mad, she just hugged Remus and James and they played Exploding Snap for the rest of the evening. James's mind drifted to the kiss they had just shared and couldn't comprehend how quickly things had changed. He had to find her and make sure she was safe.

"Listen girls, I need you guys to get the hell out of here. There's a fireplace upstairs I think, we can Floo you out."

"No James, we're staying to help!"

"Marls, your parents are in Magical Law Enforcement! The Death Eaters are going to want you, you cannot be here!"

"I really don't give a fuck. I need to find Remus." Marlene said, her face set in a determined expression as James groaned in frustration.

"Don't worry Potter," Tia rolled her eyes. "We can handle ourselves."

"Don't-!" James yelled, grabbing Marlene as she tried to dart away from him. He pulled her into a sheltered cove and cast Protego Maxima and Muffliato around them. They were hidden from the fighting, but could still see what was going on.

"What the hell are you doing Potter? My boyfriend and best friend are out there and you want me to hide here like some little bitch?"

"Moony would kill me if he knew I let you just run into the fighting, and Tia you look like you can barely stand. What were you hit with?"

Tia slid down the wall, and curled into a tight ball on the floor, looking as though she'd been winded. The duel had taken its toll on her and really was, as James had pointed out, struggling to stand. "I don't really know. Mulciber is just an evil little shit."

"Fuck. I can't believe this is happening." James said, watching as Marlene sunk down to the floor with Tia, enveloping her in her arms. She looked James in the eyes.

"This is meant to be a warning, a demonstration of power almost by the Death Eaters, Dad said it's been on the cards for a long time, his spies at the Auror department have been saying how they've heard Death Eaters talking about an event called The Awakening, it's almost like they want to let the world know how deadly they are, and what better place to do so than at the wedding of two Aurors who also happen to be the biggest blood traitors about?"

"I knew something like this would be happening soon. Is Voldemort here?"

"According to Dad's sources he's abroad, and he knows that Dumbledore will turn up sooner or later, so I don't think so, but the Death Eaters are just here to announce their presence to the world. And to gain any possible recruits, and James even though Lily is Muggleborn, she's extremely talented at magic, and Voldemort will want to use her, they're going to be after her."

"Marls, I'm going to run out and find her, you two stay here." James said making his way back towards where the fighting was taking place.

"No way, we're coming with you!" Marlene said as she pulled Tia up and ran after him. James in the distance saw Lily's flaming red hair duelling fiercely with Malfoy. He began to run towards them, faster than his legs could carry him and stumbled as he watched the terrible scene play out before him: Lily collapsing to the floor like a lifeless rag doll, her limbs folding in on themselves as she shrieked in pain, writhing around on the floor. It was like all the volume from the room had been muted, and he couldn't hear the duels or screaming round him, all his hearing was tuned into was the horrific sound of Lily screaming in pain as she was tortured and James didn't think he had heard anything as awful. He ran towards them with blind rage and felt convinced that he would kill Malfoy, he would murder the man for hurting his Lily.

"Lily!" James said, his eyes burning from rage as he lifted her into his arms in one smooth motion from the floor and set her down, steadying her with one arm around her waist. She was still shaking, and this added to James' fury as he thought of how she had been tortured and there was nothing he could have done about it.

"Come to save your girl?" sneered Malfoy, wand out as he sized James up.

"My my, how sweet, ever the hero Potter!" Malfoy spat, and before James knew what was happening Malfoy started throwing hexes at him and James became involved in his first ever real duel, with a real Death Eater. Malfoy knew how to duel, and he definitely knew more deadly curses than James, but James was fuelled by the image of Lily rolling around in pain on the floor while she was being tortured, and her screams still rang in his ears making James wonder if he'd ever be able to forget that. James shot spell after spell at Malfoy and in his fury he became stronger and more confident and it was evident that Malfoy was struggling. James could feel his wand vibrating from the energy that it was currently exuberating and he felt feverish. At this point Lily had recuperated enough to join his side, sending spells of her own at Malfoy, and it wasn't long before he lay unconscious on the floor.

"Lil, we need to get out of here!" James said, grabbing her as he ushered her towards the fireplace, hoping they would be able to Floo out; he could see Sirius and Remus – who was sporting a very bloody gash on the side of his face – moving towards them and he gestured them towards the large fireplace. Just as they approached it, a figure stepped out from the emerald flames and James' breath got stuck as he realised who he was looking at – dark, heavy lidded eyes and masses of shiny black hair, and the most malicious smile – Bellatrix Lestrange stood in front of them, caressing her wand with her clawed hands.

"Leaving so soon? The fun's just started!" Bellatrix cackled.

"Stupefy!"Sirius shot at her, but she dodged and furiously shot back at him with a Cruiciatus Curse which he managed to spring away from just in time.

"Cousin! Is that any way to greet a family member?" Bellatrix sneered. She eyed the three Marauders and Lily up as if deliberating which one she should kill first.

"You're no family of mine. Expelliarmus!" Sirius cried.

"Filthy blood traitor!" Bellatrix spat, she deflected the curse and advanced upon them, sending endless torrents of deadly spells. Lily cast the strongest shield charm she could muster between Bellatrix and the three boys, but in her haste, didn't see the advancing figure who came up behind her pulled her by her hair towards the fireplace.

Lily screamed, "James!" the unknown figure pulled her towards the fireplace, whilst Bellatrix hit her with "Petrificus Totalus" and Lily was unable to move, the only parts of her body which could move were her eyes that swivelled around in horror looking for James.

"No, no way!" James cried as he ran after them and hit the Death Eater who was dragging Lily with a stunning spell. James recognised him as Dolohov just as he saw that he had got him square in the back and James ran forwards as Sirius and Remus ran after him engaging Bellatrix in a duel. James performed the counter curse on Lily and she got up shakily, he tried to pull her towards the fireplace, still desperately trying to get her out of that wretched mansion, but Lily wasn't having any. She ran towards Sirius and Remus and joined in their battle with Bellatrix. James ran to join them, just as he saw Lily hit in the chest with a purple spell and his heart stopped. She seemed to carry on with the duel as if she was okay, but her movements were no longer fast and agile, they were sluggish almost. The duel was intense and Sirius and Remus' energy was fading fast, Lily's whole body was coming up with large abnormal purple bruises that blossomed over her white skin like flowers, and James wondered how much longer this could go on.

Just as this thought entered his mind, the ceiling shook and the ground trembled; a flash of golden light caught the attention of Bellatrix and James felt a thousand times lighter once he saw who had just arrived.

"Dumbledore!" James gasped as Bellatirx Disapparated, disappearing into thin air.

Dumbledore had arrived with Alastor Moody, the Prewett brothers and Edgar Bones, all of whom were Aurors. Upon their arrival, all the Death Eaters seemed to have Disapparated. A eerily quiet calm fell upon the scene. James looked around as he took in the damage that had been caused, and he felt physically sick as he saw that what was meant to be the happiest day of Alice and Frank's lives had turned into a catastrophe: Marlene was trying to wake an unconscious Tia and Moony ran to join her; Alice was crying quietly in the corner as she nursed Frank's wounds; Molly and Arthur Weasley were helping to get everyone off the floor as Professor McGonagall, who had been one of the wedding guests ran around trying to help all the wounded.

"Prongs! Prongs look at Lily." Sirius said as he caught Lily, who was about to collapse on the floor. Her eyes were hooded, and blood was spilling from her mouth, the red staining the front of her beautiful green dress.

James could feel nothing but fear as he pulled her into his arms. "Lil, Lily come on baby open your eyes," he said in desperation. Sirius called out to Dumbledore who came running assessing Lily over his half-moon spectacles – "Miss Evans had been cursed with some truly Dark magic; she needs to be taken to the hospital immediately." Dumbledore said making Portkeys one after the other for all the wounded to take to St Mungo's.

"Is she going to be okay?" Sirius asked, unable to take his eyes off Lily who was fading fast.

Dumbledore looked at the two boys as they held on to Lily, "I really cannot say, the way Dark magic works is unfathomable; all I can do is hope."