Lily Evans glared at her boyfriend.

"Patrol every other day, 10-11 pm slot." she intoned in a no-nonsense tone.

"No, patrol Monday, Wednesday, Friday. No weekends. 9-10 pm slot." he replied, fixing his glasses. He stared at her and gave her a wink. Lily scowled.

"Monday does not work, I have study group till curfew. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. 10-11 slot." she shot back, looking back at the idiot coolly.

"Tuesdays and Thursdays are Quidditch practice, love. Can't do that, I'll be knackered. How about Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday? 9-10 pm slot." he answered, taking a snitch out of his robes and letting it loose. The snitch had only gone a small distance when he snatched it up again and grinned at her.

Lily rolled her eyes and smiled back at him sweetly.

"Alright, then. I will rearrange my study group. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. 10-11 pm slot. And Hogsmeade weekends. All of them. I'm sure you won't be knackered then."

James Potter blanched.

"Sweet Merlin , no! Lily, Hogsmeade weekends? Are you kidding me? Those patrols are the worst! Children everywhere." James shuddered, pocketing the snitch again.

Lily merely raised an eyebrow and James sighed dejectedly.

"Fine, woman! You win. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. 10-11 pm slot." he pouted, crossing his arms across his chest.

"And two Hogsmeade weekends."

James glared at his girlfriend and was about to retort back when Remus kicked his leg. James looked at his best friend. Remus had looked up from his book and was giving him a look that said 'Are you really going to argue with her on this? '

"And two Hogsmeade weekends." he chanted, glaring at his friend.

Lily did a little jig in her mind and laughed outwardly.

"See? All done!" she cried happily. She got up from her seat and snogged her boyfriend senseless. Said boyfriend stared at her with a dazed expression after she was done.

"Yeah, whatever you say." he murmured, looking at his lady-love with a besotted gaze. Remus snorted in the background and James turned to glare at him.

"There you go! That wasn't so bad was it?" Lily started, settling down in her seat again. "Now we just have to make patrols for all the other Prefects!"

James Potter groaned loudly and slumped in his seat. As Remus snickered, James couldn't help but wonder what Dumbledore had been thinking when he made him the Head Boy.

Senile old man.

Lily was amazed at her reality. She had never thought she would give James a chance. But towards the beginning of the year James had destroyed all of her defences. She had finally said yes to a date when he had asked her out and called her Lily. She was after all a witch who did not make any false claims.

She had written to Petunia and the reply back had been filled with the letter-version of squeals. Petunia wanted to meet James officially and even introduce Vernon Dursley to them. Lily had been quite reluctant to agree to that but Petunia had promised to control Vernon if Lily could do the same with James. A part of her wanted to make sure all of them never met but she couldn't say no to Petunia- especially when their newfound sisterhood hung in balance. So during the summer holidays when she went back home, they finally agreed to meet during the coming Christmas holidays of her seventh year.

Lily contemplated giving James a subduing potion. She would have to ask Madam Rosemond about it.

Although James knew how important this was to her, he was also James bloody Potter and anyone who had met him even once knew exactly how that prat was. He just couldn't help but be his prat-ish self. Not that Lily hadn't noticed him tone it down; because James Potter- if anyone could believe it- had most definitely toned down on his pranks. They were still idiotic – in her opinion, mild but harmless – in his opinion and funny – in the entire school's opinion.

Lily was sure that the oncoming graduation was the reason. But she also knew that the real reason was the whispers all of them had been hearing in the past few months. The disappearances – of both magical and non-magical population – had gone up. Lily didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing that their bodies were never found. She had heard James talk about how people were used as sacrifices in rituals to increase power and she had shuddered. When one of their housemates – Clark Dearborn – had disappeared during the break, fear and worry had spread like fire in their school.

The Ministry – as always – had no idea what to do. Lily understood why James wanted to be an Auror, but she felt there should be more they should be doing. The Ministry could not even protect the people it was supposed to; important people in the Ministry were disappearing every day. As much as she detested joining them, she loathed leaving James to himself even more. Hence, she applied for the Auror Training Program and was set to join them after graduation.

The teachers were always grave these days and for the sake of some levity they had allowed Hogsmeade weekends, even though many of them had been set against them. Lily could understand their position but everyone else thought that Hogwarts was the safest place ever.

Lily sincerely doubted that statement.

The atmosphere at Hogwarts was chilly. Fights were breaking out even more – as the Head Girl they were frankly a pain in her arse. She did not understand why people thought retaliating was the best form of action. The Defence Group was still going strong. But she also knew the reason behind the fighting. Slytherins had become complete pariahs – they had always been outsiders and barely mingled with the other houses – but now it had gotten worse.

Two weeks ago, Lily and James had broken up a fight between a sixth year Gryffindor and third year Slytherin. The Gryffindor had attacked the other boy simply because of the house he belonged to and because he thought they were all evil dark lords in disguise. Lily had never been that ashamed of her house before. She had been speechless. James had been the one to assign detentions and take the points.

She had been even more ashamed when most of the people in their house had completely agreed with the brave sixth year Gryffindor and confronted their Heads for their decision to punish their own housemate. Lily had lost it then. Her magic had gone haywire and only James's presence had kept it under control. She had shouted at all of the people gathered in the Common Room and told them they could all shove their bravery up their arses if that was what they thought being a Gryffindor meant. She had told them that bravery meant fighting for the right thing in the face of all oppression and doing the right thing despite everything.

No one had dared say anything after that. Some Gryffindors.

Lily had turned to look at James, who had quietly sat down with Remus and Peter observing his girlfriend shouting at everyone with an amused smirk. James had only tipped an invisible hat to her and the light in his eyes had told Lily that he very much felt the same way. But the angry set of his shoulders and the clenched jaw told her more – James was just as angry as her about what had happened.

Sweet Morgana, that boy would never cease to surprise her.

Despite her bemusement at her boyfriend's recent ability to empathize with Slytherins, Lily knew the actual truth was way off. Slytherins gave back just as good as they got. Some of them might not be truly evil and dark but Lily knew a lot of them hid their affiliation with a certain upcoming Dark Lord. Her friendship with Severus might be a thing in the past but she would never stop caring about him. His pinched expression whenever she saw him told her much more than an actual conversation would. She just hope he knew what to do in the face of what was about to come. She was not the only one to connect the dots between the disappearances and unexplained attacks on Muggle villages.

A dark cloud was approaching and she fervently hoped they all knew how to guard against the heavy torrent of rain.

The Halloween Feast was quite splendid in Lily's opinion. After all, she and James had put in quite a bit of an effort into it. Hogsmeade weekends had been reduced and this term they only had two. James had coaxed her into giving the second weekend patrol to someone else and she had agreed when James had offered to buy her books and a new set of quills she had been eyeing at Scrivenshaft's. She had been planning on giving it to the sixth year Ravenclaw prefects who had rescheduled two of their assigned patrols. But she figured James did not need to know that.

She had been feeling a sense of melancholy ever since she had woken up that morning and for the magic in her, she could not explain it. When she had gone down to meet James in the Common Room, she had hugged him tight and refused to let him go for a long time. Of course, the prat had been too happy to oblige her and soon, Lily had been able to brush off her mood.

Given the lack Hogsmeade weekends, she had decided to put in a bit of extra effort in the feast. And it had turned out quite well. She had requested the elves to make a set of new dishes and she was sure they had outdone themselves.

Just as she was putting the final touches to the flaming blue candles near the professors' table, her magic sparked but died down just as quickly. She turned around. Her stalker boyfriend had stuck close to her during the setup and James turned around too when he saw Lily stiffen.

Sirius Black was approaching them, his expression strangely blank. Usually he would be smirking or making a comment about their Gryffindor tendencies. Before he could get a word out, James spoke up-

"I offer you congratulations on your betrothal. I hear you accepted it and I am sure Mademoiselle Dagworth-Granger is remarkable. I wish you a magical union."

For the first time, Sirius Black flashed them a grin and politely accepted the congratulations. Lily looked at her boyfriend incredulously and he offered her a small grimace and shrugged. He mouthed 'later'. She turned her attention back to Black.

"I was wondering about the next Hogsmeade weekend," Black explained, his grey eyes studying them carefully. "You haven't told the Prefects when it is."

James and Lily looked at each other and frowned. Professor Dumbledore had asked them to not divulge any details until the Hogsmeade dates were decided by the teachers.

Black gave them a small smile and Lily couldn't help but think how out of place that looked.

"I only ask because my betrothed and I wish to meet. I am quite busy during the Christmas holidays and she is otherwise engaged for the Easter ones. I hope to know beforehand so we can arrange her travel as she has to come quite a way."

At once, James's expression cleared and he looked at Black with a courteous smile.

"I regret to inform you that there won't be any more Hogsmeade weekends this term."

"And the next term?" Black asked, his eyes darting between the two.

Lily opened her mouth to stop James when he answered.

"There might be one, around March. Not entirely sure yet."

"Very well. Thank you." Black replied, giving an unassuming smile again. Lily narrowed her eyes at him as he turned and walked away. She twisted towards James.

"Why did you tell him that?" she demanded. "Professor asked us not to!"

James gave her a disbelieving look.

"What? He wants to meet his fiancé, I can't say no to that!" he replied, waving in the direction Black had gone.

"You have barely been civil to him and now you are just volunteering information?"

James shrugged.

"I haven't been uncivil either – I have just stayed away. Mum would have my head if I didn't."

Lily raised her eyebrows at him and James flushed red.

"He's my cousin – on the Black side. Mum's a Black."

Lily stared at him in surprise and wondered why she was surprised considering how inbred the Purebloods were.

"Right. What was that about the little speech?" she asked, tapping her foot lightly. When James looked at her questioningly, she rolled her eyes. "About his betrothal?"

"Oh. With Hermione Dagworth-Granger?" James inquired, scratching his head lightly.

Lily's spine tingled every time that name was brought up and she wished her bloody magic would clue her in one of these days about its strange reactions. She had heard that name a couple of times since start of the term and every time her magic jolted as if coming out to greet something.

"Yes, that. I heard about her O.W.L. scores and Witch Weekly did a profile on her. It did not mention the betrothal." she answered, jerking her towards the entrance so they could go back to their tower. Lily wondered what they taught at Beauxbatons that one of their own had broken all records in the exam scores.

James smirked as he fell in step with her.

"Why, Lily love, I did not know you read Witch Weekly of all things! How was its latest quiz? Mary was boring poor Peter to death with it. Which Wizard is the Perfect Love Match for You? I bet you anything it was me."

Lily scowled at him. Was it too late to transfer to Beauxbatons?

"I have not read it!" Lily exclaimed, hitting James on his arm. "I only said they did a profile, everyone has been talking about it. And even if I read it, what has it got to do with you, you insufferable prat!"

James groaned when Lily elbowed him for laughing. He quickly captured her hand and slid his arm across her shoulders.

"Easy, love. I was just joking. I can even sign you up for the subscription-" James trailed off as he noticed his fuming girlfriend glowering at him. He coughed to hide his laughter. Another pointy elbow in the gut told him he hadn't managed to hide anything. Before his girlfriend left him on the moving stairs, he hurried his explanation.

"It was not mentioned in Witch Weekly, because it was somewhat of a secret." he clarified, pulling Lily closer. "It is a Black family secret. I only know because of Mum. She has not stopped complaining about how barbaric it would be for the girl to be Walburga's daughter-in-law. But it was a binding contract, they have been betrothed since practically birth. I was congratulating Black because he managed to fulfil his contract and has upheld the House of Black."

When Lily looked at him blankly, James flushed.

"It is a Pureblood thing and given I am his family, it is proper to congratulate him and all."

"I will never understand these traditions." Lily shook her head. "What do you mean a binding contract? And why would she marry Sirius Black of all people? Poor girl."

"I don't know the details exactly but it was between the Blacks and Rosiers." he answered. Lily frowned at him and James added. "Hermione Dagworth-Granger is also the Rosier heir. She has obviously said yes too – which explains their recent Betrothal Announcement in the Daily Prophet. The actual betrothal agreement might have happened ages ago but they only just went public with it. Black would be getting congratulated by a lot of people."

Lily tugged on her lower lip. Something about this whole situation bothered her very much. A binding contract in this day and age? But then, the Wizarding World was horrendously backwards as it was still stuck on the blood issue. She would have to look it up.

"Is that why Black never dated?"

James raised an eyebrow and flashed a grin at her.

"Interested in Black, are we?"

"Yes, very much." Lily replied dryly. Then she fluttered her eyelashes at him. "His piercing grey eyes are quite lovely and they see through everything and I can't help but wonder if-"

Lily stopped because she was laughing too hard at the look of abject horror on James's face.

James poked her side and Lily dissolved into another fit of giggles. James chuckled and looked at her warmly.

"Yes, it is probably why he did not date. But how did you know that?" James asked. They had arrived at the tower. He looked at the Fat Lady and murmured Cantankerous Marauders at her, something which made Lily start chortling again. When the portrait had asked the Heads for the password, both Lily and James had blurted out the first word that came to their minds. Lily didn't even know why that word was in her head in the first place but the resulting Cantankerous Marauders never failed to amuse her. James had begged her to change the password but as the Fat Lady would only change it if both of them agreed, but Lily had refused.

"I know because Marlene was talking about how all the girls that are just devastated that Black is betrothed." she explained after she was done laughing. "Bachelor Extraordinaire of Hogwarts is taken. Oh, the horror!"

"I am glad his betrothed does not go here. Can you imagine what she might have gone through if she did?" James muttered, shaking his head.

Lily snorted as she joined Remus on a sofa near the fireplace. She shot him a quick smile as he looked up from his book.

"Unlikely. Hermione Dagworth-Granger scored the highest in centuries. Her scores are quite remarkable and even so, do you know what subjects she scored the highest in?"

James gave her a befuddled look and shook his head at her. He settled down on an armchair near them.

Lily simply elbowed Remus.

"Battle Magics and Defence." Remus replied sardonically, grinning at James when his jaw dropped open.

"Blimey, they teach Battle Magics at Beauxbatons?" James spluttered, his eyes wide. "I wonder what that's like."

"Yeah, me too." Lily claimed, relaxing against the sofa. She looked at the watch and knew it would soon be time to go down to the feast.

James had a thoughtful look on his face and in a split second, it turned to a shit-eating grin as he looked at Remus.

"No one has ever scored high in Defence." James began, pompously. "She broke even your record, Moony! I am sure of it. Even with all your uh- advantages of superior strength and amazing resilience. Wow, you can't even claim to be the best anymore!"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Remus muttered sarcastically and then he looked towards Lily when James kept on talking about Remus being inferior. He ducked his towards her and whispered. "You think it's too late to transfer schools, Lily?"

Lily burst out laughing at his earnest look. James stopped talking to look at them both.

"I have asked myself that a couple of times." she replied, noticing James inching forward to listen to her. "Maybe we should do all we can to get away from this Cantankerous Marauder!"

Soon, she and Remus were laughing as James pouted in his armchair.

Lily was quite surprised that her dinner with Petunia and Vernon was not completely horrible. Halfway through it, she had been quite ready to confound James but one look at her face and he had toned down his obnoxiousness. She could not blame him, somehow Vernon had brought out the worst in him but he was important to Petunia. In her opinion, Petunia deserved more. But she would never mention that to her sister. She also thought Vernon might propose soon and given the way Petunia adored him, the answer would be yes.

After they got home, Lily and Petunia agreed to never have a dinner like that again. Prior to their friendship, Lily was quite sure the evening might have turned out worse and that Petunia would have hated James. But so much had changed that, both of them started laughing at their respective boyfriends and made fun of their behaviour.

When Lily arrived for her final term at Hogwarts, she felt strangely anxious for the first week of the term. Looking at Severus's grim face at the Slytherin table made it worse, especially when he did not lift his eyes throughout the meal.

The following weekend explained why she had been feeling that way.

She was usually the first person in her dorm to be up and about. Ever since becoming Head Girl, she had started waking up even sooner. She had tossed and turned the entire night and felt she could use a pot of tea, even if it was a weekend. Heading down to the Great Hall, she only found a couple of early risers and some professors at their table. Nodding politely at her fellow students and professors, she sat down heavily on the bench and started making herself a cup of tea. A hoot from the hall came and she looked up at the early post. An owl dropped her morning paper and she had barely put the knuts in the little pouch when a sudden hush fell in the Hall. Without looking up, she snatched the paper and opened it. Her heart stopped beating for a second.

KING'S CROSS STATION ATTACKED!

A group of 20 alleged Dark Wizards and Witches attacked the Muggle station King's Cross yesterday morning. The Muggles believe the attack to be caused by explosives, but after no residue was found – the Ministry sent in their special taskforce to combat the situation.

At least 30 Muggles have died, and 40 have been injured – among which children and women rank the highest. According to the spokesperson…

Lily stopped reading as she stared at the newspaper for a few minutes. She glanced up at the teachers' table. She had never seen the Headmaster that grave or silent. His expression was severe. Wiping the tears from her face that had fallen unbidden, she looked around at the silent hall. No one seemed to be looking at each other. She glanced at the Slytherin table and noticed that Severus's face was completely white and he was clutching the table. He excused himself and swiftly got up to leave the hall. In another time, she might have followed him but that was neither here nor there. In her silent scrutiny she hadn't noticed her friends join her. Marlene read the paper over her shoulder and sighed. Mary and Dorcas grew pale.

This hit was too close to home. Everyone arrived at Hogsmeade station via the King's Cross and it made no sense.

But then again, Lily was quite sure the entire premise of attacks and intimidation was built on lies and debauchery. No matter what psychologists believed, criminals like these were not a class of citizens that could be understood. Some people just wanted to raze the world to the ground.

In the following two months, Lily was quite glad for James's positive energy. She did not know where it all came from but his cheerful demeanour kept her sane. It was not like she did not know how serious he could be – because she had seen him fight in the Defence Group and that was something he was never non-serious about. He was passionate, direct and quick. Her own magic had never been happier than when James and her were trading spells and fighting. It was as if her magic enjoyed that more than anything else.

Taking a bit of a chance on her wandless abilities, Lily had taken to using a dud replica wand she had made of her own original wand. She did not think the topic or use of wandless magic could be appreciated in this day and age. It was a bit tricky to use spells that actually used the form of light so she mostly had to rely on spells that were silent and focused on releasing energy than light. She was not surprised when she found most of these spells in old tomes that had become quite outdated. Newer versions of each and every spells existed that used light but considering she learned silent casting a while ago, her dud wand did not give her away.

In the past two months, things had been decidedly quiet. Following the attack on the King's Cross station, there had been no more reports of any other attacks. Even the disappearances had stopped. The students rejoiced on the brightening prospects but Lily could not help but feel that it was the calm before a very deadly storm. After much debate, the Headmaster had allowed one Hogsmeade weekend right before the Easter Holidays. All of the prefects were assigned duties and James did not even protest once when she assigned them the majority of the patrol.

She could have easily assigned someone else but she felt it was her job and nothing would be safe if she did not do it herself. For all the good magic in the world, James seemed to share her paranoia and she often wondered why she had not seen his resilience before.

Her magic twitched and fluttered as she made her way down to the Hogsmeade village with James, Remus and Peter. The latter two begged off to go to the Three Broomsticks. James waved them off and turned to her with a wide, goofy grin.

She shook her head at him and shoved him away when he made to her give her a bear hug.

Laughing at him, she headed to the Hog's Head where some of the teachers had gathered. James followed her like a lost puppy and she relented and looped her arm through his and walked in. After informing them of the number of students attending at that moment and how many would arrive in the afternoon, they explained about the patrols and left them.

James and Lily spend the majority time with their wands out, patrolling the village. During noon, they were relieved by fifth year Gryffindor prefects and ducked into the Three Broomsticks to grab a bite to eat.

It was quite crowded but Rosmerta quickly made space for the Heads. Lily noticed how majority of the people were in Hogsmeade now. Her magic tugged at her but she ignored it in favour of listening to James over the noise.

"You think they are a bit lax with the security?" James asked.

"Not sure." Lily frowned. "This is the most that's ever been done for a Hogsmeade weekend. Even teachers are here."

James scoffed.

"What teachers? It's Grubby-Plank, Dedalus and Hoofshanks. Two of them were drunk when we met them before. I doubt they're any better now."

"You're right." Lily admitted, sipping her pumpkin juice. "I think some of them are still operating under the idea that Hogwarts is safe."

"True." James nodded grimly. "I wish the ones who did not think that had taken the patrol instead."

Lily stayed quiet, her magic pulsating in the air. As soon as it touched James's magic, it calmed down. She noticed James jump slightly and looked at him questioningly.

"Wha- what was that? Was that spark you?"

Lily looked at him in disbelief. This was the first time James had felt her magic and actually picked up on it. She stared at him, her mind running miles a minute. She had always thought James to be quite oblivious to his own magic and magic in general. Sure he was a powerful wizard, but Lily had enough experience to know that powerful magic she did not always translate to actually feeling magic. Many people knew they had magic and as such, did not think beyond. She knew some people had a magical core sense, while others – like her – had magical aura sense. Most people had none. Unsurprisingly, these people were also the ones that struggled with nonverbal spells and incantations the most.

James was a bit of a mystery to her. She had seen him do nonverbal spells multiple times but he mostly stuck to verbal spells. Lily thought it had a lot to do with his obnoxious side because his spells were always so powerful. She had also never seen him react to any magical display or residue. She had felt Remus's dark but comforting magic many times. Peter's was cautious but friendly. But her magic was how she knew she could trust Remus more somehow. James's was downright engulfing, dangerous and loving. That boy was so exhausting even his magic was contradictory.

Said boy was looking at her with his eyebrows raised and Lily quickly nodded at him that it was her. James looked quite nonplussed and Lily opened her mouth to explain something she had never shared with anyone when she heard it.

It was a scream.

She whipped her head towards the entrance, her hand going for her wand in her sleeve. Hearing nothing more, after all teenagers were prone to loud exclamations, she relaxed in her seat.

That was when she heard an explosion go off.

The ground rocked beneath her and people screamed.

She and James jumped to their feet and made their way out of the entrance. Noticing the students she had left behind, Lily immediately turned back and dashed inside again. She shouted instructions.

"Lock the doors, all of them! Use Floo to inform the teachers at Hogwarts."

She noticed the students cowering under the tables and chairs and fear gripped her heart. The screaming increased outside.

"You, the group of Ravenclaws! You were taught warding in Ancient Runes the other day. Do it now. Seal the doors and windows."

Another explosion sounded and she realized she could smell smoke. She turned to the doors again-

"I will ward this from the outside, no one leaves and no one comes inside."

Shouting her parting words, she dashed outside again. She turned around to seal the doors and put an old warding sequence she had read about in a book James had given her from the Potter library.

She turned to face the village again and her throat constricted.

Half of this side of the village was on fire. There were duels going on everywhere – between some villagers, students and people in black robes with silver masks. It was utter chaos. Spells were flying around everywhere. She sent a blasting hex towards a group that was heading further into the village and watched with satisfaction as it tore apart their flesh.

Looking towards the fighting group, she cursed when she noticed James there.

But she needed to make sure the students were safe first.

She ran into the village and kept blasting curses towards any silver masks she saw. She thanked Morgana that the majority of the duels were contained near the entrance of the village. She ushered any student she saw with her, dragging them towards Hog's Head.

She picked out Marlene and Dorcas, their wands out, from the crowd and pushed them with the students. They quickly understood what Lily meant and without preamble, started guiding students towards the end of the village. She noticed the shops quickly barricading themselves to her left and right and hoped any students within were safe.

Within minutes they had managed to clear their end of the village, and Lily juddered knowing the front of the village would be much worse.

They were joined by Remus on their way back as he came out of the bookstore. His expression was grave and one look at Lily told him where his best friend was.

Lily wondered where Peter was.

Knowing dissuading her friends to not fight was futile, they quickly made their way back. Forming a tight circle Flitwick had taught them, they defended themselves and each other.

They were not even in the thick of the fighting yet and Lily felt drained.

She knew most of the Defence group was fighting and she felt immensely proud. She had barely seen James's mop of hair before a cutting hex tore through a crack in the group's shield and all four of them rushed in opposite directions to save themselves.

She winced when she noticed her arm had caught some of the curse. She quickly numbed the arm even as blood flowed out.

Split up from her friends, Lily immediately conjured up a Protego Maxima before a Reducto hit her shield and shattered against it. She looked up in horror and saw a tall person with a silver mask on wielding a wand pointed in her direction.

Her magic simmered in anger.

Channelling her magic, Lily pocketed her wand and cast a wandless lightning curse at the person before her. The eyes behind the mask widened considerably and the curse hit the target. Too late Lily saw the puddle of water the wizard was standing on and before long, he was writhing and convulsing before he fell. The smell of burned flesh reached her nostrils and a wave of nausea rolled over her. Had she just kil-

She heard a furious shriek of rage from behind her and had no time to raise her shield when a Crucio hit her back.

She crumbled.

She had heard about the Unforgivable Curses, she had researched into them thoroughly. She had read accounts of people who had gone through it but nothing compared to the furious desire she felt to burn her own skin off.

It burned and itched and pierced. It was like she was being flayed on all parts of her body at the same time.

Lily screamed and screamed and screamed. She was not even fully aware that she was doing so.

She wanted to escape this agony. She would do anything to stop this excruciating pain. She wanted to die. Maybe it would just take her life-

No.

She clasped her magic and held onto it. People were driven insane by this curse. She would not be one of those people. She willed her magic to help help help her.

She did not even know that the curse had stopped and that she was lying in a puddle of her own blood. She did not know that James was screaming himself hoarse, trying to get to her. She did not know that her attacker had raised the wand to cast the final curse.

Her hand twitched and rose of its own accord. It pointed towards the perpetrator. A blast of white energy filled with the power from the Crucio leapt out of her fingers and teared its way towards the black figure in front of her. It crashed and her magic thudded once, twice, then –

A blinding light rose and swamped the area around them.

When it died down, no one was left standing.

Her body convulsed and she resisted the urge to vomit.

"LILY!"

A pair of arms gently lifted her from the ground and she was surprised her nose worked enough to recognize the smell of grass, leather and –

James.

She shuddered violently and rested her head against his chest. She felt tears form in her eyes and the hiccupping sound from James made her flinch. Why was he crying?

James brushed some of her hair off her face and Lily was finally able to see properly. She observed the village and narrowed her eyes.

When did the fighting end?

The rest of her hearing returned slowly and she heard cries, shouts and people rushing about.

Oh, the rest of the teachers must be there then.

"What ha- happened?" she croaked, looking at James.

"What do you mean? It was y-"

James was cut off when Remus hurried up to them. He quickly appraised them before sighing in relief.

"Thank Merlin you two are – bloody hell, did you see him, James? It was horrifying."

Remus spoke in a rush and Lily could barely understand what she was hearing. Remus looked okay and she was glad.

"Lily, they can't figure out how you locked the doors to the Three Broomsticks." he spoke before either of them could answer him. "Could you uh- go and?"

Lily nodded her head. At the same time her body trembled and she gripped James tighter as a tremor rocked through her body.

Remus paled as he studied her closely. He threw a panicked look at James who merely nodded his head gravely.

Both of them helped her towards the bar and she quickly took down the wards she had used. Her magic complained and she shivered.

She leaned heavily against James and closed her eyes.

When Lily opened them again, she was in the Hospital Wing. James was in the bed next to hers sleeping and she tried to look at him properly.

She groaned as every muscle in her body protested as she moved.

James woke up and was with her in a second; trying to help her sit up despite telling her she should take it easy.

"What happened?" she spoke up, her voice quivering. Her voice was hoarse and she wondered if it was because of the curse or because of her screams.

"Lily! I was so worried. You haven't woken up in two days!"

Lily frowned at him. Two days?

"None of the students were injured much – just most of the Defence Group but none of them quite like yo- some villagers died though. About ten of them in the beginning because of the explosions. It was crazy – I thought you were right behind me when I went into the thick of it. It took me a minute to realize you hadn't followed me – I should have remembered about the students too but I- anyway, this maniac was there, Lily. His face was covered with one of those silver masks and he was downright atrocious. He wasn't there in the beginning but he came out later. Introduced himself as Lord Voldemort!"

Lily shuddered when she heard that name. Her magic coiled – as if repulsed. This name – so familiar and yet not.

"And?" she whispered fearfully.

"It was minutes before Dumbledore arrived. He didn't seem too pleased by the warded Three Broomsticks. Merlin knows what he wanted. But it did not take him long to notice me and he actually fucking clapped when I tore open of his little followers."

James ran a hand through his hair and looked at her fearfully.

"He seemed quite unstable. Went rigid the moment he heard Dumbledore was in the fray. Apparated right after that."

James looked at her and clasped her hand tightly.

"I thought I almost lost you – when that witch was cursing you- I thought it was the end. I don't know what you did. But that light blasted through ten others and swept them away. Rest of them Apparated out right afterwards. Fucking cowards."

Lily squeezed his hand and tried to smile at him. Her thoughts were jumbled and she barely remembered what she had done to wield such a powerful spell. Was it a spell? Maybe it was her magic-

James cleared his throat and looked at her, his jaw clenched. The air shifted around them and her magic rose up.

"Lily, there's more." he spoke up, his eyebrows pinched together. "He saw you fight that wizard and obliterate him. And I don't know how but he was- he knew I was involved with you and he practically invited us to join them. It was middle of a fucking fight and that bastard was asking us to join him!"

She could feel the anguish pouring out of James and sent her magic to entwine with his.

James exhaled sharply and rolled his shoulders. He looked at her with a solemn look.

"Everything is going to change now, isn't it?" he asked, his voice low.

Lily gave him a sorrowful look and nodded her head.

James sighed and climbed into the bed with her, making sure not to press against her too much.

"Quite inappropriate timing but I have to tell you something. Not like you haven't heard it from me before – you have. But it's actually – I wholeheartedly mean it this time. I love you, Lily."

Lily smiled and whispered back-

"I love you too, James."

Two weeks after the disastrous Hogsmeade weekend, Lily was sitting with James and Remus studying in a quiet corner of the library. Her jitters had finally stopped and she still had to take an assortment of potions everyday.

There was a flash of fire and three hands went to grip their wands tightly.

But it was only a swirling red and blue flame that had dropped something on the table in front of the three occupants.

Lily exchanged looks with James and Remus and cautiously looked at the table. It was flaming red envelope and for a minute Lily thought it might be a howler but the magic thrumming in it told her otherwise.

As one, they picked up the envelope. Lily felt its magic roll over her- confirming her presence and wondered what would have happened if someone who wasn't her had picked it up.

She opened it.

Lily Evans, you are hereby invited to join the Order of the Phoenix, murmur the incantation for the guarding against the foul dark souls to reveal more.

Lily looked up, her smile growing.

"What do you say, boys?"

James and Remus gave her matching smirks and all of them opened their mouths to say-

"Expecto Patronum."