Chapter Seven: The Attack
Lily didn't attempt to speak to James again during their last few days at Hogwarts. His friends seemed to get the message as well and Sirius, Remus, and Peter steered clear of Lily and her friends. Cassandra and Celina were both obviously concerned, but Lily still couldn't bring herself to talk about what happened. She did tell them she got somewhat of an answer from James about his behavior, but she refused to tell them what he said.
When it came time to leave Hogwarts, Lily and her friends kept to themselves in a compartment at the end of the train. She tried to stay part of the conversation, but she found her gaze drifting back to the window. She stared at the scenery rushing past, wondering, desperately, what the future held for her and her budding friendship with James.
There is no friendship anymore, Lily Evans. She constantly scolded herself for thinking of James Potter and any kind of future with him, romantic or otherwise. Halfway back to London, Lily realized she'd actually developed feelings for the git and it only pissed her off even more. His face kept flashing through her thoughts and each time her heart did a little flip.
Lily's parents were waiting for her at King's Cross once she disembarked with her trunk. She ran towards them, throwing her arms around both of them. In all of her obsession about the premonition and James Potter, she'd completely failed to recognize that for one reason or another, her parents weren't alive in the future either. Her stomach sank into a knot and she forced herself to smile.
"I've missed you both so much," she said.
"You have to tell us everything about your year," her mother said as she led her towards the car. Her father took her trunk and shoved it in the boot.
Lily told them as much as she could, leaving out the parts about James and the premonition. As she relived her year with her parents, she realized how great her year really had been before the last month or so. Forcing herself to look on the bright side, Lily's smile became a little more natural and she was able to relax.
The summer was off to a wonderful start. Lily caught up with her muggle friends, what few were left. She spent as much time with her parents as possible. She wrote letters to her friends, filling them with all the happiness and excitement she was feeling. Their initial responses had expressed concern, but after a couple exchanges, they both seemed to believe Lily was in a better place. Lily rarely let herself think about James Potter. In fact, she didn't think about him at all for a whole week.
One evening, sometime around mid-July, Lily was forced to have dinner with her sister and her sister's boyfriend Vernon Dursley. The moment Lily saw him walk in, she nearly dropped her drinking glass. It was the same man from her premonition. He was a bit younger and a bit thinner, but it was most definitely him. For the entire evening, Lily hadn't been able to relax. Her mind raced with thoughts of the premonition and of James. She desperately wanted to send him an owl and ask him what he thought of all of it.
Later that night, Lily tossed and turned in bed. Whatever James had done to separate them, it wasn't enough to completely alter the course of the future. Petunia was still with that awful man and Lily just knew they would end up married. He was just the sort of boring, normal man Petunia had always wanted in a husband.
A loud crash sounded throughout the house. Lily jumped from her bed, grabbed her wand, and headed for the hallway.
"Mum? Dad?" She called out. "Did you hear that -?"
Another loud crash came from downstairs, followed closely by the house shaking. Lily's whole body started trembling as she walked down the stairs. She heard raised voices followed by a soul-piercing scream. Lily ran the rest of the way down the stairs. She skidded to a halt when she nearly tripped over her father's body.
Lily's body went numb and she collapsed to her knees. Her eyes filled with tears as she leaned over her father's body. She cradled his head in her lap, unable to make a sound. She heard the noise coming from the kitchen, but she didn't care. She didn't care who was still there and might be able to hurt her.
"Daddy," she finally managed to whimper. The grief and shock were too much. She could feel herself shutting down. She felt as if she'd floated from her body was looking down at some girl kneeling over her father. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she should get up and figure out who had done this. She should find her mother. But no, her mother was fine. Safe, even. There was nothing that could hurt her mother. Lily had nothing to worry about.
Until she heard her mother scream, that is. Lily jumped up, wand at the ready as she charged into the living room. Her mother was on the floor, her lifeless eyes staring towards the ceiling. Lily's instinct was to run to her mother, but she was frozen in place. The masked and hooded figures who killed her mother turned to face Lily. She raised her wand and started throwing curses as fast as she could think of them.
The Death Eaters were stunned for a moment, apparently not suspecting there to be a witch or wizard in the house. They recovered quickly, firing off spells at her from all angles. She wasn't going to make it out of this alive. There were too many of them and she –
Several loud, successive pops filled the living room. The jets of light from spells and curses more than doubled as Lily's rescuers started attacking the Death Eaters. Relief flooded Lily's body as she ducked behind the couch to avoid something nasty and red flying her way. She sat there a second longer, trying to catch her breath before standing up to fire another spell.
"Get down!" One of the Aurors shouted at her. "We can handle this. Get down!"
Lily wasn't normally one to argue or disobey rules, but this was her home. Those were her parents' bodies lying on the floor. She needed to be a part of this fight. She stood up again and threw two spells before ducking. She saw the Auror's mouth twitch when he saw her, but he didn't say anything else.
It seemed like hours had passed before the Death Eaters finally disapparated from the house. The Aurors managed to capture one of them, placing them in a magical hold before he could leave. Lily slid down to the floor, her body trembling again from adrenaline and grief.
"Miss?" A kind looking woman was walking towards Lily. There was something familiar about the woman, but Lily was sure she hadn't been there a moment ago when the fighting was going on. Lily looked up, her vision blurred by tears.
"Hi, my name is Harriet Potter," she said softly. "Are you injured at all?"
Harriet Potter. This must be James' mother. She was older than Lily had anticipated, but otherwise she was everything Lily had imagined the woman would be. Her eyes were kind and smiling, despite the obvious pity.
"No, I'm not hurt," Lily said. She looked into Mrs. Potter's eyes. "My parents are dead."
"I know, dear, I am so sorry for your loss," she said. "I understand that what happened tonight might be confusing with all the magic flying around. You're very lucky to be alive. But no worries, dear, we're going to modify your memory to –"
"No." Lily shook her head furiously. "You can't modify my memory. I won't allow it. I'm no muggle."
Mrs. Potter blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought only muggles lived in this house," she said. "You must be –"
"Lily Evans. I just finished my Sixth Year at Hogwarts," Lily said. "I know your son, James."
"Oh," Mrs. Potter said. She looked at Lily and her eyes widened. "Oh."
Mrs. Potter must be aware of James' feelings for me, Lily thought. She pulled her knees to her chest, folded her arms on her knees, and buried her face there.
"Lily, I know you're hurting," Mrs. Potter said. "We're going to get you taken care of, I can promise you that. But we need to secure the scene and start gathering evidence for the report. We will have to question you about the events leading up to the attack."
Lily nodded but didn't raise her head. "Can I just stay here until you need me?"
"It would be best if we could get you out of the house," Mrs. Potter said. "You don't need to watch this and we need to get you checked out for any stray curses or jinxes."
Lily sighed and forced herself to stand up. Mrs. Potter led her out of the house to the front yard. A man wearing robes with the St. Mungos symbol on the chest was standing in the front yard. Mrs. Potter directed her to the man.
"Billy, will you take Ms. Evans to St. Mungos? We'll be by to question her later," Mrs. Potter said. "Make sure she's taken care of. She's had a rough night."
Billy had Lily hold his arm and he apparated them to the entrance to St. Mungos. Lily barely saw the people rushing around her. Nurses and Healers were in front of her, asking questions, but she didn't have words to answer them. She let Billy lead her to a room. He left, but she wasn't sure when. People came in and out of her room, performing tests and still asking questions. All Lily could do was sit there and stare.
She wasn't sure how much time had passed since she was put in the room. It had definitely been awhile since medical staff had come in, when Mrs. Potter showed up with an older wizard who was also wearing Auror uniforms. Lily was more aware than she had been. She noticed it was 5 in the morning. She realized her whole body was aching with exhaustion. She felt cold, although she wasn't sure if it was cold in the room or if she was feeling empty.
Mrs. Potter sat down in front of her. She had the same warm smile and kind eyes that Lily had seen at the house. There was pity there and somewhere in the back of Lily's mind she realized she was going to have to get used to that. Most people were going to look at her with pity from now on.
"Lily, how are you feeling?" Mrs. Potter asked.
Lily shrugged. She looked down at the floor, not wanting to see anything else in Mrs. Potter's eyes.
"This is my partner, Rowan," she said. "He's just here to make sure everything is recorded. Can you tell me what happened tonight?"
Lily opened her mouth to speak but the words got stuck in her throat. Her mouth felt dry and tears stung her eyes. She shook her head furiously as she curled forward on the bed. She couldn't do this. She couldn't tell them what happened.
"All right, I suppose we can try again –"
"Lily!" Mrs. Potter was interrupted by a familiar voice.
Lily's head jerked up just in time to see James bursting in the room. His face was pale and his clothes wrinkled and disheveled. His glasses were askew and he was panting like he'd just completed a marathon. He'd never looked more like a knight in shining armor.
Lily launched herself from the bed and towards James. He pulled her into his arms, holding her close. His embrace was tight and comforting. Lily finally felt safe. She could feel the fog lifting from her brain as James held her.
"I had to come see you," he whispered against her hair. "I heard about the attack and I had to come see that you're still alive. Thank Merlin you're still alive."
Lily nodded against his chest, not trusting herself to speak. If she tried to talk, she'd start crying and she was afraid that once she started crying, she would never stop.
"I'm so sorry, love," he said. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I'm so, so sorry."
