AN: hello. thankyou to all my reviewers. you guys rock! to mnz: i hope james isn't too un-likeable, you're supposed to still love him! don't judge him too harshly, remember, there are two sides to every story! lost.between.pen.and.paper: i made this chapter longer! james-s2-lily: Yes they do! and james doesn't seem the type to forget that does he...hmm...haha, a little hint there!! anyway, hope you all enjoy this chapter!


The sky looked like rain. Low dark clouds hung ominously above, threatening to break at any moment. Lily knew she had to go back up to the manor at some point, but that would also involve talking to James, and Lily was afraid of that conversation. What if he didn't chose her?

Feeling thoroughly sick of useless "what if"s, Lily brushed the grass off of her knees and got to her feet, wishing she'd transfigured James' shirt into something warmer than a sundress. The air was chilly, and the wind had picked up, whipping her hair around her face.

A storm was on its way.

As Lily made her slow way back up to the house, she wondered when Dumbledore would pay them another visit. It had been two days now since her mission, although it was hard to believe it. Besides receiving the owl that Guildenweed was going on trial next week, Dumbledore had not otherwise tried to contact her. Maybe he was angry? Another "what if" of sorts.

Heaving a great sigh, Lily pushed open the door that led into the large, cosy kitchen, and was glad to see a fire crackling happily in the hearth. It was the person sitting in the chair by the fire that made Lily wish she'd returned through the front door.

Sally looked up as Lily came in and smiled awkwardly at her. "I just made tea, if you'd like some."

"Thank you," Lily said quietly, accepting the offered cup and sitting cautiously at the scrubbed kitchen table.

"So you're Lily," Sally said quietly, raising her cup to her full red lips and sipping daintily.

Lily said nothing, not too sure what Sally meant.

Smiling, Sally looked down at her lap, her perfectly straight, pearly white teeth glinting maliciously in the light of the fire. How was it possible that she was so perfect-looking? Even her gums were pretty, and Lily had never really found anyone's gums to be pretty before. "You're probably wondering what happened between James and me."

Still, Lily said nothing, but she bristled at Sally's words. The way she said, "James and me". It just sounded so…right coming from her mouth.

"I wish I could say it was nothing," Sally said quietly, tucking a strand of long hair behind her ear and biting her lip. "Last summer, when we met…we just clicked, you know? Sorry…I shouldn't be saying this to you. You and James have a thing, right?"

Lily nodded her head stiffly. Who was this bitch?

"Anyway," Sally said, smiling and leaning back in her chair. "It's so nice being back here. I really do love this manor, it's starting to feel almost like a second home to me. It looks so beautiful at Christmas too. Have you ever been here for Christmas?"

"No," Lily replied tersely, her head now swimming. Sally had stayed here last Christmas?

"Oh well, it's really beautiful. I stayed for ages last winter! I just couldn't leave!" she laughed daintily, and crossed her to-die-for legs. "I wish I could've come back during Easter, but I stayed in London instead. In the Three Broomsticks with James. It's a nice little pub isn't it? Very quaint. I wish we had more of those in Sydney. Have you ever been to Australia?"

Lily shook her head again, sure that her face must have been the same colour as her hair by now. Her fingers were gripping the mug so hard, her knuckles were white. What, had James spent every second of his free time with this girl? Sure, maybe they hadn't exactly been an item over Easter, but before Christmas, Lily and James had had a very definite thing.

"I'm going to go and change," Lily said quietly, almost knocking over her full cup as she stood hurriedly.

"Oh, ok. Well, it's so nice to meet you!"

"You too," Lily muttered through clenched teeth, secretly wishing they'd never met. If this girl wanted to fight, then Lily would fight, claws out, teeth bared.

There was more than one war raging in the Wizarding world, and Lily was determined to win.

---

"She's a bitch!" Lily yelled, pacing the bedroom. "Even by your standards Sarah."

"Thanks," Sarah replied coolly from her place on the bed in one of the numerous guestrooms as she flicked through a Witch Weekly.

"And James! Did you know that he's seen her every holiday over the past year? And not just seen her, he's actually spent each entire holiday with her!"

"Or so she says," Sarah muttered, barely glancing up at her fuming friend.

"And she didn't even mention the pregnancy. She's probably saving that bit up for later, because seriously, how am I supposed to win against that? She's carrying James' child!"

"Well, she seemed quite nice when I talked to her. Maybe if you gave her…a…" Sarah petered off as she caught the look on Lily's face. "You're right. She's a total bitch," she said quickly, sitting up and facing her friend. "Ok, so what's the plan? How do we destroy her?"

"Well, whatever we do, we'll have to do it gently," Eleanor said, speaking for the first time from her chair by the window. "She is pregnant after all."

"Alright," Sarah said determinedly, rubbing her hands together in a way that made Lily slightly nervous. "James is out wandering the grounds looking for you, Lily, so that should give us an hour at least. First of all, we cut holes in the chests of all her tee-shirts."

"We're not in 3rd-year anymore, Sarah," Lily said, smiling despite herself at the memory of doing this to one of their more irritating dorm-mates. Sarah had taken the blame for it, and received detentions for a week.

"Alright, how about we give her some of that amazing hair potion of yours?"

Lily smiled again, remembering the mixture of tree-sap and honey that they had given to the same classmate in fifth-year.

"It's still not enough," Eleanor said thoughtfully, sucking on the end of her quill, midway through a sentence in a long-winded letter to her parents up in Scotland. "Maybe we shouldn't be destroying her looks, but improving Lily's."

Lily frowned. "What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing," Eleanor said quickly, just as Sarah coughed something that sounded distinctly like, "frumpy."

Glaring at her friend, Lily shook her head. "There's no way I'm letting you get near me, Sarah. Last time you dressed me, I got picked up as a prostitute."

"Fine," Sarah said, turning back to her magazine. "Watch James and Sally live happily ever after raising their beautiful little baby while you marry Remus and never have sex again for the rest of your life."

Lily frowned and bit her lip. "Fine," she said at last. "But please don't make me look like a hooker, Sarah."

Sarah smiled and was just about to reach for her trusty make-up bag, when the door banged open, and James fell into the room, panting hard.

"James," Sarah exclaimed in surprise. "Wha-"

"Grab your wands and hurry, the Deatheaters have taken St. Mungo's."

---

The scene downstairs was not a pretty one. The entire Order, or so it seemed, was running around, bandages and potions piled precariously in their arms. Healers and patients were scattered throughout the entrance hall, various living rooms, and the large dining room. Lily reached out and grabbed Sarah's hand for support.

Sarah squeezed comfortingly, but her face was equally pale and scared. "What are we going to do now?" she whispered, looking much younger than she usually did.

Lily just shook her head in response. Rolling up the sleeves of her jumper, she drew her wand and headed over to an elderly wizard who lay on a collapsible cot, bleeding profusely from the head.

"What happened?" Lily asked him, pressing a clean bandage to his head in an attempt to stem the flow of blood.

He opened his eyes tiredly and replied, "You-know-who's followers. They got me in the head."

"How did you get out?" Lily pressed him.

He shrugged wearily and let his eyes fall closed again. There was so much noise around her, people yelling, running to help, demands for potions, and calls for Healers. Lily wished she could pause time for just a second to collect her thoughts but there wasn't time for that.

Instead, she grabbed Remus' arm as he hurried past her.

"What's going on?" she asked frantically, pressing the bandage harder against the man's head.

"Voldemort and his Deatheaters took control of St. Mungo's. The Order got there just in time to get out half of the patients, but we only have a few healers."

"Why is everyone in such bad shape?" Lily asked, gazing around at the numerous battle-worn patients.

"The Deatheaters didn't take St. Mungo's nicely." He paused, his dark eyes angry and worried. "There are even more dead."

Lily swore quietly under her breath. "And no one's there still fighting?"

"There's no point. The Order's outnumbered."

"And how many…how many of the Order died?"

Remus just smiled sadly at her and gripped her shoulder in support. "Think brave, Lily."

Lily let out a small sob and turned back to her quickly dying patient. Pulling out her wand, she muttered a blood-replenishing spell, not even sure if it would work – it wasn't like she had any medical training. At least the bleeding seemed to be slowing a bit. Removing the bandage, Lily balked at the deep gash running from behind his ear up across the top of his head, and curving down, ending at his eyebrow. Letting out a small sob, she pressed the bandage back down to his head.

"Has anyone got water?" she called out, hoping someone would hear.

Only moments later, a heavy goblet was pressed into her hand. Carefully, she raised the old man up and pressed the rim to his dry lips. "Drink," she said softly.

"What's wrong with him?"

Lily looked up at the familiar voice to see James peering down worriedly at the old man, another goblet of water in his other hand. "Gash to the head," Lily replied, pulling back the bandages and showing James the deep cut.

"I don't know how to mend wounds," James admitted.

"Me either." Lily chewed on her lip. They had to get this wound closed, or he'd die. "We could always sew it."

James just raised an eyebrow at her, but said nothing.

"Muggles do it."

"Well, if you think it'll work."

"I'll need a needle and some thread."

James just nodded and was gone in a second.

"I don't like the sound of that," Lily's patient muttered weakly. "Sewing my head back together. I'm old, go and take care of someone else."

"I'm not going anywhere," Lily replied. "Just lie back and close your eyes."

Only seconds later, James pressed the needle and thread into Lily's hand and positioned himself behind the old man's head.

"His hair," Lily muttered and was surprised to see James smile.

"I learnt that spell in second year," he said, raising his wand and muttering, "Abeo Saeta." The man was instantly bald, his head streaked with thick, dark blood, revealing just how serious the wound was.

"There could be internal damage," Lily said, worriedly, her hands shaking.

"Do it, Lils," James said, covering her shaking hand with his large one and squeezing comfortingly.

She nodded, trying to calm herself down. She let out a little sob of relief when she saw the needle had already been threaded. "Well, here goes," she whispered, pushing the needle into the skin. Her patient moaned deeply, but seemed to only be semi-conscious.

The first stitch was probably the hardest. Fighting nausea, Lily carefully stitched the entire wound, finishing at the old man's wispy white eyebrows. Finally, she tied off the stitches neatly, exactly as her grandmother had taught her as a child, and rocked backwards onto her heels, sobbing in relief.

She grabbed James and buried her face into his chest, and wrapped her arms tightly around him, completely forgetting that a few hours ago she had been furious with him.

"You did well," James said, comfortingly, squeezing her back. "Anyone would have thought you'd done that before."

Lily just shrugged and wiped her nose on what was probably a very expensive sweater, letting her tears fall freely.

"Come on, you need to eat," James said, pulling her to her feet. "You've been with him for hours."

"Have I really?" Lily asked blearily, letting James lead her to the kitchen. She felt slightly light-headed. "I can still help though, there are so many people who still need help."

"You've done enough for now."

Only when Lily was sitting at the kitchen table, a large sandwich and goblet of pumpkin juice in front of her, did she begin to feel slightly more human. She'd washed her hands and arms free of blood, and taken off the stained sweater of Sarah's she had been wearing.

James sat across from her, picking half-heartedly at his own sandwich and nibbling on the edge of a crisp. "Lily…about Sally…"

"Now's really not the time," Lily said quickly, not wanting to discuss the pregnancy or his and Sally's relationship.

"There'll never be a good time, Lily. You have to understand –"

"James, please!" Lily shot angrily, meeting his eyes for the first time. "What ever you two had…it's got nothing to do with me."

James just looked at her perplexed. "Of course it does, it has everything to do with you. And besides, we didn't have any-"

But he was interrupted by Sirius rushing into the room. "Dumbledore's here."

Lily and James got to their feet and hurriedly followed Sirius out of the room.

---

She was lost in a dark sea, struggling to break through the surface, hating the silence and oppressive feeling of the dry water pressing down on her from all sides.

Strong arms enveloped her gently, barely penetrating her dreams, rocking her gently, mimicking the motion of the fantasy ocean, smothering and drowning her. Sub-consciously, she felt her body tucked under a warm duvet, her skin sliding between cool sheets, and she slept on, the water turning to blood – the blood of hundreds of dying people she couldn't save, all screaming the same name…crying for her to wake up and fight the ocean she could not escape from.

---

"Well?" James croaked, rubbing his eyes in exhaustion and flopping into a large armchair.

Dumbledore paced in front of the crackling hearth, his light blue eyes worried and lacking their characteristic twinkle.

"The ministry should have been better prepared," Sirius said angrily, ripping at a hangnail on his thumb. "It should not have been up to the Order to protect a Ministry established institution."

"Voldemort has captured the majority of the Healers," Remus said quietly, his dark eyes following the Headmaster's pacing. "Does this mean he is planning another attack? When we are at our weakest?"

"I'm afraid it does," Dumbledore said quietly, crossing to the window and gazing out at dark stormy sky. "James, if everyone could stay here a little longer. I have warded and protected this place to the best of my ability, and everyone is safe here…for now anyway."

"Of course," James nodded. "This can be the temporary hospital for as long as is needed."

"Those needing intense care have already been transported to Hogwarts and are currently under the care of Poppy Pomfrey. And we'll begin transporting some of the other patients up to St. Aloysius' in Scotland, tomorrow. But I fear a battle is approaching, and we're going to need all the Healers we have."

"Is there anyway we can retrieve some of the Healers Lord Voldemort took?" Sirius asked.

Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "Not now. Our numbers are too few. We lost some important witches and wizards tonight."

"And the Ministry? The Aurors?" James began, trying to come up with a solution. "Surely there must be some way."

"If there is, I have yet to see it. At the moment, we must focus our efforts on regrouping and gaining strength before the inevitable battle, which Lord Voldemort is sure to be planning."

James stared moodily into the fire, trying to organize his thoughts, but it was too hard. Too much was happening too quickly, and one problem just seemed to be running into another. It seemed impossible that just 24 hours ago, he'd been up in his bedroom with Lily, completely oblivious to all other people. And now…well now he had been thrown violently back into the world…and he didn't like it.


Thanks for reading. Please review! they make me happy. and unhappy authors kill of main characters...seriously...

xxx