A.N. I don't own Harry Potter.


"Right from the start,

you were a thief,

You stole my heart,

And I, your willing victim,

I let you see the parts of me

That weren't all that pretty,

And with every touch you fixed them."

-P!nk, Just Give Me A Reason


Chapter Six

James POV

I crouched lower over my broom, reveling in the feeling of the wind in my hair and the freedom that comes with flying. The sky was still overcast, but it wasn't raining, well not yet, I tried to look at this as a good omen. My date with Lily was today and I was terrified I would muck it up some how and that she would go back to hating me. I couldn't handle that, I couldn't lose Lily, not ever. I flew over the Quidditch pitch and then did a loop around the castle. I wanted today to be perfect, because that was what Lily deserved. I dived down steeply towards the ground, pulling out at the last moment and flying back up to my window on the seventh floor. Glancing at the clock, I saw that there was only ten minutes until I was supposed to be meeting Lily. Flying had done what it always did for me, passed time, but also cleared my head.

Catching sight of my reflection I nervously tried to flatten my hair, but gave up pretty quickly. I grabbed my jacket, before heading out the door. From Lily's room I could hear Marlene and Alice's voices, I paused wondering if I should wait, but then decided to go down to breakfast like we had planned. As I exited the portrait of Lily me, then walked down the Grand Staircase from the Heads Common Room on the seventh floor, I went over the date in my head, I wanted to take Lily to Honeydukes and buy her some of her favourite white chocolate and raspberry fudge, then if she wanted to, we could to some of the other shops, before going to the Three Broomsticks to warm up with a butterbeer and then I was going to take ultimate good girl Lily Evans to prankster paradise, Zonko's! My thoughts were interrupted by Sirius who bade me good morning, as I sat down opposite him. Frowning at this unlikely behavior I tried to puzzle out Sirius' lack of his normal enthusiasm and energy. In true Sirius form he began to inhale some breakfast, but he was frowning slightly. Aah, Sirius Black was nervous.

"All sorted for your date with Marley?" I asked, taking note of the slightly green tinge to his face.

"If by sorted you mean almost crapping myself, then yes Prongs I'm sorted!" Sirius scowled at me.

"Who would have thought The Sirius Black would be nervous about taking a girl to Hogsmede!" Remus commented dryly as he slid into the seat beside me, while Peter sat next to Sirius, eyeing the bacon hungrily.

Sirius shrugged, as he continued stuffing himself. Nursing a strong black coffee, I tried to untie my knotted stomach.

"Alright Prongs?" Remus asked turning his attention to me.

"I'm fine," I managed to grind out, between clenched teeth.

Seeming to sense Sirius and I weren't interested in talking Remus began to eat, leaving me free to come up with everything that could go wrong on my date. Oh Merlin, a horrible thought hit me. What if Lily stood me up? Or what if she had realised overnight that I was a complete tosser and wanted to break up with me? Or what if-

Remus nudged me in the stomach, I looked up to see four girls entering the Great Hall, Marlene was leading, beaming at a stupefied Sirius, she was followed by Mary, Alice and-

My breath caught in my throat as I laid eyes on my date, if possible my stomach performed even more somersaults, a foolish grin spread across my face, which widened when Lily responded in kind.

Standing up to great her, I kissed her on the cheek as she beamed at me, taking my hand in hers.

"Hey," she said softly, her emerald eyes sparkling.

"Hey," I whispered back, "you look beautiful!"

An adorable rosy pink colour tinted Lily's cheeks and she looked down in embarrassment,

"Thanks."

I frowned slightly, using one finger I gently placed it under her chin, lifting her head up so she could see the sincerity in my eyes.

"Seriously, you're the most beautiful girl in this room, Lily."

Blushing an even darker red, Lily flashed me a beautiful smile, to my pleasure she didn't look away in embarrassment like before, but stood on tip-toe and kissed my cheek.

"Thank you James."

"Aww!" Alice crooned, while Peter mimed gagging.

Feeling a bit embarrassed myself now, I sat back down, Lily next to me in the seat I had saved her. She let my hand go, but squeezed it tightly first.

"So what are we doing today?" Lily asked enthusiastically.

"Well-" I started to reply, but was cut off by Sirius.

"James has been planning this day since he first asked you out in Third Year!" He laughed.

"Have you really?" Lily asked shyly as my supposed friends laughed.

"No of course not," I lied, not wanting to freak her out.

If I wasn't mistaken Lily's expression dropped slightly, I pushed it away as wishful thinking. I had decided to save the best dates for another time, they were too big an action for the first date.

At five to nine, Lily reminded me we had to help Filch with the permission slips, ticking the excited students off, and making sure no one without permission was sneaking out. Filch also had a large rod that he enjoyed poking people with, to detect any Dark objects. Why anybody would be smuggling Dark objects out of the castle, Merlin only knows.

Lily merely smiled saying something about 'metal detectors' and 'x-ray machines'. Merlin only knows what she was talking about.

At half past nine we left Filch to it as the bulk of the students visiting Hogsmede had left. Even though I am now Head Boy and would be way to responsible to pull juvenile pranks, ahem, Filch took great pleasure in jabbing me extra hard with his security rod, and grunting suspiciously at the coins in my pocket. He scowled at me, muttering, as he waved us on.

Butterflies had been gnawing on my stomach all through the half hour, and now they tripled in intensity.

"Shall we?" Lily asked with a heart stopping smile.

Summoning my usual confident smirk, I ran a hand through my hair and pulled my cloak on. Lily took my gloved hand in her own covered one and we made our way down the steps to an empty carriage. I avoided looking at the thestrals that stood harnessed up ready to draw the carriages, Lily too didn't look at them, although I knew she could see them. I had watched my Father die when I was eight years old. My parents were an older couple and Dad's health had been decreasing for almost a year before he caught Dragon pox. The disease had sapped his remaining strength and he had passed away before my eyes. Lily had seen her Grandfather die, she never told me what from.

In my short life, death had been a very real thing, the wizarding world was at war after all and both my parents had been aurors. Although, my mum retired when I was born.

Dragging my thoughts from these dark places, I held the door open for Lily and then climbed in after her, shutting the door behind me.

We talked idly although not as easily as we normally did, something I put down to nerves. We laughed about the prank Sirius had pulled on his cousin, Narssica and brother Regulus a few days ago. Narcissa had long silvery blonde hair that she was very proud of, and with a well placed charm he turned, said hair a Gryffindor red. Regulus' black hair, that was so like Sirius' own hair had been turned gold. When Professor McGonagall angrily asked why he did it, he told her he was trying to create house unity.

Next we talked a bit about Remus who's time of the month was in a few days. The very on-to-it Lily had figured Remus' 'fury little problem' out in Second Year. A few weeks before even we, the other Marauders, began sharing our suspicions. She also knew about the part the rest of the Marauders played when she had come across Sirius and Peter carrying my unconscious, bloody body inside, on her rounds earlier this year. At first she had been furious, that we would illegally place ourselves in so much danger and accused us of being so arrogant we believed we would get away with it. After Sirius and I explained, how much pain Remus went through and how us being there helped him, she had gone quiet and gotten a bit teary. I had been offended by her surprise at how much we cared for our friends. She then decided to forgive us and babbled on about the complex magic involved in being an animagus. When I accused her of being impressed she fiercely denied it.


When we arrived in the village, I stepped out of the carriage first then turned to help Lily down, unfortunately when she took my hand and was halfway out the carriage, I slipped, sending both of us into a large muddy puddle.

"Oh Godric Lily, I'm so sorry!" I cried, helping her up and making sure she wasn't hurt. My cheeks felt hot with embarrassment and I cursed myself inside my head. To my surprise Lily laughed, and scourified the muddy water from both of our clothes.

"Don't worry James, I'm fine," she pushed away my fussing hands, "no harm done!" Standing on her toes she planted a quick kiss on my cheek.

Laughing at my surprised look, she took my hand and towed me into the village, I followed in a daze.

We entered Honeydukes as it started to rain, the shop was packed as usual for Hogsmede weekends.

"Nice to be out of that wind!" Lily said as we waved to Dorcas and her friend Emmeliene Vance who were giggling about something.

I nodded in agreement,

"Im just going to go get some..." Lily guiltily pointed towards the fudge section, I followed behind her snagging a bag of dark chocolate, my personal favourite.

Lily began scooping some toffees and other sweets into a bag. Spotting the raspberry and white chocolate fudge I grabbed a bag and filled it with Lily's favourite.

"Here you go," I said handing it to her with a grin.

Lily blushed slightly but accepted it with a murmur of thanks.

We made our way to the counter where I insisted on paying for all of Lily's purchases, despite her protests otherwise.

"James, you didn't have to do that!" She complained as we made our way through the hoards of students to the door.

"I wanted to, Lily," I replied truthfully.

"Well you shouldn't have...but thank you," she gave me a grudging smile.

Smiling back I took her hand as we stepped back out into the driving rain and frigid wind.

Lily caught sight of my bag of chocolate and smirked at me,

"Not very healthy, Captain!" She teased.

"Even Quidditch players have a weakness for chocolate Lils," I laughed.

"Hm, chocolate is nice, but fudge is so much better!"

I gaped at her, "You did not just insult chocolate!"

Lily wiggled her eyebrows, "Yes I did, what are you going to do about it?"

I paused pretending to consider, "Well...I might just have to tickle you!" Pulling her body to me I tortured her for a few seconds, until she succeeded in wriggling away.

"That wasn't very nice, Mr Potter!" She scowled at me.

"What are you going to do about it?" I imitated her, smirking.

Lily shrugged and kissed me.

We stood there in the pouring rain for a few moments until she pulled away.

"I should tickle you more often!" I laughed, bending down to pick up the neglected Honeydukes bag from the ground.

Lily playfully slapped my arm, straightening her beret and coat.

"Where do you want to go now?" I asked her as we continued down the Main Street.

"I'm almost out of ink and I could do with some more parchment, do you mind if we pop into Scrivenshaft's?"

"Sure, I need a new quill anyway!"

Lily smiled, slipping her gloved hand into mine.

Glancing to my right and into the illuminated windows of the shops a twinge of sadness hit me as I took in the wanted posters, mainly for people wanted in connection with the Death Eaters, a group of Dark Wizards who served a man known as Lord Voldemort. The crimes were mainly for attacks against muggles or muggleborns, but in February the first attack had been made against a pureblood family, a family who actively fought Voldemort. The Prewett family, Alice's parents had been killed defending a muggleborn friend and her three children. All six had been found dead in the Prewett family home. The word 'Bloodtraitors' had been written on the wall in blood and the Dark Mark hung in the sky over the house. Since then attacks on wizarding families had become more common, attacks were normally synchronized, with perhaps twenty groups of Death Eaters breaking into different houses, all around the country, at the same time.

A squeeze of my hand brought me back to reality, Lily had seen the Wanted posters as well. Letting go of her hand, I comfortingly wrapped my arm around her shoulders instead. Lily leant into me, her own arm coming around my waist.

We were passing Madam Puddifoots, when I a horrible thought hit me, desperately praying to Merlin I cleared my throat and made sure my expression was hidden,

"After Scrivenshaft's do you want to go to Madam Puddifoots to warm up?"

Lily stopped walking, horror clearly showing on her face before, she composed it, a spark of hope kindled in my chest,

"Er...I would rather just go to the Three Broomsticks."

A relieved smile spread across my face,

"Thank Merlin, I have the best girlfriend in the world! No wonder I love you so much Lily!"

Lily burst out laughing, but I was too happy to care, and before you ask, yes Madam Pudifoots is really that bad,

"I love you too James!"


Lily and I scanned the packed pub for an empty table, it seemed everyone else was escaping the horrible weather to have a butterbeer too.

"James! Lily!" We turned to see Remus waving at us from where he was sitting with Mary, Alice and Peter. Eyeing the particularly thick crowd around the bar, I turned to Lily,

"You go sit down and I'll go get us some drinks, do you want some lunch too?"

Lily frowned at the busy bar and seeming to see the logic in my suggestion she nodded slowly, "Ok, I'll have a butterbeer and er, some split-pea soup please. Here I'll get you some money."

"No Lily, I'm paying," I smiled at her.

"James!" Lily protested, "You've bought everything!"

"I have and I'm buying this too, now go sit down!"

Lily glared at me, "Fine, but next time I'm paying!"

I nodded to keep her happy, knowing full well, I would never let that happen.

"Go sit down!" I insisted and this time Lily nodded, giving me a breathtaking smile and fleeting kiss on the cheek she turned and was soon hidden by the teeming bodies.

*Lily P.O.V.*

James was so sweet he insisted on buying me my parchment and ink as well as all my sweets from Honeydukes. I was smiling about the way he had apologised a million times for covering us both in mud and the way he was always trying to make me laugh. I would occasionally catch him staring at me, a small smile on his lips, looking at me as if I was the most beautiful person in the world. Yeah right! I was so caught up in thinking about James that I walked right into someone. Managing to steady both of us by grabbing their black clothed shoulder, I immediately started apologising,

"Oh Godric I'm so sorry! I wasn't watch-" when I realised exactly who I had banged into I stopped at once. Pushed past them and began walking away.

A hand fell on my shoulder, spinning me around,

"Is it true?" There was no emotion on his familiar face, but his eyes were dark with sadness and anger.

I searched his face for any sign of the boy who had told me all about magic, the one who promised we would be best friends forever. Sighing, I fixed him with a hard look,

"Is what true, Snape?" If he was surprised by my cold voice he didn't show it.

"Are you or are you to dating that arrogant, bullying prat Potter?"

My hands clenched into fists,

"Don't you dare insult him, he is a million times the man you are! It is none of your business who I date!" I spat.

"He doesn't care about you Lils! He only wants to get in your robes!"

The boy I had met in the park all those years ago was gone. The fury I was working to contain, was clear in my voice,

"He obviously cares about me a lot more than you do Snape!"

Turning on my heel, I strode away, before I did something I would regret, punching or hexing him for example.

Ducking behind a pillar once I had judged I was out of his sight, I lent against it, while taking a few deep breaths and composing myself.

"Lily?" A hand landed gently on my shoulder,

Thinking it was Snape, I shook them off, fixing an impassive expression on my face before I turned,

"F-frank?" I gasped, in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to surprise Ali," he said with a chuckle, which was quickly replaced by the look of concern he had been wearing before, "Are you alright, Snape wasn't bothering you was he?"

"I'm fine," I reassured him, "Alice told me you were busy with Auror training!"

My tone of voice must have been a tad accusing because Frank looked a bit guilty,

"Well I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to come or not, and I didn't want to say I could and then not show up, because that would upset Alice, so I decided to tell her I couldn't and then if I could it would be a surprise," he said sheepishly.

"Oh, we'll in that case, I'm glad you could come," I beamed at him, my grin faded, replaced by a frown, "Alice has been moping around for the last month, her nightmares about her parents have been getting worse too, and she wakes up screaming. She doesn't talk about it much, but she said that other people die in her dreams now too. Sometimes she cries out your name or Marley's or anyone else she's close too. I'm really worried about her!" I added softly.

Frank looked worried too, he opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off,

"Don't say anything to her about it. Just enjoy your day, you being here will cheer her up heaps! Now come on we're wasting time!" I grabbed his arm and dragged him through a group of arguing Hufflepuff boys to my friends' booth.

"Alice!" I sang, " Look who I found!"

Her reaction was comical, she stared at him, her mouth hanging open and then her face was split into a smile of elation, her eyes filled with tears and she threw herself at him.

"Frank!"

He hugged her tightly, before turning her head up and kissing her passionately. Remus and I politely adverted our eyes, while Mary made 'aww' sounds and Peter pretended to retch. That boy really needs a girlfriend...

"So Frank, how's Auror training going?" Remus asked a few minutes later, when the couple had broken apart.

Tearing his eyes from Alice, Frank replied,

"It's going great, very stressful and exhausting, but it's worth it to know in just over a year I'll be a fully trained Auror!"

The normal three year training had been, shortened to a year and a half due to the war and a overwhelming need for Aurors. Alice and Frank hung around for a few more minutes to say hello to James, before disappearing outside, hand in hand.

As Mary said, "probably to catch up, with a good old snog".

"Have you lot seen Padfoot and Marley?" James asked.

Remus and Peter smirked, and Mary giggled,

"Marlene had dragged him into Gladrags, last we saw him!"

The image of Sirius Black, following Marley haughtily around a clothes store had James and I laughing.

"It's good to see Alice so happy," I commented when we had recovered.

The others agreed and we began talking about Frank's Auror training, James was quiet for some time, I raised an eyebrow at him from across the table, silently asking him what was wrong, he shook his head, giving me a small smile. The conversation continued for a while, with James sitting silently, frowning at the table. Finally he stirred,

"I think, I think, I want to be an Auror," he looked at me as he said this, his beautiful hazel eyes were determined.

At first I was startled, and opened my mouth to tell him it was too dangerous, but then I shut it and actually thought about what he said. It made sense, James wasn't one to sit aside and watch others fight on his behalf, he proved that every Quidditch game. His parents had both been Aurors and apart from Transfiguration, DADA was his best subject, he was also very against muggle baiting and discrimination, the fact he was dating me, a muggleborn, was proof of that. James had grown up a lot, the change had started at the beginning of sixth year and had been gradual, not so many detentions, although he still acquired a fair number more than I approved of, no more hexing first years or Slytherins with their backs turned. The Marauders pranks were more thought out and not so much at the humiliation or pain of others. Dumbledore had seen all these changes and that was why he appointed James Head Boy. Not only did James have a strong sense of justice but he had good morals that he would stick to, as well as a charisma that I lacked. James could get up and make a persuasive, invigorating speech that swayed people to his side of an argument on the spot, while I would labour for hours to write a speech that was only half as good. He had a creativity and cunning that made the Marauders pranks so good, as well as the ability to think on his feet. Taking this, as well as James' fierce pride, loyalty and, as much as it pained me to admit it, his all round brilliance, into account, well, James would make an amazing Auror.

"You would make an amazing Auror James," I voiced my thoughts, the sincerity clearly audible.

James beamed at me, his cheeks flushing slightly.

"That's a big decision James," Remus said, "but I agree with Lily, if that's what you want, there is nothing stopping you from being an Auror just as good as your Dad!"

James beamed at him as well.

"Being an Auror's pretty dangerous Mate, and I thought you wanted to play Quidditch?" Peter said nervously chewing on a fingernail.

"I don't think I could live with myself if I sat back and let Voldemort attack all these people without doing something about it, besides I have people to protect now," James glanced at me, normally I would be annoyed, I can protect myself after all, but the way James said it was so sweet that I couldn't be angry with him, especially when I could see how open and honest he was being.

"Besides, what isn't dangerous now days?" Mary sighed, "But as Remus said this is a big decision and it is a very dangerous job, don't rush into anything" she advised

"Thanks guys, I really want to make a difference in this war."

I reached out across the table and took James' hand in mine, giving him a small smile.

"Can you guys remember what our Transfiguration homework was on?" Mary asked, effectively changing the subject.

When James and my food arrived five minutes later the other three left, deciding to head back to the castle in favour of tackling our mountain of homework.


As James and I ate we idly chatted about homework, how Remus hadn't told Mary about his lycanthropy yet, and then I told him about my encounter with Severus.

James reacted with less anger than I expected, instead he squeezed my hand, and told me he was sorry Snape was such an idiot and that he loved me very much. James Potter actually has some tact, who knew?

"So what are we doing next?" I asked as we left the Three Broomsticks, the rain had eased to a light patter.

"Well," James smirked, "I'm guessing you have never been to Marauder paradise, Zonko's Joke Shop?"

"Of course not!" I laughed.

"Well I'm taking you there, you'll see just how fun pranking can be!" James informed me.

Rolling my eyes playfully I followed him down the street to the colourful store.

"Welcome to a mischief makers heaven!" James grinned as he opened the door.

My eyes boggled as I took in the groups of students, most with the mischievous grins I associated with he Marauders, who knew there were so many pranksters in Hogwarts? The air was filled with bangs, pops, laughter and explosions. Purple smoke was pouring from a fourth year girls ears as she yelled at the boy who was in hysterics in front of her.

Curious looking objects lined the shelves, there was a whole row dedicated to various potions you could slip into a persons food, I even spotted some minor love potions.

"Wow!" I exclaimed.

James grinned, "It's beautiful isn't it!"

"Scary, yes! Beautiful, I'm not so sure!" I laughed.

"James!" A booming voice sounded, stopping any response James may have made.

"Lily, meet Mr Zonko himself!" He murmured to me, before stepping forward to shake the hand of a tall rather burly man, with greying dark brown hair and a mischievous gleam to his blue eyes.

"Good to see you Zonko, how's life treating you?"

"Very well thank you m'boy, and how are you? Sirius was in here before with the lovely Miss McKinnon, they said you finally got your girl," Zonko's eyes turned to me and a wide grin spread across his face, he reminded me of Professor Slughorn for some unknown reason, maybe it was the booming voice and the way he said 'm'boy'.

"Ah! You must be the famous Lily Evans, you are every bit as beautiful as James described! It's great to finally meet you!"

I smiled happily, shooting James a look, he blushed red and ran a hand through his hair, giggling at him I took Mr Zonko's offered hand.

"Thank you! I must say you yourself are a bit of a legend at Hogwarts," I admitted, it was unusual to meet the man who invented most of the things I confiscated.

Cue the booming laugh,"I assume you are referring to my products, Sirius tells me you are Head Girl, you haven't come here to give me detention have you?" The twinkle in his eye showed he was teasing me.

Flushing slightly I shook my head, "I wouldn't dream of it, although I won't deny the trouble you've caused me!"

"My apologises Lily, now is there anything I can get you? On the house of course, I only charge the already corrupt!" He gave a pointed look at James here, who had the decency to blush again.

"Oh, I don't know, Mr Zonko, what do you recommend for a Head Girl who has the misfortune of being in a relationship with this one," I jerked a thumb at James, who looked affronted.

Zonko laughed again, "Well Miss Evans, one can never go wrong with a smoke bomb, if you're in need of a quick escape just smash it on the ground and run!" He handed me a dark grey round object with the Zonko's label on it.

"Why thank you, I'm sure this will come in handy some time," I laughed.

James also purchased a few things, I purposely didn't look to closely at exactly what he was buying. True to his word, Zonko charged James two galleons eleven sickles and four knuts and gave me my smoke bomb for free.

"Well that was an interesting experience," I grinned as we left the shop, waving to Mr Zonko.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, everyone should visit Zonko's once in their life!"

"Yes, thanks for taking me. You and Mr Zonko seemed quite close..."

"Uh, yeah, he was a friend of my Dad's from school, they always had a dream of opening a joke shop together, but Dad decided to become an Auror instead."

James looked a bit sad a the mention of his deceased father, but perked up again,

"He really liked you, I could tell!"

"I'm glad!" I laughed.

"Shall we head back to the castle now?" James asked.

"Yeah, so long as there's nothing else you want to do?"

"Nope, I've had enough of this weather anyway!"

We walked hand in hand down a side street a shortcut to the carriages, I was opening my mouth to thank James for a lovely day, when a group of six Slytherins stepped out in front of us, wands drawn, James tensed up beside me and my hand immediately clasped my own wand in my pocket.

"Not so fast Mudblood!" One of them called, Tmothy Nott I think his name was, I'm pretty sure he was the Keeper on the Slytherin House Quidditch Team.

James was practically spitting beside me, I glanced at him and from the corner of my mouth whispered,

"Don't rise to it! That's what they want!"

His friends jeered around him, I recognised Capricus Mulciber, Straton Avery, Regulus Black, Evan Rosier and- my heart shuddered- Severus Snape.

"What do you want Nott?" James growled, I squeezed his hand.

"Well you humiliated us in Quidditch last week so we decided to teach you a lesson!" Rosier smirked.

"You don't need any help being humiliated Rosier!" I sassed at him.

"Shut your fucking mouth Mudblood!" Mulciber yelled at me.

"Defending your boyfriend, how sweet!" I snarled.

James squeezed my hand, telling me not to gode them too much.

"I said SHUT UP!" Mulciber's face turned a purple colour with rage.

I snorted.

"So six on two, that's so honorable of you!" I said sarcastically.

"Shut the fuck up Mudblood! Stupefy!"

I blocked his spell with a lazy flick of my wand.

"Lily..." James said uneasily, his wand was at the ready and he was in the dueling position, but he seemed more worried about me.

"Is that the best you've got," I sniggered, maybe not so smart when I think about it now.

"You little bitch!" Mulciber spat, we had a bit of history, he didn't like me from the start, and after a few incidents got back at me by attacking and using the Cruciatus Curse on Mary in fifth year, trying to force himself on Marlene in sixth year, insulting every member of Gryffindor, hexing Alice when her back was turned. Charming guy really. Ever sine first year I had loathed him. So yeah, I wasn't exactly myself when I goaded him into sending hexes at me. His friends quickly jumped into the fray, and James as well. Both of us were holding our own, but I knew we couldn't keep this up, six against two is only good odds if you're part of the six.

"Expelliarmus!" I yelled Rosier blocked it, but was caught unawares by James' Conjunctivitis Curse.

I sent a Knockback jinx at Mulciber and watched him fly backwards in satisfaction, turning to help James, I heard a familiar voice yell,

"Sectumsempra!"

James who was blocking a stunning spell was helpless to stop the hex, so I did the only possible thing, I leapt in front of him. There was a burning pain in my stomach, that made me want to scream then a lesser pain in my shoulder where another jinx hit me, I was flying backwards, then I slammed against something and the burning fire spread, to my head and back, I heard someone shout my name, then another spell hit me. Now I screamed, white hot knives were stabbing into my skin, every thing else faded away, it was only me and the pain-demon. How I screamed, the horrible sound filled my ears, my vision was laced with red, somewhere in the back of my mind, I told myself not to scream, to be strong, there was someone I had to be strong for. But even that thought, the pain overcame. It seemed to go on forever, stripping me of all sanity, I begged for it to stop only once, even in this state, I was stubborn. It worried me when the pain began to fade and the red turned to black. I tried to hold onto the pain, but it slipped away and the black began to drown me. Weighing me down until I knew no more.


A.N. Thanks for reading my story!

So a bit of a cliffhanger for you guys, so sorry I haven't updated in a while, you wouldn't believe what I went through to get this up today. I spent almost four hours finishing writing this yesterday and woke up this morning to find it GONE! The whole thing! Anyway, I spent most of the day rewriting this, so I really hope you guys like it!

Hopefully the next chapter will be up later this week, remember reviews motivate me to write faster!

Thanks to all those who favourited/followed me or this story and an extra special thank you to those of you who reviewed!

Thanks again

-Infinity Lily