Disclaimer: I solemnly swear that I don't own this stuff, the wonderful J.K. Rowling does.

A/N: YAY!! It's my birthday today!! I thought I'd celebrate with giving you all a present, the next chapter! I'd also like to thank all my wonderful reviewers and to my fantastic readers who have come all this way with me, I'd probably have given this story up if I hadn't been amazed at the number of my hits that this story has so far accumulated. Anyway, on with the story. Although, if it's possible that I get soooo many alerts and people adding me to their favourites, how come I don't have that many reviews??

A Year To Remember

Chapter 9

~ Redemption ~

Voldemort sneered once more before saying to Lily, "Well if it isn't the filthy mudblood who finally woke up to play." Lily squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her hands into fists in her anger. She begged herself not top respond to the monster, 'He's not worth it, ignore him,' she reminded herself in a fit of desperation.

"What do you want of me?" she finally spoke, noticing for the first time that her voice was cracked from screaming earlier.

"Don't sspeak unlesss you're sspoken to, Mudblood." Voldemort hissed. His red eyes flashed in anger and Lily shrank away in her cell. "You're here becaussse I need sssomething of you, and I will sssucceed whether you give it willingly notsss." The snake that resided on the evils man's shoulders gave a loud hiss and Voldemort gave her nose a small stroke before turning on his heel and slamming the dungeon once more into darkness.

Lily felt her way over to the small bench in her cell and sat down. She sighed. Hopefully James would hear her silent pleas for help and come and save her before something drastic happened to her.

JPLEJPLE

Back at Hogwarts, James was running all over the place looking for his girlfriend. One moment she was right behind him the next, she was gone! James figured that she'd disappeared to a nearby bathroom and had forgot to tell hi, but that didn't explain why she didn't turn up to any of her afternoon classes after lunch. It was now an hour after lunch and she still hadn't turned up. His searches had begun to turn fruitless, so he called on the help of their friends. Not one of them thought to check the map, nor to ask a teacher for help or to alert anyone that she was missing. The Marauders had barely missed the sneaky greasy git, so worried for Lily as they were. But every one around them did, the teachers had next to no fights to break up in the corridors between classes and were fast becoming very suspicious.

After the fifth day, James received an owl from Dumbledore, requesting him to his office. James too the seemingly never ending corridor to the gargoyle and spoke the password (Cockroach Clusters) all in a dream-like state. He walked in when Dumbledore asked and sat on the chair in from of the desk as if on autopilot.

His sleep-deprived body looked a mess. His face was gaunt and unkempt; his eyes had massive bags hanging from below them and his cheeks and begun to sink in. His hair was worse than ever and his well toned – Quidditch player's body was beginning to show his abrupt stop in his eating habits. James barely ate anything at meals, instead pushed the food around on the plate despite his friends encouraging him to eat. The teachers saw his current lack of any concentration he'd had in their class and he was unresponsive to class discussions or anything he normally would have done, he'd stopped. In his favourite subject, Transfiguration, he'd stopped contributing at all and it was this very teacher that decided to bring it up with her boss. Because of that very long discussion between the Headmaster and his Deputy, James was currently riding the staircase behind the gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office.

He knocked and a calm voice called, "Come in," and James did so, walking over to sit on the chair in front of the desk before he was asked. Dumbledore took a d=good look at him and decided to offer the silent young man in front of him a lemon drop, goodness knows he looked as if he needed it. James eyed the small treat carefully, as if wondering whether it would bring Lily back. Finally he reached up to take the treat and popped it into his mouth wordlessly.

Dumbledore eyed the boy in front of him, no, young man. The kid in front of him was seventeen now, had been for the past six months. James had not said a word since he entered the older mans office, no joking, laughing or even the customary greeting he'd made for the professor on his first day here, nothing.

"Tell me dear boy, what is troubling you?" the anxious professor asked calmly, despite his crazy emotions at the moment of worry.

"Nothing," was the short reply. James hadn't yet looked up to meet his teacher's eyes yet, o Dumbledore knew almost instantly that something was the problem, and it was major.

Testing thin ice, Dumbledore said, "Mr Potter,' there was no response form the other wizard. Dumbledore was hocked, normally James would have retaliated from the use of his fully title, but he continued anyway, "Have you happened to have checked a mirror lately? You look like shit."

Perhaps it was the bluntness of his words, or maybe the swearing, no one knew, but James seemed to shock himself back into life, he nearly choked on the lemon drop in his mouth, causing Dumbledore to smile, not at the chocking but a job well done. He'd always prided himself at having the ability to shock or surprise even the most paranoid of people.

"Excuse my language sir, but that was bloody awesome! Just wait until I tell Sirius, imagine his face! He'd never believe me –" James babbled.

"Yes well, as exciting as telling you friends that you heard your Headmaster swear sounds, I must ask, what does seem the matter? I've had several complaints from various teachers that we're currently lacking our favourite pranksters … Although, what we'll do next year, I'll never know…" he trailed off staring intently at James, giving him the feeling that he was being x-rayed once again.

"Err, well, Lily … we can't find Lily." James muttered. Dumbledore's reaction was simply shock. For a man who knew simply well, everything, he seemed to not know this, this surprising the master of surprises.

"When did she go missing?" Dumbledore queried, suddenly looking older than James had ever seen him before.

"Monday," was the reply. It was now Saturday.

"Oh shit."

James just stared in disbelief.

"Have you tried a locating charm?" James just blinked at his mentor a few times and then threw his head on the table and banged it.

"So *bang* stupid how could I forget the simplest charm –" James continued until Professor Dumbledore held up a hand and James dunked his hand against it, thinking it was the table. He soon realised his mistake and looked up at the twinkling blue eyes, grinning cheekily, "Let's get to it then!"

Dumbledore was quite happy with the improvement in his student. In a space of less than half and hour, James had turned from a depressed young boy into his normal, cheerful self. Who knew that all it took was some good news and a couple of dropped swear words from his headmaster. He muttered a few Latin words and a bright white light shone from his wand, nearly blinding him and James. A whispered name on the end, "Lily Evans," conjured a map showing the two wizards Lily's location. For the third time that day, James heard his mentor swear in his presence.

"Oh bloody hell!"

"What? Where is she?" James questioned curiously, alarmed to hear the vulnerability in his teacher's voice.

"She's at Riddle Manor, in the dungeons of Voldemort's-"

"Lair, oh shit!" James finished for him. "Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's go and save her!"

Dumbledore stared bemusedly at him, "James, are you sure you want to come with me? I'm sure your parents would rather you stay behind –"

"I don't care what they'd want at the moment, are we going or not?"

"Fine, but before we go, have you got your Invisibility Cloak on you?"

"How did you kn-"

"Just do." Dumbledore said bluntly.

"Yes, I've got it."

"Good, you'll need it. Now promise me to do exactly as I say."

"Ok, can we go now?"

"Yep, I'll just write Professor McGonagall a quick note … good, let's go," after handing Fawkes the note, Dumbledore stood up and led James out of his office.

The journey to the front gates was a quiet one, the halls were empty, but for suits of armour clanking around and the small whispers of portraits who stared openly at the pair, not a word was spoken between them on the way out.

"I trust you can apparate now …" James nodded silently, "Good, off to Riddle Manor we go." With a turn and a loud 'crack', Dumbledore was gone. James sighed and mimicked his actions. He too disappeared from the streets of Hogsmeade.

Both men appeared on the outskirts of an old, abandoned cemetery. The older of the two looked to his partner asked the silent question once more.

"I'm sure, I need to rescue her." Dumbledore stared intently at James, giving latter the feeling of being x-rayed, before nodding and leading the way to a big, old, Victorian-style manor. For a man of his age, he moved rather quickly through the few remaining headstones. The sky was beginning to darken, the trees surrounding the mansion were quickly looking like scary monsters. James shivered involuntarily, and tried to keep up with his teacher's long strides.

At about twenty metres form the front door, Dumbledore stopped once more, causing James, who had been staring a the house instead of watching where he was walking, walked straight into his back.

"Sorry sir," James mumbled, moving away quickly.

"Yes, well, perhaps I should have given a bit more warning," Dumbledore staid cheerily, despite the situation they were in currently," I was going to say though, it may be a good time to put the Cloak on. Don't want you to be seen by any Death Eaters." He added, seeing James' confused look.

"Right, what about you, sir?" James asked, "Won't they see you?"

Dumbledore sighed, "Ah, James, I have many other ways to make myself invisible."

"Oh, ok then. Shall we continue on?"

"Yes good point. I'll distract Tom and his follower, you head on down to the dungeons." He said, leaving none of the plan open to discussion. "Good luck." Dumbledore placed a hand on James' shoulder in a reassuring manner, squeezed it and headed off to the stairwell, he turned back only once to see James swish on his Cloak, then he too disappeared from view.

&&&

(Lily's POV a few days ago)

A loud thud alerted Lily to the fact that someone was entering the dungeon. With only a small window in her cell, she was only just aware that it was a Wednesday, little's sleep and being tortured did that to you. She wondered where Dumbledore or James was, surely by now someone would have noticed her disappearance from the school grounds. "He better have used that bloody map by now or I will kill him when I get back, IF I ever get back," she whispered softly to no one, the only person close enough to hear her was a small spider who she lovingly named, Harry. It was Harry who got her through the many torture sessions that Voldemort insisted on putting her through, via his faithful servants who were stupid enough to join the idiotical maniac in the first place.

This noise that woke Lily up from her restless slumber, startled her in the darkness. Managing to calm herself, she stood in her cell and edged towards the locked door, but a sudden light turning on threw her off guard. Lily stumbled backwards. Evil laughter filled the already eerie dungeons. Lily shook herself back into getting up again. The door opened and before Lily had a chance to defend herself against her intruder, she was promptly thrown back against the wall with a flick of his wand. With a loud thud, she was back on the floor, from her position. She coughed and spluttered before gaining her breath back enough to look into his eyes with enough hatred in the glare to possibly work an AK on her attacker, even if she was a little winded.

"No need for the death glare Missy Mudblood," her flare intensified tenfold, "Ok, sorry," he didn't look a bit sorry, and her expression told him so, "Fine, don't believe me. I only came to bring you food Miss Mud-. Miss." He concluded, ducking his head in false shame.

Lily sneered at him, "Why bother apologising, we both know you don't mean it. And besides," he looked at her curiously, "There is no way in seven hells, am I eating this shit, what do you take me for, and idiot?" His expression told him that is exactly what he thought of her.

A couple of crucio's later, Lily lay shivering, famished and parched on the floor. As hungry as she was, she was determined not eat any of the food that was prepared in the same place that Lord Voldemort lived, breathed and slept in every day. Once again, she was holding onto that desperate piece of hop that she would be taken from this place.

&&&

"Did you hear that, Avery?" a lower ranked Death Eater asked after hearing a small thud.

"Hear what?" Avery replied.

Another thud echoed off the walls, followed by a whispered "Damn!"

"That." The other replied curtly.

"Yeah. Think we should investigate?" Avery asked nervously. It was, after all, his job to make sure that the 'filthy mudblood' couldn't escape from her cell. Not that she hadn't tried of course, she had. Nearly succeeded at her task as well. The only reason she still resided as the manor was because their Lord wanted her there. When asked why by a new recruit, a lowly nineteen year old boy, the son of one of his most faithful, most loyal Death Eaters, the poor kid was promptly sent a rather deadly Avada Kedavra as a present of thanks for asking the question. No one brought up the subject again. Though the father was angry at his Lord for murdering his son, he was angry with his son for questioning their Lord's actions; nonetheless, he released all his anger on poor, unsuspecting muggles during raids in random towns across the country.

Avery's friend nodded and stood up to have a sneak around to se who was there, but before either of them had a chance to move, a silent bright red light came zooming towards them, knocking them unconscious. The intruder, who was in fact Lily's to-be-saviour, crept forwards and into the dark dungeons. James ripped off his Cloak after deeming that no one else was present.

"James! You're here! I thought no one would ever save me! Thank you soooo much." Lily would have been jumping for joy had she not been immobilised on the floor of her cell.

"Lily, shhh. I need to actually get you out of here first. Oh. My. God. What did those evil . . . creatures DO to you?!?!?!" James nearly shouted, before lowering his voice quickly. He gestured to her much bruised body. Her petite figure was littered with black and blue bruises; her clothes had obviously been through a lot, but the thing that got James most, was that they were barely hanging off her body.

Lily looked at him uneasily. "James, I don't want to talk about it now," seeing the fiery look in his eyes, she added, "Please?"

James looked at her determinedly, but realising that she wasn't ready, he softened his features and bent over her, "Ok Lils, I'm gonna pick you up now, alright?" Lily nodded. As gently as he could, James picked her up easily and carried her up the stairs and out of the dungeons. What he'd forgotten though was that he'd left Dumbledore in search of Lily. What he didn't know was that leaving Voldy and Dumbledore together in the same room nearly always resulted in a fierce battle between the opposing Leaders of the Light and Dark. Walking in to find his Headmaster in battle with his former student as slightly disconcerting to say the least, but nevertheless, it was his entrance that stopped the many flashing balls of light that flew around the room. Both Dumbledore and the self-proclaimed 'Dark Lord' turned to look at their intruders. At that moment, James had no doubt, nor did the barely awake Lily in his arms that Dumbledore truly was the only man Voldemort was every afraid of, the fire in his eyes upon seeing James watch them duel was truly terrifying. Not only had James been seen by Voldemort, but he had also single-handedly destroyed the pre-arranged plan. He had, of course, not put his Cloak back on and had now shown Voldemort that he was the one responsible for freeing the evil man's prisoner.

"Oh shit." James said. Dumbledore was on him in a flash, clasping his old, pale but horrifically strong hands on James' arms in a vice-like grip and apparating them from the hall of Riddle Manor,

The landed back in Hogsmeade where Dumbledore didn't lead them back to Hogwarts, nor did him let go of James, but to the Three Broomsticks, where he swiftly asked Madam Rosemerta if he could 'borrow her floo.' She looked a little puzzled, but agreed anyway. Dumbledore dragged James and Lily to the floo, chucked in a handful of floo powder, which he'd grabbed from a pot on the mantle, and yelled "Hogwarts Infirmary."

Dumbledore, James and Lily spun away from the pub and into the Hospital Wing, leaving a very, very confused Madam Rosmerta behind.

7

2,994 Words