The detectors weren't loud. After having Remus set them off several times and waking the newborn Harry, Lily had insisted on a quieter alarm. It was a hum, almost too quiet to notice unless you knew what it was.

She quickly moved to the front room where she found James using his wand to create smoke rings. That had been his favorite method of entertaining Harry. It would be her last memory.

"It's time for bed and death," Lily couldn't believe her choice of words. They were likely to be her last. "Don't act panicked, just give me Harry and set your wand down."

James jumped up from the floor. Lily noticed the curtains were open and hoped that they wouldn't do anything to give away the plan. She took the baby from James.

"Your wand," she hissed as she headed upstairs. She immediately regretted it as those would be her last words to him. She wanted to call out something else, but being overheard would ruin everything.

The weight of everything hit her as she made it to Harry's room, just as the front door opened with a bang. This was it.

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!" James voice came from downstairs.

Lily spared a moment to worry, but then she realized it didn't matter if he used a wand or not. It wasn't his death that would save Harry. She set Harry down in his crib. She needed to clear her mind now. Occlumency was of the utmost importance.

There was cruel laughter and the unfamiliar voice that shouted, "Avada Kedavra!"

The image of Severus waving her on when the quintaped was in the hall came into her mind as she heard a thud. This is ridiculous! Her husband just died, why was she thinking about Severus?

She knew why. It was because he made this situation possible. It was because she was remembering him teaching her occlumency because it was some cool obscure branch of magic. Thinking of Severus was going to give everything away. Lily needed more time!

She shoved the dresser in front of the door and then grabbed for anything else. No emotion. No thoughts. Protect Harry. Life is pointless without James. She recited these things to herself.

Harry started crying, pulling her from her attempts at occlumency. She ran to pick him up and comfort him. She wondered if Severus would still be at Hogwarts when Harry attended. The door blasted open.

This was it, this was the end. She set Harry in his crib and let the shock of the hideousness of Voldemort's features clear her mind. She stepped in front of Harry so he could not kill Harry without killing her.

He stepped into the room.

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!" Lily pleaded, though she felt it was more about the prophecy than about what was happening in this moment.

"Stand aside, you silly girl…stand aside now…" His cold voice seeped into her bones.

"Not Harry, please no," Lily remembered that she needed to bargain. "Take me, kill me instead—"

"This is my last warning—"

"Not Harry! Please…have mercy…have mercy," Lily wasn't sure who she was talking to now: fate or Voldemort. "Not Harry! Not Harry! Please—I'll do anything—"

"Stand aside—stand aside, girl—"

Rage filled his eyes as a flash of green light erupted from his wand. Lily's last mortal thought: wow, a non-verbal killing curse.

Everything was black. Everything was light. She saw James by the lake and ran.

She had no capacity to worry anymore.

~The End~

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