Here We Go Again

Dora's POV

.

The weeks passed on from Halloween. Jane's thirst for revenge seemed to disappear with the arrival of the first snow, but for some reason there was a tension between her and Sirius. I think he might have done something, or found something out, because when the two of them are together? It is like the temperature has dropped down a few degrees. Creepy.

On a brighter note, Lily and James' relationship seems to be blooming. Who would have thought she would ever like him? Actually, who would have thought Remus would like me! Neither of us want an actual relationship right now. Me? Because in light of the current state of my affairs, I don't really want to have anyone too close to me. Besides, I need to focus my attentions on getting through this. Remus? He isn't ready to let me in. He has too many secrets he wants to keep under covers, so to say. And I'm not going to push him.

I'm not quite sure what we are. Friends? More than friends? Why is there no relationship name for where you act like boyfriend and girlfriend, but aren't? Partners? Well whatever. That is what we are. The in-betweeners. In between romance and friendship.

Complicated.

But I do like him. But I can wait. We have the rest of our lives, right?

Oh well.

It was a Hogsmede day, and Jane seemed to be in a particularly un-sunny mood. She spent the morning fuming, pulling clothes out of drawers, swearing, then shoving them back. After half an hour of waiting, Lily and I had decided to place bets on what she would pull out next. "Black turtle neck jumper." I whispered.

"Nah, she stopped looking at black four skirts ago. Those blue jeans she got last month." Lily whispered back.

She pulled out a yellow cardigan and swore. Kicking a few things around her, Jane crawled under her bed and came out with a bundle of clothes. Five minutes later she was wearing a pair of tight fit grey-blue jeans, snow boots, a black v neck shirt and a thin red jacket that obviously had a heat charm. Rolling our eyes, Lily and I stood up and headed to the door. Lily looked... cosy. Dark blue corduroys and a deep purple coat that made her look like she had never been cosier. I am so envious of how she really doesn't care how she looks. Not that she looks bad, but I would never be able to dress like that. I was wearing inch-thick stockings with a teal dress and a white fitted coat. I think I looked nice.

But I was over how I looked by the time Jane was ready to go. She was seriously having a bad day, and this was what we had to look forward to for the next however many hours we would be in Hogsmede for.

Sighing, we met the boys in the common room, where that had already gotten bored and started a cushion war that first years and second years who were not permitted to go to Hogsmede had taken over. After an hour of complete awkwardness between Jane and Sirius, and indeed, Jane and everyone, we were in Hogsmede.

"These jeans suck. I should have gone with the blue ones." Jane muttered, partially buttoning up her jacket. Lily smirked at me knowingly.

Darn, she was right.

Laughing it away, I linked my arm with Jane's. "Sweetie, you know you look great." I said happily. "Your butt looks amazing."

She laughed and shook her head. "So, it feels like I'm going to pop out of them any second. I think they shrank."

Awkwardly I nodded. Of course they shrank. Because heaven forbid her arse had grown. Which it hadn't, but I seriously did not need her to even consider that.

Though to be honest, she must be having a fat day. I hate fat days. No wonder she was so snappy. Over breakfast I seriously feared for Sirius' life when he said one small thing wrong.

The seven of us stood there for a while, looking at the over excited students who were all rushing to get into the warmer shops. Snow lay everywhere, deep enough that I was concerned that professor Flitwick would never be found if he decided to take a walk through the village.

My eyes fell on a familiar figure and I felt my stomach plummet.

"...I still need to buy a few more gifts for Chirstmas." Lily was saying as I looked at Sirius, who had the same shocked look on his face as I imagine I did. I nodded and he looked at the others.

"Get down, now!" He said in a don't-argue-with-me tone.

Noticing the seriousness in his voice and on his face, the others – minus Jane – ducked behind a bench that looked more like a large mound of snow. He had already tugged Jane to the other side of the path and behind tree. Yes, a tree. Remind me to give those two a speaking to about subtlety. Honestly? A tree?

"What is it?" Lily asked, her cheery disposition now grave and sombre.

"That man is a known Death Eater." I said in a small voice, a part of me wanting to jump out and kill him with my bare hands. I remember him clearly. He came to my house one night and told my parents to join. I had spoken to Sirius about it, and turns out the man is a close friend of his mother's. And I knew the shit was about to hit the fan.

Jane was motioning to James, who seemed to understand what she wanted him to do. "Remus and Peter," He said, taking authority. "Get the younger years out of here and alert the authorities. Lily –"

Lily interrupted him. "No, I'm staying here. If one of you gets hit, you'll need me."

Her eyes were full of a determination unrivalled by anything I had ever seen, and no way he would argue. "Fine." He said. "Jane and Sirius are going to create a distraction, we need to immobilise them as soon as we can."

I nodded and pulled out my wand. This was stupid. Jane couldn't use magic to fight. It was a well known fact. Fists and she is alright. Magic? She panics and all she can think of are silly little first year spells and hexes she used in pranks. So pretty harmless stuff. At least she had Sirius there. Sirius was good at fighting with magic; just look at his school record for proof. More complicated spells that took deep thought, and he seemed to lose patience too easily. Hopefully they could put aside whatever had been between them now. I counted; 8 Death Eaters. Shit.

I watched as Jane aimed her wand at the snow by one of the Death Eater's feet. It blew up, sending him flying back and thick white snow into the air, forming enough cover for Remus and Peter to run off to evacuate Hogsmede.

Suddenly, bright flashes of spells were flying in different directions, some from Sirius and Jane, some from the Death Eaters, and some from James, Lily and I. There was a loud cracking sound and the tree Jane and Sirius were behind toppled to the ground, sending up the chilly snow. I heard Jane swear, even from where I was, so at least I knew she was alright. Adrenaline was pumping through my blood, and when the air cleared, I could only see five Death Eaters. "Fuck..." I whispered, looking around for the other three.

Dodging a sickly yellow beam of magic, I manically threw whatever charm, hex, curse, spell or jinx that came to mind. Lily was charming snow balls to attack two of the Death Eaters, who were now occupied with defending themselves from the snow. I have never seen Lily look this imposing. Honestly. She was pissed off, I could tell. Her snow balls became more like balls of solid ice. James had a look of determination as he also began to look for the other Death Eaters.

By now the adrenaline coursing through my veins had my heart beating so fast I was sure I was going to die simply from that. Blood was rushing around like it had a race to win, and all I could hear was what I once thought was the sound of the ocean. I was hyper aware of what was happening. Magic tingled in the air, tingled on my skin and fizzled down my arm and through my wand. I love magic. But I needed to find the missing Death Eater. "The most dangerous enemy is the enemy you cannot see" our crazy second year defence against the dark arts teacher had said. And well, she was right. Complete nuts, but right.

A red light hit Lily and she collapsed. James automatically went to un-stupefy her and I turned my attention to the two Death Eaters who she had been attacking. The other three were having a biff with Jane and Sirius, so I didn't need to worry about them.

Now I know this may sound like bragging, but I am really good at duelling. Like, no one ever beats me. And I kinda give a bit of credit to my short stature and lovely blond hair. Who would think that I could do anything? Well I could. And I wanted to kick some Death Eater arse.

Standing from behind the bench-come-mound-of-snow, I started to throw the best curses and charms in my repertoire at them, at the same time deflecting what they threw at me. These were the people who killed my parents. I knew what they were capable of. And I knew I was in way over my head. I deflected another curse and sent one of my own. "Refund please." I said through gritted teeth.

From where I was standing, I could hear Sirius and Jane bickering about something whilst they stood back to back against the Death Eaters. James was suddenly next to me and he took aim at one of Jane's opponents and stupefied him. "Lily is okay?" I asked, relieved when James joined me against the two I had been trying desperately to get.

"I'm fine." Lily answered for me, her eyes wide and looking behind us.

I glanced back and BINGO! Found the three missing ones.

"Hello kiddies." One of them sneered.

"Think you have the ability to best us?" the second one, who was short and fat (haha), said with a lisp and a very blocked nose.

"Well now that I have heard you speak, yes." I heard myself say. Shit, that was smart.

His face transformed to a bright red and I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood. The two that I had been fighting were suddenly behind us, their wands poking into James and my back. "Silly, filthy children." The third said, his eyes so cold they made me shiver.

I made eye contact with Lily. We were thinking the same thing; five adult wizards against three seventh years? So not even odds. We were doomed. Doomed like a penguin on a volcano about to explode. Poor penguin.

Poor us.

"Look, how about you let us go and we won't be any more trouble?" Lily said, lying through her teeth.

"Yeah?" The fat one said again, his voice making me snort.

"Yeah." James said, his eyes glancing at Lily in worry. "Or just let the girls go. Please."

I rolled my eyes. Jane would have my guts if I let her brother go into some Death Eater thing. Besides, Lily was the most diplomatic person I knew. She could solve this. "Potter, shut up." I hissed.

"Ooooh, Mister Potter?" the first one said, his eyes with a dangerous glint and I instantly regretted revealing James' identity. Death Eaters already wanted the Potters on his side, and holding their son hostage would certainly give You-Know-Who leverage.

A snow ball then hit him in the face and we all turned to see Jane with her wand raised, a Death Eater at her feet with her face bloodied, whilst Sirius battled with another one. He must have said something, because Jane turned, her dark hair flipping around. The Death Eater Sirius had been duelling with was on the ground and crawling towards an object on the ground. Simultaneously, Sirius and Jane both leaped forward, reaching the object at the same time as the Death Eater. In a flash, the three of them were gone.

"JANE!" James shouted, forgetting the situation we were in. He lunged forward to get to where she had stood a second ago, only to have a Death Eater's knee connect with his stomach. He doubled over on the ground as Lily screamed and the Death Eater began to kick him around.

Sickened by the display of brutal violence, I threw my head back into the face of the Death Eater behind me (who thankfully was only a couple inches taller than me) and threw a curse at the one opposite me. He instantly began to turn purple as he clawed at his neck, unable to breath. Not even shocked at what I had done, I turned on the other two. Lily petrified the one whose nose I had probably broken before trying to attack the wizard who had turned James into a bleeding mess.

The one I had hit with the curse had collapsed, causing the two Death Eaters I was fighting with to up their material. Two curses hit me at once, one for sure was a crucio and I felt more pain than I thought possible. There was nothing else but the pain. Minutes, hours, no days seemed to pass before it stopped. I opened my eyes, lying next to vomit and a foul taste in my mouth. Someone was laughing, someone was screaming. And I was throwing up.

My face was wet with tears, and numb from the cold freezing them. I vomited again and tried to stand up. I was shaking so much I couldn't even see straight. Lily was sitting next to me, sobbing with James' head in her lap.

"See? You can't beat us." I heard someone say. I vomited again. The stomach was empty now. So empty I felt sure that it would just collapse. Hands roughly hoisted me up, and surprise, my stomach wasn't empty! I vomited again. This time all over who ever had picked me up. Abruptly I was dropped onto the snow along with a bunch of words of disgust.

I was lifted again, and I threw up even more. My throat burned from all of the acid, and the taste made me feel even worse. Everything went blurry and then I was dropped again, this time onto a cold stone floor. Pain shot up through my shoulder.

Vomiting again, I opened my eyes then closed them again. Darkness was better than what I saw. I was locked up. Cold stone, nearly no light, bars.

Fuck. This was by far the worst Hogsmede trip ever. Even worse than in third year when I spent a whole trip to Hogsmede with my skirt tucked in my undies.

I heard metal grating on stone and felt someone touch my hair gently. I opened my eyes and saw Lily. Then vomited again. But this time, my stomach really was empty. Just bile came up. Ewww. "Lily?" I gasped, not sure if I was hallucinating.

"It is okay, Dora." She whispered. Tears were running down her face and I sat up, retching again. James was leaning against her, his face bloodied and puffy.

"They have us, don't they?" I said, shaking uncontrollable.

James grinned. "No Dora, we redecorated the Common Room."

I smiled back at his weak attempt at humour before retching.

"They hit you with a curse, Dora." Lily said, crying. "I can fix it, but I don't have my wand."

I have never seen her look so defeated. She looked so small. Her fiery hair wildly stuck out everywhere, and the front parts were plastered to her forehead from the melted snow. It made me terrified to see what I looked like.

I retched again and Lily's crying got heavier.

"You have to help her!" She shouted out of the bars. It echoed. The only answer we got was her echo. It sounded mocking and made it feel so much more desolate.

The shit had well and truly hit the fan.

A/N

See? Regular updates. Even though I really should be studying for my exams... Oh well. The title is a song by Angus and Julia Stone. Such an amazingly pretty song. Oh well, have fun reading and shizz!

-x-