The next month, things took a turn for the worse. Several Sixth Years decided to sneak out of one of the secret passage ways of Hogwarts and go to Hogsmeade. It had been a stupid decision made by foolish teenagers and they paid the ultimate price. A couple of Death Eaters had chanced across their path and killed them, quickly, easily. Four distinct, loud alarms had sounded from different points around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, waking everyone in the earliest hours of the morning to the cruel, unforgiving reality of the war.

James and Lily had been sleeping together, in the Boy's dormitory, arms wrapped around each other, when the sirens wailed on that cold morning in late February.
"Wh-" James grumbled groggily. Realising what was happening, Lily jumped up, out of bed and started yelling.
"Everyone get up!" she cried, shoving James, "Those are the sirens for Merlin's Sake! We have to get up and out!" She wrapped a nightgown around herself and threw open the door as James, Sirius, Remus and Peter lumbered out after her, slower than she would have liked. An emergency of this sort had never happened while she had been at Hogwarts, but now, almost as though accidents were making up for their lack of presence, there had been two in Seventh Year alone.

"All students to make their way to the Great Hall immediately," McGonagall's shrill, shaking voice was amplified by the speaker. Lily couldn't imagine her head of house being scared and the fact that she was now instilled a chilling, gut-wrenching fear in her.

"Amalthea!" she called as she saw her friend hurrying down the stairs ahead of her.

"Hey!" she said through a clenched jaw, her face was pale and she had her arms wrapped around herself.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked, "Are you going to have an attack?" she said more quietly. Amalthea suffered from severe anxiety and was prone to panic attacks. Amalthea shook her head in reply but kept her eyes trained on the ground.

"Amy," Sirius appeared on Amalthea other side and looked at her worriedly, "Are you okay?" Lily slowed down enough as she got to the Entrance Hall so that James could catch up with her. He took her hand and they walked silently, with the rest of the school.

The sight that awaited them was even more disconcerting. Teachers were grouped in corners, dressed in nightgowns and caps, conversing hurriedly and quietly, several occasionally clapping hands to their mouths. Dumbledore was nowhere in sight and Lily felt James grip her hand more tightly as he noticed the Headmaster's absence.

"I'm sure nothing happened to him," Lily whispered as they sat down.

"Please quiet down," came McGonagall's amplified voice. She was standing at the front of the hall, twisting her wand anxiously in her hands, her hair bedraggled and unkempt. The already significantly quiet students stood still and all the teachers quietened.

"It is with deepest regret that I call you all here," she said, her voice shaking, "An hour ago, four Sixth Years managed to get out of the school and made their way into Hogsmeade-" she suppressed a sob, "where they ran into two Death Eaters." There were audible gasps from the students and a Sixth year girl burst into tears. "They were killed," McGonagall said and covered her mouth with her hand.

Seeing that she was unable to continue, Professor Sprout took McGonagall's place, "Their parents have been called and a funeral will be held tomorrow, in the grounds," she said sadly, "We have people available if anyone needs to talk to someone." she added. Taking it as the end of the announcement, everyone got up and started to leave just as Professor Dumbledore hurried in, his robes fluttering at his feet. Everyone stopped and noticing this he said "Continue please," with no hint of his usual bubbly self. Lily saw him spot James in the crowd of students and make a beeline for them.

"James, Sirius," he said and Lily heard a deep sadness behind his voice, "If you could please make your way to my office with me."

"What? Why?" James asked sounding panicked.

"What's wrong, Professor?" Sirius asked, grabbing James' shoulder. Dumbledore indicated the direction of his office and started walking away.

"I'll come with, come on," Lily said and pulled James away, following Dumbledore. Lily, James and Sirius followed Dumbledore quietly through the winding passages and up all the staircases until they reached the Griffin gargoyle door leading to the headmaster's office.

"Lily, I must ask you to wait outside if you please," Dumbledore said and James, who saw the man was in no state to argue simply gave Lily a wide-eyed look, kissed her on the cheek and followed Sirius and Dumbledore into the staircase. Lily sat herself on the cold, tiled floor and leant against the stone floors with her eyes closed, her mind racing with horrible possibilities of what could've happened. It had been a constant thought, among the three of them that something had happened to Mr and Mrs Potter but none of them had dared to ask.

Almost half an hour later, the grinding concrete of the rotating gargoyle alerted Lily and woke her out of her half asleep daze. Amalthea had joined her several minutes into her waiting and they shared a quick, worried look. Leaping up, Lily caught sight of James and Sirius. They had matching expressions, pale faces and set jaws. James' hair was more mussed up than usual and as he reached the ground floor, he walked forward, unspeaking and stood in front of Lily. His state confirmed her thoughts and she clapped a hand to her mouth, tears spiking in her eyes.

"They're-" James' voice caught and he covered his face with his hands. Lily wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face into his neck. He inhaled, a sharp, raggedy breath and let out a sob.

"I'm sorry," she whispered and heard vaguely Amalthea speaking softly to Sirius as they walked away, her arms wrapped around his waist, looking almost as though she was supporting him. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." They stood for a while, both too shocked to speak. Too shocked to do anything really, other than cry and hold each other. Eventually, Lily led James to her earlier seating spot and they sat together, Lily with her arms around James who told her quietly about what had happened. As the golden rays of sun pierced the cold morning air, James fell asleep and Lily stayed with him, stroking his hair and holding him. Everything was quiet and seemed almost bearable, until they showed up.

Snape, Mulciber, Avery and their gang of Slytherin friends walking along, yelling and laughing. At the sight of James and Lily they all started sneering, Snape giving them a particularly nasty glare, and shouting at them. They stopped and stood in front of them, several of them pulling their wands out.

"Now is not the time," Lily said, coldly, glaring up at them.

"Now is always the time, Mudblood," Mulciber spat and shot a curse at her. Lily felt her throat constrict as James whipped out his wand and threw a hex with such ferocity that Mulciber and two of his friends nearest to him were thrown to the ground.

"Finite Incantatem," he pointed his wand at Lily who immediately felt her lungs fill with air and she pulled out her own wand, readying it in anticipation.

Snape pointed his wand at James, "Sectum-"

"Protego!" Lily shrieked. She knew exactly which curse Snape was about to cast and she also knew that cast correctly, as it definitely would be by its creator, it could kill.

"How dare you!" she uttered, staring at him demandingly. He smirked and shrugged and Lily felt her anger reach its peak. With as much force as she could muster she waved her wand and shouted "Stupefy!" The spell had been cast with so much power that it came out with, instead of its usual bright red sparks, dark, maroon bolts. It hit Snape squarely in the chest and he was thrown backwards, unconscious into the wall opposite them. The rest of the gang hurriedly stuffed their wands away and Mulciber took hold of Snape's shoulders and pulled him away as they all left shouting warnings as they left. Lily turned to see what had made them submit and saw Dumbledore standing in front of his door.

"Professor, I-" Lily began.

"Do not worry," he said, his voice still devoid of sparkle, "I'm well aware of what just happened."

"Can't you do something?" James asked angrily, thrusting his wand into his robes.

"That is something I am not at liberty to discuss," he told him, "However you may be pleased to know that they are leaving."

"Fine," James said and walked away.

"They're leaving?" she asked.

"Indeed, they alerted me to the matter several hours ago," he told her, "They shall be gone by tonight."

Lily looked wonderingly at a sadly nodding Dumbledore and hurried away to follow James, having to jog to keep up with him.

"This is all shit," James spat.

"I know," Lily said, folding her arms.

"He's weak! That's his problem, he talks up a storm about protecting us and keeping us all safe, but in the end they get us anyway. He doesn't even realise that part of the problem is inside the school."

"They're leaving though! You heard what he said," Lily tried to console him.

"What?" James stopped.

"Didn't you hear?" Lily asked.

"What-No, what do you mean they're leaving?" he pressed.

"He said that they're leaving today," she told him.

"Oh," he said, "Well then...good."

"Yeah."

"So..."

"Yeah..." They looked at each other for a minute without speaking.

"What now?" James asked Lily and she knew that he was asking for more than she could answer. He was asking what was going to happen now that his parents were dead, what the war would hold. He was questioning the unknown and at this current point in time, Lily regretted that she had no answers for him. So she answered as though he was simply asking what they would do next.

"Now we go eat," she told him, she was going to do her best to help him through through the day, "Then we're going to go to the funeral."

"Okay," James said, nodding. He looked lost, like a child who needed his parents. Lily had never seen him look so small before and it scared her. She took his hand and they walked, slowly to breakfast.

6:00PM that same day

"Well, that was fun," Sirius said, grimly as they all sat down in the Gryffindor Common Room. James loosened his tie. He hadn't spoken much that day. He hadn't had much he wanted to say. His mind was torn between unbelievable grief for the loss of his parents and complete anger shared between Dumbledore and the Seventh Year Slytherins. They had organised it so that their departure from the Grounds coincided perfectly with the funeral. They had put on a performance as they left; laughing and mocking at sneering at the rest of the school and the students' parents, 4 pairs of them who already being in tears seemed completely insulted.

"Can we just..." Remus started but trailed off.

"What is it?" Lily asked him.

"No, nothing," he replied.

"Tell us," Lily said encouragingly.

"Can we just swear that we're going to get them back. Get revenge," Remus said loudly.

"Yes," James agreed, watching his best friend who had a look of determination defining his features, "Yes, we're going to get them all back, or we'll die trying."

And it was with silent looks of agreement that James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily and Amalthea discovered properly and irreversibly that the war had begun.