So guys...this is it... :( I'll write my authors notes at the bottom...

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There were a few things that kept Lily company as she ran through the corridors of Hogwarts castle in light thrown onto the stone by the many candles and the dusk moonlight coming in through the windows; the pounding of her feet on the stone beneath her, echoing loudly in deserted corridors, and the pounding in her chest, both from the exertion of running, and from the dread of what she was about to throw herself into.

Adrenaline thronged through her veins with such ferocity that if she hadn't had such a pressing problem to get to, she would have had to sit down and breathe deeply with her head between her legs.

She was glad her destination only warranted running down staircases and not up…her legs were all but giving up by the time she'd reached the 5th floor. Pulling her wand from her pocket she made herself stop for a second to get her bearings. Her chest heaving up and down she desperately tried to remember which corridor it had been, where she'd seen those tiny harmless ink dots. Why hadn't she brought the map with her? She could have located them easier.

Kicking off her shoes she silently made her way down the main corridors in the direction she remembered they had been…at least she hoped, but it wasn't long before she heard hushed voices and a chill of ice cold went trickling down her stomach.

Gripping her wand till her knuckles seemed to shine white she slid to the corner where a corridor rounded onto another and hoped beyond hope that they couldn't hear her heart that pounded so loudly in her chest.

"Answer me Potter! What are you doing here? Following us?"

Mulciber. She recognised the voice. He had berated her a good few times before so she knew without even looking. In all honesty she really didn't want to look…she wished she didn't have to…

But she did have to.

James…

Her James…

James was in trouble, and needed her…she couldn't let her own fear stop her. She wouldn't let her fear stop her.

Casting a disillusionment charm on herself just as a precaution she peered round the corner into the gloom where the group of Slytherin's were surrounding a figure suspended against a wall.

When she flattened herself back against the wall she desperately bit back the bile that had instantly rose in her throat…she needed a plan…some sort of plan, any kind of plan… why hadn't she thought about it as she'd ran? Why did she not formulate some sort of strategy to get James out of there? Why had she just run, mindless, into a situation she might not be able to get herself out of…a situation James wouldn't be able to save her from…

She peered round the corner again and tried to stop herself from rushing straight into it…James had blood down the front of his shirt, his head was lolled down against his chest, like he was unconscious. She forced herself to look at the whole scene, to take everything in…to find a way to get them both out of there…

"He's not so big without his boyfriend with him, hey?" cackled Avery, wagging his wand menacingly at James' bloody face.

"Jealous, Avery?" croaked James in defiance, raising his head slightly, though he looked weak.

"You're not in a position to be running your smart mouth Potter!" warned Avery, every bit of smirk gone from his face. "Or do you want another bout of the crusiatus curse?"

"Avery…if all you're going to do is chat him up move aside, I'll get him to talk." said Mulciber, menacingly as he all but shoved Avery out of the way and pointed his wand directly between James' eyes. "Now Potter, why were your following us?"

"I wasn't following you." replied James shakily, obviously not being able to focus his eyes.

"You lie Potter!"

"Mulciber…"

A sheet of ice slid down Lily's back. Severus sounded so calm…so eerie…so unlike how she remembered him to sound…

"…Maybe Potter needs another reminder of why it's not good to meddle with other peoples affairs…sectumsempra!"

James' body tensed and he called out in pain, as a fresh wave of blood seemed to seep through his already bloody shirt.

Lily could take no more and acted swiftly. Suddenly appearing from her hiding place she sent such a strong stunning spell in their direction it hit all four Slytherin's at once, knocking two of them over, not that she stopped to take much notice. Propelling herself forward, she grabbed James and blasted the door behind him open, pushing him into the small room behind it, falling in with him, desperately trying to lock the door behind them from the floor, throwing all the wards she could think of at it, knowing they would hold for a little while at least.

Everything happened so fast, she really didn't think of what she was doing while she was doing it, but knew she had the element of surprise on her side. The Slytherin's had all been caught off guard, too intent on what was happening to James to be bothered about who may or may not be listening.

And now she lay on the floor, pulse pounding in her ears, spells pounding on the other side of the door, James beneath her…

"James!"

He looked half unconscious, his white school shirt now red, his face and hands smeared with his blood, ghostly pale beneath. He was tense and struggling to speak.

"Lily…"

She was still full of adrenalin as she tried to get a grip. She felt like she was going to lose it big time, tears leaking down her face automatically as with trembling hands, she attempted to undo the tattered sodden shirt and see the damage her ex-best friend had done to her…to her James.

"Lily you…"

"Shhhh James, don't worry ok." she whispered back, her voice shaking as much as her hands. "They can't get in ok, you know I'm good at wards. I just, you're just going to have to forgive my really bad medical skills James, I could never do this sort of thing but your bleeding so much and I can't leave it or else you'll pass out, ok so just shhhh…"

He reached out his bloody hands and took hold of her wrists limply. She stopped and looked into his face, his glasses wonky with a smear across them but his hazel eyes were bright beneath them. "Lily…breathe…"

She smiled and let him guide her hands to his cheeks, which were hot as she closed her eyes and took a few shaky breaths before opening them again and staring down at him.

"You can do this Lily. You can. I know it."

And she believed him. Nodding she slipped her hands away from his face and picked up her wand that had dropped to the floor, finished opening his shirt and tried not to gasp at the huge gashes that criss-crossed his chest. There was no point dwelling on how much they must have hurt him, and how long he must have been at their mercy; she had a job to do now.

Remembering the incantations she'd never been able to get the hang of before she began to move her wand in deliberate motions over the wounds, muttering as her hands worked, shaking slightly still, ignoring James' attempts at hiding his gasps of pain and the thudding of spells and hexes still being thrown at the door.

Once she'd done all that she knew she could she drew herself level with James face once more. "James?" he was laying with his eyes closed, breathing steadily, almost forcefully.

"Mmm hmm?"

"James I'm sorry but that's all I can do. It's a dodgy patch job at best…"

He opened his eyes a smiled slightly. "It feels better."

"You're such a bad liar James Potter."

He grinned but closed his eyes again and changed the subject. "They've stopped throwing hexes at the door."

Lily shot a concerned look toward the wood that separated them from the corridor outside. "If I know Severus he'll be out there trying everything he knows to hit the counter for my wards… he'll get it eventually James, we can't stay here." her voice shook again.

His eyes were open again and he nodded. "Then lets get out of here."

"No James you can't…"

But he tried to move and gasped in pain as he reopened one of the deepest gashes across his stomach. "Buggering hell!"

She knew he wouldn't stop till he was stood, so she helped him up as best she could, trying to make it easier on his wounds, taking most of his body weight and trying to keep them both upright with her shaky weak legs. Finally he was propped against a table and Lily tried to close the gash up again…conjuring dressings this time, to bind him enough to hide the blood, though it seeped through the white cotton bandages anyway.

"You can't stay in there forever you know!!!"

Lily jumped. Mulciber's dulcet tones were sounding from through the keyhole.

"You've got to come out sooner or later! Potter won't last all night in there!"

He was right. James wouldn't last all night. In fact, he probably wouldn't last another hour with the amount of blood he'd lost. Her attempts at patching him up had only stemmed the bleeding…he'd need Madam Pomfrey to see to him if he was going to heel. She knew they had to get out of there.

"Where's your wand? Do they have it?"

James smiled and reached behind him, pulling his wand out of his back pocket. "I didn't have time to draw it, they hit me with a body bind before I even saw them, sneaky bastards."

She cast her eyes upwards, thanking Merlin for small mercies before moving closer to him. "How do you think you can walk, realistically?"

He had been leant against the desk for support and when he tried to stand on his own he lost balance. "Erm…"

"Dammit." She eased him back to the table and desperately looked about her for ideas, inspiration…anything! She felt desperation rise in her again and fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. "There are four of them…I can't take them on my own!"

"There are two of us Lily!"

"No there isn't, James! There's one and a half at best! You're in no fit state to duel!"

He knew she was right but he couldn't stand the look of desperation in her face. "I can still curse Lily…I just can't…"

"Walk? Move? Dodge out of the way? James if we go out there and try and fight then we're both going to end up worse than you now…" She plonked herself on the table next to him and ran a shaky hand through her hair, not paying attention to the blood she was sure must be streaked through it now. "We're going to have to just try and run James. We're just going to have to try and take them out in some way…stun them, anything, and get onto the main staircase. At least then there may be someone..."

He was quiet for a minute while someone must have gotten frustrated outside and there were a few more bangs against the door.

"Ok." he replied eventually. "I don't like it, but your right. We need to get out and make a run for it." He winced as he straightened up and stood, using Lily to lean on and looked determinedly at the door.

"I've got a plan, ok?" she whispered, trying to keep the strain of holding him up out of her voice. "Just, when I say, you need to send the biggest stunning jinx you can, ok? Like, stun with everything you've got."

He looked down at her and nodded, his jaw set in determination and pain.

"Right."

Her adrenalin started up again, pounding in her ears and through her heart; she felt like the Hogwarts express was racing through her at a million miles an hour. If this didn't work, if they didn't get away, then she would probably end up worse than James. She was a muggleborn…maybe they'd not think twice about what they did?

Shaking these thoughts of failure out of her mind she gripped her wand in her right hand, her left arm round James' back. They were going to get out of this. They had to.

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Why did she have to show up? Why? And now she was locked in that room with James Potter and he didn't know what the others would try to do to her when they finally got in there…how could he hurt her? Well…there was no question, he couldn't hurt her. Not Lily. He wouldn't.

Severus Snape looked at the brown wooden door, covered in blast marks from the hexes that had just been thrown at it in an attempt to get in there. She'd put wards up, and boy were they strong. She had always been good with wards, she'd needed to be; and he didn't think he could break them.

"For Merlin's sake Snape, do you want to get in there or not?" spat Ezra, who was watching Severus staring blankly at the door.

"I'm thinking." replied Severus coolly; he never did think Ezra should have been involved with this, he was too much like Mulciber…all brawn and not much brains…there really was only call for one meathead in all honestly.

"Seems to me like your stalling." shot back Ezra.

Severus ignored him and lifted his wand once again, running it along the middle of the door, muttering everything he could think of to get it to open…everything he thought she would know…

For a second he thought he'd done it. For a second they all thought he had. The door had begun to rattle slightly and a rumbling noise could be heard from within the room. He stepped back only slightly and felt the thrill of triumph and dread all in one…how would he get her out of here?

But he didn't get chance to think of much else as the door swung open with such force it knocked him out of the way and into the wall behind it, momentarily stunning him as a wall of rats burst from where the door had been. The other three Slytherin's yelled and clambered to get out of the way as the rats all scurried towards them like a sea of fur and claws and teeth. Ezra let out a shout which sounded more feminine than he might have preferred but there was no time to think as James and Lily came into view for a split second before the red beams of light from their stunning spells hurtled into the corridor, clearly aimed at all who were out there.

Ezra hit the deck with a thud, Mulciber on top of him. Avery had managed to dodge out of the way of the first wave but had dropped his wand in shock when the rats had been scrambling towards him. James shot a stupefy right at him as Lily was struggling to keep them moving down the corridor towards the main stair well.

"Where's Severus?!" she yelled in panic, her wand arm grasped round the front of James as he had slumped with the effort he'd just put in to move quickly.

Severus jumped out from behind the door, his wand in his hand, pointing straight at them. "Expelliarmus!"

James' wand flew from his hand and the two Gryffindor's almost toppled over in their surprise.

"Don't try anything funny Potter! You're wandless!"

Lily held her wand out, a slight shake to it but her features were set. "Don't you even think about it."

Severus couldn't bring himself to point his wand at her, so he left it on James, even though he was without a wand, though he directed his question at her, a slight whine in his voice. "Why did it have to be you who showed up?"

"What? How does the fact that it was me change this?" she asked with feeling.

"Lily you don't understand!"

"I understand Severus. I understand better than you might think."

They stared at each other for a few seconds, Severus not knowing what to say, Lily just daring him to say anything, but they were both caught off guard when Avery, who must have managed to get to his wand, shot a disarming spell at Lily from the floor.

She gasped as her wand flew from her hand and spun round to see Avery getting to his feet. James was attempting to get Lily behind him though it was difficult as he was using her to keep him upright, his face as pale as a ghost but his jaw was set.

"Take them out Snape!" urged Avery as he staggered over. "Time to show that filthy mudblood she doesn't belong here with…" but he didn't get to finish his sentence as Severus had spun his wand round in an awkward jerk and shot a stunning spell right smack bam into Avery's chest. He flew with some force into the wall of the corridor behind him and slid to the floor, clearly unconscious this time.

When Severus turned back round to face Lily he saw confusion in her features. "Sev?"

James made to move towards Avery's wand, which was lying on the floor a few meters away but Severus sprung at him with his wand outstretched, his expression ferocious.

"NO!" shouted Lily, throwing herself in front of James; arms spread wide trying to shield him, knowing he wouldn't be able to take much more. "Sev please!" she looked into his hate filled black eyes and pleaded. "Please Sev, please don't do it."

Severus wavered…his wand swaying.

"Please Sev, don't…"

She was crying. Crying! Her huge bloodshot green eyes were fearful and pleading. Her speckled cheeks were covered with tears and blood…

"Sev?"

He couldn't. How could he?

Lowering his wand he felt a prickle of something behind his eyes but turned away before it could show. She had thrown herself in front of him. Him. It was obvious to Severus she'd made her choice…just like he had made his…but he hated it with everything he had in him. Everything.

He didn't care what the other Slytherin's would say when they finally came too…he was never going to hurt her… Furiously, Severus smashed a fist into a glass window as he stormed away; away from the mess… he just needed to get away from them…from Lily…his Lily…and him

Lily was too intent on watching Severus' retreating back through her bleary eyes that she didn't realise James had passed out until she felt him slip to the floor with a thunk.

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Apparently what Madam Pomfrey had given him should have knocked a hippogriff half unconscious, and even though James had lolled off to sleep at some point he was now very much awake, and in pain. Whatever spell Severus Snape had used had been a powerful one; and dark, as all the spells and potions he'd been given weren't really helping.

Trying to take his mind off the pain he thought about the room in which he and Lily had been trapped; the sheer panic in her eyes, the blood on her hands, her pained determined attempts to close his wounds just enough to be able to get him out of there…

She was more heroic than she gave herself credit for.

The night she had turned up on his doorstep in summer, covered in blood and clearly traumatized, he'd seen her as a helpless damsel…someone who needed saving and keeping from harm… tonight he supposed he had been the damsel in distress…and she had stepped up to the plate and shone. Taking on four Slytherin's! One of them Severus Snape…her ex best friend…who was obviously in love with her…James could see it in his face when he thought Avery was going to curse her; that thought made his stomach turn.

What was going to happen next, he wondered? According to Dumbledore Snape had an alibi for the evening in none other than Regulus Black, and although his comrades had been stunned, rounded up and interrogated, they all swore Snape wasn't there. It looked like he'd be getting off scott-free.

His anger began to rise; he couldn't believe Snivellus would get away with it, though he was sure Sirius would come good and make the grease ball suffer for the callous and cowardly attack. Four on one was hardly fair.

Suddenly there was a creek from the end of the hospital wing and James winced slightly. He had automatically gestured towards his wand on the bedside table but being heavily bandaged and still in a lot of pain he hadn't got very far. Glancing at the clock on the wall it was 2:15 am…surely nothing good could come of someone sneaking around at that hour!

Squinting his eyes into the darkness he saw that the door had been opened slightly and his heart pounded in his chest. He was basically defenceless; he hadn't a chance in hell of being able to fend off an attacker.

For a few long tense seconds nothing happened, and all James could hear was his pulse in his ears against the dense darkness around him. Then a flicker of something silvery and eventually Sirius appeared from under the invisibility cloak, followed closely by Lily.

"It's ok," whispered Sirius, though to the girl beside him, not to James, "I've got the map, keep the cloak in case Pomfrey shows up."

"Thank you Padfoot." she whispered in reply.

James would have spoken aloud if Sirius had have given him half a chance. He silently saluted from the door with a huge grin on his face and disappeared, his footsteps getting softer the further down the corridor he went.

The door shut softly and Lily was swift over the floorboards, her feet making next to no noise. She was carrying the invisibility cloak but draped it over the chair next to the hospital bed, her eyes never leaving James.

He didn't need to ask her a thing as she lifted the covers up at the edge and began to climb underneath. James scooted over as much as he could and was instantly aware of how she had been able to move so silently; her bare feet were freezing!

She silently tucked herself into the nook under James' arm and gathered the bedclothes around her, only looking up into his face when she had gotten herself completely comfortable.

He wasn't sure if the quickened thumping was his heartbeat or hers, but really it didn't matter as she tilted her head up enough to put her lips onto his purposefully. They fit perfectly. They fit perfectly and in that first kiss he knew that the last few months of tiptoeing, making mistakes and heartache had been worth it. The years of knock backs and insults were worth these glorious seconds or minutes…or could they have been hours?

They both knew it.

Even the pain that had been so intense was nothing compared to the intensity of her. They couldn't move much, with him so heavily bandaged, in that hospital bed made for one, but every tiny movement was like the grandest gesture in their tiny bubble. Every second was like a glorious hour, yet there was not enough time, there would never be enough time for them to ebb…he would never get tired of it, of her lips, her soft thick deep red hair, her brightest of emerald-green eyes and her pale freckled skin. He would have wanted to stay in that moment forever if he didn't know there would be many moments after this that would make him wonder whether there could ever possibly be anything more a man could want from the world.

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They could have stayed in silence all night…

They could have whispered sweet words to one another in the darkness…

Lily could have even chastised James about the cloak and map…

There could have been a lot of ways that evening played out but all Madam Pomfrey knew the following morning was that huddled into the nook of James Potter's arm, in the hospital bed she'd left him in, was a rather pale but peaceful looking redhead…they'd both been through an ordeal…they were both sleeping contentedly…and she couldn't quite bring herself to wake them.

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A/N-

There we go, finished! (apart from the epilogue)

...what do you think? I'm really sad about it ending to be honest...but it was always going to finish here :( I am going to post the epilogue almost straight away...it has been written since the beginning...its only short and is slightly bitter sweet...

Thankyou to all you readers who have left reviews :) you've kept me going with this, even when it seemed like I wouldn't get to the end! I'd like to apologise to you all for the length of time between some updates :S but you know how it can be when life goes down the shitter ;) got there in the end though!

Love to everyone who stuck with Lily through the tough times to the good :) and with James as he bumbled his way towards his girl :) but my favorite guy will always be Sirius X)

Thankyooooooooou

xxx becks xxx