Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, but everytime I see a shooting star (which has been twice in my life), I wish to own it-telling you that is probably why it hasn't come true yet. :-)

Thanks to those of you who reviewed Chapter 11! 41 reviews!!

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I'd like to say a few words, but I'll leave that until the end of the chapter!

Now without further ado…

Our Tower

Chapter 12 Aftershock

Shaking his head, Dumbledore turned towards his students that were tied up in the air as Aurors and Healers began dealing with those who were not Hogwarts students. Releasing them from the binds and slowly lowering them down, he reversed the silencing charm on them.

"James!" Sirius and Remus immediately went over to check on their fallen friend.

"Lily!" Aimie and Mimi, having the same notion as Sirius and Remus, went to check on their fallen friend as well. Peter just stood nearby.

"I apologize for not coming sooner. I came as soon as Misters Roberts, Winthrop, and Marks and Ms. Winthrop informed me of the situation." Dumbledore said as he knelt down to check on his fallen Heads. Looking up, Dumbledore saw an auror close by and called him over.

"Would be so kind as to call Healer Potter and Aurors Potter, Paulini and Paulini here?" Dumbledore said, glancing at Mimi. "I daresay they have some business here." The auror nodded and ran off, calling the aurors and healer with the issued communicators.

Within two seconds, a witch and a wizard had apparated beside them.

"James!" Aria Potter cried out at seeing her son lying unconscious and hurt on the ground. Immediately, she knelt down at her son's side to assess the damage done to his body.

"Aria!" Sirius said in surprise as he suddenly realized the Potters were there.

"Sirius," Harold Potter began, allowing his wife to tend to their son. "What happened?"

Sirius' fists clenched as he thought of how James' cries of agony and screams of pain filled the air and Sirius couldn't do anything about it. Seeing as Sirius wouldn't be able to get his tongue around the words, Remus stepped in.

"Harry." Remus said, effectively getting the auror's attention. "James was…" his own fists clenched at his sides as he thought of the battle.

"Voldemort used the Crutiatus on him." Remus said, closing his eyes as though it would make him forget the sound of his best friend's gut-wrenching screams.

Two more POPs were heard and two young aurors appeared beside the group.

"Mimi." A deep voice said. Mimi's eyes widened as she recognized two of them and she stood up. Shaken over the incident that had just occurred, she was more emotional than she usually would've been upon seeing her older brothers.

"Mike! Mark!" she cried, stumbling over to them and into their arms. She trembled as she felt their arms come around her, feeling safer. Mark pulled away, leaving Mimi to be held by his younger brother, Mike.

"Mimi, look at me." He said, waiting until Mimi had turned her face from Mike's shoulder to look at him. "Mimi, I need to know if you're hurt besides those cuts and bruises." He said, hoping she wasn't. Mark and Mike both sighed in relief when Mimi shook her head.

"But Aimie was put under the Crutiatus curse, and Lily was put under the Imperius curse." Mimi explained, biting back a sob as she looked at her fallen friend and the one that was injured and exhausted beside her.

Mark and Mike immediately looked over to see the two girls they'd taken in as younger sisters seven years ago and saw Lily lying unconscious in battered clothes, bleeding and bruised, and Aimie kneeling beside the redhead, administering basic healing spells.

"Aimie," Mike began, taking Mimi's hand and leading his sister and brother over to the girls. Aimie looked up and relief fell over her face at the sight of the two men.

"Mike, Mark." Aimie held out a hand to them and Mike knelt beside her, squeezing her hand in comfort. Mark began his own healing spells and spoke softly.

"It'll be alright, little girls." He said.

Night fell and Lily and James were transported to the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts after being treated on site by Aria Potter. Aside from the Heads, none of the other students required an over night stay in the Wing. The Potters stayed in the Hospital Wing until Madame Pomfrey insisted they leave her patients to get some rest. Mike and Mark Paulini had checked in on Lily before leaving shortly before dinner.

Groggily, James' eyes fluttered open and he found himself staring at the ceiling of the Hospital Wing. He groaned, feeling heavy under the effects of the potions Madame Pomfrey had administered. He looked out the window to find the moon shining high and bright in the sky.

'What happened?' he asked himself. It was the middle of the night. Slowly, flashes of images floated through his head.

'Oh…the battle…' he remembered, still disoriented. 'Voldemort…I fought Voldemort.' James let himself stare at the ceiling.

"I can't believe I'm still alive!" he admitted softly in the quiet of the wing. Then the image flashed in his head of Lily under Voldemort's Imperius curse.

His eyes widened. 'Lily!' he thought wildly, wondering how she fared. He didn't remember. His head turned this way and that, ignoring the screaming his muscles were doing and he found Lily sleeping on the bed right next to his. He let out an audible sigh, a breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding.

"Thank Merlin.' He thought. He couldn't explain the feeling that had just coursed through his veins, so he blamed it on the potions in his bloodstream. Upon looking at her, James didn't see any major flesh wounds, granted fatigue was plainly seen. A strong urge to speak to her came over him. He needed to see if she was fine overall.

"Lily!" he whispered, loud enough for her to hear. He sat up in his bed and swung his legs over the side towards Lily. "Lily!" he tried again, when she didn't move.

This time, Lily shifted slightly in her sleep and groaned. James knew she was coming out of her sleep.

"Psst…Lily!" he said sharply in a loud whisper. 'Bingo!' he thought triumphantly when her eyes fluttered open. He watched her and knew the exact moment the fog from the potions cleared because it showed in her eyes.

Lily turned her head and found herself staring at Head Boy Extraordinaire, James Potter. She opened her mouth to say something and found her voice stuck in her throat, so she closed her mouth again, much like a guppy.

James smiled at her. She looked adorable. Her hair was mused from sleep, her face held evidence of fatigue by the faint bruising under her eyes and she was dressed in the infamous pajamas of the Hospital Wing.

But he thought she looked great.

With some difficulty that only made her more determined to succeed, Lily pushed herself up into a sitting position, gladly leaning against the pillows at her back. Her blanket pooled loosely in her lap and she regarded James.

"Headmaster Dumbledore saved us." She said first. James nodded.

"Yes, I don't know the details of what happened after that. I blacked out shortly thereafter." He admitted. Lily bit her lip. She did remember him falling unconscious. Her eyes scanned his body and flared briefly at the redness around his neck where from he had been strangled by Voldemort.

James stood from his bed and lowered himself onto the side of Lily's bed, facing her. His hand landed on hers, but neither said anything.

"How do you feel?" he asked her softly, looking into her emerald green orbs. Lily found herself being hypnotized by his chocolate brown eyes and forced herself to snap out of it.

"I'm alright." She answered. "How are you?" she asked. Her fingers itched to erase the red bruises from his neck. Instead, she forced them deeper into her blanket.

"Surprisingly well." James admitted. Neither of them realized that this was one of the first times that they had talked civilly with each other with genuine concern for the other since their friendship had broken.

"You mean after having faced off against Voldemort?" Lily asked, feeling the same way. James grinned at her.

"Precisely." He said. The hand he had covering one of hers had found comfortable purchase and was caressing Lily's hand with the thumb.

Lily finally noticed the tingling feeling was from James' caress and not the pain relieving potions on her bedside table. Her eyes fluttered back up to James and she hesitated before continuing.

"Why are you doing this, James?" she asked vaguely. James regarded her, his expression unchanged.

"This?" he asked, raising his hand which held her smaller one in it.

"Yes…a-and no." she said. "Everything. Why did you care for me when I was sick? Why did you defend me so…completely during the duels, even once Voldemort had gotten to you? Why?" she asked him.

"Because you're on-" James tried. Lily interrupted.

"James, please. Don't give me that rubbish about being on the same Quidditch team. Give me a real explanation." Lily sighed. "Please."

James let out a quick breath. She wasn't going to let him off easily.

With his free hand, he curled in under her hair around the back of her slender neck and then placed his lips gently on hers.

Lily didn't hesitate. Her response was torn out of her before she could think about it. Her free hand came up to fist the pajama top covering James' chest. With his hand around the back of her neck, Lily's head was forced back, giving James maximum access to her. He nibbled on her lower lip and stuck his tongue out to soothe it. Immediately, Lily opened her mouth to his probing tongue, which she met with hers.

The kiss had been initially sweet, but suddenly was gearing towards hot and heavy. Moaning, James lingered for a moment longer before he pulled away. Breathing heavily, both of them stared into each other's eyes, leaning against the other's forehead.

"Well, there is that." He answered, belatedly. Their faces were so close; Lily could feel the heat of his breath on her face, particularly her lips.

'My lips are tingling…' was one of the first thoughts. She stared and then swallowed audibly. James smiled slightly.

"Aside from that, I can't explain it. But I won't sit by and watch someone in danger." He said. That was as true as could be. From the first day they had met, James had expressed his dream and ambitions to be an auror; Lily had no doubt he'd be one either.

"That's physical attraction. We know it's not enough. And we're mature enough not to pursue it." Lily said, trying to sound convincing. Of course, every nerve in her body was telling her yes, but her head was telling her no. And her lips were tingling…

"On the contrary, Lily." James began, allowing his hand to slide from around her neck to frame her face. "I think it's more accurate if we said we are mature enough…to seek it." He said, his thumb caressing her cheekbone as his other one was caressing her hand.

Lily was entranced. She blinked and suddenly, forced herself to snap out of it.

"No…No." she repeated, uncurling her hand from his pajama top and pulling her other hand out from under his. She pushed him away, albeit gently, but pushed him away nonetheless. "Physical attraction is not a reason to …We don't even like each other." She rephrased, almost desperately.

"We did at one time." He reminded. Lily's eyes flared at the reminder of how it changed, but she hooded her eyes quickly by her eyelashes.

"And for lack of trust, that broke in less than a minute." She reminded hollowly. "I'm tired now, Potter." She said using his surname for the first time that entire night.

"Good night." She said, with a tone not of rudeness, but of finality. The conversation was over for now.

"Good night." James said softly, getting up from her bed and going back to his own. By the time he'd taken off his glasses, he noticed that Lily had already lowered herself back onto her bed in a lying position and was asleep.

Or just really good at playing Possum.

So I'm sorry for the delay on this chapter, but I'd like to think it was well worth the wait. This was one of my hardest chapters to write so far. I'd experienced a huge writer's block for a while and life bit me in the ass for sometime this past few months, but I finally got back to my writing this month. I rewrote it three times so please review lots (no flames please)!! Let's try for 50 again!! I love all of you for reading this and I really appreciate all the support I've been getting. This story will be long and I will follow it to the end. In the future I may ask you to bear with me because there may be periods of time where I cannot update at all because I am studying medicine and have my MCATs coming up next year *shudders* but I hope to see reviews from all of you even then!!

Love always,

Lunar Artemis xoxo