Disclaimer- Again. Really? NOT MINE!

Lily had never hated anyone before.

Until now.

She hated him with every fiber of her being, his nose, his skin, his voice.

Lily shivered.

Especially his voice. She'd prayed to never hear it again.

Apparently Merlin was on holiday.

She'd always hated him from afar, but now, with him standing right in front of her, it was a different kind of a hate. It was a burning, fiery, painful hate. The kind of hate that never ends well.

The kind of hate that ends in pain.

Lily fought the urge to spit in his face. She'd always been cheeky, and today was no different.

He was no different.

But she restrained herself. What would he do to James if she did? She didn't know and she couldn't risk it.

"Hello snake" she retorted. She felt James grab and squeeze her hand.

Was it out of warning or encouragement?

Voldemort's eyebrows raised and he said something. She felt James tense and he too said something, but she didn't hear either of them.

She was zoned. A question was whirring through her brain.

Voldemort had eyebrows?

Well not really, she acknowledged. He just had an area where eyebrows would usually be.

She knew it was the stupidest thing ever to think about when you were flanked by blood thirsty murderers, but somehow it seemed to drag her down to Earth.

Until now, it could have been a dream. Voldemort could've just been a crazy, evil, man that she'd never see or deal with. Until now, even when she did meet him, she could show him nothing but disgust and kill him. It wasn't like he was human.

But he had eyebrows at some point.

Which meant at one time he had a nose. He could even have been handsome. And a Mom and Dad. He was human.

What could possibly have happened to him to screw him up this bad?

Lily could have stayed in her trance forever if shock by way of a stupefy curse hadn't jumpstarted her. The curse flew right over her head. She swerved to see who'd casted it.

Bellatrix.

But she missed? - No way. It was a warning. James must have said something, and by the guilty look on his face, Lily was pretty sure she was right.

His eyes were dark and his hand was clenched on his hand tightly, she knew he was about to go bonkers. She dropped his hand and stared dead-on at Voldemort.

"You are a coward." She stated.

It wasn't a question.

Usually, Lily knew, Voldemort was extraordinarily good at hiding his emotions and that was what he was trying to do now.

But she was Lily Marie Evans.

Nothing goes by Lily Marie Evans.

His nose (was it a nose?) contracted briefly. That was all the sign Lily needed.

"I am the greatest wizard to walk the Earth" he said steadily, but Lily saw his hands clench.

"Sorry to break it to you sweetie but that position has been filled, by someone who doesn't need so many sadistic cronies to take down two students. That. Is. Pathetic. And you know what?"

Now Voldemort was seething now. His eyes, if possible, were glaring with even more hatred. He didn't say anything, so Lily continued.

"It makes sense because you are pathetic"

Voldemort snapped.

Merlin what was Lily thinking? Sure James had antagonized Voldemort when she'd been off in la la land thinking Merlin knows what- but the cruelty in Voldemort's eyes was building, he was going to blow.

James kept squeezing Lily's hand, harder, and harder, but she wouldn't stop. James knew it was going to happen seconds before it did.

Voldemort's wand was in his hand faster than humanly possible. Before he even knew what was happening, Lily was writhing on the ground, screaming.

The piercing sound was haunting. Like her hair was on fire and every limb broken and he knew nothing could stop it. He could do nothing.

James dropped to the ground in an instant. He knew exactly what Voldemort was doing.

The cruciatus curse.

Damn him.

A sort of fierce, vicious pleasure took hold over Voldemort's features. The anger gurgled in James' stomach.

He rose and raised his wand, but six were already pointed at him. Voldemort was twirling his through his fingers, like this was all a game.

James seethed, but he kept his mouth shut. The angry light had faded from Voldemort's eyes as the curse did.

Breathe. He told himself, Lily needs you.

He could hear Lily groaning. It was like a knife through his heart every sound. He watched her rise, she stumbled once, but he kept her steady.

Through all of this her eyes didn't once leave her attacker's.

Fearless and brave. That was his Lily.

He felt a rush of pride. She knew what was happening and she still wasn't scared. It was amazing, inspiring, and also…stupid. Every time she opened her mouth, James could practically see Voldemort's temper rising.

This would not end well.

"I just want to talk" Voldemort said, and although his anger was carefully concealed, James knew he was popping a vein in his head.

"Bloody hell you do" Lily spat weakly. James cringed. Not this again.

"And I am just dying to join your little cult" Lily rolled her eyes.

James tried the hand squeezing thing again.

It didn't work. Lily seemed to be on a mission to piss Voldemort off to the maximum of her ability.

Mission accomplished.

The angry eye thing was coming back. James tried to step between him and Lily, but they were surrounded by idiots in masks. One step could mean another fiend-fyre disaster.

"Lily" James warned quietly. He could see the hunger in Bellatrix's eyes, and her husband's hand itching on his wand.

She glanced at him quickly and nodded.

Then she kept talking.

"Which will never happen. Ever." James sighed. He knew it was the last straw. The Death Eaters were done. Did they even wait for a green light from Voldemort? James didn't know and he didn't care. All he knew is that there were spells coming at him from all angles.

Again.

The only thing on his mind was fighting back.

And Lily.

Hestia rolled her eyes. The boys were fighting. Again. She really should've just gone by herself, maybe she would be there by now.

"It's that way! I can see the burned line of trees!"

"I'm the smart Marauder and it's that way!"

There was no way they were going to get anywhere. Fifteen minutes later, Hestia was done. She was tired, hungry, mad, and scared. She was scared for herself and for her friends.

"Shut the hell up!" she screamed. This quickly got Remus and Sirius' attention.

"We are going to get nowhere if you don't just shut up, stop fighting, and work together!" Her face was read and tears were streaming down her eyes.

The boys looked at each other for a moment, then slowly, they nodded.

"The burned trees are that way" Sirius muttered quietly, gesturing to his left. Remus glanced around.

"Which means they went that way" he said pointing away from Sirius' outstretched hand "or they'd be-" a glare from Hestia silenced him.

"Let's go" she grunted.

Sirius gazed at the back of Hestia's head admiringly. As soon as he and Remus had decided which way to go, she'd set off, not even looking to see if they were following her. She had spirit. It was something he hadn't seen in a lot of girls he'd dated.

None, actually.

She was something special, and he was leading her to her death. Single file even. It was like a movie.

But they had to find their friends. Somewhere out here in the vast forest, his best friend was hurt, in pain, and possibly dead. He had to find them. But would he like what he found? Surely not, considering what he knew had happened.

And Lily. Strong and stubborn Lily Evans. How was she? Surely not good.

Sirius stumbled over another tree root. At this rate, the big battle that was sure to be raging would be over when they got there. He glanced around nervously. Something big was going to go down, and he needed to be there. Now.

As if Merlin himself was listening, Hestia soon stopped short, causing Sirius to run into her. She didn't seem to notice, she turned and held a finger to her lips. Sirius wanted to ask why, but he soon got his answer.

He'd never been so glad to hear Voldemort's voice.

Remus followed behind Sirius quietly. He was sure his friend was brooding. He and James. That's what they did when they had girl problems.

Which was most of the time.

What with James absolute obsession with Lily and Sirius' constant string of one week girlfriends? It was a madhouse of testosterone and drinking in their dorm room.

And Remus wouldn't change any of it.

It was the first time he had real friends. At least since… his transformation. Only they and Lily had accepted him. Granted, no one else new. But they didn't look at him like he was dangerous or a mental patient. It was the first kind of real friendships he 'd ever had

It was amazing.

And now two of those people's lives were on the line. Not to mention one of them was injured because of him.

But this was Lily, surely she'd find a way.

He hoped.

Remus didn't snap out of his thoughts until he roughly ran into Sirius. He saw Hestia give them the shush sign and started listening intently.

A large smile broke out on his face a second later.

Lily felt James' back ram against hers as she shot another disarming spell. She still refused to kill. It seemed like curses were coming from every direction. Oh wait, Lily thought, they were. There was a circle of crazy maniacs. Which, normally Lily could deal with, but these psychopaths had wands. Some curses they sent she couldn't avoid- she'd been stunned (James always revived her in time) tickled, she'd even laughed uncontrollably for a while. Anything that could happen to her did.

But nothing life threatening.

It appeared that the Death Eaters, too, were avoiding killing. No 'Avada Kedavra' had been sent and both she and James still had all of their body parts.

Lily knew they were losing. She knew it from the very beginning. But she supposed that was the point. Fighting even when you knew you were going to lose. That was how they would stop Voldemort.

She and James were hopelessly outnumbered. They had no hope. But that didn't stop Lily from taking down Death Eaters with a fierce ability.

The only person not throwing curses at her was Voldemort. He was leaning against the stone wall outside of the circle.

The nerve of him.

Bringing a mini army to find her and not even fighting? That absolute coward. The smirk on his face told Lily that he knew he was winning too. What an arse. She glared him down for as long as possible before a near miss of a stunner caught her attention.

She locked eyes with James. His held the same worry that hers did. He knew just as well as she did.

They were screwed.

James' only instinct was to protect Lily. He casted curses with a ferocity he'd never felt before. He'd never had something to protect like this.

It sucked.

All he could think about was Lily's death. Every time she was stunned he nearly burst into tears. Seeing her so lifeless was heartbreaking.

He knew they were outnumbered. He knew they were pretty much dead on their feet. But he didn't care at all. He'd decided to live for the moment. He'd nearly died, and watched Lily nearly die too many times to care about whether or not he made it out. All he could do was fight like hell for now and worry about the consequences later.

So that's what he did.

But he felt himself get tired. He felt Lily sag behind him. They were exhausted and losing. Not a good combination.

The Death Eater circle was closing in on them and both were losing their fighting spirit.

James refused to lay down and die, but his other options weren't exactly good. James was a free person. He loved flying, and he hated being trapped.

And that's what he was.

Trapped.

Within a circle of asylum patients, James was trapped. He didn't like the feeling, so he sent out more hexes and more curses.

But James could send a million curses and it still wouldn't be enough. The enemy was advancing and James and Lily were going down faster than the Titanic.

He couldn't stop it and he knew it. James felt Lily's hand slip into his own. These could be the last moments of his life, he thought. He closed his eyes.

He didn't open them until he saw the lights.

A:N/ SORRRYYYYYY. I know I missed a week! But it was hell week for the musical, and true to its name it was hell. APOLOGIES! I hope I didn't lose any of my lovely readers! Love you guys! Hope you like it! THE BATTLE IS HEATING UP!

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!