A/N: so, plan: write-every-night-until-story-is-finished did not really work. I'm SORRY!!!! It's weird, because my biggest activity (tennis) is over, but I have less time than before. All of my free time is spent doing homework or recovering (aka: sleeping) from school. I have to dedicate myself to get this done. As Sean Covey says, a goal not written down is only a wish… I need a piece of paper… Does anyone else have to read the 7 habits of highly effective teens for school? It's torture!!! I can't stop quoting it!!!
Anyway, sorry for the wait!
Disclaimer- this delightful story is not mine in any way, shape, or form.
Chapter 25: Battle
Previously: But when we arrive, a startling sight lies before me.
This is not good.
The vibrant flashes of red, blue, gold, and green would be really beautiful if it wasn't for the fact that they are deadly curses aimed at me. The dark beach is lit up with jets of color, and shouts ring out through the air. As soon as James and I get our feet on the ground, we dive to the ground and take cover behind a log on the shore. I doubt that this log will protect us from a curse backed with any more power of a snail, but I'm not complaining. Much.
"Death Eaters," James grunts, whipping his wand from his pocket. I do the same.
I take a quick peek over our protective barrier (the log). Our backs are to the ocean, and the fight is taking place between our houses. "It looks like there's about ten of them," I say, trying to hide the panic that is growing in my chest. Death Eaters. In Carmel. Attacking us.
Don't panic. Don't panic. Don't panic.
I'm panicking!
"What are Death Eaters doing here?" James asks, obviously not as scared to death as I am.
"Maybe they wanted to hang out with us," I suggest, trying to lighten the atmosphere. I nervously laugh in attempt to ease the pressure building inside me. It doesn't work. It actually has the opposite effect.
"Lily—" James starts, but I start talking at the same time.
"I'm not panicking. Do you think I'm panicking? Because I'm not. Panicking, that is. No panicking here," I chatter nervously.
"Lily." That's all he says. My name. I look at him and meet his eyes. Instantly, I forget about the Death Eaters and the impending doom waiting for us on the beach. All I can think about is his love for me, and mine for him.
"Yeah?" I whisper.
"Lily, I want you to get out of here," he says, intensely serious. "You Apparate as far away from here as possible, okay? Go somewhere safe."
"But what about you?" I ask, concern and fear showing in my voice. I don't feel afraid for myself anymore. I'm scared for James.
"I'm going to stay here and fight," he declares. His voice is solid and steady. No trace of fear.
"I'm not going to leave without you," I say stubbornly.
"Lily, you have to go. Get to somewhere safe." Only now does James's voice crack with panic.
"I am not going to Apparate away and leave you here to die by yourself," I nearly shout at him. (I would any other time, but I don't want the meanies to overhear).
"Lily," he says, his voice filled with emotion, "just go."
"I am not leaving!" I respond, raising my voice. "Would you be willing to leave me if I was about to walk into my death?"
I can see that I have won this battle. Not that I am looking forward to the one coming up. "Alright," James sighs in defeat. "I would never leave you. I'm sorry."
We gaze into each other's eyes, the ocean's crashing drowning out all other sounds. I lean in and give James a quick kiss. Then a loud crash brings reality back to our minds.
We both take a deep breath. "This is it," I remark.
"There's no place I'd rather be," James replies.
I let out a little laugh. "That was really cheesy."
"I know."
A thought hits me. "Why haven't they attacked us yet? They've had plenty of time, and this log doesn't exactly offer the protection of a tank," I interject.
A feminine scream rings out in the darkness. "Mum," James whispers before jumping up and sprinting towards the houses.
"James!" I call after him, getting up and chasing him towards the fight. As soon as I stand up, jets of red and green (frighteningly, mostly green) stream towards me. I dodge them while casting shields and sending other attacks at my opponents. The darkness masks the Death Eaters, making it difficult to aim at them. I point my wand wildly, grinning as I hear one go down.
Ducking as a jet of green light passes right where my head was, I finally manage to find James in the chaos.
"Lily!" he yells as he sees me too. I distract him for a moment, unintentionally of course, as an insanely tall Death Eater aims his wand at him.
"Get down!" I shout, tackling him to the ground. As we go down, I hear a friendly voice scream, "Stupefy!" and the giant collapses. I roll over and glance up, seeing what made James run towards a deathly battle like it was a hot dog stand. There, next to my house, is what I can only assume are James's parents.
I assume they are his parents because they look awfully like James. A tall, middle-aged man (with wicked sweet reflexes) is battling two Death Eaters to my left. He is wearing an identical pair of glasses as his son, with similar messy hair. On his face is a look of mischief and thrill of action that I see many times reflected on James's.
In front of me, a short, slightly rounded woman stands, helping her son up. Her light brown hair is messy from the battle. She gazes at me, and I notice that her eyes are the exact same shade as James's: a brilliant hazel that in the light, looks green, and in darkness, looks brown.
They seem like lovely people. But I wouldn't really know.
Because I have never met them before.
Which is really odd, seeing as I'm over at their house practically every day. Now that I think about it, that's completely crazy! How could I have never met them before now? James has met my parents!
Wait. What if he doesn't want me to meet his parents? Maybe he really doesn't love me, and is too worried about hurting my feelings if he breaks up with me! Maybe he cares that I'm a Muggleborn, and that his parents are pure blood. How could he care about that?
A bright flash appears to my left. I instantly duck to the ground. James and his mother do the same.
I can't believe I'm worrying about something like this when I'm in the middle of a war!
The three of us squat behind the mango bushes. We wait for a second, crawl to the other side of the bush, and leap out into battle again. We instantly become entangled in our own battles. James is in the middle; he glances at me on his left, and his mother on his right.
"Lily," he says, panting slightly from exertion while cursing a scary looking lady-Death Eater, "this is my mother, Bella."
"I have heard so much about you, dear," Mrs. Potter states, sending me a warm smile and an attack on the giant guy I'm fighting. She looks like the kind of mother who would bake warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies on a cold winter day.
"I am very pleased to meet you," I respond, somehow remembering my manners. I bite my tongue to keep from lashing at James for not introducing me earlier (maybe, I don't know, a few months ago). Instead, I concentrate my anger on fighting. It works; a Death Eater hits the ground hard after my awesome stunner.
"I'm sorry we haven't had a chance to meet yet—" she continues, glancing over her shoulder. It's hard to concentrate on the conversation while I'm trying not to die, "—but Tristan, James's father, and I are Aurors, and we're very busy this time of year."
"Oh."
Well, that was a whole lot of overreaction for no apparent reason.
That's what I'm good at!
"James, honey, I'm going to go help your father," Mrs. Potter says, moving to the other side of the beach. Suddenly, I remember my own father and mother…
"Wait!" I shout, fear bubbling in my chest. "Where are my parents? They can't be here! It's not safe! They're Muggles! They'll be killed!"
I'm starting to panic again.
As a result, a spell glances off of my shoulder, sending searing heat through my arm. I bend over in pain, fighting back tears.
I don't even see Mrs. Potter move her wand. But I do notice when the Death Eater that got me goes down. "Don't worry, dear," she says comfortingly as we have time to talk. "Tristan and I secured them in a secret (and well shielded) room in the house. You don't have to worry." She sees the concern in my eyes. "They'll be fine."
And with that, she smiles again and runs into the distance. I don't know why, but I'm feeling very relieved all of the sudden. I know that there are still Death Eaters in my backyard (well, all of the ones around us are unconscious), but it's okay. Even the pain in my shoulder goes away.
A few more villains Apparate a few yards towards the ocean. "Last one to the Death Eaters is a rotten egg!" I call to James, sprinting back into battle. James is right behind me.
I'm going so fast that I almost run smack into a younger looking Death Eater. I manage to stop myself before crashing into him. As his eyes find me, his hand reaches for his wand and flicks out in a second. I don't have the time to grab my own wand, so I do the next best thing:
I punch him in the face.
Which is kind of ironic, seeing as the last person that I punched was James. That seems like ages ago, back in the beginning of summer when I thought James was going out with Kirsten.
Ew. That was a weird time.
As the guy I just punched raises his head, recognition flashes in my brain. I know this man. Where have I seen him before? The dark, curly hair. The chocolate brown pools that form his eyes. How do I know him?
With a gasp, I remember.
"Black hat guy!" I exclaim, realization finally donning. He's the guy that Kirsten and I saw that day in the Village where we met up with Afhton. What's his name again? I can only remember him as the black hat guy.
Well, he's wearing a different black hat now, if you catch my drift.
"You're a Death Eater?" I ask, puzzled and confused.
"What's going on?" James ponders, clearly out of the loop.
The black hat guy takes a step towards us. I keep my wand hand raised. "We have had the pleasure to meet before this," I explain.
"Well," the black hat guy starts, circling slowly around us, "it was a pleasure indeed. I was extremely surprised to see the infamous Lily Evans, brightest witch at Hogwarts, all this way from England." He smiles, his teeth looking like glow-in-the-dark stickers on his face. I can't believe I almost fainted at that smile. Now, I only see evil.
I feel James tense beside me. He wants to curse the living daylights out of this guy, I can tell. We both raise our wands at the same time, but as we do, five more Death Eaters emerge from the darkness, surrounding us. Before I can react, my arms are bound to my side, and I collapse to the ground. James falls a second later beside me.
I get a mouthful of sand, and I'll probably get bruises from were the Death Eaters grab me on my arms, dragging me into the Potter's house. I can't see James, but I hear movement behind me. I soon find myself shoved onto the couch in the family room. James is forced down beside me. Our wands are taken, so there's no reason to keep us bound. It's almost surreal, being held captive in such a safe and familiar place.
The black hat guy stands in front of us, his thugs positioned at different places throughout the room. He asks, "So where is your friend, Sirius Black? I was under the impression that he was staying with you." His statement is directed at James. He just ignores him though, acting like he doesn't exist. My heart swells for him. He is so loyal to his friends, and I really love him for that.
I love it until the black hat guy points his wand at me. Without a word, excruciating pain explodes in my body. I let out a strangled yelp as the world goes black for a few seconds. I concentrate what is left of my power on not screaming again, but the pain keeps growing. It feels like all of my bones in my body are being broken. These few seconds last for an eternity.
I hear James's voice, but it seems far away. "I don't know where Sirius is. He mentioned something about a hot date tonight. He could be anywhere."
And then its over. I collapse against James, by body trembling everywhere. "Lily!" he exclaims, his voice breaking. "Are you alright? Speak to me!" He moves my head to rest on his lap. I feel his hands brush my hair out of my face.
"I'm okay," I manage to whisper, struggling to sit up. My strength is starting to return.
The black hat guy laughs menacingly. "See? That wasn't so pleasant for you. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."
Why do all of the bad guys say this? There never is an easy way.
"What is going on here anyway?" James asks, gritting his teeth. "Why not just kill us now?"
"As much as I would like to, " the black hat guy starts, "the Dark Lord has taken an interest in you two. He has heard of your great talents skills with magic. He also knows of your loyalty to Dumbledore. The Dark Lord acknowledges you as a future threat to him. You two are very powerful, especially together. We are here to offer you the chance to save your lives by joining us. We can give you power you have never dreamed of before. All you have to do is say the word, and your lives will be spared. Join us."
"Never," James and I say at the same time. I am unable to keep the disgust from my voice.
The black hat guy laughs again. "I didn't expect anything less from the great James Potter and Lily Evans. If you responded this way, as we expected, the Dark Lord wanted to come and finish the job himself."
Well, that's just peachy. Moldy-shorts himself is coming over for a little party.
It's time to stall.
"How did you find us here?" I ask, voicing the question that was actually drifting through my head.
"I have heard rumors about powerful wizards in this area. The Dark Lord positioned me in Carmel to recruit new blood. We have been looking for you two for a while. As I said before, I was very surprised when I ran into you so harmlessly. It was a very fortunate coincidence."
Yeah, it was real fortunate. Stupid coincidences…
As I think this, a Death Eater with extremely nasty teeth walks into the room. Maybe it's a requirement for Death Eaters to have one really weird quality, particularly, severe hideousness (well, I guess the black hat guy is an exception to this. Even though he's evil, he is pretty hot). I know most of them by those weird traits: giant Death Eater, ugly woman Death Eater, and now nasty teeth Death Eater. He announces, "The Potters have been detained."
At this, James flies to his feet and sprints to the door. I call after him, and terror grips me as a curse hits him square in the back. He falls to the floor. Bad teeth Death Eater yanks James back to his feet and throws him back on the couch. I swear I see him smack James on his butt before depositing him on the sofa. No one else seems to notice, except James of course. He sends me a look that clearly says that he is as shocked as I am.
The black hat guy starts to talk to his fellow murderers, but I'm not paying attention. I stare at the bad teeth Death Eater, trying to overcome the weirdness of this. Then he winks at me, and smiles.
But this smile is different. It's almost familiar. And it's really creepy.
James turns his head to see what I'm staring at. Bad teeth Death Eater catches his gaze and wiggles his eyebrows suggestively at him.
Ew.
Then like a ton of bricks falling on my head (which I deserve for being this dumb), it hits me. How could I have been so stupid? This has been right in front of me the whole time!
I look at James and see that he hasn't noticed this at all. Honestly, he can be so thick sometimes. I get a chance to try out my telekinesis abilities, or lack thereof. When this clearly doesn't work (all I receive is a confused looking James and a head ache), I change my game plan. Looking to make sure our captures are busy—they are; Captain Death Eater sure likes the sound of his voice—I resort to making a lot of head gestures towards the bad teeth Death Eater. Soon, I see the metaphorical bricks falling on his head. Finally!
We turn our attention back to the bad teeth Death Eater, and he winks at us again. I take a deep breath. This is it, I think to myself.
In the next instant, bad teeth Death Eater points his wand at the black hat guy and shouts, "Expelliarmus!" His own wand, James's, and mine go flying into the air, much to the dumb Death Eater's surprise. James and I don't need invitations to spring into action. We leap up and grab our wands before the Death Eaters even know what is going on. But soon, they attack.
"Stupefy!" I scream, my wand pointed at a Death Eater blocking the door. "James! Come on!" We start racing towards the door. Before anyone else can attack us, I turn around and yell, "Bombarda!" at the Potter's lovely family room. All at once, the windows shatter, the walls collapse, and the roof crumbles and falls in chunks. The noise is deafening, but I still manage to hear myself shout, "Run!"
The bad teeth Death Eater and James do as I command. As we sprint out into the fresh night air, the man once dressed as an enemy morphs into a dear friend. "Take that, sucka's!" Kirsten taunts at the debris that was a familiar home.
James and I both pull Kirsten in a huge bear hug. She protests at first, but then says, "You didn't think I'd let you two have all the fun, did you?"
"Thanks," I mutter, smiling for the first time in what seems like days. It evaporates in the next second.
"Well, isn't this touching," a cold, sneering voice says in the distance. I turn around and stop dead in my tracks. I have come face to face with my worst nightmare.
Before a can react, Lord Voldemort raises his wand, and a flash of sizzling light streams towards my face.
A/N: another cliffhanger! I'm sorry! I'll make this quick: I'm sorry about the long wait. I'm going to start the next chapter immediately. I'm really sorry. Please review! Tell me what you think!