-The Writer.-

Disclaimer- anyone you recognize is J.K. Rowling's I do not own them. Everything you don't recognize is mine including the plot.

-Chapter Twenty Eight-

Alice slept through the next few hours without a problem; Lily dozed in and out, setting a perimeter with her wandless magic so she would be able to sense when anyone would be coming by. The last thing she wanted to do was get caught unawares by one of the deatheaters, that would certainly make things a little more difficult come dawn. As the sun set and the night hours slowly waned away the creatures all around them began to shift, desperate to be out and unrestrained. It seemed though that they were being kept on a tight leash, probably because they were getting ready to change base locations. Lily was grateful for that as well, she didn't like the idea of those creatures running loose in the forest and perhaps running foul of the others. Even though they had protection and barriers up to make sure that didn't happen, all it took was one person forgetting something to cause a chain reaction of trouble.

She woke when her magic tingled; telling her someone was approaching the barn. She sat up, closing her eyes to small slits so she could peer out. It was several Deatheaters, coming in with handfuls of meat. They tossed it into each of the cages with the creatures and then they finally came and slid in two trays of food for both her and Alice. Alice had woken as the first creature began to tear into the meat it was given, she had backed into a corner as far away from the opening of the cage as she could and only after they had passed did she seem to relax. Once they left the barn Lily glanced over to where Alice was examining the food carefully.

"Do they usually put something extra in the food?" She asked quietly.

"Sometimes, it depends on if they're planning on questioning you again or if they're bored they'll sometimes slip something in and watch the results."

The idea of them doing that and to someone as young as Alice made her blood boil in anger and her fingers twitch with the urge to inflict some damage. Still she held her temper in check, if only just. She would use it later during their escape, some well placed hatred was sure to help in situations such as these.

"Well don't bother eating it, because just between the two of us you and I will be out of here soon."

Alice looked up her expression brightening. "They're coming…early this morning right?"

"Did you dream that?" Lily asked impressed.

"Yes, but not all my dreams come true so I'm never sure which ones to believe and which ones to disregard. For instance I saw several scenarios where you didn't show up, but I'm glad you did."

Lily smiled, happy that these jerks hadn't managed to beat this girl down into the ground. Happy that she could still hope for the best. "Look, when all of this goes down, I'm going to take care of you okay. You stick with me and pretty soon we'll be getting back home to your mother."

She nodded, but Lily was sure, that for just an instant there seemed to be an expression of sadness flit across her face. But before she could tell or not if that was what she had seen it was gone and she was once more smiling.

"I'll be glad to see my mom again; she's worried so much about me."

"Most moms' do about their children."

They spent the next couple of hours talking quietly among themselves, Alice was curious about all that had been going on in the wizarding community since she had been abducted. She was very much into Quidditch so Lily tried to give her all the details she could remember, wishing for once that she had paid more attention to the sport whenever Meg Sirius and James talked about it. Thinking of them, thinking of all of her friends, made her chest seem incredibly tight and for a few moments it almost felt as if she couldn't breathe. There would be a good chance she wouldn't be returning from this, and though what she had told Hazel was true, she wasn't afraid of dying, she was afraid to face all those regrets that were brought to the forefront. She could no longer ignore them though she wished she could, there were more things she wished she could change or say or even do then she had thought possible. She swallowed a quick lump that had grown uncomfortably large in her throat and glanced up to see Alice looking at her, worried.

"Are you okay Lily?" her voice was soft.

Lily smiled. "Yeah, I'm just thinking about my friends back home."

Alice nodded, understanding perfectly what was going through her mind. Lily realized she had probably been faced with something similar on more than one occasion and Lily swore right then and there she would get this girl to safety and make sure she got as normal a life as possible after all of this.

"Don't worry Lily; you'll see your friends again. I'm pretty sure that dream at least comes true."

Despite the fact that she knew not all dreams of seers came true Lily was comforted by the words and she grinned. "Thank you Alice."

They continued their earlier conversations; she was now detailing what life at Hogwarts would be like. She had another couple of years before she was old enough to attend but you could tell that she looked excited at all the stuff mentioned. Even the classes she described held her interest, she seemed especially interested in transfiguration and Lily again thought of James since that was his best subject.

Lily could sense that it was only a couple of hours before dawn and she winked at Alice. "I'm going to go check in with my friends, don't worry I'll know if anyone is coming."

Alice nodded and with that Lily closed her eyes and sent out her wandless magic. She swept through the clearing, sensing where everyone was as she did and then headed to where the camp was and had her eyes been open they would have definitely widened in surprise. Their small group of five; four since she was on the inside, had grown significantly. Lily was able to count close to forty people ranging about in their safe zone, all of them hunters. Sensing them, armed to the teeth and ready for action gave her a shiver, they were ready for battle and Lily was glad she was on their side. She swept through the camp and eventually found where Alex, Hazel, Gerald, Erik and a few others she wasn't as familiar with were standing.

"Boo!" she couldn't help but do it, it was too tempting

They all jumped and Hazel glared up at the sky. "Shit Lily you scared the crap out of me. That was just mean!"

Erik and Gerald chuckled and Alex sagged slightly in relief. It was clear he was a mixture of worry and wariness all bundled up together to the point of bursting. Looking at him Lily sure did hope he would make it to the battle before snapping.

"Sorry, I just couldn't resist the opportunity."

"Yeah right!" Hazel muttered but dropped it, they were short on time and she wasn't going to start anything just yet.

"How's everything going?" Alex asked.

"Good, they fed the creatures a few hours ago, so that should help. Though from the looks of them I would guess they also hunger for something other than food."

"Other than food?" One of the people she didn't know asked, she thought his name was Marcus but she couldn't be for sure.

"They were never actually the cause of the people's death, simply the driving force to get them to the location where they would be killed. They feed off the fear, the hunt. They may be sated food wise but I'm thinking they're craving the fear. Those scared the most will probably be bigger targets."

"Well fear isn't exactly something so easily dismissed, especially not with one of those things on the loose." Erik commented rubbing a patch of scars identical to the ones Lily had on her arms, a reminder of his last encounter with one of those creatures.

"Trust me I know. I think that's why all prisoners are kept here with them, they feed off our fear, and they do scare me too."

Erik took small comfort from her words. "Are there still the same amount of Deatheaters around?" Gerald asked.

"Yeah I did a count just before checking in. Half are walking the perimeter the other are inside. They don't stray more than fifty yards from the buildings though."

"Alright we'll be converging in about an hour and half. We'll be splitting into groups of four each attacking from a different direction. We'll have a small group hang back a little, to pick up stragglers and so that they can assist in any area that might need it." Alex explained glancing at them all to make sure they were all on the same page. "Lily, do what you can with those creatures just before we attack, but remember your first priority is to get Alice to the safe spot and transport her back to safety."

"Yes Sir, I'll do what I can. I don't think I can keep them out it for long but I can at least buy you some time before they enter the fray."

She had spent some of the time while Alice was asleep earlier examining all of the cages and running through several ideas until she had a handful she thought would work and a few backups in case everything went to hell, which she was suspecting might happen. Several people had told her over the last couple of weeks that war was messy and in a way, what they were fighting now could be considered a war.

"Alright, go on and get back, if anything changes let me know as soon as you can okay? We don't have much more time so if anything's going to need to be changed we'll have to do it fast."

"Will do; just promise me you all will be careful."

She meant all of them, but the ones she was worried about the most were Alex, Hazel, Erik and Gerald. The four people who she knew so well and knew her so well. They had become an extended family to her and the thought of any of them getting hurt was unbearable though realistically she doubted any of them would walk away without a scratch.

"Don't worry Lily, we'll watch each others back, you watch yours too!" Hazel said her expression serious.

"Always! Then I'll see you guys soon."

And then she was pulling her magic back inside her body and becoming more aware of her immediate surroundings. She cracked open an eye to see that Alice was studying her, curiosity in her eyes.

"Is everything okay?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, everything's right on schedule." She glanced over at the doors considering her options. "Alice? Do you think they'll come and check on us again in the next two hours or so?"

"No, they usually come and hour or two after the sun rises. They let me out to walk a bit and to feed the creatures again." Lily nodded, deciding to wait another thirty minutes or so before putting her plan into action. "Lily, can I tell you something?"

"Of course."

"I'm kind of scared."

Lily could almost forget sometimes how young she was because she always acted older, but looking at her pale face, her eyes wide with the apprehension she was reminded again. Lily reached through the bars and gripper her hand and gave her what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"To tell you the truth, I am a little too, but I promise I'm going to do everything I can to get you home."

Alice squeezed her hand and smiled, then she leaned back and closed her eyes though she still kept a hold of Lily's hand. Lily also decided to rest her eyes; her mind was so busy thinking through more ideas of how she could help or thinking of the worst case scenarios that she knew there would be no problem of her falling asleep. Thirty minutes passed by horribly slow, it was as if each second lasted a minute and each minute lasted ten until Lily thought she would burst from all the pent up emotions that she was keeping tightly bottled. Finally enough time had passed that she could work on her end of the plan. She gently slipped her hand from Alice's, the girl still slept and she was going to let her continue to do so as much as she possibly could before they had to leave.

Lily turned her attention to the nearest cage carrying a creature, and after first making sure that no Deatheaters were approaching she concentrated entirely onto the lock that would open the cage. At first nothing happened and Lily began to worry that an enchantment had been placed on the cages which would certainly complicate matters but then ever so slightly she could see the metal began to brighten as if it was in a forge. The edges began to smoke and finally the entire locking mechanism melted into a molten heap that would be impossible to open without magic and they would be leery of doing that in case the creatures turned on them before they could get out of the way. Once one was done Lily turned her attention to the next one, slowly going down the line on both sides. Alice woke up halfway through but seemed to sense that Lily needed her concentration and kept silent. The time was fast approaching when Lily finally finished the last one and slightly spent she leaned back, blowing out her breath and glancing over at Alice who was looking at it all with a grin.

"It will take them a while to get through that."

Lily chuckled. "Yep and hopefully it will be enough time for the rest of the help to get everything under control." She sent out her wandless magic, sending it far from the camp until she came across the other hunters. They were already in position and were slowly counting down. She quickly slipped back into her body just as she felt them all suddenly move to converge.

Lily quickly jumped towards the lock and with no finesse just raw magic popped the lock off and quickly slipped out. She did the same to Alice's and helped the girl step out, glad to see that she was steady on her feet though as if sensing that it was all beginning she had once again turned pale. The creatures at the sight of them free from their cage began to get restless, letting out that unearthly howl that raised all the hair on her neck to attention and made the scars on her arms tingle in remembrance of how it had felt when they were on fire.

"Okay, no matter what happens, don't let go of my hand. The safe point we need to get to is a ways away from here and we're going to have to pass a lot of angry Deatheaters to get there." She explained as calmly as she could, wishing she had her blades or wand on her. She would just have to hope that her wandless magic could do the trick.

There seemed to be a moment when the air grew heavier and the silence deepened, to where you could hear your own breath as if it was magnified. A calm before the storm Lily realized, and then the storm broke. There was a loud explosion, Lily could only guess what the cause was and then dozens of voices could suddenly be heard shouting out curses and spells. Lily could sense two deatheaters running for the shed, no doubt to release the creatures. Lily ran to the doors her hand gripping Alice tightly and then she pushed them both against the wall. The Deatheaters threw the door open and raced in, so desperate were they to get to the creatures that they didn't even notice Lily until it was too late. One of them had just spotted the empty cages where they should have been when they were both flung clear across the way their wands dropping. Lily thought briefly for making a grab for them but they were too far away and she had only stunned them a bit, already they were shaking their heads and trying to stand.

So instead, still gripping Alice's hand tightly, she ran out into the chaos that had suddenly engulfed the base of operations. Hunters and Deatheaters were fighting fiercely, for their very lives since both sides were determined to win the battle. Lily kept as close to the building as she can, trying to use her body to shield Alice, if they could get to the trees Lily would be much more comfortable, but there was still several building to pass by and a large open clearing with nothing to hide behind before she got that lucky. Lily did what she could while the two of them ran for the trees, knocking or tripping deatheaters when she could, trying to give the others Hunters any opening they could use. They were just about to reach the clearing past the buildings when that same unearthly howl screamed above all the other noises and it was quickly followed by several other calls, many of them coming from opposite directions and Lily cursed colorfully. It looked like those melted latches hadn't lasted as long as she had intended. Now it was even more important that they get to the safe point as soon as possible.

Lily pulled them up to an abrupt stop quickly shielding Alice as a deatheater and a hunter appeared dueling fiercely. She could feel Alice tremble in her arms though not a single sound passed through her lips and Lily was too full of adrenaline and that fight of flight response to feel much terror at the moment. The deatheater went down with a groan and the hunter ran off to fight another battle. Lily gripped Alice's hand even tighter and quickly ran over to the unconscious figure, snatching up his wand then continued to run for the trees while avoiding trouble as much as possible. She knew the lore as much as anyone, that the wand wouldn't work as well for her as her own would but desperate times called for desperate measures and it would do better than no wand at all.

They were halfway through the clearing when from the corner of her eye she spotted the first creature. It was low and moving quickly towards them and Lily threw as much as she could spare at the creature with her wandless magic. It was thrown several feet back, but it quickly rose and shaking his head as if to dispel an annoying fly it took off in another direction, perhaps to look for an easier target that wasn't paying as close attention as she was.

"Just a little farther Alice." Lily said breathlessly as they continued on their way. Lily estimated that traveling at their current speed they would be able to reach the safe spot within ten minutes as long as they didn't get interrupted too many times.

"Lily I think we're surrounded." She whispered with a shudder just as they reached the tree line.

Lily sent out her wandless magic and swore because she was right. She could sense three creatures coming in from three different directions. She didn't even have time to try and come up with a solution because suddenly a deatheater apparated before her. He showed signs of battles already fought, his cloak had rips in it and a large cut ran from his forehead to ear blood flowing down the entire right side of his face. Lily reacted, instinct taking over, she threw both her and Alice out of the way carefully keeping herself between the two of them. She lashed out with her borrowed wand and he quickly countered it sending a curse of his own. Lily dodged twice as he cursed her in quick succession before finally getting a shot in. A large gash opened on his arm but he recovered quickly and they were back to the dance until Lily got tired and as she dodged one more time she used more of her wandless magic. He was rammed back into the nearest tree a large crack echoed as his head connected solidly with it and he dropped to the ground limp and out cold.

Lily breathing hard quickly turned and located Alice, who was leaning against a tree, partially obscured by it so she could duck behind if required. She seemed to be unhurt though and that was all that mattered to Lily, she gave her a confident grin and had just taken a few steps towards her when it happened. A small breaking of twigs was the only warning either of them got, Alice's eyes widened in shock and then faster than Lily could see she was thrown to the ground and dragged quickly away her screams echoing loudly.

"ALICE!" Lily yelled, cursing herself for forgetting about the creatures.

She ran, faster than she thought she was capable of, only managing to catch brief glimpses of her though the trees. But her screams told her where she was and as they became more terrified Lily moved even faster.

"LILY!" her shout was cut off quickly and the screams stopped, and that scared Lily even more. She rounded into a small clearing only ten feet or so around and what she saw…she knew it would haunt her for years to come.

Alice lay in the middle of the clearing, she could faintly see her move but she was silent, her bottom half was covered in the green slime that was the creatures blood. The creature was no longer alone, one of the others had joined them and both of them were leaning over her body, possessive like a wild animal hovered over a kill.

Lily didn't remember doing anything, her magic was simply ripped away from her, it struck the two creatures and they were thrown back, the force of her magic literally ripping them both in two. She ran to where Alice was to see her looking up at her, her complexion so pale it looked almost as if makeup was smeared across her so unnatural was it.

Lily knelt down, hands hovering awkwardly because she didn't know where to put them, every place was just about covered in the green blood. "Alice, Alice can you hear me." She whispered and not caring anymore gently gathered her up into her arms, ignoring her own skin that began to burn at the contact.

"Lily?" her eyes fluttered.

Lily looked at her wounds and a silent part of her screamed out in despair, the rational part of her knew that there wasn't going to be any saving her, but she quickly shut that little voice away and tried to look confident for her sake.

"Don't worry, you're going to be just fine. I'm going to fix you up all nice and good." She whispered her hand hovering over Alice's stomach wishing to feel that rush of wandless magic, wanting to scream in frustration when it didn't come.

"You can't fix this Lily…I'm already dead…my body just hasn't caught up yet." She whispered, her whole body starting to convulse.

"No I can still save you!"

"But you already did Lily."

"What?"

"I knew the minute you showed up that this would happen, it's the only way those dreams ever ended." Lily shook her head slowly, not wanting to believe that. She didn't even realize she was crying till a tear dropped down and splashed softly on Alice's face who smiled through the pain. "Don't be sad Lily, I'm okay with this. You see if you hadn't come my future would have been filled with a lot more pain. You did save me from a much worse fate."

Lily shook her head. "No! No Alice, there has to be something I can do." A sob passed her lips before she clamped them shut.

"There is…Will you make sure I get home to my mom?"

Lily slowly nodded. She gently stroked her face and felt a small tingle of magic. Lily gave her the only gift she could, the gift of numbness so she wouldn't have to feel the pain.

"Thank you Lily." She whispered and then with a soft sigh her entire body sagged and Lily knew that she was gone.

A storm swelled within her, like none she had ever experienced before. It was as if everything she had ever bottled up, her sadness at her aunts passing, her anger at Tom and her sister, her frustration and sadness over her relationship with both James and her friends, everything she had been so careful to push aside and away came roaring back. Overpowering it all was a rage she had never felt before, rage that this innocent girl whom Lily had quickly come to adore, this one girl couldn't get the happy ending she deserved. The last thing she remembered was screaming as she clung to Alice, and a wave of magic ripping from her with a force that was unheard of.

Hazel was a little ways from the tree line while all this was occurring, her hand was crudely bandaged and bleeding through that as well. She was missing a blade, the other was gripped tightly in her good hand and she had found herself in somewhat of a tricky position. On either side of her were two of the creatures and no other hunter nearby to assist her. As they slowly circled her, stalking ever so slowly closer with each pass Hazel had just about resigned herself that this was going to be the end of the line for her when she heard the scream. She knew it was Lily, instinctively, though the cry was almost inhuman in sound, and if that was enough to make her doubt what she heard the wall of wandless magic heading straight for her was enough to confirm it.

All around activity stopped no matter whose side you were fighting for. It looked like a wall of actual light that was sent out like a shockwave in all directions and it only seemed to grow in strength and height as it traveled farther. The creatures on either side of Hazel lowered, the ears bending to where they touched their skulls, not much scared them but it looked to her as if whatever was coming terrified them. Hazel threw up her hands just as it reached her, shielding her face but it passed straight through her without a problem, the creatures were not so fortunate. All over Hunters watched in disbelief as the wave of magic literally disintegrated the creatures into nothing and the deatheaters were flown huge distances, the sound of their bones breaking could be heard all over when they finally landed, most didn't move again. Nothing escaped it and when it finally dissipated in the distance they were all left breathless, still feeling the magic in the air.

Hazel glanced to where it had all originated from. "Lily." She breathed out and then ran there just as fast as her exhausted body could carry her.


The aftermath of the battle was classified as a victory, though it was not without its own losses. Three hunters had lost their lives, five had been severely injured and the outcome of their survival was still up in the air. A handful more had lost limbs of some kind or another. On top of the Hunter deaths there was five deatheaters dead, thirteen in the hospital in various stages of hurt, two in custody relatively unhurt and the rest had managed to escape. All the creatures has been killed, a few before Lily's wandless magic had swept through the area, the rest were credited to her. All research on them had been quickly burned; the only things kept had been an account of their weaknesses and the best ways to kill them in case Voldemort decided to make more. In addition to the losses on both sides there was one civilian death officially recorded, a young girl named Alice; no other details were placed in the file, the least they could do to keep the mother from the frenzy of reporters looking for answers.

Those recovering were taken to a smaller, less known hospital in order to keep out the media and it was here four days later that Lily finally woke up in. The wandless magic that had been ripped from her had taken everything out of her. Hazel had found her, had sent up the sparks and knew that Alex and the others would come running as soon as they could. She and Alice both had been loaded up and moved quickly. Lily would have more scars added to the extensive amount she already had on her arms, and they all knew her physical wounds weren't going to be the only problem. Hazel after getting patched up herself took to sleeping in Lily's room, only occasionally leaving it, determined that someone would be there when she came to.

When Lily finally did wake up, her entire body felt heavy, it took a lot just to convince her eyes to open and after a few blinks she was slowly able to bring the room that she was in into focus. She knew it had to be a hospital because of how white the walls were, no other place she had ever seen had walls as white as the hospitals did. After a few minutes of slowly adjusting to the sudden brightness of the room she turned her head and spotted where Hazel was curled up on a couch in the room dozing. She struggled to sit up, finally managing it though she was certainly breathing harder, her arms were wrapped up, reminding her strongly of the last time she had woken up in a hospital room.

"Hazel?" she said softly.

Hazel woke with a start glanced over and realizing that Lily was awake quickly scrambled over. "Thank God you're awake." She said quickly, giving her a hug then pulling back studying her carefully. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm not sure a little off I suppose…" she glanced down and stopped short at what she saw. "Hazel your hand!"

Hazel glanced down at it as well and gave it a small rueful smile. On the left hand the pinky and fourth finger were both missing, the rest was still wrapped up a healing salve for the burns the creatures gave soaking into her skin.

"I know, it's going to take me a while to get used to it as well, but all in all I'm a lucky girl. Some of the others didn't get off with so little lost."

"The others! How are Gerald, Erik, and Alex?"

"They're not too bad, Alex and Erik got some small burns and a few good hexes carved them up a bit but the nurses here were able to patch them together. Gerald though has some pretty nasty burns. He had a run in with one of those creatures and almost came out on the loosing end. He's in the other room, bed rest as well. Erik stays with him and Alex has been splitting his time between the two of you. It's a good thing you used that wandless magic when you did."

Lily gave her a slightly confused glance. She felt as if she was missing something a memory she wasn't quite grasping but her head seemed to be stuffed, every though seemed to be a struggle.

"Lily are you okay?"

Lily slowly gripped her head, curling up slightly into a ball. "My head just hurts a little." She tried to reassure her but in truth it was more than a little. It felt as if her skull was about to split straight down the middle as memories of the battle tried to push through the fog in her brain and some part of her was desperately trying to keep that from happening.

"Lily…about Alice…"

Her name, that was all it took for the flood gates to open and the memories to come crashing into her with the force of train. All the blood, the wounds that wouldn't close, the smell of burning flesh, it assaulted her as if she was still out there holding her. She didn't even realize her magic had spilled out of her until the bed began to shake. A case of flowers shattered, glass spilling out across the room and Lily huddled deeper into a ball trying to get control but it seemed to slip past her like water. And the memories continued to assault her until it was all she could see, all she could smell. She vaguely heard Hazel call out to her but it was as if someone was yelling at her from a very far distance.

There was a noise, the door opening and Alex took the situation in quickly, as the bed began to tremble even more and any type of decoration also began to shudder and be flung all over the room. He covered the distance between the two of them quickly, grunting as a wave of magic hit him but he didn't let it deter him, instead he finally reached Lily and gently wrapped her in an embrace.

"Shh Lily, you're not there anymore. Listen to the sound of my voice Lily, follow my voice Lily!" Over and over he whispered this until the trembling slowed and things that were being flown about dropped to the floor. Lily uncurled slightly, if possible she had turned even more pale as she finally looked at them and saw that Hazel was bleeding from a new cut and before either of them knew what was happening Lily's lip began to tremble and a tear slid down her face.

"Hazel…I'm so sorry…I didn't mean…"

"It's okay Lily, I know you didn't mean to." She whispered her expression worried.

Lily nodded slowly but the tears once started wouldn't stop and before she knew it she was doubled over sobbing her stomach twisting. Alex and Hazel exchanged glances of surprise; neither of them had even seen Lily cry that they almost seemed at a loss as to what to do now. Alex though finally wrapped her up in another embrace stroking her hair much as her Aunt had done once upon a time.

"I know that is doesn't seem like it now but it will get better Lily." He whispered hoping the words would give her some kind of comfort.

Lily though wasn't so sure, she wasn't sure that anything would fix this gaping hole that was eating her up from the inside and so she cried, cried until there was nothing left but numbness.


I'm still always surprised when I get messages from fanfiction telling me I've gotten a review or someone has added me to their favorites list. I would have thought you all would have given up on the stories a long time ago :D Lily started bugging me about a week ago to start writing this chapter and I finally relented. Thanks to everyone out there that's still reading, hope this makes you happy and that you enjoy it. I'll try and update again as soon as I can but no promises on when that will be.

Maddie!