"Promise me you'll stay here," Lily begged her father, a tear trickling down her face. Harry stared at her blankly. "Stay?" he asked

"Yes, stay here. Please. I'll be right back."

"Lily, I can't let you go out there alone. Come on, let's go home."

"No, Dad. I can't. Scorpius is out there."

"Scorpius . . . Malfoy?"

Lily flinched at the tone of his voice. "Yes, Dad. Scorpius Malfoy. I . . . I love him, Dad. I can't leave him alone – they're torturing him. Because of me. I have to go. I have to, Dad . . . you've got to understand."

And Harry did understand. So much that he felt that she was right, and he stepped aside. "I'll wait in the trees," he told her. Lily thought she detected a hint of respect in his voice "but they make any move towards you . . ." the look in his eyes told Lily all she needed to know. She squeezed his hand thankfully.

"Father, thank you."

She turned to the rest of her family. "Wait with Dad. I'll be right back." And she walked off towards the graveyard. Her shoulders were square again, and she carried herself with dignity and pride. Harry couldn't have pelt more proud of her.

"Where is the girl?" hissed a voice up ahead

"She'll be here, she'll be here," the leader insisted "she is exactly like her father. She'll be here. In the meantime," he pointed his wand at Scorpius. "Cruci –"

"Wait." Lily's voice was powerful, beautiful, and scary. All eyes turned to her, even Scorpius' part blank ones. After a moment, the reconization seared through them , and he shook his head. No.

Lily didn't understand him. She had come to rescue him. That's what the heroines did. The rescued people they loved. And she loved Scorpius. "Let him go." She demanded. From the black-robed figures there was a general bit of laughter.

The leader stepped forward. "No."

Lily laughed a powerful, almost crazy laugh. "Fine then. I'll just be on my way, then." And she turned. Immediately, the figures behind her tensed, moving towards her as if to grab her. Striding away, she aimed her wand over her shoulder, not looking. "STUPIFY!" A grunt told her that she had hit someone. There was a bit of a shocked silence.

"Wait." The leader said. Lily turned, twirling her wand idly.

"I know what you want," Lily said. "You want my father, don't you? Well, to tell you the truth . . . well, I can't dare tell you the truth now can I? Not when you have Scorpius."

One figure stepped closer towards her, and growled threateningly, "You'll tell us exactly what we want to know, little girl, and do as your told."

Lily shook her head at him slightly. "Good sir, I think that you will find that I won't. Stupefy." The man fell to the ground. Somewhere, a crazy, wild voice shouted, "Expelliarmus!" but the spell bounced off Lily's shield.

"Oh, I see," Lily couldn't keep a smile from herself as she walked up to the leader, and the black-robed figures stepped aside. "You want me alive, don't you? You're the people who have this control over me, and you want to make me kill my father." There was no response, and Lily knew that she was right. "Seems a bit far-fetched to me. But then again, I'm not the filthy death eater living in a graveyard."

There were several nasty hexes aimed at her, but the shield deflected them all. Lily smiled innocently up at the Leader, and he smiled back at her, though she couldn't have seen it.

"Let's make a deal," he said quietly, looking at the girl carefully.

"Yes, let's," said Lily, smiling even more. The leader wondered if the girl knew that this would be the end of her life.

"I let your boyfriend go," there was a certain amount of sniggers at the word 'boyfriend' from the Death Eaters, who apparently were above dating. "and you . . . you agree to help us."

Lily knew that she would never help them. She knew that they would not let Scorpius go – they would just kill him because he knew so much. But her family was in the woods – they could get Scorpius away, and maybe kill the Death Eaters, or at least their leader. Maybe that would break the spell . . . maybe it wouldn't . But she had to try.

"It's a deal," Lily nodded, and strode over to Scorpius. The figures cleared away, a bit reluctantly. Lily kneeled down by him, moving his hair out of his eyes.

"Lily?" his voice was uneven and slurred "what are you doing? You're going to kill us all!"

"It's for the best, Scorpius," she said loudly, bending down the kiss his cheek, and whispering in his ear, "I have a plan. Trust me."

Then she stood, and walked over to the Leader. "Now what?"

"We shake," the leader was thrilled with how well this was working. Lily extended her freckled hand, and the leader took it. They shook it once, and Lily crumpled to the ground.