A/N: Hello! I'm back with a new chapter. May I just say that the support of the people (that's you) who are reading this is fantastic. It's unbelievable, truly it is. With 39 reviews, 28 favourites and 52 followers and a fair amount of views (MY ACTUAL EXCITEMENT!) well... thank you really.

Anyway, let's get on with it. I do not own anything, all credit to J K Rowling and no copyright infringement is intended. Also, if you're wondering what these spells mean, here's a link: wiki/List_of_spells

Obviously I didn't come up with the spells myself and all the definitions belong to the Harry Potter Wikia people and of course, J K Rowling.

I couldn't be bothered to describe what each of them does so you'll have to find out for yourself, but I did explain a few.

Oh and no worries ElsaElphieGinny, your support in particular is amazing.

I'm so sorry, longest note ever. Enjoy and have an interesting day!

LILY'S P.O.V

THE JOURNEY BACK FROM THE WEDDING

"Where are you taking us Prongs?" Padfoot huffs from the back seat of the car James has 'borrowed' to take us to Merlin knows where.

"To a hotel," he smiles, "about three hours away, I think."

Padfoot sighs dramatically, "but that's ages away."

"Deal with it, get Marlene to distract you," he says.

"Alright then, but don't let Moony start complaining when he sees flesh."

"No stripping in the car, thank you," James says sharply.

"Dammit, liven up a little, will you? No one says anything when you and Lily start snogging."

"That's different, Lily and I don't tear each other's clothes off in public," he turns around and gives Padfoot a pointed stare.

"Aw come on, Prongsie, it was just the once."

"And I hope I never have to witness it again, no offence Marlene."

"None taken," Mar replies, kissing Padfoot before he has a chance to say anything else.

Remus makes a funny little snorting noise in the back of his throat.

"You alright, Moony?" Prongs asks, his brow furrowed with concern.

"Yes, just quite close to the full moon now," he says, his face weak.

"I thought it didn't affect you unless it was actually a full moon," I say, looking out the window at the almost full moon. It should be at least a few days before it's full.

"The days before and after aren't so good," he says, his face green.

"You sure you aren't carsick, Remus?" I ask him.

"I don't get carsick, Lily. It's just pre-moon sickness, it's very common in younger werewolves."

"Why don't we sing to lift our spirits?" Alice says from the very back of the car.

The car has three rows of seats. I sit in the front with James, James doesn't need to drive, the car seems to know where it's going. Remus, Sirius and Marlene sit on the middle row and Alice and Wormy sit on the back row.

"Oranges and lemons say the bells of St. Clement's. You owe me five farthings, say the bells of St. Martin's. When will you pay me? Say the bells of Old Bailey. When I grow rich, say the bells of Shoreditch. When will that be? Say the bells of Stepney. I do not know, says the great bell of Bow. Here comes a candle to light you to bed. And here comes a chopper to chop off your head! Chip chop Chip chop–" Alice starts to sing.

"What the bloody hell are you singing?" Padfoot demands.

"It's a Muggle song, right Lily?"

"Yes," I confirm.

"Well I don't know what songs you were taught but it sounds like a load of shit. What kind of bell demands money?" Padfoot scowls.

"Hey, Muggle songs don't have to make sense, Sirius. That one's a nursery rhyme. You were taught nursery rhymes, right?"

"Yeah but they weren't about bells demanding money. Everyone knows that if your bells start asking for things, you destroy them."

"What were your nursery rhymes about then?"

"Broomsticks, Quidditch, spells, death, torture, burning to death… you know, the normal stuff."

"Normal stuff?" I repeat.

"Well yeah, what were your nursery rhymes about?"

"Sheep, people living in shoes, eggs sitting on walls, bears, milkmaids, pigs, spiders, you know stuff like that."

"How utterly boring."

"Not really, we had fairytales about children getting lost in the woods, princesses eating poisoned apples –"

"You think that's horrific?" Padfoot snorts, "we had witches burnt at the stake, brothers which met death, a non-magical but perceived as magical fountain, a guy with no heart… exciting stuff."

"Exciting," I repeat incredulously, shaking my head.

"Whilst your conversation about messed up childhoods is very interesting, why don't we talk about something else?" Alice pitches in from the back.

"Like what?"

"Battle strategy," Alice says seriously.

"Lily and I just got married, why would we talk about that?" James frowns.

Alice leans forward in her chair, rage flashing though her eyes.

"Fine then, if you don't want to be prepared when we're in the middle of a –"

"Alice," Remus says quietly. Alice sits back in her seat.

"How did you do that?" Marlene asks, shocked as she leans over Padfoot to face Remus.

"Do what?" he asks, confused.

"Get Alice to shut up," Mar says, like it's obvious.

"Oh. I don't know."

"Merlin," Marlene murmurs, awestruck, "I've known her almost all of my life and she's never done a thing I say."

"Technically he didn't tell her to do anything," I point out.

"Yeah, but still. Did something happen between you two that I'm not aware of?" Mar looks between Alice and Remus.

"No," they both say together.

"Right…" Mar says dubiously.

We sit in silence for what feels like hours but it most likely seconds.

"I got your present, Prongs," Sirius says.

He casts a summoning spell and a brown sack appears in his hand. He tosses it at James and James catches it with one hand. He looks inside.

"Padfoot, I can't accept this –"

"What are you? Stupid? They're chocolate."

"I'm sorry what?" I ask, perplexed.

"Remember that bet I made with Prongs? I told you not to fall in love with him or marry him or else I had to give him 50 Galleons. Well… I can't afford that so I got him 50 chocolate Galleons. Actually, I got a bit peckish so I think there are only 44 now."

James grins and peels the foil off of one of the coins and pops it in his mouth.

"And for you, Lily. From the Marauders plus Alice and Marlene," he hands me a box.

"Thanks," I smile and open the box up.

Inside is a beautiful photo album, leather bound and with an ivory white cover. I flick through the pages made of parchment; each has two flags with a 'J' and an 'L' on with space for photographs. There are black designs which curve and swirl about the pages. The first picture is one taken at the end of Seventh Year; we're all crowded as close as we can get outside the Whomping Willow as a Sixth Year snaps the picture. In the picture, James has his arm around my waist and we're both grinning like idiots.

"It's beautiful, thank you," I say.

"You're welcome," Marlene says cheerily, "we thought we should record some photos so when we're all old and frail and have grandchildren, we can look back at these photos."

"I like that idea."

"Me too," James says, "where did you get it made?"

"Actually, Rubeus and I made it," Remus says.

"Hagrid?" James asks, surprised.

"Yeah, he said it's the least he could do, considering how much we helped him out," Remus says.

"I wish we'd invited Hagrid," I say. He's probably the kindest person I've ever met and a very good friend. I got to know him better throughout Seventh Year and since then, I've begun to trust him more than I trust my own sister.

"Yeah, he said he couldn't come anyway, special business for Dumbledore," Padfoot says.

"That'll be us soon," Remus says.

"I know, Dumbledore owled me with our first business as fully-fledged members of the Order. Which happens to be a photo and a meeting."

"I knew we'd get the crappy jobs to do," Alice says, huffily.

"We can't just charge into battle with the Death Eaters and kill them all," I laugh.

"Why not?" Alice asks.

"Because that's not how war works, I'm sure Dumbledore's got it all sorted. We need to do background work first, find out what they're doing, who they're recruiting, what their next move might be… There's not point risking what few lives we have without properly investigating everything."

"I don't want to investigate, I want to fight Death Eaters," Alice scowls.

"Then you're stupidly reckless," I say.

"More like recklessly stupid," Marlene mutters.

"I heard that," Alice snaps.

"Is she always like this?" Wormy asks.

"Yes, Alice is a naturally temperamental and angry person. With violent intentions," Mar says.

"I am not violent," Alice says.

"How's Melanie?" Marlene asks, to break the tension.

"Fine? I don't know," Wormy says miserably.

"What's wrong?" I ask him.

"She's been meeting up with another man."

"Really? Who?" Marlene asks, wriggling in her seat.

"This Muggle guy," Wormy sniffs.

"You poor thing," Marlene says.

"Don't encourage him, he's already got enough sympathy sex from the bar maid in the Hog's Head," Padfoot says, scowling at Wormy.

"Really? So you're both cheating on each other?" Marlene says.

"No… she's cheating. I'm only doing what she's already done. Besides, she doesn't care. I know she's been seeing loads of other men."

"Do you think she was seeing other men when she was with you, James?" I ask him.

"Yes," he says without hesitation, "I caught her at it in the Charms classroom, but fair enough really, I was seeing Ellen French at the same time as well."

I hit James on the arm, not too hard, but hard enough. He yelps.

"What was that for?"

"For being a prat."

"Am I still a prat?" he asks, nursing his shoulder.

"Less so, if you were, I wouldn't have married you."

"Lily Evans Potter, I can never tell if you're insulting me because you're angry or because you're flirting with me."

I lean forward and kiss him, letting the familiar, yet no less thrilling, electricity flow through my veins.

JAMES' P.O.V

I'm about to press my lips harder against her mouth when I hear a crash. I fly back into my seat, my hand clenched on Lily's. The car lurches forward, skids across the roads and flips over several times, rolling down the hill. Finally, the car crashes to a halt at the end of a blocked-up road, far below the road we were originally on. It's a miracle I'm still alive. I look at Lily, expecting the worse but she doesn't seem hurt, her eyes show hints of shock but other than that she seems fine. I breathe a sigh of relief.

"What," Marlene says, gasping for air, "the hell was that?"

"I don't know," Padfoot says, nursing his head.

"I'd better check on the car," I say, opening the door.

Lily opens her door, her wand out, casting white light over the wreckage. Surrounding us are hundreds of dark figures, concealed by the shadows or possibly just dark cloaks. Lily's wand illuminates the figures closest to her; they wear silver masks with snake-like slits for eyes.

"Who are you?" Lily asks, taking a step forward. I inwardly wince, that was the last thing I would have done.

"We are the Knights of Walpurgis," comes a curt reply.

Lily takes a step back, her breaths slightly laboured, her hand holding the only source of light, shaking. I hear her whisper something under her breath, but I don't catch it. She brings her shoulders up, straightening her posture and holds her wand high.

"You're Death Eaters," she says.

"To the people of colloquial tongue, yes, we are Death Eaters," a figure unidentifiable by his clothing, but unmistakeable by his voice, steps forward. The sheer arrogance of that voice could only belong to -

"Lucius Malfoy," Lily spits.

"My dear Miss Evans," even though I can't see his face, I know he's smirking.

"It's Potter now," Lily moves her wand as if to cast a spell but he steps backward.

"We mean you no harm, Mrs Evans Potter, at least not yet."

There are murmurings of amusement from the figures.

"What do you want?" Lily demands.

"Patience, patience. I'm in no hurry. I have been sent here, we all have, by our master –"

"And what does he want?"

"It is discourteous to interrupt," Malfoy says before continuing in his trademark drawl, "as I was saying, our master, the Dark Lord, for reasons unbeknownst to us, has requested your recruitment."

Lily opens her mouth but Malfoy cuts in before she says anything.

"Before you think too impetuously on your decision, might I remind you that the Knights of Walpurgis are an honourable group, fighting for a better world –"

"Why does he want me? I'm not part of his idea of a better world at all," Lily says.

"One should refer to the Dark Lord as the Dark Lord, not 'he'," Malfoy says, disgustedly, "and I'm sure I have no idea why the Dark Lord would want such a vulgar, worthless and oblivious individual such as yourself –"

Lily takes her wand out straight in front of her and disarms Malfoy in one smooth move; she points her wand at his neck.

"Say one more word and I swear on Merlin's grave –"

"Careful, Mrs Evans Potter," he says, eyeing the wand, "you wouldn't want something… unfortunate to happen to your friends."

Lily looks around but no Death Eaters have advanced, Malfoy lurches forward, grabs her wand and seizes Lily by the neck. A Death Eater grabs my arms behind my back.

"I don't want to hurt you, my dear, but if you refuse to cooperate –"

Lily looks at me and we both stamp our feet down hard on the Death Eater's toes. Lily reaches for her wand and casts Bombarda (this causes an explosion, remember in the Order of the Pheonix, when Umbridge casts Bombarda Maxima and a hole appears in the room of requirement wall?). A small explosion erupts at her feet, sending Death Eaters flying. For a minute, I am stunned.

"JAMES YOU USELESS PRAT! Come over here and help me!" she yells from where she is, casting hexes left right and centre.

Padfoot appears on the opposite side of the car, swirling green fire from his wand, Marlene sends fizzles of lightning bolts and Alice repeatedly casts the Cascading Jinx (this is an offensive spell rather than defence; it can be used to defeat multiple enemies). Alice is definitely the most brutal here. I jump to attention and rush to Lily's side, casting all the hexes I can think of to get rid of the Death Eaters.

I stumble as a Death Eater collides with me, I fight him over with the body-binding curse and the Jelly-legs jinx. I hastily cast Confringo (causes anything it's casts at to explode, and presumably thereafter burst into flame.) and try not to watch as the Death Eater's cloak catches fire. The Death Eaters appear especially riled up now, casting all manners of spells I've never heard of, all I know is to block them as much as I can.

A spell I can only describe as something similar to Diffindo comes whooshing past me, shredding the car in two.

"Careful James!" Lily shouts over the roar of angry shouting.

"I am being careful!"

"Not careful enough," she says as she casts a hex on a Death Eater behind her and whizzes around faster than I'd think possible to shoot Epoximise to the two Death Eaters approaching us. Their backs stick together as they writhe with anger, trying to un-stick themselves.

"Seriously, Epoximise?" I say, raising my eyebrows.

"I was under pressure!" Lily says.

I turn around and cast Everte Statum, throwing several Death Eaters off of their feet. Malfoy comes toward us.

"Expulso!" I yell, pointing my wand at the ground which abruptly shifts and explodes under Malfoy's feet, sending him high in the sky.

"Aresto Momentum!" Malfoy shouts, gliding back to the ground. He casts a spell, alien to me, and all the Death Eaters vanish, along with the car.

"Yield!" Malfoy shouts, "pledge your alliance to the Dark Lord and this will stop! Yield to our power! Do as the Dark Lord wishes –"

"Oh yeah?" Marlene shouts back, coming to join us, "you can tell the Dark Lord to go fuck –"

"What she means is," Lily interrupts, "that our answer is no. Not now, not ever."

"You have no idea what you're getting into, Potter."

"Oooh, I'm terrified," Marlene says, mimicking a ridiculous face.

"You may be laughing now, McKinnon, but when the time comes, you will regret today. I will remember this insult. All of you! You'll regret the day you refused the Dark Lord. He has things to offer you, Mrs Evans Potter. Things he," Malfoy indicates to me with a well-measured flick of his finger, "cannot give you. And Potter, though it pains me to say it, the Dark Lord wants to recruit you. He can give you eternal life, bring your parents back –"

"My parents are gone."

"The Dark Lord could bring them back," Malfoy urges, "that's what we fight for, eternal life. No more pain and suffering and loss… join us. We can give you everything and anything you've only ever dreamed of –"

"Our answer is no," Lily says, walking away.

Malfoy draws back, a look of pure malice on his face now that his mask has been discarded.

"I will not forget this, Potter. The Dark Lord will not forget this. You will suffer for this."

And with that, Malfoy is gone.

SEVERUS' P.O.V

I knock once on the door.

"Come in."

I enter Dumbledore's Office, a cavern of strange and magical objects. He peers at me over his half-moon glasses, his blue eyes calculating, interested.

"Mr Snape," he greets me.

"Professor Dumbledore."

"I assume this is about the teaching position at Hogwarts?" he says.

"Yes, how did you guess?"

"It was quite simple really, I thought there would only be very few reasons to explain your presence here. One, you are here to kill me and as I have observed, I am not, to my knowledge, in fact dead. Hence the first possibility is ruled out. Two, you are here to torture information out of me, but I find this as equally unlikely as the first possibility as you wouldn't have come by yourself. Three, you are here –"

"With all due respect, Professor Dumbledore, I was merely being polite."

"Of course, we should address the issue at hand which is that if I employ you as a member of staff, you will be entrusted with the care of many students. It is a Professor's responsibility to never harm students and to protect them. You understand this?"

"Of course I understand!"

"And you may not get information from them, corrupt them or spread propaganda in any way through them?"

"Yes, Professor Dumbledore, I understand."

"Good, now that we're clear on that. What exactly are your intentions and aspirations?"

"Is this a question you expect me to answer?"

"Mr Snape," Professor Dumbledore narrows his eyes, "I am fully aware of your dwindling loyalties for two sides. I will employ you, but you must understand, if I discover any reason to believe the rumours of your fraternisation with the Dark Side, I will have no choice but to hand you over to the Ministry and believe me when I say that they are not as forgiving as I am."

"I will not give you any reason to think anything of the sort."

"I didn't think so. Now, what position would you like, if given the choice?"

"Defence against the Dark Arts."

"Hmm," Professor Dumbledore looks at me carefully, "Potions would be better suited to you in your current situation. I will owl the documents ahead, good day Professor Snape."

I walk out, only half successful. I can wait, I am patient. The only problem is that the Dark Lord is not, he is restless and there's only so much time he will give me.