Her hands were fisted in his shirt, but he could feel them loosening their grip. This knowledge spurred him forward, to wrap his arms around her slightly tighter, to try and keep her safe as he threaded his way through the house, out through the back doors and out into the open. The best way perhaps to describe the feeling in that moment, that second of elation as he burst out into the open, thinking that this was in fact possible as he watched his brother, sister-in-law and niece disappear into the distance.
Only for them it was not to be.
Colour blasted against the end of the broom, sending them crashing towards the ground, spiralling violently, the air rushing around them, the ground coming towards them at such speed. They landed with a sickening thud, the broom splintering beside them. The whole time he'd kept her in his arms, holding on for dear life, refusing to let go of her. Waiting until the moment the ground was to hit, to somehow manage to flip them over, with him taking the brunt of the impact.
It hurt. It hurt a lot. In fact as James lay there with his new wife lying over him, probably unconscious he knew that there had to have been damage done to his body. At the very least there was dark spot before his vision which was clouding in the corners, even with his glasses still having somehow managing to have clung to his face. There was a pain in his back but he wriggled his toes, content enough, he rolled his wife off him, ready to stand and collect her body and simply run for the hills. But the chance never came.
No sooner had he stood then the sky illuminated with colour and he fell to the floor, his body now covering that of his wifes. She made a noise, one which caused relief to wash over him as he tried his best to protect her. Her head turned and his was looking into still sparkling emerald eyes. She nodded once, and he knew.
Standing he withdrew his wand and sprouted off curses as his life depended on it. It did. The sky around them exploded into colour as crouched beside him, his wife in her half alive state still managed her own curses.
Their wedding day and there they were stood, battered and bruised, facing a group of Deatheater who were trying to kill them, with no escape.
His eyes searching the group before him, seeing if the face they feared above all was there, he did not notice the movement beside him were his wife was crouched, not until the moment she had a choked noise and he whirled to face her, only she was stood on her tip toes, her hands gripping onto those that were clasped around her neck. It was a horror movie scene, he was sure of it. Her tattered wedding dress, covered in mud and blood, her ruined hair, streaming make up, with the monster holding her by the neck.
In those moments all rational thought disappears. When it comes to the life and death of your most treasured possession. His whole mind when blank, his vision darkened. And he lost it.
James threw himself at the man who had his wife. Wand lay forgotten on the grass as he literally tackled the man who threatened his wife to the ground. No one reacted, no one moved at all. Everything went dark as with everything he was made of went into destroying the being that threatened his wife. The person he loved most in this world.
No more than a few seconds could have passed, and yet he had rained down blows to the monster, who roared in fury. A second later he was thrown off by an invisible force, knocking into Lily who went flying with him. He waited for the feeling of the ground crashing against his already bashed body, but that never came, instead there was a very different feeling, a bit like when using a portkey, but less stable as something caught him by his shirt, he looked up panicked, only to feel relief as his older brother looked back down at him.
Beside them, a face he could not focus on had his wife, and they were moving in the same direction.
They were alive.