A/N: I can't say anything. I love you all though. You are the best reviewers in the world.

The Battle

SIRIUS POV

It felt useless sitting here. Impatiently in the Prefect bathroom waiting around for Peter to lead us to where they were. We had decided rather than using the map, we should just wait for him to come back to us so we could get ourselves together and organized. Not for the first time I glanced at the watch on my wrist. It had been fifteen minutes since he left and class was over. Surely Avery and Mulciber must be back with Mary now. Once we knew where they were we'd have to act fast. I was afraid if we didn't it might be too late.

"Sirius will you give it a rest, my head hurts," Lily said in a quiet voice rubbing her temples. I looked up from my thoughts in surprise.

"You're growling mate," James explained in an equally quiet voice. "Moony are you sure you're ok being here, Poppy didn't look convinced…" he went on without skipping a beat.

"Prongs, I'm fine! Just a little tired but I'm always tired right? She's my friend too…I need to know she's ok too."

"Where the hell is Pete?!" I wondered out loud and started pacing back in forth in front of a wary Lily. She watched, moving only her eyes as I walked from one side of the room to the other. Finally she seemed to stop staring and look at James.

"Are you quite sure no one will get suspicious when they can't get in here?" she asked skeptically.

"The spell isn't preventing them from coming in Lil. It's making them think they don't want to!" James replied, explaining as if it was for the third time.

"I just don't want to get in trouble," she muttered.

I laughed hollowly, bitterly. "Well Lily, I'm sure by the time we find Mary the last thing you need to be worried about getting in trouble for is using the Prefect's Bathroom as a hideout with another Prefect and two hoodlums…"

She bit her lip and nodded as if accepting that really bad things might happen today. I'd accepted it a while ago. If I had to die to save Mary, so be it.

"Wormtail!" Remus breathed the sigh of relief I had built in my throat.

"Room of Requirement…" he said with a grim face.

"Oh bollocks!" James said angrily punching the wall. He did exactly what I felt like doing but I tried to keep calm instead.

"Did you manage to pick up on any of their…thoughts?" I asked him carefully.

"Why would I Sirius? How? They're not animals too…"

"In one way…" Remus muttered angrily.

"Well if you know where this Requirement Room is…then why can't we get in?" Lily asked confused.

"Its not that its difficult to find where it comes up Lil…its that we need to be very specific in what we ask for to make it appear and be the same room where they're keeping her. And we have the odds against us because they probably know how to keep intruders out with their thoughts too!"

Lily still looked confused but nodded. "Alright…so what if we all thought, asked for a room where Mulciber was keeping Mary with the intention of keeping us out? Something like that…if there's five of us trumping their wishes, shouldn't the room want to cater to the larger group and let us in?"

We all paused, staring at her revelation.

"It might work…" Moony finally said.

'We'll have to make sure we mention Avery in our thoughts too…he was there," Wormtail put in thoughtfully as a smile crept onto Lily's face.

"It's worth a shot," I grumbled at her hopeful face.

"You are bloody brilliant woman…" James said shaking his head and making her blush.

"Alright, once we're in…we need a plan. There will be a lot of Dark magic being thrown around, we need to make sure one of us gets to Mary while the others distract them," Remus said rubbing his hands together.

"Aw Moony, can't we just act on instinct?" James whined a little, but I agreed,

"Over thinking things never got anyone anywhere!"

"Don't be so foolishly reckless! Don't put her and us in more danger because you'd rather be alpha males about this!" Lily said persistently.

"It couldn't hurt to have a plan," Wormtail said looking frightened.

"We agreed you'll be under the cloak Lily! We are not putting you in any danger!" James said fiercely and she looked back stubbornly.

"Who said you had anything to do with it?! I'm putting myself in danger to save my friend."

"Lily, you'll be under the cloak. We can use that," Remus spoke up tired but patient.

"How?" she asked.

"Moony's right, they won't expect you to be there, so if it looks like some of us are losing, or we need some clever charm work to confuse them, you can do it Lil!" James said much more happily.

"Alright, well I think, we should think of an order of combat…One of you will take Mulciber, another person could send some spells at both of them before getting Mary free, while I cover them from under the cloak…"

"And the other two will take Avery…once they're both out, take their wands and snap them," James added.

"We'll have to find hers too, to make sure they don't get it…" Moony went on thoughtfully.

I was lucky my hearing was so wonderfully organized. I heard the rest of the plan while I thought of Mary. Her silly fringe, her doleful green eyes, her awkward demeanor around everyone except those she was close to. How she might very well be dead as we spoke. Oh bollocks.

"Did you see her Wormtail?" I spoke up suddenly and they all turned to me. I suppose they were surprised that I'd finally spoken, though I hadn't done so throughout their long deliberation of our plan.

Wormtail's lip quivered and his eyes looked scared as he nodded.

"Wha…How..Is?" I mumbled, but I couldn't get any sentence to come out fully.

"She's still alive Sirius, they were laughing about what they would do next…" he said quietly, afraid of the way I was reacting. He thought I might lash out at him, but I was saving all my fury for something else. The lump in my throat was bigger than ever and my eyes burned. I knew from the angle at which I stood, only James could see me but he politely looked away, and listened to Wormtail as I tried to gather my emotions.

Breathe in. Breathe Out. Repeat

"But she looked exhausted and frail and hurt. She's tied in the center of a room to a chair with unbreakable chains. We might have to cut the chair out of the floor altogether…" he said warily.

"That won't work, one of us might cut her with the spell and I doubt she could take any more harm at this point," Remus put in.

"We could be careful! I bet we could cut the chains off altogether if we were careful enough," James said boisterously.

"No James, being careful takes more time and then there's more risk. And if I were to do it under the cloak, they would notice immediately and surely find me and kill me," Lily said in a tight little voice.

"There's no need for the cutting spell," I spoke up in a harsh, choked up voice. I drew my knife from my pocket and tossed it to James. He caught it deftly, examined it and then tossed it back to me.

"A knife which will open any lock," he explained to the bewildered others. "Sirius, you'll be the one to do it," he stated, despite knowing this was the last thing I wanted to do.

I shook my head angrily. "No James! Someone else will. I'm fighting Mulciber."

He sighed and shrugged. "Worth a shot wasn't it?"

"Why? Why would you try and stop him anyway?" Lily asked. I felt guilty, she wasn't as attuned to us as the rest of us were to each other. We couldn't read each others' thoughts in our human forms but we could definitely read expressions and somehow being friends long as we were, we understood what that meant.

"Because…he wants to kill Mulciber," James explained darkly despite the warning look Remus shot him. I suppose it was best she didn't know. I knew she was going to try and stop me.

"You will not kill anyone Sirius! We will catch him and have him locked away in Azkaban for life, but you won't be a murderer. None of you will!" she snapped angrily and firmly glaring at each and every one of us in turn.

I sighed and looked at James who had the same expression. There was no defying Lily apparently.

"Not to mention, if you killed him and got Mary safe, she'd kill you herself before you had to go to Azkaban," Lily said darkly and somehow I knew it was true.

"Fine, fine, no killing," I said putting my hands up in defeat.

"Just safe little spells like Expelliarmus," James muttered rolling his eyes.

"Oh I'm sure you can be more imaginative than that!" Lily said remarkably cheerfully as we all headed out of the bathroom following Peter who for the first time in his life was leading us.

MARY POV

I watched with utter fear as I woke up and realized they had returned, laughing maliciously when they saw I could barely move my head at all anymore.

"Oh she's not even done yet!" Avery said happily but Mulciber looked disappointed.

"I had hoped, she'd lost her mind already."

"What - before we kill her Mulciber? What fun would that be?" Avery said pouting.

"Just kill me now…" I whispered.

Mulciber's displeased frown curled up into a smirk. "When your friends are probably coming up with a plan right as we speak? None of them were in class you know…."

I felt a spark of hope in my heart. They would come for me. I just needed to make it through until they came for me. I would live. I would still be with Sirius in a couple of days. I smiled at this thought, beside myself but it displeased them. They grunted, not having fun anymore and began using the dreaded torture curse on me. I tried desperately to hold it in but instead I just opened my mouth and screamed, loud, hard and painfully. But then, heard it. I don't know how long I had been tortured, but I knew I wasn't imagining it. It was the frustrating pounding, pacing, yells. In a voice and tone, I'd recognize anywhere. They were here now and I would be ok. But how could they get in. Suddenly I remember my trick from yesterday.

"Let me out…" I thought hard and fiercely and the door sprung open. I caught the surprise and relief on his face as he barged his way in, wand out and followed closely by his friends. Through drooping eyes, I watched as James began to duel with Avery. Soon Remus was at James' side and they were overpowering Avery's quick hand. Peter was looking around desperately, he seemed frozen in place. None of the spells he tried to send towards the Death Eaters troubled them in the slightest. There were flashes of light coming from a random spot in the room and I wondered if that meant I was crazy. Atleast they were hitting close to the Death Eaters and not my saviours. I could see with horrible alarm that Sirius had gashes all over his arms and he growled in pain but ignored it and kept dueling furiously with the frightening Mulciber. Suddenly Sirius hit Mulciber with a stunner, but because of the size of the brute and the slightly off aim, he was only dizzy for a moment. Sirius looked triumphant, cheeky enough to shoot me a look of smugness, I smiled the best I could and I saw worry flicker in his eyes.

Why was he fading suddenly?? I wasn't really passing out again was I?

Things came back into focus because Sirius was laughing, dodging the furious amount of spells being thrown at him. Always so reckless: he was taunting Mulciber now. I'd have to tell him to stop being such a cocky git when we got out of this. If we got out of this… Suddenly Mulciber grinned, an idea coming to him. I braced myself. Would he just kill me now to get to Sirius?

No. He shot at Peter first and the round bellied boy crumpled to the floor. I wanted to yell to them, tell them it was a trap to trick them. Peter had only reacted badly to the Cruciatus and passed out instantly. There were no flashes of green light. No one was dead yet! Of course however, I couldn't even open my mouth and I saw Sirius' cry of anguish as he watched Peter fall. He yelled Expelliarmus and Mulciber's wand flew into his hand. He then punched him with the strength of someone four times his build and Mulciber's nose gushed blood as he felt dizzily to the floor too. I hadn't noticed but Avery was also on the floor, holding his head as if he had just been stunned or beffudled. My eyes flickered quickly to the group of Marauders converged around Peter. I breathed with relief. Once they knew he wasn't dead, they would come to me and we would all be ok. I was saved. I was finally, finally saved. The tears which had long since dried on my face, started to fall unconsciously.

"I think he's alright…he just passed out from the pain. Weak little bugger…" Sirius said with a rough cough, glancing up to me, his long, black hair falling gracefully into his eyes, despite being soaked with sweat and impossibly tangled. He was the most gorgeous boy I had ever seen. He flashed me his beautiful lopsided grin and gave me an encouraging, comforting look. "I love you," he mouthed over the heads of his friends and I smiled dizzily.

I felt very faint. I hadn't a clue if it was because of his smile or the fact that I didn't feel like I had complete control of my mind.

My thoughts were darting all over the place and I had no idea why I was suddenly thinking of the precise shade of my sister Sarah's hair, or my mother's diamond necklace. My father's booming voice tickled my ears and then there were the flashes of my friends: Dorcas and Marlene grinning through blackened eyelashes while they played Exploding Snap. Lily rolling her eyes at me playfully as James gave her flowers. James ruffling his friends' hair with carefree laughter, Remus' amused but disapproving face as his friends broke school rules. Peter Pettigrew falling to his knees as he tried in vain to help save me. And Sirius, Sirius everywhere – in the Owlery, in our dark corners, at Hogsmeade, in Transfiguration….Sirius everywhere. In front of me…his lopsided grin. It was fading.

"Everyone reacts different Sirius just because you and Mary could withstand it…doesn't mean Petey is…weak." Remus was of course being diplomatic.

"Lily, shut up, I am not letting you take that off until we get these two to Dumbledore…" James yelled in frustration. I saw the flicker of Lily's face floating in mid air and I vaguely remembered James had an Invisibility Cloak. She pouted before covering her face in to nothingness again. She had come too. I wasn't crazy, the flashing lights from nowhere were from her. She was here to save me just like the others. I wanted to beam. I was the luckiest girl in the world. I have wonderful, loyal, caring friends and the most wonderful, handsome, loving boyfriend in the world to spend the rest of my life with. I thought of our haughty but shy children with his beautiful features and hair and my eyes. I could see us together forever, but suddenly a haze of white fell over my happy picture…it was still fading. I squeezed my eyes together, trying to gather my thoughts. He was looking at me vaguely as if he was dying to come over, but I shook my head at him. I'm not quite sure how I managed.

"Are you ok Mary?" he asked, standing up looking at me with a hesitant smile.

"Better now you're here," I croaked and he smiled wider and lopsidedly. His grey eyes cleared away the cloud and they sparkled as he looked at me, his lower lip slightly pushed out.

"I love you," I muttered to him, I felt quite sure this would be the laugh time. He echoed me in a tight, controlled voice before bending down and unlocking my chains with some knife he was holding. He caressed my face and kissed the tip of my nose before whispering,
"We're just going to get Pete onto a stretcher and I'll be right back ok?" he said tucking my matted hair behind my ear. I nodded. Perhaps I didn't look that bad, he was looking at me so fondly. He could take hours for all I cared, I was safe now. But I was worried.

Wait…what was I worried about again? I couldn't get my thoughts together…nothing seemed to make sense. Who was that boy with black hair?

"Did you get their wands?" Sirius asked, turning to the others and walking forward. His voice was garbled and sounded foreign to me. James and Remus nodded, holding up the pieces of the broken wands. Sirius barked with laughter.

"Fantastic! Lily didn't even need to fight that hard. We didn't even need our secret weapon!"

Lily pulled the cloak off her even though James moaned. "Wait, where's her wand?!" she said in alarm, shooting her head around to look at the desk prop.

They all froze and turned to me with shock. The last coherent thought I had was that I knew what had happened. They had my wand. The Death Eaters.

And then I felt the worst, excruciating pain run through my body completely. It was worse than all the other times. It was wrenching my heart, entering my head. I couldn't think clearly anymore at all, something was coming loose. The last things I heard were a female scream and Sirius' deep, desperate shout of 'No!' before everything went completely black.