CHAPTER 52 –
"Lily! Lily!" his voice gave her a small sense of relief.
"Braxton!" she closed the distance between them, "You've got to get to the girls, ok? I need you to get them and gather as many seventh years as you can round up. I've sent all the students to the back of the train. I think we're going to need to fight."
"I knew things were getting too quiet. It's them, isn't it? It has to be. You'll be alright?"
"Just go! I'll finish evacuating the compartments. Make sure everyone is together," Lily pushed him.
He whipped out his wand and stalked down the aisle, calling for seventh years. She let herself hold her breath for only a moment before continuing her work. Braxton was right, it had been too quiet. They had fallen into a false sense of security. Regardless of safety, no one would ever expect an attack on the Hogwarts Express. That's exactly what was happening now. Her brain hummed through possible reasons. Students could be used as hostages for their parents, there were plenty of muggle borns they could make examples of, Dumbledore was the one person Voldemort seemed to fear and maybe he was trying to make a statement. Either way, the situation did not look great. The train shook again and a loud noise, something like an explosion, came from the front of the train. The ground rocked enough that she had to cling to the wall for balance. When it stopped she doubled her efforts. She threw open a compartment door that had been poorly barricaded. A group of fourth and fifth years huddled together. Three of the boys shot spells in her direction. Lily shielded herself from two and the third one missed completely.
"We're all going to the back of the train, hurry now," she commanded.
She let the students file by and run through the train. What they really needed was to escape but not everyone could apparate. She wasn't even sure if you could on the train. Pushing the students to the back of the train was only a short term solution. If they were going to fight, they needed more space. Deciding to worry about that when the time came, she continued checking compartments. Most of the students had gotten the hint by now and the compartments were mostly empty.
"Lily!" Amelia was running toward her, the back of the train and a large group of students squished together now visible.
Lily looked at her best friend. Her eyes were rimmed with red and her wand arm was shaking. It wasn't often that Amelia showed fear. Lily placed a hand on her arm and stared at her confidently.
"It'll be ok. They're toward the front of the train. If we can get out of here quickly enough, we won't even see their faces."
"James and Remus are working on that. They blew open the back of the train. Everyone is getting off through there and dividing by year," Amelia said shakily.
"Alright, I need you to find James, tell him that the seventh years who know how to side-along-apparate should get far enough away from the train to start taking students to Hogsmede. We'll need all the other seventh years and sixth years to be ready to fight if necessary," Lily said firmly.
"Side-along? That would take ages!"
"What other choice do we have? We're in the middle of nowhere."
Amelia nodded, given new purpose, and bustled off to find James. The whole situation was very dream like, time was propelled forward and nothing felt real. The faces of fearful students looked to her for reassurance. She saw Braxton push his way through the crowd toward her. He was accompanied by two other boys she had seen him with before.
Maybe it was out by the lake last year. How long ago that seemed!
"James thinks they're inside the train, heading this way. If he's right they'll be here any moment. We need to buy time for everyone else to get out," Braxton said through gritted teeth.
"He's right," Lily and the boys put some distance between them and the students.
It only took a moment for a dark line of Death Eaters to appear. Braxton's friend was the first to fire a spell. As soon as he had, the students began screaming and pushing their way out of the train. At least they understand the importance of time now. Lily joined in; throwing any and every spell she could think of at the black robed and masked Death Eaters. Dueling, she decided, was much more difficult when it was life or death. Each side was battling with everything they had. She figured there must have been about seven or eight of them. It would be unlikely that such a small group was sent all alone.
She remembered the incident in Hogsmede. It seemed like ages ago but from that experience she knew they would show no mercy. Not on a single student. She hoped that the particular Death Eaters she remembered weren't on this specific outing. It was always hard to forget a Gryffindor red head, especially now that she was Head Girl and even more recognizable. She pushed the thought out of her head; she wouldn't let herself be frightened. Fear would only make matters worse. She gathered her courage and pushed away her doubts.
"Braxton," she shouted between spells, "There's more. They're probably on their way to the others, outside. We need to warn them!"
"Will! Warn James and Remus and tell every other seventh year you can. And send us reinforcements," Braxton shouted, his friend was gone in a flash.
His shouting came at a price. In his distraction, he was hit with a spell that sent him flying up against the ceiling of the train. He howled in agony as he was dropped then lifted again. Lily searched for the culprit.
"Petrificus Totalus!" The Death Eater seized up and fell to the ground, the first successful spell.
If there were any way to flee Lily would have called the retreat but they had no other options. The last students were flowing out of a large hole in the back of the train. They only needed a few more minutes.
"Bombarda!" a familiar voice shouted.
It was the voice of Sirius Black, brandishing his wand haughtily and laughing, "I've got your reinforcements."
Sirius strode into the battle headlong, with no fear. He looked like he was enjoying himself. Lily had to follow his steps toward the Death Eaters, just to cover him. It was quite impressive, seeing a seventeen year old boy holding off adults without even breaking a sweat. It was almost as if he had been preparing for this moment and was going to savor every bit of it. The magnitude of the spells increased as well as the numbers. Lily's mind was on autopilot; block, attack, block, attack, block. It was like a dance and in order to stay standing, you had to fast physically and mentally.
"Oy! They're out! They need help outside!" a voice shouted from behind them.
Sirius didn't seem to notice. Lily pointed her wand at the ceiling between them and muttered a spell. She winced as half of the train cart came crashing to the ground, separating them from the Death Eaters. She grabbed the arm of a stunned Sirius and hauled him back with Braxton outside of the train. Braxton jumped out first and held a hand out to Lily. Just as she was about to jump down a large crash sounded and the Death Eaters were shouting at them. The force of the spell that blew away the debris pushed both Lily and Sirius from the train and onto the cold, hard tracks. When her head came into contact with the rocks around the tracks, lights shot across her vision.
"You're bleeding Lily," Sirius pointed to the right corner of her forehead.
There was no time to fuss, they both stood, holding their wands shakily. Numerous popping sounds were heard again and again. Good, he got my message. The crowd of students was already lessening. Lily had initially thought to get rid of the youngest students first but it looked as if James had improved upon that plan. Muggleborns were first and there were hardly any first or second years around. Things were moving quickly and at least most of the students would stay safe. It was then she noticed the group of six and seventh years fighting alongside the train. Some were lying unconscious on the ground but most were deflecting spells and trying their best to keep the other students safe. The Death Eaters were laughing at their attempts, enjoying themselves, even taunting the students.
James and Remus were beside each other, leading the group with fantastic spells. Peter was not far behind, dashing around the students and shooting spells off whenever he thought the Death Eaters were paying attention. James advanced his face straight and focused. He flicked his wand expertly, hardly stopping to mutter a spell. A sense of worry came over Lily, James was in the direct line of fire, and he was the most obvious target and the biggest nuisance. Most spells came flying his way. Luckily, Remus was standing next to him, his feet digging into the solid ground with effort. His eyes were determined as he shielded both himself and James from their attackers. A small shove broke her from her reverie.
"– you've got to go! Apparate. You're muggle born and if they catch you…" Sirius warned.
"I'm Head Girl, this is my responsibility. I will not run away," she said firmly, engaging in a duel with one of the Death Eaters exiting the train.
He was distracted as he came off the train, giving her the advantage and he was immediately immobilized. His body slumped to the ground without anymore movement. When he was down three others replaced him; two men and a woman. Sirius and Braxton jumped into the fight. The woman approached Lily first but a hasty spell from Sirius changed her course. Sirius was already entangled with one of the wizards, so Braxton nervously put himself between her and Sirius. Lily let her mind run through a list of offensive spells and cast them just as quickly. From the corner of her eye she could see the brunette laughing as she cast spell after spell at Braxton, who only shielded himself in return. It was hard for her to keep track of the scene as well as duel the wizard before her. Something wasn't quite right with the situation with Braxton though. She waited for an opportunity to catch the Death Eater off guard. He was much slower than the others seemed to be, possibly from his bulky exterior. When he made a mistake, she lunged.
"Impedimenta!"
The man slowed, so much that he looked frozen. Why hadn't she just petrified him? I'll have to work on my list of spells. Realizing she just said the first thing that came to mind, regardless, it was helpful. She looked over to Braxton who was still merely blocking jinxes and yelping if it came too close. Lily saw a moment he could have attacked, she knew he wasn't the greatest in a battle but he would have been able to take advantage of that wide opening.
"Braxton! What are you doing?" she shouted, keeping her eyes on the bulky wizard she was cursed.
"I – she….I can't….she's…a she…" he huffed.
"You can't be serious!" she mumbled before shouting, "Switch!"
She rushed to Braxton, putting herself between the two and picking up his fight. Braxton didn't want to curse a girl? Sure he had always been a nice kid, a gentleman but this was too much. If the situation wasn't so dangerous, she would have laughed. Ridiculous. He needed to work on that. After years of knowing him, she never would have guessed he was afraid to curse a woman. Maybe afraid wasn't the right word, either way, he could have gotten himself killed.
The woman seemed to only find this amusing. She screeched "Head Girl, I see. Well at least I'll have a little bit of a fight."
Lily held her tongue, grinning at the fact that this witch could not get by her protective spells and she was just barely making it out of her curses. The surprise on her face was magnificent. She felt a surge of pride well through her; the Death Eater was shocked that a student could rival her. Only if she knew.
"You're not bad with a wand but you are out of your league here," the brunette witch glared.
And Lily could hold it in no longer, she was never the bragging type, but the moment seemed appropriate, "And a 'mudblood' too."
The glare left the woman's face and was replaced with a malicious grin. It was obvious she got the message Lily was sending and her hesitation was only a fraction of a second long, too short for a reaction. She attacked again with a new found vigor. Lily immediately regretted her words; this woman was going to make an example of her. Before she had the chance to overpower Lily, her wand flew out of her hand. It could only have been Sirius. He stepped closer and the witch dashed away, in search of her wand.
"I think she'll be looking for awhile," he laughed, "We ought to go help out the others."
Braxton was still dueling with the bulky wizard from earlier. Sirius stunned the Death Eater from behind, a dirty trick but not unwise. Lily remembered the first time she had seen James and the others fighting; now there were much less of them. Many were strewn across the ground, affected by different spells. They were also separated, more widely spread out. Crying and screams were heard from the group of younger students, waiting to be apparated. Lily wondered how many of them would end up going home after this, instead of returning to Hogwarts. A rather loud bang and a flash of blue sent Remus Lupin flying across their vision. Sirius was gone in the blink of an eye, racing to Remus' unmoving shape. Lily noticed James, all alone and fighting two Death Eaters at once. No matter how upset she may have felt she was going to help him. She dodged through the duels, occasionally throwing out a spell or two or her own to help the others.
She was half way there when James fell to his hands and knees, howling in pain. Lily recognized the Unforgiveable immediately. She quickened her speed, seeing the two wizards speaking to each other and to James. She couldn't hear them over his screaming. Without even opening her mouth she cast an angry spell at the wizard how had used the cruciatus curse on James. The man was thrown through the air and to the ground with astonishing force. The other wizard, noticing this and James sudden quiet turned to her.
"Head Girl come to save the Head Boy then? Lovely. Two for one," he laughed.
She shot spell after spell, she even amazed herself with her ferocity and speed. She was sure that emotion was fueling her attacks, pure hatred for Death Eaters and everything they stood for. Her Stupify was the first to hit him just as his spell hit her. She let herself drop to her knees in exhaustion as her opponent slumped to the ground. James, still on his hands and knees watching, stared at the petite form in front of him. She was marvelous, classy, gorgeous, responsible, stubborn and in a more polite term; attractive.
He looked her over, having just saved him from the cruciatus curse and all he could whisper was, "Bloody hell."Lily Evans, you're definately the one for me.
So I originally finished this Saturday morning but all Saturday I couldnt log in to post it. Sorry to those of you who i said it would be up by then! Here it is and there will be more to come! ;-) Hope you like it! I felt like it might be a little messy.
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***I'm giving reviewers from now on little glimpses into the next chapters.***
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