The Serpent's Heiress

by SlenderGnome

Parseltongue is hereditary - everybody knows that. James Potter's lineage is undisputed - the Potters have no connection to Slytherin. Lily Evans's lineage, on the other hand... Abandoned by Author

8. Farewell, and Goodbye

AN: I'm leaving fanfiction. I can't justify the time investment anymore. This is everything left I've written for Serpents Heiress, my only published story with a significant header of chapters. I don't want to leave something entirely unfinished. The story will still be unfinished, and I won't be coming back.

This is the rough draft, and it shows at parts. There are mistakes in spelling and grammar, and there are a lot of places where the dialogue is stilted or awkward. There are chapter that end abruptly because I don't have the desire to finish them, and I skipped over them during the slogfest that is NaNoWriMo. I'm also really unhappy with how some of the plot goes in the latter half, and was planning on re-writing a lot of it before I gave up on fanfiction.

If anyone wants to adopt this – please don't. If you want to write a similar story with the same premise, go ahead. But don't flat adopt this. It's not that good.

Chapter 8: Insanity

"I'm so happy for you!" Lily smiled at Mary. In the morning owl post, Mary learned she had gotten the healing apprenticeship at Saint Mungo's she had been wanting since fourth year. It was a rare opportunity to study under some of the greatest healers in the world. Really, the only downside to the entire thing was the amount of time she'd be spending at the hospital. She'd floo there from Hogwarts three days a week and do the first bits of her apprenticeship there, and then when she was done with school she'd do it full time.

"Thanks Lily." Mary grinned back. "I never would have made it unless you tutored me in potions." She picked up the pot of tea on the table and poured some into her teacup, the steaming scent of Earl Grey drifting across the table.

"Oh tosh Mary. You're excellent at potions, I just helped you realize that." Lily shrugged off the compliment and take a nice, long sip of her black coffee, the sharp, earthy scent like heaven to her nose.

"You sell yourself too short Lils." Mary shook her head with a slight grin. "You are some sort of potion genius and gave us all of your secrets." She spooned some sugar into her tea and stirred vigorously.

"If you say so." Lily trailed off, and set her coffee down. She reached for the bacon, and nibbled on the salty, delicious goodness that was fried bacon.

"Well, I do say so." Mary huffed, and reached for the bowl of limes. Mary always squeezed lime juice into her morning tea. It was a family thing, or something. She had been distraught when she couldn't get it at Hogwarts, until she found the kitchens in third year and bribed the house elves to give her some limes each morning. The slightly cloudy juiced streamed down from the bright green fruit into her cup.

"I've been your friend for six years now, and I still can't get over that." Lily shook her head at her friend. Mary rolled her eyes and took a long draw of her tea. She set the cup down and let out an exaggerated sigh of pleasure.

"I'm telling you Lils, your –" She stopped abruptly.

"I'm what?" Lily asked. Mary had turned a pale white, and her eyes were dilated. Shivers rippled across her body. "Mary, what's wrong."

Mary responded by screaming and shaking back and forth in her chair. The piercing shrieks drew the entirety of the Great Hall's attention to her friend.

"Surgito." Lily's wand was in her hand in a moment, and she cast the general expelling charm. The pink bolt of energy hit Mary's form, and nothing happened. Lily then ran through her list of diagnostic charms, with nothing showing up from any of them. Madam Pomfrey arrived a few moments later, having run down from the head table with surprising alacrity for someone of her age. She cast a few more diagnostic charms.

"What's happening?" Alice asked, rushing over. "What's happening to Mary?"

Pomfrey cast a charm Lily recognized as a powerful stasis spell, and levitated Mary without fanfare. "I need to get her to the hospital wing. Get out of the way."

They parted, like the sea before Moses, and she rushed through the great hall, Mary's unconscious form trailing behind her. Dumbledore looked on intently from the Headmaster's chair, his twinkly blue eyes deadly serious.

Lily and Alice followed shortly behind Madam Pomfrey.

"Miss Evans, Miss Alcorn. Please give me room to work." She told them as she entered the infirmary. "I know you are concerned for your friend, but I need room to work if I am to help her.

They nodded, and looked onward nervously as Madam Pomfrey set to helping Mary. She kept waving her wand, then summoned a bottle of potion from the supply cabinet. With a flick of her wand, she spelled it into her mouth and forced her to swallow it. She repeated this process with a few more potions, before giving a resigned sigh.

"I." She spit out. "I can't do anymore. It's time to wake her." She waved her wand, and Mary started shivering again, although the screaming didn't start again. "I need to have a legilmens examine her." Madam Pomfrey muttered to herself. Alice paled at the statement, and Lily grew more concerned. "Miss Evans, if you would-"

Lily unsheathed her wand in a hurried panic and pointed it at Mary. "Legilimens." She incanted and plunged into the mind of her friend.

"I was going to ask you to use your Patronus to summon Albus, but that works as well." Pomfrey pinched the wrinkled bridge of her nose, as her words fell onto the unhearing ears of Lily Evans.

Mary's mind was an absolute mess. There were thoughts, ideas, and dreams, all fragmented apart, and with an undercurrent of terror and pain. The vague impressions of a birthday party she had in her youth, her trip to Greece, receiving her Hogwarts letter flashed before Lily's mind's Eye. Images of boys, girls, and classes were scattered about. The threads that connected memories together were jumbled, and some of the memories were very clearly perverted with some form of unnatural terror. Lily reached out, and recoiled as the raw emotion and pain of it flooded her system. She pulled out of her friends mind.

"Miss Evans." Pomfrey admonished her. "If it wasn't for the fact that you saved us time, I'd be yelling at you for legilimizing a student. I was going to ask you to summon the Headmaster with your patronus, but, since you decided to go for a walk in you friend's mind, I'll let you off on this one. What did you see?"

"It – " Lily shook as she stuttered out what she had seen. "It was a mess. Everything was jumbled, and there was an undercurrent of terror and pain." Tears welled in her eyes.

"I thought that was what you might find, but I had hoped for the best. Miss Evans, Your friend has been poisoned with a powerful potion that effects the brain. A highly illegal one, I might add." Pomfrey sighed in resignation. "It's torn apart much of what makes Miss Macdonald Miss Macdonald. The Healers at Saint Mungo's might be able to do something , but I'm not certain. I'll transfer her there as soon as the Headmaster has a chance to examine her. Now, please summon him here with a Patronus."

Lily nodded, and waved her wand as she incanted "EXPECTO PATRONUM." The silver spell fizzled on the end of her wand. She centered herself, and tried again, bringing up the last kiss with James. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Her beautiful doe leapt from her wand, a bit dimmer than usual, and pranced along the hospital wing. Some color returned to Mary's cheeks with its presence, but Lily knew a Patronus wouldn't be enough. "Go to Professor Dumbledore." Lily commanded the bluish silver guardian. "Tell him he's needed in the hospital wing."

"Thank you, Lily. I'm sorry about Mary." Pomfrey let a rare bit of emotion, for the stoic medi-witch, into her speech. Lily nodded, and sat down on Mary's bed, clutching her friend's hand.

"Welcome back, Heiress." Salazar smiled at Lily. "The book for the rituals is just over there. Feel free to start at any time."

Lily rolled her eyes at Salazar. "Like that's going to happen soon."

"I just want what's best for you." He murmured darkly.

"I think I'll be the judge of that." Lily repudiated him. "What do you know of potions that effect the brain and drive someone insane?"

"Based on the urgency of your question, I'm going to presume that this is more than an academic question?" At Lily's resigned nod, he continued. "They are rare, and often powerful. Fiendishly difficult. I would doubt that anyone less that a brilliant potioneer would be able to brew one. You desire to know how to cure one?"

"Yes. A friend of mine was affected severely. The healers are saying there is nothing they can do."

Salazar stared into the middle distance as his painting thought. "We need to narrow it down… Did you manage to get an idea of what was in the potion?"

"They weren't sure of much, but they found lethifold venom and alihotsy show up on the detection charm." Lily replied. At Salazar's thoughtful frown, she prodded him again. "What, you look like it doesn't look good."

"There is, shall we say, good news and bad news." Salazar straightened out. "The good news is that I have a good idea of the family it comes from. The bad news… Say, did you legilimize them, Heiress?"

Lily nodded. "Yes. It was… It was a mess. There was not much coherence, and much of her memory structure was shattered."

Salazar nodded gravely. "It's bad. I'm afraid that there is nothing conventional healing can do. It's characteristic of a large dose of some of the nastier insanity inducing potions."

Lily deflated, he shoulders slumping in defeat. "So Mary won't get better? I've lost another friend?"

Salazar gave a sly smirk. Smugness dripped from his voice. "I never said that, Heiress."

"Salazar, so help me, if you are messing with me, I'm feeding that painting to Tessie!" Lily snapped at him, the willow wand moving into her hand. Salazar held up his hands in defense. "Read chapter 25, 'Restorative Rituals Affecting the Mind', from my book. There are rituals in there that can heal your friend. A little on the expensive side, but cheaper than long term care."

Lily threw her hands up in exasperation. "Do you know anything that isn't an excuse to get me to do your blood magic?"

Salazar shook his head wanly. "No. For healing of this caliber, the only options I know of are rituals of this sort."

"GRAHHH!" Lily flicked her hand and Secrets of the Darkest Arts tumbled against the wall, the already cracked spine giving a crunch as it hit the stone. Salazar clucked his tongue.

"Rowena would be most disappointed." He admonished. "Godric would probably approve, though. He found breaking priceless books and other things quite relaxing." Tessie gave an amused, hissing snort from her near slumber.

Lily huffed and spelled the book back into place. She sat down at the desk and began reading through her potions textbook. The figures and patterns swam in her head, as contemplation of what was happening outside of the Chamber drove her to distraction.

"Salazar, what was it like?" Lily asked suddenly. "What was it like, fighting the wars. You mentioned all of those dark wizards back in your day. What was it like?"

He pondered her question for a few moments before replying. "Messy." He stated ponderously. "Very messy, and often anticlimactic. But necessary. Godric would go and hunt down evil wizards for fun. He'd call it exhilarating. Mention the fact he only felt alive when on the precipice of death. He'd run around with that silly sword of his and hunt them to the edges of the islands and beyond. Keep talking about he wasn't doing what was easy, but what was right. Rowena would only leave her roost to fight when enemies were snapping at the gates of Hogwarts, or she thought one of them was hiding a library of magical knowledge."

He smiled fondly, lost in memories. "Helga is probably remembered as a pacifist. Oh, how wrong the stories are. She was a softy, but she was no pacifist. Heaven forbid someone get between her and her badgers. If you've ever seen a badger fight, you'll get a good idea of what she was like."

"§And she fed me snacks§." Tessie hissed happily. "§Tasty, tasty snacks§."

"And me? I did whatever needed to be done. I was pragmatic. If I had to, I duel someone, but that was best left to Godric. No, I slipped daggers dipped in Tessie's venom into the back of our foes when I could. I defeated enemies with cunning and stealth. But no matter how we did it, it was messy. Rowena once filled a field a field with the blood of our enemies using a particularly powerful curse. Godric was honorable, sure, but once our enemies made the mistake of using dishonorable tactics against him, he was as vicious as anything."

Salazar stared at Lily. "It was also very costly. I lost many friends, students, and family to war. Herpo the Foul killed my wife, and I was saddened by her loss to this day. Dorno the Dastardly sent dozens of students I taught to early graves. I watched one of my best friends, Helga, die at the hands of Ragnar the destroyer. Rowena was hit with a curse that slowly drove her insane in the same conflict, to the point where she imprisoned her own daughter in a fit of madness. Half of my children, and another half of my grandchildren perished in one war or another. I took lives and did many horrible things out of necessity, to protect those I loved and cared for."

He sighed. "That is war, Heiress. That is the mess you find yourself in."

Lily sat still for a moment. "Thank you." She said softly. "I need to be better. I need to survive. I need my friends to survive."

"Anytime, Heiress." The portrait replied. "A great place to start would be the rituals. I did them, and I've guided many others through the process. It's done all of us a great deal." He paused. "Tom Riddle did some of them." He contemplated. "Tom Riddle did a great many rituals indeed."

"I'm still not going to do them." Lily replied, but it lacked her normal bite. She sat in the chair for a few minutes, twirling her wand in her hand. The conversation she had with James a few weeks back sat in her mind. "On an unrelated note, what do you know of Animages and Animagery?"

"What, do you wish to become one?" Salazar asked.

"Maybe. Not right now, everything I've heard suggests it takes a long time unless you get very lucky." Lily offered. "My – My boyfriend is one."

"Mmmm, an impressive achievement. Certainly, makes him a worthy partner for my Heiress." Salazar nodded. "The animagus transformation is a powerful bit of magic. Helga achieved it as an expression of her love of animals, and was a badger. Rowena pursued it out of intellectual curiosity, but never achieved it successfully. Few others I know of succeeded. I was always more interested in the magic of blood, serpents, and the mind. I only knew of two methods to achieve it with, and know that neither works for everyone."

"My boyfriend says anyone can do it, and that there are a bunch of methods to do so with." Lily commented.

"That may very well be true." Salazar spoke thoughtfully. "For as much as we hoard knowledge in these august halls, it would be the pinnacle of hubris to pretend that we know everything. What he says may very well be true. What is his from, if I might ask?"

"He is a stag." Lily smiled. That was true in more ways then one.

"He is a protector, then, gentle at times, but vigilant and in tune with his inner child." Salazar suggested.

Lily smirked. "I don't think he has an outer adult."

"Anything else you wish to know, Heiress?"

"Yes, actually. He mentioned something about the esoteric magic that can be done with it and I wanted to know more about that."

"Well, there is as bit of a misnomer there." Salazar shook his head. "That isn't exclusive to the animagus transformation. Any time you have an affinity with something, you can harness the totemic and symbolic power of it. I have a strong affinity for serpents, and thus, I can harness a lot of symbology with them. Parselmouths are naturally better at any spell involving snakes. Goodness, I've seen parselmouths, or especially serpentine students in my house manage the snake conjuration in second year, despite it not being taught until sixth year, at least in my time. The animage just has an advantage in that they have a forged a very powerful connection to their inner animal, one that is a lot stronger than the paltry symbolism in the ability to converse with serpents."

"Alright."

"Now, Heiress. Go blow off some steam in the chamber cursing those targets of yours. If you aren't going to perform the rituals, you ought to at least get strong in that manner."

Lily nodded and trotted out in the chamber to unleash her anger on the hapless targets. Thoughts of Mary Macdonald, The McKinnon's, and the Turpin's. All innocents hurt in the rapidly escalating conflict. If Salazar was right on one thing, it was that war was going to be messy.

Messy for her enemies, that was. If it was just her, Marlene, James, and Black against the world, she'd probably take those odds.

She would do what she needed to do. It was only a matter of time before they start killing off muggleborns wholesale.

They'd find her rather hard to deal with, though. She'd be more than just a twirl of red hair cut down in a flash of green light.

She would not go gentle into that good night.

Chapter 9: Family Found

"Come in! Come in!" The woman answering the door had a large, warm smile on her face, and the intoxicating scents of Christmas foods and a crackling fire drifted across the threshold. Lily returned the smile, and stepped into the Potter's palatial manor. Marlene trailed shortly behind her. "Welcome to Potter Manor. Feel free to make yourself at home!"

Euphemia Potter – James's Mother – was a bubblingly bright woman with shining black hair tucked into a neat bun, and warm hazel eyes. She led Lily and Marlene into the large, open room which's name escaped her – the parlor?

Assorted around the fireplace which roared with a bright log fire, there were several seats, couches, and tables, many of which were bedecked in a smorgasbord of Christmas aperitifs. On the floor, several of what appeared to be lion or cougar rugs, but on second examination were definitely a Sphinx, Wampus, and Manticore.

"Welcome Miss Evans!" A man that looked like an older version of James called out. He held out a hand, and Lily shook it. "I'm Fleamont Potter." He smiled widely at her. "James's father. Speaking of – JAMES! GET DOWN HERE! YOUR GUEST IS HERE!" he yelled upstairs. Lily heard a light pattering of steps followed by the sudden appearance of her boyfriend, Sirius Black closely behind him. They jumped up, landing on the banister, and slid down, bypassing the stairs entirely. James landed in a flourish, and walked over to get Lily a kiss.

"It's good to see you Lily. Happy Christmas!" he smiled warmly.

"Happy Christmas, James." Lily smiled back.

"Let me introduce my family." He held out an arm, gesturing at his kin. "That grouch over there, and the harpy beside him are my Uncle Charlus and Aunt Dorea." He called out in a mirthful tone that betrayed his words. The two people in question – a tall, strong man that looked an awful lot like James, and a beautiful, if a bit older woman with stone grey eyes and dark black hair – smiled at James, and they rolled their eyes in unison.

"Over there" – He gestured towards a man with brown hair and shining white teeth and woman with the same dark black hair as Aunt Dorea, but instead with violet-grey eyes, both in their late twenties or early thirties. Between them was a small child, no more than four years in age, with a wide, curious expression, and hair that was the same messy black that the Potter's were known for. She laid her eyes on Lily, and her hair rapidly grew and changed color to match Lily's fiery red locks. "Are the Andromeda and Ted Tonks, and their traitorous daughter, Nymphadora." Mischief flashed in the girl's eyes, and she pressed a hand to hide a giggle. "Andi was born a Black, but kicked out of the family for marrying a Muggleborn. Dorea's rather fond of them, so we invite them to our family gatherings." James explained

"It's so nice to meet all of you." Lily smiled sincerely at them.

"And you too, Miss Evans, Miss McKinnon." Dorea nodded at them. "Come, sit! Don't stand all day!"

Lily took a seat near the fire, on a soft, fluffy loveseat. James sat down next to her, and wrapped a warm, comforting arm around her. Marlene sat next to Black.

"So, Lily," Mr. Potter started. "May I call you Lily?" At her nod, he continued. "How is Hogwarts treating you?"

"Very well, for the most part." She responded. "I've really enjoyed charms and potions."

"Both excellent courses of study." Mrs. Potter nodded. "You know, I don't mean to make light of your heritage, but I find it most delightful that a muggleborn is stomping the arses of all of the pureblood heirs in your year in grades. I commend you for it."

Tonks smiled, and added in. "We Muggleborns have to show these purebloods what's what."

His wife turned to him. "You married a pureblood, dear." She stated, a playful venom in her voice.

Lily nodded with a laugh, thanking Mrs. Potter, "I love learning magic." She admitted with a smile. "It also feels good to beat all of the other people, too." She smiled inward at the thought of how they might react if they discovered her hidden heritage, and that while she was a Muggleborn, she might have a little more wizarding ancestry than they bargained for.

Dorea Potter nodded sagely. "Yes. There is nothing better than to do things with the purpose of spiting others. I approve."

"What about marrying me?" Charlus Potter looked at his wife, mock betrayal painted across his face.

"I did that to spite my family, dear. Get with the program." Dorea Potter stated matter-of-factly, staring at her husband. He nodded along in thoughtful acceptance of the fact.

"Mrs. Potter." Lily started, looking towards James's mother.

"Oh, none of that." Dorea Potter waved her hand at Lily dismissively. "We're all friends here. Call us by our first names."

"Yes, Mrs." Lily stopped and corrected herself. "-Dorea."

Dorea nodded approvingly, sticking her nose in the air, a sparkle dancing in her grey eyes. Charlus shook his head in dismissal.

"Euphemia, I must say, the appetizers are delightful." Lily complimented her host.

"Oh, dear, it's all the house elves. Treat them right, and you get absolutely amazing results." Euphemia smiled gently at her.

"Certainly, better than the Black Family house elf." Andromeda shook her head. "That thing is a wretched beast."

Nymphadora chose that moment to take a stuffed dragon with animated wings and chase it around the room, knocking over several tables in the process. She giggled in glee as the plush black lizard flew around.

"I told you getting Nymphadora that would be a bad idea." Fleamont muttered to his wife. She dismissed him with a light slap. "Look at her. She's adorable! It was a great idea."

Lily coughed to grab attention, and then reached into her purse. "Speaking of gifts, I have a bit of a hostess gift." She spoke with a hint of conspiracy to her voice, and pulled out the shrunken wrapped gift.

"Oh, you shouldn't have." Euphemia shook her head at Lily.

"Speak for yourself, woman!" Fleamont barked out playfully at his wife. Lily rolled her eyes and set the gift on the table, tapping it once with her wand and casting a silent finite to dispel the shrinking charm. Dorea widened her eyes approvingly. Charlus, looked at his wife expectantly. At her nod, he stood up and ran over to the gift. Evidently, childishness was an inherited trait in the Potter Family.

With a flourish, he tore off the wrapping paper with all of the grace and care of a five-year-old.

Actually, Lily thought, Looking at Nymphadora's pile of gifts, maybe five is a little generous.

When he finished tearing through the paper – which Lily had made herself, enchanting it with frolicking elephants, stags, and partridges – his jaw appeared to slam into the floor.

"Pick your mouth up off the ground, dear." Dorea admonished him with a smile that couldn't quite hide the curiosity in her voice. "It's unbecoming."

He turned to Lily, then back to the book, then back to Lily, then back to the book, then to James. His mouth was so open in shock that his tonsils were in clear view.

Lily had spent quite a bit of time preparing the gift. When she had asked her ancestor's portrait about giving one of the books in the library as a gift, he had been recalcitrant, and only allowed her to do so on the condition that she make as near a perfect copy as possible. Copying books was nearly impossible, but where there was a will…

Rowena Ravenclaw had, apparently invented a process of copying any book, scroll, or in rare cases, some form of magical information crystal. Lily wasn't sure what that was, but it sounded fascinating. The process started with reading the book while in possession of a near-eidetic memory, augmented either through occlumency or a certain magical diadem. Once the reader had nearly memorized it, they would place both it and an incredibly similar blank book next to it, to which they then chanted slowly, an almost hour-long process to copy the contents of one book into the other. Lily had done this with Esoteric Implications of the Animagus Transformation, slowly copying the contents of the quite possibly illegal book into a very similar notebook.

"Charlie, what's got you so?" Fleamont asked, tilting his head at his brother.

"It's…" He stuttered; his hazel eyes fully open. "It's… It's… It's… Esoteric Implications of the Animagus Transformation."

The room went silently, the only noises being the gentle crackle of the fire and the slight gurgling of Nymphadora.

"Impossible." Fleamont waved his hand dismissively with a laugh. "She's having you on." He turned to Lily. "An excellent prank, my dear. I think I see what James sees in you, aside from intelligence, beauty, and natural talent." He nodded approvingly. "I do wonder how you figured out this would be the perfect prank gift. James, we need to have some words about keeping family secrets."

Reverently, Charlus opened the book, his fingers trailing over the pages. He gently flipped between them.

"No, it's real. What I see right now matches the fragments we have almost perfectly."

Fleamont's, Dorea's, and Euphemia's jaws joined Charlus's on the floor. There was a slight, wet crash, as Fleamont's teacup accompanied them.

"But I thought." Dorea started. "I could have sworn that…Raphael's memoirs recounted him searching high and low for that text…And Raphael perused hundreds of rarer libraries in the course of his work… " She trailed off. "Frankly, I didn't think any copies still existed. She glanced at the book, and her eyes widened even further. She gave Lily an appraising look.

"Miss Evans." Fleamont turned to her. "We cannot thank you enough for this book. The Potter family has been searching for it since we learned of its existence in the eleventh century. For generations, the Potters, and our close relations, the Peverell's have scoured the world looking for rare tomes like this. This was one of the most coveted. The few fragments we have were acquired under highly questionable circumstances." He stated seriously. "Now, if you don't mind my asking, where did you come across this book? I'd be quite surprised if Abraxas Malfoy or Albus Dumbledore managed to get their hands on a copy, even with the great prestige and monies at their command, so you can imagine my shock that a book thought lost for almost a millennia could find its way into the hands of a muggleborn from Cokeworth." He asked very seriously. "No offense meant, I'm just shocked." He followed up placatingly.

Lily's lips curled into a smile, and she took a long sip from her cup of tea. "A lady has to have some secrets." She stated offhandedly with a smirk.

"I like her already." Dorea laughed gaily, breaking the tension. "Can we keep her?"

"Dorea, you know just because your family kept people as chattel doesn't mean the Potter's do." Charlus mocked his wife playfully.

"Drat." She cursed. "I forgot about that." She looked pensive for a moment, then cocked her head. "Can that be something that the Potter's do now? New tradition?"

"Well, clearly she's a great fit." Fleamont made to get up from his seat next to his couch, interrupting Dorea. "And Dorea just has to have her, so I'll go get the quills and parchment to draw up a betrothal contract."

Lily recoiled in shock.

"Oh, calm down dear, he's kidding." Dorea reassured her. Lily relaxed, and her smile returned. "He's had the contracts made out since her heard of James's obsession with you." She continued with a sly smirk.

"Please." Fleamont shook his head. "I didn't draw them up until I saw her grades third year."

Dorea rolled her eyes, and Charlus stuck out his tongue at him, which earned him a swat from his wife.

"So, I gather that book is important?" Andromeda asked.

"Oh, is it ever." Charlus sighed. "It's the foremost text on highly illegal magic that the Potter family is interested in and has been interested in since the founding of our family. We have a few fragments of the text in a secure location, but to have the entire book is unheard of. And we've looked!"

"Also, dearies." Dorea smiled smugly. "I'd not go blabbing about this. Talking about esoteric Animagery in front of the wrong people is a good way to find yourself in a long talk with the Unspeakables. Also, Lily, dear, possession of that book carries a minimum sentence of 20 years in Azkaban, so do be careful with whomever else you share knowledge from wherever you found this exquisite tome with."

Lily paled at the mention of 20 years in Azkaban and nodded.

"Delightful." Dorea smiled. "Oh, do stop looking at me like that, Marlene. The only reason the Blacks have a reputation as the most secretive family in Britain is because the Potters are just that much better at keeping secrets then they are." She smirked. "As a member of both families, I should know."

"I feel we can't exactly easily repay Lily for this easily." Euphemia looked around. Fleamont nodded and moved over to the clock on the mantle above the fireplace. He twisted some of the hands, and the face swung open. A small, wooden, ebony figure of a bird of prey rested in the cavity. He gently pulled it out and walked over to Lily.

"Now, James tells me you aren't interested in the Art of Animagery just yet due to the time commitment. Is that right?" Lily nodded. "Well. This totem here was Nathaniel Potters. If you touch this, and you feel your inner beast, it will indicate that you are able of doing this transformation in the Native Indian method, which, for someone of your ability, ought to take no more than a few weeks."

Lily hesitantly reached out and touched the totem. It was cold to touch. Fleamont shook his head. "No, you aren't ready to do it in that method. Your inner beast isn't close enough to the fore. If you ever change your mind, we have quite a few more methods to achieve the transformation with."

"Thank you. Maybe in the future." Lily nodded as Fleamont returned the totem to the secret storage place in the clock.

"No, thank you." Dorea laughed. "The boys will be drooling over that book for the next few years, and the women of the family might finally be able to get some stuff done."

They all joined in her in laughter.

The discussion continued on for a few more hours, as Lily snacked on the various delicious treats the house elves had set out. They discussed merry topics like grades, gossip, and quidditch, and not so merry topics, like the war. Charlus regaled them with war stories from the Grindelwald Conflict, stories that he had clearly told hundreds of times, with the way Dorea would chime in at the right moments, and by the camber of his voice. Lily imagined the battlefields of his day, the chaos, the tempo, the spells. The incredible duels. Euphemia's voice sliced through her reverie.

"So, Lily, what do you plan to do after Hogwarts?"

Lily paused and considered the question. "I don't know." She admitted. "I know Marlene and I have both been too focused on the conflict to really plan that far ahead. I think I might like to get a Mastery, in Healing, Charms, or maybe both."

"All noble callings." Fleamont nodded. "I've heard of some organizations being put together that are going to fight the Death Eaters."

Charlus smiled knowingly. "Yeah. My combat detachment was closely linked to Dumbledore's in Grindelwald's War. The British Irregulars were often fighting the same battles as them. Hell, we took Nurmengard beside them. The Order of the Phoenix, as they called themselves, has been talking about reactivating. I've been considering joining them."

Lily nodded. "Certainly interesting." She conceded. "I don't know how I'll fight, but I almost certainly will.

Charlus got a strange glint in his eyes. "Why don't we have a little bit of a practice duel tomorrow? I'll give you a taste of what it's like."

"That sounds lovely." Lily accepted with a bright smile.

"Speaking of tomorrow." Andromeda cut through the conversation. "Dora here seems to have fallen asleep, and it's getting late. We really ought to be heading home." Nymphadora was fast asleep in her father's lap, her vibrant hair having settled on a strange blend between Dorea's black and Lily's fiery red. A little bit of drool came out of her mouth, and her lips were bright violet.

"Do be careful." Euphemia got up and showed them to the door. "And Happy Christmas!"

"HAPPY CHRISTMAS." James and Sirius called out, spraying red and green sparks out of their wands.

"Thank you all." Ted smiled at them, shifting the sleeping child in his arms. They departed the house, and apparated away with a crack.

"Alright!" Charlus called out gregariously. "Now that the kids are gone, you know what that means?"

Dorea sighed, holding her head in her hand.

"It's time to break out the alcohol!" He pointed his wand at the cabinet, and several bottles flew over, followed by glasses.

Lily passed on having too more than a single glass of excellent elvish wine, but the rest of the Potters indulged themselves.

Save for Dorea. Something told Lily that Dorea didn't drink under any circumstances, be it the calculating stare in her eyes, or the steely and calm demeanor she always effected.

Within an hour of increasingly drunken conversation, Lily, Marlene, and Dorea were the only humans left. Marlene was curled up, asleep, on the couch, using Sirius Black's dog form as a pillow. Black's breathing was steady, and his pink canine tongue was lolled out of his mouth. An African elephant was laying on the ground behind a sofa snoring softly for an elephant. So, very loudly. A beautiful, majestic stag was passed out, evidently drunk, if the way he was unceremoniously draped across a chair was any indication. A partridge floated around listlessly, weaving drunken paths through the air. It finally, after a few aborted attempts, successfully landed on the sleeping gazelle and fluffed its feathers to go asleep.

"Don't worry Lily, this happens every Christmas." Dorea shook her head amusedly. "Every Christmas. Don't mind Charlus, he isn't actually drunk. He is able to use his totemic connection to avoid that. It was really hilarious back in our twenties when he could drink anyone underneath a table." She chuckled, remembering the good days of her youth.

"Do you have an Animagus form?" Lily asked suddenly. Everyone in the Potter family seemed to be an Animagus, and they were pushing her to become one. And considering bringing her into the family.

"Perhaps." Dorea spoke candidly. "Fleamont and Peter aren't fans of it, though."

Lily thought quickly. "So, some sort of predator. By your connection to Slytherin house, and your family, I'd guess some sort of black snake, possibly venomous?"

Dorea smiled. "Very good. You're quite clever." And without further ado her body shifted like quicksilver, before reforming into a shiny black serpent. The snake advanced on her, baring long, white fangs.

"§I'm a Black Desert Cobra§." Dorea hissed at her. Lily couldn't help but recoil in shock.

"§Ki-ki-ki-ki-ki§." The serpent laughed, a wide, snakey smile across her serpentine head. "§It's okay, speaker. I don't bite. Well, I do actually, but I won't bite you§."

"§How the hell did you figure it out§?" Lily asked.

"§I didn't know, actually, just a hunch, until you were so kind as to confirm it for me§." Dorea retracted her fangs.

Lily glared at her. The serpent hissed out another snake laugh. "§It was a couple things. You're eyes, your prodigious magical skill, among other things§." Lily cocked her head. "§Also, the fact that there was a small inscription in parselscript on one of the pages§."

Lily shook her head. "§And so this is the part where the Slytherin of the Potter family comes out§?"

"§Ki-ki-ki-ki-ki. You learn fast. I knew I liked you§."

"§So, what do you want? I presume this is the part where you blackmail me for something§?" Lily stared at the serpent.

"§A little blunt. We'll have to work on your candor§." The snake observed. "§Kind of. Merely keep our secrets, and we'll keep yours. I have no intention of telling anyone else. You are too smart and powerful to be lost due to your serpentine heritage§."

"§Mmmm§." Lily nodded in affirmation.

"§Do you know where you got it from§?" The serpent asked.

"§Descended from a squib offspring of one of Slytherin's children§." Lily replied. "§I think§."

The snake gave a nod of its head. "§That makes sense. I'm guessing you have accessed the Chamber Library§?"

"§You've heard of it§?" Lily asked in shock.

"§No more than rumors and whispers§." The snake shook her head. "§Although it does make a rather lot of sense. Something Salazar would definitely do. Probably fancy, and melodramatic§." She hissed in a sort of chuckle. "§Make good use of those resources§." She turned around and started slithering towards the fire, where she curled up. "§Oh, and Lily. While I won't judge you for use of darker magic – stars know I have no place to – many others will. Be Careful§."

The cobra flicked its tail, and tucked its head under a fold of its body.

Lily shook her head, and then drifted off to sleep on the couch, staring at a dying fire, surrounded by a menagerie.

What had she gotten herself into?

Chapter 10: Siegfried

Lily woke up next to something soft and warm. Evidently, James had moved during the night and cuddled with her as a deer. She laughed softly, and rolled out from under the heavy stag.

Charlus was getting up off of the ground with a sigh, and Dorea rolled her serpentine eyes, and shifted back into the form of a human. The partridge jumped off of the Gazelle's antlers, and morphed into Fleamont midway down. The antler's retracted into the thick head of hair of Euphemia Potter.

"Good morning, everyone!" Charlus called out. "I don't know about you, but I could probably eat a whole deer for breakfast, so, I'll get the elves on that. Lily." He turned to her. "We're dueling later today, after breakfast. It'll be fun."

Dorea flashed a knowing wink at Lily and flicked her tongue in an oddly serpentine fashion. Lily shook her head in resignation.

Lily prodded James with mild electric shocks until he got, his haunches shifting slowly from those of a stag to the long legs of a human. He flashed a roguish grin at her, and she rolled her eyes. They sat to breakfast, enjoying sausages and eggs in the Potter's informal dining area. Dorea offered her tea, but she shook her head and made her way to the small station with coffee, savoring the rich flavor.

"So, Lily, you ready to duel?" Charlus grinned at her as breakfast came to a close, the slight wrinkles in his face creasing with the motion. "I want to see what you can do."

"I'll take you down, old man." Lily returned. Marlene sighed, and shook her head. "This man survived a duel with Grindelwald, and you think you're gonna take him down? Lily, I think we might need to get your head looked at."

"I don't know." Lily shrugged. "It's not like Charlus here has gotten any younger."

"Lily. Grindelwald was sixty when the duel went down. Wizards tend to get more powerful as they age." Marlene retorted. Charlus just grinned at them, absentmindedly twirling his wand.

They walked outside to the Potter Manse's back yard, a large field or meadow, about the size of a few football pitches, bracketed by forest on either side. Off in the distance, the telltale hoops of a quidditch pitch stood out above the trees.

Lily walked into the field, wading through the dewy, cold grass, as the December air chilled her. The sky was overcast, and she smiled, thinking of what could be done with that. Charlus stood on the other edge of the meadow, about one hundred meters away.

"Alright." Dorea's amplified voice called out. The rest of the Potters, Marlene, and Sirius stood next to her, eagerly anticipating what would happen. "Master-on-Novice rules. Lily may start casting on my signal. Charlus may not cast until a spell enters his vicinity, or fifteen seconds have passed."

She paused for a dramatic flourish, then called out. "GO!"

Lily's wand shot into her hand, and she pointed it at the sky, muttering the incantation for a spell she had had only moderate success with it in the past.

Circumstances were different now.

The Maelstrom operated by inducing currents in a body of water to cause a twisting motion that eventually resulted in the spell's namesake. The opposing current of water would push against one another and make the deadly maw of the sea that sailors of literature feared, the scattered accounts of extraordinarily powerful wizards bending the sea to their bidding percolating into muggle culture, the phenomenon rarely seen on the small scale in nature showing up in the works of so many authors. A deadly force of mythos, the churning, swirling pools of water.

Really, clouds were just a lot of water in the air.

The overcast sky began to around Charlus Potter, long lines streaking where the varying arms of current pushed together. Air pressure, physics, and the nature of the spell forced a tendril to peak out of the blanket of grey clouds; the first parts of a tornado. The euphoria of such clean and powerful magic clashed within her, in contrast to the pain, immense pain of drawing so much magic through her.

With that started, Lily shifted focus towards a defense. A smattering of powerful geomancy spells later, and the ground rumbled as berms of earth were raised around her, just high enough to obscure most of her body from attack, but short enough to see over. In front of the berms, the ground sank, and large pits opened up. Once again, the strain caused her to grimace, as she fought through the pain.

I'd like to see you send a horde of elephants at me now. Lily smirked inwardly.

Dorea called out for Charlus to start, and he immediately began transfiguring earth into elephants, building himself a horde with which to over run her. He then interspersed blasting curses within them, each arc of yellow light gouging a hole out of her makeshift defenses.

Lily just smiled and pointed her wand back at the heavens. The churning, dynamic motion had only increased in intensity, and she wasn't about to do it any favors. She muttered the old, odd incantation, and lightning streamed from her wand, the blinding, thin column of energy crackling blue with ozone. It smacked into the clouds, and large, similar bolts arced from point to point, working their way towards the descending tip of the nascent tornado. Lily let out a sigh as the power coursed through her, the rush of channeling a force of nature and such powerful magic, and the thousands of hot knives stabbing themselves into her bones.

Charlus frowned, and shoved his wand forward, sending forth the army of elephants.

Lily chose that moment to strike. The turbulent nature of clouds will result in static energy build up. Energy stored, in a form. Catalyzed by magic and the artificial lightning of Lily's wand, the energy streamed down the path of least resistance and most entropy.

In this case, straight towards the figure of one Charlus Potter. He just smirked, and twirled his wand, a blue, translucent flower blooming out of the stick of holly, and blooming into an elegant and powerful shield. The lightning struck it, and the shield flashed brightly, as energy crackled into the ground. Lily shifted her attention to the oncoming elephants, and let loose a stream of blasting curses, lamentably ineffectual against the thick hides of the creatures.

Lily swore under her breath and switched to more powerful curses.

None of it had any effect.

Right. She thought. The elephants aren't elephants! They're golems! Made from muddy earth!

Lily smirked at the revelation and channeled the massive burst of energy for her next curse. Wisps of grey smoke exited her wand and trailed forward, coming into contact with each of the constructs. In moments, dozens of curls of smoke trailed between them. Lily braced herself, and completed the incantation.

The columns of smoke pulsed with light, and water poured off the creatures in sheets as the spell dried them out. They attempted to continue their push, only to crumbled into lumps of dry earth and clay dust without the water binding them and adding malleability to their structure.

Lily smirked triumphantly, and was almost distrascted enough to miss the real elephant charging at her, having taken the place of Charlus Potter. Having surprising alacrity for a beast of that size, it vaulted over the holes Lily had gouged, and she had to jump out of the way to avoid being injured.

She hit the earth, hard, and took a few moments to get up in recenter herself. Charlus had shifted forms back into that of a human, and was flinging curses at her. She brandished her wand and defelected a few into the ground, before following up with her signature series of lightning curses she ahd (temporarilty) killed his nephew with. He smirked when he saw the spell leaping towards him, and let his wand arm fall to his side. The spell slammed into him, and fizzled. Lily launched another, to no avail.

What the Hell? She thought to herself, in the moments before she shifted to a blinding flurry oa spells. A cutting curse might as well have not been thrown, for all the good it did, and the balls of fire she flung washed off of him as if they were no more than a pleasant summer breeze.

"You'll have to do better than that, my darling." Charlus chuckled at her. Lily fired a disarming charm at him, and his holly wand pirouetted out of his hand. His fingers twitched, and it returned.

Lily fired off another chain of spells, and he batted them away or dodged them, before returning with his own torrent of spells that Lily struggled to defend herself from. In the end, she resorted to conjuring a thick steel wall to buy herself a brief reprieve, her bones complaining in agony about the raw magic she forced out.

Charlus began bombarding the shield with a series of blasting curses, some of which had incantations Lily hadn't heard of. She steeled herself and prepared her counterattack for when he inevitably battered through her defense. She cleared her mind and pointed the wand at the wall. With a final, quite powerful explosion, if the report was any indication, the wall shattered into thousands of pieces of shrapnel.

Lily wasted no time, and shoved her wand forward, her hair whipping forward in the violent wind she conjured that flowed past her. Charlus leaned forward, letting the shards of metal crash into his body, none of which penetrated the skin at all. He smirked at her, his hazel eyes twinkling mirthfully.

Lily cancelled the wind and fired another barrage of spells, this time focusing on spells which might have some effect on the wickedly resilient Charlus Potter. He flicked his wand, and a bright, square shield appeared between them, most of the spells splashing off of it like water.

Lily recognized the shield. She also recognized the counter to it. With a twist of the wand, she fired the swirling twists of pink magic that would directly overload it. The shield flashed a vibrant yellow, and exploded. Lily then went all in, firing every spell she could.

She was stopped by two thick, warm, leathery things wrapping around her arms, restraining her. Lily focused on radiating out whatever magic she could in an unfocused burst, to peal the two elephant's trunks off of her.

It took her only a moment to do so, the harsh ripples of angry magic burning the elephants and causing them to recoil.

It was also the only moment Charlus needed to slip right through her meager defenses.

It was in that moment Lily realized he had gone easy on her. His wand was so blindingly fast she couldn't see it. In seconds, she was bound, petrified, and covered in an assortment of prank spells, the shield she attempted to conjure wandlessly blinking out ineffectually under the barrage.

"You put up a good fight." He smiled at her and reached out a hand to catch her spiraling willow focus. "Not good enough, but few are. Give it a few years, and you might have given Grindelwald a run for his money. That was really interesting with the lightning and the earth. I haven't seen a display that impressive since I fought the Dark Lord Chilota of Brazil back in '52. Right impressive." He cancelled most of the spells and offered his hand to Lily. She accepted, and he pulled her to her feet. "A little young to be dabbling in High Magic, aren't we?"

He flashed the same roguish grin that Sirius and James wore at Lily and continued. "Frankly, I'm just shocked you can handle it. You'll make a powerful witch, one day."

"I told you I liked her." Dorea called out mirthfully. "Look at that power." She turned to Lily. "Excellent trick with the lightning. It was almost like I was back on the battlefields of Europe, watching Charlus duke it out with the various mages that Grindelwald fielded. Of course, in a bout of realism, it ended the same way, with my dear Charlus winning."

Lily stuck out her tongue at Dorea, but she was still really pleased with her performance.

WE NEED MORE STUFF HERE!

Chapter 11: Pink

James had never been so terrified before.

It was so pink.

There was pink everywhere. Fuchsia confetti, Rosy throw pillows. Little cherubs flitting about, sprinkling more of the eye-watering confetti. Even the sandwiches were pink.

The demon sat across from him; her bright red hair adorned in a wreath of complementary roses. Those utterly kissable lips seemed to be coated in the most obnoxious, bubblegum-like shade that existed.

She smiled at him, revealing her normally shiny white teeth had been died bright magenta by the food and drink in the room. Her eyes shifted from their usual bright vermillion to a deep shade of pink James didn't know was even possible. They glowed with eldritch power, suffusing the room in the noxious color. His vision went red.

He felt a trickle of something roll down his cheeks. A quick dab with his hand revealed that the fluid wasn't tears, but blood. Bright, Hot Pink, blood.

"James, wakeup!" Sirius's voice cut through his dream and he bolted up, a quick check to his eyes revealing that he was just dreaming a date in Madam Puddifoots. He shivered at the thought. Thankfully, both Lily and Marlene would never do that to them.

Except maybe as a very cruel practical joke. They both had that in them. He shivered again.

"What happened?" Sirius asked, staring at James.

"It was so pink." James muttered, his body still shaking slightly from the trauma inflicted on him by Morpheus. "So… Pink."

"You had a Madam Puddifoot's dream?" James nodded weakly at Sirius's question. Sirius shivered. "I'm sorry mate. Wouldn't even wish that on Snivellus."

James got up and threw on some dress robes. Nothing too nice, mind. He had a reputation to uphold. With a quick run of his hand through his hair, and a dash of cologne, he was ready. Off to a Valentine's day date in Hogsmeade with Lily! One that would hopefully have nothing with Madam Puddifoot's.

Lily was waiting for him in the common room, flicking through a book with some wandless magic. Merlin, she was quite talented. Just another reason why his stomach did backflips whenever he was around her. Her eyes glistened with happiness when she looked up at him, and he flashed her the signature Potter grin. She rolled her eyes, and held out her hand. James noticed that her nails were cut short, for practical wand-related purposes. He held out an elbow, and she clasped it in her hand.

"Good morning, James." She smiled at him. "You look like you just woke up from a nightmare."

"Funny you should mention it." He muttered softly. "I did."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No. I will be a happy man if I die never even thinking about Madam Puddifoots again." All of the men in the room shuddered in solidarity with their brother-in-arms.

Lily cocked her chin thoughtfully. "And I was so excited to finally get to go there with a guy." She pouted.

James took a deep breath. "If you so desire I would-"

He stopped, shook his head, and continued. "Hell no. Not happening. Sorry Lils."

"Pleeaaase?" She drew out, flashing that smile that melted his insides.

He steeled himself, and then with a sigh, gave in to his date. "Fine. We may go to Madam Puddifoots."

Lily gasped dramatically and covered her mouth with her free hand. "And here I thought that you were someone I could date, but no, you are acceptable with Madam Puddifoot's." She nodded thoughtfully. "It's ok James. I'll keep your secret."

"My secret?" James asked, befuddled.

"Yes." Lily nodded vigorously. "I see now. It all makes sense. Your acceptance of The Puddifoot, the constant harassment, trying to get close to me. It all makes sense. Don't worry. I don't judge."

"What?"

"Right! I'll keep it on the low." Lily struggled to contain her giggling. "Your crush on Severus and attempts to win his affections. I'll keep it quiet."

"My?" His brain finally caught up with what Lily was saying. "You wretched woman!"

Lily burst out into uproarious laughter.

"I hate you." James pouted.

"No you don't." Lily smirked impishly at him, then leaned in for a kiss. They pressed their lips against the others for a few moments, warmth flowing through him and he savored her soft lips. Lily broke away and took a breath.

"I intensely dislike you." He stated.

"Come on, Mr. Drama. Let's get going before the carriages start to leave." She dragged him towards the stairs. The walked, arm in arm, towards the carriages, those strange carts moved by magic along. They chose a carriage and settled inside, Lily pressing herself into James's warm side to escape the bite of the cold February air.

"I'm thinking we go to Three Broomsticks first." James suggested as the carts began moving. "We'll get at least thirty minutes of entertainment with Sirius trying to get firewhiskey out of or shamelessly flirting with Madam Rosmerta, and another thirty or so minutes of Marlene hexing Sirius.

"I'm all for that." Lily agreed. Her hair was covered in a warm, woolen beanie, and it was soft under his chin, where it rested. "Sounds fun."

They departed the cart, moving into the vibrant wizarding town, all dressed up in rather lurid pinks and reds.

It appeared that Madam Puddifoot's was infecting the rest of the town. They got a table for two near the window.

WE NEED MORE STUFF HERE!

Chapter 12: Götterdämmerung

The steak was absolutely divine. The tender, red meat was juicy and delicious. This gathering in the Godric's Hollow wizarding district's most refined restaurant, La Magie, was much more intimate than the Christmas Gathering at the Potter household several months prior. It was just James, Her, his Parents, and his Aunt Dorea and Uncle Charlus have spirited discussion over a fancy lunch.

Apparently, it was somewhat of a Potter tradition to come to dine here every Easter.

A noticeable difference was the tension in the air. The telltale prickle of defensive magic greeted them as they entered the story, and the ornate crystal glass that had apparently once been the windows had been replaced with austere, thick iron panels made clear with alchemy. The waiters and waitresses were somewhat jumpy, and everyone had their wands close at hand.

"Lily, dear." Euphemia's caring voice cut through her reverie. "How is your steak?"

"It's really good." Lily replied, nodding her head in gratitude.

"Excellent. This place always has such great food." Euphemia stated amicably. "It might not be as fancy as some of the restaurants in Diagon, or in the magical quarter of Paris, but It's right in our backyard, and we just love Godric's Hollow. Such an interesting mixed community." She enthused. Lily smiled, delicately cutting another bite of her steak and eating it while listening to Euphemia rave.

"Oh, Lily." Charlus cut in, a wide smile across his face. "That book you got us – I don't know how you got it, and my darling wife informs me that I don't want to know – has been a real treat to read." He grinned conspiratorially, and lowered his voice. "And maybe practice out of, if you get my meaning."

Dorea elbowed him. "We're in public, dear." She hissed, in a way eerily reminiscent of her Animagus form. She winked at Lily, her eye flashing into the dark black with a hint of red of the form as she blinked.

A slight tremor rocked the building, and the tell-tale cold drizzle down one's spine of anti-apparition wards being set up caused all of them to shiver.

Charlus was the first to react. His Holly focus leapt into his hand, and he made towards the door, Dorea and Fleamont close in tow. The screams of scared patrons shattered the temporary silence as the terror set in.

"Get Euphie to safety!" Fleamont turned to James. "We'll handle this. Get out of here!"

"To the back." Lily called out, pointing towards the rear of the building. James nodded, and lead his mother, his eye's searching around for any hint of trouble.

Another tremor shook the building, and then one of the windows vibrated angrily as a blasting curse fizzled against it. James spun around to see what happened before continuing. They made their way through the kitchen, towards the rear of the kitchen. He turned right, looking into a hall, before swinging his head back.

"Shit! They've got people in the back!" James hissed, taking a deep breath to collect himself.

"I'll play offense. You get defense." Lily stated in a calmness that belied the absolute terror she was feeling, the horrified sensation that had crept down her spine.

"Got it. On three." He counted out, and they spun into the corridor. Lily got a good look at the three people that had entered the building. Two wore plain, white masks, but the third had a shiny silver mask that had curly, bushy black hair trying to peak around it. They all wore hoods. A vermillion jet trailed down the hall toward her, the product of an 'Avada Kedavra' that Lily clearly missed. A tile on the wall contorted itself into a thick plate under the direction of James's wand and the deadly curse fizzled harmlessly against it.

Lily snapped out of her trance, and set to work, firing a flurry of spells at the people in front of her. James was solid, a transfiguration master and capable enough with spell deflection and shields to protect her, she needed to focus on taking these bastards out.

"Tee-hee-hee." The silver masked figure laughed in a high pitched baby voice. "Schoolkiddies know how to play!"

She turned into a tornado of curses, sickly jets and streams of puce, chartreuse, and teal, bearing down on them with terrifying speed. One of the white-masked combatants held their wand out and a rippling and bright blue shield bloomed from it. Lily grunted, and brandished her wand. "FULMINIS!" The arc of lightning closed the gap in moments, connecting with the shield and crackling with ozone and power. Lily pushed more into it, and the beam noticeably thickened.

The person projecting the spell crumpeled as the pain of channeling that much magic overwhelmed them. Lily blasted him with another taste of lightning, putting him down as quickly as possibly.

"Awww." The woman pouted. "I guess if the schoolkiddies are going to play like that, the schoolkiddy gloves ought to come off." She fired a curse that Lily recognized as a bone shatterer, and James paried it into the ground. Lily fired one at her feet, and it barely missed, the woman dancing around it.

Lily frowned, and conjured a large set of ropes with weights attached. She banished them into the Death Eaters with a flick of her wand. Another killing curse splashed off of the disk James transfigured, the green beam casting the hall in bright light. The woman shredded the ropes, but one of weights hit the other white masked individual in the head, knocking him off balance. James flicked a series of red, silver, and black jets out of his wand that stunned him, releaved him of his wand, bound him, and petrified him.

He dropped his defence to do so, and a sickly purple curse leapt from the wand of the woman and opened a gash on his shoulder, thin streams of blood pouring out of it. She immediately followed with a few more nasty looking curses that had him convulsing on the ground, and several of his arms bent at odd angles.

Lily looked at her beau, and then reacted, pumping magic into the most powerful shield she knew, the blue and purple curtain of magic separating them from the woman. A flash of red came from behind the woman, and she slumped over.

"Really ought to be more careful there, dearies." Euphemia chuckled darkly. "I might be old and grey, but I can still cast a stunner." She twirled her wand and laughed.

Lily nodded absentmindedly as she dropped to James's side. "How are you doing?" She asked tenderly as she waved her wand over the wound in his arm, drawing some of the blood back in and sealing it up. Her willow wand sung in joy as she did so, manipulating the body to be in a better condition.

"I've been better." James moaned softly.

"This is going to hurt." Lily warned him as she prepared to reset the bone the curse had fractured and the bent into an odd position.

"Everything you do to me does." James contorted his mouth in a combination between a grin and a grimace. Lily flicked her wand, and the bone reset with an audible snap. Another few spells and the fractures sealed. She then thumped him on the side.

"I'll get James to safety." Euphemia told her. "You're quite good in a fight, they might benefit from having you up front."

Lily nodded, kissed James for luck, and returned back through the restaurant. Many of the patrons had hunkered down behind tables, occasionally heading towards the back. Lily pressed onward, moving from table to table, column to column, and shelf to shelf, in an attempt to stay down and out of the way of the combat.

The cacophonous sound of a battle raging outside filtered in through the windows and door, bright flashes of light in every hue, but especially red and green, flying around, like some sort of demented, deadly Christmas. A butter yellow curse slammed into the door of the restaurant and shattered it, blasting shards of wood into the building. Lily's wand flashed up and she flicked it in the motion for a shield. The fragments stopped against the translucent barrier, and then clattered to the floor. Two masked combatants entered the door. One of them pointed his wand at Lily, and shouted "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The green jet of light spiraled out of his wand, and Lily barely had time to sieze a table with a rush of magic and throw it out in front of her, to catch the lethal spell. The table broke into two, with dark scorch marks around the point of fracture, and Lily violently slashed her wand and incanted "DEPULSO!"

The pieces of the table flew towards her interlocutors. One of them was fast enough to shatter the incoming block of wood and vanish the fragments.

The other wasn't so lucky, and received a table to the head for his troubles.

"You Bastard!" the faster of the pair shouted. "LACERO."

The nasty purple blade of magic flew towards lily, and she dove to get out of the way. Pain bloomed in her side as the curse nicked her belly, tearing her robes and causing blood to gush everywhere. Evidently, she wasn't fast enough. Rage welled within her, and she flicked her wand. A torrent of rope streamed out of it, burying the combatant underneath. She immediately followed with a flurry of incapacitating curses, tying him up, petrifying him, and knocking him out.

And maybe a cutting curse to his stomach.

She slumped against the wall, doing her best to ignore the thousands of splinters that tore their way through her clothing and into her legs and behind, the detritus of war, and she used light severing cfharms to cut off a section fo her clothing. The wound wasty nasty, and seeping crimson blood in large quantities.

She swept her wand slowly over the wound, hitting it with the laceration healing charms she knew of. The gash began to knit back together, the itch and prickle of the healing magic taking away from the agony of the wound.

And then it stopped; the magic failed. Liyl pondered why this was for a moment.

"Oh." She slapped her forehead. "I'm an idiot. It's a cursed wound from a dark spell." She flourished her wand and began to sweep it over the wound, murmuring 'Vulnera Sanentur. Vulnera Sanentur. Vulnera Sanentur." Her wand sung in delight at the action.

The wound knit itself up, this time the healing job holding with the more powerful spell. She sighed. The rest of her body was a mess. Her rear was covered in splinters, and she thought she strained something. Oh Well. She thought to herself, and healed the rest of the injuries that tshe could.

Satisfied, she ran out the door, and took cover behind a small stone column. The battle was raging in the street, dozens of curses were flying in each direction. To her left, Charlus and Dorea Potter stood proud in the street, anchoring the defense of the citizens of Godric's Hollow. Charlus glowed with a radiant aura as he fired off curse after curse at the Death Eaters. Dorea moved fluidly around him, low to the ground, defending him from whatever might show itself. Three vermillion killing curses streaked towards them, and Dorea flicked her wand, three pillars of earth rising to catch them. A glowing green skull with a serpent trailing out of it's mouth hung over the battlefield, looking down on them like some ambivalent god watching silly humans duke it out. To her right, several dozen cloaked figures congregated around columns and behind doors, taking cover and firing out curses whenever they could; the assault team trying to cause chaos, no doubt.

A tall, serpentine man apparated into the middle of the fray, a thin, silver bubble barely visible around him. He was wearing midnight black robes that flowed around him, and his face was an eerie, waxy pale. A long, white wand was clutched lazily in his hands.

"Charlus Potter." He called out in a high, sibilant voice. "You've fought bravely. How sad that this battle will be your last."

The battle stopped, each side moving to take cover from what was evidently about to happen. The last few curses fizzled as each side waited in baited anticipation.

"You don't scare me." Charlus laughed, twirling his wand. "I've fought worse than you."

The street shuddered as a legion of elephantine golems formed from the earth, the cobblestones clattering around them as they rose. Dorea twirled her wand, and solid ramparts formed out of the scattered paving.

Voldemort laughed a high, cold laugh, and slashed his wand, letting loose a flurry of curses and hexes at Charlus. Charlus responded in kind, matching Voldemort curse for curse. Dorea seemed to blur out of existence as she struck the curses with her wand, batting them away or into the ground.

The combatants snapped out of their trances, the battle recommencing as the three of them fought one another. Someone in a white mask flung a curse at Lily, and she batted it away. His technique was sloppy, but this man had powert ande wasn't afrtaid to launch some really nast curses.

"Incremo!" He shouted. Lily dodged the incoming jet of yellow light, and responded with an overpowered. "EXPELLIARMUS!"

He shielded, the crimson spell fizzling against his pale cyan barrier. Lily fired snapped off her favorite lightning curse. "FULMINIS"

The shield sparked, and flared, breaking under the assault. The man lfew back, and hit the wall behind him, slumping down. He shook his head and loosed another torrent of deadly spells. Lily flicked her wand to make a shield and fired off a number of incapacitating spells, glimmers of red and silver meeting yellow and brown.

The sound of thunder rumbled across the battlefield, as the army of elephant golems Charlus had conjured moved forward under the direction of his wand. Voldemort laughed a high, cold laugh.

"You dare send something as puny as elephants against the might of Lord Voldemort?" He flicked his wand, and a deep thrum poured out of it. The air shimmered around the tip. As the elephants approached him, they crumbled, the forces of magic holding them together dissipating under the strange power of the serpentine man. When there was but one elephant left, he slashed his wand and it went careening back towards it's maker. Charlus simply held out his hand, and the elephant shattered on it. Another flick of Voldemort's wand, and a cart went flying straight towards Charlus. He ignored attempting to dodge it, and instead took the opportunity to attack, firing of a stream of cutting curses at Voldemort. One penetrated the man's defenses and sliced open his cheek.

"Impressive." Voldemort nodded, dabbing his hand to the wound on his face. He flicked his wand, and the blood disappeared, the wound almost completely healed. The only indication that anything had happened at all being a thin red line, barely visible against his white face. "But not impressive enough, I'm afraid. You seem awfully resistant to blunt force objects. Let's see how strong you are when the power of Lord Voldemort is turned to a more refined force. Say, Fire?"

A jet of flames streamed from the end of Voldemort's wand. Hot, cherry red flames licked up against the brilliant turquoise shield Dorea brought forth. Charlus walked through the shield and banished most of the flames with a flick of his wand. The second jet of fire Voldemort brought forth lapped ineffectually against Charlus. He drove his holly wand into the ground, and four massive, gargantuan grey elephants rose from the earth, surrounding Voldemort, moving in to attack him. They wrapped their trunks around the man, squeezing him, as Charlus stood.

Voldemort just smiled. He snapped his fingers, and a shockwave rushed through the street, shattering glass and knocking over everything not nailed or stuck down. Lily braced herself against it, but still got knocked back, tumbling head over heels until her flight was stopped by a convenient wall greeting her nose with a sickly crunch. Blood streamed down her face.

In the center of the road, Charlus, being the closest, flew back, whatever aspect of the elephant that made him an immobile force of nature clearly failing him.

Or, just not mattering in the face of the power wielded by Voldemort. A dark part of Lily observed. The massive elephants themselves crumbled to powder under the force of the shockwave, the dust forming large piles around the street. Voldemort strode through it, a cruel smile on his face. With a careless wave of his hand, the wand of Charlus Potter flew towards him and he caught it.

"You have fought bravely today." He laughed. "Lord Voldemort thinks you deserve a reward for the valor you showed in combat today."

His white, eldritch hand holding Charlus's wand made a tight fist, and the focus shattered within it, releasing a spurt of white and grey sparks as it was destroyed. "Lord Voldemort believes in only one reward for such actions, however." He grinned cruelly. "Death."

Charlus fired off a wandless banishing charm that Voldemort lazily stopped in midair. He pointed the yew wand right at him, forcing Charlus onto the ground, splayed out in front of all, the invisible hands of magic contorting his body into a starfish shape. The man shuddered and shivered under it, shaking to escape the bindings and struggling against them.

"Avada Kedavra." Voldemort called out almost disinterestedly. The green beam of light struck Charlus Potter dead in the chest, and the man that dueled Grindelwald to a standstill fell limp.

"CHARLUS!" Dorea called out rushing over to her deceased spouse, having recovered from the earlier wave of magic. "YOU BASTARD."

She turned to Voldemort, her wand whipping at him. "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Once again, the Alley was lit up in the green light of the killing curse, casting eerie shadows everywhere. The jet of deathly energy sprialed right at Voldemort, who calmly conjured a metal pan in front of him, absorbing the blast.

"Such care for your late husband." Voldemort nodded with a smile. "I hope to teach the world that such attachments are a weakness. You shall make an excellent object lesson."

He leveled his wand at the sobbing woman. Her eyes flashed with deadly color, and she quickly shifted into the form of the Black Desert Cobra. She leapt at Voldemort, faster than lily could see, fangs outstretched, and sank them into his leg.

Voldemort laughed. "Snake venom? Hurt me? See what loss of a loved one does to people? Absolutely disgraceful." He flicked his wand and immobilized the snake, levitating it back towards the body of Charlus Potter. He then flicked his wand again, and the snake's body contorted back into the form of Dorea Potter.

"That was a very naughty thing to do." Voldemort stated ponderously. "I suppose I ought to send you to meet your husband, so you can both talk about how you died futilely against the awesome power of Lord Voldemort. AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Dorea's body fell limp, the light leaving her stone grey eyes. Voldemort held out his hands gregariously, and laughed, arcane sorceries carrying his voice much further than it otherwise should.

"See? Even your strongest are nothing against the power of Lord Voldemort." He called out, before apparating away.

Lily waved her wand over herself and ran forward to them. She clutched their broken bodies and sobbed over the lost friends.

How are we supposed to fight that? She pondered desperately. Charlus and Dorea are a world renown dark-wizard killing team, and they fell to him.

I have to become stronger. Strong enough to protect those I care about. She vowed. Strong enough that this will never happened again.

Chapter 13: Sangre de Vida

They… They were.

They were laughing.

Smugly.

Hot anger rose in Lily, and fire coursed through her veins at the sight – no – the thought of them.

Charlus and Dorea were Dead. Gone. Killed.

And these bastards found it funny.

She liked Dorea. Dorea was clever, and a great conversationalist, and cared for her. She liked Charlus, too. Charlus was simultaneously a bumbling old grandfather and a five year old, and yet both of those were just facades her wore because he thought it to be funny.

Fuck This. She thought. I need to be spending my time becoming stronger, not drowning in the hot fury that comes with being anywhere near these bastards. Off to the chamber, I guess.

She bid her friends goodbye and departed the great hall. Myrtle kept anyone else out of the 2nd floor bathroom, and from there it was a simple matter of double checking her surroundings and hissing out a soft command in Parseltongue.

Lily paused to appreciate the consideration that had gone into building the chamber. It was so much more than just a cavern underneath the lake. The entire area was enchanted; there was a compression charm on the stairs to make them easier to ascend and descend, there was a entrance tied to the bloodline of Salazar Slytherin, and hell, somehow, the goblin enchantment to absorb even the most potent of toxins was incorporated into the stone of the chamber, preventing stray basilisk venom or spells from doing to much damage to it.

As much as Lily hated to admit it sometimes, Salazar really was a genius.

"Ahhhh, the obstinate Heiress returns." Salazar drawled sarcastically, his voice carrying from the inner sanctum. "We were getting soooo lonely without you."

Maybe she was going to revoke that 'Genius' statement.

"Hello, Sal." Lily stated softly.

"Why so dour, my dear?" Salazar stared at her from his frame. "You're normally so chipper, or angry enough to level a continent. The Lily Evans I know is never just… sad."

"I'm glad to know you care." Lily rolled her eyes, and kicked her feet up the desk, much to his dismay.

"I really do care, Heiress, even if I'm not the best at showing it sometimes." He murmured, looking down.

"§No he doesn't§." Tessie hissed playfully, prodding Lily with her snout, the cool scales tickling against Lily's back.

"§Lies, foul serpent§!" Salazar snapped at his pet snake. Tessie hissed unintelligently back at him, but the general gist of it seemed to be disdain and mirth.

"§Flower, I can smell it on you. What troubles you so§?" She turned her attention to Lily, her bright yellow eyes flicking from the painting to Lil.

"§My boyfriend's Uncle and Aunt died fighting Voldemort§" Lily recounted mournfully, a dampness coming to her eyes. "§They were just killed by him, like they didn't matter. They were some of the strongest mages of our time, and he dealt with them so nonchalantly§."

"§Heiress§." Tessie hissed softly. "§Mourn not their memory. Grow strong enough to avenge them. This is the way of the serpent§."

Lily laughed morosely, at the absurdity of it all.

Salazar's green eyes bored down on her. "You know what must be done." He stated matter-of-factly. "Tom Riddle, or Voldemort, has grown too powerful for you to hesitate. He's had decades to grow strong, far stronger than you, and he's done many rituals to accelerate his improvement. You must be better. Everything he knew of rituals, I taught him, at least at the time he departed this chamber last. I taught him everything he knew; I did not teach him everything that I know. Do the rituals. Level the playing field. I implore you, Heiress, lest my noble legacy be sundered completely by that monstered."

Lily barked out a laugh. "Like a few rituals are going to put me on the same stage as him." She shook her head in disbelief. "It's going to take so much more than that."

Salazar cocked an eyebrow. "I think you misunderstand me, Heiress. I am not suggesting a simple few rituals. There are many, many rituals which you may and must undertake, which will grant you power beyond your greatest imagination. The road will not be easy, but to stand against and above Riddle rests at the end of the journey. Lily." His tone softened marginally. "You are for more talented than him when he was your age, and he had the advantages of rituals. You can and will surpass him."

Emotions churned within Lily. Guilt, like a wretched claw working its way through her insides. Apprehension, an icy noose slipping around her spine. Hunger, a pit in her stomach that rose and consumed her. Hunger for power, and vengeance. Vengeance, a torrent of steel fortifying her.

A single moment of clarity sliced through her reverie.

"Wait a minute, you're taking advantage of my emotional weakness to get me to attempt the rituals!" Lily accused the portrait, green eyes ablaze, red hair whipping around her head as her magic crackled, the emotions dredging it out of their pool.

Salazar nodded smugly. "Guilty as charged. It's working though, isn't it? You crave that power you know I can give you. That you can claim yourself. The power to tear your enemies to pieces, to surpass them in every way imaginable."

"I hate you." Lily hissed under her breath. Salazar laughed at her in triumph.

"But you know I'm right."

Lily sneered at him, and stormed over to the shelf behind the desk, pulling out the thick tome with almost all of Salazar's knowledge of rituals ensconced within. "Which ones do you suggest?" She asked with resignation.

Salazar grinned at her, his mustache and goatee stretching with the smile. "I suggest the ones for speed, resilience, stamina, and strength, the one for sensation. Choose one that directly affects your magical ability, and definitely the one to blunt the pain experienced when channeling large amounts of magic. Also, one or two for mental ability, and at least one to heal you." He looked thoughtful for a moment, then continued. "There's also the one that magically amplifies the Rush of Battle. That one can be quite useful."

"That sound like a lot." Lily muttered apprehensively.

"Oh, it is. But it will help you. And you have time. You don't have to do them all today." He shrugged.

"I see your point." Lily nodded. "Which one would the great and powerful Salazar Slytherin recommend I do first?"

The portrait smiled at her. "I would suggest the one for speed. The rest will require blood replenishing potions and magical ingredients. The one for speed needs only a bit of blood, a good bit of time, and a great deal of pain." Lily glared at the portrait, and started flipping through the book. "Page 126, Lily dear."

She turned to the page. The ritual wasn't too difficult or demanding. Just a few drops of blood, the runic array written out in flaming runes, and stillness. The ritual would hold her still for a long period of time. Force her to experience life slowly, so she could get the boon of experiencing life fast.

To Lily, that seemed like it would be worse than the extreme pain the ritual promised.

"Heiress, lift me up, carry me out into the chamber, so I may supervise you. It wouldn't do for you to turn yourself into a clump of charcoal because you made a mistake with the runes."

Lily blanched. "Is that a possibility?"

"A possibility? Certainly." Salazar grinned at her. "Likely? Not really. There is no gain in power without risk."

Lily shuddered, but pressed onward, lifting the frame off of the stone wall. She carried it out into the mane chamber, and propped it against a column. With a wave of her wand, she started drawing out the circle in brilliant emerald flames.

First, two concentric circles, the smaller just under three meters in diameter. Followed by a five-sided star drawn out within them. 49 runes describing the intent and meaning of the ritual, as well as the ignition mechanism between the circle.

"Acceptable work, Heiress." Salazar nodded approvingly. "I see nothing that portents you become charcoal."

"Your confidence in me is inspiring." Lily responded drily. "So now I drizzle the blood on the points of the star?"

"Exactly." Salazar nodded. Lily braced herself, and fired a mild piercing hex at her arm. Droplets of blood trickled out, falling to the ground at the apportioned places. Satisfied with the bleeding, she fired a healing spell at the wound, watching the magic knit up the injury. She placed her wand off to the side and sat in the middle of the star, carefully stepping over the lines of emerald fire, preternaturally still between the unmoving air of the chamber and the same arcane means that brought them into creation.

"Whenever you are ready, Heiress." The painting looked at her expectantly.

Lily nodded, and took a deep breath. "Initium."

The ritual engaged, the runes, written carefully in emerald fire, flared on intensely one by one, the dark green flames glowing a sharp white. The final rune engaged, and the entire circle ignited, burning painful lines into her eyes.

Then immediately, the lines were dark, the same emerald they were moments before. Lily thought something had gone wrong, when the pain hit. It seared through her, worse than anything else she had experienced. Pins and needles jabbed into every millimeter of skin. Fire bubbling up in her bones.

Then, just as suddenly as it started, the pain stopped.

And was replaced by an eternity. Time slowed to a crawl, the painting of Salazar barely moving, his speech a low, deep murmur that was just barely audible.

It felt like weeks. The wait.

Lily sat there, impossibly still, for she had no other choice, waiting for the ritual to finish.

She counted to ten thousand. Multiple times. Practiced her mental exercises for occlumency, and everything else she could do or think of to take the edge off of the boredom.

Finally, she felt the tender rush of magic as the ritual disengaged, the flames burning out, leaving behind little more than scorch marks where they were moments before.

"How was it, Heiress?" Salazar smirked at her.

"Hell." Lily muttered. "I was so bored."

"That does tend to be how it ends up." Salazar nodded. "Now, gorge yourself upon the fruits of your labors! See how fast you have become."

Lily nodded, and absentmindedly summoned her willow wand. It flicked into her hand in moments. She spun around the room.

Everything was just perceptibly slower – or she was faster. The latter made more sense. She conjured a stone and tossed it into the air, tracking its arc with her wand. A muttered curse later, and the dust softly impacted a wall, harmlessly.

She ran through some basic exercises, or movements from the fight the other day, and she was much more fluid in all of them. A wicked grin came over her, the tribulations of earlier forgotten.

"I see you are pleased Heiress." Salazar smiled, a genuine, warm smile, the first true one she had gotten from the old painting.

What did it mean that the first actual smile from the painting came after she engaged in highly illegal magic?

Probably best not to dwell on such things…

"Salazar, what would the ritual to heal Mary take?" Lily asked the old painting. He stroked his beard, contemplating her question.

"That's a difficult one. Rituals performed on other people are orders more difficult than ones preformed on oneself, that's just the ways the fundamental laws of magic work. You'd have to design a ritual to do it, custom tailored to the effects she had experienced, so you will need a lot more familiarity with rituals before you meddle in things you don't understand and kill her, yourself, or blow up a continent." He told her.

"Is that even possible?" Lily asked disbelievingly.

"What do you think happened to Alexandria, Atlantis, and Avalon?" Salazar grinned at her darkly. "It's not just that the demiurge has it out against great places whose names start with 'A'."

Lily shuddered. "So, I'll be careful with that. How likely is it? That I could accidentally level all of Scotland?"

"Not likely at all, Heiress. Most of the rituals that have that sort of destructive effects involve a lot more than simple healing or power rituals." Salazar waved a hand. "Nothing you might reasonably attempt will do that."

"So this is a lesson, of sorts?" The portrait nodded.

"Alright. So, now that that's done with, which ritual is next?" Lily asked.

"Ready to jump in so soon, after you've dipped your toes in the water? What ever happened to the high and mighty Lily Evans that refused to take part in such dark magic?" Salazar mused.

Lily grimaced. "She died on the streets of Godric's Hollow alongside Dorea and Charlus. She just didn't know it at the time."

The man nodded. "An understanding of the fires that have forged you is always important. I would suggest the ritual pertaining to resilience and healing. They tend to make following rituals a bit easier to undergo."

"Alright. What will I need?" Lily asked.

"You can find all of this in the book, Heiress." He rolled his eyes. "But, if you insist on me informing you, the one for resilience needs only some skin from a basilisk, or any creature with incredibly magical skin, for that matter, which we conveniently have on hand. It will also require a lot of blood, so you will want to brew up some blood replenishing potions beforehand, a feat of which I am sure you are capable."

"And the healing potion?" Lily asked.

"Significantly more difficult. The best one I've found requires three whole dittany plants, which are rare enough as it is, murtlap, among others. The exact details can be found in the book. Most notably, it needs a whole unicorn horn. And a whole lot of blood." He grinned toothily at her, his face stretching into a rictus.

Lily winced. "That's not going to come cheap. I'm not some loaded pureblood Heir. I'm a muggleborn from Cokeworth. I probably couldn't afford a single dittany plant – much less a whole unicorn horn."

Salazar grinned at her, much more pleasantly this time. "Lily, my dear. You need only ask."

She looked at him confusedly, and he sighed.

"Lily. Though I might have held my descendants in higher esteem than everyone else, I am if anything cynical and practical. I didn't count on them not squandering their fortunes. I anticipated the fact that I would quite likely have Heirs that were paupers. No familial wealth lasts forever; the ancestral treasuries always break, be it by war or gross incompetence." He nodded. "Sitting near you is a basilisk. A creature, which, may I remind you, is filled with one of the rarest and most valuable substances known to wizardkind: Basilisk venom."

Lily blinked. "So what, I milk Tessie for her venom and sell it?"

Salazar nodded. "More or less. You'll need to build a containment chamber, first. Basilisk venom destroys everything with the exception of the lining of the basilisk's venom sacks and the stone in the chamber. Even the scales of a basilisk corrode quickly under the toxin's noxious nature."

"What sort of chamber would it be?" Lily asked.

"A toroid, where the venom is kept constantly in motion. Of my many experiments, this has proven the most reliable and keeps the venom freshest."

"Like a tokamak?"

"I don't know. I've never heard of that." Salazar iinformed her. Lily considered, and then slapped herself gently. Of course Salazar wouldn't have heard of something Russian Muggles invented less thirty years ago.

"Right. Anyway, I think I know what you are saying. I'm going to set to work." Lily said.

The whole ordeal had been rather… boring.

Tessie was more than happy to help her out with some venom, and enchanting the receptacle was tricky, but ultimately not too difficult.

Apparating to Knockturn Alley to sell the venom was the only place she was worried, but the shopkeeper hadn't asked any questions, and she had walked out of their ten thousand Galleons richer.

She then went to the apothecary, and was only six thousand galleons richer by the time that was all said and done, but it was still a humbling experience to hold money that, if converted into muggle coin, would be worth several times more than her parents house.

And so here she was, dribbling some mynoc shells into the potion in front of her, watching as it shifted from a puce green to the deep rouge of blood. She killed the fire, and let the potion cool. Her blood-replenishers were done. They would be ready for consumption after whatever ritual she did.

Salazar stared at her. "The healing one first. It will help you recover faster, and you will be able to increase the rate at which you do rituals." Lily nodded and began drawing the ritual array in the emerald fire.

The shape was unusual, a three-pointed star inscribed inside a triangle. At each end stood a whole plant of dittany, soaked in murtlap essence.

Lily pulled out her wand, and braced herself. This was going to take a lot of blood. She gave it a flick and a long, dark gash opened up on her arm. Her wand whined with the action, affronted that it would be used for the opposite of its intended purpose. It started seeping blood profusely, and Lily was careful to sprinkle the blood carefully, tracing out the arrays of fire.

Her face grew an ashy color as the blood loss began to hit her, the first tendrils of dizziness messing with her mind and making her dizzy. She took a deep breath, and sat in the array. "Initium."

The fired flared, the lights not so blinding this time.

And then the pain hit. A scorching, malevolent pain that burnt her up, and yet felt like someone drove a truck hemorrhaging aloe through her very essence. Her skin began to crawl, in addition to the body wide pain, and Lily shrieked as the sensation reached an unearthly crescendo; she felt like she was being flayed alive.

Then, suddenly, the ritual stopped, the dancing lights on her closed eyes ceasing, the majority of the pain ending with it. Yet, the surface of her body felt prickly and itchy. She opened her eyes. The burnt husks of the various materials used in the ritual were scattered around her, and the stone of the chamber was once again scorched in the relief of the runes. The looked down at her body, and gasped in shock.

The ritual had burnt away the only clothing she wore into it: her underclothes. But, more concerningly, it had also burnt away her skin. She looked down and saw the blackened flakes of what must have been her skin scattered around her feet. Her entire body was colored in the dark red of muscle, marbled with the white and yellow of fat and sinew, and the occasional blue of a protruding vein. She flexed her hands experimentally, and saw the muscle fibers contracting and relaxing with the action. The location she had sliced open for the blood was much harder to see against the red backdrop, but she found it. The fibers were knitting together, the scar tissue giving way to healthy tissue as always happened with magical humans, when the wound wasn't cursed, at least. Every time she touched something, it hurt, the normal protective layer that separated her from the outside world having been stripped away.

And for the second time that week, Lily Evans was more terrified then she'd ever been before.

Chapter 14: Rejected by a Friend

"That has been known to happen on occasion." Salazar looked at her with a hint of a smirk.

"THAT HAS BEEN KNOWN TO HAPPEN? THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE TO TELL ME!" Lily shouted at her mentor, the tip of her wand crackling with both lightning and fire.

"Calm down Heiress. There is a reasonable explanation." Salazar raised his hands placatingly. "And besides, it's already growing back."

Lily looked down, and saw he was speaking the truth. Skin was sprouting out of the muscles and stretching to cover her body. It was rather pale, but it was getting thicker and more naturally colored by the minute. Her mane of red hair sprouted from her head, rapidly growing to it's previous length. "And what would that reasonable explanation be?" She hissed, with significantly less bite.

"Toteming." Salazar told her cryptically. Lily cocked her head at him, and then let out a laugh.

"Of course." She muttered. "Of freaking course."

Salazar just looked amused.

"I'm so in touch with the symbolic nature of the snake I shed." She muttered to herself, to Salazar's smile. "It was my first ritual that used so much blood, I'm going through a form of emotional rebirth, it would only be natural that I'd shed in a ritual designed for healing and rejuvenation."

"Very clever, Heiress." Salazar smiled. "And mostly true."

"Still would have been nice to have gotten a warning, old man."

Salazar smirked. "It won't happen if you are expecting it, and regrowing all of your skin due to the ritual is a powerful act of symbology. With all of the emotional turmoil you've been going through, and the drastic shifts in your worldview, you will be better for it."

Lily scowled at him as she took a swig from the flagon of blood replenishing potion, the bitter, metallic liquid sliding down her throat and returning feeling to her extremities. Humour returned to her cheeks, and her blood vessels swelled with the infusion of the vital essence.

"You know, blood is powerful in more ways than one with magic." Salazr mused, seeing what she was going through.

"In what way?"

"It's not an altogether uncommon practice to imbue a wand with a temporary offering of blood that is sacrificed to greatly empower a spell." He told her.

"That's… Interesting, I guess." Lily shrugged. She wasn't sure she wanted to be doing blood magic where it was anywhere noticeable. The chamber was fine to do 'dark' rituals in. The school proper, not so much.

"It's more than interesting, Silly girl." He chided her. "It's foundational to some of the most powerful combat techniques employed by wizards both lessor and greater. Entire muggle armies have been laid low by it. Magical forces tend to be less grouped and more resilient, but the principal still stands."

"And it's probably so illegal they'd throw me in Azkaban and throw away the key." Lily shook her head.

"Only if they found out." Salazar trailed off. "But wise, for the time being at least. Only once you are so powerful that they couldn't touch you even if they so desired would doing that in public be worth the risks."

"Maybe I'll use it as a trump card against Voldemort." Lily laughed softly to herself. "Keep it as a card up my sleeve, one I don't need to play, but can, should the need to."

"That's the spirit, Heiress." Salazar smirked at her. "Now that you are healing from the ritual, I would suggest that you practice for your upcoming exams."

Lily waved him off. "I'm a sixth year. We don't have real exams this year."

"Then practice for when you once again meet your enemies on the most glorious field of combat."

"I can certainly do that." She gritted her teeth. Her blood boiled at the thought of what happened to Charlus and Dorea. She would avenge them. She would avenge them, and everyone else that died at the hands of Voldemort.

"Let me see your techniques. Cast some for me, in practice." Salazar requested, his bright green eyes staring hungrily at her. Lily nodded, and conjured a row of targets with a sweep of her wand. Her willow wand leapt into her hand, and she fired off a chain of spells into each one, barely speaking for any. Bright streams of light moved from one side of the chamber to another under her direction.

"Very good." Salazar nodded approvingly. "Now, unleash some more powerful stuff. Don't go all out but give me a good showing."

Lily nodded and twirled her wand. A brilliant bolt of lightning leapt from it and impacted the targets, turning the few that survived into cinders. The chamber was illuminated in the bright lights. Lily released the magic, the ache in her bones lessening almost immediately, and flicked her wand in a wide arc, liquid flames pouring out of it and landing on the remains of the targets. With another flick, some chunks of rock reshaped themselves into large speks, and moved through the region Lily had turned into a miniature hell with her magic.

The faint clapping that came from Salazar's painting sounded like the rustling of canvas, and her ancestor had an uncharacteristic wide grin. "Excellent showing."

"Really?" Lily perked up. Salazar was known as a great duelist in his time. This compliment meant a lot to her.

She'd never admit she was stating to grow fond of the painting with an ego the size of Tessie. That wasn't going to happen.

"No." Salazar snorted. "That was really flashy, and I would be absolutely terrified if I were the average wizard and facing you on the field of open combat. The fact of the matter is that will never happen. Most of the cases where you are fighting the average wizard will be within buildings and cities, or occasionally forests, where going all out like that is wasteful and destructive at best, and a terrible idea at worst. In the rare incidences where you meet someone worthy of your prowess, it will not matter where you are fighting, unless said location is so inherently magical that going all out will result in exorbitant risks."

Lily pouted at him, but paid attention carefully.

"From what I saw of your repertoire, most of your spells are blocked by the basic protego series of shields. A good contego on one's arm, and half of your spells will slip right off." He shook his head. "You need to learn the really powerful spells, the ones that shear through shields like there is nothing there or bypass them entirely. The ones that, when they hit someone, put them down for good." He grew impassioned with the last statement. "Incremo. Glacipulmo. Destrada. Spells of their ilk."
"I recognize Destrada." Lily stared thoughtfully at the painting. "That spell is a nasty piece of work. Causes all of the nerves in the body to fire at once and shuts down the action potential in the axion. It was mentioned in a book that discussed muggle scientific advancements prompted by magical spells. I don't recognize the others. Those sound like the really nasty spells with no good counters, as they either rely on other people helping immediately or the spell being cast immediately."

"Incremo burns someone up from the inside. Glacipulmo freezes the lungs. Neither is going to end well if you get hit with it. You'll find a great many spells that are similar in the library."

"Those are spells that sound like the killing curse with less immediacy." Lily shuddered.

"In many ways, they are." Salazar smirked at her.

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable using those."

"Why not? What do you have to lose? A stasis charm applied to robes and a competent healer will resuscitate almost anything else. You'll have to face your enemies again, and this time they will have intimate knowledge of how you operate. How you fight.

"Next time you meet the Death Eaters and test their mettle against yours, you will face them in a manner worth of my lineage. And you will annihilate them."

"I suppose so." Lily looked away. "I'm going to go spend some time with James, now that my skin has all healed up."

"At least one of us is enjoying themselves." The painting grumbled.

Lily crept along the corridor. It was sterile, as all proper hospitals were, and there was only a mild amount of light coming into the hall. She couldn't see herself, of course. Her disillusionment charm was too good for that, but her eyes, augmented by the dozen odd rituals she had done thus far saw easily in the dim light.

And here she was. The long term spell damage ward. Unlike the intensive care and basic healing wards, there was no bustle late at night with the constant motion. The rest of the building was alive with activity; people still got hurt at night, after all, but here, no one was up and about.

Perfect. She waved her wand, and the door swung open.

Inside the ward there were only a few people lying in the white hospital beds. A bald man lay in at the end of the room, his eyes glistening with eldritch energy, staring unseeing into the ceiling. A rather old woman with long black lines run across her wrinkled body was snoring softly across from him.

And there she was. Mary MacDonald. Her close friend shook softly, the aftereffects of whatever was used on her still lingering after all this time.

Lily's temper flared just looking at her. She didn't deserve this.

She smiled. That's where she came in.

"I'm sorry, Mary." She muttered over her friend's body. She held her wand to her chest, and incanted softly.

The entire room lit up in a flash of brilliant light as a bit of lighting cackled from the tip of the wand to her chest. Ozone mingled with the scents from the cleaning and medical supplies, filling the ward with an acrid, unpleasant smell.

Her friend went still, dead.

Lily tapped her wand to her friend's forehead, and watched as the body contorted beneath her, shifting its way into a plain silver ring. Lily picked up the jewelry from where it lay on the bed, and slipped it on her middle finger. The magics of the disillusionment charm enveloped it.

Satisfied, Lily was about to depart when she looked back and saw a flagon of potion for Mary next to the bed. She grabbed it. It would go to waste otherwise, wouldn't it?

She slinked out of the hospital, moving her way up to the top floor. The roof wouldn't be great, brooms and carriages bearing injured wizards regularly arrived and departed from it. It would be a mite better than the ground floor, however.

Lily smiled deeply as she took in the night air.

This was where things got interesting.

She'd be lying if she said she thought this part of the plan all the way through. At this point, she had more of a vague idea and a wish.

And a drogue parachute used to slow fighter aircraft. There was that too. It was amazing what one could procure with several hundred thousand pounds.

Lily let the wind pick up, and pulled the cord. The orange and white chute flailed in the wind, pulling against her, but the wind wasn't quite strong enough to do much but make her uncomfortable.

Lily waved her wand and the wind started howling, the currents of air forcing themselves by her and at her location, the location of the chute.

She jumped, and flew away, riding a column of impossible air.

"Au revoir." She whispered giddily, drifting across the London sky. Not true flight, per se, but fairly close.

Lily kissed the ring, muttered "Soon, Mary. Soon." She apparated back to the chamber.

Arriving in a vortex of energy, she immediately set to work. She placed the ring in the middle of a ritual circle, and cast the reversion spell at it. "Redeo."

It morphed from a silver ring into the dead form of Mary MacDonald. With a tap of her wand, she restarted her heart, and then healed up everything she could with merely a wand. Her chest began to rise and fall again, and her pulse came through strong.

"Sorry about this, dear." Lily muttered for the second time that night, and then flicked her wand to draw blood from her friend.

The ritual would take an awful lot of blood, from both her and Mary. She followed it with a slice of her own forearm, letting her blood mingle with her friends. Satisfied with the sanguine aspect, Lily flicked the cork off of a blood replenishing potion and downed it. She traced golden fire around her friend, drawing the healing ritual in the air above and around her.

"Initium." Lily incanted, engaging the ritual about her friend. The fire flared bright yellow for a few moments, and Mary started to scream.

Lily smiled. This was working. She shouldn't be able to scream, but the ritual had evidently repaired enough of her shattered mind for her to do so.

The fires died and the blood evaporated – both leaving behind scorch marks. Mary laid on the ground, shivering, her body covered in sweat as she convulsed.

"Shhhh. It's ok now." Lily swept forward and held an arm around her friend. "It's ok. You're safe now." She patted Mary's back.

"Li-Li-Lily?" Mary gasped. Lily nodded, and Mary wrapped her arms around her, holding on for life. "S-So d-dark. A-a-and m-me-messy."

Lily hugged her and continued patting her back, the hospital gown having come apart in the stress of the magic of the ritual. Little more than scraps clung to her friend, under the force of sweat.

"Here, drink this." Lily proffered a blood-replenishing potion. Mary clutched it and hungrily downed a few swallows of it before throwing up.

"N-nasty."

"I know, Mary. I need you to drink it though. You've lost a lot of blood."

Mary nodded, and drank the rest of the bottle. She gasped loudly when she finished. "So nasty."

"I know, Mary." Lily pulled her friend tight, trying to keep the chilled, humid air of the chamber in abeyance. "We need to get some real clothes on you. It's cold here."

Mary nodded with a shudder, and Lily waved her wand, conjuring a bundle of winter clothing. Mary looked at her in shock.

"You've – You've ch-changed s-so much, Lily. Y-You look s-so different." Mary commented weakly as she reached for the clothing. "H-h-how long was I.. Wh-what happened?"

"Someone used a potion on you that tore your mind to shreds, Mary." Lily informed her friend. "You've been in a vegetative state for almost eight months."

Mary spat, her saliva still mixed with the lingering bits of potion. "W-what? I've b-b-b-b-been ou-out for h-how long?"

"Almost eight months." Lily rubbed Mary's shoulders gently.

"H-how was I healed?" Unlike most people, Mary wanted to be a healer. She knew a lot about medicine and the human body already, and she knew that afflictions of the mind were either healed in a matter of weeks, or never. The rare cases that took long stretches of time to mend always showed gradual progress. She looked around, taking note of the scorch marks on the ground. "Y-you u-u-used a b-blood r-ritual."

Lily just nodded.

"Lils. That's Dark!" Mary accused, turning her eyes to Lily, the anger burning away the linger stutter, her body growing still. "Ritual magic is illegal for a reason, Lils." She stared at lily, and then gasp in outrage. "You'd never try something like this on someone you cared about without trying it on yourself first." She observed. Mary was always a smart one. "You've done rituals yourself. On yourself. That's Dark."

Lily could only nod, slowly.

"Weeping heavens." Mary ran a trembling hand through her damp, long hair. "You've crossed a line this time. This isn't killing Potter and resuscitating him. This is really dark. You broke me out of a hospital and performed a dark ritual on me!"

She broke out into gentle sobs.

"Mary." Lily said softly, not trusting herself to anger. "This isn't the same world you left. The Death Eaters have grown powerful. They've killed Charlus and Dorea Potter. They've killed families. They want to kill you and me." She paused. "If taking tools out of their box is what it takes to beat them, so be it."

Mary just cried in her arms. She looked up, and took in the chamber. "Lils, where are we."

"The chamber of secrets." Lily replied.

"That's a myth."

"It's reality, staring you in the face."

"In all the legends you have to be a descendant of Slytherin to enter." Mary stated.

"Reports of my muggle ancestry were greatly exaggerated." Lily spoke softly. "I'm descended from Slytherin somewhere in my family tree."

"Lily! That's Dark!" Mary shrieked hysterically, and struggled against Lily's arms. "When. When did you discover this?"

"End of fifth year. After Snape's… words."

"My best friend." Mary cried into her hands. She went limp, and stopped resisting Lily's embrace. "My best friend."

"I'm here for you, Mary." Lily soothed.

"NO!" She snapped. "No, you aren't. You've done dark and illegal things. I want nothing to do with this. I want to get out of here."

"Mary-" Lily began.

"NO!" Mary bit out. "I don't want anything more to do with you. I want to go home, away from here."

"Fine." Lily sighed. "Once you are done recovering, I'll be right out."

"Not when I'm done recovering. Now." Mary hissed, sharply enough that Lily almost mistook her for Tessie.

"Fine." Lily sighed. "Will you at least keep what you've learned here a secret?"

"I will." Mary lied.

"You've never been that good of a liar." Lily shook her head. Tears dribbled down her cheek, and fear crawled icily down her spine. She couldn't let what she had done become known. Dorea took her secrets to her early grave. The rest of the world wouldn't do such a thing. She'd have to take Mary off of the chessboard, somehow. It pained her, but she couldn't go to Azkaban. She couldn't win from hell. "Even when you were fully in control of your mental faculties."

She waved her wand and Mary was petrified. Lily turned her once friend's stiff body over and carved a set of runes into her back with a thin cutting curse. She linked it sympathetically to a stone tablet, and set it on the ground. The then muttered an ancient, forgotten curse, and a bolt of blue light hit Mary in the chest, seeping into her body.

"I'm Sorry." Lily apologized. "I'm so, so sorry." She ran back into the inner sanctum and came back with a burlap pouch, setting the jangling bag next to the girl in front of her. With a wave of her wand, she dispersed the binding.

"What the hell, Lily?" Mary shrieked.

"I can't let you spill my secrets." Lily muttered frantically, running a hand through her auburn hair, which glimmered with an ethereal brightness, a side effect of a previous ritual. "This bag has a thousand galleons, enough to set up outside of Britain. Away from here." She gestured at the tablet. "That's linked to the runes I drew on your back. It'll serve to drive you away from telling anyone I've done. I've hit you with Boudica's Wrath. You have a day and an hour to depart the British Isles. That should be enough."

"Lily, that's dark!" Mary stared at her once friend. "You can't just curse me like that."

"I just did!" Lily snapped back. "I just did. There's nothing that can be done now. I'll apparate you to Gringotts and throw a glamour on you. You can make your way from Britain from there."

"Lily."

"I can't do anything more." She shook her head. "I just can't. I won't go to jail because you aren't willing to get your hands dirty."

"Stay safe out there, Lils." Mary spoke softly. Lily cast a glamour on her and apparated her to the front steps of Gringotts. "Don't reach too far. Don't fall too far. And thank you."

"Go live your life, Mary. Run, run and live your life." Lily shook her head.

"Just not in Britain." Mary smiled sourly at Lily.

"Just not in Britain." Lily agreed. She gave a half-hearted smile and apparated back to the Chamber.

The Chamber always was a great place to cry.

Chapter 15: Baptism by Fire

Lily intertwined her fingers with James's, resting her head on his shoulder. He was warm and smelled of cologne and broom polish. Their legs hung off the roof of the Daily Prophet, and his invisibility cloak flapped softly in the wind.

"Is this really a great idea?" Lily asked.

"Nope." James replied, unabashed. She could tell by the tone of his voice that he was grinning, even if she couldn't see him.

Damn invisibility cloak.

"So long as we both are aware." She murmured. The people in the alley below were milling around, going about their business. Unlike previous visits to diagon, however, there was an urgency to it. They needed to be somewhere. Anywhere but out in the open where they were exposed. Where they were vulnerable. Lily glanced down and saw Sirius and Marlene snogging in what they believed to be a secluded area.

Perverts.

James tucked up the invisibility cloak and dropped it over her. The cloak stayed entirely invisible, lacking the characteristic shimmer of most cloaks when they did that.

She had asked Salazar about it, and he had agreed that it was rather odd.

She snuggled up close to her beau.

James leaned in for a kiss, and she reciprocated, deepening their embrace.

And how deep their tongues went.

At least they had an invisibility cloak…

Lily pulled back and gasped for air. Snogging was fun, but it got kind of messy at times. James wiped his lips on his sleeve, and she rolled her eyes at him, daintily conjuring a handkerchief to wipe them, before vanishing it, all wordlessly. James's eyebrows raised into his messy hairline.

Lily rolled her eyes. He should be used to her doing crazy stuff with magic by now.

"I love you." James blurted out. A sinking feeling entered Lily's stomach. She liked James, a lot, but she didn't quite thing that she loved him yet.

And this was a big step. A big declaration. He had professed his love for her. She had to say something, but she just didn't know what. How does one respond to that? Her thoughts raced almost as fast as her bolts of lightning.

Naturally, the universe decided that was the perfect time for the screaming to start. Lily's head snapped towards the disturbance.

A squadron of black cloaked, white masked wizards were working their way down the alley, causing chaos in their wake, firing curses with abandon both into the crowd and businesses. The crowd flowed away from them, running away as fast as they could. Lily saw several people go down and get trampled in the chaos.

"We'll finish this conversation later." Lily commanded, reaching for her wand. "We've got to be clear headed in the fight."

"But" James started. The glare Lily shot him tempered him.

"But nothing. If we make mistakes, we die. We need to picket for everyone else, keep the bastard's attention on us and off the innocent civilians." Lily spoke quickly, analyzing the brewing battlefield. If she could get into position and cast that impressive shield of hers, the one that could cover an entire alleyway with relative ease…

"But we're innocent civilians." James protested playfully.

"There's nothing innocent about you." Lily dismissed him and slipped out of the cloak. "Go link up with Black and Marlene, we could use their help with this. I'll get started with the defense, keep the crowds safe."

"But there's a long way between us and –" James started, seeing Lily had already run off. "The front.

Lily bounded along the rooftops, gathering the wind for her next trick. Currents of atmosphere were pulled into position by the brewing magic on the tip of her wand. The air whipped at her back, sending her red hair flying around her and aerating her clothing.

You can do this, Lily. She thought to herself, taking in a few deep breaths as she ran.

She ran towards the ledge of the building, eyeing the ground ahead of her. She then planted a foot on the edge of the rooftop and jumped.

The currents of wind pushed her forward violently, like a god had slapped her with a cricket bat. Lily let time slow down for her, focusing on exactly how she needed to land. She released the wind currents and pooled magic on the tip of her wand in a vibrating cushion of the arcane.

Lily landed in the street, her right hand behind her with wand grasped, and her left hand and knee leaning into the ground. A nigh perfect hero's landing.

A cobblestone shattered beneath her, the ritual having made her much tougher than she looked. The Death Eaters all turned to face her, most at least a little shocked to see a figure appear from the sky. Or she imagined they looked shocked, not that she could tell with their faces obscured.

She might have picked up a touch of Salazar's melodrama.

Faster than anyone could react, her wand snapped forward and a shield bloomed from it, enveloping the street in a wave of rippling blue magic. The shield glowed with an ethereal light.0 Lily kept her wand ahead, pouring magic into the defensive fixture. The death eaters diverted their attention from the local businesses onto her and unleashed a torrent of spells at her, focusing fire on the shield in front of her.

It was an improvement from them firing spells with abandon into the crowd of civilians. A crack appeared in the shield, the magical bombardment breaking down the barrier.

Lily forced out more magic into the shield. Her bones whined in pain as the shield glowed a bright blue. The power restabilized the shield, and the crack glo0wed with a bright white light and sealed.

Lily had done the ritual to minimize the pain of channeling magic, which meant that if she hadn't, she'd have keeled over in pain from this. As it was now, it was a good bit more than an annoyance. Like someone was shoving knives into her at regular intervals.

"Who the hell is this bitch?" One of the Death Eaters wondered aloud. His black wand pointed at Lily, and fired off a spell, the characteristic spiral shape of a shield breaker.

Unfortunately for him, breaking shields required a great deal of magic puissance, even using spells especially designed for the task. The shield flared white as it weathered the attack.

"Killing curses, Now!" One of the members of the team, a squad leader - based on their silver mask, ordered. The green jets of light all leapt from their wands to a chorus of "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Amateurs. Lily thought to herself, watching the green lights converge on her position. They should have spread out their spells. This is almost too easy.

Salazar had told her about the 3 D's of defending from the killing curse. Dodge, Deflect, or Die.

It was always best to use the first option, whenever possible.

Lily ducked and rolled to the side. She let the shield dissipate, and fired off a couple of rapid, silent, gestureless disarming charms, their bright red sparks a stark contrast to the green beams promising imminent death. She got back up to her feet and cast the shield again. A wand ripped from one of their hands by a lucky disarming charm clattered against the shield, falling to the cobblestones with soft report. The rest of the bastards focused their fire on the shield again, hoping that by overloading it they might accomplish what their killing curses had failed to do, and Lily groaned under the pain of the dozens of blasting curses impacting her fortification of light, bright red, orange, and yellow explosions detonating at the edge of the shield.

"Now, again with the killing curses!" The same Death Eater commanded. "This time, aim at the space around her! Don't miss her you worthless bastards!"

Deflect was the second part of the three D's, and proof positive that people have been butchering the English language since at least 950 AD. 'Deflect' was a misnomer, as it was impossible to do with the Killing curse.

Another wave of acid green light came in her general direction. She let the shield fizzle as she lowered her wand in preparation to conjure a barrier of some sort. The killing curse couldn't pass through solid objects, and would instead detonate on them, splattering hot, cursed shards everywhere. Lily envisaged a stone rising from down -

When she got a good view of all the curses and their trajectories, her senses boosted by rituals, she couldn't help but let out half of a laugh, abandoning the plan to conjure a barrier of stone.

And stand perfectly still. The deadly jets of light all missed her, having been shot exclusively at the space she wasn't in, and Lily seized the opportunity to go on the offensive, letting loose with a couple of nasty spells that, while they wouldn't kill the Death Eaters, would definitely put them down for the count. Her ritual-boosted reflexes almost sang at the beautiful challenge she was given, even as her wand expressed it's antipathy to being used for anything other than her beautiful shield by prickling in her hand.

Lily felt her body start to just being to glow, the bare beginnings of an aura clinging to her as she released spell after spell of potent magical energy.

The Death Eaters retaliated, taking advantage of the dropped shield to get in some extra hits of their own on her that weren't the high energy, hard to repeatedly cast killing curses. Lily twirled her wand and pulled up a smaller, personal shield, foregoing the street wide defense spell in a bout of pragmatism. For a brief moment, dark spots swam on her eyes as the overwhelming light show slammed into the barrier.

"That's my best mates girlfriend you bitch!" the voice of Sirius Black called out from behind her. Lily could feel Marlene rolling her eyes, even without seeing her. Lily flicked her wand, producing the powerful, street defending shield for the third time that day. "My lady, if you will be so kind as to keep that wonderful street covering shield up, Marlene and I will be more than happy to protect you from Killing Curses."

"You're so kind." Lily drawled as best she could while clenching her teeth from the pain of the shield and all of the spells crashing against it. "Where's James?"

"Prongsy decided he didn't want to show up for the fight, but he'll be here in spirit." Sirius replied with a tense smirk.

Which meant he's somewhere in that mess under his invisibility cloak. And so we need to be careful with spells we randomly throw out. Lily decided. "Excellent, I can really feel his presence nearby. I think it will really give us an advantage in the fight."

"Less talking, more defending." Marlene chided them, conjuring a wall of stone that absorbed the bright red, malevolent splash of a cruciatus. Sirius sighed, and raised his wand.

A death eater fell to seemingly nothing at all, like he was attacked by thin air itself, which almost certainly meant James was out there in the fracas. Speak of the devilish rogue and he shall come. Lily supposed. All told, that cloak of his is a ridiculous advantage. Normal cloaks can't be used this combatively because they have too many tells. The leader appeared to take a glance at the incapacitated form, but it was almost impossible to tell under his mask.

Sirius fired a series of spells through an opening Lily willed into the barrier, incapacitating the Death Eater for the time being. The seams of the wall folded back together, closing the only vulnerability in the shield with a slight hiss.

Another Death Eater fell suddenly to the cobblestone road, a brief glimmer of red light the only indication anything had even happened. The leader of the cohort looked around wildly for whatever had just dropped another one of his men out of the blue.

Marlene took advantage of his momentary distraction to slip a vibrant red stunning spell past his defenses. He fell to the ground with the clatter of a wand and a rustle of black cloth. Another ran forward and resuscitated him, holding their wand to his chest and incanting. He rose and scrambled back, struggling to his feet.

Marlene growled ferally and fired off a chain of spells, the man deflecting all of the bursts of magic into the ground with a flurry of wand movements.

An army of stony grey hands rose from the cobblestone, reaching forward to grasp the man in a dozen places. He fought them off, but they were stone, and weren't seriously affected by anything he could do.

He was dragged down to the ground, thrashing against his bindings to no avail.

"It's no good, these bastards are too effective at holding us off!" The silver-masked man called out. "General retreat!"

One by one, the combatants disappeared in pops, phasing out of existence, away from the alley. The remaining silver-masked death eater waved his wand in a complex pattern and incanted viciously:

"IGNIS DIABOLICUM!" He shouted, slashing his wand. A great burst of cherry red and vicious yellow flame tinged with inky black perturbations erupted from the end, and he disappeared.

"Well fuck." Sirius swore. James pulled off his cloak urgently and ran at the shield in a manner reminiscent of a deer fleeing a burning forest. "That's Fiendfyre."

"No shit, Sirius." James spat, passing through the dissipating shield wall. "Your grasp of the obvious is incredible. Everyone knows what fiendfyre is, we cover it in second year defense."

Lily gazed at the demonic flame, both beautiful and terrifying, awesome and disgusting. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, centering herself emotionally and magically.

She new what needed to be done.

"DILUVIUM DAEMONICA!" She incanted, shoving her wand into the ground, the cobbled stones almost parting for her willow focus. Several meters down the road, a geyser erupted from the street, brackish, foul smelling black water pouring out into the world with great velocity.

Fiendfyre had very few ways of dealing with it. Sure, it could be put out by some extremely advanced form of alchemical water, but Lily didn't make a point of carrying around several cubic meters of the stuff. 'Starving' it of magic to feed on tended to work as well, but Diagon was a veritable smorgasbord of magic.

That only left demonic water. Whereas fiendfyre had a desire to feed and destroy, Demonic water was its counter, preferring to extinguish and sweep away. If presented in equal quantities, they would enter a positive feedback cycle with one another until they finally exhausted, destroying thousands of acres of land.

If one was vastly superior in size to the other, however…

Lily poured everything she had into the demonic water, making sure to smother every bit of the malevolent fire, breaking up the flames and preventing it from coalescing into the forms of beasts.

The coiling water formed into a serpent, a massive python, and began to squeeze the flame, forcing it down and pulling it back. Lily released the water and focused on the column of steam, channeling it up into the air, away from where the superheated water could cause needless injuries.

The fire raged against the dying of the flame, sending javelins of itself through the coiling snake, trying to break it up as best it could. all to no avail. Jets of steam rose from the serpent, but the power was too much.

The light dimmed noticeably, and the flame at the center was summarily extinguished.

Having extinguished what it was brought forth for, the python turned towards them, seeking another thing to extinguish and drown.

Bringing forth accursed elements so often saw them turn on their conjurer.

"GLACIUS MAXIMA!" Lily whipped her wand at the angry serpent formed from nothing but black water and magic. It froze, the wave of cold air and energy washing over the beast stilling it, a singing noise emanating from it as the liquid turned to ice. The snake struggle against it's demised, violent cracking sounds piecing the eerie song.

It was to no avail, the ice magic turning it into a slightly cracked ice statue that glimmered and inky black, emanating preternatural disdain.

"Woah." Sirius breathed in awe at the display. Lily walked forward and tapped the ice statue with her wand. It vanished in a flash of magic.

"That was… That was intense." James panted. Marlene walked around the three Death Eaters they had managed to capture, binding each one with extra spells.

One could never be too careful, after all.

"I'm… tired." Lily sighed, rubbing her eyes. James rushed over to her and grabbed her, stabilizing his girlfriend.

"You damn well have right to be, Lils. That was some serious casting." He held tightly onto her.

"Nighty-night." Lily's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and her head fell on to James's shoulder as she passed out.

"I'm not sure whether to be impressed, scared, or aroused." Sirius pondered aloud, idly playing with his wand. "Maybe all of the above."

A silent sting hex from both Marlene and James sent into his rump had him jumping.

"I kid! I kid!" Sirius muttered contritely. "Twas a joke!"

James rolled his eyes, and lay Lily down on the cobblestones. She was cute, unconscious. Her hair was strewn around her like a flame at the end of a candle. Her normally radiant green eyes were shut, and her chest rose and fell slowly. Her willow wand was loosely clutched in her hand; even unconscious she was unwilling to part with it. He gently pried it out of her grasp and slipped it into his pocket. She had pulled off some really impressive magic with it today. Sure, all three of the apprehended Death Eaters were his doing, but she had saved countless innocents with that crazy shield of hers.

He rolled his shoulders to stretch, making sure the cloak was tucked deep into one of his pockets, and kneeled, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend. When he was ready, he grunted and hoisted her up, carrying her in his arms.

"You know mobilicorpus exists, right?" Sirius asked, a cheekiness glinting in his eyes.

"Shut. Up. Sirius." James spat out through his teeth. "We've had this conversation before."

"I know. Listen, Marlene and I will keep watch over these bastards. Make sure no one tries anything. You should go ahead and take the Hellflower someplace nice and relaxing." Sirius waggled his eyebrows.

James sighed, and apparated away from his lecherous dog of a friend.

Chapter 16: To Protect Those We Love

"Welcome home, Lily." Lily mother smiled at her daughter. Lily smiled back.

"Hey, Mum?" Lily asked. "You know about the war that is going on, right?"

"The magical one?" Her mother queried.

"Yes."

"What about it, dear?"

"I… kind of got involved, again." Lily admitted. "They launched an attack on Diagon today, and I dueled several of them and maintained a powerful shield to protect innocents."

Lily's mother sat pensive for a few moments. "Are you hurt?"

"No, at least, not yet."

"Good." Her mother sat down in a recliner. "I'm proud of you. Scared for you, but proud."

"Mother?"

"You're fighting for what you believe in, to protect yourself and others. That's something to be proud of." Her mother spoke softly. "I'm proud, so very proud. Give the bigots hell."

Lily seemed to be taken aback for a moment. "Thanks, mum. That's not why I'm talking about it though.

Her mother grinned. "What is it, Lily dear?"

"I'm worried that they'll come for you next." She admitted. "I'm worried they will target my family where they can't target me. To hurt me, for how I hurt them on the field."

"Lily, you don't need to worry about us." Her mother shook her head.

"Mum, I really do. You and Father don't have magic. You'll be sitting ducks if they come." Lily argued. "I'm going to set up some wards that will protect you and the house, at elast long enough for me to arrive."

"That's sweet of you, Lily. What do you need?" Her mother asked.

"I have everything. I just need your permission. That's important for strong wards."

Her mother nodded. "Ok. Go ahead and get started. Dinner will be ready in half an hour.

"Oh, and mother." Lily called at the retreating figure of her mother. "They aren't exactly the most legal wards in the world."

Her mother's soft laugh floated from the kitchen. Lily grinned, and walked down into the basement. It was sparse, with a line of shelves on three of the walls, and a washer and drier under the stairs. She pulled out a granite block from her satchel and placed it on the ground. It had the runes already carved into it. Warding would be a simple matter of drawing the flaming ritual lines in the depressions, and finishing the ritual circle. Lily pulled out several, smaller wardstones and trekked out to the edges of the property, placing one at each corner of their yard. Onto each of the small blocks of granite, she pricked a finger, letting blood pour sprinkle out onto it.

Lily returned to the basement and drew out the ritual enchanting circle in fire, drawing runes in the air signifying her intent. To protect the house and those within it from those that would harm it and them, anti-magical travel wards, and a general shield ward, one that would block most spells fired into the premises. On there own, they wouldn't do much, and be fairly simple for any wizard of enough skill and magical puissance to tear their way through. They'd also need to be refreshed on a regular basis.

That's where the blood came in. Lily sliced open her arm, pouring the blood onto the designated places. Her wand stung her slightly as she did so. Finally, to cap it off, Lily placed her only stuffed bear as a child on the center of the stone. The ritual would burn it up. It would hurt Lily terribly to see Mr. Cuddles go up in flames, but… That was the point. Sacrificing something of value to her would power the ward far beyond the standard blood.

"Initium." Lily murmured. The runes glowed bright, lighting up the room in white and emerald fire. He blood glowed red, burning up almost immediately. The small lightbulb overhead flared and exploded in the burst of magic.

Mr. Cuddles was incinerated in moments. Lily felt the wave of magic rush over her as the wards took hold. The ritual died, the only light in the room a faint red light emanating from the stone, the only sound a slight hum of magic.

Lily walked up the stairs and looked outside. The telltale reddish brown shimmering haze was barely visible in the air on the property line.

Her parents were safe, and that was what mattered. Lily twirled her wand and walked around the yard, using bursts of magic to absentmindedly clean up bits of the house.

She walked back inside. "It's done, mum."

"Thanks Lily." Her mum hugged her, and then pulled back, comfortingly placing her hands on Lily's shoudlers. "You look so pale! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine mum." Lily replied. "To make the wards more powerful, and permanent, I needed some blood."

"How much blood?" Her mother asked sternly.

"Just a liter." Lily waved her mother off.

"A liter!" Her mother shrieked. "Lily, that's a lot of blood."

"Yeah, I know. I've taken a blood replenishing potion, and plan on taking another in a few hours." Lily defended herself. "Besides, I've lost more than this on occasion."

"You've Lost more than this!" Her mother shouted. "Lily! What are you getting yourself into?"

"It's nothing in a fight, mother." Lily replied. "There are magical rituals that can be performed that need blood as a binding agent that make you more powerful. I've done… a few."

"How many is a few?" Her mother rested her hands on her hips.

"About eighteen." Lily winced.

"Lily! You've lost this much blood eighteen times?"

"Only seventeen." Lily defended herself. "One of them didn't need blood."

"Why didn't we hear of this from that nice lady – McGonagall, wasn't it – when she told us about the magical world?"

"Because it's not exactly common." Lily replied. "Or legal."

"Lily dear. How illegal are these rituals you've been doing?" Her mother interrogated her.

"Very."

"Are they illegal for a good reason?"

"Kind of." Lily admitted. "Blood based magic is really powerful, and really dangerous if mishandled. It's kind of like uranium, however. Uranium can be used to produce power in nuclear power plants, or it can be used to build nuclear bombs. Blood magic is similar. It can do amazing acts of healing, or it can be used to destroy stuff. It depends on the use."

"Is what you've done closer to Nukes or power plants?"

Lily winced. "A bit of both."

Her mother sighed. "How likely are you going to get in trouble for it?"

"Not really." Lily shook her head. "I'm doing it in a place where no one else can find me, it's fallen out of common use in the past couple years, and it's almost impossible to detect unless it's done within moments of being performed."

"Are you sure that no one can find it, the place you are doing this stuff?"

"Absolutely." Lily nodded. "It's in a place keyed to my blood, that's only accessible by speaking the password in a language that only two people alive today can speak, and thought to be the stuff of legends, as in only existing in legends."

"And you just so happen to have access to this mythical place?" Her mother drawled dubiously.

"Yes." Lily winced again. "I'm descended from Salazar Slytherin through either you or father."

"How is that possible, neither of us are wizards?"

"It's likely that you are descended from the squib descendants of the man." Lily explained.

"That's interesting." Her mother commented. "Who is this 'Salazar Slytherin, and how do you know you are descended from him?"

"He's one of the founders of Hogwarts, and that loops back to the language I talked about. He could speak to snakes and gave the ability to all of his descendants." Lily explained. "He doesn't exactly have the best reputation, though, and neither does the language…"

Her mother tilted her head thoughtfully. "That's really interesting. Intriguing, too. They way you make it sound like the magical world would treat you poorly if either of these was discovered."

"They would." Lily nodded.

"I can't tell you how to live your life, Lily, but be careful." Her mother shook her head. "It's crazy, that you come ot me about doing illegal stuff and compare it to nuclear weapons. How'd our life end up like this." She sighed. "Dinner is ready. Call your father."

Lily rested her head on James's chest. The stars above Potter Manor were bright and clear, and thanks to the special wards that blocked out light pollution, Lily could see the entire milky way band in its sparkling splendor.

A cool wind was blowing from the north, and Lily snuggled in closer, for warmth, of course. It wasn't cold or chilly by any means, but the night was cooler than normal.

"What are you planning on doing after Hogwarts?" Lily murmured. James's breathing was rhythmic in his chest.

"We just finish the snog of our life, and that's what you ask?" James snorted, the speech rumbling his chest pleasantly. "I'm considering the Auror Academy. I've got to do my duty in the war. Although, at the rate we're going, we'll have done that before I even enter the front doors of the Academy."

It always came back to the damn war. No plans could be made that didn't take it into account, from grand designs for the future to the smallest of dinner reservations, everything took it into account.

Lily hated it and wished it were over. Not that that was going to happen anytime soon.

"Mmm." Lily muttered. "I bet the death munchers aren't exactly happy with us after that."

"Tell me about it." James laughed. "What are you planning on?"

"Fight the damn war, do magic." Lily replied succinctly. "Anything beyond that is uncertain."

"Simple enough." James agreed. "Speaking of the uncertain future." His register dropped, as his voice grew serious. "I wasn't entirely truthful with the reason I got you out here under the stars."

"Really?" Lily questioned, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "What compelled you to ask me to a starwatching session? You don't have to admit to the excuse to cuddle with me, that's obvious enough."

"No, it's not that." James slightly shook his head. Lily sat up and turned to face him. "Sirius wanted me to get him and Marlene some time together."

"And?" Lily asked.

"Well, Sirius, you see… Sirius was planning on proposing." James said quickly. "To Marlene, that is."

"Really, and here I was, confident he was about to ask McGonagall." Lily rolled her eyes. "Sirius is doing something rash, and Marlene is going to say yes because as much as she pretends to be the Ice Bitch of Gryffindor, she craves that level of emotional contact on a primal level, and Sirius can actually keep up with her. I can't say I'm happy for Sirius, but if it makes Marlene happy…"

"You're taking this surprisingly well." James whispered.

"No, I'm thinking about what medical supplies I have on hand." Lily stated offhandedly. "I could be wrong about what Marlene's reaction is. Actually, on second thought, I ought to be ready for a Patronus from Marlene to show up asking me for help hiding a body."

James looked shocked. "You're not serious, you're joking, right?"

"Joking? No, Sirius is the body we'd be hiding." Deadpanned Lily. She maintained her composure for all of four seconds before bursting into laughter. "Oh, you ought to have seen your face."

"I, prankmaster supreme, got pranked by Lily Evans." James gasped dramatically. "What has happened?"

Lily rolled her eyes, then grew pensive and quiet. Her emotions raged within her. On the on hand, she ought to come clean to James on her secrets. He was obviously was thinking about the future, and their future, and it would be better emotionally if he found out now, rather than after they married.

Hypothetically married. Lily wasn't committing to anything just yet.

"If we're spilling secrets." Lily began. "I should probably come clean on some stuff too."

"What is it, lils?" James stared at her. "What secrets does Miss Evans have? Are we talking about guilty pleasures, ticklish spots, heart's desires, or what?"

"The type of secrets that promise a life sentence in Azkaban if they see the light of day." Lily stated calmly. The temperature seemed to drop around them. James stared at her.

"Wow, Lils, that's… That's a lot." James laughed darkly. "And here I thought I was a troublemaker, with the illegal Animagery. That only gets me 5 years. So, Lily. What would get you a lifer in Azkaban?"

Lily sat up all the way and pulled out her wand. She held her arm out over the grass, and rolled up her sleeve. "This."

She flicked her wand and sliced into her arm, thin rivulets of blood pouring out of the wound.

"What they hell Lily?" James exclaimed.

"Watch." She commanded. The wound knit back together, the strange sensations under her flesh as flesh healed and reformed. When she felt it was done, she wiped it away with a conjured cloth. The skin was unmarred.

"What's that?" James asked. "How?"

"You'll find blood is a quite potent magical ingredient." Lily murmured. "Combine it with the right words, and the right ritual…"

"Hells." James swore. "You're doing blood magic. Of course. That would get you a life in Azkaban. What sort of power rituals have you done?"

"I've done rituals for speed, agility, healing, resilience, and stamina, among others." Lily explained softly.

"Merlin." James swore. "That's a lot."

Lily nodded in confirmation.

"The Potters make a point of learning a lot about Magic, both powerful and dark, so we may better combat it, and I don't know of any rituals that do that, exactly. Where did you find the material to do it? I doubt many of the old, dark families are opening their grimoires for you."

"The same place I found Esoteric Implications of the Animagus Transformation." Lily explained.

"That doesn't surprise me." James shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. His voice was going strained. "That book's old enough that any place that had it would have survived the purges for other illegal texts as well. So, what nine-hundred-year-old library are you plundering?"

"Are you familiar with the squib theory of muggleborn genesis?" Lily asked abruptly. James nodded.

"The idea that all muggleborns, or at least most of them, are descended from squibs." He stated, his voice growing even more strained. Lily's heart hurt hearing what his minding was going to. "Yeah, I've heard of it. What does it have to do with your secret library? What family are you descended from, through squibs? I can't think of any that would admit to producing squibs that would also have that sort of library."

"Once again, I think a demonstration is best." Lily stated. She pulled out her wand and muttered "Serpensortia."

A green grass snake formed from light and poured out of the end of her wand, coming to rest on the quilt beneath them.

"Circe's tits." James swore. "You're descended from Slytherin, aren't you."

"Yes." Lily nodded. "§Nevermind, I don't need you, Little one§." She hissed at the serpent, before dispelling it with a flick of her wand.

"You're a Parselmouth." James concluded. "There's some room at Hogwarts that makes itself clear to Slytherin's Heirs only, where he's hided some secrets."

Lily nodded at him numbly.

"Don't look at me like that." James snapped. "Just because I act stupid doesn't mean I really am."

"That's pretty much it." Lily admitted. "If it makes you feel better, Dorea figured out most of it pretty quickly with much less information. She also suggested I shouldn't tell you."

James nodded. "That's Aunt Dorea for you. Sharper than most, and cleverer by twice. She'd also be able to scent out the connection very quickly, and, with that snake animagus form she could test it quickly. For the record, you probably should have listened to her." He fell back to the quilt in exhaustion.

Lily sighed in defeat. Well, better to break this up now rather than have it tear apart a marriage. Tears wetted her eyes. "Ok." She tried her best not to cry. "Where do we go from here? What do we do now?"

"I don't know." James barked out an empty laugh. "Obviously, we each have leverage on one another, so we aren't liable to go spilling secrets…"

"Very true." Lily agreed. "You say anything about my blood magic, and I'll tell them all about your family's Animagery."

"Spoken like a fucking snake." James sneered. "Of course, knowing your ancestry, that isn't all that surprising, now is it?"

"James, I'm sorry." Lily started.

"No." James snapped. "Don't be sorry. You can't change anything. You didn't choose your ancestry, just like I didn't choose mine, but you did choose to do the blood magic. Sorry doesn't cover that." He looked down at the ground. "Potters are sworn against those who would threaten magical Britain." He stated softly, his cool tone unable to bely the roiling emotions within.

"Ok." Lily swallowed and illuminated her wand with a silent charm. "I'll see myself out. It was nice knowing you James."

She walked towards the manor, treading through the thick, damp grass of the meadow. She couldn't apparate away here, there were wards, but she could from the designated zone.

And then something was off. A laughing noise drifted from behind her. Lily spun around.

"Oh my goodness." James cackled, clutching his belly. He dropped to his knees and then fell forward, rolling around on the floor laughing. "I can't believe you fell for it!"

"What?" Lily started.

"Oh man, You still got it, prongs!" He complimented himself. "My goodness, you've been pranked, Lily darling. Pranked by the master. I couldn't let your earlier prank go unpunished, now could I?"

A cascade of feelings washed over lily. "You pranked me?"

James nodded. "Lily, I don't care about the blood rituals. Evidently, they've made you a force to be reckoned with. I'd rather not do them, unless I absolutely have to, but I don't care if you do."

He shook his head. "As for the Slytherin ancestry." He gestured around him, at the Potter Manse. "The Potters have gotten quite good at keeping secrets over the years. What's a few more?"

"You're not mad?"

"Of course, I'm not mad. I've got a cute, badass bird that wants to kick some serious arse. He looked at her thoughtfully. "And some Sirius arse, but that's beside the point. Now get back over here."

Lily bounded back over to her boyfriend and wrapped her arms around him. She planted a kiss on his lips. "I love you too, James. But I swear, if you pull something like that again, I'm going to use you as fuel in some form of Dark Ritual."

James nodded thoroughly cowed. "I entirely understand."

"Good." Lily kissed him again. "We've got a lot more of cuddling to do."

"By your command, Dark Mistress." James swept an arm out and bowed mockingly. "At your leisure."

Lily shot a wandless zap of lightning at him.

"Yes, Dark Mistress." James tumbled to the blanket. Lily lay down next to him and snuggled in close.

Chapter 17: The Rubicon

Lily was beginning to think the universe had it out for her.

Sure, she was magical, so that was pretty lucky, but quite frankly, this, was ridiculous.

The Death Eaters had attacked Hogsmeade during a school visit. During a fucking school visit! There were children in the fray, for Merlin's sake! She and James had abandoned a romantic lunch in three broomsticks to deal with the threat. Obviously, they had children to protect.

Lily chose not to think about the fact that she very nearly qualified as one of the children.

"Ok. I'm thinking you picket for me while I set up the shield." She spoke softly, not wanting to reveal their location behind a table in the three broomsticks.

"Ehh, I think that loses us the advantage of the cloak." James posited. "What if, instead, I shepherded you out into position under it?"

"No." Lily shook her head. "That reveals our great trick. I'd rather not have to play that card unless we absolutely have to." Slytherin had been very clear on not playing one's hand until the time was right. Keeping cards up the sleeve and off the table had saved him and Hogwarts numerous times, apparently.

"You know, I hate it when you are right." James conceded, tucking the glimmering, silky fabric back into his pocket.

"No, you don't." Lily dismissed him.

"No, I don't." He repeated. Lily kissed him, more than a peck, but less than a full on song. James quirked an eyebrow.

"For luck." Lily explained. "On three."

"One." They said in unison.

"Two." Lily tensed her calves.

"Three!" As one, they vaulted over the table and ran out the door. A nasty looking spell flying at them fizzled out helplessly against the quickly conjured shield of James Potter.

Lily ran out in the middle of the street and twirled her wand. A curtain of blue magic expanded across the village, defending the retreating students from the spells of the terrorists. One of the ones in the white masks fired a green spell at her location. James flourished his wand, and the killing curse detonated harmlessly against a column of stone that had risen from the ground.

Sirius and Marlene ran out to join them followed closely by Alice and Dorcas.

"Alright, I want all of you to picket for me." Lily gritted out through her teeth. The shield flickered for a moment under the barrage. "I want to change up the tempo of this battle.

"Got it, Lils." James nodded. The rest of the group murmured their assent, wands at the ready. Lily cancelled the shield and spun around, drove her wand into the ground, and whispered an ancient, almost forgotten incantation.

James and Sirius conjured boulder after boulder to absorb incoming unforgiveables. Alice and Marlene sprouted powerful shields from their wands, deflecting the rest of the variety of spells.]

Lily completed the incantation, her back to the chaos, and the ground started rumbling.

Ripples extended out from the surface of her wand, ripples in the earth. Small ripples, but ripples nonetheless.

"Is that the best they've got?" One of their combatants laughed in derision. "Nice try girlie, but you'll have to do better than that." He raised his wands, the words of the killing curse on his lips.

There was a thunderous crash as a berm of earth, ten feet in height, rose from the ground between Lily and the retreating students. The ripples died suddenly. A curse that had been aimed at the gaggle of kids fizzled harmlessly against the earthen rampart.

"Morgana's tits." Another exclaimed.

Lily pulled her wand out of the ground and spun to face them. The combination of clear skies and being in an area that she would rather like to be inhabitable several years from now precluded her from using a lot of her toolbox.

'A lot' and 'all' were such different beasts, weren't they?

"FULMINIS!" Lily shouted, pointing her wand in the general direction. Several tendrils of lightning arced out of it and struck the assorted death eaters. Most of them shrugged it off or deflected it, but two went down under the thunderous assault.

The death eaters had, apparently, been holding back. Curses flew with renewed vigor, and Lily had to sink into a near meditative state just to keep up with it all.

The battle entered a phase of repetition. Block. Shield. Deflect. Fire a curse. Block. Shield, Fire a curse. Repeat and Repeat.

"It's no good, we need to get to cover." Sirius called out. "We'll get cut to pieces out here."

A stray cutting curse marred Dorcas's cheek, proving his point rather effectively. "Split up. Dorcas, you're with James and I. Alice, go with Sirius and Marlene." Lily ordered. "Be ready to press the attack on my signal."

Dorcas was better in the offensive role than Alice, and Sirius and Marlene leaned heavier into offensive spells than James and she did. They'd cover each other's weaknesses that way.

James fired a powerful blasting curse into the street, kicking up a truly prodigious amount of dust. He followed Lily into the alleyway.

"Cloak time?" He asked.

"Cloak time." Lily nodded. "You stay here and infiltrate their lines, Dorcas and I will loop around and hit them from behind."

They both nodded, and Dorcas trailed behind Lily by a small margin. Lily scanned around each corner, working their back through Hogsmeade, behind the battle lines of the death eaters. The alleys were dingy, but well illuminated in the sun overhead.

The finally got to a spot far enough back in the town, and Lily decided to cut back across towards the main road. She nodded to Dorcas, and together they peaked out from behind the building. One of the death eaters noticed them spun to face them.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" He shouted, the vermillion spear of magic moving to them quickly. Lily returned fire with a bolt of lightning.

The spells met one another in the air, and detonated, releasing eldritch energy in the street with a loud report.

"So much for being stealthy." Dorcas murmured. Lily sighed and fired a reductor curse at the man's feet, the detonation kicking up dust around him.

"It's that redhead from diagon!" One of the masked death eaters shouted. The rest of them turned to face her.

"Get her!" Another shouted. "Focus down her shield!"

Lily grinned. It would be a shooting gallery for Marlene and Sirius with them all focusing on her. And you really oughtn't shout out your plans like that. She thought.

"Bold of you to assume I only have the one trick in my arsenal, inbred bastards!" Lily shouted back at them mockingly.

"You look really crazy right now." Dorcas commented. "Hell, you are really crazy! You just taunted all of them."

"I know." Lily brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "We've got them right where we want them."

Dorcas was about to reply, when the killing curse detonated against a block of stone Lily conjured from seemingly out of nowhere. She sighed and raised her wand to aid Lily in the defense.

"Onago!" The death eaters chorused, firing the onager curse in unison at Lily. The Onager Curse was unparalleled in its ability to tear through shields.

Of course, that was all it did.

A score of white lights splashed harmlessly against Lily's chest. "Hey! That tickles!" she mocked them.

"Everyone with divination OWLS, fire a killing curse. History of Magic, fire a shield breaker. Neither, fire a bone breaker, and for those with both, get creative." The death eater in charge called out.

An interesting way of apportioning troops. Lily thought. But it has deeper implications. They don't have pre apportioned divisions. That suggests a deeper problem with coordination in their ranks.

"Fire!" The leader called out. Lily just smiled.

"Uhhh, Lily?" Dorca asked to the calls of "Avada Kedavra."

Lily flicked her wand up, bring forth a thick column of stone. She jumped up a bit and fired a banishing curse into Dorcas, who crashed into the wall of the tavern, but away from the incoming death. Maybe a little bruised.

Meanwhile, the laws of magic and physics took over, and Lily was knocked away, further into the street. Another flick of her wand turned up a squall of wind that carried dust from the ground into the air, obscuring the view of her. The Death Eaters responded quickly, firing wind and blowing charms into the cloud of dust, pushing it away.

Lily twirled her wand, and conjured an illusion of a powerful shield charm that was her signature in diagon.

Anyone who said charms were useless in combat needed to get their brain examined.

"Shield breakers and Killing Curses. Now!" The head death eater called out. His host fired on his order, the green and white light streaking towards her. Lily smirked and conjured a stone wall to deal with the killing curses. A minor adjustment to the illusion charm made it appear the shield breakers were absorbed by the shield without having any effect.

"Who the hell is this bitch?" One of the Death Eaters called out. A feminine voice, familiar to Lily, although she couldn't place it, answered him.

"It's Evans, that manic mudblood." Drifted from her. "The Dark Lord will want to hear about this."

Lily's blood chilled. If she was attracting that sort of attention… She steeled herself. Salazar had told her that she would be able to measure her success by the power of her enemies. If that was the case… She'd take that.

A beater's bat appeared in thin air, and smacked into the leader's head with a thump. He fell to the ground, out cold.

James had decided to join the fray, apparently. She'd need to cover for him, then.

"BOMBARDA!" She shouted, pointing her wand in the middle of them and pushing everything she could into the spell. James would have retreated from that area quickly, so she shouldn't have to worry about anything in that sector. The blast knocked several of them to their knees, and kicked up a lot of dust.

That should do nicely to cover for James, she decided.

The Death Eaters remaining on their feet unleashed everything they had at her. Lily grunted and brought up a more powerful, personal shield.

A crossfire of curses from an alley indicated that Sirius, Marlene, and Alice had joined the fray. Two Death Eaters fell to them.

The crimson glimmer of a Cruciatus curse streaked for her from one of the rear of their group, before disappearing in midair. The grey light at the end of his wand suggested the curse had connected with something, and the thump of a cloaked body hitting the ground was faint to her rather exceptional hearing.

James had been hit! Lily dispelled the shield and rolled to the right, covering herself in dust. She came to her feet and fired a blasting curse at the death eater maintaining the torture curse. A burst of hot magic detonated on his chest and he flew back against the earthen berm. A cry of agony indicated he was still alive, but…

Lily had to finish this. Before James got himself killed.

"FULMINATA!" Lily drew on every scrap of magical power she could bring to the fore and shoved her wand forward. Half a dozen tendrils of lightning emantated from the edge of her focus, splitting into more as they traveled. The alleyway was illuminated in the white-blue light of the crackling electric power.

The Death Eaters reacted in the proper way. Blue shields bloomed around them, absorbing the incoming arcane energies, but straining underneath them. Lily pushed through the pain and redoubled her efforts.

A pylon of copper sprouted from the ground, followed by several others. The majority of her lightning redirected into them, moving towards the better conductor. The second in command set off a fireworks spell, and the majority of the Death Eaters retreated, moving towards the outskirts of the city and away from the wards so they could apparate away. Lily took a deep breath, and followed in pursuit, ducking through Alleys.

James was probably hurting, but he'd probably rather she caught the bastards.

She crept down an alley, stopping when she heard a bloodcurdling scream. She crept forward, towards where she heard the scream coming from.

Lily peaked around a corner, and what she saw made her blood boil. Her temper flared, and her eyes flashed a dangerous green.

There were two death eaters torturing a child on the ground, a third year or a small fourth year by the looks of it. His faces was bloody, the vital fluid leaking out of both his nose and mouth, and his eyes were bloodshot. His clothes were covered in dirt, and had had several gashes ripped open in them.

That, on it's own, was bad, but it wouldn't have boiled her blood in that way. No, what really had her going was the fact she recognized the woman torturing the boy. The shiny, silky brown curls peaked out from the mask and hood, and the high-pitch, coquettish giggle with a hint of malice to it she would recognize anywhere. That was the voice she had recognized among their host.

Amaryllis Wilkes had been a Slytherin Prefect two years ahead of her, and here she was, abusing a child.

The curse was on her lips and the wand was up before Lily was fully cognizant of what she was doing. A lance of pain jolted through her as she overpowered her next spell, dumping as much magic as she could into the strike.

"Incremo." The spell was barely visible, almost impossible to see. Even if her reflexes were fast enough – which they weren't – any shield that Amy Wilkes brought forth in her defense – outside of some incredibly esoteric ones that were nasty power hogs – would be ignored by the spell.

The curse splashed into Amy, taking her by surprise. She turned to face Lily, eyes widening in recognition.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" She shouted, the green light leaping from her wand, but futile in the face of Lily's preternatural reflexes. She was too late, of course. The counter for incremo had to be applied almost instantaneously. The killing curse detonated harmlessly behind Dorcas. Amy gasped for air as her insides began to boil, the curse doing exactly what it needed to do. She coughed twice, wet, spluttery gasps with a whisp of steam coming out with them as the curse did its job. She let out one final, eerie gasp, rattling in death, and the collapsed to the ground.

Lily's wand stung in her hand, feeling like it was disgusted in her. Lily shook her head and bound the other Death Eater in a flurry of spells, her blood rage abating.

Lily dropped to her knees, her legs weak below her. The rush of adrenaline she had been fighting with beginning to ebb as her body realized the fight was over. The world was void of sound, save for the ringing in her ears.

She had just killed someone. She had just killed someone. Amy Wilkes wasn't going to be getting up from that anytime soon. Or at all. Incremo was almost as much of a death sentence as the killing curse, and it was too late for Amy.

Lily had just taken a life. A spell spoken softly, in the heat of anger, and Amy's insides boiled.

An icy, gelid feeling trickled across Lily, a sick and twisted mirror to what Amy must have felt in her last moments, permeating itself into the very essence of her being. Lily felt cold all over.

She was a killer. Wilkes was in her way, and she killed her. She was torturing a kid, and she died an ugly, inglorious death.

Lily retched, vomiting the contents of her stomach onto the dirt beneath her. Disgusted at what had just happened. At what she had just done.

She felt empty on the inside. Like something was missing from her.

But she didn't regret killing Amy, and that made her feel all the emptier.

At least she'd be able to see what the fuss was with thestrals. She thought darkly.

"So, you've killed someone now." Salazar stared at her, his green eyes boring into her soul.

"Yes." Lily replied seriously. "I hit them with incremo and they died."

Salazar cracked a smile. "My Heiress, I'm so incredibly proud of you. And glad to see you've been taking my lessons to heart." He faked wiping a tear from his eye. Portraits being unable to cry made the deliberateness of the gesture all the more humorous. "Only 17, and already a body count."

"This isn't a laughing matter!" Lily threw her hands up in the air. "I killed a person. Someone's Dead because of me."

"That tends to be what happens when you kill someone." Salazar faked a thoughtful look.

"GAHH!" Lily exclaimed. "You're no help. I killed someone."

"Why?" Salazar asked. "What brought you to take their life?"

"There was a fight in Hogsmeade. I drove them off, and when I saw Amaryllis Wilkes torturing child I fired off the spell at her."

Salazar growled. "Torturing a child? She deserved everything she got and more."

"But."

"Lily!" He snapped. "Lily. There is a short line between torture and killing, and if she was taking part in the raid she wants you dead. She was an obstacle in the way of a better wizarding Britain and a world that is safe for you in your family. You've done nothing to be ashamed of. The rest of their host will be able to fight again. She will not. A value of my house is ruthlessness. She was in your way and had the intent to harm, maim, and kill. You've done the world a surface."

"I know. I guess." Lily muttered. "I just."

"NO!" The painting told her off. "You are my Heiress, you will not feel bad for killing someone in war. This is what we have occlumency for. Block off these emotions. Block off them immediately."

"But I've heard that blocking off emotions indefinitely can cause serious problems and can be dangerous." Lily brought up.

"Yes it is." Salazar conceded. "When dealing with natural emotions. Hatred, pure hatred. Guilt, true guilt. Compassion. Love." He looked longingly into the distance. "The misplaced guilt you feel for the death of Amber Wilkes isn't naturally occurring; it's the effect of the social mores imposed on you by the way you were raised. Give it up! Don't let others guilt you for something you did no wrong with! Back in my day, we didn't bat an eye when this happened to us."

Lily nodded. She really didn't want to feel this anymore. Or again. She closed her eyes and sat down, slipping deep into an occlumency trance. She found the root of that emotion she was feeling, and ripped it out root, stem , and branch. She bundled up the coil of though and tucked it deep into her brain, where it would be suppressed.

She opened her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Feel better now?" Salazar asked.

Lily felt her body. She felt the warm feeling of success, a bit of concern for James and his cruciatus exposure, and nothing for Amy Wilkes.

It felt good, the emptiness.

No, that wasn't true. She felt good, there was a perverse pleasure to the way she had ended Amy, one she hadn't noticed she was feeling when she was overwhelmed with guilt. It was a nice, buzzing feeling. The feeling of the fact she held the power over life and death in her hands. A stick, ten and a quarter inch. Promising death to those who threaten her. Although, it was awfully prickly and recalcitrant recently.

Lily nodded. "I feel much, much better now."

"Excellent, my Heiress." Salazar smiled at her. "Now, give Tessie a rub, and get back to practicing. Now that you have bled them, they will be coming to bleed you back. You need to be ready for them."

Chapter 18: Rejected by a Friend (Redux)

Lily conjured a set of targets, forcing her magic through her willow focus. The wand had been resisting her for several weeks now, and it seemed to have increased tenfold after the events of the previous day. She spun it around for a few moments, before holstering it. She considered the spell she wanted to practice first, and a wry grin came across her face.

"Incremo!" She incanted, giving her wand a flick to snap off a spell that her served her rather well yesterday.

The willow stick flashed hot in her hand, and Lily dropped it in surprise. Her hand was burned where she had grasped it. Tentatively, she reached out and held it in her hand. It felt like that one time she had tried to get two magnets to touch on the same pole in her childhood, only her hand was one pole and the wand was another. With a sigh, she dropped the wand, and walked into the inner sanctum. "Hey, Salazar, my wand just burned me. Know anything about that?"

"Most interesting… When did it burn you?" He peered at her curiously.

"Just now. I tried casting incremo with it, and it burned me." Lily explained.

"Most unusual. It appears the wand has rejected you." The man stated plainly. "Although, you would need to see a wandmaker to know for certain. What was the wand, again?"

"Willow and Unicorn Hair." Lily answered.

"Ahh. Very likely, it dislikes the path you are treading, heiress. Although I am a novice in wandlore, I would guess that a wand of healing and purity dislikes being turned to darkness." He pondered aloud. "Go, find a wand in the desk that suits you. If your wand has rejected you, one of those should be serviceable, until you can see a wandmaker."

Lily walked over to the desk and opened the drawer. She held her hand over the wands, letting it drift freely. Most of them prickled her hand, irritating the burns, but she gritted her teeth through the pain. She stopped over a wand that didn't lash out at her, and wandlessly summoned it into her hands.

The wand didn't like her, per se, but didn't hate her, like the rest of them. She held it in her left hand and waved it, whispering the incantation to a powerful burn-healing charm. The raised red ridges retreated back into her hand and the redness faded. She switched the hand her wand was in, and cast a couple of simple charms.

She frowned, even when her willow wand was resisting her, it channeled magic better than this. She looked at the tag. Sycamore and Kelpie Hair. Figures. She walked back to the painting of her ancestor.

"You need a new to go to a wandmaker immediately." He stated plainly. "Wandmakers are a… persnickety bunch and may take offense to you coming to them for a wand after your first has been destroyed or you've lost its allegiance. You ought to consider taking an offering, something beyond the mundane items they can find any day…"

"§What about a shaving of my crown§?" Tessie hissed the question, her emerald head raised up above the study floor. "§I know Salazar's wand was made from the crown of my predecessor§."

"§Would you be amenable to that, dear serpent§" Salazar asked. The snake gave a vigorous nod of her head. "Then Lily, get the file and a container from the desk, and shave off about fifteen or so drams worth. I used three drams for my wand, and an offering of four to six wandcores of basilisk crown, a powerful core excellent for combat and the darker arts, will be worth his time."

Lily nodded and walked back to the table. She rifled through the cabinets and found the file and a glass jar, like Salazar suggested. She walked over to Tessie, and rubbed her behind the crown. The snake purred in delight. "§You ready Tessie§?"

"§Indeed§." The snake replied. "§There is no better way to serve the Heiress at the moment§." She paused. "§Also, I like you. You rub my behind the crown and bring me roast pork§."

Lily giggled at the serpent's statement, and then set to work. She scraped the file back and forth across the noble serpent's crown, being careful to catch everything she could in the glass jar. When she though the had gathered enough she wandlessly sent the file back to the desk and patted Tessie on the head. "§Thanks girl§."

"§My pleasure§."

She summoned her willow wand, and wrapped it in a handkerchief, before storing it in the pocket of her coat. She turned on her foot and appeared in front of Ollivander's, the soft crack of her apparition being drowned out by the crowds. The day was still young, the sun still peaking out from behind rooftops, but there were a few people milling about in the alley, going about their business. Lily strode up into the shop. It was just as she remembered; there was dust everywhere, and the smudged windows let in a scant amount of life. She felt something peripherally approaching, and spun to face it, a wandless lightning bolt primed on the palm of her hand.

"Hello, Miss Evans. Willow, 10 and a quarter inches, unicorn hair. Swishy, excellent for charms. I remember every wand I've sold, and that wand is yours… Or is it?" The aged visage of Garrick Ollivander stared at her from behind his unusual spectacles. He looked down at the bright lightning silently crackling on her fingers. "If you would be so kind as to dispel that?"

Lily made a fist, and the ball of lightning was crushed, the magic retreating back into her. The air smelled faintly of ozone.

"Now that we have gotten the formalities out of the way, how may I be of assistance? I must say, I was not expecting to see you here this fine morning." He peered at her.

"Yes." Lily started. "I'm having problems with my wand, you see." She pulled out the focus, and set it on the counter, removing the cloth she protected her hand with. "It's been resisting me for a few weeks. After the events of Saturday, it was especially hesitant, and then it burned me this morning, just thirty or so minutes ago."

"I see." He tilted his head at her. "If I'm not mistaken, you claimed the life of Miss Wilkes with this wand yesterday?"

Lily felt like she was being interrogated, discomfort spreading across her body. She nodded at him.

"And what spell did you use to end her time here?" The wizened man asked. Sensing her hesitation, he continued. "Miss Evans, I care not for what the ministry has defined as light or dark. I need to know this to determine what has happened with your wand."

"Incremo, uhh, Sir." Lily answered. Ollivander pondered this for a few moments.

"And what spell were you attempting when the wand burnt you?" He asked. His eyes seemed to bore into her soul.

"Incremo, Sir." Lily answered. Ollivander nodded.

"Miss Evans, you have done the impossible. You have lost the allegiance of a wand made from unicorn hair and willow. Frankly, if I weren't disappointed, I'd be impressed." Ollivander explained. "This wand." He picked up Lily's wand. "Is a wand of healing and purity, a powerful effect of the core and wood. The wand finds combat spells, especially darker combat spells anathema. Willow wands will often bond with those that have the longest, or greatest, of journeys. The wand appeared to have nailed you for a great journey ahead of you, at the tender age of eleven, but missed the path upon which you would travel. Miss Evans, the wand was disgusted with you when you took Miss Wilkes's life. It offered you one final opportunity to repent, and do what the wand likes and was meant for, and you rejected it by immediately thereafter performing the very same spell you used to kill someone with it not twenty hours prior."

Lily looked at him. "So, the wand has rejected me? I'm guessing I need to get a new wand?"

Ollivander stared at her. "Indeed. This wand will never perform magic for you again."

"Alright then. I'd like to buy a wand, then." Lily straightened out her back.

"No." Ollivander replied.

"No?" She asked, confused.

"No. I will not sell you a wand after you have lost the allegiance of your first. Find another wandmaker." He snapped at her. "To a wandmaker, a wand truly is a beautiful thing, and it pains me to see this wand broken like this." He gestured at the polished, pail white wood in front of her.

I see what Salazar said about wandmakers being persnickety. She thought to herself, before pulling out the jar of the powder she had filed off of Tessie's crown.

"What about if I gave you this?" She asked, shaking the jar of yellow white powder. The man's eyes snapped to the jar.

"Is… Is that what I think it is?" Ollivander asked almost reverently, reaching out a wrinkled hand to stroke the vial. There was a deep hunger in his voice.

"Shavings from a basilisk crown." Lily answered with the barest hint of a smug, self-satisfied smirk.

"Miss Evans…" He breathed. "It has been at least four hundred and fifty years since one of my family has had the pleasure of working with such a material. My care for my wands is warring with the desire to work with some of that material."

"So basilisk crown makes a good wand core?" Lily asked. The man's eyes met hers, and he blinked a few timers.

"Miss Evans… The basilisk crown makes wands of exemplary quality. I only stock wands made from truly quality cores: Unicorn Hair, Phoenix Feather, and Dragon Heartstring. These make up the three 'Supreme Cores' in Britain. Certainly, such cores as Water Panther Whisker Thunderbird Feather, and Thestral Tail make admirable cores, but the former two are almost exclusive to the Americas, and the latter seems to portent death of some manner, so I avoid working with it." He stared at her. "For combat, and the darker arts, there is no superior core. Unicorn Hair is pure and consistent. Phoenix Feathers are deeply in tune with the caster's emotions. Dragon Heartstring is the most consistently powerful…"

He paused, a tumultuous ocean of emotion seeming to be just behind his eyes. Lily considered gleaning his surface thoughts, before deciding against it. "Miss Evans, I will make you a wand, and with some of the very basilisk crown you brought me, no less. I sense you are very in tune with the core. Perhaps you have even befriended the serpent you collected it from." Lily had to steel herself with everything she had to avoid flinching at that statement. "But I will not make you another wand after this. Wands are not baubles to discard once they have outlived their usefulness."

"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander." Lily sighed a breath of relief.

He waved her off. "No, thank you for this most valuable gift. I will enjoy the honor of working with this material." His eyes peered at her, "Now, we have your core… What wood is befitting someone of your status."

He shuffled into the back of the store and returned a few moments later with a large crate full of pieces of wood. Some were dark black, others a pale white; some were a rich red, others a dull violet. Some were square dowels, others circular, and some looked like they had been taken off of a tree not five minute ago. He rifled through the crate, and pulled out a thick, rich reddish-brown dowel with some lighter, almost white at the edges. "Hawthorn, Miss Evans. A wood of contradictions, and a dual nature. Healing, and Martial Prowess." He held it out to her. "Go ahead." He gently snapped at her hesitation. "Touch it."

Lily reached out, and touched the block. Thin needles of pain lanced into her hand, in she recoiled.

"Curious." Ollivander pondered. "The Hawthorn has rejected you. You have truly gone into the martial, combat realm. Healing is merely a necessity for you, not a calling. For Hawthorn to reject you so viscerally suggests you have great clarity of purpose. I wonder…"

He pulled out a pale-yellow block of wood. "Hornbeam, Miss Evans. For those with a single calling." Lily touched it. It was inert in her hand.

"Mmmm." Ollivander muttered. "That's not it. Your calling isn't singular, though you possess great ambition and a strong will." He took the wood back, and placed it in the box, pulling out a piece of light wood with black dappling. "Fir, like your good friend Marlene. A survivor's wand. A wand for those with a strong-minded nature."

Lily reached out and grasped the dowel. It was hesitant in her hands, like it almost liked her. Ollivander snatched it back. "No, while you share some affinity with it, I sense it isn't the wood for you. You aren't nearly solitary enough for it. You are, of course, a nonconformist, and you seek power. As a muggle-born, you are an outsider to the world…" He produced an inky black rod. Lily grabbed it, and felt nothing. She handed it back to him.

"A tricky customer, we have here." He rubbed his chin absentmindedly. "Miss Evans, you are such a being of contradictions… You did befriend Mary McDonald, did you not?" At her nod, Ollivander smiled. "I'm not one to work with this wood much, but sometimes it is the only choice for a special customer." He pulled out a branch of a wood with white and light-red dappling. "Your friend has a Rowan wand. They say where an Elder goes, a Rowan follows. You are certainly peerless in magical capability amongst your friend group, and you are superior to most in magical prowess… Though elder may make a fickle wood, I doubt you would lose it's loyalty…"

Lily picked up the strange wood and gave it a twirl. The wood felt like it was almost enough. Like there was just something small missing. Ollivander shook his head and took it back.

"Most unusual." He pondered. "Let us look at how you respond to this one, shall we?" He handed her a dowel that was yellow with a hint of orange. She grasped the rod, and a strange sensation came over her, like a bubbling draught of peace was forcing itself through her very essence. She felt so very alive, yet a single pit rested in her stomach that felt nothing, and empty.

Ollivander smiled. "This is it; I think. Yew and Basilisk Crown. A powerful combination, for an unparalleled witch. Yew never accepts the mediocre or timid companion and promises a power of life and death. Yew wands are also the most seducible to the Dark Arts, so I don't fear you losing its loyalty anytime soon." He cocked his head at her. "Of course, that you should be destined for this particular branch of yew is most curious. I last sold a wand made from the same tree that this block of wood comes from almost forty years ago, to the boy that became Lord Voldemort."

Lily felt strange at that revelation. It was simultaneously revolting and intoxicating; to have a similarity between them, and at the same time, to kick his arse with a wand that shared such similarities was an appealing vision.

"I shall get onto making your wand with all haste." Ollivander continued, seemingly oblivious to the conflict within her. "It might be a few hours, so you may wait here, or return later."

Lily nodded, and pulled out a book, before sitting down on the same dusty stool she had sat on seven years ago when she got her first wand. He wand no longer.

True to his word, he returned from the back of the store shortly after noon, a mirthful smile pulling up the corner of his lips. He handed her a box. "Go on." He prodded. "Give it a try."

Lily cracked open the box and stared at the wand. The wood had lightened noticeably, and she felt a faint hissing noise emanating from it on a level that didn't require sound. The wand was calling to her. The wand was long, fourteen inches, and smooth for most of its length. A basilisk in the motif of an ouroboros was etched into the base of the wand. She picked up the wand.

A surge of power and ecstasy rushed through her. Ripples of evidently dark, unfocused magic emanated from an inky black ball at the end of the wand, shaking both her and Ollivander to their bones. Jets of blood red and killing curse green mist emanated from the wand and encircled both it and her.

"Incredible." Ollivander breathed. "Extraordinary. A wand, with that level of unity to its master on first contact. Miss Evans, I must admit, I have not had this much fun in a long time."

"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander." Lily responded. She couldn't help a smile come over her as she held the wand. This wand responded to her better than the willow wand ever did!

"Miss Evans, with that basilisk crown you gave me, I will be the envy of other wand makers the world over." Ollivander grinned toothily at her. "Now go forth, and do great things with that wand, just as its sister has. Terrible, but great. Necessary, in your case."

Lily nodded and left the store. She spun on her feet and reappeared in the chamber. She ran through some more basic charms and curses with her yew focus, all coming out with ease.

Let's see what this can do… She thought with a wry grin. With a wave, she effortlessly conjured a legion of targets. She twirled the wand in her fingers, deciding on what spell to cast next. Her grin widened. She pointed the wand at the targets and unleashed the raw, cursed lightning she had read about. The chamber was lit up in bright contrast as arcs of purple, blue and black lightning mowed down targets in front of her. Wind stirred violently in the chamber, and her flaming red hair whipped around her face.

Power. She though with a wide grin, Almost unlimited power. And with this, I shall destroy the death eaters. Fear me, for I am become death, destroyer of worlds. She mentally quoted Oppenheimer, before releasing the lightning and surveying the carnage she caused. The targets were all in small pieces, many burning from the fury of the lightning, and all scorched.

Her nose caught up with her mind, and the acrid stench of burning material mixed with an overwhelming rush of ozone stung her nostrils. She waved her wand, conjuring a bubble over her head.

"I'll get right on that whole 'Death, Destroyer of Worlds' thing, right after I clean up this mess." She giggled, and set to clearing the Chamber of detritus

Chapter 19: Secrets Revealed, Secrets Kept

"Mmmm." Lily took a deep breath of air as she pulled back from James. He was sporting a goofy grin and had his usual mirthful glint to his eyes. His hands were nice and comfortable, holding onto her hips for… Support. Yes. Support. This probably wasn't what they were supposed to be doing on their patrols as head boy and head girl, but…

McGonagall had walked in on them, once, and promptly shut the door, declaring that she was suffering from bouts of temporary amnesia. She would let them get away with anything.

"Like that, do you?" He murmured, taking one of his supporting hands and rubbing it up and down her back. She grasped clumps of his messy hair and gently pulled on it, holding his head between her hands.

Dumbledore had yet to walk in on them, per se, but there was always a good chance that he was waiting in the closet ready to make some comment about closets, or crocheting.

Lily was beginning to think the rumors about him and Grindelwald might have a grain of truth to them.

"Mhmmm." Lily purred. James leaned in for another snog. Her toes curled in the passion of it, warmth spreading throughout her body.

Slughorn walked in on them once, blinked twice, gave a deep belly laugh, and demanded a large box of crystalized pineapple in exchange for his silence. He'd probably give someone the dark secrets of immortality, insight into forbidden branches of magic, or highly restricted potions for a box of the stuff.

Lily had definitely never taken advantage of that particular vice of his. No, Not at all.

"You like that?" James murmured, slipping his tongue back between her lips as they locked together again.

Flitwick and Sprout never walked in on them, funnily enough. Lily occasionally wondered why.

"I might." Lily sated coyly.

Lily silently gave thanks to whichever founder decided a plethora of broom closets was a good design decision in a magical school that didn't need brooms. Probably Helga, she decided. That was something she'd have to ask Salazar on.

Oh dear. And now she was thinking of Salazar while making out. That couldn't be healthy.

"Hey, Lily? Can we talk about something?" James mumbled when they pulled back again. "Not where we are, exactly, but something else." He added quickly.

Lily looked at him, cocking her head. "What is it, James?"

He sighed. "It's… It's the incident in Hogsmeade. The Death Eater I hit with a beater's bat died of his injuries."

"What about it?" Lily sat up, tousling his hair playfully. "So what?"

"Well, I feel bad about what happened." He shrugged. "He'd still be alive if I hadn't stepped in. I took a life, if inadvertently."

Lily shook her head. "James. Look at me. Look at these green eyes you rave about all the time." She commanded. He turned his head to stair her in the emerald orbs, inadvertently letting his hands fall further down her. "You did nothing wrong." She soothed. "He was trying to kill us. He was trying to kill our friends. You did the right thing. His death is on him."

"I know." James stared. "It's just I still feel bad about it. I still feel kind of empty on the inside."

"No." Lily snapped like a kitten playing around. "No. You don't feel bad about it. They want us dead, so you left them dead. There's nothing to feel bad about."

James exhaled. "It's just… It's just I feel that we should be better than them. We should be more."

Lily snorted. "'Being more' would have us end up dead. Principles were fine and dandy, once. Fighting with nonlethal spells and feeling bad about causing injuries was fine, once. And then Charlus Fucking Potter died in a duel with their boss. Principles like that would see us dead."

"I know." James sighed. "It's just."

"It's just nothing." Lily shook her head. "If it makes you feel better, you aren't alone. One of the Death Eaters I got into battle with died of her injuries as well."

"Really? James asked in surprise.

"Her name was Amaryllis Wilkes." James scowled at the mention of her. "And she died of injuries relating to her insides boiling up from a spell… about five seconds after being hit with said spell."

James gasped. "That's brutal, Lils. That's not… You went into that with the intent to kill. That wasn't an accident."

Lily nodded. "Indeed. But at the end of the day, I'm alive, and she's dead. The kid she was torturing will recover after a brief stay in Saint Mungo's. I saw her torturing him, I got angry, she died. He survived. I survived."

James laughed darkly. "That's… That's the fired I've come to love you for." He muttered. "I shouldn't be surprised when that fire does exactly what you expect of it."

"No, you should not." Lily agreed. "Fire tends to do that."

"So, you've killed someone." James coughed. "And I've killed someone too. Merlin, we're a couple of killers, aren't we?"

"We did what we had to." Lily disagreed, rubbing his shoulders. "We did exactly what we needed to. If they want to play with fire… If they want to play with fire, they shouldn't be surprised when they get burnt."

"That spell curses both ways, Lils." James warned. His hands squeezed softly. He probably wasn't aware that his hands had drifted all the way down to rest on her rear, but…

Lily didn't mind all that much. She had to suppress a little bit of a moan, but hey, that's what occlumency was for, wasn't it?

"I know it does." Lily agreed with him, pulling her hands to rest on his, holding them steady before James realized where they were and got scared. "But that's what we have each other for. That's why we do what he can to minimize risk and hold on to what we have. Not let anyone take this away from us. And if we have to take things from them to see that this version of reality happens…"

She let the rest of the words go unspoken. Some things just didn't need to be said aloud to be understood.

James nodded. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"That's fine." Lily leaned in and murmured into his ear. "You don't have to like it." Not like me. Not like how I feel a savage pleasure when I think about what I did to Wilkes. I'd almost prefer you be the one of us that isn't twisted like that. "Just don't feel bad about it."

"I won't." He shook his head. "Promise."

Lily laughed. "Silly James, you can't make promises like that. You can only try."

"I guess." He muttered.

Lily pressed his hands with hers, and he realized where they were.

"Sorry-" He started, trying to pull them back. Lily held them in place.

"Shhhh." Lily shook her head and released a hand, moving hers to cover his lips with her finger. "shhhh. I know just the thing to take your mind off of it." Lily released his other hand and slipped it under her shirt, pulling it over her head and discarding it."

"Lily, are you sure?" James asked seriously, staring her in the eye.

"Yes. Yes I am." Lily purred. "Now get that shirt of yours off. Now."

James grinned, and set about to work.

"Wow." James gasped, breathing heavily. Their clothes were in a messy pile by the corner. Lily clutched James for dear life, staring into his hazel eyes.

"Wow indeed." She growled seductively. "That was…"

"Incredible." James agreed, his warm skin pressed into hers. "So, now that that is done with, who do you want me to kill?"

Lily giggled coquettishly. "No one right now. Later… I haven't decided yet."

"Your will be done, Dark Mistress." James stated, deepening his voice.

"I don't know." Lily pondered mockingly. "I'm not sure how good a Dark Minion you make. I'll have to think about it… Maybe you can give me some more reasons."

James grinned, then stopped, growing still. "I just realized something."

"And what is that my loyal minion?"

"You are what happened to Mary Macdondald." He shook his head. "It all makes sense now. Saint Mungo's uses intent wards, and nothing was triggered. If anyone had the magial ability to kidnap her and the intent to help her, it would be you. With those rituals, you also might have the ability to heal her. You're the only culprit that makes sense."

"Interesting theory." Lily murmured.

"It's not just a theory. It's the best thing I can come up with." James shook his head. "Where is Mary, Lily?"

"You're really bad at pillow talk, you know that, right?" Lily attempted a halfhearted deflection.

"Lils, there aren't any pillows here. This is a broom closet. Where's Mary?"

Lily sighed. "I don't know. She's not in Britain, I can guarantee that. But beyond that I am unsure."

"What?"

"I healed her, and she was… less than accepting of my means. She told me so, and was going to turn me in, but… I didn't let that happen." Lily confessed. "I gave her some money and made her leave."

"Lily that's." James stared. "I don't know what to think."

"Neither do eye. It honestly weighs much heavier on me than the death of Wilkes." She admitted.

"I understand that." James agreed. "She's a friend, and you forced her away. Wilkes was a monster."

"Indeed." Lily sighed. "I suppose we ought to get back to Gryffindor tower, oughtn't we?

"No." James shook his head. "You're gonna show me this secret library of yours."

She laughed melodically. "James, you don't even like libraries!"

"You're stalling." He poked her with his finger in her exposed ribs. "Come on, lets' go."

Lily sighed dramatically, and started getting dressed. James followed suit.

"Come on." She called, peeking out from the sixth floor broom closet. "The entrance is on the second floor."

James followed her dutifully, wishing he hadn't lost the marauder's map. Lily crept down the stairs. Unhindered, they made there way to the second-floor bathroom.

"Lils, if this is a prank, it's a pretty week one. James commented, looking at the damp floors around them.

"It isn't a prank" lily shook her head. "This is where the entrance is."

"Really?" James drawled dubiously. "The entrance to the secret library is here?"

"No." Lily shook her head. "The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is here. The library is deeper in the chamber."

James sighed. "I don't believe you."

"Think about it this way." Lily argued. "If you were looking for Salazar Slytherin's secret chamber which he had all to himself, where is the last place you would look?"

"The bathrooms." James nodded in comprehension. "Okay, maybe it does make sense. So, how do we enter?"

"I hiss at the tap." Lily stated.

"§Open§" She hissed at the tap. The sink slid away, revealing a set of stares. "Be careful." She warned. "Tessie can kill you with a glance, so it's probably best to let me go first."

"Tessie?" James gulped, visibly pale and tense.

"The pet basilisk that guards the chamber and the school." Lily explained, taking a step down the spiral staircase.

"What about you?" James swallowed nervously.

"As a descendant of Slytherin, I'm immune to her gaze" Lily shrugged. "Also, Tessie's a real softy. She wouldn't hurt anything that didn't deserve it."

"Are you sure about this?" James asked.

"Yep." Lily nodded. "What, are you worried that she's going to attack you?" She tilted her head and purred. "Have you been a naughty boy, James?"

James flushed red. It was easy to get him to do that these days. Lily descended into the Chamber and called out a greeting.

"§SAL, TESSIE§!" She shouted. "§We have a guest. Epicanthic folds closed, please, and be on your best behavior§."

"You take the fun out of everything." Salazar's painting complained back.

"I know." Lily smiled. "JAMES! YOU CAN COME DOWN NOW!"

James came down the stairs with his hands over his eyes, muttering. "Why did I think this was a good idea?"

"Welcome to the Chamber of Secrets." Lily swept her hand at the vista.

"Wow." James exclaimed. "It's really something, isn't it?"

"Yep." Lily agreed. "Salazar had a bigger dramatic streak than Sirius, if you can believe it."

"So this is where you go to learn all of that fancy magic?"

"For the most part." Lily led him in towards the bust of Salazar's head, shouting the egotistic password. "There is Tessie." She pointed at the curled snake.

"You werejn't kdding about the basilisk." James squeaked.

"§Who's this§?" Tessie asked. "§I scent heat on both of you, your scent on him, and his on yours. I suppose this is your beau§?"

"§Yes§." Lily nodded. "§And no, you can't eat him§."

The snake shook it's massive head and sighed. "§You ruin all of my fun. And he looks like such a juicy morsel, too§." She complained.

"§Sorry, Tessie§." Lily told her.

"What are you to talking about?" James asked.

"Oh, I'm just telling her she can't eat you." Lily informed him.

"That's a possibility?" James shuddered.

"No, she's bound not to harm students of hogwarts." Lily put a hand on his shoulder. "Now, let's go meet Salazar."

"Salazar?" James queried.

"Yes. He has a painting, here." Lily led James up the steps.

"Hello, Heiress. I see you've brought company." Salazar sneered.

"Play nice." Lily rolled her eyes. "James, meet Salazar. Salazar, meet James."

"James Potter, nice to meet you." James held out a hand awkwardly, before realizing he was talking with a painting.

"His intellect astounds me." Salazar muttered. "I've met smarter rocks."

"Be nice." Lily admonished her.

"Fine." Salazar sighed. "Potter, was it?"

"Yes." James nodded.

"I taught several of your ancestors, Raziel, most noticeably."

"Really?" James gasped, almost reverently. "That's amazing. He's the one that forged the enchantments the Potters use to keep our secrets."

"That sounds like Raz." Salazar nodded. "Quite a secret keeper, he was. Of course, I also taught Tabbris Potter, and look how he turned out."

"Tabbris Potter?" Lily queried.

"He was the only Potter since the founding of our family in ancient rome that turned evil. It's one of those secrets we keep so well." James winced.

"I don't know." Salazar mused. "I'd be proud of him. Disgusted, but proud. Put Herpo to shame."

"And that's why we keep him a secret." James muttered under his breath. "So, You're Lily's ancestor?"

"As it would seem." Salazar nodded.

"And you're fine with her being a…" James asked.

"Being a what?"

"Being a muggleborn?"

"Are these alleagations true, Lily?" Salazar looked shocked and betrayed, staring at Lily and brushing his goatee."

"Yes, Salazar." Lily nodded, dipping her head.

"I can't believe it, you foul wench. Begone from the chamber!" He shouted.

James looked still, then stared at the painting. "I fucked up. I fucked up. I fucked up. I fucked up." He repeated. "Oh Merlin, I really fucked up."

Lily and Salazar chortled in unison. "I can't believe he fell for that." Salazar giggled. Salazar Slytherin, the great and powerful, giggled.

James his head in his hands. "I just got pranked, didn't I."

"Yep." Lily responded.

"Heiress, we're going to need to work on your candor. You almost gave it away with that smirk." Salazar admonished her.

"Give it a rest, Sal." She rolled her eyes. "It's late at night. I'm a bit tired."

"I doubt that." Salazar snapped. "You've done enough rituals pertaining to that I don't think your faculties are that impaired."

"So, you don't hate muggleborns?" James asked. "I thought you did?"

"I used to." Salazar admitted. "Lily showed me the error of my ways. Actually, that's giving her too much credit. Tessie did most of the heavy lifting."

"Your basilisk argued with you about whether or not Lily was worth anything?" James asked, befuddeled.

"Oh yes. We had quite long and passionate arguments. Tessie is quite fond of Lily." Salazar nodded. "Even gave up a large amount of her crown to make Lily's wand."

"What do you mean?" James asked. "Lily's wand is a unicorn hair core."

"Not anymore." Lily admitted. "It rejected me after I killed Wilkes. Ollivander described it as the fundamental aspects of the wand, healing and purity, being opposed to the use I put it to, and so it refused to work for me anymore."

"Huh. So, you have a new wand?" Lily nodded and pulled out her wand. "It's Yew, fourteen inches, and a basilisk crown core. Fits me better than the willow one ever did."

"Really now." James wondered. He didn't ask to try using her wand. They weren't close enough for that yet.

"The wood also comes from the same yew tree that Voldemort's wand came from, so…"

"That's a little ominous." James shuddered.

"A bit." Lily agreed. "But it's a most powerful wand, and I'm quite happy with it."

'Whatever works for you, Lils. I'm not going to abandon you now, after I've gone to all of this trouble to be your dark minion and all."

"You're accumulating dark minions now?" Salazar beamed at her. "I'm so proud."

"I aim to please, Dark Mentor." Lily nodded solemnly.

James looked pale. "Please tell me you are kidding."

"Of course we are." They replied in unison. "Lily wouldn't use you as a dark minion, she's too fond of you." Salazar explained. "She mentioned something about a Dark Lieutenant, though."

"Great." James muttered. "What have I gotten myself into?"

"A mess." Lily nodded. "But a beautiful mess. We have a massive, dangerous snake, an old codger mercifully trapped in a painting, and a ball of fire that calls herself your girlfriend."

James sighed. "I should get used to this, shouldn't I?"

"Yep." Lily smiled at him. "Now, I'll conjured us up a bed while you pet Tessie. She could use some loving."

Tessie hissed indistinctly.

"I'd say she doesn't bite, but we both know that to be a filthy lie." Lily only half joked.

"Right." James nodded weakly.

Chapter 20: Rejected by Society

"Hello, Headmaster." Lily chirped. She had arrived early to the NEWT Examinations for today. She was most excited for Transfiguration and Defense. Charms, while she was really good at it, just didn't have the same level of excitement to it.

"Why hello Miss Evans." Dumbledore replied. "How are you doing this fine morning?"

"I'm doing really well, thank you headmaster."

"I've heard some great things about what you've accomplished, and I must admit, I wished to see them for myself. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind me sitting in on this?"

"Not at all, Headmaster." Lily assented. "I'm excited to show off my skills."

"As you should be." The headmaster nodded, stroking his white beard. "Say, what do you plan to do after you depart these august halls?"

"I'm thinking about a mastery, but most of that has fallen by the wayside until the war is dealt with." Lily admitted.

"Ahh, yes." Dumbledore spoke gravely. "Such a shame that a mind as bright as yours has been stalled in its education because of it."

"It's alright." Lily shrugged. "I've mostly just been focusing on what can be used in the war. I've learned so much about magic getting ready…"

"I understand." The professor conceded. "Say, about that. I was most impressed by the reports I've heard about you in the three skirmishes you've been in with our treacherous friends. I have an… organization devoted to fighting them being spun up. Would you be willing to consider that joining it? We could use someone of your talents."

Lily thought about it. On the one hand, they were working to end the war. On the other hand, they might not approve of her methods.

"I'll consider it, definitely." Lily agreed. "We all must do what we have to, do defeat this menace.

"Indeed." Dumbledore nodded. The examiners rounded the corner, all old, grizzled educators.

"Ahh, we have an early taker." One smiled. "And another that's a century too old to be taking his examines." He held out a hand to Lily. "Professor Tofty. I gave your OWL Defense examine, if you remember. A spectacular showing, I must say."

"Ahh, Professor, good to see you gain." Lily smiled. "Thank you"

"Come on in, Miss Evans. We'll need a moment to get set up, but we'll have you out quickly." He pulled out a box full of supplies from a bag and set it on a desk. It was filled with oddities.

"Thank you, Professor." She followed him into the room.

Once he was set up, he turned to her. "Right, so of the wanded NEWTs, you're taking Defense, Charms, and Transfiguration?" Lily nodded.

He looked at her, pausing on the wand she had clutched in her hand. "Most unusual. You've gotten a new wand?" He stated, noticing the change in color and length.

A chill ran down Lily's spine. "Yes." She answered softly. Dumbledore seemed to be very interested in what she was saying.

"What is the new one, out of curiosity? It looks like sycamore…"

"It's yew." Lily answered. "Yew with a dragon heartstring core." She and Salazar had decided on this to be the lie she told about her wand. Phoenix feathers were too rare to slip under the radar, and dragon heartstring would be consistent with the power and affinity for darker magic she displayed with the focus.

"Quite a departure from your last one, Miss Evans." Dumbledore observed. "Willow and unicorn Hair, wasn't it?" Lily nodded. "If you don't think it too brusque, what happened to you last one?" he asked.

"During the Hogsmeade battle, A spell backfired and destroyed it." A half truth, not a lie. The spell didn't precisely backfire, but that was close enough to the truth that they figured it a wise misdirection.

"A most regrettable occurrence." Dubmledore ruminated. "Take good care of yourself. Such a wand, while powerful, is also magnetic to the dark."

"I will." Lily nodded. That was also not a lie. She'd take care of herself.

She never said anything about not using the Dark arts, however.

"Ok, Miss Evans. We'll start with Transfiguration. Conjure a creature with wings, of the highest degree of complexity you can think of, if you will." Tofty smiled at her.

Lily nodded, and waved her wand, focusing on the creature she had read about in a muggle paper. She didn't bother with such trivialities as a precise wand movement or incantations.

A flash of light emerged from her wand and congealed into the form of a massive bird with large, brownish black wings and a fuzzy red head. Its beak was curved and deep, with a slight hook to it, and it had white markings scattered around it. It stood almost a meter tall, towering over Tofty from where it stood on the desk.

"Magnificent." He breathed. "Teratornis Incredibilis! An extinct species, brought to life with magic, if only for a moment. Absolutely incredible. I do hope you are saving your best for last, because this is unbelievable. Now, as sad as it would be to see this great beast go, I must ask you to transfigure it into something else. Inanimate, of course."

"Not a problem." Lily thought about what she would transfigure it into. Ahh. She shoved it off the table, exerting her will over the construct, and then tapped it with her wand. The bird shimmered with magic, and then reshaped into a large, rectangular box with inset panels. It stopped glowing, revealing a blue police box with a light on top. She snapped her finger, and the door swung open.

"Excellent. And what is it?" Tofty clapped his hands.

"It's a police box. Muggles use them." Lily explained. With a giggle, she tapped the side of it, the space inside expanding under the force of the charm.

"Incredible." He gasped. "That's going on the Charms examination."

Lily struggled not to giggle at the thought of a Police box that was bigger on the inside. Would make an interesting time, though. She might have to make a real one…

"Now, as regrettable as removing this impressive showing would be, I need you to vanish it."

Lily nodded and waved her wand. The Police box disappeared in a burst of magic.

"And all nonverbal. Impressive." He commented. "Definitely O material, maybe higher. Now, onto Charms. The space expansion charm was impressive, but I'll want you to go through a bit more than that."

And so the charms exam dragged on. Lily wasn't exactly the happiest with it; a lot of the examination was boring, not flashy at all.

But then there was defense. Lily snapped off all of the required spells nonverbally using point casting in a matter of seconds, then waved her wand to conjure her signature streetwide shield charm.

"Magnificent." Tofty clapped softly. "Absolutely magnificent. I can see why you are purported to giving some Death Eaters trouble recently. I wouldn't want to face this." He flicked a spell at the shield, which rippled where the curse bounced off.

Lily ducked her head.

"Now, I know I've seen it on your OWL, but I'd like to see your Patronus again, for extra points. Not that you really need them." Tofty chuckled softly.

Lily nodded and took a deep breath. She thought of her last time with James, the feeling of his body against hers, the intoxication that came with every kiss, and the pleasure that flooded her body. Warmth swelled within her, and she realized this might have been the happiest memory she attempted the spell with. "Expecto Patronum."

The wisps of silver mist poured out of her wand sluggishly, and there was a noticeably grey tinge to them. It almost felt like she was conjuring oil, with how it came out. The mist pooled on the ground but failed to coalesce into the familiar form of Olive. "Hunh." She murmured. "May I try again; I think I might have used the wrong memory."

"Of course." Tofty agreed, though he sounded disappointed.

Lily had never used such a carnal memory before. She expected it to work, but she wasn't sure. "Expecto Patronum." She incanted more forcefully, recalling a previous happy memory that had worked for it.

The same oily mist poured out of her wand, glowing dimly, and failing to shape into anything once again.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what happened." She apologized. "I guess with everything going on… none of my memories seem happy enough anymore."

"It's quite alright, Miss Evans." Tofty comforted her. "It's not your fault. A decent showing nonetheless."

"Thank you." She sighed and left the room. She'd need to figure out what the hell was going on with her Patronus.

Lily awoke to the tapping sound on the door. Her preternatural senses, boosted by rituals, would hear it. James was still fast asleep, lying shirtless next to her.

James had let a flat right after Hogwarts, to get away from his Parents, and invited Sirius and Lily to live with him. They had both accepted, of course. Lily had found it to be an excellent arrangement. The past two weeks had been excellent, only occasionally marred by a 'Sirius' comment. She shrugged on a nightrobe, tucking her wand into the sleeve. Glacning at the clock she growled. Who was calling at this hour? It was three in the morning!

She walked over to the door and looked out the peep hole. There were two Aurors, evident by their crimson red robes. Lily sighed, and opened up the door, apprehension crawling up her back. There were few reasons that a pair of Aurors would be at her door in the dead of night. None of them were good.

"Is this the residence of Lily Evans?" The first Auror asked, leaning in. Lily didn't fail to notice the fact that his wand was in his wand hand, by his side. That eliminated several reasons they might be here.

"Yes." Lily replied suspiciously.

"May we speak to her?" He asked. Really, would it trouble them to find a picture? She graduated at the top of her class, for goodness sake! Surely that fact would find it's way into the Prophet. She had unmistakable Hair and Eyes!

"You are." She replied. "What's this about?"

Their wands snapped up into their hands, trained on her. "Miss Evans, You are under arrest for two counts of use of illegal sorcery and two breeches of the Statue of Secrecy."

"Excuse me?" Lily asked, her eyes flaring with anger.

"You need to come with us, ma'am." The other Auror replied. "If this is a misunderstanding, we'll clear it up, but… Ma'am, we found blood wards at your parent's house after receiving an anonymous tip off. As you are the prime suspect, we'll need a sample of your blood to confirm them. Please don't make any sudden movements."

Shit. Lily thought to herself. She needed to escape quickly. If she got under the fancy wards of the ministry, she'd never be free. She felt the faint sensation of anti-apparition wards around the building. So that wouldn't work.

"Please surrender your wand, ma'am." Lily nodded and held her hand out towards the auror. He reached into her sleeve and grabbed the wand to pull it back. He touched it, and then jerked his hand back, as if he was stung. "What the hell was that!"

"What is it, Dawlish?" The other Auror asked.

"Her wand burned me!" He explained, gesturing at the large red blister forming on his hand.

"Unusual, but known to happen from time to time with exceptionally loyal wands." The Auror – Kingsley – Lily thought, recognizing him from an Order meeting, muttered. "I'll take it with a thick cloth."

He conjured a burlap square and reached it into the sleeve, pulling out the wand. "Running diagnostic spells. It's fourteen inches, Yew, and the core is resisting identification." He waved his wand and read out the floating runes.

"That's not what we have on file." Dawlish complained. "But with how little Miss Evans is wearing, I can't see where she'd hide another one."

Personally, Lily found that insulting and lacking in imagination. Wands could be shrunk. And there were so many places on the body a shrunk wand could be hidden.

Hair, palm of the hand, ear, false tooth, other places that didn't bear mentioning but would definitely work.

Kinglsey gently grabbed her wrists, cuffing them together behind her. She felt the feeling of magic draining cuffs, the warm texture of the wood drawing out magic and using it to reinforce the binding spells. Creative little buggers.

And effective, for use on most people, at least.

Most people weren't Lily Evans. Most people didn't push their magic channeling abilities to a maximum every day. Most people didn't get to the point of it hurting to channel their magic, and so the cuff's designer saw no reason to make them needlessly powerful.

Lily couldn't help but laugh. It started slow, a slight giggle, but grew to a high, maleficent cackle more at home among the denizens of Azkaban than anywhere else.

"What's so funny, Miss Evans?" Dawlish asked, his temperament askew at what he was hearing.

Even the ever-stoic Kingsley seemed a bit offput. "You're facing life in Azkaban if the allegations against you are true. I don't believe you capable of this Lily, but the evidence doesn't lie, and we don't know of anyone else that has motive to cast those wards and can get around the problem of ownership. It's not looking good for you, is all."

"I just find it so hilarious." Lily controlled her cackling, bringing her mirth down to a reasonable level.

"What do you find so hilarious?" Dawlish interrogated her.

"These are nice cuffs, right? They drain magic, limiting what a person can draw on. They have all sorts of nasty defensive wards." Lily giggled.

"And what's the point of these diversions, Miss Evans?" Kingsley asked in a deep voice, evidently disconcerted.

"I just think it's silly that you think these will hold me." She smiled sharply.

"Why would you think that? No one has ever broken out of them." Dawlish rebutted.

"I'm Lily Fucking Evans."

She pulsed magic into the cuffs, overloading the wards with a bright flash. Her skin sizzled and burnt under the hot wood, but she could already feel the healing ritual working its magic on her. He brought her arms forward and sent a wandless bolt of lightning.

"Sorry boys." She drawled. "But the dementors don't sound like a great time. I'm going to have to pass." She smirked at their shocked faces and summoned their wands into her hands. She casually tossed them behind her, then summoned her own wand.

She hit them with binding curses and grinned a wide, toothy grin at them. "I'm not going in. No sir."

They became visibly disgusted when Lily used a fingernail to gouge out the burn wounds, chunks of cooked flesh coming off of her arms and landing on the ground, smelling like someone had cooked pork and burnt it.

"What the hell?" Kingsley exclaimed. "That's disgusting! What are you doing?"

"Never seen a blood magic ritual affect at work before?" Lily asked childishly. "It'll heal faster if I remove the dead flesh."

The wound had stopped dripping blood and began to knit back up. In fifteen or so minutes, it would be like nothing had ever happened.

"Now, dearies, I'm sorry about this, but I've got things to do, and letting the ministry screw me over isn't on the list. Stupefy. Stupefy. Obliviate. Obliviate."

Lily ran back into the flat and knocked on Sirius's door. "Sirius, get up."

She decided not to wait on him to come to and threw the door open. Sirius was rubbing his eyes and sitting up in bed. A groan came from Marlene, and Lily got a good glimpse at the surprisingly delicate skin on her back. "What is it, Lils?" He mumbled. "It's."

"Three in the morning, I know." Lily cut him off. "Long story short, the Aurors showed up to arrest me for highly illegal things and I didn't exactly come quietly. Also, on a related note, there are two unconscious Aurors just outside the front door."

"Did you actually do the illegal thing?" Sirius asked groggily.

"Obviously." Lily sneered. "I wouldn't have committed another two felonies by violently resisting arrest if I was innocent."

"What did you do?" Sirius asked, curiosity warring with fear.

"I overloaded the cuffs and disarmed them with wandless magic." Lily explained.

"No, No, No." Sirius shook his head. "Not that, what was the illegal thing you did?"

"Highly illegal magic. I don't have time to explain." Lily shook her head. "No, I need you to Keep a Secret."

"I can keep a lot of secrets." Sirius mumbled.

"No, Sirius." Lily snapped. "Capital S and K. The Fidelius Charm. I need you to keep the secret of my bolt hole."

"Why me?" He moaned petulantly.

"Because you're on hand and they would expect me to pick Marlene. Also, James is too metaphysically close to me to be the secret keeper." Lily explained. "Now get dressed."

Sirius obliged and shrugged on some clothing while lily ran around the flat like a whirling dervish packing. When they were both ready, Lily grabbed his arm and tore right through the anti-apparition wards the Aurors had set up. They rematerialized just outside a cottage on the outskirts of Godric's Hollow. "Where are we?"

"A bolt hole I bought, just in case. I need to get it under Fidelius before they track the paper trail to me and invalidate any Fidelius we attempt. I'm not capable enough to cast a Fidelius that would invalidate that method." She explained. "The more secure it is, the harder it is to cast, and it's exponential."

"Ok. What's the secret?" Sirius asked.

"Lily Evan's Bolt Hole is 17 Rowan Drive, Godric's Hollow." She stated. "Fidelius Occultum."

The magic settled over Sirius. Lily had all of the mental map needed for the spell ready, so it was a simple matter of casting.

"Where are we?" Lily asked.

"Lily Evan's Bolt Hole is 17 Rowan Drive, Godric's Hollow." Sirius informed her. She blinked twice.

"Right, that. Thanks Sirius. Explain to James what happened in the morning. I don't want him getting in trouble, too." Lily commanded.

"So, what did you do, Miss Evans?"

"That would be telling. And also, a potential breech in security. I'm afraid you're going to have to live with not knowing." Lily stated offhandedly as she set up her abode, books and trinkets flying everywhere, setting themselves on shelves and in their proper places. With a flick of her wand, the bedding flew out of where it was stored, sheets followed by a duvet followed by pillows, and made themselves into place on her bed.

"As you say, Lils." Sirius shook his head. "I'm going back to bed."

"You do that." Lily nodded. "Make sure to tell James the secret in the morning, though. It'd be embarrassing if he didn't know where to find me and that I was safe. He might do something… foolish otherwise."

"Will do." Sirius nodded tiredly, then disappeared with a crack.

Lily let out a deep breath and flicked her wand again, the bottle of fire whiskey Dorcas had gotten her as a graduation gift, trickling out some of the flaming orange-brown liquid into a cheap plastic cup. She knocked it back, savoring the way it burnt on the way down. She coughed twice, then gave a relaxed exhalation. This wasn't how she had wanted this to go, but now…

She was, after all, a Dark Witch on the run from the law. Or, at least, that's how she was pretty sure the story would be spun. Now, no one would blink twice if she started tossing out really dark spells in combat now.

Which meant only one thing, she smiled to herself.

The kid gloves were coming off.

Chapter 21: Shattered Lines

And then there were three. The original group of five – Alice, Lily, Marlene, Dorcas, and Mary – that got together during the summers to have ice cream and gossip had been whittled down to just the three of them. They also weren't in the normal venue of Fortescue's, but instead in Alice's well warded house, eating out of cartons. With all of them graduated or whatever the hell had happened to Mary, the war going on, and Lily on the run from the law, there was an unspoken understanding that this might very well be the last of these get-togethers they had.

"I knew from the moment this group of friends was formed that if any of us were going to tread the path of Dark Magic it would have been Lily." Alice stated, taking a bite of her ice cream.

"Her lack of a soul, on account of being redheaded, lends credence to your theory." Marlene agreed with a vigorous nod. Alice slapped her in remonstration.

"I just can't believe it." Alice shook her head. "Really, Lily? She was always a bundle of kneazles, but I can't believe she would go down this far. The ward she put up on her parent's house was advanced blood magic, apparently. The ministry needed to get a cursebreaker from Gringotts to come to tear it down. That wasn't the first time she's done this. Beginners don't pull off a blood ward of that complexity."

"How did they find the blood ward?" Dorcas asked.

"Apparently there was an anonymous tip-off that someone had detected a ward in a muggle neighborhood. When the ministry investigated, they found it to be a blood ward." Alice explained.

"Three guesses as to who the tip-off came from, and the first two don't count." Marlene muttered darkly.

"I'm worried about Lily. She's going down such a dark path, and she's at risk of losing her parents. We know the Death Eaters haven't shirked away from killing family members in the past" Dorcas stated resignedly.

"Frankly, I'm impressed. She took on two Aurors without a wand and in the magic-suppressing cuffs. That's skill and power, right there." Marlene flashed a roguish grin – clearly she had been spending too much time around Sirius – and continued. "That's our Lily."

"That is rather impressive." Dorcas assented.

"Of course, it also smelled like burnt flesh around the front door where Lily escaped custody, so…"

"That's a lovely image." Dorcas shuddered.

"I don't know." Alice sighed. "Taking into account the fact that Lily's done dark magic before, it shakes up the timeline of the Hogsmeade attack. Wilkes died of a dark curse. They initially thought it to be friendly fire, but that's all under question, now."

"That's interesting." Dorcas nodded, taking a bite of her chocolate ice cream. "How do you know all of this, Al?"

"Oh, Frank is getting a lot of juicy details as a trainee auror." Alice smiled, her normally refined countenance marred by a smudge of strawberry sorbet on her lips. "He's told me all sorts of crazy stuff."

"I can't say I blame, her." Marlene put in. "She's a muggleborn. We aren't. If I were in her position, I'd do a lot of what she's done. I want revenge for what happened to my family, but that burns cold. It's a constant, furious ice block at the back of my mind. Lily though… Lily doesn't have anything to take revenge for. She only has things to protect."

"That doesn't excuse dark magic, Marlene. That doesn't excuse murder in cold blood." Dorcas shivered.

"Of course it doesn't. But that's a line in the moral sand, and evidently one that Lily's been pushed across. She's not going to stop now. What are they going to do, give her two life sentences in Azkaban?" Marlene shook her head. "No, she's past the point of no return. If she hesitates, if she decides not to go further, there's no good reason for her not to."

"That doesn't excuse these things." Dorcas shrieked.

"Of course not." Marlene shrugged. "But she's not going to turn back."

"I've heard that dark magic is addictive and corrupting." Alice mused. "Frank said, when they were doing the Dark Magic and unforgiveable curse training, the aurors have a limit to the amount they are allowed to cast in a year. Once they cross that point, they aren't allowed to do it anymore."

"But, that's in a sanctioned, structured environment." Dorcas pointed out. "Since when have we known Lily to show restraint?"

Alice sighed. "She's probably already too far down the road for us to help her at this point. Not that we'd know how to contact her. I haven't gotten an Owls from her, and none of my owls have gone through. I do wonder where she is, and hope she is alright."

Marlene coughed into her carton. "I might know why."

"What do you know?" Alice demanded, leaning forward to Marlene.

"She's under a Fidelius Charm. Anything more I literally cannot say." Marlene stared at the bottom of her carton.

"That's…" Dorcas paused. "Really clever of her, actually, and exactly what I would have expected her to do if I knew she could cast the charm."

"Stop complimenting the wanted criminal!" Alice admonished them disapprovingly. "It's bad enough that she's done these things! She doesn't need our encouragement."

"I don't know." Marlene shrugged. "I think she'll give the Death Eaters a good kick in the arse, with all that dark magic."

Dorcas shook her head. "That's the thing though. She's using the Dark's playbook to do 'good'. Which sounds great, until you realize that the dark has been using the playbook a lot longer than you have, and they're better at it."

"But this is Lily we're talking about." Marlene disagreed. "She's probably memorized the playbook thrice, done extra reading on the supporting material, and written her own version of it by now. The Dark won't know what hit them. Which is actually a disturbingly real possibility with the Memory Charm."

"I am… impressed, Heiress." Salazar smirked at her.

"Shut up, you old canvas." Lily hissed. "This isn't funny."

"You showed remarkable prudence in having a bolt-hole prepared, even if the precautions weren't complete when you needed it. And, you have shown great puissance with your escape from two Aurors that were both your elder." He nodded. "Quite impressive."

"Thank you." Lily replied dryly. "We seem to have neglected the part where I am on the run from both the law and the terrorist group terrorizing the country."

"No, Heiress, we have just gotten to that." Salazar smiled genially. "Now, it is best that you bloody their nose as quickly as possible, to show that you mean business. You only waste time and hemorrhage your advantages the longer you wait."

"But what am I supposed to do?" Lily asked. "I can't strike at the ministry, and I don't know who to strike at among the Death Eaters."

"Heiress." Salazar chided." You aren't thinking out the ramifications of your actions and the actions of your enemies."

"What do you mean?"

"Why." Salazar grinned at her, a toothy, humorless grin. "Who do you think the ministry got a tip-off from?"

"Bollocks." Lily swore, and disappeared in a crack. Instead of reapparing in her parent's house, she felt as if someone had smacked her with a very large bat in every cell of her being. She blinked dazedly, coming to at the edge of her neighborhood.

"Damn." She swore again. She had just bounced off an anti-apparition ward. While she had no prior experiences to base it on… It was a reasonable assumption of what had happened. Anti-apparition wards only meant one thing… She ran as fast as she could towards her parents house.

And with several rituals under her belt, that was pretty damn fast.

The front door was open, moving gently under a slight breeze. Lily's wnad flicked into her hand, the familiar feeling of yew comforting. A promise.

She approached carefully, keeping her ears out for anything that might be happening.

That was when the screaming started.

Lily abandoned all caution, rushing in. Inside, her parents and sister lay on the floor, writihing in pain. Half a dozen cloaked figures stood around them, three with wands pointed at a different person. There was the wrecked remains of dinner on the table behind them. Her family had been in the mniddle of eating.

"Shit! Ir's her!" One of the cloaked figures called out.

"Excellent. The Dark Lord will be pleased that we stopped the mudblood as well." One of them replied with a sadistic, cruel edge to his voice.

Lily's veins filled with fire, as anger overcame her. These bastards wanted to go after family? They wanted to play dirty? She'd could play that game, too.

"Laterotto!" Lily incanted brandishing her wand. Unlike the Willow wand, which had always shown a recalcitrance to any sort of combative spell, the Yew one loved them. It sang with delight as the power coursed through her body. A jet of dark blue light streaked from her wand and impacted the Death Eater at the center of the fray.

It detonated, sending out a cyan shockwave in each lateral direction, like an expanding hoop which knocked back anyone it came into contact with.

What was that about the kid gloves? She thought Right, they've come off.

"Incremo!" She hissed. The death eater she had aimed it at was quick to the counter, avoiding the gristly fate that Wilkes experienced.

They returned fire, and Lily had to focus entirely on defense. She might have made a bit of a mistake in taking them on six on one.

There was a muffled order, unintelligible over the maelstrom of magic in front of her, and the room was illuminated in ghastly green light as three jets of death struck her parents and sister.

And in that moment, something broke inside of Lily. Something fundamental to most humans. Seeing a flash of green, and an end to the life of her most beloved people.

And Petunia.

Her Parents and sister. Dead. Gone. Rage filled her veins, rage at these things and what they'd done. She clamped down on the errant emotions with occlumency, pushing them into a little box. She could hate and rage when she was done with the eviscerations. She could mourn when she was done with the murder.

Her wand slashed in the wide arc of the demon cutter, a slip of the fury she felt within empowering her movements and her spells. Most of the death eaters shielded, recognizing the blast of magic.

One didn't. He payed for his mistake with an arm. Lily grinned primally at the sight of his pain.

She took advantage of his distraction to ensure he would feel the weight of his titanic mistakes in full. With a flick of her wand and a muttered "Lacero.", the purple blade of magic struck his midsection, tearing open a nasty gash. It spurted blood and he collapsed, mangled intestines spilling out of the hole. It was disgusting. It was beautiful. It was just.

"The bitch got John!" One of them yelled. Lily twirled her wand, a crackling blue light building on the tip.

"Fulminata." She spat, an arc of lightning streaking out, the tendrils splitting into fractally smaller pieces as they slammed into the Death Eater's shields. They all groaned under the strain, the continued casting of the shields causing immense pain. The room glowed bright in the light, and the smell of ozone and magic permeated the air. One crumpled, and Lily seized the opportunity.

"Incremo!" The spell slammed into the faceless man and he doubled over, dropping his wand to clutch his chest in pain. Nothing seemed to happen immediately, but the telltale dribble of blood out of the mouth of the mask showed it to have worked. He was dead, but no one had seen fit to tell him that. No matter.

The remaining four renewed their assault, but it was much easier to deal with them, now. Lily deflected a blasting curse into ground around them. She winced as it impacted next to her deceased mother and splattered some blood around.

"The Dark Lord is most displeased with what you've done, Mudblood." One of them, the largest, spat. He brandished his wand and shot off a chain of curses.

"I'm pleased to displease." Lily smirked cruelly, deflecting a really nasty looking cutting curse into the wall. It tore right through the dry-wall and one of the wooden beams. She fired a concentrated burst of lightning at the man, focusing on shaping it into a single, powerful beam.

He slashed his wand and raised a shield to blunt the assault. The blue orb glowed white and shattered immediately under the asssualt. Another death eater fired a cutting curse that clipped Lily on the shoulder, drawing spurts of blood. Lily grimaced as it slowly knit back together, the darker nature of the curse resisting the potent healing magic of the ritual. It was going to leave a scar.

"Now!" one of them shouted. "AVADA KEDAVRA!" They cried in unison. Lily rolled out of the way, and curled up, firing a blasting curse at the chest of the larger man. It splashed against his clothing, dissipating without leaving more than a scorch mark.

His clothing must be enchanted, then. She thought. I know a way around that.

Her fury coursed through her. She was letting the rage out of the small box. Letting it fill her, every cell of her being, every iota of her essence. The way she despised what they did to her family. What the bastards did to Mary. What they wanted to do to her. The general antipathy she held towards all of their ilk. She seized it, and molded it, and focused it to a razor's edge of hate.

"You know what's funny?" She hissed in anger. "Once you cross a few lines, the process gets addictive. To shatter the next social more under your fist as you travel further and further from what most people consider 'decent' or 'moral'." She laughed crazedly, her eyes burning with green light and the excess magic pooling on her body causing her hair to frizz and expand, like a mad scientist from a muggle cartoon.

"You could say." She giggled intensely, no mirth to her cackling. She batted a few spells away. "It becomes significantly easier to continue onto further steps. Want to see?"

They responded by her soliloquy with a burst of spells. Lily wandlessly shielded, the massive strain on her from the spell causing her great pain, but she didn't care. The pain was temporary. The rage, and hatred, a poison and narcotic in her blood blocked it out.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" She screamed. The yew wand practically fainted in ecstasy, the unnatural, wrong, deathly spell with but a single purpose easily channeled by the focus. It felt disgusting as the magic for the spell, drawn through her being and shaped by her intent, crawled through her being and formed into the beam of vermillion death.

Time seemed to slow as the green haze formed on the tip of her wand. The room was illuminated in ghastly emerald as the spell flew from the tip of her wand to the chest of the heavyset death eater. He gasped in surprise as the spell ripped his life from him.

Waves of emotion crashed through Lily. She choked back vomit and fell to her knees.

"THE BITCH KILLED GOYLE!" one of them shouted. He began moving his wand in the pattern of the very same curse.

Lily got over her revulsion, shoving the unnatural feeling into a box. She waved her wand and fired a blasting curse at him. It caught him in the chest and knocked him to the wall behind him. There was a sickening crack as his spine snapped in multiple places and the wall behind him crumpled.

"Shit!" One of the Death Eaters cursed. "She's way better than we give her credit for!"

He tried to apparate away but was stopped by the same apparition wards that stalled her entrance. The other showed a tad bit more, or less, sense, and waved his wand in a classic pattern. "IGNIS DIABOLACUM!"

The demonic fire poured out of his wand, coalescing into shapes as it rampaged through the house, burning everything in its path. An explosion emanated from the kitchen when the gas stove detonated. The one who cast the Fiendfyre had a nasty glint in his eyes, but the other was panicked. They had cut off their main means of escape, if unintentionally. Lily exerted her will on it. The fire would devour the rest of her house, but not her, for the time being. A relatively short time, though. Fiendfyre fed off of magic, and she was the best source of if in the house.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Lily shouted again. The spell still reviled her to cast, but not as much. The Yew stick in her hand seemed to smile, and she drew warmth from the wand just as the wand drew magic from her; a symbiotic link between the powerful. The green beam slammed into the younger of the Death Eaters, reaping his life, as he reaped what he had sown.

The other stared at her. He was trapped, and he knew it. The Fiendfyre would kill him, if Lily didn't. Lily fired a disarming charm at him, overpowering it. It ripped his wand from his hand, sending it spinning towards Lily. She caught it, looking over the focus in her hands. She snorted, and cast it into the fiendfyre with disgust.

"Please!" The death eater dropped to is knees. "Please, mistress, spare me." He prayed in fear. "Please have mercy!"

He was thinking loud enough that he was practically broadcasting it to her legilimency. Lily snorted in disgust.

"The thing about mercy is…" Lily pondered cruelly. "It's the domain of the merciful. Accio Bastard."

The death eater slid forward, thrashing against the pull of Lily's magic. He was dragged through the fiendfyre unceremoniously, the ravenous magic feasting on him. Lily twirled her wand to tear down the anti-apparition wards. With a sigh, she apparated to Godric's Hollow.

She collapsed on the ground. She had just killed six.

And it felt good. It felt good to steal the lives of those who had stolen her parent's lives. Her sister's life. Her family.

A wave of self realization wash over her, mingling with the grief, the pain, and the anger. She wasn't the same Lily that found the chamber. She wasn't the same Lily that defended people in diagon. She wasn't the same Lily that fired the curse that took Amy Wilke's life. She wasn't even the same Lily that followed Salazar's advice after that incident.

She was a different Lily. A better Lily. A stronger Lily.

She crumpled on the inside. She wasn't so sure that was a good thing.

An hour later, James found her passed out on the floor in a puddle of tears and vomit.

Chapter 22: Fall to Darkness

Bones Manor was a display of simultaneous opulent wealth accumulated over a millennium of familial existence and the spartan decor of a martial family that cared little for such frivolities.

Frankly, Lily really liked the way the smooth hardwood walls were unadorned with the trappings of wealth, and yet managed to scream it to the heavens. The clocks on the walls were utilitarian, and the paintings had undecorated, simple frames containing the visages of a long line of stern looking Bones ancestors.

The Order's meeting was held in the kitchen, around a wooden table with scattered glasses, pitchers, and plates of appetizers. Lily cheekily summoned a sandwich wandlessly, grasping it in her free hand, the other entwined with James's. The cacophonous murmur of a dozen disparate conversations died down as the members turned to face her. Alice, Marlene, and Dorcas had blank faces. Lily turned to smile at them, though only Marlene returned.

"What's she doing here?" A black man in colorful robes demanded. His arms were crossed the telltale sign of someone having reached for a wand tucked up their sleave. Lily recognized him as Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Auror that had tried – and failed – to arrest her. "She's a wanted criminal. And not for minor crimes."

"Yeah." A woman added. "I've seen the reports. She's done some nasty magic and has an impressive body count for someone that just graduated." She was an Auror trainee by the looks of it, the way she held herself was in between that of a civilian and that of a full Auror.

"I'm sorry." Lily smiled at her. "You seem to have me at a disadvantage. And you are?"

"Vance." The woman spat. "Emmeline Vance"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Emmeline." Lily nodded. She turned to look around the rest of the room. An attractive Auror that looked to be in his fifties and had piercing blue eyes was standing next to Emmeline and staring at Lily. There were several scars scattered along his face that marred his complexion.

"If you ask me, we should just arrest her now and wash our hands of it." Kingsley stated sharply. "She's wanted, and we're officers of the law. Seems like a fairly obviously course of action to me."

"Oh kingsley." Lily simpered sarcastically, batting her eye lashes disarmingly. "I didn't even have a wand last time. What makes you think this is going to go any differently?"

"I'm afraid I don't have any recollections of our encounter, so I'm going to be disinclined to believe anything you say about it." Kinsley snapped.

"I can fix that!" Lily bounced with a grin.

"I should hope so, considering that you were the one to obliviate me in the first place." He sneered.

"If you insist." Lily shrugged. "Memoria Restorem!" She waved a hand, and the wandless spell forged a connection between their minds. Lily reconnected the strands of memories she had pruned that night. When she pulled out of his mind, she found half a dozen wands trained.

"Don't do that again, lass." The attractive, old Auror grunted in a scottish accent.

"You'll have to be more specific." Lily twirled a lock of hair around her finger with a smirk and a vain blink. "What am I not supposed to do, again?"

Kingsley looked up, blinking to clear his head. "She's not lying." He shook his head. "Merlin."

"I prefer to go by Lily." Lily giggled coquettishly.

Kingsley glared at her. "She broke out of magic restricting cuffs and restrained both Dawlish and I, all without a wand."

There was a collective combined exhalation or inhalation of air in shock around the room. The aged Auror laughed gruffly.

"It's a shame you're a wanted criminal." He laughed. "We could use more Aurors made from your material."

"A real shame, isn't it?" Lily rolled her eyes.

"Her power doesn't excuse what she's done." Emmeline snapped. "I've read the reports. There were nine bodies at her parent's house. Three were muggles. Two were destroyed beyond forensic analysis's ability to examine. One died of Fiendfyre. The other three died of a killing curse, a laceration curse, and an inside boiling curse. She's got at least three dead on her hands, possibly more. Not to mention what happened to Amy Wilkes."

"Oh, do give me credit for my naughty deeds." Lily laughed softly. "I'm flattered."

"She's not taking this seriously." One of them shook his head.

"Well of course not. That's my job." Sirius butted in with a grin.

"You aren't helping, Black." Emmeline sneered.

"ENOUGH!" Dumbledore shouted as he strode into the room, silencing everyone within. "This meeting is not about whether or not Miss Evans is a Dark Witch."

"Good to know." Lily greeted him. "How are you doing, Professor Dumbledore?"

"I could be better." He stated gravely. "But I'm doing well, considering the circumstances. Welcome, everyone, to this meeting of the Order. I am glad you all could make it."

"What's Evans doing here, Dumbledore?" Someone asked.

"She's here because she's a member of the Order." He explained.

"Have we really gone so far as to accept Dark Witches on the run from the law into our ranks?" He asked accusatorially.

"That is patently absurd." Dumbledore shook his head. "Miss Evans is quite capable of many feats which exclude her from being a dark witch, and is devoted to the fall of Voldemort."

"Like what?" The man asked. "She's been implicated in several crimes and the use of several dark curses. The ministry has a warrant for her arrest for use of blood magic. If that doesn't make her a dark witch…"

Dumbledore turned to Lily. "I'm afraid I wasn't aware of these developments. Is what they say true?"

Lily shrugged. "The way they phrased it, yes. I am wanted for use of blood magic and have been implicated in crimes that involve Dark Curses."

Dumbledore rolled his eyes, a twinkle escaping from behind the half-moon glasses. "And have you actually committed these offenses?"

"To some extent. I used blood wards around my family's house because they are powerful and easy to do, and I used some questionable curses in the heat of anger after watching my family die. I'm not going to pretend like I'm squeaky clean and perfect."

"Indeed." Dumbledore nodded gravely. "Many have done bad things in the pursuit of a higher goal, and many have lost control in fits of passion. I know I am not blameless myself. Love, Hate, Anger, and Fear have driven me to do things that were ill advised, and I've used many spells and methods to stop a greater evil. However, we must strive to be better. Is that the extent of the blood magic and Dark curses you have used?"

"Mostly." Lily nodded.

"That's a lie!" Kingsley shouted. "She mentioned blood magic rituals in the memories she restored." He took a deep breath. "Cut your arm. Show us what you've done. Show us the extent you've gone to. Show the dark path you've gone down. Stop hiding behind half truths and platitudes."

"Miss Evans, is this true?" Dumbledore peered at her.

"Somewhat." She shrugged. "I did a minor ritual to help heal injuries. It seemed prudent at the time."

"Miss Evans." He shook his head, and took a deep breath. "Miss Evans, rituals, performed with blood, are dark magic."

"That's no minor ritual." Kingsley laughed. "Your body healed too quickly for it to be minor. Healed burns caused by overloading damping cuffs. Show them. Show us, or I'll make you show us."

"I'm not going to slice up my arm to satisfy your petty grudges." Lily denied. "Just because I handed you and Dawlish your arses on a silver platter doesn't mean that I'm a dark witch."

"Miss Evans." Dumbledore sighed. "Miss Evans, the allegations against you are rather severe. The order has a plethora of skilled healers. I'd like to investigate the allegations. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear."

"Fine." Lily shrugged. She pointed her wand at her arms, attempting to make eye contact with Kingsley. He averted his eyes. "Diffindo." She murmured.

A nasty gash bloomed on her arm. Blood spurted from the initial spell, then flowed quickly from the wound. "Happy now?" Lily asked, even as she was focusing on suppressing the healing factor.

"No." Kingsley eyed the wound intently. "It's possible you could be suppressing it, or wandlessly renewing the wound, or even glamouring it. You could've used a more powerful spell quietly, too."

"That's nonsense." Lily drawled.

"If it pleases you all, there is another test we can run." Dumbledore ordered placatingly. "Dark Spells, Murder, Killing, and any form of Dark Magic, really, leaves marks on a person. It damages their soul, and sense of self. It is highly corruptive, and can be addicting. The Patronus Charm, despite popular belief, is not the exclusive spell of those that are pure of heart and soul. Certainly, at least half of us here are disqualified from the spell on those grounds alone, a half of us that can certainly cast the spell. However, it is impossible for someone to cast it that has been significantly tainted by the darker arts. Miss Evans, I recall you casting a most magnificent Patronus in third year; if you would demonstrate for us again."

Lily shivered. This might actually be a problem for her. She also didn't like the thought of dark magic corrupting her. "Alright." She agreed and raised her wand. She focused on every scrap of happiness she had, those tender moments with James, her time with the Potters, doing her best to avoid focusing on her family. The euphoric rush of casting powerful magic and triumphing over whatever or whoever stood in her way. The joy that overcame her in the chamber when she stopped feeling guilty for Wilkes. That moment at the end of fifth year, in the compartment with her friends.

"Expecto Patronum." She incanted.

An inky black cloud with silvery-blue accents poured out of the tip of her wand. It coalesced on the ground, the silvery accents turning a shade of purple. The cloud of midnight colored mist with occasional streaks of violet. It radiated apathy and indifference, in stark contrast to the joy and joviality of a usual patronus.

Dumbledore frowned, as Lily's heart plummeted. He poked the cloud with his wand and in responded by prodding him with tendrils, it's movements rapid and erratic. "I'm sorry for doubting you, Kingsley. Miss Evans… For a patronus to progress to this state…"

"So what, my patronus isn't working and all of a sudden I'm a dark witch?" Lily asked.

"Yes." He responded. "Clearly, you've done significant amounts of Dark and perverse, corrupting magic, if your Patronus has deteriorated to this point."

"Fine." Lily sneered, releasing her grip on the healing magic. The gash on her arm knit together rapidly, and with a wipe of her hand removing the blood, her unblemished skin shone as proof of what she had done. "Maybe it's fine for you to be all high and mighty about the magic you use, but some of us don't have that luxury. Some of us are wanted dead for who we are, not because of our actions. Some of us don't have families to go back to when this is over. Cast me out for using magic you disagree with. I'll be in my hidey-hole. Go ahead, send me a message when you need someone's arse kicked. I'll be there." She turned to leave. James wrapped a hand around her arm, tugging on it. Lily jerked it, her unnatural strength beyond his ability to hold hold her back.

"Lily." He stated calmly. "You're making a scene."

"No." Lily shook her head. "I'm not wanted here. I'm going to go home and get something productive done. Feel free to drop by later."

James sighed as Lily left. Dumbledore just looked at her sadly. "There's nothing we can do, save for point her in the right direction, when we can."

Lily didn't need them.

Oh, they needed her, no doubt, but she didn't need them. She never needed them.

A target disintegrated as a nasty curse ate away from it. Her anger, rage, and annoyance fueled her spells.

She'd kick the Death Eater's to the curb without them.

She'd show them.

That comment about the corrupting nature of dark magic concerned her, though. It wouldn't do to have her faculties affected by channeling nastier magic.

Something she should ask Salazar about. She holstered her wand and sat down. She really should ask Salazar about it, sooner or later. It's not like she had anything time pressing, really. She should do it now. James would be here in an hour or so.

She disappeared and then reappeared in the chamber, standing before the portrait of her ancestor.

"How kind of you to return." He drawled. "How were your family?"

"Dead." Lily muttered.

"I'm sorry for your loss." He stated sincerely. "But you can't let this hold you back. Use their sacrifice, be stronger for them."

"I know. Its just hard." Lily inhaled sharply, suppressing a tear.

"I know." Salazar said softly. "I know. I lost my wife. I know how much it can hurt. I took comfort in my friends."

Lily nodded. "I actually had a question for you."

"Yes, heiress?" Salazar asked.

"I heard a respected mage in our community explain how dark magic and blood magic has a corruptive influence, and I wanted your perspective on it."

Salazar pondered the question for a few moments. "Well, it certainly does." He conceded.

"What?" Lily demanded. "You could have told me this!"

"It's difficult to express, and it's not as bad as most people make it out to be." He shrugged. "Using darker magic and the like will magnify certain traits of people who use it, and dim other traits. People who use it become more abrasive, indifferent to others, and for some reason, melodramatic."

Lily snorted.

"But, aside from a rather minor increase in these, it doesn't really hurt unless they start killing people for their own amusement, torturing people for stress relief, or doing anything pertaining to the soul." He finished.

"So, the fact that I can no longer cast a patronus is normal?" She questioned.

"Indeed." He informed her. "You've essentially painted yourself as a dark witch with your actions. You're too soaked in the traces of the magic you have cast to use the Patronus Charm. A lamentable sacrifice, but as long as you keep your cool around dementors it shouldn't be too much of a problem."

Lily sat down in the desk and held her head in her hands. "SO, I'm a dark witch now?"

"In essence." Salazar agreed. "You are a witch, and the magic you've used has cast a long shadow. It's more complicated than that, but in essence, yes, you're a dark witch."

Lily sobbed qiutely.

"Heiress." Salazar scolded her. "This is nothing to be ashamed of. Many of the greatest witches and wizards of all time have been 'dark'. Morgana Le Fay, Circe, and Rowena Ravenclaw were all 'Dark Witches'. I was undoubtedly a 'Dark Wizard'. So long as you don't let it control you, and you control it, you will be fine."

"But there's no taking it back." Lily laughed gruffly. "I can't reneg on this deal. There's no going back."

"That's… That's not entirely true." Salazar's voice waffled. "If you abstain from using Dark Magic for a long time and try to feel the full remorse for your actions, you can go a good way back up the path you've tread. You can't undo the rituals, but you can deal with a lot of the effects of using darker magic and killing those people. It will take time, though, and I don't think the effects are worth it. I'd suggest reading Magus Cognitus. It's a brief explanation of the effect that magic has on its user's mind. You'll find it on the shelves, somewhere."

Lily sighed. "I suppose. Thanks, Salazar."

"It's my pleasure and duty, Heiress. Think nothing of it." He replied. Lily nodded and picked her way through the bookshelves to find the book. She cracked it open and began to read. Once she was done, she set it down on the desk, and bid the painting goodbye. With a turn of her heel, she apparated back to her cottage. James was sitting on the couch.

"Hey." He spoke softly.

"Hey." Lily replied with a smile. She walked over to him and sat down next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"So, about that dark witch business." He started. Lily laughed gently.

"It's nothing." She replied.

"I don't think it is." He responded.

"But it isn't." She repudiated. "I can't take it back, not that I would want to. The corrupting effects are way overstated."

"But… Lils, I don't know. Dumbledore asked me to talk with you about it. He's concerned, and he brought up a lot of the things that can happen. Lils, I don't want to lose you to that."

"James." Lily started. "It's like that esoteric Animagery. Doesn't that have side effects where it messes with the way the person thinks? Where they become more like the animal?"

James nodded.

"This is like that. There is a minor effect to the person's psyche. It's just that unlike with esoteric Animagery, where the ministry has done their best to suppress all mention of it, Darker Magic is much more common, and so they have to overexaggerate the negative traits of it. I don't expect you to do it with me."

"I love you." James murmured into her ear. "And if you think it's safe, I'll trust your judgement."

"Oh, it's not safe at all." Lily laughed. "But nothing worth doing is. Like raiding your Head of House's liquor stash, everything in life comes with risk."

James laughed back. "I suppose so. Just… Just kick some arse the next time we engage the Death Eaters. Make them regret the fact they've pushed you to this."

"You can count on it. We'll kick that reprobate's gang of lackeys to the next county."

"Good."

Chapter 23: Purpose

Lily wandered about aimlessly. She, for once, didn't know what to do. She had no more books to devour, having read all of the ones in the library that didn't require knowledge of another language that she didn't have, and she didn't feel like slogging through her studies in ancient Arabic and Germanic dialects. It would have been kind of them to translate the books and leave a copy of that in the library, but she wasn't going to complain about the source of knowledge.

That much.

James brought her books from the illustrious Potter Library, when he could, but his parents Fleamont and Euphemia disapproved of her, and made it difficult for her. She didn't blame them, much. What books he did smuggle to her she tore through faster than he could replace them. The rituals had boosted her cognition and occlumency gave her a nigh perfect memory, so it was a simple matter of staring at the page, reading for a few moments, before moving to the next. She estimated her reading speed was somewhere in the range of eighty thousand words every hour. Almost unheard of elsewhere.

It wasn't like she could go out and get more books, from the sundry alleys scattered across the British Isles. The reputable stores, like the ones in Diagon and Origin Alley had little to interest her alongside the faded, six-month-old wanted posters with her smiling visage on them. The stores of ill repute in Knockturn and Circumstanch Alley wouldn't dream of selling to an 'uppity mudblood', and they all knew her too.

She really hated those wanted posters.

She sighed, and figured the escape tunnel could always use a bit more work. There really wasn't such a thing as 'too paranoid'. She swung open the false wall (everyone always looked for the false bookshelf) and descended down the stairs. The tunnel in front of her was smooth, and she headed down it for a while, the labrynth extending every which way. It didn't matter. She knew the way. The fourth dimensional space it inhabited, in essence, was foreign to most wizards. After walking in silence for a few moments, she hit the wall where she figured the next diversionary tunnel ought to go.

"Auguementi." She murmured. A stream of water sprayed the wall, magical forcing it into the pores in the rock and dirt. Lily flicked her wand again, and the dirty wall bent back under her force of will. Magical exertions put the dirt under extraordinary heat and pressure. She released the magic and continued on. The walls radiated heat, the flash baked clay, compressed under hundreds of times the force of gravity giving off temperature as it cooled. It was a mild 400 degrees Celsius. Lily knew to let it cool naturally, and not freeze it. She had tried that, once.

She would still bear the scars if it weren't for her unnatural healing factor.

A silvery stag clattered into the room behind her. Lily winced at the beautiful display of magic that was no longer within her capacity. In her beau's voice, its mouth moved in a way she couldn't imagine a deer acting outside of wizardry.

"Lils." It stated frantically, an edge to the voice of her Boyfriend. "There's an attack going down. Death Eaters marching on Mould-on-the-Wold. Meet me at Potter Manor."

Lily grinned. This was it. The moment she had been training for, and preparing for all this time. She rushed out of the arid basement and into her cottage proper. With a flick of her wand her clothes flew off, landing neatly in a pile. Another few flicks later and she was clothed in an Acromantula silk tight suit and flexible body armor made from basilisk scales harvested from Tessie's shedding. While not imbued with the same power of skin forcibly taken from a slain basilisk, it was better than nothing, and several breeds of dragon hide. A simple cloak to cover all of it went on over it.

She ran out of the front door of the cottage, spinning her wand about. With a snap, she appeared in the apparition point of Potter Manor. Moments later, James, Sirius, and Marlene appeared. Lily rushed forward and gave James a hug, wrapping her arms around him. She leaned in and gave him a kiss that was perhaps a bit improper. Sirius gave out a low wolf-whistle.

Shortly afterwards, Alice and Frank arrived as a pair. Alice frowned at the sight of Lily, and Frank scowled, his hand twitching in the aborted movements of triggering a wrist holster. Lily pulled away from James and smiled brightly at them.

"What's she doing here?" Frank demanded.

"She's coming with us to fight." James responded.

"I did not sign up to fight alongside a Dark Witch. Whatever happened to the alliance? Or does an eleven-hundred-year-old covenant not have any meaning to you, anymore?"

"I should fight you, for that comment." James whispered tightly. "But we have better things to do with our time. She's coming with us, and that's final. She's one of the best damn fighters we have. Her shield alone can turn the tide. Lily's a Merlin bedamned strategic asset, and a national treasure." He turned to her and grinned. "In more ways than one. We aren't leaving her behind."

Lily's heart fluttered softly at that, but she attributed it mostly to nerves.

"Fine. But I don't trust her."

"I'll try to leave some for you." Lily responded with a smirk.

"ENOUGH!" Marlene shouted, popping off a firework in the air. "We have a war to fight. We're the advanced guard for the order, we needed to be there five minutes ago."

James nodded, and frank reluctantly pulled a rope out of his jacket. "Here's the portkey."

They all took hold of it, and frank muttered the activation phrase. "Front Post Double Crochet."

The world glowed blue and swirled around them as they traveled to the village. They appeared on the outskirts of the town. A ghastly green snake and skull floated over the village, a sharp difference from the blanket of stars behind it. Several pillars of smoke were faintly illuminated by both the fires burning below and the dark mark. The faint screams of civilians could be heard drifting in.

"Ok, here's the plan." Lily began.

"Hold on." Frank interjected, but he was shot down by simultaneous glares from Marlene, Sirius, and James.

"As I was about to say, I'll play mage. Marlene and Sirius will picket for me. James, you've got the cloak. Stir up hell with that. Frank and Alice." She turned to them. "The four of us will strike at the main body of Death Eaters. You two will need to move through the town and mop up anyone that isn't part of the main push."

"Understood." James nodded, and slipped the invisiblity cloak over him, vanishing from view. Lily pointed her wand at the town center and muttered an incantation. Space contorted around it and light shone at weird angles. She grunted and then ran forward into it.

"What's that?" Frank asked at the weird bending of space.

"If I had to hazard a guess, Lily did a thing to make the path shorter." Sirius shrugged.

"You can do that? I though expansion charms like that could only work within a defined boundary?" Alice asked as they ran down the path.

"What can I say, Ally?" Marlene shrugged. "That's Lily for you."

Lily's large shield radiated out as they came to a stop. There were about a dozen Death Eaters scattered about the area.

"Focus on them!" The lead shouted. They all turned from their various acts of vandalism and terrorism to focus on the group of three that came to confront them.

Lily dropped the shield and wandlessly amplified her voice. "Surrender now, and I might let you live."

"Fat chance, mudblood." One of them called out mockingly. She flicked her wand at him, a bolt of lightning arcing out of the tip. He narrowly shielded, but she could see tendrils of smoke rising from his clothes.

"So be it." She shrugged. The fight began in earnest. Sirius did his best to maintain a shield with occasional pillars of earth rising to catch killing curses. Marlene tossed out a few curses to deny opportunities. The lead whistled a low pitched sound, and the majority peeled off, leaving only three silver masked interlocutors.

"Go help out Alice and Frank." Lily murmured to her companions. "They will need the help. We need to avoid a defeat in detail and encirclement."

Sirius and Marlene nodded, and disengaged, pulling back to track down other targets.

The three remaining figures looked at one another before turning their attention back on her. With simultaneous flicks of their wands, they unleashed a multitude of curses. Lily batted one away and let the other two hit her, the weak, probing nature of them being negated by her healing speed. Pained bloomed along her stomach where they impacted.

She returned fire. With a sweep of her wand, a beam of purple fire streaked towards the one in the lead, and he dove to the side to avoid it. Lily ducked to avoid a sickly grey curse, then drove her wand into the ground. The cobbles underneath the feet of the death eaters were transfigured into a thin pool of acid. Their enchanted boots ignored the substance.

"Auguamenti." She muttered, canceling the spell after a second. The death eaters ignored the seemingly harmless bulb of water, instead launching another volley of curses at them.

That was a mistake. Lily shielded and grinned at them. The water impacted the concentrated acid, and chemistry took over. The dilution of acid in water releases heat. In this case, lots of it. The acid flash boiled at the location of the water and exploded, spraying boiling acid everywhere. They were shocked by the sudden spray of highly acidic material burning their skin, and the few splatters moving towards lily rebounded against her shield. Lily dropped the shield and pressed the attack against them. A blasting curse to one of them caused a flash as the enchantment on the clothes failed defending against it.

A follow up blasting curse caused his chest to crumple in, viscera spraying out the side in a reddish cloud.

"Mudblood plays a mean game!" One of them giggled. "Avada Kedavra!"

The green jet flew towards lily. She spun her wand, a pillar rising from the ground to stop it.

"I do indeed." Lily smiled back. A flash of light came from thin air, a red beam of light flying towards the other death eater and catching him unawares. James had gotten off of his arse and decided to join the fight, apparently. He fell face first into the pit of acid, knocked unconscious.

"Impressive." A sibilant voice called out from the street. Voldemort had appeared, out of thin air, apparently. His face was a pale white. It would have seemed sickly, if it was so full of death. "But not nearly impressive enough. Ventus."

The gust of wind blew down the street, kicking up dirt, blood, and acid. Lily spun her wand to shield against it. James's cloak flew off him and blew down the street. He ran to her side in a hurry. Lily sensed that Marlene and Sirius were coming forward to help them.

"You're gonna have to do better than that." Lily smirked at him.

"Ahh, Miss Lily Evans, is it?" Voldemort smiled genially at her. "I have heard of your exploits. It would be impossible to not have, after all. We could use someone of your caliber in our ranks. You'll find the Death Eaters to be much more accepting of the magic you have used than the current ministry. Join us, and no one else need die today."

Lily considered the offer. Her initial bravado was fading rapidly fading, replaced by the memory of Charlus and Dorea falling to the ground, like wheat before the scythe. She needed to stall for time, so reinforcements could show up. She didn't like her chances in a direct duel.

"I don't know." Lily pondered. She quieted her companions with a wave of her hand. "I'd need some… Assurances."

"Of what sort?" Voldemort asked amusedly. "Few are foolish or brave enough to ask assurances of Lord Voldemort."

"Basic things, you know?" She responded. "I would want a guarantee that a select group of people of my choosing wouldn't be targeted outside of combat."

"That can be arranged." Voldemort conceded, his good humor just barely reaching his red eyes.

"And I also want to know why you seem partial to recruit me. I am a mudblood, after all."

"Fair point." Voldemort fake pondered. "You show great command of magic, especially for one so young. I don't think I would be remiss in stating that perhaps your status as a mudblood has been overstated."

"I've found things suggesting similar in my research." Lily nodded.

"Lily!" James hissed. "You can't possibly be considering such a thing."

Lily ignored him. "And what about benefits? Spoils after the conquest, Healer's insurance, power dispersal?"

"Healer's insurance?" Voldemort laughed. In a flash he turned deadly serious. "You're stalling for time, aren't you." He shook his head. "Oh well. Time to die, Miss Evans."

He raised is wand, and rippling black tendrils of smoke poured out of them. Lily shoved her wand forward, the column of air making up the street moving forward rapidly, countering the inky tentacles. One darted out of the cloud and grasped Sirius's arm. He fell over in pain, clutching the burns where it struck.

Lily retaliated by drawing on everything she could and slashing her wand. Collateral damage and all could go to hell. This was Voldemort she was dealing with. A vivid multicolor stack of magical blades expanded out, flying towards Voldemort. He twirled his wand, dispelling the blades of magic in a wave of many-hued smoke. He immediately followed by conjuring two large snakes of ice that lunged towards her, large, fanged maws closing quickly.

Lily jabbed her wand forward, focusing on releasing a tricky spell that fired a powerful, directed blast out of her wand. The shockwave shattered the ice snakes, and batted away the few shards. Marlene was dueling the remaining Death Eater. Voldemort fired a killing curse, but James conjured a plate to absorb it.

"A good showing, if ultimately futile." He shook his head, and fired a beam of lightning at Lily. Lily pointed her wand at the ground and muttered the incantation to Faraday's Shield. The lightning struck her harmlessly and entered the ground. He frowned, and cancelled the spell. Lily responded with a conjured ball of hot, sticky tar. Voldemort fired a blasting curse at it and it exploded everywhere, bits of it on fire. The tar that landed on the bits of ice caused the ice to explode, sending even more flaming hot tar and steam everywhere.

James twirled his wand into a bluish-silver shield. Lily flicked her wand and another gust of wind flew down the street, forcing the tar and steam towards Voldemort. She waved her wand around, forcing the hot materials to encompass him. Currents of white steam clouds flecked with orange fire from black globs and streaked with gray smoke spun around him, compressing tighter and tighter as it could. Voldemort unleashed a wave of power, pushing all of the material away from him. Lily directed it into the ground as quickly as she could.

James summoned a cart full of goods towards Voldemort. He spun around and banished it away, the cart cracking into splinters under the sheer dynamic load. Some spall flew off the cart, and James transfigured it into a flock of crows.

Voldemort flicked his wand and the crows dissolved into smoke.

Sirius, clutching his burned arm, raised his wand and fired a blasting curse at Voldemort that he directed into the ground harmlessly.

Voldemort pointed his wand into the sky and spoke clearly in Parseltongue. "§Serpentsortia Horribilis§!"

The sky rained snakes. Venemous snakes, by the looks of it. Lots of them.

"PROTEGO DIABOLICA!" Lily shouted as she spun around. Gouts of midnight flame spurted from her wand, and a circle of black fire, about four meters across and centered on her formed. The serpents that tried to enter it disintegrated in black flames. Sirius stared at her in awe.

"Impressive." Voldemort mused, staring at Lily's panting form.

"DESCENDO FULGUR!" Lily shouted, raising her wand. A bolt of lightning stuck the tip of it and arced towards Voldemort. He raised his wand and directed it into the ground, following immediately with a series of curses that Marlene and James deflected.

"CAELUM IMBER FULMINIS!" She screamed; her face lit in unnatural relief by the strange light of the black flames. A thundering noise sounded, and dozens of lightning strikes occurred around Voldemort in quick succession. They sent shrapnel flying from wherever they impacted.

He raised a shield, surrounding himself in a golden bubble.

"It's time to go." He gritted out. With a flick of his wand he summoned his errant follower and lifted off the ground, flying away in haste. "BOMBARDA MAXIMA!"

The ground exploded in front of Lily, and everything went black as she flew away, knocked away by the blast.

"What are we supposed to with her?" An indistinct male voice muttered. Lily ran through some occlumency exercises, checking over her body and mind. Everything seemed alright.

"I don't know." The other shrugged. "I'm genuinely concerned about chucking her in Azkaban."

"I don't think we should do anything." A third insisted. "She fought him and drove him back."

"She had the help of friends." The second pointed out.

"And? They're a group of friends that are barely out of Hogwarts. She might just win this war for us." The third rebutted.

"Did you see the spells she was working with?" The first commented. "Protego Diabolica. That's a spell last used by Grindelwald. And you don't find it outside of dark arts books. It took a team of four Aurors alongside Dumbledore to neutralize it."

Lily felt cuffs on her hands, tying her to the bed. The smell trickling into her nose was definitely St. Mungos, but she was effectively in custody. She opened her eyes and looked around. Magic suppressing cuffs on several parts of her body, and the hospital was devoid of anything else.

This was getting old. Fast. She poured magic into the cuffs, to detonate them when a stunning spell hit her. It didn't knock her out, so she pumped more magic in.

"Merlin, she's trying to escape." One of the voices stated agitatedly. The door swung open and three men in officious robes held their wands out towards her. She pumped more magic into the cuffs, but the three crimson bolts of energy hit her before she could succeed.

Lily Evans fell unconscious again.

"Lily." James whispered into her ear. "Be quiet. I snuck in here. They don't know."

Lily's eyes flashed open. She looked around the room but didn't see James. "I'm under the invisibility cloak. I'm going to start by shrinking your hands." His wand pointed at her hands, and she felt a noticeable contorting in them as they shrank. She pulled them through the cuffs quickly. James flicked his wand, and they returned to normal size. He handed her her wand. She shrunk her feet and pulled them out, then shrunk her lower body and pulled that out of the brace on her midsection. The leather straps over her chest didn't feel inherently magical, so she sliced through them with a cutting curse. She didn't care that it sheared through and open wounds on her body.

"Thanks James." She stated quietly. "Run along now. I've got it from here."

"Don't mention it." He replied. "No, seriously, don't mention it."

Releasing the enchantment on her legs, she stood up and smiled. She wlaked over to the door and pulled it open violently. "Miss me?"

"How the hell did she escape?" One of the Aurors asked.

"Magic." She replied. She flicked off two stunning hexes at the aurors. One fell to the ground, but the other blocked it. She dueled him for a few moments before landing a good body bind. She then ran, as fast as she could, away from the hospital. The moment she was out of the wards, she apparated way, off to her cottage.

That was a close call. She thought to herself. I need to be more careful in the future. And figure out contingencies for breaking out of Azkaban.

Just in case.

Chapter 24:

Marlene wiped her face with a towel.

"That was one hell of a workout." She gasped, greedily sucking in air. Her wand rested loosely in her hand, still warm from all of the magic they had been practicing.

"Agreed." Lily puffed. She probably could wipe the floor with Marlene nine times out of ten if she were willing to use her entire arsenal, but that would probably leave too much of the area inhabitable to continue for too long.

"Ice cream?" Marlene asked. Lily nodded, answering without speaking. She flicked her wand, conjuring a full-size mirror. She stared at it, concentrating on her features.

The Dark Arts took a toll. She knew that. She accepted the toll. The face staring back at her wasn't the same face she started off with. Her eyes were different, the glint in them that had shown her desire to drink in knowledge when she first entered the wizarding world was still there but had been smudged by the suffusion of an eldritch haze that emitted a soft green light. The blood vessels in the sclera were tinted a dark purple. Her facial features were sharper, more pronounced, and while most of her hair crackled with magic, brighter and more vivid in coloration than before, a single lock of it was a deceptive black; not true black, but the absence of every color.

Such was just one of the tolls the darker arts, and killing fellow humans demanded. She didn't regret it. Lamented the minor disfiguration, sure, but she didn't regret it. She'd pay a much higher price before this was all over, of that she was sure.

She waved her wand transfiguring several of her features to be less like Lily Evans, wanted fugitive, and more like a nondescript witch going out for sweets. Her hair shifted into a dark black, as nothing she did to the black lock effected it, so she was forced to change the rest of her hair to accommodate it. Her face smudged, the razor-sharp features smudging and filling out. Another flick tanned her skin. She wished she could blame her unnatural pallor on the Dark Arts, but she was pretty sure the near translucence of her skin was just because she had spent so much time inside, only going out at night.

"You done primping?" Marlene asked, a slight grin on her face. Lily sheathed her wand, and nodded.

"Yep. Let's go. Is anyone else coming?" She could barely moderate the hopeful hunger in her voice. Lily missed her friends. She wouldn't admit it, but Marlene could tell.

"No. It's just us. Alice and Dorcas have made their position clear. They want nothing to do with you. I don't think they will go to the authorities with anything, but I never told them the exact time or place regardless."

Lily nodded and pulled on a shirt. Her status as a witch of the darker inclinations put enough stress on the relationships with her friends and those that were once her friends. James was nearly booted out of the Auror Academy after declaring his inability to bring her in, and likely would have been if there weren't such a shortage of competent recruits and they weren't in a war. He was, however, forced to testify under Veritaserum that he wasn't her Secret Keeper.

They apparated away, the hidden cottage shifting to the wizarding community of Edinburgh with a snap. They had a pleasant stroll down the street into the quaint little ice cream parlor that served the wizarding community there. Once they were seated, and had ordered their confections, Lily tapped her wand to the table and a powerful rivacy spell eveloped them.

"The order has been converned about you." Marlene admitted. "There's a real concern that once we defeat You-Know-Who you'll be the next big threat they have to deal with."

"That's ridiculous!" Lily snorted.

"I know." Marlene placated. "But I think you should know what they are thinking. I wouldn't want you to be caught and blindsided by it."

"Thanks." Lily admitted.

"So, you've been fairly quitey for the past few months, and outside of training we don't really talk that much." Marlene led in. "What do you have planned?"

"Whatever makes you think I'm planning something?" Lily clutched a hand to her chest and gasped.

"Because we've been friends for eight years. You've got to be planning something." Marlene rebutted.

Lily nodded and shrugged. "I want to get out and fight again, but there haven't been any chances to. The Order has been doing their damnedest to make sure James can't summon me in time, because apparently alienating a witch powerful enough to go toe to toe with Voldemort is their idea of high strategy. I'd like to go another round with old Snake Face, but I haven't had the chance."

"Only you." Marlene snorted. "Only you would want to duel him again."

"Hey, it's a hobby." Lily smirked. "In the meantime, I've been doing things to make me more prepared."

"More rituals?"

"Marlene!" Lily gasped. "I would never dream of doing such repugnant dark magic. No, I've done all of the rituals I feasibly can. There is one more I'd like to do, but really don't have the ability or willingness to do it. Outside of that, I've been researching more magic that I might give me an edge."

"What's the remaining ritual you want to do?" Marlene asked, intrigued. She sponed another bite of creamy goodness into her mouth and leaned forward.

"Ritual is a bit of a strong term. Basically, it takes the principle that every time you channel magic, you get a little bit better at channeling magic, and expands on it."

"Expands on it?"

"Yeah. The ritual forces you to channel your maximum amount of magic for seventy-seven hours. In doing so, it increases your ability to channel magic sevenfold."

"That's insane." Marlene gasped. "That's really, really powerful. Why haven't you done it?"

"Because I need an anchor for the magic, an item that I need to seal the enchantments on. If I were to do it without one, the excess magic would turn the area I was performing it into a wasteland. As long as I focus the magic onto the enchanted item, it can't destroy the environment."

"And? I've seen you enchant stuff. Why haven't you done this?"

Lily winced. "It can't be a normal enchantment. It has to be an enchantment that is significantly more powerful than normal, run of the mill enchantments. And there is a price for such power."

"How expensive?"

"The life of a loved one, forcibly taken." Lily stated with a grimace. "Nothing else is powerful enough."

"Oh." Marlene shuddered. "I can see why you havne't done that, yet."

"Precisely."

AN: Farewell, and Goodbye.

-Gnome