One year later...

"Crucio!"

The curse came from somewhere behind and to the left of Lily, but she was fully occupied by Rodolphus Lestrange, the Death Eater right in front of her. In fact, she barely registered the incoming attack, and she surely couldn't have reacted fast enough to block it.

Fortunately, she didn't have to. A strong voice called, "Protego!" and a shield appeared around her, deflecting the violent spell. She hit Rodolphus with a Stunner and watched his body crumple, dangling precariously over one of the support beams in the belfry that was their battleground. Assured he was down, she turned to give James a quick nod of thanks.

He had the nerve to grin. "Alright, Evans?"

She didn't have it in her to banter in the midst of a battle, but she shot him a wry smile as she yanked him out of the way of a jet of orange light. He let out a breathless chuckle. "Cheers. Ready?" Lily nodded, her chest heaving and her heartbeat thrumming in her ears. Ready or not, here we come.

In the six months since they'd left Hogwarts, Lily had realized there was only one thing that felt as good as having James at her side, and that was having him at her back. She knew he felt the same – he had told her more than once that if they had to go to war, there was no one he'd rather go to war with than her. They were a team, after all.

Now, in the belfry, they dropped onto the platform below the massive bells, each firing spells at Death Eaters before they even hit the ground. Lily hit a Death Eater called Crabbe with a full body-bind spell, toppling him from the platform. James shot a Stunner at their former classmate, Ira Warrington, at the same moment as Warrington fired a searing lance of red light at James. The Stunner hit its mark, and the Death Eater fell backwards with a thud. But his spell caught James in the arm, right above the elbow, before he could fully dodge. James yelped in pain, barely ducking as a burst of green light shot towards him from a different direction. It ricocheted off of a bell and into the night.

According to Dumbledore's sources, Voldemort had chosen Big Ben as the site for tonight's violence because of its symbolic importance to Muggles. He hoped, in destroying it, that he would show the Muggles how weak they truly were in the face of power such as his. He had sent ten Death Eaters to accomplish the task. What he had not counted on was ten members of the resistance – the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore called them – showing up to make sure his wicked plan failed.

Using Big Ben himself (he was the central bell, and the largest) as partial cover, Lily hastily cast a Shield Charm around herself and James. "Are you hurt?"

He grimaced. "Right arm's numb. At least it's not my wand hand." He tried to chuckle. Below them, Sirius and another Order member, Dedalus Diggle, chased after a pair of Death Eaters who were running towards the stairs. Bits of debris flew through the air along with the sounds of battle. Four Death Eaters and at least one Order member were down for the count. Lily took a deep breath.

"Good." She nodded at James, but her eyes darted around the room, searching for other threats. "You can Apparate back to the safehouse."

"Oh, no, Evans," James panted. "I'm not leaving, not as long as I can still fight." He fired a hex at an unknown target over Lily's shoulder, as if to prove the point.

She growled in frustration. They didn't have time to argue. "Fine. You go that way, I'll go this way," she said, tilting her head to indicate where she planned to run. "Ready?" James nodded. After one more deep breath, Lily dropped the shield, and the two of them took off running in opposite directions.

Almost immediately, Lily came upon Dorcas, battling Lucius Malfoy and a clumsy Death Eater called Goyle. Dorcas was holding her own, but just barely. Lily jumped into the fray with a well-aimed Tripping Jinx, sending Goyle sprawling and his nasty-looking hex far away from Dorcas. "Incarcerous!" Lily yelled, and Goyle's body was immediately bound in thick ropes and dragged to the side. He moaned, and she Silenced him before turning to help Dorcas against Malfoy. The smaller girl had nearly disarmed her opponent, but at the last moment, Malfoy was able to grasp the end of his wand with his fingertips and hold on. As Lily turned to him, he raised the wand and swept it upward, then jabbed it towards Dorcas. Bits of wood and debris leapt into the air and coalesced into a dagger shape, which then began hurtling straight for her.

"Expelliarmus!" Lily tried again to disarm Malfoy while Dorcas threw up her Shield. Malfoy whirled out of the way of Lily's spell at the same moment as the shards of wood hit Dorcas' shield and exploded outward. Lily ducked, clinging tightly to her wand and covering her face with one arm to avoid getting blinded by shrapnel. Malfoy sneered and swept his wand in a circle around them, once again collecting debris to be used as projectiles.

Just then, Alastor Moody, an Auror who had been one of the first to join the Order of the Phoenix, ran past them, firing a curse over his shoulder as he went. The Death Eater following him dodged and bumped into Dorcas. She shoved him away in surprise.

"Hold onto 'em, soldiers!" Moody called. "Aurors on the way!"

The good news gave Lily a surge of energy. She fired off three spells in rapid succession, enough to prevent Lucius from re-forming his dagger of splinters but not enough to disable him. Still, her spirit didn't wane. Dorcas put a Leg-Locker Curse on the Death Eater chasing Moody, then focused her attention back on Lily and Malfoy. The girls didn't have to communicate to know that their only goal now was to prevent Malfoy from escaping. The appearance of Aurors would end the battle, as the Death Eaters tried their best not to stick around long enough to be taken into custody. Capturing one of Voldemort's lieutenants would be a real boon to the resistance.

The Death Eaters were a slippery lot, though. As soon as they heard Aurors were coming, they began firing off rapid, violent – sometimes, Unforgiveable – curses, putting the Order members entirely on the defensive and giving themselves a chance to evade capture.

Sure enough, Malfoy screamed, "Avada Kedavra!", sending a bolt of green light shooting straight for Dorcas, just before he turned on the spot and Apparated out of the bell tower. Dorcas dodged and created a shield, and Lily threw up a shield of her own, for good measure. The spell went over Dorcas' head. She and Lily exhaled in unison, then nodded grimly at each other and began looking for where they were needed next.

They didn't get a chance to make a decision. Amidst the tell-tale pops of wizards Apparating in and out of the building, announcing the arrival of Aurors and departure of Voldemort's followers, a woman's voice snarled, "Expulso!" A flash of bright blue light sent Lily and Dorcas flying.

A high-pitched ringing filled Lily's head. She tumbled through the air, no longer sure which way was up. The force of the spell knocked the air from her lungs, making it impossible for her to perform any verbal incantations to slow her momentum.

She curled her arms around her head protectively and braced for impact.


It hurt to open her eyes. And to turn her head. And to breathe. Lily closed her eyes again and moaned softly.

On the bright side, she could breathe. She was alive. She could not remember anything after seeing that burst of blue light, but now she was in a hospital bed with a large bandage on her temple and an even larger one wrapped around her chest and one shoulder. Everything hurt, but she was alive. She suspected if she only had Muggle doctors at her disposal, she would not have been so lucky.

She tried to piece together the events that had led her here. She and Dorcas had been fighting a Death Eater, and then – Lily's breath caught. Dorcas. The memory of her friend being blasted off her feet right next to her was enough to force Lily's eyes open again. She blinked against the dim light and then tried to look around, hoping to see Dorcas lying in a cot next to hers.

Instead, she slowly realized she was not in a hospital at all. She was in James' flat, in James' bed. He was slumped in an armchair next to her, his glasses in his lap and his hair wilder than usual, as if he'd spent the last several hours tugging it in different directions. His head lolled to one side and his mouth was half open as he slept. He looked adorable, if exhausted.

Warmth flooded Lily's body, temporarily masking the pain. Slowly, stiffly, she reached out one arm and brushed the backs of her fingers against James' knee. He started awake, shaking his head and blinking in confusion. He grabbed his glasses from his lap and shoved them on his face, then leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and took Lily's hand in his. "Evans," he said, his voice hoarse but full of relief. "You're alright."

His tone made Lily smile, even as tears prickled at her eyes. "'Lo, Potter. I suppose I am," she mumbled. She reached up to wipe her eyes and winced. "What happened?"

He frowned and rubbed his brow with one hand. "I'm not totally sure. I joined Hestia and Remus in dueling Rabastan Lestrange and fucking Mulciber, and then Moody ran by yelling that the Aurors were coming. Lestrange cast some sort of webbing spell over us, then grabbed Mulciber and Apparated. That's when we heard the explosion."

"Explosion?"

James nodded, and his grip on Lily's hands tightened. "Bellatrix Lestrange tried to send you and Dorcas straight to Godric's Grave."

Lily shuddered. "Is Dorcas okay?"

"Yeah, she's alright. She's concussed and she's got a broken arm. She and Marlene are staying at one of the safehouses with a few others, for now."

"Thank Merlin." Lily heaved a sigh of relief, wincing as pain shot through her lungs. "Are my ribs broken?"

"They shouldn't be broken anymore, but they'll certainly be bruised. McGonagall said it will take a couple of days for you to heal fully."

"Alright." She bit her lip. "And...what about the rest of the Order?"

"No casualties," James assured her, squeezing her hand again. "A few minor injuries. Bones got hit with a Stunner, but he's fine. Yours and Dorcas' were the worst." He shook his head and blew out a breath, some of the tension leaving his body. "Dumbledore fixed my arm in no time, and other than that, there were just a few cuts and scrapes. We all made it out."

"Thank Merlin," Lily repeated. "Big Ben?"

"The clock tower?" James managed a smile. "It's fine. A lot of broken glass on the clock faces, and several support beams inside that had to be magically repaired and reinforced. The Aurors dealt with it and with the Muggle authorities. Most people will never even know anything happened up there."

"Okay." Lily nodded slowly. It was a lot to process, but she was glad last night's battle had not caused any permanent damage to the Order or to the Muggle world.

Tenderness radiated from James' every pore, his eyes so full of worry and warmth that Lily could feel it, a physical presence on her skin. It was comforting. As he watched her watching him, his lips quirked in that grin she adored. "Any more questions, Evans?"

She smiled and shook her head. "No. Thank you. I'm glad everyone's okay."

"Me, too." James took a deep breath. "And now I have a question for you."

Her nose crinkled in amusement. "Alright, then."

"Evans." His voice was low, and his thumb caressed the back of her hand. "Will you marry me?"

"What? James!" Lily gasped, then flinched against the pain. "Now?"

He chuckled nervously. "Yeah. I mean, not here in my flat, but as soon as possible. Last night was a reminder that we don't—" he swallowed hard "—we don't know how much time we've got. I can't die, or let you die, without you knowing that you're everything to me. I want to build a life with you, buy a house and have kids and laugh at each other until we're old and grey, like my mum and dad. And I want to start that right now."

"I want that too, James," Lily said softly. "But we're in the middle of a war."

"All the more reason we shouldn't waste another minute." He squeezed her hand. "Marry me, Lily Evans. Say yes."

Lily sucked in a sharp breath and let it out with a laugh, tears spilling down her cheeks. "Alright. Yes. Yes! Of course I will!" Despite her shock at the question, she had no doubt that she had given the right answer. The sheer joy and peace she felt made her wonder if she was in the middle of the best dream ever – although, the pain radiating from her ribs reminded her that this was all very real. I'm going to marry James Potter! Her smile grew as she fully embraced the truth. "I love you, James."

"Brilliant!" James laughed with relief, his grin growing wider the longer he looked at her. "I love you, Lily." He leaned in and began peppering her face with small kisses, teasing her by only landing on her lips with every third or fourth kiss. She suspected he was trying to be gentle with her in her battered condition and avoid getting carried away, as they were both prone to do. She only wished she could move better; she'd wrap her arms around him and pull him on top of her, injuries be damned.

She sighed happily. "Wow. As soon as I'm healed, we're going to do this." Her fingers tightened around his. "We're getting married."

James paused his tender ministrations and pulled away from her, his hazel eyes twinkling. "Now who's in a hurry?"

"Well, we're a team, James, we've been saying that for ages now." Lily shrugged, trying to act casual even though she was smiling so wide her face hurt. "I think it's about time we made it official."


AN: ❤️