A/N: Welcome back! I don't know why but I've been so tired lately. I just keep yawning.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Twenty

It was easier said than done to leave. As soon as the building had heard Lily's words, the burning beams began to creak ominously. It wasn't long before the wall behind them gave in and the whole back of the café collapsed, sending a giant, fiery dust cloud in their direction. Grabbing the hand of the levitating Mary, Lily rushed forwards in a limping trot, Dorcas bringing up the rear, her wand on Mary so as to keep her in the air.

They must have looked a strange sight as they barrelled out of the tea shop, moments before the entire thing crumbled. Mary floating with them, particularly once outside with that gigantic green glowing skull casting its light on everything, looked like a strange ghost, her limbs moving strangely as she hung a few metres above the ground.

But of course, being a strange sight was the least of their worries. Lily led the way behind a pile of rubble as the dust cloud that had once been Madam Puddifoot's swelled and grew, sweeping across the surrounding area, rushing over their heads like a billowing gust of wind and burning those caught in its wake with red-hot pieces of building that it managed to bring with it.

'We should find Marlie.' Lily said once the dust cloud had passed. 'James went looking for the others but that doesn't mean he found her.'

'I s'pose.' Dorcas peaked over the mound of rubble they hid behind. 'She can't've been far from where I was when Madam Puddifoot's exploded.'

Mary let out a rather pitiful moan. Lily glanced at her.

'Listen, Dorcas, I don't think it would be a good idea to bring Mary. We need to get her back to the castle.'

'But what about Marlie?'

'I'll go find her. You get Mary back to school.'

Dorcas was silent for a moment, continuing to look out over the mound. She watched a Death Eater blast their opponent so that they fell with a rather horrible crunch into a pile of rubble.

'Fine.' she relented, leaning around Mary's floating body to hug Lily tightly. 'Don't die, will you?'

'Same to you.' Lily closed her eyes briefly before pulling out of Dorcas' hug. 'I'll see you later.'

Gripping her wand tightly, reassuring herself of its existence, Lily climbed on top of the rubble mound, her eyes searching. Of course, there was a chance that James had found Marlene and that she was on her way back to the castle. Despite that chance, Lily didn't want to risk the fact that Marlene might still be out in the chaos of Hogsmeade high street somewhere.

She jumped down to the original street level, wincing at the force on her right leg, and hurried along a gap in rubble, her wand held before her. Duels raged all around her, none of them involving Marlene, and she was forced to dodge several spells that came her way, whether on purpose of by accident. Soon, however, a Death Eater noticed her alone and made a beeline for her.

'Tarantallegra.' Lily muttered, sending a jinx at his feet. Unfortunately, she missed, only managing to enrage her opponent.

Green light sped straight towards her and she stumbled backwards, falling over and landing in a sitting position, watching the spell zip over her head. Swearing as pain shot up her spine, Lily gingerly got to her feet, looking about for the caster of her spell. They were now feet from her. She didn't have time for this. She needed to find Marlene.

They started to draw a strange rune in the air with their wand. She didn't want to wait to find out what it did. Rolling out of the way, Lily got gingerly to her feet, wincing slightly.

'Ducklifors.' she said, trying the first incantation that popped into her head.

Preoccupied by their own spell casting, the bright pink light streaking out of her wand managed to hit its target. Lily would admit that she was not top of her class in Transfiguration, perhaps somewhere in the middle, but, as she watched a beak morph its way onto the Death Eater's face alongside a few stray feathers, she wondered if she ought to be at the bottom.

There was a squawk of rage from her opponent, but Lily was already hurrying off in the opposite direction. She cast a haphazard Impediment Jinx over her shoulder, taking the indignant cluck she heard to mean she had met her mark.

'Now, back to Marlie…' she murmured to herself, her eyes darting about for any sign of her friend.

Her eyes on the other side of the street, seeing the smashed windows of the Three Broomsticks, Lily sped up into a limping trot, thinking Marlene might gravitate towards something more recognisable than remain in the rubble. With this thought in her head, Lily grew a little distracted by her goal, paying little attention to where she ran.

She slammed into someone as she reached the other side of the street, her mouth banging into the shoulder as they collided. The metallic tang of iron entered her mouth as she staggered backwards, Lily wiped her mouth, trying not to recoil at how blood smeared across her hand and cheek.

'Sorry about that.' Whoever she had knocked into had a very gravelly voice. 'But you came out of nowhere.'

'I wasn't looking.' Lily said, tightening her grip on her wand. She didn't know if her company was friendly or not. 'Sorry.'

She gasped as they grabbed her by the face, forcing it upwards to look them in the eye as they directed their wand light right into her eyes. Squinting as her eyes started watering, Lily struggled against their grip.

'Get off me!' she rasped, blood congealing with saliva. 'Get off, you –'

'Name.' they commanded as she tried to kick them to free herself. Her left foot collided with something solid.

'I'm not that fucking stupid.' she snapped, letting out a hiss of pain as her toes crumpled. 'Relashio.'

They swore as red-hot sparks relinquished their grip. Lily clenched her teeth and elbowed them in the chest, bringing her weight with her so that they both fell to the ground, her on top.

'What's my name to you?' she asked, jabbing her wand into their neck, taking in their appearance for the first time. A man in his late forties or early fifties wearing a set of dark purple robes. He was stronger than her, much stronger, and with her right leg being the way it was, she would never be able to hold him down for long. Of course, he didn't know that.

'Plucky, aren't you?' the man chuckled, though with his voice being so deep it might well have been a growl. Lily's eyes narrowed, pressing her wand harder against his neck. 'Your name is the difference between me letting you go and me locking you up for a stint in Azkaban.'

'Oh, really?' A slight grin worked its way onto his face as she glowered. 'And what puts you in the position to do that?'

'I'm an Auror – soon to be Head Auror.' he added, watching her face.

'Alastor Moody…' Lily murmured, remembering what Roland had said earlier that day. That would certainly explain why his leg had felt so solid when she kicked it; it was made of wood. She slackened the pressure of her wand on his neck. 'I know who you are.'

'That's right. I'm about as far from being a Death Eater as it gets.' He made to push her off him so that he could get up, but she shook herself, bringing her wand back onto him.

'That doesn't mean anything. It's not hard for a wizard to fake something, is it? I imagine you know all about Polyjuice Potion, Auror or not.'

'Well, you've got no way of exposing me if I am lying.' he told her, this time actually pushing her off him and standing up. Lily followed suit, her wand still trained on him.

'As if that's a reason to trust you.' Lily countered and he shrugged, turning his back on her to look around. 'I –' she faltered as he held up a hand to silence her, staring at their surroundings.

'They've gone…' he said, his gruff voice showing just a hint of apprehension. 'They've all gone…'

And Moody was right. As Lily glanced around her, she saw that all fighting had stopped so suddenly that those once defending themselves had fallen silent in shock. All along the street there were baffled people, including at least twenty more wizards and witches in dark purple robes, just like Moody's, and they too shared his sudden concern. The silence was strangely heavy, weighing down on Lily, making her nervous.

Then there was a scream.

A huge fire had burst into existence on the other end of the street. It spread thick and fast, slithering towards where Lily stood at a terrifying speed. She let out a strangled gasp. She could see shapes in the fire. Creatures. The fire had the face of a serpent.

'GET OUT!' Moody roared at her, shoving her in front of him, away from the fire. 'GET OUT OF HERE!'

Lily did not need telling twice. She sprinted off, at least her injured equivalent of a sprint, getting dragged into a whole current of students and locals haring for the lane up to the castle. Jostled this way and that, Lily's brain started to catch up with her and she realised she still hadn't found Marlene.

Turning full circle, Lily began to fight her way through the shouting, panicked crowed, hastily scanning faces for her friend.

'Marlie!' she called out as she battled against the current. 'Marlie!'

Every step she took seemed to be useless. The mass of people continued to pull her with them no matter how hard she ran.

'For fuck's sake!' she snarled through gritted teeth, elbowing her way through a group of fifth years, all screaming hysterically. Deciding it would be a good idea to just leave the throng now, rather than battle her way to the end, Lily dived out of the side, landing on a small stone wall that marked the entrance to Hogsmeade. It was also acting as an excellent funnel for the frightened people running past her. There was now a patch free of people.

Lily's eyes fell on the completely collapsed Madam Puddifoot's and mentally kicked herself. Marlene had been practically beside her before the explosion, it was James diving on her that had separated them, and they hadn't been very far from the tea shop. Her friend had to be there, buried in the rubble, or if she wasn't, then Lily would know she had made it back to the castle.

Jumping off the wall with a soft thud, Lily made her way through the people-less patch, her destination in sight. As she ran, she tried to ignore the gigantic fire in the corner of her eye that was inching closer and closer, despite the purple clad wizards' attempts to extinguish it.

She was so focused on reaching her goal that she tripped over a pair of legs sticking out from the rubble, flinging up her arms so that her face wasn't crushed by the said rubble as she fell onto it. She collided with the rubble, serenaded by the sound of breaking wood.

'Jesus Christ…' she groaned, gingerly pushing herself up off the rubble. 'Fucking hell…'

Then she remembered the feet she had tripped over and hastened to clear the rubble. Lily recognised the shoes, not that that surprised her.

'Reducto.' she said, blasting the rubble atop her friend to smithereens. It took several more blasts before Marlene was free and when she was, Lily rushed to lift her.

Even if Lily hadn't been injured herself, she would have found supporting an unconscious body difficult. Slumped over Lily's shoulder, Marlene was like a sack of potatoes, her head lolling hopelessly. To the side of her, Lily could see the Aurors retreating towards them as the fire grew closer.

Her heart rate picked up in some desperate attempt to aid her escape but, with Marlene on her back, every step Lily took merited another few seconds pause to regain balance, breath and energy. Her brain was swimming, her vision going in and out of focus, her leg searing horribly. But she ploughed on, slowly and steadily, the fire roaring to the side of her forcing her to keep going. She had to get out for Marlene's sake.

She would get out. She had to. Lily was the doomed one, not Marlene, and she wouldn't condemn her friend to that fate. That was not how things were meant to be.

Ladies and gentlemen, Alastor Moody has entered the chat! Honestly, he's up there as one of my favourite Harry Potter characters.

Anyway, make my day and leave a review!