"What is your name/?" she asked, in a now stern, teacherly voice. Her eyes sparkled in the wand light, as curiosity got the better of her. There was no reply, but he seemed to tremble a bit. Under the touch of her hand to his robes.

She rolled her eyes, grabbed his shoulder and turned to face him. She nearly screamed at who was facing her. Finally, he replied.

"James Potter."

"You… but… and… how? How could you?" she whispered, biting her finger, a nervous habit she thought she'd grown out of. Her green eyes widened with pain as a tear slid down her cheek, and she became aware of how dizzy she was becoming. She noticed the crimson trail flowing down her forehead, Her neck and her fingers. She gulped back the tears, realizing also that there was an awful lot of blood.

She tried to say something else, but in her haze, and the fact that what came out was a low gurgle, neither of them would ever know what she was about to say, before she keeled over. James lunged forward and caught her before she hit the ground.

"I did it to protect you, you know…" James murmured guiltily, gently pushing her blood clotted hair from her face, and kissing her forehead. He ten slowly laid her on the forest floor and began to walk the opposite way. If he disapparated, it would only leave his magical signature there. If only she hadn't meddled so, if only she hadn't become an auror…

*

"They're breaking up," whispered Sirius, malicious glee in his voice. Lily peered anxiously past his shoulder, wishing he wouldn't keep his hair like that, through the open window. She could hear new voices and footsteps, as some disapparated, and others began to walk out. Sot light bathed the space beside the window, and Lily noticed, with slight displeasure and a bit of pity, that the full moon was still shining as bright as it had before.

"Heh," Sirius mumbled, a small smirk playing on his features. You had to hand it to him, once he was in 'the zone,' he was more of a mission: impossible type agent than a real person, 'Lookie there, it ace is a death eater!" Lily was less than pleased at the look of glee on Sirius's flushed face, the sparkle in his adventurous eyes. And the tight grip he had on his wand in anticipation.

Lily moved her foot just so to kick him in the shin, glaring at him through her glasses and poking him in the ribs. 'You know he's a spy for our side, Siri. Now, come on!" he pouted, but said nothing to argue. Her face was set in such a way that he was afraid to.

She, Sirius, Alistor and Arabella began creeping across to the door, keeping out the window's view. The first person to come out was Severus, who glanced sideways, saw them, and paused. Lily batted her hand sideways quickly to give him a 'walk on as if you didn't see anything' indication. He accordingly cleared his throat and continued a conversation he was in with Igor Karakroff. Moody whispered something that sounded like he really wanted to catch Karkarff… at least, with ten or so obscenities thrown in for good measure.

She couldn't see whom the next person was, but as both Sirius and Alistor got up at the same time, she was pushed forward with a small squeak, thinking how much easier this would have been if Peter had answered the call like she did.

She got to her feet as her glasses were knocked off and skittered to one side. Arabella shouted something to Lily, but she didn't hear it. What she did pay attention to, however, was the cool steel blade pressed against her throat. She fumbled desperately in her pockets, searching for her wand… or even a lighter! To protect her.

He felt a soft thump on the back, as someone punched the back of her captor's head and sidetracked, running into the forest. As soon as she regained her wits, Lily began to run after.

And now she knew. James.

She sat upright in the bed she found herself in, clutching the sheets between her bandaged fingers.

Her eyes took a while to get used to her surroundings. Early morning sunshine shone feebly through the shades on the one window of the room, and she was in a decidedly uncomfortable orthopaedic bed. Outside, announcements such as 'Will Dr. Jacobs please report to the X-ray department, I repeat…'

She felt so stiff, and even to move a few inches made her want to cry. She felt so weak and defenceless in a place she didn't know. On closer inspection, she had a plaster over a part of her forehead, which hurt to touch, a tight tape on her neck, and her legs were invisible beneath worse cuts and bruises which had been cleansed and left to heal. Dear goodness, against all her wits, against all the complaining she used to do in school… She needed Poppy Pomrey so much at that moment.

"Achem!" said Sirius, loudly and obviously. Arabella was snorting and drooling on his arm, but he didn't seem to mind… much. He did go green when he realized her dribble had begun to spread towards his precious hair. A very worn looking Remus was under the pretence of reading the Daily Prophet, until Sirius leaned over and flicked him.

"I'M AWAKE!" he yelped, throwing the newspaper across the room as a reflex.

"Hi!" rasped Lily weakly, surprised at her lack of strength in speech. Instantly she received a look of pity from Sirius and Remus.

"How are you feeling?" asked Remus in a quiet, bedside manner voice. He suddenly looked a lot older than she realized, but then again, he always had. He looked at her through tired eyes, and offered a comforting smile. She realized he must know exactly how she felt.

"Cold…" she uttered throatily, "awful, actually… how come. How come I've got this thing in my arm?" she asked, indicating the drip that had been hooked to it, steadily feeding liquid and nutrients into her system.

"We couldn't get you to a magical hospital apparently one of the doctors at saint mungo's is as death eater. We haven't caught him yet, so we couldn't be sure. You had to get –" Sirius paused to make quotation marks with his fingers, "'stitches.' Apparently about 16 of them."

James really wanted to be here," Remus added to the end of Sirius's sentence. "But… Lily?"

He trailed off as a few tiny crystal tears trailed down Lily's cheeks and dripped onto the scrubs she was wearing. They left a tiny, silvery trail before more, bigger teardrops drowned them. Both of them fumbled uncomfortably until Remus managed to produce a handkerchief and brushed away the beginning of the flood from her face. She began crying in an unstoppable torrent, Sirius squeezed her shoulder comfortingly, resulting in her catching him in a death grip and crying on his shoulder (He looked rather alarmed by this, but dutifully patted her back)

What is it?" asked Remus in a soft tone. Lily gulped and choked 'James, it's…' she suddenly fell silent, still sobbing ever so slightly, looking over Sirius's shoulder out of his view range.

"James! Thank goodness you're here!" Said Sirius gratefully, turning to see the visage of his best friend at the door.