A/N: FINALLY FINISHED!!READ PLEASE!!
CHAPTER 2
And then............................................
The man's voice all of a sudden changed from a gruff male one into a high female's and began to chant the mokerena in a cheery voice. Lily's eyes snapped open and she shot up from her bed, slamming her alarm clock's head, a hula doll, down. She leaned against the backboard, inhaling deeply.
"Just a dream," she mumbled "It was just a dream,"
But it had seemed so vivid. She could still picture it now, the blinding fog, the shattered glass, and the gray car right down to the coffee stain on its carpeted floor. Gradually she calmed herself down, and began to stop shaking. Her body was moist and hot from sweat; she had never felt more disgusting in her life.
"I have GOT to take a shower," she said aloud to herself. She'd grown accustomed to talking to herself in her apartment since her roommate moved out. Lily slowly got up and began to walk to the bathroom down the hall.
"It was a stupid dream anyways," she muttered "I didn't see why it was so scary. The whole time I had the wands and I didn't even cast one spell. Especially when we were in the car. And I'm not the best apparator but I don't think I'm that bad..." her voice trailed off as she fumbled for the light switch in the bathroom. She found it and turned it on, her eyes blinking rapidly as she adjusted to the light.
"Bullocks!" she cried in dismay when she was the time on her clock. It was 7:00 pm. She would have to rush her shower if she expected to make it on time. And on her first auror mission, she NEEDED to make it on time otherwise the head aurors, Perkins and Moody, would never give her another mission and she would be condemned to a life of paperwork.
"Then again," she said sardonically "After that dream, maybe a life of paperwork is best for me,"
She quickly showered, changed her clothes and was out the door in a flash.
****************************************************************
"So explain to me where we're going again," Lily said as she absently toyed with her key chain. The seatbelt pressed uncomfortably into her skin causing her to fidget. She lengthened it, breathing deeply.
"All right. We're driving to Mapleton, because YOU can't apparate-"
"Hey!" protested Lily as she interrupted "I can too apparate! Just not that well..."
"Uhuh. suuure you can," Katia said sarcastically before continuing, "Anyways, like I said, we're going to Mapleton. You know where that is, right? If you make a left on the road before Hogsmeade and then go straight until you see that muggle sign, it'll take you there. There's supposed to be a sort of Death Eater thing going on. Plan, murder, convention, we don't know. The details about that are unclear. All our sources tell us is that something is supposed to happen. We'll be meeting James and the others there because THEY can apparate-"
"Uhuh," Lily nodded, her brow wrinkled in concentration as she tried to take in everything Katia said "Yeah, keep going."
"So when we get to Mapleton we're supposed to stay on the main road, Picoult, until we see a small muggle food store, what's it- Oh yeah, Tony's! So we park the car there and walk through the alley next to it, somehow climb over the fence that cuts it off, and walk one block over. On that block there's supposed to be a three-story house with a statue of a rooster on the lawn and a pink front door. WOW, that clashes. Wonder what moron painted it," Katia thought aloud, beginning to get off track.
"Is it a spooky house?" Lily joked nervously, trying to suppress the butterflies beating around like hornets in her stomach.
"A very spooky house. Whatdya expect if the Death Eaters are meeting there? After all, wouldn't you be freaked out from a house with a pink door and a rooster statue? ANYWAYS, when we get there, we stake out the house, a few of us hidden inside, a few of us hidden outside. And then," she paused dramatically before continuing "We act,"
"Wow," Lily voiced after a moments thought "We've got this thing really planned out. We never stake out. It's usually all a spur-of-the-moment. This is unusual."
"Yup," Katia smiled. Her look hardened a bit as she said "But don't let that fool you. Our plan is the ideal situation; with this job, EVERYTHING is less than ideal. Tons of things can go wrong. We could have miscalculated the amount of Death Eaters that will be there and be unprepared. They can come earlier than expected, and catch us when Moody and his crew go in. Or..." As Katia's voice trailed off, the car became silent, each pondering the outcomes that may occur on this mission.
"G-d," Lily said a few minutes later breaking the silence "I can't believe I'm about to do this. My first real mission. Well, my second, if you count the time when James, Mattius, and I were trainees and were supposed to go with the experienced aurors to learn first hand except none of the Death Eaters ended up coming!"
"You get used to it,"
Katia had four years of experience. She had graduated a year earlier from Durmstang at sixteen, went to the required two years of Auror school, and had begun working as an Auror when she was eighteen and a half. She was very focused on her job and while she seemed very jokey, underneath she was a very serious person.
However, with the huge rise Voldmort had gotten in the past few years, aurors were needed more and more and there were less and less joining because of the huge risk it had now become. Aurors every day were dying or being captured and tortured. Lily had only been working as a professional auror for half a year before getting this mission.
The car was filled with silence as they drove on until Katia began to slow her car down and broke it saying "Five minutes. We'll be there in five minutes."
All of a sudden, a huge burst of fear hit Lily as she remembered her dream. Lily had heard of people who were able to predict the future in their dreams. For all she knew this could be a warning to her untimely death. Lily felt overcome with anxiousness.
Opening her blazing green eyes, she stared straight at Katia and said "I can't do this,"
"Honestly, Lil. I didn't imagine you getting the first time jitters. Always so posed and confident behind the desk but when it comes to the real thing..."Katia joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"Gosh, do you really think so? Maybe you're right. I'm not cut out for this at all. I mean, look at me! I am SO not the kick-ass auror type. I don't even know what I was think-"
"Lily, stop worrying! I was just kidding. You are totally perfect for this job. If you weren't you wouldn't have graduated third in LightSide, which is basically the hardest auror school ever, and you wouldn't have made it this far. Plus, if you sucked, Moody would have no trouble telling you. He's not known for his sensitivity."
"I guess you're right," Lily sighed.
"I better be, 'cuz we're here," Katia said as she drove into the lot. She parked her car in the back, in front of an immense oak tree. She slammed the door open, and swinging her long brown hair around, stepped out promptly into a large pile of mud.
"Oh, eew! Why does this always happen to me? And these shoes were new, too!" She whined to herself. She spun around quickly, and narrowing her gleaming eyes at Lily, said "Now get out. We've got a job to do,"
Lily groaned, slowly opened the car door and slowly followed behind her.
************************************************************
"Ouch!" Lily yelped as she hit the hard stone ground. She had just jumped over a large iron fence. She rubbed her bruised backside, and watched a large purple bruise form on her right arm.
"Shhhh!" Katia shushed her urgently " I know this may make me sound like an obnoxious bitch but we don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves or mourn our bruises. If you do in front of a Death Eater, he will take that to his advantage and kill you on the spot."
"Sorry,"muttered Lily "Anyways we're not near any Death Eaters now, so it doesn't make a difference."
"Incase you would have done that while in battle, I'm just letting you know not to. That way, you won't make a mistake that'll kill ya. Better safe then sorry, as the cliché goes."
Lily stared at Katia as they walked stealthily down the block to where the site of crime would take place. This was a Katia she wasn't used to. She was focused, keeping her eyes on the site at all times. Her eyes, usually warm and happy, looked cold and hard. This Katia could kill a Death Eater in a second, and not even need to think twice about it.
They made it to the large house where the rest of the Aurors were impatiently waiting for them
"You're here? Good. I remind you, you are late. If you want to stay an Auror, you will in the future be on time if not early. Aurors, are not meant to be patient. We do NOT tolerate lateness, Miss Evans." Moody greeted them in a gruff voice.
Moody's body was scarred and wrinkled from the many battles he had been in. His long hair hid the queer eye he had which had given him the nickname "Mad-Eye Moody". He had long ago abandoned the rules of hygiene and cleanliness when he decided to vote his life to his job. Even though he acted harsh and cold, Lily knew, or at least she hoped, that inside he wasn't.
"Katia was also late," she muttered under her breath, but Moody's sharp ears heard that remark.
"You should not shift the blame of your doings on to someone else. That is the doings of a two year old. And in the future I ask you to lower your voice when on a mission. You were so loud, I heard you at least block away. If I was a Death Eater, I would have killed you a while ago," he said harshly.
Lily muttered her apology, feeling her face burn up. The mission hadn't started and already she was screwing up. Her eyes slowly roved the crowd of aurors until they settled on a messy black-haired young man, her partner, James Potter. He looked up and upon seeing her nervous face, smiled and mouthed 'Don't worry.'
She pushed through the small throng until she was standing near to him and whispered "Why am I already on Moody's bad list?"
"Its nothing. He does this to everyone on the first mission. He had a field day with me on my first one."
"Oh, sure," Lily snorted, rolling her eyes "You're just saying that. Moo-"
She was interrupted by Moody who said in a low but intimidating voice "Quiet! This is not a social meeting. If you want to talk, I'll demote you to Misuse of Muggle Artifacts. You'll have time to talk there."
He paused and when it quieted down, continued "Now we're going to split up. My group will be apparating inside the house. Perkins's will be maintaining watch outside. If any of us are to see any sort of suspicious character, use the messenger spell we taught you, so we'll be informed and prepared. But before we start, it must be completely dark, so no muggles suspect any unusual activity going on here. I borrowed Dumbledore's put-outer to take care of that."
He raised his arm to show the small circular mechanism and began to click it. Which each click, a light would go out until Lily wasn't able to see her hands when she held it to her face. Moody mumbled a spell and all of a sudden it was light again.
"The spell I used enhanced our ability to see so we will be able to see as if it is daylight. Now my group, we're moving in."
James gave Lily a small wave before apparating inside. Lily began to shiver. Not out of coldness; it was the middle of June. She was shivering from fear. She tried to get a grip on herself. She had to stay alert!
Lily breathed in and out slowly; trying to remember the technique Madame Annette had taught them to stay calm. She calmed herself down, and her vision cleared. There were about nine or ten other aurors with her in her group including Katia and Perkins, but she hadn't got to know any of them that well. She walked over to Katia and squeezed her arm. Katia turned around, giving an encouraging smile before turning back to her guard.
The wait had begun.
*********************************************** (A/N: I could stop here and post the rest in another chap, but I'll just get it all out here...)
Lily groaned as she wiped her brow. It was so hot that her shirt was sticking to her. It wasn't supposed to be this hot, this late at night! She must have been waiting there for three hours. Looking at her watch she mentally corrected, three hours and sixteen minutes. And what a dull three hours and sixteen minutes they were. Lily had been under the impression that working as an auror would be exiting and full of action, but all she'd done so far was dirtied her shoes, mess her hair, and sweated outside while keeping watch an a street. She was bored out of her mind.
All of a sudden she heard a low murmur that made her almost jump out of her skin, it stuck out so much from the silence she'd been hearing for the last three hours.
"Everyone, make note of the figures coming down the road towards the left of me,"Moody said in a low voice.
Lily swerved around quickly but all she saw was many little dots, far in the distance, which she guessed where the people he was talking about. She shielded her eyes and watched as they moved closer. Definitely on the suspicious list. They're long black coats was just like the one the Death Eater had been wearing in her dream, Lily remembered with a slight shiver.
"Get ready. Definitely on the Dark Side," Katie whispered so low, it barely reached Lily's ears.
She nervously gripped her wand, as they came up to her block. She could already hear them murmuring to each other. Lily switched her gaze from the Death Eaters, to Moody, so she'd know when to attack. One of them apparated into the house and then the rest began to start.Then she saw him point out his wand and she knew it was time. Lily thrust out her wand and muttered the spell they had been taught to always start with:
"Stupify!"
At least five men fell to the floor. The rest of them realized they were under attack and began to fight back. The place was erupted into chaos. Lily dodged curses left and right while shouting a few of her own. She felt a spell graze the back of her neck so she rolled onto the floor. She lay for a second to catch her breath. When she came up she saw a Death Eater standing right over her, ready to curse her. Abandoning magic for the moment, she quickly spun around and kicked him in the shin. The expression on his face was so contorted; she would have laughed had they not been in the midst of battle.
She took out her wand and mumbled the stunning spell, and when she saw him fall to the ground, she ran off to find another person to battle. Lily felt a tap on her back and she turned around to see Moody standing behind her. She was so startled she almost fell but he caught her and set her upright.
"Good fighting so far,"He rasped "We need people inside the house. A bunch of deatheaters got-" he paused, looking over her head, to quickly shout out a spell before resuming "-inside the house so you're gonna have to get in there and help out. Quickly now,"
"But, but-" Lily said desperately but he was already gone. She closed her eyes and concentrating as hard as possible, apparated into the house. Opening, her eyes, she stopped for minute to marvel at how easy it was beginning to get to apparate. Then she got back into focus, taking in her surroundings. The house was huge but eerie and peculiar. None of the walls matched the floor and some of the rooms had multiple doorways to get into them. It was in complete ruckus from the fighting, things strewn on the floor and the furniture ripped open.
"Weird," Lily muttered, as she began to creep out of the room she was in, to look for the Death Eaters Moody was talking about. She got as far as the stairway before she saw a person emerge.
"Stu-"
"Wait!" she heard the person cry in a familiar voice. She stopped in mid- spell, which was good because when she looked back at him, she saw it was James.
"Ja-" she almost cried but he quickly covered her mouth with his hand.
"Shhhh," he whispered. "Its a mad house here. They're all over. We need major help. Already at least three of our Aurors have been knocked unconscious. Come on."
He motioned her to follow him and she crept closely behind him. They walked down the creaky staircase as quietly as possible. When they got down, James leaned against the wall and peered into the doorway, before pulling his face out of it.
"They're in here," his voice barely a whisper "Three of them. When I count to three we'll go in there," he began to count without waiting for her answer " One.....two......three."
They both jumped into the doorway at the same time, which caused a bit of a problem.
"Stupefy," they still managed to say, each one trying to push through, but not really succeeding.
Once the two men fell, James said "Blast it, I'm stuck."
"If you didn't notice, so am I," Lily muttered back.
"Ok, count of three, we both try to push in, 'kay?"
"Or I can just do this?" Lily said, stepping back from the doorway.
"That too," James laughed "You go alert some of the aurors ."
"I'm going," Lily said. "Be careful, though."
"I promise," James said.
Lily sighed, and opened the door to alert people of the battle in the house. She jogged through the curses and spells, stopping every so often to throw a spell of own. Finally she spotted Perkins, but as she was going to get him she felt a spell hit her. It came at her stomach and she had to double over with the harshness of it.
All of a sudden she felt lightness in her mind and body. Her anxiousness and worries floated away and she felt like a feather floating in the air. It was the weirdest but most relaxing feeling, as if she was just a shell of her normal body, and that her mind had left her.
Then a light, airy voice entered her mind.
'Go up to that Auror over there,' Lily felt her eyes being faced on the Auror to her left 'And stun him.'
Lily began to walk over to him and then stopped. Why should she stun him?He was on her side! She tried to fight the voice for a second, her legs struggling to stay still, but just didn't have the will to. Her feet lightly treaded the dirt ground as she moved closer to him, her wand outstretched. She softly muttered the stunning spell, and watched as his tall form hit the ground, sending dust flying around him.
"Lily! Lily, what are you doing?" she heard Katia ask, as she waved her delicate fingers, now coarse and dirty from battle, in front of Lily's face "Why'd you do that to John?"
'Don't stand there! Fight that Auror!' The voice directed her.
Lily pointed her arm up at Katia, while inwardly trying to regain control of her body. But that happy, floating feeling had settled in her. She felt like she had just received the best gift in the world or like she had found out Voldmort had died. Which was actually pretty funny being that she was being controlled by a worker of his right now to do his dirty work. She went closer and closer and opened her mouth unwillingly to say the spell she was supposed to say. Just as she started to say it, vainly trying to gain back control of her body, she was able to move her arm aside. The spell bounced off the wall and sped toward Katia, who ducked quickly. She stared quizzingly at Lily and than her face brightened, and she muttered something pointing at Lily.
All of a sudden Lily felt the control seep into the edges of her body. She bent her finger back and forth, and just that small movement exalted her spirits, topping even the feeling she had felt under the spell. She quickly turned around to look for the Death Eater who had put the spell on her.
"Where is that moron?" She mumbled to herself "He's not getting away so easily,"
Then through the gaggle of wizards and death eaters, she saw one staring at her angrily. He kept muttering things and looking at her, surprised. She just knew it was him. Pretending she hadn't noticed him, she went off in another direction, looking motivated as if she was searching for someone. Then she was certain, he wasn't looking at her anymore, she went back to stun him but halfway, there she was stopped by a wand flung in her face.
She instinctively, reached out to grab it away, but just as quickly as it had been placed there, it disappeared from the vicinity of her face. She turned to the side to see who had been holding the wand, and came face to face with another man cloaked in black. She groaned inward; it was so annoying when you couldn't see your opponents face.
"That was your friend there, am I wrong?" He snarled pointing to a limp body on the floor with a pool of blood flowing from the person's body.
"Katia," Lily whispered hoarsely, her eyelashes fluttering furiously.
She steadied her body, as well as her emotions and said throatily "You are going to wish you never ever dared even think about what you just did," before shooting her first spell.
He dodged it easily, chuckling lightly as he did "Your amaturity amuses me. Really, it does. Never let your emotions get the better of you in a fight,"
"I'm not taking advice from a damn Death Eater,"she growled, shooting another spell. This time it hit him, but on the bottoms of his legs. He grumbled menacingly and performed the counter curse as his right legs began to shrivel up. They stopped shriveling, but they didn't change back to normal. He fell to his knees with nothing to support him and shouted a curse back.
And they were on. All Lily knew was the words being shouted back and forth and nothing else. She wasn't aware of anything else. She was totally oblivious to the shouts that sounded like battle cry around her or the sounds of men falling to the ground, defeated. All she knew was that she had to keep on fighting, hold her ground, and keep going. She felt things sprouting all over her body and her legs stopped working so she was practically lying on the floor, but she didn't stop fighting. Not until she saw the clouds of dust form as he hit the ground and his eyes rolled to the back of his head, his veins bulging out of his skin. Then she allowed herself have a minutes rest, and in that minute lost her ground. She lay on the ground and felt the blackness surround her, and then she saw no more.
"-Hasn't woken up since yesterday. One of four aurors out of commission for today, so we are short on them,"
Lily's eyes slowly fluttered open and she sat up in her bed. That is she tried to. But when she strained to move, all of a sudden she felt all the pain come back in one huge roar. Gasping from it, she flopped back down on her bed.
"Lily?" James said gently, peering down at her "Are you up?"
"Barely," she groaned.
He sat down on her bed eagerly and said "I was all freaked when we found you lying on the road there. There was blood all over and-"
"Spare me the visual," Lily grimaced at the description "How's Katia?"
Jame's face tightened a bit "Umm..well, she's not doing so good. She got into a really nasty fight with that Death Eater you got. She still hasn't woken up yet and she is bruised all over. But I'm sure she'll be fine soon," he added hastily when he saw the worried look on her face.
"She better be," Lily muttered.
The door opened at that moment and Perkins stepped in.
"Aah, Ms. Evans, awake now? Are you better "
"Yup," Lily said in an overly bright, extremely sarcastic voice "I'll probably be in work today,"
"Wonderful, wonderful," he commented briskly, taking her sarcastic tone, as if she meant it "I'll tell them to expect you,"
Lily gaped.
"James, you don't mind if I have a word in private with Lily, do you?"
"Uh, sure,"James said, frowning "I'll just be outside.
"So,"Perkins said when James had left "That was some grand auror work going on there today, and I want to commend you for that,"
"Really?" Lily said modestly, even though on the inside she was bursting in pride "That means a lot coming from an auror with such credit as you,"
"Yes, well, I've done quite a bit in my day," Perkins said pridefully "But today, you helped us put a top Death Eater in Azkaban. I will be recommending you if they have any promotions or anything that would suit you. I can count on you, right?"
"Of course," Lily said happily. She couldn't believe her luck.
She giggled when he left. All of a sudden all the pain she had felt, mysteriously disappeared. The day was getting better already.
THE END SO FAR!! Tune in to next chapter, where Lily is asked to make an important decision. Thankyou for reading and please please please REVIEW!!
Thankyou to: Rix, Coeur De Lion, cheler, Fawkes89, Scarlett*Eyes, and PiGs*in*a*blanket(read her fic!)KEEP READING!!
CHAPTER 2
And then............................................
The man's voice all of a sudden changed from a gruff male one into a high female's and began to chant the mokerena in a cheery voice. Lily's eyes snapped open and she shot up from her bed, slamming her alarm clock's head, a hula doll, down. She leaned against the backboard, inhaling deeply.
"Just a dream," she mumbled "It was just a dream,"
But it had seemed so vivid. She could still picture it now, the blinding fog, the shattered glass, and the gray car right down to the coffee stain on its carpeted floor. Gradually she calmed herself down, and began to stop shaking. Her body was moist and hot from sweat; she had never felt more disgusting in her life.
"I have GOT to take a shower," she said aloud to herself. She'd grown accustomed to talking to herself in her apartment since her roommate moved out. Lily slowly got up and began to walk to the bathroom down the hall.
"It was a stupid dream anyways," she muttered "I didn't see why it was so scary. The whole time I had the wands and I didn't even cast one spell. Especially when we were in the car. And I'm not the best apparator but I don't think I'm that bad..." her voice trailed off as she fumbled for the light switch in the bathroom. She found it and turned it on, her eyes blinking rapidly as she adjusted to the light.
"Bullocks!" she cried in dismay when she was the time on her clock. It was 7:00 pm. She would have to rush her shower if she expected to make it on time. And on her first auror mission, she NEEDED to make it on time otherwise the head aurors, Perkins and Moody, would never give her another mission and she would be condemned to a life of paperwork.
"Then again," she said sardonically "After that dream, maybe a life of paperwork is best for me,"
She quickly showered, changed her clothes and was out the door in a flash.
****************************************************************
"So explain to me where we're going again," Lily said as she absently toyed with her key chain. The seatbelt pressed uncomfortably into her skin causing her to fidget. She lengthened it, breathing deeply.
"All right. We're driving to Mapleton, because YOU can't apparate-"
"Hey!" protested Lily as she interrupted "I can too apparate! Just not that well..."
"Uhuh. suuure you can," Katia said sarcastically before continuing, "Anyways, like I said, we're going to Mapleton. You know where that is, right? If you make a left on the road before Hogsmeade and then go straight until you see that muggle sign, it'll take you there. There's supposed to be a sort of Death Eater thing going on. Plan, murder, convention, we don't know. The details about that are unclear. All our sources tell us is that something is supposed to happen. We'll be meeting James and the others there because THEY can apparate-"
"Uhuh," Lily nodded, her brow wrinkled in concentration as she tried to take in everything Katia said "Yeah, keep going."
"So when we get to Mapleton we're supposed to stay on the main road, Picoult, until we see a small muggle food store, what's it- Oh yeah, Tony's! So we park the car there and walk through the alley next to it, somehow climb over the fence that cuts it off, and walk one block over. On that block there's supposed to be a three-story house with a statue of a rooster on the lawn and a pink front door. WOW, that clashes. Wonder what moron painted it," Katia thought aloud, beginning to get off track.
"Is it a spooky house?" Lily joked nervously, trying to suppress the butterflies beating around like hornets in her stomach.
"A very spooky house. Whatdya expect if the Death Eaters are meeting there? After all, wouldn't you be freaked out from a house with a pink door and a rooster statue? ANYWAYS, when we get there, we stake out the house, a few of us hidden inside, a few of us hidden outside. And then," she paused dramatically before continuing "We act,"
"Wow," Lily voiced after a moments thought "We've got this thing really planned out. We never stake out. It's usually all a spur-of-the-moment. This is unusual."
"Yup," Katia smiled. Her look hardened a bit as she said "But don't let that fool you. Our plan is the ideal situation; with this job, EVERYTHING is less than ideal. Tons of things can go wrong. We could have miscalculated the amount of Death Eaters that will be there and be unprepared. They can come earlier than expected, and catch us when Moody and his crew go in. Or..." As Katia's voice trailed off, the car became silent, each pondering the outcomes that may occur on this mission.
"G-d," Lily said a few minutes later breaking the silence "I can't believe I'm about to do this. My first real mission. Well, my second, if you count the time when James, Mattius, and I were trainees and were supposed to go with the experienced aurors to learn first hand except none of the Death Eaters ended up coming!"
"You get used to it,"
Katia had four years of experience. She had graduated a year earlier from Durmstang at sixteen, went to the required two years of Auror school, and had begun working as an Auror when she was eighteen and a half. She was very focused on her job and while she seemed very jokey, underneath she was a very serious person.
However, with the huge rise Voldmort had gotten in the past few years, aurors were needed more and more and there were less and less joining because of the huge risk it had now become. Aurors every day were dying or being captured and tortured. Lily had only been working as a professional auror for half a year before getting this mission.
The car was filled with silence as they drove on until Katia began to slow her car down and broke it saying "Five minutes. We'll be there in five minutes."
All of a sudden, a huge burst of fear hit Lily as she remembered her dream. Lily had heard of people who were able to predict the future in their dreams. For all she knew this could be a warning to her untimely death. Lily felt overcome with anxiousness.
Opening her blazing green eyes, she stared straight at Katia and said "I can't do this,"
"Honestly, Lil. I didn't imagine you getting the first time jitters. Always so posed and confident behind the desk but when it comes to the real thing..."Katia joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"Gosh, do you really think so? Maybe you're right. I'm not cut out for this at all. I mean, look at me! I am SO not the kick-ass auror type. I don't even know what I was think-"
"Lily, stop worrying! I was just kidding. You are totally perfect for this job. If you weren't you wouldn't have graduated third in LightSide, which is basically the hardest auror school ever, and you wouldn't have made it this far. Plus, if you sucked, Moody would have no trouble telling you. He's not known for his sensitivity."
"I guess you're right," Lily sighed.
"I better be, 'cuz we're here," Katia said as she drove into the lot. She parked her car in the back, in front of an immense oak tree. She slammed the door open, and swinging her long brown hair around, stepped out promptly into a large pile of mud.
"Oh, eew! Why does this always happen to me? And these shoes were new, too!" She whined to herself. She spun around quickly, and narrowing her gleaming eyes at Lily, said "Now get out. We've got a job to do,"
Lily groaned, slowly opened the car door and slowly followed behind her.
************************************************************
"Ouch!" Lily yelped as she hit the hard stone ground. She had just jumped over a large iron fence. She rubbed her bruised backside, and watched a large purple bruise form on her right arm.
"Shhhh!" Katia shushed her urgently " I know this may make me sound like an obnoxious bitch but we don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves or mourn our bruises. If you do in front of a Death Eater, he will take that to his advantage and kill you on the spot."
"Sorry,"muttered Lily "Anyways we're not near any Death Eaters now, so it doesn't make a difference."
"Incase you would have done that while in battle, I'm just letting you know not to. That way, you won't make a mistake that'll kill ya. Better safe then sorry, as the cliché goes."
Lily stared at Katia as they walked stealthily down the block to where the site of crime would take place. This was a Katia she wasn't used to. She was focused, keeping her eyes on the site at all times. Her eyes, usually warm and happy, looked cold and hard. This Katia could kill a Death Eater in a second, and not even need to think twice about it.
They made it to the large house where the rest of the Aurors were impatiently waiting for them
"You're here? Good. I remind you, you are late. If you want to stay an Auror, you will in the future be on time if not early. Aurors, are not meant to be patient. We do NOT tolerate lateness, Miss Evans." Moody greeted them in a gruff voice.
Moody's body was scarred and wrinkled from the many battles he had been in. His long hair hid the queer eye he had which had given him the nickname "Mad-Eye Moody". He had long ago abandoned the rules of hygiene and cleanliness when he decided to vote his life to his job. Even though he acted harsh and cold, Lily knew, or at least she hoped, that inside he wasn't.
"Katia was also late," she muttered under her breath, but Moody's sharp ears heard that remark.
"You should not shift the blame of your doings on to someone else. That is the doings of a two year old. And in the future I ask you to lower your voice when on a mission. You were so loud, I heard you at least block away. If I was a Death Eater, I would have killed you a while ago," he said harshly.
Lily muttered her apology, feeling her face burn up. The mission hadn't started and already she was screwing up. Her eyes slowly roved the crowd of aurors until they settled on a messy black-haired young man, her partner, James Potter. He looked up and upon seeing her nervous face, smiled and mouthed 'Don't worry.'
She pushed through the small throng until she was standing near to him and whispered "Why am I already on Moody's bad list?"
"Its nothing. He does this to everyone on the first mission. He had a field day with me on my first one."
"Oh, sure," Lily snorted, rolling her eyes "You're just saying that. Moo-"
She was interrupted by Moody who said in a low but intimidating voice "Quiet! This is not a social meeting. If you want to talk, I'll demote you to Misuse of Muggle Artifacts. You'll have time to talk there."
He paused and when it quieted down, continued "Now we're going to split up. My group will be apparating inside the house. Perkins's will be maintaining watch outside. If any of us are to see any sort of suspicious character, use the messenger spell we taught you, so we'll be informed and prepared. But before we start, it must be completely dark, so no muggles suspect any unusual activity going on here. I borrowed Dumbledore's put-outer to take care of that."
He raised his arm to show the small circular mechanism and began to click it. Which each click, a light would go out until Lily wasn't able to see her hands when she held it to her face. Moody mumbled a spell and all of a sudden it was light again.
"The spell I used enhanced our ability to see so we will be able to see as if it is daylight. Now my group, we're moving in."
James gave Lily a small wave before apparating inside. Lily began to shiver. Not out of coldness; it was the middle of June. She was shivering from fear. She tried to get a grip on herself. She had to stay alert!
Lily breathed in and out slowly; trying to remember the technique Madame Annette had taught them to stay calm. She calmed herself down, and her vision cleared. There were about nine or ten other aurors with her in her group including Katia and Perkins, but she hadn't got to know any of them that well. She walked over to Katia and squeezed her arm. Katia turned around, giving an encouraging smile before turning back to her guard.
The wait had begun.
*********************************************** (A/N: I could stop here and post the rest in another chap, but I'll just get it all out here...)
Lily groaned as she wiped her brow. It was so hot that her shirt was sticking to her. It wasn't supposed to be this hot, this late at night! She must have been waiting there for three hours. Looking at her watch she mentally corrected, three hours and sixteen minutes. And what a dull three hours and sixteen minutes they were. Lily had been under the impression that working as an auror would be exiting and full of action, but all she'd done so far was dirtied her shoes, mess her hair, and sweated outside while keeping watch an a street. She was bored out of her mind.
All of a sudden she heard a low murmur that made her almost jump out of her skin, it stuck out so much from the silence she'd been hearing for the last three hours.
"Everyone, make note of the figures coming down the road towards the left of me,"Moody said in a low voice.
Lily swerved around quickly but all she saw was many little dots, far in the distance, which she guessed where the people he was talking about. She shielded her eyes and watched as they moved closer. Definitely on the suspicious list. They're long black coats was just like the one the Death Eater had been wearing in her dream, Lily remembered with a slight shiver.
"Get ready. Definitely on the Dark Side," Katie whispered so low, it barely reached Lily's ears.
She nervously gripped her wand, as they came up to her block. She could already hear them murmuring to each other. Lily switched her gaze from the Death Eaters, to Moody, so she'd know when to attack. One of them apparated into the house and then the rest began to start.Then she saw him point out his wand and she knew it was time. Lily thrust out her wand and muttered the spell they had been taught to always start with:
"Stupify!"
At least five men fell to the floor. The rest of them realized they were under attack and began to fight back. The place was erupted into chaos. Lily dodged curses left and right while shouting a few of her own. She felt a spell graze the back of her neck so she rolled onto the floor. She lay for a second to catch her breath. When she came up she saw a Death Eater standing right over her, ready to curse her. Abandoning magic for the moment, she quickly spun around and kicked him in the shin. The expression on his face was so contorted; she would have laughed had they not been in the midst of battle.
She took out her wand and mumbled the stunning spell, and when she saw him fall to the ground, she ran off to find another person to battle. Lily felt a tap on her back and she turned around to see Moody standing behind her. She was so startled she almost fell but he caught her and set her upright.
"Good fighting so far,"He rasped "We need people inside the house. A bunch of deatheaters got-" he paused, looking over her head, to quickly shout out a spell before resuming "-inside the house so you're gonna have to get in there and help out. Quickly now,"
"But, but-" Lily said desperately but he was already gone. She closed her eyes and concentrating as hard as possible, apparated into the house. Opening, her eyes, she stopped for minute to marvel at how easy it was beginning to get to apparate. Then she got back into focus, taking in her surroundings. The house was huge but eerie and peculiar. None of the walls matched the floor and some of the rooms had multiple doorways to get into them. It was in complete ruckus from the fighting, things strewn on the floor and the furniture ripped open.
"Weird," Lily muttered, as she began to creep out of the room she was in, to look for the Death Eaters Moody was talking about. She got as far as the stairway before she saw a person emerge.
"Stu-"
"Wait!" she heard the person cry in a familiar voice. She stopped in mid- spell, which was good because when she looked back at him, she saw it was James.
"Ja-" she almost cried but he quickly covered her mouth with his hand.
"Shhhh," he whispered. "Its a mad house here. They're all over. We need major help. Already at least three of our Aurors have been knocked unconscious. Come on."
He motioned her to follow him and she crept closely behind him. They walked down the creaky staircase as quietly as possible. When they got down, James leaned against the wall and peered into the doorway, before pulling his face out of it.
"They're in here," his voice barely a whisper "Three of them. When I count to three we'll go in there," he began to count without waiting for her answer " One.....two......three."
They both jumped into the doorway at the same time, which caused a bit of a problem.
"Stupefy," they still managed to say, each one trying to push through, but not really succeeding.
Once the two men fell, James said "Blast it, I'm stuck."
"If you didn't notice, so am I," Lily muttered back.
"Ok, count of three, we both try to push in, 'kay?"
"Or I can just do this?" Lily said, stepping back from the doorway.
"That too," James laughed "You go alert some of the aurors ."
"I'm going," Lily said. "Be careful, though."
"I promise," James said.
Lily sighed, and opened the door to alert people of the battle in the house. She jogged through the curses and spells, stopping every so often to throw a spell of own. Finally she spotted Perkins, but as she was going to get him she felt a spell hit her. It came at her stomach and she had to double over with the harshness of it.
All of a sudden she felt lightness in her mind and body. Her anxiousness and worries floated away and she felt like a feather floating in the air. It was the weirdest but most relaxing feeling, as if she was just a shell of her normal body, and that her mind had left her.
Then a light, airy voice entered her mind.
'Go up to that Auror over there,' Lily felt her eyes being faced on the Auror to her left 'And stun him.'
Lily began to walk over to him and then stopped. Why should she stun him?He was on her side! She tried to fight the voice for a second, her legs struggling to stay still, but just didn't have the will to. Her feet lightly treaded the dirt ground as she moved closer to him, her wand outstretched. She softly muttered the stunning spell, and watched as his tall form hit the ground, sending dust flying around him.
"Lily! Lily, what are you doing?" she heard Katia ask, as she waved her delicate fingers, now coarse and dirty from battle, in front of Lily's face "Why'd you do that to John?"
'Don't stand there! Fight that Auror!' The voice directed her.
Lily pointed her arm up at Katia, while inwardly trying to regain control of her body. But that happy, floating feeling had settled in her. She felt like she had just received the best gift in the world or like she had found out Voldmort had died. Which was actually pretty funny being that she was being controlled by a worker of his right now to do his dirty work. She went closer and closer and opened her mouth unwillingly to say the spell she was supposed to say. Just as she started to say it, vainly trying to gain back control of her body, she was able to move her arm aside. The spell bounced off the wall and sped toward Katia, who ducked quickly. She stared quizzingly at Lily and than her face brightened, and she muttered something pointing at Lily.
All of a sudden Lily felt the control seep into the edges of her body. She bent her finger back and forth, and just that small movement exalted her spirits, topping even the feeling she had felt under the spell. She quickly turned around to look for the Death Eater who had put the spell on her.
"Where is that moron?" She mumbled to herself "He's not getting away so easily,"
Then through the gaggle of wizards and death eaters, she saw one staring at her angrily. He kept muttering things and looking at her, surprised. She just knew it was him. Pretending she hadn't noticed him, she went off in another direction, looking motivated as if she was searching for someone. Then she was certain, he wasn't looking at her anymore, she went back to stun him but halfway, there she was stopped by a wand flung in her face.
She instinctively, reached out to grab it away, but just as quickly as it had been placed there, it disappeared from the vicinity of her face. She turned to the side to see who had been holding the wand, and came face to face with another man cloaked in black. She groaned inward; it was so annoying when you couldn't see your opponents face.
"That was your friend there, am I wrong?" He snarled pointing to a limp body on the floor with a pool of blood flowing from the person's body.
"Katia," Lily whispered hoarsely, her eyelashes fluttering furiously.
She steadied her body, as well as her emotions and said throatily "You are going to wish you never ever dared even think about what you just did," before shooting her first spell.
He dodged it easily, chuckling lightly as he did "Your amaturity amuses me. Really, it does. Never let your emotions get the better of you in a fight,"
"I'm not taking advice from a damn Death Eater,"she growled, shooting another spell. This time it hit him, but on the bottoms of his legs. He grumbled menacingly and performed the counter curse as his right legs began to shrivel up. They stopped shriveling, but they didn't change back to normal. He fell to his knees with nothing to support him and shouted a curse back.
And they were on. All Lily knew was the words being shouted back and forth and nothing else. She wasn't aware of anything else. She was totally oblivious to the shouts that sounded like battle cry around her or the sounds of men falling to the ground, defeated. All she knew was that she had to keep on fighting, hold her ground, and keep going. She felt things sprouting all over her body and her legs stopped working so she was practically lying on the floor, but she didn't stop fighting. Not until she saw the clouds of dust form as he hit the ground and his eyes rolled to the back of his head, his veins bulging out of his skin. Then she allowed herself have a minutes rest, and in that minute lost her ground. She lay on the ground and felt the blackness surround her, and then she saw no more.
"-Hasn't woken up since yesterday. One of four aurors out of commission for today, so we are short on them,"
Lily's eyes slowly fluttered open and she sat up in her bed. That is she tried to. But when she strained to move, all of a sudden she felt all the pain come back in one huge roar. Gasping from it, she flopped back down on her bed.
"Lily?" James said gently, peering down at her "Are you up?"
"Barely," she groaned.
He sat down on her bed eagerly and said "I was all freaked when we found you lying on the road there. There was blood all over and-"
"Spare me the visual," Lily grimaced at the description "How's Katia?"
Jame's face tightened a bit "Umm..well, she's not doing so good. She got into a really nasty fight with that Death Eater you got. She still hasn't woken up yet and she is bruised all over. But I'm sure she'll be fine soon," he added hastily when he saw the worried look on her face.
"She better be," Lily muttered.
The door opened at that moment and Perkins stepped in.
"Aah, Ms. Evans, awake now? Are you better "
"Yup," Lily said in an overly bright, extremely sarcastic voice "I'll probably be in work today,"
"Wonderful, wonderful," he commented briskly, taking her sarcastic tone, as if she meant it "I'll tell them to expect you,"
Lily gaped.
"James, you don't mind if I have a word in private with Lily, do you?"
"Uh, sure,"James said, frowning "I'll just be outside.
"So,"Perkins said when James had left "That was some grand auror work going on there today, and I want to commend you for that,"
"Really?" Lily said modestly, even though on the inside she was bursting in pride "That means a lot coming from an auror with such credit as you,"
"Yes, well, I've done quite a bit in my day," Perkins said pridefully "But today, you helped us put a top Death Eater in Azkaban. I will be recommending you if they have any promotions or anything that would suit you. I can count on you, right?"
"Of course," Lily said happily. She couldn't believe her luck.
She giggled when he left. All of a sudden all the pain she had felt, mysteriously disappeared. The day was getting better already.
THE END SO FAR!! Tune in to next chapter, where Lily is asked to make an important decision. Thankyou for reading and please please please REVIEW!!
Thankyou to: Rix, Coeur De Lion, cheler, Fawkes89, Scarlett*Eyes, and PiGs*in*a*blanket(read her fic!)KEEP READING!!