Special Thanks to Princess Ria for her help on this chapter! Enjoy!

"Not so fast, Severus!" Lily's eyes widened as she looked up at the chase lounge, not believing what she saw. Standing there above her was…

"Nutcracker?!" The Nutcracker smiled down at her… no, actually he grinned rather smugly down at her.

"James will be fine, Miss Evans!" He called before leaping into the air. He did a flip in midair before landing a few inches in front of Lily, pulling her behind him. "Severus, I don't appreciate you trying to hurt Miss Evans…"

"I was merely doing you a favor, Potter," Severus sneered, sarcastically. "Saving you from the heartbreak of losing another love to the Malfoys." Lily let out a gasp, surprised. Cilla ended up marrying Augustus?! Gross…

"Then kill the Malfoys," James replied coldly. "Leave her alone." Severus rolled his eyes.

"Mice Soldiers!" he bellowed. "Attack!" Within seconds, the large brigade of mice that Lily had seen earlier had returned. They poured out of the walls, out of the fireplace, out of everywhere they could possibly pour out of.

"Not if I can help it!" James yelled, pulling his sword from its sheath. Faster than you could say 'stupefy,' he thrust his sword at Severus, aiming for his stomach. Severus blocked his attack and made one of his own, slicing James's sword arm, smirking as he clutched it in pain.

"You can actually feel that, Woody?" Severus asked, smugly. "I'm surprised." James sneered at him before swinging his sword hard at the seven headed mouse.

"I don't appreciate…" Slash. "You slicing…" Slash, swipe. "My good arm…" Slash, swipe, parry. "You lame excuse for a rodent!"

As James fought his battles with Severus, Lily found herself backed against a leg of the chase lounge, surrounded by Mice soldiers. If she hadn't been so frightened, she would have called for help… fortunately for her, she didn't need too.

"Sirius! You're needed, NOW!" Surprised, Lily looked towards the Christmas tree, wondering where the voice had come from. All she could see was a Jack-in-the-Box, waving his arms around excitedly, his eyes filled with a bit of worry. He looked like…

"Remus?!" The Jack-in-the-Box didn't reply… not to Lily anyway.

"For the love of GOD," he yelled. "Sirius, sometime before they kill her!"

"Well, I don't see you doing anything!" Lily looked to her left to see a tin soldier battling with the mice… all of them versus one of him… and he looked like Sirius Black, which for some reason didn't surprise Lily at all. Remus looked at Sirius, a trace of annoyance on his face.

"I'm a Jack…" Sirius cut him off as he ran his sword through another mouse.

"You're a Remus-in-the-Box, I know! Squish them or something!"

"Hey!" James yelled, still parrying with Severus. "Saving the girl is my job, you know!"

"Well, excuse us," Remus said as he hopped around the room squishing various mice. "You really weren't doing a very good job!"

"Honestly," Sirius added. "You nearly got her gutted!" James ignored his "friends" for the time being and continued his bout with Severus.

"Come now," he said, confidently. "Is that all you've got?" Right when he said "got," Severus' tail snaked its way around James's leg and tugged, causing him to fall to the floor. James's sword hit the floor with a clatter and was kicked away by Severus, who put his own sword at James's throat. "Well, this isn't good…"

"Not good at all," Severus replied. He then raised his sword, aiming it for James's heart.

"No!" Lily had been watching the fight between James and Severus ever since Remus and Sirius had began taking care of the mice. She watched in horror as Severus knocked James to the ground and got ready to run him through. She didn't know what to do… other than take off her shoe and throw it at him with all her might. Which she did.

The slipper hit Severus hard on the back of the head, causing him to lose his focus on James… and turn it on Lily. His eyes narrowed as they rested upon her and he turned away from James and started towards her. Lily stayed where she was frozen in fright. She could see James behind Severus, he was getting his sword and getting to his feet. But Severus was less than ten feet away from her… and his sword was ready to draw blood. She watched in horror as he thrust the blade towards her… and everything went black.

James grabbed Severus by the tail and yanked him away from Lily before he could hurt her.

"You won't hurt her!" James yelled, his eyes flashing angrily as he slashed hard at Severus with his sword. Severus, not expecting such a fierce attack from the wooden doll, fumbled to defend himself, barely managing to block the strikes James made. The angered glare on James's face soon turned into a dangerous grin as he faked a blow to the right before going to the left and striking a fatal blow into Severus's heart. The large mouse staggered back a few steps, his eyes wide from shock and slightly glazed over. A moment later, he fell to the ground, lifeless.

James walked over to Severus's now dead body, pulled his sword from where it rested and wiped it clean with the mouse's tail. He then walked over to the head… heads of the corpse, knelt down and removed one of the seven gold crowns that rested there. Once he had done so, he heard a light, sarcastic applause come from behind him. He turned around to see Sirius and Remus standing there, clapping.

"Bravo," they said. "Bravo." James grinned, getting to his feet.

"Not doing my job, eh?" he asked, walking over to them. There was a pause. "What?"

"Mate, you got saved by a slipper," Remus informed him. James waved the comment off with his hand, his grin not wavering.

"A minor setback…"

"And you made the girl faint," Sirius added, nodding his head to the unconscious Lily. "You just suck tonight." Remus chuckled, amused.

"He does have a point…"

"Both of you shut up!" James yelled angrily as he walked over to Lily, a concerned look upon his face. "Honestly," he muttered, I save the day and I get…" His words were interrupted by a soft moan from Lily, followed by a light stir. "Miss Evans?"