Previously:
A collective gasped emitted from the room. Frank, Shelia, and James pushed their way to Lily's side, looking out the window. Sure enough, about fifty Deatheaters were marching through the wet fields to the train; the lightning and thunder making it seem all the more terrifying.
"What do we do?!" someone shouted hysterically.
"We've got to get Dumbledore down here. And quick!" Frank exclaimed.
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"Where's the supervisors. There's supposed to be like four teachers on the train, aren't there?!" someone shouted frantically.
"They're all up at Hogwarts for a meeting or something. Dumbledore thought that we two were mature enough to handle the train by ourselves." Shelia said, trembling violently from fear.
"Oh, how bloody convenient!" the Slytherian girl prefect said sarcastically, wringing her hands nervously.
James gave her a glare and she just glared back at him coldly.
"How are we supposed to contact Dumbledore?" Lily asked, still gazing out the window, watching the Deatheaters inch closer and closer by each flash of lightning. It seemed that only she, James, and a few others managed to stay calm. Others were muttering anxiously to themselves and close to hyperventilating.
"We have to send a letter by owl." Frank answered.
"But they're all the way outside with our trunks!" a Hufflepuff prefect stated.
"Then one of us has to go out and get one. Quickly!" Shelia said.
"I'll go," Frank said solemnly.
At that moment, the door to the compartment tried to jerk open. The door had been locked so knocking started from the other side. Frank hurried over and looked out the window of the door. Hastily, he unlocked it and pulled it open. Standing outside the compartment door was tons of students, all looking pale and frightened. Frank looked outside the door and saw that there were so many students trying to get close that the entire hallway was jam packed. Immediately after he opened the door, many questions started. So many, in fact, that all you could hear was one loud buzz.
Shelia accompanied Frank by the door, trying to calm the crowd down.
From inside the compartment, still by the window, Lily looked over at James, "Frank obviously can't go."
"Frank couldn't even if he was able to. How in the world are any of us expected to get out of the compartment with all the kids blocking the exit?" James mumbled thoughtfully.
Lily bit her lip contemplatively. Then, a dawning look fell on her face. "The window." She turned to James, "Does this window open?"
James tried it. It slid down, opening, but it didn't have much room to go through. Wind started to gust inside, blowing everyone's hair around in their faces. They looked at each other before James said, "I'm going."
Lily looked astonished, "Well I'm coming with you." She said without hesitation.
James face hardened, "No way am I letting you."
Lily looked scandalized, "Well, I don't see how you could possibly stop me."
"Lily, I can do this alone." He argued.
"Look, James, the more we fight about this, the more time we're giving the Deatheaters," Lily argued right back. James looked out the window and saw that Lily was right. The Deatheaters were closer yet.
He turned back to look at her, a pained expression on his face, "I'm not going to win, am I?"
Lily's face was set defiantly, "Not this time."
James sighed dejectedly and said, "Alright fine, but I'm going first."
Without another word, James lifted himself up to the window and put his head out. He went a little farther out, but then stopped. His shoulders were too big to fit through the window.
He went back in, his entire head soaked from the rain. He looked at Lily, his face forbidding her to go out there alone.
Lily just stared back at him rebelliously, "I'm still going." She stated stubbornly.
"Y-you left your wand back in our compartment," James said, desperately trying to talk her out of it.
"Then I'll go without it," Lily said, starting to climb up to the window opening.
James pulled her back down and she gave him an exasperated look. "Lily, someone else can go. Not you." James said, looking her in the eye.
Lily raised an eyebrow and called out to everyone else in the room who wasn't trying to calm down the other students. "Anybody else volunteering?"
No one moved or said anything, all seeming to be petrified with fright. Lily heard James curse to himself.
"Bloody wankers."
Pretending she hadn't heard that, she walked over to the window again and attempted to pull herself up. An effort that failed. She sighed and looked at James, whose face was set with worry. "James, please, help me."
"They're getting closer!" the Ravenclaw prefect shrieked hysterically when she looked out the window.
Lily stared wordlessly at James, willing him to give in.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Back in the Marauder's compartment, Peter was hyperventilating.
"This whole thing reeks of Malfoy." Remus muttered angrily over at the window, where he and Sirius were still gazing out of.
"Come on." Sirius said, walking to the compartment door.
"Where are we going?" Peter asked, standing up shakily from his seat.
"Head's compartment; see what we can do to help." Sirius explained without turning around. He opened the door and cursed.
"What is it?" Remus said, finally turning around from the window. He raised his eyebrows, "Oh."
"Well that's bloody peachy. How smart of everyone," Sirius said sarcastically, closing the compartment, "Let's all just stand in the hall and do bloody nothing while we wait for the Deatheaters to come and kill us!" he went on, muttering to himself.
"It's not that bad." Remus said, trying to stay calm.
"Not that bad???" Sirius exclaimed. He pointed to the door, "Practically every bloody student on the train is standing in the hall, frightened out of their minds!" He sighed angrily and stalked over to the window again to see the Deatheaters roaming closer.
"W-what do we do?" Peter asked desperately. Remus looked at Sirius, wanting to hear his answer as well.
Sirius didn't say anything for about a minute. Finally, without turning, he responded with a sigh, "What we seem to do best, Wormtail." He turned and looked at him, a rebellious look in his eye. Grinning now, he said simply as he reached in his pocket and pulled out his wand, "Fight."
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Sighing dreadfully, James nodded.
Reluctantly, he lifted her by the waist and she eased through the window, landing on the ground outside. The wind was even stronger out there and the rain pelted her face, body, and hair like little rock pebbles. A large burst of thunder erupted and not even three seconds later, a strike of lightning lit the sky.
She looked up to see James' head out the window, his wand raised to it as well. She gave him the thumbs up sign. Nodding, he shouted, "I've got your back!" She could barely hear it with the wind whistling and screaming like prisoners being tortured.
Brushing her now dripping wet hair out of her eyes, or at least trying to, she took a step towards the part of the train that held everyone's trunks, but before she could take another, she slipped on some mud and fell to her butt. Not wasting any time to pout about how dirty she was getting, she picked herself up and hurried a little more cautiously over to the destination.
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Back in the head's compartment, all hell was breaking loose. Frank and Shelia had not let anyone into the compartment and were trying to maintain order from the hallway. The prefects were pacing the compartment, most had looks of concentration upon their faces.
"Let's just start cursing them." Susan suggested.
"They're not close enough yet." Curtis Shepard, Ravenclaw prefect, said.
"Everyone, please stay here!" Frank exclaimed as he saw some students running toward the exit hysterically. He cursed the door so it wouldn't open.
Quite a bit of first and second years had tears streaming down their faces. Questions were still being thrown around and not being answered.
"Everyone, please remain calm." Shelia urged, "We're handling this situation at this very moment. Everything is going to be alright. You have my word."
But, despite the reassurance, no one calmed, everyone continued to panic relentlessly. Frank ran his hand through his hair in frustration and Shelia looked to be on the verge of tear from aggravation and stress.
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Lily was aimlessly looking around for the part of the train that held the luggage. It was practically impossible to decipher one thing from another out there now, as the storm grew worse. Persistently, the wind whipped her hair into her face and she kept pushing it back, agitatedly. Running her hands along the smooth, cold exterior of the train, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. The latch to the hidden compartment had to be around there somewhere.
She tried this for a few more minutes before she heard James shouting from his place at the window's opening, "Lily, hurry up, they're getting closer…" he trailed off, his eyes growing as wide as saucers, "and I think they see you!"
Lily whipped around after hearing that statement. Her eyes widened as well. Some of the previously marching Deatheaters were now running.
Turning back to the train, she wordlessly continued searching. Finally, a few seconds later, her face brightened when she felt a latch. Without any hesitation whatsoever, she threw the little door open and took a look inside. There was a great deal of trunks and birdcages there. Her hands landed on a cage containing a white, snowy owl. Grinning slightly, she pulled the owl out of the cage and into the stormy weather.
She ran back under the window James was at, "I found her! It's Lily!" she exclaimed loud enough for him to hear her. James gave her a thumb up. She whispered to the owl, "Fly to James, Lily." The owl fluttered, seeming to be angry for being pulled out into this weather, but hooted anyway to assure her. Lily let the owl go and it obediently flew into James' outstretched hands.
Lily jumped and clapped happily. James grinned down at her and shouted, "Go over to the doorway over there and get inside!" Lily nodded to show she heard and turned to walk over to the doorway.
But, as she started to walk, she heard the cruelest voice in the world speak from behind her, "Not so fast…Miss Lily Evans."
She turned slowly back around, her eyes closed dreadfully then opened again, raising her gaze to meet the sight of her archenemy, Lord Voldemort.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Ugh! Where did you have it last, Remus?" Sirius muttered, looking around for Remus' missing wand.
"Sirius, if I knew that, I'd know where it was!" Remus snarled frustratingly.
"Aren't you usually the responsible one in the group?" Sirius asked sarcastically.
"No," Remus grunted, "That would be Li- ha! I found it!" He held up his wand smugly. Sirius opened his mouth to reply, when Remus' face crumpled, "Oh, wait, it's Lily's wand." He turned back around and continued his search, muttering to himself. Sirius rolled his eyes wordlessly and continued searching as well.
At that moment, Peter let out his trademark 'squeak!' from his place at the window he was looking out of.
Remus and Sirius turned their heads around curiously. "What is it, Wormtail?" Sirius asked.
"Lily," Peter yelped.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Lily, hurry up, they're getting closer…" James' heart stopped. The Deatheaters had stopped walking and were now running and pointing at Lily, "And I think they see you!"
Underneath him, Lily squinted to keep the rain out of her eyes, apparently straining to hear what he was saying. When she understood, she turned swiftly around, jumping a little in fright. She turned back around and wordlessly continued to search at a faster pace.
James' heart beat faster and painful in his chest as he watched the scene unfold. 'Come on Lily' he silently willed. A few seconds later, she found the latch and reached inside, pulling out a snowy white bird with her. Grinning proudly, she rushed back over to under him and exclaimed, "I found her! It's Lily!" James sighed in relief and gave her a thumbs up sign. She muttered something to the owl and let it go, the bird flying straight towards James. He took it in his hands and grinned, looking back down at Lily and said seriously, "Go over to the doorway over there and get inside!" She nodded as James brought his head back in, shoving the owl into one of the prefect's hands. He took off his glasses and wiped them off with his sleeve.
He took the owl back from the prefect and called out to the group inside the compartment, "Anyone have a parchment and a quill?"
"I do," Curtis said, handing him the supplies.
James took them and sat down, attempting to write the first line. 'Attempting' is the key word. It was very hard to write on your knee with a quill and ink. He muttered curse words to himself as he continued on with his trying.
"U-uh, James," Susan said, looking out the window she had just closed.
"What?!" James snapped edgily, not looking up from the parchment, which had numerous spots and blots on it.
"Voldemort's out there…and he's saying something to Lily." She said, not taking her eyes off the scene she was looking at. James' head snapped up and he stood, not caring about the parchment, quill, and ink bottle that had fallen to the floor. Sensing that James wouldn't be finishing the letter, Curtis picked up the fallen items and continued on with it.
"Oh Merlin," James said shakily as he looked out the window as well. There she was, Lily, face to face with Voldemort, a deer caught in headlights look upon her face. 'She doesn't have her wand!' James' insides screamed. Without another word, James opened the window back up and picked himself up, trying to fit through the window, but he wouldn't budge passed his shoulders. Falling back inside, he looked around for his wand, many of the prefects and the students in the hall looking at him curiously.
When James found his wand, he turned back to the wall that held the window. He muttered a charm to himself and at that second, a large chunk of the train wall separated from the rest. He waved his wand and the large piece of metal flew about ten feet back and fell on the soft, wet ground. He stuck his wand into his pocket and jumped out, ignoring the exclamations of students from his actions. Landing gracefully on his feet, he ran clumsily, due to the ever growing wind, over to where Voldemort and Lily were.
"Stop right there Voldemort!!!" he shouted as loud as he could over the noise of the wind and now incoming Deatheaters.
Voldemort and his girlfriend both turned to the source of the noise. Lily had a look of half relief, half fear on her face, "James, get inside!" she screamed, her eyes filled with tears of worry and horror.
James had his wand out and was pointing it at Voldemort, "Stupefy!" he shouted, ignoring Lily. A jet of blue light emitted from his wand straight towards Voldemort.
Expecting Voldemort to fly through the air with the force of the spell, James, and Lily, were both surprised to witness him only raising a hand and wave it. With a feeling of complete and utter dread in the pits of their stomachs, Lily and James could only watch as the blue light of the spell stopped entirely at the base of the clammy, white hand and fall lifelessly to the cold, wet earth at his feet. The Deatheaters that had just arrived before them all, finishing their journey through the fields, all stood loyally behind him, and had their wands raised and ready.
Voldemort's face twisted into a callous smirk from seeing his supposedly threatening enemies stand before him in utter shock, their gaze planted to the spot of mud that James' spell had disappeared on. James' mouth, previously moving around dumbly and unable to form a sound, finally achieved its goal and croaked out a simple, "How?"
Voldemort suddenly let out a horrible cackle that sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard. "How do you think, you ignorant little boy? Wandless magic!"
"Oh good Lord," Lily breathed out, her eyes wide.
"So naïve." Voldemort went on mockingly.
James could only see red, hatred flowing in every fiber of his being. Letting out a shout of rage, he roared, "Impedimenta!" half expecting the hated wizard to fly backwards from the spell. Of course, Voldemort simply waved his hand again and the spell fell to the ground just like the other.
Lily's face was contorted with fury, "You're a coward, Voldemort!" she screamed, "Ambushing a train full of students with your fully trained Deatheaters. Expecting a duel with your wandless magical ability! You're despicable! You're disgusting! You're revolting!!!"
Voldemort's red eyes darkened after each passing word coming from her mouth. He was almost shaking with rage as he yelled out, raising his hand, "CRUCIO!!!"
James pulled Lily down with him to the ground, only just dodging the curse. Voldemort shouted the offending hex again and this time, it hit James squarely in the chest.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"What about Lily?" Remus demanded, him and Sirius both rushing to Peter's side and looking out the window. They just saw James and Lily hurl to the ground, narrowly escaping a curse sent their way by Voldemort. A second later, they saw James start to writhe on the ground, his face contorted in pain and anguish. Lily sat up, looking at him, screaming something at him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"JAMES!" Lily screamed, her heart beating painfully in her chest and tears cascading down her already wet face.
James could only scream out in agony. Lily turned her head to glare at Voldemort, who was laughing viciously.
"Take the curse off! Please!" she begged, pulling James' tortured form into her arms, trying to take away all the pain he was going through.
"Oh, my," Voldemort tisked, "This is precious. Almost downright nauseating really."
The curse ended and James gasped with an excruciating amount of pain. Lily gripped him tighter to her chest. She looked down at him, her vision blurry from her ceaseless tears, "James," she breathed out, fighting back a sob.
"Lily," he tried to say, but it came out as a grunt as he swallowed harshly. She bent down and kissed his forehead. That moment, he lost consciousness. Lily gulped inaudibly and lay him gently down. She stood and tore her eyes away from his sleeping form and glared up at Voldemort. All was quiet except for the weather conditions and a faint hoot of an owl from far away. Lily paid either of them no heed.
"Tell me, Voldemort. You'd fight a sixteen year old, wandless, girl with an army of Deatheaters? Are you really that insecure?" she shouted, as a huge gust of wind practically knocked them all over.
Voldemort glared and without a word, snapped his fingers. All the Deatheaters surrounding them disapparated in an instant. "Now it's just you and me, Mudblood. Let's see how well you do without a wand."
He raised his hand swiftly and shouted a curse Lily had yet to learn. Her eyes widening, she dodged the spell just in time and turned around to run.
She heard Voldemort swear from behind. Turning cautiously, she saw him chasing after her, looking positively livid.
She finally reached the front of the train and ran around it, well aware that Voldemort was only a few short meters away. While she rounded the corner, she suddenly let out a gasp of pain. Her right arm had been hit with a burning curse. Not at all missing a beat, she dropped to the ground and rolled under a part of the train where she could fit through and moseyed to the other side of the train just as Voldemort rounded the side she was just at.
She heard him shout out in frustration when he saw no one on the side. Continuing to run, she heard him again. "It is inevitable, mudblood. Accept the fact that you…will…die!" she turned her head to see him farther behind her, but gaining speed. She hoped with every fiber in her body that no one would be foolish enough to come out and try to help. This monster would kill them in an instant.
Continuous jets of light flew passed her from his hexes. Her arm was becoming numb and useless. Her eyes darted around for any possible plan of action. She passed by a lump of black that she recognized to be James' cloak, which contained the hopefully peaceful James.
Gasping and panting for breath, she turned her head to look at the train beside her. Without missing a beat, she jumped with all her might onto the side of the train. She managed to grab hold of some metal with her one good arm before she fell right off. She squinted, trying to keep the pelting rain out of her face. She grunted and tried with all her power to pull herself up onto the top of the stationary train.
She let herself look through the window she was facing and saw three younger students she didn't know look at her with alarm. She could read one of the boy's lips, her heart sinking, "A Deatheater!" All three of the occupants flew out of the compartment in a flash of lightning, literally.
She pulled more; she was closer yet to the top. A few more feet…
She screamed as a green light flew by her. She knew what curse it was, too.
Collecting all her strengths, she let out a shout of pain as she achieved her goal and climbed on the top of the train. 'Thank goodness it's not moving.' She thought to herself.
She got to her feet and almost fell flat on her face again. The black surface she stood on was slippery and icy. With a little more care, she inched forward, not at all knowing what she was planning on doing now that she was up here.
"At least I'm away from Voldemort." She breathed to herself. As if the fates were against her that day, the second she said that, Voldemort appeared right in front of her, looking very amused at this little cat and mouse game.
She stumbled back, slipping and falling. Voldemort just laughed. "Crucio!" he cried.
Lily was hit directly in the chest just as James had been. And, like James, she screamed in agony, feeling a tremendous amount of pain. She faintly heard Voldemort crackle again, but she didn't care. She just rolled around, trying to escape the pain. The pain. There was nothing but the pain now. Nothing in the world was there anymore except the pain.
She continued to scream and roll around, unaware that she was dangerously close to the edge. Voldemort sent another burst of the curse to her, strengthening the pain. With one more heart stopping scream, complete with a blinding flash of lightning, Lily rolled off the edge, falling with a thump to the ground below.
Voldemort smirked and disapparated to her side. She was panting, her eyes shut tightly from the pain. Fresh tears were streaming down her face. He chuckled cruelly at her, causing her brilliant green eyes to appear and stare at him.
He had his wand out now and was pointing it at her. 'So this is it. The end of my short life.' Lily's insides were screaming disbelievingly. This wasn't how it was supposed to be! She was supposed to grow up. Graduate. Marry James. Have a family together. This wasn't fair!
"I've wanted to do this for years." Voldemort snarled, tearing her away from her thoughts. "I'm finally going to remove the thorn from my side once and for all."
"LILY!" someone suddenly shouted. Voldemort's head shot up while Lily desperately tried to move her body to see who was saving her.
Sirius had his head stuck out of a window. Remus and Peter were seen from another one, their wands out appearing to be levitating her boyfriend up to them to keep him out of danger. Sirius had what appeared to be two wands in his hand. Her heart seemed to stop as she witnessed in seemingly slow motion. Sirius said something that was drowned out by the sound of another burst of thunder followed by lightning. She could see his lips form the word, "Catch." Right before he threw out one of the wands he was holding. She held her left arm straight up in the air, begging to God that she caught it.
The next thing she knew, her hand was gripped around a stick. She looked up and smiled a little when she saw her very own wand in her grasp. Voldemort was standing there, snarling.
"Avada Kedavra!!!!!!!" he bellowed out furiously. The green light shot from his wand straight for Lily's heart. Lily closed her eyes tightly and turned away from the frightening sight. She began to pray.
Then…
Nothing. 'Am I dead? The rain stopped. So did the storm it sounds like.'
She cautiously opened one eye and immediately gasped. She was inside some sort of glowing white, transparent bubble. She inched close to it and hesitantly held out her left hand, surprised when her hand went straight through it and felt the rain still pouring. She, with a little more confidence, stuck her head through the bubblish thing and looked around, seeing that the storm had not at all ended.
She also saw something incredible. She was swaying faintly and her eyes were growing heavy, but she was one hundred percent positive that what she was seeing was true.
Headmaster Dumbledore stood boldly in front of Voldemort, wand at ready, and looking more furious than she had ever seen him before.
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A/N- it was a little poorly written, but I'm just glad I got it out and updated. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'm very sorry for not updating sooner. Thanks for the reviews, keep 'em coming!