Disclaimer: I do not claim to own any names, places, or things from the Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling.

The First Encounter

Part One

By: Taiyourshoes

Lily's heart pounded harder in James's absence. She felt a little more panicked, but her will to escape had only been strengthened. She gripped her wand more tightly still in front of her, and whipped around in time to block another curse by the Dark Lord.

"Ah, so you finally figured out that you can Apparate within these walls, eh? It will only prolong your inevitable death, Mudblood, and waste both my time and yours. Serpensortia!"

Lily watched, aghast, as a long black snake shot out of it, fell heavily onto the ground between them, and raised itself, ready to strike. Its ruby eyes sparkled and mesmerized her as she was trapped in a world of fear.

"Developing a phobia of snakes, are you, Lily Evans? It's okay, you won't feel anything—not fear, nor anxiety, nor hate—in but a moment. Let your death serve as a lesson to those who do not shudder at the sound of my name! Strike!"

The snake sprung up at her in a moment, and a moment later it lay dead on the floor. Lily's wand had sent sparks at the snake in Lily's distress, and before she knew what she was doing, her wand was plunged through the snakes neck and up through its head. She dropped her wand when she felt the first ooze of blood drip off it and onto her hand.

"Stupefy!"

Lily paid for her moment of indecision; she felt her whole body become stiff as if she were frozen in a wall of cement. Her lips grew cold. Her eyes closed. Her heart raced on.

"Have you ever heard that the Dark Lord never fails in killing someone once he has his mind set on doing so? Unfortunate it is, that you forgot this fact. Goodbye, Lily Evans. Your boyfriend will be joining you soon. Avada Kedavra!"

All through school Lily heard about how instant and possibly even painless the killing curse was. Green would overtake the scene and the victim would be drowned in the effects of the curse. They would be dead before they hit the floor.

And yet, it was moments after she heard the curse venomously spew from Voldemort's mouth, and still she felt nothing to suggest she had been ripped from the living plane. She had seen no green light from behind her eye lids, as if the curse had even taken place.

Suddenly, as if her limbs were re-awakened, Lily could move again. She collapsed to the floor from the sudden change in stance, but quickly found her wand in the grass beside her and leapt up to continue the duel. However, there was something blocking her way.

There was a clear shield before her, guarding her from Lord Voldemort. On the shield was the Hogwarts crest. Behind the shield there were two figures dueling, one with long silver hair and the other with a menacing laugh.

Beside her was James Potter.

He was using all his might to deflect the stray curses from Voldemort and Dumbedore's duel. He barely managed a grin at her. "Told you we were on our way."

Lily's relief was short-lived, as a curse bounced off the shield and knocked James and Lily off their feet. The shield was broken and Lily heard an eruption of noise from Dumbledore's duel. The shield had been powerful enough to knock out sound; where had James learned to do that?

The remaining power of the shield forced it to ram into the walls enclosing them. Lily saw as quickly the walls returned to their normal height. Voldemort was to wrapped up to notice that his cage had been unlocked.

James's eyes pierced into her in an expression so much more serious, more adult, and more frightened than Lily had ever seen. "Apparate home." He got up and went in to help Dumbledore.

The last thing Lily saw before she apparated was the image of James conjuring the patronus of a stag and sending it through the fence and into the darkness. She wondered where it was going, and why it had to go so soon.

She appeared suddenly in her living room. The shouts of curses and the blinding sparks disappeared instantly. Moments after Remus Lupin appeared in front of her.

"James told me to come over as soon as I could. What's happened?"

Lily looked around the living room and took in the burning fireplace, the familiar sofa she had bought with James, and all the moving pictures that she'd put up only a few months ago when she and James moved in. She was home, and with one of her best friends.

She fell to the floor in exhaustion and began to cry. Her heart beat was still thumping around in her chest as it had been all night, and she felt sick from it. The shock wore in.

Remus put his hands on her shoulders. "What the hell happened, Lily?"

She would have stayed and helped James in any way she could, but this time she knew she could be of no help. She could do nothing but sit in her little apartment while Dumbledore and James fought a battle for her. Slowly she told Remus of the night's events.

"And now… I don't know where James is. He looked so scared, Remus. I just don't understand it."

She glanced up into her gentle friend's eyes. "Voldemort promised to kill him," she finished, and then sobbed into her hand.

Remus sat in silence with her for some time before he finally managed to put his carefully chosen words together.

"James once told me that he was born to be with you. It was the most serious thing he ever said to me, noted with so much trust and sincerity. At that point I had to realize that the James the Marauders had known was no more. He had grown up before the rest of us, surprisingly, and had learned what it is to love and be loved. I don't think there's any possible way James can die tonight, believe it or not. He wouldn't leave you alone like that.

"People say that Voldemort kills whoever he sets out to kill, but James finishes whatever he sets out to do. And he is convinced he was born to marry you, and as he hasn't done that yet, I sincerely doubt he's going to let some demented wizard change that."

Lily absorbed his words and prayed for them to be true. Remus Lupin got up with the promise to make some very strong tea, and suggested she go lie down on the couch. She got up off the floor.

Just as she was making her way to the couch she saw a head pop into her fireplace. Peter Pettigrew's scared face stared back at her. "What happened, Lily? Did you—did you defeat the Dark Lord?"

She assumed Remus or James had found a way to warn Peter of what had happened. "I don't know, Peter. James is still out there with Dumbledore, I have no idea what's going on."

He looked worried. Lily felt sorry for him; she knew how much he cared for James and his other friends. She would never be able to fully fathom the depth of the Marauders' relationship.

"James will be fine," Lily said, ignoring the voice in her head telling her she was lying.

"C-contact me when he gets back, okay?"

She gave her word, but at that moment she didn't need to. Two people apparated into the room behind her. Lily spun around fast and took in the beaten, dirty face of her own James Potter, standing beside the also disheveled Albus Dumbledore. He ran over to her and hugged her as hard as he could.

Remus's words echoed in her head. "…he was born to be with you."

She had never been happier to be alive than on the night she almost died.

"… So that's why I didn't want to tell you about the Order, Lily. I knew what kinds of things we have to go through, and maybe it was wrong of me for wanting to protect you from that, but that is what I did. I regret that now. You deserved to know where I was and moreso you deserved to be allowed to help. I know that nearly killed you."

James stared at his shoes as if they would begin dancing on their own. Dumbledore regarded her behind his moon-shaped spectacles. "I'll have to go work out a few things with the Order now, as Voldemort was kind enough to tell me he has gathered a new following of giants, but before I go I must say how proud of you both I am."

"Thank you, sir," Lily said solemnly. Dumbledore's usual vibrance had disappeared. He seemed sad and tired.

"I've said it to James many times, and now I'll say it again. You are so very fortunate to have each other; your connection alone will get you through the tough times ahead of you." With that, he disapperated.

James stood up, eyes locked on his feet still. "I'm sorry I made you go through this tonight, Lily. I didn't even get to walk you home."

After all that happened, he was still sorry he had broken his promise to be there at her performance. She stood up and kissed him.

"I love you, James."

"I love you, Lily."

Lily sat up in bed that night, silently staring at the half moon outside her window. A thought had been bothering her all night: Voldemort believed the worst thing in the world was death. This misled thought could only mean that he, one of the cleverest wizards of the age, had never known what it is to have something to hold onto that was more precious than his own life.

She leaned back against the wall of her room that separated her sleeping quarters from James's. What would it be like to have never loved someone else with so much of your heart that it hurts? Without that feeling, what is the point of living? What is death when you have never had a chance to live?

Just before Lily fell asleep she had a breakthrough—she felt sorry for Tom Riddle. Not Voldemort, but Tom Riddle, the boy who had never had a childhood. Dumbledore explained this to she and James that night.

Tom hadn't grown up in the loving family James and Lily had. He had never had the friends Sirius and Remus and Peter did. He hadn't known what it felt like to have the trust of someone as great as Albus Dumbledore. All he had was his bitterness and hurt that turned into hatred and greed.

But in this world, those who seek power are never immortal. Their terror may stain the mind, but they themselves are destined to fall victim to the rise of a stronger power. One made of a more solid substance.

And this solid substance Lily was lucky to have, and with it she could live as long as she had to, to meet her destiny. With a brief thought of James Potter floating in her mind, Lily Evans closed her eyes.

She would have to brace herself for whatever would come next.

Taiyourshoes: Sorry it took so long. Happy reading for those of you who will have your copies of HBP in a matter of minutes! And yes, one of the sentences in the 3rd paragraph is straight from CoS so readers can see how history has a way of repeating itself. Happy reading!