Chapter edited and reposted – 24th July 2006

Okay more conversation and description but not a lot.

Disclaimer: Hmm, I'm running out of good ones. Basically I don't own Harry Potter or anything to do with it. Simple as that.

Thanks to the following reviewers: Fairy-GYAKUTENNO-MEGAMI, WhiteCamellia, MoonylovesFlo, sigrunb (good to have you back!), maneatingbananas (love your name!), Jazzmataz, PrettyPadfootLover (glad ur enjoying), and iluvgerardbutler (that's fantastic bout ur sister!)

A/N: 3 DAYS TILL HBP! Unfortunately I won't be here (Sniff!) I'm in France this weekend, and I won't get the book till Monday. Gutted! Today at school was charities day! Meaning year 12 got to dress up as Chavs, we kidnapped our head teacher and held him to ransom…oh and I was filming the entire thing. Including the teachers in the stocks being hit by wet sponges! Don't you just love funraisers!

Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 14

Lily stared in shock horror at the paper. Her family were staring at her in confusion. Lily dropped the paper on the table and scanned over the front page, her fingers trembling and her heart beating wildly.

There was a picture of the Dark Mark hovering above a row of houses like a giant mushroom cloud. The rows of streets were issuing a lot of what looked smoke, which seemed to be coming from the buildings.

Lily felt ill, but read the article anyway.

Death Eater attack in Epsom, Seventy dead, hundreds injured.

Last night saw the largest Death Eater attack ever conducted. Just after midnight five hundred homes were infiltrated by followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Ministry officials have reports that many families were mercilessly tortured before death. An Auror who arrived at the scene said "it was a living nightmare. Whole families had been killed in their sleep. Children were sobbing over their parents lifeless bodies. Those who survived are bearing horrific injuries from the Cruciatus curse."

There were twenty-three wizarding families attacked in the city, although it seems the primary targets were muggles and muggleborns. A local resident, who wishes to remain nameless, stated that "they tortured killed and then moved onto the next house. Then when the ministry arrived, the Death Eaters fired the Dark Mark into the sky and disapperated."

As of yet none of the Death Eaters have been identified and the ministry is begging anyone with any information to come forwards.

Lily couldn't read anymore. She pushed the paper away and slumped in her chair shaking. Her mother read the article quickly and looked at Lily in horror.

"Why?" she asked. Lily shook her head. That wasn't what half of was bothering her. The Death Eaters had attacked in Epsom, and that was where Tash lived. Her mother seemed to be thinking along the same lines and pulled Lily into a hug.

"She'll be fine. Tash is a fighter, she'll have survived," her mother said, but her voice was slightly lacking in confidence.

"What if she's not?" Lily cried. "What if she's one of the seventy that died?"

"You don't know that Lily," her mother said. On her other side, Petunia had glanced at the paper, snorted and threw it aside. Lily would have loved to curse Petunia right then and there, but she was too shocked to do so.

"Petunia don't snort!" Mrs Evans reprimanded. "This is barbaric! Who are these people? Why did they kill them?"

Lily swallowed. Her family didn't know about the situation in the wizarding world. She had neglected to tell them in case they refused to let her go back. She also hadn't told them because she was worried that they might disapprove of her career choice. After thinking about it, and watching the destruction that was being caused because of the war, Lily had decided that she was going to become an Auror.

In the hall the telephone rang and her father got up to answer it.

"How could they do it?" Lily asked no one in particular, still hugging her mother for all she was worth. Petunia rolled her eyes and continued eating. Her father hurried back into the kitchen.

"Lily it's Tash," he said. Lily looked up, hope flooding into her face.

"See Lily she's fine," her mother smiled. Lily bolted for the hall and grabbed the phone.

"Tash?"

"Hi Lily."

Lily almost collapsed with relief. She had never been so glad to hear her friend's voice.

"Are you alright?"

"All four limbs yeah," Tash said. She sounded exhausted. "But my muscles ache and I'm so tired."

"I thought you were dead!" Lily squeaked.

"Take more than six Death Eaters in my house to kill me," Tash snorted.

"What happened?" Lily asked.

"They killed about seven families in my street," Tash said, her voice breaking slightly. "I couldn't believe it."

"What about your family?" asked Lily. Tash drew a deep breath.

"Well, mum and dad are okay, just a bit shocked. But…" she broke off and Lily thought she heard a stiffled sob.

"What happened?" she pressed. Tash took a shuddering breath.

"Chris is in St Mungos," she whispered.

"Oh my god! How?"

"Cruciatus curse," Tash choked. "And I had to stand there and watch Lily. I couldn't help him, they froze me and I had to stand and watch my brother get tortured!"

"It's not your fault," Lily said.

"Yes it is! I should have seen it coming and blocked it! He could have permanent brain damage and it's all my fault!"

Her friend's voice broke and Lily could hear shuddering gasps from the other end of the line.

"Tash stop being so stupid. You fought of six Death Eaters at once and you quite possibly saved your families lives."

"Maybe," Tash sniffed. "But…what happens…?"

"Chris won't die," Lily said fiercely. This wasn't the Tash she knew. She had never heard her friend this distressed. Tash normally held a cool calm attitude. But it had been broken in the last few hours.

"Chris'll be fine," Lily said. "He's related to you isn't he?"

Tash gave a weak chuckle which was stifled immediately but a yawn.

"And I bet you haven't slept at all have you?" Lily asked.

"Nope," Tash said. "I've been up all night helping to clean up the mess and organise everyone to get to St Mungos. My parents are at the hospital now. They wanted me to go too but I said, no way. I was much more help with the Aurors than I would have been at St Mungo's."

"So what now?" Lily asked.

"I need to find a place to stay," Tash said. "I know it's short notice but I was wondering if I could stay with you? All my family are abroad and I've got nowhere else to go."

"Of course you can," Lily said. "I'll just check." She hurried back into the kitchen.

"Mum Tash needs a place to stay," Lily said quickly. "Do you think she could…"

"Of course Lily," her mother smiled. "We'd love for her to stay."

"Thanks," Lily dashed back to the phone.

"That's fine."

"Okay, I'll apperate over just as soon as I've told someone where I'm going and I've got my things together. Can you call Jenny and owl Sirius and James please?"

"No problem," Lily said. "I was going to call Jenny anyway."

"Cheers Lily. I'll see you in about ten minutes."

"Bye."

Lily put the phone down and raced up to her room before her parents could ask her for more details of the conversation. She grabbed a quill and parchment and hurriedly began to scribble a note.

Tash is fine. She's coming to stay with me for the rest of the holiday. Apperate over if you want to see her.

Lily

Lily tied the note to Godric's leg and took him to the window.

"Quick as you can," she muttered as the owl took off.

As fast as she could, Lily grabbed her clothes and got changed before racing downstairs back to the phone. She dialled the only other number that was imprinted in her head.

A breathless voice answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Jenny?"

"Bloody hell Lily, have you seen it?" Jenny sounded like she was having a nervous breakdown and Lily could almost see her flapping her arms in panic.

"Yes I've seen, don't worry Tash is okay."

"How do you know?" Jenny asked, halting in her breathless worry.

"She rang. She's going to stay with me for the holiday."

"Thank God! I just saw the paper and I freaked!" Jenny said. Lily heard her friend turn to someone else in the room and yell, "Lily says she alive!"

"Sorry Lils, but half my family got really worried when the paper came. Mum got called into work, they needed extra staff. Remus is the one who showed me."

"Remus is there?" Lily asked.

"Yeah he apperated straight over with the paper when he heard. Honestly I thought Tash was dead when I read it…"

"Me too," Lily said. "It was horrible, just thinking it."

"Yeah. Look is Tash there yet?"

"Give her a few minutes," Lily said. "You can apperate over in five. James and Sirius should be coming by sometime. Depends on how fast the owl can make it."

"Okay I'll be over in five minutes," Jenny promised before hanging up. Lily replaced the receiver and headed back into the kitchen, her head still reeling with the emotions she had felt in the last half an hour.

"When will she be here?" asked her father as Lily made her way back to the kitchen.

"Any minute," Lily sat down again and drained her tea. She was still trembling as she set the mug back down on the table.

"Are you okay Lily?" her mother asked. "You're terribly pale."

"I'm okay it's just the shock," Lily said.

"What exactly happened?" her father asked. "Who are these Death Eaters?"

Lily paused. She didn't want to tell her family about the war, for fear that they wouldn't let her back to school. But she couldn't refuse a direct question.

"They're followers of a really evil wizard who wants to take over the wizarding world," Lily said. "They're attacking non magical and muggleborns because they think they're inferior. It's racial cleansing to a new level."

"That's terrible," her mother said. "And this was one of the attacks this morning?"

"Yep," Lily nodded.

"But they just killed the people in their sleep," her mother said in horror. "It's awful!"

"I know," Lily sighed holding her head, wondering if she had just ruined her chances of going back to school forever. She couldn't leave now, not when she had exams at the end of the year. She couldn't leave the magical world. She'd lose her friends and…James. She knew out of everything she would miss him the most. She couldn't leave Hogwarts. It was where she belonged.

Fortunately at this point there was a loud crack. Petunia shrieked and fell off her chair. Lily reached for her wand instinctively but relaxed when she saw the Hogwarts trunk complete with owner.

"Sorry Lily, I was aiming for the front door but it's difficult when you're carrying a trunk," said Tash. Lily seized her in a hug. Tash looked unbelievably dishevelled. Her hair was wild and she was pale. She had a gash on her cheek but she didn't seem to care.

"You're freezing!" Lily said letting go of her.

"I'm not surprised," Tash said looking at herself. "I've been outside all night in three inches of snow helping the Aurors. And I didn't have time to get changed. It's just jeans, a jacket and snowboots until I could leave. Did you call Jenny?"

"Yeah, she was going spare," Lily said sitting down at the table next to her.

"What about the boys?" Tash asked.

"I owled James and Sirius," said Lily. "And Remus was at Jenny's when I rang. He came over as soon as he heard about it."

"That was nice," Tash said accepting the cup of hot chocolate from Mrs Evans. Close up Lily saw that her friend had dark circles under her eyes and she kept stifling huge yawns.

"Thanks for letting me stay here," Tash smiled gratefully.

"Don't worry dear," Lily's mother smiled at her. "We're more than happy to have you stay here for as long as you need." Lily's father nodded, whilst Petunia edged away from Tash as far as she could without electing stares.

"I still can't believe it happened," Tash said. "It was horrible. I thought I was having a flash back of Hogsmeade when I first heard the screams. But I saw them coming down the street and I just grabbed my wand and went to get my parents."

"What happened? Did you get hit?" Lily asked.

"Just on the cheek," Tash said. "Everything else got patched up by the healers. Just a few pains from the Cruciatus curse which haven't disappeared."

"You got hit by that!" Lily asked in horror.

"It wasn't for long," Tash assured her. "My Dad hit the Death Eater over the head with the lamp before he could do much damage."

"Where are you're parents?" asked Lily.

"Still at St Mungo's with Chris," Tash said looking at her shoes. "He's in the Intensive Care ward. They're checking him over for brain damage. But the Death Eaters had the curse on him for a good five minutes so there is a chance it could be permanent."

"He'll be fine," Lily tried to assure her, but she knew Tash was still blaming herself. At this point there was another crack and another shriek from Petunia. Jenny and Remus had apperated in the middle of the kitchen.

"Sorry for barging in Lily," Remus apologised as Jenny squeaked and hugged Tash tightly.

"Ow! Jenny I'm sore!" Tash yelled desperately.

"Sorry!" Jenny released her grip. "What did they do to you?"

"I'm fine," Tash said dismissivly. "But Chris is in St Mungo's." Jenny squeaked again and sank into the chair.

"Spell damage?" she asked fearfully.

"Cruciatus," Tash said shortly. Jenny's eyes went wide and she hugged Tash again despite her protests.

"Get off Jenny! I'm still hurting!"

"I though you were dead!" Jenny cried into her shoulder.

"She could have been," Lily said. "She got hit with that curse too you know."

"D'you guys have such limited faith in my abilities that you all thought I would be dead?" Tash asked.

"They're Death Eaters, they slaughter people!" Jenny said. "You could have been one of them!"

"Well I wasn't, okay?" Tash said. "I'm fine. I'm just a bit tired."

"And wait a minute," said Jenny. "Lily did you just say that Tash got hit with the Cruciatus curse?"

"Yep," Lily said. Jenny looked at Tash in horror.

"Oh my God," she squeaked grabbing Tash and checking her over as if expecting her to suddenly keel over. "Are you okay?"

"For heavens sakes Jenny I'm fine. It happened almost nine hours ago!" Tash said irritably. "I'm not some weak little girl who's going to keel over at the first sight of pain."

"What's so bad about the Cruciatus curse?" asked Lily's father.

"Imagine a thousand white hot knives stabbing every part of your body and you'll get a rough idea," Tash said grimly before she disappeared under both Lily and Jenny hugging her.

"And they do this…just because you're muggleborn?" Lily's mother asked. "They cause people pain because they don't come from wizarding families?"

"Its worse," Tash said emerging from the hugs to look at Mrs Evans. "It's beyond that now. They do it just for fun."

Both of Lily's parents looked horrified, but before they could say anything another set of cracks sounded. Petunia screamed for the umpteenth time and ran from the room. Everyone else whipped around to see James and Sirius standing in the kitchen.

"Sorry, we were aiming for the front door," James apologised as Sirius hurried over to give Tash a hug.

"Don't worry about it James," Lily's mother shrugged it off. "Tash did that as well." Lily hugged James before turning back to the party of people.

"Maybe we should move into the living room," she suggested. Everyone marched meekly next door. Lily was last in and shut the door behind her.

"You're pale," Sirius said sitting on the sofa next to Tash. "Are you okay?"

"Course I'm not," Tash sighed, slumping against the cushions. "I'm exhausted and my brother's in hospital. Those bloody bastards just can't leave us alone!" She breathed deeply. Everyone sat down around her.

"You want me to tell you what happened don't you?" Tash asked. Lily looked at Jenny who looked worried how Tash would take this.

"Pretty much yeah," Jenny admitted.

"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to," Sirius said.

"No maybe it would be better for me if I told you guys," Tash said. "Okay, here goes."

She took another breath and began to talk.

FLASHBACK!

Tash was sitting on the end of her bed reading her defence book. It was five to midnight and her parents were coming up to bed. There was a crack and all the lights went out. She cursed and got up, lighting her wand as she went to the door.

"Power cut?" her mum asked, sticking her head out of the bathroom door with her toothbrush in hand. Tash hurried over to her bedroom window. There was no light for miles.

"All over the city by the looks of it," she reported. Her mum shrugged and went back to her teeth. Tash pointed her wand downwards trying to see the street. Suddenly there was a scream. For a moment she thought she was thinking of the Hogsmeade attack. Then her reasoning caught up with her.

"Lumos Maxima!" she commanded. The light in her wand grew stronger allowing her to see into the street. She paled at what she saw. Standing in the middle of the road were about fifty Death Eaters.

"Holy Merlin!" Tash muttered, bolting back out of her room into the landing. Her mother saw her pale face and knew something was wrong.

"What is it?"

"Death Eaters, get Dad, hide, going to get Chris," Tash ordered quickly before running into her brothers bedroom.

"Chris! Wake up damn it!" She shook him violently just as the first screams and explosions began to sound. Her brother stirred.

"Come on for Merlins sake! Move!" She grabbed her brother's arm and dragged him to the door. There was a bang from downstairs. It sounded like the door being blown off. She hurried into her parent's bedroom, threw Chris unceremoniously onto the bed and shut the door.

"Coloportus!" she shouted. The door locked with a squelching sound.

"My God they're all over the street!" her mother said. "Who are they?"

"Death Eaters," Tash said. "Evil people. Get into the corner," she ordered. Her father heeded her word and pulled her mother and brother against the wall. Tash faced the door shaking with fear. Where in Merlin's name were the Aurors…?

'Come on Tash,' she thought. 'You're a Gryffindor. Let's give these evil gits a run for their money.' The screams got louder and there were flashes of green light outside.

The door clicked open and Tash shouted "Invocatum!" The Death Eater collapsed. Five more flooded into the room. Tash knocked two of them out almost immediately, before she began to duel with the other three. Her family watched in fear from the corner.

"Tracostor Maxima!" a Death Eater shouted. Tash turned to face him and yelled,

"Protego!" Another Death Eater cast cestor morandum, causing her to hit the wall by the window.

"Crucio!" one of them yelled. Tash heard her brother's screams echo in her mind. Another moved over to do the same to her parents. A third Death Eater walked over to her. She began to get up but before she could she was being hit with a thousand white-hot knives. She felt herself screaming but she'd gone completely deaf to the world.

As suddenly as it had started it was over. The Death Eater in front of her fell over forwards. Her Dad had had the sense to throw the nearest heavy thing (in this case the lamp) at the Death Eater. Tash got shakily to her feet, wand raised. Her brother was still being tortured. Her mother was under the body-bind curse.

"Flipendo!" Tash screamed in rage. The Death Eater that was torturing her brother flew backwards into the one by her parents. Tash shot two stunning spells at them. The other two Death Eaters began hexing her. Tash pulled up a shield, but a cutting curse got round it, slashing into her cheek. Blood flowed but she didn't care.

"Petrificus Totalus!" she cried. The Death Eater blocked it and yelled "Impedimenta!" Tash froze on the spot.

"Now lets see the mudblood watch as her brother is tortured," the Death Eater sneered and returned to Chris. Tash was frozen unable to help. Both her parents were looking terrified, now both bound by body-bind curses. Her brother's screams got louder and louder, joining those in the streets.

There were several loud cracks outside and cries of "Stupefy!" began to sound. The Aurors had arrived at last. The Death Eater ceased torture as green light filled the sky. Someone had fired the Dark Mark. The Death Eater summoned his fallen companions and disapperated.

END FLASHBACK!

Lily didn't notice she had tears running down her face until James hugged her and wiped them away. Tash had broken down and was sobbing on Sirius shoulder. Silence reigned for a good five minutes as everyone struggled to absorb what they had just heard. Lily nodded at James, Jenny and Remus suggesting that they leave Tash and Sirius alone for a while.

A/N: Well isn't this a cheerful Christmas? Eh I'll try and make it more cheerful, but scenes like this are good for relationships cause it gives a chance for lots of depression, long talks and shoulders to cry on. Eh anyway, can you review and tell me whether or not you thought it was too depressing?

Next chapter: Christmas and shopping in Diagon Alley.

May Stardust fall in your dreams!