Voldemort clutched his wand menacingly, suddenly closing his eyes in deep thought. Immediately, James and Lily felt a strange sensation in their heads. Random memories flashed through their mind. Then, the memories stopped abruptly, and Voldemort opened his eyes once more. He was practicing Legilimency on them. He narrowed his eyes at them. "So," he began. "Little Lily Evans has decided to kill me for her parents' sake, eh? And ickle Potter decided to come and save the day, because you'd never let little Evans get killed," Voldemort sneered, unable to understand James' love for Lily. James trembled, but determinedly puffed out his chest, and glared at Voldemort, his eyes full of defiance, which would later be passed down to his son. He sneakily pulled his wand back out from his robes. Voldemort turned to Lily once more. "How do you think you'll manage to kill me?" he asked her mockingly. Lily's face had now turned unbelievably pale. She attempted to back away from Voldemort, but suddenly, one of the Death Eaters grabbed her, making sure she couldn't move. Another of the Death Eaters grabbed James, and as much as James resisted, he couldn't budge.
Voldemort's lip curled. "You two children actually think you can overcome me? And they say that you two are the most intelligent of your age! I know things that you couldn't even attempt! No one can defeat me!"
"REALLY?" Lily spat. James mentally cursed her for having so much pride, and having such a large temper. "YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A COWARD, TOM!" she continued, remembering how Dumbledore had referred to Voldemort. "YOU'RE AFRAID OF EVERYTHING! YOU JUST WANT ATTENTION!"
Voldemort's alarmingly thin nostrils flared. "HOW DARE YOU, MUDBLOOD!"
James narrowed his eyes, deciding if he was going to die anyway, he might as well do it with some pride. "DON'T CALL HER THAT, YOU ASSHOLE!" He roared.
Voldemort's eyes widened, then he grinned. "Oh, you two think you're brave, I suppose? Talking back to the greatest wizard of all time!"
"YOU'RE WRONG, TOM!" Lily glared. "ALBUS DUMBLEDORE'S THE GREATEST WIZARD OF ALL TIME! HE COULD KILL YOU ON THE SPOT!" James nodded in agreement.
Voldemort swooped down on Lily, his eyes full of malice. "Let her down, Collins. She wants to fight me? Then let her fight," Voldemort grinned a twisted, careless smile. Lily was immediately hurled towards the ground. There was a long pause, as Lily remained motionless. Just when James thought she was unconscious, her fingers slowly grasped her wand. Slowly, she pulled herself up to standing position, determined to fight for her parents, determined to make them proud.
Voldemort sneered. "That's right, Evans. Now, we bow to each other." Lily didn't move. Her feet remained firmly on the ground as she gave Voldemort the icy stare she usually reserved for James. She kept her head up high. "BOW, EVANS!" Voldemort shouted shrilly. A large hand forced Lily to bow. She continued to glare at Voldemort. He smiled in contempt. "There now. That's better, isn't it, Evans? Well, now I suppose we fight." Curses flew out of Lily and Voldemort's wands, aiming directly at the other. James took this as his cue. He dug his feet into his Death Eater's shins, and was immediately released. The other three Death Eaters made their way towards him. Make the marauders proud, James, he thought to himself.
He aimed his wand at them. "FERNUNCULUS!" he shouted. The Death Eaters recoiled, howling in pain as huge boils appeared on their faces. James turned around to see the other Death Eater running towards him. He quickly shot a body-bind spell at the Death Eater. James grinned with pride. He looked back at where Lily was dueling with Voldemort. Voldemort suddenly grabbed Lily's arm, who gasped in surprise. Voldemort then howled with pain, quickly releasing his hand from Lily's arm, as it supposedly caused him excruciating pain. James smirked at Voldemort, happy he wasn't able to touch Lily.
Suddenly, a boil-covered Death Eater sprang at James, aiming a flash of red light at him. James howled in pain, as a large gash spread across his face. The Death Eater grinned in pleasure. James thought desperately for a curse he could use. He then suddenly remembered the day in Charms when they had learned about the Avis charm, right before Lily made him kiss a toad. "AVIS!" he bellowed. Immediately, a large flock of birds emerged from his wand and directed themselves at the Death Eater. James laughed as he watched the Death Eater run away frantically from the vicious birds flying overhead. Another Death Eater was heading towards him. He smirked, knowing exactly which spell to use. He quickly muttered the incantation under his breath, and pointed his wand at the Death Eater. Suddenly, the Death Eater twirled around like a ballerina, kissing random objects, grinning like mad. Ah, the good old Cheering Charm, James thought. It always comes in handy! He turned to face Lily and Voldemort. It was easy to see Voldemort was winning. Lily was bleeding just about everywhere, and she was shaking with pain. James closed his eyes quickly, not wanting to look at her like that. Deciding to secretly help her, he fired a Confundus charm at Voldemort behind his back. Lily smiled graciously at him.
Suddenly, two Death Eaters tackled James from behind, dragging him towards the veil. They seemed to have put some sort of body-bind curse on him. He couldn't move, so there was no point of trying to resist them. He gazed helplessly at the veil, quite certain this was his end. Inches away from the smooth surface of the black fabric, he heard Lily scream the counter curse of the Body-Bind hex. He knocked the Death Eater's heads together and gave Lily a look of gratitude. Voldemort took this chance to fire Crucio at Lily.
She collapsed onto her knees, then flung herself at the ground, twisting about and screaming in agony. "MAKE IT STOP!" she screamed, sobbing. "KILL ME! STOP IT! STOP! MAKE IT END!" Voldemort smirked, and deepened the curse. James suddenly found a new hate for him – a more personal hate. Sure, James had hated Voldemort before, because of all the things he had done to people, but now, when James looked at him, he was filled with the purest loathing, for what he had done to Lily.
He hurled himself onto Voldemort's back, not thinking about the consequences. "DO NOT HURT LILY! KILL ME INSTEAD, YOU GIT! YOU BASTARD, YOU-"
Voldemort threw James off his back, and sent another gash gliding across James' face, causing James to stagger back in pain. Voldemort yawned gloatingly. "Well, Evans, it was quite fun dueling with you, but I think you are just a tad bit behind on your Defense Against the Dark Arts."
Lily glared at Voldemort coldly, and didn't back down. James ran towards her, and stood in front of her, acting as a sort of shield. Voldemort narrowed his eyes. "Oooh! Would you look at that? Potter is here to save the day, Evans! He's going to die for you! Isn't that sweet," Voldemort's nostrils flared. "Imperio!" Voldemort bellowed. James staggered across the room. A voice was filling his head. He wanted to tell the voice to go away, but he didn't know how. He vaguely saw Lily staring at him in horror. The voice was getting louder now. Such a nice voice, he thought. Very commanding. Very much like a leader. If he's a leader, I should follow his orders.
Kill the girl, the voice ordered.
I most certainly will NOT! James fought back indignantly.
Kill the girl! The voice repeated, this time with a bit more urgency.
Who are you anyway? You're not usually the voice in my head! Why should I listen to you? James countered.
JUST DO WHAT I SAY! Kill the girl!
I LOVE HER, YOU PRAT! WHY WOULD I KILL HER?
You don't love her! You DESPISE her, Potter! Look at all the horrible things she's done to you. She's slapped you, she's damaged your ego, she yells at you all the time! She won't give you the time of day! Why should you love HER? You hate Evans, Potter. You hate her.
Erm…ok, James thought weakly. But killing is still bad.
KILL HER NOW! Together, we can do great things, Potter. Join my side. The right side. You will have so much power! Don't you want power?
Well, sure. I guess I want power.
Then come with me. We'll be a great team someday, Potter. You and me. We'll go places. If you join Dumbledore and his idiots you will be joining the stupid side. The misinformed witches and wizards. I will teach you my craft, Potter. We need you.
Why?
You have great potential. Now, go on. Kill the girl.
NO! I WILL NOT
KILL THE GIRL!
NO! FIND ANOTHER GIT TO BRAINWASH! IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK ON ME! James snapped back, shaking his head. Little did he know he was also shouting, "NO! NO! KILL NO! BAD KILL!" causing Lily to look at him quite concernedly.
Suddenly, the spell was lifted, and James finally felt his head was cleared. Voldemort was glaring at him cruelly. "This boy must love you, Evans," he said with disgust. Shame you didn't realize that before," he said, pointing his wand at Lily's chest. "I'm sure you will see your parents quite soon, Evans. Say goodbye to Potter while you can." Lily looked at James in horror, willing him to do something. She collapsed onto the floor, becoming unconscious, as it was too much for her to take. James was helpless. There was no stopping the Avada Kedavra curse. Suddenly, he straightened up, his jaw set. If Lily's going to die, then so am I. And we'll die with honor. When we're dead, people will remember us as two brave seventeen year olds who courageously defied Voldemort. If Lily is going to die, there's no point of living. I might as well die, too. I can't protect her anymore. It's hopeless. The only thing I can do is make her calm and peaceful when she dies. When we die, we'll be holding each other. We'll be together, he thought.
Voldemort straightened up, and perfected his aim at Lily. "AVADA-"
"NO!" James shouted. He flew into the air, and completely covered Lily's body with his, so he would take the blow of the curse. There was no way he was going to let Lily die at such a young age. She was so successful, and lively. She deserved life more than he did. He would gladly die for her, as he was about to do. James weakly pointed his wand at Voldemort, his vision blurring. "Ex-ex-expelliarmus," he murmured, readying himself for death. He vaguely saw another tall figure hastily enter the room. There were brilliant flashes of light, then all went black.