Before it Began
By. SkyQuill
Summary
James knew he was in love at first sight, but what would it take for Lily to love him back? Read their story leading up to their deaths and discover the dangers they faced and the loves and friendships they shared.
Disclaimer
I do not own most of the characters and places or anything else that may seem familiar. J.K. Rowling has the exclusive claim to this as well as the general plot that formed this fanfic.
Chapter 20: In His Arms
Lily awoke groggily to the beeping of her alarm clock. She froze momentarily when she felt James' arms around her stomach then remembered that they were now living together. She smiled as his eyelids fluttered and he began to stir.
"Morning." she cooed, kissing his forehead and reaching over to shut off her alarm clock. She made to slip out of bed but James' arms closed tighter around her.
"Don't go yet," he murmured thickly.
"I have to James, i've got auror lessons at eight thirty!" Lily protested lightly. James frowned but didn't relenquish his grip. "James-get-off!" Lily panted, struggling to slide out from under his arms. Still James didn't let go, and in fact, Lily noticed, he had fallen back asleep.
"Who can keep such a tight hold when they're sleeping?" Lily asked aloud to no one in particular. Feeling a prickle of annoyance, Lily attempted to wake James up.
"Get-up-you-lazy-git, up!" she grunted, trying to push him off of her. Instead of the desired effect, James toppled off the edge of the bed, bringing her with him. James yelped and jumped to his feet, Lily still trapped in his embrace. He stared at her in surprise for a moment and then released her.
"Thank you." she quipped.
"Sorry." James replied sheepishly. Lily couldn't help but laughing. His guilty smile was adorable and Lily wanted to lean over and snog him to death. But being the prim and organized girl she was she tore her gaze away from his face and turned to the closet. She was already behind schedule if she wanted to be at the Ministry in time.
"It's quite alright." Lily told him, flashing him a quick smile. James laughed and got back into bed.
"Do you have to get up so early?" he mock-complained. Lily rolled her eyes,
"Some of us have jobs you know."
"I know. I'll get a job sometime too, it's just I have enough money right now. Probably enough to last a lifetime, and still have money left over. Mum and dad were quite wealthy you know." James countered.
"Oh I suppose," Lily gave in and quickly scrambled into her work robes. She snatched up a small bookbag then turned around to face her fiance. "I'll see you later okay?"
"Sure." James replied, "Do you mind if I head over to Remus's for awhile though? It's a full moon tonight and the others and I want to make sure he gets his potion alright."
"Yeah that'd be fine. I'll see you later tonight then." Lily said smiling. James nodded and jumped out of bed to kiss her goodbye.
"Love you." he whispered in her ear, "Be careful."
"I will. And I love you too." She waved at him and hurried down the stairs, grabbed a muffin and exited the front door. Taking a bite out of her breakfast she glanced back at the house, their house. She sighed happily and her breath rose as fog in front of her. It was nice to share a place with James.
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"Class dismissed." a strict looking witch at the head of the classroom announced. It was three o'clock; auror lessons were finally over for the day. Lily gathered her supplies and stuffed them back into her bag. It had been an exceptionally long day, with three tests in the various areas. Lily felt sure she had goofed up a bit on her stealth examination, she hadn't had much time to study what with James' proposal and moving.
"Lily?" Alice's voice asked. Lily glanced up to see that her friend was waiting for her.
"Yeah?" Lily replied, trying to sound cheerful despite her weariness.
"Would you like to come over to my house and have some tea with me? I'd like to hear how James and yourself are settling in." Alice said brightly. Lily grinned,
"Sounds good to me. James isn't going to be home for awhile so we might as well."
"Great, let's go then." And Alice led her from the classroom. They chatted happily about the quizzes they had done that way as they made their way to the main lobby and apparated to Alice's.
"So?" Alice asked expectantly as the two girls entered the kitchen. Lily shrugged and removed her coat.
"We're doing fine. Mind you I had quite the time getting to work this morning." Lily smiled at the memory. Alice looked interested,
"Why?" she questioned curiously. Lily couldn't supress her giggle.
"He wouldn't let me get out of bed. I finally ended up pushing him out of it and landed on top of him. You should have seen his face afterwards." Alice laughed,
"He probably still remembers how you bat-bogeyed him in fourth year when he bound you to him with a charm." Lily's face lit up with amusement,
"I didn't remember that! No wonder he was so tentative."
"Yeah, "Alice agreed, "Anyways how was last night after we all left?" Lily thought there was a rather knowing look in her eyes. She knew Alice was trustworthy and so she confessed to her friend about the fears and jitters she had experianced the night before. When she finished, Alice was grinning broadly.
"I remember I felt exactly the same way when I first moved in with Frank. So don't worry it's perfectly natural."
"Yeah, I feel a lot better now." Lily told her agreeably.
"Wow look at the time." Alice said glancing at her watch. "I hadn't realized how long we'd been talking." Lily too examined the time.
"Well, thanks for the talk Alice but i'd better go. James will be home soon and I don't know what we're doing for supper yet."
"No problem, you're welcome anytime. Anyways Frank should be home any second now. He had to stay at the Ministry late, he's doing a special project for his second year of training." Alice told her and they walked to the door. Lily slowly put her coat back on and conjured up a pair of gloves. It was still freezing outside and it looked as though a blizzard was starting up. Lily turned to head out the door but someone apparated suddenly in the yard.
Squinting through the snow, Lily recognized Frank's tall figure lumbering towards them.
"Frank?" Alice called anxiously, "Are you alright?" Frank stepped into the warm house panting and bent over as he tried to catch his breath. On his face was an expression of pure panic.
"Frank!" Alice persisted, alarm starting to spread through her facial features, "What's the matter?"
"Headquarters-under-attack-"he gasped, "Must-go-imme-diat-ly!" Lily felt the blood drain from her face. Alice and her exchanged a quick look of fear and shock.
"Alright let's go." Lily said hoarsely. Alice gave a firm nod and helped Frank stand straight. Then all three of them left the brightly lit house and stepped out into the frigid evening air. Lily closed her eyes, hoping that there weren't many death eaters, and apparated.
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"So the hospital told you that you'll be absolutely fine if you drink it?" Sirius asked doubtfully. For the last few full moons, Remus had gone to Saint Mungos to make sure another event like the last didn't occur again. This was his first transformation at home for awhile.
"That's what they said." Remus said tiredly. The entire group of Marauders were at his place and sitting in the armchairs in front of the fireplace.
"And what did they say again? About why it didn't work last time?" James asked. Remus shrugged, and frowning replied,
"They said I must not have taken it properly, that it wasn't made right or something." He rubbed his eyes wearily, "But I distinctly remember taking that potion. It's not easy to forget, I mean it tastes so bad."
"Peter do you remember Moony taking it?" Sirius asked, "You were visiting him at the time weren't you?" Peter started as he was addressed but managed to answer quite calmly.
"Yeah he took it. I mean i'm the one that gave it to him so he definitely did." James frowned and furrowed his eyebrows thoughtfully. There didn't seem to be a reasonable explanation anywhere for the incident that had happened a few months ago. The Marauders troubled silence was interrupted by a sudden loud banging on the front door. Sirius swore loudly and jumped to his feet. Peter toppled off his chair but Remus got up and made his way to the door, staggering slightly.
"It's okay Moony," James said giving his friend a gentle push back to his seat, "I'll answer it." Remus nodded gratefully and returned to his chair. James dusted off his robes and peered through the small window beside the door.
"Who is it? he called.
"ME!" came the muffled voice of a female, "IT'S DORCAS MEADOWES!"
"SURE DORCAS!" James hollared back, struggling to make himself heard over the howlign wind from outside, "WHAT"S YOUR BOGGART SHAPE?"
"A COYOTE! NOW LET ME IN YOU GREAT PRAT!" replied the voice. James swung the door open and a harried looking Dorcas stumbled in. She seized James robes in terror.
"You have to come quickly!" she told him, "Headquarters is under attack!" James gave a small gasp of surprise but neverless pryed Dorcas off him.
"Of course we'll come. Guys?" James asked. Peter, Sirius and Remus were already on their feet and grabbing their jackets.
"Er Moony?" James asked tentatively. Remus glanced towards him. "I don't think you should come, you know, since you're sick and all..." Remus glared at him for a moment but James glared right back. Finally Remus gave a reluctant sigh and settled back down. With a sigh of relief James summoned his coat.
"Hurry, hurry!" Dorcas scolded tersely. James and the other followed her quickly out the door and apparated to Headquarters.
When they arrived on the cool street, nobody paused to think but ran straight for Headquarters. They were joined in their dash by Mad-Eye Moody who apparated nearby. Nobody spoke but they contiuned to inhale and exhale sharply as their destination grew closer. James hoped that Lily hadn't been alerted. He always got so worried when she was involved in one of the fights.
But James had little time to think of his fiance. Everyone's fear and courage heightened when they reached the large door. Muffled noises were coming from inside. With a last look between them, Sirius and James reached forwards and pushed the door open.
"Restiporela!" hissed a death eater that the now opened door revealed. James narrowly dodged the jet of purple light and tackled the man. He spared a quick glance backwards and saw that Moody had been knocked to the ground. Wincing, he turned back to the battle at hand.
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The street where the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix was located appeared to be deserted. Lily couldn't imagine how the death eaters had found out where they were. After all, the secret keeper at the time was Marlene Mckinnon and she would never tell. As if he could read her mind, Frank suddenly told them breathlessly,
"The McKinnons were found dead. Marlene alongside them. They must have forced the information out of her before killing her." Lily felt tears come to her eyes and she clapped her hads to her mouth. Alice looked equally shocked.
"We'll we'd better hurry." she said sadly. The others nodded and they set off at a run down the street. Definite signs of a fight were evident around the doorway. For one, loud bangs and shouts were echoing from inside the old building. And the most horrible, tell-a-tale sign was a pool of crimson blood trickling down the cool steps. The victim lay at the top of the stairs, blood oozing from one of his eye sockets.
"Mad-Eye!" Lily cried dashing forwards to his sprawled out body. Bravely, she placed a finger on his neck and waited. "There's a pulse." she finally said with relief.
"Good!" Frank exclaimed. "Now why don't you girls stay here with him while I-"
"We can't just send you Frank!" Alice interrupted, "The Order needs as many wizards and witches as it can get!"
"Yeah, "Lily agreed quickly before Frank could object. Precious seconds were ticking by as they spoke, "Alice do you want to wait?" Alice thought for a moment and looked at her husband who shrugged.
"I suppose. Just be careful you two" she said hesitantly.
"Great." Lily said, "Let's go Frank." Lily sped up the stone steps with Frank on her heels. Lily uttered a spell under her breath and the door swung open. She felt a wave of familiar adreneline swoop over her as she surveyed the scene of battle.
James was locked in battle with two death eaters nearby, Sirius was viciously dodging rapid spells sent his way by a large hooded man, and the others were scattered all over the place. Some bleeding, some knocked out cold, some brandishing their wands so fast that it was a blur.
Lily took a deep breath and dodging many spells, made her way to James' side.
"Stupefy!" she said firmly, aiming her wand at one of the death eaters attacking her fiance. The death eater noticed her a moment too late and the spell hit him or her firmly in the chest.
Thanks Lils!" James cried dodging another spell. Lily made to aim another spell at the remaining death eater but he turned tail and fled. She watched with surprise as all the death eaters scurried towards the door.
"What in the name of Merlin." James breathed incredulously. Lily looked around,
"I guess they realized they'd finally been outnumbered." she suggested. James didn't answer but grabbed her in a bone-breaking hug.
"You okay?" he asked, planting a kiss on her head.
"Mmhmm. Mad-Eye's not though. Alice is with him outside. Oh no, she's outside!" Lily replied with alarm and ran swiftly back to the door. She glanced outside, fearful of what she might find but was met with a great sense of relief. Alice was sitting on her butt, a cut across her cheek but otherwise unscathed.
"The death eaters came out this way." Alice informed them, grinning slightly.
"We know." James and Lily said in unison.
"Are you okay?" Frank asked, as he joined them at the doorway and stooped so as to help Alice to her feet.
"Of course." Alice responded triumphantly, "I got one with a wicked bat-bogey hex before he apparated." Lily laughed despite the mood. Dumbledore suddenly apparated in front of them all and they all fell silent.
"Is everyone okay?" he asked, his blue eyes flickering with alarm.
"Yes." replied Frank. "Mad-Eye might need to take a visit to Saint Mungo's though."
"Nobody else got hurt?" Lily asked, breaking the relieved silence.
"I know. It's a miracle." Dorcas sighed, she too had joined the crowd around the door.
"Well i'll help Alastor get to the hospital." Dumbledore said. "Thank you all for coming. I'm afraid we must have a spy in out midst though." he looked at each of them imperiously. "But now is not the time for interrogation. All of you hurry home now and get some rest."
Lily feeling dazzled, bid goodbye to the others and apparated home with James. She fely exhausted and confused by the night's events. Everything had been so sudden and jumpy.
"Do you really think their's a spy amongst us?" Lily asked James quietly. He responded slowly,
"There must be. I can't imagine how else the death eaters would know that Marlene was the secret keeper."
"It's so sad." Lily said, "She was a good friend back at Hogwarts." James hugged her,
"I know Lils. But we'll pull through this. The Order will catch the git who passed the information and we'll stop Voldemort." Lily let her body relax in James strong arms. The same one's that had restrained her so playfully this morning. Now she could think nothing of his mishief and all of the renewed danger. But as she and James embraced, Lily just knew that with James, she was safe. In his arms, nothing could harm her.
Author's Note: Hooray! Chapter twenty and i'm over 90 reviews! First of all thanks to everyone who reviewed. You all rose to the occasion magnificently and i can't thank you enough.
Anyways this chapter was kindof jumpy but I wanted it to be that way. It shows how switftly the battle came and went. Well I hope you enjoyed. This chapter's mostly a filler and a bit of writing to get more excitement back into the plot. So, there's not much else to say except, please keep the reviews coming!
P.S. This is also another record chapter length.