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 33: Eyes of a Demon
Alice and Lily waited tensely at the long table in front of the fireplace. Fifteen minutes had already passed since the others had departed and not a single patronus had been sent to them yet to indicate where the death eaters were attacking. Though this was probably good news, Lily couldn't stop the barrage of unpleasent thoughts assaulting her mind. She prayed that James and the others were safe. She couldn't go on without them...
On the opposite end of the table, Alice looked equally as distracted. With her wand held loosely in her hand, she repeatedly flicked it, causing a lone quill on the table to do backflips. Her eyes however, were unfocused, and she looked deathly pale. Lily couldn't blame her. If it had been she who had been attacked last fall by Lord Voldemort and his supporters, she probably wouldn't have gotten over it yet either.
As Lily sat, staring aimlessly at the dancing flames in the fireplace, she felt a flutter of movement from within her as the baby kicked. She smiled lightly and rested a hand over her stomach affectionately. Please James, be careful...Be safe...
"Lily!" Alice cried jumping to her feet unexpectedly. Snapping out of her reverie, Lily tore her gaze from the fire and saw a silvery stag shaped partonus appear in the sitting room.
"Everesco!" she muttered breathlessly, performing the spell that would enable her to receive her husband's message. In a light, toneless voice, the message was relayed.
"Death eaters planning to attack headquarters...Lily and Alice, you must leave immediatly and come to the ministry. It will be safer here. We will warn Dumbledore once you arrive. Hurry!" Lily felt her heart beat speed up considerably. The death eaters were going to attack headquarters? Impossible. It would then be the second time their headquarters had been given away. Unless they really did have a spy in their midst...one that even Dumbledore had not detected yet.
Shaking her head to clear her jumbled thoughts, Lily hurried over to the fireplace beside Alice. She was looking just as frightened.
"We have to hurry, they could arrive any minute!" Alice said, a note of hysteria clouding her voice. Lily nodded wordlessly and seized a handful of glittering, green floo powder. She tossed it into the grate, just as a distant pop reached her ears. Someone had clearly just apprated outside the building.
"Hurry!" Alice hissed.
"The Ministry of Magic." Lily spoke clearly as she let the warm flames engulf her body. It was fortunate that she and Alice were still able to use the Floo network. The previous month the healers had informed her that apparation was only safe until the fifth month, and floo was safe until a month before the baby was born. Thankfully she wasn't along already.
Within seconds, Lily emmerged into the Atrium from the fireplace. Shaking the ash off her emerald robes she glanced around for the others and felt her heart plummet. Nobody but she was in the hall, accompanied only by the echoing silence. She turned around, planning to go back and warn Alice, but her friend had already arrived.
"What's the matter?" Alice asked, catching sight of the expression on Lily's face.
"I don't know...where are the others?" she said in a determinedly steady voice. Alice's face, if possible, seemed to grow whiter.
"Not another trap?" she asked fearfully. Lily shook her head,
"Let's not assume the worst." she instinctively rested a hand over her stomach, thinking hard all the while, "They must be hear. I'll bet you anything they're waiting for us on the auror floor, or even at the minister's office."
"Yeah, that'll be it..." Alice agreed uncertainly. "How about I head up to the office and you go and check the auror's headquarters. We'll meet back here if we don't find them. Agreed?"
"Agreed." Lily replied. "And if...if something does go wrong, send a patronus but then escape to saftey, alright?" Alice hesitated. Both friends realized how hard it would be to abandon each other if there was indeed, something amiss.
"Alice," Lily said gently, "We have to think about what's more important now." She gestured mildly at her swelling stomach. Alice sighed,
"I know. Anyways, we'd better hurry. Ecspecially if the others are waiting..."
"Right." Lily said with determination. "Let's go then. Good luck." Without another word, both woman hurried in opposite directions. Lily to the golden railed elevator lift at the end of the hall, and Alice to a flight of stairs.
Catching her breath as she stepped into the lift and pressed the button which would take her to the auror's floor, Lily took a moment to quiet her panicked thoughts. Everything would be alright she assured herself sensibly.
However, as the elevator doors re-opened Lily couldn't help but let her uneasiness surface at the conspicuous absence of other ministry workers. Was it a day off? Or was everyone having one big meeting someplace...unless...something really was the matter.
As she strode swiftly down the eeriely quiet hallway, a sudden noise broke the silence. Someone screamed, and with sickening realization, Lily felt she recognized the voice. With every fibre of her being screaming in fear, Lily sped up, her instincts keeping her quiet. Heart thudding, she arrived at the door to the auror's office before something clicked in her memory.
Feeling quite discomfited, Lily lifted her wand and gave it a wave,
"Expecto Patronum." she whispered, watching as her ghost-like cat emmerged from her wand tip. Quickly she focused on her message in her mind, and then beckoned the phantom creature to go. With a last feeling of overwhelming fear, Lily watched as the cat disappeared around the corner in it's search for Alice, then she turned around and faced the door.
Seizing hold of her remaining Gryffindor courage, Lily put her hand on the doorknob and turned it, preparing herself to enter the room she had just heard the scream come from.
000
Apparating directly into the Atrium of the ministry, James looked around while waiting for his friends to arrive. With five loud cracks that resounded throughout the empty corridor, Remus, Sirius, Peter, Frank and Mad-Eye Moody appearied next to him.
Moody grimaced and growled immediatly as he surveyed the lack of people in the hall,
"Better notify Dumbledore. Something's definitely up."
"That won't be necessary." came a cool voice before anyone could take any action. Feeling his stomach lurch, James spun around to face the newcomer. Directly ahead of them stood six death eaters, all adorned with the usual black cloaks and eerie masks. Heart constricting with anger, James raised his wand.
"Is it true," one of them spoke, with an oddly raspy voice that could be recognized as female. "That the pathetic auror traitor, Longbottom expects a child with his wife?" Frank's eyes narrowed dangerously with fury,
"It's none of your business." he snapped, fighting back the rush of panic he felt at their words. They wouldn't harm, Alice...he thought anxiously, they just wouldn't...
"Quite the contrary actually Longbottom." said the first death eater. His grey eyes gleamed under his hood. "But nevermind that, you dolts have once again found out about our plans. I'd say it a pleasure, but we're rather in a hurry tonight...so we'll just kill you quickly." he said snidely. As he finished, the other death eaters obediently raised their wands and prepared to fire. The Order, however, was too quick.
Muttering a curse under his breath, Mad-Eye gave his wand a complicated wave, causing a great jet of silvery light to pelt towards their opponents. The death eaters scattered in panic, and the Order used the distraction to their advantage.
"Run! We've got to get them seperated!" James bellowed as he dodged a stunning curse that had been sent his way. The others heeded his words and immediatly shot off in different directions. James streaked towards the stairs and threw himself down them, focusing solely on remaining on his feet.
"Expelliarmus!" shrieked a man's voice from the top of the stairs. James glanced behind him, and made to dodge the spell but it was too late. The jet of light hit him squarely in the chest, sending him flying down the remaining stairs while his wand flew to the left and landed metres away. As his head cleared, he dimly registered that they were on the auror floor.
With a cry of triumph, the death eater reached James, wand pointed threateningly at where his heart would be. Grey eyes glinting maliciously under his hood, James recognized the death eater to be the one that was in charge.
"I've got one!" the death eater shouted up the stairs. "Kill the others and proceed with the mission! You've got to find the minister, no doubt he's hidden himself after sending the other's home! I'll take care of this traitor!" A few shouts came in reply to the grey-eyed one's orders. James made one last, desperate attempt at reaching his wand. Flinging himself across the hardwood floor he just managed to get his fingers around it.
"Eh-!" the death eater cried in alarm as he realized what his lapse in attention had caused him. Not wasting a second, James sent a violent curse his way, and the death eater only just managed to block it. A large gash tore open the side of his robes, nonetheless.
Making a harsh whipping motion, the death eater countered but James was ready. Leaping to his feet, he got out of the way and replied with yet another curse. Parrying the spell with quick wit and skill, the death eater continued to battle, engaging himself and James in a full-fledged duel.
Panting for breath, James used every ounce of cunning he possessed to try and defeat the death eater. He had to warn Lily and Dumbledore...
"Imperio!" the death eater cried harshly. James made to dodge the spell but stumbled on a piece of rubble from the wall that was the result of a misguided hex. He blanked as the curse hit him and before he knew it, a pleasent buzzing seemed to fill his ears. It was as though he had not a care in the world any more, every worry, fear, anxiety he may have had disappeared. Relaxing in the wonderful grip of this ethereal purgatory, James felt as though a voice was whispering in his ear.
Use the Patronus charm...send for the others of the order...then we shall have some fun...send a patronus...tell them to come to the ministry...
Losing all sense of what was happening, James obliged, thinking it to be a very fine idea indeed. It was only as his silver stag patronus (incidentally, the same form he took as an animagus) that reality came crashing back down. Blinking in confusion, James cast a glance at the death eater who appeared to be grinning in delight. James felt a sudden sense of forbidding as comprehension came to him at last.
"NO!" he exclaimed furiously, throwing himself at the death eater, forgetting all reason as he let his wand clatter to the floor. "YOU FOUL-YOU-YOU!" Swears streamed from James's mouth as he landed his fists on every inch of the death eater he could reach.
As he took a particularly ferocious swipe at the man's face, a loud crack signalled the breaking of the man's nose. In rage and pain the death eater kicked out, catching James in the stomach. He doubled over in agony and tried desperately to catch his breath. The death eater took the moment to get to his feet, blood pouring from under his mask.
"Crucio!" he hissed angrily, and James was overcome with unbearable pain. Nothing else compared, he wanted to die...for the death eater to kill him now... Then an image of Lily surfaced in his mind and he gripped tightly to it. Almost immediatly the curse was lifted and the death eater let out a roar of fury.
"What magic is this?" he questioned incensed. James made no movement. No attempt to escape, or to fight back. He sensed that another presence was with them now. Raising his head weakly, afraid of what he would see, he glanced up through his cracked glasses into the eyes of a demon. Burning, red, pitiless eyes. Lord Voldemort laughed and all at once, James felt fear like he had never known before.
Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed, please review.