Several mornings later Saffron and Lily stood together on the Hogsmeade platform. Behind them people were chattering excitedly as trunks and owl cages were jostled onto the waiting train stood patiently, clouds of grey smoke billowing into the warm summer air from it's funnel. But the two girls stood looking up at the castle in the distance. Lily sighed and Saffron turned to look at her face.
"Something tells me that the next time I see this place things are going to be very different." Lily said, "And I'm going home, but I'm not the same person who left. I feel so much older." She sighed again and Saffron put an arm round her shoulder.
"Everyone has to change, Lily. People grow up, and there's just no avoiding it. For some it happens quickly forced by circumstance or personality and for others it's slower. Relationships change and people grow apart. It's all just part of being human. The only difference for you is that the game is played by different rules. The penalties are harsher but the rewards are richer. And besides, you know I'll always be here for you." She gave her friend a quick hug and added, "I have faith in you."
Then she turned and walked the short distance to the nearest train carriage door leaving Lily standing by herself who smiled and said quietly to no-one in particular, "it seems like I'm not the only one that has been growing up."
**
Sitting down next to her brother, Saffron looked out of the widow to see Lily getting in. She smiled and unconsciously fingered the silver chain around her neck.
"So have you asked her yet?"
His voice made her jump, "What?"
James grinned and knocked on her forehead, "hello, anyone in there?"
She batted his hand away, with a small frown, "Stop that!"
"Have you asked Lily if she'll come on holiday with us?" James elaborated.
She clapped a hand over her mouth, "oh! I totally forgot!"
He laughed, "Saff, mum only sent us the letter like a week ago!"
"Yeah, well, I've had other things on my mind," she replied defensively.
"Well I already asked Sirius and his parents have said yes."
"I'll ask her when she gets here, ok?" Saffron retorted.
Lily slid open the door and stepped into the compartment. Sirius and Peter were walking behind her, arms filled with various treats they'd already bought from the trolley lady. Remus was still recovering in the hospital wing. It had been a particularly bright full moon the night before and his transformation had been more than usually painful. Madam Pomfrey had insisted he remain in the hospital wing and travel home a day late.
Sirius and Peter deposited themselves either side of James as Saffron got up to sit next to Lily.
"Go on then," James urged her, grinning.
"What?" Lily raised an eyebrow.
"Shut up James. Lily, I meant to ask you this ages ago, but my parents are taking us to Greece on holiday this summer and they said we could both bring a friend. James is taking Sirius, and I was hoping you could come too."
"When?" Lily asked.
"In a week and a bit," Saffron replied grinning, "sorry about the lack of notice."
Lily laughed, "it should still be alright. Goodness knows Petunia'll be glad to have me out of her hair."
"Owl them and ask," Sirius suggested, taking another bite of his pumpkin pasty.
"It won't be that long until I see them."
"If your parents are anything like mine," Peter said, "they'll appreciate every last second of notice you can give them."
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt," Lily agreed, standing up to reach for where her owl snoozed in its cage. "Sorry to wake you Luna," she apologised to her pet, "but I need you to take a message for me."
"Here," James held out a scrap of parchment and quill for her. She took it and scrawled a quick note to her parents before tying it to the sleepy owl.
She turned to the window as James pulled it down for her, giving it a last stroke before letting it spread its wings and take off.
Several hours later the sky started to darken outside their window, Lily, sat comfortably curled up under James's arm gazing out. The others were engaged in a game of exploding snap, James losing abysmally due to only having the use of one arm, but it didn't bother him in the slightest. The warm pressure of Lily's body resting against him and her delicate scent was enough to make him want to sit there with a satisfied smile plastered across his face.
"Alright, I give up," he laughed, throwing in the two remaining cards as the pile emitted a loud bang.
The sound was eerily echoed as the train suddenly came to an abrupt halt, throwing Sirius, Saffron and Peter violently to the floor and pitching James and Lily sharply back against their seats. The lights flickered and went out.
Sensing a familiar feeling Lily cried out, "get down!" And pushed James from the seat onto the floor, throwing herself off the end of the seat to crouch behind it.
A split second later a flash of red light shattered the window and crashed into the wall where James's head would have been. Sirius swore under his breath and tried to move from the tangle of people on the floor, little pieces of glass tinkling off his back as he lifted himself up to look at whoever it was he had crushed. Saffron lay underneath him, her eyes closed and a thin cut just below her hairline.
"Damn! Saffron?" White faced, he supported himself on one elbow and checked for a pulse.
"What?" James replied sharply, half crawling towards them, "What is it?"
"What's going on?" Peter asked nervously, trying to move out the way as James pushed past.
"That's what I'm going to find out," Lily replied grimly, slowly lifting herself back onto the seat, body flat against it.
"What do you think you're doing?" James asked tersely, grabbing her wrist.
"Let go, James," she replied, with a frown, "I'm just going to look out and see what's going on." Her gaze flickered to Saffron and she bit her lip, "you take care of Saffron."
Frowning, he released her and bent over his sister, casting anxious glances to where Lily was crawling along the seat.
Lily lifted her head cautiously and peaked out the window. The train was stopped by some sort of green force field at the front, about half a dozen cloaked figures were walking swiftly along the side of the train towards the end compartment. There was barely enough light to see what was going on, but as light illuminating the carriage next to her spilled out through their broken window, Lily saw horrible familiar, white masks.
"Death Eaters," she breathed.
"Death Eaters?" Peter squeaked, tugging nervously at his collar.
"How many?" James asked, clasping Peter's shoulder bracingly.
"Six…no, seven," Lily replied, "they're making their way to the end of the train."
James nodded, "that's where it's most vulnerable. The train's protected by allsorts of enchantments, especially at the front, in case it runs into something, but compared to the rest of the train the back's basically unprotected." He scowled, "no-one thought that anyone could be so sick as to attack a load of children! It'll take them a while to break through, but eventually they will. I'd estimate it'd take them about 5 minutes"
Lily's face echoed his black expression, "you stay here, I'm going to do something."
"Lily, what are you talking about? You can't take on seven Death Eaters on your own," Peter said, a multitude of conflicting emotions flitting across his face before he gritted his teeth, "I'm coming too."
Sirius looked up in surprise, "Didn't know you had it in you Wormtail." He looked down at Saffron, who was propped up on his lap, "I'd come too, only…"
Lily took one last glace out of the window and stood up, "It's ok now, they're all further down."
She stepped over to crouch in front of Saffron and Sirius, she put out a hand and then hesitated. She glanced at the three boys who were looking at her oddly before looking back at Saffron. And suddenly she decided the time for total secrecy was passed, she might not tell them everything later when it came to explanations, but the situation was too important for charades. Stretching out her hand over Saffron's head she closed her eyes briefly and the others gaped as the cut sealed itself.
"What the-"
"Not now Sirius," she said, placing a hand on his arm, "now, not the time for explanations. I just need you to listen to me."
He nodded, "What about Saff?"
"She'll be ok, I promise. Look, I need you to help me get the students to the top end of the train."
"Right, Sirius and I'll take it in turns to carry Saffron and we'll knock on the doors further down and tell them what to do," James looked slightly pale, but his movements were steady as he pulled out his wand and got to his feet.
"It'll be easier if I stay here with Saffron and you two go on without me," Peter suggested, "after all, we're in the second carriage anyway."
"Right," Sirius nodded and lifted Saffron gently onto the seat, pulling off his robes to use as a pillow for her head. Straightening the t-shirt he wore underneath he held his wand firmly and nodded grimly, "let's go."
"Take good care of her," James said, clasping Peter's shoulder as the three of them headed to the door.
Lily was out of the door first. Out in the corridor, scared looking students were emerging, several sporting cuts and bruises. The air was full of frightened whispers and quiet crying. Some of the older students were doing their best to keep things calm, but their eyes betrayed the panic they felt inside.
"Lily!"
A short, blond girl came running over, eyes wide, "what's going on? My friends are lying on the floor in our compartment and I can't wake them up."
Lily knelt to give her a quick hug, "it's alright, Hannah. I'm going to sort things out." Getting back up, one arm on Hannah's shoulder. She turned and looked around before spotting Kathryn Hewitt, a fifth year Hufflepuff prefect who was trying to comfort a sobbing first year, "Kathryn, see if you can find some other prefects and get them to set up a makeshift First Aid point."
"Dan," she'd spotted him carrying an unconscious student between him and Sam Trevivick, the other male Ravenclaw prefect. "organise people into groups of four and head down the train, we need to get the people who were knocked out by that spell up here. I don't want anyone lower than sixth year in those groups, understand?"
He nodded, looking slightly shocked by her confident attitude. Amy and Meg came walking up the corridor followed by their boyfriends, Ryan and Ben, several younger students were being shepherded in front,
"What do you want us to do?" Meg asked.
Lily left Hannah and walked over, Sirius and James just behind, "just keep everyone calm. The last thing we need right now is hysteria, ok?"
She nodded nervously. Amy, who was clasping Ben's hand tightly asked, "What about letting Dumbledore know what's going on? Or someone at least, there have to be scores of owls on the train."
"Good idea," Lily nodded, "do you think you can organise that?"
She nodded and headed off to see to it immediately.
"What are we going to do?" Sirius asked, watching the people around them.
She turned slightly, "I'm going straight down to the end of the train. I want you come with me to get the people out of the compartments and then leave. We can pick up a few more people to help us on the way down."
"You want us to leave? What are you going to do?" James asked, crossing his arms and frowning slightly.
As she started to walk Lily sighed, "Please James, just make sure you do this for me ok?"
"Alright." He was still frowning, but deep down he knew Lily could take care of herself. It was just with her slight figure walking in front of him it was harder to remind himself of the real power that was hidden inside.
They walked smartly along the corridor, dealing out instructions as they went. James and Lily, as prefects, were obeyed immediately and Sirius saw to gathering several capable people, filling them in as they walked. Soon their party had grown to eight with the addition of two Gryffindor seventh years, two Ravenclaws sixth years and a seventh year Slytherin.
About halfway down the train they ran into Alex Contay, the Head Boy, who was carrying the limp body of a blond who Lily recognised as Minette Robinson a fourth year from her house. Reaching them, he shifted her weight, so her head was against his shoulder, "What's going on?" he asked.
"We're under attack," James said.
"Thanks, genius," Alex retorted, rolling his eyes.
"It's Death Eaters," Lily said in a low voice, "At least seven, probably more. We've been telling people to head to the front of the train, where it's the safest."
He turned white at the mention of Death Eaters and swallowed hard.
"There's a First Aid point that people are establishing in the second carriage," James said. "They could probably do with your help up there."
He nodded, "Has anyone sent word to Dumbledore?"
James nodded, "That's been taken care of."
"Alex, there you are!" Eliza, the Head Girl came running along the corridor, a small group of her friends in her wake, "What's going on?"
As James began to explain again Lily frowned in irritation, this was taking too long. She reached out and put a hand along the wall of the train, sending her awareness out along it.
There.
Where her awareness came to an end she could feel a barrage of spells hitting the train. They were almost through. Withdrawing her hand she turned to the people gathered around her,
"I need to go, James, you're in charge. Be quick." She gave him a small smile and squeezed his arm before breaking into a run. There were numerous people in the corridor, yet somehow as she ran she never needed to slow down or avoid them, slipping through unbelievably small gaps as she headed at full pelt for the end of the train.
Soon after a huge noise like a car smashing into a brick wall shook the whole train, throwing every student on their feet to the floor. A split second before, Lily leapt into the air as she aftershock rippled beneath her, landing deftly barely breaking her stride. She was now in the final carriage.
The doors to the compartments burst open at her command and glancing inside all of them there were only a handful of students left in it. Among them was Paddy Couronne, the boy she tutored occasionally and who had lost his parents to Death Eaters the previous year. He was stood with an arm round either person at his side, barely able to stand upright under the pressure of both of them. While he was doing this he was trying to urge three terrified looking girls to their feet. As soon as he saw Lily a look of relief washed across his face and he smiled.
She couldn't help but smile back, "Hi Paddy, this isn't really the time for talking."
"I know," he replied, "I can take these two if you can get Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail up." Despite the vibrations that were shaking the carriage he was grinning.
She nodded, "Get them into the next carriage. James and Sirius should be close by with others who can help you. Try and keep moving once you get in there."
He nodded and began to struggle towards the door, as he went he chatted normally to the semi conscious boys either side, "You know Bailey, next time you can carry your own dead weight away from imminent danger."
Lily shook her head as he left and turned her attention to the three girls, "Come on, you have to get up."
"Alison's hurt her leg," the one on the right whimpered, gesturing to the redhead in the middle, "She can't move."
The carriage shook again, throwing them all to the floor. The three younger girls screamed and clung to one another. Calmly Lily knelt and picked up the middle girl and got to her feet. "Get up both of you, now."
Hands tightly clasped together the two got up and followed Lily out into the corridor. At the door to the next carriage, which swung open to admit them, she was met by James. She passed Alison over to him and moved to let the other girls passed.
Then the door at the far end of the train fell forwards to the ground with a loud crash, red sparks coming from the edges, Lily whirled round the door slamming behind her. James knocked on it from the other side and tugged at the handle, but it wouldn't budge.
Risking a quick glance back, she turned and mouthed to him, "go." Then she reached out and planted a hand on either side of the carriage, her mind racing to the front where the force field blocked their escape, imagining a hand grasping around it she tightened her grip on it, feeling the train straining against it, waiting to rush away. With half her mind focused on this she turned her attention to the couplings that separated this carriage from the rest of the train and locked and imaginary hand around this too. Then she looked to the open doorway as a dozen or so cloaked figures clambered in and stood with wands raised at her.
"Come quietly and we won't hurt you," a low voice said, from behind an impassive mask.
Lily didn't move, watching, every nerve alert to make sure they were all aboard. Then, with a sudden heave she pulled hard at both imaginary hands. Two things happened at once. The couplings snapped and fell to the ground useless and the Hogwarts Express jolted forwards like a greyhound out of its box. Students were thrown to the ground for the third time as the train went hurtling on towards London. At the back of the train James stared out of the window in horror as they sped faster and faster away from the twelfth carriage and Lily.
*****
A/N: Dun-dun-dah!! Mwahaha! Sorry about the cliffy again, but honestly it was going to be hard not to make it one- wait a minute, did that make sense? Maybe not. Well that's what you get for having to write the equivalent of a dissertation in a week (for those of you who don't know that means I had to write 9,000 words!) But well, it's the holidays now –woo-hoo!! So updates shouldn't take so long.
A few things ppl mentioned, yes that blue-eyed girl was Tanwen. And groovy is James' word- this is supposed to be about the 60s, they didn't say cool then!
Ok, well hope you enjoyed this chapter, next one's titled 'A New Ally'
Well, the last week or so has been a nightmare so I'd really appreciate nice sunshine-giving reviews! What? So excess work has made me go a little mad, what else is new ;)