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Chapter 25: All Kinds Of Everything

Previously: 'We can either walk calmly away, or we can run towards the fray and hope no-one gets too hurt,' said James, in what he hoped was a reasonable and level voice, but Lily was already running towards the shop.

'I never knew the Owens were magical! I don't think they are!'

The words sunk into James' brain, and he realised their meaning – an unprovoked attack on Muggles, by the Death Eaters. Before he knew what he was doing, he too was running towards the shop, drawing out his wand.

For Jemima and Eric Owen, the day started off as a normal one. A small girl and her parents had wanted some fairy lights, a young woman had wanted a mirror, and a couple of their friends had come round for 'something glittery for our grand-daughter' and 'a mug of Jemima's excellent tea'. That had been nice, but they'd left now, and no customers had come in for a good hour. The Owens were just thinking of closing up for a long, early lunch, when they were interrupted by four men appearing in the shop with a series of pops. The men were wearing long, hooded black cloaks, as well as strange masks, and had their wands out.

Jemima, seeing this, glanced at Eric, afraid but trying to hide it. She was a witch, but Eric was a Squib, and, because of this, she had given up her magic. Their children were magically powerful, as were their grand children, but Jemima and Eric Owen lived a life of Muggles. Jemima no longer even had a wand.

One of the men, a broad man, looked at the glittering, pink decorations hanging from the ceiling and sniggered.

'Pretty things,' he said, smirking at her.

The man next to him, who was of a similar build, sniggered with him.

The man leading the group, who was tall and slim, unlike what seemed to be his lackeys, sneered at the pair.

'Quiet,' he hissed. He turned to Jemima and Eric. 'Mr. and Mrs. Owen, I believe.'

'That's right,' said Eric. 'And who might you be?'

'They call me… Lord Voldemort,' said the man with relish. Eric continued looking at him, his face a few shades paler, and Jemima gasped softly and moved closer to her husband. 'Scared, woman?' jeered the man. 'Good. Your daughter should have been. But she wasn't.'

The man who had once been Tom Riddle paused, annoyed. Emma Owen, Jemima and Eric's daughter, had dared to stand up to him when he'd arrived at her house. Shot a curse at him even. Shot a curse at Lord Voldemort! And worst of all, before he could make her suffer, she'd Disapparated along with her own daughter. But he knew her parents lived as Muggles. They wouldn't be able to escape his wrath.

'No,' he continued, finally. 'Your daughter wasn't. But you are. And so you should be!'

He shot a stunning curse at the couple, who broke apart, and ducked behind the counter. They stayed there for a few seconds, until Lord Voldemort leant over the counter, his smirking face horribly close to Jemima's, and sent another curse. Jemima screamed and tried to crawl away as fast as she could, but she was hit. She fell to the ground, frozen in a Body Bind, her eyes screaming. She could see Eric standing up, trying to fight Lord Voldemort with his bare hands. Lord Voldemort was humouring him, but soon grabbed both of his wrists with one long, bony hand, and twisted them painfully. Eric gave a little yell, and Lord Voldemort, with his free hand, held his wand to Eric's throat.

'No!' came a yell, and Jemima flicked her eyes to the door. A familiar-looking girl with bright green eyes and red hair, which was flying away from her flushed face, was standing in the doorway, her wand out. Lord Voldemort turned his head to face her, too shocked to do anything, and removed his wand from Eric's throat. She darted into the shop, making way for a boy with glasses, black hair and his wand out, who followed her in.

'James! Get his wand!' shouted the girl, running to the counter. She slipped behind it, and whispered, 'Hi, Mrs Owen. Finite Incantatem!'

Jemima gasped. It was the Evans' second daughter! Lucy? No. Lila? No. Lily? Yes, Lily, that was it. She hadn't known she was a witch, but thank goodness she was!

Lily popped her head above the edge of the counter, and ducked down, as a curse shot over her head, but not before she noticed that James had two wands in his hands.

'Accio wand!' she cried. The second wand flew out of James' hand, 'Keep them busy, James!' she yelled, and Apparated out of the shop, into the street.

'Wingardium Leviosa!' she said, and the wand in her left hand started to float. She lifted it higher and higher, until it was floating above the Owen's shop roof. She finished the spell, and let it clatter into the gutter above the roof.

She ducked back into the shop, where James was fighting the two broad Death Eaters at once.

'Stupefy!' she yelled, knocking one of them out. Another tall Death Eater took his place, appearing from behind a mirror.

'STUPEFY!' she heard James cry from beside her, and the second broad man fell to the floor.

Seeing her chance, she turned to the man grinding his teeth and shooting the teenagers venomous looks.

'Stupefy!' she shouted once more. He fell to the ground, and she was shocked. She had just knocked out Lord Voldemort. She had just knocked out Lord Voldemort. This would be something to tell the grandchildren, she thought wryly. She turned to James as he knocked out the fourth, tall Death Eater.

'Bit of a mess in here,' she said, grinning. 'What say you we take the rubbish out?' He grinned back at her. With a flick of their wands and a thought of 'Levicorpus!' two Death Eaters were floating in the air. They dumped them on a roof outside, leaving their wands beside them. Another trip inside the shop and two more bodies were lying on a rooftop.

'That went well,' she said, giggling weakly, as the adrenaline wore off. She clutched a small table beside her, and collapsed into a rickety chair.

'Are you OK, Lily?' asked James, coming towards her.

'Yes, yes, I'm fine. Just feeling a bit shocked, you know?' she replied, rubbing her head. He kissed her gently, and then the two turned to the Owens, who, although still very pale, were standing up, and looked very relieved.

'You just saved our lives,' said Jemima Owen weakly.

'Yes,' replied Lily, strangely surprised as this started to sink in. 'Yes, we did.'

'I assume that you came to our shop for a reason,' said Eric Owen, smiling slightly.

'Well, now you mention it, we wanted to buy a disco ball for our school disco,' said Lily, grinning.

'Well, then, take a disco ball free,' said Eric Owen, grinning back.

'No, no, we couldn't!' said James, reaching for his money bag.

'You just saved our lives. Of course you can,' said Jemima Owen with an air of finality.

'Well, if you insist…' said Lily, smiling.

'We do,' smiled Eric back at her.

Lily reached for a big disco ball, and let James shrink it until it fit into her pocket.

'Thank you very much,' she said, 'I hope to see you sometime soon. Send my love to my parents, if you see them.'

She waved to the couple, and she and James Apparated back to Hogsmeade.

'We just got a free disco ball,' said James.

'We also just saved two peoples' lives.'

'Celebratory Butterbeer?'

'Of course. Let's try to find the others,' she replied. The others were not hard to find. They were all sitting round a table in The Three Broomsticks, Caroline and Sirius playing chocolate poker. Caroline was, as per usual, winning.

'So, I'll see your forty, and raise you twenty.'

'You sure about that, Black? 'Cos if I were you, I'd want to be really sure.'

'Yeah, I am really sure,' said Sirius.

'Are you sure to the tune of one hundred chocolate coins?'

'I'm surer than you are, Hawling.'

'Prove it.'

'With pleasure.' He laid down his cards. 'Hah! Read 'em and weep, straight flush! Diamonds are forever, Caroline, but my chocolate's going to melt soon, so I'll just eat it now.'

'Not so fast, you haven't seen mine yet.' She showed her hand, a wicked grin on her face. 'Royal flush, in spades, what are the odds, eh? Now, get your hands off my chocolate!'

Sarah and Suzie giggled. They, Peter and Remus had decided that their chocolate was safer in their own hands, and had declined Caroline's offer for them to join in.

'Lily, James!' cried Suzie, 'You're back! We couldn't find you anywhere; where did you go?'

Lily and James grinned at each other. 'Oh, nowhere special,' said Lily, 'we just went off for a walk.'

'A pretty long walk,' commented Caroline.

'I like walking,' replied Lily placidly, 'and so does James. How many hands have you won now, Caroline?'

'Nine. I was going to go for ten, but I think I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.'

'But you're more than a head,' put in Sirius, 'You're a neck, a torso, arms, legs…'

'Sirius Black, King of Awful Puns, strikes again,' said Peter, as Caroline grimaced and slapped Sirius on the arm, perhaps a little harder than necessary. 'Let's have some lunch.'

I thought you might like to know that, after this chapter, there are 3 more chapters. Exactly 3. Then JIG will be over. Sob.

Credit to Lamia for the poker conversation, and credit to Hepsa for a random paragraph in the battle scene. Also for the idea of chocolate poker (see The Journey Back).

Review replies:

Pyrotechnic – OK. If I stop typing. Well, I haven't stopped typing, I type away with all due speed. Watch me type, like a little quickly-typing busy beaver.

Banana-baby – Thank you. Did you like the rest of it, now that you've read it? A lot of people say that our Peter is quite good, and we're quite proud of that. We've tried not to have DPS (Disappearing Peter Syndrome), even though in the books he's not really given much of a character. If you want to read more about him, especially to find out why he and Suzie, the two quietest people ever, kiss like there's no tomorrow, then read Maybe, Maybe Not, the story of how they got together.

Moony066 – Thanks. I just had an urge to describe the money, I don't know why! I'm glad it worked well. It was really annoying – I wasn't sure if there were still £1 notes, but apparently there weren't, so it wasn't too much of a problem. I hate cliffies too, but seriously, would it have worked in one chapter? Not really, but here's the resolution for you.

Review topic: Awful puns. Lamia and my Dad are going to team up some day, in their absolutely-painful-pun-ness, and on that day, I will weep. I really will.

Larka :)