Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Surprise! I still don't own Harry Potter.

A/N: Hey guys! I'm so sorry, I should have updated ages ago! Three weeks to be exact. And I would have too, but then my stupid laptop had to go break down and go crazy on me. Sorry! I hope this chapter makes up for it though. Just a fair warning, it's probably really bad. I don't know what I was thinking; writing things like this, but here it is anyway.

Lily felt like hell. She tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids weighed a ton. She tried to move her fingers, but they too were immobile. She valiantly tried to move her toes this time, but they were like rocks. She couldn't make a sound, or move.

Dimly, she registered some commotion around her, but it made her head hurt to try to hear what was going on, so she lay on the ground, immobile, feeling vulnerable as she tried to ignore to overall stiffness in her limbs.

Suddenly the darkness was lifted, and light blinded her green eyes. She blinked as worried faces came into view. 'Dumbledore, Marlene, Alice, Mary, Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew' she thought, somehow instantly irritated that Potter was there. Maybe she had just conditioned herself to react violently to Potter's presence.

"What happened?" She demanded, struggling to sit up. "How long was I out?" She was about to continue her rapid fire questioning, when she saw the solemn looks on her friends face and fell silent.

"Miss Evans," Dumbledore said quietly, "I believe that there is something that you'd better see."

"What is it?" Lily asked nervously, trying to decipher the looks on her friends' faces.

"This way, Miss Evans," Dumbledore instructed sounding almost defeated. Upon closer inspection, Lily realized that the ever present light in Dumbledore's eyes had gone out, and somehow, that thought scared her more than any number of Death Eaters.

Lily stood up shakily and followed her professor to backstage. Potter followed closely on her heels while Mary and Alice walked next to her. Marlene walked next to Potter, and the rest of the Marauders trailed a few feet behind her.

None of them wanted to see this, but they all had the feeling that they had to.

"Petunia!" Lily cried when she saw her older sister staring at the floor with an unfathomable expression on her face.

"L-li-Lily," Petunia managed to choke out, and she pointed at the floor.

"What is it Tuney?" Lily asked gently, searching her sister's blue eyes with her own emerald ones. Slowly, she looked down to where her sister was pointing.

Her mum and dad were lying there on the floor, their faces twisted in screams of terror, a last desperate cry for the help that would never come.

The color fled out of her face leaving her looking as pale as death. Lily couldn't register what happened in her adrenaline riddled brain. She could only think that they looked so sweet lying there with their arms stretched out as if to hold each other one last time. But they never could.

And that thought was what brought her higher cogitative processes back to her, along with pure denial. This couldn't be happening. It was impossible. It was some horrible joke. Yes, it was just some horrible joke that was it. It wasn't real. It couldn't be real. No. Not real. No. Absolutely not. No. Lily kept repeating her little mantra over and over in her mind, as if it was the only bit of sanity left in this world turned upside-down.

"No…no…no…NO," the words exploded of her lips, and she ran to her parents' sides. "Mum, come on. Mum! MUM!" Lily was shouting. "Mum, this isn't funny anymore! Come on, give up, it's not working. And you, Dad," Lily said turning to her father's body, "letting her go on like that. You know it isn't funny! Dad…not you too… Dad… I'm not laughing. DAD! MUM!" She shrieked, not at all bothered by the sympathetic looks she was getting.

"No please," She begged, suddenly in hysterical tears. Her breath was coming in short gasps but she didn't really realize what was going around her…she had to focus all her energy on breathing. Her mind had gone completely blank and she suddenly felt sick. She had no idea how long she sat there, uncomprehendingly staring out into space.

"NO, Lil, don't sit there and pretend that you didn't expect this. You knew that this was going to happen at some point or another. No, don't you deny it." Petunia snapped when she saw Lily try to open her mouth to defend herself.

Lily shrunk back against her sister's cruel words, trying to block them out, knowing that she couldn't.

"I've been telling you, this…this freak business is dangerous. Give it up Lily. Come with me and Vernon and live like a normal person. It's too dangerous otherwise."

There was a long silence as Lily stared at her sister in a daze. Give up magic... Magic had killed her parents. Magic had caused Lord Voldemort to rise. Magic had caused her to fight continuously with her sister. But magic had also let her live to her full potential, had given her some of the best memories of her life. She had made her best friends because of magic. And with magic, she could help change the world. She could help defeat Voldemort.

"I… I can't," she whispered at last. "I love you Petunia, but I can do more good with magic than without. I'm sorry." She added, trying to console her sister, trying to avoid open conflict.

Petunia gave her a long, hard look. "Yeah, me too," and with that, she walked out without ever once looking back. Lily didn't move. Her face didn't change. Neither did her posture. She simply stared blankly at the door at the door, as if she was expecting Petunia to come back and tell her that she was just kidding.

But she never did.

Somehow, Lily's inaction fired some self-preservation instinct in James and he quickly took charge.

"It's not safe here. They know where we are. We need to get to Potter Manor, quickly." He sounded authoritative and put together, but in reality, he was terrified out of his wits. He picked up Lily's injured, bruised, battered, and finally defeated form and apperated away.

So, what do you guys think? Feel free to tell me how to fix it though, because honestly, I don't mind constructive criticism! Please review!