For two days, Severus Prince lay under the dusty bed.

He had expected his fellow aurors to find him quickly, but although he heard many footsteps, no one thought to look for him in this particular hiding spot. From the position his jaw was frozen into, he tried to make noise, but it was swallowed up by the chaos in the halls. It was agonizing; out of the corner of his eye, he could just see his wand, lying against the base of the wall, its dark wood camouflaged against the shadowy stones.

The room grew dark. All was silent.

By the morning, he desperately had to pee. He slept on and off, which brought at least some relief from the ache in his throat from thirst, and the ache in his stomach from hunger.

Soon, he wet himself.

To distract himself, he thought of the mudblood who had done this to him. He was going to break her and her husband, piece by piece. In his mind, he dismembered them both a hundred times.

The mudblood, Lily, had dared to attack him, and then had left him here to die, framing it as an act of mercy. Perhaps she had believed it, but Severus doubted that. No, Lily Potter was a heartless bitch. He should have hated her for it. Instead, he wanted her for it. If he got out of this, he was going to find her, and then he was going to fuck her senseless.

Night came again. His throat was on fire.

The next day, Severus Prince cried.

If he had ever needed proof that his cause was noble and just, Lily Potter had provided it. She was an inhuman monster, willing to destroy a pureblood's life without a moment's thought for the bloodline she would be destroying. Severus Prince's death would destroy a noble line, but did Lily Potter care?

The door opened, and Severus Prince tried to stop crying. It would never do for his enemies to find him like this, in such a weak state.

"Hello?" a woman called tentatively.

He groaned, and a woman's face appeared, looking under the bed. She inhaled sharply.

"Severus Prince?" she whispered.

She backed away, and Severus Prince began to cry again, because she was going to leave him to die as well. But then she pointed her wand underneath the bed and ended the body bind.

Severus Prince couldn't help it. He began to sob in earnest, his whole body shaking.

The woman helped him out from under the bed, propping him against the wall. To his humiliation, Severus Prince still couldn't stop the sniffs and the gulping, gasping sobs.

"Who did this to you?" the woman asked, horror colouring her voice.

Severus Prince looked at her. He realized he recognized her as Anne Ferguson, the youngest child of Duncan and Aoife. He had met her on a few occasions, although they had exchanged only a handful of sentences. When he had first met her, she had been a teenager at Hogwarts, and he had been giving a guest lecture in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Back then, she hadn't impressed him much. She had been a skinny, awkward sort of teenager, but he realized she had grown into quite a beautiful woman. Either that, or the hunger and thirst were addling his brain.

Finally, her question registered through his foggy head.

"Lily Potter."

Now, Anne looked quite shaken.

He tried to sneer, but the effect was lost when he was still crying like a small child. "I suppose you're going to hand me over to your traitor father, for him to kill me?"

Anne hesitated.

Their days travelling through Scotland passed quickly. Before Lily knew it, a week had passed, each village and town blurring together. So far, all of the witches and wizards they had spoken to had seemed sympathetic to their cause, but only few had actually seemed willing to help if it came to open rebellion. Many provided them with a meal, or sometimes even baths. While Lily was grateful for these kindnesses, they mostly served to confuse her. She would have been happier if the people who had refused to help them had been horrible people otherwise; then she could hate them in peace.

Their greatest problem was identifying the witches and wizards in a village. More than once, they had seen a broomstick propped outside of a door and assumed a witch or wizard lived inside, only to have to cast some memory altering charms on a hysterical muggle. On one memorable occasion, before any of them could do so, the muggle had chased them out of the village, whacking them with her extremely ordinary broomstick as she screamed about witches.

Today, they arrived at yet another village, nearly identical to the other ones they had seen over the past week. What would they find here? More well-meaning but meaningless sympathy? The past week had taken a heavy toll on Lily, and on her friends as well, she thought. By now, she was discouraged. She wished they could just go back to the Ferguson castle, which had started to feel a bit like home. But she knew, thanks to everything that had happened, they could never go back.

They found themselves in yet another kitchen, this time belonging to an elderly couple. The man sat with them at the table, while the woman went to fetch some of her neighbours.

"There's another magical couple that lives here," she told them. "I think they'll want to hear this, too."

In this home, unlike many of the others, the couple kept their curtains open to let in the sun. Lily found it a bit odd, and wondered if they perhaps had some sort of illusion charm cast over their windows. It was strange, though, that the witches and wizards in the other villages hadn't done the same.

"What charm did you use on your windows?" Lily asked curiously as they sipped the tea the man had offered them.

"I beg your pardon?"

"To keep the muggles from looking in."

"That would be a very complicated spell to cast, young lady," he said. "We just use memory charms on anyone who becomes too paranoid. The rest have learned to avoid the house by now."

His answer made Lily a bit uneasy, although she wasn't sure she could quite articulate why.

"Doesn't that violate the statute of secrecy?" James asked.

The man continued as if he hadn't heard James; considering how old he was, not hearing James was a possibility, but Lily's instinct was that he was purposely ignoring him.

"We're moving to Hogsmeade soon," he said. "There's hardly any point in casting complicated spells when we're leaving."

"Hogsmeade is lovely," Lily said, trying to be polite.

"Yes, well, it's hard to move at our age, but we'd rather live with our own kind and not have to worry about memory charms."

He leaned back in his chair and surveyed them all thoughtfully. "I know who you are, you know."

Lily frowned at him.

"How?" Sirius asked.

"Not you two," the old man said, waving a dismissive hand towards Cait and Sirius. "I know the other two: the notorious Potters. The descriptions and sketches they've been handing around are quite accurate. There's a reward for capturing you two."

Lily and James exchanged a look. Lily was unsurprised, and based on James's expression, he felt the same way. The man's next words did come as a surprise, however.

"Yes, I hear that Mr. Potter helped some muggleborns flee to Scotland, and I hear that the lovely Mrs. Potter is an attempted murderer."

Lily felt the blood drain from her face. "What do you mean?"

"Rumour has it they found Severus Prince under a bed after a few days. I hear he named you as the person who left him there to die."

Cait started to laugh, but then she caught sight of Lily's face and abruptly turned serious. "Oh, Merlin, you actually did that?"

After a few days. They had found him alone under a bed after days. Lily felt sick.

Sirius let out a low whistle. "Wow. That's cold. I didn't know you had it in you."

He sounded impressed, which only made Lily feel worse.

"Might have been better to finish the job, though," he added. "Leaving someone to die is less effective than, you know, actually killing them."

"Lily had no intention of hurting him," James said.

"I just wanted to hide him long enough to get away," Lily managed to stammer out. "Oh, no. What do I do? Should I write him a letter to apologize?"

Sirius actually laughed. "'Dear Severus Prince, I'm sorry I left you to die. Love, Lily.' You're right, Evans. I'm sure everything will be forgiven after that."

The old man watched the exchange with an unreadable expression.

"Evans," he said slowly. "Your maiden name, I suppose? You must be muggleborn."

The word had an undercurrent of derision, and Lily felt another flicker of unease.

Evidently, James felt the same way. "I think we should be going; thanks for your time."

"Going?" the old man said, a small smile appearing on his face. "No, I don't think so."

"I think so," Sirius said, screeching his chair back as he stood. "Hate to break it to you, but there are four of us and one of you-"

There was a series of pops outside of the house, followed by shrieks of nearby muggles.

"This morning's campsite!" Cait shouted, and then she disapparated.

Sirius followed. Lily felt James's hand close around her arm, and then they were disapparating too.

They landed in an unfamiliar clearing, definitely not the one they had been in that morning. Lily thought it might have been where they had camped the night before that, but it was hard for her to remember when exactly they had been here. Like the towns and villages they had visited, their campsites had become an indistinctive blur.

It was a calm sort of place, unchanged from when they had last been here. The same bird calls filled the late morning air, and even the weather was the same, with the sky a perfect blue.

"We need to get to Cait and Sirius," Lily said. "I remember the clearing, I think, so I can take us…"

But even as she said it, she suddenly wondered if she did remember the clearing. It had some sort of distinctive tree in a weird shape, didn't it? Or was that a few nights ago?

Something over Lily's shoulder seemed to catch James's eye.

"Protego!" he shouted, just in time to block a curse.

Lily spun around to see a witch dressed entirely in black, which she was starting to recognize as a mark of Severus Prince's followers; the other witches and wizards she knew dressed in colour underneath their black robes.

Even as she watched, several other witches and wizards appeared at the edge of the clearing, surrounding them. Lily had a realization, then, which was that they were being tracked. Apparating to a previous campsite had actually been the worst thing they could have done, because it appeared that Severus Prince's followers had made it this far in following them.

Lily quickly counted. Five of them against Lily and James.

There was no time to discuss what to do, only to react. Lily and James stood back to back and each began a flurry of blocking and attacking spells. In Lily's case, it was mostly blocking, because there were too many spells to avoid to think much about fighting back. She felt a surge of worry for James, because three of the witches and wizards were fighting him, and she was having trouble holding off two. She had only a moment to think this before her mind was entirely consumed by the fight.

"Avada-" a wizard began.

"Prince wants them alive!" a witch shouted, pushing the wizard's wand aside.

Severus Prince wanted them alive? That was a far more terrifying thought than the thought of dying here.

The killing curse hit a tree, and brown washed over its leaves. Lily barely had time to notice it before she was blocking spells again.

If they were going to win, they needed help. She barely had time to think of a happy memory, but she found that it was easy enough, even in this dire situation. All she had to do was think of James. She hadn't been lying when she told him that he made the horrible things go away; even now, fighting beside him, she found his presence gave her strength, and, more importantly, happiness.

"Expecto Patronum!" Lily shouted.

A silver doe came out of her wand.

"Get Cait!" she shouted.

James cried out, and Lily couldn't help it; she quickly turned to look at him. He was on his knees, one leg bleeding heavily as he continued to block spells. The distraction was enough for her to miss a spell. Her wand flew from her hand, and into the hand of a wizard.

He smiled coldly at her. "Mudbloods shouldn't have wands."

He broke it in half. Lily could only stare as he dropped the pieces to the ground, grinding them underfoot.

Illogically, Lily had always imagined that she would feel something physical if this ever happened to her. Her wand seemed like an extension of herself, more like an extra limb than a thing. Surely, she thought, it would hurt to lose her wand. In reality, it felt more like when she had lost her parents: a raw, desperate sort of grief. She let out a small cry, and the wizard's smile widened.

There was nothing to do but hold up her trembling hands in surrender.

"So… do you think we should go back?" Sirius asked finally.

They had been standing in their morning campsite for a few minutes now, with the only sounds the chirping of birds and Sirius's restless pacing.

"No," Cait said. "They had time to apparate away. We'd be getting ourselves into a fight that we can't win if we go back. They sent enough aurors to capture four people, remember."

"So where did they go?"

Cait shrugged. "I imagine that they were a bit panicked, and so one of them pictured the first place that came to mind. My guess? They're wherever they ran off to for some alone time this morning, and they'll soon figure it out and walk back here." Cait glanced at him and snorted. "Your eyes are bugging out."

"I thought they said they were going for a walk!"

Cait just looked at him.

Sirius swore under his breath. "They went off to have sex. Of course. I should have guessed."

"You really should have. They've been busy as bunnies."

"I've been stupid."

"Very."

"Cait?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

She smirked, and it was so infuriating that he turned away, just in time to see a silver doe run to Cait. It took a moment for the sight to register. When it did, Sirius's heart sank. James's patronus was a stag, which meant this had to be Lily's.

The doe shoved Cait forward, before prancing back in front of her. The doe didn't speak, but it was clear what it was saying: follow me. After recovering from her surprise, Cait ran after it. Sirius followed.

After realizing Lily had lost her wand, James dropped his own wand to the ground, and the circle of attackers began to laugh. James stumbled to his feet, leaning heavily on his good leg. He wanted to hide Lily, to protect her somehow. Because they were surrounded, all he could do was grab her hand and wait for whatever was going to happen next.

A wizard raised his wand.

"We're supposed to bring them alive," another wizard reminded him.

"That doesn't mean we can't have some fun first," he replied.

Lily's grip on his hand tightened until it was almost painful.

The wizard looked at each of them in turn, considering. "Which crime is worse? Being a mudblood, or being a blood traitor?"

"Being a blood traitor, definitely," James said quickly.

Lily shot him a look that clearly said "shut up." He ignored her.

"Lily didn't choose her parents. I chose my wife-"

"Being muggleborn is worse, definitely," Lily interrupted. "If we're talking about choices, I decided to marry a pureblood rather than going to live with muggles-"

"Enough!" the wizard snapped.

He advanced, and it took all of James's courage to not take a step back. Instead, he stayed where he was, until the wizard was right in front of him. The wizard lifted his wand, and James fought the urge to flinch. When he got no reaction, the wizard pressed his wand underneath James's chin.

"I think I'll start with the mudblood fucker."

This time, his companions didn't laugh. The clearing seemed to hold its breath.

"No."

The one word sounded like a mother scolding a bad child, and Lily spoke so firmly that the wizard turned to her in surprise. Then Lily's hand was suddenly yanking him backwards, and Lily moved to stand in front of him.

James was willing to fight her for that particular position, but before he could, one of their attackers collapsed. The rest of the witches and wizards in the clearing turned to face the new threat, including the wizard with his wand pointed at James. As Cait and Sirius came into view, James quickly grabbed his dropped wand and hit the wizard in the back with a spell. He knew it wasn't particularly honourable to attack someone from behind, but there was still something extremely satisfying in watching him collapse.

Lily darted forward to pick up the wizard's dropped wand, and now that they outnumbered their attackers, they quickly won the fight. They managed to body bind, disarm, or stun all but one of the witches and wizards; the last one disapparated.

"We need to get out of here," Sirius said.

"Let's apparate back to yesterday's village," Cait said. "Lily… come on, we have to go."

James realized Lily was no longer standing beside him. She was kneeling next to the shattered pieces of her wand, her face streaked with tears. At Cait's words, she climbed to her feet, visibly collecting herself. Then, with a crack, she and the others disappeared, leaving James to follow.

They put as much distance between themselves and their attackers as possible before settling down for the night.

"That was a bloody close call," Cait said.

It was a mark of just how close a call it was that even Cait sounded shaken.

"Very," James agreed.

Lily was quiet, her head leaned against his shoulder.

"It was clever of you to send that patronus," Cait told her.

"It was," James said.

"Thank you."

Shortly after, Cait and Sirius went to sleep, leaving James and Lily to sit together. Usually, any silence between them was comfortable, but tonight, there was something off about it.

"Well, we learned one good thing today," James said.

"What?"

"We're good at fighting together. We make a great team."

"James. We lost."

"Only because it wasn't a fair fight."

He put an arm around her shoulders, and she curled in closer to him, quiet once again.

"I'm sorry about your wand."

She let out a small gasping sob. "Sorry…"

"You don't have to apologize."

She took a few deep breaths as she calmed herself down.

"You know we won't always have fair fights," she said. "Doesn't it scare you to know that we can lose, just like that?"

"Absolutely," James admitted. "I was terrified today."

"You didn't seem it."

"You didn't, either."

She straightened, and he immediately mourned the loss of her warmth.

"You don't need to protect me, you know," she told him. "If we're ever in a situation like that again-"

"I know I don't need to. I want to."

"I'm not a child. I don't need to be protected."

"You're the most important person to me," he said. "You're my family. If anything happened to you, I don't know what I'd do. It's not that I don't think you're strong or capable. It's not about that. I'd rather be hurt than see you hurt."

"You think I don't feel the same way?" she asked, a steely note in her voice. "You think I want to see you get hurt?"

"No-"

"Then I guess we'll just keep protecting each other."

James nodded. "I can live with that."

It was a small lie. He still knew that he would protect Lily with everything he had, no matter what may happen to him. He just hoped that a situation never came up where he would have to watch Lily step between him and a wand again.