Chapter 2

Swear to God, I wasn't born to fight

Swear to God, I wasn't born to fight,

Maybe just a little bit,

Enough to make me sick of it.

Bambi, Hippo Campus

The bang was loud and echoed around Diagon Alley.

"What the hell was that?" Remus asked, the spoon dropping out of his hand and landing with a clatter to the floor. There was a pause, and then a distant scream.

Immediately, James, Remus and Sirius dropped their empty ice-cream tubs and spoons, and scrambled out of Florean's, wands already drawn. They dashed towards the noise, but it wasn't that hard to find the source of commotion. Near the centre of the main street was a swarm of Death Eaters. James grabbed his friends and pulled them around the corner, panting hard as he leaned against the wall.

"What do we do?" Remus asked, panting as well.

"What's your call, Captain?" Sirius asked, trying to make light of the situation.

James peaked around the corner of the building, before withdrawing his head, wincing. "There's too many Death Eaters."

"So the logical thing would be to head in the opposite direction, right?" Sirius asked.

"Probably," James replied. The boys took one look at each other, before sighing and charging around the corner. Running away wasn't an option; running away had never been an option.

"This is mad, right?" Remus asked as they sprinted to join the fray.

"Oh, definitely," James replied, before throwing himself into the fight.

James didn't have time to think, he just focused on fighting the men standing against them. Besides, it was too loud to think. All around him he could just hear the shouts of other witches and wizards' spells and the destruction that came with them. On every side of him, parts of buildings crumbled as they were hit with stray spells and on more than one occasion, James had to dodge a few pieces of brick and stone. Both sides were doing their best to dismantle the other, but it was hard. The Death Eaters greatly outnumbered those on James's side, which already pushed a feeling of hopelessness into James's chest, making it hard to breathe.

As he fought Death Eater after Death Eater, James caught glimpses of Remus and Sirius. They were holding their own, sometimes fighting together, but more often James would just catch the back of Sirius's head or see a flash of Remus's jumper as they fought alone. But still, fighting alone was better than injured on the floor, so James was grateful for their random cameos, though he tried not to get too distracted by them.

He was thrown off, however, when he caught sight of his mother and father, duelling back to back. He shouldn't have been surprised. Euphemia had been Head Auror in her day and was still as good a dueller as she had always been. And if Euphemia was fighting, then there was little doubt that Fleamont would be fighting alongside her. James had often heard his parents say that they would rather die fighting than being complacent. He hoped that today wasn't that day though.

He forced his mind to return to the fight. His parents, Remus, Sirius- they would all be okay. Right now he needed to focus on himself and not getting killed. James had been involved in many fights, some fistfights, but mainly with his wand. He knew he could duel well, but he had never been involved in a fight when so much was on the line. Sure, he had duelled Avery, who was practically already a full blown Death Eater, but that felt like nothing compared to this. Avery may be a Dead Eater, but he was still a student meaning his talents were limited.

James worked his way through the crowd with no particular tactic. Most fighters were taking on Death Eaters one by one, so James helped by stunning, disarming, and a whole range of other spells as many Death Eaters as he could see. He felt very much so like an unmarked chaser in a Quidditch match, but he hoped that some of his spells helped those who were duelling the Death Eaters. He saw some people running in the opposite direction, and he almost half-wished he could join him. But the rest of him laughed at the thought; there was no way he was leaving. He didn't think he could, even if he wanted to.

Occasionally, James would take on a Death Eater on his own. These required much more concentration than the random firing through the crowd, and James gritted his teeth as he willed his mind not to blank on his past five years of magical education. This one-on-one duels could've lasted any amount of time- James couldn't tell you. All he could tell you was that the Death Eaters weren't disappearing without a fight- that much was evident. It felt like both five years and five seconds had passed simultaneously.

And then, through all the dust and destruction around him, he spotted a young girl and what was presumably her father, defenceless as the were being floated in the air by one Death Eater, while another, whom was clutching the man's wand in his hand, stood next to him. They were laughing as they spun the pair in the air, turning the father and daughter this way and that. James waded his way through the wreckage and moving bodies of those around him, and headed over to where the young girl and her father were being floated in the air by the two Death Eaters. James felt his stomach twist at the sight of the young girl. He didn't think the Death Eaters would ever stop surprising him at how low they were willing to stoop.

James didn't pause to think as he fired jinxes at the Death Eater who was not levitating the child and her father. James had caught the Death Eater by surprise, but he was quick to recover, muttering the counter-curse to the jelly legs James had shot at him. And then suddenly, James was duelling in the most ferocious battle he had ever fought.

The Death Eater was unfortunately skilled, meaning James had to be alert at ever second. He thanked Merlin that he had been practising Quidditch over the summer, which kept him in shape. He also knew that Death Eaters were not afraid to use Unforgivable Curses, such as Crucio, or even Avada Kedavra, which meant he couldn't rest for a second.

And there was always the threat of the second Death Eater, who, while he seemed grossed in his 'fun' with the father and daughter, could just as easily turn and target James. So James fired out every spell he could possibly think in an effort to keep himself alive. Finally, after what seemed like an age, he managed to hit the Death Eater with a full body bind.

The second Death Eater then switched his attention to James. The father dropped out of the sky and landed with a sickening crunch. The daughter dropped as well, but James rushed forward just in time in order to catch her. He didn't know what state the man was in, but in the moment, he had bigger things to worry about. He lowered the girl to her feet, before giving the girl a soft push. She seemed reluctant to leave her dad, but she finally turned and ran off, making James sigh slightly with relief.

The second Death Eater seemed to have been watching all this time, but hadn't bothered to make a move. That was the actions of someone confident in the fact that they would not be defeated, which made James shiver. He was already out of breath from his fight with the first Death Eater, and didn't know if he'd be able to do the same with the second. But all he could do was try. And so James squared his shoulders and faced the Death Eater with all the bravery he could manage.

The Death Eater shot the first spell. James leapt out of the way before responding with his own. And that was how the duel continued, in a deathly dance where if you missed a step, you lost. The Death Eater had the upper hand, being less tired than James and having no conscience on using dark spells. At times it just seemed that the Death Eater was lazily flicking his wand while James catapulted around the place in an effort to dodge the spells. He shot jinxes after stunning spells after disarming spells but nothing powerful enough got through. For the most part the Death Eater remained unharmed, only hindered by some jinxes which had slipped through his defences. And while James's defences weren't as strong and consistent, he made up for it with his boundless energy as he bounced from one place to another; but James knew that eventually he would tire.

But as he thought of his friends, and his family and the next two years of Hogwarts waiting for him, James knew that he didn't want to die here and now. With a renewed strength that James didn't know he had, he faced the Death Eater with as much bravado as he could muster.

Yet again, he flung any sort of spell he could remember at the Death Eater. Flashes of his Defence Against the Dark Arts classes came back to him, as well as the hexes he and Snap had exchanged, along with the creative jinxes that Lily Evans had sent his way whenever she felt he was being particularly prattish.

And to both his and the Death Eaters surprise, it was working. It was subtle at first as James finally gained the upper hand in the duel. The Death Eater was still relentless, but you could tell he was tiring. This turn of events only served to rejuvenate James even further; he pressed on.

For some reason, James felt like a timer had been placed on their fight. He didn't know why, but all James could think was that if he didn't defeat this Death Eater soon, something bad would happen. James had no clue what this thing would be, or if he was being paranoid- the more likely option- but he didn't want to stick around long enough to find out. The faster this fight was over, the faster he could help other people.

"Stupefy," James roared, but the Death Eater just yelled 'protego' in defence, before serving one of his own spells. James's breath was coming fast now, but he had no intention of stopping. He had always thought that fighting would be exhilarating, that he would be the hero to face down multiple Death Eaters and survive. And now he knew the truth; fighting was tiring, in more than just a physical way. James felt emotionally and mentally drained as well, and he didn't know why he ever thought he could take multiple Death Eaters at once.

He never thought he had 'romanticised' the reality of the war. He knew people were dying, he knew that he, or his friends, or his family could be next. But James hadn't really ever thought about the actual fighting. He hadn't given much thought to how it would feel to be in constant danger, with other a wooden stick to save you from your death. It was a grim thought, but James reckoned that most thoughts during a time of war were grim.

James gripped his wand, and pushed harder, hoping beyond hope that this battle would be over soon and he could rest. He repeated spells in a row, no longer caring about originality or throwing the Death Eater off. All he had to do know was win, so he could help Sirius and Remus and his parents and the poor father who had fallen to the ground and his daughter who was certainly worrying about him.

James's chest felt tight again and he voice grew hoarse, too distracted to fire non-verbal jinxes, which usually came out weaker when they weren't practised, as opposed to shouting the incantation.

And then there were several pops.