Summary:

Previous chapter:

Sirius pressed the button which he had attached to his leather jacket, making it look like a badge. The umbrella exploded suddenly, shattering the windows and propelling everything nearest to it into the air - furniture, bodies and glass splinters flying everywhere.

Then everything went black...

Give My All

When James came to, he was coughing violently. His eyes flickered open and he rubbed at them in a daze, trying to orient himself. Smoke and thick dust filling the room. He cautiously lifted his head and shoulders and peered out.

"Fuck!" he whispered, noting the partially collapsed ceiling which had fallen on top of the armed henchmen, who lay nearest to him. He crawled over to them, commando-style, and checked their pulse. They were both dead. There was nothing he could do to help them. He saw Rosier and Avery, motionless, half-buried under the crumbled masonry. Smothering the rage in his chest, he assessed them. He couldn't leave them to die, he thought. But they were beyond help.

He looked over at the corner of the room where Lily had been before the explosion. Nobody else was moving. He continued crawling, dimly aware of a pain in his back, but moving more quickly now. Maybe he could get her out safely. If she was alive.

"James!"

He heard her faint voice and recognised her body slumped on the ground beside the desk. Broken debris lay around her.

"Lily!" he said urgently, moving her hair off her face and seeing a deep cut on her hairline.

"I'm here James," she smiled faintly, opening her eyes as she spoke and holding onto his shirt front weakly.

"Are you alright, Evans?" he said again, breathing a sigh of relief that she was conscious.

Lily nodded, and tried to sit up, wincing.

"Don't move!" ordered James.

"I'm fine, I think it's just my arm," she whispered, looking down at the nasty-looking laceration on her right forearm, which was still bleeding profusely. "I don't think it's broken. And my head hurts, but it's just a scratch. No other injuries."

"It needs stitching. Can you stand?" he asked, looking around anxiously. "You need to get out of here and raise the alarm."

"I'm not going anywhere without you!" said Lily. "Don't make me cross!"

James sighed heavily.

"Fucking hell, Evans," he said. "Come on, let's go."

He wasn't going to leave Sirius, but maybe he could get Lily to somewhere safe, and come back for his brother. His heart tightened at the fear that Sirius might be badly injured. He couldn't see Sirius anywhere. What if he was dead? He stood up gingerly and bent down to take Lily's hand. As quietly as possible they started walking across the room, climbing over obstacles.

"One more step and you die!" a raspy voice said.

They froze immediately and turned to see Bellatrix, now standing on the opposite side of the room nearer to where the main blast had occurred. Her jacket was ripped and there was blood down the side of her face and down her trousers. The gun was pointed firmly at Lily.

"Alright, alright," said James, putting his hands in the air and stepping closer to Lily, calmly placing himself in front of her.

"You, hands up, now!" Bellatrix shouted at Lily.

Lily bit her lip as she tried to lift her injured arm.

"Right, you fucker," she turned to James. "Get over here and help Riddle, or your ex dies!"

"Calm down, Trixie," said James evenly, moving immediately towards her while keeping his arms in the air. "Where is he?"

"Beside the window," Bellatrix shrieked, waving the gun in James' direction.

James found Riddle's body and crouched down immediately. He was dead, well and truly dead. He had a nasty looking head injury, as well as trauma to the abdomen and chest. There was no pulse, and his narrowed eyes were glazed over and open, pupils fixed and dilated.

"Get to work! Now!" Bellatrix screamed, pointing the gun at Lily again.

James swallowed.

"Trixie," he said looking up briefly. "I don't think we can save him."

"Don't call me Trixie! Save him, or I swear to you, she dies instantly! You're all doctors! Save him!" she screamed, her face red and her eyes wide. "He's a genius, he can't die! I owe him everything! Everything!"

James shivered. He closed Riddle's eyes quickly and tore open his shirt.

"I'll start CPR," he said, his own pulse racing furiously in his throat.

Lily stared at James and they exchanged a brief look. They were fucked.

"Snape, get over there and see what that moron is doing! Now, damn it!"

Lily and James looked up immediately to see Snape getting up slowly, looking confused, coughing into his sleeve, but looking otherwise unhurt.

"Hurry the fuck up, and bring your gun, you fool, before I change my mind and finish you off too!" she snapped.

Snape picked up his gun warily and walked over to where James was kneeling beside Riddle, compressing his chest. James could feel his own heart beat faster as Snape drew nearer to him. Snape bent down with his gun pointed at James.

"He's dead," James whispered. "It's over. You'll get better terms if you hand yourselves-"

"Quiet!" Bellatrix screamed.

She looked unstable, her eyes filled with rage, nostrils flaring, face flushed, her whole posture ready to pounce. James knew she was more dangerous than ever, unable to think straight. He saw Snape looking at Riddle's body with fear and cursed inwardly.

"He's dead," Snape said, taking a deep breath, and keeping his tone neutral. "Killed by the blast."

Bellatrix's expression changed instantly to utter horror.

"What? That can't be true! Don't lie to me, Snape!"

"He's dead," said Snape, standing up and looking at her guardedly. "There's nothing to be done. We need to get out of here, Trixie."

"Noooooo!"

It was a prolonged shriek that sounded inhuman. Her hands had fallen by her side and her breath was unsteady. There was utter silence as the others stared at her in frozen watchfulness for what felt like hours.

"You're all going to pay for this!" she said.

Her voice had changed, it was now cold and ruthless.

"Snape, kill the Paddy," she ordered, striding over to them, her gun firmly pointed at James. "I'm going to kill this bastard!"

"I… we need her, Trixie," Snape began, his voice shaking.

"True… yes, we need a hostage," said Bellatrix. "Good thinking. Make sure she doesn't escape. Move!"

Snape nodded curtly and made his way to where Lily stood, gun now digging into her back.

"Don't hurt him!" Lily cried, looking from Snape to Bellatrix.

"I don't care what happens to him," said Snape. "He deserves to die, I've always hated him. I only care about you. It's always been you!"

She gave an involuntary shiver, seeing the way Snape looked at her, his dark eyes burning with desire, as though he now had a chance with her, as though she belonged with him.

"This is for being a traitor, England for the English!" said Bellatrix, aiming her gun at James' leg.

She pulled the trigger and Lily screamed as the bullet pierced James' thigh. She saw him clutch his leg in pain and stifle a moan.

"Stop her, Sev!" she cried desperately. "Stop! I'm pregnant! He's going to be a father! We need him!"

Snape practically dropped his gun in shock, a look of horror spreading across his face. She locked eyes with James. The look on his face – it was a mixture of sorrow and gladness and it made her want to cry.

"You'll make a great mother, Lily," he said, a faint smile momentarily replacing the pain in his features. "I love you. So much."

She was crying now, and she couldn't stop.

"I love you, James," she said.

"I thought you two split up," Snape hissed at her, the gun prodding her back harder.

It was difficult to tell who looked more repulsed – Snape or Bellatrix, but Lily's expression as she looked at Snape topped them both.

"So? It's always been James," she said, narrowing her eyes and staring back at him with disgust. "Just James. Always James."

"That's sickly sweet, but completely besides the point!" spat out Bellatrix. "This is for being part of the conspiracy against Slytherin Pharma!"

She pulled the trigger and aimed for his other thigh, James falling backwards and cursing as the bullet embedded itself in his groin. He was pale and sweating, blood pouring from his leg, it looked like she had hit a vein, and Lily could see he was going to go into shock soon.

"Fuck that!" she muttered.

She wanted to save the baby, which meant saving herself, but she wasn't about to stand and watch him die. She turned suddenly and Snape yelped in alarm as she made a grab for the gun.

"Let go, Lily! You'll get yourself killed!" shouted Snape, struggling to maintain a grip on the weapon.

"You let go, you bastard!" Lily snarled. "You were happy to watch him die! You murderers!"

Snape couldn't understand where her sudden strength had come from. She was like a small tiger, despite her injured arm, and he couldn't control her, his hands were sweating with effort and fear and the gun was slipping.

"Let go!" he screamed at her again.

Lily didn't reply, all her energy focused on removing the gun from Snape's fingers. Bellatrix had stopped to watch, her aim moving between them, but unable to take a clear shot as the two figures moved around in a circle. Feeling the gun slipping from his grasp, Snape kicked out at Lily, and she stumbled backwards, Snape falling forwards, all four hands still on the gun. Lily turned sideways as she hit the ground, shielding her abdomen, and Snape instinctively moved his hand to break his fall.

A single shot rang out.

"Lily!" James cried, desperately trying to stand up and feeling himself losing consciousness as he fell back onto the floor.

"Get away from him or I shoot!"

Lily stood up slowly, the gun pointing firmly at Bellatrix. Like she knew what she was doing. The corner of Bellatrix's mouth curled with distaste. Snape lay motionless on the ground.

"What? Think you're the only one here who can use a gun? I grew up on a farm. My father taught me," answered Lily, her voice calm and laced with threat. "Step away from him and drop the gun. I won't harm you. You're surrounded. This place is swarming with crew from the Emergency Response Unit. Didn't you notice?"

Bellatrix looked at Lily with confusion, her eyes straying briefly towards the blown-out windows. She caught fleeting glances of dark figures wearing ballistic armour, combat helmets, assault rifles. They appeared to be moving into position. Her eyes widened and she moved away from their line of fire. She moved her arms so that she was pointing at James again. Lily hesitated.

"Change of plans, sweetie!" she cackled, moving swiftly so that she was holding James in front of her, gun pointing at his head. "He's going to be my hostage now! Going to risk shooting your boyfriend? You do realise the Gardai will think you're one of us?"

Lily's hands shook. She couldn't risk it.

"What do you want?" she said.

"I want to negotiate with the Irish Pigs," she sneered. "Go to the window and tell them. Tell them I have a hostage."

Lily nodded, keeping her gun trained on Bellatrix and praying that the police tactical unit didn't shoot her on the spot. She kept away from the window and edged closer to it.

"She wants to negotiate, she has a hostage, she's part of Riddle's gang. I'm one of the doctors," Lily shouted, cupping her hand to project her voice.

"We're sending a phone, tell her to answer it," a gruff voice answered.

They seemed to have a loudspeaker or something, Lily thought. Seconds later a small, wrapped item flew through the window and landed at her feet. She dropped to the ground and picked it up, all the while keeping her gun pointed at Bellatrix. She placed it on the ground and shoved it over to Bellatrix, looking at James, her chest constricting. He looked in a bad way - his face was grey, and his eyelids were fluttering, like he was trying to remain conscious. Blood was collecting on the ground beside him. He should be lying down, she thought, getting more oxygen to his brain.

Bellatrix picked up the mobile and pressed the button as soon as it rang.

"Hello, this Ebony," she said in a jeering tone. "You will do exactly as I say, or all the civilians in here die. Do I make myself clear?"

She held the gun firmly to James' temple, the other hand holding the phone up to her ear, facing Lily. As Bellatrix made her demands, Lily's heart skipped a beat - she saw something moving behind Bellatrix, moving painfully slowly, a haggard looking figure covered in blood, looking half dead, his leather jacket in tatters, dragging himself forwards by pure will.

What the ever-living fuck was Sirius Black trying to do? She made sure that her expression remained unchanged, her grip on the gun tightening.

A sudden noise near the door made her jump. It was Peter Pettigrew. He had been trying to escape, and he had almost made it out unnoticed, until he stumbled over a piece of metal. Bellatrix's hand flew up and she fired a shot. Peter's mouth opened as though to speak, before collapsing lifeless onto the ground, blood oozing from his forehead. He was dead.

"Wormy…" said James, his voice barely a whisper, as Bellatrix's gun slammed onto his temple once more.

"What's happening?" said a sharp voice on the mobile.

"And then there were two!" said Bellatrix.

She paused and laughed, an eerily cold sound, which was suddenly cut off. The figure behind her lunged forwards, knocking her off balance and sending them tumbling across the floor.

"The fuck?" groaned James, trying to crawl towards them, dragging his legs behind him. "Sirius!"

He sank helplessly as everything started to go black.

"I'm going to kill you!" Bellatrix screamed as she wrestled with Sirius. "I thought you were dead! You were supposed to die!"

"Think again, witch!" said Sirius, his voice barely recognisable.

Bellatrix fired two shots which went wide as they continued thrashing about on the floor. Lily threw herself on the ground and crawled in front of James, throwing off her jumper and pressing down firmly on his leg, still holding the gun. She couldn't fire at Bellatrix, and Lily could see Sirius looking weaker by the second. Bellatrix was getting the upper hand, as she tossed violently, a sudden movement caused the mobile phone to drop to the ground, unnoticed.

Lily ducked down and grabbed the phone.

"Get in here now! She's trying to kill us!" she said tersely. "Middle of the room!"

Bellatrix didn't register this, all her will bent on finishing off her cousin.

With a final heave, Bellatrix tore her arm away from his, and smashed her gun across his face, causing him to collapse next to her. He had multiple injuries, she realised, seeing his battered face and the blood soaking his chest and abdomen. He looked like it wouldn't take much to kill him.

"Good riddance," she snarled, pointing the gun at Sirius' chest. "Traitor!"

Lily was about to aim for Bellatrix just as the Emergency Response Unit burst through the doors and two figures appeared at the window simultaneously, weapons all aimed at the dark- haired, frenzied figure.

Four shots rang out. For a split second, Bellatrix remained stationary. Then she crumpled in a heap beside Sirius. Lily raised her hands above her head.

She could hear the armed forces communicating through mouth pieces, relaying information about damages and casualties as she looked at Sirius and saw the blood seeping out from the new wound in his chest.

"Sirius!" she cried out. "No!"

"Let me in, damn it!" a forceful voice brought her back to the room.

The door had burst open once more and several people entered the room simultaneously, headed by Remus Lupin, who looked unstoppable. The armed personnel pointed their guns at him.

"What the fuck!" shouted the man in charge, a stocky hard-looking man in his forties. "We didn't give you the all clear!"

"Fuck you!" said Remus, looking white as a sheet now, as he recognised Sirius' body on the ground.

He threw himself on the ground in front of Sirius, as more medical and nursing staff came through.

"Oh God," he whispered, paralysed momentarily. "Sirius…"

"What the-" began the man again.

"Stand aside, your work is done, Bones," snarled Moody, hobbling past and grimacing. "This is my brief now, I'm in charge. Move!"

There was no disobeying orders from that man.

"Moody?" Bones asked.

"Correct," Moody said impatiently, moving towards Bellatrix and assessing her as he spoke. "Now get out. People are dead, and we don't want more casualties! Out of my way!"

"Don't you dare die on me, Sirius! I swear to God, I just can't," Remus half-sobbed, his breath uneven as he compressed Sirius' chest rapidly, trying to keep count of the numbers of compressions as he spoke. "13, 14, 15… just because I'm not shouting it from the rooftops doesn't mean I love you less… 22,23,24… fuck, I love you more... shit, please don't die… 29,30."

Remus took a deep breath and breathed into Sirius' mouth twice. He could hear sirens blaring, police and fire brigade and the sounds of crash trolleys being wheeled at top speed, medics and nurses shouting instructions, instruments and machines beeping.

"Stand aside, Lupin! Now!" barked a familiar voice. "I'm going to need to intubate! You're in no fit state to be of any use! You lot - get him off the ground immediately! Move on the count of three - one, two, three!"

Remus looked up in a daze and saw Dr. Moody bellowing orders and taking control of Sirius' body.

"Please don't let him die," he begged.

His broken voice was lost amid the turmoil.

He found himself standing with his back to the wall in a corner of the blasted room, unable to see what was happening. He didn't want to know. He couldn't bear to know. He covered his face with his hands. He was useless.

"Fuck. Please don't die," he said, struggling to breathe.

"Remus, listen to me, it's Benjy. Remus, can you hear me?"

He looked up and found Benjy Fenwick standing right beside him.

"Remus, let's move outside, let them do their jobs," Benjy was saying, anxiety and pity written all over his face.

"I can't leave him," said Remus shuddering. "What if he… I need to see him, to be there…"

"You're helping him more by letting them work undisturbed, please Remus, come with me."

Remus felt himself being manoeuvred outside the room, and down the corridor, rain leaking in through the shattered glass which lay everywhere. He couldn't feel it. Nothing was real any more. It was all a dream, a nightmare he couldn't seem to wake up from. The people around him seemed unreal too, vague and surreal and numb.

"I just want him back," he whispered to himself, looking around in desperate hope that Sirius might waltz in through the doors ahead, teasing glint in his grey eyes, with his ridiculous ability to make him laugh, and make him mad, and that adoring look, like Remus was the light of his life.

…

"What happened here?" said Poppy Pomfrey, who Lily recognised as the Head of Surgery, bending over James.

She turned towards Lily who was being helped up by one of the other nurses.

"Shot twice," she croaked. "Both thighs, but the right vastus medialis, I think the bullet hit a vein, possibly the femoral vein. He's lost a lot of blood… I tried to compress it."

"Shit!", said Pomfrey, starting to examine James, along with several other ED staff who were attaching him to the monitors and getting intravenous lines into his arms. "James, can you hear me?"

James' eyes fluttered open and he grunted in reply.

"Do you know where we are?"

"Godric's," James' voice sounded faint.

"Can you remember what happened?" Pomfrey asked, watching as the information from the monitors to arm, chest and extremities registered on the screen.

"Shot," said James, closing his eyes.

"Any pain?"

James nodded his head.

"James!" said Lily, lurching forwards.

She tried to get to James but collapsed onto the ground, Hagrid catching her at the last minute. She hadn't noticed him there. His strong presence made her feel less desperate.

"She needs to be assessed too!" shouted Pomfrey. "That cut on her forehead needs stitching, so does her arm, and she needs a complete workup. Get her over to the ED immediately, use the wheelchair!"

"No! I need to help James!" Lily's voice was cracked with fear.

"Jasus, no way, Lily!" said Hagrid, gently but firmly. "Let them do their job, please!"

Lily collapsed back onto the wheelchair.

"Get him to theatre immediately!" Lily ordered.

"Will do, Lily. I promise!" said Pomfrey, giving her a quick smile and then turning all her attention on James.

"My wife is pregnant… she needs help," James said urgently, suddenly very awake, grabbing hold of Pomfrey's wrist and looking the other medic straight in the eyes. "Sort her out first! She's the priority!"

"Wife?" asked Pomfrey, looking momentarily confused. "Yes, don't worry, James."

"Thank you," James sighed with relief, and his voice grew faint as his head fell back onto the stretcher under him, and lost consciousness.

"We need to bring him to theatre immediately," said Pomfrey to the other staff working on James. "Follow the protocol for the IV fluids and cross-match for blood. He looks like he's going to need a transfusion quickly. Get Orthopaedic Consultant on call to join me ASAP. I never thought I'd say this, but thank God for the rise in gangland crime in Dublin these days, we're all experienced in gunshot wounds!"

"Stupid man!" said Lily, shaking her head anxiously, tears in her eyes. "He's been fucking shot, for crying out loud!"

"But you are… pregnant, yeah?" said Hagrid softly. "I'll need to let the ED staff know?"

Lily gulped.

"Yeah, I am," she said, gripping the side of the wheelchair tightly. "And my baby needs a father!"

Notes:

Oops, cliffhanger, but I will post the final chapter very quickly if you want to read it now? It's basically ready to go, was just too long!