Yup, first actually properly new chapter in years. Enjoy. If you've read this fic before I recommend reading again because I changed some shit basically the character Mary is now Alice. Okay here you go.. I own nothing etc.

Chapter 4: The Morning After

{10 am.}

The first thing Lily noticed when her friends walked in was how awful they looked. It wasn't just an oops-I-drank-too-much-and-slept-too-little kind of awful but that really, truly, goddamn awful that comes from a night spent huddling together not knowing who would be dead or alive in the morning. Of course, as people do, they came in varying states of dishevelment and distress but no one remained unaffected by their sleepless night. The small well of guilt that had been slowly churning away inside the redhead since she had awoken grew slightly larger at the state of her friends. Ridiculous though it may have been she couldn't help but feel bad for causing their concern even though there had never been any other option that Lily would take. She would always accidently be the hero and always feel the guilt because of it.

"Hey guys," Lily croaked, her voice suddenly turning dry in the face of her friends as she clenched and unclenched her hand nervously against the bedding.

"Lily." Alice said, breaking the silence to run across the squeaky floor and hurl herself at her bedridden friend. "Thank Merlin you're alive."

"Not for much longer if you carry on doing this." Lily joked, crushed by Alice's embrace. Alice smiled weakly and let go of her to step back for the rest of her friends to hug her. Alice and Lily were so close it was almost a sister bond, a healthy sister relationship unlike Lily's real life one, which meant it hurt so much to see her injured. It had been a shock at first but now Alice was more determined than ever that she would not react that way again. She was more determined than ever to beat the bastards that put her best friend in that position.

Marlene came forward, approaching the other side of the bed and clutching Lily's hand in hers. "Thank Merlin you're okay Lils."

"Fit as a fiddle." She replied, though her position in bed would directly contradict that.

Right before the foot of the bed appeared the most affected of them all: Analeigh. She was approaching slowly like at any second Lily would be snatched from right underneath her. Her face was a mess and for someone who normally had supermodel good looks this was unusual. Her normally perfectly made up face was stained with black panda eyes and grey tear tracks etched onto her olive skin that, at that moment in time, was turning a sickly green. It was apparent that she wasn't wearing any shoes and somehow her clothes from the night before looked even more rumpled than everyone else's.

"Hi." Analeigh whispered, sounding like a lost little girl.

"Hey," Lily replied, trying to sound as casual as she could whilst lying in hospital with one girl cutting off the circulation in her hand and everyone else staring at her like she was a ghost.

"You're alive." Ana stated, staggering slightly as if the very thought made her lightheaded. "You're actually alive."

"Yeah." Lily said fake cheerfully. "Never felt better.

She laughed; no one else did.

Ana turned an even sicker colour and for the briefest moment Lily thought that she was about to faint on top of her but then instead she found herself attacked in a bone-crushing hug. Analeigh was gripping Lily so tightly she could feel her nails digging into her back and all the desperation Ana had felt when she'd awoke to the news came pouring out. Lily hugged back as hard as she could.

"You're alive." She couldn't stop repeating the words over and over and over as she held onto her friend.

"Yes Ana." Lily whispered as she held her friend. "I'm okay, I'm alive."

As Analeigh processed the words she had need to hear her whole body seemed to relax. The tension inside her body seemed to melt as all the high-strung energy inside her dissipated and she crumpled into her best friend. It was so odd to see someone normally so loud and outgoing completely fall apart.

"I'm okay." Lily whispered again, soothingly.

Lily found herself in an odd role reversal, despite being the one bed ridden, she found herself doing all the comforting. She understood that they had all been terrified of losing her but the exhaustion was nearly overwhelming her. Still, she gently patted Ana's back as she looked up towards the ragtag crew that surrounded her.

Lily took a gentle intake of breath as she caught James' eyes and they held each other's gaze for a second too long. There was something so honest and sad burning in those irises that Lily didn't know quite what to do with: they had been enemies a second ago and then he had saved her life and now her emotions were turning upside down at that look he was giving her.

Then Ana sat up, sniffling, and their gaze was broken.

"If I hadn't been so drunk." Ana muttered under her breath, stepping back slightly from the bed.

"Ana that wouldn't have changed anything." Lily sighed. "It was what it was."

"None of us could help." Alice pointed out from where she was standing, reaching over Ana to grab Lily's hand. "There was nothing we could do."

The teenagers all paused for a second, just staring at each other in shocked silence, there was an unsayable difference between everyone now. They were young and yet they were no longer innocent or unaffected by the war unfolding around them. Of course, they'd known of the horrors and atrocities already but they had believed, as teenagers so often did, that they were untouchable. Some of them had not even had their first kiss yet but had witness their first dead body.

"You look like shit Evans." Sirius broke the silence, smiling despite the oppressive atmosphere of the hospital room.

"Ha," Her eyes fluttered shut for a second, and then she cracked one eye open and smirked. "You can't talk Black, the bags under your eyes have bags."

Sirius gasped in mock outrage, his lips twitching upwards for the first time that night, and his eyes glimmered just enough to make Lily feel a little better.

Marlene giggled, a tired little sound, but it was a giggle nonetheless. Lily felt grateful to hear that sound, it was something she had thought she might never hear again when she'd given her life away to save her friends.

It was nice to know, she supposed, that she was able to do what was needed of her when it really came down to it. Since becoming a Gryffindor, Lily always wondered if she was ever going to be able to live up to her sorting when it truly matter; and the she had taken a breath and she had done it.

It was beside the point that she had survived really as she had been ready to die for all those people, some of them she didn't even know, because she could not have lived with herself if she hadn't stepped up. She would always step up. She would always be facing the consequences.

"You look tired Lil." Marlene said, smiling softly.

"She should be tired." Came a loud voice from behind the gang of teenagers.

They were all so shocked, so in the moment, that half of them jumped or at least flinched at the harsh noise.

It was Lily's Healer, and new found ally, approaching from the other side of the room.

"She's experienced a great amount of magical exhaustion not to mention the questions and interviews." The healer pursed her lips, but she softened her expression when she saw the looks of worry that passed between them. "She is fine but she needs rest. Now, I let you all in because quite frankly you appeared distraught but now you've seen for yourself that Ms Evans is okay I'm going to have to ask you all to leave."

They grumbled, of course, but looking at Lily with her eyes half closed and the dark rings under her normally bright eyes they knew that she was right. Still, they were reluctant. Ana lingered the most, squeezing her tightly one last time, before they were all herded from the room. With one last glance at Lily, who waved lazily back, they left her alone.

{10:15 am}

They traipsed out of the room and it was almost like now Lily was out of their sight their sleepless night came crashing down on all of them at once. They were barely standing as the relief washed away all the adrenaline from the previous night. Ana had gotten the most sleep and yet she was the one dead on her feet, the alcohol and worry churning through her, and she had to slump against Sirius in order to stay upright.

"We should get her to bed." Sirius gestured towards the dark-haired girl. "We all need some sleep."

"I was meant to be staying at Lily's." Marlene said, speaking more to herself than anyone else.

"There's plenty of space at my house." James responded, running a hand through his unbelievably dishevelled hair. "If people, don't have a place to stay I know my mum won't mind."

The idea of sleeping at James' felt vaguely absurd to both Marlene and Alice, Ana was too out of it to even comprehend what was happening, but then the whole night had been the most absurd experience of their lives. Marlene did not want to go home, to her cold house and cold step-father, and curl up alone with nothing but her thoughts and with no one to understand that though she was not a monster the wizarding world did have plenty she would soon have to face. Alice smiled at her and an unspoken current passed through them: at the Potter mansion they would not be alone, they would be together, and they could rest knowing that they were surrounded by people who cared.

"Thanks James." Marlene turned to face him, speaking for all of them. "We'd appreciate that."

"Right." He smiled warmly but quickly at her, before turning back towards Lily's Healer who stood talking to a stranger with a serious expression on her face. "You guys can flew ahead. Sirius can get you through the wards. My mum went home a little while ago and I think Remus and Peter are there already apparently they were being interviewed by the aurors. They'll probably be grateful to see you and get some news, I'm surprised they're not here but then mum probably told them to stay put."

He was babbling; hoping to disguise the crucial fact that he was not planning on going with them.

"James." Sirius said, with a note of warning in his rough voice.

"Yes Sirius?" He responded, fake innocently.

Ana turned away from Sirius and leant against the wall, eventually sliding down until she was sat against the cold tiles of St. Mungo's, the group just looked at her without saying a word.

"We need to take her to bed." Marlene sighed.

"Take them to mine Sirius." James replied. "I need to talk to Lily's Healer."

"James." Sirius repeated, grabbing his shoulder. "I know you care mate but she needs to rest and you're dead on your feet."

"I'll sleep in the waiting room." He shrugged, distractedly turning away to check that the Healer hadn't moved.

"This isn't helpful to anyone James." Alice stepped closer towards him, and Sirius sighed as he stepped back to let Alice have a try at convincing him.

"I'm not leaving her alone." He muttered.

"You think I would leave if I thought she would notice we had gone? If I thought that she would be lonely." She said, gently but firmly. "No. I'm practically her sister James, more of one than her own has ever been."

James' expression was puzzled for a second, he didn't know anything about Lily's home life and had always assumed she'd have a loving family, but he moved past it quickly.

"Here parents will probably be back here before she's even woken up. You're not doing yourself or Lily any favours by staying here." Alice pressed.

The words would've been much harsher coming from anyone else mouth; but with her sweet voice, round flushed cheeks and loving eyes her words lacked the painful sting. They just sounded exhausted but truthful.

"Besides," She stepped back. "If you don't come I'll tell your mother that you're over here beating yourself up and I'm sure she'll have something to say about though."

Alice had never met Mrs Potter, had never really believed she would, but she knew enough about James' life to know that they probably dotted on him endlessly. And had enough maternal instincts to believe that his mother would not want him to be unnecessarily hanging around in a depressing waiting room with no sleep when he could be of more use to himself at home.

"Fine." James replied, though he did not look pleased he had to admit defeat. "Fine, let's go."

Alice smiled, just for a second, in an odd moment of triumph.

"Miss Fortescue," Said Sirius. "I'm almost impressed.

{10:30 am}

The Potter Mansion definitely lived up to its name: it was gigantic and luxurious.

When they had arrived it was to find Remus, Peter, and Mrs Potter around his huge wooden table nibbling half-heartedly on some cold toast. As soon as they had heard the first people stumble through the fireplace they had leaped up and into the living room with their hearts in their mouths.

James came through first, however reluctantly, in order to ensure that they would be able to get through his father's wards and Evelyn Potter had never been happier to see someone. When she had left him, at his demand, she had known he would be okay but she still something in her had wondered if when she saw him again, in his own home, he would be irreparably different. She had no way of knowing if that was true yet, but her heart warmed to see him just the same.

"James" Remus said, relief colouring his every tone. "Lily's okay? We would've come but the aurors wanted to know about the party and your mum said you were all there and that we probably wouldn't be let in."

"Lily's fine." James replied, for what felt like the hundredth time although the truth of it still hadn't really sank it. "We got kicked out after a few minutes so she could rest."

Remus nodded thoughtfully at this information whilst Peter just remained silent in the very edge of the room; as if no information James' would've given could've made him feel better.

"Mum, the others don't really have a place to stay and they've been awake for so long now and"

"James if you're asking if they can stay here then I'm almost offended." Evelyn leaned against the doorway. "Of course your friends are welcome, I expect to see them coming through that fireplace immediately."

As if on cue, Marlene found herself for the third time that night stumbling out of a fireplace into a room full of people.

"Hi." She nodded at Peter and Remus once she had regained her balance. "I'm sorry Mrs Potter I can't tell you how grateful we are for your hospitality."

"Don't be ridiculous sweetheart." Evelyn's heart hurt to look at this young stranger who looked so lost and so tired. "James' friends are welcome here anytime, especially after the horrendous night I'm sure you must've had."

Marlene didn't even have the energy in her to respond, to let her know that she wasn't actually James' friend not really, and could only hope that Mrs Potter could understand from her facial expression just how thankful she was. Though Marlene hated to appear anything less than calm and controlled, it was like that night had washed away the fear of losing face and now she could only be glad that soon she would be safe and warm away from that sterile hospital.

"Sirius sent me through." She addressed James this time. "So I'm guessing the rest will be coming in a second."

They did not have to wait long as a moment later Alice came through, closely followed by Ana who looked like a walking barely talking corpse, and then Sirius who rounded out the group. They all exchanged pleasantries and comforts with Mrs Potter, Peter, and Remus but there was not enough energy left in any one of them to sustain a conversation.

"Let's get you lot off to sleep okay?" Evelyn said, resisting the urge to mother every single one of the teens who stood in front of her far too young to deal with the future that was rapidly hurtling their way. "James should show you the way and if you need anything don't hesitate to call our house elf for anything."

"You should go to bed too Mum." James' voice grew so soft and tender that it surprised the girls and almost made them want to turn away from such a private moment.

"I'm fine James." She walked towards him and gave him a quick kiss on his forehead. "I'll follow you up."

His brow knitted together worriedly for a second before he just sighed and wordlessly began to lead the way through his home towards their spare bedrooms. Sirius, Remus, and Peter already had designated rooms so did not need James' help in finding their beds. But Sirius stayed with them anyway in order to support Analeigh up the stairs and across the corridors.

It was decided that Ana shouldn't sleep alone, not only was she fighting the alcohol in her system but she was shivering with shock at the day's events, and neither Marlene nor Alice were particularly keen on being alone either.. So James led them towards the bedroom with the largest bed, outside of the master bedroom, and they decided all three of them would share it.

They managed to manoeuvre it so Ana was in bed, covered with the thickest softest duvet imaginable, and she snuggled down into the pillow muttering a soft thanks that sounded almost like a child. The others looked at her with affectionate relief: they had made it.

"Thank you." Alice turned to the two boys and, to their surprise, kissed them both on the cheek. "We owe you one."

James thought, not for the first time, about what a great mother Alice Fortescue would one day make. Sirius seemed too shocked to even respond and, if one would've looked closely, they might even have seen him blush.

"It was nothing." James said, and he meant it. "Anytime."

Marlene merely smiled, unable to muster up enough of anything to fight him on that, as sat on the bed to slip off her shoes. Alice sat next to her, and as the door shut behind the boys' retreating figures, she rested her head against her friend's shoulder with a large sigh.

Ana snuffled, like she was letting the girls know she was still alive and breathing, and they slipped under the covers next to her. Normally, Marlene hated sharing a bed but that night she had never been more grateful for the two warm presences beside her. They were a reminder that, despite the horrors that they had suddenly realised were awaiting them, they would never have to deal with them alone. And with the heavy curtains blocking out the morning light, the three girls drifted off into a truly well-earned sleep.

{11 am.}

Sirius couldn't sleep.

It was ludicrous: he had no idea how long he had been awake for but it felt like centuries. He felt like that boy at the party, the one who was distractedly chatting up Natalie Clarke, was a complete different person.

Sirius had recently given in to The Potter's offer and had taken in permanent residence in their home. So, he actually had his own room with his personality beginning to appear scattered across the walls and table. There was a framed photo by his beside, one James had given him of the Marauders as a welcome home present, and he stared at his own smiling face.

Everything was different. How many times could he and his friends repeat this until it truly sunk it? It seemed impossible, improbable, and yet here he was. The reality they had all known was coming had hit them with such force that they'd been knocked sick. They had been repelled by the speed at which their impending future had attacked them, knocked off their balance, and Sirius was struggling to get his head around it.

He was proud, certainly, of the way he had acted at the party. He had always wondered if there was too much Black in him to make him truly step up as a hero. But then he had shifted into James' right hand man, as he was so accustomed to do on the Quidditch pitch, and the night had blurred into demands, action, and adrenaline. Yet, he couldn't help wondered if he could've done more. If there was any way he could've acted quicker, better, and saved that girl's life. Violet. Practically a stranger, one conversation with a half-possessed girl hardly made for a friendship, whose life he could not save.

If only. If only he had noticed something, that bracelet or a look in her eyes, that could've prevented her from having to fully become their puppet. Had she been free in their conversation? Or had he been talking with them: the death eaters. He supposed he would never know. And yet, he did not think there would ever be a moment where he wasn't wondering how he could've save her life.

How many more strangers that he could not save would leave him with a sleepless night?

The imminent war promised plenty more and Sirius already felt overwhelmed at the thought of it. Seeing Lily in that bed looking pale and broken under the fluorescent lights had shaken him. Who would he see damaged in a hospital room? Peter? James? Remus?

Whose corpse would he next have to check for a pulse?

Despite the warmth of his room; Sirius found himself shivering.

At that moment a soft knock came from his bedroom door, so quiet that if Sirius had been sleeping he would've missed it.

"Yeah?" Sirius called out, his voice sounding horse even to his own ears.

"It's me." Remus poked his head through the door. "Did I wake you?"

"No." Sirius almost laughed though he wasn't sure why. "Can't sleep."

"Me neither." He admitted. "I thought I'd check if anyone else was up."

Sirius simply slid over to make space for Remus on the bed and patted the spot next to. Quietly, even in his sleep deprived state Remus was polite enough to think of all the people attempting to sleep, he slipped through the heavy wooden door and came to sit cross legged next to Sirius.

They sat in silence for a moment. Sirius could practically feel the worry coming off from Remus in waves, watched him play with his hands and bite his lip anxiously, but rather than make him feel worse it gave him something to focus on. Remus being anxious was something Sirius knew (although granted that was normally due to more wolf-related reasons but still) and he could deal with it.

"You okay Moony?" Sirius turned to look at the boy's weary face; he looked almost as tired as the nights after the full moon.

Remus wasn't sure why but he felt immensely grateful to hear that familiar nickname. At least one thing had remained untouchable.

"I'm fine." He sighed, staring up at the ceiling just to avoid his friend's gaze. "What about you?"

"Oh, I'm just dandy." Sirius responded.

"Hmuph."

Another pause.

"Really though." Remus said, turning his eyes back onto Sirius. "How was Lily? We didn't want to crowd but-"

He left the sentence unfinished. Arguably, Remus was, out of all the Marauders, the one most liked by Lily. They were both prefects and Lily had a little spot in her heart reserved for the soft-spoken boy with the slightly raggedy clothes and brilliant mind. It was Remus that she was the most disappointed in whenever the lads went too far, if he was involved, and it was Remus she could always count on to share an eye roll with. This past year, thanks to patrolling, Remus had gotten even closer to her and she was one of the only people in the world that had figured out the secret of his furry little problem. Despite his momentary freak out, she had offered nothing but compassion. Lily was one of the best people he knew and though, intellectually, he knew she was okay he could hardly believe it. The last time he had seen her, before he'd heard James' cries, he had thought she'd gone for good.

"Honestly, she's fine. She just looked tired more than anything which is unsurprising."

"After what she's been through…" He left the implications hang in the air.

"It was weird." Sirius admitted. "To see her like that. She was fine but she looked really small you know? I wanted her to shout at me or James or something just to make things feel more normal. Wish she would've called me vain or arrogant or something."

He hadn't meant to be so honest but it was out there now.

"I'm sure she'll be calling you names again soon Sirius." Remus joked, although there was barely any humour behind it.

"Ha. Well, she did poke fun at my appearance."

"That's something." Remus shrugged. "And you do look pretty bad."

"Oy." Sirius fake exclaimed. "I look fantastic thanks."

Remus turned his whole body towards his friend and squinted his eyes as if really appraising every inch of Sirius. It made him want to squirm.

"Your hair's falling out its bun." Remus finally responded, leaning back again against the headboard.

Sirius reached back to fiddle with his hair and shrugged: Remus wasn't really wrong so what could he say.

"We'll be alright you know." Sirius said, though he didn't even sound convincing to himself. "Me, you, James, Peter. Lily. We'll be alright."

Remus shook his head.

For the strangest second Sirius had to resist the urge to reach out and take Remus' slim hands in his own. To, just for a second, hold his hand to let him know he was there. But the moment passed and he simply sighed.

"We'll be alright."

It was a lie. But that didn't really matter.

{12 pm}

Marlene woke up to the sound of snoring on one side, Analeigh of course, and to an emptiness on the other side. She couldn't be sure how long she had slept, it felt like minutes and yet it could've been hours, but one thing was for sure was that the left side of the bed was cold.

"Alice?" She grumbled, poking her head up from beneath her thick covers.

"Here." Came a small snuggling noise across the room.

Immediately Marlene bolted up; a thousand thoughts and possibilities rushing through her brain at the sound of her friend in distress so soon after the hospitalisation of another. She blinked to find Alice sat at a wooden desk with sheaths of parchment in front of her and her hands covered in ink. Her skin was blotchy and Marlene could just make out the tear tracks on the brunette's face.

"Alice." Marlene said softly.

"Oh don't." Alice scolded, though who she was scolding she couldn't quite say, as she angrily wiped at her cheeks with the back of her hand. "I'm just being silly. Go back to bed."

"Don't be stupid," Marlene said, sitting up properly so she could try to shake the fog of sleep that still surrounded her. "What's happened? What's the matter?"

"It's dumb." Alice muttered, still rubbing her face to try make the tears stop. "I just suddenly thought, what about Frank? He's still staying with his Uncle and what if he hasn't heard? Or he has and he's sat there without hearing from any of us and thinks we're all dead or something because I bet the press are having a field day and I was imagine what it would be like if I was the one in Frank's position and how much I'd want to hear from us all and then I was thinking about it too much to go back to sleep."

Marlene was getting slightly alarmed by how quickly Alice was speaking and silently prayed for her to take a quick breath and calm down.

"And then I glanced over and saw the desk and it had this stuff on it-" She gestured towards the half-written letter before her. "So I thought well I have to write to him but really I don't know what to say. What do you say?"

Marlene had gotten up by this point and was behind Alice, attempting to read the smudge hand-writing on the parchment, and she was struck speechless. Really, what could she say? There was no response that was adequate.

"I guess you just tell him the truth." Marlene replied, rubbing a hand soothingly against Alice's back "That's all we can do."

"I suppose." She sniffed, looking at her letter but not really reading it.

Ana let out a large snore and broke the tension in the room. The two girls smiled at each other: it was all just so absurd.

"What time is?" Marlene enquired through a half stifled yawn.

"Twelve." Alice gestured towards an antique clock that rested on the desk.

She'd barely slept then.

"Cmon." Marlene was already making another move towards the bed. "Why don't we just go back to sleep for a while longer?"

Alice shook her head determinedly.

"You go." She was reaching for her quill again. "I'll finish here and then go find that house elf so I can send it. I'll be back after that."

"Alice." Marlene sighed.

"You sleep." She waved the other girl away. "You need it. I'm fine."

Marlene wanted to protest, to insist that Alice needed to come back, but she was fading again already. There was nothing she could do but curl back under the covers, next to a still dreaming Analeigh, and fall asleep to the scratch of a nib on the paper.

{1 pm.}

"Are you quite sure she's alright?" Her mother's voice.

The sound of the door slamming shut just a little too loudly.

"Perfectly fine." Her Healer.

The squeak of shoes on the hospital tiles.

"She never normally sleeps this much." Her mother again, fretting.

Lily cracked open an eye just in time to see her parent approaching. She was groggy, an unpleasant sensation, but apart from that she felt actually okay considering the ordeal she'd experienced.

"Mum I'm fine." She yawned, trying to wake up fully. "Stop worrying."

A difficult thing to demand in any situation.

"Oh Lil, you're awake again." Her dad said, sounding surprised but a lot calmer than her mother.

"Uh huh, how was lunch with Petunia and Vernon?" Lily asked, wondering exactly how long she'd slept for them to be back already.

"We changed it to brunch." Her mother replied, taking the seat on her left whilst her father occupied her right side. "I felt absolutely terrible about leaving you the moment I did it."

"Mum I'm fine." She insisted, stubbornly. "I hope it didn't upset Petunia."

Although Lily couldn't say she would feel particularly bad if it had upset her sister. She hadn't exactly chosen to end up in St Mungo's. Although, come to think of it, she had volunteered as a sacrifice so she supposed her sister could probably blame her for that. But still, dealing with a bitter and resentful Petunia, even if it was only for a few days, would be just another thing she didn't need.

"Oh who cares." Her mother muttered briskly.

Lily raised an amused eyebrow.

"Don't tell your sister she said that." Her dad joked.

"Well, Lily's in hospital for goodness sake. Anyway, it turned out it made us look quite middle class which made your sister rather happy."

Lily would've laughed if she wasn't too tired.

"I would've brought up my family that worked in the mines if I didn't think Petunia would've slapped me." Her dad leant forward conspiratorially and Lily smiled.

Then, the Healer cleared her throat behind her parents and startled the whole Evans family. It seemed liked they had all forgotten she was there.

"Sorry. I just thought you might want to see this."

She tossed a copy of that morning's Prophet and Lily had to supress a groan. There was her face, an old picture of her smiling and laughing in her Hogwarts's uniform, right next to the no.1 headline of the day.

DARK FORCES TARGET TEEN PARTY

It was horrifying. How had they got that picture of her? Why was she watching herself looking lively and carefree next to an article that reported her almost death?

Next to her photo she saw a portrait of that girl, Violet, the one who'd died right in front of her. She felt even more nauseous. She looked so happy, this stranger, with a shy smile and a mass of corkscrew curls. God, that was horrible. What right did the press do to invade their privacies like this?

Lily was almost dreading leaving her hospital bed. She had no way of knowing what people's reactions towards her would be but she hated to even think of it. All she knew was that the whole wizarding world was reading about her at breakfast: studying her face, hating her or pitying her, and altogether believing they had a right to an opinion.

She threw her head against her pillow and shut her eyes tight.

"Lily?" Her mother again. "Are you okay?"

"Damn the Daily Prophet."

{2 pm.}

Peter Pettigrew woke up to find the afternoon light illuminating the empty twin bed where Remus normally slept. He wasn't particularly worried or surprised to find his friend had woken up before him and had probably fled for the refuge of James' bright kitchen

In fact, he was rather grateful that Remus had left him alone; now no one was around to witness the first few tears that were beginning to fall. He wished, rather naively, that he'd gone home that morning once the questioning was over. Or that he'd never even gone to the party at all and instead had let his mum continue to fatten him up and dote on him in their little cottage. He imagined being safe and warm in his cosy living room with the fire burning and the bacon sizzling in the kitchen. Nothing bad could happen there.

The same could not quite be said about the Potter manor.

At the Potters', he was surrounded by reminders of just how much he had to lose. And would they lose? It was hard for him to see another way. Lily was one of the smartest people Peter had ever met and yet she had crumpled like a paper doll when faced with her first real challenge. And James, his first hero, had been powerless to stop it all. They'd all been powerless. And if they couldn't help then who could?

Peter felt as if he had woken up to a war he couldn't remember signing up for.

How could they expect to win?