Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who is still reading and reviewing! I love reading your reviews. Knowing that you like the story is half of what drives me to write it. Thank you again and I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Also, to Caddie (since you weren't signed in I can't reply by email) when the Death Eater was there, they were at Andrea's house. Dumbledore had let the group take her home where she would stay for a while at her grandmother's but she wanted to see what had happened to her parents, and that's where they saw the Death Eater. Thanks for the review!

Chapter 29: The mission

Dumbledore met the solemn group at the doors. They paid no attention to their surroundings, or the smiling and laughing students around them. They let themselves be led to Dumbledore's office without a word. Once there, they sat down into the chairs in front of his desk and waited.

"I am deeply sorry for what happened," Dumbledore began. "I know how difficult it must be for you to have witnessed what you did." He let his gaze linger on Sirius. "You will each get two days off from classes, to recover from the shock. You may go now." Everyone got up to leave. "Ms. Evans, will you stay for a moment?" She nodded and waited for the others to leave. Inside, she was tearing apart. Andrea had been her very best friend – and she felt like she had been the reason for her death.

"Professor, I'm scared," she confessed once everyone was gone.

"It would be foolish not to be," he agreed.

"I don't want them hurting any more of my friends! I know it was my fault Andrea died today! They want to get to me, to make me hurt. I don't know if I can take it, Professor."

Professor Dumbledore was silent for a minute. Then he spoke again.

"Ms. Evans, you cannot blame yourself for what happened to her."

"How can't I? She was my best friend!"

"You must focus on the matter at hand, Ms. Evans. Voldemort is using those close to you to torture you. He knew killing your best friend's parents would bring her, and yourself, to their home. There he could have her killed right in front of your eyes." Lily wiped an angrytear from her cheek, remembering in horror the feeling of watching somebody die. "He won't stop there. He will move on to your other friends, their families, and your family as well."

"Professor, what do I do?"

"Start the mission early. Tonight."

Lily walked out onto the chilly grounds at midnight. Dumbledore had told her to wait for her companion here, but she didn't know where he'd come from. She stood for five minutes or so before she heard soft steps on the grass behind her. She turned around. From the forest came a white stag. James. Lily opened her mouth slightly in shock. James was in the Order of the Phoenix? As he got closer, she could see the scar on his side and a sorrow in his eyes. He jerked his tall antlers in the direction from which he came. Lily transformed and padded alongside him.

It was a wonderful feeling, being an animagus.

'Too bad it's only temporary,' Lily thought. Suddenly she heard another voice in her mind.

'I just want to tell you that we can hear each other's thoughts. Dumbledore put a spell on us so we can communicate. Just thought you should know. Also, if we're more than twenty feet away from each other, we won't be able to hear each other anymore. So if you ever want to just be alone and have your privacy, you can move away.'

'So I can hear all of your thoughts and you can hear all of mine?'

'Well, yes. But you can make it so that when you don't want me to hear what you think, then I won't.'

'How?'

'Just think "Don't hear me for…" and then say a certain amount of time. I won't hear you for that amount of time, unless there's an emergency. When you feel ok with me hearing you again, just say "Hear me".'

That was all he said. Lily knew it was James but she didn't recognize his voice. He had probably disguised it so that she wouldn't figure out who he was.

'Thank you,' Lily said and fell silent.

They had been walking for about an hour. Lily tried out the words for James not to hear her, and they worked. During the half an hour she had asked for, she thought about him. She thought about the Order of the Phoenix. And mostly she thought about how so many people were risking their lives everyday to save hers.

'We should probably make camp now,' said James.

'Ok. I am kind of tired,' Lily agreed. They found a comfortable looking clearing and lay down. James rubbed his antlers on a rock and sent sparks around a little pile of sticks. In a minute a warm fire was blazing. Lily thought it would be safe to transform back to human. Once that was done, she wrapped her arms around her knees and transfigured a rock into a blanket.

"Do you want one?" she asked, gesturing at her blanket. The stag shook his head, the fire dancing in his eyes. After five minutes of watching him, Lily turned her gaze to the sky. "I know it's you, James." He shifted his head so he could see her but said nothing. Half an hour later, she fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Lily woke up to find James gone. She was almost beginning to panic when she saw him emerge from the trees. He looked majestic and proud. Lily felt a slight pang as she looked at him.

'We should get going. Every minute counts,' he said and began leading the way. Lily nodded at his back, even though she knew he couldn't see her anymore. She turned once again into the tiger and followed James.

Along the way, they saw many animals and birds of the forest. Lily had never been in the Forbidden Forest before. It wasn't because of the rules against it; the Forest had always seemed dark and foreboding. Now, however, she realized that it was actually beautiful.

Lily was also surprised as to how James acted with her in the forest.This was a side of him she had never seen. She had known him as nice, arrogant, sweet, mean, but never like this. He was so mysterious; he barely talked and just focused on completing their task. He acted professional and seemed so wise, the way he directed her on where to go.

Suddenly Lily was wrenched from her thoughts (which she had sealed from James) by the realization that they were out of the forest. There was a large plain ahead of them and after that a high hill.

'Where are we?' Lily asked in astonishment. The size of the plain and the hill was overwhelming.

'I don't know.'

'Then why did you lead us here?'

'I know we have to be going somewhere in this direction, but that's all.'

'How do you know that?'

'Most of the Death Eaters we have seen come from the south of Hogwarts. We tracked their footprints and found the trail they take to Hogsmeade. We saved ourselves time by starting from Hogwarts,' James explained.

'So the Death Eaters come from here?'

'As far as we can tell. Unless, of course, they have deceived us in some way. But this is where we truly start. You must be alert at all times. If they truly come from here, there might be an ambush sometime. Be careful.'

'Wait, I don't understand. How did you track their footsteps? Why didn't they just Apparate?' Lily asked confusedly.

'They want to create an essence of fear that reaches their destination before them, usually. It gives them a sort of power. It's not a danger to them either; by the time people figure out they are coming, it is always too late anyway.'

'That's horrible. So how do you fight them?'

'You have to be prepared.'

This wasn't the answer Lily had wanted. She tried to get more information, but James had blocked his mind. Lily sighed slightly and sped up her pace. She began jogging until she was running full speed. James kept walking slowly, not paying her any mind.

Lily loved the feeling of running as a tiger. She let out a happy growl and pushed herself as fast as she could. She ran for five minutes until she had to stop to catch her breath. James had been left far behind. Even though she had gone as far and fast as she could, Lily saw that she wasn't even a fourth of the way across the plain. This would take a while…

After what seemed like forever, Lily finally saw James' silhouette, illuminated by the setting sun. He was walking at a slow and steady pace. At last, he was within twenty feet.

'What are you doing? Didn't you say every minute counts?' Lily asked angrily. He looked calmly at the top of the hill.

'Yes,' he answered. Lily barely saw him running, he was there so fast. Lily was astounded. If he could run that quickly, why hadn't he caught up with her sooner?

'Well, come on. We should go,' she said and began walking again. James fell in step with her and they walked in silence again.

It took five days, but finally they crossed the plain. It wasn't very hot, but Lily felt dehydrated. When she had tried to transfigure a leaf into water and a rock into a glass her magic hadn't worked.

"I can't get a drink, magic isn't working," she said dejectedly to James as he returned from his ten minute escapade. Lily had changed back into human formin order to try and conjure food and water.

'Excellent,' said James.

"What's so excellent about it?" Lily snapped.

'There are magic barriers around here. That means we're getting close. I'm guessing Voldemort has these barriers here in order to ensure that no one other than him and the Death Eaters can do magic when they are here. It decreases the risk of an ambush.'

"Oh. But what will we do about water?"

'I found a little stream over there. I'll show you,'James said briskly and led Lily in the direction from which he had just arrived. Sure enough, there was a little stream of water. Lily fell to her knees and drank as much as she could.

"That feels good," she said as she wiped her mouth. "Should we continue?"

'No. Let's rest. We can decide what to do in a couple of hours. You need to sleep.'

"What about you?"

'I'll keep watch.' The stag led her back to their little camp, started a fire for when night came, and lay down. Lily had no blanket now but it wasn't too cold yet. She dropped onto the ground and took a long nap.

When she woke up she suspected it was sometime in the middle of the night. The fire had been extinguished and it was much colder. She couldn't see anything in the darkness so she turned into the tiger. It helped a little, but not by much. She still couldn't see James.

Lily was about to call for him when she picked up his scent. Curiously, she followed it and ended up at the foot of the hill.

The stag was there, looking up at the full moon. He looked wistful and was thinking about something. However, Lily had no time to understand what he was saying because he sensed she was there and blocked his mind.

'You're up. Good. Let's get going,' he said.

'Going where?'

'Over the hill. I think Voldemort probably has his lair there.'

'Ok.'

And so they climbed. They kept going until morning when Lily couldn't take it anymore. Her legs collapsed under her in exhaustion.

'We can stop for a bit if you want,' James offered, coming back to where she lay.

'No, let's keep going. I'll be fine,' Lily protested.

'No, you need your rest. It'll be fine. Just lie down for a little bit. I'll keep watch if you fall asleep.'

'I'm really fine.'

'Rest.'

Lily gave up and lay down. The muscles in her legs burned and it felt so good to let them rest. Her eyelids slowly grew heavy as she nodded off.

An hour later, she woke up. Her legs still ached but she knew they had to keep going.

'I'm ready,' she said.

'All right,' said James, who hadn't moved. 'Let's go.'

They continued climbing for several hours. The light was beginning to fade when they finally reached the top of the hill. They looked over the other side expectantly and saw….nothing. Lily let out a cry of despair.

'I can't believe it. All of that climbing to find nothing,' she said hopelessly.

'I think there's a charm; some sort of spell that will unblock all of the barriers put around the lair to make sure no one finds it by accident.'

Neither one of them spoke while the stag stood, thoughtfully looking into the sun. After half an hour, he finally seemed to have the answer. He said something which Lily couldn't make out so she turned towards the valley at the bottom of the hill expectantly.

Nothing happened.

'Maybe we're in the wrong place,' she offered.

'Maybe.' But he didn't move. He continued to watch for fifteen minutes. Finally there was a ripple in the air. 'Look!' Lily turned back towards the valley. There was a shimmer and the trees around gave a shudder. Then, as if out of nowhere, a black castle appeared.

'We did it! We found it!' Lily cried in amazement. 'What do we do now? Go back to Dumbledore and tell him where it is?'

'We –' James was cut off as he dodged a blazing blue light that was sent directly towards his head.

'What was that?' asked Lily fearfully.

'Ambush!' cried James and leapt at her to get her away from a green jet of light. 'Go back to Dumbledore, tell him what happened!' Death Eaters started coming out of the surrounding woods and from the fortress.

'But –'

'GO! He needs to know!'

Lily hesitantly turned around. She started running full speed, like before in the plain, to get away from the fight. The last thing she saw as she looked back was a black haired man in the midst of a sea of Death Eaters. She gave a small sob and turned away, coming back the way they came.