It's Not Over Yet

James ducked as the curse went flying by him, and he felt his hair rustle with the force of it—as though being blown by a breeze. Thank Merlin for Quidditch Skills! he thought as he straightened himself up. Voldemort swore and raised his wand to strike again, but just as he was about to send another curse towards James, a Death Eater ran into the room, pushing James roughly to the wooden floor. The Death Eater kneeled at Voldemort's feet and kissed the hem of his robes.

"My Lord!" he panted, still on his knees. "There are Ministry officials outside! They're surrounding the house!"

Voldemort's eyes narrowed into red slits as he frowned and strode quickly out of the room. "Watch them," he commanded his Death Eater. "Make sure they don't escape alive."

"Yes, Master," the Death Eater said to Voldemort's back, the only part of him that was still visible as his brisk strides carried him down the corridor leading to the stairwell.

"Stun him," James mouthed to Lily, inching slowly closer to where she sat slumped against the wall. "Use nonverbal spells," he hissed out of the corner of his mouth. "He won't suspect a thing."

Lily nodded; a red beam of light shot out of her wand and hit the Death Eater square in the chest. He keeled over, rigid as a stone and unmoving. James beamed at Lily, who was looking at James in amazement. "How did you get here?" she asked quietly, putting a hand on his arm. "How did you know I was here?"

"Dumbledore," James said simply. "That's how I knew you were here. He said that Voldemort wanted to associate you with your parents, probably to make you suffer. I can't tell you how I got here; that's a Marauder secret."

"James," Lily whispered, shaking slightly. "You saved my life."

"Don't speak too soon," James said grimly, looking at the door and listening for footsteps. "There's bound to be more of them." He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder to the Death Eater that lay out cold on the floor. Sure enough, footsteps were pounding towards them, growing steadily louder.

"James, get up!" Lily whispered urgently. "We have to fight our way out." James stood up and held out his hand to pull Lily up. "I can get up fine myself, thanks," Lily huffed irritably.

"Lily, now's not the time to argue!" James whined, grabbing Lily's arm and pulling her up. "Just say the first spell that comes to mind."

The door creaked open. "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" James screamed, aiming his wand at the door.

"Protego." Dumbledore's voice echoed in the room as he said the Shielding Charm. James's hex bounced off of it as though it were rubber.

Lily's jaw dropped open in astonishment. "P-P-Professor Dumbledore?" she squeaked. When she rubbed her eyes and pinched herself to make sure that she was, in fact, not dreaming, she ran up to her Headmaster and hugged him, before stepping back and looking at the floor embarrassedly.

Dumbledore chuckled. "We must move quickly," he said, suddenly serious. "The Death Eaters are distracted by the Ministry's Aurors, but that will not last for long. We must apparate, and quickly. I trust that you both passed your tests?" Lily and James nodded deftly. "To Honeydukes in Hogsmeade," Dumbledore said, as footsteps echoed in the corridor outside. They turned on their heels at the same time, and disappeared with a pop, reappearing again outside Honeydukes, which was now closed.

"Sir, why didn't we apparate closer to the school?" Lily asked quietly.

"I do not wish to be seen or overheard, and even my office is sometimes not safe in troubled times such as these." He started to walk into an alleyway next to Honeydukes and beckoned them to follow him. It was dark and eerie, but Lily felt safe with Dumbledore next to her. Somehow, with Dumbledore there, things always seemed to go right. "Now," he whispered as James and Lily entered the alleyway, "James, you must first tell me how you got into the house when I specifically told you not to go looking for Lily."

"Sir," James started, looking guiltily at his own feet, "I know I shouldn't have gone after Lily, but I"—he drew a deep breath and continued—"I didn't want to stand the chance of losing anybody else."

Tears were now streaming down Lily's face as she realized how lucky she was to have escaped. "Please, Professor, if he hadn't come at the time he did, I wouldn't be here right now."

"I understand, Miss Evans," Dumbledore said calmly. "Will you please describe to me everything that happened tonight? Do you know who kidnapped you?"

"I can't say who kidnapped me," Lily said. This wasn't a lie, but wasn't a truth; the fact was, she didn't want to say because she was afraid of what would happen to her. "But I can tell you what happened. I was walking in the hallway, thinking about…other things, and so I was distracted. I turned the corner and heard footsteps behind me, but when I stopped, they stopped. I heard what sounded like a cloak, and also some whispers. Right when I took out my wand, a man grabbed me and blindfolded me. There were four of them—the Death Eaters, I mean. They took me to my house and asked me to look around, then sent me upstairs to talk to Voldemort. Then Voldemort said that I would be good for his side, and I told him that his side was the wrong side and that I would never join it. And…then James came," Lily ended, waving her hand at James lamely.

"Yes, well, I think it best if you watch out for each other," Dumbledore said, eyeing them seriously over his half-moon glasses. "I doubt that Voldemort has given up. It's not over yet."

A/N: Felt like being nice today and giving you something to read. Yay Dan now you won't be bored. (aha if you're not Dan, you can ignore that last part). Okay, so guys, I love you oh-so much. I have almost 150 reviews! If you review and get me to 150, I'll update over the weekend AND next Wednesday. So review. THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS I'VE BEEN GETTING SO FAR! x3