Disclaimer: I wish.

A/N: Okay. So I know I've said this a million times before, but I must say it again. YOU GUYS TOTALLY ROCK! Thanks to: Hikari Annie, aragog, Tortall gal, Phantom of a Rose, killing u with umbrellas, Kait-Lynn23, And So The Wolf Howls, darkmarkgirl, SyicoChica, Lils, NazgulGirl, Kurinoone, shloki, AnIrishLily, warm summer days, and raymond. Hehe, a little over a hundred reviews...yay! That's exciting! Thanks guys!

Raymond: Oh dear, I did say Lily had green eyes and red hair in chapter 6...my bad! Gosh, I guess I'm so used to Lily as she normally is that I just over-looked that when I proof-read that chapter! Sorry about that!

So, after another hard, boring week of school I finally have time to update the next chapter! Woohoo. And I promise that my cliffies are taking a break, so you won't see one for a while at least! lol!

I hope you enjoy chapter 12!

OOO

Chapter 12:

Voldemort fixed his greedy red eyes upon Harry, twirling his wand casually in between his fingers. "Quite an impressive escape attempt. Snape will surely be punished for his foolishness," he said. "But I'm sorry to say I expected more from 'the Chosen One'. Running cowardly away without a fight…that's not like you, Harry."

Harry stared straight back at the deformed man, no trace of fear evident on his face. "You're the only coward here," he retorted, "At least I don't need a group of followers to back me up."

A flash of some undistinguishable emotion flashed through Voldemort's eyes, deepening their red shade. However, as quickly as it had come, the moment passed and Voldemort was calm and collected again. "Clever, Harry, but you also have faced me many times with back up; that Diggory boy, your Mudblood and blood-traitor, your godfather." It was clear that Voldemort was attempting to anger Harry in order to put him off edge. Harry glared and his wand arm began to shake with the pressure from trying to keep control of his emotions.

There was a moment of silence, broken only by the three Death Eaters jaunting laughs, as Voldemort surveyed Harry amusingly, almost as if he found the situation enjoyable. His gaze finally landed on James and Lily, and his mouth formed into a taunt jeer. "And now look who you've brought into the fray."

Lily twitched involuntarily. Frankly, James could aim a spell at Voldemort now while he was still in possession of his wand. However, he felt as if that's what Voldemort was waiting for, waiting for them to make the first move. Never make the first move in a duel, James' dad had always told him. "Actually," James began, deciding that maybe if they could keep Voldemort talking, help would come, "I believe it was your brainless henchmen that brought us here to this thrilling atmosphere."

"You filthy Mudblood lover," sneered a confident voice, "You wish to continue speaking to the Dark Lord in that way?" Bellatrix was back and she whipped out her wand quickly in a complete fit of rage.

The three teenagers retaliated and raised their own wands, reacting to the threatening manner of the woman Death Eater. "At least we're brave enough to say his actual name," chimed in Lily bravely. James couldn't help but admire the way Lily was handling the current situation.

"Cruci—"

"Furnunculus," James cried, attempting to cut Bellatrix's spell off so that it wouldn't hit its victim, Lily.

Bellatrix shrieked as large ugly boils erupted all over her face and began spreading down to the rest of her body. She groped at her face, as if trying to wipe off the effect of the spell.

"Frantumare," Harry bellowed, finishing off Bellatrix as she was lifted up into the air and smashed into the opposite wall of the dark tunnel, where she lay knocked out. Voldemort simply stood there, watching the scene in front of him unfold. It was clear that Voldemort cared nothing for his loyal followers, his so called 'friends'. But no, Voldemort never did, and never would, count anyone of his Death Eaters as a true friend.

"Stupefy!" Lily shouted at the same time that James yelled, "Immobulus." The Death Eater turned and deflected James' spell, but Lily's came soon after, catching the man in the back. However, there was no time to celebrate in their victory—

"Expelliarumus."

James, Lily, and Harry watched, caught off guard, as their wands rose into the air and shot into Voldemort's awaiting arms. "You three really are a nuisance," he said calmly, rolling the three confiscated wands around in the palm of his bony hand, "it really is easier with you two gone," he grinned eerily at Lily and James.

"Well, all the more reason to come back then," James retorted, his eyes trying to get used to the darkness; without their wands, the only light emanated from Voldemort's.

Voldemort's eyes shone wildly, a sneer crossing across his ghost-like features. "No worries," he held out his wand menacingly, "now I have the chance to get rid of all three of you, together."

It seemed as if time had slowed down as Voldemort began swinging his arm down, his mouth forming incomprehensible words. James could hardly hear what he was saying, his mind locking, but he knew what was coming. "Avada—"

Clearing his mind, James hastily cast around for something in the tunnel that could help them, save them. Nothing. Blasted tunnel. He ran through all of his memories as quick as possible, trying to locate something that would offer advice on how to survive a Killing Curse being shot at you by an evil snake wannabe.

"Keda—"

With less than a split second to act, James jumped into action, thinking of the first thing that came to his mind. It all happened so fast, that even Voldemort was caught unaware as a brilliantly white stag charged at him. The magnificent animal's antlers caught Voldemort in the stomach heavily, causing him to double over in pain. A blast of deathly green light shot out of the tip of Voldemort's wand, but with the force of the stag's impact, the spell missed its mark, hitting the pile of rubble made by the earlier cave in. Sparks and sharp fragments of broken rock exploded at the Unforgivable Curse's collision.

Without wasting time, the stag then attacked Voldemort's left arm and their three wands dropped from his hand and rolled across the tunnel floor as James' Animagus form bit down on Voldemort's wrist.

Harry and Lily dove for them as James continued to distract the remaining Death Eater and Voldemort. Lily grabbed hers and James' and spun around, watching as the stag ran in circles around Voldemort, who at this point seemed enraged beyond reason. James' erratic plan of action gave the up-hand the trio needed, for they were no longer defenseless and had thrown Voldemort and the Death Eater into a pure scene of chaos.

"Inconscio," Lily exclaimed, waving her wand about her and aiming a spell at the tall Death Eater, who had been preparing to aim a spell at the stag as it continued to try to throw Voldemort off balance. To Lily's surprise, the Death Eater responded quickly, his reflexives reacting skillfully.

The Death Eater sneered unpleasantly, flicking her spell away with his wand as easily as if he were shooing away a bothersome fly. "The little girl wants to play," he wheezed, grinning, revealing his yellow stained teeth. "Falsmorte."

"Protego," Lily responded, conjuring a glowing blue shield out of nowhere. The spell didn't harm her, but caused her to lose her balance and stumble into the wall. In that one precious moment, the Death Eater acted.

"Crucio!"

Pain hit Lily, pain she had never felt in her life, before she could even register what had happened. She vaguely felt herself fall to the ground and she heard herself screaming as if from far away. A thousand scorching knives were being stabbed into every inch of her skin, setting her whole body on fire. She begged for it to stop, she needed it to stop or she would surely die from the agony.

"Stupefy!" Harry cried, catching the jeering Death Eater from behind. As he fell unconscious, the Unforgivable curse lifted, and Lily laid panting and aching on the ground. She hastily wiped her eyes and clutched her wand in her right hand. She locked eyes with the stag and she knew James was trying to make sure she was alright. With a slight nod, she shakily got to her feet, feeling nauseous.

In that split second of time it had taken James to reassure himself that Lily was alright, Voldemort had been handed his chance. Illuminating the tunnel abruptly, a flash of light like lightening bolted through the air and hit the stag across its chest. The stag's beautiful eyes widened as the spell hit its target and then it fell, slowly, to the ground.

Lily's heart beat rose enormously as she stared, horrified, at the spot where James' laid, unmoving, transformed back into his human form. He couldn't be dead. With a jolt in her brain, she could see the moving of his chest; up and down, up and down. And yet, it seemed as if his breaths were coming shallowly and unsteadily.

"Ah, quite ingenious. Seems as if noble James Potter is an unregistered Animagus," Voldemort stated. Before Lily or Harry could defend themselves, Voldemort flicked his wand again, procuring thick ropes out of nowhere. Almost as if an invisible force was moving them, Lily and Harry were pushed roughly back into the wall where the ropes bound them there.

Voldemort approached them slowly, never letting his eyes leave theirs. Lily's breath caught in her throat as she stared at the manic gleam in those red eyes. His thin lips upturned into a wild leer as he casually stepped over Bellatrix's unconscious body.

And at that moment, Lily knew she was going to die. She and Harry were alone, completely at Voldemort's feet right where he wanted them. A large lump rose up into her throat, cutting off her air pipe. Her parents would never be able to see her off to school again, her friends would be left to wonder what had happened to her, she would never get the chance to finish her schooling or admit to James that she had started falling for him... With a pang to her heart, Lily realized that her son, Harry, would cease to exist, nobody ever having a memory of him. She could feel the tears build up behind her eyes, but she would not let Voldemort see them; she had to be strong.

"You're pathetic," she hissed coldly, fighting against the giant golf ball in her throat. From further down the exit of the tunnel, voices could be heard. Disgusted at the idea, Lily assumed that more Death Eaters were probably coming to watch the murder of the Potters.

"Pathetic, Mudblood? Is that really the best you could do? Those are the last words you wish to leave behind?" Voldemort asked, smirking.

Harry struggled angrily against his bindings as he glared upon the man in front of him; the man responsible for ruining his life and hunting after him for the past five years. Voices were becoming louder, more panicked, from down the tunnel. "You may kill me, but do you actually think that you'll fulfill the prophecy by doing so? Others are out there that want you dead as well. You rely too much on the prophecy, Tom."

Voldemort grinned, not his usual sneer, but a genuine grin as if he were truly happy. This frightened Lily all the more, for it made his face look darker, and if it were possible, more inhuman. "After I kill you, Harry Potter, I will be more powerful than ever before. No one will ever again be able to challenge me."

Lily mustered up all of her courage. If she was going down, she may as well be bold. "I highly doubt that."

With a roar of defiance, Voldemort raised his wand high up into the air. "I'll leave you with the comforting thought that I will next kill the stag. Goodbye, Harry Potter."

An echoing crash sounded from down the tunnel, and suddenly Voldemort was thrown clear off of his feet. Lily and Harry watched, confusedly, as Voldemort jumped up and spun around facing the tunnel exit. "Albus," he hissed and his wand arm twitched slightly.

Dumbledore? Lily's head became light headed as her heart seemed to pump wildly inside of her chest. Was it possible the headmaster had found them?

"Good evening, Tom," came the calm voice of Albus Dumbledore. He emerged into the scene, his wand held in front of him, with Hermione and Ron in tow. Their headmaster surveyed the scene, his light blue eyes trailing over the fallen bodies of the Death Eaters, to James' still form, to Harry and Lily tied to the wall, and finally landing on Voldemort himself. "You surely didn't expect that your poorly made defenses would stop me from entering, did you?" he asked, circling the Dark Lord.

Voldemort's eyes darkened. "I had been hoping on it, but no matter." Voldemort jabbed his wand, aiming a spell wordlessly at Dumbledore, who easily conjured up a shield. The spell rebounded on its caster, but Voldemort merely side stepped it, the spell crashing into the wall.

Hermione and Ron ran over towards Lily and Harry, dodging spells that were being fired between Voldemort and Dumbledore. Hermione whipped out her wand, pointing it at the ropes that bound the two. "Diffindo," she said, and the bindings broke, releasing Harry and Lily.

"Blimey," Ron stated, looking pale. "Are you guys okay?"

Harry nodded, gripping his wand tightly, his face resolute. "Come on, we have to help." He tried to make his way further down the tunnel to reach where Dumbledore and Voldemort were dueling, but wasn't able to. An invisible barrier had been placed around them, no doubt Dumbledore had put it there in order to stop them from doing something stupid. "He's blocked us!" Harry watched, the only thing he could do, horrified at what would happen now.

"Members from the Order of the Phoenix should be arriving shortly, Tom," Dumbledore stated politely, as if he had invited Voldemort over for a cup of tea.

As if on cue, pairs of hurrying feet could be heard making their way rather quickly down the tunnel towards them. "This way," shouted a muffled voice.

Voldemort looked around quickly, his mouth twisted in rage. He pointed his wand towards the ceiling, muttered a spell, and with a swish of his cloak he vanished. As soon as he left, however, the ceiling began to cave in, creating a second barrier of stone and mud. It had been Voldemort's last lousy attempt to kill one of them.

Dumbledore strode over to them, his face grim. "Is everything alright?"

Harry nodded quietly, thinking about how close he, and his mother and father, had been to death. He nodded again. "Yeah…he got James with a spell though," Harry answered, looking over at the unconscious form of his sixteen year old dad.

Dumbledore bent over James, running his wand over the length of James' body. After several tense, quiet seconds, the professor straightened up again.

"Is he going to be okay, sir?" Lily asked hesitantly, gazing down at James' face. Her mind was still trying to process all of what had happened.

"He is alive. He'll need to see Madame Pomfrey." Everyone seemed to breathe more freely after this pronouncement.

A voice from the other side of the rock barrier startled them all. "The way's blocked," came a recognizable voice, a woman's. Tonks.

"Is there another way in?" spoke a deep man's voice.

"Kingsley," called out Dumbledore, stepping closer to the cave in. "We're alright."

From the other side of the wall, there were sighs of immediate relief, and then Alastor Moody's voice spoke through. "What about the Potters and Evans?"

"Everyone's fine, Alastor. Bit late to show up, weren't you?" Dumbledore answered, his voice set in a teasing manner.

Moody grumbled in response annoyingly. "Would've been here faster if it weren't for this blasted wooden leg."

There was silence as the two different groups stood on their respected sides of the rubble wall, "I would stand back if I were you," Dumbledore finally said, calculating the barrier in front of him. He waved his wand and the barrier formed by the collapse of the ceiling was blasted apart, creating an opening just large enough for them to escape through.

"Where is he, Albus?" Elphias Doge asked, as the Order members stepped through the opening.

Dumbledore conjured a stretcher for James, lying him down on it. "It appears that Tom Riddle didn't fancy having a meeting with all of us," he responded, levitating the stretcher.

Tonks emerged, her hair light brown today and her eyes a deep blue color. She looked down at James. "What happened to him?" she asked worriedly.

"Nothing Madame Pomfrey can't fix. Now, excuse me for a moment while I send these students back to my office." Dumbledore pulled out the same coin he had used earlier for a Portkey and handed it to Lily. "This will take you back to my office. Wait for me there. I expect all of you," he broke off, staring pointedly at Harry, "to be there when I return. I will take Mister Potter to the Hospital Wing."

OOO

It was slightly surreal to be standing in Dumbledore's office where all was calm and the only sound that could be heard was coming from the headmaster's many trinkets and magical objects, when just a couple minutes ago they had been face-to-face with Voldemort about to meet death. Lily looked around at the other three, her sudden urge of adrenaline from the fight slowly returning back to a normal level. She had a questions; a thousand questions, but the after affect of what she had just been through seemed to be clamping her mouth shut.

The four teenagers jumped as the silence was broken by the heavy office door swinging open. Dumbledore strolled in, his purple robes bellowing out behind him as he sat down behind his desk and surveyed the group from behind his spectacles. "Oh, how rude of me," he exclaimed suddenly, and with a swish of his wand four squishy chairs transfigured out of thin air, which Lily, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all took a seat in. "I must impress upon you the seriousness of the damage you and James could have gotten yourself, and others, into Harry," Dumbledore began calmly. "I thought I told you I would go find Miss Evans—"

"Well, judging by the time it took you to find us she wouldn't be here now if James and I weren't there," Harry retorted angrily. He seemed to be channeling all of his worry and problems into the form of anger which was, unfortunately, directed at Professor Dumbledore.

"Which is why I must thank you for your bravery." Harry's mouth opened to retort in order to defend his and James' actions, but at hearing his headmaster's pronouncement, shut it quickly, looking slightly taken aback. "Also, without the help of Miss Granger's and Mr. Weasley's quick thinking, I fear I might have been too late."

Lily and Harry turned to face Hermione and Ron, each a bit pink in the face at the compliment. "As soon as we noticed you and James must have let go of the portkey, we knew we had to find you," Ron explained.

Hermione nodded. "Ron and I ran to get the Marauder's Map, hoping that maybe it had been an accident that you two dropped contact with the portkey. We thought maybe you were trying to return back into Hogwarts' grounds and we'd be able to locate you on the map. Luna and Neville had no idea where we had gone because we lost them in the crowd of students gathering in the entrance hall."

"How did you find us though? We were way deep into the tunnel; I thought the map didn't show that far?" Harry asked, awaiting for the answer. Lily simply sat, listening, her voice still failing her.

"It doesn't show that far," Ron said, "but it does show the Whomping Willow and the beginning of the tunnel. We saw Crabbe's and Goyle's fathers standing in the mouth of the opening."

"Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley found me immediately and the tunnel led us straight towards you," Dumbledore finished, observing them all again. "Now, I believe I'm going to have to cancel any further Hogsmeade trips after this. I daresay more parents are going to want their children home after tonight. All of you, including James as well, are going to spend Christmas at the Burrow with the rest of the Order."

Harry nodded and looked around. He hated to admit it, but if it weren't for Snape they would have had no chance of coming out of that secret tunnel alive. "What about Snape?" he asked suddenly, staring at Dumbledore who rubbed his temples wearingly.

"Professor Snape is an accomplished Occlumens. Luckily, Voldemort knows nothing of how he handed you your wands. However, he is surely being punished for allowing three sixteen year olds get the better of him."

Lily grimaced only half-heartedly as she was still absorbing all of the information she had just learned. Apparently, she was going to spend Christmas at someplace called the Burrow, of which she had no idea what that was, and had almost just been wiped out of existence. It was safe to say that the future definitely held dangerous surprises.

"Now, before Madame Pomfrey has me decapitated for keeping her patients from her too long, I suggest you four head down to the hospital wing," Dumbledore proposed, casting yet another troubling memory into the mass of swirling white threads in the small stone basin in front of him.

Lily gulped, glancing up at her professor. The thought had only just occurred to her that they hadn't been the only ones in Hogsmeade. "Sir, how many…is everyone alright?"

With a sigh, Dumbledore fixed his eyes upon Lily. "Luckily, only a few students are injured. Miss Weasley," Harry and Ron jumped to their feet automatically.

"What happened to her?" Ron demanded.

"Only a broken wrist. She is being taken care of as we speak as are two Ravenclaws and a Hufflepuff, none of the injuries life threatening," Dumbledore said.

Nodding, Lily stood up and followed Hermione, Harry, and Ron out of the Hospital Wing, where Madame Pomfrey wasted no time in fussing over them and Lily sat by James' side as he slept peacefully.

OOO

Well, there you have it. They're all alive and as happy as they can be given the circumstances! lol!

Chapter 13: It's time to party at the Burrow! Because it's only the coolest house ever!

Thanks for reading!

--HeyLookTheSnitch