Those Who Have Thrice Defied Him
Chapter 3
Two choices can add up to just a single defiance, even if both are almost impossible to fight against, as the Potters found out the time that made them 'those who have thrice defied him'. This time, it wasn't an easy choice, or an accidental choice, that led to or became the defiance: it was an attack that was entirely made up of defying Lord Voldemort's wishes. Lily and James knew they could be hurt, but didn't realise how they would be hurt.
The third and final defiance came when Lily and James had been married for six months. They were, now, part of the Order of the Phoenix, and they and three others – Sirius and the Longbottoms – were on a mission for the Order when it came to the final defiance.
They were ambushed. The five of them were only meant to be listening to a conversation between three Death Eaters – five people were needed just in case, but that just in case wasn't expected to be needed. The intelligence must have been wrong. The Death Eaters were meant to meet in the alleyway in front of the Order members, not in the street behind. There were meant to be three Death Eaters. There were four Death Eaters, plus Lord Voldemort. It was not a good mistake to make.
The members all had Disillusionment charms on them, but the Death Eaters knew where they were going to be – was there a traitor in the Order? – so the first spells that came were in the right direction, and one hit Alice Longbottom – they heard her fall.
As had already been planned (just in case), Frank Longbottom sent a patronus message saying 'Help', whilst the other three used Shield Charms. Now that they had charms around themselves, the Disillusionment charms did not help – the Death Eaters could see exactly where they were anyway from the glow of spells. Frank was hit by a spell before he could put up his Shield Charm entirely, but as the patronus was still moving, they knew it was not an Avada Kedavra that hit him.
Sirius, Lily and James had never been in a real duel before, and a duel when you are down on numbers, and are fighting one of the greatest wizards in the world, is not the best type to start in.
Afterwards, Lily could never remember exactly what she had been doing, or if she hit any of the Death Eaters. She knew that she was mainly using Stunners, but everything was too much of a blur to actually know if she stunned any of them, or if any of their spells had got through her Shield charm.
James always said that he had stunned two of the Death Eaters, and had put a Full Body Bind on another, but Lily decided that it was more likely that he had hit maybe two of them, and either she or Sirius had hit the other.
Sirius was in a frenzy. He was attempting to jinx each and every one of the Death Eaters, including Voldemort, and he may have succeeded in jinxing two, but he forgot to keep part of his mind on the Shield charm, and it disintegrated as a purple jet of light hit it, and then hit him. No one was sure what the purple spell did, and as Sirius was still disillusioned, they could not tell whether he had fallen or not.
All that were left fighting were Lily and James, and they were against Voldemort. Lily and James were attacking him with as many spells as they could think of, and as quickly as was physically possible, but Voldemort simply flicked his wand, and the spells bounced off him, coming straight back at the Potters.
They dodged the spells fairly easily, but Voldemort flicked his wand again and their Shield charms were gone, as were the Disillusionment charms on all five of them. Frank and Alice were both down, and Sirius was down, bleeding heavily from his head, most likely having fainted from the blood loss.
Voldemort stood laughing at Lily and James, not attempting to spell them, just laughing at their futile attempts to attack him. The spells were still coming, but they were getting slower and more feeble – both Lily and James were running out of energy, and they could not keep up to this speed of spells for much longer, even when they had no spells coming back at them.
"Imperio!" A sudden spell caught James off guard, and a second later the same spell caught Lily.
Voldemort was still laughing as they received their orders.
Attack him – he's your enemy.
Lily, in her mind, went through all the possible spells that she could use – the ones she had been taught, the ones she had read, the ones she had seen, trying to find the perfect one for an enemy who wasn't attacking her. She raised her wand – she had found the perfect spell. It would hurt James more than anything else could.
Wait – there was a new voice – James? James who? James Potter? But… but he means the world to you.
The first voice spoke again – he's your enemy, remember. Remember all those times he's hurt you, all those times you could have attacked him, all those times you would have attacked him if something hadn't been stopping you.
The second voice was retaliating – who stopped you? You stopped yourself attacking him. You can stop yourself attacking him again. You don't have to listen to that voice. That voice is the real enemy. Stop it from making you attack your husband.
The first voice – husband? Who'd want him for a husband? He's an enemy.
Lily heard yet another voice – don't listen to them. Look at what you'd do, and look into your heart. Which voice is actually you, and which is the enemy? Just ask yourself that.
The first two voices both spoke at once – I'm your friend. I'm your heart, but Lily had stopped listening. She was looking at James, who was looking back at her, shocked. She knew which voice to follow.
Attack her – she's your enemy.
James was having a similar battle within his head
That's Lily.
She's your enemy.
But – but you love her.
Love is blind
She loves you.
That's just what you want to think.
She'd never attack you.
Have you seen how she looks at you when she's angry?
Have you seen how she looks at you when she's happy?
She hates you.
Not any more. Not since-
Since fifth year? But you didn't change her mind.
She changed her own mind.
Do you really believe that? It was her argument with Severus.
It was her.
But you can't be sure, can you?
That's the past.
The past is important.
Not as important as the future.
Look at her. Will there be a future?
James looked at her with agony. He should attack her. But those eyes…
"No!"
Both shouts came at the same time, and as they threw the curse off, they dropped their wand arms to their sides.
Voldemort was about to curse them both, when spells came from the end of the street. The Order of the Phoenix had finally arrived to help. Spells had almost hit Voldemort when he Apparated away, leaving his Death Eaters for the Order to do anything with.
Later, James and Lily would barely ever mention their ordeal to each other, and when they did they would not admit how much of a struggle it was to overcome the curse, but they both knew that they had overcome the curse because of the other.
A/N: Please, please, please review. I really want to know exactly what people think – I want to know how bad I am at writing.