Thank you all for the feedback. I think I better worn you, we have a shaky start here, but it's gets better. When I wrote this I wasn't entirly sure where the story was going; I've got it pretty much worked out now.

Chapter 2

Lily closed her eyes when the spinning got too much. When her feet finally found solid ground, and the dizziness passed, she opened her eyes again, to find herself in the same spot she had been, looking at the same wall.

The plaque was gone.

"We broke it." She stated, her eyes wide. "My dad's going to kill me."

"We can't have broke it." Scorpius muttered. "We must have...gone somewhere else. Where are we?"

"We're at Hogwarts." Lily snapped, looking around. When her gaze landed on the open doors to the great hall, she saw it was full of people. "But...that doesn't make sense." She muttered. It was only when she realised she half recognised some of them that an impossible, terrifying thought occured to her. "Maybe a better question is when are we?"

"When? That doesn't make sense -" Scorpius said impatiently, turning round to see what she was looking at. He stopped talking abruptly.

"Dinner's over." He said finally.

"They're not eating. They're talking." Lily said carefully. "And in a minute, lots of those people are going to come out here. Scorpius, I think we've gone back. To that night."

"The - the battle, you mean?" Scorpius asked nervously, and Lily nodded. "But - we can't be. Big sheets of gold don't have the power to take us back in time." He looked around again, then lifted a hand to the back of his head. "Maybe I hit my head."

"Maybe I'll hit your head if you don't shut up and let me think." Lily muttered. "Maybe there's some kind of spell on the plaque. I mean, we were talking about wanting to see for ourselves, right? So maybe the plaque thought we meant it -"

"Thought? It can't think. It's a big piece of metal -"

"Just because you can't see it's brain, doesn't mean it doesn't have one." Lily told him, annoyed. And then, quieter, muttered an old family lesson. "Never trust something unless you can see where it keeps it brain." She looked back at the wall where the plaque should have been. "Too late for that."

"What?"

"Nothing. I just - Hey -" As a sea of students surged out of the great hall, Scorpius grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her into the shadows.

"Sorry, I just didn't think we should be seen." He said, when she glared at him as she brushed her wet hair from her face.

"Maybe they can't see us." Lily replied thoughtfully, scanning the crowd as it moved swiftly up the stairs, panic choking the air. "I mean, are we really back in time, or in a memory? My dad said when you go in memories, the people there can't see you...But who's memory would it be? Maybe we are really back here..." She trailed off, aware her thoughts were simply circling around.

"Well I don't think it's something we should test." Scorpius told her uneasily. "If we mess with the past..."

"Yeah, OK, I know." Lily nodded.

"How do you think we get home? Back to our time?" He asked, looking around, almost as if he expected a convenient door back to their time.

"Maybe we can't. We wished to see the night." Lily cast her eyes over the students, fighting to get up the stairs. "Maybe we're stuck here till it's over."

"What? But - but what if one of us gets killed?" Scorpius asked, horrified. Lily looked up at him.

"We'll just have to be careful, won't we." She shrugged.

"Careful?" Scorpius hissed. "Careful won't stop the killing curse."

"That's true." Lily replied, rather enjoying his wide-eyed panic. The sadistic side to her rarley got fufillment.

"Right." He said finally. "We'll just stay here, hidden, until -"

"That's not why we're here." Lily said. If they really were stuck here until the night was over, there was no way she was hiding. "We're here to see, and maybe if we don't see we can't get back."

"You're not serious? One of us could get killed!" Scorpius cried, his voice ever so slightly louder than it had been. He realised, and looked around to make sure no one had heard him.

Thankfully, the students were far too preoccupied with the thought of impending death.

"Look, I want to see this, OK?" Lily told him candidly. Her hair was curling slightly from the rain, her hazel eyes fixed on his, and she looked so innocent to him. "I wasn't just saying it, and I know it seems stupid and reckless and...but we're here. We're here to see it. If you want to stay here, hidden, then fine. But not me."

She turned, and, keeping into the shadows, started forward.

"Wait - wait." Scorpius said quickly. "I'm not letting you go off alone."

"And why not?" She demanded, aware of the "you're-a-girl-you-need-protecting" tone of his voice. It was the same tone her brothers used all the time.

"For one thing, your brothers would kill me if I let you get yourself killed." Scorpius replied flatly, and fought a smirk when her eyes flashed in anger.

"I can take care of myself!"

"I believe that, but you're still only a fifth year. Al's a mate, and I won't let his little sister die. Especially not in the past."

"You guys aren't that close." Lily muttered darkly, causing a surprisingly quick smile from the older boy.

"It's a guy thing. Besides, Teddy would kill me too. Plus, I've known you since you were little, and I'm not going to let you run off alone."

"You saw me once a year at Teddy's birthday parties!" Lily snapped.

"And for another, I want to see it too." He paused for a moment. "You know the story more than I do. What's happening right now?" Lily hesitated, wondering whether to argue a little, but decided there wasn't much point.

"They're evacuating the younger students, and the ones who don't want to fight. The people still in the great hall are making a sort of battle plan." Lily said, frowning slightly. "Ah...in a little while, they'll spread out, some of them going outside, some of them going to all the passages and towers and stuff. My dad'll head up to the room of requirment, meet my aunt and uncle, and my mum. Oh, and Teddy's mum."

"They die tonight, don't they? Teddy's parents?" He asked quietly.

"Yes. Ah, um, Teddy's mum goes off to find his dad. My mum has to wait outside the room, while my dad and aunt and uncle look for a Horcrux in the room of requirement."

"The diadum." Scorpius murmured. "And that's when my dad..." He trailed off, sounding half-ashamed, and Lily simply nodded.

"Um, mum was in there for protection, but when...our parents were in the room, she got involved in the fight." Lily smiled slightly. "She says it was only because she had to, that she didn't plan to, but I don't think she had any intention of staying in there."

"Right. So what was happening with the rest of the castle?"

"It was at war." Lily replied softly. "Death Eaters were storming the castle. The begining of the end."

Scorpius allowed her a moment to be amazed at the enormity of the situation, then spoke. "Where do you want to go?" She blinked at the sound of his voice, then looked at him and shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe we should wait till they've...oh..." She trailed of and shrank further into the shadows when her dad - younger, obviously, than she'd ever seen him - ran out of the great hall. It was strange enough to see her parents as teenagers in photos, but in solid, real, form, it was even stranger. Lily watched her father join the crowd, and disappear.

"Lily?" Scorpius said, and she shook herself slightly.

"OK. Ah, let's wait until they've all got out of the hall, started fighting."

"Then what? Where are we supposed to go? What are we supposed to do?" Scorpius demanded. "Can we help? Can we die? What the hell are we supposed to do here?"

"Yes, Scorpius, because I have all the answers." Lily replied sarcastically. "I didn't bring us here. And I'm sorry I don't understand it, or have a plan. Calm yourself down, will you?"

She turned away from him and back to the great hall, trying to see what was going on inside.

"Sorry." Scorpius muttered beside her. Lily nodded curtly. Then, suddenly, she turned back to him.

"Disillusionment charm." She said, and he brightened. "Can you do them? I haven't learnt them yet, but it'd keep us hidden, wouldn't it -?"

"Yes - here " He pulled out his wand, muttered something as he tapped her head. "They'll keep us hidden, even if they won't keep us alive."

"Drama queen." Lily muttered.