Ch. 8 - Darkness Arising

"Okay so if my scheme works out like it should, we just use the escape plan B, like I said in the first place, and we should be able to avoid the Trumpett's and the Bumblee's," Dorcas said as her and Lily hid out in one of the less crowded corners of the room. "So do you remember the plan?"

Lily wrinkled her nose. "Would I be in trouble if I said 'no'?"

Dorcas sighed. "Just follow me." She muttered and grabbed Lily's hand, weaving her through the massive crowd toward the stairs. Lily didn't really know where they were going, she just knew Dorcas wanted to get out of the ballroom. They probably end up getting caught and brought back in the ballroom, anyway, but Lily knew better than to argue with Dorcas when she had a plan.

"And how exactly are you going to explain to your mum when she realizes we've disappeared?" Lily asked as they went up the stairs, dodging the socializing groups standing there.

"Hopefully she won't notice," Dorcas said, her lips twitching, "I saw her just a couple minutes ago and she's let herself get a bit too carried away with the firewhiskey."

"They're serving firewhiskey here?" Lily asked, baffled – it seemed too unsophisticated to be at a Ministry ball.

She grinned. "Nope. But she and dad always say to bring your own drinks."

They both laughed as they reached the top of the stairs, but it was cut off by a loud crashing from the windows at the right of the ballroom. Lily and Dorcas spun around and watched in horror as cloaked and masked people flew in on broomsticks, curses flying form their wands at threatening speeds. People screamed and started to run towards the exit, panicked. Lily and Dorcas didn't have their wands, leaving them completely defenseless. Lily didn't think it would've mattered if they used their magic in this situation, against –

"Death Eaters." Lily whispered.

"My mum." Dorcas breathed, breaking into a run down the stairs, against the crowd. Lily followed close behind, and a curse flew right by her ear, hitting the person in back of her. Lily flinched and almost lost Dorcas in the crowd, but she managed to push her way to her again. It was getting harder and harder to fight against the swarm of people trying to escape, and she heard screams and shouts of curses and protective charms all around her.

Lily finally caught sight of the Potter's and Sirius, and she saw that the Meadowes, MacDonald's, and Prewett's were making their way to them as well. When Dorcas made it first to her family, her mother cried out and pulled her into a desperate hug.

Mr. Meadowes grabbed his family and started making his way towards the stairs, waving the others along with him. "Come on, we have to get out of here."

The adults shot curses at the Death Eaters, but they were too fast on the broomsticks. Their cackles resonated through the ballroom, audible through the shrieks of terror. Lily spotted one of them kidnapping a woman and hitching her unconscious body to the back of his broom. Lily couldn't imagine what they were going to do to the poor lady.

Lily hadn't realized how far behind she'd gotten from the others and she breath caught as she tried to push her way to her group again. Suddenly, there was a hand at her hair and she snapped her head up and found a masked face looking down at her. She saw the eyes through the holes and could've sworn she'd seen them before – that gleam psychotic joy at someone else's pain –

She screamed out as the Death Eater tugged at her hair and tried to lift her to the broom. The crowd passed her by and Lily was shocked and desperate that not one of them was trying to help her. She supposed that said a lot about the Ministry employee's. Lily grabbed onto the Death Eater's wrists and tried to tug herself free, but they were already ascending into the air.

"Stop fighting me, little Mudblood, or you'll regret it!" the Death Eater shrieked, and Lily suddenly knew who they were –

"Stupefy!"

Bellatrix Lestrange flew backwards, taking her broom with her, but not Lily, whom she'd been holding – Lily fell to the ground from where she'd been hovering two feet above, crying out at the pain in her wrist that she'd instinctively tried to catch herself with. Her savior ran over to her, pushing people out of the way and knelt beside her.

She looked up to see James there, immediately taking her wrist and examining it. It was only a second before he murmured, "You'll be fine for now," and then helped her up. He grabbed her hand that didn't have the hurt wrist and they made their way up the stairs again, the flow of the crowd speeding up their departure. Lily caught glimpses of people she knew – the Trumpett brothers looked absolutely terrified and covered their heads as they scampered in the shadows.

James led her toward the fireplaces, where they could floo out of the Ministry, and Lily couldn't have been more grateful to him. Lily looked over her shoulder at who she thought she'd recognized as Fabian. He, his brother, and most of the parents of Lily's friends were some of the few trying to fight off the Death Eaters in the huge round center of the Ministry, and he met her eyes with a fierce determination, yelling, "Go!"

She looked back forward just in time to see James grab the floo powder and shove it into her hands.

"You go first, I'll follow right after you," James yelled over all the noise going on. She hesitated and looked at him, but she pushed her into the fireplace with a "Go, Lily!"

"Potter Manor!" she exclaimed and threw the powder down and she felt the rushing of the floo network, and then she was in the fireplace of the Potter Manor. She stepped out, feeling queasy, and saw all her friends had gotten to the house safely – Dorcas, Mary, Alice, Sirius, Remus, Peter and Frank. She just hoped James wouldn't get hurt before he could floo.

"Where's James? I thought he went back to help you." Sirius said, a worried look forming on his face.

"He coming," Lily said, still breathing heavily from the rush of adrenaline. "He did help me – he saved me from –"

But then the fireplace lit up with the green flames and James stepped out, soot all over his face and his clothes completely ruined. In fact, they all looked terrible.

Lily immediately threw her arms around James instinctively and held him to her tightly. "Thank you, James." She whispered, getting unnecessarily emotional.

He put his arms around her after a moment's hesitation. "You're welcome." He murmured, and she quickly let of him.

She turned back to the others, who were now exchanging stories of what they'd seen and where they'd last seen their family members.

"I saw everyone fighting in the center before I flooed here." Lily offered, stepping into the conversation.

"Everyone seemed fine, granted a few injuries." James added.

"God, we should've guessed they'd be there." Alice breathed, putting a hand to her forehead. Frank put a reassuring arm around her.

"Did anyone see if they got the Minister?" Remus asked, looking between them.

Lily shook her head, along with everyone else, but Frank said, "But I'm sure he's fine – loads of Aurors were there, and they probably swarmed him."

"But that's why I don't really get why they attacked that ball," Sirius said, frowning, "The best Aurors were there, why'd they take that chance?"

"They're too full of themselves, Sirius," Frank said, "I bet Voldemort fills their heads with rubbish like they can do anything, defeat anything. But he doesn't really care if they live or die."

They all remained quiet after that, lost in their own thoughts. Lily hoped everyone else was okay – if one of them was hurt or worse . . . she couldn't even bring herself to think it. But she didn't even know what they'd do. It was too terrifying to think about.

Lily retreated to the couch Dorcas and Mary were also sitting on, and sat beside Mary. Mary put her head on Lily's shoulder and Lily put her head on top of hers, her throat constricting.

"They have to be okay." Mary said, almost as if she was trying to convince herself.

Dorcas grabbed Mary's hand from the other side of her, an odd look of determination and anxiousness on her face. "They're okay, Mary. They're the best Aurors out there."

Mary swallowed and nodded half-heartedly. Lily knew they all doubted it now, with what they'd seen back at the Ministry. The Death Eaters were incredibly talented and the Aurors were very nearly outnumbered, especially with all the people who ran. Lily wished she'd had her wand so she could've contributed at least a little.

Suddenly, Sirius stood, and Lily hadn't realized how worked up he'd become and James grabbed his shoulder, his brow furrowed.

"Sirius, you bloody idiot, listen to yourself. You can't go back! You'd only be distracting them." James insisted, trying to restrain his best friend. Remus and Peter came up beside him to, grabbing his arms.

"I don't know what's gotten into all of you, but I can't sit here while they all risk their lives for us!" he exclaimed, boiling with anger.

"Padfoot, you wouldn't be helping them! You'd be hurting them!" Remus said, trying to get Sirius to listen.

Sirius struggled out of their arms and started to run towards the fireplace, but the rest of the Marauders tackled him to the ground.

"Sirius, you bloody –" James cut off, Dorcas coming over to them.

"Stop! Stop it, Sirius!" she yelled, crouching down to his eye level. He stopped and looked up at her, the anger and frustration still evident in his eyes. "Listen. Listen to me! There is nothing you can do. They're better off without any of us."

The boys got off Sirius when they were sure he wouldn't make a break for it, and he slowly stood, along with Dorcas. He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head, obviously still bothered. Dorcas brought her hands to his face and gently touched his cheek, and all trace of resentment faded from his face. She then brought his head down to her shoulder and held him to her. It seemed like such a private moment, Lily had to look away, and she tried to catch a glimpse of Mary's reaction to this, but found she'd been sleeping through the whole thing – Mary always had slept like a rock.

Lily sighed and slowly stood without waking her friend, and then draped a blanket over her before turning back to the room. Remus had lit the fireplace, since the others would be Apparating back, and Dorcas and Sirius now sat there, murmuring in low tones to each other. Alice and Frank were snuggling up to each other on the loveseat, and she only presumed the other three Marauders had retreated to the kitchen.

That left Lily alone, which she didn't feel like being right then, so she hurried to the kitchen, where she heard the boys voices. She pushed open the door, and the three looked at her from where they were leaning against the counters – James was actually sitting on the island – not eating anything, which was a first. They probably didn't have much of an appetite – Lily didn't either. She smiled sadly at them and went to lean against the counter next to Remus.

"No, I didn't recognize any of them – they were all masked anyway," James said, apparently answering one of the other two's question. "But I could swear a couple of our fellow peers were with them."

Lily knew he was talking about Severus, but she decided to speak up about her realization back at the Ministry.

"I know who was about to capture me." Lily said quietly.

"Someone tried to take you?" Peter asked, shocked.

She sighed. "It was Bellatrix Lestrange. I know it was. I recognized her eyes – and she spoke, too, which was probably a mistake. But it's not like I have any hard proof to use against her anyway."

"So she tried to take you, and that's why James went back." Remus said in realization.

Lily nodded, looking to James. "Thanks again, by the way."

He shrugged, looking down at his hands. "It was nothing."

She was about to argue, but then she heard a scream from the living room, followed closely by a strangled sob. The four in the kitchen straightened in shock, and then quickly ran out into the living room, where their friends had made a circle around someone. Lily pushed through them and saw James' mum standing there, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm so sorry, Alice." Mrs. Susan said, her voice tight and forced. She put her arm on the girls crouched back and Lily looked at her friend anxiously and then back at Mrs. Susan. Before she could ask what happened, James did.

"Mum . . . What's happened?"

She looked to her son and swallowed, another soft cry coming from her and another strangled noise coming from Alice.

"It's Gideon and Fabian," she answered, "They were attacked, and – and . . . Fabian's in urgent care at St. Mungo's, but – but they don't think he's going to make it and . . . and Gideon didn't make it."

The world spun and Lily wasn't even aware of what was going on around her anymore. Gideon – gone? And maybe Fabian, too? No, that wasn't possible. Gideon had been on her arm only a couple hours ago. He'd been there, where she could touch him, where she could laugh with him and now . . . now he's . . .

Now Gideon Prewett was gone – the first victim Lily actually knew that had been taken by Lord Voldemort.