EIGHT
Lily stared up at the starlit sky, her ears ringing. There was a body beside her, but she couldn't tell if it was Sirius' or the dead one. Heart hammering, she waited for the killing blow, unable to even scream for help.
A face loomed over her, hidden by shadow and a black mask. The voice behind it was sexless, the eyes hollow. "Potter'll never believe we have his darling girlfriend, will he?" the person sneered, poking her with his wand. "Wonder what he'll do when he finds out?"
He turned his head. "And Sirius Black." The voice was filled with loathing. "Always was a disappointment. Poor mother, she never had a chance with you."
Lily's mouth filled with bile, but she was frozen. The spell wasn't thawing as fast as it should.
Someone else joined the masked figure. "The others are taken care of," he said breathlessly, as if he had been running. There was a long pause. "Is that…?"
"Potter's girlfriend and best friend." The first one was gleeful. "With no parents to threaten, who else would we have kidnapped? Lucky for us you two just stumbled upon our dead friend here together." He laughed.
Lily felt a hand twitch, and knew Sirius must be getting his movement back–but why wasn't she?
"Hide them, before someone finds them. And the body. I have to return to the party, make an appearance." The first figure left.
The heavier man, also masked, cast his levitating spell. Lily tried desperately to free her mouth, to shout for help, but it was futile–this commonly-used defense spell was holding her completely immobile. The man placed them behind a row of bushes, tucking them underneath the foliage and onto the freezing snow.
"Don't you move," he cackled, before hurrying off.
Sirius sat up, his wand clutched in his hand. "Bloody Death Eaters, in Potter Manor," he grumbled. "Well, come on Evans, get up! We're gonna freeze out here."
Lily couldn't move her lips to swear at him.
He knelt down beside her. "Evans! It was a Stunning Spell, not the Killing Curse for the love of Merlin. Come on!"
When she didn't answer, she saw his face tighten. He touched her neck, and she knew he felt her pulse. "Evans, what–?"
There was a yelp, and Sirius spun around, casting his own Stunning Spell just as the masked man opened his mouth. He fell, paralyzed, to the icy ground, the body of the dead man beside him.
"Should kill him," Sirius hissed, gripping his wand in hatred. But he let out a long breath, and turned back to Lily, who could still not move.
"Oh, for the love of…" He cast another spell upon the Stunned Death Eater before he picked her up, gentle of her head, and started for the manor.
"James is going to blow a hole out of the roof…" He looked down at her, eyes worried. "Are you all right?"
She could barely manage a blink.
"Well, we'll get you to a Healer–God, you do fall easily for spells, don't you?"
Oh, how she wished she could throttle him.
When they got back inside, Sirius ran into a small parlor, where he laid her on the couch and then disappeared again, only to come back with Tracy, James' aunt. She had the business-like look of a doctor on her face.
"How long has she been Stunned?"
"I'd say about ten minutes, maybe more. But we've done it so much in class, it shouldn't have lasted this long."
"Thanks, Sirius. Go fetch Brian, tell him to meet me here. Warn James, but quietly."
"My middle name." He saluted her before jogging away.
Tracy shook her head as she ran her wand over Lily's body. "Always was a sarcastic boy," she said wryly, eyes fixed on Lily's chest.
"Hmm."
Lily felt a small tug, and then she felt as if she had just surfaced from a deep, long dive. Air rushed into her lungs, making her choke and splutter like a fish. She turned her face, gasping for air.
"I thought so." Tracy was holding Lily's garnet necklace.
"What? It's just a little thing."
"Where did you get this, Lily?"
Lily's face flamed. "It was an anonymous gift," she admitted, to the second person since receiving it.
"And when did you get this?"
"Christmas."
"This is a Nefarious Garnet, Lily." Tracy's tone was disgusted. "They're old, and not very many exist anymore, but they can be passed off as regular gems if a wizard doesn't check. Whoever gave this to you meant you harm."
"What does it do?" she whispered, ashamed and horrified.
"They enhance Dark Magic. Make curses more deadly, simple spells last longer, and help aim for the kill. This is why you were still frozen."
Lily stared at the swinging pendant. "But… It's never…"
Realization slammed into her. The pendant had been given to her at Christmas, and shortly after, just before her birthday, she had been cursed so powerfully she had nearly died.
And something James had said… That the killer, the masked Death Eater, had said that he didn't expect Lily to fall so hard for the spell.
The doors burst open, and in charged James, his face wild. "They found two men dead in the yards," he gasped. "They're here!"
Lily sat up, and swung her feet onto the ground, removing her tiny heels. "James, it's someone in the party. Sirius and I heard him talking."
"How can we evacuate people if some of them are stinking Death Eaters?" he asked his aunt, panic making his hands shake.
"James, stay calm. We have to be quiet about–"
There was a loud crash, and then screaming.
"Where's Brian?" Tracy asked urgently, removing her shawl.
"I saw him go outside… But, Aunt Tracy!" She brushed past him in three long strides.
James looked at Lily, his eyes filed with terror. She had never seen him so scared; not when Dumbledore offered them positions in the Order of the Phoenix, not when his parents had been kidnapped in Cambodia a few years ago, never. It was enough to evoke fear in her too.
She stood up and took his hand. "Come on," she murmured. "Let's see what's happening."
He squeezed her hand hard, trembling. "I don't want you to be hurt."
"If it's not me, it will be someone else," she said softly. "We have to go, James. We have to protect them."
A bone-chilling, high-pitched scream ripped through the manor, and then everyone was screaming, and the floors were shaking from the stampedes of hundreds of feet running. Lily started to walk. "James, please."
"Lily, not you," he pleaded. "I can't lose you, I can't do this again."
She pulled on his hand. "You won't have to. None of this will be sneaky; all duels."
Someone banged on the door, but did not enter.
Lily raised her wand. "Come."
James drew a deep breath.
The door burst open with a flash of red light, and Lily countered with her own spell. The yelling outside was overwhelming as well-dressed students streaked past, their faces blurred. Before them stood two masked figures, one unnaturally tall, the other just under six feet.
"And here he is," hissed the tall one, his black wand clutched in a gloved hand. "James Potter and his little Mudblood girlfriend."
James whipped his spell, but the Death Eater was too fast; his shield blocked it, and the spell ricocheted to a window, shattering the glass. "Testy, are we?"
James cast another spell, but it was also deflected. "You have to do better than kid spells, Potter," the tall one sneered.
"Take off your mask and fight like a real wizard, coward," James spat, his hand steady now, fuelled by hatred and the mission to kill.
The shorter one cast a spell, but Lily conjured her shield in time to block it. "She's quick on her feet," he noted. "When I met you I thought you were a dolt, to be frank."
Lily swallowed hard. She'd been called worse, but she was more worried about when she had met this wizard.
"You might as well let go of each other," the shorter one continued. "We're going to kill you anyway, and you should be able to defend yourselves."
If possible, their grip tightened further.
No one spoke for a long moment; finally, all the students had been evacuated, and the eerie quiet was only broken by the occasional yell or bang of clashing spells.
"Fine." The tall one shrugged back his cloak. "We'll kill you together."
Lily and James could barely get shields up to deflect the joint killing spells they both shot, and the duel broke out; the Death Eaters fired more curses, and James and Lily could only defend. There was hardly time between casts to draw breath, let alone use it to pronounce the words. Lily was feeling the effects of the long day, and she was tired; James gripped her hand still, but she could feel his weariness too.
Dimly she could hear other duels through the manor; she heard crashes and swearing above, and the walls trembled every time someone missed. They were all coated with dust and sweat.
"Die, Potter!" the shorter one shrieked, a higher note than any man could reach. His spell deflected off James and singed Lily's hair, and she barely managed to block the next spell.
"Lily!" James yelled, and she whirled, only to be hit full-force with a vicious Body-Binding Curse. The new Death Eater joined his fellows, and easily brought James down too.
"So, this is how Potter meets his end." The medium one, the one that had shrieked so loudly, knelt beside him. "Pity it couldn't be more public and dramatic."
"Stop toying with him, Grey." The tall one was angry. "We need to leave, before the Ministry gets here."
The medium one pulled off his–her–mask. "Looks like the fun's come to an end, James," Eva crooned, and kissed him. "Be sure to say hello to my parents for me."
She turned and flounced away with the tall one, leaving the newcomer to finish them off.
Lily, shocked beyond belief, felt the overwhelming sensation of realization overcome her. She was going to die, right here on the floor of Potter's parlor, without having finished school, or even experienced life in the magical world. Without having been in love, without having children, without feeling success.
She was going to die a nobody.