Four years. Four long years had passed since Lily and James had graduated from Hogwarts. Four years of darkness. Every week Lily received new patients who had suffered at the hand of the Dark Load. James fought tirelessly against him and his followers. The two had joined Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix in an effort to fight back against Voldemort. Sirius and Remus had as well. All of them lived together now. Remus had moved in two years ago when Amber had turned up brutally murdered. It had been a depressing time for all of them though they all knew she was in danger since she was such a well known political figure. Lily was beside herself now. Mr. and Mrs. Potter had been killed a year ago in an attack on one of the hideouts for members of the Order. James was dealing with his grief as well as he could, putting on a strong face for his friends whenever they were there.

Remus was still traveling a lot. He finally confided in Lily that he was working for Dumbledore to find others like himself and convince them to work with Dumbledore. It was a dangerous job because he could never be sure if the people he met had already given their allegiance to Voldemort but he was willing to do it still. He was even more devoted to his job after Amber died. It was clear that he was just trying to deal with everything that life was throwing at him but Lily was worried that he might be getting to reckless.

Sirius was traveling as well. He was starting to heal after Dawnelle. They started noticing real improvements in him about a year and a half after she had passed away. That was when he started traveling. He was moving from place to place in the form of the large shaggy black dog listening for anything that might be useful against Voldemort.

James and Lily worked all sorts of hours and sometimes it seemed they went days without seeing each other even though they lived in the same flat. They would write each other notes just so they knew the other was ok. A note from James might read: Grabbed dinner for myself. Be back late tonight, don't wait up. Love you. Lily might leave something like: Had to go, don't know when I'll be back. Check in later. I love you. Take care. Then there were some nights when they would both be home together but they were never alone, even when Sirius and Remus were gone. People from the Order would be dropping by at all times of the night and day.

It was raining heavily on one night in June when Lily finished her shift at St. Mungos. By the time she apparated back at the flat it was almost 1:30 in the morning. She found James sprawled across the bed, sleeping. His glasses lay on the floor next to him and he was covered in ashes and blood. He was clearly exhausted. He hadn't been home in three days. He and two others were following a lead on a particularly dangerous killer supporting Voldemort. She'd been worried sick about him. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply, feeling relief sweeping through her. She was utterly exhausted herself. She never slept well anymore, even when she was lucky enough to be home for the whole night. She pulled off her cloak, removed her nametag and unpinned her hair. She laid down next to James, laying her head on his chest, and fell asleep listening to his slow heartbeat.

Just before noon the next morning someone started pounding on the door. James opened his eyes wearily. He looked towards the main room through the partly opened door of the bedroom. Who ever was knocking was not about to leave. He groaned softly and moved his hand to rub the sleep from his eyes. Someone moved across the main room to answer the door.

"What is it?" Sirius yelled as he unlocked and unspelled the door. James thanked him silently for being there to deal with whoever was here. He turned himself slightly to see Lily lying next to him still sleeping. The pounding at the door hadn't disturbed her at all. He knew that in any other lifetime this would make him smile but here and now? It made him worry about whether or not she would wake up if someone dangerous were to find them. He brushed a piece of red hair out of her face and kissed her softly on the cheek. Her eyes fluttered open to look at him. He smiled at her and kissed her again.

"Good morning, love," he whispered softly.

"Good morning."

"How are you?"

"Tired, I want to go back to sleep. But I'm happy to see you again."

"Me too. I missed you."

"I missed you too. Any luck with that lead?"

"It led us to a recently deserted hide out."

"I'm sorry. I know you wanted to find the Lestranges."

"Yeah. Sirius will be disappointed. He wanted Bellatrix caught and put away for good. She's killed one too many people for his liking."

"I know." She gazed lovingly up at him and smiled sweetly. Before he could reply though, Sirius knocked and opened the door. James turned to look at him and Lily sat up to look past James. "Sirius! You're back!"

"Yeah, got in this morning. I didn't want to wake you two but I have to now. Dumbledore, Wormtail, and the Longbottoms are here."

"Be right there."

"Right." Sirius left again. James and Lily both got up and walked through to the bathroom. They shared the master bedroom in the flat. Sirius had the other, smaller bedroom and he used the other bathroom in the place. Remus crashed on the couch when he came home. Five minutes later they were at least sort of presentable when they entered the small living room. Peter was sitting on the couch with Alice Longbottom. Frank was standing next to Sirius talking softly to him. Dumbledore was next to the door waiting for them.

"Albus, what can we do for you?" James asked walking across the room to shake hands with the man. He looked worse than anyone else in the room. The five years Voldemort had been in power had taken an alarming toll on the old man. His eyes seemed to have lost their twinkle, his voice sounded strained and he looked exhausted.

"James, Lily, I'm sorry to wake you two but we need some help. We have information that there will be an attack on the hospital later today. We need you both to be there. I know it's a lot to ask but you're some of the best fighter we have."

"Of course, Albus. We'll be there. Are we leaving now?"

"Well, I wouldn't say no to a bite to eat first," he said with a small smile. She returned it and entered the small kitchen. Alice joined her not long afterward.

"How are you holding up?" Alice asked Lily as she pulled out a pot and began to fill it with water for tea. Since she and her husband were both Aurors they at least got to work together and watch each others backs. She didn't know how Lily survived not knowing if James was alright.

"I'm tired. There's always so much to do, it's so overwhelming. I don't know when the last time I actually slept peacefully was. I want this war to be over," she admitted. She would never truly be able to tell James this because she couldn't afford to have him spend one minute worrying about her when he needed every ounce of his concentration in order to survive.

"We all do sweet heart, we all do." Alice was one of those kind, motherly figures. She had graduated Hogwarts two years before Lily had but Lily had always looked up to her and respected her.

They made a quick breakfast and brought it out to the living room to eat. Dumbledore conjuried up a few more chairs and they all ate around the small table in the room. As they were finishing Dumbledore looked at his watch and stood swiftly.

"We must go," he said. The group nodded silently. Another battle faced them. The idea numbed them. They had all seen enough death and destruction. Lily and James sent the dishes into the kitchen so they could wash and dry themselves then the group disapparated from the flat.

They arrived at the hospital together moment later. The scene unfolding before them was quite confusing. Patients were being moved into rooms together in the hopes that they would be easier to care for. The staff was running from place to place trying to organize things so they didn't lose track of anyone. Clipboards where flying around taking notes. Lily pulled her clip out of her bag and quickly pinned her hair up before moving to help. She looked back at James who caught her eye for just a moment before turning to listen to Dumbledore explain some sort of plan for action.

"Marissa how can I help?" Lily asked the nurse in charge. The woman looked up from some paperwork and smiled at Lily.

"We need someone skilled in care and defense right now, I'm glad you're here. I'm going to put you with the seriously wounded patients. If something gets through they're going to be the ones having the hardest time moving, let alone fighting back. Also, you've spent time with them, you know how most of them like to be treated. Grab Cecile and Anne. They can help you finish moving those patients. We're moving them to the back rooms on this floor. Thanks!" She said this all rather quickly but Lily caught it all and nodded once before acting on her instructions. She understood why Marissa was only putting those patients on the first floor instead of one higher up. No one really knew if some of those patients were going to survive and it was never clear how fully any of them would heal.

"Cecile!" Lily called to a nurse she worked with. The girl joined her. Lily quickly explained what they were trying to do and she rushed off to find Anne. Lily walked into the nearest room and, after checking which patients were in there, a seriously burned man and a woman with thirty six broken bones and serious internal bleeding, she got them safely and comfortably ready to move into one of the back rooms. Anne came in to help and Lily gave her swift instructions about moving the patients and then moved onto the next room.

Lily was bringing her last patient down the hall when the attack started. The whole building shook with the force of the entrance of the attackers. She was thrown roughly into the wall. She had already placed a protection bubble around her patient so he would be affected by any thing. She regained her senses and attempted to hurry the man into the room she was leading him to. She was still about four doors away and trying to coax a man with one leg to move faster usually doesn't work. She supported as much of his weight as she could, hoping that would help. They were almost to the room when she heard steps behind her. She quickly turned to see three of the Death Eaters moving towards her. She pulled out her wand and hexed two of them, effectively stopping their advance. The last however, sent a spell at her. She dodged it neatly but it hit the protection bubble she had placed around the man. He stumbled and fell over. She quickly stunned the last Death Eater and bent down to help the man. He was breathing raggedly. She needed to get him into a bed and get his heart to stop racing. They were the only two in the hallway now, aside from the three unconscious Death Eaters. She could hear shouts and curses behind her in the main lobby of the hospital. She couldn't be sure but she thought there was some sort of commotion going on upstairs as well. She helped the man stand again and she led him into the nearest room. The most important thing for her at that time was to get the man out of the hall and into a bed where he could take what little rest he could get during a battle.

James disarmed and stunned another Death Eater but where one went down three more replaced him it seemed. He turned to attack another man who was trying to sneak up on him. He looked around to see what this battle looked like. Not many people had showed up to defend the hospital and it was showing. A group of Death Eaters broke off and flew up the staircase. Four members of the Order followed them. Things looked pretty bad from his perspective. He disarmed someone else and stunned another person. He was losing strength fast. He was utterly exhausted but he knew he had to make it till this was over. He wasn't letting anyone go through as long as Lily was in this hospital somewhere.

The Death Eaters were grouping themselves together now, from groups of three to groups of six. A few of the groups disapparated and left. He wasn't sure why though. More of them left now and soon the Order had them outnumbered. Then, they were all gone. A couple people cheered. James wasn't sure what was happening but it felt wrong somehow. They wouldn't just leave this place when it looked like a victory for them.

"What are they playing at?" Sirius whispered to him.

"I don't know. They wouldn't just leave." He looked across the room to where Dumbledore was standing. He was clearly thinking and it appeared that he reached a terrifying conclusion just moments to late.

Dumbledore yelled over the cheering people for silence. As everyone quieted down he looked around to see who was left. He began sending people to the different floors of the hospital to keep watch but before he had even gotten four people their orders, the Death Eaters were back. There were seven of them standing at the far end of the hall. James cried out in alarm and he could hear upstairs people yelling, telling him the same thing was happening throughout the hospital. He and Sirius ran down the hall to meet the Death Eaters. Other sprinted to the stairs in an attempt to get to those upstairs. Dumbledore joined James and Sirius quickly. Four of the seven had broken away from the group to go into patients rooms. Screaming came from the rooms they entered. Lily burst out of one of the rooms further down the hall. James only caught sight of her brilliant red hair for a moment before he was thrown into Sirius by a curse he hadn't seen coming. His wand left his hand forcefully. Sirius quickly sent a counterattack to the offending Death Eater. He stabilized James quickly and pointed to a spot maybe three yards away where James' wand had landed. Dumbledore had run on, dodging curses and sending out his own. Sirius turned to go with James but James shook his head.

"Help Dumbledore. I'm fine." Sirius nodded and sprinted after the old man. James ran to his wand and picked it up. As he stood he saw three Death Eaters coming toward him from the other end of the hall. The one they had just come from, effectively blocking off any means of escape. He turned to face them and sent a stunning charm in their direction. It was deflected by one of them and it hit another again. The person went down quickly. James backed up slowly, never taking his eyes from the two still standing. They walked towards him with wands raised. He knew they would both fire at once. He looked around him quickly. The hall was lined with mirrors and, as the Death Eaters yelled their curses, he yelled one of his own. He had aimed his wand at the wall. His charm hit one of the mirrors and bounced off. It hit another and did the same. As it headed towards another mirror it hit one of the curses coming towards him. The spells bounced off each other and both hit mirrors. They both collided with the third spell at the same time. The force of the three spells hitting each other was over whelming. It knocked him off his feet and it knocked out both of his opponents.

Lily had just fought two of the Death Eaters back into the hallway were one was attacked by Sirius and the other she knocked out herself. She was breathing heavily and leaning against the door frame for support. There was an almighty crash that seemed to make the very foundation of the building shake. She looked down the hall and saw James collapse just as several huge chucks of wall, ceiling, and mirror began to rain down on top of him. She cried out and ran to him without thinking. She had to make sure he was ok. Suddenly she was tackled from behind and pinned to the ground by someone a lot bigger than her. She screamed in alarm but in the commotion she hardly thought anyone heard. A minute later, there was silence.

She looked up at Sirius as he rolled off of her. She picked herself up and, without looking back at him, ran to where she had seen James land. There was a large piece of something lying across his legs. She tried, in vain, to move it, sobbing as she did so. She saw through blurred eyes, the piece being lifted off of him and she saw Sirius collapse next to her. He had tears in his eyes too as he looked down at the still form of his best friend. He looked at Lily desperately and shook her gently.

"Is he alive!" he asked urgently. She sobbed harder and clung to him for support. He pulled her up to face him. "Tell me!" She nodded finally and turned to the limp form of her love and checked him for signs of life. A minute later she was sure. He was still alive. She was having trouble breathing now. She couldn't speak so she nodded to Sirius. He sighed in relief and wiped his tears away. He helped her up, taking most of her weight in his arms. Tears were streaming down her face and wouldn't be stopped. She was trying to catch her breath but she was having a lot of trouble. Everything started swimming around before her. She couldn't understand why there was two Sirius' standing in front of her. She looked down again and saw James and then she passed out. Sirius caught her in his arms before she fell. He lifted her gently and carried her to where Dumbledore was standing. Several other people from the Order joined them. It appeared that after the explosion any remaining Death Eaters had disapparated for good.

Three members lifted James carefully and placed him on a stretcher that one of the nurses had. A healer instantly rushed to his side and began to tend to him. He'd been knocked out by the force of the spells and he'd been hit by a couple pieces of falling rubble but the healer assured everyone he would make a full and fast recovery.

Sirius was still holding the unconscious Lily in his arms. Dumbledore looked down at her with sad eyes.

"That was a hard battle," he said to Sirius. Sirius nodded in agreement. He couldn't find words to say. His throat had gone completely dry. "James did good. He seems to have saved the day."

"Yeah," Sirius croaked. "Only he's not conscious so he doesn't know that and she couldn't handle seeing him in that condition," he said motioning to Lily.

"It's what she's been dreading would happen to him. She's been waiting for someone to come tell her he's been injured since he finished his training as an Auror. She never thought that she'd be so close to him the day he got hurt."

"But he's been dreading the same thing."

"And you can be assured that if she had been injured he would be in the same condition. Come, we need to get her away from here for now. If she wakes up here she'll only lose it again." The two of them climbed through the rubble and walked past the wizards attempting to repair the damages. Healers and nurses were running this way and that trying to get ideas on how many dead and wounded they had. It was chaos. Sirius and Dumbledore left before anyone really noticed.

(A/N: It's a longer chapter. Hope you like!)