Chapter 11: Friends

Dumbledore was furious. How could Lord Voldemort, the most evil man in the world right now, be so close to Hogwarts with him knowing? Let alone almost kill two of his students? Action needs to be taken, he thought, wandering around his study.

The next few days, posters covered the walls in the Gryffindor Common Room.

"No more Hogsmeade?" Sirius whined, reading the nearest one.

"No, it's just suspended until they know that Riddle is gone for sure," Alice input.

James sighed. He knew that most of this was his fault and he felt a tinge of guilt in his heart. Things had been going to well, Gryffindor was undefeated in the biggest tournament of his life and he had finally gotten the girl of his dreams, Lily. After that moonlit night together, they enjoyed each other's company more and more. It wasn't anything too serious either, it was more of a really close friendship; they loved to laugh and goof around.

But, if he and Lily wouldn't have accidentally crashed into the forest, Dumbledore would have never been able to alert the school of the danger. Students could have died along with all the other mysterious deaths. And one of those students James couldn't have handled losing, Lily.

He watched her face closely as she read all the posters, and smiled. He was so glad that they had been brought together, but in times like these, she needed more protection than ever. Previously, Dumbledore had instructed James himself to watch over Lily, but times were different. Their whole group was to keep a close eye on their red-headed friend and Dumbledore had agreed to teach them advanced magic to help their cause.

"But, Professor," Natalie questioned, "If we meet Riddle ourselves, can this help us?"

Dumbledore gazed at each face, and smiled.

"I only hope it will. Tom Riddle is a very powerful wizard and only the ones who can match him, will be able to defeat him. That's why I feel that by training you in ways that can only be gotten after these 7 years; you will hopefully stand a chance."

James glanced at Lily, her face solemn. Lily was here for the extra training; she had no idea her friends were there also to protect her.

"I can't even look in the paper without seeing a death anymore," Alice sadly noted, "This needs to stop." The group was sitting in the common room near the fire.

"Why is he doing this?" Remus questioned, scanning the paper, "I just don't understand."

"Most people don't," Lily whispered, looking down.

"What do you mean?" James asked concerned.

She looked up, all eyes were on her. The time had come to tell them really what was going on. They knew that Lily was in danger and they knew that they were supposed to protect her, but nobody knew why. The funny thing is Lily did. She knew why they were after her and her other students and their families, she knew it all, yet her friends didn't, even though they were supposed to protect her.

She let out a shaky breath and looked up, "The reason Tom Riddle is hunting and killing wizards is because he feels our society should be cleansed."

"What?" Sirius questioned confused.

"He feels that only pure-blood wizards should be allowed to be wizards, he doesn't think that mud-bloods…" she stopped, James squeezing her hand, "or half-bloods should be allowed to do magic. They're not 'worthy' according to him."

"Why?" Natalie interjected, "Lily you can obviously do magic and there's so many wizards in the ministry that can as well. I don't see his reasoning. Wouldn't he want more people on his side, not just pure-bloods? He could have so many more if he included the rest."

"I don't know why," Lily, on the verge of tears, said, "All I know is he doesn't like them…I mean, every single person I know back home is missing or in hiding. My parents went into hiding so long ago, that Dumbledore doesn't even know if they're alive or not…" She looked away.

"Lily," Natalie soothed, coming down from her chair to hug her friend, "Everything's going to be fine." She looked up, unsure.

James was rubbing Lily's back and looked up catching Remus and Sirius's eyes. He turned to Natalie and she nodded as Alice came over to comfort her friend. The boys got up and left the girls, going out the portrait hole.

"This is worse than we thought," Remus put in.

"Yeah, something has to be done," Sirius, serious for once, added. The three turned to James who was deep in thought and silent.

"What do you think James?" Peter asked, leery.

"I don't know what to think. Hogwarts doesn't seem safe anymore. He's been here twice and had two attempts on Lily's life. I think he knows that if a student is killed at Hogwarts the Wizard world will go into panic and he will have a better chance of killing muggle borns when they're all over for him to find."

"Well, the only student he wants to kill so far, is Lily," Peter added, "I haven't heard of any other attempts on anyone but her."

"Malfoy," Remus blurted, "Malfoy hates Lily. So it would be smart for him to put in that Lily would be a good example since she is such a good student and person. It makes complete sense."

"So, we should get rid of Malfoy," Sirius smiled, "Sounds easy enough."

"Just wait," Remus' brains showing through, "what about Lestrange? She's been rumored to be a follower as well. I know she's your cousin Sirius, but if Malfoy's gone, she might still resume his duties at Hogwarts."

Sirius pondered the idea, "I wouldn't put it past her. If she's committed she'll do whatever is possible to stay on his good side, which could include killing Lily," he looked at James who nodded.

"What's the plan, boys?" Peter asked, smirking.

Snow blanketed the ground as Lily gazed out her window one morning. Christmas, she thought, not a family one this year though. The thought of her family in hiding scared her. There had already been two attempts on her own life and she didn't want to be taken away or killed from her friends and family. So this year, the marauders and Alice and Natalie had decided that they have one big Christmas celebration at Natalie's house. The others were going to see their families before, and then going to Natalie's to celebrate it with Lily.

And now that she thought of Christmas, Lily became more saddened. This was her last and final year at Hogwarts, her second home and love for these seven years. What was she going to do when Dumbledore could no longer protect her? Would James stay with her? Where would they go?

Shaking her head, she turned to her half packed trunk, and finished before the other girls got up to begin their own packing. Life was going to be very different and Lily needed to accept it and be prepared for it. Voldemort was real and he wanted some Hogwarts blood, her blood. She wasn't going to let that happen anytime soon. And she didn't think James would either.

The wind whipped Lily's blazing hair as her and Natalie stepped off the train. It was chilly and small snowflakes swirled around everyone as they hunted their families down in the crowd.

"Come on Lils," Natalie said, pulling on her hand.

"Natalie!" her mom exclaimed, running through the crowd and hugging her daughter.

"Mom…I can't breathe," she squeaked.

"Oh, sorry," she let her go and her gazed turned to Lily, "Lily!"

She hugged her as well, "I'm so glad you are able to come and spend this Christmas with us!"

"Me too," Lily murmured, sadly.

"Let's go, girls, it's getting colder," Natalie's dad rushed.

"Lily!" someone yelled behind her. It was James.

"James, I looked for you on the train...," she said, turning.

"It's ok," he interrupted, "I just want to tell you to be safe and stay on a smart look-out of anything suspicious while we're not there."

"James, I'm going to be just…,"

"Lily, please," his pleading eyes bore into her emerald ones, "I'm worried about you and I don't want anything to happen to you when I'm not there."

"Ok, I'll be ok," she reassured him, turning to go.

"Wait," he grabbed her hand, "take this." It was a small crystal orb that fit perfectly in her hand. It was dense so she couldn't see inside it, but at the same time, it was radiating light.

"It's a Warning crystal," he read her confused face; "it will warn you if Voldemort or any of his followers are near." He closed her hand around it with his.

"I'll see you in a few days," he kissed her cheek softly, and left before she could argue at all.

A/N: So sorry I haven't written in so long! School and band and volleyball have been taking over! I hope you like it, review, and there's a huge plot coming up here! Thanks!