Chapter 26: Happiness Isn't Forever

James awoke the next morning and smelled Lily's perfume everywhere.

"Was last night a dream?" he asked, groggily.

"No mate," Sirius smirked and winked. James smiled and closed his eyes. He remembered laughing and twirling Lily around the dance floor then burying his face in her sweet smelling hair and showering her with kisses. He sighed and opened his eyes back to reality.

Lily.

"What?" Lily shot awake and scared Alice.

"Bah, I didn't say anything!" she scowled and rolled over.

"Didn't someone say my name?"

"No Lily, go back to bed," Natalie scoffed.

She laid back down wondering if she was dreaming. She had looked around and it was just those three, all the others had gotten up for breakfast.

Lily Evans.

She sat up again. This was no dream she definitely heard a voice that time. Lily got up and looked out the window. There was a single figure standing outside on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It beckoned her to come towards him. Lily definitely was curious. She got dressed and headed outside.

The boys slowly took their seats in the great hall.

"Oh dear," Peter scowled, "we stayed up way to late."

"Oh grow up you git," Sirius scoffed. James offered a weak laugh in return but he was watching the door. He was nervous to see how Lily was going to react to him this morning.

"Hey girls," Remus greeted Natalie and Alice.

"Where's Lily?" James jumped in right away.

"We don't know. She was gone when we woke up," Alice answered skeptical. James nodded a little put off.

"She did take her coat though," Natalie piped up. He nodded and got up.

"I'm done eating I'll see you guys later," he sauntered out, him head hanging a little lower.

The snow crunched below Lily's feet as she walked toward the cloaked figure. She didn't really understand what drew her to this person but she could hear her necklace humming so something interesting might be happening. Plus, she had always been a curious little witch.

There was no one out and about on the grounds. Students were in classes most likely but it concerned Lily a little since she didn't know why there weren't anyone out here. The sky was completely gray and it looked like it could snow any minute. This concerned Lily since she didn't know what was going on.

As she got closer, Lily got nervous. She put her hand in her coat and grasped her wand with her sweaty hand.

"Thank you for coming, Miss Evans. I need a little help with something," the death eater Bellatrix Lestrange smirked under her hood. Lily's chest suddenly burned as her pendant scorched her skin. She screamed and ripped it off and threw it into the snow where it shone and steamed in the snow. The moment only caught Bellatrix's attention for a second and then she focused again.

"Follotria!"

Lily's body made a sudden jerk forward and her feet started to move.

"What are you doing? No!" Lily tried to stop but her feet just slid forward in the snow. Bellatrix laughed and led her into the forest.

James headed straight to the Gryffindor common room. He wanted to check there first. He was feeling a little suspicious that Lily hadn't shown up for breakfast but he just wanted to make sure everything was ok.

Just as the portrait opened, he saw Frank, "Hey, have you seen Lily?"

"Um…yeah, she…"

"OUCH!" James yelled as his pendant became red hot and scorched his skin. He picked it up by the necklace part and looked at it. It had gone from an emerald green to a bright red in a matter of seconds. He took it off but held onto it.

"Oh God," he ran from the common room with Frank following him. They went outside and only saw one set of footprints, Lily's.

"No! This can't be happening," James said and they ran towards the forest. A slight smoke was coming from the snow nearby and James went over to it. He picked up Lily's amulet and cursed to himself.

"Frank, go get Remus, Sirius, and Peter. Tell them I headed into the woods because Lily is in trouble. Give them this, it will help them track me," he handed Frank one of the necklaces, "go now!"

Frank sprinted away and James took out his wand as he ran into the forest alone.

"Where are we going?" Lily asked, tired from fighting the spell.

"Any why should I tell you?" Bellatrix had an odd sense about her but she was still quite young and could have passed as beautiful if she wasn't so evil.

"Because I'm going there without permission maybe?" Lily shot back.

"Well let me put it this way, you won't like it but you have no choice," she snickered and jerked Lily forward causing her to split her head open on a nearby tree. A warm trickle ran down her face and her vision fogged but came back slowly.

"Going to see the head guy then?" she asked prodding more. The blood was really seeping now and began to drip in the snow.

Let's hope someone can follow my trail now… she thought.

"Of course! He is the best!" as they kept walking Lily began to see some lights up ahead. Soon enough they were on the edge of Hogsmeade. Bellatrix put on a shield of invisibility but Lily really fought this time. She drug her feet back and forth to create huge tracks that wouldn't just bypass the everyday eye.

"Stop fighting you mudblood!" Bellatrix turned and slapped her across the face, causing Lily's head to hurt even more. They were walking towards the shrieking shack and then suddenly went behind it. In the ground, barely visible was a small door that Bellatrix opened and shoved Lily inside.

James kept running. Luckily, the pendant had spread some of its magical properties onto Lily and since he was holding one of the necklaces he could see her trail as clear as day. He had no idea what he was up against but as he ran, he shook with rage. The week had been starting to go back uphill and then something back had to happen. Why couldn't they just have a normal life with nothing bad happening every day?

No, he thought. Up ahead was a large dark spot in the snow. He bent over and touched it; it was still warm. Blood; Lily's blood. He clenched his fist and buckled forward ignoring the calls of his friends from behind him.

Lily had to let her eyes adjust as she lay on the cold cement floor. There was a small whimpering that she heard but then her body was being lifted and held by two men; death eaters.

"Well thank you for joining us, Miss Evans," Lord Voldemort appeared out of the shadows, "I'm glad we could see each other again." Lily spat on the floor right in front of him.

"I hate you."

"Oh feisty today are we?" he laughed then lunged at her wrapping a hand around her bruised throat, "well let's cool it down or this time they will actually snap your neck, ok?" She could feel his breath on her cheek. He laughed and then licked her.

"Ah the taste of a mudblood, so sweet and innocent!" The death eaters laughed, "But we're going to have a little fun today ok pretty thing? Have you met Anna yet?" He picked up a whimpering little girl in the corner by her hair. She screamed as he then threw her on the ground.

"Another mudblood like yourself," they laughed. This girl was probably about five or six years old and it made Lily's blood run cold.

"So here's what's going to happen. You both are going to be fighting in Hogsmeade but, I'm going to be the controller or puppeteer if you may." He bowed slightly and two more death eaters grabbed little Anna.

"Don't screw this up for me, Evans, I need to keep up my reputation with the good people," he shoved her head away causing more excruciating pain.

The girls were led up different stairs and placed on opposite ends of the street. People were passing through their invisible line liken nothing mattered but Lily was so nervous. She kept looking around for someone to help and she began to scream.

"I don't think so!" Bellatrix appeared a silenced her with a charm. She could move her mouth but no words would come out. Another death eater then armed Anna with a wand but not Lily and left.

So this is how I will die, Lily thought watching the little girl look at the wand then up at her.

James had just arrived at the edge of the forest and was looking into Hogsmeade. His necklace was starting to hum so he figured that he was close but stayed hidden to wait for his back up.

"You run way too fast, Prongs," Sirius huffed as he caught up and almost collapsed.

"We saw all the blood, what's going on?" Remus asked, just as worn out.

"Someone took Lily and look," he held up the pendant, which all his friends knew about. Sirius and Remus looked at each other worried, "but I didn't just want to go into the open without a plan. So what should we do? I don't see her anywhere."

"What if we surround the perimeter?" Peter piped in.

"That might work, but we can't go all out at once, that would be a problem."

"I'm guessing that whoever took her wants to see me so I'll go out by myself," James volunteered, "If fighting breaks out, come out immediately."

They all nodded.

Lily's feet suddenly began to move forward and she wanted to scream. The pain was horrible as the torture curse affect her whole body. She realized that they hadn't silence Anna because she stood there horrified, watching. Suddenly, Lily stopped and almost fell forward, but was awakened by Anna's blood curdling screams. She covered her ears and tears streamed down her face, as the child was tortured in front of her very eyes. She began to run towards her but was stopped by another onset of pain.

People were starting to give them funny looks but they just stood there and stared. Finally, Lily was less than two feet from the little girl when the pain stopped. She was breathing heavily as some liquid, either tears or sweat, dripped down her face.

Anna's eyes suddenly went completely black and the wand became erect directly at Lily's heart.

"LILY!" A voice yelled from one side but she couldn't move because of her sheer terror. A large object collided with her and broke the spell holding her in place right as Anna fired the killing curse from that wand. She then collapsed in the snow.

Lily looked up into the eyes of James Potter. His hard hit had stopped the curse and now he was kind of on top of her speaking, but she couldn't hear or say anything back. Suddenly, Remus, Sirius, and Peter appeared and they helped her up. James pulled her close and put his hand over the cut on her head in an attempt to stop the bleeding while the other boys had their wands out.

The death eaters were almost upon them but stopped because of the screaming crowds in the street were interfering.

"Come on!" James yelled picking Lily up and running towards Honeydukes to the tunnel that they new about. The boys chased after him while throwing spells behind them to stop the death eaters. James made it to the entrance and Sirius opened it, getting them all inside, and then sealing the door with magic. They heard a loud crashing as they ran through the tunnel.

Towards the entrance, James tripped out into the hall of Hogwarts and Lily went sprawling on the ground.

"No! Lily, stay with me please! I'm right here! Help somebody!" He was looking down at her but her eyes were zoned and out of focus.

The last thing Lily remembered was seeing a small tear run down James' face, then darkness.