HELLO! Thanks for the super sweet reviews guys!

I'm sorry that I've been taking a lot longer with updates lately. School and midterms are literally killing me. So thanks for sticking around y'all!

XOXO

Lily was running headfirst into the fray. Students were streaming past her, up staircases toward their common rooms in a panic. It made it exponentially harder for her to get to the bottom levels. She cut through a tunnel that James had shown her. She remembered that day, he'd taken her exploring throughout the castle. They'd shared excited giggles and kisses in the dark secret passageways. It made her stomach twist into knots just remembering it.

No. It wasn't time to get sappy and sentimental. James would be fine. They've been training with the Order every week since they signed to join after spring. He knew his stuff and so did she. If only McGonagall was less vague about the attack! She had absolutely no idea what she was running in to.

The passage came out by the dungeons, which was perfect for herding Slytherins back to safety. Lily spotted a group of terrified first years, and ran to collect them. There were some Ravenclaws with them, but she figured they could all just go to the same common room for now, given the circumstances. The kids were whimpering.

"You. Lead me to your common room." Lily instructed. The little boy with curly black hair and a green tie too big for him nodded bravely and took her hand in his smaller one. The group moved carefully through the halls, but so far Lily had detected no danger. It was as if it was a normal Saturday, save from the groups of students running away from the entrance hall. More and more would reach their group, spot the Head Girl, and latch on. Lily moved with haste but had her guard up. One of the kids had a nasty gash down the side of her face, some others were covered in dirt and bruises. The unknown threat was causing Lily to shake.

Suddenly, the screams were louder than before, down a corridor to the left. Lily looked down at the boy holding her hand.

"The common room isn't too far now. Can I trust you to get everyone there?" She asked, knowing this kid was up to the challenge. He had told her that the common room was close, and had pointed in the opposite direction of the chaos. She instructed some fifth years that were now with the group to put up Shield Charms. Then she ran off towards the screams.

Speeding down the corridor, she ran through her head the best defensive spells and curses to use. As the chaos got louder, she slowed. It was around a corner. Now creeping towards the hallway, she carefully got her wand ready and peeked her head around. She had to stifle a gasp.

It was Inferi, about a half dozen of them. The re-animated bodies of the dead. They looked like normal men and women at first glance, until you saw their dead white eyes and bloated figures. The bodies' skins were tinted green, and full of black dirt. But they still had clothes on as if they were going to work, or headed out for a bite to eat. It made bile rise in Lily's throat.

The creatures were moving towards a pair of terrified students. One had stunned a couple, but they would only be down for a bit. Lily ran out, but suddenly her mind was blank. What was the best defense against an Inferius? They'd barely touched on it in her Defense class last year.

"Stupefy!" She yelled, stunning a couple more. But they were full of dark magic, and the curse only seemed to effect them for a couple seconds or so, before they began to rise again, shaking off. Quickly, Lily ran in front of the two students. She put a Binding spell on one, but again it had little effect.

"Incarcerous!" She screamed, ropes springing from her wand. They tied themselves around the nearest body, effectively felling the creature. It struggled, but couldn't move. The others were closing in on them. One, a woman who still had bright red lipstick over her dead lips, let out a terrifying screech and lunged at Lily.

"Incendio!" Lily cried. The woman tore her nails down Lily's arm, but then burst into flame. She shrieked, and backed away in confusion, falling onto the rope-bound man. The two began to burn in ernest, skin charring and flesh melting away. Of course, fire! She couldn't believe she'd forgotten. The other creatures began to stumble away quickly. Lily cast Burning charms at them, but one got away. The other three were caught in a fiery ring Lily had produced. The rancid smell of burning flesh filled the air, making the two boys who were behind Lily gag.

She turned to them. They were close to the kitchens now. The Hufflepuff common room was nearby. The two boys were wearing yellow ties, but were also full of scratches, that were beginning to ooze a green foul pus. Her arm was stinging, and looking a bit green now too. She had no idea what that meant.

"Get to your common room. Once a teacher finds you, get Madame Pomfrey." She instructed. They gave her tight nods, and ran off. She had to find the creature that escaped, and was certain there were more.

Swallowing hard, Lily took off to fight once more.

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Peter had never felt so spineless. Alice was next to him, the two walking along the Hogwarts halls in search of students. The two were studying for the upcoming exam in Charms, when they heard a weird ruckus outside the library. Alice, ever the compassionate one, poked her head out to see if everything was okay, and heard students screaming about monsters loose in the castle.

"We have to go help!" She'd cried. Peter himself was ready to hide in the back of the library under some books until it was all over. But he bit his tongue and followed her out.

Now they were creeping around the castle, looking for students in danger. Peter was shaking so hard that Alice had asked him if he was okay repeatedly. Yet she was so calm and collected. It made him feel like the biggest coward on the planet.

Truth be told, Peter just wasn't the same as his friends. He wasn't as brave as James or Sirius, not nearly as compassionate as Remus or Lily. Peter didn't want to be a part of the war. Every Order meeting, his friends left in good spirits and excitement, he left with a black pit in his stomach. Lately he'd been having nightmares of them all, together and fighting Voldemort. He'd be pinned by a Death Eater, and the others would be fighting with ease. He'd call for help, but his friends didn't care enough to bother. They ran off to help others, Peter left to die.

And this was only the beginning here. Now, with the attack, Alice's first instinct had been to fight. Peter's had been to flee and hide.

Suddenly, there was an odd scratching sound behind them. Whipping around, Alice pulled out her wand in a defensive stance, but was blown off of her feet. The staircase by the two was blown apart by the spell, rubble raining down on Peter. He ducked, and searched for Alice. She was next to him, trapped and unable to move. There was a dark figure amidst the dust, but more noticeably, were the creatures walking towards him. At first he thought they were some hurt students. As the moved more into focus, he screamed.

"Pete... Fire." Alice said weakly next to him.

Fire? Peter shot some burning spells at the creatures. They kept advancing, as his spells were too weak in his terror. Peter shut his eyes. He was just a kid. He couldn't do this. He couldn't. He began to shoot off spells at random, just trying to stop the beasts.

"Peter! Be careful you could hit students!" Alice shouted next to him. But he couldn't look, and he couldn't stop. He just kept firing and firing, screams all around him. He was pretty sure one of them was his.

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James sped through corridors, ushering students back to their common rooms. Luckily Professor Sprout was around, and helped him secure the Ravenclaw tower. All Ravenclaws, save three, were in there. Now it was his job to make sure the other three missing students were safe. Gryffindor was reporting most students safe, but it was unclear as of right now because they had no teacher helping them. He didn't want to think of what may be happening to the missing kids. Students had ran up the stairs to him, full of cuts and bruises. Some even had bite marks, oozing green. Word filtered through the crowd to him that it was Inferi, somehow an army of Inferi had gotten into the walls of Hogwarts.

As he neared the Great Hall, he heard voices from an adjacent corridor. It was Nott and some of his cronies. Two of the boys were in deep concentration, seemingly muttering some sort of spell. Now confused, James crept closer. If only he had more time, he'd have thought to bring his Invisibility Cloak with him. The boys were looking out over the Great Hall, where there was a pack of thirty or so students. They were screaming in terror as a a dozen or so ghastly looking creatures closed in on them. They were on tables, throwing benches at them in attempts of defense. Some students were attempting spellwork, but none seemed to know what to do.

"Like standing on a table's gonna stop them." Nott snickered with his two pals. James gasped in disgust.

Nott spotted James, and looked wary for a second, but masked it with arrogance.

"How's the Head Boy doing? Got your hands full?" He asked, sneering.

"I'm obviously not doing as good as you. Terrorizing some eleven-year-olds? You must be so proud of yourself." James shot back angrily.

"What are you going to do about it?" Nott taunted. James grit his teeth hard.

"Well, first I'd like to know what Dumbledore would think of all this." He said calmly. "Then I'd probably want to kick your ass."

Nott let out an ugly laugh, but the two boys with him looked a bit nervous. One faltered his spellcasting. James noticed, as he fumbled with his words, some of the corpses stumbled. He picked his incantation back up, and they too began to pick themselves up.

"Petrificus Totalus!" James cried, wand pointing at the boy. He froze and fell to the floor. With him, half of the Inferi also fell, becoming only dead bodies once more.

"You Blood Traitor scum!" Nott cried, and fired hexes at James. He ducked, but one caught him in the ear, causing it to ring loudly.

He shot stunning spell, but missed. Nott cast another curse that James had never heard. It hit him like a punch in the gut, knocking him onto his back. Stars erupted in his eyes, and the curse caused him to lean over and vomit violently. Shit. Nott had the upper hand now, and obviously wasn't afraid to use dark magic. Another curse hit his left arm with a force that caused it to snap. Blinding pain hit James, and another wave of nausea overtook him. James grit his teeth, and crawled to face Nott. He had a horrible sneer on his face. The pain from the two curses were making tears squeeze from James's eyes. He got one good hex in though, and Nott fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Suddenly James heard voices.

"Nott? What the hell do you think you're doing?" It was the unmistakable voice of Severus Snape. "Your stupidity in getting into a schoolboy brawl will blow the whole operation."

James heard some scuffling, and Snape appeared to be dragging Nott upwards, him and the other boy who was controlling the Inferi fleeing. Snape shot one, undoubtably triumphant and gloating, look at James.

"Don't think for a second I don't know you're in on this too." James said, through gritted teeth.

"Too bad you won't have any proof." Snape said snidely, before yelling "Stupefy!"

Everything went black.

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"Dorcas?" Remus asked.

It was Dorcas Meadows, Lily's old friend from Hufflepuff. She'd graduated two years ago, and last Remus had heard she'd been working on becoming an Auror. She had short black hair and caramel skin. Her eyes spotted Remus, and widened.

"Lupin!" She shouted, gesturing him over. Remus was now realizing how harried she looked, and that there were some students with her that had fearful expressions. He jogged towards them from his reading spot by the lake.

"What's going on?" He asked dumbly. It was obviously something big.

"Attack on Hogwarts. I'm securing the outside perimeters of the campus." She said in an authoritative voice. She seemed ages older than the girl Remus knew in Hogwarts who'd once ate a bottle of lacewing flies because Lily said she was too chicken.

"What can I do to help?" Remus asked hoarsely. She looked at him seriously.

"Stick by me. We'll look for more stragglers outside. Then get them to a safe space, a common room." He nodded, and the group took off. The two kids with him had Quidditch robes on, and must've been practicing out on the field. Dorcas explained the logistics of the attack, it was Inferi, and Aurors had been called in as soon as the teachers knew what was happening. The center of the attack seemed to be around the Great Hall. It must have been students who orchestrated it, as being such as Inferi would have been detected coming into the grounds, but dead bodies would not have. That thought made Remus feel a bit ill.

They busied themselves looking for any students who were outside. Dorcas had told Remus that most of the grounds had been searched, save for by Hagrid's. Nearing his hut, Remus sensed something was wrong. Hagrid's old dog, Jet, lay awkwardly on the ground. She'd been torn and bitten at by the looks of it, and was dead. Then Remus noticed the two bodies laying about a hundred meters away.

"Dorcas!" He cried, running towards them. Heart pounding, he recognized one immediately, but begged that it was someone else. Sirius was laying face-down, unconscious. Nasty green gashes tore into his back, deep. Blood and green ooze were leaking out. Dorcas knelt beside him, beginning to mutter healing spells.

"Ned!" The two kids with Dorcas must be friends with the other guy. They were shaking him and calling his name in fear. His eyes began to flutter, and he let out a low moan of pain.

"Come on Sirius." Remus said in desperation. The spells were closing his wounds, but he still hadn't woken. Tears leaked out of Remus's eyes. Dorcas was in deep concentration, murmuring spell after spell.

Suddenly, Sirius's grey eyes opened. He looked up at the two, confusion present on his face.

"Moony?" He asked weakly. Remus laughed with relief.

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It was the strangest thing. One minute, Lily had been battling three Inferi on her way to the Great Hall. One had gone up in flames, but the two grabbed each of her arms, tearing madly. And then, they fell. The two Inferi fell, as if they died all over again. The third though, was still quite active, as it swatted at Lily. But the fire overcame it, and it too fell to the ground. Lily walked cautiously over to the three bodies, giving one a good kick. Yep. Quite dead. Maybe someone stopped whoever was behind this, but Lily didn't think for a second it was over. There were still very real Inferi walking the corridors.

She stepped into the Great Hall, where the rest of them seemed to be congregating. Again, about half were on the floor, dead corpses once more. There were still about six or so up and moving, trying to reach the students who had built a makeshift fort with the tables around themselves. There were probably thirty kids in the hall, some trying to attack, others making a run for it. Lily began to blast fire at the Inferi. Once her spell caught one in the back, other kids noticed how effective fire was. The Incendio charm was only taught to fourth years and higher, but the kids who knew it began to cast at the Inferi. Shrieking filled the air, as the corpses flesh burned. Lily felt triumph fill her gut. It was almost over.

Suddenly, figures darted through the smoke. It was Nott and another boy. They were running for the door, with horribly angry expressions on their faces. Lily cut them off.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asked coldly.

"Get out of my way, you filthy Mudblood." Nott snarled. Lily shot a hex that landed him on his back. She Disarmed him, his wand flying in a high arc into the rubble.

"Not until you tell me where you're going in such a rush!" She said defiantly. Nott spat at her feet.

"There's an attack. We're trying to flee." He said, sneering. It was obviously a lie.

"Either get back to your common room, or I'll make you." Lily snapped. The guy next to her had a queer expression on his face. Lily noticed he had his want out, and he was muttering a curse. Realization dawned on her.

"It was you." She said quietly. Nott laughed coldly. Suddenly, he got up and rushed at her. He pushed her back, and she landed with her head cracking against the floor. A sharp blow hit her face, and she heard the sickly crunch of her nose breaking.

"Let's get out of here." Nott commanded. Him and the boy took off into the smoke, but Lily still had her wand. Her vision was a bit fuzzy, and she'd have to aim carefully.

"Expeliarmus!" She called towards the boy, Nott's friend who's name she didn't know. His want flew from his fist, in Lily's direction. Nott turned in shock and fury. Once the wand hit the floor, the reaction was immediate. Every single Inferi that was still up or fighting, fell to the floor.

"You'll pay for this!" Nott called, and grabbed his friend by the shoulder. The two ran from the castle as fast as they could.

Lily pulled herself up, but she knew it was too late, until she heard shouts from outside the castle doors.

Some figures emerged from outside. It Remus, carrying Sirius by his shoulders.

"We tried to get them, but Nott got away." He said, gasping. Three other kids followed, one looking quite worse for wear.

"Is Sirius alright?" Lily asked, tears springing to her eyes. Sirius looked up weakly.

"Just peachy, Lils."He joked. She smiled in relief. Behind the group, levitating Nott's friend in a Body Bind, was Dorcas.

"Dorcas!" Lily shouted, and threw her arms around her.

"Hey Lils," Dorcas smiled. "I wish our reunion could've been on better terms." Lily laughed weakly.

"We're taking them to the Hospital Wing." Remus said, gesturing to the hurt boys. Dorcas nodded.

"I've been informed that the castle is secure. No more danger." She explained. "Now we're supposed to take any hurt students to the Hospital Wing. I guess some extra Healers are being brought in."

"I'll help." She said firmly. Dorcas gave her an unsure look.

"Honestly, you look like you need a trip to the Hospital Wing yours-"

"I'm helping, Dorcas." Lily said firmly. Dorcas grinned.

"Never could tell you what to do, Evans. Alright, let's do this."

They made their way to the Hospital Wing. Ignoring her throbbing nose, Lily directed students to different Healers, making sure each one was attended to. Most kids weren't hurt, just scared. Some had burns, others bruises. She did her best to be soothing, and calm them, but it was hard when she herself was shaking like a leaf from her battle with the Inferi before. She went from common room to common room, grabbing any hurt children. In the Hufflepuff room, some Healers were already there when she entered. Her heart skipped a beat when she recognized one as James's mom.

Mrs. Potter had a striking resemblance to James. She had the same soft hazel eyes, which were rimmed with glasses, and the same crazy flyaway hair, only in blonde. She gave Lily a hug.

"I'm glad to see you're alright." She said, smiling. Euphemia had been Lily's rock this summer, along with James and Sirius, when her family became too much. The two had formed a very close relationship.

She went to work, fixing Lily's broken nose in a heartbeat, and starting on the nasty claw-marks and scratches on her arms and legs. She explained that because Inferi were cursed objects, the damage they do is harder to heal than a normal wound. Lily admired her as she concentrated, murmuring different incantations and charms at her. Euphemia had the same determined look James had when he was solving a complex problem. Lily didn't feel the scratches at all anymore by the time she was done, but was told the scars were likely to hang around for a couple months. She didn't give a damn about that, and quickly stood to go find James and help more students. It was selfish, but she really didn't feel like doing Head Girl duties until she knew he was ok. Mrs. Potter seemed to sense her worry, and gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"He'll be fine dear. James is one of a kind, and can take care of himself."

Lily smiled. "I know." She said.

"Good. Now, I will not allow our next meeting to be out of some other tragedy. I'm forcing you to come to dinner at my house over next break." She said firmly. Lily laughed and promised she would. Then Mrs. Potter turned to help more students, and Lily felt her gut clench up once more in worry.

She stepped out of the Hufflepuff common room with, and noticed that Marlene was running towards her. She had a bandage over the side of her head, and green claw marks on her cheek. Lily threw her arms around her, breathing her in. Tears sprung in her eyes. She wasn't sure if she was ever going to see her best friend again before this, smell her lemon perfume, hear her gruff chuckle. They broke apart, and Lily saw a look in Marlene's eyes that made her heart plummet.

"James?" She asked horsely.

"Hospital wing. And Alice..." Marlene trailed. Lily took her hand and the two ran, up the rubbled entrance, up the stairs, to the wing.

Lily stepped into the room. Almost all the beds were full, and most had clusters of students standing beside them in worry. Mary was next the first bed, head in her hands. She seemed to be praying. Although it made her feel wracked with guilt, Lily hoped it wasn't James in the bed. It wasn't. It was Mary's little brother, Ben. One of his arms was in a cast, and he was unconscious. Madame Pomfrey was dabbing an ointment on his chest, which had a deep, sickly green gash running down the middle. Lily hurried to Mary's side, and the two hugged in an unspoken moment of grief. Marlene stroked Mary's hair, then motioned for Lily to follow her.

At the end of the room two beds were occupied. Alice was awake, but very pale and seeming in a lot of pain. She had a black eye and burns running up her arms. Frank was busying himself trying to care for her, but she kept brushing him off, complaining she was fine. Peter was also next to her, staring blankly at the wall.

The bed next to Alice's laid a sleeping Sirius, the one across from her was James.

Lily gasped, running over to him. His arm was in a sling, green scars running down his side. Madame Pomfrey came over, and fed him some vile-looking potion.

"Nott got me with some weird curse." He explained. "Have to take this potion once a day for a whole month!" He looked annoyed, but Lily laughed in relief.

"I'm so glad you're okay." She whispered, stroking his cheek. "I love you so much."

"I love you too, but it seems like we're a bit late on dinner, and you promised." He scolded. She laughed weakly.

After a couple of hours of recuperation, most of the students were allowed to leave. Many were still afraid, and teachers were on high alert, monitoring the grounds and halls. By midnight only about five beds were still occupied, three of them by James, Alice, and Sirius. Mary's brother was still out cold, a fact that made them all afraid. Lily and Marlene were propped against the wall next to James's bed. Lily and James hadn't stopped holding hands since she'd found him in here.

Remus was walking towards them, with Dorcas at his side. They'd been the least injured, and had gone to talk to Dumbledore. Lily and James perked their heads, all curious for news.

"Nott escaped, and his friends, Rosier and Caine, aren't talking. But they'll be expelled and sent to trial for this." Dorcas finished solemnly.

"We don't need a confession." Frank said angrily. "Anyone could see this was done by Voldemort."

They all sat in silence for a bit. Remus had come with a bottle of Firewhiskey in hand, explaining that everyone probably needed a bit. Lily couldn't agree more. Remus poured and handed out glasses in silence. Lily grabbed hers, staring at the amber liquid. She felt numb.

"Why would he do this? We're just kids." Mary sobbed suddenly.

"To send us a message." Alice said quietly. Lily looked at her, pale and strained. She knew Alice had been through hell the last month, with the deaths of her parents. It seemed to motivate her to fight even harder, work with the Auror program before she was even out of school, build up extensive knowledge on dueling and defensive spells. Lily had seen the war do a lot of things to her, but had never seen it make her afraid.

"How can we fight this? If Voldemort can attack a bunch of children, what will we do when we're actually out there?" Lily wondered aloud. Her friends looked at her with very solemn eyes. She couldn't make eye contact with any one of them, staring at her muddy shoes.

"What if we lose this?" Peter whispered. Lily had never seen him looking so small.

"No matter if we win, if we lose, if the bloody world ends, we'll be together. Fighting." Sirius said fiercely. The intensity of his words shook the entire group. They all stood, quiet in and their own heads. Suddenly, Remus rose his glass of firewhiskey.

"A toast." He said softly. "A toast to the end of the world."

One by one the friends lifted their drinks up. It was a solemn and deeply moving affair. Lily's eyes rested on each of her friends' for a moment: Sirius's hot anger, Remus's sincerity, Peter's terror, Dorcas's calm. They all filled Lily deep into her bones. She felt James's cold hand squeeze her own, long fingers interlocking with hers. A fire was building in her gut.

"Here here!" Sirius called out. Lily swallowed all these feelings into her gut along with her drink.

She knew this was the beginning of something quite real and terrifying, but looking into James's fierce hazel gaze, she also knew she was ready.

"Lily?" He asked.

"Will you marry me?"