Note: I'd like to thank everyone for their reviews, and it is inspiring me to write more!! *Hands you cookies*

I'm also getting a lot of feed-back on who Emma should end up with – but I have my plan mapped out the way Ms. Rowling had hers planned and I'm gonna stick to it. That's very important that is – STICK TO YOUR PLAN. ^^

She thought her life was over – but fate gave her another chance, in a world of magic. Now, running around Hogwarts with James Potter and his friends, she's about to make choices that will change the future in ways she never thought possible…

Marauder's Phase

CHAPTER EIGHTY-FIVE

Worth Fighting For – Worth Dying For

No One's P.O.V:

The Death Eaters were breaking one of the most important rules of the wizarding world – and that was exposing said world to the Muggles. Not that the Death Eaters cared that much – all of the Muggles would die anyway, they had already killed a lot of them. A woman was sobbing over her dead son, but with a burst of green light from Nott's wand she, too, was dead. Men, women, children – none of them escaped, and soon the once shiny and polished tiled floor was littered with the bodies of the dead Muggles, some of them killed by the Avada Kedavra curse, others having died from injuries given to them by the sadistic Death Eaters.

One body that lay on the floor, however, was that of a wizard's. It was physically untouched, but the pain that had been inflicted by use of the Cruciatus curse was far worse than anything a weapon could do.

Remus was breathing hard, feeling as if a thousand white-hot knives had just been stabbed through him. Opening his eyes, he reached out his hand, attempting to retrieve his wand which had fallen to the floor but the Death Eater who had been torturing noticed it.

"Crucio!" He said sharply and, once again, Remus' cries of pain echoed throughout the house, as the pain coursed through his body. As the pain intensified and drew on, Remus wondered, briefly, how anyone could want to inflict this on someone else, the pain was almost unbearable.

And then the thought of this level of pain being inflicted upon his Emma brought Remus crashing painfully back to reality. The curse had been inflicted upon Emma when she was in the Forbidden Forest, by these very same Death Eaters…

Emma…

Something changed in Remus Lupin then, something happened. A fierce and burning desire to protect the one he loved – the only one he had ever loved – became a sudden desire to avenge her.

This burning desire seemed to take control of Remus, and overtook the pain of the Cruciatus Curse.

Remus opened his eyes. The curse was still taking effect. But he no longer felt as much pain as he had before. The pain was taking a back-seat to his newfound will and, somehow, he managed to pull himself to his knees, although shaking all the while.

The Death Eaters eyed him warily, and Remus' torturer – who was none other than Nott – withdrew his hand slightly.

"This kid's not normal," Rosier muttered from behind his Death Eater mask. "Nobody can stand up to the Cruciatus Curse like that, not even those that stand up to the Imperius Curse."

"Course the kid's not normal," Lestrange replied. "This one's the werewolf, that Lupin kid, or haven't you been paying attention at meetings?"

"You're the one who's not paying attention!" Nott said angrily. "If we had've been here sooner, then the girl would've been here! As it is, she isn't, and we were stuck with all these Muggles to get rid of!"

The Death Eaters were busy arguing amongst themselves, and hadn't noticed that Remus had gone for his wand again.

With fire burning it's way through his heart – and it was far from being uncomfortable as the Cruciatus Curse had been – Remus pointed his wand directly at Nott and cried: "Stupefy!!"

The beam of red light hit Nott's chest and knocked him backwards into a china cabinet, which contents shattered on impact.

Lestrange and Rosier immediately raised their wands, only to have them sent flying out of their hands, as James and Sirius came running down the stairs shouting: "Expalliamus!!"

Sirius jumped down the last few steps, his wand pointed directly at Rosier's chest. "Should've known Voldemort's cronies would decide to crash the party!"

Lestrange hissed. "The Black boy…he really does look like his brother…"

Sirius stiffened. "I decidedly am nothing like Regulus, thanks." He said, as Remus stood up, swaying slightly on the spot. "You right there, Moony?"

James frowned: "Which of them tortured you, Moony?" He wanted to know, his eyes dark behind his glasses. "Which of them used Crucio on you?"

"That would be me," Nott declared, standing up and pointing his wand at James and Sirius. "Expalliamus!"

James' wand and Sirius' wand each went flying out of their respective owners' hand.

Now only Remus and Nott were armed, and both of them stared at each other. Neither one moved, both just had their wands pointed directly at each other.

Nott's face was hidden behind his Death Eater mask, but Remus' expression was clearly one of anger and determination.

They began to duel, their wands slashing and coloured light flying in every direction, so that their respective associates had to duck more than once, and an orange Killing Curse narrowly avoided hitting James' arm.

As Sirius and James took refuge behind a statue of Venus De Milo, their wands at the ready but not being used because Lestrange and Rosier were also staying well out of the way, employing the protection of a giant potted fern. None of them would have ever admitted that they were scared of Remus during the duration of that duel, but seeing the fire in his eyes and hearing the way he shouted his incantations was enough to send even the most vicious of Death Eaters running for cover, with the obvious exception of Nott, who was focusing on the battle with grim determination.

"Conjuctivitus!" Remus shouted.

"My eye!" Nott screamed. "Furnunculus!" But, because his eye was so full of pus, the spell missed and, instead, hit the statue James and Sirius were hiding behind, forcing the two Marauders out into the open.

None of them had yet noticed the fourth figure, who was standing just outside the front door.

James decided that it was time to end the whole charade, and pointed his wand at the spot directly between Nott and Remus. "Bombarda!" He shouted, and the force of the explosion sent the three Death Eaters and Remus flying backwards, and Remus' friends caught him under the arms.

"You right there Moony?" James asked, as Remus straightened up and nodded.

"Where's Emma?" He asked quietly, and Sirius stiffened slightly.

"Calm down Padfoot," James said, interpreting Sirius' reaction correctly. "We need to…"

But Sirius cut him off, annoyed by Remus' glare. "For your information, Remus, I did not kiss Cassie! She forced me to kiss her!"

Remus didn't say anything. He just glared at Sirius, as James stood between them, a look of desperation on his face, which soon turned to one of pain.

"Expalliamus!"

"Crucio!"

"Crucio!"

The three Marauders' wands went flying out of their hands, and suddenly James and Sirius found themselves on the floor, victims of the cruel torture curse as Remus stood there, frozen, unable to do anything to assist his friends without further endangering them.

His moment of hesitation cost him, however, because Nott shouted: "Crucio!" And, at once, Remus' body was wracked with pain, as he bit his lip and attempted not to scream. The cries of his two best friends echoed in his ears, and he felt as if he was drowning in a vat of lava.

But even the pain did not stop him from hearing the whip-like crack from atop the staircase, an ominous wind seemed to billow throughout the front hall and, a second later, a fierce voice shouted: "Expalliamus!"

The pain stopped instantly, as the wands of the three Death Eaters flew from their hands, and James, Sirius and Remus were able to climb, though shakily, to their feet.

All six pairs of eyes were glued to the top of the staircase, where stood what could only have been described as a very scary demon.

Emma's hazel eyes were alight with fury beyond belief, and she held all six of their wands in her left hand. Her right hand held her own mahogany wand, which was pointed directly at all three of the now wary Death Eaters.

The three Marauders could well understand why – and they weren't even on the receiving end of Emma's anger!

Anger was an understatement, as they had never seen anyone look like this before. One sleeve of her blue cocktail dress was sliding down her shoulder but she took no notice of it as she descended the staircase, a strange silver locket glowing at her chest.

As she approached them, the Marauders could see that it bore the Black family crest, and knew at once where she must've gotten it from although, for the life of them all especially of Sirius, they knew not why or even how. And Sirius was wondering: 'My mother bewitched all the jewellery bearing our family crest to burn straight through the skin of Muggles or Muggle-borns, so that Regulus and I couldn't marry non Pure-bloods. Does this mean that Emma is..?'.

"Here," Emma had reached them, and held out the six wands in her left hand. "Find your wands, I don't care what you do to theirs." She added, looking furiously at the Death Eaters, as James wordlessly took the wands from her.

She then walked toward the three Death Eaters, the ominous wind blowing in through the open front door billowing her hair and dress.

"You," She said, in a voice that shook with almost uncontainable anger. "Used the Cruciatus Curse on three of my best friends. You killed at least fifty Muggles tonight. You are nothing but the sadistic, cruel servants of a Dark Wizard who is doomed to be defeated!"

Suddenly, her eyes opened wide, and a green jet of light shot straight between Lestrange and Rosier, hitting Emma on the chest.

**

Lily had Apparated to a spot just inside the Hogmeade shop of Honeydukes, knowing full well that there was a passageway in there that led to Hogwarts, to a spot near the Defence Against The Dark Arts classroom. She was using the passageway, knowing full well that it was one of the only ways she'd be able to get into the school- and that's where Dumbledore was.

Running along the passageway now, she only hoped she wouldn't be too late.

**

Now, as Lily ran down a staircase leading to the corridor where the stone gargoyle that led to Dumbledore's office was, she wondered how she was going to get in there. Perhaps Dumbledore didn't use a password when there was nobody else at the school, or maybe had gone on a holiday somewhere and she was just wasting her time!

Lily had only just thought of this, when she ran into none other than the man she was looking for.

If Dumbledore was surprised to have run into a cocktail-dress-clad student running through the school corridors during the summer holidays, he didn't show it, but just helped Lily to her feet and enquired as to why she was here.

He listened to Lily's story, and then said: "Then we must go to where Emma and her friends are. I will require your knowledge of their present location, naturally. Take my arm, Miss. Evans."

She stared at him. "B-but Headmaster, the anti-apparation jinx…"

He smiled at her. "Being Headmaster has its benefits, Miss. Evans." And Lily took that to mean that he didn't have to worry about the jinx. It turned out that she was, of course, correct.

**

Sirius and Remus yelled, James gasped.

The Killing Curse, however, hit the locket that Regulus had given Emma, and rebounded, narrowly avoiding hitting the one who had used it, as Emma staggered back, visibly shaken.

The three Marauders ran to her, just as a number of black shadows appeared, each of them becoming a Death Eater.

The three Marauders and Emma froze – Sirius and Remus both had their free hands on her shoulders – and then all four of them raised their wand and yelled: "STUPEFY!!"

Magic seemed to be flowing between Emma, Remus and Sirius, the focal points being where their hands touched her shoulders, and their wands. Together with the red light from James' wand, the four spells joined together and slammed into the nearest Death Eater, causing an explosion that destroyed the house and slammed everyone who was still alive after that onto the ground nearby.