Chapter 5: The Attack

James and I stood in the middle of the circle, back to back. Malfoy, Avery, Mucliber, Bellatrix, and Snape's wands were pointed at us, and our wands at them. Of course this wasn't a fair fight, but they weren't going to pay attention to that.

"Where are Sirius, Mary, Remus and Peter? They could help us." I whispered to James.

"Maybe they'll realize we're missing and come find us?" James said hopefully. But we both knew how unlikely that was. We were near an abandoned part of Hogsmeade. We were on our own. I decided to take a different approach.

"Severus, why are you doing this?" I asked, looking straight into his eyes. I hoped maybe he would see reason. Bellatrix let out a crackling laugh that made my blood curl.

"Why would Severus listen to you? A filthy MUDBLOOD!" She said, screamed like a delusional at the end. Shivers ran up and down my body. James turned around and protectively in front of me.

"Don't. Call. Her. That." He snarled. "STUPEFY!" He yelled with his wand pointed at Bellatrix. With that, the fighting started.

"PROTEGO!" I screamed, knowing that the others would try to attack James once he yelled that. I looked around to see everyone was knocked off their feet and were scrambling to get back up. "You keep fighting offensively, I'll go defense. Get Lucius first" I told James. I stood back-to-back with James again, while I kept the shield up. He pointed his wand at Lucius.

"INCARCEROUS!" he said, and his body was bound with ropes. We figured he would be the most dangerous, since he was the oldest. The rest were in our year and only knew as much as we did, or less. "Accio Wand." he said, and the wand flew towards him. Meanwhile, I was holding off Bellatrix and Snape by locking their legs together. I knew it wouldn't last long, but I had to hold them off. James pointed his wand at Avery. He smiled evilly, his eyes bright with an idea.

"Here's for calling her a you-know-what!" He pointed his wand at him, and Avery was hung upside down by an ankle "Accio Wand!" The wand came speeding towards him. James handed me Avery's wand. I took it and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a blue jet of light racing towards Mucliber. His wand flew out of his hand and Mary stepped forward, followed by Sirius.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked and stopped everything I was doing.

"PROTEGO!" James yelled and a blue shield was cast between me and Bellatrix, who tried hexing me while I was watching Mary and Sirius emerge out of nowhere. Sirius and Mary joined us in the fight. We already got rid of Avery and Lucius, and Mucliber was reaching for his wand again. The four of us stood across from Mucliber, Snape and Bellatrix.

"Well, I guess it's even now. Three against three. The mudblood doesn't count!" Bellatrix squealed.

"How dare you!" James roared.

"She's better than any of us at magic!" Mary retorted.

"And she's a hell better person than YOU!" Sirius sneered.

"Oh yes, my dear cousin. Taken the wrong side…with your idiotic Gryffindor pride. Join us. Join us like Regulus. You know you've always wanted to be mommy's son" Bellatrix taunted as a smile formed on her face.

"THAT'S A LIE!" Sirius bellowed as he got into an offensive position

"Oh no, there are more of them…" I whispered to James, pointing in front of us. Rodolphus, Crabbe, Goyle, and the Carrow siblings came towards us, intending to join the attack.

"What? Is this some kind of a Junior Death Eater party?" Sirius asked, straightening up, noticing them, too.

"Yeah, we're sorry to intrude, but we must get going." Mary, said, clearing trying to escape. Instead, they formed a circle around the four of us. They freed Lucius and Avery and gave them wands.

"Aw, guys, I'm touched you think we're so great that you need to have ten of you just to fight the four of us. It really is a great honor." James said, with sarcasm dipping in his voice.

"James!" I whispered, quietly reprimanding him. This wasn't the time for jokes. Then, James, the leader suddenly took over.

"Alright guys, on the count of three. Stun and duck alright? 1…2…3!" He whispered.

"STUPEFY!" Our four voices yelled and then we dropped to the ground. I looked up and saw that we did knock out four of them. I silently cheered as I realized Lucius was one of them that were knocked down, along with Avery, Crabbe, and Amycus. I saw Sirius go towards Bellatrix.

"Hey, Bella, where's my dear brother? Decided he didn't want to join the attack? Oh, he was always such a coward. Impedimenta!" Bellatrix was knocked off her feet.

"You'll pay for that, Black!" Rodolphus screamed as he charged towards him.

"Expelliarmus." I said, pointing my wand at Mucliber's. He was trying to attack me while I wasn't looking…again. What a coward. His wand flew into my hand. Using both of the wands, I said, "Petrificus Totalus" and he froze. I figured he would be frozen for a while, since I used both of our wands, even though his wasn't mine. I turned back around to watch what Sirius and Rodolphus were doing.

"Oh, going out with my cousin, now are you? Well, I guess you guys are made for each other. You're both death eaters, and insane…" Sirius counted off on his fingers. Rodolphus flicked of his wand and Sirius was hoisted by an ankle. Then Mary charged forward.

"Petrificus Totalus!" She screamed, and Rodolphus fell to the ground with a thud. She aimed her wand at Sirius and he fell to the ground.

"Thanks." He said, flashing a smile in her direction. She nodded and came back to my side.

"LILY, DUCK!" I heard James scream and I dropped to the ground, as did Mary. I looked up to see red light pass over my head. Still on the ground, I saw where it came from. It was Goyle.

"Stupefy!" Mary and I said at the same time. We watched as he fell to the ground. I sort of felt bad for the guy. Two stunners? But, I suppose it did take a lot to get through that fat of his. We got back up and looked around to see James and Sirius dueling with Snape, Mucliber, and Alecto.

"Stupefy!" Alecto screamed when he got the chance, and I saw Mary fall down besides me. I realized something then. The Junior Death Eaters didn't know the counter curse for Stupefy. Clearly, they didn't study well for their O.W.L's. Then, I realized Severus did know the counter spell. We studied for our Defense and Charms O.W.L's together. But why wasn't he using it? I looked over at him. James was throwing everything he had at Snape, which explained it. James was keeping him occupied.

"Ennervate" I whispered so the Junior Death Eaters didn't pick up the spell, and Mary regained consciousness. Relieved, I helped her up, and we both ran over to where Sirius and James were. On the way, we knocked down Alecto and Mucliber. I stood next to James and Sirius and Mary stood right next to us. It was four against one. Us against Snape.

"Well, well Snivellus. You're the only one left…" James said. I knew only too well what James was planning.

"James, let's just leave. He's not worth it. We need to get out before they all wake up again…" I said, desperately trying to get us out of there. James looked at Sirius and Sirius nodded in agreement. James and Sirius stepped around him, leaving me and Mary there. Mary followed without another glance at Severus. I glared at Severus.

"Why…Why would you do this?" I asked him.

"Why would you go out with him?" He retorted. I crossed my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes.

"He's changed. He's a better person than you are and you'll ever be." I told him snidely.

"Lily, come on, we need to get back." James said, losing patience. I glanced at Severus one more time and stepped around him.

"Let's go." I said, taking James' hand. I looked back at Severus and my eyes widened as I realized what he was doing. He had his wand pointed at James' back and his mouth was moving. "JAMES, WATCH OUT!" I yelled as I put myself in front of him. My eyes widened when the jet of dark green hit me. As I fell I saw Severus' eyes widen in shock and heard his and James' voice screaming my name. My heart was beating rapidly and I felt my skin being cut open by an invisible force. It was like a thousand crucio's, not that I'd know what that feels like. A scream escaped from my lips and I started to thrash around. I felt the pool of blood around me. "DO SOMETHING. MAKE IT STOP!" I managed to scream. I opened my eyes and saw James' worried eyes staring at me, and he was screaming my name. Severus ran towards me.

"Lily, LILY!" James looked up at him and tackled him to the ground. Severus put his hands up, saying, "I know how to fix this. WAIT. I KNOW HOW TO FIX THIS!"

"JAMES LET HIM GO! HE KNOWS THE COUNTERCURSE!" I screamed. Anything to make it stop. James looked at me then the puddle of increasing blood. He let go of Severus. Severus came running towards me, knelt down next to me and pointed his wand at my stomach. I felt the cuts heal and the blood disappear. I sat upright, only to be knocked down all over again.

"Lily, Lily…I'm so glad you're okay! Don't ever do that again, okay? Ever." James said as he hug-tackled me.

"Uh, James, I suggest you get off of her and let her breathe…she was just bleeding like crazy for the last two minutes…" Sirius suggested said as he pulled me and James up.

"Oh, my robes are still a mess…Scourgify." I said. I pointed the wand at my robes and the blood disappeared.

"YOU! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS, SNIVELLUS, YOU'LL PAY!" James roared as he rounded up on Severus. He charged towards him.

"I didn't mean to hurt her, I really didn't!" Severus exclaimed, stepping back.

"James, please, he's not worth it. Let's go, the stunned Death Eaters should be waking up right now. And we need to get back to the castle." I said tiredly, pulling him away from Severus. James nodded reluctantly and turned to walk away. We managed to exit Hogsmeade without a disturbance. At the entrance of the castle, we saw Remus and Peter.

"Guys, where were you? We looked for you everywhere! It didn't help that Sirius had the map…" Remus shouted.

"We got caught up in bit of a fight…" I said slowly. Remus and Peter's eyes widened.

"The Junior Death Eaters decided to ambush me and Lily…" James began and he told the rest of the story while we walked to the Gryffindor Common Room.

"We need to tell Professor Dumbledore! Lily, or anyone for that matter, could've gotten seriously hurt!" Remus exclaimed once we were in the Common Room by ourselves.

"We can't. I think we should keep this to ourselves…Besides, it's almost the end of the term, and we should just let it go." I said stubbornly. Remus looked at me. He sighed in defeat and went to his dorm. Peter left with a soft 'goodnight' and followed Remus. James and I looked around and Mary and Sirius disappeared, too. Hopefully they went to bed in their separate rooms.

"Lily, can I ask you something?" He said, a bit slowly.

"Sure, go ahead." I replied, curious to know what his question was.

"What changed your mind? Why did you decide to go to Hogsmeade with me? After 5 years, what changed?" He asked, tilting his head a little. I figured this question would come one day. I'd been asking myself lately, too.

"Well, I guess that night, when Snape attacked me; it really changed my views on you. And then Quidditch match the next morning…I considered the problem for a while that you weren't the arrogant person I thought you were. And today proved that." I finished, then thinking about what I said. I realized I meant every word. He nodded slowly, understanding. I looked into the fire, and realized that I was pretty sleepy. I stood up and he did, too. "I'm pretty tired from the ah…exciting events of the day." He laughed.

"Yeah, me too." He responded. We stood up and walked hand-in-hand towards our dormitories. We stopped at the foot of the stairs.

"Goodnight, James." I whispered, stepping closer to him, my heart beating hard against my chest at the close proximity.

"Goodnight, Lily." He replied. He stepped a little closer and gave me a small kiss on the lips. He pulled back and it was over quicker than it started. I blushed furiously. Even if it was a small kiss, it was definitely better than any other kiss I've had. I started to go up my dorm's staircase, smiling to myself. I could've sworn I heard him whisper, "I love you" What surprised me was that I wanted to say it back.

A/N: The end of the longest chapter yet. I wanted to write this chapter (and another one) since I started the story. Hope you enjoyed it and I hope I did the fighting scene properly. Anyway, thanks for reading, and please review!

Sam Storsky