So I would just like to say to those who have followed or favourited my story, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I LOVE YOU ALL! Seriously getting all those emails letting me know made me happy :) It gives me the motivation to keep writing. So here for you all is the next chapter. Let me know what you think. Please! :)

I have also decided to change the rating to M. This will be for future content.

xx Black-lightningrunes-13

Chapter 7:

Lily knew what James was saying was correct in the fact that they would have to fight these people. But it was crazy! They were using the cruciatus curse and were hanging bodies from their ankles! There had been rumours spreading around about some Lord Voldemort and that he was collecting followers. They were killing people, or torturing them, especially the muggleborns. In her mind that was what was scaring Lily, she knew she was a strong witch, probably the best in her year, yet her blood status put her down. If these people were the followers of this Lord Voldemort, they would have to be careful.

Listening to James was the right idea, is plan was fairly straightforward.

"So we need to find some things that will provide cover, and we stay behind them when we aren't casting spells. Three of us face one way, two the other. That was there aren't any surprise attacks from behind," James was saying. Hopefully some others will help us then, Lily thought. She figured the more people there were fighting the greater the chance they had.

"So what are we going to use for cover?" Marlene asked.

Lily looked around as she had been wondering the same question. "Honestly whatever we can," James replied looking around as well, "let's just use these tables."

For them it had been like time had stood still as they moved the tables and prepared themselves. On the side of the street, just a bit away from the windows of the ice cream parlour, they had set up the tables in a box around them. The good thing about this were they were quite wide meaning they would be able to duck behind them. Inside their box Sirius, Lily and Alice faced one way while James and Marlene had their backs to them.

"Ready?" James whispered, "on the count of three. One…two…three!"

~~~/~~~

"Did you see how nervous he was?" Nathan laughed as he remembered the look on his sons face. Linda laughed along with him.

"She seems like such a sweet girl and she's so pretty! No wonder James always talks about her!" Linda commented.

Nathan smiled at Linda's affection for the girl that their son liked so much. Though thinking back on the meeting, he recalled Lily's reaction when James had appeared.

"Linda, do you think she might like him too?" he asked wanting to see if someone else saw what he saw.

"Well, James, well I think it was Sirius, did say that there aren't as many arguments between the two."
"But even today, she seemed really nervous when he appeared and couldn't stop looking at him."

"Actually, you're right. I just put it off as the girl being shy."

"I think it was a bit of both,"

"Well, hopefully she'll see all the good in our son. I understand why after all these years he-"

Linda stopped talking as she heard a loud scream coming from somewhere close by.

"Did you hear that?" She asked.

"Yes, let's go," Nathan said as he grabbed Linda's hand pulling her in the direction they heard the scream come from.

They didn't have to walk far. Following the smoke of the fiendfyre, they quickly saw what was going on. They found themselves standing behind a group of people covered in cloaks, but in front of these people were bodies hanging by their ankles. In the moments they saw the people, they watched as some began to take a stand but found themselves writhing in pain on the floor.

Nathan went into auror mode straight away, "Impedimenta!" he cast his jinx. It hit his target who fell to the ground. This however caused those at the back to turn around and cast some spells backwards. A green light flew past them, but hadn't been near enough to hit anyone.

Linda herself started casting some jinx's, "Stupefy" she yelled also hitting her target.

"What about the kids?" She asked Nathan while they ducked for cover.

"They'll be fine! If they are anywhere near this they know how to protect themselves." Nathan responded quickly put a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder, just for a brief moment.

~~~/~~~

When they heard James yell, "three!" everyone rose from their cover and yelled some jinx's.

Stupefy!

Petrificus Totalus!

Impedimenta!

Expelliarmus!

The figures had been caught off guard. After taking down those first few who had opposed then, they thought they had sent their message for all others to not get in the way.

After casting their first spells, Lily and the others used the tables as a protection. They also protected each other as they worked as a team. At most times if someone was standing to cast a spell, someone was always casting protego for protection. All five of them worked well together, in a way coordinating their every move.

With their attack, the five teenagers had somehow stopped the figures from moving closer.

Lily was having trouble breathing. The fire was still burning, and the smoke around them was thick. Her eyes watered but she knew she couldn't stop. She was just hoping that some sort of help would arrive soon.

While casting protego for James, Marlene noticed that from her side those she was fighting were being attacked from the other side.
"James! Look! The other side!"

Through the smoke, James squinted his eyes. He saw that the group was in a similar position to him and his friends, that there were people on the other side. He sighed, glad that they had some sort of help. Realizing it could be his parents as he knew they wouldn't back from a fight and would be worried about him, he fought even harder. He knew that he had to protect everyone around him.

From behind him he heard a smash.
"POTTER! DUCK!" he heard someone yell. He did so as one spell flew over his head and another crashed into a shield someone had cast behind him.

In a quick flash, James half spun so that he could see both sides of the alley. It was Lily that had cast protego behind him. "Thanks," he yelled.
"Yeah, no problem, but I'd say we're in need of help here."

She was right. As well as they had been doing there were still more of them and the smoke everywhere wasn't helping anyone. The tables that they had used for protection were in pieces and were no good.

"At least others are helping!" Marlene yelled atop the noise. A few witches and wizards had joined the fight once they saw the five teens put up a fight, though many had stayed with their children to protect them.

Maxima bombarda!

"DUCK!" Sirius yelled as soon as he realised what was going to happen,
pulling Alice and Lily with him. James who also picked up what was happening pulled Marlene to the floor with him.

As they hit the floor, an explosion occurred around them. Bricks and rubble flew around them. Dust filled their eyes and their lungs.

"Ow!" Lily said as she tried to stand back up, "Oh crap." Lily looked down at herself. Not only was she covered in the dirt and rubble from the explosion she had blood all over her from both small cuts. Her leg had blood streaked down it from a large scrape that went from her knee down half her shin. But not only that her left wrist had twisted at an odd angle. She tried to lift herself off the ground but it hurt for her to put any pressure on her leg. She fell back down.

The others around her were all moving and getting up. Each had similar scrapes on their bodies.

"Come on guys, we need to move!" James ordered, knowing they needed to move out of the way, "let's go. Evans you okay?" he asked as he spotted we on the ground still struggling.
"Uh I can't move," she replied.
Sirius who was closer to her saw her leg, "Oh shit. Ouch. Prongs help me get her up."

James rushed over and with the help of Sirius carefully but quickly pulled lily off the ground. Lily tried not to yell out in pain. Her leg was killing her. Biting down on her lip she was lifted up by the two boys.

"Where are we heading?" Sirius asked James as they got Lily up. The others were casting protego from any spells that came near. James looked around not really knowing how to answer.

Crack!

"Let's move it people! Constant Vigilance!"

Figures had appeared in amongst the smoke. From what James could see about five people had appeared near them, but it was who had spoken that told James that the people were there to help.

It was Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, well known auror. He was actually a friend of the Potter's and has known James since he was little.

While four people went off to help those fighting, Mad-Eye spotted James and moved over to the group, "Younger Potter! What are you doing?"
"Mad-Eye! Thank god! " James exclaimed seeing the familiar face. Looking around James saw the others were confused but knew not to bother with introductions now.
"We need to move Evans here to cover," James told Mad-Eye.
"You're safe now lad. Move to cover we'll take care of this," and with that Mad-Eye moved to help the others.

"Alright let's move back to the ice cream parlour. Alice and Mar can you guys keep watch as we move, protect us?"
"Of course" they both replied.

Slowly moving, they made their way back to the shop. Lily grimaced with every step that she took on her leg. It was hurting her so much, but she didn't want to tell them. She just wanted them to get inside quickly. When they got inside someone pushed a chair close to Lily, and Sirius and James carefully put her into it.

Relieved to be sitting down, and off her leg, Lily rested into it, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

"Lily, you okay?"
"mmmhmm," she responded to whoever asked her. She wasn't really paying attention to what was happening anymore.
"Okay then," the same voice said, "I'm going back out, help Mad-Eye and the other aurors if I can."
"James, be careful," one of the girls, Marlene most likely, said to him.

Lily heard the footsteps of someone moving away from her. Then she realised. It was James who had asked her whether or not she was okay. He had said her name. Lily. He had never said her name before; at least she had never heard it. It was only ever Evans for her and she would call him Potter. What surprised her the most though was how much she liked hearing her name from him. It had sounded so natural.

~~~/~~~

James was careful as he left the shop. He wasn't sure what to expect but he saw straight away that things were better, or at least going in their way. A couple more aurors had appeared and were escorting some of the people away. Though many had disappeared. Black smoke still filled the air but the fire had died down or stopped by someone. The site was terrible. Not too far away, James could see bodies lying on the floor. He just hoped they weren't all dead.

"James!" a worried voice called out.
Turning, James saw that both his parents were rushing towards him. As his mum reached him, she pulled him into her arms holding him close.
"I was so worried about you!" she said, muffled as her head was buried into him.
"I'm glad you're okay son," Nathan told his son putting his hand on James' shoulder.
"Same for you guys."
"Where are the others James?" Linda asked him, worried that she could only see her son.
"Don't worry. They're fine. They are in the ice cream Parlour. Lily is hurt though."
"Oh no, how bad is she?"
"Itt could be worse, but she has a massive scrape down her leg that she can barely even walk on and she twisted her wrist at a weird angle. Sirius and I had to hold her up so she could walk"
"We'll have a look at it for her. Now Alastor told us you were in the middle of the fight when he arrived..." Linda began wanting to hear from her son what happened.
"Yeah, how about we go back and I'll tell you everything. But I have to ask, were they death eaters?"

Nathan and Linda looked each other in the eye before Nathan responded, "Yes son, they were."

~~~/~~~

Together James and his parents walked back to the ice cream parlour. Sirius, Marleme and Alice had pulled up chairs around where they placed Lily and were comparing some on their scrapes on their arms. "I'm blaming this on you Sirius!" Alice was saying to Sirius when they walked in.
"Come on! I saved your life! If it wasn't for me you would have gotten hit by more if I hadn't pulled you down!"
"Yeah, yeah. Fine. Thank you" she said to him. Though they were joking around, trying to make things seem better than they actually were, she really did mean it when she said thanks to him.

"James!" Marlene exclaimed as she spotted him walking it.
"Hey guys. How's Lily going?" he asked nodding in her direction. She was still leaning back on the chair with her eyes closed.
"I'm fine. Leg and wrist just hurt. Is everything okay out there?" she asked as she blinked her eyes open.

"Everything's fine now, dear. Let's have a look at you," Linda answered her as she moved closer, "Oh ouch! How did it happen?"
"Sirius pulled me down so I must have hit something and landed awkwardly."
"Don't worry dear, it'll be okay. I can do a bit of work here for you? If you want me to, but it will not be perfect.

"That's fine," Lily replied with a small smile, "it would be great if you did something."

Smiling back, Linda got to work.

"Marlene, we got in contact with your parents. They know something happened and although they know you're with us, they wish the three of you to go home to them. They are a bit worried." Nathan said turning to Marlene as Linda worked her magic on Lily's leg.

"Oh god they're going to be freaking out," she said putting her hands to her face covering it.

Nathan just smiled at her reaction, "Don't worry. They aren't too bad anymore. But let's just say you three might be confined to the house for the next few days," he told her laughing.

"Thank you for your sympathy..." she replied dryly.

"Oh don't worry, you won't be the only ones," he said looking at James and Sirius.

"Wait! What?" They both exclaimed at the same time.

"Dad! No fair!" James complained.

"James, your father is right. Just for the next few days. For us?"

"But ma... Okay. We'll stay in, promise," he told her once he saw the expression on her face.

When she had spoken she had just finished working on Lily's leg and wrist, and she had looked up at her son. When James looked into her eyes he saw her concern and how much she had been worried.

Alice and Lily watched the exchange. Alice knew James had this side to him, but seeing it with his parents was completely different. She glanced across at Lily. To anybody else, Lily wouldn't have looked like she was shocked, but Alice could see the small things. Lily's emerald green eyes were just that little bit wider and we head was slightly tilted. Alice smiled at this. hopefully things will continue changing for the better, she thought.

"I honestly hate to say this but I'm really tired, and Marlene your parents will be expecting us shortly or else they will send out a search party," Alice said.

Linda smiled, "Of course. Carl and Judy are probably extremely anxious right not. Lily, dear, is that better?"

Lily slowly moved her leg. There was still some pain there but a significantly less amount. It was better also that Mrs Potter - well Linda, she corrected herself - had cleaned the wound.

"It is, the pain has decreased heaps. Still a bit there but it feels so much better now. Thank you so much!" Lily responded.

She stood slowly, gently putting her foot on the ground to apply pressure. Taking a few steps she found she was able to walk with a bit of a limp as she avoided moving her knee.

Her wrist was pretty much back to perfect as well.

"James, Sirius, your father and I have to stay behind and help with the mess here. Alastor has already spoken to us and Patricia Jennings spotted us as well. You guys can either head home or stay here and help," Linda addressed her sons.

James and Sirius looked at each other before both saying, "We'll help."

Linda knew that was going to be their answer, "Of course. Your father and I will be outside. Just come find us or Alastor when you're ready."

She then turned to the three girls, "Marlene like always please come and visit. I miss seeing your gorgeous face around. And Alice and Lily it was a pleasure to meet you both, even though the day was not what was expected. I look forward to seeing you again, perhaps you could come around to the house one time?" As she was saying this she stepped forward giving all the girls a hug.

"Thank you Mrs Po- Linda," Lily began correcting herself as Linda gave her a look," it was very nice to meet you too and thank you do much for your help."

Nathan stepped forward and also gave the three girls a hug and said goodbye before they left the shop together.

"Well today was an interesting day," Sirius said breaking the silence.

"That's for sure," Marlene commented, "god we should go guys, mum and dad are going to be freaking out as we speak."

Stepping towards the boys she gave them both a hug and a kiss on the cheek, "Behave you two! I'll see you soon."

"I'm just glad everyone is in one piece. Sure some injuries, but things could have been much worse," Alice said as she too stepped forward to say goodbye to the boys.

"Lily-flower's Turn!" Sirius exclaimed before moving towards her and grabbing her into a hug. He had lifted her off the ground, so when he was putting her back down he had to be extremely careful. "I'm glad you're okay Lils. Sorry I hurt you," Sirius whispered as he held Lily close.

"Don't worry Sirius. It's not that bad. And you probably save my life. So thank you," she whispered back so only he could hear.

They smiled at each other before Sirius stepped away and James too moved closer.

"Take care of yourself Evans," James said with a smile before pulling her into a hug. Lily was stuff at first but she relaxed into his arms. In the back of her mind she realised he called her Evans again instead of Lily. And it was there that she felt that tiny bit of disappointment. She had liked hearing her name come from his lips. The embrace was then also too short and was over too soon for Lily. As she moved out of James', arms she said, "I will Potter, you too."

"Alright time to go!" Marlene quickly said, "see you two soon!" she said before disapparating. Lily and Alice both said a final goodbye before they too left the James and Sirius standing in the shop.