I'm back! So who spent their Halloween crying because James and Lily died on that day 32 years ago? I know I certainly was. Thanks to all you lovely people who've reviewed, favourited and alerted the fic and big thanks to my amazing beta, Dee, who makes these things presentable for you all to read.

Chapter 2

Live Fast, Die Young

The raid was to take place two weeks after the Order meeting, which meant that Lily went back working undercover at the Leaky Cauldron. Now that most of the Order members knew who she was - and she now knew who they were - she frequently saw them dashing in and out of the bar. Lily did not bother acknowledging them most times; it would look suspicious if she started up a conversation out of the blue with Caradoc or Benjy, but sometimes someone did notice her, like Marlene McKinnon, who liked to spend her lunch times there with Lily.

"'Lo love," she said brightly as she slid onto a barstool one Friday. "Hit me up with a gin and tonic, would you?"

Lily shot her a supercilious look and brushed her blonde hair out of her face. "Isn't it a bit early for alcohol, Marlene?" she asked, but nonetheless started making the drink for the older woman.

Marlene snorted and glanced down at her watch. "Nonsense! It's a bit past one."

Still looking sceptical, Lily handed her the drink and went on to serve the other customers that had gathered at the bar. It was relatively quiet and Lily was glad that she got off before most of the Friday afternoon rush set in.

After making her rounds, she rejoined Marlene, who still had half her drink in front of her. This was not uncommon. She would come in and order drinks but she hardly ever finished them. Lily suspected that it was merely because she was bored and had nothing better to do with her time. She didn't think Marlene had a job, not that it mattered, as the McKinnons had a small fortune, and she was positive that Marlene could easily survive without doing anything.

"I heard some interesting things," began Marlene, playing with her straw.

"Mmm, interesting as in some cute Auror bloke is getting married again or interesting as in interesting?" asked Lily as she wiped glasses. Marlene was notorious for being overdramatic and found the most mundane things interesting. This Lily had learned fast.

"Interesting as in you might be seeing my prat of a nephew sooner rather than later," she said offhandedly, taking a dainty sip of the drink.

Lily almost dropped her glass.

"Wh - what?" she asked, blushing furiously. After the last meeting, Lily was looking forward to the next time she would be seeing James Potter (or Auror Potter, as she had recently found out that he too worked in the Ministry, under Moody), but she would vehemently deny this fact with her dying breath.

Marlene regarded her with amusement. "James might be paying you a visit later this evening. Or tomorrow. Whichever."

This time Lily really did drop the glass and it crashed to the floor. Hastily bending down (and muttering a few choice swear words), she mended it and set it on the counter; her blush, if possible, deepened.

"What do you mean, he might be paying me a visit today?" she squeaked.

"It could also be tomorrow," said Marlene easily, not seeing that Lily could be on the very edge of having a panic attack.

"Marlene!"

"Keep your knickers on," she advised, still seeing no problem. "James told me last night that Moody wanted you to get some practice before you headed out in the field. And Moody put him in charge of that."

"I can hold my own, thank you very much," snapped Lily, slightly irked that they thought her to be incompetent.

"I didn't say otherwise," Marlene replied smoothly. "Moody just wants you to be prepared since you've never been in battle before. Believe me, what you learn at Hogwarts is entirely different from what takes place in the real world."

"I know that," said Lily, as she flashed back to a few months ago. She just managed to shake herself out of the memory before all the details came back to her in a vivid recollection.

"Hey, take it as a compliment," said Marlene gently, lightly touching her arm.

Her brows drew together. "Why?" asked Lily.

"Well," grinned Marlene, "Moody must like you enough to not want you to be blown up on your first mission."

"Ha," snorted Lily. "Not enough if he's having Potter watch my every move."

"Hey, he might be a bit of a tosser - okay, a lot of a tosser," amended Marlene at Lily's look, "But James is a damn good fighter."

"I didn't say otherwise," echoed Lily. "It's just that ... our personalities don't exactly, um, mesh well together."

A well-groomed eyebrow shot up at her admission. "Is that a nice way of saying that James pisses you off?" asked Marlene.

"No!" Lily replied, shocked. "It's just - I don't know; I don't think Potter likes me all that much."

"We both know that you're lying here, Ev- oops, I mean Catherine."

Lily blushed slightly at being caught. "Fine, but I still don't know why Moody can't teach me himself if he's that worried."

Marlene scoffed. "One hour with Moody and you'll be begging for James."

Lily had no further argument and left the woman as someone else down the bar called for her. When she returned, Marlene was no longer there. All that was left in her place was a half-finished - now warm - gin and tonic, as well as twice the payment for it.

Her shift finished at six and Lily hurried back to her flat, anxious for her meeting with James. She had barely cast the wards when there was a sharp rap at the door. Peeking out through the small hole, she saw the familiar head of messy hair and unlocked it, letting him in.

James frowned when he first saw her. "Evans?" he asked hesitantly, squinting at her form from behind his glasses.

At first, she did not understand his confusion, and then it hit her. She was still disguised as Catherine. "Yeah, sorry about that," she said, letting him in. "I just got back."

James nodded, comprehension flooding his face as he stepped into her little flat. Lily waved her wand and her disguise melted away. "You didn't look surprised when I opened the door," she noted. "Just ... confused."

"You still looked like yourself," he said, scanning her walls. Lily would admit that her sitting room was embarrassingly bare when it came to personal items. "I mean, it was some good Transfiguration, but you still had the same face structure, eye shape. Really, a lot of things were the same; you just changed the colour."

Lily blushed, slightly irritated. "Well, so far no one besides you has noticed."

"Not everyone is as good at Transfiguration as I am," he replied, succinctly. He eyed her critically once more. "I'm guessing it wasn't your best subject back at school?"

"I did alright," she allowed. And then, "I preferred Charms and Potions."

James wrinkled his nose. "Never liked Potions," he muttered before glancing back at her. "Why haven't you asked why I'm here as yet?"

"Oh. Marlene told me during lunch today."

James muttered something that sounded less than complimentary towards his aunt before speaking up again. "Right then; I guess we can skip over that part. Can we Apparate from inside here? No, wait, stupid question, sorry. I just meant if there's anywhere close by that we can Apparate from." He said all of this in one breath, without leaving any room for her to answer his questions, or say anything in general.

"Er, yeah, there's an alley next to the building," said Lily. James nodded and she was just about leave, but then realised that she still had on her work clothes. "Can you give a moment to go change?" He nodded again and Lily left, quickly slipping into a pair of dark jeans and a t shirt. It was quite different from the skirt and shirt pair she was originally wearing, and far more practical. Pocketing her wand, she slipped past him and waited for James to exit before flicking her wand to lock the flat and leading him down the four flights of stairs to the alley. Neither of them said a word as they made their way down the stairs.

In the alley, James caught her hand, causing Lily to jump.

"We have to Side-Along," he explained and pulled her closer. At this point, she was positively blushing, but did not have long to worry about that. Within moments, she felt the familiar unpleasant tug of Apparition and, in the blink of an eye, they were both standing in a field in the middle of nowhere.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"A practice field," he replied, not bothering to turn and face her.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I've gathered that, P- what the hell!" she screamed as she just managed to dodge a hex that he shot at her. Scrambling for her wand, Lily dashed behind a tree as she retaliated, sending a tripping jinx his way. She was rewarded with a satisfying thud and a muffled swear, telling her he had fallen.

Not wasting any time, she immediately disarmed him and pointed her wand at his head.

"Do you mind telling me what the hell that -" the rest of her sentence was cut off as James had grabbed her legs and tugged her to the ground, pinning her body underneath his.

"Rule number one," he breathed, his face mere inches from hers. "If you ever get your enemy in a vulnerable position, tie him up first, ask questions after."

Lily made a frustrated sound at the back of her throat. "Is that what this is about? You're testing me?"

James nodded. "You handled it pretty well, Evans," he grinned, still laying on top of her and seeming to have no thoughts of moving in the near future. "Tripping jinx was good. A bit elementary, but that just means that they wouldn't see it coming. Fast reflexes too."

"What was the first thing you cast at me?" she asked, just slightly curious.

He grinned. "Tickling hex. Didn't want to try anything to risky just in case it hit you and ruined that pretty face of yours," he said, winking at her.

Lily huffed, and tried to remove the hair that had fallen into her eyes. "Brilliant. Now, can you please get off of me?"

The two of them practiced simple defensive manoeuvres for the rest of the evening, and well into the night. James stood in front of her, sending various curses and hexes at her to dodge. Lily was glad that she had changed into something a bit sturdier than the skirt, since she had fallen - or been thrown, or pulled - to the grass more times than she could count. By the time they had finished, it was well after ten.

"Bollocks," James swore as he glanced at his watch. "We have to go." He held out his arm to her and they both Apparated.

"We'll meet up again tomorrow," he said as they walked up the stairs to her flat. Lily felt like her arms and legs were going to fall off.

"I still don't understand why I need to do all of this," she grumbled, pulling herself up the stairs by relying heavily on the banister. Lily glanced out of the corner of her eye and almost screamed in frustration as she found James walking normally, appearing to be in no pain whatsoever, unlike her, who knew that she would not be able to move come tomorrow. "It's just dodging hexes."

"Sometimes a Shield Charm isn't enough," he said, slowing down to allow her to catch up. James seemed amused at her discomfort. "The Death Eaters ... they'll be throwing things that can cause even the best of Shield Charms to break. Dark Magic, Evans. Unforgivables. The best thing to do is dodging and sending a hex at the same time. They would expect you to dodge, but they won't expect the hex. Those few seconds can save your life."

When his spiel was finished, James looked down to see Lily looking up at him in undisguised awe. He smirked. "I'm not just a pretty face," he said smugly.

That snapped her out of her trance. Scoffing, she said, "Please, if there's anyone who's pretty, it's - what's his name again? - Sirius."

"Ha ha," he deadpanned. "Really funny, Evans." They were at her door now. James gently patted her shoulder. "And I meant it before; you are pretty good. For a rookie, at least. Still can't hold a candle to me, of course."

"Ah," she grinned. "The return of James Potter's enormous ego. I was wondering if it was going to make an appearance soon," she teased.

James gave her another withering look. "Get inside, Evans. I'll see you tomorrow."

They practiced for the entire week once her shift at the Leaky Cauldron had ended. James even taught her how to improve her Transfiguration, so her disguises would not be so easy to detect as they were before. At first, he kept her on the more defensive side of things, teaching her how to block and counter most curses. Eventually, she moved over to being on the offense, and the last meeting before the raid was spent duelling. James won most of their matches, but only just.

"You're doing great," he told her when they stopped to catch their breath.

"I'm still not beating you," she grumbled.

"That's because I have nearly four years of training. You've had less than a week and I'm pretty sure you could take on anyone from the graduating Auror class and come off better," he reassured her as he tied his shoelace.

Lily blushed. "You're just saying that."

"I'm not." That was the most serious she had ever heard him speak.

Mustering up enough energy to flash him a smile, she said, "One last time?"

James grinned. Within seconds, they were both firing curses at each other. Lily wove in and out, hiding behind trees and shrubs to avoid getting hit by anything James sent at her. He already proved that he was not going to be afraid of hurting her, as he sent several harmful curses at her more than once already. She had, of course, retaliated with curses of her own and had even managed to graze his arm once, but that was simply because he had lost his balance a moment earlier. She had never seen anyone move as fast and gracefully as he did. Lily was sure that if she actually his enemy, she would be scared by simply seeing his fluid movements.

She dodged another hex and sent a tripping jinx at him once more, hoping to recreate their first battle. He had seen it coming though, and with one easy movement batted it out of the way as he stalked towards her. Having nowhere to run, Lily knew the battle was over - he had won again - but still chose to continue shouting spells at him despite it being in vain.

"Expelliarmus," he said, almost lazily as her wand went flying through the air. He did not even bother to catch it, leaving it there on the ground, choosing instead to grab her and press her back towards his chest as he held his wand at her neck.

"Getting there, Evans," he murmured, his breath hot against her ear. He was not holding her arms down and Lily, in a spur of the moment, punched him.

James staggered backwards, allowing her to escape from his clutches and grab her wand, disarming him and tying his wrists together. She laughed victoriously, but it was short-lived, as she soon noticed a dark trickle of blood from where she punched him.

"Oh my god," she gasped, vanishing his bonds at once and running up to him. She tilted his head up, trying to get a better view of the injury. "Are you okay?"

A wide smile broke out across his face.

"That was brilliant!" he yelled, grabbing her around the waist in a huge hug. Lily shrieked in surprise at the gesture, and was relieved when he put her back on her feet.

She looked at him in shock. "Do you have a concussion or something?"

James ignored the subtle jibe and continued to smile like a loon. "We need to tell Moody about this. Honestly, we're all so preoccupied with using magic that we forget that the Muggle way is much more effective. Where'd you learn to punch like that?"

"Um ... my dad. Are you sure you don't want to heal that, Potter?" she asked, looked at the small cut on his chin.

He shook his head. "Leave it be, Evans, I'm shit at Healing Charms. That was more Remus' and Peter's forte."

She faked a gasp. "Something the illustrious James Potter can't do? The horror!"

"You're so funny, Evans. I'm dying from laughter," he deadpanned. Then he threw an arm around her and said, "C'mon; let's go home. We need you in top shape tomorrow." It was obvious that his euphoria from being beaten up by a girl had not dimmed yet. Lily had never met anyone who felt so happy from getting punched before.

Standing in front of her door, Lily brushed a light hand across his jaw where it had stopped bleeding, but there was still an angry red welt in its place. "I feel so bad."

James shook his head and brushed her hand away from his face. "Don't," he said softly. "Just make sure you punch some Death Eaters tomorrow, right Lily?" He leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek before turning around and walking away as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.

"S'later, Evans."

The fourteen who were chosen to go on the raid were to meet Moody in a field somewhere in Devon, just before sundown. They had all received letters, much like the invitation to the Order meeting, which burst into flames after you read it. Lily was a nervous wreck. She tried to calm herself by saying that it was nothing big, just a raid. If all went well, then she wouldn't have to face any Death Eaters. She did not mind training with James to take them down, but she rather it not come to that.

When she Apparated to the given address at around half five, there were only a few people milling about. Moody was there, of course, as well as three other Order members whose names Lily could not remember at the moment, and a middle-aged witch named Hestia Jones. The brunette flashed Lily a small, but reassuring smile.

Within the next ten minutes, the rest of the group had appeared. James was one of the last to arrive, with a grinning Sirius in tow. The bruise on his jaw had turned an ugly splotchy purple colour and Lily winced upon seeing it. He caught sight of her and grinned, seeming not to care about the mark at all.

Moody went through the objective of the mission - gathering information - and proceeded to divide and sub divide the group into several smaller groups until everyone was left with a partner. Lily was paired with James of course, which only made sense since he was the one who was training her. She was surprised, however, to see when Moody gave him a look that very obviously said, 'keep an eye on her.' The older Auror continued listing the names and their duties until, finally, the sun began to set.

"We're in the middle," said James as he weaved his way to her. He seemed disappointed by that fact. James sighed. "I guess that means that you won't get to punch any Death Eaters, eh, Evans?"

"Potter!" Moody yelled as he limped towards them. James' smile immediately dropped and he stood up a bit straighter. "What happened to your face?" he asked.

"Oh, er," he glanced at Lily covertly. "Evans and I were practicing yesterday and she punched me."

Moody regarded it for another moment before letting out a bark of laughter and turning towards Lily, slapping her hard on the back as he laughed, causing the girl to nearly lose her balance.

"Didn't believe Dumbledore when he said that you were more than capable, Evans," he wheezed. "Proved me wrong, you did, girl. That's quite a nasty punch there. Try not to hurt him too much, though. We need him around." He said all of that grudgingly, though there was a faint note of pride in his voice.

Lily's eyes widened in shock at his praise. "I- I'll try not to." With one more laugh, he hobbled away. Lily turned to James to find out what just happened, but found him gaping at the back of his boss.

"He spends two minutes talking with her," he mumbled, mainly to himself. "Two bloody minutes, and she already has him wrapped around her little finger."

"I- what was that?" asked Lily, confused.

James smiled wryly. "That, dear Evans," he declared, "Is something that you never see, so cherish it while you can." He shook his head. "Merlin, Evans, you just got Mad-Eye Moody - one of the most ruthless and feared Aurors in history - to tell you that you're good. If that isn't the highest amount of praise you could get, then I don't know what is."

He did not allow her to finish and instead walked over to Sirius, who was standing with a pretty, dark-haired witch and a burly wizard. She did not have to dwell on that oddity for too long, as less than five minutes later Moody called for everyone to get to their positions.

The forest was pretty quiet, and the only sound Lily was able to hear was James' soft breathing, which was all but drowned out by the beat of her heart echoing in her ears. Their footfalls were virtually inaudible thanks to the wet soil, and they avoided stepping on any sort of twig or branch that may have alerted someone to the fact that unwanted visitors were prowling.

As the forest thinned, a relatively large building loomed ahead. It looked to be a house, but after years of disuse, it had fallen into disrepair. The Order members had gathered in a loose semi circle around the perimeter and, on Moody's nod, six went in and eight stayed out. Lily and James silently and efficiently ran across the grounds and into the house. Before anyone went in, James performed a human detection spell that came up empty-handed, and Lily released a breath she didn't know she was holding in.

"Lumos," Lily muttered as they entered the house. It was dusty and filled with cobwebs. She and James had the second floor, so they slowly started their trek up to the floor.

It didn't take long for them to find something; a room that held a mountain of various papers, pictures and files. The two of them shared a look and began sorting through the debris. It was not until a few minutes later that Lily had found a list of what looked like the names of pureblood families. Most had scratches or ticks near to them, but a few of names were left untouched.

She showed it to James. His eyes widened behind his specs as he scanned the sheet. "Keep it with you," he said, folding it and handing it to her. He conjured a few boxes and began packing everything into them.

"What are you doing?" asked Lily.

"Getting all of this to Dumbledore," he said as he easily dumped everything in the boxes. "This could be a breakthrough in who-"

An explosion sounded, causing the whole house to shake. James grabbed Lily before she could fall. "Death Eaters," he told her. He shoved everything off the desk and, with a series of complex wand movements, the boxes disappeared.

"Come on!" he yelled, grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the room and down the stairs.

The battle was in full swing by the time they made it out of the house. A nearby Death Eater noticed the latecomers and moved to attack them, but Lily was too fast, Disarming him, stunning him and tying him up, all in quick succession. James just had enough time to throw a grin at her before he was caught in between two Death Eaters. Lily couldn't help but notice that the Death Eaters outnumbered them by at least three to one.

A jet of green light missed her by mere inches, and she turned to find a masked Death Eater leering at her.

Lily did not know how long the battle went on for; maybe it was a few minutes, maybe an hour. To her, it felt like an eternity. She fought skilfully, using every technique James had taught her, managing to take down three of them on her own. She was also surprised – although still very happy - to note that each of the fighters that belonged to the Order were still standing, still alive, though many of them were riddled with injuries.

Someone came up behind her as she was duelling with a female Death Eater and, as quickly as she could possible manage to without drawing too much attention to herself, crashed her skull into the wall. Everything went blurry and, for a moment, Lily had no idea what was going on before she swayed on the spot, her body finally crumpling to the floor as everything went black.

James had lost Lily in the midst of all the fighting. One moment, she was standing right by him, her tiny hand still clasped in his, and the next she was nowhere in sight. He continued fighting while simultaneously searching for a flash of red hair.

Then he saw her.

And his stomach dropped.

A heavyset Death Eater - James recalled his name being something starting with a 'B'- stealthily came up behind her and in one swift movement, bashed her head against the wall. He heard himself yell out as he saw the blood trickle down from her temple and she fell to the ground.

He sent two Stunners at the Death Eaters that had attacked her as he tried to get to her fallen form. In his periphery, James saw Moody nod at him and yell to get her out of here. He complied immediately, gently lifting her as he tried his best to fend off any attacks.

"Look at me, Evans," he said as he sent a purple jet of light at a tall, skinny man who was trying to sneak up behind Hestia. He fell to the ground with large welts breaking out across his body.

Lily's eyes were unfocused. "I hurt your pretty face. Moody told me not to do that," she said thickly, the words melding together.

"Yeah, well, it's not my face I'm worried about right now," he muttered. They were far enough so that he did not have to worry about any attacks for the time being. He Apparated to his flat, landing in the middle of the kitchen. He took her to the bedroom and placed her on the bed.

"Don't go to sleep, Evans," he snapped as he noticed her eyelids fluttering.

"But ... I'm so tired, James. Let me get a little bit of rest," she mumbled, her eyes closing.

"You can sleep later," he told her, hurriedly. "Dammit, Evans! Open your eyes!"

"Just ... a few ... minutes," she pleaded."

"Fuck," he swore, fumbling with his wand, eventually managing to create a Patronus. "Marlene! Get to my place now! Lily's hurt!" He turned back to Lily, who lay unconscious on his bed. "Come on, Evans," he mumbled. "Get up." He grabbed her wrist and searched for her pulse. It was there, but very faint. He could only hope Marlene showed up fast enough.

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