Happy Holidays! So technically the chapter's been ready for a bit over 2 weeks but there were some... complications. Nonetheless, here it is! The next chapter is almost done buuuuut I'm going to be away from the internet after Christmas (and I doubt I could get anything done before Christmas), so you'll get it when the new year rolls around, sorry.

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, favourited and followed so far!

Chapter 3

Burning Down Mausoleums

There was smoke everywhere.

It was stifling her and making it incredibly hard to see. Water streamed from her eyes and Lily had to press her face into her sleeve just so she could breathe again. Around her, she could hear screams as Death Eaters tortured the muggles. Hear, but not see. For her, it seemed as though the screams came from all around her.

Lily was pressed against the wall as she crouched in the shadows. Her hand grasped at her wand, but its handle was slippery, whether it was because of sweat or blood she did not know. The explosion had disoriented her.

There was another bloodcurdling scream and she fought of the urge to clasp her hands over her ears and apparate away. Instead, she staggered to her feet and made her way into the thick cloud of smoke where the action was taking place. All she wanted was to take a walk to clear her head and this is what happened. In the back of her mind, she wryly thought of how horrible her luck was.

There was a small girl sniffling in the corner crouched against the wall. Like Lily, the girl was covered in dust and debris but came off the better in terms of injuries.

Lily bent down by her and the little girl regarded her with large fearful eyes and scooted back further into the wall.

"It's okay," Lily assured her in a hushed whisper. "I'm not going to hurt you." She slowly reached forward and took one of the little girl's hands in hers. "Where's your mum?"

"I- I don't know," she sniffed, wiping her eyes with a grimy fist. "The people in black took her."

Rage and panic trickled into Lily's bloodstream and she forced herself to keep n smiling. "It's okay. We'll find her." Lily gave her a once over again. "Are you hurt?"

Wordlessly the girl showed Lily her arm where there was a small and shallow graze. Lily relaxed a little. She could handle little scrapes, but only just. Concentrating hard, she waved her wand muttered the incantation. The wound knitted closed before her eyes but there was still an angry red line left in its place. The girl's eyes widened and Lily swore she heard a small whimper escape.

Another explosion rang out and Lily was quick to protect the girl from the shrapnel that came raining down upon them.

""Let's get out of here!" Lily yelled at the girl as she tugged her to her feet. They both weaved through the clouds of dust and smoke trying to remain out of sight until she finally found a door that led out into an alley. "Run," she told the little girl. "Run as far away as you could and find somewhere safe."

The girl did as she was told without looking back. Lily wanted nothing more than to follow but she could still hear the sounds of screams and panic from inside and she knew what she had to do. Steeling her nerves, she took a deep breath and went back into the cafe.

She caught sight of a figure clad in all black robes and yelled stupefy, watching with satisfaction as he fell to the floor. Lily made sure to conceal herself in the shadows as she tried to take down as many Death Eaters as possible. All too soon did the aurors show up and the real battle began.

Curses she could have never imagined started flying from both sides and she was almost hit twice. She was not so lucky the third time as a burly Death Eater saw her and engaged in battle. Though being one of the best duellers in her class, Lily had just realised what an enormous leap it was from being in Hogwarts to being outside in the world. She could barely manage to keep up with him and within a few moments he overpowered her, causing an ugly gash to form on the side of her leg.

She cried out and attracted the attention of a nearby auror who, with merely a flick of her wand, stunned the man Lily had just been duelling. She wasted no time to see if the auror noticed her, the young teenage witch who was obviously still in school as she limped out as fast she could without drawing any more attention to herself and apparated away. She had almost splinched herself in the process, but managed to successfully appear in an alley a few blocks away from her house in one piece.

Catching sight of her grimy appearance in a cracked window, Lily hastily cast several charms to clean herself up, taking care to try and heal the wound. There was a bottle of Dittany back home calling her name.

She had though that no one had noticed here at the muggle store while the attack was going on. The next day the muggle newspaper reported a gas explosion at a cafe in Bristol. That was miles away from Cokeworth. No one would ever need to know that she was there.

Of course, she should have known better. Her headmaster was Dumbledore after all. When she returned to school after the Easter hols, he had called her up in his office and discussed the matter. It was also during that meeting that she was invited to join the Order.

It was 3:30 in the morning and he still had not slept a wink.

When James sent over the patronus for Marlene, she had arrived over at his flat in record time, carrying a bag of potions, salves and anything else that could be found in a Healer's kit. James was lucky that his aunt never decided to get a fixed job as she could never decide on what she wanted to do. A few months ago she had taken up healing and was surprisingly good at it but said she did not want to go work in the hospital. His aunt was very lucky that she came from a wealthy family and could afford to spend days lounging about at home studying potions one day and then duelling the next.

James was lucky that Marlene had taken a liking towards Lily. However this meant that her panic almost rivalled his when she appeared on his doormat, expecting the worst. She was dramatic like that.

"What happened? Is she alright? No wait; stupid question. Of course she's not alright. That's why you called me. Are you alright, James? What in Merlin's name happened?" she asked, all in one breath as she brushed past him and headed straight for the bedroom.

James followed her nervous chatter into the room. Usually he found her rambling annoying but now it was a welcome disruption. "I'm fine, Marly. Probably a scratch here and there. It's her I'm worried about."

Marlene took a deep breath to compose herself. "Right," she nodded as a mask of professionalism slipped on to her face. "What happened? Was she cursed?" she asked as she waved her wand in a complicated fashion above the redhead's limp body.

James shook his head. "Death Eater slammed her head into the wall."

She winced. "Painful but easy enough to fix," she said. She flicked her wand and a coil of green smoke rose from Lily's chest. Marlene tutted.

"Is that supposed to happen?" asked James anxiously.

"James," admonished Marlene sternly. "Shut up."

She continued her ministrations, not saying anything at all and refusing to answer his many questions. Eventually she got so fed up that she flicked her wand and caused him to be pushed out into the hall as the door slammed shut. James knew he could have stayed and yelled and cursed as much as he wanted to as he stood outside but it wound not deter Marlene who had magically locked the door and most likely placed a silencing charm on it as well.

Instead of staying and yelling until he was hoarse, he made his way to the kitchen where he made a mug of tea and paced back and forth. His tea sat on the counter where it remained untouched even after it had long gone cold as James was too wired up to do anything other than pacing. His shoulder throbbed painfully as it did for almost the last hour (Merlin, had it only been an hour? It felt like a millennia had passed since her brought her home) reminding him of the curse that grazed it. He was probably cut, but he certainly did not want Marlene pushing and prodding him like she was doing Lily.

Lily. Who was lying unconscious on his bed. Because of a Death Eater attack. That was his fault because he knew he should not have let her go in by herself but he still did anyway. It was his fault that she was there, hurt.

His pacing increased in frequency. Goddammit he was an idiot. He continued pacing while he berated himself. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"She's stable." Marlene's weary voice broke through his reverie. James looked up to see her rake a hand through her tangle of blonde curls. "I've drugged her though. She should be able to sleep for at least the next eight hours. She'll have a wicked headache in the morning though."

"But she's fine," James said.

"She's fine," Marlene reassured him. She took a sip of the tea on the counter and made a face. "This is cold," she complained as she took a seat at his table.

James managed a laugh at her expression. "Thank you," he said sincerely once his laughter subsided.

She shrugged. "Lily's my friend too. I would have done it even without you asking. Although I'm guessing she's more than just a friend." She grinned teasingly at him.

His face turned stoic. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Marlene scoffed. "Of course you do. Don't play dumb with me Potter."

"Marlene-"

"You like her," she stated bluntly. "James you went out of your way to give her lessons on how to defend herself properly. Moody didn't ask you to. If he did you wouldn't lie to Remus and they as to where you went every night and I wouldn't have to cover for you. And I've never seen you panic that much whenever someone gets injured. Not even when Sirius almost lost three of fingers in June."

"I'm pretty sure I panicked just as much- if not more- than I did today when that happened to Sirius."

She shrugged. 'Fine. I'll give you that one. But Sirius is your best friend. He has been since the two of you were little snotty nosed first years. You've only known Lily for just over a month."

James inhaled deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Marlene, can we just drop the subject."

"Fine," said the older woman as she stood up. "I'm going to get something for Lily to wear because she's going to stay here for the rest of the night. Unless," her eyes twinkled mischievously, "You want to loan her one of your shirts instead. I'm sure you won't have a problem doing that, now would you James? You would just love to see lovely Lily in your clothes."

James glared at his aunt. "Goodbye Marlene," he said pointedly.

"Alright, I'm going." She grabbed her jacket and pushed her arms through the sleeves. "And James dear? Please tell me you have the sense to at least put some Dittany on that shoulder of yours if you don't want me to look at it."

He said nothing in reply but continued to glare at his aunt.

Marlene obviously found the whole situation terribly funny as she laughed loudly. "Goodbye you sullen little boy."

No less than ten minutes after she left did Sirius walk through the door. James was standing in the kitchen cleaning the wound on his shoulder. It was a bit bigger than he had guessed and hurt like hell but he hastily added a few drops of Dittany and put back on his shirt.

"How you feeling, mate?" asked Sirius as he walked into the kitchen and straddled a chair.

James grunted. "Fine," he said shortly. "How did everything else go? On the raid I mean."

"Great as far as raids go. No one was seriously injured- well, besides Evans- we caught about half the Death Eaters so that's a plus and when we went back to Headquarters there were two boxes filled with useful crap that I'm guessing you know about."

"Lily and I were sending them when the Death Eaters attacked," James replied

"How is Evans anyway?"

"Marlene fixed her up. She's in the bedroom sleeping right now."

Sirius eyes widened. "You mean here?"

James rolled his eyes. "No; she's resting in Hogwarts with Dumbledore to cater her every whim and fancy. Yes here, you tosser!"

Sirius ignored his friend's outburst and it was quiet for a few moments before Sirius said, "Dumbledore and Moody shouldn't have sent her with us. She wasn't prepared enough to handle a battle like that and look at where it landed her."

'It wasn't her fault," James defended Lily. "She had already taken down three on her own and two against one is hardly fair. Especially when they're twice her size and, oh you know, smashing heads into walls."

One of Sirius' eyebrows rose and he said conversationally, "Alright, I take it back. No need to bite my head off while defending the lady's honour, Prongs."

James coloured slightly. "I didn't mean-"

"It's fine," Sirius waved the matter aside.

The front door opened and the two men rose from the table and fluidly drew their wand together.

"I'm back!" Marlene's cheery voice called from the living room. The two men relaxed once she walked into the kitchen carrying some bags. She sent Sirius a small smile. "And I brought food."

Sirius jumped up. "Great, I'm starving."

James on the other hand simply said, "Did you bring anything else?"

Marlene grinned and Sirius looked between the pair confusedly. "Did I miss something..."

"James refuses to lend the poor wounded little girl clothes to wear."

James gritted his teeth. "I didn't say that."

"Hush you," ordered Marlene. "I'm going to put this in your room then we can eat." Both men agreed and the three spent the next hour eating and laughing ever so often. James was still worried about Lily but some of that worry had subsided once Marlene said that she was fine and she would leave some potions for her to take once she gets up.

Marlene and Sirius both left at the same time, with Marlene stopping to say, "I hope you took care of that shoulder, Potter."

"I did, McKinnon."

She narrowed her eyes and said, "Are you just saying that so I won't hold you down and take of it myself?"

"No," Sirius vouched to him. "I'm a witness. I walked in on him."

"I'm sure it wasn't the first time," Marlene said solemnly, though her lips twitched slightly.

Sirius sent a wink at her. "Actually there was this one time-"

"Alright, time for you to go!" announced James, pushing the pair out the door. "Bye Marly. Bye Padfoot."

"But I was just-" Sirius' sentence was cut short by the door slamming in his face.

That had been hours ago. James only went in his room once after they had left, to get a change of clothes. Lily was lying exactly where he left her, but she was no longer as pale nor was she bleeding slightly like before. He did not stay long as he could not bear to see her lying there because of him. With that, he took a shower and lay down on the couch praying for sleep to come quickly.

It did not.

He spent hours tossing and turning, trying to find a comfortable position on the couch and even when he finally did it was always too hot or too cold. His shoulder still ached and it felt as though it was splitting open again. James briefly thought about giving in and calling Marlene to come and take a look at it but it was one in the morning. Even Marlene would not be awake at this hour. Hell, he should not even be awake at that hour. After another hour or so of restlessness, he finally drifted off into fitful sleep only to be woken around two hours later by a searing pain in his shoulder.

Her head felt like it was splitting open. The worst headache she had ever gotten was as a result of her getting completely smashed at the graduation party, but this, this was ten times worse and the watery light that was filtering through the window was not helping matters. With a groan, Lily rolled to her side and burrowed further under the blankets and pulled a pillow over her head. Her bed felt much more comfortable than usual, and the sheets held a slightly familiar scent. She felt that she ought to know it. It was a sweet and spicy mix almost like-

Wait.

This was not her bed.

Lily's eyes snapped open and she sat up abruptly, causing a wave of nausea to roll through her. Her muscles were sore and it felt as though there was a wad of cotton wool stuffed in her mouth, drying it out. There was a glass of water on the table next to her, as well as her wand and she downed it quickly to get rid of the cottony feeling in her mouth. She was wearing jeans and snaps had pressed into her stomach while her bra had dug into skin. It looked like the same thing she had worn to go on the raid.

Suddenly everything came rushing back to her. The raid, the attack and finally when she cracked her head against something and then darkness.

She looked around the room, trying to find something that could jog her memory, but came up short. The room was fairly clean and held no traces of the owner. It was a mixture of sleek dark furniture with white finishings. Lily struggled to her feet, trying to ignore the pounding in her skull and stumbled towards the door after placing her wand in her pocket.

She was in an apartment, that much was certain, but she was not sure as to whom it belonged to, though an idea began brewing in her mind. At the end of the hallway was a living room and what she assumed to be the kitchen where she could hear the sounds of someone moving about.

Slowly, Lily walked over to the kitchen where she stopped in the doorway.

Standing in the kitchen by the sink was James Potter.

But that was not what caused her to stop so suddenly; no it was more due towards the fact that he was standing in the kitchen by the sink in nothing more than a pair of flannel pyjama pants.

His back was facing her, but Lily was grateful for that. It meant that he did not see her initial appearance which was that of a dumbstruck idiot who was ogling at his figure- well, his back- open mouthed.

He had lovely shoulders, Lily thought as she gazed at him. Her line of sight travelled down his back. And a lovely arse, she tacked on thoughtfully before blushing at the direction in which her thoughts had taken.

James turned around, almost as though he sensed someone behind him and, once seeing that it was just Lily standing there, sent her a lopsided smile. Lily on the other hand dropped her gaze to his chest.

He was not as fit as any of the blokes she saw in one of her sister's magazines when she was growing up. James was lean and toned and there was obviously a layer of muscle that covered his chest just like it did with his arms but that was just about it. It was not anything to cry home about, and yet Lily could not stop staring at him.

His cute lopsided smile turned into a smirk as he realized what was going on. Crossing his arms, James cocked an eyebrow and asked, "Are you staring at me, Evans?"

Her gaze snapped up and a rosy blush bloomed across her cheeks. "N-No," she stuttered.

His smirk widened. "C'mon on Evans. See something you like?" James taunted her as he crossed the kitchen in a few steps.

"Oh sod off," she replied quietly and her blush, if possible, got deeper. She noticed the gauze wrapped around his shoulder.

"What happened?" she asked, nodding at the injury.

"Nothing; it's just a scrape," he said quickly. "I already told you I'm shit at healing charms."

"I could fix it for you," she offered. "I mean, I'm bad too, at healing charms I mean, but I think I could manage a little scrape."

"No, let it be. It'll eventually heal on its own," James said, shaking his head. He took a step closer so that the two of them were now standing in the doorway together. Lily dropped her eyes to the floor, safely away from still his bare chest.

"What about you?" he asked softly, lifting her chin with one hand while the other swept her hair back away from the spot she got hit. "How's your head?"

"It's okay," she lied. James gave her a look that said that he did not believe her one bit. "Fine; it hurts like hell."

"There's the truth," he said, grinning down at her. "Marlene did a good job," he commented. "You can't see a thing."

"Unlike this," Lily said, raising her hand to lightly touch the spot where she punched him two nights ago. His skin was cool under her touch.

"That was out of fun," he replied. "This," he brushed the spot again and Lily refrained from flinching. It may look healed, but it was still slightly tender. "This was not. If I were you I'd want it gone as soon as possible so it won't remind me."

Lily snorted delicately. "But you're fine going around with a bruise on your jaw that a girl gave to you."

"Mhmm at least it was a pretty girl who gave it to me. Reminds me to never underestimate the brilliance of Lily Evans."

He was grinning at her again and Lily felt her stomach turn again, though this time it was not because of nausea; it was because of butterflies. Their noses were almost brushing and he still had his hand tangled in her hair while hers was still at his jaw. Lily could practically feel the heat radiating off of him and part of her said that if she raised her head just a little and he bent his they would be kissing.

His hand slowly slid down from her hair to cup her jaw. His thumb traced the outline of her lips, causing Lily's breath to hitch. Was his head lowering or was that all of her doing?

Their moment was quickly broken however as the door swung open to reveal Marlene who announced loudly, "Put your pants on Potter, you've got- oh."

The two of them sprang apart and Lily felt as though her body was on fire.

"Was I interrupting something?" asked Marlene, a smile threatening to break free.

"No," Lily and James replied simultaneously.

A thick silence hung in the air before Marlene finally said, "How's that shoulder, stubborn nephew of mine?"

"Fine," James said through gritted teeth. His tone caused Lily to look up and she was surprised to find him looking slightly angry.

Marlene turned to smile sweetly at Lily and said, "Go wait in the bedroom dear. Let me just see about this tosser's shoulder then I'll check you."

Lily nodded and said, "Alright," before heading back to James' bedroom where she waited silently atop the bed for Marlene to return.

She didn't have to wait long; probably ten minutes at most before the bubbly blonde joined her, wearing a self satisfied grin.

"Does you head still hurt?" she asked her, as she casually flicked her wand.

"A little," replied Lily. "Is that supposed to happen?"

A smile tugged at Marlene's lips. "Yes, that's perfectly normal. I left a potion to help with the pain, though you'll have to ask James what he did with that."

Marlene continued asking questions and Lily kept replying honestly (or as honestly as she could) and once the older woman was satisfied, she tossed her a small bag that was previously lying at the foot of the bed. Lily caught it easily and quirked an eyebrow questioningly.

"Clothes for you so you could shower and change," Marlene explained. "They're mine, so they probably won't fit too well." The blonde was tall and slender, having been graced with an almost model like figure. Lily on the other hand was several inches shorter and much curvier in comparison to Marlene.

"Or I could go home and change," Lily suggested.

Marlene laughed at first but then stopped as she took the time to seriously consider the statement. "I guess you could," she allowed grudgingly.

Lily smiled. "Great. I'll go tell James."

The older woman shook her head. "He's not here. He went out for a run. C'mon, I'll walk you out."

Lily stood up and followed the other woman out of the apartment. She was right; James had left and Lily felt odd to leave without saying goodbye or thank you or something. After all, the bloke let her stay over without complaint, even after she had punched him. She told Marlene to give him her thanks once they were at the apparition point.

The searing pain in his shoulder which woke him two hours he had fallen asleep was due to the fact that the cut had reopened and was now bleeding profusely.

James swore and jumped off the couch, heading over to the kitchen where he shucked his shirt and tried to stent the bleeding. He rummaged through the cabinet for a bottle of Dittany and some bandages before he started cleaning the wound. He added a liberal amount of Dittany before wrapping it tightly in white gauze and bandages. Next time Marlene showed up he would allow her to look at it. James was not the best at healing charms (or healing in general) but even he knew that the wound should not reopen after applying Dittany the first time.

He was cleaning up the counter when he sensed someone behind him. It was only Lily, but seeing her standing and walking instead of lying pale in bed was sight for sore eyes. She was still in the jeans that she wore yesterday and her hair was a mess. He briefly entertained the idea of him being the one to cause that to her next time. They ended up bantering as per usual. They always ended up bantering and somehow during the midst of it he ended up standing right in front of her, able to see every last freckle.

The light mood turned into something serious and instead of laughs and snarky remarks there was whispering and touching and just when he threw caution to the wind and began leaning in to kiss her, Marlene busted in. Thank you, mood killing aunt.

She took one look at the pair of them and it was obvious what conclusion she had come up with; James being shirtless, Lily being flushed and having messy hair. Hell, he would have thought the same thing if their positions were reversed. All the same, James was still annoyed, partly because he knew that she was going to be taking the Mickey while she interrogated him and partly because she interrupted whatever was about to happen between Lily and him.

"And you don't like her, right?" Marlene asked dryly after she sent Lily away. James sat on the couch in front of her as she unravelled the bandage he just applied.

He sighed. "Marlene, don't."

"You were going to kiss her!"

"I wasn't going to do anything," he replied agitatedly, swiping a hand through his hair.

Marlene prodded his arm with her wand. "Really? Didn't look like that."

"She was just apologising for punching me," he lied. He regretted it as soon as it left his mouth and a naughty glint appeared in his aunt's eyes. "Bloody hell, not like that! Merlin and Circe woman; you're supposed to be my aunt. Aunts don't- don't take such an interest in their nephews dating life."

The older woman smiled. "But I'm not just any aunt; I'm a cool aunt."

James regarded her in abject horror. "Please don't ever say that again."

"Sirius thinks I'm cool."

"That's because Sirius thinks you're fit," said James wryly.

"Sirius thinks everybody is fit," she countered. James shrugged, having no reply to give, causing Marlene to laugh. She sobered up quickly enough however as she glanced back down at his shoulder. "I think it's cursed."

"What?"

"Dark magic, James," Marlene sighed, all signs of joking gone from her face. "I could probably try my hand at whipping up a potion, but it might take some time. Just keep applying Dittany to it until then."

James raked a hand through his hair once more. "Well that's just brilliant isn't it? First I cause Lily to get hurt and now I have a cursed wound. Really lovely that is."

"James," Marlene faltered. "It's not your fault that Lily got injured. You couldn't help her."

"Yes I could!" he replied explosively. "If I had trained her better or- or if I had been guarding her properly and didn't leave to fend for herself like the moron that I am!"

She placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. "You can't protect her all the time. She's going to have missions that you won't be on and is going to have to fight own her own," Marlene said gently.

"Still, Moody trusted me to look after her. I fucked up." James stood up abruptly and grabbed a shirt that was hanging over the arm of the couch, tugging it on.

"Where are you going?" Marlene asked, watching him helplessly. She may have been only seven years his senior but she was one of the few living relatives he had and she wanted nothing more than to comfort him. She hated seeing him blaming himself for something that he had no control over.

"Out," he replied shortly.

Marlene looked on as she watched him stomp out of the flat, slamming the door behind him. She shook her head, smiling slightly. He may not have said it outright, but his actions certainly proved that he felt something towards the redhead and that she was right.

Marlene giggled silently to herself.

She loved to be right.

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Happy Christmas everyone!

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