A/N: Hello, thanks for tuning in. Just a warning that there are references to sexual assault in this chapter, nothing crazy explicit. In the books they always talk about how atrocious the death eaters where and there's some inferences that they were no stranger to assault of that kind but we've got the good guys to fight back.
Lily managed to drop to the floor soon after Potter's shout, she tipped the legs of Alice's and Marlene's chairs as well, spilling them to the floor so they could take cover. Glass was rocketing through the air and heat seared the inside of the pub. Lily had to stifle a scream as a woman dropped to the floor inches away from her. Blood was dripping out of her eye from a 6 inch shard of glass that was embedded there, her face was frozen in shock and she twitched a few times before laying still. Then the screaming began.
James covered Sirius' body with his own and waited until the dust had settled before getting to his knees. There was a stabbing pain in his shoulder, and he pulled a shard of glass out with a groan. Sirius was looking at him in shock.
"You OK?" The smaller teen got to his feet and held out a hand to James, which James took gratefully, nodding that he was fine. "Thanks Prongs." James glanced out of the window and saw that the two wizards had been joined by 8 others and were tossing unforgivables at muggles as they ran from the destruction. A hot wave of anger ripped through James and he pulled out his wand, he made a quick check and saw that everyone in their group was unsteadily getting to their feet, it seemed like there were mainly only minor injuries, others in the pub hadn't been so lucky and James averted his eyes as he saw a handful of limp bodies.
"James! Sirius!" Shouted his mother's voice. James walked over to her, Sirius not far behind, she appeared unscathed and he sighed in relief, he could see his dad coming over as well, nursing a cut to his cheek. "Boys are you alright?" She asked, James nodded,
"Just had a piece of glass in my shoulder but I'm alright." Euphemia muttered a quick spell and the throbbing faded.
"That's a quick heal, we'll get it sorted back at the campsite."
"They're death eaters mum, they're here for sport." Euphemia sent a quick patronus firing out of her wand.
"I've alerted the security at the campsite, they should be on their way. Listen to me James. You need to take your friends and get to safety." James opened his mouth to protest but his mum's usually playful eyes were stern and unyielding. James knew he wouldn't win so he angrily nodded. "This is no place for a bunch of 16 year olds, go to the entrance of the town and stay hidden, we'll meet you and head back together once this is sorted. We'll go out and try and help the muggles. No heroics James. Do you hear me?" James met her gaze and saw fear in her eyes, fear for him. He nodded once more.
"Be safe mum, you too dad. We'll be at the entrance." The screams of tortured muggle were filling James' ears and he took a deep breath, squeezing his eyes shut, just for a moment. When he opened them his parents had run out into the street and were firing spells and covering each other like a well oiled machine. James' heart was pounding. He made his way over to Remus and Peter, Remus was supporting a dizzy Peter who had a cut on his head, he was looking grim.
"He'll be ok." Remus answered to James' unspoken question. "He got hit on the head by some debris." James nodded, swallowing. "Moony, stay with Pete. Sirius come with me, we need to get the girls and go to the entrance of town." Sirius' pale face nodded once and together they hastily made their way over to the girls.
Lily clambered to her feet. Euphemia Potter had gone over to check if her son was OK. Alice and Marlene also shakily got to their feet mumbling their thanks to Lily. Lily looked desperately for Dorcas who had been diagonally across from her with her back to the window.
"Cas?" She called.
"Over here." Grunted Tobias, together him and Marcus were levitating a fallen beam off of Dorcas' prone form.
"Oh my god." Lily breathed as she rushed over.
"We think it's just a broken leg don't worry." Came Marcus' calming voice. They got her on her feet, her face was white with pain. Lily and Alice rushed forward to help her.
"Let us take her." Said Alice, "we'll go somewhere safe, be careful." The brothers hesitated, but a convincing argument from Alice had them reluctantly shifting Dorcas' arms from around them to around Lily and Alice and joining the evolving fight that was occurring in the street. Dorcas hissed in pain as her leg was jostled.
"Hang on Cas," Lily said soothingly. "I know a spell that might help, but it'll probably hurt like hell." Alice tightened her grip around the taller girl's waist. Lily hesitated thinking about the statue of secrecy.
"I think this is as good a reason as any to break the restriction Lil, so do what you have to, I've got her," Alice said. Lily nodded and muttered a spell which splinted Dorcas' bloody leg. She whimpered in pain. Marlene was making her way over to Potter and Black, who were coming over. They were both covered in dust and Lily could see a stark blood stain on the back of Potter's shirt. His thin face was pale but determined as he spoke to Marlene. Sirius spotted the girl's situation and vaulted the table.
"Shit Meadowes," he stated, "you look like hell."
"Great input Black," said Lily sarcastically, "would you mind helping?" Sirius nodded and swiftly took over from Alice who had been struggling due to her small stature.
"We're going to the entrance of town and then Mrs Potter will meet us." Sirius told them. Lily nodded and they made their way towards the entrance. Potter took over from Lily and the two boys carried her in something vaguely similar to a queen's lift. Sitting Dorcas on his and Black's clasped wrists, wrapping her arms around their shoulders and ensuring she wasn't putting any weight on her bad leg. Lily spotted Remus, who had just muttered a healing charm on a bloody cut on Peter's head. Peter smiled gratefully at Remus who nodded at Lily, glad to see she was unscathed. Together the dusty group made their way into the burning street. Lily and Alice were at the front, wands out, covering Potter and Black who were carrying Dorcas in the middle. Peter was behind them, he was still pale but his wand was steady. Remus and Marlene were bringing up the rear, Remus' head was darting left and right as he scanned for death eaters. The entrance to the town was to the left and to the right, you could see the sparks of spells and hear the shouts of duels. James clenched his jaw as he saw the silhouette of his parents against a burning building trading spells with the death eaters and resisted the urge to cheer when he saw them neutralise a death eater using a disarming spell from his mum and a well placed Incarcerous from his dad.
"Hold on." Sirius grunted, stopping for a second. "There's 6 death eaters down there battling against your parents and the others. But where are the other 4?" Alice swore as she overheard what Sirius had said.
"They could be anywhere, but we need to keep going and get somewhere safe," Alice said. There was an unanimous agreement from the group and they picked up their pace. James' wrist had started to go numb from Sirius' tight hold and he was sweating. They didn't run into anymore death eaters and the entrance was in sight. It was about 100 metres away. Suddenly a death eater emerged from a side street, and looked at their bedraggled group in surprise. No one moved for a moment but then Lily fired a stunner at him, with Alice's Petrificus Totalus following. The death eater burst into action and the teenagers were desperately trying to counter his rapid spellwork. Sirius and James started making their way towards a nearby doorway so they could find some shelter for Dorcas who was muttering something about them leaving her which both boys were steadfastly ignoring. They rested Dorcas against the doorframe and joined the fray. The death eater was struggling under the combined onslaught of seven sixteen year olds. He was good, but not that good. Even Peter was helping, throwing bits of rubble towards the death eater. Lily's hurling hex hit him full in the chest and Sirius managed to land a jelly legs jinx, ensuring he didn't land well. James was starting to think they had the upper hand, but then suddenly the death eater managed to twist away from Remus' expelliarmus and James' incarcerous and threw an exploding curse towards the teens. They scattered out of the way, but the explosion he caused was enough to send all seven flying backwards. Lily suspected the death eater probably also was blown off his feet. Her and Alice were closest and were flipped through the air landing on a piece of miraculously clear street. But the bruising impact jolted through her bones and she saw stars. She could smell burning hair.
"Lily!" Came Alice's panicked shout.
"M'okay," Lily replied splitting out a glob of blood, she'd bitten her tongue. Both girls had angry red burns and Alice was impatiently swiping at a bloody cut on her chin. Lily could see Remus and Marlene wincing as they stood up, they had been flung into a green space that was between two houses and it seemed as though Remus had landed in a thicket of roses, he had multiple shallow cuts all over his body. Marlene had landed on the grass and Peter... Peter was lying at the foot of a tree, unmoving. Lily stumbled towards them.
"Peter?" She called worriedly, was he... no he just moved. Remus had looked up at her shout and fell to his knees next to the smaller boy. He quickly checked to see if he had any major injuries, he didn't appear to so Remus woke him up with a Rennervate and he came to, groaning. Remus smiled in relief.
"Bloody hell Pete. You had me for a moment there." Peter smiled weakly.
"Where's Padfoot and Prongs?" He slurred, Remus looked around, his features darkening. Together the bruised group slowly made their way to where they last saw Potter and Black. Alice mumbling a prayer to any deity listening.
"Please let them be okay, please, please, please."
Sirius had yelled in pain when he landed, he'd landed right on a rock and felt like his shoulder was dislocated. He was distantly aware of a crash in close proximity but wasn't able to discern what it was before another piece of debris landed painfully on his leg, trapping it underneath. James and him had been blown directly into the crumbling building that had been behind them. Sirius twisted, trying to get his leg free but the movement only made it worse.
"James!" He called desperately. He had to know if his friend was okay. There was no reply. Sirius started to panic, his head was pounding. "JAMES!" He bellowed. Suddenly the weight on his leg lifted and he turned to see a dusty Dorcas who was propped in the doorway in which they'd left her, levitating the rock off him. Sirius thanked her and scrambled to his feet, his leg throbbing in pain. He tested it, it was sore but he could put weight on it. He grabbed his wand which had fallen nearby and made his way to Dorcas asking her if she was OK. She'd told him she'd managed to put up a shield charm around herself but had missed James and Sirius when she'd tried to shield them. She was even paler than she had been before and was weak with pain.
"Cas, where's James?" She motioned to the door of the house next to her, Sirius could see the long legs of his friend protruding from the wreckage of the door that had been there before. It looked as though James had been thrown through the door. Sirius stumbled over to him, clutching his injured shoulder.
"James!" He shouted, he saw his friend stir, and dropped to the ground next to him, levitating pieces of broken door and debris off him. James rolled onto his back and grinned weakly at Sirius.
"Don't worry Pads," he mumbled, grimacing as he took stock of his injuries. "The door cushioned my fall." James shoved his glasses back on his face. They were still intact, he had reinforced them with crack resistant spells in fifth year after a bludger had smashed his favourite pair. And was glad to see the spells had held. But they had cut into the bridge of his nose and the side of his face.
"Your thick skull probably helped as well," said Sirius, his voice cracking with relief. James' shirt had ripped and his back was sporting several more large cuts in addition to his one from the explosion earlier, his lip was split and his arm had a long cut down it and several splinters from the door. Sirius held out his good arm and helped James to his feet. They heard the voices of the others and the bruised faces of their friends appeared. They went to meet them.
"Everyone OK?" Asked Marlene, glancing anxiously at them.
"Never better," xame James' reply dabbing at his split lip. Alice had her wand trained on a feebly stirring Dorcas, who she had levitated.
"We need to get out of here." She said, taking control of the situation. "That death eater got away, but hopefully the Aurors will be here soon." The rest of the group nodded and they continued on their way, making slow, painful progress towards their rendezvous point which seemed as far away as ever. The sounds of battle and torture were still thick in the air.
They had almost made it. They were about 20 metres away and Lily could see a copse of trees in the fading light that would be perfect for hiding them. They heard screaming up ahead, it was a woman screaming and a man shouting. The group quickly hid behind an overturned car, Alice being careful not to jostle Dorcas. Lily looked through the shattered car window. She could see a death eater at the entrance to an alley, he was crouched over someone, Lily could see the struggling feet of a woman. It looked like... oh god. Lily felt bile rise in her throat, she felt feverish and sick. Please don't let her have seen what she thought she'd seen. The death eater emerged from the alley, throwing the limp girl into the street. He was putting his mask back on, his eyes lit with a sadistic smile, he adjusted his robes. Somewhere in the back of Lily's mind she thought she recognised him. The man viciously kicked the girl in the side, she looked to be a similar age to Lily. Her mouth moved when she was kicked but no sound came out. He'd put a silencing charm on her. Her face was tear stained, her ripped dress rucked up around her thighs, blood was dripping down her legs from scratches. Fury burned through Lily like a cleansing fire, she forgot to be scared, or even cautious, all she wanted to do was cause that death eater as much pain as possible.
"Stupid muggle bitch!" The death eater sneered. With a jolt Lily recognised his voice, it was Randall Lestrange. He had been three years above Lily in Hogwarts. She could remember seeing him on more than one occasion in fourth year, associating with Severus... "Did you think there was any point trying to resist me? Crucio!" Her mute screams pushed Lily over the edge. Before she knew what she was doing she had risen from her hiding place and was sprinting towards the death eater.
"Sectumsempra." She hissed, she didn't even fully know what the spell did, only that Severus had discovered it and designated it as being for enemies. The magic was cold as she cast, making her eyes widen at the odd sensation, it surprised her and made her arm jerk and upsetting her aim. The spell connected with Lestrange's arm instead of his chest where she'd been aiming and blood spurted from from deep cuts made by her spell. Lily only hesitated for a moment before throwing spells at him like she'd never done before. She could physically feel the magic radiating off her. The death eater was bewildered, and his eyes narrowed hatefully at Lily as he bared his teeth at her. Suddenly Marlene was by Lily's side, her face hard with anger as she cast her own spells at the man. He was thrown into the air by one of their spells and he slammed into the nearest wall. One of the girls had managed to disarm him and they showed no sign of letting up. The death eater managed to get to his feet, snatching up his wand before he turned tail and ran, away from the entrance and back into the thick of the fight. But logic had long since left Lily and she gave chase, Marlene next to her, firing spells at the death eaters weaving form.
James swore and reached to grab Lily as she took off towards the death eater. Her emerald eyes had never looked so cold, but she darted away. Marlene followed and James cursed again. He was ready to follow them but Remus grasped his arm.
"Think, James!" He hissed, "you're injured and we're still not safe."
"I'm not leaving them to run into the fight on their own!"
"They're not! They're right there!" Remus was right. They were duelling with the death eater and seemed to be winning, James paused a moment as he admired Evans, he could sense the magic rolling off her. She had guts.
"Don't follow them James. They're my best friends but we need to get to safety," said a pained Alice her wand still focused on Dorcas, "please." James was torn. Then he saw the girls give chase to the death eater. He swore again. He waited a moment but then stood. He ignored Remus and Alice and gave them an apologetic look. Sirius was struggling to his feet as well, clutching his shoulder.
"I'm going too," he grunted. James shook his head.
"You're worse off than me. Stay with these guys." Sirius shook his head vehemently. James ran a hand through his hair in frustration, looking conflicted, he muttered a spell Sirius didn't catch and started walking away. "Alice, you need to stay with Dorcas. Padfoot and Moony, stay with Wormtail." Peter was looking green and seemed to be struggling to stay conscious.
"James Potter." Alice spat, "if you get yourself hurt I'll never forgive you. Lily and Mar can handle themselves but you're a magnet for trouble."
"I'll find them and I'll be extra careful. Go to those trees, I'll find you after. Stay safe." Sirius launched himself at James trying to tackle him into submission but found that he had been magically bound to the others. "I'm sorry." James said and he meant it, "I don't have a choice." He looked pleadingly at Remus. Who understood his unspoken sentence. It's Evans, I don't have a choice. Remus understood but he was still seething, too angry to form a coherent sentence.
"Don't you fucking dare James." Growled Sirius, James turned away and started running in the direction the girls had gone. Sirius tried to move again but encountered the same problem. "James fucking Potter! I'm gonna kill you!" He shouted after him, James spun and saluted before disappearing into the smoke, running low with his wand in hand. Alice let out a steady stream of expletives as their smaller group began to resume their journey.
James could see flashes of Lily and Marlene's red and blonde hair respectively as he raced through the streets, crouching low. They darted around a corner and James jumped a dumpster, leaping off it, catapulting himself after the girls. His injuries forgotten in the adrenaline rush. He landed in an uncomfortable roll on the cobbled street and realised suddenly that he had leapt straight into a battleground. He ducked a flash of green light and saw the girls across the street, taking cover behind a car and throwing spells towards two death eaters advancing towards them. James made his way towards them. He glanced behind them and saw a death eater sneaking up on them, wand raised. A flash of red light flew towards the girls' exposed backs.
"Protego!" James roared, deflecting the spell. The death eater turned as James launched a barrage of spells towards him. Being the designated school pranksters the Marauders knew a lot of unusual spellwork. A skill James was fully utilising at this moment. He smiled viciously as the bewildered death eater got hit by a tickling hex, swiftly followed by a jinx that made his eyebrows grow so long they obstructed his vision. James then transfigured the cobbles beneath his feet into ice and the death eater hit the ground. An expelliarmus and an incarcerous later, the death eater was out of the fight. James chucked the unknown death eaters wand over a low building just to be sure. Marlene and Lily were still trading spells with the other death eaters but Evans had turned to watch him, her face grudgingly impressed. James threw her a wink before making his way over to them. He crouched next to them, throwing his own spells into the fray.
"What are you doing Potter?" Asked Evans.
"You two ran off and I was concerned, so I followed. The others are heading to the town entrance." James replied, not looking at her as he was watching the battle. His eyes sought out his parents and he quickly found them about 50 metres down the street next to each other, they had their backs to a wall and were duelling four death eaters.
"Willingly?" Asked Marlene.
"No," James said, glancing at her, she had a long scratch down her neck and looked bruised. "Remus and Al were fuming but knew they had to stay with Pete and Cas and I bound Sirius to them because he's too stubborn to listen and too injured to fight." James winced, "he's gonna beat me up for that later." He looked away from the battle, towards Marlene and Lily. Lily who was studying him curiously with her bright eyes. "Why are we still fighting? There were a fair amount of people in that wizarding pub and my parents along with Dorcas' family are formidable fighters on their own. There was only ten death eaters. It should've been easy." Marlene scowled and Lily chewed her lip anxiously. A gesture which James noticed was actually pretty adorable before he mentally slapped himself.
"Along with torturing the muggles the death eaters seemed to have used some kind of curse, like the Imperius, that has all the muggles attacking us." Lily shuddered at Marlene's words.
"It's like they're possessed." She interjected, "I saw a muggle child attempting to strangle one of the people from the pub. Stunners don't work as well on them when they're under this and I had to use two to get it off that man. The parents don't really know how best to deal with them because they've never seen this before so it's complicated things." James swore. Then a bloodcurdling screech of laughter split the air. James popped his head up and recognised the glossy hair and the ruthless gleam of dark eyes so similar to Sirius' but lit with a twinkle of cruelty rather than mischief. Bellatrix Black had entered the fray. She was effortlessly flinging muggles into the path of incoming spells. James saw his father's face pale as a bone breaker aiming for Bellatrix's legs instead hit a young boy directly in the face flinging his head back with a sickening crack. Monty hesitated and Bellatrix hurled him into the wall behind him. He fell unmoving and James' world slowed. Bellatrix threw another spell and James' mother levitated some debris to block it. Her usually kind face was tight with anger and she sent out a wave of magic that launched two of her opponents across the length of the street where they fell. She had two foes left, not including Bellatrix and James saw the moment, where Euphemia was duelling the two others whilst attempting to keep an eye on Bellatrix.
Bellatrix was waiting for an opening and she found one. James watched as she aimed her wand at his mother, her lips forming the killing curse. James stood and although he was a fair distance away he fired a hurling hex at her, willing it to reach her in time. Miraculously, it hit. The Black stumbled, her spell cut off. Out of the corner of James' eye he saw Evans and Marlene stick their heads around the car and throw some spells towards the death eater. He registered somewhere that whilst Mar was aiming for the death eaters. Evans instead, cast a spell over Mr Potter, protecting him from the debris. The hurling hex had weakened from the distance so only managed to enrage her. But James didn't hesitate, he sent a flurry of spells towards her. His mum had taken down one of her opponents and was working on the other. Bellatrix turned furious eyes on James.
"Leave the older Potters!" She screeched, "there's ones behind that car!" The final death eater turned from Euphemia and threw a curse towards James who blocked it. Euphemia then threw the death eater into a wall, wrapped in ropes. But whilst James was blocking that curse. Bellatrix's spell hit the car they were hiding behind and he barely managed to fall to the floor before it went sailing over their heads. Marlene had dived into a nearby alley but Lily made a small noise as the wing mirror hit her head, hard. It began to bleed, the dark red stark against her pale skin, her eyes were unfocussed from the impact. Bellatrix's twisted smile seemed to grow larger as she regarded Lily and she directed a dark blast of light towards her. James grabbed her arm and pulled her off the ground and towards him out of the way. The spell just missed her, she was flush against his body but James didn't have time to be distracted by that as he had to quickly push her away from him, towards Marlene as a different grey light rocketed towards them, he leant back, barely keeping his balance and the spell grazed across his chest. He yelled in pain. It felt like a line of fire had been drawn across his chest. He stumbled backwards and would have kept his balance if not for the inconveniently placed rubble behind him which sent him tumbling.
His head hit the ground and he tasted blood. He rolled out of the way of another curse and saw his mother struggling towards him. Panic on her features. Bellatrix had blocked her and James off by a pile of debris which Euphemia was making her way over. A hex flew out of the alley in which Marlene and Lily were, and caught Black unawares, it was a diffindo thrown by Marlene who was supporting a dazed Lily. Bellatrix hissed in pain and threw an exploding curse towards the alley. James managed to get a desperate shield between the curse and the girls. It broke through though, only managing to dull the spell and James watched in horror as it went straight for them. Marlene also cast a shield spell but it broke through that too. Suddenly Lily's wand was raised and she cast a spell, collapsing a wall in front of the dark orb. The orb hit it and exploded, the explosion was a lot smaller due to two shields but still caused the walls on either side of the alley to collapse. James could only hope they had managed to dodge it. Bellatrix then whirled on the teenage boy. But suddenly Euphemia was beside him and together the two Potters engaged her in a duel.
"Dad?" James asked his mother desperately while dodging a curse, he was too drained to even form a proper sentence but his mother understood.
"Alive." She replied shortly, James sighed in relief. He threw a jelly legs jinx at Bellatrix. It made contact, forcing Bellatrix into an ungraceful jig. James couldn't hold back the laugh that left his throat. It surprised even him. Bellatrix cancelled the jinx with a snarl, blocking Euphemia's spell as she went.
"What a pity." Bellatrix drawled as she fended off the two Potters. "To spill blood of such a good quality today. First that Meadowes family and now the Potters. Although, I must admit." She turned to James after flicking her wand towards Euphemia, sending her skidding backwards. "For such a beautiful boy-" She then advanced towards him mid sentence, like a cat about to pounce. Euphemia sent a spell flying towards her. Bellatrix returned with some rubble and then cast a body bind on her whilst she was dodging it. James furiously returned fire but his head was spinning. Bellatrix cast a body bind on him, one he didn't dodge. He stared at her as she continued her advance. She stopped in front of him and pushed him over with a manicured finger, his head hit the ground yet again and there was blackness at the edge of his vision. Bellatrix bent over him and whispered in his ear. Her lips brushing over his skin. "-For such a beautiful boy. You do have horrible taste in company. Those mudblood bitches? Really?" James struggled against the body bind. She dug a sharp nail into his temple and dragged a finger down to his jaw, drawing a thin line of blood. "The dark Lord could use you you know. He can be... forgiving." James was revolted by her proximity, "you should think about it and maybe I won't have to kill you." She then darted out her tongue and licked some of the blood off James' face. Laughing as she did so. James thought he was going to throw up. Somehow he had struggled enough against the body bind that he was able to gasp out a reply.
"You tell your dark Lord that he can rot in hell," he choked and the mirth left her face as she stood. Her features cold as ice. She flicked her wand sending James sailing into a wall. James writhed and struggled in the seconds he was in the air and managed to mutter a cushioning charm before he hit but it was a bad one and he still hit it with huge force and a large smash. James landed at the foot of the wall and promptly blacked out.
"No!" Euphemia screamed. She had broken free of her body bind and had Black on the defensive. Her dusty robes swirling around her, crackling with magic. Bellatrix was desperately defending. It looked like Euphemia had the upper hand when suddenly a spell came out of nowhere, blasting a crater between the women and breaking Euphemia's concentration. James blinked groggily. He hurt everywhere, he had been woken from blissful unconsciousness by the loud sound of the spell. His mum and Bellatrix had moved closer to him as they were fighting and he reached around for his wand, desperate to help his mum. He saw his mum stumble and heard Bellatrix cast the torture curse at her. What he did next, was not as he envisioned it in his mind- a graceful heroic dive to block the curse- but rather was a desperate flop to cross the metre or so that was between him and the spell and help his mother. He only just managed to intercept the spell, catching it on a flailing arm. But it was enough, and the pain instantly hit him. It was the kind of pain he would never be able to accurately describe afterwards, only as if every single nerve in his body had exploded and fire had been poured into his veins. A scream ripped from his throat. The pain only lasted a few seconds. He had surprised Bellatrix who had left him for dead. And his mother was able to hurl Bellatrix neatly into a wall. She dropped to his side, anxiously checking his battered body. Suddenly shouts filled the air, the aurors had finally arrived. Bellatrix moved towards the last death eater Euphemia had dispatched, summoned him towards her and disapparated.
"James! Stay with me ok? We'll get you a healer." James groaned, his glasses had cracked when he'd hit the last wall and the bridge of his nose was bleeding from where they had dug into his face, again.
"Get dad." He croaked,"and Marlene and Lily. Behind that debris. They have to be ok mum." Euphemia hesitated, James gave a weak crooked smile. "I'll still be here when you get them mum."
"Where are the rest of your friends James? Please tell me they did the smart thing."
"They did. Outside the town. In some trees. They're injured." James coughed and his head spun. Euphemia had levitated Monty's stirring form over to James and was lifting the rubble from the alley. James turned and saw the dusty girls emerge from the destroyed alley. They were supporting each other and Lily had an alarming amount of blood on her face but they were alive. James turned away and looked at the stars that were beginning to come out. Unconsciousness was tugging at him and he wanted to give into it. The last thing he heard was Evans' groggy voice making her way towards him.
"Potter, you bloody idiot." He laughed weakly and allowed the dizziness to overcome him as a medi-wizard dropped to their knees beside him and the soothing touch of healing spells washed over him.