Marcus, ever the auror, drew his wand.
"What is going on here-" The short healer fired a spell at them, their group exclaimed in surprise whilst the taller healer turned Mr Blackthorne's chair around and began to sprint away from them. Mr Blackthorne began to struggle and chaos began. The short healer was panicking, throwing spell after booming spell towards them. Marcus blocked them and with a sweep of his wand Fleamont had shut and locked the doors that the taller healer had been metres away from getting through. Tobias had flung a disarmer at the short attacker, putting him on the defensive. At the same time, the group of wizards who had been down the corridor, seemingly watching the fireworks too burst through the doors behind them and a chill went down James' spine as he took in their dark robes and masks.
"Death Eaters!" Cried Dorcas, there were five of them and the Potters and Meadowes were being assailed on both sides. Cassian made to stand up before falling back down into his chair, he wasn't yet strong enough to stand. James flinched as a piece of debris from the explosive spells the short healer was chucking around caught him on the cheek. Euphemia transfigured a majority of the debris into a flock of birds which swarmed the short death eater. James was still in shock that they were currently being attacked and had settled on casting shields, in an attempt to defend their two families. Dorothy gasped as a cutting curse sliced through her shoulder. Monty sent the taller healer flying backwards with a well-placed spell and Mr Blackthorne was unsteadily crawling towards their group in the middle of the brawl. A huge bang went off and a great flash of light filled the corridor, blinding them temporarily.
"Take the other one." Growled a voice. James was trying to blink the spots from his vision. There was another curse and a shriek of pain, and the shape James thought might be Dorothy fell to the ground. A bludgeoning hex hammered into James' stomach and he was thrown into the wall behind him before throwing up at his own feet from the force. He groaned as his back and stomach throbbed in pain.
"Dad!" Dorcas cried.
"No!"
"Move, we need to get out of here!" James' vision cleared and still gasping he fired off a bombarda of his own into the group that had been behind them, it shattered the tiles on the wall next to one of the death eaters. They had a hold of Cassian's wheelchair and were attempting to make a break for it. A pale Cassian was kicking and punching everyone within reach cussing them out like a sailor. Marcus had clambered to his feet and was furious. He sent spell after spell at the death eaters, putting them on the defensive, ensuring they were hard pressed to retreat with Cassian. James didn't have a clue what the fuck was going on or how this had happened. Somewhere behind him Monty was unconscious while Euphemia was holding off the short healer, Sirius went to help Euphemia and they incapacitated him. The taller healer was on top of a writhing Mr Blackthorne, his wand was to Blackthorne's temple and he looked to be attempting to steal a memory right out of his head. Mr Blackthorne was bucking underneath him, screams of pain ripping from his lungs as blood poured out of his ears. James flung a spell towards him, it met with a spell from Sirius and Euphemia slamming into Mr Blackthorne's attacker and the tall healer began to shudder as his eyes rolled back into his head. Before they could incapacitate him, Mr Blackthorne had risen and in an impressive feat of strength and madness he bodily lifted up the tall healer and launched both himself and his attacker out of the nearby shattered window with a scream of insane rage and they fell towards the street four stories below. James made his way to his father, guarding his unconscious body whilst Sirius and Euphemia went to help the others. Dorothy was bleeding heavily from deep cuts on her shoulder and leg, a shout from Mrs Potter sent Sirius over to stabilise her. Marcus, Tobias and Dorcas, working together had managed to take out two of the five remaining death eaters and were working on the third. The other two death eaters were panicking, one withdrew a glowing blue object and was attempting to grab Cassian, the last death eater holding on to his robes.
"Portkey!" Eupehmia shouted in warning.
"Not on my watch." Growled Cassian. He grabbed on to the two death eaters on his own and as the light of the Portkey enveloped them a white gold light exploded out of Cassian's chair.
A wall of force and sound pulsed through the corridor, the windows that hadn't already shattered blew out, the glass disintegrated into burning dust. Marcus who had been the closest was thrown the length of the corridor. Mrs Potter had been sent rocketing into Tobias and Dorcas collided with James. The corridor behind where the death eaters were had been obliterated. A breeze washed over the survivors through the gaps where the walls had used to stand and if James had been able to hear through the ringing in his ears he would have heard the screams from the floors above as people began to fall through the floor as its support gave way. Miraculously James hadn't been knocked out, his face was burning and he couldn't see out of one eye because of blood seeping into it from a cut above his eyebrow. He gasped as he attempted to stand, he fell over, his balance completely shot as his equilibrium had been blown out along with his eardrums. He staggered over to his mother, her robes were on fire. James took off his own tattered outer robes, smothering the flames on her prone form. Dorcas stumbled past, James couldn't hear her but he could see her lips moving.
"No, no, no, no, no." She repeated like a mantra as she made her way to where her father had been, stunned disbelief on her features. The death eaters were nowhere to be found, husks of burning flesh were all that remained. Aurors and healers were beginning to flood into the scene, casting spells to stabilise the walls, floors and ceilings.
"Too little, too fucking late." James thought bitterly his eyes fixed on the pile of melted metal and ash that had replaced Cassian Meadowes. A severe looking Auror had his wand fixed on James, he was saying something, James motioned to his bloodied ears, he couldn't hear a damn thing. Tobias was beginning to stir and Sirius had straightened up from where he had crouched protectively over Dorothy, he was looking at the scene with wide eyes, the blood on his face stood out a stark, bright red against the dust that coated him.
"-happened here?" Demanded the auror, James winced, he must've fixed his ears. James looked at the stern wizard, spitting out a glob of blood before he spoke.
"Death eaters…" James said faintly. "They were trying to take Blackthorne and then- we were just there- they were behind us too- they wanted to take Cassian instead- a fight broke out- then an explosion." James knew he wasn't making sense, but hell he didn't even know what just happened. "My parents-" He staggered towards his mum, a healer was bent over her. When had that happened? Dorcas had fallen to her knees, a blank look on her face. Sirius. Sirius was sat against a wall looking as shocked as James felt, another auror and healer were looking after Sirius and Dorothy and his dad was being seen to as well. James looked around mutely, he thought the auror was still talking to him but he wasn't sure. The auror bent over, getting his face all up in James', he was speaking, he was angry, but James couldn't make sense of his words over the roaring in his ears.
"-going into shock-" The auror's face was replaced by a youngish looking woman's. She waved her wand and the roaring in his ears subsided slightly. "-name is healer Fawley-" She had nice eyes James thought, a clear, icy blue. There was a flash of a healer badge as she showed him her ID. "-you just sit back now ok?" James found himself leaning against a pile of debris that was nearby. She had gotten a damp cloth in her hand from somewhere and was dabbing at James' face. It stung. "Breathe with me. In… and out." James hadn't realised his breathing had sped up but he breathed with her anyway. "Keep breathing, good lad." He looked around absently as he took breaths in and out… in and out. He didn't know how long had passed before he came back to himself.
"There you are." The nice healer said, mustering a smile, she was sweating. James blinked, he shifted slightly, inhaling as everything began to hurt at the movement. "Are you back with us?"
"Yeah." James breathed, "I'm back." He looked around again. "My parents-"
"We're working on stabilising everyone, before the aurors start asking questions." The healer explained as she continued to wave her wand. Behind her James noticed the aurors taking scans of the corridor attempting to determine what magic had been used and who had been here. "Do you have a name?" She asked James kindly. She was calm, much calmer than he was feeling.
"James Potter."
"OK, James." She said. "I'm going to give you a potion and that will make you feel a bit better until we can get you into a bed, ok?"
"What if they come back?" James squirmed, gasping again as the pain hit.
"Don't worry. The aurors will be here all night, ok? You'll be safe." James nodded weakly, taking the potion from the nice healer. He zoned out not long after and when he came back to himself he had been moved into a different corridor, he was lying on a floating stretcher. He sat up, blinking back tears as everything throbbed. His dad was lying next to him, his eyes were closed and a flash of panic had James gasping for breath before he saw the telltale signs of his dad's chest rising and falling steadily.
"James?" James looked around and saw Sirius also in a stretcher on the other side of a corridor, his face had been cleaned but his hair was still dusty. James himself had multiple cuts all over his body, including the particularly deep one above his eye, the whole left hand side of his face and body had been burned and his torso and stomach was a mess of bruises. Sirius had burns all over his back and his head had split open.
"Is everyone-" James had a horrible flashback to a moment after the Quidditch World Cup when he had asked Sirius a very similar question and Sirius loathed the very similar answer.
"Except Cassian." Sirius said hoarsely. The rest of them were banged up but alive. Euphemia and Marcus were still unconscious, both had serious burns. Marcus had been hurt more and the fact Euphemia had been thrown into Tobias probably saved her life, she was critical but stable, a fact not helped by her age. Dorothy and Monty were also stable but the healers were concerned for both. Dorothy because she was distraught before they had knocked her out and Monty because he was old and already frail. Tobias and Dorcas were in a similar state to James and Sirius, Dorcas had been put to sleep as she had become hysterical, her flaring magic threatening to bring the building down around them again. Tobias was awake but he hadn't said a word, and Cassian… Cassian was dead. The aurors began to question James and Sirius who they had deemed most stable. James didn't even know what to say.
One minute everything had been fine and they were laughing as the new year rolled in, the next minute they had accidentally interrupted a kidnapping in progress. Two death eaters disguised as healers trying to smuggle out Mr Blackthorne. James didn't even know who Balckthorne was! He thought he maybe recognised the name and there was a Blackthorne or two at Hogwarts but he couldn't be sure. Then more death eaters had arrived and on seeing that they wouldn't be able to take Blackthorne wanted to take Cassian instead? James had been sure he'd seen one of them trying to force a memory out of Blackthorne's head, James shuddered at the violation.
So if they had been after Blackthorne specifically why would they try and take Cassian? Had they just wanted a hostage? Was it something more sinister? Things had just gotten crazier from there, Blackthorne had gone mental and thrown himself out a window, and then Cassian had- Cassian had blown himself up? The healers had said his magical core had been practically non-existent how would he have been able to do that? Had he said a spell to interact with the portkey? Had the Portkey interacted with the wards? The blue light was indicative of a special type of illegal Portkey James' mum had told him about. It was powered with an extra spell that would attempt to weaken wards momentarily before transporting the user. They were very dangerous as if the wards were particularly strong, it wouldn't be enough to get through the wards and could have disastrous consequences. They were commonly used by curse-breakers or burglars.
Or maybe it had been a bout of uncontrolled magic in the panic of the moment and Cassian's core had been too unstable to survive it. James' head fell into his hands after the auror left. A sob clawed its way out of James' throat. This wasn't fair, Cassian had only been awake for a week, he had been getting better. How had this happened? Why did death eaters have to ruin everything. Tears fell in earnest as James cried, he was so in shock and relieved that his family were ok and hating himself that he could even think that when Dorcas had lost her dad again. And everything was so bloody sore and he had a headache and his throat was so dry he could hardly swallow and how had this happened? A glance at his cracked watch showed that it wasn't even 1 AM. They weren't even one hour into 1977 and already so much had gone to shit. James was still crying when stupid Marty Helminth arrived, trailing behind Barty Crouch, the tears were still tracking down his cheeks as him, his family and the Meadowes all got moved into a pair of conjoining rooms were the healers walked among them all and the aurors guarded them. In fact, James reckoned a few sobs were still escaping him as sleep finally claimed him.
Happy fucking new year.
Friday 3 January 1977
FUNERAL FOR NEW YEARS ST MUNGO'S CASUALTY
The private funeral for the late Lord Cassian Meadowes is to be held today at the family's estate.
The New Year of 1977 was definitely brought in with a bang on the early morning of January 1st. Lord Meadowes and his family and Lord Potter were among a group involved in an attack on St Mungo's. Allegedly the target of the attack was an ex-unspeakable who was in the hospital for treatment. There was an exceedingly violent altercation which Lord Meadowes- who had recently awoken from a four month long coma, following events in the 1976 Quidditch World Cup- was caught up in. Five of the assailants, who have been accused of being Death Eaters were killed. The presumed target of the attack lost his life along with Lord Meadowes. Lady Meadowes and her children, along with Lord Potter and the rest of those present were left injured. Several other patients and healers in the vicinity were also injured when an explosion ripped through the building at the scene of the altercation. One of the assailants has been taken into custody for questioning. The incident is currently still being investigated by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement who have vowed to get to the bottom of it.
Lord Meadowes will be laid to rest today and the family have asked for privacy during this difficult time. He is survived by his wife and three children- 23, 20 and 17.
Lily stared numbly as one of her closest friends lifted her wand along with her two brothers and mother. Tears ran down their faces as white light flowed out from the tips of their wand where they rested on the four corners of Cassian's empty coffin. It flowed over the coffin turning it to pale marble before they levitated it into the mausoleum that stood in the grounds of the Meadowes estate. A woman who was a cousin or something of Dorcas' who had travelled over from Europe was singing as a different woman played a harp, it was a sad song with poignant lyrics, Lily wiped her nose with her tissue.
She had been stunned when she had awoken on the first of January to a tear splotched letter from Alice informing her that Mr Meadowes had been killed in a death eater attack at St Mungo's and that the rest of Dorcas' family along with Sirius and the Potters had all been injured as well. Lily had gotten the knight bus down to St Mungo's that morning where she had been able to do nothing except hug a bloody, battered and bruised Dorcas as she cried. Marcus and Mrs Potter had regained consciousness that day. She had also spoken to a shell-shocked James who's face had been patchy and pink underneath the paste for the burns that ravaged one side of his body and his hair had been cut short as a lot of it had been singed away and Sirius had had bandages wrapped around his head. Mr Potter had been pale and shaken and had minor injuries, from what Lily had gathered it seemed like James who had been standing over his father had taken the brunt of the damage for him.
Marlene had come over for the funeral after being side-alonged by Mr Prewett. She had decided to stay with Alice until they went back to Hogwarts on Sunday. Frank, Peter and Remus were in the vicinity, with Remus looking particularly pale. Lily supposed the full moon must be soon, it was good of him to show up. Lily recognised a few other faces she had seen at the Potter's Christmas Ball and a good few she didn't recognise.
Her breath was misting in the cold January air and the rain and grey skies provided an appropriate backdrop to the somber occasion. It would've seemed like a cruel joke if the sun had been shining. A steady beat was drummed by the rain that pattered over the umbrella she was holding over herself and Marlene. The Meadowes emerged from the mausoleum as the song came to an end and they led the small procession up to the house where there would be cups of tea and a few refreshments.
Lily clutched her cup of tea tightly as she picked at her plate of sandwiches. Dorcas had remained with her family exchanging polite and meaningless words with the guests at her father's funeral. Marlene sat next to her, holding her own cup of tea in both hands as she attempted to warm herself up.
"I can't believe this has happened." Lily said to her quietly.
"I just feel so bad for Dorcas." Marlene replied. "She'd only just got him back."
"It sounds like it was an awful fight too. James barely spoke a word when I went to St Mungo's on Wednesday."
Marlene looked stoically into her cup of tea. "It's getting closer Lils. A war."
Lily shivered at her words. "I know."
Sunday 5 January 1977 Lily was walking with one of the Gryffindor seventh year prefects- Ashley Barnett as they made their way to the prefect carriage. Their journey to Hogwarts had just begun and Lily's fellow sixth year prefect was nowhere to be found. This didn't surprise Lily, she knew it was the full moon tonight so Remus was probably feeling wretched in a bed somewhere. Her heart broke for what her friend must be going through and she dug her hands in the pockets of trousers. She had put her robes on already in preparation for the meeting and as it was a freezing day she had a pair of thick tights on underneath her school trousers and a cosy jumper on over her shirt. Her and Ashley were fairly friendly and making small talk as they walked, asking each other how their holidays were and such. They entered the prefect's compartment and Lily had prepared herself for Owen Redgrave's normal booming greeting so was stunned when the head boy said nothing at all. He was sat, sullen and quiet in the corner and it was Melissa, the head girl who greeted them and motioned for them to take a seat, they sat and there was a low hum of conversation as they waited for the other prefects to filter in.
"Is Owen ok?" Lily whispered to Ashley who had taken a seat next to her. Ashley winced, shooting Owen a sympathetic look he didn't see as she leaned in to whisper to Lily.
"You remember how his little sister Lucy was found wandering around the dungeons back in October." Lily suppressed a shudder as she nodded, Lucy was only a fourth year and the latest theory was some messed up Slytherin had used the imperius curse on her and the rumours over why exactly that would be ranged from stupid to downright disturbing.
"The Redgraves found out over the holidays that she's fallen pregnant." Lily went cold and felt vaguely nauseous, she looked at Ashley with horrified eyes. Knowing what she was thinking Ashley winced again. "Some fucked up Slytherin imperiused her one night to have sex with them. Their common room is near the Hufflepuff's they must have got her when she was on her way in. She doesn't remember a thing and no one knows who it might have been. Understandably Lucy isn't coming back to Hogwarts and she kind of…" Ashley shot another look at Owen who was staring out of the window blankly. "She kind of went crazy when she found out, the Redgraves have secreted her away for her pregnancy and she gets regular visits from the mind healers." Ashley was shaking her head in a mix of sadness and disgust at the situation. "She'd just turned 15 back in December." Lily chewed her lip, willing bile not to rise.
"That's… horrific. That's absolutely awful. I can't imagine what their family is going through." Ashley nodded.
"Owen hasn't taken it well."
"Understandably." Muttered Lily. Owen had gritted his teeth as some of the Slytherins prefects entered, glaring at them with furious eyes, probably wondering if it was one of them who had violated his little sister. Not long later the meeting began, presented flawlessly by Melissa. Lily was only half listening, the other half of her brain preoccupied by what she'd heard from Ashley. She only tuned back in when Melissa addressed her explaining that she would patrol the train with Ashely as the other seventh year prefect had stayed at Hogwarts over the holidays and her partner, Remus wasn't on the train either. She had nodded distractedly, her mind drifting as it had many times since she'd come back to school for her sixth year, to what life might be like if she wasn't a witch. If she was just normal like Petunia she wouldn't be at a school where fourteen year old girls were cursed by psychopaths and raped. She wouldn't be discriminated against. She wouldn't have a deadly weapon on her person at all times and be scared that she was about to get cursed in the back as she walked to class. Once again she was measuring the pros and cons of just disappearing into the muggle world after school if not before. Couldn't she just give up magic? Take night classes to get her O and A levels and be an ordinary teenage girl? Thoughts like these often kept her awake, the scary thing was though, that she didn't think she could do it, magic was such a big part of her life now and Lily Evans honestly wasn't sure she would ever be able to be normal again.
Thursday 9 January 1977 Lily's eyes drifted towards her ex-best friend Severus Snape's desk where he sat a few benches to her left in Slughorn's potions lab. Her thoughts had drifted to him often over the last few weeks, it seemed like it was every day that she ended up arguing with herself about him. It had been strange not hanging out with him at all this year after five years of studying together and going on walks around the lake. Lily just couldn't shake the feeling that she was a filthy hypocrite for now being friends with James and not Severus. James had apologised for his actions over the last few years and Lily had accepted his apology after a while and she knew that he was forgiven in her eyes and they were now, weirdly, quite good friends. Severus had apologised to her not long after The Incident and Lily had effectively ended their friendship. In the grand scheme of things whilst Severus' offence had hurt her more than James' offences had over the years, the sheer multitude of Lily's grievances with James outweighed the acts of Sev, right? So why hadn't she told Severus he was forgiven? Lily sighed, absently preparing some ingredients. She hadn't begun her potion yet, preferring instead to prepare all the ingredients she could before she began. In all honesty, Severus was forgiven for his insult during The Incident, but it was not forgotten and Lily didn't like his friends and didn't want to associate with him if he was- God forbid- a death eater. His actions last term too hadn't been forgotten- the part he played when she had been cornered in the corridor just outside this classroom by Avery, Mulciber, Sirius' brother and Sev. Lily felt like she needed to talk to him, even if just to clear the air. She nodded to herself, scribbling a note on to an edge of parchment. She bided her time and when he rose to get an ingredient from the store cupboard Lily swiftly followed. He gave her a sidelong glance as she waited patiently behind him. Lily feigned crouching to pick something up.
"You dropped this." She said quietly, holding out her note. Severus had whirled around and was looking at her curiously. He took the scrap of parchment, opening it and reading it, shutting his mouth which he had just opened to assure her he hadn't dropped anything. He read it, and then read it again. He glanced at her with wide eyes before reading it for a final time, he gave her a jerky nod and a muttered 'thanks' before returning to his cauldron. Lily proceeded to grab an ingredient she knew she wouldn't need before returning to her cauldron.
Lily leaned against the high wall surrounding the training grounds, wrapping her cloak around her tightly as she waited for her ex-best friend. The note she had slipped Severus had given him a time and a location with a request for them to talk, she just hoped she wasn't about to get ambushed or anything. Her fingers tapped anxiously on her wand where it rested securely in the wrist holster James had gotten her for Christmas. It was a lovely gift and had left her feeling a little embarrassed by her gift to him- she had given James and Sirius matching black t-shirts she had taken to a print shop, Sirius' had Dumb written across it in large letters whilst James' had Dumber boldly printed on it. James had sent her a letter saying he thought it was a hilarious present and enclosed a wizarding photograph of him and Sirius proudly wearing their shirts with their arms around each others shoulders as they laughed heartily.
Her eyes fell on a vine of winter honeysuckle that was growing nearby, the fragrant white flowers a nice spot of pure colour against the grey, cold surroundings. She picked up a flower head that had fallen off the plant, a small smile crossing her face as she remembered the tricks she used to show Severus and Petunia when they were kids. Closing her hand gently over the flower she shut her eyes, keeping her ears perked for footsteps. She remembered how she used to make the petals move and reaching for her magic, which she was better at recognising now, she opened her eyes and uncovered the flower, as she thought, the petals opened and shut. She frowned slightly, she was doing wandless magic. Wandless magic! How had she never thought about this before, when she was a child she had done little things like this all the time when she thought no one was watching, could she use this now? If she trained herself would she be able to get better, maybe even use it in a fight? Merlin knows how useful that would be.
She shifted, she was going to try and levitate the flower wandlessly. Wingardium leviosa after all was one of the first spells she ever learnt and she could perform it non-verbally easily. She pronounced the incantation clearly, focusing on the feel of her magic. The flower lay still in her palm. Lily shut her eyes, willing her magic down her arm. She could feel the familiar warm buzz, she concentrated on sending it to the palm of her hand. She cast the spell again, but the feel of her magic didn't change, it was like it had just stayed there under the surface of her skin. Opening her eyes she was frustrated that nothing had happened. Ok, take a deep breath she thought to herself. What was it James had said? Will plus intent equals a result. What was her intent? She wanted to levitate the flower, she pictured it in her mind's eye- the pale flower floating ten centimetres or so above her cold hand- she concentrated on that image as she once again attempted to focus her magic to her hand. It was definitely tough trying to do both at the same time, after a minute or so she could feel her magic buzzing around her hand and also still see what she wanted to happen. Now it was time to make it a reality, she knew her magic was capable of doing it and she knew it was possible to do wandless magic, she could do this. Suddenly her magic shifted.
It was with a great act of will that she didn't open her eyes to see if it had worked, instead she tried to focus on how it felt, to hopefully make it easier to repeat. Once she felt she had committed that to memory she cracked open an eye. It had worked! The flower was floating serenely above her hand. She was doing it. She grinned and her concentration broke. The flower falling back onto her palm, she was making it her mission to practice this and get better. It was her understanding that a fair few wizards had the ability for wandless magic but fewer had the patience to hone it and some just had more of a knack for it than others. The sound of footsteps broke her out of her thoughts and she whirled around. Severus stopped, a cautious distance away from her, his face carefully blank.
A/N: So what did everyone think… Lots of things have happened in this chapter. The poor Meadowes family, a Lily and Severus moment, Lily attempting to come to terms with what the hell is going on in the mental wizarding world, we find out what happened to Lucy Redgrave and James is confused and distraught.
Let me know what you thought- love it? Hate it? Reserving judgement? Please favourite or follow to keep up with the story and I hope you all have a good day wherever you are :)