Once

The first time that Lily and James defied Voldemort was through their very existence together. He sent a list of demands to the ministry.

1. All muggle-borns are to be removed from Hogwarts.

2. Purebloods are to only marry and reproduce with purebloods, and half-bloods are to only reproduce with half-bloods. Muggleborns are to only reproduce with muggles and their own kind. Criminal penalties for all deviants. Mixed breeds are to be barred from reproduction even when breeding with their own kind.

a. All deviant marriages are to be void.

b. Muggles and muggle-borns who breed with their superiors are to be subject to the death penalty (which shall be reintroduced for this purpose) due to diluting magic.

3. Increased fees for muggle-born students due to their theft of magic from squibs. Scope for a different school for them, or perhaps exclusion for our world.

Accordance with these demands will result in the discontinuation of violence against muggles and muggle-borns in return for their cessation of polluting our society and bringing war against their inhabitants.

Of course, this was set out in rather less pleasant language and Lily, who had just started dating James at the time and was only seventeen, crumpled up the Daily Prophet and discarded it with a quick shredding spell.

At just that moment, James sat down next to her at the table, planting an affectionate kiss on her cheek as he did.

"You alright?" he asked, looking at the remnants of the notice that had been so disgusting to Lily.

"Just that monster trying to 'negotiate' again. I can't believe that there are people at the ministry who actually listen to him. Tarring all the muggles and muggle-borns in the world with the same brush is just wrong, not to mention short-sighted."

"Tar?" James asked.

"Muggles use it to make waterproof, durable surfaces. In that phrase, it basically means to assume the same of all of them."

"My mother got an early copy and has apparently stuck it on her wall, next to the elf heads," Sirius said, forgoing sitting on one of the available chairs to sit on the clearing table. "I reckon Reggie has been telling tales about me."

"Come on Sirius," Remus laughed from the other side of James, "get down before McGonagall has your head."

"Well as long as she's not putting it on that bloody wall, she can do what she wants with it."

Around them, other students were treating the Prophet that day in a similar manner to how Lily had and the Great Hall that morning was teaming with confetti.

To Lily's horror, the ministry didn't have the same reaction to these demands as she and her friends had. Of course, it was a given that beliefs were not generally universal, but she had assumed that they would take a hard line on the isolation of different blood statuses and the potential exclusion of muggle-borns. What she had assumed would be a brisk refusal from the ministry ended up being several weeks of uncertainty during which letters of increasing concern were published in the Prophet.

Among the alarmed letters from people all over Britain, some letters were concerning for other reasons. A young worker at the ministry wrote a letter to express her opinion:

I struggle to understand what possible issue there would be in following this request. It would reduce the muggle contagion in our society as well as promoting more desirable marriages. In the society we live in today, I don't think that either of these things could be bad.

DJU, Southeast

A flood of disgruntled letters had been published for balance the next day and there had been a time when Lily had worried, but not for long. The ministry finally published its response which said that it would not rule out such restrictions, but that they would not be put into place 'right now' in respect for the diversity of magical Britain. According to Sirius, this was the result of purebloods whose lineage didn't go back quite as far as they had always claimed becoming concerned about their marriages being annulled. A further letter from him stated that "none would be exempt".

Lily herself couldn't see what exactly was wrong with a mixed marriage. Her parents had been perfectly happy together (different yes, but still happy) and she and Petunia had had a very happy childhood. The fact that Petunia had not come into her magic had been difficult for some people to deal with and it had been a struggle for Petunia herself, but she had dealt with it eventually. She lived in both the magical and muggle worlds but was already starting to move towards the muggle one. Lily knew it was inevitable. The magical world wasn't exactly welcoming, but Lily was pleased that Petunia had found somewhere to belong. Vernon Dursley had proposed, and they were planning on marrying in the summer.

James was pureblood. With the risk of such a relationship being illegal tabled (at least for now), Lily's main worry was whether her dad would like him. James was just his sort of person with all his charm yet managing to be a fairly straight talker. James was thinking about working in the ministry and her dad did too – at least she thought he did – and he would probably be able to help him with careers advice. Neither of James' parents worked in the conventional magical sense, so James was looking for all the help he could get. She would have to write to Petunia to explain more about him, but she figured that she could probably make it work.

Lily couldn't imagine what it would have been like if Petunia had been jealous of her magic. Perhaps in a world where she hadn't been equipped with all the information on both worlds, she would have been but having grown up on both sides of the divide, she had seen the benefits and flaws of both, and like Lily, had her own feelings on each of them. She was quite happy in her flat near their dad, where she was regularly invited to barbeques and did night classes, and not the magical kind.

Lily defied him by being with James. She received a letter soon after their engagement announcement was posted in the Prophet and The Times by Monty and Effie more than a year later.

Daughter mine,

I recall when you were a child you once sat down on the stairs and refused to move until I gave you back Mrs Tiggywinkle. You had just refused to let your mother wash your hair despite the fact that it was matted together with marmalade. You were unreasonable when you were a child, and you are being unreasonable now by acting like one. James Potter is your latest obsession and I order you to cease at once as you are GETTING PEOPLE KILLED. Your actions have already resulted in the execution of at least two muggles. It could even have been more. We didn't stop to count the bodies. When you stop being STROPPY and join me in your rightful place, maybe I will spare him and let him live to reproduce with one of his own calibre. There is a point of no return and you, my dear, are getting to be very close to it.

Yours &c,

Father

Lily burned the letter with no amount of regret, but a healthy serving of hatred. How things could change in a year.

Twice

The second time was more intentional, but still somehow disconnected from him in a way. They apparated to a peaceful village in the west country, its silence still unbroken by the terror of the fight ahead. They stood, bracing themselves against the wind. Two newlyweds holding hands for comfort while they waited for whatever message he was about to send. Their wedding had been a quiet affair with the party made up of James' family and friends, and Petunia and Vernon who sat in the back. They didn't talk anymore. It was too painful to remember what had come before. They had had a peaceful childhood, but the memories of it were now ruined by what had happened since, as well as clouded and changed by the knowledge of the atrocities that had been revealed too late.

A sudden, startling flair of magic erupted from one of the houses further away, and Lily tried desperately to apparate closer but to no avail. Of course, they were blocking it. She had joined the Order to do anything necessary to protect people. They all had. A feeling of horror filled her, and she dashed off towards the house with James on her heels. Joining The Order of the Phoenix had been right, and so had saving those children. They had shielded them and kept them safe. He would not kill them. He would not have them for his twisted games. They would not go the way of their uncles. Or Lily's mother.

Thrice

The third time involved him directly. It started with a house fire in Northumberland. Numbers were dwindling and Dumbledore was recruiting but hadn't yet managed to get numbers back up, so it was just the two of them and Sirius.

The stakes were higher as well, it was just that neither of them knew it yet. Lily hadn't taken a pregnancy test or felt that feeling of dread about having a child during a brutal war. That realisation would take place a few months later in a bathroom in the middle of nowhere. She should have known sooner. All the signs had been plain to see. She had had every single symptom and had been craving gherkins of all things. She didn't even like gherkins that much. She hadn't wanted to think about that in the middle of the war. She hadn't wanted to think about her child who would have less family than it deserved. All that she had thought was that she could do her part. She could fight for her own life and everyone else's.

"Join me," he yelled at them, "join me and be a part of something bigger. You know you want to."

"NEVER," she yelled. "I would rather die!"

"Oh, I could arrange that," he sneered. "You know I could."

He could. Lily knew very well of what he was capable of. Looking into his eyes for the first time in several years, she could see nothing of the person she had known. His hood was down, and while his appearance was changed – some would say beyond recognition – he was instantly recognisable to her.

"What happened to you?" she spat at him defiantly.

"I realised the truth."

James apparated her away before she managed to throw away her wand and punch him in the face just as her mother had shown her before she had started Hogwarts.

They tried to defy him a fourth time. By this time, they were getting desperate. They had Harry now. Who knew what he would do if he had a chance to take Harry. However, Lily had heard the prophecy. Thrice. They had defied him thrice. There would be no fourth time. There was nothing else they could do.

A/N: I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and that it was is the end of Lily's part of the story. I'll see you in a couple of days with the next installment.