Chapter 33: Fight in the Woods

Death Eaters.

Here. At Petunia's wedding.

I wrench my wand out of the pocket of my dress and send an Impediment Jinx over my shoulder, not checking to see if it found a mark. Even if it did, there are still three others to worry about. Another jet of light whizzes by, exploding against the tree just to my left with a blast. I throw myself behind a fat maple and shoot several Disarming Spells. At least one of their wands goes flying, and a Death Eater chases after it. But two more curses come my way, and I have to duck behind the tree before they hit me. I can hear their footsteps thundering closer, and I start running again, away from the manor, deeper into the woods.

What are they doing here? What were the chances this was a random attack, like the ones Dumbledore had been dealing with? But then why were they targeting me?

I can't go back inside, can't draw them into the wedding where Mum and Dad and Petunia and Great-Aunt Ruth and so many innocent muggles are. And I'm afraid if I disapparate, they'll attack the wedding anyways. My only immediate thought is to draw them away, hold them off as long as I can.

But I don't know how much longer that will be. I manage to land a Leg-locking Curse on the short one, but the one I disarmed has already returned with his wand, and they are all taller than me, gaining on me as I run, run, run.

But my shoes are slowing me down. The heels catch on stones and tree roots and sink into the dirt. I kick them off. But just that one second pause makes me vulnerable, and another spell hits a tree next to me again. My relief it missed me is immediately replaced by terror, though, when the tree's roots burst from the ground and wrap around my ankles. I shriek and fall as the roots continue to wind like snakes up my legs.

One of the Death Eaters shouts, "I got her!" and the four of them pound through the undergrowth, getting closer.

"Cadere!" I point my wand at a giant oak, ignoring the scaly bark against my bare calves. The tree groans and, in slow motion, starts to fall. The Death Eaters scatter, yelling, as the tree topples down with a huge crash, sending up a cloud of dust.

It buys me enough time to free myself. "Diffindo!" I shout, pointing my wand at the roots, wincing as the spell cuts through the supple wood and catches my skin. I use magic to hack the rest of the roots away. When I stand, my legs are a bloody mess – literally – and the hem of my elegant dress is shredded.

I look up and see the Death Eaters climbing over the tree. One, two, three, four... I didn't even pin one of them with it.

For the first time, I realize I might not make it.

I'm all alone.

And I can't take all four of them myself.

It's a desperate move, one that doesn't even make any sense, but it's all I can think to do in that moment, with panic and fear and adrenaline coursing through my body.

I point my wand to the sky and, with all the force I can muster, send my plea for help to the one person I know who always has my back, who I can count on. Who I need, right now.

It's not one specific memory that comes to mind, but rather, a mishmash of moments over the last few months: James ruffling his hair in amused exasperation, his hand over mine guiding me through a spell, the firelight in the kitchens flickering in his eyes, the nearness of his body when he'd hugged me on the platform. James laughing, teasing, running a thumb down my cheek. James.

"Expecto Patronum!"

My silver doe bursts into the dark night and streaks away. I have no time to wonder if it will even work, if she can find James, if he will understand, if it will be fast enough, because one of the Death Eaters is on me, and a shot of deadly purple light whizzes toward me, leaving a scorched smell in its wake.

"Protego!" I scream, just in time. The spell rebounds inches from my nose and hits the nearest Death Eater. He falls to the ground, writhing in pain. "Immobulus! Flipendo! Expelliarmus!" I fire spells as fast as I can think of them, but there's too many of them, they're too close, they revive each other any time I land a blow.

He'll come, I think desperately. He's going to come. He'll find me, he will come, James will come...

I dodge another jet of purple, but it sears my arm, sending a fiery sensation ripping across my skin.

I scream.

Crack!

"Lily!"

James.

It worked. He's here. He made it, he found me, he's here.

"JAMES!" I scream in the direction of his voice. I can't see him, he must have apparated closer to the house, but it doesn't matter because he came. He will find me.

One of the Death Eaters swears and sends a fireball in my direction. I conjure a wall of water in front of me and it hisses against the liquid.

"LILY!" James shouts again. I hear him crashing through the trees, getting closer, coming at me from behind the Death Eaters.

"Look out!" I scream.

James bursts into view. I barely have time to register that he's dressed in, of all things, a tuxedo, the white shirt reflecting the red light of a spell hurtling for his chest, before he's parried it off with a Shield Charm and stunned the tallest Death Eater. His friend raises his wand angrily, but I shoot a blast of wind at him so strong it topples him into another one of them, and they both slam into the ground, momentarily dazed. With three of them down, James is able to body-bind the last one and rushes to me, crushing me in a tight, fierce embrace.

"Lily, are you okay? What happened?" he says, pulling back to examine my face anxiously.

"I don't know, they just appeared. James, we can't let them get to the wedding!"

"It's going to be okay, we've got this. The other Marauders –" But the rest of his words get cut off by a shout. "Bombarda!" And the ground at our feet explodes.

I'm thrown several feet back, and when I smack the ground, the air in my lungs knocks clean out. I roll onto my side, gasping, trying desperately to breathe again, to get up. Next to me, James staggers upright. "Respiras," he wheezes, pointing his wand at me.

Immediately, a rush of air floods my panicking lungs, and James pulls me to my feet.

No time for thanks though, because all four Death Eaters are back on their feet too and heading for us. They skirt the small crater left behind by the Exploding Charm, wand-tips crackling with the beginnings of a new round of spells.

Next to me, I feel James fall into a defensive stance just as I do, wands raised to the ready.

"Drive them back into the crater," I pant. "We'll have the advantage that way."

"Got it," he says.

Then we charge forward as one, meeting the Death Eaters just as they get around the crater. For a minute, everything is a blur of multicolored light, throwing each leaf on the surrounding trees into sharp relief with every flash. Spells sizzle and crack, but no one's shouting now; there's no time even to utter a spell. Every split second counts as I throw jinx after jinx after our masked opponents. James is at my shoulder, matching me blow for blow. It's two on four, but the Death Eaters' wild confidence evaporates as we bear down on them. We aren't driving them back, not yet, but they're not gaining any ground either. One of them growls in frustration, and with vicious intensity, lunges forward at James, his wand pointed right at his heart. "Confringo!"

"NO!" I shriek. I throw up a Shield Charm so powerful that when the wall of fire hits, the heat wave knocks all four Death Eaters off their feet. "Glisseo!" I cry, pointing to the ground at my feet, under the fallen Death Eaters, turning it into an earthy slide.

"Lily, jump!" James shouts, and I don't think, I just do. "Ascendio!" His charm catches me at the peak of my leap and I go soaring, away from the ground crumpling and burning under me. I touch back down several paces behind James and turn to see him running to the crater. Smoke billows over the lip, staining the air acrid and gray. I sprint after him and when we reach the crest, we peer in, wands at the ready.

The sloped sides of the crater crackle with spots of fire. At the base, two of the Death Eaters lie in a crumpled heap. Another struggles to his feet. The last is miraculously still standing.

His wand hand flies up when he sees us, darting back and forth, not sure whether he should target James or me. His friend staggers into him but hauls himself upright. His wand wavers as he points it at me.

"Try us," James snarls. "Go on. I'd love to finish you all off."

For a long moment, the four of us stand tense. The fire pops. Then the struggling one collapses onto his unconscious comrades. "I'm out of here," he mutters, clutching his friends. There's a crack and a second later, only the one Death Eater remains. He looks around, cursing, and falls a step back. James advances, raising his wand, ready to strike. With a yell of frustration, the last Death Eater disapparates too.

It takes my body a couple of seconds to realize they're gone, adrenenline still surging through my limbs, heart pummeling my ribs. But the danger has passed.

We won.

James and I look at each other. I can feel my eyes stretched wide, my breath coming in pants. He's breathing hard too. His hair is a new level of disheveled, even for him, and it matches the rest of him. His shirt is untucked, the white streaked with dirt, his black bow tie barely hanging on. There's a cut on his head, and ash peppers his whole face.

"Why," I ask, panting, gesturing to his whole formal get-up, "in the name of Merlin, are you dressed like that?" It's ridiculous, but it's the only thing my spent brain can come up with.

James looks down at himself, seeming almost surprised to see a white shirt, tie, and tux suit. He tries to brush some of the dirt away. It does absolutely nothing. "Oh. Well..." To my surprise, I think he's blushing. After everything we just went through. He's blushing. "Well, I was hoping all day you'd change your mind. About the wedding. Thought I'd be dressed, just in case."

"James Potter," I say, shaking my head. He flicks his eyes at me at the use of his first name. "I am so glad you made it."

He laughs, and the sound makes me laugh too, and then we're falling into each other, laughing so hard we can barely keep standing.

"Think Petunia will let me in like this?" I ask once we've settled down, reaching to finger where my skirt has been slashed almost to my thigh. Seeing the shabby state James is in gives me an idea of just how bad I must look, too. Not even my magic could keep my hair under control after all that.

"Don't see why not," James says. He reaches out to tuck one of the many stray locks of hair that have come undone behind my ear. "You look beautiful."

My heart stutters.

"Matter of opinion, I suppose. I think you both look a bloody mess."

My stomach leaps to my throat and I spin, ready for another round of attacks, but then I see Sirius Black strolling out from between the trees, closely followed by Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.

"What in the name of Merlin are you all doing here?!" I shout at the same time James says, "Finally! Took you long enough."

"You know how long that tunnel is," Peter says. "We're here now, aren't we?"

"What tunnel?" I say. No one answers.

"Although I do wish we could have gotten here sooner," Remus says, scanning the charred ground. He puts out one of the nearby fires with a stream of water. "What happened?"

"Death Eaters," James says shortly, his face hardening.

"What?!" Sirius yelps. Peter goes pale. Remus looks between James and me.

"But what are you all doing here?" I demand again.

James turns to me. "Peter was with me when I got your patronus. Sirius was with Remus at Hogwarts. Peter went to go get them."

I look at the three of them. "You guys came to help me, too?" I ask.

"Obviously," Sirius says.

Peter says, "I don't think Prongs really gave us much of a choice."

Remus gives him a look.

"Fine, fine," he grumbles. "Of course we came to help you, Lily."

"You guys," I say, and before they realize it, I barrel into them and pull them all into one big group hug. "Thank you!"

"Alright, alright, we get it, you're very grateful," Sirius says, his voice muffled from the middle. Remus laughs as Sirius pushes all of us off. "Enough of that. There's quite the commotion going on back there. I think you're being missed at the house."

"The wedding!" I clap a hand to my forehead in horror. "Ooh, I'm so late. Petunia is going to kill me!"

"I think you're going to be alright," James says. "I mean, can she shoot fireballs?"

"Fireballs?" Sirius says. "Now I really wish we'd gotten here earlier."

I take a few shuffling steps in the direction of the manor, but then stop. "What if they come back?"

"Merlin, Evans, what do you think we're good for?" Sirius says, rolling his eyes. "We can hold it together out here. You've got a wedding to make."

I look them all over. Sirius with his confident stance, wand already drawn like he's hoping they do come back so he can scuffle a bit. Peter, less confident, his wand clutched tightly and pointed to the ground, but nodding when I catch his eye. Remus, still putting out the small fires, mending the destruction the battle had scarred the wood with.

My gaze falls on the last of the Marauders.

"James," I say. His eyes widen.

"Come with me?" I ask.

He stares at, and then his face breaks into a smile.

"Thought you'd never ask."