The Golden Doe

I hear the battle before I see it.

Explosions, bangs, crashes, and shouts echo down the street. The worst are the screams. I can't tell who they belong to. I can't tell who it means is dead.

I burst into the square and the scene of battle greets my eyes. Unlike earlier, when the Death Eaters first struck and the fighting stayed tight in the center, now there's people all over, spread like ants down into the side streets and up against all the shops and buildings.

There's also less people than I was expecting to find.

And the ground is littered with bodies.

Doesn't mean they're dead, I remind myself. They could just be knocked out, or incapacitated, or injured in some way...

But then I trip over someone, and when I fall, I look down into Mary's glassy eyes, staring sightlessly at the sky.

"NO!" My head snaps up, scanning the square. Tears swim in my eyes, blur my vision, and I blink them away. There's Carol, fiercely battling Lestrange, her face a mask of tears and rage, and I know she knows. She manages to get him down, but a stray spell from a nearby duel catches her in the back, and she goes down writhing in pain. Beyond her, a towering masked figure hits Professor Jarvis in the chest with deadly purple light, and she drops too. There's Sirius, still fighting, his opponent fleeing in defeat even as I watch, but he's bleeding freely from a wound to his head and another Death Eater steps up to meet him almost immediately. I don't see Emmeline or Alice or Marlene at all.

"That's her!" Mulciber yells. He's dueling Frank alongside another Death Eater and points at me. "That's Evans!"

A half dozen masked heads turn in my direction and I have no choice but to leave Mary behind. I get to my feet and meet several opponents head on.

The next few moments blur in colored lights and heat and adrenaline. I react before I can even think about my next move. I feel death in every spell that ruffles past my hair. At one point Hawthorn is battling beside me, and then Frank, and then I'm alone, still standing, still fighting, but exhaustion is setting in and, with it, despair.

All around me, people are falling, and the barrier is still up. Remus won't be able to get back in. I don't know who's alive and who's not. There's no help coming, and Voldemort will be here in moments with a fresh wave of Death Eaters.

And James…

James is gone.

Rosier was right. We've lost, and there's no point in trying to go on. I don't even know who's left alive except the few I see standing right here, and we are no match for what's coming. A spell from the Death Eater I'm fighting slices my leg, and I stumble. I don't know how much longer I can go.

It's over.

And then there's a commotion across the square, a roar so loud for a moment everyone falters to look at the source of sound. And when I see it, my knees buckle in shock.

People.

A flood of people, rag tag and screaming and stampeding at the Death Eaters nearest them. It's the barkeeper from the Hog's Head, and Madame Rosmerta, and the couple I helped from Three Broomsticks. It's Marlene and Alice and Emmeline, and dozens of other students who must have been hiding out this whole time. It's nameless strangers, witches and wizards who must have got trapped here along with us, fresh and ready to fight. And right in the middle of them all, that dark untidy hair absolutely unmistakable...

James.

Alive, fiercer than ever, brandishing his wand like a sword and taking down two Death Eaters before they even see him coming. Still bleeding through his shirt and with a new gash down his arm, but alive.

He's alive, and the accompanying rush of joy and relief and love takes my breath away, fills my soul with new energy. New hope. New strength.

It's not over.

I blast the Death Eater in my way off his feet while he's still distracted by this new flood of people. Then I thrust my wand upward, where I imagine I can almost see a misty blue barrier hazy between us and the sky. I channel all that hope and joy and, more than anything else, overwhelming exquisite love into my wand and shout, "Expecto Patronum!"

She bursts out of my wand like a solar flare, almost unbearably bright and distinctly golden, a shock wave of energy radiating out from her origin like a bomb. Death Eaters drop, but the rest of us stand unaffected. Warmth rushes over me. The golden doe bounds across the square, circles James once, and leaps into the sky, catapulting off the air until she hits the barrier.

There's a distant flash of light, and then, like ice with a stone thrown at it, the barrier shatters. The sound is earsplitting, the full extent of the barrier illuminated along the fracture points before the mist bursts apart and vanishes.

"The barrier's down!" someone shouts, grabbing my arm, but I don't stop to see who. I shove them off and throw myself across the square.

"JAMES!" I shriek.

I sprint for him, pushing people still gawking at the sky out of my way, and he's running for me, too. We meet in the middle and I crash into him with a sob.

"You're fine, you're fine, you're fine," I say over and over, clinging to him. He's so warm and solid and steady under my hands.

"Of course I am," he says. "I promised you I would be."

I look up at him – like that was a promise he really had any control over – but I can't say anything because he's kissing me, hard and urgent and I can't think anything anymore except that he's alive.

He pulls back, though, too soon, anxiety written all over his face. "But are you okay?"

His hands run all over me, pushing my hair back, fingers skimming small stinging cuts on my arms and cheek bones, anxiously checking me for damage.

"I'm fine," I hiccup. "I was just so worried –" My voice breaks, and I have to take a deep breath to stabilize myself. "So worried about you. Rosier said you were... he said..." But I can't finish, and I'm crying, and it's so not the time, but he's alive and I still almost can't believe it. The emotional whiplash overwhelms me and I sob into his shirt.

"Hey, hey..." he says. He cups my face so he can look at me again. His thumbs brush away my tears. "It's going to be alright. You're fine, I'm fine, and Lily..." He looks around at the small crowd of celebrating people, the few remaining Death Eaters still cowering on the ground like they're hoping we've forgotten about them and they won't be murdered for hanging around, then up at the clear sky. "You did it. You broke the barrier." He shakes his head, looking at me in awe. "What was that?"

"My patronus," I say through tears, and he laughs.

"Obviously. But why–?"

But something cuts him off. Maybe the air stills, or maybe a chill falls. Everyone's gone silent, that's for sure. Something in the atmosphere shifts, and everyone in the square turns to stare down the road that leads out of Hogsmeade, toward the castle. Coming up are dozens of Death Eaters, black robes billowing, faces masked, Rosier and Regulus Black distinguishable from the others only by the Hogwarts crest on their robes. I don't try to pick Severus out of the crowd. I don't want to see him with them.

The Death Eaters that had fallen from my doe pick themselves up off the ground and hurry to join their comrades. Just like that, we're outnumbered again. Wildly outnumbered. And that's not even the worst part.

Because at the back of the group...

A wizard, one like I've never seen before. He's unmasked, tall and so pale he almost glows in the weak spring sunlight. His face – there's something about it, almost inhuman, eyes gleaming red...

Lord Voldemort.

No one moves as the black mob sweeps into the square. People step out of the way as they march to the center, to James and me.

We're surrounded in moments, the ranks of the Death Eaters flowing around us on all sides like black sand spilling from an hourglass, cutting us off from the remainder of our friends. James and I raise our wands and instinctively move so we're pressed back-to-back. His free hand finds mine, and we hold on tight.

When the flow stops. Voldemort steps forward out of the crowd, his unmasked face and smooth head a pale contrast to his dark-robed followers. He paces slowly around the inside of the ring of Death Eaters. James fumbles a few steps, trying to keep him in view, but unwilling to turn his back on the horde of other threats, and Voldemort comes to a halt in front of me.

"Lily Evans," he says. His voice is high, calm, and needles right under my skin, raising goosebumps up and down my arms. "I've heard a lot about you this year."

I raise my chin and hope it doesn't tremble. I still feel so fragile from all the crying, from finding James still alive. "Good."

Voldemort's thin mouth twists into something resembling a smile, but it's all wrong, no warmth creasing the expression. "Who would have expected it? A Mudblood, almost foiling my plans, besting my five youngest Death Eaters..."

"Don't call her that," James snarls over my shoulder, and Voldemort's terrible smile stretches wider.

"James Potter. Of course..." Voldemort's ruby eyes shift to James. "You were no surprise. Your family always did have the strangest ideas about Wizard and Muggle relations. Shame, really. Such talent, about to go to waste, both of you..."

This is it. There's no way out this time, but I'm ready, and I'm going to take as many of these dark wizards down with me as I can. James's fingers tighten around mine and I grasp back. I feel in that desperate cling all the time we could have had together, the gratitude for what we did have. Sorrow, fear, determination, love. But no regret.

I let go and get ready to fight.

One last time.

"However," Voldemort says, and his voice rings over the still, silent, watching crowd. "It wouldn't have to be a waste. I hate to waste power."

No one moves. I keep my eyes locked on him, my wand poised to strike.

"Do you know, I planned today specially for the two of you?" Voldemort looks out across the square, past the Death Eaters and our friends beyond, taking in the ruined shops. "I did not have to come on a day students would be here. It would have been easier to choose a different day. Less people around, less security to deal with. A smoother takeover. And it was so easy to get Dumbledore out of the school. I expect by now my Ministry… accomplices will have taken care of him and his Order." He laughs one, derisively, and the sound reverberates around the square as his Death Eaters laugh too. I shudder at the dissonance and clutch my wand tighter.

"But I will admit," Voldemort continues, "after your little display at your sister's wedding, you both had my attention. And as you continued to defy my recruits at Hogwarts, I thought I should give you the dignity of dealing with you myself. But then you took down my barrier. You led the attack that felled more of my Death Eaters than I anticipated, and so now today, I find myself... intrigued."

"What's that supposed to mean?" James demands. His back presses to mine, and I feel all the tension straining through his body. "If you're going to kill us, can we get on with it? I'm dying to hit your sorry face with a couple of my own spells before I go down."

"Patience, Potter," Voldemort says, eyes glittering. "I want to make both of you an offer."

"We don't want anything from you," I say angrily.

"Listen carefully before you decide," Voldemort says. "This is not an offer I make lightly, and I will only make it once. In your case, Evans, it is unprecedented, and if either of you want to live today, you would be wise to accept."

My throat has gone dry, the air crackling with anticipation of what he'll say next.

"I want to extend an invitation for the two of you to join my ranks."

James laughs, no humor in the sound, only disbelief. "Are you mad?"

"Ah, listen, remember?" Voldemort reprimands, like a parent getting after a small child. Only no parent would look at their child like this, cold and calculating and cruel. He begins pacing again, his long pale fingers caressing his wand idly. "You would do great things with me. Your families would be protected. And, of course, you would live. Neither of you have to die today. I make no guarantees of that if you refuse. In fact, I am confident you will not survive if you do not take my generous offer." He stops right in front of me. His proximity chills me to my bones even as his eyes burn into mine, red as embers, red as raw skin, red as James's blood spilling from his heart on my hands. "Join me, and you both get to live."

You both get to live. I swear I can feel James's heartbeat in every point of contact between us. I already had to deal with his death today. I can't do it again. Even if I don't make it, the thought of the world continuing without him in it is incomprehensible.

Join and live.

The moment stretches, too thin to last. Too short to survive in.

We promised we'd protect each other.

"James?" I say.

"I'm with you to the end, Lily," he whispers.

I close my eyes. "I know."

"What will it be?" Voldemort demands.

In response, we raise our wands and shout in unison. "Deturbare!"

Several of the Death Eaters go flying back, and the crowd of our friends surge forward to fight, choosing to join us in our final stand. Voldemort deflects my spell, and his expression burns with rage. "You've chosen wrong!" he shouts, turning his wand on me.

"I don't think so," I snarl.

"Lily, watch out!" James jumps to my side and then we're dueling harder than I ever have before. Blood roars in my ears, my vision blurring around the edges, and the rest of the battle falls away. I can only focus on the Dark wizard in front of me. Even with the two of us dueling him, I feel our edge of surprise slipping away. Not much longer for us now. At least, I think, we'll go down together.

CRACK!

It's not one noise, but dozens and dozens that split across the square, the sounds ricocheting off the cobblestones and pockmarked shop fronts.

"What?" Voldemort gasps, his wand faltering and eyes widening.

I turn to see what's distracted him so entirely.

Albus Dumbledore strides across the square, his long hair glinting like silver and his electric blue eyes like chips of ice. All around him, the hordes of Death Eaters are quickly being overwhelmed by waves and waves of fresh fighters. The Order of the Phoenix has arrived.

And not just them, I realize, as Peter and Remus burst onto the scene with Professors McGonagall, Slughorn, Flitwick, and half a dozen others hard on their heels. Remus found Peter, they made it to the castle, and now they throw themselves into the fray with enthusiasm. Remus sprints to Emmeline's side, but she screeches, "I've got this!" and lands a Full-body Bind on Rosier with a look of grim satisfaction.

And then I catch sight of Harriet Ashe blasting a Death Eater through Madame Puddifoot's window, and realize the Ministry is here, too.

"Impossible," Voldemort says, and when I look back at him, his wand has dropped and he looks... frightened, unable to tear his eyes from the terrifying figure Dumbledore cuts as he bursts his way across the square, felling Death Eaters with barely any effort.

Voldemort staggers back a step, taking in his rapidly dwindling forces and Dumbledore, heading right his way. "Fall back!" he screams.

The Death Eaters don't need to be told a second time. They extract themselves from the battle, running until they're clear enough to disapparate away. I see Regulus Black, wandless and pinned under a fallen beam hollering for help after his fleeing companions, but they ignore him. Sirius hurls himself to his brother's side and blasts the beam off of him. "Get out of here, Reg," Sirius snarls.

Regulus stumbles to his feet, blinking in confusion at him, then scoops up his wand and disappears.

In moments, all the Death Eaters have gone, and it's just Voldemort glaring at the emptied square. I raise my wand at him. So does James.

"This isn't over," Voldemort hisses. His rage stretches the skin tight over his skull, makes those deadly eyes all the more prominent and alarming as he flicks them back and forth between us. "I warned you that you would not survive defying me. The two of you are on borrowed time, and mark my words, I will finish this."

Before Dumbledore can make it to him, he, too, vanishes, leaving nothing but the chill of his promise, our death sentence, behind.