Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter Eighteen

Lily once remembered an Auror telling her that no two battles were the same. Each one presented new tactics and new curses, and the only way an Auror could stay alive to see another battle was to be flexible.

She never found any other words to be truer.

At the pre-Christmas battle, she found the Death Eaters to be more along the lines of killing. Now, they seemed only to want to find all of the Muggle-borns they could and torture them mercilessly. James and Sirius kept Lily behind them, simply to keep her out of sight from the Death Eaters, but she shot out spells from between them, when there were more than they could handle.

They had no rocks to hide behind this time, and they were not yet skilled enough to duel on their own. So one of them would shield against harmful spells, while the other two attacked. Sirius had, again, turned out to be the more knowledgeable of the group, shooting of spells that only Death Eaters knew how to counteract.

It was apparent, after a few minutes that lasted forever, that the Aurors were hopelessly outnumbered. Even with two Death Eaters for each Auror, there was a group in the center of the Atrium, torturing the Muggle-Borns. It was a gruesome music to a gruesome scene.

It was terrifying, not knowing when the next spell would hit, if it would be the last for her, or for James, or for Sirius, or for Remus and Em, battling it out a few feet away from them, or for Frank and Alice, skillfully dueling with any who came near, or for Dorcas, or for Kingsley, or for Moody....

She looked towards the door and wondered if the Wizagamot would come, if Dumbledore had heard. Perhaps he was back in Hogwarts, and nobody had told him yet. The Prewett twins, who had sounded the alarm the last time, were still around. Lily, herself, refused to leave James' side, because it might be the last time she could feel his warmth.

Nobody was arriving for either side, and no one was falling, though it seemed as though the Aurors were tiring out much quicker than the Death Eaters who were just getting warmed up.

Lily, James, and Sirius found themselves cornered by two Death Eaters when the attacks on them stopped.

"Here she is, hiding like the coward she is," came the very familiar voice behind a mask.

"Behind a half-blood and a traitor, no less," came another familiar voice.

"Better than faceless cowards, Malfoy," James sneered. "Why don't you take off that mask of yours?"

"I don't need to take orders from you, Half-blood," Malfoy said, smoothly from under the mask.

"Then how about from me, Soareneous!" Sirius cried, shooting a hex Malfoy's way.

"Undrunous!" The other one called and Sirius fell to the ground, the wind clearly knocked out of him.

"Don't use spells from a family that doesn't want you anymore," he said.

"Fuck off, Lestrange," Sirius glared, slowly coming to his knees.

"Language, Siri, honey," Malfoy leered. Without another word, he blasted James to the side so they just had Lily in front of them.

"Vinges!" Lily said, before they could say anything. She was not going to lay down and let them kill her.

"You have made a very serious mistake, Mudblood," Lestrange huffed, adjusting his mask when he stood again. "First, you don't die when Bella wanted you to, and now you attack me? Crucio!"

Pain, like Lily had never felt, coursed through her body and she didn't even know that she was screaming until the spell was off of her and she could hear the echoing off of the walls. She looked over and saw James was now dueling on his own with Lestrange, anger pulsing off him like fire. Before, he lacked the focus to attack and shield at the same time, but now that his ears were ringing with the sound of Lily's screams, he was completely on task.

Sirius, already the better dueler than James having been taught it at a young age, had taken Malfoy on and was doing fairly well. Lily got to her feet shakily and leaned against the wall, still trembling. She now knew why wizards went to Azkaban for the rest of their life for performing that spell.

She tried to get herself back into the battle, but was finding it hard keeping standing, let alone bring her wand up to defend herself. She tried to Apparate, but found her mind too scattered to do that. She chided herself; how was she going to be able to be an Auror when something as simple as a Cruciatus Curse got the best of her?

She heard a cry to her left, and James had fallen to his back. Lestrage was looking upon him with malice in his eye as he looked down on him. He raised his wand, but then jerked his left arm. Stepping back, Lily could see excitement in his eyes.

"You are lucky, Potter, you won't get to die by my hands, but the most powerful wizard of all time..." His voice was now sounding maniac, instead of the smooth tones that it usually held. Lily took this opportunity to go to his side and help him off his back. He looked up at her and touched her face.

"Are you ok?" he asked quietly. She nodded, helping him to his feet.

"What's going on?" she asked, clinging to him for dear life and looking around wildly.

"I-I don't know..." James said, as none of the other battles had ceased. Suddenly, there was a loud boom in the middle of the room, and some of the terrified spectators who were not caught in the fry, screamed.

Standing in the middle of the Atrium was Lord Voldemort.

He looked even worse than either James or Lily had imagined him. He looked unreal, with catlike slits for eyes that surveyed the room, a grotesque grin on his face. Lestrange and Malfoy fell to their knees and kissed the hem of his robe groveling.

James felt Lily's cold, sweaty hand grasp his. Next to him, Sirius was pale and shaking slightly, and James had never seen Sirius scared of a thing in his life.

The eyes were still sweeping the room until they rested upon James. A cold dread began to fill him, especially when his eyes swept behind him to Lily. He grasp her hand tighter as he made his way towards them.

"So," he said quietly. "This is the Mudblood."

Lily straightened up behind James, defiantly. James took his strength from hers and positioned himself in front of her.

"Isn't this a sight," he mocked them. "Barely adults and ready to die for each other."

He raised his wand at Lily and then a satisfied smile came to his face. "Actually, I think...a more effective punishment..."

He turned his wand from Lily to James. "Imperio." He said quietly.

James suddenly slammed against the wall beside him and then he felt very light. He heard a voice in the back of his head.

Kill her...go on...raise your wand... hissed the voice in his ear.

"No...no..." James muttered. He looked up at Lily, whose voice seemed so far away. The voice told him Kill her....you hate her....kill her and for some reason, he started to believe it. He didn't love her, he hated her.

Slowly, he raised his wand, his entire body aching with each movement. She was backing up and still calling out to him.

Kill her...kill her now...

The diamond heart around her neck sparkled. He gave that to her because he loved her...

KILL HER! RAISE YOUR WAND AND KILL HER! The voice screamed in his head. Suddenly James felt himself coming back to himself.

He looked over and saw Voldemort with his hands over his face, crying out. To his left, Lily had her wand raised, a livid expression on her face.

"Are you ok, James?" she asked. He nodded.

"Lily, I-" he said, still a bit light-headed.

"Watch yourself!" Lily said, looking to her right. James turned and saw Frank deflecting the spell that came from a Death Eater. Both he and Alice were rushing over, having left their Death Eaters to the Aurors rushing in.

There were Aurors rushing in, James realized. And Dumbledore, and members of the Wizagamot.

Voldemort immediately forgot about Lily, James, and the rest of the small fries and swept over to duel with Dumbledore. James stood for a moment, transfixed, until he felt himself yanked up by the scruff of his neck.

"C'mon Potter," Moody said into his ear. "To the safe house with you."

James looked around and saw he was the only trainee left. With a nod, he Apparated to the Safe House.

The aftermath of the second Death Eater battle seemed to affect everyone a bit less than the first. Except for Lily and James, who were still a bit off from the aftermath of the Unforgivable Curses. Dumbledore arrived about thirty minutes after James did, looking a bit harried, but alive and well. He swept over to James and Lily, who were sitting on beds in a back room and being looked over by Healers.

He looked at them, his eyes not twinkling. He bent down and looked at Lily first, examining her face.

"Cruciatus curse?" he asked, quietly. Lily nodded. He turned to the Healer and she brought over a potion for Lily to drink. She took it in her hands quietly and stared at it. "Drink it, I want you to stay here tonight so that we can watch you."

She nodded, but didn't drink.

Dumbledore swept over to James and looked him over. "Imperious Curse?" he asked. James nodded, glumly.

"I couldn't throw it off," he admitted quietly.

"James, it takes even fully qualified Aurors several times to completely throw off the Imperious curse," he said, looking into James' left eye and then right eye. "If you had been completely under, you would have killed Lily."

He clapped his hand on his shoulder and handed James the same potion as Lily.

"Both of you, drink," he said, leaving them alone.

James stared at the potion and put it on the table. Lily looked over to him and called his name. He didn't respond. She slid off of her bed and sat down next to him, putting her hands on his shoulders, rubbing gently. He shrugged her off.

"Stop," he muttered.

"Baby," she whispered, scooting closer and wrapping her arms around his mid-section. "Its ok."

"No, it's not," he said, his throat tight. "Lily, I nearly killed you."

"You didn't, James," she said, putting her cheek on his shoulder. "You were struggling the whole time-"

"But I raised my wand at you," he said, a tear running down his cheek. Lily turned his head and made him look at her.

"Listen to me, ok? He's an evil, vile person. This was supposed to make you feel like this, it was supposed to make you give up." She brushed her hands across his cheeks to stop another tear from falling. "Don't let him."

He reached around and pulled her into his lap. "Lily..."

"Shh," she looked up at him. "Think about it this way, you already know how it feels, so the next time you can push it off." She reached up and brushed his unmanageable hair.

"Did it hurt?" he asked, quietly.

She nodded and put her head in the crook of his neck. "But you were there to help me, just like I was there to help you. Which is why they tried to turn you against me, because we're such a team."

He kissed her forehead. "But they didn't get us, did they?"

"No, they didn't, and we won't let them get us, will we?" Lily asked. "And we're not going to let this bother us, are we?"

James was silent.

"Are we?" Lily nudged him.

"I love you," he whispered.

"Are we?" Lily poked his side.

"No, we're not," James said, reaching over and grabbing the potions. He handed one to her and opened it, sniffing it lightly.

"Sleeping Draught," he said, kissing her gently. "I suppose you should get back in your bed, as I know you wouldn't fancy then walking in on us."

She brought out her wand and brought her bed next to his. "That better?" "Definitely," he clinked his potion bottle against hers. "Bottoms up?"

They both drank their potions and climbed into her bed, getting under the covers. Then they positioned their pillows next to each other. James had planned to stay up a bit more, but he found himself falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

"James?" Lily whispered.

"Hm?" he muttered.

"I love you too," she kissed his nose and then fell asleep on her pillow.

"James!" Sirius cried, running over to him when they returned the next morning. "Merlin's beard, are you ok? You too, Lily!"

They looked at each other and nodded. "Yeah, how about you?" James asked.

"A bit sore, but you two...are you sure? I mean, there's a reason they're Unforgivable Curses?" Sirius said, staring at them.

"We're good, still a bit tired, I think Dumbledore wanted us out of there as soon as possible," Lily grinned. "I think I'm going to go take a nap, what do you think?"

"Excellent," James agreed, yawning.

"Well, they seem to be doing well enough," Remus remarked, watching them go.

"Bah," Sirius replied. "Stupid lovebirds."