Chapter 26-Recognize
Well I've had enough
Of these selfish crimes
I hurt myself again
Not knowing why
It seems so easy
Each and every time
And avoid the truth I think I'd rather just go blind
Then everything erupts
My life has come unglued
And the ties that bind have left me
What am I to do?
Cant seem to recognize
That stare behind those eyes
Who is this man I see?
Who's looking back at me?
Cant focus through the gray
And I am fading into nothing
The reflection must get clearer
"Wake up, Lily. Wake up. Come on Lily," a voice said. Lily felt someone shaking her. She opened her eyes
slowly hoping it was all a nightmare.
She saw James, without his glasses, looking into her eyes. She looked around. She saw there was clumps of sand in his hair and a particular fear in his eyes.
Her hand went to her head to try and ease the throbbing. She felt blood on her fingers.
"Where are we?" Lily asked.
"He's here Lily. Listen to me. Can you hear me?" James asked.
"Yes, I can hear you. What do you mean he's here?" Lily asked.
"I mean, Voldemort is here. He's in Miami. I don't know how he found me, but he's here and if he finds you, he'll kill you," James said.
"I don't remember. Where's Addy and Sirius and Mac?" she asked him.
"They're in the house Lily. They're hiding too. We need to find a way out," James said.
"Where are we?" she repeated.
"We're in the basement. Lower your voice though. They could be above us," James said.
"I don't remember a thing," Lily said.
"Then you're lucky," James said. He remembered alright.
He'd had to escape from the grasps of Bellatrix, which was not an easy task. She had run to the house and tried to find Sirius. He could still remember the cackle in her voice as she called his name. He had come from his room and saw his cousin. James had mentally apologized to him. He saw Addy and Mac come out of their rooms.
Sirius had started dueling with Bellatrix while James had gone to retrieve Lily from the Death Eaters who had taken her. He knew she wasn't ok. He couldn't imagine what they had done to her.
Sirius had let him go. Bellatrix was so distracted by Sirius that she didn't notice James, her true captive, leave. He ran down the beach, following the screams of Lily. They were carrying her down the beach, into a shack.
He remembered seeing Malfoy cast the Dark Mark over the shack.
-Flashback-
"Oh my god," James said as he saw the sign. A sign that would haunt his dreams for many years to come.
He opened the door to see Lily sitting in a chair, her wand in the hands of a Death Eater. He saw the look in her eyes. The green emeralds were not their usual selves. They were now dark and frightened. Defenseless.
What had he led her to? If she had been with someone else, she would not be surrounded by Death Eaters.
"He'll be here soon, Evans. He'll come kill your boyfriend and then perhaps he'll kill you too. Or maybe we'll have the privilege of killing you," Malfoy said.
James couldn't believe what his life had come to. The one person he loved was now in the arms of a Death Eater. Her life was wavering before his eyes.
"The day that happens is the day those black cloaks are attractive," James said. He started cursing Death Eaters. He managed to retrieve Lily's wand. He attempted to throw it to her but Malfoy interfered. The battling continued. James didn't know how he did it, how he fought them all off, but he managed to. Something kept emerging inside of him, giving him the strength to keep going.
It was down to six of them. Three Death Eaters, James, Lily, and Malfoy. James raised his wand to stun one of the Death Eaters, but he saw Malfoy clutch Lily's hair.
"I'll do it Potter. Your girlfriend will be gone within a flick of this wand. Hell, I don't even need the wand," Malfoy said.
Lily was crying now. She was trying to frantically reach her wand, which was in the arms of Malfoy. She was panicking, something that happened in the worst of circumstances. Even the strongest people can't keep their cool under pressure.
"I'll kill them Malfoy. I'll kill them all. I'll kill you if you hurt her in any way," James said.
Malfoy slammed her head against the wall at the precise moment that something erupted inside James. Power, power beyond belief.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" he screamed. The shack glowed in luminescent green light and three nameless Death Eaters were lying sprawled out on the floor.
Malfoy saw the look in James's eyes. He grinned. Lily screamed, feeling pain in her head.
"You bastard!" she screamed. She lunged at him, forgetting all about magic. She clawed at his face.
"Accio wands," James said.
Malfoy was too strong for her. He lifted her and Apparated out of the shack. James opened the door to see him running down the beach. James ran after him. James saw Lily go limp on the shoulders of Malfoy and he knew she had a concussion.
He had to get to her. He ran and ran for what felt like ages. It was the longest his life had ever dragged on. Then, he saw something emerge from the water. The waves parted for something or should I say someone.
A voice, the voice, could be heard laughing as the waves revealed him.
James saw the eyes of a man his parents had been fighting for years. The scarlet eyes, slits like snakes. He had never seen those eyes yet he recognized them so quickly. The man who was after him had finally come to do the dirty work himself.
James felt rage penetrate throughout his veins. He raised his wand and stunned Malfoy. He saw him fall to the ground, dropping Lily to the sand. It was him and Voldemort now. Just the two of them.
Voldemort started clapping as he reached the land. His mouth formed into a malicious grin that James didn't quite understand. He kept his ground, feeling power build in his hands.
"I am impressed, Potter. Stunning all my men. You're so young too. You remind me of someone," Voldemort said.
"Oh, are you going to say I remind you of a younger version of you?" James asked.
"Why, yes I was," Voldemort said.
"Get some new lines, buddy," James said.
"I'm ready when you are Mr. Potter," Voldemort said.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" they both screamed, ducking from the killing curses sent at each of them.
"Have we advanced onto killing curses Potter?" Voldemort asked. "How's this for a killing curse?"
A gray glow hit James in the forehead. Something he had never felt before in his life. He felt a fire burning in his head. His knees fell to the ground and he started screaming so loud his glasses fell off his face. He caught the glasses and broke them in pain.
"Maybe the prophecy was wrong. Maybe you're not as strong as it predicted," Voldemort said.
James slowly grabbed his wand, hoping Voldemort wouldn't notice. He then sent a spell on the sand, making it cave in on Voldemort. He was sinking.
That would buy him some time. He got up, feeling his legs ache and his eyes burn, and lifted Lily onto his shoulder. He walked as quickly up the hill to the house as he could.
He opened the door to see all the lights out.
"Is that him?" a voice asked in a hushed whisper.
"I don't know, Mac. In case you hadn't noticed, it is dark," another person's voice said. It was female.
"Shut up you two," a voice James recognized said. It was Sirius.
"Padfoot?" James asked, whimpering practically.
"Prongs? Is that you?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah. Don't turn on the lights. We need to find something to make a Portkey out of. We need to get out of here. Voldemort is here. Where's Bella?" James asked.
"Stunned. Addison got her when she was busy mocking me," Sirius said.
James heard voices outside. He peered out the window.
"They're getting up, we need to hide," James said.
"Hurry, save yourselves. If I don't meet up with you in fifteen minutes, leave without me. We'll find a way to get together somehow. Set the Port key to Maimee's house. He has no idea where that is. Listen, be careful. All of you," James said. He heard Mac and Addy crying.
"We're going to get out of this," James said.
"I hope so Prongs," Sirius said. "Hurry back mate."
"I'll try Padfoot," he said.
-Flashback over-
"How long have we been here?" Lily asked.
"A while. We need to make a Portkey and hope the three of them got to Maimee's ok. Come on Lily, you're good at Charms. I need you," James said.
"I know, I'm kind of dizzy," Lily said.
"Me too," James said. Lily got the first real look of him when she lit her wand. His face was white, as if he had seen hell and back. From what she had heard from him, he basically had.
"There. I see something in the corner. It's a broom," Lily said.
James picked it up and held it in front of Lily.
"Portus," she muttered. She saw the door to the basement shake. Voldemort was trying to get in. James released the broom.
"James, don't curse them. Just hold on," Lily said.
James looked to the door and looked back at Lily. She didn't need to be in more danger. He would have to leave Voldemort to the Aurors.
He grabbed a hold of the broom and felt his feet lift off the ground and into another dimension.
A/N: Please review