Disillusionment by Ravyn

Sixth Year: Part Two

“What has you so grumpy?”

Lily ignored the question. Starring out of the window, her jaw set, fingers tapping against her robe covered knee. He had kissed her. She had let him. Hells. That shouldn’t have happened, would never have happened if he hadn’t given her that look…

Since when had she been susceptible to a look from Potter She could have ended this entire mess if she had slapped or hexed him. Instead she had stood there like a ninny, lips tingling and… and…

That…

“Hogwarts to Lily Evans!”

Lily jerked around. “What?”

Alice looked amused. “I said, do you want to head over to Honeydukes first and split up from there? It appears that all the third years have decided to leave early this morning.”

Lily pursed her lips, thinking. Honeydukes was a guaranteed place to buy sweets but it would limit her funds later…

“I don’t know. There are a few things I need to pick up. How about we meet at the Three Broomsticks in an hour for a butterbeer?”

Alice pursed her lips and then nodded. “That should work.”

Amelia grinned. “It means that we’ll be bringing back less chocolate. What shops are you going to hit up, Lily?”

“Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop for one. I seem to have lost my good quill.” To which she completely blamed Potter for. She hadn’t been able to find it after coming back from the library the night before. Pressing her lips together for a moment, she shrugged. “After that, I’m not sure.”

Amelia pulled a face. “That sounds fun. I think I’ll head over to Zonko’s and see what the resident mischief makers are sneaking out. Forewarned is forearmed.”

Alice arched a brow. “Do you think they even bother to ride down on the carriages anymore? They sneak out of the castle so often I’m amazed they even bother on Hogsmeade weekends.”

“Remus has to at least,” Lily pointed out reluctantly. “Prefects are required to attend to keep an eye on things.”

Alice frowned. “Is the school expecting problems?”

Lily frowned, her stomach tightening in knots. “No. I don’t think so. I doubt they would let us leave the castle if they felt that there was going to be a problem. They just want to make sure that we take precautions is all.”

“Ah.” Amelia murmured, eyes dark.

Lily tried to smile. “So, Three Broomsticks in at least an hour?”

“Sure. First one there tries to grab a table then.” Alice agreed. “Frank had some things to do, so we’re going to meet up later in Honeydukes instead. I’ll probably ride back with him so…”

“Don’t wait around.” Amelia teased as she slid out of the carriage. “Lily? Should we worry about you or should we just expect Potter to show up and escort you back?”

“Oh bugger off.” Lily hissed as they walked off laughing. Looking around, she grimaced. It looked like today was going to be a mad house. At least she didn’t have to run by the post office today.

Tracking down the replacement quill took longer than she thought it would and by the time she made it to The Three Broomsticks, it was packed. Wiggling through bodies, she searched for familiar faces. To her relief and embarrassment, Alice’s amplified voice cut through the crowd.

“Lily!”

It took some work, but she managed to dive into one of the unoccupied chairs.

“Sorry about that. Was yelling at you but who can hear in this noise? Find your quill?”

“Found a decent replacement.” Lily said as she shoved her hair out of her eyes. She looked over to the line near the bar and grimaced.

“Amelia is getting our drink orders. You owe her two silver sickles and probably some sanity.”
“Yes, and pay up. I should charge more for dealing with that mad house.” Amelia groaned as she pushed out of the crowd. “I thought some of the third years were going to mob me. They’re mad, all of them.”

Lily grinned and grabbed her share after handing over the coins. “First weekend out is always a madhouse.”

“Lily, every weekend is a madhouse. It’s just a matter of what kind.” Alice informed her, pulling a face. “The halls are going to be full of exploding Dungbombs and hyperactive first years who bribed their older brothers and sisters for chocolate frogs and even more Dungbombs.”

“As long as someone doesn’t try to slip FrogSpawn Soap back into the Prefect bathroom again; Dungbombs you can at least deal with a Scouring Charm.” Lily pointed out, “Even if they do smell terribly.”

“Speaking of… Honeydukes is packed. Slipped by there to check out the chocolate frog supply; if we hurry we are probably going to be fine.” Amelia took a long drink of her butterbear. “I think most of the third years headed over to Zonko’s first.”

“Right. Or the Shrieking Shack.”

“Oh that reminds me, did you see what our illustrious housemates were picking up?” Alice questioned.

Amelia pursed her lips. “No.”

“No?”

She smiled and shrugged. Alice cut a confused look over to Lily who just shrugged. “Well, are we going to have to worry about any Dungbombs?”

“No. Not from me anyway. The room was packed with third years though so…”

“Well… how about we plan on swinging by here a little later once some of this mob has cleared out to take some butterbeer back with us.”

“If Frank hasn’t been by, he might want to stop in anyway. I can pick some up then.”
“Deal. So, on to Honeydukes?”

“Please,” Amelia groaned, rubbing an ear as a witch burst into loud laughter. “My ears are going to start bleeding soon.”

X

“What’s that expression for?” Sirius asked as he strolled into the dorm room, attempting to tug his robe into place.

James lifted his head and frowned. “I don’t know.”

“That a message from your folks?” Remus asked, setting his book aside. He looked around, frowning. “Where did Wormtail disappear to?”

“He wanted a head start; muttered something about a girl or some other nonsense. He sounded mad.” Sirius said impatiently. “Prongs?”

James shrugged, tucking the parchment into his robe pocket. “It might be nothing.”
Remus lifted both brows. “Do you think it’s nothing?”

Sirius frowned. “This doesn’t have anything to do with them, does it?”

“No.” James said firmly. “We haven’t heard anything from the rest of the Blacks.”

“Good.”

Remus stood, dropping his book back onto his bed. “So what is it?”

“Just something Dad mentioned. I don’t think it had any context but…”

“Ah.” Sirius said, his expression grave. “Activity?”

“Possibly,” James frowned and shook his head. “But not here. Not with Dumbledore so close.”

“We hope.” Remus said his expression grave.

“Right.” Sirius murmured quietly. “That means we better keep our eyes open.”

James ran his fingers through his hair. “Yes.”

“We could be borrowing trouble.”

“That’s true. Let’s stick to the plan, then. I’ll slid over to Zonko’s and get the supplies we need. You two arrange for our butterbeer drop off and we’ll meet up at Honeydukes.” Sirius suggested. “That keeps us near all the main points that could be hit.”

Remus pulled a face. “Oh yes. Because that’s where we all want to be. Right in the middle of the action.”

James stuffed his wand into his pocket. “I agree. We need to avoid being involved in any confrontation if there is an attack. What the papers are reporting suggests that the Death Eater attacks have been limited and whatever my parents know, they are keeping to themselves.”

Sirius tapped his fingers on his thigh. “The papers have been keeping this quiet. I don’t think most of the school is even aware of what has been going on the last three months.”

“The Prefects are.” Remus said quietly. “I overheard a few conversations and they are aware that there is a growing problem. Especially in Slytherian.”

“Whole bloody house should be gotten rid of.” Sirius growled. His eyes narrowed. “Snivelous has been almost giddy these past few days.”

Remus shot him a look. “You’re not suggesting that even Snape would be willing to…”

“The bloody git would do whatever he thought would give him the ability to lord over people.” James said flatly. “But Remus is right. We have no proof and nothing to even suggest that something will happen today.”

“Except your gut.”

James’ mouth tightened. “We should head out if we want to get moving before the crowds start thinning.”

“Right.”

X

“You keep straining your neck and we’re going to have to take you the Hospital Wing. I would say that even if Evans is here it’s unlikely that we’re going to find her, even with her red hair.” Remus chastised. Smiling disarmingly at a serving girl, he maneuvered through the crowd.

“Is it that obvious?”

“Without a doubt.”

James cut him a look. “I could be looking for Wormtail.”

Remus snorted, “Only if he has red hair and breasts.”

James sighed and leaned against the wall, waiting for a chance to slip around the back of the bar. It also gave him a chance to look around, cataloguing faces and expressions.

“I don’t think you’re going to find her in this mob.”

James rolled his eyes. “I’m not… okay, I am but that’s not the only thing I’m paying attention to.”

“If you say so.”

“Some friend you are.”

“The best… I think now?”

The back room of The Three Broomsticks was cool and dark. Moving quickly, Remus set about shrinking the bottles of butterbeer so that they would fit into the pockets of his robe.

“I’m not seeing any fire whisky.”

“We’ll have to come back later in the week then.” James whispered, keeping his voice down. While they had standing agreement to take why they could fit in their pockets – as long as they left enough coin to cover what they had pilfered – there was really no reason to accidentally clue anyone else of their little deal.

“Done.”

“I’ll go pay. You want to go track down Sirius and I’ll meet you at Honeydukes.”

Remus gave him an amused look. “She could be at Zonko’s.”

“Lily Evans? Perfect Prefect?” James gave Remus and amused smile. “A lot of things she is but a prankster is not one of them.”

Remus rolled his eyes before slipping out the side door. James counted to thirty and followed suit. It took some careful maneuvering to make it to the front to drop off the appropriate Galleons and by the time he made it outside he was grateful for the fresh air.

The trip to Honeydukes involved dodging overly excited third years. As always, the irritated mental question if he had ever been that stupid rolled through his head. As did the answer. Probably worse. These kids didn’t have Sirius as an influence. Amused, he ducked into the store and looked around.

There were really only so many places Lily could go. Unless he just kept missing her. Well, while he was here he might as well stock up on the usual supplies of sugar quills and chocolate frogs. Stepping around a knot of giggles girls, he frowned when he caught sight of Alice standing next to Frank Longbottom, her face set into hard lines.

Pausing, he let his eyes slid over the knot of sixth years standing in front of the blood pops. Amelia had her hands clenched and even Frank looked irritated. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he sauntered forward.

“Have you seen Lily?” Always best to just get it out in the open.

Alice spun around, “Potter.”

James blinked at her. “Yes?”

She licked her lips. “What are you doing here?”

“I had an urge to buy some chocolate frogs… what are you doing here, Alice?”

She flushed and fidgeted. Eyes narrowing, James shifted his gaze to Amelia. She stared back. Frank sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

“Someone want to tell me what’s going on?” James asked pleasantly, shifting his weight.

The sounds of Remus muttering his way through the crowd caught his attention.

“Ah, James, there you are. I heard there had been a little scene involving Snape and I…” his words died as he stepped around the corner and saw who James was talking to. “Ah.”

“Snape said something to Lily.” James said quietly, staring at Alice who looked away. James cut his gaze over to Remus who own eyes had narrowed into slits.

“Don’t.”

James looked over at Alice, lifting a brow. “Don’t what?”

“Lily can take care of Snape.” Amelia said firmly. “If you get involved it will just make it worse.”

“You’ve already made it worse.” Alice snapped.

Remus snorted. “If that’s what you think.”

“It is.” Alice said flatly.

James shrugged, eyes flickering with temper before he turned and walked away.
“Where are you going?” Amelia demanded.

“To find Lily.”

Alice bit her lip and looked over at Frank. “You don’t think…”
Frank shrugged. “Does it matter?”

She sighed. “I think I’ll take that butterbeer now, if you don’t mind.”

Remus stared in the direction James had gone and turned to Amelia. “Since I’ve been abandoned, care to browse the shelves with me?”

Amelia stared at him for a long moment before shrugging. “Why not. Later Alice.”

X

Lily stared at the Shrieking Shack. There were surprisingly few people about, even with the occasionally giggling group of third years. Taking a long, deep breath she shoved her bangs out of her eyes and forced herself to go back over the confrontation with Snape.

Everything always seemed to go wrong when they talked. In less than a year, five years of friendship had been wiped out. Reaching up, she scrubbed her hands over her face. Being out here and sulking over it wasn’t going to make it go away. They had both chosen sides and now… now they were going to live with those consequences. Breathing in deeply, she forced her emotions to behave.

It was over.

“Lily.”

She stiffened, spine snapping straight as she lifted her eyes. Potter had his hands shoved into his pockets and he looked as ruffled as usual; his Gryffindor scarf knotted loosely around his neck and his hair sticking in every direction. But behind his glasses his eyes were glittering and the set of his shoulders was tense.

“Potter.”

His eyes scanned her frame – checking for curses? Had he heard? Dammit, she didn’t care! – before moving beside her to study the Shrieking Shack. She wasn’t certain how long she stood there, waiting for him to make a move, body tense. Finally he sighed and shrugged, as if deliberately shaking something off before his eyes returned to hers.

“Enjoying yourself?”

That was not what she expected him to say. Frowning, she rocked onto her heels and looked away. “Yes.”

He was silent for a moment before he was suddenly close enough that she could feel the heat of him through her robes. The air had turned chilly and she was surprised to find herself tempted to lean closer.

This was Potter!

“Do you need to talk?”

Lily took a step back and turned to face him. “What?” Her brows furrowed. “Where is this coming from?”

James tilted his head and stared down at her, eyes intense. “I heard that Snape had a few words to say to you.”

She felt her face turning red and she hated it. Swallowing, she tightened her grip on her wand. “I can handle myself, Potter.”

“So Alice made a point of telling me.” He shifted closer to her so that she had to tilt her head back. “You’d let me know if you couldn’t.”

She frowned at him. “I don’t need a baby sitter and I don’t need your help to handle Se-Snape.”

A humorless smile curled his mouth. “This has nothing to do with being able to handle yourself, Lily. You’ve lived in the Wizarding world long enough now to know that pure bloods have other ways of fighting back.” His eyes burned behind his glasses and his jaw worked for a moment and he took a step back. “So I’m asking. If you ever find yourself needing help, you know where to find me.”

“I…”

Lily had no idea what to say and instead, reached up to run her fingers through her hair, hoping to buy a moment to think. First he kissed her – and she still owed him a hex for that – and now he was offering to help her deal with Severus? Well, she admitted, that one she could see. There was no love lost between Potter and Snape and she doubted that Potter required her help to find reasons to hex him… Sighing, she looked back over at him. What was he trying to pull? James shifted forward, clearly intending to say something else when the sound and vibrations of an explosion shook the air; staggering them both.

Before she could recover her footing, James fingers had wrapped around her elbow and he was dragging her into the nearby trees. Once they were somewhat under cover, he pulled her down with him. His wand was already out and she fumbled for her, fingers suddenly cold and clammy; they didn’t want to respond.

“What was that?” The words came out on a low hiss and she swallowed hard.

“We’ll know in a moment.” James replied grimly. Lily frowned at him but stayed were she was. There was a growing, niggling suspicion in the back of her mind that she didn’t like. Her heart started hammering in her ears and she took several deep breaths; panicking now would do nothing but make the situation worse. Instead, she scanned the area for third years but found no sign of them.

They had been at the village for half a day. How many students were still here?

They were far enough from the village that all they could hear was the wind whistling but she still knew the moment the situation had gone from possible prank to bad. James went stuff beside her and his fingers dug into her arm – hard enough to bruise. Lifting her eyes to follow his gaze, her stomach lurched and heaved at the sight of a mark several hundred feet into the air.
It was as if the bubble around them had popped and everything had sharpened. She felt as if she could hear the sounds of faint, terrified screaming.

“Death Eaters,” James voice was grim and his jaw set in a line she hadn’t seen from him before.

“But…” Lily managed, shock making it hard to think, “Dumbledore.”

“Is already on his way. Probably. But that isn’t going to do us much good if they catch us here.” James voice was razor sharp. “We need to either find a way back to the castle or some cover until the Aurors get here.”

“The carriages are going to be targeted.” Lily whispered furiously. “The shops are going to be closing down their walls to protect the students inside.”

“Which means they are going to have to concentrate on the students that were outside when they attacked or start attempting to break down the barriers,” James agreed. He blew out a long breath. “Bloody hell.”

Lily agreed with him, eyes scanning the area frantically. A faint, fluttering move out of the corner of her eye had her fingers gripping James sleeve tightly. She tugged and he tensed, looking over her shoulder.

There were two, darkly robbed figures creeping along the edge of the tree line they were hiding behind. It was obvious that they were going to see them soon – Lily felt her stomach knot up. Red, red, red! Why did her hair have to be red?

Hot breath brushed by her ear and James spoke in a ragged whisper. “Stay behind me.”
Fingers clenched tightly around her wand, – think, think, think – she set her teeth and whispered as forcefully as she could manage the words of the most potent defensive charm she could remember. James didn’t seem to hear her; he was inching forward lips moving silently. For a moment, she considered falling back… but James couldn’t handle two death eaters on his own. Lily set her jaw and inched after him, wishing she could risk casting a silencing spell on her shoes.

She didn’t think it was anything they did. Maybe they sensed whatever James was doing, but the first death eater brought up wand up and hissed a spell that Lily didn’t catch. It slammed into her defensive barrier with a snap and it wavered in front of them. James took advantage of the lapse to start firing off his own spells.

Lily had no idea what half of the spells Potter was using and she could only half pay attention to the way her charm was fading. Both death eaters were concentrating on James so she waited. She could hear the strain in James’ voice as he kept them off her and calling herself a fool, cast the full body bind.

She expected it hit because the death eater wasn’t paying attention to her, but whatever luck was with her held and in a moment the second death eater collapsed.

Lily was panting, fingers white against her wand.

“Are you alright?” James demanded as he used a complicated spell Lily had never heard of – he had used several spells she had never heard off – to bind the death eaters together. She did recognize the spell that rendered the death eaters incapable of seeing, hearing or speaking for as long as he held the spell. The air around him was crackling with the force of residue magic and she realized she could feel it clinging to her skin as well.

“Yes.” She swallowed. “Someone would have heard that.”

James grunted. “Defensive charm?”

Lily blew out a shaky breath. “Yes… what…”

He looked around, eyes narrowed to slits behind his glasses. “I’ll teach them to you sometime, but we need to move.”

Teach them to her. Suggesting that she would allow him to spend large amounts of time in her presence. Not the time to be thinking of this.

So instead, she repeated her earlier concern. “Someone would have heard that.”

James nodded and met her eyes. “It shouldn’t have been that easy.”

“Easy,” Lily repeated eyes wide. “I’m not sure that is what I would call that.”

James shook his head and shoved his glasses up his nose. “We need to move. Can you cast the Defense charm again?”

She pressed her lips together and nodded. “Yes. But if I do it wrong it will probably kill us.”
James’s mouth quirked at the corners, “Fulbert the Fearful?”

She swallowed. “Do you have a plan, Potter? Because we can’t be the only students attacked and there are third years here.”

Moving swiftly, he ripped off the masks of the men in front of him.

“Ah,” James said voice hard. Lily didn’t recognize either man but it was obvious that James did. He reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her back into the thick trees that surrounded Hogsmeade.

And then he just stopped, dragging her down behind a thick cluster of bushes. Startled, she looked around frantically and by the time she looked back, James had a piece of parchment in front of him and was studying it.

“Potter?”

“It appears that Dumbledore is on his way.” He said before tapping the map and muttering something at it that she didn’t quite catch. Folding it neatly he tucked it back into his robes and his expression was grave. “We can do two things. Wait here and hope that no death eaters find us or take our chances in the village.”

“The students…”

“Are already being ferreted into the secret passageways,” James said softly. “But yes, the possibility that several like us are bunking down in the hopes of being helped…”

“You know the secret tunnels better than I do,” Lily whispered, fingers of her free hand curling into his robe. “Is there any that we can get to?”

James was tense under her hand before he nodded. “Yes. But it will be risky. All of them are from inside buildings, so we are going to have to make our way back into town.”

Lily nodded. “I can duel, James.”

“I know.” He said softly. “You don’t have anything to prove to me, Evans. If you want to find a way to make to the tunnels that is what we will do.”

Lily stared up at him, he stared back… and she couldn’t read him.

“James… I’m a Prefect. I’m not leaving.” She licked her lips. “Besides, our friends might need us.”

He nodded and his expression went tight. “Okay. While we’re up there, we only trust each other, Evans. We don’t know who they were targeting – if they were targeting anyone – and if students are involved in this… you’re muggle-born and my family…” his lips twisted into a hard little smile that made her heart start hammering all over again. He continued to watch her so she took a deep breath.

“Yes.”
“You’re going to have to trust me.” He murmured. “Completely.”

“I am not a complete idiot.” She whispered fiercely.

He nodded. “Stay close.”

And then he was moving his wand and the sudden sensation of a cold egg hitting the top of her head and rolling down her spine had her eyes widening. Then James pointed the wand at himself and repeated it. To Lily’s shock, James seemed to fade into the trees around him, blending in completely with what was behind him.

Her mouth went dry for a completely different reason. She hadn’t thought… A disillusionment charm took a great deal of control – not just power – and the fact that he was managing it on both of them after a duel was equal parts terrifying and comforting.

Warm fingers slid along her knee until they located the hand not grasping her wand. “This should buy us some freedom to move, although we’ll have to be careful.”

X

Remus crawled through the packed bodies in Honeydukes, moving to assess what was going on. He could hear Sirius arguing with Flume about going outside. Rolling his eyes, he skidded around a crying third year from Hufflepuff and stood once he had slipped behind some shelves. While the defensive barriers on the store had held, there was no reason to make an unnecessary target of himself.

“Sirius, stop.”

Sirius spun around, eyes narrowed into angry slits. “James is out there.”

Flume shook his head. “I’m sorry, but my concern right now is the students in here.”

Remus nodded and signaled to Sirius to be quiet. “Is there a passageway that we can get the students to the castle from?”

Sirius blinked at him and Flume stroked his mustache. “Yes, there be one on that back wall. Not many students use it these days but it should be cleared.”

Patricia Feldwall, a Ravenclaw Sixth Year Prefect caught the drift of their conversation and relief spread across her face. “We are just sitting targets here.”

Remus nodded in agreement. “We need to round up the students and get them back to the castle.”

They could still torch the shop after all, and anti-fire warding only went so far.

Alice and Amelia were moving in their direction, keeping their heads low. There expressions were as worried as Sirius'. Remus sighed. Evans and James weren’t the only students who were possibly trapped in the streets. Once the Aurors arrived, spell fire would increase.

“What’s the plan?” Amelia asked, her wand held steadily in her hand.

“Flume is going to open a passage to Hogwarts and then we’re going to get these kids out of here.”

Alice grasped Frank’s hand. “And Lily?”

Sirius said nothing so Remus sighed. “Evans is with James. He won’t do anything to get them killed and he knows what he is doing. Patricia, can you start pairing the students together so we can start moving them out. Best to just push them all out at the same time, but the tunnel will be dark. We don’t want to leave anyone behind by accident.”

She nodded.

Remus looked back at Sirius. “Peter is probably back at the castle.”

Sirius looked mutinous for a moment and then he nodded. “Right.”

“We’ll worry about James later.”
Sirius looked through the spelled windows, his jaw line tight. “For now, I’ll agree to that.”

“But what about…”

“If we lower the protection spell we increase the risk to every student here.” The voice came from behind him. Seventh Year Prefect Marcus Sandbagger from Hufflepuff. His features were strained. “Our duty is to the students we can help now.”

“Bullocks.” Amelia hissed.

Remus held up his hands. “Dumbledore is already on his way and I for one don’t want to tangle with a death eater. Please, go get in line for the passage.”

Sirius leaned forward when they were gone. “I’ll go back with this group and Peter and I will sneak back. If James needs us…”

“I’ll stay here and keep an eye on things.”Remus murmured. “He has the map, Sirius.”

“Bloody lot of good that will do him here,” Sirius hissed quietly. “We didn’t include it to extend past the grounds.”

“He’ll know who is coming to help from the castle.” Remus pointed out. “Which is more than we know right now.”

“Fine. But I don’t like it.”

“Go get Peter and then come back.” Remus said softly. “I have a mirror and so do you. If we need drastic measures I’ll let you know. Wait for word at the shack.”

“Done. But I won’t wait for long.”

“James won’t do anything stupid.”

‘I hope.’

X

This had to be the stupidest idea she had ever had. She wasn’t certain about Potter, but as she darted around the corner of another building she really hoped he knew what he was doing. That last curse had sounded terribly like cruciatus. She would prefer to be hit with Avada Kedavra than cruciatus. James was muttered spells under his breath as they ran and Lily was simply trying to keep the defense charm up without blowing them both to bits.

“I hope you have an idea!” Lily snarled as they rounded yet another corner. Pretty soon they were going to hit a dead end and then…

“Trust me!”

She was going to get herself killed. And then what? The sound of another curse hitting her weakening shield terrified her into another burst of speed. The only consolation was that she hadn’t seen any other students on the street. That meant they had all been smuggled into stores during the first phase of the attack, or they were being held hostage.

She preferred to think of it as the latter. James yanked her around a corner, frantically tapped a wall three times and then threw them both through the opening. She tripped and jammed her knee into the ground and he barely gave her time to recover from the shock before he was ripping her up again and dragging her to the back wall. Sliding his wand along the floor as shouts and banging started against the wall; a small seam appeared that opened into passage way.
The door behind them started to open and a loud, angry “Halt” cut through the air as she and James fell into the opening. The door snapped shut behind them just as the sounds of curses began to fly into the air.

Lily almost bit clean through her tongue to keep from shrieking as they crashed in a pile of arms and legs. She was fairly sure she had landed on James, but her ears were ringing. James was cursing from somewhere and arms wrapped around her middle and the world swung strangely in the dark as something hit the floor above them hard enough that dirt fell from the ceiling. The next thing she knew, James had shoved her hard up against the wall, covering her with the length of his body. Instinct had her wrapping her arms around him as tightly as she dared. Being buried alive in a tunnel under an old, filthy house was a nightmare she was sure she would be having for years.

After what felt like ages, there were no more explosions or shouting, just the ragged breathing of both her and James. Pressing her face into his shoulder, she let him continue to hold her, straining for some sign that they had discovered where she and James had fled. Breathing in deeply, she slowly worked on taking account of herself to check for any injuries she might have missed or affects of a curse that might have gotten through her shield. Everything felt normal.
James was breathing heavily in her ear and with her hands pressed up against his back she was able to feel the strain on his muscles. His robe was soaked through with sweat; the edge of his wand was digging into the small of her back and his breath was hot against her neck. Swallowing, she let herself absorb the lean strength of his body and the way he had pressed so tightly against her.

And for a moment she almost felt safe.

“James?” Her voice came out softer than she intended, but at least she didn’t squeak. He let out a long breath and tickled her ear but he didn’t move.

“Yeah.”

“Those were Aurors.”

“Yes.”

Lily shoved the knot of fear and panic out of her throat; forced her knees to stop shaking. She could react later. “I didn’t see any students while were running, did you?”

“No.”

He slowly lowered her so that her feet were touching the ground and a soft ‘lumos’ later she was staring up at his face. His skin was drawn across his cheekbones and the expression in his eyes was one that made her breath catch. His eyes had darkened to almost black and she had never seen such a hard, unforgiving expression in them.

He looked exhausted.

“Are you all right?” The words popped out of her mouth before she could stop them and he blinked and then nodded. “I will be. You?”

Lily shifted her weight and grimaced. “I banged my knee during our graceful entrance to the house.”

He crouched down to look at it but she took a step back. “It’s fine. Just a bruise.”

He sighed but nodded.

“Should we go back up there?”

James muttered something and the light grew brighter so that she had to blink to focus her eyes. “To do what?

“Potter…”

“Honestly, Evans. If the Aurors are here then there is nothing else of for us to do. They can handle it and we need to get back to the castle.”

“Why?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “They are going to be taking a head count. I don’t think we want them to notice that we’re missing. Then we’d have to explain why.”

Lily pursed her lips. Okay… she could see his point. Explaining that they had snuck back into town and then subsequently been chased by death eaters because James couldn't see his feet was... not brilliant.

“Okay,” she said finally, surprised at how weary her voice sounded. “Alice and Amelia are going to be worried anyway.”

James grimaced. “Sirius is going to kill me.”

“For not being safe?”

“For having fun without him.”

“Fun? You thought that was FUN?” She gripped her wand tightly. “Are you insane?”

“We’re alive,” James said, frowning at her. “We cursed death eaters and I must say, that was a fabulous bit of charms work with the defensive shield.”

“I wouldn’t have even had to use a shield if you hadn’t tripped!” That moment had taken ten years off her life – she could have sworn her heart had stopped – and he had thought it was some fun bit of a game? “You are so unbelievable!”

Lily lit her wand and started stomping up the path. She couldn’t believe it. For one, single second there she had actual thought he was responsible and he had thought it was fun?

“Evans!”

This was why she didn’t go anywhere with James Potter.

Ignoring the way his longer strides easily kept up with her own, she kept her eyes straight ahead.
Never, never, never would she trust him again.

X

Lily stared at her dinner plate, refusing to acknowledge the way James was staring at her. Dinner that night was quiet, no one really doing much talking. It was only a matter of time before they started, of course, but there was still a stunned sort of realization that the school had been attacked and that this… Voldemort was a serious threat.

The Slytherian table was especially silent although Lily was fairly certain that it had something to do with savoring the results instead of horror at them. She had refused herself the right to even look at Snape. She didn’t want to see what his face would tell her.

“Lily,” Amelia murmured in a low voice. “Are you alright?”

She stabbed a bite of potatoes with her fork and looked up, both brows lifted. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“It’s just… well; you weren’t part of the original headcount.”

“I’m fine. Nothing happened.”

Well, if you didn’t count running for your life with Potter and then thinking for one moment he was decent and then realizing it had all just been some big, gigantic game where he had probably kept score by curse. Her bottom lip trembled for a moment so she shoved the potatoes in her mouth and chewed violently.

She would not cry about that.

She could feel his eyes boring into the side of her head and she chewed harder.

The sudden clearing of Dumbledore’s throat caught everyone’s attention.

“If you please…”

Lily set her fork down and to her relief, Alice hand slid into her own.

“It is with great regret that I announce a cancellation of all future Hogsmeade trips. I am sure you all understand why.” His eyes scanned the room and for a moment, Lily thought that they landed on her. “Today we faced a terrible situation that did not end in great tragedy, for which I can only give credit due to this student population. There were many great deeds of bravery accomplished this afternoon, and I cannot possibly award points for them all. In fact, I will not even try. But today, several students separated themselves from the rest and their silent deeds have not gone unnoticed. For outstanding acts of bravery I award the sum of two hundred points to both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, and for exceptional level headedness, I award one hundred points to Hufflepuff. Slytherian receives fifty house points.”

Lily froze and this time she was certain that he was staring straight at her but then his eyes moved along to where she knew the Marauders were sitting.

“Any time spent in Hogsmeade will result in severe punishment. Please do not think to use any of the secret passages that were shown to you today for your own benefit. Flich has been made aware of them all and any student who is seen sneaking out of the castle will be punished severely. Thank you.”

“Two hundred points!” Alice whispered, sounding shocked. “But…”

Amelia narrowed her eyes and stared at Lily. “Someone must have done something fairly outrageous for that.”

Lily blinked and shook her head. “Don’t look at me.”

“Why has Potter been staring at you all evening with that look?”

“Potter is always staring at me.”

“Yes but this time… he almost looks apologetic.”

Lily took a deep breath and looked over, her eyes locking with James. Then, very deliberately, she turned her attention back to her friends. “I don’t know and I don’t care. I am finished discussing Potter. We have more important things to worry about. Like death.”

Amelia and Alice exchange looks but shrugged. “Of course.”

“If that’s what you want.”

Lily nodded and returned to her food. It was what she wanted. She didn’t care if her stomach was in knots. No… no matter what she had thought, James Potter would never, ever change.
________________________________________
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Notes: Alice Longbottom does not appear to have a maiden name. However, it is suggested that it (might) be Prewett. This has not been confirmed or denied in cannon (as far as I could find, anyway) and I chose to use it. I was not able to dig up if Alice Longbottom or Amelia Bones were classmates of Lily Evan’s, but in this story I am writing it as so. (That does not mean that there isn’t a roster somewhere telling everyone of where they were in relations to the Potters. I just haven’t found it.)

We are never made aware of how many students are in each year or in each house, so I am guessing that the chances of there being individuals a year or so older than you, still in your house and you and you not know them very well. That is my guess for Frank and (soon-to-be) Alice Longbottom.

The Disillusionment Charm was used several times in the last two books. I couldn’t find the incantation or any other information about it other than how well you disappear appears to completely depend on the strength of the castor. I took some liberties with it.

As for the secret passages that James and Lily use to hide from Death Eaters, it is the one on the Fourth Floor that later George and Fred prefer to use to escape to Hogsmeade until the tunnel collapses. As far as I could find, there was no mention of where this particular passage exited, so I took the liberty to make it up. If someone does know where this passage ends up, please let me know.

The other use of secret passages was also made up. Besides the mention of them and that Flinch is aware of their location, I was unable to find any other information other than ‘most of them’ should lead to Hogsmeade. I took advantage of that here.

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