Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Face the World Fighting

The much-anticipated sequel to "Life of Lily"

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It had all started just fine, almost perfectly. The preparations had been made, invitations sent, dress bought, and they had finally convinced Sirius to wear a tie no matter how many times he claimed it would choke him.

The marriage of Lily Evans and James Potter was to be that very day and all who knew them were amazingly excited. If any two people were perfect for each other, it was they and all knew it. Even when they had been arguing little third years the professors had their strong suspicions that it would all unravel to something more in the end.

The nerves of all involved were a bit frazzled to say the least. The time they could celebrate and actually be happy was to be after the wedding, at least for those helping plan. Thus being said, no one (besides the bride and groom) was in a particularly sunny mood despite the wondrous day.

At least the sun was granting them its freckling rays and a blue sky of the purest shade. The trees were at their peak, wonderfully green and perfect to climb in. The Marauders had to stop them selves from attempting to and the girls had similar thoughts.

"Lily? Lily? Oh for Godric's sake where are you!" Alice Prewitt yelled through the church, looking for the missing bride.

The biggest problem that could occur was to have the wedding start without its star. Sure James, the groom, was important and all that, but everyone knew that people only went to weddings to see the bride…at least that was Alice's philosophy. Sirius didn't quite agree with her when it was spoken

"I'm here!" A voice cried from outside.

Alice took one last glance around the church before dashing off towards Lily's voice. She couldn't help but fantasize over her own wedding. Sure, Frank hadn't proposed yet, but she had a strong suspicion that it would be any day now.

Frank, being so sweet and caring, probably didn't want to draw the attention away from James and Lily. That or he wasn't manly enough to hike up his pants and get it over with. Alice decided she'd ask James about it once the wedding was over.

"Lily! We have thirty minutes before guests start showing up! You need to get ready, NOW!" Alice shrieked, never having been good with stress.

"Oh don't get your knickers in a twist, I'm just trying to free my heel from this bush's clutches," Lily muttered good-naturedly while yanking at fore mentioned heel.

It was true though, having been off of schedule, she had ran towards the church and promptly tangled her heel into some random bush that had been in her path. It was being quite stubborn and refused to release the footwear.

Alice nervously laughed at her friend's predicament, finally calming down now that she was found, but still worried they wouldn't get her out in time. Marlene McKinnon, the maid of honor, was busy trying to sever the vicious plant with her wand, but to no avail. She looked up at Alice and grinned, her brown eyes sparkling.

"We might have to stop the wedding if the bride's shoe was stolen by shrubbery!" she exclaimed sarcastically.

The three girls had been friends for almost all of their Hogwarts years. They were inseparable. By the end of their seventh year they had four new friends strapped to their sides, the Marauders. One of which Lily was to be marrying that very day.

"Now what did that poor bush ever do to you, Sunshine?" the mocking voice of Sirius Black said as he rounded the corner and saw their problem.

"He was in my way and I just couldn't let that happen so I tried to stomp through him, but alas, he was too strong!" Lily cried dramatically.

"It's a he is it? What would James say about his future wife passing genders out to inanimate objects?"

"It'll be out little secret then," Lily said with a wide grin.

Sirius was one of the only ones who could bring out Lily's humorous side. It was times like these that Alice and Marlene were glad that he was there to distract her; otherwise she could have unleashed her awful temper on the both of them.

Lily had been known throughout their school years as being amazingly studious. She was also known for owning a dragon-like temper. Those who were lucky learned to avoid it, but others, like James, took it on full force. Some suspected he got her riled up on purpose just so that he could see her eyes go greener. They were probably right too for James loved Lily's green eyes.

"Well, I'll go find Remus then, I'm sure he could best this beast." Sirius declared eyeing it as if it would claim his shoe next, "Want to come?" he asked Alice and Marlene, offering an arm for the both of them.

They responded affirmatively, leaving Lily to try and slip out of the shoe. She was somewhat satisfied knowing that Remus was coming, if anyone could save her shoe, it was he. On any other day, Lily would've had her wand on her and she could have done it herself. The problem with that was that the wand had been tucked into Lily's shoe, the same that was trapped.

For some reason this didn't worry her though. Perhaps it was because she was too focused on the bush. Or, it could be because she never thought anyone would be as cruel to make her use it on her wedding day. She figured it was like a birthday of sorts where you didn't have to do anything but sit and look pretty.

After several more attempts, she gave up and collapsed to the grass in defeat, hoping not to stain her beautiful wedding dress. That would be a right shame. It was gorgeous really and now that she took the time to really stare at it and appreciate it, something clicked in her mind. The lace covering the satin was the same pattern as her dress from the New Year's Ball at the Potter's. The difference was that it was white instead of cream.

Lily sighed, no wonder she had been attracted to the dress as soon as she saw it. It was almost as if it symbolized their whole seventh year. It was definitely the most important year of their schooling. They had all grown so close that there would always be someone there to comfort you.

Her mind wandered to what James was doing. Surely he was dressed in a handsome tuxedo (they were going for a muggle theme) and as frazzled as she was. It wasn't likely that his shoe was caught in a bush, but he was most definitely facing some kind of laughable problem. It was less then half an hour until they were married, sealed for life. Just the thought made her want to sigh like a lovesick schoolgirl.

Never in a million years could she have imagined this happening. She had always loathed James. He was cocky and arrogant, hexing others for no particular reason. Lily suspected that deep down though; she had always had a crush on him. There was a fine line between love and hate. She had only just realized it during her seventh year though.

Now she was fresh out of Hogwarts, ready to face the world and become who she wanted to be. Lily wanted to fight, to defend the Light and defeat the Dark. She would do it with all her friends too. Alice and Marlene would always be there, Sirius was her brother in so many ways, Remus was like a twin separated from her at birth, and of course James would be her life preserver as he always had been. She loved all of them because they were her family. They were the only ones she had left.

The only way they could best the world was by doing it together. If not all of them could make it out, they would most definitely give their all until the end and watch over the others who were still fighting on earth.

Yes, Lily Evans believed in heaven. She had never really been religious though. Her parents had taken her to several sermons throughout her life, but all the words had been forgotten, not cared about. The one thing that stuck though was heaven. Surely it was up there somewhere. She figured it was perfect and almost like a reward for trying as hard as they did on earth.

She sighed, breathing in the summertime air, relishing the light breeze that carried the pretty scent of wildflowers. Lily closed her eyes momentarily only to hear footsteps coming towards her. Finally she thought. Remus was there to rescue her at last. There was something wrong about those steps though, they weren't right. They were too heavy and hurried. Her eyes fluttered open. It wasn't Remus. She did the first thing that came to mind when she saw who was standing in front of her, wand poised.

"JAMES!"

Then everything went black.

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Sirius froze at the blood-curling call for help that rung through the air. Lily, it was Lily. He turned to Remus with fear and horror in his eyes and without a second thought they both shot past Marlene and Alice to where they had left her.

She wasn't there. She was gone. They didn't make it in time.

Her white high-heel was still snagged in that awful bush. It wasn't so white any more though. It appeared as if her foot had been yanked out, that whoever did this didn't care if it hurt her. Droplets of blood lined the inside of the shoe, causing Sirius to release the contents of his stomach in an outlying bush. He wasn't afraid of blood, but that wasn't any blood. It was Lily's, Lily who was gone, taken on her wedding day.

It was all his fault. He had left her and taken her friends with him. The fact ran through his head like a broken record.

"Sirius, calm down," Remus whispered, gripping his friend's shoulder. "Calm down. We'll find her. It's okay, we'll find her," he said, trying more to reassure himself then Padfoot.

Sirius was hunched over, his hands on his knees. He was shaking profusely and small tears streaked down his face. Lily, who had so much trouble in her life, was kidnapped. One of his best friends was gone and it was his fault.

Remus was as terrified as Sirius was. He wanted to scream and yell and curse the death eaters who had surely done this. Why her? Why did they want her? What made Lily Evans so special? Hadn't they already caused the girl enough harm? He sunk to the ground beside Sirius, placing his head in his hands, trying to reason and figure out what they could do. He was shaking just as much as the man beside him.

"James," Sirius murmured, "what are we supposed to tell James?"

"I don't know. It's going to be okay, just calm down Sirius. We'll find her," he repeated his previous statement, not looking up.

Just as he did Alice and Marlene jogged around the corner with James close on their tails. As much as they had wanted to get to Lily, they knew that they needed James more and that Remus and Sirius would take care of it.

At the sight in front of them, Alice promptly fainted into Marlene's arms, overwhelmed by what had obviously happened.

"She's gone James, they took her!" Sirius sobbed. James collapsed to the ground next to them, not taking his eyes off the stained white shoe.

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It was cliché, horribly so actually. It was cliché to have it happen on that particular day of that particular week of that particular year of Lily Evans' life. She had been hoping that in that day she would throw away the last name of "Evans" in exchange for one that would make her the happiest women on earth. How wrong she had been.

For on what was to be the happiest day of her life, everything crumbled. She was strong this time though. So much stronger then she had been at the beginning of her seventh year of schooling. She could handle it and she would get out of it. Why Lord Voldemort just had to take her hostage on her wedding day, she did not know.

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Hello all! I hope you enjoy "Face the World Fighting". Updates will be every Saturday. I assure you, this sequel is going to be much more pleasant then the first, but I have to play into the prophecy first. This story will be mainly focused on the Order of the Phoenix and the Marauders' life outside of Hogwarts. Please Review!

-Sweets5236