Lily flinched as she heard the door hinges creak. She'd been doing that lately, flinching. The Healers had assured her that it was only a side effect. They promised that it would go away with time just like the bruises. Though, so far neither was gone.

She tried to ignore thoughts that crept into her mind, throwing herself into her schoolwork until she could leave to meet Alice. She really did try to convince herself she was only hearing things, but when a crash came from downstairs she knew she was no longer alone.

"Hello?" she called out. There was no response.

Lily exhaled sharply, the dull stabbing pain from her healing ribs growing more pronounced, and tightened her grip on her wand. Keeping her back against her familiar yellow bedroom walls, she made her way to the door and eventually out of the room.

"Petunia?" Lily whispered, though she knew the likelihood of her sister being home at this hour was terrible. It was only near ten A.M. and Petunia was not due back until around three.

"I know you're here—just come out now."

Again there was no response.

"Homenium revelio," she murmured, and as she feared, the tell-tale marker appeared.

Torn between locking herself in a room, running, and seeking out whoever was in the house, Lily glided down the stairs—a mistake. Suddenly, she was forced against the cream wallpaper, and a wand pressed into her neck. What she assumed may have been her only hope, a scream, died in her throat. Her mouth felt unusually dry.

"Don't make this more difficult than it needs to be," said the attacker. "If you don't struggle I won't have to hurt you. I really don't want to hurt you, Lily."

"What are you doing here you filthy, little…"

"Is that any way to greet an old friend?" he muttered. "Look I'm going to help you, all right? All I need to do is use Obliviate to erase your memory of the attack. They don't want the ministry to have access to your memories, but it's really better for you anyway like this. It'll be easier this way I promise."

"If you think I'll willingly let you do that, then you're even dumber than I thought you were."

"I'm trying to make things better, Lily. You'll be stronger this way." She could feel his warm breath on her face—it made her uncomfortable. He was too close. She could just about count the few freckles on his face.

"How? By hiding things away, making it so I can't think about it anymore? That's the equivalent of gluing a shattered window back together. Sure it'll appear that you've done something to manage the damage, but all you've done is make the thing you broke more breakable than it was originally. There is no way to fix what's been done. You of all people, surely understand that, Severus."

"But you want to forget. I know you do. Don't you want the nightmares to stop? I'm sure you wish you would stop jumping every time someone enters a room. I can make it all go away with a flick of the wrist."

"You don't want to help me. You're one of them. I know where your allegiances lie. Stop feeding me lies. You make me sick," said Lily.

"All I've ever wanted was to help you. If you'd just listened to me before…"

"Yeah well I didn't. Bugger for you I suppose. Oh wait? It really isn't since last time I checked we aren't friends."

"I still care about you. All I want to do is help…I swear," he sighed.

"If you really wanted to do it you already would've. You've held me at wand point for a while now."

"I also haven't disarmed you," Snape said.

"I was getting to that."

"Sure you were."

She was aware of how shaky her knees were. Soon they would give out, perhaps around the same time she would black out. It infuriated her—she hated being weak like this.

"You and I know that they already took my memories during questioning, so what's the point of this?"

"It's protocol, and I really do want to help you. Just let me do it so I can be on my way…unless you want me to stay and…"

"I don't want you to stay," she spat. "We're done. We've been done for years. You made your choices, clearly, and I made mine."

His hand moved to her shoulder, gripping it painfully. Lily winced.

"Fine I guess I don't really need your consent after all— I had wanted it though—Obliv…"

Oddly enough, Lily, who was now acutely aware of any changes in environment, and Severus, who generally noticed everything, had not realized a third member had joined their party.

"Take your hands off her or I'll kill you right now," said the tall, messy-haired savior.

"You're of no threat to me, Potter," Severus said, though he did slacken his grip.

"Don't underestimate me, Snape. When it comes to her, there's nothing I won't do. You know that. You feel the same way."

Lily wanted to say something, anything, to stop the fight that was sure to ensue, but it was as if her voice would not work. She wished she could move her wand, but Snape was too close, pinning her to the wall.

"I'm not even trying to hurt her. Is that not obvious?"

"Not by the way you've shoved her against the wall and are holding her in a death grip…"

"You're going to get us all killed," Severus groaned. "Bellatrix will be here within the hour to make sure I finished things. If she finds us like this, we'll all be punished."

"Oh lovely, the more the merrier," James Potter smiled, the corners of his mouth twisting up vindictively.

"You are so ridiculously arrogant that you can't even see reason. You deserve to die like your…"

Lily ducked as James' fist collided with Snape's long nose. She cringed at the sickening crunch of breaking bones, remembering the time when one of her captors had broken her ribs and then her leg. Over and over James punched the young Deatheater. First just in the face but soon moving to any available surface.

"POTTER! Potter! James…" Lily said, moving to lay a hand on his shoulder. "Stop!"

"I'm a little busy, Evans."

"You're killing him," she said.

"Good," said James, breathing heavily as he began backing away.

Severus Snape, ex-best friend of Lily Evans and current Deatheater, lay bleeding out on the carpet of the Evans' foyer. Lily thought she might throw up.

"You're okay, yeah? C'mon we have to get out of here. You've got roughly five minutes to pack what ever you consider essentials," James ordered. He was a flurry of movement, darting about the front rooms. Drapes fluttered closed in his wake.

"Evans, when I said five minutes I lied. You had like three originally, now you're down to one and a half. Hurry up will you?" he cried exasperatedly from what sounded like the kitchen.

"James…I…" Lily managed to choke out.

He reentered the room with a worried expression and reached Lily in three strides.

"What is it?" he asked, lightly grasping her shoulders.

"Nothing…I'm…forget it. Just give me a minute."

Quickly, she darted up the stairs. She threw things into her trunk blindly, not minding what she was actually packing. It dawned on her that this could be the last time she was there. What if she was not allowed to come back? Soon they would come looking for Severus and would eventually find him there. After that the home wouldn't be safe…it already wasn't.

"Almost done?"

"Ten more seconds," she screamed, fighting back tears.

She grabbed a few books from the shelf above her bed—they were a few of her favorites. Then she slid over to her dresser, one hand trailing along the flowered pattern that sprawled across it.

"Times up," James said. He sounded closer now.

Panicking, she rifled through her jewelry box until she felt the textured metal she was looking for.

"Lily…"

"Let me just write her, my sister, a note. Okay? Close my trunk will you?"

"No notes," James said as his hand wrapped around Lily's wrist, stopping her from moving to the desk. "It's too risky. Anyone can read a note. You can call her when we get somewhere safe."

Lily was touched by how considerate he was being. The fact that he remembered that Petunia would be unaccustomed to owling and more comfortable with a phone call surprised her. She didn't realise he knew what a phone call was—it wasn't enough to change things between them though. She was still furious.

James flicked his wrist and her trunk closed. Then it vanished.

"Do you have any wards up?"

"Obviously not any more, Potter. You wouldn't have gotten in here if I did," she growled. "Snape must have taken them down. Now let me go."

James said nothing. He nodded, a stony look taking over his features, and then they were twisting, turning, warping away from the home Lily loved.

They sat on an ancient sofa with red plushy pillows that James had always hated as a child. The fire crackled lightly in the behind them, warming the room and reminding Lily sadly of her own home. Two days had passed, two days since Snape held a wand to Lily's throat, two days since James had appeared at her childhood home, and two days since Lily had cried.

"Why did you come?" she asked.

James looked at the girl sitting across from him, though he would not meet her gaze. She sat wrapped in a crochet blanket, scarlet and gold in colour, with her feet propped up on his lap. Pieces of auburn hair framed her face, but most of it was piled on top of her head. Her lips were a soft pink, and her cheeks looked slightly flushed. He couldn't believe he'd ever fought with her, his beautiful girlfriend.

"You know why."

"James, we had a fight…a really bad fight. It's not like we had a stupid argument like we usually do. I said I hated you…the things I said about your father…"

He sighed. His hands played with the fringe on one of the pillows.

"You could kill my first-born, and I will still do everything I could to find you if you needed help."

"I didn't need help," Lily argued. "I could've handled it."

"You were shaking like a leaf."

"I'm a Gryffindor too. I've got all the same courage and stupidity that you have, yeah?"

He let out a shaky laugh.

"I'm sorry about the fight…if I'd known."

"Stop." Lily held up a hand to silence him. "No more of that 'What if I'd never seen you again?' rubbish. I'm fine."

"But about the fight, I really am sorry. It seems so stupid now, looking back."

A week earlier, just before leaving for their winter holiday, James and Lily had fought viciously about Lily's Christmas plans. James, of course, had wanted her to come home with him so she would be safe, but she refused. Lily wanted to go home, to spend one last Christmas in her own house with her sister, her only living relative. The fight escalated fast, fast enough that none of their friends were able to stop it, and the young couple ended their two-week-old relationship.

"But you were right, you miserably wonderful prat you. I should have gone with you."

"I still shouldn't have fought you on it. I should have just flown to your house at night—slept outside your window or something stupid," said James.

"I would have killed you for that," Lily said.

"I know, but it would have been worth it. You would have snogged me afterwards," he smirked.

"Who says I won't snog you now?" she asked, moving closer to him.

Instinctively his hands moved to her waist, and his fingers moved of their own accord, drawing small patterns across her ribcage.

"Sirius will be here any second," he murmured as he slid closer to her. Their faces were mere centimeters apart now.

"I could really care less." Her blanket cocoon fell to the floor as she shifted so she was straddling him, causing James to emit a low groan. "Kiss me, Potter."

His lips were on hers before she could blink, doing sensual things to her mouth that she felt should not be legal.

"Say it again," he said as he kissed down to her neck.

"No."

"Bloody hell, Evans, I've waited seven years for you to say things like that to me. A man just needs some reassurance after being not so subtly turned down for that long."

Lily sighed and smiled just barely.

"Kiss me, Potter," she said again, and James obliged.