Hi fans!

I know it's been years (several and several and several), but when I started this story I didn't really know anything about writing. But now I do! I went to college for it and everything. And I finally felt like it was time get back into this thing. So, this is only part of the chapter. You can find the rest under its new designation: Twining Vines. You can try it (and my new writing style) out, and if you like it, please come find the completed chapter. Otherwise, it's been great to know you!

Prologue: It's time

The sprawling neighborhood was one of England's finest. Large manor houses were lushly overgrown. The smell of jasmine was thick. A copse of it that had once grown sparingly over a gazebo had completely taken it over. Several other signs of neglect showed on the extravagant houses: lawns taken over by weeds as tall as people, sculptures gone green with algae, and tall spiked metal fences completely encased in vines.

The house James and Lily picked as the site for their ritual still had a bit longer to go before it was completely seized by nature, but it still displayed that its human owners had long since abandoned them. The windows had gone black with dust and the white paint had gone gray and was starting to peel. Carefully pruned trees had overgrown their boundaries. Mightily standing by the house, the thick arms of the trees were eclipsing the dispirited house, slowly enclosing it in darkness.

James sat on the cold stone stairs in the basement. It was so dusty that earlier when they were clearing a space for their magic circle, he'd had a sneezing fit that lasted five minutes. Lily had forced him to sit in the corner. It was to both get him out of her way and to put him in the path of the fresher air coming from the first floor's opened door.

James wiped his still dribbling nose on the sleeve of his "hoodie" (that was what Lily called it.) Except for the magic circle that Lily was drawing on the floor, they had gone full muggle. They were both dressed in muggle clothes, and as James zipped up the warm and comfortable muggle "hoodie" he found that he had grown a preference to them. While Lily and James had been back in England, they'd had to pass as muggles to avoid drawing Death Eater notice. Lily had delighted in acquainting him with muggle food, music, and vi-de-os.

The only light they were using was a tiny muggle lantern that produced an eerie blue white light that felt so cold and lifeless to him. But they couldn't use their wands for light. The Death Eaters, after all, had found a way to trace active magic used by any adult wizard within a certain set of boundaries, which included the entirety of England.

When Lily finished the last line, James expected the circle to light up with elemental magic right away as her previous ones had. But this circle stayed dark.

"It's a much bigger circle and the node is much bigger than the ones we used before. It'll take longer for it to power up." Lily squinted at her work. "It's like trying to divert part of a river. It takes time."

James smiled when she anticipated his question. She knew him so well.

Lily smoothed back her short brown bob, leaving white streaks of chalk behind. The brown hair felt odd, but her red hair had just been too distinctive; especially since the thick England crowds had been reduced to only Death Eaters and tiny population of muggles.

Tired of the fight, and nursing their wounds, they had once fled to France, and the Death Eaters had still found them.

Several times.

It seemed Voldemort held grudges very well, and he didn't like that there were people that had escaped him. So, they came back to England. This was their home, and their best chance to destroy Voldemort was here.

Though they had the choice to live their lives out in the world as fully muggle, Lily and James loved magic too much, and their sense of justice couldn't leave the situation in England as it was.

The rest of the magical communities might believe that Voldemort would be content with England, but they had faced Voldemort. They knew the madness in him. It was like Fiendfyre: a constant, ever growing hunger. The more it ate, the more it wanted to consume. So here they were, in the thick of danger, still trying to fight the good fight.

"So. It's ready?" James broke the tense silence.

Lily didn't answer. She bit her lip, and slumped over. Parts of her hands were still covered in chalk dust and her knees ached from being on the floor for so long. She rubbed her hands over her throbbing thighs to get rid of the chalk. She winced when her back protested as she straightened from her bent over position. Lots of other parts of her were aching as well. She'd never been as active as James, enjoying quidditch and such. The long, long days of walking when they weren't able to get a ride from a passing muggle were wearying on her body.

She very slowly rose from her kneeling position. It was quite difficult as she was stiff, and she couldn't touch the ground or she risked damaging her lines. She wobbled and almost fell, but James was there to catch her.

"Lily?" James pulled her up and away from the formation. He cradled her in his arms.

She clung to him, her face buried in his neck. This man had once been her greatest irritant. She wouldn't have called him her greatest enemy, because that title was reserved solely for Voldemort. But year after year, he got in her way, trampled on her feelings, and tried to take privileges that were not his.

And yet now he was her husband: the one person she did not want to live without.

They stood there silent for several moments. Lily tried desperately to build up her courage for what she was going to say. It was harder than it had ever been. She had used her courage so much over the years to do things she never wanted to do that it was becoming harder and harder to find it. It was like an old well: she had reached down to fill her bucket, and she found nothing left.

Finally, the silence had gone on too long, so she just said it afraid. "James," she whispered. "Someone's going to have to stay behind. I've gone through the calculations. Someone has to be here to tie the traveler back home, so that they are able to return. I have to recreate the magical circle in this world to be able to pull you back to it."

To be continued in my new story "Twining Vines"