A/N: Hello! The dedication of this chapter is split in seven ways: to my sister, to ElsaElphieGinny, to Alyia, to BeanerWeasley, to ProngsifyMe, to Lara.x, and to you, if you have stuck with Jily until the very end.

I didn't want to clog up the top part - the real author's note is at the end. :)

LILY'S P.O.V

HALLOWEEN NIGHT 1981

We're downstairs, in the living room. I cooked up our own Halloween feast, seeing as we can't go out. It wasn't exactly Hogwarts standard but James seemed to like it. I only wish we could have had our friends there with us, too. James and I are curled up on the sofa, Harry playing with a fake bat in my lap.

"You're restless," I murmur, stretching to kiss his neck.

"Can you really blame me?"

"Of course not. I'm sorry it had to be this way. I know it's stupid, but taking Harry out at night on Halloween just seems to be inviting something to happen."

"Don't tell me you're superstitious now, you're supposed to be the wise one."

"I can't be wise at twenty-one years old – wisdom comes with age."

"And with love: Love is fed by the imagination, by which we become wiser than we know, better than we feel, nobler than we are: by which we can see life as a whole, by which and by which alone we can understand others in their real and their ideal relation –"

"Only what is fine, and finely conceived can feed love. But anything will feed hate."

"Indeed, the last enemy that shall be destroyed –"

"Is death."

"We're on a roll with our significant life quotes."

"We are," I agree, holding him a little tighter.

Harry crawls over my legs and onto James' lap. James tries to tug the rubber bat out of Harry's grasp but Harry promptly puts it in his mouth.

"I love you," I say to James, "more than I can possibly say."

He looks up at me, holding my gaze and he smiles that brilliant smile of his. It's a smile that instantly puts me at ease, a smile that reassures me and fills me with happiness. So when it starts to fade, my insides turn to ice. His attention is caught by something outside; I'm already on my feet.

James grabs Harry and gives him over to me, my arms envelope him tightly.

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off-!"

I run out of the room and up the stairs, the blood draining from my body, every step feels like wading through treacle. I don't look back, I can't look back – it could cost Harry's life if I do. Did James have his wand? I don't know. Focus Lily, you need to get Harry out. I can hear footsteps, I run faster.

I don't know which room I go into – I think that it's Harry's nursery. I set Harry down in his cot, lock the door and I start barricading it, painfully aware of the fact that my wand is still downstairs. It won't hold him off, it won't but it has to.

I look back at Harry. How can we get out? If only I had my wand. But I don't. I don't fancy our chances of getting out through the window… but maybe that will be the only way.

It's too late – no, it's never too late. The door blasts open, I rush to stand in front of Harry's cot, hoping to somehow conceal him from Voldemort. Maybe he'll let Harry go. Maybe he'll show mercy.

His presence here must mean that James… My heart swells with a grief unlike anything I've ever felt before. It starts in my chest, twisting like a knife, fracturing my veins and my bones. No. He won't kill my son, he won't. He's taken my parents, my best friend and – and James but he won't take my son away from me too.

"Stand aside. I only want the boy, there's no reason for you to die."

"I won't! Please not Harry, take me instead, just don't kill Harry –"

"Move out of the way."

"Please, I'll do anything! Don't kill my son, kill me instead but leave him be, I beg you –"

"A touching sight as well this may be, you were always a talented little thing, smart too. So stand aside and I'll do you no harm."

"Not Harry! Please, no, not Harry! I'll do anything!"

Love will give you the strength you need when it matters most.

My thoughts flick back to that day at Cokeworth, when Dumbledore approached me and gave me that advice. I forgave my enemies then, but I can't forgive this one. I feel the thronging in my heart, the pain seeming to explode.

That was my husband, my soul mate, the love of my life. That man was all I had for a long time, that man supported me no matter what, loved me with every fibre of his being and I – I can't imagine a life without him. As far as I'm concerned, that life doesn't exist. There is no life without love, none at all.

The desperation consumes me. Harry must survive; I won't let this monster take Harry. I don't want to think at all but I do, I can feel everything. Everything I've been through, every war I fought in, every battle I won, every scar I got, every curse I cast – it's all been for James, James and my son, my little boy, my little angel –

"Avada Kedavra!"

I'm sorry I failed you.

The green light hits my body and I fall. I see no more. I feel no more. I am no more.

EPILOGUE

"Yes, death. Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace."

When Voldemort went to murder Harry, the spell rebounded. It obliterated his corporeal form and drove his unstable soul from his body. Due to Lily's loving sacrifice, Harry survived with just a lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

Rubeus Hagrid recovered Harry from the ruins on Dumbledore's orders. He was taken to his Aunt Petunia's house.

Petunia arranged the funeral for her sister and brother-in-law and had them buried in Godric's Hollow.

She took in her nephew for his own protection – he became known as the Boy Who Lived.

MINISTRY OF MAGIC

REGARDING THE WIZARDING WAR

NOTE TO ALL WIZARDS AND WITCHES

1ST NOVEMEBER 1981

Whilst we may have won the war, it is a cadmean victory. Let us not forget the valiant soldiers who fought for our freedom and paid a heavy price for it.

Fabian and Gideon Prewett, both Order of the Phoenix members, were slaughtered by a group of Death Eaters led by Antonin Dolohov, though they fought bravely. Order member Dorcas Meadowes was killed by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself, the McKinnon family (including Order member Marlene McKinnon) was massacred by Death Eaters led by Travers, Order member Caradoc Dearborn disappeared and is presumed dead. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named killed an entire Goblin family near Nottingham.

Order member Benjy Fenwick was mutilated and murdered by Death Eaters. Edgar Bones (also an Order member) was murdered by Death Eaters along with his wife and children. Order members James and Lily Potter were murdered by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Alice and Frank Longbottom were attacked by Death Eaters Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, and Bartemius Crouch Jr.. They were captured and tortured extensively with the Cruciatus Curse, and although the Death Eaters were caught and sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban for their crimes, their victims will never recover.

We are working as efficiently as we can to bring justice to the fallen and restore our country to its former glory. Any information of Death Eaters' whereabouts or identities must by law, be reported to the Ministry.

In the meantime, as of our victory and the defeat of the Dark Wizard Lord Voldemort, I assert our inalienable right to party!

- Millicent Bagnold, Minister for Magic

A/N: Hello! Thank you ever so much for reading this story. Your support is amazing, it's truly fabulous! I'd never have gotten this far without it and I'd give you a hug if I could.

Please, please, please go and look on ElsaElphieGinny's profile! She is awesome and I would really recommend The Quiz of Gilderoy Lockheart because it is SO funny. Similarly, please go and look at BeanerWeasley's Unequivocal, I love it so, so much! And I implore you to look at Alyia's profile - she's fangirl. read. repeatt and I love her Looking For Alaska one-shot.

I thought that it would only be right to end this on Lily's P.O.V - the story starts from her P.O.V and you know, I open at the close and everything.

It's been a long journey (almost two years worth) and even though it is at its end, I hope you enjoyed it.

With much love and appreciation, I bid you adieu. Hail and farewell,

~ SuperMegaFoxyAwesomeHot2001