Lily crouched to the floor, spreading the map out in front of her and watched Hogwarts unfold as her heart raced. Seven Death Eaters were on the seventh floor being led down the corridors by Regulus Black and Gabriel Lemaire. Lily hadn't the faintest clue how the two boys had smuggled in their friends but her gut clenched when she realised the worst of the worst had come. Bellatrix Lestrange, her husband and his brother, Lucius Malfoy, the Mulciber brothers, and Severus Snape.

"Lily!" Ella appeared out of nowhere, holding the cloak in her hands.

Lily's eyes almost popped out of her head at the sight of Ella. Sirius would kill Lily if anything happened to Ella and the baby — hell, she'd kill herself if anything happened to them. "You need to go — get somewhere safe!"

"I can't just leave you here!" Ella grabbed Lily's arm to stop her from running up the stairs and she peered at the map, a frown forming. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know but something! They're heading for the book and quill! We can't let them get it!"

Lily set off down the hall again and Ella pulled her back. "There are seven of them! You can't just barge up and expect to walk out unscathed!"

"Ella, the book and quill record every magical child the moment they show a sign of magic! If they get a hold of it they'll murder muggle-borns and their families before they even get the chance to know about magic!"

"You have to wait for back-up!" Ella hissed. "Let's — let's go alert Dumbledore."

"Are you mad? By the time we get to his office and back they'll have run off with it! I've already sent Dumbledore a patronus and the rest of the Order is on its way. I have to distract them until they get here!"

"Lily, that's a suicide mission!"

"Just take the cloak and the map, get out of the castle! I'll be fine!"

Lily shoved the map into Ella's arms and ran off, up the stairs towards the fire.

Ella couldn't leave despite Lily's attempts to get her to go. People were in danger, students, teachers … Lily. Ella checked the map again and saw Lily around the corner from the corridor the Death Eaters were in but something flickering at the bottom of the map caught her eye. She looked down to the first floor section and her blood drew cold.

More Death Eaters had entered the school. Narcissa Malfoy, the Aitken twins, Evan Rosier, Salvatore Yaxely and Walden Macnair were in the middle of the Entrance Hall.

"Damn it!" Ella cursed. It was the middle of the day, students would be in classes and they wouldn't be safe. Ella clutched her belly as she tried not to think about if it were her child sitting in a class unsuspecting of the dangers unfolding.

She had the map … she could get them to their common rooms, safely by avoiding any Death Eaters roaming about. Sirius would be so mad … but if all went to plan, she wouldn't even get in contact with a Death Eater and the students were innocent in all of this.

Her mind made up, she set off down the hall and burst into the closest classroom which happened to be a Transfiguration class. McGonagall looked affronted by the interruption by someone who was nor student or teacher.

"Miss Dearborn? What are you doing here?"

Ella ran up to the front of the class where McGonagall was. "Professor, there are Death Eaters in the castle. The students aren't safe."

McGonagall whitened at the news Ella brought. "Lily's already contacted Professor Dumbledore-"

"He's not here. He's not even in Britain," McGonagall paled even more if it was possible.

"The Order's coming but the students, I might have a way to smuggle them back to their common rooms."

"We can't smuggle hundreds of students through the school without being noticed," McGonagall pointed out. She raised her wand and muttered a spell and suddenly, an alarm wailed through the school. A different alarm to the ones they experienced when the muggle-born attacks happened. "Everybody, remain calm," Professor McGonagall commanded of her students. "We are in lock-down. That means no one will leave this classroom until further notice." McGonagall flicked her wand and the door slammed shut, the curtains over the windows swished shut and the students looked around at each other, unsure if they should be scared of whatever had caused the lockdown or pleased that classes would be indefinitely cancelled.

"…probably just a drill…"

"…an animal from the Forbidden Forest, perhaps…"

Rumours and predictions swirled around the classroom as Ella glanced hopelessly at the map and cloak.

"Professor, I need to get back out there."

"I don't think that's wise, given your condition." Professor McGonagall glanced down at Ella's stomach pointedly and Ella glanced at the door wondering how high her chances were of breaking McGonagall's spell long enough to get out. "You're welcome to try, Miss Dearborn but I assure you that door won't open for anyone but me."

Ella slammed the map and cloak down in frustration. The two most useful tools for the Order and they were stuck with her in McGonagall's classroom.

"Death Eaters in Hogwarts. Counted seven. Seventh Floor. Back-up needed."

People stared as the patronus shimmered out of existence in the grandstands of the London Quidditch Pitch leaving a gobsmacked Sirius and Peter, dressed head to toe in Puddlemere United gear. A million thoughts hurtled through Sirius' mind … did James know? … how did Death Eaters get into Hogwarts … how fast could they get there … was Ella there too?

Sirius grabbed Peter and turned on the spot without a moment of hesitation.

"OI! YOU LOT CAN'T BE BACK HERE!"

"The only reason you're here is because you couldn't make it into the Auror program, now shove off!" Sirius said to the security guard who was pulling his wand out.

"This is a restricted section! Players and authorised personnel —"

"They're with me!" James Potter skidded to a stop beside Peter. "They're with me." James turned to his mates. "Let's go!"

"James, you should stay. Play the game."

"Would you stay and play the game?"

"Ella's there," Sirius said.

"Lily's there."

"Right then."

Sirius and Peter grabbed hands and just as James was about to add his, he heard his coach.

"Potter! What do you think you're doing? The game is starting in two minutes!"

James turned to face him. "I'm sorry but … I quit."

James added his hand to Sirius and Peter's and ignoring all the open mouths directed his way, turned and with a crack and a pop they were standing in Hogsmeade behind the Three Broomsticks.

"You're quitting?" Peter asked gravely.

"Not now, Pete." James bent down to open the passage and climbed in, waiting for the boys to follow in after him.

"That was really stupid," Sirius said lowly. "You love Quidditch."

"But it doesn't matter … not like this does." James pushed himself faster and Sirius sped up to keep pace.

"Are you sure Ella's here?" James asked.

"She and Lily were supposed to finish work early together, go to Hogwarts and then meet us at the game."

"Do you think there will be a lot of them?" Peter asked nervously.

"Hope not," James said. "I wonder if Lily got the map."

"She was getting the map?"

"She said she'd try. It'd come in handy about tenfold right about now."

"So would the cloak," Peter added, as they reached the end of the tunnel, the empty corridor showing through the two way glass.

"Yeah, she has that too."

They tapped the mirror four times and then walked through into the Hogwarts corridor on the Fourth Floor.

"Come on," Sirius demanded, leading the way to the Seventh Floor through all their old shortcuts and huffing about something happening at Hogwarts when they weren't patrolling.

They could hear voices from the end of the corridor and Sirius could hear Lily talking to the Death Eaters. Sirius looked at James who looked as though he'd lost ten years of his life.

Lily turned her wand in her hand, nervously tugging at the end of her hair with the other. There were seven of them. Seven. How was she supposed to take them all on without help? Not only that but it was Severus and the Mulcibers' and Bellatrix freaking Lestrange.

"We need to get that door open," she heard someone hiss.

"Severus, you said you knew how," another voice said.

"I have an idea," Severus said in his slow drawl that he put on to sound superior. Lily fucking hated that drawl.

This was it. Lily stepped out from the corridor and silently stunned Evan Rosier and the Lestrange brothers in one hit — a move she'd done once before, two of the three were standing in the very same corridor.

"I hope you weren't thinking of slicing it open," Lily commented at Severus. Four to one. She liked those odds better, not much but definitely more than she liked seven to one. "Or is it only necks you like to slice open?"

Severus' eyes narrowed. "I had nothing to do with those attacks."

"You created the spell, didn't you? I know dark magic when I see it, Snape, but I think the door up there is going to be just a little bit smarter than that."

"Long time no see, Evans," Dominique Mulciber grinned as though they were old mates and her stomach wanted to revolt at the eye up he gave her.

"Too soon, I'd say," Lily shot back.

"What are you three doing just staring at her?" Bellatrix snapped. "Just kill the girl and let's get on with it."

"I wonder how long it'd take for Potter to find a new mudblood whore," Dominique jeered.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I see you're as immature as ever, Mulciber. I must say, I'm terribly glad I got stuck spying on the other Mulciber brother."

Bellatrix's eyes glinted. "This is the mudblood bitch that foiled the Dark Lord's plans?"

"Mrs Lestrange, haven't you heard it's rude to talk about people as though they're not even in the room?" Lily mocked. "But to answer your question, yes I am that mudblood bitch."

Bellatrix walked up to her, circling her like a vulture. "You don't look anything great … pretty, I'll give you that but nothing worth soiling a bloodline over. Expelliarmus." Lily gasped as her wand flew out of her hand and into the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange. "There we go. Much better. Boys, go see to that door. I think I'll have a chat here with the soon-to-be Potter. Miss Ebans was it?"

"Evans," Lily spat at her.

Bellatrix turned back to the three boys who all stood staring and Lily watched as Bellatrix shot a spell at the feet that singed the floor. "Go now or next it'll be one of you!"

The boys scampered away leaving Lily alone in the corridor with a deranged Death Eater. "We saw your lovely engagement photos in Witch Weekly, an utter disgrace if you ask me, a mudblood in a witch's magazine. The world truly has gone to the dogs but now I know you're engaged to James Potter which must mean you know my dear cousin, Sirius. Regulus' brother," Bellatrix turned to gesture to Regulus who stood passively out of the way with Gabriel Lemaire. It seemed their instructions were to do nothing seeing as that's what they were doing.

"What's your point?"

"I also happen to know that Mr Potter and my traitorous cousin stole something from us. We'd like it back."

Lily checked her pockets mockingly, "Oh would you look at that? I don't have it on me. If I did I'd have totally given it to you though. Why's it so important? It's just an empty diary."

"You dare to question the Dark Lord's orders?"

"He's not my master. Honestly, truly pathetic going around and calling him a 'Dark Lord'. I've met him before and he's not that great. Pasty, bald, absentee nose. I really don't know why you lot love him so much. I mean, just how deep does your devotion run?" Lily asked, stepping closer, feeling bold despite not holding her wand. "If he asked you to kill Lemaire, would you do it?"

"I will do anything the Dark Lord asks of me."

"Okay, what if it was your cousin, Regulus, or I'll go one better! What if he asked you to kill your sister?"

"The Dark Lord doesn't need to give me orders to kill that blood traitor," Bellatrix snarled.

Lily smiled. "I didn't mean Andromeda. We both know you're deranged enough to kill anyone associated with a muggle-born. I meant Narcissa. Your dear, darling sister. What if he asked you to kill her, for no reason?"

"The Dark Lord always has a reason."

"So if you killed me now, what would be the reason?"

"You're quite bold for someone without a wand," Bellatrix said.

"If you were going to kill me, you would have done it by now."

"You're right. You should thank the Dark Lord actually. He plans to kill you and James Potter personally."

Lily smiled. "I'm honoured, truly." An explosion followed by groans sounded from the tower and Lily looked in that general direction. "They don't seem to be having much luck."

"That's enough out of you!" Bellatrix demanded, seemingly tired of Lily's talking. "Silencio. There, much better. Now, just because I said I can't kill you, doesn't mean I won't make you wish you were dead and I'm quite curious as to how you knew we were here."

Ella bent over the map, watching the two groups of Death Eaters and her nerves were completely on edge as she watched Lily standing in front of a group of seven Death Eaters. She didn't know whether she should be calmer or frantic at the sight of James, Sirius and Peter showing up. They'd help Lily … if they found her in time.

"What is this old piece of parchment you're watching over?" McGonagall asked, peering at her from her desk.

"It's a map of the school. Shows everyone in the castle and where they are."

McGonagall did a double take. "And where did you find such a map?"

"Filch's office, though I doubt he knew what it was. You need magic to work it. They designed it that way. Has a password and everything." Ella kept perusing the map, spotting Alice, Frank and Kingsley show up. She guessed Moody thought three Aurors would be enough but Lily hadn't known about the other Death Eaters and Ella had never been any good at conjuring a patronus let alone making it talk. She should probably try though.

"Are you saying you know the makers of this map, Miss Dearborn?"

Ella looked at McGonagall briefly before going back to the map and answered distractedly. "The boys made it in, I think he said sixth year. Of course, he was an absolute idiot and got it confiscated in the final week of school."

"Boys in sixth year made this? Which boys?"

"Oh, there's Emmeline and the Prewett — oh why are they hiding behind a god damned corner!" Ella shouted frustratedly. James, Sirius and Peter were hiding behind a corner whilst Lily was facing up against Bellatrix and Regulus Black and Gabriel Lemaire were standing like morons ten feet away. "And James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus, of course. Who else would come up with this? — Oh, it's about time, James!"

"You're saying that Misters Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew constructed this map in their sixth year?"

Ella rolled her eyes. "They try to be nonchalant about it like 'oh it was just a hobby, something we did for fun' but they don't fool us. They were giant nerds."

McGonagall leaned over the other end of the map and stared in wonder. "It's, well, it's quite remarkable. Brilliant even. Incredible charm work, I suspect a lot of that was Mr Pettigrew. Professor Flitwick always did say that Pettigrew didn't test well and that he did better with no pressure."

Ella looked up with a gleaming grin. "Must explain a few things, doesn't it?"

"Only those boys would come up with something so genius and use it to cause chaos," McGonagall said dryly.

"Lily sent a patronus to the Fawcett sisters, seriously?" Ella said, observing as the Fawcett twins walked towards Alice, Frank and Kingsley. "Oh bugger," Ella sighed, noticing the Death Eaters led by Narcissa and Lucius were a corridor away and heading straight for them.

Alice and Frank led Kingsley Shacklebolt through one of the secret tunnels into Hogwarts as he marvelled.

"Doesn't matter how we know about them," Alice said, as she tried to remember the right spell to open the trap door. On her fourth try, she got it open and slipped out into the Hogwarts corridor.

"Let's go," Alice said after she closed the statue again.

They had only rounded the first corner when they bumped straight into the Fawcett sisters.

"Seen anything yet?"

"No, we were just heading up to the Seventh Floor," Abigail said. "That is where Lily said they were."

"Right," Frank agreed.

"Why was she even at Hogwarts?" Valerie asked.

"Lucky she was, I'd say," Kingsley said, nodding ahead to where Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy and the Carrows were.

"I heard about your run in with my sister the other week," Narcissa said to Alice.

"The both of you are vile."

"Says the traitor. Let us pass."

Alice laughed. "Wrong password, Cissy."

"I'm bored of this. Let's go," Lucius ordered.

"Afraid we can't let you do that," Shacklebolt said and the five of them pulled their wands out. "You're trespassing at Hogwarts."

"Yes, well, so are you," Lucius pointed out, also pulling out his wand.

It was a stalemate to see who'd fire the first spell, a stalemate that quickly ended when Narcissa aimed a curse at Alice. Frank blocked it and the two groups charged. Alice went straight for Narcissa, their wands dancing and performing the light show of their lives as the two women spun and swirled around each other trying to get a hit in.

Rogue spells chipped away at the stone walls of Hogwarts, crumbling away onto the floor where it was getting increasingly more difficult to not slip. Eventually it proved useful to Alice when Narcissa slipped on a rock and Alice used ropes from her wand to tie her up.

"You won't win this day," Narcissa spat at her. "There's already more of us in the school."

"And you don't think there are more of us?" Alice retorted.

"Not as many."

"We'll see about that."

An explosion sounded from upstairs and Narcissa grinned. "Looks like we're missing out on the party."

Peter and Sirius held James by his arms to stop him from running forward as Lily's screams filled the corridor. They were terrible screeches that echoed off the walls and had the bones in your body grating against each other.

"Don't be an idiot! We need a plan!" Peter hissed.

"I have a plan: get Lily out of there." James stung Peter's foot with his wand and Peter recoiled leaving Sirius to pick up the slack.

Sirius stepped in front of James, holding him from his shoulders. "James, stop and think for a minute!" Sirius urged. "We don't know how many of them there are and Bellatrix is no party."

"We've winged it on worse odds before, now, let me go before I stun the both of you!" James broke free running out into the corridor.

Peter went to follow but Sirius held a hand out to stop him. Peter pulled a face at Sirius but he shook his head and kept his hand out. Sirius knew what a cruciatus sounded like and he knew that Lily wouldn't be up for fighting which meant Peter and him would have to take over the fighting whilst James got Lily out of there. This was the closest thing to a plan Sirius could come up with. Their numbers were small but Bellatrix would only think it was James.

"On my say," Sirius muttered to Peter.

James was horrified at the sight of Lily shaking as she stood as though she was being electrocuted. Bellatrix only just noticed him when he waved his wand and she went flying down the corridor, a good thirty feet away from Lily. As the spell on Lily let up, Lily turned to face James smiling weakly at the sight of him, before her shaky knees gave out.

James caught her, lowering himself to the floor so Lily could rest.

"You … came," she breathed softly as he stroked her hair.

He kissed her forehead and said, "'Course I did."

"Cruciatus," Lily whispered, tears leaking out of her eyes as she shut them. "S'not pleasant."

"You're okay," he insisted because that was the only option for him. She had to be okay. He'd never forgive himself if she wasn't.

At the sound of footsteps coming down from the tower, James hugged Lily closer, more protectively and held his wand out. He noticed Bellatrix at the end of the corridor coming to and she looked at the boys who reappeared eagerly.

"Did you get them?" she asked greedily.

"The door is impenetrable," Snape told her and James had never felt more hatred for another man ever. This person who claimed he cared for Lily let her be tortured when he was only a few meters away. Fucking vile piece of shit, James thought bitterly.

"They want the — the book and qu-quill," Lily murmured, her eyes still shut but it comforted James to know she hadn't fallen unconscious.

At the information, James raised a brow at the group of Death Eaters and said loudly, "You won't get in. I spent weeks trying to get in there, just out of curiosity before I knew what was in it and I couldn't and I had good intentions. It won't let you in."

"It's just a door, Potter," Bellatrix snarled.

"You're not that stupid, are you? This is Hogwarts. There is magic in its walls. If Hogwarts doesn't want you to see it, you won't."

"Your ability to sprout absolute nonsense is astounding, Potter."

"And your ability to look more hex-able grows every time I see you, Snivellus. Now, hush, the grown-ups are talking."

"My wand," Lily whispered, her eyes opened again. James looked up and saw it in Bellatrix's hand.

"Be ready to run," he whispered as he helped her up. The moment both of them were standing — Lily leaning heavily on James — he disarmed Bellatrix, Lily's wand flying out of her hand and James caught it swiftly.

"We out number you, Potter."

"Did I forget to mention he wasn't alone?" Sirius asked as he stepped into the corridor with Peter and James took the moment they were distracted to stun both Mulciber brothers. "My bad."

Sirius nodded at James once and without a second thought, James knocked Lily off her feet, carrying her bridal style and walked out of the corridor as a fight broke out between Sirius, Peter and the four Death Eaters.

James walked until he saw an opened door to a classroom. He took Lily inside, shutting the door behind them.

"I'm fine," she said softly, "We should go back and help the boys."

"Think you can stand?" he asked her, ignoring her suggestion. She nodded and he set her on the floor, holding onto her arms just in case as he inspected her from head to toe.

"I'm fine," she repeated and he brought her in for a hug, breathing out a "thank, Merlin," and burying his nose in her hair just to smell her familiar scent.

"You came, even though … oh, James."

James shook his head and cupped her face. "It's just a game."

"It wasn't just a game," Lily said, "It was supposed to be your game."

"It doesn't matter not when you … it doesn't matter."

"You'll get another chance. We'll find you a good excuse and they'll let you have another go."

"No, they won't because I quit."

Lily's jaw dropped. "You what?"

"I quit."

"But … but you love Quidditch!"

"It's just a game, Lily. It's not important, not like how the Order is or you … I don't want to have to make the choice between helping you in a fight or playing a game because there is no choice."

Lily pushed his hair back before drawing him in closer for a hug. "When this is all over, you'll try again, okay? Promise me."

James nodded with a soft smile, "Whatever you want."

"Good because you're too good of a player to just ignore it."

"Are you talking about something as trivial as Potter's pathetic attempts at Quidditch when we are in the middle of a fight?" came Snape's drawl from the now opened door to the classroom.

"Did I forget to mention he wasn't alone?" Sirius asked as he stepped into the corridor with Peter and James took the moment they were distracted to stun both Mulciber brothers. "My bad."

Sirius nodded at James once and Sirius barely took notice of James picking Lily up and heading out of the corridor back the way they had come in because his cousin grabbed his attention immediately.

"Crucio!"

Sirius barely dodged the flash of white light and sent back a knock back jinx. She cackled as she deflected it. "Is that all you've got, Sirius?"

"I don't need to torture you to win, Bella." He aimed his wand at her, shooting out an array of small arrows, each of which Bellatrix deflected except for the last one which nicked her arm. Sirius grinned in triumph, a shield charm already up in case his cousin tried anything and a moment later a purple spell bounced off his shield.

Bellatrix got a wild look on her face as she swirled her arm over her head and cracks in the ground started appearing and then the final blow. "Bombarda maxima!"

"ARE YOU INSANE!" Sirius shouted just before the floor gave through and they all toppled to the level below.

"Consider it a shortcut," Bellatrix coughed, wiping dust off her robes. "Now, crucio!"

Sirius held the screams in, he'd gotten good at it because he wasn't going to give people like them the satisfaction but by Merlin did he want to. The pain was unbearable. It felt like knives and fire and the sting of ice. It felt like all your bones breaking at once, made you feel weak as though you'd lost all your blood or hadn't eaten in days. It felt like hell.

Her awful cackle broke through to him because that was always the trick. You had to focus on something outside of the pain, something real because the spell was designed to make you think you were in pain. It wanted you to think you were on fire, or starving, or buried in ice. It wanted you to think you were in hell so you'd give up but he wasn't in hell. He was in front of his cousin in Hogwarts and giving up wasn't in his blood.

Focusing on his cousins terrible laugh, he twitched his wand hand and it may have been a simple spell, but it worked. Bellatrix tripped over nothing and lost concentration and Sirius used his chance to get her with a flick of his wrist had a rope pouring out of the tip of his wand. The rope searched for Bellatrix, looping around and around her until he drew his arm back and the rope tightened forcing Bellatrix to topple over.

"Told you," Sirius grinned as he used a sticking charm to stick her tied up form to the wall. "Hang in there."

Sirius looked around for Peter and saw him duelling Gabriel Lemaire.

"Where the hell's Snape?"

"He didn't fall through!" Peter shouted back as he blocked a nasty curse.

"Slimy git," Sirius muttered just as Regulus stepped in front of him.

"Let her down," he demanded.

Sirius barked a laugh. "Fat chance. That's the sticking charm I used in the house, tell me, what has mum done to my old room?"

"You're an idiot defiling the house like that."

Sirius guffawed in laughter, the echoes of their parents coming out of Regulus' mouth. Their words never did sound right coming out of Regulus. He didn't say it with enough gusto, enough hate, enough disgust and disdain. Sirius could play along though. "The house ranks higher than me, should've known."

"Let's take this somewhere private," Regulus said before doing exactly what Bellatrix did. Sirius landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him and he wasn't best pleased to know that Bellatrix had been teaching him tricks.

"Seriously?" he groaned, taking his time to get up. "We could've just used the stairs instead of damaging a thousand year old castle."

"You left us," Regulus said, picking up right where they'd left off when he had blasted them to the floor below, leaving Peter and Lemaire upstairs.

"The house would too if it had a choice and like I had a choice," Sirius retorted. "You know what mum did to me! Hell, I even took a few for you or have you forgotten?"

"I haven't forgotten," Regulus looked down. "I always admired you, looked up to you."

"I should've tried harder to protect you. I should've told you to ask the hat."

"The hat? What's a hat got to do with anything?"

"The sorting hat. I should have told you to ask it not to be placed in Slytherin … I did," he said quietly, fiddling with his wand.

"You … why?"

Sirius turned away from Regulus shaking his head and secretly glad that they didn't have an audience for this conversation. "I was confused at eleven. I couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts to get away from mum because of how she punished us and finally I could do something she didn't like and there would be no punishment. When McGonagall put that hat on my head, the hat said I'd make a good Gryffindor but that I came from a long line of Slytherins. I liked the idea of being brave and loyal more than I liked the idea of being a snake, so I chose Gryffindor."

"You chose Gryffindor to get away from us," Regulus said. "You always hated Bella, Cissa …."

"I did, still do and I didn't want to be like them, not ever."

Regulus looked at Sirius. "It talked about Ravenclaw to me."

The words hit Sirius like a train along with a sense of guilt that had always followed him regarding Regulus. Ravenclaw. His brother could have been in Ravenclaw and he could have been saved from all of this if only Sirius had …

"FUCK!" He shouted scaring Regulus. "Reg, I should've pulled my head out of my arse back then! I should've told you back then I — look, it's not too late, we can still get you out of whatever you're messed up in! You can come live with me and—"

"I chose Slytherin."

Sirius' hope — he didn't even know of what; redeeming his brother? — vanished as quickly as it had come leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. "Of course you did."

"I chose Slytherin. I chose my family."

"And every rotten thing it stands for," Sirius said coldly.

"I accepted my fate something you were never brave enough to do."

"No, I was brave enough to know that I didn't want the Black family to be my legacy and I would say it was my fate to leave and forge my own path. You're the coward. I know you, Reg, you're a good actor, I'll give you that, but, until you want to be helped, I can't help you."

"I don't want your help," he spat back. "You're a traitor to me, to the family and to wizardkind."

"Anyone born with magic deserves it. Magic's been around a lot longer than you and I, so if it decides to be in a muggleborn kid, that kid deserves it and I'd say if a kid with pureblood parents doesn't get it, then that kid didn't."

"You're wrong! Mudbloods steal magic, they've ruined our culture, our way of life! We have to hide because of muggles!"

"No, we hide because of men like Voldemort! Muggles outnumber us but we have greater power than them and if they knew about us, they'd know that. They're also not dumb enough to believe some wizards and witches wouldn't abuse that power!"

"And you're dumb enough to believe that nonsense! The muggles persecuted us for centuries because they wanted what we have!"

"They persecuted us because we gave them a reason to and they were afraid!"

"Mum was clearly right when she said that Potter and his muggle loving parents brainwashed you."

"Did she tell you that over a nice cup of veritaserum?" Sirius goaded.

An explosion sounded in the corridor over and Sirius turned to see three people flying through the air, landing hard on their backs. He recognised them.

"ALICE! SHACKLEBOLT!" he heard Frank shout as he picked himself up off the floor. Alice stirred first and Frank lent a hand out to help her up, she wobbled a little before regaining her balance and they both focused on Shacklebolt who was still lying on the floor.

"Longbottom? You lot all right?"

"Narcissa Malfoy, Aitken twins, Macnair and the Carrows. Fucking nasty bunch! I don't know what they're after."

"Fuck there's more of them?" Sirius cursed.

"Found them on the third floor. Friend or foe?" Frank asked gesturing to Regulus.

Sirius turned back to look at Regulus before looking back at Frank and saying forcefully, "Foe but I've got it."

Frank and Alice nodded before bending down to help Shacklebolt and Sirius turned back to Regulus.

"I'm not as easy to beat as you think." Regulus pulled his wand out, aiming it at Sirius.

"You're my brother, I'd be disappointed if you were." Sirius held his wand by his side waiting for Regulus to strike.

"Would you rather us talk about wedding planning so you can crash that too?" James snarked back at Snape, who stood blocking the door.

"I think I'd rather just kill you before the wedding." He sent a red spell at James that had him crashing to the floor, his grip on Lily's hand slackening.

She stepped in front of James protectively, the only thing running through her mind was the spell wasn't green so James must be alive. "You lay a wand on him again and I'll burn you alive without even flinching."

"It is truly pathetic what you've become, Lily. Don't you see that he and his precious gang of merry men will get you killed?"

"Did we just experience two different situations in that corridor before?" Lily snapped. "Because if I'm remembering it correctly, it was your mate who was torturing me with an unforgivable and James, Sirius and Peter who rescued me."

"They don't know you like I do."

"You're right," Lily nodded, "because you don't know me anymore. They're real friends who aren't ashamed of me and try to change me. They like me for me."

"I love you."

Lily rolled her eyes. "You don't even know what love is."

"Lils?" James called a little groggy. Lily turned, breathing a sigh of relief as James started to get up and she lent him a hand as he retook his position beside her.

A contorted look passed across Snape's face, one Lily would describe as utter hatred and it scared her.

"If you love each other so much, you can die together," Snape spat, swirling his wand to conjure up deathly flames. He shot them into the room before stepping back into the corridor and slamming the door shut, locking it with a click that sounded as final as a death sentence.

Lily ran to the door and turned the knob frantically to no avail. She pulled her wand out trying an array of unlocking spells.

"Er, Lily?"

"What?"

"The fire."

Lily whirled around to see the fire leap from everything and anything that could and couldn't catch on fire, leaping, jumping and twirling. Lily had only ever read about it but she was sure that it was cursed fire, fiendfyre.

"Get back!" Lily shouted as a flame darted towards James. He stepped out of the way and cursed.

"Snape's a fucking psychopath!"

"Just come help with — FUCK, TAKE YOUR ROBES OFF NOW!" She rushed over to him, violently pulling his robes off because apparently he hadn't leaped out of the way in time and he brushed against a flame, the equivalent of a drop of water, and they hadn't noticed.

"Who the hell sews the buttons on this thing?" Lily cried as she couldn't just rip the robes open.

James grimaced as the flames climbed higher up his leg. "Lily, it's getting real fucking hot! Just cut the damn thing!"

"I don't have scissors!" Lily watched in horror as the flames burned bright on his robes now and James hissed in pain as the flames singed his legs.

"WAND!" James shouted and Lily cursed herself for being so stupid before fumbling with her wand. She used the first slicing charm that came to mind and slit the robes down the back, shoving them off his front.

Almost half the thing was covered in flames when Lily chucked it across the room and Lily immediately bent down to his legs, applying charms that would help for a burn even though she knew potion salves were better. "Does that feel better?" she asked frantically, moving her wand up and down his blistered legs.

"It'll do," James winced. "I'm going to fucking throw that bastard off the goddamned astronomy tower — better yet, I'll feed him to Moony as a meal like he would've been in sixth year if it hadn't been for me. Slimy, fucking greaseball!"

"I'd like to do a double murder," Lily said lividly, "Snape and whoever made those bloody buttons!"

"Quidditch grade," James explained. "So our uniforms stay intact while we're playing."

"They're for the bloody bin is my opinion!" Lily huffed. She touched his cheek and her expression softened as the realisation that he could've died hit her like a tonne of bricks. "Are you okay?"

He nodded and turned to the door. "Let's get this door open before that," he referred to the swirling fire, "comes after us again."

Lily looked at the fire with a frown. It was now taking up a lot of the room despite the fact that it was ignoring them for now. "Is it just me or is it getting bigger?"

"Fuck!"

"Try the door again, I'm going to try the windows!"

Lily ran to the windows, hoping that Snape wouldn't have thought to lock the windows but as she attempted and failed to open each one her hope diminished into full blown panic. She even tried punching the glass and blowing it up to no avail. They were truly and royally trapped. She made her way back to James, squinting through the black smoke that had crowded the room and using her robe to cover her mouth and nose.

"What are we going to do?" Lily shouted over the now impossible roar of the fire.

"Keep trying at the door! You're better at charms," James ordered. He faced the fire, stepping in front of Lily and put up a water shield that protected them from the smoke and heat of the flames.

Lily attempted a few more unlocking charms and hit the door in frustration when the door didn't budge and pushed her hair back from her face. "This is hopeless! We're going to die! Oh, god, oh god!" she breathed deeply. Not now. Not now. Not now. "James, I don't — I don't wanna die. Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck," she murmured, her wandless hand coming up to her throat to play with the choker she still always wore to hide her scars.

James turned his head and panic set in his face. "Lily, we don't have time for this right now!"

"I know!" Lily snapped. "I can't — all I can think is that we're going to die!"

"We're not going to die, you hear me? We're not," James insisted. "Now, turn back to the door and figure out a counter charm! I know you can!"

Lily breathed in deeply and nodded. "I know," she whispered before turning back to the doorknob just as the door rattled with what Lily imagined to be a fist on the other side banging against the door.

Gideon walked a few feet ahead of Emmeline and Fabian who were both on high alert.

"You know this castle is stupidly big when you know there's a fight going on somewhere but you just can't find it," Gideon called before turning to a painting of a young lady who couldn't be any older than twenty-five. She was pretty, probably circa the fifteen hundreds Emmeline thought with how she was dressed. "Hey, you! Heard of any Death Eaters in the corridors?"

"My names is Lady Dorothea of Blackwood and have you heard of manners?"

Gideon rolled his eyes. "Mum gave up trying to explain them when we hit seven. Now, any Death Eaters roaming about?"

Emmeline hit him upside the head. "Forgive him, he gets mean when he's anxious."

"I'm not mean!"

"Just a git then," Emmeline corrected. "Lady Dorothea, would you be so kind to help us out?"

"Well, Sir Cadogan from the seventh floor was yelling absurdities before but it's absolutely ludicrous! Death Eaters in Hogwarts! Impossible, truly!"

"The seventh floor?" Emmeline pressed. "Is that where Sir Cadogan said they were?"

"Are you students?" Lady Dorothea looked at them curiously. "If you are you should really get to a classroom. The school's on lockdown."

"We were students but now we're just here to help," Emmeline explained. "Can you tell us where the Death Eaters are?"

"I've never heard such a preposterous phrase, 'death eaters'. You can't eat death, and I should know. Bloody bastard came after me when I was only twenty-four. It was a most tragic death too but Death was kind enough in the end. I got to see my dear Arabella again and of course, I had been quite distraught at leaving the child but she visited my portrait here at Hogwarts and before I knew it, Death welcomed her into the fold and we've spent more time than we ever had alive together."

"She's bonkers," Fabian muttered. "Paintings don't know what the afterlife is like."

"Well, she's our only hope," Emmeline muttered.

"Maybe not," Gideon nodded down the corridor to an incoming patronus. It was a crow, not one that any of them recognised but it spoke in Ella Dearborn's voice.

"Seventh Floor, classroom 4B, James and Lily trapped."

"If she knows that why doesn't she go help them?" Gideon mumbled.

"Why does Ella even know that?" Emmeline said worried. "She shouldn't be here."

"One thing at a time. Let's go help Evans and Potter."

"I knew a Potter once," Lady Dorothea said brightly and the boys rolled their eyes and headed off down the hall leaving Emmeline. "He courted me for a while but I fell in love with Lord Blackwood at a ball my parents threw. It was quite splendid, I was just shy of nineteen and Lord Blackwood was ever so charming! We danced almost all —"

"Nice chatting with you," Emmeline said before darting down the corridor after the twins. Gideon and Fabian knew their way around the castle better than anyone, using secret passage ways that most students never knew of as shortcuts between floors and classrooms.

They reached the seventh floor and found it quiet. All of them drew their wands slightly higher as they walked through the corridors to classroom 4B.

The classroom was quiet and nothing could be seen from the windows but the door wouldn't open and neither would the windows.

"Dearborn did say they were trapped," Fabian pointed out before banging on the door.

"No one home," Gideon muttered but Fabian kept banging on the door.

"Wait," Emmeline said, stopping Fabian from knocking on the door. She placed her hand flat against it and grinned. "They're in there, feel!" She placed both their hands, palms flat on the door and sure enough the door vibrated as though-

"Someone's knocking from the other side. We gotta get this door open," Gideon exclaimed.

"It's getting a bit wet in here," Lily informed James, trying not to let the panic consume her voice as water drops flicked out of the shield, hitting her as she tried to concentrate on doing some sort of counter charm for whatever spell Snape used on the door.

"Hurry then, I can't bloody well hold this forever!"

Bangs sounded against the door again and Lily flinched, losing her concentration once more. "Between the water drops and the bangs it's not exactly the ideal situation!"

"Just," James sighed frustrated, "Try knocking back again!"

"He would've sound proofed the room, Snape's not an idiot."

"Could've fooled me," James muttered.

"Not helping!" Lily exclaimed, banging on the door again and shouting, "Can you hear me? We need help!" She turned to James when there was no response and raised her brow as if to say, "See?"

James sighed leaning against the door and Lily followed suit, leaning against the door, shoulder to shoulder with the only person she'd want to be with in a situation like this. "Maybe we should trade? You might have some luck with the door. Merlin knows you do better under pressure than I do."

"We'll get out," James said, turning to look at her and Lily was vaguely impressed that he was able to hold up the water shield whilst not paying active attention to it. She'd have to get him to teach her.

"I know we will. I love you," Lily smiled softly.

"I love you, more."

"I love you —"

They fell backwards through the door, James' water shield finally breaking and drenching them from head to toe as they fell onto their backs, the blow to the stone floor softened no doubt by a cushioning charm.

"—most," Lily finished, spitting out the water that filled her mouth as she turned to look at James.

"Holy mother of dragons, that's fiendfyre," Gideon said in awe.

"Well, get back from it before it eats you!" Emmeline pulled him away from the open door.

"Relax, I know the counter curse," Gideon said stepping in front of the doorway again. James and Lily leaned up on their elbows and watched as with a few flicks of his wand the fire died down until it was less than an ember. Gideon turned to face everyone, "Pretty cool, right? Death Eater tried to use it on me in the field once, got pretty nasty so I did some research."

"How did you know we were in there?" James spoke all of a sudden.

"Didn't," Fabian shrugged. "Dearborn sent us a patronus to check out the classroom."

"What — Caradoc sent you? How did he know?"

"No, not Doc," Emmeline frowned. "Ella. You didn't know she was here?"

Lily's face soured. "She was supposed to have left as soon as we realised there were Death Eaters here." Lily turned to James. "She must've been checking the map."

"You got the map?" James asked, as he and Lily helped each other up.

"Yes as soon as we got here and then I was talking with Mia when Sir Cadogan came running through the portraits yelling about Death Eaters. We checked the map and then I gave it to her so she could get out of the castle safely."

"Cloak?"

"She has that too."

"But she's out of the castle? I mean, if she thought and saw that we were trapped, why wouldn't she just come herself unless she was watching the map from outside of Hogwarts?"

Lily considered and then nodded, "Right. That makes sense."

"I'm sorry but why is a map and a cloak so important right now?" Fabian stepped in.

"Should we try summoning? If she only got as far as Hogsmeade…"

"Can only try," James agreed before turning to Fabian. "It's not just any map and cloak. Trust me."

"Accio Marauder's Map!" James shouted.

"Accio Invisibility cloak!" Lily shouted.

"I get the cloak now," Gideon muttered.

"Map's still a bit sketchy," Fabian replied.

They waited for a minute before sighing. "So she went back to London?" Lily shrugged helplessly not knowing what else to think.

"Seems so. Let's go find the others."

Ella watched with relief as Lily and James left the room, uniting with the twins and Emmeline in the corridor outside. She felt less relief when the map flew out from under her, trying its best to find somewhere to exit the room from and a moment later the cloak joined. They banged on windows, tried sliding under the door but it hit an invisible barrier in every nook and cranny.

"Why can't it get out?" Ella asked McGonagall, walking over to the door where the map and cloak were trying to slip underneath the gap in the door.

"It would be my barrier charm. Nothing in or out, Miss Dearborn."

Ella turned to her. "But if they're summoning these, that means they need it! Please, Professor, you have to lift it just for a moment!"

McGonagall considered Ella before sighing. "Very well then." And with a wave of her wand, the map and cloak slipped out from under the door and Ella twisted the doorknob before McGonagall could put the barrier back up and slipped out of the room.

"Miss Dearborn!" McGonagall shouted, "Get back in here at once!"

"Put the charm back up!" Ella shouted back from down the corridor, ignoring McGonagall's orders and instead followed the map and cloak to whoever summoned it.

She quickly ran out of breath as she chased after the flying objects and cursed her pregnant body that got more tired more quickly and slowed her down. A nagging thought occurred that she should just leave, find one of the many passageways out of the castle that Sirius had shown her and just leave and she would, after she got an update.

"Ella!" A voice from down the corridor sounded and Ella looked up to see Lily, James, Emmeline and the Prewett brothers.

"Lily! Thank Merlin, you're alright!" The two girls embraced in a quick hug.

"I thought you left the castle."

"I was going to but first I went to warn McGonagall and she locked me in her classroom with the lockdown procedures."

"Okay but you need to leave now!" Lily insisted grabbing her hands. "It's a nasty crowd and they're not here to play, Ella. I don't want anything to happen to you or your little peanut."

"I know, I know. I just had to get an update before I leave."

"We're fine," James assured her as he bent to the floor to spread the map open. "Let's see where everyone's at."

"Where on earth did you get a map like this?" Emmeline's jaw dropped as she realised what exactly the map did.

"Made it," James said distracted before pointing to the map to a massive cluster of people in the entrance hall. "There." Lily bent and saw Sirius, Peter, Alice, Frank and Kingsley fighting a group of Death Eaters that had certainly grown.

"More have come," Lily murmured. "Narcissa and the Carrow siblings weren't on the map when I originally alerted."

"They're outnumbered. Christ, Regulus Black as in Sirius' little brother," Emmeline paled. "Isn't he still in Hogwarts?"

"Death Eater in training," Lily said sourly. "I'm pretty sure he and Lemaire helped get the Death Eaters into Hogwarts."

"Who the hell is Tom Marvolo Riddle?" James asked pointing to the second floor where this Riddle person was leading another three people towards the fight in the Entrance Hall.

"I really hope it's not a student," Lily muttered.

"No, he's in charge," Gideon pointed out, "but we've never heard of a high ranking Death Eater by that name."

"Nothing useful about sitting around here talking about the fella, let's get on with it, yeah?" Fabian pointed out. They all stood and Lily turned to Ella.

"What are you going to do?"

"We'll walk with her to the fourth floor, see her safely through the mirror," James decided. Ella wanted to open her mouth to protest but a nagging feeling caught at her again and she closed it again. Maybe staying out of the fight was for the best even though every nerve in her wanted to go and make sure Sirius was okay.

"Look, I'm not leaving the castle," Ella said, as they started their descent to the first floor. "I'll stay out of the fighting but I'm not leaving."

"Ella," Lily said softly.

"Dearborn if there's a way for you to get out of the castle, then you should go," Fabian said.

"You can't make me," Ella said coolly.

"All right," Lily conceded. "You don't come into the Entrance Hall, you hear me?"

"I hear you. I'll stay in a classroom on the first floor corridor," she promised.

"I don't like this," she overheard James mutter to Lily.

Sirius didn't even know how they ended up in the Entrance Hall with more Death Eaters than he cared to count. Both the Lestrange and Mulciber brothers were back on the scene and Snape had rejoined the fight not to mention the arrival of Narcissa who after being bested by Alice went in search of Bellatrix so Sirius was anticipating her arrival any minute now. Regulus was knocked out on the third floor corridor where Sirius had left him and for some reason it comforted Sirius to know that he was out of harms way.

"Inflamare!" Sirius shouted, aiming a balls of fire at Dominique Mulciber and Peyton Aitken — just when he'd thought his days of duelling school bullies were over. One of the balls nicked Mulciber's robes setting them aflame.

"Deprimo!" Aitken shouted back, but Sirius swiftly stepped out of the way and shot back another fire ball, and then another, and then another, taking a step forward each time until he shouted, "Petrificus totalus!" and she fell to the floor like a brick. He pressed his foot on her wand hand and aimed his wand at her head before turning to Mulciber who had just managed to get the fire on his robes extinguished. "What are you all doing here? Why're there so many of you?"

"You won't kill her."

Sirius considered, looking between Aitken and Mulciber before saying, "True, but I wouldn't be opposed to a little memory loss. She won't be much of a threat if she can't remember her own name."

Mulciber's jaw hitched. "That's low, Black."

"Says the Death Eater. Now what the hell are you all doing here?" Mulciber glared at Sirius, wishing him to be dead most likely so Sirius shoved his foot on Aitken's throat instead. "I'll fucking do it, you git! Answer my question! Why are you all here?"

"To get some book and quill that'll help us stamp out the mudbloods."

"This many people for two items … I don't buy it." Sirius focused his attention back on Aitken. "I wonder what I could screw up in there?" he wondered out loud. "Maybe a confundus charm to fix her views on blood purity?"

"Hey! I've already told you all I know!" Mulciber shouted, taking a step forward but Sirius aimed his wand at his throat instead and he stopped in his tracks.

"And I told you I don't buy it!"

Something hit Sirius in the back hard and he stumbled forward, Mulciber catching him only to shove him back again. Sirius disoriented long enough for Mulciber to perform the counter charm on Aitken and suddenly he was facing down three wands. Mulciber, Aitken and Narcissa.

Narcissa turned to her allies and said, "Leave us," before turning her attention back to Sirius.

"Did you find Bella?" Sirius asked her pleasantly.

"I did, found some of your friends too on the way back. The idiot Prewett twins, Emmeline, Potter, Evans, and … your girlfriend, Ella Dearborn. Funny place for her to be … Aunt Walburga told us of her delicate condition."

"If Bellatrix hurts Ella, I swear on Agrippa I'll kill her myself," Sirius threatened.

Narcissa was unbothered by his threat and that bugged Sirius. "My sister can handle herself. But you … you really were a fool for declining Aunt Walburga's invitation back into the family. It's the last one you'll get."

"What makes you think I want another one?" Sirius retorted. He needed to do something so he could leave and find Ella, James and Lily. "Not all of us can do as mummy and daddy tells us. Marrying Malfoy," Sirius shook his head, "what a puppet you've become for them, Narcissa."

"I love Lucius."

Sirius snorted, "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that but we both know you only married him because you were told to, or is Greg Meyers not the person you love?"

Narcissa's eyes narrowed, her pale face reddening until she slashed her wand so quickly it took all Sirius had to put a shield up between them. He was glad though. Her taking the first strike meant they were officially done talking and now he just had to beat her so he could go make sure Ella was okay.

Lily and James burst into the entrance hall, James holding a hand out to stop Ella. Sirius was fighting against Narcissa and Gabriel Lemaire. James turned to Ella, a hand on her arm as Emmeline and the twins ran straight into the fray.

"You need to go somewhere safe!"

"Where would that be, Potter?"

James looked over Ella's shoulder and pulled Ella behind him. Bellatrix Lestrange stood in all her glory, her wild curls loose and untamed, her face so similar to his brother's but he knew her wand aimed to hurt, to kill.

"Sirius!" Ella shouted and she tried to run towards him but Lily held her back.

"Stay here!" Lily demanded. "I'll help, Sirius!"

James cursed.

"Don't worry, Potter, I'm sure things will feel all right again when she's buried six feet down in the mud where she belongs."

James didn't even bother responding, instead he ground his teeth and with a power he didn't know he could rage sent Bellatrix flying down the hall without even moving his lips.

"Nice one," Ella commented.

"If you see an opportunity, you run."

"Sure," she said in a way that didn't convince James she was going to listen to him but they didn't have time to discuss it further as Bellatrix had picked herself up off the floor.

Ella stood next to James, her own wand out and James eyed her wearily. This was exactly where they didn't want Ella. Sirius was going to murder him. Ella caught James staring and rolled her eyes. "She's no picnic, you're going to need all the help you can get."

"I think I can handle her just fine," James said just before Bellatrix had him soaring up into the air.

Ella shouted, "Reducto!" and it distracted Bellatrix enough that her spell on James lifted and he crashed to the floor. "You were saying?"

James rolled his eyes again and picked himself up off the floor, facing Bellatrix once more.

"You know, there's no version of this where you win, Lestrange. You'll never get into that tower without Dumbledore."

She laughed callously. "You think the only reason we came here was for a petty book and quill?"

"What else would you be here for?"

"Now, Mr Potter, Bella can't go divulging all my plans."

James' blood ran cold. Behind Bellatrix stood Lord Voldemort himself but it was impossible. He hadn't been on the map! No one can hide from the map.

"James," Ella whispered unsurely.

"Get the hell out of here." James turned to the wall beside him and blew it apart and shoved Ella into the empty classroom. "Get somewhere safe! Go!"

"James!"

Ella's earsplitting scream sent a chill down his spine. He turned and saw Ella writhing on the ground.

"STOP!" James shouted at Bellatrix. "STOP! SHE'S PREGNANT!"

"Oh I know, but my brat of a cousin doesn't deserve to continue our family bloodline."

"No, James — Sirius!" Ella shouted, pointing. James turned to look and saw a Lily passed out on the floor, blood trickling from her forehead and Sirius was just barely holding off Narcissa.

James turned to Bellatrix, "Expelliarmus!" but before the word was fully out of his mouth, it was like a hand was crushing his wind pipe and lifted him up off the ground.

"Impedimenta!" Bellatrix tripped on her own feet and Ella's screams stopped but James remained in the air, his face turning red as the hand squeezed tighter.

Voldemort walked up to him. "You have been a thorn in my side since you left school. No more!"

He raised his wand, "Avada Ke-"

Frank and Alice tossed Voldemort against the wall and breath came back to James as he could breathe again. He looked at Frank and Alice who seemed to be taking care of Voldemort and had already taken care of Bellatrix. Bellatrix lay stunned on the floor. He crawled over to Ella, her eyes closed.

"No, no, no." He tapped at her face gently. "Come on, Ella!"

"James!" It was Sirius, he looked over his shoulder and saw Sirius running towards him. "What the hell happened?"

"I don't know! Bellatrix did something to her," James said.

"Why was she even — why didn't you protect her?" Sirius shoved James aside angrily.

James was at a loss for words. "She — she wouldn't listen — I tried! I tried!"

James looked around. Alice and Frank were going hard against Voldemort, Fabian and Emmeline were against the Mulciber brothers, Gideon was duelling Lucius Malfoy. Kingsley was up against the Carrow siblings and Peter up against the Aitken twins. James picked himself up and walked over to where Lily was.

She lay against the floor, her hair splayed out on the floor covered in white dust. James bent down and with two shaky fingers pressed them against her neck and it was like he'd left his own body. Like he was watching from above as he pulled her into his arms and held her, letting tears streak his own face.

Suddenly, the doors opened and there stood Dumbledore, a saving grace to the fight they surely would have lost and after a series of shouts and a huge explosion that blew out a hole in the side of Hogwarts, the Death Eaters and Voldemort were fleeing out through the grounds.

Author's Note:

Hey everyone, I realise it has been over a year since I last updated (big yikes on my side I hadn't realised how long I'd left it) but to everyone still reading THANK YOU!

I'm not going to promise frequent updates but I do have the next few chapters ready to go and I've decided to dedicate more of my time to this story as some of my favourite parts are yet to come, though please keep in mind that even though I do have a solid outline, I am writing all the chapters from scratch and because it's been so long since I've spent a decent amount of time on this, I may decide to tweak the outline.

I have also started posting this story on AO3 username natalie_ana though I've only posted up to chapter 25. The plan is to get it up to date as soon as possible.

I hope you really enjoy this chapter and reviews are like chocolate - aka I always want them and it makes me feel better.

-Natalie x