"Go, go, go, go!" Remus shouted, shooting spells over his shoulder as they ran, a mob of Death Eaters at their heels. They launched themselves over mole hills and ditches, scrambling with legs flailing.

This was not how this patrol was supposed to go. They were supposed to do a quick check of the safe house just outside of Bristol and be home in time for supper. At least they were relatively well-matched against the scouting group of Death Eaters; they may have outnumbered them, but the Death Eaters didn't have James, Sirius, Benjy Fenwick, and herself.

"How far to the Portkey?" Lily gasped to James, who looked exhilarated, damn him. She, meanwhile, felt as if she were going to throw up her lungs.

"Not far," he managed to reply, ducking his head to avoid a purple jet of light. The enraged yells and howls of the Death Eaters behind them echoed weirdly in the field, making it seem as if they surrounded the little patrol group. Light flashed all around them; the spells were coming at a frenetic pace, whooshing past Lily's hair, grazing her legs. She felt one skim the top of her hand and shrieked, yanking her arm in.

"Reducto!" Sirius bellowed, twisting his torso around improbably to aim. An explosion sent dirt flying, the clods peppering their backs and catching in their hair.

"Nice one, Padfoot!" Remus called, shaking hair out of his face. Sirius grinned.

"Twas nothing!" he cried grandly, nearly tripping. Frustration began to coil tighter and tighter in Lily's chest.

"This isn't a game!" she yelled, heels sinking into the sod as she propelled herself forward. James, a good foot ahead of her, laughed.

"Aw, come on, Lily, we're fine, just a few more yards - "

"This is not a game!" Lily screamed again, terrified and enraged, her legs shaking with exertion. "Stop acting like stupid boys, you've got to focu - "

Something white hot and crackling with electricity zipped under her arm to catch James' leg.

He was thrown forward with a cry, tumbling over and over as if he were a rag doll.

"JAMES!"

Sirius and Remus were already backtracking, beside her almost immediately as she tugged James up, ignoring his involuntary groans. Benjy stood in front of the group, throwing up a shield that made the air vibrate.

"GET HIM UP, GET HIM UP, NOW," he roared while James thundered over him:

"I'M FINE, I'M FINE, JUST NICKED ME, KEEP GOING!"

A rage, fizzing and spitting, consumed her, and she found herself shouting curses, wand flying. They were trying to kill her - they were trying to kill James - who exactly did they think they were, these people with their stupid masks and stupid prejudices and she was bloody well going to teach them all a lesson they wouldn't forget in a hurry, dammit -

She sliced her wand through the air and two robed figures flew backwards. Another slice, and another one was forced to stop to beat out the flames licking up from his sleeve to his hood. Remus hauled James up, who instantly wrapped an arm around Lily's waist and pulled her forward. Doubled over at the middle, she wheezed, pummeling his arm in vain.

"Put me down, PUT ME DOWN, you idiot!"

"Not a chance, firecracker," he said with a kind of awe as he ran with her stumbling backwards to keep up. "We've got bigger fish to fry."

"I said, put me down, James Potter!" she shrieked, spitting hair out of her face. Her teeth clattered together as she was jostled toward the Portkey, the glow of which basked the scene with a blue, pulsating light. "I'm going to KILL THEM ALL - "

"My Lord?" she heard one of the Death Eaters cry. There was an implosion of the air, a kind of whoosh that made her head pop. James skidded to a stop, releasing Lily to clamp his hands over his ears. There was a curious moment of calm in which no one, not the Order, not the Death Eaters, dared to even breathe. Then the night exploded into a million pieces.

Lily dove to the ground, arms protecting her neck. The earth rocked beneath her, and she heard Sirius begin to yell something she couldn't make it; it felt as if her ears had been stuffed with cotton.

She staggered to her feet, unsteady, her vision swimming in front of her nauseatingly. James caught her hand and dragged her toward the Portkey. The world was a muffled, watery hum, one pulsing with booms that seemed distant, underground.

James was shouting something at her as he all but yanked her arm out of her socket in his desperation to get away. She could see the silhouettes of Remus, Sirius, and Benjy at the Portkey, shooting spells madly. Her ears suddenly popped, and a roar of sound rushed at her.

" - HIM, IT'S VOLDEMORT, YOU'VE GOT TO RUN, LILY, DO YOU HEAR ME, YOU'VE GOT TO - "

Another explosion shook the earth, and she could hear now a high, cold voice shrieking orders:

"Get them, you fools!"

The light of the Portkey began to throb faster, picking up speed as they neared it. James lunged toward it, taking Lily with him; they landed inches away.

"Hurry!" Benjy snapped. His feet shifted in front of hers, panicked and angry. A figure loomed suddenly in front of them, materializing from the blackness around it.

"How disappointing," a white, snake-like face sneered, red eyes filled with contempt. Four hands clamped onto the Portkey as Lord Voldemort raised his wand, James' hand tight around Lily's. Her navel jerked, and they spun away as Voldemort's wand came down with a detonation that left a crater in the field.

All five hit the floor of Dedalus Diggle's kitchen face first, groaning and shaking. Sirius leapt up first, eyes wild, Remus using his arm to lurch upright, white as a sheet. Benjy followed after a moment, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "babysitting" and "nearly killed." James and Lily lay on the floor for awhile, listening to Dedalus rush into the kitchen, where he promptly dropped his mug of tea, shattering it into a million pieces. One shard spun to a stop directly in front of Lily's nose and she stared at it, not daring to move.

"Was that…?" Lily asked in a low voice under Dedalus' fussing.

"I think it was," James replied, glasses askew. She pressed her forehead into the cool tile, entire body thrumming with unused energy, but, strangely, she could not summon the will to get up.

"Faced Voldemort on our third go," James said with a shaky whistle. He laughed, a bit hysterical, and the sound was so funny that she couldn't help but laugh, too. "Not bad for a couple of rookies," he declared with a kind of uncertain bravado. She looked at him. He looked back. As if struck by the same idea, they got to their knees at the same time, hugging each other tight, tighter, tightest.

"Marry me?" he asked breathlessly. She could feel his heart pounding against her chest. She grinned, put her hands on either side of his face, and planted a proper kiss on his mouth.

"Absolutely," she whispered, and they sat on the floor of Benjy Fenwick's kitchen amongst the shards of glass and laughed with the sheer joy of being alive.