Chapter 20: Once Defied
“All clear,” Peter whispered into the darkness.
“Good. Hurry up, Wormtail, you’re taking forever!” Sirius gave Peter a shove that sent him tumbling out of the trapdoor in the basement of Honeydukes. Peter righted himself before protesting, “It doesn’t hurt to be careful, you know. Remember that time in Fourth Year when we almost got caught?”
Sirius climbed out of the tunnel, followed closely by Remus. “Yeah but that was one time. And it was years ago. We’re pros at this now. “ He called softly down into the trapdoor. “Come on, guys, let’s get going!”
Out of the tunnel next came Lily, followed by James. Lily looked around. “Wow. I feel like a burglar, sneaking in here like this.”
“It’s fine. We do it all the time.”
“Oh, well that makes it ok then,” Lily said sarcastically, but there was an acceptance in her voice. “So where do we go now?”
“Wherever we want. Come on.” James took her hand and led her up the wooden stairs to the shop floor, with the others close behind them. He opened the door a crack. It was empty.
“All clear,” he said quietly. “But we’ll go out in groups under the cloak, just in case.” He pulled the Invisibility Cloak out from his bag and threw it over himself, Lily and Sirius. “You two stay here and I’ll come back.”
The three under the cloak passed through the door and into the shop. They carefully manoeuvred their way across the floor and James reached out to slide the lock open at the door. Once they were outside, he lifted the cloak off Sirius and Lily and returned to get Remus and Peter.
Sirius and Lily retreated to the opposite side of the street where they sat down on a bench and awaited the others.
“So, what do you usually get up to on these illegal nights out?” Lily asked.
“Anything we want. We usually end up in the Three Broomsticks until Old Charlie kicks us out in the early hours of the morning.”
There was a rustling sound behind them. Lily swung around. “What was that?” she asked, peering into the depths of the darkness.
“Probably nothing. Mice or something like that. There are bushes right behind us.”
Lily continued to peer suspiciously behind her until the others arrived.
“What took you so long?” Sirius asked, standing form the bench.
“New range of Dazzling Dips. Here, have a look. Apparently they change the colour of your hair!” Remus replied. He handed a packet of sweets to Sirius.
“Did you steal those?” Lily asked, outraged.
“Course not! We left money for them behind the counter.” James replied.
“But won’t they notice that there’s money there that wasn’t there yesterday, and that some of their stock-“
“Don’t worry so much, Lils” James cut in. “Let’s just go and have some fun.”
The five of them ambled off down the street together, in the direction on the Three Broomsticks. “Fancy a drink?” Sirius asked. “To toast my birthday?”
“Will the Three Broomsticks be open at this hour?” Lily asked.
“Of course, it’s only quarter to eleven,” James answered. “It’s usually open until the early hours of the morning. But don’t worry, it’ll be mostly empty this time of the week.”
“I’ll tell you what,” Sirius said, “I’ll get the drinks, and I’ll meet you guys on the hill. We can drink them under the stars.”
“You’re such a sap,” Remus replied.
“Hey! It’s a lovely warm night and it’s my birthday. I say we drink under the stars. I’ll meet you there in ten minutes.”
James shook his head. “I know you just want another shot at Madame Rosmerta, but she doesn’t work the night shift, remember? Besides, as you said, it’s your birthday; you shouldn’t have to pay for anything. I’ll get the drinks. I’ll only be a few minutes.”
James waved them goodbye and turned the corner that led to the Three Broomsticks. The others carried on towards the opposite end of Hogsmeade, where a large hill stood towering over the village.
As they were approaching the outskirts, where the buildings lay fewer and more scattered, Remus stopped dead in his tracks.
“Alright, Moony?” Sirius asked, not stopping but turning his head towards Remus.
“Don’t move,” Remus said. “Stop and be quiet.”
The others did as they were told, confused as to Remus’s instructions.
A minute passed in silence. They grew restless.
Sirius sighed. “Moony, what are you playing at?”
Remus shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, but his eyes were still darting suspiciously around the area. “I thought I saw… never mind. Let’s go.”
They rounded a corner and found themselves walking across a small courtyard surrounded on one side by large bushes. Remus stopped again.
“Remus, this is really-“ Sirius began, but then he saw the look on Remus’s face, and turned to follow the angle of his eyes with his own.
A dark figure stood before them, his face obscured by a long, pointed hood that fell down past its eyes and cast the rest of its face in shadow. Lily and the Marauders stood still and gaped up at who ever it was, not daring to move. The wand in its hand was a definite danger sign.
The figure spoke, but not to them. “I thought you said the village was empty!” It was a man, with a deep voice. He hissed this remark to someone behind him, who promptly stepped forward out of the darkness.
“It was. I made sure there were no Order members here, tonight.”
“These are not from the Order, you idiot, they’re kids!” He turned to face them again. “How much did you see?” he demanded, pointing his wand in their direction.
No one spoke.
“Answer me!” He swished his wand in an upwards motion, and Remus was hoisted up into the air, ankles first. He struggled hopelessly as he dangled twenty feet from the ground. The others grouped more tightly together, and Sirius pushed Lily behind him protectively. Not one of them took their eyes off the Death Eater, but it was hard to ignore Remus’s pleas for help as the blood rushed to his head.
“How much did you see?” the man repeated, and when yet again no one answered, he flicked his wand and Remus came crashing down towards the ground.
“Nothing!” they all yelled in unison. The Death Eater stopped Remus’s descent centimetres from the ground, and Remus whimpered in shock of almost having his head smashed. “We saw nothing,” Sirius repeated, panic in his voice.
“Liars!” he spat at them. Then he spoke to the man behind him. “Why didn’t you seal off the area like I told you to?”
Sirius and Peter pulled Remus down to the ground and lifted him up to a standing position. They maintained their protective huddle as the second Death Eater replied. “That wasn’t my concern. I am merely here to make sure you do this properly. Believe me, I have better things to do than babysit you. Don’t blame me for your own oversight. Just get rid of them and get on with it!”
He had touched a nerve, and the first Death Eater spoke menacingly as he turned back to address the students, but through gritted teeth. “My pleasure.” He lifted his wand up to his eye level. “Don’t move, it’ll only make it more painful for you.” He chuckled at his own cruelty.
As he was about to swing his wand down with his curse, something large hit Lily from her left and she went hurtling into the others. They tumbled together sideways and landed haphazardly in the bushes. Lily landed badly on her ankle and shrieked at the pain as it crushed underneath the weight of the body on top of her.
“Lily?” It was James.
“My ankle,” Lily answered, just as the man with the hood laughed form beyond the bushes. The others shied further back into the shelter of the bush.
“There’s no point in hiding, you know,” the Death Eater said. “I have all night to play your little games. It makes no difference to me.”
The other man clearly thought otherwise. “We don’t have time for this. Just kill them now or stand aside and let me do it!”
“Oh no, this is for my pleasure. The Dark Lord will know that I alone completed this task tonight, no matter what obstacles get in my way. I need no “babysitting” from you, despite what He thinks.” There was a cold jealousy in his voice as he said this.
James reached for Lily’s hand as they continued to bicker. “Do you think you can walk?” he whispered, not waiting for an answer before he continued, “I want you to go. Get Dumbledore. Now!” He reached into his pocket and took out his wand, seeing that the others had done the same.
Lily didn’t move. “Now! We’ll distract them.” He shoved her aside, not caring whether her ankle hurt, just wanting her safe and out of the way. He wouldn’t let her die.
Lily looked at him in protest, but then the man’s voice grew louder as he commanded: “Come out now and your suffering will be minimal!” Lily rolled sideways towards the back of the bush, catching twigs on her clothes and tearing them as she went.
James took a breath and jumped out from inside the bush, followed by the other Marauders. They stood in a pathetic huddle together, four boys against two Death Eaters. Well, at least they had the majority, even if their talents were outnumbered.
The masked Death Eater laughed cruelly. “Brave, boys, foolishly brave. But let’s see how long you last, shall we?” He raised his wand again just as James yelled “Expelliamus!” His spell missed and flew past the Death Eater’s ear. The man laughed again. “Disarming spells won’t get you far here, boy.”
But he was foolish to have paused, for as soon as his wand arm had relaxed slightly, Sirius leapt in with “Stupify!” His aim was as bad as James’s, but luckily for the Marauders it sped past the first Death Eater and hit the second one. He gasped as the spell hit him square in the chest, clearly not expecting to be challenged, and then fell forwards onto his face.
The remaining Death Eater was quick not to make the mistake of lingering on his comrade’s predicament. He swung round to face the Marauders, raised his wand arm high and brought it down in Sirius’s direction. “Avada Ked-“
James leapt from the ground and for the second time that night threw himself heavily forwards. This time, however, he threw himself not to his friends, but towards the Death Eater. He landed with a thud on top of him and they went tumbling over onto the hard ground. James heard the breath get knocked out of his opponent as they made contact with the street, and didn’t waste his advantage. He brought his knee down sharply onto the Death Eater’s stomach, and pummelled his face with his knotted fists.
Behind him he heard the sounds of scuffles as the second Death Eater recovered from Sirius’s weak spell and engaged in battle with the three remaining Marauders. James hoped they were winning, but concentrated on keeping the fighting Death Eater on the ground and under his control. When they had fallen over, both had lost their wands from their grips, and James could see the man reaching around wildly with one hand for any sign of his or even James’s wand.
He put his hands on the Death Eaters throat, meaning to subdue him. He knew that he had one chance to make good his weakening grip on the Death Eater, and knew also the chilly moment when he missed it. This man was bigger than he was, and the initial advantage had only belonged to James because it was not he but his opponent who had landed on his back. The Death Eater got his knee up under James and kicked him hard. At the same time, he pulled his clasped hands up in between James’s elbows and flung his arms wide with great strength, breaking James’s feeble grip on his throat. James was thrown sideways, and the Death Eater immediately rolled over on top of him and pushed his face down so that the tips of their noses touched. “Don’t get cocky, kid,” he breathed, catching his breath from the effects of James’s beating. His eyes were bloodshot and James could see several old and ugly scars littering his face. He pushed his right hand up to James’s neck and squeezed hard. “If you want to play physically, I’m game,” he said, laughing.
James kicked wildly but the man had him pinned firmly to the ground. He was laughing madly and his eyes gleamed menacingly. James frantically tried to breath but it only made things worse. He felt his lungs clenching in a desperate attempt to dispel the remaining air caught in them and take in a fresh breath. James’s hands were at his own throat, scratching wildly at the Death Eater’s grip, but it was a weak effort and only made his attacker squeeze harder. The dark shapes in the scene around them started to blur in James’s vision. He was choking to death. Slowly. Well at least Lily would be safe, he thought.
Just then, two bodies collided with theirs, and the Death Eater was forced to loosen his grip on James’s neck to stop himself from hitting his face against the hard ground. James gasped a wonderful breath of air that filled his lungs and let it out again slowly. But there was no time to readjust, as another body threw itself upon the group and tackled the Death Eater in James’s stead. Someone felt around in the darkness along James’s body until his hands met James’s face.
“James?” It sounded like Sirius, but he couldn’t be sure. “Are you dead?”
“No,” James croaked, barely able to speak the word. “My wand…”
But Sirius didn’t have time to find it for him, as a blast of purple light and a yelp from James’s right said that someone had already found one. He hoped it was one of the Marauders. It wasn’t.
“Remus!” Sirius shouted, before lunging himself at the man who had sent Remus tumbling unconscious to the ground.
James rolled over to clear himself from the battle, and crawled slowly away, still gagging for air from his near suffocation. His knee connected with something hard. A wand. Not caring whether it was his or not, he grabbed it with his right hand and leapt to his feet, running to Sirius’s aid. Sirius and the Death Eater were locked in another physical battle, but James couldn’t see who had the advantage. He tripped over something large and solid, a body, and fell sprawling to the ground. This time he made sure to keep hold of the wand, and rolled immediately over so that he had a good aim on the struggling duo.
Sirius!” he yelled. “Duck!” He didn’t have time to see whether Sirius had heard and obeyed, but sent a jet of sparks towards the middle of the bulk of bodies. His aim was true this time, and whatever he had hit jerked violently before finally lying still.
Love Conquers by dumbly_dorr
Chapter Notes: Quite a long one but I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Lily and the Marauders go to Hogsmeade in the middle of the night to celebrate Sirius's birthday, but it doesn't all go according to plan...