Chapter 28: Twice Defied
A year passed. Life went on.
September of the year 1979 found James pacing up and down the Headmaster’s office at Hogwarts. He hadn’t been in here since that day when Dumbledore had asked him to join the Order of the Phoenix. The room hadn’t changed at all: it was exactly as he remembered it from his years as a student. James’s life, however, was somewhat different from those days.
He had finished his initial Auror training over Christmas, along with Sirius, Lily, Frank and Alice. Peter, who hadn’t received the grades needed for any trained work, was now working in the cauldron shop in Diagon Alley. Remus had pulled out of the Auror scheme after discovering that most people didn’t take lightly the fact that he was a werewolf, however he had joined the Order of the Phoenix along with the others. Dumbledore had told James’s friends that it was their decision, now that they knew about the Order, to join if they wished, seeing as they were of age. They had all signed up immediately.
The door opened behind James, and Dumbledore entered. “James,” he said, not at all surprised to see him there. “So good to see you again. Please, take a seat.”
“What happened?” James asked, following Dumbledore to the desk and sitting opposite him. “Where is she?”
“Safe, James. She’s back at Headquarters.”
For the first time since hearing that Lily had been sent out on a mission for the Order, James was able to relax slightly. He put his head into his hands and sighed out his relief. She was ok.
“What happened?” James repeated, calmer this time. “Did she find anything out?”
“Not much that we didn’t already suspect, although our theories have been confirmed. Lord Voldemort intends to attack at the Ministry. When, however, still remains clouded.”
James nodded. “Do the others know this? Have you alerted the Ministry?”
“I am on my way now to speak directly with the Minister. If this can be stopped in its tracks, then I will make sure we do everything in our power to do so.”
“Why did Lily have to go?” James asked, not satisfied. “You said when she joined the Order that she wouldn’t be sent on missions until she was a more senior member. She’s still young-“
“She's well over nineteen. The same age as you, I believe,” Dumbledore cut in. “Two months older, in fact, if my memory serves me.”
“Well, yes but… it was meant to be only me joining the Order, and I don’t want her getting hurt, that’s all.”
“I understand your concern, James, and if any of the others had been around, then they would have gone in her place. As it happens, our two principle missions are still in operation, so we are scarce on the ground at the moment. Lily was at Headquarters when I needed someone.” He tilted his head as he looked at James. “Lily is perfectly capable, James, or I wouldn’t have allowed her to join the Order. You have nothing to worry about.”
James personally thought he had everything to worry about, but he decided not to pursue the subject just yet. He stopped thinking about Lily and concentrated.
“Ok, so what’s next? How do we find out where this is going?”
“Well, ideally we need to plant someone as a spy. If only Dredge was back from-“
“I’ll do it.”
“No, James, I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You asked Lily.”
“That was at a much lower risk level. This requires a more senior member of the Order. Perhaps Barnabus…” He trailed off.
James let him think. He had some thinking of his own to do anyway. Being in the Order of the Phoenix was hard work, harder than he had thought it would be. But it was also everything he ever wanted to do with his life. Since they had left school, Voldemort had gained more power than James ever thought was possible. Lily had been right, all those months ago: they had been wrapped up in the safety of Hogwarts and not realised just how ugly things were outside the castle walls. Everything had escalated. The Order of the Phoenix was doing its best to stem the bloodshed, but Voldemort was always one step ahead. Sometimes James wondered whether Dumbledore knew more than he was letting on, whether he had his own plan that he was carefully unfolding. Even if he didn’t, James had every confidence in his old headmaster to lead them towards victory.
Dumbledore looked up. “I’m sorry, James, I have been lost in my thoughts. I didn’t mean to keep you so long.”
“It’s fine. I think I may go and see Lily now at Headquarters.”
“I doubt she’ll be there anymore. She mentioned that she would only check back, and then head home for a nice long soak in the bathtub. Not a bad idea, I think I could do with one of those as well.”
James had a brief, bizarre vision of Dumbledore relaxing in a hot bubble bath, before realising he had stood up, and followed suit. “Well then, I must meet with the Minister. Let us walk together into Hogsmeade, shall we?”
***
James arrived in his flat half an hour later. He and Dumbledore had Apparated their different ways, Dumbledore to the Ministry of Magic, and James to his new home.
His parents had bought him and Lily a flat to live in together. James had been surprised at this unexpected gift, more so because it meant that they had come around to the idea of James and Lily living together. James had stated quite insistently, once they had left school, that he was going to live with Lily, much to his parents’ surprise. They had tried to dissuade him from this drastic move, saying that they hadn’t lived together until they were married, and that James and Lily should at least wait until they had been seeing each other on a more long-term basis, to which he replied that there might not be a chance for long-term with Voldemort on the move. After much discussion, his parents had consented to having Lily live with them instead.
So it was with great shock that James had received this rather large present from his parents just over a month ago. “You have proved your maturity, James,” they had told him with smiles on their faces. “Besides, you can’t live with your parents the rest of your lives!”
That was a week before they had died. Hunted down like animals by Death Eaters-the loved family of a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Nothing was sacred anymore. But now was the time to concentrate on his new life. That was what they would have wanted.
“Lily?” James called as he turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open. There were still a few boxes in the hall waiting to be unpacked, but generally it was a neat and homely place to live.
“In the living room,” she called back. It was so good to hear her voice coming from within their shared home. He walked down the hall and into the room on the left, where Lily was sitting cross-legged on the carpet with a photo album open at her feet.
“Hi,” she said, as James leant down to kiss her. He sat down next to her.
“Are you ok?” he asked, scanning her face for signs of distress or injury. “I thought…”
“I’m fine. Made of strong stuff, you know.”
“I know, but when I heard you’d gone after Treggar, I couldn’t help but worry. He’s fierce, remember how he killed the Morrisons?”
“I remember. But I was disguised and protected by Dumbledore’s charms, he wouldn’t have let me go into too great a danger.”
“Still,” he put his arm around her and kissed her forehead gently. “It’s good to see you.”
“Isn’t it always?” Lily teased.
“Always,” James agreed. “So what’s this?” he asked, looking at the album in front of her. “Is that us?”
“Yes. At the Christmas Feast, remember? The night when we first kissed.” She smiled reminiscently for a moment, before turning the pages forward. “And that’s last Christmas at your parents' house, with Remus and Sirius, and there’s Peter’s leg, remember he fell over just as the photo was being taken?” She smiled fondly and shook her head. “I never did really understand Peter.”
“What are you doing with all these photos?”
“Putting them in an album, silly! My parents taught me never to leave photos lying about, because they’ll get lost. And photos are important, they track what you’ve done with your life.”
“What have you done with your life, Miss Evans?”
“I found you.” The corners of her mouth twitched in a smile, and she pulled James towards her by the edge of his jacket. As she leant in for a kiss, however, they were dazzled by a blinding silver light that came streaming into the room, and they separated.
“Fawkes,” James said, as his face fell. He put his hand on Lily’s.
The Phoenix Patronus spoke, and the voice of Dumbledore echoed throughout the room. “Barnabus has been murdered. We need reinforcements urgently in Diagon Alley.” The Patronus spread its wings immediately and soared out of the room, leaving behind a trail of silvery dust.
James stood. “Barnabus…” he said, pausing for a second to remember the man who had on more than one occasion saved him from a tricky situation. Then he took Lily’s hand and pulled her up. “Come on, Lils, let’s go.”
“Okay, just hold on,” she said, running into the hall. She returned seconds later with three cloaks: two of them ordinary, and she threw one to James who swung it around his shoulders, and the third one his Invisibility Cloak, which she stuffed into her bag. “Just in case,” she said, picking up her wand from the table as James took her other hand. They turned together on the spot and Disapparated into the darkness.
Immediately they found themselves outside The Leaky Cauldron. James led the way through the virtually empty pub and into the courtyard beyond, where he tapped the relevant brick with his wand so that the wall opened onto Diagon Alley. They could hear straight away the signs of battle, as the Order of the Phoenix fought against Voldemort’s Death Eaters. Just as James was about to rush to join in, someone called his name from behind him, and he turned to see Sirius rushing into the courtyard to meet them.
“Got the message?” James asked.
“Obviously,” Sirius replied. “Shall we?”
James nodded and the three of them stepped out into the street and hurried along it towards the other end, where Gringotts stood apart from the other buildings, tall and glaringly white, even in the failing light. As they approached the battle, James could see Dumbledore duelling with four Death Eaters at once, his wand seemingly with a mind of its own as it swished and twisted in a hurry of curses. James also spotted Frank locked in a duel with another hooded Death Eater.
He gave Lily’s hand a final squeeze before throwing himself at a Death Eater who was poised to curse Frank. “Stupefy!” he yelled, hitting the man square in the chest and not pausing to watch him keel over. He caught a glimpse of Lily ducking two simultaneous curses before issuing one of her own, and then he swore at himself for being distracted as a jet of green light shot past his ear, singeing his hair. He turned to face the oncoming Death Eater, narrowly avoiding another Killing Curse, and as he did, he saw about a dozen more hooded figures appear.
“We’re outnumbered!” he called to the others, as he hit his opponent with a Body Binding Curse. “There’re more of them coming!”
He found himself fighting side by side with Dumbledore, who looked perfectly calm as he hit three Death Eaters simultaneously with one swish of his wand that sent them flying through the air. “If my estimations are correct,” he said to James, deflecting a curse back at its originator, “the others should arrive at any moment.”
“The others?” James asked, but Dumbledore had disappeared to reduce the number of Death Eaters duelling with Artus Popp.
Sure enough, just as James found himself surrounded by three Death Eaters whose eyes shone menacingly from behind their black hoods, they were hit from behind and sent sprawling into the hard ground. Two figures stepped out into their place, and James immediately recognised them as Alastor Moody and Augusta Flint. “The trick,” Moody said, as he began deflecting spells, “is not to let them corner you. Always harder to duel when you’re surrounded.”
“Cheers,” James said, smiling despite the situation. “I’ll bear that in mind.” And he jumped over an unconscious Death Eater to attack the one duelling Lily, just as more Order members arrived.
“James!” she said, not taking her eyes off her attacker. “Stupefy!” Her spell missed by an inch as the Death Eater ducked and shot one back at her, which James deflected. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” he replied, pulling her out of the way of another spell that came from her right. “We were outnumbered, but I think we’ve got most of … “ he trailed away.
“James! Watch out!” Sirius said, running to his defence as the Death Eater duelling Lily tried to take advantage of his momentary hesitation. Sirius pushed James out of the way and shot a successful curse at the hooded man, who crumbled and fell to the ground. “What are you doing?” he said, grabbing James by the arm. “You can’t… what?”
James was staring down the street into the darkness. Sirius followed his gaze and his jaw dropped for a second, before he shouted. “He’s here! Dumbledore!” James grabbed Lily and pushed her behind him protectively. He had never seen Voldemort in person before. He was as intimidating as his name, tenfold. His cloak was high-collared and of the deepest black, so that his skin looked deathly by comparison. He was probably once handsome, but for the cold fury etched on every crevice of his face.
Dumbledore turned his head at Sirius’s call. “Ah, so he is. This should be interesting.” He moved to stand in front of the Order and raised his wand defensively as Lord Voldemort walked slowly down the cobbled road to meet them.
There were only four remaining Death Eaters from the battle, and they moved towards their master cautiously. They didn’t seem to have known of his plan to join them, for James saw them giving each other furtive looks as he approached. But Lord Voldemort did not acknowledge their presence, instead moving solidly and determinedly towards where the Order stood huddled together. James could have sworn that he saw a flicker of doubt cross the pale and ghostly face of the Dark Lord when he recognised Dumbledore among them. But the next second, he had regained his composure, and he stopped a few feet from them. “You are foolish, Dumbledore,” he said, raising his own wand.
“I am often foolish,” Dumbledore said, not taking his eyes off Voldemort or lowering his wand. “But tonight, it is you who are foolish, Tom. You are appallingly outnumbered.” James looked around. There were indeed close to twenty people standing ready to duel from the Order of the Phoenix. James had not noticed them all arriving, or indeed seen them fighting when he had arrived.
“We shall see,” Voldemort countered, before he brought his wand crashing down.
“Avada Kedavra!"
The strength of his Killing Curse was such that the green light emitted form Voldemort’s wand almost blinded James. He threw his hands over his eyes, but Dumbledore had been too quick. He deflected the curse like a shot and in the next moment, he had created a defensive barrier around the Order.
“I want to fight!” Moody yelled, breaking himself free of the barrier and shooting curses in all directions at the four remaining Death Eaters. James was mesmerised by the battle between Dumbledore and Voldemort, but was shaken out his stupor by Frank shouting “No, Alice! Come back!” Alice had followed Moody out of Dumbledore’s protection and was rushing towards the Death Eaters to his aid. “Alice, be careful!” Frank called, before following his fiancé along with most of the others. James looked around. Only he and Sirius remained in Dumbledore’s protection. “Where’s Lily?” he asked frantically.
“Out in the action,” Sirius replied. “Come on mate, she’s got the right idea!” And without further warning, he sprinted off to join the others. James took a breath, raised his wand and stepped out of the bubble.
Not a moment too soon. Just as James was about to rush to Lily, Dumbledore fell next to him. “NO!” he shouted, but the next moment Dumbledore was back on his feet. “My fault, James,’ he said.
But James, shocked at seeing his hero on the floor, abandoned Lily, who had been joined by Sirius and Alice, to help Dumbledore. He managed to deflect another of Voldemort’s curses back its creator. Voldemort shot it off to his left, where it hit the Death Eater battling Moody and Kingsley. "Cheers!” Moody said, turning to join in the duel with Voldemort. It was now four against one, and as the remaining Death Eaters fell to the Order, the numbers against Voldemort only grew and grew as the seconds ticked on. He was spinning round madly, trying to keep up the spells being cast in his direction. It would have looked comical, had the situation not been so serious. James saw Smith fall, followed by Artus, and hoped that they were merely unconscious.
Lily fought her way through to James, and gripped his hand urgently as they fought side by side against Lord Voldemort. Her face was shining with sweat and shot with an earnest and fiery concentration. He had never loved her more than at that moment.
There came a high-pitched and excruciatingly piercing scream from Voldemort. For a moment James thought that someone had hit him with a curse, but at the next, he saw Voldemort jump several feet in the air and spin on the spot. He was gone.
Love Conquers by dumbly_dorr
Chapter Notes: This chapter takes us to a few years after the gang leave Hogwarts. Since then, Voldemort has gained yet more power, but the Order of the Phoenix are doing their best to fight back.
A little longer, this one, than more chapters, please let me know what you think of it!