Minutes, hours, or even days later, Lily opened her eyes. She was lying on her side and her body was stiff, though she could still move when she tried. Focusing ahead of her, she saw her wand resting near her in a pile of dust in the dim light. She reached for the wand and then, with some difficulty, sat up and tried to place where she was.
Except for the light of the moon let in by the sole window, the room was dark and rather cluttered. From where she sat in the corner, hidden by a large bookshelf, Lily could see stacks of dusty books, outlines of magical objects piled on top of a long table, a shabby armchair, and even a broomstick lying in several pieces among cobwebs.
Getting to her feet, Lily slowly ventured into the middle of the room, wondering how in the name of Merlin she had gotten here. The room seemed slightly familiar but for the life of her she couldn’t recall why. Above a cracked and filthy mirror on the wall there seemed to be some sort of carving, and, after Lily lit her wand, she saw the small insignia identifying the shop as “Melvin’s Medley of Magical Merchandise.” The name did not ring a bell but she laughed to herself at the alliteration. What a mouthful. James would certainly get a kick out of it.
As soon as the thought had formed, Lily felt as if her heart had stopped. Immediately, she scanned her surroundings with vigilance, hoping beyond hope that she was somehow dreaming and that she would wake up in a world in which James was alive and well. Seeing no one, Lily turned towards the staircase and eyed it warily. She had been racing up those stairs when she had been stunned, she remembered clearly now. It must have been Severus who had stopped her. At that thought, her fists clenched in anger. Who was he to protect her, to keep her from standing up to Voldemort?
Shaking away her frustration, Lily glanced up the stairs, trying to decide the best approach to the situation. From where she stood, she could not see any lights upstairs or hear any voices but, still, she reasoned that it would be best to know as much as possible before heading up there herself.
Although Voldemort and his Death Eaters could have taken James with them, there was still a true possibility that dark wizards were still present in the building. It was also possible, she realized with a sinking feeling, that they had left James’ dead body behind.
Before she could dwell on the matter any longer, though, Lily whispered “Homenum revelio” and performed the complicated wand movement. A moment later, the tip of her wand flashed bright yellow and then went out, indicating human presence in the vicinity.
Involuntarily, Lily let out a small gasp. She did not know what she had been expecting; but before she could picture the Death Eaters waiting to entrap her, she carefully started up the creaky wooden stairs. The hope that she might find James alive gave her enough courage to face whatever she might find.
To her great surprise, once she had reached the landing, Lily found the remainder of the stairs to be littered with debris. Only after picking her way around the fragments of wood and other rubble could she manage to enter the upstairs room, which, as she saw by the light of her wand, was unrecognizable due to the wreckage. Pieces of wood, broken furniture, and debris from the ceiling and wall created a sea impossible to ford. Right above her head a considerable section of the ceiling had been blasted away, allowing Lily to see the stars blinking the night sky. Before any debris could fall on her, she struggled to climb over the desk that blocked the doorway.
“James!” she called, as she made her way through the wreckage. Death Eaters were the least of her worries now. Selfish and cowardly as they were, she was sure they had left the scene hours earlier to avoid any connection with the destruction.
“What had happened?” a voice in the back of her head questioned, as Lily tried with great effort to move a turned over cabinet. Unable to budge it, she fell to her knees in frustration.
“James!” she called again, desperately. There was nothing but silence.
Exhaling sharply, she rose and brandished her wand. “Reducto!”
The cabinet exploded and a thick cloud of dust rose into the air, sending Lily into a fit of coughing. In the aftermath, several fragments of the ceiling rained down on top of her. However, once the air cleared she saw that she had successfully made a narrow path leading further into the room. Lily followed this path until she came to a large bookshelf that had been smashed into several pieces. Lowering her wand, she illuminated the ripped pages and mutilated bindings of books, and a wand.
Lily almost passed over this, but something compelled her to examine the wand more closely. Mahogany and slightly longer than her own, it had to belong to James. With her heart pounding, Lily shone her wand over the floor once more and saw a pair of legs crushed under a large section of the bookshelf.
“James!” Lily exclaimed. “Can you hear me? Wingardium Leviosa!” Carefully, she removed the pieces of bookshelf and saw James lying on the ground covered in rubble.
She let out a single sob and flew towards James. His glasses were crooked and broken and there was a great amount of dried blood on his temple. Brushing debris off him, Lily saw that there was also a large rip in the leg of his pants and blood still appeared to be flowing.
“Consenesco,” Lily said, aiming her wand at James’ injuries. “Scourgify, Reparo.” Both the blood on James’ face and leg receded and the skin healed itself. His glasses also repaired themselves.
“Lily?” a weak, hoarse voice murmured.
“Oh, James!” Lily cried, pulling his upper half into her lap. “What did they do to you?”
“Lily,” he mumbled, reaching to touch his hand to her face. “You’re alive.”
“Of course I’m alive. But let’s talk about you. I was convinced Voldemort had murdered you!” Lily shook her head slightly as she gazed into James’ eyes. She was so thankful he had not been killed.
“It’s okay, Lils,” James assured her, sensing her worry. “He didn’t get me. And they’re all gone now. An Erumpent horn exploded.”
“An Erumpent horn,” Lily repeated, remembering learning about it in Potions class. “How did it happen?”
“We were dueling and I dodged a Killing Curse. The Erumpent horn was on the bookshelf in the corner and when the curse hit it, the entire room seemed to explode.” James tried to sit up but Lily held him back.
“I don’t want you overexerting yourself, James,” she told him.
He freed himself from her arms anyways. “I’m alright. But anyways, right before I blacked out, I heard them panicking. I’m sure they all disapparated and were either convinced I was crushed by the debris or didn’t care enough to find out.”
“We were incredibly lucky,” Lily remarked, taking James’ hand.
“Yes,” he agreed, giving her hand a squeeze. He smiled for a moment and then a furrow appeared between his eyebrows. “So what happened to you? I thought Snivellus was going to wipe your memory.” James looked at her for an explanation.
“Oh, that’s only what he told Voldemort,” Lily clarified. She proceeded to explain how Severus had stunned and hidden her when she proved to be uncooperative. “If I had been conscious, I’d have come to help you sooner.”
Trying to stand up, James gave her a crooked smile. “I know you would, Lily.” Almost immediately as he put weight on his left leg, his lopsided grin turned into a grimace.
“What are you doing?” Lily exclaimed, rushing to help support him.
“I don’t know about you, but I’d rather leave this place sooner than later. I’m afraid it’s going to cave in any second now.” James surveyed the room and almost to emphasize his words the floor gave an ominous moan.
“Yes, we can leave, but don’t push yourself,” she urged. “I just healed you, or tried to at least. Let’s Side-Along Apparate to St. Mungo’s and see what they””
“Aw, Lily, I don’t need to go to St. Mungo’s,” James complained. “Just take us home. My mum will know what to do. She deals with this type of thing every day.”
That stopped Lily. “Okay, fine, if you’re sure.” Once she was certain she had a good grip of James, she turned on the spot and together they disappeared from the wreaked, dilapidated shop.
Opening her eyes again, Lily landed outside the Potters’ house, supporting James under the arms. Fortunately, once they managed to get inside the house, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, who had not left for work yet, saw them and immediately took over. Before she knew it, Mrs. Potter had James sitting in a kitchen chair with his leg propped up on another and was moving her wand in complex movements over his calf.
It was Mr. Potter who addressed Lily, still standing wide-eyed in the kitchen doorway. “Come on in, Lily. Are you alright?”
Without taking her eyes off James, Lily nodded.
“Just a little shaken?” Mr. Potter asked, kindly.
Lily turned to look at him. “Yes. I’ve never done that before. I’ve never seen Death Eaters, let alone…Him...”
The blood drained from Mr. Potter’s face and Mrs. Potter looked up from attending to her son, looking just as white. “Do you want to explain to us what happened?”
Mrs. Potter nodded in agreement with her husband. “Yes. Last we heard you two were going to a wedding. We were worried sick when you didn’t come home last night.”
“Well, we did go the wedding yesterday…” James began.
“We just ran into trouble afterwards,” Lily added.
Taking turns narrating, Lily and James described the events of the night to the Potters. When they were finished, James’ mother had her hand clapped to her mouth and Mr. Potter stared at the floor, looking as grave as if one of them had indeed died.
After a long silence, Mrs. Potter sighed and looked between James and Lily, who had stationed herself besides his chair. “Well I’m really sorry you two had to go through that. I just want to let you know, though, that your father…” she paused to correct herself, “or, well, Mr. Potter and I are very proud of your bravery.”
“You’re true Gryffindors,” Mr. Potter said with a smile. “I’m sure you’ll both make excellent Aurors someday.”
“Does this mean I can be in the Order now?” James asked, excitedly.
The smiles vanished from the Potters’ faces almost instantly.
“Well, I don’t know,” Mr. Potter began, hesitantly, after a moment. “I suppose if you really wanted to…”
Mrs. Potter turned on him with an appalled expression. “Are you crazy?”
Mr. Potter blinked. “Well, only if they want. But I’m sure the Order would welcome them with open arms. In fact, I need to alert them of this incident.”
Mrs. Potter’s eyes widened with disbelief. “But they’re too young! They were lucky to make it out of this alive!”
“But Mum!” James cried. “I’m eighteen””
“No, you’re not,” Mrs. Potter interrupted her son, firmly.
“I will be tomorrow though,” James continued, ignoring his mother’s gasp as she realized the date. “But it doesn’t matter anyways. I’ve been of age for a year now.”
Mrs. Potter’s lip quivered and she inhaled deeply, trying to suppress strong emotions. Mr. Potter wrapped an arm around her, reassuringly.
“But what about Lily?” James’ mother asked, refusing to be beaten. “Don’t try to pull her into this if she doesn’t want to.”
Immediately, James turned on Lily. “You want to, right? You’ve told me all year about how you want to be an Auror.”
Lily, who had been silent for a while, looked between James’ and Mrs. Potter’s pleading eyes. While she truly wanted to become a member of the Order of Phoenix as much as James, she hadn’t wanted to side with him and displease James’ parents.
“Try to understand our concerns, Lily…and James, before making a decision to join,” Mrs. Potter urged.
“I understand, but I’m sorry, I have to agree with James,” Lily said, hesitantly. “I’m nearly done with Hogwarts and would love to become part of the Order, if you’ll allow it.”
Mr. Potter nodded. “As much as we’d like it to be, that’s not up to us. Dumbledore accepts anyone of age into the Order.”
Lily glanced at James who was beaming from ear to ear and slipped her hand into his.
Mr. Potter sighed. “I suppose if you want, I’ll take you both with me tonight to the meeting. It’s probably better anyways if you two are the ones to explain the events of last night.”
James bubbled with excitement. “Wow, the Order of the Phoenix! I’ve got to tell Sirius.”
As his parents headed out the door to work, James continued in his enthusiasm, much to the dismay of Mrs. Potter who implored him to rethink his decision even as the door was closing. Finally, with his parents out of the house, James leaned against the closed door and gazed at Lily, still drunk with happiness.
“What do you think, Lils? We’re going to be in the Order of the Phoenix!”
She crossed the room to wrap her arms around his waist. “I don’t know what to think,” she admitted, honestly. “But I can bet that life will never be dull anymore.”
James frowned. “Your life has never been dull, Lily. Not since you’ve known me.”
Lily looked up to see one corner of his mouth turned up into a lopsided smile. “True enough. But now that we’re adding Aurors, Death Eaters, and our good friend Voldemort into the mix, every day is certainly going to be an adventure.”
More than Meets the Eye by lilybobily7
Chapter Endnotes: Sorry I've taken a while to update! Hope you liked the chapter! Remember to leave a review! ;)
~Julia~