There was screaming. Lots of screaming.
Lily tried to catch a glimpse of what was happening around her, but James seemed determined to keep her safely on the ground. She could only listen to shouts and loud pops, which she assumed were Death Eaters apparating away. For a moment, James shifted and Lily saw the battle that seemed to be raging around them. Death Eaters were panicking as the Ministry officials waved their wands, casting binding spells to capture the evil wizards and witches.
James saw what was happening, too, and slowly sat up from his protective position. A blast of light suddenly jetted directly at Lily and she gasped, but the curse simply bounced off an invisible shield a few meters away.
"They put us under a shield charm," said James, looking around at the chaos that surrounded them.
Lily tried to sit up, but her world suddenly flipped and spun before her eyes, forcing her to find the floor again. Even when she kept her gaze directed on the ceiling, Lily couldn't focus on only one thing. She became more and more light-headed by the second, but right before she drifted off into the blackness, two shaking hands grabbed her and covered the gash left by Bellatrix's knife. A muffled voice was trying to speak to her, but she didn't have the energy to listen. All Lily wanted to do was to fall asleep....
"Lily!" James shouted as he shook her violently, slightly bringing her back from her trance. "Evans, wake up!"
James was appearing clearer as Lily slowly gained consciousness. There was another figure, to the side of James, who was sharply waving a wand and as they did, the gash on Lily's neck became less painful. Despite still being quite light-headed, Lily felt an instant relief as her wound healed.
The world around her eventually became clear and Lily could see that it was an Auror who had healed her wound. The Auror and James both offered Lily their hands and helped her stand and steady herself. The cabin seemed crammed with wizards and witches, mostly Ministry Workers who were holding Death Eaters capture. They were all gagged and bound, with fierce, manic looks in their eyes. Lily scanned the room and noticed Bellatrix wasn't there.
"A lot of them got away," said the Auror in a rough voice. "The name's Alastar Moody. I've been put in charge of watching over you underages."
"I'm James Potter," said James, shaking Moody's hand.
"Well, of course you are. Spitting image of your father."
James smiled proudly, then turned to Lily. "This is my friend Lily Evans and over there is Sirius Black."
Moody glanced over to Sirius, who's arm was being wrapped up by another Auror. "A Black? That's interesting. Are there any more of you?"
"Yes," answered James, looking over at the kitchen, "My friend Remus Lupin is somewhere over there with three Muggles who are friends with Lily. I... I hope they're all right."
Lily's eyes widened. What had happened to Cassie, Bess, and Jill? Were they hurt or cursed? They had no was to defend themselves and Remus was still hurt from the full moon. She quickly ran to the kitchen, ignoring the awful head rush she was getting, to go find the others. "Cassie? Bess? Jill? Are you okay?"
It was Remus who came hobbling out of the pantry. "We're alright," he said. "Well, we're alive, at least."
Lily rushed past him and saw her friends huddling together in the corner. Cassie was grabbing her ankle and wincing in pain while Jill held her jumper to a bleeding arm. It looked like Bess hadn't suffered any harm at first glance, but when Lily got closer she could see that Bess' eyes were crossed.
"Lily?" said Bess shakily, "Is that you? Are they gone?"
"The Ministry of Magic and the Aurors are here," said Lily as she knelt beside the girls. "They're like the magical police and they captured a bunch of the Death Eaters. We'll be okay. I'm just so glad we're all safe."
"That was so scary," whispered Jill.
"I'm so sorry you were all dragged into this," Lily told them.
"It's alright. It's not your fault, I guess," said Cassie. "At least now we know why you were sent away to boarding school." She smiled at Lily.
"Yeah, that's true! No more secrets between us," laughed Lily, feeling more relieved that her friends would be alright.
"Maybe... maybe we could visit you at your magic school? Could you teach us some tricks?" asked Jill, looking hopeful.
"That would be pretty fun, wouldn't it?" said Lily, though she didn't think it would be allowed for her to bring Muggles to Hogwarts.
"Everything all right in here?" came Moody's growling voice from the door.
"They have some injuries, but nothing fatal," Lily told him. A few other Aurors came into the pantry and helped the girls up and onto floating stretchers. Lily was glad that she was allowed to walk. She met up with James, Sirius, and Remus in the living room.
Again, Lily ignored the pain in her head and ran over to James, catching him in a hug which he gladly returned. She never wanted to let go.
"Hey, I want in on this!" said Sirius and he wrapped his arms around them both.
"You, too, Moony," laughed James and soon Remus joining in.
Lily was so thankful that everyone was alive and she desperately wanted to stay in this Marauder sandwich forever.
"Excuse me," said a woman and the hug broke apart, "but we need you to accompany us to the Ministry of Magic now. I don't believe that any of you are in a fit state to apparate, so we have to wait a couple of minutes for the Floo Powder to become available. Any questions?"
"Yeah, I've got one," Sirius said, " why are we going to the Ministry?"
"Well, you all need to attend your hearing."
"Hearing?" asked Lily and she and James looked at each other. Why was there a hearing? Were they being punished for being attacked?
"Yes. All four of you are underage, therefore the magic you preformed was against the law." The woman saw the panicked look on all of their faces and continued. "Don't worry too horribly, I'm sure you will all be released due to your circumstance."
As Lily turned to look at the others, she saw Remus shift uncomfortably. She wondered if he thought that his werewolf problem would count against him. She wondered the same.
Before she knew it, Lily was being ushered into the tiny fireplace with the boys and being directed on where to go. Alastar Moody shuffled in after them, held up a large fist contained with powder, and shouted, "Ministry of Magic."
Having never travelled by Floo Powder before, Lily made the mistake of keeping her mouth slightly ajar. She began to choke on the hot ashes that rushed around her. But in a flash, she was tumbling out of another fireplace, far away from the little cabin on the Chirstophe Braziere Ski Resort.
Lily looked around to see the other boys brushing ashes off their clothes and James shaking embers from his messy hair.
"This way," growled Moody and he took off down a corridor. Lily sped up her pace to try to keep up with Moody, but he was walking extraordinarily quickly for a man with a limp. She had never been to the Ministry of Magic before and, even though a hearing wasn't the best of occasions, she couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the beautiful and intricate detail of the underground building.
There wasn't much time for admiring the architecture, however, for in just a few minutes they had reached the courtroom.
It wasn't a huge room, but it was large enough to fit close to sixty wizards and witches, all wearing impressive robes and matching hats. In the sea of black, Lily spotted a small group of outsiders, whose more colorful clothing stuck out like a sore thumb. As she looked more closely, she realized her parents were amongst them. Her mother looked horribly nervous and shifty, not quite sure where to look and what to do. Her father, on the other hand, was wide-eyed and curious, soaking in his new surroundings. He was the first to spot Lily and nodded at her, not sure if waving would be appropriate under the circumstances. When her mother looked over, Lily could see the worry and concern in her eyes.
Next to her parents was an extremely anxious woman who was wringing her hands and blinking away tears. Maybe Mrs Lupin? A row behind her were another, slightly older couple who looked a tad annoyed and the slightest bit tired. Lily guessed that these were James' parents, especially when she saw the final group. The three people, dressed very elegantly and looking grim, could only be the Blacks. The mother, whose long, dark hair curtained her sallow face, sat very still with her glaring gaze fixed on Sirius. The man to her right had his eyes shut and his long, ringed fingers massaged his temple. He was the best dressed of them all, with what looked like a dragon scale suit under a velvet robe. The last member, who Lily recognized as Sirius' younger brother, Regulus, sat uncomfortably on his bench. He ruffled his black, wavy hair over his forehead and looked down, as if he were trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone else in the courtroom. All three of the Blacks were angling themselves away from where Lily's parents were sitting just a row away.
"Oh Merlin," said Sirius upon finding his parents in the crowd. "I'm dead."
"Where did you tell them you were going, again?" asked James as he gave a little wave to his own parents.
"Er, I don't remember. Egypt? Romania? No use pretending now, though."
"Why do we even need to be on trial?" asked Lily.
"I'm going to guess it'll be because of all the underage magic, exposing Muggles to our world, and for letting a werewolf loose on the grounds of a ski resort," said Remus.
He was right.
The trial went by quickly because the Ministry decided that the underage magic was acceptable in life threatening situations. When Lily explained exactly how her friends learned about magic, that was excused, as well.
"We can deal with that little problem," the judge said after Lily finished. "As for the werewo- I mean, as for Mr Remus Lupin, we would like for you to come up."
Remus shakily limped to the middle of the room and looked up to the judge.
"Mr Remus Lupin, were you aware of when the full moon was occurring this month?" The judge asked.
"Yes," Remus muttered after clearing his throat.
"And you understood that you were in a public area full of innocent Muggles?"
"Yes."
"And you understood the risks of transforming on that night and in that location?"
"Yes."
"And finally, do you understand how much your headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, goes through in order to keep you safe while you transform?"
Remus was visibly shaking now. "I do."
The judge sighed and rubbed his temple. "We don't get very many cases like this, Mr Lupin. There are technically no laws marking where werewolves can and cannot transform. I would like to ask you exactly why you chose a Muggle ski resort for this full moon?"
Remus paused to think and cleared his throat again before speaking. "I… I just wanted to be with my friends," he carefully said while he glanced behind his shoulder at James and Sirius.
"But why?"
Lily could see that Remus was concentrating on picking the right words. Letting slip that James, Sirius, and Peter were Animagi would get them in more than just a detention in the real world.
"They're good at taking care of me," he said.
"After the sun comes out?"
"Yes."
The judge took another deep breath. "I am going to speak with Professor Dumbledore. I feel as though we cannot possibly give you the correct punishment, simply because we have never dealt with a case like this before. Until then, we ask that you remain in your own home until your summer holiday is over."
Remus nodded and said, "Thank you, sir." He hobbled back to his seat next to Lily and collapsed into it. Breathing a sigh of relief, he looked over to his friends with a wary smile. "Dumbledore should go easy on me," he whispered.
The judge wrapped up the session, announcing that there would be no charges and that the Muggles would be dealt with separately.
"What dose he mean by 'dealt with?'" asked Lily and James just shrugged.
"We're bloody lucky, aren't we," said Sirius. "Not even a scratch."
"Don't speak too soon," said James, motioning over to Sirius' parents who were heading directly towards them.
Sirius rolled his eyes and James quickly darted away to avoid a confrontation with the Blacks.
"We should probably leave them to fight," said Remus, pulling Lily away. She, Remus, and James weaved their way through the crowd of witches and wizards who were exiting the court room. When she glanced back to Sirius, she could see that he was already in a full-on shouting match with his parents.
She found her own mother and father glued together and wandering around the outside corridor. Lily nervously approached them.
"Oh, darling!" squeaked her mother, grabbing her in a tight embrace. "What ever have you been doing on your holiday? It all sounded so horrible."
"We were under the impression that you were relaxing with your normal friends," added her father. "How did those magical werewolf blokes even get involved?"
"It's sort of a long story-" started Lily, but her mother cut her off.
"And where are Cassie, Bess, and Jill?"
"I… I don't know. Would you mind if I went with James, Remus, and Sirius to find them?" asked Lily.
"Oh, Lily," said her mother, shaking her head, "I don't think that's a good idea."
"It sounds like you were in an extremely dangerous situation… we don't want you getting into more trouble," said her father.
"We were so worried when the funny looking patchwork man showed up at the door and told us what happened," said her mother. "Petunia was upset, too, of course."
Lily rolled her eyes. "I'm sure she was devastated."
"We'd rather you'd just stay with us and come home now," her father said sternly.
"Well, that's too bad," Lily said. "I'm going to find my friends now, because I don't know what's happened to them and I'm very worried and I don't think you could ever understand that my world is way different from yours." The last part was a bit irrelevant, but Lily was angry and it was honestly how she felt.
Her poor parents stood in front of her, slightly dumbfounded.
"I'm going," repeated Lily. "You can stay if you want. Or leave. I'm sure you could exit in whatever way you came." With that, she turned and determinedly walked away, feeling bad about being so rude to her worried and out-of-place parents.
Quickly, she found James, who was already laughing with his own mum and dad. They must have been used to their son getting in trouble, what with all the detentions James had received throughout his years at Hogwarts. She greeted him and James turned to introduce her to his parents.
"Mum, Dad, this is Lily Evans," he said as Lily shook their hands.
"Lily Evans?" said James' father. He had a very deep, booming voice that didn't seem to fit his lanky build. "That name sounds familiar. James, you've mentioned Lily before, haven't you?"
James turned the slightest shade of pink and cleared his throat, uncomfortably. "Erm, no… no I don't think so."
"Oh no," said James' mother, a short, petite witch with mousey hair, "I do recall you speaking of a Miss Evans. Quite a lot, actually."
"And for years, I'd say," said Mr Potter, sneaking a wink towards Lily, who blushed, herself.
"Okay," said James as he pushed his parents away, "that's enough of you two, now."
Mr and Mrs Potter laughed at their son and were about to leave when Sirius stormed over, looking absolutely furious.
"Oh, Sirius!" exclaimed Mrs Potter, happy to see James' friend.
"I'm leaving them," Sirius said, a fire in his eyes aflame from the battle he had just had with his mother and father.
"Sorry, dear?" said Mrs Potter, reaching out instinctively towards Sirius.
"I'm not living there anymore."
"Padfoot, what happened?" asked James, alarmed.
"It's not important. I just can't live there anymore. Okay?" Sirius didn't look any of them in the eye.
"Well, son, you know you're always welcome at our house. In fact, we insist you live with us," said Mr Potter as he put an arm around Sirius.
"Thanks," mumbled Sirius.
"I'll go arrange a room for you then, love," added Mrs Potter, giving Sirius a big hug.
"Thank you," said Sirius, smiling once again.
"Do you want to go find the girls?" said James after a moment.
"Yes please," said Lily. She was horribly concerned that something bad was going to happen to them. The way that the judge had spoken about them didn't sound at all positive. The three of them left to go find Remus, who was speaking to his mother.
Mrs Lupin was a complete mess. Her cheeks were stained with tears and she was furiously blowing her bright red nose into a lacy handkerchief. She held on to Remus, rocking him back and forth as she would a young child. Remus stood still, his arms at his sides. He turned his head away from his sobbing mother, saw Lily, James, and Sirius, and mouthed, "I'll write you later."
They took that as their queue to leave and so Lily, James, and Sirius headed away from the crowd and down another corridor. They found Moody down the hall.
"You're lucky," he told them as they approached him. "Especially that Lupin boy. He's damn lucky there aren't more strict laws for werewolves."
"I was wondering," said Lily, "why didn't the Ministry come earlier when we did underage magic? And why didn't anyone come and help us sooner?"
"It was the Death Eaters," explained Moody with a growl. "They put a sort of complicated curse around that whole ski resort. From the looks of it, the spell was put up right after you all arrived and taken down when they came to attack you. It completely blocked out our sensors. Your Traces couldn't be tracked, so it was like you were hidden from the Ministry's eye."
"Huh," said James, looking mischievous, "any possible way we could learn that spell?"
Sirius laughed, but Moody kept a straight face. "No, Potter, you cannot." With that, he hobbled away without another word.
"These Ministry blokes have no sense of humor," complained James.
"Are you also referring to when you told the judge that, and I quote, 'Remus' fury little problem is just a side effect of being a total badass?'" said Sirius with a barking laugh.
"That was hilarious, you've got to admit," said James. "I even saw that one chubby guy crack a smile at that one."
Lily smiled and shook her head. "Seriously, guys. We should try and find Cassie, Bess, and Jill," she said.
The boys nodded and the three headed off down the next corridor in search for their Muggle friends.
Snowflakes by The_Dream_Team
Chapter Notes: It has been an embarrassingly long time since I updated this story and for that I apologize. I hope you remember what was happening! If not, here's the rundown: The Death Eaters attacked Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, Cassie, Bess, and Jill in the cabin that they were in because Remus had transformed into a werewolf the night before. Lily had been cut by Bellatrix's knife and there was just an announcement that everyone was under arrest. Okay, here's the next chapter!
Chapter Endnotes: Thanks so much for reading! I know this took a ridiculously long time to post, but I promise that I will finish this story. Thanks to everyone for sticking with it!