[On Hiatus] It Was Meant to Be (A James and Lily Story)

Chapter 10

Lily rushed to the Owlery and addressed her letter to Marlene. She chose one of the school owls and tied the letter to its leg. She watched as it flew off into the night.

She walked back to the Heads Dormitory, lost in thought. She barely noticed the person in front of her until she almost collided with him.

"James?"

"Lily?"

He was studying a piece of paper in front of him and looked up when he saw her in front of him. He waved the piece of paper in front of him, "Just picking up the list of people who want to try out for Quidditch. Sirius gave me a copy. Are you going back to the dorm?"

"Yeah, I was just sending a letter. When are you holding tryouts?" She asked as they began to walk together.

"Sunday. It's going to be a mess," he muttered, massaging his forehead.

Lily laughed. "I'm sure it'll be great. I don't care as long as we crush Slytherin this year."

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

In front of James and Lily stood one of Hogwarts' most notorious Slytherins, Bellatrix Black. Standing behind her was an assortment of other Slytherins including Rodolphus Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange, Evan Rosier, Trevor Mulciber, William Avery, and Jack Wilkes. Off to the side stood Snape, which didn't surprise Lily.

"What do you want, Black?" Lily asked.

"What was Dumbledore thinking --making a blood traitor and a mudblood, Heads of the school?" Bellatrix sneered.

"Don't call her that!" James roared.

"James," Lily placed her hand on James' arm, "Let's get out of here." She eyed Snape warily.

"Lily I-"

"Ah, of course. It's just like the mudblood to want to run away from a fight. What a coward. Where's that infamous Gryffindor courage?" Bellatrix taunted.

Next to her, James' face twisted. She didn't know why, but suddenly, she was filled with red-hot anger. "You know what, I'm tired of running away. I'm not afraid of you and your cronies, Black. It actually seems like you're the coward, eight against two."

"Impressive, it'll be nice to spill some mudblood blood right at the beginning of the year," Bellatrix smirked.

James smiled cruelly. "Yeah, it'll be nice to slice up a few Death Eaters, don't you think, Lils?"

"Hmm, let's see what you got." Bellatrix mused, "Fight them, you twerps."

Lily didn't know who shot the first curse, but suddenly, she was thrust into a full-on duel. She backed Avery and Wilkes into a corner and began to shout spell after spell. On the other side of her, she could hear James shouting spells left and right.

"Petrificus Totalus!"  she yelled, aiming her wand straight at Wilkes, who froze, ram-rod straight.

"Stupefy!" shouted Avery, but Lily sidestepped his curse and sent one of her own right back.

"Depulso!" Avery crashed against the wall, knocking his wand out of his hand. 

"Ventus!" Lily aimed her wand at his wand, blowing it away from reach.

She looked around and she saw Snape hidden away in a dark corner. She sought out James, trying to block curses from Mulciber and the two Lestrange brothers. 

"Defodio!" yelled Mulciber. Lily recognized the gouging spell and aimed her wand at Mulciber and cast the Jelly-Fingers curse. Mulciber fumbled around and dropped his wand, and James quickly flung aside the curse.

"Expelliarmus!" Mulciber's wand flew out of his reach, into James' outstretched hand. He looked at Lily and winked. 

"Incendio!" Rosier shouted, somewhere to her left, and Lily saw the flames burst out of his wand. She knew she didn't have enough time to move away, when she was knocked to the ground. She looked up and saw James patting out the fire on his sleeve. He reached down to her, but she quickly aimed her wand over his head, "Stupefy!" 

He looked around and saw Rabastan Lestrange on the ground behind him. Lily quickly clambered up and aimed her wand at Rosier while James took on Rodolphus Lestrange. 

"Flipendo!" Lily yelled, but Rosier blocked her. 

She counteracted with a Stinging Jinx, which made its mark. Lily smiled as she conjured a blindfold over Rosier's eyes. She cast another spell,  "Expelliarmus!", and grabbed his wand.

She heard a satisfying thud as Rodolphus went down beside James. They both rounded on Bellatrix, wands out. 

She sneered at the pair of them. "Well, well, well. It looks like Dumbledore' pets have been taught well. But I bet you can't go up against me."

"We don't need to. We beat you and you know it. Leave us alone." James lowered his wand and looked at Lily.

"No no no, remember I said I wanted to spill some blood. I don't make false promises." Bellatrix made a slashing motion with her wand and Lily gasped as she felt blood spilling out of a cut on her cheek. She lifted her hand and it came away bloody.

James saw Lily's fingers soaked in her blood and he saw red. He rounded on Bellatrix and shot curse after curse. Bellatrix laughed and parried away each one of them. Lily grabbed her wand and prepared to blast a curse at Bellatrix, but suddenly her wand was whisked out of her hand. She looked around and saw Snape had caught her wand. 

"Lily, I don't think you should get involved. It's not your fight."

Lily narrowed her eyes and balled her hands into fists. "Give me my wand back, Snape."

Severus felt her words sting but kept his grip on her wand. "I can't. Lily, you should leave before you get involved."

"I don't think you understand. I was always involved and I will always be involved because I'm a mudblood, right, Snape? You said it yourself. I'm not going to leave James alone."

Severus was filled with anger when she said his name. James Potter was her sworn enemy. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Lily," he said before casting Locomotor Mortis.

Lily's eyes widened as she felt her feet go stiff. 

"Here's your wand Lily. Catch it if you can," Snape said, as he threw her wand towards her. It landed a few feet away from her. Snape slinked back into the shadows.

Lily grunted and was forced to watch as James battled Bellatrix. She struggled to get out of Snape's spell and reach her wand, but she had no practice with wandless magic. She squirmed and tried any countercurse she knew, but to no avail. 

She watched as James tired in his duel with Bellatrix. He was trying, but she was too powerful against him, using spells he dared not try. He was forced on the defensive side and continued to fight her off, casting an offensive spell when he had the chance. 

"Enough playing. Show me you have the guts to fight dirty, Potter."

"I'll never stoop to your level, Black."

She laughed, her maniac laugh echoing against the walls. Lily tried to move her feet, but she was frozen. No, she couldn't be useless while James was fighting this lunatic. She willed her wand to her, but nothing happened. She concentrated everything she had and yelled, "Accio Wand!"

She wand flew to her hand and she performed the countercurse on herself. She felt her legs again and turned to James, but she was too late.

"Crucio!"  yelled Bellatrix.

"No! Protego!" Lily yelled as she tried to block the Unforgivable Curse.

The two spells knocked into James, throwing him to the floor. His wand rolled out of his hand and his entire body went limp.