Heyyy, so sorry I haven't updated in forever, I'm super busy with school and stuff lol. But, honestly, I'm going to try and finish this story I'm literally so determined. It will also be going in a different direction than it was when I started writing this story around three years ago. My ideas about this have changed and I was probs like 13 when I started writing this and now I'm 16 so there might be a lot different! Sorry again!
"James! James Potter!"
"Lily! I can't be bothered!" James groaned, getting seriously annoyed with his girlfriend.
"You finish it right now!" She said, shoving a quill into his chest and gesturing towards his Divination essay.
"No!" He threw the quill all the way across the room, it flew and hit the wall, cluttering down the back of the bookshelf. He stomped over to a table in the corner of the room, Lily staring at him with fury.
"You're IMPOSSIBLE!" She yelled at him, going over to find her favourite quill from behind the bookshelf.
She rummaged round the back of the shelf and James twirled his wand in his fingers, running his finger in circles on the table. Suddenly, all of the lights went out.
But here's the thing, it was night.
And as it looked, all of the lights in Hogwarts had gone out.
Pitch. Black.
"Lily?" James whispered to himself, clutching his wand and shoving it into his pocket.
"James? James?" She said quietly, keeping both of her hands on the bookshelf, as to not loose her bearings. Her chest tightened as she held her breath- this had never happened before. "Lumos." She said, pulling out her wand.
Why didn't I do that? James thought, mentally smacking in self for being an idiot. He then pulled out his wand and did the same, spotting a faint silhouette of Lily. He slowly walked over to her silently, careful not to bump into anything. He touched her hand on the bookshelf and clutched it tightly, she noticed him and pressed herself against his chest, not wanting to be alone.
"What's going on?" James whispered lightly in Lily's ear. He saw her panicked expression, realising how rigid she was. "Shh, it's okay, just stay here." He cooed, holding her closer to him.
"I'm sure it's nothing." she reassured herself. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before in their seven years of being at Hogwarts. It probably wasn't that big of a deal... but why was there this pit in her stomach? A growing feeling of suspicion? Suddenly, faint footsteps began to grow louder as they advanced towards the common room.
James whispered for them to put their wands out, and so she did. Then as the footsteps became more clear and consistent, they could hear more, moving vastly up the stairs.
And that's when it all started.
They could hear curses flying everywhere, heaving breathing and loud stomps.
Lily couldn't stand it anymore. She wanted to protect people. She didn't want to be a healer, like she had told her parents. She wanted to be an Auror. She wanted to fight. Although the thought terrified her, she knew it was the right thing, even if it was some mad sixth years having a duel, she wanted to help, she wanted to protect.. And she whispered to James,
"I want to go out there," she squeezed his hand and pulled it towards the portrait door, "I can't stand it.", he followed her but stopped her in the middle. He turned her around and kissed her, just in case.
"I hope its not too serious." He whispered, moving towards the door again, their fingers still intertwined.
They creaked open the portrait door, and blinding lights of spells were firing back and forth. On the left side Lily could see McGonagall and Flitwick, firing spells rapidly. On the opposing side of them stood two cloaked figures: death eaters. Initial shock left her paralysed for mere seconds, before she whispered something in James' ear. Something risky. Something that if it went wrong, it could turn a lot uglier.
James counted back from three, and when he got to one, they pointed their wands in the opposite direction, yelling 'PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!'.
They hesitated for a moment, wondering if it had worked, and then finally heard bodies crash down to the floor.
Lily was shaking all over at what they had just done, when she came back to her senses, James had pulled her from the door to face the two teachers. They smiled at the two teenagers, never had been more pleased to see them.
"Well done, Mr Potter, Ms Evans. Now once the lights come back on, which I would expect will be soon, Dumbledore has told us to inform everyone to go back to their dorms immediately." Professor McGonagall said sternly, going to walk down the stairs, Professor Flitwick following. "Thank you." She smiled, levitating the two death eaters down the stairs.
Minutes later, the lights slowly started to flare up once again. James and Lily looked at each other, stood in the middle of the common room, and she placed a firm hand on his arm, squeezing it slightly.
He smiled at her, a smile that instilled her with newfound confidence that she never thought she was capable of having.
"Merlin's beard." she muttered, letting her arms hang beside her, just getting over the adrenaline rush.
<>
"James?" Lily whispered, creaking his bedroom door open, entering.
"Lils?" He rubbed his eyes, flicking on a light. "What are you doing here?"
"Can I stay in here tonight?" she went and lead down next to him in his bed and peered over at him, he was squinting at her in the dark without his glasses.
"You can stay here if you want." He put his strong arms around her, pulling her into him.
"Yeah. Thanks." She looked up at him, and he kissed her nose, "I think this was only the start of something tonight."
"The start?" James queried, propping himself up onto his elbow, facing her.
"Yeah, this won't have been random, they're here for something. The question is what." she stated, a shiver travelling up her spine at the thought.
"So much for Hogwarts being the safest place to be." he said with a light chuckle.
"We'll be okay."
"Of course we will. We have each other."
