I Loved You More

Chapter #29

Fatal Fury

The grassy slopes of the Hogwarts grounds were glowing silver in the eerie light of the moon, which hung low over the forest. The shadows were deep and thick, ready to swallow any passing creature. The night was still and warm and silent, apart from a low, melancholy howl that echoed in the distance.

There were three figures walking across the grounds, descending the sloping hill and casting thin shadows that glided over the bank in long arches. The leader of the threesome treaded carefully but swiftly, occasionally glancing back at his pursuers, who walked easily, side by side, as though they had not a care in the world. The moonlight fell upon the leader's face, sucking out all of its color so that it was deathly pale.

The two girls behind him did not speak. All they did was follow the pale boy's every step.

Follow him.

The command reverberated loudly in Lily's ears, generating from inside her head. It had become a repetitive echo and as she got used to it, a strange idea occurred to her: she would perhaps like to know where she was going.

It doesn't matter.

All right, then.

The wonderful sense of ease settled into her once again.

They marched down the lane, moving faster as they approached the gates. Silently, Snape opened them and stepped through. The others followed and waited while he closed it behind them. When he started heading down the road, they promptly began following him again, a step behind.

A cluster of shops was ahead. The street lanterns arcing in front of them were quite unnecessary under the heavy moonlight flooding the village. The street was riotous with people wrapped in black cloaks darting in and out of the shops like shadows. Every few seconds, there was a brief flash of light visible through the shop windows, as though colorful lightning storms were raging inside. There were muffled screams and loud crashes.

Suddenly, a window burst from the inside as Snape and the girls passed it. Lily was only partly aware of the commotion and was even less fazed by it. She kept her eyes focused on the back of Snape's head and concentrated on moving her feet in his direction.

"Severus! What took you so lo--what are they doing here?!"

One of the black-robed figures was rushing toward them, dodging two men dueling viciously.

"They got in the way," was Snape's curt reply.

"What are you going to do with them? How'd you get them to follow you?" He paused, and then, sounding as though he was trying vainly to contain his awe, asked, "Did you do the Imperius Curse?"

"Yes." Snape folded his arms and looked back at the two girls in a bored way.

Lily slowly began to notice these little details of the pair's behavior. Now that she thought about it, there was also a large knot growing in her stomach, and she had a feeling, steadily growing in strength, that she was in danger.

The man--Lily saw he had a hood over his face--stepped closer to Snape. "So...you want to have some fun with the little blood traitors?" He jerked his head toward Lily and Di.

"Fun?"

"Yeah. We can put one of these shops to use now that the owners are gone..." He snickered.

The knot tightened sharply in Lily's stomach.

"Come on." The hooded man took hold of Di's arm and began to steer her toward the shop with the smashed window.

Follow him.... The commanding voice sounded slightly weaker. Lily obeyed but only because she had a flickering suspicion that Di would be in trouble if she went into the shop alone with that man.

They stepped into the shop. It was a wreck: shelves had been tipped over and their contents had spilled all across the floor, smashed and broken. In the corner, there was a woman crouched over a man lying among the ruins. He did not move.

Suddenly a very clear thought pierced the haziness of Lily's brain.

This man had been killed.

A gust of bitter cold swept through her. Her heart seemed to be fighting to get out of her chest.

The woman looked up when the man who was gripping Di crushed a piece of glass with his foot. Her face glowed white, like the full moon, in the darkness. Her mouth was open but she seemed incapable of any sound.

The man sniggered leeringly at her. "Something wrong with your husband, honey?" he asked in a mock sweet tone.

A low, chilling moan emitted from the woman's gaping mouth.

"Oh, you're going to make this too easy, aren't you?" He seemed partially annoyed and partly delighted.

"Let me do it. I was the one who got the girls," said Snape. He stepped forward and raised his wand.

He's going to hurt her!

As realization filled her, Lily snatched her wand from her pocket and pointed it at Snape. "STUPEFY!"

The streak of fiery light struck Snape in the center of his back. Instantly, Lily's surroundings and the situation became starkly clear. Beside her, Lily heard Di gasp, and she knew the spell had been lifted from them.

She jerked her wand to point it at the man, who had turned away from the woman, a jet of light flying from the tip of his wand and coming straight toward her. Lily ducked swiftly, screaming for help from Di.

"Impedimenta!" shrieked Di.

Her curse just barely hit the man in the shoulder and it sent him spinning toward the ground. He landed on his stomach.

"Please! Go get help!" screamed Lily at the woman, who was watching blankly. "HURRY--"

Lily's feet left the ground and she was thrown through the remains of the window, shards of glass ripping her clothes, before she could register what was happening. She collided with the cobble stones of the street and inky blackness clouded over her vision. A sharp, dizzying pain sliced the back of her skull. It seemed to be spreading into her brain, wiping away thought. The screams and crashes and running footsteps around her were fading away. She was about to let go, disappear into the darkness, when a scream rang through her head.

"LILY?!"

James? Dazedly, Lily recognized the panicked voice. A surge of emotions ruptured inside of her but her brain would only allow one thought pass at a time.

I have to move so he does not think I'm dead.

She tried to lift her head but the pain seared in protest. Helplessly, she raised her arm but only her hand moved. It lifted off the ground and fell into a warm palm.

"James," croaked Lily, and she gripped his hand with all her strength.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God...what the hell are you doing here, Lily?" James muttered, more to himself. Lily could feel fear, alarm, rage, and a quiet little note of pride in the tone of his voice.

The black cloud seemed to disperse a little. She could see a greenish light glowing above her. She let her head loll to the side. James came into view. He was on his knees at her side, his thumb gently pressed against her wrist and his other hand against her cheek.

"Is she okay, James?!"

Lily looked for the voice and saw Sirius battling with a short hooded man beyond James.

"She will be," called James, glancing around at Sirius as he dodged a red bullet of light.

He immediately shot another back at his opponent, who fell to the ground.

"Stupid arse. I think that sod was from Hogwarts," he said, turning toward them with an air of determination. "They're all over the place."

There was an enormous smashing noise from inside the shop that Lily had been thrown out of. Lily shot up. Blood was throbbing so painfully in her head that she swayed slightly and almost dropped back to the ground.

"Bloody hell, Evans! Take it easy!" yelled Sirius in surprise, as James steadied her.

"I don't think it's a good idea to sit up," he said tensely.

"Di's in there!" cried Lily, the recollection giving her strength to think.

She pointed at the shop and Sirius dashed inside without another word.

Lily struggled urgently to get to her feet so that she could follow. It must have been at least five--maybe ten--minutes since she had been flown through window...five or ten minutes during which anything could have happened to Di.

James wrapped an arm around her waist, sending a curse to an approaching Death Eater behind her back as he did so. Lily craned her neck to look around. The Death Eater flew back, hit another, and they collapsed in a heap on the ground.

She saw that the street was filled with them, stepping over bodies that were lying motionless amidst the confusion. Curses were soaring back and forth and most of the other shop windows had been shattered. Above, glittering ominously in the night sky, was the Dark Mark, shining down upon the dark hoods of the attackers and the horrified faces of the villagers.

James supported Lily as they scrambled to the door of the shop.

"Oh, shit!" exclaimed James, startled.

Lily peered anxiously inside and the sight that met her eyes shot waves of shock whipping through her body.

The woman was hunched against the far wall and the dead man, probably the owner of the destroyed little shop, was cradled in her arms. She was watching the scene with wide, vacant eyes. Sirius was standing a few feet away, just next to where Snape lay Stunned, frantically shouting Di's name. But she didn't seem to hear him.

Diana was standing in the middle of the shop, waving her wand around wildly. It was aimed at the hooded man and each time she jerked it, he was thrown in the same direction, slamming into the stone walls or the fallen shelves on the floor.

The green light of the Dark Mark illuminated Di's face and Lily had never seen a look of such intense, ferociously powerful anger. It seemed to possess Diana...contain her within a crazed trance. There was nothing of the girl Lily knew in that face.

Sirius yelled and yelled but Diana's flaming eyes never left the man, who crashed limply around the room at her command. The heavy way he flopped as he rammed into the counter made strangling snakes of fear intertwine around Lily's heart. Air seemed to evaporate from inside her lungs.

Sirius glanced back at her gasping for breath before turning and rushing at Di, grabbing her arm and wrenching the wand out of her hand. The man slid flaccidly off the counter and onto the floor.

Di jumped away from Sirius and crumpled to the floor, screaming a wrenching, blood-curdling scream.

Lily made to run toward her but she only slipped from James's grasp to the glass-strewn floor. She tried feverishly to crawl across the wreckage on her hands and knees but she was gently lifted off the ground before she could make any progress.

James stepped over Snape and carried her across the room to where Di was coiled up in a ball on the floor, shuddering and screaming. Lily reached out and took hold over her heaving shoulders. Although she was terrified of what she might see in them, she looked into Di's eyes. The cold fury had vanished, replaced by desperate, haunted, fear.

Di's screaming subsided and she gripped Lily fiercely, sobbing into her shoulder. Lily held her tightly and watched Sirius pick his way across the wreckage to where the hooded man lay.

"Anyone we know?" asked James, his voice hoarse and faint.

Carefully, Sirius removed the black hood to reveal his face.

The floor seemed to drop from underneath her as Lily stared across the room into the dark, lifeless eyes of Clive Pritchard.