The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part One

The Battle on the Atrium Floor

The fight on the Atrium floor was well underway. The Ministry witches and wizards, although taken by surprise, were all very well trained and quite intelligent and they were quick with their wands.

James had simply thrown himself into the fray, leaping to assist a young witch who he recognized from school - a Hufflepuff. "Potter!" she'd cried, seeing him, "You - what're you doing here?"

"Lending a wand, Amelia!"

Together they faced on against the Death Eater fighting her, who was quite advanced with his dark craft, and they managed at throwing him back against the wall, knocking him down and getting an incarcerus charm set upon him, binding him cleanly up. 

"Thanks, Potter! I owe you one!"

"No worries, Amelia!" James replied, ducking away to defend himself as another Death Eater came from behind at him, grabbing at him and pulling him into a strong-armed chokehold. 

Amelia raised her wand and shot the man in the neck with a stunner, forcing the man to release James as he fell to the floor.

"See, look at that," James said with a laugh, "Repaid me already!"

The atrium was criss-crossed with jets of light sparking in great arcs, and fighting them was like attempting to move through a high-stakes obstacle course. Dodging left and right, ducking and even jumping over spells was completely necessary - all while shooting back your own spells as an offensive measure. He saw many witches and wizards that he knew from years of Charlus working and paling about with them - faces like Jack McKinnon (Marlene's father), Loretta Poppins, Emeril Breakwater, Ostanza Perrier, and Arther Weasley floated past, their wands bared and aiming sparks about.

James ducked a sizzling blue jet of light that exploded with a great blast against the wall just over his shoulder. Debris were sent every which way and he landed on his arse, skidding across the floor, and knocking over a Death Eater in the process. The Death Eater tumbled down upon him and his mask was knocked askew in the process.

"Potter." The name was hissed in a deep, slow voice that James would have recognized without a glance at the face behind the skull-shaped mask.

"Snivellus."

Snape reached up and knocked the mask back on properly in a hurry, his legs scrambling for traction as he righted himself. James followed suit and they both raised their wands at the same time, aiming at one another. 

"Just give me a reason, you bastard," James hissed.

Snape's wand arm was steady and his chin held up regally as he stared at James through the eye-holes of the mask. "You're a fool," Severus replied. "If you were going to do it, you would have done already." He paused, keeping his wand aimed at James - James doing the same in return. "Is Lily here?"

"It isn't any of your damned business if she is or not," James replied. Then, "She would be most disappointed to know that you've descended so far as to don that mask. Fighting like the cowards you all are, can't even be bothered at showing your faces - too scared to be exposed for what you are..."

Snape fired off a spell that James only just managed to dodge, which glanced off a display case that housed some magical artifact or another, shattering the glass. It rained down onto the ground, scattering across the tile.

"Good enough." James shot a spell back, stinging Severus's wrist, and they started dueling. They were both so much better than they'd ever been when they'd fought in school. Severus's spells were darker, but James was faster and stronger, more agile to dodge the magic being thrown at him.

There was a shriek from across the hall - it distracted James as he looked to see who had yelled, and he saw a witch clutching the robes of a wizard that lay on the floor, and James felt his stomach twist realizing that the wizard was dead, whoever he was. The anguish in the witch's cries were enough to send shivers through his blood, even among all the terror that filled the atrium, that cry was the worst.