Lily

Chapter Fifty Six:

There was a blinding flash of light after Harry gave his signal and chaos ensued. Spells flew as they ran, Lily racing right alongside her brother who led the way. They fled from the room, spells being fired at them as they ran. At every opportunity, they would shoot spells back at the Death Eaters from over their shoulder.

There was a pained noise as Hermione was stunned and stopped running, starting to tip towards the floor.

She was caught by Ron and December.

"Come on!" Harry encouraged, "Keep going!"

Dragging Hermione along with them, they continued their desperate escape. They left the room with the prophecies and entered another one at random. Neville cried out as a spell broke his nose, and he tripped, Lena stopping him from falling over and dragging him to run faster. She was so focused on helping him that she completely missed the spell shot her way that knocked her unconscious.

"Lena!" Neville exclaimed, now he was the one holding her.

Ginny raced to his side to help carry Lena, but moving while carrying the weight of both Lena and Hermione's bodies slowed the group down. A spell fired at Ron caused him to start giggling and looking around dazed. Now December was struggling to drag Hermione along and keep Ron moving with them as well. Lily moved to help her, and Harry reluctantly released her hand from his tight grasp.

Another flash of light and they heard the awful sound of bone cracking as Ginny yelped in agony. almost dropping Lena. Her ankle was now broken, but she tried to keep wobbling to keep up with Neville and support Lena. Luna went to her side to take her place in supporting Lena's weight and gripped Ginny's hand in her free one while letting her use Luna for balance.

Somehow they ended up in the room with the brains and the door slammed behind them. They heard shouts of anger as the room outside spun, no doubt confusing the Death Eaters, but their distraction wouldn't last long.

Unfortunately, December had released Ron's hand to shift her grip on Hermione. He stumbled towards one of the tanks with a brain.

"Ron!" Harry shouted in warning, trying to get to him.

"Look, Harry! Brains!" Ron exclaimed gleefully, reaching out to grab one out of the tank.

Tentacles shot out of the brain and began to strangle Ron. December ensured Hermione was being held upright by Lily before rushing to his side to try and free him. The door to the room burst open. Death Eaters trickled in and shot spells with more vigor than ever. Ginny, Neville, and Luna were thrown backwards into a desk and rendered unconscious, Lena's body tossed with them.

With no time to stop, the others ran from the room and ended up in the room with the archway. Lily collapsed from the strain of supporting Hermione and tried her best to gently lower the stunned girl to the floor. Harry turned around, trying to assess who to help first, and, finally having freed Ron from his near death experience and dragged him to the next room, December spun to fight. She was knocked out quickly and crumpled to the floor. Ron was still laughing from where he was flung on the floor, and he was ignored.

Lily jumped to her feet and rushed to Harry's side, they stood back to back and pointed their wands around at the Death Eaters that began to surround them. She was crying at this point, and cursed her tears for blurring her vision slightly, but not pausing from her desperate attacks to wipe them. There was simply no time.

Then Bellatrix caught Lily's eyes, her face lighting up with cruel excitement.

There was a flash of light and all Lily knew then was the pain, pain, pain.

The horrible sensation of the Cruciatus curse made everything around her fade away as she was consumed in pure agony.

She must've been screaming, but it was hard to tell when every fiber of her being felt on fire. Then, it ended, and Lily was left gasping for breath on the floor. Her throat was sore- she had definitely been screaming. Harry was at her side in an instant. She heard new voices in the room, but they barely registered in her mind, still reeling from the attack.

"Lil!" Harry exclaimed.

"Harry." She mumbled.

He helped her sit up, and she noticed the broken sphere of glass first. The prophecy.

Harry had dropped it while rushing to her, and it had shattered upon impact with the floor. Lily had no time to dwell on this though, or worry about what it meant that the prophecy had been destroyed. Her attention was drawn to the new people in the room. Sirius, Maya, Logan, Remus, Moody, Tonks, and Kingsley. The Order.

Harry gave her a hand up, and through all the chaos, she happened to make eye contact with Logan, who looked relieved that she was okay, but also deeply panicked.

"Get out of here!" Logan yelled at the twins.

Part of Lily wanted to listen, but another part of her was screaming at her to stay. To fight. To be brave. She knew Harry wouldn't leave either, and that's the thought that confirmed her final decision. They stayed, shooting spells at the Death Eaters, standing back to back.

Lily noticed Harry's attention catching on something, and looked to see Sirius engaging in a rough battle with Bellatrix. Harry's eyes flickered to Lily's for just a split second. He asked a silent question. Lily had said that she and Harry couldn't read each other's minds, but in that moment, she knew exactly what he was asking. She nodded her head, and he was off, rushing to join Sirius.

Lily focused her attention on one of the masked Death Eaters in front of her. He shot curses and jinxes at her, some missing by mere inches, others being blocked. She barely had time to shoot spells back at him while trying not to die. Eventually, she felt something rising up in her.

These people. These Death Eater's. They had hurt her friends. Her family.

A blinding surge of anger pumped through her body. She was not weak. She was tired of everyone telling her she was. She was strong, she was a survivor, and she was brave. For the first time since being put in Gryffindor, Lily actually felt brave.

This realization focused her power and her next stunning spell hit its mark perfectly. The Death Eater fell back, and Lily grinned at her accomplishment, feeling a strong pride in not being useless. Before she could even think about starting to duel another Death Eater, she noticed the room was oddly silent.

A pair of warm arms wrapped themselves around her, and Lily knew their owner didn't pose a threat. What confused her was why she was being held. She managed to twist up and see the owner of the arms- Logan. Lily was confused, but that confusion melted away the second she caught the last glimpse of Sirius Black falling through the curtains in the archway.

What happened? Where did he go? Harry, who stood nearby seemed to be wondering the same thing. Bellatrix, on the other hand, took the distraction as her chance to escape, fleeing the scene. Time seemed to move impossibly slow. Harry took a step forward to the archway before Remus' arms were around him. Harry struggled, trying to break free and find Sirius. The truth hit Lily late, but when it hit, it struck like lightning.

Sirius Black was dead.