"The place looks beautiful. You guys did a great job." Lily looked around in wonder before looking at Charlie Weasley. "The tent looks magnificent."
"Thank you."
"Fleur is going to love this." she said. "She's been chattering about how excited she is all day."
"Excited? Bill's so nervous he's been driving me crazy all morning, making sure everything's in place before the guests arrive. Speaking of, we should go get ready soon."
Lily nodded, gulping slightly. "Any word from Percy?"
Charlie smiled at her sadly, squeezing her hand. "No. Nothing. I don't think he'll be attending the wedding. Sorry."
"It's okay." Lily said, covering her disappointment with a small smile. "I don't know why I expected him to come either. It's not as if we've been keeping in contact since that night anyway..." she chuckled darkly, looking away. "Let's just go change."
Charlie looked at Lily's retreating figure with a small frown. Something had changed in Lily since that night a year ago. She no longer had that happy glint in her eyes, even when she smiled or grinned, it was only half true. The night she had left Percy, she had left a part of her with him.
The wedding was in full swing, and Lily was having a nice time along with everyone else as Charlie attempted to make her feel better, not letting her be alone with her thoughts even once in fear that she would start thinking about Percy.
But of course, he had to eventually when people came about to greet them. Lily had just ended a conversation with Fleur's parents and had finally gotten time by herself. Until a man with shoulder length platinum blonde hair approached her, snapping her out of her reverie.
"Hello there." he smiled, extending his hand. "Xenophilius Lovegood. Publisher of The Quibbler."
Lily smiled politely as she shook his hand. "Pleasure to be of your acquaintance. I'm Li-"
"Lily Smith. The Holyhead Harpies' newest Chaser."
"Well not 'new' exactly. It's been around three years since I joined." she blushed, amazed that he had recognized her. "I'm sorry, but I've never heard of The Quibbler..."
"That's alright." the man waved it off. "We did an issue on you just last March, and I was wondering-"
"Dad, she had the look." a girl, probably seventeen approached them. She had the same platinum blonde hair and pale blue eyes. "Don't interrupt her."
"The look?" Lily asked curiously.
"The look of deep thought. You were thinking about something when my father interrupted. Sorry about that." she said, taking his arm in hers. "I'm Luna, by the way."
"Nice to meet you Luna." Lily grinned.
"We'll let you get back to your thoughts now. You look lovely in emerald green by the way." the girl said dreamily before dragging her father to the dance floor. Lily watched in amusement as the duo danced to a song, waving their hands around in a circular motion. She found it quite curious.
"Hi." Ron smiled, joining Lily, "Haven't seen you in a while."
"I was helping Fleur with her dressing arrangements." Lily shrugged. "Excited to head back to school, Ron? I heard Harry's gotten amazing marks in his Potions exams."
The ginger chuckled. "Yeah, all because of the Half Blood Prince."
"Huh?" she asked, alertly.
"Harry found this old potions book belonging to the Half Blood Prince. Not the best person though. It's... dangerous. Harry hid it away in the Room of Requirement."
"Oh..." Lily trailed off uncertainly.
Ron straightened up as Hermione emerged into the tent. "Excuse me."
"Hey." Charlie frowned, approaching the befuddled girl. "You're not supposed to be by yourself, remember?" he put his goblet down, taking her hand. "Come on. We're dancing. Right now." and without waiting for a response he pulled her to the dance floor.
Lily laughed as they danced wildly to a hit by The Weird Sisters. "Thank you for this Charles." she grinned. "It really does make me feel better."
"Anything for a sister." he winked, spinning her around. "You know, I was a little sceptical about Bill getting married in the middle of the war, but it's not quite so bad."
"I know these aren't the best times Charlie, but we've got to continue enjoying the good things life offers, right? I mean, look at this wedding, and all the happy faces. Bill and Fleur might have wanted to get married, but let's face it, we all need this." her green eyes danced with the lights bouncing off them as she and Charlie twirled around.
"You're right." he agreed. "With Dumbledore gone..."
However, he didn't get to complete that thought as the tent went dark and a blue ball of light swooped in, freezing in the middle of the dance floor. The music paused. Everyone stopped what they were doing. Most gasped. Charlie stood in front of Lily protectively. Lily froze, an ill feeling taking over her.
There was a moment of silence before a voice resonated out of the ball.
"The Ministry has fallen. The Minister of Magic is dead. They are coming. They are coming. They are coming..."
The ball of light disappeared. The tent errupted into babble.
"Th- that was Shacklebolt's voice." Lily stuttered. "How can Rufus Scrimgeour be dead? Who's coming?" she asked, panicking as her breath trembled.
"Calm down. Everything's going to be alright, okay?" he said, looking into her eyes as he held her shoulders. "We just need to-"
And then everyone went into absolute chaos. It all seemed to happen so suddenly Lily couldn't even think. People were disapparating. Windows were catching on fire.
"Death Eaters." she whispered, as Fenrir Greyback appeared in front of them. "Charlie, DOWN!" she yelled just as the two ducked and Greyback aimed a spell in their direction, missing them.
Lily was no longer frozen as she pulled out her wand.
"You insolent toerag!" she yelled, "REDUCTO!" and the werewolf flew, back.
"Come on, we need to leave." Charlie said urgently. "And I don't have my wand, great. Left it in Bill's changing room of all places." he muttered angrily.
"But everyone else-"
"LILY, APPARATE. NOW." he said, his eyes wide. Lily had never seen the dragon trainer so livid before. She took his hand, closing her eyes as they disappeared into thin air.
The two appeared in an empty hallway, in a building that Lily hadn't been to in quite a while. Charlie breathed, clutching her closer. "We're fine. Everything's fine." he breathed, stroking her head as Lily's emotions caught up with her.
"But everyone else. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione. They're just seventeen." she said, breathing in and out deeply as she fretted anxiously.
"Ginny's fine. I saw her disapparate with Bill and Fleur. Ron and his friends are okay too." he assured, hushing into her ear as she hugged him, tears streaming down her eyes. "Where are we?" he asked, looking around, desperate to get the girl to focus on something else.
And for the first time since they'd arrived, Lily lifted her head off Charlie's shoulder. Her tear-stained face paled as she realised where they were. "Charlie I'm so sorry. It's the first place my mind went to. I- let's leave." she said, grabbing his hand and heading for the stairwell.
"Lil what's wrong? Where'd you take us?" he asked worriedly. He didn't have a clue where they were. He knew it wasn't her home, because she had mentioned she lived in a condo.
Before Lily could answer, a door opened in front of them. Charlie's throat ran dry.
"Lily? Charlie?" Percy asked, stunned as he saw the two gingers at the end of the hallway.
"Percy..." Charlie said, realising what Lily had meant.
Lily's eyes watered as she looked at the man she loved. He hadn't changed a bit. And neither had her feelings for him. It had been more than a year since she'd last seen him, and still, her heart ached like every other time she had thought about him during that time, if not more.
"I'll be outside Charlie." she choked out, apparating onto the street, not sure whether Charlie wanted to talk to Percy or not, but she was definitely in no state of mind to deal with him.
People passing by the street looked at her weirdly, and she wondered why, especially since Muggles couldn't see when wizards apparated or disapparated. But then she realised she was standing in the middle of a footpath in a silky green dress without a coat to shield her from the cold, or even a bag.
She backed away into an alley besides the building, keeping a watch out for Charlie. The boy appeared, dressed neatly in his suit, catching Muggle attention as he looked about worriedly.
"Lily?" he called out.
"I'm here." she said, stepping out of the shadows.
"Oh thank Merlin." Charlie sighed in relief. "You have something, under your eye." he zeroed in on her face, pointing to her left cheek.
Lily brought her hand up to touch it, and when she removed it, she saw a slash of bright crimson, presumable from a shard of glass. She hadn't even felt it, but now that she was aware it existed, it stung a little. Perhaps that was another reason the Muggles gave her strange looks.
"I'll live." she let out a light laugh. "What now?"
"I don't know if it's safe to go back yet." Charlie frowned and there was a sound, like the squelching of a sponge and Charlie's cheeks went red. "And we didn't exactly have dinner either. How about we get a bite to eat and then call back home?"
"That sounds great." Lily smiled sarcastically. "Except our clothes are all fancy and we're going to draw attention everywhere we go."
"That's what these are for." he said simply, holding up a brown bag which Lily had just noticed.
Lily peered inside, noticing the bag contained clothes.
"It has an extension charm. And a bit of Muggle money."
The girl's eyes widened as she pulled out a beige jumper and a pair of jeans. They were hers. Some of the many clothes she'd abandoned at the apartment.
"Oh." was all she said, taking the clothes in her arms. "Let's go then."
Fifteen minutes later Charlie and Lily made their way inside a 24-hour open diner. The smell itself made her stomach rumble, even though it felt wrong to even think about food while everything was falling apart around her.
She clutched her sweater around her tightly, sniffing it. It smelled exactly like him, exactly like the Amortentia she had smelled during her sixth year Potions class. The smell of crisp new books and quills, and Butterbeer with blueberry scones.
"What did you talk to Percy about?" Lily asked, not even trying to control herself.
"To be honest, there wasn't much of talking involved. He just asked what happened to your face and when I told him that Death Eaters ambushed Bill and Fleur's wedding, he just turned around, leaving me alone before returning a few moments later with the bag. Then he closed the door in my face." Charlie muttered.
"Oh." she said. "He isn't a bad person you know. He has no intentions of joining the Dark Side. He's just easily impressed by power and status. He can get carried away sometimes." she defended.
"I know." Charlie nodded, laughing lightly.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You better tell me right now Charles-"
"Okay, okay. You might be naggier than mum, geez." he smirked. "It's just – you're still so hopelessly in love with him and you don't even realise it." he shook his head. "You both have too massive egos to work things out."
Lily frowned. "You're right. I do still love him. I have since we were thirteen. You can't expect me to just stop." she sighed, her eyes wandering to the clock on the wall. "It's almost an hour past midnight. We should get going." she said, picking up the bag and paying for the food they had ordered.
Charlie looked unsure but nodded, standing up as Lily followed. Leaving their payment on the counter, Lily took Charlie's hand, and the two apparated straight to the Burrow, where neither said a word about the incident with Percy.
_____
"It's happening." Lily's ears perked up as she sat in Oliver Smith's old room, working on a Quidditch strategy Gwenog Jones had come up with. She turned the radio up as she heard Lee Jordan's voice loud and clear. "To everyone listening, from recent sources it has been confirmed that Harry Potter has been sighted at Hogwarts. This may be the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end. Fellow Hogwarts students, alumni or not, this is Lee Jordan signing off from Potterwatch. I hope to see you soon, fighting for our home. Goodbye." and then there was static.
Lily shot out of her seat, racing to her room as she grabbed her wand. She ran down the stairs. "Mum! Dad!" she called out and the old couple looked up from their evening cup of tea.
"What is it dear?" Olivia Smith asked worriedly.
"I- I have to go." she stuttered. "The war. It's starting. I- I can't miss it."
Connor Smith shot out of his seat.
Just then, Murphy entered through the door, his face cheery as he carried in a casserole. The man froze when he saw what he'd just walked into.
"You're not going. I don't think you realise what's going on Lily. You could die." her dad said, taking a step closer.
"What's going on?" Murphy asked, alarmed.
"Dad I know what a war is." Lily said. "I'm twenty four years old. I know what I'm doing. I have to defend Hogwarts. It's... it's home dad." a tear seeped out of her eye.
"Woah woah woah, you're not serious are you?" Murphy asked, setting the casserole down as he joined her dad's side.
"I'm sorry dad. I'm sorry mum." Lily frowned. "Bye Murphy. I love you all. If I don't make it back..." she bit back a sob. "I'll ask Livvie to wipe your memory."
Murphy nodded gravely. "I'll see you soon."
Olivia Smith's eyes widened as she realised what her daughter was about to do. "Lillian Ariana Smith, don't you dare-" but Lily didn't hear the end of that sentence because she found herself standing outside Aberforth Dumbledore's house, another member of the Order who she knew had a secret entrance inside Hogwarts. One that wasn't sealed off.
Word count: 2404