Shadows of Love 12

Save your hide

The woman turned to them so quickly that only a blurry shadow could be seen. The man wasn't so fast, but he also looked at the four teenagers.
"Sirius!", Mrs. Black shouted, pointing at them with her wand so that she could examine them.
"James", whispered the woman on the floor.
Lily almost forgot about him, though his shoulder touched hers and he was constantly trembling -- either with anger or cold.
"Release them!", James shouted and lunged abruptly to the Blacks.
Two wands were raised at the same time. One of them was Mrs. Black's and red light jumped out of it. The other wand was Lily's who cried frightened: "PROTEGO!"
The shield spanned in front of James and the Full Body-Bind Curse glanced off of it.
"DON'T YOU DARE HURTING MY SON!", Mrs. Potter screamed and with one single kick, she floored Mrs. Black.
In that moment, all hell broke loose. Mr. Black slapped Mrs. Potter in the face with his bare hand. The thwack was terrifying.

The sound that came from James wasn't human. With a loud growl, he dashed against Mr. Black. Mrs. Black stood up with her hair in her face. She wanted to attack James, who hit Mr. Black in the face, but Sirius shouted at her:
"Stupefy!"
The woman fell over and lost her consciousness. Sirius lowered his shaking hand.
"Sirius…", Lily whispered.
There was no time to talk about what he did. The door swung open and four people entered the basement. The first of them was a woman, who looked very much alike Mrs. Black, but she was younger and Lily could see something in her eyes which made her creepier: she looked like she was insane. There was another woman behind her. She had long, blonde hair and blue eyes but she could have been the other's sister. The two other people were two men.

"Remus, watch out!", Sirius bellowed just in time. Remus ducked so the curse that came from the blonde woman's wand avoided him.
"What is our dearest cousin doing at home?", asked someone.
It was the crazy woman and she stepped closer to Sirius.
"What a sorrow it is to see you again, Bellatrix", Sirius replied and they started an instant wand-fight.
"Step back, Lily", Remus told her and raised his wand.
He could easily disarm the hefty man behind Bellatrix. Not only his appearance seemed to be half-troll, but Lily was almost sure his IQ was below fifty.

Just when Lily could draw this conclusion, someone grabbed her from behind. A strong arm twined round her neck. She snapped at the hand. She could barely breathe.
"Shut your mouth or else you'll die", someone whispered in her right ear.
She could feel the man's wand between her ribs.

Lily tried to bite the man's arm and kick him in the leg while she watched the fight between the others. James sloshed Mr. Black who lurched but raised his arm and, in the split of a second, his fist was in James's face. The boy collapsed.
'James!', Lily wanted to shout, but only a dim voice came from her mouth.
Mr. Black wiped the blood off his face and started to look for his wand which rolled away on the floor.

Lily looked around like crazy. She wanted to indicate Sirius or Remus to prevent Mr. Black from cursing James. She wasn't the only one who cried their names -- Mrs. Potter did the same thing. The woman alternately shouted for the boys' and cried for her son.

Sirius and Remus couldn't go to James's relief because both of them were in the middle of a duel. Sirius tried to defeat his cousin, Bellatrix and the hefty man. He could stupefy the wizard, but the woman seemed to be eager to kill him.
Remus fought with the blonde woman who appeared to be quick and very skilled in Dark Magic.

Lily had about enough of watching the fight. She gathered all her strength and kicked her captor in the ankle. The man yelled, but Lily could escape from the clench of his arm. She rushed towards James and pulled out her wand.
"Stupefy!", she screamed and Mr. Black passed out as well as his wife did.
Lily crouched down next to the unconscious James. She took his head in both of her hands.
"James!", she called. "James, wake up!"
"Release me!", screamed Mrs. Potter.
Lily entirely forgot about her. She took her wand and cut the ropes with a Severing Charm.
"Take care of my son and husband!", the woman looked her in the eye once released.
"I will", Lily nodded.

She watched Mrs. Potter jumping to Sirius and his enemy. She knew the woman was about fifty-two years old, but she didn't behave like a middle-aged person. She was full of energy and quick to act -- it was because she was protecting her son, her family, Lily thought. With Mrs. Potter's help, Sirius severely wounded Bellatrix on the torso. The woman shrieked and ran out of the basement as fast as she could. James's mother hurried after her.

Sirius disarmed the wizard who had captured Lily earlier. The man had a mid-back length, almost white hair. He wasn't too old, only up to twenty-three.
"Narcissa!", he shouted for the woman Remus fought. "Narcissa! Let her go!"
Lily had no idea what he was talking about since the woman was the one who didn't let Remus go.

Narcissa screamed with anger and ran after Bellatrix. Sirius and Remus followed them.
"James, wake up!", Lily started trying to sober him again. She didn't feel safe with three knocked out dark wizards around her. "Please, wake up!"
She looked up the ceiling in the dark. Only the light leaking in from outside meant some kind of illumination in the room. Lily didn't know when she started to cry. James's heart was irregularly beating under his shirt and he was breathing, slowly, but surely. His eyes though, they were shut and didn't move under his broken glasses. The eyes that were always smiling and the eyes she could see being sad so many times in the last months. She pushed her forehead against James's chest and angrily grabbed his shirt with both of her hands.
"I can't lose you again", she whispered sobbing.

The moment after, Lily felt fingers under her hair. She quickly lifted her head up. James was blinking with his eyes half open and a very faint smile hovered over his lips. Lily looked at him with happily shining eyes.
"James!", she shouted with relief.
Lily wreathed her arms round James and hugged him.
"I'm so happy I am able to see you again, Lily", he mumbled into her hair and hugged her back. "Wherever I had gone, I would have missed you."