“Lily, take Harry and go! It’s him! Go!...”
From the moment Dumbledore had told them the prophecy, Lily had been frozen. No, it had been for much longer hadn’t it? It started that time James’d had to jump in front of her to curse a Death Eater, in their black robes and masked face, to save his wife’s life. Or perhaps even earlier when Dumbledore had asked them to join in the fight against evil for the good of wizards, witches and muggles alike and all she could do was nod mutely, eyes wide and scared. Maybe her fear had started long ago when she was at school, her and her friends huddled together around a newspaper, scanning each new headline for familiar names. Whenever it had started, nowadays Lily felt constantly frozen in paranoia, body tensing at every creak of the gate but as her husband’s voice carried up the stairs, his normal baritone winged with grief for the fight he already knew was lost, Lily found the courage she feared was long lost.
“…Run! I’ll hold him off-”
A deafening CRACK split the air as Lily apparated down the stairs, a swish as she pulled out her wand and the hurried thump-thump of her terrified heart and levelled her wand right between the Dark Lord’s eyes. No spells came to mind and no words left her lips but as she let her fear consume her, fill her entire being with the need to keep her family away from this threat and suddenly a bright, green flash of light burst from her wand and struck the snake in the head with such intensity that the entire front side of their house exploded and the dark wizard turned to black ash.