Lilium Lionheart

“Lily Evans. One of the brightest I ever taught. Vivacious, you know. Charming girl. I used to tell her she ought to have been in my House.”

-Professor Horace Slughorn.

Blood was pumping through her veins so violently, she could hardly hear her own thundering steps as she fled up the stairs as fast as her unsteady limbs could manage. Her heart was pounding wildly, her mind unable to think about what was going to happen to the love of her life.

They were supposed to be safe here. The measures in place were supposed to keep them hidden. To keep their baby safe. They should never have relied on Albus Dumbledore as much as they did. Especially after so many Order members had been murdered in their own homes lately. Just,- the lack of viable alternatives had made her feel helpless.

Dumbledore was powerful, could hold his own and could keep himself safe. The courtesy didn’t extend to his allies though. Otherwise he would have never endangered the Bones by using their family home for official Order meetings. He would never have sent fresh graduates into battle without having their backs. Without properly training them. Lastly, he would have at least offered to be their Secret Keeper, after telling them about the thrice damned prophecy.

She still couldn’t fathom Wormy betraying them… And if so, had he done so willingly or had they tortured the information out of him? Lily couldn’t tell. Peter had a knack for Charms and Transfiguration but he was the most insecure one of their group. Sirius thought that his quiet nature made him perfect for the role as Secret Keeper.

Yet, the Fidelius Charm had been breached tonight. So, the opposing side probably took his unobtrusiveness for their own advantage. She didn’t know how the Death Eaters managed to turn Peter against them. Torture? Mind Magic? Threats against his family? Should she feel guilty for hoping so?

She couldn’t imagine Peter betraying them for anything less. The man may be weak-willed but she couldn’t imagine him being completely disloyal to them either. Not out of his own volition. To the Order. To his friends. To James. Peter had been sorted into Gryffindor after all. He’d been their friend for a decade. Still, she couldn’t know for sure.

James was closest to Sirius and Lily had always felt most comfortable with Remus in their friend group. Nevermind that Peter had retreated more and more from them since the war started in earnest. Lily had ascribed his behavior to general fear and stress caused by the trying times, not a guilty conscience of playing both sides of the war.

In the end, it didn’t matter. Either Peter was lying somewhere injured (or dead) for giving up their whereabouts or he was a traitor, partly responsible for all their friends' deaths. It was out of her hands. The adrenaline in her body was all that kept her from panicking right now. She needed to think straight.

James was trying to counteract the dismantling of the wards by throwing up additional protection charms at the door and windows, but Voldemort had torn through most of their protective enchantments around the property already. Anything James would cast now would not be able to stop that man. And he knew that, too. It was a plaster on a stab wound.

James worked to delay the monster of a wizard, so that Lily could reach their baby boy. The moment they felt that their property line had been breached by an uninvited presence, they had moved as one. Lily had hoped that it would never come to this. Harry was too young and she loved him with all her heart.

She had prepared for the worst case, though. She'd needed to better Harry’s chances at survival. Lily thought James was too trusting sometimes. Too naive and too narrow-minded. She loved her husband dearly, but he took all his cues from Dumbledore and she thought him too passive.

They had been stupid. Their current security measures now trapped them in place. Following Dumbledore's advice, they had disconnected the floo, anti-apparition wards and anti-portkey wards installed. Even if they were to lower them, Lily was pretty sure that Voldemort would have his own wards erected by now to prevent any escape attempts.

They should have left the country, better yet, the continent. The Order should have questioned each member's loyalty under Verita Serum on random occasions after the first time a member got attacked in their own home. The security breach hadn’t been handled well. At all.

When Lily reached Harry’s cot, she took a short moment to look at her beautiful boy. He would make it out of this alive. They would make sure of it. Even if it was the last thing Lily would get to do in her Life.

She'd been pleasantly surprised by James's proactive approach with the potion and his explanations under the effects of Felix Felices had validated her own precautions.

Calming her erratic breathing slightly she grabbed the materials she had prepared. Under any other circumstances, James would have frowned upon what she was doing. And to be completely honest, he didn’t know the full scale of it either.

James was ridiculously smart, but he neither cared for magic that could be considered even remotely dark nor had he ever taken an interest in Ancient Runes. Therefore, he left her to it and took over their last line of defense.

She didn’t stick to Ancient Runes, however. Runes and Arithmancy were certainly useful for her purposes and Lily would need them. Without Blood Magic they wouldn’t be strong enough to accomplish what she had in mind, though.

She needed the increased magical potency for this to work and hadn't wanted to be arguing about this with James. At least that had been her reason for not telling him what she'd planned. Now it would hardly matter, for he knew they'd be sacrificing themselves anyway.

James had been wrong about the underlying reason why only her sacrifice would be accepted by magic. Him being under the influence of the potion should certainly be factored in.

She was sure, however, that her being the mother wouldn't be enough of a reason to incite the old magics. For a sacrifice to be accepted there needed to be a ritual and they had Dorea to thank for the information. Lily had to hurry through the final stage, though.

As Voldemort was rumored to be as intelligent as he was powerful, she had to be extremely careful to leave no evidence behind. She had painted the first runic circle around Harry’s cot weeks ago with her own blood. According to her books, protective wards created with blood magic relied heavily on intent.

Like with the Patronus Charm or the Dark Curses Voldemort was said to rely on, Lily had to focus on her emotions and what she wanted her magic to achieve. Before she drew blood with a ceremonial silver knife to create the first circle, her love for Harry had flooded her entire system. Her mind, her blood and her magic.

She thought about her pregnancy, her hands atop her belly, while she waited delighted for Harry’s next kick. She remembered Hary taking turns riding on top of Sirius’ and James' animagus forms and giggling as if he was the happiest child in the world. She pictured Harry snuggled up between her and James, babbling excitedly about his day and how he screamed with joy when James introduced him to his toy broom, testing it out right away.

Lily had felt so warm and light when the blade sunk into her skin, that she barely registered the pain. While she drew the runes she had carefully picked based on multiple references regarding the numeric value, runic translation and synergy, she kept her focus on protection. The safety of her child was paramount.

The Dark Lord was known to throw the Unforgivables around, which meant that he would probably go for the Killing Curse. If,- No, when he would reach them, it would come down to a battle of intent: Voldemort's will to kill her son against Lily’s will to protect him from any harm. And Lily had every intention of winning.

The outer runic circle had been covered by a carpet with the cot standing on its center while the second circle was covered by Harry’s mattress. The last runes, however, had to be drawn on her son's skin to work perfectly.

She shifted his shirt to draw the Bind-Rune representing the concepts Safety, Family, Protection, Shield, Defense and Guardian on his chest. The Bind-Rune she chose consisted of the Elder Futhark runes Othala and Algiz and was one of the strongest Protection Bind-Runes she could find.

The books she inherited from Dorea Potter née Black had been a godsend since their family of three had been in hiding. Back then, Lily had been confused as to why Dorea would leave her anything specifically in her will, least of all outlawed books. Her curious nature paired with a deep respect for the witch, however, convinced her to keep them firmly locked up in their shared study.

As their enemies shouldn’t even suspect what she was doing, the runes couldn't be visible on little Harry's skin. One of the tomes suggested a spell which would basically absorb the runes into Harry. Lily didn't quite understand if the runes would be shifted between the different skin layers or simply accepted in offering by blood and magic.

She had tested the spell with a minor cleansing ritual on herself to ensure that Harry wouldn't be hurt in the process. Casting the spell non-verbally to not disturb her son more than necessary, she saw the rune emanating a small glow before it vanished into Harry's skin.

Lily also felt that the non-verbal spellcasting was more intent-based than its verbal counterpart. It made her feel safer in its use. Not only needed her actions to be kept secret but the intent-based magic gave her an increased sense of control.

An explosion could be heard from just outside and Lily was sure that he had already broken through their protections. James' last-minute patches were all what was keeping him back now. Lily pulled Harry’s shirt back down and drew the final rune on his forehead.

She mentally thanked all the higher powers that might exist that she managed to keep her hand steady. She worked as quickly as she could and breathed a shaky breath. The rune Sowilo, representing the Sun, Faith, Light and Victory, was drawn on her son's forehead. The symbol for the Victory of the Light over the Darkness.

The number two had been the numeric value she had calculated for Harry’s Life Path, so she had chosen two runic circles around him and two runes on his body, with the protection rune being a bind-rune consisting of two runes. If anyone deserved a path forward in Life it would be her innocent boy.

A crash from downstairs.“Lily, take Harry and go! It’s him! Go! Run! I’ll hold him off!” The signal. He was here.

“Thank you James” she whispered brokenly. There was no time left to think about it. She hurriedly recast the non-verbal runic integration spell and threw a vanishing spell on her equipment. No visible evidence left behind, she positioned herself in front of Harry.

When Harry’s door flew open, she got her first good look at the man who wanted to kill her family and what she saw frightened her. It wasn’t the undeniable sense of dark magic surrounding him, neither the unnaturally red eyes. It was the lack of anything human in his expression. There was this coldness in his glance that made Lily understand why he was called a monster.

She couldn’t think clearly anymore. The panik overwhelmed her and she did resort to her usual strategy by trying to talk her way out of the situation. Even though she was distantly aware that she had no chance of succeeding.“Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!”

“Stand aside, you silly girl … stand aside now,” he answered impatiently.

She just couldn't understand. Why would such a powerful man want to murder a baby? Him going after her and James she could understand. They had joined the opposition. But why little Harry? She felt tears streaming down her face.

In her helplessness, her desperation, she tried to bargain: “Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead—”

“This is my last warning—” he said sharply, voice cold as ice.

and to beg: “Not Harry! Please … have mercy … have mercy…Not Harry! Not Harry! Please— I’ll do anything— ”

“Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!”

He wouldn't listen and she hadn’t expected him to. Yet she was a Gryffindor mother. Lily would give everything to save her son and the last thing she could give her baby was her own life.

“Avada Kedavra.”

She saw a set of dark red eyes that seemed to bore into her very soul before they vanished in a brilliant flash of green light that covered the whole room.

Then everything went dark.