Chapter Text
Lily pried open a heavy eyelid as consciousness slowly returned to her. She was slouched against a cold stone wall, head aching, her wrists shackled above her head. She couldn't feel her hands.
She blinked twice as shadowy surroundings came into focus. Shifting herself upright so her arms were no longer extended, she checked her sleeve to confirm her wand was missing. James was a couple of feet away from her, his arms similarly shackled. A trail of dried blood bisected his lips. He grinned at her, though it didn’t meet his eyes, and the blood splintered and cracked.
“All right, Evans?” he whispered.
“I’m not some delicate flower, Potter,” she retorted quietly, quoting her teenage self. James breathed a relieved sigh.
She turned her head away from James and frowned at the metal bars of their cell.
“Where are we?” Lily kept her voice down though she didn’t see anyone guarding them. “Did he build a dungeon?”
James huffed a laugh. “Nah, it looks too old. We have to be in some pureblood’s ancestral home. You’d be amazed how many of them have dungeons like this.”
Lily rolled her eyes. The more she learned about the wizarding world, the more she hated it. She swore this war was going to turn her into a Dark Lord herself.
“How long have you been awake?” she asked.
“Maybe twenty minutes. No one’s come in. I would guess there’re other cells... not sure if they’re occupied.”
Lily nodded, her eyes scanning her surroundings for anything useful. The cell was empty except for the two of them and another set of shackles on the opposite wall. The manacles appeared to be magically sealed so she had no hope of picking the lock. Pity, since muggle solutions got them out of their last run-in with Death Eaters.
Though not the first time she and James found themselves unarmed and at the mercy of Death Eaters, none of Voldemort's followers had ever gotten them to a second location before. Their first run-in, James managed to get a Patronus to Sirius before they disarmed him, but that hadn't worked this time.
“Y’know I’ve never been disarmed when partnered with Dorcas.”
“She’ll be pleased to hear her talent for humbling me extends beyond quidditch,” James replied lightly, bitterness only seeping into the last word of his sentence as if losing the cup to Ravenclaw 7th year was more upsetting than their current situation.
“Why didn’t they just kill—" Lily began before the sound of a heavy door wrenching open above them interrupted her. She glanced at James and unspoken communication passed between them. He nodded and slouched down, closing his eyes.
Lily stared through the bars as footsteps approached, her green eyes glittering with defiance.
“Oh good, you’re awake.”
“Rosier!” Lily exclaimed with mock delight. “Couldn’t wait for the ten-year reunion, eh?”
The former Slytherin glared at her, unamused. “Quiet, mudblood.” He approached the bars, peering in at James and frowning.
“Jesus, you reek,” Lily said, wrinkling her nose. “I know you’re busy torturing muggles, Rosie, but you can’t neglect basic hygiene.”
“The only reason you’re alive, mudblood, is because I plan on torturing you while he watches.” Rosier’s eyes flicked to James’s prone form then back to her. “The Dark Lord has instructed me to offer Potter the opportunity to defect. You're dead either way, just depends on how long I draw it out.”
“Ah, rats. Just as long as you use the Cruciatus, Rosie. I can tell your magic’s weak and besides I don’t want you touching me with those slimy fingers.”
“You don’t get a say in how I torture you.”
Rosier sounded so miffed Lily didn’t even have to fake her laughter. “You look so pale, Rosie.” He’d begun to flinch at the nickname. “Are you getting out of these dungeons enough? You eating iron-rich foods? You look so frail.”
Rosier, eyes bright and twitching, withdrew his wand with a flourish and pointed it at her. “Crucio!”
Lily snapped her jaw shut and closed her eyes. Her skin was on fire and she couldn’t draw breath but she managed to keep her jaw locked.
The curse lifted and Lily couldn’t help slouching against the wall in relief as she heaved heavy breaths. Her eyes snapped back to Rosier’s. “Is that all you got? I always suspected it was a lie that purebloods had strong magic. All that inbreeding leads to deformities, you know? I bet your magic's deformed.”
Rosier hit her with the curse again. She knew the curse warped her concept of time while it seared through her veins but it seemed to go on for hours. Still, she didn’t scream.
“You’re holding back, right Rosie?” she gasped once it was done. “Waiting for James to wake up? Because let me tell you if this is the best you can do, he’s not gonna give you anything.”
Amplified by his anger, the third Crucio was the worst. He released the curse and the copper tang of blood filled Lily's mouth. Her teeth must have clamped down on her tongue at some point. She spat out the blood and managed to land a few drops on his shoes.
“Weak,” she gritted out, trying to keep her voice steady. “Good thing your master isn’t here to see this pathetic show of force.”
Rosier was shaking. He flicked his wand at the cell door and it slid open. He stormed in and knelt beside her.
“How about I slice up that pretty face?” he hissed, his wand inches from her eye.
Rosier’s earsplitting scream when the stag’s antler cut through his chest was unfortunate but couldn’t be helped. Lily assumed there were anti-apparation wards which meant any occupants of this house would have to run down to the dungeon, buying them maybe a minute. Lily braced her legs against Rosie’s chest so the stag could withdraw his antler before transforming back.
Thick glops of blood smacked against the stone floor. James grabbed Rosier’s fallen wand and unlocked Lily's manacles with shaking hands.
They paused, listening for the door creaking open and frantic footfalls, but only silence echoed around them.
“They must’ve sound-proofed the dungeon,” James said, Rosier’s wand extended as he carefully stepped out of the cell.
Lily reached into Rosier’s blood-drenched robes and found their wands. James slipped Rosier’s wand into his pocket as he took his own then pulled Lily in for a kiss.
“We’re never doing that plan again,” he murmured against her lips before pulling back, his eyes wide and searching and his thumb stroking the hair above her ear. His breath stuttered against her lips.
“We should take him with us.” Lily jerked her head towards Rosier. “Maintain our air of mystery and all that.”
James nodded. “You feel the wards?”
“Yeah. I think I can take down the anti-apparation ones, they don’t feel entwined with the greater house wards.”
James checked the other cells while Lily got to work. She carved a circle into the stones of their cell floor. With a twist of her wand spells flittered around her ears. Engrossed in etching runes into the perimeter of her circle, she didn’t notice James return and clean up Rosier’s blood until she was finished.
James followed a floating Rosier into the circle and grabbed Lily’s hand.
“No one else alive down here.”
Lily glanced at the grim set of his jaw and chose not to ask for details. “I can’t do anything about the Runes. They’ll know how we got out.”
James shrugged. “They already know you’re brilliant. Shouldn’t be a surprise. Where to?”
“Dumbledore’s office?”
“We can’t get blood on his silver rug!” James said with mock horror, ignoring that not even Lily could take down Hogwarts’s anti-apparation wards.
“Moody’s then. He’ll be able to come up with an explanation for a gored Death Eater.”
Moody came running into his living room, wand aloft, when the crack of apparition announced their arrival. He barely glanced at the bloodied Death Eater before firing off security questions.
Moody knew what to do immediately and Lily tried not to feel alarmed by that. Rosier was already wanted by the Aurors for questioning and within two hours his death was classified as an accident due to his evading arrest. Maybe a Ministry official would’ve spent more time examining the body if dead bodies hadn’t been appearing in droves for the last several months.
Moody called in a newly recruited healer to evaluate them before he would let James and Lily return home. In Moody's quiet study, the wizard ran his diagnostic spells over Lily. His eyebrows jolted up as his wand passed her stomach.
“Are you aware?” he asked.
Lily scowled at him. There was blood under her fingernails and in her hair. She wanted a shower. She wanted to go home. She wanted to sleep. “Aware of what?”
The healer smiled and flicked his wand and suddenly the sound of a heartbeat emitted from her stomach. Lily's throat went dry.