Chapter 1

Lily stood on the foot-rest of the tall bar stool to gain her an extra few inches of height. She was grinning widely as she looked around the club that surrounded her. The Supremes were playing and she could just about make out her friends across the room drunkenly dance. She let out a bark of laughter as a stranger suddenly dipped one of the girls. Hopping off she grabbed the six drinks with the skill only a waitress possessed. She fought though the crowd until finally she found her friends.

"Lily! The lady of the hour," Grace called over the music. "See what you're missing in that school for the gifted," she declared with a large sweep of her hands around the room. It was Lily's first night back from her bumpy fifth year and it was great to chill out from her usual strict Prefect demeanour. Lily laughed at her friends' antics as she handed out the drinks to all of Grace's friends. Lily was only really close to Grace and Michael, who had already headed home with some beautiful brunette. It was truly amazing how dropping off the face off the earth for nine months of the year lost you most of your childhood friends. Grace however was special, she could pretend that Lily was gone for no time at all.

"Hey Red, where's that Snape kid you hang out with these days?" Some friend from Grace's secondary school asked. Lily thought his name was Jerry but she couldn't be sure.

"This isn't really his scene," Lily responded hiding her flinch at the mere mention of her long time friend that had all of a sudden decided she was scum.

"That's too bad he looked like he could have been a cool kid. Maybe a member of 'The Who' to boot," he shouted over the music making Lily laugh. If only she could tell Snape that finally the grunge look was in fashion or Jerry that he was talking about someone who was planning to exterminate his race.

"Tommy here is a year ahead of me and a bit of a brainiac like yourself," Grace shouted into her ear. 'Oops,' Lily thought at the name correction. Tommy took the introduction as an invitation and grabbed her hand to pull her away for a dance. Lily smiled but sadness swept through her. 'Would this be what it would be like?' she thought to herself, 'if magic never existed?'. The thought that life could be this simple after such a trying year of tension at Hogwarts was startling. Here she wasn't an outsider. It was strange that the term 'mudblood' didn't even exist. No one here would give her dirty looks in the hallways for merely existing. She always felt like this when she returned to the peaceful area she grew up in. Cokeworth was a long way from a fairytale home, with most of her friends fighting to even be considered as 'working class' but at least they were all in the same boat, there were no Potters or Yaxleys to unintentionally or deliberately flaunt their wealth in your face.

Tommy was tall with blond hair and crystal blue eyes that shined so brightly she could make them out even in the flashing lights of the club. She suppressed her grim thoughts and just enjoyed the feel of an utterly normal boy spinning her around and holding her tight until suddenly, almost by magic he spun her in for a kiss. They collided hard from the momentum and both grinned into the kiss. Lily naively hoped this moment would last forever. She'd never kissed a boy that wasn't a muggle before. The magic world, while being filled with wonder, was where she had to prove herself. She was driven, strict and though she didn't like to admit it, harsh on her fellow students. Here though, as Tommy's tongue asked permission to enter her mouth and Springsteen's 'Born to Run' blared into her ear, she was free.

"It's nearly three," Grace called pulling the two lovebirds apart, "my mom's gonna freak," she added as she pulled Lily towards the door. She held onto Tommy's hand and dragged him along not quite ready for their moment to end. He downed his drink and left the plastic cup on top of the bar as they passed and Lily followed suit. Grace grabbed Eileen, one of her friends that was spending the night and pulled her along as well until they all but toppled onto the street laughing as the bouncer rolled his eyes at their antics.

"So in what way are you gifted Red?" Tommy asked through his laughter. It took her a while to register that he was referring to her school as he pulled her small frame under his muscular arm.

"Oh you know, this and that," she replied giving him a wink hoping to look as flirtatious as she could. He let out a heavy breath before a chuckle over came him.

"Good reply," he commented his eyes searching her emerald ones. Leaning down once more he gave her a hard kiss on the lips, she had to stand on her tip toes to respond with vigour. Suddenly forgetting about their walk home he pressed her into the cold wall of some business she didn't recognise.

"Guys, come on," Grace pleaded a few paces ahead. Pushing Tommy back with a sigh she pulled him along once more after the two drunken girls. "This ways faster," Grace called popping into a side street.

"Sure three young girls and a dark alley... that makes sense," Tommy said with a sardonic tone of voice.

"Shhh," Lily replied not wanting his words to upset Grace. She sped her pace up until all four of them were walking side by side. The night air was cold but Lily didn't feel chilly even though she only wore a light cotton dress. It was refreshing after being in the club where the recycled air was chronic.

"Great night right," Grace said with a grin. "Always great to have you back Ginger," she said throwing an arm around Lily and Eileen.

"Could have done without the third shot of tequila I think," Eileen replied quietly shaking her head but grinning all the same.

Abruptly Grace stopped walking and it took Lily only a second to realise why. Two dark figures stood unmoving in the dim street lights at the end of the narrow passage. Lily turned around quickly but a mirror image stood at the other end of the street in the direction they had just come from.

"Fuck," Tommy whispered obviously noticing what she just had.

"Shit what do we do?" Grace asked as the four figures started to move in on them locking them in.

"Hand over our money and hope that will do," Lily replied calmly. You didn't survive as a mudblood in wizardry society panicking any time someone threatened you. The fact that muggle drink didn't affect her as much as the wizardry types did also helped. She was almost completely sober.

"Lily Evans?" What seemed like the leader of the gang asked. He wasn't too tall but the clock gave him an ominous look. His gait however was hauntingly familiar.

"James Potter, what the fuck are you doing in my neighbourhood?" She asked, her astonishment momentarily overtaking her anger at being held up like this. "And with your motley crew no less?" She asked assuming the other three figures to be the legendary Marauders. Her three friends seemed to calm somewhat at her recognition of the dark figures.

"I assure you Miss Evans, I am not James Potter," the leader declared in a thick Surrey accent unhelpfully. Lily's wand was out of her holster faster than any of her friends could even comprehend. The leader made no move to draw his but all three of his companions had theirs pointed directly at her.

"Let my friends go," Lily said in a fierce tone. Once more the wizardry world had ruined whatever normal evening she had planned with her friends.

"With pleasure," the leader said almost politely. Before Lily could even move her wand to mount a defence her three friends were silently obliviated. "Head home now," he said directly to them and in their dazed mindset they obeyed immediately. Tommy quickly let go of Lily's hand and followed Grace and Eileen out of the alley in the direction of their estate. 'That was the thing about muggles, they were easy to manipulate to a wizard, almost pawns,' Lily thought as she looked at her empty hand prepared to face her doom with the blood purists in the dark alley.

"Well Miss Evans," the leader said as he dropped his hood finally. The dim light illuminated his face and she once again for one moment thought this was a hoax by Potter, until she saw the obvious differences between the two. This man was just that, a man. His shaggy black hair framed his chiselled face in a dramatic way and his familiar emerald eyes had a maturity that she thought Potter would never gain, not even with age.

"I'd rather die than have anything to do with the Dark Lord," she spat out, courage swelled through her veins now that her friends were out of danger. She had resigned herself to this fate a long time ago with the way things were going this was inevitable. 'Mudblood had become an endangered race for some time now' Lily thought scornfully.

"Not even his down fall?" A female voice asked from behind her. She spun around shocked that one of these lurking figures was a woman. Then finally her words registered in Lily's mind.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Lily asked confused.

"The name's Harry, Harry Potter," the leader declared offering his hand to the bewildered sixteen year old. Recognising her opportunity she grabbed his hand and pushed up his sleeve to find... absolutely nothing.

"You're no Death Eater," she whispered almost to herself.

"Nowhere near," he responded watching her reaction carefully, almost as if he had planned for her appraisal of his bare forearm.

"What do you want?" She managed to say still holding his arm.

"Your help, we are the Resistance Miss Evans," he answered motioning for his companions to lower their wands.

"Why me?" she asked almost scandalised, expecting the Dark Lord himself to jump out from behind the dumpster to her left for talk like this outside the safety of Hogwarts.

"Many reasons that we can tell you back at our Headquarters. Mainly though because you are stuck in a world that you hate and you are brave enough to make a difference," he replied, intense emerald eyes colliding at his words.

"And you expect me to just drop everything for the summer and follow you around," she asked in disbelief.

"We can make you great. There's nothing here for you anymore, your parents don't know you, your sister hates you," a male voice said to Harry's left. The harsh truths stuck her harder than any dark curse could.

"Draco," Harry warned sharply at the impatient man.

"You don't know me," Lily spat out angrily to the people that surrounded her.

"Do we not?" the woman from behind her asked lifting up her own sleeve swiftly. Lily expected perhaps the Dark Mark to scar her arm but instead written in fiery letters that seemed to glow though the darkness was the word 'MUDBLOOD'. "How different are we really?" the woman asked at Lily's frightened gasp.

"We can make them forget, your parents that is and even your sister," Harry said softly from behind her but Lily couldn't bring herself to take her eyes off of the crimson letters engraved into the pale girls skin. They seemed to burn into her eyes. "How long do you think it'll be before they are a target of war just because of who you are?" Harry continued.

"We can send them away, somewhere they can find happiness," the girl added gently, finally breaking Lily's trance.

"I'm only sixteen," she said almost hysterically.

"This war doesn't have an age restriction," the man to the girls left spoke gruffly for the first time. Before Lily knew what she was doing she was nodding her head.

"Great. Hermione there will apparate you back to your house to gather a few of your things and make the necessary adjustments to your parents," Harry commented as if they were discussing the weather.

"Adjustments?" Lily asked frantically trying to understand what she had just agreed to. "Wait stop I haven't decided anything yet I need time to think over any proposition you think you can offer me," she said firmly finally finding her voice.

"Trust me Lily," Hermione said calmly offering a hand for her to take, she couldn't help but notice it was the same appendage scarred with that horrible writing. Maybe it was the Gryffindor inside her because it certainly wasn't a conscious decision that had her grab hold.

Lily had never apparated before and when she finally arrived outside of the house of her childhood she had to pause for a full minute before she was sure she wasn't going to vomit up the treats she had eaten on the train earlier that day. The estate was still and only the sound of the flickering street light echoed in the crisp night air. She took a moment to seek out Severus's house. The lights were out but she knew deep down her old friend was lying awake in his bed, he always did the first day back to his rubbish home life. She sighed and ruthless ripped thoughts of Severus out of her mind, that relationship was dead and they both knew it.

"Listen to me Lily in a few years time you will be a massive target in this war for reasons that we can explain back at Headquarters. We need to ensure your family are safe," Hermione stated slowly and clearly. Her hood had fallen during the journey so Lily could finally make out her features through the dim light. She was beautiful with thick brown curly locks and high cheek bones that reminded Lily fleetingly of Audrey Hepburn.

"How am I supposed to trust you?" Lily asked with scepticism lacing every word. Grabbing Lily's hand unexpectedly Hermione pulled out her wand before Lily could even consider any defensive measures.

"I Hermione Jean Granger swear on my magic that I want to protect you and that my main purpose is the down fall of the Dark Lord known as Lord Voldemort," Hermione's voice carried in the cold breeze.

"Merlin help me," Lily whispered as the severity of the situation finally settled uncomfortably on her slender shoulders.

"Harry's taken care of Petunia, Vernon's got a wonderful job in Sweden," Hermione stated with a small smile in her direction. Lily chocked on a sudden sob, knowing her sister would be comfortable was a big relief but the distance and the finality of the situation was haunting. She leaned down and took off one of her light pink runners much to Hermione's confusion until she withdrew her house key.

"Best place to hide things in a night club," Lily explained weakly with a small smile.

"I'll have to remember that," Hermione said soothingly though Lily seriously doubted that a girl as fierce and passionate as her would have any time for such frivolous exploits as clubbing. She suddenly felt very childish. Opening the door as quietly as she could she tip toed up the stairs and Hermione followed behind her in an effortless silence.

No words were exchanged as Lily stuffed the few things she had unpacked that day into her trunk and threw the only cloak she owned that didn't have the Hogwart's crest over her shoulders which were now quite cold. Perhaps knowing she wouldn't be in her house for some time she hurriedly stuffed her favourite childhood teddy, which she had never had the confidence to bring to Hogwarts with her, and her family photo album into her trunk too. She looked up into Hermione's eyes expecting to see judgement or maybe even a little bit of humour but all she could see was a deep understanding.

"You've done this before haven't you?" Lily asked as realisation dawned on her.

"My parents are having the time of their lives travelling across Australia, and yours will finally get the chance to travel through all the states of North America," Hermione consoled sadly.

"We don't have the money for that," Lily stated in confusion, a little on edge that the girl in front of her knew her parent's dream retirement plan.

"But we do," Hermione dismissed easily as if that was obvious. She peered confidently around Lily's room curiously examining all the posters of the bands she had grown attached to last summer when she'd lazed around with Grace and Michael next to her record player on her days off.

"They'd never leave me all Summer," she retorted easily then some emotion that Lily didn't recognise flickered across Hermione's face.

"They would if they didn't remember to miss you," she replied and suddenly understanding flashed in Lily's eyes.

"No," she whispered instantly but sternly. Hermione crossed the room and took Lily's hands in hers.

"It's the only way to be sure they're safe," she spoke gently. "Like it or not you have a role in this war, a big one. You don't want to have to worry about their safety on top of your own," she added in a hushed voice. "It's time to pick where you belong Lily because you can't hide in the muggle world for the rest of your life," she finished squeezing her hand. Lily nodded in response as she felt the tears build in her eyes.

"You'll have to do it, I'm not legal yet," she said in resignation.

Grabbing her bags and trunk she hurried out of the house not able to bear watching her parents forget her. The thought of never existing in the muggle world was beyond depressing but deep down she knew she had to make a choice with the war brewing. No more fantasying by playing the normal girl for three months of the year. No more midnight kisses with boys she could imagine having two perfect kids with that would never know anything about missing people lists or school mates being pulled from class for bad news. It's time to fight for a future, to be able to feel the same wonder she had when Severus had first shown her how to float daisies across the meadow.

Hermione left the house and made her way to where Lily was standing across the street as quietly as she had entered. "Are you ready?" She asked not even commenting on the heart breaking acts she had just committed in the house.

"I knew this was coming since my second day in Hogwarts when Mulciber called me a 'Mudblood'," she responded grabbing Hermione's hand ready for her time in Spinner's End to be over.

I'd really appreciate some feed back you guys