There was a tangible fear in the air as the screams pierced through the darkness.

I whipped my head towards the window, my hand in front of my mouth. I was breathing hard, completely and utterly terrified of what I would see. As I stared out the window, I knew the screams had come from people who were just as afraid of what they saw as I was; six hooded, masked figures, were just outside the train, and many more were most likely near. The figures was striding purposefully towards the Hogwarts Express, their wands held aloft. One of them lifted their wand above their head and yelled an incantation, making the Dark Mark appear in the sky above the train. That could only mean one thing: they were planning to kill.

"Death Eaters," I whispered fearfully. I felt a chill go through my spine as I looked at the skull with a snake for a tongue: Voldemort's Mark.

"Close the shutters!" James ordered immediately, doing the same as people in compartments all around us were doing.

Peter pulled the shutters down over the window, blocking out the view of that horrid Dark Mark that lit up the sky in the most horrible way.

In a split second, Remus and I were both on our feet, though for very different reasons. For Remus, it was to fulfil his prefect duties and protect the other students; for me, it was to find my brother and sister, and protect them from harm. Remus wrenched the door of the compartment open; but James ran forward and threw him back, slamming the door shut.

"What the bloody hell are you thinking?" he demanded. "You're going to draw attention to us!"

"I'm a prefect, Prongs, I have a responsibility to protect the students!" Remus yelled back. "What's wrong with you? Normally you're so recklessーnormally you can't wait for a good fight. What's happened to you?"

I took the opportunity to attempt to slide out of the compartment while they were arguing, but Sirius noticed and stopped me.

"Where are you going?!" he screamed. "Are you trying to play the hero again?!"

"No," I snapped, deeply affronted by what he'd just said, but also growing too impatient to dwell on it. "I'm trying to find my brother and sister! I have to make sure they're safe—SIRIUS, MOVE OUT OF MY WAY!"

"No," he said calmly. "No, they're fine. I'm sure they're fine. Don't you get it? Don't you know who these Death Eaters are targeting?"

"Who?"

"Muggle-borns," Sirius whispered. "Ainsley and Corey are half-blood, just like you and about a hundred other people on this train. That's not who the Death Eaters are going to go for."

I sunk to the ground next to the compartment door and threw the tie that had been wrapped around my forehead off of it.

"But what if they're not?" I breathed, not looking at anything in particular. My heart pounded and I remembered clearly having felt a helpless feeling similar to this one because of the Fiendfyre situation. My chest was heavy and there wasn't enough air getting to my lungs. "What if they aren't all right?"

"They will be," Sirius reassured, sitting down on the ground next to me. He grabbed my hand and forced me to look him in the eyes. "They're half-blood. Half-blood, Bianca. Not Muggle-born. They'll be fine."

Remus seemed to have given in to James and had sunk to the floor as well. "It's best if we all get down. You know, just in case, so they don't see us." He took his wand out of his pocket, pointed it at the door, and muttered, "Protego horribilis."

"The Dark Mark is in the sky," I said quietly. I talked in whispers in fear that I would be heard by the Death Eaters. "Don't they normally only put it in the sky at places where they've already killed someone?"

"They must be sure that they're going to kill someone," said Peter, his eyes wide with fright. He whimpered.

"If they're after Muggle-borns like usual... Lily..." James said solemnly. There was a faraway look in his eyes as he said her name. He was scared for her.

"Yes, there's Lily... Cal... Mary Macdonald... Sarina Blythe... my sister's friend, Emma..." I responded. "And so many other Muggle-borns that we don't even know... these Death Eaters may kill one of them..."

This appeared to have struck a chord in James, because he plunged his hand into his robes and drew his wand.

If I really thought about it, this entire attack was pure genius. They were attacking a bunch of children who had absolutely nothing to defend themselves with except their own limited knowledge of magic. There were no professors around to protect us from the Death Eaters... It was the perfect plan.

"What if th-they actually do kill one of the M-Muggle-borns?" Peter asked. "If it's someone we know..."

I looked at James, who appeared to be conflicted and looked as though he were having an argument with himself. I didn't blame him. None of us knew what to do. Would we have to defend ourselves and defend each other? What were we supposed to do?

"Should we do something?" James asked helplessly, standing up from the floor of the train.

There was a muffled yelling coming from right outside our compartment. I stood up and moved the shutters just enough to look through the window on the compartment door. What I saw made me feel completely revolted.

Cal was being dragged my two Death Eaters at once. He was completely conscious and struggling against them, but they had bound him to them using a spell, so his attempts were completely useless. They lifted the spell and threw him on the floor, pointing their wands straight at him as he yelled and tried to free himself... all because he was a Muggle-born...

"James," I breathed, my entire body shaking with fear. "James, it's Cal. They've got him... they can't just... we can't let them just take him... I don't know what to do anymore..."

There was determination in James's eyes as he lifted his wand. He had been trying to stop Remus from going to try and save people, but now he was attempting to do the exact same thing.

"James, stop," I said. "If you use magic on them, they'll know where we are... we'd be giving ourselves away... and they'll come after us instead..."

"We can't just let them kill him!" he yelped.

"No, that's not what I meant," I said. "If you use your wand, it would be giving us away... but without a wand, they'll have no idea where the spell's coming from... without a wand..."

Realization dawned on each of the Marauders.

"Bianca, are you sure...?" Sirius asked.

Outside of the compartment, the male Death Eaters kicked Cal and said, "Hello, Mudblood. Why don't you give us some names of some more Mudbloods, huh?"

"No," Cal grunted.

"Excuse me?" cawed the female Death Eater with thick black hair. "That was not an option, that was an ORDER, you filthy little—"

Next to me, Sirius hissed quietly, "That Death Eater's my cousin!"

I gazed at him fearfully before turning back to the window.

"I said no!" Cal yelled, continuing to struggle against the invisible ropes that bound him.

"Oh, you're going to regret that," said the woman.

The other Death Eater bellowed, "Crucio!" Red sparks shot out of the tip of his wand and the Cruciatus Curse was doing exactly what it was meant to do: torturing. Cal began screaming and writhing in pain on the floor. His screams were the last straw for me... I had to help him.

"Yes, I'm sure," I finally replied to Sirius's question, my voice shaking. "Oh my God," I continued, sickened. "They're using the Cruciatus Curse on him... God, that's disgusting. Horrible."

"Do something!" James yelled.

I looked out at Cal. I hadn't done wandless magic all summer—or any magic, for that matter—so I had to focus all of my energy into what I wanted to do. I found it harder to do than usual due to lack of practice, but I channelled my powers and said, "Incendio."

The Death Eater that had tortured Cal was the one I directed the spell at. His behind burst into flames and he let out a shriek of pain. He fell on his bottom and attempted to extinguish the fire. Cal looked pleasantly surprised and relieved that he was no longer being tortured. He relaxed against the floor, his eyes closing and his chest rising and falling quickly. His eyes were leaking tears slowly.

I turned back to look at James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, who were all sitting on the floor silently. They couldn't see what was happening outside the compartment, though they could hear perfectly well every scream. I looked outside the compartment again.

The second Death Eater pointed her wand at Cal. "WHAT DID YOU DO?" she demanded shrilly. "Think you can trick us, Mudblood? We've already got your wand, we know that couldn't have been you! Which one of your dirty-blooded little friends has come to your rescue?"

She looked around and I ducked immediately. Then, I muttered, "Impedimenta!"

I looked up in time to see the second Death Eater being knocked backwards. She quickly recovered and scrambled to her feet, putting her wand against Cal's throat.

"That's enough!" she said. "Whoever it is, one more spell fired at us and he dies!"

"Incendio," I said again. This time, the second Death Eater's hair burst into flames.

She shrieked, dropped her wand from Cal's throat and instead lifted it up to her hair to extinguish the fire. She looked absolutely furious. The first Death Eater had only just managed to extinguish his behind and got up, his legs shaking.

"Enough tricks, Mudblood," he spat, pointing his wand at Cal, whose eyes were still watery. "Avada—"

"Levicorpus!" I said quickly. My teeth chattered and I glanced at Cal, who was on the ground, cowering.

The Death Eater was lifted into the air and hung upside down by the ankle. "Liberacorpus!" he yelled, pointing the wand at his leg to let himself down.

He slammed face-first into the floor and scrambled up. The other Death Eater had her wand raised and was looking around to locate who had lit her head on fire, but it was so dark that nothing could be seen.

"Well, what are you waiting for?!" she shrieked at the first Death Eater. "Kill him! Kill him, as you were meant to, or I'll do it for you, coward!"

Cal was able to struggle to his feet.

"Get down, filth!" the female Death Eater screamed, knocking him off his feet once again. "Crucio!"

A mirthless laugh escaped the female Death Eater's lips as she watched Cal writhing once again on the ground. His face contorted in agony and this time he seemed to be in even worse pain than he had been when the male Death Eater had tortured him. It seemed that the psychotic woman was getting a lot more pleasure out of torturing.

Upon hearing Cal's screams once again, James and Sirius both jumped protectively to their feet, but I shoved them to the side with an invisible barrier.

"I can't take this anymore," James growled.

"Shh!" I said.

Two more Death Eaters emerged from the other cart, dragging two more students. The sight of who it was made my stomach churn and my blood run cold.

"Lookie what I've got here," cooed one, holding the two bound students.

The fourth one ignored the younger girl (I recognized her as a second-year in Ravenclaw) and went straight for the older one.

"Hello beautiful," the last Death Eater crooned, his face approaching that of Lily Evans. The minute I saw him, I was completely revolted by him. "It's really quite a shame her blood is dirt; feisty one, she is..."

He reached out a hand. His fingernails were long and yellow as he twisted a strand of her hair. She growled and struggled against her own invisible ropes. He licked his lips, brandishing his sharp teeth. Judging from his scarred face, a thought came to mind and I wondered whether this man was who my gut was telling me he was...

"Though I'd have to say," he continued, "her hair is even redder than her blood must be... perhaps we should find out..."

James deduced who the girl was and, before any of us could stop him, threw the compartment door open so violently I thought it might break. He pointed his wand at the Death Eater that Sirius had said was his cousin and, catching her off guard, non-verbally Stunned her.

"LET GO OF HER!" he bellowed at the Death Eater holding Lily. Lily let out a little gasp, her cheeks bright red and her eyes wild with fright.

This gained malicious laughs from the rest of the Death Eaters.

Sirius, Remus, Peter and I jumped out of the compartment after James, holding our wands up. I had taken my wand out as well because I didn't feel comfortable showing these Death Eaters what I could do. Just then, the last two Death Eaters came running towards us.

The five of us all bellowed curses at the same time. Peter and Remus hit the same Death Eater, who was instantly knocked unconscious. Lily, Cal and the third Muggle-born were released. Lily wrestled her wand and the other girl's from one of them and held it up, pointing it threateningly at the Death Eaters. Cal was the weakest, but stood up shakily. He was left without his wand, so Sirius stood in front of him protectively.

Marlene and Alice burst through their compartment and ran to Lily, hugging her and keeping their own wands up. Upon seeing his girlfriend show herself to the Death Eaters, Frank Longbottom did the same, moving to stand next to Alice and raising his wand as well. Even with one wandless student and another whimpering second-year girl, we still outnumbered Voldemort's servants.

The Death Eaters revived the unconscious one and they stood up again, prepared.

"Aw, children," mocked Sirius's cousin from the floor, wiggling her wand at us. "Look how cute, they can't even hold their wands."

James's and Sirius's faces were set with determination. Peter seemed afraid, but he kept close to James and seemed to draw strength from his friends, finding it in himself to be brave.

Remus, however, seemed extremely nervous. His wand arm was trembling and he looked as pale as he normally did on a full moon. He was staring straight at the scarred man with long, yellow nails and bared teeth... Fenrir Greyback. His eyes were fixated on the other werewolf; the one that had turned him and caused his life to become one filled with suffering.

Sirius squeezed Remus's arm in an attempt to comfort him.

Fenrir Greyback sneered at Remus and opened his mouth to say something. The Marauders and I all must've been worried about the same thing; that he would mention something about Remus's lycanthropy, make a snide comment... but before he could speak, someone interrupted him.

Sirius's cousin lifted herself off of the floor and took a few steps forwards. She cackled evilly. "Look who it is... Ickle Sirius, my little bitty baby cousin... the blood traitor."

"Hello, Bellatrix," Sirius said smoothly. "Oh, don't you look quite like your hair was set on fire...? Has someone been playing with Fiendfyre lately?" he cooed mockingly.

"So that was one of your little friends, was it?" said Bellatrix, pointing to her head. "I believe whoever it was deserves to be tortured, don't you?"

Fear clutched at my throat and I prepared to defend myself.

"Well, it was me!" Sirius lied, holding his arms out. "Come and get me, then!"

"Crucio!" she said, but before her curse could reach Sirius, I grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side to dodge the red sparks that had been emitted from Bellatrix's wand.

Everyone jumped into action at once. Though most of us weren't as skilled in duelling as older Death Eaters who were completely adept at using Dark magic, we were able to use the fact that they underestimated us to our advantage. It seemed they hadn't expected so many older students to assist in fighting them off. Marlene and Lily duelled the same Death Eater at the same time until he collapsed. Peter, James and Sirius all took on Fenrir Greyback at the same time, not letting Remus anywhere near him. Alice and Frank each took another Death Eater; they were both absolutely amazing at duelling and had soon knocked the two Death Eaters (one of which was Bellatrix) unconscious. Meanwhile, Remus and I were duelling the same two Death Eaters, shooting spells at each of them to help one another.

"Petrificus Totalus!" I yelled, flourishing my wand in the direction of the man. Due to the force of my spell, he was knocked backwards and flew down the hall of the train, slamming into the floor with a thud.

I took a deep breath, looking at all of the Death Eaters as they lay frozen on the floor.

"They're all Stunned," said Remus, breathing hard. There was a hint of surprise in his voice. He looked down at the whimpering second-year Ravenclaw girl, helping her to her feet.

I raised my wand and bound the six Death Eaters to each other.

"What are you doing?" Sirius asked me.

"I don't know... I don't want them to still be here when they come to. We have to get them far away from here," I answered. "As much as I would love to keep them bound here until the Ministry comes and takes them all away to Azkaban, I don't reckon we should take the chance. What if they call Voldemort or something?"

Sirius stared at me. "You're right," he said. "I don't want to risk it. We were able to stop them once, I don't think we should wait around in case the Ministry decides to show up. I think our best bet is to get them as far away from everyone on this train as possible." He nodded his head at me. "Do what you have to do."

Then I took a deep breath and used the Banishing Charm.

"Depulso," I said calmly, slowing my breath.

The six solid figures of the Death Eaters were Banished, thrown off the train. I focused my energy to send them as far away from the train as I could.

Remus suddenly bolted away, most likely heading to find the conductor and to check on everyone else, making sure they were all right.

I turned around, only to see Alice and Frank holding each other and Lily clinging on to James's arm. He looked down at her, adjusting the glasses on his nose and giving her a loving gaze, without any trace of arrogance. She stared at him for a moment with her bright green eyes, then let go of him and gave Marlene a hug.

"Well, that was fun," said Marlene, but Alice shot her an exasperated look.

As I looked out at Alice, Frank, Marlene, Lily, Sirius, Peter and James, I felt a sense of pride that we had fought Death Eaters together. They were all such brave, brave souls who had each fought to save each other... Remus included, though he was off taking control of the situation.

I suddenly remembered Cal, who had been tortured twice... He must've been in an immense amount of pain...

The train was still dark and I couldn't see much, so I lit the tip of my wand and ran to kneel beside Cal. He was lying on the floor, his head lolling to the side.

"Cal," I said, touching his shoulder. "Are you OK?"

James, Sirius and Peter ran out and fell to their knees next to Cal as well. Cal was panting. His face was pale and clammy, and his entire body was shaking. He was afraid, but he was trying pretty hard to cover it up. He wiped the sweat beads from his forehead with the back of his hand and tried to sit up, failing and slumping back against the floor.

"Mate, are you all right?" James asked.

"I'm OK," he wheezed, wiping his glazed eyes. He gritted his teeth and attempted to sit up again, this time succeeding. "Thank you," he said appreciatively to all of us. "Thanks so much. I really... I really thought I was going to die... I thought they would kill me, and they would have... he came so close to killing me that time..."

I didn't reply and neither did anyone else. I knitted my eyebrows together and swallowed the lump in my throat.

"What exactly did you do to them before?" Sirius asked me. "Why was Bellatrix's hair burned off?"

"She set them on fire," Cal muttered, forcing a smile. "She set the woman's hair and the man's arse on fire."

The other three boys gave me small grins despite the fact that we were all still fearful.

"Where'd you send them?" Peter asked me. "They won't come back, will they?"

"I Banished them," I said. "They're on the side of the train tracks somewhere, but I made sure to send them very far away from the train. They won't come backーI'm only hoping the train starts up again soon."

"So, er... you're sure you're fine?" Sirius asked Cal. "I mean, they tortured you pretty badly..."

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Cal. "The only bad thing is they took my wand! I've had that wand for not even a year and I already need to get a new one."

Last year, during one of our Quidditch practices, Cal's wand had snapped. He had gotten a new one from Ollivander's, and now he would have to have another one made.

Sirius and James laughed.

"Glad that's the worst thing that happened," James said. "Look at it that way. Everything turned out well, didn't it?"

He looked back at Lily, who nodded curtly at him. It wasn't exactly a love declaration, but it was a start. He had saved her life and been brave enough to defend her.

"I really liked that wand," said Cal thoughtfully, pulling us all out of our dazes.

"All right, well, if you'd like, you can trade your wand for your life," I said.

"Ah... nope, not entirely worth it. Even though I really liked that wand."