"Please. I am begging you. Get down off the table."

Sirius was delirious. Somewhere in the midst of his dazed staring, he'd suddenly gotten up quite a lot of crazed energy - an uninhibited Sirius. As though the boy had any inhibitions to speak of to begin with! This even more unhinged version of Sirius had taken up with a rowdy crowd of frat lads that were out celebrating whatever it is uni boys celebrate, and he was not only keeping up with them, but they were bowing down to him as though he were their king, and they mere peasants.

Remus had stepped away from his husband for only a minute - headed to the bad to get tea and water for himself and Sirius, thinking Sirius might liven up with some liquids in him. But when Remus turned back it was to find Sirius doing a wonky jig on the table as the frat lads shouted praises and clapped their hands rather deliriously.

"Sirius!" Remus begged, tugging on the leg of his ripped and patched denims, "Please. Please. Just get down from there. I beg of you."

"Remus!" Sirius cried, grinning at him from on high, his eyes still strange and dull, despite his enthusiastic jig, "Why don't you come up here and try this muggle whiskey?"

Remus felt his neck around his collar grow rather warm with nervousness. He half expected a Ministry official to appear and haul them off for breaking the Statute - and gods knew what they'd do when they saw whatever it was going on outside at the moment! Remus had a wildly errant flash of the entire Order all locked up together in one of the little cells below the Ministry floors... Luckily, the frat lads were too drunk to give a damn about the unusual word, and those around them in the pub were busy ignoring them all to have cared, either. And no Ministry officials would show their face in Bakewell that night - aside from those who were already there, unofficially.

There was a sudden loud banging and the front wall of the pub shook as though hit by a bomb.

Distracted from Sirius, Remus hurried to put down the tea and water and rushed to the door. He pulled it open and looked out onto the square from within, his eyes opening wide at the scene outside.

Outside was a sharp contrast to inside. The warmth and comfort, jovial shouting, and the illusion of all things being quite everyday was behind Remus, and before him, just steps through the door of the pub, was a smoking, terrible, war ridden scene. Blasted stones from buildings lay in a mess of destruction on the ground, tables toppled over, their cloths on fire or else completely blown away. There had been a statue on top of a fountain, Remus was sure of it, but the fountain itself had been hit so completely that it was nothing more than a pipe coming up from the ground, pouring out water into the street. The water formed rivers, running away, and Remus looked at the pale moonlight reflected in them and saw the dark, swirling crimson of blood as it mixed and flowed away from the bodies that had shed it.

He felt sick to his stomach as the wreckage before him seemed to ricochet about in his mind. How many were dead? How many of his friends were gone?

It was silent in the square. The proverbial dust was settling.

Behind him, Sirius was shouting - lyrics to some drinking song he and the frat lads were chanting as they drank themselves mad - but the voices were a distant echo to Remus. He stepped outside, numb. He knew he ought not to, he ought to stay in the pub, like James had said, but what if James was not coming for him and Sirius? What if he couldn't?

Remus drew his wand, careful to close the pub door behind him, taking tentative steps across the square.

Several of the bodies on the ground were now shifting, moving with the slow delicate motions of someone recently injured. Remus saw Edgar Bones helping up Benji Fenwick and Dumbledore was sitting on the ground, a sheen of sweat upon his forehead, blood on his face. He stepped around a Death Eater's form, bound in an incarcerous charm, squirming about like a hideous worm, his mask half fallen aside.

Remus's heart jumped to his throat when he spotted  Prewett, laying spread upon the cobblestones. The auror was convulsing slightly, and blood came from the corner of his mouth, covering his teeth. "Are you alright?" Remus asked, unsure which twin it was, since he'd come late to the fight and hadn't a chance to talk to him before. He could tell once he got closer - ironically, by the faint scent of Dorcas Meadows's morning glories - that this was Gideon. "Giddy?"

Gideon nodded shakily, "Cruciatus," he murmured.

Remus drew his wand and performed a spell that he hoped might ease the electricity seizing through Gideon's nervous system, and he pulled him to sitting up carefully. "Thank you, Remus," Gideon said quietly. He looked around, motions still awkward and jerky. "Dorcas?"

"I haven't seen her yet," Remus replied.

Gideon started to get up, but Remus stopped him. "Need to find her -" Gideon said in a tone that was close to a plea.

"I'll look, you stay here." Remus reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a bar of chocolate, breaking it and gave a bit to Gideon. "Eat, you'll feel better," he said.

"Cheers," Gideon answered, holding up the chocolate before taking a bite.

Remus moved on through the square. More and more figures were rousing, slowly. There were coughs and names being called out. Moody had stumbled over to Dumbledore and was clearing up the Headmaster's broken nose, and Benji and Edgar were each moving about, incarcerating the Death Eaters and helping Order members get up.

"What the hell happened?" Remus asked, coming near to Edgar. "It looks like a bomb blasted out here."

"In a way it did... Albus set of a detonus charm," said Edgar. "There were thrice as many of them as there was of us. We were ambushed." He shook his head, dismayed. "It was the only way to end it, but - none of us were prepared for it, not even Albus, it reverberated rather harshly. But at least it scared off the cowards."

Remus looked around the destruction, as Edgar was doing, and he wondered what the fight had even accomplished? What had been the point? If anyone was dead because of this battle, it would be for no reason at all.

"Who gave us the information about the Death Eaters coming here? An informant?" Remus asked.

"One of our men on the inside," Edgar replied. "They must be onto him, they must have fed him false information. We'll need to pull him and put him in a Safe House as quickly as possible."

"Who, though?" Remus asked.

Edgar shook his head.

Remus was about to argue to get the name, but he was interrupted by a scream and he turned around to see Marlene Mckinnon, desperately trying to move a large bit of the stone that had fallen down. The scream had come from Emmaline Vance, who lay on her back on the ground, her leg stuck beneath the stone.

Remus hurried over, catching Marlene, who was sobbing apologies, and stopping her from trying to move the stone again with her hands. "Where is your wand?" Remus asked her.

"It's broken," Marlene replied, "That bitch Bellatrix --"

Remus grit his teeth, loathing the name of the curly haired fiend. He drew his own wand and carefully moved it away from Emma's leg with a charm. "Take her to Mungo's," Remus commanded as Emmaline let out another piercing cry. Marlene nodded and hurried to help Emma, tears pouring over both their faces.

Remus turned away as Marlene prepared to disapparate Emma off. He found Dorcas Meadows huddled behind one of the overturned tables, casting healing spells on Minerva McGonagall, and Elphinstone Urquart was close at hand, clearing away debris carefully. He told Dorcas that Gideon was in the square and Elphinstone stopped what he was doing to continue the spells on Minnie while Dorcas went to Gideon.

"Moony!"

Remus looked up. Across the way, James was standing, waving for him, his face covered in a thin layer of soot and what looked like blood. James was shirtless, and his hair was a mess, a crack through one lens of his glasses. Remus ran over as best he could with his limp.

"I - I - Please - I need - help," James begged. His face was anguished.

Lily had been blasted back, toppled over the peddler's cart, and hit her head on the stone of the wall. James and the peddler himself hadn't been affected as much by the blast of the charm because of the cart's protected. Greyback lay, still stunned on the ground, and the Peddler, too, was out cold.

"Please," James begged. "She's bleeding."

Remus wondered whether James was aware that his wand was right there on the ground beside him. He hurried around the cart and started casting healing charms on Lily, who had blood on her cheek and in her hair, where she'd been injured in her flight over the cart. Remus's hands were shaking, and James hovered, pacing, afraid, adding to the nervousness Remus felt.

"She's going to be alright, yeah?" James asked. "Evans? You're alright?"

Remus looked up, "She ought to go to Mungo's, James."

James nodded and without a moment's pause, he scooped Lily up and gathered her into his arms, holding her close to his chest. He winced as he did it and Remus was about to ask what was wrong with him when he had disapparated away.

James could not be moved. Several mediwitches and wizards tried, but he refused to leave Lily's side. She lay in the bed at Mungo's, eyes closed and ginger hair fanned about her and he thought of one of the Disney films that they had watched together, one about a Princess who is made to sleep until she feels the touch of True Love's Kiss.

He stood up and leaned over her, gently placing a kiss upon her lips. They were still and lacked the usual softness and warmth. He sat back down and resumed his vigil, leaning forward, holding her hand in both of his, and staring at her expectantly, hopefully.

James's eyes were bleary with tiredness. He sat back, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eye. They felt like they were made of sandpaper they were so dry and  strained. He raised his arms up, stretching, and groaned as a pain shot through his side. He winced and held his palm wide over his ribs a moment, the bruising there making his torso tender and painfully sensitive. He closed his eyes.

He could've fallen asleep sitting up.

James opened his eyes again quickly, scared he actually had fallen asleep, worried he night have missed her waking up. But she was still asleep, just as she had been a second before when he closed his eyes.

Every muscle felt heavy and he was so, so exhausted, though...

Slowly, James pulled himself up to his feet and shuffled 'round the bed, carefully climbing in behind Lily. He gathered her into his arms and his nose was buried in the smell of her hair. He closed his eyes again, and nearly instantly fell asleep.