Lily's hand hurt, and she clutched it close to her chest, as she allowed Ali to move her gently toward the bed again. Lily was shaking slightly from the adrenaline that had flowed through her during the fight. It was now wearing off and in place of that rush, she was suddenly feeling quite cold and weak. She tumbled into the bed and felt as though she had collapsed there.

Ali smoothed back Lily's hair and hovered nervously, looking around at the destruction of the little room. Broken glass and bits of wall cluttered the floor and the marks of deflected spells dotted the walls like puffs of ash, blackening the neutral wallpaper.

"Whatever happened here?!"

On edge, Ali turned quickly, wand ready, and found it aimed directly at Sirius Black's chest.

Sirius looked down at the wand poking into him, grinned, then looked up at Ali. "Am I in trouble or are you just happy to see me?" Ali lowered her wand as Sirius's grin only widened and James came shoving 'round from behind Sirius.

"Evans!" he cried, seeing the room in shambles and Lily laying on the bed, still quite a ruffle from the fight. James ran over and reached for her hand, which made Lily yowl in pain. He jumped back, hands raised, "Wbat'd I do?"

"My hand!" Lily sobbed, a combination of the pain from the broken hand and the relief of seeing James washing over her. The rush was certainly over now, and she started to cry in earnest as the realization that she was okay and the battle was over sank in. Shock rippled along her nerve endings like an icy breeze, and she shivered.

"It's broken, I think," Ali supplied to the panicked expression on James's face.

"Who? How?" He asked. Lily beckoned him closer with her good hand and James stepped up. As she collapsed against him, he enveloped her in a hug and held on as she pressed her face into his shoulder.

"A mediwitch. Or at least someone who looked like a mediwitch. Marlene and I came up here to see Lily and they were dueling - then Marly went after her..."

Sirius was wide eyed in the doorway, taking it all in as Ali spoke. When she'd finished, Sirius drew his wand from his hair, and said, "Which way did they go?"

"Round to the left, but --"

Before Ali could finish, Sirius was bounding out the door. She looked helplessly at James, who started to move to go after him, but Lily clutched at James's shirt with her good hand. "No, please don't. Don't go yet, James."

James's mouth moved like a confused fish for a moment, his mind fighting over whether to go and help capture the person who'd hurt Lily Evans or else to stay and fulfill her wishes. But Lily's green eyes shone up at him and he nodded and held her closer.

Ali hesitated, then, deciding they needed a moment alone, she said, "I'll go find a real mediwitch - to help with Lily's hand."

James nodded.

"Thank you, Alice," Lily said feebly.

Ali darted from the room.

"Has anyone reported this attack to the Ministry, do you know?" James asked Lily, releasing her from his embrace. His voice switching from his usual tone to one that surprised Lily with how official it sounded. It was clearly a voice he'd been perfecting over the weeks of working at the Ministry, the voice that James the Auror would one day use, rather than James the mischievous love of her life.

"No, I very much doubt so, unless Marlene's done..." Lily replied.

James nodded in a very official manner and quickly cast his stag patronous - a flick of his wrist was all it took to do it now, and Lily marveled at the glowing apparition of the stag that stood there in the room, glowing pale white-blue. "Mr. Underhill," James said, addressing the patronous, which stared at him intently as he spoke, "There's been an attack at Mungo's, following an ambush..." James paused, looked to Lily.

"Greyback's in custody," she reminded him, "And several of the Aurors are here with injuries."

James repeated the information to the stag and sent it off with a pop to his boss with a wave of his wand.

"I hope everyone else is alright..." Lily murmured.

James nodded, staring down at the broken bits of glass and plaster that was on the way. "I do as well," he answered. 

"James," Lily said, concerned with the look on his face, wanting to beckon him over, and she tried at sitting up, forgetting her injury for a moment in her worry and tried at using the broken hand to push herself forward and she let out a yelp of pain and fell back against the pillows.

James looked at Lily with panic, moving swiftly to her side from across the room. "Are you alright, Love?"

"Now that you're here, I reckon so." She stared up at him and tears filled her eyes as she did. His face looked so grown up... "I'm sorry, I dunno why I'm so emotional, I -"

"You got attacked, Evans, of course you're emotional," James said gently.

Lily shook her head, "I think it was mostly the shock of it - of it happening here at Mungo's. Hospitals are meant to be a safe place and I let my guard down, and she just walked in here with the upper hand. I never expected it, not until a duel had started, and it felt so surreal..."

James nodded slowly, sitting on the edge of her bed and staring at her as she spoke. "I thought we were safe, too, and I was an idiot and left you... If I'd only stayed... I would've been here to help you... to protect you."

"It wasn't so much that I needed protecting," she said, "I protected myself quite well, rather. But it's just that I'm realizing how there isn't anywhere in the world that's safe, is there? It's all dangerous. Everywhere is. They've infiltrated everything, haven't they? Even the hospital."

James sighed heavily. "I suppose so."

Lily looked at him with equal parts fear and fierceness in her eyes, "They can't win, James. Voldemort can't win, he can't! All the goodness would be gone, all the hope. What if he does? What if he somehow takes over and convinces everyone his ways are better than kindness? Better than love?"

James said, "We keep fighting."

"I don't want to lose you," Lily said, and tears trembled on her lashes, threatening to fall again.

James shook his head, "I would never leave you."

"But if there's no safe place, if they can attack us anywhere --"

"They can't take me away from you, Evans." James reached across the gap between them and pressed his hand to her chest, right over her heart. "I'm right here. I'm always right here."

Lily used her good hand to clutch his there, keeping him there, and refusing to let him go.

Remus and Marlene had magicked the petrified body of Lyra Greengrass to a room where the young witch could be safely contained. Upon reporting the event to an actual mediwitch, the Ministry had been informed and an auror was dispatched to assist. The Head of Magical Law Enforcement, Barty Crouch Sr., was already on site it turned out, having been summonsed to Mungo's by Dumbledore earlier that very evening, and it was Crouch who appeared first to the corridor where Remus and Marlene stood, refusing to let their guard down, afraid Lyra would get away.

"What in heavens is happening now?" Crouch demanded, his voice rough with agitation, "Another plot to kill us all has been foiled, has it? Another distraction succeeding to pull the Ministry's focus off what it ought to be doing in the efforts to fend off You Know Who's advances? What is it now? More hogwash about Greyback perhaps?" The Head of Magical Law Enforcement stopped and stared at Remus Lupin and Marlene MacKinnon in the corridor and his mustache twitched with humor as he chuckled. "Oh so now Albus has got children playing at this game, too, does he?"

Marlene's face went sour, "Children?" she demanded, and she flushed with anger. "We are not children!"

"Both of us are of age, sir," Remus injected before Marlene's response became any more bristled.

"And besides that - it isn't hogwash, what we've got to say!" Marlene snapped. "There was an attack, right here at Mungo's! Against Lily Evans. She's a patient and a fake mediwitch came in and they dueled! Lily's hand's been broken!"

Crouch looked rather disturbed by this revelation, and he shook his head. "An attack IN Mungo's? And while I am on duty here, no less?" He shook his head, "Impossible!"

"I beg pardon, sir, but your mere presence doesn't mean there are no threats that could enter Mungo's," Remus said, "While I agree it was shocking to find out an attack had happened in a place that's supposed to be safe and protected by the Ministry, I must say the correct word for your reaction ought to be improbable - but it is certainly not impossible." 

Crouch was sputtering with anger.

"Furthermore, what Marlene's said is true. We've just caught Lyra Greengrass at trying to escape following an attack upstairs against ---" 

But before Remus could finish telling the story, a strong looking wizard came 'round the corner and walked up to the cluster of them. "Crouch," the man intoned in a low voice, nodding a half-inclined head toward the Ministry official. 

"Mr. Underhill," replied Crouch.

"I've been informed of some rather disturbing goings-on here at Mungo's, from a source besides the man who the Minister has assigned to looking after the hospital this evening..." Mr. Underhill looked pointedly at Mr. Crouch. "Attacks and murders and all shade of underhanded activity." 

Crouch looked rather sour. "I've been handling the trouble and doing my investigations according to my own duties, Mr. Underhill." His voice pinched upon the other man's name rather harshly and he glowered at him from behind his twitching mustache.

"You ought to be informing every Ministry Official in London to come and assist before you begin investigating and interrogating teenagers," Underhill snapped. "Or do you harbor a secret interest in allowing the Death Eaters to escape?"

Crouch's eyes flashed, "If you are accusing me of being on the side of any Death Eater --"

"If you allow them to walk freely from this place, then yes, I accuse you of assisting --"

"You are out of line, sir!" Crouch shouted.

"On the contrary, you are out of line, Mr. Crouch!" Underhill shouted back.

"Excuse me," Remus said into the midst as Marlene stared on in shock. Both Ministry officials turned to look at him. Remus pointed at the door he and Marlene had been guarding. "Perhaps this -erm- discussion could be put on hold a bit until after the Death Eaters in question are, you know, taken care of?" He raised his eyebrow.

Crouch's jaw tightened angrily, his mouth a thin line, eyes cold. "Of course," he murmured.

Underhill swiftly stepped forward between Remus and Marlene, and pushed his way into the room beyond. Not wanting to be second, Crouch rushed forward as well, following right on Underhill's heels. Remus looked at Marlene with raised eyebrow as the two officials disappeared inside.

"Bloody mature," muttered Marlene, shaking her head.

"My thoughts precisely," Remus agreed, and he turned to follow after the officials, keen to be sure they heard the full story from Marlene and not just from Lyra Greengrass, when there was a crash that made him stop and looked down the corridor.

Sirius had come bounding from the stairwell, wand aloft, his eyes wild. "I'm here!" he shouted as he ran along toward them, "I'm here to help!" Remus drew a deep breath as Sirius's form clumsily approached, his boots thumping on the tile floor and then squealing as he came to an abrupt halt before them. "Am I in time to kick some Death Eater arse?" he asked, panting for breath.

"You've missed it," Marlene replied. "Remus was tremendously brave."

"He usually is," Sirius answered, grinning. "Did you catch the bitch that's attacked Evans?"

Remus said, "Yes, and the Ministry is here and --"

The door to the room where Lyra Greengrass was being detained opened once again, and Underhill and Crouch came bursting out.

"-- only had summonsed the help you needed at the appropriate time, rather than waiting until you'd done your pathetic investigations --" Underhill was purple with anger as he shouted after Crouch, whose pinched face was twisted with irritation and anger. "This wouldn't have happened if you'd followed protocol!" 

"Protocol WAS followed!" Crouch responded.

"What's happened?" Marlene asked over the din of the arguing officials.

Underhill growled, "She's gotten away."

"Gotten away?" Remus asked, shocked, "How? We've not moved from this door!"

"Well the room is empty, you do with that as you please." Underhill shoved 'round Crouch and hurried down the corridor. "If she's managed it, it's very possible that Greyback has as well..."

Crouch swore and rushed after Underhill.

Sirius, Marlene, and Remus all stared after them, even after they'd rounded the corner and their arguing voices had faded out of range.