The fight on the Atrium floor was well underway. The Ministry witches and wizards, although taken by surprise, were all very well trained and quite intelligent and they were quick with their wands.

James had simply thrown himself into the fray, leaping to assist a young witch who he recognized from school - a Hufflepuff. "Potter!" she'd cried, seeing him, "You - what're you doing here?"

"Lending a wand, Amelia!"

Together they faced on against the Death Eater fighting her, who was quite advanced with his dark craft, and they managed at throwing him back against the wall, knocking him down and getting an incarcerus charm set upon him, binding him cleanly up. 

"Thanks, Potter! I owe you one!"

"No worries, Amelia!" James replied, ducking away to defend himself as another Death Eater came from behind at him, grabbing at him and pulling him into a strong-armed chokehold. 

Amelia raised her wand and shot the man in the neck with a stunner, forcing the man to release James as he fell to the floor.

"See, look at that," James said with a laugh, "Repaid me already!"

The atrium was criss-crossed with jets of light sparking in great arcs, and fighting them was like attempting to move through a high-stakes obstacle course. Dodging left and right, ducking and even jumping over spells was completely necessary - all while shooting back your own spells as an offensive measure. He saw many witches and wizards that he knew from years of Charlus working and paling about with them - faces like Jack McKinnon (Marlene's father), Loretta Poppins, Emeril Breakwater, Ostanza Perrier, and Arther Weasley floated past, their wands bared and aiming sparks about.

James ducked a sizzling blue jet of light that exploded with a great blast against the wall just over his shoulder. Debris were sent every which way and he landed on his arse, skidding across the floor, and knocking over a Death Eater in the process. The Death Eater tumbled down upon him and his mask was knocked askew in the process.

"Potter." The name was hissed in a deep, slow voice that James would have recognized without a glance at the face behind the skull-shaped mask.

"Snivellus."

Snape reached up and knocked the mask back on properly in a hurry, his legs scrambling for traction as he righted himself. James followed suit and they both raised their wands at the same time, aiming at one another. 

"Just give me a reason, you bastard," James hissed.

Snape's wand arm was steady and his chin held up regally as he stared at James through the eye-holes of the mask. "You're a fool," Severus replied. "If you were going to do it, you would have done already." He paused, keeping his wand aimed at James - James doing the same in return. "Is Lily here?"

"It isn't any of your damned business if she is or not," James replied. Then, "She would be most disappointed to know that you've descended so far as to don that mask. Fighting like the cowards you all are, can't even be bothered at showing your faces - too scared to be exposed for what you are..."

Snape fired off a spell that James only just managed to dodge, which glanced off a display case that housed some magical artifact or another, shattering the glass. It rained down onto the ground, scattering across the tile.

"Good enough." James shot a spell back, stinging Severus's wrist, and they started dueling. They were both so much better than they'd ever been when they'd fought in school. Severus's spells were darker, but James was faster and stronger, more agile to dodge the magic being thrown at him.

There was a shriek from across the hall - it distracted James as he looked to see who had yelled, and he saw a witch clutching the robes of a wizard that lay on the floor, and James felt his stomach twist realizing that the wizard was dead, whoever he was. The anguish in the witch's cries were enough to send shivers through his blood, even among all the terror that filled the atrium, that cry was the worst.

Snape, meanwhile, took advantage of James's distraction and cast a spell which sent James sprawling onto his back, sliding across the glass-coated floor, and smashing into the podium of the display case with a good deal of force. James's glasses were knocked off in the process, the breath compressed out of his chest, and his head slammed hard enough to dizzy him. "Stupefy," Snape hissed and James was out, slumped forward like a broken toy.

Severus picked his way over the glass slowly, his face twisted into a snarl beneath his mask. He stood over James's limp form and raised his wand so that the tip of it shoved the messy hair over James Potter's forehead away, getting a clear look at him. 

What the hell did Lily see in him? Snape wondered. James's face, even unconscious, looked arrogant to Severus. Even unconscious, James seemed to be mocking him, and all Severus could see was the boy who had levitated him on the school yard before everyone and removed his pants for all to see. All Severus could see was the man who had stolen his Lily away.

How easy it would be, he thought, to kill James Potter, right here - right now. No one would ever know it had been him - it could've been any one of the witches or wizards in the atrium at that moment. Both sides of the battle were aiming blind at this point, there was no way to trace the spells flying in every direction as the fight raged around them. It would be so easy... He could imagine the jet of green light that would be cast, and the way James's heart would simply stop. The thought gave Snape a greatly powerful feeling.

What was stopping him?

Why was his hand still?

Why wouldn't his mouth form the words?

Coward, the still face of James Potter seemed to be screaming at him, even without moving, even without consciousness, and Snape felt the wrath rise up in his throat.

An errant spell cast his way nearly struck Snape then, and he moved to dodge it, breaking his concentration on James as he moved, and he looked across the atrium floor to see who had shot the spell and saw Lily Evans.

"JAMES!" she shrieked, and she was running toward them, her ginger hair flying as she leaped over debris, hurrying across the ministry floor. "PUGNUS!"

The spell shot through the air and Severus was so stunned by her appearance that he didn't even dodge it. The spell smacked him right in the face like a punch, his mask pushing back with the force of it and breaking his nose. Blood fell from the holes at his nostrils and spattered across his black robes as he stumbled backward in shock.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Lily was ferocious, Snape recognized the fire in her eyes, could hear the anger in her mind as she threw herself between him and James. Their eyes locked for a moment and Severus's breath was taken from him, he was so in awe of the green that sparked from hers. He felt his wand arm lower, his palm raise in a sign of surrender, and he backed up, and moved quickly away, disappearing into the crowd.

Lily did not recognize him.

Or if she had, she did not care who was behind the mask.

Snape staggered through the battle, unsure how he was avoiding being hit, until he got to the hall where the floo entrances were. The Order members were appearing through the grates, Aurors, too, and Snape had to dodge 'round them, only just managing to escape through one of the open floos.

On the Atrium floor, the Order members were pouring into the fight and the Death Eaters were quickly thrown outnumbered by so many that the tides began to turn against them. Sirius Black  struck one in the throat with stunner and the Prewett twins sent binding spells that brought down another. Alastor Moody was engaged in one-to-one with a very strong Death Eater whose spells shot fiercely and quick, ricocheting off the tile floor and knocking Moody's wood leg from beneath him. 

There was a scream from high above, then, and a great crashing sound of an explosion. Debris and glass fell from the very top floor, raining down over the battle below. Everyone had to duck and dodge the stones and bits of rubble that fell, lest they be struck a nasty blow. Only Remus saw the witch falling in the midst of it. 

"Arresto Momentum!" Remus Lupin cried, a bit of stone striking his shoulder and knocking him over. His spell hit the target however and the witch was  suspended in the air, hovering within arms' reach of the floor. Edgar Bones reached for her and pulled her down to safety, tumbling onto his back with the weight of her. 

"Miss Dovetail," he said in surprise, recognizing her as the Minister's secretary. "Are you alright?"

She was clearly terrified, her eyes bright with fear, and she clutched onto Edgar with shaking arms, tears pouring from her eyes.

"Where's Minchum?" Edgar asked.

Before she could reply, however, the ceiling of the atrium darkened with the hoard of dementors that had been captured in the capsule being transported by Caradoc Dearborn. Their cloaks obscured the lights, torches went out, and the Ministry floor went dark. Everyone in the room let out a sound of shock and surprise so that it seemed to echo as one. 

As the room grew cold and the dementors descended to the floor below, a strong voice broke the silence, a command to retreat, and there was a great rush of the Death Eaters attempting to escape, running for the floos, their robes flying behind them. The Prewetts rushed after them, as did Dumbledore and Benjy Fenwick. Frank Longbottom shot a stunner at the back of one of the straggling Death Eaters and knocked him to the ground as most of his comrades leaped through fireplace grates and into the row of stalls that would allow them to flush their way out through the wet entrances and one poor soul attempted at going through the phone box elevator, but was trapped as Dorcas Meadows seized up the mechanisms.

On the atrium floor, any who could produced a patronus - mostly entities of white mist as many of them could not produce a corporeal patronus. The combined work of all of their spells created a massive shield, however, blockading the dementors from descending upon them. The witch that had distracted James was still wailing loudly, and there were far off echos of alarms going off in various offices whose windows and walls had suffered damage.

As the others were working to recapture the dementors and collect the stunned and tied Death Eaters and helping one another up from the rubble, Lily sat up... She'd thrown herself down, across James's chest, to protect him. She was shaking as she looked at his face, a cut along his right jawline. He was so still, the sight of it sent terror through her, reminding her of how he'd looked when she had arrived to rescue him in that horrid tower where he'd been tortured by the Dark Lord. He looked just as pale and lifeless.

Lily raised her wand, her heart clenched with fear that he would not wake. "Ennervate!"

He sputtered, choking and coughing awake, his eyes fluttering open, and Lily let out a cry of relief, tears springing to her eyes with thankfulness. "James," she gasped, cupping his face in her hands, watching his eyes as they opened and fought to focus on her. "Oh my gods, you're alright."

"Evans?" he coughed.

"I'm here, James," she replied, her voice shaking. "And thank Merlin, so are you."

"Couldn't get rid of me that easily, Evans," he said weakly.

Lily let out a small sob and threw herself down upon him once again.

Edgar Bones managed to case up the dementors once again, and as the dust settled Kingsley Shacklebolt arrived, Harold Minchum in tow, the Minister red with anger and horror as he looked about the atrium and saw the officials and fighters strewn about the room. Heidi Dovetail, the secretary, hurried to him and he hugged her politely, then stepped 'round her to Edgar Bones. "Where is Caradoc?" Minchum asked, looking about, "I must commend him on his bravery, coming to my office just now... I mean to promote him to the Minister's guard."

Edgar looked around, "I'm sure he's about here somewhere."

Minchum nodded. He looked at the container that held the Dementors and Edgar accio'd it up, handing it to the Minister. "Box full of nightmares for you."

Minchum looked the box over. "We'll send them to Azkaban immediately, on the next change of guard."

Edgar nodded and was about to respond when suddenly his sister, Ameila, threw herself upon him in relief, wrapping her arms about his neck and crying out. He caught her up in his arms and patted her back, hugging her close. "I was worried about you," he said, "I knew you'd started your job here this week."

"Oh it was terrible Edgar!" she said, and he squeezed her comfortingly.

Remus and Sirius were hugging, too, by the fountain, Sirius's face buried into Remus's neck as Remus rubbed his back, and across the room Marlene and Emmaline were frantically kissing in relief. The dust was still settling as Dumbledore pulled Alastor Moody to his feet, having magically replaced the wooden leg. Silence fell over the atrium as the witches and wizards there began to look about and turn their attention to the damages, to the rubble that cluttered the floor around them. There were bodies - dead, or simply stunned, it was hard to tell. One of the Death Eaters had cast the Dark Mark, and it hung over the atrium, glowing green and horrible over them from the ceiling.

"Sonorus," Harold Minchum murmured, aiming his wand at his throat. His voice boomed about the room.

"Today the Ministry has been attacked," Minchum said, "But tomorrow the Ministry shall seek its revenge on those who have done this to us. We will hunt them down and we will find them and prosecute them and they will see the walls of Azkaban. Fear not, for the cowards who have done this will be defeated and once again, as has always been in the past and shall ever be in the future, good will triumph over evil. We will restore what is right. Those who did this to us shall be sorry, they shall rue the day they thought it wise to attack these hallowed halls. The Ministry will stand strong and we will prevail."