Fisher was the first to recover. He pried Anderson’s arms off of him and crawled to his knees, peering at the three men lying insensible on the ground. Their brooms were in broken pieces next to them. He stood, his knees shaking. Who were these flying men?
“What are we going to do with them?” Anderson whispered, standing.
“Take them in, I suppose.” Fisher took a piece of the broomstick and examined it. “Call in a team—we need to bag all this evidence.” He looked at the battered-up police car. “We’re going to need all the evidence we can get to make people believe us.” He looked around. Was he dreaming? “Anderson.”
“Huh?”
“Pinch me. OW!” The pain was sharp. This was real. So he walked to the police car, called in a team, and then stared at the three unconscious men on the ground. He took a deep breath and glanced at Anderson. This was going to be a long night.
. . . .
“Who were they?” Lily demanded, standing over James, who was sitting at a table at The Three Broomsticks, sipping a butterbeer. He was with Sirius. Peter and Remus had just arrived, and they’d brought Lily with them.
James shrugged. “Death Eaters, I think. Sirius and I were chasing them. But they’re hard to catch, if you know what I mean.” He scooted over on the bench he was on. “Sit down, love. Drink some butterbeer and calm down.”
“Calm down? Calm down? You two could’ve been killed!” Lily screeched. “And now Dumbledore is going to, if someone from the Order doesn’t! You were being stupid.”
“Keep your voice down,” Sirius said, his voice level.
“You boys think this war is all fun and games, don’t you?” she hissed, sitting down next to James. She gulped down a good quarter of his butterbeer.
“No,” Sirius said, but he was suppressing a grin.
“Just sometimes,” James added. Lily gave him a glare, but he just returned it with a kiss.
“What were the Death Eaters doing, anyway?” Lupin asked. “Do you know?”
James rubbed the back of his neck. “I think it was all a trap to get the two of us killed. The Death Eaters knew we’d blindly follow them, so they led us to the police car. Soon, we had a tail. The Death Eaters disappeared, so we focused on getting rid of the police. The wretches knew we’d make a wrong turn somewhere. Either that or ride into the sky, where they’d ambush us. You were right, Lily. We should be dead.” James glanced at her. “We’ll be more careful next time.”
“Good. But what are you going to do now? Those police men…what happens if they tell about what they saw?”
James shook his head sadly. “You know the way police work, Lily. The Death Eaters were unconscious. That means they were easily taken into custody. The second they awoke, though, you know what happened.”
“They’re…they’re dead?”
Sirius nodded.
“I don’t believe it. Maybe they haven’t woken up yet—”
“It’s too late, Lily,” Remus said. “You know it is. But soon this will all be over. Voldemort can’t reign forever. We’ll stop him.”
“No one more should have to die,” Lily whispered, her long red hair framing her determined face. “No one else will die. Not for this.”