Tom Riddle X Reader | ✓

Part 77 Or Is It.

16 hours before Lily's' and James' wedding and closest friends were gathering inside the leaky cauldron. There were barely any regular customers in there though, so other than the closest friends, the pub was pretty much empty.

When you walked inside you saw James, who was incredibly bruised, seated next to briefly wounded Lupin. Sirius looked the least injured.

"What happened?" - you asked, your eyes jumping from one face to another

"Oh" - Lily intervened "I forgot to mention..."

"Mortier escaped." - Lupin narrowed his eyes to the floor "We were easily defeated. Wormtail ran away when he realized their strength was not enough to hold him down and so James was the one to get most of the blow."

"Coward." - you uttered.

"I'll have you know i'm----" - James said

"Not you." - you sighed, stopping him "Peter."

"Is he still coming to the wedding, James?" - Lily asked

But Potter only shrugged.

"Wait." - you paused "I thought a groom cannot see the bride for 24 hours before the wedding?"

"We decided to change the muggle traditions a little" - James replied, smiling at his bride-to-be. "Also. My parents have confirmed to be there."

"That's wonderful!" - Lily happily shrieked "And <y/n> can be my maid of honour!" - she gave you a glance "If you accept, of course."

"Yes, I will!" - you laughed. Your enthusiasm seemed to put slight smiles on other peoples' faces too. You already knew that Molly will be attending as well, along with her husband Arthur and her brothers - Fabian and Gideon.

The warm chatter suddenly grew cold and silent when unsettling sounds coming from outside alarmed everyone in the pub. The strong wind gushed through the door and burnt out all of the flaming candles. The place suddenly grew dark.

"Lumos" - you all twirled your wands, summoning faint light.

Problem was, everyone else except you, Lily, Sirius, James and Lupin had ran away from the place as they sensed a potential threat. There weren't many wizards there to begin with, but everyone proved to be too terrified to fight any danger. So the five of you were left alone, gazing at the freshly open door. You were all slowly approaching it in hopes of inspection.

A quick pile of black smoke emerged from the top of the sky and burst through the top of the doorway, quickly landing 8 feet in front of your group and transforming into a clear, hooded figure. It was Bellatrix Lestrange

When James attempted to disarm her, Lestrange did it first to him, throwing Potters' wand out of his grasp. When Lupin rushed to attack Bella too, Lucius Malfoy apparited in front of her and just in time disarmed Remus, stunning his body. Sirius stepped in to fight his 'deranged' cousin but he still felt hesitant to utter out a spell. Bellatrix took this chance and with a swift movement of her wand, hurled Sirius through a wall and out of the pub, causing Black to fall unconscious.

As you, Lily and James were now left standing there alone, you watched more and more death eaters fly into the room until, eventually, they were surrounding you like a pack of dementors.

"My dear friends." - Lucius addressed the three of you. "We mean no harm."

You were all sneering at Malfoy, not listening nor believing a word he said. Bellatrix was just standing there, tauntingly smirking at all of you. She looked you up and down in particular with a disgusted grin on her face. As if you've been defiled by the dark lord and she itched with greater loathe for that.

Regardless, Lucius proceeded "I simply wish for you to open your mind. I wish for nothing but to help you choose sides, on behalf of the dark lord" - with his wand, he pointed at the death eaters "You know who will win this war"

"We don't care what Voldemort has to say." - Lily shut him down

Lucius sneered, biting his lip in irritation, barely able to keep his composure "You have defied him once. Do you honestly wish to do it twice." - he paused, seeing them stay silent "Shame. You can't seem to come to your senses." - he lifted up his wand and pointed it at Lily "Mudbloods first then."

James screamed "No!" shielding Lily's body with his own.

You were stunned to watch this, petrified, you didn't even know what to do. You were not expecting such an event. Riddle did not say a thing about this ambush. How did the death eaters know where you all were? of course, he's been giving chances for the order and the ministry, hoping to scare them into joining his side, but still. Did he really think it would work?

Other than Peter Pettigrew of course...

"Lucius." - You heard a deep voice call out to Malfoy "Perhaps this is not the time" - It was no other but Severus Snape, trying to talk him out of killing Evans and Potter. When Snapes' eyes met with Lilys', you could see the pain reflected in each others eyes. After all these years since Severus lost her, he would still protect Lily with all of his heart.

"Now, JAMES!" - Lily suddenly shouted, startling everyone

James instantly grabbed yours and hers hands and the next thing you knew you felt as if you got squeezed through a tiny tube. When you regained your senses you noticed you were in the ministry of magic - Potter had used the apparition spell to teleport you and Lily away.

'Twice defied' - you played this in your head. One more.

Voldemort was attempting to lure your friends into the dark side... You knew they never would - and you knew death eaters would try again eventually.

"We can't be running forever." - Lily paced around in circles "What about Sirius and Lupin? We just left them at the cauldron!" - she yelled at James

"They'll be fine." - he replied "From the corner of my eye I saw Lupin regain his consciousness just in time. He stealthily rushed over to Sirius and most likely teleported away."

"Most likely??" - Lily mocked him "We are about to get married, James, and look at us! We are even forced to do it in secrecy!"

James disheartened "I thought you said you were fine with that..."

"I-I am..." - watching his upset face, she realized how she was acting "I'm so sorry, my love. It's all overwhelming sometimes, you know?"

"Yes. I do..." - he squeezed her tightly in his arms. "It will be alright"

"HEYY!" - you intervened "Try to await before your 'I do's. Get a room."

They didn't really laugh at that. Instead, they shot awkward grins.