Don’t Try to Be a Hero
Rushing through the woods, James heard the familiar crunch of snow beneath his feet. He had been in the Forbidden Forest a couple of times, but it was rare. The main reason was because the forest was purely perilous. Many beings lived in it, and many of them were dangerous.
Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily! Why? Why are you doing this? Don’t do this. thought James to himself feverishly as he felt a rush of emotion for her safety.
Lily had traveled from the edge of the woods toward the middle in a short period of time. Her strides were wide, and her steps were quick. She didn’t trip on any large roots and tactfully walked around them as if they weren’t there unlike James who had stumbled on a few protruding roots, but had not fallen down yet. The creaking trees swayed in the night, but Lily seemed unfazed as she brushed passed a large, bare, claw-like branch.
She had called out softly for Fang’s name in the darkness and in between the shadow-like trees. Her wand was lit, but it was obvious that she had dimmed it slightly so as not to attract anyone or anything.
James followed with his invisibility cloak on from a slight distance so he wouldn’t be heard.
“Fang?” questioned Lily as she glanced into the never ending thicket of wood all around her.
There was a silence for a few moments, and then without warning, a group of black crows came rushing by crying out as they went past.
James almost jumped two feet in the air while having a heart attack, while Lily remained calm and collective as she looked at them pass overhead and then vanish into the dark.
Lily and James both exhaled at the same time without knowing it, though one was an exhale of disappointment and the other of anxiety.
Lily peered around her once again and continued even further into the woods, her wand still dimly lit. James ever so reluctantly followed her still from a distance.
You can’t find Fang, Evans, just go back. Please just go back. pleaded James in his mind as he noticed Lily stop in a small clearing.
“Fang? Fang?” called Lily softly to all angles of the clearing.
Suddenly, there was a rustle in a nearby berry bush, and a large, slobbery boarhound came racing toward Lily from behind it. Her emerald eyes brightened immediately as the black dog pounced on top of her, licking her face happily.
“OK, OK,” said Lily cheerfully as she pushed Fang off of her and heaved herself off the snow. “Let’s go back.”
The dog seemed to nod in agreement as she retraced her footprints through the glittering snow.
James sighed with relief as he watched Lily talk to Fang comfortingly through the breaks in some trees. He was unaware that something or someone was following Fang and Lily closely and silently.
“You know,” started Lily as she patted Fang, “Hagrid’s been worried sick over you. He says he can’t even eat properly. See how much you make him worry when you get lost in this-“
She stopped suddenly and glanced behind her. Instinctively, Lily dimmed her wand even more as she listened intently.
At first, there was not a single sound, except for the soft noise of crunching beneath Lily’s feet as she adjusted her weight in her shoes. Then, something whisked past Lily’s ear and she felt it brush against her cheek. Immediately looking at what just missed her, she saw an arrow puncture a tree. With an expression of horror, she instinctively faced forward where many arrows came flying at her.
“Protego!” she yelled, and the arrows bounced off the shield produced from her wand.
Lily motioned Fang to keep going as she sent another spell behind her to make the arrows burst into flames.
It was like James’s senses had awakened from some dormant sleep as he followed her hurriedly while grasping his wand from the back of his jeans and casting some spells to deflect the arrows. He saw her handily defend herself (he knew that she could have done so without his help) and make sure her and Fang were following the right trail.
Suddenly, Fang whimpered and halted to a stop.
“C’mon, Fang!” Lily hissed as she tried to urge Fang forward with no luck. “This isn’t a time to be- “
She stopped mid-word to peer around her. Surrounding her and Fang in a circle were approximately seven centaurs. Their hooves stamped on the snow uneasily and most of them carried bows pointed at them. Some centaurs carried small torches to get a better look at Lily. A large, bold looking centaur appeared through the crowd and appeared to be the leader. He had thick, dark hair and piercing eyes.
Lily smartly lowered her wand and made sure Fang was behind her.
“What brings a witch from the school here? Hasn’t the Headmaster told you not to come into these woods?” growled the leader fiercely.
Clearly, he did not like unfamiliar intruders.
“I’m terribly sorry,” started Lily honestly. “I was just trying to get Fang, Hagrid’s dog. I didn’t mean to intrude on your land or hospitality.”
Hospitality? Evans, what are you trying to do? Sweet talk them? thought James as he moved closer towards Lily and Fang.
“Hagrid’s dog?” questioned the leader, and the whole group started to murmur.
Lily gripped her wand tighter and for some reason she knew that the centaurs had not bought her story, even if it was true.
After a bit of whispering, the leader centaur turned toward Lily and stated, “If Hagrid needed his dog he would have come himself. I believe you a liar that is trespassing on our land. Take her.”
Lily stepped back as the centaurs started to close in slowly. She raised her wand and with a simple flick, all the torches went out and then there was a sudden commotion from the centaurs. There were surprised voices, the noisy stamping of hooves, and shouts of outrage.
At first, James had thought Lily had somehow apparated, but he knew it was impossible. He dashed to a closer clearing where he saw the centaurs barking urgently, and Lily rushing past them. The centaurs’ eyes adapted quickly, and with the help of the moonlight, they spotted her running toward the edge of the forest. Some of them began shooting their arrows at her, which she deflected successfully once again.
James raced through the many trees keeping a close eye on Lily, when suddenly he spotted two centaurs running on both sides of Lily with their bows raised as she approached the edge of the woods.
“EVANS!” yelled James forgetting about his plan to stay hidden and out of site.
She immediately looked at where the voice had come from and felt herself get pushed over strongly into the snow onto her side. For a few breathless moments, she thought that a centaur had perhaps tackled her down, but when she opened her eyes she saw James on top of her gasping for air and sweat appearing at the top of his forehead. She noticed that his invisibility cloak was on top of the both of them.
“Pott- “
“Shhh,” he told her abruptly.
Lily closed her mouth immediately and listened to the centaurs’ hooves patrol around and then retreat back into the forest angrily. When they were both certain that the centaurs were no longer near them, James threw off the invisibility cloak. He got off of her (his cheeks blushing) and helped her up with one hand.
“Potter,” she said slightly flustered, “what do you think you’re doing here?!”
“Saving you,” replied James rather smoothly, yet he didn’t feel too smooth at the moment. He felt a sudden urge to vomit into the white snow in front of him. Shaking it off uneasily, he jammed his invisibility cloak into his coat pocket.
“You could have been killed!” she lectured as the both of them, with Fang, headed toward Hagrid’s.
“Same with you,” added James cleverly as he patted Fang walking along side him.
“Unlike you, I actually know the consequences of going into the forest,” retorted Lily while rolling her eyes.
“If you knew the consequences you wouldn’t have gone in the first place then, would you?” inquired James wryly.
“That’s not the point,” sighed Lily wearily and she increased her pace of walking in order to get to Hagrid’s quicker and get out of this edgy conversation with James Potter hastily.
“Well…” he started but suddenly felt too nauseated and tired to end as he abruptly slowed down behind her.
“Are you bloody stupid?!” she asked furiously, clearly unaware that she was grumbling to nobody seeing as James had fallen behind her quite a bit of distance.
James did not respond.
Lily seemed to sense something wrong and turned to face him. The moonlight shown off the glittering snow to reveal an arrow pierced into the side of his left shoulder. The blood shined off his shoulder, and she gasped.
Sensing Lily’s concern, he glanced at what she was gaping at and stated rather bluntly, “Shit.”
“An arrow from the centaurs,” whispered Lily with a tone of worry as she rushed over to examine his shoulder. “They are poisonous, Potter!”
“I can kind…of…” he was running out of breath and became slightly disoriented.
Lily supported him on one side as her pace quickened.
“Why were you out there? What were you trying to do?! You weren’t supposed to be there!” scolded Lily.
“I might ask you the same thing,” panted James.
“Even when you are in excruciating pain, you still have enough spine to ask such a smart alec-question?” questioned Lily disbelievingly.
James had no idea that she had expertly concealed her panic for his well-being.
“Answer the question!” he emphasized painfully as he felt a stabbing jolt in his stomach and arm.
They were now within a few meters from Hagrid’s.
“I was out there to get Fang, alright! I was trying to do something for a friend. This had nothing to do with you, nothing.”
“Evans,” started James, “don’t try to be a hero.” After that, his eyes gave into darkness, and he felt his body become heavy and collapse entirely onto Lily.
“Potter?!” he heard her scream suddenly. “POTTER! JAMES!!!”
And then all went blank.
When James awoke, he realized that someone had taken off his glasses. He was staring at the blurry, intricate, stoned carved, high ceiling of the Hospital Wing. The room was filling slowly up with sunshine, and it seemed he had woken up at early dawn. He felt around his left arm, and when he touched it, it stung instantly. Heaving himself up, he was greatly relieved that the immense nauseous sensation he had felt before had gone. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and grasped his glasses with his right hand. As he put them on, he saw Lily Evans sound asleep in an oak chair right next to his bed. His eyes widened immediately as he gaped at her.
Her fine, blazing hair was disarrayed, which was an amusing difference from her usual smooth, combed down look. Her head lay tilted to one side, and she was still dressed in her school uniform from last night. James assumed that she was there all night “looking after” him, and the thought made him smile.
Oh, Evans. thought James with a bit of crimson coming across his face. I knew you liked me.
As if Lily knew what James was thinking, she stirred, and her sleepy eyes blinked dazedly. When they adjusted onto James’s grinning face, she instantly sat straight up and swiftly slapped him across the face.
Slightly taken aback, James clutched the side of his left cheek as he felt a stinging sensation creep in.
“What- ?“
“That’s for being so damn stupid, Potter!” yelled Lily automatically as if she had practiced that exact line all her life.
James was amazed that Madam Pomfrey did not wake up from this.
“What- I- I- just…”
James trailed off as Lily exhaled sharply and flicked back her hair behind her left shoulder.
“By the way,” began Lily reluctantly, and James became very keen on listening, “thanks for what you did.”
“Huh?” asked James slightly taken aback by getting a “thanks” from Lily Evans.
“Well, you know, the way you took the blame for going into the Forbidden Forest instead of me,” explained Lily, and she diverted her eyes toward the stone floor.
Raising his eye brows, James recalled that he did indeed confess to Professor McGonagall (through disorientation and sickness) that he was the one that went looking for Fang, and that Lily found him stumbling back to Hagrid’s.
“It was actually kind of classy,” admitted Lily with great difficulty as she pulled her attention towards James’s beaming face.
He replied by saying, “Why thank you. I knew a prefect couldn’t get a detention. That just sets a bad example.”
“Like you?” questioned Lily smartly as she stopped a wide smile spreading across her face.
“Better I caught than you,” added James with a grin.
Lily glanced away from James’s expression in an attempt to regain her composure from his acute comment while he continued to smile at her uncontrollably.
“Would you please tear that stupid smirk off your face?” inquired Lily rather indignantly after a momentary pause. “It’s making me uneasy.”
“Yes, ma’am,” James chuckled and then tried to curve his mouth into a frown but failed miserably.
Lily shook her head hopelessly as James leaned back onto his cream coloured pillow with a smile still plastered on his face.
Little did James know that in that moment, Lily would see something in him that she had never seen before, and it would confuse her, embarrass her, and comfort her all at the same time.