Lily stood in front of the forest, enchanted. The trees towered above her majestically, and the stillness sent shivers down her spine. James smiled, fully aware of her feelings. “It’s pretty brilliant, isn’t it?” he asked, grinning.
Lily turned to look at him, her eyes lit up in a thrill of excitement. She was going into the forest, in the middle of the night, with James. Hadn’t she had a fantasy about this sometime during second year?
James led the way into the forest, and Lily followed closely, still looking around her in awe.
A soft rustle caught Lily’s attention, and she froze. James walked ahead, seemingly unaware of the fact that Lily had stopped walking. Lily could hear nothing but the awful beating of her heart pounding against her chest. She caught a glimpse of bright white in amongst the trees, and, her curiosity getting the better of her, she slowly, cautiously, made her way towards it.
Her gaze was transfixed, like a bug caught in the hypnotic glow of a florescent light, and she was unable to tear her eyes away. She got down on her hands and knees and crawled amongst the bushes, her shaking fingers digging into the damp soil beneath them.
Unblinking, she slowly rose, not bothering to dust of the dirt that had collected on her robes. As she raised her eyes, they soon met a pair of deep, bottomless black eyes which stared back at her.
Her breath caught in her throat as she realized exactly what it was that she was looking at; a majestic, pure white unicorn. Just being in the presence of the beautiful creature filled her with awe and peacefulness, and she desperately hoped that it wouldn’t leave.
On the contrary, after resting its gaze upon the girl tentatively, the majestic beast took a cautious step forward, and then another one. For Lily, time seemed to stand still, and she silently willed the unicorn to continue towards her.
“LILY!” James’s panicky voice rang out through the forest, shattering the silence like glass. A wild look sprung into the unicorn’s eyes, and it galloped off into the pitch darkness of the night.
“No! Come back!” Lily whispered urgently, but it was too late.
'”LILY!” James shouted again, this time much closer to her. Lily’s eyes narrowed, and she stepped out of the bushes slowly.
“Where were you? We’re supposed to stick together,” James scolded, folding his arms and glaring at her. “How could you do that?” she demanded, her eyes wide. James looked confused. “Do what? I-”
”That was , oh, a once in a lifetime chance you idiot!” Lily cried in frustration. James was growing mad; he wasn’t accustomed to being yelled at for something he didn’t do, let alone when he didn’t even know what he had supposedly done!
“I have no idea what you’re on about, Evan’s,” James informed her, adding the last part to make sure Lily understood that he was annoyed.
Lily indignantly pulled at her clothes, and stood stared at him, looking right into his eyes. “Oh, so it’s Evans now, is it?” she demanded in a hurt voice. James broke the gaze first, and hastened to correct himself. “Lily, I meant, sorry I didn’t-”
“Well, Potter, thanks heaps for ruining that,” Lily snapped, folding her arms sulkily. James felt a surge of anger rush through him, and he unwillingly responded to it.
“Actually, Evans, I might have been sorry for whatever I did, not that you even took the trouble to explain that properly, though now I honestly couldn’t care less!” he snarled, stressing the word “Evans” scornfully.
“If that’s how you feel about it, then we should part right here. I’ll go my way, you go yours. We’ll probably find Peter quicker this way anyway,” Lily sniffed.
“You wouldn’t make it,” James sneered.
“You. Watch. Me,” Lily hissed, before turning heel and storming to her left. James stood, stunned for a moment, trying to make sense of what had just happened, his head spinning slightly.
“Oh, just brilliant,” he growled sarcastically, before continuing forward, only slightly more cautious than before.
Lily stopped suddenly, as she realized she had no idea where she was going. A sudden sense of panic surged through her, and she desperately wanted to erase the last few minutes. “Come back,” she whispered under her breath, tears filling her eyes.
There was no way he could have heard her.
Peter sat under the tree, his knees brought up to his chest, and he rocked back and forth slightly. He didn’t dare to go to sleep, not where he was, though tiredness overwhelmed him.
Every slight movement made him jump, and he began to wish more and more that he could get out of there, out of the cold and forbidding stillness that surrounded him, smothered him…
Peter sat under the tree sulkily, trying to ignore the roars of the excited crowd of students watching the Quidditch Match nearby. All he wanted to was to distance himself from all the kids, especially his so-called friends.
They didn’t believe in him at all, they even thought him worthless. “Well, I’m not,” Peter mumbled softly, throwing a stick as far as he could. It didn’t get very far.
Swearing furiously under his breath, he stood up to retrieve the stick. As he rose from picking it up, he was startled to find himself looking right into the face of Severus Snape. Peter gave a surprised yelp and jumped backwards.
Snape put on a wide smile. “Hello, Pettigrew,” he greeted the embarrassed boy. “Nick off,” Peter grumbled, turning around, abruptly
Snape took no notice of this, and walked to face him again. “You and I aren’t so different you know, Peter.”
Peter raised an eyebrow at the use of his first name by a person he’d considered his enemy for so long now. “How do you figure that?” he asked offhandedly.
“Well, there’s proof right here, isn’t there?” Snape pointed out. “Both of us just trying to escape the overbearing crowds, in the same place even! Both of us left behind by our friends-”
“I have not been left behind by my friends!” Peter insisted defensively. “Where are they then?” Snape asked, not nastily.
“Watching the game…” Peter murmured cautiously. Snape simply nodded, and Peter was hasty to add, “It was my choice to come here.”
“Yeah…” Snape trailed off. “You do have fantastic friends, don’t you? Always there for you, would never dream of making you feel bad…”
Peter looked indignant. “Hardly!” The word was out of his mouth before he could catch it. Snape’s eyes widened, curiously. “What do you mean?” he asked. Peter hesitated, before he started to tell Snape exactly what they had said to him…
Peter was brought back to reality by a shrill birds call above his head. He scrambled to his feet, his heart pounding and his breath coming out in short, frightened gasps.
He remembered how sympathetic Snape had acted while Peter poured his heart out, about how insecure he often felt around his friends, and how he felt that he could never live up to them.
Snape had listened, comforted and even helped. Snape had given him the idea to show them that he could do what they did, and more! Snape has helped him to see that just by spending a night in the forest, unarmed, he could prove that he was worthy.
Only, now he was starting to wonder if it was such a good idea…
Snape fingered his perfectly polished wand delicately. So far… everything was going exactly the way he wanted it to. Potter had decided to play the hero and rescue his pathetic little friend.
Of course, he had counted on Black to be accompanying him, perhaps Lupin, and he was surprised to see the mudblood joining him. Not that it affected the situation… Potter and she had fixed that for him by splitting up.
He had had this planned out for weeks. First, give Potter a “little scare”… not too much pain involved anyway… Then leave this little note somewhere on him.
Snape looked over the note skeptically. Bland. There was no sense of fear about it. Suddenly he had a brainwave. “Incendio,” he whispered, aiming his wand at the small square of paper. At first it had the desired effect, and the outside burned into a charred border. Suddenly though, the paper went up in flames.
Snape swore and began to blow desperately at the paper, trying to put out the fire. Finally, the fire went out, leaving a few charred black remains of the paper. Cursing under his breath, he dropped the paper on the floor without bothering to put out the last burning spots. He knew from experience that they would put themselves out.
“PETER!” a voice rang out from nearby. Snape’s scowl turned into a grin. Perfect…
Where is he? wondered James nervously. A crunching sound took his attention, like dried leaves being stepped on. “Peter?” He called hopefully, pointing his wand’s light into the direction that the sound came from.
There was no response.
A soft laugh, instead came from the direction he was looking at. James’s heart sped up by about three times, and he could hardly choke out the words, “P-Peter? Is that…” he trailed off, his shaking hand holding onto his wand like a lifeline.
It happened all at once. “EXPELLIARMUS!” the voice cried, and James’s wand flew out of his hand. Before James had time to respond, the voice shouted again, this time with, “INCARCEROUS!” James found himself on the ground, his legs and arms bound by strong, thick ropes.
James was overcome by panic, and the spells roared in his head. His torso began stinging uncontrollably and he was vaguely aware one of the spells must have been a stinging hex. The roaring in his head grew louder and more overtaking, until he eventually passed out.
Lily dearly regretted blowing up at James. As annoying as he could be at times, there was a lot that she would give to have him with her right then. She looked around in frustration, unable to tell one tree from another.
“They all look the same!” she complained out loud. Just calm down, she told herself, but she couldn’t resist giving one of the offending trees a hard kick.
A loud, protesting squawk from high in the tree made her jump. Ok, that was a bad idea, she thought, slightly embarrassed.
She looked around her for any sign that Peter may have been there, but nothing she could see looked promising.
She slumped against a tree, letting herself fall to the ground. “I’m lost,” she admitted with a sigh.
Remus’s eyes flew open in response to Sirius shaking him violently. “What’s the matter?” Remus mumbled sleepily. “The matter is that it’s quarter to three in the morning, and James and Peter still aren’t back!”
Remus sighed and dropped his head back down on the comfort of his feather pillow. “They probably just went for a nice walk or something…” he yawned.
“A walk? At three o’clock in the morning? James?” asked Sirius doubtfully. Remus opened his eyes again; he had a point, James wasn’t exactly what you’d call a morning person.
“Look, if they’re not back for half an hour, we’ll get a teacher.” Remus said decidedly. “But…” Sirius began to protest. “I, for one, don’t want to face McGonagall at three in the morning without being certain there’s a method to my madness,” Remus reasoned.
Sirius sat back, dejectedly. “Ok, but if Sirius and Peter turn up dead, I’m telling the authorities to cut you from their wills,” said Sirius warningly.
“Sirius, thirteen year olds don’t have wills,” Remus muttered, growing annoyed. “Well, in that case, I call his invisibility cloak!” Sirius smiled, brightly.
Jada looked under the bed. No Lily. She looked in the wardrobe. No Lily. “Where’s Lily?” She asked the room of sleeping girls. “She’s probably gone tah breakfesht…” Roxanna slurred, not yet fully awake.
“Or, she went to look at the view and fell out the window and died,” suggested Krysta cheerfully. “Oh, that’s just lovely,” Thaliana frowned. “It’s possible,” argued Krysta.
“Might’ve gone for a night-time stroll with Robbie,” Roxanna put in, grinning. “I don’t think so…” Jada trailed off. “I’m going to check in the Common Room, who’s coming with me?”
“I say we check in on the guys to see if Robert’s not there!” insisted Roxanna. Krysta brightened. “I agree with Roxy; any chance to see guys in their PJs is fine with me. If we’re lucky, they won’t have tops on!”
Thaliana shuddered at the thought of Peter without a top on, but agreed to go and check in on the boys first.
Not long after, the four of them burst through the doors, causing Sirius to fall off his bed in a shock and Remus to pull the blankets around him in shocked horror.
“Is Robert in here?” Thaliana asked bluntly.
“Why do you want to know?” asked Sirius slyly. Remus rolled his eyes. “He’s still asleep, that guy can sleep through anything.”
“James and Peter are gone though, how about you do us a favour and fetch them?” added Sirius.
Jada looked worried. “James is gone?” she asked anxiously.
“Oh, don’t anyone worry about Peter now,” Sirius said in mock disappointment.
“If we’re lucky, he’ll stay gone!” Thaliana realized, smiling at the thought.
“Lily’s missing as well….” Jada informed them. “Well, mystery solved,” Sirius said joyfully. “Lily and James went off to snog in a corner somewhere, and Peter went to watch.”
Remus fought back a smile. “has anyone thought of checking the common room yet?” he wondered. There was a chorus of “no’s”. “Well, let’s check there first, how about that?”
James stirred slightly, his head throbbing. He was burning with pain, and his breaths came out in short, ragged gasps. He lay there, unable to move for a few moments while he collected his thoughts, until he noticed the strange smell. Smoke. Definitely smoke.
He lifted his head so fast that his neck cracked, and looked around wildly, until he caught a glimpse of a bright orange flame dance into the air not too far away. He let out a soft moan of horror, and then using every ounce of his strength, tried to escape from his bindings. They wouldn’t budge.
As far as he could see, there was only one thing left that he could do.
“HELP!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.
Lily smelled the smoke instantly. Her breath caught in her throat, and she immediately turned to run, before she realized she had no idea which way to go. Her breathing sped up as she whirled around, trying to determine which way the smell was drifting from.
She was almost sure it was to her right. She was just about to start running to her left, when she heard a faint cry.
James. She would know his voice anywhere.
Without even stopping to think, she ran to her right, into the cover of the trees.
“James?” cried a voice. James looked up hopefully to see Peter standing there, looking at him in horror.
“Peter!” James yelled jubilantly. “Get me out of here, quick!”
“Do you have any idea how close the fire is?” Peter cried, dropping to his knees to work at the ropes.
“No, I thought the searing heat and roaring meant that it was miles away!” James snapped sarcastically.
Peter looked hurt. “I’m just trying to save your life here!” he pointed out.
James looked apologetic. “Sorry… but I wouldn’t even be out here if it weren’t for you!”
“Funny, I wouldn’t be out here if it weren’t for you either,” Peter shot back.
James ignored this, and raised his head to check on the status of the flames. “Hurry, Peter! How are you going with those ropes?”
“Not good, these are strongly- strong….” Peter stammered, then trailed off, his eyes widening.
“What is it?” James asked, growing worried as Peter stood up. “Peter, where are you going?”
“They’re too close…” he murmured. “The fire’s too close…”
“Well, get me out of here then!” James cried shrilly, squirming in a panic, trying to break free of his prison.
Peter was hyperventilating by now, backing away slowly as though he were face-to-face with a lion, his eyes fixed on the flames.
“Peter? PETER?” James was screaming now.
“Sorry…sorry…” Peter kept whispering.
“No… NO, PETER! PETER, HELP ME!” James screamed helplessly. “Please…”
Review challenge. I give in. For everyone who has decided to check this, I have a proposition, as you probably know already. It's been sooo long since I sat down to write it... but this story came so far! I wrote up to the fifth year on paper... It meant alot to me. It really did. But I'm human... I'm a fourteen year old girl, I'm nothing special! I deal with b***** girls, I fall for guys, I worry about my appearance, I listen to music. I wrote that just to stress that I'm just a normal teenager lol! But... I know that this story means (and meant) alot to some people. *get to the POINT*
I have records, you know. I wrote about two lined books full of stuff after this. All over my writing books I have scribbled ideas, pictures, plots, etc... What I am willing to so is this:
I have enough information to give you a summary of what was going to happen in forever yours. I could outline my plot ideas, character relationships, character deaths, etc...
There are drawbacks, however.
Obviously, if i had continued the story, I would have scrapped and changed several of these ideas. Also, Alot of the ideas sound ridiculously corny/silly/unrealistic if I just say them straight out... but then, so would the story I have written so far!
Are you willing to accept that?
I can understand if you don't think it's a good idea, all or nothing, that's fair enough. you might not want this good story ruined by outlined plots! I probably wouldn't..
But then some of you might be dying to know..
Let me know. Let me know your opinion! Email me, review me, whatever it takes, whether it's a good idea or a bad idea, your personal opinion really does count enormously to me.
So, what is it? Yes, do it. No, don't do it?
This is probably the last review challenge ever. :(
It's your choice! If you can, tell anyone that might have stopped checking this story summary long ago, just in case theyre interested!
Much love, sophie xo