A/N: Hey guys! This is my first published multi-chapter story, so feel free to review on what I need to improve on, etc.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter at all :'(

Lily Evans wasn't sure why she had agreed to play hide-and-go-seek in the woods several miles behind her best friend, Marlene McKinnon's house, but she sure knew she'd regret it.

There had been nine of them playing all together, the entire Gryffindor gang. This consisted of the girls; herself, Marlene, Alice Prewitt, Mary MacDonald and Hestia Jones. The Marauders had also come along; Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and of course, James Potter. The Marauders were, in Lily's opinion, a bunch of immature boys who liked making her life hell- well, except one, Remus Lupin.
Although she had to admit that even Potter and Black had improved over time. Not that she'd ever tell anyone. Everybody knew Lily hated Potter and Black, and even though they had been getting along a bit better at the end of sixth year, the assumption still stood, and Lily wasn't going to go out of her way to correct it, no matter how many times Marlene had tried to get Lily to engage in a conversation about how tight James Potter's butt was. Secretly, Lily often admired Potter's 'tight' butt, just never when Marlene or anybody else was around to notice her approval of said butt. Outwardly, Lily had fumed at Marlene for inviting James along to their day of childish games, but if she was being honest with herself, Lily knew that she was a tiny bit too excited at the prospect of hiding in small spaces with James. Maybe she should suggest they play sardines, she mused. Then she'd definitely get to be pressed up against James's body… Lily realised what she had been just thinking and blushed slightly.

Marlene eyed her beadily from across the circle they were standing in while they decided who would be the seeker for the last round of hide-and-go-seek- Sirius was arguing that it should be Mary, because she was first to be found last time, but Mary and Dorcas were arguing heatedly against this proposition, as Mary had been seeker four times already today. Lily sighed and rolled her eyes, shifting her weight on her feet. She was glad this would be the last game, because she was getting extremely worn out by all the running around she had had to do- Lily wasn't exactly an exercise person. She sighed again as Peter joined in on the argument, and James caught her eye from where he was standing next to Marlene. Lucky Marlene, Lily thought wistfully, before she caught herself. This was Potter! Nevertheless, she shared a sympathetic grimace with him. She got the feeling he knew she wanted to leave as soon as possible, especially as it was starting to get on in the afternoon ans it would no doubt be getting dark in a few more hours, but she was still surprised when he told everyone to shut up, and that he'd be seeker if they could just get going. Sirius clapped him on the back and James winced- clearly Sirius didn't know his own strength sometimes.

As he began to count, Lily purposely ran a bit faster than usual, not wanting Marlene to catch up and grill her about their exchange that had most definitely not gone unnoticed by Marlene's all-seeing eyes.

However, Lily would happily bet galleons that even Marlene hadn't seen the clouds that had began to gather over the sky, blocking the sun and darkening the forest, making it look much more menacing than earlier, when the sun had shone brightly, illuminating everything and making the forest look like something out of a muggle film.

Lily scowled at the clouds. She hated rain with a passion, nothing good ever came from a storm: Her hair went wild, her skin clammed up, and most importantly, she got cold. Really, really cold.

She started to quicken her pace now, running faster through the deep, dense forest, trying to find the perfect hiding place/shelter. She didn't notice the trees thinning, nor the shift in the air that promised new territory. What she did smell on the air was rain, and sure enough she soon felt one large, fat drop of water land squarely on her neck and begin to slither a trail down her spine, sending unwanted chills rolling across her skin.

That one drop was the first of many. Soon there were hundreds, thousands, falling from the sky and beating down on Lily. Cursing, she ducked under a tree, thoroughly unsatisfied with her poor shelter, but unable to see a better alternative.

It was then that she realised just how far she had strayed from their usual playing boundaries, and how different this part of the woods was. Instead of the slightly rocky terrain with tall, unrelenting, identical pine and willow trees, there was soft soil beneath her feet, turned to slippery mud by the downpour, with old leaves mixed into the sludge. The trees varied from tall to short, wide and thick to thin and weedy. There were green leaves, red leaves, yellow leaves and even trees with no leaves. In fact, Lily decided, it looked as though at least ninety percent of the trees in this part of the forest had no leaves, meaning that she was soaked to the bone much faster than she had anticipated. Lily shivered as the wind rustled menacingly through the bare trees, whipping at her thin, wet cotton shirt and teasing goosebumps to life across her slender frame. She was at a complete loss as to what to do, and being alone with the adrenaline no longer coursing through her body, Lily's mind began to stray to dark places, such as the fact she had no clue where she was, her complete lack of a wand, and most importantly, she had no idea who else could be wandering these woods with the prospect of a war dawning. She drew back against the tree and hoped fervently that the rain would stop soon, so she could get out of there.

But it did not stop, and as time passed, Lily got colder and colder despite her efforts to rub some warmth into her arms with her icy hands. She shifted from foot to foot, contemplating the idea of doing a few star jumps to increase circulation, seeing as there was no one around- or so she thought.

As she glanced around to see whether the coast was clear to make a fool out of herself, she found herself staring into a pair of cold, silver eyes.

A/N: I'd love you to leave a review to tell me what you liked about it, and what you think I need to improve on. I am open to all suggestions! :)

Who do you think the eyes belong to?

-Sophia