Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry potter characters J.K. Rowling does. The plot and other characters are mine thanx!

Summary- It's an alternate universe and the world is in a very dark time. War has been raging for over a year, and fear spreading like wildfire. Forbidden places are everywhere and one woman finds the courage of her people and the love of one man!

-The forbidden places-

The wailing of a child could be heard in the small house, the second born to a family. The family just passing through town had traveled long and hard heading north, where, with the escalating tensions, they believed that they would be safe. But this journey was hard, and they could not make it with a baby child, it was a miracle the mother had made it this far, with her husband and a six year old child. The mid-wife walked up to the lady and placed in her arms a beautiful baby girl with emerald green eyes.

"What are you going to name her?"

The woman was quite for the longest time. "Lily, I shall name her Lily." The she looked up at the midwife, desperation in her eyes. "Oh please lady you must take her. We can not make it with a baby. We can get situated once we get up north then send for her. Please, say you can."

The midwife at first was angry at the women, thinking she was abandoning her baby but then though it out. It was true the winter months were coming and with a baby this newly born it wouldn't last long. Compassion filled her eyes as she looked at the mother. "I don't know if anyone will want a baby girl but I'll ask around. You never know."

"Bless you lady, bless you." She closed her eyes in exhaustion and fell asleep.

They left days later and the baby girl staid with an older couple whose children had all gone. She looked sad when she left her, but then she really didn't have a choice, it was for the baby's good!

Five years later!

That small village did not change much on five years but the baby girl Lily did. Her energy was everywhere and she was very beloved in the town. She was quite when talked to and listened to everything that was said but mostly she loved the tales of the forbidden places. It was said that in the forbidden places dark creatures were exiled and it was an evil place. No one came out alive that had entered there. Lily felt drawn to these places, she couldn't help it. The elders though noticing this, everyday told her to stay away from the forbidden forest that was a little ways off from the small town. Lily reluctantly agreed but she stood outside the forest sometimes and would swear she saw things move inside the village.

It was in the middle of spring, villages were on the edge, tensions were high. With the ongoing talk of war, and war striking in some of the areas to the south there was always an unfriendly eye turned towards you. Lily was out in the fields gathering a few apples when a loud eruption was heard. She spun around to see that smoke was coming up in the village. She ran towards it but stopped halfway in horror as she saw soldiers from the south invading, and killing everyone in sight. She screamed as she saw elders being slaughtered, some of her best friends, and even the livestock. This scream though brought to the attention of the soldiers and they pointed at her, and spurring their horses towards her. She turned and ran, and the first place she found herself running to was the forbidden forest. The soldiers stopped ten feet away as lily burst through the dense branches and moved farther in it.

She soon stumbled though and lay in a heap crying. To witness something like that, so young was something that was wrong, and should never have happened to Lily. She heard a snap of a twig behind her and looked up slowly expecting to see a soldier, but what she saw was entirely different. It was a creature as tall as a normal man, and yet it looked both human and alien. It looked at her with guarded curiosity, but when it saw the tears and the fact that there was no fear of it from her, it inched forward so as not to alarm her.

"Your name?" It said slowly in a funny accent.

"Lily." She said quietly, as she was still upset and crying a little.

"You do not fear me?"

"You have given me no reason to."

"My name is Oglith come I will take you to my village." He reached out his arms slowly and just as slowly Lily took it with her own. She spared one more glance back at her village then walked to the village with Oglith.

Present Day (Twelve years later)

James Sirius and Remus stood in ranks with the other soldiers of the war. War had been upon them for a year and they had joined the minute it was announced. Since then they had made their way up the ranks, and were names, that people respected, the one's who knew the names. They listened to their orders, and then were dismissed. They were in the south a small village that had looked to have been abandoned for quite some time now. But was more unnerving to the troops that it was a little to close for comfort to a forbidden place then was comfortable. Sirius Remus and James walked to where there gear was, and looked over at the trees uncomfortably.

"I don't see how any village could ever live this close to a forbidden place; it's just creepy and unnatural." James said taking a bite of his rations.

"Well how come you think the village has been deserted. The dark people came and wiped them out." Sirius said with mouth full spraying some of it everywhere. James shot him a dirty look but continued to eat, he had gotten used to the way Sirius ate.

"Actually if you look real close enough you can see the signs of battle, the kind of fighting the south does. That's probably the way they died." Remus said casually making the others sigh. Trust Remus to be correct even when they didn't want him to be.

At the same time they all looked at the forest and it just so happened that they all saw something supposedly move. Sirius in shock choked on what he was eating and although this really wasn't the time to be laughing James just couldn't help but snicker a little.

"Did you see that?" Sirius asked after shooting James a look that could kill. James and Remus didn't answer but it was an unspoken kind of thing that they did see something move.

"Maybe we should go investigate." James said a small glint in his eye as he glanced at Sirius.

"I don't see the harm in it as long as we don't have to go closer then five feet from it." Remus added casually. Sirius just shrugged his shoulder.

They walked a little closer to the forest but stopped five feet away from it and looked around for any sign or something or someone. They were standing there looking for about five minutes and were about to turn back when James caught sight of it. It wasn't much of a sight only the eyes. He tapped Remus and Sirius and pointed and the looked too until they could see it for themselves. There staring straight into their eyes was a pair of startling emerald green eyes. The trio couldn't say anything from shock, and continued to stare into its eyes. Finally Sirius got up the courage to talk.

"What are you?" Suddenly all of its attention was on him and he cringed expecting to burst into flames any minute, but the eyes just held curiosity, a little bit of amusement, and a lot of wariness.

It spoke nothing which made James wonder if it could speak at all. "Can you speak, and hear us?" Again it said nothing, he was about to say something else when they heard it. Her voice was quiet and yet it demanded attention.

"Yes I can." They jumped in surprise. Her eyes though still held wariness had more amusement in them.

"Are you a dark creature?" Her eyes snapped to Remus who had made the comment and hardened. She didn't answer but instead looked past them, behind them. They quickly looked to see the commander approaching the on a horse. When they turned back the eyes were no where to be seen.

"Gentlemen we are breaking camp, and I would not get so close to the forbidden forest. It would be a shame to loose good men like you." The commander then turned around and made to the head of the line. Sirius Remus, and James walked over there to get into formation they turned back one last time to see that the emerald yes were back but they were with a pair of dark brown almost black eyes next to her.

Lily watched the three men walk away from her. Humans! She was sort of ashamed to be one of them. She was aware of Oglith standing next to her and looked up at him to see him staring at the men. He finally tore his eyes away from them and walked a little farther away the beckoned Lily to join him. She did so and they walked in a comfortable silence. But Oglith noticed that Lily looked a little upset no matter how hard she tried to change it.

"What is on you mind little one?" He asked her as they walked alone.

Lily was quiet for a moment then spoke. "I just can't stand it sometimes Oglith, and I don't know how you do! I mean you aren't bad creatures certainly not enough to earn the name 'Dark Creatures'." Lily sighed in frustration. "It's just so sad that the majority of humans don't know the truth."

Oglith smiled fondly at Lily. Not many humans lived among his people out of the few, Lily was well known, for she had helped them in many ways. "Lily you know that not many people now the truth, there is just too few humans who will listen to it. And until the day comes when they will we must live like we are now."

"It's just not fair Oglith!" Lily cried out. "The innocent get punished for the crimes the others did while they get rewarded. The only reason you even in this situation is because they lied about what they did and blamed you. Then you were destined to live in this place forever, after they dubbed it the forbidden places."

"Little one, what has brought on these thoughts?"

Lily sighed. "Something those men said. They asked me if I was a 'dark creature'"

"Do not think on it, come it is almost time for the evening meal."

They walked there in silence, Lily thinking back to the day when she heard the truth. Hundreds of years ago to different raced lived in peace here but one got into some trouble with the spirits that once roamed the earth, who now dwell in darkness too. They did not want the wrath of the spirits to come down on them so when asked who did this they blamed the other tribe, know as the genji tribe, now called the Dark creatures. In a rage they banished the genji people into certain places. The other tribe, humans told everyone that they were forbidden places, where evil manipulative creatures roamed, and that no one was to go in there. When the spirits finally realized that it wasn't the genji people's doing it was too late to fix it, and in a vote among them they too went into hiding like the genji.

She had finished going over the legend when she reached the small village in the woods where she was greeted with smiles, and the small children running up to her. This had been Lily's home since she was five, since the day Oglith took her there. And it took the better half of a year for everyone to know and trust her. Lily when not on guard patrolling the area, she helped with the little kids and along with the elders of the tribe. However sometimes she was called to help. Humans were advanced in many things, especially in health solutions. Lily was sent out to get these, and other dangerous missions to help several tribes. And Lily was only too eager to help them in any way possible.

"Lily, Janine is sick. We don't know how to treat it. Can you do anything?" Some of the little kids rang out, and Lily walked to his hut where some of the elders were sitting talking. She shooed the children away to go play and entered silently.

"Elders I heard Janine is sick. Is there anything I can do?"

The eldest of the elders spoke up. "Lily I am glad you have asked, and that we did not have to seek you out. He needs this kind of medicine." He handed Lily a small leaf and on it written was the name of the medicine. "The nearest village does not carry it. I am afraid that the only one's close enough who do are the medics in the army heading south the one you saw today. Are you willing to take this job?"

Before Lily could even have doubts she bowed accepted, then was gone, to her hut, which was connected to Oglith's and gathered her stuff. She was gone before they had a chance to offer her something to eat.

Lily ran silently through the forest, an art she had mastered long ago. She stopped at the place where they had last been and saw no traces, so she ran on. It was getting late fast and the army had traveled very far from where Lily had seen them last. She reached their encampment about an hour after sunset, to find tat the three men she had talked to earlier were a little ways away from the huddled masses of the other people and they still had a fire lit. Lily had no clue how she was going to get their attention so she looked down to see a small twig. She lightly stepped on if making it snap, getting the boy's attention. The trio who had heard the snap looked up to see the emerald green eyes staring up at them, a note of urgency in them. Quietly the looked around to see if any of the other men had heard then slowly walked towards her.

"You again, what is it that you want?" Sirius asked, not in a harsh tone.

For a moment she didn't speak, then quietly opened her mouth. "I need you help. I need medicine."

"What kind of medicine." Remus asked.

They hard a small rustle then watched as her eyes looked down then she looked back up. "I don't know how to pronounce it."

"Do you have it written down?" James asked.

"Yes."

"Well hand it here then."

Lily slowly let her arm out of the trees and handed the leaf that the medicine was written on. They all looked a little startled, for someone to dwell in the forbidden forest they expected something a little bit different. James though too the leaf, and once he had it in his arm, she snapped back hers to the coverage of the forest. She suddenly realized that she had nothing she could pay them with.

"I don't have anything I can pay you with."

"Well we have this in out pack, and I think I know something that could be payment." Sirius said who took the leaf when James and Remus had looked at it."

"And what it that?" the wariness in her eyes were back like in the previous engagement they had with her.

"You answer some questions."

Lily looked thoughtful for a moment, and at the same time guarded. She needed the medicine pretty badly she didn't want Janine to die, they had grown up together. "If I can answer them and if they don't betray my people."

"Done, I'll go get it and then we'll talk!"

Sirius quietly ran back to their small fire and dug through his bag pulling out a small glass vile then ran back up to Lily and the others. "Alright question number one, what's your name?"

"Lily."

"Alright now my question, are you a 'dark creature'?" Remus asked again since he hadn't gotten an answer before.

Like before Lily's eyes hardened and there was disgust and disdain clearly written in her eyes. "No, and there are no dark creatures."

"What do you mean?" they asked skeptically.

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you Humans seldom do believe the story."

They decided to let that one go. Sirius suddenly had an idea. "If you show us what you look like, you know step out to where we can see you I'll give you this medicine, and that'll be the payment."

"And if I refuse?"

"Well it just depends on how badly you need this medicine, because we have quite a few more questions we wouldn't mind asking."

"How about five more questions, and I show you my face only?"

They thought about it. "Deal."

"Alright, where did you come from?"

"I came from the village you first saw me at."

"How was it destroyed like that?" Remus asked

"Twelve years ago southern soldiers burst into the village shortly after dawn; they destroyed everything in sight including all the people and the livestock."

"My gosh, and that's why you ran, but why did you run into the forest?"

"I had never been afraid of the forest, it wasn't as bad as people say it is, it's never as bad as people say it is."

"Where do you live now?" James asked.

"In a genji village in the forest."

"Who are the genji?"

"The people you call 'Dark creatures'." She said the last part with obvious hatred of those words.

Sirius was about to ask another question when she broke in. "You have had your five questions."

"You are right; now show us your face."

Lily sighed then slowly moved the branch that was in front of her face. They gasped when it came into view. She was beautiful, how could she live in the forest. She snapped the branch back in place. "A bargain, now where's the medicine."

Sirius held it out, and lily grabbed it. "Thank-you!" and before they could say another word she was gone, without a sound or trace.

A/N- hey okay if you review please I beg of you no flames. If you don't like it just say that, please don't add a comment. If too many people don't like it I'll delete it, if not I'll try to update it. Well thanx for trying out this experiment!

Maddie