Disclaimer - Nope, I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own any of her stuff. Still, I can enjoy writing fanfiction!
Please read and enjoy! :)
Love is like dew that falls on both nettles and lilies ~ Swedish Proverb
Nettles and Lilies
Dawn. To the east, a soft pink tinge gleamed like a jewel in the feathered clouds. The surface of the lake sparkled as the water reflected the early morning sun beams, and the trees of the forbidden forest stood unmoving and hushed as the creatures still lay sleeping within its depths.
Lily Evans looked up sleepily at Hogwarts with her almond shaped eyes, the outline of the castle reflected in the green of her irises. Her knees were bent up against her chest, her arms laced loosely around her knees. Professor Kettleburn had patiently explained that the best time to study faeries was just after the sun had risen, when they were beginning to search for their preferred food of dewdrops; nevertheless, she could not help but let a long, wide yawn escape her.
The front doors of the castle swung open, and the rest of her class spilled onto the lawn. Lily squinted: she could just make out the silhouettes of her two best friends Alice Shepherd and Mary McDonald stumbling drowsily toward her, with the Marauders bringing up the rear.
Great...now I have to put up with Potter before breakfast too, she thought irritably, pulling a thick woollen shawl more tightly around her shoulders.
Alice's eyes were red and puffy from the early rise. As soon as she reached the place where Lily sat, she threw herself down heavily by her friend's side and promptly rested her head upon her shoulder.
"Whyarewedoingthisagain?" she mumbled, closing her eyes and allowing her posture to slump a little.
"You'd better wake up properly, Alice," sighed Mary, brushing a loose strand of her short bobbed hair from her face, "Kettleburn said he'd be down in a minute."
Lily's eyes flickered towards the front doors once again, "Yeah, he's coming now. I hope we're not out here too long," she added in an undertone.
Someone chuckled softly behind her. Lily snapped her head around. James Potter was leaning casually against one of the outermost trees of the Forbidden Forest, apparently eavesdropping.
"And what are you laughing at, Potter?" she asked waspishly, a small crease appearing on her forehead as she scowled at him. James shrugged.
"Nothing," he said, the ghost of a smile playing about his lips. He closed his eyes and breathed in the chilled air through his nose, apparently now listening to Sirius talking animatedly to an exhausted looking Remus. Lily's eyes narrowed, but she turned to face her friends once again.
"...Didn't even know faeries lived in the forest," Mary was saying, oblivious to the fact that Alice was almost asleep once again.
"Yeah, they live in old birds' nests and things," said Lily, grinning at the perplexed expression now settling on her friend's face. She opened her school bag resting at her feet and pulled out a copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them "I thought I'd read up on it last night, seeing as I knew we'd all be practically asleep during the lesson."
"Or literally, in Alice's case," smirked Mary.
Somebody coughed nearby, which might have been concealing a snigger; but before Lily could turn to scowl at James again, Professor Kettleburn announced himself to the class.
"Now, now seventh years," said Professor Kettleburn in his dry yet firm voice, "I presume we are all present?" He glanced around at the yawning, sighing and irritable teenagers, most of whom grumbled an incoherent answer. "Excellent," continued Kettleburn, "Well, you all know why we are here. May I remind you, once again, that faeries are extremely delicate creatures with exquisite hearing. Very difficult to catch sight of. Therefore there will be no talking once we enter the forest. All portable and in-ear megaphones or wizard wireless are banned. Any spells – not that you should need to cast any – must be done so only if absolutely necessary."
"Are we going in very deep, Sir?" asked Frank Longbottom, glancing nervously over his shoulder into the darkness hovering between the trees.
"No, no," stammered Professor Kettleburn, pulling on a pair of thick gloves, "The dew which they collect to drink is everywhere naturally, most particularly as last night was very damp, so there will be no need to penetrate the forest too deeply. Now remember," he continued, turning to the rest of the class, "We will be looking mostly up into the trees, they are more greatly camouflaged there; and it is also where they make their nests, of course. I want you each to take a pair of binoculars here and some parchment..."
"If I knew we were taking notes on faeries, I wouldn't have bothered continuing with Care of Magical Creatures," said Sirius, suddenly looking decidedly bored, "Still, I expect you'll enjoy it Wormtail. Not too scary for you?"
Peter Pettigrew's cheeks flushed slighty, and he mumbled a response that Lily could not quite catch. Caught off her guard, she met James's gaze, and felt the heat rise in her own cheeks. She cursed silently under her breath, and hurriedly busied herself with fussing over her bag and collecting the tiny bronze binoculars from a box offered by Professor Kettleburn.
"Everybody got all their equipment?" called Professor Kettleburn after a moment, rattling the box like it was a collecting tin and peering expectantly around the class. "Good, then if you'll follow me... And remember, silence is the key!"
Exchanging resigned looks with one another, the class traipsed after their teacher into the forest.
"Alice. Alice!" said Lily, giving her a little shake, "You need to stand up now, we're off. Here, take your binoculars." She thrust a pair into her hand, and grabbed the other to pull her to her feet.
Something brushed lightly against Lily's arm. "Watch out for the nettles, Lily," a voice breathed gently in her ear. She looked around, and saw James smiling faintly at her before returning to his group of friends with his own binoculars.
"What's with him?" she asked to nobody in particular as they passed the first few trees.
"He's being nice to you, that's all," said Mary just behind her, making her jump.
"Potter...nice? Impossible," she said, shaking her head, "Actually, I didn't realise before, but he never calls me 'Lily'. Whatever happened to 'Lily-petal' or the other annoying nicknames he used to have a habit of calling me?"
Mary raised her eyebrows. "Like you said, he used to." She paused, smirking. "Besides, when did you care?"
"I do not!" exclaimed Lily, a little more forcefully than she had intended. She sighed, and moved to Alice's other side to avoid her slightly smug gaze. To her annoyance, James and the other Marauders were dwindling there. James paused graciously to allow Lily to climb over a gnarled old log before him, but this only heightened her annoyance. She stumbled, and caught herself just in time by grabbing hold of a low-hanging branch swinging gently above her in a light breeze.
There certainly were a lot of nettles around on the route Professor Kettleburn had taken them. But as faeries were shy, preferring to stay away from larger creatures, he had explained that they ought to take a less worn path.
"I thought we weren't going very far?" whispered a nearby Hufflepuff after fifteen minutes walking. Lily saw Mary roll her eyes; she knew that Mary's family often took her on hiking holidays to Scotland, so she supposed this was hardly a even a walk for her.
The Marauders were also talking behind her. Remus was humming a tune lightly under his breath Lily did not recognise, and she could hear Peter stumbling along and wheezing. Sirius and James were discussing other creatures that allegedly lived in the forest, though how they knew about half of them if their ramblings were to be taken as true, Lily did not like to know.
"Do you ever think we'll be allowed to study the spider colony?" asked James, "Remember those tracks we found a couple of months ago on our last night-time adventure?"
"I doubt it," said Sirius indifferently, "Besides, that wasn't proof of whatever those creatures were."
"Got to be," said James, lowering his voice so that Lily had to strain to hear what he was saying, "You know there's nothing else that big in here."
Sirius considered. "I guess so."
"Quiet at the back, please!" called Professor Kettleburn softly, not bothering to turn around to see who was talking. Lily heard Sirius snort once, but he and James fell silent.
They had only been walking for another few minutes however, when Lily heard Sirius whispering almost inaudibly to James once again.
"What's going on with you and Evans?"
Lily's heart began to hammer harder in her chest. Why, always and predictably, must they reduce themselves to talking about her? Even when in her presence?
"Drop it, Padfoot mate."
Sirius paused, and though she did not dare turn around, she imagined Sirius frowning.
"Don't tell me you've given up now."
"I haven't," said James quickly, "Of course I haven't." He sighed. "I love her, you know I do. But she's stubborn, and I'm not going to force myself on her if she doesn't want me. I don't want to hurt her anymore."
The drumming in Lily's chest picked up tempo, threatening to burst from her. Surely its treacherous beating was loud enough to give her away, to suggest to them that it was now her eavesdropping on them...
Suddenly, she had an overwhelming desire to turn and face James: she did not know why, but she had to see his expression. He loved her...he had never, in seven years, admitted that to her. And all this time, she had believed it a mere fancy...
She pivoted on the spot. Something snagged on her foot: a loose rock half-protruding out of the mossy ground. Her arms flew out wildly to break the fall, her shawl dropping below her. She buckled painfully under her entire weight, and a sharp stinging flared on her bare skin.
"Lily?"
"Lily!"
She looked up, her mind hazed by the fall.
"Lily, are you alright?" She could see faces in the background, but it was James who was crouched over her. Her arms felt like they were burning with pain, but she could not understand how.
"Yes, I'm fine, just tripped," she stuttered, clambering embarrassed to her feet, "My arms though...it's like a horrible prickling."
James immediately took both of her hands in his and examined them. She peered at her skin in the dim light: it looked red, mottled as though with a rash.
"That will be the nettles," he said calmly, his tone soothing. He turned her hands over to study the redness closer. Unpleasant as she was feeling right now, it struck her how gentle James was being with her: his touch was soft and warm, and he handled her with such carefulness that she could have been made from glass.
"Oh," she said lamely, twisting to look down at the large squashed patch of nettles she had toppled in. She could hear Professor Kettleburn trying to regain peace once more, and gradually, seeing that Lily was not seriously hurt, they each turned away and continued on their trek.
"What happened?" asked Professor Kettleburn concernedly, finally managing to restore the previous quietness to the class and hurrying over to see her.
"It's nothing, Sir, really," said Lily, not looking at James.
"Can't we just apply some of Sparks Gel for Stings, Grazes and Minor Burns? Has anyone got any?" asked Mary, biting her lip and giving them all a searching look.
"No, I'm fine," said Lily more firmly. She saw James glance at Sirius, who nodded at him and mouthed the word "stubborn". A flicker of annoyance flashed across James's face, but Sirius only grinned at him.
"Very well, Miss Evans," sighed Professor Kettleburn turning to go, "I would prefer, if you are willing, to study the faeries – we are only a few minutes away from a dense population of their nests now – but there is nothing I can do here. Unless any of you have any gel in your bags, you will have to go up to the castle and visit the Hospital Wing."
Alice's mouth fell slightly open. "Are you sure it doesn't sting too badly, I could go with you," she offered. Lily shook her head.
"Look, nobody has any gel, so I'll just bear it." She attempted to pull her hands away from James's, but he held her back.
"Wait," he said smiling, "Just look for some dock leaves. There should be plenty around here." Alice, Mary, Sirius, Remus and Peter stared at him. "It's an old Muggle remedy," he said simply, and bent down low to search for some.
"How do you know that?" asked Lily, stunned. James, who had grown up in the wizarding world, had never attended so much as one Muggle Studies class, had somehow learned this old technique?
The group watched astounded as they saw James pick several large, flat green leaves growing alongside the nettles, and rub them gently up and down Lily's arms. At once, Lily felt the effects of the poison recede.
"Better?" he asked after several moments' silent work. Lily nodded.
"A bit, thanks," she mumbled. Mary coughed, and motioned surreptitiously for the others to follow her. After several moments they had vanished, swallowed by the veil of half-darkness caused by the dense foliage high above them.
The girl and boy stood alone awkwardly for a minute.
"We should go catch up, I don't know the paths in here," said Lily finally. She could not recall a time when she had been completely alone in James Potter's company. Once again, she willed her heart rate to slow.
"I know the way," said James easily.
"How –"
"I'll explain another time," said James consolingly. His voice was very quiet now, hushed, mysterious, like with these words he could somehow hide a searing passion that yet she felt.
She was fighting now, fighting back the urge to look at him. Her cheeks glowed a dull pink, and she stared determinately at her shoes, flecked with mud from the walk.
"Lily..."
And she could restrain herself no longer. She looked up into his rich hazel coloured eyes, and suddenly she felt the stinging of the nettles no more.
A/N - OK, this is my first fanfiction, so I hope you liked it and please review! It would be really nice to know what people thought of it :)
Also, a massive thank you to Alexa Aurion and Lilylilly - a big smiley to each of you! :D :D