It was a late, cold autumn night, and Lily Evans was making her was slowly through the Forbidden Forest, cloak dragging on leaves behind her, arms crossed and shivering, and a worn-out, obviously well-read piece of parchment clutched in her fair hand. She'd never broken so many rules at once; she had snuck out after hours, was walking through the Forbidden Forest, had used a Disillusionment Charm to disguise herself, and was meeting another student. It was completely unlike her, and she didn't like it at all, but it had to be done. That morning during Charms, she'd received a note from the Slytherin table, and had by now read it so many times she had it memorized.

Lily,

I miss you. I'm so, so sorry about what I said. Won't you ever forgive me? I'll do anything to get you back. Anything.

Meet me at the clearing in the Forbidden Forest tonight, and we can talk this over.

All my love,

Severus

She didn't know why she was going, she thought as she gritted her teeth and marched through the dirt and leaves. She could turn around, right now, and head back to her dorm. She could continue ignoring her former best friend, and live her life with her head held high. She didn't need him; not at all. He was a slimy git; everyone had been right about that. Why hadn't she listened to them? She had told Sev everything, trusted him completely, and how had he paid her back? By calling her a Mudblood. Just thinking about that moment made her blood boil. Still, she headed on, dark green eyes flashing with anger, when she suddenly ran right into something. She fell to the ground and immediately whipped out her wand, pointing it in front of her, revealing- nothing. Nobody was standing there. Then what had she run into..?

"What the..?" She gasped quietly.

"Evans?" A voice said, seemingly coming from nowhere. A dread washed over Lily. She knew that voice. And sure enough, there was a sort of ripple in the air, and a grinning black-haired figure appeared in front of her, holding a milky-looking cloak in his hand.

"P-Potter?" She said, eyes wide.

"Love, what are you doing lying on the ground?" He said, offering a hand out to help her up, which she ignored, standing up with the aid of a nearby tree.

"What are you doing in the Forbidden Forest at this hour?" She countered, glaring up at him.

"I could ask you the same thing, Miss Prefect." James said, a smirk on his face.

"What I do is none of your business, Potter!" Lily shot back.

"Sheesh. No need to get all pissy. I was just asking a question. But, since you're here, and so am I, why don't we go ahead and..." The redhead cut off his words.

"If you don't want me to hex you, I suggest you don't finish that sentence."

"Again with the pissy-ness."

A flash of lightning illuminated the woods, allowing the two to see each other clearly for a split second before they were drenched in darkness again. A distant roll of thunder sounded. "Bloody hell, Evans, are you crying?" James said, taking her face in his hands. 'Am I..?' She thought with mild surprise. She hadn't even noticed, having been too caught up in her anger. Brilliant. She couldn't have anyone, much less James Potter, see her crying, especially over Severus. She had thought she'd cried her last tear over him, had cut him out of her life. Why did she still care?

"No, Potter. Get your hands off of me." Lily said, jerking back slightly.

"Yes, you are." He insisted, wiping a lone tear from her cheek with his thumb. "Why are you running out here after dark, all alone, crying?"

"I'm not crying," She snapped, reaching up and slapping his hands away from her face. "It's just allergies."

"Uh-uh. I've never heard that line before."

"Oh, shut up!" Lily said, right as the rain broke through the forest's canopy, drenching the two in a matter of seconds, accompanied by more thunder and lightning. They both froze for a minute, registering what was happening.

"Shit!" James yelled, breaking their silence. He turned left and right, looking for a rock, a bush, something to shelter them from the full-fledged thunderstorm that was being unleashed onto them. His eyes finally landed on a cave, only about fifty feet away from where they were standing. "Come on!" He yelled above the din of the storm, grabbing her hand and dragging her towards it.

"What?" Lily yelled, jerking her hand out of his.

"Do you want to get out of the storm, or not?" James yelled, just as loud. Lily paused, untrusting, until a bolt of lightning struck a tree only about a hundred yards away. She somewhat reluctantly grabbed his hand and allowed him to lead her towards the small alcove. They crawled into the small opening, one after the other, and sat on the dirt floor, lighting their wands, which gave off an eerie sort of glow.

"So, here we are. All alone. Together. In a cave, with candle- er, wandlight. Isn't that what birds consider romant-" He was, again, cut off.

"Don't even try." Lily said with a sigh. There was a silence between the two, where all that could be heard was the storm raging a few feet away from them. "What were you doing in the forest?" She asked, staring at the entrance of the cave, her chin resting on her knees.

"Ladies first, Evans." James said, leaning back onto the floor. Lily paused, obviously trying to decide whether or not to tell him.

"I was meeting an old friend," she finally ventured.

"Well, who?"

"That's none of your business."

"You don't have that many ex-friends, Evans."

"Maybe that's not what I meant, Potter."

"But it was. You were meeting Snivellus, weren't you?"

"No." Lily said, not elaborating.

"I don't believe you."

"Your turn."

James paused, though probably more out of the love of drama than having an internal debate. "Causing mischief. Dreaming up ways to get myself expelled. Marauding. Showing some girls a good time. That's what you'd guess, right? Well, take your pick." He said, obviously not going to reveal his true motives.

"I pick the self-expulsion. That'd make my life a lot easier."

"Haha. Very funny, Evans."

"I'll be here all night."

"I know how to make that time pass more quickly." He was silenced by a thump on the head, courtesy of the frowning redhead.

"Enough with the cheap innuendo, okay?"

"But it's just so easy to irritate you, my love."

"I'm not your love."

"See what I mean?"

Lily huffed and didn't respond, but watched as James transfigured a medium sized rock into a candle and then lit it, with the help of his wand. Shadows flickered across the dirty cave wall behind him, sufficiently lighting the place. "So, are we just going to wait here until the storm passes?" She asked.

"Well, you've heard my idea already."

Lily scowled in response, but didn't hit him again. "What if we're stuck here all night?"

"Then you'll be forced to spend some quality time with the one guy you truly love, I suppose."

"I do not love you, Potter." She said, wrinkling her nose.

"Oh, really? Then why are you blushing?" He retorted.

"I'm not. It's just your bloody candle. Low light and such." She said, feeling her cheeks grow hotter, even as she denied it.

"Sure looks like it."

"Can we just not talk for a bit?" Lily snapped, locking gazes with the annoying Marauder for the first time since entering the cave. "If I'm going to end up spending the whole night here, I'd rather you not drive me insane in the first ten minutes."

"Whatever you want, Lilyflower."

A minute or two passed in uncomfortable silence, before Lily saw a movement out of the corner of her eye. She quickly sat up straight, her eyes locked on something crawling on the wall, right above James's left shoulder. Her mouth hung open a bit in shock.

"Erm, James?" She said, tentatively. He jerked his head up, as if she'd just called him out of a deep sleep.

"You actually called me James," he said, his voice a mixture of astonishment and happiness. His trademark lopsided grin, the one that Lily hated because it drove her mad, slowly spread across his face.

"I dunno how to tell you this, but..." she began, still staring at the creature on the wall.

"Go on," he said, obviously hoping for some sudden declaration of passionate love.

"Er, don't move. At all. There's a giant... spider, right there on the wall."

He froze instantly. "That is not what I thought you were going to say," he said, slowly looking over his shoulder. "Fuck. Okay. That is a rather large spider."

And indeed it was. It had to be twice the size of Lily's hand, with long, hairy legs, multiple eyes, and rather vicious-looking things protruding from its mouth that Lily could only describe as fangs.

"Erm, Lily?" James countered. "There's a shitload more, too." He said, eyes wide with terror as masses upon masses of spiders slowly crawled out of a hole about the size of a kitchen plate about five feet away from where they were sitting. They hadn't bothered to check if the cave was occupied when they frantically dove in, searching for shelter from the rain.

"I see that," she responded, her forest green eyes widening in alarm as she took in what must surely be hundreds of terrifying tarantula-like spiders invading their cave at a horrifyingly fast rate. "Okay. We're going to run on three, both at the same time."

"Okay," James agreed.

"One."

A particularly large spider was now crawling dangerously close to James's leg.

"Two."

Lily put her hands on the floor, ready to spring up and get the hell out of there as soon as they said three.

"THREE!"

a/n: thanks for reading, guys! please take time to review & such, this is only my second story on this site, and my first multi-chapter one, at that. an update is on its way, but the exact timing of it will depend on how many hits and reviews and such i get on this one. and i haven't just forgotten poor snape out in the stormy, dangerous forest, lol. he'll come back into play soon enough, you'll see. :3

disclaimer: if i were JKR, i would be writing another book, not fanfiction! i own nothinggggg. sad, i know.