Just Smile

Warning: Hagrid/Lily and implied Lily/Hagrid. Also implied Lily/James, of course.

Disclaimer: If Hagrid really loved Lily, they would have married, don't you think? And Harry would have been quarter-giant. Hm... Voldy couldn't have cursed him because he'd be resistant to curses because of the ginat blood thing, and he couldn't kill Hagrid either... so Hagrid would bash Voldy's brains out and everyone would live happily ever after. And Harry would be a BIG baby.

Lily almost cursed. Almost.

Surely, after seven years of exploring the Forbidden Forest, she would be able to avoid getting lost just this once. Evidently not.

Footsteps. Where do I hide? And barking…

And then Hagrid appeared.

"Hagrid!" she exclaimed, relief sliding over every syllable.

Hagrid would help her find her way back to the castle and, with any luck, wouldn't ask too many questions.

"Lily, gal," smiled Hagrid bemusedly. "What're ye doing out here then?"

Lily ran to Hagrid and thrust her face in his stomach, behaving as though she was ten years younger than her actual seventeen years. She had an eternal fear of being lost. Why she kept creeping into the Forbidden Forest was anyone's guess. Hagrid wondered if James Potter was having a bad influence on her.

"Hagrid!" she exclaimed again. "Can you show me the way back to school? Please? I got lost."

"All righ', Lil'." Hagrid was the only person she would allow to call her "Lil'".

"Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!" she gasped.

Hagrid smiled gently, ad suggested to Lily that she might be more comfortable on his shoulders. Lily doubtfully looked at the lower branches of some of the trees, but nodded anyway, feeling so tired that she would agree to anything. Getting lost could be very exhausting.

"Up ye get, then," Hagrid grinned, picking Lily up as though she really were seven years old and gently placing her on his shoulders. Lily looked down, wished she hadn't, and clung to handfuls of Hagrid's hair, pressing her face into it in full-out terror.

"Thankyou," she mumbled again, as Hagrid warned her about how dangerous the Forbidden Forest could be at night.

Hagrid smiled at her comment. "It's nothin'."

They soon reached Hagrid's hut, but Lily could tell, even from that distance, that Hogwarts' doors would be sealed. Ever since the rise of the evil Lord Voldemort, the castle had been sealed at night and Lily didn't know any of the secret entrances into the castle.

Hagrid kindly suggested that she stay in his hut for the night and, when she started to protest, pointed out that it was probably the safest place to be that night. Reluctantly, Lily agreed and, even more reluctantly, fell asleep in Hagrid's huge bed.

When Lily woke up the next morning, she blinked twice before she believed what she was seeing. Yes, she was sharing a bed with Rubeus Hagrid. Strangely, she had plenty of room to roll over and gaze into her friend's face. To her surprise, he woke up almost immediately, and smiled at her toothily.

"Good morning, Hagrid," smiled Lily.

"Mornin', Lil'!"

After Lily had waged war on her huge bowl of cereal (and won), she admitted that she should probably be getting back up to the castle.

Hagrid agreed, and watched her walk up to the doors.

It was sad, he thought, that she didn't know he loved her. James Potter was luckier than he knew.

AN: I was bored, so I started picking names out of a hat, and this is one of the results. Um. What can I say? Or rather, what can you say in a review?