A/N: So, I wanted to write another fanfic. This is an idea I've been playing with for a while, long before Harry Potter and the Lost Island. If people like it, I can finish it up in a few chapters. By the way, I have no clue how the Marauders meet up to go on adventures. But since it's not that important to the plot, I just made it simple. I know it's very unlikely that it happened this way, but I like it all the same. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Oh, I don't own Harry Potter or anything related to it, but that doesn't surprise anyone here does it?
"Hey, Prongs, wait up!"
Lily glared at Black as he pushed past her to catch up to Potter. They weren't the only ones heading to lunch, why did they have to take up the whole hallway? Lupin and Pettigrew followed their friends, but at least had the courtesy to go around her.
She sighed in exasperation and tried to reenter the conversation she was having with her friends. Were they talking about potions class?
"I can't wait for tonight!" Black exclaimed. He walked backwards so he could face his friends. "Can't we speed time up or something?"
"Why would you want to do that?" asked Pettigrew. "We have a Charms exam in an hour."
"Don't be so thick, Wormtail," Potter said. "That's not what he meant." He glanced around the courtyard they were entering. Lily figured that he was looking for first-years to terrorize. She made sure to stay out of his line of sight. She wasn't following them, they were all headed to the same class, so it didn't matter if she was behind them and able to hear their conversation. Right?
What did Black mean? There wasn't anything special about today. No feasts, no parties, no Quidditch matches, nothing.
"We need to be careful," Lupin said. "We can't afford any more close calls. Last time – "
"Last time was a fluke," Black interrupted him. "There's no way it could happen again. Besides, who's going to know it was us?"
Last time? she thought, not even pretending to be interested in her friends' conversation any more. What last time?
But a crowd of third-years merged with her line outside the Great Hall, and she could no longer hear what they were saying. Potter and his friends found a spot at the Gryffindor table, laughing at some joke one of them made, while she followed her own friends to a spot further down. What were those four up to? she wondered. Breaking school rules? Probably. Doing something extremely dangerous? Most likely. Should she follow them? No, all of her Head Girl instincts screamed at her. But she was going to.
Later that evening, Lily was immersed in her Standard Book of Spells. Or at least, she was pretending to be immersed. She was really watching Potter and his friends play Exploding Snap, waiting for them to make their move. It was only an hour or so after dinner, and the common room was more crowded than usual.
The cards exploded, and she jumped.
"Well, that was a good game," she heard Lupin say. "What time is it?"
"Time to get started on our homework," Potter said. "I'll clean this up. You lot head to the library."
"We can help you, mate," Black offered.
Potter gave him a meaningful look, then glanced over at…her! Lily dropped her eyes quickly and turned her page, looking for all the world like she was engrossed in learning the procedure to turn a pair of scissors into a rabbit. Did they know she was on to them?
"All right," Black was saying. "We'll save you a seat. But don't take your time with it." He, Lupin, and Pettigrew grabbed their book bags and left the common room. She didn't dare look up. Potter was probably still clearing off the table. But she couldn't tell if he was still there. She needed to know. If he was gone, she would have to leave quickly before she lost them.
She glanced up and jumped again. Potter was standing behind her armchair, watching her. "Hey Evans," he said as she tried to compose herself.
"Potter," she acknowledged, then tried to go back to her book.
"Studying?" he asked with a smirk.
"Trying to," she said, with her own meaningful look. Smile all you want, she thought. I'm going to catch you breaking the rules, maybe even a few laws. Then what will Dumbledore say about making you Head Boy? God, those brown eyes were mesmerizing…
"You don't really want to study right now, do you?"
She could feel her face reddening slightly, as if he'd read her thoughts. "Don't you?" she asked, trying to keep her gaze level.
"Nope," he admitted. "But my friends are waiting for me. If I don't hurry up they'll start behaving like animals." He grinned, and started for the portrait door.
"How would that be any different than normal?" she challenged him. He turned around, smile still in place, then left the common room without another word. As soon as the door slammed shut, she leaped up.
"Lily?" her friends cried, but she was gone before they had fully registered that she was out of her chair.
Lily flattened herself against the corridor wall. Potter was practically running down the stairs. She waited for him to reach the bottom before heading down herself, the back of her mind noting with satisfaction that this was not the way to the library.
She followed him down several passages, always sure to remain far enough back that he wouldn't see her. Where was he going? As she turned another corner, she saw the Entrance Hall and immediately ducked back out of sight. Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew were standing there, waiting for Potter. But she hadn't seen Potter. What was going on? She chanced another look around her corner, and saw that Black was missing too. Where did he go? she thought in alarm. He was just there! But as she watched, Lupin and Pettigrew walked forward and disappeared, almost as if they were walking behind an…
Invisibility cloak! She gasped. Where did they get one of those? Had they stolen it? More importantly, how was she going to follow them if they were invisible?
One of the Entrance Hall doors opened and closed of its own accord. Aha! She thought. She glanced around the hall before racing to the doors and slipping through herself.
Lily rolled her eyes. The boys were barely lowering their voices. What was the point of being invisible if they were so loud? She started to follow their voices, then realized that they would see her if they turned around. She needed to be able to keep tabs on them without them noticing her.
A broom! They would never think to look up! She quickly summoned a broom from the Quidditch shed. Hurry up, she thought, they're getting away. If they kept going in a straight line, they'd end up in the Forbidden Forest. Why were they going there? she wondered. She was proud that she had never been in the Forest before. Well, she amended, classes didn't count. Neither did the time that –
She was interrupted in her thoughts by the arrival of her broom. As her hand closed over the splintered handle, she groaned. This was one of the older brooms, a Shooting Star by the looks of it, although its label had been worn off over the years. She hoped it would hold itself together long enough for her to figure out what Potter and his friends were doing.
Lily kicked off from the ground. The broom dipped sharply, but she pulled up with all of her strength until she was above the distant tree line. She breathed a sigh of relief, then urged her broom to a greater speed. Soon she was over the Forest. Keeping a tight grip on the handle, which was fighting her to go lower, she scanned the ground. Would they still be under the cloak? She didn't think so, now that they were hidden by the Forest itself.
A strong gust of wind from the left knocked into her, pushing the broom into a jerky dance. She had to fight just to keep her balance, let alone keep the broom from snapping in two.
A howl arose from the Forest to her right. She gasped and pulled away instinctively, forgetting that she was already off balance. For a few seconds the broom was sweeping out an arc on the sky, and then she was falling. She screamed as she entered the Forest and the trees clawed at her as she fell. She snatched at branches, but the few she found snapped off, only slightly slowing her descent.
The ground slammed into her, ramming the breath from her lungs. She inhaled sharply, acutely aware of the fact that a piece of the Shooting Star was wedged under her back. Using a tree trunk to hold her weight, she slowly lifted herself up into a standing position. She whipped her wand out, thankful that at least that hadn't broken.
Screw Potter. She was getting out of here, and fast. She looked around anxiously. If only she knew which way was out. Taking a deep breath, she started off in one direction.
Another howl, closer than the first, seemed to come from right in front of her. Her eyes widened, and the next instant she was running in the opposite direction.
Her lung felt like there was a giant splinter in it, digging deeper with every breath. But she didn't want to stop in case that howling thing was after her. Right on cue it howled again, and seemed to be right next to her. Now she really panicked.
Lily tripped on a tree root, and she somersaulted across the forest floor. She scrambled up, but had to lean against a tree for support, her breathing was ragged. Her wand wavered in front of her, spells leaving her mind like water cupped in her hands.
She heard it growling before she saw it. It was tearing through the forest, and as it topped a rise, she recognized it from pictures in her Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
"A werewolf," she whispered to herself, as if categorizing it would help her fight it. She tensed, a stunning spell on the tip of her tongue. She would wait as long as possible so she would be sure to hit it. It was only a few meters away when she shouted "Stupefy!" To her horror, the werewolf dodged the red beam of light easily.
A dark blur raced in from her left and collided with the werewolf. She didn't stay to see the outcome of the battle, but bolted in the opposite direction. She could hear barking from behind her, but this only urged her to go faster.
Why oh why had she followed them? she asked herself as she ran. She should have stayed in the common room. The nice, safe common room.
She yelped in surprise when she saw a deer jump over some bushes in front of her. A stag, she corrected herself, staring at the antlers. She turned to run, but the stag cut her off. Confused and scared, she turned again, but he blocked her.
Lily wanted to glance behind her to see if the werewolf was chasing her, but for some reason she felt that even if Voldemort himself had been standing behind her, she wouldn't be able to pull her gaze from the stag's.
The stag bent down on one knee, as a horse would to allow a rider onto its back. Her eyes traveled back to the antlers. Suddenly, all of the hints and jokes made sense, as if the last puzzle piece had finally slipped into place, and she shivered in realization. She looked the stag in the eye.
"Prongs?"