Hello everyone! I recently accepted a challenge to create a story around five random words. So here is my attempt at this! This one goes out to Bittersweet x and her lovely challenge called Five Words.
Here were my five words: treat, tear, antelope, chocolate and banana.
Now if any of you read those words and immediately thought of a plot, well write a fanfic and I will gladly read it and post on my page that you indeed are amazing. But for the meantime, enjoy my story!
A Walk At Midnight
I was walking alone through the castle. I knew it was late. The moon was high in the sky and the castle was dark. But I couldn't sleep. I had tried to go to the Head Boy's room to get some peace there. But James wasn't there. Which was odd. Yes he was a Marauder but it was near midnight usually they would wake up early to prank, not stay up late. So I was alone. All alone, in a big dormitory. I decided to go for a walk to clear my head. If anyone caught me up I was Head Girl, I could always say that I had heard something and came to investigate. I was Lily Evans, no one would doubt me.
But as I began to walk, I craved fresh air. There was a single window open in the corridor I was walking down. The cool breeze felt nice. I found the nearest door and walked out. The ground was cold on my feet. I just noticed I wasn't wearing shoes. The grass squished under my toes and I continued my walk. It was peaceful, relaxing. Just what I needed.
I sighed as I breathed in the crisp air. Why had I never done this in any of my other six years? Oh right, I was always the perfect student. So why was I changing now? Perhaps it was James. He was corrupting my sweet little mind. No. That wasn't it. Maybe it was the death of my parents. Opening up the thought that I had to live every second to the fullest extent. Maybe. Or maybe it was just the fact that I had grown bored of being so good. It was more fun to break the rules. Yeah, that was probably it.
So no matter the reason, here I was walking around at midnight. I looked up in the sky. The full moon shone gloriously on the castle grounds. It was such a nice night. Something was telling me that the Marauders were probably out here, just walking around. I'd be shocked if they weren't.
I walked all over the grounds. I had no real destination. My destination was happiness. When I reached that, I'd go back in.
I was happy now, but I still longed to see James. I hadn't seen him since before dinner. And the Marauders never miss dinner. So naturally I was worried.
I had reached the edge of the Dark Forest. I had never been in there. Except for Care of Magical Creatures. I had never been in there unsupervised. Nervously, but excited, I walked into the dense trees. It was quiet. Call me crazy, but it was almost too quiet.
I had this horrible feeling that something bad was going to happen. I just didn't know when. I fingered my wand and continued on.
There was a loud snap behind me. I whirled around to see trees. Just trees.
This is how all the horror movies happen. The stupid girl waking alone through the woods. That girl was me.
Another snap.
I whipped out my wand and whispered "Lumos."
Still nothing there.
I walked on. For some strange reason, and against my better judgment, I kept going deeper into the woods.
I heard breathing. It was deep and ragged. I whispered, "Nox." And the world went dark.
The breathing turned into a low growl.
I stood as quietly as possible. But I had shifted my weight.
Snap!
A twig beneath me snapped. The sound seemed to echo in the trees.
The growling stopped. A loud howl emerged from the spot where the growling had been just a moment ago.
I could identify that howl anywhere. Ever since third year when we'd been assigned a report on these creatures. I knew exactly what it was. A werewolf.
My heart skipped a few beats as the immense creature emerged from behind a few trees. I could make out its shape from the moonlight that peeked through the tree tops.
The beast stood tall. Its eyes looked at me. They looked so familiar. I just couldn't put a finger on it. Suddenly, the creature sprung. It started to run after me. I sprinted away. Faster than I ever had before.
I heard my heart in my ears and the steady beat of my feet hitting the ground. Rocks and branches pierced my soles. I regretted my decision to not wear shoes.
I tore through the trees, not daring to look behind me. I heard the wolf behind me. He was close. I could feel it. Just one peek...
I turned my head over my shoulder. The wolf was closer than I thought. But I felt my leg hit a log and I fell. Fire erupted through my leg as I head a loud crack. I screamed out in pain.
The wolf stood tall again and it moved closer to where I sat, whimpering on the ground.
I couldn't move, and my wand had fallen out of my pocket when I fell. I was doomed.
The werewolf prepared to pounce.
This was it...
But a blur of brown crossed my vision and collided with the wolf.
At first I thought it was a centaur. But it was not part human. The creature darted away and then returned. I looked at it, trying to focus my eyes on the thing in front of me. It looked a bit like an antelope. But no, that couldn't be it. It was far too big for that. I wiped my eyes and saw the stag in front of me. It was distracting the werewolf. That stag saved my life.
The werewolf pounced on the stag. It fell. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't get up, my leg was broken. But if I didn't, the wolf would be after me next.
A loud howl came from deep in the woods. The werewolf tore its eyes from me and ran off to where the howl had come from.
I inched over to my wand and made a bandage for my leg. Then I made a crutch-type thing out of a few branches. It would work for now.
Then I turned back to the stag that had saved my life. But it wasn't a stag anymore. It was James. James Potter. Fear and surprise pulsed through me. I slowly hobbled over to where he lay on the forest floor. I sat down next to him, attempting to disregard the fire shooting up my leg every time I moved.
I studied James. He had pain all over his face. There had to be something I could do. I couldn't bear to see him hurt like this. My eyes blurred as a tear ran down my cheek. It splashed onto James' face and ran off, cleaning off the dirt that was in its path. If he wasn't okay...he saved me. He saved my life.
"James, wake up James." I said gently. I heard the urgency in my voice. I shook his shoulders. "Please wake up James."
His eyes began to flutter.
"L-Lily?"
I smiled, "It's me James. Are you okay?"
He sat up slowly, wincing slightly.
"I'm perfect. Why are you out here?"
"I couldn't sleep. And I couldn't find you. So I went for a walk."
"In the Dark Forest? At Midnight?" he asked bewildered.
"Yes, I know! I wasn't thinking clearly. But why were you out here? And since when are you an Animagus?"
James looked around. "All the Marauders are Animagi. Well, except Remus. He's – "
"A werewolf?" I guessed.
"Yes. I am a stag. Sirius is a dog. And Peter is a rat. When Remus transforms, like tonight, we are there with him. We help him calm down and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. Like kill you, for instance. He got away when we weren't looking tonight. And he chased you. Speaking of which, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay. Well, except my leg. I think I broke it."
James looked down at my leg. "Oh my Merlin! Lily we have to get you to the Hospital Wing. Now."
"No." I said sternly. "Explain everything first. Then I'll go see Madame Pomfrey."
James began to protest but I remained with my decision.
"Fine, but, just wondering, would you like something to eat? Night like these take all the energy out of me."
"Sure?" I said.
James smiled and summoned a few treats from the castle. He gave a bar of chocolate to me.
"Well, what would you like to know?" he asked me taking a bite of his banana.
"Since when have you been able to transform?"
"Hmm...that would be since fifth year. Sirius was right behind me. But Peter took the longest to learn. You know how he is."
I nodded. We sat there and he answered question after question as they poured out of my mouth.
Eventually I ran out of questions and I was satisfied. At that point James stood up and brushed himself off. Then he picked me up, being careful to injure my leg further, and carried me up to the castle.
He carried me through the corridors until we reached the Hospital Wing.
Madame Pomfrey laid me in a bed and gave me a potion to ease the pain. She mended my bones and then gave me a potion to calm me down and put me to sleep.
I felt the potions start to take effect on me. I closed my eyes and the last thing I can remember was James leaning over me and whispering, "I'll be here when you wake up."
And with that, I fell into a long, refreshing sleep.
A/N: Tada! Please leave me a review!
