This is my first Harry Potter fic. I'll admit I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan, and I wrote this to try to expand my fandoms. So, I'm sorry if James seems OOC or something.

I don't own Harry Potter.

You know you're doomed when you feel that horrible feeling that feels like a stone sunk through a full stomach, and your heart is so empty any shame is just what your brain is just telling you to feel. And so you feel it. And it all adds up to doom. He knew he had gone too far. But all the alternatives led him back to one place; doom.

This was the case of James Potter.

Where did he have to go? After all, he skipped his detention, lost his temper, and yelled at his elderly teacher, not to mention slapped her as he tried to run off. Obviously, he was in big trouble. Nothing to do but run through the grounds; keeping to the shadows, the trees, the bushes, avoiding other students. Who knew how many teachers they had after him?

"You, James, will never make it out of this one," he said breathlessly to himself as he glanced ahead of him, and froze. He forced himself to swallow the saliva he had built up from the run. His feet had led him while his mind searched for an escape route. And they had led him to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Under normal circumstances James would not hesitate to plunge into the foggy shade. But in his situation, that posed many problems. He would be in even deeper trouble-more detentions, a suspension- on top of everything else. And he was defenseless, with his wand slipping from his pocket somewhere around the lake. What if they found him in worse condition than his present one-sick, injured... Dead?

Just not too far, he told himself. One foot in front of the other. Don't let the edge out of sight...

James had lost track of time... either hours or minutes ago, he couldn't be sure.

Everything was the same. The time passed monotonously.

The forest was dead. The trees creaked and heaved and groaned, but they were dead. At least, James hoped so.

However, he could not convince himself that the inhabitants of the forest were buried in the ground for
eternal rest. They were very much alive. And James was very much a target.

Crack!

"Merlin's... beard!" He gasped at the realization that that was not another tree branch. For now he heard the pounding of hooves against earth, and the fall of pebbles back as they were kicked up on the ground. Something was coming making a beeline towards him, a gigantic, looming shadow winding through the trees.

Once again, James ran. Like he expected, the creature followed. He willed his screaming muscles on as he leapt over logs and sputtered as he hit the connecting string of a spider web. Good thing that wasn't the web's huge center, he thought.

Red light streaked past him. His pursuer was human; he had his wand out. James began moving in a panicked, confused zigzag. The professor was caught off guard.

Snap.

James risked looking back. Flailing arms and kicking legs indicated the teacher had barreled headlong into the spider's web.

James took off again, not daring to go any slower than a steady jog until he reached the edge of the forest. He gasped for need of air and relief. Adrenaline settled into his veins when he saw Hogwarts to his right. He looked down to examine himself. His feet hurt in their boots and his hands stung from where they had caught his fall many times.

Sighing and running a hand through his hair, he stared at the horizon, and with it, Hogwarts.

He had had enough of this. It was time to go home.

Please review. And make it good advice, stuff to help me improve this story if you thought it sucked. I mean, what is the use of a review that just goes "Lulz," or something like that?

Anywho. Thanks for reading.