Camping

Chapter Two

After an afternoon playing in the sun on the sandy lakeshore, Lily and James packed up their fishing poles and beach towels and walked the narrow path back to the clearing. When they arrived, they found a newly built fire ring, a large pile of firewood, and the smell of dinner cooking.

"About time," Sirius said, throwing an arm around each Lily and James. "What were you kids up to, anyway?"

Lily rolled her eyes at Sirius' innuendo and wiggling eyebrows and shrugged his arm off of her shoulders. "You, sir, are a pervert."

"But that's why we love you," James said, clapping him on the back. "Only you could make an innocent day at the lake sound dirty."

After sitting down to a dinner of fresh fish and helping Peter clean up after, Lily found herself sitting on a stump outside the tent fiddling with her wand and thinking about number one on the "Unacceptable Things to Think About on Vacation" list James gave her: her lack of a job.

She had taken the highest level possible for all of her classes at Hogwarts so that the world would be open to her, but she just didn't know where to start. She was just contemplating the idea of having too many options when her thoughts were interrupted by James.

"I was wondering where you got off to," he said, standing behind her, rubbing her shoulders.

"You found me."

"You're not breaking the rules, are you? You look like you're breaking the rules," he said suspiciously.

Lily laughed. "You know me too well. What were you up to?"

"Just helping out with the fire. Come on, it's getting dark out and Sirius is about to light it. That should be a good time."

Pocketing her wand, Lily stood up and followed James out to the fire ring where someone had set up the chairs from the kitchenette around the fire. Just as Lily chose a seat between Remus and James, Sirius strutted up to the fire with his wand out.

"Oh, no, everyone watch your eyebrows, Padfoot's got his wand out." Peter said, slapping a hand over his own eyebrows in jest.

"Don't worry, Wormtail, yours will be the first to go!" Sirius said, pointing his wand at the small triangle of wood and kindling. He muttered a spell and a small flame jumped from the end of his wand and ignited the kindling. When he was done, he put his wand back into his pocket and admired his handy work. "Not bad, eh?"

"We're all impressed, Sirius, though I don't know why. You've only had seven years of formal schooling. If you can't start a fire by now…" Lily trailed off, shaking her head mockingly.

When everyone was finally seated around the fire, they all seemed mesmerized by the glowing red embers and the flickering orange flames that leaped and licked the wood. Every few seconds the wood would emit a small pop or hiss as the fire did its work. Lily could feel her eyelids growing heavy as she watched the dancing flames, and knew that if she didn't speak up, she would fall asleep right there. She wasn't sure if she could trust the others not to push her into the fire.

"You know what we need?" Lily asked, suddenly, breaking everyone out of their fire induced trance.

"Hmm?"

"Marshmallows. Where are those sticks I got earlier?" Sitting up straighter in her chair, Lily looked excitedly around at her friends.

Remus shook his head. "Do we even have marshmallows?"

"I brought some," Lily said, standing up. "Now where are those sticks?"

Peter attempted to hide his guilty face as he muttered, "Well…er…I think they may be in the fire, now."

"What! You burned my sticks?"

"No!" Peter cried, "It was all Sirius," he said, pointing an accusing finger at Sirius. Lily swiveled to glare at him.

"Way to go, Black." Lily winked at him before she stood up and started towards the edge of the clearing.

"It's pretty dark out, Lily. Are you sure you want to go looking for sticks? We can have marshmallows tomorrow." James said.

Mocking him, Lily gasped and pulled out her wand. "What is this thing for? Lumos!" she cried, waving the lit wand around in the air, causing it to shoot off sparks.

"Oh, alright, you win." James sighed and stood up to follow her into the trees, shaking his head.

"Do you even know what you're looking for?" Lily asked, rounding on James who was muttering under his breath.

"Sticks."

Lily sighed theatrically. "We need long skinny sticks to roast marshmallows on."

Mocking her sigh, James lit the end of his wand and began sweeping the light around the trees. "What were you thinking about earlier?" He asked suddenly, putting his light on her. "You looked so serious."

Lily shrugged. "Just stuff. You were right, I was breaking the rules. Did you find any sticks?"

"Don't change the subject, Lily. Forget the rules for a second. We can talk, if you want."

Bending to pick up a stick, Lily admitted, "I don't know what I want to do with my life."

"Oh, is that all?" James laughed. "Join the club, Love. There's a war, out there. It's not as if our lives are going to be normal even if we could just go out and pick a job."

"Stupid war," Lily said, picking up another stick. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't want to rush into anything," James said. "I'm thinking of maybe finding something at the ministry until I figure out what I really want to do."

Lily thought about this for a second while she walked over to where James was standing, still sweeping his wand around the woods. She put down her pile of sticks and hugged him. With her arms around his middle and her head on his shoulder she said, "I'm scared."

"Don't be scared. You'll always have me, and the others."

"Yes, and you lot are exactly the type to say you're going to take a ministry job and then go out and get yourselves killed in this damn war."

James laughed, "Come on, let's get back. Sirius probably lit someone, if not himself, on fire by now. He can't be trusted."

Lily picked up her marshmallow sticks and said, "See, you know I'm right. You're just changing the subject so you don't have to admit it."

As Lily and James approached the edge of the clearing, they had a clear view of the others gathered around the fire. Lily stopped short at what she saw before her.

Sirius was chasing a small rodent, which Lily assumed was Peter in his rat form, and Remus was chasing Sirius.

"Do you reckon he's trying to roast Wormtail?" James asked with very little concern in his voice.

"He is carrying a stick," Lily observed, still not walking forward.

"Oy! Pettigrew. Get back here you little ratfink," Sirius called out, trying to hold back his laughter. "I promise I won't eat you."

Remus, panting, stopped beside Sirius and added, "Yeah, Peter. He's really sorry. Besides, just call the pound on him next time he's wondering around as a dog."

Lily watched as Sirius spun to face Remus. "What! Don't give the pea brained one any ideas."

"Hey! I'm not pea brained," Peter said indignantly, having transformed back into his human self. "James, tell them I'm not pea brained."

James laughed and put his hands up defensively. "I'm not involved in this little spat."

Peter rolled his eyes and made a dismissive motion with his hand, "Oh, what good are you? Go back into the woods and snog your girlfriend."

Lily and James made their way back to their seats around the fire, picking their way through the mess Sirius and Peter created.

"What exactly was that all about, anyway," James asked Remus.

He simply shook his head. "Oh, you know. Pete questioned his manhood. Nothing new."

James nodded knowingly. "He went for the hair, didn't he?"

"All this over his hair?" Lily asked incredulously. "You're kidding, right?"

James shook his head solemnly. "Do you remember what happened to your friend Susan in Ravenclaw?"

Lily closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat for a moment, trying to recall. She sat straight and her eyes snapped open. "He made her bald because she picked on his hair?"

Sirius, who had finally decided to forgive Peter and had wondered back over to the group said, "You're talking about Susan from Ravenclaw, aren't you? That girl got what she had coming, if you ask me."

Lily laughed, remembering the day she had gone to the hospital wing for a headache potion and found her friend sulking behind the curtains, hiding her bald head under the blankets. Lily had never asked her just why all of the sudden the Marauders had targeted kind and quiet Susan.

"I can't believe you lot did that to her. She's such a nice girl."

Remus raised his eyebrows. "Don't implicate the rest of us. It was all Padfoot," he said, nodding toward his dark haired friend who was currently stuffing a marshmallow on the end of one of the sticks Lily and James retrieved from the woods.

"If you catch that on fire, don't fling it at me," James said. "I don't feel like explaining that one to my mother again."

Sirius grinned and stuffed his marshmallow into the fire, allowing the flames to lick at the fluffy white substance until it became hard and black. "Perfect!" he cried, pulling it out. Lily watched in amusement as he, having barely waited three seconds for the charred marshmallow to cool, pulled it off the stick and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Wait for it.." a voice trialed off behind Lily. She recognized it as Peter, and when she turned she saw that he stopped midway through retrieving a roasting stick for himself to watch the skeptical Sirius was putting on.

Lily was about to ask what, but Sirius answered her question.

"AWT! AWT!" He cried, spitting the marshmallow out onto the ground and waving his hands in front of his face. "Olly other of Od its AWT!"

The other four were unable to help their friend as he flailed around having burnt his mouth on a still smoking marshmallow.

Oh my, Lily thought to herself as she sat hunched over in laughter, this trip was definitely worth it. Wiping a stray tear from her face, she sat up straight again to see Sirius glaring at them from across the fire. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he had a wounded expression on his face.

"Thanks for that," he said. "I may have maimed my mouth and all you can do is laugh like a hyenas!"

This, of course, sent Lily into a new fit of hysterics. "Sirius!" she said through her laughter, "You…it…it was still on fire!" she finally managed to get the words out.

"She's right, mate. You should've known better," Remus said, still chuckling lightly.

Sirius, realizing defeat, shrugged his shoulders and said, "Prongs, toss me another."

Having eaten almost an entire bag of marshmallows (the remainder of the marshmallows was tossed into the fire to expand until they finally collapsed in on themselves, much to Sirius and Peter's sugar altered amusement.) the group of five wore themselves out shouting insults and shooting harmless hexes across the fire at once another.

Once again mesmerized by the rhythmic flickering of orange flames, the column of smoke that more than once attacked Lily ("Smoke follows beauty, you know!" James had teased, much to her embarrassment), and the constant hiss and pop of burning wood, the group had lapsed into an uncharacteristically long silence. It was Peter who finally spoke up.

"I can't believe we won't be going back to Hogwarts," he said, not taking his eyes away from the fire.

It stayed silent for a moment longer while everyone thought about the implications of having graduated from school.

"Don't worry, Pete. You'll find something you like, " James assured him.

"You'll be better off than me," Lily said. "At least people will consider hiring you. I'm a muggleborn, the ministry isn't even acknowledging my applications."

Because of the war and increasing discrimination against muggles and muggle born witches and wizards, it was becoming nearly impossible for anyone of muggle heritage to find a ministry job. Lily had spent the week before the camping trip sending in applications for any position she could find open, and, unfortunately, with all of the sudden disappearances and deaths going on, there were a lot of open positions. She had received an owl thanking her interest and assuring her that the position had already been filled for each one that she had sent it.

Remus, who was in much the same situation as Lily because of his being a werewolf, said, "I don't know what you're worried about, Lily. You'll marry James and have lots of red haired babies."

Lily snorted with laughter, and James protested weakly, "I'm sure one of them will look like me!"

"Remus is right, Lily. You've got it made. You'll be a kept woman, you know."

"Shut up, Sirius." Lily could feel herself blushing as the boys erupted in laughter around her.

"Come on, Lily, after making him jump through all those hoops to get you to date him, the least you could do is marry him,"

"Oh, hush! I'm barely eighteen, you know," Lily hid her face because her red cheeks made the boys laugh even harder.

"Ah, young love!" Peter exclaimed in a falsetto. "Don't be embarrassed, Lily, we all know its going to happen. You're the only one denying it."

"Yeah, Lily, what's wrong with our mate? Good enough for a good time, but not for the rest of your life?" Sirius teased, tossing a pebble her way to get her to look up.

"You guys," Lily whined, "It's not fair for you to gang up on me like this!"

Her protests only brought on more laughter.

"James! Why aren't you saying anything? Shouldn't you be rescuing me? I'm going to be your kept woman, after all."

James shrugged. "Nah, it's more fun this way."

Lily hit him playfully in the arm and was about to say something when they were all interrupted by a crack that seemed to echo through the woods behind the tent.

Lily's heart began to race as she, like her friends, began scanning the perimeter of their small clearing. Suddenly, she began to feel claustrophobic, like the woods, and whatever or whoever was in them, were closing in around them, trapping them.

Crack. Crack.

Still, the noises kept coming from the same general area. Lily stared hard at the tent, as though she could see through it and through the woods on the other side of it.

Suddenly, her world went dark as someone had put out the fire. She felt strong hands grab her and pull her in the opposite direction of where she had been looking at the tent. She didn't' dare breathe a word until they figured out who was apparating so close to their campsite, and why where were so many of them.

Once they were into the dark woods on the other side of their small clearing, James lit the tip of his wand and quickly swept it over the group to be sure everyone was there. Four ashen faces stared back at him in the dim light of his wand.

"What's going on?" Lily whispered as James put his wand out again, not wanting to draw any attention to their location. Lily was sure that no one had noticed their camp yet, because she couldn't hear any thing other than an occasional crack as someone apparated into the woods.

"I'm going in," Peter whispered.

"Just hang on," Remus said. "We need a plan."

"No one will notice me. I'm going. Just stay here."

"Pete, wait," Lily whispered. "What if they put up a detection charm?"

"I'm a rat, Lily. I don't think anyone is going to think twice about a rat wondering through the woods."

James sighed impatiently. "In and out, Wormtail. Just find out who they are,"

Lily saw a small flash of light and then everything was darker than it had seemed moments before. "James?"

"He'll be fine," James reassured her, squeezing the hand he still held from when he led her out of the clearing. "He does this kind of thing all the time."

Lily nodded, even though she knew no one could see her.

They waited in silence; no one dared speak or breathe too loudly in case they were discovered. It seemed like no one had even realized that people were camping in the area right next to where they were apparating.

Lily jumped a little when she saw another small flash of light.

"I'm back," Peter whispered, panting slightly.

"Well?" Sirius asked impatiently.

"Death Eaters. About twenty of them," Peter said.

A/N: Hello! Sorry about the delay in posting this. I couldn't find the time to really do much of anything this week because of work, but now it's Friday and I finally had some peace and quiet that's not due to my insomnia.

Chapter three won't, I hope, take as long to get done as this chapter did. On that note, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed and favorited chapter one. You're too kind