Chapter 7

Weeks went by and James and Lily hadn't said a word about their first class of Defense Against the Dark Arts since. They went through their regular routines of James teasing Lily and Lily ignoring James. They had thought about the expelliarmus spell every night and about what it meant.

The days were getting colder, and soon, nobody wanted to go outside because of the frigid weather. That didn't mean that they could miss Herbology with Professor Sprout. The Gryffindors all went out side to Greenhouse 2 for Herbology one afternoon in their winter robes. There was a blizzard out side. When Lily reached the Greenhouse, her hair was all white instead of red.

"Hey frosty!" James called out to her, while cleaning off the water from his glasses from the melted snow, then putting it back on his face.

"Why don't you look at yourself in the mirror!" Lily told James, drying her robed with her wand. Lily shook her head all over and snow went flying everywhere on James and his glasses. James took off his glasses again and whipped his glasses off on his robes that didn't help much James noticed, because James's robes were covered in snow.

"Fair enough," replied James. James used Lily's robe to get the wetness off his glasses.

"James!" Lily shouted, "I just dried those!"

"We're waiting to start class, James and Lily," scolded Professor Sprout.

"Sorry," they both said, joining their classmates with the Hufflepuffs, giving off angry glares at each other.

"Now, we are going to be learning about this plant here, the Devil's Snare," she showed them a plant pot with a snake-like looking plant. "Devil's Snare is composed of a mass of soft, springy tendrils and vines that possess some sense of touch. Devil's Snare uses its creepers and tendrils to ensnare anyone who touches it, binding their arms and legs and eventually choking them. The harder a person struggles against Devil's Snare, the more faster and more tightly it binds them; if they relax, it will not kill them as quickly. Devil's Snare prefers a dark, damp environment and shrinks away from fire, so a well-placed flame spell such as bluebell flames will drive it away from its victims.

"Now everyone is going to take a pot of Devil's Snare and drive it away with the incantation of incartum inflamare." Everyone took a pot of Devil's Snare and performed the incantation. The greenhouse was heated with everyone's bluebell flame spell. By the time class ended, everyone's face was red and sweaty from being in the greenhouse. It almost felt good to step out into that blizzard.

James's glasses were all fogged up. That gave him another reason to wipe his glasses off on Lily's robes, annoying her as much as possible. "Hey, your face is as red as your hair!" James remarked. "Too bad Sirius is sick with a sore throat to see this!"

"That's probably because of all the food he jams down his throat," replies Lily, picking up a little piece of snow and watched it melt into a puddle on her hand.

"Hey, want to feel my face? It's burning, Lily!" James said, wiping the sweat off his face.

"No thank you, James, I can feel my own and know how yours feel."

"Ok, here, I'll give you a sample." James held up his hands with sweat all on them and chased Lily back into Hogwarts castle. They ran all the way up to the seventh floor to the Gryffindor common room. Lily jumped on the couch to try to get away from him. Then she jumped over the couch and up the stairs, turning left to the girls dormitory. James tried to follow her up and then the stairs sunk into the ground, forming a slide that prohibits boys from entering.

James landed right next to a boy standing over him. Jason Fischer, the prefect stood over him saying, "No boys aloud inside the girls dormitory."

"Why? Lily goes up into the boys dormitory sometimes."

"Because boys aren't trust worthy. It's Godrick Griffindor's rule. It's been here ever since his time, and it's going to stay that way." Jason left James speechless, and continued on his way, patrolling the area.

"Boys can be trusted!" James announced, as he marched up to his own dormitory, explaining to his roommates of what had happened.

"But Godrick Gryffindor was a boy! he feels that way about his own gender?" Sirius croaked.

"I guess so. Why would James even want to go into the girls dormitory anyways?" Remus pointed out. "Why would any boy?"

"Pranks, I guess," replied James. "It's fun to tease Lily, you got to admit that."

"No, I like reading my History Through the Ages book," replied Remus.

"Why? Professor Binns is so boring," Sirius groaned.

"He is quite a bit dull when the subject is so exciting. I'm also quite fond of Defense Against the Dark Arts, too."

"Now there's a subject I like...what about you James? Do you like Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Sirius asks.

"Sure, I'm hungry, when's dinner?"

"Always at seven, James. You should know that by now."

"Oh, but there is snacks they serve, isn't there?"

"I suppose, but...hey James, where you going?"

James went down to the common room. Lily had a change of robes on, and she was reading a book on a couch over by the fire place. James looked at the title of her book. Then he realized it's one that he took out at the library. "Hey," Lily looked up.

"Isn't that my book?" James asked.

"Yes, don't worry, I won't show your friends. I was just interested in the stuff you like to read. Here," she handed him the book that titled Spell Signs. "I suppose you're still thinking about Defense Against the Dark Arts, too?"

"What do you think it mean?"

"I don't know for sure, I'm still doing my research outside of class. Maybe I won't have to. Tell me if you find anything will you?" and she headed out the door.

After dinner, James went to bed, feeling a little bit light headed. "Maybe it's from all the food I ate," James told himself. He went to bed and hoped he would get better. As he closed his eyes, white swirled mist formed inside.

He could see himself going back in time to the time when he was nine years old. "Hey James, give me a hand!" Lily's voice echos. Lily and James were climbing a mountain in the woods in their back yard. James stuck out his hand to help Lily up. They both had backpacks on with water bottles attached. "How big is this mountain?" Lily asks in awe, looking up.

"Dunno," replies James. "We sure wouldn't be here if your mom told you that you couldn't go."

"Yeah, thanks for begging on my part," Lily says.

"Yeah, my mom would let me go no matter what. Actually my dad forced my mom because his argument was boys will be boys. Come on, let's got."

"Wait for me!" Lily shouts. Lily feels for a step of stone, and grabs ahold of a rock. The rock comes loose and falls to the bottom. "James!"

James looks down at Lily. Lily grabbed a hold of James shirt tail and drags him down. James still holds on, taking Lily's hand so she wouldn't fall. James carefully, lowers himself until they were five feet from the rocky floor. Lily was heavy for James to carry with one arm. She had no rock hole to slip her hands into. His sweaty hands slips from under Lily's hands and she falls. She fell and broke her right arm. "Lily!" James cries, as he springs up from the ground beside his bed, covered in sweat.

"I'm right here!" Lily announces. It was dead of the night. Sirius and Peter were asleep.

"How'd you get down there, mate?" Remus asked.

"What's she doing here?" James questioned.

"Bad dream," she replied. "I fell asleep forty minutes before you. You stayed in the Great Hall for quite sometime."

"Anyways," Remus says, "You were talking in your sleep, something about telling Lily to come up a mountain or something, or something about ripping your new Ireland shirt you received for Christmas, and then you fell out of bed. I called Lily up from the stairs of the girl's dormitory because it had something to do with her and here we are. And now, I'm going to go back to sleep. I was stupid enough to try that brown gloop that tasted like dog dung. Did you have any of it?" Remus asked them.