Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry potter characters J.K. Rowling does. The plot and other characters are mine thanx!
Summary- It's an alternate universe and the world is in a very dark time. War has been raging for over a year, and fear spreading like wildfire. Forbidden places are everywhere and one woman finds the courage of her people and the love of one man!
-The forbidden places-
Lily led them over to a small area next to her hut and told them that this is where they could set up their tents. They did so, and then put their things in them, getting situated. They came out a few minutes later to see that Lily was talking to one of the genji, a large man, since you could tell the difference between the two. He said something and she smiled, hugged him, then he disappeared into the forest as silent as they all did. Lily looked over noticing them and walked over with a large smile on her face.
"You've come at a lucky time!"
"Oh why's that because the snake hunting's going to begin next week." Sirius said a large smile on his face; ignorant of the murderous look that lily was throwing his way.
"No because tonight is the festival to begin the hunt, lot's of food, dancing, activities, everyone in the forest is going to do it at the same time! So you get to see your first festival tonight, though it probably won't be your last!" She replied having finished glaring at Sirius, who was starting to shiver just the slightest from the temperature drop!
"What does one wear to such an event?" Remus asked, looking around at all that was happening.
"Wear your every day clothes. Later in the festival events they might give you their special clothes, but unless they do that jut wear your every day clothes."
"Sounds good, so what do we do until then?" James was looking a little overwhelmed, actually they all were and she could hardly fault them for that. It was a lot to take at one time!
"Well the elders told me to show you the ropes around her so the real question is what would you like to know? What would you guys like to see? I can show you just about anything here." Lily turned to get a good look at the area of the small town then an idea struck her. "Come with me, I know something that you'll enjoy."
She took them through the village, waving at a few people who called greetings and then brought them to a small trail that led into the forest. This time she was happy to see that none of them hesitated, perhaps because of the greeting they had received from everyone else, and walked calmly behind her. They hadn't been on the trail that long till it opened up into a small clearing with only two or three trees in it, and a number of many other things. Lily instead of going out into the area walked along the side of the forest and sat down urging the others to do the same. They did so sitting down right next to her and for a moment nothing happened.
"Um, Lily what are we doing here?" James asked after looking around a little.
"Shh, just watch, it's coming soon!"
Although they didn't quite understand what she meant the stayed quiet when all of a sudden on the opposite end of the clearing several genji burst out of the forest making the others jump, and almost reach for their weapons in a reflex action, but stopped themselves. Lily only snickered quietly much to their annoyance. That's when they realized what they were doing, they were practicing moves, a lot of complex moves that Lily had never taught them. They were running head on towards the trees and back flipping off them or grabbing one of their branches to swing themselves around and hit whoever they were sparring. The genji people were in excellent shape, and the boys watched them with rapt attention and lily seeing this couldn't help but smile. After they were finished Lily got up without warning and called out to a few of them. The other three stayed behind not sure what they were supposed to do.
They talked for a minute or two and she laughed then turned and beckoned the boys over to her, and they did so slightly confused. "Congratulation boys, met your new trainers!" She said then laughed at their shocked and bewildered faces. "Let me introduce to you Alexander, Fredrick, and Ginta. They will be your teachers, and I suggest you get ready because you start in ten minutes when they catch their breathe." And before they could say anything she was leaving like the wind back towards the village leaving the three of them to stare at her backs in a stunned silence.
"If it makes you feel better, she makes even some of us feel like that, sort of shocked and stupid!" Alexander said casually as he took a drink of water and passed it to the next.
"Really?" Sirius said a little surprised as he turned around. You could tell this surprised him, because it's what was written on his face.
"Oh yeah, we're one year older then Lily, so we grew up together. After her first year here when she got comfortable, and before we learned to fight if we made her mad she would kick our butts." Fredrick said laughing at some memory, and the other two smiled as if they too were thinking of a far off day.
"As soon as she had finished beating the crap out of us she walked away as if nothing had happened and it was all the adults could do to stop from laughing and all we could do was stare at her back in bewilderment." Ginta said giving a hearty laugh as he tossed the water canteen back to Alexander.
"So as our trainer said, you ready to get beaten up?" Fredrick said smiling at the three as he set down the canteen, and after a moments pause, they nodded their heads!
The practice that they laid out for them was going to be to their surprise almost brutal. It involved a lot of activity very little time to rest, and a lot of sweating from the looks of it. They started out by simply stretching, and being shown new ones that worked muscles never worked before. They then moved to the simple kicks and punched to get the blood running, or so that's what they were told. By the end of the exercise they were learning how to do flips, and high kicks. The three trainers stopped them after a long bout of practice and smiled.
"We'll do this routine for several days until we think you've mastered the move, and then we'll add something else until you've mastered that and so forth!" Alexander said he wasn't sweating near as much as the three of them were.
"You did good today, we'll have you doing a bunch of stuff by the time you leave to go south again!" Ginta said with Fredrick nodding in the background, and then with a clap on their backs they all made their way back to the village.
Lily was sitting cross-legged on the ground with a group of children surrounding her with wide eyes. She was speaking to them quietly her hands moving back and forth and then doing something dramatic. And finally she saw them, looked back at the kids and said "To be continued tomorrow!" Much to the annoyance of the children.
"Lily you can't do that to us!" One of the little girls said in obvious displeasure.
"Well you're just going to have to live with the knowledge that you don't get your way all the time." She said chuckling as she stood up and the children followed her movement. "I promise to finish it tomorrow, now off to your lessons or your parents will come after me!"
With a few more grumbling on the children's part they departed to different homes and disappeared inside. Lily walked over to them and smiled. "Did you enjoy yourself?" There was a wicked glint in her eye and they just shook their head, they could definitely see her beating up everyone when she was little.
"Yeah, it was fun, though you could have given us some warning." Remus said sarcastically.
"Now what kind of a friend would I be if I did that. You need to learn to deal with surprises!" She was trying not to laugh, and doing a pretty good job.
"You would have been a good friend giving us some warning." Sirius snorted then looked at himself. "I need to wash up!" He said with a grimace.
"I'll take you to the baths!" Lily said as she walked towards where their tents were. "Go ahead and grab what you're going to change into and I'll take you up there."
"Up where?" James asked a little confused.
"Just go get your stuff!" She said as she disappeared in her home and came out a few seconds later with some clothes in her hands. They did the same thing and followed her as she got on a different path then the one they had used earlier. This one was one that slowly inclined upward, and eventually cane to a small clearing with the entrance to a cave a few feet away. She walked in and stopped in a large cavern that broke off into two tunnels and Lily stopped pointing to the right one.
"This leads to the men and boys lake, it's where we wash, and it leads out to a stream, this side is the women's remember that so you don't get yelled at. When your finished come back here and wait for me, unless I'm already here, but take your time!" She said and then disappeared into the left tunnel, and the three of them went into the right tunnel. It led them to a large lake, no one was there except the three of them and at the sight of a relaxing bath they shed their clothes faster then were thought possible. They did take their time as Lily had suggested then got out dried off with their old clothes and put on the new ones. Lily was waiting for them and smiled at their content expressions. As they were walking back to the village Lily smiled.
"You guys look like your having fun here!"
"Well I am, I like your home very much, and the people in it are really nice." Remus said.
"I'm like Remus, I wasn't expecting everyone to be so nice. I guess after hearing the story I just expected for them to have grudges or hard feelings." James said.
"I haven't decided yet!" Sirius said when she turned to him.
"Oh and why not?" She said her eyes dancing, as if knowing what was coming.
"Because I don't know what they foods like." He said making them all laugh at him.
"Well you'll get to taste them all tonight!"
The rest of the day was spent in a laze, Lily introduced them to many people and Mindy spent a good amount of time with them. They could tell how much she loved Lily and it was fun to watch the two of them spat at each other and tell funny stories. The sun was beginning to go down, and they could see people beginning to make preparation for the festival when Mindy and Lily stood up and smiled.
"We have to go get ready, so you can go ahead and head over there, Alexander, Ginta, and Fredrick said they'd save a spot for you three!" Mindy said in an almost commanding voice and then walked off with Lily waving at them. They both went into Lily's tent and shrugging their shoulder they walked over to the large bonfire that was started and sat next to their trainers. It was fun to see some of them dressed up laughing and to see what kind of food they were placing out for when it was time to eat. James and Remus were sure that Sirius was going to start drooling at any minute.
"And here comes Lily with Mindy. Lily and Mindy always look the best at the festivals because they make their own clothes!" Fredrick said and they all turned and James, Sirius, and Remus's eyes widened at the sight of Lily. Now until this time they had only ever seen her in trousers but tonight she was in a flowing skirt of green, and a shirt with long sleeves that dangled her hair was down, except for two strands in the front that were twisted and attached at the back keeping the rest of the hair from falling in her face. Mindy was likewise dressed and seeing their expressions she leaned in and whispered something to Lily who laughed and then smacked Mindy playfully.
"You look surprised!" Lily said still laughing as they finally reached the six of them.
"Actually very surprised, never seen you in a skirt." Remus said, with James and Sirius nodding, trying to get themselves under control.
"Then just wait until the dancing starts!" She said laughing. She sat down and the rest of the people also did so. The elder came and stood close to the fire and said his speech about the annual snake hunting party and then at the end added a welcome to the three new people to join them, a loud cheer erupted and then the food was served.
"At every festival five people are volunteered to serve, it changes with every festival so no one gets stuck serving more then one time in a row." Lily said as five people each grabbed something and served it to those that wanted it.
"Sounds pretty fair."
"Yeah, I did my serving last year so it will be a while until I do it again, the same for Mindy." Lily said as the server reached them and they both took a little Sirius at this point was smiling at the sight of the food, making the servers chuckle, and they gave him a helping of every thing that passed by him.
This time was filled with laughter and conversation. the ones who really got into the snake hunting talked about strategy, and those that were wither too young, or not going to do it, talked of what they were going to do in place of it. Finally after all the food was eaten, the music began. James, Sirius and Remus stared at the instruments for a while, one or two they recognized, but most they have never seen before and the loved watching how they were played. Lily and Mindy got up and joined several girls that were beginning to dance.
"The first dance is for girls only, the second for men only, then all the ones after that can be danced by both. It's a tradition we've had for the longest time!" Ginta said at James's confused look.
"I see." They watched though as Lily danced, and although she was the shortest one there, with the exception of the small children, this didn't manage to stop her in anyway. She was graceful and beautiful. Or at least that was what James was thinking though he quickly tried to shake the thoughts away because that was no way to think. James, Sirius and Remus stood out of the all men's dance and simply decided to watch, but they found out they couldn't do that with Lily around. She grabbed Sirius's hand and dragged him into a dance after the men's dance was over, and after that dance, she grabbed, James, then Remus. By the end of several hours they were exhausted, and Lily and Mindy were still dancing, and the festival looked as if it wasn't going to be stopping for a while.
"I can understand why Lily loves this place so much. These people here are better people then many of the guys back in my home village." Remus said as they were taking a breather from the dancing.
"Yeah, I can't see how she can go out and spend months away from home to fight in a war that technically she has no part in, or reason to be in it." Sirius said.
"She looks happy right now." James added as they watched her laughing with Mindy at something someone had done.
The other two nodded their agreement. Yes, this place was almost too good to be true!
A/N- Hey guys I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up!, I hope you enjoyed it though. I want to say thanx to all my reviewers, here's what you guys were waiting for
-Animals are my LIFE-
-Sam's firefly-
-Flame Of Desire-
-hypa4evr-
-firewalker32-
-toria-b2-
Again thanx so much you guys are the best!
Maddie
