A/N: reviews!!! Thank you all!!!Keep guessing people because it makes me write!!


Behind them the monster thundered through the overgrowth, tearing down trees and stamping down earth. Lily and Rosie ran without the luxury of picking out a path as it bulldozed a road behind them. Twigs, leaves and vines snatched at their faces and pulled onto their clothing.

"There's someone in front of us!" Lily shouted unsure whether she could be heard over the destructive force behind. The figure, a girl froze like a deer upon seeing them approaching.

"Yoanna!" Lily yelled and dragged her along as she ran past. "No time for questions just run!" Dense growth forced them to move in a single file making their progress slow but Lily felt hopeful because at last she had spotted traces of her flour trail. Fortunately the increase in tree density had also slowed down their pursuer. Still, its presence was ever there and nothing was about to stop Lily from escaping until she suddenly found no more ground beneath her feet. With a scream she fell down and landed with a heavy splash that was quickly followed by two others. Their road had ended abruptly and they had fallen into some sort of pool. Still spurred on by the need to move the girls waded across until they emerged from around a boulder-

"James?!" Lily was the first to spot the two boys and their happy party. James jumped at the shriek of his name looking like he had just woken up from a dream. He flushed and pulled himself out of the arms of a very beautiful red headed girl. Naked red headed girl, Lily corrected. It would have been comical were they not being chased by four-legged monster. Sirius also looked startled at the sight of three soaked girls wading towards them and also pulled away from the exotic girl beside him.

"Monster close behind, need to get out of here, NOW!" Lily was the first to reach them but immediately jumped back as the pretty red hair girl suddenly let out a high pitched hiss. Sharp nails barely missed Lily and she cried out in surprise.

"Hey!" James pushed her away from him and made his way to Lily. He was fully awake now and the cotton happiness he had earlier drained away.

"OI!" Sirius shouted as the exotic girl grabbed hold of him and began pulling him back into the water with surprising strength while he tried to climb out.

Rose pointed her wand at the back of the girl and flung her backwards making her hit the boulder with a thud. "They're Sirens!" she yelled. No one else apart from her seemed to know what a Siren was but she reacted quickly again as the red headed one made a grab for James. Nails scratched across his chest as the Siren tried to clasp onto him.

CRASH!!!!

The monster splashed into the pool. Both Sirens turned, their limbs seeming to elongate and mouths opened. They let out a chorus of hisses that got louder as their mouths opened wider until their jaws were practically unhinged. They were no longer the pretty maidens as of late but ugly creatures that crawled their way across the boulder towards the thing that dared encroach on their territory. A face off between the creatures of the dark.

Meanwhile everyone scrambled out of the water, the guys making a grab for their clothes before they all disappeared back into the dark thicket.
"WHAT the bloody HELL was that!" Sirius demanded as he and James dressed themselves hastily. They had stopped running once they had reached another small clearing, this one thankfully empty.

Rosie shrugged. "That huge thing just came right out of the ground."

"Not that! Those two..." Sirius flapped his hand and opened his mouth wide to indicate what he had meant. "Things!"

Rosie chuckled. "Oh those, they were Sirens."

"Yeah, we gathered that much at the pool." James muttered inspecting the scratch marks and showing them to Lily. "They hurt."

"You deserve it." Lily informed him but she did note that his wounds from Remus were open and starting to bleed again. James pouted but gave up quickly and buttoned his shirt back up.

"Sirens are creatures that lure their prey: men to their pools. They kind of morph into the prey's fantasy women. Contrary to common belief they don't use their voices but the water that they eject from their mouths. That stuff is pretty powerful, laced with charms and spells to reel the men in."

"Argh! We were sitting in spit?!" Sirius gave his bare arm a sniff disgusted at the revelation.

Rosie gave a grin that was better known on Sirius. "I can also tell you that it don't matter where they eject the water from."

James shook his head as the girls dissolved into laughter in spite of not being too pleased at having fallen in the water themselves. "You did not need to tell me that." Lily laughed until tears formed in her eyes despite herself until she looked down at her hand. She had been holding it all this time and now that she had time to see it she was horrified to even be touching it. A hand, she was holding a mummified hand! It was skeletal, held together by dried leathery skin that froze it into the shape of claw. Each of the five fingers wore a circlet covered with runes and markings she did not recognize. Disgusted she flung it behind her and instinctively wiped her hand on James. He looked at her with a raised brow but she stared back at him as if wiping dirt on him was the most natural thing in the world. Yoanna looked away not wanting to be caught staring, she was too far to see what Lily had tossed away maybe she could have a closer look when everyone wasn't looking...

Disgruntled at having been told he had been wallowing in spit Sirius pulled out his wand and turned it into a compass just like Lily had done earlier. Unlike Lily, he and James were used to being lost.

"We go that way. I need to wash and quick" he said and wiped a sleeve across his mouth in memory of the Siren. That was something he wouldn't forget about too soon. The small group headed in the direction they pointed in. Much to James' delight, Yoanna's relief and Rosie's discomfort they held onto each others hands as they made their way to prevent anyone from getting lost in the darkness. Sirius led the way with his lit up wand followed by the girls and James brought up the rear.

An hour passed; maybe two and they arrived at another clearing where they decided to take a rest.

"Wait! Isn't his where we started off?" James swore that that was the same log he almost tripped over earlier. Bewildered and confused everyone began to look around before they confirmed that it was indeed the very same clearing. Sirius swore, his mood getting worse by the minute as did Rosie's. They were beginning to grate at each other's nerves and had started to bicker.

"Brilliant sense of direction you have!" she said to him not daring to raise her voice any louder.

"The wand points north! We were going in the right direction!" he said defensively.

"I'm amazed! We were going in the right direction and like magic; we're back here! Right where we started!"

Lily slapped a hand to her forehead. "Of course! Magic! There's some strange warped magic in this forest! There has to be with so many magical creatures running rampant in here! We were heading in the right direction somehow north keep redirecting..."

"Bloody brilliant." Sirius flopped down on to the dirt.

Yoanna fidgeted with her hair. "Urm...guys, is it okay if someone comes with me? I...I really need the loo."

"I will." Lily volunteered, needing to go herself.

"Don't go too far." James called after them.

He stood and watched them disappear among the trees before he went off in the opposite direction. "Be right back, mate. Need a leak too." He called to Sirius. "Watch out for women in Hot Springs!"

Rosie snickered but silenced when Sirius glared at her.


Lily and Yoanna parted and a few minutes later when Lily returned to where they had agreed to meet Yoanna was already standing there. "That was quick." Lily said hooking her arm through hers and started of back to the clearing but Yoanna refused to budge. "What wrong, Yoanna?"

Yoanna stared unblinkingly at Lily then her hands darted to her throat. Lily choked as Yoanna squeeze her trachea, her vision graying as she fell backwards but still the iron grip would not release its hold. All arms and legs Lily thrashed about until she managed to land a solid kick on Yoanna's stomach. The grip lessened and Lily tore herself away gasping for breath. She was on her feet in an instant and running back towards the clearing.

"Lily!" Yoanna cried. Lily ignored it but almost instantly Yoanna shouted her name again from a completely different direction. Lily spun around, unless her ears were playing tricks on her, how can Yoanna call to her from two different places? What she saw convinced Lily that her eyes were also playing tricks on her. There were two Yoannas on coming to her from her left and the other her right. Both of them looked petrified.

"There's two of me!" One cried.

"Who are you?" the other demanded.

"Why are you me?" they both said in unison and pulled out identical wands.

Caught in the middle Lily panicked. There were two of them, which was real? One of them had tried to kill her but she couldn't leave the real one...They are Mimicks! Creatures that dwelled in forests and fed on travelers. They would take the shape of fellow travel companions to gain trust and wham, dinner was served! Lily knew this because she had answered a question on this in her Defense Against Dark Arts OWLs!

"Ah...Yoanna! Tell me urm..." Lily hunted around for a piece of information only Yoanna would know and not the Mimick, unfortunately, Lily didn't know Yoanna very well so she didn't really know the answer to most of the questions she could ask anyway. "What happened in Divination yesterday?"

Both Yoannas looked confused. "Just answer me!"

"We didn't have Divination yesterday." The one on her left said uncertainly.

"That's right!" Lily cried happily. The Mimick turned and ran; its cover was blown. "We have got to get back!" Lily grabbed Yoanna's hand but before they could make it back she saw the Mimick again, this time in its original form. It looked much a like a human except it appeared sexless and featureless in every way. Right now it was changing its shape, growing taller and broader. Dark messy hair sprouted and within seconds James stood in its place. "No!" It ducked out of sight.

Lily dragged the stunned Yoanna back to the clearing. "That's NOT James!" she screamed as she launched herself onto him. He had his wand out, he might not be James but the disguise was complete and he would have James' full ability as a wizard.

"Evans!" Sirius yelled as she attempted to throttle the fake James while clinging onto his back. He tried to dislodge her fingers but luckily did not attempt to throw her off but nonetheless she clamped her legs around his torso and struggled to make the Mimick reveal itself. "OI Evans!" Sirius bellowed as he peeled Lily off James.

James collapsed onto the floor gasping for air like a dying fish. Lily, still hurting from almost being strangled attempted to have another go at him. "That's not James! It's a Mimick!" She shouted wondering why no one else seemed to understand.

"She's right. There was a Mimick and it pretended to be me and then we saw it change into James." Yoanna explained quickly.

Sirius had his wand out in an instant. "What position do you play in Quidditch?" he demanded.

"Ch...ch...chaser..." James wheezed. Lily didn't look too convinced; she has seen him change with her very own eyes! Seeing this Sirius continued.

"How many bombs did we chuck in the 'nest'?"

James shook his head to indicate he couldn't remember and this wasn't received well by the others.

"Keep asking him questions then." Rosie urged unaware that the 'nest' meant her common room.

"How many bottle caps has Wormtail got in his collection?"

Again James shook his head. Everyone tensed. Sirius was running out of questions, it was much harder than he thought but then he saw Lily.

"Who do you most want to date?"

"Lily."

"Who do you most want to kiss?"

A pause. "Lily." "Who do you most want to sha- ouch!" Lily had thrown a pebble at his head and was already armed with a rock the size of her fist. Rubbing his head Sirius returned to the interrogation.

"All right then, how many times has Lily slapped you." James having recovered from being strangled rubbed his sore neck thoughtfully.

"Three." Lily did a quick bit of mental math and determined that the answer was correct.

"How many-"

"That's enough, Black. He's Potter." Lily stepped forward and knelt beside James.


A/N: Wow, longest chapter yet, it isn't quite finished so I decided to chop it in half! I quite enjoyed writing this chapter although I had to force a lot in it. I hope I haven't made it seem rushed, if I have do let me know and I'll take it back down and work on it some more!

The next chapter is, yupz you've guessed it! "Creatures of the Dark 2"! xXx