Disclaimer: sighs once upon a time, in my dreams, I owned Harry Potter…

A/N: Hello, people! Okay, so here's chapter… 11, is it? I decided to post the chapter now, because next week, I'll be so buried in homework, projects and whatever else I might not have the time to post the chapter, so yeah….

Review on your way out, I want to now what you think!

Enjoy!

Previous chapter:

Two teenagers. Bravely affronting their destiny. They thought their power would be enough. They came to challenge the master of the Forest so they could protect their half-immortal friend from harm.

What they had forgotten would cost them their lives. The power of Three combined to power of Four alone could have stopped him. Now, they were doomed. Doomed to a slow and painful death.

'Fools,' Voldemort said despicably as he watched the two teenagers penetrate into the Forest. 'You will pay with your lives, and we shall see then what will your Flamma friend do.'

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After leaving Lily behind and entering the Forest, James and Sirius walked for a few hours. Loosing track of time, the two teenagers could only be all senses in alert, trying to see if there was any danger near them. Suddenly, Sirius stopped.

'What's the matter, Padfoot?' James asked him.

Sirius didn't answer anything for a moment, before whispering 'We're being watched.'

Immediately, James raised his wand and pivoted all around himself, his eyes scanning the darkness. He and Sirius were back to back as they took in their surroundings.

Sirius then sniffed the air and said, relaxing a bit 'It's okay. Whatever it was, it's gone.'

James nodded faintly, then followed Sirius as they started walking again. In less than half an hour, they arrived in a sort of clearing. The trees around it were badly burned, and even the ground seemed warm.

James whispered 'Guess this is his playing area?'

Snorting, Sirius answered 'You think so?'

Not long after the words left his lips, Sirius felt a wind rushing to him and James. At first, he didn't think much of it, as winds were normal. But when the wind began carrying leaves, stones, hard pieces of wood and throwing them to both Sirius and James, the former began to have some doubts.

'He's here,' James stated calmly.

Sirius nodded as his eyes looked around him 'What's the matter, Voldemort? You too chicken to fight us yourself? Or are you afraid you're going to get beaten?'

For a minute, nothing happened. Then, the wind suddenly stopped and in the clearing stepped a golden dragon. Or what had once been a golden dragon.

Before, Sirius had never once been able to see the dragon. Now, as he did, he gulped.

The dragon was at least 15 meters high, a bit taller than the forest. Compared to him, James and Sirius must have looked like ants. Its scales were now of a dirty gold, and his eyes were blood-shot. His tail ended in a spiky heart that could rip your head off, and his paws were huge.

As Sirius studied the dragon, James nudged him and pointed to the dragon's left wing. Sirius turned his gaze to the wing and smirked: Lily hadn't lied. All the left wing was burned, tough it somehow stayed attached to the body. Both James and Sirius could guess that it would create a handicap for the dragon to move. A handicap that would prove useful to them.

Sharing a look, James nodded to Sirius and they turned in their Animangus selves.The dragon roared with laughter ' A dog and a stag?'

Its voice was raspy and dry as paper, and James stiffened: this would not be easy.

'A dog and a stag?' the dragon roared again. 'You're pitiful, you know that? You would have had more chances of defeating me with your Flamma friend, but as it is, it will be my pleasure to kill you.'

And without a warning, the dragon spit fire at the two wizards. James took left and Sirius took right. They made a circle, then both charged at the dragon. As they were about to drive into him, a barrier stopped them. Or at least it stopped Sirius.

James ran right through it, and for a fleeting moment, it seemed like he was going to hurt the dragon. But as his antlers came in contact with the scales, a sickening crack echoed in the air.

The dog barked questioningly, then whimpered. A weak whimper answered him.

Sirius circled the dragon, and got on its other side in record time. There, on the ground, lied James. There were two deep gashes on each side of his head, and blood was coming out of them.

Sirius went under James, took him on his back and ran with him to the bushes, where he hid James. He could hear the dragon's sneering voice.

'So you run, cowards? I will not let you get out of this forest alive, poor mortals. You will die by my hand, or by that which I control.'

Sirius turned back to his human self, and immediately took his wand out of his robes. His eyes dark with worry, he muttered a spell to stop the blood from coming out of the wounds. It seemed to work, as both the wounds stopped bleeding. A few minutes later, they had closed. But James was still unconscious.

The worried gleam in Sirius' eyes was replaced by a murdering one, and he got out of the bushes, his wand in hand. He walked furiously to the dragon, shooting every spell he could think of.

Each one was deflected.

As Sirius got a bit too close to the dragon, it lifted its paw and sent the teenager flying through the air and right into a tree. Sirius hit the tree hard, and he could almost hear his ribs cracking.

Even being half-unconscious, Sirius got back to his feet and shot 'Amorite!' at the dragon. For a second, he thought this spell had been deflected too. That was before a roar filled the air and the dragon yelled out in pain.

Smirking, Sirius got back his usual confidence and he walked again closer to the dragon. 'So, how do you feel now, Voldy? A bit overwhelmed by...love?'

'DO NOT SPEAK ABOUT LOVE IN FRONT OF ME, HUMAN!' the dragon spit viciously, but Sirius saw that he was trying very hard to not yell out again.

The dragon's tail suddenly swished through the air and shot right at Sirius. Luckily, the Gryffindor's reflexes got into action and he jumped backwards, landing on his two feet with his back to the dragon. Unfortunately, he hadn't seen coming the next blow, and the tail cut through his back, leaving a long gash across it.

Sirius yelled out in pain, then took some deep intakes of air. He pointed his wand at his back, and muttered another healing spell. He knew it wouldn't be very effective, but he would have time to worry about it later.

He again got on his feet, this time a bit staggering.

'Again?' roared the dragon. 'Why do you keep resisting, wizard? Why do you want to change time? You know death will soon take you, why not give up now?'

Sirius had his head bent, his hands hanging loosely by his sides. Suddenly, his grip on his wand tightened and he raised his head defiantly 'Never!' he spat in the dragon's face. (A/N: well, not exactly face, but you get what I mean)

The dragon's eyes blazed incandescent, and he spoke 'You have chosen so, now you will die. Then I will take care of your friend, and the Flamma's powers will be all mine!'

'NEVER!' Sirius yelled louder this time.

He was about to shoot another spell at the dragon, but before he could he was hit by a black ray of light, and he fell on his knees, panting to catch his breath.

'Leave him alone...' came a strained voice from a corner.

Sirius raised his head 'James! No, get back!'

But it was to no avail. A green ray of light had already hit the Gryffindor, and a deep gash had appeared on his chest. James looked down in surprise. He staggered for a while, but did not fall.

'Get out! Get out of here!' Sirius yelled desperately.

But James only looked at him not comprehending. Sirius then began to shoot spells at the dragon, always aiming for the burned wing, in an effort to distract him from James. But the dragon was not stupid.

Sirius was trying hard to stop the creature from getting at James. 'Run, Prongs! I'll hold him off!'

But his friend was in no state to move. Blood was coming out of his chest and ...

Another red ray was shot at James, who wasn't able to escape it. He fell on the ground this time. His body convulsed, but being the brave Gryffindor he was, he didn't yell out in pain.

James couldn't help a scream escape him as another ray hit him.

'JAMES!' yelled Sirius.

He turned in a dog and rushed to James, but didn't get there in time. A green ray escaped the creature and it shot James. The dog yelled out in angst, and ran faster to get to James. Unfortunately, a silvery beam hit him too and he was unable to move, falling dead paralyzed to the ground.

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In the Astronomy Tower, Lily was gazing at the sky, trying to convince herself that James would be okay. She couldn't have gone after him even if she had wanted to, because she had to stay at Hogwarts, bound by her magic, to protect the castle.

Suddenly, she felt a deep pain in her chest, and her eyes widened. She rushed to the edge of the Tower, and surveyed the Forest. Then, tears escaped her eyes and she fell against a wall, clutching her knees to her chest.

After a few minutes, she shook her head 'No, he's not dead. He will come back to me. I know he will. He's not dead.'

And she repeated those words again and again, knowing they weren't true, but wanting desperately to believe them. She repeated them for hours, and finally ended up believing that she had imagined the pain in her chest. Exhausted, Lily fell asleep.

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'Ugh...' Sirius groaned as he got up from the ground.

As he looked around him, Sirius blinked. 'James?' he yelled-whispered. 'Mate? Where are you?'

But he could see nothing around himself. The creature was gone, and so was James. Sirius rushed to the place he had seen James the last time... and he fell to the ground on his knees, breathing deeply to choke back sobs.

In James' place, there was only a deep black hole.

'I SWEAR I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, VOLDEMORT! WHATEVER IT TAKES, I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN! I DON'T CARE IF I'LL LOOSE MY LIFE, I-WILL-HAVE-YOUR-LIFE!'

Sirius then collapsed on the ground, sobbing. For the first time in his life, pain hit him as it had never had before. He had lost his mate… his best friend.

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hides Okay, it might be in my best interests to get out of here as soon as possible… Until next time, guys!

rushes out of room

Tigerlilystar