Chapter Fourteen
Voice of the Forest
The forest was tranquil and yet full of life, a light breeze ghosting through the tall pines and gnarled oaks, faint beams of sunlight filtering through the heavy foliage that blotted out the cloudless blue of the summer sky. The Forest of Dean, in which their parents had taken refuge during the hunt for the Horcruxes bustled with activity, the soft song of birds nestled in the treetops filling the air with a whimsical playfulness as a raccoon darted across their path. A few nuts suddenly fell to the ground, narrowly missing her head and when she stared up for the source she saw a frantic squirrel dashing from branch to branch to recover his haul.
If their quest was less urgent then perhaps Lily would be enjoying her visit to the Forest with her blonde lover but in light of the seriousness of their mission she could not bring herself to appreciate the true beauty of the natural world around her. They had arrived by portkey at dawn and had since been searching for the Heart of the Forest. It was now well past midday. She didn't have a clue as to what to expect, nobody truly did although Hermione had spoken to them at length; divesting all of the information she held concerning the Forest Ways to the young couple. Her own mother had been less supportive, going so far as to attempt to magically lock them both in their rooms until her father had managed to calm her down. Ginny claimed that she had seen both Scorpius and Lily come home bloodied and broken too often to let them go off another dangerous assignment, despite both maintaining they had each returned wounded once: Lily from her battle with Nagine and Scorpius from his fight with Greyback. It made little difference to Ginny, who thought that the two of them nearly dying once was one time to many. It was only when her Grandma Molly had pulled Ginny aside and reminded her of all the times she had given her own parents sleepless nights worrying did Ginny relent, albeit with ill grace, warning them that if either died she would kill them herself.
The sun was setting when the pair finally decided to set up camp near a babbling stream, by which time Lily was dead on her feet. Despite them being very fit due to her daily training sessions, she was not accustomed to hiking through the wilderness and it clearly showed in her worn appearance. Scorpius hadn't been faring much better, his shirt was soaked with sweat and his breathing was slightly laboured. Both of their stomachs were grumbling loudly, their determination to quickly locate the Heart Tree had led them to skipping lunch.
"Accio fish," said Lily hopefully pointing her wand at the stream, there was a dull splash and a few fish bones came rocketing up towards her and striking her in the forehead, charms had always been her weak point. Scorpius snorted to himself, chuckling lightly as he came up beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist, smirking as he transfigured the bones into a gasping, spluttering trout for their dinner. His smirk died when he felt somebody shove at him and he fell into the stream with a loud cry and an accompanying splash. Recovering and righting himself, he surfaced and looked at her accusingly, the water coming up to just above his waist. "Show off," muttered Lily as she walked away, their dinner in her hands.
When he got back to their campsite she already had a smokeless fire going near their tent, the air around them shimmering with the basic protective enchantments. Against death eaters they would prove of little worth, yet both were confident that the forest was clear of anything which may wish them harm. The smell of cooking fish went straight to his nostril as he hungrily noticed the three fish spitted over the flames, thankfully she had been sufficiently adept to cast a duplicating charm over their paltry dinner.
"What I wouldn't give for one of Aunt Ginny's pot roasts," he said as he stripped of his wet clothes and pulled on a fresh set from his knapsack. It like many of the travel bags used by the order was enchanted with an Undetectable Expansion charm.
"Complaining about my cooking already," she teased with a raised eyebrow, prodding the flames with her wand when they appeared to be going out.
"We both know that you're hopeless in a kitchen," he shot back, returning her grin as he sat beside her and plucked one of the fish from the fire and inspected it, mercifully it had been scaled and deboned before roasted. He shuddered remembering the time she had given the entire family food poisoning, having forgotten to devein the prawns before braising them. Ginny, Albus and Cassandra had from that day onwards banned her from so much as touching the stove.
"Would you fancy another swim?" she asked, stung.
"Only if you join me," he grinned as he took a bite, internally bemoaning the lack of seasoning.
Lily could only roll her eyes at him, gone was the insecure, somewhat neurotic boy he had been. In his place was a confident young man who filled her with tiny butterflies whenever she saw him. To be sure, he still had his dark days when he would isolate himself in his room and brood but she was always there when he slipped into his former depression to coax him back to life. The return of his parents and the solidarity shown by the Potter family in choosing him over Ron had finally broken his once lonely, self-depreciating demeanour and had caused his repressed characteristics to the surface. He was confident and loyal, brave and daring, witty and mischievous. He was everything Lily had always seen him to be, he was the man she loved.
"You're staring," he said, breaking her concentration as she snapped back to reality. He looked slightly uncomfortable under her emerald gaze, shifting slightly as he took another bite of the trout. Her own fish remained untouched, save for a few bites that she had nibbled away whilst lost in her musings.
"I'm gazing," she responded, mollified that he had caught her, her cheeks tinged pink in a paint blush, "It's romantic."
"It's creepy is what it is," he said, teasing laughter in his eyes, droplets of water still dripping from his wet hair.
"Git," she said in a faux cross voice, her own eyes glimmering with mirth, her lips edging upwards in the faintest of smiles despite herself. She kicked herself mentally, she was one of the best Legilimens in the Order and yet she couldn't so much as maintain a poker face in his presence.
"Your Git," he said with a grin as he leaned in for a kiss, before pulling away and wrinkling his nose, "Your breath tastes like fish."
(*)(*)(*)
Fighting the urge to be sick, Altair grabbed Dominique to steady the trembling girl as they arrived in the snow covered mountains of Nothern Russia. His gut twisted painfully as he fought his own dizziness, international apparition was a very wearying process but the wards placed on this region prevented most other forms of transport. They could have flown, yet broomsticks and thestrals would have been slow going and they would have only reached their destination after a fortnight of travelling. The werewolf felt a dull pain in his fingers, glancing down he realised that he had left three of his fingernails back at Grimmauld Place. It could have been worse he reasoned, he had once seen a man leave most of his skeleton behind.
Eyes flitting over the snow covered mountains, he realised that in their weakened conditions it would be tantamount to suicide should they begin the trek to the nearby valley which the giants called home. Nevertheless, they couldn't remain here in the open as they had been briefed that Voldemort would be sending his own envoys to win the allegiance of the last free Giant population in Europe. If their intelligence was anything to go by, Walden Macnair would be leading the expedition and he knew from experience that the man loved nothing more than torturing non-humans. Then again, it could have been worse; The Dark Lord could have sent his mother.
Tapping his wand to his fingertips to stop the bleeding, he looped his hand around his blonde lover and they began the long trek upwards into the mountainous wilderness, his lupine ears cocked for the slightest sound that could be considered out of the ordinary. He spied a cave halfway up the nearest mountain and quickly began making for it, by the look of the sky he could see that there was a storm coming and he sincerely didn't want to be exposed when it came. Unlike the other task teams, they had travelled light on travelling gear as they had been forced to carry with them several magical gifts for the giant chieftain of the area. Despite having an undetectable expansion charm placed on his backpack, several of the gifts made carrying flammable objects such as a tent highly difficult.
Dominique felt exhausted as she leaned against her beta; the apparition had drained her more than she cared to admit. She leaned heavily against Altair as they made their way to the cave he had pointed out; he was more carrying her than she was walking. Her blonde hair whipped around her head as the wind began to pick up and not for the first time she considered cutting it short. Her mother would be horrified but it was getting very exasperating having to constantly shift it out of her face, she really didn't understand how Victoire could manage it.
When finally they reached the cave, which was more of a crevice between two sheets of rock, they were relieved to see that it was unoccupied, neither of them having the energy to vacate a previous tenant. Collapsing against the rough stone walls, Altair quickly conjured a fire at the cave entrance and glamoured it to remain unseen by any people in the vicinity. Grateful for the heat, she huddled close to the flickering flames and retrieved a few snack bars for their dinner from her satchel. Unlike Altair, hers did not carry any charms and so the space was extremely limited.
She barely noticed her boyfriend putting up the protective charms around the entrance as she sank into a deep, dreamless sleep.
(*)(*)(*)
Scorpius was the first to wake up the next morning, his eyes blinking blurrily in the glare of the rising sun. They had left the entrance flap of their tent open last night to watch the stars as they dozed off and had unfortunately forgotten that entrance was facing the east. He shifted slightly, unwilling to wake the girl who was huddled close to him on the uncomfortable ground whilst he groaned at the stiffness of his back and the emptiness of his stomach, last night's dinner hadn't been very filling. He felt Lily move against him sleepily as her eyes flickered open.
"Morning," she murmured as she extricated herself from him, already getting up and dressing for the long hike he was sure they would have to undergo today. He rolled his eyes at her, she was so bleary eyed that she didn't so much as notice that she was pulling on his jeans by accident.
"There are easier ways to get into my pants Lilz," he smirked as he got up and began getting dressed, delving into his knapsack for a fresh t-shirt. Realising what she was doing, she stuck out her tongue and waved her wand through the air to shrink the denim so that it could fit her figure, ignoring his look of outrage; she was well aware that they were his favourite pair.
Hastily, they packed their campsite into his trusty knapsack all the while munching on some blueberries Lily had found growing on a nearby bush. Hungry and tired, they continued their trek deeper into the forest. Lily noted would approval that the trees were becoming more intertwined and foreboding and that less sunlight was streaming through the leaves, Hermione had said that the Heart Tree would be located at the wildest and most untameable part of the forest.
The attack came suddenly and without warning, a gnarled tree branch swinging through the air with an almighty creak and catching Scorpius in the torso, sending him careening backwards. Lily ducked at the last moment, feeling the rush of wind whip her hair as the branch swung over her head. She rolled to the side quickly as another bough swung, slamming into the place she had just been and leaving a small crater in its wake. She drew her wand and hurled an incendio as the assaulting trees; her relief at seeing them take flame short lived as she felt a dull thump in the small of her back sending her sprawling onto her hand and knees.
Vines whipped through the air, tightening around her throat as she kicked and struggled, black spots rapidly filling her vision until with a flash of purple light she was released. She grabbed at her sore throat, coughing vehemently as Scorpius kept the trees away with a lethal combination of fire and darkness. There was a shudder from beneath them and suddenly the ground erupted, knocking them both to opposite ends of the path as long tendril like roots ripped themselves from the ground.
"The Pearl Scorpius," screamed Lily in desperation as she felt several twigs break her flesh as a branch slammed her shoulder, "Show them the bloody Pearl."
Coughing blood, the blonde boy delved into his knapsack and yanked out the jewellery box and snapped it open, his fingers closing around the pearl and he held it up before him as he dragged himself across the ground towards Lily. The gem seemed to glow with an eerie green light as the forest around them filled with rippling lights, the air filling with the colours of the deep oceans. At once the trees became still, their roots sliding back into the ground like massive pythons as both Lily and Scorpius lost consciousness.
(*)(*)(*)
She bit her lip nervously as his arms pressed against the wall on either side of her, caging her in and stopping her from running off. She had been avoiding him as best she could for two days, ever since she had been forced to blurt out the effect he had on her. It wasn't her fault that his sister was such a talented Legilimens, she didn't deserve this, having to have her emotions played with by the man she had been sent to kill.
"James, let me go," she said, her hands balled into fists as she repeatedly hit him on the chest, trying her best to get away from him. She needed to send a message to her father; she had just managed to obtain the identities of two Order members who weren't in hiding but were living and working right under the Dark Lords nose. That was where her loyalties should lie, not here with James and his perfectly snoggable lips. Get a grip Syrena, she scolded herself, he's just a pretty face, you don't love him, you can't love him.
"No," he said simply, grabbing her wrists and holding her hands to her sides, stepping in closer so that his lips were inches away from hers, "You can't just admit to fancying me and then start ignoring me for the rest of your life."
"I don't fancy you," she said convincingly, not meeting his eyes.
"Look me in the eye and tell me that Syrena," he whispered gently, his words ghosting against her skin like a lovers caress. Trying to compose herself, the raven hair witch looked into his eyes and said in as firm a voice as she could muster, "I don't fancy you James Potter."
"I don't believe you," he said, pressing his lips against hers.
His kiss destroyed everything that she knew, her sense of morality and familial loyalty, the lies she told herself every morning since the day they first met, the doubts and worries concerning the side she took in the war. The moment their lips met all else seemed to have lost meaning and the only thought that filled her head was James. His scent, his strength, the taste of his tongue and the caress of his hand along her back, it filled her mind and broke every shield she held in place, baring her mind for all to see.
Their lips danced against each other, his tongue sliding in and exploring every available inch of her while she buried her hands in his dishevelled black hair. Tenderly he pulled away and looked her in the eye.
"I was serious you know," she said softly, fighting the urge to make a run for it, "That I don't just fancy you." Gazing up she flinched at the crestfallen look on his face and pressed her hand against his mouth before he could say anything.
"I don't just fancy you James, I'm falling in love with you," she said, admitting her biggest secret as his face broke into a bright smile. Syrena spent the next hour with him in the training room, talking and laughing despite her misgivings. Only later, when finally she had the opportunity to escape did she take it and flee, letting the tears fall freely as she sought solace in the drawing room.
That's the problem, isn't it? You're my downfall James Sirius Potter, because falling in love with you is going to cost me my life.
(*)(*)(*)
He woke up on a bed of moss and heather, the soft shrubbery seeming more comfortable than any bed he had ever slept on. He remembered coming under attack by those psychopathic trees, feeling the sharp cracks of his bones breaking and his skin tearing under their pummelling assault. He remembered seeing Lily flying through the air, droplets of blood splattering the trees behind her.
LILY!
He leapt to his feet, ignoring the aching protests of his body as he rose, seemingly healed from his earlier altercation with the forces of nature. His eyes whipped around the clearing, taking in the still serenity of the place, a circular meadow surrounding a massive twisting oak, its foliage and thick boughs spiralling upwards and across the night sky. Across the clearing he saw her, her vibrant red hair lying in stark contrast to the green grass and tiny white flowers. He raced towards her, not bothering that he was unarmed and wandless in a strange and unfamiliar locale. All that mattered was that he reach her and ascertain that she was alive and well.
Her face was peaceful; her cuts were healed as were her broken bones. He shook her lightly, smiling wanly as she stirred while mentally thanking Merlin that she was in one peace.
"Scorpius," she said softly, delicately rising to a sitting position and hugging him tightly, "You're ok," she breathed into his ear.
"Greetings, Children of Man," the voice came from everywhere and yet nowhere, permeating the still night and resonating from every tree and blade of grass, sounding ancient and young, powerful and dark, fair and dangerous all at once. Instantly, Scorpius was gone and in his place prowled an arctic wolf, its hackles raised as it stood guard over Lily. For her part, she had her hand clenched around the hilt of her dagger; it had been taken along with their wands and other weapons but was enchanted to always return to its concealed sheath.
"Peace young magi," the voice intoned, "You hold the Pearl, and we of the forest mean you no harm."
"Other than clobbering us to death by trees you mean," scoffed Lily as Scorpius let out a threatening growl, exposing his long jagged canines.
"The treants are . . . overzealous in their quest to defend me," and finally they realised from where the voice was originating, the great oak itself or rather, from the ancient white owl that perched in its higher branches.
"You are the Heart of this Forest?" asked Lily incredulously as the owl swooped down and settled on the lowest branches. With the deafening sound of protesting wood, the tree twisted slowly till the owls perch was a metre away from Lily's face.
"I am a Spirit of Nature yes, the keeper of the Forest of Dean and you young Magi, seek the Forest Way."
"Yes we do," said Scorpius as he morphed back to his human form.
"Then let me warn you, no child of man has survived the trials leading to the Oasis in over two thousand years, the last witch to navigate the catacombs and live was Helga Hufflepuff herself and she very nearly perished," the owl's voice was sad, pensive.
The couple exchanged glances before nodding in resolution, "We will take that risk."
"If that be your choice, so mote it be. Be warned, your wands will have no power within the catacombs. Your only weapons will be your wit and physical strength, your magic will be limited and taxing. Should you still accept, enter ye the Cullis Gate."
The oak creaked and shivered as the trunk seemed to divide into two, forming an ovular hole through which escaped a musty spell of age and decay. Shivering lightly at the deep foreboding that filled the clearing, the couple picked up their belongings from where they had appeared and hand in hand, stepped forward into the darkness.
(*)(*)(*)
A/N : Well Readers, the focal point of this chapter was the beginning of Scor and Lily's mission. Next chapter should be up by tomorrow night at the earliest and it's going to answer the questions you readers have about Luna and Molly, not to mention raise a few more. So guys, what do you think of Syrena's motives. I have two possible endings already written for her and I need your responses to whether she should choose darkness or light. Any concerns about what dangers lie ahead for our favourite next gen couple in the catacombs? Review and leave your responses, you know how helpful they are.