Chapter 14

The Fallout.

Thanks again to HurricanHairandEmeraldEyes for Beta'ing this work.

Lily was woken early the next morning as the light streamed through the gap in the curtains that she had failed to close completely when she had finally slipped into bed. As she opened her eyes, Lily remembered the events of the night before and felt determined to seek answers from Severus or the boys from Gryffindor. The four other girls in her dormitory were still sleeping peacefully, so she quietly prepared for the day and then headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. Professor McGonagall approached her as she was finishing her toast.

"Miss Evans, the Headmaster would like to see you after breakfast in his office the password is Jelly Babies."

"Oh, Ok Professor. I have finished already. Would he be there now? I can see him and still make it to class on time."

"Yes, he will be waiting for you."

Hastily standing Lily departed the castle and hurried through the castle to reach the stone gargoyle that was the guardian for the Headmasters office.

"Jelly Babies," she whispered nervously as she approached it, whereupon the gargoyle leapt aside, revealing a slowly ascending circular staircase. Reaching the top of the steps, she found an oaken double door.

Before she had even raised her hand to knock, a voice came from within "Come in Miss Evans."

A row of five chairs sat in from of the Headmaster's desk, four of the fiver were currently occupied by the Marauders. As she took her place, Lily began to be suspicious that this meeting was about the goings on of the night before.

"You wanted to see me Sir?" Lily wasn't going to say anything to implicate herself.

"Take a seat, Miss Evans," said Professor Dumbledore, his face sombre. "What can you tell me about last night?"

"Last night, Sir?" Lily wondered how he knew she had been out of bed.

"Sirius has claimed that you sent him a note to meet him at the top of the Astronomy Tower." Professor Dumbledore's eyes twinkled through his half-moon spectacles.

"I did no such thing!" Lily was indignant, her face pale.

"Here is the note they received," he passed her the parchment.

"Did the envelope have a black seal?" she asked.

"Yes it did, see Professor she sent it to us, it's her fault!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Now let us not be hasty," Dumbledore interrupted. "Perhaps Miss Evans has more to say." Lily nodded.

"I received a note yesterday too, on parchment like this, sealed with black wax with no insignia. The writing looks the same to me," she looked down and began rummaging through her bag.

After producing the note, she handed it to Dumbledore as she continued her explanation.

"It said for me to go and meet Severus at the top of the Astronomy Tower. I thought it was odd as I had seen Sev in class and he didn't mention wanting to meet up later. I also didn't think it really looked like his writing, but I couldn't find him when I went to ask him about it. So I went to the tower just to check. I heard voices on the stairs, and recognised them as James and Sirius and thought that they were trying to pull a prank on me, to get me into trouble, so I went back to the common room," she looked into the Headmaster's eyes as she spoke.

"Oh please! You set this up! You and Snivellus were pranking me as revenge for the prank in the Great Hall," Sirius accused vehemently.

"Why should she aim revenge at just you? There were three of you involved in that incident were there not? And this was only aimed at you, Mr Black, and apparently Miss Evans herself," Professor Dumbledore cut in.

"But she hates me..." tried Sirius.

Dumbledore continued, "The writing on the two notes matches, so we can deduce that they were sent by the same person. I don't believe Miss Evans had any reason to send herself such a note."

"But sir! She had to have…." James interjected.

"Now, now, that is enough. You were all out after curfew, and the whole situation could have been avoided if you had ALL stayed in the Gryffindor Tower, or even more simply spoken with one another. Therefore, 10 points each will be taken from Gryffindor and you will all have detention, now off to class." It was clear that he would brook no further arguments and they were dismissed.

When Lily met with Severus in the library after classes, she wondered if she should ask him about the note, since clearly the Gryffindor boys were not the instigators of the incident. She decided against it, feeling that she had heard the whole story in the Headmaster's office that morning, and that some unknown person had tried to prank Sirius and herself. Probably thinking it funny to stir up more trouble between them. As he walked up to her she noticed he had a black eye and a swollen nose.

"What happened to you?" she gasped.

"Potter punched me."

"He what? When? Why?"

Severus hesitated, he couldn't admit to it happening last night, she was too clever, she would figure out he was on the tower as soon as she heard that Marauders had been out to.

"Just now, I just came back from seeing Madam Pomfrey," he lied.

"That bully, he, he.. argh," Severus was happy to see that Lily was furious. "You should report this to Dumbledore."

"It's ok I've seen him already," and indeed he had been called to Dumbledore's office earlier that day to explain the events of the night before. Severus had implied that he had accidentally happened to come across the boys in the tower and an argument ensued. However, he had been unable to deny that he had cast a curse during the disagreement, having been the only one to draw a wand, and had received several detentions of his own as a result. "He got given detention," Luckily, Potter was always in detention she would never know.

"Well ok," she seemed somewhat mollified and turned back to her books. After five minutes it was clear that she had lost her focus, "Argh, I don't think I'll manage to get any more work done, I can't stop thinking about what those horrid boys! Let's go for a walk before supper." With that Lily packed up her books and they left.

The next day five paper slips were delivered in the morning mail, advising the Gryffindors that their detention was to occur the following Saturday and they were to present themselves to Hagrid at the allotted time. When Saturday arrived Lily wandered down to Hagrid's hut with the four boys trailing along behind her. Hagrid was standing out the front waiting for them.

"Mornin' Lily, been misbehavin' have we?" Hagrid chuckled "I thought you were better 'n that."

Lily ducked her head in slight embarrassment, "It was a bit of a misunderstanding, but I was out after curfew so fair is fair I suppose," her shoulders shrugged, in acceptance of her punishment.

"Boys," Hagrid greeted them. "Well you'll all be comin' inter the forbidden forest with me today, we need to collect some ingredients for Slughorn. The most important of which is Aconite. Do yeh all know what Aconite looks like?" He handed them each a canvas bag.

James, Sirius and Peter looked back at the half giant with blank faces, while Remus and Lily nodded.

"It's also called wolfsbane," Lily added trying to prompt their memories, Remus gave her a sideways glance. The other 3 boys still looked none the wiser.

"Fine. There's to be no mucking about. Lily, Remus and Peter yeh head inter the western path," he indicated where a trail could be seen heading into the woods. "There's a little cave system a-bout a mile in. Might be some pockets of it between there and the stream, once you hit the water, turn around and come back, don't try and cross it." He looked at them to emphasise his point. "Meet us back here in 2 hours, oh and yer path will take yeh close ter where the Unicorns run. They like to hide near the caves so try not to disturb 'em and if you see the centaurs tell 'em I wouldn't mind a chat."

"Right you pair," he turned his attention to Sirius and James. "We're followin' the North path, it takes us close ter the Acromantula nest, so no mucking a-bout!" he glowered from under his thick eyebrows. "Oy before I forget, can yeh all send up red flares?" They all nodded. "Well if yeh get separated or inter strife, send 'em up I'll come find yeh."

Lily and Remus exchanged an amused glance, as they headed off, with Peter following behind. The foliage overhead closed in became thicker over head the deeper they walked into the forest and it soon became dark, with only the occasional beam of light breaking through. Tripping over tree roots became an increasing problem.

"Lumos," said Remus from the front of the group, Lily and Peter quickly copied.

"Where do you think we will find it?" Peter asked by way of making conversation.

"Well, it is usually found on the forest floor, in moist areas so like around the base of trees, or growing out from under rocks where dew might collect, so pretty much anywhere in here is ideal, but Hagrid did say between the caves and the stream," Lily advised.

"How do you know so much about it?" Remus asked as he glanced back at her.

"Oh, it's an ingredient in a couple of potions I've been looking up, it tends to have a sedative effect," Lily replied. "I don't know how far it is to the stream but I guess we'd best get a move on if we are going to make it there and back again in two hours."

"Um, did anyone check what the time was when we left?" Remus asked.

The three looked at each other and groaned.

"Ah well, I guess we have been in here about 15 minutes so it is ten twenty now, so we aim to be back by twelve, conveniently in time for lunch," offered Peter checking his watch. Lily and Remus agreed.

They shared a companionable silence as they wandered along, occasionally turning their wands to shine light into the forest on either side at intervals. Eventually they reached a slope with a series of caves set into one side.

"Well, I guess this is where the work starts," Lily said and she got down onto her knees and started investigating the base of the rocks at the entrance to a cave.

"Hey, look at this," she pointed out the long silver strands caught in a bush to the side of the opening. "Unicorn hair! Should we collect that as well? It is really useful."

"Why not," Remus agreed. "Here Pete, you see if you can gather it up while Lily and I look for the Wolfsbane."

It didn't take Peter long to gather up the strands and gently place them in the bottom of one of the bags Hagrid had given them. The others had no luck and after ten minutes searching the group decided to press on.

A faint noise caught Lily's attention and she slowed her pace, until the boys had moved ahead a reasonable distance and round a bend in the path, then she turned and looked back at the cave system. A movement from behind one of the trees caught her eye, a flick of a silver tail and then she heard a faint whinny.

She walked back stopping at the edge of the cave system to kneel down, mystified at the sight before her. A herd of nearly a dozen unicorns was slowly walking out of the forest on her left and towards the caves. There were two small foals with shimmering golden coats, amongst the group. Lily froze hardly daring to breathe, not wanting to scare them away, hoping the boys would not come blundering back to find her and frighten the herd off.

The stallion caught sight of her and snorted. He stood two hands higher than the rest. The two foals gambled about on their knobbly legs. Lily smiled, they looked like a happy family. Knowing the longer she waited, the greater the chances of the boys returning, Lily slowly stood, in preparation to leave. The smaller of the two foals had spotted her, snuffling and snorting as he tumbled closer, looking between Lily and the mare that must be his Mother.

"It's ok," Lily crooned in a soft voice "I won't hurt you."

Seemingly intrigued by her tone, the foal came closer. Lily was captivated now.

"Oh, you are such a brave little thing, so precious," she cooed.

His eyes were coal black but soft like velvet, so openly trusting. Lily stretched out her hand towards him, and held it open with her palm facing down and fingers slightly curled under. He gently tapped her hand with his horn, Lily couldn't help but let out a small giggle, it seemed he wanted to play with her. Lily turned her palm to the side and he tapped it moving his head sideways. Slowly, Lily reached into her pocket with her spare hand and felt around for the biscuit she had stored there, breaking a piece off, she placed it on her now upturned palm. The foal looked at it carefully turning his head, sniffing and snuffling gently, his Mother gave a small whinny and a nod, he looked back at Lily's hand then bent his head and grabbed the piece of biscuit with his tongue before darting away. The foal's activities attracted the stallions attention and he approached her cautiously, his muscles rippling as he walked, and Lily felt concerned. He could hurt her if he wanted to, though she knew he would only do so if he felt his herd was threatened. He sniffed her, and snickered- did he want some biscuit too? Lily broke off another piece and placed it on her palm, offering it to him. Just like the foal, he sniffed and snorted, the mare again whinnied and nodded, and he ducked his head, grabbing the biscuit with his tongue, leaving Lily with a very wet hand. The stallion consumed the tidbit where he stood and then ever so gently tapped Lily on the top of her head with his horn, the spot tingled.

Then a footfall sounded behind her from further up the path, startling the herd and they quickly disappeared into the forest.

"What was…" came Remus' voice.

"Did you see them?" Lily whispered, as she turned to face the approaching boys, her emerald eyes full of wonder.

"Were those unicorns?" Peter's overly loud voice broke the gentle stillness of the forest.

"Yes, did you see the foals?" Lily smiled.

"I think we came back too late for that, but I saw the one that was right near you knock you on the head! Are you ok? Why didn't you call us?" Remus asked.

"It was amazing," Lily couldn't wipe the grin off her face. "There were two foals, their coats were golden and they were playing around so sweetly. Sorry I didn't call, I thought they might get scared away. They prefer girls after all."

"Well playing with unicorns won't get the job done I guess," Peter muttered.

Lily laughed, "I like that saying Pete I think I'll have to borrow it!"She took in a deep breath and grinned at her housemates, it seemed nothing could destroy her good mood.

"We found more caves just up ahead as well, they're a bit bigger so we think they must be the ones that Hagrid was talking about."

"Lead the way."

The group trundled up the slight incline and at the apex came to the opening of a cave large enough for them to stand inside.

"Did you guys notice it smells like," Lily sniffed, "wet dog in here?"

"Yeah, we think that maybe there are wolves that use this place as a den," Remus agreed.

"But there aren't any real wolves in Scotland! Do you mean like werewolf wolves, as in when a pair of werewolves mate, and they have puppies?"

Remus glanced away as he replied, "Yeah I heard old Hagrid took in a couple of litters a few years back. It doesn't happen often and it is even rarer they survive and when they do they have problems homing them."

"Hmm, well there you go. I guess the rumours of werewolves roaming the forest are true," she was careful not to look at Remus. He would tell her when he was ready and he was unlikely to do so in company. "Well," she continued looking at the ground "there is unlikely to be any wolfsbane here, so onward we go".

Fifteen minutes later, the trio was clambering over rocks on the downward side of the slope. They could see a glittering in the distance that they assumed to be the stream. The path led them down into a small gulley where dappled light fell on the detritus.

"Looks just the spot," Lily muttered.

Remus pulled a leaf off a plant, Lily noticed his hand shook slightly as she took it from him.

"Yep, that's what we are after," she glanced at Remus. "Hey I see there is some snakeweed over there," she pointed out the plant. "How about you pick some of that while we're here? Peter and I can get the Aconite. Pull a couple of whole plants up Peter, the roots are useful as well."

As they gathered the plants, carefully placing them into Hagrid's bags, Lily slipped some of the plants into her own bag. It would help her parents save on her potions supplies for the next year, she told herself. Once they had filled the bags they started their trek back, wondering if the others had been as successful. By the time they had trudged back to the caves they were sweltering and flushed from their exertions. Lily lingered at the spot briefly and seeing some more unicorn hair had caught in the bushes she gathered it up adding it to her own bag. Staying on the path they made their way back and exited the forest near Hagrid's hut to find the others waiting for them. Hagrid looked disgruntled.

"I was just about ter come and find you lot, yer late!" he grumbled.

"Sorry Hagrid, it's my fault," Lily blushed "There were unicorns! So I got a little distracted."

He couldn't help but laugh at her excited squeak.

"Is that so? Well I hope yeh found what we were lookin' for."

"Yes and we got snakeweed and some unicorn hair as well," piped up Peter, who was as eager to please as always. The group handed their bags over to Hagrid who looked delighted with their efforts.

"Well Slughorn will be happy then won't he. Right you lot off ter the castle, yer all filthy," he laughed as he dismissed them, and turned to head back into his hut with the bags slung over his shoulder, leaving the group to make their way back to the castle.

"So what did guys get up to then?" Remus enquired of James, who chuckled before replying as they walked along.

"Well we followed Hagrid for a bit, but we got hot and bored so we sat down for a rest and then we headed off into the forest. Do you know what acromantulas are?"

"Ginormous spiders?" guessed Remus.

"Right! Well apparently there is a massive nest of them right in the middle of the forest, so we went off to find them," Sirius grinned.

"Oy, are you mental!" Peter was horrified at the thought.

"Well maybe a bit," James shrugged, "but we only came across one, it was nearly as big as me! Anyway, we dropped a couple of dung bombs which distracted it and then hightailed it back in the direction we thought the path was in, only to run head first into Hagrid. Who apparently had noticed we were missing and started to look for us. You should have seen the look on his face!" both boys laughed.

"Not that we could see much of it under all that hair," chortled Sirius drawing chuckles from the other boys.

"What about you guys? Anything exciting?"

"Nah, Evans played with the unicorns and we found a wolves den. Then we gathered the wolfsbane and came back."

"Played with the unicorns? Pull the other one!" Sirius gaped.

"Nah honest, she even fed the biggest one and he tapped her on the head with his horn!"

"She's not all that bad you know," added Peter, Sirius and James scoffed at the thought.

The boys had forgotten about Lily who was walking quietly behind the group not close enough to intrude but certainly close enough to hear (not that they were making any effort to keep their voices down). She smiled to herself at the memory, certain in the depths of her soul that this would not be the last she saw of the unicorns. It also appeared that not all the boys were as bad as they seemed.