-The Writer

-The Writer.-

Disclaimer- anyone you recognize is J.K. Rowling's I do not own them. Everything you don't recognize is mine including the plot.

-Chapter Twenty Five-

Two weeks passed before the letter Lily had written reached the gang back at Hogwarts. They read the letter eagerly wondering what had happened in between the time she had written this, especially after they had read the weak stomach comment. They got out some paper the moment after Sam finished reading it out loud and took turns writing her when they passed it to James he hesitated, not sure what he was going to say. He ended up putting something fairly generic and grimaced at the feel of writing it but handed it anyways to Sam who was the next in line. She looked at what he had written and glanced his way.

"That's all you're going to say?" to which his only response was to shrug. Sam looked at him as if trying to figure out a problem and as her eyes lighted up and her face grew shocked he knew she had figured out what James couldn't find the guts to say earlier.

"You broke up with her!" She said shocked.

James looked away and Meg and Sirius stopped what they were doing and looked over at James. Sam opened her mouth to say something else but Remus put a gentle hand over her mouth and shook his head. James saw this out of the corner of his eye and felt a wave of relief. He got up and walked upstairs rather than stay there where they were still staring at him bewildered.

"How could he?" Meg and Sam asked at the same time as soon as he was out of sight. What they didn't realize was that he stayed at the top of the stairs to see what they were going to say.

"Don't judge him." Remus said quietly. "Lily doesn't blame him, and she would hate that you guys do." This surprised everyone and they all looked at him.

"How would you know?" Sirius asked, not trying to be a smart alec but wondering how he could say it with such conviction.

"I talked to her a few days before she left." Remus said, finally admitting his own secret.

"You knew she was going to leave?" Meg asked she looked a little hurt.

"Only because I found her sneaking into the restricted section in the middle of the day. She made me swear to secrecy otherwise I would have told all of you." He paused. "She said it was better this way because she thought that everyone needed some air, a time to be away from the weirdness and madness as she called it." She had said that when he had visited her alone in the hospital wing the night before she left.

Everyone was quiet and James was a little stunned that he had known before everyone else. He finished his way up not wanting to hear anymore. Sirius finally looked at their pile of class work that they still had to finish. "Well I kind of envy her at the moment." He said with a grin and the others couldn't help but grin also. "We had better get to work."

Lily meanwhile was as busy as one would expect. There were times when the days past in a blur and she could only remember certain parts of the day. Then there were others when the day passed so slowly. They had found another victim and had collected more samples, but there was no pattern, it was completely random and there was no knowing when the next attack would happen or where. This brought on lots of frustration and a feeling of hopelessness in the camp that often had to be squashed and the spirits of the people hoisted. One of the main entertainments of the camp was surprisingly Lily's owl and dragon. Harry had such a personality that the people loved to watch him, especially when he was with Lily. He was almost like a mother when he scolded Lily for doing something or when she came back hurt, which occasionally happened.

Lily and her team were getting along okay that is in the work area, the actual relationships were varied. Alex and Lily got along great, he looked to her as a source for learning about his two daughter's daily life, and he was a source of information and friendship that at the beginning she had a little trouble finding. Gerald and Erik she got along with great, they were like slightly more grown up then the marauders but that was pretty much the end of the differences. It unnerved them at first the way that Lily was able to handle whatever they threw at her, and they did test her, but were able to console themselves when she showed them a few tricks also. Hazel on the other hand was still as stand offish towards her as the first day even though two weeks had passed. But then Lily didn't try to kiss up to her, all she had to do was help.

Lily was asleep when the day began, but it wasn't filled with good dreams instead she was twitching in her sleep. Her dreams were filled with the creature and the sight of the two bodies she had seen in the past two weeks. Hazel walked up so that she could wake her when she stopped confused as she watched Lily toss and turn. Lily sat bolt upright with a gasp for air that made hazel's hand automatically go for her knives but stopped midway. Lily was breathing hard trembling from head to toe. She curled up her legs and placed her head in her hands and Hazel listened as she took deep breaths to calm herself down. Hazel waited another minute and then stormed in. Lily in a reflex action that had been drilled into her the past two weeks had her knives out and in her hands before she realized she was staring into the eyes of Hazel.

"Not bad rookie." Lily only nodded and placed them back up. "Pack up we're leaving in an hour!" She turned to go but Lily's voice stopped her.

"What's up? We don't usually leave the site this early." Lily was already getting up and stuffing some of the stuff in her pack and pulling out her outfit for the day.

"Lady farther up north claims that she keeps seeing big ugly creatures in the woods a little ways from her house. Since it's the woods where others have been attacked we have to go check it out, and our team got volunteered for it. Now hurry up or you won't have time to eat." And without another word Hazel walked out and Lily rolled her eyes turning towards Harry and smiled at the bird.

"She's as cheerful as ever." She mumbled under her breath just in case she was still in hearing distance. Harry hooted in agreement and Ella chortled under her breathe the sound she makes when she agrees. Lily got dressed, made sure that the knives were attached, and then finished packing up with a wave of her wand. She exited the tent with her bag and Ella and Harry draped on her shoulders.

She sat down next to Gerald and Erik who were sitting at a fire pit. Alex was over talking to some of the other people in charge and Hazel was no where to be seen. Gerald passed her their usual breakfast when they were about to go on the go. It was a piece of bread with melted cheese, sausage and bits of bacon cooked to perfection in her opinion. She took a bite to eat and smiled a satisfied smile that made them grin in response.

"You know you're one of the only people in the area that has no problem eating that over and over. Me I get sick of it after a while." Gerald said smiling.

"I can if I have to, but even I prefer variety." Erik said grinning.

"There are so many comebacks I could say that, but this morning I'm not going to say any of them and be nice." Lily said simply making the two of them snort.

Alex and Hazel both came over at the same time, though from two different directions. Alex looked at them and smiled a tired smile. "Well finish up we have to get moving. Here's the action plan we want to get in there, try and search that entire part of the forest today. We'll spend the night, and then depending on if we find anything of interest we'll either come back here, or may stay there."

The others nodded, and then made their way to the safe zone where they would transport to the clearing behind the woman's house. They waved good bye to the other members of the organization who were actually awake since they had the day shift and the night shift in a way. Once they reached the zone they spread out a little and Lily waited suppressing a grimace as she waited for the world to shatter, and in a few seconds shatter it did. She blinked several times when they finally came out of the whirlwind of their transportation and immediately looked around.

"Alright teams, Hazel I want you to take Lily and head to the north, I'll take the east, Erik you get the west, and Gerald you take south." Alex said and placed his pack on the ground at his feet. "I'll put a protection circle so we can leave our stuff here."

Lily placed her pack there and took a sidelong glance at Hazel who looked sullen at having the rookie with her. While they let her go by herself on occasion they still wanted to partner her up most of the time. Alex had assured her that it was more so she could read each persons attitude and maybe get a sense of how they will react. Lily never said anything aloud but she was probably just as thrilled at going with Hazel as Hazel was at having her tag along. Alex knew there was tension between the two of them so he only put them together when absolutely necessary, but at times it was necessary like now.

Lily followed Hazel as they all split up and decided that she wasn't going to even try and make conversation like she had a few times before this. It was probably best if they didn't anyways. Lily was once again wearing her normal clothes, a flippy mini like skirt a shirt and combat boots. Easy to run in and comfortable though it did get a little nippy sometimes.

She wasn't sure how long they were out there looking for clues but she knew it was at least a few hours because her stomach was beginning to talk to her and it was getting harder and harder to ignore it. They were about to head back to the clearing when Lily thought of an idea that she hadn't thought of. I mean seriously they were supposed to look for something so small in such a big area; they probably missed it if something was out there. Lily sent out a small wave of her wandless magic, sensing for anything that didn't feel right when she felt a patch that felt like fire and stopped surprised. It was close by and the closer they walked to the clearing the closer they got. Finally Lily stopped and looked in the direction. It took a moment for Hazel to realize that she had stopped.

"What do you think you're doing rookie?" She asked in a slightly annoyed voice, slightly tired voice.

"I thought I saw something." Lily said quietly then without waiting for Hazel to make one of her snappy comebacks to show once again that she didn't care all that much for Lily she walked towards the fire place. When she reached it what she found was a fairly good size of the green ooze and Lily turned to see that Hazel hadn't followed her and she sighed mentally.

"Hazel you might want to look at this." She called.

She heard Hazel begin to mutter under her breathe but she came up and stopped when she saw what Lily was staring at it. She knelt down to get a better look and grimaced since she knew what it was, she swore under her breath and then stood up and marked the spot with a flare that would send the others coming.

"We might as well sit here; it'll take them a little time to get here. This also means that lunch will probably be pushed later."

And it did take a while for them to get there, though they did come as fast as they could. When they found them Lily and Hazel had been sitting there in silence the whole time interrupted occasionally when both of their stomachs growled. Alex stepped past them kneeling looking at the bright patch of green and sighed a defeated sigh. With a nod to Erik, Erik and Gerald sighed and then stepped forward grabbed small packs and began to take the samples they took at every site, and a few other things around the area. Finally Alex straightened up and looked at the others who were waiting for him to tell them what they were going to be doing.

"Well its past time for lunch so we'll have that and then do a more in depth search. Come on let's go back to where we left the packs."

They ate lunch quickly and then split back into the groups they had been assigned to and continued to search using some of the equipment scientists had been developing after examining some of the things they had collected at the sites. But all too soon the sun was going down and it was time to head to the protection circle and get some good nights sleep.

Alex had set up their protection circle out in an open field a good distance from the house in which the lady was said to have called from, but close enough to see it. Alex hadn't been able to find any other traces of the creatures, but Gerald had and Erik noticed a lot more snapped branches in select areas but had no definite proof since he couldn't find any goop that belonged to the creature. It was just after the sun had set and they had made a fire and were roasting up some food since they liked to use as little magic as possible when Lily began to feel uneasy. It was something in the air and she couldn't describe it.

She wasn't the only one to notice it though Hazel seemed to be even more on edge and she kept glancing around. It was then that Hazel began to stare at the house in the distance and a look of extreme concentration on her face. Lily looked over there too, and though something looked odd about the house for sure nothing really just shouted at her like it seemed to be for hazel.

"Alex, didn't you say that the lady that called called from this house?" She said quietly still looking at the house and from the tone of her voice she wasn't sure if she wanted to hear his answer.

"Yes, why?" he said suddenly his tone matched hers completely.

"Because that house, doesn't look like it's been lived in for years!" She said and she stood up and the others turned and stared at the house, which no one had been paying attention to much attention to until then. That's when Lily realized what had been bothering her. She looked up at hazel who seeing her head turned looked at her in return.

"Do you guys hear any animals?" She asked quietly, her voice hushed in the sudden environment.

After a seconds silence Hazel answered. "There are no animals."

"Shit!" Gerald said and leapt to his feet everyone else a second behind him and in a second everyone had their knives in their hands. "It's a trap!"

They were still inside their protective circle but they had traveled a small distance from where their safe spot to transport was back, and now that they knew it was a trap none of them were looking forward to stepping out of their circle.

"So what exactly are we going to do?" Lily asked quietly since they couldn't very well stand here and do nothing.

"I'm not sure, we have no way of knowing how many of those creatures are out there, if we can make it to our safe spot and more importantly if this protective circle can actually keep them out. We've never had a run in with them before so we don't have any idea how to proceed." Alex replied to her quietly. All of them were as still as stones looking out into the dark forest around them looking for any sign of movement.

"We could split up." Erik said quietly, "head to the safe spot from two different directions. I don't know if that would be safer than not."

"That's a risky gamble." Gerald said. "I mean if there's only one creature out there it might work, but if there's more than one that will only make us easier to pick off."

But no one could come up with anything else, and they weren't sure if they wanted to spend the night not knowing there was something out there waiting to rip them up from the inside possibly. Alex looked over at Lily a silent question in his eyes. Lily got the message and spilled her magic out waiting for something that didn't feel right. There it was a patch that was fire, fire and ice at the same time. It almost made her shudder. She marked it in her mind and swept out her magic over a larger area but found no others. Slowly as if scratching an itch she reached up and tugged once on her earlobe, and Alex gave a slight nod of his head to say he got the message.

Finally after a few more moments of tense silence he spoke up. "It looks like we're going to have go with the suggestion we split up and hope that there's only one. It's our best chance of getting to the safe point."

"How are we going to do it?" Erik asked still glancing about the forests though he saw nothing.

"Hazel do you think you can-?"

"Yeah, the rookie and I can make it." She said finishing the question as if she already knew it. She looked at Lily who nodded her head. As much as they didn't like each other, Lily had to admit she would want Hazel on her side of a fight.

"Harry, Ella go!" Lily said quietly and after a small hoot and chirp they flew silently off. They decided to leave their packs in the protective circle, come back later with reinforcements to take care of the creature and get them then.

"Hazel, Lily, take a path that takes left, we'll take right, meet at the safe spot, whoever gets there first make a protective charm and fast. Signal if there's trouble!" He said and then with a nod of their heads turned and glanced at Erik and Gerald who nodded their heads as well.

"GO!"

Within seconds the shield was down and they were off. Hazel chose the path and started a fast pace but Lily kept the pace fairly easily though she had to admit every single part of her was alive and aware just waiting for that thing to pop out and eat them. She wasn't sure how long they had been running when a scream, one of pain, filled the air and stopped them cold in their path.

"Erik?" Lily said breathlessly.

"Or Gerald!" Hazel said in an equal out of breath sound.

They both looked in the direction it came from. Lily looked back at Hazel and smiled a small smile. "Screw the orders?" She asked and for the first time Hazel smiled at her.

"You bet your ass we are!" She said and without another word the tore off after the yells direction. They had been running for a small distance when Hazel tripped over something probably a root and fell. Lily stopped short and began to run back.

"Hazel!"

"NO! You keep going and help them; I'll make my way there." She said as she stood up and winced visibly as she put pressure on her left foot. Lily hesitated unsure but Hazel glared her trademark glare. "Do it now Rookie!! That's an order!!"

After another seconds hesitation she nodded and was off, leaving Hazel to make her way slowly. Lily ran ahead her magic spilling out of her, which is how she learned that Erik was running for his life from the creature that was hot on his trail and there wasn't a sign of the others anywhere.

'Erik left NOW!' Lily sent this thought out at once, and it came to Erik, he looked shocked but there was such a presence and command in the voice that without a moment's thought he made a sharp left and heard a crash as the creature flew into a tree that he had been next to not a moment before.

'Keep going straight for the moment.' Lily said feeling the shape of the forest around her and trying to find an ideal place to help him. She found her a spot and hid behind a tree. 'Turn Right NOW!'

Erik did so again, hearing another crash behind him; he could not remember the last time he had felt so terrified. There seemed to be nothing but fear driving him, he couldn't feel or hear anything but the creature behind him or the voice of Lily guiding him.

Lily meanwhile put a small light above her head a little and to the side. 'Erik, find the light in the tree up ahead, go straight to it and don't stop!'

Erik sped up and heard the creature behind him do the same He looked at nothing but that light. He passed it and kept going. The moment Lily saw him pass she threw out her hands her daggers pointing straight out through the passage that Erik had just run through and the same passage that the creature now ran through. She knew she hit him, because she could feel the bones of the creature smash and her own arm give a terrible yank at the force of the creature when he ran straight into her daggers. But that wasn't the only reason, because as the blades pierced its skin its blood sprayed out, and all over her arms. She screamed and vaguely smelled the smell of burning flesh, only knowing in the back of her mind that it was her own skin that was being cooked. But she knew the creature was still alive, so with great effort, and ignoring of pain she wrenched out one of the daggers with a strangled sound and brought it swinging down straight on the top of the head and with a last shudder the thing was dead.

Lily stumbled back blinded by pain, she hit a tree, she could tell it was a tree because of the way it felt and slid down, thinking of nothing else but the fire that was her hands. Erik several feet away slowed down and hearing the screams slowly made his way back. He could smell the burning flesh several feet before he could see the creature. He saw the creature first, lying between the tree he had just a minute or two ago ducked through. Both of Lily's daggers were still inside of it and it was oozing its green slime all over the place.

"Lily?" He croaked out, surprised at how hoarse his voice sounded. He looked around and hearing a small sound turned and saw Lily his eyes widening. "Oh God!" He fumbled and took out his wand and shot out flares for the others. He came closer and hovered not knowing what else to do. Both of Lily's hands up to near her elbows were covered in green ooze and clearly burning away. There were several spots on her skirt and shirt that had holes leaving red marks on her skin though these weren't burning her skin. Her shoes were surprisingly untouched.

"Lily can you hear me." She was pale and white shaking, and making noises as if she could barely breathe. "I don't know what to do Lily."

There was a crash and he turned to see Gerald come limping into their area followed by Alex, both sporting burn wounds as well. "Alex help!"

Alex made his way quickly over and stopped just short of Lily looking shocked. Gerald was looking at the corpse of the creature with the same look on his face. Alex leaned down and used both hands to grip Lily face. "Lily can you hear me, make a sound or a sign if you can."

She was starting to go into shock and he knew that, there were sounds of more breaking branches and Hazel came in limping much like Gerald was. She saw the creature and then looked past the two of them and saw Lily.

"What happened?" She seemed well shocked like the others.

"I don't know! We need to get her to the safety zone now, she's going into shock and there could be a chance she's not going to make it."

Alex hoisted Lily up, ignoring the small whimper of pain she made and to everyone's surprise turned to them. "Get back to camp as quickly as possible I'm taking her ahead. I'll have reinforcements out here quicker than you would think possible." And with that he was jogging away with Lily in his arms, leaving the three of them to make a slower pace to the safety zone.

A/N- Okay I have no reason what so ever for taking this long to update. But I finally did and got the chapter up and ready for you guys to read. AS I was writing this I realized, Lily sure does get hurt a lot, and then I figured, well with the kind of life she's been living it's really no surprise so I hope you guys don't mind that fact. I'm sorry for taking so long to get this chapter and leaving it off at a cliffhanger, but I figured that was the best place to stop it so please forgive me. I want to say thanx to all of my reviewers.

-Keyga1-
-Xfrozensorcerer-
-Sam's Firefly-
-Firewalker32-
-lilyre-
-GodricsPhoenix-
-Baby seal-

Again thanx so much for reading, I'll try to be better at my updating but no guarantees.
Maddie.